Daily life of peasants in the 16th century. Culture and life of Russia in the 16th century

The Mongol conquest threw Rus' far back culturally and economically. Many useful skills were lost and masterpieces of art were destroyed. But after a century, the economy began to revive, a tendency towards the unification of Russian lands appeared, the first victories were won over the invaders, and this could not but affect the culture and living conditions.

Kulikovo field and cultural upsurge

A significant impetus to cultural development was given by the first success in the fight against the Mongols - the victory on the Kulikovo Field. Therefore, the history of the Russian cultural revival after the Mongol attack should be counted from the end of the 14th century. Of course, many heights were never achieved (for example, Kievan Rus showed a much higher level of literacy than in Western Europe, and the new Muscovite Rus' demonstrated a depressing level of illiteracy), but on average the cultural lag caused by the conquest was quickly overcome.

The fight against the invaders contributed to the formation of a national feeling and an understanding of one’s difference from other peoples. At the same time, the developing economy helped familiarize Russians with the traditions and achievements of other countries - foreigners went to Moscow, Russians went to foreign lands.

Cultural revival

The centuries demonstrate significant advances in all major cultural areas. In literature, the end of the 14th century was marked by the appearance of “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” and “Zadonshchina” - works of art, inspired by the first successes in the fight against the Mongols. In 1466, the merchant Afanasy Nikitin set off on his Indian journey - as a result, Russian literature was enriched by “Walking across the Three Seas”. The appearance of Domostroy, an original monument of “practical” literature, should be attributed to the 16th century. Polemical literature spread - this includes many heretical writings (Ivan Peresvetov, monk Erasmus, Theodosius Kosy), as well as the legendary correspondence with Kurbsky. Ivan the Terrible in 1564 “sponsored” the creation of Ivan Fedorov’s printing house in Moscow.

Icon of the Holy Trinity by Andrei Rublev

The painting of those times is the tradition of icon painting by Andrei Rublev and Theophanes the Greek (late 14th century). Subsequently, many workshops developed the ideas of these masters.

Stone construction developed, although residential buildings were still built almost exclusively from wood. erected the first stone Kremlin in Moscow in 1367. There were stone fortifications in Novgorod and Tver.

At the time, Russian architecture was influenced by the West - the prince invited Italian masters (Fiorovanti, Solari, Ruffo). The result was the Assumption Cathedral and the Faceted Chamber in the Kremlin, the Archangel Cathedral. In 1555-1561, the most famous Russian temple was built - St. Basil's Cathedral (it was built only by Russian craftsmen).

Insufficient culture of life

Changes in everyday culture proceeded more slowly. “Domostroy” (intended for wealthy householders) gives an accurate idea that the economy of even a rich boyar at that time was almost subsistence. Clothes and shoes were supposed to demonstrate the social status of their owner, and were often extremely inconvenient (heavy boyar fur coats and tall fur hats, even in summer - not an invention).

There are very few material and written sources on peasant life, but some conclusions can be drawn. The economy was subsistence, clothes and shoes, a significant part of the utensils were made at home, all of this was of low quality. The huts (even the wealthy ones) did not have chimneys, they were heated “black”, and livestock were kept in them in winter.

A woman in all levels of society was considered a second-class citizen. In rich houses there were “towers” where women lived, and from which they could leave only on specified occasions. The peasant woman did all the work equally with her husband, but at the same time she was not allowed to make decisions.

But Moscow Rus' should not be considered a backward country on these grounds. Living conditions at that time were far from ideal everywhere. Rus' was not an advanced state, ahead of its time, but it fully corresponded to the average level.

By the beginning of the 16th century, Christianity played a decisive role in influencing the culture and life of the Russian people. It played a positive role in overcoming the harsh morals, ignorance and wild customs of ancient Russian society. In particular, the norms of Christian morality had a huge impact on family life, marriage, and raising children. Is it true. theology then adhered to a dualistic view of the division of the sexes - into two opposite principles - “good” and “evil”. The latter was personified in a woman, determining her position in society and family.

For a long time, the Russian peoples had a large family uniting relatives along the direct and lateral lines. The distinctive features of a large peasant family were collective farming and consumption, common ownership of property by two or more independent married couples. Among the urban (posad) population, families were smaller and usually consisted of two generations of parents and children. The families of feudal lords were, as a rule, small, so the son of a feudal lord, having reached the age of 15, had to serve the sovereign and could receive both his own separate local salary and a granted estate. This contributed to early marriages and the formation of independent small families.

With the introduction of Christianity, marriages began to be formalized through a church wedding ceremony. But the traditional Christian wedding ceremony (“fun”) was preserved in Rus' for about six to seven centuries. Church rules did not stipulate any obstacles to marriage, except for one: the “possession” of the bride or groom. But in real life, the restrictions were quite strict, primarily in social terms, which were regulated by customs. The law did not formally prohibit a feudal lord from marrying a peasant woman, but in fact this happened very rarely, since the feudal class was a closed corporation where marriages were encouraged not just with people in their own circle, but with peers. A free man could marry a serf, but had to obtain permission from the master and pay a certain amount as agreed. Thus, both in ancient times and in the cities, marriages, basically, could only take place within one class-estate.

Divorce was very difficult. Already in the early Middle Ages, divorce (“dissolution”) was permitted only in exceptional cases. At the same time, the rights of the spouses were unequal. A husband could divorce his wife if she cheated, and communication with strangers outside the home without the permission of the spouse was equated to betrayal. In the late Middle Ages (from the 16th century), divorce was permitted with the condition that one of the spouses was tonsured a monk.

Orthodox Church allowed one person to marry no more than three times. The solemn wedding ceremony was usually performed only during the first marriage. A fourth marriage was strictly prohibited.

A newborn child had to be baptized in church on the eighth day after baptism in the name of the saint of that day. The rite of baptism was considered by the church to be a basic, vital rite. The unbaptized had no rights, not even the right to burial. The church forbade burying a child who died unbaptized in a cemetery. The next rite - "tonsuring" - was carried out a year after baptism. On this day, the godfather or godfather (godparents) cut a lock of the child’s hair and gave a ruble. After the tonsures, they celebrated the name day, that is, the day of the saint in whose honor the person was named (later it became known as the “day of the angel”), and the birthday. The Tsar's name day was considered an official public holiday.

All sources indicate that in the Middle Ages the role of its head was extremely great. He represented the family as a whole in all its external functions. Only he had the right to vote at meetings of residents, in the city council, and later in meetings of Konchan and Sloboda organizations. Within the family, the power of the head was practically unlimited. He controlled the property and destinies of each of its members. This even applied to the personal lives of children, whom he could marry off or marry against their will. The Church condemned him only if he drove them to suicide. The orders of the head of the family had to be carried out unquestioningly. He could apply any punishment, even physical. "Domostroy" - an encyclopedia of Russian life of the 16th century - directly indicated that the owner should beat his wife and children for educational purposes. For disobedience to parents, the church threatened with excommunication.

In-house family life was relatively closed for a long time. However, ordinary women - peasant women, townspeople - did not lead a reclusive lifestyle at all. Testimonies from foreigners about the seclusion of Russian women in the chambers relate, as a rule, to the life of the feudal nobility and eminent merchants. They were rarely allowed even to go to church.

There is little information left about the daily routine of people in the Middle Ages. The working day in the family began early. Ordinary people had two obligatory meals - lunch and dinner. At noon, production activities were interrupted. After lunch, according to the old Russian habit, there was a long rest and sleep (which greatly amazed foreigners). then work began again until dinner. With the end of daylight, everyone went to bed.

With the adoption of Christianity, especially revered days became official holidays church calendar: Christmas, Easter, Annunciation, Trinity and others, as well as the seventh day of the week - Sunday. According to church rules, holidays should have been devoted to pious deeds and religious rituals. working on holidays was considered a sin. However, the poor also worked on holidays.

The relative isolation of domestic life was diversified by receptions of guests, as well as festive ceremonies, which were held mainly during church holidays. One of the main religious processions was held for Epiphany - January 6th Art. Art. On this day, the patriarch blessed the water of the Moscow River, and the population of the city performed the Jordan ritual (washing with holy water). On holidays, street performances were also organized. Traveling artists, buffoons, are known back in Ancient Rus'. In addition to playing the harp, pipes, and songs, the buffoons' performances included acrobatic performances and competitions with predatory animals. The buffoon troupe usually included an organ grinder, a gayer (acrobat), and a puppeteer.

Holidays, as a rule, were accompanied by public feasts - fraternities. However, popular ideas about the supposedly unrestrained drunkenness of Russians are clearly exaggerated. Only during the 5-6 major church holidays was the population allowed to brew beer, and taverns were a state monopoly. The maintenance of private taverns was strictly persecuted.

Social life also included games and fun - both military and peaceful, for example, the capture of a snowy city, wrestling and fist fights, small towns, leapfrog, etc. Dice became widespread among gambling games, and from the 16th century - in cards brought from the West. The favorite pastime of kings and nobles was hunting.

Thus, although the life of a Russian person in the Middle Ages, although it was relatively monotonous, was far from being limited to the production and socio-political spheres, it included many aspects of everyday life, to which historians do not always pay due attention

IN historical literature at the turn of the 15th - 16th centuries. rationalistic views on historical events are established. Some of them are explained by causal relationships caused by the activities of people themselves. The authors of historical works (for example, “Tales of the Princes of Vladimir,” late 15th century) sought to affirm the idea of the exclusivity of the autocratic power of the Russian sovereigns as the successors of Kievan Rus and Byzantium. Similar ideas were expressed in chronographs - summary reviews of general history, in which Russia was considered as the last link in the chain of world-historical monarchies.

It was not only the historical ones that expanded. but also the geographical knowledge of people of the Middle Ages. In connection with the complication of administrative management of the growing territory of the Russian state, the first geographical maps ("drawings") began to be drawn up. This was also facilitated by the development of Russian trade and diplomatic ties. Russian navigators made a great contribution to geographical discoveries in the North. By the beginning of the 16th century, they had explored the White, Icy (Barents) and Kara Seas, discovered many northern lands - the islands of Medvezhiy, Novaya Zemlya, Kolguev, Vygach, etc. The Russian Pomors were the first to penetrate the Arctic Ocean, created the first handwritten maps of the explored northern seas and islands. They were among the first to explore the Northern Sea Route around the Scandinavian Peninsula.

