On the Administrative and Ecclesiastical Subordination of the Yaik Cossack Host from Its Foundation to the Mid-1720s

Abstract

The article examines the problem of the Yaik troop’s subordination from its foundation up to the Petrine reforms. The Cossacks communicated with the central authorities through the Don host, sending their own stanitsas to the capital, at the same time they could also receive orders for military service from Astrakhan. According to the surviving legislative acts, the Yaitsky host was managed by the Kazan Palace Order until 1680, when it was transferred to the control of the Kazan Governorate in 1708. The documents of the late 17th century indicate that the Yaik troop territory was under the jurisdiction of the bishops of the Kazan and Sviyazhsk dioceses, as evidenced by references to the priests who were sent to Yaik, as well as by references to the first known investigation into the spread of Old Believers. The late 1710s and early 1720s became a time of determining the further subordination of the Yaik host. For some reason, the central authorities could not decide to which department the cossacks were subordinate to, and during several years they were transferred to the Astrakhan Governorate, then to the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, and finally to the Military Collegium. These events demonstrated the Senate’s lack of knowledge about the situation and condition of the South Ural and Volga regions, as well as the cossacks’ high level of autonomy. The transfer of the latter to the Military Collegium by decree of March 3, 1721, marked the beginning of the gradual loss of independence by the host. Two years later, in 1723, starshyns officers and atamans would be approved in the capital.