How women were made into concubines in Russia: Facts about peasant harems and who are seralki

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

In the old serf Russia, some strata of the population were a kind of commodity. The hardest hit was the women peasants. They did hard work in the field, worked in the house without rest, looked after family members, in general, life was not easy for women. However, the most terrible event was falling into the harem of a tyrant landowner. Read who the seralki are, how young peasant women fell into the landlord's harems and how the loving Count Yusupov became famous in this regard.

How harems were created from serf girls and why they were called seralki

Many girls in Russia became slaves for pleasure. And they called them the strange word "seralki". The name comes from the word "seraglio", which translated from French means harem.

Young beauties fell into the serai of tyrant landlords, naturally, under duress. In the 18-19th century, almost every nobleman had a harem full of beautiful, young and healthy peasant women. The record of love was broken by Viktor Strashinsky - he had at least 500 seralekas. The life of the harem slaves was difficult, and the situation was humiliating. Many landowners carried out lecherous actions and even used force against the serfs. The power of power obscured the eyes of such people who did not disdain even violence against minors.

The peasants were so accustomed to the fact that the landlords enjoy unlimited power that they meekly performed the so-called “corvee for women”. It was believed that since a woman is a slave, then she should humbly accept all the tricks of the master.

When the peasants returned from the field, they were sometimes already waited by the landlord's servant, who walked around the courtyards in accordance with the queue and chose a woman "for the night" for the owner. There were cases when a landowner living in the city or abroad stopped by the estate not to check how things were going, but to "have fun" with a serf girl. At the same time, it was the responsibility of the manager to maintain a list of maturing girls for ease of selection.

The worst thing is that the violence and corruption of young peasant women in fact was not considered a crime. Very rarely landowners were brought to justice, and that punishment did not correspond to the gravity of the offense committed.

By what principles did the owners of the girls in the harem select

The girls ended up in the harem depending on whether the master liked them or not. Most often, unmarried innocent girls were chosen for the role of seralek. Some owners believed that depriving a girl of her chastity was a right and even an honorable duty of the owner. Some, on the other hand, chose experienced women.

There were no strict guidelines for selection. Any girl could become a concubine, regardless of external data, age. Everything depended on the wishes of the master. True, there have been cases when harems were created with strict requirements, the selection of which was similar to today's beauty contests. Some landowners recruited slaves who had some kind of talents, others were only important about their appearance, the third was the most important thing to show off to neighbors and acquaintances.

The most famous cruel tyrants and the life of girls in their harems

A well-known "holder of harems" was Prince Gagarin, who had seven peasant women and two gypsy women in slavery. The latter had to dance and sing, and also teach the rest of the girls. Seralki Ryazanov fell into the harem at a tender age and lived in harsh conditions. No freedom, it got to the point that the girls were not even allowed to look out the window. If the unfortunate woman dared to contradict the master, she could be beaten, subjected to humiliating punishments. When guests came, the girls had to pretend that they were incredibly happy, sing fun, dance beautifully, and it was dangerous to even hint at beatings and humiliation.

The landowner General Lev Izmailov was also distinguished by his cruel attitude towards his seralki. They even wanted to open a criminal case against him. The general loved drinking with a bunch of guests. When the revelers reached their condition, the girls from the harem were called. If there were not enough slaves for everyone, Izmailov sent a manager for replenishment, and not only young girls could be brought into the house, but peasant women who had a husband and children. There was a case when the general sent a servant to fetch the girls in the village, but the peasants could not tolerate such lawlessness, they were outraged by the behavior of the landowner and beat the envoy. Izmailov severely took revenge on the rebels: the houses were burned down, the rebels were whipped, and the girls were taken into the harem. The number of seralek reached thirty, and the harem was updated quite often.

The general did not disdain very young girls who had barely reached 10 years old. The fate of the peasant woman Nymphodora Khoroshevskaya is known, whom the landowner corrupted when she was 13 years old and made the "star" of the harem. Three months later she was sent to hard labor. And a little later, the terrible truth was revealed: Nymphodora was the daughter of a fanatic, she was given birth by a woman who was also in the general's harem.

Incredible beauties of Prince Yusupov

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Prince Nikolai Yusupov, who was one of the richest people in Russia, had a harem of peasant girls. All the slaves were incredibly beautiful. Training in ballet art was compulsory for them. For this, the count even invited the choreographer Yogel, who worked diligently with the girls, trying to make them real ballerinas.

The prince was proud of his seralki and gladly showed them to guests. During the holidays, the girls had to dance in front of drunken guests, and when the party came to an end, they should undress and appear in front of a crowd of middle-aged men in the nude. This was the so-called "peak" moment, the prince rose from his seat and began to applaud the women. So everyone else had to do, after which a real orgy began. These are inhuman fun.

However, life was hard not only for women peasants. Men too it was hard to follow the rules and regulations of Domostroi.