Insert the missing concepts and definitions of corvée. Taxes of medieval and ancient Rus' - corvee and quitrent: how much and how they differ

Corvee

CORVEE-s; and. In Russia before 1917: one of the duties of serfs was free forced labor on the land of the landowners. Work as a corvee. * He replaced the ancient corvee with a yoke with an easy quitrent(Pushkin). / Razg. About forced, low-paid labor. In Rus', corvée appeared during the time of the Kievan state, was widespread from the 16th to the mid-19th century, after the abolition of serfdom it remained as sharecropping, and existed until 1917 in the form of labor.

Corvée, oh, oh. Bth duty. B. labor.

corvee

a form of land rent, free forced labor of a dependent peasant working with his own equipment on the feudal lord’s farm. IN Western Europe corvée spread from the 8th-19th centuries, from the 12th-13th centuries. began to be replaced by quitrents and by the XIV-VV centuries. faded away. In the countries of the East, corvée was not widespread. Widespread in European Russia in the second half of the 16th - first half of the 19th centuries. After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, sharecropping was retained for temporarily obliged peasants. Abolished in 1882.

CORVEE

CARRIAGE, labor rent, one of the forms of feudal land rent, free forced labor of a dependent peasant working with his own equipment on the feudal lord's farm. Forcing the peasant into corvee labor required the greatest (compared to other forms of feudal rent) restriction of his personal freedom. The productivity of corvee labor was low, and the productive forces developed slowly under the rule of corvee labor. Corvee work could include field work, carriage duties, construction and handicraft work, and wood cutting. The size and economic role of corvée at different stages of feudalism and in different countries
were not the same. In the countries of the East, where landowners usually did not run their own farms, corvée was not widespread, but peasants were actively involved in government work for the construction of irrigation structures, roads, bridges, palaces. Various shapes forced labor , approaching corvée, persisted in modern times and, which is associated with the remnants of feudal relations, landlessness and land shortage of the peasantry, and the prevalence of enslaving forms of peasant rent.
In Western Europe, corvée spread from the 8th and 9th centuries; in a number of large estates it was the dominant form of rent and its duration among peasants of some categories was 2-4 days a week. From the 12th-13th centuries, due to the reduction of the master's economy and the distribution of the domain into holdings, the displacement of corvée by dues began. Although in some areas different time There was a temporary return to corvée, which came to naught by the 14th-15th centuries, remaining until the 17th-18th centuries only in the form of small labor (a few days a year) during the time of need.
In most countries of Central and especially Eastern Europe, corvee did not play a significant role in the Middle Ages, but in the 16th and 17th centuries, with the development of entrepreneurial landownership, corvee became the dominant type of agricultural production and created the basis for the “second edition of serfdom.” Corvee increases for most peasants to 4-5 and even 6 days a week. The gradual reduction of corvée began only in the second half of the 18th century, but some of its remnants (mainly in the form of labor for peasant lease of land) persisted until the end of the Second World War.
The emergence of corvée in Russia dates back to the times Kievan Rus. At first, the labor of slaves was mainly used, and in the 13th-15th centuries, along with the use of slaves in large secular estates, peasant labor began to be used on monastic lands. In addition to corvee, quitrent in kind became widespread in Rus' in the 13th-15th centuries. At the end of the 15th-16th century, with the growth of commodity-money relations, corvée became more widespread, covering almost all types of economy and categories of dependent peasantry (especially in connection with the economic crisis of the 1560-1580s). Peasants in corvée performed several types of work: they cultivated the master's arable land, carried out labor duties, harvested hay, built houses and outbuildings. Corvee contributed to the creation of a nationwide system of serfdom in Russia.
Commodity-money relations played a decisive role in the spread of corvee. In a developing commodity production, when market demand and prices for agricultural products continuously grew, the interest of landowners in expanding their farms increased, and they began to intensively transfer peasants to corvée. Thus, corvee no longer served a closed natural economy, but a commodity-money economy, thereby acquiring new economic content.
In the 17th - first half of the 18th century, corvee and rent in kind were the main forms of exploitation of landowners, church, and palace peasants. At the same time, geographic differentiation occurred various forms annuities. Corvee began to prevail in the central black earth regions of the country, as well as in the districts adjacent to Moscow. In the north and east of the country there was a transition to cash rent. Corvée was 2-4 days a week. In the 17th century appeared the new kind corvée - work at landowner enterprises (potash, cloth, linen). In the second half of the 18th century, the areas of distribution of corvée were clearly defined. In seven provinces of the Black Earth Region (Oryol, Tula, Ryazan, Penza, Tambov, Kursk, Voronezh) 74% of the landowner peasants were in corvée. In thirteen provinces of the Non-Black Earth Region (Olonets, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod, Smolensk, Tver, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vologda, Vladimir, Pskov, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod) corvee covered 45% of the serfs. Corvee prevailed in the Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine. In the form of tithe arable land, corvee was preserved among the state peasants of Siberia. The palace (later appanage) and most of the state peasants of Russia were on monetary rent.
The amount of corvée was not regulated by law. In 1797, a decree on three-day corvee was issued, but it was advisory in nature and was ignored by the landowners. In practice, corvee in some regions of Russia reached 3-4 and even 6 days a week. A new point in the development of corvee was the transfer of peasants to a month, in which they, receiving food monthly from the landowner, had to go to corvee every day. Increased corvée led to ruin peasant farm, landlessness of peasants.
After the abolition of serfdom in Russia (1861), corvee was not abolished and, under the name of “sharecropping,” was retained for temporarily obliged peasants. In 1882, with the introduction of compulsory redemption, corvee was legally abolished, but essentially continued to exist in the form of a labor system. At the end of the 19th century, it prevailed over capitalist methods of farming in 12 black earth and 5 non-black earth provinces. In seven provinces both systems occupied approximately the same position.


encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

Synonyms:

See what “corvée” is in other dictionaries:

    Free forced labor of a dependent peasant working with personal equipment on the farm of the land owner. Widely applicable corvée, which entails the greatest restrictions on the personal freedom of the peasant, was accompanied by the most... ... Historical Dictionary

    A form of land rent, free forced labor of a dependent peasant working with his own equipment on the feudal lord's farm. In the West In Europe, corvée spread from the 8th to 9th centuries, from the 12th to 13th centuries. began to be replaced by quitrents and by the 14th and 15th centuries. went to... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

    Labor rent, one of the forms of land rent under the feudal mode of production. It is characterized by the attachment of a direct producer to the land, the personal dependence of the peasant on the landowner. The content of B. is determined by the obligation... ... Dictionary of business terms

    Modern encyclopedia

    Corvee, corvée, many. no, female (source). Under serfdom, the forced labor of peasants was free for the benefit of the landowner. Typically, corvee was expressed in the form of cultivation of the landowner's land by peasants. “He replaced the ancient corvée with a light quitrent for the yoke.”... ... Dictionary Ushakova

    COVE, see master. Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary. IN AND. Dahl. 1863 1866 … Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

    Obrok Dictionary of Russian synonyms. corvée noun, number of synonyms: 2 items (1) corvée... Synonym dictionary

    Labor rent, one of the forms of feudal land rent, free forced labor of a dependent peasant working with his own equipment on the feudal lord's farm. Forcing the peasant into corvee labor required the most (compared to... ... Political science. Dictionary.

    Corvee- COVE, labor rent, which consisted in the peasant’s obligation to perform field and other economic work for what he received from the owner for use specific area land. In Western Europe, corvée came to naught in the 14th and 15th centuries, in Russia... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

    Free forced labor of a serf peasant working with his own equipment in a lordly (landowner) household. Compelling the peasant to B. required the greatest (compared to other forms of feudal rent) restrictions on his personal... ... Legal Dictionary

    Corvée, s, female. Under serfdom: forced labor of peasants on landowners' land. | adj. corvée, oh, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Books

  • , R. Jones. Readers are invited to a book by the famous English economist R. Jones, dedicated to the study of land rent. The origin of rent, its division into primary and...

Modern youth do not fully understand the value of freedom and personal time. Girls and boys, waking up in the morning, think about how to drink a cup of coffee and look at the latest news on the pages of Internet portals.

And several hundred years ago, young people did not belong to themselves, withering away and spending their lives working in other people's fields. It has long been forgotten what quitrent and corvée are. And you always need to remember this in order to appreciate your present.

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What was called quitrent?

What duties of peasants were called quitrents? In the Middle Ages, serfs were obliged pay a certain tribute to the master. The quitrent system involved payments both in products (in-kind quitrent) and in cash (cash quitrent). Its withdrawal occurred after the work was completed, as they said, “from surplus production.”

