The origin of the history of the reign of the Old Russian princes can be seen from the time of the activities of the Varangian prince Rurik (862–879).
(879–912) Oleg is the very first of the princes who began to rule the Old Russian state after the Varangians appeared on the Dnieper. He was connected with Rurik by family roots, he was also the guardian of his underage son. During the reign of Oleg, Smolensk was captured. Prince Oleg managed to unite the Slavic tribes. He subjugated Kyiv under his rule in 882, as a result of which he killed the princes Askold and Dir, who ruled in Kyiv at that time. Then Oleg made Kyiv the capital, the main city over all Russian cities. Thus, Kievan Rus was born. Among his achievements are military operations with Byzantium, two successful campaigns against Constantinople. As a result of these campaigns, Russia won two peace treaties in 907 and 911. With the capture of the Drevlyans (883), the concept of tribute came to Russia, which was collected from them. Gradually, Oleg defeated both the northerners and the glades and the Radimichi, who before him paid tribute to the Russian enemies - the Khazars (885).
Igor Rurikovich (912-945) - the son of Rurik, a follower of Oleg, who continued the business of his predecessor - expanded Old Russian state joining the rest of the tribal unions. He also went with the army to Byzantium, and in 944 an agreement was signed with her, which was considered beneficial to both. Prince Igor was the first to recognize the raids of the Pechenegs (Turkic nomads). The innovation that he organized for the first time - the collection of tribute from the Drevlyans (polyudye), and became his death, when once again in 945 he demanded tribute on the lands subject to him.
Olga (945-969) - the first female princess, the wife of the late Igor. Unlike her husband, she completely took power into her own hands and subjugated not only Kyiv, but the whole of Kievan Rus. And the amount of tribute, which under Igor had a changeable character, she managed to legalize, even establishing one place where tribute was brought. Olga became the first Christian to be baptized in Constantinople in 957 under a false name (Elena).
Svyatoslav Igorevich is a follower of his mother Olga, who began his reign in 962. In 964, he nevertheless took under the power of the Old Russian state the last of the East Slavic tribes - the Vyatichi, from whom he collected tribute. The year 965 is the most significant for Svyatoslav, because the Khazar capital and several other cities were taken by storm, and a fortress was built on one of the cities. The return from the Danube in 972 ended in complete failure for Svyatoslav - he was killed by the Pechenegs. During the principality, Svyatoslav showed his abilities as a talented commander.
Vladimir (980-1015) - one of the sons of Svyatoslav, who won the internecine war with his brother. In the books of the Old Russian state, he was equated with the apostles. This is due to the Orthodox traditions with the spread of Christianity. In the memory of the Old Russian people, he remained under the name Vladimir the Red Sun. Among all the princes of the Old Russian state, Vladimir managed not only to expand the borders of Russia, but also to strengthen it as a powerful state. Among his numerical victories are the victory over the Radimichi, good luck from campaigns on Polish lands, on Pecheneg territories, and the construction of fortresses. In a number of reforms that were carried out, there was a pagan reform (980) - the god Perun was placed at the head of the pagan pantheon. But this was not enough, because the new ideology did not succumb to the outdated principles of the ancient religion. Vladimir thought politically and understood that the new religion, that is, Christianity, would significantly strengthen the international relations of Russia with Byzantium and its culture. And in 988 the people were converted to Christianity, and the remnants of paganism were destroyed. As a result, the power of the prince became more powerful, the unity of both the people and the state as a whole was strengthened.
Old Russian state Old Russian state
a state in Eastern Europe that arose in the last quarter of the 9th century. as a result of the unification under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty of the two main centers of the Eastern Slavs - Novgorod and Kyiv, as well as lands located along the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" (settlements in the area of Staraya Ladoga, Gnezdova, etc.). In 882 Prince Oleg captured Kyiv and made it the capital of the state. In 988-89 Vladimir I Svyatoslavich introduced Christianity as the state religion (see Baptism of Russia). In the cities (Kyiv, Novgorod, Ladoga, Beloozero, Rostov, Suzdal, Pskov, Polotsk, etc.), handicrafts, trade, and education developed. Relations were established and deepened with the southern and western Slavs, Byzantium, Western and Northern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia. Old Russian princes repulsed the raids of nomads (Pechenegs, Torks, Polovtsians). The reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-54) is the period of the greatest prosperity of the state. Public relations were regulated by the Russian Truth and other legal acts. In the second half of the XI century. princely civil strife and raids of the Polovtsy led to a weakening of the state. Attempts to preserve the unity of the ancient Russian state were made by Prince Vladimir II Monomakh (ruled 1113-25) and his son Mstislav (ruled 1125-32). In the second quarter of the XII century. the state entered the final phase of disintegration into independent principalities, the Novgorod and Pskov republics.
OLD RUSSIAN STATEOLD RUSSIAN STATE (Kievan Rus), a state of the 9th - early 12th centuries. in Eastern Europe, which arose in the last quarter of the 9th century. as a result of unification under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty (cm. RURIKOVICH) two main centers of the Eastern Slavs - Novgorod and Kyiv, as well as lands (settlements in the area of Staraya Ladoga, Gnezdov) located along the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" (cm. THE WAY FROM THE VARANGIANS TO THE GREEKS). During its heyday, the Old Russian state covered the territory from the Taman Peninsula in the south, the Dniester and the upper reaches of the Vistula in the west, to the upper reaches of the Northern Dvina in the north. The formation of the state was preceded by a long period (from the 6th century) of the maturation of its prerequisites in the depths of military democracy. (cm. MILITARY DEMOCRACY). During the existence of the Old Russian state, the East Slavic tribes formed into the Old Russian people.
Socio-political system
Power in Russia belonged to the prince of Kiev, who was surrounded by a retinue (cm. DRUZHINA), dependent on him and fed mainly at the expense of his campaigns. Veche also played a certain role (cm. VECHE). The administration of the state was carried out with the help of thousands and sots, that is, on the basis of military organization. The prince's income came from various sources. In the 10th - early 11th centuries. this is basically "polyudye", "lessons" (tribute), received annually from the field.
In the 11th - early 12th centuries. in connection with the emergence of large landownership with various types of rent, the functions of the prince expanded. Owning his own large domain, the prince was forced to manage a complex economy, appoint posadniks, volostels, tiuns, and manage a numerous administration. He was a military leader, now he had to organize not so much a squad as a militia, led by vassals, to hire foreign troops. Strengthening and protection measures have become more complicated external borders. The power of the prince was unlimited, but he had to reckon with the opinion of the boyars. The role of the veche declined. The princely court became the administrative center, where all the threads of government converged. Palace officials arose who were in charge of individual branches of government. At the head of the cities was the city patriciate, which was formed in the 11th century. from large local landowners - "elders" and combatants. Noble families played a big role in the history of cities (for example, the family of Jan Vyshatich, Ratibor, Chudin - in Kyiv, Dmitry Zavidich - in Novgorod). Merchants enjoyed great influence in the city. The need to protect goods during transportation led to the emergence of armed merchant guards; among the city militia, merchants occupied the first place. The largest part of the urban population were artisans, both free and dependent. A special place was occupied by the clergy, divided into black (monastic) and white (secular). The head of the Russian Church was usually appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, the Metropolitan, to whom the bishops were subordinate. Monasteries headed by abbots were subject to bishops and the metropolitan.
The rural population consisted of free communal peasants (their number was decreasing), and already enslaved peasants. There was a group of peasants who were cut off from the community, deprived of the means of production and who were the labor force within the patrimony. The growth of large landownership, the enslavement of free community members and the growth of their exploitation led to an intensification of the class struggle in the 11th-12th centuries. (uprisings in Suzdal in 1024; in Kyiv in 1068-1069; on Beloozero about 1071; in Kyiv in 1113). The uprisings in most cases were disunited, they were attended by pagan sorcerers, who used disgruntled peasants to fight the new religion - Christianity. A particularly strong wave of popular uprisings swept through Russia in the 1060s-1070s. in connection with the famine and the invasion of the Polovtsians. During these years, a collection of laws "The Truth of the Yaroslavichs" was created, a number of articles of which provided for punishment for the murder of employees of the patrimony. Public relations were regulated by Russian Truth (cm. RUSSIAN PRAVDA (code of law)) and other legal acts.
Political history
The course of historical events in the Old Russian state is known from the annals (cm. CHRONICLES) compiled in Kyiv and Novgorod by monks. According to The Tale of Bygone Years (cm. THE TALE OF TIME YEARS)”, the first prince of Kyiv was the legendary Kiy. The dating of the facts begins with 852 AD. e. The chronicle includes a legend about the calling of the Varangians (862) headed by Rurik, which became in the 18th century. the basis of the Norman theory of the creation of the Old Russian state by the Vikings. Two associates of Rurik - Askold and Dir moved to Tsargrad along the Dnieper, subjugating Kyiv along the way. After the death of Rurik, power in Novgorod passed to the Varangian Oleg (d. 912), who, having dealt with Askold and Dir, captured Kyiv (882), and in 883-885. conquered the Drevlyans, northerners, Radimichi and in 907 and 911. made campaigns against Byzantium.
Oleg's successor Prince Igor continued his active foreign policy. In 913, through Itil, he made a trip to the western coast of the Caspian Sea, twice (941, 944) attacked Byzantium. Tribute demands from the Drevlyans caused their uprising and the murder of Igor (945). His wife Olga was one of the first in Russia to adopt Christianity, streamlined local government and established tribute standards (“lessons”). The son of Igor and Olga, Svyatoslav Igorevich (ruled 964-972), ensured the freedom of trade routes to the east, through the lands of the Volga Bulgars and the Khazars, and strengthened the international position of Russia. Russia under Svyatoslav settled on the Black Sea and on the Danube (Tmutarakan, Belgorod, Pereyaslavets on the Danube), but after an unsuccessful war with Byzantium, Svyatoslav was forced to abandon his conquests in the Balkans. Upon returning to Russia, he was killed by the Pechenegs.
