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Social conditions

It seems strange that at the same time as they were trying to open Muscovy to western trade and technology, the Romanov tsars were leading Russian society in a very different direction. Just at the time when serfdom was disappearing in the west, the law code of Tsar Alexis introduced it, for the first time, in 1649. For almost a century the peasants had been losing more and more freedom. After 1649 they were totally bound to the soil and the authority of the nobility over them was made absolute. Not surprisingly, in the late 17th century, Russia experienced peasant uprisings similar to those which had occurred in France and England in the 14th century. Like them, the Russian peasants were ruthlessly crushed. The Tsar obtained total autocratic, or absolute, power.

Serfdom was only abolished in Russia in 1861, and the autocratic power of the tsars continued until 1917.

In 1669 Alexis became a widower, and when he married for a second time his new tsaritza broke all tradition by raising her children in the western manner. Her oldest son, Feodor, ruled briefly and unimportantly between 1676 and 1682. Her youngest son, Piotr, was to become Peter the Great.

The boyars formed the most powerful and influential group of the Russian aristocracy between the 10th and 18th centuries. The boyars were originally the companions and advisers of the princes of Kiev. (Remember from your 5ème work that the Principality of Kiev was founded by a Swedish viking who took the name Vladimir. He was converted to Byzantine Christianity and adopted the Greek cyrillic alphabet, both of which still form the basis of modern Russian culture.) Between the 15th and 18th centuries boyars formed a closed and very powerful group around the tsars, providing them with military commanders, provincial governors and the heads of government administration. Because they were so powerful, the boyars were hostile to any form of change or reform which might threaten their position. It is not surprising, therefore, that Peter the Great encountered fierce boyar opposition to his reforms. It also explains Peter’s ruthless repression and abolition of the boyars.

 
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updated on 18/11/07
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©  Shirley Burchill, Nigel Hughes, Richard Gale and Keith Woodall 2007