Land relations in Belarus as part of the Commonwealth. Features of feudal relations in the Commonwealth of the XV-XVII centuries
According to historians, the prospect of unlimited power over the peasants made the vast majority of the local elite forget about their Cossack roots and national identity.
230 years ago, Catherine II introduced serfdom in Little Russia (today Ukraine) by her decree. For the Ukrainian peasants, this meant 78 years of slavery, and for the elite that emerged from the Cossack foremen, it meant separation from the people and the loss of national identity.
The reign of the empress was a “golden age”, and she herself was a “mother” only for the nobility. The appearance of numerous "False Peters" speaks most convincingly about the attitude of ordinary people, the most famous of which was Pugachev. The peasant son Taras Shevchenko called Catherine "an evil stepmother."
Blaming Ekaterina and the “Muscovites” for everything is unfair. Serfdom in Ukraine existed long before 1783. The land gave birth generously, there were always enough hunters to sit on the neck of the villagers.
The decree of May 14 (May 3, according to the old style) of 1783 only extended it to the entire territory of Little Russia and equalized the Ukrainian peasants in powerlessness with the Great Russians.
Nobility and tenants
The main way of forming personal dependence in Ukraine, as in medieval Europe, there was enslavement for debts to the landowner. The peasant could not pay the rent in cash and in return was forced to serve corvee.
In Galicia, which was part of the crown Poland, these relations were first legally formalized by the Wislitsk charter of 1347, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - exactly 100 years later. The “Privileges” of King Casimir IV of May 2, 1447 forbade unauthorized leaving the land and endowed the landowners with the right to judge the peasants.
By the middle of the 16th century, about 20 percent of the population of modern Ukraine was in serfdom from private owners.
At first, the transition from one landowner to another was allowed once a year - at Christmas (as in Great Russia on St. George's Day), in 1543 it was finally canceled.
After the “drag measurement” of 1547, the peasants lost the right to buy and sell land. King Henry of Valois (a French prince on the Polish throne) in 1573 allowed the pans themselves to determine the amount of feudal duties and to repair serfs on trial up to the death penalty.
Historians note the originality of the Polish gentry democracy. If in Western Europe everyone gradually became freer, then in the Commonwealth, the expansion of the privileges of the noble class was accompanied by an increase in the lack of rights of the bulk of the population.
It is this contradiction, along with the religious schism, that researchers consider the main reason for the weakening of the Polish state.
In Ukraine, class oppression was aggravated by national-religious oppression. In the eyes of the Catholic gentry, Orthodox Ukrainian peasants were not only "cattle", but also "schismatics".
Unlike the Russian landlords, the Polish magnates, as a rule, did not manage the economy themselves, but rented out their estates. Most of the tenants were Jews, who also earned money by buying crops from peasants and selling urban goods at exorbitant prices, selling alcohol, and in some places demanding payment for the use of Orthodox church buildings.
As the modern Russian researcher Andrey Burovsky points out, their personal incomes were not high, and their position was enviable. The lion's share of the money went to the pan, who at any moment could change his protege.
But for the peasants who constantly dealt with them and expressed the people's point of view of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, the "tenant Jews" became almost the worst enemies than the Polish gentry.
During the uprising of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, about half a million Jews were killed - one in three of those living in Ukraine. “Koliivshchyna” (anti-Polish uprising in Right-bank Ukraine in 1768) was also accompanied by pogroms.
After Khmelnytsky
The Pereyaslav Treaty, also called the March Articles, provided for the broad autonomy of the Hetman's Little Russia, and, in particular, a ban on the tsarist government from distributing land and serfs there.
The agreement broke down almost immediately. Rich awards from Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich were received, in particular, by the general clerk, who, later becoming hetman, tried to return Ukraine to the Commonwealth. However, these were the exceptions, not the rule.
After the expulsion of the Polish magnates, many Ukrainians found themselves in the position of free grain growers. They preferred to call themselves Cossacks, although their way of life was peasant.
Others worked on the land, which in various ways ended up in the ownership of the Cossack elders. They carried duties, but had the right to transfer from one landowner to another. Pan could not sell a peasant without land, separate him from his family, forbid him to marry or exchange him for a parrot trained in sailor curses.
“Although the peasants depended on the rich grandfathers [landlords], they considered themselves free and always had the opportunity to leave the hateful pan in order to seek a better life from another. The grandfathers had to treat the peasants with a certain respect,” wrote Ukrainian historian Mykola Arkas.
And in pre-Petrine Rus', the peasant was “strong to the ground”, but was not a “talking thing”. With all the imperfections of the then legal system, relations between peasants and gentlemen were regulated by law, the peasants could sue the landowner and sometimes won, especially if they folded “from the world” in time and hired an intelligent intercessor.
An archival document has come down to us, according to which, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, Prince Grigory Obolensky was punished for “forcing people to do menial work in his yard on Sunday, and he, Prince Grigory, spoke nasty words at the same time.”
Serfdom, known from classical Russian literature of the 19th century, in an extreme form similar to ancient slavery, with people playing cards and greyhound puppies female breast, were introduced by the “great reformer” Peter I, the “humane” Elizabeth and the “enlightened” Catherine.
The latter brought Ukraine to the all-Russian denominator.
For the time being, this was hindered by the Zaporizhzhya Sich, where dissatisfied people could flee. Eight years before the issuance of the decree, in 1775, Catherine liquidated it by resettling the Cossacks in the Kuban. About five thousand people did not obey the tsar's will and left for Turkey.
Without end and end
The fertile climate and black soil, instead of enriching the Ukrainian peasants, became their curse. Corvee (“panshchina”) became the main type of duties, in contrast to central and northern Russia, where, for economic reasons, a softer quitrent system was established.
If the Wislitsky Statute obliged serfs to work for the pan 14 days a year, then gradually it came to three days a week. At the same time, they were deliberately given such a daily task (“lesson”) that it was physically impossible to complete it.
“I threshed on Monday, I threshed at the vtorok, and on Wednesday I finished - the day of the panshchina was crushed,” was sung in a folk song.
