In what year was the formation of the Old Russian state? Origin of the name "Rus"
Old Russian state Old Russian state
state in Eastern Europe, which arose in the last quarter of the 9th century. as a result of the unification under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty of the two main centers of the Eastern Slavs - Novgorod and Kyiv, as well as lands located along the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” (settlements in the area of Staraya Ladoga, Gnezdov, etc.). In 882, Prince Oleg captured Kyiv and made it the capital of the state. In 988-89, Vladimir I Svyatoslavich introduced Christianity as the state religion (see Baptism of Rus'). In the cities (Kyiv, Novgorod, Ladoga, Beloozero, Rostov, Suzdal, Pskov, Polotsk, etc.) crafts, trade, and education developed. Relations with the southern and western Slavs, Byzantium, Western and Northern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia were established and deepened. Old Russian princes repelled the raids of nomads (Pechenegs, Torks, Polovtsians). The reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-54) was the period of greatest prosperity of the state. Public relations were regulated by the Russian Truth and other legal acts. In the second half of the 11th century. Princely civil strife and Polovtsian raids led to a weakening of the state. Attempts to maintain unity ancient Russian state were undertaken by Prince Vladimir II Monomakh (ruled 1113-25) and his son Mstislav (ruled 1125-32). In the second quarter of the 12th century. the state entered the final phase of disintegration into independent principalities, the Novgorod and Pskov republics.
ANCIENT RUSSIAN STATEANCIENT RUSSIAN STATE (Kievan Rus), state of the 9th - early 12th centuries. in Eastern Europe, which arose in the last quarter of the 9th century. as a result of unification under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty (cm. RYURIKOVYCHY) two main centers of the Eastern Slavs - Novgorod and Kyiv, as well as lands (settlements in the area of Staraya Ladoga, Gnezdov) located along the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” (cm. THE WAY FROM VARYAG TO THE GREEKS). In its heyday, the Old Russian state covered the territory from the Taman Peninsula in the south, the Dniester and the headwaters of the Vistula in the west, to the headwaters of the Northern Dvina in the north. The formation of the state was preceded by a long period (from the 6th century) of the maturation of its prerequisites in the depths of military democracy (cm. MILITARY DEMOCRACY). During the existence of the Old Russian state East Slavic tribes formed into the Old Russian people.
Socio-political system
Power in Rus' belonged to the Kyiv prince, who was surrounded by a squad (cm. DRUGINA), dependent on him and fed mainly from his campaigns. The veche also played a certain role (cm. VECHE). The government was carried out with the help of thousand and sotskys, i.e., on the basis of a military organization. The prince's income came from various sources. In the 10th - early 11th centuries. These are basically “polyudye”, “lessons” (tribute) received annually from the field.
In the 11th - early 12th centuries. In connection with the emergence of large land ownership with various types of rent, the functions of the prince expanded. Owning his own large domain, the prince was forced to manage a complex economy, appoint posadniks, volostels, tiuns, and manage a numerous administration. He was a military leader, now he had to organize not so much a squad as a militia brought by vassals, and hire foreign troops. Measures to strengthen and protect external borders have become more complicated. The prince's power was unlimited, but he had to take into account the opinion of the boyars. The role of the veche was declining. The princely court became the administrative center where all the threads of state government converged. Palace officials emerged who were in charge of individual branches of government. The cities were headed by the urban patriciate, formed in the 11th century. from large local landowners - “elders” and warriors. Noble families played a big role in the history of cities (for example, the family of Jan Vyshatich, Ratibor, Chudin - in Kyiv, Dmitr Zavidich - in Novgorod). The merchants enjoyed great influence in the city. The need to protect goods during transportation led to the appearance of armed merchant guards; among the city militia, merchants occupied first place. The largest part of the urban population were artisans, both free and dependent. A special place was occupied by the clergy, divided into black (monastic) and white (secular). At the head of the Russian Church was the metropolitan, usually appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, to whom the bishops were subordinate. Monasteries headed by abbots were subordinate to bishops and metropolitans.
The rural population consisted of free communal peasants (their number was decreasing) and already enslaved peasants. There was a group of peasants, cut off from the community, deprived of the means of production and who were the labor force within the estate. The growth of large landownership, the enslavement of free community members and the growth of their exploitation led to an intensification of the class struggle in the 11th-12th centuries. (uprisings in Suzdal in 1024; in Kyiv in 1068-1069; on Beloozero around 1071; in Kyiv in 1113). The uprisings in most cases were disunited, they involved pagan sorcerers who used disgruntled peasants to fight the new religion - Christianity. A particularly strong wave of popular protests swept across Rus' in the 1060-1070s. due to famine and the invasion of the Polovtsians. During these years, a collection of laws “Pravda Yaroslavichi” was created, a number of articles of which provided for punishments for the murder of estate officials. Public relations were regulated by Russian truth (cm. RUSSIAN PRAVDA (code of law)) and other legal acts.
Political history
The course of historical events in the Old Russian state is known from chronicles (cm. CHRONICLES), compiled in Kyiv and Novgorod by monks. According to the Tale of Bygone Years (cm. Tale of Bygone Years)", the first prince of Kyiv was the legendary Kiy. The dating of the facts begins from 852 AD. e. The chronicle includes a legend about the calling of the Varangians (862) led by Rurik, which became in the 18th century. the basis of the Norman theory about the creation of the Old Russian state by the Varangians. Two associates of Rurik, Askold and Dir, moved to Constantinople along the Dnieper, subjugating Kyiv along the way. After the death of Rurik, power in Novgorod passed to the Varangian Oleg (d. 912), who, having dealt with Askold and Dir, captured Kyiv (882), and in 883-885. conquered the Drevlyans, northerners, Radimichi and in 907 and 911. made campaigns against Byzantium.
Oleg's successor, Prince Igor, continued his active foreign policy. In 913, through Itil, he made a campaign on the western coast of the Caspian Sea, and twice (941, 944) attacked Byzantium. Demands for tribute from the Drevlyans served as the reason for their uprising and the murder of Igor (945). His wife Olga was one of the first in Rus' to convert to Christianity, streamline local government and establish norms of tribute (“lessons”). The son of Igor and Olga, Svyatoslav Igorevich (reigned 964-972), ensured freedom of trade routes to the east, through the lands of the Volga Bulgars and Khazars, and strengthened the international position of Rus'. Rus' under Svyatoslav settled on the Black Sea and on the Danube (Tmutarakan, Belgorod, Pereyaslavets on the Danube), but after an unsuccessful war with Byzantium, Svyatoslav was forced to abandon his conquests in the Balkans. Upon returning to Rus', he was killed by the Pechenegs.
Svyatoslav was succeeded by his son Yaropolk, who killed his rival - brother Oleg, the Drevlyan prince (977). Younger brother Yaropolk Vladimir Svyatoslavich, with the help of the Varangians, captured Kiev. Yaropolk was killed, and Vladimir became the Grand Duke (princel 980-1015). The need to replace the old ideology of the tribal system with the ideology of the emerging state prompted Vladimir to introduce in Rus' in 988-989. Christianity in the form of Byzantine Orthodoxy. The social elite were the first to embrace the Christian religion; the masses for a long time adhered to pagan beliefs. The reign of Vladimir saw the heyday of the Old Russian state, whose lands stretched from the Baltic states and the Carpathians to the Black Sea steppes. After the death of Vladimir (1015), strife arose between his sons, in which two of them, Boris and Gleb, who were canonized by the church, were killed. The murderer of the brothers Svyatopolk fled after a fight with his brother Yaroslav the Wise, who became the prince of Kyiv (1019-1054). In 1021, the Polotsk prince Bryachislav (reigned in 1001-1044) spoke out against Yaroslav, peace with whom was bought at the price of ceding to Bryachislav key points on the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” - Usvyatsky portage and Vitebsk. Three years later, his brother, the Tmutarakan prince Mstislav, opposed Yaroslav. After the Battle of Listven (1024), the Old Russian state was divided along the Dnieper: the right bank with Kiev went to Yaroslav, the left bank to Mstislav. After the death of Mstislav (1036), the unity of Rus' was restored. Yaroslav the Wise carried out energetic activities to strengthen the state, eliminate church dependence on Byzantium (the formation of an independent metropolis in 1037) and expand urban planning. Under Yaroslav the Wise, the political ties of Ancient Rus' with the states of Western Europe were strengthened. The Old Russian state had dynastic ties with Germany, France, Hungary, Byzantium, Poland, and Norway.
The sons who succeeded Yaroslav divided their father's possessions: Izyaslav Yaroslavich received Kyiv, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich - Chernigov, Vsevolod Yaroslavich - Pereyaslavl South. The Yaroslavichs tried to preserve the unity of the Old Russian state, they tried to act together, but they could not prevent the process of state collapse. The situation was complicated by the onslaught of the Polovtsians, in a battle with whom the Yaroslavichs were defeated. The people's militia demanded weapons to resist the enemy. The refusal led to an uprising in Kyiv (1068), the flight of Izyaslav and the reign in Kyiv of Polotsk Vseslav Bryachislavich, expelled in 1069 by the combined forces of Izyaslav and Polish troops. Soon, discord arose among the Yaroslavichs, leading to the expulsion of Izyaslav to Poland (1073). After the death of Svyatoslav (1076), Izyaslav returned to Kyiv again, but was soon killed in battle (1078). Vsevolod Yaroslavich, who became the prince of Kyiv (reigned in 1078-1093), was unable to contain the process of collapse of the unified state. Only after the Polovtsian invasions (1093-1096 and 1101-1103) did the Old Russian princes unite around the Kyiv prince to repel the common danger.
At the turn of the 11th-12th centuries. in the largest centers of Rus' the princes were: Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (1093-1113) in Kyiv, Oleg Svyatoslavich in Chernigov, Vladimir Monomakh in Pereyaslavl. Vladimir Monomakh was a subtle politician; he convinced the princes to unite more closely in the fight against the Polovtsians. The congresses of princes convened for this purpose did not justify themselves (the Lyubech Congress, the Dolob Congress). After the death of Svyatopolk (1113), a city uprising broke out in Kyiv. Monomakh, invited to reign in Kiev, issued a compromise law that eased the situation of debtors. Gradually he strengthened his position as the supreme ruler of Rus'. Having pacified the Novgorodians, Vladimir planted his sons in Pereyaslavl, Smolensk and Novgorod. He had almost sole control over all the military forces of Ancient Rus', directing them not only against the Polovtsians, but also against rebellious vassals and neighbors. As a result of campaigns deep into the steppe, the Polovtsian danger was eliminated. But, despite the efforts of Monomakh, it was not possible to prevent the collapse of the Old Russian state. Objective historical processes continued to develop, which was expressed primarily in the rapid growth of local centers - Chernigov, Galich, Smolensk, which were striving for independence. Monomakh's son Mstislav Vladimirovich (who reigned in 1125-1132) managed to inflict a new defeat on the Polovtsy and send their princes to Byzantium (1129). After the death of Mstislav (1132), the Old Russian state broke up into a number of independent principalities. The period of fragmentation of Rus' began.
