Copper riot of 1662 summary. Copper riot, Moscow uprising

On August 4, 1662, an uprising of the city's lower classes took place in Moscow. The reasons for the rebellion were the issuance of depreciating, in comparison with silver, copper coins, and the increase in taxes, which had to be paid only in silver.

In the 17th century, the Muscovite state did not have its own gold and silver mines, and precious metals were imported from abroad. At the Money Yard, Russian coins were minted from foreign coins: kopecks, money and polushkas.

The protracted war with the Commonwealth (1654−1667) demanded huge expenses. In order to find money to continue the war, the head of the Ambassadorial Department, the boyar Ordin-Nashchokin, proposed issuing copper money at the price of silver money. Taxes were collected in silver, and salaries were distributed in copper.

A small copper coin at first really circulated on a par with silver kopecks, but soon the excessive issue of unsecured copper money led to their depreciation. For 6 rubles in silver they gave 170 rubles in copper. Despite the royal decree, all goods rose sharply in price.

The financial catastrophe that broke out affected primarily the townspeople associated with small and medium trade, and service people who received a monetary salary.

On the night of August 4, 1662, "thieves' sheets" were pasted up in Moscow, which listed the names of the perpetrators of the financial crisis: the boyars Miloslavsky, who headed the orders of the Great Treasury, the head of the order of the Grand Palace, the roundabout Rtishchev, the head of the Armory, the roundabout Khitrovo, the clerk Bashmakov, guests Shorin , Zadorin and others.

Early in the morning of that day, an uprising began, in which the townspeople, part of the archers, serfs, and peasants took part. In total, from 9 to 10 thousand people participated in the performance. The rebels went to the village of Kolomenskoye, where Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was, and demanded the extradition of "traitors".

The tsar and the boyars promised the rebels to reduce taxes and investigate their petition. Believing the promises, the participants of the uprising headed for Moscow. At the same time, after the pogroms of the yards of the "traitors", a new wave of rebels headed to Kolomenskoye. Two oncoming streams joined and moved towards the royal residence. They renewed their demands, threatening, if the boyars were not handed over to them for reprisal, they themselves would take them in the palace.

But during this time, the king managed to gather archers. On his orders, they attacked the crowd, armed only with sticks and knives. During the fight, about 900 citizens were killed, the next day about 20 people were hanged.

The Moscow uprising of 1662 (“Copper Riot”) was caused by a financial catastrophe in the state and a severe economic crisis. the position of the working masses of the city and countryside as a result of a sharp increase in tax oppression during the wars between Russia and Poland and Sweden. The mass issue by the government of copper money (since 1654), equated to the value of silver money, and their significant depreciation to ser. 1662 (by 6-8 times) led to a sharp rise in the price of food, huge speculation, abuse and mass counterfeiting of copper coins (in which some representatives of the center and administration turned out to be involved). In many cities (especially in Moscow), famine broke out among the bulk of the townspeople (despite good harvests in previous years). Great dissatisfaction was also caused by the decision of the pr-va on a new, extremely difficult, extraordinary tax collection (pyatin). Active participants of M. century. 1662 were representatives of the urban lower classes of the capital, non-residents and peasants from villages near Moscow. Unlike M. century. In 1648, soldiers (especially from Shepelev's regiment) took a massive part in the movement of 1662, which means that groups of dragoons from a number of regiments, part of the archers. The uprising broke out in the early morning of July 25, when leaflets appeared in many districts of Moscow, in which the most prominent leaders of the production (I. D., I. M. and I. A. Miloslavsky; B. M. Khitrovo, F M. Rtishchev) were declared traitors. Crowds of rebels went to Red Square, and from there to the village. Kolomenskoye, where Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was. The rebels (4-5 thousand people, mostly townspeople and soldiers) surrounded the royal residence, handed over their petition to the tsar, insisting on the extradition of the persons indicated in the leaflets, on a sharp reduction in taxes, food prices, etc. Caught by surprise, the tsar , at which it was approx. 1000 armed courtiers and archers, did not dare to take reprisals, promising the rebels to investigate and punish the perpetrators. The rebels turned to Moscow, where, after the departure of the first group of rebels, a second group formed and the destruction of the courtyards of large merchants began. On the same day, both groups united, arrived in the village. Kolomenskoye, again surrounded the royal palace and resolutely demanded the extradition of the leaders of the pr-va, threatening to execute them even without the sanction of the king. At this time in Moscow, after the departure of the second group of rebels in the village. With the help of archers, the Kolomenskoye authorities, by order of the tsar, switched to active punitive actions, and 3 streltsy and 2 soldier regiments (up to 8 thousand people) were already pulled into Kolomenskoye. After the rebels refused to disperse, the beating of mostly unarmed people began. During the massacre and subsequent executions, approx. were killed, sunk, hanged and executed; 1 thousand people, up to 1.5-2 thousand rebels were exiled (with families up to 8 thousand people). Despite the defeat, M. v. 1662 led to the abolition of copper money and other concessions to the pr-va.

