Russian lands and principalities in the 12th - first half of the 13th century.
Kruglova T.V.
Between Kievan Rus and the Muscovite kingdom lies a time period of four centuries. This period of ancient Russian history in scientific literature received several names, such as “feudal fragmentation”, “political fragmentation”, “specific period”.
Most researchers believe that feudal fragmentation is the result of the further development of the feudal mode of production, the establishment of large princely and boyar land ownership, the growth of cities and regional trade. If during the times of Kievan Rus the main agricultural population were free communal farmers who paid the Kyiv prince with his family and his warriors rent-tax in the form of tribute, as well as judicial and trade duties; then in the 11th - early 12th centuries. The princely and boyar estates, populated by feudal-dependent people, began to actively take shape. The princely warriors, who were once supported by the prince, began to settle locally and began to receive income directly from owning land. They merged with the local nobility, which contributed to the consolidation of the ruling class. The power of Kyiv was weakening, an urgent need arose to formalize the state apparatus locally, which led to the disintegration of Kievan Rus into a number of principalities and lands.
Other historians, in determining the causes of fragmentation, put in the first place not socio-economic factors, but political ones, such as: the development of political institutions, the nature of inter-princely and social relations. We are talking, first of all, about the institution of princely power, about the order of inheritance of the Kyiv and other tables. The famous Russian historian of the last century S.M. Solovyov, the creator of the clan theory, attached great importance to consanguineous ties in the relationships of princes. Indeed, a huge and branched princely tree grew from one root. All Russian princes were descendants of Rurik and St. Vladimir.
After the death of his brother Mstislav Vladimirovich, Yaroslav the Wise began to “uniquely” rule Kievan Rus. In 1054 this ruler died, leaving behind an oral testament, the so-called “Yaroslav row”. The entire territory of Kievan Rus was divided by him between his five sons. The eldest son of Yaroslav the Wise, Izyaslav, received the Kyiv table; he became the eldest of his kind, i.e. "father" to his younger brothers. Svyatoslav went to Chernigov, Vsevolod occupied a table in Pereslavl South, two younger brothers Vyacheslav and Igor respectively received Smolensk and Vladimir in Volyn. When Vyacheslav died, Igor was moved by his brothers to Smolensk, and the Yaroslavichs’ nephew, Rostislav Vladimirovich, was sent to the vacant table in Vladimir in Volyn.
This order of replacing princely tables was called “regular” or “ladder”, because the princes moved up the stairs from table to table in accordance with their seniority. The Russian land was considered the sole possession of the entire princely house of Rurikovich. The main Kiev table passed to the eldest in the family: from the father, if he had no living brothers, to the eldest son; from older brother to younger brother; and from him to his nephews - the children of his elder brother. With the death of one of the princes, those below them moved up a step. Contemporaries said: “Just as our great-grandfathers climbed a ladder to the great reign of Kiev, so we must reach it by climbing a ladder.”
But if one of the sons died before his parent or his father did not visit the Kiev table, then this offspring was deprived of the right to climb the ladder to the great Kyiv table. They became outcasts who no longer had a “part” in the Russian land. This branch could receive a certain volost from its relatives and had to be limited to it forever. Thus, the eldest son of Vladimir Saint Izyaslav, who was born from a marriage with Rogneda, died much earlier than his parent; his descendants received a table in Polotsk and reigned in this land until it was included in the Lithuanian state. The outcasts were: the son of the Novgorod prince Vladimir Yaroslavich Rostislav, Igor Yaroslavich Davyd and many others.
The “regular” or “ladder” order had its roots in ancient times, when consanguinity was the leading relationship. As the family of Yaroslav the Wise grew (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren), it became increasingly difficult to follow this order. Many of his descendants did not want to wait long for their turn and tried to bypass their closest relatives. Thus began a series of endless princely feuds. Even during the life of Izyaslav Yaroslavich, his younger brother Svyatoslav, the ancestor of the Chernigov princes, tried to take possession of the Kyiv table. And although after the death of Izyaslav the Kiev table, according to the “next” order, nevertheless passed to Svyatoslav, then to Vsevolod, and from him to their eldest nephew Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, new trends clearly appear, leading to a change in the existing order.
In 1097 On the initiative of Vladimir Vsevolodich Monomakh, a congress of princes was held in Lyubech, at which a decision was made to end the strife and a completely new principle was proclaimed: “let everyone maintain his fatherland.” Thus, this princely congress contrasted the patrimonial order of succession of power with the hereditary right of ownership of the princely branches to the tables that they occupied by that moment. This order began to be called “patrimonial”. The decisions of the Lyubech Congress laid the foundation on which the disunity of the country subsequently took place. These decisions began to be violated immediately after the end of the congress. Princely feuds flared up with renewed vigor. A struggle began between these two orders of succession to the Kyiv table.
However, the “patrimonial” principle contributed to the formation during the 12th century of a number of local princely tables assigned to one or another branch of the extensive family tree of the descendants of Yaroslav the Wise. Not only the scions of the princely house of Rurikovich sought to take root and settle in a certain territory, but also the local aristocracy was interested in such a “princeship” of their land, which contributed to the development of new and more complex forms of land and political relations between feudal lords. The grandchildren and great-grandsons of Izyaslav Yaroslavich, after the loss of the Kyiv table and later the Vladimir-Volyn throne, settled in the Turovo-Pinsk principality, and then completely left the political arena. The descendants of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich took root in the Chernigov, Ryazan and Murom lands. The scions of the princely house of Vsevolod Yaroslavich were assigned tables in Pereslavl South, in the Rostov and Smolensk lands. Their ownership rights to these lands were no longer disputed by anyone. Therefore, in the 12th century. A sharp struggle unfolded for three all-Russian tables, in which not a single princely branch settled: in Kyiv, Novgorod and Galich.
The main table in Kyiv was traditionally occupied by the eldest in the Rurik family, he was called the “Grand Duke”. But the concept of “seniority” or “seniority” has undergone significant changes in content over time: if earlier the eldest of the descendants of Yaroslav the Wise actually became the Grand Duke of Kyiv, then in the 12th century. The Grand Dukes of Kyiv were often the younger scions of an extensive princely house. So, in 1113 After the death of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, an uprising broke out in Kyiv against the princely administration, large boyars and moneylenders. The people of Kiev, contrary to the “regular” order, invited not Oleg Svyatoslavich to the grand-ducal throne, but his cousin VLADIMIR VSEVOLODICH MONOMACH (1113-1125). The authority of this prince was so great that during his reign no one tried to challenge the legality of his reign in Kyiv.
After Vladimir Monomakh, the Kiev table passed to his eldest son MSTISLAV THE GREAT (1125-1132), who, after the death of Oleg Svyatoslavich, was in fact the eldest in the offspring of Yaroslav the Wise. Father and son still managed to maintain the unity of the Russian lands for some time. But after the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich, the relatively unified state fell apart into many parts. It is from this time (1132) that in scientific literature it is customary to begin the period political fragmentation in Russia. Mstislav the Great handed over his father's table to his brother YAROPOLK (1132-1139). In accordance with the “regular” order, after the death of Yaropolk, the Kiev table was supposed to alternately pass to his younger brothers Vyacheslav, Andrei, Yuri (known in later times as Dolgoruky).
However, the situation around the great reign of Kyiv in the middle - second half of the 12th century. became very complicated, because Several parties began to lay claim to it. Firstly, the Olgovichi, children of Oleg Svyatoslavich, the elder cousin of Vladimir Monomakh, whom he bypassed in 1113. Secondly, the children of Vladimir Monomakh, brothers of Mstislav the Great. Thirdly, the children of Mstislav the Great himself, who sought to turn the Kiev table into their ancestral possession. The struggle went on with varying success, the parties were at enmity with each other, and entered into temporary alliances with each other.
VSEVOLOD OLGOVICH (1139-1146) managed to return the great reign in Kyiv for some time. But an attempt to restore the position of his house in Kyiv and transfer the table to his younger brother Igor Olgovich failed. Igor was killed by the rebels of Kiev. Later, from time to time, relying on allied forces, most often represented by Polovtsian detachments, the Olgovichs managed to reach the Kyiv table, but their positions gradually weakened. Of the Monomakhovichs, only YURI DOLGORUKY (1155-1157) had a chance to sit in Kyiv as Grand Duke. His brother Vyacheslav took the side of the Mstislavichs and ruled as co-ruler together with his nephew IZYASLAV MSTISLAVIC (1146-1154). The Mstislavichs failed to turn the senior table into ancestral property, because there was also no unity in their camp. The children and grandchildren of Izyaslav Mstislavich and his younger brother Rostislav Mstislavich competed for the senior table. At the same time, the former, with the rights of “fatherland,” owned the Vladimir-Volyn principality, and the latter, the Smolensk principality. The same main princely forces took part in the relay race for two other all-Russian tables - Novgorod and Galich.
The grounds for their claims were also different. Thus, Yuri Dolgoruky, contesting the table in Kyiv from his nephew Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1154, said: “Kyiv is my fatherland, not yours.” To which Izyaslav replied: “You yourself were imprisoned in Kyiv, and the people of Kiev imprisoned me.” The son of Mstislav the Great opposed the “patrimonial” order of replacing the Kyiv table with the decision of the Kyiv veche. Vsevolod Olgovich, in turn, proclaimed in 1146: “Vladimir planted Mstislav, his son, after himself in Kyiv, and Mstislav Yaropolk, his brother, and now I say: if God takes me, then I will give Kyiv to my brother Igor after me.” ". Vsevolod openly appealed to the “next” order of replacing the Kyiv princely table.
During this fierce struggle for the senior table between various branches of the princely house of Yaroslav the Wise during the 12th century. Many princes visited it. Kyiv was repeatedly taken by armed force. The capital city was burning in fires and was being plundered by troops. All this led to the decline of the ancient capital of Kievan Rus. At the end of the 12th century. the heirs of Vladimir Monomakh in the third and fourth generations jointly proclaimed Vsevolod the Big Nest the eldest in his family, who after this officially accepted the title of Grand Duke: “all the brothers in Vladimir’s tribe placed eldership on him.” From that time on, the great reign increasingly began to be associated with Vladimir on the Klyazma.
Sometimes in the literature the definition “specific” is used to designate this period. The famous Russian historian of the last century, S.F. Platonov, considered the hereditary land property of princes as political rulers to be “destinies.” This property, according to the type of management, was closely related to the estate, and sometimes completely turned into it. Thus, the principality, as the inheritance of this or that prince, became his patrimony, which he could dispose of at his own discretion. In our time, the transformation of princely appanages into estates is associated with the widespread spread of princely and boyar land ownership.
Feudal fragmentation was not an exclusively Russian phenomenon; it was experienced by all the early feudal states of Western Europe in the 11th-12th centuries: the empire of Charlemagne, France, England, Germany, Byzantium. The development of economic and social relations everywhere followed a general scenario. The early feudal state, which was Kievan Rus, at the beginning of the 12th century. broke up into a number of separate state formations - principalities and lands.
In the scientific literature there is no consensus on the form of the political structure of the Russian land during this period. L.N. Gumilyov, from the standpoint of his theory of ethnogenesis, speaks of the complete collapse of the Old Russian ethnos and state in the 12-13th centuries. Starting from the works of Russian historians N.I. Kostomarov, V.O. Klyuchevsky and until today, concepts such as “political federation” or “feudal federation” are used in relation to the political structure of Russian lands during the period of feudal fragmentation. Indeed, in the absence of a unified political power, the Russian Orthodox Church remained, governed by the Kyiv Metropolitan and local bishops; a single ancient Russian language and culture; general legislation based on the provisions of "Russian Truth". The rulers of all these territories were in close family relationships. All these scattered lands and principalities were connected by thousands of threads. Even the struggle for three all-Russian tables played a unifying role. The Polotsk land was the first to become a separate reign back in the time of St. Vladimir. In 1154 there were five princely tables according to the number of sons of Yaroslav the Wise: Kyiv, Pereslavl South, Chernigov, Smolensk, Vladimir Volynsky. Novgorod, after the death of the local prince Vladimir Yaroslavich, was ruled by the governors of the Grand Duke of Kyiv; Tmutarakan depended on Chernigov, Rostov and Suzdal on Pereslavl South. At the beginning of the 12th century. The Russian land broke up into 15 lands and principalities: Kiev, Pereslavl, Turovo-Pinsk, Smolensk, Chernigov, Ryazan, Murom, Vladimir-Suzdal, Galician, Vladimir-Volyn. To this list should be added the above-mentioned Novgorod land and the Principality of Polotsk, as well as the distant Tmutarakan principality, which was heading towards its decline.
At the beginning of the 13th century. the number of individual principalities and lands grew to 50 in the 14th century. there were already about 250 of them. Occasionally, principalities united under the rule of one prince or one princely branch, for example: Galicia-Volyn, Murom-Ryazan. But in most cases, fragmentation occurred within the framework of already established state entities. A number of new tables arose in the Vladimir-Volyn, Vladimir-Suzdal, and Chernigov principalities, which was a consequence of the need to endow numerous princely offspring with their father's inheritance. This is how the Novgorod-Seversky Putivl, Lutsk, and later Nizhny Novgorod, Tver, Moscow, Uglich principalities and many others appeared. At the beginning of the 14th century. Pskov land was separated from the Novgorod territory. As the process of feudal fragmentation deepened, the number of new state formations grew noticeably. Some of them were especially large and strong. Thus, old Kyiv was replaced by new centers of state life: in the southwest of Rus' they became Galich and Vladimir Volynsky, in the northeast - Vladimir on Klyazma, in the northwestern Russian lands - Novgorod.
