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Monetary system in the Russian state in the XV-XVII centuries. History of the ruble. How the ruble appeared The beginning of the 20th century and the tsarist monetary system

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Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Volga Humanitarian Institute (branch)

Volgograd State University

Department of secondary vocational education

Monetary system in the Russian state in the XV-XVII centuries

Is done by a student

YSP-111 groups

Tokareva I.A.

Checked: Ph.D.

Assoc. Nikolaev N.Yu.

Volzhsky 2011

Introduction

Like any state, Ancient Russia could not do without money - it's just that its first, still pre-Varyazh money, was not coins. The existing ancient Russian monetary system was a set of relationships between several monetary units.

With the development of the Russian state, the monetary system changed: coins changed, banknotes appeared. Various rulers of the state carried out reforms, many of which had a strong influence on changing the monetary system.

This semester work traces the history of the Russian monetary system in the 15th-17th centuries.

money hryvnia rus

History of Russian money

Before the advent of money - a universal means of payment, in Russia, the exchange of goods, that is, barter, was used. As money, the Slavs used things, the so-called commodity money. According to scientists, in ancient Russia, cattle and animal skins served as money (in exchange).

The first "money" had a natural origin. Money could be obtained in nature, which was done very skillfully by hunters. The skin of a killed animal was equated to a monetary unit, because such a product was already more than fur and could safely act as a universal means of payment, quite suitable for mutual settlements between people.

Animal skins were often used to collect dues (tribute, yasak). Furs were also a sign of wealth.

Livestock in Russia was also correlated with money. "Cattle breeding among the Slavs was at a high level compared to other peoples. This is confirmed by the presence of specialization of livestock in terms of its use and breed composition" (ME Lobashev, 1954).

Used as money in Ancient Russia and cowrie shells, which spread throughout the state to Siberia itself. It is curious that cowrie shells were in use in Siberia until the 19th century.

leather money

Some historians believe that since ancient times and before the minting of Russian coins in Russia, leather money was in use. This is evidenced by references in the Russian chronicle of the middle of the 17th century.

Leather money was made from scraps of fur and pieces of leather. They replaced the skins of fur-bearing animals, conditionally representing their value.

Within the framework of the doctrine of the payment function of leather money ("fur money"), some payment terms used in the annals receive a more or less logical and reasonable explanation. For example: "Kuna" is always only marten fur; "Nogata" - the skin of a fur-bearing animal with legs; "Rezana" - trimmed skin; "Mortka" - a head cut off from the skin of a fur-bearing animal; "Polushka" - an animal's ear or part of an ear.

In the XIV century. The Moscow principality under the famous Prince Dmitry Donskoy laid the foundation for the minting of coins, on which the name of the prince was present - Dmitry and the image of a warrior with a battle ax in his hands.

After the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the princes of Serpukhov, Mozhaisk, Dmitrovsky took up minting coins. Subsequently, coins appeared in large cities: in Yaroslavl, Pskov and Novgorod.

The major principalities minted their own coins, often differing in appearance and weight, respectively. For example, on the Novgorod coins there was an inscription - "Great Novgorod", and on the coins of Pskov it was written - "Pskov money".

However, there were also common features. There were no princely names on the coins of Novgorod and Pskov, as, for example, on the coins of the Moscow principality. The fact is that the supreme power in these cities belonged to the people's assembly (Veche). In the Ryazan principality, the coat of arms of this principality was minted on coins. But the question of what this coat of arms meant, historians have not yet been able to answer. The name of the prince who ruled the Ryazan principality at that time also remains a mystery. Hunting scenes were depicted on the coins of the Grand Duchy of Tver.

In the XIV-XV centuries in Russia, money (silver coin) became the main coin. Types of money: large and small, Novgorod and Muscovite, spear and sword money. The weight content of the metal in Moscow money regularly decreased, and under Ivan III, Novgorod and Moscow money began to differ in weight twice. Therefore, there were two rubles: Novgorod and Moscow. Subsequently, the name of this coin in a slightly modified form began to denote money in the broadest sense of the word.

Denga began to be minted as a silver coin in the 14th century in Moscow, and from the beginning of the 15th century in other principalities (for example, the beginning of minting dengi in Novgorod dates back to 1420). From a weight hryvnia of silver (204 grams), 200 coins (money) were minted, which made up the Moscow counting ruble (in those days, the ruble did not exist as a real coin). During this period, denga was the main monetary unit of the principalities that issued them, and dengi fractions were also issued - a half (half-denga) and a quarter (half-half).

