Section: Professions
Variable: Source Of Support (All coded records)
possible codes: state salary, governed population, land, none. 'State salary' can be paid either in currency or in kind (e.g., koku of rice). 'Governed population' means that the official directly collects tribute from the population (for example, the 'kormlenie' system in Medieval Russia). 'Land' is when the bureaucrats live off land supplied by the state. 'None' is when the state officials are not compensated (example: in the Republican and Principate Rome the magistrates were wealthy individuals who served without salary, motivated by prestige and social or career advancement).  
Source Of Support
#  Polity  Coded Value Tags Year(s) Edit Desc
1 Monagrillo not applicable Confident -
-
2 La Mula-Sarigua not applicable Confident -
-
3 Early Greater Coclé not applicable Confident -
-
4 Middle Greater Coclé not applicable Confident -
-
5 Late Greater Coclé not applicable Confident -
-
6 Numidia land Confident -
-
7 Numidia state salary Confident -
-
8 Axum II land Confident -
-
9 Axum III land Confident -
-
10 Tahert governed population Confident -
-
11 Idrisids land Confident -
-
12 Tlemcen uncoded Undecided -
-
13 Songhai Empire land Confident -
-
14 Kingdom of Congo land Confident -
-
15 Kingdom of Congo state salary Confident -
-
16 Chu Kingdom - Spring and Autumn Period land Confident -
-
17 Chu Kingdom - Warring States Period land Confident -
-
18 Chu Kingdom - Warring States Period state salary Confident -
-
19 Qin Empire land Confident -
-
20 Qin Empire state salary Confident -
-
21 Third Scythian Kingdom land Confident -
-
22 Tuyuhun uncoded Undecided -
-
23 Kingdom of Georgia II state salary Confident -
-
24 Russian Principate uncoded Undecided -
-
25 Khwarezmid Empire salary Confident -
Officials were paid a salary. [1]

[1]: Buniyatov 2015: 72-79 . https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SAEVEJFH


26 Kazan Khanate land Confident -
-
27 Tudor and Early Stuart England land Confident -
Bureaucrats were paid a salary, and those in the highest positions may be granted land or more lucrative appointments. [1] “And yet, while the war and the financial revolution reduced the personal power of the sovereign, they vastly increased that of the Crown, that is, His Majesty’s government. That government now had at its disposal enormous armies and navies and the expanding bureaucracy necessary to oversee and supply them. For example, William’s army numbered 76,000 men, almost twice that of James II. It has been estimated that the central administration comprised some 4,000 officials in 1688… The Treasury increasingly controlled this vast bureaucracy, and sought to run the government more efficiently and thriftily. In order to weed out old, corrupt practices, it initiated adequate salaries and pension schemes, drew up handbooks of conduct, and calculated statistics to make realistic appraisals of the tasks at hand. As this implies, the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries saw a growing sense of professionalism among government workers. Men like William Blathwayt at the War Office (ca. 1650–1717), Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) at the Navy Office, and William Lowndes (1652–1724) at the Treasury were career bureaucrats who remained in office despite shifts of faction and party.” [2]

[1]: (Prestwich 2005: 60-70) Prestwich, Michael. 2005. Plantagenet England 1225-1360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XTBKFDCI

[2]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 327) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U


28 Tudor and Early Stuart England state salary Confident -
Bureaucrats were paid a salary, and those in the highest positions may be granted land or more lucrative appointments. [1] “And yet, while the war and the financial revolution reduced the personal power of the sovereign, they vastly increased that of the Crown, that is, His Majesty’s government. That government now had at its disposal enormous armies and navies and the expanding bureaucracy necessary to oversee and supply them. For example, William’s army numbered 76,000 men, almost twice that of James II. It has been estimated that the central administration comprised some 4,000 officials in 1688… The Treasury increasingly controlled this vast bureaucracy, and sought to run the government more efficiently and thriftily. In order to weed out old, corrupt practices, it initiated adequate salaries and pension schemes, drew up handbooks of conduct, and calculated statistics to make realistic appraisals of the tasks at hand. As this implies, the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries saw a growing sense of professionalism among government workers. Men like William Blathwayt at the War Office (ca. 1650–1717), Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) at the Navy Office, and William Lowndes (1652–1724) at the Treasury were career bureaucrats who remained in office despite shifts of faction and party.” [2]

[1]: (Prestwich 2005: 60-70) Prestwich, Michael. 2005. Plantagenet England 1225-1360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XTBKFDCI

[2]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 327) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U


