Komnatnye stol'niki of Peter the Great: reconstruction of the group and prosopography

The reconstruction of the personal staff of Komnatnye stol 'niki (or spal 'niki) at the end of the Great Northern war of 1700-1721 is proposed for the first time in the historiography. Based on the published and archive massive historical sources, the author clarifies the mechanism of replenishment of Komnatnye stol'niki after 1680s, the process of their recruiting for different types of service, characteristics of official practices and the role of Komnatnye stol'niki in Peter's reforms. Based on the representative sample of data, the average age of Komnatnye stol'niki and their literacy rate are determined according to the skazky of 1720-1722. The author states that the rank of Komnatnye stol'niki remained after the adoption of the "Table of ranks" in terms of official status and self-identification of its owners but was in fact differentiated into two parts: "regular" and "traditional" ones. Military service became the dominant duty for the court ranks (dvortsovye chiny), as well as for the Muscovite ranks. Some spal 'niki were used in the voivode governance with different orders outside the capital. The participants of the Great Embassy of Peter I had more diverse service practices than spal'niki who missed the foreign study. The court service for them in the 18th century was more closed than it was in the 17th century.