Copper riot: causes, events, consequences. "Copper" riot: reasons for the copper riot The copper riot of 1662 was

On August 4, 1662, an uprising of the urban lower classes took place in Moscow. The reasons for the rebellion were the release of copper coins, which were depreciating in value compared to silver, and the increase in taxes, which had to be paid only in silver.

In the 17th century, the Moscow state did not have its own gold and silver mines, and precious metals were imported from abroad. At the Money Yard, Russian coins were minted from foreign coins: kopecks, money and half rubles.

The protracted war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1654−1667) required enormous expenses. To find money to continue the war, the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz, boyar Ordin-Nashchokin, proposed issuing copper money at the price of silver. Taxes were collected in silver, and salaries were distributed in copper.

At first, small copper coins actually circulated on a par with silver pennies, but soon the excessive release of unbacked copper money led to their depreciation. For 6 rubles in silver they gave 170 rubles in copper. Despite the royal decree, all goods rose sharply in price.

The financial catastrophe that broke out primarily affected the townspeople associated with small and medium-sized trade, and service people who received cash salaries.

On the night of August 4, 1662, “thieves’ sheets” were posted in Moscow, which listed the names of those responsible for the financial crisis: the boyars Miloslavsky, who headed the orders of the Great Treasury, the head of the order of the Big Palace, Okolnichy Rtishchev, the head of the Armory Chamber, Okolnichy Khitrovo, clerk Bashmakov, guests Shorin , Zadorin and others.

Early in the morning of this day, an uprising began, in which the townspeople, part of the archers, serfs, and peasants took part. In total, from 9 to 10 thousand people took part in the performance. The rebels went to the village of Kolomenskoye, where Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was, and demanded the extradition of the “traitors.”

The Tsar and the boyars promised the rebels to reduce taxes and conduct an investigation into their petition. Believing the promises, the participants in the uprising headed towards Moscow. At the same time, after the pogroms of the courtyards of the “traitors,” a new wave of rebels headed to Kolomenskoye. Two oncoming streams connected and moved towards the royal residence. They renewed their demands, threatening, if the boyars were not handed over to them for execution, to take them to the palace themselves.

But during this time the king managed to gather the archers. On his orders, they attacked the crowd, armed only with sticks and knives. During the battle, about 900 townspeople died, and the next day about 20 people were hanged.

The Copper Riot took place in Moscow on July 25, 1662. The reason was the following circumstance. Russia waged a protracted war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for the annexation of Ukraine. Any war requires huge funds to maintain an army. The state was sorely short of money, then it was decided to introduce copper money into circulation.

This happened in 1655. From a pound of copper, worth 12 kopecks, coins worth 10 rubles were minted. A lot of copper money was immediately thrown into use, which led to the population’s distrust of it and inflation. It is worth noting that taxes to the state treasury were collected in silver money and paid in copper. Copper money was also easy to counterfeit.

By 1662, the market price of copper money had fallen by as much as 15 times, and the cost of goods had increased significantly. The situation worsened every day. The peasants did not transport their products to the cities because they did not want to receive worthless copper for them. Poverty and hunger began to flourish in the cities.

The Copper Riot was prepared in advance; proclamations appeared throughout Moscow, in which many boyars and merchants were accused of conspiring with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruining the country and betrayal. The proclamation also contained demands to reduce taxes on salt and abolish copper money. It is significant that the discontent of the people was caused by almost the same people as during the salt riot.

The crowd split into two parts. One, in the amount of 5 thousand people, moved to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye, the second smashed the courts of the hated nobles. The rioters caught Alexei Mikhailovich at a prayer service. The boyars went to talk to the people, but they were unable to calm the crowds. Alexei Mikhailovich himself had to go. People beat their foreheads in front of the king, demanding to change the current situation. Realizing that the crowd could not be calmed, Alexei Mikhailovich spoke “quietly,” and persuaded the rioters to be patient. People grabbed the king by the dress and said, “What to believe?” The king even had to shake hands with one of the rebels. Only after this did the people begin to disperse.

