Enslavement of peasants in Russia.

Parameter name	Meaning
Article subject:	Enslavement of peasants in Russia.
Rubric (thematic category)	State

I Prerequisites for the enslavement of the peasants

The natural environment was the most important prerequisite for serfdom in Russia. The withdrawal of the surplus product, which is extremely important for the development of society in the climatic conditions of vast Russia, required the creation of the most stringent mechanism of non-economic coercion.

The establishment of serfdom took place in the process of confrontation between the community and the developing landownership. The peasants perceived arable land as God's and royal property, considering at the same time that it belongs to the one who works on it. The spread of local land ownership, and especially the desire of service people to take under their direct control a part of the communal land (ᴛ.ᴇ. to create a "master's plow", which would guarantee the satisfaction of their needs, especially in military equipment, and most importantly, would make it possible to directly transfer this land to as an inheritance to his son and thereby secure his family practically on patrimonial rights) met with the resistance of the community, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ could only be overcome by completely subjugating the peasants.

In addition, the state was in dire need of a guaranteed income of taxes. With the weakness of the central administrative apparatus, it transferred the collection of taxes into the hands of the landowners. But for this it was extremely important to rewrite the peasants and attach them to the personality of the feudal lord.

The action of these prerequisites began to manifest itself especially actively under the influence of disasters and destruction caused by the Oprichnina and the Livonian War. As a result of the flight of the population from the devastated center to the outskirts, the problem of providing the service class with labor force, and the state with taxpayers, sharply aggravated.

In addition to the above reasons, enslavement was facilitated by the demoralization of the population caused by the horrors of the oprichnina, as well as peasant ideas about the landowner as a royal man sent from above to protect against external hostile forces.

II The main stages of enslavement

The process of enslaving the peasants in Russia was quite lengthy and went through several stages. The first stage - the end of the XV - the end of the XVI century. Back in the era of Ancient Russia, part of the rural population lost their personal freedom and turned into serfs and serfs. In conditions of fragmentation, the peasants could leave the land on which they lived and move to another landowner. Sudebnik 1497 ᴦ. streamlined this right, confirming the right of the peasants after the payment of the "elderly" to the possibility of "going out" on St. George's Day in autumn (the week before November 26 and the week after). At other times, the peasants did not move to other lands - employment in agricultural work, autumn and spring thaws, and frosts interfered. But the fixation by law of a certain short period of transition testified, on the one hand, to the desire of the feudal lords and the state to limit the right of the peasants, and on the other hand, to their weakness and inability to fix the peasants to the personality of a certain feudal lord. At the same time, this right forced the landowners to reckon with the interests of the peasants, which had a beneficial effect on the socio-economic development of the country.

A new stage in the development of serfdom began at the end of the sixteenth century and ended with the publication of the Council Code of 1649ᴦ. In 1592 (or in 1593), ᴛ.ᴇ. during the reign of Boris Godunov, a decree was issued (the text of which has not been preserved), forbidding exit already throughout the country and without any time limits. In 1592 ᴦ. the compilation of scribe books began (ᴛ.ᴇ. a census was carried out, which made it possible to attach peasants to their place of residence and return them in case of flight and further capture by the old owners), "whitewashed" (ᴛ.ᴇ. exempted from taxes) lordly plowing.

The drafters of the decree of 1597 ᴦ., who established the so-called. "lesson years" (the period of detecting fugitive peasants, defined as five years). After a five-year period, the fleeing peasants were subject to enslavement in new places, which was in the interests of large landowners and nobles of the southern and southwestern counties, where the main streams of fugitives were sent. The dispute over labor hands between the nobles of the center and the southern outskirts became one of the reasons for the upheavals of the beginning of the 17th century.

At the second stage of enslavement, there was a sharp struggle between various groups of landowners and peasants on the issue of the term for the search for fugitives, until the Council Code of 1649 ᴦ. did not cancel the "lesson years", introduced an indefinite investigation and did not completely enslave the peasants.

At the third stage (from the middle of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century), serfdom developed along an ascending line. The peasants lost the remnants of their rights, for example, under the law of 1675 ᴦ. they can be sold without land. In the eighteenth century landowners received the full right to dispose of their person and property, incl. exile without trial to Siberia and hard labor. Peasants in their social and legal status approached the slaves, they began to be treated as "talking cattle".

