1. History of alcohol in the world.
2. The appearance of taverns.
3. Structure of taverns.
4. Reforms of the drinking business.
5. Foreigners “about Russian drunkenness.”
6. Attempts to close drinking establishments.
7. Beer in Russia.
8. Beer halls and buffets.
9. Conclusion.
Taverns in Rus'.
Why is it that among us, Russians, our souls are always on fire and we want to miss something like this, stronger? The answer to this very complex question must be sought not only in the recesses of the sophisticated Russian soul, but also in history.
Different peoples have known about drunkenness for a long time. In ancient China, a thousand years before the birth of Christ, the emperor threatened drunkards with the death penalty. Around the 6th century BC, the Hindus and Aryans (the ancestors of the Europeans) had the laws of Manu prohibiting such abuses. Herodotus wrote about libations among the Persians when discussing important issues. Homer mentioned the Saturnalia - holidays in honor of Bacchus. With the growth of wealth in Ancient Rome, preferences also became more sophisticated - the Romans knew up to 160 varieties of grape wines alone.
From the 13th century, vodka began to spread in Europe. At first it served as a medicine and was sold only in pharmacies. In Germany, wine was so cheap that for the smallest coin you could treat yourself more than once. In general, the variety of alcohol showed the level of development of the people.
African and Australian savages drank palm wine, South American Indians drank kava infusion, and the Chinese drank rice vodka. The fight against the “green serpent” also began - so, in America, “cat concerts” were organized next to taverns - they shouted, whistled, howled, and hit frying pans.
Until the 15th century in Rus', the sale and production of intoxicating drinks were not limited in any way. There is a legend that Prince Vladimir, choosing a faith for the country, rejected Mohammedanism because of the ban on drinking. It’s as if the prince said to the ambassadors: “Rus' has joy to drink. We cannot exist without it.” This is a legend composed by monastic scribes in retrospect, long after Russia adopted Christianity. For centuries, people caustically ridiculed the monastic brethren who were prone to drinking. In the old days, every wealthy owner “smoked” vodka for his home, infused liqueurs and tinctures. Wise Olga punished the Drevlyans: “Behold, I am coming to you; and come get a lot of honey.” But there were no strong drinks then. They drank hop mash, velvet beer, stoem meads, and honey kvass. "Vodka" is a diminutive word for "water". Our ancestors drank not “English bitters”, not “wormwood”, but “sweet vodkas”.
Red wine has been known in Rus' since the 10th century. It, under the name “Fryazhsky”, appeared on the tables of the rich, sometimes within the monastery walls. Ordinary people were content with sweet vodka and kvass. The drinks had such a taste that “like you drink a charm, you want another, you drink another - the third one burns your soul.” Of course - there were still honeys, sweet vodkas in barrels from the forties.
All this was drunk in taverns (tavern - from the words “feed”, “to feed”). You can compare them to clubs: they learned news there and had conversations. There was a proverb: “In the tavern and in the bathhouse, all are equal nobles.” That's all, but the woman was denied entry there. But everything was not so smooth: a complaint to the prince of that era has been preserved: “Mister! The peasants are drinking away.”
In 1360, the Arab Regesa invented no longer sweet vodka. Taverns (Tatar word) appeared - inns. Alcoholic drinks with a high alcohol content, such as vodka, appeared in Europe in the 13th century, and in the 16th century, vodka appeared in Rus'. Since the middle of the 16th century, with the advent of vodka in Russia, its production was established in special distilleries.
Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, after the capture of Kazan in 1552, founded the first Russian tavern. Kabak is a Tatar word and it comes from the name of a vessel made from a pumpkin. It must be said that a Tatar tavern is an inn that served alcoholic drinks and all kinds of food. The first tavern was opened by Ivan the Terrible in Moscow (now there is a 5-star hotel "Baltika" - not far from the Kremlin, and in translation "baltika" means swamp and mud). At the very beginning, the tavern was founded for the guardsmen. Oprichnina is a method of maintaining power through terror and violence; people who joined the oprichnina are usually people without moral principles. For them, robbing a church or a monastery cost nothing. They were, as it were, outside the law and outside the patriarchal Rus' in which moral values had been formed over the centuries. For them, these values practically did not exist. Moreover, when taverns began to bring in very large incomes, a special decree of Ivan the Terrible was issued so that smerds and other people were allowed to visit taverns.
Taverns in Rus' began to be called “khan’s” - after all, the Tatars noticed the profitability of the vodka trade and took matters into their own hands. After the Tatar yoke, the princes took over the taverns, and these hot spots were already called “princes’,” and then “tsars’.” There were both boyar and monastic taverns in Rus'. For example, the taverns of the New Jerusalem Monastery, Makaryevsky, and the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. From documents of the mid-17th century. it turns out that in the Dvina district there were more than 20 taverns, including in the estate of the Anthony-Siysky monastery, on Volok Pinezhsky, in the Soyalsky and Kevrolsky camps, in volosts and churchyards (Nenoksa, Una, Luda, Kuloy and other places). According to the interrogation speeches of 1678, the location of 14 circle courts is also revealed: 4 - in Kholmogory (circle courtyard, profit stand, Red tavern, quarter stand), 4 - in Arkhangelsk (circle courtyard, altyn stand, Red tavern, bathhouse tavern), 2 - in Volok Pinezhsky (circle courtyard, tavern), 4 - in volosts along the Dvina (in Yemets, Stupino, Nenoksa, Rakul).
What the royal tavern was like can be seen from the receipt of the drinkers of the club court in Nenoksa, who took over the court in 1688. According to the receipt, this drinking establishment had “51 buckets of wine in the sovereign’s measured bucket, and 2 tubs of beer – 50 measures, and vessels: a kopeck copper wine glass worth two rubles, and a penny wooden glass, and a kopeck glass, and a two-kopeck ladle. Yes, three gangs of beer ships, and a kopeck ladle, and another for money. Utensils: printed sealed, two oak wine barrels, large, and a semi-leatherless beer barrel, yes, a quarter barrel of wine, and a padlock.” This is the internal “arrangement” of the royal tavern. All measuring utensils for storing wine and trading on tap are sealed, that is, certified by the state authorities. Among the other accessories of the tavern, other documents mention a counter and benches on which drunks often fall asleep, but they did not keep anything edible in the tavern.
There were few grant taverns; the rest were considered the property of the state treasury.
State-owned taverns were run by kissers. They were called that because they kissed the cross and the Gospel that they would honestly guard the sovereign's treasury. They were given rewards for good work and profit.
Drunkenness is a huge social problem that Russia has been fighting for a long time and not always successfully. There is even an opinion that Russians drink more than anyone else in the world, that this is their genetic feature. Is it so? And has Russia always been the personification of drunken stupor?
Ancient Rus' - intoxicating drinks
In ancient times in Rus', alcoholic, or more correctly, exclusively intoxicating drinks were consumed infrequently, at funeral feasts, games, and feasts. In addition, the most popular were mead, beer and mash, which were made from honey, and therefore were not so much intoxicating as invigorating. Wine made from grapes began to be drunk only from the 10th century, when it came from Byzantium.
Everyone read Russian folk tales in childhood, so the saying about honey and beer, which flowed and flowed down the mustache, but never got into the mouth, is familiar to everyone. What was meant by the expression “didn’t go into my mouth”? The point is that intoxicating drinks were not drunk just like that, they were served as a pleasant addition to a generous meal.
There were a lot of drinks, and they were all very tasty. From the reign of Vladimir the Great until the mid-16th century, intoxicating drinks based on fermented honey or grape juice were used. These were kvass, sieve, berezovitsa, honey, wine, beer, strong drink, mentioned above and which became the national drinks mead and mash.
