Was there a "Decree on Lesson Years" and who is his true author?

There is a historical hypothesis that, in the darkness of serfdom, Tsar Feodor Ioannovich finally sank Russia , issuing a document called "The Decree on Lesson Years." He practically completely deprived the peasants of the right to emancipation, turning people into dumb slaves, a kind of analogous to working cattle. Nevertheless, the text of the "commandment" itself is lost, and information about its content is extremely sparse. The most plausible version of events historians argue for centuries.

The officially adopted concept

According to history textbooks, the "Decree on Lesson Years" was signed in 1597, on December 4, according to the Julian calendar. The emergence of this legal norm was caused by the critical situation created in the state. Before that, exactly one hundred years, the law was in effect, according to which, during the week before November 26 (St. George's Church holiday) and seven days after that date, each serf could withdraw from his status, declaring his desire and paying the owner a paying sum ("elderly ") Into the ruble by silver. The price was considerable for those times, but the peasants, striving for freedom, tried to accumulate it. This phenomenon took on a massive scale. Besides, often, having failed to raise money, some serfs simply fled. According to the officially adopted version, the "Decree on Lesson Years" forbade the peasants to leave the landlords. But this his reactionary nature was not limited. It was not enough to just run away from the disgraced master. The "Decree on Lesson Years" established a specific period of search, during which the master could return his servant - five years.

"Decree" version and its variants

The lack of documentary evidence for the historian is about the same as for a physicist-the discrepancy between the experimental results of his theoretical concept. There are two main versions of the description of the process of enslavement of the Russian peasantry. According to the first (called "ukaznoy"), it happened strictly in accordance with the legal norms of the sixteenth century. The "Decree on Lesson Years" was signed, and from that moment on ... But in this theory there are also ramifications. According to VN Tatishchev, this document existed since 1592, and its author was not Fedor Ioannovich, but Boris Godunov. Paper lost, and found and could not. But she was.

The considered "decree version" is certainly plausible, but suffers from a widespread vice that is characteristic of many historical theories. It is built entirely on logical messages, and nothing, except them, is backed up. There must be a decree, that's all. And where he is - this is another matter. Little did that happen with paper for more than four centuries to happen ...

And was there a decree?

The influence of the "Decree" on the change in public life in the country can be judged from the fact that the title of the document was not mentioned in the petitions of the landlords to return the "property" belonging to them. It would seem quite logical, demanding to find and deliver a fugitive servant, refer to the tsar's "Decree on Lessons of the Year." Is not it? After all, then the petition becomes not only a personal request, but a petition for observance of the law. But the landlords did not refer to the tsar's charter, preferring to dispense with more abstract language.

Here's to you, grandmother, and St. George's Day

At the present time, the only written document confirming the existence of the tsarist will materialized on paper is the letter of the Novgorod monks, in which they refer to a decree according to which "there is no way out" to the peasants and the bobyls. In this case, both the date and the author of the legislative act remain unknown. It is difficult to attribute his creation to Tsar Feodor unequivocally. First, in the years of his reign, the "gray regent" Godunov actually led the country, and it was he who could put forward this legislative initiative. Secondly, there are very real grounds for assuming that the document itself appeared five years earlier, and then it was destroyed (perhaps deliberately) by Borisovskaya himself (or at his disposal). Thirdly, it is quite possible that the "reserved decree" was adopted by Ivan Vasilyevich, but entered into legal force somewhat later. Despite all these versions, the fact remains: Yuryev's day was destroyed at the end of the XVI century, and the peasants lost the rights that they had previously possessed.