The new document about the Bulavin uprising (1708)

Introduction. A new source on the history of the Bulavin Uprising of 1707–1709 is published: a report of the Azov Governor I.A. Tolstoy to the Ambassadorial Chancery of December 8, 1708, which is stored in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. It was sent in response to a request for an order about the Gulyashiy Chelovek (Freeman Wanderer) Grigory Zaitsev, nicknamed Banshick (Bath Attendant), accused of aiding Kondraty Bulavin. Analysis. Despite the brevity of the presentation, the document is very informative. It contains information about the events that took place in Cherkassk and Azov in June 1708. New details are reported about the organization of the rebel-led campaign against Azov, about Ataman K.A. Bulavin’s hopes for support from the Azov residents and soldiers, about the conspiracy against him in Cherkassk, etc. No less important is the data on how the preliminary investigation of state crimes (participation in a rebellion) was conducted at the Ambassadorial Chancery in the second half of 1708. On the example of the G.K. Zaitsev’s case we see that the investigation, which started because of a denunciation, was carried out in accordance with the norms of procedural law adopted at that time and was accompanied by the collection of evidence. At the same time, the paper is a source of biographical information about the person under investigation, who unwittingly became an agent of the Cherkassk’s conspirators and an informant of the Azov governor. Methods. The publication is prepared in accordance with the applicable rules of archaeography. Results. The published document allows us to verify some other sources introduced into scientific circulation earlier, and extends the knowledge available in science about the culmination of the Bulavin Uprising