Enslavement of peasants in the 16th century. Enslavement of the peasantry in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the main stages of legal registration. Agrarian reform in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the mid-16th century. and its results. Wars with the Moscow State

· Privilege of Casimir 1447 The feudal lords were prohibited from accepting runaway peasants.

· Code of Law of Casimir 1468 Punishment for helping runaway peasants.

· 1st Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1529 Allowing the return of fugitive peasants within 10 years. 10-year "statute of limitations". A peasant who lived for more than 10 years on the land of a nobleman became his property.

· Agrarian reform of 1557 Securing peasants behind portages.

· 2nd Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1566 Confirmation of the 10-year “statute of limitations.”

· 3rd Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1588 Establishing a 20-year “statute of limitations.” A ban on the transfer of similar peasants from one feudal lord to another without work and payments.

Agrarian reform of 1557 by Sigismund II Augustus(“charter on portages”, “volochny pomera”). It began in the west, in the eastern volosts it was completed in the second half of the 17th century. The folk-corvee system was established as the leading form of feudal economy, which lasted until the mid-nineteenth century. Before the reform, peasants had different allotments: smokes, services, yards, lots. In accordance with the reform, a land measure was introduced - portage (19.5 tithes or 21.36 hectares). Portages were assigned to the peasants and were recognized as a unit of taxation. Mandatory three-field crop rotation was introduced.

Union with the Kingdom of Poland

Union of Krevo 1385 Dynastic union. Marriage of Jagiello and Jadwiga. Incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Polish Crown “for all time.” Jagiello - Polish king since 1386. Adoption of Catholicism. The appanage princes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lost their independence and became vassals of Poland.

1386–1392 - a civil internecine war between supporters of Jagiello, Poland, Catholicism and supporters of the independence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Orthodoxy (leaders - Vitovt, Andrei Olgerdovich from Polotsk).

Result: Ostrov Agreement of 1392. Autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the rule of the Polish king. Vytautas is the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Elimination of appanage reign, introduction of governorship.

Union of Vilna-Radom 1401 Union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland against the aggression of the Crusaders.

1409–1411 – The Great War with the Teutonic (German) Order.

July 15, 1410 Battle of Grunwald. The defeat of the troops of the Teutonic Order under the command of Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen (more than 30 thousand) by the united Slavic army under the command of Jagiello (40 thousand: 50 Polish banners, 40 banners of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a Russian squad from Novgorod the Great, a detachment from the Czech Republic under the leadership of Jan Zizka, Tatar cavalry).

Union of Gorodel 1413 Confirmation of the unification of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. The Gorodel Privilege of 1413 granted only feudal lords of the Catholic faith to occupy the highest government positions. Equalization of the rights of Lithuanian Catholic feudal lords with Polish ones. The administrative-territorial division of Poland extended to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: voivodeships, povets, and volosts.

1432–1436 - Civil War. At the head of the Orthodox, supporters of the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Svidrigailo Olgerdovich. At the head of the Catholics, supporters of rapprochement with Poland, is Sigismund Keistutovich. 1435 – defeat of Svidrigailo near Vilkamir. 1440 – Sigismund is killed as a result of a conspiracy. The pro-Lithuanian party contributed to the announcement of the brother of the Polish king Kazimir Jagailovich as Grand Duke.

1508 – rebellion of Mikhail Glinsky against the power of Sigismund I under the slogan of protecting the Orthodox population. Turov became the center. Glinsky used support from Moscow Prince Vasily III.

Wars with the Moscow State

Fighting the raids of the Crimean Tatars

Concepts of the origin of the Belarusian ethnic group

Ø Baltskaya (V. Sedov)

Ø Krivichskaya (N. Pogodin, V. Lastovsky)

Ø Krivichsko-Dregovichsko-Radimichskaya (E. Karsky, V. Picheta, M. Dovnar-Zapolsky)

Ø Slavic-Baltic (N. Pilipenko)

Ø Finno-Ugric (I. Laskov)

Ø Polish (L. Galembovsky, A. Rypinsky)

Ø Great Russian, Western Russian, Old Russian (M. Koyalovich)

Self-names of residents of Belarusian lands

Litvins are residents of Upper Ponemania (Grodno region). Political name (politnonym) of the subjects of ON.

Russians are Orthodox, unlike pagan Lithuanians and Catholic Poles (Latins).

Rusyns - residents of the Podvina and Dnieper regions (Vitebsk, Mogilev regions) in the 14th–15th centuries.