This term could also be called rent land plots, fields, meadows and forests. This concept was called “giving as quitrent.” It was possible to hunt in the forests, fish in the rivers, and plant on free lands. cultivated plants. State benefits were provided for the plots for a certain period of time. And the peasants were exempted from duties, demanding only payment of contractual rent.

What other duties of peasants were included in this concept? It was typical for cities give in pecuniary duty trading shops. At the same time, people voluntarily paid a certain amount of money for using the place. Hence, quitrent in the Middle Ages was sometimes voluntary, and not just forced. The poor themselves were relatively free. They were required to pay rent for the land on which they lived and carried out agricultural or craft activities.

A quitrent in kind implied tribute not only products, but also handicrafts. This was the most convenient form of exploitation of serfs, when they gave away the fruits of their labor.

During the heyday of feudalism this type of local service was combined with corvée. During its collapse, they returned to quitrents, but mainly monetary ones.

At first In the 16th century, the quitrent changed its structure somewhat: the peasants paid the feudal lord, and he replenished the royal treasury. The only exception was for landowners who bought land from the state.

Over time, this became the reason for the appearance complex economic problems , and therefore they decided to replace the quitrent with another type of service. Let's take a closer look at what corvee is.

What is corvée

Corvée is the work of peasants for the benefit of the feudal lord in payment Money for the use of land.

This form of political and economic dependence of peasants came in the 16th century to replace quitrent, which did not live up to the hopes of the feudal lords. Poor peasants and their families could barely make ends meet, and they had absolutely no money to pay tribute. They could starve themselves, without having a surplus to sell agricultural products. economic activity. This aspect concerned those lands that were not distinguished by fertility and high yields.

Corvee farming is characterized by the giving of land to peasants for use without paying for it. But the debts had to be repaid. And everyone did it as best they could. Some people worked in the fields of the feudal lords, others fished and hunted on their lands, and some looked after their estates and served. Every made his contribution and benefited the landowner, on whose land he lived.

Corvee presupposed the following principles:

  1. Physical activity only. The feudal lords did not even look at the age of the peasants, forcing both old people and children to work. The main thing for them was to benefit from their serfs.
  2. Labor activity on the lands of the feudal lord was completely free. People worked all day and returned home with nothing.
  3. No one was exempt from corvee. In fact, this is a special form of labor service from birth, the implementation of which was unquestioning.

Important! Sometimes corvée and quitrent were imposed simultaneously. And fulfilling both duties led people to despair.

Differences

To understand how quitrent differs from the second duty of serfs under consideration, we present comparative characteristics concepts.

  • Serfs peasants worked corvée for free using personal tools and equipment.
  • The poor had to work not only for the benefit of the feudal lord, but also for church institutions, monasteries, and schools.
  • Conscription was mainly based on the agricultural activities of peasants. Although they could work in the feudal lord's house, serving at his table, cleaning, and preparing food.
  • Corvee was considered more profitable for feudal lords living in villages. Because they had the opportunity to independently set the amount of work.
  • Conscription made serfs peasants completely dependent on the feudal lord. They practically had no rights, and although they were considered free in theory, in reality people could not change the situation, often dying under the heavy yoke of feudalism.
  • The peasants had to return to the feudal lord part of the harvest or proceeds from its sale.
  • The tribute did not apply to everyone. Very poor peasants were not able to pay cash rent.
  • The opportunity was provided to engage not only in agricultural activities, but also in other types of crafts.
  • The feudal lord had the right demand payment of tribute in advance.
  • Conscription was more typical for nobles living in cities.
  • In theory, peasants were considered free, while in practice the “yoke of feudalism” held them tightly.

Cancellation of duties

Despite the fact that they were a nightmare for many peasants, these duties remained in effect until the 19th century.

People tried to fight the system, in some places raising uprisings. But the actions did not produce results and for the poor, everything most often ended in disaster.

The first step towards the complete liberation of peasants from duties was decree on three-day corvee. At the legislative level, he limited the use of peasant labor in favor of feudal lords and the royal court.

The way of life and relationships between people were not always the same as we know them now. The ability to manage your time and your life was not available to a large number of people until a certain period. The term “corvee” comes from the Middle Ages, when serfdom was the norm and commonplace. What does it mean?

What is corvée?

The term “corvee” characterizes the free labor service of the peasant in favor of the landowner (feudal lord, landowner, boyar) for the opportunity to use the land resources of the master.

