Overcoming uncertainty: Moscow merchants’ wealth and inheritance in the second half of the nineteenth century. Olga Pavlenko Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Florence, 29 May 2020 European University Institute Department of History and Civilization Overcoming uncertainty: Moscow merchants’ wealth and inheritance in the second half of the nineteenth century. Olga Pavlenko Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Examining Board Prof. Youssef Cassis, EUI, Supervisor Prof. Andrei Markevich, NES, Moscow, External Advisor Prof. Alexander Etkind, EUI Prof. Tracy Dennison, Caltech © Olga Pavlenko, 2020 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Researcher declaration to accompany the submission of written work Department of History and Civilization - Doctoral Programme I Olga Pavlenko certify that I am the author of the work Overcoming uncertainty: Moscow merchants’ wealth and inheritance in the second half of the nineteenth century. I have presented for examination for the Ph.D. at the European University Institute. I also certify that this is solely my own original work, other than where I have clearly indicated, in this declaration and in the thesis, that it is the work of others. 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Signature and date: 07.05.2020 Abstract In recent years, there has been an explosion of literature about material inequality and the historical linkages between socio-economic disparities and inheritance strategies. These studies mainly focus on Western Europe and North America, while histories of personal wealth in the Russian Empire are underrepresented. My dissertation investigates the role of social stratification and private property rights in the accumulation and redistribution of personal wealth among the Russian urban population. I particularly focus on guild merchants during the second half of the nineteenth century. I have examined this group because merchants straddled social estates (as defined by law), class (as defined by socio-economic activity) and most were successful in the accumulation of personal assets. In investigating the membership books of Moscow guild merchants, last wills, inheritance valuations, wardships, and other sources, I show that guild merchants successfully managed low social and economic appreciation of mercantile agency imposed by the authorities and were able to accumulate wealth. The moderate, yet stable, number of guild merchants was the result of a fledgling internal market rather than ineffective business practices. The proportion of transmitted inheritances to the Gross National Product was low (4 percent), which suggests that inheritances benefitted the lives of urban Muscovites, but only moderately. The social inequality of wealth distribution was high (150 times between honorary citizens and artisans in Moscow in 1892), though between 1888 and 1908 the number of testators in the Russian Empire increased two times and value of transmitted inheritances increased by 12 percent. Excluding guild merchants, the rest of the urban population preferred single universal inheritance transmission. Guild merchants, however, chose more egalitarian, gender-neutral bequeathing patterns which lowered successor’s future income uncertainty. The variations and shifts in bequeathing patterns suggest that the less egalitarian inheritance strategies (embraced by the majority of the urban population) were balanced by higher value inheritances among guild merchants which applied more egalitarian inheritance strategies. As a result, the level of material inequality was likely moderate in comparison to other countries, and the urban population was less destitute than previously described in other studies. Thus, my research contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence and accurate estimations of the levels of personal wealth along social and geographic lines in late Imperial Russia. i Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... i List of abbreviations .................................................................................................... v List of Tables ............................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ........................................................................................................... viii List of Tables in Appendix ...................................................................................... viii Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Russian Guild Merchants: The Legal Framework and Business Demography ............................................................................................................... 26 1.1. European Mercantile Institutions ................................................................ 27 1.2. The Evolution of Russian Mercantile Institutions from the Ninth Century Through 1917 ..................................................................................................... 30 1.2.1. The Ninth Century Through the Mid-Sixteenth Century ......................... 31 1.2.2. The Mid-Sixteenth Century Through the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century ........................................................................................................... 32 1.2.3. The Beginning of the Eighteenth Century Through 1775 ....................... 36 12.4. From 1775 Through 1823 ............................................................................ 40 1.2.5. From 1824 Through 1860 ........................................................................... 45 1.2.6. From 1863 Through 1884 ........................................................................... 47 1.2.7. From 1885 Through 1917 ........................................................................... 50 1.3. The Merchant Myth: The Decline or Balance of Russian Mercantile Institutions ............................................................................................................................ 52 1.4. Russian Guild Merchants by Numbers (1816-1912) ........................................ 58 1.5. The Russian Business Community in the Context of Social Stratification and Urbanisation ........................................................................................................ 61 1.6. Moscow Guild Merchants: Professional Survival and Succession .................. 64 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 72 Chapter 2: Social and Family Demography of Russian Urban Population .......... 74 2.1. The Social Demography of the Russian Urban Population .............................. 74 2.1.1. The age structure of Russian sosloviia ....................................................... 75 2.1.2. Socio-Economic Inequality in Life-Expectancy and Mortality .................. 80 ii 2.2. Merchant Family Demography ..................................................................... 105 2.2.1. State and Family ....................................................................................... 111 2.2.2. Merchant’ Family Life Cycle ................................................................... 116 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 132 Chapter 3: Personal Property Rights in the Russian Empire .............................. 134 3.1. Personal Property Rights ................................................................................ 137 3.1.1. Patrimonial Landed Property .................................................................... 137 3.1.2. Urban Residential and Commercial Property ........................................... 144 3.1.3. Women Property Rights ........................................................................... 152 3.1.4. Social Meaning of Property ...................................................................... 156 3.2. Property Transfer Without Consideration ...................................................... 159 3.2.1. Russian Legal Regulations of Property Transfer through Inheritance, and Gifts Inter Vivos. ......................................................................................... 162 3.2.2. How Free was Free? State Control and Moral Responsibility