Private life of a Russian woman of the 18th century. Everyday life of women

The 18th century was a century of contrasts in Russia. Through the window cut into Europe by Peter I, European customs began to seep into Russian life. Russian life turned into a bizarre mixture of “French and Nizhny Novgorod”, and this was reflected literally in everything, including, of course, such a delicate subject as love.
In pre-Petrine Russia, young men and women very often met after courtship, but even then, right up to the wedding itself, an impassable abyss of prejudice and false modesty lay between them. Attempts to overcome it were strictly suppressed by the parents, who not only did not allow the young people to approach each other, but even prevented their simple communication. A premarital love affair was out of the question! Lovers who managed to deceive the vigilance of their parents risked more than their reputation. A girl caught with her beloved was, at best, waiting for a monastery. The young man could end up in exile, or even lose his life. The accusation of adultery remained on them forever - like a brand.
But then Peter appeared, built a new capital, and it was there, in St. Petersburg, that innovations were met, which were introduced into Russian life by the firm hand of the restless tsar and the former way of life that had migrated from Moscow. One can imagine what it was like for yesterday's boyars to take their daughters to assemblies in open dresses, when until recently it was considered sinful to even mentally imagine a woman in this form! Moreover, at the assemblies, a newfangled petimeter (from French this word is translated as a dandy) could approach the girl with impunity, turn her head overnight and destroy the fruits of Domostroy's upbringing.
The fathers, however, had nothing to do, and in fear of the king's tough temper, they had to obey. It seemed that the Russian beauties received freedom, but that was not the case - freedom was purely external, and at home the fathers took revenge. So the families of Russian nobles lived, where there were daughters, a double life - for show quite in a European way, and behind the walls of their houses in the same way as a hundred or two hundred years ago.
Therefore, in order to get to know the girl they liked better, young people went to all sorts of tricks, especially since such behavior was not forbidden by the new morality. For example, the midshipman Smolyaninov climbed into the attic in the house of Prince G. in the hope of waiting for the night and from there to enter the chambers of the young princess, but the house, unfortunately, turned out to be dilapidated, and at one fine moment Smolyaninov fell right into the bedroom of the princess mother. The poor fellow was taken for a devil and barely took his feet from the servants, who were disposed towards evil spirits very decisively. Another young admirer made his way into the princely mansions, disguised as a courtyard girl, and by mistake got into the room where the owner of the house, a great female lover, rested after a plentiful libation. Opening his eyes and seeing a girl beside him, the owner immediately gave free rein to his hands and almost breathed his last with fear when the girl spoke in a bass voice. Both stories reached the king. Peter laughed and did not punish the insolent.
Young people who were not so brave had to watch the objects of their adoration from afar, and the girl was often unaware of the existence of an ardent admirer. The poor things did not often get married according to their own inclination, and sometimes they got the opportunity to really see the betrothed only at the crown.
In the vast majority of couples, the courtship period was completely absent. And how was it to look after if young people were not allowed to talk without witnesses, and the flowers sent to the bride before the official matchmaking looked extremely indecent in the eyes of the old-time parents and could upset the marriage?
At the same time, the cream of the noble society, who quickly adopted Western customs, were more free in expressing their feelings. No one was shocked, for example, by the appearance of the Holstein Duke Karl under the balcony of his future wife Anna Petrovna with a whole orchestra and singers who sang serenades instead of the duke, who had neither voice nor hearing. The behavior of His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Potemkin, in whom the high society saw a trendsetter, during his romance with the famous beauty Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova is indicative. Once Potemkin arranged a sumptuous dinner in honor of his passion. Especially, according to the general opinion, the dessert prepared by the Most Serene Prince himself was a success - crystal vases filled with diamonds were served, and everyone present could work with a spoon to their heart's content. However, the Most Serene Prince was fickle and soon arranged no less fabulous spectacles in honor of another beauty. Being faithful was not in the customs of men of the 18th century.
Another thing is women. If we discard the ladies of high society, for whom, since the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, it was considered bad form not to have a lover, then loyalty should be recognized as the main distinguishing feature of a Russian woman. Often, however, it was forced fidelity. A memoirist of the end of the 18th century, not without irony, concluded: “One might say, only women loved us.” Girls were protected from the slightest contact with worldly experience and entered into marriage in chaste ignorance. Experience was replaced by imagination, the future husband was painted by him in pink colors, and at first they fell in love with him recklessly. They got married at the age of fourteen or fifteen, then family worries began, children were born, and the first man most often turned out to be the only one for life - even if love for him faded away.
The most common way to fight for the right to freely love the one to whom the soul reaches out is to escape and secretly marry a loved one. There were not as many such incidents as it might seem, if you study history by literary works, but among them there are truly amazing. A poor nobleman, Redkov, kidnapped a girl of a noble family and brought her to church, but before the priest had time to start the wedding ceremony, the pursuers appeared. Redkov's friends rode out to meet them, and a real battle ensued in the field, which continued until the unsuspecting priest was crowning the newlyweds.
And here is a completely unique case: a certain girl Anastasia, having learned that matchmakers had arrived from an old widower, climbed out the window and went to the barracks of the cavalry guards, where officer Myagkov served, whom they met the day before and hardly exchanged two or three words. It is impossible to imagine that Anastasia told Myagkov, but the cavalry guard took her to the apartment, and the very next day they left the church husband and wife.
