Stolnik

The highest general sub-Duma rank of military and court servitors in Muscovy.

Literally meaning "table-attendant," stolnik first appears in 1228 and 1230 for episcopal and princely court officials. As Moscow grew, younger and junior memoirs of the top families and provincial serving elites needed a place at court. Accordingly stolnik lost its earlier meaning and was granted to many members of these strata. Above it was the much smaller number of postelniks (chamberlains), and below a large contingent of striapchis (attendants, servants - a term that appears by 1534), and Moscow dvorianins. The service land reforms of the 1550s and 1590s assigned Moscow province estates to these ranks.

From the end of the sixteenth century to 1626, the numbers of stolniks, striapichis, and Moscow dvorianins grew respectively from 31 - 14 - 174 to 217-82-760, plus another 176 stolniks of Patriarch Filaret, much of that growth occurring during the Time of Troubles. After measured growth to 1671, the numbers of stolniks mushroomed from 443 to 1307 in 1682 and 3233 in 1686. By this time an elite category of chamber stolniks arose, growing from 18 in 1664 to 173 in 1695. Some stolnik were always in the tsar's suite, attending to his needs.

In 1638, the average stolnik land-holding was seventy-eight peasant households, sufficient to outfit an elite military servitor and several attendants, as opposed to 24 and 28 - 29 respectively for the average striapchiu and Moscow dvorianin, and 520 for the average Duma rank.

The most eminent family names virtually filled the stolnik rosters in the early seventeenth century. Among those on the 1610 - 1611 list were Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, the military hero of 1612 and the young "Mikhailo" Romanov, elected tsar in 1613. The percentage of non-aristocratic stolniks surpassed two-thirds toward the end of the century. Under Peter I (the Great) these terms disappeared, but former stolniks and their progeny constituted the critical mass of the upper ranks of his service-nobility.

Bibliography

Hellie, Richard. (1971). Enserfment and Military Change in Muscovy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

—DAVID M. GOLDFRANK

For the village in Bulgaria, see Stolnik, Bulgaria.

For the village in Slovenia, see Stolnik, Slovenia.

For a related Romanian term, see Stolnic.

Stolnik was a court office in Poland and Muscovy, responsible for serving the royal table.

Contents 1 Stolnik in Poland 2 See also 3 Stolnik in Muscovy 4 References

Stolnik in Poland

In Poland under the first Piast dukes and kings, this was a court office.

From the 14th century, it was an honorary office in the Polish Kingdom and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

• Stolnik wielki koronny — Grand Pantler of the Crown
• Stolnik wielki litewski — Grand Pantler of Lithuania
• Stolnik koronny — Pantler of the Crown
• Stolnik litewski — Pantler of Lithuania
• Stolnik nadworny koronny — Court Pantler of the Crown

According to the 1768 office hierarchy, the stolnik's position in the Crown of Poland was superior to that of podczaszy and inferior to that of District Judge; in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, superior to podstoli and inferior to wojski.

See also

• Offices in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

This Polish history-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

Stolnik in Muscovy

Stolniks were known as palace servants of the Russian rulers since the 12th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries they were young nobles who brought dishes to the tsar's table, looked after his bedroom, and accompanied him in travels. The highest category comprised the room or closer stolniks.

Stolniks could simultaneously serve in the foreign office or in the army. They were ranked fifth in the hierarchy of Muscovite bureaucracy, after boyars, okolnichys, duma nobles, and duma dyaks.

Stolniks were also attached to episcopal administrations as were other similar offices also found in the grand princely or tsarist administration. For example, stolniks are found in documents from the archiepiscopal records in Novgorod the Great.^[1]

References

1. ^ B. D. (Boris Dmitrevich) Grekov, Novgorodskii Dom sviatoi Sofii; opyt izucheniia organizatsii i vnutrennikh otnoshenii krupnoi tserkovnoi votchiny, chast” I (St. Petersburg: M. Aleksandrova, 1914. Reprinted in Izbrannye trudy, vol. 4: 7-436).

This Russian history-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)