Women in ancient Russia. The position of women in ancient Russia The role of women in ancient Russian society

Plan

Introduction.

Old Russian society is a typically male, patriarchal civilization in which women occupy a subordinate position and are subjected to constant oppression and harassment. It is difficult to find a country in Europe where, even in the 18th-19th centuries, the beating of a wife by a husband would be considered a normal phenomenon and the women themselves would see this as proof of marital love. In Russia, this is confirmed not only by the testimonies of foreigners, but also by the studies of Russian ethnographers.

At the same time, Russian women have always played a prominent role not only in the family, but also in the political and cultural life Ancient Russia. Suffice it to recall the Grand Duchess Olga, the daughters of Yaroslav the Wise, one of whom - Anna became famous as the French Queen, the wife of Vasily I, the Grand Duchess of Moscow Sophia Vitovtovna, the Novgorod posadnitsa Martha Boretskaya, who led the struggle of Novgorod against Moscow, Princess Sophia, a whole series of empresses XVIII century, Princess Dashkova and others. In Russian fairy tales, there are not only images of militant Amazons, but also an unprecedented, by European standards, image of Vasilisa the Wise. European travelers and diplomats of the 18th - early 19th centuries. I was surprised by the high degree of independence of Russian women, the fact that they had the right to own property, dispose of estates, etc. The French diplomat Charles-Francois Philibert Masson considers such a "gynecocracy" unnatural; Russian women remind him of the Amazons, whose social activity, including love relationships, seems defiant to him.

1. The position of women in ancient Russia.

Women are rarely mentioned in chronicles. For example, in "The Tale of Bygone Years" there are five times fewer messages related to the fair sex than "male" ones. Women are considered by the chronicler mainly as a predicate of a man (however, like children). That is why in Russia, before marriage, a girl was often called after her father, but not in the form of a patronymic, but in a possessive form: Volodimerya, and after marriage - after her husband (in the same possessive, possessive form as in the first case; cf. turnover: husband's wife, i.e. belonging to her husband).

Perhaps the only exception to the rule was the mention of the wife of Prince Igor Novgorod-Seversky in the Tale of Igor's Campaign - Yaroslavna. By the way, this served as A.A. Zimin as one of the arguments to substantiate the late dating of the Lay. Very eloquently speaks of the position of a woman in the family, a quote from "worldly parables" cited by Daniil Zatochnik (XII century):

"Neither a bird is an owl in birds; nor a hedgehog in a wild beast; nor a fish in a cancer; nor a cattle in a goat; nor a serf in a serf who works for a serf; nor a husband in a husband who listens to his wife."

Despotic orders, which became widespread in ancient Russian society, did not bypass the family either. The head of the family, the husband, was a serf in relation to the sovereign, but a sovereign in his own house. All household members, not to mention the servants and serfs in the truest sense of the word, were in his complete subordination. First of all, this applied to the female half of the house. It is believed that in ancient Russia, before marriage, a girl from a well-born family, as a rule, did not have the right to go beyond the parental estate. Her parents were looking for a husband, and she usually did not see him before the wedding.

After the wedding, her husband became her new "owner", and sometimes (in particular, in the case of his infancy - this happened often) and father-in-law. A woman could go outside the new house, not excluding church attendance, only with the permission of her husband. Only under his control and with his permission could she get to know anyone, have conversations with strangers, and the content of these conversations was also controlled. Even at home, a woman did not have the right to eat or drink secretly from her husband, give gifts to anyone or receive them.

In Russian peasant families, the share of female labor has always been unusually large. Often a woman had to take even a plow. At the same time, the labor of daughters-in-law, whose position in the family was especially difficult, was especially widely used.

The duties of the husband and father included "instructing" the household, which consisted in systematic beatings, to which the children and wife were to be subjected. It was believed that a man who does not beat his wife "does not build his own house" and "does not take care of his soul", and will be "destroyed" both "in this century and in the future." Only in the XVI century. society tried to somehow protect the woman, to limit the arbitrariness of her husband. So, "Domostroy" advised to beat his wife "not in front of people, to teach alone" and "do not get angry at all" at the same time. It was recommended “for any fault” (because of trifles) “don’t beat by vision, don’t beat with a fist, kick, or beat with a staff, don’t beat with any iron or wooden one.”

Such "restrictions" had to be introduced, at least as a recommendation, since in everyday life, apparently, husbands were not particularly shy about means when "explanating" with their wives. It was not for nothing that it was immediately explained that those who “beat like that from the heart or from the torment” have many parables from this: blindness and deafness, and the arm and leg will dislocate and the finger, and headache, and toothache, and pregnant wives (meaning they were beaten too!) and the child is injured in the womb " .

That is why advice was given to beat a wife not for every one, but only for a serious offense, and not with anything and in any way, but "take off your shirt, politely (carefully!) Beat with a whip, holding hands."

At the same time, it should be noted that in pre-Mongol Russia, a woman had a number of rights. She could become the heiress of her father's property (before marrying). The highest fines were paid by those guilty of "hitting" (rape) and insulting women with "shameful words." A slave who lived with her master as a wife became free after her master's death. The appearance of such legal norms in ancient Russian legislation testified to the widespread occurrence of such cases. The existence of entire harems among influential people is recorded not only in pre-Christian Russia (for example, in Vladimir Svyatoslavich), but also in much more late time. So, according to one Englishman, one of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich's close associates poisoned his wife, because she expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that her husband kept many mistresses at home. At the same time, in some cases, a woman, apparently, herself could become a real despot in the family. It is difficult, of course, to say what influenced the views of the authors and editors of the "Prayer" and "Words" popular in Ancient Russia, attributed to a certain Daniil Zatochnik - childhood impressions of the relationship between father and mother or their own bitter family experience, but in these works a woman does not at all look as defenseless and incomplete as it may appear from the foregoing. Let's hear what Daniel has to say.

"Or say, prince: marry a rich father-in-law; drink that, and eat that. Better shake me sick; shake more, shake, let go, and an evil wife dries to death ... Fornication in fornication, who will have an evil wife of profit dividing or father-in-law is rich. It would be better for me to see an ox in my house than an evil wife ... It would be better for me to cook iron than to be with an evil wife. .

Isn't it true that the preference (albeit jokingly) for the hardest craft - smelting the iron of life with an "evil" wife says something?

However, a woman gained real freedom only after the death of her husband. Widows were highly respected in society. In addition, they became full-fledged mistresses in the house. In fact, from the moment of the death of the spouse, the role of the head of the family passed to them.

In general, the wife had all the responsibility for housekeeping, for raising children. younger age. Teenage boys were then transferred for training and education to "uncles" (in the early period, indeed, uncles on the maternal side - uyam, who were considered the closest male relatives, since the problem of establishing paternity, apparently, could not always be solved).

1.1. The position of a woman in the princely family

From a survey of the distribution of princely volosts, it is clear what an important share of them the princes usually gave to their wives. This rich endowment also corresponded to a strong moral and political influence, which was ceded to them according to the spiritual wills of their husbands. Kalita, in her will, orders her princess with her smaller children to her eldest son Semyon, who, by God, should be her mourner. Here, the testator does not prescribe to his sons, except for care, any obligations regarding his wife, because this wife, Princess Ulyana, was his stepmother. To what extent the stepmother and her children were then alien to the children from the first wife, the proof is that the son of Kalita, John II, does not call his stepmother otherwise than Princess Ulyana only, her daughter does not call her sister; this explains to us the ancient relationship of the sons and grandsons of Mstislav the Great to his son from another wife, Vladimir Mstislavich, macesichu. Otherwise, the relationship of sons to their mothers is determined according to the spiritual wills of the princes: Donskoy orders his children to the princess. “And you, my children,” he says, “live together, and obey your mother in everything; if one of my sons dies, then my princess will divide him with the inheritance of the rest of my sons: whoever she gives, that is what she has, and my children will not come out of her will. God will give me a son, and my princess will divide him, taking in parts from his big brothers. If any of my sons lose their fatherland, with which I blessed him, then my princess will divide my sons from their inheritances; and you, my children, obey your mother. If God takes away my son, Prince Vasily, then his inheritance goes to that son of mine who will be under him, and the inheritance of the last princess will divide my sons; but you, my children, obey your mother: whatever you give to whom, that is what you have. And I ordered my children to my princess; but you, my children, obey your mother in everything, do not act out of her will in anything. And whoever my son does not obey his mother will not have my blessing on.

Any ancient society is the dominance of men, and if we step aside from the history of Ancient Russia, then, for example, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, the Ancient East or Greece, are also built according to social principles, in which a woman was given a secondary position. As regards the position women in ancient Russia, then, for example, in the oldest chronicle of the Tale of Bygone Years, there are five times fewer messages related to the representatives of the weaker sex than those dedicated to men. Women and children in ancient Russian society are considered as an addition to a man. It is for this reason that in Russia a girl before marriage was often called by her father, but not in the form of a patronymic, but in a possessive form, for example, "Volodimerya". After marriage, in the same "possessory" form, they were called by their husband, meaning "husband's wife", that is, "belonging to her husband." Women in Ancient Russia were limited in their rights, as in all ancient societies. However, this does not mean that women were excluded from participation in public affairs. A striking example is Princess Olga, the daughters of Yaroslav the Wise and the granddaughter of Vladimir Monomakh, who were quite socially active and bright personalities.

Princess Olga (circa 890-969) was the first Christian princess of Kiev. Being the wife of the first Grand Duke of Kiev Igor (reigned: 912-945), after his death she ruled the state until the age of their son Svyatoslav. The custom of blood feud, which existed in early medieval Russia, forced Olga to punish the murderers of her husband. Princess Olga combined energy, an extraordinary mind and rare statesmanship. For the first time, she created a principality management system, waged a successful struggle with the neighboring tribe of the Drevlyans, who often threatened her state, and also sought to expand Russia's ties with the strongest powers of that time - Byzantium and the Otto empire. Olga, in fact, carried out the first financial reform in the history of Russia, establishing a fixed amount of tribute, the procedure for its collection and their systematic

Historical documents testify that the princesses took part in public affairs. So the signatures of the princesses were on the most important legislative documents of that time. The signature of the wife of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich (years of reign: 980-1015) Anna was on the Church charter. Moreover, without her signature, the document would not have had legislative force, since Anna, being the sister of the Byzantine emperor, acted on behalf of the Byzantine clergy. Another example is a document of a later time (XV century) - the Charter of the Novgorod prince Vsevolod, where, along with the signatures of the most influential people of Novgorod, there was also the signature of the prince's wife, "Princess Vsevolozha". The participation of princesses in the activities of the legislative and executive authorities is an indicator of the high level of development of the state, social, legal and cultural systems of Ancient Russia.

The Chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" mentions the sister of Yaroslav Vladimirovich (Yaroslav the Wise) - Predslava, who was an active participant in the struggle for his accession to the throne of Kiev in 1015-1019.

The daughter of Yaroslav the Wise - Anna Yaroslavna (years of life: about 1024 - not earlier than 1075) married King Henry of France. She was the ruler of France during the infancy of their son Philip. Knowing Latin (the official language of that time), Anna had the privilege of putting her signature on documents of national importance, which was a unique phenomenon for the French royal court of that time.

