BIELASHOV V. I., BAKALETS O. A., KLIUIEV A. M. Coins and things treasures of Hlukhiv monastery of Saint Peter and Paul (the second half of XVII – XVIII centuries)

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        The study of the European and Russian coins that were in the monetary circulation of the Hetmans state and Sivershchyna region in particular in the second half of the 17th to 18th centuries is very important for studying the peculiarities of the international trade relations, saturating the regional market with foreign coins, studying counting coins and the peculiarities of their artistic designing. Money makes the basis of the monetary circulation, it is a measure of value manifesting itself in the ability to evaluate any product, is a kind of chronicle of the country, a symbol and carrier of the objective historical information, an unbiased source of knowledge of the past, and hence it is a unique ground for the scientific research.

       The authors of the historical and numismatic research make attempt to analyze the original findings of the coin and goods treasures of the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries, found during the period of 1993 – 2016 on the territory of the Hlukhiv Petro and Pavlo monastery, reflecting the entire spectrum of the money economy of Sivershchyna region, show the role of the Orthodox monasteries in the conditions of gradual declining the autonomy of the Hetmans state and the displacement of the European coins by Russian ones.

      The aim of the research is revealing the importance of the Hlukhiv Petro and Pavlo monastery in the system of the industrial, trade and financial relations, counting coins and monetary circulation of the determined period. The object of the research is the money circulation and counting coins on the territory of the Sivershchyna region, consisting of the Hetmans state and Novhorod-Siverskyi self governing during the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries, coin and goods treasures, and the economic activity of the Petro and Pavlo Monastery as the centre of the organising traditional fairs of local and international significance. The subject of the research is processes of accumulating treasures of the monastery and monks in the form of coins and goods treasures on the territory of the monastery, in the surrounding forests and ravines, qualitative and quantitative composition of the findings. The authors of the investigation were the first to introduce 13 treasures, various in denominations, state affiliation and numismatic value, into the scientific circulation. Among these findings, the most historically valuable is the treasure of the silver baculus’s edge of the well-known pro-russian activist, the spiritual mentor of the The Haidamakas movement in the Right-Bank Ukraine, the bishop Melchizedek Znachko-Yavorskyi (1716 - 1809) buried in the monastery.

       Thus, written, treasury coins and goods memorials of the Hlukhiv Petro and Pavlo monastery of the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries clearly show the peculiarities of counting, the role of the European and Russian coins in the money market of the researched region, and substantially complement the well-known array of scientific numismatic studies.

Кey words: Hlukhiv Petro and Pavlo monastery, Hetmans state, Novhorod-Siverskyi local self-governing, Melchizedek Znachko-Yavorsky, baculus’s edge, currency, treasure, taller, ruble, golden imperial, kopeck.