«Things sinful and spiritual» (private life in Russia based on the materials of the church court of the 17th century)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the circumstances of the private life of people in Russia in the 17th century. when considering "family" cases in the church court. From the time of Ancient Rus', as V. O. Klyuchevsky wrote, the conduct of “sinful and spiritual affairs” was subject to the Church. Researchers studied primarily legislative monuments, and there are practically no targeted attempts to study the clerical documentation of the Spiritual Orders (“Prikazy”) of the 17th century. Based on newly discovered documents, the work reveals the most common situations that arose during marriage, reveals the reasons for divorces associated with adultery, abandonment of each other by spouses, illnesses, family violence and forced tonsure in a monastery. The study of church legal proceedings shows the important role of the Church in organizing the normal life of society. The presented analysis allows us to abandon the restrictions of "women's history", and return to the study of this topic within the framework of social history.