The basis of the Russian economy in the second half of the 17th century was serfdom. However, along with it, new phenomena are found in the economic life of the country. The most important of these was the formation of the all-Russian market. In Russia of this time, small-scale commodity production and money circulation develop, and manufactories appear. The economic disunity of individual regions of Russia is beginning to recede into the past. The formation of an all-Russian market was one of the prerequisites for the development of the Russian people into a nation ( See V. I. Lenin, What are “friends of the people” and how do they fight against the Social Democrats? Works, vol. 1, pp. 137-138.).
In the 17th century there was a further process of formation of the feudal-absolutist (autocratic) monarchy. Zemsky Sobors, which met repeatedly in the first half of the century, finally ceased their activity by the end of the century. The importance of the Moscow orders as central institutions with their bureaucracy in the person of clerks and clerks increased. In its domestic policy, the autocracy relied on the nobility, which became a closed estate. There is a further strengthening of the rights of the nobility to land, and landownership is spreading in new areas. The "Cathedral Code" of 1649 legally formalized serfdom.
The strengthening of feudal oppression met with fierce resistance from the peasants and the lower classes of the urban population, which was expressed primarily in powerful peasant and urban uprisings (1648, 1650, 1662, 1670-1671). The class struggle was also reflected in the largest religious movement in Russia in the 17th century. - schism of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The rapid economic growth of Russia in the 17th century contributed to the further development of the vast expanses of Eastern Europe and Siberia. In the 17th century there is an advance of Russian people to the sparsely populated territories of the Lower Don, the North Caucasus, the Middle and Lower Volga regions and Siberia.
The reunification of Ukraine with Russia in 1654 was an event of great historical significance. The kindred Russian and Ukrainian peoples united in a single state, which contributed to the development of productive forces and the cultural upsurge of both peoples, as well as the political strengthening of Russia.
Russia, 17th century acts in international relations as a great power, stretching from the Dnieper in the west to Pacific Ocean in the east.
Serfdom
In the second half of the XVII century. The main occupation of the population of Russia remained agriculture, based on the exploitation of the feudally dependent peasantry. In agriculture, the methods of tillage that had been established in previous times continued to be used. Three fields were most common, but in the forest regions of the North, undercutting occupied an important place, and in the steppe zone of the South and the Middle Volga region - fallow. Primitive tools of production (plow and harrow) and low yields corresponded to these methods of cultivating the land, characteristic of feudalism.
The land was owned by secular and spiritual feudal lords, the palace department and the state. Boyars and nobles by 1678 concentrated in their hands 67% of peasant households. This was achieved through grants from the government and direct seizures of palace and black-moss (state) lands, as well as the possessions of small service people. The nobles created serf farms in the uninhabited southern districts of the state. By that time, only a tenth of the taxable (that is, those who paid taxes) population of Russia (townspeople and black-skinned peasants) was in an unenslaved state by this time.
The overwhelming majority of secular feudal lords belonged to the middle and small landowners. What was the economy of a middle-class nobleman can be seen from the correspondence of A.I. Bezobrazov. He did not disdain any means if the opportunity presented itself to round off his possessions. Like many other landowners, he vigorously seized and bought up fertile lands, shamelessly driving out small servants from their homes, and resettled his peasants from the less fertile central districts to the South.
The second place after the nobles in terms of land ownership was occupied by spiritual feudal lords. In the second half of the XVII century. Bishops, monasteries and churches owned over 13% of taxable households. The Trinity-Sergius Monastery stood out especially. In his possessions, scattered throughout the European territory of Russia, there were about 17 thousand households. The votchinniki-monasteries ran their households in the same serf ways as the secular feudal lords.
Compared to the landlord and monastic peasants, the black-mounded peasants who lived in Pomorie, where there was almost no landownership, were in slightly better conditions and the lands were considered state lands. But they were also burdened with various kinds of duties in favor of the treasury, they suffered from the oppression and abuses of the royal governors.
The center of the estate or patrimony was a village, or village, next to which stood the master's estate with a house and outbuildings. A typical manor yard in central Russia consisted of a chamber set on the basement floor. With her were the canopy - a spacious reception room. Outbuildings stood next to the upper room - a cellar, a barn, a bathhouse. The yard was fenced, next to the garden. The estates of the wealthy nobles were more extensive and luxurious than those of the small landowners.
The village, or village, was the center for the villages adjoining it. In a medium-sized village, there were rarely more than 15-30 households, in the villages there were usually 2-3 households. Peasant yards consisted of a warm hut, cold vestibules and outbuildings.
The landowner kept serfs in the estate. They worked in the garden, barnyard, stables. The master's household was in charge of the clerk, the confidant of the landowner. However, the economy, which was carried out with the help of courtyard people, only partially satisfied the landowners' needs. The main income of the landowners was brought by corvée or quitrent duties of serfs. The peasants cultivated the landlords' land, harvested crops, mowed meadows, carried firewood from the forest, cleaned ponds, built and repaired mansions. In addition to corvée, they were obliged to deliver to the masters "table stocks" - a certain amount of meat, eggs, dry berries, mushrooms, etc. In some villages of the boyar B.I. Morozov, for example, it was supposed to give a pig carcass, two ram, goose with giblets, 4 piglets, 4 hens, 40 eggs, some butter and cheese.
The increase in domestic demand for agricultural products, as well as, in part, the export of some of them abroad, prompted the landowners to expand the lordly plowing and increase the dues. In this regard, peasant corvée continuously increased in the black earth belt, and in non-chernozem regions, mainly central ones (with the exception of estates near Moscow, from which supplies were delivered to the capital), where corvée was less common, the share of quitrent duties increased. The landowner's plowing expanded at the expense of the best peasant lands, which went under the master's fields. In areas where quitrent prevailed, the value of monetary rent slowly but steadily increased. This phenomenon reflected the development of commodity-money relations in the country, in which peasant farms were gradually involved. However, in its pure form, cash dues were very rare; as a rule, it was combined with the rent of products or with corvee duties.
A new phenomenon, closely connected with the development of commodity-money relations in Russia, was the creation of various types of fishing enterprises in large landlord farms. The largest estate of the middle of the XVII century. boyar Morozov organized the production of potash in the Middle Volga region, built an ironworks in the village of Pavlovsky near Moscow, and had many distilleries. This hoarder, according to contemporaries, had such a greed for gold, "like an ordinary thirst for drink."
Morozov's example was followed by some other major boyars - Miloslavsky, Odoevsky, and others. At their industrial enterprises, the most burdensome work of transporting firewood or ore was assigned to the peasants, who were obliged in turn to work sometimes on their own horses, leaving their arable land abandoned during the hottest time of field work. . Thus, the passion of large feudal lords for industrial production did not change the feudal foundations of the organization of their economy.
Large feudal lords introduced some innovations in their estates, where new varieties of fruit trees, fruits, vegetables, etc. appeared, and greenhouses were built for growing southern plants.
The emergence of manufactories and the development of small commodity production
An important phenomenon in the Russian economy was the foundation of manufactories. In addition to metallurgical enterprises, leather, glass, stationery and other manufactories arose. The Dutch merchant A. Vinius, who became a Russian citizen, built the first water-powered ironworks in Russia. In 1632, he received a royal charter to set up factories near Tula for the production of iron and iron, casting cannons, boilers, etc. Vinius could not cope with the construction of factories on his own and a few years later entered into a company with two other Dutch merchants. Large iron-working plants were created somewhat later in Kashira, in the Olonets region, near Voronezh and near Moscow. These factories produced cannons and gun barrels, strip iron, boilers, frying pans, etc. In the 17th century. the first copper-smelting plants appeared in Russia. Copper ore was found near Salt Kamskaya, where the treasury built the Pyskorsky plant. Subsequently, on the basis of the Pyskorsky ores, the factory of "smelters" of the Tumashev brothers operated.
Work in the manufactories was carried out mainly by hand; however, some processes were mechanized with water engines. Therefore, manufactories were usually built on rivers blocked by dams. Labor-intensive and cheaply paid work (earthworks, logging and transportation of firewood, etc.) was carried out mainly by ascribed peasants or their own serfs, as was the case, for example, at the ironworks of the royal father-in-law I. D. Miloslavsky. Shortly after their foundation, the government attributed two palace volosts to the Tula and Kashira factories.
The decisive role in providing the population with industrial products, however, did not belong to manufactories, the number of which, even by the end of the 17th century, was 100%. did not reach even three dozen, but to peasant household crafts, urban crafts and small commodity production. In connection with the growth of market relations in the country, small-scale commodity production has intensified. Serpukhov, Tula and Tikhvin blacksmiths, Pomeranian carpenters, Yaroslavl weavers and tanners, Moscow furriers and cloth makers worked not so much to order as to the market. Some commodity producers used hired labor, though on a small scale.
Seasonal trades have also been greatly developed, especially in the non-chernozem regions near Moscow and to the north of it. The growth of property and state duties forced the peasants to go to work, to be hired for construction work, for salt and other crafts as auxiliary workers. A large number of peasants were employed in river transport, where barge haulers were required to pull ships up the river, as well as loaders and ship workers. Transport and salt production were served mainly by hired labor. Among the barge haulers and ship workers there were many "walking people", as the documents called people who were not associated with a specific place of residence. In the 17th century, the number of villages and villages inhabited by "non-arable peasants", "non-arable bobs" continuously increased.
Economic regions of Russia
Separate parts of the vast Russian state, which occupied vast areas in Europe and Asia, naturally, were heterogeneous both in terms of natural conditions and in terms of socio-economic development. The most populated and developed was the central region, the so-called Zamoskovny cities with adjacent counties. Villages and villages surrounded the capital from all sides. Moscow was the largest city in Eastern Europe and had up to 200 thousand inhabitants. It was the most important center of trade, handicraft and small commodity production. In it and its environs, first of all, enterprises of the manufactory type arose.
In the central region of Russia, various peasant crafts and urban handicrafts were greatly developed. There were also the largest Russian cities - Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaluga. A direct land road connected Moscow via Yaroslavl with Vologda, from where the waterway to Arkhangelsk began.
The vast region adjacent to the White Sea, known as Pomorie, was relatively poorly populated at that time. Russians, Karelians, Komi, etc. lived here. In the northern regions of this region, due to climatic conditions, the population was more engaged in crafts (salting, fishing, etc.) than agriculture. The role of Pomerania in supplying the country with salt was especially great. In the area of the largest center of salt production - Kamskaya Salt, there were more than 200 breweries that supplied up to 7 million pounds of salt annually. The most important cities of the North were Vologda and Arkhangelsk, which were the extreme points of the Sukhono-Dvina river route. Trade with foreign countries passed through the port of Arkhangelsk. There were rope workshops in Vologda and Kholmogory. Relatively fertile soils in the region of Vologda, Veliky Ustyug and in the Vyatka region favored the successful development of agriculture. Vologda and Ustyug, and in the second half of the XVII century. Vyatka region were large grain markets.
In the west of Russia there were lands "from German and Lithuanian Ukraine" (outskirts). These were areas that exported flax and hemp to other regions and abroad. The largest cities and trading centers here were Smolensk and Pskov, while Novgorod withered away and lost its former importance.
In the XVII century there was a rapid settlement of the southern regions. Fugitive peasants from the central districts were continuously sent here. The trade and crafts of this region were insignificant, and there were no large cities here, but grain farming successfully developed on the rich black soil.
Russian peasants also fled to the Middle Volga region. Russian villages arose near Mordovian, Tatar, Chuvash and Mari villages. The lands south of Samara were still sparsely populated. The largest cities in the Volga region were Kazan and Astrakhan. A diverse population lived in Astrakhan: Russians, Tatars, Armenians, people from Bukhara, etc. A lively trade was carried out in this city with the countries of Central Asia, Iran and the Transcaucasus.
In the south of the East European Plain, it was part of Russia in the 17th century. part of the North Caucasus, as well as the regions of the Don and Yaitsk Cossack troops. The wealthy industrialist Guryev founded the city of Guryev with a stone fortress at the mouth of the Yaik (Urals).
After 1654, the Left-bank Ukraine was reunited with Russia along with Kyiv, which had self-government and an elected hetman.
By the size of its territory, Russia already in the 17th century was the largest state in the world.
Siberia
The largest region of Russia in the 17th century. was Siberia. It was inhabited by peoples at different stages of social development. The most numerous of them were the Yakuts, who occupied a vast territory in the basin of the Lena and its tributaries. The basis of their economy was cattle breeding, hunting and fishing were of secondary importance. In winter, the Yakuts lived in heated wooden yurts, and in the summer they went to pastures. At the head of the Yakut tribes were elders - toyons, owners of large pastures. Among the peoples of the Baikal region, the first place was occupied by the Buryats. Most of the Buryats were engaged in cattle breeding, led a nomadic lifestyle, but there were also agricultural tribes among them. The Buryats were going through a period of the formation of feudal relations, they still had strong patriarchal-tribal remnants.
Evenki (Tungus) lived in the vast expanses from the Yenisei to the Pacific Ocean, engaged in hunting and fishing. Chukchi, Koryaks and Itelmens (Kamchadals) inhabited the northeastern regions of Siberia with the Kamchatka Peninsula. These tribes then sewed in a tribal system; they did not yet know the use of iron.
The expansion of Russian possessions in Siberia was carried out mainly by the local administration and industrial people who were looking for new "lands" rich in fur-bearing animals. Russian industrial people penetrated into Siberia along the high-water Siberian rivers, the tributaries of which come close to each other. Military detachments followed in their footsteps, setting up fortified prisons, which became centers of colonial exploitation of the peoples of Siberia. The path from Western Siberia to Eastern Siberia went along the tributary of the Ob, the Keti River. On the Yenisei, the city of Yeniseisk arose (originally the Yenisei prison, 1619). Somewhat later, another Siberian city, Krasnoyarsk, was founded on the upper reaches of the Yenisei. Along the Angara or the Upper Tunguska, the river route led to the upper reaches of the Lena. The Lena prison was built on it (1632, later Yakutsk), which became the center of control of Eastern Siberia.
In 1648, Semyon Dezhnev discovered "the edge and end of the Siberian land." The expedition of Fedot Alekseev (Popov), the clerk of the Ustyug trading people, the Usovs, set out to sea from the mouth of the Kolyma, consisting of six ships. Dezhnev was on one of the ships. The storm swept the ships of the expedition, some of them died or were washed ashore, and Dezhnev's ship rounded the extreme northeastern tip of Asia. Thus, Dezhnev was the first to make a sea voyage through the Bering Strait and discovered that Asia was separated from America by water.
By the middle of the XVII century. Russian detachments penetrated into Dauria (Transbaikalia and Amur). The expedition of Vasily Poyarkov along the Zeya and Amur rivers reached the sea. Poyarkov sailed by sea to the Ulya River (Okhotsk region), climbed up it and returned to Yakutsk along the rivers of the Lena basin. A new expedition to the Amur was made by the Cossacks under the command of Yerofey Khabarov, who built a town on the Amur. After the government recalled Khabarov from the town, the Cossacks stayed in it for some time, but due to a lack of food they were forced to leave it.
Penetration into the Amur basin brought Russia into conflict with China. Military operations ended with the conclusion of the Nerchinsk Treaty (1689). The treaty defined the Russian-Chinese border and promoted the development of trade between the two states.
Following industrial and service people, peasant settlers were sent to Siberia. The influx of "free people" into Western Siberia began immediately after the construction of Russian towns and especially intensified in the second half of the 17th century, when "many" peasants moved here, mainly from the northern and neighboring Ural districts. The arable peasant population settled mainly in Western Siberia, which became the main center of the agricultural economy of this vast region.
Peasants settled on empty lands or seized lands that belonged to local "yasak people". The size of arable plots owned by peasants in the 17th century was not limited. In addition to arable land, it included hay meadows, and sometimes fishing grounds. The Russian peasants brought with them the skills of a higher agricultural culture than that of the Siberian peoples. Rye, oats and barley became the main agricultural crops of Siberia. Along with them, industrial crops appear, primarily hemp. Animal husbandry has been widely developed. Already by the end of the XVII century. Siberian agriculture satisfied the needs of the population of Siberian cities in agricultural products and, thus, freed the government from the expensive delivery of bread from European Russia.
The conquest of Siberia was accompanied by the taxation of the conquered population with yasak - tribute. The payment of yasak was usually made in furs, the most valuable commodity that enriched the royal treasury. The "explaining" of the Siberian peoples by service people was often accompanied by outrageous violence. Official documents acknowledged that Russian merchants sometimes invited "people to trade and had wives and children from them, and they robbed their stomachs and cattle, and many people did violence to them."
The vast territory of Siberia was under the control of the Siberian order. The intensity of the robbery of the peoples of Siberia by tsarism is evidenced by the fact that the income of the Siberian order in 1680 accounted for more than 12% of the total budget of Russia. The peoples of Siberia, moreover, were subjected to exploitation by Russian merchants, whose wealth was created by exchanging handicrafts and cheap ornaments for fine furs, which constituted an important article of Russian export. The merchants Usovs, Pankratievs, Filatievs and others, having accumulated large capitals in Siberian trade, became owners of manufactories for boiling salt in Pomorie, without stopping their trading activities at the same time. G. Nikitin, a native of the black-haired peasants, at one time worked as a clerk E. Filatiev and in a short time advanced into the ranks of the Moscow merchant nobility. In 1679, Nikitin was enrolled in the living room hundred, and two years later he was granted the title of guest. By the end of the XVII century. Nikitin's capital exceeded 20 thousand rubles. (about 350 thousand rubles for the money of the beginning of the 20th century). Nikitin, like his former patron Filatiev, made his fortune in the predatory fur trade in Siberia. He was one of the first Russian merchants who organized trade with China.
By the end of the XVII century. significant areas of Western and partly Eastern Siberia were already populated by Russian peasants, who had mastered many previously deserted areas. Most of Siberia became Russian in terms of its population, especially the black earth regions of Western Siberia. Ties with the Russian people, despite the colonial policy of tsarism, were of great importance for the development of the economic and cultural life of all the peoples of Siberia. Under the direct influence of Russian agriculture, the Yakuts and nomadic Buryats began to cultivate arable land. The accession of Siberia to Russia created conditions for further economic and cultural development this vast country.
