Introduction

Kievan Rus IX - X centuries. - the first state of the Eastern Slavs, uniting more than 200 small Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Latvian-Lithuanian tribes. The term "Kievan Rus" is very convenient for designating a certain chronological period - the 9th - the beginning of the 12th century, when Kyiv stood at the head of a huge state that opened a new, feudal period in the history of the peoples of Eastern Europe, a period that replaced primitiveness and lasted almost a thousand years.

The birth of statehood was a very long centuries-old process, but when the state arose, it immediately became the subject of attention throughout the medieval Old World. A single state - Kievan Rus - which arose in the 9th century, existed until the 1130s, accelerating the process of developing the highest stage of a primitive tribal society into a more progressive feudal society over a vast area and preparing the crystallization of a dozen and a half independent principalities, equal in importance to the large kingdoms of the West . No wonder Kyiv was called "the mother of Russian cities." New principalities 12th - early 13th century. they constituted, as it were, a single family - the ancient Russian nationality, who spoke the same language, jointly created a single culture and had a single set of laws, which is called "Russian Truth".

Russian Truth is the most precious source on the history of feudal relations Kievan Rus. This name hides a complex of legal documents of the 11th-12th centuries, reflecting the complexity of Russian social life and its evolution.

The question of the socio-political structure of the Old Russian state is quite controversial. In order to consider it, it is necessary first to dwell on those sources that we have at our disposal to characterize it. The oldest set of laws of Russia is Russian Truth. Three monuments are known under this common name: Brief Truth, which is the most ancient, Extended, referring to the second half of the 12th century, and Abbreviated, based both on the Extended Truth, and on some legislative acts of an earlier time that have not come down to us. In turn, the Brief Pravda is divided into the Pravda of Yaroslav (c. 1016), the Pravda of the Yaroslavichs (second half of the 11th century) and additional articles. Naturally, the Brief Pravda is the most significant source for characterizing the social system of the Old Russian state, but the later Long Pravda also contains rules of law, which, although they were codified only in the 12th century, date back to an earlier time. Separate legal norms are also contained in the treaties of Oleg (911) and Igor (944) with Byzantium included in the text of the chronicle. These treaties also mention the "Russian law", which was taken into account in cases involving disputes between the Byzantines and Russians. The oldest chronicle that has come down to us - The Tale of Bygone Years - also provides material for studying the social system, although most of its information relates to political history.

rope smerd peasant feudal

Chapter 1

The system of punishments in Russian Pravda shows that in the Old Russian state there were still remnants of the tribal system. The truth of Yaroslav allows blood feud, an institution typical of an era when there is no state that takes on the function of punishing crimes. However, in the article on blood feud, there is already a tendency to limit it: the legislator precisely defines the circle of close relatives who have the right to take revenge: father, son, brother (including cousin) and nephew. This puts an end to the endless chain of murders that exterminate entire families. The restriction shows the surviving nature of the blood feud in the first half of the 11th century. In Pravda Yaroslavichi, blood feud is already prohibited, and instead of it, a fine for murder (vira) was introduced, which, depending on the social status of the murdered, was differentiated over a wide range: from 80 to 5 hryvnias.

The sources contain many references to the ancient Russian community - Vervi. N.I. Pavlenko believes that it was, apparently, no longer a tribal community; she possessed a certain territory (for example, the rope is responsible for the murdered unknown person found on her land). Separate economically independent families stood out in it: Russkaya Pravda analyzes in detail cases when a community helps its member in trouble and when he must pay himself, "but people don't need it." It should be noted that Russkaya Pravda basically regulated the relations arising from the collision of the Old Russian community and the princely (boyar) economy. In other words, Russkaya Pravda makes it possible to judge the community quite one-sidedly. The very same verv continued to live according to the norms of customary law and did not experience, in contrast to the recently emerged feudal land ownership, the need for codification.

It would seem that this is so. Nevertheless, in our science there is no unanimity in approaches to solving this great problem. Both in the old and in the new literature there is an opinion that the line of Russkaya Pravda is not a neighborhood community, but a blood union, a family community.

First of all, Leontovich should be considered a representative of this trend. He defined verv as a family community-zadrugu. This, however, is not a simple family for him, but a transitional stage to purely communal forms of life. “Having taken in elements that are alien to the family,” he wrote, “rooted partly in agreed relations, the zadruga relegated blood, patriarchal ties to the background.”

M.F. Vladimirsky-Budanov spoke out against such an understanding of the shipyard: “Walking around the family,” he says, “even if it’s big (“look for the aunt along the rope”), looking for a thief is a strange phenomenon, especially in general use, as in a friend” . “Instead of the term churchyard, the same unit of provincial division in both the southern and northern lands is called verviu (the root of the word common Indo-European is Warf). The same unit corresponds to the names of a hundred, not only in the city, but also in the provincial division, and the lip - in the Pskov and Novgorod lands.

A.E. Presnyakov also believes that “for the era of Russian Truth, we have no reason to assume in Russia that there is a blood connection between members of the line ... The line of Russian Truth is already a territorial, neighborly, and not a blood union.”

V. Leshkov in his work "The Russian people and the state" dwells on this topic in great detail. He points out that “up to 15 articles can be found in Russian Pravda talking about the rope ... Having studied these articles, you come to the conclusion that Pravda represents the rope not in a pale allusion, but in a detailed description, not as a fortune-telling ghost, but as a living being, with full distinct activity. "People, the world and the rope are different expressions for the same concept." Further, the author adds another term corresponding to the concept of verv - this is a churchyard, and comes to the final conclusion that verv is a rural territorial community with its own administration.

Of modern historians, S.V. Yushkov paid great attention to the issue of rope. In his work “Essays on the History of Feudalism in Kievan Rus”, he objects to understanding the term “verv” as a rural community and proposes to interpret the verv as a large family, while making an attempt to accordingly use the only source that knows the verv, the Truth of the Yaroslavichs and the Long "Truth". Recognizing the existence of a rural community in Russia at that time, he denies, however, mentioning it in the sources. “Sources do not give us,” he writes, “any indication of the existence of a rural community in the 9th-10th centuries. But that doesn't mean it didn't exist." Further: “If we admit that the verv is a friend, then this means that the rural community contained decaying tribal groups, that patriarchal relations in it were still quite strong. But at the same time, we must know that the rural community itself was subject to decomposition in the pre-feudal period” (the signs and reasons for this decomposition of the rural community follow). And from the previous page we learn that "a large family has long been decomposed in Kievan Rus." So, S.V. Yushkov admits that in Kievan Rus both a large family and a rural community exist at the same time, and both of these organizations, in his opinion, are beginning to “decompose”.

As we can see, there are many versions of the interpretation of the rope. The only way out is still an appeal to sources, which, as always, should be understood as a whole, guided by all their data, direct and indirect. First of all, it must be borne in mind that both "Pravda" ("Pravda" of the Yaroslavichs and "Pravda" Long, documents of the 11-12th centuries), containing texts about the rope, depict a society dominated by individual family, private ownership of land, large land ownership and other signs of the already feudal system. Therefore, one can think that these sources should at least mean the rural community-marka, and not tribal organizations, which undoubtedly have already gone (of course, not without a trace) into the past.

But after all, the documents directly say something about the vervi, without giving, however, a single hint of the presence of consanguinity among the members of the vervi.

In the "Pravda" of the Yaroslavichs, the presence of a feudal lord and a feudal patrimony is quite obvious. Next to the community, it exists among the wealthy landowners-feudal lords, where the individual right of ownership of arable land, boards, hunting grounds, and tools of production clearly dominates. All this is bought, sold, inherited.

The attack of the feudal lord on the community, the victory over it and the process of its internal evolution are also visible in the fact that individual poor elements have already emerged from the bowels of the community, forced to seek work and protection from the feudal lord. These are ryadovichi, purchases, outcasts.

Now it is important for us to note these most significant aspects of the world-line in order to show in what direction the degeneration of the tribal community proceeded into a rural, neighboring, otherwise brand, where individual cultivation took place with an initial periodic, and then a final redistribution of arable land and meadows. This process began earlier in the south than in the north. The North retained traces of the old relationship much longer. In the south, the patriarchal community disappeared earlier and found only a faint reflection in Russkaya Pravda.

In Pravda we have terms that speak specifically of the rural community. This world, rope. The most ancient Novgorod, therefore, the northern "Pravda" does not know the rope and calls only "world": "If someone has someone else's horse, or weapon, or port, and learns in his own world, then take him his own, and 3 hryvnia for an insult" .

The "world" of the most ancient "Pravda" corresponds to the "rope" of the Spacious. This is indicated by the ratio of the just cited article 13 of the most ancient Pravda with article 40 of the Long: “Already the earth will be cut ... then look for a tya by the rope.” The plot of these articles diverge, but undoubtedly the procedure for searching for the missing thing and the child takes place in the same territory and environment. It will be a world-rope; The lengthy Pravda, which is no less than three centuries old from the ancient one and refers to the southern territory, obviously uses the analogous term “city” instead of the term “world”. “If someone destroys a horse, or a weapon, or a port, and the commandment is at the auction, and then he knows in his city, take his own face ...” In this article, undoubtedly corresponding to Article 13 of the Brief Pravda, the city is not simply city ​​and urban district. The lengthy "Pravda" knows perfectly well the rope known in the "Pravda" of the Yaroslavichs, compiled in Kyiv approximately in the middle of the 11th century, but retaining more ancient features. Based on the data of our Pravda, we can to some extent unravel the essence of this rope.

