In this article we will try to tell you about alcoholic beverages in our country and the evolution of the tradition of drinking them.
Alcoholic traditions of pre-Mongol Russia
The famous phrase "", the authorship of which is attributed to Vladimir Svyatoslavich, is known to everyone. The "Tale of Bygone Years" claims that she was said by the prince in a conversation with missionaries from the Volga Bulgaria - in response to an offer to accept Islam. For more than a thousand years, this phrase has served as an excuse for all lovers of strong drinks, as well as proof of the "primordial predisposition" of the Russian people to drunkenness.
Even Nekrasov once wrote:
“Aliens of narrow morality, We do not dare to hide
This sign of Russian nature
Yes! The fun of Russia is to drink!"
But we will immediately note for ourselves that the textbook story about the "choice of faith" was compiled not earlier than the XII century and therefore can be considered only as a "historical anecdote". The fact is that the ambassadors from the Khazar Jews, according to the author of the PVL, inform Vladimir that Christians own their land. Meanwhile, the Crusaders controlled Jerusalem and its surrounding territories from 1099 to 1187. And in the 10th century, when Vladimir “chose faith,” Palestine belonged to the Arabs.
But what was the real situation with alcohol consumption in pre-Mongol Russia?
Before the state monopoly on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, wine ransoms or excise taxes were not yet thought of at that time, and therefore the princes did not have any benefit from the drunkenness of their subjects. However, there was still no opportunity to get drunk regularly in Russia at that time.
First, let's find out what exactly the Russians drank under Vladimir Svyatoslavich and his successors.
At that time they did not know strong alcoholic beverages in Russia. Ordinary people drank honey, mash, kvass (in those days, this was the name for thick beer, hence the expression "ferment") and digest (sbiten). In the spring, a seasonal drink was added to them - birch tree (fermented birch sap). The birch tree could be prepared individually. But the rest of the drinks from the above were brewed several times a year by the "artel method" - at once to the whole village or city settlement. The joint use of alcohol at a special feast ("brotherhood") was timed to some holiday ("cherished days") and was of a ritual nature. Intoxication was seen as a special religious state that brings a person closer to the gods and spirits of their ancestors. Participation in such feasts was mandatory. It is believed that this is the origin of the mistrustful attitude towards absolute teetotalers, which is still found in our country. But sometimes the guilty were deprived of the right to visit "brothers". This was one of the most severe punishments: after all, it was believed that a person who was not allowed to the feast was deprived of the protection of both the gods and the ancestors. Christian priests, despite all their efforts, have not been able to overcome the tradition of "coveted" brothers. Therefore, we had to compromise by tying pagan holidays to Christian ones. So, for example, Maslenitsa was tied to Easter and became the week preceding Great Lent.
The drinks prepared for the brothers were natural, "live", and therefore had a limited shelf life. It was impossible to store them for future use.
The exception was honey, familiar to everyone from epics and fairy tales (now this drink is called mead). It could be prepared at any time of the year, in any quantity and in any family. But this intoxicating drink was much more expensive than a digest or mash. The fact is that bee honey (like wax) has long been a strategic commodity in great demand abroad. Most of the extracted honey, not only in pagan times, but also under the Moscow tsars, was exported. And for ordinary people, regular use of mead was too expensive a pleasure. Even at princely feasts, "set honey" (obtained as a result of natural fermentation of bee honey with berry juice) was often served only to the owner and guests of honor. The rest drank the cheaper "boiled" one.
Grape (overseas) wines were even rarer and more expensive drinks. They were divided into "Greek" (brought from the territories of the Byzantine Empire) and "Surya" (that is, "Syrian" - these are wines from Asia Minor). Grape wine was bought mainly for the needs of the Church. But often there was not enough wine even for the sacraments, and then it had to be replaced with olue (a type of beer). Outside the church, “overseas” wine could be served only by a prince or a rich boyar, and even then not every day, but on holidays. At the same time, wine, in accordance with Greek tradition, was diluted with water until the 12th century.
The Scandinavian mercenaries of the Novgorod and Kiev princes did not bring fundamentally new alcoholic traditions to Russia. Beer and honey were also very popular in their homeland. It was honey at their feasts that both the warriors of Valhalla and the gods of Asgard drank. A decoction of fly agaric or some kind of intoxicating herbs, which, according to some researchers, was prepared by the "violent warriors" of the Scandinavians (berserkers), did not become popular in Russia. Apparently, because it was used not for "fun", but on the contrary, to facilitate the way to Valhalla.