Some progress has been observed in the field of technical and natural scientific knowledge. Russian craftsmen learned to make quite complex mathematical calculations when constructing buildings and were familiar with the properties of basic building materials. Blocks and other construction mechanisms were used in the construction of buildings. To extract salt solutions, deep drilling and laying of pipes were used, through which the liquid was distilled using a piston pump. In military affairs, the casting of copper cannons was mastered, and battering and throwing weapons became widespread.

In the 17th century, the role of the church in influencing the culture and life of the Russian people intensified. At the same time, state power penetrated more and more into the affairs of the church.

The purpose of penetration of state power into church affairs was to be served by church reform. The tsar wanted to obtain the sanction of the church for state reforms and at the same time take measures to subordinate the church and limit its privileges and lands necessary to provide for the energetically created army of the nobility.

All-Russian church reform was carried out at the Stoglav Cathedral, named after the collection of its decrees, which consisted of one hundred chapters (“Stoglav”).

In the works of the Stoglavy Council, issues of internal church order were brought to the fore, primarily related to the life and everyday life of the lower clergy, with the performance of church services by them. The blatant vices of the clergy, the careless performance of church rituals, moreover, devoid of any uniformity - all of this aroused a negative attitude among the people towards the ministers of the church and gave rise to freethinking.

In order to stop these dangerous phenomena for the church, it was recommended to strengthen control over the lower clergy. For this purpose, a special institution of archpriests was created (an archpriest is the main priest among the priests of a given church), appointed “by royal command and with the blessing of the saint, as well as priestly elders and tenth priests.” All of them were obliged to tirelessly ensure that ordinary priests and deacons regularly performed divine services, “stood with fear and trembling” in churches, and read the Gospels, Zolotoust, and the lives of the saints.

The Council unified church rites. He officially legitimized, under penalty of anathema, the double-fingered sign of the cross and the “great hallelujah.” By the way, these decisions were later referred to by the Old Believers to justify their adherence to antiquity.

The sale of church positions, bribery, false denunciations, and extortion became so widespread in church circles that the Council of the Hundred Heads was forced to adopt a number of resolutions that somewhat limited the arbitrariness of both the highest hierarchs in relation to the ordinary clergy, and the latter in relation to the laity. From now on, taxes from churches were to be collected not by foremen who abused their position, but by zemstvo elders and tenth priests appointed in rural areas.

The listed measures and partial concessions could not, however, in any way defuse the tense situation in the country and in the church itself. The reform envisaged by the Stoglavy Council did not set as its task a deep transformation of the church structure, but only sought to strengthen it by eliminating the most flagrant abuses.

With its resolutions, the Stoglavy Council tried to impose the stamp of churchliness on the entire life of the people. Under pain of royal and church punishment, it was forbidden to read the so-called “renounced” and heretical books, that is, books that then made up almost all secular literature. The Church was ordered to interfere in the everyday life of people - to turn them away from barbering, from chess, from playing musical instruments, etc., to persecute buffoons, these carriers of folk culture alien to the church.

The time of Grozny is a time of great changes in the field of culture. One of the most significant achievements of the 16th century was printing. The first printing house appeared in Moscow in 1553, and soon books of church content were printed here. The earliest printed books include the Lenten Triodion, published around 1553, and the two Gospels, printed in the 50s. 16th century.

In 1563, the organization of the “sovereign Printing House” was entrusted to an outstanding figure in the field of book printing in Russia, Ivan Fedorov. Together with his assistant Peter Mstislavets, on March 1, 1564, he published the book “Apostle”, and the following year “The Book of Hours”. We also associate the name of Ivan Fedorov with the appearance in 1574 in Lvov of the first edition of the Russian Primer.

Under the influence of the church, such a unique work as “Domostroy” was created, which was already noted above, the final edition of which belonged to Archpriest Sylvester. "Domostroy" is a code of morals and everyday rules intended for the wealthy strata of the urban population. It is permeated with sermons of humility and unquestioning submission to authorities, and in the family - obedience to the householder.

For the increased needs of the Russian state, literate people were needed. At the Council of the Stoglavy, convened in 1551, the question of taking measures to spread education among the population was raised. The clergy were offered to open schools to teach children to read and write. Children were educated, as a rule, in monasteries. In addition, home schooling was common among rich people.

The intense struggle with numerous external and internal enemies contributed to the emergence in Russia of extensive historical literature, the central theme of which was the question of the growth and development of the Russian state. The most significant monument of historical thought of the period under review was the chronicle vaults.

One of the major historical works of this time is the Litseva (i.e., illustrated) chronicle collection: it consisted of 20 thousand pages and 10 thousand beautifully executed miniatures, giving a visual representation of various aspects of Russian life. This code was compiled in the 50-60s of the 16th century with the participation of Tsar Ivan, Alexei Alexei Adashev and Ivan Viskovaty.

The achievements in the field of architecture were especially significant in the late 15th and 16th centuries. In 1553-54, the Church of John the Baptist was built in the village of Dyakovo (not far from the village of Kolomenskoye), exceptional in the originality of its decorative decoration and architectural design. An unsurpassed masterpiece of Russian architecture is the Church of the Intercession on the Moat (St. Basil's Church), erected in 1561. This cathedral was built to commemorate the conquest of Kazan.

Strengthening the central government and giving it autocratic features required the appropriate design of the capital of the Russian state. The best craftsmen moved to Moscow from all over the country. Special bodies appeared that dealt with 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 appear 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 removed from its territory, and artisans and traders were evicted. The Kremlin became the administrative and spiritual center of the Russian state. Trade and diplomatic missions of foreign countries appeared here, as well as official government institutions - the Printing and Embassy Courts, buildings of orders.

The artistic merits of Russian architecture in the 16th century are especially vivid. manifested itself in church buildings. An outstanding monument of hipped-roof architecture was the Church of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, erected in 1532 in honor of the birth of Vasily III's long-awaited heir - the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

Rice. 1. Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye ()

The building erected in 1555-1560 is rightfully considered the pinnacle of Russian architecture. on Red (then Torgovaya) Square, in close proximity to the Kremlin, the Intercession Cathedral (it is also called St. Basil's Cathedral, named after the famous Moscow holy fool, buried in one of the chapels). The cathedral, amazing in its beauty, 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 diversity of eight separate domes into a single whole.

Rice. 2. Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral) ()

Urban construction expanded widely, and 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. There were 38 towers evenly distributed along their entire length. Masons and craftsmen from all over Russia were gathered to build the fortress.

After the conquest of the Kazan Khanate, by royal decree, 200 Pskov craftsmen, led by the famous architects Barma and Shiryai, were sent to Kazan. They created a number of outstanding architectural structures in the city.

Russian painting, as in previous centuries, developed mainly within the framework icon painting and temple painting. The main place where new ideas and painting techniques were born was the Moscow Kremlin.

The largest representative of the Moscow school of painting of the late 15th century. - beginning of the 16th century there was a former prince who became a monk - Dionysius. He painted some of the icons and frescoes for the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. On the icons of Dionysius, saints were depicted framed by genre scenes illustrating individual episodes of their lives. During the reign of Ivan IV, religious painting increasingly included subjects reflecting real historical events. In the middle of the 16th century. In Moscow, a huge, 4 m in size, icon-painting “The Militant Church” was painted, dedicated to the capture of Kazan.

With the formation of a unified state, the need for literate people increased. At the Council of the Stoglavy 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 each city would entrust their children to them to learn to read and write and to learn 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 in Russian culture in the mid-16th century. became the emergence printing. It began on the initiative of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and with the support of the church. In 1564, in Moscow at the Printing Yard, Ivan Fedorov and his assistant Pyotr Mstislavets printed the first Russian dated book. 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 16th century. a circle of people close to Metropolitan Macarius created the famous “Chets Menaia”. “Chetii” in Rus' were books intended for reading, in contrast to church books used during worship. “Mineas” are collections in which all works are divided into months and days in which they are recommended to be read. In the 16th century Sylvester wrote the famous “Domostroy”, which contained instructions on housekeeping, raising children, and the implementation of 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 royal power, and in the family to its head.

Strengthening problem state power, its authority both within the country and abroad takes place 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 16th century. was Ivan Semenovich 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 its subjects were central to 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. XVI century An unknown author wrote “The Legend of the Kazan Kingdom” (“Kazan History”).

Folk life in the 16th century basically retained the same features. Russian people sincerely professed Christianity and necessarily 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 religious procession. The symbols of the Easter holiday were colored eggs, Easter cakes, and Easter cottage cheese. However, in addition to church holidays, pagan traditions were preserved among the people. Such were the Yuletide amusements. Christmastide was the name given to the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany. And if the church called for spending these “holy days” 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 “kolyada”). The Orthodox Church fought against these pagan customs. Thus, the Council of the Hundred Heads in 1551 strictly prohibited “Hellenic madness, games and splashing, the celebration of the calendar and dressing up.”

In the peasant agricultural calendar, almost every day of the year and almost every hour during the day was noted, 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 natural conditions each specific area.

List of literature on the topic "Russia in the 16th century":

1. History of the state and peoples of Russia. XVI-XVIII centuries - M., Bustard.2003

2. Gumilyov L.N. From Rus' to Russia: Essays on ethnic history. - M., 1991

3. Driving 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 in 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 alone in Russian art than typical of it”?

2. What cities and villages would you advise a foreign traveler to visit in order to become better acquainted with Russian culture of the 16th century, what monuments should his attention be drawn to and why? As in the history of architecture of the 16th century. reflected political history countries, the history of victories of Russian weapons?

3. What is it? main feature“Church Militant” icons? How can you explain it?

5. What significance did the beginning of printing have for the development of the country’s culture? How did the Russian state treat books and book wisdom? What books were published and why?

6. What holidays were celebrated in Russia? What innovations in the life, way of life, and clothing of Russians took place in the 16th century? What is this connected with?

