The victory on the Kulikovo Field marked the beginning of the overthrow of the Horde yoke and contributed to the creation of a single Russian centralized state. This phenomenon was natural and inevitable at a certain stage of development of the Russian feudal society. Russian cities became centers of production and trade, which led to the development of mutual communication, the end of the war and the devastation of Rus'.

The interests of middle and small feudal lords ceased to coincide with the interests of appanage princes and representatives of the boyars. They sought to free themselves from their power. All this became possible with the formation of a single large centralized state. The first step towards the political independence of the Russian land was the Horde's imposition on the Russian Grand Dukes of the obligation to collect tribute from them and deliver it to the Horde. During internecine wars between the individual khanates into which it split Golden Horde, the Russian princes were allowed to resume the construction of city fortifications and maintain military squads. New fortress monasteries were built next to the new fortified cities.

The Principality of Moscow became the center of the unification of Russian lands. Initially, in 1147, Moscow was a fortress placed on the southern border of the Suzdal land, and belonged to the Vladimir princes. The rapid strengthening and rise of the Moscow princes was caused by several reasons:

Favorable geographical location of Moscow. It was located at the intersection of roads leading from Southern Russia to and from North Novgorod land to Ryazan. The Moscow River was profitable trade route, connecting the Volga with the Oka. This route was used by Novgorodians who transported bread, honey and wax from the rich Ryazan land;

The diplomatic talents of the Moscow princes, who skillfully used the benefits of their position. Prince Daniil and his son Yuri annexed the cities of Kolomna, Mozhaisk and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky to Moscow. Yuri Daniilovich decided to look in the Horde for a label for the great reign of Vladimir and enter into the fight for Vladimir with prince of Tver Mikhail, his uncle. Both princes in the Horde were killed. Yuri's brother Ivan, nicknamed Kalita (Koshel), began to reign in Moscow.

In 1328, Ivan Kalita achieved a great reign, which from then on never left the hands of the Moscow dynasty. Thanks to him, Moscow received permission to collect tribute without the participation of Tatar collectors, which eliminated the main reason for Tatar raids. Ivan Kalita contributed to the transfer of the Metropolitan of All Rus' from Vladimir Peter to Moscow and the construction of the famous Assumption Cathedral, which made Moscow the spiritual capital of all Rus'. Ivan Kalita's successors, Semyon Proud and Ivan the Red, continued to expand the territory of the Moscow principality.

Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, in turn, subjugated the Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod princes, defeated the Ryazan prince Oleg and brought Tver into dependence on Moscow. In 1375, peace was concluded between Tver and Moscow, according to which the Tver prince recognized himself younger brother Prince of Moscow and renounced his claims to the Great Reign of Vladimir. The independence of Novgorod was also limited. As a result, the Grand Duke of Moscow had at his disposal a gigantic fund of state-owned land property, which was the material basis for strengthening his power - the boyar and church lands of Novgorod passed into the hands of service people - nobles, who became the basis of the Russian army and statehood.

At the same time, the traditional constant fragmentation of the fatherland (great reign) into appanages did not correspond to what was happening integration processes and further strengthening of the grand ducal power. The transition to a new principle of succession to the throne (from father to son) led to dynastic war 1433-1453 Despite enormous disasters and serious setbacks during the war, Vasily II the Dark defended his power, and the process of unification of Russian lands entered its final phase - the Moscow principality was transformed from an appanage into the Russian state.

The great-grandson of Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan III, was a co-ruler of his father (Vasily the Dark) and began his reign in an atmosphere of civil strife and mutual hatred of the princes towards each other. Ivan III subjugated Novgorod, Tver, Rostov the Great, Yaroslavl, and Ryazan. Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the Tatar khans. The Great Stand on the Ugra River (1480) ended with the retreat of the Tatars. In 1487 Kazan was taken, and in 1514 Smolensk was annexed. The Russian centralized state basically took shape by the mid-16th century.

