ABSTRACT
Kinship ties between peasant and urban families were frequently established by marriage. Some urban families turned habitually to the peasantry for marriage partners. If peasant immigrants frequently sought and obtained urban brides, it was apparently just as common for male members of the urban classes to marry peasant women. The personal ties developed by peasant immigrants in the course of their assimilation into the urban population were not limited to those of marriage, although it is the bonds of matrimony which are most readily traceable in the available documents. During most of the eighteenth century petitions for membership in the urban classes were most commonly received and acted upon by the urban authorities. The cooperation of friendly posad members was valuable in protecting enterprises belonging to peasant immigrants from interference by the urban authorities. From 1762 onwards most peasants could enlist in the posad only with the authorization of their lords or controlling institutions.
