Copper riot, Moscow uprising. "Copper" riot: causes of the copper riot 1662 event

On July 25 (August 4), 1662, a popular uprising took place in Moscow. About ten thousand unarmed Muscovites went to the tsar in search of truth, justice and protection from the tyranny of the boyars. How the events of this day ended, which were included in history books under the name of the Copper Riot of 1662, we are talking about today.

Causes of the Copper Riot

No sooner had the country recovered from the consequences of the Salt Riot (June 1648 - February 1649), than a new one was on the threshold - the Copper Riot, which occurred in Moscow in the summer of 1662. In other words, 14 years have passed. A lot has changed during this period. Some changes were for the better, others led to an increase in discontent among various segments of the population, which developed into more - unrest and rebellion.

Rice. 1. Alexey Mikhailovich (Quiet)

Among the changes are the following:

• The war between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1653-1667) and the Russian-Swedish war (1656-1658) : in 1653, Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich accepted Ukraine into the Russian state, which led to a protracted war with the Poles claiming these territories. As you know, any military action is an expensive affair, requiring generous financial investments. This ultimately led to a deficit in the state treasury;
• Currency reform of 1654 : during the period under review, the country’s monetary system required reforms. Only silver kopecks were in use, while in Europe a coin of a larger denomination, the thaler, was in circulation. Thus, a silver ruble equal to one hundred kopecks was introduced in Russia. Despite the fact that the rate of one hundred kopecks per ruble did not correspond to its real value (64 kopecks), people accepted this innovation. However, at that time Russia did not have its own silver deposits. Its shortage led to the need to mint copper money: altyns, half rubles and kopecks. But they were put into circulation along with silver, which led to inflation, rising food prices and counterfeiting;
• Decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich on collecting taxes in silver coins and issuing salaries in copper : this decision led to a real collapse in the state’s financial system. The peasants refused to bring goods to the city and sell them for copper, which led to famine.

Monetary reform was hampered by another circumstance - special equipment for minting coins constantly broke down.

Rice. 2. Copper coins of the 17th century

Progress of the uprising

July 25, 1662 is the date of the beginning and end of the Copper Riot. Everything happened within one day. What incident stirred up the masses, the main participants and the results of the anti-government rebellion - all the events of that day are presented in the following table:

Rice. 3. Ernest Lissner’s painting “Copper Riot”

To suppress the Copper Riot it was necessary to use force and shed a lot of blood. But at the same time it became clear that other measures needed to be taken. In 1663, the tsar abolished the minting of copper coins, and those remaining in hand were bought back from people at a very low price: for one copper ruble they gave five kopecks in silver. As can be seen, even in small concessions, deception, injustice and shameless exploitation continued to flourish, and all this with the blessing of the state. The result was not long in coming: exactly five years later, in 1667, a new flame of rebellion flared up, larger-scale and bloodier - the uprising of Stepan Razin.

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Today we talked briefly about the Copper Riot. Answers were given to the main questions: in what year did the Copper Riot take place - 1662, under which king did it occur - under Alexei Mikhailovich (The Quietest), what were its causes and consequences.

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The reign of Alexei Mikhailovich the Quiet was marked by many riots and uprisings, because of which these years were called the “rebellious century.” The most striking of them were the copper and salt riots.

Copper Riot 1662 The year was the result of people's dissatisfaction with increased taxes and the unsuccessful policies of the first kings of the Romanov dynasty. At that time, precious metals were imported from abroad, since Russia did not have its own mines. This was the period of the Russian-Polish war, which required a huge amount of new funds, which the state did not have. Then they began issuing copper coins at the price of silver. Moreover, salaries were paid in copper money, and taxes were collected in silver. But the new money was not backed by anything, so it depreciated very quickly, and prices also rose.

This, of course, caused discontent among the masses, and as a result - an uprising, which in the chronicles of Rus' is designated as the “copper revolt.” This rebellion was, of course, suppressed, but the copper coins were gradually canceled and melted down. The minting of silver money resumed.

Salt riot.

Causes of the salt riot are also very simple. The difficult situation of the country during the reign of boyar Morozov provoked discontent among various sectors of society, which demanded global changes in government policy. Instead, the government imposed duties on popular household goods, including salt, the price of which had risen too significantly. And since it was the only preservative at that time, people were not ready to buy it for 2 hryvnia instead of the old 5 kopecks.

