What marked these periods in the history of Rus'. The state of the Eastern Slavs, which arose in the second half of the 9th century, received in history the name Ancient Rus, or Kievan Rus. Periodization of the ancient history of Rus'
Today, our knowledge of Ancient Rus' is similar to mythology. Free people, brave princes and heroes, milky rivers with jelly banks. The real story is less poetic, but no less interesting for that.
"Kievan Rus" was invented by historians
The name "Kievan Rus" appeared in the 19th century in the writings of Mikhail Maksimovich and other historians in memory of the primacy of Kyiv. Already in the very first centuries of Rus', the state consisted of several separate principalities, living their own lives and quite independently. With the nominal subordination of the lands to Kyiv, Rus' was not united. Such a system was common in the early feudal states of Europe, where each feudal lord had the right to own land and all the people on it.
The appearance of the Kyiv princes was not always truly "Slavic" as it is commonly represented. It's all about subtle Kyiv diplomacy, accompanied by dynastic marriages, both with European dynasties and with nomads - Alans, Yases, Polovtsians. The Polovtsian wives of the Russian princes Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and Vsevolod Vladimirovich are known. On some reconstructions, Russian princes have Mongoloid features.
Organs in ancient Russian churches
In Kievan Rus, one could see organs and not see bells in churches. Although bells existed in large cathedrals, in small churches they were often replaced by flat beaters. After the Mongol conquests, the organs were lost and forgotten, and the first bell makers came again from Western Europe. The researcher of musical culture Tatyana Vladyshevskaya writes about organs in the Old Russian era. On one of the frescoes of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, "Buffoons", a scene with playing the organ is depicted.
Western origin
The language of the Old Russian population is considered East Slavic. However, archaeologists and linguists do not quite agree with this. The ancestors of the Novgorod Slovenes and part of the Krivichi (Polochans) did not come from the southern expanses from the Carpathians to the right bank of the Dnieper, but from the West. Researchers see the West Slavic "trace" in the finds of ceramics and birch bark records. A prominent historian and researcher Vladimir Sedov is also inclined to this version. Household items and features of rituals are similar among the Ilmen and Baltic Slavs.
How Novgorodians understood Kyivans
Novgorod and Pskov dialects differed from other dialects of Ancient Rus'. They had features inherent in the languages of the Polabs and Poles, and even completely archaic, Proto-Slavic. Well-known parallels: kirki - “church”, hede - “gray-haired”. The remaining dialects were very similar to each other, although they were not such a single language as modern Russian. Despite the differences, ordinary Novgorodians and Kievans could understand each other quite well: the words reflected the life common to all Slavs.
"White spots" in the most prominent place
We know almost nothing about the first Ruriks. The events described in The Tale of Bygone Years were already legendary at the time of writing, and the evidence from archaeologists and later chronicles is scarce and ambiguous. Written treaties mention certain Helga, Inger, Sfendoslav, but the dates of the events differ in different sources. The role of the Kyiv "Varangian" Askold in the formation of Russian statehood is not very clear either. And this is not to mention the eternal disputes around the personality of Rurik.
"Capital" was a border fortress
Kyiv was far from the center of Russian lands, but was the southern border fortress of Rus', while being located in the very north of modern Ukraine. Cities south of Kyiv and its environs, as a rule, served as centers of nomadic tribes: Torks, Alans, Polovtsy, or were predominantly of defensive importance (for example, Pereyaslavl).
Rus' - the state of the slave trade
An important article of the wealth of Ancient Rus' was the slave trade. They traded not only captured foreigners, but also Slavs. The latter were in great demand in the Eastern markets. Arabic sources of the 10th-11th centuries describe in colors the way of slaves from Rus' to the countries of the Caliphate and the Mediterranean. The slave trade was beneficial to the princes, the large cities on the Volga and the Dnieper were the centers of the slave trade. A huge number of people in Rus' were not free, they could be sold into slavery to foreign merchants for debts. One of the main slave traders were Jewish radonites.
Khazars "inherited" in Kyiv
During the reign of the Khazars (IX-X centuries), in addition to the Turkic tribute collectors, there was a large diaspora of Jews in Kyiv. Monuments of that era are still reflected in the "Kiev letter", which contains the correspondence in Hebrew of Kyiv Jews with other Jewish communities. The manuscript is kept in the Cambridge Library. One of the three main Kyiv gates was called Zhidovskie. In one of the early Byzantine documents, Kyiv is called Sambatas, which, according to one of the versions, can be translated from the Khazar as “upper fortress”.
Kyiv - Third Rome
Ancient Kyiv, before the Mongol yoke, occupied an area of about 300 hectares during its heyday, the number of churches went to hundreds, for the first time in the history of Rus', the planning of quarters was used in it, making the streets slender. The city was admired by Europeans, Arabs, Byzantines and called the rival of Constantinople. However, from all the abundance of that time, almost not a single building remained, not counting the St. Sophia Cathedral, a couple of rebuilt churches and the recreated Golden Gate. The first white-stone church (Desyatinnaya), where the people of Kiev fled from the Mongol raid, was destroyed already in the 13th century.
Russian fortresses older than Rus'
One of the first stone fortresses of Rus' was the stone-and-earth fortress in Ladoga (Lyubshanskaya, 7th century), founded by the Slovenes. The Scandinavian fortress that stood on the other side of the Volkhov was still made of wood. Built in the era of the Prophetic Oleg, the new stone fortress was in no way inferior to similar fortresses in Europe. It was she who was called Aldegyuborg in the Scandinavian sagas. One of the first strongholds on the southern border was a fortress in Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny. Among Russian cities, only a few could boast of stone defensive architecture. These are Izborsk (XI century), Pskov (XII century) and later Koporye (XIII century). Kyiv in ancient Russian times was almost completely wooden. The oldest stone fortress was Andrey Bogolyubsky's castle near Vladimir, although it is more famous for its decorative part.
Cyrillic was almost never used
The Glagolitic alphabet, the first written alphabet of the Slavs, did not take root in Rus', although it was known and could be translated. Glagolitic letters were used only in some documents. It was she who in the first centuries of Rus' was associated with the preacher Cyril and was called "Cyrillic". The Glagolitic was often used as a secret script. The first inscription in Cyrillic proper was a strange inscription “goroukhshcha” or “gorushna” on an earthenware vessel from the Gnezdovo mound. The inscription appeared shortly before the baptism of the people of Kiev. The origin and exact interpretation of this word is still controversial.
Old Russian universe
Lake Ladoga was called the “Great Lake Nevo” after the Neva River. The ending "-o" was common (for example: Onego, Nero, Volgo). The Baltic Sea was called the Varangian, the Black Sea - the Russian, the Caspian - the Khvalis, the Azov - the Surozh, and the White - the Studyon. The Balkan Slavs, on the contrary, called the Aegean Sea the White (Bialo Sea). The Great Don was not called the Don, but its right tributary, the Seversky Donets. The Ural Mountains in the old days were called Big Stone.
Heir of Great Moravia
With the decline of Great Moravia, the largest Slavic power for its time, the rise of Kyiv and the gradual Christianization of Rus' began. So, the annalistic white Croats got out from under the influence of the collapsing Moravia, and fell under the attraction of Rus'. Their neighbors, Volhynians and Buzhans, have long been involved in Byzantine trade along the Bug, which is why they were known as translators during Oleg's campaigns. The role of the Moravian scribes, who were oppressed by the Latins with the collapse of the state, is unknown, but the largest number of translations of Great Moravian Christian books (about 39) was in Kievan Rus.
Alcohol and sugar free
There was no alcoholism as a phenomenon in Rus'. Wine alcohol came to the country after the Tatar-Mongol yoke, even brewing in its classical form did not work out. The strength of drinks was usually not higher than 1-2%. They drank nutritious honey, as well as intoxicated or set (low alcohol), digests, kvass.
Ordinary people in Ancient Rus' did not eat butter, did not know spices like mustard and bay leaves, as well as sugar. They cooked turnips, the table abounded with cereals, dishes from berries and mushrooms. Instead of tea, they drank decoctions of fireweed, which would later become known as “Koporsky tea” or Ivan tea. Kissels were unsweetened and made from cereals. They also ate a lot of game: pigeons, hares, deer, wild boars. Traditional dairy dishes were sour cream and cottage cheese.
Two "Bulgaria" in the service of Rus'
These two most powerful neighbors of Rus' had a huge impact on her. After the decline of Moravia, both countries, which arose on the fragments of Great Bulgaria, are flourishing. The first country said goodbye to the "Bulgarian" past, dissolving into the Slavic majority, converted to Orthodoxy and adopted Byzantine culture. The second, following the Arab world, became Islamic, but retained the Bulgarian language as the state language.
The center of Slavic literature moved to Bulgaria, at that time its territory expanded so much that it included part of the future Rus'. A variant of the Old Bulgarian language became the language of the Church. It has been used in numerous lives and teachings. Bulgaria, in turn, sought to restore order in trade along the Volga, suppressing the attacks of foreign bandits and robbers. The normalization of the Volga trade provided the princely possessions with an abundance of oriental goods. Bulgaria influenced Rus' with culture and literacy, and Bulgaria contributed to its wealth and prosperity.
Forgotten "megacities" of Rus'
Kyiv and Novgorod were not the only major cities of Rus'; it was not for nothing that it was nicknamed “Gardarika” (country of cities) in Scandinavia. Before the rise of Kyiv, one of the largest settlements in all of Eastern and Northern Europe was Gnezdovo, the ancestor city of Smolensk. The name is conditional, since Smolensk itself is on the sidelines. But perhaps we know his name from the sagas - Surnes. The most populated were also Ladoga, symbolically considered the "first capital", and the Timerevskoye settlement near Yaroslavl, which was built opposite the famous neighboring city.
Rus' was baptized by the XII century
The annalistic baptism of Rus' in 988 (and according to some historians in 990) affected only a small part of the people, mainly limited to the people of Kiev and the population of the largest cities. Polotsk was baptized only at the beginning of the 11th century, and at the end of the century - Rostov and Mur, where there were still many Finno-Ugric peoples. The fact that most of the common population remained pagans was confirmed by the regular uprisings of the Magi, supported by the smerds (Suzdal in 1024, Rostov and Novgorod in 1071). Dual faith arises later, when Christianity becomes a truly dominant religion.
The Turks also had cities in Rus'
In Kievan Rus, there were also completely “non-Slavic” cities. Such was Torchesk, where Prince Vladimir allowed nomadic Torks to settle, as well as Sakov, Berendichev (named after the Berendeys), Belaya Vezha, where the Khazars and Alans lived, Tmutarakan, inhabited by Greeks, Armenians, Khazars and Circassians. By the 11th-12th centuries, the Pechenegs were no longer a typically nomadic and pagan people, some of them were baptized and settled in the cities of the union of “black hoods”, subordinate to Rus'. In the old cities on the site or in the vicinity of Rostov, Murom, Beloozero, Yaroslavl lived mainly Finno-Ugric peoples. In Murom - murom, in Rostov and near Yaroslavl - Merya, in Beloozero - all, in Yuryev - Chud. The names of many important cities are unknown to us - in the 9th-10th centuries there were almost no Slavs in them.
"Rus", "Roksolania", "Gardarika" and not only
The Balts called the country “Krevia” after the neighboring Krivichi, the Latin “Ruthenia” took root in Europe, less often “Roksolania”, Scandinavian sagas called Rus' “Gardarika” (country of cities), Chud and Finns “Venemaa” or “Venaya” (from the Wends), the Arabs called the main population of the country "As-Sakaliba" (Slavs, Slavs)
Slavs outside the borders
Traces of the Slavs could be found outside the state of Rurikovich. Many cities along the middle Volga and in the Crimea were multinational and populated, including Slavs. Before the Polovtsian invasion, many Slavic towns existed on the Don. The Slavic names of many Byzantine Black Sea cities are known - Korchev, Korsun, Surozh, Gusliev. This speaks of the constant presence of Russian merchants. The Chud cities of Estland (modern Estonia) - Kolyvan, Yuryev, Bear's Head, Klin - with varying success passed into the hands of the Slavs, then the Germans, then the local tribes. Along the Western Dvina, the Krivichi settled interspersed with the Balts. In the zone of influence of Russian merchants was Nevgin (Daugavpils), in Latgale - Rezhitsa and Ochela. Chronicles constantly mention the campaigns of Russian princes on the Danube and the capture of local cities. So, for example, the Galician prince Yaroslav Osmomysl "locked the door of the Danube with a key."
Both pirates and nomads
Fugitive people of various volosts of Rus' formed independent associations long before the Cossacks. Berladniks were known, who inhabited the southern steppes, the main city of which was Berlady in the Carpathian region. They often attacked Russian cities, but at the same time they participated in joint campaigns with Russian princes. Chronicles also introduce us to wanderers, a mixed population of unknown origin, who had much in common with Berladniks.
Sea pirates from Rus' were ushkuyniki. Initially, these were Novgorodians who were engaged in raids and trade on the Volga, Kama, in Bulgaria and the Baltic. They even undertook campaigns in the Cis-Urals - to Yugra. Later, they separated from Novgorod and even found their own capital in the city of Khlynov on Vyatka. Perhaps it was the Ushkuyniki, together with the Karelians, who ravaged the ancient capital of Sweden, Sigtuna, in 1187.
"Ancient Rus'" opens a new book series "Russia - the way through the ages". The 24-series editions will present the entire history of Russia - from the Eastern Slavs to the present day. The book offered to the reader is devoted to the ancient history of Rus'. It tells about the tribes that inhabited the territory of our country even before the appearance of the first Old Russian state, about how Kievan Rus was formed, about the princes and principalities of the 9th - 12th centuries, about the events of those ancient times. You will learn why pagan Rus' became an Orthodox country, what role it played in the outside world, with whom it traded and fought. We will introduce you to the ancient Russian culture, which even then created masterpieces of architecture and folk art. The origins of Russian beauty and the Russian spirit lie in distant antiquity. We bring you back to basics.
A series: Russia - the way through the centuries
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by the LitRes company.
Old Russian state
In the distant past, the ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians were one people. They came from related tribes who called themselves "Slavs" or "Slovenes" and belonged to a branch of the Eastern Slavs.
They had a single - Old Russian - language. The territories in which different tribes settled, then expanded, then contracted. Tribes migrated, others replaced them.
Tribes and peoples
What tribes inhabited the East European Plain even before the formation of the Old Russian state?
