The Streletsky army, the creation of which dates back to 1550, initially consisted of three thousand people. All of them were combined into separate “orders” of 500 each and constituted personal guards

History of creation

The ancient Slavic word “sagittarius” meant an archer, who was the main component of medieval troops. Later in Rus' they began to call the representatives of the first regular army that way. The Streltsy army replaced the squeaker militia. Commanded by "orders"

The Streltsy were stationed in a suburban settlement. They were given a salary of 4 rubles per year. Gradually, the Streltsy army began to form a permanent Moscow garrison.

First baptism of fire as a regular army

Immediately after its appearance, the Streltsy army received a baptism of fire. Gathering warriors to capture Kazan in 1552, Ivan IV included this newly organized unit in the regular army. In the history of the siege and subsequent assault of this city, the Streltsy army played an important role. It was this that largely contributed to the success of the campaign to conquer the Kazan Khanate.

Tsar Ivan IV, appreciating his archers, began to rapidly increase their number. And already in the 60s of the 16th century there were about 8 thousand of them. And by the end of the 80s, already during the reign of Ivan IV’s heir, Fyodor Ioannovich, there were more than 12 thousand. Moreover, more than half - 7,000 archers - permanently lived in Moscow, and the rest lived in other cities, where they performed mainly garrison or police service.

The 2,000 Moscow streltsy were the so-called “stirring”, actually dragoons or horse-mounted infantry. It was she who became an important part of the Moscow army of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Almost none of the serious campaigns, including the campaign in the years and repelling the raid on Moscow by the Crimean Tatars, could be done without them.

However, despite its importance, this division should not be overestimated. The Streltsy army was created to displace or even replace the local cavalry. However, this did not happen. Despite the fact that such an army was a rather formidable force. However, armed with slow-firing arquebuses weighing 8 kg, caliber 22 mm and with a firing range of up to 200 m), the archers did not have much chance of success. They needed cover, because of which they could hit the enemy without risking being killed while reloading their antediluvian weapons.

Failures

In Europe, where pikas were also in service, pikemen provided similar cover for riflemen, but in the Russian steppe they were useless. Therefore, the Streltsy army used the natural folds of the terrain, forests and groves for this purpose. By hiding behind them, one could count on successfully repelling enemy attacks. This happened, for example, in 1555 in the battle of Sudbischi, where the Streltsy army, having been defeated by the Krymchaks, hid in an oak grove and defended until the evening, until the khan, frightened by the arrival of fresh Russian forces, retreated.

“Orders” acted much more successfully during defenses and sieges of fortresses. After all, they had time to build the necessary defensive structures - tours, trenches or tyn. Therefore, historians are confident that, when creating the archery corps, Ivan the Terrible and his advisers tried to successfully adapt the European experience of creating regular infantry to Russian realities. They did not blindly copy “overseas” military institutions, arming two highly specialized types of infantry, but limited themselves to only one, but the most effective specifically in the conditions of Rus'.

The formation of the Streltsy army can be called the response of Russian military thought to the increasing effectiveness of hand-held firearms at that time. It was supposed to complement the local cavalry, which was armed mainly with throwing and melee weapons. However, the Streltsy army could not yet take the dominant place in the Russian regular army. To do this, not only weapons and tactics had to change, but also the enemy. Until this happened, such an army remained an important and necessary, albeit minor component of the Russian army of the 16th century.

This was evidenced by the proportion of archers in it. By the end of the sixteenth century, according to various estimates, the number of soldiers in the Russian army ranged from 75 to 110 thousand people. While the Streltsy army numbered about 12,000 soldiers, not all of them were able to participate in long campaigns or campaigns. But nevertheless, the main step towards creating a new type of army in Rus' has already been taken.

Streletsky army of Peter

Peter's regular army, organized along German lines, was much more effective. The military were paid a salary for their service. At the same time, service was mandatory for the noble class. A recruitment drive was announced for the common people.

In the Streltsy army, soldiers were given land plots for their service. Most of them lived with their families in Streletskaya Sloboda in a separate village. Therefore, it was impossible to carry out military operations during sowing or harvesting: the archers refused.

The regiments of the “new system” created by Ivan the Terrible and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich constitute the most important stages in the history of the creation of the regular army. But while these troops coexisted in parallel, they could not represent a single army. The warriors were not constantly in military service. Moreover, even after the end of hostilities it was necessary to disband and then recruit again, essentially calling up untrained peasants.

Sad end

After the Azov campaign, Tsar Peter I became convinced that the army he inherited was absolutely unsuitable for the complex military-political tasks that he set for himself. Therefore, the most important component of the reforms of that time was a radical reorganization of the entire military structure in the state. And first of all, it was the creation of a regular army, which was based on a recruitment system and was completely different from the principle of forming the Streltsy army.

But nevertheless, the squeakers of Vasily III and the archers of Ivan IV paved the direct road to the soldier regiments of the sovereigns with Alexei Mikhailovich. And from them - directly to Peter’s fuseliers.

Immediately after the riot of 1699, he ordered the dispersal of the Streltsy army, leaving some of it to serve on the outskirts of Russia.

The legendary Moscow archers from the time of Ivan the Terrible entered the mass consciousness in a completely different form from the form in which they actually existed. An image created more than 100 years after their appearance was firmly attached to them. What years can be considered the official date of the birth of the Moscow Streltsy and what was this army like?

The beginning of a legend

... And again, add to them a lot of fiery archers, who are much studied in military affairs and do not spare their heads, and at the right time, fathers and mothers, and wives, and children forget theirs, and are not afraid of death, for every battle, like to the great who are self-interested or towards the honey and more often than not the princess, they strongly beat each other in advance, and the attitude of their heads is unflattering for the Christian faith and for the royal love for them...

Kazan history // PSRL. T.XIX. M., 2000.

Stb. 44–45.

Moscow archers... When you hear these words, the image of a stern, bearded man in a long red caftan, boots with curved toes and a fur-trimmed cloth cap involuntarily appears before your eyes. In one hand he holds a heavy arquebus, and in the other a reed, on his side is a saber, and over his shoulder is a berendeika. This classic, textbook image of the Moscow archer has been replicated by artists (Ivanov, Ryabinin, Lissner, Surikov), film directors (just remember the “archers” from Gaidai’s famous comedy “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession”), writers (one A. Tolstoy and his “Peter the First” "What is it worth!) and firmly entered into everyday consciousness.

