Which classics of Russian literature owned serfs and how rich they were: Turgenev, Gogol, etc

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

Many Russian writers and poets in their works touched on the topic of serfdom. Some of them actively fought this phenomenon, but at the same time they themselves owned land with peasants. By the middle of the 19th century, there were about 4 thousand landowners in Russia who owned more than five hundred serfs. To evaluate these statistics: at that time there were about a hundred noble families. Were famous writers and poets among the wealthy landowners? Read in the material.

Tolstoy: how he got Yasnaya Polyana

Everyone knows that Leo Tolstoy owned Yasnaya Polyana. But not everyone knows how he became the owner of the estate. When the writer's grandfather died, his son Nikolai (that is, Leo's father) got nothing but debts. The problem had to be solved, and Nikolai Tolstoy chose the simplest way - a marriage of convenience. He married Maria Volkonskaya, a bride with a rich dowry. The groom got the estate of Yasnaya Polyana and eight hundred serfs.

When the parents of the future classic died, the property was divided between the sons.

Lev was the youngest, and he inherited the estate and 330 serfs.

Another would be happy about this fact, but Tolstoy had a negative attitude to serfdom. Less than two years after he entered into inheritance rights, Lev Nikolaevich created a famous school for serf children. Sometimes he himself acted as a teacher. Seven years have passed, and the writer decides to free all his peasants, offering to transfer the land to them on favorable terms. He wrote that he wanted that in 24 years (this was the period when the estate was redeemed from the pledge) people would receive free ownership of the land where they worked. Paradoxically, the peasants did not want freedom. Maybe out of distrust of their master, believing that they will soon receive land free of charge, but officially people voiced the version "we don't need this, we are used to serving in the old fashioned way."

Pushkin, to whom his father inherited Boldino and huge debts

Many believe that Alexander Pushkin was a very rich man. In fact, this definition may fit his grandfather - three thousand serfs in the property. Alexander's father inherited a sufficient number of souls, about 1200 peasants. Unfortunately, this man was careless. Instead of neatly managing his household and increasing his wealth, he is head over heels in debt.

When Alexander Sergeevich chose a dowry woman as his wife, he received two hundred serfs as a gift from his father. He immediately pledged them, having received a considerable sum for those times - thirty-eight thousand rubles. And when the moment came, and the poet became the owner of the Boldino estate, it turned out that not everything is so rosy. Yes, the poet got 1040 serfs. However, a huge debt, amounting to two hundred thousand rubles, became a "pleasant" father's gift. The poet tried to manage the estate. But nothing worked, since the business was completely neglected, so that even professional managers did not dare to put them in order.

Pushkin was a landowner, whom the serfs loved very much. According to the official who followed the poet, people said that Alexander Sergeevich was a very pleasant and kind person. He is easy to communicate, benevolent, never offends the peasants and does not spare money to encourage serfs for services.

Turgenev: 500 serfs from a mother, a failed marriage to a peasant woman and illegitimate children

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was an ardent opponent of serfdom. He said that serfdom is his personal enemy and even gave the "Annibal oath", that is, he promised to do everything possible to end the inhuman system.

The family of the writer was very rich. His parents were married of convenience. Turgenev's father took the ugly, but very wealthy Varvara Lutovinova as his wife and received five thousand serfs! Barbara was really a rich woman. In Spasskoye, she had a huge, solid house, serviced by sixty peasant families.

Ivan Turgenev was very fond of women and was constantly fond of them, including the so-called "serf romances" with peasant women. For example, when the future writer was still very young, he fell in love with the beautiful serf Lukerya. When Ivan's mother decided to sell the girl, he defended her. Turgenev had a daughter from the seamstress Dunyasha. Subsequently, the writer met with Pauline Viardot, but did not forget about her daughter - she was brought up in Paris with Viardot's children. And one more interesting fact: once Turgenev really liked the serf peasant woman of his cousin. Without a doubt, he bought it out, spending seven hundred rubles on it.

Gogol, who "was born a landowner" and with all his might helped his serfs

And one more classic worth telling about is Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol. His family had about 400 serfs. In his great poem Dead Souls, the writer described some of the nuances and problems of serfdom. It's talented and interesting. But he himself had a rather strange opinion about communication with peasants.

For example, he recommended to his friend to build communication with serfs according to the following scheme: you need to gather the peasants and explain to them who they are and who their owners are, and also convey to the people that you became a landowner not because you want it, but because he was born, and nothing can be done about it, otherwise God will punish. It is not known how the serfs of Gogol perceived such speeches, but for his part the writer tried with all his might to help the serfs. He even bought calves with his own money, distributing them among those men who did not have livestock.

By the way, Russian classics did not immediately become famous. AND often the authorities had to do with it.