Who in Russia was called "bobs", "backbones", "bastards"

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The population of pre-reform Russia regularly paid taxes to the state. But there were people who were called "walkers", and whose relations with the treasury were somewhat different. Their position was, to put it mildly, unenviable. However, the privileges granted to this caste made their life easier.

Read in the material how people became walking people, who are the backbones, bobs, kutniks and hovels, and which of the representatives of these strata of the population had a better life.

What is tax and who was exempted from it

In the 15-18 centuries, the term "tax" in Russia meant monetary tax or duty in kind. They were paid by the peasant population and the townspeople. These social groups were called the draft population. There were also non-tax people, which included the military, nobility of the courtier and courtyard, individual representatives of the merchant class and employees of the civil service. Also, those citizens who became beggars because of a fire, an attack by robbers or military actions, or insolvent widows, did not pay taxes.

A separate layer that did not have any social and state obligations is marginal. This included bobs, backbones and other so-called free people. They didn't pay taxes. How did such people live and were they satisfied with their position?

Free people, how they became and were they beggars

The historian Klyuchevsky wrote that people belonging to a mobile caste were called walkers or freemen. It united the so-called free trades, including such a bad trade as theft and robbery. Walking people could earn a lot of money and initially had an ordinary social status. They were independent and moved freely around the country. Often they went to work for the owner, and after the end of the term they either extended the contract or looked for a new place to apply their strength.

Sometimes the position of a free person was transitional, that is, the basis for getting into a higher social stratum. But often walking people did not want to change their independence, become a responsible owner and pay taxes. They worked off someone else's tax, choosing activities to their liking. They could work on the land, or they could begging, work as a buffoon or wool, hire in a craft workshop as an assistant. Often people who escaped from captivity or servants who were granted freedom by their masters became free people.

Initially, walking people were given into bondage exclusively of their own free will. But when Peter's decree was issued on November 18, 1699, everything changed. Those who were fit for military service were given into soldiers, and the rest were assigned to the owners on whose land they lived.

Zakhrebetniki - who are they, and why the fugitive peasants wanted to become them

Today the word "backbone" is pronounced by putting in negative. This is the name of the parasites of idlers who use other people's labor. "Who is this person? Yes, he is a bastard! Does nothing, just sits on the neck of his parents (wife, sister, brother, relatives, and so on). " And in the 15-17 centuries, this name was used for a caste of free people who are hired for someone else's tax and do not have their own economy. Runaway peasants sometimes tried to become backbones.

This caste was described by the historian Sergeevich. He suggested that the word zagrebetnik came from the fact that people received their livelihood from peasants working on the land. Working hard, bent back. And the back is the ridge. Sometimes the backbones worked for several peasants at once.

Some historians argue that the zagrebetniks were very often engaged in crafts: they became apprentices, provided assistance in handicraft activities. Sometimes they improved their financial situation so much that they settled down. And, therefore, they became a draft population, which was obliged to pay taxes. After taxes began to be levied not on the farm, but on the number of living people, hired workers were transferred to the category of draft ones.

Beans, kutniks and shanty people - why they were not too favored

Beans from the 15th to the beginning of the 18th century were peasants who did not have a land allotment, and in Pomorie this word meant people who hunted in various trades not related to agriculture.

In different places of the country, different names could be found to designate such a category. For example, "kutnik". And the beans, who had a hut and a vegetable garden, were called hovels. Beans, kutniks, shack workers did not draw up title documents. Since they all had tax breaks, the people did not particularly favor them and often called them idlers.

Depending on the place of residence, the beans were urban and rural. That is, some remained in the villages and worked for the landowners. By the way, when the boby wanted to use someone else's allotment for his own purposes, he was supposed to pay the owner a land quota. The people gave it the apt name of bobylschina.

Those bobs who did not want to bend their backs on the ground rushed to the cities in order to seek better life, wealth and happiness. So they most often became small traders, engaged in some kind of craft, hired to work as a temporary labor force.

The Siberian bobs were in a special position. They got the name "industrial people". Such people tried to remain free. They often started a family. Historians talk about an entry in the census dated 1680, which stated that bobs had their own yards and were engaged in various trades. And that from this year they fall into the category of citizens who must pay their rent in money.