Lithuania and Rus' in the XI - XIII centuries. Formation of the Principality of Lithuania
Lithuania was first mentioned in 1009 in one of the medieval Western chronicles.
Thus, the “Quedlinburg Annals” describes the death in 1009 of the Catholic missionary Bruno of Querfurt (the future St. Boniface), who was killed on the border of Lithuania and Rus', near the present Belarusian city of Pinsk.
The political and economic life that sources tell us about, starting from the second half of the 12th century, breathes deep archaism. Splitting up into many disparate tribes, the Lithuanians even then consisted of two ethnographic groups - Aukstaite (upper Lithuania) and Zhemite (lower Lithuania, or “Zhmud” in Russian sources). They were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding and all kinds of crafts: hunting, fishing, extracting honey from wild bees. The Lithuanians could not cope with such a strong enemy as the knights. The goal of the crusaders was the Christianization of pagan peoples, which included the Lithuanians. Gradually, the knights conquered Prussian land and strengthened themselves there, strong both in their military structure and in the support they had from the Pope and the Emperor from Germany. The Lithuanians were good warriors, and under the influence of German aggression, their entire life was being rebuilt on a military basis.
At the same time, Kievan Rus was a state formation of Slavic principalities headed by the Kyiv prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich Red Sun. Prince Vladimir maintains diplomatic relations with the Byzantine emperor and Pope Sylvester II, and trade relations have been established with neighboring countries.
Christianity spreads in Rus', cathedrals are built, new cities emerge - for example, Yaroslavl. In the cities of Chernigov, Kursk, Novgorod, schools are being built for priests and ordinary citizens. In the middle of the 11th century there were more than 40 cities in Rus'.
Among them, those centers stood out that had all the characteristic features of city life. These included Kyiv, Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Novgorod, Suzdal, Rostov, Ladoga, Lyubech, Pereyaslavl, Przemysl, etc. They developed as large urban centers in the 10th - 11th centuries. All of them were surrounded by powerful walls, had a complex system of fortifications, and were princely residences. Tributes and war indemnities were brought here. Here the prince carried out “judgment and reprisals”, here judicial and trade duties were collected.
The settlement of the Slavs in the 11th century was mainly along the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”; the Eastern Slavs had a common economic interest. But even in these years there were disagreements between the appanage princes. For example, the son of Vladimir, Prince of Novgorod Yaroslav the Wise, in 1014 refused to pay tribute to Kyiv. At the same time, the Slavs were settling to the west, away from the Dnieper region.
By the end of the 12th century, the Russian population was greatly separated geographically. At the same time, it had to become disunited in its political and economic interests. Previously, the Russian population had one main enemy - the nomads. By the end of the 12th century, different enemies appeared in different lands: the Polotsk land, for example, had little to do with the Polovtsians, but it had a lot of trouble with Lithuania; The Galician land and Volyn had to deal mainly with the Poles, Hungarians and Lithuania; Suzdal and Ryazan - with the Mordovians and Bulgarians; Novgorod - with Chud, and then, from the beginning of the 13th century, with the Germans and Swedes; Chernigov-Severskaya did not care about these enemies, but it had a lot to do with the Polovtsians, etc.
At the beginning of the 13th century, Rus' consisted of about 15 principalities. In most of them, the process of formation of appanages was intensively going on. At the same time, several potential centers of unification were brewing. The most powerful Russian lands in the northeast were Vladimir-Suzdal and Smolensk. In the southwest, the most powerful principality was Galicia-Volyn. In 1239, the Galician-Volyn prince Daniil annexed the Turovo-Pinsk principality to his lands, and in 1240 he captured Kiev. In the latter case, a multi-ethnic center was formed, open to contacts with Central Europe.
However, the natural course of centralization was interrupted by the Mongol invasion (1237-1240). The further unification of Russian lands took place in difficult foreign policy conditions and was dictated primarily by political prerequisites.
And in the west in the 12th century, according to ancient chronicles, Lithuanian principalities appeared. Sometimes they unite for protection from external enemies, but the principalities are small, there are no cities uniting the population around them yet, but from the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century, Germans began to settle on the borders of Lithuanian land, moving further and further every year. Then the process of unification of Lithuanian lands went faster.
The unification of the Lithuanian lands was started by Mindovg (1238-1263), who at the beginning of the struggle for absolute power relied on an alliance with the German knights. In 1251 he converted to Christianity, and the Pope agreed to give Mindaugus a royal title. For assistance in obtaining the royal title, Mindovg assigned his part of Samogitia - western Lithuania - to the Livonian Order. Moreover, he bequeathed the entire state to the Order if after his death there were no heirs (by that time he had two sons).
