Subsistence farming in the early Middle Ages. prerequisites for the separation of craft from agriculture
Already in that era, agriculture was the predominant industry in Rus'. Its development, of course, was in close connection with soil and climate. Meanwhile, in the southern Russian black earth zone, it brought a rich harvest, although it sometimes suffered from drought, locusts, diggers, worms, etc. enemies; in the northern regions, especially in the Novgorod land, agriculture developed with great difficulty. Early autumn or late spring frosts often broke bread and produced famine years, and only deliveries from other Russian regions or from foreign countries saved the population from pestilence. Meanwhile, in the southern strip, the abundance of free fat fields, with a relatively small population, made it possible to often plow up and sow virgin lands, or novina, i.e. virgin soil, and then, in case of depletion, run it for a long number of years, in north lane the farmer had to wage a stubborn struggle with poor soil and impenetrable forests. In order to get a piece of convenient land, he cleared a piece of forest, cut down and burned trees; the ash that remained from them served as fertilizer. For several years, such a plot gave a decent harvest, and when the soil was depleted, the farmer left it and went further into the forest, clearing a new plot for arable land. Such areas cleared from under the forest were called pritereby. As a result of such mobile agriculture, the peasant population itself adopted a mobile character. But at the same time, our peasantry spread Slavic-Russian colonization far in all directions and secured new lands for the Russian tribe with their sweat or their suffering (hard work).
Various testimonies certify us that the cultivation of the land was carried out with the same tools and methods that have been preserved in Rus' to our time. Spring bread was sown in spring, and winter bread in autumn. But in the south, in the same way, they plowed more with a "plow", and in the north - with a plow, or "ral"; horses were harnessed to them, but, in all likelihood, they were used for a plow and oxen; the plowed field, or "role", was harrowed. Ears were also removed with a "sickle" and "oblique". Compressed or beveled bread was piled into a shock, and then it was taken to the threshing floor and put there in "stacks" and "tables"; before threshing, they dried it in "barns", and threshed it with "flails". The threshed grain, or "zhito", was kept in "cages", "barns" (bins), but mostly buried in pits. They grinded grain into flour mainly with hand millstones; mills are still rarely mentioned and only about water mills. Hay was harvested in the same way as now, i.e. they mowed the grass in the meadows (otherwise "hay harvesters" or "reapers") and put them in stacks. The main article of grain products and folk food was already then rye, as the most suitable plant for Russian soil. Wheat was also produced in the south; in addition, millet, oats, barley, peas, spelt, lentils, hemp, flax and hops are mentioned; only we do not meet buckwheat in those days.
As for the cultivation of vegetables, or horticulture, it was not alien ancient Russia. We have news of vegetable gardens planted near cities and monasteries, especially somewhere in Bologna, i.e. in a low place near the river. Of garden plants, turnips, cabbages, poppies, pumpkins, beans, garlic and onions are mentioned - all the same that hitherto are the usual affiliation of the Russian economy. We also have indications of the existence in cities and monasteries of gardens containing various fruit trees, and mainly apples. Nuts, berries and mushrooms, of course, even then served the needs of the Russian people. For wealthy people, trade delivered expensive foreign vegetables and fruits brought from the south, from outside Byzantine Empire, especially dry grapes, or raisins.
Rye bread has been baked sour since ancient times. During crop failures, poor people mixed in other plants, especially quinoa. There were breads and wheat. Porridge was prepared from millet, and jelly was made from oats, which was sometimes eaten with full honey. They knew how to make sweet pies with honey and milk. Oil was beaten out of hemp and linseed; butter was also beaten from milk; they knew how to make cheese. Meat food, apparently, was very common in Ancient Rus' due, among other things, to the abundance of game and constant hunting. Our ancestors not only ate black grouse, hazel grouse, cranes, deer, elk, aurochs, boars, hares, etc., but did not disdain bear meat and squirrels, against which the clergy rebelled, referring them to "filth", i.e. to unclean animals. The clergy also rebelled against the eating of animals, even clean ones, but not slaughtered, but strangled, considering the latter "dead"; here it included black grouse and other birds that were caught with snares. During the famine, the common people, of course, did not pay attention to such prohibitions and ate not only linden bark, but also dogs, cats, snakes, etc., not to mention horse meat, which was generally used by Russians in pagan times. The main article of the usual meat food was delivered, of course, by poultry and animals: chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, goats, pigs and cattle; the latter in the old days was called "beef". Strict observance of fasts, which later distinguished Russian Orthodoxy, in the first three centuries of our Christianity was still only among the pious customs, and, despite the efforts of the clergy, many Russian people did not yet refuse to eat meat on fast days.
Cattle breeding was the same common occupation in Rus' as agriculture, but even more ancient. Of course, it did not have a significant development in the northern forest belt, but flourished more in the southern lands, where there was an abundance of pastures and even steppe spaces. However, to what extent these lands abounded in cattle, we do not have direct information. We meet more indications of the prosperity of horse breeding, but even that is actually princely. The size of this latter can be judged from the annalistic news that the Novgorod-Seversky princes on the Rakhna River alone grazed several thousand mares (in 1146). However, the princes had to take special care of the horse herds, just because they delivered horses not only to their squad, but also to part of the zemstvo rati, who gathered in wartime. Horses of noble people were usually distinguished by a special brand, or "spot". Southern Rus' also enjoyed the proximity of nomadic peoples and acquired from them a large number of horses and oxen through trade; and in wartime, the herds and herds of the steppes served as the main prey of Russian squads; but the nomads, in turn, during the raids stole Russian cattle. Ugrian pacers and horses were especially famous, which the chronicle calls "headlights". In general, the "greyhound" horse was highly valued in Rus' and was the joy of a Russian young man.
Along with agriculture and animal husbandry, an important place in national economy occupied by fishing, with a great abundance of fish lakes and rivers. Since ancient times, it has been produced with the same gear and tools as in our time, i.e. a net, a bait, a long net, or a net, and a fishing rod. The most common custom of fishing was through eza, i.e. partitions of stakes stuffed across the river, with a hole in the middle, also fenced, where the fish enters. Along with the squads of animal catchers, the princes had entire squads of fish catchers; going out to hunt, they were usually called "troops", and their leader was called "vataman". By the way, the Novgorodians granted their princes the right to send fishing gangs to the Northern Pomerania, namely to the Tersky coast; and they themselves sent their gangs to other shores of Pomerania, where, in addition to fish, they also caught walruses and seals. Since ancient times, in places especially fishing, a whole class of people was formed who were mainly engaged in this trade. As a result of the prohibition of meat to monks, the monasteries especially valued the fishing grounds; wherefore, princes and rich men tried to endow them with such waters, where fish were found in abundance. The monks themselves were engaged in fishing and received a fish quitrent from the inhabitants who were sitting on the monastery land. The sturgeon has always been considered the most valuable fish in Rus'. The need to stock up on fish for the winter, especially with the gradual establishment of fasting, taught me to cook fish for the future, i.e. dry it and salt it. Russians already knew how to cook caviar.
Salt was obtained in Rus' from different places. Firstly, it was mined in the Galician land on the northeastern slope of the Carpathian Mountains; Salt breaks are especially known in the vicinity of Udech, Kolomyia and Przemysl. From Galich, salt caravans were sent to the Kievan land either by land through Volyn, or in boats they went down the Dniester to the Black Sea, and from there they went up the Dnieper. Secondly, salt was extracted from the Crimean and Azov lakes. Partly it was also transported by sea and the Dnieper, and partly by land on carts. Even then, apparently, there was a special trade of salt carriers (Chumaks), who traveled from South Rus' to these lakes for salt. The duty on salt was one of the articles of princely income; sometimes trade in it was farmed out. In Northern Rus', salt was either obtained through foreign trade, or was obtained by boiling. The latter was also produced on the shores of the White Sea, and in various other places where the soil was saturated with salt precipitation; it was mined especially in large quantities in Staraya Rusa. In Novgorod, there were a number of merchants who were engaged in salt mining and were called "prasols". In the Suzdal land, Soligalich, Rostov, Gorodets, etc. are known for their brewing plants. Salt was boiled down very simply: they dug a well and made a solution in it; then this solution was poured into a large iron frying pan ("tsren") or into a cauldron ("salga") and the salt was boiled out by means of boiling.
The usual drinks of Ancient Rus' were kvass, braga, beer and honey, which were brewed at home; and wines were obtained through foreign trade from the Byzantine Empire and Southwestern Europe. Beer was brewed from flour with malt and hops. But a particularly common drink was honey, which served as the main subject of treat during feasts and drinking parties. It was brewed with hops and seasoned with some spices. Rus', as you know, loved to drink both with joy and with grief, at a wedding and at a wake. Noble and rich people, along with wine and beer, always kept large stocks of honey in their cellars, which were mostly called "medushs". What huge reserves the princes had, we saw during the capture of the court of the Seversky prince in Putivl, in 1146, and this is quite understandable, since the princes had to constantly treat their retinue with strong honey. In those days, when they did not yet know the use of sugar, honey served in Rus' as a seasoning not only for drinks, but also for sweet dishes. Such a great demand for it was satisfied by the widespread bee trade, or beekeeping. Bort was a natural or hollow hollow in an old tree in which wild bees lived; and a grove with such trees was called a side land, or "leaving". Airborne fishing occurs throughout the entire territory of the Russian land, under various soil and climate conditions. The princes in their volosts, along with animal and fish catchers, also had special beekeepers who were engaged in onboard grooming and cooking honey. Sometimes these uhozhai were given to free people with the condition of paying the prince a certain part of the honey. In addition, among the tributes and dues to the prince's treasury, a prominent part was honey. The usual measure for this was "onion", or a certain size of a box of popular prints (whence our "bast basket").
Beekeepers in North-Eastern Russia were also called "dart climbers": some dexterity and the habit of climbing trees were required, since honey sometimes had to be obtained at a considerable height. In general, ship fishing was very profitable, because, in addition to honey, it also delivered wax, which not only went to candles for temples and wealthy people, but also constituted a very significant vacation item in our trade with foreigners.
