Pushkareva  N.L.

ON THE ROLE OF WOMAN PERSONALITY IN THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF RUSSIA IN EARLY MODERN TIME (MARFA BORETSKAYA)

Authors

Pushkareva N.L.

Keywords:

economic history, Veliky Novgorod, women's history, gender history of Muscovy, Martha Boretskaya, Ivan III, patrimony, state

Abstract

The article analyzes the role of a famous political figure - the widow of the mayor Isak Boretsky, the famous Martha Boretskaya - in the economic history of Novgorod in the last period of its independence. Thanks to scrupulous calculations of the properties and the income received from them, it has been proved that Martha Boretskaya was the largest owner of land wealth of her time, incomparable with any woman not only in Novgorod, but also in Moscow. The article disputes the earlier opinion in historiography that the economic significance of the acquisitions of Marfa Boretskaya during the years of her widowhood did not play a noticeable role and did not affect the political component of relations between Novgorod and Moscow. On the contrary, the author believes, the management of Martha Boretskaya proves her exceptional economic savvy and luck, the rapid wealth of herself and her children, which objectively contributed to the growth of the power of the entire Novgorod region. It is the economic weight of this owner that explains the exceptional role that she tried to take upon herself, saving the stable Novgorod political system.

ON THE ROLE OF WOMAN PERSONALITY IN THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF RUSSIA IN EARLY MODERN TIME (MARFA BORETSKAYA)