How the landowners exchanged their serfs for things, and how much did the person who was sold on the ad cost

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Until serfdom was abolished in 1861, landlords owned peasants as property. It happened that people were sold, given and even mortgaged. Often serfs were exchanged for other property. Trafficking in human beings in the 18th and 19th centuries was not surprising to anyone. The owners even submitted advertisements to the newspapers. Read how much the serf was worth, how people were exchanged for animals and in exchange for what items could be obtained in the ownership of the peasants.

What did the price of a serf depend on and how did the landowners submit advertisements to the newspapers?

The landowners sold their serfs without remorse or exchanged them for something more profitable. Each person had its own cost, and it depended on many conditions: age, gender, skills. Researcher B. Tarasov notes that in the middle of the 18th century a serf was sold for about 30 rubles, and by the end of the 80s the price increased. Now a healthy peasant was worth at least a hundred rubles.

The most expensive "goods" were people of art. So, for a musician who shone with talent, you could ask for 800 rubles. A young and beautiful actress of the serf theater cost up to five thousand rubles. At that time, in the depressed provinces, only five rubles were paid for a simple peasant woman, and a child under one year old cost fifty kopecks.

In the newspapers of the second half of the 18th century, one could find advertisements with the following content: "Selling a guy of seventeen and a used furniture set." "For sale a girl of eleven years old with a bed, feather bed and other things." "Selling lightly salted sturgeon, gray gelding and family, husband and wife." "Horse and two maids for sale."

As you can see from the ads, people are on a par with things and livestock.

One hundred girls for one greyhound

Purebred puppies have always cost and are expensive. The hound landlords were very sensitive to dog breeding, and a high-quality puppy could cost up to 10 thousand. Historian S. Nefedov wrote that keen dog breeders could give a hundred people for a gorgeous dog. There were also such incredible cases when a whole village with peasants was asked for a luxurious greyhound. One landowner sold young girls for 25 rubles, and his neighbor bought greyhound puppies for three thousand. A simple mathematical calculation shows that 120 young peasant women were given for one thoroughbred bitch.

For example, the history of the village of Margaritovo (Rostov region) is interesting. Historian D. Zenyuk conducted an investigation, during which it turned out that the inhabitants of the village in the 18th century were acquired in exchange for dogs. The village was founded by someone Margarit Blazo, who was a passionate lover of purebred dogs and bred them. Sometimes he exchanged puppies for serfs. So the first six families appeared in Margaritovo after Blazo resettled them from the Ryazan province, giving them greyhound puppies (presumably to General Lev Izmailov, who had about a thousand greyhounds). There is also a record of the local priest Shamraev, who at the beginning of the 20th century answered the request of the 12th congress of archaeologists and confirmed that the village of Margaritovo was formed from serfs brought from the Ryazan province.

How whole villages on horses were changed and people were given as a bribe

Pedigree horses were no less valuable. The peasants were exchanged for horses as often as for dogs. At the same time, a horse was much more expensive than a man.

If you turn to the memoirs of Admiral Pavel Chichagov, you can find the records, which he tells how, during the reign of Alexander, "let the peasants ransom" in order to free them. For the men, the admiral was paid 150 rubles each, the price being determined by the government itself. Chichagov also wanted to sell the horse farm, and did so by asking 300-4000 rubles for each English mare. That is, a horse cost twice (or even more) more than a serf peasant. And this is taking into account the fact that the admiral's mares were already old, as he wrote. But for a young, very thoroughbred horse, the landowners could give the whole village together with its inhabitants.

It happened that people were not exchanged for things, but for services. They could give a person as a bribe to an official, a priest for a promise to pray for a soul, a merchant for a desired product. Diplomat Dmitry Sverbeeva wrote in 1899 that peasant girls and boys often went to gifts to officials, clergymen, and merchants. At the same time, no one thought about maternal and paternal feelings. Children were taken away from their parents and given away as goods. There was another use for serfs: the guards officers of the Pushkin era used serfs in order to get a long vacation. People were presented as gifts to immediate superiors, gaining favor and receiving long-term exemption from service as a result.

Watches, guns and musical instruments for which serfs could be obtained

Peasants were not only exchanged for animals. These could be all sorts of things. For example, Pushkin's friend Matvey Vielgorsky, a wonderful musician, was the owner of an old Italian cello. And he got it in exchange for three horses, along with a carriage and a coachman.

The serf peasant could be exchanged for furniture and even dishes. Often, ruined landowners put up for sale all their belongings, which included servants. Weapons were highly prized, especially foreign hunting rifles. They were expensive and not available to everyone. For a beautiful and high-quality gun, avid hunters no doubt gave the peasants. Collectors are a separate category. For a Spanish or English gun, for a Damascus saber in a gold scabbard with precious stones, one could ask for a whole village with peasants.

Much in the life of ordinary peasants depended on the personality of the landowner. If he was a cruel tyrant, then the villagers had a hard time. But serfs of the great commander Suvorov were better than others, because bari gave "father's capital" to families.