Belyaev "A few words about agriculture in ancient Russia" (Temporary General I. and Dr. XXII). A wonderful essay by Aristov "Industry of Ancient Rus'". SPb. 1866. In addition to the chronicles, there are many indications about agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing and airborne trade in Russian Pravda, The Life of Theodosius and the Paterik of the Pechersk, as well as in contract and letters of commendation. For example, fishing gangs are mentioned in the treaties of Novgorod with the Grand Dukes (Sobr. G. Gr. and Dog. I).
Establish correspondences between dates and phenomena of the social life of ancient Rus'8th-9th c.
9-10 in
10-11 century.
11-12 in
A) the emergence of a neighborhood community
B) the existence of a tribal community
C) the emergence of a landowning class
D) the flourishing of city government in Novgorod
E) the formation of the local system in ancient Rus'
left ownership and small land use
4) high rates of economic development
1. Arrange in chronological order:A) the reunification of Ukraine with Russia;
B) False Dmitry's campaign against Moscow;
C) a decree on "lesson years", the beginning of the investigation of the peasants.
2. In September 1610, Moscow was occupied by Polish troops led by:
A) S. Zholkevsky;
B) Sigismund III;
C) False Dmitry I.
3. Determine the cause of the church split:
A) the policy of Catholicism pursued by False Dmitry I;
B) the need to correct religious books;
C) enslavement of peasants.
4. Indicate the name of the explorer who discovered in 1648 the strait separating Asia from America:
A) Semyon Dezhnev;
B) Erofey Khabarov;
C) Simon Ushakov.
5. An indefinite search for runaway peasants would be legalized:
A) in 1592;
B) in 1649;
6. The first ironworks in Russia was built during the reign of:
A) Vasily Shuisky;
B) Mikhail Fedorovich;
B) Alexei Mikhailovich.
7. Mark the line that characterizes the economic development of Russia in the 17th century:
A) complete domination of natural economy;
B) the creation of manufactories;
C) widespread slash-and-burn farming system.
8. In 1687 and 1689 Russian troops participated in two campaigns against the Crimean Khanate under the leadership of:
A) D. Pozharsky;
B) B. Khmelnitsky;
C) V. Golitsyn.
9. A vivid illustration of the Naryshkin baroque is the church:
A) Intercession in Fili in Moscow;
B) the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Yaroslavl;
C) the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Putinki in Moscow.
10. Who is it about. The former serf of Prince Telyatevsky fled to the Don and
became a free man. In one of the Cossack campaigns he was captured by
Turks, fled to Italy, lived in Venice. In 1606 he returned to Russia.
He called himself a warlord miraculously surviving Tsarevich Dmitry.
Several times he won victories over government troops. Was broken
during the siege of Moscow in 1606. In 1607, near Tula, he was forced to surrender
government troops. In 1608 he was killed.
11. Give a definition - manufactory, black-haired peasants, cattle.
1. Dates 862, 882 are associated with:A) key educational events Old Russian state:
B) the struggle of Ancient Rus' with the Polovtsy
C) treaties of Ancient Rus' with Byzantium
D) the campaigns of Prince Svyatoslav
2. The two centers of formation of the Old Russian state were:
A) Vladimir and Kyiv B) Pskov and Ladoga
B) Kyiv and Novgorod D) Ryazan and Chernihiv
3. Rus' adopted Orthodoxy from:
A) Lithuania B) Byzantium
B) Poland D) Livonian Order
4. Novgorod princes in the twelfth century. performed:
A) exclusively service functions
B) their actions were uncontrollable
C) had an unlimited opportunity to buy land in Novgorod
D) received unlimited income from certain possessions for service
5. The largest and most powerful of the principalities of fragmented Rus' was:
A) Ryazan B) Vladimir-Suzdal
B) Tver D) Galician
6. The letter "For the Grand Duchy of Vladimir", received by the Russian princes from the Tatars, was called:
A) nuker B) noyon C) label D) tanga
7. The Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' lasted:
A) 1237-1380 B) 1243-1480
B) 1240-1480 D) 1247-1496
8. The statement "Let Kyiv be the mother of Russian cities" was made in 882 by the prince:
A) Rurik B) Askold C) Dir D) Oleg
9. What happened before:
A) the reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kyiv B) the uprising of the Drevlyans
B) the baptism of Rus' D) the murder of Boris and Gleb
10. Family land ownership of the boyars is:
A) settlement B) patrimony C) inheritance D) estate
11. The consequences of feudal fragmentation do NOT include:
A) the influx of population from the southern to the northern regions of Eastern Europe
B) accelerating the development of subsistence farming
C) weakening the country's defense capability
D) the growth of cities and their isolation from the power of the Grand Duke
12. The specific period in the history of Rus' (XII-XIV centuries) was preceded by:
A) isolation of South-Western Rus' B) princely civil strife
B) the invasion of Batu in Rus' D) the attacks of the crusader knights
13. The period of feudal fragmentation of the XII-beginning of the XIII centuries. was for Rus' time:
A) strengthening the power of the Kyiv prince B) economic and cultural upsurge
B) cultural decline D) economic decline
14. One of the results of the activities of Princess Olga was:
A) establishing the exact amount of tribute and the place of its collection
B) determining the nature of the tribute paid
C) the conclusion of a profitable trade agreement with Byzantium
D) strengthening the power of the Kyiv prince
15. In the urban centers of the Old Russian state, all critical issues solved (o):
A) prince B) veche C) rope D) elder
16. Land ownership, transferred by inheritance, for which it was necessary to carry out military service:
A) corvée B) quitrent C) feud D) tithe
17. In the Middle Ages, there was no estate:
A) peasants B) hired workers C) feudal lords D) clergy
18. Who were the knights in relation to the barons and viscounts:
A) vassals B) servants C) lords
19. The work of peasants in the economy of the feudal lord is ...
A) corvée B) quitrent C) tithe D) month
20. The split of the Christian Church into Orthodox and Catholic occurred in:
A) 1099 B) 962 C) 1054 D) 1204
21. In what year was Charlemagne proclaimed emperor?
A) in 800 B) in 500 C) in 395 D) in 732
22. Whose cultural achievements did Byzantium inherit?
A) the ancient world and the countries of the East
B) ancient Romans and Huns
C) Slavs and Scythians
23. A special letter of forgiveness of sins sold by the church was called:
A) forgiveness B) liberation C) indulgence D) inquisition
24. Heretics were called people who acted
A) for church rites B) against equality in property
B) against the dogmas of the official church D) for the crusades
25. The meeting of representatives of the estates in France is called:
A) Parliament B) States General C) Magna Carta
It is believed that subsistence farming dominated in the Middle Ages. In the village, everything for their consumption was done by themselves. It turns out, as the latest research shows, that this is not entirely true even for the early Middle Ages. There were, of course, high in the Alps, for example, farms where residents could not go down to the valley for years, but still this was an exceptional phenomenon. Usually, the peasant had to acquire some of the products he needed only in the city. In addition, if he had an excess of grain or skins, he could hardly exchange them in his village for something useful in the economy - the harvest is usually good or bad in the whole village.
To get to the city market, the peasant had to pay an entry fee. It was collected at the gates of the city, sometimes from each wagon, sometimes from the goods lying on the wagon.
A peasant could go to the market and not out of his own need, if he was dependent and among his duties was a cart driver. Then, several times a year, according to custom or what is written in the letter, he harnessed a horse or bulls (and in Italy and Spain - a donkey or a mule) to a wagon and carried the grain belonging to the lord to the market for sale. At the same time, he could take his own goods with him. True, a peasant could not always trade with his own: the seigneur had special rights to trade; first, the lord had to sell his wine or grain, and then his peasants. In royal cities and lands, such a right belonged to the king, and his officials strictly followed this. According to the customs of the Portuguese city of Coimbra, for example, if a winemaker violated the royal monopoly on the wine trade twice, they took a fine from him, and on the third time his barrels were cut to store wine.
According to custom, most often the peasant had to send a cart service in such a way that he could return to his village on the same day; the lord had no right to send him to more distant distances. If it was required to spend several days on the road, for example, when traveling to a fair, this was specially agreed upon and the seigneur provided food for the peasants and their horses on the road.
The market became especially important for the peasant in the 14th-15th centuries, when the lords decided to conduct a business in a new way: instead of natural quitrent - grain, vegetables, poultry - they demanded from the peasants - the holders of their land - cash payment for this land. This process - the conversion of peasant payments in kind into money - is called rent commutation. In order to collect money for the contribution, the peasant, having harvested, also had to take it to the market at his own expense, sell it profitably and return to the village. As a result, the actual value of the rent for the peasant was higher than the figures indicated in the contract charter.
The concept of entrepreneurship was introduced by Adam Smith and meant a type of activity aimed at making a profit and associated with risk. However, not everyone succeeds in entrepreneurial activity, not everyone is able to take a reasonable justified risk for the sake of profit. In the Middle Ages, when natural economy dominated, market relations were weak, there was non-economic coercion can only be observed First stage entrepreneurship development. Relations with Byzantium were not always peaceful.
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The development of entrepreneurship in medieval Rus'
Introduction. . . . . . . . . 3
Trade and entrepreneurial activity in Ancient Rus' 4
The birth of entrepreneurship. . . four
Merchant trade. . . . . . 6
Russian entrepreneurship in the era of the creation of a centralized state. . . . . . nine
Russian entrepreneurship at the stage of creating a centralized state. . . . . nine
Duties. . . . . . . . 12
Russian entrepreneurship in the era of strengthening the centralized state. . . . . . fourteen
Fortification of Moscow. The emergence of manufactories. . fourteen
International trade. . . . . . eighteen
Unified system of measure. resettlement policy. 22
Russian merchants and industrialists XVII century. . 28
Merchants towards the middle XVII century. . . . 29
"Agents" of merchants. . . . . . . 31
Business relationship. . . . . . 33
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . 36
Bibliography . . . . . . . 37
Introduction
The colonization of vast European spaces by the Slavs was not of an aggressive nature, was not accompanied by robberies and extermination of neighboring peoples. Tolerance and peacefulness led to the establishment of good neighborly relations with small neighbors (Merya, Chud, etc.). The formation of the Old Russian state in 882. largely due to the entrepreneurial spirit Eastern Slavs. The concept of entrepreneurship was introduced by Adam Smith and meant a type of activity aimed at making a profit and associated with risk. These main points are present in all later definitions of entrepreneurship. It can be divided into: commercial, industrial, banking and other types; be collective or individual; scales are small, medium and large. However, not everyone succeeds in entrepreneurial activity, not everyone is able to take a reasonable, justified risk for the sake of making a profit.
