Aspects of influence of the tsarist legislation on the status of the Bessarabian nobility in the 1st half of the 19th century

In this article based on the study of archival sources and monographs the author considers some aspects of the influence of the tsarist legislation on the changes in the legal status of the Bessarabian nobility. After the annexation of the territory between the Dniester and the Prut to the Russian Empire, at first the tsarist government maintained the social categories existing in Bessarabia, and the relationships were regulated by the laws and customs of the Principality of Moldavia. Subsequently, Bessarabia was incorporated into the political and socio-economic system of the empire. Thus, the use of the tsarist laws on the territory of the region has led to changes in the status of the Bessarabian nobility. Despite the fact that the Bessarabian nobility had the same rights and have been included in the Russian nobility keeping the former privileges, in reality they, especially the indigenous nobility, were limited in their rights. Chief administrative positions in Bessarabia were given to foreign nobles and o?cials or those members of the local nobility, who were loyal to the tsarist policy. All this has led to dissociation (due to the introduction of foreign representatives into the ranks of the local gentry) and humiliation (because the nobles had to constantly prove their social status - a rather complicated process due to the lack of supporting documents for those who had the Moldavian noble rank or possessed property) of this social category.