Belarusian Smolensk Region

Polish-Belarusian Nobility in the Pskov Province in the 19th-20th Centuries

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E.I. Kirievich

Catherine II’s “Charter of Nobility” (1762) on the rights, freedoms, and privileges of the nobility finally secured its status as the most privileged and protected “child,” preserved until the last days of the existence of Tsarist Russia. However, the Russian monarchy also had “adopted children,” whom it granted, by tradition, much less than its “own.” All Polish and Belarusian-Lithuanian nobility from the lands annexed to Russia after the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th century (1772, 1793, and 1795) found themselves in the role of such an “adopted child.” This was a stubborn, willful “child,” trying to resist the stifling guardianship of its “stepmother,” which constrained its accustomed freedom.

If at the beginning of the 19th century, immediately after the incorporation of the Polish-Belarusian nobility into the “Great Russian” nobility, Russia’s policy was still protective of the old orders of Poland, then in the second half of the century, it was directly aimed at its economic and political weakening.

This was decisively connected with the fact that the nobility throughout most of the 19th century acted as the leader of the national liberation movement in the western Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Lithuanian provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, thereby forcing the tsarist government to apply a greater number of repressive measures against it than against any other category of nobility in the empire. Since the partitions of Poland, Poles dreamed of regaining national independence and reviving their strong state, thus the former Polish lands became a center of dangerous free thought and constant resistance to Russian authorities.

The most significant attempts to regain independent status were the uprisings of 1830-1831 and 1863-1864, and the goal of tsarist policy towards the rebellious lands was singular: to eradicate and destroy the very idea of Polish national self-determination. Its desire to weaken the Polish-Belarusian nobility lasted as long as they lived on their land and could, by uniting, resist. In the government’s understanding, a “politically dangerous” noble could only be one who lived on the land of his ancestors, while one expelled from his native places (to Russia or abroad) no longer posed such a danger. Therefore, the tsarist government practiced the resettlement of participants in the uprisings to Russian provinces, while granting pardoned and amnestied individuals the right to live anywhere “except in the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern and Southwestern regions,” thus allowing voluntary relocation from the “rebellious” region.

Pskov

Many representatives of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility chose the Pskov Province as their place of residence, primarily due to its geographical proximity to the western provinces and Poland. Of the 1200 noble families listed in the noble genealogy book of the Pskov Province, those from Belarusian, Lithuanian provinces, and the Kingdom of Poland made up to 20%[1].

As the original places of relocation for 125 families of Polish-Belarusian nobility, the closest provinces to the Pskov region were Vitebsk, Vilnius, and Minsk, to a lesser extent – Mogilev, Kaunas, Podolia, Grodno provinces, and the Kingdom of Poland. The reasons for relocation were usually indicated by the nobles in their petitions to the Pskov Deputies’ Assembly and were often related to the main occupations of family members. The majority of those who relocated (over 78%) were landowners who managed to acquire real estate in the Pskov Province. The high percentage of nobles acquiring estates here was due to the condition of having “real estate in a specified size” in the province to which one wanted to be recorded as noble. This provision was regulated by a special decree of the Pskov Noble Deputies’ Assembly, which also established that for inclusion in the Pskov nobility, a landholding of 43.3 desiatinas was insufficient[2]. The desired estate could be purchased or inherited, but the latter rarely occurred, as most families arrived in Pskov for the first time and had no relatives there. By purchase, 64.9% of the relocated nobility acquired estates, 13.2% were fortunate to marry wealthy Pskov landowners, and 22% were officials transferred here by their civil or military departments and offices.

The Polish-Belarusian nobles settled in all counties of the Pskov Province, but most sought to settle in the provincial center, which was particularly important for officials, and to acquire an estate or house there. Among the counties, they were most attracted to Velikiye Luki, Ostrov, and Opochek.

The nobles relocating to the province were mostly loyal and devoted citizens to the tsar (at least outwardly) and did not raise suspicions with the government. Some of them were even active participants in the suppression of Polish uprisings. For example, the doctor of the hunting regiment A.I. Sozentovich was awarded a diamond ring worth 500 rubles, as well as the “Distinction” 4th class and the Order of St. Anna 3rd class for his campaign against “Polish rebels” in 1831. A.K. Yanovich, a knight of the Order of St. Anna 3rd class, also participated in this campaign. The bronze medal for suppressing the “Polish uprising” of 1863-1864 was held by ensign N.Y. Rodzevich of the Leib-Guard Borodin Regiment.[3]

Most likely, the placement of Polish-Belarusian nobility in the Pskov Province occurred without any interference from local authorities. The governor was obliged to deal with the resettlement of noble individuals only if they were considered “politically unreliable.” In this regard, it is interesting to recall the role of the Pskov Province during the Polish uprisings.