The developed stage of entrepreneurship is characterized by a close relationship with the market, cooperation and division of labor, self-sufficiency, lack of coercion, freedom to choose a course of action, and the use of hired labor if necessary. In the Middle Ages, when subsistence farming dominated, market relations were weak, non-economic coercion existed, and only the initial stage of entrepreneurial development can be observed. Although he played a certain role in the formation of entrepreneurship in a "pure" form in a bourgeois society. Trade was the oldest and main type of entrepreneurial activity of our ancestors. Merchants were engaged in trade - people who took shape in Rus' in a special professional group and then became a separate estate.
Trade and entrepreneurial activity in Ancient Rus'.
The birth of entrepreneurship.
The formation of class relations, the strengthening of princely power led to the accumulation of surpluses of natural products in the hands of princes and their warriors, who collected tribute from local tribes. There were two types of tribute - polyudye, when from November to April the prince and his retinue walked around the Slavic lands and collected furs (scara), honey, wax and other goods. The second type of tribute was called carts, when the peasants themselves brought goods to the princely court on horseback.
In the spring (while the water was high) huge dugout boats sailed to Kyiv from Smolensk, Chernigov, Novgorod, loaded up with goods in Kyiv, and merchants sailed down the Dnieper with an armed squad and princely ambassadors to Constantinople and other Greek cities. This path began to be called "from the Varangians to the Greeks." It ran through the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov, Lovat and the Dnieper. Relations with Byzantium were not always peaceful. From the 9th to the middle of the 11th centuries. Kyiv princes made six trips to Constantinople. They were mostly caused by the desire of Rus' to restore or maintain trade relations with its southern neighbor. Campaigns ended, as a rule, with the signing of trade agreements. The peculiarities of the trade of Russian merchants in Constantinople are evidenced, for example, by the agreement of 907, concluded by Prince Oleg with the Byzantine emperors (there were two of them then - Leo and Alexander.). First of all, it was stipulated in it that the merchants who arrived in Byzantium from Rus' should not "do dirty tricks", should not be engaged in robbery and violence instead of trade. Apparently, as a precaution, visiting merchants were allowed to live only in the suburbs, near the monastery of St. Mom, but not in the capital itself. They previously corresponded with the Greek authorities and could enter the city only through one gate specially allocated for this purpose. A condition was also set for the merchants and their servants to be unarmed; they could enter the city in a group of no more than 50 people, accompanied by the "king's husband", i.e. local official. Finally, Russian merchants were not allowed to spend the winter within Byzantium. Probably, the Byzantines were afraid of the arrivals, even those who came legally. Already in these contracts, merchants who traded abroad were called "guests". This was the elite of the Russian merchant class, which existed until the first quarter of the 18th century.
Along with Byzantium, Russian merchants traded with the Khazar Khaganate, which arose in the 7th century. (his power extended from the Crimea and the Caspian to the middle Volga; the capital of Khazaria was the city of Itil at the mouth of the Volga, near modern Astrakhan); with the countries of the East.
The main items of trade for the Russian merchant were bread, honey, wax, and furs. It should be noted that fur clothes were in great fashion at the court of the Caliphs and among the wealthy Arabs. For their part, Eastern merchants offered jewelry, wines and spices, which were in steady demand in Rus'. In addition, through the Khazars, silver and silver Arab dirham money came to Rus', which were widespread in Kievan Rus. The path along the Volga was called "from the Varangians to the Khazars."
Approximately in the 11th century, by the time of already quite extensive business transactions with the participation of Arab, Byzantine and Western European merchants, the importance of Kyiv as a center of intermediary trade between West and East was growing. Transit trade through southern Rus' intensified even more after the Normans and Hungarians blocked the routes through the Mediterranean and southern Europe.
In 988, Rus' adopted Orthodox Christianity, which raised its authority among other peoples of Europe and Asia. Precisely chosen from an economic standpoint, the religion subsequently did not require reforms, as happened with Catholicism, since Orthodoxy did not suppress, but developed entrepreneurial interest. The Russian Church treated trade patronizingly. They preferred to build Christian churches in the most crowded places: in places of trade near the walls of cities - on churchyards (from the word "guest" - trade). Trappers, tar smokers, artisans and other "industrialists" converged there. In the cellars of churches, inventory necessary for trade was stored, goods were stored, trade agreements were saved. The monasteries led an independent economic life. The church took responsibility for maintaining order in trade, proclaiming every fraud in transactions a sin. At first, trade took place right in the temples. Later, it was taken out to the vast church squares. Trade was both fair (usually seasonal) and market (regular, on weekends and holidays). In Kyiv itself, there were 40 churches and 8 markets. The market - bargaining, marketplace, marketplace - occupied a central place in the Russian city. People's meetings were held here, all the most important messages were made (including the orders of the prince called out), news was learned. Trading operations could be carried out in the market only with a witness - a weigher, who collected the weight fee in favor of the local prince. Merchants were not allowed to use their own scales. Official measures of length (elbow, etc.), as well as yoke scales, were kept in churches under the supervision of bishops. On the social ladder, representatives of the merchant class stood next to the boyars, combatants and officials of the princes. According to Yaroslav the Wise's Russkaya Pravda, their life was estimated at 40 hryvnias of silver or 10 hryvnias - according to the treaty between Novgorod and German cities in 1191-1192.
merchant trade.
From the middle of the XI century. the nature of merchant trade is changing. Polovtsy and Turks - Seljuks intercepted the routes to the south and east. Trade links between Western Europe and the Middle East are once again moving to the Mediterranean. The commercial importance of Kyiv is declining, Novgorod, Polotsk, Smolensk, and Vladimir-on-Klyazma come to the fore with the strengthening of the importance of business ties along the Baltic and the Volga. To change directions trading activities also influenced the rise of handicraft production in Russian cities. A prominent place in the assortment of merchants, including guests, is occupied by products of Russian masters.
Furs, slaves, wax, honey, flax, linen, silverware were mainly exported to foreign markets. Speaking about trade in Kievan Rus, one cannot fail to point out that our ancestors used mainly foreign money. In the VIII-X centuries. these were Arab dirhams coming from Khazaria, but at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries. their entry into Rus' stopped. The reasons for this were, firstly, the cessation of trade along the Volga due to the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate, and secondly, the cessation of silver minting in the East in the 11th century. ("Silver Crisis").
Extremely rare during this period were the coins of the Byzantine Empire - silver "miliaris" and gold "solids". (The latter seriously influenced the creation of the oldest Russian coins.) The first attempt to create a Russian coin was made
only at the end of the tenth century. The first ruble appeared in the thirteenth century. It was an elongated piece of silver weighing approximately 200 grams, roughly chopped off at the ends. Chopped in half, it became known as half (half), and divided into 4 parts - a quarter. From the word "hryvnia" later the word "hryvnia" was formed, i.e. one tenth of a ruble.
By the beginning of the thirteenth century the foreign trade operations of Russian merchants were so entrenched that even the invasion of the Mongol hordes and the crusaders could not interrupt them. After the establishment of the Golden Horde dominion in Rus', the importance of the trade route through the Baltic increased sharply. Business relations between Novgorodians and German merchants had a long history here. Even in the XII century. in Novgorod, two foreign gostiny yards appear: the Gothic (Gotland) with the church of St. Olaf (built 1152) and German with the church of St. Peter (1184). By this time, among the Novgorod merchants there were their own corporate associations. The charter of the Ivanovo community, which united large wax merchants ("waxers"), has been preserved. The Ivanovo community was a body of trade management and resembled a Western European guild. At the church there was a thought for trade and merchant court. Exchange tools were also kept here: scales from two cups for wax, a steelyard for honey, an elbow for cloth and a ruble hryvnia for weighing precious metals. The Ivanovo court had jurisdiction over all cases that arose between foreign and Novgorod merchants, including those of a criminal nature. From the thirteenth century the Baltic route was in the hands of intermediaries - the merchants of the Hanseatic League. The members of the union, in addition to the North German cities headed by Lübeck, were Riga, Revel (Tallinn), Derpt (Tartu). For Novgorod merchants, Revel became the main trading partner, for Pskov and Smolensk merchants - Riga. The Hanseatic people had monopoly rights for intermediary trade between the countries of Western Europe and Novgorod. At the same time, the Novgorodians did not hesitate to restrict the rights of German merchants, forbidding them retail trade in the city and access to other Russian cities. All wholesale transactions must necessarily be concluded through the mediation of local merchants. Later, Pskov, Tver, Polotsk, Smolensk and other courtyards were opened in Novgorod. Visiting merchants were obliged to live in gostiny yards - it was forbidden to settle outside them.
Russian entrepreneurship in the era of the creation of a centralized state.
Russian entrepreneurship at the stage of creating a centralized state.
During this period, Novgorod remained the center of Russian entrepreneurship. Trade here was based on the exploitation of the richest forest industries, the purchase of raw materials throughout Rus' for export to the Hanseatic cities, and trade with the Volga region. The dictates of the Hanseatic League complicated trade with European cities, but did not stop it.
Furs remained the main Russian commodity and often replaced money, and were also used for clothing that not only protected from the cold, but also served as a sign of social status. So, the lower classes wore goat and sheep furs, while the upper layers dressed in fox, beaver, squirrel, and sable fur coats. The clergy and merchants were of lower rank and wore bear and wolf fur coats.