Ivan III (1462-1505) and Vasily III (1505-1533) completed the political unification of the Russian lands proper and the creation of a single Russian state. The forms, methods and consequences were not the same. Most of the lands became part of the Russian state on a voluntary basis, their former princes and boyars turned into servicemen of the Grand Duke of Moscow. When leaving for the enemies of the Moscow prince, the serving princes lost the right to their patrimony, since she complained about the “patrimony and appanage” only on the terms of service. Often the most influential representatives of the local elite were taken out of the annexed lands and resettled in the internal regions, and in their place migrants from native Moscow areas were sent, which led to the assimilation of regional elites by the Moscow boyars. Regional elites settled with their servants in Moscow streets and neighborhoods, bringing the diversity of architecture of the annexed cities to the capital, thereby turning Moscow into a symbolic image of the entire state.

Along with the “gathering” of Russian lands proper, foreign-speaking peoples, both those who had and those who had not created their own statehood, were included in the Moscow state. The ways of their accession were different and depended on the level of development of peoples, religious affiliation and political conditions. Moscow’s vassal policy in foreign-speaking regions, along with coercion, was based on popular colonization and flexible, diverse forms of cooperation with the local nobility, which included equal dynastic unions, and various forms of service and direct bribery through the sovereign’s “favor” to local elites.

The Moscow principality was surrounded everywhere by Russian possessions: Novgorod, Tver, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Ryazan principalities. Having subjugated these princes, Ivan III turned into a single sovereign of the entire Russian nation. At first his policy was specific, then national. According to his will, Ivan III gave sovereign rights to his eldest son Vasily. Vasily alone inherited 66 cities, and his four brothers only 30 small cities. Vasily had the right to mint coins, establish diplomatic relations with other states. Along with the unification of Rus', the transformation of the Moscow appanage prince into the sovereign-autocrat of all Rus' took place. Moscow's successes in uniting Russian lands contributed to the development of relations with Western countries. The Pope was interested in establishing relations with Moscow. To subjugate Moscow to his influence, the widowed Ivan III was betrothed to the niece of the last Emperor of Constantinople, Zoe Paleologus. In 1472 this marriage took place. In Moscow, the idea that Moscow is the successor of Byzantium was increasingly heard. Ivan III, having married a Greek princess, was considered the successor of the Byzantine emperors. This explains the introduction of Byzantine coat of arms- double-headed eagle. The Russian people arose the idea of ​​the global role of Moscow as the third Rome (the first is Rome, the second is Constantinople, the third is Moscow).

Social order Russian state This period was also characterized by some peculiarities. The class of feudal lords in the Moscow state was not homogeneous. On the top feudal ladder there was a prince. Next came the appanage princes, who entered the service of the Grand Duke and lost their independence. They had to perform military service. Over time, appanage princes formed the top of the boyars. The next group of feudal lords were the boyars - the largest and most influential landowners.

The title of boyar was not acquired by inheritance. Anyone who managed to advance in career or acquire wealth could become a boyar. Sometimes the son of a smerd, the son of a craftsman, etc. could become boyars. The boyars did not have exclusive rights, but were distinguished only by wealth and power. The boyars also included princes. The title of prince was hereditary. Following the boyars were medium and small feudal lords - as they were called, boyars and “children of the boyars.” The boyars' service was voluntary and not compulsory. However, they could not do without this service, since only by serving could they count on the protection of the prince. The Moscow princes tried to attract as many service people as possible into their service and secure their service forever by distributing peasant villages to them for the duration of their service. Subsequently, unauthorized termination of service and transfer to another feudal lord was prohibited by law. The lowest group of feudal lords were servants, who performed various administrative and economic duties and received land for their service.

In the 15th century, the boyars became the most important court rank, it was announced solemnly. The boyars were deprived of the right to freely choose a prince. Another group of feudal lords was also formed - the nobles. The main core from which this group grew were the servants at the prince's court. Appanage princes turned into servants, and the nobility was replenished by including the servants of those princes, free landowners and “children of the boyars.” Over time, the nobles gained more and more influence by using their proximity to the court. All ranks of royal servicemen in the 14th century receive common name"nobleman" and the nobility begins to be divided into ranks or positions that complain to the royal power.

The peasants were divided into:

Black draft ones, i.e. who lived on the land of the Grand Duke and on the lands of appanage princes;

Patrimonial or local peasants who lived on votchinas and estates, as well as church lands.