During the work, the peasant used personal equipment. In addition to working directly on the land, any type of labor that was beneficial was allowed to pay off the “debt”. It could be:

  • Construction works.
  • Carriage services.
  • Craft works.
  • Housework.
  • Fishing or hunting.

The emergence of corvée

This type of relationship as corvée became widespread after quitrent as a payment option did not live up to expectations. The peasants, for the most part, were poor, so they had nothing to pay for the use of the land. There were frequent cases when, after paying all the fees, the serf's family had to starve, and some of its members died. The reduction in the number of serfs was not beneficial for the landowners, so the solution to the problem was to work off the debt. The dependent worker was forced to work for nothing on the land of the feudal lord. This is how a new type of relationship was formed - free labor service.

This type of relationship is the main one driving force agricultural production during the times of serfdom and existed even for some time after its abolition - until 1917 (in Russia). Corvee was calculated by the amount of time worked - days, weeks, months and years. Cases of replacing corvée with quitrent (material tribute) also occurred, but were quite rare.


Key features of corvée

Many people confuse the concepts of “corvee” and “rent” due to a similar interpretation - both are conscription. The main characteristics of corvée are as follows:

  • It was charged exclusively physical labor. The employee's age and physical state didn't matter.
  • Labor service is mandatory for the relationship between landowner and dependent peasant.
  • The work that the peasant did was not paid at all. After working all day, the hard worker could come home empty-handed.
  • No one was in any way exempted from labor service in the form of corvee. Moreover, along with corvée, there was often also a quitrent - a tribute in cash or in kind.


IN modern conditions There are four ways to make a profit from renting out a plot of land:

  • direct rental;
  • leasing a site as a natural resource;
  • percentage of profit from the tenant’s business activities;
  • one-time income received from the transfer of land for rent.

Two types of feudal rent

During feudalism, land owners received profit from them in the form of corvée and quitrent. These forms of land rent differed from each other in that quitrent was paid in natural products or money, and corvée involved paying for land rent with one’s own labor.

Corvee

It was not always possible for dependent peasants to pay the rent of land owned by the feudal lord with money or goods. Therefore, they were given the opportunity to work on the farm of the land owner.

It is not difficult to guess that the conditions here could be completely different - from the number of days per week, month or year to the volume of work performed. At the same time, assessing the quality of labor was entirely the prerogative of the feudal lord and depended on his character and loyalty to the dependent peasant.

In its final form, corvée labor was consolidated after the formation of the feudal system, and since this process occurred differently in different countries, the timing of its application was different everywhere.

In Russia, for example, corvee existed for about three hundred years - from the 16th to the 19th centuries - until the abolition of serfdom. In France, this type of payment for land rent existed already in the 7th century. In England, corvee was abolished after the decree of King Edward III, “The Statute of Plowmen,” which he issued in 1350, 200 years before it arose in Russia.

Legislative regulation also differed in different countries and at different times. In the same France, subordinate peasants differentiated themselves, but the most powerless of them were the serfs from the 7th to the 12th centuries. were subject to arbitrary corvee, depending solely on the appetites of the landowner.

In England, where the king was recognized as the supreme feudal lord and owner of all lands, there was no such arbitrariness. In addition, in Foggy Albion there was a shortage of labor, and the demand for it exceeded supply, which forced the feudal lords to attract peasants to work on conditions favorable to them. That is why the “Statute on Plowmen” was issued, according to which all free or involuntary workers began to receive payment for this. But back in the 11th century, the size of peasant duties was fixed by law in England, and a special presence was established to resolve disagreements and disputes arising on this issue.

In Russia, the situation of serfs was much worse. Before late XVIII centuries, the law did not regulate in any way the amount of duties that peasants bore to corvée. The landowners themselves set the time and amount of work, and some peasants did not have enough time to work for themselves. So it was very difficult.

Infected by European freethinking, Catherine II was tempted to completely abolish serfdom, but abandoned this idea at the insistence of the Senate. A real revolution in the relations between landowners and serfs was made by her son, Paul I. On April 5, 1797, he released the “Manifesto on the Three-Day Corvee.”