The massive demand for furs in the foreign and domestic markets prompted Novgorod merchants to buy furs throughout the north of the European part of Russia and even in Siberia. This occupation required considerable courage and skills in military affairs, therefore, in the 14th-15th centuries. a category of merchant-warriors arose, who were called ushkuyniki. Detachments of these half-merchant-half-soldiers on oared ships made trips along the northern rivers and the Volga. Such activity was medieval Europe a common thing. Great importance for Novgorodians had fishing, tk. salted and dried fish was a convenient product during long-distance trading trips. In addition to fish, meat was widely used as food. In this regard, there was a great need for salt. Salt pans existed earlier, but now their number has increased. Salt began to be boiled in the area of Torzhok, Staraya Russa, in the basin of the Northern Dvina. Due to the high market prices for salt, this fishery was very profitable.
The process of cooking salt was simple: wells were dug in places rich in salt, from where the solar solution was scooped up and evaporated in large forged pans - prices or simply in boilers. The abundance of firewood made evaporation quick and fairly cheap.
big role in economic development Rus' was played by the transfer of the center of political and economic life from the southern regions to the northeast - the interfluve of the Oka and Volga. Along with the old cities (Rostov, Vladimir, Suzdal, Murom) in the 11th-12th centuries. new shopping centers appeared: Moscow, Kostroma, Tver. Refugees moved here from the south, the convenient location favored the development of trade relations. The plowing of new lands increased, all kinds of crafts appeared. A real center of the resurgent Russian state arose, which became a stronghold of the struggle against the Tatar-Mongol yoke.
In the XIII century. at the confluence of the Volga and Oka, Nizhny Novgorod arose, which became the center of trade with the southern and northern regions of Rus'. Established international trade relations with
cities on the shores of the Azov and Black Seas. The city of Surozh (Sudak) became the center of trade with the Crimean Tatars. It is from here that the name of the Russian merchants who traded through Sourozh with Italian, Turkish cities in the XIV-XVI centuries comes, the guests are Surozh residents. This name meant the highest level of the merchant class of that time, which had great privileges granted to them by the great princes, and then by the Russian tsars.
In the XIV century. Moscow, Tver turned from small peripheral towns of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality into large centers of crafts and trade. In handicraft production, the processes of deepening, specialization and simplification of production technology continued, which led to a reduction in the cost of products of mass demand for market sales. In the era of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus', crafts that were complex in manufacturing technology appeared - massive casting of bells, cannons, minting coins, water mills. Some of them worked for the market, the other part - to order (making weapons, coins, bells). Craftsmen united and settled according to their specialties, as evidenced by the names of streets in many Russian cities (Kuznechnaya, Shchitnaya, Shornaya), as well as the names of settlements, hundreds, etc. In a number of regions of the Novgorod land, the Moscow region, the iron industry developed. Swamp iron ore was mined and iron was smelted. Often this was done by quitrent peasants, who formed a simple cooperative, most often consisting of family members or hired workers.
Often, artisans engaged in the manufacture and sale of their products became professional merchants. Having grown rich in trading operations, they abandoned their craft, but retained the name of their former occupation. So, among the Russian people robbed in 1489 in the Lithuanian land, the following are mentioned: "Mitya the tanner", "Andryusha the armorer", "Styopa the waxer", "Sofonik Levontiev's son the needle-maker". In addition to professional merchants, artisans, urban residents, free peasants, trade was drawn into trade in the XIV-XV centuries. people dependent on feudal lords, including serfs. Often, merchants, in addition to their own goods, carried property belonging to princes and boyars. This was recorded in their records by the customs offices that existed between different lands, on which customs fees were levied. Even the monasteries, despite the prohibitions against white and black clergy to engage in trade and usury, were drawn into trading operations. Under Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy and his son, they were exempted from paying trade duties. Particularly active trade was carried out by the Trinity-Sergievsky near Moscow, Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev, Vologda Glushetsky, Kirillo-Belozersky and other monasteries.
Fees.
From the end of the XII to the XIV centuries. in Rus' there was a coinless period. With the formation of the Muscovite state (XIV century), the minting of Russian coins resumed. Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy began to mint the Tatar silver coin - dengue, then other principalities joined the process. The dominant monetary unit in the Russian principalities was the silver ruble, obtained from a silver stick chopped into small pieces and flattened. The coins were of irregular shape, weighing in most cases about 0.25 pounds of silver, but sometimes much less. Therefore, when concluding transactions, money was necessarily weighed. The ruble contained 100 money, 6 money was equal to altyn, in one money there were 4 polushki. Foreign coins were used in circulation, which were accepted by weight at the rate of 0.25 pounds of silver per ruble, gold was estimated at 12 times more expensive. A large number of principalities gave rise to many trade duties. The main type of duties remained myto, introduced in the ancient Russian state. It was a payment from a cart or boat for a pass to the place of trade, i.e. customs duty. A tithe (10% of the value of the goods) was collected for trade in the church. Myto gathered in different places several times and was small. In addition to myt and tithe, during the Horde yoke, a tax was levied on capital - tamga, paid on the volume of sales, while trade in products of one's own production was not taxed. The size of the tamga was also not the same, but, as a rule, it amounted to 7 money per ruble from the sales volume. Wax was taxed at 4 money per pood. For evasion from paying the myta, a penalty was levied, called "washed", for evading the payment of tamga - "protamozhye". A number of duties were levied not to the treasury, but for the improvement of trade itself: for the creation of warehouses, scales; for payment and maintenance of guards at warehouses; for branding services, etc. Such duties were usually calculated from the natural volume of the goods, but partially also from the cost. When the duty was levied on the measure, it was called "measurement". So, for the measurement of salt there was a special measure - "bowl" or "tray", respectively, and called the measure tax. From the weight of the goods, a duty "weighty" or "counter" was levied (counter - a weight unit of 3 pounds). Weight was paid from metals, wax, honey, etc., for each type of goods, the size of the weight differed. Livestock sales were charged "lichee" for a note from the transaction (such notes were preserved even in the 19th century). From the sales of horses they took "spotted", i.e. for imposing a spot (brand) on each sold horse. Duties were subdivided into Darage and customs. The first were paid at the outposts, while the tamga was not collected; customs - directly in the cities along with tamga. Darazh duties were taken from transit goods, customs - only when the goods entered the market. Only the clergy were exempted from paying duties, the rest of the merchants, regardless of class, were required to pay. However, in some cases, in the form of an award for special merits, individuals or even a certain part of the population could receive privileges that exempt them from paying duties, which was formalized by an appropriate letter. The fee system was extremely complex and burdened not so much with the size of the fee as with the variety of types. It was also complicated by the arbitrariness of the establishment of outposts (and, accordingly, the collection of myta). Their establishment and cancellation depended entirely on the will of the prince. Merchants could never plan in advance the amount of taxes and therefore inflated the price in order to remain profitable in any case. In foreign trade, things were easier. Foreigners did not impose duties on Russian goods at all because of their high profitability, agreeing to pay export duties on Russian goods. The Hansa, which itself paid import duties, did not impose duties on Russian goods. Duties on the Dvina, on the Don and on the Volga were not levied on either imported or exported goods. The Tatars were content with gifts from Russian merchants, they did not charge any duties.
Russian entrepreneurship in the era of strengthening the centralized state.
Fortification of Moscow. The emergence of manufactories.
The strengthening of Moscow, which stood at the nodal point of Russian trade, where the river routes passed, connecting the basins of the Volga, Oka, and other smaller rivers, was largely due to the prudent, practical policy of the Moscow princes. Ivan Danilovich Kalita ("kalita" - a leather purse with money) became an example for subsequent generations of Moscow collector princes. They were able not only to get the right to collect yasak - tribute for the Horde, but also won the grand throne. The formation of a centralized state required reliable sources to replenish the treasury. At that time there were not so many of them - trade and taxes on trade and craft. Hence comes the direct interest of the grand duke's power in expanding economic activity and trade, especially foreign trade. The annexation of Novgorod by Ivan III to Moscow undermined Novgorod's monopoly on trade with European countries and eliminated the economic pressure of the Hanseatic League on the Russian merchants. The dissatisfaction of the Novgorodians against the authorities of Moscow ended in a punitive expedition, during which 150 boyars were executed, 50 of the richest Novgorod merchants with their families were resettled in Vladimir, about 10 thousand wealthy families were deported to Nizhny Novgorod and other cities near Moscow.
The centralization and repressive measures of the first Moscow sovereigns against Novgorod, Tver, Torzhok and other cities inflicted serious damage on the representatives of the merchant class, who were robbed by the "sovereign's servants". On the other hand, a stronger state, with its authority, provided support to merchants who traded with foreign countries. This applied to the guests-surozhans who formed caravans and carried goods from the Crimea to Moscow and back. It was in their midst that warehousing first appeared, when three to five people pooled their capital to purchase goods. Some of them brought goods from the Crimea, others at that time traded them in Moscow or in other cities of the Moscow State. In trade with the southern and eastern countries, people of very different incomes were employed. Some bought goods for several tens of rubles, from others working capital numbered in the thousands. Someone generally took other people's money on credit, as, for example, the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin, famous for his unparalleled journey "over the three seas" to India. Among the most prosperous merchants-surozhans of the XV century. there are the names of Khovrins, Shikhovs, Bobynins, Ermolins. Merchants in Russia not only traded, but also organized production in the real sector of the economy. For example, there are similarities of a dispersed manufactory, when entrepreneurs distributed the order to home-based producers, receiving a finished product as a result (for example, in some houses flax was crumpled, combed, yarn was spun in others, weaved in others, whitened and dyed in fourths, giving the customer ready for sale canvas), appeared in Novgorod as early as the 14th century, at about the same time as the woolen manufactories of France. Some of them acquired land estates, built brick buildings and temples in Moscow. Along with the expansion of trade, the Moscow sovereigns paid attention to production problems. For solutions state tasks(armament of the troops, meeting the needs of the court, minting money, etc.) new enterprises were required. Small handicraft production could no longer satisfy the demand for such products. The lack of large private capital and their concentration mainly in the sphere of circulation prompted the government to actively engage in production activities, organizing state-owned manufactories. (Manufactory is an enterprise based on the division of labor and handicraft production.)