But few people know that this familiar and recognizable Sagittarius is a product of the second half of the 17th century, the times of Alexei Mikhailovich the Quiet and his son Fyodor Alekseevich, the wars for Ukraine with the Poles and Turks. It was foreign diplomats who saw him, leaving more or less detailed descriptions and drawings, from which we know what the Moscow archers looked like at that time. But by that time, the history of the Streltsy army was already more, much more than a hundred years old, and during this time this army had changed a lot, both externally and internally.

What were the Streltsy like at the “beginning of glorious deeds”, in the first decades of their history, under the “father” of the Streltsy army, Ivan the Terrible? Unfortunately, much less is known about this. Unfortunately, not a single drawing has survived that would describe the appearance of the Moscow archer from the mid-16th century - their earliest images date back, at best, to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. But, fortunately, there are descriptions given by foreigners who saw them at that time. Miraculously, documents have been preserved, albeit in small quantities, telling us what these warriors were like. Finally, you can learn about the history of the Streltsy army from Russian chronicles and brief entries in discharge books. In a word, having rummaged through ancient manuscripts and documents, you can still find the necessary minimum information in order to try to reconstruct the appearance of the Moscow archer from the time of Ivan the Terrible.

Russian pischalniki during the siege of Smolensk in 1513–1514. Miniature from the 18th volume of the Facial Vault

Http://www.runivers.ru/

So, where, when, under what circumstances did the legendary archers appear? Alas, the archives of the Streletsky Prikaz did not survive the Troubles and the “rebellious” 17th century - only pitiful scraps remained of them. If it were not for the fragment of the tsar’s decree on the creation of the Streltsy army, retold by an unknown Russian scribe, then historians to this day would be looking for an answer to this question. Here is the excerpt:

“That same summer, the Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Russia made elective archers and squeakers for 3,000 people, and ordered them to live in Vorobyovoy Sloboda, and he made the heads of the boyar children: in the first article, Grisha Zhelobov’s son Pusheshnikov, and he has squeakers 500 people and with them the heads of a hundred people, the son of a boyar, and in another article the clerk of Rzhevskaya, and he has 500 pishchalniks, and every hundred people have a son of a boyar; in the third article, Ivan Semenov is the son of the Cheremisinov, and he has 500 people, and a hundred people have the son of a boyar in the centurion; in the fourth article, Vaska Funikov is the son of Pronchishchev, and with him 500 people, and a hundred people have the son of a boyar; in the fifth article, Fyodor Ivanov is the son of the Durasov, and with him 500 people, and a hundred people have the son of a boyar; in the sixth article, Yakov Stepanov is the son of the Bunds, and he has 500 people, and a hundred people have the son of a boyar. And he ordered the archer’s salary to be four rubles per year...”

The passage is short, but very, very informative. First of all, from this extract the structure of each streltsy order is clearly visible, headed by a head of boyar children: 500 streltsy each, divided into hundreds led by centurions from the boyar children. Finally, the retelling also gives us information about the size of the sovereign’s salary, which at first was due to the archers - 4 rubles. in year. Let's face it - not much. In the same year, 1550, prices for a quarter (4 poods, 65 and a half kg) of rye in the nearby Moscow district were 48 “Moskovka”, i.e. for 4 rubles (200 Moscow coins in a ruble) one could buy 66-odd pounds of rye (more than a ton in terms of the metric system of weights and measures). And this despite the fact that the annual grain consumption rate in those days was approximately 24 quarters. Obviously, our scribe was not too interested in the problems of logistics, omitting the unnecessary, in his opinion, but interesting for us, details of the Streltsy salary (not only money, but grain, salt and others. However, this will be discussed in more detail below).

Forerunners of the Streltsy

However, something else is even more curious in the above passage. Noteworthy is the epithet “elective” applied to the archers. V.I. Dal, revealing the content of this word, wrote in his “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language”: “ Elective, selected, best, chosen; chosen..." It turns out that, firstly, the Streltsy infantry corps was originally created as an elite (a kind of guard) corps, and if we take into account the location of the Streltsy settlement, then, perhaps, as the tsar’s life guard, selected bodyguards. Then, since it is an “elected” corps, it means there was someone to choose from. So who were the first archers chosen from?

To answer this question, you need to rewind the time tape several decades ago, to the time of grandfather Ivan IV, also Ivan Vasilyevich and also the Terrible. It is not known exactly when handguns appeared in the Muscovite arsenal. However, if you believe the ambassador of Ivan III George Percamote at the court of the Duke of Milan Gian Galeazzo Sforza, in the early 80s. XV century some Germans brought the first “firearms” to Muscovy, and the Russians quickly got used to them. True, at first, arrows from hand-held squeakers (squeakers) did not become widespread.

Heavy latches from the end of the 15th century. Engraving from Zeugbuch Kaiser Maximilians I

http://jaanmarss.planet.ee/

It is unlikely that the first hand-held squeakers received baptism of fire during the famous stand on the Ugra - hand-held firearms were very primitive at that time, and the campaign of 1480 itself was not conducive to its mass use. Only since the time of Vasily III did they appear in the state service and on the battlefields in “commercial quantities”. The first mention of them dates back to 1508, when during the next Russian-Lithuanian war, pischalniks and pososhny people recruited from the cities were sent to Dorogobuzh, closer to the “front line”. By this time, the Russians had already encountered handguns - during the Russian-Livonian War of 1501–1503. it was used against the Russian cavalry by German landsknechts hired by the Livonian Confederation and captured during the Russian-Lithuanian war of 1500–1503. In 1505, hired Lithuanian “zholners”, hand-gunners, helped governor I.V. Khabar defend Nizhny Novgorod from the Kazan people and the Nogai Tatars who came to their aid.

In 1510, for the first time it was said about “state-issued squeakers” (i.e., we must understand, we are talking about those who were “tidyed up” for permanent sovereign service. Imperial Ambassador S. Herberstein, who left interesting notes about his repeated stay in Russia from the time of Vasily III, reported that when he was in Moscow, Vasily III had “almost one and a half thousand infantrymen from Lithuanians and all sorts of rabble”). Two years later, in 1512, the Pskov pishchalniki stormed Smolensk, and in 1518 the Pskov and Novgorod pishchalniki besieged Polotsk. Pishchalniks actively participated in the Russian-Lithuanian Starodub War of 1534–1537 and in the Kazan campaigns of Vasily III.