The granddaughter of Yaroslav the Wise, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Kiev Vsevolod Yaroslavich Anna Vsevolodovna founded in 1086 at the Kiev Andreevsky Monastery the first known school for girls in the history of Russia.

Women in Ancient Russia, belonging to the princely estate or having a spiritual order (in particular, abbesses) became the founders of monastic schools. The annals mention the names of many boyars and princesses who took part in the political life of individual principalities, as well as those who ruled alone.

The Horde yoke significantly changed the overall picture of the social and legal status of women in Russian specific principalities. Russian chronicles of the middle of the 13th century hardly mention the participation of women in political life. The wives and daughters of Russian princes are mainly presented as objects of capture, violence and captivity. However, even during this period one can cite as an example the wife of Dmitry Donskoy - the Suzdal princess Evdokia, who played a large role in the history of the Moscow principality.

However, only women from the privileged class played such a prominent role in history, it was they who could be full-fledged representatives in their patrimony or in the principality, owners of personal seals that symbolized their power, as well as regents or guardians. Noble women in ancient Russia distinguished by a high level of education and culture at that time, this is what allowed them to participate in public affairs and management activities. Moreover, the princesses had very serious property rights, they sometimes owned entire princely volosts, which they could dispose of at their discretion, including deciding what their sons would get from these lands. As for the representatives of the lower classes, here the meaning of a woman was significantly different.

Many historians write about the despotic order that reigned in an ordinary old Russian family. The husband, the head of the family, was a serf in relation to the sovereign, but at the same time he was a full-fledged sovereign for his family in his own house. All household members were completely subordinate to him, and above all, this concerned the female half of the house. , being not yet married, did not have the right to independently go beyond the parental estate. Her parents were looking for a husband, she had not seen him before the wedding. After marriage, her husband became her new "owner". she could not leave the house without her husband's permission, including going to church. A woman also had to meet, talk to someone, give gifts, and generally communicate outside the home only after asking her husband's permission. The share of female labor in Russian peasant families has always been unusually large, a woman even had to take on a plow. The share of the youngest daughter-in-law in the family (the wife of younger brother), who, having moved into her husband's family, remained a lifelong maid in the house.

The unwritten laws of society dictated certain behavior of the husband and father. His duties included "instructing" the household, which consisted of systematic beatings of his wife and children. In ancient Russian society, it was believed that if a husband does not beat his wife, then he "does not care about his soul" and will be "destroyed." Only in the 16th century were attempts made to somehow protect the wife and limit the arbitrariness of the husband. In particular, "Domostroy" (a monument of Russian literature of the 16th century, which is a collection of tips, rules and instructions in all spheres of human and family life) introduces some restrictions into the established system of domestic violence. It is recommended to beat the wife "not in front of people, to teach in private" and "do not get angry at all" at the same time, and "for all faults" (because of trifles) "do not beat by sight, neither under the heart with a fist, nor a kick, nor a staff do not beat, do not beat with any iron or wood." Apparently in everyday life women in ancient Russia were subjected to serious beatings, since the author of Domostroy, giving advice on treating wives more gently, explains that those who “beat like that from the heart or from the torment, have many parables from this: blindness and deafness, and the arm and leg will be dislocated and the finger , and headache, and dental disease, and in pregnant wives (which means they were beaten too) and in children, damage happens in the womb. That is why advice was given to punish a wife not for every one, but only for a serious offense, and not with anything and in any way, but "take off your shirt, politely (carefully) beat with a whip, holding hands"

At the same time, it should be noted that the woman in ancient Russia pre-Mongolian period had a number of rights. Before marriage, she could become the heiress of the property father. The highest fines, according to ancient Russian legislation, were paid by those guilty of "knocking" (rape) and insulting women with "shameful words." A slave who lived with her master as a wife was freed after her master's death. The appearance of such legal norms in ancient Russian legislation testified to the widespread occurrence of such cases.

Broad property rights woman in ancient Russia received after the death of her husband. Widows were highly respected in ancient Russian society, they became full-fledged mistresses in their home. In fact, from the moment of the husband's death, the role of the head of the family passed to them. Property legal capacity of women in ancient Russia, especially in the privileged classes, was very significant in comparison with the legal capacity of their contemporaries in Western European states. However, it cannot be considered equal to the legal capacity of a man, since a woman was in the family under the authority of her husband or father, and men could, by their power, nullify all the advantages prescribed for ancient Russian women in the legislation. In cases where a woman was not under the authority of a man, for example, being a widow, she received property legal capacity practically equal to that of men.

The Status of Women in Ancient and Medieval Russia (IX-XVI centuries)

The legal status of a woman: the right to own and dispose of property, land property

The position of women in Russian feudal society in the 9th - 16th centuries. cannot be described with sufficient completeness without a study of the legal capacity of representatives of various classes and social groups in the property-legal sphere. This problem is not only related to the history of the development of ancient Russian law in general and family law in particular, but also helps to find answers to such important questions as, for example, the origins of women's inequality, their property rights in relation to the norms of ancient Russian feudal legislation and the real social status of women, opportunities and breadth of property-legal and social independence Pushkareva LN Women of Ancient Russia. M., 1989. S. 123.

Legislative norms relating to the property status of representatives of different classes and social groups, which were in force in the period from Russian Pravda (RP) to the first all-Russian Code of Laws, are rooted in ancient times, in the era of the formation of feudal relations. The first mention of the powers of women to own certain property already contains one of the earliest legal monuments - the Treaty of 911 between Oleg and Byzantium, which approved the right of a woman to retain part of the property common with her husband even if the husband committed murder and was brought before the law. In other words, in the property that the wife of the criminal received "according to the law", there was also her own allotment, a "part", separate from her husband's (for in the article we are talking about giving "his part", i.e., part of the husband, to relatives).

The concept of “part”, to which a woman had the right and which she had, entered the legal life along with the first codification of laws. She is mentioned in the articles of the Long Truth (PP) on the property rights of women in the families of smerds, "free husbands" and the privileged class. The normative sources of such an early time do not report anything about the fact that the “robes” could also have any property.

Women's property possession, referred to in the RP as a "part", probably included a dowry and some paraphernal property not included in it - the property of the wife, which she could dispose of at her own discretion. Subsequently, the wife's paraphernal property was transferred to the husband only on the basis of a power of attorney, and the legitimate mortgage on the husband's property in favor of Pushkarev's wife N. L. A woman in a Russian family (X - XX centuries) served as a guarantee of good faith management. M., 1999. S. 456.

The existence of dowry in the most ancient period of the history of Russia was proved back in the 19th century, although both the Republic of Poland and other normative acts of that time do not know this term. The testimony of the chronicler points to the existence of dowry in ancient customary law, which casts doubt on the correctness of the assertion that the institution of dowry was a borrowing of Byzantine legal norms. Ownership of dowry, according to RP, is inherent in people from the environment of almost all classes and social groups of feudal society, including smerds. The term "dowry" itself appears in acts no earlier than the end of the 15th century. (in the Sudebnik of 1497, the Sudebnik of 1497 // Monuments of Russian Law. Issue II. M., 1953. . there is a mention of the “dowry serf”). The first in-line dowry agreements are found only in the middle of the 16th century. As for evidence of a non-normative nature about the appointment of a dowry, from the time under consideration (until the end of the 16th century), very few of them have come down to us.

More difficult is the question of whether a woman owned anything other than a dowry. There is no direct information about the existence of the paraphernal property of the wife in the first marriage in Russian monuments. But attention should be paid to the penalty determined by the Charter of Prince Yaroslav for the theft of "wedding" and "city" ones.

The first term is relatively clear: this is what the bride received at her wedding. "Sgorodnoye" is a less clear term. It is described in different ways in various lists of the Charter and has not been explained so far. The existence of a marriage conspiracy in Russian legal life suggests that “conspiracy” (“urban”) was either one of the components of the dowry, or part or even the paraphernal property itself, brought by the wife to her husband’s house.

The structure of the "part" owned by a woman in connection with a second marriage seems to be more understandable. Apparently, this is, first of all, the same dowry, in relation to which the ancient Russian women had the right not only to own, but also to dispose. Otherwise, the emergence of independent property of a woman in marriage would be inexplicable, and yet the Charter of Prince Vladimir already considers a dispute over property to be fundamentally possible. The same Charter suggests the possibility of a widow's conflict with her brothers, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and her own children over property. It is difficult to agree that this establishment was introduced with the aim of limiting the legal capacity of a woman by transferring property issues to the jurisdiction of church jurisdiction, which acted on the basis of similar incidents in Byzantine laws and limited the rights of women. Here it is necessary to find evidence of the development of the property rights of women who were married Aleksandrov V.A. Family and property relations before the beginning of the 20th century // Russian. M., 1999. S. 432.

Firstly, the fact that the husband's creditors directed their recovery against the wife confirms that the wife has certain property. Secondly, in the Charter of Prince Yaroslav, the husband appears as an encroachment on the property of his wife. Thirdly, art. 36 of the Pskov Judicial Charter (PSG) Yanin. VL "I sent you a birch bark ...". M., 1979. S. 48. also indicates that the wife could be a plaintiff in the case of debt collection on informal documents. Fourthly, the treaty between Novgorod and the Germans in 1269-1270. emphasized not only the absence of community property of the spouses, but also the existence of a secret mortgage on the wife's property, i.e., the impossibility of using her property on the security of the husband's property transactions. (The wife was financially responsible for her husband's debts only in the event of his death, becoming the heir to his movables and real estate) Pushkareva NL What were ancient Russian women like? // Science and life. M., 1991. No. 8. S. 14..

It should be noted that the trend of property irresponsibility of the spouse was not immediately established in Russian legislation. Despite the fact that the Russian-Byzantine treaty of the X century. introduced it into one of his articles, the Republic of Poland also demanded that the wife's property be returned for "plunder" in the event of a crime by the husband. However, the Novgorod law of the 13th century again returned to the system of secret mortgage on the property of the wife, i.e., recognized the impossibility of its pledge, which corresponded to the economic changes associated with the increased feudalization of society.

Thus, the legislative monuments of the IX - XV centuries. make it possible to assert that in a given period of time a woman was socially free. Those who belonged to the privileged class and remarried, could have, in addition to the dowry, some paraphernal property that she could have acquired over the years or married life(as a result of free disposal of one's dowry), or widowhood in the performance of guardianship Pushkareva LN Women of Ancient Russia. M., 1989. S. 125.

The development of the norms of guardianship law is evidenced by the presence in Ancient Russia of the institution of women's guardianship, which was not yet known to the Western European Middle Ages. The similarity of guardianship institutions in Byzantium and Ancient Russia was determined by the proximity of the systems of the socio-economic system, and not by borrowing legal norms.

Considering this problem in more detail, it is necessary to find out: did the widow automatically enter into the rights of the deceased spouse in relation to the children, or was she their guardian only by law and this power over the children was determined by her official position?

