Medieval Networking
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 6:36 am
Nowadays, it is easy to manage a plant in Novosibirsk while in Moscow, or work for a capital company from Khabarovsk. We have a large arsenal of tools for this: CRM, schedulers, email and messengers. However, what comes so easily to us - sending a message to another person - was incredibly difficult and sometimes impossible in the recent past.
Megaplan recalls the history of business communications in Russia: how our ancestors communicated over long distances before the advent of mail, what hindered them and how they fought it. The article will be useful to anyone interested in the history of Russian business and does not fully understand how lucky they are to live and work in the age of information technology.
Exchange of certificates
In Ancient Rus', people threw away everyday documents like trash, so almost no everyday uae whatsapp list business correspondence has survived before the 16th century, with the exception of birch bark letters found in Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, and Staraya Russa.
Birch bark letter
Birch bark letter
Of course, individual birch bark letters were also found in the more southern Moscow, Ryazan, and Smolensk. But most of them were found in northern cities due to the unique composition of the local soil and the peculiarities of life. Soil scientist Andrei Dolgikh explained this luck by the fact that the marshy soil, saturated with wood remains (archaeologists call such soil "manure and chips"), perfectly preserves the organic matter, which birch bark letters belong to. In addition, the Novgorod Republic, the largest trading state of the ancient Russian north, had a high level of literacy: many Novgorodians were engaged in entrepreneurship and negotiated purchases.
"Give my servant seventeen hryvnias, don't be greedy, and send them here. And send some salt here with a berkovets. And if you need any goods, I'll send them," a certain Kuzma wrote to Cheren. "A greeting from Yakov to his godfather and friend Maksim. Please buy me some oats from Andrey, if he sells them. And send me some good readings."
These Novgorod charters show that literate people often communicated, sent each other things, money and books. We do not know exactly who Kuzma and Cheren were, but most likely they were big shots. The berkovets of salt mentioned by Kuzma (164 kilograms in our terms), one of the expensive medieval goods, is a fortune. As are 17 silver grivnas (a grivna is approximately 204 grams of pure silver): for a grivna you could buy a war horse or a herd of cows.
Such important messages were passed from hand to hand - there was no post in pre-Mongol Rus'. First of all, because only noble people knew how to write and only they had a need for correspondence. Their messages were delivered by messengers - always armed, because the forests were simply teeming with bandits.
Robber gangs
Engraving from the book by S. Herberstein "Moscow warrior"
Engraving from the book by S. Herberstein "Moscow warrior"
They were not gangs of bandits attacking from around the corner. They were organized numerous gangs living in villages. And during the working season, in summer and winter, when convenient roads appeared, the bandits based themselves in shelters in the forest. They armed themselves not only with sabres and maces (short sticks with metal balls suspended on a belt or chain), but also with cannons. Historian Andrei Shipilov writes about this in detail.
The robbers threatened not only individual horsemen, but also villages and even cities, constantly carrying out robbery raids on them. They were also fierce in the capital. The Danish ambassador Just Juhl wrote in his travel diary in 1711: "Robbers are a real disaster in Moscow. Going out on the street in the evening means putting your life in danger. In winter, not a single night goes by without street murders and robberies . "
The state had no means of protection against robbers. By the mid-17th century, Moscow had secured roads only a few dozen miles from the city. Local governors and authorities defended themselves against robbers as best they could. The Dutchman Cornelius de Bruyn visited Russia in 1701–1703 and recorded the customs of society in his notes. For example, he described a very ordinary incident. A Volga robber attacked a voivode’s boat (a Russian flat-bottomed sailing and rowing vessel for transporting people and goods), and he barely managed to fight them off. The merchants with whom de Bruyn was traveling along the Volga were armed with 40 guns and pistols. He himself more than once jumped out of his carriage with two pistols and a sword to fight off attacking peasants. At that time, all influential and wealthy people kept firearms arsenals in their estates, and the largest boyars and princes had entire fortified siege yards with cannons.
Megaplan recalls the history of business communications in Russia: how our ancestors communicated over long distances before the advent of mail, what hindered them and how they fought it. The article will be useful to anyone interested in the history of Russian business and does not fully understand how lucky they are to live and work in the age of information technology.
Exchange of certificates
In Ancient Rus', people threw away everyday documents like trash, so almost no everyday uae whatsapp list business correspondence has survived before the 16th century, with the exception of birch bark letters found in Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, and Staraya Russa.
Birch bark letter
Birch bark letter
Of course, individual birch bark letters were also found in the more southern Moscow, Ryazan, and Smolensk. But most of them were found in northern cities due to the unique composition of the local soil and the peculiarities of life. Soil scientist Andrei Dolgikh explained this luck by the fact that the marshy soil, saturated with wood remains (archaeologists call such soil "manure and chips"), perfectly preserves the organic matter, which birch bark letters belong to. In addition, the Novgorod Republic, the largest trading state of the ancient Russian north, had a high level of literacy: many Novgorodians were engaged in entrepreneurship and negotiated purchases.
"Give my servant seventeen hryvnias, don't be greedy, and send them here. And send some salt here with a berkovets. And if you need any goods, I'll send them," a certain Kuzma wrote to Cheren. "A greeting from Yakov to his godfather and friend Maksim. Please buy me some oats from Andrey, if he sells them. And send me some good readings."
These Novgorod charters show that literate people often communicated, sent each other things, money and books. We do not know exactly who Kuzma and Cheren were, but most likely they were big shots. The berkovets of salt mentioned by Kuzma (164 kilograms in our terms), one of the expensive medieval goods, is a fortune. As are 17 silver grivnas (a grivna is approximately 204 grams of pure silver): for a grivna you could buy a war horse or a herd of cows.
Such important messages were passed from hand to hand - there was no post in pre-Mongol Rus'. First of all, because only noble people knew how to write and only they had a need for correspondence. Their messages were delivered by messengers - always armed, because the forests were simply teeming with bandits.
Robber gangs
Engraving from the book by S. Herberstein "Moscow warrior"
Engraving from the book by S. Herberstein "Moscow warrior"
They were not gangs of bandits attacking from around the corner. They were organized numerous gangs living in villages. And during the working season, in summer and winter, when convenient roads appeared, the bandits based themselves in shelters in the forest. They armed themselves not only with sabres and maces (short sticks with metal balls suspended on a belt or chain), but also with cannons. Historian Andrei Shipilov writes about this in detail.
The robbers threatened not only individual horsemen, but also villages and even cities, constantly carrying out robbery raids on them. They were also fierce in the capital. The Danish ambassador Just Juhl wrote in his travel diary in 1711: "Robbers are a real disaster in Moscow. Going out on the street in the evening means putting your life in danger. In winter, not a single night goes by without street murders and robberies . "
The state had no means of protection against robbers. By the mid-17th century, Moscow had secured roads only a few dozen miles from the city. Local governors and authorities defended themselves against robbers as best they could. The Dutchman Cornelius de Bruyn visited Russia in 1701–1703 and recorded the customs of society in his notes. For example, he described a very ordinary incident. A Volga robber attacked a voivode’s boat (a Russian flat-bottomed sailing and rowing vessel for transporting people and goods), and he barely managed to fight them off. The merchants with whom de Bruyn was traveling along the Volga were armed with 40 guns and pistols. He himself more than once jumped out of his carriage with two pistols and a sword to fight off attacking peasants. At that time, all influential and wealthy people kept firearms arsenals in their estates, and the largest boyars and princes had entire fortified siege yards with cannons.