In the section on the question Essay on history on the topic: Characteristics of Vladimir Monom according to plan: given by the author Dmitry Abramov the best answer is Vladimir Monomakh - Prince of Smolensk, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Grand Duke of Kiev (1113 - 1125), statesman and military leader, reformer.
Domestic policy:
1. Vladimir Monomakh became one of the organizers of the Lyubech Congress of Princes in 1097, the main goals of which were to unite troops to fight the Cumans and proclaim the principle “everyone owns his own fatherland”
2. Vladimir Monomakh wrote an addition to “Russian Pravda” - the “Charter of Vladimir Monomakh”, limiting the power of moneylenders and greatly easing the situation of the dependent population.
3. Along with the “Charter,” he created the “Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh,” which is an instruction to his descendants
4. On behalf of Monomakh, the second edition of “The Tale of Bygone Years” was created by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery - Nestor
5. He pursued an active policy of dynastic marriages between the Rurikovichs.
Foreign policy:
1. Vladimir Monomakh, Svyatopolk and Davyd with their sons undertook a campaign in the steppe against the Polovtsians in 1111. Monomakh gave this campaign the meaning of a crusade against the pagan steppes.
2. Vladimir Monomakh finally defeated the Polovtsians during the next campaign in the steppe in 1116, completely preventing their further campaigns against Rus'.
3. Dynastic marriages helped strengthen ties with Europe. Monomakh himself was married to the daughter of the English king, Gita.
4. In 1119, Vladimir Monomakh annexed the Principality of Minsk to Rus'.
Results of activities:
Vladimir Monomakh managed to keep the entire Russian land under his rule, despite the fact that signs of fragmentation intensified. Thanks to Monomakh, the Kiev uprising of 1113 was suppressed. The Polovtsian raids on Rus' ceased, and the princely strife also temporarily ceased. Under Vladimir Monomakh, Rus' became a full part of the European community.

One of the most prominent statesmen and commanders of Ancient Rus' Vladimir Monomakh born in 1053, a year before the death of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, who was his grandfather. Vladimir owes his nickname to his maternal grandfather, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh. The prince spent his childhood in the city of Pereyaslavl South - the capital of his father, Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, where he received a good education.

His carefree childhood ended in 1061, when Vladimir, from the fortress wall, could observe a huge horde of Polovtsy, who attacked Rus' for the first time and defeated his father’s army. Growing up, Vladimir had to devote more and more time to military exercises. The best way to learn how to wield a horse and a weapon in peacetime was hunting. Along with reading, it became the main hobby of the growing prince.

At the age of 13, Vladimir Vsevolodovich began his adult life, going on behalf of his father to Rostov, to the land of the Vyatichi, who had not yet been completely conquered by the Kyiv princes and mostly remained pagans. From that time on, Vladimir’s life turned into a continuous series of campaigns and wars: first internecine, and then with an external enemy.

The Yaroslavichs, to whom the father of the young prince also belonged, were drawn into a bloody strife with Prince Vseslav of Polotsk, nicknamed the Sorcerer, since rumor attributed to him witchcraft and enchantment - the ability to turn into a wolf, quickly move over long distances, etc. But only the Principality of Polotsk It was defeated at the cost of great losses and Vseslav was captured when the Polovtsians arrived with renewed vigor.

In the unhappy battle with the Polovtsians on Alta, which ended with the defeat of the Yaroslavichs, the uprising in Kyiv and the expulsion of Grand Duke Izyaslav from there, Vladimir most likely did not participate. He had enough to worry about. Before his 25th birthday, he managed to reign in no less than five cities, including Smolensk and Vladimir-Volynsky, and completed up to 20 “great routes” (i.e., long roads and military campaigns). Carrying out various assignments, he moved with the troops on the orders of his father and uncle, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, from place to place over a vast area from Novgorod the Great to Glogow in the Czech Republic. I had to fight first with the Poles, then with the Polovtsians, and most of all - with the Principality of Polotsk and cousins, the sons of Izyaslav and Svyatoslav.

Camping life, however, did not prevent Vladimir from getting married. His wife was Gita, the daughter of the last Saxon king of England, Harold, who died at the Battle of Hastings (1066). During Vladimir's campaign in the Czech Republic, his eldest son, Mstislav, was born.

After Vsevolod Yaroslavich became the Grand Duke of Kyiv, his son took the second most important Chernigov throne in the Russian land for 16 years. In those years, the sons of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, who had previously ruled Chernigov for many years, were removed and began to die under unclear circumstances. The life of Vladimir Vsevolodovich during this period became more stable, he acquired considerable influence and authority in Rus'. However, he still had to fight continuous wars on two fronts. Defending the southern border from nomads, he suddenly turned to the north-west of Rus' to repel an old enemy - Vseslav the Magician. Having devastated the Polotsk land together with the Smolensk people, Vladimir returned home just in time for the next Polovtsian raid. One day the Polovtsy “warred all of Starodub.” With the Chernigovites and the Polovtsians friendly to him, Vladimir rushes across the retreating robbers and on the Desna takes two khans prisoner, killing their squads, and already the next morning, beyond Novgorod-Seversky, he disperses the large army of Khan Belkatgin and frees the prisoners. And so from year to year: the pacification of the rebellious Tor tribes - nomads settled by Russian princes on the border with the steppe; then winter campaigns in the Bryansk forests against the last tribal princes of the Vyatichi; then a campaign in the Galician land against his cousins, the Izyaslavichs, and the capture of Minsk, in which Vladimir left “neither servants nor cattle.”

Monomakh spends all his free time from hiking and household chores hunting, engaging in single combats with dangerous animals. In the 19th century In the forests near Chernigov, a golden amulet was found - a “serpentine”, which, judging by the inscription on it, belonged to Vladimir Vsevolodovich. Most likely he was lost while hunting.

During these turbulent years, Vladimir builds a powerful wooden castle in Lyubech - a refuge in case of danger. The year 1078 turned out to be especially alarming. Vladimir spent the entire summer on the southern border, with his brother Rostislav in Pereyaslavl. Active hostilities began in the fall. On September 8, near the town of Belaya Vezha, the brothers completely exterminated a detachment of Polovtsians, capturing two khans. Having barely dealt with the enemy on the left bank of the Dnieper, they were forced to rush to the right and there successively defeat the Polovtsians at Torchesky, Yuryev, and then at Barin and Krasn.

The aged Vsevolod gradually lost control over state affairs. Vladimir increasingly had to take control of the state himself. But when Vsevolod died, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich became the new prince of Kyiv as the eldest of Yaroslav’s descendants. Thanks to his political power and influence, Vladimir could have retained Kyiv, but he gave in. Perhaps he did not want civil strife, fearing a new Polovtsian invasion.

In 1097 . Vladimir Monomakh convened a princely congress in Lyubech to condemn one of his political opponents, Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, accusing him of friendship with the Polovtsians. But he failed to achieve this. The Lyubech Congress only consolidated the existing fragmentation of Rus', proclaiming the principle: “Let everyone keep his fatherland” (that is, he owns the lands inherited from his father and does not encroach on others). This, however, did not stop the strife. Only in 1100 did the Russian princes make peace with each other. The alliance between Vladimir and Svyatopolk, which had been broken, was restored, and by 1103 the opportunity arose for a new blow against the Polovtsians. Vladimir Vsevolodovich was able to persuade his ally to go on a campaign in early spring, when the Polovtsian horses had not yet gained strength after wintering. Five more princes took part in the campaign. The hordes of nomads were defeated four days' journey from the Dnieper rapids. At the same time, Russian reconnaissance particularly distinguished itself by destroying the enemy patrol.

In 1113, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich died, and the popular uprising that began after this forced the boyars to turn to Monomakh with a proposal to take the Kiev throne.

Having become Grand Duke at the age of 60, Vladimir Vsevolodovich showed himself to be a wise statesman and legislator. Under him, “Russian Truth” (a set of ancient Russian laws) was supplemented with important articles limiting the abuses of moneylenders and protecting the rights of rural workers - “purchasers”. A number of articles protected the interests of the merchants. For the first time in the history of Rus', Monomakh spoke out (although this was not reflected in legislation) against the death penalty as a form of punishment in general, even for the most serious crimes. His letter to Oleg Svyatoslavich was preserved in the chronicle, indicating that he had reconciled with this prince, who was guilty of the death of his son.

Using the enormous military resources accumulated to fight the nomads, Monomakh controlled the entire Russian land and ruled it as a strict but wise sovereign. Vladimir was merciful to the rebels, but punished mercilessly for repeated strife. His sons successfully fought with their neighbors. In the northwest, Mstislav built stone fortresses in Ladoga and Novgorod. In the northeast, Yuri repelled the attacks of the Volga Bulgars and improved Zalesskaya Rus - the future Russia, populating it, founding new cities and laying the first white-stone churches of the present Vladimir region. Prince Yaropolk of Pereyaslavl, continuing the work of his father, went against the Polovtsians in 1116 and 1120, after which they fled to the Caucasus and Hungary. He also annexed the free Danube cities to Rus'. The Polotsk land was completely subjugated. Since 1122, friendly relations with Byzantium were restored.

Beginning of the 12th century - the era of Vladimir Monomakh - was the heyday of literature and art in Rus'. Wonderful literary works appeared - first of all, the ancient Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years”, “Walking”, Abbot Daniel’s journey to Palestine, numerous stories and works of religious content. An outstanding monument of ancient Russian culture was "Teaching" written (or dictated) by the Grand Duke himself. Famous "Teaching" Vladimir Monomakh is not only a most valuable source on military history and the first monument of the military memoir genre, but also a manual for the training and education of the future commander and warrior. Far from always being an example of Christian morality in relations with his personal enemies, Monomakh was (or knew how to seem) an exemplary ruler and defender of Rus', which was reflected in the “Instruction”. In his views on the education of future princes, he put moral education in the first place, bequeathing to children and grandchildren, and to all of us (descendants), to be fair and merciful, not to be lazy (“let the sun not find you in bed”), to lead an honest life worthy of a defender of the fatherland. Vladimir Vsevolodovich devotes a lot of space in his “Instructions” to describing his hunting exploits, and this is not accidental. For Monomakh, hunting is a constant conditioning of body and spirit, allowing him to be ready at any moment to fulfill his duty to his homeland. That is why, to this day, the old prince’s covenant is dear to us: “Children, do not be afraid of war or the beast, do a man’s work!”

