“Ancient Rus'” opens a new book series “Russia - the path through the centuries.” The 24-series publications will present the entire history of Russia - from the Eastern Slavs to the present day. The book offered to the reader is dedicated to the ancient history of Rus'. It tells about the tribes that inhabited the territory of our country even before the appearance of the first Old Russian state, about how Kievan Rus was formed, about the princes and principalities of the 9th - 12th centuries, about the events of those ancient times. You will find out why pagan Rus' became an Orthodox country, what role it played in the outside world, with whom it traded and fought. We will introduce you to ancient Russian culture, which even then created masterpieces of architecture and folk art. The origins of Russian beauty and the Russian spirit lie in distant antiquity. We take you back to your roots.
From the series: Russia - a path through the centuries
* * *
by liters company.
Old Russian state
In the distant past, the ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians formed a single people. They came from related tribes who called themselves "Slavs" or "Slovenes" and belonged to the branch of the Eastern Slavs.
They had a single - Old Russian - language. The territories where different tribes settled expanded and then contracted. Tribes migrated and others took their place.
Tribes and peoples
What tribes inhabited the East European Plain even before the formation of the Old Russian state?
At the turn of the old and new eras
SCYTHIANS ( lat. Scythi, Scythae; Greek Skithai) is the collective name of numerous Iranian-speaking tribes related to the Sauromatians, Massagetae and Sakas and inhabiting the Northern Black Sea region in the 7th–3rd centuries. BC e. They were located in the regions of Central Asia, then began to advance to the North Caucasus and from there to the territory of the Northern Black Sea region.
In the 7th century. BC e. The Scythians fought with the Cimmerians and drove them out of the Black Sea region. Pursuing the Cimmerians, the Scythians in the 70s. 7th century BC e. invaded Asia Minor and conquered Syria, Media and Palestine. But after 30 years they were expelled by the Medes.
The main territory of settlement of the Scythians was the steppes from the Danube to the Don, including Crimea.
The most complete information about the Scythians is contained in the works of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC), who lived for a long time in Olbia surrounded by the Scythians and was well acquainted with them. According to Herodotus, the Scythians claimed to be descended from the first man - Targitai, the son of Zeus and the daughter of the river stream, and his sons: Lipoksai, Arpoksai and the youngest - Koloksai. Each of the brothers became the founder of one of the Scythian tribal associations: 1) the “royal” Scythians (from Koloksai) dominated the rest, they lived in the steppes between the Don and the Dnieper;
2) Scythian nomads lived on the right bank of the Lower Dnieper and in the steppe Crimea; 3) Scythian plowmen - between Ingul and the Dnieper (some scientists classify these tribes as Slavic). In addition to them, Herodotus distinguishes the Hellenic-Scythians in the Crimea and the Scythian farmers, without confusing them with “plowmen”. In another fragment of his “History”, Herodotus notes that the Greeks incorrectly call everyone living in the Northern Black Sea region Scythians. On the Borysthenes (Dnieper), according to Herodotus, lived the Borysthenes, who called themselves Scolotes.
But the entire territory from the lower Danube to the Don, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait is archaeologically one cultural and historical community. Its main feature is the “Scythian triad”: weapons, horse equipment and “animal style” (i.e., the predominance of realistic images of animals in works of craft; images of deer are most often found, later the lion and panther were added).
The first Scythian mounds were excavated back in 1830. Among the archaeological monuments, the most famous are the mounds of the “royal” Scythians in the Northern Black Sea region - huge, rich in gold items. The “royal” Scythians apparently worshiped the horse. Every year, at the wake of the deceased king, 50 horsemen and many horses were sacrificed. In some mounds, up to 300 horse skeletons were found.
Rich burial mounds indicate the existence of slave-owning nobility. The ancient Greeks knew about the existence of the “Scythian Kingdom,” which until the 3rd century. BC e. was located in the Black Sea steppes, and after the Sarmatian invasion it moved to the Crimea. Their capital was moved from the site of the modern Kamensky settlement (near Nikopol). In the end 2nd century Don. e. a kind of Scythian state in Crimea became part of the Pontic kingdom.
From the end 1st century BC e. The Scythians, repeatedly defeated by the Sarmatians, did not represent a serious political force. They were also weakened by constant conflicts with Greek colonial cities in Crimea. The name “Scythians” later passed on to the Sarmatian tribes and most other nomads who inhabited the Black Sea regions. Subsequently, the Scythians disappeared among other tribes of the Northern Black Sea region. The Scythians existed in Crimea until the invasion of the Goths in the 3rd century. n. e.
In the Early Middle Ages, Scythians were the name given to the northern Black Sea barbarians. E. G.
SKOLOTY is the self-name of a group of Scythian tribes that lived in the 2nd half. 1st millennium BC e. in the Northern Black Sea region.
Mention of Skolot is found in the works of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC): “To all the Scythians together - the name is Skolote.”
The modern historian B. A. Rybakov classifies the Skolots as Scythian plowmen - the ancestors of the Slavs, and considers the term “Skolot” itself to be derived from the Slavic “kolo” (circle). According to Rybakov, the ancient Greeks called the Skolotes who lived along the banks of the Borysthenes (the Greek name for the Dnieper) Borysphenites.
Herodotus cites a legend about the forefather of the Scythians - Targitai and his descendants Arpoksai, Lipoksai and Koloksai, according to which the chipped people got their name from the latter. The legend contains a story about the fall of sacred objects - a plow, a yoke, an ax and a bowl - onto the Scythian land. The plow and yoke are the tools of labor not of nomads, but of farmers. Archaeologists find cult bowls in Scythian burials. These bowls are similar to those common in pre-Scythian times in the forest-steppe archaeological cultures - Belogrudov and Chernolesk (12-8 centuries BC), which many scientists associate with the Proto-Slavs. E. G.
SAUROMATES ( lat. Sauromatae) - nomadic Iranian tribes who lived in the 7th–4th centuries. BC e. in the steppes of the Volga and Urals regions.
In origin, culture and language, the Sauromatians are related to the Scythians. Ancient Greek writers (Herodotus and others) emphasized the special role that women played among the Sauromatians.
Archaeologists have found burials of rich women with weapons and horse equipment. Some Sauromatian women were priestesses; stone altars were found in their graves next to them. In the end 5th–4th centuries BC e. The Sauromatian tribes pushed back the Scythians and crossed the Don. In the 4th–3rd centuries. BC e. they developed strong tribal alliances. The descendants of the Sauromatians are the Sarmatians (3rd century BC – 4th century AD). E. G.
SARMATI - the general name of the Iranian-speaking tribes that roamed in the 3rd century. BC e. – 4th century n. e. in the steppes from Tobol to the Danube.
Women played a major role in the social organization of the Sarmatians. They were excellent riders and shooters, and participated in battles along with men. They were buried in the mounds as warriors - along with their horses and weapons. A number of historians believe that the Greeks and Romans knew about the Sarmatian tribes; Perhaps it was information about the Sarmatians that became the source of ancient legends about the Amazons.
In the end 2nd century BC e. The Sarmatians became an important political force in the life of the Northern Black Sea region. In alliance with the Scythians, they took part in campaigns against the Greeks, and in the 1st century. BC e. drove out the remnants of the Scythian tribes from the shores of the Black Sea. Since then, on ancient maps, the Black Sea steppes - “Scythia” - began to be called “Sarmatia”.
In the first centuries A.D. e. Among the Sarmatian tribes, tribal unions of Roxolans and Alans stood out. In the 3rd century. n. e. The Goths, who invaded the Black Sea region, undermined the influence of the Sarmatians, and in the 4th century. the Goths and Sarmatians were defeated by the Huns. After this, part of the Sarmatian tribes joined the Huns and participated in the Great Migration of Peoples. Alans and Roxolans remained in the Northern Black Sea region. E. G.
ROKSOLANY ( lat. Roxolani; Iran.- “light Alans”) - a Sarmatian-Alan nomadic tribe that led a large union of tribes roaming the Northern Black Sea region and the Azov region.
The ancestors of the Roksolans are the Sarmatians of the Volga and Urals regions. In the 2nd–1st centuries. BC e. The Roxolani conquered the steppes between the Don and Dnieper from the Scythians. As the ancient geographer Strabo reports, “the Roxolani follow their herds, always choosing areas with good pastures, in winter - in the swamps near Meotida (Sea of Azov. - E. G.), and in the summer – on the plains.”
In the 1st century n. e. warlike Roxolans occupied the steppes west of the Dnieper. During the Great Migration of Peoples in the 4th–5th centuries. Some of these tribes migrated along with the Huns. E. G.
ANTS ( Greek Antai, Antes) is an association of Slavic tribes or a related tribal union. In the 3rd–7th centuries. inhabited the forest-steppe between the Dnieper and Dniester and east of the Dnieper.
Typically, researchers see in the name “Anty” a Turkic or Indo-Iranian designation for a union of tribes of Slavic origin.
The Ants are mentioned in the works of Byzantine and Gothic writers Procopius of Caesarea, Jordan and others. According to these authors, the Ants used a common language with other Slavic tribes, they had the same customs and beliefs. Presumably, earlier Ants and Sklavins had the same name.
The Antes fought with Byzantium, the Goths and the Avars, and together with the Sklavins and Huns they ravaged the areas between the Adriatic and Black Seas. The leaders of the Antes - “archons” - equipped embassies to the Avars, received ambassadors from the Byzantine emperors, in particular from Justinian (546). In 550–562 the Antes' possessions were devastated by the Avars. From the 7th century Antes are not mentioned in written sources.
According to archaeologist V.V. Sedov, 5 tribal unions of the Antes laid the foundation for the Slavic tribes - Croats, Serbs, Ulichs, Tiverts and Polyans. Archaeologists classify the Ants as the tribes of the Penkovo culture, whose main occupations were arable farming, sedentary cattle breeding, crafts and trade. Most of the settlements of this culture are of the Slavic type: small semi-dugouts. During burial, cremation was used. But some finds cast doubt on the Slavic nature of the Antes. Two large craft centers of Penkovo culture have also been opened - Pastorskoye Settlement and Kantserka. The life of the artisans of these settlements was unlike the Slavic one. E. G.
VENEDS, Veneti - Indo-European tribes.
In the 1st century BC e. – 1st century n. e. In Europe, there were three groups of tribes with this name: the Veneti on the Brittany Peninsula in Gaul, the Veneti in the valley of the river. Po (some researchers associate the name of the city of Venice with them), as well as the Wends on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Up to the 16th century. the modern Gulf of Riga was called the Gulf of Venedia.
From the 6th century, as the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea was settled by Slavic tribes, the Wends assimilated with the new settlers. But since then, the Slavs themselves were sometimes called Wends or Wends. Author 6th century Jordan believed that the Slavs were previously called “Vends”, “Vends”, “Winds”. Many German sources call the Baltic and Polabian Slavs “Weneds”. The term “Vendi” remained the self-name of some of the Baltic Slavs until the 18th century. Yu. K.
SKLAVINY ( lat. Sclavini, Sclaveni, Sclavi; Greek Sklabinoi) is a common name for all Slavs, known both among Western early medieval and early Byzantine authors. Later it switched to one of the groups of Slavic tribes.
The origin of this ethnonym remains controversial. Some researchers believe that “sklavins” is a modified word for “Slovene” in the Byzantine environment.
In the end 5 – beginning 6th centuries The Gothic historian Jordan called the Sklavins and Antes the Venets. “They live from the city of Novietuna (a city on the Sava River) and the lake called Mursiansky (apparently, Lake Balaton is meant) to Danastra, and to the north - to Viskla; instead of cities they have swamps and forests.” The Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea defines the lands of the Sklavins as located “on the other side of the Danube River not far from its bank,” that is, mainly on the territory of the former Roman province of Pannonia, which the Tale of Bygone Years connects with the ancestral home of the Slavs.
Actually, the word “Slavs” in various forms became known in the 6th century, when the Sklavins, together with the Ant tribes, began to threaten Byzantium. Yu. K.
SLAVS are a large group of tribes and peoples belonging to the Indo-European language family.
The Slavic language “tree” has three main branches: East Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian), West Slavic (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Upper and Lower Sorbian-Serbian, Polabian, Pomeranian dialects), South Slavic (Old Slavic, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian , Slovenian). All of them originated from a single Proto-Slavic language.
One of the most controversial issues among historians is the problem of the origin of the Slavs. In written sources the Slavs have been known since the 6th century. Linguists have established that the Slavic language has retained the archaic features of the once common Indo-European language. This means that the Slavs, already in ancient times, could have separated from the common family of Indo-European peoples. Therefore, the opinions of scientists about the time of the birth of the Slavs vary - from the 13th century. BC e. up to 6th century n. e. Opinions about the ancestral home of the Slavs are equally different.
In the 2nd–4th centuries. the Slavs were part of the carrier tribes of the Chernyakhov culture (some scientists identify its distribution area with the Gothic state of Germanarich).
In the 6th–7th centuries. The Slavs settled in the Baltic states, the Balkans, the Mediterranean, and the Dnieper region. Over the course of a century, approximately three-quarters of the Balkan Peninsula were conquered by the Slavs. The entire region of Macedonia adjacent to Thessalonica was called "Sclavenia". By the turn of the 6th–7th centuries. includes information about Slavic flotillas that sailed around Thessaly, Achaea, Epirus and even reached southern Italy and Crete. Almost everywhere the Slavs assimilated the local population.
Apparently, the Slavs had a neighboring (territorial) community. The Byzantine Mauritius Strategist (6th century) noted that the Slavs did not have slavery, and the captives were offered either to be ransomed for a small sum, or to remain in the community as equals. Byzantine historian of the 6th century. Procopius of Caesarea noted that the tribes of the Slavs “are not governed by one person, but from ancient times they have lived in the rule of people, and therefore they consider happiness and misfortune in life to be a common matter.”
Archaeologists have discovered monuments of the material culture of the Sklavins and Antes. The Sklavins correspond to the territory of the Prague-Korchak archaeological culture, which spread to the southwest of the Dniester, and the Antam - Penkov culture - to the east of the Dnieper.
Using data from archaeological excavations, it is possible to fairly accurately describe the way of life of the ancient Slavs. They were a sedentary people and were engaged in arable farming - archaeologists have found plows, openers, rawls, plow knives and other tools. Until 10th century The Slavs did not know the potter's wheel. A distinctive feature of Slavic culture was rough molded ceramics. Slavic settlements were located on low banks of rivers, were small in area and consisted of 15–20 small semi-dugouts, each of which housed a small family (husband, wife, children). A characteristic feature of a Slavic dwelling was a stone stove, which was located in the corner of a semi-dugout. Polygamy (polygamy) was widespread among many Slavic tribes. The pagan Slavs burned their dead. Slavic beliefs are associated with agricultural cults, the cult of fertility (Veles, Dazhdbog, Svarog, Mokosh), and the highest gods are associated with the earth. There were no human sacrifices.
In the 7th century. The first Slavic states arose: in 681, after the arrival of the nomadic Bulgarians in the Danube region, who quickly mixed with the Slavs, the First Bulgarian Kingdom was formed, in the 8th–9th centuries. – Great Moravian state, the first Serbian principalities and the Croatian state appeared.
At 6 – start. 7th centuries The territory from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the Dnieper and Don in the east and to Lake Ilmen in the north was inhabited by East Slavic tribes. At the head of the tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs - the Northerners, Drevlyans, Krivichi, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Polyan, Dregovichi, Polotsk, etc. - were princes. On the territory of the future Old Russian state, the Slavs assimilated Baltic, Finno-Ugric, Iranian and many other tribes. Thus, the Old Russian people were formed.
Currently, there are three branches of Slavic peoples. The South Slavs include Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins, Macedonians, and Bulgarians. The Western Slavs include Slovaks, Czechs, Poles, as well as Lusatian Serbs (or Sorbs) living in Germany. The Eastern Slavs include Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
E. G., Yu. K., S. P.
East Slavic tribes
BUZHAN - an East Slavic tribe that lived on the river. Bug.
Most researchers believe that the Buzhans are another name for the Volynians. In the territory inhabited by the Buzhans and Volynians, a single archaeological culture was discovered. “The Tale of Bygone Years” reports: “The Buzhans who sat along the Bug later began to be called Volynians.” According to archaeologist V.V. Sedov, part of the Dulebs who lived in the Bug basin were first called Buzhans, then Volynians. Perhaps the Buzhans are the name of only part of the Volynian tribal union. E. G.
VOLYNIANS, Velynians - an East Slavic union of tribes that inhabited the territory on both banks of the Western Bug and at the source of the river. Pripyat.
The ancestors of the Volynians were presumably the Dulebs, and their earlier name was the Buzhans. According to another point of view, “Volynians” and “Buzhanians” are the names of two different tribes or tribal unions. The anonymous author of the “Bavarian Geographer” (1st half of the 9th century) counts 70 cities among the Volynians, and 231 cities among the Buzhans. Arab geographer of the 10th century. al-Masudi distinguishes between Volhynians and Dulebs, although perhaps his information dates back to an earlier period.
In Russian chronicles, the Volynians are first mentioned in 907: they took part in Prince Oleg’s campaign against Byzantium as “talkians” - translators. In 981, the Kiev prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich subjugated the Przemysl and Cherven lands, where the Volynians lived. Volynsky
The city of Cherven has since become known as Vladimir-Volynsky. In the 2nd half. 10th century The Vladimir-Volyn principality was formed on the lands of the Volynians. E. G.
VYATICHI is an East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the basin of the upper and middle reaches of the Oka and along the river. Moscow.
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the ancestor of the Vyatichi was Vyatko, who came “from the Lyakhs” (Poles) together with his brother Radim, the ancestor of the Radimichi tribe. Modern archaeologists do not find confirmation of the West Slavic origin of the Vyatichi.
In the 2nd half. 9th–10th centuries The Vyatichi paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. For a long time they maintained independence from the Kyiv princes. As allies, the Vyatichi took part in the campaign of the Kyiv prince Oleg against Byzantium in 911. In 968, the Vyatichi were defeated by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav. In the beginning 12th century Vladimir Monomakh fought with the Vyatichi prince Khodota. In the end 11–beg. 12th centuries Christianity was implanted among the Vyatichi. Despite this, they maintained pagan beliefs for a long time. The Tale of Bygone Years describes the funeral rite of the Vyatichi (the Radimichi had a similar rite): “When someone died, they held a funeral feast for him, and then laid out a large bonfire, laid the deceased on it and burned him, after which, collecting the bones, they put them in a small vessel and placed them on pillars along the roads.” This ritual was preserved until the end. 13th century, and the “pillars” themselves were found in some areas of Russia until the beginning. 20th century
By the 12th century the territory of the Vyatichi was located in the Chernigov, Rostov-Suzdal and Ryazan principalities. E. G.
DREVLYANE - an East Slavic tribal union that occupied in the 6th–10th centuries. the territory of Polesie, the Right Bank of the Dnieper, west of the glades, along the rivers Teterev, Uzh, Ubort, Stviga.
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Drevlyans “descended from the same Slavs” as the Polyans. But unlike the glades, “the Drevlyans lived in a bestial manner, lived like bestials, killed each other, ate everything unclean, and they did not have marriage, but they kidnapped girls near the water.”
In the west, the Drevlyans bordered on the Volynians and Buzhans, in the north – on the Dregovichi. Archaeologists have discovered burials on the lands of the Drevlyans with corpses burned in urns in burial mounds. In the 6th–8th centuries. Burials in mounds spread in the 8th–10th centuries. – urnless burials, and in the 10th–13th centuries. – corpses in burial mounds.
In 883, the Kiev prince Oleg “began to fight against the Drevlyans and, having conquered them, imposed tribute on them by black marten (sable),” and in 911, the Drevlyans took part in Oleg’s campaign against Byzantium. In 945, Prince Igor, on the advice of his squad, went “to the Drevlyans for tribute and added a new one to the previous tribute, and his men committed violence against them,” but was not satisfied with what he had collected and decided to “collect more.” The Drevlyans, after consulting with their prince Mal, decided to kill Igor: “if we don’t kill him, then he will destroy us all.” Igor’s widow, Olga, cruelly took revenge on the Drevlyans in 946, setting their capital, Iskorosten, on fire, “she took the city elders captive, and killed other people, gave others as slaves to her husbands, and left the rest to pay tribute,” and all the land of the Drevlyans was annexed to the Kyiv appanage with its center in the city of Vruchiy (Ovruch). Yu. K.
DREGOVICHI - tribal union of the Eastern Slavs.
The exact boundaries of the habitat of Dregovichi have not yet been established. According to a number of researchers (V.V. Sedov and others), in the 6th–9th centuries. Dregovichi occupied territory in the middle part of the river basin. Pripyat, in the 11th–12th centuries. the southern border of their settlement passed south of Pripyat, the northwestern border - in the watershed of the Drut and Berezina rivers, the western border - in the upper reaches of the river. Neman. The neighbors of the Dregovichs were the Drevlyans, Radimichi and Krivichi. "The Tale of Bygone Years" mentions the Dregovichi up to the middle. 12th century According to archaeological research, the Dregovichi are characterized by agricultural settlements and burial mounds with corpses. In the 10th century the lands inhabited by the Dregovichi became part of Kievan Rus, and later became part of the Turov and Polotsk principalities. Vl. TO.
DULEBY - tribal union of Eastern Slavs.
They lived in the basin of the Bug and the right tributaries of the Pripyat since the 6th century. Researchers attribute the Dulebs to one of the earliest ethnic groups of the Eastern Slavs, from which some other tribal unions were later formed, including the Volynians (Buzhans) and the Drevlyans. The archaeological monuments of Duleb are represented by the remains of agricultural settlements and burial mounds with corpses burned.
According to chronicles, in the 7th century. The Dulebs were invaded by the Avars. In 907, the Duleb squad took part in Prince Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople. According to historians, in the 10th century. The association of Dulebs disintegrated, and their lands became part of Kievan Rus. Vl. TO.
KRIVICHI - tribal union of the Eastern Slavs of the 6th–11th centuries.
They occupied the territory in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Volga, Western Dvina, as well as in the region of Lake Peipus, Pskov and Lake. Ilmen. The Tale of Bygone Years reports that the cities of the Krivichi were Smolensk and Polotsk. According to the same chronicle, in 859 the Krivichi paid tribute to the Varangians “from overseas”, and in 862, together with the Slovenians of Ilmen and Chud, they invited Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor to reign. Under 882, the Tale of Bygone Years contains a story about how Oleg went to Smolensk, to the Krivichi, and, having taken the city, “planted his husband in it.” Like other Slavic tribes, the Krivichi paid tribute to the Varangians and went with Oleg and Igor on campaigns against Byzantium. In the 11th–12th centuries. The principalities of Polotsk and Smolensk arose on the lands of the Krivichi.
Probably, the ethnogenesis of the Krivichi involved the remnants of local Finno-Ugric and Baltic (Estonians, Livs, Latgalians) tribes, which mixed with the numerous newcomer Slavic population.
Archaeological excavations have shown that initially the specific burials of the Krivichi were long mounds: low rampart-shaped mounds from 12–15 m to 40 m long. Based on the nature of the burial grounds, archaeologists distinguish two ethnographic groups of Krivichi - Smolensk-Polotsk and Pskov Krivichi. In the 9th century long mounds were replaced by round (hemispherical) ones. The dead were burned on the side, and most of the things were burned on the funeral pyre along with the deceased, and only severely damaged things and jewelry went into the burials: beads (blue, green, yellow), buckles, pendants. In the 10th–11th centuries. Among the Krivichi, corpses appear, although up to the 12th century. The features of the previous ritual are preserved - a ritual fire under the burial and a mound. The burial inventory of this period is quite diverse: women's jewelry - bracelet-shaped knotted rings, necklaces made of beads, pendants to necklaces in the form of skates. There are items of clothing - buckles, belt rings (they were worn by men). Often in the Krivichi burial mounds there are decorations of Baltic types, as well as Baltic burials themselves, which indicates a close connection between the Krivichi and the Baltic tribes. Yu. K.
POLOCHANS - a Slavic tribe, part of the Krivichi tribal union; lived along the banks of the river. Dvina and its tributary Polota, from which they got their name.
The center of the Polotsk land was the city of Polotsk. In the Tale of Bygone Years, the Polotsk people are mentioned several times along with such large tribal unions as the Ilmen Slovenians, the Drevlyans, the Dregovichi, and the Polyans.
However, a number of historians question the existence of Polotsk as a separate tribe. Arguing their point of view, they draw attention to the fact that “The Tale of Bygone Years” in no way connects Polotsk residents with the Krivichi people, whose possessions included their lands. Historian A.G. Kuzmin suggested that a fragment about the Polotsk tribe appeared in the “Tale” ca. 1068, when the people of Kiev expelled Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich and placed Prince Vseslav of Polotsk on the princely table.
In mid. 10 – start 11th centuries The Principality of Polotsk was formed on the territory of Polotsk. E. G.
POLYANE - a tribal union of Eastern Slavs who lived on the Dnieper, in the area of modern Kyiv.
One of the versions of the origin of Rus', mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years, is associated with the glades. Scientists consider the “Polyano-Russian” version to be more ancient than the “Varangian legend” and attribute it to the end. 10th century
The Old Russian author of this version considered the Polyans to be Slavs who came from Norik (territory on the Danube), who were the first to be called by the name “Rus”: “The Glades are now called Rus'.” The chronicle sharply contrasts the customs of the Polyans and other East Slavic tribes, united under the name of the Drevlyans.
In the Middle Dnieper region near Kyiv, archaeologists discovered a culture of the 2nd quarter. 10th century with a characteristic Slavic funeral rite: the mounds were characterized by a clay base, on which a fire was lit and the dead were burned. The borders of the culture extended in the west to the river. Teterev, in the north - to the city of Lyubech, in the south - to the river. Ros. This was, obviously, the Slavic tribe of the Polyans.
In the 2nd quarter. 10th century another people appears on these same lands. A number of scientists consider the Middle Danube region to be the place of its initial settlement. Others identify him with the Russian Rugs from Great Moravia. These people were familiar with the potter's wheel. The dead were buried according to the rite of corpse deposition in pits under the burial mounds. Pectoral crosses were often found in burial mounds. Over time, the Polyane and the Rus mixed, the Rus began to speak the Slavic language, and the tribal union received a double name - Polyane-Rus. E. G.
RADIMICHI - an East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the eastern part of the Upper Dnieper region, along the river. Sozh and its tributaries in the 8th–9th centuries.
Convenient river routes passed through the lands of the Radimichi, connecting them with Kiev. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the ancestor of the tribe was Radim, who came “from the Poles,” that is, of Polish origin, together with his brother Vyatko. The Radimichi and Vyatichi had a similar burial rite - the ashes were buried in a log house - and similar female temple jewelry (temporal rings) - seven-rayed (among the Vyatichi - seven-lobed). Archaeologists and linguists suggest that the Balt tribes living in the upper reaches of the Dnieper also participated in the creation of the material culture of the Radimichi. In the 9th century Radimichi paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. In 885, these tribes were subjugated by the Kyiv prince Oleg the Prophet. In 984, the Radimichi army was defeated on the river. Pishchane as governor of Kyiv Prince Vladimir
Svyatoslavich. The last time they were mentioned in the chronicle was in 1169. Then the territory of the Radimichi became part of the Chernigov and Smolensk principalities. E. G.