In addition to silver money, copper coins were also minted in large cities of Russia.

In the Principality of Moscow, a copper coin was minted with the image of a single-headed eagle on one side and the inscription on the back - “Moscow Polo”.

By the end of the unification of Russian lands around the Grand Duchy of Moscow, a monetary reform was carried out. Its necessity was due to the fact that the specific principalities had their own coins, which greatly hampered economic growth and trade. As a result, it was decided to mint coins of the same standard in three mints of Russia: Moscow, Pskov, Novgorod.

By the time of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, coins were minted only in Moscow.

In the XVI-XVII centuries, the monetary system of the Moscow State consisted of the following coins: Ruble; Poltina; Hryvnia; penny; Kopeks with the inscription "Tsar and Great Prince Ivan of All Russia"; Denga (1/2 kopeck) - the most common coin of that time. These coins depicted a rider with a saber and the inscription "Tsar and Prince Ivan the Great"; Poludenga; Polushka (1/4 kopeck), on which a bird and the word "sovereign" were minted; Poole.

The strengthening of the centralization of the Russian state made it necessary to unify the regional coinage, which was carried out in 1534 by Elena Glinskaya. This reform introduced a standard for the minting of "moskovka" (Moscow dengi) and "Novgorodka" (Novgorod dengi), with one "Novgorodka" being equal to two "Moskovka". On the obverse of the "Moskovka" a horseman with a saber was depicted, and on the obverse of the "Novgorodka" - a horseman with a spear, which is why the "Novgorodka" soon began to be called a penny. 300 “Novgorodki” (their average weight was 0.68 grams) or 600 “Muscovites” (average weight 0.34 grams) were minted from the hryvnia of silver, and 100 “Novgorodki” were the Moscow accounting ruble. Subsequently, due to the constant deterioration of the coin foot, the more significant penny replaced the denga, making it a secondary denomination.

The ruble was divided into:

Poltina (fifty dollars) - a unit of value, produced in the XIV-XV centuries. only in the form of ingots and equal to half a ruble ingot - "ruble"; from the 2nd half of the 15th century until 1656 - a monetary unit of 50 kopecks (or 5 hryvnias). Poltina, introduced by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1654, weighed 16-20 g of copper. In 1662, after the "copper" riot of the population, protesting against the baseness of copper money, half a ruble was withdrawn from circulation. From that time on, it also received the name "fifty kopecks", which remained until the end of the 19th century;

The hryvnia is an old Russian weight and monetary unit, the size of which varied depending on the place and time of minting.

Distinguished "big" (409.52 g) and "small" (204 g) hryvnia;

Altyn is a monetary unit of the XIV century, equal to 6 dengas (later 3 kopecks). The name is of Tatar origin. The minting of altyn was part of an attempt to restructure the monetary system under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Later altyns were minted in 1698-1718. as part of the monetary reform of Peter I. After 1718, the minting of altyn became too expensive and therefore was discontinued. The word "altyn" was preserved in the everyday name of the coin of 15 kopecks ("five-altyn");

Time of Troubles

At the beginning of the XVII century. Russia was in for a new shock. The Poles captured Moscow, erected on the Russian throne the Polish prince Vladislav, the son of the Polish king Sigismund. In addition to the outrages they committed, the Poles made changes to the Russian monetary system - they began to mint new coins of low weight with the name of the pseudo Russian tsar.

In response, the people's militia led by Minin and Pozharsky stood up to fight the Polish invaders. In contrast to the Poles on the financial battlefield, they began to mint coins with the name of the last legitimate king of the Rurik dynasty - Fedor Ivanovich.

The great attention paid by the Poles and the ideologists of the Russian people's militia to the image and inscriptions on the coins is by no means accidental. The fact is that this factor was of great political importance.

As a result, during the Time of Troubles in Russia, a single monetary system was destroyed. In addition, there were problems in the economy associated with the disruption of trade relations. In connection with the minting of new coins, the withdrawal of old money from circulation and the release of new (lightweight scales) began. However, the circulation of new money was hindered by their weak penetration into areas remote from the mints of Moscow, Novgorod, Yaroslavl, where new coins were directly minted and old ones were redeemed.

There is a decline in production and, as a result, a decline in foreign trade.