Svyatoslav was succeeded by his son Yaropolk, who killed a competitor - Oleg's brother, the Drevlyansk prince (977). The younger brother of Yaropolk, Vladimir Svyatoslavich, with the help of the Varangians, captured Kiev. Yaropolk was killed, and Vladimir became the Grand Duke (reigned 980-1015). The need to replace the old ideology of the tribal system with the ideology of the nascent state prompted Vladimir to introduce in Russia in 988-989. Christianity in the form of Byzantine Orthodoxy. The first to accept the Christian religion were the social elites, the masses of the people held on to pagan beliefs for a long time. The reign of Vladimir accounts for the heyday of the Old Russian state, whose lands stretched from the Baltic and the Carpathians to the Black Sea steppes. After the death of Vladimir (1015), a strife arose between his sons, in which two of them were killed - Boris and Gleb, who were canonized by the church. Svyatopolk, the murderer of the brothers, fled after fighting with his brother Yaroslav the Wise, who became the prince of Kiev (1019-1054). In 1021, Yaroslav was opposed by the Polotsk prince Bryachislav (reigned in 1001-1044), with whom peace was bought at the price of ceding to Bryachislav key points on the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" - Usvyatsky portage and Vitebsk. Three years later, Yaroslav was opposed by his brother, Prince Mstislav of Tmutarakan. After the battle at Listven (1024), the Old Russian state was divided along the Dnieper: the right bank with Kiev went to Yaroslav, the left bank - to Mstislav. After the death of Mstislav (1036), the unity of Russia was restored. Yaroslav the Wise led energetic activities to strengthen the state, eliminate church dependence on Byzantium (the formation of an independent metropolis in 1037) and expand urban planning. Under Yaroslav the Wise, the political ties of Ancient Russia with the states of Western Europe were strengthened. The Old Russian state had dynastic ties with Germany, France, Hungary, Byzantium, Poland, and Norway.
The sons who inherited Yaroslav divided their father's possessions: Izyaslav Yaroslavich received Kyiv, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich - Chernigov, Vsevolod Yaroslavich - Pereyaslavl South. The Yaroslavichi tried to preserve the unity of the Old Russian state, tried to act in concert, but they could not prevent the process of state disintegration. The situation was complicated by the onslaught of the Polovtsy, in a battle with which the Yaroslavichs were defeated. The people's militia demanded weapons to resist the enemy. The refusal led to an uprising in Kyiv (1068), the flight of Izyaslav and the reign of Polotsk Vseslav Bryachislavich in Kyiv, who was expelled in 1069 by the combined forces of Izyaslav and Polish troops. Soon feuds arose among the Yaroslavichs, which led to the exile of Izyaslav to Poland (1073). After the death of Svyatoslav (1076), Izyaslav returned to Kyiv again, but was soon killed in battle (1078). Vsevolod Yaroslavich (reigned in 1078-1093), who became the prince of Kiev, could not restrain the process of disintegration united state. Only after the invasions of the Polovtsy (1093-1096 and 1101-1103) did the ancient Russian princes unite around the Kiev prince to repel the common danger.
At the turn of the 11th-12th centuries. in the largest centers of Russia reigned: Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (1093-1113) in Kyiv, Oleg Svyatoslavich in Chernigov, Vladimir Monomakh in Pereyaslavl. Vladimir Monomakh was a subtle politician, he urged the princes to unite more closely in the fight against the Polovtsy. The congresses of princes convened for this purpose did not justify themselves (Lyubechsky congress, Dolobsky congress). After the death of Svyatopolk (1113), a city uprising broke out in Kyiv. Monomakh, invited to reign in Kiev, issued a compromise law that eased the position of debtors. Gradually, he strengthened his position as the supreme ruler of Russia. Having pacified the Novgorodians, Vladimir put his sons in Pereyaslavl, Smolensk and Novgorod. He almost unilaterally disposed of all the military forces of Ancient Russia, directed them not only against the Polovtsians, but also against recalcitrant vassals and neighbors. As a result of campaigns deep into the steppe, the Polovtsian danger was eliminated. But, despite the efforts of Monomakh, it was not possible to prevent the collapse of the Old Russian state. Objective historical processes continued to develop, which was expressed primarily in the rapid growth of local centers - Chernigov, Galich, Smolensk, striving for independence. The son of Monomakh, Mstislav Vladimirovich (who reigned in 1125-1132), managed to inflict a new defeat on the Polovtsy and send their princes to Byzantium (1129). After the death of Mstislav (1132), the Old Russian state broke up into a number of independent principalities. The period of fragmentation of Russia began.
Fight against nomads. Ancient Russia waged a constant struggle with the nomadic hordes, who alternately lived in the Black Sea steppes: Khazars, Ugrians, Pechenegs, Torks, Polovtsians. Nomads of the Pechenegs at the end of the 9th century. occupied the steppes from Sarkel on the Don to the Danube. Their raids forced Vladimir Svyatoslavich to strengthen the southern borders (“set up cities”). Yaroslav the Wise in 1036 actually destroyed the western unification of the Pechenegs. But then Torks appeared in the Black Sea steppes, which in 1060 were defeated by the combined forces of the ancient Russian princes. From the second half of the 11th c. the steppes from the Volga to the Danube began to be occupied by the Polovtsy, who mastered the most important trade routes between Europe and the countries of the East. The Polovtsy won a major victory over the Russians in 1068. Russia withstood a strong onslaught of the Polovtsy in 1093-1096, which required the unification of all its princes. In 1101 relations with the Polovtsy improved, but already in 1103 the Polovtsy violated the peace treaty. It took a series of campaigns by Vladimir Monomakh against the Polovtsian winter quarters in the depths of the steppes, which ended in 1117 with their migration to the south, to the North Caucasus. The son of Vladimir Monomakh, Mstislav, pushed the Polovtsy beyond the Don, Volga and Yaik.
economy
In the era of the formation of the Old Russian state, arable farming with draft tillage tools gradually replaced hoe tillage everywhere (in the north somewhat later). A three-field system of agriculture appeared; wheat, oats, millet, rye, barley were grown. Chronicles mention spring and winter bread. The population was also engaged in cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and beekeeping. The village craft was of secondary importance. Iron-making production, based on local swamp ore, stood out the earliest. The metal was obtained by raw-blowing method. Written sources give several terms for designating a rural settlement: “pogost” (“peace”), “freedom” (“sloboda”), “village”, “village”. The study of the ancient Russian village by archaeologists made it possible to identify various types of settlements, to establish their size and the nature of development.
Main development trend social order Ancient Russia was the formation of feudal ownership of land, with the gradual enslavement of free community members. The result of the enslavement of the village was its inclusion in the system of feudal economy based on labor and food rent. Along with this, there were elements of slavery (servility).
In the 6th-7th centuries. in the forest belt, the places of settlements of a clan or a small family (fortifications) disappear, and they are replaced by unfortified village settlements and fortified estates of the nobility. The patrimonial economy begins to take shape. The center of the patrimony is the "princeyard", in which the prince lived at times, where, in addition to his choir, there were houses of his servants - boyars-druzhins, dwellings of smerds, serfs. The patrimony was ruled by a boyar - an ognischanin, who disposed of princely tiuns (cm. TIUN). Representatives of the patrimonial administration had both economic and political functions. Crafts developed in the patrimonial economy. With the complication of the patrimonial system, the seclusion of the private artisans began to disappear, and there was a connection with the market and competition with the urban craft.
The development of crafts and trade led to the emergence of cities. The most ancient of them are Kyiv, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Smolensk, Rostov, Ladoga, Pskov, Polotsk. The center of the city was a trade where handicraft products were sold. Various types of crafts developed in the city: blacksmithing, weapons, jewelry (forging and embossing, embossing and stamping of silver and gold, filigree, granulation), pottery, leather, tailoring. In the second half of the 10th c. master marks appeared. Under Byzantine influence at the end of the 10th century. enamel production began. In large cities there were trading farmsteads for visiting merchants - "guests".
The trade route from Russia to the eastern countries passed along the Volga and the Caspian Sea. The path to Byzantium and Scandinavia (the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks"), in addition to the main direction (Dnepr - Lovat), had a branch to the Western Dvina. There were two routes to the west: from Kyiv to Central Europe (Moravia, Czech Republic, Poland, Southern Germany) and from Novgorod and Polotsk across the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia and the Southern Baltic. In the 9th - mid-11th centuries. in Russia, the influence of Arab merchants was great, trade ties with Byzantium and Khazaria were strengthened. Ancient Russia exported furs, wax, linen, linen, silverware to Western Europe. Expensive fabrics (Byzantine curtains, brocade, oriental silks), silver and copper in dirhems, tin, lead, copper, spices, incense, medicinal plants, dyes, Byzantine church utensils were imported. Later, in the middle of the 11th-12th centuries. In connection with the change in the international situation (the collapse of the Arab Caliphate, the dominance of the Polovtsy in the southern Russian steppes, the beginning of the Crusades), many traditional trade routes were disrupted. The penetration of Western European merchants into the Black Sea, the competition of the Genoese and Venetians paralyzed the trade of Ancient Russia in the south, and by the end of the 12th century. it was mainly moved to the north - to Novgorod, Smolensk and Polotsk.
culture
The culture of Ancient Russia is rooted in the depths of the culture of the Slavic tribes. During the formation and development of the state, it reached a high level and was enriched by the influence of Byzantine culture. As a result, Kievan Rus was among the culturally advanced states of its time. The center of culture was the city. Literacy in the Old Russian state was relatively widespread among the people, as evidenced by birch bark letters and inscriptions on household items (whirlwinds, barrels, vessels). There is information about the existence of schools in Russia at that time (even for women).
