Social system: Merchants and townspeople in Russia in the 16th-17th centuries. Pages of history

The class of medieval (feudal) Russia, whose duties were to bear taxes, that is, to pay cash and in-kind taxes, as well as perform numerous duties.

The heavy population was divided into black settlements and black hundreds.

IN black settlements Townspeople settled in, supplying various supplies to the royal palace and working for palace needs. The tax was paid from the place and from the fishery. Duty is communal. Taxes and duties were distributed by the community. The tax was paid based on the number of households, and not on the number of people. If a person left the posad, the community had to continue to pay taxes for him.

IN black hundreds The simple townspeople who were engaged in petty trade, crafts and trades were brought together. Each Black Hundred constituted a self-governing society with elected elders and centurions. Until the middle of the 17th century, so-called white settlements existed in cities.

The townspeople's population was personally free, but the state, interested in the regular receipt of payments, sought to attach tax-drawers to the townspeople. Therefore, for leaving the posad without permission, even for marrying a girl from another posad, they were punished with death. In 1649, townspeople were prohibited from selling and mortgaging their yards, barns, cellars, etc.

Based on property (like all classes of the Moscow state), the townspeople's population was divided into the best, average and young people.

Rights complained to the best and the average. For example, the townspeople were allowed to keep drinking water “without recess” for various special occasions.

The land under the plantings belonged to the community, but not to private individuals. Petitions were submitted on behalf of the entire community. An insult inflicted on a townsman was considered an insult to the entire community.

Posad people were divided into hundreds and tens. Order was observed by the elected sots, fiftieths and tens. Under Ivan the Terrible, the posads had their own elected administrations and courts. In the 17th century, this system was replaced by zemstvo huts. In the zemstvo hut there sat: the zemstvo elder, the kiosk kisser and the zemstvo kissers. Zemstvo elders and tselovniks were elected for 1 year - from September 1. In some cities, in addition to zemstvo elders, there were also favorite judges. Favorite judges dealt with property matters between townspeople, except for criminal cases.

To collect trade revenues, customs heads and kissers were elected. Sometimes customs heads were appointed from Moscow.

After the Time of Troubles, townsfolk communities began to collapse. Posad people began to enroll as peasants or serfs. Walking people began to open shops, barns, and cellars in the suburbs without paying taxes. Since 1649, everyone living in the settlement (even temporarily) was required to register as a tax official. Everyone who escaped from the posads had to return to their posad.

From the end of the 18th century, the townspeople began to be called bourgeois, although the name townspeople was sometimes used.

Interesting Facts

The memory of the class is preserved in the toponymy of some Russian cities, where it is immortalized in the names of streets: 1st and 2nd Posadskaya streets in Orel, Posadskaya street in Yekaterinburg, Bolshaya Posadskaya in St. Petersburg.

Literature

· Kostomarov N. I. Essay on Trade of the Moscow State in the 16th and 17th Centuries. St. Petersburg. V Type. N. Tiblen and Comp., 1862 pp. 146 - 153

Russian society in the second half 17th century was not the same. It consisted of various groups. The position of different population groups in society, their relationships with each other are called social relations.

The entire population of the Russian kingdom at that time can be divided into two large groups: one serves the state (is in the state service) and does not pay taxes - service people; the other pays taxes to the state. The tax was called - tax(to submit), therefore this group of the population was called - taxing people.

Peasantry

Posad people

The bulk of the inhabitants of Russian cities in the 17th century were the townspeople. The privileged townspeople included “guests,” especially revered trading people, wealthy merchants and industrialists. These were the “best people.” They enjoyed great respect, they were written with the full name with the addition of the father’s name, for example, Ivan Semenov, son of Polikarpov. Low-income townspeople were called “young”. These included small craftsmen and traders, and laborers.