According to historian A.I. Kopanev, as well as 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 peasants lived, the following can be distinguished:

a) village – 20–30 households, the center of a church parish. As a rule, the village was the center of the fiefdom;

b) settlement - a settlement of peasants recruited from other lands on preferential terms;

c) village – 3–5 courtyards. The name comes from the word “derit” - virgin soil. Villages usually arose as a result of peasants moving to new lands;

d) repairs – 1–3 yards. The term originated from the word “pochnu” - to begin. This is a small settlement on freshly cultivated land;

e) wastelands, settlements, stoves - desolate, abandoned settlements. They varied in the degree of devastation. The wasteland land was still included in land censuses as suitable for agricultural use, and the stove was considered completely destroyed - only the burnt skeletons of the stoves 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 from five to several dozen people. The further away from urban centers, the more forests and farmlands predominated, and the number of settlements and cultivated lands decreased.

During the first half of the 16th century, as shown by A.L. Shapiro, the number of villages, hamlets and villages grew. In the second half of the century, quantitative growth slows down, but the size of existing rural settlements begins to increase, their number of households increases, i.e. number of households in each settlement. The consolidation of settlements contributed to the formation of large arable tracts and the elimination of fragmented land use.

In the 16th century The rural population is socially heterogeneous. The most prosperous were personally the free black-sown (state) peasantry, who bore the sovereign's tax, but at the same time were freed from additional owner duties.

Landowning peasants (secular and ecclesiastical landowners) had significant social stratification. At the top of the social pyramid were the old-timer peasants - villagers firmly standing on their feet, living and working for many years with the same landowner.

Newly arrived peasants - newcomers - rented land in a new place due to their lack of land. At the same time, they received temporary tax benefits provided that some work is performed for the master. Usually, newcomers were sent to raise virgin soil and revive abandoned villages. A few years later, when the grace period ended, the newcomers joined the bulk of the peasantry and became old residents. 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 exist in the 16th century. significant spread. Mostly in monastic farms, there is a special group of hired workers - the so-called cubs, formed from free “walking” people, “Cossacks”. They came from the landless and propertyless marginal poor.

A peculiar form of escape from excessive exploitation was the transition of the peasant to bourgeoisie or servitude. Bobyls were poor peasants who left the tax (due to their inability to pay it) and began to “live with the master” on his land, performing work for the landowner. The bobyli could be arable (they performed corvee labor) or uncultivated (they worked on the landowner's farm). They were personally free, their dependence came by agreement (“row”) and had an economic origin.

A completely ruined peasant, entangled in debt, could sell or pledge himself into servitude - complete personal, slavish dependence on the master. Self-selling into slaves increased in years of famine and lean harvest: a person lost his freedom, but saved his life because the owner was obliged to support him. In addition, the slave could no longer pay taxes and debts. In the hungry years of crop failure, self-selling into serfs acquired alarming proportions.

The main sphere of activity of the peasantry was agriculture, primarily farming. Russian peasants sowed in the 16th century. about 30 different types plants (rye, wheat, barley, oats, buckwheat, millet, etc.). The most common was a combination of rye (winter crops) and oats (spring crops). In the 16th century Among crops, the share of industrial crops, primarily flax, hemp, and hops, is increasing.

Vegetable gardening is developing, some areas are beginning to specialize in the supply of garden vegetables (for example, onions were grown en masse in the Rostov the Great district). The most common were turnips, cabbage, carrots, beets, cucumbers, onions, and garlic. Gradually, orchards spread, in which apple trees, plums, cherries were planted, and in the southern regions - melons and watermelons.

The yield varied depending on the region, soil fertility, and crop from sam-three to sam-four. These figures are similar to average European figures for the 16th century. Grain yields were approximately the same in Germany, Poland and other countries. Where the development of capitalist production began (the Netherlands, England), the yield was higher - ten times or more.

The farming systems that continued to exist were cutting (especially in colonized forest areas), fallow (a field is sown for several years in a row, then rests, then plowed up again, etc.) and arable land (peasants find a new territory, plow it up, then come to harvest the crops) and then abandon this land). The most common was a three-field system, which was improved by the so-called rotational cycle (the site was divided into six fields, in which a sequential change of crops took place).

The size of cultivated land per peasant household varied greatly depending on the area and socio-economic situation. They could range from 2 to 20 dessiatines. The trend towards their decrease towards the 1570–1580s is obvious. Apparently, this was due to the demographic consequences of the oprichnina and the Livonian War. The number of workers decreased, and the area of land that they were able to cultivate decreased accordingly.

The decrease in income from peasant farming caused an increase in extortions, especially in privately owned farms, which, through increased exploitation, tried to compensate for losses during the crisis of the 1570s–1580s. As a result, the peasant further reduced his plowing in order to pay less taxes (at the beginning of the 17th century there were cadastres in which up to 0.5 dessiatines of land were recorded for peasant households).

What solution did the peasants look for in case of land shortage? In the 16th century there was a practice of renting land “on rent”, i.e. with the obligation to pay a special rent. Moreover, in this way both agricultural land and land for grazing, fishing, fishing, etc. were rented. Thus, the peasant economy could consist of both “taxable” lands, i.e. taxed and rewritten by the sovereign's scribes, and from additional “ quitrents ”, rented.

The practice of renting for the “fifth or sixth sheaf” became especially widespread in the last third of the century. It was unprofitable for the state, since it turned out that the plots “over-taxed” with duties were reduced to a minimum (accordingly, the amount of taxes collected fell). And real economic life flourished on leased lands, but the income went into the pockets of the tenant and the landlord. Another thing is that at the end of the 16th century. The authorities often had no choice: a large number of patrimonial and estate lands were deserted, and it was better to hand them over at least “on quitrent” than to allow them to stand empty. At the same time, at the end of the 16th century. rental prices were significantly raised (previously it ranged from 12 to 30 kopecks per 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). They plowed mainly on horseback. In the 16th century The most common is the plow with the police, i.e. with a dump board, which carries the loosened earth with it and rolls it to the side. This plow cultivated the soil more thoroughly, destroyed weeds and made it possible to plow in fertilizers. The plow with an iron share was less common. In the 16th century soil manure develops, and “carrying pus (manure) to the fields” becomes one of the peasant duties.

Cattle breeding developed. On average, each peasant farm had one or two horses and cows. In addition, they kept small livestock (sheep, goats), and poultry. Among the breeds of small livestock, sheep breeding predominated, which, in addition to meat and milk, provided skins and warm clothing.

The pedigree of livestock was low; primitive breeds predominated, which produced little milk and had a modest weight (according to archaeological data, the average cow in the 16th century weighed up to 300 kg; today the average weight of a purebred cow is 500 kg, a bull – 900 kg).

There was no division into meat and dairy breeds. Cattle were kept in open-air courtyards or in special fence pens lined with manure for warmth. Young animals, as well as all livestock during the cold season, could be kept in huts if space allowed. During the 16th century. Gradually, there is a transition from open pen housing of livestock to its transfer to a special covered premises (shed).

In the peasant economy, crafts played a huge role, accounting for up to 20% of the total income of the household. Of these, first of all, it is worth noting fishing (including in specially dug and stocked ponds), beekeeping, making wooden and pottery, tar smoking, iron making, etc.

Peasant farming was considered the main source of income for the state. Peasant duties were divided into sovereign taxes and quitrents, corvee, assigned by landowners.

Taxes included (the most important 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. V Novgorod land this payment was 4–5 kopecks. from obzhi;

2) feed - fees for feeding governors and volosts (until the middle of the 16th century, then replaced by a feeding payback in favor of the state);

3) pososha conscription - the so-called posokha was formed from the peasants, which accompanied the Russian army on any campaign. These are a kind of “laborer wars” that were used for any menial work: they carried guns, built temporary fortifications, camps, buried corpses after the battle, etc.;

4) yam duty - peasants had to provide carts and horses for the needs of state communications and transportation. From the second half of the 16th century. instead of this duty, “Yam money” begins to be collected;

5) tamga - collection of duties on horse branding. The mark (tamga, brand) indicated the owner;

6) construction duty - participation of peasants as laborers in the construction of fortresses, bridges, roads, etc.;

7) food money - a special collection to provide the army with firearms. In addition, from the second half of the 16th century. a special collection for the production of gunpowder – “pearl money” – is becoming widespread; in the second half of the 16th century. the collection of Polonian money for the ransom of prisoners, mainly from the Crimean Khanate, is also introduced;

8) construction of fish ponds for the sovereign.

The owner's dues were divided into sharecropping (collected in grain: from a fifth to half of the harvest on tax lands or every fourth or sixth sheaf on quitrent lands was given) and posp (products, for example, sop bread).

In the 16th 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 arable serfs, and there was a noticeable tendency to transfer corvee lands to quitrent. There were relatively few corvee lands (there is evidence that at the beginning of the 16th century they were related to quitrent lands as one to five).

In total, for various duties, peasants in the 16th century. gave away about 30% of their annual income. At first, peasants paid “according to strength,” i.e. whoever can. After being compiled at the end of the 15th - 16th centuries. They began to pay for scribal descriptions of lands (cadastres) “according to the books.” The unit of taxation was land area. On the black-plowed lands they were called plows, in the owner's villages they were called vyty. Their size varied by region.

In general, taxation of the peasantry in the 16th century. was relatively small (in subsequent centuries, peasants will begin to give much more, for example, under Peter I the number of duties will increase to approximately 40).

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...3

1. Social and political situation in Russia in the 16th-17th centuries……………5

2. Culture and life of the Russian people in the 16th century………………………………………………………7

3. Culture and life in the 17th century………………………………………………………..16

4. Life of Russian tsars in the 16th-17th centuries…………………………………………………………………….......19

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….23

List of used literature……………………………………………………………24

Appendix No. 1……………………………………………………………………………….25

INTRODUCTION

First of all, we must determine the meaning of the concepts “life”, “culture”, and their relationships with each other.

Culture, first of all, is a collective concept. An individual can be a carrier of culture, can actively participate in its development, however, by its nature, culture, like language, is a public phenomenon, that is, social.

