Why is the 17th century called the “rebellious” century? The name comes from the word "rebellion". And indeed, the 17th century in Rus' was replete with riots, peasant and urban uprisings.

General characteristics of the 17th century

Each new century brings " new order" The 17th century in Russia is not an exception. During this, according to contemporaries, “troubled” period in Rus', the following events took place:

• The end of the reign of the Rurik dynasty: after the death of Ivan the Terrible, his two sons, Fedor and Dmitry, laid claim to the throne. The young Tsarevich Dmitry died in 1591, and in 1598 the “feeble-minded” Fedor died;
• The reign of “unborn” sovereigns: Boris Godunov, False Dmitry, Vasily Shuisky;
• In 1613, a new tsar was elected at the Zemsky Sobor - Mikhail Romanov. From this moment on, the era of the Romanov dynasty begins;
• In 1645, after the death of Mikhail Fedorovich, his son, Alexei Mikhailovich, ascended to the throne, who gentle character and kindness was nicknamed “the quietest king”;
• The end of the 17th century is characterized by a real “leapfrog” of succession to the throne: after the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, his eldest son Fedor ascended the throne. But after six years of rule he dies. The heirs Ivan and Peter were minors, and in fact the management big state goes to their older sister, Sophia;
• After a series of uprisings, famines and turbulent years of rule by “unborn” kings, the reign of the first Romanovs was marked by relative “calm”: there were practically no wars, moderate reforms were carried out within the country;
• During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the previously independent church began to submit to the state and pay taxes;
• The events of the 17th century also include the reform of Patriarch Nikon, which introduced changes in the conduct of church rites and led to a split in Orthodox Church, the emergence of the Old Believers movement and the subsequent brutal suppression of dissent;
• The dominant position was occupied by the feudal system. At the same time, the first rudiments of capitalism appeared;
• Serfdom was formalized: peasants were the property of the landowner, which could be sold, bought and inherited;
• Strengthening the role of the nobility: a nobleman could not be deprived of his estate;
• The urban population was recognized as a special class: on the one hand, it was independent, and on the other, attached to the cities ( townspeople population) and forced to pay “taxes” - monetary and in-kind duties;
• Increase in direct taxes;
• Restriction of Cossack freedom;
• Published in 1649 Cathedral Code- the main set of laws that applies to all industries and areas government controlled from economy to government;
• The country's economy is based on agriculture;
• Development of new territories in Siberia, the Volga region and on the southern borders of the state.

Rice. 1. Red Square in the second half of the 17th century in Vasnetsov’s painting

Riots of the "Rebellious Age"

All of the briefly listed above events of the 17th century led to a deterioration in the economic and social situation of the Russian population, and as a result, to a massive increase in discontent.

Internal contradictions frequent change authorities, “adventurous” innovations, impoverishment of the population, hunger, economic backwardness - these are the main reasons for the growing “ferment” among urban and rural residents.

Below everything was constantly smoldering, and only a spark was needed to ignite a big fire - popular movements. However, each rebellion needed its own spark - a specific reason. The following table shows the largest uprisings " rebellious age» in Russia with a description of the main reason, indicating the date, participants in the movement, outlining the course of the uprising and summing up the results.

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Rice. 2. Copper coins of the 17th century

Table "Rebellious Age"

A common feature of all the riots of the 17th century in Russia was spontaneity and pronounced tsarist illusions. In other words, the “rebels” and their leaders did not think or take any action against the king. On the contrary, they believed in his absolute power and infallibility, and believed that the autocrat did not know what his subjects - the boyars, duma people, landowners, and governors - were doing.

Rice. 3. Portrait of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich

All popular uprisings except the Streletsky revolt occurred during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, paradoxically nicknamed the Quietest.

What have we learned?

The 17th century in the history of Russia, studied in the 10th grade, was remembered for the “abundance” of popular uprisings and riots. The detailed table “Rebellious Age” tells about what century it was, with whom the popular movements are associated - with what names, the reign of which kings and which cities on the map of Russia.

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1. Popular uprisings XI century, the Magi and the opinion of historians. In the 11th century Several popular uprisings broke out in Rus'. Partly the uprising […]

1. Popular uprisings of the 11th century, the Magi and the opinion of historians.

In the 11th century Several popular uprisings broke out in Rus'. The uprisings were partly provoked by crop failure, partly by dissatisfaction with the new feudal order of Rus'. But the Tale of Bygone Years names certain Magi as the leaders of the first uprisings. Since the Magi, it became customary to believe that they were pagan priests. This is the meaning that has been assigned to the word “magician” since the 18th century.

This is how it is still considered. Soviet historian V.V. Mavrodin wrote in the early 60s:

“The uniqueness of this popular movement lay in the fact that at the head of the Smerds who rebelled against the “old child” were the Magi, who sought to use the anti-feudal uprising of the people to return to the previous pre-Christian cults.

This was not the only attempt of the Magi to return past influence. In the “Tale of Bygone Years” under 1071 there is a story about the performances of the Magi in Kyiv, Novgorod and the Suzdal land, in particular in Belozer.”

V. V. Mavrodin “People’s uprisings in Ancient Rus'”, M.. 1961.

B. A. Rybakov wrote about these uprisings in the early 80s:

“In 1024, the Magi, having settled in Suzdal, raised a “great rebellion” throughout the Upper Volga region; in 1071 two “magicians” ordered huge space from the Volga 300 km north to Beloozero. In both cases, pagan priests (possibly of local Meryan-Vep origin) made human sacrifices: “and the two Magi killed many wives and took their property for themselves.”

