Having thrown off the centuries-old shackles of the Horde and overcome feudal fragmentation, Rus' by the middle of the sixteenth century turned into a single state with a large population and vast territories. She needed a strong and organized army to protect the borders and develop new lands. This is how service people appeared in Rus' - these were professional warriors and administrators who were in the service of the sovereign, received a salary in lands, food or bread and were exempt from paying taxes.

Categories

There were two main categories of service people.

1. Those who served in their country. The highest military class, recruited from among the Russian nobility. From the name it is clear that the service was passed on to the son from the father. Occupied all leadership positions. For their service, they received land plots for permanent use, fed and grew rich through the work of the peasants on these plots.

2. Those who served according to the device, that is, by choice. The bulk of the army, ordinary warriors and low-level commanders. They were chosen from the masses. As a salary they received land plots for general use and for a time. Upon leaving service or death, the land was taken over by the state. No matter what talents the “instrumental” warriors possessed, no matter what feats they performed, the road to the highest military positions was closed to them.

Servicemen for the Fatherland

The children of boyars and nobles were included in the category of service people in their homeland. They began to serve at the age of 15, before which they were considered minors. Special Moscow officials with assistant clerks were sent to the cities of Rus', where they organized shows of noble youth, who were called “noviki.” The new recruit's suitability for service, his military qualities and financial status were determined. After which the applicant was enrolled in the service, and he was assigned a monetary and local salary.

Based on the results of the reviews, tens were compiled - special lists in which records of all service people were kept. The authorities used these lists to control the number of troops and the amount of salaries. In tens, the movements of the serviceman, his appointment or dismissal, injuries, death, and captivity were noted.

Service people in the country were hierarchically divided into:

Moscow;

Urban.

Duma servants for the fatherland

People from the highest aristocratic environment who occupied a dominant position in the state and army. They were governors, ambassadors, governors in border cities, led orders, troops and all state affairs. The Duma were divided into four ranks:

Boyars. The most powerful people of the state after the Grand Duke and the Patriarch. Boyars had the right to sit in the Boyar Duma and were appointed ambassadors, governors, and members of the Judicial Collegium.

Okolnichy. The second most important rank, especially close to the sovereign. Okolnichy represented foreign ambassadors to the ruler of Rus', they were also involved in all the grand ducal trips, be it a trip to war, prayer or hunting. The okolnichy went ahead of the king, checked the integrity and safety of the roads, found overnight accommodation for the entire retinue, and provided everything necessary.

Duma nobles. They performed a variety of duties: they were appointed governors and managers of Prikazas, participated in the work of commissions of the Boyar Duma, they had military and court duties. With the proper talent and zeal, they moved to a higher rank.

The clerks are Duma. Experienced officials of the Boyar Duma and various Orders. They were responsible for working with the documents of the Duma and the most important Orders. The clerks edited royal and Duma decrees, acted as speakers at Duma meetings, and sometimes rose to the rank of head of the Order.

Instrument officers

According to the instrument, service people constituted the combat core of the Russian troops. They were recruited from free people: the population of cities, bankrupt servicemen in the homeland, and partly from the “Pribornye”, they were exempt from most duties and taxes and for their service they were given a cash salary and small plots of land, on which they worked themselves in their free time from service and wars.

Service people according to the device were divided into:

Kazakov;

Streltsov;

Gunners.

Cossacks

The Cossacks did not immediately become the sovereign's servants. These willful and brave warriors only entered the sphere of influence of Moscow in the second half of the sixteenth century, when the Don Cossacks, for a reward, began to guard the trade route connecting Rus' with Turkey and Crimea. But the Cossack troops quickly became a formidable force in the Russian army. They guarded the southern and eastern borders of the state and actively participated in the development of Siberia.

