Probably, many of us since school times have affirmed that serfdom in Russia was abolished back in 1861. But in fact, the traditions of the slave trade have existed throughout the world for a long time. Ancient Russia was no exception.
Servants
There were several ways to get into slaves in Russia. One of them is the capture of foreign prisoners. Such slaves - "Polonyans" were called "servants".
In one of the articles of the treaty concluded in 911 with Byzantium after the successful raid of the ancient Rus to Constantinople, the Byzantines were asked to pay 20 gold coins (solidi) for each "servant" taken prisoner. This amounted to about 90 grams of gold and was twice the average market price for slaves.
After the second campaign to Byzantium (944), which ended less successfully, prices were reduced. For "a young man or a good girl" this time they gave 10 gold coins (45 grams of gold) or "two pavoloks" - two pieces of silk fabric. For the "middle-aged" - a slave or slave of middle age - eight coins were supposed, and for an old man or a child - only five.
"Servants" were most often used for various unskilled jobs, for example, as a domestic servant. Glade women, especially young women, were valued above men - they could be used for amorous pleasures. Many of them became concubines and even wives of slave owners.
According to "Russkaya Pravda" - a collection of laws of the XI century - the average cost of a "servant" was five or six hryvnia. Many historians believe that we are not talking about silver grivnas, but about kun grivnas, which were four times cheaper. Thus, for a slave at that time, they gave about 200 grams of silver or 750 dressed squirrel skins.
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In 1223, after an unsuccessful battle with the Mongols on Kalka, the Smolensk prince Mstislav Davidovich signed an agreement with the Riga and Gotland merchants, according to which the cost of one servant was estimated at one hryvnia in silver (this corresponded to 160-200 grams of silver and about 15 grams of gold).
The prices for servants depended on the region. So, in Smolensk a slave cost a little cheaper than in Kiev, and three times cheaper than in Constantinople … The more people were captured into slavery during military campaigns, the more the price fell.
Slavery by law
In Russia, the internal slave market was also actively developing. Another widespread form of slavery, besides the "servants", was servitude. It was possible to get into slaves for debts, as a result of marriage with a servant or a slave, entering the service, as a punishment for a serious crime … There were cases when parents themselves sold or gave their children into slavery, because they could not feed them.
Serfdom began to develop only in the 11th century, with the formation of a centralized state. It was based on the dependence of the poor peasants on the landowners. In Kievan Rus and the Novgorod principality, all unfree peasants were divided into three categories - smerds, purchases and slaves. Unlike the first two categories, slaves could not have any property, did not have the right to transfer to another owner.
In the 15th century, after the Moscow principality was freed from the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the price for one serf ranged from one to three rubles. By the middle of the 16th century, it increased to one and a half to four rubles. On the eve of the Time of Troubles, it already reached four or five rubles. However, crop failures and wars invariably lowered the prices of living goods.
If it was rather difficult to control the foreign slave trade, then inside the country the state tried to regulate slavery. There were special bonded books where the relevant transactions were recorded. At the same time, a special tax was taken from the owners of slaves.