prerequisites for the separation of crafts from agriculture. Subsistence farming of the early Middle Ages

Subsistence farming reigned supreme in Europe during 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 the feal rent.
chalu. A characteristic feature of the natural economy was the combination of rural labor with industrial labor. On the estates of large feudal lords there were only a small number of artisans who were not or almost not involved in agriculture. There were also a small number of peasant artisans who lived in the village and were specially engaged in some kind of craft along with agriculture. The exchange of products was mainly limited to trade in such rare but important items in the economy that could be obtained only in a few places: iron, tin, copper, salt, etc. This also included luxury goods 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 traveling merchants (Byzantines, Arabs, Syrians, etc.). The production of products intended for sale was almost not developed. In exchange for imported goods, merchants received only a small part of agricultural products.
During the early Middle Ages, there were cities that were preserved 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 center of crafts and trade. The only exceptions were some cities of the early Middle Ages, where already in the 8th - 9th centuries. there were markets and craft dominance developed. In general, this did not change the picture.
By the X - XI centuries. Important changes took place in the economic life of Europe. Technology and craft skills developed, and individual crafts were improved: metal mining and processing, blacksmithing and weaponry, fabric making, and track processing. More advanced clay products were being produced 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 farmed entirely independently and worked at the same time as both a farmer and an artisan. There is a need to transform crafts from ancillary production in agriculture into an independent branch of the economy.
Well-known progress in the development of agriculture and cattle breeding also prepared the way for the separation of crafts from agriculture.
1o farms. Significant increase in labor productivity
in agriculture became!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, the quantity and variety of agricultural products in agriculture has increased. The time for their production was reduced, and the surplus product appropriated by feudal lords and landowners increased. Part of the product began to remain in the hands of the peasants, which made it possible to exchange part of the agricultural products for handicraft products.

It is believed that subsistence farming reigned supreme in the Middle Ages. In the village they did everything for their own consumption. It turns out, as recent research shows, this is not entirely true even for the early Middle Ages. There were, of course, high in the Alps, for example, hamlets where residents could not go down to the valley for years, but still this was an exceptional phenomenon. Usually, the peasant had to purchase some of the products he needed only in the city. In addition, if he had an excess of grain or leather, it was unlikely that he could exchange them in his village for anything useful on the farm - the harvest was usually good or bad throughout the village.
To enter the city market, the peasant had to pay an entry fee. It was collected at the city gates, sometimes from each cart, sometimes from the goods lying on the cart.
A peasant could go to the market not because of his own needs, if he was dependent and his duties included carriage. Then, several times a year, according to custom or what is written down in the charter, he harnessed a horse or bulls (and in Italy and Spain - a donkey or a mule) to a cart and carried the grain belonging to the lord to the market for sale. At the same time, he could take his own goods with him. True, the peasant could not always trade with his own: the lord had special rights to trade; first the lord had to sell his wine or grain, and then his peasants. In royal cities and lands, this right belonged to the king, and his officials strictly enforced this. According to the customs of the Portuguese city of Coimbra, for example, if a winemaker violated the royal monopoly on the wine trade twice, he was fined, and on the third time his barrels for storing wine were cut.
According to custom, most often the peasant had to send the carriage duty in such a way that he could return to his village on the same day; the lord had no right to send him to longer distances. If it was necessary to spend several days on the road, for example, when traveling to a fair, this was specially stipulated and the lord provided food for the peasants and their horses on the road.
The market became especially important for the peasant in the 14th-15th centuries, when the lords decided to conduct farming in a new way: instead of natural rent - grain, vegetables, poultry - they demanded from the peasants - the holders of their land - a cash payment for this land. This process - the transformation of peasant payments in kind into cash - is called rent commutation. In order to collect money for the contribution, the peasant, having collected the harvest, also had to take it to the market at his own expense, sell it at a profit and return to the village. As a result, the actual amount of rent for the peasant was higher than the figures indicated in the contract document.

The concept of entrepreneurship was introduced by Adam Smith and meant a type of activity aimed at making a profit and associated with risk. However, not everyone succeeds in entrepreneurial activity; not everyone is able to take reasonable, justifiable risks in order to make a profit. In the Middle Ages, when subsistence farming dominated, market relations were weak, and non-economic coercion existed; only the initial stage of the development of entrepreneurship can be observed. Relations with Byzantium were not always peaceful.

Share your work on social networks

If this work does not suit you, at the bottom of the page there is a list of similar works. You can also use the search button

Development of entrepreneurship in medieval Rus'

Introduction. . . . . . . . . 3

Trade and entrepreneurial activity in Ancient Rus' 4

The birth of entrepreneurship. . . 4

Merchant trade. . . . . . 6

Russian entrepreneurship in the era of the creation of a centralized state. . . . . . 9

Russian entrepreneurship at the stage of creating a centralized state. . . . . 9

Fees. . . . . . . . 12

Russian entrepreneurship in the era of strengthening the centralized state. . . . . . 14

Strengthening Moscow. The emergence of manufactories. . 14

International trade. . . . . . 18

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 vast European spaces by the Slavs was not aggressive in nature and was not accompanied by robberies and extermination of neighboring peoples. Tolerance and peacefulness led to the establishment of good neighborly relations with small neighbors (Merya, Chud, etc.). Formation of the Old Russian state in 882. was largely due to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Eastern Slavs. The concept of entrepreneurship was introduced by Adam Smith and meant a type of activity aimed at making a profit and associated with risk. These main points are present in all later definitions of entrepreneurship. It can be divided into: commercial, industrial, banking and other types; be collective or individual; By scale it refers to small, medium and large. However, not everyone succeeds in entrepreneurial activity; not everyone is able to take reasonable, justified risks in order to make a profit.

The developed stage of entrepreneurship is characterized by a close connection with the market, cooperation and division of labor, self-sufficiency, absence of coercion, freedom to choose a course of action, and the use of hired labor if necessary. In the Middle Ages, when subsistence farming dominated, market relations were weak, non-economic coercion existed, and only the initial stage of the development of entrepreneurship can be observed. Although he played a certain role in the emergence of entrepreneurship in a “pure” form in bourgeois society. The oldest and main type of business activity of our ancestors was trade. Trade was carried out by merchants - people who formed a special professional group in Rus' and then became a separate class.

Trade and entrepreneurial activity in Ancient Rus'.

The Birth of Entrepreneurship.

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

In the spring (while the water was high), huge dugout boats sailed to Kyiv from Smolensk, Chernigov, Novgorod, were loaded with goods in Kyiv, and merchants sailed down the Dnieper with an armed squad and princely ambassadors to Constantinople and other Greek cities. This path began to be called “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” It ran through the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov, Lovat and the Dnieper. Relations with Byzantium were not always peaceful. From the 9th to the middle of the 11th centuries. The Kyiv princes made six campaigns against Constantinople. They were mostly caused by Rus''s desire to restore or maintain trade relations with its southern neighbor. Campaigns ended, as a rule, with the signing of trade agreements. The peculiarities of trade of Russian merchants in Constantinople are evidenced, for example, by the agreement of 907 concluded by Prince Oleg with the Byzantine emperors (there were then two of them - Leo and Alexander). First of all, it stipulated that trading people arriving in Byzantium from Rus' should not “do dirty tricks” and would not engage in robbery and violence instead of trading. Apparently, as a precaution, visiting merchants were allowed to live only on the outskirts, near the monastery of St. Mothers, but not in the capital itself. They were previously corresponded by the Greek authorities and could enter the city only through one gate, specially designated for this purpose. It was also a condition that merchants and their servants be unarmed; They could enter the city in a group of no more than 50 people, accompanied by the “king’s husband,” i.e. local official. Finally, Russian merchants were not allowed to spend the winter within Byzantium. The Byzantines were probably afraid of newcomers, even those who came legally. Already in these agreements, merchants trading 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 Khaganate, which arose in the 7th century. (his power extended from the Crimea and the Caspian to the middle Volga; the capital of Khazaria was the city of Itil at the mouth of the Volga, next to modern Astrakhan); with the countries of the East.