Of the currently known specimens of coins of that time, 8 different stamps of coins are distinguished, on which a rider with a spear and a legend were minted, for example:

"Tsar and Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich of All Russia";

"Tsar and Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich of All Russia".

Depending on which mint the coin was minted, letters were minted under the rider:

MO - Moscow Mint;

PS - Pskov Mint;

NRG - Novgorod Mint.

True, there were also letterless variants. At the Moscow mint, they begin to mint kopecks of a “special” series - of increased quality.

Thus, at the Moscow mint minted:

2 variants of coins with the letter MO;

3 variants of coins without letters, accompanied by 7 legends, different in writing style;

5 Moscow coins of "special minting" - all without letters, with one of the 7 legends.

At the Pskov mint, 3 Pskov variants of coins were minted with the letters PS and 3 different legends.

At the Novgorod mint, 5 variants of coins were minted with the letters NRD and 4 legends.

After a troubled time

The economic recovery after the Time of Troubles continued until the beginning of the 18th century.

With the accession to the Russian throne of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov in 1613, the former monetary system was restored.

Due to the fact that small coins were extremely inconvenient in large calculations, in the second half of the 17th century (in 1654) it was decided to mint money of large denominations - rubles, half a half, half a half, altyns.

Pennies in Russia began to be minted under Alexei Mikhailovich in 1654. In terms of value, a penny was equal to 2 kopecks. In 1655, the so-called efimki began to be minted.

Rubles and half-and-a-half rubles were minted from silver, half rubles were minted from copper. Kopeks were minted from silver and copper.

The war with the Commonwealth (Poland) over Ukraine affected the stocks of precious metals. In order to reduce costs, the country began to mint silver kopecks instead of silver kopecks, which outwardly did not differ from silver kopecks. By state order, copper kopecks were equated in value with silver ones. Copper kopecks, minted in Moscow, Novgorod and Pskov, at first really went on a par with silver kopecks, but the further issue of unsecured copper money led to inflation. Soon, for 1 ruble of silver they gave 17 rubles of copper. (Elizavetin G.V. "Money", Moscow, 1965)

Copper money began to lose value, and commodity prices rose, which led to famine.

The year was 1662, when a popular uprising broke out in Moscow, which went down in history under the name "copper riot". A year after the riot (1663), the minting of copper coins ceased, and the minting of silver kopecks, money, and half coins resumed.

Issue of coins

Gold coins were almost never used in trade. Gold coins were minted in small quantities on ceremonial occasions and given out as rewards. For example, the Nerchinsk voivode I.E. Vlasov was awarded a royal charter and six gold chervonets depicting kings for participating in the negotiations on the conclusion of the Nerchinsk Treaty. Gold coins were called gold Muscovites.

The coins were minted by gold and silversmiths. Any person could bring them a bar of silver and mint coins. The craftsmen were required to observe the purity of the metal and the weight of the coin. In trade, coins were considered a commodity and were weighed on scales.

At the end of the 16th century, the craftsmen still continued to mint coins. Under Mikhail Fedorovich, money yards appeared in four cities. The masters of these courts worked on royal salaries. Two heads ruled the yards: one of the boyar children, the other of the guests. They were attached to several kissers from the townspeople.

Under Alexei Mikhailovich, money yards were in Novgorod, Moscow and Pskov. They were ruled by a nobleman and a clerk, and elected heads and kissers were attached to them. During the minting of copper money in the same cities, copper money yards were established. By the end of the 17th century, the money yard remained only in Moscow.

Russia did not have its own mining of gold and silver; foreign trade remained the only source of these metals. Precious metals were purchased in the form of ingots, jewelry, and also in the form of foreign coins, which were then considered primarily as a commodity. Foreign coins were accepted at cash yards, where they were converted into Russian scales, and starting from the middle of the 17th century, the merchants were obliged to purchase all available silver “for the king”, that is, for subsequent sale at the mint.

A unique phenomenon is the short-term issue of the so-called "efimki with signs" - the overmarking of a foreign silver coin (taller) with special hallmarks for its subsequent release into circulation. This was a desperate measure aimed at overcoming the archaism of money production, but the experiment was unsuccessful, and the old system of completely converting coins into scales had to be returned to.

Foreign gold coins were used as gifts, so their value grew before the holidays (especially Easter), royal weddings, etc. The rarest were the Portuguese gold pieces with a cross.