The parchment books of Ancient Russia have survived to this day: translated literature, collections, liturgical books; among them the oldest - "Ostromir Gospel (cm. OSTROMIROVO GOSPEL)". The most educated in Russia were the monks. Prominent cultural figures were Metropolitan Hilarion of Kyiv (cm. HILARION (metropolitan)), Bishop of Novgorod Luka Zhidyata (cm. LUKA Zhidyata), Theodosius Pechersky (cm. THEODOSIY Pechersky), chroniclers Nikon (cm. NIKON (chronicler)), Nestor (cm. NESTOR (chronicler)), Sylvester (cm. Sylvester Pechersky). The assimilation of Church Slavonic writing was accompanied by the transfer to Russia of the main monuments of the early Christian and Byzantine literature: biblical books, writings of the church fathers, lives of saints, apocrypha (“The Virgin’s Passage through the Torments”), historiography (“Chronicle” by John Malala), as well as works of Bulgarian literature (“Shestodnev” by John), Chekhomoravian (the lives of Vyacheslav and Lyudmila). In Russia, the Byzantine chronicles (George Amartol, Sinkella), the epic (“Deed of Devgen”), “Alexandria”, “The History of the Jewish War” by Josephus Flavius, from Hebrew - the book "Esther", from Syriac - the story of Akira the Wise . From the second quarter of the 11th c. original literature develops (chronicles, lives of saints, sermons). In the Sermon on Law and Grace, Metropolitan Hilarion treated with rhetorical art the problems of the superiority of Christianity over paganism, the greatness of Russia among other peoples. The Kievan and Novgorod chronicles were imbued with the ideas of state building. The chroniclers turned to the poetic traditions of pagan folklore. Nestor came to realize the kinship of the East Slavic tribes with all the Slavs. His "Tale of Bygone Years" acquired the significance of an outstanding chronicle of the European Middle Ages. Hagiographic literature was saturated with topical political issues, and its heroes were the princes-saints (“The Lives of Boris and Gleb”), and then the ascetics of the church (“The Life of Theodosius of the Caves”, “The Kiev-Pechersk Patericon”). In the lives for the first time, although in a schematic form, human experiences were depicted. Patriotic ideas were expressed in the genre of pilgrimage (The Journey by Abbot Daniel). In the "Instruction" to the sons, Vladimir Monomakh created the image of a just ruler, a zealous owner, an exemplary family man. Old Russian literary traditions and the richest oral epic prepared the emergence of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign (cm. A WORD ABOUT IGOREV'S POLIC)».
The experience of the East Slavic tribes in wooden architecture and construction of fortified settlements, dwellings, sanctuaries, their handicraft skills and traditions of artistic creativity were assimilated by the art of Ancient Russia. In its formation, a huge role was played by the trends coming from abroad (from Byzantium, the Balkan and Scandinavian countries, Transcaucasia and the Middle East). In a relatively short period of the heyday of Ancient Russia, Russian masters mastered new methods of stone architecture, the art of mosaics, frescoes, icon painting, and book miniatures.
The types of ordinary settlements and dwellings, the technique of erecting wooden buildings from horizontally laid logs for a long time remained the same as that of the ancient Slavs. But already in the 9th - early 10th centuries. extensive yards of estates appeared, and in princely possessions - wooden castles (Lyubech). From the fortified settlements, fortress cities developed with residential buildings inside and with outbuildings adjacent to the defensive rampart (Kolodyazhnensky and Raykovetsky settlements, both in the Zhytomyr region; destroyed in 1241).
On trade routes at the confluence of rivers or at river bends, cities grew from large settlements of the Slavs and new ones were founded. They were composed of a fortress on a hill (detinets, the kremlin - the residence of the prince and a refuge for the townspeople in the event of an attack by enemies) with a defensive earth rampart, a chopped wall on it and with a moat from the outside, and from the settlement (sometimes fortified). The streets of the settlement went to the Kremlin (Kyiv, Pskov) or parallel to the river (Novgorod), in some places they had wooden pavements and were built up in treeless areas with huts (Kyiv, Suzdal), and in forest areas - with log houses in one or two log cabins with canopies (Novgorod, Staraya Ladoga). The dwellings of wealthy townspeople consisted of several interconnected log cabins of different heights on the basement, had a tower (“polusha”), external porches and were located in the depths of the courtyard (Novgorod). Mansions in the Kremlin from the middle of the 10th century. had two-story stone parts, either tower-like (Chernigov), or with towers along the edges or in the middle (Kyiv). Sometimes the mansions contained halls with an area of more than 200 square meters (Kyiv). Common to the ancient Russian cities were the picturesque silhouette, dominated by the Kremlin with its colorful mansions and temples, shone with gilded roofs and crosses, and an organic connection with the landscape, which arose due to the use of the terrain not only for strategic, but also for artistic purposes.
From the second half of the 9th c. chronicles mention wooden Christian churches (Kyiv), the number and size of which increase after the baptism of Russia. These were (judging by the conditional images in the manuscripts) rectangular, octagonal or cruciform in terms of construction with a steep roof and dome. Later they were crowned with five (the Church of Boris and Gleb in Vyshgorod near Kyiv, 1020-1026, the architect Mironeg) and even thirteen domes (the wooden St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, 989). The first stone Church of the Tithes in Kyiv (989-996, destroyed in 1240) was built of alternating rows of stone and flat square plinth bricks on mortar from a mixture of crushed bricks with lime (zemyanka). In the same technique, masonry was erected that appeared in the 11th century. stone travel towers in city fortifications (Golden Gate in Kyiv), stone fortress walls (Pereyaslav Yuzhny, Kiev-Pechersky Monastery, Staraya Ladoga; all late 11th - early 12th centuries) and majestic three-aisled ones (Savior Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernigov, begun before 1036) and five-nave (Sophia Cathedrals in Kyiv, 1037, Novgorod, 1045-1050, Polotsk, 1044-1066) churches with choirs along three walls for the princes and their entourage. The type of cross-domed church, universal for Byzantine religious construction, is interpreted by ancient Russian architects in its own way - domes on high light drums, flat niches (possibly with frescoes) on the facades, brick patterns in the form of crosses, a meander. Old Russian architecture is similar to the architecture of Byzantium, the southern Slavs and Transcaucasia. At the same time, peculiar features are also manifested in ancient Russian churches: many domes (13 domes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv), a stepped arrangement of vaults and rows of semicircles-zakomars corresponding to them on the facades, porch galleries on three sides. The stepped-pyramidal composition, majestic proportions and tensely slow rhythm, balance of space and mass make the architecture of these significant buildings solemn and full of restrained dynamics. Their interiors, with a contrasting transition from the low side aisles shaded by the choirs to the spacious and brighter domed part of the middle nave leading to the main apse, amaze with emotional intensity and evoke a wealth of impressions that are generated by spatial divisions and a variety of viewpoints.
The best-preserved mosaics and frescoes in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv (mid-11th century) were executed mainly by Byzantine masters. The murals in the towers are secular scenes of dances, hunts, and stadiums full of dynamics. In the images of saints, members of the grand-ducal family, the movement is sometimes only indicated, the poses are frontal, the faces are strict. Spiritual life is conveyed through a stingy gesture and wide-open large eyes, whose gaze is fixed directly on the parishioner. This imparts tension and strength to images imbued with high spirituality. By the monumental character of execution and composition they are organically connected with the architecture of the cathedral. The miniature of Ancient Russia (“Ostromir Gospel” 1056-1057) and the colorful initials of handwritten books are distinguished by color richness and subtlety of execution. They resemble contemporary cloisonné enamel, which adorned the grand ducal crowns, pendants-colts, for which the Kiev craftsmen were famous. In these products and in slate monumental reliefs, the motifs of Slavic and ancient mythology are combined with Christian symbols and iconography, reflecting the dual faith typical of the Middle Ages, which had long been retained among the people.
In the 11th century receives development and iconography. The works of Kiev masters were widely recognized, especially the icons of the work of Alympius (cm. ALIMPIUS), which until the Mongol-Tatar invasion served as models for icon painters of all ancient Russian principalities. However, icons that are unconditionally related to art Kievan Rus, has not been preserved.
In the second half of the 11th c. the princely construction of temples is being replaced by monastic construction. In fortresses and country castles, the princes built only small churches (Mikhailovskaya Goddess in Ostra, 1098, preserved in ruins; the Church of the Savior on Berestov in Kyiv, between 1113 and 1125), and the three-nave, six-pillar monastery cathedral, more modest in size than urban, often without galleries and with choirs only along the western wall. Its static, closed volume, massive walls, divided into narrow parts by flat ledges-blades, create the impression of power and ascetic simplicity. Single-domed cathedrals are being built in Kyiv, sometimes without stair towers (Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Caves Monastery, 1073-1078, destroyed in 1941). Novgorod churches of the early 12th century. crowned with three domes, one of which is above the stair tower (the cathedrals of Antoniev, founded in 1117, and St. George's, begun in 1119, monasteries), or five domes (Nikolo-Dvorishchensky Cathedral, founded in 1113). The simplicity and power of architecture, the organic fusion of the tower with the main volume of the cathedral of the St. George's Monastery (architect Peter), giving integrity to its composition, distinguish this temple as one of the highest achievements of ancient Russian architecture of the 12th century.
At the same time, the style of painting also changed. In the mosaics and frescoes of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv (circa 1108, the cathedral was not preserved, restored anew) made by Byzantine and Old Russian artists, the composition becomes freer, the refined psychologism of images is enhanced by the liveliness of movements and the individualization of characteristics. At the same time, as the mosaic is replaced by a cheaper and more accessible fresco, the role of local masters increases, who in their works depart from the canons of Byzantine art and at the same time flatten the image, strengthen the contour principle. In the murals of the baptismal of the St. Sophia Cathedral and the Cathedral of the St. Cyril Monastery (both in Kyiv, 12th century), Slavic features prevail in the types of faces, costumes, the figures become squat, their color modeling is replaced by a linear elaboration, the colors brighten, halftones disappear; images of saints become closer to folklore ideas.
The artistic culture of the Old Russian state was further developed during the period of fragmentation in various ancient Russian principalities, due to the peculiarities of their economic and political life. A number of local schools arose (Vladimir-Suzdal, Novgorod), retaining a genetic commonality with the art of Kievan Rus and some similarities in artistic and stylistic evolution. In the local currents of the Dnieper and western principalities, the northeastern and northwestern lands, folk poetic ideas make themselves felt more strongly. The expressive possibilities of art are expanding, but the pathos of form is weakening.
