The monograph examines the formation and development of the system of official relations in the Russian state of the 15th–16th centuries, showing the process of gradual formation of the most significant institutions that determined the nature of the relationship between state power and the masses of service people. The most important of them were the spread of compulsory service, the creation of the Sovereign's court, widespread local distributions, the introduction of salaries, and then the emergence of service “cities”. The peculiarity of the study is an integrated approach, which allows us to assess the variety of factors that influenced the adoption of certain decisions, as well as to trace their consequences, both for the central government and for the service people themselves, in the long term. The book is intended for historians and readers interested in issues formation and development of national statehood.