It should be noted that there is no written evidence that in Ancient Rus' drunkenness was considered a serious social problem. Old people from the times of Kievan Rus told young people to drink wine for fun, but not to get very drunk: “drink, but don’t get drunk.”
There is an opinion that the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir chose Orthodoxy as the religion for Rus', since it did not directly prohibit intoxicating drinks.
The beginning of the "drunk era"
Today, many foreigners associate Russia with vodka. It is impossible to say when this drink appeared everywhere. However, there are some documents in which one can find information that in the second half of the 15th century, the processing of rye began in Russia and they learned to produce pure alcohol.
A little earlier, in 1533, Ivan the Terrible issued an order to open the Tsarev Tavern, which became the first drinking establishment in the country. The beginning of the 15th century for Russia was marked by the appearance of such drinks as bread, boiled and hot wine. And these were no longer harmless intoxicating drinks made from grapes or honey, but real moonshine, which was obtained through distillation.
Ordinary people could not afford to get drunk every day, as the Tsar’s guardsmen did. Working people indulged in alcohol on Holy Week, Christmas, and Dmitrov Saturday. The first attempts to combat drunkenness date back to the same period: if a commoner got drunk at an inappropriate time, he was mercilessly beaten with batogs, and those who crossed all boundaries faced prison.
If we consider drunkenness as a way of making a profit, then it was under Ivan the Terrible that this phenomenon began to spread. A few years passed after the “launch” of the Tsar’s first tavern, and in 1555 the Tsar allowed the opening of taverns throughout Rus'. It seems that nothing particularly terrible happened, but these establishments did not serve food, and it was forbidden to bring it with you. A person who became addicted to alcohol, drinking alcohol without a snack, could lose everything he had with him in a day, right down to his clothes.
The development of drunkenness was also given impetus by the fact that all peasants, commoners and townspeople were officially prohibited from making intoxicating drinks and moonshine in their homes. Naturally, people began to visit drinking establishments more and more often. A drunken era began, when taverns received huge profits, which went to the State (Tsarev) treasury.
Boris Godunov contributed to the development of drunkenness, under whom all taverns that served not only alcohol, but also food were mercilessly closed on the territory of Rus'. The state monopoly in the vodka trade was legalized. In 1598, the Tsar issued a decree stating that private individuals do not have the right to sell vodka under any conditions. Only a hundred years have passed, and drunkenness has grabbed Russia by the throat with its iron hand.
Title=" Nikolai Nevrev. Protodeacon proclaiming longevity at merchant name days. 1866
Merchants were allowed to drink and eat at home." border="0" vspace="5">!}
Nikolay Nevrev. Protodeacon proclaiming longevity at merchant name days. 1866
Merchants were allowed to drink and eat at home.
According to the Prussian diplomat Adam Olearius, who created the famous “Descriptions of a Journey to Muscovy,” he was amazed at the number of drunks lying on the street. Men and women, young and old, priests and secular people, commoners and titled persons drank. Unfortunately, such Russian national traits as hospitality played an important role in the spread of drunkenness. In Russia, it was customary to welcome guests cordially, with food and alcohol. If a guest could drink everything that was poured for him, then he was treated better than someone who drank “badly.” This was noted by diplomat Peter Petrey in his Moscow Chronicles.
The fight against drunkenness
The beginning of the fight against drunkenness can be read in 1648, when the so-called tavern riots began. The reason was simple: commoners simply could not pay off all the debts they owed for drinking in these establishments. The tavern owners also did not want to lose money, so the tavern vodka became worse and worse in quality. The riots were so strong that they could not be suppressed without the use of military force.This fact did not pass by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who convened the Zemsky Sobor in 1652, which received the historical name of the “Cathedral on Taverns.” The result was a decree limiting the number of drinking establishments in Russia and defining days prohibited for the sale of alcohol. It must be said that there were quite a few of them, as many as 180. The tsar also forbade the sale of vodka on credit. The prices for this product were increased threefold. One person could buy only one glass of vodka, which then had a volume of 143.5 grams.
Patriarch Nikon, who has great influence on the tsar, insisted on prohibiting the sale of alcohol to “priestly and monastic” persons. Sermons were preached in churches about how drunkenness was a sin and harmful to health. This had a positive effect; a negative attitude began to form towards drunkards, and not as tolerant as before.
Everything would be fine if the royal decree were unquestioningly observed for many years. No, that didn't happen. The number of taverns did not decrease, and the remaining points of the decree worked for about seven years.
Unfortunately, economic benefits did not allow for a significant reduction in the alcohol trade. When vodka revenues quickly began to decline, state interests took precedence. However, before Peter 1 came to power, it was mainly poor people who drank alcohol in taverns who became drunkards. Merchants and aristocrats could enjoy wine at home, using a plentiful snack, because there were significantly fewer drunken individuals among them.
Peter I also tried to fight drunkenness. For example, he ordered medals weighing more than 7 kg to be released and distributed to everyone who was seen to be heavily drunk. Such a medal had to be worn for seven days, and it was forbidden to remove it.
Temperance campaign and its results
In 1914, a temperance campaign was started. During the mobilization, based on the royal decree, the sale of any alcohol was strictly prohibited. This was the same Prohibition that is much talked about today. A little later, local communities received the right to independently decide whether to sell alcohol or not.
The effect exceeded all expectations. The royal decree was supported in most regions, and in just a year the consumption of alcoholic beverages decreased by 24 times. There was a decrease in patients diagnosed with alcoholic psychosis, and the number of absenteeism and “drunken” injuries decreased. Propaganda campaigns against drunkenness were widely launched.
However, this did not last long. Gradually, the achieved effects began to fade away, moonshine and the production of underground alcohol increased greatly.
The production of alcohol continued, and the problem of its storage arose. In September 1916, the Council of Ministers banned it, and stocks of the product had to be destroyed, which led to a significant decrease in state revenues.
To compensate for the losses from Prohibition, taxes were raised. Firewood and medicine, matches and salt, tobacco, sugar and tea - everything has risen in price. Passenger and cargo duties were increased. And the people continued to distill moonshine and drink.
Drunkenness began to overtake not only common people, but also the nobility and intelligentsia. The so-called zemstvo hussars (support service employees who did not participate in hostilities) went into full swing, stealing and speculating in alcohol. A struggle arose between city dumas and zemstvos to expand influence, taking place under the sign of a campaign for sobriety, which turned Prohibition into the cause of the weakening of the socio-economic position of the Russian Empire.
And in continuation of the topic, a story about
As we have already noted, the first tourists were beggars, pilgrims, warriors, traders and merchants. The main travel directions coincided with the main trade routes. The first accommodation facilities were based at logical stopping points, and therefore focused on transit flow. The practical absence of roads, a fact that occurred throughout Europe, was especially significant for Rus', which was already distinguished at that time by its vast expanses, covered with impenetrable forests and swamps. The main routes connecting the centers of medieval Rus' with each other and with other countries were rivers. The first Russian cities, which developed through trade, also gravitated towards them. Interested in attracting traders with goods, cities had to create the necessary conditions. An important place in this was occupied by the arrangement of accommodation facilities for those who arrived in the cities with goods. Thus, trade stimulated the development of the tourism industry, the first objects of which were accommodation facilities and catering establishments.
The first “hotels” in medieval Rus' were inns, which existed in a slightly modified form until the beginning of the 20th century. These were the least comfortable and most democratic shelters for all categories of travelers. In addition to overnight accommodation, they offered “staying” services, that is, they housed the traveler’s horses and vehicles. Food services and “technical maintenance” of vehicles were a logical continuation of this type of business.