The formation of the all-Russian market
A new phenomenon, exceptional in its significance, was the formation of an all-Russian market, the center of which was Moscow. By the movement of goods to Moscow, one can judge the degree of social and territorial division of labor on the basis of which the all-Russian market was formed: the Moscow region supplied meat and vegetables; cow butter was brought from the Middle Volga region; fish was brought from Pomorye, the Rostov district, the Lower Volga region and the Oka places; vegetables also came from Vereya, Borovsk and Rostov district. Moscow was supplied with iron by Tula, Galich, Ustyuzhna Zhelezopolskaya and Tikhvin; skins were brought mainly from the Yaroslavl-Kostroma and Suzdal regions; wooden utensils were supplied by the Volga region; salt - the cities of Pomorie; Moscow was the largest market for Siberian furs.
Based on the production specialization of individual regions, markets were formed with the primary importance of any goods. So, Yaroslavl was famous for selling leather, soap, lard, meat and textiles; Veliky Ustyug and especially Salt Vychegodskaya were the largest fur markets - furs coming from Siberia were delivered from here either to Arkhangelsk for export, or to Moscow for sale inside the country. Flax and hemp were brought to Smolensk and Pskov from the surrounding areas, which then entered the foreign market.
Some local markets establish intensive trade relations with cities far removed from them. Tikhvin Posad, with its annual fair, supported trade with 45 Russian cities. Buying iron products from local blacksmiths, buyers resold them to larger merchants, and the latter transported significant consignments of goods to Ustyuzhna Zhelezopolskaya, as well as to Moscow, Yaroslavl, Pskov and other cities.
An enormous role in the trade turnover of the country was played by fairs of all-Russian significance, such as Makarievskaya (near Nizhny Novgorod), Svenskaya (near Bryansk), Arkhangelskaya, and others, which lasted for several weeks.
In connection with the formation of the all-Russian market, the role of the merchants in the economic and political life of the country increased. In the 17th century, the elite of the merchant world, whose representatives received the title of guests from the government, stood out even more noticeably from the general mass of merchants. These major merchants also acted as financial agents of the government - on his behalf, they conducted foreign trade in furs, potash, rhubarb, etc., carried out construction contracts, purchased food for the needs of the army, collected taxes, customs duties, tavern money, etc. The guests attracted smaller merchants to carry out contracting and paying off operations, sharing with them huge profits from the sale of wine and salt. Farming and contracts were an important source of capital accumulation.
Large capitals sometimes accumulated in the hands of individual merchant families. N. Sveteshnikov owned rich salt mines. The Stoyanovs in Novgorod and F. Emelyanov in Pskov were the first people in their cities; their opinion was considered not only by governors, but also by the tsarist government. The guests, as well as merchants close to them in position from the living room and cloth hundreds (associations), were joined by the top of the townspeople, who were called "best", "big" townspeople.
Merchants begin to speak to the government in defense of their interests. In petitions, they asked that English merchants be banned from trading in Moscow and in other cities, with the exception of Arkhangelsk. The petition was satisfied by the tsarist government in 1649. This measure was motivated by political considerations - the fact that the British executed their king Charles I.
Great changes in the country's economy were reflected in the Customs Charter of 1653 and the New Trade Charter of 1667. The head of the Ambassadorial Order A. L. Ordin-Nashchokin took part in the creation of the latter. According to the mercantilistic views of that time, the New Trade Charter noted the special importance of trade for Russia, since “in all neighboring states, in the first state affairs, free and profitable auctions for the collection of duties and for the worldly possessions of the people are guarded with all care.” The customs charter of 1653 abolished many small trading fees that had been preserved from the time of feudal fragmentation, and instead of them introduced one so-called ruble duty - 10 kopecks each. from the ruble for the sale of salt, 5 kop. from the ruble from all other goods. In addition, an increased duty was introduced for foreign merchants who sold goods within Russia. In the interests of the Russian merchant class, the Novotorgovy Statute of 1667 further increased customs duties on foreign merchants.
2. The beginning of the formation of the feudal-absolutist monarchy
Tsar and Boyar Duma
Great shifts in the economic and social life of the Russian people were accompanied by changes in the political system of Russia. In the 17th century there is a folding in Russia of a feudal-absolutist (autocratic) state. Characteristic for a class-representative monarchy existence next to the royal power. The Boyar Duma and Zemstvo Sobors no longer corresponded to the tendencies to strengthen the dominance of the nobility in the face of a further aggravation of the class struggle. The military and economic expansion of the neighboring states also required a more perfect political organization of the rule of the nobility. The transition to absolutism, which had not yet been completed by the end of the 17th century, was accompanied by the withering away of zemstvo sobors and an ever greater subordination of the spiritual to secular power.
Since 1613, the Romanov dynasty reigned in Russia, considering themselves the heirs of the former Moscow tsars through the female line. Mikhail Fedorovich (1613-1645), his son Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676), the sons of Alexei Mikhailovich - Fedor Alekseevich (1676-1682), Ivan and Peter Alekseevich (after 1682) reigned successively.
All state affairs in the XVII century. performed in the name of the king. In the "Council Code" of 1649, a special chapter was introduced "On the sovereign's honor and how to protect the state's health", threatening the death penalty for speaking out against the king, governor and clerks "in a crowd and conspiracy", which meant all mass popular demonstrations. Now the closest royal relatives began to be regarded as the sovereign's "serfs" - subjects. In petitions to the tsar, even noble boyars called themselves diminutive names (Ivashko, Petrushko, etc.). Class distinctions were strictly observed in appeals to the tsar: service people called themselves "serfs", peasants and townspeople - "orphans", and spiritual "pilgrims". The appearance of the tsar on the squares and streets of Moscow was furnished with magnificent solemnity and complex ceremonial, emphasizing the power and inaccessibility of tsarist power.
State affairs were in charge of the Boyar Duma, which also met in the absence of the tsar. The most important cases were dealt with on the royal proposal to "think" about this or that issue; the decision began with the formula: "The king indicated and the boyars were sentenced." The Duma, as the highest legislative and judicial institution, included the most influential and wealthy feudal lords of Russia - members of noble princely families and the closest relatives of the tsar. But along with them, more and more representatives of unborn families penetrated into the Duma - Duma nobles and Duma clerks, who were promoted to high positions in the state thanks to their personal merits. Along with some bureaucratization of the Duma, there was a gradual limitation of its political influence. Next to the Duma, in whose meetings all the Duma ranks took part, there was a Secret, or Near Duma, consisting of the tsar's proxies, who often did not belong to the Duma ranks.
Zemsky Sobors
The government for a long time relied on the support of such an estate-representative institution as the Zemstvo Sobors, resorting to the help of elected people from the nobility and the top of the township society, mainly in the difficult years of the struggle against external enemies and with internal difficulties associated with raising money for urgent needs. Zemsky Sobors functioned almost continuously during the first 10 years of the reign of Mikhail Romanov, for some time gaining the significance of a permanent representative institution under the government. The council that elected Michael to reign (1613) sat for almost three years. The following councils were convened in 1616, 1619 and 1621.
After 1623, there was a long break in the activities of the cathedrals, associated with the strengthening of royal power. The new council was convened in connection with the need to establish extraordinary collections of money from the population, as preparations were made for the war with Poland. This cathedral did not disperse for three years. During the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich, Zemsky Sobors met several more times.
Zemsky Sobors were an institution of a class character and consisted of three "ranks": 1) the higher clergy headed by the patriarch - the "consecrated cathedral", 2) the Boyar Duma and 3) elected from the nobility and from the townspeople. The black-eared peasants, perhaps, participated only in the council of 1613, while the landlords were completely removed from political affairs. Elections of representatives from the nobility and from the townspeople were always made separately. The protocol of the election, the "electoral list", was submitted to Moscow. Voters supplied "elected people" with instructions in which they declared their needs. The council was opened with a royal speech, which spoke about the reasons for its convocation and raised questions for the elected. The discussion of issues was carried out by separate class groups of the cathedral, but the general conciliar decision had to be taken unanimously.
The political authority of the zemstvo sobors, which stood high in the first half of the 17th century, was not durable. The government subsequently reluctantly resorted to convening zemstvo sobors, at which elected people sometimes criticized government measures. The last Zemsky Sobor met in 1653 to resolve the issue of the reunification of Ukraine. After that, the government convened only meetings of individual class groups (service people, merchants, guests, etc.). However, the approval of "the whole earth" was recognized as necessary for the election of sovereigns. Therefore, the meeting of Moscow ranks in 1682 twice replaced the Zemsky Sobor - first when Peter was elected to the throne, and then when the two tsars Peter and Ivan were elected, who were supposed to rule jointly.
Zemstvo sobors as organs of class representation were abolished by the growing absolutism, just as it happened in the countries of Western Europe.
Command system. Governors
The management of the country was concentrated in numerous orders that were in charge of individual industries. government controlled(Ambassadorial, Discharge, Local, Order of a large treasury) or regions (Order of the Kazan Palace, Siberian Order). The 17th century was the heyday of the order system: the number of orders in other years reached 50. However, in the second half of the 17th century. in a fragmented and cumbersome command administration, a certain centralization is carried out. Orders related in the circle of affairs were either combined into one or several orders, although they retained their independent existence, they were placed under the general control of one boyar, most often a confidant of the tsar. The associations of the first type include, for example, the combined orders of the palace department: the Grand Palace, the Palace Court, Kamenye Del Konyushenny. An example of the second type of associations is the assignment to the boyar F. A. Golovin to manage the Ambassadorial, Yamsky and Military Naval Orders, as well as the Chambers of the Armory, Gold and Silver Affairs. An important innovation in the order system was the organization of the Order of Secret Affairs, a new institution where "the boyars and duma people do not enter and do not know the affairs, except for the tsar himself." This order in relation to other orders performed control functions. The order of secret affairs was arranged so that "the royal thought and deeds would be fulfilled according to his (royal) desire."
The chiefs of most orders were boyars or nobles, but office work was kept on a permanent staff of clerks and their assistants - clerks. Having mastered well the administrative experience passed down from generation to generation, these people ran all the affairs of the orders. At the head of such important orders as Razryadny, Pomesny and Posolsky, there were duma clerks, that is, clerks who had the right to sit in the Boyar Duma. The bureaucratic element became increasingly important in the system of the emerging absolutist state.
The vast territory of the state in the 17th century, as in previous times, was divided into counties. What was new in the organization of local power was the reduction in the importance of the zemstvo administration. Everywhere power was concentrated in the hands of governors sent from Moscow. Assistant governors - "comrades" - were appointed to large cities. Office work was in charge of clerks and clerks. The moving out hut, where the voivode sat, was the center of administration of the county.
The service of the governor, like the old feeding, was considered "mercenary", that is, bringing income. The governor used every excuse to "feed" at the expense of the population. The arrival of the voivode to the territory of the subordinate county was accompanied by the receipt of “entry food”, on holidays they came to him with an offering, a special reward was brought to the voivode during the submission of petitions. The arbitrariness in the local administration was especially felt by the social lower classes.
By 1678, the census of households was completed. After that, the government replaced the existing sosh taxation (sokha - a taxation unit that included from 750 to 1800 acres of cultivated land in three fields) with household taxation. This reform increased the number of taxpayers, taxes were now levied on such segments of the population as "business people" (serfs who worked on the landlords' farm), beans (impoverished peasants), rural artisans, etc., who lived in their yards and had not previously paid taxes . The reform caused the landowners to increase the population in the yards by amalgamating them.
Military establishment
New phenomena are also taking place in the organization of the state's armed forces. The local noble army was completed as a militia from nobles and boyar children. Military service was still compulsory for all nobles. Nobles and boyar children gathered in their counties for a review according to the lists, where all the nobles fit for service were entered, hence the name "service people". Penalties were taken against "netchikov" (who did not show up for service). In summer, noble cavalry usually stood at border cities. In the south, the gathering place was Belgorod.
The mobilization of the local troops was extremely slow, the army was accompanied by huge carts and a large number of landlord servants.
Archers - foot soldiers armed with firearms - were distinguished by a higher combat capability than the noble cavalry. However, the streltsy army by the second half of the 17th century. clearly did not meet the need to have a sufficiently maneuverable and combat-ready army. In peacetime, the archers combined military service with petty trade and crafts, as they received insufficient bread and cash salaries. They were closely associated with the townspeople and took part in the urban unrest of the 17th century.
The need to reorganize the military forces of Russia on new principles was acutely felt already in the first half of the 17th century. Preparing for the war for Smolensk, the government purchased weapons from Sweden and Holland, hired foreign military people and began to form Russian regiments of the "new (foreign) system" - soldiers' Reiters and Dragoons. The training of these regiments was carried out on the basis of the advanced military art of that time. The regiments were recruited first from "free hunting people", and then from among the "subsistence people" recruited from a certain number of peasant and township households. The lifelong service of subordinate people, the introduction of uniform weapons in the form of muskets and flintlock carbines lighter than squeakers gave the regiments of the new system some features of a regular army.
Due to the increase in cash receipts, the cost of maintaining the army has steadily increased.
Strengthening of the nobility
Changes in the state system took place in close connection with a change in the structure of the ruling class of feudal lords, on which the autocracy relied. The top of this class was the boyar aristocracy, who replenished the court ranks (the word “rank” was not yet understood as an official position, but as belonging to a certain group of the population). The Duma ranks were the highest, then the ranks of Moscow followed, followed by the ranks of the city. All of them were included in the category of service people "according to the fatherland", in contrast to the service people "according to the instrument" (archers, gunners, soldiers, etc.). Serving people in the fatherland, or nobles, began to take shape in a closed group with special privileges, inherited. From the middle of the XVII century. the transition of instrumental servicemen to the ranks of the nobility was closed.
Of great importance in eliminating the differences between the individual strata of the ruling class was the abolition of parochialism. Localism had a detrimental effect on the combat capability of the Russian army. Sometimes, just before the battle, the governors, instead of taking decisive action against the enemy, entered into disputes about which of them was higher in “place”. Therefore, according to the decree on the abolition of parochialism, in past years “in many of their state military and embassy, in all sorts of affairs, great dirty tricks and disorganization and destruction were done from those cases, and joy to the enemies, and between them - contrary to God - dislike and great , prolonged feuds. The abolition of localism (1682) increased the importance of the nobility in the state apparatus and the army, since localism prevented the nobility from being promoted to prominent military and administrative posts.
3. Popular uprisings
The position of the peasants and the urban lower classes
The feudal order laid down with all its weight on the broad masses of the people, on the peasants and on the townspeople.
The position of the peasants was difficult not only economically, but also legally. The landlords and their clerks beat the peasants with whips, shackled them in shackles for any offense. The spontaneous manifestation of the struggle of the peasants against the oppressors was the frequent murder of landowners and peasant escapes. Peasants left their homes, hiding in remote and sparsely populated areas in the Volga region and in southern Russia, especially on the Don.
In the city, property and social differences among the townspeople were emphasized by the government itself, which divided the townspeople according to their prosperity into “kind” (or “best”), “middle” and “young”. Most of the townspeople belonged to young people. The best people were few, but they owned the largest number trading shops and trade establishments (salotopni, wax slaughterhouses, distilleries, etc.). They entangled in debt obligations and often ruined young people. Contradictions between the best and youngest townspeople invariably manifested themselves during the elections of zemstvo elders, who were in charge of the distribution of taxes and duties in the township community. Attempts by young people to promote their candidates to zemstvo elders met with a resolute rebuff from the city's wealthy, who accused them of rebellion against the tsarist government. The young townspeople, "looking for the truth" and "from all evil deliverance and from all sorts of violence," burningly hated the city's "world eaters" and took part in all the uprisings of the 17th century.
The feudal state resolutely suppressed any attempt at protest by the dispossessed masses of the people. The scammers immediately reported to the governors and in orders about "unsuitable speeches against the sovereign." The arrested were subjected to torture, which was carried out three times. Those who confessed their guilt were punished with a whip in the square and exile to distant cities, and sometimes even the death penalty. Those who withstood three times of torture were usually released crippled for life. "Izvet" (denunciation) on political matters was legalized in Russia in the 17th century as one of the means of reprisal against popular discontent.
Urban uprisings
Contemporaries called the XVII century "rebellious" time. And indeed, in the previous history of feudal-serfdom Russia there were not so many anti-feudal uprisings as in the 17th century.
The largest of them in the middle and second half of this century were the city uprisings of 1648-1650, the "copper riot" of 1662, the peasant war led by Stepan Razin of 1670-1671. A special place is occupied by "split". It began as a religious movement that later found a response among the masses.
Urban uprisings 1648-1650 were directed against the boyars and the government administration, as well as against the tops of the townspeople. Public discontent was intensified by the extreme venality of the state apparatus. Townsmen were forced to give bribes, "promises" to governors and clerks. Craftsmen in the cities were forced to work for free for governors and clerks.
The main driving forces of these uprisings were young townspeople and archers. The uprisings were predominantly urban, but in some areas they also engulfed the countryside.
Unrest in the cities began already in last years reign of Mikhail Romanov, but resulted in the form of uprisings under his son and successor Alexei Mikhailovich. In the first years of his reign, the actual ruler of the state was the royal educator ("uncle") - the boyar Boris Ivanovich Morozov. In his financial policy, Morozov relied on merchants, with whom he was closely connected in general trade operations, since his vast estates supplied potash, resin and other products for export abroad. In search of new funds to replenish the royal treasury, the government, on the advice of the Duma clerk N. Chisty, in 1646 replaced direct taxes with a tax on salt, which immediately rose almost three times in price. It is known that a similar tax (gabel) in France caused in the same XVII century. great popular uprisings.
The hated salt tax was abolished in December 1647, but instead of the revenues received by the treasury from the sale of salt, the government resumed collecting direct taxes - archery and yamsky money, demanding their payment in two years.