Fight against nomads. Ancient Rus' waged a constant struggle with nomadic hordes that alternately lived in the Black Sea steppes: Khazars, Ugrians, Pechenegs, Torks, Polovtsians. Pecheneg nomads at the end of the 9th century. occupied the steppes from Sarkel on the Don to the Danube. Their raids forced Vladimir Svyatoslavich to strengthen the southern borders (“establish cities”). Yaroslav the Wise in 1036 actually destroyed the Western association of the Pechenegs. But then the Torci appeared in the Black Sea steppes, and in 1060 they were defeated by the combined forces of the ancient Russian princes. From the second half of the 11th century. The steppes from the Volga to the Danube began to be occupied by the Polovtsy, who took possession of the most important trade routes between Europe and the countries of the East. The Polovtsians won a major victory over the Russians in 1068. Rus' withstood the strong onslaught of the Polovtsians in 1093-1096, which required the unification of all its princes. In 1101 relations with the Cumans improved, but already in 1103 the Cumans violated the peace treaty. It took a series of campaigns by Vladimir Monomakh to the Polovtsian winter quarters deep in the steppes, which ended in 1117 with their migration to the south, to the North Caucasus. The son of Vladimir Monomakh Mstislav pushed the Polovtsians beyond the Don, Volga and Yaik.
Farm
During the era of the formation of the Old Russian state, arable farming with harnessed tillage tools gradually replaced hoe tillage everywhere (in the north somewhat later). A three-field farming system emerged; Wheat, oats, millet, rye, and barley were grown. Chronicles mention spring and winter bread. The population was also engaged in cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and beekeeping. Village craft was of secondary importance. The first to emerge was iron production, based on local bog ore. The metal was obtained by the cheese blowing method. Written sources give several terms to designate a rural settlement: “pogost” (“peace”), “svoboda” (“sloboda”), “village”, “village”. The study of the ancient Russian village by archaeologists made it possible to identify various types of settlements, establish their sizes and the nature of the development.
The main trend in the development of the social system of Ancient Rus' was the formation of feudal ownership of land, with the gradual enslavement of free community members. The result of the enslavement of the village was its inclusion in the system of feudal economy, based on labor and food rent. Along with this, there were also elements of slavery (servitude).
In the 6th-7th centuries. in the forest belt, places of settlement of a clan or a small family (fortified settlements) disappear, and they are replaced by unfortified village settlements and fortified estates of the nobility. A patrimonial economy begins to take shape. The center of the patrimony is the “prince’s yard”, in which the prince lived from time to time, where, in addition to his mansion, there were houses of his servants - boyars-warriors, homes of serfs, serfs. The estate was ruled by a boyar - a fireman who disposed of the princely tiuns (cm. TIUN). Representatives of the patrimonial administration had both economic and political functions. Crafts developed on the patrimonial farm. With the complication of the patrimonial system, the estate isolation of unfree artisans begins to disappear, a connection with the market and competition with urban crafts arise.
The development of crafts and trade led to the emergence of cities. The most ancient of them are Kyiv, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Smolensk, Rostov, Ladoga, Pskov, Polotsk. The center of the city was a market where handicraft products were sold. Various types of crafts developed in the city: blacksmithing, weapons, jewelry (forging and chasing, embossing and stamping of silver and gold, filigree, granulation), pottery, leatherworking, tailoring. In the second half of the 10th century. masters' marks appeared. Under Byzantine influence at the end of the 10th century. the production of enamels arose. In large cities there were trading yards for visiting merchants - “guests”.
Trade route from Rus' to eastern countries passed along the Volga and the Caspian Sea. The path to Byzantium and Scandinavia (the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks”), in addition to the main direction (Dnieper - Lovat), had a branch to the Western Dvina. Two routes led to the west: from Kyiv to Central Europe (Moravia, Czech Republic, Poland, Southern Germany) and from Novgorod and Polotsk through the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia and the Southern Baltic. In the 9th - mid-11th centuries. The influence of Arab merchants was great in Rus', and trade ties with Byzantium and Khazaria were strengthened. Ancient Rus' exported furs, wax, flax, linen, and silver items to Western Europe. Expensive fabrics (Byzantine pavoloks, brocade, oriental silks), silver and copper in dirhems, tin, lead, copper, spices, incense, medicinal plants, dyes, and Byzantine church utensils were imported. Later, in the middle of the 11th-12th centuries. in connection with the change in the international situation (the collapse of the Arab Caliphate, the dominance of the Cumans in the southern Russian steppes, the beginning crusades) many traditional trade routes were disrupted. The penetration of Western European merchants into the Black Sea and the competition between the Genoese and Venetians paralyzed the trade of Ancient Rus' in the south, and by the end of the 12th century. it was mainly moved to the north - to Novgorod, Smolensk and Polotsk.
Culture
The culture of Ancient Rus' is rooted in the depths of the culture of the Slavic tribes. During the period of formation and development of the state, it reached a high level and was enriched by the influence of Byzantine culture. As a result, Kievan Rus found itself among the culturally advanced states of its time. The center of culture was the city. Literacy in the Old Russian state was relatively widespread among the people, as evidenced by birch bark letters and inscriptions on household items (whorl spindles, barrels, vessels). There is information about the existence of schools (even women’s) in Rus' at that time.
The parchment books of Ancient Rus' have survived to this day: translated literature, collections, liturgical books; among them the oldest is the “Ostromir Gospel” (cm. OSTROMIROVO GOSPEL)" The most educated people in Rus' were monks. Outstanding cultural figures were Kyiv Metropolitan Hilarion (cm. HILARION (Metropolitan)), Novgorod Bishop Luka Zhidyata (cm. LUKA Jew), Feodosius Pechersky (cm. THEODOSIY Pechersky), chroniclers Nikon (cm. NIKON (chronicler)), Nestor (cm. NESTOR (chronicler)), Sylvester (cm. SYLVESTER Pechersky). The assimilation of Church Slavonic writing was accompanied by the transfer to Rus' of the main monuments of early Christian and Byzantine literature: biblical books, writings of the church fathers, lives of saints, apocrypha (“Walking of the Virgin Mary”), historiography (“Chronicle” of John Malala), as well as works of Bulgarian literature (“ Six Days” by John), Czechomoravian (the lives of Vyacheslav and Lyudmila). In Rus', the Byzantine chronicles (George Amartol, Syncellus), the epic ("The Deed of Devgenia"), "Alexandria", "The History of the Jewish War" by Josephus, from Hebrew - the book of "Esther", from Syriac - the story of Akira the Wise were translated from Greek . From the second quarter of the 11th century. original literature is developing (chronicles, lives of saints, sermons). In “The Sermon on Law and Grace,” Metropolitan Hilarion with rhetorical skill interpreted the problems of the superiority of Christianity over paganism and the greatness of Rus' among other nations. The Kiev and Novgorod chronicles were imbued with the ideas of state building. Chroniclers turned to the poetic legends of pagan folklore. Nestor came to realize the kinship of the East Slavic tribes with all Slavs. His “Tale of Bygone Years” acquired the significance of an outstanding chronicle of the European Middle Ages. Hagiographic literature was saturated with current political issues, and its heroes were prince-saints (“The Lives of Boris and Gleb”), and then the ascetics of the church (“The Life of Theodosius of Pechersk”, “Kiev-Pechersk Patericon”). Lives were the first time, although in a schematic form, that a person’s experiences were depicted. Patriotic ideas were expressed in the genre of pilgrimage (“Walking” by Abbot Daniel). In the “Instruction” to his sons, Vladimir Monomakh created the image of a just ruler, a zealous owner, and an exemplary family man. Old Russian literary traditions and the richest oral epic prepared the emergence of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” (cm. THE WORD ABOUT IGOR'S REGIMENT)».
The experience of the East Slavic tribes in wooden architecture and the construction of fortified settlements, dwellings, sanctuaries, their craft skills and traditions of artistic creativity were adopted by the art of Ancient Rus'. In its formation, trends coming from abroad (from Byzantium, the Balkan and Scandinavian countries, Transcaucasia and the Middle East) played a huge role. In the relatively short period of the heyday of Ancient Rus', Russian masters mastered new techniques of stone architecture, the art of mosaics, frescoes, icon painting, and book miniatures.
The types of ordinary settlements and dwellings, the technique of constructing wooden buildings from horizontally laid logs for a long time remained the same as that of the ancient Slavs. But already in the 9th - early 10th centuries. extensive courtyards of patrimonial estates appeared, and wooden castles (Lubech) appeared in the princely domains. From the fortified villages, fortified cities developed with residential buildings inside and with outbuildings adjacent to the defensive rampart (Kolodyazhnenskoye and Raikovetskoye fortifications, both in the Zhitomir region; destroyed in 1241).
On trade routes at the confluence of rivers or at river bends, cities grew from large Slavic settlements and new ones were founded. They consisted of a fortress on a hill (Detinets, Kremlin - the residence of the prince and a refuge for the townspeople during an attack by enemies) with a defensive earthen rampart, a chopped wall on it and a ditch from the outside, and from the settlement (sometimes fortified). The streets of the posad went to the Kremlin (Kyiv, Pskov) or parallel to the river (Novgorod), in some places they had wooden pavements and were built in treeless areas with mud huts (Kiev, Suzdal), and in forested ones - with log houses of one or two log houses with a vestibule (Novgorod, Staraya Ladoga). The dwellings of rich townspeople consisted of several interconnected log houses of different heights on basements, had a tower (“tumbler”), external porches and were located in the depths of the courtyard (Novgorod). Mansions in Kremlins from the mid-10th century. had two-story stone parts, either tower-shaped (Chernigov), or with towers along the edges or in the middle (Kyiv). Sometimes mansions contained halls with an area of more than 200 sq. 2 m (Kyiv). What was common to ancient Russian cities was a picturesque silhouette, dominated by the Kremlin with its colorful mansions and temples, shining with gilded roofs and crosses, and an organic connection with the landscape, which arose through the use of the terrain not only for strategic, but also for artistic purposes.