On the basis of the RP, it can be argued that noble women after the death of their husbands became authorized guardians of young children and managed the household by the right of seniority, using the booty (property) and being liable for losses only in the event of a second marriage. Even when the wards became adults, for the labors in raising them, the widow mother was given the right to stay in the house of her children, even against their will, while maintaining her allotment for maintenance - “part”. Judging by the Pskov Judicial Charter, it was later established that the refusal to support an aged mother should lead to the seizure in her favor of the unworthy son of all the property inherited by him, which the father and mother had jointly acquired. If a woman remarried, then she returned to the guardians all the movables and real estate taken for guardianship, including the offspring from slaves and livestock. If this property of the wards was put into circulation, then the profit went in favor of the closest relative of the guardian Shchapov Ya. N. Marriage and family in Ancient Russia // Questions of history. M., 1990. No. 10. S. 216..

At the expense of this profit, apparently, the damage in the property accepted by the guardian after the death of the testator was also compensated.

More recent regulations do not deal with issues related to female guardianship. This suggests that the ancient rules of guardianship traditionally operated later.

The Republic of Poland, unlike similar codes of the West Slavic lands, does not introduce the concept of male co-guardians with widows into legal life, giving women significant independence. The basis for the widow's right to custody was not only her participation in the rights to common family property, but also the principles of parental authority, the authority of the mother in everyday life, which made her (albeit for a period limited by her second marriage) the sovereign head of the family.

The considered rights of women to own a dowry and some paraphernal property, and for representatives of the privileged class, to guardianship of children are organically linked with the hereditary aspect of the Old Russian property law. It is in the norms of inheritance law that the evolution and those profound changes that took place in the system of personal and public relations spouses, and especially in the rights of women. Almost all ancient Russian legal documents, including the RP, paid special attention to this area of jurisprudence.

RP provides little information about inheritance in the lower classes. In the smerd's family, after his death, his unmarried daughters were provided for, since it was believed that those who married had already received their "part" in the form of a dowry or in another form. Since the article refers to all children, and not just to sons, it can be interpreted as follows: daughters do not inherit only with sons; if there are no sons, then the property passes to the daughters, and if there are unmarried women among them, then they are entitled to a portion for the dowry. Similarly, in Art. 92 RP a dying person “shares his house with his child” Legislation of the period of formation and strengthening of the Russian centralized state. M., 1985. S. 210. 94 of the RP on the marriage of unmarried sisters.

On the example of the development of the inheritance law of the representatives of the free and privileged population, one can trace the evolution of the right of inheritance associated with the strengthening of the feudalization of society. The initial stage of such an evolution was the period of domination of the communal system, when a woman, regardless of her matrimonial position, was denied the right to inherit not only real estate, but also movable property. The allocation of any property into the hands of a woman could then lead to an increase in the profitability of the economy of a foreign clan and, ultimately, to social inequality. This stage was almost not reflected in the ancient Russian written sources.

Only an indirect indication of the existence in the previous era of the above-mentioned archaic rule of removing a woman from inheritance is found in Art. 95 RP. According to this complex article, a daughter does not inherit when she is a "sister". Apparently, the daughter had no previous rights to any family property.

The strengthening of the feudalization of society, the predominance of the territorial principle over the clan, the growth of social inequality contributed to the development of the process of acquiring by noble women the rights to own and dispose of property. By regulations XI - XII centuries. Russian women appear as owners and managers of movable property. The main part of it, as already noted, was the dowry in conjunction with the paraphernal property. In the event of the death of a spouse, women of the privileged class inherited, receiving a “part”, and did not count on exercising the right of ownership in relation to the entire inheritance, which should be understood without fail as the entire set of movables and real estate of the Shchapov family Ya. N. Decree. op. S. 217..

The question of understanding the structure of inheritance is of fundamental importance, meanwhile, pre-Soviet and modern science has paid little attention to it. If by inheritance we understand only the property of the husband inherited by the widow, then we will have to agree with the position that ancient Russian women did not have inheritance rights, since the Republic of Poland clearly and definitely solves this problem. If, however, by inheritance we mean the totality of property, i.e., the dowry, the paraphernal property of the wife, the separate property of the husband, jointly acquired movables and real estate, then it cannot be denied that women at the time in question already possessed a certain range of inheritance rights. They were not and could not be, in the case of inheritance by law, the owners of all the total property of the family, although they used it until the age of majority of children on the rights of guardianship and the system of the family hierarchy.

It can even be assumed that the prohibition to receive the entire inheritance testifies precisely to the fact that women, who became sovereign mistresses of property after the death of their spouse, sought to secure their rights to the entire inheritance, although by law they could inherit only part of it. It is logical to assume that at the second stage of the evolution of property rights, only movables were the inherited part. In the days of the Republic of Poland, “part” meant a certain amount of funds, a certain allotment for maintenance, which was wholly owned by women Aleksandrov V. A. Decree. op. S. 433..

In proportion, the "part" of the mother was hardly less than the "part" of each of the children: if there were an inequality in quantitative terms, it would be specifically stipulated in the law. The wife is ranked among the first row of heirs, her rights are negotiated in the first place.

Of particular interest is Art. 94 of the Republic of Poland, according to which the spouse who survived his wife did not receive a hereditary share in the property of the deceased, but only managed this property. Only her children were entitled to the “part” of the first wife, even if the father transferred this “part” to his second wife, i.e., the stepmother of these children. In addition, in Russian science there was a slightly different point of view regarding the interpretation of this article by RP Kalygin A.S. A peasant woman in marriage and family. M., 1985. S. 68.

Art. 94 of the RP substantiates not only the right to own the wife's property, but also the right to dispose of it. The difference between these concepts is obvious. Women also had the right to own property as guardians, but they could not turn common family property into sole property, just like husbands in relation to women's paraphernal property. It is no coincidence that when the property of the first wife was wasted, the husband (and in the event of his death, the step-son) had, as stated in some lists of the Republic of Poland, to compensate for the loss.

Thus, a comparison of the position of a widow and a widower in Russian law makes it possible to speak of the equality of their rights.

Even more interesting is Art. 106 of the Republic of Poland, which establishes that ancient Russian women have not only hereditary rights, but also the right of a woman, unlike her husband, to choose which of the children to transfer her inheritance to. Under this article, preference was given to the one who showed more attention to the mother.

As for the rights of brothers and sisters at this, the second stage of the evolution of property relations, they were not the same. Sisters, for example, did not receive the entire inheritance if the brothers gave them in marriage. But if the daughter were not an heiress at all, then the RP would use the term “daughter”, and not “sister”. Consequently, in principle, daughters were heirs, and a special emphasis on the fact that a sister, in the presence of brothers, was not an heiress, just does not exclude the prevalence of inheritance of property by daughters in everyday life, but speaks of cases where a brother was the eldest in the family and could replace parents Romanov B. A. People and customs of Ancient Russia (historical and everyday essays (XI - XIII centuries)). M., 1957. S. 198..

The last, third stage in the evolution of the property rights of noble women is the approval of the possibility of owning real estate: land, “fatherland”. This stage is recorded only in later sources. So, the Pskov court, examining inheritance without a will, that is, according to the law, argues that if after the death of a person there is a “fatherland”, the wife could use it for life, unless she marries. The same requirement applies to the husband of the deceased wife, after which real estate may also remain.

At the end of the 13th century, a rule was approved regarding daughters: they receive part of the “estate” and thus the equal rights of brothers and sisters to real estate are secured, although the Sudebnik of 1497 (Article 60) left the priority right to the brothers. It is significant that at the end of the XIII century. even an illegitimate wife could claim the “adulterous part” in the property of the deceased in order to feed the children common with him, and even litigate with his legal wife Pushkareva N. L. A woman in a Russian family (X - XX centuries) // Russian. M., 1999. S. 458.

Such is the process of evolution of the acquisition by representatives of the ruling class of property, in particular hereditary, rights, which was reflected in the normative acts of the 9th - 15th centuries. The very expansion of women's property rights, their acquisition of rights to own real property is organically linked with the general economic and social-class changes characteristic of a state developing along the feudal path and having overcome it by the beginning of the 16th century.

The last stage in the evolution of the property rights of women of the privileged class is the free disposal and use of real estate by them. Already in birch bark letters of the late XII - XIII centuries. mention is made of women who owned Yanin's real estate. VL "I sent you a birch bark ...". M., 1979. S. 155.

It can be said that the wife and son of the head of a large seed clan had to satisfy land and money claims against them in connection with the death of the latter. At the same time, not only the brothers of the deceased, but also theirs, put forward claims regarding the land plot.

Women's landownership is also known in the principalities. Already in the XII century. in one of the graffiti of St. Sophia of Kiev, Princess Vsevolozhaya is mentioned as a buyer of the “Volnovaya land”, for which she paid “seven hundred sable hryvnias” Sedov V. V. Slavs in antiquity. M., 1994. S. 249 ..

In the monuments of the XIV - XV centuries. the number of information about the disposal of land property by women is increasing dramatically. Many references to women's ownership of real estate contain epigraphic material.

Novgorod letters on birch bark are mostly everyday, everyday correspondence. The legal side of the situations clearly shown by the Novgorod birch-bark letters can be substantiated by the act material of the 13th-15th centuries, confirming the legal capacity of the representatives of the privileged class both in transferring into possession, selling, and in acquiring real property.

Acts of donation of private immovable property, committed by women from privileged social groups themselves, are reflected in letters bearing the name "data" and "deposit". In the complex of documents related to the realization by women of the right to own real estate (about 400 acts published and found in the archives), these letters prevail.

When considering acts of donation of land by women - data and contributions in favor of monasteries - an important issue is to determine the frequency of women's independent legal proceedings.

Considered from the point of view of determining the subject who committed the act of donation, the set of letters is divided into three groups of acts Romanov BA Decree. op. S. 190.:

1. donations in fulfillment of the will of deceased husbands or other male relatives, such as father-in-law;

2. joint donations with husband, father and male relatives;

3. independent actions of women.

The fact that the last group includes half of all letters of this complex is a serious argument in favor of the prevalence of procedural actions of women who are not dependent on other family members.

It is noteworthy that some of the surviving from the XV century. The documents also reflected alternative situations when the husband “gives” real estate “on the word” of his wife.

Apparently, the joint gifts of father and mother to their children also had a certain distribution. Formally, the voluntary act of donation actually turned out to be the result of long-term previous economic relations between land owners - participants in the transaction.

The group of letters of commendation adjoining the group of data and contributions is of interest from two points of view. On the one hand, letters of grant are a valuable source on the history of immunity and help to recreate a picture of the judicial and fiscal rights of privileged landowners. On the other hand, letters of commendation, which in various ways secured the transfer of real estate into the possession of feudal lords, as well as ordinary, deposit letters, characterize the competence of women in the field of transferring land holdings. Pushkareva N.L. What were ancient Russian women like? // Science and life. M., 1991. No. 8. S. 15 ..

A significant group of acts related to the sale of land holdings by women is represented by 33 bills of sale. Judging by these letters, the sale of real estate by women to socialites is a more common phenomenon than awards to them.

It should be noted such a form of paid transfer of real estate as "dacha for purchase", which involves the payment of a certain amount for land, apparently less than its actual value. A purchase of this kind allowed the woman seller of real estate to own the sold land until death, with the loss of the right to dispose of the sold property.

