There were several ways to become a slave in Rus'. One of them is the capture of foreign prisoners. Such “Polonyan” slaves were called “servants.”
In one of the articles of the agreement concluded in 911 with Byzantium after the successful raid of the ancient Rus on Constantinople, the Byzantines were offered to pay 20 gold coins (solids) for each “servant” captured. This amounted to about 90 grams of gold and was twice the average market price for slaves.
After the second campaign against Byzantium (944), which ended less successfully, prices were reduced. For “a good boy or girl” this time they gave 10 gold coins (45 grams of gold) or “two pavoloks” - two pieces of silk fabric. For a “seredovich” - a middle-aged slave or slave - eight coins were awarded, and for an old man or child - only five.
“Servants” were most often used for various unskilled jobs, for example, as domestic servants. Polonian women, especially young ones, were valued higher than men - they could be used for love pleasures. Many of them became concubines and even wives of slave owners.
According to “Russkaya Pravda” - a collection of laws of the 11th century - average cost“Chelyadin” was five to six hryvnia. Many historians believe that we are not talking about silver hryvnias, but about kun hryvnias, which were four times cheaper. Thus, at that time, about 200 grams of silver or 750 tanned squirrel skins were given for a slave.
In 1223, after an unsuccessful battle with the Mongols on Kalka, the Smolensk prince Mstislav Davidovich concluded an agreement with Riga and Gotland merchants, according to which the cost of one servant was estimated at one hryvnia in silver (this corresponded to 160-200 grams of silver and approximately 15 grams of gold).
Prices for servants depended on the region. So, in Smolensk a slave was a little cheaper than in Kyiv, and three times cheaper than in Constantinople... The more people were captured as slaves during military campaigns, the more the price fell.
I have already written that one of Russia’s troubles, which prevents it from moving towards a developed civil society is a slave psychology, which genetic level laid down by the vast majority Russian citizens(see the article “The Troubles of Russia” published in No. 5 of the Don Consumer).
When did this disaster appear in Russia and is it possible for modern Russians to get rid of this manifestation of human nature?
I'll try to figure it out in this article.
History of slavery
The phenomenon of slavery dates back to ancient times. The first mentions of slaves can be seen in rock paintings that date back to the Stone Age. Even then, captured people from another tribe were enslaved. This tendency to enslave captured enemies also existed in ancient civilizations. For the past 5,000 years, slavery has existed almost everywhere. Among the most famous slave states- Rome, in Ancient China the concept - si, equivalent to slavery, has been known since the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.
In a later period, slavery existed in Brazil. Slavery on Ancient East had a lot distinctive features and was distinguished by the greatest cruelty towards slaves.
In totalitarian states, the largest slave owners were not individual owners, but these states themselves.
That is, as can be seen from history, slavery in different countries and civilizations proceeded in different ways and influenced the development of both the economic and spiritual components of a particular country or civilization.
We all know the first civilizations such as Ancient Greece and Rome. Using, Slave work peoples they conquered, these civilizations flourished for centuries. But the key to their prosperity, in the first place, of course, was not the labor of slaves, but the science, culture and craft developed to heights unattainable at that time, which the citizens were engaged in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, being freed from daily heavy physical labor, since only slaves were used in these jobs. It is thanks to this freedom of the Greeks and Romans that we are still amazed by the works of art, inventions and achievements in science made at that time. IN Soviet time singer I. Ivanov sang a song with the following words;
I believe the day will come when
We'll meet again.
I'll gather you all together
If in a foreign land
I won't die by chance
From its Latin.
If they don't drive you crazy
Romans and Greeks,
Authored volumes
For the library.
The content of this song very well reflects what contribution the ancient Greeks and Romans actually made to the development of science, art and technology during that period. It turns out that for free citizens ancient Greece and Rome, the use of slave labor in that period of time benefited them and gave impetus to the development of these ancient civilizations. What did slavery give to ancient Rus'?
Slavery in ancient Rus'
Among the dependent population of ancient Rus' in the 9th - 12th centuries, slaves also occupied a very significant place. Their labor, perhaps, even prevailed in the ancient Russian estate. In modern historical science The idea of the patriarchal nature of slavery in Rus' is especially popular. But there are other opinions in the literature. P.N. Tretyakov, referring to slavery among the Slavs and Antes, wrote: “Slaves were bought and sold. A member of a neighboring tribe could become a slave. During wars, slaves, especially women and children, were an indispensable and very important part spoils of war. It is hardly possible to consider all this as primitive patriarchal slavery, which was common among all primitive peoples. But this was not, of course, developed slavery, which took shape as complete system industrial relations".
"Russian Truth" also indicated other sources of the appearance of slaves in Rus', in addition to the capture of prisoners. Such sources were: self-sale into slavery, marriage with a slave, entry into service (tiuns, keymasters), “without a row” (that is, without any reservations), bankruptcy. A runaway purchaser or a person who committed a serious crime could also become a slave.
Researcher E.I. Kolycheva writes the following about slavery in ancient Rus': “... servility in Rus' as a legal institution was not something exceptional, unique. It is characterized by the same important features as slavery in other countries, including ancient slavery.”
Since slave labor in Rus' did not become the basis of social production, the history of slavery in our country should be transferred, first of all, to the plane of changing forms of exploitation of slaves, that is, forms of organization of slave labor.
IN ancient history In the Eastern Slavs, there was no gap between slaves and free people: slaves were part of related groups with the rights of junior members and worked equally and together with the rest. Mauritius the Strategist keenly felt the uniqueness of the situation of slaves among the Slavs, who, in his words, limiting the slavery of captives to a certain period, offer them a choice: either “for a certain ransom, return home or remain in the land of the Slavs and Antes as freemen and friends.
A voice that sounded several centuries later seems to indicate the same thing: “They (Russians - author’s note) treat slaves well...” This style of relations between slaves and masters was determined by the social affiliation of the slave owner, being most typical for the common people - peasants and artisans who managed to acquire slaves. These relationships were built on long traditions, lost somewhere in the primitive communal world and survived until the times Kievan Rus.
That is, as can be seen from the history of ancient Rus', the Slavs for the most part were free, hardworking and kind even towards their slaves. So where then did the hatred of “the powers that be” for the people they rule and the slavish essence of the people themselves come from in later Rus'? How did it happen that free cultivators actually became slaves in own country? This question worries more than one generation of historians and researchers.
