The merchant is who? Russian merchant. Merchants and power in medieval Russia

The oldest information about trade among the Slavs. The Slavs, the ancestors of the modern peoples of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, came from Central Europe to Eastern Europe in the 5th century. Since that time, they began their centuries-old settlement in Eastern Europe and the economic development of its natural resources. The economy of the Slavic society was based on gathering, hunting, fishing, farming, mining, which were not deep from the surface of the earth. Subsistence farming dominated the country, that is, the Slavs produced everything necessary for life in their place of residence. Therefore, it was not essential products that were exchanged, but only especially valuable and rare items- jewelry, weapons, metals, salt, etc. This feature of the exchange in all ancient societies - dominance of foreign trade over domestic- remained in Russia for many centuries.

Among the Slavs, like among all ancient peoples, the original form of trade was silent exchange. Information about such an exchange of Novgorodians with primitive Ugric tribes has been preserved from the 11th century. in the annals: (Ugrians) “they show iron and wash their hands, asking for iron, and if anyone gives them iron or a knife or an ax, and they (Ugrians) will give quick (furs) against (for this).” That is, at the place where the exchange took place, people usually kept a distance from each other and did not talk to each other, which is why it is called mute. Wishing to receive this or that product - "buyer" - showed it. Another participant in the exchange - the "seller" - put what he asked for and usually left. The “buyer” posted his product and also left. If its quantity seems sufficient, then the “seller” who came to the lying things took the “fee”. If he was not satisfied, he either took his thing back, or did not touch anything and expected that the other participant in the exchange would add some more "fee". This is how an ancient exchange took place, in which one feels mutual distrust towards each other, the desire to insure against troubles or even misfortunes that can be expected from a stranger. Initially, instead of exchange, there was simply robbery with the use of force and murder. Silent exchange is a more humane form of communication between people, the result of the development of social relations, that is, connections between people.

Already in antiquity, some kind of exchange Eastern Slavs ski tribes existed. Thanks to transit trade and other types of exchange, different things got from one region to another. So, items made in the Black Sea region ended up in the Dnieper region, and from there they were transported to the north of Europe. Things brought from Central Asia and Iran (Persia) are found during excavations in the Middle Dnieper region, where the Kievan state was later formed. Perhaps in the VII-VIII centuries. the slave trade was born, which at a later time played a very important role in Russia and in its trade with other countries.

In the ninth century Slavic conquests began Byzantium- a huge empire located south of the Slavic lands. Byzantium at that time was the richest and most culturally developed country in Europe. Its capital is Constantinople (modern Turkish city Istanbul) was located on the banks of the strait connecting the Black and mediterranean sea. Here Europe bordered on Asia. Through Constantinople, goods of Asian production were sold to Europe, so the capital of Byzantium was a center of trade of world importance. Especially in medieval Europe, Asian spices were valued, necessary for the consumption of meat food. This food spoiled rather quickly during storage, and spices contributed to its storage and beat off an unpleasant odor. Merchants from Europe were also attracted by fine Byzantine handicrafts.

During military campaigns against Byzantium, the Slavs learned about the way of life of strangers, their occupations and products of Byzantine crafts. This created the basis for exchange and trade with Byzantium. Acquaintance with the works of Byzantine crafts, especially weapons and jewelry, increased the level of needs of the Slavic nobility, aroused the desire to acquire them. Wars delivered a very valuable commodity - slaves. The Byzantines captured by the Slavs were ransomed by their relatives, which also contributed to the development of trade between the two peoples.

Volga trade route. From the end of the VIII - the beginning of the IX century. in Eastern Europe there were merchants from the Arab East (Anterior Asia). Their lands were south and east of Byzantium. The territory occupied by the Arabs expanded due to their conquests. They pressed Byzantium, advanced to Central Asia. Therefore, the borders of their lands were approaching the homeland of the Slavs.

The way from the Arab lands to Eastern Europe lay along the Caspian 耠sea 䑎 and along the Volga 䀮 (In the 8th - 10th centuries, the Arabs mastered the Volga trade route and the European North. ␟on the banks of the Middle Volga and its "tributary of the Kama" lived! the nomadస Bulgarians who founded here the state - Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria) Į The Bulgarian kingdom adopted Islam - the same religion that "was among the Abs. It established diplomatic relations with the Arabs.

This contributed to trade along the Caspian Sea and the Volga. The main trade of the Arabs was in Volga Bulgaria, in the small town of Bulgar (not far from modern Kazan).

The Arab nobility greatly appreciated the skins of sables and silver foxes. Arab merchants bought mammoth bones and walrus tusks for their artisans. To meet these merchants along the rivers of Eastern Europe immigrants from the Scandinavian Peninsula, from the territory of modern Sweden, moved.

Immigrants from Scandinavia began to come to Eastern Europe at the end of the 8th century. Initially, these were armed groups that came here for robbery. They began to develop the Baltic-Volga route, which opened up access to the places of trade of Arab merchants. The Scandinavians considered Arabic silver oriental coins to be the most valuable goods (they were interested in metal). They themselves sold slaves, sable furs and squirrels to the Arabs. In the middle of the ninth century Scandinavians began to establish contacts with the Slavs. In the X-XI centuries. Scandinavian merchant ships already regularly went to Russia.

In the land of the Slavs, at the place where the Volkhov River flows into Lake Ladoga, the newcomers founded their city. It had a busy market, craft shops for repairing equipment and weapons. Through this city and from it, military-trading detachments went to the southeast, to the middle reaches of the Volga, where their trade with the Arabs took place. Merchants arrived on the Middle Volga in boats in whole squads. They built booths here, in which they laid out goods for sale. Trade was the most primitive, barter: a commodity was simply exchanged for another commodity. Thus, along the Volga and other routes, goods went from Scandinavia in the north to the Arab East in the south. The flow of Arab silver first went to Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, and from the beginning of the 10th century. silver began to settle in the lands of the Eastern Slavs. Arab merchants traded on the Volga until the 10th-11th centuries. The heyday of their trade fell in the first half of the tenth century. Later, their goods began to come to Eastern Europe, mostly through Constantinople, along the Dnieper route.

On the lower Volga at that time there was a state Khazar Khaganate founded by a nomadic people - the Khazars. In the capital - the city of Itil - on one side, on the right bank of the Volga, lived the ruler-kagan and his nobles, warriors, merchants from different countries stopped on the left. There was a market on the river bank. Merchants arriving in the city moored their ships to the shore and engaged in trade here. This order was widespread among ancient peoples. V European languages the word "port" means "market", that is, usually the port - the place where the ships stopped - was also a place of trade.

A variety of furs came from the north along the Volga to Itil, and from there to Central Asia - sables, ermines, ferrets, foxes, martens, beavers, hares, goats. Treated horse skin was also exported - yuft, wax, honey. From the Arabs, merchants received, in addition to silver items, beads, pearls, precious stones, and jewelry. In the X century. The Volga was the main artery connecting Asia and northern Europe.

The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks". In the ninth century formed another great trade route in Eastern Europe. Contemporaries called it the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks", that is, from Scandinavia to Byzantium; the inhabitants of Scandinavia, the Slavs called the Varangians, and the Byzantines - the Greeks. Unlike the Volga trade route, this route went through the Slavic lands and had a great and varied impact on life. local population. He begins to play an important role in the life of the Slavs from the tenth century. Through the Slavic lands, ships moved along the rivers, which carried foreign merchants and their goods. These vessels sometimes walked on water, sometimes they were dragged with the help of the local population overland on wooden skating rinks, beams or on a deck from one river to another. The length of the route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea was 2,700 km. It took about four months to overcome such a distance, taking into account stops along the way. The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" ended in the capital of Byzantium - Constantinople.

Passing through unfamiliar lands, Western European merchants now and then encountered the local population, which robbed them. Therefore, as can be assumed, over time they began to negotiate with the leaders of the Slavic tribes. The chieftains took tribute from passing merchants and in return ensured their safety as they advanced through their territory. Apparently, from that time a custom developed, which also operated much later in Russia: a visiting merchant first of all presented his goods to the local ruler, who chose what he especially liked, and then the merchant could start trading. This tribute over time became the most tempting income for the Slavic rulers, since it included items that were not produced or mined in the Slavic land.

From the second half of the ninth century Byzantium experienced an economic boom. Here, after some decline, urban life revived. Foreign trade grew. Silk fabrics of Byzantine production, gold and silver brocade, jewelry and glass products were widely sold in different countries, including in Russia.

From the second half of the IX-X centuries. The Dnieper region began to play a significant role in transit trade. Small towns arose along the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”. Thanks to trade and tribute, the local nobility rose from it. Kiev became an important hub for this trade. Since that time, the state of the Eastern Slavs has been formed, one of the largest centers of which was Kiev. The top of the society was the military-trading layer, which rallied around the prince, formed his squad, army, administrative apparatus, distributed over the cities. This layer included not only Slavs, but also Scandinavians.

Merchants in Russia in the IX-XIII centuries. At this time, it is already possible to speak of the emergence of the merchant class as a special social group whose main income was trade. The merchant was not just a seller or buyer of goods. Urban and rural artisans who sold their products and purchased raw materials, the clergy, who managed the boyar economy, and peasants who sold the products of their agriculture and crafts in the nearest cities and at rural markets, were involved in market operations. For all these people, trading was not a professional occupation. They belonged to different classes and class groups. A merchant is a professional merchant who was engaged in the purchase, delivery, resale of consignments of goods and belonged to the merchant class. Already in Kievan Rus, a layer of people was taking shape, who, according to their professional occupations, can be attributed to merchants.

In the IX-X centuries. the process of formation of the merchant class was just beginning. Important conditions for the formation of a layer of professional traders In Slavic society, there was the accumulation in the hands of the local nobility of significant reserves of forestry and agricultural products, the acquaintance of this nobility with such luxury and household items that were not produced or mined in the land subject to it, the separation of craft from agriculture, the emergence of more or less permanent trade - handicraft settlements.

At first, the composition of such merchants was not homogeneous. They were from different lands. The merchants included Scandinavians, Slavs, representatives of other nationalities. In the IX-X centuries. merchant guests in Russia usually came from Scandinavia. They were accustomed to seafaring, to long-distance voyages in ships, so they could embark on long journeys both in Europe and in Asia. During the formation of the state Kievan Rus the first merchants, by their origin, were warriors of the princes who ruled in Russia. Later, especially from the 11th century, merchants appeared from among the local boyars, the trade and craft population of cities.

Starting from the first centuries in the history of Russian trade and for a very long time, the merchant was a military man. Trade caravans resembled armed expeditions, as merchants had to face various dangers on a long journey and defend their goods with weapons in their hands. On the way, the merchant could also go on a robbery for the sake of valuable booty. At this time, trading operations sometimes turned into raids. In ancient times trade and plunder accompanied each other everywhere.

An ancient legend, recorded by a chronicler, said that at the end of the 9th century. Novgorod prince Oleg, a Scandinavian by origin, came with soldiers in boats along the Dnieper to Kiev. Seeing that he would not be able to take the city by storm, Oleg pretended to be a merchant and summoned the rulers of Kiev, Askold and Dir, to the banks of the Dnieper. The military attire of Oleg and the people around him could not seem strange to the representatives of the local authorities who came to him. This was the usual appearance of merchants who were on a large trading trip. Askold and Dir were killed by Oleg's soldiers, and Oleg turned Kiev into the capital of his state, uniting the northern and southern Slavic lands. In Kiev, there were much more merchants traveling to Byzantium than in Novgorod, and the prince's income was higher. Now the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was under the control of the new ruler. Dohᐾzh from merchants passing through it significantly replenished the princely treasury.

Varangians

(A.జ.Vasnetsov)

Every year in the fall, the prince set off with his retinue to detour the subject lands. An important purpose of these trips was the collection of “polyudya”, which consisted of food products and especially valuable items - gathering and hunting. Everything collected during the detour was delivered to Kiev. The princes shared with the warriors part of the collected valuables. In late spring and summer, on behalf of the prince, the combatants went to Byzantium to sell the products that they, together with the prince, collected from the subject population. It is no coincidence that already in the ninth century. such traders exported from Russia for sale not only furs, but also swords, not of Slavic production, but of Western Europe. Thus, the combatants more or less systematically engaged in trade, receiving from it an important income.

Over time, the layer of Scandinavian merchants was replenished with Slavs. The merchant class included people who, like farmers, were not tied to a certain place of residence, who freely left their homes. Among them could be princely and boyar servants, artisans.