Cossacks settled separately in cities. Their army was divided into “devices” of 500 Cossacks each, under the leadership of a Cossack head. Additionally, the instruments were divided into hundreds, fifty and tens, they were commanded by centurions, pentecostals and tens. The general management of the Cossacks was in the hands of who appointed and dismissed service people. The same order determined their salaries, punished and judged them, and sent them on campaigns.

Sagittarius

Streltsy can rightfully be called the first regular army in Rus'. Armed with bladed weapons and arquebuses, they were distinguished by high military training, versatility and discipline. The archers were mainly foot warriors, they could fight both independently and as a full-fledged addition to the cavalry, which until then had been the main striking force of the sovereign's troops.

In addition, the streltsy regiments had a clear advantage over the noble cavalry, because they did not need long training, they went on a campaign at the first order of the authorities. In peacetime, archers monitored law and order in cities, guarded palaces, and performed guard duty on city walls and streets. During the war, they took part in sieges of fortresses, repelling attacks on cities and in field battles.

Like the free Cossacks, the archers were divided into orders of 500 warriors, and they, in turn, were divided into hundreds, fifty, and the smallest units - tens. Only serious injuries, old age and wounds could put an end to the service of the archer, otherwise it was for life and was often inherited.

Pushkari

Already in the sixteenth century, statesmen understood the importance of artillery, so special service people appeared - these were gunners. They performed all tasks related to guns. In peacetime, they kept the guns in order, stood guard next to them, and were responsible for obtaining new guns and making cannonballs and gunpowder.

During the war, they were responsible for all the artillery issues. They transported guns, maintained them, and took part in battles. The gunners were additionally armed with arquebuses. The Pushkar rank also included carpenters, blacksmiths, collar workers and other artisans needed to repair tools and city fortifications.

Other service people in Russia in the 16th century

Conscripted service people. This was the name of the fighters who were recruited from the peasants by special order of the tsar during difficult wars.

Battle serfs. Military retinue of large aristocrats and middle-class landowners. They were recruited from unfree peasants and rejected or bankrupt newcomers. Combat serfs were an intermediate link between the draft peasantry and the nobles.

Church servants. These were warrior-monks, patriarchal archers. Warriors who took monastic vows and reported directly to the patriarch. They played the role of the Russian Inquisition, monitoring the piety of the clergy and defending the values ​​of the Orthodox faith. In addition, they guarded the highest dignitaries of the church and, if necessary, became a formidable garrison in the defense of fortress monasteries.

In the middle of the 17th century. 60% of city households belonged to service people, among whom service people predominated, recruited from local residents (streltsy, Cossacks, zatinshchiki, gunners, etc.). According to the Council Code of 1649, they retained the right to engage in trade and crafts duty-free up to certain volumes. Government policy was aimed at preserving this category of service people in the second half of the 17th century. This was especially evident on the outskirts of the Russian state. In the Urals and Siberia, the distribution of estates to nobles, including land granted to soldiers, was prohibited. And according to the decree of 1680, the Cossacks of Smolensk and other cities were obliged to serve from their land without a monetary salary, which implied the preservation of allocated estates for them.

Gradually, conditions developed for the replenishment of the nobility with service people according to the instrument. The registration of runaway serfs and peasants into the service allowed them to penetrate even into the ranks of the children of the boyars, that is, service people in their homeland. In this regard, in the “Articles on the inspection and analysis of boyar children” of the late 70s of the 17th century. in the interests of the nobles, it is forbidden to pay serfs and peasants with local and monetary salaries. In turn, the expansion of state arable land in the south stimulates the transfer of service people to black-growing peasants. In particular, this applied to gunners who were given land instead of a grain salary. Thus, the government’s policy towards service people “according to the device” was determined not only by state interests. It also took into account those social contradictions that objectively arose as the nobility strengthened.

