The Origins of Autocracy

In order for the reader more easily to imagine the scope and ten­dency of the reforms of the Government of Compromise, it is nec­essary to remember how the Russian land had been administered previous to it. It was divided into regions called uezdy. Within each uezd

there were two kinds of holdings, administered in completely different ways. The holdings of great landlords—the church and the boyars—were administered as everywhere in medieval Europe: by the holders themselves (they held immunities, called tarkhany). The central regime was essentially powerless to control them, for by tradi­tion its agents "took no part in anything"—that is, did not have the right to interfere either in the courts or in the administration of the landlords. What ruled here was not so much the written law as cus­tomary law, the "old ways." On the other category of lands—those be­longing to peasants and to service gentry—judicial and administra­tive functions were carried out by the agents of the central power, the namestniki

(vicegerents). Sent out from Moscow, usually for a year or two, they kept order and collected taxes with the help of the servants whom they took with them from uezd to uezd.

They were called kormlenshchiki ("people whom it is necessary to feed") because they also had to collect their food (korm

)—that is, maintenance—them­selves; the government paid them nothing. It is not surprising that the most eminent families competed fiercely with each other for these assignments; in a year or two, if they landed in a rich uezd, they could