1054 - 1125

Time period from 1054 to 1125 refers to the history of Rus'from the death of Yaroslav Wise (1054) before beginning of Mstislav's reign I Great (1125), the time of formation of the causes of such a historical period asfeudal fragmentation . This is the time of reign on the Kiev thronesons of Yaroslav the Wise – Izyaslav (1054 – 1073, 1076 – 1078), Svyatoslav (1073 – 1076) and Vsevolod (1078 – 1093 ), and his grandson Vladimir Monomakh (1113 – 1125). Among the most important processes and phenomena of this period, the following are clearly visible:Firstly , the presence of “ladder law” as a special system of inheritance of the princely throne;Secondly , internecine wars(1103, 1107, 1111) And enmity - friendship with the Polovtsians ; Thirdly , congresses of Russian princes(1097, 1100, 1103) ; fourthly, continuation of the formation of an all-Russian code of laws -Russian Truth (Russian Truth of the Yaroslavichs (1072) and additions to it - the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh (1113).

At first XII V. one of associates of Vladimir Monomakh Abbot Daniel creates "Hegumen Daniel's Walking to Holy Places" in which he talks about how a pious Russian man went to the Holy Sepulcher. To implement his plans, he had to go through a difficult and long journey. Daniel prayed at the Holy Sepulcher and placed there a lamp from the entire Russian land.

1. Let us dwell on the “right of the ladder” as one of the main prerequisites of feudal fragmentation. The entire princely family was considered the bearer of supreme power in the Kyiv state, and each individual prince was considered only a temporary owner of the principality that was given to himin order of seniority . Before his death (1054), Yaroslav the Wise left the following order: Kyiv and Novgorod were received by the eldest son Izyaslav; the next most important city, Chernigov, goes to Svyatoslav; Pereyaslavl (southern) goes to Vsevolod, etc. Thus, it turned outa kind of “ladder” where all cities were distributed depending on their economic power and political significance . Therefore, this form of inheritance was called"ladder right" It was “inherited by the horizontal principle and I throne" , when the inheritance of the Kyiv prince was distributed according to seniority among everyone. After the death of Izyaslav, the Kiev table was to be occupied by the next brother, who reigned in Chernigov, where Vsevolod moved from Pereslavl, and then everyone else moved from city to city in this way. As a rule, the eldest son of Izyaslav was appointed to the vacated throne of the last city, and the process continued.However, it very rarely happened that all the heirs managed to reign in Kyiv. According to tradition, if a prince died without reigning in Kyiv, then his descendants lost the right to the Kiev throne and “reached” the specified stairs only to the city where their father died. Accordingly, if the descendants of another prince did not reign in Chernigov, then they lost their rights to Chernigov. Such princes became"partial outcasts" in relation to a certain city, a certain principality. Thus, a very complex system of inheritance was built, leading to internecine wars.

2. Internecine wars and relations with the Polovtsians. Order of succession to the throne , established by Yaroslav the Wise,lasted 19 years . At the head of Rus' was his eldest son Izyaslav Yaroslavich. Svyatoslav ruled in Chernigov, and Vsevolod ruled in Pereyaslavl, bordering the steppe. The younger sons sat in other distant cities. All of them, as the father established, obeyed their elder brother. Butin 1073 g . everything has changed. There was a rumor in Kyiv that Izyaslav wanted to rule the same way as his father, to be an “autocrat.” This alarmed the brothers, who did not want to obey their elder brother as they obeyed their father. Svyatoslav and Vsevolod moved their squads to Kyiv. Izyaslav fled to Poland, then to Germany. The Grand Duke's throne was captured by Svyatoslav, the second most important city in Rus' - Vsevolod took Chernigov into his own hands. Butin 1076 g . Svyatoslav died. Not wanting to shed blood, Vsevolod voluntarily gave Kyiv to Izyaslav, and he himself retired to Chernigov. The brothers divided Rus' among themselves, pushing aside the sons of the deceased Svyatoslav . Vsevolod gave Pereyaslavl control to his eldest son Vladimir, who was bornin 1053 g . from the daughter of a Byzantine emperorConstantine Monomakh . From birth, Vladimir was assigned the family name of his Byzantine grandfather Monomakh. He entered Russian history asVladimir Monomakh. These events marked the beginning of another long period of unrest in Rus'. Svyatoslav's eldest son Oleg fled to Tmutarakan. IN1078 g . he gathered a large army, attracted the Polovtsians to his service and went to war against his uncles. This was not the first time that a Russian prince involved nomads in internecine wars in Rus', but Oleg made the Polovtsians his permanent allies in the fight against other princes.

Since this internecine struggle, the Polovtsy began to constantly interfere in the struggle of the Russian princes. In former times, the invasion of such nomads brought Rus' to the brink of disaster. But now Rus' was a single state with large, well-fortified cities, a strong army, and a good security system.Therefore, nomads and Rus' began to coexist . Their relationship was sometimes peaceful, sometimes hostile. There was brisk trade between them, and the population communicated widely in the border areas. Russian princes and Polovtsian khans began to enter into dynastic marriages among themselves. But as soon as the central government in Rus' weakened or strife began between the princes, the Polovtsians began their raids. They took part in the internecine struggle on the side of one prince or another, and at the same time robbed everyone. During their strife, the princes increasingly began to invite the Polovtsians to Rus'.

3.Congresses of Russian princes. During this period in Rus', with external unity, athree factions of rival princes: one Kyiv led by Svyatopolk; secondChernigovsko – Perpeyaslavl led by Vladimir Monomakh; thirdTmutarakanskaya led by Oleg. This situation threatened new strife, newcivil strife.

Of course, the princes understood the destructiveness of the bloody strife that ravaged the Russian land. This was evidenced bythree princely congresses: in the city of Lyubech (1097), in Vitichev (1100), and on Lake Dolbskoye (1103). The first congress was concerned with restoring the rights of Svyatoslav’s descendants to the Chernigov table, since Svyatoslav at one time did not leave legal rights to Chernigov, although he was in Chernigov. OnLyubechsky Congress the princes confirmed and restored the rights of his heirs, and the descendants of Svyatoslav again became Chernigov princes. Famous words were spoken at this congress"Everyone keeps his fatherland" - that is, the participants of the congress agreed that from now on each of them would rule in the land inherited from his father. However, soon after the Lyubechsky Congress, a brutal civil strife broke out, during which he was blindedPrince Vasilko Terebovolsky . Having realized the disastrousness of such a path, the princes gathered for a newcongress in Vitichev , where they restored relationships and kissed each other’s cross as a sign of oath. In 1103congress princes on Dolobsky Lake jointly resolved the issue of the fight against the Polovtsians, which also testified to the princes’ understanding of the need for unity in the fight against external enemies of the Russian land.

4. Russian The Truth of the Yaroslavichs (1072) and the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh (1113). As the state grew stronger and the equality of people was replaced by theirdivision into rich and poor , dissatisfaction with the new order was increasingly maturing in society. Freedom has always been dear to people, even if the state and princely power protected them from foreign enemies and internal unrest (murders, fights, robberies, thefts). Convinced pagans, especially the Magi, were also dissatisfied with the new order. It seemed to many that with the advent of Christianity and the overthrow of the old gods, all life would collapse. Finally. Everyone who found themselves in an oppressed, dependent position often rose up against the new order -rank and file, purchases, slaves . The new set of laws was aimed primarily at establishing order in the country and protecting property - house, land, property. Without this, society could fall apart and plunge into a quagmire of unrest.Russian Truth of Yaroslavich (1072) established penalties for robbery, arson, murder, mutilation, theft, and violation of boundary signs. Of course, this law protected, first of all, propertied people, owners of estates, merchants, i.e. those who owned property. But at the same time it also contained articles that protected the rights to life and property of any resident of Rus'. Yes, for murderstink or serf a fine of 5 hryvnia was imposed. The punishment was imposed not only for the murder of a prince's horse (3 hryvnia), but also for the murder of a smerd's horse (2 hryvnia). This was fair, but what was surprising was that a smerd or serf was valued only 2 hryvnia more than a prince’s horse. This was the price of a common man in Rus' at that tough time. IN1113 year is acceptedCharter of Vladimir Monomakh “on purchases and cuts” (percent), limiting the arbitrariness of moneylenders. Thus, the lawmaking of this period reflected the development of Rus',establishment of new orders .

Unfortunately, the sons of Yaroslav the Wise failed to preserve the state created by their father and the endXIV. signs of feudal fragmentation are clearly indicated. However, his grandson Vladimir Monomakh tried to delay the process of feudal fragmentation in Rus'.S. M. Solovyov , assessing Monomakh’s merits, he emphasized: “Monomakh did not rise above the concepts of his age, did not go against them, did not want to change the existing order of things, but with personal virtues and strict performance of duties he covered up the shortcomings of the existing order, made it not only bearable for the people, but even capable satisfy his social needs."

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING A HISTORICAL ESSAY

	Evaluation criteria	Points
	Indication of events (phenomena, processes) Two events (phenomena, processes) are correctly indicated One event (phenomenon, process) is correctly indicated Events (phenomena, processes) are not specified or specified
	Historical figures and their role in these events (phenomena, processes) of a given period of history
	Two historical figures are correctly named, the role of each of these personalities is correctly characterized, indicating their specific actions that significantly influenced the course and (or) result of the named events (phenomena, processes) of the period in Russian history under consideration One or two historical figures are correctly named, the role of only one person is correctly characterized, indicating her specific actions (or specific actions), which significantly influenced the course and (or) result of the named events (phenomena, processes) of the period in question in the history of Russia (or one event / phenomenon / process) One or two historical figures are correctly named, the role of each of them in the indicated events (phenomena, processes) of this period of Russian history is not characterized/characterized incorrectly. One or two historical figures are correctly named, while characterizing the role of each of them in the indicated events (phenomena, processes) of a given period of Russian history, general considerations are given without indicating them specific actions that significantly influenced the course and (or) result of the named events (phenomena, processes) of the period in Russian history under consideration. Historical figures are named incorrectly. Historical figures not named
	Cause-and-effect relationships Cause-and-effect relationships named when indicating the role of the individual and counted according to criterion K2 are not counted according to this criterion. Two cause-and-effect relationships are correctly indicated that characterize the causes of events (phenomena, processes) that occurred in the given period One cause-and-effect relationship is correctly indicated, characterizing the reasons for the occurrence of events (phenomena, processes) that occurred in a given period Cause-and-effect relationships are incorrect/not specified
	Assessment of events (phenomena, processes) of this period for the further history of Russia An assessment is made of the influence of events (phenomena, processes) of this period on the further history of Russia based on historical facts and (or) opinions of historians The assessment of the influence of events (phenomena, processes) of a given period on the further history of Russia is formulated in a general form or at the level of everyday ideas, without involving historical facts and (or) the opinions of historians. An assessment of the impact of events (phenomena, processes) of this period on the further history of Russia has not been given
	Use of historical terminology Historical terminology is used correctly in the presentation. All historical terms and concepts are used incorrectly Historical terms, concepts not used
	Presence of factual errors. 1 or 2 points according to criterion K6 can be awarded only if according to criteria K1–K4 a total of at least 4 points is given There are no factual errors in the historical essay There was one factual error. Two or more factual errors were made
	Form of presentation. 1 point according to criterion K7 can be given only if according to criteria K1–K4 a total of at least 4 points is given The answer is presented in the form of a historical essay (consistent, coherent presentation of the material) The answer is presented in the form of separate fragmentary provisions
	Maximum score

SAMPLE PLAN FOR WRITING A HISTORICAL ESSAY

The essay must:

Indicate at least two events (phenomena, processes) relating to a given period of history - it is advisable to pay attention to 2 events (phenomena, processes) of domestic policy and 1 event (phenomenon) of foreign policy;

Name two historical figures whose activities are connected with the specified events (phenomena, processes), and, using knowledge of historical facts, characterize the role of these personalities in the events (phenomena, processes) of a given period in the history of Russia;

Indicate at least two cause-and-effect relationships that existed between events (phenomena, processes) within a given period of history.

