Расійскія праекты "разбору” шляхты беларуска-літоўскіх губерняў у 1823–1831 гг

ENThe article presents how the projects of dividing the nobility in the Belarusian-Lithuanian governorates – drawn up by the ruling elites of the Russian Empire in 1823–31 – and it s social and legal status evolved. For the first time in historiography, the author of the paper analyses the projects developed in that period and provides convincing evidence for the growing interest in creating a project for the "division" of the nobility o n the part of the government in the last years of Alexander I’s rule. Initially, Nikolay Nikolayevich Khovansky, the Belarusian Governorate-General, was the chief person behind its conception. The article shows the long- drawn-out process of evaluating the projects submitted by the Russian state apparatus; it presents the decision-making mechanisms; traces the evolution and succession of civil servants’ attitudes towards the nobility in the Belarusian-Lithuanian governorates. It also shows the role of individual civil servants in preparing the projects for "dividing" the nobility, and analyzes the projects themselves. The author comes to the conclusion that the decree (ukase) of the 19 October 1831 "On dividing and organizing the nobility in the western governorates" was based on the projects developed in 1823–31.