4 Muscovite Roots, 1462-1689
nsmen. '35 If a man were appointed to a position that he and other rnem-
!rs of his clan considered dishonourable, he would submit a petition to the
ar for redress of grievances, citing the precedents: that he or, more fre-
1ently, a close kinsman (within the last two generations) had served at an
1mvalent or superior ievei to an ancestor of the individual now nominated as
s superior. The plea would be adjudicated, usually with dispatch, either by a
1mmission of boyars or, if the matter were thought important enough, by the
ler in person. A successful plaintiff might be given a different assignment
hich would keep him away from the man whom he had challenged; alterna-
•ely-and this was more common-he would be granted a document called
nevmestnaya gramota certifying that his service in the position assigned was
n to be accounted a precedent. If his plea was rejected, he might be
primanded, committed briefly to prison, or even handed over to the defend-
ll for ritual public shaming, which might well involve a sound beating admin-
:ered by one of the defendant's slaves.^36 Such an apparently humiliating
1tcome was not in itself thought dishonourable: what counted was that one
td stood up for one's correct placing. On the other hand, those who litigated
isuccessfully to excess could expect to do poorly in the matter of official
·eferment.
It was this competition among nobles for relatively scarce offices, with the
estige and material benefits they conferred, that lay at the origin of place-
eking. During Ivan Ill's reign nearly all the surviving apanage principalities
ere absorbed into the Muscovite domain; their rulers had no practical alterna-
1e but to take service with the Grand Prince, and their kinsmen, nobles,
td other retainers followed them to the capital. This put pressure on the
!titled Moscow boyars, who considered that the service their ancestors had
ndered to earlier Muscovite rulers qualified them for favourable consider-
ion vis-a-vis the titled newcomers. Mestnichestvo began with seating arrange-
ents on ceremonial court occasions, which for all their apparent triviality
1d symbolic implications, and from such matters spread to public appoint-
ents as these gradually became distinguished from court assignments. It was
method of keeping tensions within the burgeoning elite at an acceptable
vel; it enabled clans and individuals to ascertain their proper place on the ser-
;;e ladder and in the eyes of the sovereign. It is important to recognize that it
:is not the contestants' rank that was at issue, at least directly: for this was
·nferred by the ruler and belonged to the autocratic prerogative. Nor could
1e have claimed the right to hold (still less to purchase!) a particular office.
·estnichestvo contests were fought over the relative standing of the servitors
question, usually when offices or commands were assigned. At the same
ne, though, appointment to such posts, and meritorious performance of the
nies involved, would normally qualify a man for promotion in rank.
; Crummey, 'Reconstitution', p. 206. 36 Bobrovsky, 'Mesmichestvo', p. 253.