Formation of big peasant clans in the Russian north based on the state descriptions of the Vazhsky district from 17th to the early 18th century

Introduction. State descriptions of the northern peasant volosts of Russia demonstrate the features and techniques of business writing, typical for the Russian Middle Ages and early modern times. Methods and materials. The article analyzes scribal and census books for several villages of the volost Kurgomen of the Podvinskaya quarter of the Vazhsky district beyond the middle 17th - first half 18th centuries. On the basis of a microanalysis of peasant genealogies, several family clans of peasants living in neighboring villages were identified, the family surnames of the peasants were investigated. Analysis. The development or extinction of peasant clans, and some features of intra-familyrelations and the dynamics of population displacement at the village / volost level have been traced. The given data confirm the well-known fact that during the censuses, some of the peasants were hiding from the description. The period of Peter I caused heavy damage to the northern villages. The analyzed material shows that only large family clans were able to preserve themselves and their importance in the parish. Results. The results obtained in the article relate not only to the process of folding the branched peasant clans, which played a significant role in the volost and parish, defending, first of all, their own interests, but also the problems of the reliability of state descriptions.