Features in the behavior of the Russian boyars of the XVI-XVII centuries. Domostroy - an encyclopedia of the life of Ancient Russia Domostroy of the 16th century in Russia

A unique cultural monument remained to contemporaries from the inhabitants of ancient Russia. Compiled in the 16th century, the book was the only correct guide, not only for those who build a house. She was taken as a basis in matters and housekeeping. What is Domostroy, what was it for our ancestors and what is its significance for historians? Let's try to figure it out.

Encyclopedia of ancient Russia

"Domostroy" is a set of rules and tips for every day. He combined the spiritual and the mundane. No wonder it became the first "Encyclopedia of the Household" - that's what "Domostroy" is.

Some foreigners are mistakenly convinced that the content of Domostroy is known to all residents of Russia without exception.

The appearance of "Domostroy"

In the 16th century, the number of handwritten books increased. They were very valuable. Instead of parchment, paper was successfully used, which was delivered to Russia from Europe. Therefore, the creation of "Domostroy" could be both in handwritten form and in printed form. Some researchers report two versions of the old encyclopedia. One of them has a very ancient style, strict, but correct and wise. And the second is crammed with rigid and strange orders.

Domostroy appeared (the year of creation is not known for certain) in the first half of the 16th century in Veliky Novgorod.

The predecessors were such Slavic collections with teachings and recommendations as "Chrysostom", "Izmaragd", "Golden Chain".

In Domostroy, all previously published knowledge and norms were summarized. Examining Monomakh's "Instruction", one can find much in common in the rules of moral behavior of different eras.

Who owns the copyright?

Opinions about the creators of the unique encyclopedia differ. Some researchers are sure that the author of "Domostroy" is the confessor of Ivan the Terrible - Archpriest Sylvester. He created a book for the guidance of the king. Others believe that Sylvester only rewrote Domostroy in the middle of the 16th century.

It is worth studying the contents of this book on the household to understand what it required and why it was so revered by the church. If we take the creation of Sylvester as a basis, then it has a preface, a message from son to father and almost 70 (more precisely 67) chapters. They were reunited into the main sections devoted to the spiritual, worldly, family, cooking.

Almost all chapters have a close connection with Christian rules and commandments. After the "instruction of the father to the son," the next chapter tells how it is right for Christians to believe in the Holy Trinity and the Most Pure Mother of God. It tells how to worship holy relics and holy powers.

Great importance in the book is given to the veneration of the king and any ruler, which united the significance of the church and the ruler for the people.

Father's instruction to son

I would like to get acquainted with the book "Domostroy", a summary of which is described above, in a little more detail.

A special place is occupied by the most important instruction of "Domostroy" - the commandment of the father. Turning to his son, he first of all blesses him. Further, he instructs his son, his wife and children to live according to Christian laws, with truth and a clear conscience, believing and keeping the commandments of God. The father gives these lines to his son and his household and emphasizes: "If you do not accept this scripture, then you will answer for yourself on the Day of Judgment."

Majesty, wisdom and pride are invested in it. Such instructions would be relevant at any time. After all, all parents wish their children well, they want to see them as honest, merciful and worthy people. Modern youth often do not hear such phrases from their fathers and mothers. And Domostroy, the year of its creation fell on a period of special reverence for God, put everything in its place. This is a law that must be followed, period. He was not questioned. He placed all family members on his "steps", determined the relationship between them and, most importantly, united them. That's what "Domostroy" is.

Honor and obedience to father and mother

Children are strictly forbidden to swear at their parents, insult them and condemn them. Her instructions must be carried out unquestioningly, without discussing what the parents said.

All children must love their father and mother, obey them, honor their old age and obey them in everything. Those who disobey face damnation and excommunication. And children who render obedience to their father and mother have nothing to fear - they will live in goodness and without misfortune.

The chapter is filled with wisdom, respect for the individual. It reminds of the inseparability of the future and the past, that honoring parents is the strength of the whole society. Unfortunately, this is not promoted now as the truth and the norm. Parents have lost authority over their children.

About needlework

In those distant times, honest work was revered very highly. Therefore, the rules of "Domostroy" touched on the conscientious and high-quality performance of any work.

Those who lie, work dishonestly, steal, and do not do good for the good of society were condemned. Before starting any work, it was required to cross oneself and ask for blessings from the Lord, to bow three times to the ground to the saints. Any needlework (cooking, stockpiling, handicraft) must begin with clean thoughts and washed hands.

Everything that is done with pure thoughts and desire will benefit people. Is it possible to argue with this? ..

Domostroy ban

With the advent of the new government in 1917, this set of rules was canceled and even banned. Of course, this was due to the fact that the revolutionaries opposed religious propaganda and everything connected with it. Therefore, Domostroy could not be approved by the new government. The struggle against autocracy and serfdom (supported by the church) forbade the mention of religion and Orthodoxy.

In any literature, the authors of that time brought the idea of ​​atheism to the reader. Of course, a book with teachings on honoring priests and monks, one's spiritual fathers, serving the king and all rulers could not be allowed in any case.

Such a struggle with religion for many decades did not have a favorable effect on the morality of modern society.

educational value

Despite the mention in the book of such words as “last judgment”, “demon”, “evil one”, all these commandments could now become a good guide to everyday actions. Considering the fact that “laws are not written” for the modern inhabitants of Russia, it is not possible to rely on a set of generally accepted rules.

Manners of behavior are developed on the basis of moral norms that are laid down by parents, school, and society. This is not always given due attention. Not to mention that any rules are accepted by everyone for daily use. The church has ceased to be taken so seriously by people as to honor all the divine commandments.

Now many works are being rethought and taking on a new meaning. Works that were rejected, condemned, are recognized as brilliant and talented. "Domostroy" is one of such unique creations, carrying a lot of valuable practical advice for every day for the modern family, the younger generation and all people. The main idea of ​​the book is the upbringing of children from the very first days, directing the child to good deeds and showing goodness in all his actions. Isn't this what is so lacking in our society, full of lies, hypocrisy, envy, anger and aggression?

Historical meaning

Thanks to the appearance of this book, today we can get information about the life and life of people of that time. "Domostroy" was written for a wide range of readers, for people of different social status.

This guide is for the military, clerks, servicemen and all citizens who have a family, create their own hearth. Whether the book reflects real life or is a rule for creating an ideal life, it is of great historical significance for people living in Russia today. Researchers use it to study leisure, cultural and intellectual life of the population of Russia in the 16th century. Although while such entertainment did not exist at all, since the church condemned and forbade any entertainment. What is "Domostroy" for historians? This is important information about private life, family values, religious rules, traditions and the laws of everyday life in the Russian family of that time.

"Domostroy" is perhaps the most complete set of norms that have come down to us that regulated social life in medieval Russia. And by what rules did the Russians live before his appearance?

Paganism and Byzantium

Russia for quite a long time was a closed Slavic state, whose life was regulated by pagan customs. Thus, bride kidnappings were practiced without their consent, polygamy. With the formation of Kievan Rus and the adoption of Christianity, family relations began to be regulated by church charters. For example, the Charter of Prince Yaroslav the Wise contains a ban on forced marriages.

Byzantine canon law (Nomocanon) was also introduced and cultivated, according to which monogamy was established. Marriages from now on could only take place in the church. Husband and wife after marriage had unequal rights, divorces were difficult.

After being translated into Russian, the Nomocanon was called the Pilot Book (XI century). It included additions made by Russian princes. Some of its provisions were also included in the "Russian Truth" by Yaroslav the Wise.

The first detailed set of rules of conduct known to us was given in the Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh (XII century). Code of Laws of 1497 and 1550 paid little attention to family law. In this area, until the era of Ivan the Terrible, church canons continued to operate, enshrined in Byzantine legislation.

Church, family, state

In the first half of the 16th century, the “Book called Domostroy” was published, containing useful information, teaching and instruction for every Christian - both husband and wife, and children, and servants, and maids. Its compilation is attributed to the educator, confessor and associate of Ivan the Terrible, Archpriest Sylvester, but many historians, in particular, S. M. Solovyov, I. S. Nekrasov, A. S. Orlov, D. V. Kolesov, believe that the text of “Domostroy "was born in the 15th century in Veliky Novgorod during the Novgorod Republic and was the fruit of collective creativity. Sylvester only rewrote the text.