Deeds of sale, reflecting the sale of real estate by women, testify to the diversity of legal norms in which the mobilization of landed property was manifested.

If we consider the proven capacity of women of the privileged class to conclude acts of donation and sale of real estate in the 13th - 15th centuries, then it can be assumed that at that time women also freely exchanged and divided land property, although documents reflecting transactions of this kind committed by women, much less than data, salaries and bills of sale.

The question of women's capacity to sell property also includes the exercise of their right to a mortgage and real estate tax, for women of the privileged class undoubtedly had this right. Thus, the reviewed material on the participation of women in the donation, sale, exchange, pledge of real estate confirms the eligibility of representatives of the ruling class in the property sphere Pushkareva NL Women of Russia and Europe on the threshold of modern times. M., 1996. S. 67 - 68 ..

The issue of the competence and capacity of women of the privileged class also covers the area of acquiring real estate in its main forms: receiving as a gift (acquisition free of charge), purchase and receipt as a dowry or inheritance.

The most common way for women to acquire real estate was to receive it as a dowry and inherit it from their father, husband and other family members. An unmarried woman, while her father was alive, was materially and personally dependent on him and had limited property rights not only to dispose of, but also to own real estate. After the death of the father, and even more so of both parents, significant changes took place regarding the receipt by women of a part of the immovable property left after their parents. While Western contemporaries of ancient Russian women received a dowry most often in the form of money and movable property, Russian documents contain many examples of receiving immovable property as a dowry.

Paternal succession is directly and directly linked to dowry; the earliest mention in the acts of this form of inheritance is the middle of the 14th century. In a number of cases, the transfer of landed property to a married daughter was accompanied by a mention of her husband, i.e., the inherited part of the estate was given to the spouses in co-ownership. This, however, was not the result of any regulation or customary law. In every specific case the testator acted as required by the interests of the safety and integrity of land ownership. For example, a common form of acquiring land in Pskov by noble women was to receive it in a property that was not limited by any conditions, providing for the right to further dispose of the acquired land.

The legal status, on the basis of which land transfers were made from father to daughters, was not limited to the transfer of land to them in joint ownership and unconditional use. There was also a custom to transfer the land “for feeding”, which was, as it were, an intermediate form between the first two forms of inheritance from the father. When transferring land by will between close relatives (especially between husband and wife), this was one of the most common forms of transactions Minenko N.A. “Our all-loving cohabitant…” // Motherland. M., 1994. No. 7. S. 105.

Thus, there were three forms of inheritance of land by women from their father: the transfer of land to co-ownership, “to feed” and to unconditional use and disposal.

Inheritance rights along other family lines - brother, uncle, were reflected in a small amount documents. These acts confirm that women, including those who were indirect relatives (for example, nieces), also had the right to receive inheritance - part of the common family land property.

There is little evidence of the inheritance of property by women through their mothers and mothers-in-law. The mention of the existence of a certain part in common family land ownership, traditionally transferred through the female line of the family, makes it possible to explain the frequent transfer of land property by representatives of the ruling class to daughters-in-law, moreover, to their personal property, and not to co-ownership with husbands or sons.

In the absence of a will in writing, the relatives inherited according to the law, and in doing so, apparently acted general rules. In all spiritual representatives of the ruling class, the object of disposal is land and movables (in some cases). It is noteworthy that noble women in their clergy often appointed women as legal successors after their death, primarily daughters, less often granddaughters, nieces, daughter-in-law N. I. Apparovich. Life and life of the population of Russia in the 17th century. M., 1997. S. 83.

Meanwhile, a study of the structure of the family “fatherland” inherited by women allows us to assert that only a special, strictly defined part of the entire land inheritance was transferred “for feeding”, which in each specific case could be either more or less than the rest of the land property inherited by women, on which they had all the rights, could dispose of it and bequeath it at their discretion.

The lands inherited by women, which were not their private feudal property, had a different character, both in legal and socio-economic terms. For the Grand Duchesses, such lands constituted a special, lifetime destiny. It included villages, villages, volosts, which traditionally belonged to the patrimony during her lifetime and were handed down by will from generation to generation. Usually these possessions were allocated in the land masses of one or several sons, and the testator pointed out the obligation to transfer them after the death of the owner back to the ancestral patrimony. As part of the inheritance, there could be purchases and other acquisitions of the husband.

It should be noted that purchases, sales, exchanges and other transactions were carried out only with private feudal property. Most often, when inheriting a parental patrimony, sons had a clear priority. But in many spiritual "parts" of land inherited by the wife and sons, they were either not divided at all, or were approximately equal, and sometimes the mother's allotment exceeded the allotment of each of the sons. Nevertheless, women, and, above all, wives, were generally in the first row of heirs.

Among the various ways in which women of the privileged class obtained rights to immovable property, it is necessary to note the participation of the wives and widows of feudal lords in the process of colonization. At the time under review, it was carried out mainly on the lands of the Russian North, Obonezhye and Podvinya. Novgorod feudal lords quickly took over these outlying and sparsely populated areas by simple expropriation of communal lands, less often by purchase.

The attack on the rights of the black-eared peasants, the direct seizure of their lands, carried out by representatives of the administration of the patrimony of noble noblewomen, describe the latter as typical allodists, whose position and rights in the general system of social class relations differed little from the position and rights of representatives of the other sex Kalabikhin I. E. Social gender and problems of the population. M., 1995. S. 174.

So, the property rights and position of women belonging to privileged social groups were relatively strong and regulated by the norms enshrined in secular feudal legislation. Their rights to family property were expressed through such categories of property as dowry, certain paraphernal property, part of the common family property (allotment, “part”), etc. These rights of women were ensured by issuing a dowry upon marriage. The dowry was their property, which remained with them after the death of their spouse and in the case of childlessness or the absence of a written will (inheritance by law) drawn up in advance (inheritance by law) of the woman returning to the family of the parents of the woman.

During the period of existence of the family union in relation to dowry, the husband and wife constituted a single legal entity and were in joint ownership. Much less often, women independently exercised their right of ownership in relation to this part of the family property, carrying out certain transactions with it. The latter applies especially to those cases where the dowry was received in the form of movable property, primarily valuables and money. The receipt of a dowry in the form of real estate was directly dependent on the position of a woman in the feudal hierarchy: “dowry” of land is mentioned more often in those acts where the recipient has the highest social status.

The paraphernal property of the representatives of the ruling class also included some property, including real estate, which could be received as a gift, bought or inherited. The presence of own funds and the relative property independence of married women made it unnecessary to indicate the complicity of the husband or guardian in the acts of the transaction (data, salaries, bills of sale) Pushkareva NL What were ancient Russian women like? // Science and life. M., 1991. No. 8. S. 17.

Dowry in the form of real estate was typical mainly for the 14th - 15th centuries, but separate evidence of women's rights to inherit landed property and dispose of it is found already at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century.

The priority right to inherit the paternal patrimony had direct male relatives (sons, brothers of the testator), in their absence - direct female relatives (even if there were indirect descendants in the male line, for example, grandchildren), i.e. in Russian feudal legislation by the end the period under review, the principle of cognatic kinship was in effect. In the absence of direct heirs, the land inheritance was transferred into the hands of indirect relatives, from whose circle women were also not excluded (inheritance by uncle, brother).

The widow, when inheriting by her husband, acquired certain rights to dispose of not only her own property, but also part of the common family property. The right to dispose of a part of the "fatherland" was often limited (until the children came of age, until the second marriage), and sometimes it was for life.

During the life of the husband, the movable and immovable property of the wife was in common family ownership, therefore, during the existence of the marital union, the woman acted in most cases as an accomplice in family transactions common with her husband. After the death of a spouse, widows showed greater property independence, but their powers in the field of property rights were still limited. The male heirs had the pre-emptive right in receiving the inheritance. In addition, they received parts of the bequeathed patrimony in their ownership, and, as a rule, without restrictions.

The normative monuments from Russian Pravda to the national Code of Laws of 1497 reflected two main periods of the evolution of women's rights in the field of property rights: possession and disposal of movable property (X - XIII centuries) and the spread of women's ownership and property rights to real estate (XIV - XV centuries). ) Legislation of the period of formation and strengthening of the Russian centralized state. M., 1985. S. 248.

Old Russian women of the privileged class, who had broad rights in the field of acquiring movable and immovable property, were also capable in the field of its implementation - in sale, exchange, pledge, award.

The extension of the right to own and dispose of real estate to representatives of the ruling class confirms the high level of social and economic development of Russia, achieved by it by the end of the 16th century, and testifies to the final or, at least, significant overcoming of pre-feudal remnants in the property sphere of ancient Russian law. The study of women's property rights contributes to the disclosure of the features of the structure and evolution of feudal land ownership Alexandrov VA Decree. op. S. 434..

It can be said that the development of women's property rights was based primarily on the weakening of family and kinship ties, the strengthening of the tendency to freely alienate landed property under the influence of the development of commodity-money relations.

Introduction

At the same time, Russian women have always played a significant role not only in the family, but also in the political and cultural life of Ancient Russia. Suffice it to recall the Grand Duchess Olga, the daughters of Yaroslav the Wise, one of whom - Anna became famous as the French Queen, the wife of Vasily I, the Grand Duchess of Moscow Sophia Vitovtovna, the Novgorod posadnitsa Marfa Boretskaya, who led the struggle of Novgorod against Moscow, Princess Sophia, a whole series of empresses of the XVIII century , Princess Dashkova and others. woman family rus marriage

Women are rarely mentioned in chronicles. For example, in Tales of Bygone Years messages related to the fair sex, five times less than male . Women are considered by the chronicler mainly as predicate men (however, like children). That is why in Russia, before marriage, a girl was often called by her father, but not in the form of a patronymic, but in a possessive form: Volodimerya , and after marriage - by husband (in the same as in the first case possessive , owner's form; cf. turnover: husband's wife , i.e. owned by the husband).

Relevance of the topic. There are many points of view on this issue, since the position of women in Ancient Russia has long been of interest to scientists both from scientific and practical points of view, but there was no comprehensive answer, so we decided to touch on this topic again in our work. .

Object of study: the system of social relations in which the woman of Ancient Russia in the 9th-15th centuries. acts as a subject.

Subject of study: the position of women.

The purpose of the study: analysis of the position of women in Ancient Russia.

Based on the goal, we set ourselves the following tasks:

study all sources relevant to the topic we are considering, including both monographic works, articles in the periodical press and on the Internet;

consider the position of women in history;

analyze the private life of noble women;

analyze the position of women in society from the point of view of law;

consider the position of a woman, girl, girl in the family;

to study the position of women in marriage and outside of marriage.

The structure of the work: introduction, two chapters, consisting of 6 paragraphs, conclusion, list of references.

woman family rus

Chapter 1. The life of a Russian woman in society

1 Position of women in history

Everyone has their own idea of the place and role of women in the history of Ancient Russia. And views can be very different. Someone draws in his imagination a “recluse”, and someone, recalling Princess Olga or the Novgorod posadnitsa Marfa Boretskaya, sees quite socially active and bright personalities. The question of how it really was and what is the role of women in the IX-XV centuries. very important in itself and for presenting the social, political and cultural history of these six centuries.