At the fourth stage (the end of the 18th century - 1861 ᴦ.), serf relations entered the stage of their decomposition. The state began to take measures that somewhat limited feudal arbitrariness, moreover, serfdom, as a result of the spread of humane and liberal ideas, was condemned by the advanced part of the Russian nobility. As a result, for various reasons, it was canceled by the Manifesto of Alexander 11 in February 1861 ᴦ.

III Consequences of enslavement.

Serfdom led to the establishment of an extremely inefficient form of feudal relations, preserving the backwardness of Russian society. Serf exploitation deprived direct producers of interest in the results of their labor, undermined both the peasant economy and, ultimately, the landlord economy.

Aggravating the social split of society, serfdom caused mass popular uprisings that shook Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Serfdom formed the basis of a despotic form of power, predetermined the lack of rights not only from the bottom, but also from the top of society. The landowners faithfully served the tsar also because they became "hostages" of the feudal system, because their security and possession of "baptized property" could only be guaranteed by a strong central authority.

Dooming the people to patriarchy and ignorance, serfdom prevented the penetration of cultural values ​​into the people's environment. It also affected the moral character of the people, gave rise to some slavish habits, as well as sharp transitions from extreme humility to an all-destructive rebellion.

And yet, in the natural, social and cultural conditions of Russia, there was probably no other form of organization of production and society.

Enslavement of peasants in Russia. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Enslavement of peasants in Russia." 2017, 2018.

The main stages of the enslavement of the peasants.

First stage refers to the end of the XV-XVI centuries, when the offensive of the feudal landowners and the state against the peasants began. Due to the growth of duties and harassment by the authorities, the peasants increasingly left their owners. Flight from the masters has become the most common form of discontent in Russia. State power did not yet possess the force that could attach the peasant to the land. The growth of local and patrimonial landownership of secular and spiritual feudal lords was accompanied by the involvement of new masses of peasants in relation to personal dependence on the owners. The movements of the peasants led to the fact that in the new lands people again fell into dependence, turned into serfs, i.e. bound to the earth and to their master.

The development of serfdom in the Russian state was associated with the formation of the estate system and the growing role of the state as a feudal exploiter of the masses of the draft population. The economic basis of serfdom was feudal ownership of land in all its forms - local, patrimonial, state.

During a period of political fragmentation, peasants could leave their masters and move to another landowner. The Sudebnik of Ivan III, compiled in 1497, was aimed at protecting the interests of landowners, their property and power over the dependent population, as well as the feudal state. Article 57 of the legislation introduced a new rule according to which peasants could leave their owners only once a year - a week before St. George's Day (November 26) and within a week after it, with the obligatory payment of "elderly" - payment for living on the master's land . This was the first nationwide restriction of peasant freedom, but not yet enslavement. The deadline was the end of November, the time when the harvest was harvested, which was convenient for both parties: peasants and landowners.

In the legislation of 1550, the norms of the peasant transition on St. George's Day were confirmed and clarified, the "old" increased, the master's power over the peasants increased: the owner was made responsible for the crimes of the peasants. Now the feudal lord was called the "sovereign" of the peasant, i.e. the legal position of the peasant was approaching the status of a serf, which was a step towards serfdom.

In the conditions of the ruin of the country and the flight of peasants, Ivan the Terrible in 1581 introduced serf legislation - "reserved years", when St. George's Day was canceled and the transition of peasants was prohibited, which meant an important step towards formalizing serfdom in Russia.

Second phase enslavement of peasants in the country took place from the end of the XVI century. until 1649, when the Cathedral Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was published. At the end of the XVI century. there was a radical change in the position of the peasants, who were deprived of the right to leave their owners.

Under Boris Godunov, a royal decree appeared on November 24, 1597, which ordered that all fugitive and forcibly taken peasants be searched for and returned to their former owners within a five-year period. The serf legislation of the end of the century is the most important stage in the history of serfdom in Russia. Now farmers were attached to the land, and not to the owner. The very prohibition of the transition related mainly to the head of the family, whose name was recorded in cadastral books.

