Raznochintsy (Russian: разночинцы; Russian pronunciation: [rəznɐˈtɕintsɨ]; literally "people of miscellaneous ranks") was an official term introduced in the Code of Law of the Russian Empire in the 17th century to define a social estate that included the lower court and governmental ranks, children of personal dvoryans , and discharged military, The category of raznochintsy grew significantly during the massive trimming down of the category of "servicemen" ( ru:служилые люди) in the second half of the 17th century. Raznochintsy were of taxable estate, i.e., those who had to pay poll tax (подушная подать). In the mid-18th century the category was abolished, and a significant part of raznochintsy were transferred into peasantry, but many became merchants and various urban categories (urban sosloviya ). As a result, raznochintsy of 17th-18th centuries significantly contributed to the urban growth in Siberia

Later, in the common speech the term acquired a somewhat opposite meaning: raznochintsy became to denote persons of non-noble origin who due to their education were excluded from the taxable status and could apply for the status of personal distinguished citizenship (личное почетное гражданство).

A significant number of Russian intelligentsia of the 19th century were raznochintsy.


This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Raznochintsy, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.