The first money in Rus'
Vladimir's zlatnik (also known as zolotnik) is the first Russian gold coin minted in Kyiv in the late 10th – early 11th centuries under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich.
Be born, be baptized, die –
Give me money for everything.
Russian proverb
Give me money for everything.
Russian proverb
From the history of money
History The circulation of money is closely linked to the formation and development of the state itself. Monetary circulation most accurately reflects the state of productive forces and political development.
The first money arose in ancient times, during the disintegration of the primitive communal system. The most valuable goods and consumer items typically served as money. In particular, for many peoples, including the Slavic-Russian tribes, this was cattle, which played a vital role in production (agriculture, livestock raising). Other tribes used ivory, grain, sugar, fabrics, beads, and so on.
Gradually, as trade developed, the functions of money developed: as a medium of circulation and exchange, a general measure of value, a means of accumulation, a means of payment, etc. The most ancient money was made of leather, light and durable.
Then, in the Middle East (Lydia), the first metal coins appeared, becoming a universal equivalent and a medium of exchange. Silver and gold coins began to be minted. They very quickly replaced all forms of non-metallic money. However, barter was very stable and has survived to this day, both in everyday life and at the state level.
Hryvnias: 2) Novgorod; 3) Chernigov; 4) Kyiv. Silver
The Russian state: cattle, martens, and nogats
As in other states, in Rus', the precursors of metal money were certain goods, objects that served as money. For example, the Greeks, who tried to buy off the Russian prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, who had occupied Bulgaria, offered him gold and pavoloki (precious fabrics, silk), but he ultimately took steel.weapon).
At that time, Rus' didn't know the word "money"; the most ancient expression for it was cattle. Chronicles, the "Russkaya Pravda" (code of laws), and other sources indicate that cattle served as a substitute for money. Hence the "skotnitsa" (treasury) of the Russian prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the baptizer of Rus'. A tax collector was called a "skotnik."
Precious fur was also used as currency, gradually replacing livestock. The most common was marten fur, hence the term "kuna." Durable and beautiful, marten fur became a currency. Various goods were bought and sold for the skins of these animals, which were called kuna, nogaty (sable pelt), bela (ermine pelt), veksha (summer red squirrel pelt), and so on.
Pieces of leather or fur were used as currency in barter. Foreigners who visited Rus' in the early Middle Ages reported that the Rus' used fur currency during trade—martens, sable, and squirrel fur.
The Persian poet and thinker Nizami Ganjavi wrote in his poem “Iskander Nameh” (late 12th – early 13th centuries):
Having learned the price of the fur, the king said: “What for?”
“Do those skins serve, I would also like to know?”
Lots of sable and squirrel skins
The king saw that their color was an unfriendly brown.
They were all peeling, they seemed two hundred years old,
But they were stacked in the best place.
The Shah looked in surprise: what on earth, what on earth
So many worn-out skins and wrinkled leathers?
“Are they really,” he asked, “for wearing,
Or perhaps all this is just decoration for the home?
The Russian said: “From worn-out skins, sir,
Everything is born here, as it was born in the old days;
Don't look at dry skins with surprise.
This is money, and money, oh king, not bad.
This miserable rag is in use and valuable,
She is more precious than the softest furs."
“Do those skins serve, I would also like to know?”
Lots of sable and squirrel skins
The king saw that their color was an unfriendly brown.
They were all peeling, they seemed two hundred years old,
But they were stacked in the best place.
The Shah looked in surprise: what on earth, what on earth
So many worn-out skins and wrinkled leathers?
“Are they really,” he asked, “for wearing,
Or perhaps all this is just decoration for the home?
The Russian said: “From worn-out skins, sir,
Everything is born here, as it was born in the old days;
Don't look at dry skins with surprise.
This is money, and money, oh king, not bad.
This miserable rag is in use and valuable,
She is more precious than the softest furs."
