«Expelled from Livonia»: Towards the issue of the arrangement of landowners of «Old» and «New German towns» after the Plyussa Treaty 1583

Abstract

History of Muscovite estate shaping in “German towns” in 1550s–1580s is closely connected with Novgorod, Pskov, Rzheva Pustaya as servicemen communities. These servicemen were the source for new landowners in the lands taken by Muscovites to the West from Narova river. Only Rzheva Pustaya was more or less studied already. The paper is an attempt to generalize the data on number and personal content of “German towns” landowners (mostly on sources of 1582) and to study the issue of the significance of the experience of making estates in Livonian lands for the day-to-day culture of Muscovite servicemen. Geography of Russian landownership in Livonia is under consideration. Also the historiographical discussions of the reasons of Russian Livonia project fail is studied in the article. Special attention is paid to the issue of Muscovite landowners evacuation from Livonia after military defeats of 1580–1582. Record books of Rzheva Pustaya and Novgorod Vodskaya pyatina included notes of the towns and districts in Livonia that have been left by the landowners. Other record books of North-Western Muscovy only mention the new strata of servicemen “new landowners of German towns”. Special groups of “Rugodiv and Juryev newly baptized [tartars]” and “Cossacks from Govye” were also separately mentioned in the record books. In the last period of Livonian War not only Livonia itself but also some border districts of former Novgorod land were left by Muscovites. In 1582–1583 the Moscow Government also took responsibility for the landowners from that lost districts. V. A. Arakcheev noted the order on the land security of those servicemen issued between January 23 and March 4, 1583. In early 1580s the landowners of “German towns” received estates in “abandoned lands”. Later Court lands were spread between them.