Who abolished the Streltsy army. Streltsy army of Peter I

1550
This day is considered the birthday of the standing Russian army, the basis of which was the archers, with elements of a regular structure. On this day, by decree (sentence) of Ivan IV (the Terrible), a “selected thousand” of provincial nobles were stationed in the Moscow district, who in the future formed the command core of the Russian army.
The main contents of the decree: streamlining the system of recruitment and military service in the local army; organization of centralized army control; creation of a permanent Streltsy army; centralization of the supply system; creation of a permanent guard service on the southern border and more.
LOCAL ARMY, noble cavalry, which formed the main branch of the Russian army in the 15th-17th centuries; had the character of a militia. Organizationally, it was divided into hundreds. All owners of estates and estates fit for service, according to the Code of Service of 1556, went on a campaign with their horses, supplies and weapons and fielded 1 armed warrior for every 50 acres of land that belonged to them. Reorganized by Peter I in 1701 into regular regiments of dragoons.
STRELETSKOYE ARMY, the first standing army in the Russian state of the mid-16th - early 18th centuries. It was staffed by the free urban and rural non-taxable (tax-free) population, was armed with arquebuses and reeds, and was governed by governors. Organizationally, it consisted of “devices” (detachments), then orders (500 - 1000 people each), and from 1681 - regiments, and was under the jurisdiction of the Streletsky Prikaz. In the 80s of the 17th century it was reorganized in the image of the “new order” regiments. Disbanded by decree of Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century.

Streltsy were initially recruited from free people, then this service became lifelong and hereditary. According to the famous researcher Kazimir Valishevsky, archers received from the treasury upon entering the service a ruble for building a house and setting up a household, as well as a ruble salary per year. True, another historian, Boris Kraevsky, citing information from Professor Bogoyavlensky, claims that the salary of an ordinary archer was 10 rubles a year, and that of a head of the archer was 200. In addition, the treasury armed the archers, provided them with military supplies, and also supplied them with a certain amount of food. Subsequently, in order to save the sovereign's funds, the archers were allowed to engage in trade, crafts, and agriculture, for which they began to be allocated plots. An important circumstance is that the Streltsy were exempt from taxes, while other classes had to pay the “Streltsy” tax.
The armament of the Streltsy army was quite at the level of the era from which we are separated by almost 500 years: hand-held arquebuses, reeds, sabers or swords. Since the arquebus was heavy, when firing, instead of a bipod, a reed was used, which was then used as a bladed weapon.
Under Ivan the Terrible, there were approximately 25 thousand archers, and by the beginning of the reign of Peter I - 55 thousand. Half of them lived in Moscow, essentially performing the functions of the Life Guards. The rest were stationed in garrisons. The Streltsy army was first divided into instruments, then orders, and from 1681 into regiments. As today, service in the capital and in the garrison differed significantly. For example, in the border fortress city of Vyazma in the middle of the 17th century, a powerful garrison was crowded into a limited area enclosed by walls. It included, in addition to the Cossacks, artillerymen and Tatars in Russian service, 910 archers. And this is in a city devastated by the Time of Troubles, in which they have just begun to restore the citadel, and even under the constant threat of attack by the Poles or Cossacks! With the beginning of the unsuccessful Smolensk War, this is what happened - enemy troops repeatedly approached the walls of the fortress and burned everything around.
It was no easier for the archers, who were sent to serve beyond the Urals. For example, the Streltsy foreman Vasily Sychev in the middle of the 17th century was sent from Mangazeya (the oldest city on earth beyond the Arctic Circle, located on the Taz River, which flows into the Ob Bay) at the head of 10 Streltsy and 20 industrialists to collect yasak (fur tribute) in the Khatanga basin . Only five years later, another detachment of archers, commanded by the Cossack Yakov Semenov, who came from Turukhansk, arrived to “replace” him. On the way back, the combined detachment almost died due to lack of food. And many similar examples can be given.
However, the life and service of the capital’s (elected) archers was not all sugar either. Constant delays in the payment of money and food supplies forced the soldiers to look for work on the side. Thus, documents have been preserved that, say, the archer Ivan Moiseev bought a trading shop from the merchant Pyotr Akudinov. In addition, the Streltsy head was the absolute master in his order. He personally issued monetary allowances, and he himself determined which of his subordinates was due how much. He could have fined him, he could have rewarded him. He could punish the offender with batogs, he could put him under arrest, he could release him from service, or he could appoint him as “eternal duty officer.” Under these conditions, the archers who were personally loyal to the colonel found themselves in a privileged position, and the obstinate ones turned out to be “beating boys.”
It was useless to complain about the commanders - they all came from the highest Russian nobility and were well-known to the tsar. If the archer even dared to file a petition, most often he himself was “designated” as the culprit and a fine “for dishonor” was collected from him in favor of the commander. In the garrisons, however, the archer had an even harder time, since there he was equally powerless before the local governors.
All this led to significant stratification within the Streltsy army. Some of the “sovereign people” were engaged in trade, some were craftsmen, some plowed the land, and some had to do nothing but beg. And yet the archers were the most combat-ready part of the Russian army and formed their basis. Let's say, in the Lithuanian campaign of 1578, 2 thousand people took part in the “palace”, that is, Moscow, archers alone.
The Streltsy army was assigned another important function. It played the role of modern Internal Troops, as well as the police. Under Ivan the Terrible, the punitive mission was carried out by the guardsmen, while the archers were left with law enforcement functions. They, along with the Cossacks, carried out border service.
Foreigners, who for one reason or another found themselves in Rus' at that time, left written evidence about the state of the tsarist troops. For example, the Englishman Richard Chancellor (Chancellor), who reached “Muscovy” on the ship “Edward Bonaventure” that circumnavigated Scandinavia, as well as the traveler Clement Adams noted that, despite such qualities of warriors as personal courage, their endurance and ability to endure the hardships of the campaign , their military training leaves much to be desired. Discipline was also weak, desertion flourished, especially during the period of hostilities.
Sagittarius repeatedly rebelled, often joining the enemies of the royal throne. There were many archers in the detachments of the False Dmitrievs, in the gangs of Ivan Bolotnikov. Ultimately, in parallel with the existing streltsy army, the creation of “foreign regiments” began in the 1630s. Now the Streltsy formations were doomed - it was only a question of timing.
In May 1682, a Streltsy riot broke out in Moscow, which so frightened young Peter. The future emperor never forgave the archers for this fear. Even the fact that in 1689 they saved him and his mother and supported him in the confrontation with Sophia the ruler did not help. He made up for everything after another rebellion that occurred in 1698, when four rifle regiments without permission left the Lithuanian border and moved to Moscow, threatening to kill the boyars and Germans. Despite the fact that the uprising was suppressed and the instigators were executed by boyar Shein, Peter rushed to the capital and ordered the repressions to continue. Red Square was strewn with the headless bodies of archers, the walls of the White and Zemlyanoy cities were strewn with gallows. By special order, those executed were prohibited from cleaning. Then, by the way, the rich collection of punishments practiced in Russia was replenished with another “find”: 269 archers were sent to hard labor - to mines, saltworks, factories and factories, including in Siberia and the Urals. (Peter liked the experience - in the Military Article of March 30, 1716, the practice of exile to hard labor and to the galleys received legal justification.)
Then the Streltsy army gradually and finally sank into oblivion.

