Home prisons for aristocrats in Russia, or How women's destinies were broken

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

Usually people imagine the Russian tower as a beautiful, solid hut. Not everyone knows that not the whole house was called with this word, but only part of it. And it was intended for the residence of women - wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of representatives of the aristocracy of ancient Russia. It was a kind of women's prison. This tradition was changed by Peter I, but thousands of women's destinies were broken. Read why the mansion was a prison for women and how they escaped from captivity.

In the mansion, as in prison and how the girls broke free

If you turn to Dahl's dictionary, you can read that the towers are described as premises located on a dais. It can be both tiers of a large boyar house, and free-standing turrets, sometimes located above the strong gates. With other rooms, that is, with the chambers, the tower was connected by means of a vestibule (usually free, spacious) or passages. And although the chambers were beautiful, solid and very picturesque, in fact, for the representatives of the upper class in the old days, they were a real prison.

Why did women have to be imprisoned? In old Russia, the most important virtue of a woman was purity. Terema served as a guarantor that the girl would be protected from worldly temptations. Why tempt fate, it is easier to isolate a woman so that men cannot see her. However, no one thought that as a result, the poor thing was deprived of the elementary joys of life existing outside.

The girl could escape from the tower in only two ways: she could become a nun or marry, while changing her tower to another. But, leave the parental home, the woman did not become free. In fact, only the place of residence changed.

In fairy tales, there are often princesses who are freed by a good fellow. In fact, it was hardest for brides from the royal family, since the status obliged them to marry only princes, and, as they say, princes cannot be enough for all. Because of this, such girls often went to the monastery in the hope that their lives would be filled with meaning. Many noble brides were jealous of ordinary peasant women who lived differently - they could freely communicate with men, and also leave their homes for their own needs, and not solely to visit the temple. Aristocrats also had to go to church in carriages in which the windows were tightly draped with curtains. Passers-by had no right to look at the face of the lady in the carriage.

Why did the mansion harems look like

It is interesting that in the encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron, the term "terem" is equated in its meaning with a harem. By ear, these two words differ in only two letters, and this option often arises after the transcription of some sounds. Indeed, the tower can be compared to a harem. Men who were already 12 years old had no right to enter it. Only the owner of the house and the priest had such a right. In the female half of the boyar houses there were only children (if they were boys, then only up to the age indicated above), as well as nannies, wet-nurses and hay girls. A real female kingdom with its own rules and traditions.

By the way, harems existed not only in eastern countries. They found a place in Byzantium, that is, in an Orthodox country. Perhaps from it they came to ancient Russia.

Tsar's chambers and princess Sophia, who became free

The last "women's prison", that is, a tower, was built in the royal palace, erected on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, and this was in the distant 1637. The decree on construction was issued by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. When Alexei Mikhailovich came to power, he tried to soften the harsh rules of living in the ladies' part of the palaces. This was due to the fact that his wife, Natalya Naryshkina, received permission to regularly leave the house and travel in a carriage without draped windows. However, appearing in the Annunciation Cathedral (and a secret passage was laid into the temple directly from the royal palace), the woman had to stand so that no one around could see the tsarina's face. The same applied to those ladies who accompanied her.

The first rebel who was freed from domestic captivity was Princess Sophia, that is, the sister of Peter the Great. She was a brave woman and took the risk of engaging in social activities. Subsequently, Peter used the example of Sophia and issued a decree that destroyed the strange and unjust tradition of isolating women of a noble family in mansions.

How the golden-domed mansions were created and why they did not please women

Terem was made very beautiful, paying special attention to the external decoration. The boyars tried their best, spending a lot of money on the construction of intricate staircases, the installation of carved platbands. They used live colors, a variety of decor elements were incredibly elegant and memorable. The roof was always built high. They said that the higher it is, the closer to heaven, to the Lord. Thus, they tried to draw God's attention to the inhabitants of the house. For the same purpose, the roofs were covered with copper sheets or gilded plates. The tower sparkled in the sun and looked luxurious. The Lord must have seen him. This is where the phrase "terem golden-domed" came from.

Inside, they also tried to decorate everything richly, not sparing financial resources and materials. Icons for reading prayers were placed in the red corner. Expensive carpets were laid on the floor, the surface of the walls was painted with frescoes. The high ceiling looked amazing due to the stars, moon and sun depicted on it. Yes, there was something to see in the "ladies' prisons". However, even the luxurious interiors did not please the women who languished in captivity. They were bored, spending their days at work - doing needlework, usually creating gold and silver embroidery for monasteries. The golden cage remained a cage.

Their relatives became prisoners of monarchs not only because of politics. Hide or just love: What did they do with "special" children in the families of presidents and monarchs.