Life of a Russian peasant woman in the 16th-17th centuries. Life, culture, spiritual life in the 16th-17th centuries Life of noble people in the 16th century
The development of culture in the 16th century was greatly influenced by the church. But also, along with church dogmas and teachings, pagan traditions played a significant role, which had not yet had time to assimilate with the life of Russian society and played a significant role in everyday life.
Development of literature
In the 16th century, the folklore genre of literature began to develop even more. The culture of the society includes historical songs, in which events significant for the people or outstanding personalities were sung.
A significant breakthrough in the development of literature can also be considered the emergence of journalism as a literary genre. Writers in their works begin to express their opinion between the lines about the state system of Russia, about what mistakes the tsars make in governing the state.
In the middle of the 16th century, a journalistic work was created " Conversation of the Valaam Elders”, in which the author opposes the intrusion of church politics into secular life.
The traditions of the annals are replacing historical and literary writings. alternative " Messages of Vladimir Monomakh to children"becomes the work of the monk Sylvester" Domostroy”: the author gives advice on how to properly raise children and treat a wife, how to manage a household.
Education and science in Russia in the 16th century
In the 16th century, the literacy of the Russian population, regardless of social status, was approximately 15%. Moreover, the children of peasants were significantly more educated than the children of city dwellers.
Children were educated in private schools attached to churches and monasteries. However, church literacy remained the most important science; it pushed arithmetic and grammar into the background.
The most important breakthrough in science and education was the beginning of printing. The first printing houses were opened in Russia. The first printed books were Holy Scripture and the Apostle.
Thanks to the professionalism of the father of book printing in Russia, Ivan Fedorov, the books were not only printed, but also substantially edited: he made his own accurate translations of the Bible and other books into Russian.
Unfortunately, printing did not make books more accessible to ordinary people, since it was mainly literature for church ministers that was printed. Many secular books were still copied by hand.
Life and culture of the Russian population in the XVI century
The life of the Russian population in the 16th century depended primarily on material well-being. The food at that time was quite simple, but varied: pancakes, loaves, jelly, vegetables and cereals.
Relatively inexpensive meat for those times was salted in oak tubs and kept for future use. Also, special love was enjoyed by fish dishes, which were consumed in all possible variations: salted, dried and dried.
Drinks were represented by non-alcoholic fruit drinks and compotes. Low-alcohol drinks tasted very much like modern beer, they were made on the basis of honey and hops.
In the 16th century, fasts were strictly observed, in addition to the main four fasts, people refused fast food on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Family relationships
Family relations were built on the basis of complete subordination to the head of the family. For disobedience of a wife or children, corporal punishment was a common practice of that time. Corporal punishment was applied even to boyar wives and children.
Young people entered into marriage mainly at the behest of their parents. This was especially common among the boyars, who, through the marriage unions of their children, tried to increase their well-being and strengthen their position in society. Peasant youth were given the right to choose their own future spouse.
According to the historian A.I. Kopanev, as well as the economist and demographer B.Ts. Urlanis, the population of Russia in the middle of the 16th century. was approximately 9-10 million people, by the end of the century - 11-12 million. About 90% of them were peasants.
Among the types of settlements in which the peasants lived, the following can be distinguished:
a) a village - 20-30 households, the center of a church parish. As a rule, the village was the center of the estate;
b) settlement - a settlement of peasants called up on preferential terms from other lands;
c) village - 3-5 households. The name comes from the word "tear" - virgin soil. Villages usually arose as a result of the transition of peasants to new lands;
d) repairs - 1-3 yards. The term originated from the word "start" - to begin. This is a small settlement on freshly cultivated land;
e) wastelands, settlements, ovens - deserted, abandoned settlements. They differed in the degree of emptiness. Wasteland land was still entered in land censuses as suitable for agricultural use, and the stove was considered completely dead - only the burned-out skeletons of furnaces remained from it.
In the center of Russia, the density of settlements was such that, according to the figurative expression of contemporaries, one could shout from one village to another. The distance between them was 1–2 km. Thus, the center of the country was a space covered with forests, cultivated fields and several thousand small settlements-villages of three to five households each with a population of five to several dozen people. The farther away from urban centers, the more forests and land dominated, and the number of settlements and cultivated land decreased.
