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Taxation, Tax Farming, and Merchants in Sixteenth-Century Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Paul Bushkovitch
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The merchant is a shadowy if not invisible figure in the accounts of the political and economic life of the Russian state in the sixteenth century. Apart from a few exceptional cases, very little is known of his commercial dealings. His political-administrative activities rarely appear in discussions of the reigns of Ivan the Terrible and his immediate successors. Because few sources survive that permit an investigation of the merchant's place in the Russian economy, some scholars have concluded that the part the merchant played was minor.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , September 1978 , pp. 381 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1978

References

1. Lappo-Danilevskii, A. S., Organisatsiia priamogo oblosheniia v moskovskom gosudarstve so vremeni Smuty do epokhi preobrasovanii (St. Petersburg, 1890), p. 120 Google Scholar.

2. Veselovskii, S. B. and Platonov, S. F., eds., Prikhodo-raskhodnye knigi moskovskikh prikasov, in Russkaia istoricheskaia biblioteka, vol. 28 (St. Petersburg, 1912), pp. 117–18 Google Scholar.

3. Miliukov, P. N., Gosudarstvennoe khosiaistvo Rossii v pervoi chetverti XVIII stoletiia i reformy Petra Velikogo, 2nd ed. (St. Petersburg, 1905), p. 74 Google Scholar.

4. Chaev, N. S., ed., “Dvinskaia ustavnaia tarnozhennaia otkupnaia graraota 1560 g.,” Letopis’ saniatii postoiannoi istoriko-arkheograficheskoi kommissii, vol. 1 (34), 1926 (Moscow, 1927), pp. 199–203 Google Scholar; and Sadikov, P. A., Ocherki po istorii oprichniny (Moscow-Leningrad, 1950, no. 11, pp. 428–31 Google Scholar.

5. Veselovskii, S. B., Soshnoe pis'mo: Issledovanie po istorii kadastra i pososhnogo oblozheniia moskovskogo gosudarstva, vol. 1 (Moscow, 1915), pp. 38 and 152Google Scholar; and Sadikov, , Ocherki, no. 49, p. 518 Google Scholar.

6. “And our toll collectors of Dmitrov will collect the toll and the highway toll and all types of toll duties from those who come for me, the Great Prince” (Akty feodal'nogo semlevladeniia i khoziaistva XIV-XVI vekov, ed. L. V. Cherepnin and A. A. Zimin, 3 vols. [Moscow, 1951-56], vol. 2, no. 130, pp. 122-23 [hereafter cited as AFZ]).

7. “Beloozerskaia tamozhennaia gramota,” in Cherepnin, L. V., ed., Pamiatniki russhogo pram, vol. 4 (Moscow, 1955), pp. 175–78 Google Scholar.

