Okolnichy

Okolnichy (Russian: око́льничий, IPA: [ɐˈkolʲnʲɪtɕɪj]) was an old Russian court official position. According to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, directives on the position of okolnichy date back to the 14th century. Judging by the Russian records from the 16th and 17th centuries, okolnichy were entrusted with the same business in administration as boyars, with the only difference that they were placed second to boyars everywhere. While lower than boyars, it was one of the highest ranks (or positions) close to the tsar¹ in the courts of the Moscow rulers until the government reform undertaken by Peter the Great.

The word is derived from the Russian word окoлo (okolo) meaning 'close, near', in this case 'sitting close to the Tsar'. In the mid-16th century the role became second (subordinate) to boyars.²

The duties of the first known okolnichies included arranging the travel and quarters of grand princes and tsars, as well as accommodating foreign ambassadors and presenting them to the court.

Okolnichies had a seat in prikazes, were appointed as namestniks and voivodes, served as diplomatic envoys and members of the tsar's council (duma).

Initially the rank of okolnichy was the second highest after that of boyar, while often they performed similar duties. According to the system of mestnichestvo, a person could not be made a boyar unless someone else in his family had recently held the boyar/okolnichy rank. Consequently, a position of okolnichy was a step towards granting the boyar rank to a non-noble. Even Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, though a Rurikid knyaz by birth and the "Saviour of the Motherland" by royal mercy, could not secure a position higher than okolnichy, because neither his parents nor uncles had ever held a rank higher than stolnik.

Under the Romanovs, the 18 noblest families of Tsardom of Russia were given the privilege of starting their official career from the rank of okolnichy, skipping all the lower ranks, such as stolnik. At the same period, the positions of okolnichy were differentiated and some of them (quarters okolnichy or close okolnichy) were of higher rank than that of non-close boyars. The terms derive from a semi-formal ranking based on the proximity to the tsar at the tsar's table.