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ACTIVITY OF KHARKIV NOBLE DEPUTY ASSEMBLY (1786-1796)
Authors: Mikhaylichenko M. А.
Number of views: 366
In the article the peculiarities of the Kharkiv noble deputy assembly from the beginning of its functioning and to the temporary suspension of its nobilitation activities are considered.
According to the Charter to the Nobility 1785, the Deputy Assemblies were chartered in every govenorate for considering the evidences of nobility and making up the genealogical book of the nobility. The Noble Deputy Assemblies included a Marshal of the Nobility and noble deputies elected from every district.
The genealogical book of the nobility should have contained all the people owning real estate in the govenorate and having proved their nobility. The nobility considered proven if the evidence provided by the applicants, were found sufficient by at least two thirds of the members of noble deputy assembly. In this case the nobleman was submitted to the genealogical book of the nobility and received a charter to the nobility. Thus, the noble deputy assembly controlled the whole process of ennoblement of local elite, from the examining of nobility evidences and to the issuing of noble charters.
Kharkiv noble deputy assembly was chartered at the beginning of January 1786. In its activities it was guided by the Charter to the Nobility and its own “Regulations of Kharkov noble society”, adopted on January 4, 1786. This document regulated issues concerning the functioning of Kharkiv noble deputy assembly, time and duration of meetings, procedure of sessions, order of doing business, etc. Thus, according to the “Regulations” the noble deputy assembly was to assemble annually from the first of December till the first of February in the provincial town of running business. Herewith, the secretary of the Assembly was to be constantly present in the noble assembly, and noble deputies were to take turns. The cases were to be settled in the presence of at least two deputies, marshal of the nobility and a secretary. “Regulations of Kharkov noble society” also defined issues concerning the formation of noble treasury, construction of the building for Kharkiv noble deputy assembly, fees of the servants etc.
In October 1786 Kharkiv noble deputy assembly begins to make up the first minutes of the entries into the genealogical books of the nobility of Kharkiv province. Between 1786 and 1795 it took 1083 decisions, according to which 1231 noblemen were entered into the genealogical book of the nobility.
In 1796 the Russian Emperor Paul I forbids the noble deputy assembly to provide their own ennoblement. In 1801, after Alexander I accession to the throne, Kharkiv noble deputy assembly was granted the right to enter into nobility again, though it uses this right in a much smaller scale than in the first decade of its activity.
Key words: nobility, noble deputy assembly, nobilitation, Kharkiv province, Sloboda Ukraine.