They all had to pay tribute. This has been the case since the time of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, when the Tatar conquerors recorded the entire Russian population. Black peasants were divided into the best, middle and young. Each peasant had his own plot of land - “howl”. The owner of a black plot had the right to inherit it, lease it, and even sell it to another person, but not otherwise than with the consent of the community. People who did not own land were called “unvested,” and were also contemptuously called farm laborers and young people. They lived in peasants' yards, helped the owners cultivate their plots, and received their wages as civilian workers and domestic servants. Gradually, the process of assigning black-draft peasants to certain lands is underway.

In the 16th century, the elimination of princely governors and feeders began and the transfer of black lands and peasants to service people on estates according to royal decrees. Old-timers were peasants who had long lived and worked on the land of their feudal lord and paid him tribute. Serebrenniks were peasants who borrowed silver from their feudal lords at interest. With the exception of old-timers and silversmiths, the bulk of the population in the 15th century enjoyed the freedom to move from one owner to another. The most suitable time for this was considered to be late autumn on November 26, the so-called St. George's Day, when all agricultural work ended. Few peasants used this right under fear of a harsh winter.

According to the laws of the 15th and 16th centuries, all existing categories of peasants - landowners - black, palace, boyar, patrimonial, local in relation to land ownership were divided into three unequal categories:

Tax peasants, state-owned, subject to state taxes and duties, who did not have the right of transfer. They made up the predominant mass of the state population;

Privately owned peasants who lived on the land of their masters, who paid state taxes for them, and paid rent to their masters;

Free peasants are colonists who lived on foreign lands, freed from taxes and duties for a certain grace period, after which they were included in the category of black or privately owned peasants.

Landowners and patrimonial owners were judges of their peasants in all cases with the exception of criminal cases. The urban population began to be called townspeople. They did not have any rights to self-government, but were ruled by princes or posadniks - the governors of the Grand Duke. However, wealthier people began to emerge from among the urban population, who managed to achieve various kinds of advantages and privileges. Merchants and guests stood out among them - that’s what foreign merchants were called. A person engaged in internal trade was simply called a merchant. Anyone could trade—prince, boyar, and smerd. But for the guest and the merchant, trade was a profession. The merchant class in Rus' was quite large. The so-called black or young people lived in the cities. These primarily included artisans and laborers. Like peasants, black townspeople formed a community. The community is characterized by elected government, communal land tenure and mutual guarantee for paying taxes and serving duties.

Since 1547, under Ivan IV the Terrible, the head of state began to bear the official title of Tsar, Sovereign and Grand Duke of Moscow, passed on by inheritance.

In his activities, he relied on the Boyar Duma, which constantly operated under the tsar. In 1549, an Elected Duma, an Elected Rada of trusted representatives, was established within its composition. The preparation of materials for the Duma was carried out by a whole staff of professional officials associated with the orders.

Special place in the system government agencies occupied Zemsky Sobors, held from the middle of the 16th century. 1549 to mid-17th century V. Their convocation was announced by a royal charter. The Council included: the Boyar Duma, the Consecrated Cathedral, church hierarchs and elected representatives of the nobility and townspeople.

The spiritual and secular aristocracy represented the elite of society; the tsar could not do without its participation in resolving the most important issues. The nobility formed the basis of the tsarist army and bureaucratic apparatus, and was the main service class. The top of the townsfolk population was the main source of cash income for the treasury. These basic functions are exchanged by the presence of representatives of all three social groups in the Cathedral. The contradictions that existed between them allowed the monarchical power to balance and strengthen.

Zemsky Sobors resolved the main issues of foreign and domestic policy, legislation, finance, and state building. Questions were discussed by class in chambers, but were adopted by the entire composition of the Council.

Estate-representative bodies at the local level in the middle of the 16th century. became zemstvo and labial huts. The establishment of these bodies limited and replaced the feeding system: elected self-governing huts took on the financial-tax zemstvo and police-judicial functions. The competence of these bodies was enshrined in provincial charters and zemstvo charters signed by the tsar; their staff consisted of the best people, sotskys, fiftieths, elders, kissers and clerks.

The activities of zemstvo and provincial huts were controlled by various sectoral orders, the number of which increased along with new sectoral ones - Razboiny, Streletsky - new territorial ones appeared - Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Siberian orders. There was a fairly frequent reorganization of the order system, alternate disaggregation or merging of orders. In the work of these bodies, a real bureaucratic style was developed: strict subordination vertically and strict guidance to instructions and regulations horizontally. In the 17th century A reorganization of local government is taking place: zemstvo, provincial huts and city clerks began to submit to governors appointed from the center, who assumed administrative, police and military functions. The governors relied on a specially created apparatus, the administrative hut, consisting of clerks, bailiffs and clerks.