Trade was not always a permanent, professional activity for their participants. He could have left them. The composition of the layer of trading people was still unstable. Merchants who made long-distance trading trips were called in Russia guests, and trade guest. The social status of the merchant was quite high. A new period in the development of the merchant class began in connection with the growth of cities in Russia (since the 11th century). At this time, the aggressive policy of the Russian princes was replaced by a policy of peaceful relations with neighbors. In the XI-XII centuries. trade relations between Russia and Byzantium became especially close. Professional merchants arose among the townspeople. Foreign trade began to pass to them. If in the IX-X centuries. merchants led a nomadic lifestyle, were temporary residents of trading settlements, then in the XI-XIII centuries. they increasingly connect their lives with the city, with local trade, become more sedentary.

An important feature of trade in antiquity was that trade duties at that time and for many centuries were very high, reaching 20% ​​of the value of goods carried by the merchant. However, the high prices of goods at the point of sale and the wholesale scope of trading operations not only reimbursed all the costs of travel and trade, but also brought significant profits. A dangerous but very profitable long-distance trading trip quickly enriched the merchant.

At this time, merchants traveled to Byzantium on the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks", to Khazaria - along the Don, through the Caspian Sea - to Baghdad. Their ships plowed the waters of four seas - the Black, Baltic, Azov and Caspian. Clay vessels served as containers for storage and transportation of some goods. Since the ninth century merchants had miniature folding scales with weights. When folded, they easily fit into a small pouch or case and attached to the belt. On such small scales, only precious goods, usually silver, could be weighed.

Scales and weights of an ancient Russian merchant

In the XII century. Russia was divided into different lands-principalities. In the XII century, when the former commercial importance of Kiev began to fall, the commercial role of such cities as Novgorod, Smolensk, Polotsk, Vladimir-on-Klyazma began to grow rapidly. At this time, the Russian lands finally got rid of dependence on Kiev, stopped sending the Kiev prince an annual tribute in silver. The craft developed. At the same time, the stratum of the merchant class grew. Went further development trade. Trade-related operations became more diversified. In the XII century. among the merchants, mutual money loans are spreading - lending. Merchants also took other people's goods for sale on a trading trip. One merchant received goods from another for storage. At the same time, the first merchant associations were formed in Novgorod, which indicates a high degree of development of trade. The growth of trade and merchants' incomes also causes sharply negative consequences. From the 30s. 12th century princes constantly attacked merchant caravans, intercepted trade routes, took trading centers from battle, and arrested merchants. According to the collection of laws - Russkaya Pravda - for the murder of a merchant, the same fine was imposed on the guilty as for the prince's combatant - 40 hryvnias.

Merchant people were used as warriors by the princes in case of military danger or even as participants in a military campaign. Even more often, the princes used their knowledge, experience, and opportunities in the field of diplomacy and intelligence. Knowing foreign languages They acted as translators. Messages were passed with reliable merchants. The princes forced merchants to transport princely people and goods at their own expense.

Foreign trade of Ancient Russia. Trade with Byzantium and Eastern countries. Around the 11th century . Kiev has become one of the most important international trade centers in Eastern Europe. He was considered a rival of Constantinople. To some extent, the commercial role of Kiev was similar to that of the Byzantine capital. Just like Constantinople, Kiev was the center through which Europe received goods from Asia. In the Kiev markets one could meet merchants from different countries. Lively trade routes crossed here. Southern Russia was a region of Europe through which goods from the east of the continent moved to the west and from west to east. So from the Russian lands silk fabrics of Arab production went to Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, France. The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was actively used until the 12th century.

Expensive foreign things imported into the Russian lands settled in the cities and estates of the nobility. The needs of the nobility for luxury invariably grew. She needed beautiful dishes for feasts, silk fabrics, chased lining for men's belts and horse harness, necklaces for men and women, pendants, earrings, etc. The princes generously endowed warriors with imported things - expensive weapons, jewelry. Trade in these items in one way or another affected the top of society, without touching the bulk of the population.

In the second half of the X century. Kiev Prince Svyatoslav dealt a crushing blow to the Khazar Khaganate. After this event, the position of Russia on the Volga trade route increased significantly. Apparently, the regime for collecting duties from Russian merchants has changed. The Volga began to be perceived as a trade road, which was actively used by Russian merchants and foreign merchants who traveled to Russia. From the mouth of the Volga to the Baltic Sea could be reached in two months.

In the tenth century merchant caravans from Russia traveled to the largest center of Central Asia, Khorezm. Furs, processed leather, flax, Baltic amber, and slaves were brought here. From the mouth of the Volga, the ships of ancient Russian merchants moved along the western coast of the Caspian Sea to the Persian coast.

For a long time, trade with Byzantium remained important direction trade of merchants from Russia. Every year two merchant caravans departed from Kiev to Constantinople. They consisted not only of Kiev merchants, but also of warrior merchants from Novgorod, Smolensk, Chernigov and other centers of Russia. First, in May, merchants from the southern lands set off. In July, merchants from Novgorod and other northern regions gathered near Kiev. From Kiev in boats, hollowed out of large trees, 30-40 people in each merchants went down the Dnieper. Each of these caravans spent three months in Byzantium. Between Russia and Byzantium in the first half of the tenth century. trade agreements were signed. In accordance with them, empty soldier barracks near Constantinople were allotted for merchants who came from Russia, from which the soldiers went to summer camps. In such a place, it was easier for the government of Constantinople to control the behavior of visitors. Here the merchants lived and received food from the Byzantine government. They were allowed into Constantinople through the same gates only accompanied by a state official, without weapons, in turns in groups of 50 people, taking into account everyone who entered the capital. In these orders, the fear of the Byzantine authorities in front of the often violent crowd of Russian merchant soldiers is noticeable. Trade with Byzantium was under the control of the Kiev prince. Without his knowledge, not a single merchant could go to Constantinople. Merchants accompanied the embassies to Constantinople, they were considered inferior to the ambassadors, but usually greatly outnumbered them in each embassy. All military-trade expeditions to Byzantium were not private, but state-owned.

Byzantium has repeatedly become the object of robbery by the Slavic princes with their squads. Often, under the guise of merchants, soldiers entered Byzantium with the aim of robbery. Therefore, already in the tenth century. a procedure was introduced for the presentation by visitors from Russia to local authorities of gold or silver seals-rings - a kind of identity card. After the baptism of Russia in 988, relations between the two states acquired a much more peaceful character. From Byzantium, ancient Russian merchants exported luxury items - gold, silver, fine fabrics, vegetables, wines and jewelry. The Church needed to bring wine, olive oil, incense, dyes, non-ferrous metals to Russia. These goods were bought by a narrow circle of consumers, the top of the Slavic society. Slaves, wax and furs went from Russia to Byzantium as goods.

In the tenth century at the conclusion of treaties between Russia and Byzantium, they regulated the procedures for the trade of ancient Russian merchants on the territory of Byzantium and the passage of Byzantine merchants through the ancient Russian lands.

Merchants who arrived in Byzantium were sent by princes and boyars. Some of them were merchants of the prince, some were free guests. The treaties determined penalties for criminal offenses committed by visiting merchants. Russian merchants had to present to the Byzantine authorities a certificate from their prince indicating the number of ships sent to prove the peaceful nature of the trip. The soldiers' barracks in which they were settled were outside Constantinople. These barracks had simple furnishings and a large kitchen. They lived like this for several summer months, until autumn. The authorities gave them food for the entire duration of their stay.

Since ancient times, all peoples had a custom - "coastal law" - in accordance with which coastal residents robbed ships that were wrecked. The agreement between Russia and the Byzantines provided for mutual assistance in such cases: if the Greek ship was wrecked, the inhabitants of Russia must rescue the cargo and deliver it to a safe place.

In the XI-XII centuries. trips of merchants from Russia to Byzantium continued. People traveling along the Dnieper route were in danger in the form of nomads who followed the advancing caravan and attacked it at the opportunity. Merchants also suffered damage during strife between princes. So Kiev princes they took care of the merchants - they sent their warriors to the most dangerous places to protect them.

Over time, the set of goods that were exported from Russia to Constantinople and further - into the depths of Byzantium grew. In addition to slaves, whose role as a commodity grew, Russian merchants brought dried fish, red and black caviar, wax, white hare fur.

From the middle of the XI century. gradually began to change the terms of trade. The conquests of various nomadic peoples cut Russia off from some southern states, made it difficult for Russia to connect with Byzantium. The influx of Arab silver coins - dirhams - to Russia stopped. From the end of the XI century. started Crusades from Western Europe to the Arab East. They paved new, shorter routes that linked Western Europe with the Byzantine markets. In the XII century. the value of the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” decreases, the trade of Kiev weakens. The conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders at the beginning of the 13th century. finally paralyzed the Kiev-Byzantine trade.

Trade in the western direction. Since ancient times, merchants from Russia moved not only in a southerly direction - to Byzantium, but also in a northerly direction, to the Baltic Sea, to coastal countries - Denmark, Sweden, Slavic Pomerania. Since the X century. contacts of the Slavs with Western Europe begin. At the beginning of the X century. merchants from Eastern Europe traveled up the Danube through the Bulgarian lands to Poland, the Czech Republic, and southern Germany (Bavaria). A significant flow of artistic works from the West began in the 12th century, where urban craft flourished at that time.

In the IX-XI centuries. through the northern part of Russia to the Baltic countries there was a stream of Arab silver. During this time, Northern Europe received approximately 800-1000 tons of silver from the Arabs through Russia. Slavic merchants delivered expensive furs (ermine, sable), wax, and honey to the Baltic countries and even to the more distant parts of Europe. Unlike Byzantium, the inhabitants of the northern Polish and southern Swedish lands also bought old Russian jewelry, dishes, tools, and other household items.

Since the second half of the IX century. from Kiev, merchants traveled to the upper reaches of the Danube through Krakow and Prague, through Hungary to Bavaria. In the X-XI centuries. Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, was the largest European center of the slave trade. Land roads led here, along which merchants moved in wagons and with pack horses. They brought slaves (men, women, children), wax, drove horses for sale. In the Bavarian capital, one of the richest German cities, Regensburg in the XI-XII centuries. even there were Russian gates, which speaks of the constant arrivals of merchants from Russia here.

Since the X century. swords were taken to Russia from German lands, silver, which was not mined in Russian lands. Amber was brought from the Southern Baltic. Russia received metals through the Baltic Sea (iron, copper, lead, and from the 11th century - silver), salt, cloth, wine, herring. Wonderful horses were brought from Hungary to Russia, which were especially valued by military people. Silver also came from here. Bronze and other goods were brought from German cities to Russia. In Kiev, Novgorod, Smolensk there were colonies of foreign merchants. Temples were even built for them here.

Domestic trade. In ancient times, for a long time, internal trade was inferior to external trade in terms of development. Domestic trade becomes a noticeable phenomenon in the 11th century. At this time, in the ancient Russian cities appear tenements – handicraft and trading quarters located around the fortified city center. In the XII-XIII centuries. cities grew rapidly. Some of the artisans moved from working to order to working for the market. The role of internal trade has increased.

An important place in the city was the market - the city market, where they sold ordinary things necessary for the main part of the population of Russia: clothes, livestock, in particular, horses. On behalf of his master, his slave slave could trade in the market. At the beginning of the XI century. There were 8 markets in Kiev. Later, their number grew to 12. In addition, 8 fairs were held in Kiev.

Novgorod was a significant trading center. Over time, its commercial value grew. In Novgorod, bargaining occupied a vast place and was divided into rows of shops in accordance with the goods that were sold in these shops. So, wax was sold in Voshchny Ryad. The trade was usually located next to the church, the church square at the same time was a place of trade, as was the case in Western Europe. Cellars in a stone temple were often used as a room in which goods were stacked and stored. Behind the front door, in the vestibule of the temple, the goods were weighed.

Operated on the market mytnik – servant of the prince who collected one of the most important taxes - myt - toll. Along with this duty in Russia there were such duties as living tribute, transportation, osmnichee. In the conditions of the fragmentation of Russia, the number of customs houses increased.

Bargaining was a place that was most often visited by the entire population of the city. Handicraft products were sold within the rural district closest to the city (50-100 km). Pedlars carried goods from city markets to remote villages. Inside Russia, glass bracelets made in Kiev, jewelry with enamel, dishes dispersed. From city to city, merchants carried imported salt by land or water. Imported bread was often sold in Novgorod, especially in famine years. In such times, the well-being of the inhabitants of Novgorod depended on the delivery of grain from the eastern and southern regions of Russia, even from German lands. In the years of famine, self-sale into slavery of adults and the sale of children into slave slaves grew. In general, the slave trade was developed in Russia.