This essay, consisting of 67 chapters, gave orders and teachings on how "every Christian should spend his life in good deeds, in purity and in repentance." It covered almost all aspects of people's lives. It contained instructions on how to relate to the Church, authorities, how to behave in the family.

For a modern person, Domostroy is associated mainly with the oppression of women in the family, but this is not entirely true. The purpose of the establishment of "house-building" traditions was not the oppression of a woman, but the protection of her rights.

Not everyone in the families before Domostroy was rosy. If among the ancient Slavs marriages were still made for love, then with the advent of Christianity it became a rarity: they usually married and gave in marriage by parental agreement, and the bride and groom could have a big age difference.

From now on, with the permission of the Church, marriage could only be entered into three times. For example, five out of eight marriages of Ivan the Terrible can be considered invalid.

If from the 10th to the 13th centuries women in Russia enjoyed relative freedom, then according to the Domostroy, the rights of women were significantly limited. Before marriage, the girl had to be subordinate to her father, after the wedding she became the “property” of her husband. She was instructed to raise children and keep order in the house. True, material rights were assigned to her - to a dowry, to the property of the deceased spouse. Previously, a woman left an orphan or a widow, according to the law, did not receive any property from her relatives and was forced to beg, or she had to be supported by the community.

By the way, before the "Domostroy" women in Russia were beaten by mortal combat, in this work, this action was still regulated. So, it was recommended to beat wives only for serious offenses and without witnesses.

Russia for many centuries was fragmented into separate principalities. It was by the 16th century that it had developed as a centralized state headed by an autocratic tsar. This idea was consolidated in Domostroy even at the level of the patriarchal family, headed by the owner and master.

What has changed "Domostroy"?

Thus, "Domostroy", on the one hand, consolidated the norms and traditions already established in Russia, due to the arrival of Orthodoxy, on the other hand, it streamlined what needed it.

Of course, in our time, many domostroy prescriptions no longer have a place in life. But in those distant times, this document was a necessary regulator that contributed to the formation of a new type of state system.

"Domostroy" of the 16th century taught: "Invite the poor and the needy, and the mournful, and strange strangers to your house and, according to your strength, feed and drink." At a time when charity was a private “holy” thing in Russia, the kings and queens carried it out in the form of alms and feedings. Historians I.E.Zabelin, G.K.Kotoshikhin write about the huge alms given by royal persons to church persons and the beggars who flock to monasteries and palaces. Alms were distributed in connection with the holidays, as well as significant events in the life and death of kings and queens.

“Before the onset of Great Lent, on Cheese Week, the Russian tsars distributed abundant alms, and then went to the monasteries to say goodbye to the elders and gave them alms, and they said about the queen that she went. Kings and queens often made trips to monasteries; along the roads where the royal train, assembled with purely Asian luxury, rode, beggars came out and lay down, and passing alms were given to the beggars, couchettes, decrepit old men and all kinds of miserable and poor people.<…>By the time of the tsar’s arrival at the monastery, many beggars flocked there, and the tsars distributed generous alms to the poor and the monastery brethren ”(Pryzhov).

“The king and queen go through almshouses and prisons, and give alms; in the same way, they give the poor and wretched people a ruble each and a half a ruble and less than a man. And a lot of thousands of that money is spent ”(Kotoshikhin).

The descriptions of royal charity written by Grigory Karpovich Kotoshikhin are interesting. He served as an ordinary officer of the Ambassadorial order. Participating in negotiations with the Swedes, he told the Swedes secret data. After participating in the campaign for negotiations with the Poles, he fled to Sweden, took a new name in the manner of the Polish [Selitsky], abandoned Orthodoxy and converted to Protestantism, entered the Swedish service in the state archive and wrote an essay [some analytical review] about Russia in the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich ; in 1667 he was executed for the drunken murder of the owner of the house in which he lived. Having ingloriously ended his life, G. Kotoshikhin, however, left interesting descriptions of the social reality of the 17th century as evidence of a contemporary of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. He described in detail the state structure, traditions, the procedure for holding weddings, funerals, etc. among royal people. The level of costs for the ceremony is striking, as well as the negative consequences of the poverty that has been integrated into these rituals:

“Then, as they bury the king, wax candles, twisted and simple, are given to people of every rank, for seeing them off, - and those candles will go out at that time more than 10 berkowesques. Yes, at the same time, the giver is the royal treasury, for burial, with power, and the priest and the deacon, money ... Yes, at the same time, in all the Orders, having made a lot of money, they wrap in papers a ruble and a half and a half and a half, and having taken out to the square, the clerks distribute alms to the poor and the poor, and to people of all ranks, on hand; also in the monastery, the elder and the clerks, and in the almshouses, they distribute to every person rubles for 5 and 3 and 2 and one, depending on the person; and in all the cities, the blacks, and the priests, and the poor, are given funeral money and alms, against Moscow half and a third. Also, in Moscow and in the cities, all thieves, for the royal death, are released from prisons without punishment.

Woe then to the people who were at that burial, because the burial takes place at night, and there are many people, Moscow and visitors from cities and counties; and the nature of Moscow people is not God-fearing, from the male to the floor and the female, the clothes are robbed through the streets and killed to death; and the detective of that day, when a king is buried, more than a hundred dead people killed and slaughtered. And as a blow-by after the death of the royal 40 days, they are called sorochiny, and then the authorities, and the queen and the princes, and the boyars, are in the same church at mass and sing a panafida for the king; and then for the authorities, and for the boyars, and for the priests, in the royal house there is a table, and in the monasteries of the monks they are fed by the neighbors, and they give alms against full burial. And it will be spent on the royal burial of money, in Moscow and in the cities, close to what will come from the state treasury for a year.

Practiced "feeding" - the so-called "tables". “These tables - a remnant of ancient tribal customs to treat their neighbors, the poor, belonging to the clan, and strangers (wanderers) on holidays - were subsequently arranged for purely religious purposes. There were tables in large monasteries and with the patriarchs. ... Grains from these meals were fed to the poor. ... Finally, there were often royal tables for the boyars and the clergy; the poor and the poor were invited to the tables. Thus, in 1678, the patriarch fed 2,500 beggars” (Pryzhov). Since ancient times, the church has taught: “When you make a feast, and call both the brethren and the clan and the nobles…

P.K. Kotoshikhin wrote: “It is the same custom on other days to have tables for stewards, for solicitors, for Moscow nobles, and for guests, and for hundreds of elders, and for city elected townspeople; ... Priests and deacons, and servants of cathedral churches and others are fed in the royal court for more than one day, but others are given food and drink in the Houses; Yes, they are given money, that they prayed to God for their public health, 10 and 5 rubles and tenge, and the smallest at most half a ruble, depending on the churches, how someone receives the annual royal salary. And royal letters are sent to the cities, cathedral and other churches are ordered by the priest and deacon to give money for prayers, against Moscow to the floors, from the Gorodets income. Yes, stewards, lawyers, tenants are sent from Moscow to the cities through the monastery with alms and with prayer money, and feed the scourers - and they give money at 5 rubles and 4 and 3 and 2 and a ruble and a half and less to a person a black man, depending on the person, and on a towel and 2 handkerchiefs each; but they bless those people with images and give them, from the monastery treasury, what happened.

According to the research of I. Pryzhov, in the 17th century, beggars, holy fools and the like ate and drank most of the royal reserves. The royal people did not just feed the beggars - they had charitable conversations with them, took them to their chambers for conversations. They were treated to the best food and drink. “According to folk legends, the wife of Prince Vladimir treated them to overseas wines; in her chambers the beggars drank, ate, and made fun. The same is true in the 17th century. At Marfa Matveevna, for example, at the wake of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, 300 beggars were fed in five days ... At Praskovya Feodorovna, Tsar Ivan Alekseevich also had 300 people in 5 days. Tatyana Mikhailovna has 220 people in 9 days. Evdokia Alekseevna, with her sisters, has 350 people in 7 days. Having great wealth, the royal persons, and after them the boyars and others, saving themselves by charity, in fact, stimulated the development of begging in Russia.