V. D. Nazarov

Used materials of the Soviet military encyclopedia in 8 volumes, v. 5.

Description of the "copper riot" by Ptarik Gordon

July 5 [Mistake by P. Gordon Copper riot was July 25 1662]. Early in the morning, when I was training the regiment on the field near the Novospassky Monastery, Colonel Crawford came to us, said that there was great confusion in the city, and gave the order to march to the Tagansky Gates. I inquired where the emperor [tsar] was, and learning that he was in Kolomenskoye, I advised me to go there, to which the colonel did not agree at all and sent one Russian lieutenant to find out what was the matter. Then he himself galloped to the bridge where the rebels were passing, and would have been attacked if he had not been rescued by the elected soldiers [two Moscow elected regiments formed in 1656-58] who know him.

The rebels came out of the Serpukhov Gate in a crowd. There were about 4 or 5 thousand of them, without weapons, only a few had clubs and sticks. They claimed compensation [for losses] for copper money, salt, and much more. To this end, sheets were pasted up in different parts of the city, and one lawyer in front of the Zemsky court read a sheet containing their complaints, the names of some persons whom they thought were guilty of abuses, and an appeal to everyone to go to the king and seek compensation, as well as bad heads advisers.

When the mob gathered, others went to rob the house of a guest or headman named Vasily Shorin, but the majority went to Kolomenskoye, where, while His Majesty was in the church, they solicited appeals from the boyars and courtiers to the tsar. Finally, when the king left the church and mounted his horse, they very rudely and with loud cries insisted that he make amends for their grievances. The tsar and some of the boyars reproached them for coming in such disorder and numbers, and announced that the grievances would be smoothed out, and therefore a council would be immediately convened - they only had to suffer a little. Meanwhile, at their first appearance, an order was sent to two Streltsy colonels to go with their regiments as soon as possible to Kolomenskoye, and the rest were ordered to crush those who remained in Moscow.

In great impatience, I urged the colonel to go to Kolomenskoye, but he still did not want to go out without an order. We had about 1,200 people in our regiment, including 800 Mordvins and Cheremis Tatars, who probably would not sympathize with or join the rebels and rebels; the rest - a motley mixture of Russians - were not worth much trust. True, with a few exceptions, they all remained under the banner, and the officers supervised them well. I distributed gunpowder and bullets, each with three charges - all I had.

Finally, I got permission from the colonel to go to Kolomenskoye for orders, which I did very hastily. However, the rebels surrounded the palace alleys so that I could not get close and with great difficulty escaped capture. On the way back, Colonel Aggey Al[ekseevich] Shepelev stood in the meadow with his regiment, which had become very thin, for many of his soldiers had taken part in the mutiny. I asked what orders he had received; he replied - to stand still. A little further away I met Artemon Sergey[eevich] Matveev, and then Semyon Fy[orovich] Poltev on the march with their rather thinned regiments. Both said that they were ordered to go to Kolomenskoye, but could not give advice on what to do to me.