Money. International and domestic exchange facilitated the development of money and money circulation. In Russia there was a variety of money. Initially, barter trade prevailed: goods were exchanged for goods. Then commodity-money appeared, their role was played by the most common and highly valued goods on the market. When making settlements with foreign merchants, ancient Russian people used full-fledged high-quality furs. Oriental silver coins were in use - durhems and Western European denarii. Although the princes of Kiev Vladimir and later his son Yaroslav minted their own coin, it did not play a prominent role in the market. The role of money for domestic trade was played by animal skins - squirrels, martens. From the ancient Slavic name of the squirrel "veveritsa" came the name of money - "veksha", from "marten" - "kuna". Coons in Russia were called money in general. In one or another territory of Russia, money was in circulation in the form of bundles of furs (in particular, 18 skins in a bundle).

The underdevelopment of commodity-money circulation is evidenced by the treasures of oriental coins, which are found during excavations of ancient Russian settlements. Money buried in the ground went out of circulation. In addition, they were often used not as a means of exchange, but as raw materials for handicrafts - jewelry and utensils, used as pendants for necklaces.

Importance of trade in ancient Russia. Speaking about the importance of trade in the life of the Eastern Slavs, it must be remembered that the Slavic society lived in a subsistence economy. It was aimed at consumption, not at the production of goods for sale. Opportunities for the development of trade were small. Trade almost did not concern the broad masses of the population. Existing in Russia such economic phenomena as the accumulation of money as a treasure, natural exchange were an indicator of the weakness of commodity-money circulation. Craftsmen worked to order, not for market sales. Their products were not intended for the mass buyer. Trade links between isolated settlements were limited and irregular.

Nevertheless, trade had a noticeable impact on various aspects of the life of the population of Eastern Europe. She influenced the composition of society. Trade contributed to the stratification of ancient Russian society. The nobility celebrated their position by decorating themselves with imported things, and thus towered over the rest of the population. Imports introduced the nobility to previously unknown jewelry, fine crafts, and high-quality household items. Imported things caused the development of the need for luxury, in an appropriate lifestyle. The taxes that the merchants gave to the princes enriched the princely-druzhina elite of society. Trade stimulated the development of the trade and handicraft population in the cities. It was the basis for the formation and development of such a social stratum as the merchant class.

Trade stimulated the formation and growth of cities, created income and new employment for the population of the country. On trade routes, special settlements arose - settlements of warriors, merchants and artisans. The composition of the population of such points was unstable, closely connected with foreign trade. The most ancient cities of Russia were on the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks." Trade stimulated their growth. People who were strangers to each other came to live in shopping centers, breaking the old blood-kinship and communal ties, they were the forerunners of medieval townspeople. In places where passing merchants had to drag their ships from the basin of one river to the basin of another, settlements arose. Control over portages was carried out by princely combatants. The local population served merchants moving along difficult sections of the rivers, provided equipment for the movement of boats on dry land in the portage areas. Trade influenced the development of Slavic crafts. Oriental and Byzantine fabrics and works of artistic craft brought to Russia served as models for Slavic craftsmen.

The oldest information about trade among the Slavs. The Slavs, the ancestors of the modern peoples of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, came from Central Europe to Eastern Europe in the 5th century. Since that time, they began their centuries-old settlement in Eastern Europe and the economic development of its natural resources. The economy of the Slavic society was based on gathering, hunting, fishing, farming, mining, which were not deep from the surface of the earth. Subsistence farming dominated the country, that is, the Slavs produced everything necessary for life in their place of residence. Therefore, it was not essential products that were exchanged, but only especially valuable and rare items- jewelry, weapons, metals, salt, etc. This feature of the exchange in all ancient societies - dominance of foreign trade over domestic- remained in Russia for many centuries.

Among the Slavs, like among all ancient peoples, the original form of trade was silent exchange. Information about such an exchange of Novgorodians with primitive Ugric tribes has been preserved from the 11th century. in the annals: (Ugrians) “they show iron and wash their hands, asking for iron, and if anyone gives them iron or a knife or an ax, and they (Ugrians) will give quick (furs) against (for this).” That is, at the place where the exchange took place, people usually kept a distance from each other and did not talk to each other, which is why it is called mute. Wishing to receive this or that product - "buyer" - showed it. Another participant in the exchange - the "seller" - put what he asked for and usually left. The “buyer” posted his product and also left. If its quantity seems sufficient, then the “seller” who came to the lying things took the “fee”. If he was not satisfied, he either took his thing back, or did not touch anything and expected that the other participant in the exchange would add some more "fee". This is how an ancient exchange took place, in which one feels mutual distrust towards each other, the desire to insure against troubles or even misfortunes that can be expected from a stranger. Initially, instead of exchange, there was simply robbery with the use of force and murder. Silent exchange is a more humane form of communication between people, the result of the development of social relations, that is, connections between people.

Already in antiquity, some kind of exchange existed among the Eastern Slavic tribes. Thanks to transit trade and other types of exchange, different things got from one region to another. So, items made in the Black Sea region ended up in the Dnieper region, and from there they were transported to the north of Europe. Things brought from Central Asia and Iran (Persia) are found during excavations in the Middle Dnieper region, where the Kievan state was later formed. Perhaps in the VII-VIII centuries. the slave trade was born, which at a later time played a very important role in Russia and in its trade with other countries.

In the ninth century Slavic conquests began Byzantium- a huge empire located south of the Slavic lands. Byzantium at that time was the richest and most culturally developed country in Europe. Its capital, Constantinople (the modern Turkish city of Istanbul), was located along the shores of the strait connecting the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Here Europe bordered on Asia. Through Constantinople, goods of Asian production were sold to Europe, so the capital of Byzantium was a center of trade of world importance. Especially in medieval Europe, Asian spices were valued, necessary for the consumption of meat food. This food spoiled rather quickly during storage, and spices contributed to its storage and beat off an unpleasant odor. Merchants from Europe were also attracted by fine Byzantine handicrafts.

During military campaigns against Byzantium, the Slavs learned about the way of life of strangers, their occupations and products of Byzantine crafts. This created the basis for exchange and trade with Byzantium. Acquaintance with the works of Byzantine crafts, especially weapons and jewelry, increased the level of needs of the Slavic nobility, aroused the desire to acquire them. Wars delivered a very valuable commodity - slaves. The Byzantines captured by the Slavs were ransomed by their relatives, which also contributed to the development of trade between the two peoples.

Volga trade route. From the end of the VIII - the beginning of the IX century. in Eastern Europe there were merchants from the Arab East (Anterior Asia). Their lands were south and east of Byzantium. The territory occupied by the Arabs expanded due to their conquests. They pressed Byzantium, advanced to Central Asia. Therefore, the borders of their lands were approaching the homeland of the Slavs.

The way from the Arab lands to Eastern Europe lay along the Caspian 耠sea 䑎 and along the Volga 䀮 (In the 8th - 10th centuries, the Arabs mastered the Volga trade route and the European North. ␟on the banks of the Middle Volga and its "tributary of the Kama" lived! the nomadస Bulgarians who founded here the state - Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria) Į The Bulgarian kingdom adopted Islam - the same religion that "was among the Abs. It established diplomatic relations with the Arabs.

This contributed to trade along the Caspian Sea and the Volga. The main trade of the Arabs was in Volga Bulgaria, in the small town of Bulgar (not far from modern Kazan).

The Arab nobility greatly appreciated the skins of sables and silver foxes. Arab merchants bought mammoth bones and walrus tusks for their artisans. To meet these merchants along the rivers of Eastern Europe, people from the Scandinavian Peninsula, from the territory of modern Sweden, moved.

Immigrants from Scandinavia began to come to Eastern Europe at the end of the 8th century. Initially, these were armed groups that came here for robbery. They began to develop the Baltic-Volga route, which opened up access to the places of trade of Arab merchants. The Scandinavians considered Arabic silver oriental coins to be the most valuable goods (they were interested in metal). They themselves sold slaves, sable furs and squirrels to the Arabs. In the middle of the ninth century Scandinavians began to establish contacts with the Slavs. In the X-XI centuries. Scandinavian merchant ships already regularly went to Russia.

In the land of the Slavs, at the place where the Volkhov River flows into Lake Ladoga, the newcomers founded their city. It had a busy market, craft shops for repairing equipment and weapons. Through this city and from it, military-trading detachments went to the southeast, to the middle reaches of the Volga, where their trade with the Arabs took place. Merchants arrived on the Middle Volga in boats in whole squads. They built booths here, in which they laid out goods for sale. Trade was the most primitive, barter: a commodity was simply exchanged for another commodity. Thus, along the Volga and other routes, goods went from Scandinavia in the north to the Arab East in the south. The flow of Arab silver first went to Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, and from the beginning of the 10th century. silver began to settle in the lands of the Eastern Slavs. Arab merchants traded on the Volga until the 10th-11th centuries. The heyday of their trade fell in the first half of the tenth century. Later, their goods began to come to Eastern Europe, mostly through Constantinople, along the Dnieper route.

On the lower Volga at that time there was a state Khazar Khaganate founded by a nomadic people - the Khazars. In the capital - the city of Itil - on one side, on the right bank of the Volga, lived the ruler-kagan and his nobles, warriors, merchants from different countries stopped on the left. There was a market on the river bank. Merchants arriving in the city moored their ships to the shore and engaged in trade here. This order was widespread among ancient peoples. In European languages, the word "port" means "market", that is, usually the port - the place where ships stopped - was also a place of trade.

A variety of furs came from the north along the Volga to Itil, and from there to Central Asia - sables, ermines, ferrets, foxes, martens, beavers, hares, goats. Treated horse skin was also exported - yuft, wax, honey. From the Arabs, merchants received, in addition to silver items, beads, pearls, precious stones, and jewelry. In the X century. The Volga was the main artery connecting Asia and northern Europe.

The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks". In the ninth century formed another great trade route in Eastern Europe. Contemporaries called it the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks", that is, from Scandinavia to Byzantium; the inhabitants of Scandinavia, the Slavs called the Varangians, and the Byzantines - the Greeks. Unlike the Volga trade route, this route went through the Slavic lands and had a great and varied impact on the life of the local population. He begins to play an important role in the life of the Slavs from the tenth century. Through the Slavic lands, ships moved along the rivers, which carried foreign merchants and their goods. These vessels sometimes walked on water, sometimes they were dragged with the help of the local population overland on wooden skating rinks, beams or on a deck from one river to another. The length of the route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea was 2,700 km. It took about four months to overcome such a distance, taking into account stops along the way. The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" ended in the capital of Byzantium - Constantinople.

Passing through unfamiliar lands, Western European merchants now and then encountered the local population, which robbed them. Therefore, as can be assumed, over time they began to negotiate with the leaders of the Slavic tribes. The chieftains took tribute from passing merchants and in return ensured their safety as they advanced through their territory. Apparently, from that time a custom developed, which also operated much later in Russia: a visiting merchant first of all presented his goods to the local ruler, who chose what he especially liked, and then the merchant could start trading. This tribute over time became the most tempting income for the Slavic rulers, since it included items that were not produced or mined in the Slavic land.

From the second half of the ninth century Byzantium experienced an economic boom. Here, after some decline, urban life revived. Foreign trade grew. Silk fabrics of Byzantine production, gold and silver brocade, jewelry and glass products were widely sold in different countries, including in Russia.

From the second half of the IX-X centuries. The Dnieper region began to play a significant role in transit trade. Small towns arose along the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”. Thanks to trade and tribute, the local nobility rose from it. Kiev became an important hub for this trade. Since that time, the state of the Eastern Slavs has been formed, one of the largest centers of which was Kiev. The top of the society was the military-trading layer, which rallied around the prince, formed his squad, army, administrative apparatus, distributed over the cities. This layer included not only Slavs, but also Scandinavians.

Merchants in RussiaIX- XIIIcenturies At this time, it is already possible to speak of the emergence of the merchant class as a special social group whose main income was trade. The merchant was not just a seller or buyer of goods. Urban and rural artisans who sold their products and purchased raw materials, the clergy, who managed the boyar economy, and peasants who sold the products of their agriculture and crafts in the nearest cities and at rural markets, were involved in market operations. For all these people, trading was not a professional occupation. They belonged to different classes and class groups. The merchant is a professional merchant engaged in the purchase, delivery, resale of consignments of goods and belonged to the merchant class. Already in Kievan Rus, a layer of people was taking shape, who, according to their professional occupations, can be attributed to merchants.

In the IX-X centuries. the process of formation of the merchant class was just beginning. Important conditions for education layer of professional traders In Slavic society, there was the accumulation in the hands of the local nobility of significant reserves of forestry and agricultural products, the acquaintance of this nobility with such luxury and household items that were not produced or mined in the land subject to it, the separation of craft from agriculture, the emergence of more or less permanent trade - handicraft settlements.