The impoverished blasphemers interfered with the administration of the Orthodox rite, the church service. Alexei Mikhailovich, “good-natured and pious”, “devout pilgrimage”, was very poor-loving. On Christmas Eve, early in the morning, he went secretly to prisons and almshouses, distributing generous alms there; he did the same alms in the streets to the poor and needy. The historian V.O. Klyuchevsky writes about him this way: “He loved people and wished them all the best, because he did not want them to upset his quiet personal joys with their grief and complaints ... he was little disposed to defend or hold anything , as well as with something for a long time to fight. Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, in 1649, the “Cathedral Code” was adopted (which was in force until 1832!), In which there is a provision on public collection of funds for the ransom of prisoners: demonstrating deanery in every possible way, Alexei Mikhailovich followed the good tradition of Russian rulers to redeem compatriots from the crowd. The order of redemption was similar to that which existed under Ivan the Terrible, according to the principle of distribution of "general alms" to all "plows". A “rate” of ransom was established depending on the social status of the captives and a special general tax - “polonian money”. Personal charity of Alexei Mikhailovich, however, could in no way compensate for the evil that happened during the years of his reign - the split of the Russian Orthodox Church, the split of the whole people to those who accepted the reform, the Nikonians, and those who later became known as the Old Believers. Huge strata of the population of Russia were subjected to such cruel persecutions under Alexei Mikhailovich, and such a groan from the bloody "reform" similar to genocide stood on the Russian land that a discussion of the charity of the Quietest would look absurd. The introduction of chaos into the affairs of faith, the loss of the usual ethical guidelines led to the fact that a superficial attitude towards religion and hypocrisy spread.

IN NATIONAL HISTORY

Topic: Life and way of life of Russian people of the 16th century in Domostroy

Introduction

Family relationships

House building woman

Weekdays and holidays of Russian people

Labor in the life of a Russian person

Moral foundations

Conclusion

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

By the beginning of the 16th century, the church and religion had a huge influence on the culture and life of the Russian people. Orthodoxy played a positive role in overcoming the harsh morals, ignorance and archaic customs of ancient Russian society. In particular, the norms of Christian morality had an impact on family life, marriage, and the upbringing of children.

Perhaps not a single document of medieval Russia reflected the nature of life, economy, economic relations of its time, like Domostroy.

It is believed that the first edition of Domostroy was compiled in Veliky Novgorod at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century, and at the beginning it existed as an edifying collection among the commercial and industrial people, gradually acquiring new instructions and advice. The second edition, significantly revised, was collected and re-edited by a native of Novgorod, priest Sylvester, an influential adviser and tutor to the young Russian Tsar Ivan IV, the Terrible.

"Domostroy" is an encyclopedia of family life, domestic customs, traditions of Russian management - the whole diverse spectrum of human behavior.

"Domostroy" had the goal of teaching every person "good - a prudent and orderly life" and was designed for the general population, and although there are still many points related to the church in this instruction, they already contain a lot of purely secular advice and recommendations on behavior at home and in society. It was assumed that every citizen of the country should have been guided by the set of rules of conduct outlined. In the first place it puts the task of moral and religious education, which should be borne in mind by parents, taking care of the development of their children. In second place was the task of teaching children what is needed in "household use", and in third place was teaching literacy, book sciences.

Thus, "Domostroy" is not only an essay of a moralizing and family type, but also a kind of code of socio-economic norms of civil life in Russian society.

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

For a long time, the Russian peoples had a large family, uniting relatives in 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. The urban (posad) population had smaller families and usually consisted of two generations - parents and children. The families of service people were, as a rule, small, since the son, having reached the age of 15, had to "serve the sovereign's service and could receive both his own separate local salary and the granted patrimony." This contributed to early marriages and the emergence of independent small families.

With the introduction of Orthodoxy, marriages began to take shape through the rite of a church wedding. But the traditional wedding ceremony - "fun" was preserved in Russia for about another six or seven centuries.

The dissolution of the marriage was very difficult. Already in the early Middle Ages, divorce - "dissolution" was allowed only in exceptional cases. At the same time, the rights of the spouses were unequal. A husband could divorce his wife in the event of her infidelity, and communication with strangers outside the home without the permission of the spouse was equated to treason. In the late Middle Ages (since the 16th century), divorce was allowed on the condition that one of the spouses was tonsured a monk.

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

A newborn child was to be baptized in the church on the eighth day after birth in the name of the saint of that day. The rite of baptism was considered by the church to be the main, vital rite. The unbaptized had no rights, not even the right to burial. A child who died unbaptized was forbidden by the church to be buried in a cemetery. The next rite after baptism - "tons" - was performed a year after baptism. On this day, the godfather or godfather (godparents) cut a lock of hair from the child and gave the ruble. After the tonsure, every year 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 "angel's day"), and not the birthday. The royal name day was considered an official state holiday.

In the Middle Ages, the role of its head was extremely great in the family. He represented the family as a whole in all its outward functions. Only he had the right to vote at the meetings of residents, in the city council, and later - in the meetings of the Konchan and Sloboda organizations. Within the family, the power of the head was practically unlimited. He disposed of the property and destinies of each of its members. This also applied to the personal life of children whom the father could marry or marry against their will. The church condemned him only if he drove them to suicide.

The orders of the head of the family were to be carried out implicitly. He could apply any punishment, up to physical.

An important part of "Domostroy" - the encyclopedia of Russian life of the 16th century, is the section "on the secular structure, how to live with wives, children and household members." As the king is the undivided ruler of his subjects, so the husband is the master of his family.

He is responsible before God and the state for the family, for the upbringing of children - faithful servants of the state. Therefore, the first duty of a man - the head of the family - is the upbringing of sons. To educate them obedient and devoted, Domostroy recommends one method - a stick. "Domostroy" directly indicated that the owner should beat his wife and children for well-mannered purposes. For disobedience to parents, the church threatened with excommunication.

In “Domostroy” in chapter 21, entitled “How to teach children and save with fear,” contains the following instructions: “Punish your son in his youth, and he will give you rest in your old age, and give beauty to your soul. And do not feel sorry for the baby biy: if you punish him with a rod, he will not die, but he will be healthier, for you, by executing his body, save his soul from death. Loving your son, increase his wounds - and then you will not praise him. Punish your son from youth, and you will rejoice for him in his maturity, and among ill-wishers you will be able to boast of him, and your enemies will envy you. Raise children in prohibitions and you will find peace and blessings in them. So do not give him free will in his youth, but walk along his ribs while he is growing, and then, having matured, he will not be guilty of you and will not become annoyance and illness of the soul, and the ruin of the house, the destruction of property, and the reproach of neighbors, and the mockery of enemies , and the fines of the authorities, and evil annoyance.

Thus, it is necessary to educate children in the “fear of God” from early childhood. Therefore, they should be punished: “Not punished children are a sin from God, but reproach and laughter from people, and vanity at home, and sorrow and loss for themselves, and sale and shame from people.” The head of the house should teach his wife and his servants how to put things in order at home: “and the husband sees that his wife and servants are dishonorable, otherwise he would be able to punish his wife with all reasoning and teach But only if the fault is great and the case is tough, and for great terrible disobedience and neglect, otherwise politely beat the hands with a whip, holding it for fault, but having received it, say, but there would be no anger, but people would not know and not hear.

WOMAN OF THE ERA OF HOUSE-BUILDING

In Domostroy, a woman appears in everything obedient to her husband.

All foreigners were amazed at the excess of domestic despotism of a husband over his wife.

In general, the woman was considered a being lower than the man and in some respects impure; thus, a woman was not allowed to cut an animal: it was believed that its meat would then not be tasty. Only old women were allowed to bake prosphora. In certain days, a woman was considered unworthy to eat with her. According to the laws of decency, generated by Byzantine asceticism and deep Tatar jealousy, it was considered reprehensible even to have a conversation with a woman.

The intra-estate family life of medieval Russia was relatively closed for a long time. The Russian woman was constantly a slave from childhood to the grave. In peasant life, she was under the yoke of hard work. However, ordinary women - peasant women, townspeople - did not lead a reclusive lifestyle at all. Among the Cossacks, women enjoyed comparatively greater freedom; the wives of the Cossacks were their assistants and even went on campaigns with them.

The noble and wealthy people of the Muscovite state kept the female gender locked up, as in Muslim harems. The girls were kept in seclusion, hiding from human eyes; before marriage, a man should be completely unknown to them; it was not in the morals for the young man to express his feelings to the girl or personally ask her consent to marriage. The most pious people were of the opinion that parents should be beaten more often than girls, so that they would not lose their virginity.

