Бібліографічний опис статті: Kryvosheia, I. & Kryvosheia I. (2020). Ukrainian everyday life of the first quarter of the XVIIIth century (based on the example of the court case of Prokop Sylenko, Starodubskyi regiment judge and Yakov Shyrai, a merchant). Skhidnoievropeiskyi Istorychnyi Visnyk [East European Historical Bulletin], 14, 19–27. doi: 10.24919/2519-058x.14.197175 UKRAINIAN EVERYDAY LIFE OF THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE XVIIITH CENTURY (BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE COURT CASE OF PROKOP SYLENKO, STARODUBSKYI REGIMENT JUDGE AND YAKOV SHYRAI, A MERCHANT)

The purpose of the research – to analyze the practices of the Ukrainian everyday life of the first quarter of the XVIIIth century based on several court documents. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of historicism, systematic, scientific, interdisciplinary approaches. The following general historical methods have been used: a historiographic analysis, a historical genetic, terminological analysis, a comparative analysis. The scientific novelty is determined by the selection of unpublished or partially published archival documents for historical analysis in order to clarify the daily practices in the Cossack environment. The strategies of solving the debt conflict by

The Problem Statement. The life realities of ordinary Ukrainians in the cities and towns of Hetmanate are not too different from the present ones, if the material aspect is not taken into account but a spiritual one. It is clear that our modern life, filled with gadgets and facilitated by a technological advancement, cannot be compared to the possibilities of a Ukrainian at the end of the XVIIth century -the beginning of the XVIIIth century. But when we look at the mental component of the everyday life of a Ukrainian town resident, it becomes clear that we have not escaped so far from our ancestors, we do not differ much. They were disturbed by the same problems as we are nowadays. Of course, the values transformed somewhat, painful areas too. That is why, it's so interesting to look at that period by means of documents, which date back to that time, to try to understand how the Ukrainians thought and solved their problems.
A rather standard debt history has been selected for the analysis. The debt history is between a high-ranking Cossack chief, since it was a judge of Starodubskyi regiment, and Starodubskyi trader, a wealthy merchant. And in this case the circumstances, far removed from the history itself, are of great importance. They are connected, first and foremost, with the main characteristics of the political and economic life of the region (Starodubskyi) and the country (Hetmanate). On the other hand, without telling about the families of the main characters involved in the case -the Sylenkiv and the Shyraiv -it is impossible to understand either the merits of the case or the features of an everyday life. That is why, this research began.
The Analysis of Recent Researches and Publications. The history of Starodubskyi regiment and its officers was actively researched from the ХІХth century, first of all by O. Lazarevskyi and in the field of genealogy of the Cossack chiefs (starshyna) -by V. Modzalevskyi (Lazarevskyi, 1888;Modzalevskyi, 1912). The list of documents published by them or the researches of a genealogical character concerning Starodubskyi regiment is very long, but we consider it to be inappropriate to mention it in the article. K. Lazarevska published a small but interesting research on the wealthy yard in Starodubskyi region, which contains the part of the document analyzed (Lazarevska, 1929, p. 36). The researcher did not know who owned the yard or the history of the owner's change. Nowadays the history of the regiment is studied, in particular, the dissertation is written about the Cossack chiefs of Starodubskyi regiment (Laievskyi, 2016). Various aspects of the history of the Cossack chiefs of this regiment are investigated by many modern researchers and many generalized publications are published (Kryvosheia, 2010;Kryvosheia, 2016;Lenchenko, 2005;Chukhlib, 2005;Chukhlib, 2014). However, they almost do not consider the history of an everyday life of chiefs of Starodubskyi regiment, first of all, the world-view paradigms and everyday practices of their realization.
The purose of the research is to analyse some practices of Ukrainian everyday life of the first quarter of the XVIIIth century based on several court documents.
