History of the Russian kopeck
Who conducted the first in Russia monetary reform? It turns out that it was the mother of Ivan the Terrible, Elena Glinskaya. Her reform was so effective that it lasted more than a hundred years. It was under the widow of Vasily III that the world's first decimal measure of calculation in the monetary system was introduced.
Vasily III's second wife
Grand Duke Vasily III of Moscow, the father of Ivan IV (the Terrible), was married twice: the first time to Solomons of the Saburov familyThe marriage turned out to be childless, and after 20 years of marriage Vasily imprisoned his wife in a nunnery by force. This marriage turned out to be childless, and after 20 years of marriage Vasily forced his wife into a monastery.
The Moscow prince chose a second wife "for the beauty of her face and the good looks of her age. The new wife was a 17-year-old beauty, a Lithuanian princess Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya. The alliance with her did not promise the prince any benefits, but Elena knew how to please. Four years after the wedding, an heir was born, the future Ivan IV. In 1533 the grand duke fell ill and soon died. His last will was to transfer the throne to his son, and "his wife Olena" with a boyar council, Vasily III ordered to "keep the state under his son". The Grand Duchess became the sole ruler of Russia, regent under the minor Ivan.
Regency lasted not so long - five years, but during these years Elena managed to do so much, how much not every ruler can handle for decades: the victory in the war with Lithuania, the conclusion of the treaty with Sweden, the restoration of Ustyug and Yaroslavl ...
But perhaps the most significant deed undertaken by Elena Vasilyevna was the first in Russian history monetary reform. By and large, the Grand Duchess had no choice: by March 1535 there was a situation when the reform became more than a matter of urgency for the state.
Money spoilage
It cannot be said that the financial economy did not respond to the rapid centralization of Russia. Attempts to establish order in this sphere had been made before. Back in 1425 the unification of monetary circulation took place in "the Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Udelami". But in general, the possibilities of the monetary system did not meet the needs of a huge country, which was greater in area than any European country. It manifested itself in a serious crisis that broke out in the 30s of the XVI century.
The economic boom, the rapid development of trade, and the growth of cities demanded more and more "hozhala" coinage. The tribute in products had been replaced by money in almost the whole country by that time. Money was becoming more and more entrenched in the life of the country. Add here political ambitions: the Grand Princes of Moscow needed coins, which by their very appearance would have confirmed their status as "Lords of All Russia. But since the XV century. coins were minted that the cities, the great, the feudal princes. Quite often it was not a manifestation of economic independence and power, but only a heraldic demarche, an ephemeral assertion of political self-value. It is clear that there was incredible diversity on the money market. The monstrous variety of weight denominations, images, inscriptions, to put it mildly, complicated the use of coins. And all this no one cancelled, not withdrawn and not rechecked. There was another reason for the reform. The chronicler was sad: "Under Vasiliy prince began to insane people teaching the enemy to cut old money and put the evil additives in the silver, that many years creating.
In other words, the incredible proliferation of "spoiling money"The medieval craftsmen sawed off a piece of each coin and added something like tin, and there you had a new piece of money. Medieval craftsmen sawed off a piece of each coin, added something like tin, and you had new money. There were more coins, but they were small and "spoiled. Because of the abundance of "counterfeit and counterfeit money," not a day went by that a dozen trade deals in any at least somewhat large settlement were not accompanied by serious scandals.
Coins minted in Novgorod especially suffered - "Novgorodians". The fact is that in the 15th century the Moscow coin - ".moscowThe "Novgorod" was downgraded in weight several times. "Novgorodka" almost did not change it and kept the par value of 0.8 grams, because of which it got a full program. In the 19th century near the town of Staritsa in Tver province, they even found a treasure consisting entirely of scraps of "Novgorodok". The war against swindlers began at the beginning of the reign of Vasily III. Those caught were executed: tin was poured into their mouths, their tongues were torn...
In 1533 there was a new wave of trials of counterfeiters, culminating in public executions. Alas, this was of little use. It was necessary to look for a way out.
"It's not a great loss to the people..."
To a great extent, this solution helped to find... the intensification of diplomatic relations with Germany. The fact is that the Russian state desperately lacked silver for coinage: not a gram of it in Muscovy itself was mined (industrial development of silver will begin in Russia only in the XVII century). Money usually had to be minted from metal that came from international trade, primarily from Germany.
Silver scrap and foreign coins were also used, which were imported into the country as goods. With it foreign merchants paid customs duties. From the border and domestic customs, shipments of thalers went to the palace departments (usually to the Silver Prikaz (office) or the Money Yard). Since the early 30-ies, thanks to the expansion of relations, silver began to arrive much more, and its deficit was practically eliminated. Incidentally, the thalers are not without irony called "plates", as their large coin disk could fit a handful of old Moscow silver money on a plate.
So the reform has begun.. First of all, it was necessary to withdraw, "commandeer" the old money, because the simultaneous circulation of new, full-value coins and a motley, truncated, or even counterfeit mass, left over from the feudal minting period, would have doomed the new money to rapid disappearance in advance.