At first, the composition of such merchants was not homogeneous. They were from different lands. The merchants included Scandinavians, Slavs, representatives of other nationalities. In the IX-X centuries. merchant guests in Russia usually came from Scandinavia. They were accustomed to seafaring, to long-distance voyages in ships, so they could embark on long journeys both in Europe and in Asia. During the formation of the state of Kievan Rus, the first merchants, by their origin, were warriors of the princes who ruled in Russia. Later, especially from the 11th century, merchants appeared from among the local boyars, the trade and craft population of cities.

H Starting from the first centuries in the history of Russian trade and for a very long time, the merchant was a military man. Trade caravans resembled armed expeditions, as merchants had to face various dangers on a long journey and defend their goods with weapons in their hands. On the way, the merchant could also go on a robbery for the sake of valuable booty. At this time, trading operations sometimes turned into raids. In ancient times trade and plunder accompanied each other everywhere.

An ancient legend, recorded by a chronicler, said that at the end of the 9th century. Novgorod prince Oleg, a Scandinavian by origin, came with soldiers in boats along the Dnieper to Kiev. Seeing that he would not be able to take the city by storm, Oleg pretended to be a merchant and summoned the rulers of Kiev, Askold and Dir, to the banks of the Dnieper. The military attire of Oleg and the people around him could not seem strange to the representatives of the local authorities who came to him. This was the usual appearance of merchants who were on a large trading trip. Askold and Dir were killed by Oleg's soldiers, and Oleg turned Kiev into the capital of his state, uniting the northern and southern Slavic lands. In Kiev, there were much more merchants traveling to Byzantium than in Novgorod, and the prince's income was higher. Now the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was under the control of the new ruler. Dohᐾzh from merchants passing through it significantly replenished the princely treasury.

Varangians

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Every year in the fall, the prince set off with his retinue to detour the subject lands. An important purpose of these trips was the collection of “polyudya”, which consisted of food products and especially valuable items - gathering and hunting. Everything collected during the detour was delivered to Kiev. The princes shared with the warriors part of the collected valuables. In late spring and summer, on behalf of the prince, the combatants went to Byzantium to sell the products that they, together with the prince, collected from the subject population. It is no coincidence that already in the ninth century. such traders exported from Russia for sale not only furs, but also swords, not of Slavic production, but of Western Europe. Thus, the combatants more or less systematically engaged in trade, receiving from it an important income.

Over time, the layer of Scandinavian merchants was replenished with Slavs. The merchant class included people who, like farmers, were not tied to a certain place of residence, who freely left their homes. Among them could be princely and boyar servants, artisans.

Trade was not always a permanent, professional activity for their participants. He could have left them. The composition of the layer of trading people was still unstable. Merchants who made long-distance trading trips were called in Russia guests, and trade guest. The social status of the merchant was quite high. A new period in the development of the merchant class began in connection with the growth of cities in Russia (since the 11th century). At this time, the aggressive policy of the Russian princes was replaced by a policy of peaceful relations with neighbors. In the XI-XII centuries. trade relations between Russia and Byzantium became especially close. Professional merchants arose among the townspeople. Foreign trade began to pass to them. If in the IX-X centuries. merchants led a nomadic lifestyle, were temporary residents of trading settlements, then in the XI-XIII centuries. they increasingly connect their lives with the city, with local trade, become more sedentary.

An important feature of trade in antiquity was that trade duties at that time and for many centuries were very high, reaching 20% ​​of the value of goods carried by the merchant. However, the high prices of goods at the point of sale and the wholesale scope of trading operations not only reimbursed all the costs of travel and trade, but also brought significant profits. A dangerous but very profitable long-distance trading trip quickly enriched the merchant.

V
At that time, merchants traveled to Byzantium on the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks", to Khazaria - along the Don, through the Caspian Sea - to Baghdad. Their ships plowed the waters of four seas - the Black, Baltic, Azov and Caspian. Clay vessels served as containers for storage and transportation of some goods. Since the ninth century merchants had miniature folding scales with weights. When folded, they easily fit into a small pouch or case and attached to the belt. On such small scales, only precious goods, usually silver, could be weighed.

Scales and weights of an ancient Russian merchant

In the XII century. Russia was divided into different lands-principalities. In the XII century, when the former commercial importance of Kiev began to fall, the commercial role of such cities as Novgorod, Smolensk, Polotsk, Vladimir-on-Klyazma began to grow rapidly. At this time, the Russian lands finally got rid of dependence on Kiev, stopped sending the Kiev prince an annual tribute in silver. The craft developed. At the same time, the stratum of the merchant class grew. There was a further development of trade. Trade-related operations became more diversified. In the XII century. among the merchants, mutual money loans are spreading - lending. Merchants also took other people's goods for sale on a trading trip. One merchant received goods from another for storage. At the same time, the first merchant associations were formed in Novgorod, which indicates a high degree of development of trade. The growth of trade and merchants' incomes also causes sharply negative consequences. From the 30s. 12th century princes constantly attacked merchant caravans, intercepted trade routes, took trading centers from battle, and arrested merchants. According to the collection of laws - Russkaya Pravda - for the murder of a merchant, the same fine was imposed on the guilty as for the prince's combatant - 40 hryvnias.

Merchant people were used as warriors by the princes in case of military danger or even as participants in a military campaign. Even more often, the princes used their knowledge, experience, and opportunities in the field of diplomacy and intelligence. Knowing foreign languages, they acted as translators. Messages were passed with reliable merchants. The princes forced merchants to transport princely people and goods at their own expense.

Foreign trade of Ancient Russia. Trade with Byzantium and Eastern countries. Around the 11th century . Kiev has become one of the most important international trade centers in Eastern Europe. He was considered a rival of Constantinople. To some extent, the commercial role of Kiev was similar to that of the Byzantine capital. Just like Constantinople, Kiev was the center through which Europe received goods from Asia. In the Kiev markets one could meet merchants from different countries. Lively trade routes crossed here. Southern Russia was a region of Europe through which goods from the east of the continent moved to the west and from west to east. So from the Russian lands silk fabrics of Arab production went to Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, France. The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was actively used until the 12th century.

Expensive foreign things imported into the Russian lands settled in the cities and estates of the nobility. The needs of the nobility for luxury invariably grew. She needed beautiful dishes for feasts, silk fabrics, chased lining for men's belts and horse harness, necklaces for men and women, pendants, earrings, etc. The princes generously endowed warriors with imported things - expensive weapons, jewelry. Trade in these items in one way or another affected the top of society, without touching the bulk of the population.

In the second half of the X century. Kiev Prince Svyatoslav dealt a crushing blow to the Khazar Khaganate. After this event, the position of Russia on the Volga trade route increased significantly. Apparently, the regime for collecting duties from Russian merchants has changed. The Volga began to be perceived as a trade road, which was actively used by Russian merchants and foreign merchants who traveled to Russia. From the mouth of the Volga to the Baltic Sea could be reached in two months.

In the tenth century merchant caravans from Russia traveled to the largest center of Central Asia, Khorezm. Furs, processed leather, flax, Baltic amber, and slaves were brought here. From the mouth of the Volga, the ships of ancient Russian merchants moved along the western coast of the Caspian Sea to the Persian coast.

For a long time, trade with Byzantium remained an important area of ​​trade for merchants from Russia. Every year two merchant caravans departed from Kiev to Constantinople. They consisted not only of Kiev merchants, but also of warrior merchants from Novgorod, Smolensk, Chernigov and other centers of Russia. First, in May, merchants from the southern lands set off. In July, merchants from Novgorod and other northern regions gathered near Kiev. From Kiev in boats, hollowed out of large trees, 30-40 people in each merchants went down the Dnieper. Each of these caravans spent three months in Byzantium. Between Russia and Byzantium in the first half of the tenth century. trade agreements were signed. In accordance with them, empty soldier barracks near Constantinople were allotted for merchants who came from Russia, from which the soldiers went to summer camps. In such a place, it was easier for the government of Constantinople to control the behavior of visitors. Here the merchants lived and received food from the Byzantine government. They were allowed into Constantinople through the same gates only accompanied by a state official, without weapons, in turns in groups of 50 people, taking into account everyone who entered the capital. In these orders, the fear of the Byzantine authorities in front of the often violent crowd of Russian merchant soldiers is noticeable. Trade with Byzantium was under the control of the Kiev prince. Without his knowledge, not a single merchant could go to Constantinople. Merchants accompanied the embassies to Constantinople, they were considered inferior to the ambassadors, but usually greatly outnumbered them in each embassy. All military-trade expeditions to Byzantium were not private, but state-owned.

Byzantium has repeatedly become the object of robbery by the Slavic princes with their squads. Often, under the guise of merchants, soldiers entered Byzantium with the aim of robbery. Therefore, already in the tenth century. a procedure was introduced for the presentation by visitors from Russia to local authorities of gold or silver seals-rings - a kind of identity card. After the baptism of Russia in 988, relations between the two states acquired a much more peaceful character. From Byzantium, ancient Russian merchants exported luxury items - gold, silver, fine fabrics, vegetables, wines and jewelry. The Church needed to bring wine, olive oil, incense, dyes, non-ferrous metals to Russia. These goods were bought by a narrow circle of consumers, the top of the Slavic society. Slaves, wax and furs went from Russia to Byzantium as goods.

In the tenth century at the conclusion of treaties between Russia and Byzantium, they regulated the procedures for the trade of ancient Russian merchants on the territory of Byzantium and the passage of Byzantine merchants through the ancient Russian lands.

Merchants who arrived in Byzantium were sent by princes and boyars. Some of them were merchants of the prince, some were free guests. The treaties determined penalties for criminal offenses committed by visiting merchants. Russian merchants had to present to the Byzantine authorities a certificate from their prince indicating the number of ships sent to prove the peaceful nature of the trip. The soldiers' barracks in which they were settled were outside Constantinople. These barracks had simple furnishings and a large kitchen. They lived like this for several summer months, until autumn. The authorities gave them food for the entire duration of their stay.

Since ancient times, all peoples had a custom - "coastal law" - in accordance with which coastal residents robbed ships that were wrecked. The agreement between Russia and the Byzantines provided for mutual assistance in such cases: if the Greek ship was wrecked, the inhabitants of Russia must rescue the cargo and deliver it to a safe place.

In the XI-XII centuries. trips of merchants from Russia to Byzantium continued. People traveling along the Dnieper route were in danger in the form of nomads who followed the advancing caravan and attacked it at the opportunity. Merchants also suffered damage during strife between princes. Therefore, the Kiev princes took care of the merchants - they sent their warriors to the most dangerous places to protect them.

Over time, the set of goods that were exported from Russia to Constantinople and further - into the depths of Byzantium grew. In addition to slaves, whose role as a commodity grew, Russian merchants brought dried fish, red and black caviar, wax, white hare fur.

From the middle of the XI century. gradually began to change the terms of trade. The conquests of various nomadic peoples cut Russia off from some of the southern states, making it difficult for Russia to connect with Byzantium. The influx of Arab silver coins - dirhams - to Russia stopped. From the end of the XI century. Crusades began from Western Europe to the Arab East. They paved new, shorter routes that linked Western Europe with the Byzantine markets. In the XII century. the value of the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” decreases, the trade of Kiev weakens. The conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders at the beginning of the 13th century. finally paralyzed the Kiev-Byzantine trade.

Trade in the western direction. Since ancient times, merchants from Russia moved not only in a southerly direction - to Byzantium, but also in a northerly direction, to the Baltic Sea, to coastal countries - Denmark, Sweden, Slavic Pomerania. Since the X century. contacts of the Slavs with Western Europe begin. At the beginning of the X century. merchants from Eastern Europe traveled up the Danube through the Bulgarian lands to Poland, the Czech Republic, and southern Germany (Bavaria). A significant flow of artistic works from the West began in the 12th century, where urban craft flourished at that time.

In the IX-XI centuries. through the northern part of Russia to the Baltic countries there was a stream of Arab silver. During this time, Northern Europe received approximately 800-1000 tons of silver from the Arabs through Russia. Slavic merchants delivered expensive furs (ermine, sable), wax, and honey to the Baltic countries and even to the more distant parts of Europe. Unlike Byzantium, the inhabitants of the northern Polish and southern Swedish lands also bought old Russian jewelry, dishes, tools, and other household items.

Since the second half of the IX century. from Kiev, merchants traveled to the upper reaches of the Danube through Krakow and Prague, through Hungary to Bavaria. In the X-XI centuries. Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, was the largest European center of the slave trade. Land roads led here, along which merchants moved in wagons and with pack horses. They brought slaves (men, women, children), wax, drove horses for sale. In the Bavarian capital, one of the richest German cities, Regensburg in the XI-XII centuries. even there were Russian gates, which speaks of the constant arrivals of merchants from Russia here.

