Moscow's Men on Horseback 35
'The dominant bureaucratic organization in early modern Russia',^82 the
Razryad still awaits its historian. Its archive has yet to be thoroughly surveyed,
and it is only in recent years that some of its most important records, the ser-
vice becks {razr;·adr.yc kr.igi}, have been pub~ishcd in scho:a1ly cdiiiuu~. ~~ Tin;
bland title of this powerful institution is in itself indicative: razryad means no
more than 'category', and the office's chief function was indeed to categorize
the privileged servitors in regard to their duties and rewards. These lists, called
razryady, which are known to have existed from the 1470s, subsequently gave
their name to the office which compiled them. It was not called the Military
Service chancellery, as one might have expected, since most of the tsar's sub-
jects, not just the nobles, were engaged in military or military-related service
of some kind. The convenient English translation 'Military chancellery'
obscures the fact that besides the Razryad there were other central offices con-
cerned with military affairs (musketeers, new-model forces, foreigners etc.).
Until the late seventeenth century these were independent bodies-e,·idently
because it was thought politically unwise to concentrate too much armed force
in the hands of a single individual; although it is also true that the Razryad
acquired a general supervisory role, notably in war-time.8^4
Its institutional life began at least three decades before 1566, when it is
known to have had separate premises (izba). The conflict with Lithuania in
1512-22 enhanced the role of the razryadnye dyaki (secretaries), who were
already well-known figures in Moscow public life.^85 As a rule there were three
(later four) of them-an unusual feature, since most chancelleries were headed
by a member of one of the top two ranks. The reason for this exception was
that precedence-conscious senior servitors would not readily have accepted
orders issued by a social equal, whereas secretaries were seen as executants of
the monarchical will. They were indeed guardians of the interests of the central
vlast ·, despite the fact that they owned land and led lives much like those of
other metropolitan noblemen (d'yak was a rank as well as an office). The
Razryad chiefs also had a voice in the Duma.^86 They tended to serve for
a lengthy time-span, which made for continuity and may have given them
a more professional approach to their duties. In Russia, as in most other Euro-
pean countries, it was the military administration which led the way in the
'rationalization' of government. The Razryad had eight-later ten-depart-
ments, called 'desks' (stoly), which were arranged systematically according to
functional and territorial criteria;^87 it was also the first chancellery to order its
82 Brown, 'Muse. Bureaux', p. 89; cf. Brix, Geschichte, p. 78: 'the whole realm was sub-
ordinate to it so far as service was concerned'.
83 RK; see also Buganov's articles, esp. 'K izucheniyu', '"Gos. razryad'", 'Obzor spiskov',
'Sokr. redasktsiya', etc.
84 Brix, Geschichte, pp. 323-4; Brown, 'Muse. Bureaux', pp. 21, 89.
81 Leont"yev, Obrazovaniye, pp. 78-85; Zimin (Reformy, p. I05) holds to the view generally
shared earlier that the Razryad was not formed until the 1550s.
86 Crummey, 'Reconstitution', p. 204; Demidova, 'Gos. apparat', p. 125.
87 Kalinychev, Prav. voprosy, pp. 95-7.