8. Some of these places include: Karash in the Rostov district (1483); Galich and Kostroma (1485); Pereiaslavl’ (1491); the Sheksna-Mologa district, Uglich, Kashin, and Dmitrov (1496) ; Iaroslavl’ and Rostov (1499) ; Ruza (1510) ; Beloozero (1511) ; the entire road from Moscow to the Sheksna River (1511); Vladimir (1514); Zubtsov, Opoki, and Rzhev (1516); the village of Degunino near Kozel'sk (1517); Volokolamsk, Staraia Rusa, Novgorod, Deman (1518) ; Ustiuzhna Zhelezopol'skaia (1521) ; Zvenigorod (1522) ; Novyi Torzhok (1539); Kholmogory (1547-56); Staritsa (1548); Kholopii Torg on the Volga, Nizhnii Novgorod, Balakhna, and Moscow (1548). A general charter issued to Metropolitan Makarii in 1547 allows his servants to transport fish throughout the Russian state without any poshlina whatsoever, and addresses itself “po gorodom tamozhnikom i po mytom mytchikom” (to toll collectors in the towns and highway toll collectors at highway toll stations), suggesting that both types of officials were found everywhere in the Russian state (AFZ, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 23-24, no. 137, pp. 125-26, no. 292, p. 249, no. 293, pp. 249-50; AFZ, vol. 2, no. 48, pp. 48-49; AFZ, vol. 1, no. 294, pp. 250-51, no. 296, p. 251; Akty istoricheskie sobrannyc i isdannye arkheograficheskoi kommissiei, 5 vols. [St. Petersburg, 1841-42], vol. 1, no. 119, pp. 173-74 [hereafter cited as AI]; AFZ, vol. 2, no. 69, p. 68, no. 80, p. 78, no. 82, pp. 80-81; Akty arkheograficheskoi ekspeditsii, 4 vols. [St. Petersburg, 1836-38], vol. 1, no. 170, pp. 137-39 [hereafter cited as AAB]; AI, vol. 1, no. 128, pp. 190-91; AFZ, vol. 1, no. 106, p. 101; AAE, vol. 1, no. 188, pp. 165-66; Iakovlev, A. I., ed., Namcstnich'i gubnye i semskie ustavnye gramoty moskovskogo gosudarstva [Moscow, 1909], no. 16, pp. 45–49 Google Scholar; AFZ, vol. 2, no. 208, p. 214; AAE, vol. 2, no. 222, pp. 211-12; AFZ, vol. 1, no. 244, pp. 209-10).

9. The local kormlenshchik received such duties in Shepkov and Voinichi in the Ruza district ﹛myt and even tamga in 1533-45, myt only from some time after 1547 onward) ; in Vygozero ﹛myt and piatno, circa 1543) ; and Kursk Novgorodskii, a small town ﹛myt and piatno in 1546) (see Iushkov, A. I., ed., Akty XIH-XVII w. predstavlennye v- razriad, in Chteniia v Obshchestve istorii i drevnostei rossiiskikh pri moskovskom universitete, 1898, books 1-4: no. 133, pp. 115–16, no. 141, p. 121, and no. 147, p. 126Google Scholar).

10. Nosov, N. E., Ocherki po istorii mestnogo upravleniia russkogo gosudarstva pervoi poloviny XVI veka (Moscow-Leningrad, 1957), p. 184 Google Scholar; Dopolneniia k aktam istoricheskim (St. Petersburg, 1846-72), vol. 1, no. 74, pp. 132-33 (hereafter cited as DAI).

11. AAE, vol. 1, no. 223, pp. 212-13, no. 230, pp. 222-26; and DAI, vol. 1, no. 49, pp. 70- 71, no. 74, pp. 132-33.

12. For the text, see “Materialy dlia istorii stoglavogo sobora,” in Zhdanov, N. I., Sochincniia, vol. 1 (St. Petersburg, 1904), pp. 171–272Google Scholar. Zimin, Shmidt, and Nosov assign this document to the Assembly of the Land of 1550 (see Zimin, A. A., Reformy Ivana Groznogo [Moscow, 1960], pp. 336–Google Scholar; Nosov, N. E., Stanovlenie soslovno-predstavitel'nykh uchrezhdeniiv Rossii: Izyskaniia o zemskoi reforme Ivana Groznogo [Leningrad, 1968], pp. 23 ffGoogle Scholar.; and Shmidt, S. O., Stanovlenie rossiiskogo samoderzhavstva: Issledovanie sotsial'no-politicheskoi istorii vremeni Ivana Groznogo [Moscow, 1973], pp. 163–Google Scholar).

13. DAI, vol. 1, no. 49, pp. 70-71.

14. “From the tsar and grand prince of all Russia to all towns and rural districts of our Moscow state, to the toll collectors and highway toll collectors who take the zamyt at one den'ga the ruble, on faith and on farm …” (Istoricheskie akty Iaroslavsko-Spasskogo monastyria, ed. I. A. Vakhrameev [Moscow, 1896], vol. 1, no. 23, pp. 28-30; and Sadikov, , Ocherki, p. 267, n. 5, pp. 278–79, 295Google Scholar; emphasis added).

