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SOCIAL WELL-BEING, LIFESTYLE AND ETIQUETTE OF THE

RUSSIAN NOBILITY OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH — THE
FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURIES

N.S. Forazheva
Department of the Second Foreign
Language State Academy of Slavic Culture st.
Geroev Panfilovtsev, 39, bldg. 2, Moscow, Russia, 125373

The article deals with the process of cultural and historical formation of a certain lifestyle of
representatives of the Russian nobility in the second half of the 18th — the first half of the 19th
centuries. The author pays attention to both internal and external political, ideological and cultural
factors that influenced the social well-being and ethical system of values of the Russian nobility.
Ethical principles have received external expression in the rules of conduct and the culture of
communication.

Against the background of the current cultural situation, when a passive and
limited personality modeled by mass culture, sometimes devoid of any ideas about the
basic moral principles and achievements of the culture of the past, comes to the fore,
scientific research devoted to restoring the continuity of the cultural flow is becoming
most relevant. In the context of the presented problem, a special place is occupied by
the theme of returning to many of the best cultural and historical traditions of bygone
eras.
The study of the features and the very process of inheriting the traditions of
Russian society makes it necessary to turn to the study of the history of the culture of
the Russian nobility of the period of its heyday (the second half of the 18th - the first
half of the 19th centuries), among the best representatives of which such important
concepts as ethics were supported and developed. , etiquette, sense of style and tact,
ideas about the honor and dignity of the individual. Unfortunately, in the 20th century,
the topic related to the study of the culture of the Russian nobility remained closed for
many decades. Hence the countless and irreplaceable losses.

Turning to the prehistory of the period under consideration, one cannot fail to
recall that the 18th century was a time of extremely explosive processes in the historical
development of Russia and other states, a time of amazing destinies. Science and art
begin to develop. “It seemed that Russia was immediately knocked out of its well-worn
historical track onto some new path. The outward appearance of a Russian person
changed: boyar beards fell under the royal scissors, long-brimmed caftans were
replaced by German camisoles. The Russian man was imprisoned close to the German
book, from which he had to learn many new sciences necessary for military affairs and
civil administration” (1).
For the construction of a new state, officers for the army and navy, officials and
diplomats, administrators and engineers, scientists were urgently needed - all of them
were mainly drawn from the nobility. This time is characteristic

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It is also borne out by the fact that many talented people from other classes are pouring
into the environment of the nobility. For various merits, they received noble dignity, and
with it large land holdings, ranks, titles, the orders of Menshikov, Chernyshev, Demidov,
Stroganov, Goncharov and others, which undoubtedly annoyed the ancient noble
families. The psychology of the service class became the foundation of the self-
consciousness of the nobleman of the 18th century. Participation in education and
public service was elevated to the rank of an indispensable patriotic duty of the nobility
(2). In the second half of the XVIII century. Catherine II continues to rely in her policy
on the nobles, generously distributing land to them in the South and the Volga
region, especially those who contributed to her coming to power were rewarded. The
economic independence of the nobility, almost free labor force, including serf masters,
artists, architects, made it possible to build estates in accordance with the tastes and
interests of their owners. The “Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility” (1762) also
contributed to this, which allowed the nobles to serve without leaving the estates, which
gave them the opportunity to continuously engage in farming. The Letter of Complaint
to the Nobility (1785) increased the economic and political rights and privileges of the
noble landowners. They were assigned the right to own land and serfs and were allowed
to organize auctions and fairs on their estates and start manufacturing enterprises. One
way or another, the proclaimed possibility of resignation expanded the private sphere
and stimulated the emergence of the figure of a private person (3).

However, it must be remembered that the history of the social and ethical
development of Russian noble culture can be viewed from two positions: as an internal
development and as a result of various external influences. In our case, none of these
processes can be considered separately, since this can lead to a distortion of the whole
picture of the entire phenomenon. Moreover, as history shows, the intersection of
different philosophical, cultural, social systems sometimes gives completely unexpected
results.
In the 18th century, from the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, Russian noble culture
began to be strongly influenced by French culture, the French language, and, most
importantly, French ideology. In turn, Catherine II, trying to pass for an enlightened
empress, offers to transfer to St. Petersburg the publication of the famous Encyclopedia,
persecuted in France. The ideas of the French Enlightenment began to penetrate
Russian soil. Diderot and d'Alembert receive an invitation from the Empress to visit the
Russian capital. And from 1763, the empress began a lively correspondence with
Voltaire, which continued until the latter's death in 1778.