Domostroy contains the following instructions on how to educate daughters: “If you have a daughter, and direct your severity at her, you will save her from bodily troubles: you will not shame your face if daughters walk in obedience, and it’s not your fault if foolishly she will violate her childhood, and will become known to your acquaintances as a mockery, and then they will shame you before people. For if you give your daughter a blameless one, it is as if you have done a great deed, in any society you will be proud, never suffering because of her.

The more noble was the family to which the girl belonged, the more severity awaited her: the princesses were the most unfortunate of Russian girls; hidden in the towers, not daring to show themselves, without the hope of ever having the right to love and marry.

When giving in marriage, the girl was not asked about her desire; she herself did not know whom she was going for, did not see her fiancé before marriage, when she was transferred to a new slavery. Having become a wife, she did not dare to leave the house without the permission of her husband, even if she went to church, and then she was obliged to ask questions. She was not granted the right to freely meet according to her heart and temper, and if some kind of treatment was allowed with those with whom her husband was pleased to allow it, then even then she was bound by instructions and remarks: what to say, what to keep silent about, what to ask, what not to hear . In domestic life, she was not given the right to farm. A jealous husband assigned to her spies from servants and serfs, and those, wanting to pretend to be in favor of the master, often reinterpreted to him everything in a different direction, every step of their mistress. Whether she went to church or to visit, relentless guards followed her every movement and passed everything on to her husband.

It often happened that a husband, at the behest of a beloved serf or woman, beat his wife out of sheer suspicion. But not all families had such a role for women. In many houses, the hostess had many responsibilities.

She had to work and set an example for the maids, get up before everyone else and wake others, go to bed later than everyone: if a maid wakes up the mistress, this was considered not to praise the mistress.

With such an active wife, the husband did not care about anything in the household; “the wife had to know every business better than those who worked on her orders: to cook food, and put jelly, and wash clothes, and rinse, and dry, and spread tablecloths, and ladle, and with such her ability inspired respect for herself” .

At the same time, it is impossible to imagine the life of a medieval family without the active participation of a woman, especially in catering: “The master, on all household matters, consults with his wife how to feed the servants on which day: in a meat eater - sieve bread, shchida porridge with ham is liquid, and sometimes, replacing it, and steep with lard, and meat for dinner, and for dinner, cabbage soup and milk or porridge, and on fasting days with jam, when peas, and when sushi, when baked turnips, cabbage soup, oatmeal, and even pickle, botwinya

On Sundays and holidays for dinner, pies are thick cereals or vegetables, or herring porridge, pancakes, jelly, and whatever God sends.

The ability to work with fabric, embroider, sew was a natural occupation in the life of every family: “to sew a shirt or embroider an ubrus and weave it, or sew on a hoop with gold and silk (for which) measure yarn and silk, gold and silver fabric, and taffeta, and pebbles".

One of the important responsibilities of a husband is to "educate" his wife, who must run the entire household and raise her daughters. The will and personality of a woman are completely subordinate to a man.

The behavior of a woman at a party and at home is strictly regulated, up to what she can talk about. The system of punishments is also regulated by Domostroy.

A negligent wife, the husband must first "teach every reasoning." If verbal "punishment" does not give results, then the husband "worthy" his wife "to crawl with fear alone", "through fault looking."

WEEKDAYS AND HOLIDAYS OF RUSSIAN PEOPLE OF THE XVI CENTURY

Little information has been preserved about the daily routine of the people of the Middle Ages. The working day in the family began early. Ordinary people had two obligatory meals - lunch and dinner. At noon, production activity was interrupted. After dinner, according to the old Russian habit, there followed a long rest, a dream (which surprised the foreigners very much). Then work again until dinner. With the end of daylight, everyone went to bed.

The Russians coordinated their domestic way of life with the liturgical order and in this respect made it look like a monastic one. Rising from sleep, the Russian immediately looked for an image with his eyes in order to cross himself and look at it; to make the sign of the cross was considered more decent, looking at the image; on the road, when the Russian spent the night in the field, he, getting up from sleep, was baptized, turning to the east. Immediately, if necessary, after leaving the bed, linen was put on and washing began; wealthy people washed themselves with soap and rose water. After ablutions and washings, they dressed and proceeded to pray.

In the room intended for prayer - the cross or, if it was not in the house, then in the one where there were more images, the whole family and servants gathered; lamps and candles were lit; smoked incense. The owner, as a householder, read the morning prayers aloud in front of everyone.

For noble persons who had their own home churches and house clergy, the family gathered in the church, where the priest served prayers, matins and hours, and the deacon who looked after the church or chapel sang, and after the morning service the priest sprinkled holy water.

After finishing the prayers, everyone went to their homework.

Where the husband allowed his wife to manage the house, the hostess gave advice to the owner on what to do on the coming day, ordered food and assigned lessons to the maids for the whole day. But not all wives had such an active life; for the most part, the wives of noble and wealthy people, at the behest of their husbands, did not interfere at all in the household; everything was managed by the butler and the housekeeper from the serfs. Such mistresses, after the morning prayer, went to their chambers and sat down to sew and embroider with gold and silk with their servants; even food for dinner was ordered by the owner himself to the housekeeper.

After all household orders, the owner proceeded to his usual activities: the merchant went to the shop, the artisan took up his craft, the orderly people filled orders and orderly huts, and the boyars in Moscow flocked to the tsar and did business.

Getting to the beginning of the daytime occupation, whether it was writing or menial work, the Russian considered it proper to wash his hands, make three signs of the cross with bows to the ground in front of the image, and if there was a chance or opportunity, accept the blessing of the priest.

Mass was served at ten o'clock.

At noon it was time for lunch. Single shopkeepers, lads from the common people, serfs, visitors in cities and towns dined in taverns; homely people sat at the table at home or with friends at a party. Kings and noble people, living in special chambers in their courtyards, dined separately from other family members: wives and children ate separately. Ignorant nobles, children of boyars, townspeople and peasants - sedentary owners ate together with their wives and other family members. Sometimes family members, who with their families made up one family with the owner, dined from him and separately; during dinner parties, females never dined where the host sat with guests.

The table was covered with a tablecloth, but this was not always observed: very often people of the nobility dined without a tablecloth and put salt, vinegar, pepper on the bare table and put slices of bread. Two household officials were in charge of the order of dinner in a wealthy house: the key keeper and the butler. The key keeper was in the kitchen during the holiday of food, the butler was at the table and at the set with dishes, which always stood opposite the table in the dining room. Several servants carried food from the kitchen; the keykeeper and the butler, taking them, cut them into pieces, tasted them, and then they gave them to the servants to set before the master and those sitting at the table

After the usual dinner, they went to rest. It was a widespread custom consecrated with popular respect. The tsars, and the boyars, and the merchants slept after dinner; street mob rested on the streets. Not sleeping, or at least not resting after dinner, was considered heresy in a sense, like any deviation from the customs of the ancestors.

Rising from their afternoon nap, the Russians resumed their usual activities. The kings went to vespers, and from six o'clock in the evening they indulged in amusements and conversations.

Sometimes the boyars gathered in the palace, depending on the importance of the matter, and in the evening. evening at home was a time of entertainment; in winter, relatives and friends gathered in each other's houses, and in summer in tents that were spread out in front of the houses.

The Russians always had dinner, and after dinner the pious host sent an evening prayer. Lampadas were lit again, candles were lit in front of the images; households and servants gathered for prayer. After such prayers, it was already considered unlawful to eat and drink: everyone soon went to bed.

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

The relative isolation of home life was diversified by the receptions of guests, as well as festive ceremonies, which were arranged mainly during church holidays. One of the main religious processions was arranged for Epiphany. On this day, the metropolitan blessed the water of the Moskva River, and the city's population performed the rite of the Jordan - "washing with holy water."

On holidays, other street performances were also arranged. Wandering artists, buffoons are known even in Kievan Rus. In addition to playing the harp, pipes, singing songs, performances of buffoons included acrobatic numbers, competitions with predatory animals. The buffoon troupe usually included an organ grinder, an acrobat, and a puppeteer.