It was the middle of the 16th century

It all started in 1546, when squeakers from Novgorod came to Ivan the Terrible with a petition. They wanted to tell the sovereign about their disadvantageous position, but the king did not listen to them. Without thinking twice, the soldiers rebelled. They not only began to measure their strength with the nobility, but also blocked the tsar’s path to Kolomna.

Ivan the Terrible could not forgive this. Therefore, in 1550, he signed a decree on the creation of a new permanent army - the Streltsy. It was supposed to replace the disgraced squeakers.

Sagittarius appeared under Ivan the Terrible

True, the newly formed “caste,” especially at the beginning, recruited the same former squeakers and people from the poor segment of the population. Only people from the elite were in charge. The number of archers did not exceed 3 thousand; they were divided into 6 orders.

In general, it was not easy to get into the archers. The main criterion for selection was the ability to shoot well. But then, due to the unreliability of the contingent, they demanded guarantees for the newly minted archer. Simply put, one of the experienced soldiers had to be responsible for ensuring that the “newcomer” did not run away or lose their weapon.

Service was considered lifelong and could be inherited.

Way of life

The archers lived (settled) in settlements. There, the soldiers were ordered to build a house and also develop the land for agricultural purposes. The state also paid the archers an impressive allowance of 1 ruble at that time. For example, in the 16th century a house cost 3 rubles. Another important thing was this: in the event of the archer’s natural death or death on the battlefield, his yard remained with the family.

They were paid a large allowance for those times - 1 ruble

The farther the settlement was from the capital, the simpler and poorer they lived there. The houses were small, without a chimney (kurnaya), covered with birch bark or straw. Instead of windows there are tiny slits, which were used as loopholes in the event of an enemy attack.

In peacetime, the archers did not disdain fishing. They were engaged in various crafts: blacksmithing, carpentry, wheelwork. Moreover, they worked exclusively to order. Soldiers could make expensive chests, tables, door handles, carts, or even sleighs. In addition, together with the peasants, they were the main city suppliers, supplying vegetables, fruits and meat to the local market.

The clothing of the archers was divided into two types: casual and formal. Their dress uniform is known to everyone - these are long caftans, high boots with fur cuffs. Each regiment had its own colors. Some are light blue, others are bright red. It is interesting that the soldiers sewed their own shirts, zipuns and trousers.

Baptism of fire

The archers had a chance to smell gunpowder for the first time in 1552, when the siege of Kazan took place. They performed well in this battle and have since become the main striking force of the Russian kingdom. In addition, they were often sent to guard the state border. Most often - to the southern, most turbulent borders.

The baptism of fire of the archers took place during the capture of Kazan

During the war, the archers often resorted to the use of “walking cities” - field defensive structures. The fact is that the soldiers were much inferior to the Tatars in maneuverability, but they shot better. Therefore, they quickly erected an outpost protected by shields from carts. This made it possible to repel an attack with little bloodshed. “If the Russians did not have a walk-city, the Crimean Tsar would have beaten us,” Heinrich von Staden, a German guardsman from the time of Ivan the Terrible, wrote in his memoirs.

The archers reached the peak of their glory under Peter I. They took part in the Second Azov Campaign in 1696. It was the archers who then proposed a plan to capture the fortress: using an earthen rampart to fill up its ditches.

Enemies of the State

It must be said that the archers were always dissatisfied with their position. They constantly demanded more privileges and financial support. But the kings could not always fulfill their inflated demands. And then the archers began to rebel.

First, several streltsy detachments went over to the side of Stepan Razin in 1682. But the peak of discontent came in 1698. Princess Sophia, while imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent, nevertheless managed to incite the archers to revolt. More than 2 thousand dissatisfied archers went to Moscow “for the truth.” And at the same time to carry out a coup d'etat. The idea failed.

This riot is known primarily for the Streltsy execution. Moreover, even officials acted as executioners on Peter’s orders. This is how the Austrian diplomat Johann Korb describes these events: “One boyar distinguished himself with a particularly unsuccessful blow: without hitting the convict’s neck, the boyar hit him on the back; the archer, cut almost into two parts in this way, would have suffered unbearable torment if Aleksashka (Menshikov), deftly using an ax, had not hastened to cut off the unfortunate man’s head.”

Peter I brutally dealt with the rebels

Almost all the Streltsy were executed as a result of the “great manhunt.” And those who escaped the death penalty were imprisoned or exiled. Their houses were sold, and all military units were quickly and quietly disbanded.

This sovereign is my predecessor and model; I have always imagined him as a model for my rule in civil and military affairs, but I have not yet gone as far in that as he did. Only fools who do not know the circumstances of his time, the properties of his people and his great merits call him a tormentor...
Peter I about Ivan the Terrible

When should we celebrate the day of the Russian infantry and the Russian Army?

According to the verdict (decree) of Ivan the Terrible on October 11, 1550, local disputes between governors during campaigns were prohibited. Now they were all subordinate to the first commander of a large regiment (commander-in-chief). Ivan the Terrible understood the need to introduce strict order. Before his eyes: when the Russians were attacked by the Crimean Tatars, the regiments could not repel them, because they did not have worthy commanders. The commanders of the junior regiments refused to obey the commander of the large regiment, who was the commander-in-chief, arguing that it was “inappropriate” for them to be lower. The young Grand Duke had to beg the boyars, giving up disputes, to defend themselves from the Tatars. Later, at the Zemsky Sobor, Ivan IV said:
“No matter who they send with whomever they do, otherwise everyone will be accommodated...”

