Stolnik (, , , , ) was a court office in Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Russia, responsible for serving the royal table, then an honorary court title and a district office. It approximately corresponds to English term "pantler".
Stolnik in Crown of Poland
In the Crown of Poland under the first Piast dukes and kings, this was a court office.
From the 14th century, it was an honorary court title in the Kingdom of Poland, since the 16th century.
- Grand Stolnik of the Crown ()
- Stolnik of the Crown ()
- Court Stolnik of the Crown ()
According to the 1768 district office hierarchy, the Stolnik's position in the Crown of Poland was superior to that of Deputy cup-bearer and inferior to that of district judge.
Stolnik in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
In Lithuania, the Stolnik's position emerged in the late 15th century, comparatively later than Marshal, Treasurer, and Cup-bearer, with the first Grand Stolnik of Lithuania, , being known from 1475. Initially, the Stolnik took care of the Grand Duke's food warehouses, distribution of food, his manor's parks, gardens, ponds, and villages assigned to the estates. They were also called chashniks, literally "cup-bearers". In the 16th and 17th centuries they were young nobles who brought dishes to the tsar's table, looked after his bedroom, and accompanied him in travels. Those who served tsar in his apartments called room or close stolniks ().
Stolniks could simultaneously serve in the foreign office or in the army. They were ranked fifth in the hierarchy of Russian bureaucracy, after boyars, okolnichys, duma nobles, and duma dyaks.
Stolniks were also attached to episcopal administrations as were other similar offices also found in the grand princely or tsarist administration. For example, stolniks are found in documents from the archiepiscopal records in Veliky Novgorod.
See also
- Offices in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Russian rank titles during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
- Stavilac