In the first millennium of our era, customs were formed among the Eastern Slavs, that is, stable rules of behavior. Gradually, part of the customs began to be provided with mandatory enforcement by tribal bodies and communities and acquired the qualities of customary law. Some of the norms of customary law were enshrined in the state written legislation, showing great vitality, some were modified or prohibited by law. Some elements of customary law in the field of regulating the legal status of women were preserved in the peasant environment until the 19th century.

The position of women in ancient Russia from the 9th to the 15th centuries. in addition to legal customs, it was regulated as secular regulations and ecclesiastical law. Secular monuments allow us to speak with greater certainty about socio-economic aspects, while church monuments more clearly characterize the norms of morality, morality, the specifics of attitudes towards women on the part of society, family, state and church.

Although a woman, no matter how humiliated she is, always retains power over a man. She draws this power: firstly, from the passions of the man himself, and secondly, from the upbringing of the younger generation, which, during the period of initiation and formation of character, was under the influence of a woman.

It is these two circumstances that give a woman power over society, albeit not purposefully, but a woman is still not the last person in the society of that time.

The man had to take care of honor, duty and thought, that is, the scope of his activity is civil society, while the woman dominated the family and social life, inspiring her with morality, feeling, love, modesty, giving her decency, grace and beauty.

You don’t have to go far for examples, if you step back, not for a long time, from the history of Ancient Russia, then in any other history: be it the history of Rome, the Ancient East or Athens, where women also had no rights, were locked up and removed from power (“visually”), they invisibly ruled the world.

The East humiliated a woman to a thing that serves to satisfy the sensuality of her ruler - a man, the East covered the woman's face with a veil, locked her in a harem, surrounded her with eunuchs; but she, an impersonal being in public opinion and law, - she in the actual life of the harem was either Semiramis, then Cleopatra, then Roxana, and disposed of the fate of the eastern kingdoms. And in Athens, who, if not a woman, raised such minds as: Socrates, Pericles or Alcibiades.

2 The legal status of women in ancient Russia

Old Russian feudal law is characterized by the following features: it is the right of the fist, i.e. the right of the politically and economically strong; it is the right of the privileges of the ruling class and its individual strata within the class of feudal lords, in comparison with the right of the working population. As mentioned earlier, women were not particularly distinguished in feudal law; moreover, their legal status was very limited, which predetermined their legal protection. However, this does not mean that women were excluded from participation in public affairs. A striking example is Princess Olga, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, granddaughter of Vladimir Monomakh.

Olga (about 890-969) became the first Christian Kievan princess. Becoming the wife of the first Grand Duke of Kiev Igor (912-945), after his death she ruled until the age of their son Svyatoslav. The custom of blood feud, which existed in the early Middle Ages, forced Olga to punish her husband's murderers. Olga combined an extraordinary mind, energy and rare statesmanship. For the first time, she created a principality management system, waged a successful struggle with the neighboring tribe of the Drevlyans, who often threatened her state, and also sought to expand Russia's ties with the strongest powers of that time - Byzantium and the Otto empire. Olga, in fact, carried out the first financial reform in the history of Russia, establishing a fixed amount of tribute, the procedure for its collection and their systematic nature.

The participation of Grand Duchesses in state affairs was a tradition. For example, without the signature of Anna, who acted on behalf of the Byzantine clergy, the Charter as a document would not be valid. Anna Romanovna, the sister of the Byzantine emperor, became the wife of the Kiev prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 988 and lived on Russian soil for more than 20 years.

The appearance of documents of a later time (XV century) was impossible without the participation and signatures of the princesses. For example, in the Charter of the Novgorod prince Vsevolod on church courts, the name of "princess Vsevolozha" was on a par with the elders and sotsk "the most influential persons in Novgorod of the 15th century.

The participation of princesses in legislative and executive activities is an indicator of the high level of development of the state, legal, social and cultural systems of Ancient Russia.

The Chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" tells about the sister of Yaroslav Vladimirovich (Yaroslav the Wise) - Predslava, an active participant in the struggle for his accession to the throne of Kiev in 1015-1019.

The daughter of Yaroslav the Wise - Anna Yaroslavna (about 1024-not earlier than 1075) in the middle of the century (1049-1060) married King Henry of France. She was the ruler of France, during the childhood of Philip's son Anna, knowing Latin (the official language of that time), she had the privilege of putting her signature on documents of national importance, which was a unique phenomenon for the French royal court of the century.

The marriages of the daughters of Yaroslav the Wise served the purposes of expanding and strengthening the international contacts of Russia: Elizabeth with the Norwegian prince Harold, and after his death with the Danish prince, and Anastasia Yaroslavna with the Hungarian king Andrei in 1046.

The granddaughter of Yaroslav the Wise, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Kiev Vsevolod Yaroslavich Anna Vsevolodovna founded in 1086 the first school for girls known in the history of Russia (at the Kiev Andreevsky Monastery).

Often at this time, women of the princely class or those who had a clergy (for example, abbesses) became the founders of monastic schools. The Kievan, Novgorodian, and Ipatiev Chronicles, reflecting the history of the Russian lands from the middle of the century, mention the names of many princesses and noblewomen who took part in the political life of individual principalities and ruled alone.

During the period of isolation of the Russian principalities, princesses and boyars quite often participated in internal political conflicts, princely civil strife, strife and conspiracies of any boyar groups. At the same time, noble women contributed to the advancement of those who pursued a policy of strengthening the principalities.

The Horde yoke changed the general picture of the social and legal status of women in Russian specific principalities. Russian annals of the middle of the century hardly mention the participation of women in political life. Wives, daughters of Russian princes are presented as objects of violence, capture, captivity. But even during this period, one can cite as an example the wife of Dmitry Donskoy - the Suzdal princess Evdokia, who played a big role in the history of the Moscow principality.

Outstanding women - the Grand Duchess of Moscow Sofya Fominichna (Zoya Paleolog), the Grand Duchess of Tver Elena Stefanovna, the Ryazan Princess Anna Vasilievna proved herself in political life and struggle, both in the Russian principalities and abroad.

It should be noted that only women of the privileged class showed themselves in the political, diplomatic and cultural fields. These women are full-fledged rulers in their principality or fiefdom; owners of personal seals, symbolizing their power in principalities and kingdoms; regents, guardians. Women of the privileged class were distinguished in Russia by a high level of education and culture at that time, which allowed them to take part in public affairs and in managerial activities.

The fact that women entered the political arena (like Olga - the successor to her husband's power at the head of the principality) - this concerned only the highest echelon of society and was an exception to the rule. A significant proportion of women did not participate in political life. Political activity was, as a rule, the prerogative of men.

Chapter 2. Private life of a woman in Ancient Russia

1 The position of a woman in the princely family

From a survey of the distribution of princely volosts, it is clear what an important share of them the princes usually gave to their wives. This rich endowment also corresponded to a strong moral and political influence, which was ceded to them according to the spiritual wills of their husbands. Kalita, in her will, orders her princess with her smaller children to her eldest son Semyon, who, by God, should be her mourner. Here, the testator does not prescribe to his sons, except for care, any obligations regarding his wife, because this wife, Princess Ulyana, was his stepmother. To what extent the stepmother and her children were then alien to the children from the first wife, the proof is that the son of Kalita, John II, does not call his stepmother otherwise than Princess Ulyana only, her daughter does not call her sister; this explains to us the ancient relationship of the sons and grandsons of Mstislav the Great to his son from another wife, Vladimir Mstislavich, machesich. Otherwise, the relationship of sons to their mothers is determined according to the spiritual wills of the princes: Donskoy orders his children to the princess. “And you, my children,” he says, “live together, and obey your mother in everything; if one of my sons dies, then my princess will divide him with the inheritance of the rest of my sons: whoever she gives, that is what she has, and my children will not come out of her will. God will give me a son, and my princess will divide him, taking in parts from his big brothers. If any of my sons lose their fatherland, with which I blessed him, then my princess will divide my sons from their inheritances; and you, my children, obey your mother. If God takes away my son, Prince Vasily, then his inheritance goes to that son of mine who will be under him, and the inheritance of the last princess will divide my sons; but you, my children, obey your mother: whatever you give to whom, that is what you have. And I ordered my children to my princess; but you, my children, obey your mother in everything, do not act out of her will in anything. And whoever my son does not obey his mother will not have my blessing on.

The agreement between Grand Duke Vasily Dimitrievich and the brothers begins as follows: "By the word and blessing of our mother Avdotya." In his contract with his brother Yuri, Vasily makes next condition: "And we keep our mother in motherhood and in honor." Vasily Dimitrievich punishes his son to keep his mother in honor and motherhood, as God says; in another will, he obliges his son to honor his mother in the same way that he honored his father. Prince Vladimir Andreevich of Serpukhov gives his wife the right to judge definitively disputes between his sons, orders the latter to honor and obey their mother. Vasily the Dark also orders the same to his sons. Regarding the widowed princesses and their daughters, in the will of Vladimir Andreevich we find the following order: “If God takes away one of my sons and leaves him with a wife who will not marry, then let her sit with her children in the inheritance of her husband, when dies, then the inheritance goes to her son, my grandson; if there is a daughter left, then my children will all marry their daughter and share their brother's inheritance equally. If she does not have children at all, then even then let my daughter-in-law sit in her husband's inheritance until death and commemorate our soul, and my children, until her death, do not interfere in their brother's inheritance in any way.

The volosts left to the princesses were divided into those that they did not have the right to dispose of in their wills, and those that they could dispose of arbitrarily; the latter were called oprichnina. But in addition, in the Moscow principality there were such volosts that were constantly in the possession of the princesses, were appointed for their maintenance; these volosts were called knyaginin's vulgar ones. Regarding them, Grand Duke Vasily Dimitrievich in his will makes the following order: “As for the villages of the princess’s vulgar ones, they belong to her, she knows them until my son marries, after which she must give them to the princess of my son, her daughter-in-law, those villages that have been for a long time for the princesses.

In all these volosts, the princess was the full owner. Dimitry Donskoy orders this on this score: “To what places the free volosts judged those freedoms with me, to the same places they judge the volosts of my princess. If in those volosts, settlements and villages that I took from the inheritances of my sons and gave to my princess, one of the orphans (peasants) happens to complain about the volosts, then my princess will sort out the matter (make it right), but my children will not step in." Vladimir Andreevich ordered as follows: “My children do not give their bailiffs and do not judge them against the collectors and customs officers of Gorodets: my princess judges them, their collectors and customs officers.”

The clergy, in the name of religion, supported all these relations between sons and mothers, as they were determined in the spiritual wills of the princes. Metropolitan Jonah wrote to the princes who took away from their mother the volosts that belonged to her according to the will of their father: “Children! Your mother beat me with her forehead at you, and my daughter complains about you that you took away from her the volosts that your father gave her in the oprichnina, so that she would have something to live on, and gave you special destinies. And it is you, children, who are doing a godless deed, to your spiritual death, both here and in the next century ... I bless you so that you finish off your mother with your forehead, ask for forgiveness from her, give her the usual honor, obey her in to everyone, and not offended, let her know her own, and you yours, with the blessing of your father. Write to us how you and your mother manage: and we will pray to God for you according to our hierarchal duty and according to your pure repentance. If you again begin to anger and insult your mother, then there is nothing to do, myself, fearing God and in my hierarchal duty, I will send for my son, for your master, and for many other priests, but having looked with them into the divine rules, having talked and having judged, we will lay on you the spiritual burden of the church, our own and other priests’ unblessing.