During the first half of the 16th century, as shown by A. L. Shapiro, the number of villages, villages and repairs increased. In the second half of the century, quantitative growth slowed down, but the size of existing rural settlements began to increase, their number increased, i.e. the number of households in each settlement. The enlargement of settlements contributed to the formation of large arable tracts, the elimination of fragmentation of land use.
In the XVI century. the rural population is socially heterogeneous. The most prosperous was the personally free black-haired (state) peasantry, who bore the sovereign's tax, but at the same time freed from additional owner's duties.
Owning peasants (secular and church landowners) had a significant social stratification. At the top of the social pyramid were the old-timer peasants, firmly established villagers who had lived and worked for many years for the same landowner.
Newly arrived peasants - newcomers - in a new place, because of their lack of land, they rented land. At the same time, they received temporary tax benefits from the landowner, subject to the performance of some work for the master. Usually, newcomers were sent to raise virgin soil, to revive abandoned villages. A few years later, when the grace period ended, the newcomers joined the bulk of the peasantry and became old-timers. Or, if they did not fulfill the agreed conditions, they had to pay the owner a penalty - the so-called charge.
Peasants who did not have land and rented it from the landowner for half the harvest were called ladles. However, due to the excessive scale of exploitation, polovnichestvo did not have any popularity in the 16th century. significant distribution. Mostly in the monastic farms, a special group of hired workers stands out - the so-called cubs, formed from free “walking” people, “Cossacks”. They came from the landless and propertyless marginalized poor.
A peculiar form of escape from excessive exploitation was the transition of the peasant into benevolence or servitude. Bobyls were called poor peasants who came out of the tax (because of their inability to pay it) and began to “live for the master” on his land, doing work for the landowner. Bobyls could be plowed (performed corvee) and unplowed (worked on the landowner's farm). They were personally free, their dependence came under an agreement (“row”) and had an economic origin.
A completely ruined peasant, entangled in debt, could sell or mortgage himself into servitude - complete personal, slavish dependence on the master. Self-sale into slaves increased in famine and lean years: a person lost his freedom, but saved his life, because the owner was obliged to support him. In addition, the serf could no longer pay taxes and debts. In the famine years of crop failure, self-sale into slaves acquired alarming proportions.
The main activity of the peasantry was agriculture, especially agriculture. Russian peasants sowed in the XVI century. about 30 different types of plants (rye, wheat, barley, oats, buckwheat, millet, etc.). The most common was a combination of rye (winter) and oats (spring). In the XVI century. among the crops, the share of industrial crops, primarily flax, hemp, and hops, is increasing.
Horticulture is developing, some districts are beginning to specialize in the supply of garden vegetables (for example, onions were massively grown in the Rostov Veliky district). The most widespread were turnips, cabbage, carrots, beets, cucumbers, onions, and garlic. Orchards gradually spread, in which apple, plum, and cherry trees were planted; in the southern regions, melons and watermelons.
The yield fluctuated depending on the area, soil fertility, agricultural crop from sam-three to sam-four. These indicators are similar to the average European figures for the 16th century. Approximately the same was the grain yield in Germany, Poland and other countries. Where the development of capitalist production began (the Netherlands, England), the yield was higher - ten or more.
Of the farming systems, felling continued to exist (especially in colonized forest areas), fallow (the field is sown for several years in a row, then rests, then plows up again, etc.) and arable land (peasants find new territory, plow, then come to harvest and then throw this land). The most common was the three-field, which was improved by the so-called rotational cycle (the site was divided into six fields, in which a successive change of crops took place).
The size of the cultivated land per peasant household varied greatly depending on the locality, the socio-economic situation. They could range from 2 to 20 acres. There is an obvious tendency to decrease by the 1570s–1580s. Apparently, this was due to the demographic consequences of the oprichnina and the Livonian War. The number of workers decreased, and, accordingly, the area of land that they were able to cultivate also decreased.