Under his rule in 1236-1258, a state formation was formed on part of the territory of modern Lithuania and Belarus between the middle reaches of the Neman, Viliya and its tributary St. The process of forming a new state was quite lengthy and took place through dynastic marriages, agreements (in rare cases of capture) between individual principalities while maintaining benefits, privileges and specific self-government (according to the principle “do not destroy the old, do not introduce new things”).
In 1253, Mindovg entered into an alliance with the Galician prince Daniil Romanovich. In addition, he strengthened pre-existing ties with the Vladimir-Suzdal prince Alexander Nevsky. One after another, Western Russian princes came under the rule of Mindaugas. The Kingdom of Lithuania gradually grew stronger.
Around 1262, it ceased to be a kingdom, as Mindaugas converted from Christianity back to paganism and turned his arms against his former allies. In 1263, Mindaugas was killed in an internecine war.
The state created by Mindaugas did not disintegrate. Power in it belonged to the son of Mindaugas Voishelk (1264-1267). Voishelk, whose sister the son of the Galician prince Daniil Shvarn was married to, was under Russian influence, converted to Orthodoxy, maintained close contacts with the Galician and Volyn princes, and with the support of their squads seized power in Lithuania.
The annexation of Great Russian lands to the Principality of Lithuania and the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The emergence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is attributed in various sources to the reign of Mindaugas (approximately 1251) to the reign of Gedemin (1316 - 1341). The centralization and growth of the Principality of Lithuania was dictated by one goal - to survive, being between the Order, Moscow and the Horde. Since by the time statehood emerged, the level of political, economic and cultural development of the Lithuanians was significantly lower, the Lithuanian princes needed the material and human resources that the Russian lands possessed. These circumstances determined the Russification of the top Lithuanians. Lithuanian princes accept baptism and Orthodoxy, assimilate the Russian language and culture. At one time, even the capital of the emerging state was located on Russian territory - in Novogrudok (Novogrudok is now a city in Belarus).
Under Gedemin, the capital was moved. In 1323, the “capital city” of Vilna (modern Vilnius) was first mentioned in a letter from the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas.
Old Russian lands were part of the Grand Duchy with autonomy rights. This kind of relationship was enshrined in special agreements - statutory charters. A federal state was being formed. In many official documents of that time it is called the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russia and Zhemoytka. For example, in 1417, Grand Duke Vytautas used the title “Grand Duke of Lithuania, Samogitia, Rus', etc.”, in 1440, the son of Jagiello Casimir was called “prince of all Lithuanian lands and Zhomoit and many Russian lands.”
By the middle of the 14th century. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a powerful state with strong princely power, most of whose population spoke Russian and professed Orthodoxy. It included many former western appanages of Kievan Rus.
Lithuania pursued an active anti-Horde policy. In 1362, Prince Olgerd defeated the Tatars in the Battle of Blue Waters (Podolia) and liberated all of Southern Rus' from Tatar rule.
As a result of this victory, the vast territory of modern Ukraine up to the mouth of the Dnieper became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Warriors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania “... washed the hooves of their horses” in the Black Sea. The Black Sea coast between the mouths of the Dnieper and Dniester was “Lithuanian” for a long time.
Since the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not know the Tatar-Mongol invasion, its economic and cultural centers were not destroyed. The processes of economic, political and cultural-ethnic rapprochement and unification proceeded much faster than in the neighboring Great Russian lands. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania included the Minsk and Pinsk principalities, the Seversk, Bryansk, Volyn and Kiev lands, and an alliance was concluded with the Smolensk principality.
During this period, Vilnius could well have become a successful rival to Moscow in collecting Russian lands and restored the unity of Rus' within the framework of the new powerful Lithuanian-Russian state. However, at the end of the 70s. XIV century Prince Jagiello renounces the anti-Horde policy and accepts Catholicism, concluding an alliance with Poland.
The Moscow principality has been strengthening since the middle of the 14th century and is leading the process of uniting Russian lands into a single state.
From 1330 to 1480, the Moscow princes, with rare exceptions, were holders of the khan's grand ducal label, for which they fought with two other large principalities: Tver and Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod.
The weakening and collapse of the Golden Horde, the development of economic ties between the principalities and trade, the formation of new cities and the strengthening of the social stratum of the nobility played the role of unifying factors. In the Principality of Moscow, a system of local relations developed intensively: nobles received land from the Grand Duke (from his domain), for service and for the duration of their service. This made them dependent on the prince and strengthened his power.
From the 13th century Moscow princes and the church begin to carry out widespread colonization of the Trans-Volga territories, new monasteries, fortresses and cities are formed, the conquest and assimilation of the local population occurs.