The Statement of the Basic Material. Starodubskyi regiment, one of the ten Hetmanate regiments on the Left Bank, had one of the largest territories and exactly the largest amount of settlements among all other regiments. The geographical location and natural resources influenced the political history and economic development of the regiment. This regiment is the northernmost of the Cossack regiments. It was located in the direction of the Russian territory, which eventually determined the fate of these terrains in the ХХth century. Already in the summer of 1918, there was the urgent demarcation issue of the border with the Bolsheviks in the Chernihiv-Sivershchyna. The battles continued all the time there. In February 1919, with the help of the "Ukrainian" communists at an interagency meeting in Moscow, it was decided to establish a border with Ukraine, according to which a large part of Starodubshchyna started to belong to Russia (Chukhlib, 2005, p. 79-80). Finally, the borders were established until the mid-1920-ies. Starodubskyi region started to belong to Russia. Nowadays, the territory of Starodubshchyna is the former Ukrainian Cossack territory, which Russia seized, just as it seizes other Ukrainian lands now through its own imperial ambitions.
Starodub location, natural resources, developed local crafts hindered the development of a local and international trade. The city was the center of transit trade in the region, its merchants got rich in buying and reselling various goods (Lazarevskyi, 1888, pр. 113-114). Among Starodubskyi merchants stand out some extremely successful and rich, among whom was Spyrydon Shyrai, Starodubskyi viyt (a local authority person). The lower middle-class and merchants were dependent on the upper-class because of loans and bail bonds (Tyshchenko, 1931). The merchants of Starodub were oriented both to trade with Russia and Europe. However, the political and military changes after 1709 led to a new imperial policy in Ukraine, which concerning trade, was aimed at shifting all Ukrainian trade to northern Russian ports and banning a direct trade with European countries. The prosperous trade quickly turned into a loss-making business. It is because of this fact that problems arose for Jacob Shyrai, a lower middle-class person. Despite the family name in Starodub, close family ties with Spyrydon Shyrai's branch failed to be established. In Hetmanate during 1706 -1719 there was the court case between S. Shyrai, his heirs and several local merchants, who were cheated. This court case also calls into question the close family ties of Yakov and Spyrydon (Tyshchenko, 1931, pp. 330-334).
In 1706, a group of Starodubskyi merchants made a large and profitable trade contract with the Dutch merchants, for which the Dutch paid in advance, in fact giving credit to the Ukrainians. The guarantor was S. Shyrai. A group of merchants prepared all the goods needed to be sent to the Dutch and placed the goods in the stone cellars in Yakov Shyrai's yard. Shortly afterwards, some financial misunderstandings arose in Arkhanhelsk in the trade of S. Shyrai and other Starodubskyi merchants with the same Dutch traders, and there their goods were arrested. Then, Spyrydon sent his men to the yard of Jacob Shyrai and took the stored goods of the merchants there. Of course, the merchants sued. The court case lasted for years, even after the death of Spyrydon. The cheated merchants did not find the truth either in the Cossack courts or in Russian court. The family of the almighty Spyrydon held everything in their hands. Thus, S. Shyrai minimized his losses at the expense of Starodubskyi merchants of the middle-class. Most of them got bankrupt. The same thing happened to Yakov Shyrai, as evidenced by the court case. On February 20, 1719, the General Military Court (hereinafter GMC) issued a decree estimating the property of the noble inhabitant of Starodub, Ya. Shyrai, to deal with creditors. The description of the property was attached to the court case (Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine in Kyiv (CSHAUK), f. 51, d. 3, c. 503, pp. 87-94).
Returning to the family ties between Spyrydon and Jacob Shyrai, we must admit that if they had been close relatives, Spyrydon would not have done so. Spyrydon Yakovych took care of the peace and well-being of his relatives and strengthened it. All his sons and daughters married the representatives of the influential Cossacks and became the part of Hetmanate elite. Yakov Shyrai had to be involvd in the court cases because of the unpaid loans. Without their own capital, the middle-class merchants were doomed to trade by means of having credits. Yakov was no exception and got bankrupt.
In fact, all of Prokip Sylenko's career achievements were backed by his zealous years of a military service: "… and being in many services, he was repeatedly wounded, shot, stabbed, and when he spilled his blood, he was extremely crippled ..." (Heneralne slidstvo, 1929, p. 69). According to O. Lazarevsky's opinion P. Sylenko died in 1723 a year before he made up the government of a regimental judge (Lazarevskyi, 1888, p. 91). The testament the former regimental judge could make and agree with three sons only with the help of Hetman P. Polubotko. Two of his written requests to Hetman about making a will and distribution of his property are known, though the written requests are controversial in their content. In 1722, he complained to P. Polubotko about his eldest son Lucian, because of whom he could not make the will. In a month, almost similar complaints were made against two younger sons -Tymophiy and Hryhoriy, with the same acusations of disobedience and disrespect. P. Sylenko sent the hetman his project of division of inheritance between the sons. This project became the basis of the agreement between his descendants. The agreement was signed in Hlukhiv (Lazarevskyi, 1888, pp. 89-90). During the general investigation about the property in 1731, Prokip's grandson, Hryhoriy Hryhorovych, a fellow, petitioned Empress Anna Ioanivna with a request not to take away the village of Naitopovychi from his father and other relatives in favour of a regimental judge government. One of the arguments was that his father had four sons and each of his father's brothers had four sons. Therefore, if the village is taken away, fourteen men of the family will not be able to carry on a military service (Heneralne slidstvo, 1929, p. 70).