Using knowledge of historical facts and (or) opinions of historians, give one historical assessment of the significance of this period for the history of Russia, using quotes (direct and indirect), literary sketches.

During the presentation, it is necessary to use historical terms and concepts related to a given period.

Sequence of actions - templates of phrases, phrases

1 paragraph (part, block)

This is the reign of ___. This king (prince, ruler) carried out many transformations ___.

This is the era called ______ by historians and/or contemporaries. The era of _________ is characterized by _______________.

2 paragraph (part, block)

This era (period) is rich in important events. Let's look at some of them…………….

Ruled (led, was actually the leader of the country) for a long time - ___ years. His reign (this time) cannot be assessed unambiguously.

The results of these events (that is, their consequences) were ___, ___, ___.

On the one side, ___. But in other way, ___.

Speaking about phenomena (events, facts) _______ one cannot help but mention the names of ____________, people (state officials, important personalities, historical figures, etc.) who had a decisive influence on _____

The figure of ___ is also ambiguously assessed by domestic and foreign historians, both past and present. The image of ___ in historiography is quite contradictory.

3 paragraph (part, block)

The reign of ___ (historical era, time of reign) as a whole became a period of ___.

In historical science, there are different points of view on this period, for example, ____________ notes that___________.

In general, we can conclude that _______________.

EXAMPLES OF HISTORICAL ESSAYS

1093-1125

1093-1125 - a time when the feudal fragmentation of the Old Russian state has already become an accomplished fact, although among the Russian princes there are those who wanted and could stop or stop the growth of fragmentation, strengthen the state for some time, since feudal fragmentation was a natural stage in the development of the medieval state .

After the death of Grand Duke Vsevolod Yaroslavich in 1093, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, becoming the Prince of Kiev in 1093, lost several battles against the Polovtsians. In one of the battles, Svyatopolk’s brother Rostislav died, drowning while fleeing. But one of the main events during the reign of Izyaslavich is considered to be the conclusion of peace with the Cumans in 1094 after the battle of Aleppo, the outcome of which, by the way, is unknown.

In 1097, by decision of the Lyubech Congress of princes - descendants of Yaroslav the Wise - Svyatopolk Izyaslavich received Kiev, Turov, Slutsk and Pinsk. Immediately after the congress, Svyatopolk and Prince of Vladimir-Volyn Davyd Igorevich captured Prince of Terebovl Vasilko Rostislavich and blinded him. Princes Vladimir Monomakh, Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich opposed Svyatopolk. The Kiev prince made peace with them and pledged to start a war against Davyd Igorevich. In 1098, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich besieged Davyd Igorevich in Vladimir-Volynsky. After seven weeks of siege, Davyd left the city and ceded it to Svyatopolk. After this, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich tried to take the Cherven cities from Volodar and Vasilko Rostislavich. In 1099, Svyatopolk invited the Hungarians, and the Rostislavichs entered into an alliance with their former enemy, Prince David Igorevich, who received help from the Polovtsians. Svyatopolk and the Hungarians were defeated, and Davyd Igorevich again captured Vladimir-Volynsky.

One of the most important events of this period was the congress of princes in Lyubech in 1097 during the first internecine war. The princes gathered to conclude an agreement on the division of possessions. It was a very difficult time in the country. On the one hand - constant raids of the Polovtsians, on the other - internal internecine wars between princes for the right to rule in Russia. 6 princes took part in the congress. The initiator of the meeting was Vladimir Monomakh, who also proposed creating a unified army to fight the Polovtsians. Thanks to Vladimir, an agreement was reached between the princes, and each received the desired lands. Vladimir acted very wisely, and this is why he was loved by the people. But they loved this prince not only for his wisdom. He was generous, shared with everyone, but his treasury was not empty. Vladimir earned great respect among the people.

Actually, the recognition of Vladimir by the people helped him become the Prince of Kiev in 1113.

The paradox is that despite the fragmentation, this period played a big role in strengthening Russia. The country became more powerful and was ready to repel attacks from ill-wishers.

Example of historical essay by period1113-1125

This historical period coincides with the reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kiev. Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh was born on May 26, 1052. His father was Vsevolod Yaroslavich, and his mother was Anna, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor, Constantine the Ninth. In 1067 he was put in charge of Smolensk, and from 1078 he reigned in Chernigov. From 1125 he was the Grand Duke of Kiev. This talented ruler remained in history not only as a prince, but also as a writer, after whom we received his important literary works. The most famous was his “teaching to children.”

However, no matter how hard Prince Monomakh tried to maintain peace, it was often his very attempts to avoid war that led him to the battlefield. The first significant military clash in the life of Monomakh occurred in 1077, when he, obeying the order of Prince Izyaslav of Kiev, set out with an army against the Polovtsians. Vladimir receives the Principality of Chernigov, but after in 1094 Oleg Svyatoslavich, who came under the walls of his castle, demanded that his father’s lands be given back, Monomakh, avoiding battle, leaves with his squad for Pereyaslavl.

Later, while already reigning in Solensk, Vladimir actively tried to help neighboring princes in the fight against enemies. In 1097 and 1100 he was one of the initiators of meetings of appanage princes.

After the death of Vsevolod Yaroslavich, Monomakh was in no hurry to take the Kiev throne. Moreover, he transfers it (despite his father’s will) to Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. Also, to the best of his ability, he always tried to provide military assistance to the new prince on campaigns. Monomakh became the Grand Duke of Kiev only in 1113. The Kiev nobility, fearing an uprising of the people against moneylenders, called him to reign. Thanks to Monomakh, the uprising was suppressed, and the prince himself, having found out the reasons for its occurrence, established rules of debt law to prevent conflicts in the future. The princely charter contributed to simplifying the fate of purchases (hired workers and debtors).

Also, the reign of Prince Monomakh was marked by confrontations with the Polovtsians (nomads). Vladimir himself repeatedly concluded peace agreements with them and was the organizer of raids into the Polotsk territories in order to attract the people's militia. It should be noted that such a peaceful policy is what made Monomakh so popular among the people. The main feat of the life of the Monk Nestor was the compilation of the “Tale of Bygone Years” by 1112-1113.

“This is the story of bygone years, where the Russian land came from, who began to live in Kiev, and where the Russian land began to eat,” - this is how the Monk Nestor defined the purpose of his work from the first lines. An unusually wide range of sources (previous Russian chronicles and legends, monastic records, Byzantine chronicles of John Malala and George Amartol, various historical collections, stories of the elder boyar Jan Vyshatich, traders, warriors, travelers), interpreted from a single, strictly ecclesiastical point of view, allowed the Monk Nestor to write the history of Russia as an integral part of world history, the history of the salvation of the human race.

An example of a historical essay on the period 1645–1676.

1645–1676 - this is the period of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov. This tsar carried out many practical reforms in all spheres of the country's public life, which prepared the basis for future reforms of Peter I.

Let's name some of them. The country's legislative system was improved, a new set of laws was adopted - the Council Code (1649). This document established the legal formalization of serfdom. According to it, the search for fugitive peasants became indefinite, the peasants became the property of the owner forever, and fixed-term summers were eliminated. In addition, the Code reflected the process of formation of absolutism. It included a chapter regulating the attitude towards the sovereign and proclaiming the most severe punishments for the slightest offenses against the sovereign and the state. Thus, the adoption of the Council Code significantly strengthened the power of the tsar, strengthened the role of the nobles, and preserved and confirmed the significant role of the church in the state.

Alexey Mikhailovich himself took an active part in the preparation of the Council Code. The Tsar observed the work of the cathedral and made his own adjustments to the legislation. A major role in the work of the cathedral and in the drafting of legislation was played by the educator, the tsar’s “uncle”, the head of government, and boyar B.I., who was close to the tsar. Morozov. Despite the fact that after the Salt Riot of 1648 he was removed from official participation in government, he secretly continued to play a huge role at the court of Alexei Mikhailovich, including leading the preparation of the Council Code.”

This historical period also went down in history under the name “schism of the Russian Orthodox Church.” The beginning of the schism dates back to 1654, when Patriarch Nikon began reforming the church. Nikon sought to unify church rituals, books, holidays, etc. But not all believers were ready to accept the new rules, and the so-called Old Believers, or schismatics, arose. Its essence was expressed in disagreement with the new church orders and the desire to adhere to the old, pre-reform rituals. Despite the schism, church reforms led to the unification of the Russian Orthodox Church, strengthening the power and role of the church in the country. However, we must not forget that another consequence of the reforms was the separation of believers, which persisted for many centuries.”

The central figures during the period of church schism were Patriarch Nikon and Archpriest Avvakum. Both were prominent spiritual figures in Russia, both were members of Alexei Mikhailovich’s inner circle, both enjoyed enormous authority among believers. However, Avvakum did not accept Nikon’s desire to take Byzantine books and rituals as a model for the unification of books and rituals, but advocated that Rus' also had its own, Slavic Christian roots, which should have been taken as a model in the reform. Habakkuk demonstrated by personal example loyalty to his principles, defended adherence to antiquity, and laid the foundation for a schismatic movement. Nikon first established himself as an active reformer, a supporter of the new, union of church and state. But later, his desire to put church power above secular power led to the fact that Alexei Mikhailovich stopped supporting him and even actively spoke out for Nikon’s resignation from the patriarchal throne, which happened in 1667. After which Nikon was sent into northern exile, where he spent the rest of my days.

There are undoubtedly cause-and-effect relationships between these events. Both events - the adoption of the Council Code and church reform - were dictated by common reasons: the aggravation of social contradictions in the country, the interest of the population in creating clear and precise laws, the need to strengthen the authority of secular and ecclesiastical authorities.