From the second half of the 9th century. Chronicles mention wooden Christian churches (Kyiv), the number and size of which increased after the baptism of Rus'. These were (judging by the conventional images in the manuscripts) rectangular, octagonal or cruciform in plan of the building with a steep roof and dome. Later they were crowned with five (the Church of Boris and Gleb in Vyshgorod near Kyiv, 1020-1026, architect Mironeg) and even thirteen chapters (wooden Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, 989). The first stone Church of the Tithes in Kyiv (989-996, destroyed in 1240) was built from alternating rows of stone and flat square plinth bricks on a mortar of a mixture of crushed brick and lime (cemyanka). The masonry that appeared in the 11th century was built using the same technique. stone passage towers in city fortifications (Golden Gate in Kiev), stone fortress walls (Pereyaslav South, Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, Staraya Ladoga; all late 11th - early 12th centuries) and majestic three-nave (Savior Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernigov, begun before 1036) and five-nave (Sophia Cathedrals in Kiev, 1037, Novgorod, 1045-1050, Polotsk, 1044-1066) churches with choirs along three walls for princes and their entourage. The type of cross-domed church, universal for Byzantine religious construction, was interpreted in its own way by ancient Russian architects - domes on high light drums, flat niches (possibly with frescoes) on the facades, brick patterns in the form of crosses, meanders. Old Russian architecture is similar to the architecture of Byzantium, the South Slavs and Transcaucasia. At the same time, original features also appear in ancient Russian churches: multiple domes (13 chapters of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv), a stepped arrangement of vaults and rows of semicircles-zakomars corresponding to them on the facades, porch-galleries on three sides. The stepped-pyramidal composition, majestic proportions and tense-slow rhythm, balance of space and mass make the architecture of these tall buildings solemn and full of restrained dynamics. Their interiors, with their contrasting transition from the low side naves, shaded by the choirs, to the spacious and brightly lit under-dome part of the middle nave leading to the main apse, amaze with emotional intensity and evoke a wealth of impressions generated by spatial divisions and a variety of viewing points.
The most fully preserved mosaics and frescoes of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv (mid-11th century) were executed mainly by Byzantine masters. The paintings in the towers are full of dynamic secular scenes of dancing, hunting, and lists. In the images of saints and members of the grand ducal family, movement is sometimes only indicated, the poses are frontal, the faces are stern. Spiritual life is conveyed through a spare gesture and wide open big eyes, whose gaze is directed directly at the parishioner. This imparts tension and impact to images imbued with high spirituality. By their monumental nature of execution and composition, they are organically connected with the architecture of the cathedral. The miniature of Ancient Rus' (“Ostromir Gospel” 1056-1057) and the colorful initials of handwritten books are distinguished by their color richness and subtlety of execution. They are reminiscent of the contemporary cloisonné enamel that adorned the grand ducal crowns and kolta pendants for which the Kyiv craftsmen were famous. In these products and in slate monumental reliefs, motifs from Slavic and ancient mythology are combined with Christian symbols and iconography, reflecting the dual faith typical of the Middle Ages, which was long maintained among the people.
In the 11th century Iconography is also developing. The works of Kyiv masters enjoyed wide recognition, especially the icons by Alimpiy (cm. ALYMPY), which until the Mongol-Tatar invasion served as models for icon painters of all ancient Russian principalities. However, no icons unconditionally attributed to the art of Kievan Rus have survived.
In the second half of the 11th century. The princely construction of churches is being replaced by monastic construction. In fortresses and country castles, the princes built only small churches (Mikhailovskaya shrine in Ostra, 1098, preserved in ruins; the Church of the Savior on Berestov in Kiev, between 1113 and 1125), and the leading type became the three-nave six-pillar monastery cathedral, more modest in size than urban, often without galleries and with choirs only along the western wall. Its static, closed volume, massive walls, divided into narrow parts by flat protrusions-blades, create the impression of power and ascetic simplicity. In Kyiv, single-domed cathedrals are built, sometimes without staircase towers (Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, 1073-1078, destroyed in 1941). Novgorod churches of the early 12th century. crowned with three domes, one of which is above the staircase tower (Antoniev Cathedral, founded in 1117, and Yuryev, begun in 1119, monasteries), or five domes (Nicholas Dvorishchensky Cathedral, founded in 1113). The simplicity and power of the architecture, the organic fusion of the tower with the main volume of the Cathedral of the Yuriev Monastery (architect Peter), giving integrity to its composition, distinguish this temple as one of the highest achievements of ancient Russian architecture of the 12th century.
At the same time, the style of painting also changed. In the mosaics and frescoes of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv (circa 1108, the cathedral was not preserved, it was restored) made by Byzantine and Old Russian artists, the composition becomes freer, the refined psychologism of the images is enhanced by the liveliness of movements and the individualization of characteristics. At the same time, as mosaics are replaced by frescoes that are cheaper and more accessible in technique, the role of local craftsmen increases, who in their works deviate from the canons of Byzantine art and at the same time flatten the image and enhance the contour principle. The paintings of the baptismal chapel of St. Sophia Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Kirillov Monastery (both in Kyiv, 12th century) are dominated by Slavic features in types of faces, costumes, figures become squat, their color modeling is replaced by linear elaboration, colors lighten, halftones disappear; images of saints become closer to folklore ideas.
The artistic culture of the Old Russian state received further development during the period of fragmentation in various Old Russian principalities, due to the peculiarities of their economic and political life. A number of local schools arose (Vladimir-Suzdal, Novgorod), preserving genetic commonality with the art of Kievan Rus and some similarity in artistic and stylistic evolution. In the local movements of the Dnieper and western principalities, northeastern and northwestern lands, folk poetic ideas make themselves felt more strongly. The expressive possibilities of art are expanding, but the pathos of form is weakening.
Various sources ( folk songs, epics, chronicles, works ancient Russian literature, monuments of fine art) indicate high development ancient Russian music. Along with various types of folk art, military and ceremonial music played an important role. Trumpeters and tambourine players (percussion instruments such as drums or timpani) took part in military campaigns. At the court of princes and the military nobility, singers and instrumentalists, both local and from Byzantium, were in the service. The singers glorified the military exploits of their contemporaries and legendary heroes in songs and tales that they themselves composed and performed to the accompaniment of the gusli. Music was played during official receptions, celebrations, and at feasts of princes and eminent people. IN folk life The art of buffoons, which featured singing and instrumental music, occupied a prominent place. Buffoons often appeared in princely palaces. After the adoption and spread of Christianity, church music developed widely. Early written monuments of Russian musical art are associated with it - handwritten liturgical books with a conventional ideographic recording of chants. The foundations of the ancient Russian church singing art were borrowed from Byzantium, but their further gradual transformation led to the formation of an independent singing style - znamenny chant, along with which there was a special kind of kondakar singing.
Kievan Rus or Old Russian state- a medieval state in Eastern Europe that arose in the 9th century as a result of the unification of East Slavic tribes under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty.
At its peak, it occupied the territory from the Taman Peninsula in the south, the Dniester and the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the headwaters of the Northern Dvina in the north.
By the middle of the 12th century, it entered into a state of fragmentation and actually broke up into one and a half dozen separate principalities, ruled by different branches of the Rurikovichs. Political ties were maintained between the principalities, Kyiv continued to formally remain the main table of Rus', and the Principality of Kiev was considered as the collective possession of all the Rurikovichs. The end of Kievan Rus is considered to be the Mongol invasion (1237-1240), after which the Russian lands ceased to form a single political whole, and Kyiv fell into decline for a long time and finally lost its nominal capital functions.
In chronicle sources the state is called “Rus” or “Russian Land”, in Byzantine sources - “Russia”.
Term
The definition of “Old Russian” is not connected with the division of antiquity and the Middle Ages in Europe generally accepted in historiography in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. In relation to Rus', it is usually used to refer to the so-called. the “pre-Mongol” period of the 9th - mid-13th centuries, in order to distinguish this era from the following periods of Russian history.
The term “Kievan Rus” arose at the end of the 18th century. In modern historiography, it is used both to designate a single state that existed until the mid-12th century, and for the broader period of the mid-12th - mid-13th centuries, when Kiev remained the center of the country and the governance of Russia was carried out by a single princely family on the principles of “collective suzerainty.”
Pre-revolutionary historians, starting with N.M. Karamzin, adhered to the idea of transferring the political center of Rus' in 1169 from Kyiv to Vladimir, going back to the works of Moscow scribes, or to Vladimir and Galich. However, in modern historiography these points of view are not popular, since they are not confirmed in the sources.
The problem of the emergence of statehood
There are two main hypotheses for the formation of the Old Russian state. According to the Norman theory, based on the Tale of Bygone Years of the 12th century and numerous Western European and Byzantine sources, statehood in Rus' was brought from outside by the Varangians - the brothers Rurik, Sineus and Truvor in 862. The founders of the Norman theory are considered to be those who worked in Russian Academy sciences, German historians Bayer, Miller, Schlözer. The point of view on the external origin of the Russian monarchy was generally held by Nikolai Karamzin, who followed the versions of The Tale of Bygone Years.
The anti-Norman theory is based on the concept of the impossibility of introducing statehood from the outside, on the idea of the emergence of the state as a stage internal development society. The founder of this theory in Russian historiography was considered to be Mikhail Lomonosov. In addition, there are different points of view on the origin of the Varangians themselves. Scientists classified as Normanists considered them to be Scandinavians (usually Swedes); some anti-Normanists, starting with Lomonosov, suggest their origin from West Slavic lands. There are also intermediate versions of localization - in Finland, Prussia, and other parts of the Baltic states. The problem of the ethnicity of the Varangians is independent of the issue of the emergence of statehood.
In modern science, the prevailing point of view is that the strict opposition between “Normanism” and “anti-Normanism” is largely politicized. The prerequisites for the primordial statehood of the Eastern Slavs were not seriously denied by either Miller, Schlözer, or Karamzin, and the external (Scandinavian or other) origin of the ruling dynasty was a fairly common phenomenon in the Middle Ages, which in no way proves the inability of the people to create a state or, more specifically, the institution of monarchy. Questions about whether Rurik was a real historical person, what is the origin of the chronicled Varangians, whether the ethnonym (and then the name of the state) is associated with them Rus, continue to remain controversial in modern Russian historical science. Western historians generally follow the concept of Normanism.
Story
Education of Kievan Rus
Kievan Rus arose on the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” on the lands of the East Slavic tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polyans, then covering the Drevlyans, Dregovichs, Polotsk, Radimichi, Severians, Vyatichi.
The chronicle legend considers the founders of Kyiv to be the rulers of the Polyan tribe - the brothers Kiya, Shchek and Khoriv. According to archaeological excavations carried out in Kyiv in the 19th-20th centuries, already in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. there was a settlement on the site of Kyiv. Arab writers of the 10th century (al-Istarhi, Ibn Khordadbeh, Ibn-Haukal) later speak of Cuyaba as a large city. Ibn Haukal wrote: “The king lives in a city called Cuyaba, which is larger than Bolgar... The Rus constantly trade with the Khozar and Rum (Byzantium).”
The first information about the state of the Rus dates back to the first third of the 9th century: in 839, the ambassadors of the Kagan of the people of Rus were mentioned, who arrived first in Constantinople, and from there to the court of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious. From this time on, the ethnonym “Rus” also became known. The term “Kievan Rus” appears for the first time in historical studies of the 18th–19th centuries.
In 860 (The Tale of Bygone Years erroneously dates it to 866), Rus' makes its first campaign against Constantinople. Greek sources connect it with the so-called first baptism of Rus', after which a diocese may have arisen in Rus', and the ruling elite (possibly led by Askold) adopted Christianity.