Taras Shevchenko, in the poem “The Sting of Wheat on the Panshchina,” described how a young peasant woman hardly snatches a minute to feed her child, drowsy from the heat, sees in a dream how her grown-up son and daughter-in-law work on their land, and returns to the hateful reality.
The secret deal
According to Pushkin, "her [Ekaterina's] generosity tied." The reign of "Northern Semiramis" was the last, when the government had a reserve of free lands and serfs for massive grants to the servants of the throne.
Catherine additionally enslaved about 800 thousand Ukrainians.
Princes Vyazemsky and Prozorovsky received 100 thousand acres of land each, Potemkin - 40 thousand, General Strekalov - more than 30 thousand, counts Branitsky and Kamensky - 20 thousand acres each.
However, this measure was addressed not only to the capital's nobles, but also to the Ukrainian nobles, who received unlimited power over the peasants and the opportunity to exploit them without regard to sentimental memories of Cossack liberties and brotherhood.
According to many modern historians, the strengthening of serfdom in the Russian Empire was the result of an unspoken deal between the government and the elite. The overwhelming majority of Russian nobles gave up their dreams of a constitution and an independent political role in exchange for the opportunity to be autocratic sovereigns in their small kingdoms.
The Little Russian nobles also forgot about their national identity.
“Earlier, grandfathers differed from ordinary villagers only in wealth and did not disdain them,” says Arkas. - Now the sir tried with all his might not to resemble them either in habits or in language, he was in a hurry to merge with the Russian nobility and renounce all his native, which had become “peasant” for him.
In the 18th century, there was a nationally oriented elite in Ukraine, whose aspirations St. Petersburg could not suppress even with repressions.
The appointed hetman Pavlo Polubotok, who in 1723 went to ask Peter I to keep the old order of government, ended his days in the Peter and Paul Fortress. However, even in 1767, when Catherine convened a “Commission for the drafting of a new code”, the Ukrainian delegates stubbornly fought for one degree or another of autonomy, driving the president of the Little Russian Collegium, Count Rumyantsev, to white heat, complaining to the empress about their “cunning, self-will and false republican thoughts ".
After the introduction of serfdom in Ukraine, the local elite no longer caused trouble to St. Petersburg.
The military captain Sidor Bely, after the dispersal of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, formed the pro-government “Army of Faithful Cossacks”, received 9 thousand acres of land and became the leader of the nobility of the Kherson province. Andrei Bezborodko and Viktor Kochubey reached ministerial posts in St. Petersburg.
The rise of national consciousness began only in the middle of the 19th century, and came not from the nobility, but from the raznochintsy.
Kings of the Commonwealth
1576-1586 Stefan Batory (1533-12.12.1586), husband of the daughter of Sigismund I - Anna.
In 1579-1581 he made three large campaigns against Russia, occupied several cities, besieged (but could not take) Pskov. As a result of the Livonian War, the Commonwealth acquired Courland and Livonia from Sweden, the city of Velizh - from Russia.
1587-1632 Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632), son of the daughter of Sigismund I - Catherine and Jan III Vasa of Sweden.
In 1588, he signed the Lithuanian Statute, which finally established serfdom. 1600-1629 - the first war of the Commonwealth with Sweden for the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, the entire burden of which fell on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as Poland fought with Turkey for Ukrainian lands. In 1605, Hetman K. Khodkevich, not far from Riga near Kirchholm, defeated an army of Swedes, three times larger than that of the GDL. But the Swedes invaded Lithuania and occupied Biržai.
Back in 1598, the Commonwealth intervened in the dynastic civil strife in Russia. Then she began an open intervention against Russia. In 1610, Polish troops occupied Moscow. In 1611 they occupied Smolensk, Novgorod-Seversky, Chernigov. The people's militia of Minin and Pozharsky defeated Khodkevich's troops. In 1618 a truce was signed. The Commonwealth left Mozhaisk, Vyazma, Smolensk, Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky.
In 1620-1621. was the first Polish-Turkish war. Until 1629 there was a war between the Commonwealth and Sweden.
1632-1648 Vladislav IV Vasa (1595-1648), son of Sigismund III.
In 1632, Russia tried to recapture Smolensk, but failed. According to the peace of 1634, Vladislav IV renounced his claims to the Moscow throne, but left Smolensk and the Seversk land behind him. The Commonwealth struggled with incessant uprisings in Ukraine (1630 - Zaporozhye hetman Taras Fedorovich, 1637 - Zaporizhzhya hetman Pavel But, 1638 - peasant-Cossack, and in 1648 a people's war began).
1648-1668 Jan II-Casimir Vasa (1609-1672), brother of Vladislav IV.
In 1648-1657, the Ukrainian people, under the leadership of Bogdan Khmelnytsky, waged a war for their freedom. In 1651, Polish troops invaded Ukraine. They were joined by the GDL troops under the command of Jan Radziwill, who occupied Kyiv. In 1654 Russia declared war on the Commonwealth. Russian troops entered the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and occupied Smolensk, Vitebsk, Polotsk, Vilna, going far into the depths of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In January 1655, near Okhmatov, the combined Russian-Ukrainian troops defeated the Polish army, and Prince. Semyon Andreyevich Urusov also in 1655 forced Pavel-Yan Sapega, the governor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, to surrender in Brest.
Taking advantage of this, the Swedes invaded Samogitia from Livonia and from Pomerania to western Poland. The troops of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Lithuanian hetman Jan Radziwill surrendered to the Swedes in Keidany. A month earlier, Polish troops with the governor of Poznań, Christoph Opalinsky, capitulated near the Ust. Jan II-Casimir fled to Silesia.
Warsaw, Krakow, many other cities and almost all of Poland were occupied by the Swedes. However, the monastery of Jasna Hora in Częstochowa miraculously withstood the siege of the Swedes, and this stirred up all of Poland. The situation began to change dramatically again. The Swedes were forced to leave Warsaw and retreat with heavy losses. In 1660, King Charles X of Sweden died and peace was concluded in Oliva, according to which Sweden gained a foothold in Livonia, but did not acquire new lands.
The protracted war of the Commonwealth with Russia ended in 1667 with the Andrusovo truce. Russia regained Smolensk, Novgorod-Seversky, Chernigov and Starodub, in addition, it secured the entire Left-Bank Ukraine and Kyiv. The terms of this truce were then confirmed (in 1686) by an "Eternal Peace" treaty with Russia.