B. A. Rybakov “Paganism of Ancient Rus'”, M. 1988.

N.N. Veletskaya directly linked the murder of noble and wealthy people by the Magi with the manifestation of the archaic ritual of sending old people “to the next world” (referring for some reason to Rubruk’s description of the customs of Tibet and Herodotus with his description of Indian customs):

“From the evidence of the Ipatiev Chronicle it is clear that the premature killing of venerable old men in the 11th century. still had a ritual character, having an agrarian-magical function, but it was already an episodic action. The expression “hold gobineau” can be interpreted both as “retarding the growth of grain” and as “creating an obstacle to the harvest.” Most likely, the evidence says that the Magi sent worthy representatives of the older generation to the “other world” to prevent the impending crop failure. The degradation of the ritual is manifested in the fear of a threat, associated to a certain extent with the fact that there were those on earth for whom it was time to go to their forefathers. Apparently, a manifestation of the degradation of the custom is the departure from its regular and timely practice.”

N. N. Veletskaya, “Pagan symbolism of Slavic archaic rituals”, M., 1978.

The opinion that the Magi of these uprisings were pagan priests has not changed in the 21st century. I. A. Froyanov completely agrees with the opinion of N. N. Veletskaya and develops her hypothesis. In the book “Ancient Rus'” he devoted many pages to reasoning that these uprisings were a reaction of the pagan population of Rus':

“Thus, the Tale of Bygone Years captured the picture of the magi’s reprisal against the “best wives,” who supposedly with their harmful spells delayed the harvest, causing “scarcity” in the Rostov region. The Magi, according to the chronicler, “took away the “property” of the murdered “wives.” The transfer of the property of the “best wives” to the Magi has a certain meaning. Ancient man, as is known, spiritualized the world, inhabiting with spirits, good and evil, all objects with which he came into contact in one way or another. To this we must add that, according to the pagans, in the things belonging to man, there was a particle of the owner of these things, which reflected the general pagan consciousness of the inseparability of the world of people and the world of objects, and, ultimately, nature. The mentioned features of pagan thinking make it possible to explain why the Magi took the property (“estate”) of the “best wives” for themselves. They did this because this property bore the stamp of action. evil forces, witchcraft."

I. A. Froyanov “Ancient Rus' of the 9th-13th centuries. Popular movements. Princely and veche power", M., 2012.

It would seem that the issue is closed. The first uprisings in Rus' were led by pagan priests, period.

2. Magi are not pagan priests.

The main mistake in understanding the essence of the rebel leaders is that for some reason the term “magician” is translated as “pagan priest.” Although “magician” itself and the meanings derived from this word do not relate to religion. A Magus is a spell specialist, that is, a sorcerer. But sorcerers have never been ministers of cults anywhere. Sorcerers could worship this or that god, but they were not servants of the gods, just as now a grandmother-healer who whispers conspiracies is not a pagan servant of the cult. In the Slavic translation of the New Testament, three wizards from the East are called Magi, who came to worship Jesus, who in the original are called magicians (in ancient times the word “magician” even then meant not only a minister of the Zoroastrian cult, but also an oriental wizard). Magus is a wizard, sorcery is to conjure - this is the meaning in which these words existed in Old Russian language. This is how it looks in the dictionary of I. I. Sreznevsky:

The terminology of Slavic paganism, quite ancient and precise, did not tolerate double interpretation. A cult minister, that is, a person who served the gods at the temple and led religious rituals, was called a “priest” (priest, priest). The word comes from the word “zhreti” - “to sacrifice.” The sacrifice to the gods was called “treba” (treba). Pagan terminology was still alive in the 11th century. and our ancestors remembered it and did not confuse it. So, when describing the pagan reform of Prince Vladimir, the chronicler of The Tale of Bygone Years (hereinafter referred to as PVL) wrote: “ AND they're eating they are the gods, and I bring my sons, and to the bully demon, and desecrate the earth requirements theirs. And become defiled requirements Russian land and hill«.

The Magi kill women.

If the leaders of the uprisings really made human sacrifices to the pagan gods, then contemporaries would certainly note this fact. However, the chroniclers in no way noted the actions of the Magi with pagan terminology, which is quite strange. Even more strange is the transfer of property of the murdered. Slavic paganism does not know such a custom. Contemporary Jan Vyshatich speaks about the killing of people by the Magi specifically as a murder, and not as a sacrifice: “... and killed<…>many wives”, “And Yan’s speech to the driver: “Whose homeland was killed from this?” In the Old Russian language, the meaning of the word “murder” and its derivatives was exactly the same as it is today.

Thus, contemporaries did not consider the Magi to be pagan priests. The Magi were not considered such even later. So “Stoglav” defines the Magi as sorcerers and astrologers: “ ...magi and sorcerers give them aid from demonic teachings; the kudes strike the Aristotelian gates and look through the raffles, and tell fortunes by the stars and planets and look at the days and hours". (“Aristotle’s Gate” is a popular work on astrology in Rus', rafli is a popular method of fortune telling).