According to the new sentence of Ivan the Terrible, a “selected thousand” of provincial nobles were placed in the Moscow district, who in the future formed the command core of the Russian army. The system of recruitment and military service in the local army was streamlined*; organization of centralized army control; creation of a permanent Streltsy army; centralization of the supply system; creation of a permanent guard service on the southern border and much more.

Service people on the instrument

The Streltsy army was divided into police officers and Moscow Streltsy. The city archers who lived in various Russian cities were mounted and on foot. 12 thousand Moscow archers (including 2 thousand selected stirrups) were infantrymen. The Sagittarius were armed with arquebuses (squeaks). In battle, the archers mounted them on special ax stands - reeds - and fired at the enemy. The archers carried a supply of bullets in leather bags on a sling; each squeaker also had a horn for gunpowder. The Streletsky regiments were distinguished by their high combat effectiveness and, being stationed in Moscow and other cities, were always at hand of the authorities. They received grain and cash salaries, weapons and uniforms from the treasury.
In peacetime, they played the role of city guards. In their free hours, the archers were engaged in crafts and trade, having a number of privileges. Streltsy lived in special Streltsy settlements. A special Streletsky order was in charge of the Streletsky regiments. So that a well-armed cavalry army, like the Streltsy, would always be at the hand of the sovereign, in 1550 they decided to give estates near Moscow to a thousand boyars and sons of boyars. And two years later they compiled a list of the Sovereign's court, which included 4,000 of the best royal servants, who began to be called nobles. The nobles stood above the children of the boyars. Nobles were appointed to command positions in the army. Measures were also taken to increase the number of guns in the Russian army and cities. The staff of gunners and other service personnel has been expanded.

Service people in the country

The son of a boyar, the owner of a patrimony or estate, had to begin service having a horse and full armor, and bring with him mounted armed serfs. From the first 100 quarters, the estate or landowner's land in one field (150 dessiatinas or approximately 170 hectares) was owned by the owner himself, and from the subsequent quarters - by his people. If a serviceman brought fewer soldiers than was required, he was fined. If there were more warriors, they were rewarded. During campaigns, service people received grain and cash salaries, the amounts of which were stipulated by the Code. Boyar children began their service at the age of 15. The service life was not specified. They served until old age, illness or serious injury stopped serving naturally. However, the campaigns and parades of the militia did not take up much time from the service people - for most of the year they lived peacefully on their estates, doing housework, receiving dues, which were their main source of existence. To keep track of service people, lists of them were kept in the districts - tens.

Kamenev Anatoly Ivanovich | Russian military art has long been nourished by the ideas of the 16th century

By creating a standing army and new forms of combat, Ivan IV was ahead of Western European countries. The organization of the first permanent Russian infantry, armed with firearms, and the development in this regard of new methods of combat is one of the evidence of the great military leadership of Ivan IV. He developed the production of firearms in every possible way, as a result of which the most powerful and most numerous artillery was created.

The centralized control of troops established by Grozny during the war was carried out through the Discharge Order. Reports from the troops came to this Discharge; all orders of Grozny were also given through the Discharge, which influenced not only the military administrative service, but also the combat operations of the troops. The Discharge made appointments and movements of command personnel, assigned troops to regiments, gave orders to the commander of the army and regimental commanders, gave instructions on actions troops in the theater of military operations, etc. Wartime functions - The discharge order was retained in peacetime for the border service.

— Grozny studied and took into account the interests and mood of the population on whose territory military operations were unfolding. In the previously conquered lands of the Kazan Khanate, Grozny took all measures to attract the local princes to his side. In the campaign against the Kazan Khan in 1552, the Tatars, Mordovians and other nationalities acted on the side of the Russians. During the war with Livonia, he managed to win over the indigenous population - Livs, Estonians, Latvians; In the liberated lands, Ivan the Terrible preserved local customs and laws, reduced taxes, and expelled German feudal lords. Such measures made it easier for the Russian army to solve combat missions.

— Grozny’s strategy is characterized by the desire to beat enemies one by one. First, he defeated the Kazan Khanate (1552), then the Astrakhan Khanate (1556), then launched a campaign against Livonia. — Ivan the Terrible widely applied the principle of active defense. Without waiting for the enemy to appear near his fortified cities, he sent troops to meet the enemy or directly to his territory.

— In organizing siege operations, Russian military art was ahead of the military art of the armies of Western European states. Siege work carried out by troops of Western European countries usually remained almost without any protection, while in the Russian army, special covering detachments were allocated when conducting siege work. The Russians were the first to introduce the method of gradually attacking fortresses, later borrowed from the Russians by the French military engineer Vauban (1633-1707).

— The example of the siege of Kazan proves the emergence of the Russian school of mine-explosive art in the 16th century. By checking the then accepted charge values ​​using modern scientific calculation methods, researchers note the accuracy of the calculations made by our ancestors. In Western Europe, the first calculations of the magnitude of gunpowder charges during explosions were given by the French engineer de Ville, 75 years after the siege of Kazan.

— One of the features of the Russian army was also its great mobility. This was achieved mainly by the fact that a dedicated special detachment of walking people followed the planned route following the Ertoul regiment (reconnaissance), corrected roads, repaired and built bridges, and laid roads through swamps.

— Ivan the Terrible paid special attention to the use of attire. Already at that time, Russian artillery was grouped during the assault on fortresses and in field battles. In the second half of the 16th century, a special type of light regimental guns began to be used in Russian troops for the first time. Kurbsky mentions regimental guns in his story about the siege of Kazan. 70 years later, under Gustav Adolf (1594-1632), the Swedes borrowed regimental guns and the method of using them from the Russians.

— Russian artillery under Ivan the Terrible was ahead of the artillery of Western states both in the field of manufacturing technology and in the field of its application. In the second half of the 16th century, Russian artillery was one of the most powerful in Europe. Ivan the Terrible had up to 3 thousand guns.

— Ivan the Terrible attached great importance to intelligence. When setting out on a campaign, he sent a special light horse regiment, Ertoul, six marches ahead, from which distant patrols were sent in all directions. With the help of intelligence, the commander knew about the enemy's actions. Thus, during the campaign against Kazan (1552), scouts reported to Grozny about the movement of the Crimean Tatars to Tula. Thanks to the information received, Grozny was able to promptly send reinforcements to the city’s defenders. — Ivan the Terrible is taking a number of measures to ensure an organized supply of food and fodder to the standing army (streltsy, gunners, Cossacks). Supplies for the troops were prepared by the governors according to decrees from Moscow. According to a special royal decree, it was determined from whom and how much to take. Food was collected from peasant households, church and monastery lands, as well as from estates and estates. These supplies were transported to the cities bordering the theater of military operations. The procurement of food at certain points - granaries - was carried out by specially dispatched officials. Ivan the Terrible’s letter on the occasion of the campaign “To the Swedish Frontier” (1555) indicated the preparation of road feed for the army. In addition to the archers, gunners and city Cossacks, the Tatar cavalry also took part in this campaign, for which it was also ordered to prepare food. Food for the troops was transported on peasant carts along the route of the troops. In the event of a possible attack, food was delivered under the cover of armed detachments.