The people were leaving Kolomenskoye, but on the way they met the second part of the crowd, which was going to where the first was leaving. The united, dissatisfied crowd of 10 thousand people turned back to Kolomenskoye. The rebels behaved even more boldly and decisively, demanding the boyars be killed. Meanwhile, the Streltsy regiments loyal to Alexei Mikhailovich arrived at Kolomensky and dispersed the crowd. About 7 thousand people were subjected to repression. Some were beaten, some were sent into exile, and some were branded with the letter “B” - rebel.

Only people from the lower strata of society - butchers, artisans, peasants - took part in the copper riot. The result of the copper riot was the gradual abolition of the copper coin. In 1663, the copper yards in Novgorod and Pskov were closed, and the printing of silver money resumed. Copper money was completely withdrawn from circulation and melted down into other necessary items.

Reasons for the riot

In the 17th century, the Moscow state did not have its own gold and silver mines, and precious metals were imported from abroad. At the Money Yard, Russian coins were minted from foreign coins: kopecks, money and polushki (half money).

The Case of the Counterfeiters

The financial situation in the country has led to the rise of counterfeiting

Development and course of the rebellion

The common people were outraged by the impunity of the boyars. On July 25 (August 4), 1662, sheets with accusations against Prince I. D. Miloslavsky, several members of the Boyar Duma and a wealthy guest Vasily Shorin were discovered in Lubyanka. They were accused of secret relations with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had no basis. But dissatisfied people needed a reason. It is significant that the object of universal hatred became the same people who were accused of abuses during the Salt Riot, and just like fourteen years ago, the crowd attacked and destroyed the house of Shorin’s guest, who was collecting the “fifth of the money” in the entire state. Several thousand people went to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who was in his country palace in the village of Kolomenskoye. The unexpected appearance of the rebels took the king by surprise, and he was forced to go out to the people. He was given a petition demanding a reduction in prices and taxes, and the punishment of those responsible. Under pressure from circumstances, Alexei Mikhailovich gave his word to investigate the matter, after which the calmed mass of people, believing the promises, turned back.

Another crowd of thousands, much more militant, was moving towards us from Moscow. Small traders, butchers, bakers, cake makers, village people again surrounded the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich and this time they did not ask, but demanded that the traitors be handed over to them for execution, threatening “he will not give them the goods of those boyars, and they will learn to take from him themselves , according to his custom." However, archers and soldiers had already appeared in Kolomenskoye, sent by the boyars to the rescue. After refusing to disperse, the order was given to use force. The unarmed crowd was driven into the river, up to a thousand people were killed, hanged, drowned in the Moscow River, several thousand were arrested and exiled after investigation.

G.K. Kotoshikhin describes the bloody finale of the copper riot as follows:

“And the same day, near that village, 150 people were hanged, and the rest were all given a decree, they were tortured and burned, and upon investigation for guilt, they cut off their arms and legs and the fingers of their hands and feet, and beat others with a whip, and laid them on their faces on on the right side are signs that the iron has been lit red, and “beeches” are placed on that iron, that is, a rebel, so that he will be recognized forever; and inflicting punishment on them, they sent everyone to distant cities, to Kazan, and to Astarakhan, and to Terki, and to Siberia, for eternal life... and by another thief, days and nights, a decree was made, tying their hands back and putting them in large ships were sunk in the Moscow River."

The search in connection with the copper riot had no precedent. All literate Muscovites were forced to give samples of their handwriting in order to compare them with the “thieves' sheets”, which served as a signal for indignation. However, the instigators were never found.

results

The Copper Riot was an uprising of the urban lower classes. It was attended by artisans, butchers, pastry makers, and peasants from suburban villages. Of the guests and merchants, “not a single person accosted those thieves; they even helped those thieves, and they received praise from the king.” Despite the merciless suppression of the rebellion, it did not pass without a trace. In 1663, according to the Tsar's decree of the copper industry, the yards in Novgorod and Pskov were closed, and the minting of silver coins was resumed in Moscow. The salaries of service people of all ranks again began to be paid in silver money. Copper money was withdrawn from circulation, private individuals were ordered to melt it down into cauldrons or bring it to the treasury, where for each ruble handed over they paid 10, and later even less - 2 silver money. According to V. O. Klyuchevsky, “The Treasury acted like a real bankrupt, paying creditors 5 kopecks or even 1 kopeck per ruble.”

see also

Notes

Literature

• Buganov V. I. Copper riot. Moscow “rebels” of 1662 // Prometheus. - M.: Young Guard, 1968. - T. 5. - (historical and biographical almanac of the “Life of Remarkable People” series).
• Uprising of 1662 in Moscow: collection. doc. M., 1964.
• Moscow uprisings of 1648, 1662 // Soviet military encyclopedia / ed. N.V. Ogarkova. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1978. - T. 5. - 686 p. - (in 8 t). - 105,000 copies.

