Siberian foreigners’ population swearing allegiance to Russian monarch in the 17th century (according to the data of Shert books)

The article is devoted to the problem of evaluating numerical and social composition of Siberian foreigners involved in the procedure of the oath of allegiance to the Russian tsar called «shertovanie». The swearing procedure consisted of two elements: oral announcement of the text of oath fixing the obligations of the sworn to the Russian monarch (called «shert letter») and a ritual ceremony with the use of non-Christian elements of beliefs professed by Siberian foreigners. In the 17th century, «shertovanie» was an important instrument of strengthening Russian political power in the minds of Siberian population. The subject of the study is documents of management and record keeping and archival documents - «shert books» (lists of names compiled by Russian authorities), which have been found in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and also in the archive of St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Basing on these sources, the author concludes that the number and social status of swearing foreigners depended on reasons for swearing in as well as on the place where the procedure was held. The author deduces that Russian governors invited a small number of representatives of the tribal clans of Siberia foreigners to Russian cities, while service people who were sent to the district detachments sought to bring to an oath as many people as possible, despite their status. Comparison of data on the Ketsky, Kuznetsky and Yeniseykoi districts, performed by the author, shows that the number of those who swore to Russian tsar is almost equal to number of yasak payers in the area. Also, in the shert books the names of those who were absent during the procedure of the oath have been recorded. Such evidences allows the author to put forward a hypothesis that swearing (shertovanie) was very important, and from the second half of the 17th century, the Russian authorities tried to cover with the oath all adult male population of Siberia.