And most importantly: the Slavic clan society was not divided into classes, like the Celts, or into varnas and castes, like the Indians. Therefore, the priestly class simply did not exist. Served as priests dear people, chosen by the community, or the role of the priest was performed by the head of the clan or the prince. With the baptism of Rus', the need for priests disappeared (this social role passed to Christian priests) and the priesthood simply disappeared from the life of Ancient Rus'. But the sorcerers remained because they were doctors, agronomists, meteorologists and analysts rolled into one. There was no way to replace them with scientific specialists at that time (this was only possible in the 20th century when Soviet power). Therefore, the church and authorities, although they threw lightning and thunder at sorcerers and healers, tried not to touch them, preferring to fight external manifestations paganism.

But then, who were the mysterious wise men of the 11th century uprisings?

3. Popular uprisings of the 11th century. in The Tale of Bygone Years.

The rebellion of 1024 provides little information on the issue of interest. After the death of Prince Vladimir in 1015, a war for power began between his numerous descendants, which had a deplorable effect on the country’s economy. In 1024, famine began in the Suzdal land. Some magicians started a rebellion in Suzdal. The Magi accused the “elder children,” that is, the local nobility, of hiding food. The Magi were probably experienced agitators, and the people were irritated by the inaction of the authorities and “There was a great rebellion...”. The rebels in Suzdal killed noble and rich people and plundered their yards. The authorities reacted quickly - they purchased food from the Volga Bulgars and the rebellion came to naught. Prince Yaroslav the Wise and his retinue came to Suzdal and arrested the leaders of the rebellion. After a short trial, some Magi were executed, others were expelled (PVL does not say where they were expelled).

It should be noted that the Christian chronicler reacted very calmly to the very fact of the uprising of the Magi, which is very strange, because the Magi were directly supposed to threaten Christianity, which had just established itself in Rus'. There is no information about the pagan nature of the uprising. But here social motives On the face of it, the Magi spoke out against the rich, that is, they looked at wealth negatively, and this is not typical for pagan priests.

Uprising in Novgorod, 60-70. XI century

In the late 60s or early 70s ( exact date unknown) the sorcerer appeared again in Novgorod. This sorcerer has already begun anti-Christian agitation: “. .. spoke to people, pretending to be God, and deceived many, almost the entire city, he said: “I foresee everything” and, blaspheming the Christian faith, assured that “I will cross the Volkhov in front of all the people". And this was enough to start the riot. The Magus began to call for the murder of the bishop and the crowd followed him. Prince Gleb Svyatoslavovich and his retinue met the crowd at the bishop's courtyard. The bishop in full vestments with a cross in his hands tried to reason with the crowd: “ Whoever wants to believe the sorcerer, let him follow him; whoever believes God, let him go to the cross“, but the call was not heard: the people remained with the sorcerer, but the prince and his retinue remained next to the bishop. Then Gleb Svyatoslavovich, seeing that he could not withstand the entire city, decided to nip the rebellion in the bud. Hiding the ax under his cloak, he approached the sorcerer and asked:

“Do you know what will happen tomorrow and what will happen until this evening?” He replied: “I know everything.” And Gleb said: “Do you know what will happen to you today?” “I will do great miracles,” he said. Gleb, taking out an ax, cut the sorcerer, and he fell dead, and the people dispersed.»

The denouement is surprising: just when the people were ready to start a rebellion and shed blood, after the death of the sorcerer, people simply went about their business. We must think that we only know the culmination of events. Even in those distant times, people were quite sane to simply believe a rogue who suddenly declared that he was a god and a prophet and could walk on water. And not only believe, but also go kill the bishop. It is clear that this rebellion was carefully prepared and only the prince’s determination made it possible to avoid much bloodshed. The heart of the rebellion was precisely the nameless sorcerer - as soon as he was eliminated, the rebellion immediately died out by itself.

But who was this sorcerer? And who provoked the rebellion? A pagan priest? The chronicler does not even hint at this. He writes only about demons who seduce people, which fits well with his worldview medieval man. The Magus was clearly anti-Christian. He not only called for the murder of a clergyman, that is, opposed the church, but also uttered prophecies and even threatened to repeat one of the miracles of Jesus Christ. And not a single mention of pagan gods.

In 1071, famine began in the Rostov region. At this time, two wise men came from Yaroslavl. It is doubtful that pagan priests would live peacefully in Yaroslavl. Therefore, the two were hiding their true identities. This time the propaganda of the Magi was social character. They convinced the people that noble women were hiding food. Using a simple trick (they cut women's clothes and showed people food or luxury items), they convinced people that they were right. Began massacres women. Property was taken from noble and rich people and, as the chronicler writes, they took it for themselves, but most likely they distributed it to ordinary people, otherwise it would be difficult to explain the wide popular support of the Magi. Soon a whole community of adherents of about 300 people formed around them, who walked around the cities and committed murders and division of property. But in Beloozero, the rebels came across Yan Vyshatich, the future Kyiv tysyatsky, the leader of the city militia, who with a small detachment was collecting tribute. Apparently, Jan fled from Kyiv after the uprising of 1068 and entered the service of the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav. Having learned that the Magi were smerda (people, subjects) of his prince, he ordered their arrest, but was refused. After a short fight, the rebels fled, killing the priest who was with Jan. Entering the city, Jan ordered the Magi to be handed over, which was done. And then an interesting dialogue took place.

« And he said to them: “Why did they kill so many people?”

They said that “they hold reserves, and if we destroy them, there will be abundance; if you want, we will take out the wheat, or fish, or something else in front of you.”

