In the 17th century it was associated with the church. At birth, he was baptized in the church; newlyweds - were married in the church; the deceased was buried in the church. The service was held according to church books. In some families, moralizing books about the lives of the saints were read. The sprouts of the new different areas life was reflected in the views of the people of the XVII century. New values appeared in society, a new perception of reality, a person's worldview changed.
Along with obedience and fulfillment of the will of the elders, which was very much appreciated in previous centuries, interest in independent actions is awakening. The desire for knowledge and education is valued, the desire to understand and explain what is happening around. More attention is paid to the person, his earthly affairs. All these changes were reflected in the culture.
Spiritual world the peasant was closely connected with nature and relied on the experience of generations. In solving many issues, the peasants acted according to custom: as great-grandfathers and grandfathers lived and acted.
Tradition in peasant culture was traced in folk art and folklore. In winter, young people gathered "for gatherings" in some spacious hut. Fairy tales and legends were told there, old songs were sung. In the summer they led round dances, arranged games with songs and recitatives.
Life in the city changed faster than in the countryside. It was city life that determined in further development countries. In the urban environment, secular (non-church) culture took root faster than in the peasant environment. Noble people began to teach their children not only literacy, but also the sciences, Greek and Latin languages, started a new environment in the house according to the Western model. material from the site
Golitsyn's house. The Moscow house of the boyar Golitsyn amazed the Muscovites. It was a two-story stone building fashionable in the 1680s. facade architecture, with many large glazed windows. The halls and rooms of the palace were filled with furniture: there were chairs and armchairs, secretaries, tables and sets for precious dishes. The walls were decorated with paintings, portraits of Russian and foreign sovereigns; geo-graphic maps hung on the walls in gilded frames. Large mirrors shone in the piers between the windows. In different rooms there were hours of amazing artwork. The bedroom had a bed with a canopy. The chambers were illuminated by a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. One room was set aside for the library, where handwritten and printed books in Russian, Polish, and German were kept.
How did peasants live compared to nobles and merchants in 17th century Smolensk? Farmers and serfs in the Smolensk region suffered from crop shortages that hit Russia during the years of the Godunovs. This created tension. The lower classes did not want to put up with hunger at a time when the rich did not pay any attention to their suffering.
For only two years (1609, 1608 and part of 1607), the ruling estates of the Smolensk district lived calmly, without sorrow, and in 1607 and 1606 they obviously had a rather hard time, since the peasant war brought them ruin and death.
Relations between Russian peasants and landlords could not be called very peaceful even in 1609. There were many cases of the peasants refusing to perform the duties imposed on them by the landlords.
In 1609, the mother of the Smolensk landowner D.F. Neyolova wrote to her son, who was in Moscow: “But we live in Smolensk in the city, and your rye was sown in the field at the right time, and God gave goodness to the field. But the peasants don’t listen to me, they don’t bring bread to me in the city, and a man sent to us is sent to the city for siege time, and they (peasants) won’t send a person to the city, and in the city I’m always a shame from boyar children, from messengers and I live buried.
The letter says that the Smolensk landlords, by tradition, had their own plow, processed by the peasants (corvée); that the peasants were obliged to deliver bread to the landowner, and during the war, recruits ("dacha people"), and that the peasants of D. F. Neelov refused to fulfill these duties.
But if the peasants have not yet launched violent actions from this landowner, then from another landowner, M. F. Neyelov, the peasants seized the landowner's bread. The wife of this landowner wrote to him in Moscow: “But, sir, the present bread from both spring estates was not taken away at all, the thieves did not give. ("thieves" the landowner called the rebellious peasants).
Smolensk landowners again saw in front of them scary ghost peasant war and started a rumor that the Russian peasants were waiting for the arrival of the Poles in order to free themselves from the power of the landowners. But this was a slander against the Smolensk peasantry. The peasants did not at all wait for the arrival of the Poles, since the Polish pans were even worse for them than their landowners, and the farmers began to free themselves from the nobles with their own hands.