Handle handles from the late 15th century. and landsknechts. Engraving from Zeugbuch Kaiser Maximilians I

http://jaanmarss.planet.ee/

Another interesting fact from that time - in 1525, from the words of the Moscow ambassador at the court of Pope Dmitry Gerasimov, Bishop Pavel Joviy of Nochersk wrote down that the Moscow Grand Duke started a “scloppettariorum equitum”. By them, obviously, we must understand the squeakers mounted on horses for greater mobility (otherwise Herberstein wrote that “in battles they [the Muscovites] never used infantry or cannons, because all they do is attack the enemy, whether they are pursuing him or running away from him, they do it suddenly and quickly, and therefore neither the infantry nor the cannons can keep up with them...” Having suffered an offensive defeat near Orsha in 1514, when the Moscow cavalry army was beaten by the Polish-Lithuanian army, having all three types of troops, Vasily III and his commanders probably drew the right conclusions from this). This interpretation of the text is supported, for example, by the following fact: in September 1545, while preparing for his first campaign against Kazan, Ivan IV sent a letter to Novgorod in which he ordered the Novgorod suburbs, suburbs with suburbs, and rows to be “dressed up.” and from the churchyards 2000 squeakers, a thousand foot soldiers and a thousand horsemen (curiously, the document also contains the norm for ammunition consumption - each squeaker had to have with him 12 pounds of lead and the same amount of “potion” - gunpowder).

From squeakers to archers

In short, by 1550 the history of Russian infantry armed with firearms spanned at least half a century. By that time, a certain amount of both positive and negative experience in the use of arquebuses on the battlefield had been accumulated, and the first tactical techniques had been worked out (judging by the fragmentary evidence of chronicles and discharge books, under Vasily III, arquebuses were preferred to be used mainly during sieges of fortresses, and in the field they fought in positions previously equipped in the fortification plan). And everything would have been fine, but there were few “state-owned” squeakers, and their quality was questionable—a rabble is just that: a rabble. And the squeakers, recruited from suburbs according to orders in case of war (according to the principle “go hunting, feed the dogs”), also did not inspire much confidence. “Dressing up” was often accompanied by abuses, and often all sorts of walking people and Cossacks (the same rabble) went to the pishchalniks, hence the problems with combat effectiveness, discipline and loyalty.

So, in 1530, during the next siege of Kazan, the staves and tweeters were “swept away” and fled during a strong storm, downpour and thunderstorm, and the “outfit” abandoned by them was taken by the Kazan people. In 1546, the Novgorod squeakers, dissatisfied with the disorder and abuses committed during the recruitment mentioned above, started a brawl in the camp near Kolomna, which escalated into a “great battle” with the sovereign’s nobles. Similar cases were repeated later. In a word, the service of the tweeters needed to be streamlined.

Russian pishchalniki during the siege of Kazan in 1524. Miniature from the 18th volume of the Front Vault

Http://www.runivers.ru/

The last straw that overflowed the tsar’s patience was the second, and again unsuccessful, campaign against rebellious Kazan in the winter of 1549–1550. Having approached the city on February 12, 1550, Ivan and his commanders, having stood under the walls of Kazan for 11 days, were forced to lift the siege, “At that time, there was a civil disorder, strong winds, great rains, and unmeasurable phlegm,” which is why, according to the chronicler, “it is impossible to shoot from cannons and arquebuses and it is not possible to approach the city for the phlegm.”

Returning to Moscow on March 23, 1550, Ivan and his advisers began serious reforms in the military sphere. In July 1550, “the tsar, the sovereign, with the metropolitan and with all the boyars” were sentenced to be without places on campaigns, at the same time establishing the order of parochial accounts between the regimental governors; in October of the same year, the tsar and the boyars were sentenced to commit violence in the near Moscow district (within a radius of 60– 70 versts from the city) “1000 landowners of the boyar’s best servants” (and again we see that we are talking about “choice”, about a kind of tsar’s life guard, only this time from service people “in the fatherland”). And it seems that the establishment of the corps of “elected” rifle infantry (we began this article with a long chronicle quotation about this event) as connected with these two important events most likely occurred between July and September 1550.

To be continued

1550
This day is considered the birthday of the standing Russian army, the basis of which was the archers, with elements of a regular structure. On this day, by decree (sentence) of Ivan IV (the Terrible), a “selected thousand” of provincial nobles were stationed in the Moscow district, who in the future formed the command core of the Russian army.
The main contents of the decree: streamlining the system of recruitment and military service in the local army; organization of centralized army control; creation of a permanent Streltsy army; centralization of the supply system; creation of a permanent guard service on the southern border and more.
LOCAL ARMY, noble cavalry, which formed the main branch of the Russian army in the 15th-17th centuries; had the character of a militia. Organizationally, it was divided into hundreds. All owners of estates and estates fit for service, according to the Code of Service of 1556, went on a campaign with their horses, supplies and weapons and fielded 1 armed warrior for every 50 acres of land that belonged to them. Reorganized by Peter I in 1701 into regular regiments of dragoons.
STRELETSKOYE ARMY, the first standing army in the Russian state of the mid-16th - early 18th centuries. It was staffed by the free urban and rural non-taxable (tax-free) population, was armed with arquebuses and reeds, and was governed by governors. Organizationally, it consisted of “devices” (detachments), then orders (500 - 1000 people each), and from 1681 - regiments, and was under the jurisdiction of the Streletsky Prikaz. In the 80s of the 17th century it was reorganized in the image of the “new order” regiments. Disbanded by decree of Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century.

