The history of our country, like any other, is a process of socio-economic and political development with elements of struggle between classes, some of which were in a privileged position, while others were in an absolutely opposite position. This estate included the peasants of the black-haired and possessive Russia, and then the Russian Empire.
Russian nuances of the historical process
To understand the peasant question in detail, it is necessary to understand how the process of feudalization and capitalization proceeded in our country. Unlike Europe, these important events in Russia took place with some delay. There were several objective reasons for this, the most important, however, was the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars. If we compare the similar processes of feudalization of Russia and Europe in the pre-Horde period, we can say that they are very similar. But then the paths completely diverge: if in the West serfdom began to die out in the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries, then in Russia it is only beginning to strengthen. This becomes especially noticeable towards the end of the fourteenth century. It is after the gradual liberation from dependence on the Horde that thethe desire of the feudal lords to tie the peasants to their farms. Over the following centuries, this process only grew in scale.
The birth of differentiation
Inequality arose in the ancient Russian state, then there were purchases, Ryadovichi. These were people who were still personally free, but fell into economic dependence. Rich and noble Russians sought to turn them into completely dependent, but this turned out with varying degrees of success. Nevertheless, then a special category of practically disenfranchised people-serfs appears. But it is still impossible to call this process enslavement - these are only its origins, which were extinguished by the already mentioned Mongol invasion. However, the establishment of feudal control over the peasant class was not completely stopped, it just slowed down. In the XII-XIV centuries, the peasants had the right of St. George's Day, which allowed them to change the owner once a year by paying him compensation (elderly). The state and the Grand Duke, and then the Tsar, did not remain aloof from this process. On the one hand, they defended the interests of the feudal lords, and on the other hand, they expanded their land holdings. The peasants living there, as well as those who moved there, these were the black-eared peasants.
Legislative registration of peasant dependence
The feudal lords looked at these crossings with great displeasure, as the authorities have repeatedly stated. The supreme power considered its main support layer of large, medium and smallnobles, so I had to reckon with the discontent of these people. The black-eared peasants, as a rule, were subjected to less exploitation and were bound only by taxes and small duties in favor of the state, so the desire of privately owned peasants to change their status is understandable. Legislatively, the right of peasants to move was established by the Sudebnik of 1497. The events that followed, in particular the expanding noble-boyar opposition, led to the appearance in the new Sudebnik of 1550 of an article on the increase in the elderly. Although the rule of St. George's Day was preserved, however, the payment for the transition increased significantly, which was an unbearable amount for many peasant families. Thus, the authorities hoped to find a compromise solution, yielding to the feudal estate, but not completely ignoring the interests of the peasants.
Here's to you, grandmother, and St. George's Day
The rural population of the European North and Siberia is the black-mounded peasants who survived by the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. The definition of this term can be formulated as follows: peasants who were dependent on the state, but personally free, living in the domain of the ruler. Their other name is state peasants. By this era, the center of the country was all serfs. This was facilitated by the policy of Ivan IV. The Livonian War, followed by the oprichnina, led to the extreme desolation of the central and partly southern part of the European territory of the country. Therefore, in 1581, a decree “On reserved years” appeared, which meant a temporary ban on the transition of peasants to otherowners. Although the authorities presented this as a temporary measure, nevertheless, after this, there were no more transitions of the peasants.
The era of serfdom
Further, the policy only became tougher, in 1597 a decree “On Lesson Years” was issued, which provided for the search for fugitive peasants and their return to their owner within five years, over time this period only increased. In 1649, the Council Code was adopted, a new code of laws of the state, which actually forbade changing the owner, and the period of detecting fugitive peasants became indefinite. This date is considered the episode of the final establishment of the control of the feudal lords over the peasants, serfdom was established in Russia, but not all peasants became owners. The population of rural units, which, by the time the Code was adopted, found themselves on the territory of the country that belonged to the royal family, were not serfs, remaining free - that's who the black-haired peasants are. And the term itself got its name from the tax - on the black plow.