The consequence of these events was the strengthening of the central government, the strengthening of the influence of the church in the state, and the strengthening of the authority of Russia as a whole.

In foreign policy, in my opinion, one of the main directions is the expansion of the territory of our country in the western, eastern and southern directions. Here we can name the events of 1653-1654, when Bogdan Khmelnitsky turned to the Moscow Tsar for help on behalf of the Ukrainian Cossacks, with a request to accept Ukraine “under the arm” of the Russian Tsar. On January 8, 1654, in the city of Pereyaslavl at the Rada of the Ukrainian People, Ukraine became part of Russia. Russia acquired the territories of Left Bank Ukraine and Kyiv. This became an important achievement of Russian foreign policy, ensuring the development of the country’s economy as a whole, the national culture and national identity of the Ukrainian people, and the strengthening of the country’s international authority.

Alexei Mikhailovich ruled for a long period - 31 years. During his reign, many reforms were carried out in almost all spheres of public life. But his reign cannot be assessed unambiguously. On the one hand, a significant step forward has been made in economic development. Elements of capitalist relations began to develop faster in the country, foreign specialists began to be attracted more often, the tax system changed, and a policy of protectionism was pursued. The Council Code became the main legislation of the country for many decades. Significant successes were achieved in foreign policy: peace treaties were signed with many countries (for example, the Treaty of Kardis in 1661 with Sweden, the Truce of Andrusovo with Poland in 1667), the reunification of Russia and Ukraine took place in 1654, and Russia’s territories in the East were significantly expanded (exploration of Eastern Siberia by Russian pioneers and traders).

But, on the other hand, it was under Alexei Mikhailovich that serfdom was finally formalized (1649), and the tax burden on the country’s population increased significantly. Many social protests took place (for example, the Salt Riot of 1648, the Copper Riot of 1662, the first peasant war led by Stepan Razin of 1670–1671, etc.).

The figure of Alexei Mikhailovich itself is also ambiguously assessed by domestic and foreign historians, both past and present. The image of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in historiography is quite contradictory. In addition, assessing the personality of Alexei Mikhailovich often becomes an attempt to justify the nickname “the quietest” attributed to him. This characteristic quickly became almost the only indisputable assessment of the ruler’s personal qualities. In the study by S.M. Solovyov’s “History from Ancient Times”, almost three volumes are devoted to the reign of the Tsar, but the author did not consider the personality of the ruler himself to be fateful for Russian history. If we talk about how Solovyov himself evaluates Alexei Mikhailovich, then the tsar, from his point of view, was distinguished by “kindness” and “gentleness,” like his father, Mikhail Fedorovich. A more detailed description of the king is given by V.O. Klyuchevsky: “I am ready to see in him the best man of Ancient Rus', at least I don’t know another ancient Russian person who would make a more pleasant impression - but not on the throne.” This “best” person, according to Klyuchevsky, was passive and unstable, little able to “defend or carry out anything,” “easily lost his composure and gave excessive scope to his tongue and hands.” From the point of view of S.F. Platonova, Alexey Mikhailovich “was a wonderful and noble, but too soft and indecisive person.” Modern historian Igor Andreev uses this epithet in his research on almost every page and several times. “Undoubtedly, heroic tragedy is not his genre. The Quiet One, he is the Quiet One,” he states on the first pages of the monograph dedicated to the Tsar. This epithet turned out to be capable of displacing even the name of the king and taking his place. There is a well-known historical novel about Tsar V. Bakhrevsky called “The Quietest”, a novel by V.Ya. Svetlova “At the Court of the Quiet Emperor”.

In general, the era of Alexei Mikhailovich is a period of strengthening absolutism, creating the preconditions for the reforms of Peter the Great.

Example of historical essay by period1796-1801

The ruler of this historical period is Paul 1 179 - the son of Catherine 2 and Peter 3. The emperor who reigned for 4 years, 4 months and 4 days. He came to power at the age of 42 after the death of Catherine 2. The Empress tried in every possible way to remove her son from power, even wanted to transfer the throne to her grandson Alexander, but she did not have time to do this. The new emperor intended to change everything in Russia that his mother had done.

Pavel 1 was raised not by his parents, but by Elizaveta Petrovna and Nikita Ivanovich Panin. Even during Catherine’s life, they had a disgusting relationship, Pavel hated her, and she, since she was not involved in his upbringing, did not like him. Paul believed that Catherine usurped the throne twice. The first time was when she took the throne from the legal heir Peter 3, and the second time when she did not transfer the throne to Paul after coming of age. This hatred of his mother completely changed his character; he became very cruel. He had big disagreements with Catherine 2 on both domestic and foreign policy. Paul 1 was against offensive wars; even during Catherine’s life he brought her a treatise. He believed that conquering new lands would only bring ruin to the country. Like his father, he loved everything Prussian.

Having ascended the throne, the emperor arranges a general amnesty and releases all political criminals who were condemned by Catherine 2. Among the criminals were Radishchev's "travels from St. Petersburg to Moscow" and Novikov's journal "Drone" and "painter". However, this was followed by new links.

Paul 1 considered that the previous emperors allowed the nobles too much, so he deprives them of most of the privileges, abolishes the charter of letters - the collected privileges that the nobility enjoyed. He cancels the representatives of the nobility, forces them to return to service, and forbade the nobility to directly apply to the name of the emperor. Thus he wanted to strengthen the power of the monarch.

His hatred of his mother gives rise to a new decree on changes in the system of succession to the throne - the decree of Peter the Great in 1722, which stated that the emperor could transfer the throne at his own request. The innovation was that the transfer of the throne was carried out only through the male line, to the eldest son. He did not want to allow new palace coups.

The life of the peasants is also changing. Paul 1 limits the power of the landowner, issues a decree on three-day corvée - the work of peasants on the land of the feudal lord. According to this decree, the peasant worked for three days on the owner’s land, three days for himself and rested for one day.

Paul 1 fought against revolutionary actions in society. He introduces the most severe censorship. Closes the borders of the Russian state so that no one brings in seditious literature. Issues a decree on strict regulation of clothing, prohibits clothing of the French cover. A curfew is imposed. In each county they set up booths that monitor compliance with the curfew.

Tries to fight embezzlement, bribery and poor performance of officials. He hung a huge box on the gate of the Mikhailovsky Castle, into which anyone could write a complaint about the official’s work. He took out the correspondence himself and took serious measures.

Introduces a new uniform for the Russian army, which made Suvorov very angry. Suvorov did not like the Prussian uniform. Suvorov said that the Russians always beat the Prussians, what can be learned from them. Pavel 1 was very fond of parades, so he orders that the greatest attention be paid to drill training, and that they practice step training for at least 80 hours. Suvorov was against allotting so much time, because of this he had a conflict with Pavel. The emperor deprives him of all awards and military rank and sends him into exile. Later he will return all the titles and even receive new ones.

Suvorov has been an outstanding figure since the time of Catherine II. This man made a huge contribution to the development of Russia. His army was considered invincible. And all thanks to Suvorov’s attitude towards the soldiers. Suvorov endured all the hardships of military service with them, even ate from a soldier’s cauldron, which is why they never stole in the army. He believed that there are no trifles in war. The soldier must be well-fed, shod, and dressed, so he personally watched the menu.

He defeated opponents when they were outnumbered twice or even three times. And all thanks to the coherence of the army during the attack. His army moved very quickly, so they appeared when no one was expecting them. He always told the soldiers that everyone should know their maneuver, they should not blindly obey, but understand why they are doing it.

Suvorov will be distinguished by three military arts: the first is eye control: how to stand in the camp, how to walk, where to attack, drive and beat. The second is speed... The third is pressure. Each of his soldiers must possess these qualities.

Suvorov wrote a book “How to Run”, it describes the correct behavior of a commander.

Suvorov himself led a healthy lifestyle, got up before the army, did exercises, doused himself with cold water. Paul 1 adopted a harshly hostile policy towards France. In France, the revolution has already degenerated and General Napoleon begins to annex new lands. France conquers northern Italy and expels the Austrians from there. The Austrians ask Paul 1 for help and he agrees. Russia will fight for the interests of Austria; Paul 1 is not going to annex new lands. Austria sets the condition that it needs Russia’s help only if the army is led by Suvorov. Pavel 1 agrees to this condition and sends Suvorov to war, returning his military rank. The Russian army under the command of Suvorov liberates northern Italy from the French. Suvorov receives the title of Count of Italy. Soon the great Alpine battle takes place. The commander of the French army invites Suvorov to surrender. In order not to offend the great commander, France is ready to let the Russian army go without banners; Russia is given a day to think about it. At the military council, Suvorov told the army that he had never lost, but going against such a strong army was also not an option, so he resorted to cunning tactics. His tactics were that first the Russian army goes on the attack, then retreats into the gorge, where reinforcements await them. Suvorov delivers a powerful blow and France cannot withstand it. Russia wins the battle when France outnumbers the Russians, who have exhausted their army. Russia owes this outcome of events to the genius of Suvorov, his precise tactics and the right attitude of the army. For this victory he receives the title of generalissimo. In my opinion, he was the most outstanding figure in Russia of the 18th century.

After the Alpine campaign, Paul 1 changes his foreign policy and moves towards rapprochement with Napoleon.

The result of Paul's ill-conceived policies was that he had no supporters. He did not appreciate or respect all the outstanding figures of his time, Suvorov for example. This attitude towards people led to the fact that the emperor was left without support. In the end, a dissatisfied society produces a revolution. Even his son Alexander1 was involved in the conspiracy to overthrow the emperor. Pavel was killed in 1801. This was the last palace coup in Russian history.

Example of historical essay by period1855-1881

This historical period is associated with the reign of Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov - Alexander II, popularly nicknamed the “liberator”.

The domestic policy of Alexander II was strikingly different from the policy of Nicholas I and was marked by many reforms. The most important of them was the peasant reform of Alexander II, according to which in 1861, on February 19, serfdom was abolished. This reform created an urgent need for further changes in many Russian institutions and led to the implementation of bourgeois reforms by Alexander II.

In 1864, by decree of Alexander II, zemstvo reform was carried out. Its goal was to create a system of local self-government, for which the institution of district zemstvo was established.

In 1870, an urban reform was carried out, which had a positive impact on the development of industry and cities. City councils and councils were established, which were representative bodies of government. The judicial reform of Alexander II, carried out in 1864, was marked by the introduction of European legal norms, but some features of the previously existing judicial system were retained, for example, a special court for officials.