Holidays, as a rule, were accompanied by public feasts - "brothers". However, ideas about the supposedly unrestrained drunkenness of Russians are clearly exaggerated. Only during the 5-6 largest church holidays, the population was allowed to brew beer, and taverns were a state monopoly.

Public life also included the holding of games and amusements - both military and peaceful, for example, the capture of a snowy town, wrestling and fistfight, towns, leapfrog, blind man's buffoons, grandmothers. Of gambling, dice games became widespread, and from the 16th century - in cards brought from the West. The favorite pastime of the kings and boyars was hunting.

Thus, human life in the Middle Ages, although it was relatively monotonous, was far from being exhausted by the production and socio-political spheres, it included many aspects of everyday life that historians do not always pay due attention to.

LABOR IN THE LIFE OF A RUSSIAN PERSON

The Russian man of the Middle Ages is constantly occupied with thoughts about his household: “To every person, rich and poor, great and small, judge himself and sweep away, according to trade and prey and according to his estate, but an orderly person, sweeping himself according to the state salary and according to income, and such is the yard for oneself to keep and all acquisitions and all stocks, for this reason people keep and all household items; therefore you eat and drink and associate with good people.”

Labor as a virtue and a moral deed: any needlework or craft, according to Domostroy, should be performed in preparation, cleansed of all filth and washing hands cleanly, first of all - to bow to the holy images in the ground - with that, and start every business.

According to "Domostroy", each person should live according to his wealth.

All household supplies should be purchased at a time when they are cheaper and stored carefully. The owner and the hostess should walk around the pantries and cellars and see what the reserves are and how they are stored. The husband should prepare and take care of everything for the house, while the wife, the mistress, should save what she has prepared. All supplies are recommended to be given out on a bill and write down how much is given out, so as not to forget.

Domostroy recommends that you constantly have at home people capable of various kinds of crafts: tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, so that you don’t have to buy anything with money, but have everything ready in the house. Along the way, the rules are indicated on how to prepare certain supplies: beer, kvass, prepare cabbage, store meat and various vegetables, etc.

"Domostroy" is a kind of worldly everyday life, indicating to a worldly person how and when he needs to observe fasts, holidays, etc.

"Domostroy" gives practical advice on housekeeping: how to "arrange a good and clean" hut, how to hang icons and how to keep them clean, how to cook food.

The attitude of Russian people to work as a virtue, as a moral act, is reflected in Domostroy. A real ideal of the working life of a Russian person is being created - a peasant, a merchant, a boyar, and even a prince (at that time, class division was carried out not on the basis of culture, but more on the size of property and the number of servants). Everyone in the house - both the owners and the workers - must work tirelessly. The hostess, even if she has guests, "would always sit over the needlework herself." The owner must always engage in “righteous work” (this is repeatedly emphasized), be fair, thrifty and take care of his household and employees. The hostess-wife should be "kind, hardworking and silent." servants are good, so that they “know the trade, who is worthy of whom and what trade he is trained in.” parents are obliged to teach the work of their children, "needlework - the mother of daughters and craftsmanship - the father of sons."

Thus, "Domostroy" was not only a set of rules for the behavior of a wealthy person of the 16th century, but also the first "encyclopedia of the household."

MORAL STANDARDS

To achieve a righteous life, a person must follow certain rules.

The following characteristics and covenants are given in “Domostroy”: “A prudent father who feeds on trade - in a city or across the sea - or plows in a village, such a one saves for his daughter from any profit” (Ch. 20), “Love your father and mother honor your own and their old age, and lay all kinds of infirmities and sufferings on yourself with all your heart ”(ch. 22),“ you should pray for your sins and the remission of sins, for the health of the king and queen, and their children, and his brothers, and for the Christ-loving the army, about help against enemies, about the release of captives, and about priests, icons and monks, and about spiritual fathers, and about the sick, about prisoners in prison, and for all Christians ”(ch. 12).

In chapter 25, “Instruction to the husband, and wife, and workers, and children, how to live as it should be,” “Domostroy” reflects the moral rules that Russian people of the Middle Ages must follow: “Yes, to you, master, and wife, and children and households - do not steal, do not fornicate, do not lie, do not slander, do not envy, do not offend, do not slander, do not encroach on someone else's, do not condemn, do not swear, do not ridicule, do not remember evil, do not be angry with anyone, be obedient to elders and submissive, to the middle - friendly, to the younger and wretched - friendly and gracious, to instill every business without red tape and especially not to offend the worker in paying, to endure every offense with gratitude for God's sake: both reproach and reproach, if rightly reproached and reproached, to accept with love and avoid such recklessness, and in return not to take revenge. If you are not guilty of anything, you will receive a reward from God for this.

Chapter 28 “On the unrighteous life” of “Domostroy” contains the following instructions: “And whoever does not live according to God, not in a Christian way, commits all kinds of injustice and violence, and inflicts great offense, and does not pay debts, but an ignoble person in will hurt everyone, and who, in a neighborly way, is not kind either in the village to his peasants, or in an order while sitting in power, imposes heavy tributes and various illegal taxes, or plowed someone else's field, or planted a forest, or caught all the fish in someone else's cage, or board or by unrighteousness and violence will capture and rob the outweight and all hunting grounds, or steal, or destroy, or falsely accuse someone of something, or deceive someone, or betray someone for nothing, or stun the innocent into slavery by cunning or violence, or dishonestly judges, or unjustly makes a search, or falsely testifies, or a horse, and any animal, and any property, and villages or gardens, or yards and all lands by force takes away, or cheaply buys into captivity, and in all indecent deeds: in fornication, in anger, in vindictiveness ve, - the lord or mistress himself creates them, or their children, or their people, or their peasants - they will definitely all together be in hell, and damned on earth, because in all those unworthy deeds such a master is not forgiven by God and cursed by the people, but offended by him cry out to God.

The moral way of life, being a component of daily worries, economic and social, is as necessary as worries about "daily bread".

Worthy relationships between spouses in the family, a confident future for children, a prosperous position for the elderly, a respectful attitude towards authority, veneration of clergy, zeal for fellow tribesmen and co-religionists is an indispensable condition for “salvation”, success in life.

CONCLUSION

Thus, the real features of the Russian life and language of the 16th century, the closed self-regulating Russian economy, focused on reasonable prosperity and self-restraint (non-covetousness), living according to Orthodox moral standards, were reflected in Domostroy, the meaning of which lies in the fact that he paints life for us wealthy man of the 16th century. - a city dweller, a merchant or an orderly person.

"Domostroy" gives a classic medieval three-membered pyramidal structure: the lower a creature is on the hierarchical ladder, the less its responsibility, but also its freedom. The higher - the greater the power, but also the responsibility before God. In the Domostroy model, the tsar is responsible for his country at once, and the owner of the house, the head of the family, is responsible for all household members and their sins; which is why there is a need for total vertical control over their actions. The superior at the same time has the right to punish the inferior for violating the order or disloyalty to his authority.

In "Domostroy" the idea of ​​practical spirituality is carried out, which is the peculiarity of the development of spirituality in Ancient Russia. Spirituality is not reasoning about the soul, but practical deeds to put into practice an ideal that had a spiritual and moral character, and, above all, the ideal of righteous labor.

In "Domostroy" a portrait of a Russian man of that time is given. This is a breadwinner and breadwinner, an exemplary family man (there were no divorces in principle). Whatever his social status, in the first place for him is the family. He is the protector of his wife, children and his property. And, finally, this is a man of honor, with a deep sense of his own dignity, alien to lies and pretense. True, the recommendations of "Domostroy" allowed the use of force in relation to the wife, children, servants; and the status of the latter was unenviable, disenfranchised. The main thing in the family was a man - the owner, husband, father.

So, "Domostroy" is an attempt to create a grandiose religious and moral code, which was supposed to establish and implement precisely the ideals of world, family, social morality.

