The Peasant War under the leadership of E. I. Pugachev left behind not only a great deal of documentary material, but also a number of tangible historical monuments .1 We still have traces of the sphragistic creativity of the Pugachevites: wax and sealing wax impressions of seals preserved on the manifestos and decrees of Pugachev, who called himself Peter III, decrees of his Military Collegium, documents of the marching offices of his atamans. These are the first sphragistic monuments in the history of our country, which are the "products" of the rebellious people. Images and inscriptions on them carry a certain meaning and can contribute to a better understanding of the aspirations, plans and claims of the rebels. The study of their seals also allows us to make observations about the organization of office work among the rebels, which indirectly indicates some organization and purposefulness of their actions. Pugachev paid a lot of attention to symbols of national significance. Among them, the banner of the rebels 2 occupies a special place . It played an important role in ceremonials: in the act of starting an uprising (the public reading of the manifesto and the order to unfurl five prepared banners), in the act of surrendering a city or government detachment to Pugachev (the city taken by the rebels had to hand over the banners to him, as a sign of the defeat of the government army, the banners must be bowed (the population was obliged to meet Pugachev's army with a banner in their hands). The use of seals by the rebels as an official sign that binds the document took place before the Peasant War of 1773-1775. Thus, although the documents that came out of the rebel camp from the previous peasant wars were preserved in small numbers, they still allow us to state that the Bolotnikovites and Razintsy kept records 3 . When processing documents, both of them used seals. What kind of seals were they? It's hard to say yet. A letter from one of the leaders of the movem ... Читать далее