Active Privy Councillor
Active Privy Councillor[1] (Russian: действительный тайный советник, deystvitelny tayniy sovetnik) was the civil rank (ru: чин / tchin) in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. That was a civil rank of the 2nd class and equal to those of General-in-Chief in the Army and Admiral in the Navy.[2][3][4] The rank holder should be addressed as Your High Excellency (Russian: Ваше Высокопревосходительство, Vashe Vysokoprevoskhoditelstvo).[5] If the Foreign Minister had the rank of the 2nd class, he could be called Vice-Chancellor.
Overview
Those who had the rank occupied the highest public offices available. The Senate employed the majority of them. Not every minister, especially early in his tenure, might have the rank. Most of Active privy councillors lived in St. Petersburg; they served in the main state institutions: the Council of State and the most important Ministries. In 1903, there were only 99 Active privy councillors in Russia. The rank was abolished in 1917 by the Soviet decree on estates and civil ranks.
See also
- Supreme Privy Council of Imperial Russia, founded on 19 February 1726
- Geheimrat, a similar title in Germany
- Privy council
References
- Langenscheidt´s Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the English and German language: „Der Große Muret-Sander“, Part II German-English, Second Volume L–Z, 8th edition 1999, ISBN 3-468-01126-1; p. 1.809 – Working Privy Councillor
- Segrillo, Angelo (November 2016). "A First Complete Translation into English of Peter the Great's Original Table of Ranks: Observations on the Occurrence of a Black Hole in the Translation of Russian Historical Documents" (PDF). lea.vitis.uspnet.usp.br.
- "Table of Ranks". Global Security. globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
- "Peter the Great's Table of Ranks". The University of Virginia. faculty.virginia.edu. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
- "Табель о рангах, Действителен в период с конца XIX века по 1917 год". Boris Akunin (in Russian). akunin.ru. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
Junior rank Privy Councillor |
Table of Ranks Active Privy Councillor |
Senior rank Active Privy Councillor, 1st class Chancellor |