Southwestern Rus'
This concept is usually applied in relation to the territory of the Galician and Volyn principalities during the period of feudal fragmentation. Southwestern Rus' covered a vast territory, including the Carpathian region, the upper reaches of the Dniester, Prut and Southern Bug rivers. This land was in close proximity to Hungary and Poland. From the south stretched the Danube region and the outskirts of the Black Sea steppe, the seat of successive nomadic hordes. In the north-west, this part of the Russian lands bordered on the Polotsk, Turovo-Pinsk and Kyiv principalities. It was this geographical location that largely determined the nature of its economic development. The mild climate, fertile chernozem soils, vast river valleys and large forests contributed to the early development of this territory and the successful development of arable farming and fishing. Significant deposits rock salt in the region of Przemysl and Kolomyia, red slate near Ovruch not only met domestic needs, but was also developed for export. Ovru slate whorls arrived in the nearest Russian lands, Poland and Bulgaria. The border position and the developed system of river and land routes had a beneficial effect on the development of foreign trade. The western “brother” of the great route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” passed through this land, the route that connected the Baltic and Black Seas through the river system: Vistula, Western Bug, Dniester. One land route through Lutsk, Vladimir Volynsky, Zavikhost, Krakow led from Kyiv to Poland, the other, further south, through the Carpathians, connected Russian lands with Hungary, from where it was easy to get to other Western European countries.
In the 12-13th centuries. These lands experienced significant economic growth, which was accompanied by the development of crafts and the growth of cities and urban populations. The largest cities at that time were: Galich, Vladimir, Lvov, Kholm, Drogichin, Berestye, Przemysl, Lutsk, Peresopnitsa, etc. Here, patrimony - large private land ownership - became widespread quite early. Economic development territory contributed to strengthening the position of the local boyar aristocracy, which tried to exert a significant influence on the course of the political life of their land. The political development of Southwestern Rus' in the 12-13th centuries. followed the path of the formation of two principalities: Galician and Volyn, the history of which largely determined the subsequent fate of not only the southwestern, but also the southern Russian lands, in particular Kyiv. The Vladimir-Volyn principality was the first to take shape. The city itself was founded at the end of the 10th century. the baptist of Rus' Vladimir the Saint as a border fortress in the west of Russian lands. By the end of the 11th century. it turned into a large city, the center of a certain district - the Volyn land.
According to the Yaroslav row (1054), Vladimir went to one of the younger sons of Yaroslav the Wise - Igor, after whose death a fierce struggle broke out for the possession of this princely table between his son Davyd Igorevich and his uncle the Kyiv prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich, which ended in the victory of the latter. Izyaslav's grandson, Yaroslav Svyatopolchich, was subsequently married to the granddaughter of Vladimir Monomakh, daughter of Mstislav the Great. In 1118 A conflict broke out between Yaroslav Svyatopolchich and Vladimir Monomakh, which led to the loss of the Volyn land by the descendants of Izyaslav Yaroslavich. V.N. Tatishchev writes about this: “Yaroslavets, Prince of Vladimir, having forgotten his oath to Vladimir, sent his wife away. having gathered an army, he went to Vladimir. But Yaroslavets, having seen him, without waiting for him, went to Poland, to his sister and son-in-law, leaving his son Andrei in Vladimir.” So, since 1118 The princely table in Vladimir in Volyn finally passed to the descendants of the third son of Yaroslav the Wise - Vsevolod; the children and grandchildren of Mstislav the Great and his son Izyaslav sat here. In the 12th century princes from this princely house often occupied the Kiev grand-ducal table, and Vladimir’s connection with the capital of the Russian lands was quite strong: the Kyiv princes disposed of the Vladimir table at their own discretion.
The territory of the Vladimir-Volyn principality finally took shape in the second half of the 12th - early 13th centuries. The struggle began to expand influence on the neighboring Principality of Galicia and to take possession of the grand-ducal table. The most famous of the Volyn princes of that time was ROMAN MSTISLAVICH (1170-1205), the great-grandson of Mstislav the Great, who in 1199. sat down on the Galician table. Having united his lands with the Principality of Galicia, he created a large state formation, not inferior in size to many Western countries. European states.
The Galician land took shape later on the territory of the former volosts of the Kyiv land: Przemysl and Terebovl, which since the time of Yaroslav the Wise were in the possession of the Rostislavichs, the descendants of his eldest son, the Novgorod prince Vladimir, who died two years before the death of his parent in 1052. This branch of the Rurikovichs, who became outcasts after the death of their father, lost their preferential rights to the prestigious Novgorod and senior Kiev tables and settled on the southwestern outskirts of Kievan Rus. Galich, how new center emerging state territory, stood out among other urban centers in the 40s. 12th century, when in the hands of the first Galician prince VLADIMIR VOLODAREVICH (1141-1153), the grandson of Rostislav Vladimirovich, all power over the neighboring Galich Zvenigorod, Przemysl and Terebovl was concentrated.
His main opponent was his nephew, Prince of Zvenigorod Ivan Rostislavich Berladnik. In 1144 The Galician boyars, dissatisfied with their prince Vladimir Volodarevich, took advantage of his departure for hunting and invited the Zvenigorod prince to the Galician table. Upon his return, Vladimir Volodarevich besieged his capital city, forcing it to surrender. Ivan Rostislavich, having lost Zvenigorod, was forced to flee on the Danube in the town of Berlad, from the name of which he received his nickname. Subsequently, Ivan Berladnik, having become an outcast, tried more than once to return to the Galician land, but Vladimir Volodarevich successfully withstood the opposition of the Galician boyar aristocracy, the pressure of the Grand Duke of Kyiv and kept the united territory of the Galician principality in his hands, which he transferred, dying, to his son Yaroslav .
The flourishing of the Galician principality is associated with the name of YAROSLAV VLADIMIROVICH OSMOMYSL (1153-1187). He received his nickname “eight-minded” for his extensive knowledge, intelligence and erudition. In addition, this Galician prince showed himself to be a skillful politician who was able not only to hold his father’s table in his hands, but also to successfully resist hostile forces in the person of the same cousin Ivan Berladnik, the Grand Duke of Kyiv and the local boyars. In 1158 Ivan Rostislavich, relying on the military assistance of the Kyiv prince Davyd Igorevich and the Polovtsians allied with him, undertook a major campaign against Galich. But Yaroslav Vladimirovich suddenly took possession of Kiev, thereby forcing the Grand Duke of Kyiv to abandon the support of the former Zvenigorod prince.
The fact that Yaroslav Vladimirovich had rather complicated relations with the local boyars is evidenced by the conflict of 1173-1174. For political reasons, during his father’s lifetime, he was married to the daughter of the powerful ruler of North-Eastern Rus', Yuri Dolgoruky. But his family life with Olga Yuryevna did not work out. The chronicles brought to us information that he had a long love affair with a certain Anastasia, with whom he had a son, Oleg. It was this son, adopted on the side, that the Galician prince gave clear preference to his legal heir Vladimir. This family conflict was dressed in political form. The Galician boyars took the side of Olga Yuryevna and her son Vladimir. The prince was detained along with his supporters, and the prince's mistress was publicly burned. This is how the chronicler describes this tragic event: “The Galicians laid fire, burned her, and sent her son into captivity, and brought the prince to the cross so that he could really have a princess. And so they settled it.”
But the oath given by the prince publicly did not restore peace and harmony in the princely house. Vladimir Yaroslavich hid from his father’s dislike, first in the neighboring Volyn land, then with relatives in Suzdal and, finally, on Chernigov land in Putivl. In the last of them, on the prince’s table, sat the famous hero of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” Igor Svyatoslavich (grandson of Oleg Svyatoslavich), married to the sister of the disgraced prince Euphrosyne Yaroslavna. He tried to reconcile his brother-in-law with his father-in-law. However, before his death, Yaroslav Vladimirovich publicly proclaimed the illegitimate Oleg “Nastasiich” as his successor. A rebellion broke out again in the Galician land: Oleg Yaroslavich was expelled from his father’s table, who returned to the legitimate princely son.
The image of Vladimir Yaroslavich Galitsky is colorfully and convincingly captured in Borodin's opera "Prince Igor". He was not distinguished by particular piety, decency or zeal in state affairs. The chronicler noted: “Volodimir reigned in the Galich land. And he was partial to drinking heavily and did not like to consult with his husbands,” and further, “having loved a wife or whose daughter, he took it by force.” Mired in drunkenness and debauchery, the prince was unable to after all, hold your desk. The reason for the prince’s new conflict with local society was his relationship with a married woman: “he took the priest’s wife.” The Galician boyars threatened him with reprisals similar to what they inflicted on his father and his mistress.
Vladimir Yaroslavich, together with the former priest and her sons, found refuge in Hungary, which opened the way for the Hungarian regiments to Russian soil. The Hungarian king, having imprisoned the Galician prince in a tower, moved with his army to Galich. Some Galicians hastily invited the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich to the princely table. At the city walls there was another contender for reign in Galich - the son of Ivan Berladnik, who had died by that time, Rostislav. With the help of force, the Hungarian king occupied it in 1188. Galich, for the first time in the history of this land, placed his son Andrei, later known as Andrei the Second, on the princely table.
In 1189 Vladimir Yaroslavich fled from Hungarian captivity to Germany. He turned to Frederick Barbarossa for help and, with the support of his relative, the ruler of North-Eastern Rus', Vsevolod the Big Nest, he regained his father’s lost table. But his reign was short-lived. In 1199 he died without leaving legal heirs. The princely branch of the descendants of the eldest son of Yaroslav the Wise ceased to exist. The Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich took advantage of this circumstance. He occupied the vacant Galician table, while remaining the prince of Volyn. This is how the territories of two neighboring principalities were united under the rule of one ruler, and a large state formation appeared in the southwest of the Russian lands - the Principality of Galicia-Volyn. In 1203 Roman Mstislavich captured Kyiv and took the title of Grand Duke.
Western European sources called Roman Mstislavich the “Russian king”; he was well known outside of Rus'. The Ipatiev Chronicle preserves a lengthy epitaph for this prince, which emphasizes his political weight and social position. She characterizes him as: “the autocrat of all Rus',” who overcame all the filthy peoples with “wisdom of mind,” “walked according to the commandments of God, rushed at the filthy peoples like a lion, was angry like a lynx, destroyed them like a crocodile, swooped down on them like an eagle, was brave as a tour." In addition to this, the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” spoke of Roman Mstislavich as a falcon who “soars high above the earth.”
In accordance with his position, he sought to actively participate in Western European politics of the time. In 1205 Roman Mstislavich died on the banks of the Vistula near Zavichost during his campaign in Lesser Poland. In Galich, his widow Princess Anna was left with two young children: the eldest of them, Daniil, was barely four years old. She not only failed to maintain the unity of the Galician-Volyn principality, but she also had difficulty maintaining her position in Volyn. Further, the history of these two southwestern lands again diverges for a certain time. This page in the history of Southwestern Rus' is characterized by active interference in the internal affairs of its western neighbors - Hungary and Poland. At first, the rulers of these states provided support and military assistance to one of the warring parties, and then moved on to the open seizure of territory and the main princely tables.
A fierce struggle began for the princely table in Galich, in which various forces took part. Against the widow of Roman Mstislavich with her young children, the grandchildren of Yaroslav Osmomysl, the Chernigov Igorevichs (children of Igor Svyatoslavich and Euphrosyne Yaroslavna), and the Hungarian king Andrei II, who had already visited Galich once, entered this fight. At first, fate was favorable to the Igorevichs, who occupied Galich in 1206. and for five years they ruled the territory of Galicia and part of the Volyn principalities with varying success. At the same time, they relied on that part of local society that was hostile towards the Hungarians, whose military assistance the widow of Roman Mstislavich tried to take advantage of. However, brutal repressions against the local aristocracy by the Igorevichs not only strengthened the position of the pro-Hungarian opposition, but also led to a tragic end: in 1211. the sons of Igor Svyatoslavich were captured and hanged in Galich.
Poland and Hungary joined forces in 1214. in Speshi (Spisi) they concluded an allied treaty, which determined the spheres of their influence in Southwestern Rus': the power of Poland extended to Volyn, Hungary - to the Galician land. The agreement was sealed by the dynastic marriage of the three-year-old daughter of the Krakow prince Leshko the White and the five-year-old son of the Hungarian king Andrew the Second Koloman (Kalman), who was proclaimed King of Galicia. Thus, from 1214 to 1219, power in Galich was in the hands of pro-Hungarian boyars, who ruled the land on behalf of Andrew the Second and his young son.
Territorial disagreements between the allies persisted, which brought a completely new face to the princely table in Galich. Leshko Krakow invited MSTISLAV MSTISLAVICH THE UDALY (1219 - 1228) to the Galician land. This prince came from the Smolensk house of Rostislav Mstislavich and also belonged to the descendants of Mstislav the Great; he's been through second cousin Roman Mstislavich. Until this time, Mstislav Udaloy was on the princely table in Novgorod. He was a brave warrior and an experienced commander. With his squad, he successfully repelled the attacks of the Hungarians and their allies, so he successfully reigned in Galich for nine years. He married one of his daughters to the son of the late Roman Mstislavich Daniil, another to Yaroslav Vsevolodich (father of Alexander Nevsky), the third to the Polovtsian Khan Kotyan, the last to the third son of Andrei the Second, the Hungarian prince Andrei.