Clergy

In the 17th century The clergy were traditionally divided into black and white. The black clergy was formed on the basis of acceptance of the schema, that is, tonsure as a monk. They were forbidden to perform services (baptism, wedding, etc.). There were monasteries for men and women. Large monasteries, close to the royal house, with estates, carrying out trade and fishing activities, played a significant role in the socio-political and economic life of the country. These were mainly men's monasteries, but there were also women's monasteries, in particular the Novodevichy Convent. In addition to the Moscow monasteries (Chudov, Simonov, Novospassky, etc.), the richest monasteries also existed on the outskirts - Solovetsky, Kirillo-Belozersky and others. Such monasteries performed not only religious, but also state administrative and military functions. They become strongholds that provide the government with control over the development of new lands.

The overwhelming majority of women's monasteries and a significant part of men's monasteries did not have their own estates and existed by receiving support from the state - ruga, which included funds for food and the minimum needs of a certain number of monks. Only in exceptional cases did the swearing reach significant proportions as recognition of the merits and significance of a given monastery. Monasteries, founded on the initiative of the highest church hierarchs, were their houses and were financed from the diocesan treasury.

Bishops, archbishops, metropolitans and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church - the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' - were elected from among the black clergy. The heads of the dioceses, including the patriarch, who governed the patriarchal region as an independent diocese, were supported by income from the churches of the dioceses, as well as by grants of estates and lands. If there were no estates and a large number of parishes, the state assumed the costs of maintaining the hierarch's court. Thus, the property status of the heads of dioceses depended not on rank, but on the number of parishes, population density and land holdings.

The main source of replenishment of the diocesan treasury was the income received from the white clergy, i.e., clergy performing rituals in churches on the territory of a given diocese. Each priest, in addition to paying fees for installation, for transferring from one church to another, etc., annually paid a fee for the land of the parish and all the funds collected from the population for performing rituals. Most priests did not bear duties in favor of the state, but if the tax community chose a priest from among itself, on its own initiative, and sent him to be appointed to the head of the diocese, he retained the duties of bearing the tax. A similar situation is observed in estates in the case of the appointment of a priest from among the peasants on the initiative of the land owner. He is released from duties, but does not acquire the right to move to another church if the patrimonial church brings him sufficient income to meet his minimum needs.

A special role was played by archpriests, heads of cathedral churches, in which several priests could serve at once. Cathedral churches could have fiefdoms, protection from the state, as well as maintenance from senior church officials. The Cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin, which had significant land holdings and rich deposits, stood out in particular. The property differentiation within the clergy was so significant that it objectively did not allow the clergy to consolidate on the basis of common social interests.

Service people according to the “device”

Among the service people, according to the “device”, the first place in number and importance was occupied by the archers. The Streltsy were Moscow and policemen.

Information about the Moscow archers is very scarce and is limited to reports from foreigners who visited Russia. According to Fletcher, there were about 7,000 Moscow archers, of whom 2,000 were stirrups (mounted). According to Margeret (late 16th century), there were 10 thousand Moscow archers. The Sagittarius were divided into orders, each consisting of 500 people. The Streletsky heads with their orders were completely independent and subordinated directly to the central institution - the Streletsky Prikaz. Orders were divided into hundreds, and hundreds into fifty and tens. At the head of the orders were heads, hundreds were in charge of centurions, fifty were in charge of pentecostals, and tens were in charge of tens.

The court position of the Moscow archers also determined their official duties. Strepryannye archers guarded the royal palace every day. Foot archers performed guard duty in Moscow, changing for weeks. Moscow archers were also sent to other cities to strengthen local garrisons. In wartime, archers took part in campaigns and military operations as part of the army.

For their service, Moscow archers received a cash and grain salary: annually 4 - 7 rubles, 12 quarters of rye and the same amount of oats. The command staff was appointed from nobles and boyar children. The Streletsky head was paid annually 30 - 60 rubles, and, in addition, he had a local salary of 300 - 500 quarters. In addition to the land, centurions received 12 - 20 rubles, foremen - 10 rubles.