In 1668, Jan II-Casimir left for France, where he lived until his death in 1672.
1669-1673 Mikhail Vishnevetsky (1640-1673), son of prince and governor Jeremiah Vishnevetsky.
He was an acceptable candidate for Austria, a weak and weak-willed person. In 1672, the second Polish-Turkish war began with the attack of Sultan Mohammed IV on Podolia. The Turks captured the fortress of Kamenetz-Podolsky, at the end of the year the Poles signed a surrender, and a significant part of Ukraine - its southwestern part, went to Turkey.
1674-1696 Jan III Sobessky (1629-1696), son of voivode Yakov Sobessky.
By the 17th century, the Ottoman Turks conquered all the countries in northern Africa up to Morocco, Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and the western part of Georgia. The entire coast of the Black and Azov Seas was in their hands. In 1683, the Turks, led by the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa, laid siege to Vienna. Their army numbered 140 thousand soldiers. The Austrian emperor with his court left for Linz. Vienna stubbornly defended.
Jan III Sobessky decided not to limit himself to financial assistance and began to collect troops. The troops of the German princes joined the Polish-Lithuanian troops - there were about 74 thousand of them under the command of Jan III Sobessky. On September 13, the battle took place under the walls of Vienna. The Turks suffered a crushing defeat, the remnants of their troops fled. True, Kazimir-Jan Sapieha arrived with the Lithuanian army after the battle and participated only in further battles. Europe was saved. In 1686, the united army of Christian states liberated Buda and in a few years completely expelled the Turks from the territory of Hungary. In 1693 Poland was returned Ottoman Empire Podolia. In 1686, Jan III Sobessky signed an "eternal peace" with Russia.
1697-1706 August II the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony (under the name of Friedrich-August I).
1700-1721 - Northern War, in which August II participated on the side of Russia against Sweden. This was the third war between Poland and Sweden. Charles XII defeated the Russian troops at Narva, then the troops of Augustus II at Riga. In 1702, the Swedes occupied Vilnius, Warsaw, and Krakow. In 1706, Charles XII invaded deep into Saxony and forced August II to abdicate the Polish throne in favor of Stanisław Leszczynski, magnate of Greater Poland.
1706-1709 Stanislav Leshchinsky (1677-1766).
Elected under pressure from Charles XII, King of Sweden, but not recognized by the nobility. Although part of the Lithuanian feudal lords, led by the Sapiehas, supported the Swedes, the bulk, under the leadership of Grigory Oginsky, waged a stubborn struggle with the Swedes. Having dealt with Poland, Charles XII was defeated at Poltava in 1709 and fled to Turkish possessions.
After the battle of Poltava, Augustus II triumphantly returned to Poland and ruled until 1733. According to the Peace of Nystad in 1721, Sweden lost all its possessions in the Baltic, which passed to Russia. Russia became the most powerful state in Eastern Europe. The Commonwealth in this war only weakened. Russia began to interfere in the affairs of the Commonwealth. Since 1717, Russia's influence on the affairs of Poland has increased dramatically.
1733-1735 Stanislav Leshchinsky.
Restored to the throne by French diplomacy (since 1725, his daughter is the wife of the French king Louis XV). Exiled from Poland during the War of Polish Succession (1733-1735).
His reign - the time of the political crisis of the Commonwealth, State power gradually weakened.
1764-1795 Stanislav-August Poniatowski (1732-1798).
A protege of Russia, the last king of Poland. Under him, an attempt was made to carry out reforms in order to strengthen the state, but they could no longer save the state from destruction. In an effort to free themselves from the influence of Russia, the gentry of the Commonwealth concluded a union-confederation in the city of Bar, which included the Potocki, Sapieha, Krasinsky and others. However, Russia brought in its troops and defeated the Confederate movement in 1771-1772. In military operations against Kazimir Pulawski in Poland and Hetman Oginsky in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, major general, brigade commander Alexander Suvorov distinguished himself. The last to fall were the fortifications of the monastery in Częstochowa.
In 1772 the first partition of Poland took place. Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislav provinces, that is, part of the lands of Belarus, went to Russia. Austria received Galicia, Prussia - Pomerania without Gdansk and part of the western Prussian lands. Soon Russia entered the war with Turkey. Prussia competed with Russia and Austria for influence in other countries. Part of the nobility tried to take advantage of this situation.
In 1788-1791. The Sejm of the Commonwealth (this period is known in history as the time of the four-year Sejm) began to carry out some administrative and social reforms. A constitution was adopted (May 3, 1791). But the Commonwealth did not have time to implement these reforms - Russia and Prussia, seeing in them the influence of the French Revolution, decided to put an end to the Commonwealth.
Having made peace with Turkey, Russia, under an agreement with Prussia in 1793, carried out the second partition of Poland. The Ukrainian and Belarusian lands, including Kiev, Bratslav, Podolsk, Minsk and part of the Vilna province, Pinsk and the eastern part of Volhynia, were ceded to Russia. Prussia annexed the western Polish lands with the cities of Gdansk, Torun and Poznan.
The gentry, dissatisfied with the second partition, raised an uprising, headed by Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746-1817). The leader of the Vilna rebels was a military engineer, Colonel Yakov Yasinsky (1761-1794). In the spring of 1794, the rebels disarmed the Russian army and occupied Vilna, where the Supreme National Council of Lithuania was established. Warsaw was also in the hands of the rebels.
But already in August 1794, Russian troops occupied Vilna, Russian and Prussian troops besieged Warsaw. Three times wounded Kosciuszko was taken prisoner on November 4, 1794. Suvorov's Cossacks stormed Prague - a suburb of Warsaw, where Y. Yasinsky died. Warsaw capitulated.
Having dealt with the rebels, Russia, Austria and Prussia in 1795 produced the third division of the Commonwealth. Lithuania (with the exception of Zanemanya, which went to Prussia), Courland, western Belarus with Brest were annexed to Russia. Poland was divided by Prussia (she also got Warsaw) and Austria.
