Little Russian Collegium

(Malorossiia Collegium), the governmental organ that administered the Ukrainian lands forming part of the Russian empire. It was established by a ukase issued by Peter I on May 16 (27), 1722, in order to limit the power of the Cossack starshina (officer corps) in the Ukraine and subordinate it to the Russian central administration. Replacing the Little Russian Prikaz (office) in Moscow, it was to convene in Glukhov, the seat of the Ukrainian hetmans.

The collegium was composed of a president, six members, and a procurator and was subordinate to the Senate. It examined complaints to the general, regimental, and municipal courts and supervised the collection of grain and money for the tsar’s treasury, military billeting, and the work of the general military office. From 1727 to 1764 the collegium was replaced by the office of hetman. Restored from 1764 to 1786 for the purpose of abolishing Ukrainian autonomy, it was dissolved on Aug. 20 (31), 1786, after the creation of vicegerencies in the Ukraine and the complete subordination of all local Ukrainian institutions to the central collegiums.