At the turn of the old and new era
SCYTHIANS ( lat. Scythi, Scythae; Greek Skithai) is the collective name of numerous Iranian-speaking tribes related to the Savromats, Massagets and Sakas and inhabiting the Northern Black Sea region in the 7th-3rd centuries. BC e. They were located in the regions of Central Asia, then they began to advance to the North Caucasus and from there to the territory of the Northern Black Sea region.
In the 7th century BC e. the Scythians fought with the Cimmerians and drove them out of the Black Sea region. Pursuing the Cimmerians, the Scythians in the 70s. 7th c. BC e. invaded Asia Minor and conquered Syria, Media and Palestine. But after 30 years they were expelled by the Medes.
The main territory of the settlement of the Scythians was the steppe from the Danube to the Don, including the Crimea.
The most complete information about the Scythians is contained in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC), who lived for a long time in Olbia surrounded by the Scythians and was well acquainted with them. According to Herodotus, the Scythians claimed that they were descended from the first person - Targitai, the son of Zeus and the daughter of a river stream, and his sons: Lipoksai, Arpoksai and the younger - Koloksai. Each of the brothers became the ancestor of one of the Scythian tribal associations: 1) the "royal" Scythians (from Koloksai) dominated the rest, they lived in the steppes between the Don and the Dnieper;
2) nomadic Scythians lived on the right bank of the Lower Dnieper and in the steppe Crimea; 3) Scythians-plowmen - between the Ingul and the Dnieper (some scholars classify these tribes as Slavic). In addition to them, Herodotus singles out the Hellenic-Scythians in the Crimea and the Scythian farmers, not mixing them with "plowmen". In another fragment of his History, Herodotus notes that the Greeks incorrectly call all those living in the Northern Black Sea region Scythians. On Borisfen (Dnepr), according to Herodotus, lived Borysfenites, who called themselves Skolots.
But the entire territory from the lower reaches of the Danube to the Don, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, in archaeological terms, is one cultural and historical community. Its main feature is the “Scythian triad”: weapons, horse equipment and “animal style” (that is, the predominance of realistic images of animals in the works of the craft; images of a deer are most common, later a lion and a panther were added).
The first Scythian mounds were excavated as early as 1830. Of the archaeological sites, the most famous mounds of the "royal" Scythians in the Northern Black Sea region are huge, rich in gold items. The "royal" Scythians, apparently, worshiped the horse. Every year, at the wake of the deceased king, 50 horsemen and many horses were sacrificed. Up to 300 bones of horses were found in some barrows.
Rich burial mounds indicate the existence of a slave-owning nobility. The ancient Greeks knew about the existence of the "Scythian kingdom", which until the 3rd century. BC e. was located in the Black Sea steppes, and after the invasion of the Sarmatians moved to the Crimea. Their capital was moved from the site of the modern Kamensky settlement (near Nikopol). In con. 2 in. Don. e. a kind of Scythian state in the Crimea became part of the Pontic kingdom.
From con. 1 in. BC e. More than once, the Scythians, defeated by the Sarmatians, did not represent a serious political force. They were also weakened by constant conflicts with the Greek colonial cities in the Crimea. The name "Scythians" later passed to the tribes of the Sarmatians and most other nomads who inhabited the Black Sea regions. Later, the Scythians dissolved among other tribes of the Northern Black Sea region. The Scythians in the Crimea existed until the invasion of the Goths in the 3rd century BC. n. e.
In the Early Middle Ages, the northern Black Sea barbarians were called Scythians. E. G.
SKOLOT - the self-name of a group of Scythian tribes that lived in the 2nd floor. 1st millennium BC e. in the Northern Black Sea region.
The mention of cleaves is found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC): “All the Scythians are in common - the name is cleaved.”
The modern historian B. A. Rybakov refers the skolots to the Scythian plowmen - the ancestors of the Slavs, and considers the term "cleaved" to be derived from the Slavic "kolo" (circle). According to Rybakov, the ancient Greeks called the Skolots who lived along the banks of the Borisfen (the Greek name for the Dnieper) borisfenites.
Herodotus cites a legend about the forefather of the Scythians - Targitai and his descendants Arpoksai, Lipoksai and Koloksai, according to which the chipped people got their name from the latter. The legend contains a story about the fall of sacred objects on the Scythian land - a plow, a yoke, an ax and a bowl. The plow and yoke are the tools of labor not of nomads, but of farmers. Archaeologists find cult bowls in Scythian burials. These bowls are similar to those common in pre-Scythian times in the forest-steppe archaeological cultures - Belogrudovskaya and Chernolesskaya (12-8 centuries BC), which many scientists associate with the Proto-Slavs. E. G.
SAVROMATS ( lat. Sauromatae) - nomadic Iranian tribes who lived in the 7th-4th centuries. BC e. in the steppes of the Volga and Ural regions.
By origin, culture and language, the Savromats are related to the Scythians. Ancient Greek writers (Herodotus and others) emphasized the special role that women played among the Savromats.
Archaeologists have found burials of wealthy women with weapons and horse equipment. Some Sauromatian women were priestesses - stone altars were found in the graves next to them. In con. 5th–4th centuries BC e. Sauromatian tribes pressed the Scythians and crossed the Don. In the 4th–3rd centuries BC e. they developed strong tribal alliances. The descendants of the Savromats are the Sarmatians (3rd century BC - 4th century AD). E. G.
SARMATS - the general name of the Iranian-speaking tribes, nomadic in the 3rd century. BC e. - 4 in. n. e. in the steppes from the Tobol to the Danube.
Women played an important role in the social organization of the Sarmatians. They were excellent horsewomen and shooters, they participated in battles along with men. They were buried in mounds as warriors - along with a horse and weapons. A number of historians believe that even the Greeks and Romans knew about the Sarmatian tribes; perhaps it was the information about the Sarmatians that became the source of ancient legends about the Amazons.
In con. 2 in. BC e. Sarmatians became an important political force in the life of the Northern Black Sea region. In alliance with the Scythians, they participated in campaigns against the Greeks, and in the 1st century. BC e. ousted the remnants of the Scythian tribes from the shores of the Black Sea. Since then, on ancient maps, the Black Sea steppes - "Scythia" - began to be called "Sarmatia".
In the first centuries A.D. e. among the Sarmatian tribes, tribal unions of Roxolans and Alans stood out. In the 3rd century n. e. the Goths invading the Black Sea region undermined the influence of the Sarmatians, and in the 4th century. Goths and Sarmatians were defeated by the Huns. After that, part of the Sarmatian tribes joined the Huns and participated in the Great Migration of Peoples. Alans and Roxolans remained in the Northern Black Sea region. E. G.
ROKSOLANS ( lat. Roxolani; Iran.- "bright Alans") - a Sarmatian-Alanian nomadic tribe that led a large union of tribes that roamed in the Northern Black Sea and Azov regions.
The ancestors of the Roxolans are the Sarmatians of the Volga and Ural regions. In the 2nd–1st centuries BC e. Roxolans conquered the steppes between the Don and the Dnieper from the Scythians. According to the ancient geographer Strabo, “Roksolans follow their herds, always choosing areas with good pastures, in winter - in the swamps near Meotida (Sea of Azov. - E. G.), and in the summer - on the plains.
In the 1st century n. e. warlike Roksolani occupied the steppes and west of the Dnieper. During the Great Migration of Nations in the 4th-5th centuries. some of these tribes migrated along with the Huns. E. G.
ANTI ( Greek Antai, Antes) - an association of Slavic tribes or a tribal union related to them. In the 3rd–7th centuries inhabited the forest-steppes between the Dnieper and the Dniester and east of the Dnieper.
Usually, researchers see the Turkic or Indo-Iranian designation of the union of tribes of Slavic origin in the name "Antes".
The Antes are mentioned in the works of Byzantine and Gothic writers Procopius of Caesarea, Jordanes and others. According to these authors, the Antes used a common language with other Slavic tribes, they had the same customs and beliefs. Presumably, earlier Antes and Slavins had the same name.
The Ants fought with Byzantium, the Goths and Avars, together with the Slavs and the Huns, ravaged the regions between the Adriatic and the Black Seas. The leaders of the Antes - "archons" - equipped embassies to the Avars, received ambassadors from the Byzantine emperors, in particular from Justinian (546). In 550-562 the possessions of the Ants were devastated by the Avars. From the 7th c. Antes are not mentioned in written sources.
According to the archaeologist V.V. Sedov, 5 tribal unions of the Ants laid the foundation for the Slavic tribes - Croats, Serbs, streets, Tivertsy and Polans. Archaeologists attribute to the Ants the tribes of the Penkovo culture, whose main occupations were arable farming, settled cattle breeding, crafts and trade. Most of the settlements of this culture are of the Slavic type: small semi-dugouts. During the burial, cremation was used. But some finds cast doubt on the Slavic nature of the Ants. Two large craft centers of the Penkovo culture have also been opened - Pastyrskoye Settlement and Kantserka. The life of the artisans of these settlements was unlike the Slavic one. E. G.
VENEDS, Venets - Indo-European tribes.
In the 1st century BC e. - 1 in. n. e. in Europe there were three groups of tribes with this name: Veneti on the peninsula of Brittany in Gaul, Veneti in the valley of the river. Po (some researchers associate the name of the city of Venice with them), as well as the Wends on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Up to the 16th c. the modern Gulf of Riga was called the Venedsky Gulf.
From the 6th century, as the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea was settled by Slavic tribes, the Wends assimilated with new settlers. But since then, the Slavs themselves have sometimes been called Wends or Wends. Author of the 6th c. Jordan believed that the Slavs used to be called "Vendi", "Vendi", "Vindi". Many Germanic sources call the Baltic and Polabian Slavs "Wends". The term "Vendi" remained the self-name of a part of the Baltic Slavs until the 18th century. Yu. K.
SCLAVINS ( lat. Sclavini, Sclaveni, Sclavi; Greek Sklabinoi) is a common name for all Slavs, known both from Western early medieval and early Byzantine authors. Later it switched to one of the groups of Slavic tribes.
The origin of this ethnonym remains controversial. Some researchers believe that “Slavins” is a modified word “Slovene” in the Byzantine environment.
In con. 5 - beginning. 6th century the Gothic historian Jordanes called the Sclavinians and Antes Venets. “They live from the city of Novietun (a city on the Sava River) and the lake called Mursiansky (apparently, Lake Balaton is meant), to Danastra, and to the north - to Viskla; instead of cities, they have swamps and forests. The Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea defines the lands of the Slavs as located “on the other side of the Danube River not far from its bank”, that is, mainly in the territory of the former Roman province of Pannonia, which the Tale of Bygone Years connects with the ancestral home of the Slavs.
Actually, the word "Slavs" in various forms became known from the 6th century, when the Slavs, together with the Antes tribes, began to threaten Byzantium. Yu. K.
SLAVES - an extensive group of tribes and peoples belonging to the Indo-European language family.
The Slavic language "tree" has three main branches: East Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian), West Slavic (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Upper and Lower Lusatian-Serbian, Polabian, Pomeranian dialects), South Slavic (Old Church Slavonic, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian , Slovenian). All of them originated from a single Proto-Slavic language.
One of the most controversial issues among historians is the problem of the origin of the Slavs. Slavs have been known in written sources since the 6th century. Linguists have established that the Slavic language retained the archaic features of the once common Indo-European language. And this means that the Slavs already in ancient times could separate from the common family of Indo-European peoples. Therefore, the opinions of scientists about the time of the birth of the Slavs differ - from the 13th century. BC e. up to 6 c. n. e. Equally different opinions about the ancestral home of the Slavs.
In the 2nd–4th centuries the Slavs were part of the tribes-carriers of the Chernyakhov culture (some scholars identify its distribution area with the Gothic state of Germanarich).
In the 6th–7th centuries Slavs settled in the Baltics, the Balkans, the Mediterranean, and the Dnieper region. For a century, about three-quarters of the Balkan Peninsula were conquered by the Slavs. The whole region of Macedonia adjoining Thessalonica was called "Sklavenia". By the turn of the 6th–7th centuries. include information about Slavic fleets that sailed around Thessaly, Achaia, Epirus and even reached southern Italy and Crete. Almost everywhere the Slavs assimilated the local population.
Apparently, the Slavs had a neighboring (territorial) community. The Byzantine Mauritius Strategist (6th century) noted that the Slavs did not have slavery, and the captives were offered either to ransom for a small amount, or to remain in the community as an equal. Byzantine historian, 6th c. Procopius of Caesarea noted that the tribes of the Slavs "are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they live in the rule of the people, and therefore they have happiness and unhappiness in life considered a common cause."
Archaeologists have discovered monuments of the material culture of the Slavs and Antes. The territory of the Prague-Korchak archaeological culture, which spread to the southwest of the Dniester, corresponds to the Sklavins, and the Penkovskaya culture to the east of the Dnieper corresponds to the Antams.
Using the data of archaeological excavations, one can quite accurately describe the lifestyle of the ancient Slavs. They were a settled people and were engaged in arable farming - archaeologists find plows, openers, rales, plow knives and other tools. Until the 10th c. The Slavs did not know the potter's wheel. A distinctive feature of the Slavic culture was rough stucco ceramics. The settlements of the Slavs were located on the low banks of the rivers, were small in area and consisted of 15–20 small semi-dugouts, in each of which a small family lived (husband, wife, children). A characteristic feature of the Slavic dwelling was a stone oven, which was located in the corner of a semi-dugout. Many Slavic tribes practiced polygamy (polygamy). The pagan Slavs burned the dead. Slavic beliefs are associated with agricultural cults, the cult of fertility (Veles, Dazhdbog, Svarog, Mokosh), higher gods are associated with the earth. There were no human sacrifices.
In the 7th century the first Slavic states arose: in 681, after the arrival of nomadic Bulgarians in the Danube region, who quickly mixed with the Slavs, the First Bulgarian Kingdom was formed, in the 8th–9th centuries. – The Great Moravian state, the first Serbian principalities and the Croatian state appeared.
At 6 - beg. 7th century the territory from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the Dnieper and Don in the east and to Lake Ilmen in the north was settled by East Slavic tribes. At the head of the tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs - the northerners, the Drevlyans, the Krivichi, the Vyatichi, the Radimichi, the glades, the Dregovichi, the Polochans, etc. - were the princes. On the territory of the future Old Russian state, the Slavs assimilated the Baltic, Finno-Ugric, Iranian and many other tribes. Thus, the ancient Russian nationality was formed.
There are currently three branches of the Slavic peoples. The southern Slavs include Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Bulgarians. To the Western Slavs - Slovaks, Czechs, Poles, as well as Lusatian Serbs (or Sorbs) living in Germany. Eastern Slavs include Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
E. G., Yu. K., S. P.
East Slavic tribes
BUZHANE - an East Slavic tribe that lived on the river. Bug.