So, even low-alcohol drinks were consumed by the bulk of the population of pre-Mongol Russia only a few times a year - on “cherished” holidays. But there was an exception to this rule. The prince was obliged to arrange regular joint feasts for his warriors, who also considered themselves entitled to reproach him for being stingy and greedy. For example, according to the Novgorod Chronicle, in 1016 the warriors of Yaroslav Vladimirovich ("The Wise") scolded the prince at a feast:
"Little boiled honey, but a lot of squads."
Good professional warriors were highly valued and knew their worth. They could leave the tight-fisted prince and leave Kiev for Chernigov or Polotsk (and vice versa). How seriously the princes took the opinion of their warriors into account can be seen from the words of Svyatoslav Igorevich:
“How can I alone accept the Law (ie, be baptized)? My squad will laugh."
And his son Vladimir said:
“You can't get a faithful squad with silver and gold; and with her you will get silver and gold."
At his feasts, the prince, of course, did not want to get his soldiers drunk and turn them into complete alcoholics. The joint feast was supposed to contribute to the establishment of friendly informal relations between the vigilantes. Therefore, drunken quarrels at feasts were not welcomed and severely punished for them. On the other hand, such feasts raised the authority of the generous and hospitable prince, attracted strong and experienced warriors from other principalities to his squad.
But sometimes the warriors demanded drunken feasts not only in the prince's mansion, but also during campaigns. Historians have at their disposal genuine evidence of the tragic consequences of such frivolity. The Scandinavian "Strand of Eimund" claims that in 1015 the soldiers of Boris Vladimirovich (the future "Saint") in their camp "". And the prince was killed by only six (!) Varangians, who attacked his tent at night: "" and without loss "". The Normans presented the head of the future saint to Yaroslav (the Wise), who pretended to be angry and ordered to bury him with honor. If you are interested in what the "accursed" Svyatopolk was doing at that time, open the article The War of the Children of St. Vladimir through the eyes of the authors of the Scandinavian sagas. Here I will only say that at the time of the death of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, he was in prison on charges of treason. After the death of the prince, he managed to free himself and fled to Poland - to his father-in-law Boleslav the Brave, which is confirmed in Polish and German sources. In Russia, he appeared after the death of "Saint" Boris.
In 1377, Russian warriors, sent to repel the Horde troops, "Believing the rumors that Arapsha is far away … they took off their armor and … settled in the surrounding villages to drink strong honey and beer."
Result:
"Arapsha struck the Russians from five sides, so suddenly and quickly that they could neither get ready nor unite and, in general confusion, fled to (the river) Pyana, paved the way with their corpses and carrying the enemy on their shoulders." (Karamzin)
In addition to the rank and file soldiers and many boyars, two princes perished.
The chronicles report that in 1382 the capture of Moscow by Tokhtamysh was preceded by the robbery of wine cellars and general drunkenness among the defenders of the city.
In 1433, Vasily the Dark was utterly defeated and captured by a small army of his uncle Yuri Zvenigorodsky:
"There was no help from the Muscovites, many of them were already drunk, and they were bringing honey with them to drink more."
It is not surprising that Vladimir Monomakh tried to ban the use of alcoholic beverages in the field. In his "Teachings" he specifically pointed out that to the prince "", but "".
Alcoholic drinks and traditions of Moscow Russia
In 1333-1334. the alchemist Arnold Villeneuve, who worked in Provence, obtained alcohol from grape wine by distillation. In 1386 the Genoese ambassadors following from Kafa to Lithuania brought this curiosity to Moscow. Dmitry Donskoy and his courtiers did not like the drink. It was decided that Aquavita could only be used as a medicine. The Genoese did not calm down and again brought alcohol to Moscow - in 1429. Vasily the Dark ruled here at that time, who recognized alcohol as unfit for drinking.
It was around this time that someone figured out how to replace the traditional beer wort with fermented oat, barley, or rye grains. As a result of this experiment, "bread wine" was obtained. There is a legend that the Metropolitan of Kiev Isidor himself (in 1436-1458), the titular (Latin) Patriarch of Constantinople (1458-1463), a supporter of the Union of Florence, who against his will made an important contribution to the proclamation of in 1448 autocephaly of the Moscow Metropolis.
In March 1441, Isidore arrived in Moscow, where he angered Vasily II and the hierarchs of the Russian Church, commemorating Pope Eugene IV during the bishop's service and reading from the pulpit the Cathedral definition of the Ferrara-Florentine Cathedral. He was imprisoned in the Chudov Monastery, where he allegedly invented a new alcoholic drink out of nothing to make. In October of the same year, he fled to Tver, and from there to Lithuania. However, this version seems doubtful to many researchers. Most likely, "bread wine" was obtained at about the same time in different monasteries by local "nuggets".