RUSSIANS - in sources of the 8th–10th centuries. the name of the people who participated in the formation of the Old Russian state.
In historical science, discussions about the ethnic origin of the Rus are still ongoing. According to the testimony of Arab geographers in the 9th–10th centuries. and the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (10th century), the Rus were the social elite of Kievan Rus and dominated the Slavs.
The German historian G. Z. Bayer, invited to Russia in 1725 to work at the Academy of Sciences, believed that the Rus and Varangians were one Norman (i.e., Scandinavian) tribe that brought statehood to the Slavic peoples. Followers of Bayer in the 18th century. there were G. Miller and L. Schletser. This is how the Norman theory of the origin of the Rus arose, which is still shared by many historians.
Based on data from the Tale of Bygone Years, some historians believe that the chronicler identified the “Rus” with the Polyan tribe and led them along with other Slavs from the upper reaches of the Danube, from Norik. Others believe that the Rus are a Varangian tribe, “called” to reign in Novgorod under Prince Oleg the Prophet, who gave the name “Rus” to the land of Kyiv. Still others prove that the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” connected the origin of the Rus with the Northern Black Sea region and the Don basin.
Scientists note that in ancient documents the name of the people “Rus” was different - rugi, rogi, ruten, ruyi, ruyan, ran, ren, rus, rus, dew. This word is translated as “red”, “red” (from Celtic languages), “light” (from Iranian languages), “rots” (from Swedish - “oar rowers”).
Some researchers consider the Rus to be Slavs. Those historians who consider the Rus to be Baltic Slavs argue that the word “Rus” is close to the names “Rügen”, “Ruyan”, “Rugi”. Scientists who consider the Rus to be the inhabitants of the Middle Dnieper region note that in the Dnieper region the word “Ros” (R. Ros) is found, and the name “Russian Land” in the chronicles originally designated the territory of the glades and northerners (Kyiv, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl).
There is a point of view according to which the Rus are a Sarmatian-Alan people, descendants of the Roxolans. The word “rus” (“rukhs”) in Iranian languages means “light”, “white”, “royal”.
Another group of historians suggests that the Rus are Rugs who lived in the 3rd–5th centuries. along the river Danube of the Roman province of Noricum and c. 7th century moved along with the Slavs to the Dnieper region. The mystery of the origin of the “Rus” people has not yet been solved. E.G., S.P.
NORTHERN - an East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the 9th–10th centuries. by rr. Desna, Seim, Sula.
The western neighbors of the northerners were the Polyans and Dregovichi, the northern - the Radimichi and Vyatichi.
The origin of the name “northerners” is not clear. Some researchers associate it with the Iranian sev, sew - “black”. In the chronicles, the northerners are also called “sever”, “severo”. The territory near the Desna and Seim was preserved in Russian chronicles of the 16th–17th centuries. and Ukrainian sources of the 17th century. name "North".
Archaeologists correlate the northerners with the carriers of the Volyntsev archaeological culture, who lived on the left bank of the Dnieper, along the Desna and Seim in the 7th–9th centuries. The Volyntsevo tribes were Slavic, but their territory was in contact with lands inhabited by the Saltovo-Mayatsk archaeological culture.
The main occupation of the northerners was agriculture. In the end 8th century they found themselves under the rule of the Khazar Khaganate. In the end 9th century the territories of the northerners became part of Kievan Rus. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Kiev prince Oleg the Prophet freed them from tribute to the Khazars and imposed a light tribute on them, saying: “I am their [Khazars’] opponent, but you have no need.”
The centers of craft and trade of the northerners were the cities. Novgorod-Seversky, Chernigov, Putivl, which later became the centers of the principalities. With the annexation to the Russian state, these lands were still called “Severskaya land” or “Severskaya Ukrainian”. E. G.
SLOVEN ILMEN - a tribal union of Eastern Slavs on the territory of the Novgorod land, mainly in the lands near lake. Ilmen, next to the Krivichi.
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Ilmen Slovenes, together with the Krivichi, Chud and Meri, participated in the calling of the Varangians, who were related to the Slovenes - immigrants from the Baltic Pomerania. Slovenian warriors were part of the squad of Prince Oleg and took part in the campaign of Vladimir I Svyatoslavich against the Polotsk prince Rogvold in 980.
A number of historians consider the Dnieper region to be the “ancestral homeland” of the Slovenes; others trace the ancestors of the Ilmen Slovenes from the Baltic Pomerania, since the legends, beliefs and customs, the type of dwellings of the Novgorodians and Polabian Slavs are very similar. E. G.
TIVERTS - an East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the 9th - beginning. 12th centuries on the river Dniester and at the mouth of the Danube. The name of the tribal association probably comes from the ancient Greek name of the Dniester - “Tiras”, which, in turn, goes back to the Iranian word turas - fast.
In 885, Prince Oleg the Prophet, who conquered the tribes of the Polyans, Drevlyans, and Northerners, tried to subjugate the Tiverts to his power. Later, the Tiverts took part in Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople (Constantinople) as “interpreters” - that is, translators, since they knew well the languages and customs of the peoples living near the Black Sea. In 944, the Tivertians, as part of the army of the Kyiv prince Igor, again besieged Constantinople, and in the middle. 10th century became part of Kievan Rus. In the beginning 12th century Under the attacks of the Pechenegs and Polovtsians, the Tivertians retreated to the north, where they mixed with other Slavic tribes. The remains of settlements and ancient settlements, which, according to archaeologists, belonged to the Tiverts, have been preserved in the area between the Dniester and Prut rivers. Burial mounds with corpses burned in urns were discovered; Among the archaeological finds in the territories occupied by the Tiverts, there are no female temporal rings. E. G.
STREETS - an East Slavic union of tribes that existed in the 9th century. 10th centuries
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Ulichi lived in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Bug and on the shores of the Black Sea. The center of the tribal union was the city of Peresechen. According to the historian of the 18th century. V.N. Tatishcheva, the ethnonym “Ulichi” comes from the Old Russian word “corner”. The modern historian B. A. Rybakov drew attention to the evidence of the first Novgorod chronicle: “Previously, the streets sat in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, but then they moved to the Bug and Dniester” - and concluded that Peresechen was located on the Dnieper south of Kyiv. A city on the Dnieper under this name is mentioned in the Laurentian Chronicle under 1154 and in the “List of Russian Cities” (14th century). In the 1960s archaeologists have discovered street settlements in the area of the river. Tyasmin (tributary of the Dnieper), which confirms Rybakov’s conclusion.
The tribes for a long time resisted the attempts of the Kyiv princes to subjugate them to their power. In 885, Oleg the Prophet fought with the streets, already collecting tribute from the glades, Drevlyans, northerners and Tiverts. Unlike most East Slavic tribes, the Ulichi did not participate in Prince Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople in 907. At the turn of the 40s. 10th century Kiev governor Sveneld kept the city of Peresechen under siege for three years. In mid. 10th century Under the pressure of nomadic tribes, the Ulichi moved north and were included in Kievan Rus. E. G.
On the border lands
Around the territories inhabited by the Eastern Slavs, lived a variety of tribes and peoples. Neighbors from the north were Finno-Ugric tribes: Cheremis, Chud (Izhora), Merya, Ves, Korela. In the northwest lived Baltoslavic tribes: Zemigola, Zhmud, Yatvingians and Prussians. In the west - the Poles and Hungarians, in the southwest - the Volokhs (ancestors of the Romanians and Moldavians), in the east - the Mari, Mordovians, Murom, Volga-Kama Bulgars. Let's get acquainted with some tribal unions known from ancient times.
BALTS - the general name of the tribes that inhabited the 1st - beginning. 2nd thousand territory from the southwest of the Baltic states to the Upper Dnieper region.
The Prussians (Estians), Yatvingians, and Galinds (Golyad) made up the group of Western Balts. The central Balts included the Curonians, Semigallians, Latgalians, Samogitians, and Aukstaitians. The Prussian tribe has been known to Western and Northern writers since the 6th century.
From the first centuries AD, the Balts were engaged in arable farming and cattle breeding. From the 7th–8th centuries. fortified settlements are known. The Baltic dwellings were above-ground rectangular houses, surrounded by stones at the base.
A number of Baltic tribes are mentioned in the “Tale of Bygone Years”: “Letgola” (Latgalians), “Zemigola” (Zemigallians), “Kors” (Curonians), “Lithuania”. All of them, excluding the Latgalians, paid tribute to Rus'.
At the turn of 1–2 thousand, the Baltic tribes of the Upper Dnieper region were assimilated by the Eastern Slavs and became part of the Old Russian people. Another part of the Balts formed the Lithuanian (Aukštaiti, Samogitians, Skalvi) and Latvian (Curonians, Latgalians, Semigallians, Sela) nationalities. Yu. K.
VARYAGS is the Slavic name for the population of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea (in the 9th–10th centuries), as well as for the Scandinavian Vikings who served the Kyiv princes (in the 1st half of the 11th century).
The Tale of Bygone Years claims that the Varangians lived along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which in the chronicle is called the Varangian Sea, “to the land of Agnyanskaya and Voloshskaya.” At that time, the Danes were called Angles, and the Italians were called Volokhs. In the east, the boundaries of the settlement of the Varangians are indicated more vaguely - “to the limit of Simov.” According to some researchers, in this case we mean
Volga-Kama Bulgaria (the Varangians controlled the northwestern part of the Volga-Baltic route up to Volga Bulgaria).
A study of other written sources showed that on the southern coast, next to the Danes of the Baltic Sea, lived the “Vagrs” (“Varins”, “Vars”) - a tribe that belonged to the Vandal group and by the 9th century. already glorified. In the East Slavic vowels, the “Vagrs” began to be called “Varangians”.
In the end 8 – beginning 9th centuries The Franks began to attack the lands of the Vagr-Varins. This prompted them to look for new places of settlement. In the 8th century. “Varangeville” (Varangian city) appears in France; in 915 the city of Väringvik (Varangian Bay) appeared in England; the name Varangerfjord (Varangian Bay) in the north of Scandinavia is still preserved.
The main direction of migration of the Vagr-Varins was the eastern coast of the Baltic. They moved to the east together with separate groups of Rus who lived along the shores of the Baltic Sea (on the island of Rügen, in the Baltic states, etc.). Hence, in the Tale of Bygone Years, the double naming of the settlers arose - Varangians-Rus: “And they went overseas to the Varangians, to Rus', for that was the name of those Varangians - Rus.” At the same time, the chronicler specifically stipulates that the Varangians-Rus are not Swedes, not Norwegians and not Danes.
In Eastern Europe, the Varangians appear at the end. 9th century The Varangians-Rus first came to the northwestern lands to the Ilmen Slovenes, and then descended to the Middle Dnieper region. According to various sources and according to some scientists, the leader of the Varangians-Russ who came to the Ilmen Slovenes from the shores of the Southern Baltic was Prince Rurik. The names of those founded by him in the 9th century. cities (Ladoga, White Lake, Novgorod) they say that the Varangians-Rus at that time spoke a Slavic language. The main god of the Varangian Rus was Perun. The treaty between Rus' and the Greeks in 911, which was concluded by Oleg the Prophet, says: “And Oleg and his men were forced to swear allegiance according to Russian law: they swore by their weapons and by Perun, their god.”
In the end 9th–10th centuries The Varangians played a significant role in the northwestern Slavic lands. The chronicle states that Novgorodians descended “from the Varangian family.” The Kyiv princes constantly resorted to the help of hired Varangian squads in the struggle for power. Under Yaroslav the Wise, who was married to the Swedish princess Ingigerd, Swedes appeared in the Varangian squads. Therefore, from the beginning. 11th century In Rus', people from Scandinavia were also called Varangians. However, in Novgorod the Swedes were not called Varangians until the 13th century. After the death of Yaroslav, the Russian princes stopped recruiting mercenary squads from the Varangians. The very name of the Varangians was rethought and gradually spread to all people from the Catholic West. Yu.K., S.P.
NORMANS (from scand. Northman - northern man) - in European sources of the 8th–10th centuries. general name for the peoples living north of the Frankish state.
In Western Europe, the inhabitants of Kievan Rus, which, according to German chroniclers, was located in the northeast, were also called Normans. Writer and diplomat of the 10th century. Bishop Liutprand of Cremona, talking about the campaign of the Kyiv prince Igor in 941 against Constantinople, wrote: “Closer to the north lives a certain people, which the Greeks ... call the Dews, but we call the Normans by location. After all, in German, nord means north, and man means man; That’s why northern people can be called Normans.”
In the 9th–11th centuries. The term “Norman” came to mean only the Scandinavian Vikings who raided the sea borders of European states. In this meaning the name “urmane” is found in The Tale of Bygone Years. Many modern historians identify the Varangians, Normans and Vikings. E. G.
PECHENEGS - a union of Turkic nomadic tribes, formed in the 8th–9th centuries. in the steppes between the Aral Sea and the Volga.
In the end 9th century Pecheneg tribes crossed the Volga, pushed the Ugric tribes wandering between the Don and the Dnieper to the west and occupied a huge space from the Volga to the Danube.
In the 10th century The Pechenegs were divided into 8 tribes (“tribes”), each of which consisted of 5 clans. At the head of the tribes were the “great princes,” and the clans were headed by the “small princes.” The Pechenegs were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding, and also made predatory raids on Rus',
Byzantium, Hungary. Byzantine emperors often used the Pechenegs to fight Russia. In turn, during the strife, the Russian princes attracted Pecheneg detachments to battles with their rivals.
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Pechenegs first came to Rus' in 915. Having concluded a peace agreement with Prince Igor, they went to the Danube. In 968, the Pechenegs besieged Kyiv. The Kiev prince Svyatoslav lived at that time in Pereyaslavets on the Danube, and Olga and her grandchildren remained in Kyiv. Only the cunning of the youth, who managed to call for help, made it possible to lift the siege from Kyiv. In 972, Svyatoslav was killed in a battle with the Pecheneg Khan Kurei. Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich repeatedly repelled Pecheneg raids. In 1036, the Pechenegs again besieged Kyiv, but were defeated by Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise and left Rus' forever.
In the 11th century The Pechenegs were pushed back to the Carpathians and the Danube by the Cumans and Torques. Some of the Pechenegs went to Hungary and Bulgaria and mixed with the local population. Other Pecheneg tribes submitted to the Cumans. Those who remained settled on the southern borders of Rus' and merged with the Slavs. E. G.
PO LOVTSY (self-name - Kipchaks, Cumans) - a medieval Turkic people.
In the 10th century The Polovtsy lived on the territory of modern North-West Kazakhstan, in the west they bordered on the Khazars, in the middle. 10th century moved on
Volga and moved to the steppes of the Black Sea region and the Caucasus. Polovtsian nomads in the 11th–15th centuries. occupied a vast territory - from the west of the Tien Shan to the mouth of the Danube, which was called Desht-i-Kipchak - “Polovtsian land”.
In the 11th–13th centuries. The Polovtsians had separate tribal alliances led by khans. The main occupation was cattle breeding. From the 12th century In the Polovtsian land there were cities that were inhabited, in addition to the Polovtsians, by Bulgars, Alans and Slavs.
In Russian chronicles, the Polovtsians were first mentioned in 1054, when the campaign against Rus' was led by the Polovtsian Khan Bolush. Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich of Pereyaslavl made peace with the Polovtsians, and they returned back “from where they came.” Constant Polovtsian raids on Russian land began in 1061. During strife, Russian princes entered into alliances with them against their own brothers who ruled in neighboring principalities. In 1103, the previously warring princes Svyatopolk and Vladimir Monomakh organized a joint campaign against the Polovtsians. On April 4, 1103, the united Russian forces defeated the Polovtsy, and they left for Transcaucasia with heavy losses.
From the 2nd half. 12th century The Russian border lands were devastated by Polovtsian raids. At the same time, many princes of Southern and North-Eastern Rus' were married to Polovtsian women. The struggle of the Russian princes with the Polovtsians is reflected in the monument of ancient Russian literature “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” E. G.
State formation
Gradually, the scattered tribes of the Eastern Slavs unite. The Old Russian state appears, which went down in history under the names “Rus”, “Kievan Rus”.
ANCIENT RUSSIAN STATE is a common name in historical literature for a state that emerged in the late 9th century as a result of the unification under the rule of princes from the Rurik dynasty of the East Slavic lands with the main centers in Novgorod and Kyiv. In the 2nd quarter. 12th century broke up into separate principalities and lands. The term “Old Russian state” is used along with other terms – “Russian land”, “Rus”, “Kievan Rus”. Vl. TO.
Rus', Russian land - the name of the unification of the lands of the Eastern Slavs with the center in Kyiv, which arose in the end. 9th century; to the end 17th century the name extended to the territory of the entire Russian state, with its center in Moscow.
In the 9th–10th centuries. the name Rus is assigned to the territory of the future Old Russian state. At first it covered the lands of the East Slavic tribe of Polyan-Rus from the years. Kyiv, Chernigov and Pereyaslavl. At 11 am 12th centuries The lands and principalities subordinate to the prince of Kyiv (Kievan Rus) began to be called Russia. In the 12th–14th centuries. Rus is the general name for the territory on which the Russian principalities were located, which arose as a result of the fragmentation of Kievan Rus. During this period, the names Great Rus', White Rus', Little Rus', Black Rus', Red Rus', etc. arose, as designations of various parts of the common Russian land.
In the 14th–17th centuries. Rus' is the name of the lands included in the Russian state, the center of which is from the 2nd half. 14th century became Moscow. S.P.
KIEVAN RUS, Old Russian state - a state in Eastern Europe that arose as a result of the unification of lands under the rule of princes from the Rurik dynasty (9th–2nd quarter of the 12th centuries).
The first news of the existence of the state among the Eastern Slavs is legendary. The Tale of Bygone Years reports that strife began among the northern East Slavic tribes (Novgorod Slovenes and Krivichi), as well as the Finno-Ugric Chuds, Meri and Vesi. It ended with its participants deciding to find themselves a prince who would “rule over them and judge them by right.” At their request, three Varangian brothers came to Rus': Rurik, Truvor and Sineus (862). Rurik began to reign in Novgorod, Sineus - in Beloozero, and Truvor - in Izborsk.
Sometimes, from the chronicle message about the invitation of Rurik and his brothers, it is concluded that statehood was brought to Rus' from the outside. It is enough, however, to pay attention to the fact that Rurik, Truvor and Sineus are invited to perform functions that are already well known to the inhabitants of the Novgorod land. So this story is only the first mention of public institutions that were already operating (and apparently for quite a long time) on the territory of North-Western Rus'.
The prince was the leader of an armed detachment and performed the functions of the supreme ruler, initially not only secular, but also spiritual. Most likely, the prince led the army and was the high priest.
The squad consisted of professional military men. Some of them passed to the prince from their father (the “elder” or “big” squad). The younger warriors grew up and were raised together with the prince from the age of 13–14. They were apparently bound by ties of friendship, which were reinforced by mutual personal obligations.
The personal loyalty of the warriors was not secured by temporary land holdings. The Old Russian warriors are completely supported by the prince. The warriors lived separately, in the princely “yard” (in the princely residence). The prince was considered among the druzhina first among equals. The squad pledged to support and protect their prince. She performed both police and “foreign policy” functions to protect the tribes that invited this prince from violence from neighbors. In addition, with her support, the prince controlled the most important trade routes (he collected taxes and protected merchants in the territory under his control).
Another way of forming the first state institutions could be the direct conquest of a given territory. An example of such a path among the Eastern Slavs is the legend about the founders of Kyiv. It is generally accepted that Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv are representatives of the local Polyana nobility. The name of the eldest of them was allegedly associated with the beginning of the Russian land as a proto-state association of the Polyan tribe. Subsequently, Kyiv was occupied by the legendary Askold and Dir (according to the Tale of Bygone Years - Rurik’s warriors). A little later, power in Kyiv passed to Oleg, the regent of Igor, the young son of Rurik. Oleg deceived Askold and Dir and killed them. To substantiate his claims to power, Oleg refers to the fact that Igor is the son of Rurik. If previously the source of power was an invitation to rule or capture, now the decisive factor for recognizing power as legitimate is the origin of the new ruler.
The capture of Kyiv by the legendary Oleg (882) is usually associated with the beginning of the formation of the Old Russian state. With this event, the existence of a kind of “unification” of the Novgorod, Smolensk and Kyiv lands began, to which the lands of the Drevlyans, Northerners and Radimichi were subsequently annexed. The foundation was laid for an intertribal union of East Slavic and also a number of Finno-Ugric tribes inhabiting the forest and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe. This association is usually called the Old Russian State, as well as
Ancient, or Kievan, Russia. An external indicator of recognition of the power of the Kyiv prince was the regular payment of tribute to him. The collection of tribute took place annually during the so-called polyudye.
Like any state, Kievan Rus uses force to achieve submission to its authorities. The main power structure was the princely squad. However, the inhabitants of Ancient Rus' obey the prince not only and not so much under the threat of weapons, but voluntarily. Thus, the actions of the prince and the squad (in particular, the collection of tribute) are recognized by the subjects as legal. This, in fact, provides the prince with the opportunity to rule a huge state with a small retinue. Otherwise, the free inhabitants of Ancient Rus', who were most often quite well armed, could well have defended their right not to submit to illegal (in their opinion) demands.
An example of this is the murder of the Kyiv prince Igor by the Drevlyans (945). Igor, going for a second tribute, obviously could not imagine that anyone would challenge his right to receive a tribute - even if it exceeded the usual amount. Therefore, the prince took with him only a “small” squad.
An event extremely important in the life of the young state is connected with the uprising of the Drevlyans: Olga, having brutally avenged the death of her husband, is forced to establish lessons and graveyards (size and places for collecting tribute). Thus, for the first time, one of the most important political functions of the state was realized: the right to make laws.
The first monument of written law that has reached our time is Russian Truth. Its appearance is associated with the name of Yaroslav the Wise (1016–1054), therefore the oldest part is sometimes called the Truth of Yaroslav. It is a collection of court decisions on specific issues, which subsequently became mandatory in resolving similar cases.
A new phenomenon in political life was the division of the entire territory of the Old Russian state between the sons of the Kyiv prince. In 970, going on a military campaign to the Balkans, the Kiev prince Svyatoslav Igorevich “placed” his eldest son Yaropolk to reign in Kyiv, Vladimir in Novgorod, and Oleg in the land of the Drevlyans, neighboring Kyiv. Obviously, they were also given the right to collect tribute for the Kyiv prince, i.e. from that time on the prince stopped going to polyudye. A certain prototype of the local government apparatus is beginning to take shape. Control over it continues to remain in the hands of the Kyiv prince.
This type of governance finally took shape during the reign of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich (980–1015). Vladimir, leaving the Kiev throne behind him, placed his eldest sons in the largest Russian cities. All local power passed into the hands of the Vladimirovichs. Their subordination to the Grand Duke-Father was expressed in the regular transfer to him of part of the tribute collected from the lands in which the Grand Duke's sons-deputies sat. At the same time, the hereditary right of power was preserved. At the same time, when determining the order of succession to power, the predominant right of seniority is gradually consolidated.
This principle was also observed in the case of redistribution of reigns between the sons of the Grand Duke of Kyiv after the death of one of the brothers. If the eldest of them died (who usually sat on the Novgorod “table”), his place was taken by the next oldest brother, and all the other brothers moved up the “ladder” of power one “step” up, moving to increasingly more prestigious reigns. This system of organizing the transfer of power is usually called the “ladder” system of ascension of princes to the thrones.
However, the “ladder” system operated only during the life of the head of the princely family. After the death of the father, as a rule, an active struggle began between the brothers for the right to own Kiev. Accordingly, the winner distributed all other reigns to his children.
So, after the Kiev throne passed to him, Yaroslav Vladimirovich managed to get rid of almost all of his brothers who had any serious claims to power. Their places were taken by the Yaroslavichs. Before his death, Yaroslav bequeathed Kyiv to his eldest son Izyaslav, who also remained the prince of Novgorod. Yaroslav divided the remaining cities according to
seniority between sons. Izyaslav, as the eldest in the family, had to maintain the established order. Thus, the political priority of the Kyiv prince was formally consolidated.
However, by the end. 11th century the power of the Kyiv princes is significantly weakened. The Kiev veche begins to play a noticeable role in the life of not only the city, but also the state as a whole. They expelled or invited princes to the throne. In 1068, the people of Kiev overthrew Izyaslav, the Grand Duke of Kyiv (1054–1068, 1069–1073, 1077–1078), who lost the battle with the Polotsk, and installed Vseslav Bryachislavich of Polotsk in his place. Six months later, after Vseslav fled to Polotsk, the Kiev veche asked Izyaslav to return to the throne.
Since 1072, a series of princely congresses took place, at which the Yaroslavichs tried to agree on the basic principles of division of power and interaction in the fight against common opponents. Since 1074, a fierce struggle for the Kiev throne has unfolded between the brothers. At the same time, Polovtsian detachments were increasingly used in the political struggle.
The increasing frequency of strife seriously worsened the internal and especially foreign political situation of the Russian lands. In 1097, a princely congress took place in the city of Lyubech, at which the grandchildren of Yaroslav established a new principle of relations between the rulers of the Russian lands: “Let each one maintain his fatherland.” Now the “fatherland” (the land in which the father reigned) was inherited by the son. The “ladder” system of princes ascending to the throne was replaced by dynastic rule.
Although neither Lyubechsky nor subsequent princely congresses (1100, 1101, 1103, 1110) were able to prevent civil strife, the significance of the first of them is extremely great. It was on it that the foundations of the existence of independent states were laid on the territory of the former united Kievan Rus. The final collapse of the Old Russian state is usually associated with the events that followed the death of the eldest of the sons of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, Mstislav (1132). A.K.
On distant frontiers
On the distant borders of Kievan Rus there were other ancient states with which the Slavs developed certain relations. Among them, the Khazar Kaganate and Volga Bulgaria should be highlighted.
KHAZAR KHAGANATE, Khazaria - a state that existed in the 7th–10th centuries. in the North Caucasus, between the Volga and Don rivers.
It developed in the territory inhabited by Turkic Caspian nomadic tribes, who in the 6th century. invaded the Eastern Ciscaucasia. Perhaps the name “Khazars” goes back to the Turkic basis “kaz” - to nomad.
At first, the Khazars roamed in the Eastern Ciscaucasia, from the Caspian Sea to Derbent, and in the 7th century. entrenched in the Lower Volga and part of the Crimean Peninsula, were dependent on the Turkic Kaganate, which by the 7th century. weakened. In the 1st quarter 7th century An independent Khazar state emerged.
In the 660s. The Khazars, in alliance with the North Caucasian Alans, defeated Great Bulgaria and formed the Kaganate. There were many tribes under the authority of the supreme ruler, the Kagan, and the title itself was equated to imperial. The Khazar Khaganate was an influential force in Eastern Europe, and therefore there is a lot of written evidence about it in Arabic, Persian and Byzantine literature. The Khazars are also mentioned in Russian chronicles. Important information about the history of the Khazar Kaganate contains information dating back to the 10th century. letter from the Khazar king Joseph to the head of the Spanish Jewish community, Hasdai ibn Shafrut.