The Salt Riot occurred in 1648 after the unsuccessful visit of a delegation from the people with a petition to the king. Boyar Morozov decided to disperse the crowd, but the people were determined and resisted. After another unsuccessful attempt to get to the king with a petition, people raised an uprising, which was also suppressed, but did not pass without a trace.

• boyar Morozov removed from power
• the king independently decided the main political issues,
• the government gave the archers a double salary,
• repressions were carried out against active rebels,
• The largest activists of the riot were executed.

Despite attempts to change things through uprisings, the peasants achieved little. Although some changes were made to the system, taxation did not stop, and the abuse of power did not decrease.

Copper Riot- a historical event that took place in Moscow on July 25 (August 4) in 1662, where a fairly large uprising of the urban lower classes took place due to copper coins not backed by precious metal.

Reasons for the start of the riot

In the Moscow state in the 17th century, precious metals were imported into the country from abroad, since then there were no silver and gold mines of its own. Therefore, at the Money Yard, Russian coins were minted from foreign coins, which means that more money was spent on this than on making new coins from their own metal. Then the following coins were issued: a penny, a denga and a polushka, which was half.

However, the protracted war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth over Ukraine required simply colossal expenses. A way out of this situation was proposed by A. L. Ordin-Nashchokin. He put forward the idea of ​​​​issuing copper money at the price of silver. But at the same time, taxes from the population were collected in silver, but salaries were paid in copper coins.

Of course, at first the copper coin circulated at the same value as the silver one, but this could not last long, and after a short period of time, when the issue of unsecured copper money began to grow, it became much more expensive than copper coins. For example, in Novgorod and Pskov, for 6 rubles in silver they gave as much as 170 rubles in copper, which is 28.3 times more. And with the release of the royal decree, goods still rose sharply in price, which, naturally, did not please the people.

This financial situation in the country led to the growth and flourishing of counterfeiting, which also did not add joy not only to ordinary people, but also to the government.

Progress of the riot

The common people were already at the limit of their patience, and when sheets were found in the Lubyanka on which accusations were written against Prince I. D. Miloslavsky and several current members of the Boyar Duma, as well as a fairly wealthy guest Vasily Shorin, who were accused of secret relations with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Although this did not have any evidence, even such a reason was enough for the people to completely lose their temper.

Therefore, several thousand people went to a country palace in the village of Kolomenskoye, where Alexey Mikhailovich was at that time.

This appearance of the people took the king by surprise and he had to go out to the people. From them he received a petition, which spoke of reducing prices for goods and punishment for those responsible. Under such pressure, Alexey Mikhailovich promised to sort everything out and the crowd, taking his word for it, turned back.

However, another crowd was coming towards us from Moscow, which was already more militant than the first. Its number was several thousand. It consisted of butchers, small traders, cake makers, etc. Approaching the palace, they surrounded it again. This time they demanded that the traitors be handed over for execution. By this time, archers and soldiers, who were sent by the boyars to help, had already approached Kolomenskoye. The crowd was initially asked to disperse peacefully, but refused. Then the order was given to use force against her. The archers and soldiers drove the unarmed crowd into the river. At the same time, many more were killed and hanged. After these events, several thousand people were arrested and exiled.

It is worth noting that after the Copper Riot, all literate Muscovites were required to provide samples of their handwriting. This was done in order to compare them with the “thieves' sheets”, which served as a signal for such indignation. But using this method, the instigator could not be found.

Results of the copper riot

The main result of the copper revolt was the abolition of cheap copper coins. It happened gradually. The copper yards, which were located in Novgorod and Pskov, were closed in 1663. Silver coins began to be minted again. The copper money itself was removed from general circulation and melted down into other copper products that were needed by the state.

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On August 4, 1662, 10 thousand unarmed Muscovites went to the Tsar to demand the truth and were beaten by archers. The events of this day went down in history as the Copper Riot. Let's find out what the uprising 350 years ago can teach us.