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See what “Copper riot” is in other dictionaries: - (Moscow uprising of 1662), an anti-government uprising of Muscovites on July 25, 1662, caused by the disruption of economic life during the wars of Russia with Poland and Sweden, an increase in taxes, and the release of depreciated copper money. Since 1654... ...

encyclopedic Dictionary The uprising of the urban lower classes that took place in Moscow in 1662 against the issue of copper kopecks, which had been minted since 1655 to replace silver coins. The release of copper money led to its depreciation in comparison with silver. A year after the riot... ...

Financial Dictionary The accepted name in literature for the uprising of the lower and middle strata of Moscow residents, archers, soldiers (July 25, 1662). Caused by an increase in taxes during the Russian-Polish War of 1654 67 and the release of depreciated copper money. Some of the rebels went to the village of Kolome...

Modern encyclopedia The uprising of the urban lower classes that took place in Moscow in 1662 against the release of copper kopecks, which, since 1655, had been minted at Russian money courts to replace silver ones. The release of copper money led to its depreciation in comparison with silver. Through… …

Economic dictionary

COPPER RIOT, the name adopted in historical literature for the speech in Moscow on July 25, 1662 by representatives of the lower and middle strata of townspeople, archers, and soldiers. Caused by an increase in taxes during the Russian-Polish War of 1654 67 and the release of depreciated... ... Russian history"Copper Riot" - “COPPER RIOT”, the accepted name in literature for the uprising of the lower and middle strata of Moscow residents, archers, and soldiers (July 25, 1662). Caused by an increase in taxes during the Russian-Polish War of 1654 67 and the release of depreciated copper money. Some of the rebels went...

In 1662, a copper riot broke out in Russia. The reasons for the rebellion must be sought in the severe impoverishment of the population as a result of the Russian-Polish War of 1654-1667. The Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, fulfilling the conditions of the Stolbovsky Peace of 1617, was forced to send bread and money to the Swedes through Pskov and Novgorod. Popular outrage

the sending of grain abroad was suppressed. The treasury was empty, and the tsarist government was forced to start minting copper money in order to pay the troops. Currency reform directly provoked the copper riot. The reasons for the rebellion can also be seen in the plague epidemic of 1654-1655. The disease not only devastated the already devastated economy, but also reduced human resources. Cities were deserted, trade weakened, military operations had to be stopped. The plague was an indirect cause that caused the Copper Riot of 1662. As a result of the weakening of trade, the influx of foreign silver dried up; foreign merchants could not get into Russia further than Arkhangelsk. The minting of copper coins of small denominations, which replaced small silver coins, against the backdrop of general disasters, caused a sharp jump in inflation. If at the beginning of the monetary reform, 100, 130, 150 copper kopecks were given for one hundred silver kopecks, then subsequently the rise in inflation caused a drop in small copper coins to 1000 and 1500 for one hundred silver kopecks. There were rumors among the population that some boyars minted copper money themselves. The government issued copper money in excessive quantities, which prompted the copper riot of 1662.

The main mistake of the tsarist government was the order to make every payment to the treasury in silver. Having thus abandoned its monetary policy, the government only intensified popular unrest.

Current of the riot

The riot began with the fact that on the morning of July 25, anonymous letters appeared in the center of Moscow, which spoke of the betrayal of the boyars. They were called the Miloslavskys (who were in charge of the orders of the large treasury), the okolnichy F. Rtishchev, who was in charge of the Order of the Grand Palace, and the okolnichy B. Khitrov, who was in charge of the Armory Chamber. A crowd of hungry and impoverished townspeople went to the tsar in Kolomenskoye and asked to hand over to them the boyars responsible for the national disasters. The king promised, and the crowd left. The government pulled up rifle regiments to Kolomenskoye. People could no longer see the king. The fact that the tsar closed himself and did not hear people's complaints pushed Moscow residents to transfer their expression of indignation at the policies of Alexei Mikhailovich to the streets of the city.

