Natural economy reigned supreme in Europe in the first centuries of the Middle Ages. In the village, the peasant family itself produced agricultural products and handicrafts, satisfying not only their own needs, but also paying their quitrent.
chalu. A characteristic feature of the subsistence economy was the combination of rural and industrial labor. On the estates of large feudal lords, there were only a small number of artisans who were not engaged in or almost not engaged in agriculture. There were also few peasant craftsmen who lived in the village and who, along with agriculture, were specially engaged in some kind of craft. The exchange of products mainly boiled down to trade in such rare but important items in the economy that could be mined in only a few places: iron, tin, copper, salt, etc. This also included luxury items that were not produced in Europe at that time and were brought from the East: expensive jewelry, weapons, silk fabrics, spices, etc. This exchange was carried out by itinerant merchants (Byzantines, Arabs, Syrians, etc.). The production of products for sale was almost undeveloped. In exchange for the imported goods, the merchants received only an insignificant part of the agricultural products.
During the early Middle Ages, there were cities that have survived from antiquity. New cities were built as administrative centers, fortified points, or church centers (residences of archbishops, bishops, etc.). But under the conditions described, these cities could not be a concentration of crafts and trade. The only exceptions were some cities of the early Middle Ages, where already in the VIII-IX centuries. there were markets and craft domination developed. On the whole, this did not change the picture.
By the X - XI centuries. important changes have taken place in the economic life of Europe. Technique and skills of handicraft were developed, individual crafts were improved: mining and processing of metals, blacksmithing and weaponsmithing, dressing of fabrics, and processing of tracks. The production of more sophisticated clay products was carried out using a potter's wheel. Construction, milling, etc. developed. Further specialization of the artisan was required. But this was incompatible with the position of the peasant, who was entirely independent of his economy and worked at the same time as a farmer and as a craftsman. The need is ripe for the transformation of handicrafts from subsidiary production in agriculture into an independent branch of the economy.
The well-known progress in the development of agriculture and animal husbandry also prepared the separation of handicrafts from agricultural
1o farms. Significant growth in labor productivity
in agriculture has become! possible thanks to the improvement of tools and methods of soil cultivation. This was especially favored by the spread of the iron plow, two-field and three-field. Thanks to this, in agriculture, the quantity and variety of agricultural products has increased. The time for their production was reduced, the surplus product appropriated by feudal lords and landowners increased. Part of the product began to remain in the hands of the peasant, which made it possible to exchange part of the agricultural product for the products of artisans.

Already in that era, agriculture was the predominant industry in Russia. Its development, of course, was in close connection with soil and climate. Meanwhile, in the southern Russian black earth belt, it brought a rich harvest, although it sometimes suffered from drought, locusts, earth-moving animals, worms, etc. enemies; in the northern regions, especially in the Novgorod land, agriculture developed with great difficulty. Early autumn or late spring frosts often broke bread and produced hunger years, and only deliveries from other Russian regions or from foreign countries saved the population from pestilence. Meanwhile, in the southern zone, the abundance of free fat fields, with a relatively small population, made it possible to often plow and sow virgin lands, or novina, i.e. virgin soil, and then, in case of depletion, run it for a long number of years, in the northern strip the farmer had to wage a stubborn struggle with scarce soil and impenetrable forests. To get a piece of comfortable land, he cleared a section of the forest, cut down and burned trees; the ash remaining from them served as fertilizer. For several years, such a plot gave a decent harvest, and when the soil was depleted, the farmer left it and went deeper into the forest, clearing a new plot for arable land. Such areas cleared from under the forest were called priterebs. As a result of such mobile farming, the peasant population itself has acquired a mobile character. But at the same time, our peasantry spread the Slavic-Russian colonization far in all directions and, with their sweat or their suffering (hard work), secured new lands for the Russian tribe.

Various testimonies confirm us that the cultivation of the land was carried out with the same tools and methods that have survived in Russia to our time. Spring bread was sown in the spring, and winter bread was sown in the fall. But in the south, in the same way, they plowed more with a "plow", and in the north - with a plow, or "rale"; harnessed horses to them, but, in all likelihood, used them for the plow and oxen; the plowed field, or "role", was passed with a harrow. The ears were also removed with a "sickle" and "scythe". The compressed or mown bread was piled up in a heap, and then they were taken to the threshing floor and put there in the "ricks" and "tables"; before threshing, they dried it in "barns" and threshed them with "flails". Threshed grain, or "rye", was kept in "cages", "bins" (bins), but for the most part they were buried in pits. The grain was ground into flour mainly with hand millstones; mills are rarely mentioned and only about water mills. Hay was harvested in the same way as now, i.e. they mowed the grass in the meadows (otherwise "hay", or "reaped") and stacked them in haystacks. Already at that time rye, as the most suitable plant for Russian soil, was the main article of grain products and folk food. Wheat was also produced in the south; in addition, millet, oats, barley, peas, spelled, lentils, hemp, flax and hops are mentioned; only buckwheat in those days we do not meet.

As for the cultivation of vegetables, or truck farming, then it was not alien to ancient Russia. We have news of vegetable gardens planted near cities and monasteries, especially somewhere in Bologna, i.e. in a low-lying place near the river. Among garden plants, mention is made of turnip, cabbage, poppy, pumpkin, beans, garlic and onions - all the same that still make up the usual belongings of the Russian economy. We also have evidence of the existence in cities and monasteries of orchards containing various fruit trees, mainly apples. Nuts, berries and mushrooms, of course, even then served the needs of the Russian people. For wealthy people, trade brought expensive foreign vegetables and fruits brought from the south, from the borders of the Byzantine Empire, especially dry grapes, or raisins.

Rye bread has been baked sour since ancient times. During crop failures, poor people would mix in other plants, especially quinoa. There were bread and wheat. Porridge was made from millet, and jelly was made from oats, which was sometimes eaten with honey. They knew how to make sweet pies with honey and milk. Oil was knocked out of hemp and flaxseed; butter was also beaten from milk; knew how to make cheese. Meat food, apparently, was very common in Ancient Russia due, among other things, to the abundance of game and constant hunting. Our ancestors not only ate black grouses, hazel grouses, cranes, deer, elk, rounds, wild boars, hares, etc., but did not disdain bear meat and squirrels, against which the clergy revolted, referring them to "filth", i.e. to unclean animals. The clergy also rebelled against eating animals, even if they were clean, but not slaughtered, but strangled, considering the latter "carrion"; here it carried black grouses and other birds, which were caught with snares. During the famine, the commoners, of course, did not pay attention to such prohibitions and ate not only linden bark, but dog, cats, snakes, etc., not to mention horse meat, which in pagan times was generally used by Russians for food. The main item of ordinary meat food was delivered, of course, by poultry and animals: chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, goats, pigs and cattle; the latter was called "beef" in the old days. Strict observance of fasts, which later distinguished Russian Orthodoxy, in the first three centuries of our Christianity was still only one of the pious customs, and, despite the efforts of the clergy, many Russian people have not yet given up eating meat on fasting days.

Cattle breeding was the same widespread occupation in Russia as agriculture, but even more ancient. Of course, it did not have significant development in the northern forest belt, but flourished more in the southern lands, where there was an abundance of pastures and even steppe areas. However, to what extent these lands were rich in cattle, we have no direct information. We meet more indications of the prosperity of horse breeding, but also that of the princely itself. The size of this latter can be judged by the chronicle news that the Novgorod-Seversk princes grazed several thousand mares on the Rakhna river alone (in 1146). However, the princes had to take special care of the horse herds already because they delivered horses not only to their squad, but also as part of the zemstvo army that gathered in wartime. Horses of noble people were usually distinguished by a special brand, or "spot". Southern Russia also enjoyed the neighborhood of nomadic peoples and acquired from them a large number of horses and oxen through trade; and in wartime, herds and herds of steppe dwellers served as the main prey of Russian squads; but the nomads, in turn, drove away Russian cattle during the raids. The Ugrian pacers and horses, whom the chronicle calls "headlights", were especially famous. In general, the "greyhound" horse was highly valued in Russia and was the joy of the Russian fellow.

Along with agriculture and cattle breeding, fishing occupied an important place in the national economy, with a great abundance of fish lakes and rivers. Since ancient times, it has been produced with the same gear and tools as in our time, i.e. a seine, nonsense, a long net, or a net, and a fishing rod. The most common fishing custom was eza, i.e. partitions made of stakes, stuffed across the river, with a hole in the middle, also fenced off, where fish enter. Along with the squads of animal catchers, the princes had whole squads of fish catchers; when they set out on a fishing trip, they were usually called "vatagi", and their chief was called "vataman". By the way, the Novgorodians gave their princes the right to send fishing gangs to the Northern Pomorie, namely to the Tersk coast; and they themselves sent their bands to the other shores of Pomorie, where, in addition to fish, they also caught walruses and seals. Since ancient times, in places especially fishing, a whole class of people was formed, who were mainly engaged in this trade. As a result of the prohibition of meat to monks, the monasteries especially treasured the fishing grounds; therefore, princes and rich people tried to endow them with such waters where fish were found in abundance. The monks themselves were engaged in fishing and received fish rent from the inhabitants sitting on the monastery land. The sturgeon has always been considered the most valuable fish in Russia. The need to stock up on fish for the winter, especially with the gradual establishment of posts, taught me how to cook fish for future use, i.e. dry it and salt. The Russians already knew how to cook caviar.

Salt was obtained in Russia from different places. First, it was mined in the Galician land on the northeastern slope of the Carpathian Mountains; Salt quarries in the vicinity of Udech, Kolomyia and Przemysl are especially famous. From Galich, salt caravans were sent to the Kiev land either by land through the Volyn, or in boats they descended the Dniester into the Black Sea, and from there climbed up the Dnieper. Secondly, salt was mined from the Crimean and Azov lakes. Partly it was also transported by sea and the Dnieper, and partly by land on carts. Even then, apparently, there was a special trade of salt carriers (Chumaks), who traveled from Southern Russia to these lakes for salt. The duty on salt was one of the items of the prince's income; sometimes trade in it was at the mercy. In Northern Russia, salt was either obtained through foreign trade, or was mined by boiling. The latter was produced both on the shores of the White Sea and in various other places where the soil was saturated with salt sediments; especially in large quantities it was mined in Staraya Ruse. There were a number of merchants in Novgorod who were engaged in the salt industry and were called "prasols". In the Suzdal land, Soligalich, Rostov, Gorodets and others are known for their breweries. Salt was boiled out very simply: they dug a well and made a solution in it; then this solution was poured into a large iron pan ("tsren") or into a cauldron ("salga") and the salt was boiled down by boiling.

