Дьяческий аппарат Великого княжества Рязанского

Abstract

The study is devoted to the clergy of the Grand Duchy of Ryazan - a social group that has not been the subject of special study until now. The thesis is proved that the Ryazan administrative apparatus is characterized by the trajectory of evolution, which was previously revealed by historians on the materials of the Moscow chancellery. We show the growing importance of clerks in paperwork that was reflected in the development of the documents certification practice during the second half of the 15th - early of 16th century. Observations were made regarding the participation of clerks in the report procedure, which needs further comparative study. It is noted that there were also clerks in the Ryazan counties. We analyze the personal and social composition of the Ryazan clergy and make assumption that clerks were personally free people who could be tied to their occupations on a hereditary basis. The small number of the administrative apparatus of the duchy was ascertained, under the conditions of which no more than three or four clerks could act simultaneously. It is demonstrated that the change of Ryazan Grand Dukes did not reflect on the personal composition of the grand chancellery. The question is raised on whether such evolution of the clerks’ apparatus was the result of Moscow’s influence, and comparative contexts from the history of other Russian duchies are proposed.