Most researchers believe that Buzhans are another name for Volynians. On the territory inhabited by Buzhans and Volynians, a single archaeological culture was discovered. "The Tale of Bygone Years" reports: "The Buzhans, who were sitting along the Bug, later began to be called Volhynians." According to the archaeologist V.V. Sedov, part of the Dulebs that lived in the Bug basin were first called Buzhans, then Volhynians. Perhaps Buzhan is the name of only a part of the tribal union of the Volhynians. E. G.
VOLYNYANS, Velynyans - an East Slavic union of tribes that inhabited the territory on both banks of the Western Bug and at the source of the river. Pripyat.
The ancestors of the Volynians, presumably, were dulebs, and their earlier name was Buzhans. According to another point of view, "Volynians" and "Buzhans" are the names of two different tribes or tribal unions. The anonymous author of The Bavarian Geographer (1st half of the 9th century) counts 70 cities among the Volynians, and 231 cities among the Buzhans. Arab geographer 10th c. al-Masudi distinguishes between the Volhynians and the Dulebs, although, perhaps, his information refers to an earlier period.
In the Russian chronicles, the Volhynians are first mentioned in 907: they participated in the campaign of Prince Oleg against Byzantium as "interpreters" - translators. In 981 Kyiv Prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich subjugated the Przemysl and Cherven lands where the Volhynians lived. Volynsky
The city of Cherven has since become known as Vladimir-Volynsky. In the 2nd floor. 10th c. on the lands of the Volynians, the Vladimir-Volyn principality was formed. E. G.
VYATICHI - East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the basin of the upper and middle reaches of the Oka and along the river. Moscow.
According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the ancestor of the Vyatichi was Vyatko, who came “from the Poles” (Poles) together with his brother Radim, the ancestor of the Radimichi tribe. Modern archaeologists do not find confirmation of the West Slavic origin of the Vyatichi.
In the 2nd floor. 9th–10th centuries Vyatichi paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. For a long time they maintained their independence from the Kievan princes. As allies, the Vyatichi participated in the campaign of the Kyiv prince Oleg against Byzantium in 911. In 968, the Vyatichi were defeated by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav. In the beginning. 12th c. Vladimir Monomakh fought with the Vyatichi prince Khodota. In con. 11–beginning 12th century Christianity was planted among the Vyatichi. Despite this, they retained pagan beliefs for a long time. The Tale of Bygone Years describes the funeral rite of the Vyatichi (the Radimichi had a similar rite): “When someone died, they arranged a feast for him, and then laid out a large fire, laid the deceased on it and burned it, after which, having collected the bones, they put them in a small vessel and placed them on pillars along the roads. This rite was preserved until the end. 13th century, and the "pillars" themselves in some areas of Russia met up to the beginning. 20th century
By the 12th century the territory of the Vyatichi was in the Chernigov, Rostov-Suzdal and Ryazan principalities. E. G.
DREVLYANES - East Slavic tribal union, which occupied in the 6th-10th centuries. the territory of Polissya, the Right Bank of the Dnieper, west of the glades, along the course of the Teterev, Uzh, Ubort, Stviga rivers.
According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the Drevlyans "descended from the same Slavs" as the glades. But unlike the glades, "the Drevlyans lived in a bestial way, lived like cattle, killed each other, ate everything unclean, and they did not have marriage, but they kidnapped the girls by the water."
In the west, the Drevlyans bordered on the Volynians and Buzhans, in the north - on the Dregovichi. Archaeologists have discovered on the lands of the Drevlyans burials with cremations in urns in non-kurgan burial grounds. In the 6th–8th centuries burials in mounds spread, in the 8th–10th centuries. - urnless burials, and in the 10th-13th centuries. - corpses in burial mounds.
In 883, Prince Oleg of Kyiv "began to fight against the Drevlyans and, having conquered them, laid tribute on them for black marten (sable)", and in 911, the Drevlyans participated in Oleg's campaign against Byzantium. In 945, Prince Igor, on the advice of his squad, went "to the Drevlyans for tribute and added a new tribute to the previous one, and his men did violence to them," but he was not satisfied with what he had collected and decided to "collect more." The Drevlyans, after conferring with their prince Mal, decided to kill Igor: "if we do not kill him, then he will destroy us all." Igor's widow, Olga, in 946 cruelly took revenge on the Drevlyans, setting fire to their capital, the city of Iskorosten, "she took the city elders prisoner, and killed other people, gave the third into slavery to her husbands, and left the rest to pay tribute," and all the land of the Drevlyans was attached to the Kyiv inheritance with the center in the city of Vruchiy (Ovruch). Yu. K.
DREGOVICHI - tribal union of Eastern Slavs.
The exact boundaries of the Dregovichi habitat have not yet been established. According to a number of researchers (V.V. Sedov and others), in the 6th–9th centuries. Dregovichi occupied the territory in the middle part of the river basin. Pripyat, in the 11th-12th centuries. the southern border of their settlement passed south of Pripyat, the northwestern - in the watershed of the Drut and Berezina rivers, the western - in the upper reaches of the river. Neman. The neighbors of the Dregovichi were the Drevlyans, Radimichi and Krivichi. The Tale of Bygone Years mentions the Dregoviches up to the middle. 12th c. According to archaeological research, the Dregovichi are characterized by agricultural settlements, mounds with cremations. In the 10th century the lands inhabited by the Dregovichi became part of Kievan Rus, and later became part of the Turov and Polotsk principalities. Vl. TO.
DULEBY - a tribal union of the Eastern Slavs.
They lived in the basin of the Bug and the right tributaries of the Pripyat from the 6th century. Researchers attribute the Dulebs to one of the earliest ethnic groups of the Eastern Slavs, from which some other tribal unions later formed, including the Volhynians (Buzhans) and the Drevlyans. Archaeological monuments of the Dulebs are represented by the remains of agricultural settlements and burial mounds with cremations.
According to chronicles, in the 7th c. Dulebs were invaded by the Avars. In 907, the duleb squad took part in the campaign of Prince Oleg against Constantinople. According to historians, in the 10th c. Duleb union broke up, and their lands became part of Kievan Rus. Vl. TO.
KRIVICHI - a tribal union of the Eastern Slavs of the 6th-11th centuries.
They occupied the territory in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Volga, Western Dvina, as well as in the area of Lake Peipus, Pskov and Lake. Ilmen. The Tale of Bygone Years reports that the cities of the Krivichi were Smolensk and Polotsk. According to the same chronicle, in 859 the Krivichi paid tribute to the Varangians "from overseas", and in 862, together with the Slovenes of Ilmen and the Chud, Rurik was invited to reign with the brothers Sineus and Truvor. Under 882, the Tale of Bygone Years contains a story about how Oleg went to Smolensk, to the Krivichi, and, having taken the city, "planted his husband in it." Like other Slavic tribes, the Krivichi paid tribute to the Varangians, went along with Oleg and Igor on campaigns against Byzantium. In the 11th-12th centuries. Polotsk and Smolensk principalities arose on the lands of the Krivichi.
Probably, the remnants of the local Finno-Ugric and Baltic (Ests, Livs, Latgals) tribes, who mixed with the numerous alien Slavic population, participated in the ethnogenesis of the Krivichi.
Archaeological excavations have shown that initially the specific burials of the Krivichi were long mounds: low rampart-like mounds from 12–15 m to 40 m long. By the nature of the burial grounds, archaeologists distinguish two ethnographic groups of Krivichi - Smolensk-Polotsk and Pskov Krivichi. In the 9th century long mounds were replaced by round (hemispherical). The dead were burned on the side, and most of the things burned on the funeral pyre along with the deceased, and only heavily damaged things and jewelry fell into the burials: beads (blue, green, yellow), buckles, pendants. In the 10th-11th centuries. among the Krivichi, a corpse appears, although up to the 12th century. the features of the former rite are preserved - a ritual fire under the burial and a barrow. The inventory of burials of this period is quite diverse: women's jewelry - bracelet-like knotted rings, neck necklaces made of beads, pendants to necklaces in the form of skates. There are items of clothing - buckles, belt rings (they were worn by men). Often in the mounds of the Krivichi there are decorations of the Baltic types, as well as the actual Baltic burials, which indicates a close connection between the Krivichi and the Baltic tribes. Yu. K.
POLOCHAN - Slavic tribe, part of the tribal union of the Krivichi; lived along the banks of the river. Dvina and its tributary Polot, from which they got their name.
The center of the Polotsk land was the city of Polotsk. In The Tale of Bygone Years, the Polotsk people are mentioned several times along with such large tribal unions as the Ilmen Slovenes, the Drevlyans, the Dregovichi, and the Polans.
However, a number of historians question the existence of the Polochans as a separate tribe. Arguing their point of view, they draw attention to the fact that The Tale of Bygone Years does not in any way connect the Polochans with the Krivichi, whose possessions included their lands. Historian A. G. Kuzmin suggested that a fragment about the Polotsk tribe appeared in the Tale c. 1068, when the people of Kiev expelled Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich and placed Prince Vseslav of Polotsk on the princely table.
All R. 10 - beginning. 11th century On the territory of Polotsk, the Polotsk principality was formed. E. G.
POLYANE - a tribal union of Eastern Slavs, who lived on the Dnieper, in the area of \u200b\u200bmodern Kyiv.
One of the versions of the origin of Rus', mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years, is associated with the glades. Scientists consider the "glade-Russian" version to be more ancient than the "Varangian legend", and attribute it to the con. 10th c.
The Old Russian author of this version considered the glades to be Slavs who came from Norik (a territory on the Danube), who were the first to be called the name "Rus": "The glade is now called Rus." In the annals, the customs of the Polyans and other East Slavic tribes, united under the name of the Drevlyans, are sharply contrasted.
In the Middle Dnieper near Kyiv, archaeologists discovered a culture of the 2nd Quarter. 10th c. with a characteristic Slavic funeral rite: clay soil was characteristic of the burial mounds, on which a fire was lit and the dead were burned. The boundaries of culture extended in the west to the river. Black grouse, in the north - to the city of Lyubech, in the south - to the river. Ros. This was, obviously, the Slavic tribe of the Polyans.
In the 2nd quarter 10th c. other people appear on the same lands. A number of scientists consider the Middle Danube to be the place of its initial settlement. Others identify him with Rugs-Rus from Great Moravia. These people were familiar with the potter's wheel. The dead were buried according to the rite of burial in burial mounds. Pectoral crosses were often found in barrows. Glade and Russ eventually mixed up, the Rus began to speak the Slavic language, and the tribal union received a double name - glade-Rus. E. G.
RADIMICHI - East Slavic union of tribes, who lived in the eastern part of the Upper Dnieper, along the river. Sozh and its tributaries in the 8th–9th centuries.
Convenient river routes passed through the lands of the Radimichi, connecting them with Kyiv. According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the founder of the tribe was Radim, who came "from the Poles", that is, of Polish origin, together with his brother Vyatko. Radimichi and Vyatichi had a similar burial rite - the ashes were buried in a log house - and similar temporal female jewelry (temporal rings) - seven-rayed (for Vyatichi - seven-lobed). Archaeologists and linguists suggest that the Balts, who lived in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, also participated in the creation of the material culture of the Radimichi. In the 9th century radimichi paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. In 885, these tribes were subordinated to the Kyiv prince Oleg Veshchim. In 984, the Radimichi army was defeated on the river. Pishchane governor of the Kyiv prince Vladimir
Svyatoslavich. The last time they were mentioned in the annals was in 1169. Then the territory of the Radimichi entered the Chernigov and Smolensk principalities. E. G.
RUSSIANS - in the sources of the 8th-10th centuries. the name of the people who participated in the formation of the Old Russian state.
In historical science, discussions about the ethnic origin of the Rus are still ongoing. According to the testimony of Arab geographers in the 9th-10th centuries. and the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (10th century), the Rus were the social elite of Kievan Rus and dominated the Slavs.
The German historian G.Z. Bayer, invited to Russia in 1725 to work at the Academy of Sciences, believed that the Rus and the Varangians were one Norman (i.e., Scandinavian) tribe that brought statehood to the Slavic peoples. Bayer's followers in the 18th century. were G. Miller and L. Schlozer. Thus arose the Norman theory of the origin of the Rus, which is still shared by many historians.
Based on the data of The Tale of Bygone Years, some historians believe that the chronicler identified the "Rus" with the Glade tribe and led them, along with other Slavs, from the upper Danube, from Norik. Others believe that the Rus are a Varangian tribe, "called" to reign in Novgorod under Prince Oleg Veshchem, who gave the name "Rus" to the Kievan land. Still others prove that the author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign connected the origin of the Rus with the Northern Black Sea region and the Don basin.
Scientists note that in ancient documents the name of the people "Rus" was different - rugs, horns, rutens, ruyi, ruyans, wounds, rens, rus, ruses, dews. This word is translated as “red”, “red” (from the Celtic languages), “light” (from the Iranian languages), “rots” (from Swedish - “rowers on oared boats”).
Some researchers consider the Rus to be Slavs. Those historians who consider the Rus to be Baltic Slavs argue that the word "Rus" is close to the names "Rügen", "Ruyan", "rugi". Scientists who consider the Rus to be residents of the Middle Dnieper region notice that the word “ros” (r. Ros) is found in the Dnieper region, and the name “Russian land” in the annals originally denoted the territory of the glades and northerners (Kyiv, Chernihiv, Pereyaslavl).
There is a point of view according to which the Rus are the Sarmatian-Alanian people, the descendants of the Roxolans. The word "rus" ("ruhs") in Iranian languages means "light", "white", "royal".
Another group of historians suggests that the Rus are Rugs who lived in the 3rd-5th centuries. along the river Danube of the Roman province of Noricum and c. 7th c. moved together with the Slavs in the Dnieper region. The mystery of the origin of the people "Rus" has not been solved so far. E. G., S. P.
SEVERYANES - East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the 9th-10th centuries. by rr. Desna, Seim, Sula.
The western neighbors of the northerners were the meadows and the Dregovichi, the northern neighbors were the Radimichi and the Vyatichi.
The origin of the name "northerners" is not clear. Some researchers associate it with the Iranian sev, sew - "black". In the annals, the northerners are also called "sever", "north". The territory near the Desna and the Seim has been preserved in Russian chronicles of the 16th–17th centuries. and Ukrainian sources of the 17th century. the name "North".
Archaeologists correlate the northerners with the carriers of the Volintsevo archaeological culture, who lived on the left bank of the Dnieper, along the Desna and the Seim in the 7th–9th centuries. The Volintsevo tribes were Slavic, but their territory was in contact with the lands inhabited by the bearers of the Saltov-Mayak archaeological culture.