A variety of sources (folk songs, epics, chronicles, works of ancient Russian literature, monuments of fine art) testify to the high development of ancient Russian music. Along with various types of folk art, military and solemn-ceremonial music played an important role. Trumpeters and performers on "tambourines" (percussion instruments such as drums or timpani) took part in military campaigns. At the court of the princes and the retinue nobility, singers and instrumentalists, both local and from Byzantium, were in the service. The singers sang the feats of arms of their contemporaries and legendary heroes in songs and tales that they themselves composed and performed to the accompaniment of the harp. Music sounded during official receptions, festivities, at the feasts of princes and eminent people. In folk life, a prominent place was occupied by the art of buffoons, in which singing and instrumental music were presented. Buffoons often appeared in princely palaces. After the adoption and spread of Christianity, church music was widely developed. The early written monuments of the Russian language are associated with it. musical art- hand-written liturgical books with a conditional ideographic record of tunes. The basics of ancient Russian church singing art were borrowed from Byzantium, but their further gradual transformation led to the formation of an independent singing style - Znamenny chant, along with which there was a special kind of kondakar singing.
encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .
During the VI-IX centuries. among the Eastern Slavs there was a process of class formation and the creation of the prerequisites for feudalism. The territory on which the ancient Russian statehood began to take shape was located at the intersection of the paths along which the migration of peoples and tribes took place, nomadic routes ran. The southern Russian steppes were the scene of an endless struggle of 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, the Don and the North Caucasus, a Khazar state was formed. Slavic tribes in the regions of the Lower Don and Azov fell under his dominion, 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 deeply invaded the north through the North Caucasus, reaching the Don. Big number Slavs - allies of the Khazars - were taken prisoner.
From the north, the Varangians (Normans, Vikings) penetrate into the Russian lands. At the beginning of the 8th century they settle around Yaroslavl, Rostov and Suzdal, establishing control over the territory from Novgorod to Smolensk. Part of the northern colonists penetrates into southern Russia, where they mix with the Rus, taking their name. In Tmutarakan, the capital of the Russian-Varangian Khaganate was formed, which ousted the Khazar rulers. In their struggle, the opponents turned to the Emperor of Constantinople for an alliance.
In such a complex ooetanovka, the consolidation of the Slavic tribes into political unions took place, which became the embryo of the formation of a single East Slavic statehood.
In the ninth century as a result of the centuries-old development of the 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 theme of the history of Kievan Rus considered in the work is not only interesting, but also very relevant. Last years passed under the sign of changes in many areas of Russian life. The way of life 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 raising the national consciousness of Russians. A sign of the revival of the nation is the ever-increasing interest in the historical past of the Russian people, in its spiritual values.
FORMATION OF THE OLD RUSSIAN STATE IN THE IX 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 prerequisites of feudalism. The most valuable monument containing information about the beginning of the Russian state is chronicle"The Tale of Bygone Years, where did the Russian land come from, and who in Kyiv began to reign first and where did the Russian land come from," compiled by the Kiev monk Nestor around 1113.
Having begun his story, like all medieval historians, with global flood, Nestor tells about the settlement in antiquity of the Western and Eastern Slavs in Europe. 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, in his words, “in a bestial way”, 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 glades, in whose land Kyiv was built. Glades are "smart men", they have already established a patriarchal monogamous family and, obviously, blood feuds have been outlived (they are "distinguished by a meek and quiet disposition").
Next, Nestor tells 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 locals were hostile to him, and Kiy returned to the banks of the Dnieper.
First historical event On the way to the creation of the Old Russian states, Nestor considered the formation of the Polyan principality in the Middle Dnieper region. The legend about Kii 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 on the territory of Byzantium of the Slavs, who dominated communal relations, contributed to the eradication of the slave-owning order 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 powerful Byzantium testify to the relatively high level of development of Slavic society for that time: material prerequisites for equipping significant military expeditions had already appeared, and the system of military democracy made it possible to unite large masses of Slavs. Distant campaigns contributed to the strengthening of the power of the princes in the indigenous Slavic lands, where tribal principalities were created.
Archaeological data fully confirm 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 (VII century).
The creation of a significant tribal union in the southern forest-steppe regions facilitated the advancement of the 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 (Russian land) apparently managed to protect their possessions from their invasions and penetrate deep into the fertile black earth steppes. In the VII-IX centuries. Slavs also lived in the eastern part of the Khazar lands, somewhere in the Azov region, participated together with the Khazars in military campaigns, were hired to serve the kagan (Khazar ruler). In the south, the Slavs lived, apparently, as islands among other tribes, gradually assimilating them, but at the same time perceiving elements of their culture.
During the VI-IX centuries. productive forces were growing, tribal institutions were changing, and the process of class formation was going on. As the most important phenomena in the life of the Eastern Slavs during the VI-IX centuries. it should be noted the development of arable farming and the development of handicrafts; the disintegration of the tribal community as a labor collective and the separation of individual peasant farms from it, 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 the tribesmen; capture by princes and nobility of tribal land in personal hereditary property.
By the 9th century everywhere on the territory of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs, a significant area of arable land cleared from the forest was formed, testifying to the further development of productive forces under feudalism. An association of small tribal communities, which is characterized by a certain unity of culture, was an ancient Slavic tribe. Each of these tribes gathered 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 subordination of weaker neighbors by strong tribes - all this led to the enlargement of the tribes, to their unification into larger groups.
Describing the time when the transition from tribal relations to the state took place, Nestor notes that in various East Slavic regions there were "their reigns." This is also confirmed by archeological 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 north were somewhat smoothed out in terms of agricultural conditions, when there was a sufficient amount of plowed land in the north and the need for hard collective labor for cutting and uprooting of the forest 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 took place at a time when the slave-owning system had already outlived itself on a world-historical scale. In the process of class formation, Russia came to feudalism, bypassing the slaveholding formation.
In the IX-X centuries. antagonistic classes of feudal society are formed. The number of combatants is increasing everywhere, their differentiation is intensifying, there is a separation from their midst of the nobility - boyars and princes.
Important in the history of the emergence of feudalism is the question of the time of the appearance of cities in Russia. Under 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 IX-X centuries. the feudal lords created a number of new cities, which served both for the purposes of defense against nomads and for the purposes of domination over the enslaved population. Handicraft production was also concentrated in the cities. The old name "city", "city", denoting a fortification, began to be applied to a real feudal city with a citadel-kremlin (fortress) in the center and an extensive craft and trading settlement.
With all the gradualness and slowness of the process of feudalization, one can still point out a certain line, starting from which there are grounds for talking about feudal relations in Russia. This line is the 9th century, when a feudal state was already formed among the Eastern Slavs.
The lands of the East Slavic tribes united into a single state were called Rus. The arguments of the "Norman" historians who tried to declare the founders of the Old Russian state the Normans, who were then called Varangians in Russia, are unconvincing. These historians stated that under Russia the chronicles meant the Varangians. 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 a noticeable result not only in the West Slavic lands, where the Normans never penetrated and where the Great Moravian state arose, but also in the East Slavic lands (in Kievan Rus), where the Normans appeared, robbed, destroyed representatives of local princely dynasties and sometimes became princes themselves. Obviously, the Normans could neither assist nor seriously interfere with 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.
For the first time, the mention of the people of Ros is found in the middle of the 6th century, when information about it had already reached Syria. The glades, called, according to the chronicler, Rus, become the basis of the future Old Russian people, 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 Russia before the appearance of the Varangians there. “These are the Slavic regions,” Nestor writes, “that are part of Russia - the glades, the Drevlyans, the Dregovichi, the Polochans, the Novgorod Slovenes, the northerners ...”2. This list includes only half of the East Slavic regions. The composition of Russia, therefore, at that time did not yet include the Krivichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Croats, Ulichi and Tivertsy. At the center of the new state formation was the Glade tribe. The Old Russian state became a kind of federation of tribes, in its form it was an early feudal monarchy
ANCIENT RUSSIA IN THE END OF THE IX - BEGINNING OF THE XII CENTURIES
In the second half of the ninth century Novgorod prince Oleg united in his hands the power over Kiev and Novgorod. 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 unification of the East Slavic lands as part of the Old Russian state was complex. In a number of lands, the Kiev princes met with serious resistance from local feudal and tribal princes and their "husbands". This resistance was crushed by force of arms. During the reign of Oleg (late 9th - early 10th century), a constant tribute was already levied from Novgorod and from the lands of the North Russian (Novgorod or Ilmen Slavs), Western Russian (Krivichi) and northeastern. Prince Igor of Kyiv (beginning of the 10th century), as a result of a stubborn struggle, subjugated the lands of the streets and Tivertsy. Thus, the border of Kievan Rus was advanced beyond the Dniester. A long struggle continued with the population of the Drevlyane land. Igor increased the amount of tribute levied from the Drevlyans. During one of Igor's campaigns in the Drevlyane land, when he decided to collect a double tribute, the Drevlyans defeated the prince's squad and killed Igor. During the reign of Olga (945-969), Igor's wife, the land of the Drevlyans was finally subordinated to Kiev.
The territorial growth and strengthening of Russia continued under Svyatoslav Igorevich (969-972) and Vladimir Svyatoslavich (980-1015). The composition of the Old Russian state included the lands of the Vyatichi. The power of Russia spread to the North Caucasus. The territory of the Old Russian state also expanded to the west, including the cities of Cherven 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 connected 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 great Kievan prince. At the princely court there lived a squad, divided into "senior" and "junior". The boyars from the prince's combat comrades-in-arms turn into landowners, his vassals, and estates. In the XI-XII centuries. there is a registration of the boyars as a special estate and the consolidation of its legal status. 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 relations and the economic independence of the vassal4.
The princely combatants took part in the administration of the state. So, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, together with the boyars, discussed the issue of introducing Christianity, measures to combat "robbery" and decided other matters. In some parts of Russia, their own princes ruled. But the great Kyiv prince sought to replace the local rulers with his proteges.
The state helped to strengthen the rule of the feudal lords in Russia. 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 combatants received entire regions in control with the right to collect tribute.
In the middle of the X century. under Princess Olga, the sizes of duties (tributes and quitrents) were determined and temporary and permanent camps and churchyards were established in which tribute was collected.
The norms of customary law developed among the Slavs from ancient times. With the emergence and development of class society and the state, along with customary law and gradually replacing it, written laws appeared and developed to protect the interests of the feudal lords. Already in Oleg's treaty with Byzantium (911), "Russian law" is mentioned. The collection of written laws is the "Russian Truth" of the so-called "Short Edition" (end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th century). In its composition, the “Ancient Truth” was preserved, apparently written down at the beginning of the 11th century, but reflecting some norms of customary law. It also speaks of the survivals of primitive communal relations, for example, blood feuds. The law considers cases of replacing revenge with a fine in favor of the relatives of the victim (subsequently in favor of the state).