In 862, according to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes called the Varangians to reign.
|
“Per year 6370 (862). They drove the Varangians overseas, and did not give them tribute, and began to control themselves, and there was no truth among them, and generation after generation arose, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: “Let’s look for a prince who would rule over us and judge us by right.” And they went overseas to the Varangians, to Rus'. Those Varangians were called Rus, just as others are called Swedes, and some Normans and Angles, and still others Gotlanders, just like these. The Chud, the Slovenians, the Krivichi and all said to the Russians: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us." And three brothers were chosen with their clans, and they took all of Rus' with them, and they came and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, in Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. Novgorodians are people from the Varangian family, but before that they were Slovenians.” |
In 862 (the date is approximate, like the entire early chronology of the Chronicle), the Varangians, Rurik’s warriors Askold and Dir, sailing to Constantinople, seeking to establish complete control over the most important trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” established their power over Kiev.
In 879 Rurik died in Novgorod. The reign was transferred to Oleg, regent for Rurik’s young son Igor.
Reign of Oleg the Prophet
In 882, according to chronicle chronology, Prince Oleg, a relative of Rurik, set off on a campaign from Novgorod to the south. Along the way, he captured Smolensk and Lyubech, establishing his power there and putting his people under reign. Next Oleg with Novgorod army and a hired Varangian squad, under the guise of merchants, captured Kiev, killed Askold and Dir, who ruled there, and declared Kiev the capital of his state (“And Oleg, the prince, sat down in Kiev, and Oleg said: “Let this be the mother of Russian cities.”); the dominant religion was paganism, although there was also a Christian minority in Kyiv.
Oleg conquered the Drevlyans, Northerners and Radimichi; the last two alliances had previously paid tribute to the Khazars.
As a result of the victorious campaign against Byzantium, the first written agreements were concluded in 907 and 911, which provided for preferential terms of trade for Russian merchants (trade duties were abolished, ship repairs and overnight accommodation were provided), and resolution of legal and military issues. The tribes of the Radimichi, Northerners, Drevlyans, and Krivichi were subject to tribute. According to the chronicle version, Oleg, who bore the title of Grand Duke, reigned for more than 30 years. Rurik's own son Igor took the throne after Oleg's death around 912 and ruled until 945.
Igor Rurikovich
Igor made two military campaigns against Byzantium. The first, in 941, ended unsuccessfully. It was also preceded by an unsuccessful military campaign against Khazaria, during which Rus', acting at the request of Byzantium, attacked the Khazar city of Samkerts on the Taman Peninsula, but was defeated by the Khazar commander Pesach, and then turned its arms against Byzantium. The second campaign against Byzantium took place in 944. It ended with a treaty that confirmed many of the provisions of the previous treaties of 907 and 911, but abolished duty-free trade. In 943 or 944, a campaign was made against Berdaa. In 945, Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlyans. After Igor's death, due to the minority of his son Svyatoslav, real power was in the hands of Igor's widow, Princess Olga. She became the first ruler of the Old Russian state to officially accept Christianity of the Byzantine rite (according to the most reasoned version, in 957, although other dates are also proposed). However, around 959 Olga invited the German bishop Adalbert and priests of the Latin rite to Rus' (after the failure of their mission they were forced to leave Kyiv).
Svyatoslav Igorevich
Around 962, the matured Svyatoslav took power into his own hands. His first action was the subjugation of the Vyatichi (964), who were the last of all the East Slavic tribes to pay tribute to the Khazars. In 965, Svyatoslav made a campaign against the Khazar Kaganate, taking its main cities by storm: Sarkel, Semender and the capital Itil. On the site of the city of Sarkela, he built the Belaya Vezha fortress. Svyatoslav also carried out two trips to Bulgaria, where he intended to create own state with its capital in the Danube region. He was killed in a battle with the Pechenegs while returning to Kyiv from an unsuccessful campaign in 972.
After the death of Svyatoslav, civil strife broke out for the right to the throne (972-978 or 980). The eldest son Yaropolk became the great prince of Kyiv, Oleg received the Drevlyan lands, Vladimir received Novgorod. In 977, Yaropolk defeated Oleg’s squad, Oleg died. Vladimir fled “overseas”, but returned 2 years later with a Varangian squad. During the civil strife, Svyatoslav's son Vladimir Svyatoslavich (reigned 980-1015) defended his rights to the throne. With him the formation was completed state territory Ancient Rus', the cities of Cherven and Carpathian Rus' were annexed.
Characteristics of the state in the 9th-10th centuries.
Kievan Rus united under its rule vast territories inhabited by East Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. In the chronicles the state was called Rus; the word “Russian” in combination with other words was found in various spellings: both with one “s” and with a double one; both with and without “b”. In a narrow sense, “Rus” meant the territory of Kyiv (with the exception of the Drevlyan and Dregovichi lands), Chernigov-Seversk (with the exception of the Radimich and Vyatichi lands) and Pereyaslavl lands; It is in this meaning that the term “Rus” is used, for example, in Novgorod sources up to the 13th century.
The head of state bore the title of Grand Duke, Russian Prince. Unofficially, other prestigious titles could sometimes be attached to it, including Turkic kagan and Byzantine king. Princely power was hereditary. In addition to the princes, grand-ducal boyars and “men” participated in the administration of the territories. These were warriors appointed by the prince. The boyars commanded special squads, territorial garrisons (for example, Pretich commanded the Chernigov squad), which, if necessary, were united into a single army. Under the prince, one of the boyar-voevodas also stood out, who often performed the functions of real government of the state; such governors under the young princes were Oleg under Igor, Sveneld under Olga, Svyatoslav and Yaropolk, Dobrynya under Vladimir. At the local level, the princely government dealt with tribal self-government in the form of the veche and “city elders.”
Druzhina
Druzhina during the 9th-10th centuries. was hired. A significant part of it were newcomer Varangians. It was also replenished by people from the Baltic lands and local tribes. The size of the annual payment of a mercenary is estimated by historians differently. Salaries were paid in silver, gold and furs. Typically, a warrior received about 8-9 Kyiv hryvnia (more than 200 silver dirhams) per year, but by the beginning of the 11th century, the pay of a private soldier was 1 northern hryvnia, which is much less. Ship helmsmen, elders and townspeople received more (10 hryvnia). In addition, the squad was fed at the expense of the prince. Initially, this was expressed in the form of canteen, and then turned into one of the forms of taxes in kind, “feeding”, the maintenance of the squad by the tax-paying population during polyudye. Among the squads subordinate to the Grand Duke, his personal “small”, or junior, squad, which included 400 warriors, stands out. The Old Russian army also included a tribal militia, which could reach several thousand in each tribe. The total number of the ancient Russian army reached from 30 to 80 thousand people.
Taxes (tribute)
The form of taxes in Ancient Rus' was tribute, which was paid by subject tribes. Most often, the unit of taxation was “smoke,” that is, a house or family hearth. The tax amount was traditionally one skin per smoke. In some cases, from the Vyatichi tribe, a coin was taken from the ral (plough). The form of collecting tribute was polyudye, when the prince and his retinue visited his subjects from November to April. Rus' was divided into several tax districts; Polyudye in the Kiev district passed through the lands of the Drevlyans, Dregovichs, Krivichis, Radimichis and Northerners. A special district was Novgorod, paying about 3,000 hryvnia. The maximum amount of tribute according to late Hungarian legend in the 10th century was 10 thousand marks (30 thousand or more hryvnia). The collection of tribute was carried out by squads of several hundred soldiers. The dominant ethno-class group of the population, which was called “Rus”, paid the prince a tenth of their annual income.
In 946, after the suppression of the Drevlyan uprising, Princess Olga carried out a tax reform, streamlining the collection of tribute. She established “lessons”, that is, the size of the tribute, and created “cemeteries”, fortresses on the route of Polyudya, in which the princely administrators lived and where the tribute was brought. This form of collecting tribute and the tribute itself was called a “cart.” When paying the tax, subjects received clay seals with a princely sign, which insured them against repeated collection. The reform contributed to the centralization of grand ducal power and the weakening of the power of tribal princes.
Right
In the 10th century, customary law was in force in Rus', which in sources is called “Russian Law”. Its norms are reflected in the treaties of Rus' and Byzantium, in the Scandinavian sagas and in “The Truth of Yaroslav”. They concerned the relationship between equal people, Russia, one of the institutions was “vira” - a fine for murder. Laws guaranteed property relations, including ownership of slaves (“servants”).
The principle of inheritance of power in the 9th-10th centuries is unknown. The heirs were often minors (Igor Rurikovich, Svyatoslav Igorevich). In the 11th century, princely power in Rus' was transferred along the “ladder”, that is, not necessarily to the son, but to the eldest in the family (the uncle had precedence over his nephews). At the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, two principles collided, and a struggle broke out between the direct heirs and the collateral lines.
Monetary system
In the 10th century, a more or less unified monetary system developed, focused on the Byzantine liter and the Arab dirham. The main monetary units were the hryvnia (the monetary and weight unit of Ancient Rus'), kuna, nogata and rezana. They had a silver and fur expression.
State type
Historians have different assessments of the nature of the state of a given period: “barbarian state”, “military democracy”, “druzhina period”, “Norman period”, “military-commercial state”, “the formation of the early feudal monarchy”.
The Baptism of Rus' and its heyday
Under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 988, Christianity became the official religion of Rus'. Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir faced an increased Pecheneg threat. To protect against nomads, he builds a line of fortresses on the border. It was during the time of Vladimir that many Russian epics took place, telling about the exploits of heroes.
Crafts and trade. Monuments of writing (The Tale of Bygone Years, the Novgorod Codex, the Ostromirovo Gospel, Lives) and architecture (Tithe Church, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and the cathedrals of the same name in Novgorod and Polotsk) were created. The high level of literacy of the inhabitants of Rus' is evidenced by numerous birch bark letters that have survived to this day). Rus' traded with the southern and western Slavs, Scandinavia, Byzantium, Western Europe, the peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
After the death of Vladimir, a new civil strife occurs in Rus'. Svyatopolk the Accursed in 1015 kills his brothers Boris (according to another version, Boris was killed by Scandinavian mercenaries of Yaroslav), Gleb and Svyatoslav. Boris and Gleb were canonized as saints in 1071. Svyatopolk himself is defeated by Yaroslav and dies in exile.
The reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019 - 1054) was the time of the greatest prosperity of the state. Social relations were regulated by the collection of laws “Russian Truth” and princely statutes. Yaroslav the Wise pursued an active foreign policy. He became related to many ruling dynasties of Europe, which testified to the wide international recognition of Rus' in the European Christian world. Intensive stone construction is underway. In 1036, Yaroslav defeated the Pechenegs near Kiev and their raids on Rus' ceased.
Changes in public administration at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 12th centuries.
During the baptism of Rus', the power of the sons of Vladimir I and the power of Orthodox bishops, subordinate to the Kyiv Metropolitan, were established in all its lands. Now all the princes who acted as vassals of the Kyiv Grand Duke were only from the Rurik family. Scandinavian sagas mention the fief possessions of the Vikings, but they were located on the outskirts of Rus' and on newly annexed lands, so at the time of writing “The Tale of Bygone Years” they already seemed like a relic. The Rurik princes waged a fierce struggle with the remaining tribal princes (Vladimir Monomakh mentions the Vyatichi prince Khodota and his son). This contributed to the centralization of power.
