On April 2, Peter I attended a session of both chambers of the English Parliament, where, in the presence of the king, the question of the land tax was discussed. The Austrian ambassador later reported this to the Viennese court as follows: “The Muscovite Tsar, who had never before seen sessions of Parliament, was on the roof of the building and watched the ceremony through a small window.
This prompted someone to say that he had seen the rarest thing in the world, namely: a king on the throne and an emperor on the roof.” When the debates were over, Peter remarked: “It is enjoyable to listen when subjects openly tell their sovereign the truth.” At least in words, the idea of collective discussion of state decisions appealed to the emperor.
In August, the day after returning from abroad, the 26-year-old Tsar Peter Alekseyevich, at an assembly of boyars, ordered scissors to be brought and with his own hands, publicly, cut off the beards of several boyars from noble families. The boyars were shocked by the tsar’s stunt; of their solidity and sternness there was no trace left. Later, Peter repeatedly performed similar operations. However, the new ways took root with difficulty. The tsar was condemned, his innovation was not accepted; there were even those who, having parted with their beards, ended their lives by suicide. All over Russia people grumbled, for it was believed that shaving a beard was a sin, and priests refused to give a blessing to a beardless man.
In Peter’s actions the boyars saw an attempt on the very foundations of Russian life and stubbornly resisted the shaving of beards.
In this connection, on September 5, Peter I introduced a beard tax, in order to instill in his subjects the fashion adopted in other European countries. For control, a special metal token was introduced as well—the beard badge—serving as a kind of receipt for payment for the right to wear a beard. By the end of that same year, the requirement to shave beards was extended to the main groups of the urban population; a fine was also set for failure to comply with the order. And according to the decree of 1705, the entire male population of the country, with the exception of priests, monks, and peasants, was obliged to shave beards and mustaches. The tax for wearing a beard was increased depending on a person’s estate and property status. Four rates of duty were established: from courtiers, urban nobles, and officials—600 rubles a year (an enormous sum for that time); from merchants—100 rubles a year; from townsmen—60 rubles a year; from servants, coachmen, and all ranks of Moscow residents—30 rubles annually. Peasants were not subject to the duty, but each time they entered a city, 1 kopek “from the beard” was collected. The duty was abolished only in 1772.