Consequently, culture is something common to a collective - a group of people living simultaneously and connected by a certain social organization. It follows from this that culture is a form of communication between people and is possible only in a group in which people communicate. An organizational structure that unites people living at the same time is called synchronous.

Any structure serving the sphere of social communication is a language. This means that it forms a certain system of signs used in accordance with the rules known to the members of a given group. We call signs any material expression (words, drawings, things, etc.) that has meaning and, thus, can serve as a means of conveying meaning.

So, the area of culture is always the area of symbolism.

Symbols of a culture rarely appear in its synchronic cross-section. As a rule, they come from time immemorial and, modifying their meaning (but without losing the memory of their previous meanings), are transmitted to future states of culture.

Therefore, culture is historical in nature. Its present itself always exists in relation to the past (real or constructed in the order of some mythology) and to forecasts of the future. These historical connections of culture are called diachronic. As we see, culture is eternal and universal, but at the same time it is always mobile and changeable. This is the difficulty of understanding the past (after all, it is gone, moved away from us). But this is the need to understand a bygone culture: it always contains what we need now, today.

A person changes, and in order to imagine the logic of the actions of a literary hero or people of the past - after all, they somehow maintain our connection with the past - we must imagine how they lived, what kind of world surrounded them, what were their general ideas and moral ideas, their customs, clothes,…. This will be the topic of this work.

Having thus determined the aspects of culture that interest us, we have the right, however, to ask the question: does not the expression “culture and life” itself contain a contradiction, do these phenomena lie on different planes? Really, what is everyday life? Everyday life is the usual course of life in its real-practical forms; everyday life is the things that surround us, our habits and everyday behavior. Everyday life surrounds us like air, and like air, it is noticeable to us only when it is missing or deteriorates. We notice the features of someone else's life, but our own life is elusive to us - we tend to consider it “just life,” the natural norm of practical existence. So, everyday life is always in the sphere of practice; it is the world of things, first of all. How can he come into contact with the world of symbols and signs that make up the space of culture?

In what ways does the interpenetration of life and culture occur? For objects or customs of “ideologized life” this is self-evident: the language of court etiquette, for example, is impossible without real things, gestures, etc., in which it is embodied and which belong to everyday life. But how are endless objects of everyday life connected with culture, with the ideas of the era?

Our doubts will dissipate if we remember that all the things around us are included not only in practice in general, but also in social practice, they become, as it were, clots of relations between people and in this function they are capable of acquiring a symbolic character.

However, everyday life is not only the life of things, it is also customs, the entire ritual of daily behavior, the structure of life that determines the daily routine, the time of various activities, the nature of work and leisure, forms of rest, and games. The connection between this aspect of everyday life and culture requires no explanation. After all, it is in it that those features are revealed by which we usually recognize our own and a stranger, a person of a particular era, an Englishman or a Spaniard.

Custom has another function. Not all laws of behavior are recorded in writing. Writing dominates in the legal, religious, and ethical spheres. However, in human life there is a vast area of customs and decency. “There is a way of thinking and feeling, there is a darkness of customs, beliefs and habits that belong exclusively to some people.” These norms belong to culture, they are enshrined in forms of everyday behavior, everything that is said about: “this is customary, this is decent.” These norms are transmitted through everyday life and are closely related to the sphere of folk poetry. They become part of the cultural memory.

1. Social and political situation in Russia inXVI- XVIIcenturies.

To understand the origins of the conditions and reasons that determine the way of life, way of life and culture of the Russian people, it is necessary to consider the socio-political situation in Russia at that time.

With all the vastness of its territory Moscow State in the middle of the 16th century. had a relatively small population, no more than 6-7 million people (for comparison: France at the same time had 17-18 million people). Of the Russian cities, only Moscow and Novgorod the Great had several tens of thousands of inhabitants; the share of the urban population did not exceed 2% of the total population of the country. The vast majority of Russian people lived in small (several households) villages spread across the vast expanses of the Central Russian Plain.

The formation of a single centralized state accelerated the socio-economic development of the country. New cities arose, crafts and trade developed. There was a specialization of individual regions. Thus, Pomorie supplied fish and caviar, Ustyuzhna supplied metal products, salt was brought from Sol Kama, and grain and livestock products were brought from the Trans-Oka lands. In different parts of the country, the process of establishing local markets was underway. The process of forming a single all-Russian market also began, but it lasted for a long time and was formed in its main features only by the end of the 17th century. Its final completion dates back to the second half of the 18th century, when under Elizabeth Petrovna the still existing internal customs duties were abolished.

Thus, unlike the West, where the formation of centralized states (in France, England) went parallel to the formation of a single national market and, as it were, crowned its formation, in Rus' the formation of a single centralized state occurred before the formation of a single all-Russian market. And this acceleration was explained by the need for the military and political unification of Russian lands in order to free themselves from foreign enslavement and achieve their independence.

Another feature of the formation of the Russian centralized state in comparison with Western European states was that from the very beginning it arose as a multinational state.

The lag of Rus' in its development, primarily economic, was explained by several unfavorable historical conditions for it. Firstly, as a result of the disastrous Mongol-Tatar invasion, material assets accumulated over centuries were destroyed, most Russian cities were burned, and most of the country’s population died or was taken captive and sold on slave markets. It took more than a century just to restore the population that existed before the invasion of Batu Khan. Rus' lost its national independence for more than two and a half centuries and fell under the rule of foreign conquerors. Secondly, the lag was explained by the fact that the Moscow state was cut off from world trade routes, especially sea routes. Neighboring powers, especially in the west (Livonian Order, Grand Duchy of Lithuania) practically carried out an economic blockade of the Moscow state, preventing its participation in economic and cultural cooperation with European powers. The lack of economic and cultural exchange, isolation within its narrow internal market concealed the danger of growing lag behind European states, which was fraught with the possibility of becoming a semi-colony and losing its national independence.

The Grand Duchy of Vladimir and other Russian principalities on the Central Russian Plain became part of the Golden Horde for almost 250 years. And the territory of the Western Russian principalities (the former Kievan state, Galicia-Volyn Rus', Smolensk, Chernigov, Turovo-Pinsk, Polotsk lands), although they were not included in the Golden Horde, were extremely weakened and depopulated.

2.Culture and life of the Russian people inXVIcentury.

Visual material on this issue is provided in Appendix No. 1.

2.1 Housing

All the main buildings of the peasant yard were log houses - huts, cages, hay barns, moss fields, stables, barns (although there are also references to wattle barns). The main and obligatory element of such a yard was a hut, a heated building, insulated in the grooves with moss, where the peasant’s family lived, where in the winter they worked and wove (weaving, spinning, making various utensils, tools), and here in the cold, livestock found shelter. As a rule, there was one hut per courtyard, but there were peasant courtyards with two or even three huts, where large undivided families were accommodated. Apparently, already in the 16th century, there was a separation of two main types of peasant housing; in the northern regions, huts on the basement, podizbitsa, i.e. began to dominate. having underground. In such basements they could keep livestock and store supplies. In the central and southern regions, above-ground huts still exist, the floor of which was laid at ground level, and, perhaps, was earthen. But the tradition was not yet established. Rich peasants also built huts on their basements in the central regions. Here they were often called upper rooms.
As an element of the dwelling, a canopy appeared, which serves as a connecting link between two buildings - the hut and the cage. But changing the internal layout cannot be considered only formally. The appearance of the entryway as a protective vestibule in front of the entrance to the hut, as well as the fact that the firebox of the hut was now facing the inside of the hut - all this greatly improved the housing, making it warmer and more comfortable. The general rise of culture was reflected in this improvement of housing, although the 16th century was only the beginning of further changes, and the appearance of the canopy, even at the end of the 16th century, became typical for peasant households in many regions of Russia. Like other elements of housing, they first appeared in the northern regions. The second obligatory building of a peasant yard was a cage, i.e. a log building used for storing grain, clothing, and other property of peasants. But not all areas knew the cage as a second utility room.
There is another building that apparently served the same function as the cage. This is a sennik. Of the other buildings of the peasant yard, it is necessary to mention, first of all, barns, since grain farming in the relatively damp climate of Central Russia is impossible without drying the sheaves. Ovins are more often mentioned in documents relating to the northern regions. “Bayna” or “mylna” was equally obligatory in the northern and parts of the central regions, but not everywhere. A bathhouse is a small log house, sometimes without a dressing room, in the corner there is a stove - a heater, next to it there are shelves or beds on which to steam, in the corner there is a barrel for water, which is heated by throwing hot stones there, and all this is illuminated by a small window, the light from which drowns in the blackness of the smoky walls and ceilings. On top, such a structure often had an almost flat pitched roof, covered with birch bark and turf. The tradition of washing in baths among Russian peasants was not universal. In other places they washed themselves in ovens.
The 16th century was the time when buildings for livestock became widespread. 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 (a stable, a moss forest, and on them a hay barn, that is, a hay barn), which later led to the formation of huge two-story household courtyards (at the bottom - stables and pens for livestock, at the top - a shed, a barn where hay and equipment are stored, a cage is also placed here). The feudal estate, according to inventories and archaeological information, was significantly different from the peasant one. One of the main features of any feudal court, in a city or in a village, was special watchtowers and defensive towers - povalushi. In the 16th century, such defensive towers were not only an expression of boyar arrogance, but also a necessary construction in case of attack by neighbors - landowners, restless free people. The vast majority of these towers were made of logs, several floors high. The residential building of the feudal court was the upper room. These upper rooms did not always have slanted windows, and not all of them could have had white stoves, but the very name of this building suggests that it was on a high basement. The buildings were log buildings, made from selected timber, had good gable roofs, and on the floors they were of several types - gable, hipped and covered with a figured roof - barrels, etc. The courtyard of a wealthy citizen was similar in composition and names of buildings to the boyar's courtyards, and the Russian cities themselves were still very similar to the sum of rural estates rather than to a city in the modern sense.

Stone residential buildings, known in Rus' since the 14th century, continued to remain a rarity in the 16th century. The few residential stone mansions of the 16th century that have reached us amaze with the massiveness of the walls, the obligatory vaulted ceilings and the central pillar supporting the vault.