Suppression of the Polish Uprising of 1863-1864

During the uprising of 1830-1831, the province, in addition to participating in the transportation of arrested rebels to Kronstadt and Arkhangelsk Province, also served as a place of exile for “unreliable persons of noble” Polish-Belarusian origin.

Thus, due to “unreliability,” in late 1830, landowners from Vitebsk Province Yegor Lushkin and Karl Reut were brought to the Pskov Province and placed here under strict police supervision: the former in Kholm, the latter in Porechye. The province also became a place of exile for other “unreliable” individuals: titular councilor, member of the zemstvo court, Vitebsk noble Godzevich and his clerk K. Magnushevsky – also a noble from Vitebsk Province. Both were sent to Kholm. To the farthest northeastern point of the province – the village of Soltsy in Porechye County were sent residents from Riga – noble D. Brinki and college registrar Lyubomirski, while Lithuanian landowner Piller was settled in Porechye. All of them were under constant police surveillance and were monitored by the provincial administration until the complete cessation of “disturbances” in their places of residence, and as the Polish uprising was suppressed, all of them were sent “home” between August and October 1831.[4] It is noteworthy that they were settled in counties that were not popular among the nobility as places of residence.

The Pskov Province was also used as a place of exile for “unreliable” nobles who participated in the uprising of 1863-1864. Thus, after the defeat of the uprising, according to the report of the Minister of Internal Affairs dated April 25, 1865, former paramedic Kostevič and the family of landowners from Kaunas Province Pilsudski were exiled here “for involvement in the Polish uprising,” and they were placed under strict police supervision in Opochek and a village near Novorzhev.[5]

Some participants in the uprising were also held as prisoners in the Pskov convict company: in January 1864, they constituted 3.6% of all arrested. Like all other repressed nobles, they fell under the Highest Amnesty of April 16, 1866.[6]

However, there were many more voluntarily relocated Polish-Belarusian nobles in the Pskov Province, whose composition was heterogeneous. Of the 125 families of Polish nobility who requested to be included in the Pskov nobility, 116 indicated a desire to be recorded specifically in a certain part of the genealogy book (this included those whose petitions were ultimately not satisfied). Among them, representatives of “ancient noble families, whose evidence of noble status dates back a hundred years or more,” predominated, claiming inclusion in the 6th part of the genealogy book (42 families). Those recorded in the 1st part of the genealogy book – “families of granted or actual nobility” (mainly for military service) – were fewer: 35 families, even fewer were included in the 3rd part, i.e., those who acquired nobility through civil service – 18 families. The overwhelming majority of the relocated were Catholics, with no more than 10% being Lutherans.

Speaking about the dynamics of the migration of Polish families to the Pskov Province, it should be noted that before the Polish uprising of 1830-1831, such cases were rare: on average, one noble family arrived every three years. Then there was a gradual increase in relocations, especially as a result of the uprisings of 1830-1831 and 1863-1864, and the real migration “boom” occurred during the implementation of a more stringent agrarian reform in 1863-1864 than in the Russian provinces. It was this reform that forced the nobility, mostly small landowners and not wealthy, to seek more suitable living conditions in Great Russian provinces, including Pskov, where the agrarian reform was not initially intended to destroy the noble-landlord structure. During the periods of uprisings, there were the most refusals to be recorded in the genealogy book, while by the end of the 19th century, there were almost none. The majority of the relocated nobility were small landowners or had no estate at all. The very fact of largely forced relocation materially weakened the nobility. The process of ruin continued in the places of settlement, when the descendants of previously wealthy and noble families, who had become completely impoverished, sometimes did not have even the means to pay for a few sheets of stamped paper in the Noble Assembly to be recorded in the genealogy book. At the same time, in the Great Russian provinces, the nobility was perceived as a fully equal part of the Russian nobility, and many of its representatives managed to achieve careers as officials, military personnel, or doctors, which they found difficult to imagine in their previous places of residence.