First of all, it is quite clear that the rope is a certain territory: “And even if you kill the fireman in robbery or look for the killer, then the head will begin to lie in it.” It is clear that the dead body was found in a certain area. The people who live here, connected by a common interest, answer; otherwise they could not answer jointly. Therefore, the rope is a social-territorial unit. What kind of society this is, what is the connection of its members, we can partly learn from the same “Pravda” of the Yaroslavichs. “People” (not “vervniks”-relatives) live in the vervi, who know their rights and obligations very well. Until recently, they were collectively responsible for crimes committed on their territory. Now the law clarifies that there are cases when the offender must answer for himself. If they kill the manager of the estate intentionally (“if they kill the fireman in insult”), “then pay 80 hryvnias for the killer, but people don’t need it.” People pay only if the same fireman was killed in a robbery and the killer is not known; then those people - members of the rope, within whose rope the corpse is found, pay.

"Pravda" of the Yaroslavichs is a special law. Its purpose is to protect the interests of the prince's estate, surrounded by peasant worlds, ropes, hostile to their far from peaceful neighbor, the feudal lord. No wonder the feudal lord fortified his dwelling and protected himself with harsh laws. Peasant worlds are called upon to bear responsibility for their members, and it is quite understandable why Pravda mainly emphasizes only this side of the rope.

The lengthy "Pravda" of the beginning of the 12th century. introduces us to social relations even more deeply and gives us the opportunity to peer even better into the organization and function of the rope.

The rope does not have to pay anything if a corpse found within it is not identified. "And the bones and the dead do not pay ropes, even if they do not know the name, they do not know him." The rope must give out the robber, together with his wife and children, to the stream and plunder. This was not previously in Pravda by the Yaroslavichs. Consequently, before our very eyes, the responsibility of individual families is growing, there is a dissociation from their line. The law precisely says in the same article: "People do not pay for a robber." The members of the rope should be responsible not only for the murder: “If the earth is cut or a sign is cut on the ground, it is caught by it, or a net, then look for a lady along the rope, and pay any sale.” And here the verv is obliged to find either the criminal, or to compensate for the losses of the owner of the land or the damaged thing.

Finally, in the Long Pravda we have a very interesting institution of "wild vir," which tells us that the verv in the 12th century. already ceases to help all its members in paying fines, and helps only those who have taken care of themselves in this sense in advance, i.e. to those who previously invested in the "wild virus": "Even who does not invest in the wild virus, the people do not help him, but he himself pays." This tells us that by the 12th c. members of the vervi ceased to be equal in their rights, that among them a group stood out, presumably, more prosperous people who could pay all the fees associated with participation in the “wild vir”. Before us is a symptom of the decomposition of the old rope.

So, there can hardly be any doubt that the Eastern Slavs, like all other peoples of the world, have gone through the same stages in their development. Eastern Slavs are familiar with the period of the tribal classless system, which was replaced by the communal-neighborly system, otherwise the domination of the rural community, which did not eliminate even the large family.

If the tribal system in the 18-19 centuries. preserved in remnants, then by the 1st c. these traces have almost disappeared.

In the oldest Russian written monuments that have come down to us, we already see a class society that has a solid past behind it.

Chapter 2

Smerdy. Many authors believed that the main peasant population of the country were the smerds mentioned more than once in the sources. However, Russkaya Pravda, speaking of community members, constantly uses the term "people" and not "smerds." For the murder of a lyudin, a fine of 40 hryvnias was due, for the murder of a smerd - only 5. Smerd did not have the right to leave his property to indirect heirs - it was transferred to the prince. There are many hypotheses about the social essence of smerds, but most researchers recognize, firstly, the close relationship of smerds with the prince, and secondly, they consider smerds to be a limited, albeit rather wide, social group. Probably, smerds were not free or semi-free princely tributaries, who sat on the ground and carried duties in favor of the prince.

V.D. Grekov, through long research, tried to sum up the main results of observations on the history of smerds:

• 1. Smerdy is the main mass of the Russian people, from which other classes of Russian society emerged in the process of class formation.
• 2. With the advent of the ruling classes, the smerds found themselves at the bottom of the social ladder.
• 3. Sources of the Kievan period of the history of Russia find them organized into a community.
• 4. The victory of feudal relations made very important changes in the life of the smerds and, first of all, broke the smerds into two parts: a) communal smerds, independent of private owners, and b) smerds who fell under the power of private owners.
• 5. The process of internal stratification in the community led some of the smerds to the need to leave the community and look for work on the side. In this way, the landowners acquired new cadres of the working population outside the stinking environment.
• 6. Independent smerds continued to exist, despite the systematic attack on the community of privileged feudal landowners.
• 7. Independent smerds fell under the power of the feudal lords through non-economic coercion (capture of the population and land, grant from the state).
• 8. The legal status of dependent smerds cannot be precisely defined. In any case, there is reason to believe that their rights are severely limited.
• 9. The form of their exploitation is determined by the living conditions of the smerd: if he lives directly in the manor's estate, he works on corvee and is part of the servants; if he lives far from the estate, he pays rent in food.
• 10. In the 13th-14th centuries. The rent in products is growing very vigorously in connection with the expansion of the landownership of the feudal lords, the increase in the number of their subjects, and the transformation of the patrimony into seigneury.

Serfs. Russian Pravda devotes a significant place to slaves. They were known under different names - servants ( singular- chelyadin), serfs (feminine - robe). The term "chelyadin" is already found in Oleg's agreement with Byzantium: it is about the abduction or flight of the Russian servant ("the servant of the Russians will be stolen or will run away"). The main source of slaves was captivity. When, according to The Tale of Bygone Years, Svyatoslav listed the good (“good”) coming from Russia, then, along with furs, honey and furs, he also named servants. Already in the oldest part of Russian Pravda - Yaroslav's Pravda, the procedure for litigation in the case of the theft of a servant is described. Researchers solve the issue of the ratio of servant and slave dependence in different ways. Probably, "servants" is a term of an earlier period, which for some time coexisted with a newer term - "serf". Although, many historians, including V.D. Grekov, believe that if a serf was included in the concept of “servants”, then he did not completely dissolve there, and in some cases Pravda finds it necessary to talk about him separately.

Russkaya Pravda depicts the plight of the serfs, who were completely powerless. A serf who hit a free man, even if the master paid a fine for him, could be killed offended at the meeting, and at a later time - severely punished bodily. Kholop had no right to testify at the trial. The runaway serf, of course, was punished by the master himself, but heavy monetary fines were imposed on those who would help the runaway by showing the way or at least feeding him. For the murder of his serf, the master did not answer before the court, but was subjected only to church repentance.

The question of serfdom was set forth in particular detail in the lengthy Pravda, where we actually find a whole statute on serfs. At this time (12th century) two types of servitude were already known: private (full) and incomplete. The source of private servility was not only captivity. Many sold themselves into slavery. A serf became, if he did not conclude a special agreement (“row”) with the master, and the one who entered the service for the position of tiun (manager) or keykeeper. Losing freedom (if there was no special "series") and a man who married a slave. Private servility, uniform in its legal status, was at the same time heterogeneous in its real social structure. Of course, the bulk were ordinary slaves who did hard work for their master. For their murder, the lowest fine was relied - 5 hryvnia. However, the Truth of the Yaroslavichs already knows the princely rural and military (i.e. arable) headman, for whose murder it was supposed to pay 12 hryvnias. 80 hryvnias (2 times more expensive than the life of a free person) protected the life of a princely tiun (and tiuns were, as noted above, serfs). Merchants used serfs for trade, although they were fully financially responsible for their operations. A kholop-tiun could, out of necessity (i.e., out of necessity), also act as a witness in court.

In general, there are many points of view regarding slavery in Russia. B.N. Chicherin portrayed the point of view on the slavery of ancient Russia very thoroughly: “Captivity, marriage, loan, hire, crime, voluntary allegiance - everything could make a free person a slave, not to mention the methods of derivatives, such as purchase and birth in servile state." “The serf was considered not a person, but a thing, the private property of the owner”, “the master is responsible for the actions of the serf”. The slave is deprived of all rights. “There is only one legal provision in favor of serfs: this is that the children adopted by the master from the slave after his death are made free along with the mother. Here the moral principle triumphed and weakened the legal strictness of institutions.

BN Chicherin also points to the role of serfs in the economy. This is for the most part the personal servants of princes and others; serfs were also planted on the ground, “but in general the rural population consisted of free peasants, among whom, only as an exception, serfs were imprisoned.”

M.F. Vladimirsky-Budanov does not agree with B.N. Chicherin that a serf is a thing. In his opinion, “serfs had certain rights, which is why the speech about them should be attributed to the doctrine of subjects, and not to the doctrine of things (objects).”

For V.O. Klyuchevsky, the issue of servitude and especially its legal nature is of particular importance. The institution of servility interests him not so much in itself, as one of the institutions of ancient Russian law, but to a much greater extent from the point of view of its influence on the history of the peasantry, because. V.O. Klyuchevsky is convinced that "serfdom arose before the peasants became serfs, and was expressed in various types of servility." In his opinion, "the question of the origin of serfdom is the question of what serfdom serfdom was in ancient Russia, how this right was grafted onto the peasantry."

IN. Klyuchevsky returned to this subject many times. In the article “The poll tax and the abolition of servility in Russia”, he comes close to the most ancient monuments related to servility. He sees law in Russkaya Pravda and finds a serious discrepancy between morals and law in Russia: morals were mild, but the law was harsh.

V.O. Klyuchevsky builds his conclusions about ancient Russian servility mainly on the data of Russkaya Pravda. He insists that Russkaya Pravda does not distinguish between the types of servility and knows only one simple one, i.e. complete, that only later, already in the 12th-13th centuries, “primitive Russian serfdom” evolved, and not free people began to be divided into categories according to the degree of dependence and social significance. One Russian serfs could already be said that one was more of a serf, the other less.” Here the author means the formation of a privileged stratum of servants.