29 Tudor and Early Stuart England pensions Confident -
Bureaucrats were paid a salary, and those in the highest positions may be granted land or more lucrative appointments. [1] “And yet, while the war and the financial revolution reduced the personal power of the sovereign, they vastly increased that of the Crown, that is, His Majesty’s government. That government now had at its disposal enormous armies and navies and the expanding bureaucracy necessary to oversee and supply them. For example, William’s army numbered 76,000 men, almost twice that of James II. It has been estimated that the central administration comprised some 4,000 officials in 1688… The Treasury increasingly controlled this vast bureaucracy, and sought to run the government more efficiently and thriftily. In order to weed out old, corrupt practices, it initiated adequate salaries and pension schemes, drew up handbooks of conduct, and calculated statistics to make realistic appraisals of the tasks at hand. As this implies, the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries saw a growing sense of professionalism among government workers. Men like William Blathwayt at the War Office (ca. 1650–1717), Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) at the Navy Office, and William Lowndes (1652–1724) at the Treasury were career bureaucrats who remained in office despite shifts of faction and party.” [2]

[1]: (Prestwich 2005: 60-70) Prestwich, Michael. 2005. Plantagenet England 1225-1360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XTBKFDCI

[2]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 327) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U


30 Lombard Kingdom unknown Suspected -
Source of support has not been mentioned in the sources consulted.
31 Novgorod Land uncoded Undecided -
-
32 Kievan Rus uncoded Undecided -
-
33 Kingdom of Sicily - Hohenstaufen and Angevin dynasties state Confident -
-
34 Pergamon Kingdom governed population Confident -
-
35 Pergamon Kingdom state salary Confident -
-
36 Saffarid Caliphate unknown Suspected -
-
37 Ghaznavid Empire state salary Confident -
-
38 Ghaznavid Empire governed population Confident -
-
39 Bagan uncoded Undecided -
-
40 Sukhotai land Confident -
-
41 Malacca Sultanate uncoded Undecided -
-
42 Bengal Sultanate land Confident -
-
43 Eastern Zhou land Confident -
-
44 Eastern Zhou state salary Confident -
-
45 Southern Song state salary Confident -
-
46 Macedonian Empire governed population Confident -
-
47 Macedonian Empire land Confident -
-
48 * Egypt - Classic Old Kingdom state salary Confident -
- "Food (bread, beer, grain, and sometimes meat) and cloth were redistributed to officials and workers of the state, but beyond this was a system of royal reward, an important part of the economy that also sustained loyalty to the crown. The king not only gave land to private individuals (which was frequently used to support their mortuary cults), but also rewarded officials with beautiful craft goods, such as jewelry and furniture, produced by highly skilled artisans working for the court. Such luxury goods depended on long-distance trade with southwest Asia and Punt, and mining and quarrying expeditions in the Sinai and Eastern Desert, which were controlled by the state. Exotic raw materials (gold, turquoise, elephant ivory, ebony, cedar for coffins, etc.) were obtained on these expeditions, the scale of which depended on state (and not private) organization and logistics. Thus officials depended on the state not only for their subsistence, but also for much of their material wealth in highly desired luxury craft goods." [Bard 2015, p. 139] EDIT
49 * Egypt - Classic Old Kingdom land Confident -
- "Food (bread, beer, grain, and sometimes meat) and cloth were redistributed to officials and workers of the state, but beyond this was a system of royal reward, an important part of the economy that also sustained loyalty to the crown. The king not only gave land to private individuals (which was frequently used to support their mortuary cults), but also rewarded officials with beautiful craft goods, such as jewelry and furniture, produced by highly skilled artisans working for the court. Such luxury goods depended on long-distance trade with southwest Asia and Punt, and mining and quarrying expeditions in the Sinai and Eastern Desert, which were controlled by the state. Exotic raw materials (gold, turquoise, elephant ivory, ebony, cedar for coffins, etc.) were obtained on these expeditions, the scale of which depended on state (and not private) organization and logistics. Thus officials depended on the state not only for their subsistence, but also for much of their material wealth in highly desired luxury craft goods." [Bard 2015, p. 139] EDIT
50 Monte Alban V Early Postclassic unknown Suspected -
-
51 Monte Alban V Late Postclassic unknown Suspected -
-
52 Ottoman Empire Late Period uncoded Undecided -
-
53 Hohokam Culture unknown Suspected -
-
54 Antebellum US salary Confident -
-
55 Napoleonic France salary Confident -
[1]

[1]: Crook 2002: 133. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/29D9EQQE


56 Austria - Habsburg Dynasty II salary Confident 1867 CE 1918 CE
“The structure of civil-service compensation was then further modified by the Liberals in early 1873, when the (Adolf) Auersperg Cabinet introduced a major bill to create eleven rank classes (Rangklassen) and systematic promotion opportunities based on length of service, along with salary increases that in some cases amounted to 30% to 40%, including various additional supplements.” [1] “During the investigations of the Administrative Reform Commission in 1910–11, Guido von Haerdtl reported that civil-service salary expenses had increased nearly 200 per cent between 1890 and 1911, largely owing to additional staff hiring.” [2] “At the same time the Emperor continued to ennoble military officers and bourgeois civil servants with patents of minor nobility (Dienstadel) that were essentially career awards. Between 1804 and 1918 the Emperor approved 8,931 ennoblements, including 2,157 to civil servants and over 4,000 to military officers. From 1848 to 1918, 84% of the grants of nobility went to bourgeois for longstanding public or military service.” [3]