And indeed! Here they are, the free tribes of the ancient Slavs. Here is their daring prince and his retinue. Here are the freedom-loving Russian people throwing off the Mongol-Tatar yoke, because if they were not freedom-loving, they would not have thrown it off. And then - within a short time, 90% of the country's population become slaves, who are traded like cattle. How and at what point could this happen? Why did people allow this to be done to themselves? Why didn’t they rebel, as they rebelled against the Mongol-Tatars? Why didn’t they put the presumptuous princelings and boyar children in their place, as they had done more than once before, driving the careless prince and his retinue away? After all, even the pride of the Russian Land, the Holy and Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky, was driven away by the Novgorodians when he became too impudent. And then... What happened to these people? How in two hundred years, to mid-16th century century, he lost all that freedom and dignity of which he was rightfully proud and which even foreigners celebrated?
The answer, I think, lies on the surface and our history has proven this more than once. The last such proof occurred in the middle of the last century. Our people, having gathered together, could defeat any external aggressor, but they always turned out to be helpless and defenseless in the face internal aggression and terror by their rulers. Why this happened, I think there is no need to explain, we all know that in Rus', from the tenth century, Orthodox Christianity was adopted as the main religion. And the Christian faith has always preached that any power on earth is from God. So the Russians, like true Orthodox Christians, endured any, even the most cruel, power given to him from above, as he believed from God.
The emergence of serfdom in Rus'
In the Moscow state at the turn of the 16th century, a local system took shape. The Grand Duke transferred the estate service man who was responsible for this military service. The local noble army was used in continuous wars waged by the state against Poland, Lithuania and Sweden, and in the defense of the “Ukraines” (that is, border regions) from the raids of the Crimean Khanate, the Nogai Horde: tens of thousands of nobles were called up every year to the “coast” (by Oka and Ugra) and border service. During this period, the peasant was still personally free and held a plot of land under an agreement with the owner of the estate. He had the right of withdrawal or refusal; that is, the right to leave the landowner. The landowner could not drive the peasant off the land before the harvest, and the peasant could not leave his plot without paying the owner at the end of the harvest.
The Code of Law of Ivan III established a uniform deadline for the peasants to leave, when both parties could settle accounts with each other. This is the week before St. George's Day (November 26) and the week following this day. A free man became a peasant from the minute he “instructed the plow” on a tax plot (that is, he began to fulfill public duty for cultivating the land) and ceased to be a peasant as soon as he gave up farming and took up another occupation.
Even the Decree on a five-year search for peasants dated November 24, 1597 did not cancel the peasant “exit” (that is, the opportunity to leave the landowner) and did not attach peasants to the land. This act only determined the need to return the escaped peasant to the previous landowner if the departure took place within a five-year period before September 1, 1597. The decree speaks only about those peasants who left their landowners “not on time and without refusal” (that is, not on St. George’s Day and without paying the “elderly fee”).
And only under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, the Council Code of 1649 established indefinite attachment to the land (that is, the impossibility of a peasant exit) and a fortress to the owner (that is, the power of the owner over the peasant located on his land). Moreover, according to the Council Code, the owner of the estate does not have the right to encroach on the life of a peasant and deprive him of land plot. The transfer of a peasant from one owner to another is allowed, however, in this case, the peasant must again be “planted” on the land and endowed with the necessary personal property (“bellies”).
Since 1741, the landowner peasants were removed from the oath, the monopolization of serf property in the hands of the nobility took place, and serfdom extended to all categories of the landowning peasantry.
2nd half of the 18th century - became the final stage of development state legislation, aimed at strengthening serfdom in Russia and the final enslavement of the peasants, as follows:
In 1760, landowners received the right to exile peasants to Siberia.
In 1765, landowners received the right to exile peasants not only to Siberia, but also to hard labor
In 1767, peasants were strictly forbidden to submit petitions against their landowners to the emperor personally.
At the same time, in a significant part of the country’s territory, in the Russian North, in most of Ural region, in Siberia (where the bulk of the rural population were black farmers, then state peasants), in the southern Cossack regions, serfdom did not spread. In 1861, a reform was carried out in Russia, nicknamed by the officialdom “ Great Reform", which abolished serfdom.
The main reason for this reform was the crisis of the serfdom system. In addition, historians of the USSR considered the inefficiency of the labor of serfs as a reason. TO economic reasons They also regarded the emerging revolutionary situation as an opportunity for a transition from the everyday discontent of the peasant class to a peasant war. In a climate of peasant unrest, which especially intensified during the Crimean War, the government, led by Alexander II, moved to abolish serfdom.
Serfdom is worse than slavery
As can be seen from the above section, a serf in Russia was the same as a slave, but the position of serfs was much worse than that of slaves. The reasons why the position of the serf in Russia was worse than the position of the slave were as follows.
The main reason, of course, was that the slave was not given to his owner for free, and the serfs were given to the landowner for free. Therefore, his treatment was worse than with “cattle.” Since the landowner always knew that even if the “two-legged beast” “dies” from excessive labor or beatings, the “Russian woman” will still give birth to new serfs, that is, “free slaves.”
The second reason is that serfdom as such deprived a person of even the hope that he would someday become free. After all, every serf knew from birth that this was his “heavy burden” for the rest of his life, as well as the burden of his children, grandchildren, etc. The slave, who was free before becoming a slave, lived in the hope that someday he would be able to become free again, by escaping, for example, from his master or receiving “freedom” from him for his merits. Therefore, the peasant children, who were already born unfree, did not even think about freedom, since they did not know any other life other than “living in eternal bondage” and therefore slowly, imperceptibly, the free Russian people turned into landowner property. Like a cane or a dog.
Supporters of the theory of the absence of slavery in Russia may object to me that the serf peasant differed from the slave in that he remained the subject of taxation. But this made his position even worse than that of a slave!
When to mid-17th century century, the construction of the building of Russian slavery was completed. Russian peasants, and this is the majority of the population of a huge country in eastern Europe, became (not was, but became!) slaves. This is unprecedented! Not the blacks brought from Africa to work on the plantations, but their own compatriots, people of the same faith and language, who together, shoulder to shoulder for centuries, created and defended this state, became slaves, “draft animals” in their homeland. Those. they became so outcast that a century later their owners, out of disgust, feeling like people of a completely different breed, began to switch from Russian to French.