28. Legal status of estates in Muscovite Rus', late 15th-mid 16th century

The feudal class and the service class - for the XV - XVI centuries. - synonyms. Representatives of this class served in military, court and administrative service. Its highest stratum consisted of noble boyar families and appanage princes, who had lost their independence and went into the service of the Moscow prince. The princes and boyars constituted the highest military and civil administration as part of the Boyar Duma, at the head of paths and orders, and in other senior positions.

The formation of relations of citizenship between the feudal nobility and the Moscow sovereign gave rise to a ladder of ranks that the aristocracy complained about. The highest rank was the introduced boyar, then the okolnichy, then came the palace ranks. These ranks were not inherited and could be retained in the clan only as a result of continued service. Sources also know of rare cases of the acquisition of the boyar rank by ordinary people who made their way up the career ladder either due to their special talents or due to wealth.

Since family honor depended on official honor and noble titles were not always the basis for high rank, an exceptional feature developed in Moscow state law that distinguished it. This localism is rivalry noble families in the struggle for higher ranks and titles, for the right to be senior in service. The consideration of local disputes belonged to the boyars, and the decision belonged to the king.

The noble layer of the service class, formed from the indicated sources, carried out its service from the estate, which, unlike the patrimony, was given for temporary use.

During the 17th century, in conditions of blurring the lines between patrimony and estate, the feudal class consolidated, the concept of corporate isolation arose, and in 1675 the entry into the nobility of townspeople and peasants was prohibited. The nobility becomes main force in the government apparatus and military service.

Merchants and townspeople

The urban population, engaged in crafts and small trade, lived in settlements on the streets and in settlements, most often uniting specialists of the same profession - potters, shoemakers, armor makers, goldsmiths, etc. and was called posadsky. It was subject to taxes in favor of the state, and performed construction and military duties.

The merchant class, as before, was divided into categories. The guests belonged to the highest. This title is for special merits The princes favored the merchants. It gave them a number of privileges: exempted them from the court of local authorities and subordinated them to the princely court, from communal taxes and duties, and granted the right to own estates and estates. The visiting merchants, as a rule, served in financial authorities, managed customs, the mint, were involved in the assessment and distribution of the princely treasury, provided loans to sovereigns, etc. Their number was small; at the end of the 17th century, according to G. Kotoshikhin, it was equal to 30. The bulk of the merchants were united into hundreds.

In addition to craft and trade organizations, the cities were home to the courts of the aristocracy and monasteries. These islands of feudalism did not pay taxes, were whitewashed and could reduce prices for their goods, creating competition for the townspeople. In addition to the boyar people, residents of white settlements, service people in the cities were exempted from taxes: archers, gunners, collars, etc., who were also engaged in crafts and had an advantage over tax collectors. The tax burden of the townspeople was therefore very heavy, and mutual responsibility for the payment of taxes and duties in the townspeople community hindered the development of entrepreneurship. Part of the population of the cities became mortgages to the Belomestians, signed up as servicemen, indentured servants, and the state lost its taxpayers.

Already in the first half of the 17th century. it begins to take measures to combat this evil, and repeatedly prohibits, by law, mortgages from townspeople and the acquisition of land in cities by Belomestians. There is also a tendency towards the gradual attachment of black townspeople to taxation of the townspeople.

The issue was finally resolved Council Code 1649 It returned to the posads the white settlements that had been seized from them, which belonged to patrimonies, monasteries and churches, as well as the whitewashed courtyards of priests' children, sextons, sextons and other clergy, freed from taxes, shops and courtyards of peasants. Peasants, in particular, were henceforth allowed to trade in cities only from carts and plows, and either sell all their trade and craft establishments to the townspeople, or register themselves as city tax authorities. The issue of servicemen according to the instrument is resolved in a similar way - they were obliged to pay taxes until they sold their shops and trades to tax collectors. These provisions of the Council Code eased the tax burden of townspeople and expanded their rights to engage in crafts and trade; in essence, a monopoly right of townspeople to engage in business was introduced.