In Russia, thanks to its vast expanses, the initiative of enterprising people alone (also constrained by the framework of the feudal system) was not enough to develop the available spaces and meet the needs of the functioning of the state machine.
On the one hand, there were traditional centers of concentration of flows of travelers, where accommodation facilities appeared as if spontaneously. On the other hand, there were also so-called transit centers of logical stops on national routes (routes connecting various Russian cities and towns). They were located at a distance of about one day's travel from each other. The arrangement of such points was within the power of only the central government, which it did with success. Already at the end of the 15th – beginning of the 16th century, the “Yamskaya chase” was established in Rus' for the needs of the “sovereign service”. Yamami called small villages located at a certain distance from each other near the main roads. Residents of the Yams were obliged to keep horses and transport “by sovereign decree” everyone who had a special permit (“letter”) or paid money. For their service, coachmen were allocated land, exempted from taxes, and also received a salary, being considered the sovereign's servants. Later, some other types of service were added to the traditional services of coachmen, primarily the organization of inns and taverns in Yamsk villages, providing accommodation and food for travelers.
Inns on the highways usually consisted of a hut in which those who, for one reason or another, had to use the services of this room slept in winter and summer. No amenities were provided for travelers. Such inns were designed for temporary (usually limited to one night) stay. The duties of the owner (or caretaker) of this establishment included, as a rule, heating the room and keeping it in order and relative cleanliness. If the inn was located in a sufficiently large settlement, then accommodation services were added food and bath . It should be noted that the modest range of amenities offered was determined by effective demand. The fact is that the wealthiest segments of the population preferred to stay in private houses, the owners of which were always happy to provide their services to the guest.
Inns at logical stopping points on routes existed for quite a long time, until the middle of the 19th century, and in some places even longer. A significant blow to them was dealt by the emergence and spread of railways, connecting various parts of the country.
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In Rus', cooking has long been a purely family matter. They were usually led by the oldest woman in the family. Professional chefs first appeared at the princely courts, and then in monastery refectories.
Cooking in Rus' became a separate specialty in the 11th century. The story of the Laurentian Chronicle (1074) says that in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery there was a whole kitchen with a large staff of monastic cooks. Prince Gleb had an elder cook named Torchin, the first Russian cook known to us.
The nature of cooking Russian cuisine is largely determined by the peculiarities of the Russian oven, which has faithfully served both rich and common people as a hearth for centuries (since the 14th century). Dishes were prepared in pots and cast iron, fish and poultry were fried in large pieces, and there were many baked, stewed and baked dishes.
Here is what moral police official Panteley Rubashkin writes about the traditions and mores of the 17th century: “In those days, Russians were famous for their hospitality, especially away from big cities: they invited a traveler or passer-by to their house to feed and calm him down if possible. They didn't take money for bread and salt. On the contrary, the hosts were offended if the guests ate little. The humming was accompanied by constant bowing and honoring. On this occasion there was a proverb: “Bread and salt conquers the robber.”
The first catering establishments and inns – taverns – appeared in Ancient Rus' a very long time ago. We know almost nothing about them, except, perhaps, for the fact that in medieval times they were not considered godly institutions, and the owner, the helmsman, stood in the following line, for example: “...either a fornicator, or a rezoimite (i.e. e. usurer. - Auth.), either a robber or a crook.”
It was completely different in the West. Its developed urban culture and more dynamic social life shaped social relations in which a tavern or tavern was the norm in the life of a free person, his earthly worries and joys.
Western European taverns and cafes were not directly linked to government fiscal interests; they were simply natural centers of attraction for already established social groups - soldiers, students, robbers, merchants, burghers and guild artisans.
In Rus' The overcoming of fragmentation, which was natural for all medieval states, took place in the extremely unfavorable conditions of the Tatar yoke and the gradually increasing economic lag behind Western Europe. In the country devastated by the Tatar “exit” and cut off from sea trade routes, the economy recovered extremely slowly and was at a lower level than in England or France. It was necessary, as it were, to “repeat” the path traveled anew, reviving stable feudal land tenure, developed urban crafts, and money circulation. And in the West, the first manufactories, banks, city communes and universities were already in full swing.
The situation in Russian cities was especially difficult, the development of which (as well as the formation of the “third estate”) was delayed for centuries: in Russia in the 15th–17th centuries. there was no Reformation or Renaissance. Moscow nobles of the 15th–16th centuries. they grew up, one might say, in the princely service and were entirely dependent on the princely mercy. They built their relations with the authorities on a purely subservient basis. They had virtually no corporate rights or privileges compared to nobles in the West. Peasants and townspeople, in turn, through the tax system became increasingly dependent on both the state and their owners: in Russia in the 16th–17th centuries. Serfdom developed steadily.
Centuries of relative isolation and constant struggle to preserve national statehood have led to profound changes in the social structure of society and its relations with power. Everywhere the state intervened in the process of formation of estates. There was a clear “official” dependence: all social strata and groups fulfilled their duties and occupied a certain place in the social hierarchy, fixed by law. The authorities gradually limited the rights of the peasants themselves to the free, secular organization of public holidays, for the production of alcohol. The charters of Ivan III (1462-1505) already regulated the daily life of peasants and ordered that holidays with the production of beer and mash be organized only with the permission of local authorities - governors; “And between those holidays they don’t keep drinks at their place; but they don’t keep beer or mash for sale.”
Due to constant financial difficulties, due to the need to maintain the army, the government sought to concentrate in its hands all the most important sources of funds. That is why the state had wine and salt monopolies in its hands. He also occupied his specific place in this system. "sovereign tavern" – a special government establishment for the sale of “bread wine”, i.e. relatively low-proof vodka. This name first appeared in a document of 1563. 1 and by the end of the century it had become a traditional designation for a state-owned drinking house. Typically, taverns were farmed out or maintained by “tavern heads” and “kissers” elected by the population - those who, kissing the cross, swore an oath to regularly perform “the sovereign’s service.” So maintaining taverns became an additional duty for the population, and a very troublesome and responsible one.
Taverns were usually located in crowded places- at piers, fairs, customs, at shopping arcades, baths. In the 17th century they became an integral part of Russian suburbs. As a rule, in large cities there was a main one - the Red Tavern and several smaller establishments. A new city was built - and immediately a hut, a prison and a tavern appeared.
Inventories of the property of taverns of the 17th century have been preserved, and therefore you can mentally look into a typical one. It was a rather gloomy room with benches, blocked by a counter for a salesman-tender, who managed the stocks of wine and beer and simple inventory: “Wine in the sovereign’s measured bucket (with a stamp in the form of the state emblem, i.e., certified by the state authority. - Auth.) - 51 buckets, and two tubs of beer - 50 measures, and vessels: a penny glass of copper wine, two-ruble sales, and a wooden glass of penny, and a mountain of altyn, and a ladle of two-ruble. Yes, there are three beer ships, and a ladle of kopecks, and another of money.” The tselovalnik dispensed drinks with a measuring scoop and kept track of the proceeds, and also recorded the debts of the “pitukhs”. There was often a distillery or brewery nearby. They were often maintained by private individuals, but all the products necessarily went to state taverns, where they were sold “for sale” in mugs and glasses.
The tavern was by no means intended for casual communication between subjects: There were no snacks allowed there and therefore no food was served there. For this purpose there were private taverns ( eatery with cheap and simple food) . Any man in the street could own a tavern, but selling any drink there was strictly forbidden.