During the Time of Troubles, in the conditions of the crisis of all power structures, it was more and more difficult to keep the peasants from leaving. Vasily Shuisky, hoping for the support of the nobility, on March 9, 1609, issued serf legislation, which provided for an increase in the period of fixed years. The search for fugitives has become the official duty of the local administration, which, for each newcomer, must "ask firmly, whose he is and where, and when he fled." For the peasant, the main problem was not getting out, but finding an owner and a new place of residence.

The system of serfdom was formalized by the Council Code of 1649. It assigned privately owned peasants to landlords, boyars, monasteries and other owners, and also established the dependence of privately owned peasants on the state. The Cathedral Code abolished the "lesson years", approved the right to an indefinite search and return of the fugitives, secured the heredity of serfdom and the right of the landowner to dispose of the serf's property.

Third stage enslavement of peasants refers to the middle of the XVII - XVIII centuries, when there was a strengthening and further development of serfdom. During this period, there are serious differences in the right to dispose of the peasants: their landlord could sell, exchange, or inherit. During the reign of Peter I, the size of peasant duties increased, and feudal exploitation intensified. (See Additional textbook material 1 and 2) This was facilitated by the decree on single inheritance of 1714, which turned noble estates into estates, land and peasants became the full property of the landowner.

Events of 1575-1576 turned out to be an important milestone enslavement of peasants. In the spring "petition" of 1576 Ivan the Terrible announced the right of the landlords to transfer to his inheritance from the Zemstvo of Simeon Bekbulatovich, along with their "little people". Here it was about peasants and serfs. At the end of the 1970s there was a new pressure on the peasants. The lordly arable land grew rapidly in the central regions of the country. In the early 80s, most of the peasants of the Moscow district worked on the master's arable land.

By the end of the Livonian War, which lasted from 1558 to 1583, the economic ruin in the country increased dramatically. The hardships of increased requisitions, pestilence and famine led to the extinction of the population and to the flight of peasants to the eastern and southern outskirts. The government of Grozny tried to take care, first of all, of the well-being of the "military rank", that is, the military service people.

The overcoming of economic desolation was accompanied by new pressure on the peasants in the interests of the landlord economy and the feudal state. There was a further expansion of the land fund, as well as the provision of landlord farms with labor.

Resolutions of the Councils of 1580 and 1584 made it possible to increase the fund of land for disposal, contributed to the provision of estates with peasant power and expanded the circle of persons bearing taxes in favor of the state.

Another important event was land description in the 80s of the XVI century. The description summed up the present composition of developed lands in the state and their condition as a result of economic decline. The census was accompanied by a mass distribution of land to the landowners, and the government gave the scribe books the character of an act that attached the peasants to the land. The purpose of this census was to record the peasants in scribe books for those lands where they were found by the "forbidden years". The legislative introduction of "reserved years" in 1581 was a major step in ensuring the landowner's landownership of labor and thus a decisive step towards satisfying the economic needs of the nobility.

However, the historical significance of the "forbidden years" is immeasurably great. "Forbidden years" were a natural result of the socio-economic development of the Russian state and, along with other events of the 80-90s of the 16th century. played a significant role in the formalization of serfdom on a national scale. During these years, peasant transitions were “commanded” (forbidden), even in the truncated form, as they were allowed by the Sudebniks of 1497 and 1550.

The text of the decree on the "forbidden years" has not yet been found. Nevertheless, many published archival materials convincingly show that 1581-1586, 1590, 1591, 1592, 1594 and 1596 were reserved. It is possible that only the absence of documentary material does not allow the individual links of these years to be connected into a single chain of “reserved years”. Only in 1601 and 1602. By decree of Boris Godunov, temporary partial export of peasants was allowed. The rest of the time, the "forbidden years" were in force and never cancelled.

But, on the other hand, the abolition of the right of peasant transition for landownership became a vital necessity. Under the conditions of economic ruin, the number of peasant transitions and the flight of peasants grew, service people - landowners - found themselves in a difficult situation: they had no right to keep the peasants on St. George's Day by law, and they had little of their own means and opportunities to attract new peasants.

The prohibition of peasant exits, obviously, concerned the entire state. The government, in the interests of the feudal landowners, introduced the legislative attachment of the peasants to the land, contributing to the intensification of the exploitation of peasant labor. With the end of the devastating war, with the gradual elimination of the oprichnina, and the expansion of plowing, the general economic condition of the country improved somewhat. But the position of the peasants, whose exploitation intensified, was still difficult. The mass ruin of the peasants in the central regions only expanded the possibilities for intensifying feudal exploitation.