15. DAI, vol. 1, no. 95, pp. 147-48; Sadikov, , Ocherki, no. 10, pp. 427–28 Google Scholar; Chaev, “Dvinskaia ustavnaia tamozhennaia otkupnaia gramota,” passim; DAI, vol. 1, no. 116, pp. 163-68; AAE, vol. 1, no. 277, pp. 313-14. The Vladimir case is the only one from the years of the Oprichnina outside of Novgorod. Since Vladimir was not within the Oprichnina, it is difficult to determine what effect if any it had on the toll system.

16. Artur, Attman, The Russian and Polish Markets in International Trade, Publications of the Institute of Economic History of Gothenburg University, no. 26 (GSteborg, 1973), pp. 84–86 Google Scholar.

17. A. I. Kopanev, “Novgorodskie tamozhennye tseloval'niki 70-80-kh godov XVI v.,” in Issledovaniia po sotsial'no-politkheskoi istorii Rossti, Trudy Leningradskogo otdeleniia instituta istorii, vol. 12 (Leningrad, 1971), pp. 145 and 146; AAE, vol. 1, no. 332, pp. 400- 402, no. 334, pp. 402-3, no. 335, pp. 403-4; and Sadikov, , Ocherki, no. 49, p. 518 Google Scholar.

18. Sadikov, , Ocherki, no. 21, pp. 467-68, no. 24, pp. 485-86, no. 30, pp. 492–93Google Scholar; AAE, vol. 1, no. 338, pp. 408-11, no. 347, pp. 419-20.

19. Kalachev, N. V., ed., Pistsovye knigi moskovskogo gosudarstva, vol. 1, part 2 (St. Petersburg, 1895; reprint ed.), pp. 1304–5 Google Scholar; AAE, vol. 1, no. 320, p. 381; Russkaia istoricheskaia biblioteka, vol. 2 (St. Petersburg, 1875), no. 41, pp. 50-51; Sbornik Mukhanova, 2nd ed. (St. Petersburg, 1866), no. 152, p. 202; Arkhiv P. M. Stroeva, in Russkaia istoricheskaia biblioteka, vol. 32 (St. Petersburg, 1915), vol. 1, no. 373, pp. 717-19; Sbornik kniazia Khilkova (St. Petersburg, 1879), no. 62, pp. 165-70; Russkaia istoricheskaia biblioteka, vol. 2, no. 215, pp. 974-76. For village markets see note 36 below.

20. AI, vol. 1, no. 193, pp. 356-59; AAE, vol. 1, no. 322, pp. 382-83, no. 336, pp. 405-7; AI, vol. 1, no. 230, pp. 436-46.

21. The literature on the tavern monopoly before the eighteenth century is scanty and outdated (see I. Ditiatin, “Tsarskii kabak moskovskogo gosudarstva,” Russkaia mysl', 4, no. 9 [1883], reprinted in Ditiatin, Statfi po istorii russkogo prava [St. Petersburg, 1895], pp. 468- 96).

22. AFZ, vol. 1, no. 1124, p. US; AFZ, vol. 2, no. 129, p. 122; Zhdanov, “Materialy,” p. 179; A. L., Kopanev, “Ustavnaia zemskaia gramota krest'ianam trekh volostei dvinskogo uezda 25 fevralia 1552 g.,” Istoricheskii arkhiv, 1953, no. 8, pp. 287–89Google Scholar; AAE, vol. 1, no. 234, pp. 231-39; and Iakovlev, , Namestnich'i gubnye i zemskie ustavnye gramoty, no. 12, pp. 32–37 Google Scholar.

23. DAI, vol. 1, no. 103, p. 152; Iushkov, , Akty XIH-XVII w., no. 181, p. 163, no. 189, p. 172, no. 194, pp. 176-78, no. 206, p. 182, no. 212, p. 191, no. 184, p. 166 Google Scholar; AAE, vol. 1, no. 269, pp. 304-7; and Nosov, Stanovlenie, p. 433.