The main occupation of the northerners was agriculture. In con. 8th c. they were under the rule of the Khazar Khaganate. In con. 9th c. the territories of the northerners became part of Kievan Rus. According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the Kyiv prince Oleg the Prophet freed them from tribute to the Khazars and laid a light tribute on them, saying: "I am an enemy to them [Khazars], but you have no need."
The centers of craft and trade of the northerners were the years. Novgorod-Seversky, Chernigov, Putivl, which later became the centers of the principalities. With the accession to the Russian state, these lands were still called "Seversk land" or "Seversk Ukraine". E. G.
SLOVENI ILMENSKY - a tribal union of the Eastern Slavs on the territory of Novgorod land, mainly in the lands near the lake. Ilmen, next to the Krivichi.
According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the Slovenes of Ilmen, together with the Krivichi, Chud and Merya, participated in the calling of the Varangians, who were related to the Slovenes - immigrants from the Baltic Pomerania. Slovenian soldiers were part of the squad of Prince Oleg, participated in the campaign of Vladimir I Svyatoslavich against the Polotsk prince Rogvold in 980.
A number of historians consider the Slovene Podneprovye to be the "ancestral home", others deduce the ancestors of the Ilmen Slovenes from the Baltic Pomerania, since the traditions, beliefs and customs, the type of dwellings of the Novgorodians and Polabian Slavs are very close. E. G.
TIVERTSY - an East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the 9th - early. 12th century on the river Dniester and at the mouth of the Danube. The name of the tribal union probably comes from the ancient Greek name of the Dniester - "Tiras", which, in turn, goes back to the Iranian word turas - fast.
In 885, Prince Oleg the Prophetic, who had conquered the tribes of the Polyans, Drevlyans, Severyans, tried to subjugate the Tivertsy to his power. Later, the Tivertsy participated in Oleg's campaign against Tsargrad (Constantinople) as "interpreters" - that is, translators, because they knew the languages and customs of the peoples who lived near the Black Sea well. In 944, the Tivertsy, as part of the troops of the Kyiv prince Igor, again besieged Constantinople, and in the middle. 10th c. became part of Kievan Rus. In the beginning. 12th c. under the blows of the Pechenegs and Polovtsy, the Tivertsy retreated to the north, where they mixed with other Slavic tribes. The remains of settlements and settlements, which, according to archaeologists, belonged to the Tivertsy, have been preserved in the interfluve of the Dniester and Prut. Burial mounds with cremations in urns were found; among the archaeological finds in the territories occupied by the Tivertsy, there are no female temporal rings. E. G.
STREETS - East Slavic union of tribes that existed in 9 - ser. 10th century
According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the streets lived in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, the Bug and on the Black Sea coast. The center of the tribal union was the city of Peresechen. According to the historian of the 18th century. V. N. Tatishchev, the ethnonym "street" comes from the old Russian word "corner". The modern historian B. A. Rybakov drew attention to the testimony of the Novgorod First Chronicle: “The streets used to sit in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, but then they moved to the Bug and the Dniester” - and concluded that Peresechen was on the Dnieper south of Kyiv. The city on the Dnieper under this name is mentioned in the Laurentian Chronicle under 1154 and in the "List of Russian cities" (14th century). In the 1960s archaeologists discovered street settlements in the area of the river. Tyasmin (a tributary of the Dnieper), which confirms the conclusion of Rybakov.
The tribes for a long time resisted the attempts of the Kyiv princes to subjugate them to their power. In 885, Oleg the Prophet fought with the streets, already collecting tribute from the glades, Drevlyans, northerners and Tivertsy. Unlike most East Slavic tribes, the streets did not participate in Prince Oleg's campaign against Constantinople in 907. At the turn of the 40s. 10th c. Kyiv governor Sveneld kept the city of Peresechen under siege for three years. All R. 10th c. under the onslaught of nomadic tribes, the streets retreated to the north and were included in Kievan Rus. E. G.
On the borderlands
A variety of tribes and peoples lived around the territories inhabited by the Eastern Slavs. Neighbors from the north were Finno-Ugric tribes: Cheremis, Chud (Izhora), Merya, All, Korela. The Balto-Slavic tribes lived in the north-west: Zemigola, Zhmud, Yatvingians and Prussians. In the west - Poles and Hungarians, in the southwest - Volokhi (ancestors of Romanians and Moldavians), in the east - Mari, Mordovians, Muroma, Volga-Kama Bulgars. Let's get acquainted with some of the unions of tribes known from antiquity.
BALTS - the common name of the tribes that inhabited in the 1st - early. 2nd thousand territory from the south-west of the Baltic to the Upper Dnieper.
The Prussians (Estians), Yotvingians, Galinds (shank) made up a group of western Balts. The Central Balts included Curonians, Semigallians, Latgalians, Samogitians, Aukshtaites. The Prussian tribe has been known to Western and Northern writers since the 6th century.
From the first centuries of our era, the Balts were engaged in arable farming and cattle breeding. From the 7th–8th centuries known fortified settlements. The dwellings of the Balts were ground rectangular houses, surrounded by stones at the base.
A number of Baltic tribes are mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years: Letgola (Latgalians), Zemigola (Semgallians), Kors (Curshians), Lithuanians. All of them, excluding the Latgalians, paid tribute to Rus'.
At the turn of 1-2 thousand, the Baltic tribes of the Upper Dnieper region were assimilated by the Eastern Slavs and became part of the Old Russian people. Another part of the Balts formed the Lithuanian (Aukstaits, Samogitians, Skalvs) and Latvian (Curshians, Latgalians, Semigallians, villages) nationalities. Yu. K.
VARYAGI - the Slavic name of the population of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea (in the 9th-10th centuries), as well as the Scandinavian Vikings who served the Kyiv princes (in the 1st half of the 11th century).
The Tale of Bygone Years states that the Varangians lived along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which in the annals is called the Varangian Sea, "to the land of Agnyanskaya and Voloshskaya." At that time, Danes were called Angles, and Italians were called Volohs. In the east, the boundaries of the settlement of the Varangians are indicated more vaguely - "up to the limit of Simov." According to some researchers, in this case it means
Volga-Kama Bulgaria (Varangians controlled the northwestern part of the Volga-Baltic route up to Volga Bulgaria).
The study of other written sources showed that on the southern coast near the Danes of the Baltic Sea lived "vagrs" ("varins", "vars") - a tribe that belonged to the Vandal group and by the 9th century. already glorified. In the East Slavic voicing, "Vagry" began to be called "Varangians".
In con. 8 - beginning. 9th century Franks began to advance on the lands of the Vagri-Varins. This prompted them to look for new places of settlement. In the 8th c. “Varangeville” (Varangian city) appeared in France, in 915 the city of Varingvik (Varangian Bay) arose in England, the name Varangerfjord (Varangian Bay) in the north of Scandinavia is still preserved.
The eastern coast of the Baltic became the main direction of the Vagri-Varin migrations. To the east, they moved along with separate groups of Russ who lived along the shores of the Baltic Sea (on the island of Rügen, in the Baltic states, etc.). Hence, in The Tale of Bygone Years, the double naming of the settlers arose - Varangians-Rus: "And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Rus', for that was the name of those Varangians - Rus." At the same time, the chronicler specifically stipulates that the Varangians-Rus are not Swedes, nor Norwegians, nor Danes.
In Eastern Europe, the Vikings appear in con. 9th c. The Varangians-Rus first came to the northwestern lands to the Ilmen Slovenes, and then descended to the Middle Dnieper. According to various sources and according to some scientists, at the head of the Varangians-Rus, who came to the Ilmen Slovenes from the shores of the South Baltic, was Prince Rurik. Names founded by him in the 9th century. cities (Ladoga, White Lake, Novgorod) say that the Varangians-Rus at that time spoke the Slavic language. The main god of the Varangian Rus was Perun. In the agreement between Rus' and the Greeks in 911, which was concluded by Oleg the Prophet, it says: “But Oleg and his husbands were forced to swear allegiance according to Russian law: they swore by their weapons and by Perun, their god.”
In con. 9th–10th centuries The Varangians played a significant role in the northwestern Slavic lands. The chronicle states that Novgorodians descended from the Varangian clan. Kyiv princes constantly resorted to the help of hired Varangian squads in the struggle for power. Under Yaroslav the Wise, who was married to the Swedish princess Ingigerd, the Swedes appeared in the Varangian squads. Therefore, from the beginning 11th c. in Rus', people from Scandinavia were also called Varangians. However, in Novgorod the Swedes were not called Varangians until the 13th century. After the death of Yaroslav, the Russian princes stopped recruiting hired squads from the Varangians. The very name of the Varangians was rethought and gradually spread to all immigrants from the Catholic West. Yu. K., S. P.
NORMANNY (from scand. Northman - northern man) - in European sources of the 8th-10th centuries. the general name of the peoples who lived north of the Frankish state.
Normans in Western Europe were also called the inhabitants of Kievan Rus, which, according to the ideas of the German chroniclers, was in the northeast. Writer and diplomat of the 10th century Bishop Liutprand of Cremona, speaking about the campaign of Prince Igor of Kyiv in 941 against Constantinople, wrote: “Closer to the north, a certain people lives, which the Greeks ... call dews, but we call them Normans according to their location. Indeed, in German, nord means north, and man means a person; therefore, northern people can be called Normans.
In the 9th-11th centuries. the term "Norman" began to denote only the Scandinavian Vikings who raided the maritime borders of European states. In this meaning, the name "urmane" is found in the "Tale of Bygone Years". Many modern historians identify the Varangians, Normans and Vikings. E. G.
PECHENEGI - a union of Turkic nomadic tribes, formed in the 8th-9th centuries. in the steppes between the Aral Sea and the Volga.
In con. 9th c. The Pecheneg tribes crossed the Volga, pushed back the Ugric tribes roaming between the Don and the Dnieper to the west, and occupied a vast area from the Volga to the Danube.
In the 10th century The Pechenegs were divided into 8 tribes (“tribes”), each of which consisted of 5 clans. At the head of the tribes were the "great princes", and the clans were headed by the "small princes". The Pechenegs were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding, and also made predatory raids on Rus',
Byzantium, Hungary. Byzantine emperors often used the Pechenegs to fight against Russia. In turn, during the strife, the Russian princes attracted detachments of the Pechenegs to fight with their rivals.
According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the Pechenegs first came to Rus' in 915. Having concluded a peace agreement with Prince Igor, they went to the Danube. In 968, the Pechenegs besieged Kyiv. The Kyiv prince Svyatoslav lived at that time in Pereyaslavets on the Danube, and Olga remained in Kyiv with her grandchildren. Only the cunning of the youth, who managed to call for help, allowed the siege to be lifted from Kyiv. In 972, Svyatoslav was killed in a battle with the Pecheneg Khan Kurei. The raids of the Pechenegs were repeatedly repulsed by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich. In 1036, the Pechenegs again besieged Kyiv, but were defeated by Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise and left Rus' forever.
In the 11th century the Pechenegs were pushed back to the Carpathians and the Danube by the Polovtsians and Torks. Part of the Pechenegs went to Hungary and Bulgaria and mixed with the local population. Other Pecheneg tribes submitted to the Polovtsy. The rest settled on the southern borders of Rus' and merged with the Slavs. E. G.
PO LOVETSY (self-name - Kypchaks, Cumans) - a medieval Turkic people.
In the 10th century Polovtsy lived on the territory of modern North-Western Kazakhstan, in the west they bordered on the Khazars, in the middle. 10th c. have crossed
Volga and moved to the steppes of the Black Sea and the Caucasus. Polovtsian nomad camps in the 11th–15th centuries occupied a vast territory - from the west of the Tien Shan to the mouth of the Danube, which was called Desht-i-Kipchak - "Polovtsian land".
In the 11th-13th centuries. the Polovtsy had separate unions of tribes headed by khans. The main occupation was cattle breeding. From the 12th century in the Polovtsian land there were cities that were inhabited, in addition to the Polovtsy, by the Bulgars, Alans and Slavs.
In Russian chronicles, the Polovtsians were first mentioned in 1054, when the Polovtsian Khan Bolush led the campaign against Rus'. Pereyaslavl Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich made peace with the Polovtsy, and they returned back, "where they came from." Constant Polovtsian raids on the Russian land began in 1061. During the strife, the Russian princes entered into alliances with them against their own brothers who ruled in neighboring principalities. In 1103, the earlier warring princes Svyatopolk and Vladimir Monomakh organized a joint campaign against the Polovtsians. On April 4, 1103, the combined Russian forces defeated the Polovtsy, and they left for the Transcaucasus with heavy losses.
From the 2nd floor. 12th c. Polovtsy raids devastated the Russian border lands. At the same time, many princes of South and North-Eastern Rus' were married to Polovtsy women. The struggle of the Russian princes with the Polovtsy is reflected in the monument of ancient Russian literature "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". E. G.
State formation
Gradually, the scattered tribes of the Eastern Slavs unite. The Old Russian state appears, which went down in history under the names "Rus", "Kievan Rus".
OLD RUSSIAN STATE - a common name in historical literature for a state that developed in the end. 9th c. as a result of the unification under the rule of the princes from the Rurik dynasty of the East Slavic lands with the main centers in Novgorod and Kyiv. In the 2nd quarter 12th c. disintegrated into separate principalities and lands. The term "Old Russian state" is used along with other terms - "Russian land", "Rus", "Kievan Rus". Vl. TO.
Rus', Russian land - the name of the association of the lands of the Eastern Slavs with the center in Kyiv, which arose in the end. 9th century; to con. 17th century the name extended to the territory of the entire Russian state, with the center in Moscow.
In the 9th-10th centuries. the name Rus is assigned to the territory of the future Old Russian state. At first, it covered the lands of the East Slavic tribe of Polyan-Rus from the years. Kyiv, Chernigov and Pereyaslavl. At 11 am. 12th century Rus began to be called the lands and principalities subordinate to the Kievan prince (Kievan Rus). In the 12th-14th centuries. Rus - the general name of the territory on which the Russian principalities were located, which arose as a result of the fragmentation of Kievan Rus. During this period, the names Great Rus', White Rus', Little Rus', Black Rus', Red Rus', etc. arose, as designations for various parts of the common Russian land.
In the 14th–17th centuries Rus' is the name of the lands included in the Russian state, the center of which is from the 2nd floor. 14th c. became Moscow. S. P.