The process of restoration and revival affected craft, industry, and trade in cities after the Time of Troubles. Here, too, shifts began, not very large and decisive in scale, but very noticeable.
By the middle of the century, there were more than 250 cities in the country, and, according to incomplete data, more than 40 thousand courtyards in them. Of these, 27 thousand courtyards were in Moscow. They belonged to artisans and traders (8.5 thousand), archers (10 thousand), boyars and nobles, clergy and rich merchants.
Large cities were located on important trade routes along the Volga (Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Astrakhan), Dvina and Sukhona (Arkhangelsk, Kholmogory. Sol Vychegda, Ustyug Veliky, Vologda, Totma), south of Moscow (Tula, Kaluga) , in the northwest (Novgorod the Great, Pskov), northeast (Sol Kama). They had more than 500 households each. Many medium-sized and small cities were essentially fortresses (in the southern, Volga districts), but towns gradually appeared in them - suburbs inhabited by trade and craft people.
The population of cities in the first half of the century increased by more than one and a half times. Despite the modest share of traders and artisans in the total population of Russia, they played a very significant role in its economic life. Among the townspeople we see Russians and Ukrainians, Belarusians and Tatars, Mordovians and Chuvashs, etc.
The leading center of handicraft, industrial production, and trade operations is Moscow. Here in the 40s, masters of metalworking (in 128 forges), fur craftsmen (about 100 craftsmen), the production of various foods (about 600 people), leather and leather products, clothing and hats, and much more worked here - everything that a big man needed crowded city.
To a lesser, but quite noticeable extent, the craft developed in other cities of Russia. A significant part of the artisans worked for the state and the treasury. Some of the artisans served the needs of the palace (palace artisans) and the feudal lords living in Moscow and other cities (patrimonial artisans). The rest were part of the townspeople communities of the cities, bore (pulled, as they said then) various duties and paid taxes, the totality of which was called tax. Craftsmen from posad drafts often switched from working on consumer orders to working for the market, and the craft thus developed into commodity production. Simple capitalist cooperation also appeared, and hired labor was used. Poor townspeople and peasants became mercenaries for the rich blacksmiths, boilermakers, grain makers and others. The same thing happened in transport, river and horse-drawn.
The development of handicraft production, its professional, territorial specialization brings great revitalization to the economic life of cities and trade relations between them and their districts. It was by the 17th century. refers to the beginning of the concentration of local markets, the formation of an all-Russian market on their basis. Guests and other wealthy merchants appeared with their goods in all parts of the country and abroad. During the Time of Troubles and after it, they repeatedly lent money to the authorities.
Rich merchants, artisans, and industrialists ruled everything in the townspeople's communities. They shifted the main burden of taxes and duties onto the townspeople's poor - small artisans and traders. Property inequality led to social inequality; discord between the “better” and “lesser” townspeople made itself felt more than once in the everyday life of cities, especially during urban uprisings and civil wars of the “rebellious age.”
In cities, their peasants, slaves, artisans, etc. have long lived in the courtyards and settlements that belonged to the boyars, the patriarch and other hierarchs, monasteries. In addition to serving the owners, they were also engaged in trade and crafts. Moreover, unlike the townsman tax authorities, they did not pay taxes and did not bear duties in favor of the state. This freed the people who belonged to the boyars and monasteries, in this case artisans and traders, from taxes, “whitewashed” them, in the terminology of that time.
Posad people at Zemsky Sobors and in petitions demanded the return of all people involved in crafts and trade to the townspeople communities, to the townsman tax.

Posad people townspeople

in the Russian state there is a commercial and industrial population of cities. The term comes from the word "posad". In the XIV-XV centuries. Posad people were called “citizen people.” They bore state taxes (taxes, trade duties, in-kind duties, etc.). In the 1570-80s. From the townspeople, trading people were singled out, who were united into privileged corporations of guests, the Living Hundred and the Cloth Hundred. In 1775 they were divided into guild merchants and burghers. According to the Charter granted to cities in 1785, townspeople were citizens of one of 6 categories who were engaged in trades and crafts. Gradually they merged with the bourgeoisie.