Functions of money

The functions of money in Ancient Russia were as follows. First, money was the equivalent of exchange. For example, a horse cost 3 silver hryvnias, a cow - one, a sheep - 3 cuts. Secondly, fines for various duties and crimes were paid in money. For example, for the murder of a free person, a fine of 40 silver hryvnias (a whole herd of cows) was imposed, for beatings without self-mutilation - 3 silver hryvnias, and for the theft of a boat - 30 rezan. Thirdly, money, along with property, served as a measure of wealth.

As for such a modern function of money as a store of value, it is difficult to say. The fact is that money has become a store of value not only because of their high and stable value with low weight, as K. Marx believed, but also because of the possibility of quickly converting them into material values. But in Kievan Rus, regular trade existed only in large shopping centers, and in other places there were only fairs held after the harvest. It is clear that under these conditions it was not always possible to quickly convert money into commodities.

As commodity production grew, the functions of money developed as a measure of value, a means of circulation, a means of accumulation, a means of payment, and world money. As before, money performed the function of a measure of value. It is convenient to use the monetary unit as a scale for comparing the relative costs of various goods and resources. Thanks to the monetary system, it is not necessary to express the price of each product in terms of all other products for which it could be exchanged. For example, it is not necessary to express the value of livestock in terms of grain. This function of money in the Middle Ages in Russia developed, but rather slowly compared to the capitalist period. The price level around the cost fluctuated little.

Money as a means of circulation and world money were also widely used in Kievan Rus; they turned into commercial capital, which brought profit. Money also acts as a means of payment. This function of money is manifested, first of all, in servicing payments outside the sphere of commodity circulation. These are taxes, social payments, and so on. Money is easily accepted as a means of payment. Money also serves as a store of value. Since money is the most liquid property, it is the most convenient form of wealth storage. The possession of money, with rare exceptions, does not bring monetary income, which is derived from the storage of wealth, for example, in the form of real estate. However, money has the advantage that it can be used immediately for any financial obligation.

List of used literature

1. Nechaev G. M. Coins of Russia (from Ancient Russia to 1917). Omsk book. publishing house, 1994

2. Under. ed. Vorobieva Yu. F. Essays on economic reforms. M., Nauka, 1993

3. Russian ruble. Two centuries of history of the XIX-XX centuries. M., "Progress-Academy", 1994

4. Uzdenikov V. V. Coins of Russia 1700-1917. M., 1985

5. Khromov P. A. Economic development of Russia. Essays on the Russian economy from ancient times to the Great October Revolution. M., Nauka, 1967

6. Yukht A. I. Russian money from Peter the Great to Alexander I. M., Finance and statistics, 1994

7. Uzdenikov V.V. Coins of Russia. 1700-1917, M., 1986

8. Russian ruble. Two centuries of history of the XIX-XX centuries. M., "Progress-Academy", 1994

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Kufic coins

Much more favorable in terms of studying monetary circulation is the period of Kievan Rus. In addition to various archaeological finds of this period, historians have no less numerous written sources testifying to the development of the economy of the Russian state.

The period of VIII-XI centuries was unique for the financial system of Kievan Rus - the entire economy was built on the turnover of foreign money. The coins of the eastern states, in particular, the Arab Caliphate, and then other states that arose on its territory, were accepted in wide circulation.

Unlike most of the coins encountered by the Slavs, the Arab dirhams did not have any images on their surface. However, each coin was generously covered with special inscriptions - kufi; hence the name "kufic". This made it difficult to identify them, and therefore in Russia the value of such a coin was determined by the content of silver in it.

The circulation of silver Kufic coins reached its greatest quantitative value by the 10th century, but by the middle of the 11th century their influx on the territory of the Slavic tribes had practically dried up. The reason for this was not political or economic changes, as one might think, but something more prosaic: the explored deposits of the precious metal dried up in the East, the time of the so-called silver crisis has come. In internal settlements, the Arab states switched to copper and gold coins, the cash flow of silver dirhams to the territory of the Slavs ceased.

For the most part, Kufic silver was called kuna among the Eastern Slavs. This word denoted coins of average quality, uncircumcised, but already worn and did not have a "full" weight. Coins of the best quality - exemplary, selected - were called nogata. Trimmed silver was called cut, and pieces of kuna - particles of a full-fledged coin - were called veveritsa (as the smallest and least valuable squirrel skin was called in the northern lands).

coinless time

Starting from the end of the 11th century and up to the end of the 13th, and in some lands - until the middle of the 14th centuries, the circulation of coins on the territory of the Slavs practically ceased. The volume of Kufic coins dried up, European denarii and eastern golden dirhams that occasionally fell on the Slavic lands were not generally perceived as a bargaining chip by the people. For this period, the main monetary equivalent was a silver bar - the hryvnia.