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

Around the 11th century, by the time of quite extensive business transactions with the participation of Arab, Byzantine and Western European merchants, the importance of Kyiv as a center of intermediary trade between the West and the East increased. Transit trade through southern Rus' became even more active after the Normans and Hungarians blocked the routes through the Mediterranean and Southern Europe.

In 988, Rus' adopted Orthodox Christianity, this increased its authority among other peoples of Europe and Asia. The 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 towards trade. They preferred to build Christian churches in the most crowded places: in trading places near the walls of cities - in churchyards (from the word "gostba" - trade). Trappers, tar smokers, artisans and other “industrialists” gathered there. In the basements of churches, the equipment necessary for trade was stored, goods were stored, and trade contracts were preserved. The monasteries led an independent economic life. The Church took responsibility for maintaining order in trade, declaring every deception in transactions a sin. At first, trade took place right in the temples. Later it was moved to the vast church squares. Trade was carried out at both fairs (usually seasonal) and bazaars (regular, on weekends and holidays). In Kyiv itself there were 40 churches and 8 markets. The market - bargaining, marketplace, trading place - occupied a central place in the Russian city. Public meetings were held here, all the most important messages were made (including the prince’s orders), and news was learned. Trading operations could be carried out on the market only with a witness - a weigher who collected the weight fee in favor of the local prince. Traders were not allowed to use their own scales. Official measures of length (cubit, etc.), as well as yoke scales, were kept in churches under the supervision of bishops. On the social ladder, representatives of the merchant class stood behind the boyars, warriors and officials of the princes. According to the "Russian Truth" of Yaroslav the Wise, their life was valued at 40 hryvnia of silver or 10 hryvnia - according to the treaty of Novgorod with German cities of 1191-1192.

Merchant trade.

From the middle of the 11th century. The nature of merchant trade is changing. The Polovtsians and Seljuk Turks intercepted the routes to the south and east. Trade ties between Western Europe and the Middle East are once again moving to the Mediterranean. The trade importance of Kyiv is falling, with Novgorod, Polotsk, Smolensk, and Vladimir-on-Klyazma coming into first place with the increasing importance of business ties along the Baltic and Volga. The change in the direction of trade 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 help 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 arrival in Rus' ceased. The reasons for this were, firstly, the cessation of trade along the Volga due to the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate, and secondly, the cessation of silver minting in the East in the 11th century. ("Silver Crisis").

Coins of the Byzantine Empire were extremely rare during this period - silver “miliarisia” and gold “solida”. (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 block of silver weighing approximately 200 grams, roughly chopped off at the ends. When cut in half, it began to be called poltina (half), and divided into 4 parts - a quarter. From the word “hryvnia” the word “kryvennik” was later formed, i.e. one tenth of a ruble.

By the beginning of the 13th century. The foreign trade operations of Russian merchants were so entrenched that even the invasion of the Mongol hordes and crusaders could not interrupt them. After the establishment of Golden Horde rule in Rus', the importance of the trade route through the Baltic increased sharply. Business ties between Novgorod residents and German merchants had a long history here. Back in the 12th century. In Novgorod, two foreign guest courtyards appear: Gothic (Gotlandsky) with the Church of St. Olaf (built 1152) and German with the Church of St. Peter (1184). By this time, Novgorod merchants had their own corporate associations. The charter of the Ivanovo community, which united large wax traders (“wax workers”), has been preserved. The Ivanovo community was a trade administration body and resembled a Western European guild. The church had a duma for trade and merchant courts. Exchange instruments were also kept here: scales made of two cups for wax, a steelyard for honey, an cubit for cloth and a ruble hryvnia for weighing precious metals. The Ivanovo court had jurisdiction over all cases that arose between foreign and Novgorod merchants, including those of a criminal nature. From the 13th century The Baltic route ended up in the hands of intermediaries - merchants of the Hanseatic League. Members of the union, in addition to the North German cities led by Lübeck, were Riga, Revel (Tallinn), Dorpat (Tartu). For Novgorod merchants, Revel became the main trading partner, for Pskov and Smolensk merchants - Riga. The Hanseatic people had monopoly rights to intermediary trade between the countries of Western Europe and Novgorod. At the same time, the Novgorodians did not hesitate to limit the rights of German merchants, prohibiting them from retail trade in the city and access to other Russian cities. All wholesale transactions had to be concluded through the intermediary of local traders. Later, Pskov, Tverskoy, Polotsk, Smolensky and other courtyards were opened in Novgorod. Visiting merchants were obliged to live in the 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 forestry industries, the purchase of raw materials throughout Rus' for export to the Hanseatic cities, and trade with the Volga region. The dictates of the Hanseatic League complicated trade with European cities, but did not stop it.

Furs remained the main Russian product and often replaced money, and were also used for clothing, which not only protected from the cold, but also served as a sign of social status. Thus, the lower classes wore goat and sheep furs, while the upper classes dressed in fox, beaver, squirrel, and sable fur coats. The clergy and merchants were of a lower rank and wore bear and wolf fur coats.

Massive demand for furs in foreign and domestic markets encouraged Novgorod merchants to buy furs throughout the north of the European part of Russia and even in Siberia. This occupation required considerable courage and skills in military affairs, therefore in the XIV-XV centuries. a category of merchant-warriors arose, who were called ushkuiniki. Detachments of these half-merchants, half-combatants on oared ships made trips along the northern rivers and the Volga. Such activities were common in medieval Europe. Fishing was of great importance for Novgorodians, because salted and dried fish were a convenient product during long trading trips. In addition to fish, meat was widely used as food. In this regard, there was a great need for salt. Salt pans existed previously, but now their number has increased. They began to cook salt in the area of ​​​​Torzhok, Staraya Russa, in the Northern Dvina basin. Due to the high market prices for salt, this fishery was very profitable.

The process of cooking salt was simple: wells were dug in places rich in salt, from which the solar solution was drawn and evaporated in large forged frying pans - prices or simply in boilers. The abundance of firewood made evaporation quick and quite cheap.

A major 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 emerged: Moscow, Kostroma, Tver. Refugees moved here from the south; the convenient location was conducive to the development of trade relations. Plowing of new lands increased, and all kinds of crafts appeared. A real center of the revived Russian state was emerging, which became a stronghold of the fight against the Tatar-Mongol yoke.

In the 13th century Nizhny Novgorod arose at the confluence of the Volga and Oka, which became a center of trade with the southern and northern regions of Rus'. 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. This is where the name of the Russian merchants who traded through Surozh with Italian and Turkish cities in the 14th-16th centuries comes from; the guests were Surozh residents. This name meant the highest level of the merchant class of that time, which had great privileges granted to them by the great princes and then by the Russian tsars.

In the XIV century. Moscow and Tver from small peripheral towns of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality turned into large centers of crafts and trade. In handicraft production, processes of deepening, specialization and simplification of production technology continued, which led to cheaper products of mass demand for market sale. During the era of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus', crafts with complex manufacturing technology appeared - massive casting of bells, cannons, minting of coins, water mills. Some of them worked for the market, the other part worked 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. The iron-making industry developed in a number of areas of the Novgorod region and the Moscow region. They mined swamp iron ore and smelted iron. Often this was done by quitrent peasants who formed a simple cooperation, most often consisting of family members or hired workers.

Often, artisans involved in the manufacture and marketing of their products became professional merchants. Having become rich in trading operations, they abandoned their craft, but retained the name of their previous occupation. Thus, among the Russian people robbed in 1489 in the Lithuanian land the following are mentioned: “Mitya the tanner”, “Andryusha the armorer”, “Styopa the wax worker”, “Sofonik Levontiev’s son the needle-cutter”. In addition to professional merchants, artisans, city residents, and free peasants, people were involved in trade in the 14th-15th centuries. people dependent on feudal lords, including slaves. Often, merchants, in addition to their own goods, carried property that belonged to princes and boyars. This was recorded in their records by the customs offices that existed between different lands, where customs duties were collected. Even monasteries, despite the prohibitions on trade and usury for white and black clergy, were drawn into trade operations. Under Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy and his son, they were exempt from paying trade duties. Particularly active trade was conducted by the Trinity-Sergievsky, Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev, Vologda Glushetsky, Kirillo-Belozersky and other monasteries.