Do not lag behind the queen and her entourage. Count A.P. also succeeded in
this. Shuvalov, to whom Voltaire dedicated his tragedy Olympia, and D.A. Golitsyn, who
financed the printing of Helvetius's work "On Man", banned in France, in The Hague,
and Count G. Orlov, and Kirill Razumovsky, who invited Jean Jacques Rousseau, who
had been expelled from France, to Russia.

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But, it should be noted that “French influence (although in many respects

superficial) embraced not only the very top of the ruling classes in Russia. It was much
wider. Small local nobles, officials, many educated people of the country got acquainted
with the spiritual life of France. A number of works by French writers, which appeared
on the eve of the revolution of 1789, penetrated into Russia in translation or in manuscript
versions” (4). The Great French Revolution broke out, but its events were not perceived
unambiguously in various strata of Russian society. For example, Etienne Dumont,
pastor of the Reformed Church in St. Petersburg, testifies that many young people
expressed "their sympathy for the revolution," for many it "turned their heads," and
"human rights became a universal catechism." And even among the "nobles, important
landlords" there were supporters of radical reforms who supported the French "system
with all extremes" (5). On the other hand, A.R. Vorontsov in the summer of 1791, in his
note on the French Revolution, wrote to Count A.A. Bezborodko that if the form of
government based on the principles of “imaginary equality” is established in France,
then this will lead to disastrous consequences in other states, with the only difference
being that in some earlier, and in others later ( 6).

Bloody events in France at the end of the 18th century. shocked many Russian
thinkers of that time, echoed in the minds and remained in the memory of both
contemporaries and descendants. Already in 1844, V.F. Odoevsky wrote: “Remember
the French Revolution; people rose up against oppression, against despotism, as they
called it - rivers of blood were shed; and, finally, the dreams of Rousseau and Voltaire
came true; people, to the greatest pleasure, have achieved republican forms, and with
them - to Robespierre and other gentlemen of the same sort, who, under the protection
of the same forms, have shown in deeds, and not in words, what oppression and
barbarism mean "( 7). At the same time, the French events were not only events of
someone else's history; the experience of the Great French Revolution was invariably
applied by Russian thinkers to the fate of Russia.
Despite everything, the French influence continued to spread among the Russian
nobility. And the point is not even that at the end of the 18th and practically throughout
the 19th century, the French language becomes everywhere the language of
communication of secular society, not in the enthusiasm for French culture and French
fashions, although all this undoubtedly took place, but that French influence is beginning
to take on yet another form, the form of borrowing various ideas concerning social
organization, as well as ideas of a religious nature. Many of them penetrated Russian
soil thanks to the foreign travel of Russian nobles and the efforts of French educators
and teachers who came to Russia. After the Patriotic War of 1812, on the wave of
patriotism, there was a decline in interest in everything French. Some noblemen, for
patriotic reasons, excluded the French language from their speech in principle, but
the French influence could not be completely expunged from Russian life, moreover

many did not want to do this.