The courtyards of the boyars Zadorin and Shorin were destroyed. A crowd of townspeople, armed only with sticks and knives, moved towards Kolomenskoye, where they were attacked by archers. They not only killed people, but also threw them into the Moscow River. About 900 people died. The next day, about 20 more riot instigators were hanged in Moscow. Several dozen people were expelled from Moscow to remote settlements.

Results of the riot

The Copper Riot of 1612 ended with the fact that in Russia, drained of blood in all respects, by the Tsar's Decree of April 15, 1663, silver money was returned to circulation, for which the silver reserves of the treasury were used. Copper money was not only withdrawn from circulation, but also prohibited.

The events of the turbulent 17th century in Russia have long attracted the attention of scientists and writers, artists and musicians. The uprisings of Bolotnikov and Razin, popular movements in Moscow and other Russian cities not only provided historians with rich material for reflection and scientific construction, but also inspired outstanding figures of Russian culture. Suffice it to recall Mussorgsky’s brilliant operas “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina”, Glazunov’s poem “Stepan Razin”, novels and poems about the daring ataman and his associates. The events of the 17th century captured the imagination of not only descendants, but also contemporaries.

No wonder they called this century “rebellious.”

One of the most famous popular uprisings of this time was the “Copper Riot” of 1662.

Early in the morning of July 25, 1662, an uprising broke out in Moscow.

Proclamations posted at night along the streets, squares and crossroads of the capital put forward demands for the abolition of copper money, a reduction in taxes, and an end to abuses. The rebels demanded that the head of the government, boyar I. D. Miloslavsky, and other hated persons who occupied the highest positions at court and in wealthy merchant circles be extradited for reprisals.

Masses of Muscovites moved to the village of Kolomenskoye, where Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his court were at that time, and presented their demands to him. At this time, other rebels were destroying the houses of the rich and “strong” in Moscow. By. On the instructions of the tsar, on the same day the uprising was drowned in blood, a cruel investigation began - interrogations, torture, executions and exile.

This is the general picture of the “Copper Riot”. Russian historians wrote a lot about him, including the famous S. M. Solovyov and V. O. Klyuchevsky. A. N. Zertsalov published (though not completely and with errors) materials from the investigation of the participants in the uprising. But the talented Soviet researcher K.V. Bazilevich did the most to study it. In his book, he covered in detail the progress of the copper reform and the uprising of July 25, 1662. His findings were included in reputable academic publications and school textbooks. It would seem that the “last legend” has already been written about the “Copper Riot” of 1662.

However, it turned out that this was not the case. As often happens, the reason for revising some established ideas was an accident.

The author of these lines spent a lot of time getting acquainted with ancient manuscripts, being interested in discharge books that contain lists of military and civilian figures, “officials” of the 16th-17th centuries. This required viewing dozens and hundreds of manuscripts and collections. Their content, in general, was not distinguished by literary merit, and sometimes simply led to despair with its dull monotony and dryness.

In one of the collections of the 17th century, in addition to the rank lists, there was once an unknown description of two uprisings in Moscow.

A cursory acquaintance with this description could scare off the reader - the chronology, facts, and sequence of events are clearly confused in it. Here's the beginning:

“On the 23rd day of the summer of June 7171 (that is, 1663 - V.B.), the great sovereign went out to the feast of the meeting of the Most Holy Theotokos on Ustretenka.

And on that date there was great turmoil in Moscow and the whole people of the Posadtsky and all sorts of ranks people beat the forehead of the great sovereign in all sorts of taxes and ruin...” i And then follows a detailed description of the uprising of 1648 in Moscow under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, when ordinary Muscovites opposed the sharp increase in the price of salt and the abuses of representatives of the nobility, merchants and the administrative bureaucracy. It really started on Sretenskaya Street, but not on the 23rd, but on June 2, the error in determining the year was even more significant - instead of 1648 it was 1663! There are other inconsistencies in the Description.