Fees.

From the end of the XII to the XIV centuries. There was a coinless period in Rus'. With the formation of the Moscow State (XIV century), the minting of Russian coins resumed. Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy began to mint the Tatar silver coin - dengu, then other principalities joined the process. The dominant monetary unit in the Russian principalities was the silver ruble, obtained from a silver stick chopped into small pieces and flattened. The coins were 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. A ruble contained 100 money, 6 money were equal to an altyn, and one money was equal to 4 half rubles. Foreign coins were used in circulation, which were accepted by weight at the rate of 0.25 pounds of silver per ruble; gold was valued at 12 times more expensive. The large number of principalities generated many trade duties. The main type of duties remained the toll, introduced in the ancient Russian state. This was a payment from a cart or boat for passage 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 the tax and tithe, during the Horde yoke, a tax was levied on capital - tamga, paid on the volume of sales, while trade in products of one's own production was not taxed. The size of the tamga also varied, but, as a rule, it amounted to 7 money per ruble from the sales volume. Wax was taxed at 4 money per pound. For evading payment of customs, a penalty was collected, called “promyt”; for evading payment of tamga, a penalty was charged, called “promyt”. A number of duties were levied not for the treasury, but for the improvement of trade itself: for the creation of warehouses and scales; for payment and maintenance of guards at warehouses; for branding services, etc. Such duties were usually calculated based on the actual volume of the goods, but partly also on the cost. When a duty was levied on a measure, it was called "measurement". Thus, for measuring salt there was a special measure - a “bowl” or “baking tray”; accordingly, the measured tax was called. A “weightier” or “kontar” duty was collected from the weight of goods (a kontar is a weight unit of 3 poods). Weight was paid for metals, wax, honey, etc., for each type of goods the size of the weight varied. From livestock sales, a “fox” was charged for a note from the transaction (such notes were preserved even in the 19th century). They took “spot” from horse sales, i.e. for placing a spot (brand) on each horse sold. Duties were divided into darazh and customs. The first were 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 duties were taken only when the goods entered the market. Only the clergy were exempt from paying duties; other traders, regardless of class, were obliged to pay. However, in some cases, in the form of a reward for special merits, individuals or even a certain part of the population could receive privileges that were exempt from paying duties, which was formalized by an appropriate letter. The duty system 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 establishing outposts (and, accordingly, collecting tolls). Their establishment and abolition depended entirely on the will of the prince. Merchants could never plan the amount of taxes in advance and therefore inflated the price in order to remain profitable in any case. In foreign trade, things were 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 import duties, did not impose duties on Russian goods. Duties on the Dvina, Don and Volga were not levied on either imported or exported goods. The Tatars were content with gifts from Russian merchants and did not collect any duties.

Russian entrepreneurship in the era of strengthening the centralized state.

Strengthening Moscow. The emergence of manufactories.

The strengthening of Moscow, which stood at the key point of Russian trade, where the river routes connecting the basins of the Volga, Oka, and other smaller rivers passed, was largely due to the zealous, practical policy of the Moscow princes. Ivan Danilovich Kalita ("Kalita" - a leather wallet with money) became an example for subsequent generations of Moscow prince-gatherers. They were able not only to acquire the right to collect yasak - tribute for the Horde, but also won the grand ducal throne. The formation of a centralized state required reliable sources to replenish the treasury. At that time there were not so many of them - trade and taxes on trade and craft. Hence the direct interest of the grand ducal authorities in expanding economic activity and trade, especially foreign trade. 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 manifest discontent of the Novgorodians against the authorities of Moscow ended with a punitive expedition, during which 150 boyars were executed, 50 of the richest Novgorod merchants and their families were resettled in Vladimir, about 10 thousand wealthy families were sent to Nizhny Novgorod and other cities near Moscow.

Centralization and repressive measures of the first Moscow sovereigns against Novgorod, Tver, Torzhok and other cities caused serious damage to the representatives of the merchant class, who were robbed by the “sovereign servants.” On the other hand, a stronger state, with its authority, provided support to merchants trading with foreign countries. This concerned the visiting Surozhans, who formed caravans and transported goods from Crimea to Moscow and back. It was in their midst that warehousing first appeared, when three to five people pooled their capital to purchase goods. Some of them brought goods from Crimea, others at that time traded them in Moscow or in other cities of the Moscow State. People of very different incomes were engaged in trade with southern and eastern countries. Some purchased goods for several tens of rubles, while others had working capital in the thousands. Some even took other people’s money on credit, such as the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin, famous for his unprecedented journey “across the three seas” to India. Among the most prosperous merchants-Surozhans of the 15th century. the surnames of the Khovrins, Shikhovs, Bobynins, and Ermolins are found. Merchants in Russia not only traded, but also organized production in the real sector of the economy. For example, the semblance of dispersed manufacturing, when entrepreneurs distributed orders to home-based manufacturers, ultimately receiving finished goods (for example, in some houses flax was crumpled and carded, in others they spun yarn, in others they wove, in others they whitewashed and dyed it, giving the customer something ready for sale linen), appeared in Novgorod back in the 14th century, around the same time as the woolen manufactories of France. Some of them acquired land estates and built brick buildings and churches in Moscow. Along with the expansion of trade, the Moscow sovereigns paid attention to production problems. To solve state problems (arming the army, 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 its concentration primarily in the sphere of circulation encouraged the government to actively engage in production activities, organizing state-owned manufactories. (Manufactory is an enterprise based on the division of labor and manual craft production.)

In 1479 In Moscow, the foundry Cannon Yard was built, on which by the middle of the 17th century. Over 100 people worked and up to 200 guns were cast annually. It was a manufactory employing four groups of skilled workers and several groups of auxiliary workers. The Printing, Khamovny and Mint yards, the Armory Chamber, which produced 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. State-owned enterprises of this kind, working to satisfy palace needs, were also common in Western Europe (the manufactories of Henry Bourbon and Colbert in France, the Elizabethan manufactories in England). The needs of the court were served by the palace manufactories. As in Western Europe, these enterprises produced luxury goods: velvet, fine linen, fine leather - morocco, glass, etc. The level of skill of the workers of such manufactories 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 connected with the state. At the same time, the state willingly turned to foreign experience. Foreign craftsmen were invited, who used treasury funds to establish the production of goods of public demand. Ivan the Terrible also gave permission to the British to search for ore and build a plant on Vychegda. The terms of the agreement were the training of Russian people in metallurgical work, the obligation to sell iron to the treasury at a fixed price, although the export of metal to England with the payment of a duty was also allowed.

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

The construction of private ironworks by foreigners was the first important step towards creating large-scale industrial production. These factories used the simplest mechanisms, water-powered installations. The workforce was recruited mainly by hire, although artisans from palace settlements were also recruited “by the sovereign’s decree.” Workers received wages in cash and food. The enterprise paid taxes on factory workers in finished products - iron and weapons. New economic processes were reflected in the subsistence economy of the estates, where the preconditions for market relations began to take shape. The patrimonial manufactories that grew up on the basis of peasant crafts, initially serving the internal needs of the economy, in some cases acquired significant proportions. This allowed them to reach the regional and even national market level. Numerous enterprises of boyar B.I. are known. Morozov, located mainly near Nizhny Novgorod: iron-making, potash, distilleries, leather, brick. Similar proceedings were initiated by many representatives of the aristocracy: the Miloslavskys, Cherkasskys, Trubetskoys, Odoevskys. These enterprises used serf labor. Cheap labor increased profitability, but at the same time inhibited the improvement of the production process. At the same time, in the middle of the 17th century. serfs began to retire and work for hire. This was the result of the spread of cash rent in the process of developing market relations and the increasing need of serf owners for funds. The development of small-scale production brought out successful artisans from among the craftsmen, who later became owners of large industrial enterprises. A significant number of large breeders came from among small industrialists in Tula, Yaroslavl, Vologda and other cities.