From a very interesting position, S.V. Yushkov analyzes the Charter on the lackeys of the Long Truth. Proceeding from the conviction that Pravda not only fixes the current law, but introduces a lot of new things that cancel the old days, S.V. Yushkov makes a very bold conclusion: “...before Russian Pravda, a serf ... was not the subject of a crime. He didn't pay any sales. Serf ... could not listen under any circumstances; the life of a serf was defended only by taking a lesson. Russkaya Pravda created new norms of slave law.

Purchases. Along with whitewashed serfs, the Extensive Truth knows purchasers who are perceived as incomplete, non-whitewashed serfs. This is a relatively late dependent category of people, which arose only in the 12th century. Zakup - a ruined community member who went into debt bondage to the prince or his combatant. He received some kind of loan ("kupa") and for it (or rather, for interest on the amount of debt) he had to work for the master - either on his arable land ("role" purchases), or as a servant. The owner had the right to subject the purchase to corporal punishment, and an attempt to escape was punished by turning into a white slave. However, the purchase was different from the slave. First of all, he had the right (although, probably, formal) to bathe at will, returning the kupa. The law specifically stipulated that it was not considered an escape if the purchase went openly ("obviously") to earn money ("look for kun") in order to pay off their debt. But another circumstance is more important: the purchase continued to conduct its own economy, separate from the master. The law provides for the case when the purchaser is responsible for the loss of the master's inventory while working for himself ("tools of his own deed"). The purchase is financially responsible to the master, therefore, he is solvent, his economy is not the property of the master. That is why the position of the purchase, deprived of personal freedom, but separated from the means of production, is close to the status of the future serf. Unfortunately, the sources do not give an answer to the question of how widespread purchasing relationships were, but big number Articles in the Long Truth dedicated to them convinces that purchases are not a rare occurrence in Russia in the 12th century.

In general, the issue of procurement is one of the most troubling issues. A lot has been written about purchasing, a lot of arguing, and arguing now.

The oldest opinion, expressed by I.N. Boltin about purchasing, boils down to the fact that a purchase is a temporarily “servant in bondage” person. This is a state close to that which later became known as bonded servility.

A. Reitz adds that "the conditional service was like bondage, although not complete." Sometimes he calls this servant a "hired worker." A. Reitz admits that the purchases concluded the condition of working for life and compares it with "enslaved people" who served until the death of the master.

The understanding of the purchase begins to be complicated by the still new consideration of the "mortgage of oneself", of the "sale of oneself", of the "personal pledge".

Ryadovichi. According to Russkaya Pravda, we know some more categories of the dependent population. In the Brief and Long Truths, a ryadovich (or rank and file) is mentioned once, whose life is protected by a minimum five-hryvnia fine. Probably its connection with the "near" (contract). It is possible that the Ryadovichi were tiuns who did not go into servitude and entered into a “row”, key-keepers and husbands of slaves, as well as children from free marriages with slaves. Judging by other sources, the Ryadovichi often played the role of petty administrative agents of their masters.

But the term "ryadovich" causes different understandings among different scientists.

Sergeevich has two opinions about the Ryadovichi. He considers the Ryadovich mentioned in Russkaya Pravda to be an "ordinary" slave on the grounds that "he is valued at 5 hryvnias, and this is the price of an ordinary slave." He admits that Ryadovich is not always a slave. "Ryadovich - anyone who lives according to a row (agreement) with someone." Mrochek-Drozdovsky sees in Ryadovich an unfree clerk. These are non-free connections in princely, boyar or owner's estates. Presnyakov considers Ryadovich a lower agent of economic or administrative management and cites a well-known text from Daniil Zatochnik as evidence: “Tiun bo of him (prince) is like a fire with a trembling, and his Ryadovichi are like sparks.” "But Sotsky and Ryadovich ... do not judge." Leontovich recognizes Ryadovich as a negotiator.

The understanding of the term “ryadovich” by V.D. Grekov is fundamentally different. In his opinion, Russkaya Pravda itself contains data to explain the social essence of Ryadovich. In Art. 110 of the Trinity IV List we read: “And servility is a free three: ... to have a robe without a row, to have it with a row, then what it will be rowed, on the same cost. And this is the third servility: tiunism without a row or tie a crutch to oneself, with a row, then what will be rowed, on the same cost. It is quite clear that a man who was about to marry a slave had every reason to first enter into a series with the master of the bride. This seems to have been the case most of the time. Before the rumors, obviously, there is a row about the price of a ransom for a wife - a slave, which is repaid by the work of the slave's husband. In a row it was possible to enter the key-keepers and tiuns.

So, according to V.D. Grekov, Ryadovich is by no means a slave. This, according to Moscow terminology, is one of the types of silversmithing. We know all the conditions for the existence of the ryadoviches, but the chronicles give reason to think that their humiliated and difficult position at the time of the aggravation of class relations in connection with the intensification of the offensive of the landowners on the community determined their position in popular movements 11th-12th centuries and especially clearly manifested in 1113, after which Vladimir Monomakh was called to Kyiv.

He had to pay attention to the rank and file. The "Charter" of Vladimir Monomakh does not speak about the Ryadovichi in general, but only about their variety - purchases, in which it is not difficult to see all the elements of the social nature of the same Ryadovichi.

Outcasts. Also, once in the Brief and Long Truths, an outcast is mentioned. It's about a man who lost his social status. So, princes - outcasts were called princes who did not have their own principality. The outcasts of Russkaya Pravda, apparently, are people who have broken with their community, and also, possibly, serfs who have been set free.

In Art. 1 of the oldest Russkaya Pravda, among the social categories entitled to a 40-hryvnia vira, there is also an outcast (if there is a Rusyn, lyubo Gridin, lyubo merchant, for n").

Already at one time, Kalachov expressed an interesting idea that "the beginning of outcasts is rooted ... in tribal life."

“As a historical phenomenon,” he writes, “the outcast lived and developed under certain conditions of life, and since these conditions changed, the position of the outcast in society changed to the same extent,” he continues further, “it is necessary to know under what conditions and in what society itself lived in the form of a hostel. This is necessary because people at different stages of their development live in given time in various social unions, the structure of which corresponds precisely to a given era of people's life. The primary form of hostel is the genus…; subsequently, for various reasons, tribal isolation disappears, and in place of the clan ... a zemstvo community, justified by land ties.

Mrochek-Drozdovsky also has some curious thoughts: “Voluntary exits from unions are possible only if there is hope to find some kind of harbor outside the clan, at least the one found by the bird released by the forefather Noah from the ark ... Hope for such a corner already indicates the beginning of decomposition closed tribal unions, at the beginning of the end of tribal life ...; the very striving of a kinsman out of the generation is something other than the same beginning of the end.

Perhaps, if the term "outcast" really arises in a tribal society, alien elements were accepted into tribal closed groups, but this phenomenon began to develop especially in the process of disintegration of tribal unions and, undoubtedly, got into Russkaya Pravda when the clan was already known only in isolated episodes. The outcast, apparently, is mentioned in Russkaya Pravda as one of the fragments of the long-broken tribal system. Here, the outcast still seemed to be considered a full member of the new, apparently urban, society, in some respects he is on a par with the warrior, the merchant, and even the Rusyn, a representative of the ruling elite of society. There is also nothing incredible in the fact that this equality of rights is of the same origin and just as relative as the right of the purchaser to complain about his master if this latter beats him not "on the case", i.e. it is a compromise measure in order to calm the social movement, in this case which took place in Novgorod in 1015, after which, and perhaps to a large extent as a result, the present addition to the first article of the most ancient text of the Russian Law was attributed. If this is so, which is very likely, then the equality of outcasts at the beginning of the 11th century. was already lost for them, but not completely forgotten and, perhaps, served as an unwritten slogan of the lower social classes, mostly urban ones, in the events of 1015.

In conclusion, one cannot fail to say about the outcasts that this category of the dependent population of the Kievan state is the least studied by others. Here we inevitably have to confine ourselves mainly to more or less well-founded assumptions.

Chapter 3

The question remains as to the timing of the feudal tenure in Ancient Russia. Some authors attribute its appearance to the 9th-10th centuries, but most believe that in the 10th century. there were only a few princely villages, the economy in which was more cattle-breeding (perhaps even horse-breeding) in nature, and already in the second half of the 11th - first half of the 12th century. a feudal fiefdom. In the 9th - first half of the 11th century. princes collected tribute from free community members. The collection of tribute was carried out during polyudya when the prince with his retinue came to a certain center, where he received tribute from the local population. The size of the tribute was initially not fixed, which led to Igor's clash with the Drevlyans. According to the chronicle, Olga then established the exact amount of tribute ("lessons") and the places of its collection ("graveyards" or "povosts"). The prince divided the collected tribute among the combatants.

The predominance of free community members among the direct producers of material goods, the significant role of slave labor and the absence of feudal land ownership served as the basis for putting forward the hypothesis that the Old Russian state was not feudal. Defending this point of view, I.Ya. Froyanov believes that in the ancient Russian society of the 9th-11th centuries. there were several socio-economic structures, none of which was predominant. He considers the tribute collected from the local population not as a special kind of feudal rent, but as a military indemnity imposed on the tribes conquered by the Kievan princes. However, most researchers consider the Old Russian state to be early feudal.

early feudal society is not identical to feudal society. It has not yet developed to a mature state the main characteristic features of the feudal formation and there are many phenomena inherent in previous formations. It is not so much about dominance in this moment of this or that way, how much about the development trend, about which of the ways is developing, and which are gradually fading away. In the ancient Russian state, the future belonged precisely to the feudal way of life.