Nobility in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
After the Union of Lublin (1569) in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, courts were created in each county for litigation in cases only between nobles: Grodsky, Zemsky, Podkomorsky. In addition, since 1581, a higher court was established - the Lithuanian Tribunal, which considered appeals against decisions of the lower courts listed above.
The division of officials or officials, already adopted earlier in Poland, according to degrees and positions held (see below), was introduced, and all ranks were divided into state, court and zemstvo ...
An upper estate of two degrees was established, in the spirit of imitation of Poland:
In Poland, and now in the GDL, nobility was acquired in only two ways:
A nobleman by birthright, that is, hereditary, transferred his rights and state to his legal wife, regardless of what class she was from, and to legitimate children and descendants of both sexes.
Until 1578 (before Stefan Batory) the nobility was awarded by the Polish king, who was also the Grand Duke of Lithuania at the same time, and was confirmed by privileges (or letters) issued under his signature.
After 1578, the civil nobility award was granted only to the general diet. It was carried out by the promulgation of the surname and its inclusion on the basis of the decision of the Sejm in the acts that were part of the collection of laws (Volumina Legum).
The award of the nobility along the military line was granted to the hetmans, but with subsequent approval by the general diet. At the same time, privileges (or letters) were issued.
A granted nobleman - not a foreigner - was called a new nobleman or scartabel, but a letter issued to him - a nobilitation, a foreigner was called an indigen, and a letter issued to him - an indigenate.
All positions could be divided into four degrees.
The first highest degree was occupied by dignitaries (Nos. 1-12), who were part of the ministries, as well as members of the Senate.
The second degree consisted of state and court ranks in the capitals (Nos. 13-47).
The third degree corresponded to court ranks in the voivodeships (Nos. 60-69).
The fourth degree included urban and zemstvo positions in the judicial and police departments (Nos. 48-59 and 70-87).
All of the above positions could only be held by:
a) ancient tribal nobles, honored men and, moreover, compatriots or local residents, and
b) landowners, that is, those who have a really existing patrimonial zemstvo estate within the voivodeship in which they are appointed or elected to an official position.
The material was prepared on the basis of the publication: A.N. Narbut. Genealogy of Belarus. Issue. 2. Moscow, 1994.
23. The political crisis of the Commonwealth. Sections of the Commonwealth
The reasons for the divisions of the Republic of Poland were, first of all, in the internal political situation of the country itself. It was characterized as a political crisis or anarchy. This situation was the result of the abuse of gentry liberties. At meetings of the Sejm since the second half of the 16th century. Liberum veto power. According to it, if at least one member of the Seimas opposed it, then no decision was made, and the Seimas session was terminated. Unanimity was the main condition for the adoption of the decision of the Sejm. As a result, the vast majority of the Seimas were disrupted. Thus, anarchy in the Republic of Poland was facilitated by the fact that a significant part of the gentry considered the right of the "liberum veto" evidence of their gentry liberties and used it in practice to reject undesirable decisions. Public administration characterized by the omnipotence of magnates and gentry and the weakness of royal power in the person of the last king of the Republic of Poland, Stanislav August Poniatowski. In fact, the uncrowned king on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the Nesvizh magnate Karol Radivil. This domestic political situation was supplemented by foreign policy circumstances related to early XVI 2nd century with military operations during the Great Northern War. RP became a "passage yard" for foreign troops. Thus, political anarchy within the country, the absence of strong royal power in the person of the king, as well as interference in internal affairs by neighboring states led to the territorial divisions of the Republic of Poland.
From the second half of the XVIII century. A number of reforms have been implemented to strengthen the RP. So, in the economic field, the reforms of A. Tizengauz had some success, thanks to which such a form of industrial production as manufactory began to develop. Reform has been carried out school education, for the implementation of which in 1773 an adduction commission was created. The reform was generally progressive in nature. Great importance was attached to the study of physics, mathematics, natural history, and morality. Over the 20 years of its existence, the commission has opened 20 schools in Belarus. In the political field, the right of the "liberum veto" was partially limited (finally abolished only in 1791). Attempts to limit the power of the magnates led to resistance on their part. The internecine struggle of the magnates was complicated by the dissatisfaction of the numerous gentry of the Catholic faith, whose rights were equalized with non-Catholics - Orthodox and Protestants. Contradictions between the nobility used neighboring countries. Under the auspices of Russia and Prussia, in 1767, an Orthodox confederation was created in Slutsk, and a Protestant confederation in Torun, which aimed at equalizing rights with the Catholics. A 40,000-strong Russian army was sent to help the Confederates. In response, in 1768, opponents of innovations created a confederation in Bar, which had significant support in Poland, including Belarus. But in 1768-1771. the bar confederates were defeated by Russian troops. After the defeat of the Bar Confederation in 1772, Russia, Austria and Prussia carried out the first partition of the Republic of Poland. Prussia received the northwestern part of the Kingdom of Poland, Austria - its southern regions. Liflyandskoe, most of Polotsk, almost all of Vitebsk, all of Mstislav and the eastern part of the Minsk Voivodeship went to Russia. After the partition, the need for fundamental reforms became obvious. At the Four-year Diet of 1788-1792. the Constitution was adopted on May 3, 1791. Poland became a unitary state, a hereditary monarchy. The peasants were transferred under the protection of the law, but with the preservation of serfdom. The "liberum veto" and the right to form confederations were eliminated. The decisions of the Four-Year Diet caused extreme dissatisfaction with part of the gentry and Russia. On May 14, 1792, under the auspices of Empress Catherine II, a confederation was established in Targovica. Its participants crossed, following the Russian troops, the borders of the Republic of Poland to protect "gentry freedoms". The RP troops were defeated. In 1793, the second section of the Republic of Poland took place. The central lands of Belarus went to Russia, Prussia annexed Gdansk and Greater Poland with Poznan. On March 24, 1794, the patriotic nobility led by a native of Belarus T. Kastyushko raised an uprising in Krakow. Its main goals were getting rid of foreign occupation, restoring the Republic of Poland within the borders of 1772, restoring the Constitution on May 3, 1791. In April, Lithuania and Belarus joined the uprising, on April 23 the uprising began in Vilna and the Supreme Lithuanian Rada was created - a provisional revolutionary government. Y. Yasinsky was appointed commander of the armed forces of the GDL. The uprising was initially successful. Rebel power has been established in a number of cities in Belarus. However, the reluctance of the gentry to free the peasants from serfdom pushed some of the latter away from the uprising. The radicalism of the Supreme Lithuanian Rada led to its dissolution by Kosciuszka. Instead, the Central Deputation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was created. On September 17, near Krupchitsy, the Belarusian-Lithuanian forces were defeated by Suvorov's corps. The uprising was defeated, Poland was occupied by the troops of Russia, Prussia and Austria. In 1795, the last, third section of the Republic of Poland took place and it ceased to exist. According to the third section, the western part of Belarus, Lithuania, Western Volyn and the Duchy of Courland went to Russia.