The dynastic union with the ruler of the Volyn land, Daniil Romanovich, did not, however, lead to the reunification of these neighboring principalities. Before his death, Mstislav Mstislavich handed over the table in Galich to his other son-in-law, Prince Andrei. The chronicler writes that the Galician boyars, who strengthened their positions during the time of Hungarian rule, advised him: “if you give it to the prince, then when you want, you can take it from him, if you give it to Daniel, then your Galich will never be,” but the rest of the inhabitants "they wanted Daniel." However, after the death of Mstislav Mstislavich, from 1228 to 1233, Galich again returned to the control of Andrei II’s henchmen. During this long period of Galician history, the widow Anna and her son Daniel returned to Galich from time to time, and then lost it again. So after the reprisal against the Igorevichs in 1211. Some Galicians invited young Daniel to reign, but the local boyars, not finding a common language with his mother, kicked her out of the city, and after her the little prince left the table. After this, for the first time in Russian history, a boyar named Vladislav sat on the princely table. This was in 1213 and his stay on the table was short-lived. But this fact in itself is remarkable: it speaks of the strength, power and political claims of the local boyar aristocracy, which no longer needed strong princely power. Daniil Romanovich finally returned to the Galician table and strengthened his position here only in 1234.
The Volyn land was not united; by the beginning of the 13th century, it retained a number of small principalities, which were owned by the cousins of Roman Mstislavich, the children of his uncle Yaroslav Izyaslavich of Lutsk - Ingvar and Mstislav. Taking advantage of the death of Roman Mstislavich, they tried to expand their own possessions and strengthen their position in the Volyn land. Ingvar Yaroslavich married his daughter to Leshka Krakowski and acquired a reliable ally in him. The Polish side also had its own claims regarding the neighboring Volyn lands.
In 1206 The Igorevichs, on the advice of the Galician boyars, placed their brother Svyatoslav on the Vladimir table. Anna and her children took refuge in Poland for a while. In 1209 At the invitation of the Lutsk and Peresopnytsia princes, Leshko Krakowsky undertook a large campaign against the Volyn land, as a result of which Svyatoslav Igorevich was captured and taken to Poland. The Polish prince, relying on small appanage princes and the anti-Hungarian opposition, extended his power to the entire Volyn land. The widow Anna first begged Leshka for Berestye for her youngest son Vasilko, then tried to get other cities. After the conclusion of the Treaty of Spesh in 1214. she returned with her eldest son to Vladimir-Volynsky, Vasilko remained in Berestye. With difficulty, the widow kept the capital city from the encroachments of other appanage princes.
After his marriage in 1219. Daniel finally established himself in Vladimir. However, not the entire territory of the Volyn principality was in his hands. Despite his youth, he pursued an active policy for the return of western lands that were under Polish rule. His father-in-law Mstislav Mstislavich Udaloy was not interested in uniting and strengthening the neighboring Volyn principality, so he actively restrained Daniel’s actions and provided support to the appanage princes.
In the second quarter of the 13th century the situation changed dramatically. Neighboring rulers left the political arena: in 1227. Leshko Bely died in 1228. - Mstislav Mstislavich Udaloy, in 1233. - Prince Andrew. In Poland and Hungary, neighboring Volyn, a struggle for power began between the heirs. All this played into the hands of the matured Daniil Romanovich. In 1238 he finally established himself in Galich, the unity of the Galician-Volyn principality was restored. In 1240 Daniil Romanovich occupied Kyiv. But in the same year, Kyiv and Southwestern Rus' were devastated by Mongol-Tatar troops.
During the reign of his descendants, Lev Danilovich and Yuri Lvovich, some progress was made in unifying the southwestern lands. But in the twenties of the next century, activity increased again and the territorial claims of neighboring rulers were revived, although the composition of these states changed. In the territory inhabited by Lithuanian tribes, a new state formation was born. By the 60s. 14th century The Galician-Volyn principality ceased to exist. Volyn, together with Kiev and Chernigov, became part of Lithuania, and the neighboring Galician land went to Poland. A new page has begun in the history of Southwestern Rus'.
Northeastern Rus'
In the scientific literature, this concept, in turn, is applied to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality during the times of feudal fragmentation. Northeastern Rus' also included a vast territory located between the Volga and Oka rivers, as well as the Beloozero region. Huge forest areas were rich in fur-bearing and game animals; the developed river network abounded in fish and was convenient for commercial shipping. Here, during the times of Kievan Rus, through a complex system of portages in the remote Valdai forests, the Volga-Baltic branch of the great trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” was actively functioning, connecting the Baltic region with the Volga region and Central Asia.
A continuous array of deciduous forests was inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes: Merya, Muroma, Ves, Mordovians. They did not know agriculture and were mainly engaged in hunting and fishing. The Slavic colonization flow of the Krivichi, Novgorod Slovenes and Vyatichi, advancing from the south and southwest of the Russian lands, was for a long time held back by centuries-old impenetrable forests and the complexity of agricultural development of this area. Initially, this land was called “Zalesskaya”, because was located behind a huge forest - the "great forest", or Rostov, by name ancient city, located on the other side of the Vyatic forests on the path of the initial Slavic colonization. At the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries. The colonization flow has noticeably intensified. Impenetrable forests served as a reliable natural barrier against Polovtsian raids; the fertile chernozem soils of the Suzdal Opolye contributed to the development of agriculture; undeveloped places attracted pioneers with large reserves of fur-bearing animals; the developed river network stimulated the development of trade with Novgorod, Volga Bulgaria and the countries of the East. The undeveloped spaces and their riches were so great that colonization flows from Novgorod and the Rostov-Suzdal land did not meet immediately. Fierce disputes over these territories arose only at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Rostov and Suzdal already existed in the 11th century. as outposts of Slavic colonization. Initially, mayors sent by the Kyiv princes sat here. The encroachment of the territory began only at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries. Prince Vladimir Monomakh, who was sitting in Pereslavl South, received Rostov as his reign from his father Vsevolod Yaroslavich. His interests in this territory collided with the interests of the Chernigov princes, descendants of his uncle Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, who owned neighboring Murom and Ryazan. But the first Suzdal prince should be considered his son YURI VLADIMIROVICH DOLGORUKY (1120 or 1125 - 1157). Under him, significant economic growth and active political development of this land were observed.
The Rostov-Suzdal land bordered on Novgorod, Smolensk, Chernigov and Murom-Ryazan principalities. The real threat existed from the Volga Bulgaria, which, despite the fact that it was separated from the Rostov land by large forests, had convenient river approaches through the Oka and Klyazma basin and constantly carried out unexpected raids with the aim of robbing and capturing prisoners, who were then transported to slave markets. markets of the East. After one of the sudden raids in 1108. Vladimir Monomakh built a wooden fortress on the banks of the Klyazma and named it after himself. Thus began the history of the future capital city of North-Eastern Rus'. His son Yuri Dolgoruky built and fortified Yuryev-Polskaya, Dmitrov, Kideksha, Zvenigorod, Pereyaslavl Zalessky, with the help of which he successfully restrained the penetration of the Volga neighbors into his land.
During his reign, this territory began to be called the Suzdal land after the capital city of Suzdal, where Yuri Dolgoruky moved with his court. But the position of Rostov, as the oldest city of this land, and its boyars continued to remain high. In the last years of his reign, Yuri Vladimirovich became involved in an active struggle for the grand ducal table with his nephew Izyaslav, the son of Mstislav the Great, and his older brother Vyacheslav. At first he took the side of Svyatoslav Olgovich, the main opponent of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Izyaslav Mstislavich. Thanks to this union, the first mention of Moscow was preserved on the pages of the chronicle. In 1147 Yuri Vladimirovich invited Svyatoslav Olgovich and his son to seal the union agreement to the estate, taken shortly before from the boyar Kuchka: “Come to me, brother, in Moskov.” On April 4, the allies met and exchanged gifts. The Suzdal prince arranged a feast: “Yuri ordered to arrange a strong dinner and do great honor to them and gave Svyatoslav many gifts.” In 1156 On the site of the former estate, a wooden fortress was built, which later became the capital of the Russian state.
From allied assistance to one of the Olgovichs in their struggle for the grand ducal table, Yuri Dolgoruky moved on to active action. He took over in 1155. Kyiv, took the title of Grand Duke. It was then that his historical nickname probably arose - “Long Hand”, “Dolgoruky”. The prince left North-Eastern Rus' forever and moved with his family to Kyiv. There he died suddenly in 1157. after a feast with a noble nobleman. It is believed that the prince was poisoned by ill-wishers. At the time of his death, an uprising broke out in Kyiv against the princely administration, consisting mainly of immigrants from the north-east of Rus': “A lot of evil happened that day, his red court was plundered, and his other courtyards beyond the Dnieper were plundered... they beat the Suzdal people according to cities and villages, and their property was plundered."
V.N. Tatishchev wrote about him: “This great prince was of considerable height, fat, with a white face; his eyes were not great, his nose was long and crooked; he was small, a great lover of wives, sweet foods and drinks, more about fun than about he was diligent in reprisals and warfare, but all of it consisted in the power and supervision of his nobles and favorites.” It is difficult to say to what extent this characteristic, found by a historian on the pages of an ancient chronicle, reflects the actual situation. The feasts of Yuri Dolgoruky are repeatedly reported in chronicles. Together with the prince, a large family and his boyars went to Southern Rus'. It was the latter who were attacked by the people of Kiev after the death of the prince.
Only one of his sons expressed a desire to return back to Northeastern Rus'. This was his eldest son from his first marriage to the Polovtsian princess ANDREY BOGOLYUBSKY (1157 - 1174). In 1155 he left the Vyshgorod table assigned to him and went against his father’s will to Vladimir Zalessky. The death of his parent found him there, in the Vladimir-Suzdal land, where, at the invitation of the Suzdal and Rostov boyars, he soon sat down at the table abandoned by his father. A few years later, Andrei Yuryevich expelled his four brothers, nephews and his father’s old squad from the Vladimir-Suzdal land who had returned from Kyiv. He concentrated all power in North-Eastern Rus' in his hands: “He arranged all this, wanting to be an autocrat in the entire Suzdal land.”
Andrei Yuryevich settled with his court in Vladimir, decorated it with magnificent buildings (such as the Assumption Cathedral, the Golden Gate), and erected a princely palace in Bogolyubovo, from the name of which he received his nickname. Even under his father, leaving Vyshgorod, the prince took away the local miraculous icon Mother of God, which later became known as “Vladimirskaya”. Trying to raise the importance of his capital city in comparison with the oldest cities of Rostov and Suzdal, he achieved the creation of a separate Vladimir bishopric next to the existing diocese in Rostov by that time. Later, Andrei Bogolyubsky set out to remove the local diocese from subordination to the Kyiv metropolitan and establish his own metropolitanate in his land. But this initiative of the Vladimir prince was not supported by the secular and ecclesiastical authorities of Constantinople.
He was an energetic and talented ruler. Under him, North-Eastern Rus' noticeably strengthened, the borders of the principality moved east, which led to new clashes with Volga Bulgaria. Major campaign 1164 temporarily averted the threat from this Volga neighbor. But disputes with Novgorod intensified over adjacent territories and tribute collected from them. In 1169 The Vladimir-Suzdal army, together with its allies, set off on a campaign against Novgorod, but they failed to take it. Then the ruler of North-Eastern Rus' found a successful way to put pressure on Novgorod by blocking the flow of goods in Torzhok (New Trade), through which grain came from the south to the Novgorod land. This led to higher prices on the Novgorod grain market and to famine. This technique was used by the Vladimir princes at a later time to exert political pressure on the neighboring city. The claims of the Vladimir prince in relation to Kyiv were not as active as those of his father. In 1169 Andrei Bogolyubsky's son Mstislav captured Kyiv and plundered it. But the Vladimir prince refused to move to Kyiv. He limited himself to putting his protege in Kyiv. The two subsequent campaigns in Southern Rus' were not so successful. The campaign of 1174 ended ingloriously. just added fuel to the fire. Dissatisfaction with the prince's autocratic policies was brewing within local society. The opposition first made itself felt during the preparations for the campaign against Volga Bulgaria in 1173. The gathering of troops and allies was scheduled at the mouth of the Oka, but the princes unsuccessfully waited for several days for their boyars, who in every possible way delayed the time of their appearance. As the chronicler aptly noted, they were “not walking.” Thus, the campaign was disrupted. And in the next year 1174. A bloody drama broke out in the Bogolyubsky princely palace.
Its participants were the noble boyars Yakim Kuchkovich, Peter “Kuchkov’s son-in-law”, the prince’s housekeeper Anbal; only about 20 people. On a dark June night they carried out a cruel reprisal against their prince. The conspiracy was planned in advance: the housekeeper removed the weapons from the prince's bedchamber. Yakim Kuchkovich delivered a fiery speech, rousing those gathered to active action: “The day of that execution, and tomorrow for us; and let us think about this prince!” For courage, a lot of alcohol was drunk. The ugly murder of the unarmed prince began.
The chronicle story colorfully told about the bloody drama in the Bogolyubsky Palace. In our time, a pathological analysis of the remains of the murdered prince was carried out. A well-known specialist in this field, Prof. D.G. Rokhlin recreated a detailed picture of what was happening: “They chopped not only a man lying down, but, of course, completely unable to defend himself, apparently unconscious, bleeding, they chopped for some time, must have already been a corpse” and further: “This “, of course, does not happen either in single combat or in battle. This is an attack by several people armed with different weapons for a specific purpose - not wounding, even serious and ultimately fatal, but killing on the spot.” The murder of the prince caused a number of opposition protests in Bogolyubovo and Vladimir against the princely administration.