Kievan Rus, Old Russian state - a state in Eastern Europe, which arose as a result of the unification of lands under the rule of princes from the Rurik dynasty (9th-2nd quarter of the 12th centuries).
The first news about the existence of the state among the Eastern Slavs are legendary. The Tale of Bygone Years reports that among the northern East Slavic tribes (Novgorod Slovenes and Krivichi), as well as the Finno-Ugric Chuds, Meri and Vesi, strife began. It ended with the fact that its participants decided to find themselves a prince who would "rule them and judge by right." At their request, three Varangian brothers came to Rus': Rurik, Truvor and Sineus (862). Rurik began to reign in Novgorod, Sineus - in Beloozero, and Truvor - in Izborsk.
Sometimes, from the chronicle message about the invitation of Rurik and his brothers, it is concluded that statehood was brought to Rus' from outside. It is enough, however, to pay attention to the fact that Rurik, Truvor and Sineus are invited to perform functions that are already well known to the inhabitants of the Novgorod land. So this story is only the first mention of public institutions that have already been operating (and apparently for a long time) on the territory of North-Western Rus'.
The prince was the leader of an armed detachment and served as the supreme ruler, and initially not only secular, but also spiritual. Most likely, the prince led the army and was the high priest.
The squad consisted of professional soldiers. Some of them passed to the prince from his father (the "senior", or "large" squad). The younger warriors grew up and were brought up together with the prince from the age of 13-14. They were apparently bound by friendly ties, which were reinforced by mutual personal obligations.
The personal loyalty of the combatants was not secured by temporary land holdings. Old Russian warriors are completely at the expense of the prince. The warriors lived separately, in the princely "yard" (in the princely residence). The prince was considered in the retinue environment the first among equals. The squad was obliged to support and protect their prince. She performed both police and "foreign policy" functions to protect the tribes that invited this prince from violence from their neighbors. In addition, with her support, the prince controlled the most important trade routes (collected taxes and protected merchants in the territory subject to him).
Another way of forming the first state institutions could be the direct conquest of a given territory. An example of such a path among the Eastern Slavs is the legend about the founders of Kyiv. It is generally accepted that Kyi, Shchek and Khoriv are representatives of the local Polyana nobility. The name of the eldest of them was allegedly associated with the beginning of the Russian land as a proto-state association of the Polyan tribe. Subsequently, Kyiv was occupied by the legendary Askold and Dir (according to The Tale of Bygone Years - Rurik's warriors). A little later, power in Kyiv passed to Oleg, the regent of Igor, the young son of Rurik. Oleg deceived Askold and Dir and killed them. To justify his claims to power, Oleg refers to the fact that Igor is the son of Rurik. If earlier the source of power was an invitation to rule or capture, now the origin of the new ruler becomes a decisive factor for recognizing power as legitimate.
The capture of Kyiv by the legendary Oleg (882) is usually associated with the beginning of the formation of the Old Russian state. From this event, the existence of a kind of "association" of the Novgorod, Smolensk and Kyiv lands begins, to which the lands of the Drevlyans, Severyans and Radimichi were later attached. The foundation was laid for an intertribal union of East Slavic, as well as a number of Finno-Ugric tribes that inhabited the forest and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe. This association is usually called the Old Russian state, as well as
Ancient, or Kievan Rus. An external indicator of the recognition of the power of the Kyiv prince was the regular payment of tribute to him. The collection of tribute took place annually during the so-called polyudya.
Like any state, Kievan Rus uses force to achieve submission to its bodies. The main power structure was the princely squad. However, the inhabitants of Ancient Rus' obey the prince not only and even not so much under the threat of the use of weapons, but voluntarily. Thus, the actions of the prince and the squad (in particular, the collection of tribute) by the subjects are recognized as legal. This, in fact, provides the prince with the opportunity to manage a huge state with a small squad. Otherwise, the free inhabitants of Ancient Rus', who most often were well armed, could well defend their right not to obey illegal (in their opinion) demands.
An example of this is the murder of the Kyiv prince Igor by the Drevlyans (945). Igor, going for a second tribute, obviously could not imagine that his right to receive tribute - even if it exceeded the usual amount - would be challenged by anyone. Therefore, the prince took with him only a "small" squad.
An event that is extremely important in the life of the young state is connected with the uprising of the Drevlyans: Olga, having cruelly avenged the death of her husband, is forced to establish lessons and churchyards (sizes and places of tribute collection). Thus, for the first time, one of the most important political functions of the state was realized: the right to legislate.
The first monument of written law that has come down to our time is Russkaya Pravda. Its appearance is associated with the name of Yaroslav the Wise (1016-1054), so the oldest part is sometimes called the Truth of Yaroslav. It is a collection of court decisions on specific issues, which subsequently became binding on similar cases.
A new phenomenon in political life was the division of the entire territory of the Old Russian state between the sons of the Kyiv prince. In 970, setting out on a military campaign in the Balkans, the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich "planted" his eldest son Yaropolk to reign in Kyiv, Vladimir - in Novgorod, and Oleg - in the land of the Drevlyans, neighboring Kyiv. Obviously, they were also given the right to collect tribute for the Kyiv prince, that is, from that time on, the prince ceases to go to the crowd. A certain prototype of the state apparatus in the localities is beginning to take shape. Control over it continues to remain in the hands of the Kyiv prince.
Finally, this type of government takes shape during the reign of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich (980-1015). Vladimir, leaving the throne of Kyiv behind him, planted his eldest sons in the largest Russian cities. All power in the localities passed into the hands of the Vladimirovichs. Their subordination to the Grand Duke-Father was expressed in the regular transfer to him of part of the tribute collected from the lands in which the Grand Duke's sons-deputies were sitting. At the same time, the hereditary right of power was preserved. At the same time, when determining the order of succession of power, the priority right of seniority is gradually being fixed.
This principle was also observed in the case of the redistribution of principalities among the sons of the Grand Duke of Kyiv after the death of one of the brothers. If the eldest of them died (usually sitting on the Novgorod “table”), his place was taken by the next oldest brother, and all the other brothers moved up the “ladder” of power one “step” up, moving to more and more prestigious reigns. Such a system of organizing the transfer of power is usually called the "ladder" system of the ascension of princes to thrones.
However, the "ladder" system operated only during the lifetime of the head of the princely family. After the death of his father, as a rule, an active struggle began between the brothers for the right to own Kyiv. Accordingly, the winner distributed all other reigns to his children.
So, after the throne of Kyiv passed to him, Yaroslav Vladimirovich managed to get rid of almost all his brothers who had any serious claims to power. Their places were taken by Yaroslavichi. Before his death, Yaroslav bequeathed Kyiv to his eldest son Izyaslav, who, moreover, remained the prince of Novgorod. Yaroslav divided the rest of the cities according to
seniority between sons. Izyaslav, as the eldest in the family, had to maintain the established order. Thus, the political priority of the Kyiv prince was formally fixed.
However, by the end. 11th c. the power of the Kyiv princes is significantly weakened. A significant role in the life of not only the city, but also the state as a whole begins to play the Kiev veche. They expelled or invited princes to the throne. In 1068, the people of Kiev overthrew Izyaslav, the Grand Duke of Kyiv (1054–1068, 1069–1073, 1077–1078), who lost the battle with the Polovtsy, and installed Vseslav Bryachislavich of Polotsk in his place. Six months later, after Vseslav's flight to Polotsk, the Kiev Veche asked Izyaslav to return to the throne.
Since 1072, a number of princely congresses took place, at which the Yaroslavichs tried to agree on the basic principles of the division of power and on interaction in the fight against common opponents. Since 1074, a fierce struggle for the throne of Kyiv unfolded between the brothers. At the same time, Polovtsian detachments were increasingly used in the political struggle.
The increased strife seriously worsened the internal and especially the foreign political situation of the Russian lands. In 1097, a princely congress was held in the city of Lyubech, at which the grandchildren of Yaroslav established a new principle of relations between the rulers of the Russian lands: "Everyone should keep his fatherland." Now the "homeland" (the land in which the father reigned) was inherited by the son. The "ladder" system of ascension of princes to thrones was replaced by dynastic rule.
Although neither Lyubech nor subsequent princely congresses (1100, 1101, 1103, 1110) could prevent civil strife, the significance of the first of them is extremely great. It was on it that the foundations for the existence of independent states on the territory of the former united Kievan Rus were laid. The final collapse of the Old Russian state is usually associated with the events that followed the death of the eldest of the sons of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, Mstislav (1132). A.K.
On the distant frontier
On the distant frontiers of Kievan Rus, there were other ancient states with which the Slavs developed certain relations. Among them, the Khazar Khaganate and the Volga Bulgaria should be singled out.
KHAZAR KAGANATE, Khazaria - a state that existed in the 7th-10th centuries. in the North Caucasus, between the Volga and Don.
It developed on the territory inhabited by the Turkic Caspian nomadic tribes, which in the 6th century. invaded the Eastern Ciscaucasia. Perhaps the name "Khazars" goes back to the Turkic basis "kaz" - to roam.
At first, the Khazars roamed in the Eastern Ciscaucasia, from the Caspian Sea to Derbent, and in the 7th century. entrenched on the Lower Volga and on part of the Crimean Peninsula, were dependent on the Turkic Khaganate, which by the 7th century. weakened. In the 1st quarter 7th c. an independent Khazar state was formed.
In the 660s. The Khazars, in alliance with the North Caucasian Alans, defeated Great Bulgaria and formed a Khaganate. Under the rule of the supreme ruler - the kagan - there were many tribes, and the title itself was equated to the imperial one. The Khazar Khaganate was an influential force in Eastern Europe, and therefore a lot of written evidence has been preserved about it in Arabic, Persian and Byzantine literature. The Khazars are also mentioned in Russian chronicles. Important information about the history of the Khazar Khaganate is contained in the 10th c. a letter from the Khazar king Joseph to the head of the Spanish Jewish community, Hasdai ibn Shafrut.
The Khazars made constant raids on the lands of the Arab Caliphate in Transcaucasia. Already since the 20s. 7th c. Periodic invasions of the Khazars and their allied tribes of the Caucasian Alans began in the Derbent region. In 737, the Arab commander Mervan ibn Mohammed took the capital of Khazaria, Semender, and the kagan, saving his life, swore an oath to convert to Islam, but did not keep his word. As the Khazar legend says, after Jewish merchants arrived in Khazaria from Khorezm and Byzantium, a certain Khazar prince Bulan converted to Judaism.
His example was followed by part of the Khazars who lived on the territory of modern Dagestan.
The Khazar Khaganate was inhabited by nomadic tribes. The territory of Khazaria itself is the Western Caspian steppes between the rivers. Sulak in Northern Dagestan and the Lower Volga. Here, archaeologists found burial mounds of the Khazar warriors. Academician B. A. Rybakov suggested that the Khazar Khaganate was a small state in the lower reaches of the Volga, and gained its fame due to its very advantageous position on the Volga-Baltic trade route. His point of view is based on the testimonies of Arab travelers who reported that the Khazars themselves did not produce anything and lived off goods brought from neighboring countries.
Most scholars believe that the Khazar Khaganate was a huge state that ruled over half of Eastern Europe for more than two centuries, including many Slavic tribes, and associate it with the area of the Saltov-Mayak archaeological culture. The Khazar king Joseph called the Sarkel fortress on the Lower Don the western border of his state. In addition to it, the Khazar years are known. Balanjar and Semender, which were located on the river. Terek and Sulak, and Atil (Itil) at the mouth of the Volga, but these cities have not been found by archaeologists.
The main occupation of the population of Khazaria is cattle breeding. The system of social organization was called "eternal ale", its center was the horde - the headquarters of the kagan, who "held the ale", that is, headed the union of tribes and clans. The upper class was made up of the Tarkhans - the tribal aristocracy, the noblest among them were considered to be people from the clan of the kagan. The hired guards guarding the rulers of Khazaria consisted of 30 thousand Muslims and "Rus".
Initially, the state was ruled by a kagan, but gradually the situation changed. The “deputy” of the kagan, the shad, who commanded the army and was in charge of collecting taxes, became a co-ruler with the title of kagan-bek. To the beginning 9th c. the power of the kagan became nominal, and he himself was considered a sacred person. He was appointed kagan-bek from representatives of a noble family. A candidate for kagan was strangled with a silk rope, and when he began to choke, they asked how long he wanted to rule. If the kagan died before the time he named, it was considered normal, otherwise he was killed. The kagan had the right to see only the kagan-bek. If there was a famine or an epidemic in the country, the kagan was killed, as it was believed that he had lost his magical power.
The 9th century was the heyday of Khazaria. In con. 8 - beginning. 9th century a descendant of Prince Bulan Obadiy, having become the head of the kaganate, carried out a religious reform and declared Judaism the state religion. Despite opposition, Obadiah managed to unite part of the Khazar nobility around him. So Khazaria became the only state of the Middle Ages, where, at least, its head and the highest nobility professed Judaism. The Khazars, with the help of the allied nomadic tribes of the Hungarians, were able to briefly subjugate the Volga Bulgars, Burtases, impose tribute on the Slavic tribes of the Polyans, Severians, Vyatichi and Radimichi.
But the domination of the Khazars was short-lived. Soon the clearing was freed from dependence; Oleg the Prophet saved the northerners and Radimichi from paying tribute to the Khazars. In con. 9th c. the Pechenegs broke into the Northern Black Sea region, weakening Khazaria with constant raids. The Khazar Khaganate was finally defeated in 964–965. Kyiv prince Svyatoslav. To con. 10th c. Khazaria fell into decay. The remnants of the Khazar tribes settled in the Crimea, where they subsequently mixed with the local population. E. G.
ITIL - the capital of the Khazar Khaganate in the 8th-10th centuries.
The city was located on both banks of the river. Itil (Volga; higher than modern Astrakhan) and on a small island where the kagan's palace was located. Itil was a major center of caravan trade. The population of the city was Khazars, Khorezmians, Turks, Slavs, Jews. Merchants and artisans lived in the eastern part of the city, government offices were located in the western part. According to Arab travelers, there were many mosques, schools, baths, and markets in Itil. Housing buildings were wooden tents, felt yurts and dugouts.
In 985 Itil was destroyed by the prince of Kyiv Svyatoslav Igorevich. E.K.
BULGARIA VOLGA-KAMA, Bulgaria Volga - a state that existed in the Middle Volga and Kama region.
Volga Bulgaria was inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes and Bulgars, who came here after the defeat of Great Bulgaria. In the 9th-10th centuries. the inhabitants of the Volga Bulgaria switched from nomadism to settled agriculture.