In 1609, an extremely difficult situation arose for the Smolensk settlers. In addition to their enemy, the landowners, the peasants found themselves face to face with an even more ferocious and dangerous enemy- Polish lords and gentry. And since the Smolensk feudal lords were in secret agreement with the Poles, the struggle of the villagers against the Polish rapists inevitably merged with the previous struggle against their masters. And in the liberation war of the common people against the Polish interventionists one should see the continuation of the peasant war, or rather, its new form.
Posad people were in Russia the second largest stratum of the taxable population, that is, the population subject to duties in favor of the state of landowners.
The Smolensk posad world was quite large in size and economically powerful.
In the XVI and early XVII century (before the siege of 1609) Smolensk after Moscow was one of the largest cities of the Muscovite state. According to foreigners, there were about 8,000 houses in Smolensk at that time, i.e., it must be assumed that the total urban population was 40-45 thousand people.
Russian peasants in the 17th century
The author of the diary of the siege of Smolensk claims that there were up to 6,000 households in Smolensky Posad. The actual township population (artisans and merchants) was probably not less than 30,000 people, or about 75 percent. the entire urban population. What was the number of artisans and merchants separately - we do not know at all. But judging by percentage merchants and artisans in other Russian cities of that time, which approached Smolensk somewhat (for example, Tula), the merchant population in Smolensk could be about 18,000 people and 12,000 artisans.
Fragmentary, extremely incomplete data show the presence in Smolensk of 38 handicraft specialties (in reality there were many more). Attention is drawn to the huge proportion food production. This is apparently due only to the fact that the townspeople did not have sufficient his Agriculture and therefore were forced to turn to the market, and this brought to life a large number of food craft specialties: prasols (fish salters), bakers, kalachniks, malt workers, butchers, gophers, pancakes, buckwheat, pancakes, pie-makers, flour-makers, etc. A large number of townspeople involved in food crafts and a large number of artisans.
The village did not really need urban artisans and could make do with its own artisans. The village did not feel much dependence on the city, on the contrary, the city in high degree dependent on the village.
Smolensk paid trade duties of 8,000 rubles a year, while Nizhny Novgorod paid only 7000 rubles. The turnover of Smolensk exceeded that of Nizhny Novgorod by almost 14 per cent.
Smolensk was the largest economic center for the trade of the Moscow state with Lithuania and Poland, and through them - with neighboring states Western Europe. Inside the country, Smolensk carried on a lively trade with Moscow, Torzhok, Tver, Novgorod, Velikie Luki, and with the Seversk cities lying south of Smolensk. And Dorogobuzh was so closely connected economically with Smolensk that it served as its trading suburb.
FROM foreign countries Smolensk traded mainly in products of agriculture, hunting and fishing, and through it a wide variety of European-made goods went from the West to Russia. Boldin Monastery in late XVI and at the beginning of the 17th century in Smolensk he bought for his household:
- herring,
- cod,
- ammonia,
- iron and copper wire
- enamel (enamel),
- iron nails,
- gold and silver leaf,
- white,
- paper,
- lead,
- alum,
- pewter utensils,
- copper utensils,
- thyme (kind of incense)
- lemons,
- sugar,
- cherries in molasses,
- sheepskin,
- canvas,
- image,
- axes,
- horns,
- gimlets
Many of these goods were of foreign origin and came to Smolensk from Poland and Lithuania.
Smolensk was a land window, if not to Europe itself, then to its Polish-Lithuanian hallway. This window was locked with the strongest castle of that time (a stone fortress built by the most talented Russian architect Fyodor Savelich Kon under Boris Godunov) and had very solid economic slingshots.
The fact is that in 1590, by decree of the Moscow government, Smolensk was made the final point of trade for those foreign merchants from Poland and Lithuania who carried consumer goods. Merchants were allowed to enter Moscow only with luxury items (brocade, precious stones, etc.). This meant that the Polish-Lithuanian merchants had to sell the bulk of their goods in Smolensk itself, in the Lithuanian gostiny yard, and, of course, first of all to the Smolensk merchants. The lion's share of the profits with such a trading system fell into the pocket of Smolensk merchants.
