Alcoholic Beverages, Their Production and Sale in Volhynian Towns of the 18th Century
Abstract
The purpose of the research paper is to find out the main aspects of the production and sale of alcoholic beverages (trunok) and consider them as an important segment of the economy of the towns of Volhynian Voivodeship in the 18th century.
The scientific novelty is in the setting of a problem and an attempt to study it with the involvement of a complex of achievements of national and foreign historiography, as well as the introduction of new historical sources into scientific circulation. The production and sale of alcohol in the towns of Volhynian brought high profits to the towns’ authorities. Their production and sale were used as a way out of a difficult economic situation.
Conclusions. Alcoholic beverages during the 18th century became fashionable and popular in the urban space of the Volhynian Voivodeship. Profits from korchma keeping and shynok keeping accounted for one-third to one-half of the total in the towns of the region, where various types of alcohol were consumed. Magnates, gentry, and wealthy town dwellers tasted Hungarian and French wines, fine horilka imported from Gdańsk, English beer, and ladies and elegants (criminal elements) – champagne. Mead was used on holidays and for landowners’ meals. The kholops (bond slaves) mostly used local horilka. A strong alcoholic drink was produced under the ‘brands’ Prostka and Ordynarna. In the case of adding various herbs, ingredients, and technical processing, other types of horilka appeared – Alembykova, Gdańska, Okovyta, Anisova, Tsukrova, ‘Zolota Horilka’, Ratafia, etc. Horilka and beer in various variations were used in culinary, medicinal, and veterinary practices. Mead was considered an excellent remedy for ‘digestion.’ Liqueurs (nastoianka) such as Vyshniak, Malyniak, and others were widely drunk. Beer was the most popular among the town dwellers.
Grains were the main raw material for producing alcoholic beverages; honey, canary sugar, cherries, plums, raspberries, and other berries were also used. The sale of grain after processing it into horilka brought a profit three times higher than the cost of the grain itself.
Centers of distilling and brewing in the 18th century became Starokostiantyniv, Zaslav, Vyshnivets, Kremenets, Berestechko, and Volodymyr. Volhynian horilka was sold in local markets and was also transported to Halychyna, Lublin, and Warsaw.
The production and sale of alcoholic beverages were subject to a state tax called chopove (on average ⅛ of the cost of the drink). In some towns, kotlove and shynkove (or sheliazhne) were paid.
Wineries and breweries in the towns were mainly in the hands of tenants. Alcoholic beverages were sold in korchmas, shynoks, and austerias. Such beverages occupied an important niche in the everyday life of the townspeople and the economy of towns.
References
Balabushevych, T.A. (1993). Agrarian history of Galicia in the second half of the 18th century. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Baranovich, A. (1947). Decline of the city of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Starokonstantinov in the 18th century). Voprosy istorii, 8, 30-49 [in Russian].
Baranovich, A.I. (1947). Magnate economy in the South of Volyn in the 18th century. Moskva [in Russian].
Baranovych, O. (1926). Essays on the magnate economy in the south of Volyn in the 18th century. Studii z istorii Ukrainy naukovo-doslidchoi katedry istorii Ukrainy v Kyivi. Kyiv, Vol. 1, 1-90 [in Ukrainian].
Bergerowna, J. (1936). Księżna Pani na Kocku i Siemiatyczach: (działalność gospodarcza i społeczna Anny z Sapiehów Jabłonowskiej). Lwów [in Polish].
Berkovskyi, V.H. (2011). Characteristic features of the economic development of Zaslavshchyna in the 16th – 18th centuries. In Peresopnytske Yevanheliie – vydatna pamiatka ukrainskoi natsionalnoi kultury: materialy Vseukrainskoi mizhdystsyplinarnoi naukovoi konferentsii, prysviachenoi 450-richchiu napysannia Peresopnytskoho Yevanheliia. Ostroh: OA, 53-65 [in Ukrainian].
Byruk, M. (2008). Social and economic development of Ostroh at the beginning of the 18th century. In Mynule i suchasne Volyni ta Polissia. Starovyzhivshchyna z hlybyny stolit. Naukovyi zbirnyk. Materialy XXVIII Volynskoi oblasnoi istoryko-kraieznavchoi naukovoi konferentsii. Lutsk, 339-343 [in Ukrainian].
