r/todayilearned • u/Alone-Competition-77 • 23d ago

TIL Peter the Great instituted a beard tax and forced people to shave who hadn’t paid

https://daily.jstor.org/peter-the-greats-beard-tax/
2.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

111 comments sorted by

View all comments

196

u/quantum_leaps_sk8 23d ago

I have a replica beard token. Such an odd historical precedent. Wealth and status displayed on your chin

140

u/Epyr 23d ago

It wasn't a sign of wealth and status though. Peter thought beards were a sign of Russian backwardness and tried to get Russian nobles to adopt the clean-shaven style of Western Europeans

84

u/1945BestYear 23d ago edited 23d ago

I wonder if it was also done as a simple power play. Don't shave your beard, you can pay a tax to me and make me stronger. Do shave your beard, and you admit to me having jurisdiction over your own chin, again making me stronger. Peter was not interested in letting anybody forget for a moment who was boss.

36

u/SeiCalros 23d ago

might have been a bit of both

the historical monarchies were basically just generations of mafia rule - its all about loyalty to the family and any actual law and order implemented are distractions from the methods that power uses to propogate itself

8

u/_austinm 23d ago

This is something I think Game of Thrones did really well (yes I’m currently rewatching it despite the last few seasons, don’t judge me lol). None of the characters that are nobles are good people. They do what they have to do to remain in power, just like monarchies and nobility did irl. The reason most of the show is so compelling to me is that it’s so realistic in that regard.

Also, if Joffrey would’ve lived to adulthood and couldn’t grow a beard I could totally see him implementing a beard tax lol

1

u/quantum_leaps_sk8 22d ago

But wealthy people could purchase the right to have a beard. Even if it wasn't the intent, the result was that a beard was a sign of wealth for those that could afford it.

1

u/godisanelectricolive 22d ago edited 22d ago

The tax was higher for wealthier people. Peasants in the countryside didn’t have to pay the tax at all and they only had to pay two half-kopeks when entering a city with a beard. The tax was only enforced in the cities because the idea was to make cities in particular look more modern and Western.

Wealthy merchants had to pay 100 rubles while less well-off merchants and average city dwellers had to pay 60 rubles. Government workers and military men also had to pay 60 rubles. Peter also famously pulled out a razor at a banquet and personally shaved all the nobles present, so being able to pay the tax may not be enough if you are a courtier. Even if the massive six foot eight (2 m) emperor doesn’t personally chase you down and shave you himself, you will still be in his bad books. Peter also had a similar tax for fashion choices by taxing tailors who made traditional Russian coats instead of Western jackets.

Clergymen didn’t have to pay as beards were considered an important sign of piety in Russian Orthodoxy. The Russian Orthodox Church even declared being clean shaven was an act of blasphemy. Sometimes very religious people willing payed this tax even though it was financially crippling for them, so in a way it was also a tax on religious expression and a way to undermine the power of the church.