2 The position of women in the family

However, the despotic orders, which became widespread in ancient Russian society, did not bypass the family. The head of the family, the husband, was a serf in relation to the sovereign, but a sovereign in his own house. All households, in the truest sense of the word, were in his complete subordination. First of all, this applied to the female half of the house. It is believed that in ancient Russia, before marriage, a girl from a well-born family, as a rule, did not have the right to go beyond the parental estate. Her parents were looking for a husband, and she usually did not see him before the wedding.

The duties of the husband and father included "instructing" the household, which consisted in systematic beatings, to which the children and wife were to be subjected. It was believed that a man who does not beat his wife "does not care about his soul," and will be "ruined." Only in the XVI century. society tried to somehow protect the woman, to limit the arbitrariness of her husband. So, "Domostroy" advised to beat his wife "not in front of people, to teach alone" and "do not get angry at all" at the same time. It was recommended “for any fault” (because of trifles) “don’t beat by vision, don’t beat with a fist, kick, or beat with a staff, don’t beat with any iron or wooden one.”

Such "restrictions" had to be introduced, at least as a recommendation, since in everyday life, apparently, husbands were not particularly shy about means when "explanating" with their wives. It was not for nothing that it was immediately explained that those who “beat like that from the heart or from the torment, have many parables from this: blindness and deafness, and the arm and leg will dislocate and the finger, and headache, and toothache, and pregnant wives (meaning they were beaten too!) and the child is injured in the womb.

In general, the wife had all the responsibility for housekeeping, for raising young children. Teenage boys were then transferred for training and education to "uncles" (in the early period, indeed, uncles on the maternal side - uyam, who were considered the closest male relatives, since the problem of establishing paternity, apparently, could not always be solved).

3 Marriage

There were several forms of "matchmaking" preceding marriage in Ancient Russia.

This and archaic forms of marriage such as "kidnapping", but in pure form this did not last long - and later it was done with the agreement of the parties. Another form of marriage is “casting marriage” with contractual elements - here a little bit depended on the decision of the woman - basically it was decided by relatives and parents. The question is raised whether there was a “purchase of wives” in Ancient Russia, or whether it was rather interpreted as a ransom for the bride or her dowry.

Elements of the traditional ritual of strengthening family ties have been transformed over several centuries into pre-wedding and wedding ceremonies, typical of a wedding marriage consecrated by the church. Legalizing wedding marriage, the church acted as a regulator in solving matrimonial affairs: church laws established certain penalties for forced or untimely marriage, for moral insult caused by the possible refusal of the groom from the bride, or for non-compliance with other conditions necessary for marriage, which in ultimately served the interests of women. The legalization by various sources of various reasons for divorce, the right to which women of different classes had, also testifies to the rather high legal status of women of that time. However, it was the Christian Church that sought to establish the line of behavior of a woman in humility and subordination, and therefore she did not prevent the “inclusion” of elements of the “civilian” type in the sacred sacrament. marriage contracts.

To enter into a wedding marriage in Russia, many conditions were required. One of them was marriageable age: 13-14 years old. True, it was often not respected: Princess Verkhuslav Vsevolodovna, when she was given in marriage, “was younger than eight. years ... "Ivan III Vasilyevich, through the efforts of the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich, was, in the language of" The Words of Igor's Campaign, "entangled in a red maiden" even earlier - five years. However, such cases were rare, such marriages pursued political goals, and the bride and groom were given after the wedding into the hands of breadwinners.

An obstacle to marriage was class and social differences: a peasant woman or a serf in best case was considered a "lesser", that is, a second wife, a concubine, with whom the feudal lord "appeared through the law", that is, he united contrary to church regulations. Ordinary people did not know polygamy, this phenomenon, not becoming ubiquitous and dominant in Russia, nevertheless embraced some of the upper strata of the ruling class. Among the princes who had second wives, and with them secondary families, are Svyatoslav Igorevich, his son, Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, about whom the Tale of Bygone Years says that he was “defeated by lust” and had children from five wives and countless concubines . Concubines and "slave children", adopted from the feudal lord, often received the status of free people after the death of their master - this fact was legally enshrined in Russkaya Pravda, a legal document of the 12th century.

Often there were situations when a free man (and even a representative of a privileged class), who fell in love with a dependent woman, was forced to either give up his claims to her (because concubinage was strictly persecuted by the church), or lost his high social status, agreeing to become a serf in the name of marriage or dead.
Undoubtedly, the conclusion of marriage between dependent people was carried out with the permission of their masters, feudal lords. However, it is noteworthy that, despite many restrictions and barbaric customs, the old Russian slave-owners did not use the right of the “wedding night” of the feudal lord in relation to the newlywed of their servants, their servants. This vestige of group marriage was replaced by monetary compensation by Princess Olga. So, in an excerpt from the chronicle cited by V.N. Tatishchev, under the year 945 it is written: “Olga laid to take a black kun from the groom”, that is, instead of the bride, the groom in Ancient Russia brought a gift to the feudal lord - sable fur (“black kun”) or just money. It was forbidden to marry people of other faiths, as well as with persons close not only by blood, but also by property (you can’t marry your husband’s brother, you can’t marry the sister of a deceased wife, etc.).

The preservation of innocence before marriage was not considered in the law as a condition for its conclusion. Church law required the preservation of virginity only from future wives of representatives of the clergy; from “worldly” people, he prescribed only the collection of a monetary penalty, “if she got married unclean.” After all, the main goal of the churchmen was to marry and marry, affirming the church form of marriage instead of abductions at "games." “And which girls have ripened and you let them marry, otherwise you wouldn’t do dashing deeds. Without a wedding, marriage is lawless, it is both unblessed and unclean,” taught the “Rules on Church Dispensation,” which were in circulation in Russia as a guide for priests in the 13th century. But marriage in Ancient Russia with its inherent elements of conspiracy, the conclusion of a “row” was a kind of ordinary secular transaction, losing, despite all the attempts of churchmen, elements of a sacramental (mysterious) rite.
A description of a wedding in medieval Russia, that is, a set of rites that accompanied marriage in the 11th-15th centuries, can be found both in Russian sources and in the notes of foreigners who visited Russia at that time. The significance and importance for a noble marriage is not only wealth (merchants could also be rich), but also “bornness”, nobility, family support in the case of marriage with “equals” (according to social status) was expressed with harsh frankness by the most educated woman of her time, Princess Maria Cantemir, the spiritual mentor of her younger brother Matvey and the sister of the poet Antioch Cantemir. She practically advised the pupil to marry a woman "old and even poor", but with connections in order to "always have a patron." This is how G. R. Derzhavin managed to marry: the first marriage with E. Bastidonova, whom he called Milena, did not bring him a rich dowry, but provided him with influential acquaintances through his mother-in-law, the nurse of the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich. Grandfather S. T. Aksakov married a “poor girl”, but “from an old noble family”, as he “placed his seven-hundred-year-old nobility above all wealth and ranks.” However, it is difficult to judge what the women who agreed to marry (or, more precisely, who were given in marriage), taking into account the information about the nobility of the applicants, thought: this was almost not reflected in the "women's" memoirs.

Peasant girls also, as a rule, were given in marriage to suitors from families of equal wealth and status. They married the poor out of hopelessness, realizing that the neighbors would not envy this (“Take it out of servility - they will make fun of it”), but a misalliance with a rich bride was fraught with the danger of future disagreements (“Take a noble - will not be able to stick to work”, “Rich take - will reproach"). The demand for marriage on an “equal” level was reflected in many sayings, proverbs and sayings, reduced to apt observation: “Equal customs - strong love.”

At the same time, among the conditions for concluding marriage, a lot of new things appeared in the 18th century. This "new" in many respects crossed out the efforts of the clergy to represent the combination of marital ties as a divine providence, and the sacrament of the wedding itself, subject to various and very numerous requirements, acquired the character of a farce. It is no coincidence that many decrees of the emperor-reformer were protested by the church (and from the 30s they were partially canceled).

From the 10s. 18th century everyone entering into marriage - both "male and female" - was required by law to receive a little bit of education: "You cannot want to be the parents of children and at the same time not know what they should be instructed in." Hence the requirement to know the mandatory “church minimum” for parishioners and parishioners: the most important prayers (“I believe in one”, “Our Father”, “Virgin Mother of God”) and the Ten Commandments. According to the decree of 1722, it was forbidden to marry girls "for fools - that is, those who are neither in science nor in the service are not suitable." In addition, in a special addendum to the decree, Peter ordered: those illiterate noblewomen who cannot sign their surnames “should not be allowed to marry.”

4 About premarital relationships

In medieval society, "depression of the flesh" was of particular value. Christianity directly connects the idea of the flesh with the idea of sin. The development of the "anti-corporeal" concept, already found in the apostles, follows the path of "devilization" of the body as a repository of vices, a source of sin. The doctrine of original sin, which actually consisted of pride, over time acquired an increasingly distinct anti-sexual orientation.

In parallel with this, in the official religious settings, there was an all-round exaltation of virginity. However, the preservation of a girl's "purity" before marriage, apparently, was initially valued only by the elite of society. Among the "simple" ones, according to numerous sources, premarital sexual relations in Russia were viewed condescendingly. In particular, until the XVII century. society was quite tolerant of girls visiting spring-summer "games" that provided the opportunity for premarital and extramarital sexual contacts:

“When this very holiday comes, not all the city will be taken up in tambourines and in snot ... And with all sorts of incomparable games of Sotonin splashing and splashing. For wives and girls - the head is pumping and their lips are hostile to the cry, all-bad songs, their wobbling with a grunt, their feet are jumping and trampling. Here there is a great fall for a man and a boy, nor a woman’s and girl’s staggering. Likewise for husbandly wives, lawless defilement is right there ... "

Naturally, the participation of girls in such "games" led - and, apparently, often - to the "corruption of virginity." Nevertheless, even according to church laws, this could not serve as an obstacle to marriage (the only exceptions were marriages with representatives of the princely family and priests). In the village, premarital sexual contacts of both boys and girls were considered almost the norm.

Experts note that the ancient Russian society recognized the right of a girl to freely choose a sexual partner. This is evidenced not only by the long-term preservation in Christian Russia of the custom of concluding a marriage by "withdrawal", by kidnapping the bride with a prior agreement with her. Church law even provided for the responsibility of parents who forbade a girl to marry at her choice, if she "what to do with herself." Indirectly, the rather severe punishments of rapists testify to the right of free sexual choice of girls. "The one who corrupted the girl by force" was supposed to marry her. In case of refusal, the culprit was excommunicated from the church or punished with a four-year fast. Perhaps it is even more curious that twice as much punishment awaited in the 15th-16th centuries. those who persuaded the girl to intimacy "cunning", promising to marry her: the deceiver was threatened with a nine-year penance (religious punishment). Finally, the church ordered to continue to consider the raped girl (though, provided that she resisted the rapist and screamed, but there was no one who could come to the rescue). A slave raped by her master received complete freedom along with her children.