Not everyone, however, happiness was given with such a risk. Most married couples arose in the traditional way, and the fact that the young people were barely acquainted before the wedding did not always interfere with their future married life. Typical in this sense is the story of the marriage of the famous Russian poet Gavrila Derzhavin, told by himself. After three fleeting meetings, he fell in love with the seventeen-year-old girl Ekaterina Bastidonova to death and sent his friend Kirilov "to make an urgent proposal to mother and daughter." After listening to the matchmaker, Bastidonova-mother asked for a few days to answer and rushed to collect information about the groom. During these days, Derzhavin could not stand it and stopped by the Bastidonovs. Mother was not at home. Taking advantage of this, the poet asked Catherine if she knew "about the search for him." “Mother told me,” the girl answered. "What do you think of that?" “Everything depends on her.” "But... can I hope?" - "You do not disgust me ..." Then the mother returned and found Derzhavin at the feet of her daughter. Fortunately, the information collected about the groom put him in a favorable light, and the liberty of behavior was forgiven to the poet. On the same day, the engagement took place, soon the young people got married and lived in love and harmony for many years.
Alexander Rumyantsev and Marya Matveeva, the parents of the outstanding Russian commander Pyotr Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, did not even have such a “declaration of love” before the wedding. Alexander Rumyantsev got out of the very bottom into the inner circle of Peter I, but did not acquire a fortune and decided to improve the situation by marriage. He wooed the daughter of a rich man, received consent and a promise to give a thousand souls as a dowry. This became known to the king, who wished to see the bride. In the evening he came to her father, stood at the door, peering intently at the girl, and said: "Nothing will happen." The rich chosen one of Rumyantsev was indeed terrible, like a mortal sin. The next day, the tsar summoned Rumyantsev and with the words: “Get ready, we’ll go to woo,” he took him to Count Andrei Matveev, his distant relative, who had a nineteen-year-old beautiful daughter of marriageable age. The wedding was played without delay.
Russian monarchs (and, in imitation of them, the court nobility) adored arranging matrimonial affairs for their entourage. Sometimes their consultants were professional matchmakers and matchmakers who served the nobles of all ranks. In the “card file” of the then marriage agents, along with the name and age of the young lady, a detailed inventory of the dowry and the conditions on which the parents agree to give her in marriage was entered. Most often, women were engaged in matchmaking, but it happened that men also earned their living from this craft. Among them came across true virtuosos of their craft. The clever young man Guryev, who managed to arrange the wedding of the Polish rich Count Skavronsky with the beautiful Ekaterina Engelhardt, the niece of the powerful Potemkin, received from the grateful count three thousand souls of peasants as a reward and immediately turned into the richest person.
Inexpressiveness and for the most part lack of courtship was compensated in Russia by the pomp of weddings. At the same time, the higher the position of the newlyweds, the longer the wedding lasted, sometimes turning into a grueling marathon. So, during the wedding of Anna Leopoldovna, the niece of Empress Anna Ioannovna, and Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick, the future parents of the infant Tsar Ivan Antonovich, only the wedding procession moved for eleven (!) Hours, and the whole festival lasted seven days. Solemn exits were replaced by parade departures, upon returning from which receptions followed, smoothly flowing into dinners, and in the evenings balls alternated with concerts ...
And here is how the wedding of Count Pushkin and Princess Lobanova took place at the end of the first quarter of the 18th century. The young people who arrived from the church were met by the marshal, that is, the wedding manager (Peter I often played this role at the weddings of the Russian nobility with pleasure), and seated at tables under canopies - the bride at the women's table, the groom at the men's. Then the hosts and guests prayed, the marshal brought a glass of vodka to the newlyweds, and dinner began with endless changes of dishes. The marshal made toasts, personally served glasses to the groom, the bride and their relatives, and made sure that everyone drank to the bottom. The first day of the wedding ended with a ball, after which, already close to midnight, the guests lit torches and crowded into the bride’s bedroom, where two tables were waiting for them: one with sweets for everyone and the other personally for the groom, who was supposed to get drunk (alas, sobriety Russian newlyweds in the old days - this is a myth!). All this time, from early morning until late evening, the bride was chained in a rigid corsage and dressed in a stiff brocade skirt. On her head was - in the fashion of the time - a giant structure of hair and various objects woven into them.
Preparing the newlyweds for the first night was a rather complicated ritual. This is how the future emperor was escorted to the marriage bed Peter III and the future Empress Catherine II. The newlywed was undressed by Empress Elizabeth, Princess of Hesse, Catherine's mother, Joanna Elizaveta, Countess Rumyantseva (the same one, the daughter of Count Matveev) and a dozen other ladies and ladies-in-waiting. The naked bride was dressed in a shirt, and a dressing gown was put on over the shirt. Meanwhile, in the next room, Count Razumovsky (the secret husband of the Empress), Prince August of Holstein and several other nobles were undressing the Grand Duke. Then Peter, also dressed in a robe, was brought to Catherine's chambers. The newlyweds knelt before Elizabeth and received her blessing. After that, the empress left the bedroom with her entourage, and three ladies remained with Peter and Catherine - Joanna Elizabeth, Princess of Hesse and Countess Rumyantseva. They put the newlyweds to bed, gave them their last instructions, and only after that they left.
Exactly sixteen years after this wedding night, Catherine II became Empress. Her reign broke the tradition of "Domostroy" among the nobility of the capital and thus, by the way, led to the flourishing of Russian culture at the beginning of the next century - we call this time Pushkin's. A new era has come when love has ceased to be Cinderella at the ball of life. And in fact - what can be a ball without love?