POSAD PEOPLE

POSAD PEOPLE, in the Russian state, the trade and craft population of cities and part of urban-type settlements (posads, settlements). Posad people bore state taxes (taxes, trade duties, in-kind duties). The term “posad people” (posazhane) comes from the word “posad” and has been found in sources since the 1440s. But in historical literature, the urban trade, craft and industrial population of Russia of the 10th-18th centuries is usually called townspeople. The layer of townspeople arose in the process of transforming the cities of Rus' into centers of economic life. In the cities of Ancient Rus' (cm. ANCIENT Rus') there were artisans of more than 60 different specialties. The craft and trade population of the cities created their own territorial and professional associations (hundreds, “ends” in Veliky Novgorod; in Rus' there were also organizations of artisans such as guilds). Sources of the 14th-15th centuries usually call the townspeople “city people”, “citizen people” and distinguish among them merchants and “black” people.
In the second half of the 15th - first half of the 16th centuries, the number of townspeople increased greatly. This was facilitated by the policy of the Moscow Grand Dukes, who carried out confiscations in cities annexed to Moscow of the property of appanage princes and, in part, of monasteries. The urban population, dependent on appanage princes and monasteries, was mostly transferred to the category of townspeople. At the same time, new urban-type centers arose (posads, settlements, rows), the population of which was included in the class of posad people. The duties of the townspeople in favor of the state were determined: fishing taxes, trade duties, participation in citywide work, especially in the construction of fortifications. The townspeople formed a community headed by zemstvo elders, who were responsible for paying taxes and distributing them among community members. In the 1570-1580s, the merchant elite was singled out from the total mass of townspeople, which united into privileged corporations of guests, the living hundred and the cloth hundred. These merchant corporations were used by the government to carry out financial and trade orders. Most of the townspeople - merchants, traders, artisans, people who lived on wage work and alms - remained in the “black” tax communities. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the townspeople were divided into “best”, “average”, “youngest”, and sometimes “youngest” people.
The increase in taxes and duties, the economic crisis generated by the Livonian War (1558-1583) and the oprichnina, and then the Troubles of the early 17th century, dealt a heavy blow to the settlements. Posad people left the community, enrolled in the service people, “mortgaged” for large spiritual and secular feudal lords, and fled from the cities to the outskirts of the state. The remaining members of the townsfolk communities fought against the large feudal lords, who seized the lands of the townsfolk and settled their dependent people on them. These people did not pay government taxes and competed with planters in the city market. The decline of the suburbs alarmed the government. In 1600-1602, attempts were made to return the mortgagees to the community. Various groups of the urban population “based on trades and trades” were enrolled in the posad estate. The government of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich conducted a series of searches for the townspeople who had left the communities, trying to bring them back. In the mid-17th century, during urban uprisings in Moscow, Novgorod, and Pskov, townspeople demanded the destruction of white settlements in the cities and the relief of financial burdens. The government met these demands. As a result of the Posad structure (1649-1652), the number of townspeople increased from 31.5 to 41.6 thousand households. Trade and craft activities in the cities were declared a monopoly of the townspeople.
In the second half of the 17th - 18th centuries, the number of townspeople increased due to the addition of former state-owned artisans and service people to the towns. In the 1720s, there were about 183 thousand male townspeople, in the 1740s - about 212 thousand, in the 1760s - about 228 thousand. In the 1720s, the entire posad population officially began to be called merchants, but the old name "posad people" remained more common. In the second half of the 17th century, property and social stratification increased among the townspeople. In 1775, the townspeople were divided into guild merchants and philistines. According to the Charter of Cities (1785), townspeople of one of the six categories who were engaged in trades and crafts began to be called townspeople, but according to their property status they were not classified among the first five categories. Gradually, this category of townspeople merged with the bourgeoisie.


encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

See what “posad people” are in other dictionaries:

    Posad people were the class of medieval (feudal) Rus', whose duties were to bear taxes, that is, to pay cash and in-kind taxes, as well as perform numerous duties. The heavy population was divided among blacks... ... Wikipedia

    CITY PEOPLE, commercial and industrial population of Russian cities. The term comes from the word posad. In the 14th and 15th centuries. P.l. the people were called townspeople. They bore state taxes (taxes, trade duties, duties in kind, etc.). In 1570-80s. from ... Russian history

    Trade and craft population of Russian cities and parts of urban-type settlements (posads, settlements) ... Legal dictionary