Unrest began in Moscow in early June 1648. During the procession, a large crowd of townspeople surrounded the tsar and tried to convey to him a petition complaining about the violence of the boyars and clerks. The guard dispersed the petitioners. But the next day, archers and other military men joined the townspeople. The rebels broke into the Kremlin, in addition, they defeated the courtyards of some boyars, archery chiefs, merchants and clerks. The Duma clerk Chistoy was killed in his house. The rebels forced the government to extradite L. Pleshcheev, who was in charge of the Moscow city administration, and Pleshcheev was publicly executed on the square as a criminal. The rebels demanded that Morozov also be extradited, but the tsar secretly sent him into an honorable exile in one of the northern monasteries. “Posadsky people throughout Moscow”, supported by archers and serfs, forced the tsar to go to the square in front of the Kremlin Palace and give an oath promise to fulfill their demands.
The Moscow uprising found a wide response in other cities. There were rumors that in Moscow "the strong are beaten with shards and stones." The uprisings swept a number of northern and southern cities - Veliky Ustyug, Cherdyn, Kozlov, Kursk, Voronezh, etc. In the southern cities, where the townspeople were few, the uprisings were led by archers. They were sometimes joined by peasants from nearby villages. In the North, the main role belonged to the posad people and the black-eared peasants. Thus, already the urban uprisings of 1648 were closely connected with the movement of the peasants. This is also indicated by the petition of the townspeople, filed to Tsar Alexei during the Moscow uprising: “The whole people in the entire Muscovite state and in its border regions are unsteady from such untruth, as a result of which a great storm rises in your royal capital city of Moscow and in many other places, cities and counties.
The reference to the uprising in the frontier places suggests that the rebels may have been aware of the successes of the liberation movement in Ukraine led by Bogdan Khmelnitsky, which began in the spring of the same. 1648
"Code" 1649
The armed uprising of the lower ranks of the city and the archers, which caused confusion in the ruling circles, was used by the nobles and the elite of the merchants to present their estate demands to the government. In numerous petitions, the nobles demanded the issuance of salaries and the abolition of "lesson years" for the investigation of fugitive peasants, guests and merchants sought the introduction of restrictions on the trade of foreigners, as well as the confiscation of privileged urban settlements owned by large secular and spiritual feudal lords. The government was forced to succumb to the harassment of the nobility and the tops of the settlement and convened the Zemsky Sobor to develop a new code of law (code).
At the Zemsky Sobor, convened on September 1, 1648 in Moscow, elected representatives from 121 cities and counties arrived. Provincial nobles (153 people) and townspeople (94 people) ranked first in terms of the number of elected officials. The "Cathedral Code", or a new code of laws, was drawn up by a special commission, discussed by the Zemsky Sobor and printed in 1649 in an exceptionally large circulation of 2,000 copies for that time.
The Code was compiled on the basis of a number of sources, among which we find the Sudebnik of 1550, royal decrees and the Lithuanian Statute. It consisted of 25 chapters divided into articles. The introductory chapter to the "Code" established that "every rank by people, from the highest to the lowest rank, the court and reprisal should be equal in all matters." But this phrase had a purely declarative character, since in reality the Code asserted the estate privileges of the nobles and the tops of the township world. The "Code" confirmed the right of owners to transfer the estate by inheritance, provided that the new landowner would perform military service. In the interests of the nobles, it prohibited the further growth of church land ownership. The peasants were finally assigned to the landowners, and the "lesson summer" for the search for runaway peasants was canceled. The nobles now had the right to search for runaway peasants for an unlimited time. This meant a further strengthening of the serfdom of the peasants from the landlords.
The "Code" forbade the boyars and the clergy to arrange their so-called white settlements in the cities, where their dependent people lived, engaged in trade and craft; all the people who fled from the township tax had to return to the township community again. These articles of the "Code" satisfied the demands of the townspeople, who sought the prohibition of the white settlements, the population of which, being engaged in trading and crafts, was not burdened by the township tax and therefore successfully competed with the taxpayers of the black settlements. The liquidation of privately owned settlements was directed against the remnants of feudal fragmentation and strengthened the city.
The "Cathedral Code" became the main legislative code of Russia for more than 180 years, although many of its articles were canceled by further legislative acts.
Uprisings in Pskov and Novgorod
The "Code" not only did not satisfy the broad circles of the townspeople and peasants, but even more deepened the class contradictions. New uprisings in 1650 in Pskov and Novgorod unfolded in the context of the struggle of young townspeople and archers against nobles and large merchants.
The reason for the uprising was grain speculation, which was carried out on the direct orders of the authorities. It was beneficial for the government to raise the price of bread, since the retribution that was taking place at that time with the Swedes for defectors to Russia from the territories that had ceded to Sweden according to the Peace of Stolbov in 1617 was partially made not in money, but in bread at local market prices.
The main part in the Pskov uprising, which began on February 28, 1650, was taken by townspeople and archers. They took the governor into custody and organized their own government in the Zemskaya izba, headed by the baker Gavrila Demidov. On March 15, an uprising broke out in Novgorod, and thus the two large cities refused to obey the tsarist government.
Novgorod lasted no more than a month and submitted to the tsar's governor, Prince I. Khovansky, who immediately imprisoned many participants in the uprising. Pskov continued to fight and successfully repelled the attacks of the tsarist army that approached its walls.
The government of the rebels of Pskov, headed by Gavrila Demidov, took measures to improve the situation of the city's lower classes. The zemstvo hut took into account the food stocks that belonged to the nobles and merchants; young townspeople and archers were placed at the head of the military forces defending the city; executed some nobles caught in relations with the royal troops. The rebels paid special attention to attracting peasants and townspeople in the suburbs to the uprising. Most of the suburbs (Gdov, Ostrov, etc.) joined Pskov. A broad movement began in the countryside, covering a vast territory from Pskov to Novgorod. Detachments of peasants burned the landowners' estates, attacked small detachments of the nobility, disturbed the rear of Khovansky's army. In Moscow itself and other cities it was restless. The population discussed rumors about the Pskov events and expressed their sympathy for the rebellious Pskovites. The government was forced to convene the Zemsky Sobor, which decided to send a delegation of elected people to Pskov. The delegation persuaded the people of Pskov to lay down their arms, promising an amnesty for the rebels. However, this promise was soon broken, and the government sent Demidov, along with other leaders of the uprising, into a distant exile. The Pskov uprising lasted for almost half a year (March - August 1650), and the peasant movement in the Pskov land did not stop for several more years.
"Copper Riot"
The new urban uprising, called " copper riot”, happened in Moscow in 1662. It unfolded in the conditions of economic difficulties caused by the long and ruinous war between Russia and the Commonwealth (1654-1667), as well as the war with Sweden. Due to the lack of silver money, the government decided to issue a copper coin, equal in value to silver money. Initially, copper money was accepted willingly (they began to be issued from 1654), but copper cost 20 times cheaper than silver, and copper money was issued in excessive quantities. In addition, "thieves", counterfeit money appeared. They were minted by the moneymakers themselves, who were under the auspices of the royal father-in-law, the boyar Miloslavsky, who was involved in this business.
Copper money gradually began to fall in price; for one silver money they began to give 4, and then 15 copper money. The government itself contributed to the depreciation of copper money, demanding that taxes to the treasury be paid in silver coins, while the salaries of military men were issued in copper. Silver began to disappear from circulation, and this led to a further drop in the value of copper money.
From the introduction of copper money, the townspeople and service people suffered the most according to the device: archers, gunners, etc. Townsmen were obliged to pay cash contributions to the treasury with silver money, and they were paid with copper. “They don’t sell for copper money, there is nowhere to get silver money,” said “anonymous letters” distributed among the population. The peasants refused to sell bread and other provisions for depreciated copper money. Bread prices rose at an incredible rate, despite good harvests.
The dissatisfaction of the townspeople resulted in a great uprising. In the summer of 1662, the townspeople defeated some of the boyar and merchant courts in Moscow. A large crowd went from the city to the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, where Tsar Alexei lived at that time, to demand a reduction in taxes and the abolition of copper money. The “quietest” tsar, as the churchmen hypocritically called Alexei, promised to investigate the case of copper money, but immediately treacherously broke his promise. The troops called by him carried out a brutal reprisal against the rebels. About 100 people drowned in the Moskva River during the flight, there were more than 7 thousand killed, wounded, or imprisoned. The most severe punishments and torture followed the first massacre.
Peasant war led by Stepan Razin
The most powerful popular uprising of the XVII century. There was a peasant war of 1670-1671. under the leadership of Stepan Razin. It was a direct result of the aggravation of class contradictions in Russia in the second half of the 17th century. The difficult situation of the peasants led to increased escapes to the outskirts. The peasants went to remote places on the Don and in the Volga region, where they hoped to hide from the yoke of landlord exploitation. The Don Cossacks were not socially homogeneous. The "domovity" Cossacks mostly lived in free places along the lower reaches of the Don with its rich fishing grounds. It reluctantly accepted into its composition new aliens, poor (“goofy”) Cossacks. "Golytba" accumulated mainly on the lands along the upper reaches of the Don and its tributaries, but even here the situation of runaway peasants and serfs was usually difficult, since the homely Cossacks forbade them to plow the land, and there were no new fishing places for the newcomers. Golutvenye Cossacks especially suffered from a lack of bread on the Don.
A large number of runaway peasants also settled in the regions of Tambov, Penza, and Simbirsk. Here the peasants founded new villages and villages, plowed up empty lands. But the landowners immediately followed them. They received letters of grant from the tsar for supposedly empty lands; the peasants who settled on these lands again fell into serfdom from the landowners. Walking people concentrated in the cities, who earned their living by odd jobs.
The peoples of the Volga region - Mordovians, Chuvashs, Maris, Tatars - experienced heavy colonial oppression. Russian landowners seized their lands, fishing and hunting grounds. At the same time, state taxes and duties increased.
A large number of people hostile to the feudal state accumulated on the Don and in the Volga region. Among them were many settlers who were exiled to distant Volga cities for participating in uprisings and various kinds of protests against the government and governors. Razin's slogans found a warm response among the Russian peasants and the oppressed peoples of the Volga region.
The beginning of the peasant war was laid on the Don. Golutvenny Cossacks undertook a campaign to the shores of the Crimea and Turkey. But the thrifty Cossacks prevented them from breaking through to the sea, fearing a military clash with the Turks. The Cossacks, led by Ataman Stepan Timofeevich Razin, moved to the Volga and, near Tsaritsyn, captured a caravan of ships heading to Astrakhan. Having sailed freely past Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan, the Cossacks entered the Caspian Sea and headed to the mouth of the Yaik (Ural) River. Razin occupied the Yaitsky town (1667), many Yaitsky Cossacks joined his army. The following year, a detachment of Razin on 24 ships headed for the shores of Iran. Having ravaged the Caspian coast from Derbent to Baku, the Cossacks reached Rasht. During the negotiations, the Persians suddenly attacked them and killed 400 people. In response, the Cossacks defeated the city of Ferahabad. On the way back, at Pig Island, near the mouth of the Kura, the Iranian fleet attacked the Cossack ships, but suffered a complete defeat. The Cossacks returned to Astrakhan and sold the captured booty here.
A successful sea trip to Yaik and to the shores of Iran sharply increased Razin's authority among the population of the Don and the Volga region. Fugitive peasants and serfs, promenading people, the oppressed peoples of the Volga region were only waiting for a signal in order to raise an open uprising against their oppressors. In the spring of 1670, Razin reappeared on the Volga with a 5,000-strong Cossack army. Astrakhan opened the gates for him; Streltsy and townspeople everywhere went over to the side of the Cossacks. At this stage, Razin's movement outgrew the framework of the campaign of 1667-1669. and resulted in a powerful peasant war.
Razin with the main forces went up the Volga. Saratov and Samara met the rebels with bells, bread and salt. But under the fortified Simbirsk, the army lingered for a long time. To the north and west of this city, the peasant war was already raging. A large detachment of rebels under the command of Mikhail Kharitonov took Korsun, Saransk, and captured Penza. Having united with the detachment of Vasily Fedorov, he went to Shatsk. Russian peasants, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Tatars went to war almost without exception, without even waiting for the arrival of Razin's detachments. The peasant war was getting closer and closer to Moscow. Cossack atamans captured Alatyr, Temnikov, Kurmysh. Kozmodemyansk and the fishing village of Lyskovo on the Volga joined the uprising. Cossacks and Lyskovites occupied the fortified Makariev Monastery in the immediate vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod.
On the upper reaches of the Don, the rebels were led by Stepan Razin's brother Frol. The uprising spread to the lands south of Belgorod, inhabited by Ukrainians and bearing the name Sloboda Ukraine. Everywhere the “muzhiks,” as the tsarist documents called the peasants, rose up with weapons in their hands and, together with the oppressed peoples of the Volga region, fought fiercely against the feudal lords. The city of Tsivilsk in Chuvashia was besieged by "Russian people and Chuvash".
The nobles of the Shatsk district complained that they could not get to the royal governors "because of the unsteadiness of the traitorous peasants." In the area of Kadoma, the same "traitor-muzhiks" set up a notch in order to detain the tsarist troops.
Peasant War 1670-1671 covered a large area. The slogans of Razin and his associates raised the oppressed sections of society to fight, the “charming” letters drawn up by the differences called on all “enslaved and disgraced” to put an end to worldly bloodsuckers, to join Razin’s army. According to an eyewitness to the uprising, Razin told the peasants and townspeople in Astrakhan: “For the cause, brothers. Now take revenge on the tyrants who have hitherto kept you in captivity worse than the Turks or the pagans. I have come to give you freedom and deliverance."
The Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks, peasants and serfs, young townspeople, service people, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Maris, Tatars joined the ranks of the rebels. All of them were united by a common goal - the struggle against feudal oppression. In the cities that went over to the side of Razin, the voivodship power was destroyed and the management of the city passed into the hands of the elected. However, fighting against feudal oppression, the rebels remained tsarist. They stood for the “good king” and spread the rumor that Tsarevich Alexei was with them, who at that time in reality was no longer alive.
The peasant war forced the tsarist government to mobilize all its forces to suppress it. Near Moscow, for 8 days, a review of the 60,000th noble army was carried out. In Moscow itself, a strict police regime was established, as they were afraid of unrest among the city's lower classes.
A decisive clash between the rebels and the tsarist troops took place near Simbirsk. Large reinforcements from the Tatars, Chuvashs and Mordovians flocked to the detachments to Razin, but the siege of the city dragged on for a whole month, and this allowed the tsarist governors to gather large forces. Near Simbirsk, Razin's troops were defeated by regiments of a foreign system (October 1670). Expecting to recruit a new army, Razin went to the Don, but there he was treacherously captured by thrifty Cossacks and taken to Moscow, where he was subjected in June 1671 to a painful execution - quartering. But the uprising continued even after his death. Astrakhan held out the longest. She surrendered to the tsarist troops only at the end of 1671.
Split
The fierce class struggle that unfolded in Russia in the second half of the 17th century was also reflected in such a social movement as the schism of the Orthodox Church. Bourgeois historians emphasized only the ecclesiastical side of the schism and therefore focused their main attention on the ritual disagreements between the Old Believers and the ruling church. In fact, the split also reflected class contradictions in Russian society. It was not only a religious, but also a social movement, which clothed class interests and demands in a religious shell.
The reason for the split of the Russian Church was the disagreement on the issue of correcting church rites and books. Translations of church books into Russian were made from Greek originals at different times, and the originals themselves were not exactly the same, and the scribes of the books additionally made changes and distortions to them. In addition, rituals that were not known in the Greek and South Slavic lands were established in Russian church practice.
The question of correcting church books and rituals became especially acute after Nikon was appointed to the patriarchate. The new patriarch, the son of a peasant from the vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod, who took the monastic vows under the name of Nikon, quickly advanced in church circles. Elevated to the patriarchy (1652), he took the position of the first person in the state after the king. The tsar called Nikon his "common friend".
Nikon energetically set about correcting liturgical books and rites, seeking to bring Russian church practice into line with Greek. The government supported Nikon's undertakings, since the introduction of the uniformity of church services and the strengthening of the centralization of church administration corresponded to the interests of absolutism. But the theocratic ideas of Nikon, who compared the power of the patriarch with the sun, and the power of the king with the moon, only reflected sunlight, contradicted the growing absolutism. For several years, Nikon imperiously interfered in secular affairs. These contradictions led to a quarrel between the tsar and Nikon, which ended in the deposition of the ambitious patriarch. The Council of 1666 deprived Nikon of his patriarchal rank, but at the same time approved his innovations and anathematized those who refused to accept them.
From this council begins the division of the Russian Church into the dominant Orthodox and the Orthodox Old Believers, that is, rejecting Nikon's church reforms. Both churches equally considered themselves the only Orthodox; the official church called the Old Believers "schismatics", the Old Believers called the Orthodox "Nikonians". The schismatic movement was led by Archpriest Avvakum Petrovich, also from Nizhny Novgorod, a man with the same indomitable and domineering nature as Nikon himself. “We see that winter wants to be; my heart went cold and my legs trembled,” wrote Avvakum later about correcting church books.
After the council of 1666, the supporters of the schism were persecuted. However, it was not easy to deal with the split, as it found support among the peasants and townspeople. Theological disputes were little accessible to them, but the old was their own, familiar, and the new was forcibly imposed by the feudal state and the church supporting it.
The Solovetsky Monastery offered open resistance to the tsarist troops. Located on the islands of the White Sea, this richest of the northern monasteries was at the same time a strong fortress, was protected by stone walls, had a considerable number of cannons and food supplies for many years. The monks who stood for an agreement with the tsarist government were removed from the management of the monastery; power was taken over by the archers, exiled to the North, differences and working people. Under the influence of the peasant war taking place at that time, led by Razin, the Solovetsky uprising, having arisen on the basis of a split, turned into an open anti-feudal movement. The siege of the Solovetsky Monastery lasted eight years (1668-1676). The monastery was taken only as a result of treason.