There is a unification of Russian lands around a new center - Moscow and the creation of a centralized state apparatus, a new power structure in the Moscow state.
During centralization, the entire political system was transformed. In place of many independent principalities, a single state is formed. The entire system of suzerain-vassal relations changes: former grand dukes themselves become vassals of the Moscow Grand Duke, and a complex hierarchy of feudal ranks takes shape. By the 15th century There is a sharp reduction in feudal privileges and immunities. A hierarchy of court ranks is emerging, given for service: introduced boyar, okolnichy, butler, treasurer, ranks of Duma nobles, Duma clerks, etc. The principle of localism is being formed, linking the possibilities of holding public positions with the origin of the candidate and his high birth. This led to a careful and detailed development of the problems of genealogy, the “geneasologies” of individual feudal clans and families.
The strengthening service nobility becomes a support for the Grand Duke (Tsar) in the fight against the feudal aristocracy, which does not want to give up its independence. In the economic field, a struggle is unfolding between patrimonial (boyar feudal) and local (noble) types of land ownership.
The church became a serious political force, concentrating significant land holdings and values in its hands and largely determining the ideology of the emerging autocratic state (the idea of “Moscow - the third Rome”, “Orthodox kingdom”, “Tsar - God’s anointed”).
The top of the urban population waged a continuous struggle with the feudal aristocracy (for lands, for workers, against its outrages and robberies) and actively supported the policy of centralization. She formed her own corporate bodies (hundreds) and insisted on liberation from heavy taxes (taxes) and the elimination of privileged feudal trades and trades ("white liberties") in the cities.
In the emerging political situation, all three social forces: the feudal (secular and spiritual) aristocracy, the serving nobility and the elite of the town - formed the basis of the estate-representative system of government.
Centralization led to significant changes in the state apparatus and state ideology. The Grand Duke began to be called a tsar by analogy with the Horde khan or the Byzantine emperor. Rus' adopted from Byzantium the attributes of an Orthodox state, state and religious symbols. The emerging concept of autocratic power meant its absolute independence and sovereignty. In the 15th century The metropolitan in Rus' began to be appointed without the consent of the Byzantine patriarch (by this time the Byzantine Empire had fallen).
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is an Eastern European state that existed from the first half of the 13th century to 1795 on the territory of modern Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Poland (Podlasie), Latvia (1561-1569) and Estonia (1561-1569).
Since 1385 it was in a personal union with Poland, known as the Union of Krevo, and from 1569 - in the Sejm Union of Lublin. In the XIV-XVI centuries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a rival of Muscovite Rus' in the struggle for dominance in Eastern Europe.
Chronology of the main events of history (before the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth):
9th-12th centuries - development of feudal relations and formation of estates on the territory of Lithuania, formation of the state
Beginning of the 13th century - increased aggression of the German crusaders
1236 - Lithuanians defeat the Knights of the Sword at Siauliai
1260 - Lithuanian victory over the Teutons at Durbe
1263 - unification of the main Lithuanian lands under the rule of Mindaugas
XIV century - significant expansion of the territory of the principality due to new lands
1316-1341 - reign of Gediminas
1362 - Olgerd defeats the Tatars in the Battle of Blue Waters (the left tributary of the Southern Bug) and occupies Podolia and Kyiv
1345-1377 - reign of Olgerd
1345-1382 - reign of Keistut
1385 - Grand Duke Jagiello
(1377-1392) concludes the Union of Krevo with Poland
1387 - Lithuania adopted Catholicism
1392 - as a result of internecine struggle, Vytautas becomes the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who opposed the policies of Jagiello 1410 - united Lithuanian-Russian and Polish troops completely defeat the knights of the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Grunwald
1413 - Union of Gorodel, according to which the rights of the Polish gentry extended to Lithuanian Catholic nobles
1447 - the first Priviley - code of laws. Together with Sudebnik
1468, it became the first experience of codification of law in the principality
1492 - “Privilege Grand Duke Alexander.” First Charter of Noble Liberties
The end of the 15th century - the formation of the general gentry Sejm. Growth of rights and privileges of lords
1529, 1566, 1588 - the publication of three editions of the Lithuanian statute - “charter and praise”, zemstvo and regional “privileges”, which secured the rights of the gentry
1487-1537 - wars with Russia took place intermittently against the backdrop of the strengthening of the Principality of Moscow. Lithuania lost Smolensk, captured by Vytautas in 1404. According to the truce of 1503, Rus' regained 70 volosts and 19 cities, including Chernigov, Bryansk, Novgorod-Seversky and other Russian lands
1558-1583 - the war between Russia and the Livonian Order, as well as with Sweden, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for the Baltic states and access to the Baltic Sea, in which Lithuania suffered failures
1569 - signing of the Union of Lublin and the unification of Lithuania into one state with Poland - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which shows territorial changes in various historical periods:
Here is an excerpt from Igor Kurukin’s article “Great Lithuania or “alternative” Rus'?”, published in the magazine “Around the World” in N1 for 2007:
In the middle of the 13th century, Prince Mindaugas (Mindaugas) united chaotic tribal unions with an iron fist. Moreover, in an effort to overcome the Teutons, he either accepted the royal crown from the Pope (Mindaugas remained in history as the first and only Lithuanian king), then turned to the east and sought support against the crusaders from Alexander Nevsky. As a result, the country did not recognize the Tatar yoke and quickly expanded its territory at the expense of the weakened Western Russian principalities (the lands of present-day Belarus).