The Khazars made constant raids on the lands of the Arab Caliphate in Transcaucasia. Already from the 20s. 7th century Periodic invasions of the Khazars and allied tribes of the Caucasian Alans into the Derbent region began. In 737, the Arab commander Merwan ibn Muhammad took the capital of Khazaria - Semender, and the Kagan, saving his life, swore an oath to convert to Islam, but did not keep his word. As the Khazar legend says, after Jewish merchants arrived in Khazaria from Khorezm and Byzantium, a certain Khazar prince Bulan converted to Judaism.
His example was followed by part of the Khazars who lived on the territory of modern Dagestan.
The Khazar Khaganate was inhabited by nomadic tribes. The territory of Khazaria proper is the Western Caspian steppes between the rivers. Sulak in Northern Dagestan and the Lower Volga. Here, archaeologists have found burial mounds of Khazar warriors. Academician B. A. Rybakov suggested that the Khazar Kaganate was a small state in the lower reaches of the Volga, and gained its fame thanks to a very advantageous position on the Volga-Baltic trade route. His point of view is based on the testimony of Arab travelers, who reported that the Khazars did not produce anything themselves and lived off goods brought from neighboring countries.
Most scientists believe that the Khazar Kaganate was a huge state, under whose rule for more than two centuries was half of Eastern Europe, including many Slavic tribes, and connect it with the area of the Saltovo-Mayak archaeological culture. The Khazar king Joseph called the Sarkel fortress on the Lower Don the western border of his state. In addition to her, the Khazar cities are known. Balanjar and Semender, who were located on the river. Terek and Sulak, and Atil (Itil) at the mouth of the Volga, but these cities have not been found by archaeologists.
The main occupation of the population of Khazaria is cattle breeding. The system of social organization was called “eternal el”, its center was the horde - the headquarters of the kagan, who “held the el”, that is, headed the union of tribes and clans. The highest class was made up of the Tarkhans - the clan aristocracy; the noblest among them were considered to be those from the Kagan family. The hired guards guarding the rulers of Khazaria consisted of 30 thousand Muslims and “Russians”.
Initially, the state was ruled by a kagan, but gradually the situation changed. The “deputy” of the kagan, shad, who commanded the army and was in charge of collecting taxes, became a co-ruler with the title of kagan-bek. To the beginning 9th century the power of the kagan became nominal, and he himself was considered a sacred person. He was appointed kagan-bek from representatives of a noble family. The Kagan candidate was strangled with a silk rope and, when he began to choke, they were asked how many years he wanted to rule. If the kagan died before the time he named, it was considered normal, otherwise he was killed. Only the Kagan Bey had the right to see the Kagan. If there was a famine or epidemic in the country, the kagan was killed, as it was believed that he had lost his magical power.
The 9th century was the heyday of Khazaria. In the end 8 – beginning 9th centuries a descendant of Prince Bulan, Obadiah, having become the head of the Kaganate, carried out a religious reform and declared Judaism the state religion. Despite the opposition, Obadiah managed to unite part of the Khazar nobility around himself. Thus, Khazaria became the only state of the Middle Ages where, at least, its head and the highest nobility professed Judaism. The Khazars, with the help of the nomadic tribes of the Hungarians allied to them, were able to briefly subjugate the Volga Bulgars and Burtases, and impose tribute on the Slavic tribes of the Polyans, Northerners, Vyatichi and Radimichi.
But the Khazars' reign was short-lived. Soon the clearing was freed from dependence; The northerners and Radimichi were saved from tribute to the Khazars by the Prophetic Oleg. In the end 9th century The Pechenegs broke into the Northern Black Sea region, weakening Khazaria with constant raids. The Khazar Khaganate was finally defeated in 964–965. Kyiv prince Svyatoslav. K con. 10th century Khazaria fell into decline. The remnants of the Khazar tribes settled in Crimea, where they subsequently mixed with the local population. E. G.
ITIL - the capital of the Khazar Khaganate in the 8th–10th centuries.
The city was located on both banks of the river. Itil (Volga; above modern Astrakhan) and on a small island where the Kagan’s palace was located. Itil was a major center of caravan trade. The population of the city consisted of Khazars, Khorezmians, Turks, Slavs, and Jews. Merchants and artisans lived in the eastern part of the city, and government offices were located in the western part. According to Arab travelers, there were many mosques, schools, baths, and markets in Itil. Housing buildings were wooden tents, felt yurts and dugouts.
In 985, Itil was destroyed by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. E.K.
BULGARIA VOLGA-KAMSKAYA, Volga Bulgaria is a state that existed in the Middle Volga and Kama regions.
Volga Bulgaria was inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes and Bulgars, who came here after the defeat of Great Bulgaria. In the 9th–10th centuries. the inhabitants of Volga Bulgaria switched from nomadism to settled agriculture.
Some time in the 9th–10th centuries. Volga Bulgaria was under the rule of the Khazar Kaganate. In the beginning 10th century Khan Almas began the unification of the Bulgar tribes. In the 10th century The Bulgars converted to Islam and formally recognized the Arab caliph as the supreme ruler - the head of the Muslims. In 965, Volga Bulgaria gained independence from the Khazar Khaganate.
The location of Bulgaria on the Volga-Baltic trade route, which connected Eastern and Northern Europe with the East, ensured the influx of goods into the country from the countries of the Arab East, the Caucasus, India and China, Byzantium, Western Europe, and Kievan Rus.
In the 10th–11th centuries. the capital of Volga Bulgaria was the city of Bulgar, located 5 km from the left bank of the Volga, below the mouth of the river. Kama. Bulgar quickly turned into a major center of crafts and transit trade. This is where they minted their own coins.
The city has been around since the 10th century. was well fortified, and a settlement adjoined it from the west. To the west of Bulgar there was an Armenian settlement with a Christian temple and cemetery. Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of Bulgar - the Bolgar settlement, where stone buildings of the 14th century, mausoleums, a cathedral mosque, and public baths have been preserved.
In the 10th–12th centuries. Russian princes made campaigns against the Volga Bulgars more than once. The first to try to impose tribute on Volga Bulgaria
Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, but in 985 he was forced to conclude a peace treaty. “The Tale of Bygone Years” reports the following legend: “Vladimir went against the Bulgarians with his uncle Dobrynya... And they defeated the Bulgarians. And Dobrynya said to Vladimir: “I examined the convicts - everyone was wearing boots. They won’t give us these tributes, we’ll look for some bast workers.’”
Then the Volga-Kama Bulgaria was threatened by the Vladimir principality. In the 12th century The Bulgars moved the capital to the interior of the country.
Bilyar, a city on the left bank of the river, became the new capital of the state. Cheremshan. It arose in the 10th century and was first mentioned in written sources in 1164. Crafts developed significantly: iron smelting, bone carving, leatherwork, blacksmithing, and pottery. Products exported from the cities of Kievan Rus, Syria, Byzantium, Iran, and China were found.
In the 13th century Volga-Kama Bulgaria was conquered by the Mongol-Tatars and became part of the Golden Horde. In 1236, Bulgar and Bilyar were devastated and burned by the Mongol-Tatars, but were soon rebuilt. Until the end 13th century Bulgar was the capital of the Golden Horde, 14th century. - the time of its greatest prosperity: active construction was carried out in the city, coins were minted, and crafts developed. A blow to the power of the Bulgar was dealt by the campaigns of the Golden Horde ruler Bulak-Timur in 1361. In 1431, the Bulgar was captured by Russian troops under the command of Prince Fyodor Motley and finally fell into decline. In 1438, the Kazan Khanate was formed on the territory of Volga Bulgaria. E. G.
* * *
The given introductory fragment of the book Ancient Rus'. IV–XII centuries (Collective of authors, 2010) provided by our book partner -
During the VI-IX centuries. among the Eastern Slavs there was a process of class formation and the creation of the preconditions for feudalism. The territory where ancient Russian statehood began to take shape was located at the intersection of routes along which the migration of peoples and tribes took place, and nomadic routes ran. The South Russian steppes were the scene of endless struggle among moving tribes and peoples. Often Slavic tribes attacked the border regions of the Byzantine Empire.
In the 7th century In the steppes between the Lower Volga, Don and North Caucasus, a Khazar state was formed. The Slavic tribes in the regions of the Lower Don and Azov came under his rule, retaining, however, a certain autonomy. The territory of the Khazar kingdom extended to the Dnieper and the Black Sea. At the beginning of the 8th century. The Arabs inflicted a crushing defeat on the Khazars, and through the North Caucasus they deeply invaded the north, reaching the Don. A large number of Slavs - allies of the Khazars - were captured.
The Varangians (Normans, Vikings) penetrate into Russian lands from the north. At the beginning of the 8th century. they settled around Yaroslavl, Rostov and Suzdal, establishing control over the territory from Novgorod to Smolensk. Some of the northern colonists penetrated into southern Russia, where they mixed with the Rus, adopting their name. The capital of the Russian-Varangian Kaganate, which ousted the Khazar rulers, was formed in Tmutarakan. In their struggle, the opponents turned to the Emperor of Constantinople for an alliance.
In such a complex environment, the consolidation of Slavic tribes into political unions took place, which became the embryo of the formation of a unified East Slavic statehood.
Photo active tours 
In the 9th century. As a result of the centuries-long development of East Slavic society, the early feudal state of Rus' was formed with its center in Kyiv. Gradually, all the East Slavic tribes united in Kievan Rus.
The topic of the history of Kievan Rus considered in the work seems not only interesting, but also very relevant. Recent years have been marked by changes in many areas of Russian life. The lifestyle of many people has changed, the system of life values has changed. Knowledge of the history of Russia, the spiritual traditions of the Russian people, is very important for increasing the national self-awareness of Russians. A sign of the revival of the nation is the ever-increasing interest in the historical past of the Russian people, in their spiritual values.
FORMATION OF THE ANCIENT RUSSIAN STATE IN THE 9th century
The time from the 6th to the 9th centuries is still the last stage of the primitive communal system, the time of the formation of classes and the imperceptible, at first glance, but steady growth of the preconditions of feudalism. The most valuable monument containing information about the beginning of the Russian state is the chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years, where the Russian land came from, and who first began to reign in Kyiv and where the Russian land came from,” compiled by the Kyiv monk Nestor around 1113.
Having begun his story, like all medieval historians, with the Flood, Nestor talks about the settlement of Western and Eastern Slavs in Europe in ancient times. He divides the East Slavic tribes into two groups, the level of development of which, according to his description, was not the same. Some of them lived, as he put it, in a “beastly manner,” preserving the features of the tribal system: blood feud, remnants of matriarchy, the absence of marriage prohibitions, “kidnapping” (kidnapping) of wives, etc. Nestor contrasts these tribes with the glades, in whose land Kyiv was built. The Polyans are “sensible men”; they have already established a patriarchal monogamous family and, obviously, have overcome blood feud (they are “distinguished by their meek and quiet disposition”).
Next, Nestor talks about how the city of Kyiv was created. Prince Kiy, who reigned there, according to Nestor’s story, came to Constantinople to visit the Emperor of Byzantium, who received him with great honors. Returning from Constantinople, Kiy built a city on the banks of the Danube, intending to settle here for a long time. But the local residents were hostile to him, and Kiy returned to the banks of the Dnieper.
Nestor considered the formation of the principality of Polyans in the Middle Dnieper region to be the first historical event on the path to the creation of the Old Russian states. The legend about Kiy and his two brothers spread far to the south, and was even brought to Armenia.
Byzantine writers of the 6th century paint the same picture. During the reign of Justinian, huge masses of Slavs advanced to the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine historians colorfully describe the invasion of the empire by Slavic troops, who took away prisoners and rich booty, and the settlement of the empire by Slavic colonists. The appearance of the Slavs, who dominated communal relations, on the territory of Byzantium contributed to the eradication of slave-owning orders here and the development of Byzantium along the path from the slave-owning system to feudalism.
The successes of the Slavs in the fight against the powerful Byzantium indicate a relatively high level of development of Slavic society for that time: the material prerequisites had already appeared for equipping significant military expeditions, and the system of military democracy made it possible to unite large masses of Slavs. Long-distance campaigns contributed to the strengthening of the power of the princes in the indigenous Slavic lands, where tribal principalities were created.
Archaeological data fully confirms the words of Nestor that the core of the future Kievan Rus began to take shape on the banks of the Dnieper when the Slavic princes made campaigns in Byzantium and the Danube, in the times preceding the attacks of the Khazars (7th century).
The creation of a significant tribal union in the southern forest-steppe regions facilitated the advance of Slavic colonists not only in the southwest (to the Balkans), but also in the southeast direction. True, the steppes were occupied by various nomads: Bulgarians, Avars, Khazars, but the Slavs of the Middle Dnieper region (Russian land) were obviously able to protect their possessions from their invasions and penetrate deep into the fertile black earth steppes. In the VII-IX centuries. The Slavs also lived in the eastern part of the Khazar lands, somewhere in the Azov region, participated together with the Khazars in military campaigns, and were hired to serve the Kagan (Khazar ruler). In the south, the Slavs apparently lived in islands among other tribes, gradually assimilating them, but at the same time absorbing elements of their culture.
During the VI-IX centuries. Productive forces grew, tribal institutions changed, and the process of class formation began. As the most important phenomena in the life of the Eastern Slavs during the VI-IX centuries. The development of arable farming and the development of crafts should be noted; the collapse of the clan community as a labor collective and the separation from it of individual peasant farms, forming a neighboring community; the growth of private land ownership and the formation of classes; the transformation of the tribal army with its defensive functions into a squad that dominates its fellow tribesmen; seizure by princes and nobles of tribal land into personal hereditary property.
By the 9th century. Everywhere in the territory of settlement of the Eastern Slavs, a significant area of arable land cleared from forest was formed, indicating the further development of productive forces under feudalism. An association of small clan communities, characterized by a certain unity of culture, was the ancient Slavic tribe. Each of these tribes assembled a national assembly (veche). The power of the tribal princes gradually increased. The development of intertribal ties, defensive and offensive alliances, the organization of joint campaigns and, finally, the subjugation of their weaker neighbors by strong tribes - all this led to the consolidation of tribes, to their unification into larger groups.
Describing the time when the transition from tribal relations to the state took place, Nestor notes that various East Slavic regions had “their own reigns.” This is confirmed by archaeological data.
The formation of an early feudal state, which gradually subjugated all the East Slavic tribes, became possible only when the differences between the south and the north in terms of agricultural conditions were somewhat smoothed out, when in the north there was a sufficient amount of plowed land and the need for hard collective labor in cutting and forest uprooting has decreased significantly. As a result, the peasant family emerged as a new production team from the patriarchal community.
The decomposition of the primitive communal system among the Eastern Slavs occurred at a time when the slave system had already outlived its usefulness on a world-historical scale. In the process of class formation, Rus' came to feudalism, bypassing the slave-owning formation.
In the 9th-10th centuries. antagonistic classes of feudal society are formed. The number of vigilantes is increasing everywhere, their differentiation is increasing, and the nobility - the boyars and princes - are being separated from their midst.
An important question in the history of the emergence of feudalism is the question of the time of the appearance of cities in Rus'. In the conditions of the tribal system, there were certain centers where tribal councils met, a prince was chosen, trade was carried out, fortune telling was carried out, court cases were decided, sacrifices were made to the gods and the most important dates of the year were celebrated. Sometimes such a center became the focus of the most important types of production. Most of these ancient centers later turned into medieval cities.
In the 9th-10th centuries. feudal lords created a number of new cities that served both the purposes of defense against nomads and the purposes of domination over the enslaved population. Craft production was also concentrated in cities. The old name “grad”, “city”, denoting a fortification, began to be applied to a real feudal city with a detinets-kremlin (fortress) in the center and an extensive craft and trading area.
Despite the gradual and slow process of feudalization, one can still indicate a certain line, starting from which there is reason to talk about feudal relations in Rus'. This line is the 9th century, when the Eastern Slavs had already formed a feudal state.
The lands of the East Slavic tribes united into a single state received the name Rus. The arguments of “Normanist” historians who tried to declare the Normans, who were then called Varangians in Rus', the creators of the Old Russian state, are unconvincing. These historians stated that the chronicles meant the Varangians by Rus. But as has already been shown, the prerequisites for the formation of states among the Slavs developed over many centuries and by the 9th century. gave noticeable results not only in the West Slavic lands, where the Normans never penetrated and where the Great Moravian Empire arose, but also in the East Slavic lands (in Kievan Rus), where the Normans appeared, robbed, destroyed representatives of local princely dynasties and sometimes became princes themselves. It is obvious that the Normans could neither promote nor seriously hinder the process of feudalization. The name Rus' began to be used in sources in relation to part of the Slavs 300 years before the appearance of the Varangians.
The first mention of the Ros people was found in the middle of the 6th century, when information about them had already reached Syria. The glades, called, according to the chronicler, Russia, become the basis of the future ancient Russian nation, and their land - the core of the territory of the future state - Kievan Rus.
Among the news belonging to Nestor, one passage has survived, which describes Rus' before the Varangians appeared there. “These are the Slavic regions,” writes Nestor, “that are part of Rus' - the Polyans, the Drevlyans, the Dregovichi, the Polochans, the Novgorod Slovenes, the Northerners...”2. This list includes only half of the East Slavic regions. Consequently, Rus' at that time did not yet include the Krivichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Croats, Ulichs and Tivertsy. At the center of the new state formation was the Polyan tribe. The Old Russian state became a kind of federation of tribes; in its form it was an early feudal monarchy
ANCIENT Rus' OF THE END OF THE IX – BEGINNING OF THE 12TH CENTURY.
In the second half of the 9th century. Novgorod prince Oleg united power over Kiev and Novgorod in his hands. The chronicle dates this event to 882. The formation of the early feudal Old Russian state (Kievan Rus) as a result of the emergence of antagonistic classes was a turning point in the history of the Eastern Slavs.
The process of uniting the East Slavic lands as part of the Old Russian state was complex. In a number of lands, the Kyiv princes encountered serious resistance from local feudal and tribal princes and their “husbands.” This resistance was suppressed by force of arms. During the reign of Oleg (late 9th - early 10th centuries), a constant tribute was already levied from Novgorod and from the lands of North Russian (Novgorod or Ilmen Slavs), Western Russian (Krivichi) and North-Eastern lands. The Kiev prince Igor (beginning of the 10th century), as a result of a stubborn struggle, subjugated the lands of the Ulitsch and Tivertsi. Thus, the border of Kievan Rus was advanced beyond the Dniester. A long struggle continued with the population of the Drevlyansky land. Igor increased the amount of tribute collected from the Drevlyans. During one of Igor’s campaigns in the Drevlyan land, when he decided to collect a double tribute, the Drevlyans defeated the princely squad and killed Igor. During the reign of Olga (945-969), Igor's wife, the land of the Drevlyans was finally subordinated to Kyiv.
The territorial growth and strengthening of Rus' continued under Svyatoslav Igorevich (969-972) and Vladimir Svyatoslavich (980-1015). The Old Russian state included the lands of the Vyatichi. The power of Rus' extended to the North Caucasus. The territory of the Old Russian state expanded in a western direction, including the Cherven cities and Carpathian Rus'.
With the formation of the early feudal state, more favorable conditions were created for maintaining the security of the country and its economic growth. But the strengthening of this state was associated with the development of feudal property and the further enslavement of the previously free peasantry.
The supreme power in the Old Russian state belonged to the Grand Duke of Kyiv. At the princely court there lived a squad, divided into “senior” and “junior”. The boyars from the prince's military comrades turn into landowners, his vassals, patrimonial fiefs. In the XI-XII centuries. the boyars are being formalized as a special class and their legal status is being consolidated. Vassalage is formed as a system of relations with the prince-suzerain; its characteristic features are the specialization of the vassal service, the contractual nature of the relationship and the economic independence of the vassal4.
Princely warriors took part in government. Thus, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, together with the boyars, discussed the issue of introducing Christianity, measures to combat “robberies” and decided on other matters. Certain parts of Rus' were ruled by their own princes. But the Grand Duke of Kiev sought to replace the local rulers with his proteges.
The state helped strengthen the rule of feudal lords in Rus'. The apparatus of power ensured the flow of tribute, collected in money and in kind. The working population also performed a number of other duties - military, underwater, participated in the construction of fortresses, roads, bridges, etc. Individual princely warriors received control over entire regions with the right to collect tribute.
In the middle of the 10th century. under Princess Olga, the size of duties (tributes and quitrents) was determined and temporary and permanent camps and graveyards were established in which tribute was collected.
The norms of customary law have developed among the Slavs since ancient times. With the emergence and development of class society and the state, along with customary law and gradually replacing it, written laws appeared and developed to protect the interests of the feudal lords. Already in Oleg’s treaty with Byzantium (911) the “Russian law” was mentioned. The collection of written laws is “Russian Truth” of the so-called “Short Edition” (late 11th - early 12th centuries). In its composition, the “Most Ancient Truth” was preserved, apparently written down at the beginning of the 11th century, but reflecting some norms of customary law. It also talks about the remnants of primitive communal relations, for example, about blood feud. The law considers cases of replacing revenge with a fine in favor of the relatives of the victim (later in favor of the state).
The armed forces of the Old Russian state consisted of the squad of the Grand Duke, the squads that were brought by the princes and boyars subordinate to him, and the people's militia (warriors). The number of troops with which the princes went on campaigns sometimes reached 60-80 thousand. Foot militia continued to play an important role in the armed forces. Detachments of mercenaries were also used in Rus' - nomads of the steppes (Pechenegs), as well as Cumans, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Czechs, Poles, and Norman Varangians, but their role in the armed forces was insignificant. The Old Russian fleet consisted of ships hollowed out of trees and lined with boards along the sides. Russian ships sailed in the Black, Azov, Caspian and Baltic seas.
The foreign policy of the Old Russian state expressed the interests of the growing class of feudal lords, who were expanding their possessions, political influence and trade relations. Striving to conquer individual East Slavic lands, the Kyiv princes came into conflict with the Khazars. Advancement to the Danube, the desire to seize the trade route along the Black Sea and the Crimean coast led to the struggle of the Russian princes with Byzantium, which tried to limit the influence of Rus' in the Black Sea region. In 907, Prince Oleg organized a campaign by sea against Constantinople. The Byzantines were forced to ask the Russians to conclude peace and pay an indemnity. According to the peace treaty of 911. Rus' received the right to duty-free trade in Constantinople.
The Kyiv princes also undertook campaigns to more distant lands - beyond the Caucasus ridge, to the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea (campaigns of 880, 909, 910, 913-914). The expansion of the territory of the Kyiv state began to be especially active during the reign of Princess Olga's son, Svyatoslav (Svyatoslav's campaigns - 964-972). He dealt the first blow to the Khazar empire. Their main cities on the Don and Volga were captured. Svyatoslav even planned to settle in this region, becoming the successor to the empire he destroyed6.
Then the Russian squads marched to the Danube, where they captured the city of Pereyaslavets (previously owned by the Bulgarians), which Svyatoslav decided to make his capital. Such political ambitions show that the Kyiv princes had not yet connected the idea of the political center of their empire with Kiev.
The danger that came from the East - the invasion of the Pechenegs - forced the Kyiv princes to pay more attention to the internal structure of their own state.
ADOPTION OF CHRISTIANITY IN Rus'
At the end of the 10th century. Christianity was officially introduced in Rus'. The development of feudal relations prepared the way for the replacement of pagan cults with a new religion.
The Eastern Slavs deified the forces of nature. Among the gods they revered, the first place was occupied by Perun, the god of thunder and lightning. Dazhd-bog was the god of the sun and fertility, Stribog was the god of thunderstorms and bad weather. Volos was considered the god of wealth and trade, and the blacksmith god Svarog was considered the creator of all human culture.
Christianity began to penetrate early into Rus' among the nobility. Back in the 9th century. Patriarch Photius of Constantinople noted that Rus' changed “pagan superstition” to “Christian faith”7. Christians were among Igor's warriors. Princess Olga converted to Christianity.
Vladimir Svyatoslavich, having been baptized in 988 and appreciating the political role of Christianity, decided to make it the state religion in Rus'. Russia's adoption of Christianity occurred in a difficult foreign policy situation. In the 80s of the 10th century. The Byzantine government turned to the Kyiv prince with a request for military assistance to suppress uprisings in the lands under its control. In response, Vladimir demanded an alliance with Russia from Byzantium, offering to seal it with his marriage to Anna, the sister of Emperor Vasily II. The Byzantine government was forced to agree to this. After the marriage of Vladimir and Anna, Christianity was officially recognized as the religion of the Old Russian state.
Church institutions in Rus' received large land grants and tithes from state revenues. Throughout the 11th century. bishoprics were founded in Yuryev and Belgorod (in the Kyiv land), Novgorod, Rostov, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny, Vladimir-Volynsky, Polotsk and Turov. Several large monasteries arose in Kyiv.
The people met the new faith and its ministers with hostility. Christianity was imposed by force, and the Christianization of the country dragged on for several centuries. Pre-Christian (“pagan”) cults continued to live among the people for a long time.
The introduction of Christianity was a progress compared to paganism. Together with Christianity, the Russians received some elements of a higher Byzantine culture and, like other European peoples, joined the heritage of antiquity. The introduction of a new religion increased the international significance of ancient Rus'.
DEVELOPMENT OF FEUDAL RELATIONS IN Rus'
Time from the end of the X to the beginning of the XII century. is an important stage in the development of feudal relations in Rus'. This time is characterized by the gradual victory of the feudal mode of production over a large territory of the country.
Sustainable field farming dominated Russian agriculture. Cattle breeding developed more slowly than agriculture. Despite the relative increase in agricultural production, harvests were low. Frequent phenomena were shortages and famines, which undermined the Kresgyap economy and contributed to the enslavement of the peasants. Hunting, fishing, and beekeeping remained of great importance in the economy. The furs of squirrels, martens, otters, beavers, sables, foxes, as well as honey and wax went to the foreign market. The best hunting and fishing areas, forests and lands were seized by the feudal lords.
In the XI and early XII centuries. part of the land was exploited by the state by collecting tribute from the population, part of the land area was in the hands of individual feudal lords as estates that could be inherited (later they became known as estates), and possessions received from princes for temporary conditional holding.
The ruling class of feudal lords was formed from local princes and boyars, who became dependent on Kyiv, and from the husbands (combatants) of the Kyiv princes, who received control, holding or patrimony of the lands “tortured” by them and the princes. The Kyiv Grand Dukes themselves had large land holdings. The distribution of land by princes to warriors, strengthening feudal production relations, was at the same time one of the means used by the state to subjugate the local population to its power.
Land ownership was protected by law. The growth of boyar and church land ownership was closely related to the development of immunity. The land, which was previously peasant property, became the property of the feudal lord “with tribute, virami and sales,” that is, with the right to collect taxes and court fines from the population for murder and other crimes, and, consequently, with the right of trial.