Each principality adopted its own form of hryvnia or hryvnia - from a long silver wire to a faceted hexagon; they differed in weight. The circulation of the hryvnia largely predetermined the modern Russian and Russian decimal monetary system. So, one hryvnia was often called a ruble, since it was chopped into pieces to obtain monetary units of a smaller "face value" - dengi or, as it was later called, a penny.

The first Russian coins

The hacking of the hryvnia into equal shares could not but give rise to the need for the subsequent identification of the received pieces of silver - dengi. On each such flattened silver circle they began to put an imprint of the prince's seal, and then various other symbols. So in the XIV century the first Russian coins appeared.

It is generally accepted that the minting of its own coins first began in the Moscow principality. Then the Suzdal-Novgorod Principality, Ryazan, Tver and others acquired their own money. However, this temporal gradation is rather arbitrary and is based on fragmentary data from chronicles and treasures found in the territories of the former principalities.

A characteristic feature of the circulation of the first Russian coins was the absence of a momentary mint in its classical sense. And although the prince nominally had sole power over his own "currency", the actual minting of coins became another branch of the craft. The silver craftsman redeemed the right to mint from the prince and made coins for all those in need, that is, those who ordered it - merchants, boyars or the same prince. Of course, it is impossible to talk about a calculated and balanced financial system with this approach.

The beginning of the 13th century, however, many historians agree that the ruble, as a monetary concept, existed earlier, possibly since the 10th century.

Origin of the concept

The history of the emergence of the ruble is directly related to the history of the Novgorod Land. The first written mention of the ruble dates back to 1281-1299. At that time, many fragmented Russian principalities used the Kiev hryvnia as a monetary unit. We can assume that the history of the development of the ruble is a continuation or even an "offshoot" of the history of the hryvnia.

At the beginning of the 13th century, 200-gram silver bars in the form of sticks were in use in Novgorod, which, with their oblong shape and weight, resembled the hryvnia, the monetary unit of Kievan Rus. However, unlike Kiev, in Novgorod these ingots were called "ruble".

The history of the Russian ruble connects the name of the monetary unit with the common Russian people. Since the name is distinguished by its belonging to the vernacular, it is likely that ingots began to be called the ruble long before the first mention in letters, which is why it is very difficult to determine the exact time of the origin of the ruble.

Value

There is no consensus on the value of the first rubles. In the fragmented principalities, silver ingots were used - hryvnias or rubles; for smaller payments, foreign coins, denarii and dirhams, called "kuns" in Russian, were used.

Sometimes 200-gram bars had to be cut into half pieces or smaller pieces, for the accuracy of calculations. This fact complicates the determination of the exact value of the ruble, since according to some data, the ruble was an analogue of the hryvnia, and according to others, its "stump", equal to 100 grams.

It is likely that the fragmented principalities did not completely agree on the names of monetary units, and the ruble in Novgorod was indeed equal to the hryvnia, and the ruble in Moscow was half as much. It is proved that the Lithuanian rubles that appeared later were 100 g in weight.

Etymology of the word

The history of the ruble does not have data on the exact origin of the term. Today, there are four main variants of the origin of the word "ruble". The main version - the ruble is a derivative of the word "rub", which means "seam". The Novgorod ruble was minted according to the technology, according to which, first, half of the silver was poured into the mold, and then the second part of it, while a seam was formed in the middle of the ingot. Hence the common name of the ingot - the ruble.

According to the second version, the root of the word comes from the verb "to cut". In this case, scientists consider two possible options. The first - the ruble was part of the hryvnia, or rather, its quarter; that is, half a piece, cut in half. The second option - the Novgorod ruble differed from the Kiev hryvnia with notches that specify the dignity and value of a silver ingot.

The remaining two versions involve borrowing the term from other languages. Perhaps the word "ruble" has common roots with the word "rupiah", which means "silver that has been processed." In addition, a connection with the Arabic word "quarter", which sounds like "rub", is likely.

The history of the ruble stops at the first two versions, since historians share the opinion that the word "ruble" belongs to vernacular, which does not agree with the possibility of borrowing the term.

