The Black Hundred (), also known as the black-hundredists (; chernosotentsy), was a reactionary, monarchist and ultra-nationalist movement in Russia in the early 20th century. It was a staunch supporter of the House of Romanov and opposed any retreat from the autocracy of the reigning monarch. The name apparently arose from the Medieval concept of "black", or common (non-noble) people, organized into militias. The Black Hundreds were also noted for extremism and incitement to pogroms, nationalistic Russocentric doctrines, and different xenophobic beliefs, including anti-Ukrainian sentiment and anti-semitism. The ideology of the movement is based on a slogan formulated by Count Sergey Uvarov "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality". Pre-formation "Svjashchjennaja druzhina" (Священнaя дружинa, or The Holy Brigade) and "Russkoye sobraniye" (Русское собрание, or Russian Assembly) in St. Petersburg are considered to be predecessors of the Black Hundreds. Starting in 1900, the two organizations united representatives of conservative intellectuals, government officials, Russian Orthodox clergy and landowners. A number of black-hundredist organizations formed during and after the Russian Revolution of 1905, such as: "Soyuz russkogo naroda" (Союз русского народа, or Union of the Russian People) in St. Petersburg, "Soyuz russkikh lyudey" (Союз русских людей, or Union of the Russians) in Moscow, "Russkaya monarkhicheskaya partiya" (Русская монархическая партия, or Russian Monarchist Party) in Moscow and elsewhere, "Obshchestvo aktivnoy bor'by s revolyutsiyey" (Общество активной борьбы с революцией, or Society of Active Struggle Against Revolution) in Moscow, "Belyy dvuglavyy oryol" (Белый двуглавый орёл, or White Two-headed Eagle) in Odessa, Ukraine, and others. Predecessors Members of the Black Hundreds organizations came from different social strata—such as landowners, clergymen, the high and petty bourgeoisie, merchants, artisans, workers and the so-called "declassed elements". The Postojanny Sovyet Ob'yedinnyonnykh dvoryanskikh obschshestv Rossiy (United Gentry Council) guided the activities of the black-hundredists; the tsarist regime provided moral and financial support to the movement. The Black Hundreds were founded on a devotion to Tsar, church and motherland, expressed previously by the motto of Tsar Nicholas I: "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality" (Pravoslaviye, Samodershaviye i Narodnost'''). The black-hundredists conducted oral propaganda: in churches by holding special services, and during meetings, lectures and demonstrations. Such propaganda provoked antisemitic sentiments and monarchic "exaltation" and incited pogroms and terrorist acts, performed by the Black Hundreds' paramilitary groups, sometimes known as "Yellow Shirts". Popularity and power The Black Hundred movement published newspapers, such as Znamja (The Banner) or Russkoje znamja (Russian Banner), Potschajewskij Listok (The Pochayev Page), Semschina, Kolokol (Bell),