Thus, the central government took the path of attaching the main producer - the peasantry - to the land of feudal landowners. At the end of the XVI century. in Russia, in fact, a system was established on a state scale serfdom.

1. Chaev N.S. On the issue of detecting and attaching peasants in the Muscovite state at the end of the 16th century. "Historical notes", book. 6, p. 152. Op. Quoted from: Essays on the history of the USSR. End of the 15th century - early 17th century / Ed. A. N. Nasonova, L. V. Cherepnina, A. A. Zimina. - M .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1955. S. 465.
2. Smirnov I. I. Class contradictions in the feudal village in Russia at the end of the 16th century. "Problems of the history of material culture", 1933, no. 5-6, p. 68. Op. Quoted from: Essays on the history of the USSR. End of the 15th century - early 17th century / Ed. A. N. Nasonova, L. V. Cherepnina, A. A. Zimina. - M .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1955. S. 466.
3. Grekov B.D. Peasants in Russia from ancient times to the 17th century, book. II, p. 245. Op. Quoted from: Essays on the history of the USSR. End of the 15th century - early 17th century / Ed. A. N. Nasonova, L. V. Cherepnina, A. A. Zimina. - M .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1955. S. 466.
4. Chaev N.S. On the issue of detecting and attaching peasants in the Muscovite state at the end of the 16th century. "Historical notes", book. 6, p. 162. Op. Quoted from: Essays on the history of the USSR. End of the 15th century - early 17th century / Ed. A. N. Nasonova, L. V. Cherepnina, A. A. Zimina. - M .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1955. S. 466.

Reasons for the enslavement of the peasants

In modern science, the reasons for the enslavement of peasants are the consequences of the oprichnina terror and unsuccessful Livonian War. The local nobility could perform its functions of carrying out public service only if those who cultivate them remained on its lands. And in the context of the widespread crisis caused by the oprichnina defeat and hostilities, the peasants fled en masse from their lands.

Example 1

Thus, the terror in the Novgorod land led to the fact that, according to the cadastral books, $90/%$ of the land was empty.

Stages

For the first time, restrictions on the transfer of landowning peasants from one owner to another are found in Sudebnik$1497$ year. At that stage, the enslavement of the peasantry was advocated in a religious environment - representatives of the so-called "Josephian" monasteries. Local landownership was just beginning to develop.

AT Sudebnik$ 1550 $, the right of the peasants to move on St. George's Day was confirmed. In addition, it was forbidden to forcibly keep the peasants who paid the "old", forcibly turn them into slaves. Peasant communities received the rights of self-government in the distribution of taxes and maintenance of order.

The next round of enslavement fell on $1581$. The country experienced ruin after the oprichnina years and the Livonian War, many peasants fled from their lands. Therefore, a ban on the transition was introduced - a decree on "reserved years", which at first temporarily limited access to the most devastated regions. From $1592$, with Fyodor Ivanovich, for which he made decisions Boris Godunov, "reserved years" became indefinite and extended to the entire territory of the state.

In $1597$, in addition to the decree on "reserved years", a decree was issued on "lesson years". According to this decree, the search for runaway peasants was to last for $5$ years, in case of capture, the peasant was returned to the owner.

In $1600-1603$ Russia underwent great famine due to several crop failures. The ruin and desolation of past years coincided with natural disasters, so the crops were lost. At the time of the famine, Boris Godunov canceled the "reserved years" in cases where the feudal lord was unable to feed the peasants.

At $ 1607 $, who came to power Vasily Shuisky extended "lesson years" to $15$ years.

Finally, the final establishment of serfdom took place Cathedral Code$1649$ year. The “lesson summers” were canceled, as the search for the fugitives became indefinite; peasants were attached by personal dependence to the owner, and not to the land.

From the moment the peasants were enslaved by the Council Code, serfdom was only gaining strength. Until the beginning of the $19th century, the state practically did not restrict the actions of landowners in relation to serfs. And only in $1861$, serfdom was abolished Manifesto emperor Alexander II.

Consequences of enslavement

The combination of Russia's features, such as the harsh climate, vast territories and dispersed population, is sometimes indicated as the reason that there simply could not be any other form of organizing the life of society. But still, serfdom was a negative phenomenon.