The decrease in income from the peasant economy caused an increase in requisitions, especially in the owner's farms, which, by increasing exploitation, tried to compensate for losses during the crisis of the 1570s–1580s. As a result, the peasant reduced his plowing even more in order to pay less taxes (at the beginning of the 17th century, there are cadastres in which up to 0.5 acres of land is recorded behind peasant households).
What way out were the peasants looking for in case of land shortage? In the XVI century. there was a practice of renting land “for quitrent”, i.e. with the obligation to pay special dues. Moreover, both agricultural lands and lands for grazing, crafts, fishing, etc. were rented in this way. Thus, the peasant economy could consist both of “taxable” lands, i.e. taxed and rewritten by the sovereign's scribes, as well as from additional "commodity", rented.
The practice of renting for the “fifth or sixth sheaf” became especially widespread in the last third of the century. For the state, it was unprofitable, since it turned out that the allotments “overtaxed” with duties were reduced to a minimum (the amount of taxes levied fell accordingly). And the real economic life flourished on the leased lands, but the income went into the pocket of the tenant and the landlord. Another thing is that at the end of the XVI century. the authorities often had no choice: a large number of patrimonial and estate lands were derelict, and it was better to rent them out at least “for quitrent” than to allow them to stand empty. At the same time, at the end of the XVI century. prices for rent were significantly raised (previously it ranged from 12 to 30 kopecks for the cultivation of arable land, and in 1597 the price was set from 40 to 60 kopecks).
The soil was cultivated with plows (one-, two- and three-pronged). Plowed mostly on horseback. In the XVI century. the plow with the police becomes the most common, i.e. with a dump board, which carries with it the loosened earth and rolls it off to the side. Such a plow cultivated the soil more thoroughly, destroyed weeds and allowed fertilizers to be plowed in. The plow with an iron share was less common. In the XVI century. soil manure is being developed, and “carrying pus (dung) to the fields” becomes one of the peasant duties.
Cattle breeding developed. On average, one peasant farm accounted for one or two horses and cows. In addition, they kept small livestock (sheep, goats), poultry. Of the breeds of small livestock, sheep breeding predominated, which, in addition to meat and milk, provided skins and warm clothes.
The pedigree of livestock was low, primitive breeds predominated, which gave little milk and were modest in weight (according to archaeological data, the average cow in the 16th century weighed up to 300 kg; today the average weight of a thoroughbred cow is 500 kg, a bull is 900 kg).
There was no division into meat and dairy breeds. Cattle were kept in open-air yards or in special wattle pens lined with manure for warmth. Young animals, as well as all livestock in the cold season, could be kept in huts, if space allowed. During the 16th century gradually there is a transition from the open corral keeping of livestock to its transfer to a special covered room (shed).
In the economy of the peasants, crafts played a huge role, accounting for up to 20% of the total income of the court. Of these, first of all, it is worth noting fishing (including in specially dug and stocked ponds), beekeeping, the manufacture of wooden and earthenware, tar smoking, iron making, etc.
Peasant farming was seen as the main source of income for the state. Peasant duties were divided into sovereign tax and dues, corvee, appointed by landowners.
The tax included (the main duties are listed):
1) tribute - direct cash payments; was preserved as a legacy of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, when Moscow collected tribute for the Tatars. The horde was long gone, but the collection of tribute by Moscow remained. In 1530-1540-6. in Novgorod land, this payment was 4–5 kopecks. with obzhi;
2) feed - dues for feeders-governors and volostels (until the middle of the 16th century, then they were replaced by a fed payback in favor of the state);
3) field duty - the so-called staff was formed from the peasants, which accompanied the Russian army in any campaign. These are a kind of “labor wars” that were used for any menial work: they dragged guns on themselves, built temporary fortifications, camps, buried corpses after the battle, etc .;
4) pit duty - the peasants had to provide carts and horses for the needs of state communication, transportation. From the second half of the XVI century. instead of this duty, “pit money” begins to be levied;
5) tamga - collection of duties from the branding of horses. The brand (tamga, brand) indicated the owner;
6) construction duty - the participation of peasants as laborers in the construction of fortresses, bridges, roads, etc.;
7) food money - a special fee for providing the army with firearms. In addition, from the second half of the XVI century. a special fee for the production of gunpowder - "pearl money" - is becoming widespread; in the second half of the 16th century. also introduced the collection of money for the ransom of captives, mainly from the Crimean Khanate;
8) arrangement of fish ponds for the sovereign.
