Unknown Table of Ranks

The Table of Ranks of 1722 for the first time fixed the system of state ranks for the Russian Empire. Since that time, numerous works have been published on this historical document, yet many contain inaccuracies and errors, which determined the relevance of the chosen topic. The majority of researchers cite the Table of Ranks as referenced in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. The present study sets out to achieve the following objectives: first, to study as many variants of the Table of Ranks as possible; second, to group these variants according to their distinctive features; third, to classify the various types of the Table of Ranks; and fourth, to determine which variant was included in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. To this end, the author consulted over 20 copies of the Table in the leading libraries of the country, including the Russian State Library, the Russian National Library, the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the State Public Historical Library of Russia. The result of this research is what is believed to be the most complete description to date of the surviving versions of the Table of Ranks of 1722. The author assigned an identification number to each copy studied, systematized all bibliographic descriptions of the surviving copies of the Table of Ranks, identified errors and inaccuracies, and clarified the classifi cation by bibliographic principle and printing technique. The author also investigated the internal structure of the Table of Ranks in all printed versions before its inclusion in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire; described common orthographic and compositional features in different editions, and developed his classification according to the structural principle, within which three groups are distinguished: 1. Peter’s classical Table of Ranks without the rank of archiater in the fifth grade, 2. the classical one with the rank of archiater in the fifth grade, 3. the non-canonical Table of Ranks (with the rank of archiater, but with discrepancies in other ranks). As a result of the analysis, it was proven that the Complete Collection of Laws of 1830 included a version of the Table from the second group of the described classification.