Nests of the gentry: Family, estate and local loyalties in provincial Tver', 1820-1860.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the domestic ideals and local commitments of the wealthier, literate, provincial gentry in Tver' province from 1820 to 1860. During this period, the small group of the wealthier gentry resident in Tver' province articulated a deep loyalty to provincial life, centering on the family but extending to estates, peasants and neighborhood gentry society. I examine the ideals of family life, of property ownership and serfowning, of estate management, and of local social interactions. Wealthy and literate proprietors saw their commitment to the provinces as an active choice and believed the provinces had benefits that amply compensated for estrangement from the society, culture and luxuries of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Although the gentry travelled to Moscow and St. Petersburg and maintained connections there, they created, maintained and celebrated the primary bonds of their lives on their family estates. The foundation of gentry life in Tver' was personalized relations, expressed within the family, in estate management, in charity and other provincial affairs. An idealized domesticity structured family relationships, while theories of justice based on those relationships governed the division of family property. Obscuring the inequalities and injustice of rural life, paternalism provided the basis for claims that serfdom rested on the personal connections and mutual obligations of proprietor and peasant. Even when they applied rationalist concepts to the management of their estates, the wealthier gentry connected them to the network of personal relationships that structured provincial life. Proponents of scientific agriculture argued for the introduction of agronomic techniques but also emphasized the moral superiority of serfdom, basing their arguments on the personal responsibility of proprietors to improve the well-being of their serfs. Patterns of charity and political activity suggest that personal, as well as local, connections superseded a common gentry identity based on province and soslovie.