In April 1719, when P. Sylenko's suit against Ya. Shyrai continued, Prokip Sylenko was Starodubskyi regimental judge. The essence of the court case was that once P. Sylenko granted Ya. Shyrai a large loan. Ya. Shyrai refused to pay the debt. This is eloquent -the regimental judge could not make a low middle-class person repay the debt. Then Prokip Sylenko transferred this debt to the monastery., i.e., Ya. Shyrai had to pay the debt to the monastery.
The court case is stored in the fund of Chernihiv cathedral monastery (CSHAUK, f. 133, d. 1, c. 392, pp. 1-2). And in the piece published from it there is a mention about Borysoglibskyi monastery (Lazarevska, 1929, p. 36;Lenchenko, 2005, p. 90). In the court case from the General Military Court, there is a mention that the judge's verdict was the following: the debt was transferred to the Ryabtsiv Starodubskyi monastery (CSHAUK, f. 51, о. 3, c. 503. р. 89 v.). Actually, the debt tranferred to what monastery is not very important in this case. The main thing was that Ya. Shyrai was unable to compete with the church institution in the General Military Court for a long time, though he tried. The court case indicated that the proceedings lasted for a long time, in the end, Ya. Shyrai acknowledged his debt. The bankrupt merchant did not have any money, so he gave the monastery his own yard in Starodub for the debt.
The GMC case of February 20, 1719 gives a far more informative picture than our main document. And in this case P. Sylenko was only one of numerous creditors of Shyrai. It's important to mention some data. The GMC collected the data on all Shyrai's debts and outlined the dynamics of the payments on the accounts. The earliest records date back from 1704 to 1707. It is from that time on that a debt history was drawn up, which makes it possible to connect the problems of J. Shyrai with the already mentioned court case of Starodubskyi merchants of against Spyrydon Shyrai. The court case contains a register of debts, a register of payments, a register of property and a court decision. In general, Yakov Shyrai had to pay to creditors 36 921 zolotykh, without P. Sylenko's debt, which had been already repaid. In total, the debtor paid 11 262 zolotykh at that time. There was the debt left in the amount of 25729 zolotykh. This debt, to a large extent, in equal shares, was repaid by the arrest of all the movable and immovable property of Ya. Shyrai. However, 9 329 zolotykh were still missing (CSHAUK,f. 51,d. 3,c. 503,. The merchant got completely bancrupt. A few points are worth clarifying. First of all, what Shyrai owned according to the register was: a mill from which, according to the arrest, all the grain was sold worth of 1 180 zolotykh, the pigs worth of 62 zolotykh, the ducks worth of 61, the geese worth of 23 zolotykh; Olexinskyi field was harvested with grain worth of 377 zolotykh, fine cloth worth of 100 zolotykh, the property from the storerooms worth of 163 zolotykh; Yarmoshivskyi yard was valued at 150 zolotykh; two storerooms in Starodub worth of 1 500 zolotykh; the mill near Starodub on the river Babynka at a price of 8000 zolotykh; the yard near Nikolska Church -1200 zolotykh; Polubynkovskyi yard near the tower of Chernihiv -1300 zolotykh; the mill in Lehovatka: 1 circle with hay fields, arable field -4000 zolotykh; two more barns worth of 1000 zolotykh. In addition, Yakiv paid for the part of credits with 10 kufs of horilka (500 zolotykh) and barrels of Rhine wine (1435 zolotykh for 13 barrels of different price) (CSHAUK,f. 133,d. 1,c. 503,. The property record did not include the yard in Starodub, which was given the judge P. Sylenko. As it turned out, in general, Ya. Shyrai owed P. Sylenko 4000 zolotykh, of which he paid 1860 zolotykh in cash, and the rest sum belonged to the monastery according to the testament, made by the judge, for the peace of his soul. Thus, Ya. Shyrai owed the monastery 2135 zolotykh, according to the court records (CSHAUK,f. 133,d. 1,c. 503,p. 89 v.).
