Polygamy IN RUSSIA

Life and customs of our ancestors.

Late last year, one of the most popular teachers UdSU History Department, Associate Professor Vadim Dolgov published scientific work ' Ancient Russia: Mosaic era '. Today we talk with the author on the themes raised in his book.
Vadim, in your book is subtitled ' Essays on Social Anthropology '. Please explain what I mean?.
We are not talking about the history of events ( wars, reforms, etc. ), But about everyday life and the peculiarities of thinking people in the past. For example, the important question of how attitudes towards children. In the Middle Ages treat them seriously different from the modern. It was much more severe. So severe that the researchers suspected that medieval parents did not like them at all. For example, when a peasant family went to work in the field, a newborn baby to swaddle tight and just leave the hut hung on a nail for the day. But deeper investigation found that love was just expressing it in other forms. Less health care, but more - of the soul. But if the baby died, my parents did not spare any money to pay for funeral services at the church.
In general, the family life of ancient Rus is quite different from the current. Recently, the company discussed the problem of reducing the age of consent. Many said that early marriages were never characterized our culture. This is a big mistake. According to the ancient Russian Orthodox norms, marriage age for girls due in 12 years and for boys - in 15 years. Sometimes there were also earlier marriages. In addition, the ancient pagan Slavs in the era of the custom of polygamy. Contrary to popular belief, polygamy was not only a characteristic of Islamic countries.

- In Islam, polygamy - is also the legacy of the pagan era.

- Yes, but Christianity has taken Rus in the tenth century, in contrast to Islam, prescribes monogamy. I must say that the ancient pagan custom was quite tenacious. Church had a long fight against him and managed to defeat the far right. For example, Prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich had, according to the chronicles, 12 wives and 800 concubines.

- It seems that 800 concubines - it's still an exaggeration. Such a load of primitive economics of the time would not have suffered. The prince, probably, and retainers, so it was not. And then, a prince, a representative of the elite, but a simple peasant, how could contain multiple wives? .

Free peasant commune in the early period of Russian history led a life sufficiently secured. And the operation to the fold of feudalism was weak. In the annals of course, there is no information about the lives of ordinary people, but we can help both secular and religious laws. They are frequent references to polygamy and among ordinary citizens. In addition, I note that it is not considered taboo, and premarital sex.
Can I say that in ancient Russia there was a sexual freedom?.
no. The regulation existed, but the rules were different than they are now. Ancient Slavic culture is more related to the type of proseksualnyh, t. e. positive attitude towards sex. It was only much later, due to the influence of Christianity, the perception that sensual love - this is ' an evil sin '.

You write in the book, that the sexual life of the ancient Slav was riddled with symbolic content.

This is clearly evident, for example, in the famous episode with the rape of Polotsk Rogneda Princess, which is contained in the chronicle the story of the ' adventures ' of Vladimir I. Beginning in 980 his march to Kiev, he was, above all, woos a princess of Polotsk Rogneda, already betrothed to his older brother Yaropolk, against whom fought and Vladimir. Princess haughtily refuses. Then Vladimir came with a military force that killed the bride's parents, two brothers, and the very Rogneda raped and married.

- But maybe it's just drunken revelries in the blood of the conqueror conquered the city?.

- No, the massacre of rebellious princess in the picture is not just a chronicle of rape, as well as a certain symbolic act, intended to approve of Vladimir in the status of winner. Vladimir is not only 'was her ' in the face of her father and mother, who then were killed, but called Rogneda new, ' low ' name - Gorislava.

In ancient Russia had special ' princes ' names and the names 'for the simple '?.

The name chosen for the prince for the most part of those that have already been used in the family of Rurik - Vladimir, Yaroslav, Izyaslav, Vsevolod, Svyatoslav, Mstislav. Among the boyars and commoners simple these names also occur, although they often have a diminutive or a vernacular form. The chronicle has preserved a lot of very colorful names of the boyars, and tysyatskih posadniks: Voibor Negochevich, Zhiroslav Nazhirovich, Reuel Dobrynich, Miroshka Nesdinich etc. The boyars and princes were called to the patronymic - that was a sign of their high esteem. The tradition of glorification of patronymic ending in ... Surnames did not exist. People are often more simple life called by that name, a nickname that has been assimilated by them, perhaps even in childhood. They are less reflected in the pages of the chronicles, but a lot of them in a birch bark - fat, Stoyan, Zhiznomir, Mikula, Nezhka, Nezhebud, envy Bratyata, Bratonezhko, Nazhir, Dobroshka, Gostyata etc. There are among the names are those that sound very strange to the ear of the modern man: Ghoul Wild - Novgorod the scribe, who left notes in the margins rewrite them to Prince Vladimir Yaroslav book, choked or Dushilets. This is the last name of the happening, presumably, not from the verb ' to choke ' and the word 'soul'. If the names of the princes are usually in the structure of ' Vlad / Vladimir ', ' glorious ',' holy ' carrying value associated with the military and militias, and the imperious public priestly functions, the names of ordinary people the most common ' fat ',' . By giving such names, the parents wanted to bring to a desired future to the child: the little prince - the glory and power over the world, the small farmer - abundance, satiety and well-being.

- You mentioned the kind of Rurik.

- Indeed, this is a unique situation. I do not know what this can be explained. The question needs further study. Maybe it's the sole fertility Rurik - members of this genus have been so many that for other families in the Russian land is no more space.

- The rulers of the Muslim East, with their harems were not in the sense of fecundity is less effective, so that the reason is, of course, in this.

- Maybe it is the sacred status, which had Rurik in the eyes of the population of the Russian land.

- What lies behind all the words ' Russian land ' in XI-XIII centuries. ? .

- This is a very complex issue. If you say, in brief, that ' the people ' - a concept unique to the modern language and thinking. Ancient Russia was realized by his contemporaries not only as a nation or state, as well as the 'earth ' or 'country'. It is within this concept is conceptualized ethnic and political processes in our ancient chronicles - ' Chronicle '. And the boundaries of understanding of the word are quite different from the modern meaning of the word 'country'. ' The land / country ... It was believed that the population of Russia is derived from the biblical son of Noah - Japheth, that with the other Slavic peoples of the Russian native language and letter of the name and princely dynasty had been received from outsiders Varangian Rus. It is also important to coordinate understanding of their identity has been involvement in the Christian world. The volume of the concept of ' Russian' in Ancient Russia resembled the modern word ' Russian '.

- It turns out that the level of today's development as a nation - roughly the same as that in the era of ancient Russia?.

- In some ways, yes. Author: Interview by Andrew Konoval.