Formation of slave psychology
In fact, slavery in Russia lasted from the mid-16th century to the mid-20th century. It began with the enslavement of the peasants, and ended with Khrushchev’s issuance of passports to collective farmers. 400 years with a break of 68 years. The peasants received a small relief after the abolition of serfdom in 1861, and even then until the beginning of the 20th century, in order to leave the landowner, the peasant had to pay him redemption payment. And this relaxation ended with forced collectivization of 1929–1930.
The peasants who did not want to work “for the sticks” were driven to the great construction sites of communism, to camps, and into exile. And those who agreed were assigned to the collective farm, all their goods were taken away, and seven days a week - corvee. This didn’t happen even under the landowners. To get married, you also needed permission from the chairman if the bride or groom was from another collective farm. And if you go to work - don’t even think about it, they’ll catch you - and go to a camp. For twenty-five years, worse than under the Tsar. True, the last entry into slavery did not last long, thirty years. But more people were killed than in the previous three hundred...
Now for some simple arithmetic. In four hundred years, approximately twelve generations have changed. A national character, the so-called mentality, was formed. The majority of the population of our country are descendants of those same serfs. Because ruling class The aristocracy, commoners and Cossacks were destroyed by the Bolsheviks, and those who were not destroyed emigrated. And now let’s imagine how this character was formed. Unbearably huge spaces, dotted here and there with small villages of 100–200 souls. No roads, no cities. Only villages with black, rickety five-walled walls and impassable mud for almost six months of the year (spring and autumn). From early spring before late autumn The serf worked day and night. And then almost everything was taken away by the landowner and the tsar. And then in the winter the “poor peasant” sat on the stove, howling from hunger.
And so from year to year, from century to century. True, sometimes a royal envoy would appear, take some of the stronger young village boys as recruits and that’s it, the guys would disappear forever, as if it had never happened. There was no connection between the villages. It’s a long way to visit each other, but it’s a pity to ride a horse. So, sometimes the master will go to his neighbor, so what will he tell? It’s none of your business, they say...
We heard out of the blue that there was a war somewhere. Are we going to hit the Turk or the Swede? The devil will sort him out. But mostly extortions, extortions, extortions... Nothing happens. From day to day. Year after year. From century to century. Complete and utter hopelessness. Nothing can change. Never. All. Literally everything is against you. Both the landowner and the state. Don't expect anything good from them. If you work poorly, they beat you with whips. You work well, they still beat you, but what you earned is taken away. Therefore, no matter what they killed, and the family did not die of hunger, the peasant always had to lie and “bend in” just in case.
And now the descendants of those serfs, already being “free” and regardless of their positions, at the genetic level continue to lie and “bend in” just in case of emergency. Somewhere there, far away beautiful life, some balls were going on... Someone killed someone in a duel... Some eccentric wrote a great book... All these Poltava and Izmails, Senate square and the Sovremennik magazine, St. Petersburg and the torment of Raskolnikov - this is not all about serfs. Somewhere, two hundred to three hundred thousand other people lived separately, about whom their history was written, about their Russia.
And tens of millions lived a different life, where is this story... And until history is written common people we will not understand why Russian people do not trust their state. Why, since the 16th century, has the state always been perceived as an enemy? Perhaps because the Russian people have never seen anything good from the state? Maybe, after writing such a story, our statesmen will stop demagogy about power and strengthening statehood, and looking at the people crippled by the construction of a great power, they will say, paraphrasing Kennedy: “Don’t ask what you did for the state, but ask what the state did for you.” " And then every citizen of Russia, daily squeezing the slave out of himself drop by drop, will begin to truly build a state for citizens, and not citizens for the state.
1. Russian Truth(Old Russian (XI century, 1019-1054) (here “truth” in the meaning of Latin Greek) - legal code of Russia. Russian Truth appeared during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, based on the oral law and customary law of Rus'. - stinker who got into serious trouble economic situation, who borrowed property from his master and guaranteed its return, like a self-mortgage.
2. Purchase worked on the master's farm and could not leave him until he repaid the debt (otherwise he was transferred to a complete, “white-washed” slave).
For the last century and a half, the slave trade has been a criminal offense. But in the past, most people in our country, as well as throughout the world, had their own clearly defined market price. How much was a Russian person worth when he was a living commodity?
"Servant price"
The ancient Slavs, like all peoples on the eve of the formation of statehood, had patriarchal slavery. Byzantine chronicles of the 5th-7th centuries contain a lot of information about payments to the Slavic tribes large sums for the ransom of subjects of the Eastern Roman Empire taken into slavery after successful raids Slavic neighbors. So Emperor Anastasius Dikor (430-518), the first ruler of Byzantium, who in the 6th century began large-scale wars with the Slavs, after one of the raids that devastated northern Greece, he was forced to pay the Slavic leaders “a thousand pounds of gold for the ransom of prisoners” (that is, 327 kilograms of gold).
But the first message that has reached us about the individual value of a Slavic slave appears only at the very beginning of the 10th century. In 906, the thirteen-year-old King Louis, the monarch of the East Frankish Kingdom located in the lands of modern Germany and Austria, approved the so-called Raffelstetten Customs Charter, which regulated the collection of trade duties on the Danube River.
One of the articles of this charter read: “The Slavs, setting off for trade from the Rugs or Bohemians, if they settle down for trade somewhere on the banks of the Danube and wish to sell slaves or horses, then for each slave they pay one tremimiss, the same for a stallion, for a slave - one saiga, the same for a mare.”
Most historians identify the “Rugs” as Russians, and the “Bohemians,” naturally, as Czechs. "Tremiss" - small gold coin late Roman Empire, about 1.5 grams of gold. "Saiga" is the Germanic name for a Roman gold coin from the time of Emperor Constantine the Great, approximately 4.5 grams of gold. Duties on such trade usually amounted to one tenth of the value of the goods, so the price of slaves from Slavic lands is understandable: a slave cost approximately 45 grams of gold, and a slave - 15 grams. It is worth considering here that in the past, before the era of industrial gold mining, this metal was valued much higher than it is today.
The first actual Russian document indicating the price of a person is also the first diplomatic document of Ancient Rus' that has come down to us. One of the articles of the agreement with Byzantium, concluded in 911 after the successful Slavic raid on Constantinople, established a favorable price for the Russians for ransomed slaves - 20 gold coins. Here we are apparently talking about solidi, the main gold coin of Byzantium, and, thus, the price of a person is about 90 grams of gold - twice the then accepted “average market” price of a slave.