City archers were located in garrisons, numbering from 20 to 1000 people, mainly in border cities. A significant number of streltsy were located on the northwestern border, especially in Pskov and Nov-

city. There were fewer archers in the southern border cities, obviously because there were many other military people there, especially Cossacks, who also performed city service. It can be assumed that by the end of the 16th century. There were archers in all more or less militarily important cities of the Russian state. Depending on the military-administrative significance of the city, the regular number of archers in it was determined. During the Livonian War, many archers were in the conquered cities.

There is no doubt that by the end of the 16th century. The Streltsy army increased and in total numbered approximately 20 - 25 thousand people.

It is difficult to judge from which population groups and how the archers were recruited from the 16th century sources that have come down to us. We can only say with certainty that the city archers were recruited mainly from the local population. So, for example, in Kazan there were only 13% of newcomers among the archers, and in Sviyazhsk only 8%. Streltsy were recruited from the local townspeople in Tula, Toropets and other cities. These were the poorest representatives of the townspeople.

The most widespread was the recruitment of “free, willing people” into the Streltsy service. Only free people (not slaves or peasants), and not tax-paying people at all, were accepted into the archers. It was required that they enter the service of their own free will, be “good”, that is, healthy and know how to shoot.

Over time, children and other relatives of the streltsy themselves became a more constant source of replenishment of the Streltsy army. Gradually, service in the archers became a hereditary duty. The government always paid special attention to attracting Streltsy children and relatives to the service, and only when there was a lack of Streltsy offspring was it allowed to recruit free people into the Streltsy service. Service in the Streltsy was not only hereditary, but also for life. Only old age, wounds or injury could exempt one from service.

In peacetime, city riflemen performed garrison service. They stood guard on walls, towers and at city gates, at government institutions (customs, official hut, etc.), they were sent to districts for no-

Ranks, for saltpeter trades, 6 treasury convoys, for accompanying ambassadors, for executing court sentences, etc. During the war, city archers were assigned by whole orders or hundreds to different regiments of the army. Foot archers went on long trips on carts. In general, all archers, with rare exceptions, served on foot. Mounted archers (for example, Astrakhan) received government horses or money to buy them.

The archers' weapons consisted of hand-held arquebuses (hand-held weapons, self-propelled guns), reeds and sabers. In addition to weapons, the archers received gunpowder flasks, lead and gunpowder from the treasury (in wartime 1 - 2 pounds per person).

In those days, there was already a test of the art of shooting. Some idea of ​​such arquebus shooting shows is given by the description of the Englishman Jenkinson. He reports that shooting took place in Moscow in December 1557 at a target built for this purpose in the form of an ice shaft 6 feet high, about 90 fathoms long and up to 2 fathoms thick. A scaffold was erected in front of the rampart at a distance of 60 yards. Ivan the Terrible and his retinue attended the review.

The archers appeared at the shooting range as part of the order (500 people), lined up five in a row, each with a arquebus on their left shoulder and a fuse in their right hand. Having lined up on the stage, the archers opened fire on the ice rampart; The shooting continued until the rampart was broken. The brevity of the description does not allow us to establish how the degree of perfection of the archers in shooting from weapons was determined.

Unlike the noble cavalry, the archers had a certain military system and wore a special military uniform.

It is known that the massive arming of infantry with firearms led to the emergence of linear tactics. In 1605, in the battle of Dobrynichi, the Russian army for the first time used linear battle formations, operating in which the infantry could fire from the maximum number of guns. In Western Europe, linear tactics were later used by the Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648).

Near Dobrynichi, the archers, deployed in a line, repelled the attacks of the Polish cavalry with volleys. The indication of volley fire and clear formations of archers indicates that the Russian infantry had elements of linear tactics back in the middle of the 16th century. The Russian Streltsy infantry, by creating and developing linear tactics, was thereby ahead of Western military art by more than half a century.

In Moscow and other cities, archers lived in special settlements located in the city or suburb. When receiving a manor (yard) place, each archer had to have a yard and personal plot.