Some time in the 9th-10th centuries. Volga Bulgaria was under the rule of the Khazar Khaganate. In the beginning. 10th c. Khan Almas began the unification of the Bulgar tribes. In the 10th century the Bulgars converted to Islam and formally recognized the Arab caliph as the supreme ruler - the head of the Muslims. In 965, the Volga Bulgaria gained independence from the Khazar Khaganate.
The location of Bulgaria on the Volga-Baltic trade route, which connected Eastern and Northern Europe with the East, ensured the flow of goods into the country from the countries of the Arab East, the Caucasus, India and China, Byzantium, Western Europe, Kievan Rus.
In the 10th-11th centuries. the capital of the Volga Bulgaria was the city of Bulgar, located 5 km from the left bank of the Volga, below the mouth of the river. Kama. Bulgar quickly turned into a major center of crafts and transit trade. This is where they minted their coins.
The city has been around since the 10th century. was well fortified, and from the west it adjoined the settlement. To the west of Bulgar there was an Armenian settlement with a Christian church and a cemetery. Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of Bulgar - the Bolgar settlement, where stone buildings of the 14th century, mausoleums, a cathedral mosque, public baths have been preserved.
In the 10th-12th centuries. Russian princes made more than once campaigns against the Volga Bulgars. He was the first to try to impose tribute on the Volga Bulgaria
Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, but in 985 was forced to conclude a peace treaty. “The Tale of Bygone Years” tells the following legend: “Vladimir went to the Bulgarians with his uncle Dobrynya ... And the Bulgarians defeated. And Dobrynya said to Vladimir: “I examined the convicts - they were all in boots. These tributes will not be given to us, we will look for ourselves bastards.
Then the Volga-Kama Bulgaria was threatened by the Vladimir principality. In the 12th century the Bulgars moved the capital inland.
Bilyar, a city on the left bank of the river, became the new capital of the state. Cheremshan. It arose in the 10th century, and was first mentioned in written sources in 1164. Crafts developed significantly: iron smelting, bone carving, leather, blacksmithing, and pottery. Items were found taken from the cities of Kievan Rus, Syria, Byzantium, Iran, and China.
In the 13th century The Volga-Kama Bulgaria was conquered by the Mongol-Tatars and became part of the Golden Horde. In 1236, Bulgar and Bilyar were ravaged and burned by the Mongol-Tatars, but soon rebuilt again. Until con. 13th c. Bulgar was the capital of the Golden Horde, 14th century. - the time of its heyday: active construction was carried out in the city, coins were minted, crafts developed. The power of Bulgar was struck by the campaigns of the Golden Horde ruler Bulak-Timur in 1361. In 1431, Bulgar was captured by Russian troops under the command of Prince Fyodor Motley and finally fell into decay. In 1438, the Kazan Khanate was formed on the territory of the Volga Bulgaria. E. G.
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The following excerpt from the book Ancient Rus'. 4th–12th centuries (Authors team, 2010) provided by our book partner -
In fact, three stages can be distinguished in the history of the Old Russian state of Kievan Rus.
At the first stage (the first half of the 9th century - 980) the first Russian statehood was formed and defined in its main features. [Rurik, Oleg (882 – 912), Igor (912 – 945), Olga, Svyatoslav (964 – 972)]
Its economic base of the state was determined - foreign trade based on natural exchange. The first princes by means of military campaigns forced out competitors and provided Rus' with the status of one of the leaders in world trade and politics.
Slavic lands and foreign tribes were united under the rule of Kyiv. The structure of the ancient Russian state was formed- from the dominance of the Polyana tribal center at the beginning of the stage to federations city parishes or vicegerent principalities by the end of the specified period.
The system of contractual relations between self-governing tenants-zemstvos and hired managers was determined
Second stage (980 - 1054) includes the reigns of Vladimir I (980 - 1015) and Yaroslav the Wise (1019 - 1054) and is characterized as the heyday of Kievan Rus.
The construction of the nation and state was completed and ideologically shaped by the adoption of Christianity (the date of Baptism, in the presence of discrepancies, is considered to be 988 G.).
The institutions of state administration created at the first stage worked with maximum efficiency, an administrative and legal system was formed, reflected in the acts of princely lawmaking - Pravda, church and princely charters.
On the southern and eastern borders, Rus' effectively opposed the nomads.
Kyiv's international prestige reached its apogee. European courts sought to conclude dynastic marriage ties with the house of the Kyiv prince. (Vladimir married a Byzantine princess, Yaroslav was married to the daughter of the Swedish king. His sons became related to the kings of France, England, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the emperor of Byzantium. The daughters of Yaroslav the Wise became queens of France, Hungary, Norway, Denmark.)
This period is characterized by the active development of literacy and education, architecture, art, the flourishing and decoration of cities. Under Yaroslav, systematic chronicling began.
Third stage (1054 - 1132) - this is a harbinger of the decline and collapse of the Kyiv statehood.
Troubles alternated with periods of political stabilization. The Yaroslavichi peacefully co-ruled in the Russian lands from 1054 to 1072. From 1078 to 1093, all of Rus' was in the hands of the house of Vsevolod, the third son of Yaroslav. Vladimir Vselodovich Monomakh reigned supreme in Kyiv from 1113 to 1125, all Russian princes obeyed him. Autocracy and stability were maintained under Monomakh's son Mstislav until 1132.
The reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kyiv -"swan song" of the Kyiv state. He managed to restore it in all its splendor and strength. Monomakh successfully coped with rebellious lands (Vyatichi in the 80s) and princes who violated oaths and treaties. He showed himself to be a true patriot, an outstanding commander and a brave warrior in the fight against the Polovtsy, secured the northwestern borders from the raids of the Lithuanians and Chuds. He voluntarily refused to fight for the Kyiv table in order to avoid strife. In 1113, he was forced to respond to the call of the people of Kiev in order to prevent bloodshed.
Monomakh earned respect as a wise and just ruler, who legally limited the excesses of usurers, debt slavery, and eased the situation of dependent categories of the population. Much attention was paid to construction, development of education and culture. Finally, as a legacy to his sons, Monomakh left a kind of philosophical and political testament "Instruction", in which he insisted on the need to follow Christian laws for the salvation of the soul and reflected on the Christian duties of princes. Mstislav was a worthy son of his father, but after his death the country began to disintegrate into destinies. Rus' entered a new period of its development - the era of political fragmentation.
Its history can be conditionally divided into three periods:
the first - the period of the formation of Ancient Rus' under the first Rurik princes (the second half of the 9th - the last third of the 10th centuries);
the second - the heyday of Kievan Rus under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise (end of the 10th - first half of the 11th centuries);
the third - the period of the beginning of the territorial and political fragmentation of the Old Russian state and its collapse (the second half of the 11th - the first third of the 12th centuries).
- First period history of ancient Rus' begins since 862 when in Novgorod or, perhaps, first in Staraya Ladoga he began to reign Rurik (862 - 879). As already noted, this year is traditionally considered the legendary beginning of Russian statehood.
Unfortunately, information about the details of the reign of Rurik has not reached us. Since Rurik's son Igor was a minor, he became a guardian with him and the Novgorod prince Oleg (879 - 912). According to some reports, it was a relative of Rurik, according to others - the leader of one of the Varangian detachments.
In 882, Oleg undertook a campaign against Kyiv and killed Askold and Dir, who reigned there, who were the last representatives of the genus of the legendary Kiya. True, some scientists consider them to be Rurik's warriors who occupied the throne of Kyiv. Oleg made Kyiv the capital of the united state, calling it "the mother of Russian cities." That is why the Old Russian state also went down in history under the name of Kievan Rus.
In 911, Oleg made a victorious campaign against Constantinople(so the Russians called Constantinople - the capital of Byzantium). He concluded a very favorable agreement for Rus' with the Byzantine emperor and returned to Kyiv with rich booty. Under the agreement, Russian merchants, or guests, as they were then called, could buy goods in Constantinople without paying duties for them, live in the capital for a month at the expense of the Greeks, and so on. Oleg included the Krivichi, Northerners, Radimichi and Drevlyans into his state, who began to pay tribute to the Kyiv prince.
For luck, wisdom and cunning, Oleg was nicknamed the Prophetic people, that is, who knows in advance what to do in a given situation.
After the death of Oleg, the prince of Kyiv became the son of Rurik Igor (912 - 945). Under him, the Russian squads twice made a trip to Byzantium and concluded a new agreement with the Byzantine emperor, which stipulated the order of trade between the two states. It also included articles on a military alliance.
Igor fought with the Pechenegs who attacked the Russian lands. Under him, the territory of the state expanded by including the lands of the streets and Tivertsy in its composition. Subject lands paid tribute to the Kyiv prince, which he annually collected, going around them with his retinue. In 945, trying to re-take tribute from the Drevlyans, Igor was killed by them.
Igor's successor was his wife, Princess Olga (945 - 964). She cruelly took revenge on the Drevlyans for the death of her husband, killing many of the rebellious ones, and burned their capital, the city of Iskorosten (now Korosten). The Drevlyans were finally included in the composition of the Old Russian state.
Under Olga, tribute collection was streamlined. Special places for collecting tribute were established - graveyards, the amount of tribute - lessons, the timing of its collection was determined.
During this period, the international relations of Ancient Rus' expanded significantly. There was an exchange of embassies with the German emperor Otto I, relations with Byzantium were strengthened. Making a visit to Constantinople, Olga promised support to the Byzantine emperor in his policy towards neighbors, and also adopted Christianity there. Later, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Olga as a saint.
The next Kyiv prince was the son of Igor and Olga - Svyatoslav (964 - 972). He was a talented commander who glorified the Russian land with his military campaigns. It is Svyatoslav who owns the famous words that he uttered in front of his squad in one of the difficult battles: "Let's lie down here with bones: the dead have no shame!"
He began the subordination of Ancient Rus' to the Vyatichi, who until the last fought for their independence and remained the only Slavic tribe in the east that was not subject to the Kyiv prince. Svyatoslav defeated the Khazars, repelled the onslaught of the Pechenegs, defeated the Volga Bulgaria, successfully fought on the Azov coast, capturing Tmutarakan (modern Taman) on the Taman Peninsula.
Svyatoslav began a war with Byzantium for the Balkan Peninsula, which at first developed successfully, and he even thought of moving the capital of his state from Kyiv to the banks of the Danube, to the city of Pereyaslavets. But these plans failed to materialize. After stubborn battles with a large Byzantine army, Svyatoslav was forced to conclude a non-aggression pact with Byzantium and return the occupied lands.
Returning to Kyiv with the remnants of his squads, Svyatoslav at the Dnieper rapids was ambushed by the Pechenegs and was killed. The Pecheneg prince cut off his head and made a bowl out of the skull, believing that all the strength of the great warrior would pass to the drinker from it. These events took place in 972. Thus ended the first period of the history of Ancient Rus'.
After the death of Svyatoslav, turmoil began, the strugglefor power among his sons. It stopped after the Kyiv throne was taken by his third son, Prince Vladimir. He went down in history as Vladimir I, an outstanding statesman and commander (980 - 1015). And in Russian epics - this is Vladimir the Red Sun.
Under him, as part of Ancient Rus', all the lands of the Eastern Slavs finally united, some of which, primarily the Vyatichi, during the period of unrest tried to again become beyond the control of the Kyiv prince.
Vladimir managed to solve the main task of the foreign policy of the Russian state of that time - to organize an effective defense against the raids of the Pechenegs. To do this, several defensive lines were built on the border with the steppe with a well-thought-out system of fortresses, ramparts, signal towers. This made it impossible for the sudden attack of the Pechenegs and saved the Russian villages and cities from their raids. It was in those fortresses that the epic heroes Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikitich served. In battles with Russian squads, the Pechenegs suffered heavy defeats.
Vladimir made several successful military campaigns in the Polish lands, Volga Bulgaria and others.
The Kyiv prince reformed the system of government and replaced the local princes, who continued to rule the tribes that became part of Ancient Rus', with their sons and "husbands", that is, the heads of squads.
Under him, the first Russian coins appeared: golden coins and silver coins. Vladimir himself was depicted on the coins, as well as Jesus Christ.
The appearance of Jesus Christ on the coins was not accidental. In 988, Vladimir I adopted Christianity and made it the state religion.
Christianity has long penetrated Rus'. Even under Prince Igor, part of the combatants were Christians, in Kyiv there was the Cathedral of St. Elijah, Vladimir's grandmother, Princess Olga, was baptized.
The baptism of Vladimir took place in the Crimea after the victory over the Byzantine troops during the siege of the city of Korsun (Chersonese). Vladimir demanded the Byzantine princess Anna as his wife and announced his intention to be baptized. This was gladly accepted by the Byzantine side. A Byzantine princess was sent to the Kyiv prince, as well as priests who baptized Vladimir, his sons and the squad.
Returning to Kyiv, Vladimir, under pain of punishment, forced the people of Kiev and the rest of the people to be baptized. The baptism of Rus', as a rule, took place peacefully, although it met with some resistance. Only in Novgorod did the inhabitants revolt and were pacified by force of arms. After that, they were christened, driven into the Volkhov River.
The adoption of Christianity was of great importance for the further development of Rus'.
Firstly, it strengthened the territorial unity and state power of Ancient Rus'.
Secondly, having rejected paganism, Rus' now stood on a par with other Christian countries. There was a significant expansion of its international relations and contacts.
Thirdly, it had a huge impact on the further development of Russian culture.
For his merits in the baptism of Rus', Prince Vladimir was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as a saint and named Equal-to-the-Apostles.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church was the Metropolitan, who until the middle of the 15th century was appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
After the death of Vladimir I, turmoil began again, in which twelve of his sons fought for the throne of Kyiv. The turmoil lasted for four years.
During this princely civil strife, on the orders of one of the brothers, Svyatopolk, three other brothers were killed: Boris Rostovsky, Gleb Murom and Svyatoslav Drevlyansky. For these crimes, Svyatopolk received the nickname Cursed among the people. And Boris and Gleb began to be revered as holy martyrs.
Civil strife ended after the beginning of the reign in Kyiv Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich, who received from his contemporaries the nickname the Wise (1019 - 1054). The years of his reign in history are considered the period of the highest flowering of Ancient Rus'.
Under Yaroslav, the raids of the Pechenegs stopped, which were given a tough rebuff. In the north, in the Baltic lands, Yuryev (now the city of Tartu in Estonia) was founded, on the Volga - the city of Yaroslavl. The Kyiv prince managed to unite under his command all of Ancient Rus', that is, he finally became the sovereign prince of the Old Russian state.