Streltsy were initially recruited from free people, then this service became lifelong and hereditary. According to the famous researcher Kazimir Valishevsky, archers received from the treasury upon entering the service a ruble for building a house and setting up a household, as well as a ruble salary per year. True, another historian, Boris Kraevsky, citing information from Professor Bogoyavlensky, claims that the salary of an ordinary archer was 10 rubles a year, and that of a head of the archer was 200. In addition, the treasury armed the archers, provided them with military supplies, and also supplied them with a certain amount of food. Subsequently, in order to save the sovereign's funds, the archers were allowed to engage in trade, crafts, and agriculture, for which they began to be allocated plots. An important circumstance is that the Streltsy were exempt from taxes, while other classes had to pay the “Streltsy” tax.
The armament of the Streltsy army was quite at the level of the era from which we are separated by almost 500 years: hand-held arquebuses, reeds, sabers or swords. Since the arquebus was heavy, when firing, instead of a bipod, a reed was used, which was then used as a bladed weapon.
Under Ivan the Terrible, there were approximately 25 thousand archers, and by the beginning of the reign of Peter I - 55 thousand. Half of them lived in Moscow, essentially performing the functions of the Life Guards. The rest were stationed in garrisons. The Streltsy army was first divided into instruments, then orders, and from 1681 into regiments. As today, service in the capital and in the garrison differed significantly. For example, in the border fortress city of Vyazma in the middle of the 17th century, a powerful garrison was crowded into a limited area enclosed by walls. It included, in addition to the Cossacks, artillerymen and Tatars in Russian service, 910 archers. And this is in a city devastated by the Time of Troubles, in which they have just begun to restore the citadel, and even under the constant threat of attack by the Poles or Cossacks! With the beginning of the unsuccessful Smolensk War, this is what happened - enemy troops repeatedly approached the walls of the fortress and burned everything around.
It was no easier for the archers, who were sent to serve beyond the Urals. For example, the Streltsy foreman Vasily Sychev in the middle of the 17th century was sent from Mangazeya (the oldest city on earth beyond the Arctic Circle, located on the Taz River, which flows into the Ob Bay) at the head of 10 Streltsy and 20 industrialists to collect yasak (fur tribute) in the Khatanga basin . Only five years later, another detachment of archers, commanded by the Cossack Yakov Semenov, who came from Turukhansk, arrived to “replace” him. On the way back, the combined detachment almost died due to lack of food. And many similar examples can be given.
However, the life and service of the capital’s (elected) archers was not all sugar either. Constant delays in the payment of money and food supplies forced the soldiers to look for work on the side. Thus, documents have been preserved that, say, the archer Ivan Moiseev bought a trading shop from the merchant Pyotr Akudinov. In addition, the Streltsy head was the absolute master in his orders. He personally issued monetary allowances, and he himself determined which of his subordinates was due how much. He could have fined him, he could have rewarded him. He could punish the offender with batogs, he could put him under arrest, he could release him from service, or he could appoint him as “eternal duty officer.” Under these conditions, the archers who were personally loyal to the colonel found themselves in a privileged position, and the obstinate ones turned out to be “beating boys.”
It was useless to complain about the commanders - they all came from the highest Russian nobility and were well-known to the tsar. If the archer even dared to file a petition, most often he himself was “designated” as the culprit and a fine “for dishonor” was collected from him in favor of the commander. In the garrisons, however, the archer had an even harder time, since there he was equally powerless before the local governors.
All this led to significant stratification within the Streltsy army. Some of the “sovereign people” were engaged in trade, some were craftsmen, some plowed the land, and some had to do nothing but beg. And yet the archers were the most combat-ready part of the Russian army and formed their basis. Let's say, in the Lithuanian campaign of 1578, 2 thousand people took part in the “palace”, that is, Moscow, archers alone.
The Streltsy army was assigned another important function. It played the role of modern Internal Troops, as well as the police. Under Ivan the Terrible, the punitive mission was carried out by the guardsmen, while the Streltsy retained law enforcement functions. They, along with the Cossacks, carried out border service.
Foreigners, who for one reason or another found themselves in Rus' at that time, left written evidence about the state of the tsarist troops. For example, the Englishman Richard Chancellor (Chancellor), who reached “Muscovy” on the ship “Edward Bonaventure” that circumnavigated Scandinavia, as well as the traveler Clement Adams noted that, despite such qualities of warriors as personal courage, their endurance and ability to endure the hardships of the campaign , their military training leaves much to be desired. Discipline was also weak, desertion flourished, especially during the period of hostilities.
Sagittarius repeatedly rebelled, often joining the enemies of the royal throne. There were many archers in the detachments of the False Dmitrievs, in the gangs of Ivan Bolotnikov. Ultimately, in parallel with the existing streltsy army, the creation of “foreign regiments” began in the 1630s. Now the Streltsy formations were doomed - it was only a question of timing.
In May 1682, a Streltsy riot broke out in Moscow, which so frightened young Peter. The future emperor never forgave the archers for this fear. Even the fact that in 1689 they saved him and his mother and supported him in the confrontation with Sophia the ruler did not help. He made up for everything after another rebellion that occurred in 1698, when four rifle regiments without permission left the Lithuanian border and moved to Moscow, threatening to kill the boyars and Germans. Despite the fact that the uprising was suppressed and the instigators were executed by boyar Shein, Peter rushed to the capital and ordered the repressions to continue. Red Square was strewn with the headless bodies of archers, the walls of the White and Zemlyanoy cities were strewn with gallows. By special order, those executed were prohibited from cleaning. Then, by the way, the rich collection of punishments practiced in Russia was replenished with another “find”: 269 archers were sent to hard labor - to mines, saltworks, factories and factories, including in Siberia and the Urals. (Peter liked the experience - in the Military Article of March 30, 1716, the practice of exile to hard labor and to the galleys received legal justification.)
Then the Streltsy army gradually and finally sank into oblivion.

Sagittarius

After the formation of the Russian centralized state in the 15th-16th centuries, representatives of the first regular troops began to be called this way. In 1550, the pishchalnik-militia were replaced by the Streltsy army, initially consisting of 3 thousand people. The Sagittarius were divided into 6 “articles” (orders), with 500 people in each. The Streltsy “articles” were commanded by heads of boyar children: Grigory Zhelobov, son of Pusheshnikov, Matvey (Dyak) Ivanov, son of Rzhevsky, Ivan Semenov, son of Cheremesinov, Vasily Funikov, son of Pronchishchev, Fyodor Ivanov, son of Durasov, and Yakov Stepanov, son of the Bunds. The centurions of the Streltsy “Articles” were also children of the boyars. The archers were quartered in the suburban Vorobyovskaya Sloboda. Their salary was set at 4 rubles a year, the archers' heads and centurions received local salaries. The Streltsy formed a permanent Moscow garrison. The formation of the Streltsy army began in the 1540s under Ivan IV the Terrible. In 1550, Tsar Ivan IV ordered the establishment in Moscow

“In the summer of 7058, the Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich made three thousand elected archers from the arquebuses and ordered them to live in Vorobyovskaya Sloboda, and killed the children of the boyars;<…>And he ordered the archers’ salaries to be four rubles a year.”…

This decree laid the foundation for a special unit of the royal army - the Moscow Streltsy army. The Moscow archers received their baptism of fire during the siege and assault of Kazan in 1552 and subsequently were indispensable participants in all major military campaigns. In peacetime, Moscow and city archers performed garrison service, performing the functions of police and firefighters in cities.