The Pskov governor Nikifor Sergeevich Sobakin, who died in 1656, had three sons. Mentions of the eldest of them, Andrei, quickly disappear from the pages of documents (since 1645). The reason for this could be early death, illness or tonsure as a monk. The second - Vasily - died in 1677, he is known to scientists as a book lover and a collector of manuscripts; Among them, by the way, was the manuscript of the Pskov 3rd Chronicle with references to his father, the Pskov governor. Finally, the youngest of the sons, Gregory, who died in 1689, reached the highest position at that time - he became a boyar, carried out various royal assignments, and accompanied the kings on their trips to estates near Moscow.

The collection, which contains a description of the uprisings of 1648 and 1662, belonged to the same Sobakins. On one of the sheets of the manuscript there is a note about the owner: “The book was written out from the categories of Mikhail Vasilyevich Sobakin.” The text of the collection itself contains, in addition to the above-mentioned description, extracts about the services of representatives of various boyar and noble families that interested the Sobakins. The Sobakins themselves received special attention.

During the suppression of the “Copper Riot” of 1662, nothing like this happened. But G.N. Sobakin claims that this took place - the Moscow soldiers, participants in the uprising, did the same thing and in the same way as the archers twenty years later. The author also “played” in contrast, emphasizing that in 1662 the archers did not participate in the uprising, but suppressed it, earning special royal praise and favor, and the author himself allegedly played an active role in these events - G. N. Sobakin, who attributed to himself , obviously, the merits of I. A. Khovansky, who died in 1682. Having described these events twenty years later, Sobakin made a number of mistakes and even falsifications and created, in essence, a memorial note, even a political pamphlet, echoing the events of Khovanshchina.

When compiling it, he used the text of the 3rd Pskov Chronicle, perhaps some unpreserved official documents and memorable notes."

The work to explain the identity of this boyar-falsifier and the peculiarities of his work confronted a number of even more interesting mysteries.

A thorough study of Sobakin’s description of the “Copper Riot” required checking with other sources about the uprising. In the first place among them are the story of Grigory Kotoshikhin, clerk of the Ambassadorial Prikaz (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the 17th century), and especially the materials of the investigation of the participants in the “gil”. It is these sources that underlie the best work on the history of the “Copper Riot”, written by K. V. Bazilevich, a subtle researcher and expert of the 17th century4. However, this prominent scientist, as it turned out, made a serious mistake in interpreting the sources, which ultimately led to his underestimation of the great scope of the uprising and the investigation that was carried out after the suppression of the “revolt.”

K. V. Bazilevich’s conclusions about the causes of the uprising and its popular, anti-feudal character do not raise objections.

Using only part of these documents, he erroneously came to the conclusion that no more than 2-3 thousand people took part in the uprising, and during its suppression, 450-500 people were arrested, 400 people were exiled, approximately 30 people were executed. He did not At the same time, he trusted the almost unanimous testimony of his contemporaries that up to 9-10 thousand people took part in the uprising, and during its suppression, thousands of people were killed, arrested and exiled.

A verification of Sobakin's description data began with the help of investigative documents published by A. N. Zertsalov in the 1890s. Since Zertsalov did not publish the investigative materials in full, it was necessary to look at the complete archival file. You can find a link to it

Streltsy uprising 15 ME 1682. Miniature from the History of Peter the Great” by Krekshin. State Historical Museum.

Bazilevich’s case is file No. 959 of the Order Desk of the Discharge Order, now stored in the Central State Archive of Ancient Acts (TSGADA). It was this that was published by Zertsalov, writes Bazilevich. First, there are interrogations of the participants of the “Copper Riot” - the tenth Sretensky hundred L. Zhidky, the archer K. Nagaev, witnesses B. Lazarev, P. Grigoriev and others.

Bazilevich refers to a number of documents, believing that they are taken from one investigative case, but in fact they need to be looked for in another or in two mentioned cases at once. He believed that after the suppression of the uprising, only one commission of inquiry worked - in Kolomenskoye. It was headed by the boyar Prince I. A. Khovansky, who, by the way, was silenced by G. N. Sobakin in his description of the “Copper Riot” of 1662. This is understandable to me - after all, he compiled it shortly after the “Khovanshchina” of 1682, when this unlucky adventurer laid down his head. In fact, it turned out that, in addition to her, another large detective commission headed by the boyar Prince A.N. Trubetskoy was “pushing the whip” in Moscow under the Boyar Duma and the Discharge Order. In addition, detective commissions worked in a number of other Moscow orders, as well as in the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery on the Moscow River not far from Kolomenskoye. In all these places, many “rebels” were in custody and drank their bitter cup of suffering under the rack and whip of the masters.