Rus' has received wide international recognition. Yaroslav was related to many of the European ruling dynasties. His daughters were married to the Hungarian, Norwegian, French kings. Yaroslav's sister married the Polish king, and her granddaughter married the German emperor. Yaroslav himself married a Swedish princess, and his son Vsevolod married a Byzantine princess, daughter of Emperor Constantine Monomakh. The grandson of Yaroslav Vladimir, who was born from this marriage, received the nickname Monomakh. It was he who later continued the glorious deeds of his grandfather.
Yaroslav went down in history as a Russian legislator. It was under him that the first code of laws "Russian Truth" appeared, in which life in Ancient Rus' was regulated. The law, in particular, permitted blood feuds. A murder could be avenged legally: a son for a father and a father for a son, a brother for a brother and a nephew for an uncle.
Under Yaroslav, there was a rapid development of Russian culture: temples were built, work was carried out to teach literacy, translation from Greek and correspondence of books into Russian, and a book depository was created. In 1051, shortly before the death of Yaroslav, the Kyiv Metropolitan for the first time became not a Byzantine, but a Russian clergyman, Hilarion. He wrote that the Russian state at that time was "known and heard in all corners of the earth." With the death of Yaroslav in 1054, the second period of the history of Ancient Rus' ended.
- Social and state system of Kievan Rus
Geographically, Rus' in the XI century was located from the Baltic (Varangian) and White Seas, Lake Ladoga in the north to the Black (Russian) Sea in the south, from the eastern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the upper reaches of the Volga and Oka in the east. About 5 million people lived in vast territories. The family made up the yard, "smoke", "ten". Families constituted territorial-neighboring (no longer consanguineous) communities (“verv”, “hundred”). Communities gravitated towards graveyards - trade and administrative centers, on the site of which cities grew up (“regiment”, “thousand”). In place of the former tribal unions, principalities ("lands") were formed.
The political system of the Old Russian state combined the institutions of the new feudal formation and the old, primitive communal one. At the head of the state was a hereditary prince, called the Grand Duke. He ruled with the help of a council of other princes and combatants. The rulers of other principalities were subordinate to the Kyiv prince. The prince had a significant military force, which included the fleet.
The supreme power belonged to the Grand Duke, the eldest among the Ruriks. The prince was a legislator, a military leader, a supreme judge, an addressee of tribute. The prince was surrounded by a squad. The warriors lived in the princely court, participated in campaigns, shared tribute and military booty, and feasted with the prince. The prince consulted with the squad on all matters. The Boyar Duma, which was originally composed of senior warriors, participated in the management. In all lands, the people's assembly played an important role. Management was carried out by princes, posadniks from the boyars, governors, elected thousands in cities, etc.
The armed forces included a professional princely squad and a militia. Initially, the permanent detachments (“courts of princes”) included yard servants, both free and dependent (“serfs”). Later, the service to the prince began to be based on his contract with his servant (boyar) and became permanent. The very word "boyar" takes its origin from the word "bolyar" or "fighter". If necessary, in case of military danger, a people's militia was assembled, headed by a thousand, by decision of the veche meeting. The militia was made up of free people - peasants and townspeople. The militia was built according to the "decimal principle". Warriors united in tens, tens - in hundreds, hundreds - in thousands. Most of the commanders - tenth, sotsky, thousandth - were chosen by the soldiers themselves. The warriors knew each other well. A hundred were usually men from the same volost, usually connected by some degree of kinship. Over time, the decimal system is replaced by a territorial, (district) principle. "Thousand" is replaced by a territorial unit - the army. Detachments began to be called "regiments". "Dozens" were transformed into a new territorial unit - "spear".
In 988, under Vladimir I, Christianity in the Byzantine version was adopted as the state religion instead of paganism. The Russian Orthodox Church initially supported the state and depended on it, since according to the Charter of Vladimir, who was proclaimed a saint, it received 10% of all income in the state for its functioning. The Grand Dukes actually appointed the highest clergy and encouraged the development of monasteries. The principle of the predominance of secular power over the spiritual is usually called Caesaropapism.
The majority of landowners, the boyars, who had extensive farms in the countryside, lived in Russian cities. They were interested in collecting and sharing the tribute collected in the surrounding territories. Thus, the state apparatus was born in the cities, the upper strata of society were consolidated, inter-territorial ties were strengthened, that is, the process of state formation developed.
The basis of the social organization of Ancient Rus' was the community. In modern Russian historical science, the prevailing opinion is that in the Old Russian state the absolute majority of the population was made up of free communal peasants who united in a rope (from the rope with which land plots were measured; the rope was also called “hundred”, later - “lip”). They were respectfully called "people", "men". They plowed, sowed, chopped and burned the forest for new arable land (“slash and fire system”). They could fill up a bear, an elk, a wild boar, catch fish, collect honey from forest boards. The “husband” of Ancient Rus' participated in the gathering of the community, chose the headman, participated in the trial as part of a kind of “jury” - “twelve best husbands” (called “exodus”). The ancient Russian, together with his neighbors, pursued a horse thief, an arsonist, a murderer, participated in an armed militia in the event of major military campaigns, and, together with others, fought off a raid by nomads. A free person had to control his feelings, be responsible for himself, relatives and dependent people. For premeditated murder in accordance with the "Russian Truth", a code of laws of the first half of the XI century. property was confiscated, and the family was completely converted into slavery (this procedure was called "flood and plunder"). For a tuft of hair torn from a beard or mustache, an offended free person “for moral damage” was entitled to compensation of 12 hryvnias (hryvnia is a silver bar weighing about 200 grams; currently hryvnia is the main monetary unit in Ukraine). Thus the personal dignity of a free man was valued. Murder was punishable by a fine of 40 hryvnia.
The "husband" of Ancient Rus' was an indisputable conscript, a participant in military campaigns. By decision of the people's council, all combat-ready men marched on the campaign. Weapons (swords, shields, spears) were obtained, as a rule, from the prince's arsenal. Each man knew how to handle an ax, a knife, a bow. So, the army of Svyatoslav (965-972), including along with the squad and the people's militia, totaled up to 50-60 thousand people.
The communal population was the absolute majority in Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, Chernigov, Vladimir, Polotsk, Galicia, Kyiv and other lands. A peculiar community was also the population of cities, among which Novgorod with its veche system is of the greatest interest.
At the same time, various life circumstances created categories of people of a different legal status. Ryadovichi were those who fell into temporary dependence on the owner on the basis of an agreement (“row”) concluded with him. Those who lost their property and received from the owner a small plot of land and tools became purchases. Zakup worked for a loan (kupa), grazed the owner's cattle, could not leave him, could be subjected to corporal punishment, but could not be sold into slavery, retaining a chance to redeem himself to freedom. As a result of captivity, self-sale, sale for debts or for crimes, through marriage or marriage to a serf or serf, Russian people could become serfs. The right of the master in relation to the serf was not limited in any way. His murder "cost" only 5 hryvnia. Slaves were, on the one hand, the servants of the feudal lord, who were part of his personal servants and squads, even the princely or boyar administration. On the other hand, serfs (slaves of Russian society), in contrast to ancient slaves, could be planted on the ground (“suffering people”, “sufferers”), worked as artisans. The lumpen-proletarians of Ancient Rus', by analogy with Ancient Rome, can be called outcasts. These were people who had lost their former social status: peasants expelled from the community; freed serfs who ransomed their freedom (as a rule, after the death of the owner); bankrupt merchants and even princes "without a place", that is, who did not receive the territory in which they performed managerial functions. When considering court cases, the social status of a person played an important role, the principle was in effect - "it's fun to judge according to your husband, depending." Landowners, princes and boyars acted as owners of dependent people.
3. Feudalism in Western Europe and the socio-economic structure of Ancient Rus': similarities and differences.
The emergence and development of feudal landownership and the enslavement of the peasantry associated with it took place in different ways. In Western Europe, for example, in France, for military service to the king, land was first granted for life, and then in hereditary ownership. Over time, the peasants were attached both to the personality of the feudal landowner and to the land. The peasant had to work on his farm and on the farm of the lord (senior, master). The serf gave the owner a significant part of the products of his labor (bread, meat, poultry, fabrics, leather, shoes), and also performed many other duties. All of them were called feudal rent and were considered the peasant's payment for the use of land, thanks to which his family was fed. This is how the main economic unit of the feudal mode of production arose, which in England was called a manor, in France and many other countries - a seigneury, and in Russia - a fiefdom.
In Byzantium, such a rigid system of feudal relations did not develop. In Byzantium, feudal lords were forbidden to keep squads, build prisons on estates, and they lived, as a rule, in cities, and not in fortified castles. On charges of conspiracy, treason, any feudal owner could lose his property and life itself. In all feudal societies, land was the main value. To cultivate the land, the feudal landowners used various systems of exploitation of peasant labor, without which the land remained dead.
In the Russian lands, the formation of socio-economic relations inherent in feudal society had its own characteristics. Pressure from the prince, his administration had certain limits. There were many free lands in the country. For centuries, it was possible to leave the former place and settle 50-100 miles to the north or east. In a new place, in a few days it was possible to put up a house, in a few months to clear a plot for arable land. Such an opportunity warmed the soul of the Russian people for many decades. The colonization of free territories, their economic development took place almost continuously. They fled from the raids of nomads in the nearest forest. The process of feudalization, restriction of freedom of rural and urban workers was slow.
In the IX - X centuries. at the initial stage of the development of feudal relations, direct producers were subordinate to state power. The main form of dependence of the peasants was state taxes: land tax - tribute (polyudye), court taxes ( viry, sales).
At the second stage, individual, large landed property is formed, which in Western Europe is called seigneurial. Feudal ownership of land arose, legally formalized in different ways in different Russian lands, at different speeds as a result of increasing property inequality and in connection with the transfer of a significant part of the arable land of the community members into the private property of large owners - feudal lords, princes and boyars. Agricultural communities gradually came under the patronage of the prince and his squad. A system of exploitation of the personally free population by the military service nobility (team) of the Kyiv princes was formed by collecting tribute. Another way to subjugate the neighboring community to the feudal lords was to capture them by warriors and princes. But most often, tribal nobility turned into large owners, subjugating the community members. Communities that did not fall under the rule of the feudal lords were obliged to pay taxes to the state, which in relation to these communities acted both as the supreme authority and as a feudal lord.
In the tenth century arises, and in the following century, the dominal land tenure of the Kyiv princes is strengthened. The main form of organization of economic life is feudal fiefdom, i.e., the father's estate, betrayed from father to son. In the XI century. landed property appears among representatives of the top of the service nobility - the boyars. The princes and their noble combatants begin to seize various, mostly communal lands. There is a process of feudalization of Russian society, since the possession of land gives significant economic advantages and becomes an important political factor.
The princes of individual lands and other large, medium, small feudal lords were in vassal dependence on the Grand Duke. They were obliged to supply soldiers to the Grand Duke, to appear at his request with a squad. At the same time, these vassals themselves exercised control over their estates, and the grand princely governors had no right to interfere in their internal affairs.
Each fiefdom was something like a small independent state with its own independent economy. The feudal patrimony was stable because it led a subsistence economy. If necessary, the peasants were attracted to the "corvée", that is, to general work in favor of the owner.
In the XII - the first half of the XIII century. patrimonial land ownership continues to grow. In economic life, boyar and princely patrimonies, as well as ecclesiastical, feudal land holdings in their essence, come to the fore. If in written sources of the XI century. there is little information about the boyar and monastic estates, then in the 12th century, references to large landholdings become regular. The state-feudal form of ownership continued to play a leading role. Most of the direct producers continued to be personally free people. They depended only on state power, paying tribute and other state taxes.
4. Neighbors of Ancient Rus' in the IX-XII centuries: Byzantium, Slavic countries, Western Europe, Khazaria, Volga Bulgaria.
At the stage of the formation of the Old Russian state (862-980), the Rurikovichs solved the following tasks:
1. They expanded their sphere of influence, subjugated all the new East Slavic and non-Slavic tribes. Rurik joined the Finnish tribes to the Slavs - all, I measure, Meshchera. In 882, Oleg moved the center of Ancient Rus' to Kyiv, "the mother of Russian cities." He included the lands of the Krivichi, Drevlyans, Severyans, Radimichi, Dulebs, Tivertsy and Croats into the composition of Ancient Rus' and essentially completed the unification of all East Slavic tribes within a single state. Ancient Rus' included most of the East European Plain.
2. The first Rurikovichs entered into relations with neighboring established and emerging states, fought wars, achieved international recognition through the signing of international agreements.
Oleg, at the head of a significant army, besieged Constantinople (Tsargrad), the capital of Byzantium, and concluded with it in 911 the first international treaty of equal rights for Rus'. Igor, the son of Rurik and Oleg's pupil, began to fight Pechenegs, which were completely defeated by his great-grandson Yaroslav the Wise. Igor made unsuccessful campaigns against Byzantium in 941 and 944, concluded an agreement in 944. He kept in subjection the tribes conquered by Rurik and Oleg. He was killed in the Drevlyansk land for arbitrariness in the collection tribute (polyudye).
The outstanding commander Svyatoslav freed the Vyatichi from the Khazars, subjugated them to Rus', and defeated the Khazar Khaganate in 965. Svyatoslav founded Tmutarakan near the Kerch Strait and Preslavets near the mouth of the Danube. He waged a difficult war against Byzantium (the Battle of Dorostol), sought to advance as far as possible in the south-western direction to areas with a more favorable climate. Signed a truce with Byzantium and was killed by the Pechenegs while returning home.
3. The first Russian rulers established trade, economic, cultural, family and dynastic relations with neighboring states and rulers. Rus' did not have its own deposits of gold and silver. Therefore, at first Byzantine denarii and Arab dirhems were used, and then their gold coins and silver coins began to be minted.
During the heyday (980-1132), the content and priorities of foreign policy began to change in accordance with the growth of the economic and military power of the Russian state.
The Ruriks established trade, economic, cultural, family and dynastic relations with neighboring states and rulers. During its heyday (980-1132), the ancient Russian state occupied a prominent place on the political map of Europe. Political influence grew as economic and military power strengthened, due to entry into the circle of Christian states. The borders of the Russian state, the nature of relations, the order of trade and other contacts were determined by a system of international treaties. The first such document was signed with Byzantium by Prince Oleg in 911 after a very successful military campaign. Rus' for the first time acted as an equal subject of international relations. The Baptism of Rus' in 988 also took place under circumstances in which Vladimir I took an active position. In exchange for helping the Byzantine emperor Basil II in the fight against internal opposition, he actually forced the emperor's sister Anna to be his wife. Vladimir's son Yaroslav the Wise was married to the Swedish princess Ingigerda (baptized Irina). Through his sons and daughters, Yaroslav the Wise intermarried with almost all European ruling houses. Novgorod land, Galicia-Volynsk, Polotsk, Ryazan and other principalities had extensive international ties.