The basis of the new, Christian, sexual morality was the rejection of pleasures and bodily joys. The biggest victim of the new ethics was marriage, although perceived as a lesser evil than debauchery, but still marked with the seal of sinfulness.

In ancient Russia, the only meaning and justification of sexual life was seen in procreation. All forms of sexuality that pursued other goals not related to childbearing were considered not only immoral, but also unnatural. In the "Question of Kirikov" (XII century) they were evaluated "like a sin of Sodom". The attitude towards sexual abstinence and moderation was reinforced by religious and ethical arguments about the sinfulness and baseness of "carnal life." Christian morality condemned not only lust, but also individual love, since it allegedly interfered with the fulfillment of the duties of piety. One might get the impression that in such an atmosphere, sex and marriage were doomed to extinction. However, the gap between the prescriptions of the church and everyday life practice was very large. That is why ancient Russian sources pay special attention to questions of sex.

Bishop Nifont of Novgorod, to whom he addressed, despite his indignation at such violations, "Teach qi, speech, refrain from fasting from wives? You are a sin!" was forced to make concessions:

"If they cannot (refrain), but in the front week and in the last."

Apparently, even the clergyman understood that it was impossible to achieve unconditional fulfillment of such instructions.

The unmarried “on the Great Day (Easter), who kept a purely great fast,” were allowed to receive communion despite the fact that they “sometimes sinned.” True, it was first necessary to find out with whom they "sinned." It was believed that fornication with a "man's wife" is a greater evil than with an unmarried woman. The possibility of forgiveness for such transgressions was envisaged. At the same time, the norms of behavior for men were softer than for women. The offender most often faced only the appropriate suggestion, while rather severe punishments were imposed on the woman. Sexual taboos set for women might not apply to the stronger sex at all.

Spouses were also ordered to avoid cohabitation on Sundays, as well as on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, before communion and immediately after it, since "in these days a spiritual sacrifice is offered to the Lord." Let us also recall that parents were forbidden to conceive a child on Sunday, Saturday and Friday. For violation of this prohibition, parents were entitled to penance "two years". Such prohibitions were based on apocryphal literature (in particular, on the so-called "Commandment of the Holy Fathers" and "Thin Nomocanunians"), so many priests did not consider them binding.

Interestingly, the woman was presented as a greater evil than the devil, since the natural carnal attraction and the erotic dreams associated with it were declared unclean and unworthy of the priesthood (or a person in general), while the same dreams, caused by the alleged devilish influence, deserved forgiveness.

Chapter 3

3.1 The image of a woman in Russian literature, painting, philosophy

Metaphorization of the characteristics of the image of a woman in Russian culture is extremely common. This is explained by the fact that metaphorization provides for the description, characteristics of the inseparability of the image and meaning.

Already in folklore, we see excellent examples of the use of metaphors to characterize women - among the Russian people, a woman is both a “birch tree”, and an “indescribable beauty”, a yearning cuckoo (Yaroslavna's lament in The Tale of Igor's Campaign), and, perhaps, the most famous Russian metaphor to characterize a woman - a swan.

By the way, these popular views on a woman are also in the poetry of A.S. Pushkin - let's recall the "Tale of Tsar Saltan", where the princess

... majestic,

Acts like a pava

And as the speech says -

Like a river murmurs.

Recall that the peahen is a peacock, and the princess herself appears in the form of a swan.

Pushkin has a huge set of various metaphors for characterizing a woman - more precisely, the most diverse female images that he has ever encountered.

Vivid examples are given to us by the poetry of N. A. Nekrasov. That's who shone a lot of immortal lines on the Russian woman. Metaphorization serves Nekrasov to describe the character of a woman, her inner world, characterizes her as a person with all her features.

Speaking about the difficult fate of a Russian woman, Nekrasov in the poem "Mother", characterizing the state of mind of the heroine, calls her a martyr.

Few Russian writers and poets wrote about a woman like Nekrasov. Perhaps the bitter fate of a Russian woman is one of the main themes in his work. “He will stop a galloping horse, enter a burning hut” - these lines have long become winged. Therefore, Nekrasov most often used metaphors to characterize his heroines, emphasizing the severity of their fate.

The ideal of a Russian woman was presented for many, many years and even centuries according to the canons formulated in Domostroy: devoted to her husband, selflessly caring for "her children", a homely mistress, a dumb performer of "husbands' will". “A kind, hardworking, silent wife is the crown of her husband,” says one of his postulates. The Russian beauty of the 18th century is full of health, distinguished by corpulence. It seemed to people of that time that if she is rich in body, then, as a result, she is rich in soul. With the approach of the era of romanticism, the fashion for health ends, pallor, melancholy is a sign of the depth of feelings (a similar ideal of spirituality will also be characteristic of aristocrats of the early 20th century). From your point of view. Rozanov, as already noted, the “prettyness” of Russian women, those “who are remembered”, combines both external and internal qualities: “small growth, but rounded, the body is delicate, not angular, the mind is penetratingly sweet, kind and gentle soul.

Particularly clear idea of the ideal female beauty(in different periods of development of Russian culture and different creative imagination) is found in the visual arts. “The wife is not a slave to you, but a comrade, an assistant in everything,” Vasily Tatishchev formulated in his will to his son the attitude towards a woman of the 18th century. Consonant with this formula are the views of the "Scientific Squad", which in their educational activities, developing new ideas, constantly refuted the notion of a woman as the bearer of sin, all sorts of vices and temptations. From the pulpit Feofan Prokopovich praised the love of the heart and condemned feigned love. Lyrical poems by Antioch Kantemir and M.M. Kheraskov were devoted to the same theme.

It was at this time that for the first time in the fine arts, the artist A. Matveev, in his “Self-portrait with his wife”, clearly recreated the idea of a woman as an equal person to a man, which generally corresponded to the spirit of the enlightenment ideas of the 18th century. The work presents the image of a woman, endowed with nobility, external and internal attractiveness. “... As for the person of the spouse, the main circumstances are the beauty of the face, age and cheerfulness in the company, which bring great praise to wives; the circumstance of wealth, which seduces many ... but do not look for wealth, look for the main thing ... The main thing in a wife is a good condition, mind and health. According to the combination in your position, there is love and fidelity for your wife, ”wrote V.N. Tatishchev, historian, statesman, active supporter of the Petrine reforms in the book“ Spiritual to my son. It is this, the “most important”, that was reflected in the work of the Russian painter A. Matveev.

In the works of F.S. Rokotov, female images are presented, endowed with a mysterious look, a light mysterious smile, poetry of inner life, spirituality and hidden feelings. Rokotov's women with "almond-shaped" eyes, in which "half-smile, half-cry", "half-delight, half-fright" reflect the "souls of changeable signs", the complexity of the spiritual world of his contemporaries of the late 18th century. Portraits of Smolensk women, pupils of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens (the first educational institution in Russia for women), painted by the artist D.G. this complex enlightened age. The talented artist and surprisingly charming person V.L. Borovikovsky, distinguished by his gentle nature, ready to help at any moment, in a variety of female portraits created by him, including in one of his unsurpassed masterpieces “Portrait of M.I. in his work, representations of the time (early 19th century) about female charm, the “sublime sensitivity” of the soul, which is primarily associated with sentimentalism. His canvases depict dreamy and languid girls against the backdrop of “natural” parks, where even cornflowers and rye ears grow next to drooping lilac roses, asserting a new ideal. tender heart, sublime humanity and nobility.

Yu.M. Lotman identifies three stereotypes of female images in Russian literature, which are included in girlish ideals and real female biographies [see. Annex 1.].

The first (traditional) is the image of a tenderly loving woman, whose life of feelings is broken, the second is a demonic character, boldly destroying all the conventions of the world created by men, the third typical literary and everyday image is a female heroine. A characteristic feature is the involvement in the situation of opposing the heroism of a woman and the spiritual weakness of a man.

So the first type, TRADITIONAL, is treated gently loving women who are capable of self-sacrifice for the sake of others, who “always have both a table and a house ready”, who sacredly keep the traditions of the past. In the concept of "traditional" we include not the traditional, mediocre, ordinariness of women of this type, but the usual approach to defining a woman in general: compassion, the ability to sympathize, empathize, self-sacrifice. It seems to us that, first of all, this type can be attributed to the “woman-hostess”, as well as “cross sisters” (according to Remizov’s definition - “sacrifice in the name of another”) and “humble women”.

The next type is the WOMAN HEROINE. This, as a rule, is a woman who constantly overcomes any difficulties, obstacles. Close to this type is a female warrior, an indefatigable activist, for whom the main form of activity is social work. Homework, family for her is far from the main thing in life. To this type we also include Sovietized women, Russofeminists, feminists of the Western type, according to the terminology of K. Noonan. We also included in this type “hot hearts” (the term was first used by A.N. Ostrovsky) and the so-called “Pythagoras in skirts”, “learned ladies”.

The third type of women, it seems to us, is the most diverse and heterogeneous and to some extent polar, truly combining both “Madonna” and “Sodom” principles - DEMONIC (Yu. Lotman’s term), “boldly violating all the conventions created by men ". Here, in our opinion, one can also include a woman-muse, a woman-prize, as well as eskeptists (Noonan's term). In our opinion, women with a "demonic character", the so-called "femme fatales", are also of interest. This "literary and everyday image" is the least studied in the scientific literature in comparison with the type of female heroine (at least in the domestic one), except for individual magazine and newspaper variants.

In this type of women, in turn, other subtypes can be found, considering the stereotypes of female images of a later period, in comparison with those that Lotman explores. These are, according to the terminology of the Russian classics, “shameless” and “skippers” (we read about “shameless” in A. Remizov; “skippers” are well known from the famous fable of I.A. Krylov and the story of the same name by A.P. Chekhov).

In Russian philosophy and in Russian literature one can hardly find a definite ideal of a woman. The judgments are extremely contradictory, built on antinomies, which is quite natural, as the authors of these judgments are far from similar and by no means the same (what the ideologists of the Soviet and long post-Soviet period tried to overcome in any way).

Emphasizing the idea that the most different types female images, female faces can be found both in life and in literature, S.I. Kaidash notes: “Looking into the past, we see a Russian woman not only bent over a cradle - we have before us warriors, interlocutors, revolutionaries, creators and guardians of noble morality accumulated in themselves the moral energy of society.

Naturally, with the passage and change of time, value orientations cannot maintain their stability. In the course of the social reorganization of society, stereotypes and orientations of female behavior undergo changes, and assessments of reality and perception of the environment are also transformed, which leads to the evolution of the woman herself.

It is clear that the Russian woman, if we proceed from the trace that her image left in Russian culture, is many-sided and diverse, incomprehensible and unique. Each of the writers saw her in his own way, and each used various metaphors to emphasize the characteristic features of the image that he wanted to show.