24. Russkaia istoricheskaia biblioteka, vol. 2, no. 39, pp. 46-47; Iakovlev, , Namestnich'i gubnye i semskie ustavnye gramoty, pp. 142–47Google Scholar; AAE, vol. 1, no. 361, pp. 442-43; DAI, vol. 1, no. 146, pp. 249-50; AI, vol. 2, no. 7, pp. 8-10; Sbornik kn. Khilkova, no. 62, pp. 165-70.

25. On the gosti, see N., Kostomarov, Ocherk torgovli moskovskogo gosudarstva v XVI i XVII stoletiiakh (St. Petersburg, 1862)Google Scholar, especially chapter 4.

26. Maikov, V. V., ed., Kniga pistsovaia po Novgorodu Velikomu kontsa XVI v., in Letopis1 saniatii arkheograjicheskoi kommissii, vol. 24 (St. Petersburg, 1911), pp. 217–22 Google Scholar.

27. “The gosti and merchants of Moscow and Novgorod are to collect the toll and all toll duties on faith for the sovereign tsar” (AAE, vol. 1, no. 282, pp. 320-28; see also notes 11, IS, 17 above, and AAE, vol. 2, no. 24, pp. 74-75, and no. 7, p. 45).

28. Nosov, , Stanovlenie, pp. 347, 351, 354, 356-57Google Scholar.

29. Nosov, , Stanovlenie, pp. 255 and 281Google Scholar.

30. AAE, vol. 1, no. 342, pp. 413-15, no. 362, pp. 443-45; AAE, vol. 2, no. 15, pp. 64-65

31. G. F. Karpov, ed., Pamiatniki diplomaticheskikh snoshenii moskovskogo gosudarstva s pol'sko-litovskim gosudarstvom, vol. 3, in Sbornik imperatorskogo russkogo istoricheskogo obshchestva, 71 (St. Petersburg, 1892): 473; Russkie akty kopengagenskogo gosudarstvennogo arkhiva, in Russkaia istoricheskaia biblioteka, vol. 16 (St. Petersburg, 1897), no. 23, pp. 91- 93; Pamiatniki diplomaticheskikh snoshenii drevnei Rossii s derzhavami inostrannymi, vol. 1 (St. Petersburg, 1851), pp. 1076-77, 1109, 1144, 1219; and Platonov, Veselovskii and, Prikhodo- raskhodnye knigi, p. 265 Google Scholar.

32. See Nosov, Stanovlenie; Nosov, Ocherki po istorii mestnogo upravleniia; Sadikov, Ocherki; and Leont'ev, A. K., Obrazovanie prikasnoi sistemy upravleniia v russkom gosudarstve (Moscow, 1961)Google Scholar, passim.

33. See Shmidt, Stanovlenie rossiiskogo samodershavstva, passim.

34. For a general account of some aspects of the sixteenth-century Russian towns, see Chechulin, N. D., Goroda moskovskogo gosudarstva v XVI veke (St. Petersburg, 1889)Google Scholar; and Smirnov, P. P., Posadskie liudi i ikh klassovaia bor'ba do serediny XVII veka, vol. 1 (Moscow, 1947)Google Scholar.

35. B., Chicherin, Oblastnye uchrezhdeniia Rossii v XVII veke (Moscow, 1856)Google Scholar.

36. V. O. Kliuchevskii, Kurs russkoi istorii, in Kliuchevskii, V. O., Sochineniia, vol. 2 (Moscow, 1957), p. 367 Google Scholar; emphasis added.

37. Miliukov, P. N., Ocherki po istorii russkoi kul'tury, 5th ed., part 1 (St. Petersburg, 1904), p. 232 Google Scholar.

38. Platonov, S. F., Ocherki po istorii Smuty v moskovskom gosudarstve XVI-XVII w., 3rd ed. (St. Petersburg, 1911), pp. 399–400, 444-46, S18Google Scholar.