The history of the Russian state is rooted in ancient times. And from there, many winged expressions came into our speech. Therefore, to this day we recall Tsar Gorokh, Trishka with his caftan, “the whole of Ivanovo”. And here is another phraseologism, though a little less used now, but very, very interesting.
Expression definition
The expression is “reserved summers”. How to understand it for modern native speakers? Let us turn to the distant past. 16th century, the era of the reign of
Ivan the Terrible. It was at this time that the "reserved summers" appeared. In 1581, Grozny conducted a census. On the one hand, they are driven by a desire to strengthen their power at the expense of devoted noblemen, endowing them with treasury, land and villages with peasants. On the other hand, in the 70-80s, the national economy fell sharply in Russia. And it is important for Grozny to identify the extent of the damage. Then the tsarist government, on his instructions, began to introduce reserved summers. This is nothing but a ban on the peasants from moving from one landlord to another. According to Sudebnik in 1497, after the end of field work, on St. George's Day (November 26), peasants could leave from especially fierce owners to other, more humane ones. The Decree “Preserved Summer” deprived them of such an opportunity. The initiative of Ivan Vasilievich in the field of enslavement of the people was continued by Fedor Ioannovich, forbidding the separation of peasants from their villages in 1592-93. By the way, on the basis of this event the exclamation was born: “Here you are, grandmother, and St. George’s Day!”
Etymology
So, the unofficial year of the introduction of the reserve years is 1581. The official year is 1592. The name of the concept is connected with the word “commandment”, meaning “law”, “covenant”, “precept”, “obligatory fulfillment”. It is interesting that historians did not find in the annals, letters and other documents of the era of Ivan the Terrible separate texts about the "forbidden years" - those years when the inhabitants of rural areas subject to nobles were taken away the opportunity to leave for another village or even a city. Researchers know only references to royal decrees. But why do they think that the official introduction of the reserve years is connected with the very end of the 16th century - from 1592-93? And all because after the specified date there are no even references to the decree.
Strengthening serfdom
What ultimately does all this mean? Firstly, thanks to the "scribe books", that is, the census, a more or less detailed, clear picture of the peasants' residence in the state appeared. This contributed not only to restoring order in the country, but also gave rise to strengthening the feudal regime. Peasants could now be attributed to
permanent residence according to the information received, and if someone fled from the landowner, it was easy to establish to whom he belonged. Thus, the noble masters of the serfs were officially established, the legislative basis for securing commoners to the feudal lords appeared. As a result, the rules of reserved years became generally accepted. And the concept gradually went into oblivion, preserved only as a figurative, winged expression. And now it is perceived as a synonym for something ancient, ancient, as the antonym of modernity.