The Slavs' campaign against Byzantium in 944 was less successful. Therefore, the new agreement of our ancestors with the Byzantines already established a completely market “servant price” for slaves. “A young man or a good maiden” cost 10 gold coins (45 grams of gold) or “two pavoloks” - two pieces of silk of a certain length. “Seredovich,” that is, as they would now say, “a product of the middle price category,” cost eight gold coins, and an old man or a child was valued at five gold coins.
In the heyday of Kievan Rus, according to “Russian Truth,” a collection of laws of the 11th century, the cost of a serf was five to six hryvnia. Most historians believe that here we're talking about about the so-called hryvnia kuna, which were four times cheaper than silver hryvnia. So at that time a person was worth about 200 grams of silver or 750 tanned squirrel skins.
In 1223, just as the Russians first encountered Mongol advance forces in the unsuccessful Battle of Kalka, Prince of Smolensk Mstislav Davidovich concluded the first one that reached us trade agreement with German merchants from Riga and Gotland. According to this agreement, the value of a slave was estimated at one hryvnia in silver (equal to approximately four hryvnia kunas from Russkaya Pravda).
The silver hryvnia then weighed 160-200 grams of silver and was approximately equal in value to 15 grams of gold. It is not difficult to calculate that in provincial Smolensk a person was a little cheaper than in the capital Kyiv, and three times cheaper than in the richest and largest metropolis that time Constantinople.
The price of slaves was also influenced by market conditions. During successful military campaigns, when a lot of captives were enslaved, the value of slaves dropped noticeably. So in 944-945, the Rus, during raids on the coast of the Caspian Sea, as the Byzantine chronicler reports, sold slaves for 20 Arab dikhrems. This is approximately 60-70 grams of silver per person.
In 1169, the Novgorodians defeated the troops of the Suzdal principality and captured so many prisoners that “they bought 2 nogat each.” This is a tenth of a hryvnia, approximately 20 grams of silver. A goat or sheep then cost six nogat, a pig - 10 nogat, and a mare - 60 nogat. In the same 1169, the Vladimir-Suzdal army took Kyiv by storm for the first time in the history of the city, capturing many prisoners there and selling them into slavery. As the Ipatiev Chronicle writes: “Christians were killed, others were tied up, wives were taken into captivity, separated by force from their husbands.” It is not surprising that that year for Rus' became a dumping year in terms of prices per person.
Girls 15 kopecks
According to rough estimates by historians Mongol invasion enslaved up to 10% of the population of Rus' and Eastern Europe in general, giving rise to an established slave trading system in the 13th century. In particular, through the ports of Crimea and the Black Sea straits, the flow of Eastern European slaves went to northern Africa and Italy, where a rich urban culture was just beginning to flourish, and the plague epidemic that took place in 1348 decimated the population and created a sharp increase in the demand for labor. This Mediterranean trade in human goods lasted for several centuries up to and including the 18th century.
Thanks to the well preserved documentary evidence from Italian cities of the Early Renaissance, prices for Slavic slaves are known, which then constituted a third of all living goods bought and sold by the Genoese and Venetian merchants. In Venice in 1361, the average price for an Eastern European slave was 139 lire per person, or approximately 70 grams of fine gold.
Most of the slaves were girls from sixteen to thirty years old and children. Women's prices in the Italian market were higher than men's prices. In 1429, a seventeen-year-old Russian girl was bought in Venice for 2093 lire, this is the maximum price of all known to historians few deals more than a kilogram high standard gold. However, beautiful virgins for pleasure have always been a special, piece goods, the price of which was orders of magnitude higher than the usual price of a slave.
Judging by archival documents 1440, the minimum price for a Russian girl on the slave market of Venice did not fall below 1122 lire. Circassian women, considered the most beautiful in the Caucasus, were sold cheaper than Russians - from 842 liras to 1459 liras per person that year.
Italian historians who studied the Mediterranean slave trade noticed that slave prices rose every century. But this was not so much due to the shortage of slaves, which were uninterruptedly supplied Crimean Khanate, how much with the fall in the price of silver and gold in the 15th-17th centuries.
Slave prices varied significantly depending on the geography of trade - from high in the rich metropolises of the Mediterranean to minimal in the steppes and forests North Caucasus and Eastern Europe. There, armed groups procured live goods in the most non-economic way - direct, undisguised violence.
Crimean and Nogai Tatars specialized in raids for live goods in the lands of modern Ukraine, the Caucasus and southern Russia. The Cossacks of the Dnieper and Don were engaged in similar fishing in the Volga region, in the Caspian Sea and among the same Tatars and Turks. In the north of Eastern Europe, the main specialists in the slave trade were the Novgorod “ushkuiniki” (the northern analogue of the southern Cossacks). Armed detachments of these dashing people from Veliky Novgorod explored the shores White Sea and the northern Urals, collected fur tribute and enslaved aborigines from Finno-Ugric tribes. Historians call these activities trading and robber expeditions.
At the beginning of the 16th century, on the far northern outskirts of Muscovy, an Ostyak or Vogul (Khant or Mansi) captured into slavery could be purchased directly from the Ushkuiniki at a price of no more than 10 Novgorod kopecks, a little less than 10 grams of silver. In the Crimean Cafe, the main center of the Black Sea trade in human goods, such a slave cost an average of 250 Turkish coins. This is approximately 200-250 grams of silver - the same as the average cost of a slave sold by the Varangians from Kyiv to the Greeks in Chersonesos five centuries earlier.
A slave transported from Crimea to Ottoman Empire or cities of Italy was already sold five to ten times more expensive and cost 25-50 Byzantine ducats (from 80 to 150 grams of 986-carat gold). Prices beautiful women, as already mentioned, could be an order of magnitude higher.
Besides foreign trade slaves, Muscovite Rus' also knew the internal market for living goods. Since the 15th century, servitude, a socio-economic phenomenon close to slavery, has become increasingly widespread in the country. When the Grand Duchy of Moscow finally freed itself from Horde dependence, the internal price of a Russian serf ranged from one to three rubles. A century later, towards the middle XVI century a slave was already a little more expensive - from one and a half to four rubles. At the beginning of the reign of Boris Godunov, on the eve of the Time of Troubles, in well-fed years the price of a serf was four to five rubles; in hungry, lean years it dropped to two rubles.