With the transfer of lands into the ownership of individual feudal lords, peasants in different ways became dependent on them. Some peasants, deprived of the means of production, were enslaved by landowners, taking advantage of their need for tools, equipment, seeds, etc. Other peasants, sitting on land subject to tribute, who owned their own tools of production, were forced by the state to transfer the land under the patrimonial power of the feudal lords. As the estates expanded and the smerds became enslaved, the term servants, which previously meant slaves, began to apply to the entire mass of the peasantry dependent on the landowner.
Peasants who fell into bondage to the feudal lord, legally formalized by a special agreement - nearby, were called purchases. They received from the landowner a plot of land and a loan, which they worked off on the feudal lord's farm with the master's equipment. For escaping from the master, the zakuns turned into serfs - slaves deprived of all rights. Labor rent - corvée, field and castle (construction of fortifications, bridges, roads, etc.), was combined with nagural quitrent.
The forms of social protest of the masses against the feudal system were varied: from flight from their owner to armed “robbery”, from violating the boundaries of feudal estates, setting fire to the trees belonging to the princes to open uprising. The peasants fought against the feudal lords with weapons in their hands. Under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, “robberies” (as armed uprisings of peasants were often called at that time) became a common phenomenon. In 996, Vladimir, on the advice of the clergy, decided to apply the death penalty against “robbers”, but then, having strengthened the apparatus of power and, needing new sources of income to support the squad, he replaced the execution with a fine - vira. The princes paid even more attention to the fight against popular movements in the 11th century.
At the beginning of the 12th century. further development of the craft took place. In the village, under the conditions of state dominance of the natural economy, the production of clothing, shoes, utensils, agricultural implements, etc. was home production, not yet separated from agriculture. With the development of the feudal system, some of the community artisans became dependent on the feudal lords, others left the village and went under the walls of princely castles and fortresses, where craft settlements were created. The possibility of a break between the artisan and the village was due to the development of agriculture, which could provide the urban population with food and the beginning of the separation of crafts from agriculture.
Cities became centers for the development of crafts. In them by the 12th century. there were over 60 craft specialties. Russian artisans of the 11th-12th centuries. produced more than 150 types of iron and steel products, their products played an important role in the development of trade relations between the city and the countryside. Old Russian jewelers knew the art of minting non-ferrous metals. Tools, weapons, household items, and jewelry were made in craft workshops.
With its products, Rus' gained fame in Europe at that time. However, the social division of labor in the country as a whole was weak. The village lived on subsistence farming. The penetration of small retail traders into the village from the city did not disrupt the natural nature of the rural economy. Cities were centers of internal trade. But urban commodity production did not change the natural economic basis of the country’s economy.
Rus''s foreign trade was more developed. Russian merchants traded in the possessions of the Arab Caliphate. The Dnieper route connected Rus' with Byzantium. Russian merchants traveled from Kyiv to Moravia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Southern Germany, from Novgorod and Polotsk - along the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia, Polish Pomerania and further to the west. With the development of crafts, the export of handicraft products increased.
Silver bars and foreign coins were used as money. Princes Vladimir Svyatoslavich and his son Yaroslav Vladimirovich issued (albeit in small quantities) minted silver coins. However, foreign trade did not change the natural nature of the Russian economy.
With the growth of the social division of labor, cities developed. They arose from fortresses-castles, which were gradually overgrown with settlements, and from trade and craft settlements, around which fortifications were erected. The city was connected with the nearest rural district, from whose products it lived and whose population it served with handicrafts. In the chronicles of the 9th-10th centuries. 25 cities are mentioned in the news of the 11th century - 89. The heyday of ancient Russian cities fell in the 11th-12th centuries.
Craft and merchant associations arose in the cities, although a guild system did not develop here. In addition to free artisans, patrimonial artisans also lived in cities, who were slaves of princes and boyars. The city nobility consisted of the boyars. The large cities of Rus' (Kyiv, Chernigov, Polotsk, Novgorod, Smolensk, etc.) were administrative, judicial and military centers. At the same time, having grown stronger, the cities contributed to the process of political fragmentation. This was a natural phenomenon under conditions of the dominance of subsistence farming and the weak economic ties between individual lands.
PROBLEMS OF STATE UNITY OF Rus'
The state unity of Rus' was not strong. The development of feudal relations and the strengthening of the power of the feudal lords, as well as the growth of cities as centers of local principalities, led to changes in the political superstructure. In the 11th century the head of the state was still headed by the Grand Duke, but the princes and boyars dependent on him acquired large land holdings in different parts of Rus' (in Novgorod, Polotsk, Chernigov, Volyn, etc.). The princes of individual feudal centers strengthened their own apparatus of power and, relying on local feudal lords, began to consider their reigns as paternal, that is, hereditary possessions. Economically, they were almost no longer dependent on Kyiv; on the contrary, the Kiev prince was interested in their support. Political dependence on Kyiv weighed heavily on local feudal lords and princes who ruled in certain parts of the country.
After the death of Vladimir, his son Svyatopolk became prince in Kyiv, who killed his brothers Boris and Gleb and began a stubborn struggle with Yaroslav. In this struggle, Svyatopolk used the military assistance of Polish feudal lords. Then a massive popular movement against the Polish invaders began in the Kyiv land. Yaroslav, supported by the Novgorod townspeople, defeated Svyatopolk and occupied Kyiv.
During the reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise (1019-1054), around 1024, a large uprising of the Smerds broke out in the northeast, in the Suzdal land. The reason for it was severe hunger. Many participants in the suppressed uprising were imprisoned or executed. However, the movement continued until 1026.
During the reign of Yaroslav, the strengthening and further expansion of the borders of the Old Russian state continued. However, signs of feudal fragmentation of the state appeared more and more clearly.
After the death of Yaroslav, state power passed to his three sons. Seniority belonged to Izyaslav, who owned Kiev, Novgorod and other cities. His co-rulers were Svyatoslav (who ruled in Chernigov and Tmutarakan) and Vsevolod (who reigned in Rostov, Suzdal and Pereyaslavl). In 1068, nomadic Cumans attacked Rus'. Russian troops were defeated on the Alta River. Izyaslav and Vsevolod fled to Kyiv. This accelerated the anti-feudal uprising in Kyiv, which had been brewing for a long time. The rebels destroyed the princely court, released Vseslav of Polotsk, who had previously been imprisoned by his brothers during an inter-princely strife, and was released from prison and elevated to reign. However, he soon left Kyiv, and a few months later Izyaslav, with the help of Polish troops, resorting to deception, again occupied the city (1069) and committed a bloody massacre.
Urban uprisings were associated with the peasant movement. Since the anti-feudal movements were also directed against the Christian Church, the rebellious peasants and townspeople were sometimes led by the Magi. In the 70s of the 11th century. There was a major popular movement in the Rostov land. Popular movements took place in other places in Rus'. In Novgorod, for example, the masses of the urban population, led by the Magi, opposed the nobility, headed by the prince and bishop. Prince Gleb, with the help of military force, dealt with the rebels.
The development of the feudal mode of production inevitably led to the political fragmentation of the country. Class contradictions intensified noticeably. The devastation from exploitation and princely strife was aggravated by the consequences of crop failures and famine. After the death of Svyatopolk in Kyiv, there was an uprising of the urban population and peasants from the surrounding villages. The frightened nobility and merchants invited Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh (1113-1125), Prince of Pereyaslavl, to reign in Kyiv. The new prince was forced to make some concessions to suppress the uprising.
Vladimir Monomakh pursued a policy of strengthening the grand ducal power. Owning, in addition to Kyiv, Pereyaslavl, Suzdal, Rostov, ruling Novgorod and part of South-Western Rus', he simultaneously tried to subjugate other lands (Minsk, Volyn, etc.). However, contrary to Monomakh’s policy, the process of fragmentation of Rus', caused by economic reasons, continued. By the second quarter of the 12th century. Rus' was finally fragmented into many principalities.
CULTURE OF ANCIENT Rus'
The culture of ancient Rus' is the culture of early feudal society. Oral poetic creativity reflected the life experience of the people, captured in proverbs and sayings, in the rituals of agricultural and family holidays, from which the cult pagan principle gradually disappeared, and the rituals turned into folk games. Buffoons - traveling actors, singers and musicians, who came from the people's environment, were bearers of democratic tendencies in art. Folk motifs formed the basis for the remarkable song and musical creativity of the “prophetic Boyan,” whom the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” calls “the nightingale of the old time.”
The growth of national self-awareness found particularly vivid expression in the historical epic. In it, the people idealized the time of political unity of Rus', although still very fragile, when the peasants were not yet dependent. The image of the “peasant son” Ilya Muromets, a fighter for the independence of his homeland, embodies the deep patriotism of the people. Folk art influenced the traditions and legends that developed in the feudal secular and church environment, and helped the formation of ancient Russian literature.
The emergence of writing was of enormous importance for the development of ancient Russian literature. In Rus', writing apparently arose quite early. The news has been preserved that the Slavic educator of the 9th century. Konstantin (Kirill) saw books in Chersonesus written in “Russian characters.” Evidence of the presence of writing among the Eastern Slavs even before the adoption of Christianity is an early 10th-century clay vessel discovered in one of the Smolensk mounds. with an inscription. Writing became widespread after the adoption of Christianity.
The most ancient homeland of the Slavs is Central Europe, where the Danube, Elbe and Vistula have their sources. From here the Slavs moved further east, to the banks of the Dnieper, Pripyat, and Desna. These were the tribes of the Polyans, Drevlyans, and Northerners. Another stream of settlers moved northwest to the shores of Volkhov and Lake Ilmen. These tribes were called Ilmen Slovenes. Some of the settlers (Krivichi) settled on the hills from where the Dnieper, Moscow River, and Oka flow. This resettlement took place no earlier than the 7th century. As they explored new lands, the Slavs pushed out and subjugated the Finno-Ugric tribes, who were pagans just like the Slavs.
Founding of the Russian state
In the center of the possessions of the glades on the Dnieper in the 9th century. a city was built, which received the name of the leader Kiy, who ruled in it with the brothers Shchek and Khoreb. Kyiv stood in a very convenient location at the intersection of roads and quickly grew as a shopping center. In 864, two Scandinavian Varangians Askold and Dir captured Kyiv and began to rule there. They went on a raid against Byzantium, but returned, badly battered by the Greeks. It was no coincidence that the Varangians ended up on the Dnieper - it was part of a single waterway from the Baltic to the Black Sea (“from the Varangians to the Greeks”). Here and there the waterway was interrupted by hills. There the Varangians dragged their light boats on their backs or by dragging them.
According to legend, civil strife began in the land of the Ilmen Slovenes and Finno-Ugric peoples (Chud, Merya) - “generation after generation rose up.” Tired of strife, local leaders decided to invite King Rurik and his brothers from Denmark: Sineus and Truvor. Rurik willingly responded to the tempting offer of the ambassadors. The custom of inviting a ruler from overseas was generally accepted in Europe. People hoped that such a prince would rise above the unfriendly local leaders and thereby ensure peace and quiet in the country. Having built Ladoga (now Staraya Ladoga), Rurik then climbed the Volkhov to Ilmen and settled there in a place called “Rurik’s settlement”. Then Rurik built the city of Novgorod nearby and took possession of all the surrounding lands. Sineus settled in Beloozero, and Truvor in Izborsk. Then the younger brothers died, and Rurik began to rule alone. Together with Rurik and the Varangians, the word “Rus” came to the Slavs. This was the name of the warrior-oarsman on a Scandinavian boat. Then the Varangian warriors who served with the princes were called Rus, then the name “Rus” was transferred to all the Eastern Slavs, their land, and state.
The ease with which the Varangians took power in the lands of the Slavs is explained not only by the invitation, but also by the similarity of faith - both the Slavs and the Varangians were pagan polytheists. They revered the spirits of water, forests, brownies, and goblins, and had extensive pantheons of “main” and minor gods and goddesses. One of the most revered Slavic gods, the lord of thunder and lightning Perun, was similar to the Scandinavian supreme god Thor, whose symbols - archaeologists' hammers - are also found in Slavic burials. The Slavs worshiped Svarog - the master of the Universe, the sun god Dazhbog and the god of the earth Svarozhich. They respected the god of cattle, Veles, and the goddess of handicraft, Mokosh. Sculptural images of gods were placed on hills, and sacred temples were surrounded by high fences. The gods of the Slavs were very harsh, even ferocious. They demanded veneration and frequent offerings from people. Gifts rose upward to the gods in the form of smoke from burning sacrifices: food, killed animals and even people.
The first princes - Rurikovich
After Rurik’s death, power in Novgorod passed not to his young son Igor, but to Rurik’s relative Oleg, who had previously lived in Ladoga. In 882, Oleg and his retinue approached Kyiv. Under the guise of a Varangian merchant, he appeared before Askold and Dir. Suddenly, Oleg’s warriors jumped out of the rooks and killed the Kyiv rulers. Kyiv submitted to Oleg. Thus, for the first time, the lands of the Eastern Slavs from Ladoga to Kyiv were united under the rule of one prince.
Prince Oleg largely followed the policies of Rurik and annexed more and more lands to the new state, called Kievan Rus by historians. In all lands Oleg immediately “began to build cities” - wooden fortresses. Oleg’s famous act was the 907 campaign against Constantinople (Constantinople). His large squad of Varangians and Slavs on light ships suddenly appeared at the city walls. The Greeks were not ready for defense. Seeing how the barbarians who came from the north were plundering and burning in the vicinity of the city, they negotiated with Oleg, made peace and paid him tribute. In 911, Oleg's ambassadors Karl, Farlof, Velmud and others signed a new treaty with the Greeks. Before leaving Constantinople, Oleg hung his shield on the gates of the city as a sign of victory. At home, in Kyiv, people were amazed by the rich booty with which Oleg returned, and gave the prince the nickname “Prophetic”, that is, a wizard, a magician.
Oleg's successor Igor (Ingvar), nicknamed "Old", son of Rurik, ruled for 33 years. He lived in Kyiv, which became his home. We know little about Igor's personality. He was a warrior, a stern Varangian, who almost continuously conquered the Slavic tribes and imposed tribute on them. Like Oleg, Igor raided Byzantium. In those days, the name of the country of the Rus appeared in the treaty with Byzantium - “Russian Land”. At home, Igor was forced to repel the raids of nomads - the Pechenegs. Since then, the danger of attack by nomads has never subsided. Rus' was a loose, unstable state, stretching for a thousand miles from north to south. The strength of a single princely power was what held the lands distant from each other.
Every winter, as soon as the rivers and swamps froze, the prince went to Polyudye - he traveled around his lands, judged, settled disputes, collected tribute (“lesson”) and punished the tribes that had “deferred” during the summer. During the Polyudia of 945 in the land of the Drevlyans, it seemed to Igor that the tribute of the Drevlyans was small, and he returned for more. The Drevlyans were outraged by this lawlessness, grabbed the prince, tied his legs to two bent mighty trees and released them. This is how Igor died ingloriously.
The unexpected death of Igor forced his wife Olga to take power into her own hands - after all, their son Svyatoslav was only 4 years old. According to legend, Olga (Helga) herself was a Scandinavian. The terrible death of her husband became the reason for the no less terrible revenge of Olga, who brutally dealt with the Drevlyans. The chronicler tells us exactly how Olga killed the Drevlyan ambassadors by deception. She suggested that they take a bath before starting negotiations. While the ambassadors were enjoying the steam room, Olga ordered her soldiers to block the doors of the bathhouse and set it on fire. There the enemies burned. This is not the first mention of a bathhouse in Russian chronicles. The Nikon Chronicle contains a legend about the visit to Rus' by the Holy Apostle Andrei. Then, returning to Rome, he spoke with surprise about a strange action in the Russian land: “I saw wooden bathhouses, and they would heat them up very much, and they would undress and be naked, and they would douse themselves with leather kvass, and they would lift up young rods and beat themselves, and They will finish themselves off to such an extent that they will hardly crawl out, barely alive, and will douse themselves with cold water, and that’s the only way they will come to life. And they do this constantly, not being tormented by anyone, but torturing themselves, and then they perform ablution for themselves, and not torment.” After this, the sensational theme of the extraordinary Russian bathhouse with a birch broom for many centuries will become an indispensable attribute of many travel accounts of foreigners from medieval times to the present day.
Princess Olga toured her property and established clear lesson sizes there. In legends, Olga became famous for her wisdom, cunning, and energy. It is known about Olga that she was the first of the Russian rulers to receive foreign ambassadors from the German Emperor Otto I in Kyiv. Olga was in Constantinople twice. For the second time - in 957 - Olga was received by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. And after that she decided to be baptized, and the emperor himself became her godfather.
By this time, Svyatoslav had grown up and began to rule Russia. He fought almost continuously, carrying out raids with his retinue on neighbors, even very distant ones - the Vyatichi, Volga Bulgars, and defeated the Khazar Kaganate. Contemporaries compared these campaigns of Svyatoslav to the leaps of a leopard, swift, silent and powerful.
Svyatoslav was a blue-eyed, bushy-moustached man of average height; he cut his head bald, leaving a long lock on the top. An earring with precious stones hung in his ear. Dense, strong, he was tireless on campaigns, his army did not have a baggage train, and the prince made do with the food of the nomads - dried meat. All his life he remained a pagan and a polygamist. At the end of the 960s. Svyatoslav moved to the Balkans. His army was hired by Byzantium to conquer the Bulgarians. Svyatoslav defeated the Bulgarians, and then settled in Pereslavets on the Danube and did not want to leave these lands. Byzantium began a war against the disobedient mercenary. At first, the prince defeated the Byzantines, but then his army was greatly thinned out, and Svyatoslav agreed to leave Bulgaria forever.
Without joy, the prince sailed on boats up the Dnieper. Even earlier, he told his mother: “I don’t like Kyiv, I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube - there is the middle of my land.” He had a small squad with him - the rest of the Varangians went to plunder neighboring countries. On the Dnieper rapids, the squad was ambushed by the Pechenegs, and Svyatoslav died in a battle with the nomads at the Nenasytninsky threshold. From his skull his enemies made a gold-decorated wine cup.
Even before the campaign to Bulgaria, Svyatoslav distributed lands (allotments) among his sons. He left the eldest Yaropolk in Kyiv, the middle one, Oleg, sent to the land of the Drevlyans, and the youngest, Vladimir, was planted in Novgorod. After the death of Svyatoslav, Yaropolk attacked Oleg, and he died in battle. Vladimir, having learned about this, fled to Scandinavia. He was the son of Svyatoslav and his concubine, the slave Malusha, Olga’s housekeeper. This made him unequal to his brothers - after all, they came from noble mothers. The consciousness of his inferiority aroused in the young man the desire to establish himself in the eyes of people with strength, intelligence, and actions that would be remembered by everyone.
Two years later, with a detachment of Varangians, he returned to Novgorod and moved through Polotsk to Kyiv. Yaropolk, not having much strength, locked himself in the fortress. Vladimir managed to persuade Yaropolk's close adviser Blud to treason, and as a result of the conspiracy, Yaropolk was killed. So Vladimir captured Kyiv. Since then, the history of fratricides in Rus' begins, when the thirst for power and ambition drowned out the voice of native blood and mercy.
The fight against the Pechenegs became a headache for the new Kyiv prince. These wild nomads, who were called "the cruelest of all pagans", caused general fear. There is a well-known story about the confrontation with them on the Trubezh River in 992, when for two days Vladimir could not find a fighter among his army who would fight the Pechenegs. The honor of the Russians was saved by the mighty Nikita Kozhemyaka, who simply lifted him into the air and strangled his opponent. The city of Pereyaslavl was established at the site of Nikita's victory. Fighting nomads, making campaigns against different tribes, Vladimir himself was not distinguished by his daring and belligerence, like his ancestors. It is known that during one of the battles with the Pechenegs, Vladimir fled from the battlefield and, saving his life, climbed under a bridge. It is difficult to imagine his grandfather, the conqueror of Constantinople, Prince Igor, or his father, Svyatoslav-Bars, in such a humiliating form. The prince saw the construction of cities in key places as a means of protection against nomads. Here he invited daredevils from the north like the legendary Ilya Muromets, who were interested in the dangerous life on the border.
Vladimir understood the need for change in matters of faith. He tried to unite all pagan cults and make Perun the only god. But the reform failed. Here it is appropriate to tell the legend about the birdie. At first, faith in Christ and his atoning sacrifice had difficulty making its way into the harsh world of the Slavs and Scandinavians who came to rule over them. How could it be otherwise: hearing the rumble of thunder, could anyone doubt that this is the terrible god 6 Din on a black horse, surrounded by Valkyries - magical horsewomen, galloping to hunt people! And how happy is a warrior dying in battle, knowing that he will immediately go to Valhall - a giant palace for chosen heroes. Here, in the Viking paradise, he will be blissful, his terrible wounds will instantly heal, and the wine that the beautiful Valkyries will bring him will be wonderful... But the Vikings were haunted by one thought: the feast in Valhalla will not last forever, the terrible day of Ragnarok will come - the end of the world, when Bdin's army will fight the giants and monsters of the abyss. And they will all die - heroes, wizards, gods with Odin at their head in an unequal battle with the gigantic serpent Jormungandr... Listening to the saga about the inevitable death of the world, the king-king was sad. Outside the wall of his long, low house, a blizzard howled, shaking the entrance covered with skin. And then the old Viking, who converted to Christianity during the campaign against Byzantium, raised his head. He said to the king: “Look at the entrance, you see: when the wind lifts the skin, a small birdie flies towards us, and for that brief moment, until the skin closes the entrance again, the birdie hangs in the air, it enjoys our warmth and comfort, so that in the next moment jump out again into the wind and cold. After all, we live in this world only for one moment between two eternities of cold and fear. And Christ gives hope for the salvation of our souls from eternal destruction. Let's go get him! And the king agreed...
The great world religions convinced the pagans that there is eternal life and even eternal bliss in heaven, you just need to accept their faith. According to legend, Vladimir listened to different priests: Jews, Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Muslims. In the end, he chose Orthodoxy, but was in no hurry to be baptized. He did this in 988 in Crimea - and not without political benefits - in exchange for the support of Byzantium and consent to a marriage with the sister of the Byzantine emperor Anna. Returning to Kyiv with his wife and Metropolitan Michael, appointed from Constantinople, Vladimir first baptized his sons, relatives and servants. Then he took on the people. All the idols were thrown from the temples, burned, and chopped up. The prince issued an order to all pagans to appear for baptism on the river bank. There the people of Kiev were driven into the water and baptized en masse. To justify their weakness, people said that the prince and the boyars would hardly have accepted an unworthy faith - after all, they would never wish anything bad for themselves! However, later an uprising of those dissatisfied with the new faith broke out in the city.
Churches immediately began to be built on the site of the ruined temples. The Church of St. Basil was erected on the sanctuary of Perun. All the churches were wooden, only the main temple - the Assumption Cathedral (Church of the Tithes) was built by the Greeks from stone. Baptism in other cities and lands was also not voluntary. A rebellion even began in Novgorod, but the threat of those sent from Vladimir to burn the city made the Novgorodians come to their senses, and they went to Volkhov to be baptized. The stubborn ones were dragged into the water by force and then checked to see if they were wearing crosses. Stone Perun was drowned in Volkhov, but faith in the power of the old gods was not destroyed. They were secretly prayed to many centuries later after the Kyiv “baptists”: when getting into a boat, a Novgorodian threw a coin into the water - a sacrifice to Perun, so that he would not drown in an hour.
But gradually Christianity established itself in Rus'. This was largely facilitated by the Bulgarians, the Slavs who had previously converted to Christianity. Bulgarian priests and scribes came to Rus' and brought Christianity with them in an understandable Slavic language. Bulgaria became a kind of bridge between Greek, Byzantine and Russian-Slavic cultures.
Despite the harsh measures of Vladimir's rule, the people loved him and called him the Red Sun. He was generous, unforgiving, flexible, ruled non-cruelly, and skillfully defended the country from enemies. The prince also loved his retinue, with whom he made it a custom to consult (duma) at frequent and plentiful feasts. Vladimir died in 1015, and, having learned about this, crowds rushed to the church to weep and pray for him as their intercessor. People were alarmed - after Vladimir there were 12 of his sons left, and the struggle between them seemed inevitable.
Already during Vladimir’s life, the brothers, planted by his father on the main lands, lived unfriendly, and even during Vladimir’s life, his son Yaroslav, who was sitting in Novgorod, refused to bring the usual tribute to Kyiv. The father wanted to punish his son, but did not have time - he died. After his death, Svyatopolk, the eldest son of Vladimir, came to power in Kyiv. He received the nickname "Cursed", given to him for the murder of his brothers Gleb and Boris. The latter was especially loved in Kyiv, but, having sat down on the Kiev “golden table”, Svyatopolk decided to get rid of his rival. He sent assassins who stabbed Boris to death, and then killed Gleb’s other brother. The struggle between Yaroslav and Svyatopolk was difficult. Only in 1019 did Yaroslav finally defeat Svyatopolk and strengthen his position in Kyiv. Under Yaroslav, a set of laws was adopted (“Russian Truth”), which limited blood feud and replaced it with a fine (vira). The judicial customs and traditions of Rus' were also recorded there.
Yaroslav is known as “Wise”, that is, learned, intelligent, educated. He, sick by nature, loved and collected books. Yaroslav built a lot: he founded Yaroslavl on the Volga, and Yuriev (now Tartu) in the Baltic states. But Yaroslav became especially famous for the construction of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. The cathedral was huge, had many domes and galleries, and was decorated with rich frescoes and mosaics. Among these magnificent Byzantine mosaics of the St. Sophia Cathedral, the famous mosaic “The Unbreakable Wall”, or “Oranta” - the Mother of God with raised hands - has been preserved in the altar of the temple. This work amazes everyone who sees it. It seems to believers that since the time of Yaroslav, for almost a thousand years, the Mother of God, like a wall, stands indestructibly at full height in the golden radiance of the sky, raising her hands, praying and shielding Rus' with herself. People were surprised by the mosaic floor with patterns and the marble altar. Byzantine artists, in addition to depicting the Virgin Mary and other saints, created a mosaic on the wall depicting Yaroslav’s family.
In 1051 the Pechersky Monastery was founded. A little later, hermit monks who lived in caves (pechers) dug in a sandy mountain near the Dnieper, united into a monastic community led by Abbot Anthony.
With Christianity, the Slavic alphabet came to Rus', which was invented in the middle of the 9th century by the brothers from the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki Cyril and Methodius. They adapted the Greek alphabet to Slavic sounds, creating the “Cyrillic alphabet”, and translated the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language. Here in Rus', the first book was “The Ostromir Gospel.” It was created in 1057 on the instructions of the Novgorod mayor Ostromir. The first Russian book had miniatures of extraordinary beauty and color headpieces, as well as a note that said that the book was written in seven months and that the scribe asks the reader not to scold him for his mistakes, but to correct them. Let us note in passing that in another similar work - the “Arkhangelsk Gospel” of 1092 - a scribe named Mitka admits why he made so many mistakes: the interference was “voluptuousness, lust, slander, quarrels, drunkenness, simply put - everything evil!” Another ancient book is “Svyatoslav’s Collection” of 1073, one of the first Russian encyclopedias, containing articles on various sciences. “Izbornik” is a copy of a Bulgarian book, rewritten for the princely library. In the “Izbornik”, praise is sung to knowledge; it is recommended to read each chapter of the book three times and remember that “beauty is a weapon for a warrior, and a sail for a ship, and so a righteous man is bookish veneration.”
