Irina Nikolaevna Shamina,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
On the Organization of the Census in the Monastic Estates in 1701−1703
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2026-2-7
One of the insufficiently studied issues related to the reforms of the government of Peter the Great is the organization of measures and methods of their implementation. This also applies to the implementation of church transformations. The main action of the initial stage of Peter the Great’s church reform was the census of the property of episcopal houses, monasteries and parish churches for their subsequent transfer to the jurisdiction of the Monastic Prikaz, which was reinstated in 1701. This article examines the issue of how census measures were organized in the monastic estates. The main source was the census books of the monasteries of 1701−1703, the bulk of which were preserved in the Monastic Prikaz (Fond 237) of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). The study showed that the census officials sent to the counties worked primarily with documents. They used census books from previous years, collected ‘tales’ (skazki) from peasants about the composition of households in villages and hamlets, payments to monastery clerks and bailiff-monks (poselskie startsy), as well as duties for the benefit of the monastery, etc., seized up-to-date economic records. After that, the scribes conducted a on-site inspection and recorded the data received. It is possible that due to lack of time, the inspections might not be complete. If we compare the census of 1701−1703 and the First Revision of the end of the reign of Peter I, it is evident that in the first case, the verification of data on the dependent population turned out to be less detailed. All this must be taken into account when using the census books of 1701−1703 to analyze the monastic patrimonial economy.
Publishing: 28/04/2026
The article has been received by the editor on 21/01/2026
How to cite: Shamina I.N. On the Organization of the Census in the Monastic Estates in 1701−1703 // Historical Courier, 2026, No. 2 (46), pp. 105−118. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2026/ISTKURIER-2026-2-07.pdf]
Links: Issue 2 2026
Keywords: the church reform of Peter the Great; monastic patrimony; census books of 1701−1703; peasant tales