Stolnik

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For a related Romanian term, see Stolnic.

Stolnik was a court office in Poland and Muscovy, responsible for serving the royal table.

[edit] Stolnik in Poland

In old-times Poland of the first Piast dukes and kings a court office.

Since the 14th Century an honorable district office in Polish Kingdom and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

  • Stolnik wielki koronny - Great Master of the Pantry of the Crown
  • Stolnik wielki litewski - Great Master of the Pantry of Lithuania
  • Stolnik koronny - Master of the Pantry of the Crown
  • Stolnik litewski - Master of the Pantry of Lithuania
  • Stolnik nadworny koronny - Court Master of the Pantry of the Crown

According to the office hierarchy in 1768, his position in the Crown was over Podczaszy and under the District Judge. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania over Podstoli and under Wojski.

[edit] Stolnik in Muscovy

Stolniks were known as palace servants of the Russian rulers since the 12th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries they were young nobles who brought dishes to the tsar's table, looked after his bedroom, and accompanied him in travels. The highest category comprised the room or closer stolniks.

Stolniks could simultaneously serve in the foreign office or in the army. They were ranked fifth in the hierarchy of Muscovite bureaucracy, after boyars, okolnichys, duma nobles, and duma dyaks.

Stolniks were also attached to episcopal administrations as were other similar offices also found in the grand princely or tsarist administration. For example, stolniks are found in documents from the archiepiscopal records in Novgorod the Great.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ B. D. (Boris Dmitrevich) Grekov, Novgorodskii Dom sviatoi Sofii; opyt izucheniia organizatsii i vnutrennikh otnoshenii krupnoi tserkovnoi votchiny, chast” I (St. Petersburg: M. Aleksandrova, 1914. Reprinted in Izbrannye trudy, vol. 4: 7-436).