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In addition to some negative aspects, the influence of the West also had many
positive aspects for the Russian privileged class. Thanks to the reforms carried out,
focused on the Western type of civilization, in the XVIII century. Russia begins to take
shape as a European power. Under the influence of reforms, new behavioral guidelines
are emerging. Moreover, the samples of the culture of behavior and communication
are formed precisely among the nobility. There is a cultural synthesis here. New moral
positions have been added to the primordial moral concepts developed by previous
centuries, such as reverence for God, respect and reverence for age, generosity, social
status, modesty: self-respect based on inner dignity and honor, courtesy, gratitude,
decency, respect for a woman (8). Due to its proximity to the supreme power and being
especially significant on the scales of politics, the nobility was called upon to become
a model to follow in the eyes of representatives of the rest of the estates of the
Russian Empire. The Russian historian of the late 19th century I. Porai-Koshish notes
on this occasion: “The social position of the nobility is determined not by one of its
external sides - its name, titles, ranks, and the performance of official duties, but by an
internal side, essential precisely by the fact that it is an aristocracy in the exact sense
of the word, i.e. progressive system of the best, most developed people in the state, so
that it would be the leader of its compatriots, ready for a great civic feat to sacrifice
their time and their work when it comes to public interests, to help the Motherland and
a good example, and advice and deed” (9). The rational scheme of the hierarchy of
social and moral values, which substantiated such a belief, remained relevant in the
18th century. Then it was replaced by more complex concepts of the social structure,
and the postulate of the nobleman's moral height was gradually transformed into a
purely ethical requirement: "To whom much is given, much will be asked" (10).

Noble honor was considered perhaps the most important class virtue. “For a
person of the noble avant-garde, following the dictates of high duty was predetermined
by the concept of honor, and the awareness of duty, in turn, formed this concept” (11).
Being the basic law of the behavior of a nobleman, honor unconditionally prevailed
over other considerations such as profit, success, and even security. At any moment,
a representative of the nobility could be forced to defend his honor with weapons in his
hands. At the same time, going to a duel, a nobleman was ready to fight not only for
his reputation, that is, for the honest name of a private person, he stood up for the
dignity of a person who was in a certain public position, defended his right to belong to
a privileged social organization.

After the manifesto of 1762, the requirement of compulsory service acquired the
status of a moral law and for a long time was not questioned by many people belonging
to different circles of the nobility. Even a nobleman who was not in the public service
was forced to deal with the affairs of his estate and his peasants. As one of Pushkin's
heroes notes: “The title of a landowner is the same service. Manage three thousand

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souls, whose entire well-being depends entirely on us, is more important than
commanding a platoon or copying diplomatic dispatches” (12).
Most of the nobles of the middle class, who spent the winter months in Moscow,
St. Petersburg or large provincial cities, in the summer they definitely ran into the
village, to their estates. In the bosom of nature, in the family circle, one could forget
about a hundred personal fuss, relax. It did not require particularly strict observance of
secular etiquette, but ethical principles remained unchanged.
In the process of interaction and communication between landowners and their serfs, servants
mi came to the surface and became obvious both positive and negative moral qualities
of the inhabitants of the master's house. On the one hand, class differences created a
socio-psychological barrier between the owners of the estate and the peasants, which
often led to numerous conflicts, unfair treatment of serfs, peasant riots, and on the other
hand, the landowners were always very close to the peasantry, lived next to it, knew it
Problems.

For many nobles, the estate became the "first university". Here, surrounded by the
love of parents and loved ones, a noble child received initial knowledge and moral
principles. In many noble families, parents and numerous family members by personal
example influenced the formation of the way of thinking and the formation of the
character of a young man. “Noble education is, first of all, a lifestyle strictly established
by the older generation” (13). This refers to the style of behavior that was acquired
partly consciously, partly unconsciously under the influence of habit and imitation. This
is not about any theoretical prescriptions, but about a tradition that did not lend itself to
discussion and which they tried to observe strictly. “The rules of good manners were by
no means limited to a set of recommendations such as which hand to hold the fork in,
when to take off the hat, etc. Of course, noble children were also taught this, but a truly
good upbringing was based on a number of ethical postulates that had to be
implemented through appropriate external forms of behavior” (14). Ethical principles
found their expression in everyday life, behavior and culture of communication.