Since the X century. swords were taken to Russia from German lands, silver, which was not mined in Russian lands. Amber was brought from the Southern Baltic. Russia received metals through the Baltic Sea (iron, copper, lead, and from the 11th century - silver), salt, cloth, wine, herring. Wonderful horses were brought from Hungary to Russia, which were especially valued by military people. Silver also came from here. Bronze and other goods were brought from German cities to Russia. In Kiev, Novgorod, Smolensk there were colonies of foreign merchants. Temples were even built for them here.

Domestic trade. In ancient times, for a long time, internal trade was inferior to external trade in terms of development. Domestic trade becomes a noticeable phenomenon in the 11th century. At this time, in the ancient Russian cities appear tenements – handicraft and trading quarters located around the fortified city center. In the XII-XIII centuries. cities grew rapidly. Some of the artisans moved from working to order to working for the market. The role of internal trade has increased.

An important place in the city was the market - the city market, where they sold ordinary things necessary for the main part of the population of Russia: clothes, livestock, in particular, horses. On behalf of his master, his slave slave could trade in the market. At the beginning of the XI century. There were 8 markets in Kiev. Later, their number grew to 12. In addition, 8 fairs were held in Kiev.

Novgorod was a significant trading center. Over time, its commercial value grew. In Novgorod, bargaining occupied a vast place and was divided into rows of shops in accordance with the goods that were sold in these shops. So, wax was sold in Voshchny Ryad. The trade was usually located next to the church, the church square at the same time was a place of trade, as was the case in Western Europe. Cellars in a stone temple were often used as a room in which goods were stacked and stored. Behind the front door, in the vestibule of the temple, the goods were weighed.

Operated on the market mytnik – servant of the prince who collected one of the most important taxes - myt - toll. Along with this duty in Russia there were such duties as living tribute, transportation, osmnichee. In the conditions of the fragmentation of Russia, the number of customs houses increased.

Bargaining was a place that was most often visited by the entire population of the city. Handicraft products were sold within the rural district closest to the city (50-100 km). Pedlars carried goods from city markets to remote villages. Inside Russia, glass bracelets made in Kiev, jewelry with enamel, dishes dispersed. From city to city, merchants carried imported salt by land or water. Imported bread was often sold in Novgorod, especially in famine years. In such times, the well-being of the inhabitants of Novgorod depended on the delivery of grain from the eastern and southern regions of Russia, even from German lands. In the years of famine, self-sale into slavery of adults and the sale of children into slave slaves grew. In general, the slave trade was developed in Russia.

Money. International and domestic exchange facilitated the development of money and money circulation. In Russia there was a variety of money. Initially, barter trade prevailed: goods were exchanged for goods. Then commodity-money appeared, their role was played by the most common and highly valued goods on the market. When making settlements with foreign merchants, ancient Russian people used full-fledged high-quality furs. Oriental silver coins were in use - durhems and Western European denarii. Although the princes of Kiev Vladimir and later his son Yaroslav minted their own coin, it did not play a prominent role in the market. The role of money for domestic trade was played by animal skins - squirrels, martens. From the ancient Slavic name of the squirrel "veveritsa" came the name of money - "veksha", from "marten" - "kuna". Coons in Russia were called money in general. In one or another territory of Russia, money was in circulation in the form of bundles of furs (in particular, 18 skins in a bundle).

The underdevelopment of commodity-money circulation is evidenced by the treasures of oriental coins, which are found during excavations of ancient Russian settlements. Money buried in the ground went out of circulation. In addition, they were often used not as a means of exchange, but as raw materials for handicrafts - jewelry and utensils, used as pendants for necklaces.

Importance of trade in ancient Russia. Speaking about the importance of trade in the life of the Eastern Slavs, it must be remembered that the Slavic society lived in a subsistence economy. It was aimed at consumption, not at the production of goods for sale. Opportunities for the development of trade were small. Trade almost did not concern the broad masses of the population. Existing in Russia such economic phenomena as the accumulation of money as a treasure, natural exchange were an indicator of the weakness of commodity-money circulation. Craftsmen worked to order, not for market sales. Their products were not intended for the mass buyer. Trade links between isolated settlements were limited and irregular.

Nevertheless, trade had a noticeable impact on various aspects of the life of the population of Eastern Europe. She influenced the composition of society. Trade contributed to the stratification of ancient Russian society. The nobility celebrated their position by decorating themselves with imported things, and thus towered over the rest of the population. Imports introduced the nobility to previously unknown jewelry, fine crafts, and high-quality household items. Imported things caused the development of the need for luxury, in an appropriate lifestyle. The taxes that the merchants gave to the princes enriched the princely-druzhina elite of society. Trade stimulated the development of the trade and handicraft population in the cities. It was the basis for the formation and development of such a social stratum as the merchant class.

Trade stimulated the formation and growth of cities, created income and new employment for the population of the country. On trade routes, special settlements arose - settlements of warriors, merchants and artisans. The composition of the population of such points was unstable, closely connected with foreign trade. The most ancient cities of Russia were on the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks." Trade stimulated their growth. People who were strangers to each other came to live in shopping centers, breaking the old blood-kinship and communal ties, they were the forerunners of medieval townspeople. In places where passing merchants had to drag their ships from the basin of one river to the basin of another, settlements arose. Control over portages was carried out by princely combatants. The local population served merchants moving along difficult sections of the rivers, provided equipment for the movement of boats on dry land in the portage areas. Trade influenced the development of Slavic crafts. Oriental and Byzantine fabrics and works of artistic craft brought to Russia served as models for Slavic craftsmen.

trading class. It has existed in Russia since ancient times. In the notes of the Byzantine imp. Constantine Porphyrogenitus tells about the activities of Russian merchants as early as the 1st half. 10th century According to him, since November, as soon as the road froze up and the sledge track was established, Russian merchants left the cities and headed inland. Throughout the winter, they bought goods from the graveyards, and also collected tribute from the inhabitants in payment for the protection that the city gave them. In the spring, already along the Dnieper with hollow water, the merchants returned to Kiev and, on ships prepared by that time, went to Constantinople. This path was difficult and dangerous. And only a large guard saved the caravan of Smolensk, Lyubech, Chernigov, Novgorod, Vyshegorodsky merchants from numerous robbers. Having sailed the Dnieper, they went out to sea, holding on to the shore, since at any moment the fragile boats could die from a steep wave.

In Tsargrad, Russian merchants traded for six months. According to the contract, they could not stay for the winter. They were placed not in the city itself, but at the "Holy Mama" (the monastery of St. Mamant). During their stay in Constantinople, Russian merchants enjoyed various benefits granted to them by the Greek emperor. In particular, they sold their goods and bought Greek ones without paying duties; in addition, they were given free food and allowed to use the bathhouse. At the end of the auction, the Greek authorities provided our merchants with edible goods and ship gear. They returned home no earlier than October, and there it was already November again, and they had to go deep into the country, to graveyards, selling what was brought from Byzantium, and buying up goods for foreign trade for the next year. Such entrepreneurial activity was carried out by Russia for more than one century. The cycle of trading life played a huge role in the development and unification of Russian lands. More and more people were involved in this economic activity, becoming vitally interested in its results. However, Russian merchants traded not only with Tsar-grad, from where they exported silk fabrics, gold, lace, wine, soap, sponges, and various delicacies. A large trade was carried out with the Varangians, from whom they bought bronze and iron products (especially swords and axes), tin and lead, as well as with the Arabs - from where beads, precious stones, carpets, morocco, sabers, spices came to the country.

The fact that trade was very large is evidenced by the nature of the treasures of that time, which are still found in abundance near ancient cities, on the banks of big rivers, on portages, near the former graveyards. These hoards often contain Arabic, Byzantine, Roman and Western European coins, including even those minted in the 8th century.

Around Russian cities, many trading and fishing settlements arose. Merchants, beaver farmers, beekeepers, trappers, tar smokers, lykoders and other "industrialists" of that time converged here for trade, or, as they called it then, "guests". These places were called graveyards (from the word "guest"). Later, after the adoption of Christianity, in these places, as the most visited, churches were built and cemeteries were located. Here transactions were made, contracts were concluded, hence the tradition of fair trade began. In the cellars of churches, the inventory necessary for trade (scales, measures) was stored, goods were stacked, and trade agreements were also kept. For this, the clergy charged merchants a special fee.

The first Russian code of laws Russkaya Pravda was imbued with the spirit of the merchants. When you read his articles, you are convinced that he could have arisen in a society where trade was the most important occupation, and the interests of the inhabitants are closely connected with the result of trade operations.

"Pravda", - writes the historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, - strictly distinguishes the return of property for storage - "luggage" from "loan", a simple loan, a friend's loan from the return of money in growth from a certain agreed percentage, a short-term interest loan - from a long-term one, and, finally, a loan - from a trading commission and contribution to a trading company from an unspecified profit or dividend. Pravda further gives a definite procedure for collecting debts from an insolvent debtor during the liquidation of his affairs, and is able to distinguish between malicious and unfortunate insolvency. What is a trade credit and operations on credit is well known to Russkaya Pravda. Guests, out-of-town or foreign merchants, "launched goods" for native merchants, i.e. sold them on credit. The merchant gave the guest, a countryman merchant who traded with other cities or lands, "kuns for purchase", for a commission for buying goods for him on the side; the capitalist entrusted the merchant with "kuns as a guest", for turnover from the profit.

City entrepreneurs, rightly notes Klyuchevsky, were sometimes employees, sometimes rivals of the princely power, which reflected their great role in society. Russian legislation valued the life of a merchant, his head was fined twice as much as for his head. common man(12 hryvnia and 5-6 hryvnia).

The successful growth of merchant activity in Ancient Russia was confirmed by the development of credit relations. Novgorod merchant Klimyata (Clement), who lived in XII - n. XIII century, combined its extensive trading activities with the provision of loans (the return of money in growth). Klimyata was a member of the Merchant Hundred (a union of Novgorod entrepreneurs), he was mainly engaged in airborne fishing and cattle breeding. By the end of his life, he owned four villages with vegetable gardens. Before his death, he compiled a spiritual, in which he listed over a dozen different kinds of people associated with him by entrepreneurial activities. From the list of debtors of Klimyata it is clear that he also gave out "poral silver", for which interest was charged in the form of an invoice. Klimyata's activity was such that he not only provided loans, but also took them. So, he bequeathed two villages to his creditors Danila and Voin in payment of a debt. Klimyata bequeathed all his fortune to the Novgorod Yuryev Monastery - a typical case for that time.

Novgorod the Great was one of the most characteristic merchant cities. Most of the population lived here by trade, and the merchant was considered the main figure about whom fairy tales and legends were formed. A typical example is the Novgorod epic about the merchant Sadko.

Novgorod merchants conducted their trade and fishing activities in artels, or companies, which were well-armed detachments. There were dozens of merchant artels in Novgorod, depending on the goods they traded, or the area where they went to trade. There were, for example, Pomeranian merchants who traded on the Baltic or White Seas, Nizov merchants who had business in the Suzdal region, and so on.

The most solid Novgorod merchants united in a commercial and industrial "association", then called "Ivanovo Sto", which had its center near the church of St. John the Baptist in Opoki. There was a public guest yard where merchants put their goods, and there was also a "gridnitsa" (large chamber), a kind of hall for business meetings. At the general meeting of "Ivanovo hundred" the merchants elected the headman, who managed the affairs of this "association", supervised the public cash desk and the execution of business documents.

Bargaining took place near the church, there were special scales, at which there were elected jurors who observed the correctness of weight and trade. For weighing, as well as for the sale of goods, a special fee was levied. In addition to large scales, there were also small scales near the church, which served to weigh precious metals, the ingots of which replaced coins.

The contradictions that arose between merchants and buyers were resolved in a special commercial court, the chairman of which was the thousand.

The merchants who were part of the "Ivanovo hundred" had great privileges. In case of financial difficulties, they were provided with a loan or even gratuitous assistance. During dangerous trading operations, it was possible to get an armed detachment for protection from Ivanovo Sto.

However, only a very wealthy merchant could join Ivanovo Sto. To do this, a large contribution had to be made to the cash desk of the "association" - 50 hryvnias - and, in addition, donated to the church of St. John in Opoki for almost 30 more hryvnias (with this money you could buy a herd of 80 oxen). But, having joined the "Ivanovo hundred", the merchant and his children (participation was hereditary) immediately occupied an honorary position in the city and received all the privileges associated with this.

Novgorod merchants carried on a great mutually beneficial trade with the Hanseatic League. Novgorod merchants bought and sold linen fabrics, dressed leather, high quality resin and wax, hops, timber, honey, furs, and bread to the Hanseatic people throughout Russia. From the Hanseatics, Novgorod merchants received wine, metals, salt, morocco, gloves, dyed yarn and various luxury goods.