The uniqueness of "Domostroy" in Russian culture, first of all, is that after it no comparable attempt was made to normalize the entire circle of life, especially family life.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Domostroy // Literary Monuments of Ancient Russia: Middle of the 16th century. – M.: Art. Lit., 1985

2. Zabylin M. Russian people, their customs, rituals, legends, superstitions. poetry. - M.: Nauka, 1996

3. Ivanitsky V. Russian woman in the era of "Domostroy" // Social sciences and modernity, 1995, No. 3. - P. 161-172

4. Kostomarov N.I. Home life and customs of the Great Russian people: Utensils, clothing, food and drink, health and disease, customs, rituals, receiving guests. - M.: Enlightenment, 1998

5. Lichman B.V. Russian history. – M.: Progress, 2005

6. Orlov A.S. Ancient Russian literature of the 11th-16th centuries. - M.: Enlightenment, 1992

7. Pushkareva N.L. Private life of a Russian woman: bride, wife, mistress (X - early XIX century). - M.: Enlightenment, 1997

8. Tereshchenko A. Life of the Russian people. – M.: Nauka, 1997

Orlov A.S. Ancient Russian literature of the 11th-16th centuries. - M.: Enlightenment, 1992.-S. 116

Lichman B.V. History of Russia.-M.: Progress, 2005.-S.167

Domostroy // Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia: Middle of the 16th century. – M.: Art. lit., 1985.-p.89

There. – p. 91

There. – p. 94

Domostroy // Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia: Middle of the 16th century. – M.: Art. Lit., 1985. - S. 90

Pushkareva N.L. The private life of a Russian woman: bride, wife, mistress (X - beginning of the XIX century) - M .: Enlightenment, 1997.-S. 44

Domostroy // Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia: Middle of the 16th century. – M.: Art. Lit., 1985. - S. 94

There. – S. 99

Ivanitsky V. Russian woman in the era of "Domostroy" // Social Sciences and Modernity, 1995, No. 3. –p.162

Treshchenko A. Life of the Russian people.- M .: Nauka, 1997. - P. 128

Domostroy // Monuments of Literature of Ancient Russia: Middle of the 16th century. – M.: Art. Lit., 1985.

The Gate Church of the Prilutsky Monastery, etc. Painting At the center of the pictorial fine culture of the late 15th-16th centuries stands the work of Dionisy, the greatest icon painter of that time. "Deep maturity and artistic perfection" of this master represent the centuries-old tradition of Russian icon painting. Together with Andrei Rublev, Dionysius is the legendary glory of the culture of Ancient Russia. O...

III. RUSSIAN QUEEN

1. royal weddings
2. Wives of Ivan the Terrible
3. Queen's Court

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the fact that already in the X century. (since the time of Olga) Russia recognized and, one might say, recognized the activities of a female ruler; there were no such examples in Russian history until the 18th century. For many centuries, a Russian woman has almost always been in the shadow of a man. Perhaps it is for this reason that today we have to talk about the scarcity of sources that would help to make a clear picture of the life, life and customs of a woman in Russia.

If we turn to East Slavic mythology, then already there we can find some contradictions regarding women and attitudes towards her. So with Mokosh, the only female deity in the pagan pantheon, not only the well-being of girlish destinies was associated, but also the fertility of the land and a good harvest. “Mother is damp earth” is a constant epithet of the highest feminine principle. On the other hand, few female images are associated with wet, dark, bad, that is, they are correlated with the manifestation of negative qualities (for example, mermaids, who lured passers-by with their singing, who could fall into the water and drown).

In one of the ancient teachings, the following comment about a beautiful field is given: “What is a wife? The network is set up seducing a person in power with a bright face, ubo and high eyes, naming, playing with his feet, killing deeds. If you had wounded many, they were seduced by the kindness of women, and from that, love seemed to be very inflamed ... What is a wife? the obliger to the saints, the rest of the serpent, the devil is a veil, a disease without color, a scourge that raises, a temptation to be saved, unhealed malice, a demonic merchant ” .

Numerous memoirs of foreigners who appear in Russia since the end of the 15th century narrate about a woman and her position in Russian society. preconceived views of foreign travelers who had the goal of opposing their “developed” and “cultural” country to barbarian Russia.

In domestic and foreign historiography, there is a point of view that in the “history of a Russian woman” of the Middle Ages there is a significant milestone - the 16th century, after which a “regressive period” begins in the social status of a Russian woman. Its appearance is preceded, according to N. Kollman, by the appearance of the “terem system”. She believes that seclusion was the result of “strengthening the tsarist autocracy and the boyar elite”, as it allowed them to “exercise control over the political ties of large clans and families” (limit the circle of acquaintances, marry in accordance with the tasks of dynastic and political ties, etc. .) . 1 For the majority of our contemporaries, the norms of behavior, family foundations, morality in the XVI-XVII centuries. associated with such a concept as "Domostroy".

“Domostroy” is housekeeping, a collection of useful advice, teachings in the spirit of Christian morality. As for family relations, “Domostroy” instructs the head of the family to punish the children and wife in case of disobedience: it was not recommended to beat the wife with a stick, fist “neither in the ear, nor in vision, so that she would not become deaf and blind, but only for the great and terrible disobedience ... wearing a shirt with a whip politely beat ... ". Moreover, “not to beat in front of people, to teach in private.” 2 So how and how did Russian women live during the period of seclusion and the domination of the rules of “Domostroy”?

Fathers kept their daughters in strictness. Before marriage, the man had to be unknown to the girls. Mothers or nannies (in wealthy families) taught girls how to sew and various household chores. The more noble the family, the more rigor was present in education.

If in peasant life a woman was under the yoke of hard work, if everything that was more difficult was thrown on her, like a workhorse, then at least they were not kept locked up.

In the families of noble girls, buried in their chambers, not daring to be born, without the hope of loving someone, day and night and always remained in prayer and washed their faces with tears. When marrying a girl, they did not ask about her desire. She herself did not know who she was going for, she did not see her fiancé before marriage. Having become a wife, she did not dare to leave the house without the permission of her husband, even if she went to church, and then she was obliged to ask questions.

According to the laws of decency, it was considered reprehensible to talk to a woman on the street. In Moscow, one traveler notes, no one will humble himself to kneel before a woman and roll incense before her. 1 A woman was not granted the right to freely meet according to her heart and temper, and if some kind of treatment was allowed with those with whom her husband was pleased to allow, but even then she was bound by instructions and remarks: what to say, what to keep silent about, what to ask, what not to hear .

It happened that the husband assigned to his wife “spies” from servants and serfs, and those, wanting to please the owner, often reinterpreted everything to him in the other direction. It often happened that a husband, at the slander of his beloved serf, beat his wife out of this only suspicion. Especially for such cases, the husband hung a whip, exclusively for his wife, and was called a fool. For insignificant guilt, the head of the family dragged his wife by the hair, stripped naked and whipped the fool to the blood - this was called teaching his wife. Sometimes rods were used instead of whips, and the wife was flogged like a small child.

Accustomed to slavery, which they were destined to drag from diapers to the grave, Russian women had no idea about the possibility of having other rights, and believed that they were, in fact, born to be beaten by their husbands, and beatings themselves were a sign love.

Foreigners told the following curious anecdote, passing from mouth to mouth in various variations. Some Italian married a Russian and lived with her for several years peacefully and in harmony, never beating her or scolding her. One day she says to him: "Why don't you love me?" “I love you,” the husband said and kissed her. “You have not proved this to me,” said the wife. “How can you prove it?” he asked. The wife answered: “You never beat me.” “I didn’t know this,” the husband said, “but if beatings are needed to prove my love to you, then this will not be the case.” Soon after that, he beat her with a whip and really noticed that after that his wife became more kind and helpful to him. He beat her on another occasion, that after that she lay in bed for some time, but, however, did not grumble or complain. Finally, for the third time, he beat her with a club so hard that she died after a few days. Her relatives filed a complaint against her husband; but the judges, having learned all the circumstances of the case, said that she herself was to blame for her death; the husband did not know that beatings meant love among Russians, and wanted to prove that he loved more than all Russians; he not only beat his wife out of love, but also killed him to death. 1 Women said: “He who loves whom, he beats him, if the husband does not beat, then he does not love”, “Do not trust the horse in the field, but the wife in the wild”. The last proverb shows that bondage was considered the property of a female being. 2 In domestic life, a woman did not have any power, even in housekeeping. She did not dare to send anything as a gift to others, or to accept from another, she did not even dare to eat or drink without her husband's permission.

Rarely was a mother allowed to have influence over her children, starting with the fact that it was considered indecent for a noble woman to breastfeed her children, who were therefore given to nurses. Subsequently, the mother had less supervision over the children than the nannies and clerks, who raised the master's children under the authority of the father of the family.

