"Epancha Was Made in that Wool": Felt Clothes in the Upper Volga Region and Neighboring Territories in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time.

Stepanova Yuliya PhD in History Associate Professor, Tver State University 119334, Russia, Tver, Trekhsvyatskaya str., 16/31, office 207 m000142@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Felt was widely used in medieval Russia and Modern Russia for the manufacture of capes, bedding, hats, shoes and its parts. Fragments of felt products were found in layers of Novgorod ^[14], Moscow ^[33], Yaroslavl ^[50], Staraya Ladoga ^{[9; 23; 29]} (in layers of both IX-X centuries and late Medieval).

The appearance of the word "felt" in the Russian language dates back to the XVI century, the first mention in written sources dates back to 1551 ^[17]. The versatility of felt products in Russia of the XVII century was noted by Johann Kielburger, pointing out that Russians, Tatars and Cossacks use saddle felts as bedding in campaigns, and a waterproof felt cloak serves as a blanket ^[18].

In written sources of the XVI-XVII centuries there are names of handicraft specialties related to wool processing and felting. Woolworkers (woolworkers) whipped wool before felting or spinning. The same term could also be used for artisans engaged in the manufacture of felt. The yards of woolworkers in the XVII century were located in Kashin (1677/78) ^[34], Tver (1677/78) ^[35], the village of Kimra (1635) ^[43], in the Volokolamsk district (1646) ^{[45, L. 33ob.]}.

Among the nicknames of the townspeople, in addition to woolworms, there are others related to the manufacture of felt. The yards of the voyloshnikov were in Torzhok (according to the descriptions of 1624 and 1646) ^{[42, pp. 54, 56, 81]}. In the village of Knyazh Vladimirovo Gorodishche, the center of the patrimony of Prince Vasily Andreevich Mikulinsky (corresponds to the archaeological monument Khlopovo Gorodishche) ^[19] a separate book of 1588 ^[31] marked the yards of polstovals – craftsmen who made felted products, polsti – felt bedspreads.

The craft specialty of the epanechnik (epanechnik) is directly related to the production of felt products. In the XVI-XVII centuries, the epancha was a wide sleeveless cape, long, sometimes with a hood, could be soaked with drying oil ^{[48, p. 52]}. In the XVIII-XIX centuries, epanches were made of cloth or felt – long for men, short elegant ones made of patterned fabrics for women ^{[46, p. 80]}. Epanches were also made with a lining. Thus, in the documents of the Krasnokholmsky Antoniev monastery there was a record in 1651 about the payment to the tailor of altyn for the lining of the epancha ^{[24, l. 8]}. The epanches "with necklaces" are mentioned ^{[5, p. 125, No. 171, p. 532, No. 503]} - possibly with buttoned collars. As for the color of the epanches, in written sources there are only indications of their white or gray color – apparently from fiber of different production. For example, white epanches belonging to the abbot and elder of the Vazhsky St. John the Theologian Monastery ^{[15, p. 19]}, gray "with a stripe" – to the elder of the Spaso-Prilutsky monastery ^{[10, p. 357]}, gray – to the monastic servant ^{[15, p. 22]}. The earliest mentions of the epanches (yaponchits) are in the "Word about Igor's regiment" ^{[49, p. 11]} and "Domostroy" ^{[12, p. 256]}.

At the beginning of the XIV century. felt cloak was designated by the word "yapkyt" (in the "Tale of Mikhail Tversky" and the Novgorod birch bark charter 138) ^[20]. It was with such a cloak that the body of the great Tver Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich was covered.