In 1479 in Moscow, a foundry Cannon Yard was built, on which, by the middle of the 17th century. more than 100 people worked and up to 200 cannons were cast annually. It was a manufactory employing four groups of skilled workers and several groups of auxiliary workers. The Printing, Hamovny and Mint, the Armory, which manufactured muskets, carbines, pistols, the Silver Chamber, brick factories, and a printing house were also created. More than 500 people were employed at the Mint, founded in 1654. Similar state-owned enterprises that worked to meet palace needs were also widespread in Western Europe (manufactories of Henry of Bourbon and Colbert in France, Elizabethan manufactories in England). The needs of the court were served by palace manufactories. As in Western Europe, these enterprises produced luxury items: velvet, fine linen, fine leather - morocco, glass, etc. The level of skill of workers in such manufactories was very high. But this was production not for the market, but exclusively for the order of the royal court, and therefore it could not contribute to the development of market relations. Private enterprise was closely connected with the state. At the same time, the state willingly turned to foreign experience. They invited foreign craftsmen who, with the funds of the treasury, set up the production of goods of state demand. Even Ivan the Terrible gave permission to the British to search for ore and build a plant on Vychegda. The terms of the agreement were the training of Russian people in metallurgical business, the obligation to sell iron to the treasury at a fixed price, although the export of metal to England was also allowed with the payment of a fee.
Andrey Denisovich Vinius, a Dutchman who accepted Russian citizenship, was initially engaged in the grain trade in the Arkhangelsk north, received a loan for the construction of iron and iron foundries. In 1632 he founded the Tula ironworks, by 1637. - two more plants that formed a single complex. Vinius supplied weapons and cannons to the treasury, and he had the right to sell other goods. His work was continued by Petr Gavrilovich Marselis, who, together with F. Akemay, continued the construction of Tula factories and, in addition, built 4 factories in Kashira. Marselis received in 1644. letters of commendation for the organization of ironworks on the rivers Vaga, Kostroma, Sheksna, in 1665. - for the development of copper ores in the Olonets region. In 1646 for success in metallurgy, Vinius was elevated to the nobility.
The construction of private ironworks by foreigners was the first important step towards the creation of large-scale industrial production. These factories used the simplest mechanisms, water-acting installations. The labor force was recruited mainly for hire, although artisans from the palace settlements were also involved "by the sovereign's decree". The workers were paid in cash and food. The taxes that fell on the workers of manufactories, the enterprise paid with finished products - iron and weapons. New economic processes were reflected in the subsistence economy of estates, where the prerequisites for market relations began to take shape. The patrimonial manufactories that grew up on the basis of peasant crafts, initially serving the internal needs of the economy, in a number of cases acquired significant proportions. This allowed them to reach the level of the regional and even national market. Numerous enterprises of the boyar B.I. are known. Morozov, located mainly near Nizhny Novgorod: iron-working, potash, distillery, leather, brick. Such productions were started by many representatives of the aristocracy: Miloslavsky, Cherkassky, Trubetskoy, Odoevsky. These enterprises used the labor of serfs. Cheap labor increased profitability, but at the same time hindered the improvement of the production process. However, in the middle of the XVII century. serfs began to retire and work for hire. This was the result of the spread of monetary rent in the process of the development of market relations and the increase in the need for feudal lords in cash. The development of small-scale production brought forward successful artisans from among the artisans, who later became the owners of large industrial enterprises. A significant number of large breeders came from among the small industrialists of Tula, Yaroslavl, Vologda and other cities.
Already at the end of the XVII century. the former Tula blacksmith Nikita Antufievich Demidov built his first factory near Tula. However, large-scale production could not develop rapidly. Merchant capital was not yet ready to invest its funds in the industrial sector, so the whole burden of meeting the needs for industrial products fell on the artisans. But they were not able to meet the ever-increasing needs of the nobility, especially in luxury goods. The satisfaction of these needs, as in previous periods, fell on the shoulders of foreign trade..
International trade.
Great geographical discoveries, the capture of trade routes by the Seljuk Turks shifted trade ties to the west. Europe traded with India using maritime transport. Russia's attempt to win freedom in trade on the Baltic Sea was hampered by the Hanseatic League, which held a monopoly there since the 13th century, and then by the policy of Poland, Livonia and Sweden, who feared the strengthening of Russia. This led to a reduction in foreign trade through the Baltic. New trade routes with Russia were opened by the British, who discovered the Russian lands by rounding the Kola Peninsula and entering the White Sea as early as 1523. Later, they decided to develop the Northern Sea Route, dreaming of penetrating China and India bypassing Asia. In 1552 the British equipped three ships under the command of H. Willoughby, H. Derfort and R. Chancellor. In the spring of 1553 these ships entered the Arctic Ocean. Two ships - under the command of Willoughby and Derforth - were blown away by a storm to the shores of Lapland and covered with ice. Their entire crew perished from cold and hunger. The third ship, the "Good Omen", under the command of Chancellor, was driven by a storm to the Dvina Bay and on August 24, 1553. Safely landed at the mouth of the Dvina near the monastery of St. Nicholas. The Kholmogory governor Makarov hospitably greeted the guests and sent a report to Ivan IV in Moscow. Then Chancellor himself went to Moscow and presented the tsar with a letter on behalf of Edward VI, specially prepared for the sovereigns, into whose lands the expedition could be abandoned. Ivan the Terrible granted English merchants the right to trade in Muscovy on an equal footing with the Dutch.
Upon Chancellor's return in 1554. in London, a joint-stock company was created for trade with Russia, called Moscow. She received from Queen Mary I (she came to power in 1553) a charter for the exclusive right to trade with the Muscovite state. At the same time, any attempt to violate the monopoly of the company was punished by confiscation of goods. In addition to trade, the company's agents had to study supply and demand in the new market, describe the monetary system, measures of weight, volume and length used in trade, as well as the customs and customs of the local population. In 1555 Ivan IV granted the Moscow Company preferential certificates for free entry to and exit from Moscow and granted a house on Varvarka for the construction of a trading compound. The company started its activity. In 1561 she was allowed duty-free trade in Kazan, Astrakhan, Rugodiv (Narva), Derpt, transit trade with Persia, trade in Bulgaria. Trading yards were set up in Kholmogory and Vologda, a spinning mill was built in Kholmogory, and a rope manufactory was built in Vologda. The Moscow company exported to England Russian raw materials in large volumes for equipping the English fleet (hemp, resin, ship rigging, large ropes) and imported English manufactured goods, mainly cloth and metal products, into Muscovy. At the same time, Anglo-Russian transit trade in Asian goods began to mutual benefit. The rest of the foreigners were denied entry by the Northern route. The exceptional profitability of Russian trade was highly valued by the British. They equated the opening of the sea route to Muscovy with the opening of the sea route to India, and the opening of Muscovy itself - with the discovery of America.
Later, the Dutch and French joined the trade with Russia. In 1584 at the mouth of the Northern Dvina, the city of Arkhangelsk was founded, which became the main trading port with foreign countries until the construction of St. Petersburg. Even under Ivan III, trade with the Greeks resumed. The reason was the mass arrival of the Greeks in Russia after the marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Paleolog in 1472. This event strengthened the European influence on the culture and economic relations of Muscovy. Greeks and Moldavians were not only allowed to trade duty-free and have trading yards in Moscow and Putivl, but even provided from the treasury allowance (feed): meat, candles and firewood. The Greeks brought mainly precious stones, pearls and other luxury items, exported valuable light furs.
During the Muscovite period, Asian trade also retained its importance. Close trade relations were established with the Khivans, Bukharans, Persians, Shamakhans, Crimean Tatars, and Nogais. This was facilitated by the annexation of Kazan in 1552 and Astrakhan in 1556. Already in 1557 and in 1558. Embassies from the khans of Khiva and Jagatai visited Moscow, and a trade agreement was concluded. As a result, a lively market for furs, Asian and European goods arose in Astrakhan. In 1563 A trade agreement was signed with Shamakhi in 1569. - with Bukhara. Russia was the first European country to sign an equal trade agreement with China (Nerchinsk Treaty of 1689). Russian merchants also often visited Khiva and Bukhara. Relations were friendly and marred only by robberies, which were engaged in by the Cossacks and nomads. In Astrakhan there was a Bukhara farmstead, where Indian goods were also supplied. Armenians traded Persian goods in Astrakhan. Khiva and Nogais supplied steppe goods: horses, leather, lard, sheepskins. Since the state and the kings themselves were directly involved in foreign trade, a policy was pursued to eliminate competitors, both external and internal. This led to the introduction of a state monopoly on the sale of a number of especially profitable goods. Ivan the Terrible classified bread, hemp, rhubarb, potash, tar, caviar, etc. as reserved goods. In certain years, either restrictions were imposed on the trade in certain goods, or their export to certain countries was prohibited. For example, the export of wax and salt was banned in Livonia, wax, lard and flax - in Sweden. The right to trade in certain goods was often farmed out for the purpose of a one-time replenishment of the budget.
Substantial restrictions on private commercial activity imposed by the state, which sought to bring this profitable business under its control. According to the established procedure, any goods imported by a foreign merchant were presented to special officials who compiled its inventory and selected a part for the royal treasury. It was assumed that this part was bought by the state and had to be paid in full, but due to numerous abuses, the goods were often not paid in full. The remaining part of the goods, after payment of import duties, was allowed for free sale. Such an order reduced the turnover of trade with foreigners, and also encouraged the latter to inflate prices, which included the risk of losses. Significant damage to trade was also caused by the numerous privileges given to individual foreign citizens for special merits, which usually consisted of mediation in establishing relations with foreign governments, translations, and participation in embassies. So, in 1653. The Dutch merchants Vogler and Klenk took over the export of yuft and hemp. In 1649 resin duty-free was given at the mercy of Vinius. At the same time, normal trading conditions were violated and methods of unfair competition were used. For example, in 1618. Dutch resident Isaac Massa reported to his government that he managed to disgrace the British in front of the Moscow government.
Unified system of measure. Resettlement policy.