Common drinks of Ancient Rus were kvass, mash, beer and honey, which were brewed at home; and wines were obtained through foreign trade from the Byzantine Empire and South-Western Europe. The beer was brewed from flour with malt and hops. But the most common drink was honey, which served as the main treat during feasts and drinking bouts. It was brewed with hops and seasoned with some spices. Russia, as you know, loved to drink with joy and grief, at a wedding and at a commemoration. Noble and wealthy people, along with wine and beer, always kept large stocks of honey in their cellars, which were mainly called "medush". What huge reserves the princes had, we saw during the capture of the court of the Seversky prince in Putivl, in 1146, and this is quite understandable, since the princes had to constantly treat their squad with strong honey. In those days, when they did not yet know the use of sugar, honey served in Russia as a seasoning not only for drinks, but also for sweet dishes. Such a great request for it was satisfied by the widespread bee trade, or beekeeping. A natural hollow or hollow in an old tree, in which wild bees were found, was called a borte; and a grove with such trees was called boarding ground, or "leaving". Onboard fishing is found throughout the Russian land, under various soil and climate conditions. The princes in their volosts, along with animal and fish fishermen, had special beekeepers who were engaged in onboard grooming and boiling honey. Sometimes these leave were given to free people with the condition to pay the prince a certain part of the honey. In addition, honey was a prominent part of the tribute and quitrent to the prince's treasury. The usual measure for this was "lukno", or a certain size box of splint (where our "basket" comes from).

Bortniki in North-Eastern Russia were also called "dart frogs": some dexterity and habit of climbing trees was required, since sometimes honey had to be obtained at a considerable height. In general, onboard fishing was very profitable, because, in addition to honey, it also delivered wax, which not only went to candles for churches and wealthy people, but also constituted a very significant vacation item in our trade with foreigners.


Belyaeva "A few words about agriculture in ancient Russia" (Times. General. I. and Others. XXII). Aristov's excellent work "Industry of Ancient Rus". SPb. 1866. In addition to chronicles, about agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing and boarding, there are many indications in the Russian Pravda, the Life of Theodosius and the Paterik Pechersky, as well as in the letters of agreement and awards. For example, fishing gangs are mentioned in the treaties of Novgorod with the grand dukes (Collected G. Gr. And Dog. I).

The concept of entrepreneurship was introduced into everyday life by Adam Smith and meant a type of activity aimed at making a profit and associated with risk. However, not everyone succeeds in entrepreneurial activity, not everyone is able to take a reasonable justified risk for the sake of profit. In the Middle Ages, when natural economy dominated, market relations were weak, there was non-economic coercion, one can observe only the initial stage of development of entrepreneurship. Relations with Byzantium were not always peaceful.


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Development of entrepreneurship in medieval Russia

Introduction. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3

Trade and entrepreneurial activity in Ancient Rus 4

The emergence of entrepreneurship. ... ... 4

Merchant trade. ... ... ... ... ... 6

Russian entrepreneurship in the era of the creation of a centralized state. ... ... ... ... ... nine

Russian entrepreneurship at the stage of creating a centralized state. ... ... ... ... nine

Duties. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 12

Russian entrepreneurship in the era of strengthening the centralized state. ... ... ... ... ... fourteen

Strengthening Moscow. The emergence of manufactories. ... fourteen

International trade. ... ... ... ... ... eighteen

Unified system of measure. Resettlement policy. 22

Russian merchants and industrialists XVII century. ... 28

Merchants to the middle XVII century. ... ... ... 29

"Agents" of merchants. ... ... ... ... ... ... 31

Business relationship. ... ... ... ... ... 33

Conclusion. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 36

Bibliography . . . . . . . 37

Introduction

The colonization of huge European spaces by the Slavs was not aggressive, was not accompanied by plunder and extermination of neighboring peoples. Tolerance and peacefulness led to the establishment of good-neighborly relations with small neighbors (Merya, Chud, etc.). The formation of the ancient Russian state in 882. was largely due to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Eastern Slavs. The concept of entrepreneurship was introduced into everyday life by Adam Smith and meant a type of activity aimed at making a profit and associated with risk. These are the main points found in all later definitions of entrepreneurship. It can be subdivided into: commercial, industrial, banking and other types; be collective or individual; in terms of scale, it is classified as small, medium and large. However, not everyone succeeds in entrepreneurial activity, not everyone is able to take a reasonable, justified risk for the sake of making a profit.

The developed stage of entrepreneurship is characterized by a close connection with the market, cooperation and division of labor, self-sufficiency, lack of coercion, freedom to choose a method of action, and the use of hired labor, if necessary. In the Middle Ages, when natural economy prevailed, market relations were weak, there was non-economic coercion, only the initial stage of the development of entrepreneurship can be observed. Although he played a certain role in the formation of entrepreneurship in a "pure" form in a bourgeois society. The oldest and main type of entrepreneurial activity of our ancestors was trade. Merchants were engaged in trade - people who took shape in Russia in a special professional group and then became a separate class.

Trade and entrepreneurial activity in Ancient Russia.

The birth of entrepreneurship.

The formation of class relations, the strengthening of the princely power led to the accumulation of surplus natural products in the hands of the princes and their warriors, who collected tribute from the local tribes. There were two types of tribute - polyudye, when from November to April the prince and his retinue walked through the Slavic lands and collected furs (skora), honey, wax and other goods. The second type of tribute was called povozi, when the peasants themselves on horses brought goods to the prince's court.

In the spring (while the water was high), huge dugout boats sailed to Kiev from Smolensk, Chernigov, Novgorod, loaded in Kiev with goods, and merchants sailed down the Dnieper with an armed squad and princely ambassadors to Constantinople and other Greek cities. This path began to be called "from the Varangians to the Greeks." It ran through the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov, Lovat and Dnieper. Relations with Byzantium were not always peaceful. From the 9th to the middle of the 11th centuries. the Kiev princes made six campaigns against Constantinople. They were mostly caused by the desire of Russia to restore or maintain trade relations with its southern neighbor. The campaigns ended, as a rule, with the signing of trade agreements. The peculiarities of the trade of Russian merchants in Constantinople, for example, are evidenced by the agreement of 907, concluded by Prince Oleg with the Byzantine emperors (there were two of them then - Leo and Alexander.). In it, first of all, it was stipulated that the merchants who arrived in Byzantium from Rus should not "do dirty tricks", did not engage in robbery and violence instead of trade. Apparently, as a precaution, the merchants who came were allowed to live only in the suburbs, near the monastery of St. Mothers, but not in the capital itself. They were previously registered by the Greek authorities and could enter the city only through one specially designated gate. There was also a condition that merchants and their servants were unarmed; they could enter the city in a group of no more than 50 people, accompanied by the "tsar's husband", i.e. local official. Finally, Russian merchants were not allowed to winter within Byzantium. Probably, the Byzantines were afraid of the arrivals, even those who came legally. Already in these agreements, merchants who traded abroad were called "guests". This was the elite of the Russian merchants, which existed until the first quarter of the 18th century.

Along with Byzantium, Russian merchants traded with the Khazar Kaganate, which arose in the 7th century. (his power extended from the Crimea and the Caspian to the middle Volga; the capital of Khazaria was the city of Itil at the mouth of the Volga, next to modern Astrakhan); with the countries of the East.

The main trade items of the Russian merchant were bread, honey, wax, furs. It should be noted that fur clothing was in great fashion at the court of the caliphs and among the wealthy Arabs. For their part, oriental merchants offered jewelry, wines and spices that were in steady demand in Russia. In addition, through the Khazars, silver and silver Arabian money dirhams came to Russia, which were widespread in Kievan Rus. The way along the Volga was called "from the Varangians to the Khazars".

Around the 11th century, by the time of fairly extensive business transactions with the participation of Arab, Byzantine and Western European merchants, the importance of Kiev as a center of intermediary trade between the West and the East increased. Transit trade through southern Russia was even more revitalized after the Normans and Hungarians blocked the routes through the Mediterranean and southern Europe.

In 988 Russia adopted Orthodox Christianity, which raised its authority among other peoples of Europe and Asia. Religion, precisely chosen from an economic standpoint, did not subsequently require reforms, as happened with Catholicism, since Orthodoxy did not suppress, but developed entrepreneurial interest. The Russian Church was patronizing to trade. They preferred to build Christian churches in the most crowded places: in trading places near the walls of cities - on graveyards (from the word "guest" - trade). Trappers, resin workers, artisans and other "industrialists" converged there. In the basements of the churches, the inventory necessary for trade was kept, goods were stored, trade agreements were preserved. Monasteries led an independent economic life. The Church took responsibility for maintaining order in commerce, declaring every deception in a deal to be a sin. At first, trade took place directly in the temples. Later, it was taken out to the vast church areas. Trade was both fair (usually seasonal) and bazaar (regular, on weekends and holidays). In Kiev itself, there were 40 churches and 8 markets. The market - bargaining, marketplace, trade - occupied a central place in the Russian city. People's meetings were held here, all the most important messages were made (including the orders of the prince), news was learned. Trade operations could be carried out on the market only in the presence of a witness - a weigher who collected a weight collection in favor of the local prince. Traders were not allowed to use their own weights. Official measures of length (cubit, etc.), as well as beam scales, were kept in churches under the supervision of bishops. On the social ladder, representatives of the merchant class followed the boyars, warriors and officials of the princes. According to "Russian Pravda" Yaroslav the Wise, their life was estimated at 40 hryvnia of silver or 10 hryvnia - under the agreement of Novgorod with German cities in 1191-1192.

Merchant trade.