Already at the end of the 17th century. former Tula blacksmith Nikita Antufievich Demidov built his first factory near Tula. However, large-scale production could not develop at a rapid pace. Merchant capital was not yet ready to invest its funds in the industrial sphere, so the entire burden of satisfying the needs for industrial products fell on artisans. But they were not able to provide for the ever-increasing needs of the nobility, especially in luxury goods. Satisfying these needs, as in previous periods, fell on the shoulders of foreign trade.

International trade.

Great geographical discoveries and the capture of trade routes by the Seljuk Turks shifted trade relations to the west. Europe traded with India using sea transport. Russia's attempt to win freedom of 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, which feared the strengthening of Russia. This led to a reduction in foreign trade through the Baltic. New trade routes with Russia were opened by the British, who discovered Russian lands by rounding the Kola Peninsula and entering the White Sea back in 1523. Later, they decided to explore 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 entered the Arctic Ocean. Two ships - under the command of Willoughby and Derforth - were carried away by a storm to the shores of Lapland and covered with ice. Their entire crew died from cold and hunger. The third ship, "Good Omen", under the command of Chancellor, was driven by a storm to the Dvina Bay and on August 24, 1553. We landed safely at the mouth of the Dvina near the monastery of St. Nicholas. Kholmogory governor Makarov hospitably greeted the guests and sent a report to Ivan IV in Moscow. Then Chancellor himself went to Moscow and presented the Tsar with a letter on behalf of Edward VI, specially prepared for the sovereigns into whose lands the expedition could be launched. Ivan the Terrible granted English merchants the right to trade in Muscovy on an equal basis with the Dutch.

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

Later, the Dutch and French joined trade with Russia. In 1584 At the mouth of the Northern Dvina, the city of Arkhangelsk was founded, which became the main trading port with foreign countries until the construction of St. Petersburg. Even under Ivan III, trade with the Greeks resumed. The reason was the massive arrival of Greeks to Russia after the marriage of Ivan III to Sophia Paleologus in 1472. This event strengthened 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 were even provided with allowances (food) from the treasury: meat, candles and firewood. The Greeks brought mainly precious stones, pearls and other luxury items, and exported valuable light furs.

During the Moscow period, Asian trade also remained important. Close trade ties were established with the Khivans, Bukharans, Persians, Shamakhans, Crimean Tatars, and Nogais. This was facilitated by the annexation of Kazan in 1552 and Astrakhan in 1556. Already in 1557 and 1558. Embassies from the khans of Khiva and Jagatai visited Moscow, and a trade agreement was concluded. As a result, a lively market for furs, Asian and European goods arose in Astrakhan. In 1563 A trade agreement was signed with Shamakhi in 1569. - with Bukhara. Russia was the first European country to sign an equal trade agreement with China (Treaty of Nerchinsk 1689). Russian merchants also often visited Khiva and Bukhara. Relations were friendly and were only marred by robberies carried out by Cossacks and nomads. In Astrakhan there was a Bukhara farmstead, where Indian goods were also supplied. Armenians traded Persian goods in Astrakhan. The Khivans and Nogais supplied steppe goods: horses, leather, lard, sheepskins. Since the state and the kings themselves were directly involved in foreign trade, a policy was pursued to eliminate competitors, both external and internal. This led to the introduction of a government monopoly on the sale of a number of particularly profitable goods. Ivan the Terrible classified bread, hemp, rhubarb, potash, tar, caviar, etc. as protected goods. In certain years, either restrictions were introduced 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 certain goods was often farmed out in order to replenish the budget at a time.

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 compiled an inventory of it and selected a portion for the royal treasury. It was assumed that this part was purchased by the state and had to be paid in full, but due to numerous abuses, the goods were often not paid in full. The remaining part of the goods after paying import duties was allowed for free sale. This procedure reduced the turnover of trade with foreigners, and also encouraged the latter to inflate prices, which included the risk of losses. Significant damage to trade was also caused by numerous privileges given to individual foreign citizens for special services, which usually consisted of mediation in establishing relations with foreign governments, translations, and participation in embassies. So, in 1653 Dutch merchants Vogler and Klenk took over the export of yuft and hemp. In 1649 the resin was farmed out duty-free to Vinius. At the same time, normal trade conditions were violated and unfair competition methods were used. For example, in 1618 Dutch resident Isaac Massa reported to his government that he had managed to disgrace the British before the Moscow government.

Unified system of measure. Resettlement policy.

The formation of a centralized state made it possible to begin to create a unified system of weights and measures necessary for the successful development of trade. In Rus', measures of weight, volume and length were very diverse and were characterized by great inaccuracy. Often, especially in certain regions, foreign influence was felt, which explains the use of such units of measurement as pound, flipper, etc. The highest unit of weight - berkovets - contained 10 poods, in a pood (16.38 kg) there were 40 hryvnia (pounds); in hryvnia (409.5 g) - two hryvnia rocks; in a rock hryvnia (204.8 g) - 48 spools; in the spool (4.266 g) - 25 buds, later 96 lobes. Scales, steelyards, kontari, terezi and rocks were used to determine weight. Steelyards are the simplest lever or spring scales. Theresas were large market scales for weighing entire carts. Rocks were small apothecary scales for weighing gold, silver, precious stones and pharmaceutical products. Bulk products were measured by volume rather than by weight. There were special measures for the volume of bulk products that retained their significance until the 19th-20th centuries: okov (barrels), quarters, octagons and quadrangles. Linear measures were versts, fathoms, arshins and cubits. Liquids were measured in barrels, cauldrons, buckets (12.32 l), jugs, pots, valleys, mugs, cups, etc. These measures were mostly vague. Just as now a bag can be 40 kg, or maybe 50 kg, so then the cauldron could be less than three buckets, or it could be over 20 buckets. The situation was the same with other measures. Therefore, the price was set on a case-by-case basis.

Due to the inaccuracy of the measures, chaos and arbitrariness reigned in the calculations; transactions were carried out mainly by eye. Merchants usually bought goods in carts, boats, plows, and entire warehouses, without trying to make accurate calculations. There was even a belief (they say, borrowed from the eastern peoples) that accurate measurement harms commercial happiness. This, by the way, was used by European merchants who measured and weighed Russians. Russian merchants also cheated; decency and honesty in transactions, controlled by the church in past periods, were forgotten. The formation of a centralized state and the formation of a national market required the creation of a unified monetary system. During the period of feudal fragmentation, individual principalities and lands independently minted a variety of banknotes; Tatar money also had a significant influence on the monetary system of Rus'. The money of the Moscow principality retained its importance during the years of formation of the centralized state, although it gradually depreciated. Under Dmitry Donskoy, money weighed 24 shares (1.06 g), under Ivan III - no more than 9 shares (less than 0.4 g). By the beginning of the 16th century. the coins lost approximately another 15% of their weight. The Novgorod denga - novgorod - weighed twice as much as the Moscow one - moskovka. In Novgorod, money minting was generally treated more strictly than in Moscow, although it began only in the 15th century. Before this, foreign banknotes were in circulation. Under Ivan III, 260 Novgorod coins were minted from the hryvnia (48 silver spools, equal to approximately 204.8 g). Thus, the coin had a weight content of 0.786 g of silver.

The monetary system was streamlined only in 1535. - during the regency of Elena Glinskaya, the mother of Ivan the Terrible. Standards for the weight, design and ratio of banknotes were introduced. 300 coins began to be minted from the silver hryvnia (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 kopeyny, or kopeks. The old Muscovite coins, on which the image of a horseman with a sword (sword money) remained in circulation. Kopecks were approximately twice as heavy as sword money; a ruble required approximately 16 spools of silver. Smaller coins - polushki - were equal to 0.5 Moscow money and had the image of a bird. With the advent of kopecks, half rubles began to equal 0.25 kopecks. Since the 15th century A silver coin, Altyn, was minted, which was equal to 6 Moscow kopecks; 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 coins. The development of domestic and foreign markets increased the need for means of circulation, and the lack of its own deposits of precious metals caused serious difficulties. Under these conditions, the state rightly considered foreign trade activities as their main source and was actively involved in it. Revenues from state monopolies in foreign trade and customs duties were received in foreign silver coins. Since 1654, under Alexei Mikhailovich, foreign silver money - joachimstalers (efimki) - began to be minted into Russian coins for the benefit of the state. With a real silver content of 42 kopecks from one joachimsthaler, 64 kopecks were received when reminting.