According to this decree, landowners could involve peasants in corvee work no more than three days a week and it was forbidden to do this on weekends and holidays. These orders remained virtually unchanged until 1861, when serfdom was abolished. However, with its abolition, corvée continued for some time. This could be a mutual agreement between the peasant and the landowner, and if there was no such agreement, corvée labor was regulated by law established rules. They provided:

  1. Limitation of corvée either by the number of working days or by a certain area of ​​land on which women work no more than 35, and men no more than 40 days a year.
  2. The division of days according to the seasons, as well as the gender of the person working the corvee. They were divided into male and female.
  3. From now on, the order of work was regulated, the work order for which was assigned with the participation of the village headman, taking into account the gender, age, health of the workers, as well as their ability to replace each other.
  4. The quality of work should be limited by the requirement of compliance with the physical capabilities of workers and their state of health.
  5. The rules introduced a procedure for recording corvée.
  6. Well, finally, conditions were created for serving various types corvée: work in the factories of landowners, managerial economic positions, etc.

In general, conditions were created that gave the peasants the right, in the event of a voluntary agreement with the landowners, to buy out the lands on which they work. It only remains to add that corvee was worked not only on landowners' lands, but also on lands belonging to the state or monasteries.

quitrent

This duty obligated the peasant to pay the landowner with the products produced or the money received for them. Therefore this form of use real estate most suitable for the concept of rent that is familiar today.

The application of the quitrent system is much broader than corvee. Shops, taverns, and other outlets. Industrial facilities such as mills, forges, etc. These were also hunting and fishing grounds. The obligation of dependent peasants to the landowners is only one aspect of quitrent.

Well, it all started in Ancient Rus', when the formation of taxes just began. The princes began to take tribute from their vassals in the form of goods and money. The vassals, in turn, shifted these problems onto the shoulders of the people dependent on them, keeping part of the tribute for themselves.

Then, during the formation of feudalism in Russia, this system passed into the relationship between landowners and serfs. Obviously, peasants with a special economic spirit, entrepreneurial talent and golden hands could pay the quitrent.

All others were doomed to work corvee labor.

The quitrent has one more negative side- in the Middle Ages in Rus', entire villages with old people, children, subsidiary plots and all their belongings were rented out as rent. At the same time, the tenant paid the owner, the state, did not forget himself, and received funds, naturally, from peasant labor.

Modern society is spoiled by the benefits of civilization. Young people, waking up in the morning, drink a cup of coffee, turn on the laptop to get acquainted with latest news, answer letters from friends, then leisurely get ready for school or work. Has anyone ever wondered how the morning began 100, 200, 300 years ago for the same girls and boys? Today, not everyone will be able to correctly answer the question of what quitrent and corvée are, but just two centuries ago people worked off their service, did not belong to themselves, and ruined their health in other people’s fields.

What is quitrent?

Over the centuries, several definitions of this concept have appeared. The quitrent first arose at the beginning of the formation of Ancient Rus', when taxes were just introduced. Then the princes collected tribute from their subordinates in the form of food, money, and goods. Later, this type of duty appeared as the obligation of peasants to give part of their money or products to the feudal lords. The reform of 1861 abolished the food dues, and the monetary dues remained for another two years.

During feudalism, peasants were considered someone’s property, so feudal lords could give for use not only specific people, but also entire villages. A quitrent can be compared to a lease, that is, a nobleman provided his possessions for use to another nobleman. In the 16th century, a state tax appeared; duties were paid by landowners to the treasury. At the same time, the quitrent also applied to peasants, only they paid it not to the state, but to the owner of the land on which they lived and used to grow food. People could pay the master with money, goods or their own labor.

What is corvée?

For three centuries (XVI-XIX centuries) corvee existed. The definition of this concept is very simple - the peasant paid the rent of a plot of land that belonged to the feudal lord with his own labor. This is nothing more than a form of the work system. Corvee and quitrent are, in fact, very similar. Since the poor could not always pay tribute to the feudal lord in the form of money or food, because they themselves were left with nothing, the rich allowed them to repay the debt with labor.

What are quitrents and corvée in essence? These are unique forms of payment of rent for land. Corvee was collected only through physical labor, but it could be varied: agriculture, hunting, fishing, gardening, cattle breeding, etc. No one was exempt from this tribute, the work was absolutely free, the master did not pay anything for it.

Amounts of duties

During feudalism, local “Regulations” were in effect, which deciphered in detail what quitrent and corvée were, as well as in what amounts they were collected. The amount paid for land varied depending on its location. For example, peasants who lived near St. Petersburg paid 12 rubles, but those from Moscow and Yaroslavl paid only 10 rubles. The smallest amount - 9 rubles - was paid by the poor of the Kursk and Voronezh provinces. Having paid tribute, the peasant could not only use the landowner’s land, but also freely dispose of his labor force.

