The Phenomenon of “Foreigners”, Yasak and Gift Exchange: Peoples of the Volga Region, the Urals and Siberia in Russia in the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries

• Main Author: Konev A.Yu.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: State Institution «Sh.Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences» 2019-12-01
• Series: Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie
• Subjects: allegiance; estate; reciprocal relations; foreigners; yasak people; word of grand
• Online Access: http://goldhorde.ru/en/stati2019-4-10/

Objective: To discuss debated issues relating to the special characteristics of patriality of non-Russian peoples who had been in the sphere of influence of the former Kazan and Siberian Khanates and were included into the system of the Tsardom of Moscovy in the sixteenth century; the classification of this population and the terminology used for its description; the special features of the status of the indigenous peoples classified as “yasak people”; and the role of gift exchange in the process of their integration into the Russian state structure. Research materials: The article is based on the analysis of previous works on the topic under consideration and on the analysis of published historical sources or sources found in the collections of Russian archives. Results and novelty of the research: The foreign status of the people and comunities treated as the others within the Russian political space, and their transitional status on the way towards their full allegiance, were described with different socionyms and politonyms in the period under consideration. “Foreigners” was employed as the main term. It is considered as an indicator of changes in the status of various groups of the non-Russian population. The use of words such as “foreigner”, etc. faded away in the official paper work regarding the Volga region and Cis-Urals autochthonous population during the seventeenth century, even while it became widely used if talking about those peoples who settled in the territories from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean. This can be explained by the following factors: the pace and degree of integration of new lands into the Russian state system; the remote character of the new lands; the continuing resistance of Kuchum’s descendants who drew former Turk and Ugric subjects of the Siberian Khan into their orbit; the periodic “shakiness and betrayals” on the part of Siberian yasak payers; their commitment to pagan cults and Islam and the extremely small number of newly baptized people. Reciprocal interactions played a significant part in the process of subjection of the indigenous peoples of the Urals and Siberia. The regional version of the governance model in the form of mutual exchange between the authorities and the subjects was reflected in the formula used in the “word of grand” (zhalovannoe slovo) included in the instructions to the Siberian voivodes of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Gifts and rewards to the indigenous population in response to the proffering of gift-furs (pominochnaya ruhlyad’) were an effective means of providing the collection of yasak. In contrast to the Volga region, the yasak in the territories under consideration did not convert into a land tax and retained features of a tribute for the right to reside on the land until the beginning of the eighteenth century. Thus, special features of the position of different groups who paid yasak were kept. The conditions for establishing a legal connection with the state on the basis of belonging to a certain social stratum were still being formed. As such, this situation does not permit us to consider a heterogeneous mass of “yasak people” in Russia in the seventeenth century as a social estate.