Dukes Paul. Catherine the Great and the Russian Nobility: A Study Based on the Materials of the Legislative Commission of 1767

Cambridge University Press, 2008. — xi, 269 p. — ISBN: 978-0-521-04858-3.Russian Society in the eighteenth century was dominated by the nobility. This class made large contribution to secular culture and played a role of vital importance in the government, the armed forces and the economic life of Russia. Dr Dukes has based his study on the materials of Catherine the Great's Legislative Commission of 1767. Despite the existence it print since the late nineteenth century of a vast amount of source material in the form of records of this Commission, it has been little explored by western historians. The author begins with a description of noble society before the Commission and of the general situation in Russia before the beginning of Catherine's reign. He constructs a clear, analytical picture of the attitude of the nobility to the chief questions of the day.Crown and nobility in Russia before 1762
Services and privileges
Serfdom and the economy
Government and society
Education and culture
Peter III, Catherine II and the nobility
Peter Ill’s emancipation manifesto
Catherine II and her policy
The elections to the Legislative Commission
The opening and agenda
Serfdom and the economy
The economic content of the instruction
Contemporary ideas on the economy
Catherine’s early economic policy
The Legislative Commission and the economy
Social and political attitudes
Qualifications for nobility
Noble rights and privileges
Local government and class organization
Central government and the role of the nobility
Education and culture
Official views of education
Education at the Legislative Commission
The Church
Russian culture
Catherine the Great and the Russian nobility
The significance of the Legislative Commission
The decrees of 1775 and 1785
Serfdom and the economy
Government and society
Education and culture