The basic rules of etiquette, first of all, were the ability to behave with dignity and
naturally in any situation, the ability to communicate on an equal footing with both
superior people and those who are much lower in social status, as well as the ability to
hide one’s thoughts and feelings from strangers. .
The inner world was not to be exposed to uninvited witnesses. Both strong joys
and strong sorrows could not burden the
scolding.
In addition to the basic moral principles instilled from early childhood,
Wok and rules of conduct The development of the ethical principle of the Russian
nobleman also largely contributed to the desire for constant self-education and self-
improvement. The principle of self-improvement became fundamental for a fairly large
category of educated Russian nobles. "Resurrection

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to nurture oneself means to subordinate one's will, as the main strength of a person,
to pure moral rules for pure purposes, or, in other words, means to receive from an
early age a direction towards the assimilation of justice, honesty and kindness, i.e.
such personal qualities which constitute the essential condition of a good man" (15).
We came to the conclusion that the special social well-being of the Russian nobility
in the second half of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. formed post

foam under the influence of numerous socio-political and ideological

factors and cultural processes that took place within the country and abroad. The
first should include the difficult process of the formation of the Russian Empire in
the 18th century and the formation of a single noble class, which included in its
ranks both representatives of the old nobility and people from other classes who
received the title of nobility for special services to the Fatherland. The abolition of
compulsory civil service at the legislative level became an incentive for the free self-
determination of the Russian nobleman, and the status of a single estate organization
caused the emergence of a new corporate ethics that consolidated the social
positions of the nobility.
The ethical attitudes of the Russian nobleman were largely formed under the
ideological and religious-philosophical influence of French culture, which sometimes
led to the transformation of some Russian traditional values. These ket became an
external manifestation of the ethical principles of the Russian nobility. Good manners
in society and a special art of communication, suggesting restraint of feelings and,
at the same time, free treatment of people of different social status were instilled in
noble children from a very early age and, later, within the framework of hereditary
tradition, were passed on to the next generations of the noble family. families. Thus,
in the indissoluble unity of ethical and etiquette principles

the style of life of the Russian nobility of the second half of the 18th - first half of
the 19th centuries gradually took shape historically.
NOTES
(1) Kizevetter A.A. Russian society in the eighteenth century. — Rostov-n-D,
1904. - S. 8.
(2) Marasinova E.N. Liberty of the Russian nobility (Manifesto of Peter III and estate legislation of Catherine
II) // Patriotic history. - 2007. - No. 4. - P. 23. (3) Ibid. — P. 31. (4) Itenberg B.S. Russia and the Great
French Revolution. - M., 1998. - P. 9. (5) Etienne Dumont's diary about his arrival in Russia in 1803 // Voice of
the Past. —

1913. - No. 2. - S. 153.

(6) Itenberg B.S. Russia and the Great French Revolution. — P. 15. (7) Odoevsky
V.F. Russian nights. - L., 1975. - S. 145. (8) Kurochkina I.N. Formation and
development of Russian etiquette in the second half
18th century - M., 1998. - S. 3.
(9) Poray-Koshits I. History of the Russian nobility from the 9th to the end of the 18th century. - St. Petersburg,
1900. Reprint edition. - M., 2003. - P. 34. (10) Muravyova
O.S. How a Russian nobleman was brought up. - SPb., 2001. - S. 31.

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(11) Gordin Ya.A. Duels and duelists. Ed. 2nd. - SPb., 2002. - S. 20. (12)
Pushkin A.S. A novel in letters // Collected works. op. in 10 vols. - M., 1975. - T. 5. - S. 412.
(13) Zakharova O.Yu. Secular ceremonials in Russia in the 18th - early 19th centuries. - M., 2003. -
S. 75.
(14) Muravieva O.S. How a Russian nobleman was brought up. - P. 88.
(15) Poray-Koshits I. History of the Russian nobility ... - P. 36.

SOCIAL WELL(BEING, LIFESTYLE)

AND ETIQUETTE OF THE RUSSIAN NOBILITY
IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 18th CENTURY —
THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

NS Furazheva
Department of Second Foreign Language
State Academy of Slavic Culture
Geroev Panphilovtsev Str., 39, korpus 2, Moscow, Russia, 125373

The article deals with the process of cultural and historical formation of the particular lifestyle of the Russian upper class
representatives in the second half of the 18th century — the first half of the 19th century. The author pays attention to the internal
and external political, ideological and cultural factors which affected the social well-being and ethical value system of the Russian
nobility. The ethical principles found external expression in the rules of polite behavior and culture of communication in society.