Blyzniak, M. (2012). The town of Kornytsia in the last quarter of the 18th century. Proceedings of the Conference: ‘Khmelnychchyna v konteksti istorii Ukrainy’. Khmelnytskyi, 177-181 [in Ukrainian].
Blyzniak, M. (2017). Inventory of the city of Ostroh in 1728. Naukovi zapysky Natsionalnoho universytetu «Ostrozka akademiia». Seriia «Istorychni nauky», 26, 5-23 [in Ukrainian].
Blyzniak, M.B. (2019). Regulation of the economic activity of the Jewish community in Volyn in the middle of the 18th century (episode of 1759 from the Lubar city register). The Universe of History and Archeology, 2 (27), Vol. 1, 70-83 [in Ukrainian].
Blyzniak, M.B. (2019). Citizens of Volyn in the 18th century: national composition and confessional characteristics. Proceedings of the Conference: III Vseukrainska naukovo-praktychna konferentsiia «Urbanistychni studii: suchasnyi stan ta perspektyvy rozvytku» (m. Dnipro, 25 kvitnia 2018 r.). Dnipro, 139-143 [in Ukrainian].
Blyzniak, M. (2020). Fire safety measures in the cities of Volyn in the 18th century (on the example of the city of Dubno). Naukovi zapysky Natsionalnoho universytetu «Ostrozka akademiia». Seriia «Istorychni nauky», 30, 5-13 [in Ukrainian].
Blyzniak, M. (2022). The «His Royal Mercy» city of Lutsk at the end of 1780-s. Naukovi zapysky Natsionalnoho universytetu «Ostrozka akademiia». Seriia «Istorychni nauky», 33, 55-75 [in Ukrainian].
Blyzniak, M. (2022). The city of Labun according to the inventory of 1788. Naukovi pratsi Kamianets-Podilskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni Ivana Ohiienka: istorychni nauky, 37: Do 75-richchia vid dnia narodzhennia profesora Valeriia Stepankova, 51-62 [in Ukrainian].
Blyzniak, M. (2023). The city of Novy Ostropil in the middle of the 18th century. Naukovi zapysky Natsionalnoho universytetu «Ostrozka akademiia». Seriia «Istorychni nauky», 34, 13-26 [in Ukrainian].
Briantseva, T.P. (1976). About the social and economic development of Volyn cities at the end of the 18th century. Visnyk Kyivskoho Universytetu. Seriia istorii, 18, 75-81 [in Ukrainian].
Briantseva, T.P. (1980). To the question of the class struggle in the cities of the Right Bank of Ukraine in the 1870s and 1890s. Visnyk Kyivskoho Universytetu. Seriia istorii, 22, 64-70. [in Ukrainian].
Briantseva, T.P. (1981). Social structure of the population of Volyn cities at the end of the 18th century. Visnyk Kyivskoho Universytetu. Seriia istorii, 23, 79-87 [in Ukrainian].
Bulatova, S.O. (2017). Traditional drinks of the noble court in the Belarusian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the first quarter of the 17th century (according to Mlechko’s manuscript from the Khreptovych collection in the funds of the Institute of Manuscripts of the National Library of Ukraine named after V.I. Vernadskyi)]. Rukopysna ta knyzhkova spadshchyna Ukrainy. Arkheohrafichni doslidzhennia unikalnykh arkhivnykh ta bibliotechnykh fondiv, 21, 73-96 [in Ukrainian].
Chubaty, Ya. (2015). ‘Royal Kalach’. Causes, circumstances and consequences of the divisions of Poland. In Polshcha – narys istorii. Varshava, 127-157 [in Ukrainian].
Goldberg, J. (1993). Żydowski handel detaliczny w Polsce w XVIII wieku: w świetle polsko-hebrajskiego «Porządku kramarzów miasta Zasławia 1771 anno». Przegląd humanistyczny, Tom 37, Number 4 (319), 45-56 [in Polish].