V.N. Tatishchev wrote about him: “expand the city of Vladimir and multiply all the inhabitants in it, like merchants, cunning handicraftsmen and various artisans. He was brave in the army, and there were few princes like him, but the world is more than he loved the war. He was small in stature, but broad and strong, with black, curly hair, a high forehead, and large and bright eyes.” The famous anthropologist M.M. Gerasimov reconstructed the appearance of this extraordinary ruler of North-Eastern Rus' from the skull.
Two of his sons died during his time, and the only son who survived his father, Georgiy Andreevich, was later the ruler of Georgia (husband of the Georgian Queen Tamara). After the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky, the princely table became a bone of contention among his closest relatives. The severity of the conflict was determined by the fact that this struggle was greatly influenced by residents of the largest cities of North-Eastern Rus'. The main contenders for replacing the princely table were: Andrei Yuryevich's nephews Mstislav and Yaropolk Rostislavich and his siblings Mikhail and Vsevolod, born from the second marriage of Yuri Dolgoruky with a Byzantine princess. On the side of the former stood the residents of the older cities of Rostov and Suzdal, disadvantaged by the rapid rise of Vladimir. The population of the latter sided with the younger Yuryevichs. Disputes over the princely table lasted for several years and often led to open military clashes. June 27, 1177 took place near the city of Yuryev decisive battle opponents, which ended in the victory of Vsevolod Yurievich. His older brother Mikhail was no longer alive by this time. Vsevolod's nephews were captured and, at the request of the Vladimir people, blinded. The chronicle says that they later miraculously regained their sight. Mstislav Rostislavich Bezoky was later invited to reign in Novgorod, where he died.
It was during the reign of VSEVOLOD YURIEVICH BIG NEST (1176-1212), so named because of his large family, that the position of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality noticeably strengthened and strengthened. The author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” wrote about this Vladimir prince: “Grand Duke Vsevolod! Don’t you think of flying from afar to take care of your father’s golden table? You can sweep away the Volga with oars, and scoop up the Don with helmets!” After this ruler of the North Eastern Rus' was recognized by the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh as the eldest in the family, he officially accepted the title of Grand Duke.
Vsevolod Yuryevich persistently sought to extend his influence to neighboring Novgorod and the Murom-Ryazan principality. The borders with Novgorod were marked; Torzhok and Volok Lamsky came under their joint management. Residents of the Vladimir-Suzdal land successfully resisted the Novgorodians in the development of the north. Tribute collectors from Vladimir Zalessky successfully hunted in the Pechora and Northern Dvina areas. For a long time, proteges of Vsevolod Yuryevich sat on the Novgorod princely table. Under him, the Murom-Ryazan principality forever lost its independence and became a vassal dependent on Vladimir.
Shortly before the death of Vsevolod the Big Nest, a conflict broke out in his family, which again led to civil strife in the northeast of Rus'. Vsevolod's eldest son, Prince Konstantin of Rostov, by decision of his father, was to take the table in Vladimir after his death, ceding Rostov to his brother Yuri. But Konstantin refused to give his Rostov to his younger brother, which displeased his father. Then Vsevolod Yuryevich convened a representative council, at which he officially proclaimed Yuri the eldest of his descendants, to whom, accordingly, the princely table in Vladimir passed after his death. Offended Konstantin did not even come to father's funeral, which happened shortly after this ill-fated council.
The eldest son of the Vladimir prince did not want to give up his positions and entered into an open armed struggle with his brother for his father’s table. There was a split in the Vsevolodich family. On the side of Konstantin was his brother Svyatoslav, on the side of Yuri - Yaroslav Vsevolodich, the father of the later famous Prince Alexander Nevsky. Open clashes continued with varying success for about four years; the composition of the allies changed frequently. So, Svyatoslav Vsevolodich went over to the side of Yuri and Yaroslav. The Smolensk Rostislavichs and the Novgorodians with their prince Mstislav Mstislavich the Udal began to support Constantine. The family conflict went beyond the boundaries of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Friction between Yaroslav Vsevolodich and his father-in-law Mstislav Udaly separated them on opposite sides of the barricades. April 21, 1216 a decisive battle took place on the river. Lipitsa near Yuriev, which ended in the complete victory of Constantine and his allies. Yuri and Yaroslav shamefully fled from the battlefield. Mstislav Mstislavich Udaloy detained his daughter and refused to hand her over to her legal spouse. Konstantin took Vladimir's table.
Soon Konstantin Vsevolodich made peace with his brother and concluded a contract with him in 1217. an agreement according to which the Vladimir table after his death passed to Yuri. The next year, Konstantin died and Yuri Vsevolodich established himself in Vladimir. He continued the active policy towards Volga Bulgaria, which was pursued by his father. The large-scale campaign of 1220, in which all the princes of North-Eastern Rus' took part, ended with the defeat of the Volga neighbor and the conclusion of a peace treaty. The consequence of the successful development of events was the founding of Nizhny Novgorod at the confluence of the Oka and Volga. The next peace treaty was concluded in 1229. for a period of six years. But in 1236 Volga Bulgaria was defeated by the Tatars. Yuri Vsevolodich reigned in Vladimir until his death during an armed conflict with the Tatars in 1238. on the river Sit. The threat of foreign conquest loomed over North-Eastern Russia.
Northwestern Rus'
In the north-west of Russian lands lie the vast possessions of Novgorod. In terms of size, the Novgorod land was significantly larger than other Russian principalities. Its territory extended from the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipsi in the west to the foothills of the Urals in the east; from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the sources of the Volga in the south. Before the arrival of the Slavs (Novgorod Slovenes and Krivichi), Finno-Ugric tribes lived here, who were mainly engaged in hunting and fishing. Slavic colonization contributed to the active development of new lands and their inclusion in the ancient Russian state territory.
The territory of Novgorod land developed gradually. Unfavorable climatic conditions (rainy and cold summers, frequent frosts), poor soils, swamps and huge tracts of deciduous and coniferous forests hampered the development of agriculture. Initially, the most agriculturally convenient areas were developed: river valleys and plots of land reclaimed from deciduous forests. By the beginning of the 12th century. The main core of the Novgorod land was formed (the Novgorod, Pskov and Ladoga lands themselves). These were territories located in the basin of lakes Ilmen, Pskov and Chud, along the rivers Velikaya, Volkhov, Shelon, Lovat, Msta and Mologa. Outside the metropolis to the northeast lay a zone of vast coniferous taiga, rich in game animals. In search of furs, Novgorodians went far into this territory and reached the North. Dvina, White Sea and Pechory. Over time, these territories turned into colonies of Novgorod, the non-Slavic population of which (Vod, Izhora, Chud, Vse) paid tribute with the skins of valuable animals, wax and honey. Here at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. Novgorod and Vladimir-Suzdal interests collided. In the north-west, the tributaries of Novgorod were the Estonians, Latgalians, and Finns (em).
Specifics geographical location largely determined the features of the Novgorod economy. The most important trade routes were located here Eastern Europe, connecting the North. Europe and the Baltic states with Byzantium and the countries of the East. The most important of them was the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” which passed through a system of rivers and portages along the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov and Ilmen, Lovat and Dnieper. Military detachments of the Varangians and trade caravans moved along this route to the south and back. Along Msta and portages it is a stone's throw to the sources of the Volga; from there it was possible to get to Volga Bulgaria, Khazaria and other countries of the East. At the northern end of this route stood Ladoga and Novgorod. Kyiv played a huge role in this trade, which even had a courtyard of Novgorod merchants. All this contributed to the active development of foreign trade.
On the other hand, difficulties in the agricultural development of this territory led to the fact that communal land ownership existed here for a long time, and the patrimonial system appeared relatively late. The formation of private land ownership of the boyars began only in the first quarter of the 12th century. The basis of the economic power of the Novgorod boyars was the collection of state revenues (tributes, trade duties) and control over them, active participation in international trade and usury.
For a long time, Novgorod did not experience any external threat. The nomads, who so annoyed the southern principalities, were far away. The local Finno-Ugric tribes, conquered and subject to tribute, could not pose much of a threat. To keep them in obedience, punitive campaigns were launched from time to time. But at the beginning of the 12th century. Due to the dominance of the Polovtsians on the southern outskirts of the Russian lands, the “great road” ceased to function. Volga trade gradually began to pass into the hands of a new neighbor - the Rostov-Suzdal (later Vladimir) principality. From that time on, the western direction became the main one in Novgorod's trade. Trade relations with Sweden, Gotland (an island on the Baltic Sea), and Denmark were not only preserved, but also noticeably intensified. In the middle of the 12th century. in Novgorod there was a trading post of Gotlandic merchants (Gothic court). After the Germans conquered the territory of the Baltic Slavs and founded the city of Lübeck, Novgorod also established close trade relations with the latter. In the second half of the 12th century. German merchants from North German cities (primarily from Lübeck) founded the German Court in Novgorod. Through Lübeck and Gotland, the Novgorodians carried out overseas trade with Central and Western Europe.
In the second half of the 12th century. The foreign policy and international trade of Sweden and Denmark have noticeably intensified. Incited by Rome, Sweden began to conquer the lands lying to the east of its territory (Finland). Here the interests of Novgorod and Sweden collided. In 1164 The Swedes launched an armed campaign with their flotilla of 55 ships to Ladoga to take the city and block the exit of the Novgorodians to the Gulf of Finland. Residents of Novgorod, led by Prince Svyatoslav Rostislavich, completely defeated the Swedes. The enemy fleet lost 43 ships. Up to the 14th century. The Swedes no longer tried to take this Novgorod suburb. Throughout the second half of the 12th century. Novgorodians successfully carried out active actions against the Swedes for maintaining their influence in Eastern Finland.
But at the beginning of the 13th century. The international situation on the shores of the Gulf of Finland deteriorated again due to the beginning of the German conquest in the Eastern Baltic. German and Danish crusaders worked together by the early 20s. 13th century conquered the entire territory inhabited by the Livs and Estonians. A successful winter trip across the ice of the Gulf of Finland to the territory of Eastern Finland (where the fish lived), undertaken in 1227. Novgorodians, led by their prince Yaroslav Vsevolodich, the forced baptism of Karelians temporarily stopped the massive onslaught of the Swedes. But these successful measures were no longer able to change the situation and regain lost positions in this area. Thus, at the beginning of the 13th century. Extremely dangerous neighbors appeared on the northwestern border of the Novgorod and Pskov lands. In the same 13th century. Sweden and Denmark captured all the most important trade routes in the Baltic Sea. In accordance with this, the Novgorodians were forced to abandon overseas trade on their ships and began to carry out large trade operations directly in Novgorod itself.
The special position of Novgorod within Kievan Rus was caused by the fact that the first Varangian detachments with their leaders (Igor and Oleg) moved from there to Kyiv. Therefore, a tradition arose very early according to which the Grand Duke of Kiev, as the Novgorod governor (posadnik), planted his eldest son in Novgorod. At that time, the position of mayor did not exist separately from the princely institution. The delimitation of the powers of these two institutions occurred much later (at the end of the 11th century). Thus, the Kiev prince could exercise control over the functioning of the most important trade artery. Vladimir the Holy sent his eldest son Vysheslav to Novgorod, after whose death the Novgorod table was occupied by Yaroslav the Wise. In turn, Yaroslav the Wise, having taken possession of Kiev, left his eldest son Ilya in Novgorod, after whom the Novgorod throne passed to his other son Vladimir. VLADIMIR YAROSLAVICH (1034-1052) was not able to visit the Kiev table, because. he died two years before the death of his parent (1054). Because of this, his children and grandchildren became outcasts among their relatives.
During the time of Vladimir the Saint, two-thirds of the tribute annually received from the Novgorod territories went to the capital Kyiv. One third remained in Novgorod. Yaroslav Vladimirovich was the first to refuse to fulfill this demand: “All the Novgorod mayors gave this, but Yaroslav did not give this to his father in Kyiv.” Vladimir the Saint began to prepare a punitive campaign against his rebellious son, but suddenly died in 1015. From then on, probably, the tribute collected from the subject territories began to remain in Novgorod and went to support the prince and his administration.
Novgorod is not mentioned in the Yaroslav Row, since traditionally the Kiev prince himself sent posadniks to Novgorod. In the 11th century the children of Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod Yaroslavich alternately visited this princely table. But none of them could take root in Northwestern Rus'. Longest at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries. Representatives of the princely house of Vsevolod Yaroslavich were in Novgorod. From 1097 to 1117, the Novgorod table was occupied by MSTISLAV THE GREAT, the eldest son of Vladimir Vsevolodich Monomakh. Novgorodians knew him from childhood. When in 1102 the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatopolk Izyaslavich wanted to replace him with his son, they answered him: “We don’t want Svyatopolk or his son; Vsevolod gave this to us, and we fed the prince for ourselves,” and further: “If your son has two heads, then send him to us!"
After twenty years of his stay in the north-west, Mstislav Vladimirovich in 1117. went to Southern Rus', closer to his father, who was in Kyiv. In Novgorod he left his eldest son VSEVOLOD MSTISLAVICH, who also occupied this table for almost 20 years (1117-1136). But the princely dynasty never developed in the Novgorod land. This was greatly facilitated by the events of the late 11th - first half of the 12th centuries. Since the 80s 11th century The position of Novgorod mayor was separated from the princely power and began to exist parallel to it. At first, posadniks were representatives of the Kyiv boyar aristocracy, appointed by the Kyiv Grand Duke. And then (from the second quarter of the 12th century) Novgorod boyars began to be elected to this position at the veche. So this institution of executive power turned into an elected body of local administration.