By the beginning of the 17th century, the estimated number of the Streltsy army was up to 20,000, of which up to 10,000 were from Moscow. In 1632, the total number of archers was 33,775 people, and by the beginning of the 1680s it had increased to 55 thousand. At the same time, the ranks of the Streltsy were replenished, first of all, due to the addition of Moscow Streltsy, of which in 1678 there were 26 regiments with a total number of 22,504 people. In addition to the Moscow ones, there were 48 Streltsy infantry regiments in the Russian state.

Recruitment into the Streltsy army was traditionally made from “walking” people: “not taxed, and not arable, and not serfs,” “young and playful and ready to shoot with self-propelled guns.”

Over time, the grown-up sons and other relatives of instrument people became a regular source of replenishment of the Streltsy army. Gradually, service in the archers turned into a hereditary obligation, which could be given up and transferred to someone close to you. “And they are in the Streltsy forever,” wrote Kotoshikhin, “and for them children and grandchildren and nephews, Streltsy children, are forever.” Soon after the establishment of 6 Moscow Streltsy orders, the “device” of Streltsy was carried out in other cities. As P.P. Epifanov suggested, in this case, “old people who were “capable” of shooting guns and squeakers” were transferred to permanent service. Already in November 1555, during the Russian-Swedish war of 1554-1557. In the campaign to Vyborg, not only the consolidated order of the Moscow Streltsy T. Teterin, but also the Streltsy detachments from “White, from Opochek, from Luk from Velikikh, from Pupovich, from Sebezh, from Zavolochye, from Toropets, from Velizh” were supposed to take part. By order of the Moscow authorities, all of them should be given “half a piece of money per person, for<…>German services." Upon entering the service, the archers, like other “instrumental” people, represented guarantors, who, in the presence of rumors, assured the authorities that each soldier had properly performed his duties. In science, there are two polar points of view on the organization of a guarantee. I. D. Belyaev believed that newly recruited servicemen were accepted into the service on the mutual responsibility of all Slobozhans. Objecting to him, I. N. Miklashevsky argued that when recruiting new archers, the guarantee of 6-7 old archers was sufficient, since only certain individuals could be associated with the interests of the service. Surviving manual records suggest the existence of both forms. There are well-known cases when mutual responsibility was in effect during the formation of new garrisons. In 1593, in the Siberian city of Taborakh, the ten riflemen of T. Evstikheev pledged to the centurion K. Shakurov “between themselves against each other, in faithful service in the new city of Taborakh.” In the 17th century in such cases, the Streltsy-Svedets were divided into two halves, after which each vouched for the other half. This was the situation in 1650 during the formation of the Streltsy garrison in the newly built city of Tsarev-Alekseev. The archers transferred from Yelets and Lebedyan were assigned to one half, and from Oskol, Mikhailov, Liven, Chern and Rostov to the other. At the same time, in other cities the government allowed the “cleaning up” of archers with the guarantee of old-time soldiers. “Handwritten notes” were required when enrolling in the Streltsy service by the authorities of the Solovetsky Monastery. In this case, a necessary condition was the guarantee of the entire Streltsy hundred maintained by the monastery.

To control the Streletsky army, the Streletsky Izba was formed in the mid-1550s, later renamed the Streletsky Prikaz. The funds and food necessary to support the Streltsy came to the Streletsky Prikaz from various departments, which controlled the tax-paying population of the cities and the black-growing peasantry. These categories of residents of the Moscow state bore the brunt of government duties, including the obligation to pay a special tax - “food money”, as well as the collection of “streltsy bread”. In 1679, for the majority of urban residents and black peasants of the northern and northeastern districts, the previous taxes were replaced by a single tax - “streltsy money”.

In the last decades of the 17th century, Moscow archers became active participants in the political processes taking place in the state and country, and more than once opposed the actions of the government with arms in hand (uprising of 1682, riot of 1698). This, ultimately, determined the decision of Peter I to liquidate the Streltsy army. The government of Peter I began to reform the Russian armed forces. Eight Moscow Streltsy regiments were redeployed from the capital garrison, for “eternal life,” to the Ukrainian (border) cities of Belgorod, Sevsk, Kyiv and others. The king decided to disband the Streltsy army as a type of weapon. But after the defeat of the Russian army near Narva (1700), the disbandment of the streltsy regiments was suspended, and the most combat-ready streltsy regiments participated in the Northern War and the Prut Campaign (1711) of the Russian Army. When the garrison troops were created, the city riflemen and Cossacks were abolished. The process of eliminating the type of weapon was completed in the 1720s, although as a service (“service people of the old services”) city archers and Cossacks survived in a number of Russian cities almost until the end of the 18th century.

Armament

The Streltsy army was armed with squeaks, reeds, half pikes, bladed weapons - sabers and swords, which were worn on a belt belt. To shoot from a squeak, the archers used the necessary equipment: a sling (“berendeyka”) with pencil cases with gunpowder charges attached to it, a bag for bullets, a bag for the wick, a horn with gunpowder for rubbing gunpowder onto the charging rack of the squeak. By the end of the 1670s, long pikes were sometimes used as additional weapons and to form obstacles (“slingshots”). Hand grenades were also used: for example, in the inventory of the Streletsky Order of 1678, 267 smart hand grenade cores weighing one, two and three hryvnias each, seven smart grenade cores, 92 skinny cores weighing five hryvnias each are mentioned.

In addition to weapons, the archers received lead and gunpowder from the treasury (in wartime, 1-2 pounds per person). Before setting out on a campaign or a service “parcel,” the archers and city Cossacks were given the required amount of gunpowder and lead. The voivode orders contained a strict requirement to issue ammunition “to the heads and to the centurions, and to the atamans,” designed to ensure that the archers and Cossacks “did not lose potions and lead,” and upon their return “there will be no shooting,” the voivodes must there was gunpowder and lead “from the archers and the Cossacks into the sovereign’s treasury.”

In the second half of the 17th century, standard bearers and vulture musicians were armed only with sabers. Pentecostals and centurions were armed only with sabers and protazans. Senior commanders (heads, half-heads and centurions) were given canes in addition to sabers.