The next was the military reform of Alexander II. Its result is universal conscription, as well as army organization standards close to European ones. During the financial reform of Alexander II, the State Bank was created and official accounting was born. The logical conclusion of the reform activities was the preparation of the first official draft Constitution in Russian history.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the liberal reforms of Alexander II, which are sometimes called the “revolution from above.” The result of the reforms of Alexander II was the active development of machine production, the emergence of new industries in Russian industry, but not only that. The significance of the reforms is that public life in the country has become more liberal, and the political system has also seriously changed. This naturally led to the intensification of the social movement under Alexander II.

The foreign policy of Alexander II was very successful. During his reign, Russia regained its military power, which had been shaken under Nicholas I. In the spring of 1864, the North Caucasus was subjugated, where unsuccessful military operations had been going on for a long time. The same year was marked by the subjugation of Turkestan and the pacification of Poland. The war with Turkey of 1877-1878 brought glory to Russian weapons. quite significantly increased the territory of the country. But Russia lost Alaska, which was sold to the United States for a relatively small amount of 7 million 200 thousand dollars.

The reign of Alexander II was marred by many attempts on his life. The first of them was committed in Paris on May 25, 1867. The second assassination attempt took place in St. Petersburg in 1879. This was followed by an attempt to blow up the imperial train on August 26, 1879 and an explosion in the Winter Palace on February 5, 1880.

The great reforms of Alexander II were interrupted by his death. March 1, 1881 On that day, Tsar Alexander II intended to sign Loris-Melikov’s project of large-scale economic and administrative reforms. The assassination attempt on Alexander II, committed by the Narodnaya Volya member Grinevitsky, led to his severe injury and the death of the emperor. Thus the reign of Alexander II came to an end. His son, Alexander III, ascended the Russian throne.

It is very difficult to assess the reign of Alexander II. On the one hand, he is a reformer who, through reforms, laid the foundation for the formation of an industrial society, gave impetus to the development of the economy and social thought, created a new army and a new court, and strengthened the country’s shaky authority in the international arena. But, on the other hand, it cannot be said that these reforms were consistent, brought to their logical conclusion, and led to an improvement in the situation of the common people.

Example of historical essay by period1964-1982

Brezhnev's “era of stagnation” (a term coined by Mikhail Gorbachev) arose from a combination of many factors: the long “arms race” between the two superpowers, the USSR and the USA; the Soviet Union's decision to participate in international trade, thereby abandoning economic isolation but ignoring the changes taking place in Western societies; the growing severity of its foreign policy, which manifested itself, for example, in the dispatch of Soviet tanks to suppress the Prague Spring of 1968; interventions in Afghanistan; a bureaucracy oppressing the country, made up of elderly personnel; lack of economic reforms; corruption, commodity hunger and other economic problems unresolved under Brezhnev. Social stagnation within the country was intensified by the growing need for unskilled workers, a general labor shortage, and a decline in productivity and labor discipline. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Brezhnev, although sporadically, with the help of Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin, tried to introduce some innovations into the economy, but they were extremely limited and therefore did not produce noticeable results. Such innovations included the economic reform of 1965, undertaken on the initiative of A. N. Kosygin. Its origins partly go back to Khrushchev. This reform was curtailed by the Central Committee, although it recognized the existence of economic problems.

Conservation of the political regime . For almost twenty years of stagnation, there were practically no changes in the administrative and managerial apparatus. This was a consequence of the fact that during Khrushchev’s time, reforms and reshuffles in the party occurred too often, so the course towards stability outlined by Brezhnev was taken literally and with joy. As a result, not only did no reorganization of the country's political structure take place, but all positions in the party became almost lifelong. This led to the fact that the average age of the country's leaders was 60-70 years old, for which the USSR was called the country with the oldest leaders. This situation also led to the fact that the party’s control over all spheres of life significantly increased; many state-owned enterprises, even the smallest ones, were completely subordinate to the party’s decisions. During the same period, the foreign policy and domestic political role of the KGB increased.

The growing importance of the military industry. During the era of stagnation, the USSR was in a state of cold war with the United States, so it was extremely important to increase its military power. The number of military enterprises increased sharply, and weapons, including nuclear and missile weapons, began to be produced in huge quantities. The latest combat systems were being developed and industry was again, as during the war, directed towards the military sphere.

The cessation of economic development and the decline of the agricultural sector. The economy almost completely stopped in its development and required urgent reforms, but attempts to carry them out were unsuccessful. The national economy was not in the best condition - this was due to the agrarian reform, which introduced the well-known “potato trips”, when students were sent to harvest the harvest. This practically deprived the peasants of work; in addition, the percentage of spoiled crops during harvest began to grow steadily. Many collective and state farms brought only losses, people began to gradually move to large cities, and food shortages grew in the country, which became very noticeable after Brezhnev left. This economic situation especially affected regions of the USSR, such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan and others, which relied on agriculture and the mining industry.

Social life. Despite all the negative phenomena, the growth of citizens' well-being continued. Many city residents had the opportunity to improve their living conditions; many could now buy a good car and other high-quality and expensive things. At the same time, the number of poor people grew, but this was not so noticeable due to low food prices. Overall, the life of an ordinary citizen was good, secure and stable, which was what mattered most. Residents of the USSR believed in a bright future and were completely confident in the future, since for all twenty years the economy, backed by oil, maintained a good standard of living compared to the post-war period.

The meaning and results of the period of stagnation are ambiguous. Unfortunately, despite the fact that during these years the country lived a very measured and stable life, processes took place in the economy that could not help but affect the life of the USSR in the future. With the fall in oil prices, all the stagnation phenomena were revealed and it became clear that during the period of stability the economy had become lagging and could no longer support the state only on its own. The difficult era of perestroika began.

In assessing historical figures, it is very important for us to determine not so much their subjective qualities, which can reach us in the distorted transmission of biased contemporaries, but rather the objective significance of their activities - whether they went against the flow of life or, on the contrary, contributed to the acceleration of emerging life phenomena.

Perhaps, not one of the figures of Kievan Rus has preserved as many vivid memories as Vladimir Monomakh. He was remembered both in palaces and in peasant huts many centuries later. The people composed epics about him as the conqueror of the formidable Polovtsian khan Tugorkan - “Tugarin Zmeevich”, and because of the similarity of the names of the two Vladimirs, they poured these epics into the old cycle of the Kyiv epic of Vladimir I.

When centuries of feudal fragmentation and the Tatar-Mongol yoke gave way to the unexpectedly rapid flourishing of the Moscow centralized state, Grand Duke Ivan III, who loved to “disturb the chroniclers” for political interests, turned to the majestic figure of Vladimir Monomakh, who, like Ivan himself, stood on the verge of two eras.

It is not surprising that at the end of the 15th century. For Moscow historians, the most noticeable figure in their native past was the figure of Monomakh, with whose name they associated the legend about the royal regalia, allegedly received by Vladimir from the Emperor of Byzantium. The “Monomakh Cap” became a symbol of Russian autocracy; all Russian tsars were crowned with it until the difficult day of the Khodynka disaster, when the last tsar was crowned with it.

Under Vladimir Monomakh, Rus' defeated the Cumans, and they temporarily ceased to be a constant threat. The power of the Kyiv prince extended to all lands inhabited by the ancient Russian people. The strife of the petty princes was resolutely suppressed by the heavy hand of the Grand Duke. Kyiv was truly the capital of a huge, largest state in Europe.

It is not surprising that in the dark years of strife the Russian people sought solace in their magnificent past; their views turned to the era of Vladimir Monomakh. “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land,” written on the eve of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, idealizes Kievan Rus and glorifies Vladimir Monomakh and his era. The poet outlines the borders of Rus' in a giant semicircle: from Hungary to Poland, from Poland to Lithuania, further to the Baltic lands of the German Order, from there to Karelia and to the Arctic Ocean, from there to Volga Bulgaria, the Burtases, Mordovians and Udmurts.

From a long time ago, all this was submissive to Vladimir Monomakh, “to whom the Polovtsian children had their stripes in the cradle, and Lithuania did not emerge from the swamp into the light, and the eels of the firmament were stone and the cities had iron gates, so that the great Volodimer would not enter them.” Mixing truth with fiction, the poet even believes that the Byzantine emperor, fearing Monomakh, “sent great gifts to him, so that under him the Grand Duke Volodymer would not take the Caesar-city (Constantinople City”).

The unanimity of assessments of Vladimir II in feudal writing, squad poetry and folk epics forces us to take a closer look at the long activity of this prince. A gallery of his contemporaries, the “Gorislavich” princes, has already passed before us, and we have already seen Monomakh in relationships with them, but it’s worth taking a special look at him.

Vladimir was born in 1053, in all likelihood, in Kyiv, where his father Vsevolod, the beloved son of Yaroslav the Wise, was with the Grand Duke, who was living out his last years. The birth of Vladimir cemented the political ties conceived by his grandfather between Kievan Rus and the Byzantine Empire - his mother was Princess Maria, daughter of Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh.

Vladimir's father, Vsevolod Yaroslavich, did not stand out among the princes for his special talents as a statesman - we remember how the boyar chroniclers viciously accused him at the end of his life. But he was an educated man who knew five languages. Unfortunately, Vladimir Monomakh, who wrote in his biography that his father, “sitting at home, was amazed at the 5 language,” did not mention what languages ​​these were. One might think that they were: Greek, Polovtsian, Latin and English.

Vladimir received a good education, which allowed him to use not only the sword of a knight, but also the pen of a writer in his political struggle. He was well versed in all the literature of that time, had a good style and had an extraordinary talent for writing.

Vladimir’s childhood years were spent in border Pereyaslavl, where the famous “Serpentine Ramparts” began, ancient fortifications that for many centuries separated the lands of plowmen from the “unknown land”, from the steppe stretching for many hundreds of kilometers.

In those years, in the steppes there was a change in the ruling hordes: the Pechenegs were pushed back to the Danube, their place was temporarily taken by the Torci, and from the east countless tribes of Kipchak-Polovtsians were already approaching, ready to sweep away everything in their path and plunder all of Rus'.

Vladimir had to spend half his life, over three decades, in Pereyaslavl on the borders of Rus', and this could not but leave its mark on all his ideas about the destructiveness of the Polovtsian invasions, about the vital need for the unity of Russian forces.

From childhood, Vladimir witnessed wars with the Thorns and the first raids of the Polovtsians. There was no other city in all of Rus' like Pereyaslavl, which was so often attacked by steppe inhabitants. The most difficult impressions were probably from the famous campaign of Khan Sharukan in 1068. The epics written about this invasion very poetically describe how herds of bay aurochs run across the steppe from the blue sea, frightened by the trampling of the horses of the Polovtsian army. To the troops at Sharukan

Yes, there are no estimates!
And the moon was covered until the sun was red,
But you can’t see the gold, the light of the month,
And from the same spirit and from the Tatar
(Polovtsian - B.R.).
From the same from a couple of horses...