The owner's quitrent was divided into share (collected in grain: given from a fifth to half of the harvest on tax lands, or every fourth or sixth sheaf on quitrent lands) and posp (products, for example, posop bread).
In the XVI century. peasants also performed forced labor for the landowner - corvée. The master's lands were cultivated for the most part not by peasants, but by plowed serfs, and there is a noticeable tendency to transfer corvée lands to dues. There were relatively few corvee lands (there is evidence that at the beginning of the 16th century they correlated with quitrent lands as one to five).
In total, according to various duties, peasants in the 16th century. gave about 30% of the annual income. At first, the peasants paid "according to their strength", i.e. who can do what. After being compiled at the end of the 15th - 16th centuries. scribe descriptions of lands (cadastres), they began to pay "according to the books." The unit of taxation was land. On the black-moss lands they were called plows, in the owner's villages - vyti. Their size varied by region.
In general, the taxation of the peasantry in the XVI century. was relatively small (in subsequent centuries, the peasants will give much more, for example, under Peter I, the number of duties will increase to about 40).
dwelling
The life of the Russian peasant and city dweller has changed very slowly and little over the course of centuries. The Russian traditional house, which had developed in antiquity, remained the same one-room building with small windows plugged with a bull's bladder or cloth soaked in hemp oil. Inside the house, a significant part was occupied by a stove, heated on black: smoke accumulated under the roof (there were no ceilings) and exited through the door and special windows made in the upper part of the wall. These features were common to both rural and urban houses. The rural house of a nobleman or son of a boyar differed from the peasant one only in a slightly larger size. Judging by some of the remains of old houses in Trubchevsk, the city house was sometimes built of stone. The walls were made very thick - up to two meters. The lower semi-underground part of the house - the basement - had vaulted ceilings. There were iron rings in the ceiling for hanging food. The upper part of the house was sometimes decorated with stucco door and window casings. Artistically executed lattices were inserted into the windows. These were rare houses of very wealthy people.
As before, the main furniture in the house was a table and fixed benches. Wooden and earthenware utensils were stored on the shelves. Glassware was used in the richest houses. Large and small chests contained various goods: clothes, tablecloths, towels. Separately, the dowry for the daughter's wedding was formed. The most valuable part of the furnishings were the icons hanging in the "red" (beautiful) corner.
The door from the house led to the vestibule - an unheated room, usually made not of logs, but of boards or twigs. Various tools of labor, part of household supplies were stored in the hallway.
In general, a residential building was either a hut (mainly in the north and east of the Bryansk region), or a hut - in the south and southwest. The roof of the hut is double-pitched, the hut is four-pitched. Huts were placed with a narrow (end) part on the street, huts - wide. The hut was often made of poles, between which logs or poles were placed. The entire building was covered with clay. A common feature for the hut and the hut was that in the Bryansk region they were usually set up without a basement, characteristic of the Russian North. The house on the basement is better than the ground one, it is adapted for protection from deep snow and spring floods. The door from the hallway led to the courtyard. Compared to the XIV-XV centuries, the number of outbuildings for peasants and townspeople increased. This indicates an increase in the well-being of the population. There were barns, sheds, cages, bathhouses in the yards. Merchants arranged warehouses for goods at the house. The craftsman, if he worked outside the home, had a special room for work. There was a garden attached to the house.
The world of things that surrounded the family life of a person in the 16th-17th centuries consisted mainly of wooden objects. In the forest region, wood was the most accessible and easily processed material. In addition to wood, clay was often used. Iron products were comparatively rare. They made the working parts of tools, tools, weapons. Metal products were highly valued.
Settlements
Having gone beyond the boundaries of his yard, a person found himself on the street of a village, village or city. Until the 16th century in Russia, in the course of the development of territories, more and more new villages appeared in one or two courtyards. Now the number of households in rural settlements has begun to grow. By the end of the 16th century, villages of 10-20 households were becoming habitual. There were villages with several dozen households, such as Suponevo, which belonged to the Svinsky Monastery and stretched along a large trade road. The estates of the peasants were located in one line in cases where the village was built up along the road or along the river bank. In other cases, there was no noticeable order in the layout of the settlements. It was only in the 17th century that the street planning of villages began to appear. A notable building in the village was a church, usually wooden. Near the church were the courtyards of the clergy.