In order to create a single all-Russian market and at the same time, 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, and two years later another 100 families. Apparently, from these settlers the influential “Novgorod Hundred” was formed in Moscow, known since the end of the 16th century. A relocation, that is, a resettlement, was also carried out from Pskov after its annexation in 1510. to the Moscow state. These settlers formed their own quarter of “Pskovians” in the Sretenka area. In 1518 They built the Church of the Presentation, which became the religious center of their settlement. In 1569 Ivan the Terrible brought another 500 people from Pskov to Moscow. Among them were very wealthy people. For example, the Pskov man Gavrilo Alekseev in 1578-1579. donated to the Kirillov Monastery a stone shop with a cellar in the richest of Moscow's rows - cloth. Finally, the translation in 1514 was of great importance. for a large group of wealthy Smolensk merchants to live in Moscow, who formed here a special category of “Smolensk residents”, who occupied second place in the business hierarchy of Moscow after guests.

Relocations not only contributed to the concentration of large capital in Moscow. The “Svedets” maintained business ties with the cities where they were from: the Dvinans brought their goods and money to the Dvina, the Ustyug residents enriched the shrine of their native Ustyug - the St. Michael the Archangel Monastery - with their contributions. The transfer of native Moscow merchants to other cities had similar consequences. Moscow guests formed an influential colony in Novgorod: among them one could meet representatives of such wealthy merchant families as the Tarakanovs of Surozhan and the Syrkovs, known for their construction activities in Novgorod. Settlers from Moscow lived on the trade side at the Plotnitsky end. Here, on the site of the old church, they, together with Novgorod merchants, built in 1536. Church of Boris and Gleb. After the capture of Pskov, Vasily III transferred more than 100 out-of-town merchants to live there. There were Moscow settlers in Tver as well. The transfer of Moscow trading people to the former centers of independent principalities and republics undoubtedly had both economic and political significance, helping to strengthen ties between individual regions of the country and the capital and, ultimately, the formation of an all-Russian market.

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

Moscow XVI century is already a major economic center, serving not only the local population, but also the needs of the entire state. Moscow trade experienced a significant rise, the center of which became Kitay-Gorod. When the Kitaygorod wall was built in 1535, an order was issued to bring all trading to the “city.” Rows stretched along Red Square in front of the Kremlin, each of which offered a certain type of goods. Wholesale trade was carried out in gostiny dvors, where nonresident and foreign merchants were obliged to bring their goods. For sale in rows, barns, cellars, benches, counters, shelves, huts, tables, benches, and lockers (chests with a lifting lid) were used. Those who traded in a separate row formed a corporation headed by a headman. In the shops that belonged to the townspeople, trading was carried out either by the owners themselves or by their tenants. Churches and monasteries, many of which owned 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 trade in food supplies. The wide demand for some of them, such as fish products, was determined by the custom of eating fish during numerous fasts. “The custom of sacredly maintaining the fasts established by the church,” wrote N.I. Kostomarov, “developed fishing and fishing trade everywhere in our country. There was no river or lake where fishing was done; there was no market, no matter where fish was most ordinary goods." The rise of Moscow trade caused the construction of new shopping arcades under Boris Godunov. They were a long stone one-story building with an angle; the shops were located under vaulted arches, below which there were storerooms where merchants stored goods. Behind the labyrinth of cramped and winding streets of Kitay-Gorod, lined with wooden and stone shops, rose the buildings of the Gostiny Dvor with premises that were rented out to visiting out-of-towners and foreign merchants. The courtyards of foreign merchants were also located in Kitai-Gorod.

Russian merchants and industrialists of the 17th century.

The new century for the Russian state was associated with difficult trials associated with crop failures, peasant uprisings, Polish and Swedish aggression. In history, the name of the period from 1598 to 1613. became established 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 remained empty, and gangs of robbers roamed the roads, robbing not only merchants, but also every passer-by. Having reigned in 1613 on the Russian throne, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov reproached the trading people for not providing adequate 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 the reign of Mikhail Romanov, emergency taxes were collected from the commercial and industrial population of the country to replenish the state treasury.

However, the unsuccessful Smolensk War of 1632-1634. had a painful impact on the country's economy, which had begun to revive. Failure of the salt reform of 1646 with the subsequent return of taxes for 3 years led to the ruin of the poor and increased discontent. After a short lull in 1654-1667. a long and grueling war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began. The copper rebellion, caused by the replacement of silver coinage with copper ones, was brutally suppressed. However, further transformations such as the church reform of Patriarch Nikon and the subsequent schism further intensified social contradictions. The end of the “rebellious age” was the peasant war under the leadership of Stepan Razin - a clear manifestation of dissatisfaction with the increasing 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 living room people and 116 cloth hundreds. The guests, in addition to their wealth (their capital ranged from 20 to 100 thousand rubles), retained the rights to foreign trade, acquisition of estates and jurisdiction directly to the tsar. Traders who joined the hundreds were exempt from the townsman 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 required to carry out government assignments: in the customs and tax services, purchasing 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 the number of people in the living room and cloth hundreds was 200 people each. The Black Hundred constituted the lowest stratum of the merchant class. The townspeople - small city merchants - were in the same position as the Black Hundred.

Sloboda people occupied a special position. This was the name given to small traders and artisans who lived outside the city walls in white settlements, uniting into separate corporations based on their profession. Initially they belonged to monasteries and were not subject to state taxes and duties. Accordingly, life in the white settlements was easier, and the Slobozhans constituted serious competition for the townspeople, causing the indignation of the latter. Based on the Council Code of 1649. White settlements were liquidated by confiscating them from the church and transferring them to cities, and residents of White settlements and suburbs were given equal rights.

Posad people and Slobozhans, unlike “peasants,” were called “people” and occupied a higher social position. Cathedral Code of 1649 contained chapter (XIX), which regulated the position of the townspeople. According to the Code, the posad population was separated into a closed class and attached to the posad. All its inhabitants were included in the townsman tax, i.e. were obliged to pay taxes and perform duties, but received the right to trade and conduct crafts, which the peasantry could no longer do. The posad population was attached to the posads, but they were freed from competition from peasants, “servant and spiritual,” who were traditionally engaged in trade and crafts. Now the right to such activities could only be obtained by joining the townsman community. This is how the government simultaneously solved fiscal and competition problems.

Posad people traded actively. In Moscow in 1701 for every 2-3 yards there was 1 trading place. By the end of the 16th century. in Tula, merchants made up 44% of all residents, and together with artisans - 70%. A significant part of the townspeople did not have premises and peddled. They were called hodebshchiki and covered the surrounding villages with petty trade. Trading from trays (huts) was also widespread. A large trade deal required the participation of a large number of trusted persons who would carry out the merchant’s instructions. 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 behalf of the head of the house, traveled around the cities of Russia with "bargaining". On these trips, merchant youth became accustomed to the trade and thereby prepared for future independent activity. Gradually, enterprising entrepreneurs emerged from it. Thus, the future guest and builder of Ustyug churches Afanasy Fedotov went through the initial school of trade skills under the guidance of his older brother Vasily, who sent him to Siberia “to become a clerk.” Sometimes within the merchant families, on the basis of extremely complex and intricate family relationships, there was a struggle, unnoticed from the outside, between the “old people” and the “younger people” for independent participation in the common business and capital.

Similar relationships took place in the family of the famous Solvychegodsk Stroganovs. In 1617 Maxim Stroganov brought his grandson Ivan Yamsky from Vologda. For 9 years, Ivan studied the intricacies of commerce. The grandfather sent his grandson “to the Siberian cities with money and goods,” while the grandson purchased “all kinds of purchases” for him. After death in 1624 old Stroganov, Ivan continued to live with his widow and sons, that is, his uncles, still traveling around trading or sitting in the shop at Solya Vychegodskaya. However, in 1626, taking advantage of the departure of his relatives, Ivan bought his own courtyard and moved there along with the goods entrusted to him, trading from then on in his own name. Only after a long litigation did Stroganov’s widow obtain a decree to seize the money and goods embezzled from Ivan Yamsky.