The armed forces of the Old Russian state consisted of the retinue of the Grand Duke, the retinues, which were brought by the princes and boyars subordinate to him, and the people's militia (wars). The number of troops with which the princes went on campaigns sometimes reached 60-80 thousand. An important role in the armed forces continued to be played by the foot militia. In Russia, detachments of mercenaries were also used - nomads of the steppes (Pechenegs), as well as Polovtsians, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Czechs, Poles, Norman Varangians, but their role in the armed forces was insignificant. The ancient Russian fleet consisted of ships hollowed out of trees and sheathed with boards along the sides. Russian ships sailed the Black, Azov, Caspian and Baltic seas.
The foreign policy of the Old Russian state expressed the interests of the growing class of feudal lords, who expanded their possessions, political influence and trade relations. In an effort to conquer individual East Slavic lands, the Kiev princes came into conflict with the Khazars. The advance to the Danube, the desire to master 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 Russia 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 make peace and pay an indemnity. According to the peace treaty of 911. Russia received the right of duty-free trade in Constantinople.
The Kiev princes undertook campaigns to more distant lands - beyond the Caucasus Range, to the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea (campaigns of 880, 909, 910, 913-914). The expansion of the territory of the Kievan state was especially actively carried out under the reign of the son of Princess Olga, 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 had destroyed6.
Then the Russian squads marched to the Danube, where they captured the city of Pereyaslavets (formerly owned by the Bulgarians), which Svyatoslav decided to make his capital. Such political ambitions show that the princes of Kiev did not yet associate 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 Kiev princes to pay more attention to the internal structure of their own state.
ACCEPTANCE OF CHRISTIANITY IN RUSSIA
At the end of the tenth century Christianity was officially introduced in Russia. The development of feudal relations prepared for the replacement of pagan cults by a new religion.
Eastern Slavs deified the forces of nature. Among the gods revered by them, 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 thunder and bad weather. Volos was considered the god of wealth and trade, the creator of all human culture - the blacksmith god Svarog.
Christianity began to penetrate early into Russia among the nobility. Even in the IX century. Patriarch Photius of Constantinople noted that Russia had changed "pagan superstition" to "Christian faith"7. Christians were among Igor's combatants. 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 Russia. The adoption of Christianity by Russia took place in a difficult foreign policy situation. In the 80s of the X century. the Byzantine government turned to the prince of Kiev with a request for military assistance to suppress uprisings in subject lands. In response, Vladimir demanded an alliance with Russia from Byzantium, offering to seal it with his marriage to Anna, the sister of Emperor Basil 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 Russia received large land grants and tithes from state revenues. During the 11th century Bishoprics were founded in Yuryev and Belgorod (in the land of Kiev), Novgorod, Rostov, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny, Vladimir-Volynsky, Polotsk and Turov. Several large monasteries arose in Kyiv.
The people met with hostility the new faith and its ministers. Christianity was forcibly planted, 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 an advance over paganism. Together with Christianity, the Russians received some elements of a higher Byzantine culture, joined, like other European peoples, to the heritage of antiquity. The introduction of a new religion increased the international significance of ancient Russia.
DEVELOPMENT OF FEUDAL RELATIONS IN RUSSIA
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 Russia. This time is characterized by the gradual victory of the feudal mode of production over a large area of the country.
The agriculture of Russia was dominated by sustainable field farming. Cattle breeding developed more slowly than agriculture. Despite a relative increase in agricultural production, harvests were low. Shortage and famine were frequent occurrences, undermining the Kresgyap economy and contributing to the enslavement of the peasants. Hunting, fishing, and beekeeping remained of great importance in the economy. 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 with side lands were seized by feudal lords.
In the 11th and early 12th 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 the princes in 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 Kiev princes, who received land, "tortured" by them and the princes, into administration, possession or patrimony. The Kievan grand dukes themselves had large land holdings. The distribution of land by the princes to combatants, while 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 property was protected by law. The growth of boyar and ecclesiastical landownership was closely connected with the development of immunity. The land, which used to be peasant property, fell into the ownership of the feudal lord “with tribute, viry 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 to court.
With the transfer of land into the ownership of individual feudal lords, the peasants fell into dependence on them in various ways. Some peasants, deprived of the means of production, were enslaved by the landowners, using their need for tools, implements, seeds, etc. Other peasants, who were sitting on land subject to tribute, who owned their tools of production, were forced by the state to transfer their land under the patrimonial power of the feudal lords. With the expansion of estates and the enslavement of smerds, the term servants, which previously denoted slaves, began to spread 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 out in the feudal lord's household with the master's inventory. For escaping from the master, the zakuns turned into serfs - slaves deprived of any rights. Labor rent - corvee, field and castle (construction of fortifications, bridges, roads, etc.), was combined with natural quitrent.
The forms of social protest of the masses against the feudal system were varied: from fleeing from their owner to armed "robbery", from violating the boundaries of feudal estates, setting fire to the beech trees belonging to the princes to open rebellion. The peasants fought against the feudal lords and with weapons in their hands. Under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, “robbery” (as the armed uprisings of the peasants were often called at that time) became a common phenomenon. In 996, Vladimir, on the advice of the clergy, decided to use against the "robbers" death penalty, but then, having strengthened the apparatus of power and, in need of new sources of income for the maintenance of the squad, replaced the execution with a fine - vira. The princes paid even more attention to the struggle against popular movements in the 11th century.
At the beginning of the XII century. further development of the craft took place. In the countryside, under the dominance of natural economy, the manufacture of clothing, footwear, utensils, agricultural implements, etc., was a domestic production that had not yet separated from agriculture. With the development of the feudal system, part of the communal artisans became dependent on the feudal lords, others left the village and went under the walls of princely castles and fortresses, where handicraft settlements were created. The possibility of a break between the artisan and the countryside was due to the development of agriculture, which was able to provide the urban population with food, and the beginning of the separation of handicrafts from agriculture.
Cities became centers for the development of handicrafts. In them by the XII century. There were over 60 handicraft specialties. Russian artisans of the XI-XII 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. In craft workshops, tools, weapons, household items, and jewelry were made.
The foreign trade of Russia was more developed. Russian merchants traded in the possessions of the Arab Caliphate. The Dnieper path connected Russia with Byzantium. Russian merchants traveled from Kyiv to Moravia, the Czech Republic, Poland, South Germany, from Novgorod and Polotsk - along the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia, the Polish Pomerania and further to the west. With the development of handicrafts, 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 character of the Russian economy.
With the growth of the social division of labor, cities developed. They arose from fortresses-castles, gradually overgrown with settlements, and from trade and craft settlements, around which fortifications were erected. The city was connected with the nearest rural district, the products of which he lived and the population of which he served with handicrafts. In chronicles of the IX-X centuries. 25 cities are mentioned, in the news of the 11th century -89. The heyday of ancient Russian cities falls on the XI-XII centuries.
Craft and merchant associations arose in the cities, although the guild system did not develop here. In addition to free artisans, patrimonial artisans, who were serfs of princes and boyars, also lived in the cities. The urban nobility was the boyars. Big cities Russia (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 in the conditions of the dominance of subsistence farming and the weakness of economic ties between individual lands.
PROBLEMS OF STATE UNITY OF RUSSIA
The state unity of Russia 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 XI century. the Grand Duke still stood at the head of the state, but the princes and boyars dependent on him acquired large land holdings in different parts of Russia (in Novgorod, Polotsk, Chernigov, Volhynia, etc.). The princes of individual feudal centers strengthened their own apparatus of power and, relying on local feudal lords, began to regard their reigns as ancestral, that is, hereditary possessions. Economically, they almost did not depend on Kyiv, on the contrary, the Kyiv 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 in Kyiv, his son Svyatopolk became prince, who killed his brothers Boris and Gleb and began a stubborn struggle with Yaroslav. In this struggle, Svyatopolk used the military assistance of the Polish feudal lords. Then a mass popular movement against the Polish invaders began in the Kiev land. Yaroslav, supported by Novgorod citizens, defeated Svyatopolk and occupied Kyiv.
During the reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise (1019-1054), around 1024, a great uprising of 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, the signs of the feudal fragmentation of the state became more and more distinct.
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 Polovtsy attacked Russia. Russian troops were defeated on the Alta River. Izyaslav and Vsevolod fled to Kyiv. This hastened the anti-feudal uprising in Kyiv, which had long been brewing. The rebels defeated the princely court, released from prison and elevated to the reign of Vseslav of Polotsk, previously (during the inter-princely strife) imprisoned by his brothers. However, he soon left Kyiv, and Izyaslav a few months later, with the help of Polish troops, resorting to deceit, again occupied the city (1069) and committed a bloody massacre.
Urban uprisings were associated with the movement of the peasantry. Since the anti-feudal movements were also directed against the Christian church, the rebellious peasants and townspeople were sometimes led by wise men. In the 70s of the XI century. there was a major popular movement in the Rostov land. Popular movements also took place in other places in Russia. In Novgorod, for example, the masses of the urban population, led by the Magi, opposed the nobility, headed by a prince and a 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 ruin from exploitation and princely strife was exacerbated 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. Frightened, the nobility and the merchants invited Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh (1113-1125), Prince of Pereyaslavsky, to reign in Kyiv. The new prince was forced to make some concessions in order 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 Southwestern Russia, he simultaneously tried to subjugate other lands (Minsk, Volyn, etc.). However, contrary to the policy of Monomakh, the process of fragmentation of Russia, caused by economic reasons, continued. By the second quarter of the XII century. Russia finally fragmented into many principalities.
CULTURE OF ANCIENT RUSSIA
The culture of ancient Russia is the culture of the 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 beginning gradually disappeared, the rites turned into folk games. Buffoons - wandering actors, singers and musicians, who came from the people's environment, were the bearers of democratic trends in art. Folk motifs formed the basis of the wonderful 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-consciousness found a particularly vivid expression in the historical epic epic. In it, the people idealized the time of the political unity of Russia, although still very fragile, when the peasants were not yet dependent. In the image of the "peasant son" Ilya Muromets, a fighter for the independence of the motherland, the deep patriotism of the people is embodied. Folk art had an impact on the traditions and legends that developed in the feudal secular and ecclesiastical environment, and helped the formation of ancient Russian literature.
