Palace Agriculture in Russia in the 17th Century

About the author:

Larisa Yu. Varentsova, Cand. Sci. (Hist.), Associate Professor, Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Nizhny Novgorod Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia; l_varentsova.65@mail.ru

Abstract:

Throughout the 17^th century, the Palace economy developed dynamically in the Royal fiefdoms, which by the middle — the second half of the 17^th century were characterized by high profitability. The Palace lands provided the Romanov House with everything it needed. The components of the Palace economy included agriculture, fishing grounds, and manufacturing facilities. At the same time, the Royal manufactories were not numerous, the fishing grounds were not in all the sovereign’s fiefdoms, only agriculture dominated everywhere.

The relevance of this work lies in studying the historical experience of socio-econo­mic and political development of the Russian state in the 17^th century. The purpose of the article is to consider Palace agriculture in Russia in the 17^th century.

The methodological basis of the study relies on the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity. The author has used the works by russian pre-revolutionary historians V. N. Tatishchev, S. M. Solovyov, and M. Baranovsky, as well as the works of researchers of the soviet and post-soviet periods S. I. Volkov, V. I. Buganov, V. A. Korostelev, and A. V. Topychkanov.

The novelty of the research consists in the introduction of new historical sources into scientific circulation. The source database consists of the unpublished office documents from the Armory chamber fund 396, the Palace department fund 1239 of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA, Moscow), as well as from the rare handwritten and old-printed books fund of the Moscow state United art historical, architectural and natural landscape museum-reserve. Among the published sources, we can distinguish a group of office documents. These are census, parish, and expense books of orders of Secret Affairs and the Grand Palace. In addition, the author has used the historical and geographical materials of the 17^th — early 18^th century from the books of the Discharge Order and the memoirs by the german traveler A. Oleary.

The results show the place of Palace agriculture in the economy of the Tsar’s domain in Russia in the 17^th century. The author has identified the main directions in the development of agriculture on the territory of the Palace fiefdoms. Having studied the attempt to modernize the Palace agriculture during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and to use the best european experience, this research highlights the significance of the Secret Affairs Order, which was in charge of many agricultural objects in the second half of the 17^th century; their geographical coordinates are indicated. The author reveals the main features of the development of Palace grain farming, horticulture, animal husbandry, poultry farming, and beekeeping. The examples of farming in some Tsar’s villages of the Moscow Region showcase the ways of providing labor for the main objects of agriculture in the Tsar’s domain.

The agricultural products from the Royal fiefdoms were intended for the Royal family. To a lesser extent, they were sent for sale on the domestic market. Different Royal fiefdoms specialized in particular fields. Namely, Izmailovo, Chashnikovo, Alekseevskoye, Stepanovskoye, Ekaterininskaya Grove, and Yermolino Palace villages near Moscow supplied rye, oats, wheat, hops, flax, and hemp. Grape, fruit, and mulberry orchards were bred in Chuguev, Astrakhan, Bryansk, and the Moscow Region. Russian and German specialists were involved in their service. The Palace villages Pachino, Alekseevskoe, Stepanovski, Ermolino, situated near Moscow, and the villages Lyskovo and Murashkino near Nizhny Novgorod were the centres of the Palace livestock. Tsar’s apiaryies were in Karpovka, Volnovsky, Kharkiv, Chuguyev, Olesinska, and Hotnichescom counties. Palace agriculture was served using the forced labor of palace peasants and posadsky people, soldiers, archers, while only small amounts of hired labor were involved.

References:

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2. Volkov S. I. 1959. Peasants of the Palace Estates of the Moscow Region in the Middle of the 18^th Century. Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 261 pp. [In Russian]

3. The Palace Village of Izmailovo, Ancestral Fiefdom of the Romanovs. Currently the Nikolaev Izmailovo Military Alms-House. 1892. Tipografiya T. I. Gogen. 58 pp. [In Russian]

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