A century later, Gediminas and Olgerd already had a power that included Polotsk, Vitebsk, Minsk, Grodno, Brest, Turov, Volyn, Bryansk and Chernigov. In 1358, Olgerd’s ambassadors even declared to the Germans: “All of Rus' should belong to Lithuania.” To reinforce these words and ahead of the Muscovites, the Lithuanian prince spoke out against the Golden Horde “itself”: in 1362 he defeated the Tatars at Blue Waters and secured ancient Kyiv to Lithuania for almost 200 years.
By no coincidence, at the same time, the Moscow princes, the descendants of Ivan Kalita, began to “collect” lands little by little. Thus, by the middle of the 14th century, two centers had emerged that claimed to unite the ancient Russian “heritage”: Moscow and Vilna, founded in 1323. The conflict could not be avoided, especially since the main tactical rivals of Moscow - the princes of Tver - were in alliance with Lithuania, and the Novgorod boyars also sought the arm of the West.
Then, in 1368-1372, Olgerd, in alliance with Tver, made three campaigns against Moscow, but the forces of the rivals turned out to be approximately equal, and the matter ended in an agreement dividing the “spheres of influence.” Well, since they failed to destroy each other, they had to get closer: some of the children of the pagan Olgerd converted to Orthodoxy. It was here that Dmitry proposed to the still undecided Jagiello a dynastic union, which was not destined to take place. And not only did it not happen according to the prince’s word: it became the other way around. As you know, Dmitry was unable to resist Tokhtamysh, and in 1382 the Tatars allowed Moscow “to be poured out and plundered.” She again became a Horde tributary. The alliance with his failed father-in-law ceased to attract the Lithuanian sovereign, but rapprochement with Poland gave him not only a chance for a royal crown, but also real help in the fight against his main enemy - the Teutonic Order.
And Jagiello still married - but not to the Moscow princess, but to the Polish queen Jadwiga. He was baptized according to the Catholic rite. Became the Polish king under the Christian name Vladislav. Instead of an alliance with the eastern brothers, the Krevo Union of 1385 happened with the western ones. Since that time, Lithuanian history has been firmly intertwined with Polish: the descendants of Jagiello (Jagiellon) reigned in both powers for three centuries - from the 14th to the 16th. But still, these were two different states, each retaining its own political system, legal system, currency and army. As for Vladislav-Jagiello, he spent most of his reign in his new possessions. His cousin Vitovt ruled the old ones and ruled brightly. In a natural alliance with the Poles, he defeated the Germans at Grunwald (1410), annexed the Smolensk land (1404) and the Russian principalities in the upper reaches of the Oka. The powerful Lithuanian could even place his proteges on the Horde throne. A huge “ransom” was paid to him by Pskov and Novgorod, and the Moscow Prince Vasily I Dmitrievich, as if turning his father’s plans inside out, married Vitovt’s daughter and began to call his father-in-law “father”, that is, in the system of the then feudal ideas, he recognized himself as his vassal. At the peak of greatness and glory, Vytautas lacked only a royal crown, which he declared at the congress of monarchs of Central and Eastern Europe in 1429 in Lutsk in the presence of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund I, the Polish king Jagiello, the Tver and Ryazan princes, the Moldavian ruler, embassies of Denmark, Byzantium and the Pope. In the autumn of 1430, Prince Vasily II of Moscow, Metropolitan Photius, the princes of Tver, Ryazan, Odoev and Mazovia, the Moldavian ruler, the Livonian master, and the ambassadors of the Byzantine emperor gathered for the coronation in Vilna. But the Poles refused to let through the embassy, which was bringing Vytautas royal regalia from Rome (the Lithuanian “Chronicle of Bykhovets” even says that the crown was taken from the ambassadors and cut into pieces). As a result, Vytautas was forced to postpone the coronation, and in October of the same year he suddenly fell ill and died. It is possible that the Lithuanian Grand Duke was poisoned, since a few days before his death he felt great and even went hunting. Under Vitovt, the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, and its eastern border passed under Vyazma and Kaluga...