First rubles

The use of whole ones was extremely inconvenient, but continued until the 14th century, when new small coins began to be minted during the reign of Dmitry Donskoy. Each coin weighed a little less than one gram and was called "money", being a legacy of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. It is from this moment that the history of the ruble coin begins.

The coins differed in shape, since it was difficult to mint a perfect circle, however, the weight and seal in the center of the coin were the same. The design of the seal could differ depending on the principality in which the coins were minted.

Thanks to the transition to smaller money, the calculations became much more convenient, and over time, 200-gram bars went out of the everyday life of the common people and began to be used only in wholesale trade.

Under the influence of the political power of the Novgorod and Moscow principalities, as well as the Western Russian Principality of Lithuania, by the 15th century, the ruble completely replaced the hryvnia and became not only the name of an ingot, but also a philistine concept adopted for calculating and counting the amount of money in the economy.

Changes and reforms

The first widespread monetary reform of the ruble was carried out in the middle of the 16th century. In 1534, a unified monetary reform began in Moscow, the purpose of which was to unify the coins used for settlements, as well as rid the domestic market of foreign currency, which confuses trade.

The main monetary unit was the Moscow ruble, which consisted of 200 Moscow money or 100 Novgorod money. Subsequently, Novgorod coins began to be called "kopeks", and Moscow ones - "marks". These names are associated with the printing on the reverse side of the coins. A warrior with a spear on a horse was minted on a kopeck, and a warrior with a sword was minted on a sword. The smallest coin was considered a half, that is, half a label; often it was just a coin, chopped or broken in half.

Since silver ingots denominated in a ruble completely went out of use during the 16th century, the ruble, until the middle of the 16th century, remained nothing more than a measured unit.

In 1654, a one-ruble coin was minted for the first time. In fact, these were re-minted German coins, on which the coat of arms was printed on one side and the king on horseback was depicted on the other. The coin was called "ruble", but weighed less than its dignity - 64 grams.

Under the reign of Peter I, money began to be minted independently, and a number of changes were made and copper kopecks weighing 28 g and denominated in 1/100 of the ruble were introduced. In addition to copper kopecks, gold chervonets were also introduced in denominations of 3 rubles and weighing just over 3 g of gold. Later, by the end of the 18th century, the weight of silver in a 1 ruble coin dropped to 18 grams.

Banknotes

The first paper rubles appeared during the reign of Catherine II, in 1769. These banknotes were in use for 50 years; at that time, their printing was not controlled by the state, which led to the actual collapse of the economy, since there were more paper rubles than the precious metals that provided them. In 1843 banknotes were completely withdrawn from use.

The first failed notes were replaced in the same year by bank notes, however, for the same reasons, banks soon stopped exchanging them for silver and gold - there was more paper money than metal allocated for security.

The reform of 1897 introduced a new paper ruble backed by gold. The printing of rubles was carried out using a new technology that provides for the use of several colors and various levels of protection. The multicolored Oryol seal (named after Ivan Orlov) made it possible to avoid forgeries and increase state control over the issuance of the number of banknotes.

The beginning of the twentieth century and the royal monetary system

The period of the collapse of the Russian Empire and the formation of Soviet Russia is commonly called the "Time of Troubles". Not surprisingly, the history of the Russian ruble during this period is considered the most complex and the number of official and unofficial currency changes is difficult to count.

Even during the Japanese War, the Empire began to experience a lack of funds; popular discontent, coup attempts, and Russia's entry into the world war actually led the Empire to an extreme shortage of money. All coins, even the smallest ones, disappeared from everyday life.

In practice, everything that was called rubles for reporting and used in trade did not have even the smallest value, since it was not backed by a stock of precious metals. Rubles began to be called self-printed banknotes, wine labels and even drawn money. In the history of the development of the ruble, as well as in the history of the country, this period can be considered the most unstable.

The history of the ruble in Russia of the early Soviet period begins in 1923, when the first equivalent to 10 imperial rubles was minted. For the exchange of chervonets, silver coins were issued - silver coins. These are one of the rarest Soviet coins, since chervonets and silver coins were used mainly for foreign transactions, there were practically no of them left on the territory of the country.

From the 30s. In the 20th century, paper rubles and change coins made of cheap metal alloys began to appear. The efforts of the government to bring money to a single format continued until the middle of the century, while the appearance of rubles and kopecks changed very often.