Thus, from the above-mentioned, we have some ideas about the concerns of the wealthy Ukrainians at the beginning of the XVIIth century and some problem-solving strategies. Starodubskyi merchant of a middle-class got bancrupt steadily under the pressure of circumstances. Not only because of the need for a constant lending to trade actively and the risks associated with it, but also because of the changes in the Russian law and trade policy towards Ukraine. Having considerable debts, Ya. Shyrai tries to solve his problems at the expense of his creditors, simply by denying the debts. The court system was so inefficient that even a regimental judge could not resolve the problem legally. Despite the transfer of the court case to the GMC, he (the judge) uses the practice of pressure by the moral authority of the church, reinforced by the traditional support of church by the Cossack institutions. The court case was heard in the highest court, the General Military Court and, of course, the creditors won it. And the monastery was the first one to get its property.
According to the orders of Starodubskyi colonel L. Zhoravka, a group of people was formed, who had to register all the things, objects of the yard, which started to belong to the monastery. F. Poletytsa, Starodubskyi mayor, had to register and take away the yard, and the attendants were supposed to be: P. Sylenko and a priest Ihnatiy Stryikovskyi, a governor of Starodubska protopopia and a priest Ihnatiy Pavlovych Petropavlivskyi (CSHAUK,f. 133,d. 1,c. 398,p. 1). On the latter two, we have additional data from the oath of Starodub regiment in 1718. Iyerey Ihnatiy Stryikovskyi was the deputy of Starodubska protopopia of the Nativity of the Christ Church. The surname of Ihnatiy Pavlovych, the priest of the temple of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul of Starodub, was Turok (Horobets, Sytyi, 2017, pp. 86-87). It was possible to localize in the oath of 1718 and Yakov Ivanovych Shyrai. He swore among the townspeople of the suburbs of Zarichya (Horobets, Sytyi, 2017, p. 99). The oath also includes the surname of the regiment judge Prokofiy Sylych. Being the competent significant members of the regiment, his sons Tymofiy Sylenonok and Lukyan Sylevych swore as well (Horobets, Sytyi, 2017, pp. 92-93).
The yard featured in the court case was located in Starodub in Prorizna street near the Ascension Church. There was a large cemetery near the church. On its left side, the yard neighboured with the cemetery, and there was a separate gate (CSHAUK,f. 133,d. 1,c. 393. p. 1;CSHAUK,f. 51,d. 3,c. 503,p. 89 v.). The yard and the church were on the outskirts, probably in Zarichya, because Yakov Shyrai swore there in 1718. The church was wooden, in 1800 in its place a stone church was built with two altars. It is known that in 1739, near the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, there was another wooden church of Anastasius built at the expense of Anastasia Skoropadskaya (Lenchenko, 2005, p. 92). The part of the description of the yard was published twice (Lazarevska, 1929, p. 36;Lenchenko, 2005, p. 90), however, not everything and without the owner's name. It is worth mentioning that the price yard corresponded to the debt of about 2200 zolotykh. The description was supposed to demonstrate the amount of residential and farm buildings, valuable furnishings, which, together with the value of land and trees on the site, would cover the amount of the debt. Therefore, the yard was inspected carefully, noting the details. The description of the yard is given according to the document (CSHAUK,f. 133,d. 1,c. 393,. There was a gate into the yard with a wicket covered with shingle. The left side of the yard housed a shofah, next to it a stable of "logs chopped", the next -two rectangular "barns under the chutes", the door with iron "ranks". Behind there was the backyard to the cemetery itself and the wicket to the cemetery, the doors of which were with iron "ranks". Behind them is the door to the cemetery itself and the gate to the cemetery, the doors of which on the curtains with fillings of iron. A cellar and an oak blockhouse in it, from the cellar there was the "log cabin beam", the windows "made" of tin, in front of the windows there was the garden in which the cherries were planted. The garden was surrounded by a "fishing line". Opposite there was the second room, the windows "framed" in tin, and in front of the second room there was the garden fenced off by a "fishing line". They had an entrance -a wicket with the iron ranks. Inside the first room from the cellar there was an icon on one canvas of the Savior and the Virgin, the other -an older icon of the Savior with the Reverend Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk. A green tile stove, a round table and a bench. There were internal iron locks in the doors of both rooms. A small room behind the first room with no doors from the corridor. The doors from the rear (the back part) to the garden were on iron ranks. Behind the house there was a kitchen with the doors with iron ranks. In the corridor there was a table and a bench. Outside the house, the garden is "vast", there were many trees in the garden. The bath or some other room had to be without the stove and the door was not nailed and the window was new. The bakery house with a corridor, which had a partition. Immediately "finish" to the gate "ginger shistenny" with a large gate. Inside the room there was the icon of the Ascension of the Lord, placed from the very corner to the beam. The icon was in black frames. There was an older icon of the Resurrection, behind the beam -a canvas icon of Virgin Mary. There was the door in the room, which led to the yard. The picture framed, to the right -the icon of Virgin Mary with "…" Joseph. There were canvas icons of Joachim and Anna in the corner. A table and bench, a green furnace with tiles. In the garden there were trees the quantity of which was one hundred and ninety one, except for plums, cherries, "...", currants, black currants and elderberries.