The formation of a centralized state made it possible to start creating a unified system of weights and measures necessary for the successful development of commodity exchange. In Rus', the measures of weight, volume and length were the most diverse and differed in great inaccuracy. Often, especially in certain regions, foreign influence was felt, which explains the use of such units of measurement as the pound, flippers, etc. The highest unit of weight - Berkovets - contained 10 poods, in a pood (16.38 kg) there were 40 hryvnias (pounds); in hryvnia (409.5 g) - two hryvnia rock; in a rock hryvnia (204.8 g) - 48 spools; in the spool (4.266 g) - 25 kidneys, later 96 lobes. Scales, steelyards, kontari, terezi and rocks were used to determine the weight. Steelyards are the simplest lever or spring scales. Therese called large bazaar scales for weighing whole carts. Rocks were small apothecary scales for weighing gold, silver, precious stones and pharmaceutical products. Bulk products were measured by volume, not by weight. There were special measures for the volume of bulk products that retained their significance until the 19th-20th centuries: shackles (barrels), quarters, octopuses and quadruplets. Linear measures were versts, sazhens, arshins and cubits. Liquids were measured in barrels, cauldrons, buckets (12.32 l), jugs, pots, valleys, mugs, cups, etc. These measures were mostly indefinite. As now a bag can be 40 kg, or maybe 50 kg, so then the cauldron could be less than three buckets, and could be more than 20 buckets. The same was true for the rest of the measures. Therefore, the price was assigned in each case.
Due to the inaccuracy of the measures in the calculations, disorder and arbitrariness reigned, transactions were made mainly by eye. Merchants usually bought goods in wagons, boats, plows, entire warehouses, not striving for accurate calculations. There was even a belief (borrowed, they say, from the Eastern peoples) that accurate measurement harms commercial happiness. This, by the way, was used by European merchants who measured and weighed Russians. Russian merchants also cheated; decency and honesty in transactions, controlled in past periods by the church, were forgotten. The formation of a centralized state and the formation of a national market required the creation of a single monetary system. During the period of feudal fragmentation, individual principalities and lands independently minted a variety of banknotes, and Tatar money also had a significant impact on the monetary system of Rus'. The money of the Moscow Principality retained its significance even during the years of the formation of a centralized state, although it gradually depreciated. Under Dmitry Donskoy, money weighed 24 shares (1.06 g), under Ivan III - no more than 9 shares (less than 0.4 g). By the beginning of the XVI century. the coins lost another 15% of their weight. Novgorod money - Novgorod - weighed twice as much as Moscow - Muscovite. In Novgorod, the minting of money was generally treated more strictly than in Moscow, although it began only in the 15th century. Prior to that, foreign banknotes were in circulation. Under Ivan III, 260 Novgorod coins were minted from the hryvnia (48 spools of silver, equal to approximately 204.8 g). Thus, the coin had a weight content of 0.786 g of silver.
The monetary system was streamlined only in 1535. - during the regency of Elena Glinskaya - the mother of Ivan the Terrible. Standards for the weight, design and ratio of banknotes were introduced. 300 coins began to be minted from the hryvnia of silver (the weight of the new coin was 0.68 g). On these coins there was an image of St. George the Victorious with a spear, they began to be called spears, or kopecks. The former Muscovites also remained in circulation, on which the image of a horseman with a sword (sword money) was preserved. Kopeks were about twice as heavy as sword money, about 16 spools of silver were spent per ruble. Smaller coins - polushki - were equal to 0.5 Moscow money and had the image of a bird. With the advent of kopecks, polushki began to amount to 0.25 kopecks. From the 15th century a silver coin altyn was minted, which was equal to 6 Muscovites, after the reform it was equal to 3 kopecks. Only at the end of the XVI century. on the coins began to mint the year of issue "from the creation of the world." Development of internal and foreign markets increased the need for means of circulation, and the lack of own deposits of precious metals caused serious difficulties. Under these conditions, the state rightly considered foreign trade activity as their main source and was actively engaged in it. Revenues from state monopolies in foreign trade and customs duties came in foreign silver coins. Since 1654, under Alexei Mikhailovich, foreign silver money - Joachimstalers (Efimki) - began to be minted into Russian coins for the benefit of the state. With a real silver content of 42 kopecks, 64 kopecks were obtained from one Joachimsthaler during re-minting.
In order to create a single all-Russian market and, at the same time, to fight separatism, the grand ducal and then the tsarist government continued to pursue a broad resettlement policy. As noted earlier, after the annexation of Novgorod to Moscow Rus', a large group of Novgorod merchants was resettled in the central regions of the country. Under Ivan the Terrible, 145 families left Novgorod for Moscow, and two years later, another 100 families. Apparently, the influential "Novgorod Hundred", known since the end of the 16th century, was formed in Moscow from these settlers. A set was also produced, that is, a resettlement, from Pskov after its annexation in 1510. to the Moscow state. These settlers formed their own quarter of the "Pskovites" in the Sretenka area. In 1518 they erected the Church of the Introduction, which became the religious center of their settlement. In 1569 Ivan the Terrible brought another 500 people from Pskov to Moscow. Among them were very wealthy people. For example, the Pskov man Gavrilo Alekseev in 1578-1579. donated to the Kirillov Monastery a stone shop with a cellar in the richest of the Moscow rows - cloth. Finally, the translation in 1514 was of great importance. for a large group of wealthy Smolensk merchants to live in Moscow, who formed a special category of "Smolensk residents" here, who occupied second place in the business hierarchy of Moscow after the guests.
The resettlement not only contributed to the concentration of large capital in Moscow. The “Svedenets” maintained business ties with the cities where they came from: the Dvina people brought their goods and money to the Dvina, the Ustyug residents enriched with their contributions the shrine of their native Ustyug - the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Monastery. The transfer of native Moscow merchants to other cities had similar consequences. The Moscow guests constituted an influential colony in Novgorod: among them one could meet representatives of such wealthy merchant families as the Tarakanovs of Surozh and the Syrkovs, known for their construction activities in Novgorod. Settlers from Moscow lived on the trading side at the Plotnitsky end. Here, on the site of the old church, they, together with Novgorod merchants, built in 1536. Church of Boris and Gleb. After the capture of Pskov, Vasily III transferred more than 100 merchants from other towns to live there. There were Moscow settlers in Tver as well. The transfer of Moscow trading people to the former centers of independent principalities and republics undoubtedly had both economic and political significance, contributing to the strengthening of ties between individual regions of the country and the capital and, ultimately, the formation of an all-Russian market.
Bottom line: Thus, Moscow became a place where the threads of business relations in Rus' converged. This, in turn, contributed to the formation of a single economic space in the country.
Moscow, 16th century - this is already a major economic center, serving not only the local population, but also the needs of the entire state. Moscow trade experienced a significant rise, the center of which was Kitay-gorod. When the Kitaigorod wall was built in 1535, an order appeared to introduce all trades in the "city". Rows stretched along Red Square in front of the Kremlin, each of which offered a certain type of goods. Wholesale trade was carried out in the gostiny yards, where non-resident and foreign merchants were obliged to bring their goods. Barns, cellars, benches, counters, shelves, huts, tables, benches, lockers (chest with a lifting lid) were used for sale in rows. Those who traded in a separate row formed a corporation headed by an elder. In the shops owned by the townspeople, trade was conducted either by the owners themselves or by their inmates. Churches and monasteries, many of which were owners of donated shops, often rented them out.
Trade was also conducted at fairs and markets. They could be annual, weekly and daily (in cities). The first two types were directly related to church holidays and located near the monasteries. The connection between business relations and church life was also observed in the specifics of the food trade. The wide demand for some of them, such as fish products, was determined by the custom of eating fish during numerous fasts. “The custom to sacredly keep the posts established by the church,” wrote N.I. Kostomarov, “developed fisheries and fish trade everywhere in our country. There was no river or lake, wherever they were engaged in fishing; there was no market, wherever the fish was common commodity." The rise of Moscow trade caused the construction of new shopping arcades under Boris Godunov. They were a long stone one-story building at an angle; shops were located under vaulted arches, below which were pantries where merchants stored goods. Behind the labyrinth of cramped and winding streets of Kitay-gorod, built up with wooden and stone shops, the buildings of the Gostiny Dvor rose up with premises rented out to visiting out-of-town and foreign merchants. The yards of foreign merchants were also located in Kitai-Gorod.
Russian merchants and industrialists of the 17th century.
The new century for the Russian state was associated with severe trials associated with crop failures, peasant uprisings, Polish and Swedish aggression. In history, the name of the period from 1598 to 1613. entrenched as Time of Troubles. Thanks to the courage and patriotism of the common people, it was possible to expel the foreigners and restore peace to the country. But for many years the abandoned fields were empty, and gangs of robbers "played fools" on the roads, robbing not only merchants, but also every passerby. Having reigned in 1613. on the Russian throne, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov reproached the merchants for not providing proper assistance to the people's militia of K. Minin and D. Pozharsky in difficult times. Often had to forcibly recover funds from the merchant class. In the first years of the reign of Mikhail Romanov, extraordinary taxes were collected from the commercial and industrial population of the country to replenish the state treasury.
However, the unsuccessful Smolensk War of 1632-1634. had a painful effect on the country's economy, which had begun to revive. The failure of the salt reform in 1646 with the subsequent return of taxes for 3 years led to the ruin of the poor and the growth of discontent. After a brief lull in 1654-1667. began a long and exhausting war with the Commonwealth. The copper rebellion, caused by the replacement of silver coinage with copper coins, was brutally suppressed. However, further transformations, such as the church reform of Patriarch Nikon, and the schism that followed, heated up social contradictions even more. The end of the "rebellious age" was the peasant war under the leadership of Stepan Razin - a vivid manifestation of dissatisfaction with the intensified enslavement of the peasantry.
Merchants by the middle of the 17th century.
In 1649, the elite of the Russian business world consisted of 13 guests, 158 people in the living room and 116 people in the cloth hundreds. The guests, in addition to their wealth (their capital ranged from 20 to 100 thousand rubles), retained the rights to foreign trade, the acquisition of estates and jurisdiction directly to the king. Merchants who joined the hundreds were exempted from the township tax and excluded from the jurisdiction of local authorities. However, once every 2-6 years (depending on the number of hundreds of members), they, like the guests, were obliged to carry out government assignments: in the customs and tax services, buying goods for the treasury, managing state fishing enterprises, etc. By the end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the number of guests was 30, and there were hundreds of people in the living room and cloth room - 200 people each. The Black Hundreds constituted the lowest stratum of the merchant class. In the same position with the Black Hundreds were the townspeople - small city merchants.