To Holy Rus' Shark the Giant(Sharukan. - B.R.)
Lays a wide path,
It equalizes with burning fire,
Christian people dam the rivers and lakes...

We do not know whether fifteen-year-old Vladimir took part in that unfortunate battle, where Sharukan defeated his father and uncle, and whether he himself had to experience the hardship of flight, but still the defeat, which ended with the uprising in Kiev, the expulsion of the Grand Duke and the death of the bishop, had to leave deep imprint on his mind.

Vladimir went through a harsh school; From his adolescence he had to help his father, who for many years was a minor prince, a vassal of his brother. It is not for nothing that in his declining years Monomakh recalled his 83 great campaigns across Rus', across the steppes and across Europe. He made his first big journey as a thirteen-year-old boy, driving from Pereyaslavl to Rostov, “through Vyatiche,” through the dense Bryn forests, where, according to epics, the Nightingale the Robber lay, where there was no “straight road,” where funeral fires still burned in the forests bonfires, and the pagans killed Kyiv missionaries.

From the time of this first “path” to his firm establishment in Chernigov, already an adult twenty-five-year-old man, Vladimir Monomakh changed at least five specific cities, made 20 “great paths”, fought in different places and, according to the most minimal estimates, rode on horseback for this time from city to city is at least 10 thousand km (not counting travel around cities that cannot be counted).

Life early showed him the disadvantages of princely strife, the hardships of vassal service, and the hardships of Polovtsian raids. Energetic, active, intelligent and cunning, he, as further shows, used these lessons well, since from his youth he knew the life of Rus' from Novgorod to the steppes, from Volyn to Rostov, perhaps better than any of his contemporaries.

The Battle of Nezhatina Niva on October 3, 1078 dramatically changed the balance of power in the multiplying princely family. Vsevolod Yaroslavich became the Grand Duke, who established his power over the entire “Russian land” in the narrow sense of the word: over Kiev, where he reigned himself, over Chernigov, to which he sent his son Vladimir, and over Pereyaslavl Russian, where he reigned for several years before conquests in Kyiv.

For sixteen years (1078-1094) Vladimir Monomakh reigned in Chernigov. In all likelihood, the construction of a stone tower in the center of the Chernigov Kremlin-Detinets and the creation of an impregnable castle in Lyubech on the Dnieper date back to this time.

Vladimir was already married to the English princess Gita, daughter of King Harald, who died at the Battle of Hastings. The young couple arrived in Chernigov with their two-year-old firstborn, Mstislav, later a major figure in Rus'.

In his autobiographical Teaching, Vladimir often recalled this quite prosperous period of his life.

The prince, according to him, had a strictly established order; he himself, not trusting the servants, checked everything: “What my warrior could do, I always did myself, both in war and on the hunt, without giving myself rest at night, not during the day, regardless of the heat or cold. I did not rely on mayors and privet, but I myself kept order in my household. I took care of the organization of hunting, and of horses, and even of birds of prey, falcons and hawks.”

The Lyubech castle already known to us testifies to the extraordinary thoughtfulness of all parts of this grandiose building, where every fathom of usable area was rationally used, where all the contingencies of a turbulent feudal life were provided for.

In medieval Rus', as elsewhere at that time, princely hunting was both a favorite pastime and a good school of courage. Sometimes princes with their retinue, princesses and court ladies went out on boats to shoot “gray ducks and white swans” in the Dnieper creeks or caught animals behind Vyshgorod with snares, and sometimes the “fishing” turned into a dangerous duel with a mighty beast.

“When I lived in Chernigov,” writes Monomakh, “with my own hands I hobbled three dozen wild horses in the forest forests, and even when I had to ride across the steppe (on the level), I also caught them with my own hands. Twice the tours lifted me and my horse to the horns. A deer gored me with its antlers, an elk trampled me with its feet, and another gored me; a wild boar tore my sword from my hip, a bear bit my knee, and one day a lynx, jumping on my hips, knocked me down along with my horse.”

In the forests near Chernigov in 1821, a heavy gold serpentine amulet was found that belonged to Vladimir Monomakh. Apparently the prince lost an expensive item during one of his hunting matches; Didn't the prince's serpentine trample the elk into the ground?

Metropolitan Nikifor in one of his letters to Monomakh mentions his habit of skiing. Quick and decisive in his actions, Vladimir Vsevolodich established a quick connection between Chernigov and Kiev: “And from Chernigov I rode hundreds of times to my father in Kyiv in one day, before Vespers.” Such a mad dash of 140 km could only be accomplished with a system of constant bases placed along the way. As a study of the route from Chernigov to Lyubech (60 km) shows, the road ran through valleys and was divided by special guard mounds into small sections, where spare horses for support could be located.

V.N. Tatishchev preserved the following description of Monomakh’s appearance, possibly dating back to the records of his contemporaries:

“He had a red face, large eyes, reddish and curly hair, a high forehead, a wide beard, not very tall in stature, but strong in body and strong.”

Sixteen years of life in Chernigov were not years of calm and isolation. Many times Vladimir had to help his father in his struggle, either with external or with internal enemies. Vsevolod's nephews fought over estates, demanding one volost, then another. The cunning prince played a complex chess game in the vastness of Rus': he either took Oleg Svyatoslavich out of the game, then he drove the oldest of his nephews, Vladimir’s dynastic rival - Prince Svyatopolk - into a distant Novgorod corner, then he pushed back the outcasts - the Rostislavichs, then suddenly the hand of the killer turned another opponent out of the game - Yaropolka Izyaslavichy. And all this was done mainly by the hands of Vladimir Monomakh. It was he, Vladimir, who drove out the Rostislavichs; he brought his aunt, the wife of Izyaslav, who was killed for the cause of Vsevolod, to Kyiv, and took for himself the property of her son Yaropolk.

True, it should be noted that we learn about all these matters from the chronicle of Nestor, the court chronicler of his rival Svyatopolk. To correct this tendentious list, Vladimir himself began to write, as it were, a summary of his own autobiographical chronicle. He recorded many episodes of his struggle with the Polovtsians, which were not included in the official chronicle at that time. He wrote about how he captured the Polovtsian khans, about sudden meetings in the steppe with huge forces of the Polovtsians, about successful pursuits, about the battles on Perepetov Field - a huge steppe clearing between Ros and Stugna. One feels that the main burden of all military and police functions in the great reign of Vsevolod lay on the shoulders of his eldest son, since the Grand Duke himself did not participate in campaigns for the last nine years of his life.

In fact, owning together with his father the entire “Russian land,” Vladimir Monomakh could undoubtedly count on receiving (by inheritance and by right of ownership) a great reign after his father. However, when the sickly Vsevolod died in 1093, it was not Vladimir, who was in Kiev in those days, who was on the Kiev throne, but Svyatopolk, invited from Turov. The chronicle, perhaps later corrected by the hand of Monomakh, explains this with the pious reflections of Vladimir, who supposedly did not want to start a new strife and supposedly respected the dynastic seniority of his cousin.

This is hardly so: after 20 years, Vladimir was not afraid to neglect dynastic seniority, and as for the strife, we know that in the hands of Vladimir and his brother Rostislav there were squads of the entire warlike Left Bank, and Svyatopolk of Turov had only eight hundred of his own “youths” "

It was a different matter. As we will see later, the main force that stopped the hasty flight of the princes from city to city was the large land-owning boyars. The prince's choice was ultimately determined by the will of the “best men,” the “meaningful ones.” From the end of the 11th century. the political role of the boyars continuously increased. More and more often, the boyars, looking closely at the motley line of princes, assessed the deeds and successes, intelligence and tractability of this or that prince and “lured” a suitable candidate for the throne, invited them of their own free will from another city, and sometimes consolidated their advantages by concluding there was an agreement with him, a “row,” without which the prince was not yet considered full-fledged. It depended on the will of the “meaningful”, who considered themselves the support of the feudal army of Rus' and made up the boyar duma, whether to open the gates to the prince standing under the walls of Kiev and solemnly lead him into the St. Sophia Cathedral, taking him the oath of allegiance (“you are our prince, where we will see your banner, so are you and me!”), or firmly say bitter words to the already reigning prince: “Go away, prince, away. We don’t need you!”

The policy of Prince Vsevolod, for which Monomakh was also responsible, aroused sharp discontent among the “sensible”. The boyars were indignant at the arbitrariness of the princely judges and collectors, who invented false fines and robbed the people. The boyars’ “love of the people” was, of course, a demagogic technique, but the use of such a technique suggests that the revelry of the princely tiuns and virniks also affected the boyars’ interests, obviously violating the immunity of their estates.

The difficult years (drought, pestilence, invasion of the Polovtsy), which coincided with the end of Vsevolod’s reign, were supposed to exacerbate social conflicts, and the Kiev boyars preferred to see Prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, the brother of that Mstislav, who at one time put to death 70 participants in the uprising, on the grand-ducal throne 1068, and blinded others and “destroyed them without guilt.”

The reign of Svyatopolk brought not only the collapse of hopes, but also many misfortunes for Vladimir Monomakh: Svyatopolk's inexperience led to the terrible defeat of the Russian troops by the Polovtsy near Trepol. Monomakh recalled that this was his only defeat in the battle of his life; here, in the waters of Stugna, his brother Rostislav drowned before his eyes. Forced to settle for Chernigov instead of Kyiv, Monomakh soon lost that too - Oleg Svyatoslavich and the Polovtsy drove him out of the city in which Vladimir’s best years had passed. The forty-year-old prince with his wife and children had, as we already know, to leave the city and drive through the camp of the Polovtsy, who were ready to rob the vanquished.

Vladimir again found himself in the city of his childhood, where his father began his life, where his younger brother later reigned - in Pereyaslavl, on the edge of the Polovtsian steppe.

The twenty-year Pereyaslav period of the life of Vladimir Monomakh (1094-1113) is characterized by two features; firstly, this is an active, offensive struggle against the Polovtsy, who were rushing to Rus' through the Pereyaslavl principality, and secondly, an attempt to win over the Kiev boyars, who to a certain extent controlled the great reign.

The fight against the Polovtsians, which Monomakh inevitably had to wage as the owner of a border principality, in the eyes of his contemporaries always looked like an all-Russian cause, like the defense of all of Rus'. Monomakh was a supporter of decisive strikes, the defeat of the steppe inhabitants and campaigns deep into the steppes. The first victory was won over Sula immediately after his reign in Pereyaslavl. Then, in 1095, Vladimir, having broken the short-lived peace with the Polovtsians, killed the Polovtsian ambassador Itlar in Pereyaslavl and took part in a large campaign against the Polovtsian “vezhi”, where they took many prisoners, horses and camels. The next year, at the Zarubinsky Ford on the Dnieper, Vladimir’s squads defeated the Polovtsians and killed Khan Tugorkan.

