Forbidden years

The Forbidden Years were part of a tightening of the service obligations of serfs in Russia leading to full-scale serfdom in the 17th through 19th centuries. They were first instituted by Tsar Ivan IV in 1581 as a temporary measure, but eventually became permanent.

History

Under the provisions of Article 57 of the Sudebnik of 1497 promulgated by Grand Prince Ivan III, serfs were permitted to transfer from one estate to another "once a year, during the week before and a week after St. George's Day in the autumn" provided they had fulfilled all corvée and/or quitrent obligations and had paid a fee, the pozhiloe, to the landlord they were leaving. In Ivan IV's Sudebnik of 1550, this right of transfer remained, but the pozhiloe was increased and a tax was added.
Due to the hardships brought about by Ivan IV's Livonian War, the excesses of the oprichnina, Tatar raids and a series of crop failures and other natural disasters, the tsar temporarily suspended this right of movement or transfer in an ukaz issued in 1581. This move, in fact, proved permanent, as it was never lifted. His son's government made this limitation permanent in an ukaz of September 1, 1597. The Ulozhenie of 1649 did away with this statute of limitations, and this is often seen as the final element of full-blown serfdom in Russia.