The power of the Grand Duke reached its highest strength under Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise and later under Vladimir Monomakh. Attempts to strengthen it, but less successfully, were also made by Izyaslav Yaroslavich. The position of the dynasty was strengthened by numerous international dynastic marriages: Anna Yaroslavna and the French king, Vsevolod Yaroslavich and the Byzantine princess, etc.
Since the time of Vladimir or, according to some information, Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, the prince began to distribute lands to the warriors instead of monetary salaries. If initially these were cities for feeding, then in the 11th century villages received warriors. Along with the villages, which became fiefdoms, the boyar title was also granted. The boyars began to form the senior squad, which was a feudal militia in type. The younger squad (“youths”, “children”, “gridi”), who were with the prince, lived off feeding from the princely villages and the war. To protect the southern borders, a policy was pursued of relocating the “best men” of the northern tribes to the south, and agreements were also concluded with the allied nomads, the “black hoods” (Torks, Berendeys and Pechenegs). The services of the hired Varangian squad were largely abandoned during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise.
After Yaroslav the Wise, the “ladder” principle of land inheritance in the Rurik family was finally established. The eldest in the clan (not by age, but by line of kinship) received Kyiv and became the Grand Duke, all other lands were divided among members of the clan and distributed according to seniority. Power passed from brother to brother, from uncle to nephew. Chernigov occupied second place in the hierarchy of tables. When one of the members of the clan died, all the Rurikovichs younger in relation to him moved to lands corresponding to their seniority. When new members of the clan appeared, their destiny was determined - a city with land (volost). In 1097, the principle of mandatory allocation of inheritance to princes was established.
Over time, the church began to own a significant part of the land (“monastery estates”). Since 996, the population has paid tithes to the church. The number of dioceses, starting from 4, grew. The department of the metropolitan, appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, began to be located in Kiev, and under Yaroslav the Wise, the metropolitan was first elected from among the Russian priests; in 1051, Hilarion, who was close to Vladimir and his son, became him. Monasteries and their elected heads, abbots, began to have great influence. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery becomes the center of Orthodoxy.
The boyars and squad formed special councils under the prince. The prince also consulted with the metropolitan, bishops and abbots, who made up church cathedral. With the complication of the princely hierarchy, by the end of the 11th century, princely congresses (“snems”) began to gather. There were veches in the cities, which the boyars often relied on to support their own political demands (uprisings in Kyiv in 1068 and 1113).
In the 11th - early 12th centuries, the first written set of laws was formed - “Russian Truth”, which was successively replenished with articles from “The Truth of Yaroslav” (c. 1015-1016), “The Truth of the Yaroslavichs” (c. 1072) and the “Charter of Vladimir” Vsevolodovich" (c. 1113). The “Russian Truth” reflected the increasing differentiation of the population (now the size of the vira depended on social status killed), the position of such categories of the population as servants, serfs, smerdas, purchases and rank and file was regulated.
“Pravda Yaroslava” equalized the rights of “Rusyns” and “Slovenians”. This, along with Christianization and other factors, contributed to the formation of a new ethnic community that was aware of its unity and historical origin.
Since the end of the 10th century, Rus' has known its own coin production - silver and gold coins of Vladimir I, Svyatopolk, Yaroslav the Wise and other princes.
Decay
The Principality of Polotsk first separated from Kyiv at the beginning of the 11th century. Having concentrated all the other Russian lands under his rule only 21 years after the death of his father, Yaroslav the Wise, dying in 1054, divided them between the five sons who survived him. After the death of the two youngest of them, all lands were concentrated in the hands of the three elders: Izyaslav of Kyiv, Svyatoslav of Chernigov and Vsevolod of Pereyaslav (the “Yaroslavich triumvirate”). After the death of Svyatoslav in 1076, the Kiev princes attempted to deprive his sons of the Chernigov inheritance, and they resorted to the help of the Polovtsians, whose raids began in 1061 (immediately after the defeat of the Torks by the Russian princes in the steppes), although for the first time the Polovtsians were used in strife by Vladimir Monomakh (against Vseslav of Polotsk). In this struggle, Izyaslav of Kiev (1078) and the son of Vladimir Monomakh Izyaslav (1096) died. At the Lyubech Congress (1097), designed to stop civil strife and unite the princes for protection from the Polovtsians, the principle was proclaimed: “Let everyone keep his fatherland.” Thus, while preserving the right of ladder, in the event of the death of one of the princes, the movement of the heirs was limited to their patrimony. This made it possible to stop the strife and join forces to fight the Cumans, which was moved deep into the steppes. However, this also opened the way to political fragmentation, since each land established a separate dynasty, and Grand Duke Kyiv became first among equals, losing the role of overlord.
In the second quarter of the 12th century, Kievan Rus actually disintegrated into independent principalities. The modern historiographic tradition considers the chronological beginning of the period of fragmentation to be 1132, when, after the death of Mstislav the Great, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, the power of the Kiev prince was no longer recognized by Polotsk (1132) and Novgorod (1136), and the title itself became the object of struggle between various dynastic and territorial associations of the Rurikovichs. In 1134, the chronicler, in connection with a schism among the Monomakhovichs, wrote “the whole Russian land was torn apart.”
In 1169, the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, Andrei Bogolyubsky, having captured Kyiv, for the first time in the practice of inter-princely strife, he did not reign in it, but gave it as an appanage. From that moment on, Kyiv began to gradually lose the political and then cultural attributes of an all-Russian center. The political center under Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest moved to Vladimir, whose prince also began to bear the title of great.
Kyiv, unlike other principalities, did not become the property of any one dynasty, but served as a constant bone of contention for all powerful princes. In 1203, it was plundered for the second time by the Smolensk prince Rurik Rostislavich, who fought against the Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. The first clash between Rus' and the Mongols took place in the Battle of the Kalka River (1223), in which almost all the southern Russian princes took part. The weakening of the southern Russian principalities increased the pressure from the Hungarian and Lithuanian feudal lords, but at the same time contributed to the strengthening of the influence of the Vladimir princes in Chernigov (1226), Novgorod (1231), Kiev (in 1236 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich occupied Kyiv for two years, while his older brother Yuri remained reign in Vladimir) and Smolensk (1236-1239). During the Mongol invasion of Rus', which began in 1237, Kyiv was reduced to ruins in December 1240. It was received by the Vladimir princes Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, recognized by the Mongols as the oldest in Rus', and later by his son Alexander Nevsky. However, they did not move to Kyiv, remaining in their ancestral Vladimir. In 1299, the Kiev Metropolitan moved his residence there. In some church and literary sources, for example, in the statements of the Patriarch of Constantinople and Vytautas at the end of the 14th century, Kyiv continued to be considered the capital at a later time, but by this time it was already a provincial city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From the beginning of the 14th century, the Vladimir princes began to bear the title of “Grand Dukes of All Rus'”.
The nature of statehood of Russian lands
At the beginning of the 13th century, on the eve of the Mongol invasion, there were about 15 relatively territorially stable principalities in Rus' (in turn divided into fiefs), three of which: Kiev, Novgorod and Galicia were objects of all-Russian struggle, and the rest were ruled by the Rurikovich’s own branches. The most powerful princely dynasties were the Chernigov Olgovichs, the Smolensk Rostislavichs, the Volyn Izyaslavichs and the Suzdal Yuryevichs. After the invasion, almost all Russian lands entered a new round of fragmentation and in the 14th century the number of great and appanage principalities reached approximately 250.
The only all-Russian political body remained the Congress of Princes, which mainly decided on issues of the fight against the Polovtsians. The church also maintained its relative unity (excluding the emergence of local cults of saints and veneration of the cult of local relics) headed by the metropolitan and fought against various kinds of regional “heresies” by convening councils. However, the position of the church was weakened by the strengthening of tribal pagan beliefs in the 12th-13th centuries. Religious authority and "zabozhni" (repression) were weakened. The candidacy of the Archbishop of Veliky Novgorod was proposed by the Novgorod Council, and cases of expulsion of the ruler (archbishop) are also known.
During the period of fragmentation of Kievan Rus, political power passed from the hands of the prince and the younger squad to the strengthened boyars. If earlier the boyars had business, political and economic relations with the whole Rurik family, headed by the Grand Duke, now - with individual families of appanage princes.
IN Principality of Kiev In order to ease the intensity of the struggle between the princely dynasties, the boyars supported in a number of cases the duumvirate (government) of the princes and even resorted to the physical elimination of the alien princes (Yuri Dolgoruky was poisoned). The Kiev boyars sympathized with the power of the senior branch of the descendants of Mstislav the Great, but external pressure was too strong for the position of the local nobility to become decisive in the choice of princes. In the Novgorod land, which, like Kyiv, did not become the fiefdom of the appanage princely branch of the Rurik family, retaining all-Russian significance, and during the anti-princely uprising a republican system was established - from now on the prince was invited and expelled by the veche. In the Vladimir-Suzdal land, princely power was traditionally strong and sometimes even prone to despotism. There is a known case when the boyars (Kuchkovichi) and the younger squad physically eliminated the “autocratic” prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. In the southern Russian lands, city councils played a huge role in the political struggle; there were councils in the Vladimir-Suzdal land (mentions of them are found until the 14th century). In the Galician land there was a unique case of electing a prince from among the boyars.
The main type of army became the feudal militia, the senior squad received personal inheritable land rights. The city militia was used to defend the city, urban area and settlements. In Veliky Novgorod, the princely squad was actually hired in relation to the republican authorities, the ruler had a special regiment, the townspeople made up the “thousand” (militia led by the thousand), there was also a boyar militia formed from the inhabitants of “Pyatin” (five dependent on the Novgorod boyars families of districts of Novgorod land). The army of a separate principality did not exceed 8,000 people. The total number of squads and city militia by 1237, according to historians, was about 100 thousand people.
During the period of fragmentation, several monetary systems emerged: Novgorod, Kyiv and “Chernigov” hryvnias are distinguished. These were silver bars of various sizes and weights. The northern (Novgorod) hryvnia was oriented towards the northern mark, and the southern one - towards the Byzantine liter. Kuna had a silver and fur expression, the former being to the latter as one to four. Old skins sealed with a princely seal (the so-called “leather money”) were also used as a monetary unit.
The name Rus was retained during this period for the lands in the Middle Dnieper region. Residents of different lands usually called themselves after the capital cities of appanage principalities: Novgorodians, Suzdalians, Kurians, etc. Until the 13th century, according to archeology, tribal differences persisted in material culture, the spoken Old Russian language was also not unified, retaining regional and tribal dialects.
