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Prince Sergei of Leuchtenberg

1849–1877

Born
20 Dec 1849, Saint Petersburg
Country of birth
Russian Empire, today Russia
Died
24 Oct 1877, Ivanovo
facts
7
sources
1
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Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Saint Petersburg

    Birth, Saint Petersburg

  2. Died · Ivanovo

    Death, Ivanovo

What was it like?

The world around Saint Petersburg, 1849: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Prince was born around the same time as Sofia Kovalevskaya, Viktor Vasnetsov, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Born around the same time

  • Sofia Kovalevskaya

    1850 · 19th-century Russian mathematician

  • Viktor Vasnetsov

    1848 · Russian artist (1848-1926)

  • Robert Louis Stevenson

    1850 · Scottish novelist and poet (1850–1894)

  • Mihai Eminescu

    1850 · Romanian poet, novelist and journalist (1850-1889)

  • Otto Lilienthal

    1848 · German aviation pioneer (1848-1896)

  • W. G. Grace

    1848 · English amateur cricketer (1848-1915)

Fashion

A single lifetime festive outfit

Peasants often prepared one high-quality outfit in their youth that was kept for their entire lives to be worn only on the most important feast days.

Everyday men's clothing and footwear

Ordinary men typically wore a skewed-collar shirt (kosovorotka) belted over trousers, with bast shoes (lapti) being standard everyday footwear.

Music

Improvisational pliaska dances and percussion

Fast-paced pliaska dances were characterized by individual improvisations, sometimes accompanied by improvised percussion like wooden spoons or metal pots when standard instruments were unavailable.

Traditional khorovod dances and reed instruments

In the Kursk region, women performed traditional round dances called khorovod or karagod while singing and playing kuvichki, a set of pan-flute pipes made of reeds of varying lengths.

Getting around

Four-day coach journeys between capitals

Traveling between St. Petersburg and Moscow by stagecoach took four days of constant travel before the railway was completed.

Travel times to Siberia varied wildly

In 1827, traveling by road from Moscow to Irkutsk took 23 days, which was considered extremely fast for that time. In mud-prone seasons, however, the same journey could take up to nine months.

Daily life

Lighting and window materials in peasant homes

Peasant huts were typically illuminated by a torch inserted into the crack of the stove or by simple wicks dipped in oil. Glass was expensive and often replaced by bull bladders in peasant homes, while wealthier villagers began using mica.

Low rates of peasant literacy and education

Literacy among serfs was extremely low, with estimates not exceeding 1%. Education was largely confined to home training by local sextons or clerks, often limited to reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.

Food

Everyday Drinks of the Peasantry

Kvass, a drink made from rye flour and malt, was the most common everyday beverage for ordinary people. While tea culture was starting to spread, it remained a luxury for many rural families, who often only drank it during illness or on special occasions.

Meal Customs in Peasant Households

Peasant families frequently ate from common dishes without individual cutlery, often eating in a set order led by the head of the household. Hygiene was minimal; dishes were typically rinsed in cold water after use rather than thoroughly washed.

Prices and wages

Annual earnings of laborers

In the 1840s, migrant laborers in St. Petersburg earned around 500 paper rubles per year, while estate coachmen earned 350 paper rubles.

Daily cost of a worker's diet

In the mid-19th century, a worker's daily food expenses for bread, meat, and grain were estimated at approximately 26.5 kopecks, totaling nearly 97 rubles per year.

Work

Common jobs for Russian peasants

Many peasants worked as seasonal laborers, including 700,000 boatmen and longshoremen, 600,000 farmhands, 400,000 construction workers, and 400,000 cabmen. Others engaged in varied trades or factory work, often moving far from their native provinces for years to earn income.

Declining wages for Volga boatmen

Earnings for Volga boatmen dropped significantly due to industrialization, falling from about 300 rubles per season in the 1810s to between 60 and 90 rubles by the 1830s. This decline forced many formerly prosperous villages into poverty as traditional crafts were replaced by newer methods.

News and letters
Around 1844–1844

Standardized postal rates introduced in 1844

In 1844, a flat rate of 10 kopecks per lot was introduced for letters, regardless of the distance traveled.

Around 1850–1859

International mail speed

International mail to and from Russia often took three weeks to a full month to arrive during the 1840s and 1850s.

During their lifetime

  1. 1861

    Emancipation of the Serfs

    The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto freed nearly 50 million serfs, granting them personal freedom but requiring them to redeem their land through long-term government loans.

  2. 1874

    Universal Military Service Law

    The 1874 Universal Military Service law reduced mandatory military service from twenty-five years to six years for all social classes.

Family

Parents

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.