24: The main directions of the policy of the tsarist autocracy in the Belarusian lands (end of the XYIII century - 1860)
On the Belarusian lands, Ros. Control system. Instead of voivodships, the lands were divided into provinces. On the Belarusian lands, 5 provinces took shape: Vitebsk, Mogilev, Minsk, Grodno, Vileika. The free population of the Belarusian lands had to take an oath of allegiance to the Russian emperors. If the gentry refused, then he was given 3 months to sell his property. If not, then the property was taken away, and they themselves were sent to Siberia. Most of the gentry recognized the government. The Russian authorities forbade: the right to configuration, to have their own troops and their own fortresses. And it improved the economic situation. The peasants began to live better.
1.Belarusian manufacturers got access to a huge Ros. The market is an incentive for the development of production.
2. The number of manufactories increased (end of 1860-127 manufactories) - these were small manufactories where serfs worked.
3. The capital of manufactories increased in 50 of the XIX century. In Belarus.
On the territory of Belarus begins the industrial revolution (coup) - the transition from manual labor to machine. Factories appear in the 20s of the nineteenth century.
1741 - 1st capitalist factory, End of 1861-30 factories in Belarus, most of the products are made at home.
In terms of production volume, it was 2 times higher than the production of manufactory and factory products.
1. Expansion of serfdom (the number of serfs increased). State peasants - belonged to the state and worked in state estates. The Russian emperors began to sell state-owned peasants and this continued until 1801 (208,000 male souls). Gomel and its environs were transferred to the Rumyantsevs and Paskeviches. Suvorov received 13,000 serfs.
2.Belarusian culture was under pressure from Polish and Russian cultures. Tsarism pursued a policy of colonization until 30. XIX century (expansion of the Polish language and traditions). In Russia, teaching was in Polish. It continued until the uprising of 30-31 - for the uprising of the Republic of Poland.
Since 1836 - in all educational institutions introduced Russian. Yaz.
Since 1840 - all state institutions began to speak Russian.
In 1832 - Vileika University was closed, and its property was transferred to Kyiv - Kiev State University.
In 1832 - the Uniyat church was banned, most of the Uniyats were transferred to Orthodoxy.
30g. nineteenth century - the 3rd statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1588) was abolished. Russification intensified after the uprising of 1863.
25: Attempts of economic reforms in the Russian Empire and their implementation on the territory of Belarus in the first half of the 19th century.
End of the 18th century - the beginning of the nineteenth century. - the period of the crisis of feudalism. The Russian leadership tried to implement reforms (Alexander 1 carried out reforms) in 1801. - Alexander 1 forbade the transfer of peasants into private hands. 1801. - decree "on free bread _______". According to this decree, the landowner received the right, for money, to free the serfs, to give them freedom and land. The decree was in effect - 1803 - 1858. All around Russia. 1.5% of the peasants redeemed themselves. In Belarus in 1819. - the state redeemed 57 male souls.
1805 - 1807 - Alexander 1 stopped the reforms. After his death in 1825 He was replaced by his brother Nicholas 1. He said that serfdom is evil, but to abolish it now is even more evil. The main goal of Nicholas 1 was the mitigation of serfdom, to limit the landlords in their willfulness. In 1842 - the decree of the emperor, on the basis of which the peasants could receive, with the consent of the landowner, personal freedom and land, subject to the development of former feudal duties. In order to limit the actions of landlords in 47 - 48g. On the territory of Belarus and Ukraine, an “inventory reform 2 - an inventory of household property” was carried out. The norm of feudal exploitation was established - the third part of income. The landlords did everything to prevent state officials from describing household property. The reform covered 10%.
1839 - 1843 - financial reform - the monetary ruble was equated to the silver ruble.
1837 - reform of state peasants (Count Kiselev) In Russia, the peasants were controlled by state officials, duties were established by the state, state peasants were personally free. In Belarus, the state Peasants were leased to private owners. The lease was short term.
The main directions of the reform: 1. Reform of the management system - a management system was created. The lowest governing body is the village government. They introduced tight control over the tenant. 2. Guardianship policy - the state takes on the responsibility of taking care of its peasants:
A. the state organized food aid to the peasants, bakery shops (bread warehouse) were formed; organization of primary education, free schools for peasants were created; Organization of the 1st honey. help; G. An insurance system was introduced
3. Lustration of state estates - Main objectives: A- describe the state. Estates; B- increasing the solvency of the peasants; B- management of economic peasant farms
2 stages: 1 - up to 44g. – preservation of corvee to equalize peasants – resettlement of peasants
2 - - transfer of peasants to cash dues (chinsh) - 20% lower than peasant duties.
26: Agrarian Reform 1861 Its mechanism and features of implementation in the Belarusian provinces
1861 - the abolition of serfdom in the Russian Empire and Belarus.
Reasons: 1.defeat of Russia in the Crimean War (1853-1856). Russia against England, France, Turkey. The war showed the real lagging behind of serf Russia from capitalist Europe. It became profitable for the landowner to sell products to the West. At the end of the 50s - a mass sober movement - an anti-government speech by Comrade K. the budget of the state was undermined - punitive detachments were sent. In Belarus, 780 activists were sent to Siberia, others were dealt with on the spot. A huge role in the abolition of serfdom was played by Emperor Alexander 2. February 19, 1861. - Alexander 2 signed documents that meant the abolition of serfdom (manifesto, provisions - general provisions
Local provisions (specific reform rule, depending on the situation))
In accordance with general provisions, serfs received personal freedom and civil rights (freedom moved around the country). Elective peasant self-government was created - all land ownership became the property of the landowner, according to general position, but the peasants retained allotments that they could buy into ownership, but until they bought it, they had to work on the landowner's land. Earlier than in 9 years, he could not redeem the land - a temporary obligation.