Peasant huts were decorated very modestly, but some parts of the huts were necessarily decorated; roof ridges, doors, gates, stove.
Comparative materials from ethnography of the 19th century show that these decorations played, in addition to an aesthetic role, the role of amulets that protected “entrances” from evil spirits; the roots of the semantics of such decorations go back to pagan ideas. But the homes of rich townspeople and feudal lords were decorated magnificently, intricately, and colorfully with the hands and talent of the peasants.

2.2 Clothing

The main clothing in the 16th century was the shirt. Shirts were made from woolen fabric (hair shirt) and linen and hemp fabric. In the 16th century, shirts were necessarily worn with certain decorations, which among the rich and noble were made of pearls, precious stones, gold and silver threads, and among the common people, with red threads. The most important element of such a set of jewelry is the necklace that covered the opening of the collar. The necklace could be sewn to a shirt, or it could be a false necklace, but wearing it should be considered mandatory outside the home. Decorations covered the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the hem of shirts. Shirts varied in length. Consequently, short shirts, the hem of which reached approximately to the knees, were worn by peasants and the urban poor. The rich and noble wore long shirts and shirts that reached to their heels. Pants were a mandatory element of men's clothing. But there was no single term to designate this clothing yet. Shoes of the 16th century were very diverse in both materials and cut. Archaeological excavations show a clear predominance of leather shoes woven from bast or birch bark. This means that bast shoes were not known to the population of Rus' since ancient times and were rather additional shoes intended for special occasions.
For the 16th century, a certain social gradation can be outlined: boots - shoes of the noble, rich; caligas, pistons - shoes of peasants and masses of townspeople. However, this gradation may not have been clear, since soft boots were worn by both artisans and peasants. But feudal lords always wear boots.

Men's hats were quite varied, especially among the nobility. The most common among the population, peasants and townspeople, was a felt hat of a cone shape with a rounded top. The dominant feudal strata of the population, more associated with trade, and striving to emphasize their class isolation, borrowed a lot from other cultures. The custom of wearing tafya, a small cap, became widespread among the boyars and nobility. They didn’t take off such a hat at home either. And when leaving the house, she was put on a tall “gorlat” fur hat - a sign of boyar arrogance and dignity.

The nobility also wore other hats. If the difference in basic men's clothing between class groups was reduced mainly to the quality of materials and decorations, then the difference in outer clothing was very sharp, and, above all, in the number of clothes. The richer and more noble the person, the more clothes he wore. The very names of these clothes are not always clear to us, since they often reflect such characteristics as material, method of fastening, which also coincides with the nomenclature of later peasant clothing, which is also very vague in terms of functionality. The only things the common people shared in name with the ruling strata were fur coats, single-row coats and caftans. But in terms of material and decoration there could be no comparison. Among men's clothing, sundresses are also mentioned, the cut of which is difficult to imagine exactly, but it was a spacious long dress, also decorated with embroidery and hems. Of course, they dressed so luxuriously only during ceremonial exits, receptions and other special occasions.

As in a men's suit, the shirt was the main, and often the only clothing of women in the 16th century. The material from which women's shirts were made was linen. But there could also be woolen shirts. Women's shirts were necessarily decorated.
Of course, peasant women did not have expensive necklaces, but they could be replaced by embroidered ones, decorated with simple beads, small pearls, and brass stripes. Peasant women and ordinary townswomen probably wore ponevs, plakhtas, or similar clothes under other names. But in addition to waist clothes, as well as shirts, some kind of maid clothes were issued already from the 16th century.

Nothing is known about the shoes of ordinary women, but most likely they were identical to men's. Very general ideas about women's headdresses of the 16th century. In the miniatures, the women's heads are covered with plates (ubrus) - pieces of white fabric that cover the head and fall onto the shoulders on top of the clothes. The clothing of noble women was very different from the clothing of the common people, primarily in the abundance of dress and its wealth. As for sundresses, even in the 17th century they remained primarily men's clothing, not women's.

When talking about clothing, it is worth noting jewelry. Some of the jewelry became an element of certain clothes. Belts served as one of the obligatory elements of clothing and at the same time as decoration. It was impossible to go outside without a belt. XV-XVI centuries and later times can be considered a period when the role of metal sets of jewelry gradually fades away, although not in all forms; there remain relatively few of them: rings, bracelets (wrist), earrings, beads. But this does not mean that the previous decorations disappeared without a trace. They continued to exist in a greatly modified form. These decorations become part of the clothing.

2.3 Food

Bread remained the main food in the 16th century. Baking and the preparation of other grain products in the cities of the 16th century was the activity of large groups of artisans who specialized in the production of these foodstuffs for sale. The bread was baked from mixed rye and oatmeal, as well as, and only from oatmeal. Bread, rolls, and bread were baked from wheat flour. They made noodles from flour, baked pancakes and “perebake” - fried rye flatbreads made from sour dough. Pancakes were baked from rye flour and crackers were prepared. A very diverse range of butter dough- pies with poppy seeds, honey, porridge, turnips, cabbage, mushrooms, meat, etc. The listed products do not exhaust the variety of bread products consumed in Rus' in the 16th century.
A very common type of bread food was porridge (oatmeal, buckwheat, barley, millet), and jelly - pea and oatmeal. Grain also served as a raw material for preparing drinks: kvass, beer, vodka. The variety of vegetable and horticultural crops cultivated in the 16th century determined the variety of vegetables and fruits eaten: cabbage, cucumbers, onions, garlic, beets, carrots, turnips, radishes, horseradish, poppy seeds, green peas, melons, various herbs for pickles (cherry, mint, cumin), apples, cherries, plums.
Mushrooms - boiled, dried, baked - played a significant role in the diet. One of the main types of food, next in importance to grain and plant foods and animal products in the 16th century, was fish food. Known for the 16th century different ways fish processing: salting, drying, drying.
Thus, in the 16th century, the range of bread products was already very diverse. Advances in the development of agriculture, in particular gardening and horticulture, have led to a significant enrichment and expansion of the range of plant foods in general. Along with meat and dairy foods, fish food continued to play a very important role.

2.4 Oral folk art

Folklore of the 16th century, like all art of that time, lived in traditional forms and used previously developed artistic means. Written records that have come down to us from the 16th century testify that rituals in which many traces of paganism were preserved were ubiquitous in Rus', and that epics, fairy tales, proverbs, and songs were the main forms of verbal art.
Monuments of writing of the 16th century. buffoons are mentioned as people who amuse the people, amusements. They took part in weddings, played the role of groomsmen, told fairy tales and sang songs, and gave comic performances.

In the 16th century fairy tales were popular. From the 16th century Few materials have survived that would allow us to recognize the fairy-tale repertoire of that time. We can only say that it included fairy tales. There were fairy tales about animals and everyday ones.

Genres of traditional folklore were widely used at this time. XVI century - a time of great historical events, which left its mark on folk art. The themes of folklore works began to be updated; new social types and historical figures were included as heroes. The image of Ivan the Terrible also entered fairy tales. In one tale, Ivan the Terrible is depicted as a shrewd ruler, close to the people, but harsh towards the boyars. The tsar paid the peasant well for the turnips and bast shoes given to him, but when the nobleman gave the tsar a good horse, the tsar unraveled the evil intent and gave him not a large estate, but a turnip, which he received from the peasant.

Another genre that was widely used in oral and written speech in the 16th century was the proverb. It was the genre that most vividly responded to historical events and social processes. The time of Ivan the Terrible and his struggle with the boyars were subsequently often satirically reflected, their irony was directed against the boyars: “The times are shaky - take care of your hats,” “The royal favors are sown in the boyar sieve,” “The king strokes, and the boyars scrape.” Proverbs also evaluate everyday phenomena, in particular the position of women in the family, the power of parents over children. Many of this kind of proverbs were created among backward and ignorant people and were influenced by the morality of the clergy. "A woman and a demon - they have the same weight." But proverbs were also created that embodied the life experience of the people: “The house is held by the wife.”

In folklore of the 16th century. Many genres were widely used, including those that arose in ancient times and contain traces of ancient ideas, such as belief in the power of words and actions in conspiracies, belief in the existence of goblins, water goblins, brownies, sorcerers, in superstitions, legends , which are stories about miracles, about encounters with evil spirits, about treasures found, and deceived devils. For these genres in the 16th century. significant Christianization is already characteristic. Belief in the power of word and action is now confirmed by asking God, Jesus Christ, Our Lady and the saints for help. The power of Christian, religious ideas was great, they began to dominate over pagan ones. In addition to the goblin, mermaids and the devil, the characters of the legends are also saints (Nikola, Ilya).

Important changes also occurred in epics. The past - the subject of the depiction of epics - receives new illumination in them. Thus, during the period of struggle with the Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms, epics about the battles with the Tatars received a new meaning due to the rise of patriotic sentiments. Sometimes epics were modernized. Kalin the Tsar is replaced by Mamai, and Ivan the Terrible appears instead of Prince Vladimir. The fight against the Tatars gave life to the epic epic. It absorbs new historical events and includes new heroes.
In addition to this kind of changes, epic researchers attribute the emergence of new epics to this time. In this century, epics were composed about Duke and Sukhman, about the Lithuanian raid, about Vavil and the buffoons. The difference between all these epics is their wide development social issue and anti-boyar satire. Duke is presented in the epic as a cowardly “young boyar” who does not dare to fight the snake, is afraid of Ilya Muromets, but amazes everyone with his wealth. Duke is a satirical image. The epic about him is a satire on the Moscow boyars.

New features acquired in the 16th century. and legends - oral prose stories about significant events and historical figures of the past. From the legends of the 16th century. First of all, two groups of legends about Ivan the Terrible and Ermak stand out.