Belarusians are residents of the Podvina and Dnieper regions (Vitebsk region, Mogilev region) at the end of the 16th–17th centuries.

Poleshuks are residents of Polesie (Brest and Gomel regions).

Manuscript books and chronicles

XIV century - Lavrishevsky Gospel. Drutsk Gospel.

XV century – Zhirovichi Gospel.

XV century - Chronicler of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. Written by an unknown author in Smolensk. The history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is outlined from the date of the death of Gediminas to the end of the 14th century.

XV century – Belarusian-Lithuanian Chronicle of 1446. It is based on the Smolensk Chronicle. Events from the 9th to the mid-15th century are described. The last entry dates back to 1446. The reign of Vytautas is described in detail.

End of the 15th century – Radziwill Chronicle. Contains 618 miniatures. Encyclopedia of events of Kievan Rus and the Principality of Polotsk.

The first European book printers

Book publishing activities

Serfdom- a legally confirmed provision in which the peasant could not leave the land to which he was assigned without permission from the authorities. The runaway peasant was caught, punished and forcibly returned. By decision of the landowner, a serf could be sold, sent to hard labor, or given up as a soldier.

In the 15th century, the young Russian state waged continuous wars: in the southeast with the Kazan Khanate, Crimeans and Nogais, in the west with Sweden and Lithuania (later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). The treasury could not support a huge professional army, so a local system was formed. A service man (warrior, professional military man) was “settled” on the land given to him by the prince. That is, during his service, this land belonged to him - he and his family had to feed from it. For this he was obliged to perform military and border service.

But the land itself does not feed; it needs to be cultivated. Considering that a service man spent up to ten months a year on the Ukrainian borders (borders) and on campaigns, he could not do this himself, even if he could and wanted to. Moreover, in addition to food from the land, he had to acquire and maintain everything necessary for the campaign: a horse, weapons, armor. Peasants were needed to cultivate the land and provide the landowner with everything he needed.

It should also be noted the low level of agricultural productivity. If in the Mediterranean countries the harvest reached 1:12 (a sown bag of wheat yielded 12 bags of harvest), in Europe it was 1:6, in Rus' - 1:3. It was not easy for a peasant to feed himself and his family. Therefore, when the feudal lord began to take away part of the product to satisfy his needs, the peasants sought to escape. Another factor was enemy invasions and epidemics, from which people also fled to better lands. Population density decreased sharply, and as a result, the amount of production decreased.

The most widespread period, when many territories were practically depopulated, was the Time of Troubles. In order to provide the emerging nobility with material resources, it was necessary to secure the peasants on the land.

Formation of serfdom in the Russian state

Table: stages of peasant enslavement.

	Ruler	Document
The time to leave the landowner is determined to be two weeks (St. George’s Day) with payment for the elderly		Code of Law
The regulation on St. George's Day was confirmed, the size of the elderly was increased		Code of Law
In certain years, peasants are prohibited from crossing		Decree on “Reserved Summers”
A 5-year search for fugitives has been introduced	Fedor Ivanovich	Decree on “Scheduled summers”
A 15-year search for fugitives has been introduced	Vasily Shuisky	Cathedral Code
Lesson summers have been cancelled, and an indefinite investigation has been introduced.	Alexey Mikhailovich	Cathedral Code

The first step towards the enslavement of free peasants was the Code of Law of Ivan III in 1497. One of its provisions was the appointment of a period when the peasant could leave the landowner. It was St. George's Day, the feast of St. George the Victorious. It fell on November 26, old style (December 9). A week before and a week after it, the farmer could leave the feudal lord. By this time, the crops had already been harvested, and, consequently, the peasant paid all state taxes and all types of natural and monetary obligations in favor of the landowner. The peasant had to pay elderly- compensation to the landowner for the loss of a worker.

The next stage was the introduction by Ivan the Terrible of “ reserved years" - a time when the peasant could not leave even on St. George’s Day. This rule was introduced in 1581.

In 1597 the concept of “ lesson years", according to which the landowner could search for a fugitive for up to 5 years. And in 1607, the period for searching for fugitive peasants was increased to 15 years.

And in 1649, the Council Code of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov finally enslaved the peasants. The search for fugitives became indefinite, even if the peasant fled many years ago, married a free woman, and had children. He was found, and together with all the household members, he was returned with all his property to the master.

