The Conflict between Servicemen and Merchants in the Lena Region according to the Izvetnaya Chelobitnaya of 1649

Abstract

The article examines a conflict that emerged in the mid-17th century among various groups of the Russian population in the Lena region, drawing on a izvetnaya chelobitnaya (accusatory petition), filed in 1649 by servicemen of the Yakutsk ostrog (fortress). It analyses the methods of interaction between servicemen, merchants, and commercial hunters with the indigenous population and among themselves. Special attention is given to the accusations made by servicemen against merchants and their agents for violating the established yasak collection procedure, engaging in inequitable exchange, bribing customs officials, illegally exporting furs, and monopolising grain supplies. By comparing the text of the 1649 сhelobitnaya with administrative records and data on the system of state salaries for servicemen, the study reveals systemic contradictions between the fiscal interests of the state and the profit-driven practices of merchant capital. The scale of the document, which united dozens of ordinary servicemen, indicates the consolidation of the lower ranks of the service class in defending the “sovereign’s interest”. The author concludes that servicemen acted not only as executors of yasak policy but also as defenders of legal norms, contrasting their methods (legitimate coercion, adherence to procedures) with those of the merchants (economic expansion, collusion with the administration, exploitation of Cossacks and indigenous people). It is shown that the conflict between different social groups of the Russian population affected the pace and nature of the region’s annexation by undermining the yasak system and provoking resistance among the indigenous peoples. The 1649 izvetnaya chelobitnaya (accusatory petition) reveals the internal contradictions of Russian colonisation, demonstrating that the process of annexation was accompanied by intense competitive struggle within the Russian population itself. The study demonstrates that the 1649 izvetnaya chelobitnaya serves not only as a source on the history of a local conflict but also as a unique testimony to the formation of legal consciousness among the lower ranks of the service class in the 17th century. A comprehensive analysis of the document offers a new perspective on the mechanisms of interaction between state authority, merchant capital, and servicemen in the process of colonsing Northeast Asia.

For citation: Chertkov A.S. The Conflict between Servicemen and Merchants in the Lena Region according to the Izvetnaya Chelobitnaya of 1649. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal’nogo universiteta. Ser.: Gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki, 2026, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 27–38. https://doi.org/10.37482/2687-1505-V539