Forms of land use:1. community (where the community existed - only the community could buy the peasant land)2. individual use (could be redeemed by an individual peasant)
2 local provisions in Belarus of the abolition of serfdom:1. Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces - the distribution of the maximum and minimum sizes of peasant allotments that peasants could redeem. 2. In the Grodno and Minsk provinces (there was no community) - the peasants bought the land individually, not collectively. The main issue is the cost of land (purchase). A single capitalized dues has been established - the amount of the redemption should = to capital, which, at 6% per annum, brings income in the amount of the previous amount of dues. The peasant paid 20-25% of the amount, the rest was paid by the state, but the peasant had to return the amount within 49 years, but every year the amount increased by 6% - this was called RIPPER OF THE PEASANTS.
... "Western Belarus" is used by the author in the study as a geographical, not a historical term. Provisions submitted for defense: 1. The emergence and activity of Jewish political parties and organizations on the territory of Western Belarus were due to historical preconditions. The so-called "boundaries of the Jewish Pale of Settlement", a significant amount of Jewish ...
Libraries. In 1866, the Vilna educational district raised the issue of opening Russian public libraries, but did not receive the funds necessary for their creation. Positive changes in the development of librarianship in Belarus were outlined in the 70s. XIX century in connection with the rise of the populist struggle. Under the influence of the public, the authorities were forced to grant the people some democratic ...
Ukrainian myth-makers from history convinced themselves and the rest of these little ones from Ukraine that serfdom on their vilno land was introduced in 1783 by the evil German Catherine, and before that, Ukrainians lived freely and happily in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Commonwealth and the Hetman state, possessing all the rights and freedoms that they were endowed with by the Lithuanian Statute, the Magdeburg Law, the Orlik Constitution and similar documents. In reality, the history of serfdom in the Ukrainian-Belarusian lands began in 1447, three centuries before Catherine - began with the privilege of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir, and nowhere in Europe, except perhaps for Latvia and Estonia, serfdom was not so cruel, ruthless and despotic, as in the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And if on the Left Bank serfdom was interrupted for 130 years, then in the Right-Bank Ukraine, which was under the rule of the Poles - the first European integrators of Ukraine - until 1793-1795, serfdom was preserved without interruptions until 1861 itself.
Already at the beginning of the 16th century, Herberstein noted that the people in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were "miserable and exhausted by heavy slavery", and no Lithuanian statute could help their dependent position. According to the French historian-Slavist Daniel Beauvois, "Lithuanian statute, which arose in the XVI century. ... was extremely cruel, allowed the peasants to be treated as slaves, like cattle."This is exactly how the Polish lords perceived their Ukrainian and Belarusian peasants as cattle ("cattle"). How exactly the Ukrainian peasants lived under the rule of the Poles, Beauvois convincingly told in his book "The Gordian knot of Russian history: power, gentry and people in Right-Bank Ukraine (1793-1914)"and in their interviews:
- Ukrainian peasants were treated as slaves back in the 19th century. Some gentry were convinced that the peasant had no soul...
Relations between Poles and Ukrainians "often resembled relations between a master and a slave [...]. They were as cruel as on American cotton plantations, in French Martinique or somewhere in Africa."
Some nobles were even convinced that the peasant had no soul. Was everyone like that? Of course, there were pans who helped their peasants during floods, famines or droughts. But usually the attitude towards a commoner as such was, to put it mildly, contemptuous.
IN The book has an impressive list that stretches for two pages: the gentleman killed a peasant to death, which was recognized as "according to the will of God", the housekeeper killed a pregnant woman - he served two weeks in arrest. And all this happens not in the 15th century, but in the 30s of the 19th century. At the same time, your critics write that you exaggerate that cruel people are found everywhere.But these are the facts recorded in the Polish tribunals, later transferred to the Russian archives!
- ABOUT that the people lived in inhuman conditions, (the Poles) remember in a nutshell. Fraternization with the people most often came down to one thing: that the master took his mistress from the people - as it was then called - "framing" the peasants. For gentlemen, this was normal.Count Mechislav Pototsky had a whole harem of beautiful Ukrainian peasant women in the palace in Tulchin. In short, there is no point in looking for the truth in the memory of the nobility and gentry memoirs. The hatred of the people, which has manifested itself for centuries, did not come from nowhere.
Is it worth it after that to be surprised at what was not obsolete until the twentieth century? No, it’s not worth it, but the amazing unconsciousness of modern Ukrainians, who came up with a beautiful legend about happy life Ukrainians in the Polish-Lithuanian state and who do not want to face the historical truth, I never cease to be surprised!
Left-bank Ukraine (Ukr. Livoberezhna Ukraine) is the name of the eastern part of Ukraine, located on the left bank along the Dnieper. It consisted of modern Chernihiv, Poltava, part of the Sumy regions, as well as from the eastern parts of the Kyiv and Cherkasy regions. In the east, Left-Bank Ukraine bordered on Sloboda Ukraine, in the south - on the lands of the Zaporozhian Sich.
This is exactly the left bank (highlighted in orange) that the Ukrainian foreman slandered
As you can see in the picture (Slobozhanshchina, Donetsk region and Novorossiya. Never entered the cooled hetmanate)
May 14 marked the 230th anniversary of the signing of Catherine II of the decree, in which, among other things, the empress ordered: “For the well-known and faithful receipt of state income in the governorships of Kiev, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky, and in order to avert any escapes to burden the landowners and those remaining in settlements of the inhabitants, each of the villagers to remain in his place and rank, where he was written according to the current latest revision, except for those who have been absent before the state of this decree.
Thus, the free movement of rural residents from place to place was officially prohibited. The peasants were attached to the land, serfdom was legally established in the left-bank part of Little Russia (its right-bank part at that time was part of Poland, serfdom had existed there for a long time).