Notes

1 Mikhailov A.A., Shumkov A.A. Belarusian-Lithuanian and Polish Nobility in the Genealogy Book of Pskov Province // Hodnost. No. 1(2). Minsk. 1994. pp. 22-30

2 GAPO. F.110. op.1. dd.528, 581

3 GAPO. F.110. op.1. dd.812, 910, 1178

4 GAPO. F.20. op.1. d.1044

5 GAPO. F.20. op.1. d.2073

6 GAPO. F.20. op.1. d.2085

Appendix

List of Noble Families of Belarusian-Polish Origin that Relocated to the Pskov Province in the 19th – Early 20th Centuries

————————————————————————————————————————————

No. Family NameOriginal PlaceNew PlaceYearPart
Departure (province)Settlement andArrivalGenealogy
Purpose of ArrivalBook
1.AbramovichGrodnoPskov (service)18903
2. AlekhnovichMogilevPskov County18642
(estate)
3. AnnenkovMinskno information19156
4.BlazheichMinskPorechye18741
5.BogutskiVitebskOstrov County1834open
(estate)
6.BohushevichVilniusOstrov County1836open
(estate)
7.BohushevichVitebskVelikiye Luki County18643
(estate)
8.BohushevskyMinskPskov (estate)18616
9.BozheryanovVilniusToropets County19012
(wife’s estate)
11. BosyatskyGrodnoPskov (service)1864open
12.VerigoVitebskPskov1868open
13.VilchevskyVilnius andPskov18596
Kaunas
14.VnorovskyVitebskOstrov County18486
(estate)
15.VoievodskyKaunasPskov18806
16.Voitsekhovsky From BelarusianToropets County18722
Nobility(wife’s estate)
17.VolodkevichVilniusOpochek (service)18501
18.VolodkoMinskVelikiye Luki County18576
19.VrochenkyVitebskVelikiye Luki County1890open
(estate)
20.VyrvichMogilevPskov (service)18976
21.Vyrzhikovsky LublinPskov18833
22.GaizhevskyVitebskVelikiye Luki County18446
(estate)
23.GaletskyLublinOstrov County18732
(estate)
24.GalinovskyMogilevVelikiye Luki County19096
(estate)
25.GlaubichVitebskOpochek County18196(3)
(estate)
26.GoleevskyMinskPskov Province18531
(estate)
27.GorskyVilniusToropets (estate)18901
28.GrudzinskyMogilevPskov (service)18521
29.DashkevichKaunasVelikiye Luki County18661
(wife’s estate)
30.DembinskyMogilevToropets County1865open
31.DzyichkantsyMinskOstrov County18353
(wife’s estate)
32.ZhelvetraVilniusPskov County18616
33.ZhutovskyFrom Polish NobilityPskov (service)18423
34.ZalenetskyWarsawPskov (service),18976
Opochek County
(estate)
35.ZaleskyVitebskToropets County18453
(estate)
36.ZalivakoMinskPskov18981
37.Ziger-KornGrodnoPorechye County18551
38.ZhabitskyVitebskOstrov County1865open
39.IvashkevichVitebskPskov County18766
(estate)
40.IgnatovichVitebskVelikiye Luki18573
41.IzmailovichVitebskVelikiye Luki County18846
(estate)
42.KanarskyFrom Belarusian NobilityOstrov County1836open
43.KasperVitebskToropets County1826open
(estate)
44.KvitkovskyCentral PolandPskov (service)18492
45.KimbarVilniusOstrov County1850open
(wife’s estate)
46.Kitkevich-VilniusVelikiye Luki County18716
Rakovsky(estate)
47. KlimashevskyVitebskno information18556
48.KnyazhevichCentral PolandOstrov County18716
(wife’s estate)
49.KobraFrom Belarusian NobilityOstrov18532
50.KovalevskyVitebskNovorzhevsky County18626
(estate)
51.KozakovskyFrom Belarusian Nobilityno information18443
52.KompanionKyivOstrov County18412
(wife’s estate)
53.KomstadiusMogilevPorechye County19022
(estate)
54.KonyushevskyFrom Belarusian NobilityNovorzhevsky County1829open
(estate)
55. KornirovichMogilevno information18646
56.KorsakiMinskNovorzhevsky County18626
(estate)
57.KorsakiVilniusToropets County18986
(estate)
58.KositskyGrodnoVelikiye Luki County1866open
(estate)
59.Kostyrko-From Polish NobilityPorechye County18252
Stotsky(estate)
60.KotovichVitebskPskov18443