By the end of the 16th century. the tavern system was already fully debugged. Taverns could be farmed out, i.e. transfer to an enterprising and wealthy person who undertakes to pay the treasury (immediately or in parts) a certain amount of money. Or another option. A tavern was opened in the city, and residents were asked to elect a tavern head - “a man of kindness and subsistence, who would be straight in soul.” In addition to honesty, financial guarantees were also required, because with his “living” the unlucky merchant compensated for the government loss. This straightforward man had to strain all his strength to more effectively (compared to his predecessors) get his neighbors drunk and collect “drinking” money without fail “with a profit compared to previous years,” i.e. in fact, he was given a planned task, which had to not only be fulfilled, but also exceeded. At the same time, he was advised not to drive away the pets from the taverns under any circumstances; It was allowed to issue wine on credit and even as a pledge of things and clothing. All expenses for the procurement of wine (at the “true price” - cost) and the income received from the sale were recorded in special tavern books, which were carefully checked.
To repay the government, tavern owners tried to increase sales. It was expensive to build a permanent tavern, so they launched temporary sales - taverns were opened at any gathering of people: at fairs, local markets, during church holidays - wherever they could catch a buyer. And the drunkards who had been on a spree were credited with drinking too much; They willingly accepted “pledges” (clothes, jewelry and any valuables) until people drank literally everything, taking off their weapons, earrings, rings and even pectoral crosses. If the mortgages were not redeemed, then all this “drunken junk” was sold at auction for the benefit of the treasury.
While fulfilling their official duties, the tavern heads and tax farmers did not obey even the governor himself, who did not have the right to “calm down” the tavern disgrace, so as not to reduce drinking profits. It got to the point that in foreign cities, on payday, the Streltsy garrison marched in formation to a tavern, where, in front of the commanders’ eyes, they drank away not only their salaries, but also weapons and other military “supplies.” About one of the most zealous innkeepers it was reported to Moscow that he “... caring for the sovereign’s good, ... made those bad roosters drink and encouraged them to drink, and those who stubbornly came, did not spare them, and forced them into battle.”
An additional incentive in the tavern revelry was the spectacle: buffoons with bears “worked” at the taverns. They organized “dances and all sorts of demonic games.” Gambling games were also popular among the “pitukhs” - “grain” (dice) and cards, which became popular in the 17th century. very popular. The tax farmers and tselovalniks themselves bought the “grain and map court” from the authorities, i.e. the right to review conflicts that occurred during the game and debt settlements between players. In response to reproaches about all kinds of “indecency,” the kissers authoritatively declared: “Just as there will be no grain and cards, and no one will drink the sovereign’s drink without that.”
At the end of the year, the “tavern money” was counted and handed over, for which the tavern owners went to the capital, bought gifts for the authorities and officials, since they had to deal with the famous Moscow administrative red tape. If the “plan” was exceeded, the tavern owners were awarded an honorary state diploma for “making a profit and a lot of zeal.” For a shortage of “tavern money,” the sellers were simply charged the missing amount. However, it happened that a fine was imposed not only on the taverns themselves, but also on the local population for not drinking enough “sovereign wines” 2.
In general, the entire technology of the “sovereign tavern business” is significantly distinguishes a Russian tavern from a Western European tavern. The first acted as a specific government agency, the main goal of which was the maximum replenishment of the treasury. After all, initially the tavern was not aimed at a feast, but only at quickly serving the unpretentious “pitukha” and contributed to the spread of far from the best domestic drinking traditions.
Series: Affairs of bygone days. Legends of deep antiquity
(essays on the history of the Russian tavern industry from the beginning of its emergence)
Anyone who is more or less familiar with the history of the emergence and further development of our tavern industry knows well that not a single trade industry that existed in Rus' suffered so much persecution and oppression as the ill-fated “tavern-tavern”! Even at the beginning of its existence and before the time of Ivan the Terrible, it could exist harmlessly, but with the advent of the first “Tsar Kabak”, all troubles and misfortunes began to fall on it!
Brutally persecuted by the “pravezh”, the tavern was driven out of its centuries-old place and disappeared into hiding places - basements. The Kabak followed him anywhere and everywhere. Death was inevitable, and if he did not completely disappear from the face of the Russian land, it was only thanks to his particularly stubborn vitality!
Being Russian since ancient times, at the same time the only “public” place to which people flocked for “food, drink and conversation,” the tavern has always enjoyed special popular love! It was from this love that he drew his amazing vitality!
Having begun a historical review of the tavern industry in Rus', we, first of all, must dwell on the ancestor of the modern tavern - the tavern, as the only and completely original ancient Slavic drinking establishment. The origin of the word tavern (originally kormocha) is interpreted differently. Some of the researchers of antiquity, going back to ancient times, are looking for the root of this word in the Persian, Zend, Arabic and Turkish languages, while others, on the contrary, stop only in Slavic, arguing that the name tavern is nothing more than a derivative of the word “feed”. The latter interpretation is considered by many to be more plausible, if only because it comes closest to the immediate tasks of the tavern, which consisted mainly in feeding and watering the people visiting it. Whatever the origin of this word, the tavern is still a primordially Slavic institution. This is a historical fact against which there are no objections.
As for ancient Rus', the free tavern was considered the most fundamental institution in it. Where it appeared, there was a large population, widespread trade, and vigorous activity. Kyiv is the cradle of the tavern. Novgorod, Pskov and Smolensk are its main centers. Here the need for social life was in full swing, while in Suzdal, Vladimir and Moscow, where there was still no tavern, not even the slightest movement was noticeable. But over time, the tavern also captured North-Eastern Rus', immediately raising its interest in public life.
So the free tavern enjoyed good fortune in Rus' until the beginning of the 12th century, when for the first time its freedom was dealt a sensitive blow. Already in the chronicles of 1150 there are direct indications that the tavern was subject to a princely duty. From this moment the transitional state of the inn begins. From free it becomes princely or public-urban, then state-owned and then becomes the hereditary property of tenants. The latter dependence greatly changes the original appearance and, little by little, it loses its former meaning. It should be noted, however, that the free tavern did not cede its rights without a fight and tried in every possible way to escape the shackles imposed on it. The result of this struggle was secret taverns, which, despite the harshest punishments, not only were not transferred, but increased from year to year. The secret tavern built a strong nest in Rus' and it took centuries to eradicate it.
The inn was brilliantly filmed by director Boris Ivchenko in the film “The Missing Letter” (1972):
By the beginning of the 11th century, the gradually increasing profitability of the tavern industry reached such enormous proportions that it immediately attracted the attention of not only the ruling princes, but also the communities of the free cities!
Both those and others begin to look at the tavern as a very serious and very significant help in tax collections. The position of the free tavern is becoming precarious! She quietly fights for her rights, but the year 1150 comes and the charter of Smolensk Prince Rostislav deals a mortal blow to her existence! True, the decree does not establish the exact amount of the tax, but it clearly and definitely conveys the idea of a new tax system. The remaining ruling princes immediately begin to follow the example of their relatives, hastening in letters and decrees to secure for themselves the right to this new source of income. The Free Cities are also not lagging behind their neighbors and are taking even more drastic measures! They take the tavern into the full ownership of the city communities, do not allow the princes to touch the tavern business), prohibit the princely people from selling any drinks (Pskov Charter of 1397), in a word, they finally and irrevocably destroy all the rights of free tavern keeping.
Simultaneously with the taxation of taverns, the issue of strengthening the tax on imported taverns is being resolved. For proper monitoring of actions and uniform collection of duties, special kinds of checkpoints were set up, which from 1417 began to operate so successfully and energetically that, in a relatively short time, they led imported taverns to complete destruction.