Sloboda people occupied a special position. This was the name of petty traders and artisans who lived outside the city walls in white settlements, uniting in separate corporations on a professional basis. Initially, they belonged to monasteries and were not subject to state taxes and taxes. Accordingly, life in the white settlements was easier, and the settlements were serious competition to the townspeople, causing the latter to resent. Based on the Council Code of 1649. white settlements were liquidated by confiscating them from the church and transferring them to cities, and the inhabitants of white settlements and settlements were equalized in rights.
Posad people and slobozhans, in contrast to the "peasants", were called "people" and occupied a higher social position. Cathedral Code of 1649 contained a chapter (XIX), which regulated the position of the townspeople. According to the Code, the posad population was separated into a closed estate and attached to the posad. All its inhabitants were included in the township tax, i.e. were obliged to pay taxes and perform duties, but received the right to trade and conduct trades, which the peasantry could no longer do. The townspeople were attached to the towns, but they got rid of competition from the peasants, "service and spiritual", who were traditionally engaged in trade and crafts. Now the right to such activities could be obtained only by joining the township community. So the government simultaneously solved fiscal problems and problems of competition.
Posad people actively traded. in Moscow in 1701. for every 2-3 yards there was 1 trading place. By the end of the XVI century. in Tula, merchants accounted for 44% of all residents, and together with artisans - 70%. A significant part of the townspeople did not have premises and peddled. They were called khodebshchik and covered the surrounding villages with petty trade. Trade from stalls (huts) was also widespread. A large trading business involved the participation of a large number of trusted persons who would carry out the orders of the merchant. Russian business practice of the 17th century. developed various types of such assistants. In large merchant families, they were primarily the younger members of the family - sons, younger brothers, grandchildren, who, on behalf of the head of the house, traveled around the cities of Russia with "bargaining". Merchant youth in these trips were accustomed to trading and thus prepared for future independent activities. Gradually, enterprising entrepreneurs emerged from it. Thus, the future guest and builder of the Ustyug churches, Afanasy Fedotov, went through the initial school of commercial skill under the guidance of his elder brother Vasily, who sent him to Siberia "in the clerk's place." At times, within the merchant families, on the basis of extremely complex and intricate family relations, there was an imperceptible struggle between the "old" and the "younger" for independent participation in the common cause and capital.
Similar relationships also took place in the family of the famous Solvychegodtsy Stroganovs. In 1617 Maxim Stroganov brought his grandson Ivan Yamsky from Vologda. For 9 years, Ivan studied the intricacies of commerce. The grandfather sent his grandson "to the Siberian cities with money and goods", while the grandson bought "every purchase" for him. After his death in 1624 old man Stroganov Ivan continued to live with his widow and sons, that is, his uncles, still driving around with auctions or sitting in a shop near Salt Vychegodskaya. However, in 1626, taking advantage of the departure of his relatives, Ivan bought his own yard and moved there along with the goods entrusted to him, trading since then on his own behalf. Only after a long litigation, Stroganov's widow obtained a decree on the seizure of money and goods appropriated by him from Ivan Yamsky.
"Agents" of merchants.
clerks
It was difficult to set up a large trading enterprise by the forces of one family. I had to resort to outside help, including hiring clerks. They could also be merchants who themselves conducted independent big business, but preferred for a while, for one reason or another, to trade on behalf of a wealthier merchant. Vasily Fedotov, later one of the largest Moscow guests, after the ruin in 1626. His village was forced by robbers to be hired as clerks to the wealthy Muscovite Afanasy Levashov.
Not always the same legal content was invested in the concept of "executive".
At least three types of clerk are known.
The first type is a hired person who is invited by an entrepreneur for a certain annual salary (usually up to 30 rubles) to execute a certain trade order. Sometimes the clerk was hired for one or another term and lived "in hiring for a fixed period," sometimes the term was not set at all.
The second type is the clerk, who took over the management of economic affairs "out of profit", and the generally accepted norm was the division of profit between the owner and the clerk in half; it was called taking the goods "halfway". The clerk was obliged to return the capital - "truth", as they said in the 17th century, and then "deal with the truth", that is, give half of the profit to the owner, and take the other half for himself.
The third type of clerk is a companion and participant in a trading enterprise. Both parties - the owner and the clerk - folded their capitals; at the end of operations, each received back his part of the capital, and the profit was divided in half. In this case, it was assumed that the entrepreneur, for example, the merchant of the hundreds living room, in addition to large capital, provided his companion with a number of benefits arising from his privileged position. The clerk, therefore, enjoyed all the rights that his master had, acted on his behalf, had in his hands the royal charter issued to him. In turn, the clerk offered his own labor free of charge. Both sides thus benefited.
Possible abuses of the clerk were warned by the obligation of the latter not to repair "any trick on the belly entrusted to him (that is, capital and property): do not drink drunken drink and do not play grains and ... do not go after wives and do not steal any theft."
Sideltsy
Next to the clerks, the inmates took their own place. If the clerk is a free man, himself often conducting trade, then the inmate, on the contrary, was temporarily in personal dependence on the owner. This is a "working man", who for a certain period entered the yard of the owner and gave himself the usual type of residential record (on obligations towards the merchant). Most often, he had to be in the role of a "shop sitter", performing specific types of work in a trading establishment.
Pedlars
Below him were the pedlars, essentially not much different from him. They also lived with a merchant with a "chart record" for "permission years", and the only difference was that they traded "by post", and not in a shop, and, of course, on a very small scale.
"People"
The lowest category of agents who carried out the orders of the merchant were "people" - workers who came to the entrepreneur not by contract, but because of their personal dependence on him. Sometimes courtyard people were bought from the Don Cossacks, who returned from their raids with a large amount of "live goods". For trading purposes, they preferred to acquire boys: they were baptized and taught Russian literacy. Many of the boys who grew up and brought up in the master's house became trustees, occupied the position of full-fledged clerks rather than serfs, and the legal dependence that connected them with the entrepreneur strengthened rather than violated mutual trust and affection..
Business relationship.
The basis of the legal support of business relations in the XVII century. remained "right". A faulty debtor was taken daily to the square in front of the order and beaten with rods. Such "extortion" of the debt could not last more than a month, after which (in case of non-payment of the debt) the debtor was placed at the disposal of the plaintiff. Code of 1649 established a certain rate of working off the debt: a year of work for a man was estimated at 5 rubles, for a woman - 2 rubles 50 kopecks, and for a child - 2 rubles. In addition, such a form of repayment of a debt as return "to live" was widespread. In this case, the personal dependence of the debtor on the merchant was established.
Until the seventeenth century growth in loans was considered normal in business relationships. But the royal decree of 1626 allowed the collection of interest only for five years, until the interest payments amounted to the loan received. Thus, a loan of 20% was meant. The Code of 1649 completely banned interest-bearing loans. This ban, designed to put an end to usurious transactions, did not have "serious success" in practice. The active development of domestic trade led the government to turn to a policy of mercantilism.
In 1649 trade privileges of English merchants, granted earlier by Ivan the Terrible, were abolished. The formal basis for this was the news that the British "killed their sovereign Carlos the King to death."
October 25, 1653 The Trade Code was promulgated. Its main significance was that, instead of a multitude of trade duties (bridge, skid, etc.), he established a single duty of 5% of the price of the goods sold. The charter also increased the amount of duty on foreign merchants - instead of 5%, they paid 6%, and when sending goods inside the country, an additional 2%. The Novotrade charter, adopted in 1667, had a pronounced protectionist character. He severely restricted the trading activities of foreigners in Russia. For example, when importing goods into a Russian port, they had to pay a duty of 6% of the price of the goods. If they were transporting goods to Moscow or other cities, they paid an additional duty of 10%, and when selling goods on the spot, another 6%. Thus, the duties reached 22% of the price of the goods, not counting the costs of its transportation. In addition, foreign merchants were only allowed to conduct wholesale trade.
The new trade charter consistently protected Russian merchants from the competition of foreign merchants and at the same time increased the amount of revenues to the treasury from the collection of duties. The author of this charter was Afanasy Lavrentievich Ordin-Nashchokin. Coming from a seedy noble family, he became the favorite of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and one of the most prominent statesmen of the 17th century. Nashchokin advocated the all-round development of domestic trade, the liberation of the merchant class from the petty tutelage of the authorities, and the issuance of preferential loans to commercial partnerships so that they could withstand competition from wealthy foreigners. He took steps to establish trade relations with Persia and Central Asia, he equipped an embassy to India, dreamed of colonization of the Amur region by the Cossacks. Planted in 1665 governor in Pskov, Nashchokin creates an elected merchant self-government of 15 people for the commercial court; the "elected hut" that had been set up also gave out loans to poor merchants. At the same time, he proposed to organize two fairs in Pskov annually, during which residents could trade duty-free with foreigners. A number of his ideas Nashchokin, becoming a boyar and the de facto head of government, managed to put into practice.
Conclusion
The activity of Ordin-Nashchokin demonstrated noticeable shifts in the economic policy of the government, which was focused on actively supporting the trading activities of the townspeople and their higher corporations - "guests" and "hundreds".
The revival of business initiative in the manufacturing business complemented and expanded the scope of domestic entrepreneurship. Formation in the seventeenth century. a single all-Russian market contributed to the involvement in business relations of various segments of the population. At the same time, the emerging tendency to limit the trading activities of the peasantry significantly reduced the business potential of not only the rural, but also the townspeople, who, due to their privileged position, depended on a number of objective and subjective circumstances, primarily in the sphere of relations with the authorities. Any fluctuations in the internal and international position of Russia responded to the economic stability and initiative of such merchants, most painfully hurting those who were most closely connected with the treasury, that is, the same guests and trading people of the living room and cloth hundreds. And vice versa, entrepreneurs who were quite independent in business, acting at their own peril and risk, acquired significant advantages in the turning points of the country's history, being able to enter new areas. economic activity and adapt to changing conditions. public life. This feature of the formation of the business world will fully manifest itself in the 18th - early 19th centuries.