Despite its popularity in the 16th century. epics, fairy tales, proverbs, ballads, the most characteristic of folklore of this time were historical songs. Having originated earlier, they became the most important genre in this century, since their plots reflected the events of the time that attracted general attention, and the flowering of this genre in the 16th century. was due to a number of factors: the rise of the national creation of the masses and the deepening of their historical thinking; completion of the unification of Russian lands; the aggravation of social conflicts between the peasantry and the landed nobility as a result of the former’s attachment to the land. Historical songs are divided into 2 main cycles associated with the names of Ivan the Terrible and Ermak. Songs about Ivan the Terrible include stories about the capture of Kazan, the fight against the Crimean Tatars, the defense of Pskov, about the personal life of the tsar: the Terrible’s anger at his son, the death of the tsar himself. Songs about Ermak - stories about Ermak and the Cossacks, the Golytba campaign near Kazan, the robbery campaign on the Volga and the murder of the Tsar's ambassador by the Cossacks, the capture of Kazan by Ermak, meetings with Grozny and being in Turkish captivity.

Major historical events and important social processes of the 16th century. determined the deep connection of songs with living reality, reduced elements of convention in the narrative and contributed to a broad reflection of phenomena and everyday details characteristic of the time.

2.5 Literacy and writing

An interesting attempt to establish the level of literacy in Russia in the 16th century. proposed by A.I. Sobolevsky in 1894. He studied the signatures of representatives of various segments of the population on a group of documents. The results showed that among the feudal court lords, 78% were literate. Northern landowners - 80%. Novgorod landowners - 35%. Literacy declines sharply among the townspeople, reaching 20%. Among peasants, it is close to 15%. Sobolevsky notes the highest level of literacy among the clergy. In his opinion, almost all of them were literate, since the priests invariably signed for their illiterate “spiritual children.” Lower literacy rates are observed among monks. In 1582 - 1583 In the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, only 70% of the monks could sign. Therefore, we can say that literacy was not a rare phenomenon in Russia in the 16th century. This is evidenced by such a monument as “Domostroy,” which sets out recommendations on how to build a family life, raise children, and run a household in a wealthy home.

Manuscript books in the 16th century. became significantly larger, although “book copying” remained a difficult task. Books were copied not only by clergy, but also by secular persons. The book was of great value; it was often a contribution to the monastery “to one’s heart,” or even a war trophy.

In 1574 In Lvov, Ivan Fedorov wrote and published the Primer. It combines textbooks for two types of schools: the alphabet, texts for reading and information on grammar, samples of declensions and conjugations. In addition to the Lviv Primer, Ivan Fedorov also owns a publication known as “The Beginning of Teaching for Children Who Want to Understand Scripture.” Ivan Fedorov, tireless in his educational activities, around 1580-81. repeated the publication of the Primer in prison, introducing a number of amendments and clarifications, improving its printing. The “Legend...” of the 10th-century Bulgarian author Chernoritsa Khrabra was added to the second edition of the Primer.

In the one who died in 1812. Professor Bauze's library also contained a complete textbook on arithmetic from the 16th century. called "Digital Counting Wisdom".

The widespread spread of writing led to the displacement in the 16th century. parchment, although it is also used in some cases (for example, for writing church charters). Now the main material for writing was paper, which was brought from Italy, France, the German states, and Poland. Each type of paper had specific watermarks (for example, an image of a glove, scissors - on Italian paper; rosettes, coats of arms, names of paper mill owners - on French paper; boars, bulls, eagles - on German paper). These signs help scientists determine the time of emergence of a particular written monument. There was an attempt to start a paper business in Russia, but the paper mill, built on the Ucha River near Moscow, did not last long.

In graphic writing, writing took place in the 16th century. changes that had already emerged in the previous period. Now cursive writing has finally begun to dominate, displacing semi-rut not only in office documents, but also in the copying of literary and liturgical works. Interesting is the spread of secret writing, which was used to encrypt diplomatic correspondence, as well as to record heretical thoughts.

Sometimes the little-known Glagolitic alphabet, compiled in the 15th century, was used as secret writing. In the 30-40s.

XVI century What is different is the appearance of a new style of decoration in manuscripts, which later, with the advent of printed books, received the name “old printed” ornament. Elements of this style in the form of stamps (patterned frames) are already present inside geometric headbands. One of the features of this style was the use of shading.

2.6 Architecture

Achievements in the field of architecture were especially significant at the end of the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1553-54, the Church of John the Baptist was built in the village of Dyakovo (not far from the village of Kolomenskoye), exceptional in the originality of its decorative decoration and architectural design. An unsurpassed masterpiece of Russian architecture is the Church of the Intercession on the Moat (St. Basil's Church), erected in 1561. This cathedral was built to commemorate the conquest of Kazan.

Church of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye (1530-1532) - was built by Vasily III in honor of the birth of his son, the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible. It represents one continuous vertical volume 60 meters high: a red-brick tower with a white-stone, pearl-like “bottom” along the surface of a 28-meter tent. In fact, this entire vertical consists of several volumes. Somewhat later, galleries and staircases were added at the basement level. This is chronologically the first and most outstanding monument of stone-tent architecture. All elements of the building’s exterior design emphasize its vertical orientation. Motifs of Renaissance architecture are widely used in the details of the building.

In 1514-1515 The Assumption Cathedral was painted with frescoes and acquired an elegant appearance. The Assumption Cathedral became the main building of the Grand Ducal Moscow and a classic image of church architecture of the 16th century.

In 1505-1508 The tomb of the great princes was built - the Archangel Cathedral. Its northern and western facades face Cathedral Square, southern - to the Moscow River. Construction began under Ivan III and was completed under his son, Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich. After the Assumption Cathedral, it was the second largest temple in the Moscow Kremlin. The cathedral is crowned with five domes. The central dome was gilded, and the sides were covered with white iron.

At the very beginning of the 16th century. Another cathedral was erected in the Kremlin - the Cathedral of the Chudov Monastery, in which the features of the new Moscow architecture were clearly manifested.

The city grew quickly, and throughout the 16th century. It was necessary to build three more rings of fortifications - first, in the 30s, the stone wall of Kitay-Gorod, in the 80s, the famous city planner Fyodor Kon built the wall of the White City, and in 1591-92. A wooden wall was erected by Skorod.

They rose in a clear square in 1492. walls of Ivan-Gorod. In 1508-1511. The stone Kremlin of Nizhny Novgorod was built. Then in 1514-1521. built the Kremlin in Tula, and in 1525-1531. - in Kolomna, in 1531. - in Zaroisk, in 1556. - in Serpukhov. One of the monuments of fortress construction of the 16th century. is the surviving Dulo tower of the Simonov Monastery in Moscow. It was built in the 80-90s. XVI century

2.7 Painting

One of the major Moscow masters of the early 16th century. was Dionysius. He was a layman of noble birth. He headed a large artel, carried out princely, monastic, and metropolitan orders together with his sons. The most remarkable monument of Dionysius is the cycle of paintings of the Nativity Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery. The painting is dedicated to the theme of the Virgin Mary (about 25 compositions). The theme of the painting is a chant of praise (akathist).

Dionisy's workshop also produced hagiographic icons, which contained images of various episodes from the "lives of the saints" in the side "clips". Dionysius painted the icon "Metropolitan Alexy", in a number of marks of which the real features of the life of this church figure were reflected. Two icons have reached us - “The Savior is in Power” and “The Crucifixion” (1500). The name of Dionysius is also associated with the hagiographic icons of Metropolitans Peter and Alexei (both from the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin). Together with his students and assistants, Dionysius also created the iconostasis of the Nativity Cathedral. The influence of the art of Dionysius affected the entire 16th century. It affected not only monumental and easel painting, but also miniatures and applied art.

In conditions of subordination of pictorial art to the requirements of official religious ideology by the end of the 16th century. a unique artistic direction was developed. It received the name "Stroganov icon". The names of the major masters of this icon are known - Procopius Chirin, Nikephoros, Istoma, Nazarius and Fyodor Savin.

3. Culture and life inXVIIcentury.

The culture and life of the Russian people in the 17th century experienced a qualitative transformation, expressed in three main trends: “secularization,” the penetration of Western influence, and ideological split.

The first two trends were to a significant extent interconnected, the third was rather a consequence of them. At the same time, both “worldization” and “Europeanization” were accompanied by the movement of social development towards a split.

Indeed, the 17th century is an endless chain of unrest and riots. And the roots of the unrest were not so much in the economic and political planes, but, apparently, in the socio-psychological sphere. Throughout the century, there was a breakdown in social consciousness, familiar life and everyday life, and the country was pushed towards a change in the type of civilization. The unrest was a reflection of the spiritual discomfort of entire sections of the population.

In the 17th century, Russia established constant communication with Western Europe, established very close trade and diplomatic relations with it, and used European achievements in science, technology, and culture.

Until a certain time, this was precisely communication; there was no talk of any kind of imitation. Russia developed completely independently, the assimilation of Western European experience proceeded naturally, without extremes, within the framework of calm attention to the achievements of others.

Rus' has never suffered from the disease of national isolation. Until the middle of the 15th century, there was an intensive exchange between Russians and Greeks, Bulgarians, and Serbs. The eastern and southern Slavs had a common literature, writing, and literary (Church Slavonic) language, which, by the way, was also used by the Moldovans and Wallachians. Western European influence penetrated into Rus' through a kind of filter of Byzantine culture. In the second half of the 15th century, as a result of Ottoman aggression, Byzantium fell, the southern Slavs lost their state independence and complete religious freedom. The conditions for cultural exchange between Russia and the outside world have changed significantly.

Economic stabilization in Russia, the development of commodity-money relations, the intensive formation of the all-Russian market during the 17th century - all this objectively required turning to the technical achievements of the West. The government of Mikhail Fedorovich did not make a problem out of borrowing European technological and economic experience.

The events of the Time of Troubles and the role of foreigners in them were too fresh in people’s memories. The search for economic and political solutions based on real possibilities was characteristic of the government of Alexei Mikhailovich. The results of this search were quite successful in military affairs, diplomacy, construction of state roads, etc.

The situation in Muscovite Rus' after the Time of Troubles was in many respects better than the situation in Europe. The 17th century for Europe is the time of the bloody Thirty Years' War, which brought ruin, hunger and extinction to the people (the result of the war, for example, in Germany was a reduction in the population from 10 to 4 million people).