Already the first attempt to impose a tax on the free tavern trade gave rise to the so-called secret tavern. With the introduction of a local tax, secret innkeeping began to develop with extraordinary speed and by the end of the 14th century it covered all the princely possessions. The face of the tavern has changed dramatically, its tasks have become different... All the good things that have long been associated with this word have disappeared without a trace! The title of innkeeper has turned from a high, honorable one into a low, shameful one! The secret tavern, in pursuit of quick profit, began to drink and corrupt the people. Serving often as a gathering of unkind people, it, in addition to the damage caused to the government, was dangerous for civilians. The secret innkeepers were brutally persecuted, terrible punishments were imposed on them, they were excommunicated, but nothing helped! The passion for profit put up with everything! In some places the situation became critical and required urgent measures!...
Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich Tverskoy was the first to enter into an open and successful fight against secret tavernism. He set about eradicating this evil so energetically and skillfully that in the shortest period of time there was not a single secret tavern left within the boundaries of his principality!!!
Other princes followed the good example of Prince Mikhail. A general persecution began against the secret tavern, and it was forced to reduce its appetites and move to more remote places inaccessible to persecution! There she was already safe, and could not threaten the people's well-being!
The development of secret taverns, in addition to the direct evil brought to the people, was also reflected in the sense of damage on the profitability of the tax-paying tavern. This circumstance, of course, did not go unnoticed and even more forced the ruling princes to the most energetic and merciless persecution of the secret innkeepers!
By the end of the 14th century, when the secret tavern business partly disappeared completely, and partly migrated to more remote places and remote from shopping centers, the profitability of the tax-paying tavern increased so much that it even exceeded the most greedy expectations of the tenants. These lucky ones, despite increasing taxes, oppression, etc. from year to year. yet they became disproportionately rich, acquiring entire fortunes in a short period of time. The ruling princes saw all this, but, fearing to lose their reliable income, they did not dare to finally lay their hands on the rich tavern business!
Only in the first half of the 15th century, Moscow Prince John III risked destroying the tax-paying tavern and making it a state-owned tavern. Such a grandiose revolution in the tavern business caused a lot of misunderstandings, and although, in the end, the transition from a tax-paying tavern to a state-owned one took place, it was not cheap for both the treasury and the people!
The state tavern, wanting to make up for lost time and get as much income as possible, no longer cared about preserving its original purpose - first of all, to feed and then water the people, and turned all its attention exclusively to the sale of drink, as the most profitable item. In turn, the people, encouraged to drink, ceased to take into account the time and place and the amount of wine they consumed. In a word, less than ten years had passed before widespread drunkenness began around the state-owned tavern. The tavern, as if anticipating the imminent appearance of the all-powerful tavern, was preparing the proper ground for it!
The government, which at first turned a blind eye to the systematic drinking of the people, eventually perked up and began to issue a number of decrees limiting the consumption of wine, honey, etc. But the decrees remained decrees and hardly touched life, and if they penetrated it, it was very, very slowly. Only a formidable letter prohibiting the sale of any drinks on weekdays had an effect and somewhat sobered up the people who had drunk themselves to the point of disgrace. Now only on holidays could he indulge in drunken revelry with impunity! On weekdays, a great punishment awaited him! The post-holiday hangover was hard! Great was the drunken enmity! But the prospect of whipping and torture seemed even harder! We had to obey new orders! To put up with them and... the people obediently put up with them!...
Until the first half of the 16th century, there were no other drinking establishments in Rus' except the tavern. But the year 1545 dealt a decisive blow to this ancient drinking establishment, and it was replaced by the Tatar “tavern”. The beginning was made by Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. Having taken Kazan and learned about the existence of the Khan's tavern there, he became terribly interested in this new type of drinking establishment and decided to cultivate it in Moscow. Arriving at the capital, he ordered arrangements for the archers. Tsarev tavern, which differed from Khanskago in that the sale of any food was prohibited in it. The appearance of such a tavern was greeted with sympathy and with the light hand of the Streltsy Tsarev Tsarev Taverns began to appear everywhere. The people and townspeople, unable, due to the ban, to prepare drinks at home, involuntarily rushed to the tavern and brought pennies into it. The tavern began to generate enormous income. But over time, this income increased even more, since the prohibition passed from the people to the boyars and monasteries. From that moment on, taverns became the only place where one could get drinks with impunity. All taverns were considered state institutions and were managed by tavern heads. The tavern heads were given kissers as assistants. The latter were elected by the population.
Later, when the management of taverns became very complex and difficult, the government, wanting to retain income and at the same time remove supervision from itself, decided to rent out all drinking establishments. Tavern heads “on faith” appeared. This era in the history of drinking establishments can be considered the most terrible and unbridled. While keeping our promise to the reader not to consider the issue from any special angle, but to present only a strict historical overview, we still cannot help but say a few words about the so-called “farms.” Even in comparison with the “secret tavern,” the tax-paying tavern was something even more destructive and terrible!!!
The secret tavern secretly got the people drunk, while the tax-paying tavern, on the contrary, operated openly! Unheard of, boundless drunkenness swept the population. The tavern got people drunk as it wanted. The Kabatsky head enjoyed unlimited power. With her, only a huge income was required. For him there was no trial or reprisal.
In addition to the fact that the tavern head corrupted the people, accustoming them to hopeless drunkenness, he was also cruel and unforgiving in those cases when he discovered a secret tavern.
“Pravezh” acted in full force. Once secret drinking establishments were opened in the village, even on a very small scale, the retribution was inexorable and cruel. The groans and screams of those being beaten were drowned out by the cries of drunken revelry.
This difficult time in the life of the disfigured tavern should be marked especially vividly. Useful institutions that made it possible for the people to receive food and drink and to have a rest from daily labor turned into a den of insane revelry. The chroniclers of that time describe in such terrible colors the situation of the people who had drunk themselves to the end of their lives, that you involuntarily become perplexed and ask yourself a question. "Is it true?" Unfortunately, this is a historically proven truth. The tavern strengthened, the tavern grew, and for many centuries, although greatly changed, it existed happily and we will have to talk a lot about it. And a lot.
As soon as the tavern established itself in Rus', the government immediately made sure that the income received from this new type of drinking establishment was immediately subject to the strictest control. The royal letter, sent to all tavern heads, demanded the strict implementation of the methods specified in it for collecting and delivering money to the treasury, threatening violators with the death penalty. According to the decree, the heads located in the circle yard were required to collect drinking profits in small money, and everything received was immediately placed in a box and without a trace, so that part of the income did not end up in pockets, purses, for the sake of the dish, or would not be “accidental” dropped into the drink itself. The boxes were sealed at the top and were opened either every week or month. The seized money was checked and entered into the books “so that the Sovereign’s treasury would not be ruined” - by clerks especially assigned to this matter, elected by the world. It would seem that with such strictness, the treasury should not have incurred “damage”, but in reality it turned out completely different!
Firstly, the tavern heads robbed the treasury - as they wanted, and secondly, the governors, who were entrusted with overseeing the report, did not lag behind them. In those cases when the clerks turned out to be “unsuitable” people, the governors started persecuting them and, cleverly bypassing the Tsar’s charter, through various ambitious people, they achieved that the appointment of clerks was entrusted to them, and not to the world!?! Of course, “their people” did not forget their bosses-benefactors and generously paid for the places they received through them!!!