In the 30s 12th century In Novgorod, events took place that in scientific literature are usually called an “uprising” or “coup.” After the death of his father in 1132, Vsevolod Mstislavich, at the request of his uncle, the Grand Duke of Kyiv Yaropolk Vladimirovich, went to Southern Rus' to the Pereslavl table. Thus, he violated the oath given shortly before, promising to reign in Novgorod until his death: “and I kissed the cross to the Novgorodians, that I want to die with you.” Pereslavl South was then considered as the last step in the ascent to the Grand Duke's table. Therefore, Mstislav Vladimirovich’s younger brothers Yuri (Dolgoruky) and Andrei became worried, thinking that the childless Prince Yaropolk Vladimirovich would expect his eldest nephew Vsevolod Mstislavich to take his place. Vsevolod had not even spent a day sitting on the Pereslavl table before his father’s brothers, Yuri and Andrey, drove him out of there by lunchtime. The unlucky prince could only return to the abandoned Novgorod table.
After the prince left, a meeting was hastily convened in Novgorod, to which representatives from the suburbs of Pskov and Ladoga arrived. The Novgorodians decided to expel the prince from the city for violating the oath, but after thinking a little they returned him to the Novgorod table. After this conflict, Vsevolod Mstislavich spent about four years in Novgorod. And in 1136 the situation repeated itself. Again, the Novgorodians, Pskovians and Ladoga residents gathered at a meeting in Novgorod and decided to expel the prince from the city. He was reminded of his past guilt, and also added new claims: he did not care about the population subject to tribute; was not distinguished by courage and bravery during two military campaigns against Suzdal (1134-1135), which he himself organized.
The prince and his family were arrested and placed in custody at the lord's court, where he was carefully guarded for about two months by thirty people every day. At the same time, the Novgorodians sent an embassy to Chernigov and invited Svyatoslav Olgovich. Eight decades later, a representative of the Chernigov princely house again appeared on the Novgorod table. Thus, in Novgorod the principle of “liberty in the princes” won, which the Novgorodians later actively used, expelling and inviting at their own discretion applicants to the princely table. Events of the first half of the 12th century. became landmarks in the history of the Novgorod land. An end was put to the limitless dictatorship of the Kyiv Grand Duke. Conditions arose for the further development of a unique political structure of this land, which in scientific literature received the name “Novgorod Republic”.
The supreme body of power in Novgorod became the veche, at which representatives of the executive branch were elected, the candidacy of the prince was considered, and the most important issues of domestic and foreign policy were decided. Until now, there is no consensus among researchers about the composition of its participants: whether they were all free male residents of the city or only estate owners. The fact is that archaeological excavations, which have been carried out for several years in this medieval city, have confirmed the clan nature of urban boyar land ownership. Several large boyar families over the course of a number of centuries owned a small complex of courtyards, which were passed down from generation to generation. In such courtyards lived the heads of families with their relatives, servants and artisans who served them. The famous archaeologist and researcher of medieval Novgorod V.L. Yanin believes that the veche was nominally a meeting of the owners of these urban boyar estates (no more than 500 people), who decided the fate of the city and the entire land. Other researchers (Yu.G. Alekseev, I.Ya. Froyanov) believe that Novgorod was a territorial community with the features of pre-feudal democracy. They include the veche device as such features. At that time, all free members of this community were participants in veche meetings, regardless of their social affiliation.
Along with the citywide veche, there were veche meetings of the suburbs (Pskov and Ladoga), ends and streets. The Volkhov River divided Novgorod into two halves: the Torgovaya, so named because of the location of citywide trading and foreign trading yards, and the Sophia, where the St. Sophia Cathedral and the courtyard of the Novgorod ruler were located. On the Trade Side there were Slavensky and Plotnitsky ends, on Sofiyskaya there were Nerevsky, Zagorodsky and Lyudin (Goncharsky) ends. The ends consisted of streets. A similar territorial structure developed gradually throughout the 12th-13th centuries. The leading role in all these self-government bodies was played by local boyars.
The main official in the Novgorod administration was the mayor. He stood at the head of the Novgorod government, presided over the assembly, and was in charge of the citywide court and administration. In fact, representatives of several boyar families were elected mayors, between whom there was a constant struggle. The second important person in the city administration was the Tysyatsky. He headed the city militia, was in charge of tax collection and the commercial court. Initially, this position was subordinate to the prince, and from the end of the 12th century. the thousand began to be elected at a citywide assembly. Since 1156 The position of Novgorod bishop (since 1165 archbishop) also belongs to the elective institutions. The Novgorod ruler managed the treasury, controlled foreign policy relations and the disposal of the land fund, and was the keeper of the standards of measures and weights.
The prince, elected at the assembly and invited to the city, led the Novgorod army. His squad maintained public order in the city. He performed representative functions in other principalities and was a symbol of the unity of the Novgorod lands. But the position of the Novgorod prince was unstable, because. his fate very often depended on the decision of the veche meeting. At such meetings, violent passions boiled over the candidacy of the prince, and there was a fierce struggle between the boyar clans to fill the post of mayor, which they tried to oppose to the princely power. Quite often the veche ended in bloodshed. From 1095 to 1304 On the Novgorod table, the princes changed at least 58 times. But even outside Novgorod, representatives of several princely families argued among themselves over the Novgorod table. They sought to find support and support both from ordinary townspeople and from the extensive boyar aristocracy.
Moreover, the Novgorod table was played only between the descendants of Svyatoslav and Vsevolod Yaroslavich. The Chernigov princes (Olgovichs) had the least luck in this game. In the second half of the 12th century. The struggle for the Novgorod table began to be waged by representatives of the senior branch of the Monomakhovichs - the Mstislavichs (children and grandchildren of Mstislav the Great) and the younger - the Yuryeviches (the offspring of Yuri Dolgoruky). There was no unity in the Mstislavich camp: both the descendants of Izyaslav Mstislavich (Volyn princes) and Rostislav Mstislavich (Smolensk princes) laid claim to the Novgorod table. Their successes in achieving the Grand Duke’s table in Kyiv played a significant role in this struggle, because. the connection between these two all-Russian tables formally continued to exist. The rulers of the Vladimir-Suzdal and Smolensk principalities sought, through the princes of their house, to keep the Novgorod and Kiev tables, as well as the distant Galician, in line with their policies. The princes of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality won this political relay race, because since the 80s 12th century On the princely table in Novgorod, mostly henchmen of Vsevolod the Big Nest or his descendants sat.
Relations with the neighboring Vladimir-Suzdal principality of Novgorod were quite complicated. The new principality, which grew up at the beginning of the 12th century on the southeastern outskirts of the Novgorod land, became a real rival in the Volga trade, in the development of the vast expanses of the north, in the subjugation of the non-Slavic population living there. In the 30s 12th century Novgorodians made two military campaigns against Suzdal to bring it under their control. The second of them, which happened in the winter of 1135, ended in a crushing defeat of the Novgorodians at Zhdanova Gora. It was this unsuccessful campaign that largely decided the fate of Vsevolod Mstislavich in 1136. After this, the Suzdal and Rostov residents began to make numerous forays into Novgorod territory, trying to expand the borders of their land.
From then on, the rulers of North-Eastern Rus', relying on one or another boyar group in Novgorod, joined the relay race for the local princely table. And the Novgorodians themselves, in the struggle for the principle of “liberty in princes,” quite often sought support from the same Yuryevichs. Many of the representatives of this princely house visited the Novgorod table: Rostislav and Mstislav Yuryevich, Mstislav Rostislavich Bezokiy and his son Svyatoslav, Yuri Andreevich. The latter's father, Andrei Bogolyubsky, organized in 1169. a large-scale campaign against Novgorod by the forces of the Vladimir-Suzdal army and allied detachments from the Smolensk land. At the walls of the city, the Novgorodians, led by Prince Roman Mstislavich (1168-1170), the same one who later ruled so brilliantly in the Galicia-Volyn principality, crushed the enemy troops. That’s when the Vladimir prince undertook a trade blockade, as a result of which the Novgorodians the next year denied Roman Mstislavich the reign and sent an embassy to Andrei Yuryevich with peace proposals.
Trying to resist the growing influence of the Vladimir-Suzdal land, the Novgorodians supported Mstislav and Yaropolk Rostislavich in their struggle for the princely table with Vsevolod the Big Nest. When the latter settled in Vladimir Zalessky, he did everything possible to keep the Novgorod table under his control. Only once did his efforts prove fruitless, when Mstislav Mstislavich Udaloy (1208-1217) arrived in Novgorod at the invitation of the veche meeting. His position in this city was incomparably great. His father reigned in Novgorod, died and was buried in the St. Sophia Cathedral. Mstislav Udaloy had a strong squad, was distinguished by military valor and courage, which is why he earned such a nickname. With a firm and skillful hand he ruled Novgorod and made 5 armed campaigns against Chud. But he was stubbornly drawn to Southern Rus'. On one of these departures in 1216. the Novgorod opposition invited son-in-law Mstislav Mstislavich to the princely table, own son Vsevolod's Big Nest. Yaroslav Vsevolodich arrived in Novgorod, and then left it and occupied Torzhok, from where he began to make hostile attacks against Novgorod, blocking the flow of grain. It was these actions of Yaroslav Vsevolodich that brought the Novgorodians, together with Mstislav the Udal, to the camp of the allies of Konstantin Vsevolodich, on whose side they fought in the famous Battle of Lipitsa. Soon after this, Mstislav Mstislavich, despite the entreaties of the Novgorodians, left the table and went to reign in Galich. Novgorod was left alone with its strong neighbor - the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. Representatives of this princely house now permanently occupied the Novgorod table. The Novgorodians had constant conflicts with many of them (in particular with Yaroslav Vsevolodich). In these disputes and conflicts, Novgorod statehood grew and became stronger. Another dangerous and hitherto unknown enemy loomed on the threshold - the Mongol-Tatars.
Yaroslav the Wise tried to prevent civil strife after his death and established an order of succession to the Kyiv throne among his children according to seniority: from brother to brother and from uncle to eldest nephew. But this did not help to avoid a power struggle between the brothers. In 1097, the Yaroslavichs gathered in the city of Lyubich (Lyubich Congress of Princes) and forbade the princes to move from principality to principality. Thus, the preconditions for feudal fragmentation were created. But this decision did not stop the internecine wars. Now the princes were concerned about expanding the territories of their principalities.
For a short time, peace was restored by Yaroslav's grandson Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125). But after his death, wars broke out with renewed vigor. Kyiv, weakened by the constant struggle with the Polovtsians and internal strife, gradually lost its leading importance. The population seeks salvation from constant plunder and moves to calmer principalities: Galicia-Volyn (Upper Dnieper) and Rostov-Suzdal (between the Volga and Oka rivers). In many ways, the princes were pushed to seize new lands by the boyars, who were interested in expanding their patrimonial lands. Due to the fact that the princes established the Kiev order of inheritance in their principalities, processes of fragmentation began in them: if at the beginning of the 12th century there were 15 principalities, then by the end of the 13th century there were already 250 principalities. Feudal fragmentation was a natural process in the development of statehood. It was accompanied by a revival of the economy, a rise in culture and the formation of local cultural centers. At the same time, during the period of fragmentation, the awareness of national unity was not lost.
Reasons for fragmentation:
- 1) the absence of strong economic ties between individual principalities - each principality produced everything it needed within itself, that is, it lived on a subsistence economy;
- 2) the emergence and strengthening of local princely dynasties;
- 3) weakening central government Prince of Kyiv;
- 4) the decline of the trade route along the Dnieper “from the Varangians to the Greeks” and the strengthening of the importance of the Volga as a trade route.
The Galician-Volyn principality is located in the foothills of the Carpathians. Trade routes from Byzantium to Europe passed through the principality. In the principality, a struggle arose between the prince and the large boyars - landowners. Poland and Hungary often intervened in the struggle.
The Galician principality especially strengthened under Yaroslav Vladimirovich Osmomysl (1157-1182). After his death, the Galician principality was annexed to Volyn by Prince Roman Mstislavovich (1199-1205). Roman managed to capture Kyiv, declared himself Grand Duke, and drove the Polovtsians back from the southern borders. Roman's policy was continued by his son Daniil Romanovich (1205-1264). During his time there was an invasion of the Tatar-Mongols and the prince had to recognize the power of the khan over himself. After the death of Daniel, a struggle broke out between the boyar families in the principality, as a result of which Volyn was captured by Lithuania, and Galicia by Poland.
The Novgorod principality extended throughout the Russian North from the Baltic states to the Urals. Through Novgorod there was a lively trade with Europe along the Baltic Sea. The Novgorod boyars were also drawn into this trade. After the uprising of 1136, Prince Vsevolod was expelled and the Novgorodians began to invite princes to their place, that is, a feudal republic was established. Princely power was significantly limited by the city veche (assembly) and the Council of Gentlemen. The function of the prince was reduced to organizing the defense of the city and external representation. In reality, the city was governed by the mayor elected at the assembly and the Council of Gentlemen. The veche had the right to expel the prince from the city. Delegates from the city ends (Konchansky veche) took part in the meeting. All free townspeople of this end could participate in the Konchansk veche. The republican organization of power in Novgorod was class-based. Novgorod became the center of the fight against German and Swedish aggression.