The appearance of writing was of great importance for the development of ancient Russian literature. In Russia, writing arose, apparently, quite early. The news has been preserved that the Slavic enlightener of the 9th century. Konstantin (Cyril) saw in Chersonese books written in "Russian characters". Evidence of the existence of written language among the Eastern Slavs even before the adoption of Christianity is an earthen vessel discovered in one of the Smolensk barrows of the beginning of the 10th century. with an inscription. Significant distribution of writing received after the adoption of Christianity.
1. The theory of formation of the Old Russian state: Normanism and anti-Normanism
The formation of a single Old Russian state was due to the formation of the Old Russian people and the process of unification of the East Slavic tribes. Most historians attribute the formation of the Old Russian state to the 9th century.
This period is characterized by: the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of feudal public relations; the formation of the social and state system of the early feudal state; the emergence and development of state-legal institutions; the introduction of the Christian religion in Russia; the adoption of normative acts regulating the main aspects of the life of the state and society; strengthening the foreign policy ties of the Russian state, etc.
The features of the formation of the Old Russian state are:
· geographical and climatic conditions (large sparsely populated territories, difficulties in communication between individual lands - rivers, lakes, which made it difficult to coordinate all lands and conduct a unified state policy);
· residence on the territory of the Old Russian state of tribes of various ethnic composition, which resulted in the formation of a multinational state;
· relationships with neighboring peoples and states.
The main theories of the formation of the Old Russian state:
."Norman theory", the creators of which are German scientists G.Z. Bayer, G.F. Miller and A.L. Schlozer. The basis for the Norman theory was the Old Russian chronicle of the XII century "The Tale of Bygone Years", which spoke of the calling to reign on the Russian land of the Varangian princes Rurik, Sineus and Truvor, based on which the supporters of this theory conclude that the Varangian brothers founded the Old Russian state and gave it the name "Rus";
."anti-Norman theory" (M.V. Lomonosov, V.G. Belinsky, N.I. Kostomarov and others) believes that the formation of the Old Russian state was the result of deep evolutionary historical processes (the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the development of feudal relations), and was not created by immigrants from Scandinavia. Refuting the Norman origin of the word "Rus", Russian researchers proved that the "Ros" tribe existed among the Eastern Slavs long before the appearance of the Varangian princes.
The Norman theory established itself as an anti-Russian political doctrine and was widely used by Hitler during the Second World War to justify aggressive wars against the Slavic peoples.
. Political and socio-economic structure in Ancient Russia. Kyiv and Novgorod
Kyiv and Novgorod became the center of formation of the ancient Russian state, East Slavic tribes, northern and southern, united around them. As a result, the Old Russian state was formed - Kievan Rus. In the 9th century both of these groups united into a single ancient Russian state, which went down in history as Russia. Prince Oleg became the first prince of the unified state.
IN historical science the question of the socio-economic system and social structure of Kievan Rus remains debatable. At the same time, most researchers agree that there were several socio-economic structures in Kievan Rus. IN social structure Old Russian society showed clear elements of both feudalism, and the primitive communal system, and even slavery.
The data of ancient Russian chronicles and other sources indicate that in Kievan Rus there was already a noticeable stratification of society. Its top was made up of princes, their close boyars (“princely men”), combatants, and clergymen. It is assumed that the development of large-scale feudal landownership, the formation of hereditary fiefs, which in Russia were called "patrimonial estates", began no earlier than the 11th century. The bulk of the population in those days, apparently, were personally free peasants, called "people" in the sources. An important role in their life was played by the community (“peace”, or “rope”). Many sources mention smerds. Perhaps this word was synonymous with the concept of "people". Some historians believe that peasants dependent on feudal lords were called smerds. We do not have exact information about the ways of enslavement and forms of exploitation of smerds. There were also categories of peasants - purchases and ryadovichi, who were dominated by various forms of economic dependence on the upper classes. The free inhabitants of the cities were called "city people".
In the early feudal state, elements of slavery took place. Sources name two categories of the slave population: servants and serfs. The servants, as a rule, consisted of prisoners of war and their descendants. Such slaves were considered the younger members of the family. The enslavement of fellow tribesmen spread, hence a new kind of unfree people appeared - serfs.
The basis of the economy of the Old Russian state was agriculture. Crafts achieve great success: blacksmithing, foundry, weapons, pottery, weaving, jewelry, etc. Its development is closely connected with the rapid growth of cities that were the administrative centers of the Slavic tribes, and later the ancient Russian principalities. Cities became the main trade and craft centers.
Foreign trade also developed. The famous route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” passed through the Russian lands - that is, from Scandinavia to Byzantium. Wax, furs, flax and linen fabrics, blacksmiths' and gunsmiths' products were exported. There was also a slave trade - Russian merchants often sold servants to other countries. Ancient Russia imported mainly luxury items, church utensils and spices. At the same time, in the internal economic life of Russia, as in the days of the tribal system, subsistence farming dominated, and trade relations of great importance did not have.
The Grand Duke who ruled in Kyiv was considered the head of the Old Russian state. Princely power passed not only from father to son, but also from brother to brother, from uncle to nephew, and so on. Most historians call the political system of Kievan Rus an early feudal monarchy.
The Kiev princes managed to subdue all the Eastern Slavic tribes. Already from the tenth century tribal princes are not mentioned in the sources. In the localities, the power of the Kiev prince was represented by posadniks or volostniks. From the second half of the tenth century large territories were ruled by specific princes. They became, as a rule, the sons of the Grand Duke.
Under the prince, a council (duma) functioned, consisting of representatives of the highest aristocracy and the clergy. An important role in public life was played by the meeting of urban residents - veche. All adult men of the city took part in it. The core of the Old Russian army was the princely squad. In wartime, the people's militia - "howls" gathered. The combatants participated in the government and served as a pillar of princely power.
The ancient Russian state was a powerful state. It occupied the territory from the Baltic to the Black Sea and from the Western Bug to the upper reaches of the Volga. Kievan Rus became the cradle of modern nations: Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian.
3. Activities of the first princes of Kiev (Oleg, Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav)
The prerequisites for the formation of the Old Russian state were the disintegration of tribal ties and the development of a new mode of production. The Old Russian state took shape in the process of development of feudal relations, the emergence of class contradictions and coercion.
Among the Slavs, a dominant layer was gradually formed, the basis of which was the military Nobility of the Kiev princes - the squad. Already in the 9th century, strengthening the position of their princes, the combatants firmly occupied leading positions in society.
It was in the 9th century. in Eastern Europe, two ethno-political associations were formed, which eventually became the basis of the state. It was formed as a result of the association of glades with the center in Kyiv.
Slavs, Krivichi and Finnish-speaking tribes united in the area of Lake Ilmen (the center is in Novgorod). In the middle of the 9th c. Rurik (862-879), a native of Scandinavia, began to rule this association. Therefore, the year 862 is considered the year of formation of the ancient Russian state.
Rurik, who took over the administration of Novgorod, sent his squad led by Askold and Dir to rule Kiev. Rurik's successor, the Varangian prince Oleg (879-912), who took possession of Smolensk and Lyubech, subjugated all the Krivichi to his power, in 882 he fraudulently lured Askold and Dir out of Kyiv and killed him. Having captured Kyiv, he managed to unite the two most important centers of the Eastern Slavs - Kyiv and Novgorod, by the power of his power. Oleg subjugated the Drevlyans, Northerners and Radimichi.
The main activities of the rulers of the ancient Russian state were the subjugation of the Slavic tribes to collect tribute, the struggle for penetration into the Byzantine market, the protection of borders from nomadic raids, the conduct of religious transformations, the suppression of uprisings of the exploited people, and the strengthening of the country's economy. Each of the princes, to a greater or lesser extent, solved the problems associated with the strengthening of the state apparatus. It is clear that they all combined the difficult task of managing vast territories with a desperate struggle to preserve power and their own lives. Most of them had both glorious deeds and atrocities.
After the death of Rurik in 879, Oleg became the prince of Novy Novgorod, whose name is associated with the date of birth of Kievan Rus. In 882, he made a campaign against Kyiv, where he treacherously killed its rulers Askold and Dir, and in this way united the Novgorod and Dnieper lands. Oleg moved the capital to Kyiv, given its economic, geographical and climatic benefits. In his hands was the territory from Ladoga in the north to the lower reaches of the Dnieper in the south. He was paid tribute to the glade, northerners, Radimichi, Drevlyans, Eastern Krivichi, Ilmen Slovenes and some Finno-Ugric tribes.
No less impressive were Oleg's successes in the foreign arena.
Oleg made a successful campaign against Constantinople in 907. Four years later, as a result of a secondary attack on the environs of this city, he concluded a more than winning agreement with the Byzantines, in addition to a huge tribute, Kievan Rus received the right of duty-free trade for its merchants.
Less striking is the figure of Igor, who replaced Oleg on the throne. It is known that the beginning of his reign is associated with the pacification of the Drevlyans, who were trying to escape from the power of the great Kiev prince, and the defense against the attack of the Pechenegs. Not so successful were his campaigns against Constantinople. In the first of them - in 941 - the Byzantines burned Igor's fleet with Greek fire. In 944, he decided to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the combatants and again moved to the southern borders with a huge army. This time, the inhabitants of Constantinople did not risk tempting fate and agreed to pay tribute. Only now, in the new agreement with Byzantium, there was already no provision that was so pleasant for Russian merchants.
Greed ruined Igor. In 945, he was not satisfied with the usual one-time collection of tribute from the Drevlyans and went with a small group of combatants to rob the representatives of this tribe for the second time. Their indignation was fully justified, because the soldiers of the Grand Duke committed violence. They killed Igor and his warriors. The actions of the Drevlyans can be defined as the first popular uprising known to us.
