300px, Map of the Belgorod razriad in the 17th century A razriad, or razryad () was a type of military administrative subdivision of the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

from the 16th to the 17th centuries.

Service class people Service class people () were a class of free people in Russia in the 14th to the 17th centuries, obliged to perform military or administrative service on behalf of the state. Background There were two main groups of service people: * ''hered ...

living within razriads were obliged to enter military service and join razriad regiments. Each regiment incorporated several military units, including

streltsy The streltsy (, ; , ) were the units of Russian firearm infantry from the 16th century to the early 18th century and also a social stratum, from which personnel for streltsy troops were traditionally recruited. They are also collectively kno ...

reiter ''Reiter'' or ''Schwarze Reiter'' ("black riders", anglicized ''swart reiters'') were a type of cavalry in 16th to 17th century Central Europe including Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Tsardom of Russia, and others. Cont ...

dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

s, and other types of soldiers. Razriads were governed by the main organ for the administration of the Razriad Prikaz.

History

Initially, territory in the Tsardom of Russia was subdivided into

uezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd or uiezd; rus, уе́зд ( pre-1918: уѣздъ), p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context () was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the ...

s. As the territory of the tsardom expanded, this administrative system encountered certain issues. The large number of relatively small uezds that were directly governed by Moscow especially burdened the borderlands of the state, where officials called for the expansion of

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

authority to more efficiently organize troops. The first razriads, larger in size and geared toward military organization, were developed in these borderland uezds. The first razriad, founded in the 16th century, was centered in Tula. The Tula voivode directed urban and regiment voivodes from the river Oka to the Upa. With the razriad, the Tula voivode combined military and administrative authority, managed the collection of funds, and directed local authority. By 1616, the population of fortified towns designated as razriads reached 24,350. Each razriad was composed of several uezds. As a result of the 1680 military and territorial reforms, the entire territory of the Tsardom of Russia became subdivided into 9 razriads, and all service class people assigned among them. Service class people were divided among razriad regiments, and a permanent Bolshoi regiment was created for one of the borderland razriads. Razriads were primarily a military administrative unit, similar to contemporary military districts in the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and headed by razriad voivodes. Razriad voivodes were divided into both military and administrative positions of authority, in accordance with the defensive interests of each razriad. The razriads became an intermediate between central authority and the local uezds, and paved the way for the creation of

governorates A governorate or governate is an administrative division headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is typically used to calque divisions o ...

in the 18th century.

List of razriads

Moscow Razriad Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

* Sevsk Razriad * Vladimir Razriad * Novgorod Razriad *

Kazan Razriad Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

* Smolensk Razriad * Ryazan Razriad * Belgorod Razriad, chartered in 1658 out of the

Kiev Voivodeship The Kiev Voivodeship (; ; ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1471 until 1569 and of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1793, as part of Lesser Poland Province of ...

* Tambov Razriad * Tula Razriad * Tobol Razriad, chartered no later than 1587 (first known voivodeship) * Tom Razriad * Yenisei Razriad

References

{{reflist Types of administrative division Russian-language designations of territorial entities

History

List of razriads

See also

References