Yan said: “Truly this is a lie; God created man from the earth, he is made up of bones and blood veins, there is nothing else in him, no one knows anything, only God knows.”

They said: “We know how man was created.”

He asked: “How?”

They answered: “God washed himself in the bathhouse and sweated, wiped himself with a rag and threw it from heaven to earth. And Satan argued with God over who should create man from her. And the devil created man, and God put his soul into him. That's why, if a person dies, goes to earth body, and soul to God."

Yan said to them: “Truly the demon has deceived you; what god do you believe in?

They answered: “To the Antichrist!”

He said to them: “Where is he?”

They said: “He sits in the abyss.”

Yan told them: “What kind of god is this if he sits in the abyss? This is a demon, and God is in heaven, sitting on a throne, glorified by the angels, who stand before him with fear and cannot look at him. One of the angels was overthrown - the one you call the Antichrist; he was cast down from heaven for his arrogance and is now in the abyss, as you say; he waits for God to descend from heaven. God will bind this Antichrist in chains and put him in the abyss, capturing him along with his servants and those who believe in him. You will also receive torment from me here, and after death, there.”

They said: “The gods tell us: you can’t do anything to us!”

He told them: “The gods are lying to you.”

They answered: “We will stand in front of Svyatoslav, but you cannot do anything to us.” Yan ordered to beat them and pull out their beards.

When they were beaten and their beards were torn out with a splinter, Yan asked them: “What do the gods say to you?”

They answered: “We should stand before Svyatoslav.”.

Execution of the Magi by Jan Vyshatic.

The persistence with which the rebels rushed to the prince is surprising, as if they were sure that they would remain unpunished or their goal was to appear before the prince. Apparently Jan Vyshatich suspected something, so he handed over the Magi to the relatives of the women killed by the rebels for reprisal. Apparently, he did not want these wise men to convey their thoughts to the prince.

According to historians, this is a recording of the direct memories of Jan Vyshatic, made about thirty years after the events. There are too many details in the story that only he could see. So he could have forgotten some details due to the passage of time, but in general the events are described reliably.

4. The Magi are missionaries of the Manichaean sect of the Bogomils.

The uprising of 1071 had a pronounced social orientation: the destruction of property inequality and the redistribution of property (otherwise it is not clear why the rebels so easily gave the property of those executed to the Magi). All three uprisings are united by the figures of the Magi-leaders. But it is very doubtful that these were pagan priests. The doctrine of social equality (in its primitive form: take everything and divide it, and kill the rich) is already higher than generic pagan philosophy. And the anti-Christian orientation of the uprisings is alarming. The pagan priests had nothing to fear in Ancient Rus'. They simply stopped being priests. In ancient Russian society, only sorcerers retained a number of previous functions: fortune telling, weather forecasting, performing some rituals related to fertility, healing, and making amulets. With Christianization, the priests had to cede functions such as birth ceremonies, weddings and funerals to the church. The former priests did not even hide, but lived quietly among the people. Perhaps former priests performed such rituals illegally.

Let's look at the miniature of the Radziwill Chronicle (the chronicle of the 15th century, but goes back to the chronicle of the 13th century, and researchers date the miniatures to an even earlier time), where the artist depicted the Novgorod sorcerer and Prince Gleb.

Execution of the Magus.

The “pagan” priest looks very strange, if not alien. It seems that the artist wanted to show precisely the foreignness of the sorcerer. A shaved face (this is in Rus', where there was a reverent attitude towards a beard!), long hair, rich strange clothes. No, these were not pagan priests. Notice what nonsense the “magician” suddenly began to spout when talking about the creation of man! This is not a pagan concept. In pagan mythology, gods create humans from wood, clay, and stone. There is some kind of bizarre pseudo-Christian legend here. And even more so, a pagan priest would not mention Christian characters.

As a result, we can generally identify the main features of the ideology of the “magi”: hatred of Christianity, hatred of the church, the idea of ​​social equality.

History knows such an ideology - this is Manichaeism. The very teaching of the Iranian founder of the religion, Mani, is very complex, confusing, and most importantly, it was secret from ordinary followers. In short, Mani taught that matter (that is, our world) is evil, part of the world’s darkness, which just wants to absorb the divine light of truth. The human soul is fragments of this light, absorbed by matter as a result of a universal cataclysm. Therefore, the soul had to be saved from the evil of matter through death. The Manichaeans advocated an ascetic lifestyle and did not like Christians very much. L. N. Gumilyov called Manichaeism an anti-system, that is, the systemic integrity of people with a negative worldview. Indeed, to consider our world evil is already too much, and the Manichaeans did not love either the world or people, they sought to unite with the “light”, freeing themselves from the shackles of matter. And the people surrounding the Manichaeans responded with hostility, because wherever the Manichaeans went, they began their destructive activities, destroying peoples and states.

Although the Manichaean faith forbade lying, it only applied to one’s own people; it was possible to deceive others, because it was necessary for the sake of “saving” the “infidels” from the shackles of darkness. Therefore, the Manichaeans penetrated into foreign society by wearing familiar to the population masks: with Christians they pretended to be Christians, with Buddhists they were Buddhists. So in Iran they put on a Zoroastrian mask and in the 6th century. their leader Mazdak even gained access to power, starting the execution of the nobility and rich people, distributing wealth to the poor, including the harems of the nobility. In the Muslim East, Manichaeism took the form of Ismaili sects and modern Wahhabism.