From the middle of the XI century. the nature of the merchant trade is changing. The Polovtsy and the Seljuks Turks intercepted the routes to the south and east. Trade links between Western Europe and the Middle East are again moving to the Mediterranean. The trade value of Kiev is falling, and Novgorod, Polotsk, Smolensk, Vladimir-on-Klyazma are taking the first place with the strengthening of the importance of business ties along the Baltic and Volga. The change in the direction of trading activity was also influenced by the rise of handicraft production in Russian cities. Products of Russian craftsmen occupy a prominent place in the assortment of merchants, including guests.

Mainly furs, slaves, wax, honey, flax, linen, and silver items were exported to foreign markets. Speaking about trade in Kievan Rus, one cannot but point out that our ancestors used mainly foreign money. In the VIII-X centuries. these were Arab dirhams coming from Khazaria, but at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries. their entry to Russia has ceased. The reasons for this were, firstly, the termination of trade along the Volga due to the defeat of the Khazar Kaganate, and secondly, the termination of the minting of silver in the East in the 11th century. ("Silver Crisis").

During this period, coins of the Byzantine Empire were extremely rare - silver "miliary" and gold "solidi". (The latter seriously influenced the creation of the oldest Russian coins.) The first attempt to create a Russian coin was made

only at the end of the 10th century. The first ruble appeared in the 13th century. It was an elongated bar of silver, weighing about 200 grams, roughly chopped off at the ends. Cut in half, it began to be called half a tine (half), and divided into 4 parts - a quarter. From the word "hryvnia" later the word "dime" was formed, i.e. one tenth of a ruble.

By the beginning of the XIII century. foreign trade operations of Russian merchants were so entrenched that they could not be interrupted even by the invasion of the Mongol hordes and crusaders. After the establishment of the Golden Horde dominion in Russia, the importance of the trade route through the Baltic increased sharply. Business ties between Novgorodians and German merchants had a long history here. Back in the XII century. in Novgorod, two foreign living rooms appear: the Gothic (Gotland) one with the church of St. Olaf (built 1152) and German with the church of St. Peter (1184). By this time, among the Novgorod merchants, there were their own corporate associations. The charter of the Ivanovo community, which united large wax merchants ("waxers"), has been preserved. The Ivanovo community was an organ of trade management and resembled a Western European guild. Under the church there was a council for trade and a merchant court. Exchange instruments were also kept here: a scale of two cups for wax, a steelyard for honey, an elbow for cloth and a ruble hryvnia for weighing precious metals. The Ivanovo court had jurisdiction over all cases that arose between foreign and Novgorod merchants, including those of a criminal nature. Since the XIII century. the Baltic route ended up in the hands of intermediaries - the merchants of the Hanseatic League. The members of the union, in addition to the North German cities led by Lubeck, were Riga, Revel (Tallinn), Dorpat (Tartu). For Novgorod merchants, Revel became the main trading partner, for Pskov and Smolensk merchants - Riga. The Hanseaticans had a monopoly on intermediary trade between the countries of Western Europe and Novgorod. At the same time, Novgorodians did not hesitate to restrict the rights of German merchants, forbidding them retail trade in the city and access to other Russian cities. All wholesale transactions were obligatory to be concluded through the mediation of local merchants. Later, the Pskov, Tver, Polotsk, Smolensk and other courtyards were opened in Novgorod. Visiting merchants were obliged to live in guest courtyards - it was forbidden to settle outside them.


Russian entrepreneurship in the era of the creation of a centralized state.

Russian entrepreneurship at the stage of creating a centralized state.

During this period, Novgorod remained the center of Russian entrepreneurship. Trade here was based on the exploitation of the richest forest industries, the purchase of raw materials throughout Russia for export to the Hanseatic cities, and trade with the Volga region. The dictate of the Hanseatic League complicated trade with European cities, but did not stop it.

Furs remained the main Russian commodity and often replaced money, and also went to clothes that not only protected from the cold, but also served as a sign of social status. So, the lower classes wore goat and sheep furs, while the higher strata dressed in fox, beaver, squirrel, and sable fur coats. The clergy and merchants went below the rank and wore bear and wolf coats.

The massive demand for furs in the foreign and domestic markets prompted Novgorod merchants to buy furs all over the north of the European part of Russia and even in Siberia. This occupation required a lot of courage and skills in military affairs, therefore, in the XIV-XV centuries. a category of merchant warriors arose, who were called ushkuiniks. The detachments of these half-merchants, half-cadres, on rowing ships made cruises along the northern rivers and the Volga. Such activities were common in medieval Europe. Fishing was of great importance for the Novgorodians, as salted and dried fish was a convenient product during long-distance trade trips. In addition to fish, meat was widely used as food. In this regard, there is a great need for salt. Salt tanks existed earlier, but now their number has increased. Salt began to be cooked in the Torzhok, Staraya Russa region, in the basin of the Northern Dvina. Due to the high market prices for salt, this fishery was very profitable.

The process of cooking salt was not difficult: wells were dug in places rich in salt, from where the solar solution was scooped up and evaporated in large forged pans - prices or simply in boilers. The abundance of firewood made evaporation quick and fairly cheap.

An important role in the economic development of Rus was played by the transfer of the center of political and economic life from the southern regions to the northeast - between the Oka and Volga rivers. Along with the old cities (Rostov, Vladimir, Suzdal, Murom) in the XI-XII centuries. new shopping centers arose: Moscow, Kostroma, Tver. Refugees moved here from the south, the convenient location favored the development of trade relations. The plowing of new lands increased, all kinds of crafts appeared. The real center of the reviving Russian state arose, which became a stronghold of the struggle against the Tatar-Mongol yoke.

In the XIII century. at the confluence of the Volga and Oka, Nizhny Novgorod arose, which became the center of trade with the southern and northern regions of Russia. International trade relations were established with

cities on the shores of the Azov and Black Seas. The city of Surozh (Sudak) became the center of trade with the Crimean Tatars. It is from here that the name of Russian merchants who traded through Surozh with Italian and Turkish cities in the XIV-XVI centuries comes from. This name meant the highest stage of the merchant class of that time, which had great privileges bestowed on them by the grand dukes, and then by the Russian tsars.

In the XIV century. Moscow, Tver from small peripheral towns of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality turned into large centers of craft and trade. In handicraft production, the processes of deepening, specialization and simplification of production technology continued, which led to a reduction in the cost of products of mass demand for market sales. In the era of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia, crafts that are complex in technology appear - massive casting of bells, cannons, minting of coins, water mills. Some of them worked for the market, the other part - to order (making weapons, coins, bells). Craftsmen united and settled according to their specialties, as evidenced by the names of streets in many Russian cities (Kuznechnaya, Shchitnaya, Shornaya), as well as the names of settlements, hundreds, etc. In a number of areas of the Novgorod land, the Moscow region, the iron industry developed. Swamp iron ore was mined and iron smelted. Often this was done by quitrent peasants who formed simple cooperatives, most often consisting of family members or hired workers.

Often, artisans who were engaged in the manufacture and sale of their products became professional merchants. Having become rich in trade, they gave up the craft, but retained the name of the previous type of activity. So, among the Russian people robbed in 1489 in the Lithuanian land are mentioned: "Mitya the tanner", "Andryusha the bronnik", "Styopa the voschenik", "Sofonik Levontiev son of the needle". In addition to professional merchants, artisans, city dwellers, free peasants, they were drawn into trade in the XIV-XV centuries. people dependent on feudal lords, including slaves. Often, merchants, in addition to their own goods, carried property belonging to princes and boyars. This was recorded in their records by the customs offices that existed between different lands, on which customs duties were collected. Even monasteries, despite the prohibitions to engage in trade and usury to the white and black clergy, were drawn into trade operations. Under Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy and his son, they were exempted from paying the trade duty. Especially active trade was conducted near Moscow Trinity-Sergievsky, Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev, Vologda Glushetsky, Kirillo-Belozersky and other monasteries.

Duties.

From the end of the XII to the XIV centuries. there was a coinless period in Russia. With the formation of the Moscow state (XIV century), minting of Russian coins resumed. Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy began to re-mint a Tatar silver coin - dengu, then other principalities joined the process. The dominant monetary unit in the Russian principalities became the silver ruble, obtained from a silver stick chopped into small pieces and flattened. The coins were irregular in shape, weighing in most cases about 0.25 pounds of silver, but sometimes significantly less. Therefore, when concluding transactions, money was necessarily weighed. The ruble contained 100 money, 6 money was equal to altyn, one money had 4 half. In circulation, foreign coins were used, which were taken by weight at the rate of 0.25 pounds of silver per ruble, gold was estimated at 12 times more expensive. A large number of principalities gave rise to many trade duties. The main type of duties remained the tax, which was introduced in the ancient Russian state. It was a payment from a cart or boat for a pass to the place of trade, i.e. customs duty. For trade in the church, tithes were collected (10% of the value of the goods). Myto gathered in different places several times and was small. In addition to myt and tithes, during the Horde yoke, a tax was levied on the capital - tamga, paid from the volume of sales, while trade in products of one's own production was not taxed. The size of the tamga was also not the same, but, as a rule, it amounted to 7 money per ruble of the sales volume. Wax was taxed at 4 money per pound. For evasion of payment of myt, a penalty was collected, called "washed", for evasion of payment of tamga - "proto-customs". A number of duties were collected not in the treasury, but for the improvement of the trade itself: for the creation of warehouses, scales; for the payment and maintenance of the guard at the warehouses; for services on branding, etc. Such duties were usually calculated on the volume of goods, but partly on the cost. When a duty was levied on a measure, it was called "measured." So, for the measurement of salt there was a special measure - "bowl" or "baking sheet", respectively, the measured tax was called. The weight of the goods was subject to a "weight" or "counter" duty (counter - a weight unit of 3 poods). The weight was paid from metals, wax, honey, etc., for each type of goods the size of the weight was different. On the sale of livestock, a "fox" was charged for a note from the transaction (such notes were preserved even in the 19th century). From the sale of horses they took "spot", that is. for imposing a spot (brand) on each horse sold. The duties were subdivided into Darazh and customs duties. The first was paid at the outposts, while the tamga was not collected; customs - directly in cities along with tamga. Darazh duties were taken from transit goods, customs - only when the goods entered the market. Only the clergy were exempted from paying duties, the rest of the merchants, regardless of class, were obliged to pay. However, in some cases, in the form of a reward for special merit, individuals or even a certain part of the population could receive privileges exempting them from paying duties, which was formalized by an appropriate certificate. The system of fees was extremely complex and burdened not so much with the size of the fee, but with the variety of types. It was also complicated by the arbitrariness of the establishment of outposts (and, accordingly, the collection of myt). Their establishment and abolition entirely depended on the will of the prince. Traders could never plan ahead for taxes and therefore inflated prices to keep a profit anyway. In foreign trade, the situation was simpler. Foreigners did not impose duties on Russian goods at all due to their high profitability, agreeing to pay export duties on Russian goods. The Hansa, which itself paid the import duties, did not establish duties on Russian goods. Duties on the Dvina, on the Don and on the Volga were not levied on either imported or exported goods. The Tatars were content with gifts from Russian merchants, they did not collect any duties.