Prince Yuri Ivano [vich] Romodanovsky, one of the main confidants and favorites of His Majesty, was sent to Sloboda, or the Suburb of Foreigners, in order to bring them all to Kolomenskoye. There was a great commotion in Sloboda. They took weapons from one merchant, distributed them to those who wished, and everyone spoke, some on horseback, some on foot.

When I reached the regiment, which the colonel had taken away from the gate and built near the monastery, I persuaded him to go forward. We reached the Kozhukhovsky bridge, where we received orders to stop, guard the bridge, and capture the fugitives. By this time, two regiments of archers appeared and were let through the back gates of the palace. They connected with horsemen from the courtiers and, having attacked through the large gates, dispersed [the rebels] without much risk and difficulty, drove some into the river, killed others and took many into captivity. Many also escaped.

The soldiers of our regiment caught 13 stragglers, who, together with others taken later, were sent the next day to Kolomenskoye. Of these rebels, many the next day were hanged in different places, and about 2000 with their wives and children were subsequently exiled to distant lands.

All foreign officers received small awards or awards for this work, and my colonel received a very significant gift, along with the archery colonels, who, together with their officers, were generously awarded. If the Colonel had followed my advice, we would have been on time to guard His Majesty and might well have defeated the rebels. My colonel later often lamented that he had missed such a good opportunity to his and our distinction.

Around the same time, the Bashkir Tatars became indignant and began to disturb the Russian garrisons in Ufa, Osa and others. This land lies on the way to Siberia, south of the Kama River; the rivers Ufa, Son and others that wash their land flow into the Kama. The reason for this rebellion was given by the oppression and extortion of the governors. [Bashkirs] are good riders armed with bows, arrows and spears. They are pagans. Their land is barren, full of forests and abundant in fish and game. There are less than 10,000 families in total ...

My colonel received orders to march with a regiment against these savages. Upon learning of this, I told him that, according to my contract, I had already served for almost a year as a major; I do not intend and will not go so far from the court (over 1000 miles) in this rank, because we may spend [there] several years. Thinking about this, and himself [not] wanting to be so far away from the court, moreover, against an ignoble enemy, the colonel took measures in order to get rid of this assignment. A lieutenant colonel, promoted to colonel, went there with the regiment, but I was promoted to lieutenant colonel in his place.

Patrick Gordon. Diary. Per. D.G. Fedosov. M., Nauka, 2002, pp. 119 -121

Literature:

Uprising of 1662 in Moscow. Collection of documents. M., 1964;

History of Moscow. T. .1. M., 1952;

Chistyakova E.V. Urban uprisings in Russia in the first half of the 17th century. Voronezh, 1975;

Buganov V.I. Moscow uprising of 1662. M., 1964;

Bakhrushin SV Scientific works. T.. 2. M., 1954;

Smirnov P.P. Posad people and their class struggle until the middle of the 17th century. T. 2. M.-L.

The Copper Riot took place in Moscow on July 25, 1662. The reason was the following circumstance. Russia waged a protracted war with the Commonwealth for the annexation of Ukraine. Any war requires huge funds to maintain the army. The state was sorely lacking money, then it was decided to introduce copper money into circulation.

It happened in 1655. From a pound of copper, worth 12 kopecks, coins were minted for 10 rubles. A lot of copper money was immediately thrown into use, which led to the distrust of the population towards them, inflation. It is worth noting that taxes to the state treasury were collected in silver money, and paid in copper. It was also easy to counterfeit copper money.

By 1662, the market price of copper money fell as much as 15 times, the cost of goods increased greatly. The situation worsened every day. The peasants did not take their products to the cities, because they did not want to receive worthless copper for them. Poverty and hunger flourished in the cities.

The copper rebellion was being prepared in advance, proclamations appeared all over Moscow, in which many boyars and merchants were accused of conspiring with the Commonwealth, ruining the country and betraying. Also in the proclamation were demands to reduce taxes on salt, to abolish copper money. It is significant that the discontent of the people was caused by almost the same people as during the salt riot.