Wars and the capture of many prisoners periodically lowered prices for live goods to a minimum. For example, during the Russian-Swedish War of 1554-1557, the army under the command of governor Pyotr Shchenyatev defeated the Swedish army near Vyborg and captured many prisoners in Finland and Karelia, the prices of which immediately dropped to pennies in the literal sense. One of the Russian chronicles of the 16th century cites these prices: “The nemchin is one hryvnia, and the girl is five altyn.” Here, the hryvnia is already called the ten-kopeck coin, and the altyn is the Moscow three-kopeck coin. That is, a captured Finn, Karelian or Swede was sold by the archers of the boyar Shchenyatev for 10 kopecks, and captured young girls - for 15 kopecks.
“Japanese of the Kyrgyz breed”
If the state did not control the trade in prisoners captured in external wars, then the state tried to regulate and take into account the actual slavery within the country. Officials kept special enslavement books in which transactions involving conversion to serfdom were recorded. In addition, the state levied a special tax on the purchasers of slaves, so bonded books were kept scrupulously in all the cities of Muscovy.
The most detailed and complete books of bondage have been preserved in the Novgorod land. Already in the 20th century, historians carefully calculated that, for example, in 1594 the average price of a slave in Novgorod was 4 rubles 33 kopecks, and in the Novgorod province prices for slaves were lower, on average from 2 rubles 73 kopecks to 3 rubles 63 kopecks.
The texts of individual servitude letters that formalized the sale to serfs have also been preserved: “I bought Senka, Vasilyev’s son, Vseslavin Fetka, Ofonosov’s son, a Novgorod resident, for a full sum for himself and his children, and gave him two rubles of Novgorod money. The bailiff, Vasyuk Borodat, came from Yuri Zakharyevich, from the governor. From the Grand Duke, Ivan Vasilyevich, of all Rus', the tamga and the Osmnitsky customs officers took it. The complete story was written by the monk Gavrilov, son of Payusov. The complete seal is written in the circle of the tamga of Veliky Novgorod.”
This document, called “full”, testifies that a certain Semyon Vasilyevich Vseslavin bought himself and his children the Novgorodian Fedor for 200 grams of silver, for which he paid 16 grams of silver duties to the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III. Note that at the very end of the 15th century, a slave in the Muscovite state was worth the same as a slave in Kievan Rus three centuries earlier.
It is interesting that the “Code of Laws” of 1497, the first code of laws created in the Moscow state, provided that if slaves of non-Orthodox foreigners adopted the Orthodox faith, the owners would be given a ransom for them in the amount of 15 rubles per person. This was noticeably higher than the average market price of a slave and made such a declaratory exemption very difficult.
The annexation of Siberia was carried out, first of all, in pursuit of super-profits, which were generated by resale in Western Europe and Mediterranean sable furs. But the development of lands east of the Urals was also not without trade in live goods. All Siberian peoples patriarchal slavery was already known, and the documents of Moscow orders that have reached us left evidence of the Russian slave trade in Siberia.
So in 1610, a letter from Surgut reports how Kirsha Kunyazev, “the prince of the Parabel volost of the Pinto Horde” (that is, the Selkup, a representative of a small nation now living in the modern Yamalo-Nenets district of Russia), was forced to pawn his wife and two sons, to borrow 12 sables to pay yasak, the fur tax for the year. And in 1644, Siberian Cossacks from the Berezovsky fortress bought a “samoyad girl” from the Nenets in exchange for flour.
Siberia was considered border territory, and customs duties were levied on live goods purchased from foreign sellers, as well as on livestock and other articles of trade. The one who bought a slave paid a “head tax” of eight altyns and two money (that is, 25 kopecks) for each, and the one who sold paid a “tenth duty,” 10% of the sale price. Moreover, the average price for a slave in Siberia late XVII century was two rubles and a half.
Prices for beautiful women have traditionally been higher. Thus, the “record book of fortresses” (the Siberian analogue of bonded books that recorded transactions with live goods) of the city of Tomsk contains a record that “in 1702, on the 11th day of January,” the boyar’s son Pyotr Grechenin filed a deed of sale for “a full-fledged woman of the Kyrgyz breed” (that is, a captive from the Yenisei Kirghiz), who was sold to Grechenin by the Tomsk Cossack Fyodor Cherepanov for five rubles. The official made a note that the buyer can “own the Kyrgyz breed of women forever” and “sell it and pawn it”. A duty was taken from this transaction: “By decree of the great sovereign, duty money per ruble per altyn, a total of five altyns was taken in full to the treasury of the great sovereign.” In total, a woman of “Kyrgyz breed” cost the nobleman Grechenin 5 rubles 15 kopecks.
"Siberian Slavery"
On beginning of XVI 2nd century documents contain a lot of evidence of trade in Siberian aborigines and prices for them. So in the Berezovsky prison (where Prince Menshikov would be exiled after the death of Peter I), a Khanty (Ostyak) girl under the age of seven could be bought for 20 kopecks, and a boy of the same age could be bought for five kopecks more.
After the defeat near Poltava, Swedish Lieutenant Colonel Johann Stralenberg was captured and ended up in Siberia. Later, he described his observations of how the Yakuts, “when they are in need of tribute and in debt, their children, approximately 10 and 12 years old, are sold to Russian people and foreigners for two or three rubles without pity.”
True, the tsarist government tried to limit slavery in Siberia, and by a special decree of Peter I of 1699 it was forbidden to turn into slaves. Siberia then experienced an acute shortage of population and labor. Therefore, in 1737, Empress Anna Ioannovna officially allowed the purchase of slaves from foreign tribes and merchants on the Siberian and Ural borders of the empire. To replenish the people of Siberia and other sparsely populated outskirts, slaves were bought from the Dzungars, Kazakhs, Kalmyks and Mongols. IN official documents The tsarist government tried to morally justify this “Siberian slave trade” by the fact that Russia was receiving new subjects and that “the purchased Asians would be converted to Christianity.”
Such cross-border slave trade was permitted along the entire Asian border of the Russian Empire, from the Volga to Kamchatka. On April 18, 1740, the Georgian prince Gabriel Davidovich Nazarov, captain of the Astrakhan garrison, reported in a letter to the commandant of the city of Tsaritsyn, Colonel Pyotr Koltsov: “When I was now in Tsaritsyn, I bought at the Kalmyk bazaar of the Kalmyk nation a guy of 20 years old, called Damchyu, for whom he gave money 8 rubles."