Russian entrepreneurship in the era of strengthening the centralized state.

Strengthening Moscow. The emergence of manufactories.

Strengthening of Moscow, which stood at the junction point of Russian trade, where the river routes passed that connected the basins of the Volga, Oka, and other smaller rivers, was largely due to the zealous, practical policy of the Moscow princes. Ivan Danilovich Kalita ("kalita" - a leather purse with money) became an example for subsequent generations of Moscow princes-gatherers. They were able not only to get the right to collect yasak - a tribute for the Horde, but also won the Grand Duke's throne. The formation of a centralized state required reliable sources to replenish the treasury. At that time there were not so many of them - trade and taxes on trade and crafts. Hence comes the direct interest of the grand ducal authorities in expanding economic activity and trade, especially foreign. Ivan III's annexation of Novgorod to Moscow undermined Novgorod's monopoly on trade with European countries and eliminated the economic pressure of the Hanseatic League on the Russian merchants. The manifested discontent of the Novgorodians against the Moscow authorities ended with a punitive expedition, during which 150 boyars were executed, 50 of the richest Novgorod merchants with their families were resettled to Vladimir, about 10 thousand wealthy families were deported to Nizhny Novgorod and other cities near Moscow.

The centralization and repressive measures of the first Moscow sovereigns against Novgorod, Tver, Torzhok and other cities caused serious damage to the representatives of the merchants, who were robbed by the "sovereign servants". On the other hand, a stronger state, with its authority, provided support to merchants who traded with abroad. This concerned the guests-surojan, who formed caravans and carried goods from Crimea to Moscow and back. It was in their midst that folding first appeared, when three to five people pooled their capital to purchase goods. Some of them brought goods from the Crimea, while others traded them in Moscow or in other cities of the Moscow state at that time. In trade with the southern and eastern countries, people of the most diverse incomes were employed. Some bought goods for several tens of rubles, while others had working capital in the thousands. Someone generally took other people's money on credit, as, for example, the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin, famous for his unparalleled journey "across the three seas" to India. Among the most prosperous merchants-surrogates of the 15th century. there are the names of the Khovrins, Shikhovs, Bobynins, Ermolins. Merchants in Russia not only traded, but also organized production in the real sector of the economy. For example, the semblance of a scattered manufactory, when entrepreneurs distributed an order to homeworking manufacturers, eventually receiving a finished product (for example, in some houses they crumpled flax, scratched, in others they spun yarn, in others they weaved, in others they whitewashed and dyed, giving the customer ready for sale canvas), appeared in Novgorod in the XIV century, at about the same time as the woolen manufactories of France. Some of them acquired land estates, built brick structures and temples in Moscow. Along with the expansion of trade, the Moscow sovereigns paid attention to production problems. To solve state problems (arming the troops, meeting the needs of the court, minting money, etc.), new enterprises were required. Small handicraft production could no longer satisfy the demand for such products. The lack of large private capital and their concentration mainly in the sphere of circulation prompted the government to actively engage in production activities, organizing state-owned manufactures. (A manufacture is an enterprise based on division of labor and handicraft production.)

In 1479. in Moscow, a foundry Cannon Yard was built, on which by the middle of the 17th century. more than 100 people worked and up to 200 cannons were cast annually. It was a manufactory employing four groups of skilled workers and several groups of auxiliary workers. The Printing, Hamovny and Mint Dvors, the Armory Chamber, which manufactured muskets, carbines, pistols, the Silver Chamber, brick factories, and a printing house were also created. The Mint, founded in 1654, employed more than 500 people.Similar state enterprises that worked to satisfy the palace needs were widespread in Western Europe (the manufactories of Heinrich Bourbon and Colbert in France, Elizabethan manufactories in England). The needs of the court were served by palace manufactories. As in Western Europe, these enterprises produced luxury items: velvet, thin linen, fine leather - morocco, glass, etc. The level of skill of the workers of such factories was very high. But this was not production for the market, but exclusively for the order of the royal court, and therefore it could not contribute to the development of market relations. Private enterprise was closely associated with the state. At the same time, the state willingly turned to foreign experience. They invited foreign craftsmen who, at the expense of the treasury, set up the production of goods for state demand. Even Ivan the Terrible gave permission to the British to look for ore and build a plant on Vychegda. The terms of the agreement were the training of the Russian people in metallurgy, the obligation to sell iron to the treasury at a fixed price, although the export of metal to England was also allowed with the payment of a duty.

The Dutchman Andrei Denisovich Vinius, who took Russian citizenship, who was initially engaged in the grain trade in the Arkhangelsk north, received a loan for the construction of iron and iron foundries. In 1632. he founded the Tula ironworks, by 1637. - two more factories that have formed a single complex. Vinius supplied weapons and guns to the treasury, and had the right to sell other goods. His business was continued by Peter Gavrilovich Marselis, who, together with F. Akema, continued the construction of the Tula factories and, in addition, built 4 factories in Kashira. Marcelis received in 1644. letters of commendation for the organization of iron works on the rivers Vaga, Kostroma, Sheksna, in 1665. - for the development of copper ores in the Olonets Territory. In 1646. for his successes in metallurgy, Vinius was elevated to the nobility.

The construction of private ironworks by foreigners was the first important step towards the creation of large-scale industrial production. These factories used the simplest mechanisms, water-operated installations. The labor force was recruited mainly for hire, although artisans from the palace settlements were also recruited "by the sovereign's decree". The workers received a salary in cash and food. The enterprise paid taxes due to the workers of manufactures with finished products - iron and weapons. New economic processes were reflected in the subsistence economy of estates, where the prerequisites for market relations began to take shape. The patrimonial manufactories that grew up on the basis of peasant crafts, initially serving the internal needs of the economy, acquired significant proportions in a number of cases. This allowed them to enter the level of the regional and even national market. Numerous enterprises of the boyar B.I. Morozov, located mainly near Nizhny Novgorod: iron, potash, distillery, leather, brick. Similar productions were started by many representatives of the aristocracy: Miloslavsky, Cherkassky, Trubetskoy, Odoevsky. These enterprises used the labor of serfs. Cheap labor increased profitability, but at the same time hindered the improvement of the production process. However, in the middle of the 17th century. serfs began to retire and work for hire. This was the result of the spread of money rent in the development of market relations and an increase in the serf owners' need for money. The development of small-scale production nominated successful artisans from among the artisans, who later became the owners of large industrial enterprises. A significant number of large breeders came from among the small industrialists of Tula, Yaroslavl, Vologda and other cities.

Already at the end of the 17th century. the former Tula blacksmith Nikita Antufievich Demidov built his first plant near Tula. However, large-scale production could not develop rapidly. Merchant capital was not yet ready to invest its funds in the industrial sphere, so the entire burden of meeting the needs for industrial products fell on the artisans. But they were unable to meet the ever-growing needs of the nobility, especially in luxury goods. The satisfaction of these needs, as in previous periods, fell on the shoulders of foreign trade..

International trade.

The great geographical discoveries, the seizure of trade routes by the Seljuk Turks displaced trade ties to the west. Europe traded with India using sea transport. Russia's attempt to win freedom in trade in the Baltic Sea was hampered by the Hanseatic League, which held a monopoly there since the 13th century, and then by the policies of Poland, Livonia and Sweden, who feared the strengthening of Russia. This led to a reduction in foreign trade across the Baltic. New trade routes with Russia were opened by the British, who discovered the Russian lands by circling the Kola Peninsula and entering the White Sea as early as 1523. Later they decided to master the Northern Sea Route, dreaming of penetrating China and India bypassing Asia. In 1552. the British equipped three ships under the command of H. Willoughby, H. Derforth and R. Chancellor. In the spring of 1553. these ships went to the Arctic Ocean. Two ships - commanded by Willoughby and Derforth - were swept by the storm to the shores of Lapland and covered with ice. Their entire crew perished from cold and hunger. The third ship, "Good Omen", under the command of Chancellor, was driven by a storm to the Dvinskaya Bay and on August 24, 1553. It stuck safely at the mouth of the Dvina near the monastery of St. Nicholas. Kholmogory Voivode Makarov hospitably met the guests and sent a report to Ivan IV in Moscow. Then Chancellor himself went to Moscow and presented the tsar with a letter on behalf of Edward VI, specially prepared for the sovereigns in whose lands the expedition could be abandoned. Ivan the Terrible granted the English merchants the right to trade in Muscovy on a par with the Dutch.

Upon the return of Chancellor in 1554. a joint-stock company for trade with Russia, called Moscow, was created in London. She received from Queen Mary I (came to power in 1553) a charter for the exclusive right to trade with the Moscow state. At the same time, any attempt to violate the monopoly of the company was punishable by the confiscation of goods. In addition to trade, the company's agents were supposed to study supply and demand in a new market, describe the monetary system, measures of weight, volume and length used in trade, as well as the customs and customs of the local population. In 1555. Ivan IV presented the Moscow company with certificates of privilege for free entry to and exit from Moscow and granted a house on Varvarka for the establishment of a commercial courtyard. The company started its activity. In 1561. she was allowed duty-free trade in Kazan, Astrakhan, Rugodiva (Narva), Dorpat, transit trade with Persia, trade in Bulgaria. Trading yards were set up in Kholmogory and Vologda, a spinning mill was built in Kholmogory, and a rope manufactory in Vologda. A Moscow company exported large volumes of Russian raw materials to England to equip the British fleet (hemp, tar, ship tackle, large ropes) and imported English manufactured goods into Muscovy, mainly cloth and metal products. At the same time, to mutual benefit, the Anglo-Russian transit trade in Asian goods began. The rest of the foreigners were banned from entering the Northern Route. The exceptional profitability of Russian trade was highly appreciated by the British. They equated the opening of the sea route to Muscovy with the opening of the sea route to India, and the opening of Muscovy itself - to the discovery of America.