With rare exceptions, ordinary riflemen did not use protective equipment. An exception is the mention by F. Tiepolo, who visited Moscow in 1560, about the limited use of helmets by Russian infantry. Information has been preserved about the review on the Maiden Field in 1664, when in the Streltsy regiment of A. S. Matveev, two bannermen were in cuirasses and one was in armor. In some of the drawings of the “Book in Persons about the Election of Mikhail Fedorovich to the Tsar” of 1676, the archers are depicted in helmets similar to cassettes, but they are not mentioned in the documents. Such helmets, in the form of a helmet with a brim, were convenient for infantry - they did not interfere with shooting and, at the same time, provided sufficient protection.

The first legislative definition of the weapons of archers dates back to the 17th century. On December 14, 1659, changes in weapons were made in units operating on the territory of Ukraine. In the dragoon and soldier regiments, berdysh were introduced, and in the archers, pikes. The royal decree read: “... in the Saldatsk and Dragoon regiments, in all the regiments of the soldiers and dragoons and in the Streltsy Prikaz, the Streltsy ordered to make a short pike, with a kopeck at both ends, instead of berdysh, and long pikes in the Saldatsk regiments and in the Streltsy Prikaz, to be made according to consideration; and he ordered the rest of the soldiers and the archers to have swords. And he ordered berdyshes to be made in regiments of dragoons and soldiers instead of swords in every regiment of 300 people, and the rest should continue to have swords. And in the Streltsy orders, inflict berdysh on 200 people, and the rest will remain in swords as before.”

The archers were armed with smooth-bore matchlocks, and later - flint arquebuses. Interestingly, in 1638, the Vyazma riflemen were issued matchlock muskets, to which they stated that “They don’t know how to shoot from such muskets with zhagras, and they never had such muskets with zhagras before, but they still had old squeaks from castles”. At the same time, matchlock weapons persisted and were probably dominant until the 1670s. Firearms were both domestically produced and imported. Screw-type arquebuses, the production of which began in the middle of the 17th century, initially began to be supplied to Streltsy heads and half-heads, and from the 1670s - to ordinary Streltsy. In particular, in 1671, 24 were issued to the rifle regiment of Ivan Polteev; in 1675, the archers going to Astrakhan received 489 rifles. In 1702, rifles accounted for 7% of the Tyumen archers.

By the end of the 17th century, some city archers of small towns far from the borders acquired purely police functions, and therefore only a few of them remained armed with arquebuses, and the rest with reeds. In addition, weapons such as spears, slingshots, bows and crossbows are mentioned in the arsenal of city archers.

Form

The Streltsy regiments had a uniform and obligatory dress uniform (“colored dress”) for all, consisting of an outer caftan, a hat with a fur band, pants and boots, the color of which (except for the pants) was regulated according to belonging to a particular regiment.

One can note the common features in the weapons and clothing of all archers:

• all archers wore gloves with brown leather cuffs;
• during a campaign, the muzzle of a squeak or musket was covered with a short leather case;
• the berdysh was worn behind the back over either shoulder;
• over the waist belt to which the saber was attached was worn sash;
• there were no buttonholes on the traveling caftan;
• The external distinction of the senior officers (“initial people”) was the image of a crown sewn with pearls on the cap and a staff (cane), as well as the ermine lining of the upper caftan and the edge of the cap (indicating a high-born princely origin).

The dress uniform was worn only on special days - during major church holidays and during special events.

To perform everyday duties and during military campaigns, a “portable dress” was used, which had the same cut as the dress uniform, but made of cheaper cloth in gray, black or brown.

The distribution of government-issued cloth to Moscow archers for sewing everyday caftans was carried out annually, while to city archers once every 3-4 years. Expensive colored cloth, intended for sewing dress uniforms, was issued irregularly, only on special occasions (in honor of victories, in connection with the birth of royal heirs, etc.) and was an additional form of reward for service. The colors of the regiments stationed in Moscow are known for certain only in the second half of the 17th century.

Dress uniform colors by regiment in 1674 (according to Palmquist):

Banners and uniforms of Streltsy regiments. "Notes on Russia made by Eric Palmquist in 1674"

Regiment	Kaftan	Lining	Buttonholes	A cap	Boots
Regiment of Yuri Lutokhin	Red	Red	Raspberry	Dark gray	Yellow
Regiment of Ivan Poltev	Light gray	Crimson	Raspberry	Raspberry	Yellow
Regiment of Vasily Bukhvostov	Light green	Crimson	Raspberry	Raspberry	Yellow
Regiment of Fyodor Golovlenkov	Cranberry	Yellow	Black	Dark gray	Yellow
Regiment of Fyodor Alexandrov	Scarlet	Light blue	Dark red	Dark gray	Yellow
Regiment of Nikifor Kolobov	Yellow	Light green	Dark crimson	Dark gray	Reds
Regiment of Stepan Yanov	Light blue	Brown	Black	Raspberry	Yellow
Regiment of Timofey Poltev	Orange	Green	Black	Cherry	Greens
Regiment of Pyotr Lopukhin	Cherry	Orange	Black	Cherry	Yellow
Regiment of Fyodor Lopukhin	Yellow-orange	Crimson	Raspberry	Raspberry	Greens
Regiment of Davyd Barancheev	Crimson	Brown	Black	Brown	Yellow
Regiment of Ivan Naramatsky	Cherry	Light blue	Black	Raspberry	Yellow
Regiment of Vasily Lagovchin	Lingonberry	Green	Black	Green	Yellow
Regiment of Afanasy Levshin	Light green	Yellow	Black	Raspberry	Yellow
Patriarchal Sagittarius	Cherry	Light green	Silver	Dark red	Yellow

There is also a version (see “Tseykhgauz” No. 1) that the crimson buttonholes mentioned in this list (compiled on the basis of a contemporary’s drawing) were in fact gold, and the black ones were silver.

Streltsy of the Moscow Strelets regiments Lutokhin and Ivan Poltev



Streltsy of the Moscow Strelets regiments: Kolobov, Alexandrov, Golovlinsky and Bukhvostov



Streltsy of the Moscow Strelets regiments: Timofey Poltev, Pyotr Lopukhin, Yakov and Fedor Lopukhin



Streltsy of the Moscow Strelets regiments: Lagovskina, Vorontsov and Naramansky



Standard bearer and archer of the Moscow Streletsky Levshin Regiment



Initial people or officers of the Moscow Streletsky regiments

Streltsy banners

Banners of the Moscow Strelets regiments, 1674

Ensigns

At the end of the 17th century, ensigns of the Streltsy chiefs appeared.