Being rich and healthy is sometimes very boring. The latest fashion in Moscow: in order to dispel sadness, sadness, the wealthiest gentlemen and ladies give up money, power and position to become a street musician, a prostitute and even a homeless person

Lenka married a guy "what you need." A large printing business, a luxurious apartment, three foreign cars, money - chickens do not peck. Not life, but a holiday. But Lenka began to notice that her husband was coming home boring, boring.

Maybe we'll go to the cinema or go to Paris for the weekend! She tried to cheer him up. But he is in no way. And only one mumbles:

Leave me alone! Everything is dead tired!

She bought new erotic lingerie, lit candles in the house, filled the air with the smell of alluring ylang-ylang, and waited for her beloved to come. And the beloved remained indifferent to the inventions of his wife.

But then one day Lena learned from a friend that a company appeared in Moscow that arranges new, unlike anything else, entertainment for the rich. Like, men can play homeless and sit with outstretched hand somewhere in the underpass. And women - to try their hand at the role of prostitutes. Lenka did not believe it, but curiosity got the better of her, and she dialed the phone number of a strange company.

Men chip off $500 each. This is so that the game has an incentive - they quickly brought it up to date. - Then we dress everyone up as homeless people and take them to the square of three stations. And then - two hours entirely at your disposal. Who earns more money - he takes the whole amount.

Then Lena was explained the rules of the game "for girls":

Well, all these Gucci and Christian Dior will have to be removed. Visit a market. It is good to buy over the knee boots, fishnet stockings, a wig, leather shorts. Brighter makeup, cheaper perfume. And in the late afternoon, a minibus will take you to a quiet side street near the Garden Ring. There will be your "point". Whoever they try to take away more often during the evening will be the winner. Just don't worry, your task is to take the man down, agree on a price with him, and when the time comes to leave with him, the police, that is, our people, randomly swoop in here.

On the same evening, Lena told the super news to her husband, and a long-extinguished light flashed in Gena's eyes.

Big entertainer Sergey Knyazev is a well-known personality in the world of show business. Exclusive "pajama parties" for the capital's bohemians, Moscow body art festivals in Serebryany Bor, women's ultimate fights in nightclubs, women's rally among pop stars, cinema and TV - for two years, the secular life of the capital was stirred up by a string of Sergey's author's projects. He also managed to make a mark abroad: he organized a carnival in Cyprus, a medieval-style show in Spain, a ball of virgins in Venice.

The correspondent of the newspaper met with Knyazev in a small cafe to talk about the new direction of his business.

I call the public side of my activity "white" projects, - Sergey said. - And entertainment for wealthy people is the so-called gray side of my business.

You mean underground?

My clients are very rich people. Many of them are very famous. They do not want to advertise their pastime. Therefore, the circle of people who have fun in this way is very narrow: about forty big businessmen, financiers, politicians. All of them are one team, which I called the "All-Joking Cathedral". Remember, in the time of Peter the Great there was "The most mad, all-joking and all-drunk cathedral." Peter instituted 12 "cardinals" and a staff of "bishops and archimandrites" with obscene nicknames. Together they changed clothes, got drunk in the trash, came up with jokes and practical jokes on people. I thought, why not revive the forgotten traditions and remember how the nobility used to have fun in Russia ...

The scale of Knyazev is impressive: make-up artists who turn decent faces into hangovers, professional security who conducts covert surveillance of each participant in the game, an agreement with the police to ensure the safety of the project - everything is thought out to the smallest detail.

On Saturday, exactly at seven in the evening, Gena was "at his post" - he was sitting at the entrance to the Komsomolskaya metro station. Next to him flaunted old, peeled crutches. On the chest hung a sign "Give for a prosthesis." Before leaving, they made him up and drew a black eye under his eye. Gena tried not to breathe. He was specially rubbed with rotten radish, which exactly resembled the smell of a toilet. In front of the "unfortunate invalid" was a shoebox, which, quite unexpectedly for Peter, began to fill with coins.

At this time, at different ends of the station, other members of the game "came off" as best they could. The chairman of a reputable bank, who usually did not take a step without his muzzle-bodyguards, acted as a clairvoyant. He walked barefoot on the cold autumn asphalt with a sign "magician" in his hands and told the people about his unearthly energy, which does not allow him to freeze at night in a snowdrift. For 10 rubles, he gave out horoscopes to the right and left, for 20 rubles he predicted the future.

There were a couple of disguised people working next door. A very tough gas businessman with a little flea bean under his arm was raising money for a pet shelter. The owner of several fashionable boutiques asked for a return ticket to his native village, and the director of a large metallurgical plant next to a beer stall molested people and demanded to submit how much it was not a pity to get drunk.

