The subject of this study is the guarantee composition, which was a separate aspect of business relations of the foreigners, members of the Moscow guild merchant society in the mid-18th - mid-19th centuries. Guarantors were some of the local merchants, guaranteeing economic solvency (including timely annual payment of interest on capital), as well as the absence of “fines and suspicions” regarding those entering the merchant guild. This problem is being considered for the first time in the national historiography. The author introduces into scholarly discourse an entire complex of archival materials, which consists of the cases of entering the Moscow merchant status by persons of foreign ethnic origin. This study is based on the analysis of ca. 800 petitions and reports on ranking among the Moscow merchants. The objective of the study is to identify the prevailing trends in relations on the basis of nationality between the persons of foreign ethnic origin who had been classified as merchants, and this could be revealed in the choice of the guarantor either among their ethno-religious community or among local merchants of “Great Russian” origin. These trends are considered separately for each national group, represented in the Moscow merchant society, and compared with each other. For example, the French, Armenian-Gregorian and Muslim (Tatars, Bukharians and Persians) communities had very high percentage of guarantees, involving their compatriots, while Germans and Greeks demonstrated a weaker tendency in this regard. Accordingly, the latter’ preference for choosing guarantors from the local merchants was more noticeable than among the former. The study of guarantees revealed that merchants of Italian, Swiss, British, and Gypsy origin had compatriot ties. On the basis of these data, the author analyzes business relationship between different national and confessional groups represented in the Moscow merchant society. This relationship was often explained by the fact that they traded the homogeneous goods. The author also suggests a four-group typology of guarantee composition according to national characteristics.

The history of mixed marriages in Russia officially dates back to 1721. The subject of this study is the structure of marriages among foreigners who joined the ranks of Moscow guild merchants in the period from the middle of the 18th to the middle of the 19th century. Entering into marriage with representatives of the local Orthodox population could serve as a factor contributing to the russification of former foreign subjects. At the same time, marriages within an ethno-confessional milieu were supposed to counteract processes of ethnic consolidation and ensure the preservation of national identity in subsequent generations. The article aims to determine which of the trends prevailed among the various national groups represented in the Moscow merchant class. These trends are considered independently for each national group and studied in comparison. The author introduces into scientific circulation a body of archival materials, which are sources on population statistics (data of revisions), office records (cases of admission to the Moscow merchant class) and sources of ecclesiastical nature (metric books of non-Orthodox churches). As the concept of “mixed marriage” encompasses not only the national aspect (the marriage of people of different nationalities), but also the confessional one (that is, marriage where both spouses were parishioners of different churches), the article analyzes the marriage structure in both aspects. On the basis of the studied sources, it is concluded that among merchants of foreign origin, marriages within the ethno-confessional milieu prevailed, although by the middle of the 19th century, the trend of marriages with representatives of the local Orthodox population had increased. At the same time, adherence to Orthodox religion of some national groups (such as, for example, the gypsies) was not a factor that contributed to the growth of marriages with representatives of this group in the milieu of the Moscow merchant class. Among merchants of French origin, national self-consciousness prevailed over religious self-consciousness, which was also reflected in the fact that cases of their marriage with Italians and Poles representing the same denomination were rare .