In Russian history, Mestnichesvo (Russian: Местничество - Mestnichestvo) was a feudal hierarchical system in Russia from 15th till the 17th century. The name comes from "Место" (Mesto - place) in Russian. Mestnichestvo was revolving around a simple principle: the boyar who estimated that his origins were more ancient and his personal services to the tsar more valuable could claim a higher state post. This often led to disputes among nobles about their ancestry and their services to the monarch. Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum, itself borrowed from a Germanic root *fehu, a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held under certain obligations by feodati. ... A hierarchy (in Greek hieros = sacred, arkho = rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things. ... A boyar (also spelled bojar) or bolyarin was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Russian, Romanian and Bulgarian aristocracy, second only to the ruling princes, from the tenth through the seventeenth century. ... Monomakhs Cap symbol of Russian autocracy, the crown of Russian grand princes and tsars Czar and tzar redirect here. ... Look up monarch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Because of the mestnichestvo, otherwise qualified people who could not boast a sufficiently extended ancestry had no hope of getting an important state post. On the other hand, a boyar from an old and respected families could get an important promotion even if his personal qualities were not up to it. A boyar (also spelled bojar) or bolyarin was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Russian, Romanian and Bulgarian aristocracy, second only to the ruling princes, from the tenth through the seventeenth century. ...

With the developing Russian absolutism, which central principle was the creation of the central bureaucracy reporting directly to the czar and not spending time fighting each other, the role of the mestnichestvo was progressively reduced. Moreover, increasing defense interests needed the top military posts being occupied by bright officers, not "ancestry-proud" but inept boyars. Consequently, the mestnichestvo was abolished in 1682. The term absolutism can mean: A belief in absolute truth moral absolutism, the belief that there is some absolute standard of right and wrong political absolutism, a political system where one person holds absolute power, also called apolytarchy from Gr. ... This page is about the sociological concept. ...

References

• Great Soviet Encyclopedia