- Salt Riot
The Salt Riot, also known as the Moscow Uprising of 1648 ( _ru. Соляной бунт, Московское восстание 1648), was a
riot inMoscow in 1648, triggered by the government's substitution of differenttax es with a universal directsalt tax for the purpose of replenishing the statetreasury , which, in turn, made salt a much more expensive commodity.The beginning of the Salt Riot
The indignation of
peasant s and townsfolk forced the government to abolish this new way oftaxation , but the previousarrears , however, were being collected for the past three years all at once. OnJune 1 of 1648, upon Alexei I's return to Moscow from his trip toTroitse-Sergiyeva Lavra , a crowd of townspeople surrounded thetsar and complained about theboyar s andprikaz officials. The royalbodyguard s started dispersing the crowd, pushing them away from the tsar. This caused a major outbreak of anger among the people. OnJune 2 , most of theStreltsy joined the rebelling citizens. The insurgents burst into theMoscow Kremlin and demanded the surrender ofLeontiy Pleshcheyev (head ofZemsky Prikaz and Moscowpolice department ),Duma diak Nazar Chistoy (salt tax initiator), boyarBoris Morozov (actual head of government) and his brother-in-lawPyotr Trakhaniotov (head ofCannon Prikaz ). The tsar was forced to surrender Leontius Pleshcheyev to the people onJune 3 , who would be soon executed. The rebels set fire to the White City andKitai-gorod and sacked some 70household s of the most hated boyars, diaks,okolnichy s, andmerchant s, killing Nazar Chistoy. Pyotr Trakhaniotov tried to escape, but was soon apprehended and executed onJune 5 .The second phase of the riot
On
June 6 , the Streltsy withdrew from the unrest due to receiving the belated allowance and promises of salary increase. Boris Morozov, however, was relieved from his post by the tsar and sent toKirillo-Belozersky Monastery onJune 11 . After that, the uprising gradually began to fade away, partly because of the ravagingfire s. Soon, however, the provincial nobility, big merchants, and topposad people seized the initiative and came out with apetition demanding the convocation of thezemsky sobor , salary distribution, increase of time limits for search of the runaway peasants etc. These demands, however, were very narrow in their scope and were aimed at the reinforcement of serfdom without meeting the needs of other categories of people. Upon Morozov's removal, a new anti-Morozov boyar group came to power, led by PrinceYakov Cherkassky and boyarNikita Romanov . They began distributing money and lands to the dvoryane and made a few concessions to the remaining rebels, including the postponement of collection of arrears onJune 12 . The government’s measures widened the split among the rebels, and soon many of the leaders of the uprising were arrested and executed onJuly 3 . OnOctober 22 , Boris Morozov was summoned to Moscow and appointed head of the Russian government yet again.The end of the riot
Sporadic rebellions, triggered by the Salt Riot in Moscow, continued to take place throughout
Russia , but they would all die down by January of 1649 with the adoption of theSobornoye Ulozheniye (Legal Code), which satisfied most of the demands posed by the nobility.ee also
*
Copper Riot
*Plague Riot
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