Scutelnic

Scutelnic (also scutnic, from Romanian verb "scuti", "to exempt", "to absolve"; plural: "scitelnici", "scutnici") was a category of peasant servants in Wallachia and Moldova which were exempt from state taxes. They were attached to "boiers" which had military or administrative function and to monasteries, to perform various duties. [ [http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Rumanien/XIX/Svinjin/primtext2.phtml Comments to the Russian book "Очерк истории Молдавии" by П. П. Свиньин] ru icon] [ [http://www.yup.ro/cuv51265-scutelnic.html Definition of "Scutélnic"] ro icon]

The category was introduced by reforms of Constantine Mavrocordatos. [Neagu Djuvara, "Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne", Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995, pp.227-228. ] [ [http://www.moldovahistory.ru/absolutism7.html "Fiscal Administration"] , a section from a book in Romanian history ru icon]

The category of "scutelnici" was abolished in Bessarabia after it was annexed by the Russian Empire by the April 29, 1818 "Statute on the Establishment of the Bessarabian Oblast" ["Charter for the organization of the Bessarabian Oblast", April 29, 1818, in "Печатается по изданию: Полное собрание законов Российской империи. Собрание первое.", Vol 35. "1818", Sankt Petersburg, 1830, pg. 222-227. Available online at [http://www.hrono.info/dokum/moldav1818.html hrono.info] ru icon]

The term is preserved in various names, such has family names Skutnik, Skutelnik (alternative transliterations of the word from the Cyrillic alphabet) and the settlement Scutelnici.

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