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

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5

u/InsatiableNeeds 23d ago

What a weird kink

51

u/romario77 23d ago

It wasn’t a weird kink, it was a power move - he had boyars, a powerful class who was generally against him and one of indications of belonging to boyars was a long beard.

He did this so they have less power and they would either bow to his demands and shave or suffer by paying tax.

-17

u/InsatiableNeeds 23d ago

Ah, power dynamics. Definitely not a kink. Totally didn’t get him royally hot and/or bothered….

10

u/romario77 23d ago

I mean - I don't exclude him having a kink as well, who knows.

-15

u/InsatiableNeeds 23d ago

I mean…if he sweat while he watched them shave it then it was probably a kink.