Think - then reform

The introduction of the copper coin into circulation in 1654 is a sure lesson for all projector reformers, the lesson is that when developing a reform one should think not only about the immediate consequences, but also about the long-term ones. Otherwise, immediate benefit threatens to turn into distant disaster.
This happened in the middle of the 17th century during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. At the beginning of the war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 20 million copper money was thrown onto the market, which had the same denominations as silver money. This measure did not inspire confidence among the people. In addition, the government sought to remove silver money from circulation as soon as possible and concentrate it in its own hands, which only increased popular discontent. As a result, there was more copper money than was needed, leading to inflation that grew exponentially. By 1662, even continuing the war turned out to be impossible, since the army had nothing to eat. Cases of desertion have become more frequent.

Rebellious people

The people were driven to despair. If initially 1 copper ruble was almost equal to 1 silver ruble, then by 1662 10 copper rubles had to be given for a silver ruble. Accordingly, prices increased and, first of all, the price of bread. Over five years, in some areas of the country they have increased 50 times.
The second aspect in which we should learn from our ancestors who lived in the 17th century is a more active civic position. In the 17th century there was no talk of long-suffering as a trait of the national Russian character. On the contrary, the Austrian Augustin Meyerberg, who was in Moscow on the eve of the Copper Riot, writes: “So we have always been afraid that the people, forced by despair, however, always ready to rebel due to their inclination to revolt, would raise a rebellion that would not be easy to cope with.” In their rebellious age, Russians were considered a rebellious people.

Bureaucracy and rebellion

It is not hunger, but injustice that pushes people to revolt. The Copper Riot was not only a search for bread, but also a search for truth. After all, the main demand of the rebels was: not to abolish copper money and return silver money - no. The main thing that thousands of Muscovites asked for was to deliver into their hands the perpetrators of their troubles, high-ranking bureaucrats who profited from the common misfortune.
With the advent of copper money, many counterfeiters appeared in the country: it was much easier to counterfeit new coins than the old silver ones. And, despite cruel punishments and torture, the number of those who counterfeited money grew. Many were caught. But bribery and bureaucracy were the murky waters in which the criminals hid. The king's father-in-law was one of the country's first bribe-takers. There were rumors that he stole up to 120 thousand rubles. The king, knowing about the abuses, spared his associates, always finding scapegoats.
A similar situation sometimes occurs today: the fight against bribery is carried out selectively, demonstrative arrests are made, but the situation does not change fundamentally. Alexey Mikhailovich’s experience is an edification for today’s fighters against abuses in the field.

Power listens only to force

Since the Time of Troubles and over the 50 years of Romanov rule, the people have become accustomed to the fact that they need to talk to the authorities only from a position of strength. Otherwise, it’s pointless, they won’t hear you, they won’t meet you halfway. Therefore, as Meyerberg predicted, the people prone to rebellion, realizing that there would be no end to the robberies (shortly before the Copper Riot, a “fifth of money” was collected throughout the country, that is, 20% of the property), rebelled. Some of the rebels ravaged the houses of the main (in their opinion) culprits of their troubles, the other - five thousand people - went to Kolomenskoye, where the tsar was on August 4, so as not to ask him - to demand traitors. Years earlier, during the Salt Riot, young Alexei Mikhailovich made concessions to the crowd.
And now the leaders of the rebels forced the sovereign to swear an oath that he would investigate the matter. Someone even held him by the button. Someone else (which is also unthinkable), as a sign that an agreement had been reached, shook hands with him as an equal.

Don't trust the king

But, calming the crowd, the tsar had already sent for three rifle detachments loyal to him, a kind of personal guard. Believing the word given by Alexei Mikhailovich, people returned to the capital, and at that time the punitive forces were already rushing to Kolomenskoye. The second wave of dissatisfied people, another 4-5 thousand people, representatives of almost all (with the exception of privileged) classes, heading towards the king, turned around the first - and this whole mass flowed to meet the archers. The majority of people were unarmed. The crowd was seething, but many walked by inertia, without slogans, without categorical demands.

Violence begets violence

The violence began on the morning of the 4th in Moscow, when the houses of wealthy merchants were destroyed, when they called for reprisals against high-ranking officials, those who were guilty of the copper reform. The belief has become established among people that copper money was invented by the enemies of Russia, Polish spies, who in this way want to ruin people and destroy the country's economy.
Those who called for violence, and those who followed the calls, themselves became victims in the tragic outcome of the Copper Riot. The archers pushed the crowd back to the river. More than a hundred people died. Several thousand were arrested. The next day, 20 participants in the campaign against Kolomenskoye were hanged without investigation. All participants were tortured. Many had their arms and legs cut off, their fingers cut off, their tongues torn out. Many had the mark “Buki” - that is, “Rebel” - burned into their cheeks.

