Many modern girls imagine life in an oriental harem as something romantic. Thinking that basking in luxury, they would lead an ordinary carefree life. But few people know that in medieval Russia, a harem was a common thing for a noble person.
Let's start with the fact that we called a similar phenomenon "terem". The word terem comes from haram. Haram in Arabic means prohibition. And indeed, both in the Arab harem and in the Russian tower, the entrance was ordered to a stranger. Moreover, even the word prison has a derivative from the word terem. In the chronicles, the Kremlin's Terem Palace is often called the Prison Palace.
The women who lived in the mansion, as well as in the harem, really did not need anything. But their life, in essence, was like imprisonment. They were severely restricted in movement and communication. Russian princes adopted the habit of having harems from the Khazars.
We often hear about the huge harems of the Turkish sultans. But we don't know our own history well. For example, the Grand Duke Vladimir, who baptized Rus', had a harem of 5 wives and 800 concubines. Vladimir's concubines were in different cities, where the prince often visited. So in Vyshgorod and Belgorod there were 300 concubines each, and in Berestovo 200.
And only with the adoption of Christianity, the prince dismissed his harem. But despite the arrival of Christianity, the Russian elite did not abandon the maintenance of the towers. Moreover, major Russian conquests brought Muslim regions into the state, and this in turn prompted the Russian nobility to follow the example of the new Muslim stratum of Russians.
The reformer Tsar Peter put an end to this issue. Being an adherent of European values, he strictly forbade the maintenance of personal chambers. Peter put the European model of the family at the forefront. He was addicted to the enslavement of women. Decrees followed, in which officials and other civil servants were strictly forbidden to have more than one wife.
The same rules applied to Muslims living in the newly formed Russian lands. Any manifestation of enslavement and humiliation of women's rights among the Tatar and other Muslim peoples was severely persecuted. But Peter himself did not particularly adhere to the rules of monogamy. Peter had a fairly large staff of favorites, many traveled with him. And some were supplied to their own husbands by their wife Catherine.
Nevertheless, it was Peter's reforms that put an end to the maintenance of Russian towers.
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