In addition to the peasant cultivators, the personal property of the landowners included numerous courtyard people, servants, grooms, and cooks. Serf theater and ballet troupes were recruited from the servants.

Categories of unfree citizens in Rus'

Unfree people in Rus' appeared simultaneously with the formation of the state. They could be either temporarily unfree or for life. They can be roughly divided into three categories: stinkers, purchases, slaves.

Smerda

Smerda- initially free cultivators, eventually assigned to the land they cultivated. The land could either belong to the smerd himself and be inherited by his sons, or be the property of a prince or monastery. Smerds were obliged to pay taxes to the prince and serve natural duties, field a foot army or provide him with horses and fodder. In addition to lack of freedom and economic dependence, their rights were infringed. According to Russian Truth, for the murder of a lyudin (free community member) the penalty was 40 hryvnia, for the murder of a smerd - 5 hryvnia.

Purchases

Purchases- workers who entered into a series (agreement) with the feudal lord, according to which they sold themselves for a certain period or until repayment taken according to the series. Most often, in order to avoid starvation, the peasant took seeds, equipment, livestock, and less often money from the feudal lord. He settled on the land of his temporary owner and gave away part of the harvest. After working off the debt, he was free to leave his place of residence. When trying to escape from the landowner without paying off, he became a whitewashed slave.

Serfs

Serfs- the category closest to slaves. White slaves were the property of the owner along with utensils and livestock. Children born to slaves (offspring) became the property of the parents' owner. They most often fell into slavery during wars and raids. In enemy territory they took a full, drove it to their own land and “served” it, that is, turned it into slaves. Citizens were put into captivity by court decision for serious crimes. It was called “flood and plunder.” The entire family of the culprit could be turned into slaves. Another category is debt slavery; creditors could sell an insolvent debtor as a slave. A free man who married a servant also became a slave. The owner did not bear responsibility for the murder of his slave, but for someone else’s he was responsible for damage to property.

The remaining categories of peasants were free community members and lived on their own land. In case of war, epidemic, or crop failure, they could leave their homes and go to other lands. This is precisely what became the reason for the gradual enslavement of farmers.

Two theories of the origin of serfdom in Russia.

In the 19th century, two theories of the origin of serfdom were formed - decree and non-decree. According to the decree theory, the author of which was the Russian historian Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov, serfdom became the result of the activities of the state. In his opinion, the consistent policy of the Muscovite kingdom, and later the Russian Empire, secured the peasants based on the needs of the country. This was done in order to provide a material base for the service class, which bears the heavy burden of government service. In this way, not only the peasants, but also the service people themselves were established.

Another Russian historian, Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky, put forward a different, unspecified theory. In his opinion, legislative acts did not formulate, but merely confirmed the actual state of affairs. In the first place he put the economic factor and private law relations, which allowed one class to exploit another.

Slave and serf

The difference between the serf and the slave in the British American colonies and the United States, 1619–1865.

Slave of the British Colonies	Serf peasant
Subject of law
He was incompetent: in court, his owner was responsible for the slave’s misdeeds. In relation to the slave himself, the full extent of his responsibility was determined by the slave owner himself; he could impose any punishment, up to execution.	Unlike a slave, he represented himself in court and could act as a witness, including against the landowner. Serf landowners were tried for the murder. From 1834 to 1845, 2,838 nobles were brought to trial, 630 of them were convicted. The most high-profile trial was the trial of landowner Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova. For the murder of several dozen serfs, she was deprived of her nobility and sentenced to death, which was commuted to life imprisonment.
Own
A slave could not own property. His home, clothing, food and tools belonged to the planter.	The serf lived in his own home, worked with his own tools, and provided for himself. Could engage in latrine farming. In the months not occupied with work on the land, peasants went to construction sites, mines, factories, and were engaged in carriage and small-scale production. In the 19th century, more than 5 million people were employed annually in waste trades
Family
A slave could not have a family.	The serf married his wife and his marriage was sanctified by the church
Possibility of release
The opportunity to be released was only in some states. A slave who had received his freedom could be sold again at auction in states where slavery was enshrined in law.	The serf could buy himself from the landowner. Thus, the founder of the Morozov dynasty of philanthropists, Savva Vasilyevich, having started working as a handicraft weaver, bought himself from a landowner and his five sons for money unimaginable at that time - 17 thousand rubles. The Guchkovs, Ryabushinskys and many other rich dynasties came from serfs.