In the 7th century the Manichaeans penetrated into Asia Minor, where they took the name Paulicians, where they even founded their own republic, from where they carried out predatory raids on Byzantium, destroying Christian churches.

In the 10th century Manichaeism penetrated into Bulgaria and, under the name of Bogomils (Bogomil was the name of the founder of the sect in Bulgaria), spread throughout the Balkans. Through Italy, the Bogomils penetrated into France and Germany, where they took the names of Cathars, Waldensians, Albigensians, and Patarens.

In order to make it easier to attract new adherents, the Manichaeans modified their teaching, modernizing it to Christianity. Our world, as their teaching now said, was created by Satan, or rather, then he was still the angel Satanail, who envied God and created material world, confining particles of divine light in the form of a soul in the grave of matter. Compare with the speeches of the sorcerer Jan Vyshatic about the creation of man by Satan, into which God put his soul. Apparently, we have before us a version of the Manichaean teaching, developed specifically for Rus'.

There is also an explanation for the “magi”’s mention of certain gods whom they worship. The Bogomils were dualists - they equally revered the good god of Heaven and the evil god of Earth. Moreover, the Bogomils believed that a person himself should choose which god to worship in accordance with his character. So among the Bogomil Satanists, Satanail was a good god, whom the God of Heaven envied and therefore sent all sorts of troubles to the earth, like thunderstorms.

The spread of Bogomilism in Europe.

If Bogomilism penetrated into Europe, then couldn’t it have penetrated into Rus'? How could it? And it penetrated. The Bogomils penetrated under the guise of Magi, although they were the same Magi as the Masons were masons. The Bogomils came to Europe as weavers. Having settled in a foreign society, they began underground agitation among the population, recruiting followers. In Europe, where clan society was completely broken by feudal orders, and the church and government no longer met the concept of justice, this was easy. The Bogomils took advantage of social inequality and the discontent of the population (and absolutely everyone in Europe was dissatisfied). Since the Christian Church was a direct competitor of the Bogomils, they did not hesitate to denounce it, especially pointing out the wealth of the church, called icons idols, and the Pope Satan, and argued that God did not need churches and called for living modestly, like the first apostles. This found a lively response among the people. Eventually the Bogomil Church in Europe grew so large that it became a threat to European countries. Had to carry it out against the Bogomils Crusades and introduce the Inquisition.

In the same way, the Bogomils began to penetrate into Rus'. Apparently, they decided that the best masks in Rus' would be the sorcerers-magi. And then the Bogomils miscalculated. And if the authorities of Byzantium and European states long time didn’t even notice that the Manichaean sect was growing and strengthening under their noses, then in Rus' this was quickly noticed, because crazy legends about Satan, who created man with real pagan myths could not be confused.

5. Why did Manichaeism not have a destructive effect on Rus'?

Of course, the authorities in Rus' at first did not yet understand what kind of infection they were dealing with, they simply felt that something alien had come to Rus', which threatened riots and rebellions. Therefore, they acted simply and harshly - they destroyed the instigators of the riot without touching the people, thereby the people were not embittered by the repressions and did not consider the dead Bogomils “innocent sufferers.” But the Bogomil abstruse anti-Christian concept itself did not find a response among the population of Rus'. She was too alien. The people could still rebel against injustice, but they no longer had the desire to go to death for the sake of “union with the light.” Therefore, the Bogomil teaching remained forever underground in Rus', sometimes breaking out in the form of heresies, which the authorities justly and harshly suppressed.

It cannot be said that the activities of the Bogomils remained a secret for a long time. Soon after the first speeches of the Bogomils, secular and ecclesiastical authorities exposed the imaginary Magi, and from the end of the 11th century. Teachings against Bogomilism are spreading throughout Rus'.

It is worth noting that the Church of Ancient Rus' had not yet become deeply mired in luxury and corruption, like the Catholic Church of Europe. Therefore, the anti-Christian propaganda of the Bogomils in Rus' simply passed by the population, since it did not reflect reality.

If secrets arose in Rus' Manichaean sects then they died in the fire Mongol invasion, leaving behind legends about Satanail in Russian folklore. The Bogomils penetrated into Rus' even after the Mongol invasion, creating various heresies, such as the Strigolnik heresy, but these heresies were quickly suppressed by the authorities.

But most importantly, the Bogomils did not find contact with higher authorities and sympathy for Manichaean views among the population, as happened in Europe. For these reasons, Manichaeism in Rus' remained a small, marginal sectarian movement.

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Suzdal. 1024

In the Suzdal land, one of the first major popular uprisings in ancient Rus' known to us from sources took place. The reason for it was the famine that gripped the Suzdal land in 1024 and caused a “great rebellion” in it. The ancient Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" reports that the common people began to beat the "old children", i.e. the local secular and church nobility, who had hidden supplies of grain from the people, and that this popular uprising was led by the Magi - the priests of the old, pre-Christian religion of the Slavs . The "old child" obviously took advantage of the people's disaster - hunger, taking bread into her hands and selling it to the starving at an extortionate price on credit.
Thus, the church and the nobility enslaved the surrounding people, subjugated them, forced them to work for themselves in their feudal economy. Arriving in the Suzdal region, Prince Yaroslav captured the magicians, brutally executed some, and sent others into exile.

