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The Moscow uprising of 1648 (
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
: Соляной бунт, Московское восстание 1648), sometimes known as the salt riot, started because of the government's replacement of different
taxes A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
with a universal salt tax for the purpose of replenishing the state treasury after the
Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (), also known as Smuta (), was a period of political crisis in Tsardom of Russia, Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I, the last of the Rurikids, House of Rurik, and ended in 1613 wit ...
. This drove up the price of
salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
, leading to violent riots in the streets of
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. The riot was an early challenge to the reign of Alexei I, eventually resulting in the exile of Alexei's advisor Boris Morozov.


Background

The taxes fell mostly onto
artisans An artisan (from , ) is a skilled worker, skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by handicraft, hand. These objects may be wikt:functional, functional or strictly beauty, decorative, for example furnit ...
and
serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...
who were unable to pay the increased price. Furthermore, many townsmen and
boyars A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including First Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russian nobility, Russia), Boyars of Moldavia and Wallach ...
developed ways to evade taxation, thus placing an even higher burden on those less able to cheat the system. This created resentment among the townspeople, expediting their desire for tax reform.Miller, David H. "Popular Protests and Urban Violence in 1648 Muscovy."
/ref> The addition of the salt tax, which increased the price of salt, hit hardest of all because salted
fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
was an important part of the Russian diet at the time. A second major complaint came from the poorer landed boyars who wanted to reclaim escaped serfs. Serfs fled their estates due to cruelty from their masters, but more frequently because of bad
soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
. In the Northern reaches of the kingdom, the ground stayed frozen for most of the year leading to weaker yields when compared to fields on Southern estates. Richer boyars enticed agriculturally minded peasants off of the small estates with the promise of better soil and stronger crops. Boyar livelihood and land holding status depended almost entirely on the productivity of their land. When laborers left, productivity invariably dropped, threatening the landed status of the boyar and leading to discontent among the elite. Up until the uprising, a statute of limitations constricted the amount of time boyars had to reclaim "lost souls." The lesser boyars wanted this policy rescinded so that they could reclaim serfs at any point, thus securing their landed status. The riot solidified serfdom in Russia by lifting the repatriation time limit, binding serfs to an estate with more permanence. Besides taxation, Muscovites were fed up with widespread corruption at the local scale. The worst offender was , the governor of Moscow. In their petition, the people claimed, "...that from him the taxpaying community suffered heavy taxes and they were groundlessly charged with all sorts of robberies and thefts of his, Levontii's, instruction."Kivelson, Valerie A. "The Devil Stole His Mind: The Tsar and the 1648 Moscow Uprising."
/ref> Among the
Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...
's advisors, Boris Morozov, the man who orchestrated the bureaucratization of the government, kindled outrage among the populace. Russians were strongly tied to tradition and feared they would lose their long-cherished personal connection to the Tsar. While the Tsar remained ever pure in the eyes of the people, popular opinion held that his advisors exercised an evil influence over him. As the rioters told Alexei I, Morozov and his cronies are turning "your Tsarist Majesty against the people, and the people against your Tsarist Majesty." They resented Morozov for usurping power from the divinely appointed Alexei and for changing the established system.


