NOBLES AND LANDOWNERS OF THE AZOV PROVINCE UNDER PETER I: ON THE ISSUE OF SOCIAL IDENTITY ACCORDING TO MASS SOURCES OF 1710-1723

Abstract

The article actualizes the problem of determining the social identity of the Azov nobility. The authors propose a solution using the analysis of mass sources and the method of biographical comparison of data. The social identity of the nobility is understood by the authors of the article as a set of retrospective identification practices - this is the perception of service people of themselves and each other. The authors believe that various practices of social identification in the past are expressed in the context of research and analysis in modern language, and the description of social identity is semantically a historical reconstruction. For the first time in historiography, the number and official structure of the service people of the Azov province is studied. This topic was studied according to the data of the "General Inspection" held in Moscow in 1721-1723, which was organized by the Senate and Heraldry. Data on the official structure of the nobility of the Azov province were studied according to the "knigi priezdov" and compared with the Landrat census of Shatsky and Yelets counties. The authors studied the social identification of the Azov nobility on the basis of name registration at the "General Inspection" during 1721-1722. The totality of representations by service people of their name and age are analyzed using the typology of self-identification formulas. In the conclusion of the article, the main parameters of the social identification of the "nobility" are highlighted.

Keywords

• peter the great
• senate
• azov province
• shatsky uyezd
• heraldry
• russian nobility
• source studies
• landratic books
• self-identification