Bylye Gody

5-19

Authors: Sergei A. Nefedov

28-35

Authors: Sergey I. Degtyarev

The article examines the attempts made by the government of the Russian Empire to solve the issue of the social background of government officials throughout the formation of the bureaucracy during the eras beginning with Peter I and ending with Alexander II. In particular, the article pays special attention to the issue of “ennobling” state service and to what extent it was relevant during the period of the bourgeois reforms.

45-52

Authors: Sergey F. Fominykh, Alexander N. Sorokin, Sergei A. Nekrylov

The article is dedicated to the heir to the throne Nicholas Alexandrovich (the future Tsar Nicholas II) visiting Tomsk and the Imperial Tomsk University on July 5 and 6, 1891, while he was returning from his trip to the east. On the basis of the available scientific literature, documents, including those being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, and the periodical press, the article reconstructs the history of the Tsar’s visit to Russia’s first higher education institution in Asia. The article is meant for those interested in the history of the Romanov kin as well as the history of higher learning and science in Russia.

62-78

Authors: Stanislav V. Dumin

In celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Russian Imperial Household in 2013, it is important to remember that the historic dynasty did not disappear in 1917 and, as with the earlier ruling dynasties, it still retains its status and its structure based on the Law on Succession and the Provision on the Imperial Family. These documents, in part, define that the dynasty includes just the Romanov descendants born from marital unions with the ruling or previously ruling dynasties. The rest of the Romanov descendants that were born from unequal, morganatic marriages, did not belong to the Russian Imperial Family and, correspondingly, did not have the right to the throne. Until 1911, these marriages were simply forbidden for all members of the dynasty. In mentioning representatives of the Romanov family, popular literature and the media often do not mention this circumstance and instead include individuals who were not part of the dynasty, even though they were descended from the Russian Emperors through the paternal or the maternal line. Representatives of the so-called “Association of the Romanov Household”, descendants of Grand Dukes or Dukes of Imperial Blood from unequal marriages, would often point to a decree made by Nicholas II in 1911. The decree stated that the lesser Romanovs, dukes and duchesses of imperial blood, that is, great grandchildren and more distant descendants of Emperors, could enter into unequal marriages with Royal Permission. However, the theory stating that this decree somehow still gave these descendants dynastic rights is refuted through the materials that we have uncovered in the State Archives of the Russian Federation detailing the meeting of the Grand Dukes, called together by the order of Nicholas II and the resolution of the Emperor at the end of this meeting that is published in the article. As such, out of all the Romanov descendants still alive today, the status of being a true member of the dynasty only remains with the current head of the Imperial Household, the Grand Duchess Mariya Vladimirovna and her son (from a dynastic marriage) and heir, Crown Prince and Grand Duke Georgiy Mikhaylovich, who, according to the Law on Succession, is the person who should continue the Romanov Household.

88-93

Authors: Violetta S. Molchanova, Aleksandr A. Cherkasov, Šmigeľ Michal

The article examines the manifestation of patriotic sentiments within Russian society after the first Russian Revolution. It pays attention to the creation of the first monarchical organisations in the country’s centre and its peripheries, as well as the youth’s spontaneous volunteer movement at the beginning of the First World War. The article is based on pre-revolutionary materials and mostly utilises periodical press.

103-110

Authors: Maksim N. Krot

The article is focused on the conservative protective concept of the development of the Russian society during the first post-reform decades (60-80s of the XIX century). The author determines and considers key features of conservative understanding of social progress, such as the priority of spiritual values over material, abandoment of society reforming in accordance with abstract concepts, intention to proceed from the existing social and political realias of the Russian society. Special attention is attached to the disclosure of concervative concept of country modernization within the framework of the estates strata in accordance with the dictates of the times and the model of the correlation of new establishments and institutes with the existing social, economic, cultural and moral principles of the country, offered by the conservatives. The author came to the conclusion that conservative concept of the development of post-reform Russia is the integral element of the country modernization. Its authors and supporters considered that its essence is the addition and balancing of liberal and reform component of this process.