About all this, the people composed epics, where in Tugarin Zmeevich it is easy to recognize Tugorkan, and in Idolishche Poganom - Itlar. Three difficult years in Pereyaslavl turned out to be a turning point in Russian-Polovtsian relations. Soon the struggle was moved far into the depths of the steppes, and this was the merit of Monomakh. The court chroniclers of Monomakh subsequently loved to repeat the story of how Vladimir persuaded Svyatopolk and his boyars to begin the campaign in the spring. The Kyiv boyars did not want to go against the Polovtsians, making the excuse that this would tear the Smerds away from their arable land. Monomakh made a speech: “It’s strange to me, friends, that you feel sorry for the horses with which they plow; you won’t think that the smerd will start plowing and a Polovtsian will gallop up, shoot the smerd, take his horse, and then in the village he will take away his wife and children and all his property. How can you, while feeling sorry for the horses, not think about the stinkers themselves?”

These words were dictated not so much by real concern for the scum of others, but by calculation. In any case, Monomakh managed to organize general campaigns in 1103, 1109, 1110, 1111. Russian troops either reached the Sea of ​​Azov, then recaptured the Polovtsian cities on the Seversky Donets, or instilled such fear in the Polovtsians that they migrated across the Don and beyond the Volga into the steppes of the North Caucasus and Southern Urals. In some battles, 20 Polovtsian khans were captured.

Sometimes the performances against the Polovtsians were given the character of a crusade - priests with crosses rode ahead of the troops and sang chants. Special legends were written about such campaigns, which said that “the glory of them will reach the Czech Republic and Poland, Hungary and Greece, and even reach Rome.”

This was remembered for a long time even a hundred years later: praising the great-great-grandson of Monomakh, Prince Roman Mstislavich, the chronicler wrote about how Vladimir drove Khan Otrok Sharukanovich beyond the “Iron Gates” in the Caucasus:

Then Volodymyr Monomakh
The Don drank with a golden helmet,
Take all their land
And I will drive away the damned Hagarians(Polovtsians - B.R.)

Regardless of Vladimir Monomakh’s personal motives, the victorious campaigns against the Polovtsians brought him wide fame as a good organizer and a brilliant commander.

Less successfully, but with the same energy, Monomakh conducted his princely affairs. His rivals were, firstly, Svyatopolk of Kiev, and secondly. Davyd and Oleg Chernigovsky. At the crossroads between them, in the middle of the well-known road from Chernigov to Kyiv, Vladimir built the Ostersky Gorodets fortress, apparently in order to complicate the connections of his rivals. Monomakh's domain included Smolensk and Rostov, where he often visited, establishing order in the south. The Chernigov principality was surrounded on almost all sides by his possessions, and in 1096 Vladimir expelled Oleg from Chernigov and tried to organize a princely congress that would condemn “Gorislavich” for bringing the filthy to the Russian lands.

The congress was assembled only towards the end of 1097, and, obviously, the balance of forces was such that Monomakh could not dictate his will: the congress met not in Kiev, but in Oleg’s estate, ancient Lyubech, where Monomakh was probably not very pleased come.

One might think that Vladimir Monomakh took care of creating special documents that were supposed to win the opinion of influential feudal spheres in his favor: he himself wrote a “letter to Oleg”, clearly designed to notify a wide range of people. By this time, part of Monomakh’s personal chronicle was completed, depicting him as a tireless warrior of the Polovtsians, unjustly offended by Oleg. The chronicle of the Kiev-Pechersk abbot Ivan also dates back to this time, depicting the negative features of the Grand Duke Svyatopolk from the boyar position. Svyatopolk sent Ivan to Turov, and Monomakh, seeking an alliance with the Kyiv boyars, stood up for him.

Monomakh prepared for the Lyubech Congress not only as a commander and strategist, but also as a lawyer and as a polemical writer.

But the Lyubech Congress did not bring victory to Monomakh. The principle of the congress - “let everyone own their fatherland” - assigned Kiev to Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, Chernigov to the Svyatoslavichs, and to him, Vladimir Vsevolodich, the same bordering Pereyaslavl, ruined by the “filthy”, remained in the Russian land. The campaign against Oleg was essentially lost, and Vladimir quickly entered into an alliance with the Cumans. The unexpected alliance was directed against Svyatopolk, and the mainspring of many events was Monomakh, who obviously did not abandon the dream of a great reign.

Through the intricacies of biased chroniclers, subsequently edited under Monomakh, it is still possible to discern the essence of the events that occurred immediately after the congress.

A rumor appeared in court circles (perhaps not without foundation) that Vladimir Monomakh had formed a conspiracy with Vasilko Rostislavich Terebovlsky against Svyatopolk. Although Vasilko’s possessions were small, his strategic plans were grandiose: for example, as the chronicler writes, he intended to absorb all the non-Kipchak nomads (Pechenegs, Torks and Berendeys) and with them take Poland in one year, and then conquer the Bulgarian kingdom, which was being pressed Byzantium, and transfer the Bulgarians to their principality. After this, he allegedly intended to move against the entire Polovtsian land.

Vasilko was captured in the palace of Svyatopolk at a time when, walking from Lyubech to his land through Kyiv, he reluctantly accepted the Grand Duke’s invitation to have breakfast with him. As soon as it became known that the chained Vasilko’s eyes were gouged out and taken under strong guard to Vladimir Volynsky, Monomakh, as if justifying the rumors of an agreement with Vasilko, marched with troops against Svyatopolk. Vladimir and his newfound allies - Oleg and Davyd Svyatoslavich - became a camp near Kiev.

Never before had Vladimir Monomakh been so close to the Kyiv “golden table” as in these November days of 1097. Svyatopolk was planning to flee the city. It seemed that dreams were coming true. However, this time, influential Kyiv circles did not support Monomakh, did not open the Golden Gate for him, but kept Svyatopolk in the city and sent a high embassy to Vladimir and the Svyatoslavichs - the metropolitan and stepmother of Monomakh, the Grand Duchess. The embassy politely offered peace, and this meant another collapse of hopes.

But the cunning son of the Byzantine princess had already taken other measures that should have brought into his hands an indictment against Svyatopolk. A certain Vasily, obviously one of Svyatopolk’s close associates, but holding Monomakh’s hand, was already keeping a protocol record of Svyatopolk’s atrocities. As an eyewitness, he described the scene of Vasilko’s arrest, wrote down the names of all participants; he knew who crushed the prince with a board, who was guarding him, he knew that the holy servant was blinding the prisoner. Then, over the next two years (1097-1099), Vasily described in detail the entire strife, emphasizing all the mistakes of Svyatopolk.

In developing this topic about the shortcomings of Svyatopolk as a ruler, Monomakh’s old friends - monastic writers from the Pechersk Monastery - speak. Around 1099, they create two stories about the stinginess and greed of Svyatopolk, who profited from the salt tax, and about the exorbitant greed of his son, who tortured monks in order to find out about the hidden treasure.

Vladimir Monomakh himself wrote in 1099 the main part of his Teachings, in which he, firstly, castigates the very shortcomings for which Svyatopolk was reproached (lawlessness, lack of management, perjury), and, secondly, without any modesty he praises himself and as if indicating to the Kyiv “meaningful”: here I am - the very prince you need. I have always fought with the “filthy”. I did not give free rein to the “dumb”, my youths, I did not allow them to “dirty deeds”, I treat merchants well, I am a supporter of the right court, I will be able to calm the offended, I honestly observe the oath, I manage my own household well, without relying on tiuns and youths, I confer with my boyars, I patronize the church...

Vladimir here seemed to renounce all those evils of which his father, and thereby himself, his father’s co-ruler, was accused several years ago.

Monomakh's teaching was not addressed to his own children. At this time they were already marrying off their daughters and hardly needed their father’s teachings. It was intended for a fairly wide feudal audience.

All these protocol and literary materials were prepared, in all likelihood, for the next princely congress of 1100 in Uvetichi, where Monomakh acted as an accuser of Davyd Igorevich, and indirectly sought, obviously, to denigrate his main enemy, the Grand Duke Svyatopolk.

Ambitious dreams did not come true this time either, but much was achieved - a lasting mark remained in Kyiv literature: contemporaries and descendants were supposed to see Svyatopolk in dark colors, and Vladimir in bright colors.

After the princely congress of 1100, which did not change anything in the fate of the senior princes, Vladimir Monomakh lost the desire to continue his literary struggle. He even abandoned his personal chronicle of “paths” and over the next 17 years he made only seven notes: about new battles with the Polovtsians, about traveling around the domain, about the death of his second wife, the mother of Yuri Dolgoruky.

Among the events of these years, it is worth noting the defeat of Bonyak and Sharukan the Old in 1107 and the famous crusade against the city of Sharukan in 1111. In all these campaigns, Vladimir and Svyatopolk acted together, but the initiative obviously belonged to Monomakh.

The Kiev uprising of 1113 frightened the feudal elite and forced them to turn to the only possible candidacy of a popular prince, known to all the people for his thirty-five-year struggle with the Polovtsians, and to the boyar-monastic circles for his literary materials and speeches at princely congresses.

Sixty-year-old Vladimir Vsevolodich Monomakh became Grand Duke. The new legislation, as we have seen, eased the situation for debtors, in particular, procurement. But, in addition, the Charter of Monomakh regulated a number of issues of interest to the merchants: the interests of foreign trade were provided for - benefits were given to merchants who had lost goods in a shipwreck, in war or in a fire, foreign merchants received preferential rights in the liquidation of goods of an insolvent debtor.

Vladimir carried out the program that was outlined in his Teaching: “And most of all, honor the guest, no matter where he comes to you from, whether he is a commoner, or a noble, or an ambassador; if you cannot honor him with gifts, then with food and drink: for along the way they will glorify a person throughout all lands, either good or evil.”

Having become the Grand Duke and, obviously, enjoying the full support of the boyars, Vladimir II firmly held all of Rus' in his hands. The huge military forces accumulated to fight the Polovtsians, now, after the migration of the latter to the south, could be used to keep Rus' in the power of Kyiv. Vladimir, like his namesake 100 years ago, ruled the country through his sons, experienced princes.

For a long time, the eldest son Mstislav, “fed” by the Novgorodians, sat in Novgorod. Having been called to the south by his father in 1117, he did not lose ties with the city on Ilmen. Mstislav fought with the Novgorodians and Pskovians in the lands of Chud and built mighty stone fortresses in Novgorod and Ladoga.

On the southern outskirts, in Pereyaslavl, Yaropolk sat, who went from here to the Danube to secure the Danube cities for Russia.