It was stated above that, based on misinterpreted investigative reports, Bazilevich claimed that 30 rebels were executed during and after the investigation. Further, based on the fact that one document reports the exile of 1,200 people to Astrakhan and Siberia “for eternal life” along with their wives and children, the total number of exiled participants in the uprising among them, Bazilevich believed, did not exceed 400 people, since on average the family consisted of three people.

He increased the total number of those arrested by 50-100 people.

All of these assertions by Bazilevich collapsed one after another upon a careful reading of the two investigative files and other documents. Thus, Bazilevich did not notice that there was information about the collection of handwriting samples for comparison with the handwriting of the proclamations. In one archival file, paintings of about 400 clerks of more than 25 Moscow orders and among them G. Kotoshikhin himself were preserved on ancient columns: “The clerk Grigory Kotoshikhin had a hand in the ambassadorial order.” This signature was published more than a hundred years ago in the first volume of “Acts of the Moscow State”.

Further, the investigation documents do not speak of 450-500 arrests. In total, the investigation materials mention more than 800 participants in the uprising. One of the documents speaks of the exile of 1,500 people from the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery, of which only about 200 were family members of the rebels. Moreover, we are talking only about part of the rebels, many of the rebels were sitting in other places, from there they were hastily sent to different parts of the vast state, mostly without families, which could not be quickly collected. According to Kotoshikhin, the “rebels” “sent everyone to distant cities... and after them, according to their stories, where who lived and whose who was, and their wives and children were sent after them according to the same.”

Sources’ indications of a large number of people killed, hanged and drowned in the Moscow River during the suppression of the “rebellion” also refuted Bazilevich’s assertions. They are not talking about a few dozen, but about hundreds and hundreds of killed rebels. This was confirmed by the discovery by the historian V.A. Kuchkin of the most important document - an eyewitness account contemporary to the events of July 25, 1662: “In the summer of July 7170, on the 25th day of God, and for our sin, such a great terrible deed was committed in the great and most famous city of Moscow : in a field near Kolomenskoye, the sovereign's village, they flogged the washers of black hundreds and all other ranks of people of about nine hundred or more (my rank - V.B.) their own Moscow people, the Stremyanovo archers to the order and the sovereign's all sorts of ranks for becoming was to hit the sovereign with his forehead against the boyars. Yes, that same month of July, on the 26th day, fifty people were hanged in the same petition of all ranks of people." Thus, we can talk about several thousand rebels who died, were arrested and exiled as a result of the bloody pogrom of the uprising. But this is an incomplete testimony of documents , a significant part of which has not survived.

In the light of these data, the figures of the informed and observant Kotoshikhin about the arrest of more than 200 rebels in Moscow (this is confirmed by the Moscow investigative case), the murder and arrest of more than 7 thousand people in Kolomenskoye can be considered plausible; In the same place, according to him, more than 100 people drowned and “150” people were hanged. In addition, on the night of July 25-26, “heavy thieves” were drowned in the Moscow River from “large ships.” Equally probable are reports of 9-10 thousand participants in the uprising2.

Thus, a more careful analysis of the surviving sources about the “Copper Riot” of 1662, investigative documents and descriptions of contemporaries, made it possible to identify a number of Bazilevich’s mistakes in the interpretation of investigation materials and restore confidence in the clear evidence of contemporaries, undermined by his incorrect conclusions. It turned out that the uprising and the investigation of its participants had a much wider scope than Bazilevich believed. The figures he established for the participants in the uprising, as well as those arrested and exiled during and after its defeat, must in each case be increased several times. Thereby. a more correct idea is being created about the degree of rise and intensity of the uprising, which gripped the many thousands of residents of the Russian capital.