But the state policy towards the emerging third estate also had another side. The Cathedral Code attached the townspeople to the tax. It was ordered, firstly, to return to the settlements all those who had escaped taxation in previous years, carrying out a childless and irrevocable search for the pawnbrokers of peasants, slaves, indentured servants, servicemen, archers, new Cossacks, etc.. Secondly, the exit from the settlement, from taxes, was henceforth prohibited under the threat of exile to Siberia, to the Lena. Even for moving from one posad to another, the state threatened the death penalty. Thirdly, sanctions were provided against those who in the future would accept fugitive townspeople. They were threatened with great disgrace from the sovereign and confiscation of the land. Finally, the Code, having introduced the monopoly right of citizens to city property, limited the right to dispose of it. The sale of the property of a townsman could only take place within the townsman tax community.

Thus, the Code introduced a specific version of serfdom in cities. It was a step that doomed the Russian city to remain behind the West for centuries. There, cities received privileges from the state, conditions were created for free enterprise and competition. There, peasants fled from the villages to the cities from serfdom. Russian peasants had nowhere to run, except to the outskirts, to the Cossacks, to Siberia.

Peasants made up the bulk of the inhabitants of Muscovite Rus'. Since ancient times, they were divided into two categories: black-mowing or black-mowing, living on black, state lands their supreme owner was the Grand Duke, and the peasants who lived in the estates and estates of the boyars, nobles, and church feudal lords. Black peasants, like black townspeople, lived in a community that owned land and made payments to the treasury on the basis of mutual responsibility. The sources also call them written or numerical people, because they are all counted, accounted for, bear taxes and dispose of their land only with the consent of the community and subject to the transfer of the tax lying on this piece of land to the new owner, heir, tenant or buyer.

Peasants living in private estates built their relationships with land owners on the terms of a series of agreements. By sitting on undeveloped or neglected land and taking the obligation to clear fields and meadows, plow arable land, build a house, etc., the peasant received the benefit of exemption from paying taxes for 2, 5 or more years and a loan - in money or. what was the bowl, livestock, tools, seeds. A cash loan - in silver - gave the name to the peasants who took it - silver coins. The need to repay the loan when leaving their home not only restrained exit, but made it practically impossible, because the peasant, after the end of the grace years, gave a significant share of his product to the owner of the land in the form of a tax - a kind of payment for using it. Unless the new owner, who lured the peasant, pays silver for him and refuses him from the old owner. Payment for the use of land was made annually in the form of cash or in-kind rent.

Some of the peasants, mainly on fertile lands, in places where the lordly plowing took place, were in corvee labor. This is personal work on the feudal lord's farm. It could either be an addition to the quitrent or replace it. The Tsar's Code of Law considered corvée a general and completely legal phenomenon, denoting it with the term boyar affair.

Legal status of the peasantry. One of the inalienable rights of the peasants, which in a certain way softened the severity of the duties with which they were burdened, remained the right to freely leave the landowner and move to another. The Code of Law of 1497 also legalized the date of this release: a week before Saint George’s Day in the fall - November 26 - and a week after it. The Code of Law of 1550 confirmed this period. When leaving, the peasant, having paid his debts, also paid the old fee - for the use of the yard. According to the first Code of Laws, it amounted to 1 ruble in the steppe zone. The Tsar's Code of Laws added another 2 altyns, and in the forest zone - half a ruble. The amount of the elderly depended on the years lived: the full fee was charged from 4 years or more. For fewer years and the payment was less for 1 year 14 yard prices, for 2 years 12, etc.. The Code of Law of 1550, adopted after the uprising in Moscow in 1547, somewhat softened the exit procedure, allowing the peasant to leave on St. harvest from the land of the previous owner.

However, the main trend in the development of peasant farming in Muscovite Rus' is the narrowing of exit opportunities and the attachment of peasants to the land. In addition to silver, the institution of old-time living contributed to this. Old residents were peasants who lived for many years on the land of the feudal lord and paid taxes, enjoyed respect and honor, were in charge of the distribution of taxes in the communities, and carried out court proceedings in small cases. During quiet years, they had no reason to leave their homes. Peasants rarely left the protectorate of large boyars and monasteries; their departure was mainly from noble estates.