Bibliography
1. Arkhangelskaya I.D. From the history of fairs in Russia // Questions of History. - 2001.
2. Bessolitsyn A.A., Kuzmichev A.D. Economic history of Russia. Essays on the development of entrepreneurship. - M., 2005.
3. History of entrepreneurship in Russia. Book one. From the Middle Ages to the middle of the nineteenth century. - M.: ROSSPEN, 2000.
4. Nikitina S.K. History of Russian entrepreneurship. - M., 2001.
5. Perkhavko V. The first Russian merchants. - M., 2006.
6. Strages Yu.P. Economic history of Russia. Part I. VIII - XVIII centuries. - Yekaterinburg, 2000
7. Smetanin S.I. History of Entrepreneurship in Russia - Logos, 2005
8. I.P. Boyko Entrepreneurship and reforms in Russia - Moscow, 2003
9. Yu.A. Pompeev History and philosophy of domestic entrepreneurship - St. Petersburg, 2003
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Since ancient times, the main occupations of the Eastern Slavs have been agriculture, hunting, fishing, gathering, beekeeping. Trade played a supporting role.
The agriculture of the Eastern Slavs on the eve of the formation of their state and in the period of Kievan Rus reveals territorial variants. There were two farming systems:
in the southern area, agriculture was the main occupation; here quite early on the basis of the shifting (fallow) system arose double field, and slash-and-burn agriculture was transformed into plowed; home played an important role cattle breeding;
in the north, along with agriculture, the most important role was played by hunting, gathering and fishing still dominated fallow and slash and fire system.
Agriculture of Kievan Rus. In the north, the main agricultural tool was a wooden plow with an iron tip, because. there were gray taiga podzolic soils with a thin layer of humus, and the earth was not turned over, but only loosened. In the south, the plow and ralo were used. A wooden harrow was used to loosen arable land. The developed arable farming is evidenced by the handicraft production of agricultural tools for sale: during the excavations, blacksmith workshops of the 12th-13th centuries were found, in which sickles, scythes, plowshares were found.
As a draft force in the north, a horse was used, resistant to the bites of forest insects and at the same time quite capable of pulling a relatively light plow. In the south, a more hardy and stronger ox was used.
The composition of crops was varied. Rye, millet, oats, wheat, buckwheat, peas, spelt, poppy, and flax were sown. The farther north, the larger areas were occupied by rye and oats. Turnip, cabbage, beans, onions, garlic, hops were known from horticultural crops, cherries and apple trees were known from fruit trees. Despite a gradual relative increase in agricultural production, harvests were low. Shortage and famine were frequent phenomena, undermining the peasant economy.
As for the rights to land, the Grand Duke was considered its supreme administrator. In general, all cultivated land by nature land ownership divided into two parts:
common lands; they were the vast majority - these are lands belonging to the communities, more precisely, the communities considered them their, but the prince could transfer communal lands to the second category;
estates- private lands owned by either the prince (princely estates) or boyars (boyar estates); estates were inherited (hence the name); the inhabitants of the estates paid the owners of the land feudal rent – quitrent(payment in kind, most often part of the harvest).
Estates in Kievan Rus. The question of the time of appearance and forms of feudal landownership in Rus' is one of the most key and important, since it is inextricably linked, firstly, with the problem of the identity of Russian civilization, and secondly, with the questions of choosing a historical approach in the study of Russian history.
In the XIX - early XX centuries. historians denied feudalism in Ancient Rus' as such. This was partly due to the narrow understanding of feudalism only as a social system characterized by serfdom and vassalage, but mainly due to the fact that the problems of socio-economic development themselves were of little concern to historians. The “fact” itself was used in the process of building some speculative models historical development. As a result, the Slavophiles called the absence of feudalism in Ancient Rus' among the fundamental differences between Russia and Europe, and the Westerners linked this fact with the backwardness of Russia, which confirmed their idea of the need to move along the Western path. N.P. Pavlov-Silvansky proved the existence of feudal relations in Ancient Rus' (on the materials of the 15th-16th centuries, retrospectively revealing feudalism in an earlier period), thereby confirming the Marxist theory with Russian data. Soviet historians went to the other extreme - wanting to artificially bring together the development trends of Russia and Europe (along the way making ancient Russian history not very ancient), they found feudal relations in Ancient Rus' from its foundation, referring to the "Russian Truth", the presence of estates and other indirect evidence.
The fiefdoms of Kievan Rus are indeed a feudal form of land tenure, they show clear analogies with the feudal allods of Western Europe of the same time. However: 1) estates in Rus' appeared not earlier than the 11th century, under Vladimir, possibly under Yaroslav, and these were princely estates; boyar private lands appeared no earlier than the second half of the 11th century; at this time feudalism in Europe had at least five centuries of history; 2) there were very few patrimonial lands in Rus', and they were small; 3) cities and pastures are mentioned as patrimonies in Kievan Rus, on which princely herds graze, but we know almost nothing about patrimonial arable land; 4) estates in Rus' - apparently, first in time, a form of feudal land tenure, while in the West the allod appeared as a result of the long development of beneficial land use. In other words, feudalism in Kievan Rus probably still existed, but it was a special feudalism, and it was not a system-forming and even any characteristic factor in the socio-economic structure.
In general, ancient Russian agriculture is characterized by natural character(products produced on the farm were also consumed in it) and extensive development(growth in production was achieved by increasing the cultivated area). These features were not manifestations of any national traits or technological backwardness, but were dictated by geographical conditions - the presence of free land, large spaces, low yields.
The emergence of princely power in the conditions of a still insufficiently developed subsistence economy, coupled with the unrelenting danger of raids from the steppes, Varangians and other neighbors, caused the formation of urban settlements, for the most part, not as craft and trade centers, but as military administrative centers. That is why, despite the large number of urban settlements in Kievan Rus (in Northern Europe, Rus was called Gardarika - the country of cities), the craft here, in comparison with Europe, was not sufficiently developed. The main features of the Russian craft include weak specialization, lack of craft corporations, combination of craft with other occupations. The craft was developed to the greatest extent in the cities located on the trade routes - Kyiv, Novgorod, Smolensk, Polotsk.
Craft in Kievan Rus. Russian artisans of the XI-XII centuries. produced more than 150 types of iron and steel products. Old Russian jewelers knew the art of minting non-ferrous metals. In the field of artistic crafts, Russian craftsmen have mastered complex techniques grains(working patterns from the smallest grains of metal), filigree(working patterns from the thinnest wire), figured casting, mob(producing a black background for patterned silver plates) and cloisonne enamel. Products of Russian jewelers and blacksmiths were valued throughout Europe. Pottery, leather-working, woodworking, and stone-cutting crafts were greatly developed in the Old Russian cities. But in general, historians in Kievan Rus have a little more than 60 specialties (in Paris alone of the same period - about 300). The social division of labor in the country was weak. The products of a few village artisans spread over a distance of about 10-30 km, and the products of urban artisans rarely penetrated the village.
Rus' arose on trade routes (“the path from the Varangians to the Greeks”, the Volga route, the Don route), it is natural that trade played an important role in the structure of the economy of the Old Russian state. Kyiv and Novgorod - the main trading cities of Rus' - in terms of population, according to historians, surpassed most cities in Northern and Western Europe. However, Russian trade also had a number of specific features. Firstly, trade was in transit, Russian rivers were of great transit importance for trade between Northern Europe, the Arab East and Byzantium. Large volumes of trade were achieved by reselling foreign goods in Rus' to foreign merchants. Therefore, Russian trade has ethnic specifics: merchants ( guests) were represented, as a rule, by Varangians, Arabs, Jews, Armenians, etc., but not Slavs. Flax, leather, furs, wax, honey, and slaves were exported. Luxury goods, weapons, spices, fabrics were imported. Trade served the needs of the social elite. The majority of the population was not involved in trade - the economy as a whole remained subsistence, and the excess product was confiscated in the form of tribute by the state.
Due to the low prevalence of commodity exchange, cattle were used as money (even the princely treasury was called cowgirl), furs, Arabic dirhams and Byzantine denarii. Only under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, with the development of commodity relations, the minting of Russian coins proper began - spools. Under Yaroslav the Wise, Russian silver coins were minted - silversmiths. Both spools and silversmiths had a very limited circulation, and can hardly be considered the Russian currency of that time. Much wider circulation hryvnia- pieces of silver.
The system of monetary units in Kievan Rus. In Russkaya Pravda, hryvnias are mentioned, kuna, nogaty, cut. Numismatists found out that the kuna, nogata and rezan are parts of the hryvnia: By weight, one hryvnia was equal to 20 nogat, 25 kuna or 50 rezan. However, the hryvnia itself did not have a clearly defined weight.
It is believed that in the second half of the tenth century. two monetary-weight systems were formed: northern and southern. In the northern system, Western coins played an important role; the local hryvnia adapted to their weight. The southern system was tied to the Byzantine light liter. A light liter was equal to 163.728 g of silver. The South Russian hryvnia was equal to 68.22 g, kuna - 2.73 g, nogata - 3.41 g, rezana - 1.36 g.
Taxes in Rus' were collected from rural communities - in natural products, from cities - in silver. The tribute was collected from the community, and not from each inhabitant, was calculated with "smoke"(i.e. farms). Cities (urban communities), apparently, paid a predetermined amount (as is known from the example of Novgorod). Under the first princes, tribute was collected crowd- the prince with his retinue himself collected tribute, going around the population subject to him. After the murder of Igor in 945 during the polyudy, his widow Olga, who ruled Russia for her infant son Svyatoslav, established lessons(a pre-announced amount of tribute) and introduced cart- now tributaries had to independently bring tribute to graveyards (trading places, settlements where tribute could be exchanged). However, the cart, apparently, was used only in territories close to Kyiv. Polyudie continued to operate on the outskirts of the state. Tribute to the Kyiv prince was paid only by residents of communal lands, residents of estates (both cities and rural areas) did not pay tribute.
So, the economy of Kievan Rus was based on agriculture, which has a natural character. Crafts, as well as commodity relations in general, were generally relatively poorly developed, and trade was predominantly transit. Nevertheless, already in this period, feudal relations were emerging in Rus'.