The Streletsky ensigns were built on the model of the boyars, in the center they depicted the Savior and the Mother of God, the faces of the Holy Saints, Archangels and angels. Ensigns of colonels, half-colonels, majors and quartermasters with two slopes, captain's ensigns with one slope.

Streltsy regiments

The archer settled in the settlement had to build a house with a vegetable garden and the necessary buildings. To do this, he was given a sum of money for “yard housing”, which in the 16th century was 1 ruble, in the first half of the 17th century - 2 rubles, and from the 1630s - 5 rubles. When transferred to a new duty station, the estate could be sold. After the death of the archer, the estate was retained by his family and was inherited along with the service to one of the relatives.

In the event of a siege, residents of Streltsy settlements located outside the city fortifications were assigned siege yards in a fortress or fort.

In peacetime, the Streltsy also served as police and fire fighters. According to Grigory Kotoshikhin: “And as it happens in Moscow, there is fire time, and they are the archers who have to go to the fire, to take it away, with axes, and with buckets, and with copper water pipes, and with hooks with which they break down huts. And after a fire, they are inspected so that no one takes away anything from the firemen’s bellies; and whoever is not announced at the review will receive severe punishment from batoghi.” They guarded the fortress and fort (they stood guard on the walls, towers, at city and prison gates), government institutions (moving hut, customs, "outfit", "green" (powder) treasury, etc.). They played a major role in the defense of cities. It is no coincidence that in 1617, the new Uglitsky governor P. Dashkov, who discovered in the city entrusted to him, from the instrumental people who had previously been there, 6 gunners, wrote the following characteristic phrase in a report sent to Moscow: “and in all your sovereign cities there are no archers<…>the siege is not strong."

Streltsy were sent as guards to the districts for netchiks, to the saltpeter trades; to accompany ambassadors, various supplies, cash treasuries, criminals; they were involved in the execution of court sentences. During the war, city riflemen were assigned by whole orders or hundreds to different regiments of the army.

Streltsy troops were quite mobile, so they were often transferred to strengthen one or another section of the border. So, in the 17th century. in the summer, a large number of archers were transferred to southern “Ukraine” from Moscow and the border northwestern Russian cities: Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, Vyazma, Toropets, Ostrov, Gdov, Ladoga, Izborsk, Opochka, Staraya Russa, Zavolochye. These units were called upon to strengthen the defense of the lines that were subject to Tatar and Nogai attacks. In 1630, archers and Cossacks from the garrisons of southern Russian fortresses were sent on a campaign to the Don. A total of 1960 people. More than half of the instrument people available there were taken from some cities. So, Voronezh, where there were 182 archers and 310 Cossacks, sent 100 archers and 180 Cossacks to the army. In the same year, 30 Tula and Mikhailovsky archers and Cossacks were sent to Meshchovsk, 50 Dedilovsky and Lebedyansky - to Masalsk. Sometimes archers from border cities, the most experienced in military affairs, were sent for “yearly” service to another, less protected border fortress. In this case, they tried to replace them in their city with servicemen transferred from more militarily calm districts. So, both 1629 and 1638. In Terki, 500 Astrakhan foot archers performed annual service, and in Astrakhan they served: in 1629 - 500 year-old archers from Kazan, and in 1638 - 1325 "Kazan and suburban, and Nizhny Novgorod archers." in 1638, 300 Vyazemsk archers (out of 500 numbered in this city), 200 archers from Opochka (out of 300) were transferred to Odoev; in Krapivna there were 500 Pskov archers (out of 1300), etc. At the same time, 500 Novgorod archers (50% of the total number) were transferred south to Venev. In the Ponizov cities, sending archers to border fortresses became commonplace.

Tactics

At first, during campaigns and battles, the archers were distributed among the regiments of the local army. In the middle of the 17th century they gained independence. During battles, their tasks included shooting at the enemy, as a rule, from behind field fortifications - walk-towns and other barriers, “in the ditch”, “in the dugout”; or under the cover of local cavalry. The presence of barriers protected against enemy cavalry and gave an advantage in defense against enemy infantry.

At that time, the rifle units were not yet able to maneuver on the battlefield. The main striking force remained the noble cavalry, whose actions were covered by the archers, who did not change their position, the flanks or rear of which, as a rule, relied on convoys or forts, the structure of which was learned by Russian soldiers from the experience of Dutch and Swedish military engineers. The absence of such cover explains the defeat of F.I. Sheremetev’s army near Suzdal in the fall of 1609. Unfortunate location of infantry units near the village. Klushino predetermined the death of D.I. Shuisky’s army in the battle of June 24, 1610. However, as the outcome of the Battle of Bronnitsy in the summer of 1614 shows, in clashes with well-trained foreign mercenaries, forts did not always help Russian soldiers out.

Mounted archers

Among the elite Moscow “stirrup” and provincial “city” archers, mounted units were often found, but it is difficult to call them cavalry - they were only infantry mounted on horses (dragoons). In addition to guns, horse archers, even in the middle of the 17th century, were armed with bows and arrows. However, in some southern cities, as the surviving “paintings” and “estimates” of the Russian army of the second third of the 17th century show, along with foot soldiers there were also mounted archers.

Mounted service was carried out by Moscow “stirrup” archers, archers in Oskol (in 1638, in addition to 70 foot archers, there were 100 mounted archers), Epifani (in 1637, there were 37 mounted and 70 foot archers in the city) and the so-called “Ponizovy cities” - Astrakhan (in 1635 there were 573 mounted archers; in 1638, “according to salary” - 1000, available - 772 people), Terkakh (according to the list - 500 mounted archers, available - 347), Kazan, Cherny Yar , Tsaritsyn, Samara, Ufa (100 mounted archers each), Saratov (150 mounted archers). The archers performing equestrian service received government horses or money to buy them.

Patriarchal Sagittarius

Standing apart were the “patriarchal” archers, who in the 17th century, together with the “firemen”, the patriarchal “children of the boyars” and the patriarchal

The Streltsy deservedly considered themselves the military elite of Russia. They heroically fought the enemy, settled new lands, but also the archers, dissatisfied with their position, undermined the foundations of Russian statehood.