In cases where Lithuania included highly developed territories, the grand dukes maintained their autonomy, guided by the principle: “We do not destroy the old, we do not introduce new things.” Thus, the loyal rulers from the Rurikovich tree (princes Drutsky, Vorotynsky, Odoevsky) retained their possessions completely for a long time. Such lands received “privilege” certificates. Their residents could, for example, demand a change of governor, and the sovereign would undertake not to take certain actions in relation to them: not to “enter” into the rights of the Orthodox Church, not to resettle local boyars, not to distribute fiefs to people from other places, not to “sue” those accepted by local courts decisions. Until the 16th century, on the Slavic lands of the Grand Duchy, legal norms were in force that went back to the “Russian Truth” - the oldest set of laws given by Yaroslav the Wise.
The multi-ethnic composition of the state was then reflected even in its name - “The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia”, and Russian was considered the official language of the principality... but not the Moscow language (rather, Old Belarusian or Old Ukrainian - there was no big difference between them until the beginning of the 17th century ). Laws and acts of the state chancellery were drawn up there. Sources from the 15th-16th centuries testify: the Eastern Slavs within the borders of Poland and Lithuania considered themselves a “Russian” people, “Russians” or “Rusyns”, while, we repeat, without identifying themselves in any way with the “Muscovites”.
In the northeastern part of Rus', that is, in that which, in the end, was preserved on the map under this name, the process of “gathering lands” took longer and more difficult, but the degree of unification of the once independent principalities under the heavy hand of the Kremlin rulers was immeasurably higher. In the turbulent 16th century, the “free autocracy” (the term of Ivan the Terrible) strengthened in Moscow, the remnants of Novgorod and Pskov liberties, the own “destinies” of aristocratic families and semi-independent border principalities disappeared. All more or less noble subjects performed lifelong service to the sovereign, and attempts by them to defend their rights were regarded as treason. Lithuania in the XIV-XVI centuries was, rather, a federation of lands and principalities under the rule of the great princes - the descendants of Gediminas. The relationship between power and subjects was also different - this was reflected in the model of the social structure and government order of Poland. “Strangers” to the Polish nobility, the Jagiellons needed its support and were forced to grant more and more privileges, extending them to Lithuanian subjects. In addition, the descendants of Jagiello pursued an active foreign policy, and for this they also had to pay the knights who went on campaigns.
After the Union of Lublin, according to which in 1569 Poland and Lithuania united into one state - the Salted River, the Polish gentry poured into the rich and then sparsely populated lands of Ukraine in a powerful stream. There, the latifundia grew like mushrooms - Zamoyski, Zolkiewski, Kalinovski, Koniecpolski, Potocki, Wisniewiecki. With their appearance, former religious tolerance became a thing of the past: the Catholic clergy followed the magnates, and in 1596 the famous Union of Brest was born - a union of the Orthodox and Catholic churches on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The basis of the union was the recognition by the Orthodox of Catholic dogmas and the supreme power of the pope, while the Orthodox Church preserved rituals and services in Slavic languages.
The Union, as one would expect, did not resolve religious contradictions: clashes between those who remained faithful to Orthodoxy and the Uniates were fierce (for example, during the Vitebsk revolt of 1623, the Uniate bishop Josaphat Kuntsevich was killed). The authorities closed Orthodox churches, and priests who refused to join the union were expelled from parishes. Such national-religious oppression ultimately led to the uprising of Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the actual fall of Ukraine from Rech. But on the other hand, the privileges of the gentry, the brilliance of their education and culture attracted Orthodox nobles: in the 16th-17th centuries, the Ukrainian and Belarusian nobility often renounced the faith of their fathers and converted to Catholicism, along with the new faith, adopting a new language and culture. In the 17th century, the Russian language and the Cyrillic alphabet fell out of use in official writing, and at the beginning of the New Age, when the formation of national states was underway in Europe, the Ukrainian and Belarusian national elites became Polonized.
Freedom or bondage?
...And the inevitable happened: in the 17th century, the “golden liberty” of the gentry turned into paralysis of state power. The famous principle of liberum veto - the requirement of unanimity when passing laws in the Sejm - led to the fact that literally none of the “constitutions” (decisions) of the congress could come into force. Anyone bribed by some foreign diplomat or simply a tipsy “ambassador” could disrupt the meeting. For example, in 1652, a certain Vladislav Sitsinsky demanded that the Sejm be closed, and it resignedly dispersed! Later, 53 meetings of the supreme assembly (about 40%!) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ended ingloriously in a similar manner.