Corvée is physical labor, which was performed by temporarily obliged and serf peasants for the master. The amount of the duty was calculated based on the person’s per capita allotment. In one land plot women worked for a month, and men for 40 days. At the same time, the feudal lord did not provide tools; the poor had to come with their own hoes, plows, shovels, fishing rods, etc. Women fell under corvée from the ages of 17 to 50, and men from 18 to 55 years.

What are quitrents and corvée? What is the difference?

Corvee:

  • Peasants with personal tools worked for free on the lands of landowners.
  • The poor could work not only for the master, but also for a monastery, church, or educational institution.
  • The duty was based on work with agriculture.
  • Corvée was beneficial for landowners living in villages, since they themselves could set the amount of labor.
  • Conscription enslaved the peasants and became widespread in Rus'.

quitrent:


Cancellation of duties

In Rus', quitrent and corvée somehow took root very well. Although there were differences between these two duties, they both made the peasants slaves, strangled them, and did not allow them to develop. The intelligentsia tried to fight feudalism, but it was all to no avail; the landowners, like leeches, sucked the strength out of the poor, exploiting them for their own purposes. Serfdom was abolished in 1861, and quitrent was also abolished in 1863. However, it took several more decades to completely change people’s consciousness and rebuild the economy to new way and destroy feudalism.

quitrent

This concept has several definitions. This term was first mentioned in connection with the collection of taxes back in the very early period Ancient Rus'. The quitrent then meant almost any tribute collected by the princes from the people subordinate to them in the form of money, food or goods. Later, quitrent began to be understood as a type of duty of peasants to the feudal lords, which consisted in paying tribute to the landowner in food or money. Monetary dues remained in Rus' until 1863, and food dues were abolished by the reform of 1861.

The ancients understood the concept of “rent” in the same way as today we perceive the word “lease”, that is, a fixed-term or indefinite right to use property that follows from a lease agreement. Since peasants during the dawn of feudalism were actually considered a thing, the property of the feudal lord, it was normal to give someone “on lease,” that is, as quitrent, entire villages along with the people living there.

Since the 16th century. “Obrok” is used in the sense of state tax, which was paid to the state treasury by land owners. The quitrent was also paid by peasants to their landowner for giving them the right to live and work on his land, as well as to grow vegetables and feed themselves. The quitrent was paid in money or goods; it was also possible to earn the quitrent by labor. Later, corvée began to emerge from this tradition.

Corvee

Corvee is the work of a serf peasant in favor of a feudal lord on his land in order to pay the rent of the plot on which the peasant works to feed his family.

Corvee became widespread in the 16th century. and existed until the 19th century, and in some territories until the 20th century. - as one of the forms of the proven system after the abolition of serfdom.

Corvée replaced quitrent. The peasants, who received certain allotments from the feudal lord and could live there and grow vegetables for food, were not always able to give the feudal quitrent in goods or money, otherwise they themselves would have nothing to feed themselves. In this regard, increasingly, feudal lords allowed their serfs to work off their rent by labor.

Corvee had several basic principles. Firstly, corvee was collected exclusively for physical labor, and not for goods. This work could be very diverse: work on the land, fishing, hunting and much more. Secondly, corvee was compulsory, no one was exempt from it, and it served as a unique form of payment of rent for land. Thirdly, it was absolutely free labor in favor of the feudal lord: a peasant could work on his master’s land for several weeks, but not receive anything for it.

Corvee, unlike quitrent, turned out to be a more tenacious system and lasted quite a long time. Often these two types of duties were combined.

The end of corvee and quitrent

Corvée and quitrent in Rus', although they tried to actively fight them and considered them a relic of feudalism, existed for quite a long time, until the 19th century. This was facilitated by the economic state of the country: feudalism did not allow the regional economies to develop as needed, the peasants did not have money, so they were forced to be dependent on richer people, paying them rent either in goods or in work. Despite the abolition of serfdom, it took several decades to finally destroy the feudal system and rebuild the economy.

