Pskov Uprising of 1650: Town vs State

The article presents research findings of the fundamental principles of Pskov’s life in mid-17th century that determined social interaction trajectories during the uprising of 1650: provision system of “streltsy” garrison, arming the townspeople, and market mechanisms for the urban economy functioning. It is shown that the dispersed structure of population distribution, when the courtyards of service people and clergy stood interspersed with the courtyards of the townspeople, determined the involvement of service people, including landowners and syezzhaya izba clerks in the uprising. The townspeople of Pskov, like those of other Russian and most Western European cities, were part of the mobilization reserve and had weapons. This was a guarantee of both organized resistance to government troops and relative social peace in the city. The factor prevented the growth of “class struggle” in Pskov, which would have been expressed in mass repressions and the wealthiest representatives of the settlement property expropriation.