A highly developed system of merchant entrepreneurship, coupled with people's self-government, were the main conditions for the economic prosperity of Ancient Novgorod, which was repeatedly noted by foreign merchants and travelers.

In addition to "Ivanovo hundred" in Russian cities, there were other professional associations of merchants. In the XIV-XVI centuries. trade entrepreneurs who had shops in the city market (“rows”) united in self-governing organizations, whose members were called “ryadovichi”.

The riadovichi jointly owned the territory allotted for shops, had their own elected elders, and had special rights to sell their goods. Most often, their center was the patronal church (goods were stored in its cellars), often they were also given even judicial functions. The property status of the merchants was unequal. The richest were the "guests-surozhans" - merchants who traded with Surozh and other cities of the Black Sea region. Wealthy were also merchants of the cloth row - "cloth workers", who traded cloth imported from the West. In Moscow, the church of St. John Chrysostom was the patronal church of the "Guests-Surozhians". Belonging to the corporation of Moscow guests was furnished with approximately the same rules as in the Novgorod "Ivanovo Sto". The position in this corporation was also hereditary. The guests led the merchant caravans going to the Crimea.

Already in the XV century. Russian merchants trade with Persia and India. The Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin visits India in 1469 and, in fact, opens it for Russia.

In the era of Ivan the Terrible, the energetic activity of the merchants Stroganovs became a symbol of the Russian merchants, through the efforts of which the active development of the Urals and Siberia by the Russians began. Kielburger, who visited Moscow during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich as part of the Swedish embassy, ​​noted that all Muscovites "from the most noble to the simplest love merchants, which is due to the fact that there are more trading shops in Moscow than in Amsterdam or at least another whole principality".

Some cities looked like colorful trade fairs. The broad development of trade was also noted in more early times. Foreigners who visited Moscow in the 15th century pay special attention to the abundance of edible marketable products, which testified to the broad development of commodity relations among the peasants, and by no means to the dominance of subsistence farming.

According to the description of the Venetian Josaphat Barbaro, “in winter they bring to Moscow so many bulls, pigs and other animals, completely skinned and frozen, that you can buy up to two hundred pieces at a time ... Abundance in bread and meat is so great here that they sell beef not by weight, but by eye." Another Venetian, Ambrose Contarini, also testifies that Moscow "abounds in all kinds of bread" and "subsistence supplies are cheap in it." Contarini says that every year at the end of October, when the Moscow River is covered hard ice, merchants set up "their shops with various goods" on this ice and, having thus arranged a whole market, they almost completely stop their trade in the city. Merchants and peasants "every day, throughout the winter, bring bread, meat, pigs, firewood, hay and other necessary supplies" to the market located on the Moscow River. At the end of November, usually "all the local residents kill their cows and pigs and take them to the city for sale ... It's nice to look at this huge amount of frozen cattle, completely skinned and standing on the ice on their hind legs."

Handicrafts were traded in shops, markets and workshops. Already in ancient times, a number of cheap mass goods made by urban artisans (beads, glass bracelets, crosses, whorls) were distributed by peddler merchants throughout the country.

Russian merchants carried on extensive trade with other countries. Their trips to Lithuania, Persia, Khiva, Bukhara, Crimea, Kafa, Azov and others are known. The subject of trade was not only raw materials and products of extractive industries exported from Russia (furs, timber, wax), but also products of Russian artisans (yufti, single rows, fur coats, canvases, saddles, arrows, saadaks, knives, dishes, etc.). In 1493 Mengli-Giray asks Ivan III to send him 20,000 arrows. Crimean princes and princes turned to Moscow with a request to send shells and other armor. Later, in the 17th century, a huge trade in Russian goods went through Arkhangelsk - in 1653 the amount of export through the city's port abroad amounted to over 17 million rubles. gold (in prices of the beginning of the 20th century).

The scale of Russian trade amazed foreigners who visited our country. "Russia," he wrote in his very early XVII v. Frenchman Margeret, is a very rich country, since no money is exported from it at all, but they are imported there annually in large quantities, since they make all calculations with goods that they have in abundance, namely: various furs, wax, lard, cow and horse skin. Other leathers dyed red, linen, hemp, all kinds of ropes, caviar, i.e. salted fish caviar, they export in large quantities to Italy, then salted salmon, a lot of fish oil and other goods. As for bread, although there is a lot of it, they do not risk taking it out of the country towards Livonia. Moreover, they have a lot of potash, linseed, yarn and other goods that they exchange or sell without buying foreign goods with cash, and even the emperor ... orders to pay with bread or wax.

In the 17th century in Moscow, the trading, merchant class is distinguished from the category of taxable people into a special group of city, or townspeople, people, which, in turn, is divided into guests, living room and cloth hundreds and settlements. The highest and most honorable place belonged to the guests (there were no more than 30 of them in the 15th century).

The title of a guest was received by the largest entrepreneurs, with a trade turnover of at least 20 thousand a year - a huge amount for those times. All of them were close to the king, were free from paying duties paid by merchants of a lower rank, occupied the highest financial positions, and also had the right to buy estates into their possession.

Members of the living room and cloth shop (in the 17th century there were about 400 of them) also enjoyed great privileges, occupied a prominent place in the financial hierarchy, but were inferior to the guests in "honor". Living rooms and cloth hundreds had self-government, their common affairs were managed by elected heads and foremen.

The lowest rank of the merchant class was represented by the inhabitants of the Black Hundreds and settlements. These were predominantly handicraft self-governing organizations that themselves produced goods, which they then sold. This category, relatively speaking, of non-professional merchants was in strong competition with professional merchants of the highest ranks, since the "black hundreds", trading in their own products, could sell them cheaper.

In large cities, townspeople who had the right to trade were divided into the best, middle and young. The sphere of activity of Russian merchants of the XVII century. was wide, reflecting the entire geography of the economic development of Russia. Six main trade routes originated from Moscow - Belomorsky (Vologda), Novgorod, Volga, Siberian, Smolensk and Ukrainian.

The Belomorsky (Vologda) route went through Vologda along the Sukhona and the Northern Dvina to Arkhangelsk (formerly to Kholmogory) and the White Sea, and from there to foreign countries. Famous centers of Russian entrepreneurship gravitated towards this path: Veliky Ustyug, Totma, Solchevygodsk, Yarensk, Ust-Sysolsk, which gave Russia thousands of merchants.

All R. 16th century Russian entrepreneurs received the right to trade duty-free with England (it went along the White Sea route), they had several buildings in London for their needs. Russians brought furs, flax, hemp, beef lard, yuft, blubber, resin, tar to England, and received fabrics, sugar, paper, and luxury goods.

The most important transshipment center on this route was Vologda, where goods were brought from Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kostroma and other cities throughout the winter, and then they were sent by water to Arkhangelsk, from where, in turn, goods arrived in autumn to be sent to Moscow by sledge.

Novgorod (Baltic) trade route went from Moscow to Tver, Torzhok, Vyshny Volochek, Valdai, Pskov, then to Baltic Sea. Russian flax, hemp, lard, leather and red yuft went this way to Germany. The Volga route passed along the Moscow River, Oka and Volga, and then through the Caspian Sea to Persia, Khiva and Bukhara.

The main business center along this path was Nizhny Novgorod, with the Makarievskaya fair located next to it. The way from Nizhny Novgorod to Astrakhan was overcome by Russian merchants in about a month. They went in caravans of 500 or more ships with a large guard. And even such caravans were attacked from time to time. Merchants sailed and stopped in local business centers - Cheboksary, Sviyazhsk, Kazan, Samara, Saratov.

Trade with Khiva and Bukhara was carried out in the Karagan refuge, where merchant ships came from Astrakhan under guard, and local merchants with their goods came to meet them. The trade went on for about a month. After that, part of the Russian ships returned to Astrakhan, and the other went to Derbent and Baku, from where the merchants already reached Shamakhi by land and traded with the Persians.

The Siberian route went by water from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod and to Solikamsk. From Solikamsk, the merchants moved by drag to Verkhoturye, where there was a big bargain with the Voguls, and then again by water to Tobolsk, through Turinsk and Tyumen. Then the road went to Yeniseisk past Surgut, Narym. In Yeniseisk, a large guest yard was arranged.

From Yeniseisk, the path ran towards the Ilim prison along Tunguska and Ilim. Part of the merchants followed further, reaching Yakutsk and Okhotsk, penetrating even the Amur.

The main business center of Russia for trade with China was Nerchinsk, where a special guest house was built.

Furs and animal skins were the main goods that were bought or bartered on this way; iron, weapons, fabrics were brought from Central Russia to Siberia.

The Smolensk (Lithuanian) route went from Moscow through Smolensk to Poland, but due to constant wars, this route was relatively little used for wide trade. Moreover, in Moscow, Polish and Jewish merchants who had a bad reputation were very reluctant to welcome, and Russian merchants avoided relations with merchants in shtetl Poland.

The steppe Little Russian (Crimean) path ran through the Ryazan, Tambov, Voronezh regions, went to the Don steppes, and from there to the Crimea. Lebedyan, Putivl, Yelets, Kozlov, Korotoyak, Ostrogozhsk, Belgorod, Valuyki were the main business centers that gravitated towards this path.

The wide scope of the main ways of trade and entrepreneurial activity clearly testified to the gigantic efforts invested in the economic development of the vast territory of Russia. In Ancient Russia, this activity was also associated with travel difficulties. By trading in certain goods, Russian merchants often took part in organizing their production, especially in the production of wax, lard, resin, tar, salt, yuft, leather, as well as the extraction and smelting of metals and the production of various products from them.

A Russian merchant from the townspeople of Yaroslavl, Grigory Leontievich Nikitnikov, conducted large-scale trade in European Russia, Siberia, Central Asia and Iran. But the basis of his wealth was the trade in Siberian furs. He built boats and ships carrying various goods, bread and salt. In 1614 he received the title of guest. From 1632 Nikitnikov invested in the salt industry. In the late 1630s, in the Solikamsk district, Nikitnikov owned 30 breweries, where, in addition to dependent people, more than 600 hired workers worked. Nikitnikov holds a whole row for the sale of salt in different cities located along the Volga and Oka and related rivers: in Vologda, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Kolomna, Moscow and Astrakhan.

For a long time, the center of Nikitnikov's trading activities was his native city of Yaroslavl with a vast courtyard that belonged to his ancestors. According to old descriptions, the estate of the merchant Nikitnikov turns into a real shopping center of Yaroslavl, becomes a nodal trading point, where the Volga and Eastern goods coming from Astrakhan crossed with Western goods brought from Arkhangelsk and Vologda. Here Nikitnikov built in 1613 a wooden church of the Nativity of the Virgin. Not far from the estate stood the famous Spassky Monastery, next to which there was a market. The salt and fish barns of the Nikitnikovs were located closer to the Kotorosl River. In 1622, Nikitnikov, by order of the tsar, moved to Moscow, and his shopping center also moved there. In Kitay-Gorod, Nikitnikov builds rich chambers and the most beautiful Trinity Church in Nikitniki (it has survived to this day). On Red Square, Nikitnikov acquires his own shops in the Cloth, Surozh, Hat and Silver rows. Nikitnikov builds large warehouses for wholesale trade. His house becomes a meeting place for wealthy merchants and deals. The names of major Moscow guests of the 17th century, who were in personal and family relationships with the host, are inscribed in the Synodicon of the Trinity Church.

The merchant Nikitnikov became famous not only for his business, but also for his social and patriotic activities. In n. 17th century he is a young zemstvo headman, his signature is on the lists of participants in the first and second zemstvo militias created in Yaroslavl to fight the Polish and Swedish invaders. Nikitnikov constantly participated in the performance of state elective services, represented at zemstvo councils, participated in the preparation of petitions to the tsar from guests and merchants who sought to protect the interests of Russian trade and limit the privileges of foreign merchants. He was bold and self-confident, thrifty and accurate in payments, did not like to owe, but did not like to lend, although he had to lend quite often, even to the tsar himself, who rewarded him with silver ladles and expensive damask. Life researcher Grigory Nikitnikov testifies to him as "a businesslike and practical man, of a deep penetrating mind, strong memory and will, with a tough decisive character and great life experience. Through all his instructions, the requirement to preserve the family and economic order as it was with him. The same businesslike tone sounds in orders to maintain splendor in the churches he built and in the order for accurate contributions to the treasury for salt pans.

Nikitnikov bequeathed all his capital not to be split up, but transferred to the joint and indivisible possession of two grandchildren: "... both my grandson Boris and my grandson Grigory live in the council and work together, and which of them will live furiously and money and others he will distribute his belongings to his relatives and outsiders, alone without the advice of his brother, and he is deprived of my blessing and order, he does not care about my house and belongings. Dying (in 1651), the merchant Nikitnikov bequeathed: "... and decorate the Church of God with all sorts of charms, and incense, and candles, and church wine, and give a friend to the priest and other churchmen together, so that the Church of God without singing would not be and not for what it didn’t become, as it was with me, George. In addition to his Moscow church, he asked to take care of the churches he built in Salt Kama and Yaroslavl.