The game of prostitutes and homeless people is my most popular brainchild, - says Sergey Knyazev. - All clients are always satisfied and demand "continuation of the banquet". You know, it's very interesting to watch them when they play for the second time: they fight among themselves for a place, because they already know where the most advantageous point on the square of three stations is and where you can earn more. They are not afraid on occasion and deal with real homeless people ...

And how do men feel about the fact that their respectable wives portray prostitutes?

You know, it's a lot of fun. When girls pretend to be prostitutes, their husbands stand by and pretend to be pimps. Sometimes they even yell at their wives: they say, why are others being filmed, but you are not? They say: "You look bad! Let's smile or unbutton your blouse more!" Moreover, husbands later tell me how such an emotional shake-up positively affects their intimate life. Passion flares up again between the spouses, they literally remember their honeymoon.

Have there never been any complications from unsuspecting men who just came to pick up a girl?

Somehow one client really liked the lady. And, despite the police raid, he came again. I had to give instructions to the guards to “negotiate” with a comrade and make sure that he never returned.

Otpad! - goggled at his wife Gena. - You look like a real whore!

All Friday, Lenka ran around the markets, trying to find an outfit for herself. As a result, she appeared before her husband in a transparent blouse with a bottomless neckline, a miniskirt barely covering her butt, from under which an elastic band of lace stockings stuck out, and in shiny patent leather shoes with high heels. In this form, she went on the appointed evening to a removable point.

At the most crucial moment, when everything was already on the ointment and it was necessary to "get to work", the police left the neighboring lane with flashing lights.

Well you give, girlfriend! - Lenka was admired by her "accomplices", who could not relax and forget that they were ladies from high society. - How can you twirl your booty in front of these types who paw you!

In addition to dressing up as homeless people and prostitutes, there are many other entertainments for the wealthy public. The cost of a person's participation in the show ranges from 3 to 5 thousand dollars, depending on the scale of the idea.

At one time, we had fun quite hard, ”recalls Knyazev. - You know, single women advertise in the newspapers that they want to meet and all that. And now imagine that almost a prince on a white horse comes on a date to such an already desperate woman. Only instead of the horse "Mercedes" and another escort car. The woman is in shock, a luxurious man takes her to the best restaurant, compliments her, and then gives her flowers, escorts her home. The next day there is another, on the third day - the third. Of course, no one calls her afterwards. That's not the point of the game. It's just very interesting to sit and watch the reaction of a person who has fallen on his head with happiness.

Even Knyazev and the company played assistant gynecologists, negotiating with real doctors.

I understand it sounds shocking. But imagine the thrill of my clients. And what about women? They still do not know that they have become participants in the game.

Another toy is called Night Glide.

We bring all clients to the Sanduny baths, take away their money, things, mobile phones. We change into Chinese training suits and then land the "landing troops" in this form on Taganskaya Square. The task is as follows: whoever gets to the River Station faster is the winner. I am amazed at the invention of the players. Someone weaves to the driver that his wife is giving birth, and asks to bring an understanding fellow traveler. Someone has enough imagination to give out that his wife, apparently, is cheating on him at the moment and he urgently needs to go check.

The members of the "All-Jokes' Cathedral" also like to dress up as street musicians - to yell on the Arbat, who are in what much dashing songs and ditties. Sometimes at night they "work" as taxi drivers. For these purposes, they negotiate with some taxi fleet and rent fifteen cars for the night.

For them, it's a thrill to spin the steering wheel, chat with ordinary people Sergey explains.

Knyazev also has "government" amusements in his assortment.

You see, they are bored in Barvikha, so they have to come up with something, - says Sergey. - For example, who will quickly clear the area of ​​snow on a snowplow in winter. Or else we dress up as traffic cops. We set up traffic police posts on Rublevskoye Highway and stop the cars in a simpler way. Imagine this picture: the inspector stops you and says the following text: "Why is the car dirty? You are going to Moscow. Take a hundred rubles and wash it." Or we stop the girl and say: "Why go to Moscow without a manicure? Take a hundred rubles and do it."

The next day, Gena and Lena had a grand party at their house. Gathered all the participants of yesterday's event.

Screwed up, invalid! - Lena repeated to her husband all evening, hinting that Vladimir Sergeevich turned out to be the best in the men's team, just a "magician".

What a vulgar expression you have, got enough! - Gena was indignant, but deep down he was glad that his wife turned out to be the most stunning girl.

Then they all watched the video made by a hidden camera together.

Just a masterpiece! - the director of the metallurgical plant laughed, watching how he counted the little change with trembling hands and took away the empty beer bottles from the boys. - It will be necessary to show the film to the companions. Now that's adrenaline!

Something the giraffe Marius remembered today :(

fox toss

Throwing a fox was a common competitive pastime (bloody sport) in some parts of Europe in the 17th and XVIII centuries and consisted in throwing live foxes and other animals as high as possible into the sky. Throwing usually took place in the forest or in the courtyard of a castle or palace, on a round platform enclosed by a stretched canvas.

Two people stood at a distance of six or seven meters from each other, holding on to the ends of the sling, which was laid out between them on the ground. Then the beast was released into the arena. When he ran between the players, they pulled the ends of the sling with all their might, throwing the animal into the air. The victory in the competition was awarded for the highest throw. The height of the throws of experienced players could reach seven meters or more. It happened that several slings were laid out in parallel at once, so that several teams could participate in a row in throwing one animal.