Meanwhile, since 1431, Burgundy and Rhine wines, which were previously supplied by the merchants of Novgorod, ceased to flow to Russia. And in 1460 the Crimean Tatars captured Kafa, from where they brought wine from Italy and Spain. Honey was still an expensive drink, and the Orthodox Church objected to the use of mash and beer: at that time these drinks were considered pagan. Under these conditions, “bread wine” began to be produced more and more often and in increasing quantities. Over time, there were also "hot spots" - taverns in which it was possible to drink a new intoxicating drink obtained by distilling grain (cereals).
Bread wine was cheap, but unusually strong. With its appearance in the Russian lands, the number of fires increased and the number of beggars who had drunk their property on drink increased.
It turned out that the quality of the new product leaves much to be desired and without additional processing it is unpleasant to drink it, and sometimes even dangerous for health. There was no such problem in the countries of Southern Europe. The Europeans carried out the distillation of grape (as well as some fruit) wines. The Russians used fermented grain (wort) or batter, which contained a large amount of starch and sucrose instead of fructose. The alcohol obtained from fruit raw materials practically does not need to be purified and perfumed. But in the alcohol obtained through the distillation of grain or vegetable products, there is a large admixture of fusel oils and vinegar. To fight off the unpleasant smell of "bread wine" and improve its taste, they began to add herbal additives to it. Hops were especially popular - this is where the well-known expressions "intoxicated drink" and "green" (more precisely, green) wine originate: not from the adjective "green", but from the noun "potion" - grass. The notorious "green serpent", by the way, is also from the "potion". Then they guessed to pass "bread wine" through filters - felt or cloth. Thus, it was possible to reduce the content of fusel oils and aldehydes. In 1789, St. Petersburg chemist Tovy Lovitz established that charcoal is the most effective filter. It was also found that the best result is achieved at a certain concentration of the water-alcohol mixture. You probably already guessed what the optimal dilution of alcohol turned out to be: from 35 to 45 degrees.
Since the raw materials for the production of "bread wine" were both cheap and available, they began to "brew" it almost everywhere. This "homemade" drink was then called "tavern" - from the word "korchaga", meaning a vessel used to make "bread wine." And the well-known word "moonshine" appeared only at the end of the 19th century. Later, the word "tavern" was used to refer to taverns in which "bread wine" was served.
There is an interesting version, according to which the broken trough, which served as a symbol of misfortune in Pushkin's "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish", was intended precisely for the preparation of "bread wine". The peasant way of making it was as follows: the pot with home brew was covered with another pot, put in a trough and sent to the oven. At the same time, in the process of cooking the mash, spontaneous distillation took place, the products of which fell into the trough.
Back in the 19th century, a proverb was recorded in the villages:
"Happiness is a trough covered with a crater."
The trough of the old men from Pushkin's fairy tale was broken, therefore, they could not prepare "bread wine".
So, the Russian people got acquainted with strong alcoholic drinks later than the inhabitants of Western Europe. It is believed that this is precisely why most of our compatriots have the so-called "Asian gene", which activates enzymes that break down alcohol entering the body. Carriers of this gene get drunk slowly, but toxic metabolites of ethyl alcohol are formed and accumulated in their bodies faster. This leads to damage to internal organs and increases the frequency of death from alcohol intoxication. Researchers believe that in Europe, carriers of the Asian gene have already been "rejected" by evolution, while in Russia this process is still ongoing.
But let's go back to the 15th century and see that in Russia then the first attempts were made to monopolize the production of alcohol. According to the Venetian traveler Josaphat Barbaro, this was done by Ivan III between 1472-1478. One of the reasons was the concern of the Grand Duke about the growing drunkenness on the territory of his state. And there was an attempt to take control of the situation. Representatives of the lower classes under Ivan III were officially allowed to consume alcoholic beverages only 4 times a year - on holidays established in pre-Christian times.
In this illustration by V. Vasnetsov to "The Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young oprichnik and the dashing merchant Kalashnikov," we see the feast of Ivan the Terrible, the grandson of Ivan III:
After the capture of Kazan, Ivan IV ordered the establishment of taverns in Moscow (translated from Tatar, this word means “inn).
The first tavern was opened in 1535 on Balchug. At first, only guardsmen were allowed into the taverns, and this was seen as one of the privileges.
Bread wine was served in taverns without appetizers: from here comes the tradition of "sniffing" the vodka with a sleeve. Wives and other relatives were forbidden to take the drunk out of the tavern as long as they had money.
