The reforms of Elena Glinskaya were carried out in conditions when the young united Russian state was changing its way of life, abandoning the outdated orders of the fragmentation period.
Personality of Elena Glinskaya
In 1533 Grand Duke Vasily III died suddenly. His first wife was never able to bear him a child. Therefore, not long before his death, he entered into his second marriage, despite the fact that this was contrary to church rules. His second wife was Elena Glinskaya. As in any monarchy, in the Moscow principality, in the absence of an heir, the question of the succession of power sharply arose. Because of this, the personal life of the ruler became an invariable part of public life.
Elena gave birth to Vasily two sons - Ivan and Yuri. The eldest of them was born in 1530. At the time of his father's death, he was only three years old. Therefore, a regency council was assembled in Moscow, which included boyars from various influential aristocratic families.
Elena Glinskaya's Board
Helena Vasilievna Glinskaya, the mother of the young prince, became the head of state. She was young and full of energy. According to law and tradition, Elena had to transfer power to herson when he reaches the age of majority (17).
However, the regent died suddenly in 1538 at the age of 30. Rumors circulated in Moscow that she had been poisoned by the Shuisky boyars, who wanted to seize all power in the council. One way or another, but the exact causes of death have not been clarified. Power for another decade passed to the boyars. It was a period of unrest and outrage, which influenced the character of the future king.
Nevertheless, in the short period of her reign, Elena managed to implement many government changes that were designed to improve life within the country.
Prerequisites for monetary reform
In 1535, an unprecedented transformation of the monetary system began, initiated by Elena Glinskaya. Reforms have been needed for decades. Under Ivan III and Vasily III, the Moscow principality annexed many new sovereign territories (the Novgorod Republic, Pskov, the Ryazan principality, etc.). Each region had its own currency. Rubles differed in denomination, coinage, share of precious metals, etc. While the specific princes were independent, each of them had his own mint and determined the financial policy.
Now all the scattered Russian lands are under the jurisdiction of Moscow. But the mismatch of money led to the complication of interregional trade. Often, the parties to the transaction simply could not settle among themselves due to the discrepancy between their coins. This chaos could not remain without consequences. Countrywidethey caught counterfeiters who flooded the market with low-quality fakes. There were several methods of their work. One of the most popular was circumcision of coins. In the 1930s, the amount of low-quality money became threatening. The execution of criminals did not help either.
The essence of the changes
The first step to improve the financial situation was to be a ban on the monetary regalia (the right to mint) of the former free appanages, on whose territory their own mints existed. The essence of Elena Glinskaya's monetary reform is the unification of the entire monetary system.
At this time, the number of European merchants who happily traveled to trade in the markets of Muscovy increased. There were many goods rare for Western buyers (furs, metals, etc.) in the country. But the growth of trade was hampered by the turmoil with counterfeit coins within the Moscow principality. The monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya was supposed to correct this situation.
Continuation of the policy of Basil III
Interestingly, measures to change the monetary policy were discussed under Basil III. The prince led an active foreign policy (fought with Lithuania, Crimea, etc.). The cost of the army was reduced due to the deliberate deterioration of the quality of coins, in which the proportion of precious metals decreased. But Vasily III died prematurely. Therefore, the monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya took place in unexpected circumstances. The princess successfully coped with her task in a short time. This can only be explained by the fact that she was an active assistant in the affairs of Vasily,when he was still alive. That is why Elena Glinskaya was aware of all the cases and the necessary measures. The confusion within the Boyar Duma and the Regency Council could not prevent the young ruler.
Reform implementation
In February 1535, a decree on changes in monetary circulation was announced in Moscow. Firstly, all old coins that had been minted before that day became invalid (this applied to both low-grade fakes and coins of the corresponding quality). Secondly, new money was introduced weighing a third of a gram. For the convenience of small calculations, they also began to mint coins twice as light (0.17 grams). They were called polushki. At the same time, the word of Turkic origin "money" was officially fixed. Initially, it was distributed among the Tatars.