The growing oppression of the feudal state led to the further development of the split, despite the most severe government persecution. Archpriest Avvakum, after a tedious stay in an earthen prison, was burnt at the stake in 1682 in Pustozersk, and by his death further strengthened the "old faith." The Old Believers fled to the outskirts of the state, to dense forests and swamps. However, religious ideology gave this movement a reactionary character. Among its participants, the savage teaching about the imminent end of the world and the need for self-immolation began to spread in order to avoid the "anti-Christ" power. At the end of the XVII century. self-immolation became a common occurrence in the north of Russia.
4. Russia's international position
Russia was greatly weakened by the prolonged Polish-Swedish intervention and lost large and economically important territories in the west. Especially hard was the loss of Smolensk and the coast of the Gulf of Finland, as a direct outlet to the Baltic Sea. The return of these original Russian territories, which were of great importance for the entire economic life of the country, remained the direct task of Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century. An equally important task was to fight for the reunification of the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands within the framework of a single Russian state, as well as to defend the southern borders from the Crimean raids and the aggressive campaigns of the Turks.
"Azov seat". Zemsky Sobor in 1642
The unsuccessful outcome of the Smolensk war complicated the international position of Russia. The situation on the southern outskirts of the country, which was constantly devastated by the predatory raids of the Crimean Tatars, was especially alarming. Only in the first half of the XVII century. the Crimean Tatars, who were in vassal dependence on Turkey, took up to 200 thousand Russian people to the “full”. To protect the southern borders, the Russian government in the 30s of the XVII century. began the repair and construction of new defensive structures - the so-called notch lines, which consisted of notches, ditches, ramparts and fortified towns, stretching in a narrow chain along the southern borders. The defensive lines made it difficult for the Crimeans to reach the inner districts of Russia, but their construction cost the Russian people enormous efforts.
Two Turkish fortresses stood at the mouth of the largest southern rivers: Ochakov - at the confluence of the Dnieper and Bug into the sea, Azov - at the confluence of the Don into the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. And although there were no Turkish settlements in the Don basin, the Turks held Azov as the base of their possessions in the Black Sea and the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov .
Meanwhile, in the first half of the XVII century. Russian settlements on the Don reached almost to Azov. The Don Cossacks grew into a large military force and usually acted in alliance with the Cossacks against Turkish troops and Crimean Tatars. Often, light Cossack ships, having deceived the Turkish guards near Azov, broke through the Don branches into the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. From here, the Cossack fleet headed for the shores of the Crimea and Asia Minor, making raids on the Crimean and Turkish cities. For the Turks, the Cossack campaigns against Kafa (present-day Feodosia) and Sinop (in Asia Minor) were especially memorable, when these largest Black Sea cities were devastated. Wishing to prevent the Cossack fleet from penetrating into the Sea of Azov, the Turkish government kept a military squadron at the mouth of the Don, but the Cossack naval boats with a team of 40-50 people nevertheless successfully broke through the Turkish barriers into the Black Sea.
In 1637, taking advantage of the internal and external difficulties of the Ottoman Empire, the Cossacks approached Azov and took it after an eight-week siege. This was not a sudden raid, but a real regular siege with the use of artillery and the organization of earthworks. According to the Cossacks, they “crushed many towers and walls with cannons. And they dug in ... near the whole hail, and the tunnel was let down.
The loss of Azov was extremely sensitive for Turkey, which, thus, was deprived of its most important fortress in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. However, the main Turkish forces were distracted by the war with Iran, and the Turkish expedition against Azov could take place only in 1641. The Turkish army sent to besiege Azov many times exceeded the Cossack garrison in the city, had siege artillery and was supported by a powerful fleet. The besieged Cossacks fought fiercely. They repelled 24 Turkish attacks, inflicted enormous damage on the Turks and forced them to lift the siege. Nevertheless, the issue of Azov was not resolved, because Turkey did not want to give up this important fortress on the banks of the Don. Since the Cossacks alone could not defend Azov against the overwhelming Turkish forces, the question arose before the Russian government whether it was necessary to wage war for Azov or abandon it.
To resolve the issue of Azov in Moscow, the Zemsky Sobor was convened in 1642. The elected people unanimously proposed leaving Azov to Russia, but at the same time they complained about their difficult situation. The nobles accused the clerks of extortion during the distribution of estates and money, the townspeople complained about heavy duties and cash payments. Rumors circulated in the provinces of an imminent "distemper" in Moscow and a general uprising against the boyars. The situation within the state was so alarming that it was impossible even to think of a new, hard, protracted war. The government refused to further protect Azov and invited the Don Cossacks to leave the city. The Cossacks left the fortress, ruining it to the ground. The defense of Azov was sung for a long time in folk songs, in prosaic and poetic stories. One of these stories ends with the words, as if summing up the heroic struggle for Azov: "There was eternal glory to the Cossacks, and eternal reproach to the Turks."
War with Poland for Ukraine and Belarus
The largest foreign policy event of the 17th century, in which Russia took part, was the long war of 1654-1667. This war, which began as a war between Russia and the Commonwealth for Ukraine and Belarus, soon turned into a major international conflict, in which Sweden, the Ottoman Empire and its vassal states - Moldavia and the Crimean Khanate took part. In terms of its significance for Eastern Europe, the war of 1654-1667. can be put on a par with the Thirty Years' War.
Hostilities opened in the spring of 1654. Part of the Russian troops was sent to Ukraine for joint operations with the army of Bogdan Khmelnitsky against the Crimean Tatars and Poland. The Russian command concentrated its main forces on the Belarusian theater, where it was supposed to inflict decisive blows on the troops of the gentry of Poland. The beginning of the war was marked by great successes of the Russian troops. In less than two years (1654-1655), Russian troops captured Smolensk and important cities of Belarus and Lithuania: Mogilev, Vitebsk, Minsk, Vilna (Vilnius), Kovno (Kaunas) and Grodno. Everywhere Russian troops found the support of Russian and Belarusian peasants and the urban population. Even official Polish sources admitted that wherever the Russians came, “muzhiks gather in droves” everywhere. In the cities, artisans and merchants refused to oppose the Russian troops. Peasant detachments smashed the pan's estates. Military successes in Belarus were achieved with the support of Ukrainian Cossack detachments.
Significant success was also achieved by Russian troops and Khmelnitsky's detachments operating in Ukraine. In the summer of 1655 they moved west and during the autumn they liberated the western Ukrainian lands from the Polish-gentry oppression up to Lvov.
Russia's war with Sweden
The weakening of the Commonwealth prompted the Swedish king Charles X Gustav to declare war on it under an insignificant pretext. Encountering weak resistance, the Swedish troops occupied almost all of Poland, along with its capital Warsaw, as well as part of Lithuania and Belarus, where the Swedes were supported by the largest Lithuanian magnate Janusz Radziwill. The intervention of Sweden dramatically changed the balance of power in Eastern Europe. Easy victories in Poland significantly strengthened the position of Sweden, which established itself on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Considering that the Polish army had lost its combat capability for a long time, the Russian government concluded a truce with Poland in Vilna and started a war against Sweden (1656-1658).
In this war, the issue of obtaining access to the Baltic Sea by Russia was of great importance. Russian troops took Koknese (Kokenhausen) on the Western Dvina and began the siege of Riga. At the same time, another Russian detachment took Nyenschantz on the Neva and laid siege to Noteburg (Oreshek).
The war between Russia and Sweden diverted the main forces of both states from the Commonwealth, where a broad popular movement against the Swedish invaders began, which led to the cleansing of Polish territory from Swedish troops. The government of the Polish King Jan Casimir, not wanting to put up with the loss of Ukrainian and Belarusian lands, resumed the fight against Russia. At the cost of territorial concessions, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1660 concluded the Peace of Oliva with Sweden, which made it possible to throw all the armed forces against the Russian troops. This prompted the Moscow government to first conclude a truce, and then peace with Sweden (the Peace of Cardis in 1661). Russia was forced to abandon all its acquisitions received in the Baltic states during the Russo-Swedish war.
Andrusovo truce of 1667
The hostilities resumed in 1659 developed unfavorably for the Russian troops, who left Minsk, Borisov and Mogilev. In Ukraine, the Russian army was defeated by the Polish-Crimean forces near Chudnov. Soon, however, the advance of the Poles was suspended. A protracted war began, exhausting the forces of both sides.
Meanwhile, the tension caused by the war exacerbated the internal political situation both in Russia and in the Commonwealth. A "copper riot" broke out in Russia, and an opposition movement of magnates and gentry, dissatisfied with the policies of Jan Casimir, arose in the Commonwealth. Exhausted opponents ended the long war in 1667 with the Andrusovo truce for a period of 13 and a half years.
Negotiations in Andrusovo (near Smolensk) were led by an outstanding diplomat, the head of the Ambassadorial Department Afanasy Lavrentievich Ordin-Nashchokin, who received the title of "regal great seal and state great embassy affairs saver." According to the agreement reached, Russia retained Smolensk with its surrounding territory and the Left-Bank Ukraine. The city of Kyiv on the right bank of the Dnieper was transferred to the possession of Russia for two years; Belarus and Right-bank Ukraine remained under the rule of the Commonwealth.
The Andrusovo truce of 1667 did not resolve the complex issues facing Russia. Ukraine was divided into two parts. Its left-bank part, together with Kyiv, reunited with Russia, received the opportunity for economic and cultural development. Right-bank Ukraine experienced all the horrors of the Crimean Tatar invasions and remained under the rule of the Polish pans.
Sweden, under the Peace of Cardis, kept in its possession the Russian coast of the Gulf of Finland, the only significance of which for Sweden was only that Russia, the largest country in Europe, was deprived of direct access to the Baltic Sea. This created a constant threat of a new military conflict between Russia and Sweden.
The question of Russia's relations with the Crimean Khanate and Turkey also remained unresolved. Azov remained a Turkish fortress, and the Crimean hordes continued to attack the southern outskirts of Russia.
Russian-Turkish war 1676-1681
At the end of 1666, the wars between Turkey and the Commonwealth began, which continued with short breaks for more than 30 years. The Turks laid claim not only to the Right-Bank, but also to the Left-Bank Ukraine. The threat of Turkish aggression hanging over the largest Slavic states - Poland and Russia - contributed to the Russian-Polish rapprochement. As early as 1672, on the eve of one of Turkey’s aggressive campaigns against the Commonwealth, the Russian government warned the sultan of its readiness to help the Polish king: “We will teach you how to fish against you and we will send our order to the Don atamans and Cossacks, so that they are on the Don and the Black Sea they had every kind of military craft. Acting in this way, Moscow was convinced that the Turks intended "not only to ruin and take possession of the Polish state, but also to take possession of all the surrounding Christian states."
Nevertheless, two months after receiving this letter, Turkey moved its troops against Poland and captured Kamenets, the largest fortress in Podolia. Russian diplomacy developed energetic activities to organize an anti-Turkish coalition. In 1673, the British, French and Spanish governments were invited by royal letters to joint military operations against the "common Christian enemy - the Sultan of Tur and the Crimean Khan." However, the Western European states, between which there were major contradictions and which, moreover, were interested in maintaining their trading privileges in the Ottoman Empire, refused to take any action against the Turks.
It was not for nothing that the Russian government feared a possible action by the Turks against Russia. In 1676, Turkey made peace with Poland, and in the summer of 1677, a huge Turkish army of Ibrahim Pasha and the Crimean Khan Selim Giray moved to the Ukrainian fortress on the right bank of the Dnieper - Chigirin, intending to further capture Kyiv. The Turkish command was sure that the small garrison of the fortress, consisting of Russian detachments and Ukrainian Cossacks, would open the gates of the 100,000-strong army of Turks and Crimeans. But the Russian-Ukrainian army under the command of boyar G. G. Romodanovsky and hetman I. Samoylovich, hurrying to help the garrison of the besieged Chigirin, in August 1677, in the battles for the crossing across the Dnieper, inflicted a feast on the Turks, forced them to lift the siege of Chigirin and hastily retreat.
In the summer of the next 1678, the Turks again undertook the siege of Chigirin, and although they captured the dilapidated fortress, they could not hold it. Russian sources note that the Turks, having met "a strong and courageous stand and great losses in their troops, against the 20th of August, at midnight ... ran back." After lengthy negotiations between Russia and Turkey in 1681, a 20-year truce was concluded in Bakhchisarai. The Sultan recognized Russia's right to Kyiv and promised to stop the Crimean raids on its lands.
Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689
Although the sultan swore “a terrible and strong oath ... in the name of the one who created heaven and earth” not to violate the terms of the Bakhchisaray truce, enshrined in the next year by the Treaty of Constantinople, the Crimeans continued to devastate the Ukrainian lands and southern regions of Russia. At the same time, the sultan got the opportunity to intensify his aggression against other European states by directing the freed armed forces against them. Under these conditions, an anti-Turkish coalition of European states arose, the participants of which (Austria, Poland and Venice) sought to involve Russia in the union. The Russian government of Princess Sophia (1682-1689) made it an indispensable condition for its participation in the Holy League to conclude an "eternal peace" with Polynia, confirming the terms of the Andrusovo truce. "Eternal Peace" (1686) marked a turning point in relations between Russia and Poland and contributed to the unification of the efforts of the two states in the fight against Turkey.
Fulfilling its allied obligations to Poland and other members of the league, Russia organized two campaigns in the Crimea. Already in the period of preparation for the first campaign, the properties of the local cavalry had a negative effect: discipline was weak in its ranks, the fees were extremely slow, and some of the late nobles, as a sign of disbelief in the success of the campaign, arrived in mourning clothes and with black blankets on horseback. Finally, in the spring of 1687, an army of 100,000 (partly consisting of regiments of the new system), accompanied by a huge convoy, moved to the Crimea. Moving along the steppe scorched by the Tatars, suffering severely from lack of water and losing horses, the Russian army did not reach the Crimea. She had to return to Russia, having lost a large number of people during the exhausting campaign.
To avoid hostilities in the summer heat, the government organized the second Crimean campaign (1689) in early spring, and already in May the Russian army reached Perekop. But this time the Russians failed to succeed. The favorite of Princess Sophia, Prince V.V. Golitsyn, who commanded the Russian army in both campaigns, was a good diplomat, but turned out to be an unsuccessful commander. In connection with the sluggish actions of Golitsyn, who abandoned the general battle and retreated from Perekop, there were even rumors in Moscow, which, however, turned out to be unreliable, that the prince's indecision was explained by the fact that he was bribed by the Turks.
Despite the unsuccessful results of the Crimean campaigns, Russia made a significant contribution to the fight against Turkish aggression, since these campaigns diverted the main forces of the Tatars, and the sultan thus lost the support of the numerous Crimean cavalry. This created favorable conditions for the successful actions of Russia's allies in the anti-Turkish coalition in other theaters of war.
International relations of Russia
Russia occupied a prominent place in the international relations of the 17th century. and exchanged embassies with major countries in Europe and Asia. Relations with Sweden, the Commonwealth, France, Spain, as well as with the Austrian emperor, "Caesar", as official Russian documents called him, were especially lively. Relations with Italy were also of great importance, primarily with the Roman Curia and Venice. Constant ties were maintained with Turkey and Iran, the Central Asian khanates and China. Relations with China, Iran and the khanates of Central Asia, as a rule, were peaceful.
The embassy order, which was in charge of relations with foreign states, was a very important institution, headed in most cases not by boyars, but by duma clerks, that is, people of humble origin, but well-versed in international affairs. The high importance of the Duma clerk of the Posolsky Prikaz was emphasized by the fact that foreigners called him "chancellor".
Russian embassies in the 17th century. appeared in almost all major capitals of Western Europe, and Russian merchants carried on a brisk trade with Sweden, the Commonwealth and German cities. A significant number of Russian merchants visited Stockholm, Riga and other cities.
In turn, trade affairs attracted a large number of foreigners to Russia. Many of them took Russian citizenship and remained forever in Russia. Initially, they mieli yards among Russians, and from the middle of the 17th century. in Moscow, outside the Earthen City, on the Kokuya, a special German settlement arose. It had over 200 households. Despite the name Germanskaya, there were few Germans actually living in it, since Germans in Russia were then usually called not only Germans, but also Scots, British, Dutch, etc. Almost three-quarters of the population of the German Quarter were military men who entered the Russian service, the rest foreigners were doctors, artisans, etc. Thus, the settlement was populated mainly by wealthy people. In the German Quarter, houses were built according to the Western European model, they had a Protestant church (kirka). However, the idea of the inhabitants of the German Quarter as people of a higher culture compared to the Russian population is greatly exaggerated.
"German" customs influenced mainly the top of Russian society. Some Russian nobles arranged their home decoration according to the overseas model, began to wear foreign clothes. Prince V.V. Golitsyn also belonged to their number.
Fortified in the 17th century. and cultural ties between Russia and Western Europe. By this time, the appearance in Russia of a number of translated works on various branches of knowledge. At the court, "chimes" were compiled, a kind of newspaper with news of foreign events.
Russia's long-standing ties with the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula continued to expand. Representatives of the Bulgarian, Serbian and Greek clergy received "alms" in Russia in the form of cash gifts, some of the newcomers remained forever in Russian monasteries and cities. Learned Greeks were engaged in translations of books from Greek and Latin, served as editors ("referencers") at the Printing House. They were often teachers in wealthy families, like Ukrainian monks, usually pupils of the Kyiv Theological Academy. The influence of the people of Kiev especially increased towards the end of the 17th century, when many of them occupied the highest positions in the church hierarchy.
The influence of Russian culture on the Bulgarians and Serbs, who were under the Turkish yoke, was especially significant. Visiting Bulgarians and Serbs took home with them a large number of books printed in Moscow and Kyiv. The opening of the first printing house in Iasi (Moldova) in 1640 happened with the help of the Kyiv Metropolitan Peter Mohyla. Ties with the Russian and Ukrainian peoples were of great importance for the struggle of the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula against Turkish oppression.