City archers were provided with cash, grain and land salaries. In some cities at the end of the 16th century. there were certain monetary salaries for archers. The main source of existence for the city archers was land plots (arable land, vegetable gardens, hayfields, etc.). Land was allocated to archers for a whole detachment (order, a hundred) at once, and not according to the available number of people, but according to the state. From the common land plots, the archers received plots of arable land (lots) for individual use. The size of these areas can be judged from the city of Venev, where in 1571 - 1572. it was ordered to give the foremen 5 and the ordinary archers 4 quarters of arable land per field (6 dessiatines in three fields). In Dankovo, the archers were entitled, in addition to a monetary salary, to the privates, 8 chety, and the Pentecostals, 10 chety per field. Consequently, there were no uniform salaries in money and land for the archers.

Other land and forests were in the common possession of the archers, sometimes together with other instrumental people (gunners, fighters, etc.).

Financially poor, the city archers were engaged in trade and crafts. Powerless to create the necessary favorable material conditions for the Streltsy, the government took the line of least resistance and later even provided the Streltsy with small benefits in their trade and crafts.

Streltsy's occupations in trade and crafts had a negative impact on their military training and combat effectiveness. On the other hand, trade and crafts brought the archers closer to the townspeople. The Streltsy suffered to the same extent from the arbitrariness of the administration, the competition of landowners and patrimonial owners, and the exploitation of large merchants, as did the ordinary mass of the townspeople. This closeness of the streltsy with the townspeople population was the main reason for the active participation of the streltsy in urban uprisings of the 17th century.

To control the Streletsky army, a special central institution was created - the Streletsky Prikaz. The order has been known since 1571, but it probably arose earlier, soon after the establishment of the Streltsy. The order was in charge of the Streltsy army on the territory of the entire state and had administrative, military and judicial functions in relation to the Streltsy.

In conclusion, we will make some general conclusions. The Sagittarius were the first permanent army in Rus'. Armed with firearms and bladed weapons and having good combat training, they represented the most advanced part of the Russian armed forces of the 16th century. One of the advantages of the Streltsy army over Western European musketeers was that the Streltsy could simultaneously conduct fire combat and combat with cold weapons, that is, they were suitable for independent actions. The Streltsy army differed favorably from the noble militia and other categories of the Russian army in that it could, at any time, upon the first order of the government, go on a campaign. Streltsy performed city (defense) service, carried out border guards, participated in field battles as infantry and were a siege army during assaults on enemy cities. The Streltsy army significantly contributed to the success of Russian weapons in the second half of the 16th century.

people in the service of the state are not by origin, but by hire (secretaries, clerks, archers, gunners, zatinshchiki, city Cossacks, soldiers, coachmen). The condition of an instrumental service man was hereditary in the same way as that of a boyar's son; Streltsy children, as a general rule, became Streltsy, Cossack children became Cossacks. But this category of persons did not have hereditary isolation and was constantly replenished by an influx of new forces from various strata of society; New people joined the Streltsy and Cossacks from time to time.

Sl. “according to the device” they settled in cities as settlements and were allocated small plots of state-owned land, and their land plots were very similar to the tax plots of the townspeople. Sl. “according to equipment”, being landowners, but not having peasants or slave workers, they themselves cultivated the land and hunted with their own hands. Streltsy, Cossacks and other instrumental people, just like the children of the boyars, were free from taxes, as Sl., white landowners, but with some restrictions. Many of them, living in cities, were engaged in trade and crafts.

In the 17th century Sl. “according to the device” they were allocated local land in the border regions of the country, where they guarded state borders without additional salary.

Service people are a category of persons in the service of the sovereign; they existed from the 14th to the 18th centuries. Another name for them is the sovereign's people. The service was military or administrative, and had special privileges: remuneration with land plots, titles, and later some were given local salaries.