Silver miliarision of Constantine
Metal money
As the state developed, furs were replaced by metal coins. Thanks to extensive trade with Western and Eastern countries, as well as the campaigns of Russian princes, the Rus' were familiar with the metal coins of their neighbors. In particular, hoards of ancient Greek and Roman coins have been found in Russia. These are primarily Roman silver denarii.
Beginning in the sixth century, eastern, or Kufic, coins (the Kufic script of Arabic script was used when inscribing quotations from the Quran) began to penetrate Rus': silver dirhams and gold dinars (the name derived from the Roman denarius). But by the late tenth century, the flow of dirhams began to dry up: the political situation in the Arab world worsened, and silver mines became depleted.
However, at this time, coins of the Second Rome—the Byzantine Empire—appeared in Rus', having been repeatedly harassed by the campaigns of Russian princes and commanders. There was also a developed trade network with Constantinople/Tsargrad: the so-called "route from the Varangians to the Greeks."
The 11th and 12th centuries saw the greatest circulation of Byzantine Empire coins—silver miliarisii, as well as gold and copper coins. During this same period, silver coins—denarii—were imported into Rus' (mainly through Veliky Novgorod) from Europe. European silver coins circulated primarily in Northern and Northeastern Rus'.
During this period, Rus' had no silver or gold mines of its own, so foreign coins were widely used in trade alongside the kuna. Silver played a crucial role in the monetary system of the Russian state. Thanks to Rus' extensive and developed trade relations and its active foreign policy, silver regularly entered the domestic market.
Byzantine nomisma. John I Tzimiskes (970-973)
Hryvnia
In Rus', alongside livestock, furs, and foreign coins, silver ingots and pieces (sometimes gold) also circulated. These came in various shapes and weights and were called "grivna." The name "grivna" comes from a metal neckband (worn on the "griva"—neck) that served as an ornament, a symbol of warriors and leaders among the Rus' of various eras—the Persians-Porus, the Scythian Rus', the Scoloti-Gauls, the Varangian Rus', and so on.
The grivna was the oldest unit of account and weight in the Rus' state. The first mention of the grivna dates back to 1014, when the Rus' prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich, who resided in Novgorod, was required to pay 2000 silver grivnas annually to Kyiv. In 1014, Yaroslav resolutely refused to pay his father, the Kyivan prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the annual tribute of 2000 grivnas.
The grivna denoted a quantity of silver, and as a unit of account, it represented the number of coins corresponding in weight to that silver. Thus, the Kyivan grivna (hexagonal), circulating in Southern Rus', weighed 140-165 grams. The Novgorod grivna (an elongated silver stick), circulating in Northern Rus', weighed approximately 200 grams. The Chernihiv grivna resembled the Kyivan grivna in shape, but had the same weight as the Novgorod grivna.
The Golden Horde had its own grivnas—boat-shaped ingots weighing 204 grams. Another Russian state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia, used the Lithuanian grivna, similar in shape to the Novgorod grivna but lighter. Gold grivnas were also occasionally encountered.
The gold hryvnia. It was also often cut into pieces.
The hryvnia gave birth to the "poltina" and "ruble." Half-length pieces of a hryvnia were called "poltinas," and a quarter of a hryvnia was called a "ruble" (from the word "rubit" or "rub," meaning "a stub of a hryvnia").
Russian historian Ivan Kondratyev wrote in his book “The Gray Antiquity of Moscow”:
Rubles were parts of a grivna or pieces of silver with notches indicating their weight. Each grivna was divided into four parts; the name "ruble" comes from the word "rubit" (to chop), because a silver rod weighing a grivna was cut into four parts, which were called rubles.
Lithuanian grivna of the 12th or 13th century
The first coins of Rus'
Rus' was a developed military, economic, and commercial power, with a significant monetary circulation and substantial reserves of precious metals. Therefore, attempts were made to mint its own coins early on. This demonstrated the power of the state and attempted to compensate for the shortage of foreign coins.