The Vladimir-Suzdal principality was located between the Volga and Oka rivers and was protected from the steppe inhabitants by forests. By attracting the population to desert lands, the princes founded new cities and prevented the formation of city self-government (veche) and large boyar land ownership. At the same time, settling on the princely lands, free community members became dependent on the landowner, that is, the development of serfdom continued and intensified.
The beginning of the local dynasty was laid by the son of Vladimir Monomakh, Yuri Dolgoruky (1125-1157). He founded a number of cities: Dmitrov, Zvenigorod, Moscow. But Yuri sought to get to the great reign in Kyiv. Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky (1157-1174) became the real owner of the principality. He founded the city of Vladimir-on-Klyazma and moved the capital of the principality there from Rostov. Wanting to expand the borders of his principality, Andrei fought a lot with his neighbors. The boyars removed from power organized a conspiracy and killed Andrei Bogolyubsky. Andrei's policy was continued by his brother Vsevolod Yuryevich the Big Nest (1176-1212) and Vsevolod's son Yuri (1218-1238). In 1221, Yuri Vsevolodovich founded Nizhny Novgorod. The development of Rus' was slowed down by the Tatar-Mongol invasion of 1237-1241.
After the collapse of Kievan Rus, three strong principalities emerged, to which dozens of small ones gravitated. These were Novgorod(peculiarity - a boyar republic, the prince was invited, he could be kicked out, he did not perform practically any functions), Vladimir-Suzdal principality (the beginning of the local dynasty was laid by Monomakh's son Yuri Dolgoruky, the founder of Moscow. Dolgoruky's son Andrei Bogolyubsky first assumed the title Grand Duke Vladimir. This principality became the basis for the formation of the Russian people), Galicia-Volynskoe principality (the basis for the formation of the Ukrainian people; more details will be discussed about it later).
It was during this period that the paths of the previously united nationality diverged, and differences gradually began to appear caused by geographical, foreign and domestic political circumstances. Three future separate peoples are beginning to form - Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
The collapse of a single state into several small ones led to the strengthening of external enemies and their attempts to interfere in the affairs of Rus'. Moreover, princes and boyars in the struggle for power often resorted to the services of foreigners, that is, they themselves brought this plague to Rus'.
There were two main hostile foreign policy factors - the Mongol-Tatars and the crusaders.
Mongols - many tribes of southern Siberia and Transbaikalia - Tatars, Taichuits, Merkits, Oirats and others (in Europe they were all later called simply “Tatars”, hence the confusion that Soviet historiography tried to avoid by calling these tribes Mongol-Tatars). In 1206, after a long struggle for power, all the Mongol tribes were united under his rule by the son of one of the Taichuit leaders, Temujin, who took the title Genghis Khan.
He divided the entire population into tens, hundreds, thousands and tumens (ten thousand), mixing tribes and clans and appointing specially selected people as commanders over them. All adult and healthy men were considered warriors who ran their households in peacetime and took up arms in wartime. Such an organization provided Genghis Khan with the opportunity to create a large army and at the same time get rid of inter-tribal hostility. The basis of the Mongol army was mobile light cavalry. Every man from childhood prepared to become a warrior, masterfully wielding a sword, bow and spear. The child sat on the horse when he began to walk. The law contributed to the strengthening of military discipline: if in battle one of the ten runs away from the enemy, then the entire ten are executed; if a dozen run in a hundred, then the whole hundred is executed; if a hundred runs and opens a gap for the enemy, then the whole thousand are executed. The Mongol cavalry on their short, hardy horses could travel up to 80 km per day. Genghis Khan elevated the written law to a cult and was a supporter of strong law and order. He created a network of communication lines in his empire, courier communications on a large scale for military and administrative purposes, and organized intelligence.
By 1211, Genghis Khan conquered Siberia, and by 1215, northern China (all of China finally submitted to the Mongols only in 1235). In 1218, the Mongols invaded Central Asia and conquered Semirechye, the most fertile region of Kazakhstan, ruled by Genghis Khan’s longtime enemy, Khan Kuchluk. In 1219-1221, the Mongols conquered the powerful state of Khorezm - the territory of modern Uzbekistan. Here the residents were treated extremely cruelly, as they killed Mongolian merchants and ambassadors, and the Mongols did not forgive this.
After this, Genghis Khan sent a strong cavalry corps under the command of Jebe and Subedei to explore the western lands. They walked along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, penetrated into Transcaucasia, defeated the Georgian army (1222), then defeated the united army of the Polovtsians, Lezgins, Circassians and Alans. The Polovtsians fled to Rus', their khan Kotyan asked his son-in-law Mstislav the Udaly not to refuse him help. A large princely congress was convened in Kyiv, after which the armed forces of the princes of Kyiv, Galicia, Chernigov, Seversk, Smolensk and Volyn came out in support of the Polovtsians. In the battle on the Kalka River, the troops of Daniil Galitsky, Mstislav the Udal and Khan Kotyan, without notifying the other princes, decided to deal with the Mongols on their own and on May 31, 1223, they were defeated while passively observing the main Russian forces led by Mstislav III, located on the opposite bank of the Kalka . However, the Mongols defeated them three days later.
After the battle on Kalka, the Mongol-Tatars went to Volga Bulgaria, but were repulsed by the Bulgarians and went to Asia.
A new stage in the conquest of the West began under Genghis Khan's grandson Batu. Batu defeated Volga Bulgaria, ravaged Ryazan (1237), Moscow, Vladimir-on-Klyazma (1238). In 1239, Batu conquered Pereyaslavl, Chernigov, ravaged Kyiv (December 6, 1240), Vladimir-Volynsky, Galich (1241). Here Batu's horde split. Some went to Poland, where the Mongols defeated the Poles near Liegnitz. The other part went to Hungary. Bela IV of Hungary was completely defeated by Batu and fled. Batu. In December 1241, Khan Ogedei, Batu's uncle, died; This news, received by Batu at the height of his European successes, forced him to rush to Mongolia to take part in the election of a new khan.
During his lifetime, Genghis Khan divided the huge empire between his sons into uluses: Ogedei ulus - Mongolia and Northern China, Chagatai ulus - Central Asia, ulus Jochi - spaces west of the Irtysh, ulus Hulagu - Iran and Transcaucasia. In 1243, Batu settled in the Lower Volga and proclaimed the creation of a new state - the Golden Horde, with its capital in Sarai, separating from the Jochi ulus. The borders of the Golden Horde extended from the Irtysh to the Danube, including Desht-i-Kipchak (Polovtsian steppe), Volga Bulgaria, Khorezm, the Urals, Crimea and the North Caucasus.
The basis of the military force of the Horde were the Turkic-speaking Kipchaks (Cumans). In addition, the Mongols involved many peoples in their movement to the west - Bashkirs, Uighurs, Buryats, Kyrgyz, Chuvash, Pechenegs, etc. From the beginning of the 14th century. The Kipchak language became the official language of the Golden Horde, and Islam was adopted as the state religion. The basis of public administration was a system borrowed from China - a strong centralized state. Later, this system was borrowed from the Mongols and introduced by the Moscow princes.
The Russian lands were vassals of the Golden Horde. Rus' paid tribute, Russian princes had to go to Sarai upon accession to the throne to receive a label from the Mongol khan. Stories about the horrors of the Mongol yoke either date back to the beginning of Mongol power, until the beginning of the 14th century, or are associated not so much with the Mongols as with the Russian princes, who, in the fight against each other, called upon troops of nomads to their aid, allowing them to plunder Russian lands as payment.
The Crusaders are the general name for Catholic knightly orders, European knights, who initially participated in the crusades of the 11th-13th centuries with the goal of reconquering the Holy Land from Muslims, and later carried out crusades in Europe - against heretics, against pagans, against the Turks. They also had something to do with Russian history.
In 1200 Bishop Albert from Bremen landed at the mouth of the Dvina and founded Riga. In 1202 he created the Catholic Order of the “Bearers of the Sword”. The distinctive sign of its members was a white robe with a red cross and a sword on it. The order was created to capture the Baltic states under the banner of its Christianization. In addition, in 1217 Danish knights landed in northern Estonia and founded Revel (Tallinn).
The tactics of the knights were the same: after the suppression of the local pagan leader, the population was forcibly converted to Christianity. A castle was built on this site, around which the arriving Germans began actively using the land. In the 20s, the knights subjugated the lands of the Latvians and Estonians, and clashes between the order and the Russians began, who, since the time of Yaroslav the Wise, had held a significant part of the Baltic states under their influence.
In 1226, the Polish prince Conrad invited knights of another order, the Teutonic, to help in the fight against the Baltic tribe of Prussians. They founded the fortresses of Thorn and Marienburg, and by 1283 they conquered all of Prussia, slaughtering the Polish population along the way.
Meanwhile, the Order of the Swordsmen suffered defeats from the Novgorodians (1234) and the Lithuanians (1236). In 1237, the remnants of the Order of the Swordsmen merged with the Teutonic Order, forming its subsidiary branch - the Livonian Order. The Teutonic and Livonian orders become the main destabilizing factors in the Baltic states, seeking to subjugate, rob or exterminate the Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Russian populations of the region.
In 1236 the crusaders reached the Galicia-Volyn principality, in 1240-1242 they waged a protracted war with Pskov and Novgorod, but were repulsed. Main role The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which consisted of 2/3 Russian lands, played a role in the fight against the crusaders, but it will also be discussed later.
Already in the middle of the 12th century. the power of the Kyiv princes began to have real significance only within the boundaries of the Kyiv principality itself, which included lands along the banks of the tributaries of the Dnieper - Teterev, Irpen and semi-autonomous Porosye, populated by the Black Hoods, vassals from Kyiv. The attempt of Yaropolk, who became the prince of Kyiv after the death of Mstislav I, to autocratically dispose of the “fatherland” of other princes was decisively stopped.
Despite the loss of Kiev's all-Russian significance, the struggle for its possession continued until the Mongol invasion. There was no order in the inheritance of the Kyiv throne, and it passed from hand to hand depending on the balance of power of the fighting princely groups and, to a large extent, on the attitude towards them on the part of the powerful Kyiv boyars and the “Black Klobuks”. In the conditions of the all-Russian struggle for Kyiv, the local boyars sought to end the strife and to political stabilization in their principality. The invitation by the boyars in 1113 of Vladimir Monomakh to Kyiv (bypassing the then accepted order of succession) was a precedent that was later used by the boyars to justify their “right” to choose a strong and pleasing prince and to conclude a “row” with him that protected them territorially. corporate interests. The boyars who violated this series of princes were eliminated by going over to the side of his rivals or through a conspiracy (as, perhaps, Yuri Dolgoruky was poisoned, overthrown, and then killed in 1147 during a popular uprising, Igor Olgovich Chernigovsky, unpopular among the people of Kiev). As more and more princes were drawn into the struggle for Kyiv, the Kyiv boyars resorted to a kind of system of princely duumvirate, inviting representatives from two of several rival princely groups to Kyiv as co-rulers, which for some time achieved the much-needed relative political balance for the Kyiv land.
As Kiev loses its all-Russian significance, individual rulers of the strongest principalities, who have become “great” in their lands, begin to be satisfied with the installation of their proteges in Kyiv - “henchmen”.
Princely strife over Kyiv turned the Kyiv land into an arena of frequent military operations, during which cities and villages were ruined, and the population was driven into captivity. Kyiv itself was subjected to brutal pogroms, both from the princes who entered it as victors and from those who left it as defeated and returned to their “fatherland.” All this predetermined the development that emerged from the beginning of the 13th century. the gradual decline of the Kyiv land, the flow of its population to the northern and northwestern regions of the country, which suffered less from princely strife and were virtually inaccessible to the Polovtsians. Periods of temporary strengthening of Kyiv during the reign of such outstanding political figures and organizers of the fight against the Polovtsians as Svyatoslav Vsevolodich of Chernigov (1180-1194) and Roman Mstislavich of Volyn (1202 - 1205) alternated with the reign of colorless, kaleidoscopically successive princes. Daniil Romanovich Galitsky, into whose hands Kyiv passed shortly before Batu’s capture of it, had already limited himself to appointing his mayor from the boyars.
Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
Until the middle of the 11th century. The Rostov-Suzdal land was governed by mayors sent from Kyiv. Its real “princeship” began after it went to the younger “Yaroslavich” - Vsevolod of Pereyaslavl - and was assigned to his descendants as their ancestral “volost” in the XII-XIII centuries. The Rostov-Suzdal land experienced an economic and political upsurge, which put it among the strongest principalities in Rus'. The fertile lands of the Suzdal “Opolye”, vast forests cut through by a dense network of rivers and lakes along which ancient and important trade routes to the south and east ran, the presence of iron ores accessible for mining - all this favored the development of agriculture, cattle breeding, rural and forestry industries , crafts and trade. In the acceleration of the economic development and political rise of this forest region, the rapid growth of its population due to the inhabitants of the southern Russian lands, which were subjected to Polovtsian raids in the 11th-12th centuries, formed and strengthened a large princely and boyar (and then ecclesiastical) kingdom. land ownership, absorbing communal lands and involving peasants in personal feudal dependence In the 12th - 13th centuries, almost all the main cities of this land arose (Vladimir, Pereyaslavl-Zalesskiy, Dmitrov, Starodub, Gorodets, Galich, Kostroma, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, etc.) , built by the Suzdal princes on the borders and inside the principality as strongholds and administrative points and equipped with trade and craft settlements, the population of which was actively involved in political life. In 1147, Moscow was first mentioned in the chronicle, a small border town built by Yuri Dolgoruky on the site of the estate of the boyar Kuchka, which he had confiscated.
