To look into the life of the ancient Russian population, and in such a side hidden from prying eyes as family life, is both interesting and useful from a scientific point of view. But it's hard to do that. As far as the few sources allow, we will try to find out what the family and marriage were like in the times of Kievan Rus. In the Russian Middle Ages, there are two main types of families with transitional stages between them. A small family consisting of spouses and their children who had not yet married lived in a separate small dwelling, had its own farm and was the primary production team. Along with it, there was also a large family, or "rod", as sources call it. This family consisted of elderly parents, their sons and wives, and grandchildren. A small family stood out from a large one. Its appearance was caused by an increase in labor productivity and sufficient profitability of a small farm. But the small family proved less resistant in the struggle against the forces of nature, in social clashes with more affluent and strong families, as well as with the power of the emerging feudal state, which imposed tribute, judicial fines and duties on the population. The role of a large family in ancient Russian society is not entirely clear. Members of a large family were bound together by common political and property rights, for example, inheritance of extortionate (without direct heirs) property; the right to punish a murderer (this right was then taken away by the state authorities). A large family was exogamous: marriages were forbidden between its members, even second cousins. Members of a large family did not necessarily live under the same roof. It is difficult to trace the role of this family as a production team. In this capacity, it was, obviously, primarily where the population who moved from the old agricultural territories to new ones, forest ones, was initially forced to develop these lands in large collectives. Then again, small families prevailed. ... Читать далее