Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 8392
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Martin , Janet.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Widows, Welfare, and the "Pomest'e" System in the Sixteenth Century [The author argues that through the "pomest'e" system the state not only supported soldiers but also their survivors (widows, mothers, or dependent children) for their lifetimes. It went far beyond the state's desire to raise minor sons to become soldiers. The data from the 1550s indicates that the estates were usually more than adequate to support the women's households. However, by the 1580s, 40 percent of the "pomest'ia" could not support the surveyed women's households. The author ascribes the problems to serious economic deterioration rather than to the "pomest'e" system. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Harvard Ukrainian Studies 19, ( 1995): Pages 375 - 388. Kamen' Kraeog "I'n": Rhetoric of the Medieval Slavic World: Essays Presented to Edward L. Keenan on His Sixtieth Birthday by His Colleagues and Students. Edited by Nancy Shields Kollmann, Donald Ostrowski, Andrei Pliguzov, and Daniel Rowland.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Agriculture Economics Pomest'e System, Estates and Their Incomes Assigned to Soldiers, Their Widows, or Other Survivors Property Warfare and Warriors Widows
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Russia
  • Century: 16
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table: One Table. Table One Data from the 1550s on individual "pomest'e" estates indicating presence of slaves, amount of grain needed, and income received from grain, cash, and other assets.
  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of Miami, Coral Gables
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1995.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 03635570