Riot is senseless

As often happened in Russian history, the Copper Riot did not bring positive results. A year later, the king abolished copper money. People handed them over, receiving, relatively speaking, 1 kopeck per ruble. But it is incorrect to connect the counter-reform with the Copper Revolt: the rise in prices continued after August 1662, the situation in the country worsened, and preparations for the abolition of the coin apparently began back in 1660, when the government began to look for ways to saturate the treasury with new silver, so that later replace them with copper.
Even in their rebellious time, the people were unable to organize themselves, turn an almost spontaneous explosion into a systematic campaign and achieve their goal. The revolt was pacified, popular indignation subsided, people burned out and began to patiently wait for the royal mercy.

Before Moscow had time to forget the consequences of the salt riot, a new riot occurred in the country, a copper one, this time more widespread and bloody. The reasons for the Copper Riot began to take shape back in October 1653, when Tsar Alexei Romanov accepted Ukraine into Russia, which led the country to a new protracted war with Poland. Starting in 1653, this war lasted until 1667. At the same time, in 1656-1658, Russia also had to fight with Sweden.

Prerequisites for the riot

Wars depleted the country's treasury, and the tsar and his officials looked for new opportunities to replenish the treasury. Officials saw one of the ways to replenish the royal treasury in minting new money. In 1654, an additional 1 million rubles worth of silver coins were minted. At the same time, copper money was also introduced into circulation. In total, 4 million rubles were minted. These actions, or rather the consequences of these actions, created the main reasons for the copper riot in Moscow. New money, due to its huge quantity, began to fall sharply in price. If in 1660 1 silver coin was worth 1.5 copper coins, then already in 1661 1 silver coin was worth 4 copper coins, in 1662 already 8 copper coins, and in 1663 up to 15 copper coins. Petty officials who were paid in new money, army people, as well as merchants refused to accept such coins for payments. As a result, prices for almost all goods increased several times. In addition, cases are often mentioned when money was very easily counterfeited not only by counterfeiters, but also by tsarist officials. As contemporaries claim, the initiator of the introduction of such money was the boyar I.D. Miloslavsky, who was also the head of the government. The reasons for the copper riot that hung over Russia seemed to overlap each other like a lump.

The beginning of popular discontent

The Copper Riot began on July 25, 1662 at 6 a.m. At this time, a gathering of people dissatisfied with the tsarist officials took place on Sretenka. Kuzma Nagaev spoke to the people, calling on people to rise up in rebellion and oppose the tyranny of the boyars and officials. After this, the crowd went to Red Square. Literally within an hour, the uprising swept the entire city. People who considered the reasons for the Copper Riot to be just, actively opposed the tsar's policies. In addition, some rifle regiments went over to the side of the rebels.

From Red Square people went to the village of Kolomenskoye, where the tsar was. In total, about 4-5 thousand people moved to the village. The rebels approached Kolomenskoye village at 9 o'clock in the morning. The king and his retinue were taken by surprise. The tsarist troops did not offer serious resistance to the rebels, despite the fact that they numbered almost 1 thousand people. People, having made their way to the tsar, demanded the extradition of individual boyars and their execution. The king had to personally enter into negotiations with the people. The Tsar managed to convince the rebels that the boyars they disliked would be removed from the government and would be prohibited from visiting Moscow. People, believing the tsar, went back to Moscow.

Completion

At the same time, a new wave of rebels set off from Moscow to Kolomenskoye. Both groups of rebels met at 11 o'clock in the morning and together again went to the king. This time their number was 9-10 thousand people. They again entered into negotiations with the tsar, demanding the extradition of the boyars they disliked. Tsar Alexei Romanov delayed the negotiations in every possible way. The king did this so that on his orders they would have time to transfer the active army to the village. In total, about 10 thousand archers arrived at Kolomenskoye. At the king's command, they entered into battle against the unarmed rebels. A bloody battle began. In total, about 1 thousand rebels were killed. About 2 thousand people were injured and arrested. The Tsar harshly punished the rebels and at the initial stage did nothing to soften the anger of the people. It was only by mid-1663 that copper money, hated by people, was abolished.

These were the reasons for the copper riot in Moscow and its consequences.