Documentation on Auditors of Military Courts in the Units of the Russian Army in the 18th Century: Source Study Aspects and the Features of the Content

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the content of the complex of cases on the appointment of auditors in the units of the Russian regular army in Siberia in the 2nd half of the 18th century. In total, 23 cases from the General Audit Expedition fund of the Of ce of the Military Collegium, stored in the Russian State Military Historical Archive, were used. The source-analysis aspects of the study include the identi cation of the composition and structure of paperwork documents, the establishment of their relationship with each other and the identi cation of those parameters of the functioning of bureaucratic mechanisms of military administration that have not yet been subjected to special study. It is found out that in the 2nd half of the 18th century, the appointment of non-commissioned of cers to auditor positions became a frequent phenomenon, contrary to the order established in the preceding period. A prerequisite for lling the position of a regimental or battalion auditor was to be the candidate’s participation in the review of judicial and investigative cases, the results were subsequently submitted for consideration to the Military Collegium. In some cases, it is possible to trace the continuity between speci c individuals who have consistently lled the same position. The information contained in the studied cases may supplement the data about the career of army of cers, known from their of cial (service) lists.