The crowd split into two parts. One, in the amount of 5 thousand people, moved to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye, the second smashed the courts of the hated nobles. The rioters found Alexei Mikhailovich at a prayer service. The boyars went to speak with the people, but they could not calm the crowds. Alexei Mikhailovich himself had to go. People beat their foreheads in front of the king, demanded to change the current situation. Realizing that the crowd could not be pacified, Alexei Mikhailovich spoke in a "quiet manner", urging the rioters to be patient. People grabbed the king by the dress, and said, "What to believe?". The king even had to shake hands with one of the rebels. Only then did the people begin to disperse.

The people left Kolomenskoye, but on the way they met the second part of the crowd, which went to where the first one left. United, dissatisfied, a crowd of 10,000 people turned back to Kolomenskoye. The rebels behaved even more boldly and decisively, I demand the boyars to be killed. In the meantime, the faithful, to Alexei Mikhailovich, archery regiments arrived in time for Kolomenskoye and dispersed the crowd. About 7 thousand people were repressed. Someone was beaten, someone was sent into exile, and someone was branded with the letter "B" - a rebel.

Only people from the lower strata of society - butchers, artisans, peasants - participated in the copper rebellion. The result of the copper rebellion was the gradual abolition of the copper coin. In 1663, the copper yards in Novgorod and Pskov were closed, and the printing of silver money resumed. Copper money was completely withdrawn from circulation and melted down into other necessary items.

Copper riot - a riot that took place in Moscow on July 25 (August 4), 1662, an uprising of the city's lower classes against tax increases during the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667. and the release from 1654 of depreciated, in comparison with silver, copper coins.

Copper Riot - Briefly (article review)

After a long and bloody war with Poland in 1654, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich introduced copper money. Preparations for a new war with Sweden required a lot of money, and the minting of a copper coin seemed like a way out. And although copper was 60 times cheaper than silver, copper pennies were equated to silver ones. At first, the population readily accepted the new money. However, after their production took on an unprecedented, uncontrollable character, confidence in copper money dropped dramatically.

The depreciated copper kopeks played a fatal role in the economy of the state. To a large extent, trade was upset, since no one wanted to take copper as payment, service people and archers grumbled, since nothing could be bought with a new salary. Thus, the conditions for the subsequent copper rebellion arose.

1662, July 25 (August 4) - the alarm sounded alarmingly near the walls of the ancient Kremlin. As the merchants closed their shops, the people hurried to the crossroads at the Spassky Gate, where they were already reading accusatory letters. Thus began the copper riot. Later, an angry crowd will pour into Kolomenskoye, where the royal residence of Alexei Mikhailovich was located, and demand the abolition of copper money.

Sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich brutally and mercilessly suppressed the copper rebellion. As a result, copper money will be abolished.

And now in more detail ...

Description of the Copper Riot

Causes of the Copper Riot

The protracted war devastated the treasury. To replenish the treasury, the government resorted to the usual means - increased fiscal oppression. Taxes have risen sharply. In addition to ordinary taxes, they began to levy extraordinary ones, which reminded the townspeople of the memorable - "five money".

But there was also such a way to replenish the treasury as re-minting (spoiling) of a silver coin with a decrease in its weight. However, Moscow businessmen went even further and, in addition to the damaged silver coin, began to issue a copper coin. At the same time, with the difference in the market price for silver and copper (almost 60 times), they had the same nominal value. This was supposed to give - and gave - a fabulous profit: from one pound (400 gr.) of copper worth 12 kopecks. from the Mint received copper money in the amount of 10 rubles. According to some sources, only in the first year of this kind of monetary fraud brought a profit of 5 million rubles. In total, for 10 years - from 1654 to 1663. - copper money was put into circulation for the amount that Meyerberg, perhaps exaggerating, determined at 20 million rubles.

At first, the copper penny was on a par with the silver one and was well received. But the authorities themselves intervened in the sphere of settlements and began to buy silver money from the population for copper money. At the same time, taxes and duties were paid only in silver coins. Because of such a “far-sighted policy”, the already fragile trust in copper money quickly collapsed. The monetary system is in disarray. They stopped taking copper, and copper money began to rapidly depreciate. Two prices appeared on the market: for silver and copper coins. The gap between them increased weather-wise and by the time of cancellation was 1 to 15 and even 1 to 20. As a result, prices increased.