From Smolensk, where his son Vyacheslav was sitting, Monomakh went to war against Vseslav's son Gleb (Vseslav of Polotsk himself died in 1101), fighting Drutsk and Minsk.

In the east, Yuri Dolgoruky, who ruled the Rostov-Suzdal land, fought with Volga Bulgaria.

An important outpost in the west was Vladimir Volynsky, where at one time Svyatopolk’s son Yaroslav established himself, but then Monomakh drove him out of there and installed his son Andrei as prince there. Svyatopolchich brought Poles, Czechs and Hungarians to Volyn, but to no avail.

The princes of other branches were real vassals of Vladimir II Monomakh: Davyd Chernigovsky and his nephew Vsevolod Olgovich dutifully went on campaigns under the leadership of the Grand Duke himself, who until the age of 70 retained the ability to personally lead troops.

Vasilko and Volodar Rostislavich, heroes of the events of 1097, either faithfully served Kyiv, or, taking advantage of the marginal position of their possessions, acted on the side of Monomakh’s enemies. But in general, Kievan Rus at that time represented a single power, and its borders, poetically outlined in the “Tale of Destruction,” were not fiction or hyperbole. This unity lasted for another seven years after the death of Monomakh, under his son Mstislav (1125-1132), and immediately disintegrated in 1132. Therefore, the reign of Mstislav Vladimirovich (“the Great”, as the chronicle calls him) should be considered as a direct continuation of the reign Monomakh, especially since the son helped his father in many ways during his lifetime.

Under Mstislav, it was possible to annex the Principality of Polotsk to Kyiv in 1127, which had always maintained its isolation.

Mstislav still managed to restrain his warring relatives, but with his death, strife broke out again.

Further, the chronicle, year after year, describes the emergence of this or that prince or this or that land from under the will of the Grand Duke. The process of Kiev’s final loss of its primacy position was underway; feudal fragmentation began.

Vladimir Monomakh, so attentive to the literary recording of his military and political successes and the shortcomings of his rivals, could not, having become the Grand Duke, ignore the state chronicle written under his predecessor Svyatopolk. The chronicler of Svyatopolk was a talented historian, monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor. His wonderful work “The Tale of Bygone Years,” covering several centuries of Russian history, still serves as our main source of information about Kievan Rus. Of course, when describing the reigns of Svyatopolk and his father Izyaslav, Nestor tried to smooth out the rough edges and present his prince and his entire princely branch in the most favorable light. Vladimir Monomakh removed the chronicle from the rich, famous Pechersk Monastery and handed it over to the abbot of his court monastery, Sylvester. He redid something in 1116, but Monomakh was dissatisfied with this and instructed his son Mstislav to oversee the new alteration, completed by 1118. This entire history of revisions and editing was clarified in detail by Academician A.A. Shakhmatov.

Mstislav radically altered the introduction to Nestor's chronicle, based on the political situation of his days. He threw out from the old text much that was written there about the birth of the state of Rus' (this can only be judged from the surviving passages), and instead squeezed into the chronicle a tendentious legend about the calling of the Varangian princes - Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor - to Novgorod, using for this matter there are legends common in Northern Europe. Rurik’s “brothers” appeared as a result of a monstrous misunderstanding that occurred during the translation of a Scandinavian legend.

The political meaning of the creation of the legend about the voluntary calling of the princes by the Novgorodians was as follows: Vladimir Monomakh was called by the people of Kiev after the uprising, they were called from the outside and not by right of seniority (Davyd of Chernigov was dynastically older than Monomakh), but by the will of the Kyiv boyars. The legend about Rurik’s calling exactly repeated this situation: the Novgorodians lived poorly without a prince - “without truth in them, generation after generation rose up, and there was strife among them, and they began to fight more often themselves.” After this, the Novgorodians decided: “Let’s look for a prince who would clothe us and judge us by right.”

A distant chronological analogy was invented for the events of 1113, which ended with the calling of the prince and the replenishment of the Russian Pravda, which was supposed to show that this is how Russian statehood was created in general.

There is another side to Mstislav Vladimirovich’s literary invention, which is also explained by the pressing interests of Monomakh’s reign. We remember how long, over the course of two whole decades, Monomakh strove to win the sympathy of the powerful Kyiv boyars, who considered themselves to have the right to control the fate of the golden grand-ducal throne. Several times the “Kians” deceived his expectations, leaving him still a minor prince of Pereyaslavl. The election of Monomakh could not eliminate all the conflicts between the powerful prince and the boyars, accustomed to power. The arrival of Mstislav from Novgorod, closely associated with the Novgorod boyars and merchants, undoubtedly strengthened Monomakh's internal political positions in Kyiv.

In 1118, Vladimir and Mstislav jointly took a very important step to strengthen Novgorod’s ties with the great reign - all Novgorod boyars were summoned to the capital, here they were led to the oath of allegiance, some (including Monomakh’s youth friend, boyar Stavr Gordyatich) were severely punished for their self-will, and some of them were left in Kyiv. The alliance with the Novgorod boyars, later cemented by Mstislav’s marriage to the daughter of a Novgorod boyar, was a counterbalance to the oligarchic tendencies of the Kyiv boyars.

The chronicle of Nestor, which rightly put Kyiv in first place from the very beginning of Russian history and endowed the Varangians with negative traits, the chronicle that assigned Novgorod the extremely modest place of a small northern trading post, could not please Mstislav, who became related to all the Varangian royal houses, the prince who spent two decades in Novgorod. And Novgorod by the 12th century. became different from what it was in the 9th century - now it was a huge trading city, known throughout Europe. And the Varangians were no longer those “finders”, robbers who robbed the North Russian, Estonian and Karelian lands - now they appeared in the role of merchants and relations with them were peaceful, and, as we saw, Monomakh cared about foreign merchants both in words and in words. in fact.

On the eve of the final collapse of Kievan Rus into separate independent principalities, that is, during the reign of Monomakh or Mstislav, which is more likely, the most complete set of feudal laws was created, the so-called Extensive Russian Truth, which included both Yaroslav’s charter to the Novgorodians in 1015, and The Truth of the Yaroslavichs of the mid-11th century, and the Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodich of 1113. This was not a mechanical connection of documents from different times. The compilers of the code reworked them somewhat, taking into account the requirements of the 12th century.

In their final form, the chronological layers became thematic sections. The charter of 1015 was used to list punishments for crimes against the persons of freemen; The truth of the Yaroslavichs provided material for the protection of princely property and the lives of princely rulers. “Pokon virny” determined the food along the way at the expense of the population of the princely collector of vir; The Charter of Vladimir, which retained its special name in this code, took care of foreign merchants, purchases and debtors. New articles developed the topic of property protection and dealt in detail with issues of inheritance and the legal status of widows and daughters. The last section is detailed legislation on slaves, on fines for harboring someone else's slave.

The articles that previously placed the Varangians in a disadvantaged position have been changed in the Extensive Pravda. This was quite in the spirit of Monomakh and especially Mstislav.

The new law more strictly regulated the princely share of the fine ("sale"), so that the princely collectors could not abuse their power. Here the word “princely” is mentioned less often, and sometimes “and for the boyar” is added; here the impersonal word “master” is used dozens of times, which could equally refer to the prince and any feudal lord in general.

It is felt that the drafter of the law sought to protect not only the princely domain, but also the boyar estate. The legislation acquired a general feudal character, it protected the boyars, resolved disputes between the boyars over defecting slaves, protected the boyars' possessions from encroachment after the death of the boyar, and to a certain extent limited or, at least, strictly tariffed the prince's judicial income.

End of the 11th - first third of the 12th century. - this is a time of great tension throughout Rus', caused by both internal turmoil and external onslaught and its overcoming. A single power could no longer exist in the form in which it was under Vladimir I or Yaroslav. It had to be divided into several actually governed principalities or strengthened from within with some kind of internal connections (dynastic “ties” only corroded and destroyed even the appearance of unity). The first was untimely in the context of the aggressive actions of Sharukan, Bonyak, Urusova, Beldyuz, Tugorkan and many other Polovtsian khans. The second - that is, strengthening internal connections - required significant effort and expense and in those conditions was far from easy.

Vladimir Monomakh is of interest to us because he used all his indomitable energy, intelligence and undoubted talent as a commander to unite the scattered parts of Rus' and organize resistance to the Polovtsians. Another thing is that he personally, as the Pereyaslavl prince, was directly interested in protecting his possessions from Polovtsian devastation, but objectively his policy of attacking the steppe was important for all of Rus'. Another thing is that, uniting Pereyaslavl, Smolensk and Rostov in his hands and going around them almost every year, making a journey of 2400 km, he took care of his tributes and sales. Objectively, this strengthened the connection between several large regions of Rus' and involved them in solving all-Russian problems.

Vladimir appears before us as a living person. We know not only how he spent his day, how he organized order in the palace, how he checked the guards, how he hunted, how he prayed or told fortunes using the psalter. We know that he was sometimes cruel: once, together with the Polovtsian horde of Chitevichs (just like Oleg “Gorislavich”), he took Minsk: “he drove out of the city and left neither his servants nor his cattle.” He could, as we remember, confiscate the personal property of a defeated opponent. Monomakh was undoubtedly ambitious and did not disdain any means to achieve supreme power. In addition, as we can judge from his literary works, he was hypocritical and able to demagogically present his actions in a favorable light to both his contemporaries and descendants.

The Pereyaslav period (1094-1113) promoted Monomakh among the Russian princes as the organizer of active defense against the Polovtsians. At this time, he himself sought to establish himself before the Kyiv boyars as a more acceptable candidate for grand duke than Svyatopolk Izyaslavich.

The time of the great reign of Monomakh (1113-1125) ends the intense twenty-year period of struggle with the Polovtsians, after which a single power in those conditions temporarily lost its meaning and continued to exist for some time by inertia, since the head of state concentrated very large military reserves in his hands and used them to maintain unity with a firm and armed hand. For 20 years, from the Kyiv uprising of 1113 to the death of Mstislav (1132), the grand ducal government sought to prevent strife and streamline the affairs of the feudal class as a whole by issuing a fairly complete code of laws.

When Kievan Rus broke up into one and a half dozen independent principalities, then from the era of their community they all carried into the future both “The Tale of Bygone Years” and “The Extensive Russian Truth”, and the Kievan cycle of epics about Vladimir the Red Sun, in whose image Vladimir I merged Svyatoslavich, who saved Rus' from the Pechenegs, and Vladimir II Monomakh, the prince who ruled Russia from edge to edge and in the successful fight against the Polovtsians “wiped a lot of sweat for the Russian land.”

Notes

. Orlov A.S. Vladimir Monomakh. M., 1946.

Chronicle according to the Laurentian list under 1096.

This is discussed in more detail above in the section “Education of Kievan Rus”.