A more detailed analysis of all sources made it possible to shed new light on the course of the uprising in Kolomenskoye and the capital, the participation of military officials in it, the content of the proclamations, the progress of the investigation, etc. One of the most interesting and mysterious was the question of the main leader of the “Copper Riot.” K.V. Bazilevich considered the main figures of the uprising to be the archer Kuzma Nagaev and the tenth Sretensky hundred Luka Zhidky. The first behaved very actively at the beginning of the uprising, early in the morning of July 25, he read a proclamation several times in front of excited crowds of people in Lubyanka. Kolomensky sources are silent. At the royal residence, other possible leaders of the uprising came to the fore. Here, L. Mikhailovich and M. T. Zhedrinsky submitted a proclamation and a petition to Tsar Alexey. bring the traitors (boyars and other people hated by the people - V.B.) before the world, the great sovereign, frightened by the decisive tone of the demands of the huge crowd of rebels, was forced by “quiet custom” to talk to them.

The rebels at first distrusted the king’s words and asked him: “What to believe?” But then they believed it. One of the rebels even shook hands with the king. The same Zhedrinsky, without giving a name, mentioned during the interrogation about the man who negotiated with Alexei Mikhailovich: “In Kolomenskoye, before the great sovereign, he spoke to him in a row of cherry trees, and that man told the great sovereign he was a reitar.” Perhaps he was reitar F.P. Polivkin - from the investigation documents it is known that during the “rebellion” in Kolomenskoye he “walked ... in front of the rioters and shouted with them,” “shouted and said: now is the time to beat the traitors " Polivkin himself admitted during interrogation that he “went among them (the rebels in Kolomenskoye - V.B.),” but immediately added with suspicious haste that “they had no breeders,” clearly wanting to avert the suspicion of his investigators that , that he could belong to the number of leaders, organizers (“breeders”) of the “rebellion.”

All these and some other persons played an active role in the uprising and could have been among its organizers.

We turn again to the detective documents. A certain sexton of the Moscow Alekseevsky nunnery, Demyan (Demka) Filippov, during interrogations on July 26 and 29, was exposed by the testimony of his “colleagues” - two priests and a deacon. When one of them, priest Andrei, led the service early in the morning of July 25, the sexton Demyan sang the liturgy in the choir. When the “noise was made” in the city, that is, the uprising began, the latter “ran from the church to the litorgy,” then participated in the uprising; he was caught in Kolomenskoye along with “thieves.” Pinned to the wall by the testimony of witnesses, the sexton, unable to endure the torture, admitted: “he was with the rebels in Kolomenskoye and he had thoughts about rebellion and the robbery of households (my discharge - V.B.).” It also turns out that in the monastery where Demyan Filippov served, on the eve of the uprising, some inscriptions appeared on the stones - during the interrogation, it was not for nothing that they asked him: “Who wrote on the stone in the Alekseevskaya monastery?” Probably, these inscriptions echo the proclamations posted around Moscow the night before the “revolt” uprising.

“In this regard, D. Filippov’s confession during interrogation on July 26 is of great importance: “He, Demka, heard from worldly people ... that in that thieves’ factory (organizations of the uprising. - V . B.) there were hundreds of Sretensky drafters Andryushka, but he doesn’t know whose.” that during the second interrogation; on July 29 (that is, two days after the first inquiry), the investigators did not ask him a word about the mysterious Andrei - a simple “tax person,” that is, a townsman who paid taxes (tax) and lived on Sretenka, where, by the way, the uprising began. This silence of the leaders of the investigation cannot be accidental - after all, they with great persistence and cruelty sought to find out the names and surnames of the leaders of the uprising. But here they did not pay attention to such an important recognition? It cannot be!

Almost at the very end of the Moscow detective case, a seemingly insignificant list of those arrested, sent on August 13, 1662 to the Moscow Petition Prikaz, caught my eye. But it is known that this order considered, at the direction of the king, matters of special importance. In addition, it is clear from the documents that from about August 6, the clerk of the Petition Order, Artemy Kozlov, became a member of the main detective commission working in the village of Kolomenskoye (it was called the Order of Detective Affairs). Particularly mysterious is the indication in this list that those arrested and sent to the Petition Order were listed “in the case of Ondryushka Shcherbak.” All surviving investigation materials indicate that no “personal file” was opened against any of the participants in the uprising; they were interrogated in groups of several or even several dozen people. The only exception known to us is the “case of Ondryushka Shcherbak.”

The testimony of D. Filippov connects the initiative of the speech with the name of the Sretensky townsman. G.N. Sobakin, without giving a name, also reports that “a certain thief stuck” a proclamation on the Sretensky Gate.