With the cruelty customary for that time, Igor's wife Olga, who became the Grand Duchess, acted. By her order, the capital of the Drevlyans, the city of Iskorosten, was burned. But (and this will be a natural phenomenon in the future), after a ferocious reprisal, she made minor concessions to the common people, establishing "lessons" and "graveyards" (sizes and places of tribute collection). Such a step testified to her wisdom. Olga showed the same quality when she converted to Christianity in Constantinople in 955, which had far-reaching positive consequences: relations with the powerful, culturally developed Byzantium improved and the authority of the grand ducal power in Kyiv increased internationally. In general, her policy within the country (except for the ruthless suppression of the Drevlyans) and beyond its borders was distinguished by restraint and peacefulness. A different course was pursued by her son Svyatoslav, distinguished by ambition, the search for glory on the battlefield. The chronicler draws him as an unpretentious warrior who spent his whole life on military campaigns. It seems that this Russian prince was copied two centuries later by the legendary king of England, Richard the Lionheart.
Two main principles of Svyatoslav have come down to us: "I'm going to you" and "The dead have no shame." He never attacked the enemy suddenly, and also liked to emphasize that he would only speak well of those who died in battle. We can say that this prince was an example of a brave and noble knight. No wonder the enemies of the Russian land trembled before him. But, of course, not all of Svyatoslav's actions deserve approval from the standpoint of modern man. He bravely defeated the invaders of the Russian land, but also committed aggressive actions. It seemed that this magnanimous knight did not have well-thought-out military-political plans, that he was simply attracted by the element of the campaign itself.
In 966-967. Svyatoslav defeated the Volga Bulgaria (Ulyanovsk residents live on the territory of this state, which was once developed economically and culturally), then headed south and crushed the Khazar kingdom, which, as in Oleg’s time, annoyed Kievan Rus with its raids. As a result of his long campaign, he reached the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, where he founded the Tmutarakan principality. With rich booty, the prince returned home, but did not stay there for a long time: the Byzantine emperor asked him to help in pacifying the rebellious Danube Bulgarians. Already at the end of 967, Svyatoslav reported to Constantinople about the victory over the rebels. After that, he seemed to have somewhat lost interest in campaigns, he liked living at the mouth of the Danube so much that the warriors soon heard his decision: to move the capital from Kyiv to Pereyaslavets. Indeed, the city and the surrounding lands were in a zone of favorable climate, important trade routes to Europe and Asia passed here.
Naturally, the Byzantine emperor was extremely worried about the new political course; the appearance of a warlike prince with a permanent “registration permit” in Pereyaslavets was very dangerous. In addition, Russian warriors immediately began to rob Byzantine villages. A war broke out, which ended with the defeat of Svyatoslav. The end of the prince, the eternal warrior, turned out to be natural. In 972, when he was returning home after unsuccessful battles with the Byzantines, the Pechenegs ambushed him at the Dnieper rapids and killed him.
After the death of Svyatoslav, Yaropolk became the Grand Duke.
The most important direction in the activity of the rulers of Ancient Russia was the protection of trade routes and the defense of the southern borders from nomads. This problem became especially acute with the appearance of the Pechenegs in the southern Russian steppes, first mentioned in the Russian chronicle in 915. From the first years of his reign in Kyiv, Oleg began to build a kind of protective belt. However, the raids of the Pechenegs on Russia continued. It was from their hands that Prince Svyatoslav died in 972, returning from Byzantium. According to the chronicle legend, the Pecheneg prince Kurya made a bowl from the skull of Svyatoslav and drank from it at feasts. According to the ideas of that era, this showed respect for the memory of the fallen enemy: it was believed that the military prowess of the owner of the skull would go to the one who drinks from such a bowl. Summing up the policy of the first Kiev princes, V.O. Klyuchevsky determined not only its essence, but also its main results: “The first Russian princes outlined with their sword a fairly wide range of lands, the political center of which was Kyiv.”
Conclusion
Old Russian uprising Prince Normanism
The Old Russian state was formed as a result of a complex interaction of a whole complex of both internal and external factors, socio-economic, political and spiritual.
First of all, one should take into account the changes that took place in the economy of the Eastern Slavs in the VIII - IX centuries. Thus, the already noted development of agriculture, especially arable farming in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of the Middle Dnieper, led to the appearance of an excess product, which created conditions for the separation of the princely retinue group from the community (there was a separation of military administrative work from productive).
In the north of Eastern Europe, where agriculture could not become widespread due to harsh climatic conditions, crafts continued to play an important role, and the emergence of an excess product was the result of the development of exchange and foreign trade.
In the area of plowed agriculture, the evolution of the tribal community began, which, due to the fact that now a separate large family could provide for its existence, began to transform into an agricultural or neighboring (territorial) community. Such a community, as before, mainly consisted of relatives, but unlike the tribal community, arable land, divided into allotments, and the products of labor were here in the use of separate large families that owned tools and livestock. This created some conditions for property differentiation, but social stratification did not occur in the community itself - the productivity of agricultural labor remained too low. Archaeological excavations East Slavic settlements of that period found almost identical semi-dugout family dwellings with the same set of objects and tools.
In addition, on the vast forest territory of the East Slavic world, undercutting was preserved, and because of its laboriousness, it required the efforts of the entire tribal team. Thus, there has been an uneven development of individual tribal unions.
The political factors in the formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs include the complication of intra-tribal relations and inter-tribal clashes, which accelerated the formation of princely power, increased the role of princes and squads both defending the tribe from external enemies and acting as an arbiter in various kinds of disputes.
In addition, intertribal struggle led to the formation of intertribal alliances led by the most powerful tribe and its prince. These unions took the form of tribal principalities. As a result, the power of the prince, which he sought to turn into hereditary, depended less and less on the will of the veche assemblies, strengthened, and his interests became more and more alienated from the interests of his fellow tribesmen.
The evolution of the pagan ideas of the Slavs of that era also contributed to the formation of the power of the prince. Thus, as the military power of the prince, who brought booty to the tribe, defended it from external enemies and took on the problem of resolving internal disputes, grew, his prestige grew and, at the same time, alienation from free community members occurred.
Thus, as a result of military successes, his performance of complex managerial functions, the prince’s removal from the usual circle of affairs and concerns for the community members, which often resulted in the creation of a fortified intertribal center - the residence of the prince and squad, he began to endow his fellow tribesmen with supernatural powers and abilities, in it more and more they saw the guarantee of the well-being of the entire tribe, and his personality was identified with a tribal totem. All this led to the sacralization of princely power, created the spiritual prerequisites for the transition from communal to state relations.
External prerequisites include the "pressure" exerted on the Slavic world by its neighbors - the Khazars and the Normans.
On the one hand, their desire to take control of the trade routes linking the West with the East and South accelerated the formation of princely retinue groups that were drawn into foreign trade. Taking, for example, products of crafts, primarily furs from their fellow tribesmen and exchanging them for prestigious consumption products and silver from foreign merchants, selling them captured foreigners, the local nobility more and more subjugated tribal structures, enriched themselves and isolated themselves from ordinary community members. . Over time, she, having united with the Varangian warrior-merchants, will begin to exercise control over trade routes and trade itself, which will lead to the consolidation of previously disparate tribal principalities located along these routes.
On the other hand, interaction with more advanced civilizations led to the borrowing of some socio-political forms of their life. It is no coincidence that for a long time the great princes in Russia were called, following the example of the Khazar Khaganate, Khakans (Kagans). For a long time, the Byzantine Empire was considered the true standard of the state-political structure.
It should also be taken into account that the existence of a powerful state formation in the Lower Volga - the Khazar Khaganate, protected the Eastern Slavs from the raids of nomads, who in previous eras (Huns in the 4th-5th centuries, Avars in the 7th century) hampered their development, interfered with peaceful labor and, as a result, the emergence of the “embryo” of statehood.
In Soviet historical science, for a long time, priority in the formation of the state was given to internal socio-economic processes; some modern historians believe that external factors played a decisive role; however, it seems that only the interaction of both internal and external, with insufficient socio-economic maturity of the East Slavic society, could lead to the historical breakthrough that occurred in the Slavic world in the 9th-10th centuries.
Bibliography
1.Grekov B.D. Kievan Rus. - M., 1999
.Zaichkin I.A., Pochkaeva I.N. Russian history. - M., 1992
.History from ancient times A.P. Novoseltsev, A.N. Sakharov, V.I., Buganov, V.D. Nazarov. - M., 2008
.History from ancient times. By red. B.A. Rybakov. - M., 2005
.Klyuchesvskiy V.O. Course of Russian history - M., 2008
.Orlov A.S., Georgiev V.A., Georgiev N.G., Sivokhina T.A. History of Russia: Textbook - M., 2009
.Rybakov B.A. The world of history: the initial centuries of Russian history. - M., 2007
.Solovyov S. History of Russia since ancient times. - M., 2006
.Shmurlo E.F. Course of Russian history: The emergence and formation of the Russian state (864-1462). SPb., 2004
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The era of "Oleg - Svyatoslav - Vladimir I" is recognized by most social scientists as the period of unification of the East Slavic tribal unions "under the crown" of the princes of the Rurik dynasty. The Old Russian state was a link between the countries of East and West for about 250 years and was considered a powerful state in the 10th-11th centuries.
The victorious campaigns of Oleg, Svyatoslav, Vladimir expanded the territory of Russia from Novgorod and Kyiv to the Baltic Sea, the Dvina and the Carpathian Mountains in the West, to the Dnieper rapids in the South and the territory of modern Finland in the North. In the East, the Kama Bulgars also preferred not to be at enmity with Russia.
Of no small importance for the development of the Old Russian state were campaigns against Constantinople. Their result was the establishment of equal economic and cultural ties with Byzantium and the adoption of Christianity. Having become the state religion, Christianity consolidated the unity of Russia and contributed to the development of writing, painting, and architecture.
Old Russian land belonged to the entire princely family. The Grand Duke was at the head of the state. The specific princes of subject lands were subordinate to him.
The Grand (Kyiv) prince was considered the head of the legislative power, military leader, supreme judge and owner of taxes. Campaigns for tribute ("polyudye") contributed to the strengthening of the grand duke's power. After the execution of Igor by the Drevlyans, Olga canceled the polyudye, established a fixed amount of tribute, the timing of its delivery and the place of collection.