Chronicles began to be written in Kyiv during the times of Olga and Svyatoslav. Under Yaroslav in 1037-1039. The center of the chroniclers' work was the St. Sophia Cathedral. They took old chronicles and compiled them into a new edition, which they supplemented with new entries. Then the monks of the Pechersk Monastery began to keep the chronicle. In 1072-1073 Another edition of the chronicle appeared. Abbot of the monastery Nikon collected and included new sources, checked the chronology, and corrected the style. Finally, in 1113, the chronicler Nestor, a monk of the same monastery, created the famous Tale of Bygone Years. It remains the main source on the history of Ancient Rus'. The incorrupt body of the great chronicler Nestor rests in the dungeon of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, and behind the glass of his coffin you can still see the fingers of his right hand folded on his chest - the same one that wrote for us the ancient history of Rus'.
Yaroslav's Russia was open to Europe. It was connected with the Christian world by the family relations of the rulers. Yaroslav married Ingigerda, the daughter of the Swedish king Olaf, and he married the son of Vsevolod to the daughter of Emperor Constantine Monomakh. Three of his daughters immediately became queens: Elizabeth - Norwegian, Anastasia - Hungarian, and his daughter Anna became the French queen by marrying Henry I.
Yaroslavichy. Strife and crucifications
As the historian N.M. Karamzin wrote, “Ancient Russia buried its power and prosperity with Yaroslav.” After the death of Yaroslav, discord and strife reigned among his descendants. Three of his sons entered into a dispute for power, and the younger Yaroslavichs, the grandchildren of Yaroslav, also became mired in infighting. All this happened at a time when for the first time a new enemy came to Rus' from the steppes - the Polovtsians (Turks), who expelled the Pechenegs and themselves began to often attack Rus'. The princes at war with each other, for the sake of power and rich inheritances, entered into an agreement with the Polovtsians and brought their hordes to Rus'.
Of the sons of Yaroslav, his youngest son Vsevolod (1078-1093) ruled Russia the longest. He was reputed to be an educated man, but he ruled the country poorly, unable to cope with the Polovtsians, or with the famine, or with the pestilence that devastated his lands. He also failed to reconcile the Yaroslavichs. His only hope was his son Vladimir - the future Monomakh.
Vsevolod was especially annoyed by the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav, who lived a life full of adventures and adventures. Among the Rurikovichs, he was a black sheep: he, who brought troubles and grief to everyone, was called “Gorislavich.” For a long time he did not want peace with his relatives; in 1096, in the struggle for inheritance, he killed Monomakh’s son Izyaslav, but then he himself was defeated. After this, the rebellious prince agreed to come to the Lyubech Congress of Princes.
This congress was organized by the then appanage prince Vladimir Monomakh, who understood better than others the disastrous feud for Rus'. In 1097, on the banks of the Dnieper, close relatives met - Russian princes, they divided the lands, kissed the cross as a sign of fidelity to this agreement: “Let the Russian land be a common ... fatherland, and whoever rises up against his brother, we will all rise up against him.” " But immediately after Lyubech, one of the princes Vasilko was blinded by another prince - Svyatopolk. Mistrust and anger reigned again in the family of princes.
The grandson of Yaroslav, and on his mother’s side of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh, he adopted the nickname of his Greek grandfather and became one of the few Russian princes who thought about the unity of Rus', the fight against the Polovtsians and peace among their relatives. Monomakh entered the Kiev gold table in 1113 after the death of the Grand Duke Svyatopolk and the uprising that began in the city against rich moneylenders. Monomakh was invited by the Kyiv elders with the approval of the people - “the people”. In the cities of pre-Mongol Rus', the influence of the city assembly - the veche - was significant. The prince, for all his power, was not an autocrat of the later era and, when making decisions, usually consulted with the veche or boyars.
Monomakh was an educated man, had the mind of a philosopher, and had the gift of a writer. He was a red-haired, curly-haired man of average height. A strong, brave warrior, he made dozens of campaigns and more than once looked death in the eye in battle and hunting. Under him, peace was established in Rus'. Where with authority, where with weapons he forced the appanage princes to quiet down. His victories over the Polovtsians diverted the threat from the southern borders. Monomakh was also happy in his family life. His wife Gita, the daughter of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold, bore him several sons, among whom Mstislav stood out, who became Monomakh’s successor.
Monomakh sought the glory of a warrior on the battlefield with the Polovtsians. He organized several campaigns of Russian princes against the Polovtsians. However, Monomakh was a flexible politician: while suppressing the warlike khans by force, he made friends with the peace-loving ones and even married his son Yuri (Dolgoruky) to the daughter of the allied Polovtsian khan.
Monomakh thought a lot about the futility of human life: “What are we, sinful and bad people? “he wrote to Oleg Gorislavich, “today we are alive, and tomorrow we are dead, today in glory and honor, and tomorrow in a grave and forgotten.” The prince took care that the experience of his long and difficult life would not be wasted, so that his sons and descendants would remember his good deeds. He wrote a “Teaching,” which contains memories of his past years, stories about the prince’s eternal travels, about the dangers in battle and hunting: “Two rounds (wild bulls - author) threw me with their horns along with the horse, a deer gored me, and of the two moose, one trampled with his feet, the other butted with his horns; the boar tore off the sword on my thigh, the bear bit my sweatshirt at my knee, the fierce beast jumped on my hips and overturned the horse with me. And God kept me safe. And he fell from his horse a lot, broke his head twice, and damaged his arms and legs,” And here are Monomakh’s advice: “What my youth should do, he did it himself - in war and on hunts, night and day, in heat and cold , without giving yourself peace. Without relying on mayors or privet, he did what was necessary himself.” Only an experienced warrior can say this:
“When you go to war, do not be lazy, do not rely on the commander; do not indulge in drinking, eating, or sleeping; Dress up the guards yourself and at night, placing guards on all sides, lie down next to the soldiers, and get up early; and do not take off your weapons in a hurry, without looking around out of laziness.” And then follow the words that everyone will subscribe to: “A person dies suddenly.” But these words are addressed to many of us: “Learn, O believer, to control your eyes, to control your tongue, to humble your mind, to subdue your body, to suppress your anger, to have pure thoughts, motivating yourself to do good deeds.”
Monomakh died in 1125, and the chronicler said about him: “Adorned with a good disposition, glorious in victories, he did not exalt himself, did not magnify himself.” Vladimir's son Mstislav sat on the Kiev gold table. Mstislav was married to the daughter of the Swedish king Christina, he enjoyed authority among the princes, and he had a reflection of the great glory of Monomakh. However, he ruled Russia for only seven years, and after his death, as the chronicler wrote, “the entire Russian land was torn apart”—a long period of fragmentation began.
By this time, Kyiv had already ceased to be the capital of Rus'. Power passed to the appanage princes, many of whom did not even dream of the Kiev gold table, but lived in their own small inheritance, judged their subjects and feasted at the weddings of their sons.
Vladimir-Suzdal Rus'
The first mention of Moscow dates back to the time of Yuri, where in 1147 Dolgoruky invited his ally Prince Svyatoslav: “Come to me, brother, in Moekov.” Yuri ordered the construction of the city of Moscow on a hill among forests in 1156, when he had already become the Grand Duke. He had long been reaching out to the Kyiv table from his Zalesye region, for which he received his nickname. In 1155 he captured Kyiv. But Yuri ruled there for only 2 years - he was poisoned at a feast. Chroniclers wrote about Yuri that he was a tall, fat man with small eyes, a crooked nose, “a great lover of wives, sweet foods and drinks.”
Yuri's eldest son, Andrei, was an intelligent and powerful man. He wanted to live in Zalesye and even went against the will of his father - he left Kyiv for Suzdal without permission. Dissuaded from his father, Prince Andrei Yuryevich decided to secretly take with him from the monastery the miraculous icon of the Mother of God from the late 11th - early 12th centuries, painted by a Byzantine icon painter. According to legend, it was written by the Evangelist Luke. The theft to Andrey was a success, but already on the way to Suzdal miracles began: the Mother of God appeared to the prince in a dream and ordered him to take the image to Vladimir. He obeyed, and in the place where he saw the wonderful dream, he then built a church and founded the village of Bogolyubovo. Here, in a specially built stone castle adjacent to the church, he lived quite often, which is why he received his nickname “Bogolyubsky”. The icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir (also called “Our Lady of Tenderness” - the Virgin Mary tenderly presses her cheek to the infant Christ) - has become one of the shrines of Russia.
Andrei was a politician of the new type. Like his fellow princes, he wanted to take possession of Kiev, but at the same time he wanted to rule all of Russia from Vladimir, his new capital. This became the main goal of his campaigns against Kyiv, which he subjected to a terrible defeat. In general, Andrei was a stern and cruel prince, did not tolerate objections or advice, and conducted affairs according to his own will - “autocratic.” In those pre-Moscow times, this was new and unusual.
Andrei immediately began to decorate his new capital, Vladimir, with wondrously beautiful churches. They were built from white stone. This soft stone served as a material for carved decorations on the walls of buildings. Andrei wanted to create a city superior to Kyiv in beauty and wealth. It had its own Golden Gate, the Church of the Tithes, and the main temple - the Assumption Cathedral was higher than St. Sophia of Kyiv. Foreign craftsmen built it in just three years.
Prince Andrei was especially glorified by the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, built under him. This temple, still standing among the fields under the bottomless dome of the sky, evokes admiration and joy in everyone who walks towards it from afar along the path. This is precisely the impression that the master sought when in 1165 he erected this slender, elegant white-stone church on an embankment above the quiet river Nerlya, which immediately flows into the Klyazma. The hill itself was covered with white stone, and wide steps went from the water itself to the gates of the temple. During the flood - a time of intense shipping - the church ended up on the island, serving as a noticeable landmark and sign to those who sailed, crossing the border of Suzdal land. Perhaps here guests and ambassadors who came from the Oka, Volga, from distant countries, disembarked from the ships, climbed up the white stone stairs, prayed in the temple, rested on its gallery and then sailed further - to where the princely palace shone white in Bogolyubovo, built in 1158-1165. And even further, on the high bank of the Klyazma, like heroic helmets, the golden domes of Vladimir’s cathedrals sparkled in the sun.
In the palace in Bogolyubovo at night in 1174, conspirators from the prince’s entourage killed Andrei. Then the crowd began to rob the palace - everyone hated the prince for his cruelty. The murderers drank in joy, and the naked, bloody corpse of the formidable prince lay for a long time in the garden.
The most famous successor of Andrei Bogolyubsky was his brother Vsevolod. In 1176, the people of Vladimir elected him prince. The 36-year reign of Vsevolod turned out to be a blessing for Zalesye. Continuing Andrei's policy of elevating Vladimir, Vsevolod avoided extremes, respected his squad, ruled humanely, and was loved by the people.
Vsevolod was an experienced and successful military leader. Under him, the principality expanded to the north and northeast. The prince received the nickname "Big Nest". He had ten sons and managed to “place” them in different inheritances (small nests), where the number of Rurikovichs multiplied, from which entire dynasties subsequently emerged. So, from his eldest son Konstantin came the dynasty of Suzdal princes, and from Yaroslav - the Moscow and Tver great princes.
And Vladimir Vsevolod decorated his own “nest” - the city, sparing no effort and money. The white-stone Dmitrovsky Cathedral, built by him, is decorated inside with frescoes by Byzantine artists, and outside with intricate stone carvings with figures of saints, lions, and floral ornaments. Ancient Rus' did not know such beauty.
Galicia-Volyn and Chernigov principalities
But the Chernigov-Seversky princes were not loved in Rus': neither Oleg Gorislavich, nor his sons and grandchildren - after all, they constantly brought the Polovtsians to Rus', with whom they were sometimes friends, sometimes quarreled. In 1185, Gorislavich's grandson Igor Seversky, along with other princes, was defeated by the Polovtsians on the Kayala River. The story of the campaign of Igor and other Russian princes against the Polovtsians, the battle during an eclipse of the sun, the cruel defeat, the crying of Igor’s wife Yaroslavna, the strife of the princes and the weakness of divided Rus' is the plot of “The Lay.” The history of its emergence from oblivion at the beginning of the 19th century is shrouded in mystery. The original manuscript, found by Count A.I. Musin-Pushkin, disappeared during the fire of 1812 - only the publication in the magazine and a copy made for Empress Catherine II remained. Some scientists are convinced that we are dealing with a talented forgery of later times... Others believe that this is an ancient Russian original. But all the same, every time you leave Russia, you involuntarily remember Igor’s famous farewell words: “Oh Russian land! You are already behind the shelomyan (you have already disappeared behind the hill - author!)"
Novgorod was “cut down” in the 9th century. on the border of forests inhabited by Finno-Ugric peoples, at the intersection of trade routes. From here, the Novgorodians penetrated to the northeast in search of furs, founding colonies with centers - graveyards. The power of Novgorod was determined by trade and craft. Furs, honey, and wax were eagerly bought in Western Europe, and from there they brought gold, wine, cloth, and weapons. Trade with the East brought a lot of wealth. Novgorod boats reached the Crimea and Byzantium. The political weight of Novgorod, the second center of Rus', was also great. The close connection between Novgorod and Kiev began to weaken in the 1130s, when strife began there. At this time, the power of the veche strengthened in Novgorod, which expelled the prince in 1136, and from that time Novgorod turned into a republic. From now on, all the princes invited to Novgorod commanded only the army, and they were driven off the table at the slightest attempt to encroach on the power of the veche.
The veche was held in many cities of Rus', but gradually died out. And only in Novgorod did it, consisting of free citizens, on the contrary, intensify. The Veche decided issues of peace and war, invited and expelled princes, and tried criminals. At the veche, deeds for land were given, mayors and archbishops were elected. The speakers spoke from a raised platform—the veche stage. The decision was made only unanimously, although the disputes did not subside - disagreements were the essence of the political struggle at the veche.
Many monuments have come down from ancient Novgorod, but the most famous are Sophia of Novgorod - the main temple of Novgorod and two monasteries - Yuriev and Antoniev. According to legend, the Yuryev Monastery was founded by Yaroslav the Wise in 1030. In its center is the grandiose St. George Cathedral, which was built by master Peter. The monastery was rich and influential. Novgorod princes and mayors were buried in the tomb of St. George's Cathedral. But still, the St. Anthony Monastery was surrounded by special holiness. Associated with him is the legend of Anthony, the son of a wealthy Greek who lived in the 12th century. in Rome. He became a hermit and settled on a rock, right on the seashore. On September 5, 1106, a terrible storm began, and when it subsided, Anthony, looking around, saw that he and the stone found himself in an unknown northern country. It was Novgorod. God gave Anthony an understanding of Slavic speech, and church authorities helped the young man found a monastery with the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on the banks of the Volkhov River (1119). Princes and kings made rich contributions to this miraculously established monastery. This shrine has seen a lot in its lifetime. Ivan the Terrible in 1571 staged a monstrous destruction of the monastery and massacred all the monks. The post-revolutionary years of the 20th century turned out to be no less terrible. But the monastery survived, and scientists, looking at the stone on which Saint Anthony was supposedly transported to the shores of the Volkhov, established that it was the ballast stone of an ancient ship, standing on the deck of which the righteous Roman youth could easily reach from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to Novgorod.
On Mount Nereditsa, not far from Gorodishche - the site of the oldest Slavic settlement - stood the Church of the Savior-Nereditsa - the greatest monument of Russian culture. The single-domed, cubic church was built in one summer in 1198 and was similar in appearance to many Novgorod churches of that era. But as soon as they entered it, people experienced an extraordinary feeling of delight and admiration, as if they had found themselves in another wonderful world. The entire interior surface of the church, from the floor to the dome, was covered with magnificent frescoes. Scenes of the Last Judgment, images of saints, portraits of local princes - Novgorod masters completed this work in just one year, 1199..., and for almost a millennium until the 20th century, the frescoes retained their brightness, liveliness and emotionality. However, during the war, in 1943, the church with all its frescoes perished, it was shot from cannons, and the divine frescoes disappeared forever. In terms of significance, among the most bitter irreparable losses of Russia in the 20th century, the death of Spas-Nereditsa is on a par with Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo destroyed during the war, and the demolished Moscow churches and monasteries.
In the middle of the 12th century. Novgorod suddenly had a serious competitor in the northeast - the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Under Andrei Bogolyubsky, a war even began: the people of Vladimir unsuccessfully besieged the city. Since then, the fight with Vladimir, and then with Moscow, has become the main problem of Novgorod. And he ultimately lost this fight.
In the 12th century. Pskov was considered a suburb (border point) of Novgorod and followed its policies in everything. But after 1136, the Pskov veche decided to separate from Novgorod. The Novgorodians, reluctantly, agreed to this: Novgorod needed an ally in the fight against the Germans - after all, Pskov was the first to meet an attack from the west and thereby covered Novgorod. But there was never any friendship between the cities - in all internal Russian conflicts, Pskov found itself on the side of Novgorod’s enemies.
Invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in Rus'
In Rus', they learned about the appearance of the Mongol-Tatars, which sharply increased under Genghis Khan, in the early 1220s, when this new enemy burst into the Black Sea steppes and drove the Polovtsians out of them. They called for help from the Russian princes, who came out to meet the enemy. The arrival of conquerors from unknown steppes, their life in yurts, strange customs, extraordinary cruelty - all this seemed to Christians the beginning of the end of the world. In the battle on the river. In Kalka on May 31, 1223, the Russians and Cumans were defeated. Rus' had never known such an “evil slaughter”, shameful flight and cruel massacre - the Tatars, having executed prisoners, moved towards Kyiv and mercilessly killed everyone who caught their eye. But then they turned back to the steppe. “We don’t know where they came from, and we don’t know where they went,” the chronicler wrote.
The terrible lesson did not benefit Rus' - the princes were still at enmity with each other. 12 years have passed. In 1236, the Mongol-Tatars of Khan Batu defeated Volga Bulgaria, and in the spring of 1237 they defeated the Cumans. And now it’s Rus'’s turn. On December 21, 1237, Batu’s troops stormed Ryazan, then Kolomna and Moscow fell. On February 7, Vladimir was taken and burned, and then almost all the cities of the Northeast were destroyed. The princes failed to organize the defense of Rus', and each of them courageously died alone. In March 1238, in a battle on the river. The last independent Grand Duke of Vladimir, Yuri, also died. The enemies took his severed head with them. Then Batu moved, “cutting people like grass,” towards Novgorod. But before reaching a hundred miles, the Tatars suddenly turned south. It was a miracle that saved the republic - contemporaries believed that the “filthy” Batu was stopped by the vision of a cross in the sky.
In the spring of 1239, Batu rushed to southern Rus'. When the Tatar detachments approached Kyiv, the beauty of the great city amazed them, and they invited the Kyiv prince Mikhail to surrender without a fight. He sent a refusal, but did not strengthen the city, but on the contrary, he himself fled from Kyiv. When the Tatars came again in the fall of 1240, there were no princes with their squads. But still the townspeople desperately resisted the enemy. Archaeologists have found traces of the tragedy and heroism of the people of Kiev - the remains of a city dweller literally pierced with Tatar arrows, as well as another person who, covering the child with himself, died with him.
Those who fled from Rus' brought terrible news to Europe about the horrors of the invasion. They said that during the siege of cities, the Tatars threw the fat of the people they killed on the roofs of houses, and then released Greek fire (oil), which burned better because of this. In 1241, the Tatars rushed to Poland and Hungary, which were ruined to the ground. After this, the Tatars suddenly left Europe. Batu decided to found his own state in the lower reaches of the Volga. This is how the Golden Horde appeared.
What remains for us from this terrible era is “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land.” It was written in the middle of the 13th century, immediately after the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'. It seems that the author wrote it with his own tears and blood - he suffered so much from the thought of the misfortune of his homeland, he felt so sorry for the Russian people, for Rus', which had fallen into a terrible “roundup” of unknown enemies. The past, pre-Mongol time seems sweet and kind to him, and the country is remembered only as prosperous and happy. The reader’s heart should clench with sadness and love at the words: “Oh, the Russian land is bright and beautifully decorated! And you are surprised by many beauties: many lakes, rivers and deposits (sources - the author), steep mountains, high hills, clean oak groves, wondrous fields, various animals, countless birds, great cities, wonderful villages, abundant grapes (gardens - author), church houses, and formidable princes, honest boyars, many nobles. The Russian land is filled with everything, O faithful Christian faith!”
After the death of Prince Yuri, his younger brother Yaroslav, who was in Kyiv these days, moved to devastated Vladimir and began to adapt to “living under the khan.” He went to pay his respects to the khan in Mongolia and in 1246 he was poisoned there. Yaroslav’s sons, Alexander (Nevsky) and Yaroslav Tverskoy, were to continue their father’s difficult and humiliating work.
Alexander became the prince of Novgorod at the age of 15 and from an early age did not let go of the sword. In 1240, while still a young man, he defeated the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva, for which he received the nickname Nevsky. The prince was handsome, tall, and his voice, according to the chronicler, “blown before the people like a trumpet.” In difficult times, this great prince of the North ruled Russia: a depopulated country, general decline and despondency, heavy oppression of a foreign conqueror. But the smart Alexander, having dealt with the Tatars for years and living in the Horde, mastered the art of servile worship, he knew how to crawl on his knees in the khan’s yurt, he knew what gifts to give to the influential khans and murzas, and he mastered the skill of court intrigue. And all this in order to survive and save their table, the people, Rus', so that, using the power given by the “tsar” (as the khan was called in Rus'), to subjugate other princes, to suppress the love of freedom of the people’s veche.
Alexander's whole life was connected with Novgorod. Honorably defending the lands of Novgorod from the Swedes and Germans, he obediently carried out the will of Khan Vatu, his brother-in-law, punishing the Novgorodians dissatisfied with Tatar oppression. Alexander, the prince who adopted the Tatar style of ruling, had a difficult relationship with them: he often quarreled with the veche and, offended, left for Zalesye - Pereslavl.
Under Alexander (from 1240), the complete dominance (yoke) of the Golden Horde over Russia was established. The Grand Duke was recognized as a slave, a tributary of the khan, and received from the hands of the khan a golden label for the great reign. At the same time, the khans could take it away from the Grand Duke at any time and give it to another. The Tatars deliberately pitted the princes against each other in the struggle for the golden label, trying to prevent the strengthening of Rus'. The khan's collectors (and then the grand dukes) collected a tenth of all income from all Russian subjects - the so-called “Horde exit”. This tax was a heavy burden for Rus'. Disobedience to the will of the khan led to Horde raids on Russian cities, which were subjected to terrible defeat. In 1246, Batu summoned Alexander to the Golden Horde for the first time, from there, at the behest of the khan, the prince went to Mongolia, to Karakorum. In 1252, he knelt before Khan Mongke, who handed him a label - a gilded plate with a hole, which made it possible to hang it around his neck. This was a sign of power over Russia.
At the beginning of the 13th century. In the Eastern Baltic, the crusader movement of the German Teutonic Order and the Order of the Sword intensified. They attacked Rus' from Pskov. In 1240 they even captured Pskov and threatened Novgorod. Alexander and his retinue liberated Pskov and on April 5, 1242, on the ice of Lake Pskov in the so-called “Battle of the Ice” completely defeated the knights. The attempts of the crusaders and Rome, standing behind them, to find a common language with Alexander failed - just as soft and compliant he was in relations with the Tatars, he was so harsh and irreconcilable towards the West and its influence.
Moscow Rus'. Mid-XIII - mid-XVI centuries.
After the death of Alexander Nevsky, strife broke out again in Rus'. His heirs - brother Yaroslav and Alexander's own children - Dmitry and Andrey, never became worthy successors to Nevsky. They quarreled and, “running... to the Horde,” led the Tatars to Rus'. In 1293, Andrei brought “Dudenev’s army” against his brother Dmitry, which burned and plundered 14 Russian cities. The true masters of the country were the Baskaks - tribute collectors who mercilessly robbed their subjects, the pitiful heirs of Alexander.
Alexander's youngest son Daniel tried to maneuver between his brother princes. Poverty was the reason. After all, he inherited the worst of the appanage principalities - Moscow. Carefully and gradually, he expanded his principality and acted with certainty. Thus began the rise of Moscow. Daniil died in 1303 and was buried in the Danilovsky Monastery, the first in Moscow, which he founded.
The heir and eldest son of Daniel, Yuri, had to defend his inheritance in the fight against the Tver princes, who became stronger by the end of the 13th century. Tver, located on the Volga, was a rich city for those times - for the first time in Rus', after the arrival of Batu, a stone church was built there. A bell, rare in those days, rang in Tver. In 1304, Mikhail Tverskoy managed to receive from Khan Tokhta a golden label for the reign of Vladimir, although Yuri Moskovsky tried to challenge this decision. Since then, Moscow and Tver have become sworn enemies and began a stubborn struggle. In the end, Yuri managed to get a label and discredit the Tver prince in the eyes of the khan. Mikhail was summoned to the Horde, brutally beaten, and in the end Yuri’s henchmen cut out his heart. The prince bravely faced his terrible death. He was later declared a holy martyr. And Yuri, seeking the submission of Tver, did not give the body of the martyr to his son Dmitry Groznye Ochi for a long time. In 1325, Dmitry and Yuri accidentally collided in the Horde and in a quarrel, Dmitry killed Yuri, for which he was executed there.
In a stubborn struggle with Tver, Yuri’s brother, Ivan Kalita, managed to get the golden label. During the reign of the first princes, Moscow expanded. Even after becoming grand dukes, the Moscow princes did not move from Moscow; they preferred the convenience and safety of their father’s house on a fortified hill near the Moscow River to the glory and anxiety of capital life in golden-domed Vladimir.
Having become the Grand Duke in 1332, Ivan was able, with the help of the Horde, not only to deal with Tver, but also to annex Suzdal and part of the Rostov principality to Moscow. Ivan carefully paid tribute - a “way out”, and in the Horde he achieved the right to collect tribute from Russian lands on his own, without the Baskaks. Of course, part of the money “stuck” to the hands of the prince, who received the nickname “Kalita” - a belt purse. Behind the walls of the wooden Moscow Kremlin, built from oak logs, Ivan founded several stone churches, including the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals.
These cathedrals were built under Metropolitan Peter, who moved from Vladimir to Moscow. He had been working towards this for a long time, constantly living there under the caring supervision of Kalita. Thus Moscow became the ecclesiastical center of Rus'. Peter died in 1326 and became the first Moscow saint.
Ivan continued the fight against Tver. He managed to skillfully discredit the Tver people - Prince Alexander and his son Fyodor - in the eyes of the Khan. They were summoned to the Horde and brutally killed there - they were quartered. These atrocities cast a dark shadow on Moscow's early rise. For Tver, all this became a tragedy: the Tatars exterminated five generations of its princes! Then Ivan Kalita robbed Tver, evicted the boyars from the city, taking away the only bell from the Tver people - the symbol and pride of the city.