In the 17th century, Russia's ties with the peoples of Transcaucasia also strengthened. Georgian and Armenian colonies existed in Moscow and left a memory of themselves in the names of the streets (Small and Big Georgians, Armenian lane). The Kakhetian king Teimuraz personally came to Moscow and asked for support against the Iranian Shah (1658). Numerous Armenian colony was located in Astrakhan, which was the center of Russian trade with eastern countries. In 1667, an agreement was signed between the tsarist government and an Armenian trading company for the trade in Iranian silk. The head of the Armenian Church, the Catholicos, appealed to Tsar Alexei with a request to protect the Armenians from the violence of the Iranian authorities. The peoples of Georgia and Armenia became more and more closely associated with Russia in their struggle against the Iranian and Turkish enslavers.
Lively trade relations existed with Russia and with the peoples of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. There was a Russian merchant colony in Shamakhi. Information about the eastern regions of the Caucasus, especially about the cities of Azerbaijan, is contained in the "walks" of Russian people of the 17th century, of which the notes of the merchant F. A. Kotov are especially interesting.
Relations with distant India were also expanding. Settlements of Indian merchants who traded with Russia arose in Astrakhan. Tsarist government during the 17th century. several times sent its embassies to India.
5. Russian culture of the 17th century.
Education
In the 17th century great changes took place in various areas of Russian culture.
The "new period" in the history of Russia imperiously broke with the traditions of the past in science, art and literature. This was reflected in a sharp increase in printed output, in the appearance of the first higher educational institution, in the birth of a theater and a newspaper (handwritten "chimes"). Civic motifs are gaining more and more space in literature and painting, and even in such traditional arts as icon painting and church murals, there is a desire for realistic images, far from the stylized manner of writing by Russian artists of previous centuries.
The reunification of Ukraine with Russia had enormous and fruitful consequences for the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples. The birth of the theater, the spread of partes singing (church choral singing), the development of syllabic versification, new elements in architecture were common cultural phenomena for Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in the 17th century.
Literacy has become the property of a much wider circle of the population than before. A large number of merchants and artisans in the cities, as shown by the numerous signatures of townspeople on petitions and other acts, were able to read and write. Literacy also spread among the peasant population, mainly among the black-skinned peasants, as can be judged from the notes on manuscripts of the 17th century made by their owners - the peasants. In noble and merchant circles, literacy was already a common phenomenon.
In the 17th century, intensified attempts were made to create permanent educational institutions in Russia. However, only at the end of the century these attempts lead to the creation of the first institution of higher education. First, the government opened a school in Moscow (1687), in which the learned Greek brothers Likhud taught not only ecclesiastical, but also some secular sciences (arithmetic, rhetoric, etc.). On the basis of this school, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy arose, which played a prominent role in Russian education. It was located in the building of the Zaikonospassky Monastery in Moscow (some of these buildings have survived to this day). The academy mainly trained educated people to fill spiritual positions, but it also provided quite a few people employed in various civil professions. As is known, the great Russian scientist M. V. Lomonosov also studied there.
Further development was received by book printing. Its main center was the Printing Yard in Moscow, the stone building of which still exists today. The printing house mainly published church books. During the first half of the 17th century Approximately 200 individual editions were released. The first book of civil content printed in Moscow was the textbook of the patriarchal clerk Vasily Burtsev - “A Primer of the Slavonic Language, that is, the beginning of teaching for children”, first published in 1634. In the second half of the 17th century. the number of secular books produced by the Printing House is increasing dramatically. These included "The Teaching and Cunning of the Military Structure of Infantry Men", "Cathedral Code", the Customs Regulations, etc.
In Ukraine, the most important centers of book printing were Kyiv and Chernigov. In the printing house of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the first textbook on Russian history was printed - "Synopsis or a short collection from various chroniclers about the beginning of the Slavic-Russian people."
Literature. Theatre
New phenomena in the Russian economy of the XVII century. found their way into the literature. Among the townspeople, a household story is born.
"A Tale of Woe and Misfortune" describes the gloomy story of a young man who failed on the path of life. “Ino I know and know that you can’t put scarlet without a master,” the hero exclaims, citing an example from the life of artisans and merchants who are familiar with the use of scarlet (velvet). A number of satirical works are devoted to ridiculing the negative aspects of Russian life in the 17th century. In the story about Yersh Yershovich, unrighteous order courts are ridiculed. Ruff is known and eaten only by "moth hawkers and tavern pebbles", who have nothing to buy good fish. Ruff's main fault is that he took possession of Lake Rostov "en masse and conspiracy" - this is how the story parodies the article of the "Cathedral Code" about speaking out against the government. There is also a caustic satire on church orders. "Kalyazin petition" ridicules the hypocrisy of the monks.
The archimandrite drives us to the church, the monks complain, and at that time we “are sitting around a bucket (with beer) without trousers in the same scrolls in cells ... we won’t be in time ... and ruin the buckets with beer.” In the "Feast of the Tavern Rows" we find a parody of the church service: "Vouchee, Lord, this evening, without beatings, drink us drunk."
In the literature of the second half of the XVII century. folk elements are more and more pronounced: in the stories about Azov, in the legends about the beginning of Moscow, etc. Folk chants sound in the poetic story about Azov, in the cry of the Cossacks: “Forgive us, dark forests and green oak forests. Forgive us, the fields are clean and the backwaters are quiet. Forgive us, the sea is blue and the rivers are fast.” In the 17th century, a new type of literary work was established - notes, which would receive special development in the next century. The wonderful work of the founder of the schism - "The Life" of Archpriest Avvakum, which tells about his long-suffering life, is written in simple and clear language.
Illustration from the comedy "The Parable of the Prodigal Son" 1685
The teacher of Princess Sofya Alekseevna Simeon Polotsky launched a wide literary activity as the author of numerous verses (poems), dramatic works, as well as textbooks, sermons and theological treatises. To print new books, a special court printing house was created by the “sovereign at the top”.
The appearance of theatrical performances in Russia was a great cultural event. Russian theater arose at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. For him, Simeon of Polotsk wrote "The Comedy of the Parable of the Prodigal Son." It depicted the story of the prodigal son, who repented after a dissolute life and was taken back by his father. For the performance in the royal village near Moscow, Preobrazhensky, a “comedy temple” was built. Here the play "Artaxerxes action" on the biblical story was played. The play was extremely liked by Alexei Mikhailovich, and the tsar's confessor relieved him of doubts about the sinfulness of the theater, pointing to the examples of Byzantine pious kings who loved theatrical performances. The director of the court theater was Gregory, a pastor from the German Quarter. Soon his place was taken by S. Chizhinsky, a graduate of the Kyiv Theological Academy (1675). In the same year, a ballet and two new comedies were staged at the court theater: about Adam and Eve, about Joseph. The troupe of the court theater consisted of over 70 exclusively male members, since female roles were also performed by men; among them were children - "unskillful and unintelligent lads."
Architecture and painting
In the 17th century, stone construction was greatly developed. Stone churches appeared not only in cities, but also became commonplace in rural areas. In large centers, a considerable number of stone buildings for civil purposes were built. Usually these were two-storied buildings with windows decorated with architraves and a richly trimmed porch. Examples of such houses are "Pogankin's chambers" in Pskov, Korobov's house in Kaluga, etc.
The architecture of stone churches was dominated by five-domed cathedrals and small temples with one or five domes. Artists liked to decorate the outer walls of churches with stone patterns of kokoshniks, cornices, columns, window architraves, sometimes multi-colored tiles. The heads, set on high necks, took on an elongated onion shape. Stone hipped churches were built in the first half of the 17th century. Later, hipped temples remained the property of the Russian North with its wooden architecture.
At the end of the XVII century. a new style appears, which sometimes received the wrong name of "Russian baroque". The temples had a cruciform shape, and their heads began to be located also in a cruciform instead of the traditional arrangement in the corners. The style of such churches, unusually effective in their rich external decoration, was called "Naryshkin" because the best churches of this architecture were built in the estates of the Naryshkin boyars. An excellent example of it is the church in Fili, near Moscow. Buildings of this kind were erected not only in Russia, but also in Ukraine. Unusually slender and at the same time richly decorated with columns, architraves, parapets, buildings of this style delight with their beauty. According to the territory of its distribution, this style could be called Ukrainian-Russian.
The best master painter of that era, Simon Ushakov, strove to paint not abstract, but realistic images. Icons and paintings of such “Fryazhsky writing” show the desire of Russian artists to get closer to life, leaving abstract schemes. New trends in art caused deep indignation among zealots of antiquity. Thus, Archpriest Avvakum spoke venomously about the new icons, saying that they depicted “the merciful one who saved” like a drunken foreigner with a blush on his cheeks.
Applied art reached a high level: artistic embroidery, decorative woodcarving, etc. Fine examples of jewelry art were created in the Armory, where the best craftsmen worked, fulfilling orders from the royal court.
In all areas of the cultural life of Russia, new trends were felt, caused by profound economic and social changes. These shifts, as well as the fierce class struggle and powerful peasant uprisings that shook the feudal-feudal state, were reflected in folk poetry. Around the majestic figure of Stepan Razin, a cycle of songs of an epic nature has developed. “Turn, guys, to the steep bank, we’ll break the wall, and smash the prison stone by stone,” the folk song sings the exploits of Razin and his associates, calling for the fight against landowners, serfdom, and social oppression.
The origins of the social upheavals of the "rebellious age"
A difficult situation at the end of the 16th century developed in the central districts of the state and to such an extent that the population fled to the outskirts, abandoning their lands. For example, in 1584, only 16% of the land was plowed up in the Moscow district, and about 8% in the neighboring Pskov district.
The more people left, the harder the government of Boris Godunov put pressure on those who remained. By 1592, the compilation of scribe books was completed, where the names of peasants and townspeople, owners of yards were entered. The authorities, having conducted a census, could organize the search and return of the fugitives. In 1592–1593, a royal decree was issued to abolish the peasant exit even on St. George's Day. This measure extended not only to the owner's peasants, but also to the state, as well as to the townspeople. In 1597, two more decrees appeared, according to the first, any free person who worked for six months for a landowner turned into a bonded serf and did not have the right to redeem himself for freedom. According to the second, a five-year period was set for the search and return of the runaway peasant to the owner. And in 1607, a fifteen-year investigation of the fugitives was approved.
The nobles were given "obedient letters", according to which the peasants had to pay dues not as before, according to the established rules and sizes, but as the owner wants.
The new “township building” provided for the return of fugitive “taxers” to the cities, the assignment to the townships of the owner’s peasants who were engaged in crafts and trade in the cities, but did not pay taxes, the elimination of courtyards and settlements inside the cities, which also did not pay taxes.
Thus, it can be argued that at the end of the 16th century, a state system of serfdom, the most complete dependence under feudalism, actually took shape in Russia.
Such a policy caused great dissatisfaction among the peasantry, which at that time formed the overwhelming majority in Russia. Periodically, unrest broke out in the villages. An impetus was needed in order for discontent to turn into "distemper".
The impoverishment and ruin of Russia under Ivan the Terrible meanwhile did not pass in vain. Masses of peasants left for new lands from fortresses and state burdens. The exploitation of the rest intensified. The farmers were entangled in debts and duties. The transition from one landowner to another became more and more difficult. Under Boris Godunov, several more decrees were issued that strengthened serfdom. In 1597 - about a five-year term for the search for fugitives, in 1601-02 - about limiting the transfer of peasants by some landowners from others. The desires of the nobility were fulfilled. But social tension from this did not weaken, but only grew.
The main reason for the aggravation of contradictions in the late XVI - early XVII centuries. there was an increase in serf burden and state duties of peasants and townspeople (posad people). There were great contradictions between the Moscow privileged and the outlying, especially the southern, nobility. Made up of fugitive peasants and other free people, the Cossacks were a combustible material in society: firstly, many had blood grievances against the state, boyars-nobles, and secondly, they were people whose main occupation was war and robbery. There were strong intrigues between various groups of boyars.
In 1601–1603 an unprecedented famine broke out in the country. First there were heavy rains for 10 weeks, then, at the end of summer, frost damaged the bread. Another crop failure next year. Although the king did a lot to alleviate the situation of the hungry: he distributed money and bread, brought down the price of it, arranged public works, etc., but the consequences were severe. About 130,000 people died in Moscow alone from the diseases that followed the famine. Many, from hunger, gave themselves up as slaves, and, finally, often the masters, unable to feed the servants, expelled the servants. Robbery and unrest of runaway and walking people began (the leader of Khlopko Kosolap), who operated near Moscow itself and even killed governor Basmanov in a battle with the tsarist troops. The rebellion was crushed, and its participants fled to the south, where they joined the troops of the impostor, Bolotnikov and others.
"Salt" and "copper" riots in Moscow. Urban uprisings
The "salt" riot, which began in Moscow on June 1, 1648, was one of the most powerful actions of Muscovites in defense of their rights.
The "salt" rebellion involved archers, lackeys - in a word, those people who had reasons to be dissatisfied with the government's policy.
The rebellion began, it would seem, with a trifle. Returning from a pilgrimage from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the young Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was surrounded by petitioners who asked the Tsar to remove L.S. there was no response from the sovereign. Then the complainants decided to turn to the queen, but this also did not work: the guard dispersed the people. Some were arrested. The next day, the tsar staged a religious procession, but even here complainants appeared demanding the release of the first number of petitioners arrested and still resolving the issue of cases of bribery. The tsar asked his “uncle” and relative, the boyar Boris Ivanovich Morozov, for clarification on this matter. After listening to the explanations, the king promised the petitioners to resolve this issue. Hiding in the palace, the tsar sent four ambassadors for negotiations: Prince Volkonsky, deacon Volosheinov, Prince Temkin-Rostov, and roundabout Pushkin.
But this measure did not turn out to be a solution to the problem, since the ambassadors behaved extremely arrogantly, which greatly angered the petitioners. The next unpleasant fact was the exit from the subordination of the archers. Due to the arrogance of the ambassadors, the archers beat the boyars sent for negotiations.
On the next day of the rebellion, forced people joined the tsar's disobedient. They demanded the extradition of the bribe-taking boyars: B. Morozov, L. Pleshcheev, P. Trakhanionov, N. Chisty.
These officials, relying on the power of ID Miloslavsky, who was especially close to the tsar, oppressed the Muscovites. They "created an unfair trial", took bribes. Having taken the main places in the administrative apparatus, they had complete freedom of action. By slandering ordinary people, they ruined them. On the third day of the “salt” riot, the “mob” defeated about seventy courtyards of especially hated nobles. One of the boyars (Nazarius Pure) - the initiator of the introduction of a huge tax on salt, was beaten and chopped to pieces by the "mob".
After this incident, the tsar was forced to turn to the clergy and opposition to the Morozov court clique. A new deputation of the boyars was sent, headed by Nikita Ivanovich Romanov, a relative of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The inhabitants of the city expressed their desire that Nikita Ivanovich began to rule with Alexei Mikhailovich (it must be said that Nikita Ivanovich Romanov enjoyed confidence among Muscovites). As a result, there was an agreement on the extradition of Pleshcheev and Trakhanionov, whom the tsar, at the very beginning of the rebellion, appointed governor in one of the provincial towns. Things were different with Pleshcheev: he was executed the same day on Red Square and his head was handed over to the crowd. After that, a fire broke out in Moscow, as a result of which half of Moscow burned out. It was said that Morozov's people set the fire in order to distract the people from the rebellion. Demands for the extradition of Trakhanionov continued; the authorities decided to sacrifice him just to stop the rebellion. Streltsy were sent to the city where Trakhanionov himself commanded. On June 4, 1648, the boyar was also executed. Now the look of the rebels was riveted by the boyar Morozov. But the tsar decided not to sacrifice such a “valuable” person and Morozov was exiled to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery in order to return him as soon as the rebellion subsided, but the boyar would be so frightened by the rebellion that he would never take an active part in state affairs.
In an atmosphere of revolt, the top tenants, the lower strata of the nobility sent a petition to the tsar, in which they demanded the streamlining of the judiciary, the development of new laws.
As a result of the petitioned authorities, concessions were made: the archers were given eight rubles each, the debtors were freed from beating money, the stealing judges were replaced. Subsequently, the rebellion began to subside, but not everything got away with the rebels: the instigators of the rebellion among the serfs were executed.
On July 16, the Zemsky Sobor was convened, which decided to adopt a number of new laws. In January 1649, the Council Code was approved.
Here is the result of the "salt" rebellion: the truth triumphed, the people's offenders were punished, and to top it all off, the Council Code was adopted, which was designed to alleviate the people's lot and rid the administrative apparatus of corruption.
Before and after the Salt Riot, uprisings broke out in more than 30 cities of the country: in the same 1648 in Ustyug, Kursk, Voronezh, in 1650 - "bread riots" in Novgorod and Pskov.
The Moscow uprising of 1662 (“Copper Riot”) was caused by a financial catastrophe in the state and the difficult economic situation of the working masses of the city and countryside as a result of a sharp increase in tax oppression during the wars of Russia with Poland and Sweden. The mass issue by the government of copper money (since 1654), equated to the value of silver money, and their significant depreciation against silver (6–8 times in 1662) led to a sharp rise in the price of food, huge speculation, abuse and mass counterfeiting of copper coins ( in which individual representatives of the central administration were involved). In many cities (especially in Moscow), famine broke out among the bulk of the townspeople (despite good harvests in previous years). Great dissatisfaction was also caused by the decision of the government on a new, extremely difficult, extraordinary tax collection (pyatina). Active participants in the "copper" rebellion were representatives of the urban lower classes of the capital, and peasants from villages near Moscow. The uprising broke out in the early morning of July 25, when leaflets appeared in many districts of Moscow, in which the most prominent leaders of the government (I. D. Miloslavsky; I. M. Miloslavsky; I. A. Miloslavsky; B. M. Khitrovo; F. M. Rtishchev ) were declared traitors. Crowds of rebels went to Red Square, and from there to the village. Kolomenskoye, where Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was.
