POSAD POPULATION OF THE HISTORICAL REGION OF THE BELGOROD LINE IN THE EPOCH OF PETER'S TRANSFORMATIONS (BY THE MATERIALS OF THE LANDRATSKY BOOK OF YELTS 1716)

The historical region of the Belgorod Line is the territory of the modern Central Black Earth Region of Russia. These fertile lands began to be intensively developed only in the second half of the 17th century, after the construction of a complex of military defense structures. Economic development pushed the growth of the population of fortified cities. The social processes taking place in the region are of great interest, especially for the townspeople. Insufficient coverage of this issue in historiography, as well as special attention to regional history, determine the scientific significance of the article. The main source of the work was the census (Landrat) book of 1716. It is stored in fund 350 of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RSAAA). The aim of the study is to analyze the social composition of the township population of Yelets in 1716. The issues of the number of residents and the composition of their families, as well as age categories of the population, are considered in detail. An important place is occupied by a comparison of the data for 1716 with the 1710 census figures, which are present in the landrat book.