The anniversary, of course, is not festive. Although - for whom? For example, for modern Ukrainian "national patriots" this is probably a formal celebration. Still would! Such a reason to once again complain about the "Russian tsarist regime" and, in general, about Russia, which, they say, enslaved the Ukrainians!
And they do complain! And not only on the occasion of the anniversary. Arguments about Russia's "historical guilt" before Ukraine for serfdom have become an indispensable subject in the writings of "nationally conscious" authors who call themselves "historians".
Meanwhile, none other than Ukrainian historians (only real ones), ardent Ukrainophiles by conviction, at one time claimed the opposite: it was not the All-Russian Empress who introduced serfdom in Ukraine. This is an unconditional "merit" of the local Cossack foreman. The "merit" of those very hetmans and their associates, who are now often elevated to the rank of "national heroes".
“The life of the Little Russian peasantry since the separation of Little Russia from Poland has been so little clarified that the opinion still prevails that until the end of the eighteenth century. this peasantry enjoyed complete civil freedom, which was lost by a mere decree of May 3 (May 14, according to the new style - Auth.) 1783, - noted, for example, Alexander Lazarevsky. “Meanwhile, a closer study of the subject leads to the opposite results.”
As the scientist pointed out, “with the vastness of power that the Cossack foremen used in Little Russia, it was not worth it for them to make special efforts to subjugate the peasants into subjects, and to become pans from the foreman themselves.”
Another major historian, Nikolai Vasilenko, fully agreed with Lazarevsky, who also believed that serfdom in the Left-Bank Ukraine “flowed entirely from Ukrainian social relations, from Ukrainian life, and the Russian government in the 2nd half of the 18th century often had only to approve by its decrees what which, in fact, existed a long time ago already in life.
The outstanding Ukrainian woman historian Alexandra Efimenko wrote about the same. “This whole process,” she remarked about the establishment of serfdom in Ukraine, “was carried out in a purely factual, and not legal, way, without any interference from state power. The decree of May 3, 1783, from which serfdom is considered in Little Russia, only gave a sanction, and with it, of course, stability, to the existing situation - no more.
“Kazachchina ... so clearly degenerated into a corvée that Catherine II had only to apply the last seal in order to approve the gradually developing serfdom,” Mikhail Drahomanov stated in turn. This prominent public figure and historian emphasized that "the serfdom of 1783 ... the people did not really notice at first, since the foreman of the Cossacks had already prepared everything for him." Moreover, Drahomanov admitted that, despite the mentioned decree, “Catherine II (“the great light - mother”) was very popular among our people, as well as among the intelligentsia.” That is, in his oppressed position simple people blamed not the empress at all.
So who did enslave the Ukrainians?
As you know, during the liberation war of 1648-1654. Polish and Polonized landowners were expelled from Little Russia. The few Orthodox gentry who went over to the side of Bogdan Khmelnitsky retained their estates and land holdings, but not the peasants. There were no serfs left in Little Russia reunited with Great Russia. (But they did not disappear anywhere in Right-Bank Ukraine, which remained part of the Commonwealth until the end of the 18th century ... It is also worth mentioning here that serfdom in the Commonwealth was legally finalized by the Third Lithuanian statute back in 1588, i.e. already 61 years BEFORE, in 1649, the Cathedral Code in a much milder form established the indefinite fixing of peasants to the land in Muscovy ... Note. RUSFACT.RU).
However, the enthusiasm for the unification of Rus' did not have time to subside at the Pereyaslav Rada, as representatives of the Cossack elders began to send petitions to Moscow, to their new sovereign, for granting them lands. These requests were usually granted.
Also, the hetmans of the reunited Little Russia began to issue universals confirming the right of the Cossack elders to own estates. Initially, it was only about the lands. But, starting from the 1660s, in the hetman's universals, wording about "ordinary obedience" appeared, that is, about various duties that the inhabitants of the possessions granted to the foreman had to perform.
During the hetmanship of Ivan Mazepa, "ordinary obedience" was clarified and detailed. The peasants were obliged to work two days a week for the newly-minted landlords. It should be noted here that the current idol of the Ukrainian “nationally conscious” public, Ivan Mazepa, did a lot to establish serfdom in Little Russia. Moreover, under him, not only the Commonwealth (peasants and the common people in general) began to be converted into citizenship, but also the Cossacks.
“Mazepa was a very educated person for his time,” explained the famous Ukrainian historian Vladimir Antonovich. - But he got his education in Poland. In the soul of the former royal page and courtier, well-known state and social ideals developed, the prototype of which was the gentry of the Commonwealth ... All his efforts were aimed at creating a gentry class in Little Russia and putting the embassy and the Cossack rabble in relations similar to those existed in Poland between the nobility and the embassy.
It was under Mazepa in Little Russia that a massive distribution of villages was observed in the possession of the Cossack elders. Residents of these settlements, who did not want to work for the owners and tried to leave to live in other places, the hetman ordered "to seize, rob, take away, muzzle with knitting, beat with cues, hang without mercy." There were also frequent cases when land plots were taken away from peasants and ordinary Cossacks, forcing people to sign documents on their sale by force. At the same time, the former owners were allowed to continue to live and work in the same place, but already in the position of subjects.
“Little by little, orders were established in the Hetmanate that were very reminiscent of Poland,” Dmitry Doroshenko, a prominent specialist in the history of Ukraine, described the times of Mazepa. - The place of the former gentry was occupied by the Cossack society, from which its panship or foreman stood out. This panship converted the first free peasants into their subjects, and the further, the more and more this citizenship approached real serfdom.
It is noteworthy that even the ideologist of the Ukrainian movement Vatslav Lypynsky, with all his sympathy for the attempt of Mazepa and the Mazepins to "liberate" Ukraine in 1708-1709, considered the catastrophe that befell them near Poltava as retribution "for past sins, for venality, for the enslavement of the Cossacks."
With the collapse of Mazepinism, the process of enslavement slowed down somewhat. Peter I ordered the new hetman Ivan Skoropadsky "to look diligently and firmly, so that from the colonels and the regimental foreman and from the centurions to the Cossacks and the Commonwealth people there was by no means any burden and insults." But gradually the distribution of the Cossack elders into the possession of the villages and the conversion of the local inhabitants into citizenship resumed on the same scale.