Definition and types of sovereign people

It is not easy for a modern person to understand the hierarchy of service people. With the development and formation of Russia, a category of service people was formed who served for the benefit of the state. All residents of the country can be divided into three parts: the service population, the tax population and the non-tax population.

The tax population is the tax payers: peasants, artisans, residents of black settlements, and so on. The non-tax population included those who were partially or completely exempt from taxes. These were residents of white settlements and cities. The townspeople at this time played an important role, since by the beginning of the 16th century there were about 140 cities in Russia, the largest being Moscow.

It was in it, as well as in other cities, that most of the service people concentrated. These were mainly administrative employees and military personnel. The main types of services performed by them were of several categories: “for the fatherland”, “for the device”, “for conscription”, “church”. They, in turn, were divided into several subcategories, which were divided by type of service. Let's look at everything in order.

Service people "for the fatherland." Main characteristics

Service people have always been the backbone of the state, since it was they who were responsible for its security and performed all administrative functions that allowed the country to live and work. The boyars stood apart, they exercised the representative power of the country and participated in its governance. The category of service people “in the homeland” included:

Duma officials

The Moscow state in the 16th century was a country with a political system of “estate-representative monarchy.” Its representative body was the Boyar Duma, which, together with the tsar, resolved most issues in the country.

The Duma boyars sat in the Duma. From among them appointments were made to the positions of governors, ambassadors, and governors. They were the most powerful class in Rus'. In their possession were lands - estates (lands with a population living on them), which were in eternal possession and passed on by inheritance.

Duma nobles performed military and court duties, participated in meetings of the Boyar Duma, and were appointed heads of orders and governors.

Duma clerks did not participate in Duma meetings; they mainly handled all documentation: carried out correspondence, prepared orders and resolutions. If necessary, they were appointed to positions. An example is Duma clerk Ivan Timofeev.

Moscow officials

I would like to say separately about this category of service people. These are, for the most part, representatives of secular power, officials performing various functions. Let's look at some of them:

What are service people “according to the instrument”

Most of the city Cossacks also obeyed him. The rest obeyed the Cossack order, they were led by esauls and atamans. After a certain time, service people “according to the device” began to pass on their positions by inheritance.

Other categories

Service people “on conscription” - this definition is similar to the modern military “reserve”. They were needed during the war and were recruited mostly from peasants. Another name for them is “dacha warriors.” These were people paying tribute. Of the three households paying yasak, one warrior was called up. It was a heavy yoke for peasant farms. But it was precisely this type of service people that lasted the longest.

Church servants

This is a large and diverse category included in the concept of service people in Russia in the 16th century. These were nobles, patriarchal boyar children, archers, messengers who accepted haircut or obedience. They were supported and armed with church money and were subordinate only to the highest church ranks.

Church servants were recruited to serve the sovereign. They played a major role in the annexation of new lands. Numerous fortress-monasteries were built and operated on the outskirts of Russia, which helped protect Russian lands from enemy raids. They were fortified with powerful walls with high watchtowers. Equipped with artillery pieces, which were the most powerful for that time.

What did the service provide?

As we see, service people are a fairly numerous and diverse category of the population of the Moscow kingdom, for whom the defense of the state was their main purpose. Service for the benefit of the state gave numerous privileges in the form of land plots, food, and salary. Many people aspired to be among the servicemen.

The noble classes received great benefit from it: boyars, nobles, who received profitable positions where they literally amassed entire fortunes; in addition, they received great privileges, resources, and tax exemptions for their service. They passed on their service by inheritance. Around positions that provided income and power, certain social relations emerged, generated by the struggle for their possession.

The importance of service people in the formation and strengthening of the Russian state is difficult to overestimate. Thanks to them, it was possible to preserve the state and overcome the consequences of the Time of Troubles. It was they who actively participated in the development of new lands, the construction of fortresses and forts, the development of cities, and the establishment of administrative rule in them. They were the first to meet enemies encroaching on the integrity of the state.