For a thrown animal, the outcome, as a rule, was tragic. In 1648, in Dresden, at a competition organized by the Elector of Saxony, August the Strong, 647 foxes, 533 hares, 34 badgers and 21 forest cats were thrown and killed. August personally took part in the competition. According to stories, demonstrating his strength, he held his end of the sling with one finger, while on the other hand it was held by two of the strongest servants.

Rat-baiting

Rat-baiting was especially popular in the UK and only disappeared in the early 20th century. The fashion for this fun appeared thanks to an act of Parliament in 1835, which introduced a ban on baiting bears, bulls and other large animals.

The persecution took place in the arena, fenced with a barrier. Spectator seats were placed around the amphitheater, at first five rats were launched into the arena for each participating dog.

Bull Terrier Jacko set several records - 100 rats in 5 minutes 28 seconds, 1000 rats in less than 100 minutes.

The last public persecution took place in 1912. The disappearance of bloody fun was largely facilitated by Queen Victoria's love for animals and the change in attitude towards dogs to a more humane one.

Cock tossing

"First Stage of Cruelty", engraving by William Hogarth (1751)

The fun was that the audience threw sticks at a potted rooster until the bird breathed its last. Usually this action took place on Fat Tuesday (carnival time). In some cases, the bird was tied to a log, or those throwing sticks were blindfolded. In Sussex, the bird was tied to a peg with a line five or six feet long, so that it could peck at a sluggish bully.

Unlike cockfighting, rooster throwing was common among the lower classes. When in 1660 the authorities of Bristol tried to ban this entertainment, apprentices rebelled in the city. Some wits wrote that the rooster in this game symbolizes the old enemy of the British - France (the rooster is one of the national symbols of France).

During the Enlightenment, this activity was ridiculed in the press as a relic of medieval barbarism and, as a result, gradually faded away.

stretching goose

A blood sport that was widespread in the Netherlands, Belgium, some areas of Germany, Great Britain and North America during the period from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century.

The meaning of this fun was as follows: a live goose with a well-greased head was tied by the legs to a horizontal pole, located at a sufficiently high height and attached to two vertical poles that formed a gate-like structure. The man had to ride a horse at full gallop through these "gates" and be able to grab the goose by the head, thereby tearing it off. It was quite difficult to do this due to the grease on the goose's head and the fluttering of the bird; sometimes additional elements of complexity were introduced in the competitions - for example, a person with a whip was sometimes placed near the “gate”, which was supposed to frighten the approaching horse with his blows. The prize for winning the competition was usually the goose itself, sometimes small sums of money collected from the audience, or alcoholic beverages.

Stretching Goose Fun Today, Belgium. Video

The life of provincial noblewomen, flowing far from major cities, had many points of contact with the life of the peasants and retained a number of traditional features, since it was family-oriented and caring for children.

If the day was supposed to be a normal weekday and there were no guests in the house, then the morning meal was served simply. Hot milk, currant leaf tea, "cream porridge", "coffee, tea, eggs, bread and butter and honey" were served for breakfast. The children ate "before the elders' dinner for an hour or two", for food "one of the nannies was present."

After breakfast, the children sat down for lessons, and for the mistress of the estate, all morning and afternoon hours passed in endless household chores. There were especially many of them when the hostess did not have a husband or assistant in the person of her son and was forced to dominate herself.

Families in which, from early morning, “mother was busy with work - housekeeping, affairs of the estate ... and father with service”, was in Russia XVIII - early XIX v. enough. This is what private correspondence says. In the wife-mistress, they felt an assistant who was supposed to “rule the house autocratically or, better, autocratically” (G. S. Vinsky). “Everyone knew his job and performed it diligently,” if the hostess was diligent. The number of courtyards under the control of the landowner was sometimes very large. According to foreigners, there were from 400 to 800 yard people in a rich landowner's estate. “Now I can’t believe myself where to keep so many people, but then it was accepted,” E. P. Yankova was surprised, recalling her childhood, which came at the turn of the 18th–19th centuries.

The life of a noblewoman in her estate proceeded monotonously and leisurely. Morning activities (in the summer - in the "prolific garden", in the field, at other times of the year - around the house) were completed by a relatively early lunch, followed by a daytime sleep - a daily routine unthinkable for a city dweller! In summer, on hot days, “at five in the afternoon” (after sleep) they went for a swim, and in the evening, after dinner (which “was even tighter, since it was not so hot”), they “cooled” on the porch, “letting the children go to rest” .
The main thing that diversified this monotony was the "celebrations and amusements" that took place during the frequent arrivals of guests.

In addition to conversations, games, especially card games, were a form of joint leisure of provincial landowners. The ladies of the estates - like the old countess in The Queen of Spades - loved this occupation.

The provincial ladies and their daughters, who eventually moved to the city and became residents of the capital, assessed their life in the estate as “quite vulgar”, but while they lived there, it did not seem so to them. What was unacceptable and reprehensible in the city seemed possible and decent in the countryside: rural landowners could “not go out of their dressing gown all day”, did not do fashionable intricate hairstyles, “dined at 8 o’clock in the evening”, when many townspeople “had time for lunch”, etc.