Of course, the tribute included elements of both military indemnity and a national tax. But at the same time, tribute was collected from the peasant population, who gave the prince and his combatants part of their product. This brings tribute closer to feudal rent. The absence of feudal estates could be compensated by the distribution of tribute among the combatants, the total ruling class. The concept of “state feudalism” put forward by L.V. Cherepnin, according to which the peasantry of Kievan Rus was exploited by the feudal state, is based on the recognition of the state in the person of the prince as the supreme owner of all land in the country.

Political system The Old Russian state combined the institutions of the new feudal formation and the old, primitive communal one. The hereditary prince was at the head of the state. The rulers of other principalities were subordinate to the Kyiv prince. Only a few of them are known to us from the chronicle. However, the treaties of Oleg and Igor with Byzantium contain a mention that there were quite a few of them. So, Oleg's contract says that the ambassadors were sent "from Olga, the Grand Duke of Russia, and from all those who are under his hand, bright and great princes." According to Igor's agreement, ambassadors were sent from Igor and "from every princess", and the ambassadors from individual princes and princesses are named.

The prince was a legislator, a military leader, a supreme judge, an addressee of tribute. The functions of the prince are precisely defined in the legend about the calling of the Varangians: "to rule and judge by law." The prince was surrounded by a squad. The warriors lived in the princely court, feasted with the prince, participated in campaigns, shared tribute and military booty. The relationship between the prince and the warriors was far from the relationship of allegiance. The prince consulted with the squad on all matters. Igor, having received from Byzantium to take tribute and abandon the campaign, "convened a squad and began to think." Igor's squad advised him to go on an unfortunate campaign against the Drevlyans. Vladimir “thought” with his retinue “about the formation of the earth, and about the military, and about the charter of the earth”, i.e. about the affairs of state and military. Svyatoslav, when his mother Olga urged him to accept Christianity, refused, referring to the fact that the squad would laugh at him. The warriors could not only advise the prince, but also argue with him, demand more generosity from him. The chronicler says that Vladimir's combatants grumbled at the prince that they had to eat with wooden, not silver, spoons. In response, Vladimir "ordered to look for" silver spoons, because "with silver and gold, I can’t bring (i.e., I can’t find) squads, but with gold and silver I’ll fit into squads."

At the same time, the squad needed the prince, but not only as a real military leader, but also as a kind of symbol of statehood. The formal independence of the will of the prince, even if still a minor, manifested itself during the battle of the Kyiv squad with the Drevlyans. The prince was supposed to start the battle. The young Svyatoslav really "put a spear ... on the Derevlyans", but his childish strength was only enough for it to fly between the horse's ears and hit him at the feet. However, the signal for the beginning of the battle was given, the main warriors Sveneld and Asmud exclaimed: “The prince has already begun; pull, squad, according to the prince.

The most respected, senior vigilantes who make up the permanent council, " Duma» princes began to be called boyars. Some of them may have had their own squad. The terms “lads”, “chad”, “gridi” were used to designate the younger squad. If the boyars acted as governors, then the junior combatants performed the duties of administrative agents: swordsmen (bailiffs), virniks (fine collectors), etc. The princely retinue, detached from the community, dividing tribute among themselves, represented the emerging class of feudal lords.

The appearance of the squad as a permanent military force was a step towards the eradication of the general arming of the people, characteristic of the period of the tribal system. However, the immaturity of feudal relations was manifested, in particular, in the fact that people's militias continued to play an important role. Along with the combatants, "howls" are constantly mentioned on the pages of the annals. Moreover, they sometimes participated more actively in hostilities than the combatants, whom the prince protected. So, during the time of Mstislav and Yaroslav Vladimirovich, Mstislav placed northerners in the center of his troops, and a squad on the flanks. After the battle, he rejoiced that the howls of the northerners died, and "the squad is intact."

Princely power was also limited by elements of the remaining popular self-government. People's Assembly - veche - was active in the 9th-11th centuries. and later. People's Elders - "old men of the city"- participated in the princely Duma, and without their consent it was apparently difficult to make this or that decision. The chronicles reflected the decline in the role of the veche in political life: its mention is usually associated with extraordinary situations when the weakened princely administration either needed additional support or lost power. However, there were exceptions: the people's assembly in Novgorod and a number of other cities retained a strong position.

An analysis of socio-political structures allows us to speak of three centers of gravity that influenced social development: first of all, the princely power, the retinue (boyars), which was gaining strength, and the people's council. In the future, it is the ratio of these power elements that will determine one or another type of statehood that will prevail in the territories that were once part of the Rurik dynasty.

List of used literature

• - Grekov V.D. Peasants in Russia from ancient times to the 17th century. M., 1952-1954. Book. one
• - Pavlenko N.I. History of Russia from ancient times to 1861. M., 2001
• - Leontovich F.I. On the meaning of the rope according to Russian Pravda and the Politsky Status, in comparison with the other southwestern Slavs. J. M. N. Pr., 1867
• - Blumenfeld G.F. On the forms of land tenure in ancient Russia, Odessa, 1884
• - Vladimirsky-Budanov M.F. Review of the history of Russian law, Kyiv, 1907
• - Klyuchevsky V.O. The origin of serfdom in Russia. Experiments and researches, the first Sat. st., 2, 1919

Yushkov S.V. Essays

Boltin I.N. Russian Truth. SPb.. 1792, M., 1799

Evers I.F. Ancient Russian law

SECTION I Ancient Russia in the 9th-13th centuries

Lecture 2 Formation of the Old Russian state 9-10 centuries.

"Premise"- a condition or circumstance favorable for the occurrence of a certain phenomenon, the development of any events.

State translated as force turned on someone else.

The most important prerequisite for the beginning of the formation of the state is the existence of at least a minimal organization of society.

Prerequisites for the formation of the state

• Same type of habitat
• Proximity of traditions, language, beliefs
• External danger emanating from both northern and southern neighbors

"TALE OF TIME YEARS"

The Varangians from overseas levied tribute from the Chud, and from the Slavs, and from the Mary, and from the Krivichi. And the Khazars took from the glades, and from the northerners, and from the Vyatichi, a silver coin and a squirrel from the smoke.

Expansion of contacts between tribes.

"TALE OF TIME YEARS"

The Russians said Chud, Slovenes, Krivichi and all: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us."

And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed.

And one Rurik took all the power, and began to distribute cities to his men - Polotsk to that, Rostov to that, Beloozero to another.

Askold and Dir remained in this city, gathered many Varangians and began to own the land of the meadows. Rurik reigned in Novgorod.

Stage 1 of the unification of the Eastern Slavs into a single whole

To end civil strife, Slavic tribes united , turned to the Varangians. The Varangians responded to the call.

TWO first significant territories were formed as independent formations in the East Slavic lands (Kyiv and NOVGOROD)

"TALE OF TIME YEARS"

Oleg went on a campaign, taking with him many warriors: Varangians, Chud, Slovenian, I measure, all, Krivichi, and came to Smolensk with Krivichi, and took power in the city, and planted his husband in it. From there he went down, and took Lyubech, and also made his husband sit down. And they came to the mountains of Kyiv ...

And Oleg, the prince, sat down in Kyiv, and Oleg said: “May this mother be Russian cities”

check yourself

Who was called in the annals husband(princely husband)?

Stage 2 of the unification of the Eastern Slavs into a single whole

OLEG, who assumed power after the death of Rurik (since Rurik's son IGOR was young), united the territories of Novgorod and Kyiv and became

THE FIRST GRAND PRINCE OF Kyiv ,

ruling

from 912 to 945

"TALE OF TIME YEARS"

Oleg began to fight against the Drevlyans and, having conquered them, took tribute from them for the black marten.

Oleg went to the northerners, and defeated the northerners, and laid a light tribute on them, and did not order them to pay tribute to the Khazars, saying: "I am their enemy" and you (they) have no need to pay.

He sent (Oleg) to the Radimichi, asking: “To whom do you give tribute?” They answered: “To the Khazars.” And Oleg said to them: "Don't give to the Khazars, but pay me." And they gave Oleg a crack, just like they gave the Khazars. And Oleg ruled over the glades, and the Drevlyans, and the northerners, and the Radimichi, and fought with the streets and Tivertsy .

"TALE OF TIME YEARS"

Nestor sums up:

“And Oleg ruled over the glades, and the Drevlyans, and the northerners, and the Radimichi, and fought with the streets and Tivertsy .»

Thus began the process of forming a single territory multinational ancient Russian people.

The structure of the organization of state power and administration in Kievan Rus

Legislative functions

Grand Duke of Kyiv

Personal group shared

power power power

executive functions

Junior squad

(youths, children, children, gridi, ryadovichi)

check yourself

Question 1.

The Grand Duke of Kyiv is a person who owns the highest state power.

Give a term that names the type of state in which power belongs to one person.

Grand Duke of Kyiv

check yourself

Question 2.

The senior squad and the elders of the city are groups of political figures.

Give a term that names the type of state in which power is in the hands of a small group, a few people.

Senior squad

Elders of the city

check yourself

Question 3.

Veche Kiev

Veche is a general meeting of free citizens.

Give a term for the type of state in which power is held by such or such an assembly?

ANSWERS AND CONCLUSION

Grand Duke of Kyiv

Veche (Kiev) - a general meeting of free citizens

Senior squad (princes, boyars)

Elders of the city (Kyiv) elders

MONARCHY

DEMOCRACY

OLIGARCHY

Thus, the ancient Russian forms of organization of state power are in line with the European states.

The implementation of state functions in the Old Russian state in practice

The main task of providing for the state was solved by collecting arbitrarily established tribute from subject tribes with the personal participation of the great Kyiv prince and his boyars.

