Farming Soldiers and Dragoons

(pashennye sol-daty i draguny), a category of sluzhilye liudi (military service class) created by the Russian government in the 1640’s to perform guard service on the southern and northwestern frontiers of Russia.

The farming soldiers and dragoons were peasants with their own plots of land and farms who were freed from a significant portion of their taxes and other obligations to perform border service in soldier and dragoon regiments. During the period 1660–90 they gradually entered the ranks of tiaglye liudi or sluzhilye liudi. (The tiaglye liudi were “men of burden,” that is, persons bound to their urban or rural communities who were obliged to pay taxes and perform work for the government.)