Ivan Kalita ruled Moscow for 12 years; his reign and his bright personality were remembered for a long time by his contemporaries and descendants. In the legendary history of Moscow, Kalita appears as the founder of a new dynasty, a kind of Moscow “Forefather Adam,” a wise sovereign, whose policy of “pacifying” the ferocious Horde was so necessary for Rus', tormented by the enemy and strife.
Dying in 1340, Kalita handed over the throne to his son Semyon and was calm - Moscow was growing stronger. But in the mid-1350s. A terrible disaster has come to Rus'. It was a plague, the Black Death. In the spring of 1353, Semyon's two sons died one after another, and then the Grand Duke himself, as well as his heir and brother Andrei. Of all, only brother Ivan survived, who went to the Horde, where he received a label from Khan Bedibek.
Under Ivan II the Red, “Christ-loving, and quiet, and merciful” (chronicle), politics remained bloody as before. The prince brutally dealt with people he disliked. Metropolitan Alexy had a great influence on Ivan. It was to him that Ivan II, who died in 1359, entrusted his nine-year-old son Dmitry, the future great commander.
The beginning of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery dates back to the time of Ivan II. It was founded by Sergius (in the world Bartholomew from the town of Radonezh) in a forest tract. Sergius introduced a new principle of community life in monasticism - a poor brotherhood with common property. He was a true righteous man. Seeing that the monastery had become rich, and the monks began to live in contentment, Sergius founded a new monastery in the forest. This, according to the chronicler, “a holy elder, wonderful, and kind, and quiet, meek, humble,” was revered as a saint in Rus' even before his death in 1392.
Dmitry Ivanovich received a golden label at the age of 10 - this has never happened in the history of Rus'. It can be seen that the gold accumulated by his tight-fisted ancestors, and the intrigues of loyal people in the Horde helped. The reign of Dmitry turned out to be unusually difficult for Rus': there were a continuous series of wars, terrible fires, and epidemics. Drought destroyed the seedlings in the fields of Rus', depopulated by the plague. But descendants forgot Dmitry’s failures: in the memory of the people he remained, first of all, a great commander, who for the first time defeated not only the Mongol-Tatars, but also the fear of the previously indestructible power of the Horde.
Metropolitan Alexy was the ruler under the young prince for a long time. A wise old man, he protected the young man from dangers, and enjoyed the respect and support of the Moscow boyars. He was also respected in the Horde, where by that time unrest had begun, Moscow, taking advantage of this, stopped paying the exit, and then Dmitry generally refused to obey Emir Mamai, who had seized power in the Horde. In 1380, he decided to punish the rebel himself. Dmitry understood what a desperate task he had taken on - to challenge the Horde, which had been invincible for 150 years! According to legend, Sergius of Radonezh blessed him for this feat. A huge army for Rus'—100 thousand people—set out on the campaign. On August 26, 1380, the news spread that the Russian army had crossed the Oka and “there was great sadness in the city of Moscow and in all parts of the city there arose bitter crying and cries and sobs” - everyone knew that the army’s crossing of the Oka would cut off its path back and make it a battle and the death of loved ones is inevitable. On September 8, the battle began with a duel between the monk Peresvet and the Tatar hero on the Kulikovo field, which ended in victory for the Russians. The losses were horrific, but this time God was really for us!
The victory was not celebrated for long. Khan Tokhtamysh overthrew Mamai and in 1382 he himself moved to Rus', captured Moscow by cunning and burned it. “There was a great heavy tribute imposed on Rus' throughout the entire Grand Duchy.” Dmitry humiliatedly recognized the power of the Horde.
The great victory and great humiliation cost Donskoy dearly. He became seriously ill and died in 1389. When peace was concluded with the Horde, his son and heir, 11-year-old Vasily, was taken away as a hostage by the Tatars. After 4 years he managed to escape to Rus'. He became the Grand Duke according to his father’s will, which had never happened before, and this spoke of the strength of the power of the Moscow prince. True, Khan Tokhtamysh also approved the choice - the khan was afraid of the terrible Tamerlane coming from Asia and therefore pleased his tributary. Vasily ruled Moscow carefully and prudently for 36 long years. Under him, petty princes began to turn into grand-ducal servants, and coinage began. Although Vasily I was not a warrior, he showed firmness in relations with Novgorod and annexed its northern possessions to Moscow. For the first time, Moscow’s hand reached out to Bulgaria on the Volga, and since its squads burned Kazan.
In the 60s XIV century In Central Asia, Timur (Tamerlane), an outstanding ruler, became famous for his incredible, seemingly savage cruelty even then, strengthened. Having defeated Turkey, he destroyed the army of Tokhtamysh, and then invaded the Ryazan lands. Horror gripped Rus', which remembered Batu’s invasion. Having captured Yelets, Timur moved towards Moscow, but on August 26 he stopped and turned south. In Moscow it was believed that Rus' was saved by the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir, which, at the request of the people, averted the coming of the “iron lame man.”
Those who have seen Andrei Tarkovsky’s great film “Andrei Rublev” remember the terrible scene of the capture of the city by Russian-Tatar troops, the destruction of churches and the torture of a priest who refused to show the robbers where the church treasures were hidden. This whole story has a genuine documentary basis. In 1410, the Nizhny Novgorod prince Daniil Borisovich, together with the Tatar prince Talych, secretly approached Vladimir and suddenly, during the afternoon rest of the guards, burst into the city. The priest of the Assumption Cathedral, Patrikey, managed to lock himself in the church, hid the vessels and part of the clergy in a special light, and while the gates were being broken down, he knelt down and began to pray. The Russian and Tatar villains burst in and grabbed the priest and began to find out where the treasure was. They burned him with fire, drove wood chips under his nails, but he was silent. Then, tying him to a horse, the enemies dragged the priest’s body along the ground, and then killed him. But the people and treasures of the church were saved.
In 1408, the new Khan Edigei attacked Moscow, which had not paid the “exit” for more than 10 years. However, the Kremlin's cannons and its high walls forced the Tatars to abandon the assault. Having received the ransom, Edigei and many prisoners migrated to the steppe.
Having fled to Rus' from the Horde through Podolia in 1386, young Vasily met the Lithuanian prince Vitovt. Vitovt liked the brave prince, who promised him his daughter Sophia as a wife. The wedding took place in 1391. Soon Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Moscow and Lithuania fiercely competed in the matter of “gathering” Rus', but more recently Sophia turned out to be a good wife and a grateful daughter - she did everything to prevent her son-in-law and father-in-law from becoming sworn enemies. Sofya Vitovtovna was a strong-willed, stubborn and decisive woman. After her husband's death from the plague in 1425, she fiercely defended the rights of her son Vasily II during the strife that again swept Rus'.
Vasily II the Dark. Civil war
The reign of Vasily II Vasilyevich was a time of 25 years of civil war, “dislike” of Kalita’s descendants. Dying, Vasily I bequeathed the throne to his young son Vasily, but this did not suit Vasily II’s uncle, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich - he himself dreamed of power. In the dispute between uncle and nephew, the Horde supported Vasily II, but in 1432 the peace was broken. The reason was a quarrel at the wedding feast of Vasily II, when Sofya Vitovtovna, accusing Yuri’s son, Prince Vasily Kosoy, of illegally appropriating the golden belt of Dmitry Donskoy, took away this symbol of power from Kosoy and thereby terribly insulted him. Victory in the ensuing strife went to Yuri II, but he ruled for only two months and died in the summer of 1434, bequeathing Moscow to his son Vasily Kosoy. Under Yuri, for the first time, an image of St. George the Victorious slaying a serpent with a spear appeared on a coin. This is where the name “kopek” came from, as well as the coat of arms of Moscow, which was later included in the coat of arms of Russia.
After Yuri's death, Vasily P. again gained the upper hand in the struggle for power. He captured Yuri's sons Dmitry Shemyaka and Vasily Kosoy, who became the Grand Duke after his father, and then ordered Kosoy to be blinded. Shemyaka himself submitted to Vasily II, but only feignedly. In February 1446, he arrested Vasily and ordered him to “take out his eyes.” So Vasily II became “Dark”, and Shemyaka became Grand Duke Dmitry II Yuryevich.
Shemyaka did not rule for long, and soon Vasily the Dark regained power. The struggle continued for a long time, only in 1450, in the battle of Galich, Shemyaka’s army was defeated, and he fled to Novgorod. The cook Poganka, bribed by Moscow, poisoned Shemyaka - “gave him a potion in the smoke.” As N.M. Karamzin writes, Vasily II, having received the news of Shemyaka’s death, “expressed immodest joy.”
No portraits of Shemyaka survived; his worst enemies tried to denigrate the prince’s appearance. In Moscow chronicles, Shemyaka looks like a monster, and Vasily - a bearer of good. Perhaps if Shemyaka had won, then everything would have been the other way around: both of them, cousins, had similar habits.
The cathedrals built in the Kremlin were painted by Theophanes the Greek, who arrived from Byzantium first to Novgorod and then to Moscow. Under him, a type of Russian high iconostasis emerged, the main decoration of which was the “Deesis” - a number of the largest and most revered icons of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist and the archangels. The pictorial space of the Deesis series of the Greek was unified and harmonious, and the painting (like the frescoes) of the Greek is full of feeling and internal movement.
In those days, the influence of Byzantium on the spiritual life of Rus' was enormous. Russian culture was nourished by juices from Greek soil. At the same time, Moscow resisted Byzantium’s attempts to determine the church life of Rus' and the choice of its metropolitans. In 1441, a scandal broke out: Vasily II rejected the church union of the Catholic and Orthodox churches concluded in Florence. He arrested the Greek Metropolitan Isidore, who represented Rus' at the cathedral. And yet, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 caused sadness and horror in Rus'. From now on, she was doomed to church and cultural loneliness among Catholics and Muslims.
Theophanes the Greek was surrounded by talented students. The best of them was the monk Andrei Rublev, who worked with a teacher in Moscow, and then, together with his friend Daniil Cherny, in Vladimir, the Trinity-Sergius and Andronikov monasteries. Andrei wrote differently than Feofan. Andrei does not have the harshness of images characteristic of Feofan: the main thing in his painting is compassion, love and forgiveness. Rublev’s wall paintings and icons amazed contemporaries with their spirituality, who came to watch the artist work on the scaffolding. The most famous icon of Andrei Rublev is the “Trinity”, which he made for the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The plot is from the Bible: a son, Jacob, is about to be born to the elderly Abraham and Sarah, and three angels came to tell them about it. They are patiently waiting for the home team to return from the field. It is believed that these are incarnations of the triune God: on the left is God the Father, in the center is Jesus Christ, ready to sacrifice in the name of people, on the right is the Holy Spirit. The figures are inscribed by the artist in a circle - a symbol of eternity. This great creation of the 15th century is imbued with peace, harmony, light and goodness.
After the death of Shemyaka, Vasily II dealt with all his allies. Dissatisfied with the fact that Novgorod supported Shemyaka, Vasily went on a campaign in 1456 and forced the Novgorodians to curtail their rights in favor of Moscow. In general, Vasily II was a “lucky loser” on the throne. On the battlefield, he suffered only defeats, he was humiliated and captured by his enemies. Like his opponents, Vasily was an oathbreaker and fratricide. However, every time Vasily was saved by a miracle, and his rivals made even more serious mistakes than he himself made. As a result, Vasily managed to hold on to power for more than 30 years and easily transfer it to his son Ivan III, whom he had previously made co-ruler.
From an early age, Prince Ivan experienced the horrors of civil strife - he was with his father on the very day when Shemyaka’s people dragged Vasily II out to blind him. Then Ivan managed to escape. He did not have a childhood - already at the age of 10 he became co-ruler with his blind father. In total, he was in power for 55 years! According to the foreigner who saw him, he was a tall, handsome, thin man. He also had two nicknames: “Humpbacked” - it’s clear that Ivan was stooped - and “Terrible”. The last nickname was later forgotten - his grandson Ivan IV turned out to be even more formidable. Ivan III was power-hungry, cruel, and treacherous. He was also harsh towards his family: he starved his brother Andrei to death in prison.
Ivan had outstanding gifts as a politician and diplomat. He could wait for years, slowly move towards his goal and achieve it without serious losses. He was a real “gatherer” of lands: Ivan annexed some lands quietly and peacefully, and conquered others by force. In short, by the end of his reign, the territory of Muscovy grew sixfold!
The annexation of Novgorod in 1478 was an important victory for the nascent autocracy over the ancient republican democracy, which was in crisis. The Novgorod veche bell was removed and taken to Moscow, many boyars were arrested, their lands were confiscated, and thousands of Novgorodians were “deported” (evicted) to other districts. In 1485, Ivan annexed another long-time rival of Moscow - Tver. The last Tver prince Mikhail fled to Lithuania, where he remained forever.
Under Ivan, a new management system developed, in which they began to use governors - Moscow service people, replaced from Moscow. The Boyar Duma also appears - the council of the highest nobility. Under Ivan, the local system began to develop. Serving people began to receive plots of land - estates, that is, temporary (for the duration of their service) holdings in which they were located.
Under Ivan, an all-Russian code of laws also arose - the Code of Laws of 1497. It regulated legal proceedings and the size of feedings. The code of law established a single period for the peasants to leave the landowners - a week before and a week after St. George's Day (November 26). From this moment we can talk about the beginning of Rus''s movement towards serfdom.
The power of Ivan III was great. He was already an “autocrat”, that is, he did not receive power from the hands of the Khanate. In treaties he is called “the sovereign of all Rus',” that is, the ruler, the only master, and the double-headed Byzantine eagle becomes the coat of arms. A magnificent Byzantine ceremony reigns at the court, on the head of Ivan III is the “Monomakh cap”, he sits on the throne, holding in his hands the symbols of power - a scepter and the “power” - a golden apple.
For three years, the widowed Ivan wooed the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine Palaiologos, Zoe (Sophia). She was an educated, strong-willed woman and, as sources say, obese, which in those days was not considered a disadvantage. With the arrival of Sophia, the Moscow court acquired the features of Byzantine splendor, which was a clear merit of the princess and her entourage, although the Russians did not like the “Roman woman”. Ivan’s Rus' gradually becomes an empire, adopting the traditions of Byzantium, and Moscow from a modest city turns into the “Third Rome”.
Ivan devoted a lot of effort to the construction of Moscow, or more precisely, the Kremlin - after all, the city was entirely wooden, and fires did not spare it, just like the Kremlin, whose stone walls did not protect from fire. Meanwhile, stone work worried the prince - Russian craftsmen had no practice in constructing large buildings. The destruction of the almost completed cathedral in the Kremlin in 1474 made a particularly difficult impression on Muscovites. And then, by the will of Ivan, the engineer Aristotle Fioravanti was invited from Venice, who “for the sake of the cunning of his art” was hired for a huge amount of money - 10 rubles a month. It was he who built the white-stone Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin - the main temple of Russia. The chronicler was in admiration: the church “is wonderful with its great majesty, and height, and lightness, and ringing, and space, such has never happened in Rus'.”
Fioravanti's skill delighted Ivan, and he hired more craftsmen in Italy. Since 1485, Anton and Mark Fryazin, Pietro Antonio Solari and Aleviz began to build (instead of those that had dilapidated since the time of Dmitry Donskoy) new walls of the Moscow Kremlin with 18 towers that have already reached us. The Italians built the walls for a long time - more than 10 years, but now it is clear that they built for centuries. The Faceted Chamber for receiving foreign embassies, built from faceted white stone blocks, was distinguished by its extraordinary beauty. It was built by Mark Fryazin and Solari. Aleviz erected the Archangel Cathedral next to the Assumption Cathedral - the tomb of Russian princes and tsars. Cathedral Square - the place of solemn state and church ceremonies - was completed by the bell tower of Ivan the Great and the Annunciation Cathedral, the home church of Ivan III, built by Pskov craftsmen.
But still, the main event of Ivan’s reign was the overthrow of the Tatar yoke. In a stubborn struggle, Akhmatkhan managed to revive for some time the former power of the Great Horde, and in 1480 he decided to re-subdue Rus'. The Horde and Ivan's troops converged on the Ugra River, a tributary of the Oka. In this situation, positional battles and firefights began. The general battle never happened, Ivan was an experienced, cautious ruler, he hesitated for a long time - whether to enter into a mortal battle or submit to Akhmat. Having stood until November 11, Akhmat went to the steppes and was soon killed by enemies.
Towards the end of his life, Ivan III became intolerant of others, unpredictable, unjustifiably cruel, almost continuously executing his friends and enemies. His capricious will became law. When the envoy of the Crimean Khan asked why the prince killed his grandson Dmitry, whom he had initially appointed as heir, Ivan answered like a true autocrat: “Am I not, the great prince, free in my children and in my reign? I will give reign to whomever I want!” According to the will of Ivan III, power after him passed to his son Vasily III.
Vasily III turned out to be the true heir of his father: his power was, in essence, unlimited and despotic. As the foreigner wrote, “he oppresses everyone equally with cruel slavery.” However, unlike his father, Vasily was a lively, active person, he traveled a lot, and was very fond of hunting in the forests near Moscow. He was distinguished by his piety, and pilgrimage trips were an important part of his life. Under him, derogatory forms of address to the nobles appeared, who did not spare themselves, submitting petitions to the sovereign: “Your servant, Ivashka, beats with his forehead...”, which especially emphasized the system of autocratic power in which one person was the master, and slaves were slaves. - everyone else.
As a contemporary wrote, Ivan III sat still, but his state grew. Under Vasily this growth continued. He completed his father's work and annexed Pskov. There Vasily behaved like a true Asian conqueror, destroying the liberties of Pskov and evicting wealthy citizens to Muscovy. The Pskovites could only “cry for their antiquity and according to their own will.”
After the annexation of Pskov, Vasily III received a message from the elder of the Pskov Eliazarian Monastery Philotheus, who argued that the former centers of the world (Rome and Constantinople) had been replaced by a third - Moscow, which had accepted holiness from the fallen capitals. And then the conclusion followed: “Two Romes have fallen, and the third stands, but there will not be a fourth.” Filofei's thoughts became the basis of the ideological doctrine of imperial Russia. Thus, the Russian rulers were included in a single series of rulers of world centers.
In 1525, Vasily III divorced his wife Solomonia, with whom he lived for 20 years. The reason for the divorce and forced tonsure of Solomonia was her lack of children. After this, 47-year-old Vasily married 17-year-old Elena Glinskaya. Many considered this marriage illegal, “not in the old days.” But he transformed the Grand Duke - to the horror of his subjects, Vasily “fell under the heel” of young Elena: he began to dress in fashionable Lithuanian clothes and shaved his beard. The newlyweds did not have children for a long time. Only on August 25, 1530, Elena gave birth to a son, who was named Ivan. “And there was,” the chronicler wrote, “great joy in the city of Moscow...” If only they knew that on that day the greatest tyrant of the Russian land, Ivan the Terrible, was born! The Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye became a monument to this event. Placed on a picturesque bend of the bank of the Moek River, it is beautiful, light and graceful. I can’t even believe that it was erected in honor of the birth of the greatest tyrant in Russian history - there is so much joy in it, aspiration upward to the sky. Before us is a truly majestic melody frozen in stone, beautiful and sublime.
Fate prepared a grave death for Vasily - a small sore on his leg suddenly grew into a terrible rotten wound, general blood poisoning began, and Vasily died. As the chronicler reports, those standing at the bedside of the dying prince saw “that when they laid the Gospel on his chest, his spirit departed like a small smoke.”
The young widow of Vasily III, Elena, became regent under the three-year-old Ivan IV. Under Elena, some of her husband’s undertakings were completed: a unified system of weights and measures was introduced, as well as a unified coinage system throughout the country. Elena immediately showed herself to be a powerful and ambitious ruler and brought her husband’s brothers Yuri and Andrei into disgrace. They were killed in prison, and Andrei died of starvation in a blank iron cap placed on his head. But in 1538, death overtook Elena herself. The ruler died at the hands of poisoners, leaving the country in a difficult situation - continuous raids by the Tatars, squabbling among the boyars for power.
Reign of Ivan the Terrible
After the death of Elena, a desperate struggle between the boyar clans for power began. First one, then the other won. The boyars pushed around young Ivan IV before his eyes; in his name they carried out reprisals against people they disliked. Young Ivan was unlucky - from an early age, left an orphan, he lived without a close and kind teacher, saw only cruelty, lies, intrigue, duplicity. All this was absorbed by his receptive, passionate soul. Since childhood, Ivan was accustomed to executions and murders, and the innocent blood shed before his eyes did not bother him. The boyars pleased the young sovereign, inflaming his vices and whims. He killed cats and dogs, rushed on horseback through the streets of Moscow, mercilessly crushing people.
Having reached adulthood - 16 years old, Ivan amazed those around him with his determination and will. In December 1546, he announced that he wanted to have a “royal rank” and be called a king. Ivan's crowning ceremony took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. The Metropolitan placed the Monomakh's Cap on Ivan's head. According to legend, this hat was made in the 12th century. inherited from Byzantium Prince Vladimir Monomakh. In fact, this is a golden skullcap, trimmed with sables, decorated with stones, made in Central Asia in the 14th century. It became the main attribute of royal power.
After a terrible fire that happened in Moscow in 1547, the townspeople rebelled against the boyars who abused their power. The young king was shocked by these events and decided to begin reforms. A circle of reformers, the “Chosen Rada,” arose around the tsar. The priest Sylvester and the nobleman Alexei Adashev became his soul. Both of them remained Ivan's main advisers for 13 years. The activities of the circle led to reforms that strengthened the state and autocracy. Orders were created - central authorities; in the localities, power transferred from the previous governors appointed from above to elected local elders. The Tsar's Code of Law, a new set of laws, was also adopted. It was approved by the Zemsky Sobor, a frequently convened general meeting of elected officials from different “ranks.”
In the first years of his reign, Ivan’s cruelty was softened by his advisers and his young wife Anastasia. Ivan chose her, the daughter of the devious Roman Zakharyin-Yuryev, as his wife in 1547. The Tsar loved Anastasia and was under her truly beneficial influence. Therefore, the death of his wife in 1560 was a terrible blow for Ivan, and after that his character completely deteriorated. He abruptly changed his policy, refused the help of his advisers and put them in disgrace.
The long struggle between the Kazan Khanate and Moscow on the Upper Volga ended in 1552 with the capture of Kazan. By this time, Ivan’s army had been reformed: its core consisted of mounted noble militia and infantry - archers, armed with firearms - arquebuses. The fortifications of Kazan were taken by storm, the city was destroyed, and the inhabitants were killed or enslaved. Later, Astrakhan, the capital of another Tatar Khanate, was taken. Soon the Volga region became a place of exile for Russian nobles.
In Moscow, not far from the Kremlin, in honor of the capture of Kazan, the masters Barma and Postnik built St. Basil's Cathedral, or the Intercession Cathedral (Kazan was taken on the eve of the Feast of the Intercession). The cathedral building, which still amazes the viewer with its extraordinary brightness, consists of nine churches connected to each other, a sort of “bouquet” of domes. The unusual appearance of this temple is an example of the bizarre imagination of Ivan the Terrible. The people associated its name with the name of the holy fool - the soothsayer St. Basil the Blessed, who boldly told Tsar Ivan the truth to his face. According to legend, by order of the king, Barma and Postnik were blinded so that they could never create such beauty again. However, it is known that the “church and city master” Postnik (Yakovlev) also successfully built stone fortifications of the recently conquered Kazan.
The first printed book in Russia (the Gospel) was created in a printing house founded in 1553 by master Marusha Nefediev and his comrades. Among them were Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets. For a long time, Fedorov was mistakenly considered the first printer. However, the merits of Fedorov and Mstislavets are already enormous. In 1563 in Moscow, in a newly opened printing house, the building of which has survived to this day, in the presence of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Fedorov and Mstislavets began printing the liturgical book “Apostle.” In 1567, the masters fled to Lithuania and continued printing books. In 1574, in Lvov, Ivan Fedorov published the first Russian ABC “for the sake of early infant learning.” It was a textbook that included the beginnings of reading, writing and counting.
The terrible time of the oprichnina has arrived in Russia. On December 3, 1564, Ivan unexpectedly left Moscow, and a month later he sent a letter to the capital from Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, in which he declared his anger at his subjects. In response to the humiliated requests of his subjects to return and rule as before, Ivan declared that he was creating an oprichnina. This is how (from the word “oprich”, that is, “except”) this state arose within a state. The remaining lands were called "zemshchina". The oprichnina arbitrarily took the lands of the “zemshchina”, local nobles were exiled, and their property was confiscated. The oprichnina led to a sharp strengthening of autocracy not through reforms, but through arbitrariness, a gross violation of the traditions and norms accepted in society.
Mass murders, brutal executions, and robberies were carried out by the hands of guardsmen dressed in black clothes. They were part of a kind of military monastic order, and the king was its “abbot.” Intoxicated with wine and blood, the guardsmen terrified the country. There was no government or court to be found on them - the guardsmen hid behind the name of the sovereign.
Those who saw Ivan after the beginning of the oprichnina were amazed at the changes in his appearance. It was as if a terrible internal corruption had struck the king’s soul and body. The once blooming 35-year-old man looked like a wrinkled, balding old man with eyes glowing with a dark fire. Since then, riotous feasts in the company of guardsmen alternated in Ivan’s life with executions, debauchery with deep repentance for the crimes committed.
The tsar treated independent, honest, and open people with particular distrust. He executed some of them with his own hand. Ivan did not tolerate protests against his atrocities. So, he dealt with Metropolitan Philip, who called on the king to stop extrajudicial executions. Philip was exiled to a monastery, and then Malyuta Skuratov strangled the metropolitan.
Malyuta especially stood out among the oprichniki murderers, blindly loyal to the tsar. This first executioner of Ivan, a cruel and narrow-minded man, aroused the horror of his contemporaries. He was the tsar's confidant in debauchery and drunkenness, and then, when Ivan atone for his sins in church, Malyuta rang the bell like a sexton. The executioner was killed in the Livonian War
In 1570, Ivan organized the defeat of Veliky Novgorod. Monasteries, churches, houses and shops were robbed, Novgorodians were tortured for five weeks, the living were thrown into the Volkhov, and those who floated out were finished off with spears and axes. Ivan robbed the shrine of Novgorod - St. Sophia Cathedral and took away its wealth. Returning to Moscow, Ivan executed dozens of people with the most brutal executions. After that, he brought executions down on those who created the oprichnina. The blood dragon was devouring its tail. In 1572, Ivan abolished the oprichnina, and forbade the use of the word “oprichnina” on pain of death.
After Kazan, Ivan turned to the western borders and decided to conquer the lands of the already weakened Livonian Order in the Baltics. The first victories in the Livonian War, which began in 1558, turned out to be easy - Russia reached the shores of the Baltic. The Tsar in the Kremlin solemnly drank Baltic water from a golden goblet. But soon defeats began and the war became protracted. Poland and Sweden joined Ivan's enemies. In this situation, Ivan was unable to show his talent as a commander and diplomat; he made erroneous decisions that led to the death of his troops. The king, with painful persistence, looked everywhere for traitors. The Livonian War devastated Russia.
