Emancipation reform of 1861 century. In Congress Poland, serfdom had been abolished before it became Russian (by Napoleon in 1807). Serfdom was abolished in governorates of Estonia in 1816, in Courland in 1817, and in Livonia in 1819. In 1797, Paul I of Russia decreed that corvee labor was limited to 3 days a week, and never on Sunday, but this law was not enforced. Beginning in 1801, Alexander I of Russia appointed a committee to study possible emancipation, but its only effect was to prohibit the sale of serfs without their families. Beginning in 1825, Nicholas I of Russia expressed his desire for
Lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court of Russia Lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court of Russia A lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Russian Court ("придворные дамы") was a woman of high aristocracy at the service of a woman of the Imperial family. They were organised according to the strict hierarchy of Peter the Great's table of ranks, following the woman's "chin" (rank) established on January 24, 1722. All the ancient occupations of the women at the Court of Russia, traditionally held by "boyarynias" (wives of "boyars"), nurses, housekeepers, servants, nannies etc., were abolished and replaced by a new hierarchy inspired by Versailles Court's etiquette and German models, although many Muscovite