Often the legal rights of serfs were not respected; the decrees of sovereigns were advisory in nature. Therefore, cruel treatment and arbitrariness of landowners were not the exception, but the rule in the Russian Empire. The most disenfranchised were not the peasants (the community and government officials stood up for them), but the servants - servants living on the estates or city houses of landowners. At different times, the number of serfs in Russia ranged from 27 to 53%.

Abolition of serfdom

Serfdom in the Russian Empire was abolished in stages: from 1816 to 1819 - abolished in the Courland, Livonia, and Estland provinces. In 1861, Tsar Alexander II signed the manifesto “On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of free rural inhabitants.” In Bessarabia, serfdom lasted until 1868, in Abkhazia, Armenia, Azerbaijan - until 1870, in Georgia - until 1971.

Tables: Form of enslavement of peasants

Historical period	Form of enslavement	Description
Early feudal state (IX-XI centuries)		Smerdas are plowmen dependent on the prince.
Feudal fragmentation (XII-XIII centuries)		Serebryaniki (those who borrowed money - “silver” - with the obligation to work it off with their labor), ladles or sharers (those who worked on the land, as a rule, “in half” - for half the harvest).
Formation of a centralized state	Elderly 15th century	Compensation for the empty yard and labor losses to the landowner when the peasant leaves. Code of Law of 1550 – “elderly” was doubled.
	St. George's Day	Historical transition period. Old-time peasants who had lived for four years or more with the landowner, in the event of a transfer, paid him “the whole of the old,” while new arrivals paid “part of the yard.” In the Code of Laws of 1497. The rule of St. George's Day became mandatory for the entire peasantry.
	Reserved summers	1581-1592 – Flight of peasants from their homes due to the oprichnina → temporary prohibition of the transition (cancellation of St. George’s Day).
	Summer lessons	1597 – Search for fugitive peasants and return them to the feudal lords. A five-year period of searching for fugitive peasants (an attempt to keep the peasantry in place). 1614 - as with the introduction of St. George’s Day, the first to receive preferential rights was the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, which, as a reward for defense during the years of intervention, was allowed to search for its peasants for 9 years. 1637 - in response to the collective petition of the nobles to abolish the “lesson years,” the government extended the effect of a private decree to all feudal lords and extended the search for fugitive peasants from 5 to 9 years. 1641 – after a new collective petition from the nobles, the period for searching for fugitive peasants was increased to 10 years. Cathedral Code of 1649 - the proclamation “to search for runaway peasants indefinitely”, an eternal and indefinite hereditary peasant fortress was established.
		Work performed by peasants for their masters. The creation of a corvee economy based on peasant labor was a necessity for the landowner if he wanted to improve the quality of products and increase the income of his farm.
	Developmental Grocery monetary	Work on the owner's arable land and hayfields, in vegetable gardens and orchards, on the construction and repair of estate buildings, mills, dams, etc. Including both agricultural and livestock products and household industrial products, like no other, it contributed to the conservation of the natural character of the economy. In the 17th century, with rare exceptions, monetary rent did not yet play an independent role and was most often combined with corvee duties and payments in kind.

Literature:

Litvinov M. A. History of serfdom in Russia.

Cheat sheet on the history of economics Engovatova Olga Anatolyevna

36. THE PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING THE PEASANTS

Serfdom- the highest form of incomplete ownership of the feudal lord over the peasant, based on his attachment to the land of the feudal lord (boyar, landowner, monastery, etc.) or the feudal state (in the absence of a private owner of the land, when peasant communities bear duties in favor of the state).

Development of the Russian economy in the 15th–16th centuries. associated primarily with the gradual enslavement of peasants who lived on princely, boyar, church (monastic) lands. According to an agreement with landowners, they occupied certain plots of land and paid for them an agreed cash or in-kind dues, and also performed some duties: corvee, or sharecropping.

Law code 1497 took a step towards establishing serfdom. In the 1580s As a result of the oprichnina and the unsuccessful Livonian War, the country's economy found itself in a critical situation. The mass exodus of peasants to the outlying free lands caused great concern among the feudal lords, who were losing their workers. The feudal lords more and more actively demanded that the state authorities legally formalize the dependence of the peasants on the landowners. The state, in turn, was also concerned about the lack of tax revenue to the treasury due to the flight of peasants.