If the way of life of provincial young ladies and landowners was not too constrained by etiquette norms and assumed the freedom of individual whims, then the everyday life of the capital's noblewomen was predetermined by generally accepted norms. Secular ladies who lived in the XVIII - early XIX century. in the capital or in a large Russian city, led a life only partly similar to the way of life of the inhabitants of the estates, and even more so not like the life of a peasant.

The day of a city woman of the privileged class began somewhat, and sometimes much later, than that of provincial landowners. Petersburg (the capital!) demanded greater observance of etiquette and time rules and daily routine; in Moscow, as noted by V. N. Golovina, comparing life in it with the capital, “the way of life (was) simple and unobtrusive, without the slightest etiquette” and, in her opinion, should “please everyone”: the actual life of the city began “ at 9 o'clock in the evening", when all "houses turned out to be open", and "morning and afternoon could (was) be spent as you like".

Most of the noblewomen in the cities spent their mornings and afternoons “in public”, exchanging news about acquaintances and friends. Therefore, unlike rural landowners, city women began with makeup: “In the morning we blushed slightly so that our face would not be too red ...” After a morning toilet and a fairly light breakfast (for example, “from fruit, yogurt and excellent mocha coffee”) it was the turn to think about the outfit: even on a normal day, a noblewoman in the city could not afford negligence in clothes, shoes “without heels” (until the fashion for empire simplicity and slippers instead of shoes came), lack of hair. M. M. Shcherbatov mentioned with a sneer that other “young women”, having done their hair for some long-awaited holiday, “were forced to sleep until the day of departure, so as not to spoil the dress.” And although, according to the Englishwoman Lady Rondo, Russian men of that time looked at “women only as funny and pretty toys that could entertain,” women themselves often subtly understood the possibilities and limits of their own power over men, associated with a well-chosen costume or jewelry.

The ability to “fit” oneself into the situation, to conduct a conversation on an equal footing with any person from a member of the imperial family to a commoner, aristocrats were specially taught from an early age (“Her conversation can please both the princess and the trader’s wife, and each of them will be satisfied with the conversation”). We had to communicate daily and in large quantities. Assessing the female character and "virtues", many memoirists did not accidentally single out the ability of the women they describe to be pleasant companions. Conversations were the main means of exchanging information for city dwellers and filled many most day.

Unlike the provincial-rural, the urban lifestyle required compliance with etiquette rules (sometimes to the point of stiffness) - and at the same time, in contrast, allowed originality, individuality of female characters and behavior, the possibility of a woman’s self-realization not only in the family circle and not only in the role of wife or mothers, but also maids of honor, courtiers or even ladies of state.

Most of the women who dreamed of looking like “socialites”, “having titles, wealth, nobility, clung to the court, exposing themselves to humiliation”, just to “achieve a condescending look” the mighty of the world this, - and in that they saw not only a “reason” for visiting public spectacles and festivities, but also their life goal. The mothers of young girls, who understood what role well-chosen lovers from among the aristocrats close to the court could play in the fate of their daughters, did not hesitate to enter into easy intimate relationships themselves, and “throw” their daughters “into the arms” of those who were in favor. In a rural province, such a model of behavior for a noblewoman was unthinkable, but in a city, especially in the capital, all this turned into the norm.

But it was by no means such purely feminine "gatherings" that made the weather in the social life of the capitals. The townspeople of the merchant and petty-bourgeois classes tried to imitate the aristocrats, but the general level of education and spiritual inquiries was lower among them. Wealthy merchants considered it a blessing to marry their daughter to a “noble” or to intermarry with a noble family, however, meeting a noblewoman in a merchant environment was in the 18th - early 19th centuries. the same rarity as the merchant's wife in the nobility.

The entire merchant family, unlike the noble family, got up at dawn - "very early, at 4 o'clock, in winter at 6". After tea and a fairly hearty breakfast (in the merchant and wider urban environment it became customary to “eat tea” for breakfast and generally drink tea for a long time), the owner of the family and the adult sons who helped him went to bargain; among small merchants, together with the head of the family, the wife often busied herself in the shop or at the bazaar. Many merchants saw in their wife "a smart friend, whose advice is dear, whose advice one must ask, and whose advice is often followed." The main daily duty of women from merchant and petty-bourgeois families was household chores. If the family had the means to hire servants, then the most difficult types of daily work were carried out by visiting or living in the house servants. “Chelyadintsy, as everywhere else, were livestock; those close ... had the best attire and maintenance, others ... - one necessary, and then economically. The wealthy merchants could afford to maintain a whole staff of household helpers, and in the mornings the housekeeper and maids, nannies and janitors, girls taken into the house for sewing, darning, repairs and cleaning, laundresses and cooks, over whom the hostesses "reigned" received orders from the mistress of the house. guiding each one with equal vigilance."

The bourgeois women and merchants themselves were, as a rule, burdened with a mass of daily responsibilities for organizing life at home (and every fifth family in an average Russian city was headed by a widowed mother). Meanwhile, their daughters led an idle lifestyle (“like spoiled barchats”). It was distinguished by monotony and boredom, especially in provincial cities. Few of the merchant's daughters were well educated in reading and writing and were interested in literature ("... science was a monster," N. Vishnyakov ironically, talking about the youth of his parents at the beginning of the 19th century), unless marriage introduced her into the circle of educated nobility.

