V.I. FEDOROVA
The collection of diplomas granted by Russian monarchs in the section of ancient manuscripts and documents at the Department of the History of Russian Culture consists of over a hundred documents. The earliest diplomas date back to the middle of the 17th century - the reigns of Tsars Alexey Mikhailovich and his sons Feodor, Ivan and the young Peter I. These titles to inherited estates look like engravings from early printed books. This charter tradition survived until the end of Peter's reign. But the year 1722 saw the establishment of the College of Heralds of Arms, headed by Francisco Santi, which regulated the procedure for granting nobility and other titles with family coats-of-arms and corresponding diplomas and patents.
The collection has a number of charters conferring nobility, Count and Baron titles, military ranks, as well as writs accompanying the awards of orders by all the Russian monarchs from Peter the Great to Nicholas II. Some of them are accomplished works of art and look like albums in velvet printed bindings, with parchment pages richly illuminated in watercolour, gouache and gilding. Some of them have the Grand State Wax Seal encased in metal custody chests.
Among the recipients of titles and honours in our collection are B.P. Sheremetev, A.D. Menshikov, P.B. Lefort, B.A. Latynin, F.Ya. Dubyansky, A.M. Gribovsky, A.I. Vasilyev, A.A. Yurkovsky, S.I. Speransky and others.