However, there were also reservations that provided for the monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya. In short, some exceptions were introduced for Veliky Novgorod. It was this city that was the merchant capital of the principality. Merchants from all over Europe came here. Therefore, for ease of calculation, Novgorod coins received their own weight (two-thirds of a gram). They depicted a rider armed with a spear. Because of this, these coins began to be called kopecks. Later this word spread throughout Russia.
Consequences
It is difficult to overestimate the benefits brought by the reforms of Elena Glinskaya, which are very difficult to describe briefly. They helped the country move to a new stage of development. A unified monetary system facilitated and accelerated trade. Rare goods began to appear in distant provinces. The food shortage has decreased. Merchants grew rich and invested their profits in new projects, boosting the country's economy.
The quality of coins minted in Moscow has improved. Russian money began to be respected among European merchants. The foreign trade of the country was activated, which made it possible to sell rare goods abroad, which gave a significant profit to the treasury. All this was facilitated by the reforms of Elena Glinskaya. The table shows the main features of these transformations not only in the financial but also in other spheres of society.
| Money | Labial | |
| Year | 1535th | 1530s |
| Changes | Creating a single currency | Appearance of lip prefects |
| Consequences | Trade recovery | Improving the fight against crime |
Lip reform
Princess Elena Glinskaya, whose reforms did not end with finances, also began to change the system of local self-government. The change in the borders of the state under her husband led to the fact that the old internal administrative division became ineffective. Because of this, the lip reform of Elena Glinskaya began. It concerned local government. The adjective "labial" comes from the word "ruin". The reform also covered the criminal justice system in the province.
According to the innovation of the princess in the country appearedlabial huts, in which labial elders worked. Such bodies were to begin work in each volost city. The labial elder could conduct a trial over the robbers. This privilege was taken away from the feeders, who appeared during the growth of the Moscow principality. The boyars who lived outside the capital became not just governors. At times their power was too dangerous for the political center.
Therefore, the transformations in local self-government began, initiated by Elena Glinskaya. The reforms also introduced new territorial districts (lips), which corresponded to the territory that was under the jurisdiction of the lip elders. It was a division according to criminal jurisdiction. It did not cancel the usual volosts, which corresponded to the administrative boundaries. The reform began under Elena and continued under her son Ivan. In the 16th century, the borders of the lips and volosts coincided.
Changes in local government
The elders were selected from local boyars. They were controlled by the Duma, which met in the capital, as well as the Rogue Order. This governing body was in charge of criminal cases of robberies, robberies, murders, as well as the work of prisons and executioners.
The division of powers between the local administration and the judiciary made it possible to increase the efficiency of their work. The position of a lip kisser also appeared. He was elected from among we althy peasants and was supposed to help the headman in his work.
If the criminal case could not be considered in the lab hut, then it was sent to the Robbery Order. All theseinnovations have been brewing for a long time, but they appeared precisely at the time when Elena Glinskaya ruled. The reforms have made it safer for merchants and travelers to travel on the roads. The new system came in handy in the improvement of the Volga lands annexed during the reign of Ivan the Terrible (Kazan and Astrakhan khanates).
Also, labial huts helped the authorities to fight against anti-government protests among the peasantry. As mentioned above, the reform was necessary not only to change local government, but also to combat feeding. The abandonment of this outdated practice occurred a little later, when, under the successors of Elena, they began to update the Zemstvo legislation. As a result, over time, the appointed governors were replaced by elected ones, who knew their parish better than the appointees from Moscow.
Laboratory huts work
The appearance of labial huts and the beginning of an organized fight against crime were the result of understanding that any violation of the law is not a private matter of the victim, but a blow to the stability of the state. After Elena Glinskaya, the criminal norms were also updated in her son's Code of Laws. Each labial headman received a staff of employees (tsolovalnikov, tenths, etc.). Their number depended on the size of the bay and the number of residential yards within this territorial unit.
If before that the feeders were engaged only in the adversarial and accusatory process, then the elders conducted search and investigative activities (for example, interviewing witnesses, searching for evidence, etc.). This wasa new level of legal proceedings, which made it possible to more effectively fight crime. Elena Glinskaya's reforms have become an unprecedented impetus in this area of society.
