Odnodvortsy
Denis Lyapin pointed out that if, however, relations of a boyar scion had their own house on his estate, such a gentleman was not ranked as odnodvorets.
[1] The same applied if a boyar scion had a single bobyl (Russian: бобыль, i.e. a homeless man, who lost his house in a disaster or a war), who, though, did not have to work for the estate's owner.
In the late 16th century, in order to protect the southern frontier from the Crimean Tatars, as well as from the Ukrainian Cossacks and Poland, Moscow government decided to establish a line of strongholds on the border with the steppe (the wild field): Belgorod, Yelets, Kursk, Voronezh, etc.
The government started recruiting boyar scions, as well as anyone who expressed the desire to enter the military service, to the frontier fortresses (ukrainnye goroda).
In order to implement the reform, the communities of odnodvortsy were structured in the so-called 'slobods' headed by atamans, similar to Cossacks.
[8] Later they were managed by administrators (upraviteli) who collected taxes, represented the community at the central authorities, and organized the military duties.
The sotniks and destyatniks were chosen in turn (called 'cherga'), so every family had their duty upcoming in due time.
[8] In 1738 Dementy Zarubin organized a great uprising in the Demshinsky district, Tambov Vicegerency, against recruitment in the land militia.
Even when the dragoons entered their settlement, the inhabitants refused to give their leader away and organized defense at their homes.
[8] In a few weeks, a larger troop headed by Major Mansurov was sent to 'drown the riot in blood',[8] but all of the inhabitants of the village left it secretly prior to it.
The odnodvortsy of Kozlov, Tambov Governorate, stated their ancestors, boyar scions, were settled in the 17th century on the southern frontier to fight Tatars.
They complained that they were ranked lower than 'burgers and merchants', levied capitation and obliged to serve in land militia, and asked the tsarina to return them their former name of boyar scions.
[9] Belgorod odnodvortsy complained that even though they served in the military and had been to many battles, they were not freed from capitation, while in their absence wealthy landlords seized their lands, and they ended up homeless.
[10] They also brought up the fact of that some nobility gained this rank without having the due right, hailing from petty clerks and clergy, and having received this status for money rather than for descent.
[8] Since 1874 odnodvortsy were allowed to enter military service as volunteers, and thus climb up the Table of ranks in order to regain nobility[12] As descendants of landed gentry and servicemen, odnodvortsy often owned hereditary landed estates measured in the units called 'chetverty' (cheti).
Great hostility between these two groups was expressed in the nicknames serfs gave them, such as indyuki (Russian: индюк; close to peacock), red blood, lapotnye kniazya (literally 'princes in bast shoes'), talagayi (dialectal: lazy bums), panki (petty gentlemen).
[17] In this period houses of odnodvortsy were made of long two-storey structures with many apartments to accommodate families of male offspring.
[8] Women from the southern odnodvortsy were famous for their special striped or checkered skirts called 'andarak', similar to Lithuanian national costume.
[8] Their families kept ancient dishes passed down to them from their ancestors, such as 'salamata', a thick soup made of milk and flour, that is traced back to the meal eaten by servicemen in long-distant military campaigns, and the cereal soup based on buckwheat, millet or wheat and flavored with lard or butter.