Trade
The most important trade routes of Ancient Rus' were:
- the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, starting from the Varangian Sea, along Lake Nevo, along the Volkhov and Dnieper rivers leading to the Black Sea, Balkan Bulgaria and Byzantium (by the same route, entering the Danube from the Black Sea, one could get to Great Moravia) ;
- the Volga trade route (“the path from the Varangians to the Persians”), which went from the city of Ladoga to the Caspian Sea and further to Khorezm and Central Asia, Persia and Transcaucasia;
- a land route that began in Prague and through Kyiv went to the Volga and further to Asia.
During the VI-IX centuries. among the Eastern Slavs there was a process of class formation and the creation of the preconditions for feudalism. The territory where ancient Russian statehood began to take shape was located at the intersection of routes along which the migration of peoples and tribes took place, and nomadic routes ran. The South Russian steppes were the scene of endless struggle among moving tribes and peoples. Often Slavic tribes attacked the border regions of the Byzantine Empire.
In the 7th century In the steppes between the Lower Volga, Don and North Caucasus, a Khazar state was formed. The Slavic tribes in the regions of the Lower Don and Azov came under his rule, retaining, however, a certain autonomy. The territory of the Khazar kingdom extended to the Dnieper and the Black Sea. At the beginning of the 8th century. The Arabs inflicted a crushing defeat on the Khazars, and through the North Caucasus they deeply invaded the north, reaching the Don. A large number of Slavs - allies of the Khazars - were captured.
The Varangians (Normans, Vikings) penetrate into Russian lands from the north. At the beginning of the 8th century. they settled around Yaroslavl, Rostov and Suzdal, establishing control over the territory from Novgorod to Smolensk. Some of the northern colonists penetrated into southern Russia, where they mixed with the Rus, adopting their name. The capital of the Russian-Varangian Kaganate, which ousted the Khazar rulers, was formed in Tmutarakan. In their struggle, the opponents turned to the Emperor of Constantinople for an alliance.
In such a complex environment, the consolidation of Slavic tribes into political unions took place, which became the embryo of the formation of a unified East Slavic statehood.
Photo active tours 
In the 9th century. As a result of the centuries-long development of East Slavic society, the early feudal state of Rus' was formed with its center in Kyiv. Gradually, all the East Slavic tribes united in Kievan Rus.
The topic of the history of Kievan Rus considered in the work seems not only interesting, but also very relevant. Recent years have been marked by changes in many areas of Russian life. The lifestyle of many people has changed, the system of life values has changed. Knowledge of the history of Russia, the spiritual traditions of the Russian people, is very important for increasing the national self-awareness of Russians. A sign of the revival of the nation is the ever-increasing interest in the historical past of the Russian people, in their spiritual values.
FORMATION OF THE ANCIENT RUSSIAN STATE IN THE 9th century
The time from the 6th to the 9th centuries is still the last stage of the primitive communal system, the time of the formation of classes and the imperceptible, at first glance, but steady growth of the preconditions of feudalism. The most valuable monument containing information about the beginning of the Russian state is the chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years, where the Russian land came from, and who began to reign first in Kyiv and where the Russian land came from,” compiled by the Kyiv monk Nestor around 1113.
Having begun his story, like all medieval historians, with the Flood, Nestor talks about the settlement of Western and Eastern Slavs in Europe in ancient times. He divides the East Slavic tribes into two groups, the level of development of which, according to his description, was not the same. Some of them lived, as he put it, in a “beastly manner,” preserving the features of the tribal system: blood feud, remnants of matriarchy, the absence of marriage prohibitions, “kidnapping” (kidnapping) of wives, etc. Nestor contrasts these tribes with the glades, in whose land Kyiv was built. The Polyans are “sensible men”; they have already established a patriarchal monogamous family and, obviously, have overcome blood feud (they are “distinguished by their meek and quiet disposition”).
Next, Nestor talks about how the city of Kyiv was created. Prince Kiy, who reigned there, according to Nestor’s story, came to Constantinople to visit the Emperor of Byzantium, who received him with great honors. Returning from Constantinople, Kiy built a city on the banks of the Danube, intending to settle here for a long time. But the local residents were hostile to him, and Kiy returned to the banks of the Dnieper.
First historical event On the way to creating the Old Russian states, Nestor considered the formation of the principality of Polyans in the Middle Dnieper region. The legend about Kiy and his two brothers spread far to the south, and was even brought to Armenia.
Byzantine writers of the 6th century paint the same picture. During the reign of Justinian, huge masses of Slavs advanced to the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine historians colorfully describe the invasion of the empire by Slavic troops, who took away prisoners and rich booty, and the settlement of the empire by Slavic colonists. The appearance of the Slavs, who dominated communal relations, on the territory of Byzantium contributed to the eradication of slave-owning orders here and the development of Byzantium along the path from the slave-owning system to feudalism.
The successes of the Slavs in the fight against the powerful Byzantium indicate a relatively high level of development of Slavic society for that time: the material prerequisites had already appeared for equipping significant military expeditions, and the system of military democracy made it possible to unite large masses of Slavs. Long-distance campaigns contributed to the strengthening of the power of the princes in the indigenous Slavic lands, where tribal principalities were created.
Archaeological data fully confirms the words of Nestor that the core of the future Kievan Rus began to take shape on the banks of the Dnieper when the Slavic princes made campaigns in Byzantium and the Danube, in the times preceding the attacks of the Khazars (7th century).
The creation of a significant tribal union in the southern forest-steppe regions facilitated the advance of Slavic colonists not only in the southwest (to the Balkans), but also in the southeast direction. True, the steppes were occupied by various nomads: Bulgarians, Avars, Khazars, but the Slavs of the Middle Dnieper region (Russian land) were obviously able to protect their possessions from their invasions and penetrate deep into the fertile black earth steppes. In the VII-IX centuries. The Slavs also lived in the eastern part of the Khazar lands, somewhere in the Azov region, participated together with the Khazars in military campaigns, and were hired to serve the Kagan (Khazar ruler). In the south, the Slavs apparently lived in islands among other tribes, gradually assimilating them, but at the same time absorbing elements of their culture.
During the VI-IX centuries. Productive forces grew, tribal institutions changed, and the process of class formation began. As the most important phenomena in the life of the Eastern Slavs during the VI-IX centuries. The development of arable farming and the development of crafts should be noted; the collapse of the clan community as a labor collective and the separation from it of individual peasant farms, forming a neighboring community; the growth of private land ownership and the formation of classes; the transformation of the tribal army with its defensive functions into a squad that dominates its fellow tribesmen; seizure by princes and nobles of tribal land into personal hereditary property.
By the 9th century. Everywhere in the territory of settlement of the Eastern Slavs, a significant area of arable land cleared from forest was formed, indicating the further development of productive forces under feudalism. An association of small clan communities, characterized by a certain unity of culture, was the ancient Slavic tribe. Each of these tribes assembled a national assembly (veche). The power of the tribal princes gradually increased. The development of intertribal ties, defensive and offensive alliances, the organization of joint campaigns and, finally, the subjugation of their weaker neighbors by strong tribes - all this led to the consolidation of tribes, to their unification into larger groups.
Describing the time when the transition from tribal relations to the state took place, Nestor notes that various East Slavic regions had “their own reigns.” This is confirmed by archaeological data.
The formation of an early feudal state, which gradually subjugated all the East Slavic tribes, became possible only when the differences between the south and the north in terms of agricultural conditions were somewhat smoothed out, when in the north there was a sufficient amount of plowed land and the need for hard collective labor in cutting and forest uprooting has decreased significantly. As a result, the peasant family emerged as a new production team from the patriarchal community.
The decomposition of the primitive communal system among the Eastern Slavs occurred at a time when the slave system had already outlived its usefulness on a world-historical scale. In the process of class formation, Rus' came to feudalism, bypassing the slave-owning formation.
In the 9th-10th centuries. antagonistic classes of feudal society are formed. The number of vigilantes is increasing everywhere, their differentiation is increasing, and the nobility - the boyars and princes - are being separated from their midst.
An important question in the history of the emergence of feudalism is the question of the time of the appearance of cities in Rus'. In the conditions of the tribal system, there were certain centers where tribal councils met, a prince was chosen, trade was carried out, fortune telling was carried out, court cases were decided, sacrifices were made to the gods and the most important dates of the year were celebrated. Sometimes such a center became the focus of the most important types of production. Most of these ancient centers later turned into medieval cities.
In the 9th-10th centuries. feudal lords created a number of new cities that served both the purposes of defense against nomads and the purposes of domination over the enslaved population. Craft production was also concentrated in cities. The old name “grad”, “city”, denoting a fortification, began to be applied to a real feudal city with a detinets-kremlin (fortress) in the center and an extensive craft and trading area.
Despite the gradual and slow process of feudalization, one can still indicate a certain line, starting from which there is reason to talk about feudal relations in Rus'. This line is the 9th century, when the Eastern Slavs had already formed a feudal state.
The lands of the East Slavic tribes united into a single state received the name Rus. The arguments of “Norman” historians who tried to declare the Normans, who were then called Varangians in Rus', the creators of the Old Russian state, are unconvincing. These historians stated that the chronicles meant the Varangians by Rus. But as has already been shown, the prerequisites for the formation of states among the Slavs developed over many centuries and by the 9th century. gave noticeable results not only in the West Slavic lands, where the Normans never penetrated and where the Great Moravian state arose, but also in the East Slavic lands (in Kievan Rus), where the Normans appeared, robbed, and destroyed representatives of the local princely dynasties and sometimes they themselves became princes. It is obvious that the Normans could neither promote nor seriously hinder the process of feudalization. The name Rus' began to be used in sources in relation to part of the Slavs 300 years before the appearance of the Varangians.
The first mention of the Ros people was found in the middle of the 6th century, when information about them had already reached Syria. The glades, called, according to the chronicler, Russia, become the basis of the future ancient Russian nation, and their land - the core of the territory of the future state - Kievan Rus.
Among the news belonging to Nestor, one passage has survived, which describes Rus' before the Varangians appeared there. “These are the Slavic regions,” writes Nestor, “that are part of Rus' - the Polyans, the Drevlyans, the Dregovichi, the Polochans, the Novgorod Slovenes, the Northerners...”2. This list includes only half of the East Slavic regions. Consequently, Rus' at that time did not yet include the Krivichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Croats, Ulichs and Tivertsy. In the center of the new public education it turned out to be a tribe of glades. The Old Russian state became a kind of federation of tribes; in its form it was an early feudal monarchy
ANCIENT Rus' OF THE END OF THE IX – BEGINNING OF THE 12TH CENTURY.
In the second half of the 9th century. Novgorod prince Oleg united power over Kiev and Novgorod in his hands. The chronicle dates this event to 882. The formation as a result of the emergence of antagonistic classes of the early feudal Old Russian state (Kievan Rus) was turning point in the history of the Eastern Slavs.