Needlework was the most common type of female leisure in bourgeois and merchant families. Most often, they embroidered, wove lace, crocheted and knitted. The nature of needlework and its practical value were determined by the material possibilities of the family: girls from the poor and middle merchant class prepared their own dowry; for the wealthy, needlework was more of a pastime. Work was combined with a conversation, for which they converged specifically: in the summer at home, in the garden (at the dacha), in the winter - in the living room, and who did not have it - in the kitchen. The main topics of conversation among the merchant daughters and their mothers were not novelties in literature and art (as with noblewomen), but worldly news - the merits of certain suitors, dowry, fashion, events in the city. The older generation, including mothers of families, had fun playing cards and lotto. Singing and music-making were less popular among philistine and merchant families: they were ostentatious in order to emphasize their "nobility", sometimes performances were even staged in the houses of the provincial philistinism.

One of the most popular forms of entertainment in the Third Estate was hosting. The families of "very wealthy" merchants "lived widely and accepted a lot." The joint feast of men and women, which appeared during the time of Peter's assemblies, by the end of the century, from an exception (previously, women were present only at wedding feasts) became the norm.

Between the everyday life of the middle and small merchants and the peasantry, there were more similarities than differences.

For the majority of peasant women - as shown by numerous studies of Russian peasant life that have been going on for almost two centuries - home and family were the fundamental concepts of their being, “lada”. Peasants made up the bulk of the non-urban population that dominated (87 percent) in the Russian Empire in the 18th - early 19th centuries. Men and women made up approximately equal shares in peasant families.

The everyday life of rural women - and they were repeatedly described in the historical and ethnographic literature of the XIX-XX centuries. - remained difficult. They were filled with work equal in severity to that of men, since there was no noticeable distinction between men's and women's work in the village. In the spring, in addition to participating in the sowing season and caring for the garden, women usually wove and whitewashed canvases. In the summer they “suffered” in the field (mowed, tedded, stacked, stacked hay, knitted sheaves and threshed them with flails), squeezed oil, tore and ruffled flax, hemp, seduced fish, nursed offspring (calves, piglets), not counting everyday work in the barnyard (manure removal, treatment, feeding and milking). Autumn - the time for food preparations - was also the time when peasant women crumpled and combed wool, warmed stockyards. In winter, rural women “worked hard” at home, preparing clothes for the whole family, knitting stockings and socks, nets, sashes, weaving harness collars, embroidering and making lace and other decorations for festive dresses and the outfits themselves.

To this were added daily and especially Saturday cleanings, when the floors and benches were washed in the huts, and the walls, ceilings and floors were scraped with knives: “The house of news is not the wing of revenge.”

Peasant women slept in the summer for three to four hours a day, exhausted from overload (overloading) and suffering from illnesses. Vivid descriptions of chicken huts and unsanitary conditions in them can be found in the report of the Moscow district marshal of the nobility for the estates of the Sheremetevs. The most common illness was fever (fever), caused by living in chicken huts, where it was hot in the evening and at night, and cold in the morning.

The hard work of the farmer forced the Russian peasants to live in undivided, multi-generational families that were constantly regenerated and were exceptionally stable. In such families, there was not one, but several women “on the hook”: mother, sisters, wives of older brothers, sometimes aunts and nieces. The relations of several "hostesses" under one roof were not always cloudless; in everyday squabbles there was a lot of “envy, slander, squabbling and enmity”, which is why, as ethnographers and historians of the 19th century believed, “the best families were broken up and cases were submitted to ruinous divisions” (common property). In fact, the reasons for family divisions could be not only emotional and psychological factors, but also social ones (the desire to avoid recruitment: a wife and children were not left without a breadwinner, and several healthy men from an undivided family could be “shaved” into soldiers, despite their “seven years” ; according to the decree of 1744, if the breadwinner was taken from the family to recruit, his wife became "free from the landowner", but the children remained in a serf state). There were also material benefits (the ability to increase property status with separate residence).

Family divisions became a common phenomenon already in the 19th century, and in the time we are considering, they were still quite rare. On the contrary, multigenerational and fraternal families were a very typical phenomenon. Women in them were expected - no matter what - to be able to get along with each other and jointly manage the house.

Big, and even more significant than in the everyday life of the privileged classes, were grandmothers in multi-generation peasant families, who, by the way, in those days were often barely over thirty. Grandmothers - if they were not old and ill - "on an equal footing" participated in household chores, which, due to their laboriousness, representatives of different generations often did together: they cooked, washed the floors, boiled (soaked in lye, boiled or steamed in cast iron with ash) clothes . Less labor-intensive duties were strictly distributed between the senior woman-hostess and her daughters, daughters-in-law, daughters-in-law. They lived relatively amicably, if the bolshak (the head of the family) and the bolshak (as a rule, his wife; however, the widowed mother of the bolshak could also be the bolshak) treated everyone equally. The family council consisted of adult men, but the big woman took part in it. In addition, she ran everything in the house, went to the market, and provided food for the everyday and festive table. She was assisted by the eldest daughter-in-law or all the daughters-in-law in turn.