But in fact, in economics and big politics, the total equality of the “brother lords” simply led to the omnipotence of those who had money and influence - the “royalty” tycoons who bought themselves the highest government positions, but were not under the control of the king. The possessions of such families as the already mentioned Lithuanian Radziwills, with dozens of cities and hundreds of villages, were comparable in size to modern European states such as Belgium. The “krolevats” maintained private armies that were superior in number and equipment to the crown troops. And at the other pole there was a mass of that same proud, but poor nobility - “A nobleman on a fence (a tiny piece of land - Ed.) is equal to a governor!” - which, with its arrogance, had long instilled in itself the hatred of the lower classes, and was simply forced to endure anything from its “patrons.” The only privilege of such a nobleman could remain only the ridiculous demand that his owner-magnate flog him only on a Persian carpet. This requirement - either as a sign of respect for ancient freedoms, or as a mockery of them - was observed.
In any case, the master's liberty has turned into a parody of itself. Everyone seemed to be convinced that the basis of democracy and freedom was the complete impotence of the state. Nobody wanted the king to become stronger. In the middle of the 17th century, his army numbered no more than 20 thousand soldiers, and the fleet created by Vladislav IV had to be sold due to lack of funds in the treasury. The united Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland were unable to “digest” the vast lands that merged into a common political space. Most neighboring states had long ago turned into centralized monarchies, and the gentry republic with its anarchic freemen without an effective central government, a financial system and a regular army turned out to be uncompetitive. All this, like a slow-acting poison, poisoned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
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Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a feudal state that existed in the 13th-16th centuries. on the territory of part of modern Lithuania and Belarus. The main occupation of the population was agriculture and cattle breeding. Hunting and fishing played an auxiliary role in the economy. The development of crafts based on iron production, internal and external trade (with Russia, Poland, etc.) contributed to the growth of cities (Vilnius, Trakai, Kaunas, etc.). In the 9th-12th centuries. Feudal relations developed on the territory of Lithuania, and classes of feudal lords and dependent people emerged. Individual Lithuanian political associations had different levels of socio-economic development. The decomposition of primitive communal relations and the emergence of a feudal system led to the formation of a state among the Lithuanians. According to the Galician-Volyn Chronicle, the Russian-Lithuanian treaty of 1219 mentions an alliance of Lithuanian princes led by the “eldest” princes who owned lands in Aukštaitija. This indicates the presence of a state in Lithuania. The strengthening of the grand ducal power led to the unification of the main Lithuanian lands into V. k. L. under the rule of Mindaugas (mid-30s of the 13th century - 1263), who also captured some Belarusian lands (Black Rus'). The formation of the VKL was accelerated by the need to unite to fight the aggression of the German crusaders, which had intensified since the beginning of the 13th century. Lithuanian troops won major victories over the knights in the battles of Siauliai (1236) and Durbe (1260).
In the 14th century, during the reign of Gediminas (1316-1341), Olgerd (1345-77) and Keistut (1345-82). The Principality of Lithuania significantly expanded its possessions, annexing all Belarusian, part of Ukrainian and Russian lands (Volyn, Vitebsk, Turov-Pinsk, Kyiv, Pereyaslavl, Podolsk, Chernigov-Seversk lands, etc.). Their inclusion was facilitated by the fact that Rus' was weakened by the Mongol-Tatar yoke, as well as the fight against the aggression of German, Swedish and Danish invaders. Joining the Great. Prince Lithuanian. Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian lands with more developed social relations and culture contributed to the further development of socio-economic relations in Lithuania. In the annexed lands, the Lithuanian grand dukes retained significant autonomy and immunity rights for local magnates. This, as well as differences in the level of socio-economic development and the ethnic heterogeneity of individual parts of the VKL, determined the lack of centralization in public administration. The head of the state was the Grand Duke, with a council of representatives of the nobility and the highest clergy. In order to unite forces to fight the advance of the German knightly orders and strengthen his power, Grand Duke Jagiello (1377-92) concluded the Union of Krevo with Poland in 1385. However, the union was fraught with the danger of Lithuania becoming a province of Poland in the future. In Lithuania, where until the end of the 14th century. paganism existed, Catholicism began to spread by force. Some of the Lithuanian and Russian princes, led by Vytautas, who in 1392, after an internecine struggle, actually became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, opposed Jagiello’s policy. The united Lithuanian-Russian and Polish troops, with the participation of Czech troops, completely defeated the knights of the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 and stopped their aggression.