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We are not slaves - We are not slaves
There are multiple opinions in the form of myths that there was never slavery in Rus'. The Slavs were civilians who were Aryan farmers, led a righteous lifestyle and never fought. We are all enlightened, intelligent, educated, believers, we know very well that slavery and the slave trade are relics of the past. Ah, remnants, so they existed and there was slavery? We all know that slavery happened, but the neo-pagans say that it didn’t happen, so who is right and what years are we talking about? I think that if we are talking about Rus', we will consider it an established state, and not divided into various nationalities and tribal groups. In what year was it formed single state and under what banners was everything organized?
And so, we read an excerpt from “The Tale of Bygone Years”, further events are described as follows:
"...In the summer of 6367 (859). The Varangians from overseas took tribute from Chud, and from the Novgorod Slovens, and from Mary, from all the Krivichi. In the year 6370 (862) they drove the Varangians overseas and did not give them tribute and became themselves control themselves, and there was no truth in them, and generation after generation rebelled, and they had strife, and began to fight with themselves. And they said to themselves: “Let us look for a prince who would rule us and judge us by right. And they went overseas to the Varangians, to Rus'. That’s what those Varangians were called, Rus, just as other Varangians are called Svei (Swedes), others are Urmans (Normans), Angles (Normans from England), other Goths (inhabitants of the island of Gotland), and so are these. The Chud (Finns), the Slovenes (Novgorod Slavs), and the Krivichi (Slavs from the upper reaches of the Volga) told the Rus the following words: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no decoration in it; go reign and rule over us.” And three brothers and their family volunteered and came. The eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. From them the Russian land was nicknamed, that is, the land of the Novgorodians: these are Novgorodians from the Varangian family, before they were Slavs." Source: http://otvet.mail.ru/question/67105268
What follows from this? As we see in those distant times, on the territory of Rus' and beyond its borders, there were many divided peoples who not only traded with each other, but also fought (but history remakes are trying to prove to us that the Russians lived peacefully. The inhabitants were not so harmless territory of Rus' - quite a bit of blood was shed. There were many of these nationalities, but in the end, no matter how anyone argued, whoever proved what scientists, no matter what theories they invented, the course of history still could not be changed - it became so that the peoples began to unite. The birth of a single state occurred in 862 A.D. Prince Rurik laid the foundation for the first Russian dynasty, which ruled our state for more than seven centuries.
No matter how we talk about how wonderfully everyone lived, and there was no slavery, everyone was saints, sang epic songs, and Jesus said to “his Jews”: - “Don’t go there with sermons (in the sense of Rus'), there are people there almost saints live (this is what our native believers, neo-pagans say, Levashov, Zadornov and many others repeat these quotes one after another). So, I will never believe this. No - no - they sang epic songs and our language is beautiful, and there is a lot of piety in the peoples of Rus', there is not even a dispute here, but scattered peoples and principalities could not live peacefully, there were always raids, theft, ruin, but where there are wars, even small ones, there is slavery. Even in our time, young people from the same village fight with peers from another village - they organize massacres - this is an indisputable fact - they themselves adolescence They fought village against village, street against street, that's what we were missing? Militancy is hardwired into all peoples at the genetic level, and the Slavs are no exception. The Aryan farmers were not so peaceful, and what’s more, later, so as not to conquer everyone, they united and created one huge and powerful state called Russia.
Well, let it be as the adherents of the “Slavic-Aryan Vedas”, neo-pagans and people who picked up these ideas are trying to convince us. Let us all unanimously assume that in Rus' everyone was a saint, no one fought, there was no slavery (it even became funny), then all the same, scattered peoples, principalities on the territory of Rus' could not be called Russia. Why? Yes, because each united group was its own mini-state.
To make it clearer, I will give a small part of the life of the formation of Rus', namely some of the dates:
1503 – Annexation of the Southwestern Russian lands to Moscow.
1505–1533 – Reign of Vasily III.
1510 – Pskov joins Moscow.
1514 – Smolensk joins Moscow.
1521 – Ryazan annexed to Moscow.
1533–1584 – The reign of Grand Duke Ivan IV the Terrible.
1547 – Crowning of Ivan IV the Terrible to the throne.
1549 – Beginning of the convening of Zemsky Sobors.
1550 – Adoption of the Code of Laws of Ivan IV the Terrible.
1551 - “Stoglavy Cathedral” of the Russian Orthodox Church.
1552 – Kazan annexed to Moscow.
1555–1560 – Construction of the Intercession Cathedral in Moscow (St. Basil's Cathedral).
1556 – Astrakhan annexed to Moscow.
1556 – Adoption of the “Code of Service”.
http://info-olymp.narod.ru/hrone.html
What do we see? Annexation, annexation, annexation... Now it is clear that everything was fragmented, so who or what should we call Russia? Ryazan, Kazan, Smolensk, Astrakhan? This is just a small part of the events that happened in our history, but the essence is already clear from this example.
Let's go back to slavery. After all, we are talking about slavery and did it exist in Rus'? So, what kind of tribe, people or principality are we talking about then? To talk about this, you need to see a whole and unified state called Russia, then you can talk about Rus' as a state and slavery in it, and it began to form only in 862 AD. They began to unite because they were tired of bloodshed and strife. Brother killed brother, children went to war with their fathers, strife, persecution, bloodshed. Everyone is tired of the stupidity. You don’t need to look far for examples - look at modern Ukraine, what’s going on there? They kill each other, strife strangles the country. This is in modern world, but before everything was much more difficult. By the time you get there on horseback, all the families have already been slaughtered.
But uniting is not enough, you need to create a stable state that could resist all other peoples, states that did not want to unite with future Russia and were ready to attack and fight. Russia itself was proclaimed an empire after the Northern War, which ended in 1721. Thus, the first emperor was Peter I source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_empire
So, Russian empire was formed in 1721, and the republic was proclaimed on September 1, 1917 - this is the official and internationally recognized name of the country and it doesn’t matter who says what or who suddenly thinks of themselves as smarter than those who proclaimed and recognized it. The very fact of recognition has already come true and this is history. As we see, before powerful Russia appeared in the form in which we know it, it went through a long, painful formation, with all its numerous wars, including civil ones, hardships and hardships, with its ups and downs.