One of the characteristic entrepreneurs of the XVII century. was a merchant Gavrila Romanovich Nikitin, by origin from the black-eared peasants of the Russian Pomorie. Nikitin began his trading activities as a clerk of the guest O.I. Filatiev. In 1679 he became a member of the living room hundreds of Moscow, and in 1681 received the title of guest. After the death of the brothers, Nikitin concentrated in his hands a large trade, doing business with Siberia and China, his capital in 1697 amounted to a huge amount for those times - 20 thousand rubles. Like other merchants, Nikitin is building his own church.

In the 17th century a church is being built in Moscow, which has become a shrine for the merchants of all Russia. This is Nikola the Great Cross, erected in 1680 by the Arkhangelsk guests Filatiev. The church was one of the most beautiful in Moscow, and indeed in all of Russia. It was blown up in the 1930s.

Russian merchants who traded with foreign countries offered them not only raw materials, but also products of high technology for those times, in particular metal devices. So, in the inventory of one of the Czech monasteries under 1394, "three iron castles, colloquially called Russian" are documented. In Bohemia, of course, there were quite a few of their famous metal craftsmen from the richest Ore Mountains and the Sudetenland. But, obviously, the products of Russian industry were no worse if they enjoyed fame and success so far abroad. This is a message from the 14th century. confirmed by later sources. So, from "Memory, how to sell Russian goods in the Germans", known from the text of the "Trade Book" 1570-1610, it is clear that the sale of the Russian "way of life" and other metal products"in the Germans" was commonplace in the XVI-XVII centuries. They also traded weapons. For example, in 1646 600 cannons were taken to Holland.

Talking about the famous Russian merchants of the 17th century, one cannot fail to mention the Bosov brothers, as well as the guests Nadia Sveteshnikov and the Guryevs. The Bosovs traded with Arkhangelsk and Yaroslavl, bought goods in the local markets of Primorye, also bought villages in order to get a large amount of bread for sale, engaged in usury, but Siberian trade was the basis of their enterprise. Bosovs sent carts of 50-70 horses to Siberia, loaded with both foreign goods and Russian homespun cloth, canvas, and iron products. They exported furs from Siberia. So, in 1649-50, 169 magpies and 7 sables (6,767 skins) were exported; purchased in large quantities and other furs. In the service of the Bosovs there were 25 clerks. They organized their own gangs in Siberia, i.e. industrial expeditions to places rich in sable, and also acquired them from local residents and from service people who collected yasak in Siberia. The sale of foreign and Russian products in Siberia also gave a high profit.

The richest merchants carried the state financial service as guests, which gave them a number of advantages and provided ample opportunities for further enrichment. Nadia Sveteshnikova and Gurieva's methods of creating enterprises also had the character of "initial accumulation". Sveteshnikov came from the Yaroslavl townspeople. Services to the new Romanov dynasty brought him an award to visit. He ran large fur trading operations, owned villages with peasants, but also invested in the salt industry. His wealth was estimated in ser. 17th century at 35.5 thousand rubles. (i.e. about 500 thousand rubles for gold money of the beginning of the 20th century). This is an example of large commercial capital and its development into industrial capital. Land grants were of paramount importance for the enrichment of Sveteshnikov and the development of his enterprises. In 1631, he was given huge land holdings along both banks of the Volga and along the Usa River to the later Stavropol. Here Sveteshnikov put 10 varnits. By 1660, there were 112 peasant households in Nadein Usolye. Along with hired people, he used the labor of serfs. Sveteshnikov built a fortress to protect against nomads, started a brick factory.

The Guryevs also came from the rich elite of the Yaroslavl Posad. In 1640, they started fishing at the mouth of the Yaik River, set up a wooden prison here, then replaced it with a stone fortress (the city of Guryev).

The development of entrepreneurship in Russia was largely successive. A study of the merchant families of the Upper Volga region, conducted by the researcher A. Demkin, showed that 43% of all merchant families were engaged in merchant activity from 100 to 200 years, and almost a quarter - 200 years or more. Three quarters of merchant families, numbering less than 100 years, arose in the middle - 2nd floor. 18th century and continued until the end of the century. All these surnames passed in the 19th century.

In 1785, Russian merchants receive a charter from Catherine II, which greatly elevated their position. According to this charter, all merchants were divided into three guilds.

The first guild included merchants who owned a capital of at least 10 thousand rubles. They received the right to wholesale trade in Russia and abroad, as well as the right to start factories and factories. Merchants with capital from 5 to 10 thousand rubles belonged to the second guild. They received the right to wholesale and retail trade in Russia. The third guild consisted of merchants with a capital of 1 to 5 thousand rubles. This category of merchants had the right only to retail trade. Merchants of all guilds were exempted from the poll tax (instead of it, they paid 1% of the declared capital), as well as from personal recruitment duty.

In addition to merchants of various guilds, the concept of "eminent citizen" was introduced. In status, he was higher than the merchant of the first guild, because he had to have a capital of at least 100 thousand rubles. "Eminent citizens" received the right to have country cottages, gardens, plants and factories.

A significant part of the Russian intelligentsia of the XVIII-XIX centuries. she did not like the Russian merchants, she despised them, abhorred them. She represented the merchants as inveterate rogues and swindlers, dishonest, greedy like a wolf. With her light hand in society, a myth is created about the dirty and vile "Tit Titychi", which had nothing to do with reality. “If the trading estate both in the former Muscovy and in recent Russia,” noted P.A. Buryshkin, “would actually be a collection of rogues and swindlers who have neither honor nor conscience, then how to explain the enormous successes that accompanied the development of the Russian national economy and the rise of the productive forces of the country.Russian industry was created not by government efforts and, with rare exceptions, not by the hands of the nobility.Russian factories were built and equipped by Russian merchants.Industry in Russia has gone out of trade.It is impossible to build a healthy business on unhealthy grounds. And if the results speak for themselves, the merchant class was in its mass healthy, and not so vicious."

“In Moscow’s unwritten merchant hierarchy,” wrote V.I. Ryabushinsky, “at the top of respect stood an industrialist-manufacturer, then a merchant-merchant walked, and at the bottom stood a man who gave money at interest, took into account bills, made capital work. they respected him very much, no matter how cheap his money was and no matter how decent he himself was.

The attitude towards this category of the first two was extremely negative, as a rule, they were not allowed on the threshold and, if possible, they tried to punish them in every possible way. Most of businessmen of the third group came from the western and southern provinces of Russia.

Before the revolution, the title of a merchant was acquired by paying for a guild certificate. Until 1898, a guild certificate was mandatory for the right to trade. Later - optional and existed only for persons wishing to enjoy some of the benefits assigned to the merchant rank, or participate in estate management. Advantages: exemption from corporal punishment (very important for merchants of the peasant class), the right, under certain conditions, to receive the title of honorary and hereditary honorary citizen (granting the advantages of a merchant title without choice and a guild certificate), the opportunity to receive the title of commerce adviser (rank with the title of excellency), certain rights for the education of children, the right to participate in city self-government (regardless of the possession of immovable property), participation in class self-government. Class merchant self-government consisted in the management of merchant charitable institutions, the distribution of certain fees, the management of merchant capital, banks, cash desks, the election of officials (merchant elders, merchant foremen, merchant councils, members of the orphan's court from the merchant class).