The idea of felt cloaks of the XI-XIII centuries is given by archaeological finds. In the burial mound of Savinsky Hills near Torzhok, a fragment of felt clothing was found in a female burial – probably a cape fastened with a small fibula. Unfortunately, the find is known only from the description ^{[13, p. 21-22]}. Presumably, a fragment of a cape (shoulder scarf) was found in Staraya Ladoga ^[9]. Fragments of felt and felt "shawl with fringe" were found in the layers of the XII-XIII centuries in Beloozer ^{[8, p. 191]}. The shape of felt capes is more clearly established by a series of fragments from a collective burial in Yaroslavl (Fig. 1: 1). They have an arched cutout with trim along the edge or its remnants. Capes were fastened at the neck and had no sleeves ^{[50, pp. 313-315]}.  Clothing of a similar shape is depicted on the Novgorod icon "Svv. Boris and Gleb" from the middle of the XIV century. from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery ^{[22, p. 53, fig. IV-8]} (Fig. 1: 2).

Fig. 1. Ancient Russian capes according to archaeological and pictorial sources. 1 – a felt cape from the excavations of a collective burial in Yaroslavl, XIII century. ^{[50, Fig. 3: 1]}, 2 – the image of the cape on the icon "Svv. Boris and Gleb" in the middle of the XIV century. ^{[22, p. 53, fig. IV-8]}.

In written sources of the XVII century. it is repeatedly indicated that epanchi – felted products. In the correspondence of the boyar B.I. Morozov with the clerk of his patrimonial village of Old Pokrovsky (Nizhny Novgorod district), dating back to 1651, we are talking about felting epancha from woolen raw materials. Boris Ivanovich Morozov ordered from the 17 pounds of wool he sent from Moscow to "dump epanech", selecting wool of appropriate quality from this volume. From the remaining wool, seat felt was to be made ^{[2, p. 148, No. 84]}. A similar situation is described in the documents of stolnik A.I. Bezobrazov. They are talking about the felting of epanches in the Belevskaya patrimony of the stolnik – D. Telchya. The village craftsmen who made them are named ^{[5, p. 237, No. 283, p. 573, No. 548]}. There is also information about the absence of felting craftsmen in the patrimony: "everyone, g (o)s (u)d (a)r, did not have time to dump (b) because there was no one to bring down (b), adin was Bagdan Savin <...> And then, g (o)s (y)d(a)r, the son of Yefimka was lying to him <...> with this he took: I'm not going to dump Bagdanava" ^{[5, p. 568, No. 541]}. There are clarifications that woolworths were engaged in felting epanets ^{[33, p. 116]}. The common name "cloth" is applied to woolen fabrics, which could also be felted, in written sources. Epanches are usually separated from cloth clothes made by tailors. In written sources of the XVII century. there are indications that the best quality fiber was selected for the manufacture of cloth, the remnants were used for felting felt ^{[3, p. 174, No. 514]}.

It seems that in the XVII century. the epancha was primarily felt clothing – a universal cape, widely used in the everyday life of the service class, townspeople and peasants. They could also be used as blankets or bedding. In the documents of the XVI-XVII centuries, epanches are sometimes included in sets together with other felt products, more often – sweats (seat felt) and polstami (bedding, including sledge) ^{[5, p. 106, No. 139]}, sometimes together with saddles ^{[4, p. 163, No. 153, p. 339, No. 370]}: "5 white epaulets, and a gray felt seatpost" ^{[5, p. 207, No. 258]}. Among the possessions of the Krasnokholmsky Antoniev monastery of the XVI century. there were two epanches, two polsti ^{[28, pp. 391-392]}. Herberstein described the use of the epancha in field conditions: "Breaking up the camp, they choose a more spacious place, where the more noble ones set up tents, while others stick rods in the form of an arc into the ground and cover them with raincoats (iapantze) to hide saddles, bows and the like there and to (themselves) protect themselves from the rain" ^{[47, p. 117]}.

The earliest are the mentions of the epanechniks in the village of Moistino – the center of the Moistinsky churchyard ^{[25, stb. 731]} and in the Village on the churchyard ^{[26, stb. 686]} in the Village Pyatina in the oldest scribe book of 1495/96. Four yards of epanechniks were in Toropets in 1540 ^{[38, p. 509, 518]}. Epanechniki could make epanches and sell them.  

