Burmistr

Burmistr

 

(Polish burmistrz, from German Bürgermeister), the name in Russia for members of the Burmisterskaia Palata (Burmister Office)—officials elected by the posadskie liudi (merchants and artisans), former zemstvo (district assembly) elders, and customs and public-house heads. The name was introduced by Peter I when the Burmisterskaia Palata was created (1699). At the end of the 18th century and during the first half of the 19th, a burmistr was the manager of an estate or an elder appointed by a landlord to supervise the fulfillment of obligations by bonded serfs and to perform other administrative functions.