Serfdom increased the backlog of the Russian economy and social relations from other European countries. This form of exploitation was extremely inefficient, because the peasant producer was not at all interested in the result of his work. As a result, there was no development either in the landlord economy or in the peasant environment.

There was an increase in social tension. With the enslavement of the peasants, various types of folk uprisings of the $17th-18th centuries became widespread.

Serfdom has become fertile ground for the development of despotic power, under which both the lower classes and the upper classes are powerless. The loyalty of the landowners was ensured by the fact that only the sovereign was free to grant or take away the peasants, land or even life.

Remark 1

The cultural development of a society under normal conditions presupposes familiarity with other cultures. This was impossible in a feudal environment, so folk culture retained archaic elements for many centuries, which somewhat hampered development.

The development of the Russian economy in the 15th-16th centuries is associated primarily with the gradual enslavement of the peasants who lived on princely, boyar, church (monastic) lands. Under an agreement with the landowners, they occupied certain plots of land and paid an agreed price for them. cash or in kind and also performed some duties: corvee, or sharecropping (sharework).

Over the years, it became increasingly difficult for peasants to move to new places, as their debts to landowners constantly grew. Since in Russia at that time there was no rural credit available to the peasants, in case of any economic failures (crop failures, loss of livestock, fires) they were forced to borrow money or bread from their landowners and could no longer leave without paying off their debts.

Gradually, the feudal lords and the church began to demand from the peasants an increase in dues. In addition to quitrent in kind, since the end of the 15th century, the number of various duties and labor for the benefit of the feudal lord has increased markedly. Corvee began to reach four days a week.

Under Ivan III, in 1497, the famous Code of Laws was published, the first Russian code of laws, according to which uniform legal norms were distributed throughout Russia. So, in particular, according to this Sudebnik, the rules for the transition of peasants from feudal lord to feudal lord were established in the country. The period was approved: one week before the autumn St. George's Day (November 26, according to the old style, or December 9, according to the new one), and one week after, when the peasant could leave, but having previously paid the elderly for living and using the land of the feudal lord. At the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries, the amount of the elderly was 1 ruble per person. For comparison, we note that for this money it was possible to purchase a working horse, or 100 pounds of rye, or 7 pounds of honey. The introduction of such a condition significantly limited the ability of the peasants to move freely and was the first legislative step towards the enslavement of the peasants.

A peasant who left without paying the elderly, without the permission of the landowner, not in the period closest to St. George's Day, was considered a fugitive, he was subject to search and return to the former owner. But these measures did not stop the peasants, their escapes became a mass phenomenon, the courts were overwhelmed with lawsuits about the fugitives.

In the 1580s, as a result of the oprichnina and the unsuccessful Livonian War, the country's economy was in a critical situation.

The mass exodus of peasants to the outlying free lands caused great concern to the feudal lords, who were losing their workers.

The feudal lords more and more actively demanded that the state authorities legally formalize the dependence of peasants on landowners. The state, in turn, was also concerned about the insufficient income of taxes to the treasury due to the flight of the peasants.

Gradually, a state system of serfdom was formed. In 1582-1586, “reserved summers” were first established, during which the transition of peasants to St. George’s Day was prohibited, and this ban applied to all categories of peasants, both privately owned and state, as well as to the urban population of cities. This measure, introduced as a temporary measure, later became permanent. In 1581-1592, a census of land and population was carried out.

were drawn up scribe books, i.e. a legal document, which indicated the belonging of the peasants to any owner for the period of the census.

At the same time, fixed summers were established, during which a search was announced for runaway peasants. By decree of 1597, a five-year period for searching for fugitives was determined from 1592. If the fugitives managed to hide for more than five years, then they were no longer subject to mandatory return to their former owners.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Boris Godunov temporarily canceled the "reserved years", restored St. George's Day. But in the "time of troubles" the process of enslavement intensified. In 1607, a 15-year period of investigation was announced.

When the free movement of peasants was practically prohibited, it was replaced by peasant export, or delivery. Wealthy feudal lords or their managers came in late autumn before St. George's Day to other people's estates and ransomed the peasants, paying all their debts for them, and then took them to their farms. Of course, the legal position of the peasants did not change; they now became dependent on the new masters. Quarrels, skirmishes, riots between the old and new owners often occurred in the process of transportation, despite the observance of all the legal conditions for the peasant transition. Again, small and medium-sized landowners suffered the most from this process, so they urged the government to abolish this method of redeeming the peasants.