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Russia did not have this magnificent heritage and ate mainly only on their own, which in many ways slowed down Russian urban life in comparison with the leading countries of the West. But nevertheless, cities in Russia arose earlier than in a number of countries of Eastern Europe, say, in Hungary, Poland, Scandinavia (Sweden and Norway).
The 9th century, the time of the formation of the state in Russia, the eradication of tribal relations, became the boundary of the appearance of all the largest ancient Russian cities. In the X - the beginning of the XI century. in Russia, there were already about 30 large urban centers with fortified "detinets", kremlins, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich was over 2.5 hectares. In the middle of the XI - the first half of the XII century. there were already 42 such cities, and by the middle of the 13th century. — 62. Among them stood out those who possessed all characteristic features urban life - Kiev, Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Novgorod, Suzdal, Rostov, Ladoga, Lyubech, Pereyaslavl, Przemysl and others. during the period of strengthening and development of the economy of the East Slavic lands, the formation of East Slavic statehood. All of them were surrounded by powerful walls, had a complex system of fortifications, and were princely residences. There were princely palaces and administrative buildings. Tributes and military indemnities were brought here. Here the prince did "judgment and reprisal", here court and trade duties were collected. The courts of the nobility, privileged wealthy citizens, stood in the cities.
A significant part of the inhabitants of the cities was made up of various merchants - from wealthy merchants, "guests" who trade with other countries, to small peddlers. Merchant associations were born in the cities, which had their charters, common funds, from which assistance was provided to merchants in trouble.
In Kiev, Novgorod, Chernigov, and other large cities of Russia, there were courts of foreign merchants. There were entire areas where merchants from Khazaria, Poland, Scandinavian countries lived. A large community was made up of merchants and usurers, Armenians and Jews, in whose hands was a significant commercial and usurious capital. The Jewish merchants, using their constant contacts with relatives and co-religious partners in other countries, connected Russian trading centers not only with neighboring, but also with distant parts of Europe, including England and Spain. Armenian merchants carried out trade relations of Russia with the countries of the Caucasus and Asia Minor. There were many merchants from the Volga Bulgaria, the countries of the East - Persia, Khorezm, etc. in Russian cities. And Russian merchants were welcome guests in the markets of Constantinople and Krakow, Rensburg and Budapest, in Scandinavia, in the Baltic and German lands. In Constantinople, there was a Russian courtyard, where merchants from Russia constantly stopped. Knowing the cockiness of the Russian merchants and the accompanying guards, their violent temper, the Byzantine authorities at the same time allowed no more than fifty people into the city, carefully making sure that they did not have weapons with them.
In many large and small cities of Russia, auctions were noisy. Along the wide steppe paths, along shady forest roads, in the cold of winter, along the icy surface of frozen rivers, endless merchant caravans stretched to the fortress gates of Russian cities. In Novgorod, around which there were few fertile lands, there were wagons with grain; from the south, from Volhynia, salt was brought to all Russian cities. Fish of all kinds were moving from north to south. From Kiev, Novgorod and other large cities, peddlers carried the products of skilled artisans to towns and villages. The Russian “guests” brought wax, furs, linen, various silver crafts, the famous Russian chain mail, leather, whorl, locks, bronze mirrors, and bone products to the neighboring countries. Often, along with caravans, merchants drove for sale and servants - captives captured by Russian squads during military campaigns, which were highly valued in the slave markets of Chersonesos, Bulgar, Constantinople.
Foreign merchants brought their goods to Russia from everywhere: from Byzantium - expensive fabrics, weapons, church utensils, precious stones, gold and silver utensils and jewelry; from the countries of the Caucasus, Persia, the Caspian Sea - incense and spices, beads, which were so appreciated by Russian women, and wine; from Flanders - fine cloth. Russian merchants traded with Rhine cities, Hungarian, Czech, Polish lands, from where metal products, as well as weapons, wines, horses came from. Large myta (duties) were collected from this diverse trade by both the great Kiev princes and local ones. Representatives of princely houses also took part in trade affairs: they either entrusted their goods to merchants, or had their trade representatives in numerous trade caravans, which, under heavy guard, went from Russian lands to all corners of the world.
Each city was also the center of trade for the entire surrounding area. Craftsmen from the surrounding towns and smerds from the countryside were drawn to him to sell the fruits of their labors, to buy something necessary in the household.
In Kiev, the main market was located on Podil, under the mountain, at the confluence of the Pochaina River with the Dnieper. At the moorings of Pochaina, the sails of numerous ships were white, the boats of the same tree were scurrying about. Greeks and Bulgarians, Jews and Poles, Germans and Czechs, Armenians and Arabs, Varangians and Scandinavians sat in the trading rows. Goods were lying on the piers and in barns, they were littered with shops on Krasnaya and Zhitnaya squares, on the streets going up Podol from the water. Merchants from the north hung fox, sable, marten furs on poles, Greeks and Arabs unfolded curtains (expensive fabrics), right on the ground, on rags laid out precious stones, bracelets, necklaces.
The entire auction was filled with products of Kiev craftsmen. Silverware shone in the sun, trimmed with a chased pattern, embossed silver kolts (pendants for earrings), gold jewelry with cloisonne enamel, earrings decorated with the finest filigree, items made of blackened silver delighted the eye. Pottery items stood in rows - jugs, scoops, amphoras, pots. Tanners and blacksmiths, bone cutters and carpenters, other handicraft people, whose settlements, consisting of chopped wooden huts, adobe houses, semi-dugouts, descended like a continuous anthill along the slopes of Starokievskaya Mountain to the banks of the Dnieper and Pochaina, brought here the labors of their own hands. Hundreds of craft professions provided the markets of Russian cities with the most diverse products.
In the markets of Russia, various coins rang. There were silver hryvnias and kuns of their own coinage, and Arab dirhems, and Byzantine gold nomisms, and German thalers. But in the northern wilderness and in the steppe south, as in the old days, the skins of valuable animals and cattle were still used as monetary units. It is not for nothing that money in Russia since ancient times was called kuns, i.e. fur of martens, which spoke of the time when not metal, but furs were the equivalent of money in these parts.
The description of the ancient Russian city would be incomplete if we did not mention the temples and monasteries located there. Each city had its main city cathedrals. In Kiev, these were first the Church of the Tithes, and then the Church of St. Sophia, in Chernigov - the Church of the Savior, in Novgorod - also on the Kiev model - the eldest son of Yaroslav the Wise, who died early, Vladimir built the St. Sophia Cathedral.
In the XI century. in Kiev, in addition to the Pechersky Monastery, Vydubitsky, which belonged to the princely family, as well as a convent already existed. Monastic life was closely intertwined with the general urban way of life.
In addition to the main, cathedral cathedrals, where the church service was conducted by the heads of local church parishes - archbishops and bishops, subordinate to the Kiev metropolis, or metropolitan cathedra, in every major city there were dozens of other churches that were built by princes, boyars, wealthy merchants, and even artisans on own money. Rich people near their own choirs and even inside these choirs often built their house churches, where only members of their family performed religious worship.
The army, military people were an integral part of ancient Russian society, an inseparable feature of the life of Russian cities, an organic part of the way of the Grand Duke's palace, the palaces of other princes and boyars.
Gone are the days when the whole tribe rose up against the enemy or when the great princes of Kiev led tens of thousands of their fellow tribesmen on distant campaigns, placing under their battle banners a significant part of the male population of various principalities, headed by their princes. To the share of these temporary combat
formations accounted for part of the spoils of war and the annual tribute paid by the defeated enemy. Their share accounted for heavy defeats and thousands of deaths, bleeding a developing country.
With the creation of a strong and relatively unified state, military affairs fell into the hands of professional soldiers, for whom war became the meaning of life. Professional warriors served the prince and were on his payroll. For the older squad, this, as mentioned earlier, was the distribution of "feedings", later lands, for the younger - content on contentment, payment of money, parts of the captured booty, etc.
The squad from now on became the core of the army, the most powerful and well-armed part of the princely army. The Grand Duke of Kiev had a squad of 500 to 800 people. These warriors moved either on horseback or in fast and light boats along rivers and seas. They were armed with swords, spears, sabers. On their heads they had "shishaks" - graceful pointed helmets, a shield, armor or chain mail protected their bodies. Each squad fought next to its prince, and the prince or boyar himself led his squad during the battle. During hand-to-hand fights, special bodyguards protected the prince, protected him with their shields and bodies from enemy sabers and arrows.
But the squad was only a part of the Old Russian army. Another part of it was the “regiment”, simple “howls” - smerds and artisans. The Grand Duke and other princes involved them in military activities either when the state, the entire population was in mortal danger, as happened during the terrible raids of the Pechenegs, and later the Polovtsy, or when all of Russia was on a big campaign, as was the case in time of wars with Byzantium, Poland, Khazaria. In this case, the townspeople came to the "regiment", where they were divided into tens and hundreds, led by their tenths and sots. The villagers were in the "regiment" led by their elders, and then also divided into tens and hundreds. The entire "regiment" was commanded, as mentioned above, by a thousand. The armament of the “warriors” was simpler: a bow, a quiver with arrows, a spear or a heavy battle ax that pierced through strong armor, each had a knife on his belt in case of hand-to-hand fights. Armor "howl" was not worn. She was too expensive. Chain mail was also rare. But the shields were in the hands of everyone.
The army went on a campaign under the princely banners. The trumpeters sounded the march. The prince rode ahead, a squad pranced behind him, then came the “howl” on foot. Next was a convoy, in which there were armaments of warriors folded up to the time and food supplies. Shortly before the battle, the soldiers dismantled their weapons and prepared them for battle.
Battles often began with a duel of heroes, which each side exhibited. The success of their hero spewed an enthusiastic cry from the lips of the troops, and the inspired warriors rushed to the attack. Such was the duel between Mstislav and the prince of Kassog, the hero Rededey. In one battle with the Pechenegs during the period of Vladimir Svyatoslav, a Russian hero, a simple kozhemyaka, during a duel killed a Pecheneg strongman with a throw to the ground. After that, the Russians hit the enemy and won.
During the battle, the entire army, as a rule, was divided into a “chelo” - the center where the most reliable warriors were located, able to withstand the blows of the enemy cavalry: on foot, armed with shields, spears and axes. On the right and left "wings" there were mounted warriors, the prince's squad. The task of the "wings" was to surround the enemy and strike him from the flanks after the "brow" withstands the blow of the enemy.
Often, at a distance from the main army, along with the Rus, mercenary or allied foreign troops marched on the campaign: Varangians or detachments of friendly
nomads - Torkov, Berendey. The Kiev princes also attracted the Pechenegs, and later the Polovtsians. The chronicler wrote with condemnation about those cases when the Russian princes led nomads on campaigns against their own compatriots.
Mercenaries and allies, as a rule, did not merge with the Russian army, they obeyed their commanders. In case of failure, they often fled from the battlefield, exposing the front.
If Russian army was sent to storm the enemy fortress, then in the wagon train there were special siege devices - battering rams (huge logs upholstered with iron), stone arrows, access ladders, vezhs (mobile wooden towers).

Trade in Ancient Russia since the formation of statehood, of course, was of great importance not only in its development, but also in the formation of monetary and financial relations in general. As you know, trade is divided into two main branches - external (with other states) and internal (within one state). So, foreign trade in Ancient Russia, of course, is more important and interesting. After all, at one time it was the engine, the support of the entire economy of the ancient Russian state.

Trade and trade relations in Ancient Russia contributed to the unification and cooperation of different word of the population, and this fact is true for both external and internal relations. Many structures were involved in it: agriculture, crafts, hunting, and craft. Everything that is created by the hand of man could be sold and bought. It was the awareness of this fact that gave impetus to the development of trade and money relations in Ancient Russia.

Economy and trade of Ancient Russia: map

To better imagine the scale of Russia's trade with other states, it is worth imagining a map. So, one of the most important trade routes was that "from the Varangians to the Greeks." It originated from the Varangian Sea, went along the Dnieper and Volkhov rivers, and went out to the Black Sea, Bulgaria and Byzantium. The Great Volga Route also played a significant role (it was also called the path “from the Varangians to the Arabs”). It started from Ladoga, continued to the Caspian Sea and followed to Central Asia, Persia and Transcaucasia. There was also a trade route by land: from Prague to Kiev, and then to Asia.

Internal trade of Ancient Russia

It consisted of artisans and small traders. In almost every city, and later in small towns, markets (or another name - auctions) were formed. Peasants put up for sale the fruits of their labor in the form of all kinds of metal, wood, and stone products. We are talking about household utensils, tools for cultivating land and everything that could interest ordinary people. Of course, at first there was an exchange of some goods for others. For example, food was exchanged for products of artisans and hunters. It must be said that many merchants had their own shops, in which scales were used.

Of course, the development of domestic trade in Ancient Russia was controlled by the state. The marketplaces were a place for a large gathering of people, so they often made announcements about pressing and exciting matters (for example, if a thief was caught, then this was reported in the marketplace).

What products were the most popular at that time?

• The lion's share was agricultural products.
• Weapon.
• Blacksmith products.
• Metals.
• Salt.
• Clothing, including fur.
• Pottery production (dishes).
• Wood.
• Animals and poultry (horses, cows, sheep, geese, ducks), as well as meat.
• Beekeeping products - honey, wax.

If the town was small, then all trade was controlled by local merchants. In large cities, however, visitors could be found everywhere, especially from Novgorod. The larger the settlement, the wider the range of goods presented on the market. The main trading cities were the already mentioned Novgorod, as well as Smolensk, Kiev, Chernigov, Galich, Polotsk. Already at that time there was the concept of trade duties. By the way, they accounted for a considerable share in the total income of the princes.

If we talk about markets, then historians divide them into rural and urban. From the first goods were sent to the second, that is, from the village to the nearest city. And already from the city they could be in any part of the state.

Earlier we talked about barter, that is, the exchange of goods, and not buying and selling as such. But already at the beginning of the ninth century there was a gradual development of monetary relations. The first coins were those from the African centers of the Caliphate. Then there were Asian dirhams, European denarii.

Foreign trade of Ancient Russia

It was in close connection with the so-called tributary system (ninth-tenth centuries). Tribute was taken in money (coins and ingots of silver), furs, as well as in a small amount of livestock, food. All the tribute collected, or rather the lion's share of it, was sold to the Byzantine market. Russia's foreign trade was protected by a military structure. This was necessary for the safety of goods from possible attacks by nomads. In the tenth century, due to military conflicts, favorable ground was created for trade on the Black Sea, in Byzantium, the Khazar Khaganate, and Volga Bulgaria.

The second important part of foreign trade was transit. It took place thanks to the trade routes that went from Europe to Asia, from the Baltic to Byzantium. At the same time, the famous route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” became increasingly important, which allowed the Dnieper to become the main artery of ancient Russian trade.

And what goods were the most in demand in the framework of Russia's foreign trade?

• Slaves, especially women. In general, the Slavic slave trade originated in the sixth century, but continued into the times of Ancient Russia. After the Mongol invasion, it practically disappeared.
• Furs, furs. Yes, despite the underdeveloped hunting back then, people had to work hard on it. This was due to the fact that the princes demanded fur as a tribute. Even in those regions of Russia where there were no valuable fur-bearing animals, they organized trips to other regions specifically for the extraction of furs. The most famous in the fur trade were merchants from Novgorod.
• The fruits of beekeeping in the form of honey and wax. The latter, by the way, was in demand for the primitive lighting that existed at that time. The scale at which the trade in wax was carried out is striking: it was weighed by whole pounds!
• Textile. Basically, the demand was for linen fabrics. From them subsequently sewed clothes and household items (towels, bed linen).
• Jewelry, which was made in Ancient Russia, was highly valued in Europe.

Until now, we have been talking about those goods that were exported. What did they import? A very interesting place here is occupied by the import of silk fabrics (in Russia they were called curtains). There was certain rule, which did not allow Russian merchants to export more than the established amount of silk. Even in Russia, European swords were valued, despite the high quality of their own. It is impossible not to mention, speaking of imported goods, non-ferrous metals. Silver, tin, lead, copper were imported both from Europe and from the Arab countries. Seasonings and spices that were not in Russia also deserve attention.

Trade of Ancient Russia with Byzantium

We all know that relations between Russia and Byzantium were quite close. And this concerned not only foreign policy ties, but also economic, in particular trade. We can say that this became the basis for the choice of the Christian religion in Russia. Byzantium was rightfully considered the largest partner of the Old Russian state in the field of foreign trade. In Constantinople, Russian merchants had some benefits (for example, the possibility of non-payment of trade duties). They imported from Byzantium everything that can be described by the epithets "luxurious, refined, refined." These were objects of art, clothing, jewelry. But the Byzantine economy also received a lot from trade with Russian merchants.

A little about merchants...

According to sources (both written and material), the merchant appears before us as a vigilante warrior. He is armed and well dressed. It was possible to distinguish him from a warrior by the presence of scales, which were an integral attribute of everyone who was somehow connected with trade. As vehicle and the means for transporting goods was a horse, and for water crossings - a boat. In the tenth-eleventh centuries, merchants united in squad detachments. While making a campaign, they could not only engage in their main business - trade, but also make military raids. But since the middle of the eleventh century, there has been a tendency towards division: merchants are merchants, and warriors are warriors. That is, the merchants became "narrow specialists" in their activities, concentrating only on their business.

As we can see, the economy and trade of Ancient Russia were inextricably linked. The fruits of the first gave impetus to the development of the second. In turn, the profit from trade made it possible to modernize and facilitate labor in economic activity. One flourished, and with it the other. Trade also had military protection, it was significantly influenced by the apparatus of power and control. Compared with modern trade Of course, there have been massive changes. But still, it is worth knowing about what and how it was before, what our ancestors bought and sold, what they were interested in.

Trade in ancient Russia was only for rubles!