At each circle court, depending on the turnover, sometimes several such clerks were recruited and then they formed an entire office, the actions of which were beyond the power of the tavern heads themselves to understand. Until the middle of the 17th century, tavern collections were sent to Moscow on a monthly basis, but from 1660, due to the fact that the transportation of money was too heavy for the elected officials and tsarists, it was ordered that money be sent twice a year - in February and August. For a general check of reporting, the tavern heads themselves went out once a year - after Semenov's Day, and, before leaving, they were obliged to hand over to the governors exact copies of the report they submitted. In Moscow, tavern heads reported to the “Big Parish Order” and remained here until the end of the inspection. This was the general procedure for checking tavern reports. In areas too remote from Moscow (Siberia), in order not to distract the tavern heads from business and not introduce them into unaffordable expenses, it was ordered, as an experiment, the heads themselves not to go to Moscow, but to submit to Moscow, but to submit reports to the governors , who, after checking, sent them to the Prikaz, but this experience had to be abandoned very soon, since the new order caused cruel abuses. The government was forced to return to the old system. But in order to somehow help the “distant” heads, a decree was issued prohibiting unnecessary “red tape”. But the decree remained an empty phrase.
As before, so now, the tavern heads had to pay for every step they took, wait for an answer for whole weeks, look for “paths” to the highest authorities, and so on. Even when they had already submitted the report and all that remained was to take their leave, delays appeared again and the heads did not receive leave. I had to “pay” a second time. In the end, “their pockets were empty,” their purses were “empty,” and the ill-fated distant guests, having borrowed pennies from their acquaintances, departed “back home,” with the firm intention of quickly making up for all the lost time and losses. The tavern heads were greatly burdened by the supervision of the governor and tried in every possible way to shake off this burden. Voivodeship duties were too expensive and unprofitable for them! But for this reason, the governors handled their affairs too cunningly, and complaints about them did not reach the “tops”! This continued until in 1677, in Perm, there was a shortage of drinking money. Here the government did not stand on ceremony. A very strict investigation was immediately ordered, the result of which was a decree completely removing the governor from the drinking business!!! Supervision of reporting was transferred to zemstvo elders.
The government, while harshly pursuing shortages, at the same time tried to encourage those tavern heads who managed to increase the rate of drinking income. There were even cases that the most diligent of them were awarded incentive gilded cups, decorated with coats of arms and corresponding inscriptions. It is clear that each of the heads tried to extract everything possible from the people, not disdaining any measures. Who wants to expose their backs to “right”.
Having developed sophistication in the means of extracting money and getting people drunk, the tavern heads came to the conviction that nothing could be done without a loan, especially when, due to a bad harvest or some other reason, the “pitukhs” really had no pennies. And now a new era has opened in the tavern business - credit has appeared.
At first, the people could not get used to this innovation for a long time; they could not admit the idea that, without having a coin to their name, they could, in exchange for future benefits, get extremely drunk, and not even just once, but several times. All the poor flocked to the tavern and took advantage of the new benefit on the widest scale. The trade was twice as successful and the expected profit was quite successfully provided against the cruel rule of the inventive tavern heads. It was good for the people to use credit, but for how hard it was for them when the time of reckoning came. The inexorable tavern heads demanded payment of the dog and squeezed it out without hesitation by any means. Defective payers were stripped clean, their last shirt was taken off, and if this was not enough, they were beaten to death. The people immediately realized at what price the loan had come to them, but neither the cruelty of their heads nor the horrors they experienced during the payment stopped them from further debt. The temptation was too great! The secret tavern, which had hitherto successfully competed with the tavern, suffered large losses with the opening of government credit and was forced to reduce the price of drinks for the sake of competition. Yes, that’s understandable! The taverns had the legal right to demand the debt, but the tavern could only rely on the good faith of the creditor, since at the first threat to pay the debt, they risked being denounced and searched. The reduction in the price of “green” wine was not to the taste of many innkeepers and hit them hard in their pockets. I had to come up with something that could fill this forced gap. The innkeeper's inventive mind decided to resort to falsification. Things went smoothly and the secret koremnichestvo, which had temporarily subsided, was again waiting and could now boldly compete with the state-owned tavern. Such identity did not last long. The keen eye of the tavern heads and kissers quickly saw the “innovation” of their competitors, hastened to report it, and then a cruel and general search began again, again the secret cramp became the subject of the most severe persecution. Not only the innkeepers suffered here, but also those naive people who sometimes allowed themselves to brew small amounts of drink exclusively for their own household use. There was no mercy for anyone! Everyone had to pay: both the right and the wrong. In this case, the tavern heads not only increased the treasury, but managed not to forget their own pockets... Having often mentioned the thefts of the tavern heads, we consider it necessary to say a few words in general about their financial situation. The tavern heads and kissers were placed in disgraceful conditions financially and especially at the beginning of their activities. They were not paid anything, were not provided with anything, and at the same time were forbidden to steal! Do as you please! Live as you want! Subsequently, when the Order came to the conclusion that it was necessary to pay for the work somehow, the heads were given a salary, but such an insignificant one that they could exist. In a word, the authorities themselves pushed them to steal and it is not surprising that they stole. However, the treasury cared little about this; it stubbornly pursued only one goal: to squeeze out as much income as possible from the drinking business and spend as little as possible on the correct organization of this business. If, due to any circumstances, it was necessary to make extraordinary expenses, the treasury placed the entire burden of this matter again on the ill-fated heads and their assistants. Find the means where you know, but get it done! And they searched for the heads and found them! And if, moreover, they did not have enough aspirations for this, then they inevitably had to pay with their own backs, which happened quite often!
From the time of Ivan the Terrible until the onset of the Time of Troubles, the Tsar's taverns jealously guarded their monopoly, and the government cruelly persecuted any attempts to violate it. It was not shy about its means. Thus, during large celebrations accompanied by fairs, people in charge of the income of the Tsar’s tavern ordered thorough searches of persons suspected of secretly selling drinks.
Sometimes such searches were general, and then people who were completely uninvolved in the drinking business were subjected to “shame.” Detectives had the right to enter houses and, regardless of any circumstances, turn everything upside down. Thanks to this procedure, a lot of false denunciations appeared, for the sake of personal revenge. He wanted to annoy one another, denounced and disgraced the enemy, and not only him, but the whole family! Civilians considered these searches to be a heavenly punishment sent down to them for their sins, and, not sparing the last penny, they paid off uninvited and unceremonious guests. Sometimes such searches gave rise to fights, massacres and even partial riots. The embittered population mercilessly beat the detectives and fought with the authorities who came to the rescue. This was the procedure for protecting the interests of the tsar’s tavern, and although it seemed cruel, it achieved its goal to a certain extent.
But then came a time of troubles and the entire system, legitimized by a strong government, immediately collapsed. Not only the dark people took advantage of the anarchy, but also the boyars and merchants. Everyone rushed to make a quick profit. New drinking establishments of all kinds and organizations appeared next to government taverns.
Vodka became the main item of trade throughout Rus'. Drunkenness increased to Homeric proportions. The masses of the people, unsettled by everyday life, rushed from side to side, not knowing where to turn and what to do with themselves!
Torn off from the land and involved in civil strife, they could find refuge only at the tavern. Here, for money, or through robbery, they obtained alcohol for themselves and, brutalized and intoxicated, found satisfaction for their passions in wild, insane orgies. Some of this mass, having come to their senses, returned to their native nests and set to work, while the majority turned into “tavern waste.” There was no going back on this! The tavern replaced everything for them: family and homeland.