Cities had more of the same type of construction. In the XVI-XVII centuries, the system of urban development continued to exist, which had developed in antiquity. There was a fortress in the center of the city. Roads radiated from the fortress. Streets sprang up along these roads. These streets were formed not by houses, as in modern cities, but by estates, enclosed by more or less high fences. A sign of urban development was that the estates adjoined each other. They did not form a straight line, and one estate protruded forward, closer to the road, the other retreated from it. Because of this, the street in some places became narrower, then wider. Streets, as well as settlements, were often separated from each other by vegetable gardens, streams, meadows. They were somewhat isolated from each other, especially since the settlements were usually inhabited by people of the same kind of service. Such are the Streltsy, Pushkar, Zatinnye, Cossack, Soldier, Yamsky settlements in Bryansk, Karachev, Sevsk. At night, the streets were not lit and were not paved.
In the cities of southwestern Russia, the central fortresses were wooden. The walls of the Bryansk fortress were made of oak and covered with boards. The fortress had 9 towers, two of which had gates to enter the fortress. In the second half of the 17th century, an extension of several towers with gates was made to the old fortress. The territory of the fortress has doubled. Among the gray wooden buildings and greenery, churches stood out for their height, especially those made of stone. There were many churches in Bryansk, Sevsk, Starodub. Most of them were built of wood, apparently in the traditional tent style for the 16th-17th centuries - with high pyramidal tops, reminiscent of a tent to a Russian person. The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery near Sevsk preserved such stone tents in its architectural appearance. Although it was built at the very beginning of the 18th century, its buildings show features of the architecture of the previous era. In the middle of Starodub today stands the Nativity Cathedral, built in the 17th century. It consists, as it were, of three large and wide towers clinging to each other. This is how temples were built in Ukraine. The building is decorated with convex, as if protruding from the walls, details - patterned architraves on the windows, shoulder blades - flat ledges at the corners of the cathedral. Each tower is crowned with a dome. Over time, there were more and more decorations on the churches - the era of the dominance of a bizarre, elegant baroque style was approaching. Features of this style are noticeable in the architecture of the stone gate church of the Svensky Monastery. The appearance of the churches of the Bryansk region combined the features of Russian and Ukrainian art.
In the center of the city on the square there was a market, where city dwellers came every day. It was the busiest place in the city. The shops in the market stood in rows - one line of shops, as it were, looked at the same opposite line. In a row, as a rule, they traded a certain set of goods. So, in Bryansk on the market there were rows of fish, meat, mosquito (haberdashery). Near the market there was a guest yard where visiting merchants stayed.
The shape of the population. Everyday life
The clothes of ordinary inhabitants of the region have changed little since ancient times. Residents of villages and cities wore shirts made of homespun cloth. Women's shirts were decorated with embroidery. In winter, they wore clothes made of sheep's skin - sheepskin. Shoes were mostly leather, in some cases they wore bast shoes.
Ordinary life, both in the city and in the village, began early. Even before dawn, the women got up to send the cattle to the common rural or urban herd. There was no breakfast in our modern view, we ate the remnants of yesterday's food. Then work began in the field or workshop. At lunch the family got together again. The men sat down to dine, the women waited on them. Then the whole house went to sleep. Slept for two hours. Then work resumed again until the evening. After dinner, the family rested and went to bed.
Holidays brought variety to the usual routine. The family went to a solemn service in the church, went out to watch the youth play in the city or in a meadow near the city. Many games were ancient, pagan in nature. Guests were taken to the feast, which took place from day to evening.
Spiritual life
The spiritual needs of the population were satisfied by reading religious books and worship. Every church, every monastery had at least a small collection of liturgical books. Handwritten and printed books appeared together with the Old Believer settlers in the southwestern districts of Russia. Some of them came from the printing house of Ivan Fedorov.