The process of uniting the East Slavic lands as part of the Old Russian state was complex. In a number of lands, the Kyiv princes encountered serious resistance from local feudal and tribal princes and their “husbands.” This resistance was suppressed by force of arms. During the reign of Oleg (late 9th - early 10th centuries), a constant tribute was already levied from Novgorod and from the lands of the North Russian (Novgorod or Ilmen Slavs), Western Russian (Krivichi) and North-Eastern lands. The Kiev prince Igor (beginning of the 10th century), as a result of a stubborn struggle, subjugated the lands of the Ulitches and Tiverts. Thus, the border of Kievan Rus was advanced beyond the Dniester. A long struggle continued with the population of the Drevlyansky land. Igor increased the amount of tribute collected from the Drevlyans. During one of Igor’s campaigns in the Drevlyan land, when he decided to collect a double tribute, the Drevlyans defeated the princely squad and killed Igor. During the reign of Olga (945-969), Igor's wife, the land of the Drevlyans was finally subordinated to Kyiv.
The territorial growth and strengthening of Rus' continued under Svyatoslav Igorevich (969-972) and Vladimir Svyatoslavich (980-1015). The Old Russian state included the lands of the Vyatichi. The power of Rus' extended to the North Caucasus. The territory of the Old Russian state expanded in a western direction, including the Cherven cities and Carpathian Rus'.
With the formation of the early feudal state, more favorable conditions were created for maintaining the security of the country and its economic growth. But the strengthening of this state was associated with the development of feudal property and the further enslavement of the previously free peasantry.
The supreme power in the Old Russian state belonged to the Grand Duke of Kyiv. At the princely court there lived a squad, divided into “senior” and “junior”. The boyars from the prince's military comrades turn into landowners, his vassals, patrimonial fiefs. In the XI-XII centuries. the boyars are formalized as a special class and their legal status is consolidated. Vassalage is formed as a system of relations with the prince-suzerain; his characteristic features become the specialization of the vassal service, the contractual nature of the relationship and the economic independence of the vassal4.
Princely warriors took part in government. Thus, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, together with the boyars, discussed the issue of introducing Christianity, measures to combat “robberies” and decided on other matters. Certain parts of Rus' were ruled by their own princes. But the Grand Duke of Kiev sought to replace the local rulers with his proteges.
The state helped strengthen the rule of feudal lords in Rus'. The apparatus of power ensured the flow of tribute, collected in money and in kind. The working population also performed a number of other duties - military, underwater, participated in the construction of fortresses, roads, bridges, etc. Individual princely warriors received control over entire regions with the right to collect tribute.
In the middle of the 10th century. under Princess Olga, the size of duties (tributes and quitrents) was determined and temporary and permanent camps and graveyards were established in which tribute was collected.
The norms of customary law developed among the Slavs from ancient times. With the emergence and development of class society and the state, along with customary law and gradually replacing it, written laws appeared and developed to protect the interests of the feudal lords. Already in Oleg’s treaty with Byzantium (911) the “Russian law” was mentioned. The collection of written laws is “Russian Truth”, the so-called “Short Edition” (late 11th - early 12th centuries). In its composition, the “Most Ancient Truth” was preserved, apparently written down at the beginning of the 11th century, but reflecting some norms of customary law. It also talks about the remnants of primitive communal relations, for example, about blood feud. The law considers cases of replacing revenge with a fine in favor of the relatives of the victim (later in favor of the state).
The armed forces of the Old Russian state consisted of the squad of the Grand Duke, the squads that were brought by the princes and boyars subordinate to him, and the people's militia (warriors). The number of troops with which the princes went on campaigns sometimes reached 60-80 thousand. Foot militia continued to play an important role in the armed forces. Detachments of mercenaries were also used in Rus' - nomads of the steppes (Pechenegs), as well as Cumans, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Czechs, Poles, and Norman Varangians, but their role in the armed forces was insignificant. The Old Russian fleet consisted of ships hollowed out of trees and lined with boards along the sides. Russian ships sailed in the Black, Azov, Caspian and Baltic seas.
The foreign policy of the Old Russian state expressed the interests of the growing class of feudal lords, who expanded their possessions, political influence and trade relations. Striving to conquer individual East Slavic lands, the Kyiv princes came into conflict with the Khazars. Advancement to the Danube, the desire to seize the trade route along the Black Sea and the Crimean coast led to the struggle of the Russian princes with Byzantium, which tried to limit the influence of Rus' in the Black Sea region. In 907, Prince Oleg organized a campaign by sea against Constantinople. The Byzantines were forced to ask the Russians to conclude peace and pay an indemnity. According to the peace treaty of 911. Rus' received the right to duty-free trade in Constantinople.
The Kyiv princes also undertook campaigns to more distant lands - beyond the Caucasus ridge, to the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea (campaigns of 880, 909, 910, 913-914). The expansion of the territory of the Kyiv state began to be especially active during the reign of Princess Olga's son, Svyatoslav (Svyatoslav's campaigns - 964-972). He dealt the first blow to the Khazar empire. Their main cities on the Don and Volga were captured. Svyatoslav even planned to settle in this region, becoming the successor to the empire he destroyed6.
Then the Russian squads marched to the Danube, where they captured the city of Pereyaslavets (previously owned by the Bulgarians), which Svyatoslav decided to make his capital. Such political ambitions show that the Kyiv princes had not yet connected the idea of the political center of their empire with Kiev.
The danger that came from the East - the invasion of the Pechenegs - forced the Kyiv princes to pay more attention to the internal structure of their own state.
ADOPTION OF CHRISTIANITY IN Rus'
At the end of the 10th century. Christianity was officially introduced in Rus'. The development of feudal relations prepared the way for the replacement of pagan cults with a new religion.
The Eastern Slavs deified the forces of nature. Among the gods they revered, the first place was occupied by Perun, the god of thunder and lightning. Dazhd-bog was the god of the sun and fertility, Stribog was the god of thunderstorms and bad weather. Volos was considered the god of wealth and trade, and the blacksmith god Svarog was considered the creator of all human culture.
Christianity began to penetrate early into Rus' among the nobility. Back in the 9th century. Patriarch Photius of Constantinople noted that Rus' changed “pagan superstition” to “Christian faith”7. Christians were among Igor's warriors. Princess Olga converted to Christianity.
Vladimir Svyatoslavich, having been baptized in 988 and appreciating the political role of Christianity, decided to make it the state religion in Rus'. Russia's adoption of Christianity occurred in a difficult foreign policy situation. In the 80s of the 10th century. The Byzantine government turned to the prince of Kyiv with a request for military assistance to suppress uprisings in the lands under its control. In response, Vladimir demanded an alliance with Russia from Byzantium, offering to seal it with his marriage to Anna, the sister of Emperor Vasily II. The Byzantine government was forced to agree to this. After the marriage of Vladimir and Anna, Christianity was officially recognized as the religion of the Old Russian state.
Church institutions in Rus' received large land grants and tithes from state revenues. Throughout the 11th century. bishoprics were founded in Yuryev and Belgorod (in the Kyiv land), Novgorod, Rostov, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny, Vladimir-Volynsky, Polotsk and Turov. Several large monasteries arose in Kyiv.
The people met the new faith and its ministers with hostility. Christianity was imposed by force, and the Christianization of the country dragged on for several centuries. Pre-Christian (“pagan”) cults continued to live among the people for a long time.
The introduction of Christianity was a progress compared to paganism. Together with Christianity, the Russians received some elements of a higher Byzantine culture and, like other European peoples, joined the heritage of antiquity. The introduction of a new religion increased the international significance of ancient Rus'.
DEVELOPMENT OF FEUDAL RELATIONS IN Rus'
Time from the end of the X to the beginning of the XII century. is important stage in the development of feudal relations in Rus'. This time is characterized by the gradual victory of the feudal mode of production over a large territory of the country.
Sustainable field farming dominated Russian agriculture. Cattle breeding developed more slowly than agriculture. Despite the relative increase in agricultural production, harvests were low. Frequent phenomena were shortages and hunger, which undermined the Kresgyap economy and contributed to the enslavement of the peasants. Hunting, fishing, and beekeeping remained of great importance in the economy. The furs of squirrels, martens, otters, beavers, sables, foxes, as well as honey and wax went to the foreign market. The best hunting and fishing areas, forests and lands were seized by the feudal lords.
In the XI and early XII centuries. part of the land was exploited by the state by collecting tribute from the population, part of the land area was in the hands of individual feudal lords as estates that could be inherited (they later became known as estates), and estates received from princes for temporary conditional holding.
The ruling class of feudal lords was formed from local princes and boyars, who became dependent on Kiev, and from the husbands (combatants) of the Kyiv princes, who received control, holding or patrimony of the lands “tortured” by them and the princes. The Kyiv Grand Dukes themselves had large land holdings. The distribution of land by princes to warriors, strengthening feudal production relations, was at the same time one of the means used by the state to subjugate the local population to its power.
Land ownership was protected by law. The growth of boyar and church land ownership was closely related to the development of immunity. The land, which was previously peasant property, became the property of the feudal lord “with tribute, virami and sales,” that is, with the right to collect taxes and court fines from the population for murder and other crimes, and, consequently, with the right of trial.
With the transfer of lands into the ownership of individual feudal lords, peasants in different ways became dependent on them. Some peasants, deprived of the means of production, were enslaved by landowners, taking advantage of their need for tools, equipment, seeds, etc. Other peasants, sitting on land subject to tribute, who owned their own tools of production, were forced by the state to transfer the land under the patrimonial power of the feudal lords. As the estates expanded and the smerds became enslaved, the term servants, which previously meant slaves, began to apply to the entire mass of the peasantry dependent on the landowner.
Peasants who fell into bondage to the feudal lord, legally formalized by a special agreement - nearby, were called purchases. They received from the landowner a plot of land and a loan, which they worked on on the feudal lord's farm with the master's equipment. For escaping from the master, the zakuns turned into serfs - slaves deprived of all rights. Labor rent - corvée, field and castle (construction of fortifications, bridges, roads, etc.), was combined with nagural quitrent.
The forms of social protest of the masses against the feudal system were varied: from flight from their owner to armed “robbery”, from violating the boundaries of feudal estates, setting fire to the trees belonging to the princes to open uprising. The peasants fought against the feudal lords with weapons in their hands. Under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, “robberies” (as armed uprisings of peasants were often called at that time) became a common phenomenon. In 996, Vladimir, on the advice of the clergy, decided to apply the death penalty against “robbers”, but then, having strengthened the apparatus of power and, needing new sources of income to support the squad, he replaced the execution with a fine - vira. The princes paid even more attention to the fight against popular movements in the 11th century.
At the beginning of the 12th century. further development of the craft took place. In the village, under the conditions of state dominance of the natural economy, the production of clothing, shoes, utensils, agricultural implements, etc. was home production, not yet separated from agriculture. With the development of the feudal system, some of the community artisans became dependent on the feudal lords, others left the village and went under the walls of princely castles and fortresses, where craft settlements were created. The possibility of a break between the artisan and the village was due to the development of agriculture, which could provide the urban population with food and the beginning of the separation of crafts from agriculture.
