Namestnik was an office position in the history of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Its literal translation would be "deputy", "lieutenant" (the broader sense of that word) or literarly
in place appointeeAn appointee may be one of the following:*A member who is appointed to a position or office is called an appointee. In law, such a term is applied to one who is granted power of appointment of property....
. The term has two periods of usage, with different meanings.
In the 12th–16th centuries,
namestniks (more correctly
knyazKniaz’, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
namestniks, or "knyaz deputies") were in charge of local administration.
Namestnik was an office position in the history of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Its literal translation would be "deputy", "lieutenant" (the broader sense of that word) or literarly
in place appointeeAn appointee may be one of the following:*A member who is appointed to a position or office is called an appointee. In law, such a term is applied to one who is granted power of appointment of property....
. The term has two periods of usage, with different meanings.
History
In the 12th–16th centuries,
namestniks (more correctly
knyazKniaz’, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
namestniks, or "knyaz deputies") were in charge of local administration. In particular, they ruled
uyezdUyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, and Russian Empire used from the 13th century, originally describing groups of several volosts formed around the most important cities...
s.
The
Archbishop of NovgorodThe Archbishop of Novgorod is the head of the eparchy of Novgorod the Great and is one of the oldest offices in the Russian Orthodox Church. The archbishops have, in fact, been among the most important figures in medieval Russian history and culture and their successors continued to play...
also appointed namestniks, which in this case might be more properly translated as "
vicarIn the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant, literally the "place-holder"...
". Seals of the archbishop's namestnik found in excavations at
Staraya LadogaStaraya Ladoga , or the Aldeigjuborg of Norse sagas, is a village in the Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga. The village used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries...
made Valentin Ianin conclude that the archbishops ran that town through their namestnik. Chronicle accounts also mention the archbishops' namestniks several times.
In the 18th–20th centuries, a namestnik was a person in charge of
namestnichestvo, with
plenipotentiaryThe word plenipotentiary has two meanings.As a noun, it refers to a person who has "full powers"...
powers. The latter has traditionally been translated as viceroyalty and "namestnik" as
viceroyA viceroy is a royal official who runs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. His province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty. The relative...
or
vicegerentVicegerent is the official administrative deputy of a ruler or head of state: vice + gerere .-Notable vicegerents:*Thomas Cromwell, Vicegerent of Henry VIII, appointed 1535.*The Byzantine Emperors held as a title "God's Vicegerent on Earth"....
(or, as a common blunder, "viceregent"). For example,
Mikhail VorontsovPrince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov , was a Russian prince and field-marshal, renowned for his success in the Napoleonic wars, and most famous for leading the Russian invasion of the Caucasus from 1844 to 1853....
was namestnik of
BessarabiaBessarabia is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west...
(1823-44) and of the
CaucasusThe Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region between at the border of Europe and Asia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including Europe's highest mountain ....
(1844-1854). Sometimes the term is confused with Governor General (генерал-губернатор). For example, during Vorontsov's term of office in Bessarabia, seven governor-generals were in, and at the same time he held the office of Governor General of New Russia.