Poland diplomatically sought in Moscow the destruction of the commercial exclusivity of Smolensk and demanded freedom of trade for its merchants, but Moscow was adamant. This issue could only be resolved by war. There is no doubt that he was one of the prominent causes of the Polish-Lithuanian intervention.
The powerful Smolensk fortress (one of the strongest fortresses at that time, not only in Russia, but also in Europe) became, first of all, the stronghold of the township world. This circumstance was especially reinforced by the fact that in 1609 the Smolensk nobles entered into secret relations with the Poles and promised not to defend the fortress, but to surrender it to the Polish king. Therefore, the townspeople could not count on the nobles as the defenders of the fortress, but could rely only on their own forces and on the armed peasants who came to Smolensk before the siege.
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Life in Russia in the 17th century
Noticeable shifts in all areas of Russian culture had little effect on the overall cultural panorama of the country.
New trends in the field of life touched only the top of the city - the royal court, boyars, rich townspeople. Gradually, the European model of life penetrated into the financially secure Russian environment. The main feature of these innovations was concern for comfort. There were cutlery and napkins at the table. Tablecloths and individual dishes were used. A separate room was allocated for each family member. People used individual toilet items. Wealthy families met faience, pewter and copper utensils. Drinks were abundantly presented at the feast - beer, kvass, honey on berries, imported wines.
In the large stone houses of the boyars Golitsyn, Naryshkin, Odoevsky, Morozov and others, the walls were covered with expensive wallpaper, fabrics, leather, and carpets. The walls were lined with mirrors and paintings. The rooms were beautifully furnished. Chandeliers and many candles illuminated the rooms. Separate rooms were allocated for libraries.
The clothes of the masters and servants of such houses were Western-style, short and light, made of expensive fabrics, decorated with gold and silver embroidery and precious stones. European dress was supposed to become the norm for Russian society, but this trend did not gain its strength immediately, it had to make its way through the strong foundations of the age-old traditions of the people. Nevertheless, the pan-European fashion, dictated by the generally recognized leader - Paris, in the first half of the XVIII century. was already accepted by the privileged classes of Russia.
The crews were light, on springs, with servants at the back. Concerts, various entertainments, chess have become elements of the life of rich people. AT chess game the Russians easily beat the Europeans. Europeanized people did their hair, shaved their faces, some used wigs.
Representatives of the posad elite lived more modestly (cloth dress, modest furniture and utensils). But in their midst, there was also a desire for comfort.
In the 17th century royal life changed. The protection of the king reached 2000 people. Special sleeping servants, equestrians, falconers, coachmen helped him during the day. Royal palaces in the 17th century were of great splendour. Permanent summer residences appear - Kolomenskoye and Izmailovskoye.
Paintings, clocks, mirrors appear in the rooms. The reception halls are used to receive guests. At feasts, tables were often set for several thousand guests. The king's main entertainment was dog and falconry.
The mansions of the nobles were a copy of the royal chambers in miniature. They consisted of a complex of wooden and stone structures. In the center was a furnace. Mica, or fish bubbles, were inserted into the windows. The furniture was made from carved wood. The floors were made of wood, often covered with carpets. The dishes were gold and silver. Glassware was rare.
The life of the townspeople was more modest. The courtyard included a residential building and outbuildings. The basis of the furniture were tables, benches, chests. The main decoration was considered a red corner with icons. In the 17th century townspeople began to build brick houses, but only wealthy citizens could afford such housing.
The peasant yard included a hut, a barn, a barn. The huts were heated on black, stoves were a rarity. A torch was used for illumination. Furniture included tables and benches. We slept on the stove and benches next to it. The dishes were wooden and earthenware. The basis of nutrition was cereals, rye, millet, oats, wheat, peas. Meat was prepared for big holidays. Mushrooms and berries were picked in the north and in the center. The family consisted of no more than 10 people. Boys entered into marriage at the age of 15, and girls at the age of 12. Marriages could be concluded up to 3 times. Since the 17th century weddings in the church became obligatory. Clothing was made from homespun canvas and animal skins. Bast shoes made of bast, or wrinkled leather served as shoes.