The counterfeiters, who did not miss the opportunity to quickly get rich, did not stand aside. There were persistent rumors that even the sovereign's father-in-law, the boyar I. D. Miloslavsky, did not disdain a profitable trade.

Before the riot

Soon the situation became simply unbearable. Commercial and industrial activity was in decline. In particular, it was hard for the townspeople and service people. “Great poverty and great death are caused by the price of bread and in all grubs the price is great,” moaned the petitioners. The price of chicken in the capital has reached two rubles - an incredible amount for the old, "domednye" times. The high cost, the growing difference between copper and silver kopecks inevitably brought a social explosion closer, which, for all its spontaneity, was felt by contemporaries as an inevitable disaster. “They expect to be confused in Moscow,” said one deacon on the eve of the July events.

The news about the next collection of "fifth money" added passions even more. The population of Moscow heatedly discussed the terms of the collection, when "thieves' letters" began to appear on Sretenka, Lubyanka and other places. Unfortunately, their text has not been preserved. It is known that they accused many duma and orderly people of "treason", which, in accordance with existing ideas, was interpreted quite broadly: both as abuses, and as "negligence to the sovereign", and as relations with the king of Poland. 1662, July 25, the "Copper Riot" broke out.

The course of the riot

The main events took place outside of Moscow, in the village of Kolomenskoye. A crowd of 4-5 thousand people went here early in the morning, consisting of townspeople and instrumental service people - archers and soldiers of the Elected Regiment of Agey Shepelev. Their appearance in the royal village was an absolute surprise. The archers who were on guard tried to stop the crowd, but it simply crushed them and broke into the palace village.

The sovereign with his whole family listened to the mass on the occasion of the birthday of Alexei Mikhailovich's sister, Princess Anna Mikhailovna. The confused tsar sent the boyars to negotiate with the people. The crowd rejected them. The emperor himself had to leave. There were cries of indignation: those who came began to demand the extradition of boyars-traitors "to be killed", as well as tax cuts. Among those whose blood the crowd craved was the butler, devious F.M. Rtishchev, a person in his spiritual disposition and religious mood is very close to the tsar. Alexei Mikhailovich ordered him, along with the rest, to hide in the women's quarter of the palace - in the chambers of the queen. Having locked themselves up, the entire royal family and close people "sat in the mansions in great fear and fear." Rtishchev, who knew very well how the conversation with the "gilevschiki" could end, confessed and took communion.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov

In the official language of that era, any appeal to the sovereign is a petition. What happened on the morning of July 25 in Kolomenskoye was also attributed to this “genre” with the expressive addition of the office work of that time: “They beat me with a forehead with great ignorance.” The tsar himself had already encountered this kind of "ignorance" 14 years ago, when angry mobs of Muscovites broke into the Kremlin in the hope of cracking down on B.I. Morozov. Then the sovereign, at the cost of humiliation, managed to beg for the life of his educator. The old experience came in handy even now - Romanov knew that the blind fury of the crowd could be countered with either strength or humility. The Moscow townsman Luchka Zhidkoy presented the sovereign with a petition. The Nizhny Novgorod resident Martyan Zhedrinsky, who was standing nearby, insisted that the tsar immediately, without delay, "before the world" subtract it and ordered the traitors to be brought.

The crowd "with a cry and much debauchery" supported their petitioners. According to the testimony of the all-knowing G. Kotoshikhin, the tsar in response began to persuade the people with a “quiet custom”, promising to “make searches and a decree”. The royal promise was not immediately believed. Someone from the crowd even twisted the buttons on the royal dress and insolently asked: “What is there to believe?” In the end, the sovereign was able to persuade the crowd and - a living detail - with someone, as a sign of consent, shook hands - "gave them a hand on his word." From the side, the picture, of course, looked impressive: Alexei Mikhailovich, frightened, although not losing his dignity, as in June 1648, and an unknown impudent townsman, shaking hands to seal their agreement on the search for traitors.