The rebels (4-5 thousand people, mostly townspeople and soldiers) surrounded the royal residence, handed over their petition to the tsar, insisting on the extradition of the persons indicated in the leaflets, as well as on a sharp reduction in taxes, food prices, etc. Taken by surprise, the tsar, who had about 1,000 armed courtiers and archers, did not dare to take reprisals, promising the rebels to investigate and punish the perpetrators. The rebels turned to Moscow, where, after the departure of the first group of rebels, a second group formed and the destruction of the yards of large merchants began. On the same day, both groups united, arrived in the village. Kolomenskoye, again surrounded the royal palace and resolutely demanded the extradition of government leaders, threatening to execute them without the tsar's sanction. At this time in Moscow, after the departure of the second group of rebels in the village. With the help of archers, the Kolomenskoye authorities, by order of the tsar, switched to active punitive actions, and 3 archery and 2 soldier regiments (up to 8 thousand people) were already pulled into Kolomenskoye. After the rebels refused to disperse, the beating of mostly unarmed people began. During the massacre and subsequent executions, about 1 thousand people were killed, sunk, hanged and executed, up to 1.5–2 thousand rebels were exiled (with families up to 8 thousand people).
June 11, 1663 was followed by a royal decree on the closure of the yards of the "money copper business" and the return to the minting of silver coins. Copper money was redeemed from the population in a short time - within a month. For one silver kopeck they took a ruble in copper money. Trying to benefit from copper kopecks, the population began to cover them with a layer of mercury or silver, passing them off as silver money. This trick was soon noticed, and a royal decree appeared on the prohibition of tinning copper money.
So, the attempt to improve the Russian monetary system ended in complete failure and led to a breakdown in monetary circulation, riots and general impoverishment. Neither the introduction of a system of large and small denominations, nor an attempt to replace expensive raw materials for minting money with cheaper ones failed.
Russian monetary circulation returned to the traditional silver coin. And the time of Alexei Mikhailovich was called "rebellious" by his contemporaries
Peasant war led by S. Razin
In 1667, after the end of the war with the Commonwealth, a large number of fugitives poured into the Don. Famine reigned in the Don.
Back in March 1667, Moscow became aware that many residents of the Don "selected to steal to the Volga." The Cossack Stepan Timofeevich Razin stood at the head of the mass of unorganized, but brave, determined and armed people. He showed his willfulness by recruiting his detachment from the Cossack goal and alien people - fugitive peasants, townspeople, archers, who were not part of the Donskoy army and were not subordinate to the Cossack foreman.
He conceived a campaign in order to distribute the captured booty to the needy, feed the hungry, clothe and shoe the undressed and undressed. Razin, at the head of a detachment of Cossacks of 500 people, did not go to the Volga, but down the Don. It's hard to tell what his intentions were at that moment. It seems that this campaign was aimed at lulling the vigilance of the Volga governors and attracting supporters. People came to Razin from different places. Lead your troops to him.
In mid-May 1667, the Cossacks and the fugitive peasantry crossed over the crossing to the Volga. Razin's detachment grew to 2000 people. First, the Razints met a large trade caravan on the Volga, which included ships with exiles. The Cossacks seized goods and property, replenished stocks of weapons and provisions, took possession of the plows. Streltsy commanders and merchant clerks were killed, and exiles, most of the archers and rivermen who worked on merchant ships voluntarily joined the Razintsy.
Cossacks clashed with government troops. As the events of the Caspian campaign developed, the rebellious nature of the movement became more and more manifest.
Avoiding a clash with government troops, he in a short time and with small losses spent his flotilla at sea, then moved to the Yaik River and easily captured the Yaitsky town. In all battles, Razin showed great courage. The Cossacks were joined by more and more people from the huts and plows.
Having entered the Caspian Sea, the Razintsy headed to its southern shores. Some time later, their ships stopped in the area of the Persian city of Rasht. The Cossacks sacked the cities of Rasht, Farabat, Astrabad and wintered near the "amusing palace of the Shah", setting up an earthen town in his forest reserve on the Miyan-Kale peninsula. Having exchanged the captives for the Russians in the ratio of "one to four", in this way they replenished with people.
The release of Russian captives languishing in Persia and the replenishment of the Razin detachment with the Persian poor goes beyond the scope of military predatory actions.
In a naval battle near Pig Island, the Razintsy won a complete victory over the troops of the Persian Shah. However, the trip to the Caspian Sea was marked not only by victories and successes. Razintsy had heavy losses and defeats. The fight with large Persian forces near Rasht ended unfavorably for them.
At the end of the Caspian campaign, Razin gave the governors a bunchuk, a sign of his power, and returned some of the weapons. Then the Razintsy, having received the forgiveness of Moscow, returned to the Don. After the Caspian campaign, Razin did not disband his detachment. On September 17, 1669, 20 versts from the Black Yar, Razin demanded that the archers' heads come to him, and renamed the archers and feeders into his "Cossacks".
The reports of the governors of the southern cities about the independent behavior of Razin, that he “became strong” and was again plotting “distemper”, alerted the government. In January 1670, a certain Gerasim Evdokimov was sent to Cherkassk. Razin demanded that Evdokim be brought in and interrogated him, from whom did he come: from the great sovereign or the boyars? The messenger confirmed that from the king, but Razin declared him a boyar scout. The Cossacks drowned the royal envoy. In the town of Panshin, Razin gathered the participants of the upcoming campaign in a large circle. The ataman announced that he intended to “go from the Don to the Volga, and from the Volga to go to Russia ... so that ... from the Muscovite state, bring the boyars and duma people as traitors and in the cities the voivodes and clerks people” and give freedom to “black people”.
Soon 7000 Razin's army moved to Tsaritsyn. Having captured it, the Razintsy remained in the town for about 2 weeks. The battles in the lower reaches of the Volga in the spring and summer of 1670 showed that Razin was a talented commander. On June 22, Astrakhan was captured by the Razintsy. Without a single shot, Samara and Saratov passed to the Razintsy.
After that, the Razintsy began the siege of Simbirsk. At the end of August 1670, the government sent an army to suppress the Razin uprising. A month's stay near Simbirsk was Razin's tactical miscalculation. It made it possible to bring government troops here. In the battle near Simbirsk, Razin was seriously wounded, and later executed in Moscow.
Apparently, one of the main reasons for the failure of the Simbirsk was the lack of a permanent staff in the rebel army. Only the core of the Cossacks and archers remained stable in the Razin army, while numerous peasant detachments, which made up the bulk of the rebels, kept coming and going. They did not have military experience, and during the period that they were not in the ranks of the Razintsy, they did not have time to accumulate it.
schismatic movement
An important fact of Russian history of the XVII century. there was a church schism, which was the result of the church reform of Patriarch Nikon.
The most significant of the innovations adopted by Patriarch Nikon and the church council of 1654 was the replacement of baptism with two fingers with three fingers, the pronunciation of the doxology to God “aleluia” not twice, but three times, the movement around the lectern in the church not in the course of the Sun, but against it. All of them dealt with the purely ritual side, and not with the essence of Orthodoxy.
The schism of the Orthodox Church took place at the Council of 1666-1667, and from 1667 the schismatics were put on trial by the "city authorities", who burned them for "blasphemy against the Lord God." In 1682, Archpriest Avvakum, the main opponent of Patriarch Nikon, died at the stake.
Archpriest Avvakum became one of the brightest personalities in Russian history. Many considered him a saint and a miracle worker. He participated together with Nikon in correcting liturgical books, but was soon dismissed due to ignorance of the Greek language.
On January 6, 1681, the tsar went with a large number of people to consecrate the water. At this time, the Old Believers committed a pogrom in the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals of the Kremlin. They smeared royal vestments and tombs with tar, and also placed tallow candles, which were considered unclean in church use. At this time, the crowd returned, and an associate of the rebels, Gerasim Shapochnik, began to throw "thieves' letters" into the crowd, which depicted caricatures of the tsar and the patriarchs.
The schism brought together a variety of social forces that advocated the preservation of the traditional character of Russian culture intact. There were princes and boyars, such as the noblewoman F. P. Morozova and princess E. P. Urusova, monks and the white clergy, who refused to perform the new rites. But there were especially many ordinary people - townspeople, archers, peasants - who saw in the preservation of the old rites a way of fighting for the ancient folk ideals of "truth" and "freedom". The most radical step taken by the Old Believers was the decision taken in 1674 to stop praying for the tsar's health. This meant a complete break of the Old Believers with the existing society, the beginning of the struggle to preserve the ideal of "truth" within their communities.
The main idea of the Old Believers was "falling away" from the world of evil, unwillingness to live in it. Hence the preference for self-immolation over compromise with the authorities. Only in 1675-1695. 37 fires were registered, during which at least 20 thousand people died. Another form of protest of the Old Believers was the flight from the power of the tsar, the search for the "secret city of Kitezh" or the utopian country Belovodie, under the protection of God himself.
In art, there is a process of regulation, complete subordination and control by the royal authorities. Created back in 1648, the Academy of Painting and Sculpture is now officially administered by the first minister of the king. In 1671 the Academy of Architecture was founded. Control is established over all kinds of artistic life. Classicism officially becomes the leading style of all art.
In classicism of the second half of the XVII century. there is no sincerity and depth of Lorrain's paintings, the high moral ideal of Poussin. This is an official direction, adapted to the requirements of the court and, above all, the king himself, art regulated, unified, painted according to a set of rules, what and how to depict, which is what Lebrun's special treatise is devoted to.
Architecture.
Large structures are being created in the country to glorify the king.
Louis Levo Palace of Vaux-le-Vicomte. Versailles.
Jules Adrouin Mansart. Supervised the expansion of the palace at Versailles. Vendom Square. Cathedral of the Invalides
. 
Claude Perrault. Louvre.
François Blondel. Triumphal Arch
Ticket 17
Art of Byzantium (5th-7th century) Byzantine art is a historical-regional type of art included in the historical type of medieval art.
658 BC Byzantium was founded by Greek colonists on an island between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara. Leader Byzantium - the city of Byzantium. Due to its good geographical position, Byzantium began to occupy one of the most prominent and main places among the Greek policies.
periodization
early Christian period(the so-called pre-Byzantine culture, I-III centuries); Church of San Apolinare
early Byzantine period, the "golden age" of Emperor Justinian I (527-565), the architecture of the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (architects Anthimius from Traal and Isidore from Miletus, the peak of the development of arched-vaulted structures 527g) and Ravenna mosaics (VI-VII centuries), sculptures ( good donkey) + illustrating books (including church ones); Church of San Vitale 526-547, octagon in plan, encaustic iconography (Christ Pantokrator).
Early Byzantine period construction of various monastic ensembles and temples. The most characteristic are such types of temples as longitudinally basilic and cross-domed.
basilica- a type of building of a rectangular shape, which consists of an odd number (1, 3 or 5) of naves of different heights.
In a multi-nave basilica, the naves are separated by longitudinal rows of columns or pillars, with independent coverings. Central nave - usually wider and larger in height, illuminated by windows of the second tier
iconoclastic period(VIII-early IX century). Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717-741), founder of the Isaurian dynasty, issued an Edict banning icons. This period was called "dark time" - largely by analogy with a similar stage in the development of Western Europe; (Church of St. Irene 4c, Istanbul) the first mosaics were destroyed
period of the Macedonian Renaissance(867-1056) Considered to be the classical period of Byzantine art. XI century was the highest point of prosperity. Information about the world was drawn from the Bible and from the works of ancient authors. The harmony of art was achieved through strict regulation; Icon restoration.
period of conservatism under the emperors of the Comnene dynasty (1081-1185) of the Hellenistic tradition (1261-1453). Canonical iconography.
The term Byzantine art denotes not only the art of the eastern part of the Roman Empire, but also a specific style, since this style grew out of certain trends, the emergence of which can be attributed to the reign of Constantine and even earlier.
Cross-domed church- an architectural type of a Christian temple, formed in Byzantium and in the countries of the Christian East in the 5th-8th centuries. It became dominant in the architecture of Byzantium from the 9th century and was adopted by the Christian countries of the Orthodox confession as the main form of the temple. In the classic version, it is a rectangular volume, the center of which is divided by 4 pillars into 9 cells. The ceiling is cross-shaped cylindrical vaults, and above the central cell, on spring arches, rises a drum with a dome. 
Mosaic Justinian with retinue. 
18) QUESTION 1
Italian art developed within the framework of local schools. Tuscan, Lombard, Venetian schools have developed in architecture, in the style of which new trends are often combined with local traditions. In the visual arts, primarily in painting, several schools have also formed - Florentine, Umbrian, northern Italian, Venetian - with their own unique stylistic features. Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio - three Florentine geniuses - opened a new era in architecture and fine arts. Having created the original design of the dome of the Florentine Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the foundling shelter (Ospedale degli Innocenti), the Church of San Lorenzo
Philippe Brunelleschi (1377-1446) gave a powerful impetus to the innovative development of Italian architecture. An octagonal dome with a diameter of 42 m majestically rose above the Gothic cathedral, becoming a symbol of the power of the city and the strength of the human mind. In the buildings of Brunelleschi in Florence - the Pazzi Chapel,
in contrast to the aspiration of the building upwards, characteristic of Gothic, Brunelleschi first created the lower floor of the facade in the form of a light portico, which unfolded horizontally in its entire width and adjoins the square. The projects of Leon Battista Alberti were marked by innovation: in the Palazzo Rucellai
in Florence, he first used the division of the three tiers of the facade with pilasters of different orders,
The Venetian architecture of the Renaissance was distinguished by its originality. It took shape later than in Tuscany, in the last decades of the 15th century. Local Gothic traditions were combined in it with Renaissance features. The Venetians appreciated the elegance and colorfulness of buildings. The palaces of the patrician nobility standing on stilts were decorated with loggias, fine stone carvings, multi-colored inlays, bricks were lined with imported marble. The features of the new architecture were manifested not only in secular buildings, but also in church architecture, most clearly in the church of San Zaccaria.
The outstanding Florentine sculptor Donatello (c. 1386-1466) became a true reformer of the art of sculpture. He was the first to create a free-standing statue, not related to architecture, was the author of the first equestrian monument - a monument to the condottiere Gattamelata in Padua,
embodied in stone and bronze the beauty of the naked human body (the relief of the singing pulpit of the Florence Cathedral, the statue of David). Spiritual images of his relief "Annunciation"
The formation and development of Renaissance painting was a complex process. Even in the first third of the XIV century. the great artist Giotto in his frescoes in the Arena Chapel in Padua
he places figures that acquire volume in a three-dimensional, albeit shallow, space.
The birth of a new, actually Renaissance painting is connected, however, with the name of another outstanding Florentine - Masaccio (1401-1428/29). His frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence
became a school for many generations of artists. In the frescoes by Masaccio depicting the expulsion from paradise of Adam and Eve and scenes from the life of the Apostle Peter, executed by Beato Angelico. In his work, which was influenced by Masaccio, along with Renaissance features, the traditions of medieval art were still preserved. Creating his fresco "Procession of the Magi" in the Medici Palace
Subtle, spiritualized images of the Madonnas were created by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). In his work, their delicate and fragile beauty draws close to the images of the ancient goddess of love Venus. In "Spring"
the artist depicts Venus against the backdrop of a fabulous garden, along with the goddess of fertility Flora, strewn with flowers, three dancing graces and other characters of ancient mythology. In "The Birth of Venus"
In the last decades of the fifteenth century along with the Florentine school of painting, schools and trends in Central (Umbria) and Northern (Lombardy, Venice) Italy, which have their own special style, are formed. The beginning of the Umbrian school of painting was laid by the work of one of the greatest masters of Central Italy, Piero della Francesca (c. 1420-1492). He was the author of a treatise on perspective, an outstanding muralist who created the frescoes "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon"
,
and others in the church of San Francesco in Arezzo, and the greatest colorist who was able to convey the beauty of color harmonies in a light-air environment. His images are heroized, they are imbued with majesty, epic calm. The artist's humanistic ideas about man found expression in portraits painted around 1465 of the Duke of Urbino Federigo da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza. Pietro Perugino also belonged to the Umbrian school, famous for the soft poetry of his works, including the lyrical type of Madonnas, Pinturicchio, who created heartfelt landscape images, images of interiors and multi-figured compositions in the paintings of the library of the Siena Cathedral, Luca Signorelli, whose severe creativity was characterized by sharp graphic the beginning, the skill of transferring the naked human body.
1. The main trends in art of the 20th century.
Modernism artistic trends, in the second half of the 19th century in the form of new forms of creativity, where the free view of the master prevailed, free to change the visible world at his discretion, following a personal impression, an inner idea or a mystical dream.
In Russian aesthetics, “modern” means the artistic style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that historically preceded modernism, so it is necessary to distinguish between these two concepts in order to avoid confusion.
Abstractionism- an artistic direction that was formed in the art of the first half of the 20th century, completely refusing to reproduce the forms of the real visible world. The founders of abstractionism are considered to be W. Kandinsky, P. Mondrian and K. Malevich. In abstractionism, two clear directions can be distinguished: geometric abstraction, based mainly on clearly defined configurations (Malevich, Mondrian), and lyrical abstraction, in which the composition is organized from freely flowing forms (Kandinsky). abstract expressionism- a school of drawing quickly and on large canvases with strokes of brushes dripping paints onto the canvas.
Piet Mondrian
"The Mill in the Sunlight" 1908 Gray Tree 191 Evolution 1911
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England in the second half of the 17th century
Plan. 1. The period of the Cromwellian Republic. 2. Cromwell's protectorate and the restoration of the Stuarts. 3. "Glorious Revolution" and its results.
Period of the Cromwellian Republic
After the revolution, the situation of the common people did not improve. The confiscated lands of the king, his supporters and his bishops were sold in large plots. Only 9% of these lands fell into the hands of wealthy peasants, the rest were bought up by the urban bourgeoisie and the new nobility. The peasants did not receive land and were not exempted from dues.
The civil war led to the decline of economic life in the country: economic ties between the counties were interrupted, this was especially hard on London, the center of industry and trade. Difficulties in marketing cloth led to mass unemployment. Therefore, part of the population was not satisfied with the reforms of the parliament. Protest movements broke out across the country.