Later, the Dutch and the French joined the trade with Russia. In 1584. at the mouth of the Northern Dvina, the city of Arkhangelsk was founded, which became the main commercial port with foreign countries until the construction of St. Petersburg. Even under Ivan III, trade with the Greeks resumed. The reason was the massive arrival of the Greeks in Russia after the marriage of Ivan III to Sophia Paleologue in 1472. This event strengthened the European influence on the culture and economic ties of Muscovy. The Greeks and Moldovans were not only allowed to trade duty-free and have trading yards in Moscow and Putivl, but even provided food (fodder) from the treasury: meat, candles and firewood. The Greeks brought mainly precious stones, pearls and other luxury goods, and exported valuable light furs.

During the Moscow period, Asian trade was also important. Close trade relations were established with the Khivans, Bukharians, Persians, Shamakhans, Crimean Tatars, Nogais. This was facilitated by the annexation of Kazan in 1552 and Astrakhan in 1556. Already in 1557 and 1558. Embassies from the khans of Khiva and Dzhagatai visited Moscow, and a trade agreement was concluded. As a result, a lively market for furs, Asian and European goods has emerged in Astrakhan. In 1563. a trade agreement was signed with Shamakha, in 1569. - with Bukhara. Russia was the first European country to sign an equal trade agreement with China (Treaty of Nerchinsk, 1689). Russian merchants also often visited Khiva and Bukhara. Relations were developing friendly and overshadowed only by robberies, which were engaged in by the Cossacks and nomads. In Astrakhan there was a Bukhara courtyard, where Indian goods were also supplied. The Armenians traded Persian goods in Astrakhan. The Khivans and Nogays supplied the steppe goods: horses, leather, bacon, sheepskin. Since the state and the tsars themselves were directly involved in foreign trade, a policy of eliminating competitors, both external and internal, was carried out. This led to the introduction of a government monopoly on the sale of a number of particularly lucrative goods. Ivan the Terrible classified bread, hemp, rhubarb, potash, smolchug, caviar, etc. as reserved goods. In certain years, either restrictions were imposed on the trade of certain goods, or their export to certain countries was prohibited. For example, the export of wax and salt was prohibited to Livonia, wax, lard and flax - to Sweden. The right to trade in certain goods was often outsourced for the purpose of a one-time replenishment of the budget.

Significant restrictions on private commercial activity were imposed by the state, which sought to bring this profitable business under its control. According to the established procedure, any goods imported by a foreign merchant were presented to special officials who made an inventory of it and took part of it for the royal treasury. It was assumed that this part was bought by the state and had to be paid in full, however, due to numerous abuses, the goods were often not paid in full. The rest of the goods after payment of import duties was allowed for free sale. This procedure reduced the turnover of trade with foreigners, and also encouraged the latter to overstate prices, which included the risk of losses. Significant damage to trade was also caused by numerous privileges to individual foreign citizens for special merit, which usually consisted of mediation in establishing relations with foreign governments, transfers, and participation in embassies. So, in 1653. Dutch merchants Vogler and Klenk took over the export of leather and hemp. In 1649. the resin was donated duty-free to Vinius. At the same time, normal trading conditions were violated and methods of unfair competition were used. For example, in 1618. Dutch resident Isaac Massa reported to his government that he had succeeded in shaming the British in front of the Moscow government.

Unified system of measure. Resettlement policy.

The formation of a centralized state made it possible to start creating a unified system of measures and weights necessary for the successful development of trade. In Russia, the measures of weight, volume and length were very diverse and differed in great inaccuracy. Often, especially in certain regions, a foreign influence was felt, which explains the use of such units of measurement as pounds, lasts, etc. The highest unit of weight - a berkovets - contained 10 pounds, in a pood (16.38 kg) it was 40 hryvnias (pounds); in hryvnia (409.5 g) - two rocky hryvnia; in a rocky dime (204.8 g) - 48 spools; in the spool (4.266 g) - 25 kidneys, later 96 lobes. Scales, steelyards, kontari, terezi and rocks were used to determine the weight. Steels are the simplest lever or spring scales. Large market scales for weighing whole carts were called Terezi. Small pharmaceutical scales for weighing gold, silver, precious stones and pharmaceutical products were called rocks. Loose products were measured by volume, not by weight. There were special measures of the volume of bulk products, which retained their importance until the 19th-20th centuries: shackles (barrels), quarters, octins and fours. Linear measures were versts, sazhens, arshins and elbows. Liquids were measured in barrels, cauldrons, buckets (12.32 l), jugs, pots, valleys, mugs, cups, etc. Most of these measures were vague. As now the bag can be 40 kg, or maybe 50 kg, so then the boiler could be less than three buckets, and it could be over 20 buckets. The same was the case with the rest of the measures. Therefore, the price was set on a case-by-case basis.

Due to the inaccuracy of the measures in the calculations, disorder and arbitrariness reigned, transactions were carried out mainly by eye. Merchants usually bought goods by carts, boats, plows, whole warehouses, not striving for accurate calculations. There was even a belief (they say, borrowed from the Eastern peoples) that accurate measurement is harmful to trade happiness. This, by the way, was used by European merchants who measured and weighed the Russians. Russian merchants also cheated; the decency and honesty in transactions, which were controlled in the past by the church, were forgotten. The formation of a centralized state and the formation of a national market required the creation of a single monetary system. During the period of feudal fragmentation, individual principalities and lands independently minted a variety of banknotes, and Tatar money also had a significant impact on the monetary system of Rus. The money of the Moscow principality retained its importance during the years of the formation of the centralized state, although it was gradually depreciating. Under Dmitry Donskoy, money weighed 24 shares (1.06 g), under Ivan III - no more than 9 shares (less than 0.4 g). By the beginning of the XVI century. the coins lost approximately 15% of their weight. Novgorod money - Novgorodka - weighed twice as much as Moscow - Muscovy. In Novgorod, the minting of money was generally treated more strictly than in Moscow, although it began only in the 15th century. Before that, foreign banknotes were in circulation. Under Ivan III, 260 Novgorod coins were minted from a gryvnia (48 gold spools, equal to about 204.8 g). Thus, the coin had a weight content of 0.786 g of silver.

The monetary system was streamlined only in 1535. - during the regency of Elena Glinskaya - the mother of Ivan the Terrible. Were introduced standards for the weight, design and ratio of banknotes. They began to mint 300 money from the hryvnia of silver (the weight of the new coin was 0.68 g). On these coins there was an image of St. George the Victorious with a spear, they began to be called lance, or kopecks. Remained in circulation and the former Muscovites, which preserved the image of a horseman with a sword (sword money). The kopecks were about twice as heavy as sword money; about 16 spools of silver went to the ruble. Smaller coins - polushki - were equal to 0.5 Moscow money and had the image of a bird. With the advent of kopecks, polushki began to amount to 0.25 kopecks. Since the XV century. the silver coin altyn was minted, which was equal to 6 Muscovites, after the reform it was equal to 3 kopecks. Only at the end of the 16th century. the year of issue "from the creation of the world" began to be minted on the coins. The development of the domestic and foreign markets increased the need for means of circulation, and the lack of own deposits of precious metals caused serious difficulties. Under these conditions, the state rightly considered foreign trade activity as their main source and was actively engaged in it. Income from state monopolies in foreign trade and customs duties were received in foreign silver coins. Since 1654, under Alexei Mikhailovich, foreign silver money - joachimsthalers (efimkas) - began to be coined for the benefit of the state into Russian coins. With a real silver content of 42 kopecks, 64 kopecks were obtained from one joachimstaler when re-minting.

With the aim of creating a single all-Russian market and at the same time, the fight against separatism, the grand ducal and then the tsarist authorities continued to pursue a broad resettlement policy. As noted earlier, after the annexation of Novgorod to Muscovite Rus, a large group of Novgorod merchants was resettled in the central regions of the country. Under Ivan the Terrible, 145 families left Novgorod for Moscow, two years later - another 100 families. Apparently, it was from these settlers that the influential "Novgorodskaya Hundred" was formed in Moscow, known since the end of the 16th century. A vault was also made, that is, resettlement, from Pskov after its annexation in 1510. to the Moscow state. These settlers formed their own quarter of "Pskovites" in the Sretenka area. In 1518. they installed the Church of the Introduction, which became the religious center of their settlement. In 1569. Ivan the Terrible brought 500 more people from Pskov to Moscow. Among them were very wealthy people. For example, the Pskov man Gavrilo Alekseev in 1578-1579. donated to the Kirillov Monastery a stone shop with a cellar in the richest of Moscow rows - cloth. Finally, the translation in 1514 was of great importance. for a residence in Moscow of a large group of rich Smolensk merchants, who formed a special category of "Smolnyans" here, which ranked second in the Moscow business hierarchy after guests.

The resettlement not only contributed to the concentration of large capitals in Moscow. "Svedenets" retained business ties with the cities where they were from: the Dvinsky brought their goods and money to the Dvina, the Ustyuzhans enriched the sacred place of their native Ustyug - the Archangel Michael Monastery. The transfer of indigenous Moscow merchants to other cities had similar consequences. The guests from Moscow constituted an influential colony in Novgorod: among them one could meet representatives of such wealthy merchant families as the Tarakanovs and the Syrkovs, famous for their construction activities in Novgorod. Settlers from Moscow lived on the trading side at the Plotnitsky End. Here, on the site of the old church, they, together with Novgorod merchants, built in 1536. Church of Boris and Gleb. After the capture of Pskov, Vasily III transferred over 100 merchants from other cities to live there. There were also Moscow settlers in Tver. The transfer of Moscow merchants to the former centers of independent principalities and republics undoubtedly had both economic and political significance, contributing to the strengthening of ties between individual regions of the country and the capital and, ultimately, the formation of an all-Russian market.