Songwriting was of great importance in the life of the population. Some of the songs that have survived to this day reflected historical events, features of life in the Russian borderlands, in particular in the lands of Sevsk. Some songs reflected the impressions of the people from the Time of Troubles. They ridiculed people who, out of interests of profit and profit, easily ran from one contender for power to another. Songwriting was akin to proverbs and sayings. From an environment clearly hostile to False Dmitry I and his supporters, sayings came out in which, in the form of fables, the impostor was called a piglet and cancer: "Sevchane met cancer with bells", "Look, brother, the voivode is crawling and dragging a bristle in his teeth", " The Sevchans planted a piglet on a perch, saying: “Don’t kill yourself, don’t kill yourself - let the chicken stand on two legs.” The same desire to humiliate, ridicule the participants in the anti-government movement is also noticeable in such sayings: Yelets is a father to all thieves, and Karachev is a sacrifice (option: they are in addition), and Livny is marvelous to all thieves, and Dmitrovtsy (option: Komarinians) are not betrayers of old thieves. , probably already after the civil war, but according to fresh memories, when it was possible to laugh at the inhabitants of those areas who tried to support unsuccessful applicants for the Moscow throne. ia in the family. Strengthening the family, the complication of wedding ceremonies gave birth to new and new songs. Weddings lasted for several days, and each of them corresponded to certain customs. With songs and rituals, agricultural work took place, especially sowing and harvesting.
The life of the inhabitants of the southwestern districts of Russia was distinguished by the preservation of many ancient features. This is explained by the fact that large areas of this region were isolated by dense forests from large trade roads and cities, from central and local authorities.
The appearance of the vestibule as a protective vestibule in front of the entrance to the hut, as well as the fact that now the firebox of the hut was turned inside the hut , made it warmer The appearance of canopies even at the end of the 16th century became typical for peasant households in far from all regions of Russia
Drawing a conclusion about the dwellings of the peasants, we can say that the 16th century is the time of the spread of buildings for livestock. They were placed separately, each under its own roof. In the northern regions, already at this time, one can notice a tendency towards two-story buildings of such buildings (shed, mshanik, and on them a hay barn, that is, a hay barn), which later led to the formation of huge two-story household yards (below - barns and pens for cattle, above - povit, a barn where hay, inventory is stored, a crate is also placed here).
The basis of nutrition was cereals - rye, wheat, oats, millet. Bread and pies were baked from rye (daily) and wheat (on holidays) flour. Kissels were prepared from oats. Many vegetables were eaten - cabbage, carrots, beets, radishes, cucumbers, turnips
Meat dishes were cooked in small quantities on holidays. A more frequent product on the table was fish; wealthy peasants had garden trees that gave them apples, plums, cherries, and pears. In the northern regions of the country, peasants gathered cranberries, lingonberries, blueberries; in the central regions - strawberries. Mushrooms and hazelnuts were also used as food.
The Orthodox Church allowed one person to marry no more than three times. (The fourth marriage was strictly forbidden) The solemn wedding ceremony was performed, usually, only at the first marriage. Weddings were usually celebrated in autumn and winter - when there was no agricultural work. Dissolution of a marriage was very difficult. A husband could divorce his wife in case of her infidelity, and communication with strangers outside the home without the permission of the spouse was equated to treason
The working day in the family began early. Ordinary people had two obligatory meals - lunch and dinner. At noon, production activity was interrupted. After dinner, according to the old Russian habit, there followed a long rest, sleep (which was very striking for foreigners). then work began again until supper. With the end of daylight, everyone went to sleep.