Cities became centers for the development of crafts. In them by the 12th century. there were over 60 craft specialties. Russian artisans of the 11th-12th centuries. produced more than 150 types of iron and steel products, their products played an important role in the development of trade relations between the city and the countryside. Old Russian jewelers knew the art of minting non-ferrous metals. Tools, weapons, household items, and jewelry were made in craft workshops.
With its products, Rus' gained fame in Europe at that time. However, the social division of labor in the country as a whole was weak. The village lived on subsistence farming. The penetration of small retail traders into the village from the city did not disrupt the natural nature of the rural economy. Cities were centers of internal trade. But urban commodity production did not change the natural economic basis of the country’s economy.
Rus''s foreign trade was more developed. Russian merchants traded in the possessions of the Arab Caliphate. The Dnieper route connected Rus' with Byzantium. Russian merchants traveled from Kiev to Moravia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Southern Germany, from Novgorod and Polotsk - along the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia, Polish Pomerania and further to the west. With the development of crafts, the export of handicraft products increased.
Silver bars and foreign coins were used as money. Princes Vladimir Svyatoslavich and his son Yaroslav Vladimirovich issued (albeit in small quantities) minted silver coins. However, foreign trade did not change the natural nature of the Russian economy.
With the growth of the social division of labor, cities developed. They arose from castle fortresses, which were gradually overgrown with settlements, and from trade and craft settlements, around which fortifications were erected. The city was connected with the nearest rural district, from whose products it lived and whose population it served with handicrafts. In the chronicles of the 9th-10th centuries. 25 cities are mentioned in the news of the 11th century - 89. The heyday of ancient Russian cities fell in the 11th-12th centuries.
Craft and merchant associations arose in the cities, although a guild system did not develop here. In addition to free artisans, patrimonial artisans also lived in cities, who were slaves of princes and boyars. The city nobility consisted of the boyars. Big cities Rus' (Kyiv, Chernigov, Polotsk, Novgorod, Smolensk, etc.) were administrative, judicial and military centers. At the same time, having grown stronger, the cities contributed to the process of political fragmentation. This was a natural phenomenon under conditions of the dominance of subsistence farming and the weak economic ties between individual lands.
PROBLEMS OF STATE UNITY OF Rus'
The state unity of Rus' was not strong. The development of feudal relations and the strengthening of the power of the feudal lords, as well as the growth of cities as centers of local principalities, led to changes in the political superstructure. In the 11th century the head of the state was still headed by the Grand Duke, but the princes and boyars dependent on him acquired large land holdings in different parts of Rus' (in Novgorod, Polotsk, Chernigov, Volyn, etc.). The princes of individual feudal centers strengthened their own apparatus of power and, relying on local feudal lords, began to consider their reigns as paternal, that is, hereditary possessions. Economically, they were almost no longer dependent on Kyiv; on the contrary, the Kiev prince was interested in their support. Political dependence on Kyiv weighed heavily on local feudal lords and princes who ruled in certain parts of the country.
After the death of Vladimir, his son Svyatopolk became prince in Kyiv, who killed his brothers Boris and Gleb and began a stubborn struggle with Yaroslav. In this struggle, Svyatopolk used the military assistance of Polish feudal lords. Then a massive popular movement against the Polish invaders began in the Kyiv land. Yaroslav, supported by the Novgorod townspeople, defeated Svyatopolk and occupied Kyiv.
During the reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise (1019-1054), around 1024, a large uprising of the Smerds broke out in the northeast, in the Suzdal land. The reason for it was severe hunger. Many participants in the suppressed uprising were imprisoned or executed. However, the movement continued until 1026.
During the reign of Yaroslav, the strengthening and further expansion of the borders of the Old Russian state continued. However, signs of feudal fragmentation of the state appeared more and more clearly.
After the death of Yaroslav, state power passed to his three sons. Seniority belonged to Izyaslav, who owned Kiev, Novgorod and other cities. His co-rulers were Svyatoslav (who ruled in Chernigov and Tmutarakan) and Vsevolod (who reigned in Rostov, Suzdal and Pereyaslavl). In 1068, nomadic Cumans attacked Rus'. Russian troops were defeated on the Alta River. Izyaslav and Vsevolod fled to Kyiv. This accelerated the anti-feudal uprising in Kyiv, which had been brewing for a long time. The rebels destroyed the princely court, released Vseslav of Polotsk, who had previously been imprisoned by his brothers during an inter-princely strife, and was released from prison and elevated to reign. However, he soon left Kyiv, and a few months later Izyaslav, with the help of Polish troops, resorting to deception, again occupied the city (1069) and committed a bloody massacre.
Urban uprisings were associated with the peasant movement. Since anti-feudal movements were also directed against christian church, the leaders of the rebellious peasants and townspeople were sometimes the Magi. In the 70s of the 11th century. There was a major popular movement in the Rostov land. Popular movements took place in other places in Rus'. In Novgorod, for example, the masses of the urban population, led by the Magi, opposed the nobility, headed by the prince and bishop. Prince Gleb, with the help of military force, dealt with the rebels.
The development of the feudal mode of production inevitably led to the political fragmentation of the country. Class contradictions intensified noticeably. The devastation from exploitation and princely strife was aggravated by the consequences of crop failures and famine. After the death of Svyatopolk in Kyiv, there was an uprising of the urban population and peasants from the surrounding villages. The frightened nobility and merchants invited Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh (1113-1125), Prince of Pereyaslavl, to reign in Kyiv. The new prince was forced to make some concessions to suppress the uprising.
Vladimir Monomakh pursued a policy of strengthening the grand ducal power. Owning, in addition to Kyiv, Pereyaslavl, Suzdal, Rostov, ruling Novgorod and part of South-Western Rus', he simultaneously tried to subjugate other lands (Minsk, Volyn, etc.). However, contrary to Monomakh’s policy, the process of fragmentation of Rus', caused by economic reasons, continued. By the second quarter of the 12th century. Rus' was finally fragmented into many principalities.
CULTURE OF ANCIENT Rus'
The culture of ancient Rus' is the culture of early feudal society. Oral poetic creativity reflected the life experience of the people, captured in proverbs and sayings, in the rituals of agricultural and family holidays, from which the cult pagan principle gradually disappeared, and the rituals turned into folk games. Buffoons - traveling actors, singers and musicians, who came from the people's environment, were bearers of democratic tendencies in art. Folk motifs formed the basis of a wonderful song and musical creativity“the prophetic Boyan”, whom the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” calls “the nightingale of the old time.”
The growth of national self-awareness found particularly vivid expression in the historical epic. In it, the people idealized the time of political unity of Rus', although still very fragile, when the peasants were not yet dependent. The image of the “peasant son” Ilya Muromets, a fighter for the independence of his homeland, embodies the deep patriotism of the people. Folk art influenced the traditions and legends that developed in the feudal secular and church environment, and helped the formation of ancient Russian literature.
The emergence of writing was of enormous importance for the development of ancient Russian literature. In Rus', writing apparently arose quite early. The news has been preserved that the Slavic educator of the 9th century. Konstantin (Kirill) saw books in Chersonesus written in “Russian characters.” Evidence of the presence of writing among the Eastern Slavs even before the adoption of Christianity is an early 10th-century clay vessel discovered in one of the Smolensk mounds. with an inscription. Writing became widespread after the adoption of Christianity.
It seems very difficult to accurately determine the time period with which the emergence of the Old Russian state is associated. It is known that this event was preceded by a long period of formation and development of tribal relations in the communities inhabiting the East European Plain.
Already in the first millennium new era Slavic agricultural tribes begin to develop the territory of future Rus'. In the fifth century, during the process of formation in society, several dozen separate principalities or unions were formed. These were unique political associations, which later transformed into a slaveholding or early feudal state. From the Tale of Bygone Years the location and name of these reigns becomes known. So, the Polyans lived near Kyiv, the Radimichi - along the Sozh River, the Northerners - in Chernigov, the Vyatichi - near the Dregovichi occupied Minsk and Brest region, Krivichi - the cities of Smolensk, Pskov and Tver, Drevlyans - Polesie. In addition to the plain, the Proto-Balts (ancestors of the Estonians and Latvians) and the Fino-Ugrians inhabited the plain.
In the seventh century, more stable political formations were formed, and cities emerged - centers of principalities. This is how Novgorod, Kyiv, Polotsk, Chernigov, Smolensk, Izborsk, Turov appeared. Some historians are inclined to connect the emergence of the Old Russian state with the formation of these cities. This is partly true. However, the early feudal state with monarchical form reign arose a little later, in the ninth and tenth centuries.
The emergence and development of the Old Russian state among the East Slavic peoples is associated with the founding of the ruling dynasty. From chronicle sources it is known that in 862 Prince Rurik ascended the Novgorod throne. In 882, the two main centers of Southern and Northern Rus' (Kyiv and Novgorod) were united into one state. The new administrative-territorial entity was named Kievan Rus. became its first ruler. During this period, a state apparatus appeared, order was strengthened, and princely rule became a hereditary prerogative. This is how the Old Russian state emerged.
Later, other northerners, the Drevlyans, the Ulichs, the Radimichi, the Vyatichi, the Tivertsy, the Polyans, and others, also became subordinate to Kievan Rus.
Historians are inclined to believe that the emergence of the Old Russian state was caused by the active growth of trade and economic relations. The fact is that a waterway ran through the lands of the East Slavic peoples, which was popularly called “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” It was he who played significant role in bringing these two principalities closer together to achieve common economic goals.
The main function of the Old Russian state was to protect the territory from external attack and implement an active foreign policy of a military orientation (campaigns against Byzantium, the defeat of the Khazars, etc.).
It falls during the reign of Ya. the Wise. This period is characterized by the presence of an established system of public administration. The squad and boyars were under the authority of the prince. He had the right to appoint posadniks (to manage cities), governors, mytniks (to collect trade duties), and tributaries (to collect land taxes). The basis of the society of the Old Russian principality was made up of both urban and rural residents.
The emergence of a state is a long and complex process. Kievan Rus was heterogeneous in its ethnic composition, multinational. Along with it, it also included Baltic and Finnish tribes. And subsequently it gave growth and development to three Slavic peoples: Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians.
- What does individuality mean?
- What does a person’s individuality depend on?
- Issues of formation of a cluster education system in the Russian Federation
- Unified State Exam tests in literature What is included in the Unified State Examination in literature
- How to pay transport tax for legal entities
- Card for individual accounting of the amounts of accrued payments and other remunerations and the amounts of accrued insurance premiums Card for insurance premiums per year
- Error when filling in Contour
- Desk audit: developments
- Conditions for performing the stern experiment
- System status and processes
- Alexey Sergeevich Obukhov development of student research activities
- Oriental and African studies
- Yelets State University named after
- What does it show and how to calculate the internal rate of return?
- Yaroslav Samoilov is a relationship specialist with no professional education. Do you want to save your relationship?
- Perm Pharmaceutical Academy: reviews, faculties
- Trader Dmitry Cheremushkin
- Main economic issues
- Creative competition: we enter the Faculty of Journalism of St. Petersburg State University Bachelor's training programs
- Management of a modern school using the example of creating an educational cluster