The most unenviable was the share of younger daughters-in-law or daughters-in-law: "Work - what they will force, but eat - what they will put." The daughters-in-law had to ensure that there was water and firewood in the house at all times; on Saturdays - they carried water and armfuls of firewood for the bath, stoked a special stove, being in caustic smoke, prepared brooms. The younger daughter-in-law or daughter-in-law helped older women to bathe - she whipped them with a broom, doused them with cold water, cooked and served hot herbal or currant decoctions (“tea”) after the bath - “earned her bread”.

Making a fire, heating the Russian stove, daily cooking for the whole family required dexterity, skill and physical strength from the housewives. They ate in peasant families from one large vessel - a cast-iron or bowls, which were put into the oven with a fork and taken out of it: it was not easy for a young and weak daughter-in-law to cope with such a thing.

The older women in the family meticulously checked the compliance of the young women with traditional methods of baking and cooking. Any innovations were met with hostility or rejected. But young women did not always with humility endure excessive claims from their husband's relatives. They defended their rights to a tolerable life: complained, ran away from home, resorted to "witchcraft".

In the autumn-winter period, all the women in the peasant house spun and wove for the needs of the family. When it got dark, they sat around by the fire, continuing to talk and work (“they went crazy”). And if other domestic work fell mainly on married women, then spinning, sewing, mending and darning clothes were traditionally considered girls' occupations. Sometimes mothers did not let their daughters out of the house for gatherings without “work”, forcing them to take knitting, yarn or thread for unwinding with them.

Despite all the weight Everyday life peasant women, there was a place in it not only for weekdays, but also for holidays - calendar, labor, temple, family.
Peasant girls, and even young married women, often took part in evening festivities, gatherings, round dances and outdoor games, where speed of reaction was valued. “It was considered a great shame” if a participant drove for a long time in a game where it was necessary to overtake an opponent. Late in the evening or in bad weather, peasant girlfriends (separately - married, separately - "bastards") gathered at someone's house, alternating work with entertainment.

In the rural environment, more than in any other, the customs developed by generations were observed. Russian peasant women of the 18th - early 19th centuries. were their main guardians. Innovations in lifestyle and ethical standards that affected the privileged sections of the population, especially in cities, had a very weak impact on the everyday life of the representatives of the majority of the population of the Russian Empire.

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It is generally accepted that in the entire centuries-old history of our state, it was the Elizabethan era (1741-1762) that was the most cheerful, the most carefree, the most festive, and so on. In principle, there is every reason for this - how many balls were held then, how many cases of champagne were drunk, how many overseas fabrics were spent on tailoring outfits! But only a narrow layer, called the nobility, had fun in this way. All the rest were forced to work day and night, so that the masters were always in a good mood.

And if the owner does not like something, then he will not be shy - he will win back as it should. After all, almost every landowner's house of those times was equipped with a real torture chamber. Well, so Catherine the Second wrote in her diaries, and this, you see, is an authoritative source. Torture was generally considered the most common occurrence. Any young gentleman, when designing his house, took into account its presence in advance. Here, here, the living room will be located, here is the bedroom, here is the study, then the kitchen, the servants' room, and right there, right behind the sheepfold, the torture room. Everything is like with people, as they say.

How about people? Cruelty, cruelty and more cruelty. And completely unreasonable. And one of the most famous such examples is the Russian landowner Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova. Initially, her life developed quite normally: she was born into a noble family, married a noble officer, and gave birth to two sons. Yes, that's just the trouble happened to her at the age of 26 - she became a widow. She did not grieve for a long time, but this one is understandable - the woman is still young. I decided to occupy myself with something, and that's bad luck - only rods fell under my hands, and only serfs caught my eye. In general, since then, Daria Saltykova has turned into a formidable and ruthless Saltychikha.

The total number of her victims remained unknown, but there is no doubt that the count was in the hundreds. She punished her "servants" for any faults, even for tiny folds on the ironed linen. And she did not spare neither men, nor women, nor children. Old people, too, of course. And what she did, what she did. And exposed to frost, and scalded with boiling water, tore her hair, tore off her ears. Well, and something simpler, like hitting your head against the wall, also did not shy away.

And one day, she found out, that someone got into the habit of hunting in her forest. Instantly ordered to catch and imprison for further "fun". As it turned out, this uninvited hunter turned out to be another landowner, Nikolai Tyutchev, the future grandfather of the great Russian poet Fyodor Ivanovich. And Saltychikha could not catch him, because Tyutchev himself was no less cruel tyrant. Moreover, a love relationship even began between them. So it's not just opposites that attract. The matter hardly came to a wedding, but at the last moment Tyutchev nevertheless came to his senses and quickly wooed some young girl. Daria Nikolaevna, of course, became furious and ordered her peasants to kill the newlyweds. Those, thank God, disobeyed. And then Catherine II came to power, who almost first of all deprived Saltykova title of nobility and imprisoned her in a dungeon for life. After spending three years in prison, Saltychikha died. This happened in 1801.

And so ended the story of one of the most notorious serial killers in history. Russian Empire. Alas, the noble arbitrariness did not end there, because the same Catherine, although she staged a show trial of Saltykova, later untied the hands of the nobles even more and further aggravated the situation of the serfs.