All new phenomena of everyday life were a drop in the ocean of old Russian customs. Millions of people lived in chicken huts, with a torch in the common room. Peasant and townsman families ate from a common bowl with wooden spoons. They wore clothes made of homespun canvas or coarse cloth, bast shoes in summer, felt boots in winter, and slept on benches in common rooms. On rare days of rest, people enjoyed dressing up, engaged in fortune-telling, danced with pleasure and sang songs and ditties.
New trends remained elitist. They only emphasized the huge gulf between the life of the broad masses of the people (peasants and townspeople) and an extremely narrow layer of representatives of the upper classes who were drawn to education and culture. And yet the temples and houses were in plain sight, the entrance to the church was open to all parishioners. This put a civilizational stamp on the image of the consciousness of the people.
Compared to the 16th century, the 17th century had at least some transformations in everyday life. Indeed, in the 16th century, the life of various strata of the people changed slowly. Life in the vast expanses of Russia remained traditional, as many centuries ago. There was still the same long and heavy clothes. The same chicken huts, the same wooden utensils, the same entertainment. Only in large cities there were some shifts. In some places, mica and glass windows appeared instead of the former ones, covered with bullish bubbles.
THE LIFE OF RUSSIA IN THE 17TH CENTURY WAS PREPARED BY A STUDENT OF THE 7TH CLASS SIDOROV NIKITA.
In the 17th century, the main thing that united the way of life of all classes was Orthodox faith. The church prescribed a certain order, which was strictly observed: reading prayers, going to church services, observing customs and rituals
LIFE OF BOYARS AND NOBILIES Wealthy people lived in wooden and stone mansions. The windows in such houses were covered with mica, less often with glass; candles were used for lighting in noble and merchant houses.
MIRRORS AND CLOCK APPEARED AMONG THE INNOVATIONS IN THE NOBILITY'S HOUSEHOLD. ON THE WALLS IN THE CHOIR YOU CAN SEE PICTURES, ENGRAVINGS, GEOGRAPHICAL MAPS. FOREIGN FURNITURE WAS IN Vogue.
CLOTHES OF RICH PEOPLE The clothes of men and women were a shirt - a shirt. The man put on trousers, a zipun and a caftan from above. Caftans differed in cut. The clothes of the rich were decorated with embroidery and precious stones. The usual clothes of women included a sundress, a skirt, and a shower warmer. Noble ladies wore outfits embroidered with gold and adorned with precious stones. Winter clothes rich people was made of fur. Men and women wore high-heeled boots.
The life of peasants and townspeople The bulk of peasants and townspeople lived in chicken huts. A chicken hut is a hut with a stove without a chimney. In such a hut, the smoke during the furnace comes out through the window, open door or through a chimney in the roof. The houses were lit with a torch. The windows were filled with bull bubbles.
The everyday life of the peasants was simple. It consisted mainly of the most necessary things without frills.
Clothing of peasants and townspeople Ordinary townspeople wore caftans more modest than those of boyars and nobles. In winter, they wore fur coats and hats of various shapes, depending on wealth. The peasant's wardrobe included - bast shoes, pants, a shirt; in winter - a fur coat and three.
The food of the Russian people The food of the Russian people did not differ in variety. 200 days a year it was necessary to fast, these days they were content with bread and grain products, vegetables, fish. The usual drink was bread kvass. They also consumed beer, as well as "hot wine" - vodka, but state-owned enterprises - taverns or mug yards - had the right to produce and sell them. Drinkers were called roosters, they were not respected.
traditions FAMILY. The head of the family is a man. The younger ones did not dare to contradict the elders and obeyed them. Women's lives were spent at home. They attended church. On Saturdays they washed in the bathhouse, on Sundays and holidays didn't work. WEDDING RITE. The girl was strictly supposed to observe her honor. Before the wedding, she often did not even see her fiancé. Marriage was allowed no more than three times. Church marriage did not recognize divorce. Duty to the family was considered the main duty of a person.