CARRIAGE, labor rent, one of the forms of feudal land rent, free forced labor of a dependent peasant working with his own equipment on the feudal lord's farm. Forcing the peasant into corvee labor required the greatest (compared to other forms of feudal rent) restriction of his personal freedom. The productivity of corvee labor was low, and the productive forces developed slowly under the rule of corvee labor. Corvee work could include field work, carriage duties, construction and handicraft work, and wood cutting. The size and economic role of corvée varied at different stages of feudalism and in different countries.
In the countries of the East, where landowners usually did not run their own farms, corvée was not widespread, but peasants were actively involved in government work on the construction of irrigation structures, roads, bridges, and palaces. Various forms of forced labor, approaching corvee, persisted in Modern and Contemporary times, which is associated with the remnants of feudal relations, landlessness and scarcity of land among the peasantry, and the prevalence of enslaving forms of peasant tenancy.
In Western Europe, corvée spread from the 8th and 9th centuries; in a number of large estates it was the dominant form of rent and its duration among peasants of some categories was 2-4 days a week. From the 12th-13th centuries, due to the reduction of the master's economy and the distribution of the domain into holdings, the displacement of corvée by dues began. Although in some areas at different times there was a temporary return to corvee, it faded away by the 14th-15th centuries, remaining until the 17th-18th centuries only in the form of small labor (a few days a year) during the time of need.
In most countries of Central and especially Eastern Europe, corvee did not play a significant role in the Middle Ages, but in the 16th and 17th centuries, with the development of entrepreneurial landownership, corvee became the dominant type of agricultural production and created the basis for the “second edition of serfdom.” Corvee increases for most peasants to 4-5 and even 6 days a week. The gradual reduction of corvée began only in the second half of the 18th century, but some of its remnants (mainly in the form of labor for peasant lease of land) persisted until the end of the Second World War.
The emergence of corvée in Russia dates back to the times of Kievan Rus. At first, the labor of slaves was mainly used, and in the 13th-15th centuries, along with the use of slaves in large secular estates, peasant labor began to be used on monastic lands. In addition to corvee, quitrent in kind became widespread in Rus' in the 13th-15th centuries. At the end of the 15th-16th century, with the growth of commodity-money relations, corvée became more widespread, covering almost all types of economy and categories of dependent peasantry (especially in connection with the economic crisis of the 1560-1580s). Peasants in corvée performed several types of work: they cultivated the master's arable land, carried out labor duties, harvested hay, built houses and outbuildings. Corvee contributed to the creation of a nationwide system of serfdom in Russia.
Commodity-money relations played a decisive role in the spread of corvee. In the conditions of developing commodity production, when market demand and prices for agricultural products were constantly growing, the interest of landowners in expanding their farms increased, and they began to intensively transfer peasants to corvée. Thus, corvee no longer served a closed natural economy, but a commodity-money economy, thereby acquiring new economic content.
In the 17th - first half of the 18th century, corvee and rent in kind were the main forms of exploitation of landowners, church, and palace peasants. At the same time, there was a geographical differentiation of various forms of rent. Corvee began to prevail in the central black earth regions of the country, as well as in the districts adjacent to Moscow. In the north and east of the country there was a transition to cash rent. Corvée was 2-4 days a week. In the 17th century, a new type of corvee appeared - work at landowner enterprises (potash, cloth, linen). In the second half of the 18th century, the areas of distribution of corvée were clearly defined. In seven provinces of the Black Earth Region (Oryol, Tula, Ryazan, Penza, Tambov, Kursk, Voronezh) 74% of the landowner peasants were in corvée. In thirteen provinces of the Non-Black Earth Region (Olonets, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod, Smolensk, Tver, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vologda, Vladimir, Pskov, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod) corvee covered 45% of the serfs. Corvee prevailed in the Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine. In the form of tithe arable land, corvee was preserved among the state peasants of Siberia. The palace (later appanage) and most of the state peasants of Russia were on monetary rent.
The amount of corvée was not regulated by law. In 1797, a decree on three-day corvee was issued, but it was advisory in nature and was ignored by the landowners. In practice, corvee in some regions of Russia reached 3-4 and even 6 days a week. A new point in the development of corvee was the transfer of peasants to a month, in which they, receiving food monthly from the landowner, had to go to corvee every day. The strengthening of the corvée system led to the ruin of the peasant economy and the dispossession of the peasants.
After the abolition of serfdom in Russia (1861), corvee was not abolished and, under the name of “sharecropping,” was retained for temporarily obliged peasants. In 1882, with the introduction of compulsory redemption, corvee was legally abolished, but essentially continued to exist in the form of a labor system. At the end of the 19th century, it prevailed over capitalist methods of farming in 12 black earth and 5 non-black earth provinces. In seven provinces both systems occupied approximately the same position.