Life in the times of Kievan Rus
1. What were the most ancient cities on our lands?
The lands of Russia in 9-10 centuries. foreigners called the “country of hail”. “Grads”, that is, fortresses, were built of wood – they planted, hence the name – “garden”, or “hail”. The settlements gradually turned into cities. Large cities consisted of three parts. One of them is detinets. This is the oldest part of the city, located more often on a hill, a mountain. It was fortified by walls, ramparts and moats, so it served as a fortress. On detintsse built princely and boyar yards. From the time of the baptism of Russia it was here that the most important churches and cathedrals were built. Below the detinets lived craftsmen and merchants, there was a trading area, numerous churches and monasteries. Outside the city fortifications were located suburbs. They were inhabited by artisans: kozhemyak settled near water, potters at the outlet of clays, etc.
Buildings
Most of the cities were inhabited by artisans. Many residents of the city lived due to trade. In the large cities lived a princely family, boyars, druzhinniki, clergy.
Under the estate of the common people, small plots of land were assigned. The townspeople had their own habitation in the backyard. It was mostly one-room, with a clay floor, deepened into the ground, structures, with an area of not more than 18 – 20 m2. We also built business premises: awnings, rigs, a stable.
Princes and boyars lived in two-story mansions with a large number of premises.
In the princely palaces, the boyars’ mansions were always noisy. The vigilantes stood guard, servants bustled about, the servants crowded. They judged and ruled here, a tribute was brought
2. How did peasants live in ancient times?
The majority of the then population of Russia lived in unsettled settlements, which they called as they do today-villages. In the ancient village there were one and a half to two dozen houses built of wood. Housing Rusichi deepened into the earth for 30-80 cm, sometimes more, so they are called semi-dugouts. In such buildings it was cozy, they warmed up more quickly and kept warm in winter, and cool in summer. In a hut in the corner was baked from clay or stone, which was stoked “in black”, that is, so that smoke went through a door or a small window, or even simply through a thatched roof.
The peasants grew barley, oats, later – rye and wheat. Vegetables knew turnips, cabbage, radish, cucumbers, beets, carrots, peas, onions and garlic. In the gardens grew cherries, plums, apple trees. From animals bred cattle, goats, sheep, pigs. Assistants in the farms were oxen and horses. Living between forests, in the edge of rivers and lakes, Rusich did not neglect the thousand-year hunting and fishing experience. They knew the beadwork. Hunting and beekeeping allowed to receive not only additional food, but also fur, honey and wax – almost the most valuable goods that Rusichi sold to neighboring nations.
3. What clothes were worn during the times of Kievan Rus?
Affluent philistines – boyars and druzhinniki – wore expensive clothes, sewn from foreign fabrics, fur and leather, adorned with jewels. The upper clothing of both men and women served as a cloak. Cloaks threw on his shoulders and buttoned on his right shoulder with a fibula clasp. The richest and most luxuriously decorated, of course, were the princely raincoats. They were sewed from expensive colored woolen fabrics. The edges of such raincoats were lined with golden ribbons, strips of expensive fur, and the floors with gold embroidery, sewn ornamented plaques of gold and silver.
The princely outfit consisted, in addition to the cloak, of a long top shirt made of expensive fabrics, trousers and boots of beautifully tanned and dyed skin. Supplemented with a suit cap with fur trim, diadem and barma – a collar-shoulderplate made of jewelry.
An obligatory element of suits Rusich was a shirt. The peasants and princes dressed in shirts. Princesses, noblewomen and rich townspeople on top of their shirts also wore long outer garments of a tunic-like cut with wider sleeves than shirts. Women’s outfits complemented the belts. Wealthy women loved jewelry – gold and silver chains, beads, earrings.
The warm outerwear, worn by both men and women, was a casing and retinue. Princes, boyars, rich warriors and merchants used to go about in squirrels of squirrels, ermine, martens, and the urban common people and peasants – from bear, sheepskin and goatskins.
4. What kind of work was done in the times of Kievan Rus?
In the cities lived craftsmen of different specialties – potters, goatskids, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, carpenters, so-called truck farmers, stonemasons, glass blowers who made various glassware and smalt for mosaic, jewelers – “blacksmiths for gold, silver and copper”.
According to scientists, residents of Kievan Rus knew about 70 crafts. The metal-working craft became very popular. Blacksmiths made from iron 150 different products – tools, handicraft tools, weapons, housewares.
One of the most common types of metalworking craft was artistic casting. Masters of Russia cast a huge number of items – from small buttons to church bells.
Products are often decorated with inlay with gold and silver. This decoration was done like this: in the red-hot iron, the chisels were taken out of the drawing, after which gold or silver wire was clogged into it. Among the adornments the most popular were bracelets, colts, rings.
Respected occupation was considered pottery. Local potters produced a lot of things from clay, including children’s toys. And from 10-11 centuries. learned how to make pottery covered with irrigation. In addition to these, other crafts developed: processing of bone, wood and stone, making bricks and lime, tailoring and shoemaking, tanning of skins, weaving, etc.
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