The position of the wife was always worse if she had no children, but it became extremely terrible when the husband, bored with her, took a mistress on his side. There was no end to cavils, fights, beatings; often in such a case, the husband beat his wife to death and remained without punishment, because the wife died slowly, and it was impossible to say that he killed her, and beating her, even ten times a day, was not considered a bad thing. It happened that the husband thus forced his wife to enter the monastery. The unfortunate woman, in order to avoid beatings, decided on voluntary imprisonment, especially since she had more freedom in the monastery than her husband. If the wife was stubborn, the husband could hire two or three false witnesses who accused her of adultery and then the wife was forcibly locked up in a monastery.

Sometimes a wife, lively by nature, objected to her husband's beatings with abuse, often indecent content. There were examples when wives poisoned their husbands. True, severe punishment awaited them for this: the criminals were buried alive in the ground, leaving their heads outside, and kept in this position until death, they were not allowed to eat and drink, and the watchmen stood by them, not allowing anyone to feed the woman. Passers-by were allowed to throw money, but this money was used for the coffin for the convict or for candles to propitiate God's wrath against her sinful soul. The death penalty could be replaced with eternal imprisonment. N. Kostomarov gives a description of one case when two women were kept up to their necks in the ground for three days for poisoning their husbands, but since they asked to go to the monastery, they dug them up and sent them to the monastery, ordering them to be kept separately in seclusion and in shackles.

Some wives avenged themselves with denunciations. The fact is that the voice of a woman (as well as the voice of anyone, including a serf) was accepted when it was a question of malevolence against a person of the royal house or the theft of the royal treasury.

Foreigners tell a remarkable event: the wife of one boyar, out of malice towards her husband who beat her, reported that he knew how to treat gout, which the tsar then suffered from; and although the boyar assured and swore that he did not know this at all, they tortured him and promised the death penalty if he did not find a cure for the sovereign. In desperation, he picked up any herbs and made a bath out of them for the king; by chance, the king felt better after that, and the doctor was flogged again because, knowing he did not want to talk. The wife took it. 1 From the foregoing, we can draw some conclusions. Firstly, from childhood, a girl was prepared for the fact that from under the authority of her father she would pass under the authority of her husband. Secondly, in any relationship, a woman was considered a being lower than a man. Thirdly, she had practically no civil or economic rights.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. the impulses of all gaiety among the upper classes were subject to the rules of church order. And during the holidays, the most revered of which were considered Christmas and Easter, girls and women were allowed some "liberties".

In peasant life, in addition to church ones, there were also festivities associated with certain agricultural periods.

In the summer, on holidays, the girls and women led round dances and, as a rule, gathered for this near the villages. Russian dances were monotonous: they consisted in the fact that the girls, standing in one place, stomped, spun, dispersed and converged, clapped their hands, twisted their backs, propped their arms on their sides, waved an embroidered scarf around their heads, moved their heads in different directions, winked their eyebrows. All these movements were made to the sounds of any one instrument.

In high society, dancing was generally considered indecent. According to church views, dancing, especially for women, was considered a soul-destroying sin. “Oh, evil accursed dancing (says one moralist), oh, crafty wives, multi-twisted dancing! Dancing then the wife of the adulterer of the devil, the wife of hell, the bride of the satanin; for those who love dance dishonor to John the Forerunner - with Herodias an unquenchable fire and unsleeping worm to condemn! It was considered reprehensible even to look at the dances: such is the essence of being called Satan's mistress. 1 The favorite pastime of the festive time for women in all classes was swings and boards. The swing was built as follows: a board was attached to the rope, they sat on it, others shook the ropes. Women of a simple rank, townspeople and peasant women, swayed in the streets, noble women in courtyards and gardens. Swinging on the boards happened like this: two women stood on the edges of a log or board, bouncing, pumping one another up. It happened that girls and women swung on the wheel.

Ice skating was a winter entertainment: they made wooden horseshoes with narrow iron strips.

According to Russian concepts of the XVI-XVII centuries. the beauty of a woman consisted of thickness and corpulence. A slender woman was not considered beautiful. In order to get better, the fairer sex drank vodka on an empty stomach. According to Kostomarov, Russians loved women with long ears, so some of them pulled their ears out on purpose. Russian women loved to blush and whiten: “Women, beautiful in themselves, whitened and blushed to the point that they completely changed the expression of their faces and looked like painted dolls. In addition, they painted their neck and hands with white, red, blue, and brown paints; dyed eyelashes and eyebrows, and in the most ugly way - inked light, whitened black. Even those of the women who were good-looking and conscious that they were good-looking and without any extraneous embellishments, had to whiten and blush, so as not to be ridiculed. Under Mikhail Fedorovich, one Russian noblewoman, Princess Cherkasskaya, beautiful in herself, did not want to blush, so the society of that time mocked her; so strong was the custom; meanwhile, the church did not justify him, and in 1661 the Metropolitan of Novgorod forbade whitewashed women to enter the church. 2 The basis of the women's costume was still a long shirt, over which they put on a flyer with long wide sleeves (these sleeves were called caps). Depending on the social status, the wrists of shirt sleeves and caps, as well as the hem of the lettuce, could be embroidered with both simple threads or ribbons, and with gold and pearls. The colors of the flyers were different. Letniki are mentioned azure, green, yellow, but most often red.

Along the clothes, on the front side, a slit was made, which was fastened to the very throat, because decency required that the woman's chest be buttoned as tightly as possible.

Women's opash was sewn, as a rule, from cloth of red flowers; the sleeves were ankle-length, but below the shoulder there were armholes through which the hands easily passed, and the rest of the sleeve hung.

On solemn occasions, women put on a rich mantle, called a ceiling, in addition to their usual attire. It was made of silk fabric and was used only by noblewomen.

From outerwear, fur coats were common, which, depending on the cut, were called single-row, okhabney, feryazey.

As a rule, clothes were cut and sewn at home, since it was considered shameful for a good family to give clothes to the side. Usually, at the slightest opportunity, the husband did not skimp on dressing up his wife.

Women loved to adorn their heads and at the same time cover their hair (married). According to the concepts of the 16th-17th centuries, it was considered both a shame and a sin for a married woman to leave her hair on display. The woman was afraid that any of the members of the family, excluding her husband, would not see her hair. It should be noted that for this there was a sufficient number of headdresses: hairdressers, underbrowns, headbands, kicks, kokoshniks.

Both women and girls wore earrings. As soon as the girl began to walk, her mother pierced her ears and stuck earrings or rings in them. The most common form of earrings was oblong. Poor women wore copper earrings, more prosperous women wore silver and gilded ones. As for the rich, they preferred gold earrings adorned with diamonds and other stones.

Women wore cuffs or bracelets on their hands, and rings and rings on their fingers. The neck of a woman or a girl was decorated with many crosses and icons.

III. RUSSIAN QUEEN

1. royal weddings

Almost all Russian weddings were held in the same way, and there were no fundamental differences in customs and the order of their conduct in different social strata. The only difference, perhaps, was the scale of the wedding feasts. Since much more is known about royal weddings than about common people, this issue was not touched upon in the previous chapter.

Russian girls got married very early, at the age of 13-14.

Royal weddings began with a parade of girls. Girls of boyar families were collected from different places, and the tsar chose the one he liked.

Ivan the Terrible ordered princes, boyars to bring their daughters to the girls. In the Novgorod region, from all the settlements, the landowners had to take their daughters to the governor, and the governor was obliged to introduce them to the tsar upon request. This was the duty of the fathers, and whoever was guilty of disobedience was subjected to disgrace and even execution.

At the second marriage of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the girls were gathered in the house of Artamon Sergeevich Matveev, and the tsar looked at them through a window from a secret room. He chose three and ordered the trusted women to testify their spiritual and bodily virtues. And then from these three I chose Natalya Kirillovna. The direct choice of the future wife took place personally. This was typical only for royal weddings (among the people, the bride and groom could only see each other at the wedding. Before that, only the groom's relatives saw the girl). The king approached his chosen one and gave her a fly (handkerchief) embroidered with gold and a ring with precious stones.

The chosen royal bride was taken to the palace, clothed in luxurious clothes (the dress of Natalya Kirillovna, when they took her into the courtyard, was so embroidered with pearls that her legs ached from its weight), they called the princess.