Ivan's most serious opponent was the Polish king Stefan Batory. In 1581 he besieged Pskov, but the Pskovites defended their city. By this time, the Russian army was drained of blood by heavy losses and reprisals against prominent commanders. Ivan could no longer resist the simultaneous onslaught of the Poles, Lithuanians, Swedes, as well as the Crimean Tatars, who, even after the heavy defeat inflicted on them by the Russians in 1572 near the village of Molodi, constantly threatened the southern borders of Russia. The Livonian War ended in 1582 with a truce, but in essence - the defeat of Russia. It was cut off from the Baltic. Ivan as a politician suffered a heavy defeat, which affected the position of the country and the psyche of its ruler.
The only success was the conquest of the Siberian Khanate. The Stroganov merchants, who had mastered the Perm lands, hired the dashing Volga ataman Ermak Timofeev, who with his gang defeated Khan Kuchum and captured his capital - Kashlyk. Ermak's associate, Ataman Ivan Koltso, brought the tsar a letter about the conquest of Siberia.
Ivan, upset by the defeat in the Livonian War, joyfully greeted this news and encouraged the Cossacks and Stroganovs.
“The body is exhausted, the spirit is sick,” Ivan the Terrible wrote in his will, “the scabs of the soul and body have multiplied, and there is no doctor who could heal me.” There was no sin that the king did not commit. The fate of his wives (and there were five of them after Anastasia) was terrible - they were killed or imprisoned in a monastery. In November 1581, in a fit of rage, the tsar killed his eldest son and heir Ivan, a murderer and tyrant equal to his father, with a staff. Until the end of his life, the king did not abandon his habits of torturing and killing people, debauchery, sorting through precious stones for hours and praying for a long time with tears. Seized by some terrible disease, he was rotting alive, emitting an incredible stench.
The day of his death (March 17, 1584) was predicted to the king by the Magi. On the morning of this day, the cheerful king sent to tell the wise men that he would execute them for a false prophecy, but they asked to wait until the evening - after all, the day was not over yet. At three o'clock in the afternoon Ivan suddenly died. Perhaps his closest associates Bogdan Velsky and Boris Godunov, who were alone with him that day, helped him go to hell.
After Ivan the Terrible, his son Fyodor took the throne. Contemporaries considered him weak-minded, almost an idiot, seeing him sitting on the throne with a blissful smile on his lips. For 13 years of his reign, power was in the hands of his brother-in-law (brother of his wife Irina) Boris Godunov. Fyodor was a puppet under him, obediently playing the role of autocrat. Once, at a ceremony in the Kremlin, Boris carefully straightened the Monomakh Cap on Fyodor’s head, which supposedly sat crookedly. So, in front of the amazed crowd, Boris boldly demonstrated his omnipotence.
Until 1589, the Russian Orthodox Church was subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople, although in fact it was independent of him. When Patriarch Jeremiah arrived in Moscow, Godunov persuaded him to agree to the election of the first Russian patriarch, who became Metropolitan Job. Boris, understanding the importance of the church in the life of Russia, never lost control over it.
In 1591, stone craftsman Fyodor Kon built walls of white limestone around Moscow (“White City”), and cannon maker Andrei Chokhov cast a gigantic cannon weighing 39,312 kg (“Tsar Cannon”). In 1590, it came in handy: The Crimean Tatars, having crossed the Oka River, broke through to Moscow. On the evening of July 4, from the Sparrow Hills, Khan Kazy-Girey looked at the city, from whose powerful walls guns roared and bells rang in hundreds of churches. Shocked by what he saw, the khan gave the army the order to retreat. That evening was the last time in history that the formidable Tatar warriors saw the Russian capital.
Tsar Boris built a lot, involving many people in this work to provide them with food. Boris personally founded a new fortress in Smolensk, and the architect Fyodor Kon erected its stone walls. In the Moscow Kremlin, the bell tower, built in 1600, sparkled with a dome, called “Ivan the Great”.
Back in 1582, the last wife of Ivan the Terrible, Maria Nagaya, gave birth to a son, Dmitry. Under Fyodor, due to the machinations of Godunov, Tsarevich Dmitry and his relatives were exiled to Uglich. May 15, 1591 The 8-year-old prince was found in the yard with his throat cut. An investigation by boyar Vasily Shuisky established that Dmitry himself came across the knife with which he was playing. But many did not believe this, believing that the real killer was Godunov, for whom the son of Ivan the Terrible was a rival on the path to power. With the death of Dmitry, the Rurik dynasty was stopped. Soon the childless Tsar Fedor also died. Boris Godunov ascended the throne, he ruled until 1605, and then Russia collapsed into the abyss of the Troubles.
For about eight hundred years, Russia was ruled by the Rurik dynasty - descendants of the Varangian Rurik. Over these centuries, Russia became a European state, adopted Christianity, and created a unique culture. Different people sat on the Russian throne. Among them were outstanding rulers who thought about the good of the people, but there were also many nonentities. Because of them, by the 13th century, Rus' disintegrated as a single state into many principalities and became a victim of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Only with great difficulty did Moscow, which had risen to prominence by the 16th century, manage to create a new state. It was a harsh kingdom with a despotic autocrat and silent people. But it also fell at the beginning of the 17th century...
History of Ancient Rus'- history of the Old Russian state from 862 (or 882) to the Tatar-Mongol invasion.
By the middle of the 9th century (according to the chronicle chronology in 862), in the north of European Russia in the Ilmen region, a large union had formed from a number of East Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes, under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty, who founded a centralized state. In 882, the Novgorod prince Oleg captured Kyiv, thereby uniting the northern and southern lands of the Eastern Slavs under one rule. As a result of successful military campaigns and diplomatic efforts of the Kyiv rulers, the new state included the lands of all East Slavic, as well as some Finno-Ugric, Baltic, and Turkic tribes. In parallel, there was a process of Slavic colonization of the northeast of the Russian land.
Ancient Rus' was the largest state formation in Europe and fought for a dominant position in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region with the Byzantine Empire. Under Prince Vladimir in 988, Rus' adopted Christianity. Prince Yaroslav the Wise approved the first Russian code of laws - Russian Truth. In 1132, after the death of the Kyiv prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, the collapse of the Old Russian state began into a number of independent principalities: the Novgorod land, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, the Galician-Volyn principality, the Chernigov principality, the Ryazan principality, the Polotsk principality and others. At the same time, Kyiv remained the object of struggle between the most powerful princely branches, and the Kiev land was considered the collective possession of the Rurikovichs.
In North-Eastern Rus', since the middle of the 12th century, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality has risen; its rulers (Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest), while fighting for Kyiv, left Vladimir as their main residence, which led to its rise as a new all-Russian center. Also, the most powerful principalities were Chernigov, Galicia-Volyn and Smolensk. In 1237-1240, most of the Russian lands were subjected to the destructive invasion of Batu. Kyiv, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Galich, Ryazan and other centers of Russian principalities were destroyed, the southern and southeastern outskirts lost a significant part of the settled population.
Background
The Old Russian state arose on the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” on the lands of the East Slavic tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polyans, then covering the Drevlyans, Dregovichs, Polotsk, Radimichi, Severians.
Before the calling of the Varangians
The first information about the state of the Rus dates back to the first third of the 9th century: in 839, the ambassadors of the Kagan of the people of Rus were mentioned, who arrived first in Constantinople, and from there to the court of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious. From this time on, the ethnonym “Rus” also became known. The term " Kievan Rus"appears for the first time only in historical studies of the 18th-19th centuries.
In 860 (The Tale of Bygone Years mistakenly dates it to 866), Rus' made its first campaign against Constantinople. Greek sources associate with him the so-called first baptism of Rus', after which a diocese may have arisen in Rus' and the ruling elite (possibly led by Askold) adopted Christianity.
Rurik's reign
In 862, according to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes called the Varangians to reign.
Per year 6370 (862). They drove the Varangians overseas, and did not give them tribute, and began to control themselves, and there was no truth among them, and generation after generation rose up, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: “Let’s look for a prince who would rule over us and judge us by right.” And they went overseas to the Varangians, to Rus'. Those Varangians were called Rus, just as others are called Swedes, and some Normans and Angles, and still others Gotlanders, so are these. The Chud, the Slovenians, the Krivichi and all said to the Russians: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us." And three brothers were chosen with their clans, and they took all of Rus' with them, and they came and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, in Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before they were Slovenians. |
In 862 (the date is approximate, like the entire early chronology of the Chronicle), the Varangians and Rurik’s warriors Askold and Dir, heading to Constantinople, subjugated Kyiv, thereby establishing complete control over the most important trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” At the same time, the Novgorod and Nikon Chronicles do not connect Askold and Dir with Rurik, and the chronicle of Jan Dlugosz and the Gustyn Chronicle call them descendants of Kiy.
In 879, Rurik died in Novgorod. The reign was transferred to Oleg, regent for Rurik’s young son Igor.
The first Russian princes
Reign of Oleg the Prophet
In 882, according to chronicle chronology, Prince Oleg ( Oleg the Prophet), a relative of Rurik, went on a campaign from Novgorod to the south, capturing Smolensk and Lyubech along the way, establishing his power there and putting his people under reign. In Oleg's army there were Varangians and warriors of the tribes under his control - Chud, Slovene, Meri and Krivichi. Then Oleg, with the Novgorod army and a hired Varangian squad, captured Kyiv, killed Askold and Dir, who ruled there, and declared Kyiv the capital of his state. Already in Kyiv, he established the amount of tribute that the subject tribes of the Novgorod land - the Slovenes, Krivichi and Merya - had to pay annually. The construction of fortresses in the vicinity of the new capital also began.
Oleg extended his power by military means to the lands of the Drevlyans and Northerners, and the Radimichi accepted Oleg’s conditions without a fight (the last two tribal unions had previously paid tribute to the Khazars). The chronicles do not indicate the reaction of the Khazars, however, the historian Petrukhin puts forward the assumption that they began an economic blockade, ceasing to allow Russian merchants through their lands.
As a result of the victorious campaign against Byzantium, the first written agreements were concluded in 907 and 911, which provided for preferential terms of trade for Russian merchants (trade duties were abolished, ship repairs and overnight accommodation were provided), and resolution of legal and military issues. According to historian V. Mavrodin, the success of Oleg’s campaign is explained by the fact that he was able to rally the forces of the Old Russian state and strengthen its emerging statehood.
According to the chronicle version, Oleg, who bore the title of Grand Duke, reigned for more than 30 years. Rurik's own son Igor took the throne after Oleg's death around 912 and ruled until 945.
Igor Rurikovich
The beginning of Igor's reign was marked by the uprising of the Drevlyans, who were again conquered and imposed an even greater tribute, and the appearance of the Pechenegs in the Black Sea steppes (in 915), who ravaged the possessions of the Khazars and ousted the Hungarians from the Black Sea region. By the beginning of the 10th century. The Pecheneg nomads extended from the Volga to the Prut.
Igor made two military campaigns against Byzantium. The first, in 941, ended unsuccessfully. It was also preceded by an unsuccessful military campaign against Khazaria, during which Rus', acting at the request of Byzantium, attacked the Khazar city of Samkerts on the Taman Peninsula, but was defeated by the Khazar commander Pesach and turned its arms against Byzantium. The Bulgarians warned the Byzantines that Igor had begun the campaign with 10,000 soldiers. Igor's fleet plundered Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Heraclea Pontus and Nicomedia, but then it was defeated and he, abandoning the surviving army in Thrace, fled to Kyiv with several boats. The captured soldiers were executed in Constantinople. From the capital, he sent an invitation to the Varangians to take part in a new invasion of Byzantium. The second campaign against Byzantium took place in 944.
Igor's army, consisting of Polans, Krivichi, Slovenes, Tiverts, Varangians and Pechenegs, reached the Danube, from where ambassadors were sent to Constantinople. They concluded a treaty that confirmed many of the provisions of the previous treaties of 907 and 911, but abolished duty-free trade. Rus' pledged to defend Byzantine possessions in Crimea. In 943 or 944 a campaign was made against Berdaa.
In 945, Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlyans. According to the chronicle version, the cause of death was the prince’s desire to receive tribute again, which was demanded of him by the warriors, who were jealous of the wealth of the squad of governor Sveneld. Igor’s small squad was killed by the Drevlyans near Iskorosten, and he himself was executed. Historian A. A. Shakhmatov put forward a version according to which Igor and Sveneld began to conflict over the Drevlyan tribute and, as a result, Igor was killed.
Olga
After Igor's death, due to the minority of his son Svyatoslav, real power was in the hands of Igor's widow, Princess Olga. The Drevlyans sent an embassy to her, inviting her to become the wife of their prince Mal. However, Olga executed the ambassadors, gathered an army and in 946 began the siege of Iskorosten, which ended with its burning and the subjugation of the Drevlyans to the Kyiv princes. The Tale of Bygone Years described not only their conquest, but also the preceding revenge on the part of the Kyiv ruler. Olga imposed a large tribute on the Drevlyans.
In 947, she undertook a trip to the Novgorod land, where, instead of the previous polyudye, she introduced a system of quitrents and tributes, which local residents themselves had to take to the camps and churchyards, handing them over to specially appointed people - tiuns. Thus, a new method of collecting tribute from the subjects of the Kyiv princes was introduced.
She became the first ruler of the Old Russian state to officially accept Christianity of the Byzantine rite (according to the most reasoned version, in 957, although other dates are also proposed). In 957, Olga made an official visit to Constantinople with a large embassy, known from the description of court ceremonies by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his “Ceremonies,” and she was accompanied by the priest Gregory.
The Emperor calls Olga the ruler (archontissa) of Rus', the name of her son Svyatoslav (the list of retinues indicates “ Svyatoslav's people") is mentioned without a title. Olga sought baptism and recognition of Rus' by Byzantium as an equal Christian empire. At baptism she received the name Elena. However, according to a number of historians, it was not possible to agree on an alliance immediately. In 959, Olga accepted the Greek embassy, but refused to send an army to help Byzantium. In the same year, she sent ambassadors to the German Emperor Otto I with a request to send bishops and priests and establish a church in Rus'. This attempt to play on the contradictions between Byzantium and Germany was successful, Constantinople made concessions by concluding a mutually beneficial agreement, and the German embassy led by Bishop Adalbert returned back with nothing. In 960, a Russian army went to help the Greeks, fighting in Crete against the Arabs under the leadership of the future emperor Nikephoros Phocas.
The monk Jacob, in the 11th century work “Memory and Praise to the Russian Prince Volodymer,” reports the exact date of Olga’s death: July 11, 969.
Svyatoslav Igorevich
Around 960, the matured Svyatoslav took power into his own hands. He grew up among his father's warriors and was the first of the Russian princes to bear a Slavic name. From the beginning of his reign, he began to prepare for military campaigns and gathered an army. According to the historian Grekov, Svyatoslav was deeply involved in the international relations of Europe and Asia. Often he acted in agreement with other states, thus participating in solving the problems of European and, partly, Asian politics.
His first action was the subjugation of the Vyatichi (964), who were the last of all the East Slavic tribes to continue to pay tribute to the Khazars. Then, according to eastern sources, Svyatoslav attacked and defeated Volga Bulgaria. In 965 (according to other sources also in 968/969) Svyatoslav made a campaign against the Khazar Kaganate. The Khazar army, led by the Kagan, came out to meet Svyatoslav’s squad, but was defeated. The Russian army stormed the main cities of the Khazars: the fortress city of Sarkel, Semender and the capital Itil. After this, the ancient Russian settlement of Belaya Vezha arose on the site of Sarkel. After the defeat, the remnants of the Khazar state were known under the name of the Saksins and no longer played their previous role. The establishment of Rus' in the Black Sea region and the North Caucasus is also connected with this campaign, where Svyatoslav defeated the Yases (Alans) and Kasogs (Circassians) and where Tmutarakan became the center of Russian possessions.
In 968, a Byzantine embassy arrived in Rus', proposing an alliance against Bulgaria, which had then left the obedience of Byzantium. The Byzantine ambassador Kalokir, on behalf of Emperor Nikephoros Phocas, brought a gift of 1,500 pounds of gold. Having included the allied Pechenegs in his army, Svyatoslav moved to the Danube. In a short time, the Bulgarian troops were defeated, Russian squads occupied up to 80 Bulgarian cities. Svyatoslav chose Pereyaslavets, a city in the lower reaches of the Danube, as his headquarters. However, such a sharp strengthening of Rus' aroused fears in Constantinople and the Byzantines managed to convince the Pechenegs to make another raid on Kyiv. In 968, their army besieged the Russian capital, where Princess Olga and her grandchildren Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir were located. The city was saved by the approach of a small squad of governor Pretich. Soon Svyatoslav himself arrived with a mounted army, driving the Pechenegs into the steppe. However, the prince did not seek to remain in Rus'. Chronicles quote him as saying:
Svyatoslav remained in Kyiv until the death of his mother Olga. After that, he divided the possessions between his sons: he left Kyiv to Yaropolk, Oleg - the lands of the Drevlyans, and Novgorod - to Vladimir).
Then he returned to Pereyaslavets. In a new campaign with a significant army (according to various sources, from 10 to 60 thousand soldiers) in 970, Svyatoslav captured almost all of Bulgaria, occupied its capital Preslav and invaded Byzantium. The new emperor John Tzimiskes sent a large army against him. The Russian army, which included Bulgarians and Hungarians, was forced to retreat to Dorostol (Silistria) - a fortress on the Danube.
In 971 it was besieged by the Byzantines. In the battle near the walls of the fortress, Svyatoslav’s army suffered heavy losses, and he was forced to negotiate with Tzimiskes. According to the peace treaty, Rus' pledged not to attack Byzantine possessions in Bulgaria, and Constantinople promised not to incite the Pechenegs to campaign against Rus'.
Voivode Sveneld advised the prince to return to Rus' by land. However, Svyatoslav preferred to sail through the Dnieper rapids. At the same time, the prince planned to gather a new army in Rus' and resume the war with Byzantium. In winter they were blocked by the Pechenegs and Svyatoslav’s small squad spent a hungry winter in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. In the spring of 972, Svyatoslav attempted to break into Rus', but his army was defeated and he himself was killed. According to another version, the death of the Kyiv prince occurred in 973. The Pecheneg leader Kurya made a bowl for feasts from the prince’s skull.
Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise. Baptism of Rus'
The reign of Prince Vladimir. Baptism of Rus'
After the death of Svyatoslav, civil strife broke out between his sons for the right to the throne (972-978 or 980). The eldest son Yaropolk became the great prince of Kyiv, Oleg received the Drevlyan lands, and Vladimir received Novgorod. In 977, Yaropolk defeated Oleg’s squad, and Oleg himself died. Vladimir fled “overseas”, but returned two years later with a Varangian squad. During the campaign against Kyiv, he conquered Polotsk, an important trading point on the western Dvina, and married the daughter of Prince Rogvolod, Rogneda, whom he killed.
During the civil strife, Vladimir Svyatoslavich defended his rights to the throne (reigned 980-1015). Under him, the formation of the state territory of Ancient Rus' was completed, the Cherven cities and Carpathian Rus', which were disputed by Poland, were annexed. After Vladimir's victory, his son Svyatopolk married the daughter of the Polish king Boleslav the Brave and peaceful relations were established between the two states. Vladimir finally annexed the Vyatichi and Radimichi to Rus'. In 983 he made a campaign against the Yatvingians, and in 985 - against the Volga Bulgarians.
Having achieved autocracy in the Russian land, Vladimir began religious reform. In 980, the prince established a pagan pantheon of six different-tribal gods in Kyiv. Tribal cults could not create a unified state religious system. In 986, ambassadors from various countries began to arrive in Kyiv, inviting Vladimir to accept their faith.
Islam was proposed by the Volga Bulgaria, Western-style Christianity by the German Emperor Otto I, Judaism by the Khazar Jews. However, Vladimir chose Christianity, which the Greek philosopher told him about. The embassy returning from Byzantium supported the prince. In 988, the Russian army besieged the Byzantine Korsun (Chersonese). Byzantium agreed to peace, Princess Anna became Vladimir's wife. The pagan idols that stood in Kyiv were overthrown, and the people of Kiev were baptized in the Dnieper. A stone church was built in the capital, which became known as the Tithe Church, since the prince gave a tenth of his income for its maintenance. After the baptism of Rus', treaties with Byzantium became unnecessary, since closer relations were established between both states. These ties were strengthened to a large extent thanks to the church apparatus that the Byzantines organized in Rus'. The first bishops and priests arrived from Korsun and other Byzantine cities. The church organization within the Old Russian state was in the hands of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who became a great political force in Rus'.
Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir faced an increased Pecheneg threat. To protect against nomads, he builds lines of fortresses on the border, the garrisons of which were recruited from the “best men” of the northern tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Chud and Vyatichi. Tribal boundaries began to blur, and the state border became important. It was during the time of Vladimir that many Russian epics took place, telling about the exploits of heroes.
Vladimir established a new order of government: he planted his sons in Russian cities. Svyatopolk received Turov, Izyaslav - Polotsk, Yaroslav - Novgorod, Boris - Rostov, Gleb - Murom, Svyatoslav - Drevlyansky land, Vsevolod - Vladimir-on-Volyn, Sudislav - Pskov, Stanislav - Smolensk, Mstislav - Tmutarakan. Tribute was no longer collected during Polyudye and only in churchyards. From that moment on, the princely family and their warriors “fed” in the cities themselves and sent part of the tribute to the capital - Kyiv.
Reign of Yaroslav the Wise
After the death of Vladimir, a new civil strife occurred in Rus'. Svyatopolk the Accursed in 1015 killed his brothers Boris (according to another version, Boris was killed by Scandinavian mercenaries of Yaroslav), Gleb and Svyatoslav. Having learned about the murder of the brothers, Yaroslav, who ruled in Novgorod, began to prepare for a campaign against Kyiv. Svyatopolk received help from the Polish king Boleslav and the Pechenegs, but in the end he was defeated and fled to Poland, where he died. Boris and Gleb were canonized as saints in 1071.
After the victory over Svyatopolk, Yaroslav had a new opponent - his brother Mstislav, who by that time had gained a foothold in Tmutarakan and Eastern Crimea. In 1022, Mstislav conquered the Kasogs (Circassians), defeating their leader Rededya in battle. Having strengthened the army with the Khazars and Kasogs, he set out to the north, where he subjugated the northerners who joined his troops. Then he occupied Chernigov. At this time, Yaroslav turned for help to the Varangians, who sent him a strong army. The decisive battle took place in 1024 near Listven; victory went to Mstislav. After her, the brothers divided Rus' into two parts - along the riverbed of the Dnieper. Kyiv and Novgorod remained with Yaroslav, and it was Novgorod that remained his permanent residence. Mstislav moved his capital to Chernigov. The brothers maintained a close alliance; after the death of the Polish king Boleslav, they returned to Rus' the Cherven cities captured by the Poles after the death of Vladimir the Red Sun.
At this time, Kyiv temporarily lost its status as the political center of Rus'. The leading centers then were Novgorod and Chernigov. Expanding his possessions, Yaroslav undertook a campaign against the Estonian Chud tribe. On the conquered territory in 1030 the city of Yuryev (modern Tartu) was founded.
In 1036 Mstislav fell ill while hunting and died. His only son had died three years earlier. Thus, Yaroslav became the ruler of all Rus', except for the Principality of Polotsk. In the same year, Kyiv was attacked by the Pechenegs. By the time Yaroslav arrived with the army of Varangians and Slavs, they had already captured the outskirts of the city.
In the battle near the walls of Kyiv, Yaroslav defeated the Pechenegs, after which he made Kyiv his capital. In memory of the victory over the Pechenegs, the prince founded the famous Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv; artists from Constantinople were called to paint the temple. Then he imprisoned the last surviving brother, Sudislav, who ruled in Pskov. After this, Yaroslav became the sole ruler of almost all of Rus'.
The reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) was the time of the highest prosperity of the state. Social relations were regulated by the collection of laws “Russian Truth” and princely statutes. Yaroslav the Wise pursued an active foreign policy. He became related to many ruling dynasties of Europe, which testified to the wide international recognition of Rus' in the European Christian world. Intensive stone construction began. Yaroslav actively turned Kyiv into a cultural and intellectual center, taking Constantinople as a model. At this time, relations between the Russian Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople normalized.
From that moment on, the Russian Church was headed by the Metropolitan of Kiev, who was ordained by the Patriarch of Constantinople. No later than 1039, the first Metropolitan of Kiev, Theophan, arrived in Kyiv. In 1051, having gathered bishops, Yaroslav himself appointed Hilarion as metropolitan, for the first time without the participation of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Hilarion became the first Russian metropolitan. In 1054 Yaroslav the Wise died.
Crafts and trade. Monuments of writing (The Tale of Bygone Years, the Novgorod Codex, the Ostromirovo Gospel, Lives) and architecture (Tithe Church, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and the cathedrals of the same name in Novgorod and Polotsk) were created. The high level of literacy of the inhabitants of Rus' is evidenced by numerous birch bark letters that have survived to this day. Rus' traded with the southern and western Slavs, Scandinavia, Byzantium, Western Europe, the peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
The reign of the sons and grandsons of Yaroslav the Wise
Yaroslav the Wise divided Rus' between his sons. The three eldest sons received the main Russian lands. Izyaslav - Kyiv and Novgorod, Svyatoslav - Chernigov and the Murom and Ryazan lands, Vsevolod - Pereyaslavl and Rostov. The younger sons Vyacheslav and Igor received Smolensk and Vladimir Volynsky. These possessions were not inherited; a system developed in which the younger brother succeeded the eldest in the princely family - the so-called “ladder” system. The eldest in the clan (not by age, but by line of kinship) received Kiev and became the Grand Duke, all other lands were divided between members of the clan and distributed according to seniority. Power passed from brother to brother, from uncle to nephew. Chernigov occupied second place in the hierarchy of tables. When one of the members of the clan died, all the Rurikovichs younger in relation to him moved to lands corresponding to their seniority. When new members of the clan appeared, their destiny was determined - a city with land (volost). A certain prince had the right to reign only in the city where his father reigned; otherwise, he was considered an outcast. The ladder system regularly caused strife between the princes.
In the 60s In the 11th century, the Polovtsians appeared in the Northern Black Sea region. The sons of Yaroslav the Wise were unable to stop their invasion, but were afraid to arm the Kyiv militia. In response to this, in 1068 the people of Kiev overthrew Izyaslav Yaroslavich and placed on the throne the Polotsk prince Vseslav, who had been captured by the Yaroslavichs during a strife the year before. In 1069, with the help of the Poles, Izyaslav occupied Kyiv, but after this, uprisings of the townspeople became constant during crises of princely power. Presumably in 1072, the Yaroslavichs edited the Russian Truth, significantly expanding it.
Izyaslav tried to regain control of Polotsk, but was unsuccessful, and in 1071 he made peace with Vseslav. In 1073, Vsevolod and Svyatoslav expelled Izyaslav from Kyiv, accusing him of an alliance with Vseslav, and Izyaslav fled to Poland. Kiev began to be ruled by Svyatoslav, who himself was in allied relations with the Poles. In 1076, Svyatoslav died and Vsevolod became the prince of Kyiv.