As a result, the Russian woman appears before us both as a swan, and as a Muse, and as a “living fire of snow and wine”, and as a “child”, and as a “fleeting vision”, and as a “black-browed savage woman”, and as a “genius pure beauty”, and as a “darling soul”, and “lily”, and “weeping willow”, and “decrepit dove”, and “Russian princess”…

However, if you continue, the list will be almost endless. The main thing is clear: the metaphorization of the characteristics of a woman in Russian culture serves to most vividly and figuratively show and emphasize certain features of various female images.

3.2 The image of a Christian woman in Russian culture

Each culture develops its own idea of what a person should be - a man and a woman. In Russian culture, a Christian anthropological ideal is set, in which a person is the image and likeness of God. Both a man and a woman have in themselves priceless gifts that only need to be realized in personal experience and actions. In "Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church” states that “man and woman are two different ways of existing in one humanity.”

The special purpose of a woman is emphasized, which consists “not in a simple imitation of a man and not in competition with him, but in the development of all the abilities given to her by the Lord, including those inherent only in her nature.

According to F. Dostoevsky, despite the unattractive, "animal" image of the Russian people, in the depths of his soul he wears another image - the image of Christ. “And, perhaps, the most important pre-chosen destination of the Russian people in the fate of all mankind consists only in preserving this image in itself, and when the time comes, to reveal this image to a world that has lost its ways.”

A woman also has certain traits in herself, an inner hidden power that allows us to talk about her messianic destiny. Moreover, it is more correct to start the chain "Russia - the people - a woman" with a woman, because she is assigned a special mission in the spiritual revival of both the man and the people, and Russia, and the whole world as a whole "... a woman will take place in spiritual motherhood, power, then she, being essentially a new creation, gives birth to God in destroyed souls."

At the heart of such a women's ministry is the Christian faith, and the expression of the feminine ideal is the Virgin Mary - the first Christian woman who became "the holy Crown of all women of the world in the history of people and their Image to follow. What She did with her humility, patience and love for the salvation of the human race is beyond the power of any husband in history, but any woman can do it in her own way and at her level. The Mother of God transformed the image of the Old Testament Eve, whose name means Life and whose purpose is physical motherhood, and through the birth of the Savior, she presented a new image of a woman capable of "giving birth to Christ in our souls."

“The Blessed Virgin is the first; She goes ahead of mankind, and everyone follows her. She gives birth to the Way and is right direction and pillar of fire leading to the New Jerusalem.

Motherhood is sanctified in Her face and the importance of the feminine principle is affirmed. With the participation of the Mother of God, the mystery of the Incarnation is accomplished; thus She becomes involved in the salvation and rebirth of mankind.

The image of the Mother of God became a model for a Russian Christian woman, whose behavior and life combined all the virtues of the Virgin Mary: chastity, piety, purity, meekness, humility. The Mother of God, with her life, gave an example of a special combination of Virginity and Motherhood, being the Ever-Virgin and Mother of God at the same time. For many Russian women who accepted this ideal, it was characteristic to combine chastity in marriage, which was reflected in the image of a pious wife, with motherhood and many children. Often, by mutual agreement, the spouses took the veil in the monastery, or lived as a brother and sister; after the death of her husband, a woman most often became a nun, completing her journey from wife to Christ's bride. The image of a Christian woman was formed through spiritual education, Christian books, instructions, and was revealed directly in the face of a virgin, wife, mother, nun, saint - that is, in all aspects women's life, paths and ministries. With the adoption of Christianity, the family and the role of women in it acquires special significance. The family became a union of two God-blessed people, a small church, similar to the Church of God. In Domostroy, a decree was given to the husband so that he “did not only try for himself before God,” but also “brought everyone who lived with him into eternal life.” The man was responsible before God for his family, his household members, and his role was evaluated as the role of the elder, the guardian of his wife and children. The world of a man and the world of a woman were correlated as great and small, but small does not mean worse or less valuable, but, on the contrary, in it, as in a small center, the main life functions were concentrated: birth, upbringing, maintenance of the house and economy. But, perhaps, the most important value of marriage has become a new understanding of love as love, first of all, spiritual, chaste. The moral principle of marriage becomes "holy love, self-giving to self-sacrifice, veneration of one's neighbor as an icon (the image of God), and most of all - a husband, one's betrothed."

A religious and aesthetic canon of a righteous, faithful wife is being formed, for whom a pious life according to the Christian faith was characteristic. The chastity of marriage is the main feature of female righteousness, where the main thing was “unconditional obedience to the will of God and unrequited meek obedience to her husband (the highest virtue of the spouse), which was conceivable only because the female soul humbled herself before the secret of life and accepted her fate, happy or unhappy, - as a kind of lot from above bestowed on her.

Love and fidelity were kept to the end by many Russian wives, who embodied on earth the image of a heavenly marriage: Prince. Olga, wife of Prince Igor, Prince Ingigerda-Irina (Anna Novgorodskaya), wife of Yaroslav the Wise, Prince. Anna Kashinskaya, wife of Mikhail Yaroslavovich, St. Fevronia, wife of Prince Peter, Prince Evdokia, wife led. book. Dmitry Donskoy and others, many of whom later began to be glorified as saints. Another feature of female righteousness was the inconsolability of widowhood, a special widow's rank. Monasticism, which eventually became the natural end of monogamy, made it possible to adequately bear the difficult path of a widow. Examples here are the widow of Yaroslav the Wise, in tonsure Anna, the Widow of Timothy, Prince. Pskov schema nun Maria, Prince. Anna in tonsure Anastasia, widow of Theodore Chorny, Prince. Yaroslavsky. The feat of a pious wife and widow gave "new and various forms women's asceticism: religious populism, Old Believer confessionism, church-educational and charitable service, wandering, eldership. Along with the conjugal and widowed feat, there was also the feat of virginity - going to the monastery. A vivid example of such a monastic path is the Monk Euphrosyne of Polotsk, who “leaving the glory of the temporal and earthly betrothed and despising all worldly things, she disgraced herself to the reddest Christ above all.” Motherhood and the upbringing of children was also one of the feats of a woman, who now had the important responsibility of educating "new citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven." True motherhood is “the beginning of that life-giving light, that caress and warmth that give beauty and joy to human life, teaches the knowledge of God and His holy will.”

The special significance and veneration of the word in Christianity assigned to the woman the task of teaching the child the Word of God, moral laws, language in general. Therefore, the virtue of a woman was considered taciturnity, a wise word, the degree of speech. Any language is built on hierarchical principles, which correspond to 3 levels: high - the language of prayer and spiritual poetry, medium, reflecting the "spiritual state of society raised above the ground", and low, which is represented by everyday speech. Despite the illiteracy of most women, this did not prevent them from actively using all three levels of the language. Everyday language - “the language of a child”, full of tenderness and love for their children, a word addressed to a husband, loved ones - was supplemented with songs, special female folklore, reflecting all spheres of life, accompanying both in joy and in sorrow, and was crowned with the highest word of prayer, “which does not stop before any life test, before “evil spirits”, before death itself.”

In the endless prayer for relatives, friends and children, the woman saw her calling. The power of such a prayer found expression in the proverb "mother's prayer will reach from the bottom of the sea." The upbringing of the girl was given special importance. From childhood, she was prepared for married life, for work, teaching her various needlework, raised in the spirit of chastity, and taught piety. Throughout the history of Russian culture, there have been various "institutions" of education. "Domostroy", with a special charter of life; governesses and teachers; gymnasiums and the "Institute for Noble Maidens", the purpose of which was to educate "a new breed of people"; moral books, often foreign. Girls were taught good manners, foreign languages, refined taste, etiquette, but the most important thing was that they continued to be taught the Law of God, faith and fidelity, chastity and love for one's neighbor, which was more important than all other knowledge. Examples of the Christian life of Russian women helped during the period of secularization, when "the ideal of the spiritual beauty of Christian femininity was replaced by the aesthetics of secular education, salon culture, fashion and grace."

Despite the fact that the ideal of a new Europeanized woman “suffering from emancipation” is being born, the image of a Christian woman remains unshakable, giving birth to more and more new models, embodied both in literature and in concrete life. Pushkin's Tatyana, Turgenev's, Chekhov's heroines can serve as an example here. One of the brightest and most tragic images was the royal martyrs - Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, Empress Alexandra, whose deeds of mercy, humility, faith were and remain a model for the life of a Christian woman.

Conclusion

Based on the study of literary sources, legal acts, articles in periodicals and the Internet, the paper proposes the main characteristics of the position of women in Russia in the 9th - 15th centuries. The results of the study made it possible to formulate and substantiate the following provisions:

In Slavic society, by the beginning of the period under review, the position of women was high, and by the time the first legislative acts appeared, traces of matriarchy remained, which, due to socio-economic changes, with the separation of privileged classes and the negative influence of the Tatar-Mongol conquerors, were replaced by a patriarchal system of law.

The Christian Church had a significant influence on the position of women in the period under review, although it cannot be unambiguously assessed. Externally, the actions of the church were aimed at the exaltation of women and in many ways contribute to this, since the church carried out a fight against the remnants of paganism that humiliated a woman, such as polygamy, concubinage, marriage in the form of theft and buying a bride. At the same time, the church tried to drive every individual, both men and women, into certain social limits, subjecting the woman to the power of her husband and obliging the husband to take care of his wife and protect her. In this regard, we can conclude that the woman lost more than gained from the adoption of Christianity in Russia, because the church, depriving a woman of the opportunity to fulfill herself in public and political life, ultimately did not provide her with ways to independently protect her rights from men , under whose authority the church gave her, and the clergy could not protect the interests of women due to the fact that the privileged strata had significant power and did not want to give up full rights to a woman, and sometimes not to one, but the subordinate strata of society for a long time did not recognized the significance of the sacraments of the Church, and to a greater extent adhered to pagan traditions.

The property legal capacity of women was very significant in comparison with the legal capacity of their contemporaries in Western European states, but it cannot be considered equal to the legal capacity of a man, since a woman in a family was under the authority of her father or husband, and men could nullify all the advantages provided for by their power. Old Russian Women in Legislation. In cases where a woman was not under the authority of a man, for example, when she was a widow, she had practically the same property rights as men.

When considering the relationship between a woman and her children in an Old Russian family, it can be argued that a mother was highly respected in Old Russian society and her personal and property rights in relation to children were not limited either at the time of her marriage or after the death of her husband, except case of remarriage.

In general, analyzing the legal acts of Ancient Russia from the 9th to the 15th century, the legal status of a woman can be assessed as equal to that of a man, but taking into account law enforcement practice, it should be concluded that a woman occupied a more inferior position. This was primarily due to the fact that the ancient Russian state, while granting women rights in the personal, property and procedural spheres, did not develop mechanisms for protecting these rights and left it at the mercy of men. Only in the case when a woman got out of the power of men, her family, a woman could take a leading position in society, and this gave her the opportunity to fully enjoy the rights granted by the state and realize herself as a full-fledged person.

Bibliography

Baidin V. Woman in Ancient Russia // Russian Woman and Orthodoxy. - St. Petersburg, 1997

Balakina Y. History of State and Law - 2000 No. 1- <#"justify">Annex 1

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