Chernigov Colonel Pavel Polubotok (another current “national hero”) was especially zealous, having managed to transfer many of Mazepa’s confiscated possessions to himself.
To suppress the abuses of the foreman, the emperor, by his decree, established the Little Russian Collegium, whose task was to manage the region (at first, together with the hetman). An investigation has begun. Polubotok was behind bars. At least some of the Cossacks who were illegally converted to citizenship were given back their former rights. The process of distribution of estates again slowed down, but did not stop completely.
The general investigation of the phenomena, carried out in 1729-1730. (already under the new hetman - Daniil Apostol), established that in all of Little Russia at that time only a little more than a third of peasant households remained free. The rest (almost two-thirds!) fell into the allegiance of the Cossack officers. And after all, only eighty years have passed since the War of Independence, which completely eliminated such citizenship.
And the distribution of estates continued. It slowed down again only after the death of the Apostle in 1734 and the temporary liquidation of the hetmanship. In 1742, a special Commission of Economy was even created, whose duty was to protect free peasants and their property.
For the Cossack foreman, this was a heavy blow. The lands that were under the jurisdiction of the state institution could not be seized with impunity. Under the threat were the "rights and liberties of the Cossacks", by which the foreman understood only his own right to uncontrollably rob his own people. But this did not last long.
In 1750, the Economy Commission was liquidated. Hetmanship was restored. And the next hetman - Kirill Razumovsky - immediately resumed the practice of distributing estates (primarily, of course, to his relatives). Not only villages, but also towns were already being distributed, which is why the burghers began to fall into the number of subjects along with the peasants, which was considered obvious lawlessness.
So, for example, in January 1752, the hetman granted his brother-in-law Efim Daragan Boryspil “with all the proper Commonwealth people to that place” to “perpetual possession”.
After such "grants", the then Empress Elizabeth found it necessary to intervene. “It is certainly not unknown,” she declared, “that the hetman distributes entire cities, as well as villages, into eternal and hereditary possession of himself without a decree, which is why the number of Cossacks decreases, for better supervision and suppression of all such disorders, appoint a minister from the generals under the hetman, with the knowledge and whose advice the hetman would act in all local affairs.
The elder's appetites were somewhat moderated. However, not much. And when, after the resignation of Razumovsky in 1764, they summed up his management, it turned out that there were a meager number of free households in Little Russia.
True, the peasants who fell into citizenship, according to the law, still had the right to move from the estates seized by the foreman. Free passages were banned on the initiative of the Cossack foreman by the General Military Chancellery in 1739. But the central government in 1742 canceled this ban (by the way, in the same 1742, by decree of Empress Elizabeth, Great Russian officials in Little Russia were forbidden to enslave Little Russian peasants). Then the foreman did everything possible so that the right to free passage turned into an empty formality.
A procedure was established according to which those wishing to move to another place of residence were obliged to leave all their property to the owner of the former estate. So that the peasants did not leave secretly, they were forbidden to cross without the written permission of such an owner. In fact, this was already serfdom. And although the peasants could complain to the authorities in the event of an unreasonable refusal of the landowner to give permission to move, it goes without saying that the wealthy owner had much more ways to come to an agreement with local officials than the peasants who had been skinned by him.
As you can see, serfdom had only to be fixed by law. And issuing her decree in 1783 at the urgent request of the Cossack foreman, Catherine II, indeed, only applied the last seal to what already existed.
It is worth noting that, asking the Empress for this decree, the newly-minted landlords motivated their desire with economic considerations. They declared that as long as the peasants retained at least an illusory hope of free passage, they would be lazy, relying not on their labor, but on the search for best place, where it would be possible not to pay taxes and not to serve service.
Probably, the laziness of some peasants actually took place. However, it is also undoubted that the free transition made it possible for the rural workers to evade the abuses of the landlords. Now there was no such possibility. However, it must be repeated: she was gone long before 1783.
One more thing. The decree of the empress attached the peasants to the land, but did not yet mean complete slavery. All the horrors of serfdom known to us today from literature lie on the conscience of the landowners themselves. And in Little Russia, the majority of landowners were of local, Little Russian origin.
And a well-known Ukrainian historian from Galicia, Stepan Tomashivsky, is a thousand times right, who at the beginning of the 20th century emphasized: “In vain, the enslavement of the peasants in 1783 is called the shackles in which Moscow shackled us. These shackles were made to the last carnation by the sons of Ukraine themselves.”
Lands of the former Kievan Rus (highlighted in red)
It is noticeable that in the days of Ancient Rus', Ukraine was only the third lot in relation to Russia and Belarus. This is despite the fact that Rurik came and captured Kiev from the north from Novgorod (that is, from the territory of modern Russia). As you know, he came with Russia
... And they came and sat the eldest, Rurik, in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. The Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before that they were Slovenes. Two years later, Sineus and his brother Truvor died. And one Rurik took all power, and began to distribute cities to his men - Polotsk to that, Rostov to that, Beloozero to another. The Varangians in these cities are nakhodniki, and the indigenous population in Novgorod is Slovene, in Polotsk - Krivichi, in Rostov - Merya, in Beloozero - all, in Murom - Murom, and Rurik ruled over all of them.
But the Galicians, as you know, have their own truth, which they were taught in the Austro-Hungarian schools.
And to this day they consider all the wars that Russia has won to be "Peremoga, like the Muscovites stole from them"
So Rus' is Galician, and Muscovites are Ugro-Finnish, and it is not Rus' that needs to be afraid of Europe, but Ugro-Fin.
But Europe is not the Galicians, it remembers at the genetic level how the Huns fled from it Into the Black Sea steppes, who killed the Hungarian king Bela IV, who took Paris and captured Berlin four times. not a sleazy tribe of Galicians. Who are trying to convince that Rus', TERRIBLE FOR EUROPE, is not RUSSIA, but THEY, THE SONS OF GALICIA. And Rus', it's only So, some kind of Ugrofin tribe. You shouldn't even pay attention to it. But Europe still remembers who is who! Only a fool wants to get involved with Russia, who does not understand how this could end. Europe knows this for itself, And does not want to repeat old mistakes.
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