Service class people () were a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

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: * ''hereditary servitors'' ''("servitors by birth")'', included

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

s, noblemen and "Boyars' children". They served in the " Landed Army", and received land and

serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...

for their service. * ''chosen servitors ("servitors by contract"),'' included

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 ...

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

and

clerks A clerk is someone who works in an office. A retail clerk works in a store. Office holder Clerk(s) may also refer to a person who holds an office, most commonly in a local unit of government, or a court. *Barristers' clerk, a manager and administ ...

. They served in the infantry or administration, and were paid in coin. In early Siberia, service-men and ''promyshlenik''s (

promyshlenniki The ''promyshlenniki'' (, промышленник, ''promyshlennik'') were Russian and Indigenous Siberian artel members, or self-employed workers drawn largely from the state serf and townsman class who engaged in the Siberian, mariti ...

) were the two main classes of the Russian population. Service-men were nominally servants of the tsar, had certain legal rights and duties and could expect pay if they were lucky. ''Promyshlenik''s were free men who made their living any way they could. A minor group were sworn-men (''tseloval'niki'', literally ross or bible'kissers'). These men swore an oath and gained certain rights and duties. In practice the groups blended into each other, and the distinction was most important when dealing with the government. When petitioning the tsar, a service-man would call himself 'your slave' and a promyshlenik 'your orphan'. These people were often called

, but only in the loose sense of being neither landowners nor peasants.

References

Social history of Russia {{Russia-hist-stub

Background

See also

References