The growth of large feudal landownership and the consolidation of the ruling class in the 14th - 15th centuries. were accompanied by mass enslavement of the peasants, causing peasant uprisings (for example, in 1418). The main form of exploitation of peasants was food rent. Simultaneously with the growth of economic dependence, national oppression in the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands intensified. Crafts and trade developed in the cities. In the 15-16th centuries. the rights and privileges of the Lithuanian lords are growing. According to the Union of Gorodel of 1413, the rights of the Polish gentry were extended to Lithuanian Catholic nobles. At the end of the 15th century. A Rada of Gentlemen was formed, which actually put the power of the Grand Duke under its control by the privilege of 1447 and by the privilege of Grand Duke Alexander of 1492. The formation of the general gentry Sejm (at the end of the 15th century), as well as the publication of the Lithuanian statutes of 1529 and 1566, consolidated and increased the rights of the Lithuanian nobility.
The transition to cash rent at the end of the 15th and 16th centuries. was accompanied by an increase in the exploitation of peasants and an intensification of the class struggle: escapes and unrest became more frequent (especially large ones in 1536-37 on the grand ducal estates). In the middle of the 16th century. A reform was carried out on the estates of the Grand Duke, as a result of which the exploitation of peasants intensified due to the growth of corvée (see Volga Pomera). From the end of the 16th century. This system is being introduced in the domains of large landowners-magnates. Mass enslavement of peasants, development of corvee farming, receipt by Lithuanian landowners in the 2nd half of the 16th century. rights to duty-free export of grain abroad and import of goods delayed the development of cities.
From the moment of the formation of the VKL, the Lithuanian princes sought to seize Russian lands. However, strengthening in the 14th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow and the unification of Russian lands around it led to the fact that from the 2nd half of the 15th century. as a result of the wars with Russia (1500-03, 1507-08, 1512-22, 1534-37) B. K. L. lost Smolensk (captured by Grand Duke Vitovt in 1404), Chernigov, Bryansk, Novgorod-Seversky and other Russians land. The growth of anti-feudal protests in the lands of the VKL, the aggravation of intra-class contradictions, the desire for expansion in the East, as well as failures in the Livonian War of 1558-83 against Russia led to the unification of the VKL with Poland under the Union of Lublin in 1569. one state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the first half of the 13th century. The Lithuanian state arose on the territory along the lower reaches of the Western Dvina, along the Neman, in the Lower Vistula region and along the shores of the Baltic Sea. Over time, a significant part of the Russian lands that were part of Kievan Rus was included in its composition. By the end of the 14th century. Lithuanian power extended to the territory of Belarus, Bryansk, Kyiv, Chernigov, Seversk, Podolsk lands. In 1395, Smolensk was captured by the Lithuanians.
Lithuania and Rus' were brought together by long-standing and multilateral ties. The majority of the feudal nobility of Lithuania was of Russian origin. Many Lithuanians, including princes, were Orthodox and married to Russian princesses. The annexation of the appanages of the Russian princes to the Lithuanian state freed them from subordination to the Horde, therefore in the 14th century. many Russian princes recognize their vassal dependence on Lithuania.
Relations between Lithuania and the Principality of Moscow were complex. In 1368 and 1370 The Lithuanian prince Olgerd made two campaigns against Moscow, but failed to take the stone walls of the Kremlin. The closest Russian-Lithuanian ties were during the reign of Vytautas. He was Orthodox and married to the daughter of a Tver prince. Relying on an alliance with the Moscow prince Vasily I, which was secured by the latter’s marriage to Vytautas’ daughter Sophia, he fought for the independence of Lithuania from Poland. This dependence arose as a result of the conclusion of the Union of Krevo in 1385, the condition of which was the unification of the Polish and Lithuanian states as a result of the marriage between the Lithuanian prince Jagiel and the Polish queen Jadwiga. One of the conditions of this union was the proclamation of Catholicism as the state religion. Vytautas managed to temporarily defend the independence of Lithuania. Despite the two-year war between Vytautas and Vasily I over Pskov, in general relations between the Principality of Moscow and Lithuania during this period were peaceful. Prince Vitovt became the guardian of the young son of Vasily II, who was Vitovt's grandson. The feudal war that broke out after the death of Vytautas in 1430 led to the fact that from 1440 the Lithuanian grand-ducal throne was occupied by the descendants of Jogaila, who were also the kings of Poland. The growth of Polish influence and the introduction of Catholicism led to the transition of the vassal Russian principalities under the protection of the strengthened Moscow state. These transitions began to take place especially often at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries. Having adopted at the end of the 15th century. title of Grand Duke of “All Rus'”, Ivan III made it clear that the ultimate goal of Moscow was the unification of all Russian lands that were previously part of the Kyiv state.
