Musketeers and Other Traditional Forces 61
classes and served for as long as they were needed. Some, the 'state
pishcha/'niki', were supplied with weapons by the authorities; they presumably
enjoyed higher status and better condition~ th~n those whose arma.-neut was
provided by their communities. In 1546 some Novgorod pishcha/'niki
mutinied and clashed with a force of gentry servitors at Kolomna, where the
young Ivan was then residing. The incident may have fortified his resolve to
replace them by men who performed similar duties on a permanent basis and
could be kept under tighter control.
The musketeers were set up in 1550, when 3,000 pishcha/'niki were chosen to
form an elite force, divided into six units.^2 ~ They were settled in a body on the
Sparrow Hills outside Moscow, where they were well placed to fulfil their task
of guarding the monarch's security. In 1552 they accompanied him on the suc-
cessful campaign against Kazan· and first saw action. The number of
musketeers grew rapidly: their children and other male relatives were encour-
aged (indeed, expected) to join, and volunteers were also accepted from outside
the corps's ranks. In each case kinsmen or neighbours were required to stand
surety for their good behaviour. The social distinction between the men who
served in Moscow and those consigned to the provinces, already present among
the pishcha/'niki, continued and was accentuated. In 1563 13,000 musketeers
went on the campaign to Polotsk, and by the end of the century they numberedsome 18,000 to 20,000, of whom 7,000 served in Moscow. (^26) The latter figure
was given correctly by Fletcher, who put the total at 12,000; he also noted that
200 of the elite section were mounted, and that these 'stremyannye strertsy, or
gunners at the stirrup, are about [the tsar's] own person at the very court or
house where [h~] himself lodgeth'.^27 The existence of these cavalrymen raised
the status of the whole corps, despite the growing social differentiation within
it. Already at this time it was probably difficult for an ordinary musketeer to
rise high in the force, or to transfer from the provinces to the centre. He could
reach the junior ranks of decurion and quinquagenarian (desyatskiy, pyatide-
syatskiy), but the centurion (sotskiy) and unit chief (go/ova) were drawn from
the privileged servitors. The names and ranks (but not the social origin) of over
two hundred such officers are known.^28 This 'promotion block' was a poten-
tial source of grievance to the rank and file. Materially, however, the
musketeers were relatively well provided for. The annual pay of the first 3 ,000
men was fixed at 4 roubles, and by 1589, according to Fletcher, even provin-
cials were receiving 7 roubles 'as well as 12 measures apiece of rye and oats'.29
2S The initial term stat·; (categories or grades) soon yielded to hundreds (sotm) and detachments
(pribory, prikazy). Chernov argues that some strertsy units came into being as early as 1$45-7
('Obrazovaniye', pp. 282-4; Voor. si/y, pp. 46-7), but as Zimin has shown (Reformy, p. 346), &bis
claim rests on dubious evidence.
26 Yepifanov, 'Voysko', pp. 346, 368; Hellie, Enserfment, p. 162: 20-25,000; Fletcher, Russe
Commonwealth, p. 180; Margeret estimated that in the 1590s the Moscow group was 10,000
strong (L 'Estat, p. 22). 21 Fletcher, loc. cit.
28 Bogoyavlensky, 'Strei. golovy', pp. 13-1.5; Yepifanov, 'Yoysko', p. 346; Shpakovsky,
'Strel"tsy', p. 140.
29 Fletcher, loc. cit. This may refer to the Moscow group.