Under the document there are the signatures of all four people, who made the description and attested everything seen in the estate to preserve its integrity.
So, there were 2 or 3 (!) residential buildings in the estate and one more not completely built (a room or a bath, the record makers did not make it clear). A kitchen, bakery and cellar were built on the yard separately. The location of the kitchen and bakery beyond the living space certifies that the owner of the estate used the modern, new principles of housing construction, which is typical of only wealthy and educated social layers of Hetmanate. The stables, a storehouse for wains, one large barn and two small ones were located separately as well. There was a presentable gate door, which also testified to the wealth and aesthetic requests of the owner. There were two detached garden fields near the houses, a large number of timber for building and a large fruit garden. A person, who made the record, calculated the number of apple trees and pear trees. And the rest trees and fruit bushes were not calculated. One can only imagine the size of the yard / plot of land on which so many trees were planted, although we do not know the total amount of trees there. The area of the fields of arable land gardens is not specified. The distance between the buildings is not mentioned either. However, it is obvious that Ya. Shyrai's yard was large and under construction. For the latter, the building material was in the yard. The average price for the yard in Starodub during the period under study was from 200 to 800 zolotykh, also from 40 to 150 rubles (Lazarevska, 1929, p. 33). And that was a lot of money. It should be mentioned that the price of Ya. Shyrai's yard was 2200 zolotykh. It is worth noting that there were no production facilities in the yard (brewerywineries, apiaries, etc.) that would make the property more expensive.
In Hetmanate, icons were precious, as they are carefully described in the document. The total amount of icons -7, two of which were mentioned to be antique. The picture is also added to the record, but nothing was mentioned about the plot. Only a few household itemstables and benches -were worthy pieces of furniture. It is definitely worth paying attention to the two furnaces in the houses, lined with green tiles. These were, for that period, items of luxury. Only in the houses of the wealthy there were such furnaces that provided some comfort and cosiness, and at the same time illustrated the taste and status of the owner.
What comes into view is a thorough record of the register man of all iron door and wicket ranks. They were expensive, a sign of the quality of the building and a wealthy owner. It is also important to note that the windows were registered thorouly, framed with tin, which also says a lot about the mode of life and indicates what things were valuable. Therefore, the immovable and movable property described in the document, together with the land on which the yard was located, was valued at more than 2000 zolotykh in 1719.
The Conclusions. This small document that was about the court case is extremely important for the history of an everyday life. Its reading, along with additional sources, allows you to look into the past, to feel the intense confusion of Starodubskyi merchants, their ambiguous methods of trading and solving problems, the uncertain status of a regimental judge, who cannot solve the problem on his own (let alone his descendants). That is why, he had to use cunning ways with making the will that Ya. Shyrai owed the monastery. The court case emphasizes the great importance of the church in the Ukrainian society of that period and the others. Further studies of the history of the Cossack everyday life of the XVIIth -XVIIIth centuries, taking into account the wide source base and the extremely poorly studied nowadays and manifestations of everyday, especially mental, practices of the Cossack chiefs of Hetmanate, have great prospects.
Funding. The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.