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)

Abstract

Abstract. 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 The scientific novelty is determined by the selection of unpublished or partially published archival documents for historical analysis in order to clarify the daily practices in the Cossack environment.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 high-ranking Cossack chiefs have been elucidated. The accompanying objective economic and political circumstances of the case have been clarified, which had a significant impact on the strategies choice of the conflict participants. The Conclusions. A debt history between a high-ranking Cossack chief and Starodubskyi trader, a wealthy merchant has been analyzed. As a result, we have a general idea of the concerns of the wealthy Ukrainians at the beginning of the XVIIIth century and some problem-solving strategies. Starodubskyi middle-class merchant was steadily torn apart by the pressure of the circumstances (the need for a constant lending to trade actively, the risks involved, the changes in the Russian law and the trade policy towards Ukraine). Having considerable debts, Ya. Shyrai tried to solve his problems at the expense of creditors, denying the presence of debts. Despite referring the case to the General Military Court, P. Sylenko applied the practice of pressure by the moral authority of the church. The main document that litigated the case and described Starodubskyi residential yard, is extremely important for the history of an everyday life. Its analytical reading, together with additional sources, allows us to look into the past, to feel the intense confusion of Starodubskyi merchants, their ambiguous methods of dealing, the uncertain status of a regimental judge, who was unable to solve the problem on his own, and was forced to use tricky ways – making a will, which ran: Ya. Shyrai had to pay the debt to the monastery; a great importance of the church in the Ukrainian society at that time and the others.