|
SLAVERY IN KIEVAN RUS Gregory W. Frux (Peotr Alexeivich Novgorodski) Maps: Dorling-Kindersley Atlas of World History /
1999
|
||||||||||||||||
|
It may come as a surprise that European history is filled with
slavery. Most of us know that classical The first A major Viking trade route ran through the heart of Russian
land. Commerce descended from the Baltic Sea, via They harry
the Slavs, using ships to reach them; the carry them off as captive and take
them to Hazaran and Bulghar [both on the It is estimated that at its height the Viking slave trade moved
3400 people a year along this route alone. (4) Click on
the map for better resolution These East Vikings warriors and traders soon intermixed with the
native Slavs to create the ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Varangians of Kievan Rus (reconstruction: Angus McBride / 1979) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When
Despite relatively meager evidence, it is reasonable to attempt a
reconstruction of conditions of slavery in Kievan Rus. (6) Some questions to address
are: Who was enslaved'? What were the conditions of slavery? What was the
place of the slave in society? How did the law look on the slave? Did
conditions change over time? Did people ever regain freedom? In this discussion we need to define "slavery"‑‑
Slaves are people held in permanent subjugation by means of violence or
threat of violence, up to and including death. They are, in addition, people
removed from all inherited and familial rights and any place of honor within
the slave holding Society. (7) SOURCES OF SLAVES The definition of slavery takes leads us to the discussion of
who was enslaved. Typically, slaves were foreigner or disenfranchised members
of the community. A scholar of slavery identifies eight maj or sources: [1]
Capture in warfare, [2] Kidnapping, [3] Tribute and tax, [4] Debt, [5]
Punishment for Crimes, [6] Abandonment and sale of children, [7] Self‑enslavement,
[8] Birth. (8) In It was also apparently common for the Russians to enslave
shipwrecked sailors, presumably foreigners. From the same treaty as above: "In
case the Ruses find a Greek ship cast ashore, they shall not harm it, and if any
person remove any object there from or enslave a member of the crew, or kill
him, he shall be amenable to both Russian and Greek law." (10) Very soon after the founding of Kievan Rus, we have evidence of
Russians enslaving Russians. During wars, enslavement was an alternative to
slaughtering a population. It mentioned at least twice in the "Primary
Chronicle". The first is the culmination of Princess Olga's
revenge (947 AD) Thus she
took the city and burned it, and captured the elders of the city. Some of the
captives she killed, while she gave others as slaves to her followers. (11) Eighty
years later, during a war between rival princes, Then the brethren
captured it, put the men to the sword, sold the women and children into
slavery. (12) Warfare shaded into raiding and kidnapping parties. War booty
included slaves. A successful war could mean a lowering of the price of
slaves in the market. Some of the most revealing lines of the period comes in
the epic "Song of Prince Igor" (1187 AD). The section
of note is part of a lament that a great prince was not present at a battle. If you
were here, a female slave would fetch one nogata and a male slave, one
rezana;... (13) [nogata
was twenty kopeks and a rezana fifty kopeks, both very small amounts] (13.5) Early Russian laws, Statutes of "Vladimir Monomach"
(c. 1120), disclose additional means of enslavement. One case refers to a
laborer who gets paid in advance and had to repay the loan and interest with
work. If an
indentured laborer runs away from his lord he becomes the latter's slave. But
if he departs openly, to sue for his money [and goes] to the prince, or to
the judge, to complain of the injustice on the part of his lord, they do not
reduce him to slavery but give him justice. (14) Punishment
for other crimes could result in enslavement. if an
indentured laborer steals [a horse] or some other [beast], his lord is responsible
for him. And when they find him, the lord first pays for the horse or
anything else he stole, and then [the indentured laborer] is his full slave.
(15) A contemporary Bulgarian lawbook that circulated in Kiev abound
1100, the "Zadon Sudnyi Liuden", provided that in the
case of the theft of a horse or weapon or for riding a horse without
permission the culprit should be beaten and then sold into slavery. (16) Russians, on occasion 'voluntarily' sold themselves into
slavery. The "Statute of Vladimir Monomach" set a
minimum price and procedures for this. If anyone
buys [a man] willing [to sell himself into slavery], for not less than half a
grivna, and produces witnesses and pays [the fee of 1 nogata] in the presence
of the slave himself. (17) 'Voluntary' slavery seems to have occurred during famines and
economic hardship when a rich lord might feed or take in the poor. A
following law from the same statue appears to make enslavement more
difficult. And the
recipient of a money grant is not a slave. And one cannot make a man a slave
because [he received] a grant‑in‑ad in grain..." (18) Other sections of this same statute stipulate that if a man
marries a female slave, he becomes a slave. Lastly, it also stipulates that
one becomes another's steward or housekeeper without a special agreement also
becomes a slave. In summary, we find that slaves in CONDITIONS Slavery, by definition, represents the extreme loss of human
rights. Underlying all slavery is the threat of death. Historically, conditions
of slaves varied from utmost brutality to extreme luxury, yet the underlying
threat remained. The earliest surviving accounts of Russians enslaved by the
Vikings are among the most brutal. An important and famous eyewitness description is from an Arab
diplomat on a mission to the Bulghars on the Ten or
twenty people, more or less, live in such a house. Every man has a shop where
he stays, together with the beautiful [slave] girls he has for sale.
