Alexey Razumovsky

Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky was a Ukrainian-born Russian Registered Cossack who rose to become the lover and, supposedly, morganatic spouse of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia. A member of the House of Razumovsky, he survived Elizabeth. The matter of any children they may have had together is unresolved.

Cost of Peasant Clothing

In the 17th century, a complete set of Ukrainian peasant clothing—including a shirt, wide trousers, a coat, and a sheepskin jacket—was valued at approximately 26.5 zlotys. Women's clothing, often more elaborate, was typically valued at nearly double that amount, around 52 zlotys.

Luxury Materials in Peasant Dress

Peasants occasionally wore expensive imported fabrics like silk, velvet, and damask, often acquired at town markets. For decoration, they sometimes utilized precious furs such as sable, marten, or silver fox, which were typically reserved for the nobility.

Minstrels and epic songs

Wandering minstrels called kobzars and bandurists performed epic songs known as dumy, often accompanied by the kobza, bandura, or lyre. These performers served as a form of media, sharing news, glorifying victories, and lamenting failures.

Professional guilds and instruments

Professional musicians organized into city guilds, which were legally supported by decrees to provide music for celebrations, ceremonies, and military events. Musicians played instruments like the violin, dulcimer, bagpipe, and drum at festive gatherings.

Common Modes of Transportation

Ordinary people typically traveled on foot or by horse-drawn carts and wagons, while wealthy individuals used carriages. Waterways were also used for travel, providing a faster and more comfortable alternative to land routes.

Memorable Aspects of Travel

Traveling in the Commonwealth was challenging, as there was a lack of quality inns, and journeys were often crowded with people and goods like goose fat and cracklings in wagons. Wealthy nobles displayed their status by traveling with large processions that could include hundreds of horses and servants, and occasionally even camels.

Home heating and cooking arrangements

Peasant homes were often smoke-filled, as many were built without chimneys, meaning smoke had to escape through openings in the roof. Wealthier homes and urban dwellings were more likely to feature separate kitchens to isolate cooking from living areas.

Sleeping and eating habits

Until the end of the 18th century, beds were rare in peasant households, with most people sleeping on long benches or straw spread directly on the floor. While forks were known, they did not come into general use until the 18th century, so most people ate with their fingers and wooden spoons.

Cossack dietary staples and habits

Cossack soldiers typically ate simple, communal meals like salamakha, a liquid dish made from boiled millet and flour water, often served from small wooden troughs using wooden spoons. When possible, they supplemented their diet with pork scraps, boiled fish, and various cereals like teterya cooked with milk or fat.

Diverse rural food and drink reserves

Rural households maintained diverse food reserves, including smoked meats, sausages, various cheeses, butter, and fish stored in barrels, which contradicts myths of a monotonous peasant diet. Daily drinks often included beer, mead, and spirits, which were brewed or distilled at home or consumed at local taverns.

Tax paid in yarn or money

In the late 17th century, village peasants sometimes provided yarn as a tax or could instead pay 40 groszy for it.

Cash Rents and Honey Taxes

In the 1690s, some peasants in the Kyiv region paid a cash rent of 10 kips of money and 14 buckets of fresh Zhytomyr honey per year instead of labor services.

Common Skilled Trades and Craftsmanship

Ordinary people often worked as carpenters, blacksmiths, tanners, or tailors, while women typically spun wool and flax to create fabric for daily use.

Military post served army and nobility

Military postal services provided specialized delivery of letters and parcels between garrisons, military headquarters, and the local nobility during wartime.