— Streltsy, gunners, city Cossacks received food for money, on loan or for free. Each time a separate decree was issued for the distribution of food. Other troops, who were required to have their own supplies, were not given food (an exception was made only to poor people who were in dire need of help). These general principles of maintaining troops in wartime at the expense of money and supplies collected from the entire population, and partly through contracting, were preserved until Peter.

— Under Ivan the Terrible, the beginning of the organization of the convoy service was laid. Each regiment had its own baggage train (kosh). In the discharge book of the Polotsk campaign it was specifically stated that the convoy should follow its regiments. The convoys of the then Russian army were very numerous.
Thus, in P. Shuisky’s campaign from Polotsk to Orsha (1564), the convoy consisted of 5,000 carts for an army of 17-18 thousand. On a campaign, the convoy usually contained weapons of foot troops, military supplies, food, and fodder. To guard the convoy, special detachments of archers and Cossacks were allocated. If congestion from convoys formed on the roads and especially crossings, Grozny, through specially appointed heads, gave instructions which regiments and in what order should be allowed through.

— Entering enemy territory, Grozny tried to make do with only his own food supply to supply the army. So, during the Polotsk campaign, he ordered to select people from all regiments and send them to Velikiye Luki to stockpile food for the winter and spring. The mercenary armies of Western European states were content, as is known, at the expense of the local population, robbing their country and mercilessly ruining the population of the territory they occupied. - To ensure quick communication between Moscow and the army operating in both the west and the south, as well as for the delivery of letters, the Yamsk and postal services were well organized. The route from Novgorod to Moscow (600 kilometers) was covered in 72 hours of continuous driving. Such speed of communication was achieved by changing horses at each station.

— Ivan the Terrible’s great merit as a commander lies in the fact that he made an attempt to create a Russian navy. He created a mercenary privateer fleet to fight the enemy on sea trade routes under the command of the Dane Karsten Rode. In March 1570, Rode received a charter from the king - a letter of marque for the right to attack enemy ships and capture them. The privateer fleet of Ivan the Terrible caused great concern in the Baltic states, which were afraid of losing dominance in the Baltic Sea. An intensified pursuit of Rode's ships began. Having no bases other than Narva, the Russian privateer fleet was forced to focus on the ports of Denmark. But Denmark, having prohibited Russian privateer ships from entering ports, arrested Rode. At the end of 1570, the privateer fleet ceased to exist. Ivan the Terrible began to build his military fleet in Vologda and tried to transfer it to the Baltic, but the difficult economic and political situation of the country at the end of the Livonian War prevented this.

— Ivan the Terrible appears before posterity not only as an outstanding statesman, but also as a wonderful commander and talented military leader. Under him, Russian military art rose to a higher level and was in many ways ahead of the military art of Western European armies. Even pre-revolutionary researchers recognized that Russian military art for a long time was nourished by the ideas of the 16th century.

Note
The publication was prepared by the editors of the website “ArtPolitInfo” // materials were used in compiling the publication: video “Creation of the Streltsy Army”; A. Kamenev “The Terrible as a Commander” and other open sources * Service people were divided into servicemen “by fatherland” (service was mainly passed on from father to son) and “by instrument” (recruited from representatives of the tax-paying classes, personally free). Service people “in the fatherland” (boyars, okolnichy, stolniki, boyar children, Murzas and service Tatars, courtyard Lithuania, stellate sturgeon, nobles, Duma clerks) belonged to the privileged classes, owned land (on patrimonial or local rights) and peasants. For their service they received cash or local salaries, titles and other rewards. Service people “according to the instrument” (streltsy, Cossacks, gunners, collars, interpreters and others) were formed during the military reforms of the mid-16th century and government colonization of the southern, southeastern, eastern borders of the Russian state; they received a salary for their service (cash, in kind, and in the form of a land plot under local law). In the 17th century, plowed soldiers and dragoons were added to the category of service people “according to the instrument” - (editor’s note)

Sagittarius

After the formation of the Russian centralized state in the 15th-16th centuries, representatives of the first regular troops began to be called this way. In 1550, the pishchalnik-militia were replaced by the Streltsy army, initially consisting of 3 thousand people. The Sagittarius were divided into 6 “articles” (orders), with 500 people in each. The Streltsy “articles” were commanded by heads of boyar children: Grigory Zhelobov, son of Pusheshnikov, Matvey (Dyak) Ivanov, son of Rzhevsky, Ivan Semenov, son of Cheremesinov, Vasily Funikov, son of Pronchishchev, Fyodor Ivanov, son of Durasov, and Yakov Stepanov, son of the Bunds. The centurions of the Streltsy “Articles” were also children of the boyars. The archers were quartered in the suburban Vorobyovskaya Sloboda. Their salary was set at 4 rubles per year, the archery heads and centurions received local salaries. The Streltsy formed a permanent Moscow garrison. The formation of the Streltsy army began in the 1540s under Ivan IV the Terrible. In 1550, Tsar Ivan IV ordered the establishment in Moscow

“In the summer of 7058, the Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich made three thousand elected archers from the arquebuses and ordered them to live in Vorobyovskaya Sloboda, and killed the children of the boyars;<…>And he ordered the archers’ salaries to be four rubles a year”….

This decree laid the foundation for a special unit of the royal army - the Moscow Streltsy army. The Moscow archers received their baptism of fire during the siege and assault of Kazan in 1552 and subsequently were indispensable participants in all major military campaigns. In peacetime, Moscow and city archers performed garrison service, performing the functions of police and firefighters in cities.

By the beginning of the 17th century, the estimated number of the Streltsy army was up to 20,000, of which up to 10,000 were from Moscow. In 1632, the total number of archers was 33,775 people, and by the beginning of the 1680s it had increased to 55 thousand. At the same time, the ranks of the Streltsy were replenished, first of all, due to the addition of Moscow Streltsy, of which in 1678 there were 26 regiments with a total number of 22,504 people. In addition to the Moscow ones, there were 48 Streltsy infantry regiments in the Russian state.