Outcome: Thus, Moscow became the place where the threads of business relations in Russia converged. This, in turn, contributed to the formation of a single economic space in the country.

Moscow XVI century. is already a large economic center serving not only the local population, but also the needs of the entire state. Moscow trade, the center of which was Kitay-gorod, experienced a significant upsurge. When the Kitaygorod wall was built in 1535, an order was issued to introduce all trading in the "city". Along Red Square in front of the Kremlin, rows of rows stretched, each of which offered a certain type of goods. Wholesale trade was carried out in the courtyards, where foreign and foreign merchants were obliged to bring their goods. Barns, cellars, benches, counters, shelves, huts, tables, benches, lockers (chests with a lifting lid) were used for sale in the rows. The traders in a separate row made up the corporation headed by the headman. In the shops that belonged to the townspeople, trade was carried out either by the owners themselves or by their inmates. Churches and monasteries, many of which were owners of donated shops, often rented them out.

Trade was also carried out at fairs and markets. They could be annual, weekly and daily (in cities). The first two types were directly related to church holidays and were located near monasteries. The connection between business relations and church life was also observed in the specifics of the food trade. The widespread demand for some of them, such as fish products, was determined by the custom of consuming fish during numerous fasts. “The custom to sacredly preserve the posts established by the church,” wrote N.I. Kostomarov, “developed fishing and fish trade everywhere in our country. ordinary goods ". The rise of Moscow trade caused the construction of new trading rows under Boris Godunov. They were a long stone one-story building at an angle; the shops were located under vaulted arches, below which were storerooms, where merchants stored goods. Behind the labyrinth of narrow and winding streets of Kitai-gorod, built up with wooden and stone benches, the buildings of the living room rose with premises that were rented out to visitors from other cities and foreign merchants. Courts of foreign merchants were also located in Kitay-gorod.


Russian merchants and industrialists of the 17th century

The new century for the Russian state was associated with difficult trials associated with crop failures, peasant uprisings, Polish and Swedish aggression. In history, the name of the period from 1598 to 1613. fixed as the Time of Troubles. Thanks to the courage and patriotism of the common people, it was possible to expel the foreigners and return peace to the country. But for many years the abandoned fields were empty, and gangs of robbers "played pranks" on the roads, robbing not only merchants, but also every traveler. Reigning in 1613. on the Russian throne, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov reproached the merchants for not providing proper assistance to the people's militia of K. Minin and D. Pozharsky in difficult times. Often it was necessary to forcibly collect funds from the merchants. In the first years of Mikhail Romanov's reign, extraordinary taxes were collected from the commercial and industrial population of the country to replenish the state treasury.

However, the unsuccessful Smolensk War of 1632-1634. painfully affected the country's economy, which began to revive. Failure of the salt reform of 1646 with the subsequent refund of taxes for 3 years led to the ruin of the poor and the growth of discontent. After a short lull in 1654-1667. a long and exhausting war with the Commonwealth began. The copper revolt, caused by the replacement of the minting of silver money with copper, was brutally suppressed. However, further transformations, such as the church reform of Patriarch Nikon, and the schism that followed, intensified social contradictions even more. The end of the "rebellious century" was the peasant war led by Stepan Razin - a clear manifestation of dissatisfaction with the increased enslavement of the peasantry.


Merchants by the middle of the 17th century.

In 1649, the elite of the Russian business world consisted of 13 guests, 158 people in the drawing-room and 116 people in the cloth of hundreds. The guests, in addition to their wealth (their capital ranged from 20 to 100 thousand rubles), retained the rights to foreign trade, the acquisition of estates and jurisdiction directly to the tsar. Merchants who joined the hundreds were exempted from the posad tax and excluded from the jurisdiction of local authorities. However, once every 2-6 years (depending on the number of hundreds of members), they, like guests, were obliged to fulfill government orders: in the customs and tax services, buying goods for the treasury, managing state fishing enterprises, etc. By the end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the number of guests was 30, and there were hundreds of people in the drawing room and cloth - 200 in each. The Black Hundred was the lowest stratum of the merchant class. On the same position with the Black Hundred were the townspeople - small town merchants.

Suburban people occupied a special position. This was the name of the small traders and artisans who lived outside the city walls in white settlements, uniting into separate corporations on a professional basis. Initially, they belonged to monasteries and were not subject to state taxes and taxes. Accordingly, life in the white settlements was easier, and the Slobozhanians were a serious competitor to the townspeople, provoking the latter's indignation. Based on the Cathedral Code of 1649. white settlements were liquidated by confiscating them from the church and transferring them to cities, and the inhabitants of white settlements and posadov were equalized in rights.

The Posad people and Slobozhans, in contrast to the "peasants", were called "people" and occupied a higher social position. Cathedral Code of 1649 contained a chapter (XIX) regulating the position of the townspeople. According to the Code, the posad population was isolated into a closed estate and attached to the posad. All of its inhabitants were included in the posad tax, i.e. were obliged to pay taxes and perform duties, but received the right to trade and trade, which the peasantry could no longer do. The Posad population was attached to the settlements, but it got rid of competition from the peasants, “servicemen and clergy,” who were traditionally engaged in trade and crafts. Now the right to such activities could be obtained only by joining the posad community. This is how the government solved fiscal and competition problems at the same time.

Posad people actively traded. In Moscow in 1701. there was 1 trading place for every 2-3 yards. By the end of the XVI century. in Tula, traders accounted for 44% of all residents, and together with artisans - 70%. A significant part of the townspeople did not have premises and peddled. They were called walkers and covered the surrounding villages with petty trade. Trade from stalls (huts) was also widespread. A large commercial business involved the participation of a large number of trusted persons who would carry out the orders of the merchant. Russian business practice of the 17th century has developed various types of such assistants. In large merchant families, they were primarily the younger members of the family - sons, younger brothers, grandchildren, who, on the instructions of the head of the house, traveled around the cities of Russia with "bargaining". During these trips, the merchant youth accustomed themselves to trade and thus prepared for future independent activities. Gradually, enterprising entrepreneurs came out of it. Thus, the future guest and builder of the Ustyug churches, Afanasy Fedotov, went through the initial school of trade skills under the leadership of his elder brother Vasily, who sent him to Siberia "as a clerk's place." At times, within the merchant clans, on the basis of extremely complex and confusing kinship relations, there was an imperceptible struggle between the “old people” and “younger ones” for independent participation in the common cause and capital.

A similar relationship took place in the family of the famous Stroganovs. In 1617. Maxim Stroganov brought his grandson, Ivan Yamskiy, from Vologda. For 9 years, Ivan studied the intricacies of commerce. The grandfather sent his grandson "to Siberian cities with money and goods", while the grandson bought "every purchase" for him. After his death in 1624. old Stroganov, Ivan continued to live with his widow and sons, that is, his uncles, still driving around with auctions or sitting in a shop near Salt Vychegodskaya. However, in 1626, taking advantage of the departure of his relatives, Ivan bought his own yard and moved there along with the goods entrusted to him, trading since then on his own behalf. Only after a long litigation did Stroganov's widow get a decree to seize money and goods from Ivan Yamsky..

"Agents" of merchants.

Clerks

With the help of one family, it was difficult to establish a large commercial enterprise. I had to resort to outside help, including the hiring of sales clerks. They could also be merchants who themselves conducted independent large businesses, but preferred for a while, for one reason or another, to trade on behalf of a wealthier merchant. Vasily Fedotov, later one of the largest Moscow guests, after the devastation in 1626. from his village, robbers were forced to hire themselves as clerks to the rich Muscovite Afanasy Levashov.

The concept of "clerk" did not always have the same legal content.

There are at least three types of bailiff known.

The first type is a hired person whom the entrepreneur invites for a certain annual salary (usually up to 30 rubles) to carry out a certain trade order. Sometimes the clerk was hired for one term or another and lived "leased for lease years", sometimes the term was not set at all.

The second type is a clerk who took over the management of economic affairs "from profit", and the generally accepted norm was the division of profits between the owner and the clerk in half; it was called taking goods "ispolu". The bailiff undertook to return the capital - "the truth", as they said in the 17th century, and then "to do away with the truth," that is, give half of the profit to the owner, and take the other half for himself.

The third type of clerk is a companion and participant in a trading enterprise. Both sides - the owner and the clerk - added up their capital; at the end of the operations, each received back his part of the capital, and the profit was divided in half. In this case, it was assumed that an entrepreneur, for example a merchant in a drawing room of a hundred, in addition to large capital, provided his partner with a number of benefits arising from his privileged position. The bailiff, therefore, enjoyed all the rights that his owner had, acted on his behalf, had in his hands the royal charter issued to him. In turn, the clerk offered his own labor free of charge. Both sides thus benefited.

Possible abuses by the clerk were warned by the latter's obligation not to repair "any trickery over the belly entrusted to him (that is, capital and property): not to drink drunken drinks and not to play with grain and ... not to go after wives and not to steal with any theft."

Caretakers

Next to the bailiffs, the inmates took their own place. If the clerk is a free person, who himself often conducts trade, then the sitter, on the contrary, was temporarily in personal dependence on the owner. This is a "working man" who for a certain period of time went to the owner's yard and gave himself the usual type of residential record (about obligations in relation to the merchant). More often than not, he had to be in the role of a "shopkeeper", performing specific types of work in a trading establishment.

Peddlers

Below him were the peddlers, who in essence did not differ much from him. They, too, lived with a merchant with a "handwritten record" for "appointed years", and the only difference was that they traded "to be posted", and not in a shop and, of course, on a very small scale.

"People"

The lowest category of agents who carried out the orders of the merchant were "people" - workers who fell into the hands of the entrepreneur not under a contract, but because of their personal dependence on him. Sometimes courtyard people bought from the Don Cossacks, who returned from their raids with a large amount of "live goods". For commercial purposes, they preferred to acquire boys: they were baptized and taught Russian literacy. Many of the boys who grew up and raised in the master's house became confidants, took the position of full-fledged clerks rather than slaves, and the legal dependence that connected them with an entrepreneur rather strengthened than violated mutual trust and affection..