Gradually a state government was formed serfdom system. In 1582–1586 For the first time, “reserved summers” were established, during which peasants were prohibited from moving to Yuriev day, Moreover, this ban applied to all categories of peasants, both privately owned and state-owned, as well as to the townspeople population of cities. This measure, introduced as temporary, later became permanent. In 1581 – 1592 a census of land and population was carried out. “Scribe books” were compiled - legal documents that indicated the ownership of peasants by any owner for the census period. In 1590–1595 in fact, there was a complete cancellation of St. George's Day throughout the country. At the same time, the so-called fixed summers were established, during which the search for fugitive peasants was announced.

By the middle of the 16th century. the government met the feudal lords halfway and implemented final legislative registration of serfdom. In January 1649, the Zemsky Sobor adopted Cathedral Code, according to which an indefinite search for fugitive peasants and townspeople attached to the feudal lords was established. Peasants with their family, property and other things were declared the property of the feudal lord.

During the 17th century. The power of the feudal lords over the peasants continuously increased. They had complete control over the personality of the peasants, exchanged them, gave them as gifts, sold them, mortgaged them, uncontrollably imposed taxes on their farms, and subjected them to physical punishment. By the end of the 17th century. serf peasants approached the status of serfs, and at the same time, some of the serfs were “put on arable land,” which brought them closer economically to the rest of the peasants. But this process finally ended later, during the 18th century.

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The development of commodity-money relations necessitated the improvement of the feudal economic system, its use not only for simple reproduction, but also for the production of products for sale, and increasing the income of the feudal class.

In the 16th - first half of the 17th century. The agrarian reform consolidated a new economic management system in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, including in Belarus. The reform was carried out on state lands. The main document of the reform was the “Charter on Portages”, signed by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund Augustus in 1557.

The following main ones can be identified: reasons and prerequisites for the reform:

growth of government spending in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, lack of funds in the state treasury;
growth of material needs of the yard;
"price revolution" in Europe, increasing demand for agricultural products.

Wars with Russia depleted the treasury. Price revolution - a sharp increase in prices for agricultural products and a fall in prices for precious metals, which was caused by the influx of gold and silver from the New World, where paths were laid during the Age of Discovery. High demand for agricultural products was stimulated by the search for increasing its production. Agrarian reform was carried out in Germany and Poland - countries with which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had fairly developed relations. The spontaneous formation of farms was the first step towards such a reform.

The purpose of the reform there was an increase in state revenues by changing and streamlining land relations: moving from a spontaneously developing system of collecting taxes from families to a system of collecting taxes from land depending on its quality and quantity.

It was intended to increase income from state lands by accurately recording them and determining the amount of peasant duties in proportion to the occupied lands. The land measure, for the use of which certain duties were performed, became portage.

For the use of land, peasants living on state lands were required to perform duties:

For tax plots, the peasants worked the corvee two days a week from hauling the land, were obliged to go out to hubbub and cleanup, and also pay cess depending on the quality of the land;
for siege plots, peasants paid chinsh, served 12 toloks a year or paid 12 groschen for them, and for hubbub they gave a barrel of rye or paid 10 groschen.

The so-called free portages were also allocated, which were provided to the employees of the farms. Such portages were not subject to duties, and their holders performed a certain service.

In general, the reform was carried out in the interests of the feudal class and contributed to the redistribution of income from land in their favor. Refusals to accept portages, complaints, flight, even armed uprisings became forms of resistance. Landowners also used various forms of dealing with disobedient people: from fines to the death penalty.

To summarize the results and consequences of the reform, we can highlight the following:

growth in revenues of the treasury and feudal lords;
transition to land taxation of peasants;
accelerating advanced agricultural technology - three-field farming and increasing agricultural productivity;
the destruction of the peasant community in the west and center of Belarus, the transition of peasants in this region to household land use;
enslavement of peasants;
final formalization of feudal class corporatism (classes of gentry, peasants, townspeople, clergy with their rights and responsibilities);
development of trade and commodity-money relations.

The implementation of agrarian reform and the streamlining of duties was accompanied by the assignment of peasants to the land, the transformation of various categories into one class - serfs. The following stages can be identified as the stages of peasant enslavement:

“Bring” in 1447 the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir, which finally secured the right of feudal lords to patrimonial court and thereby limited communal rights;
The Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1529 was a universal set of laws that denied peasants the right to own land and assigned this right to the feudal class. The peasants lost the right to dispose of land without the consent of the feudal lords;
“Charter on portages” of 1557, which actually assigned the peasants who “accepted” the portages to these land plots;
Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1566, which introduced a 10-year search period for runaway or stolen peasants, as well as administrative penalties against those who hid them;
The Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1588 increased the term of fugitive peasants to 20 years. The statute included in the category of “dissimilar” those peasants who lived on the lands of feudal lords for 10 years or more. Theoretically, the peasant could pay off, but it was extremely difficult to pay such an amount.

