The motive of the citizenship of the provincial nobility late XVIII - beginning XIX centuries (on the material of "Day notes" by Peter Oznobishin)

In this article, the authors come to the conclusion that the "Daily Notes" by Pyotr Oznobishin, which they are examining, only at first glance represent a set of disparate notes: notes from day to day according to the same scenario. But the theory of the text shows that the "Notes" represent a certain meaningful integrity, with all the diversity of facts, phenomena, remarks, but all this is consolidated by the image of the author-narrator. "Notes" secretly, latently, but convey the atmosphere of the Pavlovian era: we feel the threshold of the historical transition from the "eighteenth" century to the Alexander era. Brought up in an enlightened, albeit provincial noble environment, Pyotr Nikanorovich is able, if not to understand, then to feel the "change of milestones." At the same time, he has a fairly wide outlook: due to the peculiarities of the service, he moves up and down the Volga from city to city, from Kazan to Astrakhan. The “breakthrough man” is especially experiencing a change of milestones, providing a crossroads of cultures. And about this we are told not only by synopsis, stories, literary texts ..., but also diaries, memoirs, and in this case "Notes" clearly reflect the era of breakdown: historical facts are submitted through a "living" witness of the breakdown. History is comprehended not only by “out-of-the-box” personalities, as M.N. Virolainen, but also by such ordinary, ordinary people as P.N. Oznobishin. In addition, the authors polemicize with the Polish researcher Eliza Malek, who argued that "despite all the efforts of the writers and the authorities, the noblemen's withdrawal from the service of the state was 'rampant'." Long-term studies of the authors show that some part of the Russian nobility, mainly of the capital, aspired to be in "idleness and festivity, ... gravitated to all types of play and fun", but the absolute majority of both the capital, and especially the provincial nobility, served on military and civil service. And this is a vivid confirmation of the huge family of the Penza-Simbirsk nobles of the Oznobishins. Particular interest "Day Notes" by P.N. Oznobishin is presented for specialists due to the fact that this is a purely archival material and is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time by us.