Chancellor (Russia)
Chancellor of the Russian Empire (Russian: канцлер Российской империи, romanized: kantsler Rossiyskoy imperii) was the highest civil rank (1st class) in the Russian Empire under the Table of Ranks, instituted by Peter the Great on 4 February [O.S. 24 January] 1722.[1] It was equal in status to General Field Marshal in the Army and General Admiral in the Navy.[2][3] A holder of the rank was addressed as Your High Excellency (Russian: Ваше Высокопревосходительство, Vashe Vysokoprevoskhoditelstvo).[2]
Overview
[edit]The rank was usually granted to foreign ministers (the President of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs or, after 1802, the Minister of Foreign Affairs). If the official in charge held a 2nd-class rank, he served as Vice-Chancellor.[4]
As a rule, only one person held the rank at a time. The only exception was Count Ivan Osterman, who resigned from office in 1797 but was permitted to retain his rank until his death in 1811, overlapping with three subsequent chancellors.[2] Because the rank was awarded sparingly, other senior officials in the 1st class were typically appointed as Active Privy Councillor, 1st class.[2]
In total, twelve men held the title of Chancellor in Russia: Fyodor Golovin was styled Chancellor in the Tsardom of Russia (1699–1706) prior to the formal establishment of the rank, and eleven held the official rank in the Russian Empire (beginning with Gavriil Golovkin, who was created State Chancellor in 1709).[5] The last holder was Prince Alexander Gorchakov, appointed in 1867. After Gorchakov died in 1883, no further appointments were made, though the rank was not formally abolished until the Decree on the Abolition of Estates and Civil Ranks on 23 November [O.S. 10 November] 1917.[6]
List of chancellors
[edit]Twelve statesmen held the title or rank of Chancellor in Russia:[4][5]
- 1699–1706: Count Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin (1650–1706) (styled Chancellor in the Tsardom of Russia)
- 1709–1734: Count Gavriil Ivanovich Golovkin (1660–1734) (first formal State Chancellor from 1709; under the Empire from 1721)
- 1740–1742: Prince Alexey Cherkassky (1680–1742)
- 1744–1758: Count Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin (1693–1766), stripped of rank in 1758, restored in 1762 as Field Marshal
- 1758–1765: Count Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov (1714–1767)
- 1796–1797: Count Ivan Andreyevich Osterman (1725–1811), retired in 1797 while retaining the rank until death
- 1797–1799: Prince Alexander Bezborodko (1747–1799)
- 1802–1805: Count Alexander Vorontsov (1741–1805)
- 1809–1826: Count Nikolay Rumyantsev (1754–1826)
- 1834: Prince Viktor Kochubey (1768–1834)
- 1844–1862: Count Karl Nesselrode (1780–1862)
- 1867–1883: Prince Alexander Gorchakov (1798–1883)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "№ 3890: Tabel' o rangakh vsekh chinov, voinskikh, statskikh i pridvornykh". Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire (in Russian). Vol. VI (1st ed.). Saint Petersburg: Printing House of the Second Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery. 1830. pp. 486–493.
- 1 2 3 4 Shepelev, Leonid E. (1999). Chinovnichiy mir Rossii: XVIII — nachalo XX v. [The Bureaucratic World of Russia: 18th – Early 20th Century] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Iskusstvo-SPb. pp. 15–22, 145–148. ISBN 5-210-01518-1.
- ↑ Hughes, Lindsey (1998). Russia in the Age of Peter the Great. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 175–179. ISBN 978-0-300-08266-1.
- 1 2 Ocherki istorii Ministerstva inostrannykh del Rossii. 1802—2002 [Essays on the History of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia: 1802–2002] (in Russian). Vol. 3: Biographies. Moscow: OLMA-Press. 2002. pp. 9–14. ISBN 5-224-03653-4.
- 1 2 "Канцлер" [Chancellor]. Great Russian Encyclopedia (in Russian). Vol. 12. Moscow: Bolshaya Rossiyskaya Entsiklopediya. 2008. p. 743. ISBN 978-5-85270-343-9.
- ↑ "Dekret ob unichtozhenii sosloviy i grazhdanskikh chinov". Sobranie uzakoneniy i rasporyazheniy pravitel'stva za 1917—1918 gg [Collection of Enactments and Orders of the Government for 1917–1918] (in Russian). Moscow: Department of Affairs of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. 1942. p. 31.
| Junior rank Active Privy Councillor |
Table of Ranks Active Privy Councillor, 1st class Chancellor |
Senior rank — |