There was a flow of immigrants to Russia from Holland, the German principalities, and other countries. Emigrants were attracted by the huge land fund. The life of the Russian population during the reign of the first Romanovs became measured and relatively orderly, and the wealth of forests, meadows and lakes made it quite satisfying. The Moscow of that time - golden-domed, with Byzantine pomp, brisk trade and cheerful holidays - amazed the imagination of Europeans. Many settlers voluntarily converted to Orthodoxy and took Russian names.

Some emigrants did not want to break with habits and customs. The German settlement on the Yauza River near Moscow has become a corner of Western Europe in the very heart of “Muscovy”. Many foreign novelties - from theatrical performances to culinary dishes - aroused interest among the Moscow nobility. Some influential nobles from the royal circle - Naryshkin, Matveev - became supporters of the spread of European customs, arranged their homes in an overseas manner, wore Western dress, and shaved their beards. At the same time, Naryshkin, A.S. Matveev, as well as prominent figures of the 80s of the 17th century Vasily Golitsyn and Golovin, were patriotic people and they were alien to the blind worship of everything Western and the complete rejection of Russian life, so inherent in such ardent Westerners of the beginning of the century as False Dmitry I, Prince I.A. Khvorostinin, who declared: “In Moscow, the people are stupid,” as well as G. Kotoshikhin, a clerk of the Ambassadorial Prikaz, who refused to fulfill his demands and fled in 1664 to Lithuania, and then to Sweden. There he wrote his essay on Russia, commissioned by the Swedish government.

Such statesmen as the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz A.L. Ordin-Nashchokin and the closest adviser to Tsar Alexei F.M. Rtishchev, they believed that much should be remade in the Western style, but not everything.

Ordyn-Nashchokin, saying, “A good person is not ashamed to learn from strangers,” stood for the preservation of Russian original culture: “Land dress... is not for us, and ours is not for them.”

In Russia, the 17th century, compared to the previous one, was also marked by an increase in literacy among various segments of the population: among landowners, about 65% were literate, merchants - 96%, townspeople - about 40%, peasants - 15%. Literacy was greatly promoted by the transfer of printing from expensive parchment to cheaper paper. The Council Code was published in a circulation of 2,000 copies, unprecedented for Europe at that time. Primers, ABCs, grammars and other educational literature were printed. Handwritten traditions have also been preserved. Since 1621, the Ambassadorial Prikaz compiled "Courants" - the first newspaper in the form of handwritten reports on events in the world. Handwritten literature continued to prevail in Siberia and the North.

The literature of the 17th century is largely freed from religious content. You no longer find in it various kinds of “walks” to holy places, holy teachings, even works like “Domostroy”. Even if individual authors began their work as religious writers, the majority of their work was represented by literature of secular content. So written out for the translation of the Bible from Greek into Russian (we note in passing that such a need was caused by the fact that the ancient Russian hierarchs, who raised a dispute over the spelling of the name Jesus, because of how many times to pronounce “hallelujah”, did not have at their disposal even the correct text of the Bible and for centuries managed well without it) from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, monks E. Slavinetsky and S. Satanovsky not only coped with their main task, but also went much further. By order of the Moscow Tsar, they translated “The Book of Medical Anatomy”, “Citizenship and Teaching Children’s Morals”, “On the Royal City” - a collection of all sorts of things, compiled from Greek and Latin writers in all branches of the then circle of knowledge from theology and philosophy to mineralogy and medicine .

Hundreds of other essays were written. Books containing various scientific and practical information began to be published. Natural scientific knowledge was accumulated, manuals on mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, medicine, and agriculture were published. Interest in history increased: the events of the beginning of the century, the establishment of a new dynasty at the head of the state, required comprehension. Numerous historical stories appeared in which the material presented served to draw lessons for the future.

The most famous historical works of that period are “The Legend” by Avramy Palitsyn, “Vremennik” by clerk I. Timofeev, “Words” by Prince I.A. Khvorostinin, "The Tale" book. THEM. Katyrev-Rostovsky. The official version of the events of the Time of Troubles is contained in the “New Chronicler” of 1630, written by order of Patriarch Philaret. In 1667, the first printed historical work, “Synopsis” (i.e., review), was published, which outlined the history of Rus' from ancient times. The "State Book" was published - a systematized history of the Moscow state, the "Royal Book" - an eleven-volume history and illustrated history of the world, "Azbukovnik" - a kind of encyclopedic dictionary.

Many new trends have penetrated into literature, fictional characters and plots have appeared, satirical works on everyday topics have begun to spread: “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court”, “The Tale of Ersha Eroshovich”, “The Tale of Woe-Misfortune”, etc. The heroes of these stories are trying to free themselves from religious dogmas, and at the same time the worldly wisdom of “Domostroy” remain irresistible.

The work of Archpriest Avvakum is folk-accusatory and at the same time autobiographical. “The Life of Archpriest Avvakum, written by himself,” with captivating frankness tells about the ordeals of a long-suffering man who devoted his entire life to the struggle for the ideals of the Orthodox faith. The leader of the schism was an exceptionally talented writer for his time. The language of his works is surprisingly simple and at the same time expressive and dynamic. “Archpriest Avvakum,” L. Tolstoy would later write, “burst into Russian literature like a storm.”

In 1661, the monk Samuil Petrovsky-Sitnianovich came from Polotsk to Moscow. He becomes the teacher of the royal children, the author of odes to the glory of the royal family, original plays in Russian “The Comedy Parable of the Prodigal Son”, “Tsar Novochudnezzar”. This is how Russia found its first poet and playwright, Semeon of Polotsk.

4. Life of Russian tsarsXVI- XVIIcenturies

The life of the Russian sovereign, with all its charters, regulations, with all its decorum, was most fully expressed by the end of the 17th century. But no matter how broad and regal the dimensions of life were in general terms, in the general provisions of life and even in small details, he did not in the least move away from the typical, primordial contours of Russian life. The Moscow sovereign remained the same prince - a fief. The patrimonial type was reflected in all the details and order of his home life and household. It was a simple village, and therefore purely Russian way of life, in no way different in its main features from the life of a peasant, a way of life that sacredly preserved all customs and traditions.

4.1 Sovereign's courtyard or palace

The grand ducal mansions, both the most ancient and those built during the time of the kings, can be considered as three special departments. Firstly, bed mansions, actually residential ones, or, as they were called in the 17th century, private ones. They were not extensive: three, sometimes four rooms served as sufficient space for the sovereign. One of these rooms, usually the farthest one, served as the king's bedchamber. A cross or prayer room was set up next to it. The other, which had the meaning of a modern office, was called a room. And finally, the first was called the antechamber and served as a reception room. The front in the current concept was the canopy.

The princess's half, the mansions of the sovereign's children and relatives, were placed separately from the sovereign's residential choirs and, with minor changes, were in every way similar to the latter.

The second section of the sovereign's palace included non-resting mansions intended for ceremonial meetings. The sovereign, following the customs of that time, appeared in them only on special occasions. Spiritual and zemstvo councils were held in them, and festive and wedding tables were given to the sovereign. As for the name, they were known as dining huts, upper rooms and povalushi.

The third department included all outbuildings, which were also called palaces. The stable palaces, the livestock palace, the food palace (also known as the kitchen palace), the bread palace, the nourishing palace, etc. are well known. As for the Grand Duke's treasury, which usually consisted of gold and silver vessels, precious furs, expensive materials and similar items, the Grand Duke, following a very ancient custom, kept this treasury in the basements or basements of stone churches. For example, the treasury of Ivan the Terrible was kept in the church of St. Lazarus, and his wife, Grand Duchess Sophia Fominichna - under the Church of John the Baptist at the Borovitsky Gate.

As for its appearance, the palace at the end of the 17th century was an extremely motley mass of buildings of the most varied sizes, scattered without any symmetry, so that in a specific sense the palace did not have a facade. The buildings were crowded against each other, towered one above the other and further increased the overall diversity with their various roofs in the form of tents, stacks, barrels, with slotted gilded ridges and gilded poppies on top, with patterned pipes made of tiles. In other places towers and turrets with eagles, unicorns, and lions rose instead of weather vanes.

Let us now go inside as a chorus. Everything that served as decoration inside the choir or constituted a necessary part of it was called an outfit. There were two types of attire: mansion and tent. Khoromny was also called carpenter's, i.e. they hewed the walls, covered the ceilings and walls with red planking, made benches, taxes, etc. This simple carpenter's outfit received special beauty if the rooms were decorated with carpentry. The tent outfit consisted of cleaning the rooms with cloth and other fabrics. Much attention was paid to the ceilings. There were two types of ceiling decoration: hanging and mica. Visly – wooden carving with a number of attached parts. Mica - mica decoration with carved tin decorations. The decoration of the ceilings was combined with the decoration of the windows. The floor was covered with boards, sometimes paved with oak bricks.

Let's move on now to furnishing the rooms. The main rooms of the royal half were: the Entrance Room, the Room (office), the Cross Room, the Bedchamber and the Mylenka. I would like to stop my gaze at the bedchamber, because this room had the richest decoration for those times. So, the bedchamber. The main piece of furniture in the bed room was the bed.

The bed corresponded to the direct meaning of the word, i.e. it served as shelter and looked like a tent. The tent was embroidered with gold and silver. The curtains were trimmed with fringe. In addition to the curtains, dungeons (a type of drapery) were hung at the head and foot of the bed. The dungeons were also embroidered with gold and silver silk, decorated with tassels, and people, animals, and various strange herbs and flowers were depicted on them. When in the 17th century. There was a fashion for German figured carvings, beds became even more beautiful. They began to be decorated with crowns that crowned the tents, gzymzas (cornices), trusses, apples and puklyas (a type of ball). As usual, all carvings were gilded, silvered and painted.

Such a bed can be seen in the Grand Kremlin Palace, and although that bed dates back to a later time, the idea is, in general, reflected.

Prices for royal beds ranged from 200 rubles. up to 2 rubles A collapsible camp bed covered with red cloth, similar to a folding bed, cost two rubles. The most expensive and richest bed in Moscow of the seventeenth century cost 2800 rubles. and was sent by Alexei Mikhailovich as a gift to the Shah of Persia. This bed was decorated with crystal, gold, ivory, tortoiseshell, silk, pearls and mother-of-pearl.