Thus, in the second half of the 16th - first half of the 17th century. The patrimonial farm was replaced by a farm, a radical agrarian reform was carried out, the process of formation and legal registration of the corporatism of feudal society was completed, the peasants became part of feudal property. The process of enslavement was generally completed.

Convenient navigation through the article:

How was the enslavement of peasants carried out in Rus'?

According to historians and researchers, the prerequisite for serfdom in Rus' was its geographical location. In fact, the withdrawal of surplus product, which was required for the development of society throughout the vast territory of the state, required the formation of a rigid, well-functioning mechanism.

The very formation of serfdom took place in the process of confrontation between the community and the actively developing local land ownership, and ordinary peasants initially perceived arable land as royal or God's property, nevertheless, believing that the owners of such lands are, by law, those who cultivate and work on this arable land .

The rapid expansion of local land ownership and numerous attempts by service people to gain control of certain communal territories or part of them (to obtain the so-called “lordly plowing”), which would act as a guarantor for the further satisfaction of their needs - made it possible to subsequently transfer the same land by inheritance to her sons, thereby securing the right of her clan, which met natural resistance in society. Such riots and indignations could be overcome only in one way - by completely subjugating the peasants.

In addition, the state needed guarantees of receipt of old and new taxes. And during the period of formation of a strong central administrative apparatus, all taxes were collected by landowners. To do this, it was necessary not only to carry out a census of peasants, but also to attach them to a specific feudal lord.

The process of enslaving peasants on Russian soil took place in several stages and was very lengthy.

The first stage of enslavement of peasants

Even during the formation of the first Slavic state, part of its population could lose personal freedom, turning into serfs or smerds. At the same time, in the conditions of fragmentation of Kievan Rus, peasants were allowed to leave their principality and go to work for another landowner.

The code of law adopted in 1497 legally confirmed this right, indicating the legality of the peasant’s departure after paying the “elderly”. The care was supposed to be carried out on the autumn St. George's day - that is, during the week before the twenty-sixth of November and the week after this date.

In another season, the peasants could not move to other principalities, because they were hampered by their busyness in plowing, as well as by frosts, spring and autumn thaw, etc.

The fixation of the transition period described above, on the one hand, acted as a confirmation of the fact of the desire of the state and feudal lords to limit peasant freedom, and on the other hand, it was a confirmation that they were not able to assign peasants to a specific landowner. It is worth noting that the described right forced the “land owners” to take into account peasant interests, which in itself had a beneficial effect not only on the economic, but also on the social development of the state.

This norm lasted until 1581, when Ivan the Terrible introduced “reserved years”, which prohibited peasant labor on arable land located in the territories affected by the disasters of that period.

The second stage of enslavement of peasants

The next stage in the development of peasant enslavement in Russia lasted from the end of the sixteenth century until the publication of the Council Code in 1649. Around 1592-93, during the period when Boris Godunov ruled the state, a decree was issued according to which peasants were prohibited from leaving throughout the country. In the same year, a large population census and updating of scribe books began, which became an attempt by the state to assign peasants to a specific place of residence with all the ensuing consequences in the event of their flight.

The collected data was also used by the drafters of the decree of 1597, according to which “lesson years” were introduced, representing a five-year period for searching for fugitive peasants. After the expiration of the period, the peasants settled in new territories, which was to the advantage of landowners in the southern regions of the country, where most of the fugitives were sent.

The third stage of enslavement of peasants

The third stage of peasant enslavement, which lasted from the mid-seventeenth century until the end of the eighteenth century, took away the remainder of the rights of the peasants. For example, according to the law of 1675, they could be sold without land, and in the eighteenth century, landowners received the right to dispose not only of the peasants’ property, but also their persons in general. During this period, peasants in Russia were approaching slaves in their legal and social status.

The fourth stage of the enslavement of peasants

From the end of the eighteenth century to 1861, serfdom began to disintegrate, and the state began to introduce certain measures that limited serfdom. At the same time, the condemnation of serfdom became one of the liberal and humane ideas that the nobility was carried away by. This all led to the abolition of serfdom in February 1861 during the reign of Tsar Alexander.