In the early 30s of the 12th century, during the reign of Monomakh’s son Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky (1125-1157), the Rostov-Suzdal land gained independence. The military-political activity of Yuri, who intervened in all the princely strife, stretched out his “long hands” to cities and lands far from his principality, made him one of the central figures in the political life of Rus' in the second third of the 11th century. The struggle with Novgorod and the war with Volga Bulgaria, begun by Yuri and continued by his successors, marked the beginning of the expansion of the borders of the principality towards the Podvina region and the Volga-Kama lands. Ryazan and Murom, which had previously been “pulled” towards Chernigov, fell under the influence of the Suzdal princes.
The last ten years of Dolgoruky’s life were spent in a grueling and alien to the interests of his principality struggle with the southern Russian princes for Kyiv, the reign of which, in the eyes of Yuri and the princes of his generation, was combined with “eldership” in Rus'. But already the son of Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, having captured Kyiv in 1169 and brutally robbed it, handed it over to the management of one of his vassal princes, “helpers”, which indicated a change on the part of the most far-sighted princes in their attitude towards Kyiv, which had lost its significance all-Russian political center.
The reign of Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky (1157 - 1174) was marked by the beginning of the struggle of the Suzdal princes for the political hegemony of their principality over the rest of the Russian lands. The ambitious attempts of Bogolyubsky, who claimed the title of Grand Duke of all Rus', to completely subjugate Novgorod and force other princes to recognize his supremacy in Rus' failed. However, it was precisely these attempts that reflected the tendency to restore the state-political unity of the country based on the subordination of appanage princes to the autocratic ruler of one of the strongest principalities in Rus'.
The reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky is associated with the revival of the traditions of the power politics of Vladimir Monomakh. Relying on the support of the townspeople and noble warriors, Andrei dealt harshly with the rebellious boyars, expelled them from the principality, and confiscated their estates. To be even more independent from the boyars, he moved the capital of the principality from a relatively new city - Vladimir-on-Klyazma, which had a significant trade and craft settlement. It was not possible to completely suppress the boyar opposition to the “autocratic” prince, as Andrei was called by his contemporaries. In June 1174 he was killed by conspiratorial boyars.
The two-year strife, unleashed after the murder of Bogolyubsky by the boyars, ended with the reign of his brother Vsevolod Yuryevich the Big Nest (1176-1212), who, relying on the townspeople and the squads of feudal lords, dealt harshly with the rebellious nobility and became the sovereign ruler in his land. During his reign, the Vladimir-Suzdal land reached its greatest prosperity and power, playing a decisive role in the political life of Rus' at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries. Extending his influence to other Russian lands, Vsevolod skillfully combined the force of arms (as, for example, in relation to the Ryazan princes) with skillful politics (in relations with the southern Russian princes and Novgorod). The name and power of Vsevolod were well known far beyond the borders of Rus'. The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” proudly wrote about him as the most powerful prince in Rus', whose numerous regiments could sprinkle the Volga with oars, and with their helmets draw water from the Don, from whose very name “all countries trembled” and with rumors about which “the world was full of the whole earth."
After the death of Vsevolod, an intensive process of feudal fragmentation began in the Vladimir-Suzdal land. The feuds of Vsevolod's numerous sons over the grand-ducal table and the distribution of principalities led to a gradual weakening of the grand-ducal power and its political influence on other Russian lands. Nevertheless, until the invasion of the Mongols, the Vladimir-Suzdal land remained the strongest and most influential principality in Rus', maintaining political unity under the leadership of the Vladimir Grand Duke. When planning a campaign of conquest against Rus', the Mongol-Tatars linked the result of the surprise and power of their first strike with the success of the entire campaign as a whole. And it is no coincidence that North-Eastern Rus' was chosen as the target of the first strike.
Chernigov and Smolensk principalities
These two large Dnieper principalities had much in common in their economics and political system with other South Russian principalities, which were ancient centers of Eastern Slavic culture. Here already in the 9th -11th centuries. Large princely and boyar land ownership developed, cities grew rapidly, becoming centers of handicraft production, serving not only the nearby rural districts, but also having developed external connections. The Smolensk Principality had extensive trade relations, especially with the West, where the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Western Dvina converged - the most important trade routes of Eastern Europe.
The separation of Chernigov land into an independent principality occurred in the second half of the 11th century. in connection with its transfer (together with the Murom-Ryazan land) to the son of Yaroslav the Wise Svyatoslav, to whose descendants it was assigned. Back at the end of the 11th century. The ancient ties between Chernigov and Tmutarakan, which was cut off by the Polovtsians from the rest of the Russian lands and fell under the sovereignty of Byzantium, were interrupted. At the end of the 40s of the 11th century. The Chernigov principality was divided into two principalities: Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky. At the same time, the Murom-Ryazan land became isolated, falling under the influence of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes. The Smolensk land separated from Kyiv at the end of the 20s of the 12th century, when it went to the son of Mstislav I Rostislav. Under him and his descendants (“Rostislavichs”), the Smolensk principality expanded territorially and strengthened.
The central, connecting position of the Chernigov and Smolensk principalities among other Russian lands involved their princes in all the political events that took place in Rus' in the 12th-13th centuries, and above all in the struggle for their neighboring Kyiv. The Chernigov and Seversk princes showed particular political activity, indispensable participants (and often initiators) of all princely strife, unscrupulous in the means of fighting their opponents and more often than other princes resorted to an alliance with the Polovtsians, with whom they devastated the lands of their rivals. It is no coincidence that the author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” called the founder of the dynasty of Chernigov princes Oleg Svyatoslavich “Gorislavich,” who was the first to “forge sedition with the sword” and “sow” the Russian land with strife.
The grand ducal power in the Chernigov and Smolensk lands was unable to overcome the forces of feudal decentralization (the zemstvo nobility and the rulers of small principalities), and as a result, these lands at the end of the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries. were fragmented into many small principalities, which only nominally recognized the sovereignty of the great princes.
Polotsk-Minsk land
The Polotsk-Minsk land showed early trends towards separation from Kyiv. Despite the unfavorable soil conditions for agriculture, the socio-economic development of the Polotsk land occurred at a high pace due to its favorable location at the crossroads of the most important trade routes along the Western Dvina, Neman and Berezina. Lively trade relations with the West and the Baltic neighboring tribes (Livs, Lats, Curonians, etc.), which were under the sovereignty of the Polotsk princes, contributed to the growth of cities with a significant and influential trade and craft stratum. A large feudal economy with developed agricultural industries, the products of which were exported abroad, also developed here early.
At the beginning of the 11th century. The Polotsk land went to Yaroslav the Wise’s brother Izyaslav, whose descendants, relying on the support of the local nobility and townspeople, fought for the independence of their “fatherland” from Kyiv for more than a hundred years with varying success. The Polotsk land reached its greatest power in the second half of the 11th century. during the reign of Vseslav Bryachislavich (1044-1103), but in the 12th century. an intensive process of feudal fragmentation began in it. In the first half of the 13th century. it was already a conglomerate of small principalities that only nominally recognized the power of the Grand Duke of Polotsk. These principalities, weakened by internal strife, faced a difficult struggle (in alliance with neighboring and dependent Baltic tribes) with the German crusaders who invaded the Eastern Baltic. From the middle of the 12th century. The Polotsk land became the target of an offensive by the Lithuanian feudal lords.
Galicia-Volyn land
The Galician-Volyn land extended from the Carpathians and the Dniester-Danube Black Sea region in the south and southwest to the lands of the Lithuanian Yatvingian tribe and the Polotsk land in the north. In the west it bordered with Hungary and Poland, and in the east with the Kyiv land and the Polovtsian steppe. The Galicia-Volyn land was one of the most ancient centers of the arable farming culture of the Eastern Slavs. Fertile soils, mild climate, numerous rivers and forests, interspersed with steppe spaces, created favorable conditions for the development of agriculture, cattle breeding and various crafts, and at the same time the early development of feudal relations, large feudal princely and boyar land ownership. High level Craft production reached its peak, the separation of which from agriculture contributed to the growth of cities, which were more numerous here than in other Russian lands. The largest of them were Vladimir-Volynsky, Przemysl, Terebovl, Galich, Berestye, Kholm, Drogichin, etc. A significant part of the inhabitants of these cities were artisans and merchants. The second trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea (Vistula-Western Bug-Dniester) and overland trade routes from Rus' to the countries of South-Eastern and Central Europe passed through the Galicia-Volyn land. The dependence of the Dniester-Danube lower land on Galich made it possible to control the European shipping trade route along the Danube with the East.
Galician land until the middle of the 12th century. was divided into several small principalities, which in 1141 were united by the Przemysl prince Vladimir Volodarevich, who moved his capital to Galich. The Principality of Galicia reached its greatest prosperity and power under his son Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153-1187), a major statesman of that time, who highly raised the international prestige of his principality and successfully defended in his policies all-Russian interests in relations with Byzantium and the European states neighboring Russia. . The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” dedicated the most pathetic lines to the military power and international authority of Yaroslav Osmomysl. After the death of Osmomysl, the Principality of Galicia became the arena of a long struggle between the princes and the oligarchic aspirations of the local boyars. Boyar land ownership in the Galician land was ahead of the princely land in its development and significantly exceeded the latter in size. The Galician “great boyars”, who owned huge estates with their own fortified castle cities and had numerous military servants-vassals, in the fight against the princes they disliked, resorted to conspiracies and rebellions, and entered into an alliance with the Hungarian and Polish feudal lords.
The Volyn land separated from Kyiv in the middle of the 12th century, securing itself as a ancestral “fatherland” for the descendants of the Kyiv Grand Duke Izyaslav Mstislavich. Unlike the neighboring Galician land, a large princely domain was formed early in Volyn. Boyar land ownership grew mainly due to princely grants to serving boyars, whose support allowed the Volyn princes to begin an active struggle to expand their “fatherland.” In 1199, the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich managed for the first time to unite the Galician and Volyn lands, and with his occupation in 1203, Kyiv brought all of Southern and Southwestern Rus' under his rule - a territory equal to the large European states of that time. The reign of Roman Mstislavich was marked by the strengthening of all-Russian and international situation Galicia-Volynskaya
lands, successes in the fight against the Polovtsians, the fight against the rebellious boyars, the rise of Western Russian cities, crafts and trade. Thus, the conditions were prepared for the flourishing of Southwestern Rus' during the reign of his son Daniil Romanovich.
The death of Roman Mstislavich in Poland in 1205 led to the temporary loss of the achieved political unity of Southwestern Rus' and to the weakening of princely power in it. All groups of the Galician boyars united in the struggle against the princely power, unleashing a devastating feudal war that lasted over 30 years.
The boyars entered into an agreement with the Hungarian and
Polish feudal lords who managed to take possession of the Galician land and part of Volyn. During these same years, an unprecedented case in Rus' occurred in the reign of boyar Vodrdislav Kormilich in Galich. The national liberation struggle against the Hungarian and Polish invaders, which ended in their defeat and expulsion, served as the basis for the restoration and strengthening of the positions of princely power. Relying on the support of cities, the service boyars and the nobility, Daniil Romanovich established himself in Volyn, and then, having occupied Galich in 1238, and Kyiv in 1240, he again united all of South-Western Rus' and the Kyiv land.
Novgorod feudal republic
A special political system, different from princely monarchies, developed in the 12th century. in Novgorod land, one of the most developed Russian lands. The ancient core of the Novgorod-Pskov land consisted of the lands between Ilmen and Lake Peipus and along the banks of the Volkhov, Lovat, Velikaya, Mologa and Msta rivers, which were divided territorially and geographically into “pyatinas”, and
in administrative terms - “hundreds” and “cemeteries”. The Novgorod “suburbs” (Pskov, Ladoga, Staraya Russa, Velikiye Luki, Bezhichi, Yuryev, Torzhok) served as important trading posts on trade routes and military strongholds on the borders of the land. The largest suburb in the system Novgorod Republic Pskov had a special, autonomous position (“younger brother” of Novgorod), distinguished by its developed crafts and its own trade with the Baltic states, German cities and even with Novgorod itself. In the second half of the 13th century. Pskov actually became an independent feudal republic.
From the 11th century active Novgorod colonization of Karelia, the Podvina region, the Onega region and the vast northern Pomerania began, which became Novgorod colonies. Following the peasant colonization (from the Novgorod and Rostov-Suzdal lands) and the Novgorod trade and fishing people, the Novgorod feudal lords also moved there. In the XII - XIII centuries. there already were the largest patrimonial estates of the Novgorod nobility, who jealously did not allow feudal lords from other principalities to enter these areas and create princely land ownership there.
In the 12th century. Novgorod was one of the largest and most developed cities in Rus'. The rise of Novgorod was facilitated by its exceptionally advantageous location at the beginning of trade routes important for Eastern Europe, connecting the Baltic Sea with the Black and Caspian Seas. This predetermined a significant share of intermediary trade in Novgorod’s trade relations with other Russian lands, with Volga Bulgaria, the Caspian and Black Sea regions, the Baltic states, Scandinavia and North German cities. Trade in Novgorod was based on crafts and various trades developed in the Novgorod land. Novgorod artisans, distinguished by their wide specialization and professional skills, worked mainly to order, but some of their products came to the city market, and through merchant buyers to foreign markets. Craftsmen and merchants had their own territorial (“Ulichansky”) and professional associations (“hundreds”, “brotherhood”), which played a significant role in the political life of Novgorod. The most influential, uniting the top of the Novgorod merchants, was the association of merchants-women (“Ivanskoye Sto”), who were mainly engaged in foreign trade. The Novgorod boyars also actively participated in foreign trade, virtually monopolizing the most profitable fur trade, which they received from their possessions in the Podvina and Pomerania and from the trade and fishing expeditions they specially equipped to the Pechersk and Ugra lands.