"TALE OF TIME YEARS"

That year, the squad said to Igor: “The youths of Sveneld put on weapons and clothes, and we are naked. Come, prince, with us for tribute, and you will get it for yourself, and for us. And Igor listened to them - he went to the Drevlyans for tribute and added a new tribute to the previous one, and his men did violence to them. Taking tribute, he went to his city. When he was walking back, on reflection, he said to his squad: “Go home with tribute, and I will return and look like more.” And he sent his retinue home, and he himself returned with a small part of the retinue, desiring more wealth.

The uprising of the Drevlyans and the murder of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Igor.

Olga, the wife of Grand Duke Igor, led the Drevlyans to obedience and implemented economic reforms.

"TALE OF TIME YEARS"

And how she took the city [Iskorosten] and burned it, she took the city elders into captivity, and killed the rest of the people, and gave others into slavery to her husbands, and left the rest to pay tribute.

And she laid a heavy tribute on them: two parts of the tribute went to Kyiv, and the third to Vyshgorod Olga, for Vyshgorod was the city of Olgin. And Olga went with her son and with a squad through the Drevlyansk land, imposing tribute and taxes; and the places of its parking and places for hunting have been preserved.

First economic reforms

Establishment LESSONS –

clearly defined amounts of tribute, which had to be paid at certain times. Unlike " POLYUDYA”, this became a more civilized form of taxation, since tribute was collected only once a year in kind.

Establishment POGOSTOV- They were small centers of princely power, where tribute was collected.

REFORMS OF PRINCESS OLGA

The next step was the appointment tiunov-tribute collectors on churchyards.

The reforms of Princess Olga contributed to the fact that the tribute that was collected from the autonomous tribes was replaced by the same fixed tax, which was paid by the entire population. At the same time, the possibility of repeated collection from one payer was avoided.

As a result of the reforms, Princess Olga created a special system of leadership and management - a single, central, state structure.

Svyatoslav Igorevich

ruled until 972

paid great attention to foreign policy issues, but

the reforms of his mother, Princess Olga, continued to operate.

879-912 years

912 - 945 years

945 - 969

964 - 972 years

check yourself

Select year

(according to the chronology from R.Kh.) the campaign of the Novgorod prince Oleg to the south, as a result of which he captured Smolensk, Lyubech and, finally, Kyiv .

882 695 1003 898

check yourself

Indicate the year (according to the chronology from AD), in which, according to the author of the Tale of Bygone Years, Nestor, the boyars of Rurik Askold and Dir became rulers (princes) in the main city of the glades, Kyiv.

check yourself

Indicate the names of the two boyars of Rurik, who asked for leave from him “with his family” in Constantinople and, not reaching Constantinople, settled as rulers (princes) in the main city of the meadows of Kyiv.

Svyatoslav

check yourself

Specify historical factor(historical process), which accelerated the replacement of tribal ties with territorial ties on the European continent in the middle of the 1st millennium.

little ice age

great migration of peoples

invention of the wheel

the formation of the great silk road

check yourself

Indicate the name (name) of the Varangian tribe (or people), to which, according to the author of the Tale of Bygone Years Nestor, Chud, Slovene, Krivichi and all addressed with the words: “Come reign and rule over us.”

Drevlyans

check yourself

Give a generalized name used by the author of the Tale of Bygone Years Nestor to name the North Germanic peoples who paid tribute to the Chud, Slovene, Merya and Krivichi.

check yourself

Indicate the name of the first prince of Novgorod, called to reign, according to The Tale of Bygone Years, by the inhabitants of Novgorod land in the 2nd half of the 9th century.

check yourself

What was the name of the people's assembly in ancient and medieval Russia, which discussed and decided important common matters (issues of legislation, courts, war and peace, elections and removal of princes and officials, etc.)?

check yourself

What was the name of the princely men who made up the senior squad in Ancient Russia?

stolniki

check yourself

What was the name of the campaign of the Grand Duke of Kyiv with a squad to collect tribute from the conquered tribes in Ancient Russia?

"Old Russian state" - Svyatopolk the Accursed. Station "Historical map". Saint Sophia Cathedral. Yaroslav the Wise. Rurik. Station "Names of Historical Figures". Station "Monuments of Architecture". Prophetic Oleg. Historical facts. Duchess Olga. Princes Boris and Gleb. Station "Chronicle statements". Svyatoslav Igorevich. Nickname station.

"The period of formation of the Old Russian state" - the State. Settlements. Merchants. Noble warriors of Rurik. Tribes. Territories of northerners and Radimichi. Prerequisites for the creation of the Old Russian state. Trade. Education government centers. Calling Rurik. Kings. Formation of the Old Russian state. The meadows paid tribute to the Khazars. The emergence of princely power.

"The problem of the formation of the Old Russian state" - Theory. The content of the activities of Russian princes. Formation of the Old Russian state. The need for protection from external enemies. Features of the Old Russian state. The first Varangian princes. The emergence of the state. East Slavs. Theories of origin. Domestic political activity of the first princes.

"The formation of the Old Russian state" - Who is a prince? Formation of the Old Russian state. Name the main trading cities among the Slavs. What was the importance of trade in the life of the Slavs? Who were called merchants? The reign of Rurik in Novgorod (862 - 879) The reign of Askold and Dir in Kyiv. What are the reasons for the emergence of local principalities among the Eastern Slavs?

"Formation of the State of Rus" - Formation of the State of Rus. Creation of a unified state. The Slavic leaders Askold and Dir led the army. Oleg's campaigns against Byzantium. Concepts: State, Norman theory. What was the significance of the activities of Prince Oleg for the Old Russian state? Personalities: Rurik, Askold, Dir, Oleg. In 860, the Slavs, sailing on boats, occupied Constantinople.

"The State of Kievan Rus" - Why are we destroying the Russian land, bringing quarrels on ourselves. New feudal strife in Russia. Genus (clan community) - a group of relatives. "Everyone keeps his fatherland." Rurik with his retinue (Sineus, Truvor) were invited to reign. Causes of religious reforms. “Military democracy” is a stage of historical development.

In total there are 19 presentations in the topic

History as a science. auxiliary and special historical disciplines. the process of development of historical knowledge.

History as a science originates in ancient Greece. In the 5th century BC Herodotus wrote a book about the Greco-Persian wars, which he called history. Antiquity distinguished between mythology and history. (Myth is a story about distant times, History is a relatively recent past) In the Middle Ages, Christianity asserts the idea of ​​a linear nature of time. Antiquity claimed that time is cyclical. In modern times, history becomes a science that studies the patterns of development that have an objective character.

History is independent science about the past of a person and various forms of social organization.

In the 17th-19th centuries, historical knowledge was divided into special and auxiliary disciplines.

Special disciplines: archeology - studies the material culture of the past of peoples, as a rule, deprived of writing, source studies - systematizes mainly written sources, historiography - studies the process of development of historical knowledge

Auxiliary disciplines: heraldry - the science of coats of arms, genealogy - the science of genealogy, sphragistics - typology of seals, diplomacy, numismatics - the science of coinage, bonistics - the science of paper money, paleography - the science of writing tools,

The origin of statehood in the territory of the East Slavic lands. Theories of the origin of Russian history.

The concept of the origin of the Slavs:

Immigration (Slavs came to the East European Plain (Soloviev))

Slavs as an ethnic group formed on the territory of the East European Plain (Rybakov)

Eastern Slavs in the 6th-7th centuries:

Community structure (common tribal link-neighboring communities)

The resettlement of the Eastern Slavs: Poles along the Dnieper River (Kyiv), Vyatichi along the Oka River, Radishichi along the Sorzh River, Dregovichi between the Pripyat and Berezka rivers.

4. Early history of Russia. Russia in the 9th-10th centuries.

According to the PVL (Tale of Bygone Years), in 862 the Novgorodians called for the reign of the Varangian Rurik and his brothers. Rurik reigned in Novgorod and his brothers in Kyiv. Rurik died in 879. Power was given to Prince Igor as regent for the young Igor Rurikovich. In 882, Oleg captured Kyiv, united the north and south, which is considered the traditional date for the emergence of a united Russia.

From the end of the 9th to the end of the 10th century - the unification of individual tribes under the rule of Kyiv.

907 - Oleg's campaign against Byzantium led to the conclusion of the first Russian-Byzantine treaty, which was later signed with changes in 911

944- 3rd Russian-Byzantine treaty

977-1015 - reign of Vladimir I, who carried out two reforms:

981 - the abolition of part of the pagan gods, the rest were placed under the rule of Perun

988 - adoption of Christianity according to the Eastern Orthodox rite from Byzantium, the head of the church was the Metropolitan of Kyiv, who until the 15th century was appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople

988 - the cremation of Russia.

5. Kiev period of Russian history. Ancient Russia in the 11th-13th centuries.

At this time there was the existence of Russia with the center in Kyiv.

1015-1016 and 1019-1054 - reign with interruptions of Yaroslav the Wise,

1015 - creation of "Russian truth" - the first code of laws

1050 - Hilarion became the metropolitan of the church,

1113-1125 - reign of Vladimir II Monomakh,

1125-1132 - the reign of Mstislav the Great, after which the collapse of Russia became irreversible,

middle of the 12th-middle of the 13th century - the period of feudal fragmentation.

6. Ancient Russia as a special type of civilization. Culture of Russian lands 9-13 centuries. Literature, painting, architecture.

The culture was influenced by religion, Normans, Byzantium, Tatar-Mongols.

Features of ancient culture: the accumulation of knowledge in the absence of their scientific analysis; significant influence of religion, synthesis of pagan and Christian culture; the influence of the Normans, Byzantium, Mongol-Tatars on the nature of culture.

The second half of the 9th century - Cyril and Methodius created the first Slavic alphabet. Literature was predominantly translated; original ancient Russian liter, chronicle, life, word, walking. Architecture. From the end of the 10th century - stone construction; cross-domed system of temple construction, filigree, grain, enamel.