Recruitment into the Streltsy army was traditionally made from “walking” people: “not taxed, and not arable, and not serfs,” “young and playful and ready to shoot with self-propelled guns.”

Over time, the grown-up sons and other relatives of instrument people became a regular source of replenishment of the Streltsy army. Gradually, service in the archers turned into a hereditary obligation, which could be given up and transferred to someone close to you. “And they are in the Streltsy forever,” wrote Kotoshikhin, “and for them children and grandchildren and nephews, Streltsy children, are forever.” Soon after the establishment of 6 Moscow Streltsy orders, the “device” of Streltsy was carried out in other cities. As P.P. Epifanov suggested, in this case, “old people who were “capable” of shooting guns and squeakers” were transferred to permanent service. Already in November 1555, during the Russian-Swedish war of 1554-1557. In the campaign to Vyborg, not only the consolidated order of the Moscow Streltsy T. Teterin, but also the Streltsy detachments from “White, from Opochek, from Luk from Velikikh, from Pupovich, from Sebezh, from Zavolochye, from Toropets, from Velizh” were supposed to take part. By order of the Moscow authorities, all of them should be given “half a piece of money per person, for<…>German services." Upon entering the service, the archers, like other “instrumental” people, represented guarantors, who, in the presence of rumors, assured the authorities that each soldier had properly performed his duties. In science, there are two polar points of view on the organization of a guarantee. I. D. Belyaev believed that newly recruited servicemen were accepted into the service on the mutual responsibility of all Slobozhans. Objecting to him, I. N. Miklashevsky argued that when recruiting new archers, the guarantee of 6-7 old archers was enough, since only certain individuals could be associated with the interests of the service. Surviving manual records suggest the existence of both forms. There are well-known cases when mutual responsibility was in effect during the formation of new garrisons. In 1593, in the Siberian city of Taborakh, the ten riflemen of T. Evstikheev pledged to the centurion K. Shakurov “between themselves against each other, in faithful service in the new city of Taborakh.” In the 17th century in such cases, the Streltsy-Svedets were divided into two halves, after which each vouched for the other half. This was the situation in 1650 during the formation of the Streltsy garrison in the newly built city of Tsarev-Alekseev. The archers transferred from Yelets and Lebedyan were assigned to one half, and from Oskol, Mikhailov, Liven, Chern and Rostov to the other. At the same time, in other cities the government allowed the “cleaning up” of archers with the guarantee of old-time soldiers. “Handwritten notes” were required when enrolling in the Streltsy service by the authorities of the Solovetsky Monastery. In this case, a necessary condition was the guarantee of the entire Streltsy hundred maintained by the monastery.

To control the Streletsky army, the Streletsky Izba was formed in the mid-1550s, later renamed the Streletsky Prikaz. The funds and food necessary to support the Streltsy came to the Streletsky Prikaz from various departments, which controlled the tax-paying population of the cities and the black-growing peasantry. These categories of residents of the Moscow state bore the brunt of government duties, including the obligation to pay a special tax - “food money”, as well as the collection of “streltsy bread”. In 1679, for the majority of urban residents and black peasants of the northern and northeastern districts, the previous taxes were replaced by a single tax - “streltsy money”.

In the last decades of the 17th century, Moscow archers became active participants in the political processes taking place in the state and country, and more than once opposed the actions of the government with arms in hand (uprising of 1682, riot of 1698). This, ultimately, determined the decision of Peter I to liquidate the Streltsy army. The government of Peter I began to reform the Russian armed forces. Eight Moscow Streltsy regiments were redeployed from the capital garrison, for “eternal life,” to the Ukrainian (border) cities of Belgorod, Sevsk, Kyiv and others. The king decided to disband the Streltsy army as a type of weapon. But after the defeat of the Russian army near Narva (1700), the disbandment of the streltsy regiments was suspended, and the most combat-ready streltsy regiments participated in the Northern War and the Prut Campaign (1711) of the Russian Army. When the garrison troops were created, the city riflemen and Cossacks were abolished. The process of eliminating the type of weapon was completed in the 1720s, although as a service (“service people of the old services”) city archers and Cossacks survived in a number of Russian cities almost until the end of the 18th century.

Armament

The Streltsy army was armed with squeaks, reeds, half pikes, bladed weapons - sabers and swords, which were worn on a belt belt. To shoot from a squeak, the archers used the necessary equipment: a sling (“berendeyka”) with pencil cases with gunpowder charges attached to it, a bag for bullets, a bag for the wick, a horn with gunpowder for rubbing gunpowder onto the charging rack of the squeak. By the end of the 1670s, long pikes were sometimes used as additional weapons and to form obstacles (“slingshots”). Hand grenades were also used: for example, in the inventory of the Streletsky Order of 1678, 267 smart hand grenade cores weighing one, two and three hryvnias each, seven smart grenade cores, 92 skinny cores weighing five hryvnias each are mentioned.

In addition to weapons, the archers received lead and gunpowder from the treasury (in wartime, 1-2 pounds per person). Before setting out on a campaign or a service “parcel,” the archers and city Cossacks were given the required amount of gunpowder and lead. The voivode orders contained a strict requirement to issue ammunition “to the heads and to the centurions, and to the atamans,” designed to ensure that the archers and Cossacks “did not lose potions and lead,” and upon their return “there will be no shooting,” the voivodes must there was gunpowder and lead “from the archers and the Cossacks into the sovereign’s treasury.”

In the second half of the 17th century, standard bearers and vulture musicians were armed only with sabers. Pentecostals and centurions were armed only with sabers and protazans. Senior commanders (heads, half-heads and centurions) were given canes in addition to sabers.

With rare exceptions, ordinary riflemen did not use protective equipment. An exception is the mention by F. Tiepolo, who visited Moscow in 1560, about the limited use of helmets by Russian infantry. Information has been preserved about the review on the Maiden Field in 1664, when in the Streltsy regiment of A. S. Matveev, two bannermen were in cuirasses and one was in armor. In some of the drawings of the “Book in Persons about the Election of Mikhail Fedorovich to the Tsar” of 1676, the archers are depicted in helmets similar to cassettes, but they are not mentioned in the documents. Such helmets, in the form of a helmet with a brim, were convenient for infantry - they did not interfere with shooting and, at the same time, provided sufficient protection.