After the Christmas holiday, an amazing time begins - Christmas time, the girls were going to tell fortunes. And on the street there was a cheerful mess - the children went caroling. Christmas time After baptism, the fun subsided, but not for long. Before the Great Lent - a great holiday: Wide Maslenitsa! Seeing off winter has been celebrated since pagan times. In Elikim Shirokaya The main dish on the table is golden pancakes: a symbol of the sun. Pancake week
It is characterized by an increase in the literacy of the population of 15% of the peasants; Primers, alphabets, grammars and other educational literature were printed. Handwritten traditions have also been preserved. “White stoves” appear instead of “smoky ones” (peasants still have “smoky stoves” until the 19th century) In the 17th century, Western European experience was assimilated From the 17th century, marriages had to be blessed by the church without fail. The appearance of metal utensils (samovar) Literature of the 17th century is largely freed from religious content. There are no longer various kinds of "journeys" to holy places, holy teachings, even compositions like "Domostroya
In the difficult conditions of the Middle Ages, the culture of the XVI-XVII centuries. achieved great success in various fields. There has been an increase in literacy among various segments of the population. Primers, alphabets, grammars and other educational literature were printed. Books containing various scientific and practical information began to be published. There was an accumulation of natural science knowledge, manuals on mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, medicine, and agriculture were issued. Increased interest in history. New genres appear in Russian literature: satirical tales, biographies, poems, foreign literature is translated. In architecture, there is a departure from strict church rules, the traditions of ancient Russian architecture are being revived: zakomary, arcade belt, stone carving. The main type of painting continued to be icon painting. For the first time in Russian painting, the portrait genre appears.
Strengthening the central government, giving it autocratic features required the appropriate design of the capital of the Russian state. From all over the country, the best craftsmen moved to Moscow. Special bodies appeared that dealt with the issues of the architectural appearance of the capital - the City Order, the Order of Stone Affairs. Moscow becomes the center of Russian architecture. New architectural styles and trends are emerging here. Even the most remote cities are guided by the tastes of Moscow.
The appearance of the Moscow Kremlin has changed. Almost all boyar estates were withdrawn from its territory, artisans and merchants were evicted. The Kremlin became the administrative and spiritual center of the Russian state. Trade and diplomatic missions of foreign states appeared here, as well as official state institutions - the Printing and Ambassadorial Courts, buildings of orders.
The artistic merits of Russian architecture in the 16th century are especially bright. appeared in church buildings. An outstanding monument of tent architecture was the Church of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, erected in 1532 in honor of the birth of the long-awaited heir to Vasily III - the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
Rice. 1. Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye ()
The pinnacle of Russian architecture is considered to be erected in 1555-1560. on Red (then Torgovaya) Square, in the immediate vicinity of the Kremlin, the Intercession Cathedral (it is also called St. Basil's Cathedral, after the famous Moscow holy fool, buried in one of the aisles). Amazing in its beauty, the cathedral was dedicated to the capture of Kazan by Russian troops, it was built by Russian masters Barma and Postnik. The idea of the temple is simple: just as Moscow united the Russian lands around itself, so the huge central tent unites the colorful variety of eight separate domes into a single whole.
Rice. 2. Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral) ()
Urban construction was widely developed, fortresses and monasteries were built. Particularly impressive were the fortifications of Smolensk, erected under the leadership of Fyodor Kon. The length of the fortress walls along the perimeter was 6.5 km. Throughout their length, 38 towers were evenly placed. Masons and craftsmen from all over Russia were gathered for the construction of the fortress.
After the conquest of the Kazan Khanate, by royal decree, 200 Pskov masters were sent to Kazan, headed by the famous architects Barma and Shiryai. They created a number of outstanding architectural structures in the city.
Russian painting, as in previous centuries, developed mainly within the framework of icon painting and church painting. The main place where new ideas and techniques of painting were born was the Moscow Kremlin.
The largest representative of the Moscow school of painting of the late XV century. - early 16th century there was a former prince who became a monk, Dionysius. He painted part of the icons and frescoes for the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. On the icons of Dionysius, the saints were depicted framed by genre scenes illustrating individual episodes of their lives. During the reign of Ivan IV, subjects reflecting real historical events were increasingly included in religious painting. In the middle of the XVI century. in Moscow, a huge, 4 m in size, icon-picture "Militant Church", dedicated to the capture of Kazan, was painted.
With the formation of a single state, the need for literate people increased. At the Stoglavy Cathedral in 1551, it was decided to open schools in Moscow and other cities at churches and monasteries, “so that priests and deacons and all Orthodox Christians in every city give them their children for the teaching of reading and writing and the teaching of book writing.” Special “masters” of non-clerical rank also began to teach literacy, who taught literacy for two years for “porridge and a hryvnia of money”.