Now, Dear friends, let's see if there was slavery in Rus'? In what period will we watch? Let's start at least from the time of the formation of the state, and not from the moment when everyone lived separately and fought with each other. Although I made an extract from those times: I. Ya. Froyanov wrote the book “Slavery and Tribute among the Eastern Slavs” (St. Petersburg, 1996) and in his last book he wrote:
“East Slavic society was familiar with slavery. Customary law prohibited turning one's fellow tribesmen into slaves. Therefore, captured foreigners became slaves. They were called servants. For Russian Slavs, servants are primarily a subject of trade..."
"At that time, a goat and a sheep were valued at 6 nogat, a pig at 10 nogat and a mare at 60 nogat, then the price of a captive at 2 nogat should be explained only by the extreme need to quickly sell the overly abundant goods."
Source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%EE%EB%EE%EF%F1%F2%E2%EE
As we see, slavery existed in Rus' in ancient times and slaves were traded. There were also slaves. What is servility? Serf is the same slave in the ancient Princely Rus'. Serf - a slave from the local population, servant - a slave captured as a result of a campaign against neighboring tribes, communities and states. That is, a servant is a foreign slave, a foreign slave. Compared to a servant, a slave had more rights and concessions, but still remained a slave. Source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service
Next, what is serfdom? When did it appear, in what years? Who are serfs? (let's look at the picture, enlarging it - the serf artist is breastfeeding a dog puppy, and her child is lying at her feet - pay attention - this real picture and there were real people - artist Nikolai Alekseevich Kasatkin (1859 - 1930))
Serfdom existed in Russia since Kievan Rus of the 11th century AD. It was a system of legal relations between farmers and peasants. Roughly speaking, the relationship between a slave owner and a slave.
In Kievan Rus and Novgorod, unfree peasants were divided into categories: smerds, purchasers and serfs. In Tsarist Russia, serfdom became widespread by the 16th century; officially confirmed Council Code from 1649; repealed in 1861. Human trafficking continued in Russia until February 1861. Let us remember “Dead Souls” (Gogol) Source: - Wikipedia.
Here's to grandma and St. George's Day! Have you heard this saying? But these exclamations are connected with the slavery of serfs; on St. George’s Day they could change the slave owner, but subsequently a law was passed that prohibited changing the landowner at the end of the year. The peasant became not just a slave, but a silent beast. We read the quote:
The Code of Law of 1497 was the first law regulating the beginning of the enslavement of peasants. Since the annual cycle of agricultural work usually ended by the end of November, since 1497 a peasant could change landowner only a week before Saint George's Day (November 26) and a week after it. Since the 15th century, in connection with the registration of serfdom in Russia, restrictions on the rights of peasants to transfer from one landowner to another were introduced. In 1592, the transfer of peasants from one landowner to another was finally prohibited.
Source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DE%F0%FC%E5%E2_%E4%E5%ED%FC
Further, conscription in Russia existed from 1705 to 1847 - conscription military service, but we will not touch it, although people served in the army for life, which was later replaced by 25 years of service. He cited recruiting as an example in order to show the “sweet” life of the Rusichs. I wonder how many wars there were, can we list them by date?
So the neo-pagan myths about the sweet life of paradise, about the glorious Gods, the Magi, who were almost Gods in ancient Rus', or rather, these great and peaceful people lived in settlements that stood on the territory of the future great power, subsequently called after the unification of peoples, - Russia. So, these myths, in my opinion, are not entirely true. Also, the fiction that there was no slavery in Rus', that Rus' was captured by Christians and forced to pray to Christ is complete absurdity, which is driven into our entire population by neo-pagans and people who did not study very well at school, others who blindly They believe fairy tales and go along with them.
These are the thoughts, dear friends, that came to me today... It has not yet been told about various repressions, Stalin’s camps, the Civil War (again strife), millions of tortured peasants (I believe that they are also slaves) - under Peter the Great, who built St. Petersburg and other objects. This city literally stands on bones. Our Primer began with the words “Mom washed the frame”, “We are not slaves - we are not slaves” with these slogans, the complete illiteracy of the ordinary population of Russia was eliminated. Even the primer began with the words “slaves.” Yes, there were literate people - these were landowners, merchants, and intelligentsia, but the common people, who made up the basis of Russia, were illiterate.
So everything was not so sweet in Rus' or in Rus'. This is how history is being replaced for us, and the most important substitution is happening in our time and by whom?
Everything I wrote - these topics were taught and studied in any Soviet school, well and Soviet education considered the best in the world. All materials mentioned in this article are freely available and open to everyone.
Comments: 3
I think the list is not complete, but still - Chronology of wars:
Old Russian state 862-1054.
Byzantine campaigns of the 9th-10th centuries.
Hiking Svyatoslav I-X V.
Campaigns of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich and Yaroslav the Wise X-XI centuries.
The fight against the nomads of the X-XI centuries.
Destruction Khazar Khaganate 985
Russian principalities 1054-1547
Battle of the Nemiga River 1067
Battle of Stugna 1093
Cueball on the Kalka River 1223
Battle of the Neva 1240
Battle on the Ice 1242
Batu's campaigns against Rus' 1237-1257.
Battle of the Irpen River 1321
Battle of Kulikovo 1380
Overthrow of the Golden Horde yoke of 1439-1480.
Border War 1487-1494
Russo-Swedish War 1495-1497
Russian-Livonian-Lithuanian war 1500-1503.
Russo-Lithuanian War 1507-1508
Russian-Lithuanian War 1512-1522.
Conquest Central Asia beginning of the 16th century - 1839
Starodub War of 1534-1537
Kingdom of Russia 1547-1721
Russian-Swedish War 1554-1557
Livonian War 1558-1583
Crimean campaign to Moscow 1571
Battle of Molodinskaya 1572
Time of Troubles 1598-1613
North War 1700-1721
Russian Empire 1721-1917
Persian War 1722-1723
War of the Polish Succession 1733-1735
Turkish War 1736-1739
Swedish War 1741-1743
Seven Years' War 1756-1763
First Polish War 1768-1772
Catherine's First Turkish War 1768-1774
Pugachev riot 1773-1775
Second Turkish War 1787-1791
Swedish War 1788-1790
Second Polish (“Insurrection”) War of 1795
Persian campaign of Count Zubov 1796
First war with France 1799
War with Persia 1804-1813
Second war with France 1805-1807
War with Turkey 1806-1812
War with Sweden 1808-1809
Patriotic War 1812-1814
War with Turkey 1828-1829
Polish War 1830-1831
Hungarian campaign 1849
Crimean War 1853-1856
Polish uprising 1863
War with Turkey 1877-1878
Akhal-Teke expedition 1880-1881
Clashes with Afghanistan 1885
Pamir campaigns 1891-1895.
