“Fish Purchases” of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery in the Late 16th – Early 17th Century: Based on the Materials of Coming-Expensive Books

Introduction. The article deals with the issue of the quantity and composition of fish in the everyday life of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Methods and materials. The number and composition of “fish purchases” were calculated chronologically, which led to the use of the historical and comparative method both vertically (comparing fish prices from the 1570s to the 1610s) and horizontally (comparing fish prices in Moscow, Novgorod, and Kargopol). The volume of purchased goods, prices, and methods of transportation are established on the basis of the coming-expensive books of the treasurers of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery for 1592, 1601/02, 1605–1608, 1610/11, and 1612/13. The most informative were the “expendable memories” of the monastery elders and servants, preserved as part of the expensive books. Analysis. When analyzing the sources, the composition of the markets where fish were bought for monastic everyday life was established, the varieties and units of measurement of the purchased fish were identified, the total volume of goods was calculated, and the share of “fish purchases” in the total amount of expenses and in the amount of expenses for food products of the monastery was established in the late 16th – early 17th centuries. Results. As a result of the study, the representativeness of the coming-expensive books of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery for studying the development of commodity-money relations in the Russian state at the end of the 16th – early 17th centuries was established. Information about “fish purchases” demonstrates the price movement for different types of fish and the peculiarities of the folding of the all-Russian market. The data obtained make it possible to visually trace the sharp deterioration of the socio-economic condition of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery in 1609–1610, caused by the consequences of the siege and capture of the monastery by the troops of False Dmitry II.