Painting - fresco, mosaic, canon (set of rules) depicting saints were used

7. Russia pagan and Christian. Orthodoxy as a special character of Russian history.

The religion of the Eastern Slavs was paganism (polytheism). It can be defined as a system of views on the human world in its inseparable connection with nature, where a person considers himself as part of nature. World religions put a person in the center of the world, i.e. the transition to Christianity was not a whim of Vladimir, but was a foregone conclusion, as was the orientation towards Byzantium. Orthodoxy, proclaiming the state religion of Russia, recognized the priority of secular power over spiritual. The baptism of Russia had important consequences - the prince and the environment received an ideological basis for unity, strengthening tsentr.vlasti; Russia's ties with Europe expanded and the norms of Christian morality spread.

8. Feudal fragmentation in Russia. Kiev, Galicia-Volyn, Chernihiv principalities in the 12th-15th centuries.

Feudalism is a combination of power and land ownership with a class-hierarchical structure of society. In the 11th century, new forms of land ownership appeared

The inheritance is the share of a member of the genus in the common patrimonial property.

Votchina is a hereditary property with a complex of rights of the owner to the land and the people who cultivate it

Pomesite is conditional property received for service.

The estate is hereditary property on the rights of a fiefdom.

By the beginning of the 12th century, new forces were allocated, the Grand Duchy of Chernigov was created. In the northeast, the Rostov-Suzdal land is created, in the southwest, the Galician-Volyn principality arises, in the west, the Grand Duchy of Smolensk. Veliky Novgorod occupied a special place in the system of principalities, since 1132 it was a republic. Thus, by the end of the 12th century, Russia turned into politically independent principalities.

Kievan Rus or Old Russian state- a medieval state in Eastern Europe, which arose in the 9th century as a result of the unification of the East Slavic tribes under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty.

In the period of its highest prosperity, it occupied the territory from the Taman Peninsula in the south, the Dniester and the upper reaches of the Vistula in the west to the upper reaches of the Northern Dvina in the north.

By the middle of the XII century, it entered a state of fragmentation and actually broke up into a dozen separate principalities, ruled by different branches of the Rurikovich. Political ties were maintained between the principalities, Kyiv continued to formally remain the main table of Russia, and the Kiev principality was considered as the collective possession of all the Rurikids. The end of Kievan Rus is considered the Mongol invasion (1237-1240), after which the Russian lands ceased to form a single political entity, and Kyiv fell into decay for a long time and finally lost its nominal capital functions.

In chronicle sources, the state is called "Rus" or "Russian land", in Byzantine sources - "Rosia".

Term

The definition of “Old Russian” is not connected with the division of antiquity and the Middle Ages generally accepted in historiography in Europe in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. In relation to Russia, it is usually used to refer to the so-called. "pre-Mongolian" period of the IX - the middle of the XIII centuries, in order to distinguish this era from the following periods of Russian history.

The term "Kievan Rus" arose at the end of the 18th century. In modern historiography, it is used both to refer to a single state that existed until the middle of the 12th century, and for a wider period of the middle of the 12th - the middle of the 13th centuries, when Kyiv remained the center of the country and Russia was ruled by a single princely family on the principles of "collective suzerainty".

Pre-revolutionary historians, starting with N. M. Karamzin, adhered to the idea of ​​transferring the political center of Russia in 1169 from Kyiv to Vladimir, dating back to the works of Moscow scribes, or to Vladimir and Galich. However, in modern historiography, these points of view are not popular, as they are not confirmed in the sources.

The problem of the emergence of statehood

There are two main hypotheses for the formation of the Old Russian state. According to the Norman theory, based on the Tale of Bygone Years of the XII century and numerous Western European and Byzantine sources, statehood was introduced to Russia from outside by the Varangians - the brothers Rurik, Sineus and Truvor in 862. The founders of the Norman theory are considered to have worked in Russian Academy sciences German historians Bayer, Miller, Schlozer. The point of view about the external origin of the Russian monarchy was generally held by Nikolai Karamzin, who followed the versions of The Tale of Bygone Years.

The anti-Norman theory is based on the concept of the impossibility of introducing statehood from outside, on the idea of ​​the emergence of the state as a stage internal development society. Mikhail Lomonosov was considered the founder of this theory in Russian historiography. In addition, there are different points of view on the origin of the Varangians themselves. Scientists classified as Normanists considered them Scandinavians (usually Swedes), some anti-Normanists, starting with Lomonosov, suggest their origin from the West Slavic lands. There are also intermediate versions of localization - in Finland, Prussia, another part of the Baltic States. The problem of the ethnicity of the Varangians is independent of the question of the emergence of statehood.

AT modern science the point of view prevails, according to which the rigid opposition of "Normanism" and "anti-Normanism" is largely politicized. The prerequisites for the original statehood among the Eastern Slavs were not seriously denied either by Miller, or Schlözer, or Karamzin, and the external (Scandinavian or other) origin of the ruling dynasty is a fairly common phenomenon in the Middle Ages, which in no way proves the inability of the people to create a state or, more specifically, the institution of a monarchy. Questions about whether Rurik was real historical figure, what is the origin of the chronicle Varangians, is the ethnonym associated with them (and then the name of the state) Russia, continue to be debatable in modern Russian historical science. Western historians generally follow the concept of Normanism.

Story

Education of Kievan Rus

Kievan Rus arose on the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" on the lands of the East Slavic tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polyans, then embracing the Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Polochans, Radimichi, Severyans, Vyatichi.

According to the chronicle legend, the founders of Kyiv are the rulers of the Polyan tribe - the brothers Kyi, Shchek and Khoriv. According to archaeological excavations conducted in Kyiv in the 19th-20th centuries, already in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. there was a settlement on the site of Kyiv. Arab writers of the 10th century (al-Istarkhi, Ibn Khordadbeh, Ibn-Khaukal) later speak of Kuyab as a large city. Ibn Haukal wrote: “The king lives in a city called Kuyaba, which is larger than Bolgar ... Russ constantly trade with Khazar and Rum (Byzantium)”

The first information about the state of the Rus dates back to the first third of the 9th century: in 839, the ambassadors of the kagan of the Ros people are mentioned, who first arrived in Constantinople, and from there to the court of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious. Since that time, the ethnonym "Rus" has also become famous. The term "Kievan Rus" appears for the first time in historical studies of the 18th-19th centuries.

In 860 (The Tale of Bygone Years erroneously refers it to 866) Russia makes the first campaign against Constantinople. Greek sources associate it with the so-called first baptism of Russia, after which a diocese may have arisen in Russia, and the ruling elite (possibly led by Askold) adopted Christianity.

In 862, according to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes called for the reign of the Varangians.

“In the year 6370 (862). They expelled the Varangians across the sea, and did not give them tribute, and began to rule themselves, and there was no truth among them, and clan stood against clan, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: "Let's look for a prince who would rule over us and judge by right." And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia. Those Varangians were called Rus, as others are called Swedes, and others are Normans and Angles, and still others are Gotlanders, and so are these. The Russians said Chud, Slovenes, Krivichi and all: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us." And three brothers were elected with their clans, and they took all of Russia with them, and they came, and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before they were Slovenes.

In 862 (the date is approximate, like the entire early chronology of the Chronicle), the Varangians, Rurik’s combatants Askold and Dir, sailing to Constantinople, seeking to establish full control over the most important trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, establish their power over Kyiv.

Rurik died in 879 in Novgorod. The reign was transferred to Oleg, the regent under the young son of Rurik Igor.

The reign of Oleg the Prophet

In 882, according to chronicle chronology, Prince Oleg, a relative of Rurik, set off on a campaign from Novgorod to the south. On the way, they captured Smolensk and Lyubech, established their power there and put their people on the reign. Further, Oleg, with the Novgorod army and a mercenary Varangian squad, under the guise of merchants, captured Kyiv, killed Askold and Dir, who ruled there, and declared Kyiv the capital of his state (“And Oleg, the prince, sat down in Kyiv, and Oleg said: “May this be the mother of Russian cities “.”); the dominant religion was paganism, although Kyiv also had a Christian minority.

Oleg conquered the Drevlyans, Northerners and Radimichis, the last two unions before that paid tribute to the Khazars.

As a result of the victorious campaign against Byzantium, the first written agreements were concluded in 907 and 911, which provided for preferential terms of trade for Russian merchants (trade duties were canceled, repairs of ships were provided, accommodation for the night), the solution of legal and military issues. The tribes of Radimichi, Severyans, Drevlyans, Krivichi were taxed. According to the chronicle version, Oleg, who bore the title of Grand Duke, ruled for more than 30 years. Rurik's own son Igor took the throne after the death of Oleg around 912 and ruled until 945.

Igor Rurikovich

Igor made two military campaigns against Byzantium. The first, in 941, ended unsuccessfully. It was also preceded by an unsuccessful military campaign against Khazaria, during which Russia, acting at the request of Byzantium, attacked the Khazar city of Samkerts on the Taman Peninsula, but was defeated by the Khazar commander Pesach, and then turned its weapons against Byzantium. The second campaign against Byzantium took place in 944. It ended with an agreement that confirmed many of the provisions of the previous agreements of 907 and 911, but abolished duty-free trade. In 943 or 944, a campaign was made against Berdaa. In 945, Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlyans. After Igor's death, due to the infancy of his son Svyatoslav, real power was in the hands of Igor's widow, Princess Olga. She became the first ruler of the Old Russian state who officially adopted Christianity of the Byzantine rite (according to the most reasoned version, in 957, although other dates are also proposed). However, around 959 Olga invited the German bishop Adalbert and priests of the Latin rite to Russia (after the failure of their mission, they were forced to leave Kyiv).