If the beds were arranged so richly, then the bed itself was cleaned with no less luxury. Moreover, for special occasions (wedding, christening, birth of a child, etc.) they had their own bed. So, the bed consisted of: a cotton mattress (wallet) at the base, a head (a long pillow the entire width of the bed), two down pillows, two small down pillows, a blanket, a bedspread, and a carpet laid under the bed. There were stocks placed on the bed. They are needed to climb onto the carpet. Moreover, the beds were made so high that it was difficult to climb onto the bed without these pads.

Many people have the idea that the bedchambers of those times were hung with icons. This is not so; the prayer rooms were used for prayer services, which looked like small churches due to the number of icons. In the bedchamber there was only a worship cross.

4.2 Typical day

The sovereign's day began in the room or quarters of the palace. More specifically, earlier the morning found the sovereign in Krestovaya, with a richly decorated iconostasis, in which lamps and candles were already lit before the appearance of the sovereign. The Emperor usually got up at four o'clock in the morning. The bed attendant handed him a dress. Having washed himself in Mylenka, the sovereign immediately went to Krestovaya, where his confessors were waiting for him. The priest blessed the sovereign with the cross, and morning prayer began. After completing the prayer, which usually lasted about a quarter of an hour, after listening to the final spiritual word read by the clerk, the sovereign sent a particularly trusted person to the empress to check on her health, find out how she was resting?, then he himself went out to say hello. After that, they listened to the matins together. Meanwhile, in the Front, the okolnichy, the Duma, the boyars, and close people gathered to “smite the sovereign with their foreheads.” Having greeted the boyars and talked about business, the sovereign, accompanied by courtiers, walked at nine o'clock to one of the court churches to listen to late mass. The mass lasted two hours. After mass in the Room (=office), the Tsar listened to reports and petitions on ordinary days and dealt with current affairs. After the boyars had left, the sovereign (sometimes with especially close boyars) went to the table for food, or dinner. Undoubtedly, the festive table was strikingly different from the usual one. But even the dining table could not compare with the table of the sovereign during Lent. One could only be amazed at the piety and asceticism in observing fasts by the sovereigns. For example, during Lent, Tsar Alexei ate only 3 times a week, namely on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; on the other days he ate a piece of black bread with salt, a pickled mushroom or cucumber and drank half a glass of beer. He ate fish only 2 times during the entire seven-week Lent. Even when there was no fasting, he did not eat meat on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. However, despite such fasting, on meat and fish days, up to 70 different dishes were served at an ordinary table. After dinner, the sovereign usually went to bed and slept until the evening, about three hours. In the evening, the boyars and other officials gathered in the courtyard again, accompanied by whom the tsar went to vespers. Sometimes after Vespers business was also heard or the Duma met. But most often the king spent the time after Vespers until the evening meal with his family. The king read, listened to bahari (tellers of fairy tales and songs), and played. Chess was one of the kings' favorite pastimes. The strength of this tradition is evidenced by the fact that the Armory Chamber had special chess masters.

In general, entertainment of that time was not as poor as we think. At the court there was a special Amusement Chamber, in which all kinds of amusements amused the royal family. Among these amusements were buffoons, guselniks, and dombrachi. It is known that in the court staff there were fools-clowns - for the king, fools-jokers, dwarfs and dwarfs - for the queen. In winter, especially on holidays, the king loved to look at the bear field, i.e. hunter's fight with a wild bear. In early spring, summer and autumn, the king often went falconry. Usually this fun lasted the whole day and was accompanied by a special ritual.

The king's day usually ended in the Baptismal, also with a 15-minute evening prayer.

4.3 Day off

The sovereign usually went to mass on foot, if it was close and the weather permitted, or in a carriage, and in winter in a sleigh, always accompanied by boyars and other servants and court officials. The splendor and richness of the sovereign's exit clothes corresponded to the significance of the celebration or holiday on the occasion of which the exit was made, as well as the weather conditions on that day. In the summer he went out in a light silk blanket and in a golden hat with a fur trim, in the winter - in a fur coat and a fox hat, in the fall and generally in inclement weather - in a single-row cloth suit. In his hands there was always a unicorn or Indian ebony staff. During great festivities and celebrations, such as Christmas, Epiphany, Bright Resurrection, Dormition and some others, the sovereign was dressed in royal attire, which included: a royal dress, a royal caftan, a royal cap or crown, a diadem, a pectoral cross and a baldric, which were placed on the chest; instead of a staff there is a royal staff. All this shone with gold, silver, and precious stones. The shoes that the sovereign wore at this time were also richly lined with pearls and decorated with stones. The heaviness of this outfit was undoubtedly very significant, and therefore in such ceremonies the sovereign was always supported by the steward, and sometimes by his fellow boyars.

This is how the Italian Barberini (1565) describes such an exit:

“Having dismissed the ambassadors, the sovereign got ready for mass. Having passed through the halls and other palace chambers, he descended from the courtyard porch, speaking quietly and solemnly, leaning on a rich silver gilded staff. He was followed by more than eight hundred retinues in the richest clothes. He walked among four young men, about thirty years old, strong and tall: these were the sons of the noblest boyars. Two of them walked in front of him, and the other two walked behind, but at some distance and at an even distance from him. All four were dressed identically: on their heads they had high caps made of white velvet with pearls and silver, lined and trimmed with lynx fur. Their clothes were made of silver fabric down to their feet, lined with ermine; on his feet were boots with horseshoes; each carried a large ax on his shoulder, glittering with silver and gold.”

4.4 Christmas

On the very feast of the Nativity of Christ, the sovereign listened to matins in the Dining Room or Golden Chamber. In the second hour of the day, while the gospel for the liturgy began, he went out to the Dining Room, where he awaited the arrival of the patriarch with the clergy. For this purpose, the Dining Room was decorated with a large outfit, cloth and carpets. The seat of the sovereign was placed in the front corner, and next to him the seat of the patriarch. The Patriarch, accompanied by metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, archimandrites and abbots, came to the sovereign in the Golden Chamber to glorify Christ and greet the sovereign, bringing with them a kissing cross and holy water. The Emperor met this procession in the entryway. After the usual prayers, the singers sang many years to the sovereign, and the patriarch said congratulations. Then the patriarch went in the same order to glorify Christ to the queen, to her Golden Chamber, and then to all the members of the royal family, if they were not meeting with the queen.

Having dismissed the patriarch, the sovereign in the Golden or in the Dining Room put on royal attire, in which he marched to the cathedral for mass. After the liturgy, having changed his royal attire for an ordinary evening dress, the sovereign went to the palace, where a festive table was then prepared in the Dining Room or Golden Chamber. Thus ended the festive celebration.

On Christmas Day, the king did not sit down at the table without feeding the so-called prison inmates and prisoners. So in 1663, on this holiday, 964 people were fed on the large prison table.

Conclusion

In the difficult conditions of the Middle Ages, the culture of the 16th-17th centuries. has achieved great success in various fields.

There has been an increase in literacy among various segments of the population. Primers, ABCs, grammars and other educational literature were printed. Books containing various scientific and practical information began to be published. Natural scientific knowledge was accumulated, manuals on mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, medicine, and agriculture were published. Interest in history increased.

New genres are appearing in Russian literature: satirical tales, biographies, poetry, and foreign literature is being translated.

In architecture, there is a departure from strict church rules, the traditions of ancient Russian architecture are being revived: zakomari, arcturus belt, stone carving.

Iconography continued to be the main type of painting. For the first time in Russian painting, the portrait genre appears.

List of used literature

1.Zezina M.R., Koshman L.V., Shulgin V.S. History of Russian culture. M., "Higher School", 1990.

2. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century. Ed. A.M. Sakharov and A.P. Novoseltsev. M.-1996

3.Culture of Russia XI-XX centuries. V.S. Shulgin, L.V. Koshman, M.R. Zezina. M., "Space", 1996.

4. A course of lectures on the history of the fatherland. Ed. prof. B.V. Lichman, Ekaterinburg: Ural.gos.tekh. Univ. 1995

5. Likhachev D.S. Culture of the Russian people of the X-XVII centuries. M.-L.-1961

6. Muravyov A.V., Sakharov A.V. Essays on the history of Russian culture of the 9th-17th centuries. M.-1984

7. "Essays on Russian culture of the 16th century." Ed. A.V.Artsikhovsky. Moscow University Publishing House. 1977

8. Taratonenkov G.Ya. History of Russia from ancient times to the second half of the 19th century. M.1998

9. Tikhomirov M.N. Russian culture X-XVIII centuries. M.-1968

10. http:// lesson- history. people. ru/ russia7. htm

Appendix No. 1

Peasant hut.

Wooden Museum

architecture in Suzdal.

K. Lebedev. Folk dance.

"Apostle" is the first Russian book.

The ruler of the king... conservation antiquity, ... consciousness of morality and everyday life found expression... in 2 volumes - M., 2006. Likhachev D.S. Culture Russian people X- XVII V. M. - L. – 2006. Munchaev Sh.M., ...

Culture Moscow Rus' (2)

Abstract >> Culture and art

Culture Moscow Rus' ( XIV-XVII bb.) 1. ... goals) will be started by another tsar- young Peter... unchanged Orthodox antiquity. And there... chanting the great victory Russian people over the Tatars. ... everyday life and the foundations of the Russians. Characteristics Russian everyday life XVI centuries...

Development of Siberia 16-17 bb

Abstract >> History

Alexey Mikhailovich. Culture And everyday life Russian people V XVII century experienced... as in antique Russians territories. However... customs affairs in Russia are XVI - XVIII bb.: Sat. materials International scientific... Siberia. Certificate of Complaint king and free Cossacks...

Culture Moscow kingdom

Abstract >> Culture and art

Culture Moscow kingdom ( XIV-XVII bb Main stages of development culture Russia The rise of Russian culture ... be the basis of the civil society emerging in Russia. In Europe in XVI... To to the king, so... in the form of Orthodox antiquity. And there... victory Russian people over...