By the middle of the 17th century, the government met them halfway and carried out the final legislative registration of serfdom. In January 1649, at the Zemsky Sobor, the Council Code was adopted, according to which an indefinite search for fugitive peasants was established. From now on, the peasants with their families, property and others were attached to the feudal lords and declared their property. In addition, attachment extended to urban (posad) residents. By law, they were forbidden to move from one urban community to another.

Serfdom in Russia was extremely difficult and often did not differ from slavery. Unlike Western Europe, where the peasants were attached to the land, in Russia they were personally attached to the landowners. There were no legal norms, like those in Western Europe, regulating relations between landowners and their serfs, which led to increased cruelty on the part of the landowners. The feudal lords, having received unlimited judicial and administrative power in accordance with the Code, not only intervened in economic activities, but also completely controlled the personal life of the peasants. They could be sold, exchanged, given away for debts, subjected to physical punishment, and also taxed without control, despite the fact that the peasants had to pay taxes in favor of the state. They could not file a complaint with the court against the actions of the landowner, since this was regarded as a manifestation of their disobedience.

According to the Code of 1649, the nobles received the right to transfer the estate by inheritance if the sons serve in the same way as the father, that is, the estate and the patrimony approached in their status, which was a great socio-economic gain for the nobility. Church land ownership was also limited.

As a result of the strengthening of feudal landownership, most of the agricultural land already in the 16th century was in the hands of landowners and the church. Only in the north, in the basin of the Pechora and Northern Dvina rivers, there were almost no feudal estates. The black-eared peasants lived there, reporting directly to the state. The category of sovereign peasants was in more favorable conditions than privately owned peasants. They carried out only one tax - in favor of the state. They retained local self-government and some personal civil rights.

True, the peasant householders, who were members of peasant societies and recorded in the tax lists, could not leave their societies without finding a replacement for their place, i.e. they were attached to the ground, although not in the same way as serfs. it

was associated with the collection of taxes and concerned only householders-taxpayers. But their households usually consisted of many relatives (brothers, children, nephews, sons-in-law, grandchildren), as well as strangers adopted into the family (adoptive children, neighbors, dependents, backbones), so it was not difficult to find a replacement for them.

The black-eared peasants were engaged not only in agriculture, but also in trade and crafts. In life practice, they could sell, mortgage, exchange, donate, give away their plots as a dowry, i.e. enjoyed a fairly large economic and legal freedom. Among the northern peasants, unions of co-owners - warehousemen were widespread, where each owned a certain share of the common land and could dispose of it.

There was another category of peasants - palace peasants, who directly served the needs of the royal palace. They were ruled by palace clerks, had their own elected elders and some self-government. By their position they were close to the sovereign's peasants.

In the south, along the Don, Terek, Yaik, a special estate was formed - the Cossacks, who considered themselves free people. They farmed, were engaged in crafts and made up a special army - the Cossacks - to protect the borders from external raids. The free Cossacks often resisted the advance of the state and the feudal lords and in the 17th century repeatedly raised uprisings (led by Ivan Bolotnikov, Stepan Razin). Like all medieval peasant wars, they inevitably suffered defeat due to spontaneity, locality, lack of a clear program, naive faith in a “good” tsar, and so on.

The number of legally dependent peasants included complete serfs, who, together with their offspring, were the full property of their masters and their heirs. But from the end of the 15th century, bonded serfs also appeared in Russia (bondage is a debt obligation, a receipt). People entered the service of a creditor to work off a debt with interest and became personally dependent, indentured. After the death of the creditor, the bonded person received freedom, unless he himself voluntarily signed a new bondage with the heirs.

In addition to the listed groups of the population, there were still many free, “walking” people in the country, who were not dependent on either the feudal lords or the state. These included “priests” who did not become priests, children of service people, townspeople and peasant taxpayers who were not recorded in tax lists, as well as wandering musicians, buffoons, beggars, vagrants, etc. Often they went to the soldiers, if at that time there was some -either war, or were hired to work in craft workshops and industrial enterprises.