“The generously giving mother” - the Imperial court of the 18th century as a distributor of favors and material assistance
The report is an attempt to consider the question of one of the characteristic functions of the Imperial court in the 18th century - the systematic distribution of money, benefits and gifts under Catherine II. The documents of the Imperial Cabinet testify to the increasing mass of various kinds of g giveaways and gifts to courtiers, military and civil servants and a wider circle of petitioners. Such a practice served as an important element of social policy; it was supposed to ensure the loyalty of the elite and increase the prestige of the monarch among the military and bureaucracy.