Sometimes he has intercourse with one of his girls while the companions look
on. Often, several men can be seen in that position, each observing the act
of others. Sometimes a merchant comes to his shop to buy a girl only to find
him in the midst of intercourse. He does not leave her until he finishes his
affair. (19)
Further on in the same account is a funeral of a chief. A long passage
describes the selection and rituals surrounding the sacrifice of a slave
woman as part of the funeral. She was stripped, given intoxicating drinks,
had intercourse with several of the men, then laid alongside the chief, was
strangled and stabbed. Later Russian laws remained harsher to slaves than free persons.
The death penalty, at an early period, and corporal punishment at a later
time, were reserved only for slaves. And if a
slave strikes a freeman and hides in the house, and his lord will not
surrender him, the lord pays a 12 grivna [fine]; and then whenever and
wherever the injured man meets the offender, who struck him; [Prince]
Yaroslav ordered to [allow him] to kill the offender, but his sons, after
their father's death, ordered the matter to be settled with the alternative
of payment: either to bind the slave [to a post] and beat him, or to accept 1
grivna for the offense to his honor. (20) One can get a hint of the conditions, as well, from "The
Domstroi", a book on housekeeping during the time of Ivan the
Terrible. Written several hundred years after the period under discussion,
its severity may or may not reflect Mongol influence. Do not box
anyone's ears for any fault. Do not hit them about the eyes with your fist or
below the heart. Do not strike anyone with a stick or staff or beat anyone
with anything made of iron or wood. From such a beating, administered in
passion or anguish, many misfortunes can result: blindness or deafness,
dislocation of an arm, leg, or finger, head injury or injury to a tooth. With
pregnant women or children, damage to the stomach could result, so beat them
only with the lash, in a careful and controlled way, albeit painfully and
fearsomely. Do not endanger anyone's health; beat someone only for a grave
fault. (21) It is likely that during the Kievan period female slaves, would
have been sexually exploited. The Orthodox Church imposed relatively light
penance for fornication with a slave women, especially for a bachelor. (22)
The slave, as a person outside of society, could be viewed as socially acceptable
outlet for sexual desires. It is possible that the higher valuation of a
female slave in wergild at this time is a reflection of this. On the other
hand, society did afford some protection to female slaves, consistent with
Slavic and Orthodox notions of female honor. A Twelfth Century treaty between
Since Russians were enslaving one another, there was no racial
or ethnic component to slavery at this time. It is likely, and suggested by
period laws, that it was difficult to distinguish slave and freeman. About
the only reference to a distinguishing feature is a mention in a modern
costume book of short hair as a mark of servitude. WORK It is uncertain what work slaves did in Kievan Each
person should acquire additional slaves only after thinking about how he will
feed, cloth and maintain them so that they will live in peace of mind,
fearing God and knowing good governance. (24) Various employments of slaves are listed in the Pravda. Almost
all are connected with functions of a household (as opposed to agricultural
estate). These roles included tutor, wet‑nurse, caretaker of war‑horses,
steward, and housekeeper. The wet nurse and tutor were particularly valued
under these statues. These same laws also show us that slaves were carrying
out trade on behalf of their owners. The steward (perhaps equivalent of the
major‑domo or butler) was likely an elite slave. That is to say, he was
charged with overseeing other slaves and organizing household affairs. (25) SOCIETAL AND LEGAL STATUS Societies which held slaves all wrestled with the paradox of
people within their midst who were not fully recognized as human. This
paradox was reflected in the Russian Pravda. An important principal of
ancient Russian law was the wergild or blood fee. If a murder took place, a
large cash payment went to the victim's family and often a second fee to the
prince. This weirgeld was a substitute for revenge killing. How the Pravda
assigns weirgelds is revealing of social values in a most basic sense. From
Yaroslav's Pravda (26)
The later version (c 1120) increases the fines for killing
slaves and clarifies that it is not exactly a blood fee. And there is
no bloodwite (weirgeld) for either a male or female slave; but if a slave is
killed without any fault of his, [the killer] has to pay amends for the male,
as well as for the female, slave; and to the prince, 12 grivna fine. (27) The slave is neither a full, honored citizen on one hand, or on
the other a being without value. The significance that the 12 grivnas is a
fine, rather than a bloodwite, is that a bloodwite was payable to a person's
kin or community. Clearly the slave was denied those connections. Their
ambivalent place in Kievan Rus was best expressed in a law discussing return
of stolen slaves. If anyone
finds his stolen slave and apprehends him, he must, as in the case of other
property litigations, bring him along until the third confrontment;... And he
[the slave] is not a beast; [in this case] the buyer cannot say, "I do
not know from whom I bought him" [because the slave can talk]; and thus
by the slave's word on proceeds to the end... 28 Historians have made the case that the "Statutes of
Vladimir Monomach" was part of an attempt to limit slavery.