The transition of the Russian princes under the patronage of Moscow caused military clashes between Lithuania and the Russian state. In 1494, peace was concluded between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Moscow, according to which Lithuania agreed to return to Russia the lands in the upper reaches of the Oka and the city of Vyazma. The continuing transition of small Russian rulers to the service of the Moscow prince caused two more wars, 1500-1503 and 1507-1508. As a result, the upper reaches of the Oka, the lands along the banks of the Desna with its tributaries, part of the lower reaches of the Sozh and the upper reaches of the Dnieper, the cities of Chernigov, Bryansk, Rylsk, Putivl - a total of 25 cities and 70 volosts - went to Moscow. In the “eternal peace” concluded in 1508, the Lithuanian government recognized Russia’s rights to these lands.
The policy of returning Russian lands was continued by Ivan III's successor, Vasily III. In 1514 Smolensk was returned.
At the end of the 15th century. The Russian state is again actively involved in European international politics. The Holy Roman Empire and its allies tried to involve Russia in the sphere of imperial politics and direct its forces to fight Turkey, which at that time posed a significant threat to the states of central and southern Europe. However, Russia pursued an independent policy towards Turkey and Crimea, rejecting attempts to place the main burden of the fight against the Ottoman Empire on the Moscow state.
In the basin of the Neman, Vistula and Western Bug, the Baltic and Lithuanian tribes created
mid-13th century his early feudal state. During the XIII–XIV centuries. main territory
The territory of the former Kyiv state became part of the new state formation.
Filling the vacuum created by the collapse of Rus', the Lithuanians did not encounter much resistance.
niya and easily established control over the western and southwestern regions of Rus'. Veli-
The prince of Lithuania did not interfere in the internal life of the conquered principalities and did not restrict
nyal local institutions and traditions. Petty princes became his vassals and paid him tribute
and served him during the war, remaining virtually the complete masters of their lands,
possessing significant feudal immunities. The Grand Duke had less
land than that of the princes and their warriors combined. This is an unfavorable distribution
wealth forced him to listen carefully to the wishes of the Rada (Council), composed
brought in from his most prominent vassals. If such an analogy is permissible, in Novgorod the prince
resembled an elected president. Grand Duke of Lithuanian Rus, as he was often called
This state was similar to a constitutional monarch.
The Russian language (more precisely, Old Russian dialects, in which some
features of the future Belarusian dialect unity) and culture played a big role here,
which was reflected even in the later name - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russian and
Zhemont (Zhemaitians entered the Lithuanian state at the beginning of the 15th century).
Under the influence of Polish feudal lords in the face of a growing threat from the Germans,
In 1385, the Lithuanian princes went against many crusaders and internal feudal strife.
union (union) with Poland. The union was personal: the Lithuanian prince Jagiello married a Polish
Queen Jadwiga and became the Polish king, taking the name Vladislav. At the place of detention in
in the town of Krevo it was named Krevskaya. Its consequence was the baptism of Lithuanians
pagans to the Catholic faith. The Lithuanian Grand Duke's throne was occupied by his cousin
Jagiello's brother Vitovt. In 1413, a new Polish-Lithuanian union was concluded, pre-
which gave the Catholic Church a number of advantages, which alienated the Orthodox Church from Lithuania
clergy. The prerequisites arose for the transition of lands inhabited by Orthodox Christians from
under the rule of Lithuania under the rule of Moscow. In the early 90s. XIV century relations between Moscow and Lithuania
improved thanks to dynastic marriage: Vasily I Dmitrievich married his daughter
Vitovta Sophie. Both principalities jointly opposed the Horde, but with varying success.
home In 1399, the Lithuanian-Russian army under the command of Vytautas suffered a heavy defeat
from the Tatars in the battle on the river. Vorskla. As already mentioned, in 1410, on the lands now included in
composition of the Polish state, the Battle of Grunwald took place. Polish, Lithuanian wars
Ska and Smolensk regiments inflicted a decisive defeat on the Teutonic Order. Order of sweat
played the role of a serious military-political force in the Baltic states.
But the Lithuanian and Polish nationalities continued to exist to a significant extent
apart. The East Slavic population, despite interethnic contacts, is especially
especially with the Lithuanians, it also preserved its linguistic and cultural identity. Perhaps in
as a new state entity, Poland and Lithuania could absorb most
majority of the Russian population and eliminate the need to create a separate Russian
states on the lands of the former Kievan Rus, but the Russian population here opposed
Catholicism, adhering to the Orthodox tradition.
The task of a new unification of the Eastern Slavs in a single state entity
had to solve the poorest and originally backward region of Rus', located on
northeast at the confluence of the Volga and Oka.
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