Robberies and murders became commonplace. The roads that ran through dense forests were filled with bandits! Taverns, taverns, and taverns grew like mushrooms! The drunkenness was general, rampant, hopeless! It is not possible to make even a brief overview of the drinking business during this exceptional period of time! Only in 1613, with the accession of Mikhail Osodorovich, did the drinking business begin to be put in order. It cost the government a lot of work to return to the former strict order. The drinking business deteriorated so much that it took a whole century to bring it back to normal. Of course, there was nothing to think about any innovations during this time. We were content with the order of times gone by! Let us assume that the government managed to eliminate arbitrariness in the tavern business, but it was not able to put an end to the “tavern’s need.” It fearlessly existed until the iron regime of Peter’s times and, although greatly diminished, compressed by new living conditions, still, as we know, exists to the present day. All the evil dregs of society, embittered by the contemptuous attitude of those around them, they at the same time played and continue to play a solo role in the existence of the wine trade. A working person, even if he wants to drink, will still try to purchase wine legally with every extra penny. Take away a legal establishment, he goes to a tavern and pays exorbitant prices for the right to get drunk. Take away the boar's head from the tavern, leave him a random visitor, and the tavern, without any repressive measures, will die out and disappear without a trace.
Among the mass of new types of drinking establishments that appeared during the onset of the “time of troubles”, the so-called tavern establishment does not appear and, in general, mention of the tavern is found only after 1827. But personally, we have reason to think that the tavern appeared much earlier, namely in 1795. It would be desirable for us to dwell in more detail on this name, if only because the main task of our essay is precisely to review the “history of the development of the tavern industry.” Strange as it may seem, until now no one has paid the slightest attention to the historical origin of the ill-fated word “tavern”. Even searches in the public Library did not lead us to any results. Only because of this we take the liberty of drawing our personal conclusions about the origin of this name. There is no reason to look for the root of “tavern” in the word “tract” - road, just as there is no reason to consider it the English “Tractor”. It is more accurate to derive it from the German verb “Traktieren” - tavern, which means “to treat”. Based on this assumption, we present the final solution to this issue to specialists. Now let's move on to resolving the issue of the first appearance of the tavern in Rus' and introduce the reader to the arguments that forced us to stop at 1795. To do this, we will make a brief overview of the drinking business from the end of the Time of Troubles to the official indication of the word “tavern”, i.e. until 1827.
The establishment of order in the drinking business at the end of the troubled times ended with its farming out. We have already mentioned the terrible harm of this system; we will also add that tax farmers, who became acquainted with all sorts of falsification techniques in a secret tavern, including dope, widely applied this vile means of profit to their already profitable business. There were no such abuses that were not used by greedy traders. The people, furious from drunkenness, indignant at the tricks of the kissers, became rowdy, destroyed taverns, beat and killed tavern keepers, and sometimes, fueled by the search for tavern goals, staged open riots! But neither the first nor the second frightened the wholesalers, who were making enormous money, and they firmly and confidently continued to conduct their ugly business until the middle of the 17th century, when the government, having paid attention to the abnormal way things were being done, decided to destroy the hated word “tavern”, renaming him to the drinking house. But of course, such a replacement of one word by another could not help the matter and everything that existed before remained inviolable. There was only a short intermission in the activities of the hated wholesaler. So what is next? Then everything went as before and ended in 1795, which brought with it a very serious reform. This year, the taxation system was finally introduced throughout the Empire, but with its right to receive profits not only from drinks, but also from food supplies. This reform made it possible for tax farmers to spread their networks even wider, and they immediately began to open a mass of all kinds of drinking establishments. We can say with confidence that this moment, we have the right to consider, the moment of the appearance of the first tavern in Rus', after 1000 years the ancient Russian tavern was revived again, giving the people both “food and drink” at the same time.
Until 1861, there was no general regulation on tavern establishments in Russia. Thus, St. Petersburg had its own charter, Moscow, provincial and port cities had their own, and for ordinary places there was a special provision. Tavern establishments were divided into different types, depending on the type of trade that they were allowed to carry out. The highest category included: hotels, restaurants, taverns and cafes - restaurants, the lowest - taverns. The situation in the tavern industry was replete with all sorts of restrictions and restrictions, seemingly completely unnecessary. For some reason, the tavern was not a favorite child and had to fight hourly for its existence, while the notorious tavern operated in the full breadth of unlimited arbitrariness. The regulations strictly determined the nature and boundaries of trade of each tavern establishment. In St. Petersburg, a total amount of excise tax was assigned to them, distributed among individual establishments; other types of establishments were rented out for a certain legal amount. In 1861, all these institutions were equalized and everyone was given the same rights.
Their delivery was entrusted to city societies, which, with the approval of the governor’s authorities, determined the means of the annual excise tax from each establishment. The internal layout was carried out by deputies elected from the innkeepers' society. In the counties, the amount of tavern excise tax ranged from 15-60 rubles. Such a low fee depended on the fact that inns, which competed with taverns, were completely exempt from the tax. At the end of the nineteenth century, namely in 1893, a new regulation on the tavern trade was established, which was put into effect in all areas of the Empire, with the exception of the Kingdom of Poland, from January 1, 1804. Given the mass of existing variety of tavern establishments, the legislation could not develop special rules for each of them, and was limited to only general instructions. According to these instructions, this tavern was considered an open establishment in which the public could purchase “food and drinks for consumption on the spot,” and some types of tavern establishments had the right, in addition to trading in the common premises, to maintain special rooms that were rented out to them.
The establishments of the tavern trade that did not have separate rooms for renting out are named: taverns, restaurants, taverns, dukhans, vegetable and fruit shops, Rhine cellars (Rhensky cellars are shops where they bought Rhine wines (Rhine wine, etc.); must sell “drinks "nothing other than "to-go".) with serving meals or snacks, beer shops with serving hot food, etc. As we have already said, the legislation has not established precise signs of distinguishing some establishments from others, and only in relation to the equipment of inns indicated their internal structure (covered equipment for horses, etc.), the existence of a tavern establishment was established by legal documents, and the opening and production of trade in strong drinks, just like tobacco products, are subject to the rules of the statutes on excise taxes and tobacco duties and the regulations on government sale of drinks. The duration of trade in establishments is indicated conditionally in the provision; for example, for hotels, inns, station cafes, clubs and theaters, etc. an exception has been made. In general, as an exception to the law, governors are given the right to allow trade in other establishments for a longer period of time. The law did not establish a tax for the sale of supplies and the rental of apartments and gave the right to carry out both trade and rental at a free price. But at the same time, he obliged the owners of establishments, both in common and in individual rooms, to have signs with an exact indication of the price. For excessive demands for prices, the legislation imposed punishment on those responsible in the form of a fine. In some types of tavern establishments, with the permission of senior administrative officials, games, music, singing, choirs and other entertainment are not prohibited by law. All persons who had the right to engage in trade and crafts could maintain tavern establishments, whereas previously this required a special certificate, the obtaining of which was extremely difficult. The last provision canceled this paragraph and indicated only the subscription that must be given by persons wishing to open a tavern establishment. By this subscription they testify that they have not been subjected to penalties depriving them of the right to maintain tavern establishments. In cities, permission to open a tavern establishment is granted by city governments.
It is necessary to add the following: every premises located within urban settlements and intended for the sale of drink must be inspected by the police.
Moreover, both excise supervision and persons appointed from the city administration take part in this examination. The City Duma, in agreement with the police, issues mandatory regulations on the establishment of various types of tavern establishments, so that each of them does not go beyond the framework defined by law and is fully consistent with its purpose, both in the sense of improvement and well-being.
The duty of the Duma is also to indicate places in the city in which tavern establishments should not be opened at all.