The largest share of epanechnics in the urban population of the Upper Volga region is observed in Staritsa. The watch book of the Staritsa of 1613/14, which was devastated during the period of Troubles, recorded desolate courtyard places ^{[40, pp. 23-34]}. Accordingly, it can be assumed that the source reflects rather the situation on the eve of ruin, the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. In 1613/14, 6 courtyards and yard places of the epanechniks were recorded in Staritsa. In this regard, it is interesting to note Axel Guldenstyerne, who accompanied the Danish Duke Hans, who passed through Staritsa in 1602, that "the best felt armyaks in Russia" are made in Staritsa ^{[1, p. 14]} (the term used in the original text requires clarification). In later descriptions of the city, both the courtyards and the descendants of the artisans-Epanechnikov are already recorded (the surname of the Epanechnikov was preserved in the Old Town until the second half of the twentieth century).

In the second half of the XVI century, craftsmen specialized in the manufacture of epanches in the large village of Knyazh Vladimirovo Gorodishche (5 courtyards in 1580) ^{[36, pp. 394-395]}. For comparison, in Novgorod, the scribal description of 1581-1582 recorded 2 epanechnikov yards ^{[44, p. 85, Table 2]}, 1646 – one yard ^{[39, p. 69]}, in Staraya Russa – one yard (description of 1497/98) ^{[41, p. 19]}.

In addition to the Old Woman, felt cloaks were made in Torzhok: Peter Petrei singled out Torzhok and adjacent territories as a place where "good felt capes are made" ^{[27, p. 189]}, although in the Torzhok census book of 1685 only one yard of Ivan Ivanov Epaneshnikov is allocated, the occupation of which is designated as "making epanches" ^{[42, c. 436]}.

Apparently, even in pre-Mongol times, the main raw materials for the manufacture of felt in Russia were local raw materials. Researchers of ancient Russian felt products from Yaroslavl suggest the local origin of woolen raw materials for felt products ^{[50, p. 321]}. The widespread use of wool processing in the peasant and urban economy, as already noted, is recorded by written sources of the XVI-XVII centuries. For the production of felt products, leather production waste could be used – perhaps the most common among crafts related to the processing of materials for the manufacture of clothing and shoes. As in the production of vegetable fiber textiles, various fiber processing and material manufacturing operations were closely related: pre-cleaning and loosening of fiber, spinning and fabric and felt making.

In historiography, the predominance of sheep products in the structure of small income in land ownership in the Village Pyatina of Novgorod land in the late XV – early XVI century was noted – 46.3% ^{[30, p. 95]}. Written sources of the end of the XV – XVII century. testify to the collection of the rent by wool in large patrimonial and local farms. There is a difference in the collection of sheepskins, fleece wool and poyarkami – the wool of the first shearing of young sheep. The presence of "2 milks, 2 fleece of wool" in the composition of one rent, most likely indicates that it was different products ^{[6, p. 314-315]}. According to the scribal books of the Novgorod land, sheepskins were part of small income everywhere in the Moscow and Moscow times. For example, 40 sheepskins were collected in the income of the Novgorod archbishop from the vladychnaya volost of Udomlya at the end of the XV century ^{[37, pp. 237-238]}. However, the collection of wool in the runes did not exist everywhere. Nevertheless, in the territory of the Upper Volga region and adjacent territories, this practice was apparently spread unevenly - perhaps due to the uneven spread of wool processing. The "wool runes" collected income from the villages of the Kholmsky pogost (located in the south of the Village Pyatina on the border with Toropetsky county) of the Village Pyatina ^{[26, stb. 826-880]}. In the structure of income collected by landlords from the volosts of the Tver half of the Bezhetskaya Pyatina in the first half of the XVI century, only in Sorogoshin (the parish on the Sorogozha river, the left tributary of the Mologa river) there was a rent in wool runes: "And the income in Sorogoshin in the Okinfovskaya volost of the Bellied emlyut landlords ... from three rounds 2 fleece wool" ^{[16, stb. 429]}.