The largest event of Russian culture in the middle of the XVI century. was the emergence typography. It began at the initiative of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and with the support of the church. In 1564, Ivan Fedorov and his assistant Pyotr Mstislavets printed the first Russian dated book at the Printing House in Moscow. It was called "Apostle". In 1565, The Book of Hours was published - the first Russian book for teaching literacy.
In the first half of the XVI century. a circle of people close to Metropolitan Macarius created the famous "Father Menaion". "The Fourth" in Russia was called books intended for reading, in contrast to church books used in worship. "Menaias" are collections where all the works are distributed according to the months and days in which they are recommended to be read. In the XVI century. Sylvester wrote the famous Domostroy, which contained instructions on housekeeping, raising children, and observing religious norms and rituals in the family. One of the main ideas of "Domostroy" was the idea of subordinating the entire life of the state to the royal power, and in the family - to its head.
The problem of strengthening state power, its authority both within the country and abroad, occupies in the 16th century. Russian society. This led to the emergence of a new literary genre - journalism. One of the most interesting publicists of the XVI century. was Ivan Semyonovich Peresvetov. In his petitions addressed to Ivan the Terrible, he proposed reform projects that were supposed to strengthen the autocratic power of the tsar, relying on the nobility. Questions about the nature of royal power and its relationship with subjects were the main ones in the correspondence between Ivan the Terrible and Prince Andrei Kurbsky. Kurbsky outlined his views in The History of the Grand Duke of Moscow and messages to Ivan the Terrible.
In the mid 60s. 16th century An unknown author wrote "The Legend of the Kingdom of Kazan" ("Kazan History").
folk life in the 16th century basically kept the same features. Russian people sincerely professed Christianity and always celebrated Orthodox religious holidays. The most revered holiday was Easter. This holiday was dedicated to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and was celebrated in the spring. It began with a procession. The symbols of the Easter holiday were painted eggs, Easter cakes, cottage cheese Easter. However, in addition to church holidays, pagan traditions were preserved among the people. Such were the festivities. Christmastide was the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany. And if the church called for these “holy days” to be spent in prayers and chants, then according to pagan traditions they were accompanied by peculiar rituals and games (the ancient Romans had the January “calends”, hence the Russian “carols”). The Orthodox Church fought against these pagan customs. Thus, the Stoglavy Cathedral in 1551 strictly forbade "Hellenic demonic possession, games and splashing, celebrating calendars and dressing up."
In the peasant agricultural calendar, almost every day of the year and almost every hour during the day was noticed, the appearance of every cloud, rain, snow, and their properties were explained. The use of the agricultural calendar made it possible to carry out agricultural work based on the natural conditions of each specific area.
References on the topic "Russia in the XVI century":
1. History of the state and peoples of Russia. XVI-XVIII centuries - M., Bustard.2003
2. Gumilyov L. N. From Russia to Russia: Essays on ethnic history. - M., 1991
3. Passing through Muscovy: Russia XVI-XVII centuries. through the eyes of diplomats. - M., 1991
4. Tikhomirov M. N. Russia in the XVI century. - M., 1962
Homework
1. What style dominated the architecture of the 16th century?
2. What subjects began to be included in religious painting?
3. What influenced the spread of literacy in Russia?
4. What genres developed in the literature of the 16th century?
5. What folk holidays and traditions were celebrated and observed in the 16th century?
Questions
1. How do you understand the statement of the Russian artist I. E. Grabar that St. Basil’s Cathedral is “rather lonely in Russian art than typical of it”?
2. What cities and villages would you advise a foreign traveler to visit in order to get better acquainted with the Russian culture of the 16th century, what monuments should he pay attention to and why? As in the history of architecture of the XVI century. reflected the political history of the country, the history of the victories of Russian weapons?
3. What is the main feature of the "Church Militant" icon? How can you explain it?
5. What is the importance for the development of the country's culture had the beginning of printing? How did the Russian state treat books and bookish wisdom? What books are being published and why?
6. What holidays were celebrated in Russia? What innovations in the life, everyday life, clothing of Russians take place in the 16th century? What is it connected with?