How it all began

In 1546, the Novgorod squeakers came to Ivan the Terrible with a petition, but their complaints were not heard by the tsar. The offended petitioners staged a riot, which resulted in mass clashes with the nobles, where there were both wounded and killed. But further - more: the rebels did not let the tsar who was about to go to Kolomna, forcing the sovereign to get there by a bypass road.

This event angered the king, which had its consequences. In 1550, Ivan the Terrible issues a decree on the creation of a permanent Streltsy army, which replaced the disgraced squeakers.

The first streltsy were recruited “by instrument” (for hire), and their composition was replenished mainly from former squeakers adapted for military service. At first, the number of Streltsy troops was small - 3,000 people, divided into 6 orders. Most of them included the free townspeople or rural population, but the orders were commanded by people from the boyars.

Despite the fact that the Streltsy recruited mainly people from the poor class, getting there was not so easy. People were taken of their own free will, but most importantly - those who knew how to shoot. However, later they began to demand guarantees. It was enough for a few experienced archers to be responsible for the escape of a recruit from service or the loss of his weapon. The age limit for newly hired workers was no higher than 50 years old - this is quite a lot, given the low average life expectancy at that time. The service was for life, but it could also be inherited.

Life

The archers settled in settlements, receiving a manor place there. They were instructed to plant a vegetable garden and a garden, as well as build a house. The state provided settlers with “yard housing” - monetary assistance in the amount of 1 ruble: a good financial support, considering that a house at 16th-century prices cost 3 rubles. After the death or death of the archer, the courtyard remained with his family.

In remote settlements they lived very simply. The streets were mostly unpaved, and the huts (without a chimney) were covered with birch bark or straw; there were no windows as such, much less ones covered with mica - they were basically small slits in a log wall with oiled canvas. In the event of an enemy raid, the Sloboda residents sat out the state of siege behind the walls of the nearest fortress or fort.
Between military service, the archers were engaged in various trades - carpentry, blacksmithing, wheeling or carriage. We worked only to order. The range of “streltsy” products is impressive - grips, stags, openers, door handles, chests, tables, carts, sleighs - this is just a small part of what is possible. Let's not forget that the archers, along with the peasants, were also food suppliers for the city - their meat, poultry, vegetables and fruits were always welcome in city bazaars.

Cloth

The Sagittarius, as expected in a professional army, wore uniforms - casual and formal. The archers looked especially good in full dress uniform, wearing long caftans and tall hats with fur cuffs. Although the uniform was uniform, there were color differences for each regiment.

For example, the archers of Stepan Yanov's regiment sported a light blue caftan, brown lining, black buttonholes, a crimson hat and yellow boots. Some of the clothes - shirts, ports and zipuns - the archers had to sew themselves.

Weapon

History has preserved for us an interesting document that describes the reaction of the Vyazma riflemen to receiving a new weapon - matchlock muskets. The soldiers said that “they don’t know how to shoot from such muskets with zhagra (matchlock),” since “they had and still have old squeaks with locks.” This in no way indicates the backwardness of the archers in comparison with European soldiers, but rather speaks of their conservatism.

The most common weapons for archers were the arquebus (or self-propelled gun), the berdysh (an ax in the shape of a crescent) and the saber, and mounted warriors, even at the beginning of the 17th century, did not want to part with their bow and arrows. Before the campaign, the archers were given a certain amount of gunpowder and lead, the consumption of which was monitored by the governors so that “potions and lead would not be wasted.” Upon returning, the archers were obliged to hand over the remaining ammunition to the treasury.

War

The siege of Kazan in 1552 was a baptism of fire for the archers, but in the future they were indispensable participants in major military campaigns, having the status of a regular army. They witnessed both high-profile victories and painful defeats of Russian weapons. The archers were quite actively called upon to guard the always turbulent southern borders - an exception was made only for small garrisons.

The favorite tactics of the archers was the use of field defensive structures called “walk-city”. Streltsy were often inferior to the enemy in maneuverability, but shooting from fortifications was their trump card. A set of carts equipped with strong wooden shields made it possible to protect against small firearms and, ultimately, repel an enemy attack. “If the Russians did not have a walk-city, the Crimean Tsar would have beaten us,” wrote Ivan the Terrible’s German guardsman Heinrich von Staden.

The Streltsy contributed greatly to the victory of the Russian army in the Second Azov Campaign of Peter I in 1696. The Russian soldiers, who had besieged Azov in a long, hopeless siege, were already ready to turn back when the archers proposed an unexpected plan: it was necessary to erect an earthen rampart, bringing it closer to the rampart of the Azov fortress, and then, filling in the ditches, take possession of the fortress walls. The command reluctantly accepted the adventurous plan, but in the end it more than justified itself!

Riot

The Sagittarius were constantly dissatisfied with their position - after all, they considered themselves a military elite. Just as the pishchalniks once went to petition Ivan the Terrible, the archers complained to the new kings. These attempts were most often unsuccessful and then the archers rebelled. They joined the peasant uprisings - the army of Stepan Razin, and organized their own revolts - “Khovanshchina” in 1682.

However, the riot of 1698 turned out to be the most “senseless and merciless.” Princess Sophia, imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent and thirsty for the throne, with her incitements, heated up the already tense situation within the Streltsy army. As a result, 2,200 archers who removed their commanders headed to Moscow to carry out a coup. 4 selected regiments sent by the government suppressed the rebellion in the bud, but the main bloody action - the Streltsy execution - was ahead.

Even officials had to take on the work of executioners by order of the tsar. The Austrian diplomat Johann Korb, who was present at the executions, was horrified by the absurdity and cruelty of these executions: “one boyar distinguished himself with a particularly unsuccessful blow: without hitting the condemned man’s neck, the boyar hit him on the back; the archer, cut almost into two parts in this way, would have suffered unbearable torment if Aleksashka (Menshikov), deftly using an ax, had not hastened to cut off the unfortunate man’s head.”

Peter I, who urgently returned from abroad, personally headed the investigation. The result of the “great manhunt” was the execution of almost all the archers, and the few survivors were whipped, branded, some were imprisoned, and others were exiled to remote places. The investigation continued until 1707. As a result, the archers' yard positions were distributed, houses were sold, and all military units were disbanded. This was the end of the glorious Streltsy era.