"Agents" of merchants.

Clerks

It was difficult to set up a large trading enterprise with the strength of one family. We had to resort to outside help, including hiring clerks. They could also be trading people who themselves conducted independent large businesses, but who preferred for a time, for one reason or another, to trade on behalf of a wealthier merchant. Vasily Fedotov, later one of the largest Moscow guests, after the ruin in 1626. from his village, he was forced by robbers to hire himself as a clerk to the wealthy Muscovite Afanasy Levashov.

The concept of “customer” did not always have the same legal content.

At least three types of clerk are known.

The first type is a hired person whom an 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 period or another and lived “in hire for fixed years,” sometimes the period was not set at all.

The second type is the clerk, who took over the management of business affairs “out of profit,” and the generally accepted norm was the division of profits between the owner and the clerk in half; this was called taking goods "using-use". The clerk was obliged to return the capital - “the truth,” as they said in the 17th century, and then “to make up the truth,” that is, to give half of the profit to the owner and take the other half for himself.

The third type of clerk is a partner and participant in a trading enterprise. Both parties - the owner and the clerk - added up their capital; at the end of the operations, everyone received their part of the capital back, and the profit was divided in half. In this case, it was assumed that an entrepreneur, for example, a merchant of a hundred living room, 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 master possessed, acted on his behalf, and had in his hands the royal charter issued to him. In turn, the clerk offered his own labor for free. Both sides thus benefited.

Possible abuses of the clerk were prevented by the latter’s obligation not to perform “any tricks on the belly entrusted to him (that is, capital and property): do not drink drunken drinks and do not play with grain and ... do not go after wives and do not steal in any way.”

Sidelitsy

Next to the clerks, the inmates took their own place. If the clerk is a free person who often conducts trade himself, then the housekeeper, on the contrary, was temporarily in personal dependence on the owner. This is a “working person” who, for a certain period of time, entered the owner’s yard and gave himself the usual type of residential record (about obligations towards the merchant). Most often, he had to be in the role of a “shopkeeper,” performing specific types of work in a trading establishment.

Peddlers

Below him stood the peddlers, essentially not much different from him. They also lived with a merchant with a “mandatory record” for “lesson years,” and the whole difference was that they traded “on a daily basis” and not in a shop and, of course, on a very small scale.

"People"

The lowest category of agents who carried out the merchant’s orders were “people” - workers who came to the entrepreneur not under a contract, but due to personal dependence on him. Sometimes servants were bought from the Don Cossacks, who returned from their raids with a large amount of “living goods”. For trading purposes, they preferred to purchase boys: they were baptized and taught Russian literacy. Many of the boys who grew up and were brought up in the master's house became trusted representatives, occupied the position of full-fledged clerks rather than slaves, and the legal dependence that connected them with the entrepreneur rather strengthened than violated mutual trust and affection.

Business relationship.

The basis of legal support for business relations in the 17th century. "right" remained. The faulty debtor was taken daily to the square in front of the order and beaten with rods. Such “extortion” of the debt could not last more than a month, after which (if the debt was not paid) the debtor was at the disposal of the plaintiff. Code of 1649 established a certain standard for working off the debt: a man’s year of work was valued at 5 rubles, a woman – 2 rubles.50 kopecks, and a child – 2 rubles. In addition, such a form of debt repayment as giving “to live” was also widespread. In this case, the personal dependence of the debtor on the merchant was established.

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

In 1649 The trade privileges of English merchants, previously granted by Ivan the Terrible, were abolished. The formal basis for this was the news that the British “killed their sovereign, King Carlos, to death.”

October 25, 1653 The Charter of Commerce was promulgated. Its main significance was that instead of many trade duties (pavement, skid, etc.), it established a single duty of 5% on the price of the goods sold. The Charter also increased the amount of duty for foreign merchants - instead of 5%, they paid 6%, and when sending goods inside the country, an additional 2%. The New Trade Charter, adopted in 1667, had a clearly expressed protectionist character. He sharply limited the trading activities of foreigners in Russia. For example, when importing goods into a Russian port, they had to pay a duty of 6% of the price of the goods. If they transported goods to Moscow or other cities, they paid an additional duty of 10%, and when selling goods locally, another 6%. Thus, duties reached 22% of the price of the goods, not counting the costs of transporting them. 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 revenue to the treasury from collecting duties. The author of this charter was Afanasy Lavrentievich Ordin-Nashchokin. Coming from a seedy noble family, he became the favorite of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and one of the most prominent statesmen of the 17th century. Nashchokin advocated the full development of domestic trade, the liberation of the merchants from the petty tutelage of the authorities, and the issuance of preferential 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 an embassy to India, and dreamed of colonizing the Amur region by the Cossacks. Having been planted in 1665 Voivode in Pskov, Nashchokin creates an elected merchant self-government of 15 people for a court on trade matters; the “elective hut” that was set up 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 implement a number of his ideas.

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 complemented and expanded the scope of domestic entrepreneurship. Formation in the 17th century. a single all-Russian market contributed to the involvement of various segments of the population in business relations. At the same time, the emerging tendency to limit the trading activities of the peasantry significantly reduced the business potential of not only the village, but also the townspeople, who, due to their privileged position, depended on a number of objective and subjective circumstances, primarily in the sphere of relations with the authorities. Any fluctuations in the internal and international position of Russia affected the economic stability and initiative of such traders, most painfully affecting those of them who were most closely connected with the treasury, that is, the same guests and trading people of the living room and cloth hundreds. Conversely, entrepreneurs who were quite independent in business terms and acted at their own risk acquired significant advantages during critical periods in the country’s history, being able to enter new areas of economic activity and adapt to the changing 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. History of entrepreneurship in Russia. Book one. From the Middle Ages to the mid-nineteenth century. - M.: ROSSPEN, 2000.

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

5. Perkhavko V. The first Russian merchants. - M., 2006.

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

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

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

9. Yu.A. Pompeev History and philosophy of domestic entrepreneurship - St. Petersburg, 2003

Other similar works that may interest you.vshm>
3819.		Main trends in the development of political thought in Medieval Rus'	25.56 KB
	At the same time, the chronicle documents reveal the desire of their authors to substantiate the source of the authority of the princely power and their ideas about the ideal reign. The main theme is the justification of princely power through the will of God, the role of law and truth in regulating human behavior.
18700.		Small business development	291.47 KB
	In this case, it is the influence of the company's managers that leads to maximum profit. The purpose of the thesis is to determine the reasons for the disruption of the sustainable functioning of a commercial company in the current market conditions. To achieve this goal, the work determined the solution of the following tasks: - to study the macroeconomic environment of the company’s functioning, to determine the areas of activity of small enterprises in the Far Eastern region; - characterize the company’s market and its place in this market; - conduct...
11088.		Development of small business in the Republic of Kazakhstan	146.87 KB
	For the transition to a market economy, improving the circle of entrepreneurship, including small businesses, the state also plays a significant role. The state gives the first impetus to the prosperity of a particular business. And so that this further business expands and produces not only for its owner, but also for the state. It is necessary for the state to create conditions for entrepreneurship, an entrepreneurial environment.
18335.		The impact of privatization processes and government programs on the development of entrepreneurship	111.81 KB
	In accordance with the national program of denationalization and privatization of state property in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the main goal of privatization was to create the necessary conditions for the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy based on the personification of property rights in the process of the state returning national property to the population of the republic through the gratuitous and compensated transfer of production facilities to others tangible and intangible assets owned by the state. Foreign experience...
10686.		MEDICINE OF MEDIEVAL WESTERN EUROPE (V – XVII centuries)	27.78 KB
	Medicine in Western Europe during the early 5th and 10th centuries. The beginning of the history of the Middle Ages in Western Europe is conventionally considered to be 476. At that time, there was not a single state in Northwestern Europe. During the classical Middle Ages, the ideology of Western European society was determined primarily by the church.
5314.		Culture of Kievan Rus	24.63 KB
	Even the first mention of Novgorod officially dates back to 859, which is three years earlier than the time that the legendary legend assigns to Kyiv. Paganism turned into a state religion, which was reflected in the creation of the priestly class: magi, sorcerers, blasphemers who developed an accurate calendar and were able to predict the weather well. It is believed that Slavic writing was created by the enlighteners Cyril and Methodius, who compiled the Cyrillic alphabet for the Eastern Slavs. But recent research suggests that...
5159.		The genesis of wedding rituals in Rus'	42.66 KB
	A wedding is surrounded by many customs, symbols of ritual actions: the bride’s veil, sprinkling the newlyweds with hops and grain, wedding rings. But modern people hardly know what meaning lies behind these customs and symbols. After this, the groom’s refusal of the bride was considered a disgrace to the bride and he was charged a fine of hryvnia for cheese and three hryvnia for trash and for which it was lost...
21771.		Foreign policy of Kievan Rus	23.77 KB
	Socio-political system of Kievan Rus. Foreign policy of Kievan Rus. Collapse of Kievan Rus. Throughout the entire period of the existence of Kievan Rus, the Old Russian nationality, which was the common ethnic basis of the three fraternal East Slavic peoples - Russian Ukrainian and Belarusian, developed through further consolidation.
3639.		POLITICAL Fragmentation of KIEVAN RUS	25.63 KB
	In a narrower sense, history is a science that studies all kinds of sources about the past in order to establish the sequence of events, the historical process, the objectivity of the described facts and draw conclusions about the causes of events.
3489.		STAGES OF FORMATION OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN Rus'	39.11 KB
	A City Duma deputy was detained by a police officer for violating traffic rules and fined. Considering the actions of the police officer to be unlawful, the deputy filed a statement with the prosecutor with a request to bring this police officer to justice. Analyze the current situation.