Rostov. 989

The princely authorities of Rostov decided to baptize the local population. All the townspeople were taken into the waters of Lake Nero and divided into groups of 10-15 people each. Specially invited Byzantine priests sailed boats between the groups and baptized the inhabitants, giving them one name per group. Obviously, the priests were paid by piecework, not hourly. Destroyed places of worship pagans, books were destroyed and wise men were burned.
At the same time, despite the outward submission, for many years the population resisted innovations: they raised uprisings, restored their temples to Veles and Yarila. Thus, in 1071, the first bishop Leonty was killed in Rostov. But in 1073, Jan Vyshatich from Kyiv brutally suppressed the last of the Rostov uprisings. The pagans had to give up open expression their faith, disguising their rituals in accordance with Christian teachings.

Novgorod.

Novgorod is the second largest city of ancient Rus' after Kyiv - in to a greater extent retained his pagan religion. Its large local population resisted both the Christian Church and the Kyiv princes, who sought to subjugate Novgorod, place their warriors in a particularly privileged position and force the Novgorodians to pay tribute. It is no coincidence that ancient legend tells us that the governors of the Kyiv prince Vladimir, Dobrynya and Putyata, baptized the Novgorodians “with fire and sword.”
The 1070s are marked in the history of Novgorod and all of Ancient Rus' as a period of outbreak of pagan unrest. The most “rebellious” region was the northeast of Rus' - the lands around Rostov, Suzdal, Murom. Here Christian priests felt like they were in a hostile environment for a long time local population who adhered to the original Slavic religion. Control over the religious sentiments of the inhabitants of the territories of Rus' remote from the urban centers remained in the hands of the Magi - pagan priests, soothsayers and healers (the word “magic” came from them).
In 1071 they made themselves known in Novgorod. One of the Magi gathered Novgorodians around him and, in the wake of popular sentiment, staged an uprising. The overwhelming majority of the townspeople were on the side of the original Slavic faith. But the authorities had long been converted to Christianity and did not particularly take into account the opinions of local residents.
To the prince’s question, “What will the sorcerer be doing today?”, he, without feeling any trick, answered that he would perform “great miracles.” Prince Gleb took a hatchet from under his cloak and meanly hacked to death the Slavic sorcerer. After this, the Novgorodians, although they did not change their minds, were forced to disperse.

Reasons for the uprisings:

Christianity, which supplanted the cult of the old gods through the cult of Byzantine saints, penetrated into Rus' with extreme difficulty. At the same time, the local ecclesiastical and secular nobility, taking advantage of their wealth, enriched themselves as a result of the exploitation of the local population, enslaved their relatives.
Orthodoxy (from the words “to glorify Rule”) was the native faith of the Slavs; it successfully resisted the introduced Christianity by force of the sword.
Volkh is a representative of his native, familiar religion. He himself came from the community, he is close to the rural people. In the minds of rural people, the sorcerer is associated with a free state, with the absence of princely tributaries, virniks and other princely “husbands”. When the sorcerer was there, there were no tributes, no carts, no virs, the land was with the community members, their property was land, fields, fields, crops and forests. They celebrated old holidays, adhered to their native customs, and prayed to their native gods. Now, not only in the princely upper rooms and gridnitsa, but throughout Rus', the sorcerer was replaced by a priest and a princely danshik who had come from Byzantium.
Tributes and extortions, taxes and carts, the appearance of new owners on the communal lands - boyars and monasteries, expropriation of communal lands and lands, enslavement by the local "old child", the introduction of Christianity and the appearance of churches on the site of temples and sacred groves - all this for obvious reasons caused among the Russians a fierce hatred of power and imposed religion.

Popular uprisings in the 60s and 70s. XI century

Massive popular performances swept through Kievan Rus in 1068-1072. The most powerful uprising was in Kyiv in 1068. It broke out as a result of the defeat suffered by the sons of Yaroslav (Yaroslavichs) - Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod - from the Polovtsians.

In Kyiv on Podol, in the craft part of the city, a meeting took place. The people of Kiev asked the princes to issue weapons in order to fight the Polovtsians again. The Yaroslavichs refused to hand over weapons, fearing that the people would turn them against them. Then the people destroyed the courts of the rich boyars. Grand Duke Izyaslav fled to Poland and only with the help of Polish feudal lords returned to the Kiev throne in 1069. Massive popular uprisings took place in Novgorod, in the Rostov-Suzdal land.

Uprisings of the late 60s - early 70s of the 11th century. demanded vigorous action from the princes and boyars. “Russian Truth” was supplemented by a number of articles called “The Truth of the Yaroslavichs” (in contrast to the first part of the code - “The Truth of Yaroslav”). The purpose of the additions is to protect the property of the feudal lord and his patrimony. From “Truth of the Yaroslavichs” we learn about the structure of the estate. Its center was the princely or boyar court. On it were located the mansions of a prince or boyar, the houses of his entourage, stables, and a barnyard. At the head of the management of the estate was the prince's butler - the fireman (from the word "firehouse" - house). In addition to it, there was a princely entrance appointed for collecting taxes.

The wealth of the estate was the land, so the princely boundary was protected by an extremely high fine. Dependent smerdas and slaves (slaves, servants) worked on this land. The work was supervised by ratay (field) elders, to whom slaves were subordinate, and by village elders, who monitored the execution of work by smerds. There were also artisans and craftswomen in the estate.