The Diggers, led by Gerard Wistenley, encouraged the poor to occupy the wastelands and farm freely, based on the principle that every person has a right to land. How do you think the levellers and diggers substantiated their views? (They proceeded that God created people equal and property and legal differences must be overcome.) ?
Everywhere diggers were dispersed, arrested, severely beaten; destroyed their crops, destroyed their huts, maimed their livestock. Why do you think? The propertied classes saw in these peaceful workers the most dangerous enemies of bourgeois property. ?
Having suppressed the movement of the Diggers in England, Cromwell set out in August 1649 at the head of an army to suppress the Irish uprising, but in essence to reconquer the "Green Isle". Of the one and a half million population in Ireland, a little more than half remained. The ensuing mass confiscations of the lands of the rebels transferred 2/3 of the Irish territory into the hands of the English owners.
In Scotland, on February 5, 1649, the son of Charles I was proclaimed King Charles II. Cromwell with his army went there and by September 1651 the Scottish army was completely destroyed, the king fled and soon crossed over to the continent.
Cromwell understood that the army was the main pillar of power. Therefore, heavy taxes were entirely preserved in the country in order to maintain a standing army, the number of which in the 50s had already reached 60 thousand people.
England was ravaged by crop failures, a drop in production, a reduction in trade, and unemployment. The new owners of the land infringed upon the rights of the peasants. The country needed legal reform and a constitution.
Cromwell's protectorate and the restoration of the Stuarts
A conflict was brewing between Cromwell and Parliament. In 1653 Cromwell disbanded the Long Parliament and established a regime of personal dictatorship, assuming the title of Lord Protector for life. A new constitution was adopted in the country - "Instrument of Management", according to it, Cromwell received the highest power for life. The protector commanded the armed forces, was in charge of foreign policy, had the right to veto, etc. The protectorate was essentially a military dictatorship. Protectorate - a form of government, when the head of the republic was the Lord Protector for life.
The country was divided into 11 districts, each of which was headed by a major general subordinate to Cromwell. The Lord Protector forbade public festivals, theatrical performances, work on Sundays. - Why do you think? (Oliver Cromwell was a convinced puritan, and, in his opinion, various amusements were contrary to Christian principles.) ?
September 3, 1658 Cromwell died, and power passed to his son Richard, but in May 1659 Richard leaves his post. The British political elite did not want a new dictator. Why do you think? (Military dictatorship was not the goal of the English Revolution. In addition, Cromwell's regime did not have serious support in society: he was condemned by royalists, Catholics, and moderate Puritans. The Lord Protector relied solely on the army.) ?
In 1660, a bicameral parliament was again convened, mostly from Presbyterians. The rich were afraid of a "new turmoil", they needed legitimate power. In this environment, a conspiracy in favor of the "legitimate dynasty" of the Stuarts was becoming more and more mature.
General Monk entered into direct negotiations with the son of the executed king, the emigrant king Charles II, on the conditions for the restoration (restoration) of the monarchy. On April 25, 1660, the new Parliament approved the return of the Stuarts; a month later, Charles II solemnly entered London. General Monck Charles II
England during the Stuart Restoration
Charles became king under certain conditions. He confirmed the rights won by the new nobility and bourgeoisie. He was deprived of royal lands, but was assigned an annual allowance. The king did not have the right to create a standing army. Do you think his power was absolute? But he rarely convened parliament, patronized Catholics, re-established the position of bishop, and began persecution of active participants in the revolution. Charles II?
Whigs - a party to which the bourgeoisie and gentry belonged, who defended the rights of parliament and advocated reforms. The Tories are a party to which large landlords and clergy belonged, who advocated the preservation of traditions. In the 70s. two political parties began to form.
"Glorious Revolution" and its results
After the death of Charles II, his brother James II took the throne. He did everything to reduce the role of parliament and establish Catholicism. This caused outrage in the English public. In 1688 The Glorious Revolution took place, as a result of which James II was overthrown from the throne, and the ruler of Holland, William III of Orange, and his wife Mary Stuart, daughter of James II, were proclaimed king and queen. James II
At the same time, William and Mary accepted the crown on special conditions. They recognized the Bill of Rights, according to which the powers of the king and parliament were demarcated. The Bill of Rights also guaranteed freedom of religion throughout the kingdom. The "Bill of Rights" (bill - bill) finally laid the foundation for a new form of statehood - a constitutional monarchy. William III of Orange
The affirmation of the principle "the king reigns, but does not rule" meant that all the most important issues would be decided in a parliament consisting of representatives of the bourgeois parties. The party that wins the majority of seats in the House of Commons forms the government headed by the prime minister.
The form of government in England is a parliamentary monarchy Legislative power Executive power Parliament House of Lords House of Commons King Government Prime Minister Elections based on property qualification What is the name of the form of government that developed in England after the revolution?
After the death of William III and his wife, the throne passed to the daughter of James II, Anna Stewart (1702-1714). During her reign in 1707, a union was concluded between England and Scotland. The Scottish Parliament was dissolved, and representatives of this region sat from that moment on in the English Parliament. Anna Stuart (1702-1714)
The main stages of the bourgeois revolution in England.
Questions to reinforce: 1. Why did the new owners decide to restore the Stuarts? 2. What made it necessary to finally remove the Stuarts from power? What did they interfere with and what threatened their rule? 3. What was the difference between the events of 1688-1689. from the events of 1642-1649. ? Why are they called "glorious revolution"? 4. What is the essence of the parliamentary monarchy regime? What form of government exists in England today? 5. What is the reason for the durability of the two-party system? ?
Following are the causes of the revolution in England. Enter the wrong answer. The dissatisfaction of Parliament with the desire of the Stuarts to rule alone. Dissatisfaction of Parliament with the economic policy of the Stuarts. Embezzlement and bribery in the royal court. Translation of the Bible into English language and conducting services in this language.
With a “yes” or “no” sign, mark whether you agree with these judgments: 1 2 3 4 5 The revolution in England destroyed absolutism. The English Revolution established a parliamentary monarchy in the country. After the revolution, capitalism began to develop in the country. The English Parliament became unicameral. Catholicism became the state religion in the country. yes yes yes no no
Glossary of terms and dates: 1688 - coup d'état in England, overthrow of the Stuart dynasty. 1689 - adoption of the "Bill of Rights" - the beginning of a parliamentary monarchy in England. RESTORATION - restoration. PROTECTOR - patron, protector.
Homework: prepare for testing on the topic "English Revolution of the 17th century."
The position of Spain at the end of the XVII century.
The decline of the productive forces, the disorder of finances and disorder in administration affected the size of the army. In wartime, it numbered no more than 15-20 thousand soldiers, and in peacetime - 8-9 thousand. The Spanish fleet also did not represent any significant force. If in the XVI and in the first half of the XVII century. Spain was a thunderstorm for its neighbors, but by the beginning of the 18th century it had already weakened so much that the question arose of dividing its possessions between France, Austria and England.
Preparations for the War of the Spanish Succession
The last Spanish Habsburg - Charles II (1665-1700) had no offspring. The end of the dynasty, expected with his death, during the life of Charles, provoked negotiations between the great powers on the division of the Spanish inheritance - the largest that was previously known in the history of Europe. In addition to Spain itself, it included the Duchy of Milan, Naples, Sardinia and Sicily, the Canary Islands, Cuba, San Domingo (Haiti), Florida, Mexico with Texas and California, Central and South America, with the exception of Brazil, the Philippine and Caroline Islands and others smaller holdings.
The reason for the conflict over Spanish possessions was the dispute over dynastic rights that arose in connection with "Spanish marriages". Louis XIV and Emperor Leopold I were married to the sisters of Charles II and were counting on the transfer of the Spanish crown to their offspring. But behind the disagreements over hereditary rights, the aggressive aspirations of the strongest states of Western Europe were hidden. The real causes of the war were rooted in the contradictions between France, Austria and England. The Russian representative at the Karlovitsky Congress (1699) Voznitsyn wrote that France wanted to establish its dominance in Western Europe, and “the maritime powers (England and Holland. - Ed.) and Austria are preparing for war so that the Frenchman is not allowed to reach the Gishpan kingdom, if he has acquired it, he will crush them all.
In the last years of the life of Charles II, French troops were concentrated on the border near the Pyrenees. Charles II and the most influential Spanish grandees feared a break with France. They decided to transfer the crown to the French prince, hoping that France would be able to protect the integrity of the Spanish possessions from other powers. Charles II bequeathed his throne, that is, Spain with all its colonies, to the second grandson of Louis XIV - Duke Philip of Anjou, with the proviso that Spain and France would never unite under the rule of one monarch. In 1700 Charles II died and the Duke of Anjou succeeded to the Spanish throne; in April of the following year he was crowned in Madrid under the name of Philip V (1700-1746). Soon, Louis XIV recognized the right of Philip V to the French throne with a special charter and occupied the border fortresses of the Spanish Netherlands with his troops. The rulers of the Spanish provinces were ordered from Madrid to obey all the orders of the French king, as if they came from the Spanish monarch. Subsequently, trade duties between the two countries were abolished. Intending to undermine the trading power of England, Louis XIV wrote to Philip V in Madrid that the time had come "to exclude England and Holland from trade with the Indies." The privileges of English and Dutch merchants in Spanish possessions were abolished.
To weaken France, the "sea powers" entered into an alliance with Austria, France's main enemy on land. Austria sought to capture the Spanish possessions in Italy and the Netherlands, as well as Alsace. By transferring the Spanish crown to the Austrian pretender to the Spanish throne, Archduke Charles, Emperor Leopold I wanted to create a threat to France from the Spanish border as well. Prussia also joined the coalition.
Hostilities opened in the spring of 1701. At the very beginning of the war, the English fleet destroyed 17 Spanish and 24 French ships. In 1703, Archduke Charles landed in Portugal with the troops of the allies, which immediately submitted to England and concluded an alliance with her and a trade agreement on the duty-free importation of English goods into Portugal. In 1704, the English fleet bombarded Gibraltar and, having landed troops, captured this fortress. An ally of France, the Duke of Savoy went over to the side of the emperor.
The French offensive in Southwest Germany, which was thus subjected to terrible devastation, was halted by the Anglo-Dutch troops under the command of the Duke of Marlborough. Joining up with the Austrians, they inflicted a severe defeat on the French at Hochstedt. In 1706, the French army suffered a second major defeat at Turin from the Austrians under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy. The following year, the imperial troops occupied the Duchy of Milan, Parma, and most of the Kingdom of Naples.
Somewhat longer than in Italy, the French held out in the Spanish Netherlands. But in 1706 and 1708. Marlborough inflicted two defeats on them - at Ramilly and at Oudenard - and forced them to clear Flanders. Although the French troops took revenge in the bloody battle near the village of Malplyake (1709), where the allies suffered huge losses, the war was clearly on the side of the latter. The English fleet captured Sardinia and Menorca, in America the British captured Acadia. Archduke Charles landed in Spain and proclaimed himself king in Madrid.
However, in 1711, when Charles also assumed the Austrian throne, the prospect of uniting Austria and Spain under one rule arose, unpleasant for England. In addition, the depletion of financial resources, dissatisfaction with the theft and bribery of Marlborough and other Whigs contributed to their fall and the transfer of power to the Tory party, who were inclined towards peace with France. Without devoting Austria to the cause, the British and Dutch governments entered into secret negotiations with France and Spain. In March 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, which put an end to France's claims to hegemony in Western Europe. England and Holland agreed to recognize Philip V as King of Spain on the condition that he renounce for himself and his offspring all rights to the French throne. Spain abandoned Lombardy, the Kingdom of Naples, Sardinia in favor of the Austrian Habsburgs, ceded to the Duke of Savoy Sicily, Prussia - Geldern and England - Menorca and Gibraltar.
Agricultural relations
The 18th century found in Spain the complete dominance of feudal relations. The country was agrarian, agricultural products even at the end of the 18th century. significantly (almost five times) exceeded industrial production, and the population employed in agriculture was six times greater than the population associated with industrial production.
About three-quarters of the cultivated land belonged to the nobility and the Catholic Church. The peasants performed a wide variety of feudal duties in favor of both secular and spiritual lords. In addition to direct payments for holding the land, they made laudemia (a payment to the lord for the provision of an allotment or when the feudal lease was renewed), a kavalgada (a ransom for military service), a cash contribution, which was a commutated form of working off in the manor's fields and vineyards, "section fruits” (the right of the lord to 5-25% of the peasant’s harvest), fees for permission to drive cattle over the land of the lord, etc. The lord, in addition, owned a number of banalities. Church requisitions, especially tithes, were also extremely heavy.
The rent was largely paid in kind, since monetary relations were still relatively poorly developed. The price of land, due to the monopoly of the feudal owners on it, remained excessively high, while the rent continuously increased. In the province of Seville, for example, it doubled in the decade from 1770 to 1780.
For these reasons, capitalist agriculture was unprofitable. Spanish economists of the late 18th century. noted that in Spain capital avoids agriculture and seeks employment in other areas.
For feudal Spain of the XVIII century. characterized by a huge army of landless day laborers, who accounted for about half of the entire peasantry. According to the 1797 census, there were 805,000 day laborers per 1,677,000 rural population (including large landowners). This phenomenon stemmed from the peculiarities of Spanish feudal landownership. The vast latifundia, especially in Andalusia and Extremadura, were concentrated in the hands of a few aristocratic families who were not interested in the intensive exploitation of land wealth due to the huge size of the holdings, the diverse nature of other sources of income and the unprofitability of commercial agriculture. Large landowners were not even interested in leasing the land. Huge areas of arable land in Castile, Extremadura and Andalusia were turned into pastures by the lords. For their personal needs, they cultivated a small part of the land with the help of hired agricultural workers. As a result, a huge mass of the population, especially in Andalusia, remained without land and without work; day laborers at best worked four or five months of the year, and begged the rest of the time.
But the position of the peasant holders was little better. Only in the form of rent, not counting other feudal requisitions, they gave the lord from one quarter to one half of the crop. Forms of short-term holding that were extremely unfavorable for the peasants prevailed. The most difficult was the position of the peasant holders in Castile and Aragon; the population of Valencia lived somewhat better due to the spread of long-term rentals, as well as more favorable climatic conditions. In a relatively prosperous state were the Basque peasants, among whom there were many small land owners and long-term tenants. There were also strong prosperous farms, which were not in other parts of Spain.
The hopeless position of the Spanish peasantry pushed him to fight against the oppressors-seigneurs. Very common in the 18th century. There was a protest in the form of robbery. The famous robbers, hiding in the gorges of the Sierra Morena and other mountains, took revenge on the lords and helped the poor peasants. They were popular among the peasants and always found refuge and support among them.
A direct consequence of the plight of the Spanish peasants and the extremely severe forms of feudal tenancy was the general low level of agricultural technology. The traditional three-field system prevailed; the ancient irrigation system in most of the districts was abandoned and fell into disrepair. Agricultural implements were extremely primitive. Yields remained low.
State of industry and commerce
Spanish industry in the 18th century handicraft, regulated by guild charters, prevailed. In all provinces there were small workshops that produced haberdashery, leather goods, hats, woolen, silk, and linen fabrics for the local market. In the North, especially in Biscay, iron was mined in an artisanal way. The metalworking industry, located mainly in the Basque provinces and in Catalonia, was also of a primitive character. The largest share of industrial production fell on three provinces - Galicia, Valencia and Catalonia. The latter was the most industrialized of all the regions of Spain.
Spain in the 18th century. there was still no such important factor of capitalist development as the national market.
The marketability of agriculture (excluding sheep breeding) was very low. The sale of agricultural products usually did not go beyond the local market, and there was a very limited demand for manufactured goods: the impoverished peasantry could not buy them, while the nobility and higher clergy preferred foreign products.
The formation of a national market was also hampered by impassability, countless internal duties and alkabala - a burdensome tax on transactions with movable property.
A sign of the narrowness of the domestic market was also weak money circulation. Money capital at the end of the XVIII century. rarely met. Wealth was represented at that time mainly by lands and houses.
The weakness of internal trade and the absence of a national market consolidated the historical isolation and isolation of individual regions and provinces, which resulted in a catastrophic rise in food prices and famine in some regions of the country in the event of a crop failure, despite relative prosperity in other regions.
The maritime provinces conducted a fairly active foreign trade, but its balance remained sharply passive for Spain, since Spanish goods were for the most part unable to compete on the European market with goods from other countries due to the backwardness of industrial technology and the exceptionally high costs of agricultural production.
In 1789, Spanish exports amounted to only 290 million reais, and imports - 717 million. Spain exported to European countries mainly fine wool, some agricultural products, colonial goods and precious metals. Spain had the most lively trade relations with England and France.
In the second half of the XVIII century. in Spain capitalist industry is growing in the form of mainly scattered manufacture. In the 1990s, the first machines appeared, especially in the cotton industry of Catalonia. The number of workers in some Barcelona enterprises reached 800 people. Throughout Catalonia, more than 80,000 people were employed in the cotton industry. In this regard, in Catalonia in the second half of the XVIII century. the population of cities has increased significantly. In its capital and largest industrial center, Barcelona in 1759, there were 53 thousand inhabitants, and in 1789 - 111 thousand. Around 1780, one Spanish economist noted that “now in Barcelona, having given throughout Catalonia it is difficult to find agricultural workers and domestic servants, even for greatly increased wages, ”explaining this by the emergence of a large number of industrial enterprises.
In 1792, a metallurgical plant was built in Sargadelooi (Asturias) with the first blast furnace in Spain. The development of industry and the needs of military arsenals caused a significant increase in coal mining in Asturias.
Thus, in the last decades of the XVIII century. in Spain there is a certain growth of capitalist industry. This is evidenced by the change in the composition of the population: the censuses of 1787 and 1797. show that during this decade the population employed in industry increased by 83%. At the very end of the century, the number of workers in factories and centralized manufactories alone exceeded 100,000.