The taverns were run by kissers (who kissed the cross, promising not to steal).
For the first time this word is recorded in the "Code of Laws" by Ivan III. The kisselovniki were divided into judicial, customs, and privates (these watched over the trade rows). Later they were called bailiffs. But the attendants of the taverns remained kissers.
The construction of a state-owned tavern, by the way, was the duty of the neighboring peasants. They also had to support a kissing man, who did not receive the royal salary. And so they said about these tavern workers:
"If the kisser does not steal, then there is nowhere to get bread."
The kisses "stole": for themselves, and for bribes to the clerks and the governor. And if the kissing man ran away with the money raised, the whole village was put on the right, the inhabitants of which were obliged to cover the shortage. Since everyone knew about the theft of the kissers, but it was impossible to refuse their services, the God-fearing Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich even canceled kissing the cross for them so that they would not destroy their souls by perjury. But, as smart people warned the tsar, the innkeepers freed from kissing the cross became completely insolent and began to “steal” so much that two years later the oath had to be restored.
In this lithograph of Ignatius Shchedrovsky, the kissing man put his hand on the shoulder of the cooper's wife:
The tsars granted the right to open their own tavern in the form of a special favor. So, Fyodor Ioannovich allowed one of the representatives of the Shuisky family to open taverns in Pskov. The Polish king Sigismund, seeking the election of his son Vladislav as the Russian tsar, also generously promised a "grant of taverns" to the members of the Boyar Duma. Those of the boyars whom Sigismund deprived of received the right to open taverns from the Tushino thief (False Dmitry II). And Vasily Shuisky, in search of support, began to distribute certificates for the right to open taverns to people of the merchant class (this right was later taken away from them by Elizabeth in 1759 - at the request of the nobles, whose taverns competed with merchants). There were also monastic taverns. Even Patriarch Nikon begged Alexei Mikhailovich for a tavern for his New Jerusalem monastery.
Mikhail Romanov, the first king of this dynasty, obliged taverns to annually contribute a fixed amount of money to the treasury. If the local peasants could not drink such an amount on drink, the "arrears" were collected from the entire local population. The most cunning kissing people, trying to collect more money, arranged games of cards and grain in the tavern. And the most enterprising also kept "prodigal wives" at the pub. Such cynicism of the authorities aroused indignation among some priests, who ranked drunkenness as the original sins of mankind. In the then spread "The Tale of Misfortune" (the hero of which drinks his wealth), it was argued that it was drunkenness that caused the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, and the forbidden fruit was the vine:
The devil in many works of those years is portrayed as similar to the kissing man, and in sermons he is directly compared with him.
Particularly implacable opponents of drunkenness were the preachers of the Old Believers. Here is how, for example, the famous archpriest Avvakum describes drinking establishments:
“Word for word happens (in a tavern), that in paradise under Adam and Eve … The devil brought him into trouble, and himself and to the side. The crafty owner got me drunk, and pushed me out of the yard. Drunk lying robbed in the street, and no one will have mercy."
Kabaks were portrayed as the Anti-Church - "".
But the state policy of getting the people drunk bore fruit, and in the 40s of the 17th century (under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich), as a result of the prolonged celebration of Easter in some volosts, drunken peasants could not even start sowing in time. Under this tsar, by the way, there were already about a thousand taverns in Russia.
In 1613, the first vineyards were planted near Astrakhan (the wine produced here was called chigir). Under Alexei Mikhailovich, grapes were planted on the Don, under Peter I - on the Terek. But then it did not come to marketable production of wine.
Under Alexei Romanov, a serious struggle was waged against home brewing, which undermined the state budget. People were supposed to get drunk only in taverns, buying "bread wine" there at clearly inflated prices.
In 1648, "tavern riots" began in Moscow and some other cities, caused by attempts by the authorities to collect debts from the population to taverns. Even the government realized then that in the pursuit of easy money they went too far. The Zemsky Sobor was convened, which received the name "Sobor about taverns". It was decided to close private drinking establishments, which enterprising landowners unauthorizedly opened for their peasants. In state-owned taverns it was now impossible to trade on credit and on mortgage. Distilling was prohibited in monasteries and manor houses. Kselovalniks were instructed not to open taverns on Sundays, holidays and fast days, as well as at night, and to sell alcohol to take away. The innkeepers had to make sure that none of the clients "". But the "plan" to collect "drunken" money from the population was not canceled. And therefore, "", the authorities have significantly increased the prices for alcohol.
And the taverns themselves were then renamed into "kruzhechny dvors".
