In 1722 it was ordered that all who retained
their beards should wear a particular dress and pay fifty roubles
annually. If a man would not shave, and was unable to pay, he was
sentenced to hard labour. This law was extended to the provinces, but in
1723 peasants bringing produce into towns were wholly relieved from this
tax. Peter passed away in 1725, and Catherine I. confirmed all the
edicts relating to the beard in the ukase dated 4th August 1726.
A decree was issued by Peter II. in 1728 permitting peasants employed in
agriculture to wear their beards. Fifty roubles had to be paid by all
other persons, and the tax was rigidly enforced. The Empress Anne took a
firm attitude against the beard. In 1731 she promulgated a ukase by
which all persons not engaged in husbandry retaining their beards were
entered in the class of Raskolnicks, in addition to paying the beard tax
of fifty roubles, double the amount of all other taxes.
In 1743 the Empress Elizabeth confirmed the existing decrees in all
their force.
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