Svyatoslav Igorevich

Around 962, the matured Svyatoslav took power into his own hands. His first action was the subjugation of the Vyatichi (964), who were the last of all East Slavic tribes to pay tribute to the Khazars. In 965, Svyatoslav made a campaign against the Khazar Khaganate, taking by storm its main cities: Sarkel, Semender and the capital Itil. On the site of the city of Sarkel, he built the Belaya Vezha fortress. Svyatoslav also carried out two trips to Bulgaria, where he intended to create his own state with its capital in the Danube region. He was killed in battle with the Pechenegs while returning to Kyiv from an unsuccessful campaign in 972.

After the death of Svyatoslav, civil strife broke out for the right to the throne (972-978 or 980). The eldest son Yaropolk became the great prince of Kyiv, Oleg received the Drevlyansk lands, Vladimir - Novgorod. In 977, Yaropolk defeated Oleg's squad, Oleg died. Vladimir fled "over the sea", but returned after 2 years with the Varangian squad. During the civil strife, Svyatoslav's son Vladimir Svyatoslavich (r. 980-1015) defended his rights to the throne. Under him, the formation of the state territory of Ancient Russia was completed, the Cherven cities and Carpathian Rus were annexed.

Characteristics of the state in the IX-X centuries.

Kievan Rus united vast territories inhabited by East Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes under its rule. In the annals, the state was called Rus; the word "Russian" in combination with other words was found in various spellings: both with one "s" and with a double one; both with "b" and without it. In a narrow sense, "Rus" meant the territory of Kyiv (with the exception of the Drevlyansk and Dregovichi lands), Chernigov-Seversk (with the exception of the Radimich and Vyatichi lands) and Pereyaslav lands; it is in this sense that the term "Rus" was used, for example, in Novgorod sources until the 13th century.

The head of state bore the title of Grand Duke, Prince of Russia. Unofficially, other prestigious titles could sometimes be attached to it, including the Turkic kagan and the Byzantine king. Princely power was hereditary. In addition to the princes, the grand ducal boyars and "husbands" participated in the administration of the territories. These were combatants appointed by the prince. The boyars commanded special squads, territorial garrisons (for example, Pretich commanded the Chernihiv squad), which, if necessary, united into a single army. Under the prince, one of the boyar governors also stood out, who often performed the functions of real government, such governors under the juvenile princes were Oleg under Igor, Sveneld under Olga, Svyatoslav and Yaropolk, Dobrynya under Vladimir. At the local level, princely power dealt with tribal self-government in the form of a veche and "city elders".

Druzhina

Druzhina in the period of IX-X centuries. was hired. A significant part of it was the newcomers Varangians. It was also replenished by people from the Baltic lands and local tribes. The size of the annual payment of a mercenary is estimated by historians in different ways. Wages were paid in silver, gold and furs. Usually a warrior received about 8-9 Kyiv hryvnias (more than 200 silver dirhams) per year, but by the beginning of the 11th century, the pay for an ordinary soldier was 1 northern hryvnia, which is much less. Helmsmen on ships, elders and townspeople received more (10 hryvnias). In addition, the squad was fed at the expense of the prince. Initially, this was expressed in the form of dining, and then turned into one of the forms of taxes in kind, "feeding", the maintenance of the squad by the tax-paying population during polyudya. Among the squads subordinate to the Grand Duke, his personal “small”, or junior, squad, which included 400 soldiers, stands out. The Old Russian army also included a tribal militia, which could reach several thousand in each tribe. The total number of the Old Russian army reached from 30 to 80 thousand people.

Taxes (tribute)

The form of taxes in Ancient Russia was tribute, which was paid by subject tribes. Most often, the unit of taxation was "smoke", that is, a house, or a family hearth. The size of the tax has traditionally been one skin from the smoke. In some cases, from the Vyatichi tribe, a coin was taken from a ral (plow). The form of tribute collection was polyudye, when the prince with his retinue traveled around his subjects from November to April. Russia was divided into several taxable districts, polyudye in the Kiev district passed through the lands of the Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Krivichi, Radimichi and Northerners. A special district was Novgorod, paying about 3,000 hryvnias. According to a late Hungarian legend, the maximum amount of tribute in the 10th century was 10,000 marks (30,000 or more hryvnias). The collection of tribute was carried out by squads of several hundred soldiers. The dominant ethno-class group of the population, which was called "Rus" paid the prince a tenth of their annual income.

In 946, after the suppression of the uprising of the Drevlyans, Princess Olga carried out a tax reform, streamlining the collection of tribute. She established "lessons", that is, the amount of tribute, and created "graveyards", fortresses on the path of polyudia, in which princely administrators lived and where tribute was brought. This form of tribute collection and the tribute itself was called "cart". When paying the tax, subjects received clay seals with a princely sign, which insured them from re-collection. The reform contributed to the centralization of grand ducal power and the weakening of the power of tribal princes.

Right

In the 10th century, customary law operated in Russia, which is called the “Russian Law” in the sources. Its norms are reflected in the treaties of Russia and Byzantium, in the Scandinavian sagas and in Yaroslav's Pravda. They concerned the relationship between equal people, Russia, one of the institutions was "vira" - a fine for murder. Laws guaranteed property relations, including ownership of slaves (“servants”).

The principle of inheritance of power in the IX-X centuries is unknown. The heirs were often underage (Igor Rurikovich, Svyatoslav Igorevich). In the XI century, princely power in Russia was transferred along the "ladder", that is, not necessarily the son, but the eldest in the family (the uncle had an advantage over the nephews). At the turn of the XI-XII centuries, two principles clashed, and a struggle broke out between the direct heirs and the side lines.

monetary system

In the X century, a more or less unified monetary system developed, focused on the Byzantine liter and the Arab dirham. The main monetary units were the hryvnia (monetary and weight unit of ancient Russia), kuna, nogata and rezana. They had a silver and fur expression.

State type

Historians assess the nature of the state of this period in different ways: “barbarian state”, “military democracy”, “druzhina period”, “Norman period”, “military-commercial state”, “folding of the early feudal monarchy”.

Baptism of Russia and its heyday

Under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 988, Christianity became the official religion of Russia. Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir faced the increased Pecheneg threat. To protect against nomads, he builds a line of fortresses on the border. It was during the time of Vladimir that the action of many Russian epics telling about the exploits of heroes takes place.

Crafts and trade. Monuments of writing (“The Tale of Bygone Years”, the Novgorod Codex, the Ostromir Gospel, Lives) and architecture (the Church of the Tithes, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and the cathedrals of the same name in Novgorod and Polotsk) were created. O high level the literacy of the inhabitants of Russia is evidenced by the numerous birch bark letters that have come down to our time). Russia traded with the southern and western Slavs, Scandinavia, Byzantium, Western Europe, the peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

After the death of Vladimir in Russia, a new civil strife takes place. Svyatopolk the Accursed in 1015 kills his brothers Boris (according to another version, Boris was killed by Yaroslav's Scandinavian mercenaries), Gleb and Svyatoslav. Boris and Gleb in 1071 were canonized as saints. Svyatopolk himself is defeated by Yaroslav and dies in exile.

The reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019 - 1054) was at times the highest flowering of the state. Public relations were regulated by the collection of laws "Russian Truth" and princely charters. Yaroslav the Wise held an active foreign policy. He intermarried with many ruling dynasties of Europe, which testified to the wide international recognition of Russia in the European Christian world. Intensive stone construction is unfolding. In 1036, Yaroslav defeats the Pechenegs near Kyiv and their raids on Russia stop.

Changes in public administration at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 12th centuries.

During the baptism of Russia in all its lands, the power of the sons of Vladimir I and the power of Orthodox bishops, who were subordinate to the Kyiv Metropolitan, were established. Now all the princes who acted as vassals of the Kyiv Grand Duke were only from the Rurik family. The Scandinavian sagas mention fief possessions of the Vikings, but they were located on the outskirts of Russia and on the newly annexed lands, so at the time of writing The Tale of Bygone Years, they already seemed like a relic. The Rurik princes waged a fierce struggle with the remaining tribal princes (Vladimir Monomakh mentions the Vyatichi prince Khodota and his son). This contributed to the centralization of power.

The power of the Grand Duke reached its highest level under Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise, and later under Vladimir Monomakh. Attempts to strengthen it, but less successfully, were also made by Izyaslav Yaroslavich. The position of the dynasty was strengthened by numerous international dynastic marriages: Anna Yaroslavna and french king, Vsevolod Yaroslavich and the Byzantine princess, etc.

From the time of Vladimir or, according to some reports, Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, instead of a monetary salary, the prince began to distribute land to combatants. If initially these were cities for feeding, then in the 11th century the combatants received villages. Together with the villages, which became estates, the boyar title was also granted. The boyars began to make up the senior squad, which by type was a feudal militia. The younger squad (“youths”, “children”, “gridi”), who was with the prince, lived off feeding from the princely villages and the war. To protect the southern borders, a policy of resettlement of the "best men" of the northern tribes to the south was carried out, and agreements were also concluded with allied nomads, "black hoods" (torks, berendeys and pechenegs). The services of the hired Varangian squad were basically abandoned during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise.

After Yaroslav the Wise, the "ladder" principle of land inheritance in the Rurik dynasty was finally established. The eldest in the family (not by age, but by line of kinship), received Kyiv and became the Grand Duke, all other lands were divided among members of the family and distributed according to seniority. Power passed from brother to brother, from uncle to nephew. The second place in the hierarchy of tables was occupied by Chernihiv. At the death of one of the members of the family, all the younger Ruriks moved to the lands corresponding to their seniority. When new members of the clan appeared, they were assigned a lot - a city with land (volost). In 1097, the principle of mandatory allocation of inheritance to the princes was enshrined.