The first known minting of metal accumulated during the preceding period began during the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich (980-1015). Gold coins (zlatniks) were minted with the inscription "Vladimir, a se ego zlato" (another version was "Vladimir na stole," meaning on the throne) and silver coins (srebreniks) with the inscription "Vladimir, a se ego serebro." Byzantine money served as a model: they had the same appearance, purity (916-958), and weight (4-4,4 g). The obverse depicted the prince with the trident, the family symbol of the Rurik dynasty, and a stylized image of the Falcon-Rarog. The reverse depicted the face of Christ.
The zlatnik was minted for a short time. However, silver coins were minted in Kyiv by Vladimir Svyatoslavich, his sons Svyatopolk, and Yaroslav the Wise in Novgorod. Silver coins were also minted in the Tmutarakan Principality under Oleg Svyatoslavich. The first silver coins generally followed the pattern of Greek coins: the obverse featured the prince's image, the reverse an image of Christ. In the 11th century, the image of Christ was replaced by the large family emblem of the Rurik dynasty.
Novgorod silver coin of Yaroslav the Wise, 11th century
Coin production ceased due to the depletion of raw materials (gold and silver). Rus' increasingly fell into turmoil, dividing into feuding princely appanages. Major foreign campaigns were a thing of the past, and foreign trade—the main source of gold and silver—was declining. Furthermore, Western Europe itself was experiencing a political crisis, which also triggered a financial crisis—the Crusades and the "pressure to the East." This led to the influx of European denarii practically ceasing.
It is worth noting that coin minting began in Rus' earlier than in European countries.
The Horde invasion dealt another powerful blow to the Rus' economy. The so-called "coinless period" returned. Cattle, fur, and leather coins were once again used as money. The complete absence of metal coins on the domestic market was a characteristic feature of the Russian monetary system in the 13th and first half of the 14th centuries.
Novgorod, which had escaped the horrors of the war with the Horde, began the revival of Rus''s monetary system. The trading city retained its key role in trade with the West. European silver continued to flow through Novgorod. The new monetary term "ruble," which emerged at this time, replaced the former name and meaning of the Novgorod grivna. Until the mid-14th century, the Novgorod land played a major role in supplying silver rubles to all the principalities of central Rus'. The silver ruble became a unit of measurement for coins: denga, half-denga, and quarter-denga. Thus, 200 coins were minted from a silver ruble (the former grivna, weighing 204 grams).
During this period, the influx of coins from the Golden Horde also increased – silver dirhams and copper pulas.
Moscow denga from the time of Ivan III. Moscow, 1480s. Master Alexandro. Silver
In the second half of the 14th century, Moscow, Ryazan, Suzdal, and Tver began minting silver coins. Dmitry Ivanovich, Grand Prince of Moscow and Vladimir, was the first to mint coins in the 1360s and 1370s. The coin was called a "denga." Almost simultaneously, Ryazan and Nizhny Novgorod, whose princes claimed leadership in northeastern Rus', began minting coins. Later, coins appeared in Tver, Novgorod, and Pskov.
In Rus', during the revival of the coin period, images of Christian symbols or portraits of rulers, which were mandatory in Europe and parts of Rus' at that time, disappeared. Instead, pagan symbols and animals appeared.
The appearance and size of coins varied. The first monetary reform, in 1535, aimed at unifying the Russian monetary system was carried out by Elena Glinskaya, the mother of Ivan the Terrible.
Little-known fact: the first symbol of Muscovite Rus' was the rooster – before the double-headed eagle, which appeared much later.
The rooster (now associated with negative connotations due to criminal notions) was a symbol of the sun, dawn, the victory of light over darkness, and also a talisman and embodiment of fire in pagan Rus' for many millennia. The rooster greeted the sun with its crow, and was therefore associated with solar and fire gods such as Dazhdbog and Yarilo, and Fire Svarozhich. The rooster is also a symbol of the Slavic-Russian thunder god Perun, associated with fire and lightning. It was sacrificed (especially in red) during the festivals in honor of Perun (July 20, August 2), and the rooster also symbolizes military courage, awakening, and vigilance.
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