Business relationship.

The basis for the legal support of business relations in the 17th century. remained "right". The defective debtor was taken out daily to the square in front of the order and beaten with rods. Such "knocking out" of the debt could not last more than a month, after which (in case of non-payment of the debt) the debtor came to the disposal of the plaintiff. Code of 1649 established a certain norm of working off the debt: a man's year of work was estimated at 5 rubles, a woman's - 2 rubles 50 kopecks, and a child's - at 2 rubles. In addition, such a form of debt repayment as "giving back while healed" was also widespread. In this case, the debtor's personal dependence on the merchant was established.

Until the seventeenth century. loan growth was considered normal in business relationships. But the royal decree of 1626 allowed interest to be charged only for five years, until the interest payments made up the loan received. Thus, a loan of 20% was meant. The Code of 1649 banned interest-bearing loans altogether. This prohibition, designed to put an end to usurious operations, did not have "serious success" in practice. The active development of domestic trade led to the government's turn towards a policy of mercantilism.

In 1649. the trading privileges of English merchants, granted earlier by Ivan the Terrible, were canceled. The formal basis for this was the news that the British "killed their king Carlos to death."

October 25, 1653 the Trade Charter was promulgated. Its main significance consisted in the fact that instead of a multitude of trade duties (pavement, runner, etc.), it established a single duty at the rate of 5% of the price of the goods sold. The charter also increased the size of the duty on foreign merchants - instead of 5%, they paid 6%, and when sending goods inland, an additional 2%. The New Trade Charter, adopted in 1667, had a pronounced protectionist character. He sharply limited the trading activities of foreigners in Russia. For example, when goods were imported into a Russian port, they had to pay a duty of 6% of the price of the goods. If they transported the goods to Moscow or other cities, then they paid an additional duty of 10%, and when the goods were sold on the spot, another 6%. Thus, duties reached 22% of the price of the goods, not counting the cost of its transportation. In addition, foreign merchants were only allowed to conduct wholesale trade.

The new trade charter consistently protected Russian merchants from the competition of foreign merchants and at the same time increased the amount of receipts to the treasury from the collection of duties. The author of this charter was Afanasy Lavrent'evich Ordin-Nashchokin. Coming from a seedy noble family, he became the favorite of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and one of the most prominent statesmen of the 17th century. Nashchokin advocated the all-round development of internal trade, the liberation of the merchants from petty tutelage of the authorities, and the issuance of soft loans to trading partnerships so that they could withstand competition from wealthy foreigners. He took steps to establish trade relations with Persia and Central Asia, he equipped the embassy in India, dreamed of the Cossack colonization of the Amur region. Planted in 1665. voivode in Pskov, Nashchokin creates an elective merchant self-government of 15 people for the commercial court; the arranged "elective hut" also issued loans to low-income merchants. At the same time, he proposed organizing two fairs annually in Pskov, during which residents could trade duty-free with foreigners. Nashchokin, having become a boyar and the de facto head of government, managed to put a number of his ideas into practice.


Conclusion

The activities of Ordin-Nashchokin demonstrated noticeable shifts in the economic policy of the government, focused on actively supporting the trading activities of the townspeople and their top corporations - "guests" and "hundreds".

The revival of business initiative in manufacturing supplemented and expanded the scope of domestic entrepreneurship. Formation in the 17th century. a single all-Russian market facilitated the involvement of various segments of the population in business relations. At the same time, the emerging tendency to restrict the trading activities of the peasantry significantly reduced the business potential of not only the rural population, but also the townspeople, who, due to their privileged position, depended on a number of objective and subjective circumstances, primarily in the sphere of relations with the authorities. Any fluctuations in the domestic and international position of Russia responded to economic stability and the initiative of such merchants, most painfully of all of them who were most closely connected with the treasury, that is, the same guests and merchants of the drawing room and the cloth of hundreds. Conversely, entrepreneurs who were quite independent in business terms, acting at their own risk and risk, acquired significant advantages at the turning points in the history of the country, being able to enter new areas of economic activity and adapt to the changed conditions of social life. This feature of the formation of the business world will fully manifest itself in the 18th - early 19th centuries.

Bibliography

1. Arkhangelskaya I. D. From the history of fairs in Russia // Questions of history. - 2001.

2. Bessolitsyn A.A., Kuzmichev A.D. Economic history of Russia. Essays on the development of entrepreneurship. - M., 2005.

3. The history of entrepreneurship in Russia. Book one. From the middle ages to the middle of the nineteenth century. - M .: ROSSPEN, 2000.

4. Nikitina S.K. History of Russian entrepreneurship. - M., 2001.

5. Perkhavko V. First Russian merchants. - M., 2006.

6. Yu.P. Strages Economic history of Russia, Part I. VIII - XVIII centuries - Yekaterinburg, 2000

7. Smetanin S.I. History of Entrepreneurship in Russia - Logos, 2005

8. I.P. Boyko Entrepreneurship and Reforms in Russia - Moscow, 2003

9. Yu.A. Pompeev History and Philosophy of Domestic Entrepreneurship - Peter, 2003

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8-9 c.
9-10 in
10-11 c.
11-12 in

A) the emergence of a neighboring community
B) the existence of a tribal community
C) the emergence of a class of landowners
D) the flourishing of city self-government in Novgorod
E) the formation of a local system in ancient Russia

What is unusual for a feudal economy? 1) the dominance of natural economy 2) the personal dependence of the peasants 3) the combination of large land

ownership and small-scale land use

4) high rates of economic development

1. Arrange in chronological order:

A) the reunification of Ukraine with Russia;

B) the campaign of False Dmitry to Moscow;

C) the decree on the "class years", the beginning of the search for the peasants.

2. In September 1610, Moscow was occupied by Polish troops under the leadership of:
A) S. Zholkevsky;

B) Sigismund III;

C) False Dmitry I.

3. Determine the reason for the church schism:

A) the policy of Catholicism pursued by False Dmitry I;

B) the need to correct religious books;
C) enslavement of the peasants.

4. Indicate the name of the explorer who discovered in 1648 the strait separating Asia from America:

A) Semyon Dezhnev;

B) Erofey Khabarov;

C) Simon Ushakov.

5. An indefinite search for fugitive peasants would be legalized:

A) in 1592;
B) in 1649;

6. The first ironworks in Russia was built during the reign of:
A) Vasily Shuisky;

B) Mikhail Fedorovich;
C) Alexei Mikhailovich.

7. Mark the line that characterizes the economic development of Russia in the 17th century:

A) complete domination of natural economy;

B) the creation of manufactories;

C) the widespread use of the slash-and-burn farming system.

8. In 1687 and 1689. Russian troops took part in two campaigns against the Crimean Khanate under the leadership of:

A) D. Pozharsky;

B) B. Khmelnitsky;

C) V. Golitsyn.

9. A vivid illustration of the Naryshkin baroque is the church:

A) Protection in Fili in Moscow;

B) the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Yaroslavl;

C) Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Putinki in Moscow.

10. Who are we talking about. The former servant of Prince Telyatevsky fled to the Don and
became a free man. In one of the Cossack campaigns he was captured by
Turks, fled to Italy, lived in Venice. In 1606 he returned to Russia.
He called himself the commander of "the miraculously escaped Tsarevich Dmitry."
He won victories over government troops several times. Was broken
during the siege of Moscow in 1606 In 1607, near Tula, he was forced to surrender
government troops. In 1608 he was killed.

11. Give a definition - a manufactory, black-mowed peasants, cattle.

1. Dates 862, 882 are associated with:

A) key events in the formation of the Old Russian state:
B) the struggle of Ancient Russia with the Polovtsians
C) treaties of Ancient Rus with Byzantium
D) the campaigns of Prince Svyatoslav

2. Two centers of education of the Old Russian state were:
A) Vladimir and Kiev B) Pskov and Ladoga
B) Kiev and Novgorod D) Ryazan and Chernigov

3. Russia adopted Orthodoxy from:
A) Lithuania B) Byzantium
B) Poland D) Livonian Order

4. Novgorod princes in the XII century. performed:
A) exclusively service functions
B) their actions were uncontrollable
C) had an unlimited opportunity to buy land in Novgorod
D) received unlimited income from certain possessions for the service

5. The largest and most powerful of the principalities of fragmented Russia was:
A) Ryazan B) Vladimir-Suzdal
B) Tverskoe D) Galitskoe

6. The diploma "For the Grand Duchy of Vladimir", received by the Russian princes from the Tatars, was called:
A) nuker B) noyon C) label D) tanga

7. The Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia lasted:
A) 1237-1380 B) 1243-1480
B) 1240-1480 D) 1247-1496

8. The statement "Let Kiev be a mother to Russian cities was made by the prince in 882:
A) Rurik B) Askold C) Deer D) Oleg

9. What happened before:
A) the reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kiev B) the uprising of the Drevlyans
B) the baptism of Rus D) the murder of Boris and Gleb

10. The ancestral land ownership of the boyars is:
A) posad B) patrimony C) inheritance D) estate

11. The consequences of feudal fragmentation do NOT include:
A) the influx of the population from the southern to the northern regions of Eastern Europe
B) accelerating the development of natural economy
C) weakening the country's defense
D) the growth of cities and their isolation from the power of the Grand Duke

12. The specific period in the history of Russia (XII-XIV centuries) was preceded by:
A) isolation of South-Western Russia B) princely civil strife
B) Batu's invasion of Russia D) attacks of the knights-crusaders

13. The period of feudal fragmentation of the XII - early XIII centuries. was the time for Russia:
A) strengthening the power of the Kiev prince B) economic and cultural recovery
B) decline of culture D) economic decline

14. One of the results of the activities of Princess Olga was:
A) establishing the exact size of the tribute and the place of its collection
B) determining the nature of the tribute to be handed over
C) the conclusion of a profitable trade agreement with Byzantium
D) strengthening the power of the Kiev prince

15. In the urban centers of the Old Russian state, all the most important issues were decided by (o):
A) prince B) veche C) rope D) elder
16. Land ownership, inherited, for which it was necessary to carry out military service:
A) corvee B) quitrent C) feud D) tithe

17. In the Middle Ages, there was no class:
A) peasants B) hired workers C) feudal lords D) clergy

18. Who were the knights in relation to the barons and viscounts:
A) vassals B) servants C) seniors

19. The work of the peasants on the farm of the feudal lord is ...
A) corvee B) quitrent C) tithe D) month

20. The split of the Christian Church into Orthodox and Catholic took place in:
A) 1099 B) 962 C) 1054 D) 1204

21. In what year was Charlemagne proclaimed emperor?
A) in 800 B) in 500 C) in 395 D) in 732

22. Whose cultural achievements did Byzantium inherit?
A) the ancient world and the countries of the East
B) ancient Romans and Huns
C) Slavs and Scythians

23. A special letter of forgiveness of sins sold by the church was called:
A) forgiveness B) liberation C) indulgence D) Inquisition

24. People who spoke out were called heretics.
A) for church rituals B) against equality in property
B) against the dogmas of the official church D) for the crusades

25. The meeting of representatives of the estates in France is called:
A) Parliament B) States General C) Magna Carta

Since ancient times, the main occupations of the Eastern Slavs have been agriculture, hunting, fishing, gathering, and beekeeping. Trade played an auxiliary role.