Over time, the church (“monastic estates”) began to possess a significant part of the land. Since 996, the population has paid tithes to the church. The number of dioceses, starting from 4, grew. The chair of the metropolitan, appointed by the patriarch of Constantinople, began to be located in Kyiv, and under Yaroslav the Wise, the metropolitan was first elected from among Russian priests, in 1051 he became close to Vladimir and his son Hilarion. The monasteries and their elected heads, abbots, began to have great influence. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery becomes the center of Orthodoxy.

The boyars and the retinue formed special councils under the prince. The prince also consulted with the metropolitan, bishops and abbots, who made up the church council. With the complication of the princely hierarchy, by the end of the 11th century, princely congresses (“snems”) began to gather. There were vechas in the cities, on which the boyars often relied to support their own political demands (the uprisings in Kyiv in 1068 and 1113).

In XI - early XII century, the first written code of laws was formed - "Russian Pravda", which was successively replenished with articles "Pravda Yaroslav" (c. 1015-1016), "Pravda Yaroslavichi" (c. 1072) and "The Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich" (c. 1113). Russkaya Pravda reflected the growing differentiation of the population (now the size of the vira depended on the social status of the murdered), regulated the position of such categories of the population as servants, serfs, smerds, purchases and ryadovichi.

"Pravda Yaroslava" equalized the rights of "Rusyns" and "Slovenes". This, along with Christianization and other factors, contributed to the formation of a new ethnic community, which was aware of its unity and historical origin.
Since the end of the 10th century, Russia has known its own coin production - silver and gold coins of Vladimir I, Svyatopolk, Yaroslav the Wise and other princes.

Decay

The Principality of Polotsk separated from Kyiv for the first time at the beginning of the 11th century. Having concentrated all the other Russian lands under his rule only 21 years after the death of his father, Yaroslav the Wise, dying in 1054, divided them among his five surviving sons. After the death of the two younger of them, all the lands were concentrated in the hands of the three elders: Izyaslav of Kyiv, Svyatoslav of Chernigov and Vsevolod Pereyaslavsky (“the triumvirate of Yaroslavichi”). After the death of Svyatoslav in 1076, the Kyiv princes attempted to deprive his sons of the Chernigov inheritance, and they resorted to the help of the Polovtsy, whose raids began as early as 1061 (immediately after the defeat of the Torques by the Russian princes in the steppes), although for the first time the Polovtsy were used in strife by Vladimir Monomakh (against Vseslav Polotsky). In this struggle, Izyaslav of Kyiv (1078) and the son of Vladimir Monomakh Izyaslav (1096) died. At the Lubech Congress (1097), called to stop civil strife and unite the princes to protect themselves from the Polovtsy, the principle was proclaimed: "Let everyone keep his fatherland." Thus, while maintaining the right of the ladder, in the event of the death of one of the princes, the movement of heirs was limited to their patrimony. This made it possible to stop the strife and join forces to fight the Polovtsy, which was moved deep into the steppes. However, it also opened the way to political fragmentation, as each land had its own dynasty, and Grand Duke Kyiv became the first among equals, losing the role of overlord.

In the second quarter of the 12th century, Kievan Rus actually broke up into independent principalities. The modern historiographic tradition considers the chronological beginning of the period of fragmentation to be 1132, when, after the death of Mstislav the Great, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, Polotsk (1132) and Novgorod (1136) ceased to recognize the power of the Kyiv prince, and the title itself became an object of struggle between various dynastic and territorial associations of the Rurikovichs. The chronicler under 1134, in connection with the split among the Monomakhoviches, wrote down "the whole Russian land was torn apart."

In 1169, the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, Andrei Bogolyubsky, having captured Kyiv, for the first time in the practice of inter-princely strife, did not reign in it, but gave it to inheritance. From that moment on, Kyiv began to gradually lose the political, and then the cultural attributes of the all-Russian center. The political center under Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest moved to Vladimir, whose prince also began to bear the title of great.

Kyiv, unlike other principalities, did not become the property of any one dynasty, but served as a constant bone of contention for all strong princes. In 1203, it was again plundered by the Smolensk prince Rurik Rostislavich, who fought against the Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. In the battle on the Kalka River (1223), in which almost all South Russian princes took part, the first clash of Russia with the Mongols took place. The weakening of the southern Russian principalities increased the onslaught from the Hungarian and Lithuanian feudal lords, but at the same time contributed to the strengthening of the influence of the Vladimir princes in Chernigov (1226), Novgorod (1231), Kyiv (in 1236 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich occupied Kyiv for two years, while his older brother Yuri remained reign in Vladimir) and Smolensk (1236-1239). During the Mongol invasion of Russia, which began in 1237, in December 1240, Kyiv was turned into ruins. It was received by Vladimir princes Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, recognized by the Mongols as the oldest in Russia, and later by his son Alexander Nevsky. However, they did not move to Kyiv, remaining in their ancestral Vladimir. In 1299, the Metropolitan of Kyiv moved his residence there. In some church and literary sources, for example, in the statements of the Patriarch of Constantinople and Vytautas at the end of the 14th century, Kyiv continued to be considered the capital at a later time, but by that time it was already a provincial city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The title of "great princes of all Russia" from the beginning of the 14th century began to be worn by the princes of Vladimir.

The nature of the statehood of Russian lands

At the beginning of the XIII century, on the eve of the Mongol invasion in Russia, there were about 15 relatively territorially stable principalities (in turn divided into destinies), three of which: Kiev, Novgorod and Galicia were objects of the all-Russian struggle, and the rest were controlled by their own branches of the Rurikovich. The most powerful princely dynasties were Chernigov Olgovichi, Smolensk Rostislavichi, Volyn Izyaslavichi and Suzdal Yurievichi. After the invasion, almost all Russian lands entered a new round of fragmentation, and in the XIV century the number of great and specific principalities reached approximately 250.

The only all-Russian political body remained the congress of princes, which mainly decided the issues of the struggle against the Polovtsy. The Church also maintained its relative unity (excluding the emergence of local cults of saints and the veneration of the cult of local relics) headed by the metropolitan and fought against all sorts of regional "heresies" by convening councils. However, the position of the church was weakened by the strengthening of tribal pagan beliefs in the XII-XIII centuries. Religious authority and "zabozhny" (repression) were weakened. The candidacy of the archbishop of Veliky Novgorod was proposed by the Novgorod veche, there are also known cases of the expulsion of the lord (archbishop) ..

During the period of fragmentation of Kievan Rus, political power passed from the hands of the prince and the younger squad to the intensified boyars. If earlier the boyars had business, political and economic relations with the whole family of Rurikoviches headed by the Grand Duke, now they have with individual families of specific princes.

In the Principality of Kiev, the boyars, in order to reduce the intensity of the struggle between the princely dynasties, in a number of cases supported the duumvirate (coordination) of the princes and even resorted to the physical elimination of the alien princes (Yuri Dolgoruky was poisoned). The Kiev boyars sympathized with the authorities of the senior branch of the descendants of Mstislav the Great, but external pressure was too strong for the position of the local nobility to become decisive in the choice of princes. In the Novgorod land, which, like Kyiv, did not become the patrimony of the specific princely branch of the Rurik family, retaining its all-Russian significance, and during the anti-princely uprising, a republican system was established - from now on, the prince was invited and expelled by the veche. In the Vladimir-Suzdal land, the princely power was traditionally strong and sometimes even prone to despotism. There is a known case when the boyars (Kuchkovichi) and junior team physically eliminated the prince "autocratic" Andrei Bogolyubsky. In the southern Russian lands, city vechas played a huge role in the political struggle, there were also vechas in the Vladimir-Suzdal land (there are references to them up to the 14th century). In the Galician land, there was a unique case of the election of a prince from among the boyars.

The main type of troops was the feudal militia, the senior squad received personal inheritable land rights. For the defense of the city, urban district and settlements, the city militia was used. In Veliky Novgorod, the princely squad was actually hired in relation to the republican authorities, the lord had a special regiment, the townspeople made up a “thousand” (militia led by a thousand), there was also a boyar militia formed from the inhabitants of the “pyatins” (five dependent on the Novgorod boyar families of districts Novgorod land). The army of a separate principality did not exceed the size of 8,000 people. The total number of squads and city militia by 1237, according to historians, was about 100 thousand people.

During the period of fragmentation, several monetary systems developed: there are Novgorod, Kyiv and "Chernihiv" hryvnias. These were silver bars of various sizes and weights. The northern (Novgorod) hryvnia was oriented towards the northern mark, and the southern - towards the Byzantine liter. Kuna had a silver and fur expression, the former related to the latter as one to four. Old skins, fastened with a princely seal (the so-called "leather money"), were also used as a monetary unit.

The name Rus remained during this period behind the lands in the Middle Dnieper. Residents of different lands usually called themselves by the capital cities of specific principalities: Novgorodians, Suzdalians, Kuryans, etc. Up to the 13th century, according to archeology, tribal differences in material culture persisted, and there was also no unified colloquial Old Russian language, while maintaining regional tribal dialects.

Trade

The most important trade routes of Ancient Russia were:

• the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, starting from the Varangian Sea, along Lake Nevo, along the Volkhov and Dnieper rivers, leading to the Black Sea, Balkan Bulgaria and Byzantium (the same way, entering from the Black Sea to the Danube, one could get to Great Moravia) ;
• The Volga trade route (“the path from the Varangians to the Persians”), which went from the city of Ladoga to the Caspian Sea and further to Khorezm and Central Asia, Persia and Transcaucasia;
• a land route that began in Prague and through Kyiv went to the Volga and further to Asia.