“Pravda Yaroslavichy” abolished blood feud and increased the difference in payment for the murder of various categories of the population, reflecting the state’s concern for protecting the property, life and property of feudal lords. The largest fine was paid for the murder of senior warriors, firemen, and princely servants, whose lives were valued at 80 hryvnia. The life of the free population - people (husbands) - was estimated at 40 hryvnia; life of village and military elders, as well as artisans - 12 hryvnia; the life of smerds who lived in estates and slaves - 5 hryvnia.

From pagan riots to social protest

The second half of the 9th and 10th centuries in Russian history became a time of tremendous changes, primarily in the socio-economic and political spheres. Offensive private property and private owner free world of the past dramatically changed people's destinies. The adoption of Christianity by Russia meant the beginning of the collapse of the old pagan faith, which had dominated the souls and thoughts of people for many centuries.

All these changes took place almost synchronously, although their pace compared to the next Western European countries were slow due to general geopolitical reasons for the development of the East Slavic lands. But by the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century, they became more and more tangible, bringing completely different colors to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. These changes were especially painful during periods of acute social upheaval - severe princely feuds, foreign invasions, natural Disasters- droughts, famines, fires. These days, ordinary troubles aggravated, old grievances surfaced, misfortunes united people on the basis of common interests, hatred of those whom they considered guilty for all their sorrows and humiliations.

For a long time our science was dominated by class approach To social phenomena, highlighted by Marxism. It was this approach that was intended to explain the course of history through the struggle antagonistic classes in society, although it seems that the founders of Marxism, as true dialecticians, did not at all strive to find the simplest logical master key that would explain all the most complex vicissitudes public life from ancient times to modern times. And such a master key was projected by their so-called followers, who made the struggle the meaning of their lives. And how to explain the increase in social confrontation in Ancient Rus' at a time when class structure feudal society only took shape when completely different motives raised people to social confrontation." Moreover, the social motive was only one of many that influenced social behavior of people,

Human nature, human life And human society are arranged in such a way that contradictions between by individuals, between groups of people welded together by the same interests, between entire estates and classes are inevitable. The inevitability of these contradictions is explained by many reasons. Firstly, because people are born with different abilities. This does not allow them to perceive the world in the same way and, under equal conditions, gain equal opportunities. Secondly, the inequality of these conditions themselves, determined by the social status of people (prince, warrior, smerd), in which even those more gifted by birth are forced to occupy the lower rungs of the social ladder. Thirdly, a combination of various life situations, in which people go through their life path. Essentially, the fate of each person is unique, just as he himself is unique. A person very rarely realizes his true value, which is determined both by his innate abilities and the objective conditions of his existence, and thereby objective possibilities his self-expression. But every person, even very limited mental abilities, perfectly understands and feels the superiority of the other and, first of all, in the sphere social status. This is what in many ways brings very different people together into large groups based on interests: in one case, based on infringed interests, in the other, based on the defense of their already won privileged position. This has always been the case, in all societies, and it will continue to be so as long as the human race lives.

But this does not mean that people are in constant struggle with each other. People, groups, estates, classes need each other and at the same time individual interests people, their public interests are sometimes directly opposite. Personal interests of a person are the engine of society, but the interests of people are at the same time an explosive “material” that can blow up this society if the intensity of contradictions turns into the intensity of passions, which intensify if they take over large masses whose interests coincide.

Ancient Rus' was no exception in this sense.

The first major public struggles in the nascent state arose when Kyiv was crushing other tribal principalities. The Drevlyans, Vyatichi, and members of other tribes were united by the desire to defend their independence and freedom. And here the interests of, say, the Drevlyan prince Mal and the unknown Drevlyan smerd converged. Raised several times in the 10th century. uprising against Kyiv by the Drevlyans, Vyatichi; Polotsk residents were looking for an independent path of historical development. Tribal separatism was the main social feeling that united people and raised them to fight.

By the end of the 11th century. Rus', it seems, was no longer disturbed by tribal or regional strife and nothing disturbed its internal state peace. But it was misleading impression. Yes, there were no more fires, such as tribal uprisings, but the embers of political separatism, which went back to the past tribal life, smoldered constantly. This was felt in the constant gloomy wariness of the Vyatichi, in the special position of Polotsk, which for decades from generation to generation of its Rog-Voldovich princes waged an endless war with Kiev, and in the eternal opposition of Novgorod, which had not forgotten its past liberties from the Varangian era.

As the public relations in Rus', the emergence of rich and poor, the formation of the princely-boyar-squad elite, the beginning of its offensive on the lands of free peasants, tribal separatism retreated into the shadows. But other contradictions came to the fore.

Since the end of the 10th century, since the introduction of Christianity in Rus', contradictions have appeared between those who were devoted to the old pagan faith and the bearers of the ideas of Christianity. Paganism was strong, as already mentioned, in the north and northeast of the country. It was in the Novgorod north, in the Vyatichi northeast, that the first fires of disobedience broke out. Reluctance to accept Christianity as new religion went hand in hand with old tribal traditions. And the aggravated social relations, the loss of freedom by part of the population, increased tax oppression on the part of the state and private owners only complicated general situation in these parts of the country.

A number of riots occurred in connection with the introduction of Christianity on Novgorod land.

In 1024, in the northeast of the country, in the Suzdal land, a new uprising of the people took place. It was a time of great famine. There was a rumor among the population that rich people were hiding bread. People rushed into the courtyards of the rich, began to beat them and look for bread. The movement was led by the Magi - pagan priests. Thus, social, religious and tribal motives were intertwined in this rebellion. It took the intervention of the great Kyiv prince Yaroslav himself. He came to the Suzdal land with a squad, captured and executed the leaders of the rebellion - the Magi, and calmed the region.