Already in that era, the predominant industry in Rus' was agriculture. Its development, of course, was closely related to soil and climate. Meanwhile, in the black earth zone of southern Russia it brought a rich harvest, although it sometimes suffered from drought, locusts, digging 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 destroyed bread and led to years of famine, 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, rich fields, with a relatively small population, made it possible to often plow and sow virgin land, or new land, i.e. virgin soil, and then, in case of depletion, let it go for a long number of years; in the northern zone, the farmer had to wage a persistent struggle with poor soil and impenetrable forests. To get a piece of convenient land, he cleared a plot of forest, cut down and burned trees; the ash that remained from them served as fertilizer. For several years, such a plot yielded 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 acquired a mobile character. But at the same time, our peasantry spread Slavic-Russian colonization far in all directions and, with their sweat or their suffering (hard work), assigned new lands to the Russian tribe.

Various evidence confirms to us that the cultivation of the land was carried out with the same tools and methods that have been preserved in Rus' to our time. Spring grain was sown in the spring, and winter grain 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 “rawl”; they harnessed horses, but, in all likelihood, used them for plows and oxen; the plowed field, or "roly", was passed through with a harrow. The ears were also removed with a sickle and a scythe. The compressed or mowed bread was piled up, and then taken to the threshing floor and placed there in “stacks” and “tables”; Before threshing, they dried it in “barns” and threshed it with “flails.” Threshed grain, or “zhito,” was kept in “cells” and “susekas” (bins), but for the most part they were buried in pits. They ground grain into flour mainly with hand millstones; Mills are rarely mentioned and only about water mills. The hay was harvested in the same way as now, i.e. they mowed the grass in the meadows (otherwise known as “hay harvests” or “stubbles”) and stacked them in stacks. The main item in grain products and folk food even then was rye, as the plant most suitable for Russian soil. Wheat was also produced in the south; in addition, millet, oats, barley, peas, spelt, lentils, hemp, flax and hops are mentioned; We just don’t see any buckwheat in those days.

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

Since ancient times, rye bread has been baked sour. During crop failures, poor people mixed in other plants, especially quinoa. There were also wheat breads. 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 extracted from hemp and flaxseed; butter was also extracted from milk; They also knew how to make cheese. Meat food, apparently, was very common in Ancient Rus' due, among other things, to the abundance of game and constant hunting. Our ancestors not only ate grouse, hazel grouse, cranes, deer, elk, aurochs, boars, hares, etc., but did not disdain bear meat and squirrels, against which the clergy rebelled, classifying them as “filth,” i.e. to unclean animals. The clergy also rebelled against eating animals, even clean ones, but not slaughtered ones, but strangled ones, considering the latter “carrion”; This included black grouse and other birds that were caught with snares. During the famine, commoners, of course, did not pay attention to such prohibitions and ate not only linden bark, but also dogs, cats, snakes, etc., not to mention horse meat, which in pagan times was generally consumed by Russians as food. The main source of ordinary meat food was, of course, supplied 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 just 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 an occupation as widespread in Rus' 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 spaces. However, we do not have direct information to what extent these lands abounded in cattle. We come across more indications of the prosperity of horse breeding, but even that of the prince. The size of this latter can be judged from 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 because they delivered horses not only to their squad, but also to part of the zemstvo army that gathered in wartime. The horses of noble people were usually distinguished by a special brand, or “spot”. Southern Rus' also took advantage of the proximity of nomadic peoples and acquired from them a large number of horses and oxen through trade; and in wartime, herds and herds of steppe inhabitants served as the main prey of Russian squads; but the nomads, in turn, stole Russian cattle during raids. The Ugric pacers and horses, which the chronicle calls “headlights,” were especially famous. In general, the “greyhound” horse was highly valued in Rus' and was the joy of the Russian youth.

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 was produced with the same gear and tools as in our time, i.e. a seine, a drag net, a long net, or a snare, and a fishing rod. The most common custom of fishing was through eza, i.e. partitions made of stakes driven across the river, with a hole in the middle, also fenced, where fish enter. Along with squads of animal catchers, the princes had entire squads of fish catchers; when going fishing, they were usually called “vatagami”, and their leader was called “vataman”. By the way, the Novgorodians gave their princes the right to send fishing teams to Northern Pomerania, specifically to the Terek coast; and they themselves sent their teams to other shores of Pomerania, where, in addition to fish, they also caught walruses and seals. Since ancient times, in especially fishing areas, a whole class of people was formed who were primarily engaged in this fishery. Due to the prohibition of meat for monks, monasteries especially valued fishing grounds; and therefore princes and rich people tried to provide them with waters where fish were found in abundance. The monks themselves were engaged in fishing and received fish rent from the inhabitants who lived on the monastery land. Sturgeon has always been considered the most valuable fish in Rus'. The need to stock up on fish for the winter, especially with the gradual establishment of fasts, taught us to cook fish for future use, i.e. dry it and salt it. Russians already knew how to prepare caviar.

Salt was obtained in Rus' from different places. Firstly, it was mined in the Galician land on the northeastern slope of the Carpathian Mountains; The salt pans in the vicinity of Udech, Kolomyia and Przemysl are especially famous. From Galich, salt caravans were sent to the Kyiv land either by land through Volyn, or in boats they went down the Dniester into the Black Sea, and from there they went up the Dnieper. Secondly, salt was extracted from the Crimean and Azov lakes. Some of 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 Rus' to these lakes for salt. The duty on salt was one of the items of princely income; sometimes trade in it was farmed out. In Northern Rus', salt was either obtained through foreign trade or extracted through 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; It was especially mined in large quantities in Staraya Russa. In Novgorod there were a number of merchants who were engaged in salt fishing and were called “prasols”. In the Suzdal land, Soligalich, Rostov, Gorodets, etc. are famous for their breweries. Salt was boiled down very simply: they dug a well and made a solution in it; then they poured this solution into a large iron frying pan ("tsren") or into a cauldron ("salga") and boiled the salt.