The first legislative definition of the weapons of archers dates back to the 17th century. On December 14, 1659, changes in weapons were made in units operating on the territory of Ukraine. In the dragoon and soldier regiments, berdysh were introduced, and in the archers, pikes. The royal decree read: “... in the Saldatsk and Dragoon regiments, in all the regiments of the soldiers and dragoons and in the Streltsy Prikaz, the Streltsy ordered to make a short pike, with a kopeck at both ends, instead of berdysh, and long pikes in the Saldatsk regiments and in the Streltsy Prikaz, to be made according to consideration; and he ordered the rest of the soldiers and the archers to have swords. And he ordered berdyshes to be made in regiments of dragoons and soldiers instead of swords in every regiment of 300 people, and the rest should continue to have swords. And in the Streltsy orders, inflict berdysh on 200 people, and the rest will remain in swords as before.”

The archers were armed with smooth-bore matchlocks, and later - flint arquebuses. Interestingly, in 1638, the Vyazma riflemen were issued matchlock muskets, to which they stated that “They don’t know how to shoot from such muskets with zhagras, and they never had such muskets with zhagras before, but they still had old squeaks from castles”. At the same time, matchlock weapons persisted and were probably dominant until the 1670s. Firearms were both domestically produced and imported. Screw-type arquebuses, the production of which began in the middle of the 17th century, initially began to be supplied to Streltsy heads and half-heads, and from the 1670s - to ordinary Streltsy. In particular, in 1671, 24 were issued to the rifle regiment of Ivan Polteev; in 1675, the archers going to Astrakhan received 489 rifles. In 1702, rifles accounted for 7% of the Tyumen archers.

By the end of the 17th century, some city archers of small towns far from the borders acquired purely police functions, and therefore only a few of them remained armed with arquebuses, and the rest with reeds. In addition, weapons such as spears, slingshots, bows and crossbows are mentioned in the arsenal of city archers.

Form

The Streltsy regiments had a uniform and obligatory dress uniform (“colored dress”) for all, consisting of an outer caftan, a hat with a fur band, pants and boots, the color of which (except for the pants) was regulated according to belonging to a particular regiment.

One can note the common features in the weapons and clothing of all archers:

• all archers wore gloves with brown leather cuffs;
• during a campaign, the muzzle of a squeak or musket was covered with a short leather case;
• the berdysh was worn behind the back over either shoulder;
• over the waist belt, to which the saber was attached, was worn sash;
• there were no buttonholes on the traveling caftan;
• The external distinction of the senior officers (“initial people”) was the image of a crown sewn with pearls on the cap and a staff (cane), as well as the ermine lining of the upper caftan and the edge of the cap (indicating a high-born princely origin).

The dress uniform was worn only on special days - during major church holidays and during special events.

To perform everyday duties and during military campaigns, a “portable dress” was used, which had the same cut as the dress uniform, but made of cheaper cloth in gray, black or brown.

The distribution of government-issued cloth to Moscow archers for sewing everyday caftans was carried out annually, while to city archers once every 3-4 years. Expensive colored cloth, intended for sewing dress uniforms, was issued irregularly, only on special occasions (in honor of victories, in connection with the birth of royal heirs, etc.) and was an additional form of reward for service. The colors of the regiments stationed in Moscow are known for certain only in the second half of the 17th century.

Dress uniform colors by regiment in 1674 (according to Palmquist):

Banners and uniforms of Streltsy regiments. "Notes on Russia made by Eric Palmquist in 1674"

There is also a version (see "Tseykhgauz" No. 1) that the crimson buttonholes mentioned in this list (compiled on the basis of a contemporary drawing) were in fact gold, and the black ones were silver.

Streltsy of the Moscow Strelets regiments Lutokhin and Ivan Poltev



Streltsy of the Moscow Strelets regiments: Kolobov, Alexandrov, Golovlinsky and Bukhvostov



Streltsy of the Moscow Streltsy regiments: Timofey Poltev, Pyotr Lopukhin, Yakov and Fedor Lopukhin



Streltsy of the Moscow Strelets regiments: Lagovskina, Vorontsov and Naramansky



Standard bearer and archer of the Moscow Streletsky Levshin Regiment



Initial people or officers of the Moscow Streletsky regiments

Streltsy banners

Banners of the Moscow Strelets regiments, 1674

Ensigns

At the end of the 17th century, ensigns of the Streltsy chiefs appeared.

The Streletsky ensigns were built on the model of the boyars, in the center they depicted the Savior and the Mother of God, the faces of the Holy Saints, Archangels and angels. Ensigns of colonels, half-colonels, majors and quartermasters with two slopes, captain's ensigns with one slope.

Streltsy regiments

The archer settled in the settlement had to build a house with a vegetable garden and the necessary buildings. To do this, he was given a sum of money for “yard housing”, which in the 16th century was 1 ruble, in the first half of the 17th century - 2 rubles, and from the 1630s - 5 rubles. When transferred to a new duty station, the estate could be sold. After the death of the archer, the estate was retained by his family and was inherited along with the service to one of the relatives.

In the event of a siege, residents of Streltsy settlements located outside the city fortifications were assigned siege yards in a fortress or fort.

In peacetime, the Streltsy also served as police and fire fighters. According to Grigory Kotoshikhin: “And as it happens in Moscow, there is fire time, and they archers are obliged to go to the fire, to take it away, with axes, and with buckets, and with copper water pipes, and with hooks with which they break down huts. And after a fire, they are inspected so that no one takes away anything from the firemen’s bellies; and whoever is not announced at the review will receive severe punishment from batoghi.” They guarded the fortress and fort (they stood guard on the walls, towers, at city and prison gates), government institutions (moving hut, customs, "outfit", "green" (powder) treasury, etc.). They played a major role in the defense of cities. It is no coincidence that in 1617, the new Uglitsky governor P. Dashkov, who discovered in the city entrusted to him, from the instrumental people who had previously been there, 6 gunners, wrote the following characteristic phrase in a report sent to Moscow: “and in all your sovereign cities there are no archers<…>the siege is not strong."

Streltsy were sent as guards to the districts for netchiks, to the saltpeter trades; to accompany ambassadors, various supplies, cash treasuries, criminals; they were involved in the execution of court sentences. During the war, city riflemen were assigned by whole orders or hundreds to different regiments of the army.

