Princely Treasury

Princely Treasury 

(kazna kniazheskaia). (1) The chancellery, archive, and depository for the valuables of the grand and appanage princes.

Ukases were written, charters compiled, current correspondence maintained, and inquiries answered at the treasury. The Princely Treasury of the Moscow grand princes was located in the Treasury Yard of the Kremlin. Prior to the organization of the PosoPskii Prikaz (Foreign Office), the treasurers in charge of the Princely Treasury played a noticeable role in ambassadorial affairs. Toward the middle of the 15th century, the Princely Treasury took on the status of a central financial department. Documents preserved in the treasury were the basis for the “tsar’s archive” and for other state archives compiled in the 16th century.

(2) A term once used to designate the total property resources of the state.

REFERENCE

Leont’ev, A. K. Obrazovanie prikaznoi sistemy upravleniia v Russkom gosudarstve. Moscow, 1961.