In 1068, another major social upheaval occurred in the Russian land. It all started with the defeat of the Russian army from the Polovtsians, commanded by the Grand Duke Izyaslav himself, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, and his brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. Destroyed and battered in open battle princely squad locked herself behind the Kyiv walls and waited with fear for the appearance of enemies. It was at this time that fermentation began among the townspeople. They demanded weapons from the prince and were ready to defend the city. On the mountain, the townspeople gathered in groups, in the crowd they said that the princes had betrayed them, that Voivode Kosnyachko was deliberately not giving them weapons, fearing that they would turn against the rich people. The craft and trade Podil was buzzing. There was an endless party going on there. People demanded the release from prison of their rival, a fearless warrior, treacherously captured by the sons of Yaroslav. talented commander Polotsk Prince Vseslav. The people demanded to put him at the head of the army in the fight against the Polovtsians. At the same time, voices were heard about the abuses of princely governors and administrators, about the oppression of the people, and unfair exactions. In Podol, slaves rebelled and tore to pieces the Novgorod bishop Stefan, who was in Kyiv, who tried to calm them down. From Podol, hundreds of people moved to the princely palace, to the court of the hated governor Kosnyachko. The other part headed to the prison where the Polotsk prince Vseslav was languishing.

The rebel people captured and destroyed many courts of the princely boyars and governors. The princely palace was surrounded by an excited crowd. People close to Izyaslav advised the prince to send soldiers to the prison and kill Vseslav, but the prince hesitated. Time was lost. The people attacked the palace. The Grand Duke, his brother Vsevolod with his children and household, among whom was the future great Kyiv prince fifteen-year-old Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh, fled.

The crowd destroyed and plundered the princely palace. Many gold and silver items and expensive furs were taken from there. Prince Vseslav was released from prison and elevated to the Kiev table by the rebel people. Izyaslav fled to Poland.

Vseslav, the chosen one of the people, ruled in Kyiv for seven months. But the former rulers of Kyiv did not give up. By this time, Svyatoslav of Chernigov, the brother of the Grand Duke, defeated the Polovtsians and secured the Russian borders for a time. Izyaslav gathered a large army in Poland and moved towards Kyiv, with Polish troops marching with him. Vseslav and the people of Kiev came forward to meet them. The troops converged near Kyiv itself. But the battle did not take place. On the eve of it, at night, Vseslav secretly left the people of Kiev and fled to his home in Polotsk. The army left without a leader fled. Soon Izyaslav’s army was already near the walls of Kyiv. The rebellious city opened its gates to the Grand Duke and obeyed.

But Izyaslav did not immediately enter the city. First, he sent his son Mstislav there with his squad. He carried out a brutal reprisal against the rebels, killed about 70 townspeople - the instigators of the riot, those who participated in the liberation and enthronement of Vseslav, he ordered some of the rebels to be blinded, and punished others without even conducting an investigation. The city was defeated. Only after this Izyaslav entered Kyiv. He immediately sent an army to Polotsk and occupied it. Vseslav fled from the city into the forests.

This is how the first one ended major uprising in Rus', in which social motives are already visible. New concerns begin to push past tribal and religious interests into the background.

The flames of rebellion that engulfed Kyiv spread to other Russian lands. The smerds rebelled around Kyiv itself. The population of the Smolensk land refused to pay tribute and taxes. The people in distant Beloozero rose up. From there, the confusion spread to the Rostov-Suzdal land, to the region of the Vyatichi. The rebellion was led here by two wise men, who called ordinary people to reprisal against the propertied.

The granaries, barns, and honey houses of rich people were plundered. The rebel detachment numbered about 300 people. It took considerable efforts on the part of the authorities to suppress the rebellion. The Magi were captured and entwined by the Grand Duke's commander, Jan Vyshatich.

In Novgorod in 1071, a rebellion began against the bishop and the Christian faith. And again the sorcerer stood at the head of the rebels. Essentially, the city was divided in two. The princely squad stood in the bishop's courtyard. The rest of the city fell into the hands of the rebels. And only the murder of the sorcerer during negotiations helped to decapitate the uprising and disperse the rebels.

Only by 1072 was order restored in Rus' and the three Yaroslavichs, Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod, took measures to calm the land. The brutal punishments that fell on the rebels were only part of these measures. Another part was the development of new legislation, since Yaroslav’s old “Russian Truth” no longer met the needs of the time.

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, the country plunged into real chaos. The heir to the throne, Fyodor Ivanovich, was not capable of conducting political affairs in the country, and Tsarevich Dmitry was killed in infancy.

It is this period that is commonly called the Time of Troubles. For several decades, the country was torn apart by potential heirs to the throne, seeking to gain power by any means. And only with the Romanovs coming to power in 1613 did the Troubles begin to subside.

What uprisings took place at this time, and is it possible to highlight their key moments?

As a result of several decades of the Time of Troubles, the situation in the country was worse than ever. Internal revolts weakened the state by making Ancient Rus' a tasty morsel for foreign invaders. The establishment of power by a new royal family was inevitable, and after lengthy debates, the Romanovs were in power.

Ahead of the country lay 300 years under the rule of the Romanovs, technical progress and the Age of Enlightenment. All this would have been impossible if the Time of Troubles had not been suppressed and disputes over the throne had continued.