In settlements where city regulations have not been introduced, such mandatory regulations are issued by the governor. All tavern establishments located in urban settlements are subject to special tavern fees, which go to the income of these settlements. When determining the total amount of these fees, the city duma allocates them into two parts: one part falls on establishments selling strong drinks, the other on those not selling such. To distribute the fees for individual establishments (if there are more than 20 of them in the city), they are distributed by the Duma into groups according to their degree of profitability, size of turnover, location, etc. and the largest and smallest amounts of taxation are determined. The actual layout is carried out (depending on the discretion of the Duma) either by general meetings of the owners of establishments of each group, or by a layout commission elected from among them. The layout commission is elected annually, and both the meeting of establishment owners and the meeting of the layout commissions are necessarily chaired by a member of the city duma. The layout of the tavern collection must be completed by the deadline specified by law, namely by October 20th. In case of inaccuracy in the deadline by the city government itself. Misunderstandings regarding the incorrect layout, as well as complaints about it, are finally resolved by the City Duma. All buffets of military meetings, the facilities of which are not leased to private individuals, are not subject to collection of the city tavern tax.
In addition to the designated military buffets, the city council may, at their discretion, exempt establishments of other kinds from collection, but only those that do not sell strong drinks. Commercial establishments that do not sell strong drinks and are located outside the boundaries of urban settlements are opened in the same manner as in cities in general. The opening of establishments selling strong drinks must be permitted in compliance with all the rules of the statute on excise duties, and the conditions under which consent to the opening of the departments is given, by the owner or the company, are taken into account. These conditions, set out in written agreements, must be provided in the case as documents. All tavern establishments located outside the boundaries of urban settlements, with the exception of dukhans, inns, and even inns without the sale of strong drinks, pay a tavern tax in favor of the district lands, where land institutions have not been introduced, and a provincial land tax, but in the region Donskoy troops - in stanitsa or military amounts. The size of the trading fee ranges from six to ten to fifteen rubles, depending on the type of area. This amount is determined by the district land assemblies, and where there is no land, by the provincial administrative committees. Concluding this review of the legal provisions of the tavern industry, let's say by the way that, based on the data on the number of drinking establishments in Russia, we see the following: in 1866 their number was 35,376, by the end of 1894 it reached 42,067, i.e. . increased by more than six and a half thousand. Then, due to the introduction of a monopoly by wine, it began to fall. Without wishing to dwell in detail on issues not directly related to the general overview of the essay, we will translate its next chapters into a summation of everything previously said and will try, in a more condensed framework, to remind the reader of the historical course of events that accompanied both the origin and further development of the tavern trade in Rus'.
“The tavern is dearest to us!” - says Arkashka Schastlivtsev, a comedian from A. Ostrovsky’s play “The Forest”. And for many Muscovites in the 19th century, the tavern was also “the first thing.” “It replaced the stock exchange for merchants who made thousand-dollar transactions over a cup of tea, and a dining room for lonely people, and hours of relaxation in friendly conversation for all people, and a place for business meetings, and revelry for everyone - from a millionaire to a tramp,” writes the historian and journalist from the beginning of the century Vladimir Gilyarovsky about restaurant customs of the end of the century before last. In a word, Arkashka is right: “The tavern is the first thing!”
Since the first half of the century before last, there have been three oldest purely Russian taverns in Moscow: “Saratov”, Gurin’s tavern and Egorov’s tavern. However, in 1868, Gurin’s clerk, a certain Testov, persuaded the millionaire Patrikeev, the owner of the house in which Egorov’s establishment was located, to take away the tavern from the latter and hand it over to him. After some time, a sign “Big Patrikeevsky Tavern” appeared on the wall of the newly decorated, by that time luxurious house on the corner of Voskresenskaya and Teatralnaya squares. And below it was very modestly signed: “I.Ya. Tests."
Testov traded widely, the main thing on the menu was the Russian table. Therefore, it is quite understandable that Testov’s main clients were the merchants and gentry, who flocked to the new tavern. Testov's enterprise expanded so widely that his fame soon overwhelmed the restaurateur Gurin and the Saratov tavern. This gave Testov the opportunity in 1876 to add a coat of arms and the inscription to his sign: “Supplier of the highest court.”
In addition to the Moscow merchants and nobility, St. Petersburg nobility specially came to Testov's tavern, and there were also great princes. When visiting, everyone certainly wanted to try the Test pig, crayfish soup with pies and the famous Guryev porridge, which, by the way, was invented by some unknown Guryev.
As for the design of the test tavern, in addition to a number of offices, there were two huge halls where eminent merchants had their own tables during lunch or breakfast hours, which could not be occupied by anyone. So, in the left hall, the last table by the window from four o’clock was occupied by the millionaire Ivan Chizhov, a shaved, plump old man of enormous stature. He carefully sat down at the table at his own hour, almost always alone, ate for two hours and dozed between courses.
According to Gilyarovsky’s recollections, Chizhov’s menu was as follows: a portion of cold beluga or sturgeon with horseradish, caviar, two plates of crayfish soup, fish selyanka or kidney selyanka with two pies, and then fried pig, veal or fish, depending on the season. In summer, botvinya with sturgeon, whitefish and dry grated balyk is a must. Then for the third course - invariably a frying pan of Guryev porridge.
Sometimes Chizhov allowed himself to retreat, replacing the pies with a Baidakov pie - a huge kulebyak filled with twelve tiers, which contained everything - from a layer of burbot liver to a layer of bone marrow in black butter. At the same time, he drank red and white wine, and after dozing for half an hour, he went home to bed, so that from eight in the evening he could be at the Merchant Club, eat the whole evening by special order with a large company and drink champagne. He always ordered at the club himself, and none of his company contradicted him. As Chizhov himself said, “I’m not supposed to have these different folies-jolies and fricassee-curasse... We eat in Russian, but our belly doesn’t hurt, we don’t rush around to doctors, we don’t wander around abroad.”
The most remarkable thing is that this gourmet lived to an old age in good health.
Tavern Testov was one of those Russian taverns that were in great fashion in the 19th century, and then, much later, began to be called restaurants. At that time there was only one “restaurant” in the city center - “Slavic Bazaar”. The rest were called taverns, because the main visitors were Russian merchants. And each of the city taverns was distinguished by its own customs, some special dish and had its regular visitors. In all these taverns the servants wore white shirts made of expensive Dutch linen, washed to a shine. They were called white shirts, sex workers or sixes. “Sixes” because they served aces, kings and queens. “And every jack, even the one of hearts, orders them,” wrote Vladimir Gilyarovsky. -But nothing! The trump six of the ace hits.” But while the “six” became trump cards, it had to endure many troubles and trials.
Painting by the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez “The Innkeeper”.
Painting size 100 x 122 cm, oil on canvas.
The painting by the Seville artist Velazquez from the Bodegones cycle also has another name, “In the tavern.”
Ie imperial codes of the tsarist government of the Romanov dynasty.
Taverns and tavern establishments were divided into various types according to the type of trade that they were allowed to produce: hotels, restaurants, taverns and cafe-restaurants constituted the highest category, taverns - the lowest.
Institutions of the tavern industry without renting out premises include: taverns, restaurants, taverns and dukhans; vegetable and fruit shops and Rennes cellars serving snacks or meals; canteens, kitchens, buffets at theaters, on ships, piers, railway stations, at festivities, etc.; beer stalls selling hot food; pastry and cake shops selling supplies for on-site consumption; coffee, food or snack shops. In taverns and tavern establishments, station houses and Rennes cellars, all kinds of sales of strong drinks, both Russian and foreign, including beer, porter and honey are allowed; in inns or taverns, temporary exhibitions, wine and bucket shops, the sale of the same drinks, but only Russian preparations, is allowed; beer shops can only sell beer, porter and honey, and cellars selling Russian grape wines can only sell wine.
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