Gołębiowski, Ł. (1830). Domy і dwory przytem opisanie apteczki, kuchni, stołów, uczt, biesiad, trunków i pijatyki… Warszawa; Gluksberg [in Polish].
Guldon, Z. (1966). Związki handlowe dobr magnackich na Prawobrzeżnej Ukrainie z Gdańskiem w XVIII wieku. Toruń [in Polish].
Herasymenko, N.O. & Starchenko, N.P. (2013). Chopove. In Entsyklopediia istorii Ukrainy. Kyiv, Vol. 10, 554 [in Ukrainian].
Jankiewicz, P.R. (Ed.). (2022). Kronika klasztoru kapucynów w Ostrogu nad Horyniem (1750-1829) Krosno [in Polish].
Kitowicz, J. (1925). Opis obyczajów i zwyczajów za panowania Augusta III. Krakow: Druk W.L. Anczyca i Spolki [in Polish].
Krykun, M. (2012). Voivodeships of Right Bank Ukraine, 16th – 18th centuries. Articles and materials. Lviv [in Ukrainian].
Markina, V. (1961). Magnate estate of Right Bank Ukraine in the second half of the 18th century (socio-economic development). Kiev [in Russian].
Markina, V. (1971). Peasants of Right Bank Ukraine (late XVII – 60s of the XVIII century). Kiev [in Russian].
Michalski, A. (2012). Działalność gospodarcza książąt Czartoryskich w księstwie Klewańskim w latach 1701-1741. Słupsk [in Polish].
Michalski, A. (1998). Związki handlowe Wołynia z miastami nadbałtyckimi od XIII do pierwszej połowy XVIII w. Studia Bałtyckie w Koszalinie. Historia, 3 (6) [in Polish].
Orłowski, R. (1970). Dobra beresteckie na Ukrainie w drugiej połowie XVIII w. Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska. Sectio H. Oeconomia 4, 257-264 [in Polish].
Otamanovskiy, V.D. (1954). Cities of Right Bank Ukraine under the rule of the Polish gentry from the mid-17th to the end of the 18th century. The problem of the emergence and development of the Ukrainian feudal city. Historical research. PhD thesis. Saratov [in Russian].
Petrovsky-Shtern, Y. (2019). Shtetl. The golden age of Jewish town. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Pryshliak, V. (1998). The trading city of Dubno in the 18th century. Ukraina: kulturna spadshchyna, natsionalna svidomist, derzhavnist. PROƩΦΩΝNΜA Istorychni ta filolohichni rozvidky, prysviacheni 60-richchiu akademika Yaroslava Isaievycha. Lviv, 5, 511-515 [in Ukrainian].
Pshenychnyi, Yu. (2022). Yurydyka of the Spasiv Monastery in Dubna: to the question of spiritual jurisprudence in private cities of Volyn. Naukovi zapysky Rivnenskoho oblasnoho kraieznavchoho muzeiu, XХ, 30-40 [in Ukrainian].
Simon, J.Ch. (1808). Informacya praktyczna o paleniu wodek, pędzeniu dobrych alembikowych gorzałek i likworow: z przyłączonemi sposobami robienia różnego gatunku przednich essencyi: na pożytek gospodarzom, osobliwie zaś pisarzom ekonomicznym i browaru dozorcom opisana i wydana. Kraków [in Polish].
Sokyrko, O. (2021). Culinary journey to the Cossack Hetmanate. Secrets and mysteries of old Ukrainian kitchen of the middle 17th - 18th centuries. Kyiv: Tempora [in Ukrainian].
Stasiuk, I. (Ed.) (2008). The history of Teofipolshchyna in the documents of the archive of Sapieha and Yablonovsky princes. Collection of documents and materials. Shepetivka [in Ukrainian].
Sydorenko, O.F. (2003). Trade. In Istoriia ukrainskoi kultury. Ukrainska kultura druhoi polovyny XVII – XVIII stolit. Vol. 3. Kyiv: Nauk. dumka, 1056-1086 [in Ukrainian].
Shyvelbush, V. (2016). DAS PARADIES, der Geschmack und die Vernunft Eine Geschichte der Genußmittel. Kyiv; Lviv [in Ukrainian].
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