The first bride of Alexei Mikhailovich fainted at her first appearance in front of the tsar, as the ubrus was pulled too tight to her. The whole family of the girl was accused of wanting to end the royal family by giving him a sick girl as his wife.

But until her marriage, she lived in complete alienation from the king. Before marriage, the king could only see the bride once.

On the eve of the wedding, a feast was announced. The king sat with the bride at the same table (the queen's face was covered) and all the guests brought gifts to them. If we talk about simple weddings, then here such feasts were replaced by festivities with the bride and the groom separately.

During the wedding preparations, the tsar-groom gathered in one of the chambers, the queen in the other. First, the queen went to the Faceted Chamber, the priest painted the place where she sat down. Nearby, in the place of the groom, they planted some noble boyar. When all this was arranged, they sent to let the king know about it. The tsar first sent his betrothed father, who beat the future empress with his forehead and sat down. Arriving at the chamber, the tsar approached his place, and the boyar sitting next to the bride was raised by the hands and taken away (in common people's weddings, the person sitting next to the bride had to be paid off).

The wedding took place after mass. After the wedding, the bride was uncovered and the priest read a lesson to the newlyweds: in it, as a rule, he instructed them to go to church often, obey confessors, keep fasts and holidays. The wife, as a sign of obedience, fell at the feet of her husband and touched his boot with her brow.

The queen went to her chambers, and the king went around his possessions in the district. After returning, the king invited his wife and guests to the table.

The royal wedding celebrations continued for several days. On the second day, a princely table was arranged, on the third - a table from the queen.

2. Wives of Ivan the Terrible Everywhere men rule men, and we, who rule all men, are ruled by our wives Cato the Elder “Domostroy” was written during the reign of Ivan IV. His government of the state was accompanied by monstrous terror. Were the necessary norms of behavior observed by the king and his wives?

S. Gorsky in his work “The Wives of Ivan the Terrible” comes to the conclusion that all changes in the mood of the tsar, and consequently, changes in politics, depended on the marital status of Ivan the Terrible and on who he was married to at a given period of time.

As you know, Ivan IV was officially married three times, and the church did not recognize his two marriages.

The first wife of the seventeen-year-old tsar was Anastasia Zakharyina. The Zakharyins were not noble, but Anastasia captivated Ivan with her beauty. The hawys, gathered from all over the kingdom, smiling coquettishly, one way or another tried to attract the attention of the king, and he chose Zakharyina, whose modesty evoked mocking smiles. 1 People called Anastasia Zakharyina “Merciful” because during the fire in Moscow she helped the population with everything she could. With the permission of her husband, she gave away almost all of her jewelry.

The first two years of the fourteen-year marriage life could be called happy: the tsar stopped his cruel amusements, the Rada was introduced into the state administration. But after some time, Ivan the Terrible got sick of family life and he continued his bachelor manners.

After the death of Anastasia, who bore him two sons, Ivan IV did not grieve for long and after a couple of weeks he arranged a luxurious feast. A wave of executions swept across the country again.

Less than a year later, the new Empress Maria Temryukovna (daughter of the Circassian Prince Temryuk) was introduced to the Russian people. This queen was the complete opposite of the good Anastasia. Growing up among the Caucasian mountains, accustomed to hunting and danger, she craved a stormy life. The quiet terem life did not satisfy her. Maria willingly appeared in the solo chamber, enthusiastically attended the bear-baiting and even, to the horror of the boyars, watched public executions from the height of the Kremlin walls. She not only did not keep Ivan the Terrible from massacres, but she herself pushed him to them. The old adviser and favorite of the tsar, the boyar Adashev, dared to remark to the tsar that it was not appropriate for the Moscow tsarina to attend amusements and climb the fortress walls. The next day, Alexey Adashev was sent into exile (he was accused of malicious intent against the queen).

In order to more firmly bind the king to herself, Mary indulged his inclinations to debauchery. She surrounded herself with beautiful girls and pointed them out to the king herself.

As S. Gorsky notes, the oprichnina in Russia arose just at that time.

For 9 years, the king was tired of Mary, besides, he suspected her of a conspiracy, so he was not upset by her death.

The boyars, seeing how desolated the country was, decided to persuade the tsar to enter into a new marriage. The experience of the past showed that marriage had a certain influence on Ivan the Terrible. The king willingly agreed to enter into a new marriage. The traditional review of girls was announced. Marfa Saburova is the name of the new chosen one. Two weeks after the wedding, Martha died. Her death sincerely saddened Ivan IV. The king spent two weeks in seclusion, during which time he noticeably aged and haggard.

A year later, Ivan the Terrible announced his intention to marry for the fourth time.

In order for the church to approve the marriage, he swore that Marfa Saburova never became his real wife and died a virgin.

The bishops had to admit the tsar's strange marriage to Anna Koltovskaya. In many respects she was similar to Maria Temryukovna. Anna knew how to entertain her sovereign, and he spent whole days in the queen's chamber, where beautiful girls always crowded, ready to dance and entertain the king at any moment.

Anna waged a systematic struggle against the oprichnina. She got married at 18. According to the concepts of that time, she was already "overstar". John chose her only because her whole figure breathed passion. But in the depths of her soul she harbored a deep hatred for the king. Anna once loved, but her chosen one, Prince Vorotynsky, somehow did not please Prince Vyazemsky and was tortured. Anna, using her influence on the king, slowly but surely destroyed the oprichnina. In one year, during which John was under the influence of his wife, all the leaders of the oprichnina were executed or exiled. 1 But Anna herself faced a difficult fate. She was placed in one of the monastery crypts, where she lived for another 54 years.

After Anna, the king had two more wives, whom the church did not recognize. One of them was executed, and the second managed to survive his sovereign.

3. Courtyard of the Queen Courtyard of the Queen in the 16th-17th centuries. consisted only of women, with the exception of a few pages, not older than 10 years. The first place here belonged to the noblewoman, who took care of the treasury and looked after the bed. In second place was the kravchinya, who watched over all the personnel of the yard. She managed an extensive staff of craftswomen, gave orders to the bed-makers and slept with them in turn in the queen's bedchamber. She also accompanied the empress during her rare trips. In such cases, the beds turned into Amazons and accompanied the queen's carriage on horseback.

The largest and brightest room in the part of the palace reserved for the empress was the working room. Lights were attached to it. They accommodated up to fifty women who sewed underwear - seamstresses, and embroidered with gold - gold seamstresses.

The queen and her entourage, as a rule, did not have the right to leave the female half of the palace. Only in the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, known for his gentle character, did his sisters, Tatyana and Anna, dare to ask the sovereign about this. It should be noted that the boyars constantly expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that the king allows many liberties to his brisk sisters.

The queens also dined in their own half with children and without the king. After dinner, there was silence in the queen's chambers, as she went to bed. In general, in Russia, not sleeping after dinner was considered heresy.

IV. CONCLUSION During the XVI-XVII centuries. the position of women has not changed, although during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, there were some indulgences in relation to women. Nevertheless, for the most part, women continued to be in their chambers, not doing public affairs, not being able to take the initiative in anything.

It should also be noted that the "liberation" of women found an obstacle on the part of the boyars.

But despite this, the royal wives, being at a distance from state administration, if they wished, could influence the opinion of their husband-sovereign.

Given that during the period under review, all spheres of private and public life were somehow connected with church teachings, women were not burdened by their position and took everything for granted.

One of the reasons that in Russia since the 18th century women left the towers can be considered the appearance of foreigners, which began precisely from the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.

LIST OF USED LITERATURE

1. Kostomarov N. Domestic life and customs of the Great Russian people. - M., 1993.
2. Pushkareva N. L. Women of Ancient Russia. - M., 1989.
3. Woman in the ancient world / Sat. articles. - M., 1995.
4. Larington K. Women in legends and myths. - M., 1998.
5. Gorsky S. Wives of Ivan the Terrible. - Dnepropetrovsk, 1990.
6. Valishevsky K. Ivan the Terrible. - M., 1989.
7. Zabylin M. Russian people, its customs, rituals, traditions, superstitions and poetry. - Simferopol, 1992.
8. Reader on the history of Russia / In 4 volumes, v. 1. Comp. I. V. Babich and others - M., 1994.