Of particular note is the article defining grounds for enslavement. We don't
have enough information to say for certain. Mentions of enslavement during
warfare are numerous in 10th Century accounts, then appear occasionally in
the 11th and 12th centuries. If enslavement during warfare continued, as it
seems to, then the border wars and unending feuds of the Russian princes
would have guaranteed a steady source of slaves. Was internal enslavement
curbed? There is scant evidence and I have found no documents, either secular
or religious, forbidding slavery nor even describing means of manumission. ESCAPE AND FREED0M Like slaves every where and every place, the hope for freedom
was never abandoned. Throughout period documents are numerous laws and
articles in treaties providing for the return of runaways. Of 29 articles in
Pravda referring to slaves, at least 10 refer to escapees. Running away must have been a common and serious problem for the
owners. The fine for aiding an escaped slave equaled the fine for killing a
slave. If a slave
runs away and his owner makes due announcement, and someone else, having
heard the announcement or knowing about it and understanding that the man is
a fugitive slave, gives him some bread or shows him the way [to escape], he
has to pay for the male slave 5 grivna and for the female slave 6 grivna.
(29) Desire for freedom and resistance to slavery is universal theme.
Again and again the Pravda record these acts. If a slave
steals another's horse [the owner has to pay] two grivna. (30) [If a
runaway slave obtains goods on credit] the owner takes back the slave, [and
assumes his debt] and also takes the goods. (31) If [a
slave] runs away and takes any neighbor's property or goods, his owner pays
the damages. (32) One wonders how status and wealth weighed against the vigilance
and aggravation of being a slave holder. How deep or universal the
institution was in Kiev Rus we do not know. Part of what remains is evidence
of the deep desire of people everywhere for freedom. --------------------------------------- (1) Patterson, Orlando Slavery and Social
Death (Harvard University Press 1982) page vii I am indebted to this book for
the overall structure and theory behind this essay. (2) Patterson, pages 156‑7 (3) Simpson, Jacqueline Everyday Life in the Viking Age
page 111 (4) Patterson page 157 (5) Dmytrshyn, Basil ed. Medieval Russia: A
Source Book 900 ‑ 1700 (Hinsdale, III: The Dryden Press 1973) page 28 "At
this barrage all put into land prow foremost, and those who are deputed to
keep watch with them get out, and off they go, these men, and keep vigilant
for the Pechnegs [Nomads]. The remainder taking up the goods which they have
on board conduct the slaves in their chains past by land, six miles..." (6) Something to keep in mind in the following discussion is
that often, especially in the laws, only exceptional cases are mentioned. It
may be that the typical situations were so well known that they weren't
written down. (7) Patterson, page 13 (8) Patterson, page 105 (9) Cross, Samuel & Hazard, Shenbowitz‑Wetzor trans.
The Primarv Chronicle (Cambridge, Ma: The Medieval Academy of America 1953) "If
any Ruses are found laboring as slaves in (10)
Cross, page 79 (11) Cross
(947) page 81 (12) Cross
(1067) page 145 (13)
Nabokov, Vladimi trans. The Song of Prince Igor (13.5)
Nabokov, Vladimi trans. The Song of Prince Igor notes504‑8, page 120 (14)
Vernadsky Medieval Russian Law, (New York: Octogon Books 1965) article 56 (15)
Vernadsky, article 64 (16) Hellie, Richard Slavery in (17)
Vernadsky, article 110 (18)
Vernadsky, article 111 (19)
Dmytryshyn,. page 14 (20)
Vernadsky, article 65 (21) Pouncey, Carolyn trans. The Domostroi (Ithaca: Cornell University
Press 1994) page 143‑4 (22) Levin, Eve Sex and Society in the World of the Orthodox
Slav (Ithaca:Comell University Press 1989) page 191‑3 (23) Hellie, Richard Slavery in (24)
Pouncey, page l23‑24 (25) This title is mentioned in the Pravda, Vernadski, article
110 and discussed in some detail in the period of The Domostroi, see Pouncey
pages 33‑4 (26)
Vernadsky Medieval Russian Law (27)
Vernadsky article 89 (28)
Vernadsky article 38 (29).
Vernadsky article 112 (3O)
Vernadsky article 63 (31)
Vernadsky article 117 (32)
Vernadsky article 118 Copyright
1999 by Gregory W. Frux Originally published at |
|
|||||||||||||||