At the same time, the nobles were driven to the streltsy and soldier settlements with an order to urgently lead service people to protect the tsar. Y. Romodanovsky went for foreigners to the German settlement. Measures in the eyes of Romanov were necessary: ​​the unrest could take the authorities by surprise. Around noon, the rebels broke into Kolomenskoye again: among them were those who had been negotiating with the sovereign in the morning, and now turned back, meeting halfway with a new, excited crowd coming from the capital.

While still in the capital, she captured the son of one of the "traitors", a guest of Vasily Shorin, who was involved in government financial transactions. The frightened young man to death was ready to confirm anything: he announced the flight of his father to the king of Poland with some boyar sheets (in reality, Vasily Shorin was hiding in the courtyard of Prince Cherkassky in the Kremlin). No one doubted the evidence. Passions boiled up with renewed vigor. This time, about 9,000 people appeared before Alexei Mikhailovich, more determined than ever. At the negotiations, the tsar began to be threatened: if you don’t give the boyars good, we will take them ourselves according to our custom. At the same time, they encouraged each other with shouts: “Now it’s time, don’t be shy!”

Suppression of the rebellion

However, the time of the rebels is already over. While negotiations were going on, the archery regiments of Artamon Matveev and Semyon Poltev entered Kolomenskoye through the back gate. The king did not in vain welcome and feed the archers. They did not support, as happened in 1648, the performance of the townsman. Therefore, events unfolded according to a different scenario. As soon as the sovereign was informed about the arrival of the troops, he immediately changed and ordered "to flog and cut without mercy." It is known that in moments of anger, Alexei Mikhailovich did not restrain himself. One of the sources puts even harsher words into Romanov's mouth: "Spare me from these dogs!" Having received the royal blessing, the archers with enviable agility - it is easy to deal with an unarmed crowd - rushed to save the sovereign "from the dogs."

The massacre was bloody. At first they chopped and drowned, later they seized, tortured, tore out tongues, cut off hands and feet, several thousand were arrested and exiled after the investigation. During the days of the Copper Riot and in the search, according to some sources, about 1,000 people died. For many, for the eternal memory of the rebellion, fiery “beeches” were placed on the left cheek - “b” - a rebel. But the tension didn't go away. Foreigners and a year later wrote about the widespread grumbling of the inhabitants.

Results of the Copper Riot

1663 - copper money was abolished by the king. The decree was expressive in its frankness: "so that nothing else is done between people about money," the money was ordered to be set aside.

As a result of the copper rebellion, by royal decree (1663), the mints in Pskov and Novgorod were closed, and the minting of silver coins was resumed in Moscow. Soon copper money was withdrawn from circulation.

The main leitmotif of the "Copper Riot" is boyar treason. In the eyes of the people, this alone made their performance fair. But in reality, "traitors" and copper money focused dissatisfaction with the entire course of life, squeezed by direct and extraordinary taxes, arbitrariness and high cost. The symptom is rather disturbing - general weariness from the war. Many in government circles would like to stop it. But to stop with dignity, with a profit.

The Copper Riot is a significant event in the history of Russia, an uprising of the urban poor and the lower classes, which took place in Moscow during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. The very concept of "copper rebellion" has become a household word. It is used whenever it is necessary to comment on the depreciation of money and the bankruptcy of the state.

Copper Riot: Causes and Historical Situation

The Muscovite state waged a long war for Ukraine against which a huge amount of monetary resources was spent. There was a shortage of money. At that time, Russia did not yet have its own deposits of precious metals, from which money was minted, so they were imported from abroad. used foreign money to make Russians out of them - kopecks, polushkas and money.

The situation came to the point that the boyar Ordin-Nashchokin proposed a very controversial solution: to mint copper money at the face value of silver. At the same time, taxes were still collected in silver, but salaries were already issued in new copper coins. Starting from 1654, copper money was officially put into circulation instead of silver.