But land dependence, nevertheless, gradually turned into personal dependence.

Legal status of slaves

In this period, two trends in the development of servitude can be traced: the loss of the slave status of a slave and the restriction of servitude by the state. Already in the 15th century. such a source of servility as captivity disappears. The judges declare the slave who escaped from captivity free. It is practiced to release slaves after the death of the master. Other ways out of servitude are also expanding: housekeepers in cities are not serfs; those given tools of labor and imprisoned on the basis of a release letter are not serfs.

Registration of bonded servitude for a cash loan requires sanction state power. Bonded letters were drawn up by area clerks, a kind of Russian notaries, and witnessed and sealed in the Serf Prikaz. There it was also found out whether the future slave had served before, and most importantly, whether he had been in the tax service. After this, the letter was entered into the bonded notebook, where the birth was noted - the external appearance of the person: hair color, shape of the face, nose, mouth, special features - a torn ear, lameness, hump, etc. Registration as enslaved slaves was carried out from the age of 15 and did not apply to children born before servitude.

We see that servitude is gradually shifting to the economic sphere, the slave is recognized as a person, his life is protected by law, he acquires property rights, and becomes closer to legal terms with a peasant. According to the Code of 1597, slaves remained assigned to the master after paying the debt and were equated to enslaved peasants. The Council Code turns servitude into a very unique institution: people enter into servitude during famine or other emergency circumstances. It is strictly forbidden to enter into servitude for unbaptized foreigners. The institution of serfdom was finally eliminated under Peter I, when the lines between slave and serf were erased.

With such a social structure, Russia entered the 18th century, a new period in its history, the period of absolutism.

Feudal lords:

1. Serving princes - former rulers independent Russian principalities, whose territory was annexed to Moscow Rus', and they themselves went into the service of the Moscow Prince.

Privilege

• Ownership of the territory of their former principality
• Exercise of administrative and judicial powers in the territory of their former principality
• During the hostilities, they led their own squad, which was formed from people of the former principality.

1. Boyars- a title bestowed by the Moscow prince for service. The concept of “Introduction to Boyarism” appears. The first to receive the boyars were the serving princes. Those who did not receive the rank received the rank - “Okolnichy.” Boyar land ownership again becomes conditional. The issuance of immunity certificates ceases. There is a gradual restriction of the right to “departure” (in the 1st half of the 15th century it was possible, in the 2nd half it was considered a state crime).
2. Nobles – a new group feudal lords, formed in the 15th century. -They performed military service, for which they received state salaries in the form of a cash salary (5 rubles per year) or a land plot (estate).

Possessed right of departure from the prince (1st half of the 15th century - departure is free, 2nd half - only with the consent of the prince, 1st half of the 16th century - departure is prohibited).

1. Free servants- military servants of the boyars. They received an allotment of land for their service. The right to “departure” was not limited for the entire period.
2. Servants of the courtyard- personal servants of the Moscow prince and boyars. Performed management responsibilities. Unfree people. Many of them are former princely slaves.
3. Clergy- Retains a number of class privileges (not subject to the jurisdiction of an ordinary court, do not pay taxes or perform duties, are exempt from corporal and self-harm punishment). The state begins a gradual restriction of church land ownership (Stoglav in 1551 prohibited the Church from acquiring new lands without the consent of the prince). It is prohibited to bequeath land in favor of a church.

Residents of Posad:

1. Merchants– a privileged category of the population. They are exempt from all taxes and duties, except trade duties.

Disappears urban servility.

Formed legal inequality(Ivan's Code of Law 4 establishes different size fees for dishonor: 50 rubles for insulting a large merchant, 25 for a simple merchant, 5 rubles for a black, 1 ruble for a peasant).

Peasantry:

1. Chernososhnye- live on state land.
2. Privately owned- ladles and bookmarks.

Serfs:

The number of serfs is being reduced by limiting the sources of serfdom and by creating the legal possibility of liberation.

Legal options for release:

• Voluntary decision of the owner (letter of leave).
• Involving slaves to participate in the militia.
• In the event of the death of the owner, if the servant gives birth to a child from him.

Composition of slaves:

• Complete serfs- slaves.
• Big slaves- people performing certain managerial functions had education.
• Reporting slaves- for criminal offenses for a certain period.