Streltsy troops were quite mobile, so they were often transferred to strengthen one or another section of the border. So, in the 17th century. in the summer, a large number of archers were transferred to southern “Ukraine” from Moscow and the border northwestern Russian cities: Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, Vyazma, Toropets, Ostrov, Gdov, Ladoga, Izborsk, Opochka, Staraya Russa, Zavolochye. These units were called upon to strengthen the defense of the lines that were subject to Tatar and Nogai attacks. In 1630, archers and Cossacks from the garrisons of southern Russian fortresses were sent on a campaign to the Don. A total of 1960 people. More than half of the instrument people available there were taken from some cities. So, Voronezh, where there were 182 archers and 310 Cossacks, sent 100 archers and 180 Cossacks to the army. In the same year, 30 Tula and Mikhailovsky archers and Cossacks were sent to Meshchovsk, 50 Dedilovsky and Lebedyansky - to Masalsk. Sometimes archers from border cities, the most experienced in military affairs, were sent for “yearly” service to another, less protected border fortress. In this case, they tried to replace them in their city with servicemen transferred from more militarily calm districts. So, both 1629 and 1638. In Terki, 500 Astrakhan foot archers performed annual service, and in Astrakhan they served: in 1629 - 500 year-old archers from Kazan, and in 1638 - 1325 "Kazan and suburban, and Nizhny Novgorod archers." in 1638, 300 Vyazemsk archers (out of 500 numbered in this city), 200 archers from Opochka (out of 300) were transferred to Odoev; in Krapivna there were 500 Pskov archers (out of 1300), etc. At the same time, 500 Novgorod archers (50% of the total number) were transferred south to Venev. In the Ponizov cities, sending archers to border fortresses became commonplace.

Tactics

At first, during campaigns and battles, the archers were distributed among the regiments of the local army. In the middle of the 17th century they gained independence. During battles, their tasks included shooting at the enemy, as a rule, from behind field fortifications - walk-towns and other barriers, “in the ditch”, “in the dugout”; or under the cover of local cavalry. The presence of barriers protected against enemy cavalry and gave an advantage in defense against enemy infantry.

At that time, the rifle units were not yet able to maneuver on the battlefield. The main striking force remained the noble cavalry, whose actions were covered by the archers, who did not change their position, the flanks or rear of which, as a rule, relied on convoys or forts, the structure of which was learned by Russian soldiers from the experience of Dutch and Swedish military engineers. The absence of such cover explains the defeat of F.I. Sheremetev’s army near Suzdal in the fall of 1609. Unfortunate location of infantry units near the village. Klushino predetermined the death of D.I. Shuisky’s army in the battle of June 24, 1610. However, as the outcome of the Battle of Bronnitsy in the summer of 1614 shows, in clashes with well-trained foreign mercenaries, forts did not always help Russian soldiers out.

Mounted archers

Among the elite Moscow “stirrup” and provincial “city” archers, mounted units were often found, but it is difficult to call them cavalry - they were only infantry mounted on horses (dragoons). In addition to guns, horse archers, even in the middle of the 17th century, were armed with bows and arrows. However, in some southern cities, as the surviving “paintings” and “estimates” of the Russian army of the second third of the 17th century show, along with foot soldiers there were also mounted archers.

Mounted service was carried out by Moscow “stirrup” archers, archers in Oskol (in 1638, in addition to 70 foot archers, there were 100 mounted archers), Epifani (in 1637, there were 37 mounted and 70 foot archers in the city) and the so-called “Ponizovy cities” - Astrakhan (in 1635 there were 573 mounted archers; in 1638 “on salary” - 1000, available - 772 people), Terkakh (according to the list - 500 mounted archers, available - 347), Kazan, Cherny Yar , Tsaritsyn, Samara, Ufa (100 mounted archers each), Saratov (150 mounted archers). The archers performing equestrian service received government horses or money to buy them.

Patriarchal Sagittarius

Standing apart were the “patriarchal” archers, who in the 17th century, together with the “firemen”, the patriarchal “children of the boyars” and the patriarchal

Service people who made up the regular army in the Russian state of the 16th - early 18th centuries.

They were armed with firearms (arquebuses). During the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, they played the role of a privileged army that served as a pillar of state power. After his death, they actively participated in the confrontation between power groups and were the driving force behind the uprisings of 1682 and 1698. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Streltsy army was abolished by Peter I with the creation of a regular army.

Streltsy army at the initial stage

Initially, at the beginning of the 16th century, warriors armed with squeaker guns were called “squeakers.” They were recruited from the free rural and urban population, for the most part from “people walking from children’s fathers, neighbors and backbenchers, not tax workers, not arable land and not serfs” - in other words, from impoverished peasants or townspeople who did not have their own farms, but also from free people who worked for hire and did not have their own home. Over time, the service of the archers became lifelong and hereditary.

The importance of the Streltsy increased under Ivan IV, during the Livonian War. By this time, the number of streltsy troops reached 12 thousand, of which 5 thousand were in Moscow (2 thousand of them formed the tsar’s guard and were called stirrups). The remaining 7 thousand in peacetime formed garrisons in cities on the borders with Lithuania and on the southern borders of the state. In the cities, the archers received courtyards from the treasury and lived in special settlements in the suburbs, had families, and were engaged in crafts and trade. The archers' salaries were paid in money or bread, less often in land. In addition, they enjoyed many benefits regarding trade and court fees. The Streltsy army was divided into regiments or orders, and those, in turn, into hundreds. The order was headed by a streltsy head, subordinate to the local governor; under the leadership of the head were the centurions, and so on. The order consisted of 200 to 500 or more people, but sometimes this number reached 1200. Streltsy heads later became known as colonels and were supposed to be nobles. The Streltsy army had its own court and “retribution”, which dealt with cases other than “robberies and thieves” and large claims.

The Streltsy were the best trained and armed part of the Russian army. They gradually turned into the internal security of the state and almost did not participate in the hostilities of the Russian army. The archers were equipped with official weapons - both cold steel and firearms (arquebuses). The number of archers constantly increased and by the 80s of the 16th century reached 55 thousand people (out of 165 thousand military people). The bulk of the archers were in Moscow: the regiments of the Moscow archers numbered 20 thousand people.

Sagittarius during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich

In the middle of the 17th century, many archers showed dissatisfaction with the actions of the authorities, in particular with the austerity policy, and took part in the unrest. During the Salt Riot of 1648 in Moscow, the archers refused to disperse the crowd of rebels. In order to regain armed support and split the protest movement, the state had to give the archers a salary. At the Zemsky Sobor in 1648, the interests of the streltsy stratum were represented by 15 elected out of 300. The authorities understood the danger of the streltsy and, after the Salt Riot, set a course to transform the Moscow streltsy into a privileged army that could be relied upon in the event of anti-government movements in the capital. Against the backdrop of increasing privileges for the archers, they even began to differ outwardly from other service people in their rich outfits.