In February 1535 on behalf of the Grand Duke and Tsar Ivan Vasilievich (the future Terrible, who was five years old at the time) issued a decree to replace the old money with new ones. At the first stage, chronicles recorded a ban only on the circulation of the old "Novgorodoks", but in the next, 1536, the same fate befell the "Muscovy". And finally, in 1538 "all old" was finally banned.
On June 20, 1535 in Novgorod began minting shining silver "Novgorodka". Apparently, a little later began minting new money in other centers - Moscow and Pskov. Incidentally, to make the reforms go easier, the government of Elena Glinskaya adopted a wise, but "expensive" decision: the coins were taken in recoining at a rate which was higher than the previous denomination.
So that the population did not lose too much when exchanging the old money, another measure was adopted: the coins were minted lighter. As announced to the people in the decree: "the people should not be a great loss.
The world's first
Money was issued according to the new, famous in Russian history "three-ruble foot", that is, with a new characteristic of the statutory weight. As the basis of the "foot" was taken pre-Mongol silver hryvnia - 204.756 grams. Before the reform they minted 2.6 rubles from it. After the reform it was already 3 rubles ("three-rouble foot"). Historians unanimously noted: over the next 70 years minting Russian coins was characterized by a rare accuracy of weight and size. The new basis of money circulation were silver ".pennies"Novgorod women with a weight norm of 0.68 g, "money" - "Muscovies" (0.34 g) and "half-scores"(0.17 grams). In the ruble was still considered 100 Novgorod, 200 Muscovy, 400 polushek.
Speaking of. ruble. It was not minted itself, but only served as a conventional unit for calculations and price determination. The Russian ruble of the times of Ivan the Terrible or Boris Godunov is not at all a silver disc of solid size, as it will be much later, but a weighty bag, which contained a hundred or two hundred small coins. Creation kopecks ("Novgorodka") is not for years - for centuries to come - has defined the structure of the Russian monetary system. Decimal account, introduced under Elena Glinskaya, was the first in the world, and only after Russia it was adopted in almost all Europe.
"The Prince is great on horseback..."
In carrying out the reform for the first time was unified not only the weight of coins, but also the images on them, and inscriptions. On "Novgorod", minted in Novgorod and Pskov, was depicted Vasily III: "the great prince on horseback with a spear in his hand... hence the name of the money of the kopeck".That is, kopecks. Traditionally, the "rider" (rider) with a spear was one of the types of images on the Moscow coins, "moskovks". But after the reform of Elena Glinskaya Vasily was already depicted with a saber, because of Moscow "money" and got another name - "sablenitsy". Incidentally, the denominations on the coins were not put, so that their dignity had to distinguish between images: kopecks - the horseman with a spear, money - the horseman with a saber.
Before Alexei Mikhailovich
Alas, there were no sociological surveys at that time, but historians know a lot about the attitude of the towns and villages to the reform. Chronicles do not mention any unrest related to the replacement of the money, but buried treasures at the time can tell a lot about a lot. People's first reaction was pretty much the usual one: everyone who could rushed to hide the pre-reform coins or silver bullion. The old, familiar seemed more reliable. By the 1940s, however, this was all over. The new money was accepted unconditionally. In the same hoards it became practically the only money. It is clear that in Moscow finds money still prevails in number, and in Pskov and Novgorod - kopecks. The dissociation of local monetary systems was finally eliminated. Great pandemonium gave way to an unshakable national uniformity. Already by the 50-ies the money circulation was almost entirely served by new coins. One can only wonder how they managed so quickly, in just three years (1535-1538), and effectively carry out a grand monetary reform in a country where centralized power was still quite weak.
In the early days after the reforms, the coins were not particularly elegant in design. But they had other values. The new system was based only on silver. Elena refused to mint copper "coins for beggars" of the time of Vasili III. Reducing the weight of money, the reform did not affect the quality of silver. Western metal was undergoing additional purification in Russia. Up until 1640-ies Europe did not have more high-grade silver coins. The court of money took silver by weight, carried out purification "coal" or "bone" melting and only after that minted money. It is possible that partly due to this Elena Glinskaya introduced monetary system in general terms lasted until the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. Serious changes did not touch it for a surprisingly long time. Of the many centers of specific coinage by the end of the 30-ies of the 16th century there were four money courts: in Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov and Tver. They continued to operate after the reforms, but with the significant difference that they became the "sovereign's". Issue of money was finally centralized. Henceforth only four cities had masters who were able to do it.
The activities of the mints were strictly controlled by the government: the treasury clung tightly to its monopoly. Incidentally, the Tverskoy Mint was eventually closed.
However, this does not mean that Elena stopped executing counterfeiters. It's just that all the measures she took in combination led to a sharp decrease in the number of "dashing people.
Before Elena Glinskaya was a great prospect. In the year of her death (1538) she was only 30 years old. She was ambitious, intelligent, full of plans ... But on April 3, the Grand Duchess died suddenly. Many of Elena's contemporaries believed that she had been poisoned, but there is no verified data on this. And it is difficult to say what made this extraordinary woman more famous: the fact that she was the mother of Ivan the Terrible, or conducted thanks to her energy monetary reform.