Start of riot

All these problems came to a head on 1 June 1648, upon Alexei I's return to Moscow from the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra monastery. A crowd of Muscovites surrounded the Tsar and complained about the boyars and
prikaz A prikaz (; , plural: ) was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive bureaucracy , office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Tsardom of Russia from the 15th ...
officials. Instead of hearing the petition, the royal bodyguards started dispersing the crowd, pushing them away from the Tsar. This unexpected reaction caused a major outbreak of anger among the people. On 2 June the insurgents burst into the Moscow
Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...
and demanded the surrender of Leontii Pleshcheyev (head of Zemsky Prikaz and Moscow police department),
Duma A duma () is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia ...
diak (salt tax initiator), boyar Boris Morozov (actual head of government) and his brother-in-law (head of Cannon Prikaz). Morozov commanded the
Streltsy The streltsy (, ; , ) were the units of Russian firearm infantry from the 16th century to the early 18th century and also a social stratum, from which personnel for streltsy troops were traditionally recruited. They are also collectively kno ...
(musketeers) to drive the rioters out of the Kremlin, but they refused. When not acting as the Tsar's bodyguards, the musketeers held artisanal jobs in Moscow. This conflict of interest led them to side with the plight of the townsmen, stating that they, "...did not want to stand in antagonistic relations with the crowd for the sake of the traitor and tyrant Pleshcheyev." The people would not hear the Tsar's heartfelt pleas to spare Pleshceyev and, on June 3, Alexei surrendered the official. In their fervor, the crowd did not wait for Pleshcheyev to be executed instead, "...they cuggeled him so black and blue and with axes they cut him asunder like a fish, the pieces they let lie naked here and there". The rebels set fire to the White City and Kitai-gorod. They burned between 15,000 and 24,000 houses; between 1700 and 2000 people died in the riot. The rioters split into two groups to target the most hated boyars, diaks,
okolnichy Okolnichy (, ) was an old Russian court official position. According to the ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'', directives on the position of ''okolnichy'' date back to the 14th century. Judging by the Muscovite records from the 16th a ...
s, and
merchants A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...
, killing Nazar Chistoy as he begged for mercy.Fuhrmann, Joseph T. Tsar Alexis, His Reign and His Russia. When rumors spread that Morozov's men had started the fires to antagonize the rioters, the boyar head hunt gained greater momentum.


Second phase of riot

On 6 June, after receiving a promised salary increase, the Streltsy withdrew from their active role in the riot. On June 11, Alexei managed to convince the people to allow Morozov to be exiled to the
Kirillo-Belozersky monastery Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery (), known in English as White Lake St. Cyril's Monastery, is a Russian Orthodox monastery in Kirillov, Russia. It used to be the largest monastery and the strongest fortress in Northern Russia. The monastery was co ...
. As the ashes settled, and half of Moscow lay in ruin, the riot gradually dissipated. Soon, however, the provincial nobility, big merchants, and top townsmen seized the initiative and came out with a petition demanding the convocation of the
zemsky sobor The ''Zemsky Sobor'' ( rus, зе́мский собо́р, p=ˈzʲemskʲɪj sɐˈbor, t=assembly of the land) was a parliament of the Tsardom of Russia's estates of the realm active during the 16th and 17th centuries. The assembly represented ...
, or Assembly of the Land, to discuss salary distribution, time limits for recovering escaped serfs, and other legalities. However, the Assembly lacked the voices of the serfs, leading to the institutionalism of serfdom instead of granting them concessions. Upon Morozov's removal, Alexei appointed a new boyar group led by and boyar Nikita Romanov. They began distributing money, lands and souls to the dvoryane and made a few concessions to the remaining rebels, including the postponement of collection of
arrears In finance, arrears (or arrearage) is a legal term for the part of a debt that is overdue after missing one or more required payments. The amount of the arrears is the amount accrued from the date on which the first missed payment was due. The t ...
on 12 June. The government's measures widened the split among the rebels, leading to the arrest and execution of many of the leaders of the uprising on July 3. On 22 October, Boris Morozov secretly returned to Moscow under Alexei's order, and resumed his position as the head of the Russian government, relieving Nikita Romanov of the post. Thus, the immediate outcomes of the riot reversed themselves, and the old order became solidified in an official legal code.


Aftermath

The uprising in Moscow sparked sporadic riots elsewhere in Russia. Most of these happened in southwestern fortress towns where the population consisted of runaway serfs and people of low birth. They enlisted into state service in order to better their lot within society and feared unfavorable reforms by the government. Changes in military organization and obligation could result in their social regression placing them back into
indentured servitude Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract called an " indenture", may be entered voluntarily for a prepaid lump sum, as payment for some good or s ...
. The most significant outcome of the riot was the Assembly of the Land. Through it, a legal code formed that would be used for centuries to come. Representatives of nearly all social levels codified many of the reforms Alexei's administration had been implementing since the beginning of his reign. Significantly, the Sobornoye Ulozheniye made escape virtually impossible for serfs. In order to spread the ratified laws through the country, Alexei had the first major
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
in Russia installed in Moscow.


See also

* Copper Riot * Moscow plague riot of 1771 * List of food riots


References

{{Portal bar, Russia, Society, History, Food 1640s crimes 17th-century riots Conflicts in 1648 1648 in Russia 17th-century rebellions Riots and civil disorder in Russia 17th century in Moscow Peasant revolts Food riots Salt tax Moscow rebellions Alexis of Russia History of salt