TOWNSPEOPLE’S PEASANT WAY OF LIFE AND MILITARY SERVICE: THE TOWN OF OLONETS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH AND THE EARLY 18TH CENTURIES

The group gradation in Russia had not ever reached the top point even by the end of the 18th century, particularly in provincial towns. Thus, between the middle of the 17th and the early 18th centuries the urban population of the Karelian town of Olonets were semi-peasants and semi-merchants while the streltsy were semi-soldiers and semi-craftsmen at the same time, as well as semi-policemen (within the framework of local self-government). The reason for their “intermediate status” of that kind lies in the services imposed on the non-privileged strata of taxpayers. Ключевые слова /