Debt and Bondage Records of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery as a Source for Studying Monastic Borrowers in the Middle of the Time of Troubles (1606–1609)

Abstract

Introduction. To study the peasantry of the 16th – the early 17th century in Russia we need information from all the territories of the state. There are unique documents in the archives of the Joseph-Volokolamsk monastery for the central part of the Russian state, which allow us to investigate the issue of monastic enslavement. This issue has not been studied enough regarding the early 17th century. Methods and materials. Such a source as a borrowed monastic bondage is poorly studied in historiography. In this regard the aim of the article is to study the position of monastery borrowers according to the form of debt records of the early 17th century. There are objectives: to identify the elements of the form of bondage records that reflect the position of the borrowers; to consider changes in the position of borrowers based on the debt book form evolution. The article uses the methods of formal and comparative analysis with respect to records in debt books of 7115 (1606/07), 7116 (1607/08), the bondage book of 1609, and borrowed bondages of 1609. Analysis. The records of money issuance debt books of 1606/07 and 1607/08 were compared with the information from the debt book of 1532-1534. The author traced the evolution of debt charging book design elements based on the sources of 1606/07 and 1607/08. The paper analyzes borrowed bondages of besieged people on borrowed monastery bread in 1609, along with the bondage book of 1609. These results were compared with the bread bondages of the Spaso-Prilutsky monastery. Results. The form of debt records has been well developed by the early 17th century. According to money issuance and charge records, a borrower was protected from lender’s abuses. However, bread bondages most objectively reflect the position of a debtor, who was in danger of enslavement because of vague wording in bondages.