[1]: (Boyer 2022: 131) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD

[2]: (Boyer 2022: 132) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD

[3]: (Boyer 2022: 417) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD


57 Austria - Habsburg Dynasty II enoblement Confident -
“Although nobles and aristocrats usually occupied the highest echelons of this expanding bureaucracy, educated sons of the middle classes were increasingly filling positions at the middle and lower levels. Moreover, Maria Theresa handed out more patents of nobility than ever before to commoners who earned distinction through their ser vice to the state. During her reign almost 40 percent of all the people who gained a patent of nobility came from the expanding bureaucracy.” [1] “Through his many regulations for the bureaucracy and its procedures, Joseph sought to establish a unified and equal set of norms throughout the monarchy and to create what often sounds like a secular priesthood. During his ten- year reign he issued a steady stream of regulations to micromanage its every aspect of a bureaucrat’s career, from his education to rules for his hiring, promotion, salary levels, punishments, and vacations, as well as to prohibit him from accepting gifts.” [2] “The burst of “modernization” in the middle decades of the eighteenth century gave the Habsburg monarchy institutions reasonably advanced for their time. Centralization of power was achieved in large part through the growth of a central bureaucracy, in the Habsburg lands as elsewhere. One estimate has 6,000 members of the state bureaucracy in 1740, 10,000 in 1762, and 20,000 in 1782. These numbers increasingly came from people of non-noble classes, which helped expand the regime’s base of support. Joseph’s travels around the monarchy convinced him that the professionalism of local officials was often low, which inspired his mission to improve the bureaucracy. Thus training was improved, pay increased and tied more to merit, and a pension system introduced.” [3]

[1]: (Judson 2016: 32) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW

[2]: (Judson 2016: 61) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW

[3]: (Curtis 2013: 242) Curtis, Benjamin. 2013. The Habsburgs: The History of a Dynasty. London; New York: Bloomsbury. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TRKUBP92


58 Austria - Habsburg Dynasty II salary Confident -
“Although nobles and aristocrats usually occupied the highest echelons of this expanding bureaucracy, educated sons of the middle classes were increasingly filling positions at the middle and lower levels. Moreover, Maria Theresa handed out more patents of nobility than ever before to commoners who earned distinction through their ser vice to the state. During her reign almost 40 percent of all the people who gained a patent of nobility came from the expanding bureaucracy.” [1] “Through his many regulations for the bureaucracy and its procedures, Joseph sought to establish a unified and equal set of norms throughout the monarchy and to create what often sounds like a secular priesthood. During his ten- year reign he issued a steady stream of regulations to micromanage its every aspect of a bureaucrat’s career, from his education to rules for his hiring, promotion, salary levels, punishments, and vacations, as well as to prohibit him from accepting gifts.” [2] “The burst of “modernization” in the middle decades of the eighteenth century gave the Habsburg monarchy institutions reasonably advanced for their time. Centralization of power was achieved in large part through the growth of a central bureaucracy, in the Habsburg lands as elsewhere. One estimate has 6,000 members of the state bureaucracy in 1740, 10,000 in 1762, and 20,000 in 1782. These numbers increasingly came from people of non-noble classes, which helped expand the regime’s base of support. Joseph’s travels around the monarchy convinced him that the professionalism of local officials was often low, which inspired his mission to improve the bureaucracy. Thus training was improved, pay increased and tied more to merit, and a pension system introduced.” [3]

[1]: (Judson 2016: 32) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW

[2]: (Judson 2016: 61) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW

[3]: (Curtis 2013: 242) Curtis, Benjamin. 2013. The Habsburgs: The History of a Dynasty. London; New York: Bloomsbury. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TRKUBP92


59 Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty II state salary Confident Expert -
-
60 Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty II enoblement Confident Expert -
Peter I introduced a modern regular army built on the German model, but with a new aspect: officers were not necessarily drawn solely from the nobility, but included talented commoners. This new class of officers might eventually be given a noble title upon attaining a certain rank. [1]


The reign of Peter the Great (1672-1725) was a pivotal period for the Russian bureaucracy. He worked to modernize the Russian state along European lines, creating a European-style army, navy, and bureaucracy. His reforms included efforts to pay officials in money rather than allowing them to live off the land, a practice he banned in 1714. [2]