Rule in Russia from the calling of the Novgorodians to the reign of Rurik and until the death of Yaroslav the Wise was sole. This was due to the fact that Rurik had no other heirs, except for Igor, and Igor - except for Svyatoslav, Oleg and Yaropolk died, and Svyatopolk killed his brothers - Boris, Gleb and Svyatoslav.
After the death of Yaroslav the Wise, the princely family quickly grew. The order of succession to the throne, which was called the "stairway ascent", was cumbersome and often led to various misunderstandings. According to this order, in the event of the death of the Grand Duke, it was not his son who occupied the Kyiv throne, but the eldest of the remaining brothers of the prince. The inheritance left by this brother was inherited by the next senior member of the princely family. The sons of princes who died before occupying the grand-ducal throne were forever deprived of the right to it. They were called outcasts. The grand dukes, for the sake of the interests of their family, were often unfair to them and usually allocated them remote small destinies or deprived them altogether.
In addition, already during the reign of Vladimir, there was a tendency to decentralize the grand ducal power and increase the independence of the specific principalities. This manifested itself in different ways. So, for example, in 1014 Novgorod refused to pay tribute to the Grand Duke.
Following the example of his father (Vladimir I Svyatoslavich), Yaroslav during his lifetime divided the territory into regions (destinies) between his sons. Izyaslav, as the elder, received Kyiv and Novgorod, i.e. major cities waterway"from the Varangians to the Greeks"; Svyatoslav - Chernigov, Tmutarakan, Ryazan, Murom and the lands of the Vyatichi; Vsevolod - Rostov, Suzdal, Beloozero, the Volga region; Vyacheslav - Smolensk region; Igor - Vladimir Volynsky. After the death of Vyacheslav and Igor, all Russian lands were concentrated in the hands of three brothers. The exception was the Polotsk land, given by Yaroslav as an inheritance to the descendants of Vladimir's eldest son, Izyaslav, in particular, to his grandson, Vseslav Bryachislavich.
The one who owned Kiev was considered the Grand Duke, the rest were specific (junior) princes.
In the first half of the appanage period (1054–1157), the order was observed in which the senior princes occupied the best destinies; after the death of the Grand Duke, all appanage princes moved in order of seniority to other destinies.
TO beginning of XII in. the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" began to lose its connecting role between the North and the South, and the specific princes began to lose interest in supporting the Kievan prince. In addition, they themselves often had their own strong squads, which they used not only to protect their lands, but also in the struggle for power and better destinies. As a result of inter-princely strife, the raids of the nomads (most often the Polovtsy) met with less and less resistance. Kiev principality became a dangerous place to live, and the population began to gradually move to the northern regions of Russia.
Later, Vladimir Monomakh, and then his son Mstislav the Great, made attempts to restore the unity of Kievan Rus, but the process of disunity became irreversible. By the middle of the XII century. the princes of Kiev stopped minting coins, and in 1169 Andrei Bogolyubsky even plundered the capital of Russia, as was usually the case when conquering enemy cities. The weakening of Kyiv led to the strengthening of some specific principalities: Vladimir-Suzdal, Chernigov, Galicia-Volyn, Smolensk, etc. By the end of the XII century. there were already several dozen of them, and each had its own grand dukes and appanages. Fragmentation and bloody feuds increasingly lowered the power of the state, the main wealth of which was considered land. It was distributed among communities and feudal estates. Patronage, or fatherland, i.e. paternal possession, passed on by inheritance. The owner of the estate was a specific prince or boyar. In addition to the population assigned to the princely and boyar estates, there was a significant number of communal peasants who were not subject to the boyars or princes. Peasant communities paid tribute directly to the Grand Duke.
All the free population of Ancient Russia was called people, so the collection of tribute was called polyudem. There were no uniform norms of tribute in Russia, which caused conflicts between collectors and the population. Only during the reign of Olga did a single princely right and duties of subjects arise.
Most Full description polyudya was made in the X century. Emperor of Byzantium Constantine Porphyrogenitus:
"The harsh winter lifestyle of those same Russians is this. When the month of November comes, immediately their archons (princes) leave Kyiv with all the Russians and go to polyudye, which means "circling", namely to the lands of the Slavs: Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Krivichi , northerners and other peoples who are naktiots (tributaries under the contract) of the Russians. Feeding there throughout the winter, they then, starting in April, when the ice on the Dnieper River melts, return to Kyiv. Then, taking their monoxides (one-trees), they equip them and go to Romagna (Byzantium)." Elsewhere in that narrative, Konstantin explained that such monoxides arrived in Kyiv from various places: from Novgorod, Smolensk, Chernigov, and so on.
But the Russians went for trade along the Volga to Bulgaria and the Khazar capital Atil, where a numerous Russian-Slavic colony functioned. The route to the west through the Czech Republic to the German lands was also known; this was evidenced by the trade (so-called Rafelsted) charter of 907, as well as Khazar sources.
Thus, the priority task of the Russian princes of the first half of the X century. was the organization of polyudya, and then military-trading expeditions with the aim of selling the collected tribute. These expeditions were of a regular nature (according to Konstantin - annual), and they should not be identified with the military campaigns of Oleg and Igor, as a result of which agreements on regular trade were concluded.
The bulk of the rural population, dependent on the prince, was called stinks. They could live in peasant communities and bear duties in favor of the state or in estates. The rural inhabitants of the estates were in a more severe dependence and completely lost their personal freedom. One of the forms of enslavement of the free population was purchasing, when the ruined peasants borrowed from the feudal lords "kupu"- part of the crop, livestock, money (hence the name of this category of the population - "purchases"). "Zakup" had to work for his creditor and obey him until the full return of the debt.
In addition to smerds and "purchases" in the princely and boyar estates there were slaves, called serfs, or servants. Their number was replenished from among the captives or ruined tribesmen. Slave way of life was common in ancient Russia.
Features of the social life of Ancient Russia are not sufficiently covered in historical sources. But the differences between the feudal system of Russia and the "classical" (Western European) models are obvious. They lie in the leading role of the public sector in the economy of Russia - the presence of a significant number of free peasant communities that were feudally dependent on the grand ducal administration.
The principle of taxation in Russia was based on property - arable land. One of the ways to enrich the ancient Russian nobility was the right granted by the grand dukes to collect tribute from specific lands. First of all, such a right was granted to local princes, as well as boyars. The lands were given to princes and boyars as if "for feeding". It was their means of maintenance. Later, cities also passed into the category of such "feedings", and the vassals of the Grand Duke transferred part of these "feedings" to their vassals from among their own combatants. This is how feudal hierarchy.
In the economy of Ancient Russia, the feudal system coexisted with slavery and primitive patriarchal relations, so some historians called the "state of Russia" a country with a diversified economy.
The development of the Russian economy took place against the background of the continued expansion of its territory through the development of the East European Plain. Arable agriculture spread everywhere. Tools of labor were improved: archaeologists found more than 40 types of tools used in farms of that period. On the territory of Russia, new feudal estates arose everywhere, including settlements of various ranks. On the eve of the Asian invasion, there were about 300 cities in Russia - regional centers of crafts, trade, and culture.
Princely and feudal estates, as well as peasant communities that paid taxes to the state, functioned as subsistence farms, those. meet their needs with internal resources. Their links to the market were weak and irregular. The dominance of subsistence farming created conditions for the separation of regions from the center, the opportunity to operate as an independent land or principality.
The disunity of individual lands and principalities predetermined the emergence of social conflicts. To prevent them, strong power in the regions was needed. Relying on the boyars, the specific princes actively strengthened their own power. Later, inevitable contradictions began to arise between the strengthened boyars and local princes, and the struggle for power appeared already within the regions. This manifested itself in different ways in different lands. For example, in Novgorod (later also in Pskov), boyar republics appeared and established themselves. In other lands, where the specific princes were able to timely suppress the separatism of the boyars, power was established in the form of a regional monarchy.
From the beginning of the X to the middle of the XI century. Russia developed in favorable conditions. The creation of a powerful state that united most of the East Slavic lands: first of all, the Middle Dnieper region, headed by Kiev and North-Western Russia, headed by Novgorod, contributed to the liberation of part of the land from the power of the Khazars. Fortified border villages. Western cities that had previously been disputed with Poland went to Russia. The offensive also intensified in the southwest, west, southeast. At times, the borders of the Russian state approached the Danube. After the defeat of Khazaria, Russian settlements appeared on the Don and the Taman Peninsula. New arable lands were developed, agriculture improved, crafts developed, trade relations within the country and with the closest foreign neighbors, new cities appeared.
The state power contributed to these changes. In turn, the development of the state contributed to the stabilization of power, its improvement. At the top level of the power hierarchy were the prince and representatives of the senior squad (in fact, these were the boyars). Below stood the younger squad of the less noble members of society. Both boyars and junior warriors were considered servants of the prince. They fulfilled his various instructions: in military affairs, administration, court and reprisals (execution of punishments), collection of tributes and taxes, in the field of diplomatic relations with other states, including with destinies.
Subordinate to the prince and personal servants (personal team), the so-called "lads" and "children". All of them were members of the younger squad and at the same time provided various services both in the grand duke's palace and in princely affairs. Druzhina (senior and junior), who previously performed only military functions, from the end of the 10th century. and throughout the eleventh century. more and more merged with the apparatus of government, turning into a lever of state power.
In the cities, the prince relied on the posadniks (from the boyars), in the army - on the voivode, thousandths, who were usually representatives boyar families. It is known, for example, that the voivode was the boyar Vyshata, who commanded the foot Russian army during the Russo-Byzantine war of 1043. Later, his son, Jan Vyshatich, also became the voivode.
The Grand Duke had great power: he led the army, organized the defense of the country, led military campaigns, conducted legal proceedings, ruled the country. And the more the remnants of the tribal system disintegrated, the more the role of the Grand Duke and his administrative apparatus increased.
The actions of the prince usually expressed the interests of the top of society - the boyars and junior combatants, wealthy merchants, and the clergy. These sections of Russian society were closest to the princely power and were interested in it to protect their privileges and income. But at the same time they were also the most viable and dynamic part of the population. Society developed mainly due to organizational efforts and personal abilities. Therefore, the union of these segments of the population with the prince was natural and logical.
