During the regime of serfdom, the Noble Russian Feudal Lords could do whatever they pleased with their servants. The peasants were no different from other properties, such as cattle, horses, or pigs.
At the end of autumn, after the annual harvests, the imperial cavalry of the Tsar ran through the estates, collected tax fees, and took part of the produce of each farm.
Most of the production was stockpiled in the silos and deposits of the grand noble palaces or sent on convoy to Moscow or Petrograd.
The peasants could hold the smallest part of the harvest; their share was so small that they often feared starving during the harsh winter that was announced. Some peasants revolted against misery and poverty, against the unfair exploitation they suffered. Others tried to hide part of the production, trying to deceive the fiscals and the landlords.
Servants denounced for revolt or dishonesty were arrested and tried by their owners. Those who established the sentences, the number of lashes, or the execution and death of the wretched were their owners, the noble families.
These executions were carried out by the ranch managers and the imperial soldiers in the last cold weeks of autumn. On this occasion, when the number of armed soldiers reinforced the troops of the nobility, it was easier and safer to make the brutal punishment of the offenders.
Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova became famous for personally attending all executions, accompanied by all her maids and other relatives.
All present, nobles or soldiers, could see her undisguised pleasure in watching the suffering and despair of the damned. She commanded such cruel and numerous whipping that most of the condemned died during the punishments.
Many of the punished received brutal sentences even without critical or grounded reasons. Some were just the target of gossip or envy of neighbors or other employees. Even without reason or justification, a servant could be whipped cruelly for hours until his death.
Darya Saltykova accompanied with such enthusiasm the suffering of the condemned who, without disguising her pleasure, ordered additional cruelties. Once she called them to take the eyes off a young man with very blue eyes, she said they were too beautiful for such a lazy animal. If she noticed that one of the flogged ones got excited, with his penises erect, she would have him castrated. She said that only she could take pleasure in the beating.
My drawing was made respecting the images and descriptions researched on the internet.
Attach these two images, which demonstrate the traditional immobilization mode for the scourging of Russian servos.
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