[1]: Jerome Blum, Lord and Peasant in Russia from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century, Paperback ed., 2. print. (Princeton, N.J: Princeton Univ. Press, 1972). Zotero link: G9K39WS5

[2]: Pipes, Richard. Russia under the Old Regime. 2nd ed, Penguin Books, 1995. Zotero link: LEIXLKAP


61 Austro-Hungarian Monarchy enoblement Confident -
“The structure of civil-service compensation was then further modified by the Liberals in early 1873, when the (Adolf) Auersperg Cabinet introduced a major bill to create eleven rank classes (Rangklassen) and systematic promotion opportunities based on length of service, along with salary increases that in some cases amounted to 30% to 40%, including various additional supplements.” [1] “During the investigations of the Administrative Reform Commission in 1910–11, Guido von Haerdtl reported that civil-service salary expenses had increased nearly 200 per cent between 1890 and 1911, largely owing to additional staff hiring.” [2] “At the same time the Emperor continued to ennoble military officers and bourgeois civil servants with patents of minor nobility (Dienstadel) that were essentially career awards. Between 1804 and 1918 the Emperor approved 8,931 ennoblements, including 2,157 to civil servants and over 4,000 to military officers. From 1848 to 1918, 84% of the grants of nobility went to bourgeois for longstanding public or military service.” [3]

[1]: (Boyer 2022: 131) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD

[2]: (Boyer 2022: 132) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD

[3]: (Boyer 2022: 417) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD


62 Golden Horde unknown Suspected -
Probably a salary but this is not confirmed in the sources.
63 Us Reconstruction-Progressive salary Confident -
-
64 Alaouite Dynasty I salary Confident -
“Following the conquest of the kingdoms of the Sudan, Mawlay Ahmad received so much gold dust that envious men were all troubled and observers absolutely stupefied. So from then on al-Mansur paid his officials in pure gold and in dinars of proper weight only.” [1]

[1]: (Fage and Oliver 1975: 150) Fage, J. D. and Oliver, Roland Anthony. 1975. eds., The Cambridge History of Africa: Volume 4, from c. 1600 to c. 1790. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z6BCU87M


65 Plantagenet England state salary Confident -
Bureaucrats were paid a salary, and those in the highest positions may be granted land or more lucrative appointments. [1]

[1]: (Prestwich 2005: 60-70) Prestwich, Michael. 2005. Plantagenet England 1225-1360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XTBKFDCI


66 Plantagenet England land Confident -
Bureaucrats were paid a salary, and those in the highest positions may be granted land or more lucrative appointments. [1]

[1]: (Prestwich 2005: 60-70) Prestwich, Michael. 2005. Plantagenet England 1225-1360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XTBKFDCI


67 * Norman England land Confident -
- Regional governors and nobles held land granted by the king through the feudal system. They derived income by: Collecting rents and tribute from the peasants working the land. Leveraging agricultural production for sustenance and trade. Example: The Earl of Northumbria lived off the revenues of his vast estates and owed military and administrative service in return. [Barlow 2014] EDIT
68 British Empire I salary Confident -
-
69 Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty I state salary Confident 1714 CE 1775 CE
-
70 Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty I governed population Confident 1614 CE 1775 CE
Peter the Great’s Reforms: The reign of Peter the Great (1672-1725) was a pivotal period for the Russian bureaucracy. He worked to modernize the Russian state along European lines, creating a European-style army, navy, and bureaucracy. His reforms included efforts to pay officials in money rather than allowing them to live off the land, a practice he banned in 1714. However, this was only partially successful, and in practice, only officials in Moscow and St. Petersburg were paid in this manner. [1]

[1]: Pipes, Richard. Russia under the Old Regime. 2nd ed, Penguin Books, 1995. Zotero link: LEIXLKAP


71 Portuguese Empire - Early Modern state salary Confident -
-
72 Early East Africa Iron Age absent Inferred -
-
73 Early East Africa Iron Age absent Inferred -
-
74 Early Tana 1 unknown Suspected -
-
75 Early Tana 1 unknown Suspected -
-
76 Early Tana 2 unknown Suspected -
-
77 Early Tana 2 unknown Suspected -
-
78 Chandra Dynasty state salary Confident -
-
79 Chandra Dynasty land Confident -
-
80 British Empire IIIIIIIIII salary Confident -
-
81 Sena Dynasty state salary Confident -
-
82 Sena Dynasty land Confident -
-
83 Yadava-Varman Dynasty land Confident -
-
84 Yadava-Varman Dynasty state salary Confident -
-
85 Holy Roman Empire - Ottonian-Salian Dynasty unknown Suspected -
-
86 * East Francia land Confident -
- The administrative officials in East Francia, such as counts, dukes, and other feudal lords, were supported through land grants tied to their positions. These officials did not receive regular salaries from the state but were compensated through the revenues generated from their lands. [Reuter 1991] EDIT