Serebreniki

in northeastern Rus’ from the 14th to 16th centuries, peasants given redemption loans in silver by their lord. In addition to the debt itself, the serebreniki had to pay interest, either in money or in labor services (izdel’e). Originally, the serebreniki could leave their lord at any time (seeVYKHOD KREST’IANSKII). When they moved to “black lands”—property of the feudal state used by peasant and urban communes—they were allowed in some cases to repay the debt in installments and without interest, even after their departure. From the mid-15th century in certain regions, serebreniki could move only in the period around St. George’s Day, and full repayment of the debt was made a precondition for “release.” The Law Code of 1497 extended these restrictions on “release” to all privately owned serfs, including all serebreniki.

(also srebreniki), the First Russian coins, minted in the late tenth and early 11th centuries. The minting of serebreniki, which began in the reign of Vladimir I Sviatosla-vich, was connected with a sharp decline in the influx of dirhams into southern Rus’. The minting was also politically motivated—the need to more firmly establish the sovereign state of Rus’. Serebreniki bore portraits of the princes, Slavic inscriptions (for example, “Vladimir is on the throne, and this is his silver”), and the obligatory family emblem of the Riurikovi-chi. The coins represent some of the oldest surviving examples of Russian writing. Caches of coins and individual coins have been discovered over a wide area, from Taman’ to the Novgorod lands. The most famous finds are the Nezhin treasure (discovered in 1852), containing approximately 200 silver coins, and the Mit’kovo treasure (discovered in 1955), containing 13 silver coins. In all, more than 300 serebreniki have been discovered.