61.Krasnolenky KyivKholm County18716
62.KrasovskyVilniusOstrov County1836open
(wife’s estate)
63.KrasovskyVilniusno information1836open
64. KrasovskyVilniusPorechye County1837,open,
(estate)1853open
65.KryukovichFrom Polish NobilityPskov1819open
66.KulevskyVitebskPskov County18083
(estate)
67.KunitskyVitebskPskov18453
68.KuppyVitebskPskov18521
69.LagovskyKyivNovorzhevsky County18612
(estate)
70.Lazarevich-MogilevPorechye County18556
Shepelevich
71.LaimingsVitebskOstrov County18331
(estate)
72.LanevskyVilniusOstrov County18531
(estate)
73.LeshevichVolhyniaPorechye County18793
(estate)
74.Martynovsky MinskPskov (service)18433
75.MatushevichVitebskKholm County18612
(estate)
76.MatsiyevskyVitebskVelikiye Luki County18693
(wife’s estate)
77.Miklashevich VitebskOpochek County18731
(estate)
78.MiladovskyVitebskOpochek County18706
(estate)
79.MikhnevichVitebskPskov (service)1842open
80.MogliVitebskVelikiye Luki and18616
Kholm Counties
(estates)
81.MorachevskyVilniusOstrov County19076
(estates)
82.MurzichVitebskOstrov County18721
(wife’s estate)
83.MshanetskyWarsawno information18791
84.NarbutVitebskPskov (service)18526
85.NarkevichKaunasNovorzhevsky County1865open
86.NovitskyVitebskPorechye County18191
(estate)
87.OleshoMinskOpochek County18586
(estate)
88.OrdylovskyVilniusPskov (service),18591
Opochek County
(wife’s estate)
89.OsendovskyVitebskno information1868open
90.OstrovskyVitebskPskov (service)1854open
91.PodernyMinskPskov (service)18382
92.PreissVitebskNovorzhevsky County18621
(estate)
93. Ravich-ShcherboMogilevPorechye County18681
(estate)
94.RachkoVitebskVelikiye Luki County18921
(estate)
95.RodzevichVitebskOstrov County18746
(estate)
96.RomanovskyVitebskPskov (service),18436
Pskov County
(estate)
97.RodzevichVitebskOpochek County18542
(estate)
98.RokitskyVilniusNovorzhev (service19121
and estate)
99.RomanovskyVitebskPskov (service)18436
100. RomanovskyVitebskOstrov County18731
101. Romshy-(estate)
KorvetskyVitebskPskov (service)1853open
102. RyabinskyVilniusVelikiye Luki County18851
(service and estate)
103. SakovichMinskVelikiye Luki18586
104. SakovichMinskPskov18596
105. SakovichMogilevKholm County1827open
106. SelyavaVitebskPorechye County18646
(estate)
107. SozentovichVolhyniaPskov (service)18723
108. SonchayloKaunasOstrov County1865open
109. StanovichKaunasNovorzhevsky County18656
(estate)
110. StatkovskyVilniusNovorzhevsky and18491
Porechye Counties
(estates)
111. StatkovskyVilniusNovorzhevsky County18681
(estate)
112. StebuttyVilniusVelikiye Luki18491
113. Stokal’skyPodoliaToropets County18836
(wife’s estate)
114. TelyukhovskyFrom Polish Nobility Toropets County1826open
(estate)
115. Terpilovsky KyivPskov18702
116. TroyanovskyFrom Polish NobilityPskov18192
117. KhlyudzinskyVitebskOpochek County18662
118. KhudzimskyPodoliaPskov18913
119. CherkavskyPodoliaNovorzhevsky County1875open
(estate)
120. Cherlenyovsky PodoliaPskov (service)19066
121. ChizhevskyKaunasPskov18642
122. ShchurovichMogilevPskov18591
123. YanovichPodoliaOpochek18452
124. YanovskyVitebskPskov18716
125. YanushkovskyMinskVelikiye Luki18573

Note: The list is compiled based on data from GAPO (f.110) and RGIA (f.1343).

[1] Mikhailov A.A., Shumkov A.A. Belarusian-Lithuanian and Polish Nobility in the Genealogy Book of Pskov Province // Hodnost. No. 1(2). Minsk. 1994. pp. 22-30

[2] GAPO. F.110. op.1. dd.528, 581

[3] GAPO. F.110. op.1. dd.812, 910, 1178

[4] GAPO. F.20. op.1. d.1044

[5] GAPO. F.20. op.1. d.2073

[6] GAPO. F.20. op.1. d.2085