S.S. Kushnikov and the property problem in Hotin raia С.С. Кушніков і проблема власності у Хотинській Райї

Abstract

The subject stated above was chosen not by chance, given that it is one less discussed in historiography, and one that we think will arouse interest.
Once the Russo-Turkish war of 1806-1812 began, the Romanian Principalities were quickly occupied by the Russian armies, Moldavia and Muntenia being placed under the administration of a Russian official, who was to supervise the civil administration. Thus, in February 1808, the senator, privy councilor S.S. Kushnikov was appointed as president of the divans of Moldova and Muntenia.
Precisely S.S. Kushnikov, the Senator President of the Divans was supposed to solve, among other things, the problem related to the properties in the Hotin area.
The discovery of new documents from the General Directorate of National Archives of the National Archives Agency allows the significant completion of information related to this issue.
First of all, the structure proposed by the Divan of the Republic of Moldova to the Senator President can be outlined. Then, it can be identified the mechanisms that were to be undertaken, as well as the documents that were to be presented by the owners claiming certain estates. In the initial phase, a good part of the properties in the Hotin district were leased by the state. After the activities carried out, obviously not without legal incidents, however, only those estates that were not claimed by the owners remained for the auction for the purpose of leasing.
Interestingly, apart from the Moldavian boyars, claims to the estates in Hotin were also made by subjects of the Habsburg Empire, obviously Moldavian boyars who were settled in the Chernivtsi region. The monasteries also advanced their claims on the Hotinian localities.
Importantly, all the requests of the old owners contained extracts from documents not only from recent periods, but also summaries of documents issued in the 18th century, and in the 17th centuries and even from the more distant period.
Therefore, the promotion of the information found in the funds of the General Directorate of Archives within the National Agency of Archives, allows to complete the picture of the situation of the Hotin land at the beginning of the 19th century, especially with reference to the issue of the status of properties. Also important is the information that can be extracted from the correspondence between the Divan of the Council of Moldavia and the President Senator of the Divans with reference to the problem of properties, but also the additional information that can be found, for different localities in the territory of Hotin that can complete the history of each of them in part.