ABSTRACT
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the northern territories of the Muscovite tsar, the bulk of the peasant population was free. This population was surprisingly well off, thanks to the lucrative trades that flourished in the harsh swamp lands and forests of the White Sea littoral and the river systems radiating from it. Salt boiling and salt mining, fishing, trapping (for sustenance and for furs and ivory), or trading (in a variety of natural and handmade products) were employed by most families in some combination. Any of these could bring in significant sums. Many families hired laborers, including boatmen who transported goods along the extensive river systems of the North. It has been estimated, based on grain production and prices, that the approximate value of one Novgorod ruble was necessary to feed a family of five for a year. However, families in this region had many more resources than agriculture, and in addition to paying taxes, they often donated large sums to northern churches and monasteries either to receive prayers in return or as simple gestures of faith. The average donation to the monastery of Solovki from a peasant of the Suma River region or Kargopol was ten to twelve Novgorod rubles, a large sum and an indication of the available wealth in the sixteenth century. In documents of the Solovki Monastery in this period, one ruble equaled 33 altyns at 6 den’gas per altyn’. This meant that a Novgorod ruble was worth 198 den’gas or almost twice the value of the Moscow ruble (100 den’gas).