Despite the predominance of the trade and craft population in Novgorod, the basis of the economy of the Novgorod land was agriculture and related industries. Due to unfavorable natural conditions, grain farming was unproductive and bread constituted a significant part of Novgorod imports. Grain reserves in the estates were created at the expense of food rent collected from smerds and were used by feudal lords for speculation in frequent lean years of famine, to entangle the working people in usurious bondage. In a number of areas, peasants, in addition to ordinary rural crafts, were engaged in the extraction of iron ore and salt.
In the Novgorod land, large boyar and then church land ownership arose early and became dominant. The specificity of the position of the princes in Novgorod, sent from Kyiv as prince-deputies, which excluded the possibility of converting Novgorod into a principality, did not contribute to the formation of a large princely domain, thereby weakening the position of the princely authorities in the fight against the oligarchic aspirations of the local boyars. Already the end! V. the Novgorod nobility largely predetermined the candidacies of the princes sent from Kyiv. Thus, in 1102, the boyars refused to accept the son of the Kyiv Grand Duke Svyatopolk into Novgorod, declaring with a threat to the latter: “if your son had two heads, then they ate him.”
In 1136, the rebels of Novgorod, supported by the Pskovians and Ladoga residents, expelled Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, accusing him of “neglecting” the interests of Novgorod. In the Novgorod land, freed from the rule of Kyiv, a unique political system was established, in which republican governing bodies stood next to and above the princely power. However, the Novgorod feudal lords needed the prince and his squad to fight the anti-feudal protests of the masses and to protect Novgorod from external danger. In the first time after the uprising of 1136, the scope of the rights and activities of the princely power did not change, but they acquired a service-executive character, were subject to regulation and were placed under the control of the mayor (primarily in the field of court, which the prince began to administer together with the mayor). As the political system in Novgorod acquired an increasingly pronounced boyar-oligarchic character, the rights and sphere of activity of the princely power were steadily reduced.
The lowest level of organization and management in Novgorod was the unification of neighbors - “ulichans” with elected elders at their head. Five urban “ends” formed self-governing territorial-administrative and political units, which also had special Konchan lands in collective feudal ownership. At the ends, their own veche gathered and elected Konchan elders.
The highest authority, representing all ends, was considered the city veche meeting of free citizens, owners of city yards and estates. The bulk of the urban plebs, who lived on the lands and estates of feudal lords as tenants or enslaved and feudal-dependent people, were not authorized to participate in the passing of veche sentences, but thanks to the publicity of the veche, which gathered on Sophia Square or Yaroslav's Courtyard, they could follow the progress of veche debates and with its violent reaction often exerted a certain amount of pressure on the eternalists. The Veche considered critical issues domestic and foreign policy, invited the prince and entered into a relationship with him, elected the mayor, who was in charge of administration and court and controlled the activities of the prince, and the thousand, who headed the militia and the court for trade matters, which was of particular importance in Novgorod.
Throughout the history of the Novgorod Republic, the positions of posadnik, Konchan elders and tysyatsky were occupied only by representatives of 30 - 40 boyar families - the elite of the Novgorod nobility (“300 golden belts”).
In order to further strengthen the independence of Novgorod from Kyiv and transform the Novgorod bishopric from an ally of the princely power into one of the instruments of its political domination, the Novgorod nobility managed to achieve the election (since 1156) of the Novgorod bishop, who, as the head of the powerful church feudal hierarchy, became soon one of the first dignitaries of the republic.
The veche system in Novgorod and Pskov was a kind of feudal “democracy”, one of the forms of the feudal state, in which democratic principles representation and election of officials at the veche created the illusion of “democracy”, the participation of “the entire Novgovgorod in government, but where in reality all power was concentrated in the hands of the boyars and the privileged elite of the merchants. Taking into account the political activity of the urban plebs, the boyars skillfully used the democratic traditions of Konchan self-government as a symbol of Novgorod freedom, which covered their political dominance and provided them with the support of the urban plebs in the fight against the princely power.
Political history of Novgorod in the XII - XIII centuries. was distinguished by the complex interweaving of the struggle for independence with anti-feudal protests of the masses and the struggle for power between boyar groups (representing the boyar families of the Sofia and Trade sides of the city, its ends and streets). The boyars often used anti-feudal protests of the urban poor to eliminate their rivals from power, dulling the anti-feudal nature of these protests to the point of reprisals against individual boyars or officials. The largest anti-feudal movement was the uprising in 1207 against the mayor Dmitry Miroshkinich and his relatives, who burdened the urban people and peasants with arbitrary exactions and usurious bondage. The rebels destroyed the city estates and villages of the Miroshkinichs, and seized their debt bonds. The boyars, hostile to the Miroshkinichs, took advantage of the uprising to remove them from power.
Novgorod had to wage a stubborn struggle for its independence with neighboring princes who sought to subjugate the rich “free” city. The Novgorod boyars skillfully used the rivalry between the princes to choose strong allies among them. At the same time, rival boyar groups drew the rulers of neighboring principalities into their struggle. The most difficult thing for Novgorod was the struggle with the Suzdal princes, who enjoyed the support of an influential group of Novgorod boyars and merchants connected by trade interests with North-Eastern Russia. An important weapon of political pressure on Novgorod in the hands of the Suzdal princes was the cessation of the supply of grain from North-Eastern Rus'. The positions of the Suzdal princes in Novgorod were significantly strengthened when their military assistance to the Novgorodians and Pskovians became decisive in repelling the aggression of the German Crusaders and Swedish feudal lords who sought to seize the western and northern Novgorod territories.
Formation of a system of lands - independent states. The most important lands ruled by branches of the princely family of Rurikovich: Chernigov, Smolensk, Galician, Volyn, Suzdal. Lands that had a special status: Kiev and Novgorod. Evolution of social order and law. Foreign policy of Russian lands in the Eurasian context.
Formation of regional cultural centers: chronicles and literary monuments: the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon, the prayer of Daniil Zatochnik, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” White-stone churches of North-Eastern Rus': the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky.
Russian lands in the middle of the XIII - XIV centuries.
The emergence of the Mongol Empire. Conquests of Genghis Khan and his descendants. Batu's campaigns in Eastern Europe. The emergence of the Golden Horde. The fate of Russian lands after the Mongol invasion. The system of dependence of Russian lands on the Horde khans (the so-called “Horde yoke”).
Southern and Western Russian lands. The emergence of the Lithuanian state and the inclusion of part of the Russian lands into its composition. Northwestern lands: Novgorod and Pskov. Political system of Novgorod and Pskov. The role of the veche and the prince. Novgorod in the system of Baltic connections.
Orders of the Crusaders and the fight against their expansion on the western borders of Rus'. Alexander Nevsky: his relationship with the Horde. Principalities of North-Eastern Rus'. The struggle for the great reign of Vladimir. Confrontation between Tver and Moscow. Strengthening the Moscow Principality. Dmitry Donskoy. Battle of Kulikovo. Consolidating the primacy of the Moscow princes.
Transfer of the metropolitan see to Moscow. The role of the Orthodox Church in the Horde period of Russian history. Sergius of Radonezh. The flourishing of early Moscow art. Stone cathedrals of the Kremlin.
Peoples and states of the steppe zone of Eastern Europe and Siberia in the XIII-XV centuries.
Golden Horde: political system, population, economy, culture. Cities and nomadic steppes. Acceptance of Islam. Weakening of the state in the second half of the 14th century, the invasion of Timur.
Collapse of the Golden Horde, formation of the Tatar khanates. Kazan Khanate. Siberian Khanate. Astrakhan Khanate. Nogai horde. Crimean Khanate. Kasimov Khanate. Peoples of the North Caucasus. Italian trading posts of the Black Sea region (Kaffa, Tana, Soldaya, etc.) and their role in the system of trade and political relations of Rus' with the West and East
Changes in ideas about the picture of the world in Eurasia in connection with the completion Mongol conquests. Cultural interaction of civilizations. Intercultural connections and communications (interaction and mutual influence of Russian culture and the cultures of the peoples of Eurasia). Chronicle. Monuments of the Kulikovo cycle. Lives. Epiphanius the Wise. Architecture. fine arts. Theophanes the Greek. Andrey Rublev.
Formation of a unified Russian state in the 15th century
The struggle for Russian lands between the Lithuanian and Moscow states. The unification of Russian lands around Moscow. Internecine war in the Moscow principality of the second quarter of the 15th century. Vasily the Dark. Novgorod and Pskov in the 15th century: political system, relations with Moscow, the Livonian Order, the Hansa, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The fall of Byzantium and the growth of the church-political role of Moscow in the Orthodox world. The theory “Moscow is the third Rome”. Ivan III. Annexation of Novgorod and Tver. Eliminating dependence on the Horde. Expansion of international relations of the Moscow state. Adoption of the All-Russian Law Code. Formation of the management apparatus of a unified state. Changes in the structure of the Grand Duke's court: new state symbols; royal title and regalia; palace and church construction. Moscow Kremlin.
Cultural space
Changes in perception of the world. Sacralization of grand-ducal power. Union of Florence. Establishment of autocephaly of the Russian Church. Intra-church struggle (Josephites and non-possessors, heresies). Development of the culture of a unified Russian state. Chronicles: all-Russian and regional. Hagiographic literature. “Walking across Three Seas” by Afanasy Nikitin. Architecture. Fine arts. Daily life of townspeople and rural residents in the Old Russian and Early Moscow periods.
Concepts and terms: Appropriating and producing economy. Slavs. Balts. Finno-Ugrians. Rus. Slash-and-burn farming system. City. Village. Tribute, polyudye, hryvnia. Prince, veche, mayor. Squad. Merchants. Patrimony. Estate. Peasants. People, stinkers, purchases, slaves. Traditional beliefs, Christianity, Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism. Monastery. Metropolitan. Autocephaly (church). Tithe.
Graffiti. Basilica. Cross-domed church. Plintha. Fresco. Mosaic. Chronicle. Lives. Birch bark letters. Epics.
Horde. Kurultai, baskak, label. Foreman. Military monastic orders. Crusaders. Centralization. Feeding. Tsar. Coat of arms.
Personalities:
State and military figures: Alexander Nevsky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Askold and Dir, Batu (Batu), Vasily I, Vasily the Dark, Vitovt, Vladimir Monomakh, Vladimir the Holy, Vsevolod the Big Nest, Gedimin, Daniil Galitsky, Daniil Moskovsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan Kalita, Ivan III, Igor, Igor Svyatoslavich, Mamai, Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy, Oleg, Olga, Olgerd, Rurik, Svyatopolk the Accursed, Svyatoslav Igorevich, Sofia (Zoya) Paleolog, Sofya Vitovtovna, Timur, Tokhtamysh, Uzbek, Genghis Khan, Yuri Danilovich, Yuri Dolgoruky, Jagiello, Yaroslav the Wise.
Public and religious figures, cultural, scientific and educational figures: Metropolitan Alexy, Boris and Gleb, Daniel Sharpener, Dionysius, Epiphanius the Wise, Metropolitan Hilarion, Metropolitan Jonah, Cyril and Methodius, Nestor, Afanasy Nikitin, Pachomius the Serb, Metropolitan Peter, Andrei Rublev, Sergius of Radonezh, Stephen of Perm, Theophanes the Greek, Aristotle Fioravanti.
Sources: Treaties between Rus' and Byzantium. Russian truth. The Tale of Bygone Years. Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh. Novgorod first chronicle. A word about Igor's regiment. Galicia-Volyn Chronicle. Life of Alexander Nevsky. Life of Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy. Zadonshchina. Chronicle stories about the Battle of Kulikovo. Life of Sergius of Radonezh. Novgorod Psalter. Birch bark letters. Princely spiritual and contractual charters. Pskov judicial charter. Code of Law 1497
Events/dates:
860 – Russian campaign against Constantinople
862 – “calling” of Rurik
882 – capture of Kyiv by Oleg
907 – Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople
911 – agreement between Rus' and Byzantium
941, 944 – Igor’s campaigns against Constantinople, treaties between Rus' and Byzantium
964-972 – campaigns of Svyatoslav
978/980-1015 – reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich in Kyiv
988 – baptism of Rus'
1016-1018 and 1019-1054 – reign of Yaroslav the Wise
XI century – Russian Truth (Short edition)
1097 – Lyubech Congress
1113-1125 – reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kyiv
1125-1132 – reign of Mstislav the Great in Kyiv
Beginning of the 12th century – “The Tale of Bygone Years”
XII century – Russian Truth (Long edition)
1147 – the first mention of Moscow in chronicles
1185 – Igor Svyatoslavich’s campaign against the Polovtsians
1223 – battle on the river. Kalke
1237-1241 – conquest of Rus' by Batu Khan
1242-1243 – formation of the Ulus Jochi (Golden Horde)
1325-1340 – reign of Ivan Kalita.
1327 – anti-Horde uprising in Tver
1359-1389 – reign of Dmitry Donskoy
1382 – destruction of Moscow by Tokhtamysh
1389 – 1425 – reign of Vasily I