Common drinks in Ancient Rus' included kvass, mash, beer and honey, which were brewed at home; and wines were obtained through foreign trade from the Byzantine Empire and Southwestern Europe. Beer was brewed from flour with malt and hops. But a particularly common drink was honey, which served as the main treat during feasts and drinking parties. It was brewed with hops and seasoned with some spices. Rus', as you know, loved to drink both for joy and sorrow, at weddings and funerals. Noble and rich people, along with wine and beer, always kept large reserves of honey in their cellars, which were mainly called “medushas”. We saw what huge reserves the princes had during the capture of the court of the Seversky prince in Putivl in 1146, and this is very understandable, since the princes had to constantly treat their squad with strong honey. In those days when the use of sugar was not yet known, honey served in Rus' as a seasoning not only for drinks, but also for sweet dishes. Such a great demand was satisfied by the widespread beekeeping, or beekeeping. A hollow was called a natural hollow or hollowed out in an old tree, in which wild bees lived; and a grove with such trees was called a boarding area, or “grooming.” On-board fishing occurs throughout the Russian land, under different soil and climate conditions. The princes in their volosts, along with animal and fish catchers, also had special beekeepers who were engaged in beekeeping and cooking honey. Sometimes these grooms were given to free people with the condition of paying the prince a certain portion of the honey. In addition, honey made up a prominent part of the tributes and quitrents to the prince's treasury. The usual measure for this was a “lukno”, or a certain size box made of splint paper (where our “lukoshko” comes from).

Beekeepers in North-Eastern Russia were also called “tree climbers”: some dexterity and the habit of climbing trees were required, since honey sometimes had to be obtained at a considerable height. In general, on-board fishing was very profitable, because, in addition to honey, it also supplied wax, which was not only used for candles for churches and wealthy people, but also constituted a very significant item in our trade with foreigners.

Belyaev “A few words about agriculture in ancient Russia” (Temporary General. I. and Others XXII). Aristov’s wonderful essay “Industry of Ancient Rus'”. St. Petersburg 1866. In addition to chronicles, there are many indications about agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing and airborne crafts in the Russian Pravda, the Life of Theodosius and the Patericon of Pechersk, as well as in treaty and grant letters. For example, fishing gangs are mentioned in the agreements between Novgorod and the great princes (Collected G. Gr. and Dog. I).

Since ancient times, the main occupations of the Eastern Slavs were agriculture, hunting, fishing, gathering, and beekeeping. Trade played a supporting role.

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

in the southern area, agriculture was the main occupation; here quite early on the basis of the fallow (fallow) system arose two-field, and slash-and-burn agriculture was transformed into arable; home played a big role cattle breeding;

in the north, along with agriculture, the most important role was played hunting, gathering And fishing, still dominated fallback And slash-and-burn system.

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

A horse was used as a draft force in the north, resistant to the bites of forest insects and at the same time quite capable of dragging a relatively light plow. In the south, the hardier and stronger ox was used.

The composition of agricultural crops was varied. Rye, millet, oats, wheat, buckwheat, peas, spelled, poppy, and flax were sown. The further north you went, the larger the areas occupied by rye and oats. Turnips, cabbage, beans, onions, garlic, and hops were known from garden crops, and cherry and apple trees from fruit trees. Despite the gradual relative increase in agricultural production, harvests were low. Frequent phenomena were shortages and famines, which undermined the peasant economy.

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

common lands; there were an overwhelming majority of them - these were lands belonging to the communities, or rather, the communities considered them their, but the prince could transfer communal lands to the second category;

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

Estates in Kievan Rus. The question of the time of appearance and forms of feudal land tenure in Rus' is one of the most key and important, since it is inextricably linked, firstly, with the problem of the identity of Russian civilization, and secondly, with the issues of choosing a historical approach when studying Russian history.

In the XIX – early XX centuries. historians denied feudalism in Ancient Rus' as such. This was partly due to a narrow understanding of feudalism only as a social system characterized by serfdom and vassalage, but mainly due to the fact that the problems of socio-economic development themselves were of little concern to historians. The “fact” itself was used in the process of constructing certain speculative models of historical development. As a result, the Slavophiles called the absence of feudalism in Ancient Rus' one of the fundamental differences between Russia and Europe, and Westerners linked this same fact with the backwardness of Russia, which confirmed their idea of ​​​​the need to move along the Western path. N.P. Pavlov-Silvansky proved the existence of feudal relations in Ancient Rus' (on materials of the 15th-16th centuries, retrospectively discovering feudalism in an earlier period), thereby confirming the Marxist theory with Russian data. Soviet historians went to the other extreme - wanting to artificially bring together the development trends of Russia and Europe (at the same time making the not very 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 ownership; they show clear analogies with the feudal allods of Western Europe at the same time. However: 1) estates in Rus' appeared no earlier than the 11th century, under Vladimir, possibly under Yaroslav, and these were princely estates; boyar private lands appeared no earlier than the second half of the 11th century; at this time, feudalism in Europe had at least a five-century history; 2) there were very few patrimonial lands in Rus', and they were small; 3) cities and pastures on which princely herds graze are mentioned as patrimony in Kievan Rus, but we know almost nothing about patrimony arable land; 4) estates in Rus' - apparently 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 probably still existed in Kievan Rus, but it was a special feudalism, and it was not a system-forming or even any characteristic factor in the socio-economic structure.

In general, ancient Russian agriculture is characterized natural character(products produced on the farm were consumed there) and extensive development(the increase in production volumes was achieved by increasing the cultivated area). These features were not manifestations of any national traits or technological backwardness, but were dictated by geographical conditions - the presence of free land, large spaces, low yields.

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

Craft in Kievan Rus. Russian artisans of the 11th-12th centuries. produced more than 150 types of iron and steel products. Old Russian jewelers knew the art of minting non-ferrous metals. In the field of artistic craft, Russian masters have mastered complex techniques grains(making patterns from the smallest grains of metal), filigree(making patterns from the finest wire), figured casting, mob(making a black background for patterned silver plates) and cloisonne enamel. The products of Russian jewelers and blacksmiths were valued throughout Europe. Pottery, leatherworking, woodworking, and stone-cutting crafts received significant development in ancient Russian cities. But in general, historians count a little more than 60 specialties in Kievan Rus (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 were distributed over a distance of approximately 10-30 km, and the products of urban artisans rarely penetrated into the village.

Rus' arose along trade routes (“the route 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. Kyiv and Novgorod, the main trading cities of Rus', were larger in population, according to historians, than most cities in Northern and Western Europe. However, Russian trade also had a number of specific features. Firstly, trade was transit, Russian rivers were of important transit importance for trade between Northern Europe, the Arab East and Byzantium. Large volumes of trade were achieved by reselling foreign goods to foreign merchants in Rus'. Therefore, Russian trade has ethnic specifics: merchants ( guests) were represented, as a rule, by Varangians, Arabs, Jews, Armenians, etc., but not by Slavs. Flax, leather, furs, wax, honey, and slaves were exported. Luxury goods, weapons, spices, and fabrics were imported. Trade served the needs of the social elite. The majority of the population was not drawn into trade - the economy as a whole remained subsistence, and the excess product was confiscated in the form of tribute by the state.

Due to the low prevalence of commodity exchange, cattle were used as money (even the princely treasury was called cowgirl), furs, Arabic dirhams and Byzantine denarii. Only under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, with the development of commodity relations, did the minting of Russian coins begin - spool valves. Under Yaroslav the Wise, Russian silver coins were minted - silversmiths. Both zolotniks and silver coins had very limited circulation, and can hardly be considered the Russian currency of that time. They were much more widely circulated hryvnia- pieces of silver.

System of monetary units in Kievan Rus. The “Russian Truth” mentions hryvnias, coons, nogaty, cut. Numismatists found out that kuna, nogata and rezan are parts of a hryvnia: By weight, one hryvnia was equal to 20 nogata, 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-weight systems were formed: northern and southern. In the northern system, Western coins played a large role, and the local hryvnia was adapted to their weight. The southern system was tied to the Byzantine light liter. A light liter was equal to 163.728 g of silver. The South Russian hryvnia was equal to 68.22 g, kuna - 2.73 g, nogata - 3.41 g, rezana - 1.36 g.

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

So, the economy of Kievan Rus was based on subsistence agriculture. Crafts, as well as commodity relations in general, were generally relatively poorly developed, and trade was predominantly transit. However, already during this period feudal relations were emerging in Rus'.