    CITY PEOPLE, in the Russian state there is a commercial and industrial urban population. They bore state taxes (taxes, trade duties, in-kind duties, etc.). In 1775 they were divided into merchants and burghers... Modern encyclopedia

    The Russian state has a commercial and industrial urban population. They bore state taxes (taxes, trade duties, in-kind duties, etc.). In 1775 they were divided into merchants and burghers... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

    PEOPLE, people, people, people, about people. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

    Posad people- CITY PEOPLE, in the Russian state there is a commercial and industrial urban population. They bore state taxes (taxes, trade duties, in-kind duties, etc.). In 1775 they were divided into merchants and burghers. ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

    Black townspeople in the Moscow state were the name of the commercial and industrial class, which, having separated from its midst the guests (see) and merchants of the living room and cloth hundred (see Hundreds) into the privileged category of semi-service people, constituted ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

    Trade and craft population of Russians. cities and parts of urban-type settlements (posads, settlements). The term "P. l." (“planted”) comes from the word Posad and is found in sources from the 40s. 15th century But in the historical literature P. l. accepted… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

    Posad people- bargaining craft us. rus. city ​​and part of the village mountains type (posads, settlements). In the U. the formation of P. us. beginning in the process of developing the region and the emergence of cities in the 16th century. Category P.L. consisted of settlers from the villages of the North. Pomerania, cross. surroundings... ... Ural Historical Encyclopedia

Books

  • Essays on the history of everyday life and cultural life of Russia. First half of the 18th century. , L. N. Semenova. The monograph examines the impact of reforms in the first quarter of the 18th century. on the culture, life and customs of Russian society. The focus is on the main classes of the population - peasants, townspeople,...

Posad people are a class of medieval (feudal) Rus', whose duties were to bear taxes, that is, to pay cash and in-kind taxes, as well as perform numerous duties.

The heavy population was divided into black settlements and black hundreds.

IN black settlements Townspeople settled in, supplying various supplies to the royal palace and working for palace needs. The tax was paid from the place and from the fishery. Duty is communal. Taxes and duties were distributed by the community. The tax was paid based on the number of households, and not on the number of people. If a person left the posad, the community had to continue to pay taxes for him.

IN black hundreds The simple townspeople who were engaged in petty trade, crafts and trades were brought together. Each Black Hundred constituted a self-governing society with elected elders and centurions. Until the middle of the 17th century, so-called white settlements existed in cities.

The townspeople's population was personally free, but the state, interested in the regular receipt of payments, sought to attach tax-drawers to the townspeople. Therefore, for leaving the posad without permission, even for marrying a girl from another posad, they were punished with death. In 1649, townspeople were prohibited from selling and mortgaging their yards, barns, cellars, etc.

Based on property (like all classes of the Moscow state), the townspeople's population was divided into the best, average and young people.

Rights complained to the best and the average. For example, the townspeople were allowed to keep drinking water “without recess” for various special occasions.

The land under the plantings belonged to the community, but not to private individuals. Petitions were submitted on behalf of the entire community. An insult inflicted on a townsman was considered an insult to the entire community.

Posad people were divided into hundreds and tens. Order was observed by the elected sots, fiftieths and tens. Under Ivan the Terrible, the posads had their own elected administrations and courts. In the 17th century, this system was replaced by zemstvo huts. In the zemstvo hut there sat: the zemstvo elder, the kiosk kisser and the zemstvo kissers. Zemstvo elders and tselovniks were elected for 1 year - from September 1. In some cities, in addition to zemstvo elders, there were also favorite judges. Favorite judges dealt with property matters between townspeople, except for criminal cases.

To collect trade revenues, customs heads and kissers were elected. Sometimes customs heads were appointed from Moscow.

After the Time of Troubles, townsfolk communities began to collapse. Posad people began to enroll as peasants or serfs. Walking people began to open shops, barns, and cellars in the suburbs without paying taxes. Since 1649, everyone living in the settlement (even temporarily) was required to register as a tax official. Everyone who escaped from the posads had to return to their posad.

From the end of the 18th century, the townspeople began to be called bourgeois, although the name townspeople was sometimes used.