The state united around Moscow represented a qualitatively new stage development of statehood. Huge in territory, six times larger than the former Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian state had much more complex structure the ruling class and its ruling institutions. Got more complicated government functions both in internal and external affairs. If in the feudal principalities of the previous period the palace and the state administration itself were poorly differentiated, now functional government bodies appeared, separate from the palace economy. A multi-level layer of service people was formed.
IN international relations no longer separate lands and principalities, and the centralizing state opposed other peoples and states, which in the conditions of a class antagonistic society with its inherent constants international conflicts significantly increased the stability of peoples in the struggle for independence, which in turn was a primary condition for socio-economic and cultural progress.

Grand Duke's power

The government of Ivan III tried to elevate the grand-ducal power over the feudal nobility. With special oaths, the boyars were forced to swear allegiance to the Grand Duke of Moscow. The latter began to impose “disgraces” on the boyars, removing them from his court and thereby from the highest levels of government service, confiscating their estates, limiting or expanding the immune privileges of landowners. Marriage for a second marriage to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Sophia Paleologus, the introduction of a new magnificent ceremony at the Moscow court, state emblem- a double-headed eagle, special signs of grand-ducal dignity - “barm” (shoulders) and the so-called “Monomakh’s cap”, allegedly received by Vladimir Monomakh from Byzantium, not to mention the complete restructuring of the Kremlin - all this was supposed to outwardly emphasize the increased strength of the Moscow sovereigns. However, the actual degree of state centralization depended not so much on the subjective aspirations of the grand ducal power, but on the real balance of socio-political forces, and this latter was determined by the level and direction of socio-economic development.

Traces of former autonomy

Since the unification process in Russia took place in the conditions of progressive feudal public relations with their characteristic natural type of economy and weakened by the Mongol-Tatar invasion and yoke by the development of cities and commodity-money relations, footprints feudal fragmentation remained for a long time in the political system of feudal Rus' united around Moscow. The spiritual and secular feudal lords had enormous wealth - lands, industries, and sometimes small towns.
A large feudal organization was the church with its own system of court and administration. The head of the church - the metropolitan - had his own “court”, boyars, army, service people, supported by a conditional feudal holding. The organization of local churches, subordinate to the metropolitan and governed by archbishops and bishops, was similar. Only for the most serious criminal offenses was the trial of church people carried out by secular authorities, while the church had the right to trial in family and some other cases over the entire population.
The possessions of large secular feudal lords enjoyed immunity privileges, thanks to which the feudal lords had more or less broad judicial and administrative rights in relation to the population under their control, and often to their troops, which consisted of service people - nobles. After the death of Ivan III, the appanages in the Moscow Principality were restored again, which was also one of the important traces of the former autonomy.

Feudal nobility in the new state

There was an intense struggle between groups of nobility for a place in the newly emerging hierarchy of feudal rulers of the united Russian state. The old Moscow nobility, which served the Grand Duke of Moscow for generations, was joined by the princely-boyar nobility before independent principalities and inheritances in them. New system hierarchy took the form of “localism” - the order of appointment to positions in accordance with the nobility of origin, which was determined both by the proximity of one or another family to the Grand Duke, and by the length of service. Highest place The hierarchy was occupied by the descendants of the “Rurikovichs” and immigrants from Lithuania - the “Gediminoids”.
The political system of the Russian state became autocracy with the Boyar Duma. and the boyar aristocracy. This is how V.I. Lenin defined this system in relation to the 17th century. 1, when the importance of the boyar aristocracy began to decrease compared to previous times - especially since this characteristic can be attributed to the end of the 15th-16th centuries.

Boyar Duma

Under the Grand Duke there was a constant current council nobility - Boyar Duma. Its members were appointed by the Grand Duke on the basis of parochial rules. The initial number of boyars was small (about 20 people). The “Duma ranks” included the boyars. Subsequently, the ranks of boyars were received not only by the sons of boyars and princes, but in the 17th century. In everyday life, all gentlemen in general began to be called boyars; later the word “boyar” turned into the word “master”. The second oldest Duma rank was the okolnichy, then the Duma nobles, and later the Duma clerks appeared - representatives of the growing government administration. The Boyar Duma met daily in the presence of the Grand Duke and resolved issues of internal and foreign policy, and also dealt with local affairs. The formula for the decision was the words: “the Grand Duke indicated, and the boyars sentenced.” Soon the grand ducal government began to allocate a narrow circle of direct advisers - the so-called “close Duma”.
In the future, the circle of participants in the decision government issues estates expanded to include the nobility and the elite of the merchant class. This happened in the middle of the 16th century. and put it into practice Zemsky Sobors The germ of which researchers believe was the meetings of Ivan III with representatives of different layers of feudal lords on the eve of the campaign against Novgorod in 1471.