The role of the American colonies in the Spanish economy
An important role in the economic life of Spain was played by its American colonies. Taking over in the 16th century vast and rich territories in America, the Spaniards, first of all, tried to turn them into their closed market by numerous prohibitions. Until 1765, all trade with the colonies was conducted through only one Spanish port: until 1717 - through Seville, later - through Cadiz. All ships leaving for and arriving from America were subjected to inspection at this port by agents of the Indian Chamber of Commerce. Trade with America was in fact a monopoly of the richest Spanish merchants, who incredibly inflated prices and made huge profits.
The weak Spanish industry was not able to provide its colonies with even a starvation norm of goods. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. foreign products accounted for between one-half and two-thirds of all goods imported into the Americas on Spanish ships. In addition to the legal trade in foreign goods, the widest smuggling trade took place in the colonies. Around 1740, for example, the English smuggled into America the same amount of goods that the Spaniards themselves brought in legally. Nevertheless, the American market was of the utmost importance for the Spanish bourgeoisie. In the conditions of the extreme narrowness of the domestic market, the American colonies, where Spanish merchants enjoyed special privileges, were a profitable market for the products of Spanish industry. This was one of the reasons for the weakness of the bourgeois opposition.
The colonies were no less important for the Spanish government, which, with a total state income of about 700 million reais, received at the end of the 18th century. from America 150-200 million reais per year in the form of deductions from precious metals mined in the colonies (quinto) and numerous taxes and duties.
The weakness of the Spanish bourgeoisie
Spanish bourgeoisie in the 18th century. were few in number and had no influence. Due to the underdevelopment of capitalism, the most conservative group, the merchant class, prevailed in its ranks, while the industrial bourgeoisie was only just emerging.
The vast majority of the Spanish bourgeoisie, in conditions of an extremely narrow internal market, served mainly the nobility, clergy, bureaucracy and officers, that is, the privileged strata of feudal society, on which it thus economically depended. Such economic ties also contributed to the political conservatism of the Spanish bourgeoisie. In addition, the bourgeoisie was connected by the common interests of exploiting the colonies with the ruling classes of the feudal-absolutist monarchy, and this also limited its opposition to the existing system.
The conservatism of the Spanish bourgeoisie was also strengthened by the tradition of blind obedience to the authorities, which had been cultivated for centuries by the Catholic Church.
Feudal nobility
The ruling class in Spain was the feudal nobility, which even in early XIX in. retained in their hands more than half of all cultivated land and an even greater percentage of uncultivated land. In fact, it disposed of those 16% of cultivated land that belonged to the church, since high church positions were occupied, as a rule, by people from the nobility.
Land wealth and related feudal requisitions, as well as such additional sources of income as commanding positions in spiritual and knightly orders, court sinecures, etc., were mainly concentrated in the hands of the titled aristocracy. Most of the Spanish nobles, due to the existence of the institution of majorat, did not have land holdings. The poor nobility sought sources of food in the military and public service or in the ranks of the clergy. But a significant part of it remained without a place and eked out a miserable existence.
Spanish absolute monarchy of the 18th century. represented the interests of the richest part of the nobility - large landowners-latifundists, who belonged to the titled aristocracy.
Dominance of the Catholic Church
Along with the nobility, the most important social force that guarded the foundations of the Middle Ages in Spain was the Catholic Church with its huge army of clergy and untold wealth. At the end of the XV11I century. with a total population of 10.5 million people in Spain, there were about 200 thousand black (monastic) and white clergy. In 1797 there were 40 different male monastic orders with 2067 monasteries and 29 female orders with 1122 monasteries. The Spanish Church owned vast landholdings, which brought her more than a billion reais in an annual income.
In economically and culturally backward feudal Spain of the XVIII century. the Catholic Church, as before, dominated in the field of ideology.
Catholicism was the state religion in Spain. Only Catholics could live in the country. Any person who did not perform church rites aroused suspicion of heresy and attracted the attention of the Inquisition. This threatened the loss of not only property and freedom, but also life. When entering the service, attention was paid to the "purity of blood": places in the church apparatus and in the public service were available exclusively to "old Christians", clean from every stain and admixture of the "bad race", i.e., persons who did not count among their ancestors of not a single Moor, Jew, heretic, victim of the Inquisition. When entering military educational institutions and in a number of other cases, it was required to present documentary evidence of the "purity of the race."
The terrible tool of the Catholic Church was the Spanish Inquisition. Reorganized in the fifteenth century, it retained its grand inquisitor, high council, and 16 provincial tribunals until 1808, not counting the special tribunals in America. Only in the first half of the XVIII century. the Inquisition burned over a thousand people, and in total about 10 thousand people were persecuted during this period.
The entire huge church apparatus, from the highest-ranking princes of the church to the last mendicant monk, stood guard over the medieval social order, striving to block access to enlightenment, progress, and free thought. The Catholic clergy controlled the universities and schools, the press and the circuses. Mainly through the fault of the church, Spanish society even by the end of the 18th century. struck foreign travelers with its backwardness. The peasantry was almost entirely illiterate and extremely superstitious. The cultural level of the nobility, bourgeoisie and aristocracy, with rare exceptions, was slightly higher. Even in the middle of the XVIII century. most educated Spaniards rejected the Copernican astronomical system.
bourgeois enlighteners
In the second half of the XVIII century. Spanish Enlighteners opposed the reactionary medieval ideology. They were weaker and acted more timidly than, for example, the French enlighteners. To protect themselves from persecution by the Inquisition, Spanish scientists were forced to make public statements that science has absolutely no contact with religion, that religious truths are higher than scientific truths. This gave them the opportunity, more or less calmly, to engage in at least natural science. It was not until the end of the century that science forced the church to retreat in some way. In the 70s, some universities began to expound the doctrine of the rotation of the earth, Newton's laws and other scientific theories.
The progressive people of Spain showed great interest in socio-economic issues. They condemned the brutal exploitation of Negroes and Indians, questioned the privileges of the nobility, discussed the causes of property inequality. It was in economic literature, as well as in fiction, that the formation of the eighteenth century found its expression first of all. ideology of the Spanish bourgeoisie.
The revolutionary consciousness of the Spanish bourgeoisie arose during a period of acute crisis in feudal society. The contrast between the backward economy of Spain and the booming industry of the advanced countries of Europe forced the Spanish patriots to study the causes that brought their homeland into such a sad state. In the XVIII century. a significant number of theoretical works on political economy, letters and treatises appeared on the problems of the development of the Spanish national economy, elucidating the causes of its backwardness and ways to overcome this backwardness. Such are the works of Macanas, Ensenada, Campomanes, Floridablanca, Jovellanos and others.
In the second half of the XVIII century. in Spain, Patriotic (or, as they were otherwise called, Economic) societies of friends of the motherland, began to be created, which aimed to promote the progress of industry and agriculture. The first such society arose in the province of Gipuzkoa around 1748.
Members of patriotic societies were characterized by a deep interest in the past and present of their homeland. They traveled around the country in order to better know the state of all its regions, their natural resources; comparing Spain with advanced countries, they emphasized her backwardness and shortcomings in order to focus the attention of their compatriots on them. They fought for the use of their native language in science and university teaching instead of Latin and studied the cultural heritage of the Spanish people, searching for and publishing old texts. The heroic epic about Side first appeared in print in the second half of the 18th century. Members of patriotic societies studied the archives in order to restore the history of their country and educate contemporaries on the example of the best traditions of the past.
Patriotic societies sought from the government legislative measures to encourage the development of industry and agriculture. The most prominent representative of the Spanish Enlightenment, Jovellanos (1744-1811), on behalf of the Madrid Society, compiled his famous Report on the Agrarian Law, which expressed the demands of the rising bourgeoisie.
The creation of patriotic societies was a manifestation of the growth of the class and national consciousness of the Spanish bourgeoisie.
The Spanish educated society showed great interest in the works of the English, French and Italian educators. Despite the fact that the government banned the distribution in Spain of the works of Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and the encyclopedists, this literature was widely represented in the libraries of the Patriotic Societies; many Spaniards subscribed to the French "Encyclopedia". By the end of the century, overcoming censorship slingshots, original philosophical works by Spanish authors, written in the spirit of the Enlightenment, began to appear. Such, for example, is Pérez López's New System of Philosophy, or the Fundamental Principles of Nature Underlying Politics and Morality. In the same 1785, when this book was published, the first political magazine appeared in Spain - "Sensor", which, however, was soon banned by censorship.
The progressive ideas of the Spanish bourgeoisie even at the end of the 18th century were of a half-hearted, compromise character. Jovellanos demanded the abolition of the inalienability of land, the abolition of feudal duties and duties that hindered the development of agriculture and hampered trade, the organization of an irrigation system and the creation of communication lines, the dissemination of agricultural knowledge. But his program did not include the transfer of the land of the seigneurs to the peasants. He was against any state intervention in the economic relations of individuals and considered wealth inequality useful.
As the ideologist of the Spanish bourgeoisie, closely connected economically with the nobility, Jovellanos did not dare to encroach on the landed property of the nobles. He was far from the idea of revolution and sought only to eliminate some of the main obstacles to the development of capitalism in Spain through reforms from above. Only towards the end of the century, especially under the influence of the French Revolution, the representatives of the advanced circles of the Spanish bourgeoisie began to discuss the problems of political reforms more widely, but at the same time they, as a rule, remained monarchists.
Administrative and military reforms
By the beginning of the XVIII century. Spain was still a loosely centralized state with significant remnants of medieval fragmentation. The provinces still retained different monetary systems, measures of weight, different laws, customs, taxes, and duties. The centrifugal aspirations of individual provinces were also sharply manifested during the War of the Spanish Succession. Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia took the side of the Austrian Archduke, who promised to keep their ancient privileges. The resistance of Aragon and Valencia was broken, and their statutes and privileges abolished in 1707, but in Catalonia the bitter struggle continued for some time. Only on September 11, 1714, that is, after the conclusion of peace, the Duke of Berwick, commander of the French army in Spain, took Barcelona. After that, the charters of the old Catalan fueros were publicly burned by the hand of the executioner, and many leaders of the separatist movement were executed or expelled. In Catalonia, the laws and customs of Castile were introduced, the use of the Catalan language in legal proceedings is prohibited. However, even after that, the complete unity of laws, weights, coins and taxes throughout Spain was not achieved, in particular, the ancient liberties of the Basques were completely preserved.
The process of centralization of state power continued under the sons of Philip V - Ferdinand VI (1746-1759) and Charles III (1759-1788). The royal secretaries of the most important departments (foreign affairs, justice, military, financial, navy and colonies) begin to play a more independent role, gradually turning into ministers, while the medieval councils, with the exception of the Council of Castile, lose their importance. In all the provinces, with the exception of Navarre, which was ruled by a viceroy, and New Castile, the highest civil and military authority was entrusted to captain-generals appointed by the king. At the head of the provincial financial departments, quartermasters were placed, following the French model. The court and police were also reformed.
The expulsion of the Jesuits was also among the measures aimed at strengthening the central government. The reason for this was the unrest in Madrid and other cities at the end of March 1766, caused by the actions of the Minister of Finance and Economy, the Neapolitan Skilacce. The monopoly he imposed on the supply of food to Madrid led to higher prices. The unpopularity of the minister was further increased when he tried to ban the Spaniards from wearing their traditional dress - a wide cloak and a soft hat (sombrero). The masses sacked the palace of Schilacce in Madrid and forced the king to send him out of Spain. A group of prominent figures of "enlightened absolutism", headed by the chairman of the Council of Ministers, Count Aranda, took advantage of these unrest, in which the Jesuits were involved, to push through the Council of Castile a decision on the total expulsion of members of this order from Spain and all its colonies. Aranda carried out this decision with great energy. On the same day, the Jesuits were sent into exile from all Spanish possessions, their property was confiscated, and their papers were sealed.
The government of Charles III paid much attention to strengthening the armed forces of Spain. The Prussian system of training was introduced in the army; the recruitment of the army by volunteer mercenaries was replaced by a system of forced recruitment by lot. However, this reform met with strong resistance, and in practice the government often had to resort to recruiting arrested vagrants and criminals, who naturally turned out to be bad soldiers.
The reform of the naval forces also yielded negligible results. The government was unable to revive the Spanish fleet; for this there were not enough people or money.
Government economic policy
The 18th century brought forward a number of statesmen in Spain who sought to carry out the reforms necessary for the country in the spirit of "enlightened absolutism", especially in the spheres of economy and culture. The development of capitalism in industry in the second half of this century caused a particularly energetic activity of the ministers of Charles III - Aranda, Campomanes and Floridablanca. These ministers carried out a number of economic measures, mainly in the spirit of the teachings of the physiocrats, while relying on the assistance of patriotic societies.
Industry was at the center of their attention, the rise of which they sought to ensure by various measures. To improve the skills of workers, technical schools were created, compiled and translated from foreign languages technical textbooks, qualified craftsmen were ordered from abroad, young Spaniards were sent abroad to study technology. For success in the development of production, the government awarded craftsmen and entrepreneurs with bonuses and provided them with various benefits. Privileges and monopolies of workshops were abolished or limited. Attempts were made to establish protectionist tariffs, which, however, did not give noticeable results due to widespread smuggling. The experience of creating exemplary state manufactories turned out to be not much more successful: most of them soon fell into decay.
In the interests of trade, roads were laid, canals were built, but they were built poorly, and they quickly collapsed. Post office, passenger communication on stagecoaches were organized. In 1782 the National Bank was established.
For the development of trade and industry, the most important reform carried out by Floridablanca in 1778, namely the establishment of free trade between Spanish ports and American colonies, was of the greatest importance. This led to a significant expansion of the turnover of the Spanish-American trade and contributed to the development of the cotton industry in Catalonia.
Something has been done in the interests of agriculture. The sale of part of the communal and municipal lands, noble estates and some lands belonging to spiritual corporations was allowed. But these measures failed to cause any significant mobilization of landed property due to the resistance of the nobles and the clergy.
To protect the fields from incursions by stray sheep herds, laws were issued that limited the medieval rights and privileges of the Mesta and allowed peasants to fence arable land and plantings to protect them from damage.
To set an example of rational farming, the government in the 70s organized exemplary agricultural colonies on the wastelands of the Sierra Morena, for which the Germans and the Dutch were involved. Initially, the economy of the colonists developed successfully. However, after a few decades, the colonies fell into disrepair, mainly due to heavy taxes, as well as lack of roads, which prevented the sale of agricultural products.
Ministers who tried to carry out progressive reforms encountered fierce resistance from reactionary forces. Very often, a progressive measure introduced by a minister was followed by a countermeasure imposed by the reactionaries, which limited or canceled its effect. In general, the government was often compelled, under the pressure of reactionary circles, to limit and cancel its own measures.
Foreign policy
In the foreign policy of the first king of the Bourbon dynasty, Philip V, dynastic motives played a decisive role. On the one hand, Philip sought to regain the French crown for himself or his sons (which forced him to look for an ally in England against the French Bourbons and make concessions to the British in America); on the other hand, he tried to return the former Italian possessions to Spain. As a result of a series of wars and diplomatic agreements, Philip's sons Charles and Philip were recognized: the first - the king of both Sicilies (1734), the second - the duke of Parma and Piacenza (1748), but without joining these possessions to Spain. Spain's attempts to expel the British from Gibraltar were also unsuccessful.
Under Ferdinand VI, supporters of the English and French orientation fought for influence, and the advantage remained on the side of the former. The result of this was an unfavorable trade agreement for Spain with England in 1750.
In 1753, relations with the papacy were settled to the advantage of the Spanish monarchy by a special concordat. From now on, the king could influence the appointment of vacant spiritual positions, participate in the disposal of free church property, etc.
Under Charles III, there is a rapprochement with France and a break with England. This turn in the policy of Spain was explained by the fact that the military and economic aggression of England in Spanish America took over from the middle of the 18th century. especially persistent and systematic character. The British smuggling trade in America continued and intensified; they founded trading posts in Spanish Honduras and cut down valuable dye-wood there. At the same time, the British forbade the Spaniards to fish off the coast of Newfoundland, even outside the territorial waters, and from the beginning of the Seven Years' War they began to search and seize Spanish ships on the high seas.
Spain abandoned the policy of neutrality. The so-called family pact (1761) was concluded with France - a defensive and offensive alliance, and Spain joined the Seven Years' War, speaking out in January 1762 against England. But Spain and France were defeated. Under the Paris Peace Treaty of 1763, Spain ceded Florida and lands to the east and southeast of the Mississippi to England, refused to fish in the waters of Newfoundland and allowed the British to cut down the dye tree in Honduras, although the English trading posts were subject to liquidation. France, in order to save an ally, ceded to Spain the part of Louisiana that remained with her.
Relations between Spain and England continued to be tense after the Peace of Paris. A manifestation of the Spanish-English contradictions were the frequent clashes between Spain and Portugal over the borders of their possessions in South America, which led in 1776-1777. to military action in America. In October 1777, a peace treaty was signed, ending centuries of border disputes. Under this treaty, Spain received the Portuguese colony of Sacramento on La Plata, an important center of English smuggling in the Spanish colonies, which had long been a bone of contention, and retained in its hands the colony of Paraguay, which Portugal claimed.
In 1775, the war of the North American colonies of England for independence began. Some Spanish politicians, such as the Count of Aranda, pointed out the danger that a North American victory would pose to Spanish rule in the Americas. Nevertheless, since 1776, Spain has been secretly helping the Americans with money, weapons and ammunition. But while her ally, France, was increasingly inclined towards open military assistance to the Americans and in 1778 entered the war against England, Spain tried to evade such a decisive step. She made several attempts to mediate between the warring parties, hoping to get Menorca and Gibraltar in return. However, these attempts were rejected by the British, who, moreover, did not stop their attacks on Spanish ships on the high seas. June 23, 1779 Spain declared war on England. Since the main forces of the latter were tied up in America, the Spaniards were able to regain Menorca and Florida and drive the British out of Honduras and the Bahamas. Under the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, Florida and Menorca were left to Spain, the rights of the British in Honduras were limited, but the Bahamas were returned to England.
General results of the foreign policy of Spain in the XVIII century. testified to a certain increase in its international significance, but due to its economic and political backwardness, it could play only a secondary role in international politics.
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