At first, everything went as planned by the government: it was accepted at the price of the old silver money. But soon they began to produce an incredible amount, because there were no problems with copper. Chasing yards in Moscow, Pskov, Novgorod worked at full capacity. The flow of unsecured money supply swept over Russia, so very soon the demand for silver began to grow rapidly, and copper money fell.

At first slow, and then precipitous inflation began. The government refused to accept copper money as taxes, so the old ones jumped sharply in price: from 15 to 20 new copper rubles were given for one old silver ruble. Merchants went to the market and carried copper money literally in carts, while copper depreciated every day. The townspeople fell into a panic: nothing could be bought for anything, and there was nowhere to get silver.

But the government did not want to admit the fallacy of its actions and, out of habit, began to look for the guilty on the side. Counterfeiters were cited as the cause of the massive inflation. Show trials began to take place throughout the country. For the production of "leftist" coins, there was only one sentence at that time: a cruel execution. According to the Code, red-hot metal was poured into the throat of the guilty.

The problem was that almost anyone who knew how to handle metal at least a little could make coins from copper. At that time, “boilermakers and tinmen” became massively rich, were able to build stone houses for themselves, and bought expensive goods. After all, each had its own small mint. There were more than half a million worth of counterfeit copper coins in Moscow alone.

Copper Riot: events

On the morning of June 25, 1662, according to the old style, an incriminating letter was pasted at a pillar on the Lubyanka in Moscow, where Rtishchev, Miloslavsky and their guest Vasily Shorin were called traitors. In fact, they were charged with a connection with the Commonwealth, with which there was still a war. This accusation was absolutely unfounded, but the people already needed any reason to start unrest.

A crowd of several thousand people, having read this message, went to the village of Kolomenskoye, the summer residence of the tsar. The guards were crushed, and the people broke into the royal court without hindrance. Alexei Mikhailovich ordered Rtishchev and Miloslavsky to hide in the chambers of the queen, and he himself went out to the people. And then there was a scene that violated all the foundations and canons of society. Commoners surrounded Alexei Mikhailovich, and literally holding on to the buttons of the royal outfit, they asked: “Where is the truth?” The conversation was quite peaceful, and the sovereign promised the people to restore order. One of the rebels even "beat hands with the king." After that, the crowd calmed down and began to disperse. The incident seemed to be over. But this day was destined to end differently.

Another crowd at that moment smashed Shorin's house, and forced his young son to write a confession that allegedly his father sold himself to the Poles and specially arranged a venture with copper money to help the hated enemy. With this “confession” in their hands, the rebels rushed to Kolomenskoye, dragging back those who had already returned from there. At this time, the tsar was about to go to Moscow to investigate the case. However, the new threats of the rebels pissed him off. Streltsy and soldiers were pulled up from Moscow by that time. And Alexei Mikhailovich gave the order to Artamon Matveev to cut down the rebels.

The real battle began. The crowd was unarmed. People were crushed, drowned in the river, stabbed and chopped. More than a thousand people died that day. Over the next days, they intensively searched for the participants in the campaign against Kolomenskoye, arrested, hung, chopped off their arms and legs, branded them, and sent them from Moscow to an eternal settlement. Many of those arrested were forced to take dictation in order to compare the handwriting with that ill-fated leaflet. However, the true instigators were never found.

The copper riot of 1662 was the performance of the real urban lower classes - artisans, peasants, butchers, and the local poor. None of the merchants and people of a higher class took part in it. Moreover, they also contributed to the subsequent arrests of the rebels.

As a result of the riot, about three thousand people suffered, and most of them were just a curious crowd.

Copper Riot: Consequences

The king kept his promise and dealt with the problem of copper money. In 1663, the minting factories in Novgorod and Pskov were closed, and copper money was completely withdrawn from circulation. Silver coinage resumed. And from copper coins it was ordered to melt boilers or hand them over to the treasury. Copper cash was exchanged for new silver coins at the former inflationary rate of twenty to one, that is, the state officially recognized that the old copper rubles were not backed by anything. Salaries soon began to be paid again in silver.