When Izyaslav returned with the Polish army, Vsevolod returned the capital to him, retaining Pereyaslavl and Chernigov. At the same time, Svyatoslav’s eldest son Oleg was left without possessions, who began the fight with the support of the Polovtsians. Izyaslav Yaroslavich died in the battle with them, and Vsevolod again became the ruler of Rus'. He made his son Vladimir, born of a Byzantine princess from the Monomakh dynasty, the prince of Chernigov. Oleg Svyatoslavich fortified himself in Tmutarakan. Vsevolod continued the foreign policy of Yaroslav the Wise. He sought to strengthen ties with European countries by marrying his son Vladimir to the Anglo-Saxon Gita, daughter of King Harald, who died at the Battle of Hastings. He married his daughter Eupraxia to the German Emperor Henry IV. The reign of Vsevolod was characterized by the distribution of lands to prince-nephews and the formation of an administrative hierarchy.
After the death of Vsevolod, Kyiv was occupied by Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. The Polovtsy sent an embassy to Kyiv with a peace offer, but Svyatopolk Izyaslavich refused negotiations and seized the ambassadors. These events became the reason for the large Polovtsian campaign against Rus', as a result of which the combined troops of Svyatopolk and Vladimir were defeated, and significant territories around Kyiv and Pereyaslavl were devastated. The Polovtsy took away many prisoners. Taking advantage of this, the sons of Svyatoslav, with the support of the Polovtsians, laid claim to Chernigov. In 1094, Oleg Svyatoslavich with Polovtsian troops moved to Chernigov from Tmutarakan. When his army approached the city, Vladimir Monomakh made peace with him, ceding Chernigov and going to Pereyaslavl. In 1095, the Polovtsians repeated the raid, during which they reached Kyiv itself, ravaging its surroundings. Svyatopolk and Vladimir called for help from Oleg, who reigned in Chernigov, but he ignored their requests. After the departure of the Polovtsians, the Kyiv and Pereyaslav squads captured Chernigov, and Oleg fled to his brother Davyd in Smolensk. There he replenished his troops and attacked Murom, where Vladimir Monomakh’s son Izyaslav ruled. Murom was taken, and Izyaslav fell in battle. Despite the peace proposal that Vladimir sent him, Oleg continued the campaign and captured Rostov. Another son of Monomakh, Mstislav, who was the governor in Novgorod, prevented him from continuing his conquests. He defeated Oleg, who fled to Ryazan. Vladimir Monomakh once again offered him peace, to which Oleg agreed.
Monomakh's peaceful initiative was continued in the form of the Lyubech Congress of Princes, who gathered in 1097 to resolve existing differences. The congress was attended by the Kiev prince Svyatopolk, Vladimir Monomakh, Davyd (son of Igor Volynsky), Vasilko Rostislavovich, Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavovich. The princes agreed to stop strife and not lay claim to other people's possessions. However, the peace did not last long. Davyd Volynsky and Svyatopolk captured Vasilko Rostislavovich and blinded him. Vasilko became the first Russian prince to be blinded during civil strife in Rus'. Outraged by the actions of Davyd and Svyatopolk, Vladimir Monomakh and Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich set off on a campaign against Kyiv. The people of Kiev sent a delegation headed by the Metropolitan to meet them, which managed to convince the princes to maintain peace. However, Svyatopolk was entrusted with the task of punishing Davyd Volynsky. He freed Vasilko. However, another civil strife began in Rus', which escalated into a large-scale war in the western principalities. It ended in 1100 with a congress in Uvetichi. Davyd Volynsky was deprived of his principality. However, for “feeding” he was given the city of Buzhsk. In 1101, the Russian princes managed to make peace with the Cumans.
Changes in public administration at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 12th centuries
During the baptism of Rus', the authority of Orthodox bishops, subordinate to the Kyiv metropolitan, was established in all its lands. At the same time, the sons of Vladimir were installed as governors in all lands. Now all the princes who acted as appendages of the Kyiv Grand Duke were only from the Rurik family. Scandinavian sagas mention the fiefs of the Vikings, but they were located on the outskirts of Rus' and on newly annexed lands, so at the time of writing “The Tale of Bygone Years” they already seemed like a relic. The Rurik princes waged a fierce struggle with the remaining tribal princes (Vladimir Monomakh mentions the Vyatichi prince Khodota and his son). This contributed to the centralization of power.
The power of the Grand Duke reached its highest strengthening under Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise (then, after a break, under Vladimir Monomakh). The position of the dynasty was strengthened by numerous international dynastic marriages: Anna Yaroslavna and the French king, Vsevolod Yaroslavich and the Byzantine princess, etc.
Since the time of Vladimir or, according to some information, Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, the prince began to give lands to the warriors instead of monetary salaries. If initially these were cities for feeding, then in the 11th century villages began to receive warriors. Along with the villages, which became fiefdoms, the boyar title was also granted. The boyars began to form the senior squad. The service of the boyars was determined by personal loyalty to the prince, and not by the size of the land allotment (conditional land ownership did not become noticeably widespread). The younger squad (“youths”, “children”, “gridi”), who were with the prince, lived off feeding from the princely villages and the war. The main fighting force in the 11th century was the militia, which received horses and weapons from the prince during the war. The services of the mercenary Varangian squad were largely abandoned during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise.
Over time, the church began to own a significant part of the land (“monastery estates”). Since 996, the population has paid tithes to the church. The number of dioceses, starting from 4, grew. The department of the metropolitan, appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, began to be located in Kyiv, and under Yaroslav the Wise, the metropolitan was first elected from among the Russian priests; in 1051, Hilarion, who was close to Vladimir and his son, became the metropolitan. Monasteries and their elected heads, abbots, began to have great influence. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery becomes the center of Orthodoxy.
The boyars and squad formed special councils under the prince. The prince also consulted with the metropolitan and the bishops and abbots who made up the church council. With the complication of the princely hierarchy, by the end of the 11th century, princely congresses (“snems”) began to gather. There were veches in the cities, which the boyars often relied on to support their own political demands (uprisings in Kyiv in 1068 and 1113).
In the 11th - early 12th centuries, the first written set of laws was formed - “Russian Truth”, which was successively replenished with articles from “The Truth of Yaroslav” (c. 1015-1016), “The Truth of the Yaroslavichs” (c. 1072) and the “Charter of Vladimir” Vsevolodovich" (c. 1113). The “Russian Truth” reflected the increasing differentiation of the population (now the size of the vira depended on the social status of the killed), and regulated the position of such categories of the population as servants, serfs, smerdas, purchases and ordinary people.
“Yaroslav’s Truth” equalized the rights of “Rusyns” and “Slovenians” (it should be clarified that under the name “Slovenes” the chronicle mentions only Novgorodians - “Ilmen Slovenes”). This, along with Christianization and other factors, contributed to the formation of a new ethnic community that was aware of its unity and historical origin.
Since the end of the 10th century, Rus' has known its own coin production - silver and gold coins of Vladimir I, Svyatopolk, Yaroslav the Wise and other princes.
Decay
The Principality of Polotsk was the first to separate from Kyiv - this happened already at the beginning of the 11th century. Having concentrated all the other Russian lands under his rule only 21 years after the death of his father, Yaroslav the Wise, dying in 1054, divided them between the five sons who survived him. After the death of the two youngest of them, all lands came under the rule of the three elders: Izyaslav of Kyiv, Svyatoslav of Chernigov and Vsevolod of Pereyaslavl (“triumvirate of the Yaroslavichs”).
In 1061 (immediately after the defeat of the Torci by the Russian princes in the steppes), raids by the Polovtsians began, replacing the Pechenegs who migrated to the Balkans. During the long Russian-Polovtsian wars, the southern princes for a long time could not cope with their opponents, undertaking a number of unsuccessful campaigns and suffering sensitive defeats (the battle on the Alta River (1068), the battle on the Stugna River (1093).
After the death of Svyatoslav in 1076, the Kyiv princes attempted to deprive his sons of the Chernigov inheritance, and they resorted to the help of the Cumans, although the Cumans were first used in strife by Vladimir Monomakh (against Vseslav of Polotsk). In this struggle, Izyaslav of Kiev (1078) and the son of Vladimir Monomakh Izyaslav (1096) died. At the Lyubech Congress (1097), designed to stop civil strife and unite the princes for protection from the Polovtsians, the principle was proclaimed: “ Let everyone keep his fatherland" Thus, while preserving the right of ladder, in the event of the death of one of the princes, the movement of the heirs was limited to their patrimony. This opened the way to political fragmentation (feudal fragmentation), since a separate dynasty was established in each land, and the Grand Duke of Kiev became first among equals, losing the role of overlord. However, this also made it possible to stop the strife and join forces to fight the Cumans, which was moved deep into the steppes. In addition, treaties were concluded with the allied nomads - the “black hoods” (Torks, Berendeys and Pechenegs, expelled by the Polovtsians from the steppes and settled on the southern Russian borders).
In the second quarter of the 12th century, the Old Russian state broke up into independent principalities. The modern historiographic tradition considers the chronological beginning of fragmentation to be 1132, when, after the death of Mstislav the Great, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, the power of the Kyiv prince was no longer recognized by Polotsk (1132) and Novgorod (1136), and the title itself became the object of struggle between various dynastic and territorial associations of the Rurikovichs. In 1134, the chronicler, in connection with a schism among the Monomakhovichs, wrote: the whole Russian land was torn apart" The civil strife that began did not concern the great reign itself, but after the death of Yaropolk Vladimirovich (1139), the next Monomakhovich Vyacheslav was expelled from Kyiv by Vsevolod Olgovich of Chernigov.
Over the course of the 12th-13th centuries, part of the population of the southern Russian principalities, due to the constant threat emanating from the steppe, as well as due to the ongoing princely strife over the Kyiv land, moved north to the calmer Rostov-Suzdal land, also called Zalesye or Opole. Having joined the ranks of the Slavs of the first, Krivitsa-Novgorod migration wave of the 10th century, settlers from the populous south quickly formed the majority on this land and assimilated the rare Finno-Ugric population. The massive Russian migration throughout the 12th century is evidenced by chronicles and archaeological excavations. It was during this period that the founding and rapid growth of numerous cities of the Rostov-Suzdal land (Vladimir, Moscow, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yuryev-Opolsky, Dmitrov, Zvenigorod, Starodub-on-Klyazma, Yaropolch-Zalessky, Galich, etc.) occurred. often repeated the names of the cities of origin of the settlers. The weakening of Southern Rus' is also associated with the success of the first crusades and changes in the main trade routes.
During two major internecine wars in the mid-12th century, the Principality of Kiev lost Volyn (1154), Pereyaslavl (1157) and Turov (1162). In 1169, the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, the Vladimir-Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky sent an army led by his son Mstislav to the south, which captured Kyiv. For the first time, the city was brutally plundered, Kyiv churches were burned, and the inhabitants were taken captive. Andrei's younger brother was placed in the reign of Kiev. And although soon, after unsuccessful campaigns against Novgorod (1170) and Vyshgorod (1173), the influence of the Vladimir prince in other lands temporarily fell, Kyiv began to gradually lose, and Vladimir began to acquire, the political attributes of an all-Russian center. In the 12th century, in addition to the Kyiv prince, the title of great also began to be borne by the Vladimir princes, and in the 13th century, occasionally also by the princes of Galicia, Chernigov and Ryazan.
Kyiv, unlike most other principalities, did not become the property of any one dynasty, but served as a constant bone of contention for all powerful princes. In 1203, it was plundered for the second time by the Smolensk prince Rurik Rostislavich, who fought against the Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. The first clash between Rus' and the Mongols took place in the Battle of the Kalka River (1223), in which almost all the southern Russian princes took part. The weakening of the southern Russian principalities increased the pressure from the Hungarian and Lithuanian feudal lords, but at the same time contributed to the strengthening of the influence of the Vladimir princes in Chernigov (1226), Novgorod (1231), Kyiv (in 1236 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich occupied Kyiv for two years, while his elder brother Yuri remained reign in Vladimir) and Smolensk (1236-1239). During the Mongol invasion of Rus', which began in 1237, Kyiv was reduced to ruins in December 1240. It was received by the Vladimir princes Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, recognized by the Mongols as the oldest in the Russian lands, and later by his son Alexander Nevsky. They, however, did not move to Kyiv, remaining in their ancestral Vladimir. In 1299, the Kiev Metropolitan moved his residence there. In some church and literary sources - for example, in the statements of the Patriarch of Constantinople and Vytautas at the end of the 14th century - Kyiv continued to be considered as a capital city at a later time, but by this time it was already a provincial city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Since 1254, the Galician princes bore the title “King of Rus'”. From the beginning of the 14th century, the Vladimir princes began to bear the title of “Grand Dukes of All Rus'”.
In Soviet historiography, the concept of “Kievan Rus” was extended both until the middle of the 12th century, and for the wider period of the mid-12th - mid-13th centuries, when Kyiv remained the center of the country and the governance of Russia was carried out by a single princely family on the principles of “collective suzerainty”. Both approaches remain relevant today.
Pre-revolutionary historians, starting with N.M. Karamzin, adhered to the idea of transferring the political center of Rus' in 1169 from Kyiv to Vladimir, dating back to the works of Moscow scribes, or to Vladimir (Volyn) and Galich. In modern historiography there is no consensus of opinion on this matter. Some historians believe that these ideas are not confirmed in the sources. In particular, some of them point to such a sign of the political weakness of the Suzdal land as a small number of fortified settlements compared to other lands of Rus'. Other historians, on the contrary, find confirmation in the sources that the political center of Russian civilization moved from Kyiv, first to Rostov and Suzdal, and later to Vladimir-on-Klyazma.
« Who can live well in Rus'? "(N. Nekrasov, production: "Who can live well in Rus'?")
« Rus', where are you going? ? (N.V. Gogol, production “Dead Souls”)
- « Who's to blame? "(A.I. Herzen, production: “Who is to blame?”)
- « What to do? "(I. G. Chernyshevsky, production "What to do")
« Who to be? » (V.V. Mayakovsky, production “Who to be?”)
Periodization of Russian history
Traditionally, Russian history is counted from 862, when the Varangians from Scandinavia came to Rus' and became princes of the Russian lands. Russian civilization is relatively young.
The history of Russia can be divided into 5 cycles:
9th-13th centuries
The period of prosperity was reached under Yaroslav the Wise in the 12th century, when Kievan Rus became one of the leaders of medieval society. The cycle ended as a result of the feudal fragmentation of the state and the Tatar-Mongol invasion.
14th century – beginning of the 17th century.
The center of the country was moved to Moscow, and a Moscow State. The cycle reached its peak under Ivan III and ended in national catastrophe during the Time of Troubles.
Early 17th century - early 20th century
The third cycle began with the accession of the Romanov dynasty and reached its peak during the reign of Peter I and Catherine II. Russian Empire became one of the world powers. However, then conservative tendencies prevailed, and there was a delay in the transition to an industrial society (almost a century compared to Europe). The completion of this cycle is a series of national catastrophes: defeat in the war with Japan, in the First World War, the collapse of the Russian Empire and civil war.
20 20 century – 1991
The Russian Bolsheviks, with difficulty and using violent methods, reassembled most of the disintegrated empire under the rule of a single center. Local civilization is being revived again, but for the first time not under the flag of Orthodoxy, but of socialism. Soviet Union became a superpower. This cycle ended with economic and geopolitical weakening, internal national problems and then the collapse of the USSR.
Many people think that in the 20th century. The natural course of Russian history was interrupted by a catastrophe. Tens of millions of people died at the hands of their fellow citizens and with their consent. There was a sharp degradation of morals and culture. This situation is sometimes compared to the death of classical ancient culture.
Since 1991
Having abandoned socialist ideology and overcome the economic crisis of the 90s, Russian Federation looking for a way to a better future.
(According to the book by Kononenko, B.I.: Culture. Civilization. Russia.)
Features of Russian history
Several times in the thousand-year history of Russia, radical socio-political and economic transformations took place (the era of the reign of Peter I, socialism, reforms of the 90s of the 20th century).
Several times the country reached a dead end (Time of Troubles, socialism). The population often experienced disasters. Wars and famines recurred.
However, against the tragic background of Russian history, a high culture arose, stages of upsurges in spirituality were observed, and global successes in science were achieved.
East-West
Russian history alternates between eastern and western phases. Russians see their country as largely Asian, which needs to be civilized along the European path.
Western historians see in Russia more of a type of Eastern society (people rule, not the law; power is concentrated in the hands of one person; there is no understanding of the individual as an absolute value).
However, Russian civilization can generally be considered hybrid: it includes elements of Europeanism and Asianism.
Eastern Slavs and Kievan Rus
Eastern Slavs
In the 6th-8th centuries. during the final stage Great Migration various tribes of the Eastern Slavs (for example, Vyatichi, Drevlyans, Krivichi, etc.) settled over a vast area from the Middle Dnieper in the south to Lake Ladoga in the north, from the Western Bug in the west to the Volga in the east.
Although the conditions for the effective development of agriculture in these areas were unsuitable due to the harsh climate (the fertile southern steppe regions were occupied by nomadic tribes - Cumans, Pechenegs, Turks, Khazars, etc.), the Eastern Slavs were mainly engaged in agriculture, as well as hunting and fishing and cattle breeding. They traded honey, wax, and furs.
At the head of the East Slavic communities were the prince and his squads. Their residences were fortified settlements - cities.
The religion of the Eastern Slavs was paganism - they revered natural gods (Perun - the main god, the god of thunder and lightning, Radegast - the god of the sun).
Rus' and Kievan Rus
The north-south water trade route passed along the Dnieper and Volkhov rivers "from the Varangians to the Greeks". This route was chosen by the Varangians, a northern tribe of Scandinavians (Vikings) for trade with Byzantium. Large cities arose on it - Novgorod And Kyiv.
In 862, the Varangians created the earliest union of East Slavic lands in Novgorod - Rus, later called Kievan Rus.
The Varangians left traces in the Russian language - for example, the name Vladimir = Waldemar, Olga = Helga. The word “Rus” possibly comes from the Finnish “Ruotsi”, which, according to one hypothesis, was the name of the tribes of the Eastern Slavs.
The first ruler of Rus' was the Varangian prince (Hrörekr, Roderick) who came to Novgorod. The founder of the first dynasty of Russian rulers - the Rurikovichs. Under Rurik's heir, prince Oleg, Kyiv was annexed to his lands, which became the capital of the principality.
In 988 under the prince Vladimir Orthodox Christianity, borrowed from Byzantium, was adopted. A sculpture of the pagan god Perun in Kyiv was thrown into the Dnieper River.
After baptism, Slavic writing, created in the 9th century, penetrated into Rus'. Cyril and Methodius.
Kievan Rus developed intensive trade and cultural ties with Byzantium. Byzantine civilization left many traces in Russian society.
Kievan Rus reaches its peak in the half of the 11th century. at Yaroslav the Wise. At this time, it was part of the advanced European states, and its rich diplomatic and trade ties with Europe were strengthened. Yaroslav's sons married European princesses, his daughters married European kings.
Under Yaroslav, the first set of laws of Ancient Rus' was adopted - Russian Truth
.
In 1125, with the end of the reign Vladimir Monomakh, Kievan Rus broke up into separate principalities.
The first written monument testifying to the early history of Russia is the chronicle The Tale of Bygone Years , created by monks in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
At the initial stage of the development of Rus', the geographical location at the crossroads of Eurasian trade and migration routes played an important role. The history of that time is an almost continuous struggle between sedentary (mostly Slavic) and nomadic (mostly Asian) peoples. Kievan Rus blocked the way to the west for hordes of nomads. A myth arises about Russia as the “shield of Europe.”
Period of feudal fragmentation
After the collapse of Kievan Rus, a system of separate, virtually independent principalities was formed. They developed around the large cities of Kievan Rus. The most significant: Novgorod, Vladimir-Suzdal, Smolensk, Chernigov, Later Tverskoye.
Novgorod land
Novgorod was the most developed, largest shopping center. He had his own money, laws, army, government system (“boyar republic”). The most valuable architectural monuments arose here.
The famous prince was from Novgorod Alexander Nevsky, who twice defended the land from enemies - from the Swedes (battle on the Neva River, 1240) and the Teutonic knights (Battle of the Ice on Lake Peipsi, 1242).
Mongol-Tatar yoke
At the beginning of the 13th century. a large army of new nomads led by Genghis Khan approached the southeastern borders of Rus'.
In 1237, a union of Mongol tribes was founded in the lower reaches of the Volga River. Golden Horde. From here the Mongols invaded Russian lands, took Ryazan, Vladimir, Moscow, and ravaged Kyiv. From Rus', Mongol troops began a campaign in Central Europe.
For 240 years, the Russian lands were practically a protectorate of the Mongol Empire and paid it an annual tribute.
In 1380, the Moscow prince Dmitry Donskoy defeated the Tatars in Battle of Kulikovo Field and marked the beginning of liberation.
Consequences of the invasion
Many cities were destroyed, crafts were forgotten, and construction was stopped. The invasion caused a deep decline in culture and a long lag between Russia and Western Europe.
An uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar. (Russian folk proverb)
Moscow State
The Moscow princes took advantage of Moscow's advantageous position in the center of the Russian principalities and, with the help of the Golden Horde, eliminated their rivals (princes of the cities of Vladimir, Ryazan and Tver). Moscow began to claim the role of a center in the process of “gathering Russian lands.”
In the middle of the 15th century. The Horde split into the Crimean, Astrakhan, Kazan and Siberian khanates.
Ivan III
In 1462, Ivan III, “Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus',” ascended the throne. The era of his reign is associated with the centralization of the country and calm on its eastern borders. Ivan III annexed the appanage principalities: he suppressed separatism in Novgorod, conquered Yaroslavl, Tver, Pskov, Ryazan. During the reign of the heirs of Ivan III, the borders of the Moscow state continued to expand.
Ideological platform of the Moscow state
- ancient origin of the power of rulers from the Rurik dynasty
- the power of the sovereign is from God himself, the ruler is a fighter for the true faith
- Moscow – “the third Rome” (Moscow is the spiritual center of world Christianity)
After overcoming the consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, a huge rise of culture. Stone Kremlin cathedrals grew, and valuable monuments of painting (icons and frescoes by Andrei Rublev) and literature (chronicles, hagiographies) arose.
Under Ivan III the first central government bodies(“orders” and institutions that decide matters of state affairs - for example, the Ambassadorial Prikaz, the predecessor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
Was written Code of Law
, a new set of laws.
A merchant class was formed (for example, the famous old Stroganov family), crafts and construction developed. However, in the economic field, the life of people (the population numbered about 6.5 million) in the Moscow state developed unevenly - booms were replaced by stagnation, there were frequent crop failures and plague epidemics.
Ivan IV the Terrible
In 1533, three-year-old Ivan IV (later nicknamed the Terrible) ascended the Moscow throne. Throughout his childhood and youth, when he could not actually rule, there was a struggle between boyar factions at court.
In 1547, 16-year-old Ivan, as the first Russian Grand Duke, was officially crowned king.
Personality of Ivan the Terrible
Ivan IV grew up in an atmosphere of conspiracies and murders, without a mother, which greatly influenced his psyche. After his beloved wife died, he lost the last signs of humanity. The king, in a fit of anger, even killed his son.
Public Administration Reforms
The young tsar and his boyar assistants carried out a number of reforms.
Created the first Russian parliament - Zemsky Sobor. A system of orders from central bodies governing different areas of the state has developed.
The population paid cash and in-kind taxes.
Trade Development
In Ivan the Terrible's Russia, industry and trade relations with other countries, mainly Persia and England, developed. English and Dutch merchants and entrepreneurs often arrived in Russia at that time.
Foreign policy and wars
A semi-regular army emerges, and the Tsar fights the enemies of Russia with military means. He manages to conquer the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates (their lands turn into almost deserted spaces); later the Siberian Khanate was also defeated. Lands along the entire Volga River were annexed to Russia, and the occupied territories were colonized. For the first time, Russia became a multinational state (non-Slavic and non-Orthodox peoples lived in the newly annexed territories).
At the end of the 50s. 16th century started Livonian Wars(Livonia - today's Latvia and Estonia), which actually ended in the defeat of Russia.
Repression
The monarch's individual power gradually strengthened and his suspicion deepened; the policy of repression affected all segments of the population.
The king divided the state in two: into the so-called. "oprichnina", which included those whom he trusted (the territory of the “oprichnina” occupied a third of the country). Here the boyars, who became the executors of the policy of tsarist terror, ruled in their own way, not constraining themselves by any laws. It was forbidden to talk about the “oprichnina” in the presence of foreigners. The rest of Russia was called "Zemshchina".
Many thousands of people died during the terror. The most terrible evil was the defeat and depopulation of Novgorod.
Consequences of the reign of Ivan IV
Muscovite Rus', led by the first Tsar, expanded significantly, turned into a multinational state and began to be called Russia. A strictly centralized monarchy was created.
Time of Troubles
(vague = strange, unclear; turmoil - excitement, rebellion)
The Time of Troubles or Time of Troubles is the name of a stage in the history of Russia when dynasties changed in difficult and unclear conditions.
After the death of Ivan IV the Terrible in 1584, his mentally retarded son became the heir to the throne. Feodor I, who entrusted the conduct of state affairs to his brother-in-law, the guardsman Boris Godunov. Second son of Ivan the Terrible, Dmitry, died unexpectedly at the age of eight; Godunov was unofficially accused of his murder. After the death of Tsar Feodor, the Zemsky Sobor elected Godunov as tsar. The Rurik dynasty came to an end.
Reign of Boris Godunov
The reign of Boris Godunov was plagued by failures - terrible harvest failures and famines, epidemics, invasions, uprisings, in which the people saw signs of God's wrath.
At the end of the 16th century. measures were taken to establish serfdom in Russia.
Impostors
In an atmosphere of general discontent and chaos, impostors appear who act as the heirs of Ivan IV.
In Poland (at that time the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), one young man declared himself the miraculously saved Tsarevich Dmitry. Boris Godunov was killed as a result of a conspiracy, and after the capture of Moscow by the Poles in 1605, an impostor was elevated to the throne in Russia. He entered the history of Russia under the name False Dmitry I. The Russians learned that this was not the real Russian Tsar, as various legends say, for example, by the fact that he did not sleep after dinner, as was customary in Russia, and did not go to the bathhouse. The conspirators soon got rid of the new king.
Then the royal throne passed from hand to hand, and for some time it was again at the disposal of the Poles.
Only in 1613, with the help of the popular patriotic movement (led by Novgorodians Minin and Pozharsky), the Russian throne was liberated from the power of foreigners. The Zemsky Sobor elected to reign Mikhail Romanov. The reign of the Romanov royal dynasty begins.
Board of Mikhail Romanov
The first decades of Romanov power were associated with the tightening of serfdom. The culmination of the peasant resistance was uprising of the Don Cossack Stepan Razin (1667–1671).
Cossacks are former serfs who ran away from their owners, free people living on the outskirts of Russian territory.