During the Copper Riot of 1662, the Streltsy also ensured the suppression of protest and protection of the state and, unlike the events of 1648, did not support the posad's performance. At the decisive moment, the rifle regiments of Artamon Matveev and Semyon Poltev arrived at Kolomenskoye, the royal country residence, and, by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, attacked the crowd of nine thousand who had come to him.

In the 1660s, the archers took part in hostilities with the troops of Stepan Razin. Some streltsy units went over to the side of the rebels: for example, in 1670, S. Lvov’s five-thousand-strong detachment from Astrakhan went over to Razin. In 1668, the Streltsy army was sent to Solovki, where the brethren of the Solovetsky Monastery refused to accept the new liturgical books and innovations of Patriarch Nikon. The siege of the monastery lasted eight years, and only in 1676 the archers managed to penetrate its territory: the detachment was carried out by a defector monk.

Participation of the Streltsy in the Moscow Uprising of 1682

At the end of the 17th century, due to the creation of a new type of regiment, the archers ceased to exist as a military unit, lost their former importance and lost many privileges. The bulk of the Russian army now consisted of regiments of the new system. The Streltsy resisted in every possible way attempts to teach them the new soldiery system: they did not want to break away from their usual activities of trading and trade, which were an important help to their meager salary. If earlier the rifle regiments partially provided for themselves, now the authorities had to coordinate the conditions of their training and service with the new principle of maintaining troops. Streltsy were forced to pay taxes and duties on trades and shops, their salaries were often delayed, and property inequality grew among the Streltsy. If wealthy archers and the regimental elite were guided by one of the boyar parties - the Miloslavskys or Naryshkins, then ordinary archers adhered to anti-boyar slogans in general. The dissatisfaction of the Streltsy was expressed in two petitions submitted by them at the end of the reign of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. At first, the archers filed a petition against their superiors with accusations of abuse, but boyar I.M. Yazykov, close to the tsar, ordered that the petitioners be punished with a whip. A new petition soon followed - against the Streltsy Colonel Semyon Griboedov himself. This time Yazykov conducted an investigation, as a result of which Griboedov was exiled to Totma.

After the funeral of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich and the accession of Pyotr Alekseevich, in April-May 1682, the archers demanded payment of delayed salaries and punishment of arbitrary colonels. Peter's mother, Natalya Naryshkina, satisfied most of the claims, removing 16 of the 20 Streltsy colonels - they were beaten by batogs and sent into exile. However, soon after this, the Moscow archers formed the mainstay of the opposition to the young Tsarevich Peter, his mother and her relatives. The leader of this opposition was the daughter of the late Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage, Sophia, and her mother’s relatives, the Miloslavsky boyars. A rumor was spread around Moscow that Peter's elder brother, Tsarevich Ivan, had been strangled. On May 15, 1682, the archers entered the Kremlin territory with the beating of drums. Natalya Naryshkina brought both princes - Peter and Ivan - to the palace porch, but the archers did not calm down. For three days they controlled power in the capital: during this time Kholopy and the Judgment Prikas were defeated, some boyars were executed: Peter’s tutor A.S. Matveev, his uncles Afanasy and Ivan Naryshkin, as well as the head of the Streltsy Prikaz M. Yu. Dolgorukov. In honor of their performance, the archers erected a pillar on Red Square with cast-iron boards nailed to it, on which the merits of the archers and the names of the boyars they executed were listed. In accordance with the demands of the rebels, Ivan was proclaimed the first king, and Peter the second. Sophia was appointed regent until they came of age. After the riot, the Streltsy received a reward: by a special order they were elevated to the rank of “outdoor infantry” and received 10 rubles each, and Prince I. A. Khovansky, popular among the Streltsy, was appointed head of the Streletsky Order.

The Streltsy's performances did not end there: in the end, the Streltsy leaders tried to put Khovansky at the head of the state, but Sophia took decisive measures in time. The head of the Streletsky order was captured and executed. After this, the archers captured the Kremlin, but Sophia, relying on an army of servicemen under the command of the princess’s supporter Fyodor Shaklovity, forced them to obey and repent. Many archers were executed or sent to distant cities. Shaklovity became the new head of the Streletsky Prikaz.

The end of the Streltsy army

In 1689, Peter reached adulthood. One August night, he was awakened in Preobrazhenskoye by the news that the Streltsy regiments, raised on alarm, were preparing to seize him: Shaklovity spread a rumor in Moscow that Sophia was in mortal danger, thereby trying to raise the Streltsy units. On a horse, Peter rode off to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments loyal to him soon arrived. Sophia found herself isolated: even some rifle regiments took the side of her brother. On September 10, 1689, the day Peter arrived in Moscow, along the road at the entrance to the capital, archers lay on scaffolds with axes stuck in them and asked for mercy. The head of the Streletsky Prikaz, F. Shaklovity, was extradited and executed.

The last Streltsy riot broke out in the summer of 1698 during Peter's departure abroad. After the capture of Azov, the rifle regiments that took part in the military campaign were not returned to the capital: some remained in Azov, some were sent to Velikiye Luki and further to Toropets. Separated from their families, from traditional trades and trades, the archers grumbled. Many went to Moscow without permission and submitted petitions to the then head of the Streletsky Prikaz, Troekurov, to return to the capital. But the petitions were not accepted, and the authorities increased severity towards the archers.

Peter's long absence from the capital gave rise to rumors about his death, and supporters of Princess Sophia took advantage of this. On June 16, the archers decided to move to Moscow. In the summer of 1698, Peter received a secret report about a new Streltsy rebellion. The Streltsy regiments moved to Moscow, but even before Peter returned there, near New Jerusalem, they were scattered and then defeated by government troops under the command of Shein and Gordon. 130 archers were executed, 1845 were imprisoned in monasteries and prisons. Many were whipped and exiled to different cities. The Tsar, returning to Moscow, decided to reconsider the verdict and personally took charge of the new investigation. Throughout September, interrogations and torture took place, during which hundreds of archers died. As a result, a connection between the rebels and the Moscow boyars and Princess Sophia was established. On September 30, 1698, Streltsy executions began in Moscow, which continued until February 1699. Ultimately, over a thousand more archers were executed. The king himself took part in the executions. The Streltsy army was disbanded. It finally ceased to exist in 1713. Streltsy were forbidden to live in Moscow and also to enlist as soldiers. With the transition to a recruiting system for staffing the army, other structures of instrumental service people were also eliminated.