Two 17th century Kostroma charters from the collection in the Moscow University Library

Abstract

The holdings of the Scientific Library of Moscow State University contain a number of ancient Russian records that came to the collection in different ways. Two previously unknown charters from the 1630s entered the collection at different times and are united by the fact that both relate to land ownership in the Kostroma region of the Moscow state. The “vvoznaia” (constitutive) charter was given in 1631 to the brothers Ivan “the Bigger' and Vasily “the Lesser” Romodanovsky for lands that previously belonged to the official Mark Pozdeev. The document supplements the scarce information about Ivan Romodanovsky, the elder son of boyar Grigorii Romodanovsky. It remained the title deed for at least the next 150 years and was presented by the following owners when surveys were conducted in the second half of the 18th century. The receipt of the landowner Vasilii Vasil'evich Bestuzhev is key evidence of the existence of documentary registration of a private easement in 17th century Russia. At the same time, the document is almost the only evidence of the existence of Vasilii Bestuzhev and his son Fedor. Both documents contain information about persons and relationships that is not reflected in the existing scholarly literature. The charters are published with commentaries.