Russia in the 18th century

This article examines the communication between the retired Peter the Great’s Army officers and the Heraldry Office that kept records of the Russian military population in the 18th century. The present study focuses on the nature, causes, place and duration of this intercommunication, the context around it as well as the officers’ abilities to influence the institution’s decisions in order to meet their needs. The main sources employed in the research are the Heraldry’s case book and the “skazkas” of the retired officers, all written in 1727. The methodology is based on the “new history of government” approach which considers the essential characteristics of the work of government agencies, recognizes the importance of everyday clerical work and studies the interaction of men and state as a complex mosaic of diverse interests. The analysed data demonstrates that visits to the Heraldry Office were significant for all the officers. The “skazkas”, which partially served as the basis for extracts, reflect that they tried in every possible way to depict themselves as “old and decrepit” and share that they had suffered many wounds during their military service. In comparison, there are fewer complaints about wounds and more references to valor in earlier “skazkas” collected by the College of War. In a quarter of cases the Heraldry Office staff added information about the officers’ merits to the extracts. Often “skazkas” provided valuable details about the age, literacy, and financial status of the retired person. Although the time limit for completing the case could be different for each officer, predominantly it was 1 month.