The agriculture of the Eastern Slavs on the eve of the formation of their state and during the period of Kievan Rus reveals territorial variants. There were two farming systems:

in the southern area, agriculture was the main occupation; here quite early on the basis of the transfer (fallow) system arose bisexual, and slash-and-burn farming was transformed into plowed; homework played a big role cattle breeding;

in the north, along with agriculture, played an important role hunting, gathering and fishing still dominated fallow and slash-and-burn system.

Agriculture of Kievan Rus... In the north, the main agricultural tool was a wooden plow with an iron tip. here there were gray taiga podzolic soils with a thin layer of humus, and the soil was not turned over, but only loosened. In the south, plows and rails were used. A wooden harrow was used to loosen the arable land. The development of arable farming is evidenced by the handicraft production of agricultural implements for sale: during the excavations, blacksmith workshops of the 12th-13th centuries were discovered, in which sickles, scythes, and plowshares were found.

As a draft force in the north, a horse was used, resistant to the bites of forest insects and at the same time quite capable of pulling a relatively light plow. In the south, a more hardy and strong ox was used.

The composition of agricultural crops was varied. Rye, millet, oats, wheat, buckwheat, peas, spelled, poppy, flax were sown. The further north you go, the larger areas were occupied by rye and oats. From garden crops, turnips, cabbage, beans, onions, garlic, hops were known, from fruit trees - cherries and apple trees. Despite a gradual relative increase in agricultural production, yields were low. Harvest and famine were frequent occurrences, which undermined the peasant economy.

As for the rights to land, the Grand Duke was considered its supreme administrator. In general, all cultivated land by nature land tenure were divided into two parts:

communal lands; there were an overwhelming majority of them - these are lands belonging to communities, more precisely, the communities considered them by their, but the prince could transfer the communal lands to the second category;

fiefdoms- private land owned by either the prince (princely estates) or boyars (boyar estates); estates were inherited (hence the name); the inhabitants of the estates paid the owners of the land feudal rent – quitrent(payment in kind, most often part of the harvest).


Fiefdoms in Kievan Rus. The question of the time and forms of feudal land tenure in Russia is one of the most key and important, since it is inextricably linked, firstly, with the problem of the originality of Russian civilization, and secondly, with the choice of a historical approach in the study of Russian history.

In the XIX - early XX centuries. historians denied feudalism in ancient Russia as such. This was partly due to a narrow understanding of feudalism only as a social system characterized by serfdom and vassalage, but mainly with the fact that the problems of socio-economic development themselves were of little concern to historians. The very same "fact" was used in the process of constructing some speculative models of historical development. As a result, the absence of feudalism in Ancient Russia was named by the Slavophiles as one of the fundamental differences between Russia and Europe, and the Westernizers linked this fact with the backwardness of Russia, which confirmed their idea of ​​the need to move along the western path. N.P. Pavlov-Silvansky proved the existence of feudal relations in Ancient Russia (based on the materials of the 15th-16th centuries, retrospectively revealing feudalism in an earlier period), thereby confirming the Marxist theory with Russian data. Soviet historians went to the other extreme - wishing to artificially bring together the development trends of Russia and Europe (at the same time making ancient Russian history more ancient), they found feudal relations in Ancient Rus from its foundation, referring to the “Russian Truth”, the presence of estates and other indirect evidence.

The estates of Kievan Rus are indeed a feudal form of land tenure; they reveal clear analogies with the feudal allods of Western Europe at the same time. However: 1) estates in Russia appeared no earlier than the 11th century, under Vladimir, possibly under Yaroslav, and these were princely estates; boyar private lands appeared not earlier than the second half of the 11th century; at this time feudalism in Europe had at least a five-century history; 2) there were very few patrimonial lands in Russia, and they were small; 3) cities, pastures on which princely herds graze are mentioned as estates in Kievan Rus, but we know almost nothing about the patrimony arable land; 4) estates in Russia - apparently, the first in time, a form of feudal land tenure, while in the West, allod appeared as a result of the long development of beneficial land use. In other words, feudalism in Kievan Rus probably did exist, but it was a special feudalism, and it was not a system-forming or even somewhat characteristic factor of the socio-economic structure.

In general, Old Russian agriculture is characterized by natural character(the products produced on the farm were consumed in it) and extensive development(the growth in production volumes was achieved by an increase in the cultivated areas). These features were not manifestations of any national traits or technological backwardness, but were dictated by geographic conditions - the availability of free land, large spaces, low yields.

The emergence of princely power in the conditions of an underdeveloped subsistence economy, coupled with the unrelenting danger of raids by steppe inhabitants, Varangians and other neighbors, caused the formation of urban settlements, for the most part, not as centers of craft and trade, but as military administrative centers... That is why, despite the large number of urban settlements in Kievan Rus (in Northern Europe, Rus was called Gardarika - the country of cities), the craft here was not sufficiently developed in comparison with Europe. The main features of Russian craft include weak specialization, lack of craft corporations, combination of craft with other occupations... The craft was developed to the greatest extent in the cities on the trade routes - Kiev, Novgorod, Smolensk, Polotsk.

Craft in Kievan Rus. Russian artisans XI-XII centuries produced more than 150 types of iron and steel products. Ancient Russian jewelers knew the art of minting non-ferrous metals. In the field of artistic craft, Russian craftsmen have mastered a complex technique grains(making patterns from the smallest grains of metal), filigree(making patterns from the finest wire), figured casting, rabble(making a black background for patterned silver plates) and cloisonne enamel... Products of Russian jewelers and blacksmiths were appreciated throughout Europe. Pottery, leatherworking, woodworking, and stone-making crafts were significantly developed in ancient Russian cities. But in general, historians count in Kievan Rus a little over 60 specialties (in Paris alone of the same period - about 300). The social division of labor in the country was weak. The products of a few village artisans spread over a distance of about 10-30 km, and the products of urban artisans rarely penetrated into the village.

Russia arose on trade routes (“the way from the Varangians to the Greeks”, the Volga route, the Don route), naturally, trade played an important role in the structure of the economy of the Old Russian state. Kiev and Novgorod - the main trading cities of Russia - in terms of population, according to historians, surpassed most cities in Northern and Western Europe. However, Russian trade also had a number of specific features. At first, the trade was in transit, the Russian rivers were of important transit importance for trade between Northern Europe, the Arab East and Byzantium. Large volumes of trade were achieved by the resale of foreign goods to foreign merchants in Russia. Therefore, Russian trade has ethnic specificity: merchants ( guests) were represented, as a rule, by the Varangians, Arabs, Jews, Armenians, etc., but not by the Slavs. Flax, leather, furs, wax, honey, slaves were exported. Imported luxury goods, weapons, spices, fabrics. Trade served the needs of the social elite... The majority of the population was not involved in trade - the economy as a whole remained natural, and the surplus product was withdrawn in the form of tribute by the state.

Due to the low prevalence of commodity exchange, cattle were used as money (even the prince's treasury was called cowgirl), fur, arabic dirhams and Byzantine denarii. Only under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, with the development of commodity relations, did the minting of Russian coins proper begin - spools... Under Yaroslav the Wise, Russian silver coins were minted - silversmiths... Both the gold coins and the silversmiths had a very limited circulation, and can hardly be considered the Russian currency of that time. Much wider circulation was hryvnia- pieces of silver.

The system of monetary units in Kievan Rus. The "Russian Truth" mentions the hryvnia, coons, feet, cut... Numismatists found out that kuna, nogat and rezan are parts of the hryvnia: By weight, one hryvnia was equal to 20 kunas, 25 kunas or 50 rezans. However, the hryvnia itself did not have a clearly defined weight.

It is believed that in the second half of the 10th century. two monetary and weight systems were formed: northern and southern. Western coins played an important role in the northern system, the local hryvnia was adapted to their weight. The southern system was tied to the Byzantine light liter... The light liter was equal to 163.728 g of silver. South Russian hryvnia was 68.22 g, kuna - 2.73 g, nogat - 3.41 g, rezana - 1.36 g.

Taxes in Russia were collected from rural communities - with natural products, from cities - with silver. Tribute was collected from the community, and not from each resident, was calculated with "smoke"(i.e. farms). The cities (urban communities), apparently, paid a predetermined amount (as is known from the example of Novgorod). Under the first princes, tribute was collected polyud- the prince and his retinue collected tribute himself, bypassing the population under his control. After the murder in 945 of Igor during the polyudya, his widow Olga, who ruled Russia for her young son Svyatoslav, established lessons(pre-announced amount of tribute) and introduced wagon- now the tributaries had to independently carry the tribute to the churchyards (trading places, villages where the tribute could be exchanged). However, the wagon was apparently used only in the territories close to Kiev. Polyudye continued to operate on the outskirts of the state. Only residents of communal lands paid tribute to the Kiev prince, residents of estates (both cities and rural areas) did not pay tribute.

So, the economy of Kievan Rus was based on agriculture, which has a natural character. The craft, as well as commodity relations in general, were generally relatively poorly developed, and trade was mainly transit. Nevertheless, already during this period, feudal relations arose in Russia.