Church cathedrals

The highest spiritual authorities also influenced the resolution of state issues. Although the Grand Duke appointed metropolitans and bishops at his own discretion (the church councils convened on his initiative only confirmed the choice of the Grand Duke), in practice church leaders did not always act only as advisers and assistants to the Grand Duke - sometimes they opposed his measures if the latter contradicted their interests. Church councils discussed many issues that were put forward by the grand ducal government, which needed the support of the church.

Orders

With increasing functions government controlled there was a need to create special institutions that would manage military, foreign, land, financial, judicial and other affairs. In the ancient bodies of palace administration - the Grand Palace and the Treasury - special departmental “tables” began to be formed, controlled by clerks. Later they developed into orders, when a certain group of issues began to be entrusted (“ordered”) to some boyar, around whom a permanent staff of clerks and clerks was formed. The first mention of orders dates back to 1512, but it is possible that they arose somewhat earlier.
The order system was a typical manifestation of the feudal organization of government. It was based on the ancient principles of the inseparability of judicial and administrative powers. To provide orders, they were often given control of individual cities and counties, where they collected taxes and duties for their benefit. The orders were functional and territorial, palace and national. The formation of new orders occurred largely spontaneously, under the influence of newly emerging needs. The boundaries of the activities of orders were often very contradictory.
For example: financial affairs were divided between the orders of the Grand Palace, the Grand Parish and others. The robber order was engaged in the pursuit of “dashing people”. There were territorial orders - “cheti”.
With the annexation of new territories, the Kazan, Siberian and other orders arose, which were in charge of all affairs in a certain territory. In the orders, a layer of professional officials was gradually formed from humble service people - experts in their field, who over time began to influence the resolution of state issues.

Local government

To govern in districts - former independent lands and principalities or their appanages - boyar-governors were appointed for a certain period of time. To help them, “volostels” were sent to the volosts, and “bailiffs” and “closers” were sent to perform judicial functions. Counties were divided into camps, camps into volosts, and sometimes vice versa. In some cases, there was a division into lands - thirds and quarters. There was no single principle of administrative-territorial structure. For the performance of their judicial and administrative functions, governors and volostels collected “fodder” from the subject and subject population for their benefit, just as in ancient Rus' according to “Russian Truth” there was a “poconvirny”. This form of management and its provision in practice easily led to lack of control and arbitrariness on the part of the feeding boyars; in fact, something like feudal autonomy of individual lands arose again, with the difference that they were headed not by a local prince, but by a Moscow governor. The governors also controlled the local military forces.

Law code 1497

In order to centralize and unify the procedure for judicial and administrative activities throughout the entire state, the Code of Law of Ivan III was compiled in 1497. Uniform standards of criminal liability and procedures for conducting investigations and trials were established. The class essence of the Sudebnik is visible very clearly - with all its content it is aimed at protecting the interests of feudal landowners, their lives and property, their power over dependent population, as well as the feudal state. Article 57 of the Sudebnik established as a national law the rule according to which peasants could leave their owners only once a year - a week before St. George’s Day, autumn (November 26), and during the week after it, with obligatory
payment of “elderly” - payment for living on the land of the feudal lord, and in reality compensation to the landowner for the loss of workers. At the same time, in the interests of preserving the contingent of taxpayers for the state, the Code of Law limited the sources of servitude (slaves did not bear taxes). A person who entered the service of a feudal lord in a city, most often a city artisan, was not supposed to become a serf. By leaving the city dweller personal freedom, the grand ducal government thereby preserved him for itself as an object of exploitation, a tax collector.

1 See: V.I. Lenin. Full collection cit., vol. 17, p. 346.

B.A. Rybakov - “History of the USSR from ancient times to the end of the 18th century.” - M., “ graduate School", 1975.