ORDINARY PEOPLE AND THE GREAT TIME OF TROUBLES: HOMESTEAD OWNERSHIP IN VELIKY NOVGOROD AND YAROSLAVL IN 1606-1618
There are a lot of scientific papers about Russian cities between 16th and 17th centuries, however the discussion is focused mainly on economic activities and duties of citizens. The article presents the results of the study of transfer deeds of homesteads in Novgorod and Yaroslavl during the Time of Troubles. The dependence between the social status of the owner of a house, the value of his homestead and the character of its development is not always obvious. It turned out that in spite of the disorganization of state administration during the civil war, there was no mass transition of taxable households to ‘ belomestsy ’ in the cities studied . One of the most important factors of the economic crisis of the early 17th century was military and political violence, which resulted in mass death of men and deformation of the family sex and age structure.