The Malorussian Elite Integration into Russian Power Structures in the late-Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract

This article examines the ways the representatives of the Malorussian starshyna entered the political elite of Russia in the late-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which included methods such as the conclusion of marriage unions, amanatstvo and hostage-taking in general, and the recruitment of clergy and graduates of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. The article presents an analysis of the similarities and differences in the Russian authorities’ policy towards Malorussia and the eastern outskirts of the Empire and the most promising integration strategies are identified. The most important vector of “Ukrainian influence” should be considered the recruitment of black clergy (monks, hegumens, and archimandrites of the Kiev Metropolitanate) by furthering their career growth. The integration of the Malorussian political elite into the power structures of Russia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was dictated, on the one hand, by the integration and unification trends within the empire: the state specified the scope, direction, and methods of starshyna incorporation, defining the magnitude of permissible social and political changes in the country. On the other hand, this process was supported by a high level of class competition, differentiation, and stratification within the Cossack starshyna.