1961 reform

The most ambitious monetary reform in the history of the USSR and, possibly, Russia as a whole, was being prepared for 10 years. Materials and the value of the new ruble were chosen, a single format was drawn up and a single design was chosen. Over the next few years, the Union underwent a complete replacement of all with new ones.

One ruble of the new sample was equal to 10 old rubles (of the first Soviet sample) and had a gold equivalent of 1 g of gold. Everyday ones were no longer minted, with the exception of the issue of coins dedicated to important events or anniversaries.

Modern Russian ruble

The history of the ruble underwent another crisis in the early 1990s. After the collapse of the USSR, the old Soviet rubles were in use until 1993, when inflation and the economic crisis completely undermined the national currency and did not allow a painless transition to the format.

To avoid an increase in inflation in 1993, a monetary reform was carried out and new banknotes with a large number of zeros were adopted for circulation. In 1998, the government of the Russian Federation carried out a series of monetary reforms, followed by denomination and the issuance of new banknotes, which are still in circulation today.

In the 16th century, the turn of the Russian tsars came to think about a monetary reform, which was supposed to provide a new united state with a coin. About how “penny”, “half” and “rubles” appeared, how much they weighed in silver and how it came to the Copper Riot in the next century, read in the new issue of the blog maintained by the historian Artem Efimov (and subscribe to his telegram channel "Piastres!").

Silver denga of the 16th century, Tver

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The unified Russian monetary system took shape at the same time as the unified Russian state - at the beginning of the 16th century. It was finally formalized by the monetary reform of the 1530s. It was conducted by Elena Glinskaya, mother and regent under the juvenile Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, later the Terrible.

The system has developed as a synthesis of the two largest systems of the specific period - Moscow and Novgorod. The basis of circulation was the Moscow silver denga weighing 0.34 grams. It depicted a rider with a sword, so it was also called "sword denga". In Novgorod, the ancient merchant center, doubled dengs weighing 0.68 grams were minted with the image of a horseman with a spear - they were called "spear dengs", or simply "penny".

Important counting monetary units were the hryvnia (20 money or 10 kopecks), half (100 money or 50 kopecks) and the ruble (200 money or 100 kopecks). In physical form, they did not exist, but the people counted the money for these units. The Russian ruble became the world's first decimal currency.

In the 17th century, only silver money circulated in Russia. At the same time, there were no own developed silver deposits, and all silver was imported: imported (in Russian they were called efimki) foreign merchants paid customs duties and paid for goods that constituted a state monopoly (furs, potash, tar, etc.) ; the treasury also directly bought up silver things and foreign silver coins.

From the middle of the 17th century, the only enterprise for the production of money operated in Russia - the so-called English Money Court in Moscow. It was so called because it was located on the former English merchant's farmstead on Varvarka (there is now a museum, the British queen came to open it). There are also suggestions that a technical novelty was used there - a coin screw press bought in England.

For comparison, in the Ottoman Empire, which was experiencing a crisis in the middle of the 17th century, at that time there were seven mints - and this is not counting the Crimea, Egypt and other regions with separate monetary systems.

In 1656, shortly after the start of a difficult war with the Commonwealth for the Hetman's Ukraine, Fyodor Rtishchev, one of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich's trusted advisers, proposed to issue copper money equal to silver to replenish the treasury. There were almost no copper mines in Russia either, but copper was much more accessible on the international market. The productivity of the money yard was small, but in a couple of years it was possible to saturate the market with copper money.

The treasury accepted payments (taxes, tavern fees, etc.) only in silver, and paid (salaries, for example) in copper. Rather than buying something on the domestic market with silver, it has become more profitable to buy imported goods for it or to sell it for remelting, receiving copper in exchange and spending it already. Silver almost disappeared from circulation, and prices in copper money began to rise. In 1662, this led to the Copper Riot in Moscow: the people almost tore to pieces the tsar's father-in-law Ivan Miloslavsky and several other boyars and merchants; during the suppression of the rebellion, hundreds of people died or were soon executed.

In 1663, Alexei Mikhailovich abolished copper money. Copper was bought back to the treasury at a market price (of course, much lower than the nominal price of copper money) and after a while melted down into weight weights. Russia was again left with a silver standard and a low-money economy - right up to Peter I. How everything changed under Peter, we will tell in the next issue of our blog.

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Monetary system in the Russian state in the XV-XVII centuries. History of the ruble. How the ruble appeared The beginning of the 20th century and the tsarist monetary system