War with Japan 1904-1905
First World War 1914-1917
Civil War 1918-1922
Soviet-Polish War 1919-1921
Fighting at Khalkhin Gol 1939
Polish campaign of the Red Army 1939
Soviet-Finnish War 1939-1940
Great Patriotic War 1941-1945
- Battle of Moscow 1941-1942.
- Battle of Stalingrad 1942-1943
- Battle of Kursk 1943
- Belarusian operation 1944
Soviet-Japanese War 1945
Intervention in Afghanistan 1979-1989
Russian Federation since 1991
First Chechen War 1994-1996
Second Chechen War 1999-2009
Armed conflict in South Ossetia 2008
The most ancient Russian concept to designate a slave, as we have seen, - servants in plural - servants. The term appears in Old Church Slavonic texts and is also used in tenth-century Russo-Byzantine treaties.
Another ancient term is rob(otherwise - slave; in the feminine gender - robe, later – slave), suggestive in connection with the verb robotati. In this sense, a slave is a “worker” and vice versa,
In the middle of the eleventh century a new term appeared - serf, which can be compared with Polish clap(in Polish spelling chlop), “peasant”, “serf”. The Proto-Slavic form was holp; in the transcription used by most Slavic philologists, - cholpa.In Russian the term serf denoted a male slave. The slave was constantly called slave
Slavery in Kievan Rus was of two types: temporary and permanent. The latter was known as "total slavery" (servility is white). The main source of temporary slavery was captivity in war. Initially, not only soldiers of the enemy army, but even civilians captured during hostilities were enslaved. As time passed, more mercy was shown to civilians and finally, by the time of the treaty between Russia and Poland, signed in 1229, the need to spare civilians was recognized.
By the end of the war, prisoners were released for a ransom, if one was offered. The Russian-Byzantine treaties established a ransom ceiling in order to prevent abuses. If it was not possible to collect a ransom, the prisoner remained at the disposal of the person who captured him. According to the “Law of Judgment by People”, in such cases the work of the captive was considered as payment of a ransom and after covering it in in full the prisoner had to be released.
The rule had to be observed accordingly in relation to citizens of states with which the Russians concluded special treaties, such as with Byzantium. In other cases it could be ignored. In any case, it is important that Russian Truth does not mention captivity in war as a source of complete slavery.
According to paragraph 110 of the expanded version, “total slavery is of three types.” A person becomes a slave: 1) if he is sold into slavery of his own free will; 2) if he marries a woman without first concluding a special agreement with her owner; 3) if he is hired to serve the owner as a butler or housekeeper without a special agreement, that he must remain free. As for self-sale into slavery, two conditions had to be met in order for the transaction to become legal: 1) a minimum price (not less than half a hryvnia) and 2) payment to the city secretary (one nogata). These formalities were prescribed by law in order to prevent a person from being enslaved against his will. This part of Russian Pravda does not say anything about female slaves, but it can be assumed that a woman can sell herself into slavery, like a man. On the other hand, a woman was not given the privilege of maintaining her freedom by agreement with her master if she married a male slave. Although this is not mentioned in the Russian Pravda, we know from later legislation, as well as from various other sources, that such a marriage automatically made the woman a slave. This was supposed to be ancient custom, and therefore he was not considered worthy of mention in Russian Pravda.
In addition to the main sources of the slave population mentioned, the sale agreement can be characterized as a derivative source. It is obvious that the same formalities as in the case of self-sale had to be observed in the case of the sale of a slave. This set a minimum price for full slaves. There was no minimum price for prisoners of war. After the victory of the Novgorodians over the Suzdalians in 1169, the captured Suzdalians were sold for two nogat each. The “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” says that if Grand Duke Vsevolod had taken part in the campaign against the Polovtsians, the latter would have been defeated and then the female captives would have been sold for one nogat, and the men for one rezana.
No upper price was set for slaves, but public opinion—at least among the clergy—was against speculation in the slave trade. It was considered sinful to buy a slave at one price and then sell him for more; this was called "outcasting."
A slave had no civil rights. If he was killed, then compensation had to be paid by the killer to his master, and not to the relatives of the slave. In the laws of this period there is no regulation regarding the murder of a slave by his owner. Obviously, the master was responsible if he killed a temporary slave.
If the slave was “full,” then the owner was subjected to church repentance, but this was obviously the only sanction in such a situation. A slave could not bring charges in court and was not accepted as a full-fledged witness in a lawsuit. By law, he was not supposed to own any property, with the exception of his clothes and other personal belongings, known as peculium in Roman law (Old Russian version - staritsa); a slave could not accept any obligations or sign any contract. In fact, many slaves of Kievan Rus had property and assumed obligations, but in each case this was done on behalf of their owner. If in such a case the slave defaulted, his owner would pay the loss unless the person with whom the slave was dealing was aware that the other party was a slave. If he knew about the fact, he acted at his own risk.
Slaves were used by their owners as various types of domestic servants and as field laborers. It happened that they were men and women skilled in the craft, or even teachers. They were judged on their abilities and services provided. So, according to Russian Pravda, the amount of compensation to the prince for the murder of his slaves varied from five to twelve hryvnia, depending on what type of slave the victim was.
As for the end of the slave state, leaving aside the death of the slave, temporary slavery could end after a sufficient amount of work was completed. The end of complete slavery could come in two ways: either the slave ransomed himself (which, of course, few could afford), or the owner could release his slave or slaves by volitional decision. He was constantly encouraged to do this by the Church, and many wealthy people followed this advice, freeing slaves posthumously in a special section of their wills.
There was also, of course, an illegal way for a slave to free himself - escape. Many slaves, it turns out, used this path to freedom, since the Russian Pravda contains several paragraphs talking about fugitive slaves. Any person who gave shelter to such a slave or assisted him in any way was to be fined.