 In the second half of the XVI century. in the palace economy of Simeon Bekbulatovich from the large villages of the Tver district of Maryino, Shcherbinino, Migailovo, Ondreyevskoe, Borki, Sukharino, Edimonovo, Edimanova Slobodka, Old Konstantinovsky, Lyubalevo, Lotoshino, Knyazh Vladimirovo Gorodishche, Kushalino, Beli, two poyarkas of white and gray wool were included in the small income from thirty ^{[36, p. 314, 319, 325, 330, 339, 344, 352, 359, 367, 372, 382, 391, 403, 470, 487]}. In the XVII century. the same practice was maintained. For example, from the Kashinsky estate of the stolnik A.I. Bezobrazov, the village of Martynkovo, wool was sent to Moscow, collected, however, "from Konkov sheep" in his patrimony near Moscow ^{[4, p. 569, No. 600]}. Wool was also collected in the Borovsky possession of the stolnik of the village of Kurilovo, including poyarkov runes and "old sheep" (old sheep) ^{[5, p. 52, No. 61]}. It is noted that within the framework of a large patrimonial economy, wool and products from it were obtained in geographically different parts. In the patrimony of A.I. Bezobrazov, felt and cloth produced in the Belevskaya patrimony were produced not only from local wool, but also the wool of sheep bred in the Moscow (Borovsky) possession ^{[5, p. 445, No. 439, p. 469, No. 454]}.

The same can be said about the monastery farm, in which the wool rent was collected from the monastery peasants. The scheme was maintained until secularization. For example, in the first half of the XVIII century. in the Donskoy monastery of the Medvedeva Desert on the Sister River, wool was collected from the monastic possessions, among which were villages in Kashinsky district, three pounds of wool were collected, from which epanches, polsti, felts and cloth were then made in accordance with the needs determined by the leadership of the Donskoy monastery ^[11].

The yards of sheepskins are recorded in almost all cities and large villages of the Upper Volga region, however, the largest share of them probably accounted for the untilled rural population. So, in 1580, the village of Knyazh Vladimirovo settlement consisted of 13 yards of artisans specializing in leather and fiber processing and tailoring of clothing and shoes, along with five yards of sheepskins there were four yards of sheepskins ^{[36, pp. 394-396]}. 

Thus, there is a development of specialization in the manufacture of felt products in the western part of the Upper Volga region, the Upper Podvinye, the Platform during the late Middle Ages and early Modern times. Undoubtedly, local raw materials were used for the production of felt – products of universally developed sheep breeding. At the end of the XV – XVII century. in the structure of a large patrimonial economy, the volume of income from wool allowed the production of felt products from raw materials collected in different parts of the patrimony. Felted products could be made from waste wool after the production of cloth. Felt products, due to their versatility, were in great demand, which contributed to the formation of separate specializations in the structure of their production. First of all, the masters-epanechniki stand out. Their concentration in the Upper Volga and Upper Podvinye in the XVI-XVII centuries was noted in Staritsa, Toropets, the village of Knyazh Vladimirovo Gorodishche – the former patrimony center of the Princes Mikulinsky. Undoubtedly, the craft of making felt products was developed in Nizhny Novgorod, Belevsky counties. In Murom in the second half of the XVI century there was a Polstovalova Street, there were courtyards of polstovals ^[21]. This topic requires further research. Information from written sources of the XVII century indicate the manufacture of felt epaulettes and characterize them as outer clothing of the cape type, sometimes with a collar-"necklace", probably with slits for hands. Archaeological finds of felt clothing from earlier times correspond to this view. In fact, the form of such clothing existed from the early Middle Ages to Modern times. Reliability and simplicity made felt epaulets universal products, widely used, first of all, in field and field conditions. Unfortunately, very few archaeological finds of such clothes have been preserved. Fragmented finds of felt most often do not allow us to determine their belonging to products of a specific shape. The simplicity of the form and intensive exploitation, reflected in written sources, are probably the reasons that only cloth analogues of such clothes of Modern times have reached us in museum collections ^[7].