Foreign trade played an exceptional role in the economic life of Novgorod. This was facilitated by the geographical position of the northwestern corner of Rus', adjacent to the Baltic Sea. Many artisans lived in Novgorod, who worked mainly to order. But the main role in the life of the city and the entire Novgorod land was played by merchants. Their union at the church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa has been known since the 12th century. Its participants conducted distant, that is, overseas, foreign trade. Wax merchants united in the Ivan merchant class. Pomeranian merchants, Nizovsky merchants and other entrepreneurial artels traded with other Russian lands. Since ancient times, Novgorod has been most closely connected with Scandinavia. In the IX-XI centuries. improved relations with the Danes, Germans (especially the "Hanseans"), with the Dutch. Chronicles, acts and treaties of Novgorod for the XI-XIV centuries. record regular trips of Novgorod merchants to Narva, Revel, Derpt, Riga, Vyborg, Abo, Stockholm, Visby (Gotland Island), Danzig, Lübeck. A Russian trading post was formed in Visby. Foreign trade of Novgorodians was oriented exclusively to the western direction. An important role was played by the re-export of Western goods deep into Rus', further to the countries of the East, and Russian and Eastern goods - to the West. The Neva and Ladoga region for many centuries played the role of a kind of gateway to Eurasia, which predetermined the economic importance of this region and a fierce struggle for influence in it. A variety of contractual relations, kinship alliances connected the Rurikovich with their neighbors in the east, especially with the Polovtsy. Russian princes were members of many international coalitions, often relied on the support of foreign military forces, and provided their services. Most of the princes, in addition to the Russian language, spoke Greek, German, Polish, Polovtsian and others.
1. Vladimir I, Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir II successfully defended the territory of their state, strengthened the recognition of its borders by a system of treaties.
Vladimir I finally conquered Vyatichi, Radimichi, Yatvagov, annexed lands in Galicia (Cherven, Przemysl, etc.). Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) in 1036 utterly defeated the Pechenegs, who began to serve the Russian princes or migrated to Hungary. In 1068, the struggle of the Russian people against the Polovtsy began, which went on with varying success due to the flaring civil strife within the House of Rurikovich. During the reign of Vladimir II Monomakh (1113-1125), serious defeats were inflicted on the Polovtsy, with whom predominantly peaceful relations began to develop.
2. In the east, the fight against the nomads became protracted. The Pechenegs were defeated, powerful blows were inflicted on the Polovtsy, some of the nomads went over to the service of the Russian princes.
3. With the adoption of Christianity, Rus' stood on a par with most European states. But in 1054 there was a split in Christianity. Formed over time Catholicism and orthodoxy. The split has persisted for almost a thousand years. Byzantium and Rus' drew closer on the basis of adherence to Orthodoxy.
During the period of feudal fragmentation, each principality pursued its own foreign policy.
1. Strengthened ties with the ruling houses of European states. Vladimir II was married to the daughter of the Byzantine emperor, from whom, according to legend, he received a symbol of supreme power - the "cap of Monomakh", a prototype of the future royal crown.
Wars were waged against close neighbors, seizures were carried out, peace treaties were concluded and violated, mutual claims accumulated. Under Vsevolod III Yurievich (nicknamed the Big Nest) (1176-1212), the center of the Russian state actually moved to the richest city of Vladimir. Vsevolod subjugated the Ryazan principality, made campaigns against the Kama Bulgarians.
2. The rulers of the principalities in the fight against their relatives in the "House of Rurikovich" increasingly turned to foreign states (Poland, Hungary, Sweden, etc.) for help. This was often accompanied by cessions of territories, benefits for foreign merchants, etc. Foreign policy activities were carried out directly by the princes from the House of Rurikovich, who usually spoke European and Eastern languages, conducted diplomatic correspondence, and sent their trusted representatives from among the boyars and wealthy merchants as ambassadors.
3. Russian rulers underestimated the danger from the east. The Russian regiments, even united with the Polovtsy, suffered a catastrophic defeat on the Kalka River (a tributary of the Don) in 1223 from large advanced forces of the Mongol-Tatars, led by the commander of Genghis Khan. No conclusions were drawn from this defeat, and the Mongol invasion of 1237/38. took the Russian lands by surprise. The policy of "going apart, fighting together" was carried out inconsistently and turned out to be ineffective.
5. Old Russian culture of the IX-XII centuries.
1. Culture and beliefs of the Eastern Slavs
The ancient Slavs were people of the Vedic culture, so it would be more correct to call the ancient Slavic religion not paganism, but Vedism. This is a peaceful religion of a highly cultured agricultural people, related to other religions of the Vedic root - Ancient India, Ancient Greece.
According to the Book of Veles (presumably written by Novgorod priests no later than the 9th century, dedicated to the god of wealth and wisdom Veles and resolving the dispute on the origin of the Slavs), there was an archaic Trinity-Triglav: Svarog (Svarozhich) - the heavenly god, Perun - the thunderer, Veles (Volos) the god of destruction Universe. There were also mother cults. The fine arts and folklore of the ancient Slavs were inextricably linked with paganism. The main deities of the Slavs were: Svarog (god of heaven) and his son Svarozhich (god of fire), Rod (god of fertility), Stribog (god of cattle), Perun (god of thunder).
The decomposition of tribal relations was accompanied by the complication of cult rites. So, the funeral of princes and nobility turned into a solemn ritual, during which huge mounds were poured over the dead - barrows, one of his wives or a slave was burned along with the deceased, a feast was celebrated, i.e. commemoration, accompanied by military competitions. Archaic folk holidays: New Year's divination, Shrovetide were accompanied by incantatory magical rites, which were a kind of prayer to the gods for general well-being, harvest, deliverance from thunder and hail.
Not a single culture of a spiritually developed people can exist without writing. Until now, it was believed that the Slavs did not know writing before the missionary activities of Cyril and Methodius, but a number of scientists (S.P. Obnorsky, D.S. Likhachev, etc.) pointed out that that there is indisputable evidence of the presence of writing among the Eastern Slavs long before the baptism of Rus'. It was suggested that the Slavs had their own original writing system: knot writing, its signs were not written down, but transmitted using knots tied on threads that were wrapped in ball books. The memory of this letter remained in the language and folklore: for example, we still talk about the “thread of the story”, “the intricacies of the plot”, and we also tie knots for memory. Nodular-pagan writing was very complex and accessible only to the elite - priests and the highest nobility. Obviously, nodular writing could not compete with a simpler logically perfect writing system based on Cyrillic.
2. The adoption of Christianity by Russia and its significance in the development of Russian culture
The adoption of Christianity by Russia is the most important event in the cultural life of that period. The nature of the historical choice made in 988 by Prince Vladimir was not accidental. In the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" there is a long story about the doubts of Vladimir and his boyars when choosing a faith. However, the prince made his choice in favor of Greek Orthodox Christianity. The decisive factor in turning to the religious and ideological experience of Byzantium was the traditional political, economic, cultural ties of Kievan Rus with Byzantium. Around 988, Vladimir himself was baptized, baptized his retinue and boyars, and under pain of punishment forced the people of Kiev and all Russians in general to be baptized. The baptism of the rest of Rus' took a long time. In the Northeast, the conversion of the population to Christianity was completed only by the end of the 11th century. Baptism met with resistance more than once. The most famous uprising took place in Novgorod. Novgorodians agreed to be baptized only after the prince's combatants set fire to the recalcitrant city. Many ancient Slavic beliefs entered the Christian canon in Rus'. The Thunderer Perun became Elijah the prophet, Veles - St. Blaise, the Kupala holiday turned into the day of St. John the Baptist, Shrovetide pancakes are a reminder of the pagan worship of the Sun. Belief in lower deities - goblin, brownies, mermaids, and the like has been preserved. However, all these are only remnants of paganism, which do not make an Orthodox Christian a pagan.
The adoption of Christianity by Russia had a progressive significance, it contributed to the development of feudal relations in ancient Russian society, sanctifying the relationship of domination-subordination (“let the servant fear his master”, “there is no power except from God”); the church itself became a major landowner. Christianity introduced humanistic values (“do not kill”, “do not steal”, “love your neighbor as yourself”) into the morality and customs of ancient Russian society. The adoption of Christianity strengthened the unity of the country and the central government. The international position of Rus' has changed qualitatively - from a pagan barbarian power it has turned into a European Christian state. The development of culture received a powerful impetus: liturgical books appeared in the Slavonic language, iconography, fresco painting, mosaics, stone architecture flourished, the first schools opened at monasteries, and literacy spread.
3. Old Russian literature
Russian literature was born in the first half of the 11th century. among the ruling class and was elitist. The church played a leading role in the literary process, therefore, along with secular literature, church literature received great development. The material for writing was parchment, calfskin of a special manufacture, birch bark. Paper finally replaced parchment only in the 15th-16th centuries. They wrote in ink and cinnabar, using goose quills. An Old Russian book is a voluminous manuscript made up of notebooks sewn into a wooden binding covered with embossed leather. In the 11th century Luxurious books with cinnabar letters and artistic miniatures appear in Rus'. Their binding was bound with gold or silver, decorated with pearls and precious stones. Such is the "Ostromir Gospel", written by the deacon Gregory for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir in 1057.
At the heart of the literary language is the living spoken language of Ancient Rus', at the same time, in the process of its formation, a closely related to it, although foreign in origin, Old Church Slavonic or Church Slavonic played an important role. On its basis, church writing developed in Rus', and worship was conducted.
One of the genres of ancient Russian literature was chronicle - a weather account of events. The chronicler not only described historical events, but also had to give them an assessment that met the interests of the prince-customer. The oldest chronicle that has come down to us dates back to 1113. It went down in history under the name "The Tale of Bygone Years", as is commonly believed, it was created by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor. "The Tale" is distinguished by the complexity of the composition and the variety of materials included in it.
One of the most ancient monuments of ancient Russian literature is the famous "Sermon on Law and Grace" (1037-1050) by the princely priest in Berestov and the future first Kyiv Metropolitan Hilarion. The content of the "Word" was the substantiation of the state-ideological concept of Ancient Rus', the definition of its place among other peoples and states, its contribution to the spread of Christianity.
At the beginning of the 12th c. in ancient Russian culture, newer literary genres are formed: teachings and walking (travel notes). The most striking examples are the “Instruction for Children”, compiled in his declining years by the Kyiv Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh, and also created by one of his associates, hegumen Daniel, the famous “Journey”, describing his journey through the holy places through Constantinople and Crete to Jerusalem.
At the end of the 12th century the most famous of the poetic works of ancient Russian literature was created - "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" (came down to us in a single list that died during a fire in 1812 in Moscow), the plot of which was the description of an unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsy of Novgorod-Seversky Prince Igor Svyatoslavich (1185). The unknown author of the "Word" apparently belonged to the retinue nobility. The main idea of the work was the need for the unity of the Russian princes in the face of external danger, his call is aimed at ending civil strife and princely strife.
The legal code of Rus' was "Russian Truth", which contains, first of all, the norms of criminal, inheritance, commercial and procedural legislation and is the main source of legal, social and economic relations of the Eastern Slavs. Most modern researchers associate the Ancient Truth with the name of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise. The approximate period of its creation is 1019-1054. The norms of Russian Truth were gradually codified by the Kievan princes.
4. Construction and architecture.
With the advent of Christianity in Rus', the construction of religious buildings and monasteries began on a large scale. Unfortunately, the monuments of ancient Russian wooden architecture have not survived to this day. One of the first central monasteries was the Kiev Caves, founded in the middle. 11th c. Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves. Caves, or caves, are the places where Christian ascetics originally settled, and around which a settlement arose, turning into a cenobitic monastery. Monasteries became centers for the dissemination of spiritual knowledge.
At the end of the 10th c. stone construction began in Rus'. One of the first stone buildings in Kyiv was the Tithe Church of the Assumption of the Virgin, built by Greek craftsmen and destroyed during the invasion of Batu in 1240. Excavations made it possible to find out that it was a powerful building made of thin brick, decorated with carved marble, mosaics, and frescoes. The Byzantine cross-domed temple became the main architectural form in Ancient Rus'. Archaeological excavations of this ancient temple of Rus' made it possible to establish that this building with an area of \u200b\u200babout 90 sq.m. crowned, according to the chronicle, with 25 tops, i.e. heads, was grandiose in design and execution. In the 30s of the XI century. stone Golden Gates with the gate church of the Annunciation were built.
St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod became an outstanding work of architecture of Kievan Rus. It is much stricter than the Kyiv one, it has 5 domes, much more powerful and more severe walls made of local limestone. There are no bright mosaics in the interior, but only frescoes, but not as dynamic as in Kyiv, and an excess of ornamental decorations of pagan antiquity with a clearly visible pattern of knot writing.
5. Crafts.
Crafts were highly developed in Kievan Rus: pottery, metalworking, jewelry, beekeeping, etc. In the 10th century. the potter's wheel appears. By the middle of the XI century. refers to the first known sword with a Russian inscription: "Lyudota forged." Since that time, Russian swords have been found in archaeological excavations in the Baltic States, Finland, and Scandinavia.
The jewelry technique of Russian masters was very complex, and the products of Rus' were in great demand on the world market of that time. Many decorations are made using the granulation technique: a pattern consisting of many balls was soldered onto the item. Decorative and applied art was enriched with techniques brought from Byzantium: filigree - soldering thin wire and balls, niello - filling a silver surface with a black background, enamel - creating a color pattern on a metal surface.
6. The Middle Ages as a stage of the historical process in Western Europe, in the East and in Russia.
Technologies, production relations and modes of exploitation, political systems, ideology and social psychology.
The emergence and development of feudal landownership and the enslavement of the peasantry associated with it took place in different ways. In Western Europe, for example, in France, for military service to the king, land was first granted for life, and then in hereditary ownership. The peasant farmers who worked on the land became dependent on the owner. Over time, the peasants were attached both to the personality of the feudal landowner and to the land. The peasant had to work on his farm and on the farm of the lord (senior, master). The serf gave the owner a significant part of the products of his labor (bread, meat, poultry; fabrics, leather, shoes), and also performed many other duties. All of them were called feudal rent and were considered the peasant's payment for the use of land, thanks to which his family was fed. This is how the main economic unit of the feudal mode of production arose, which in England was called a manor, in France and many other countries - a seigneury, and in Russia - a fiefdom.
In Byzantium, such a rigid system of feudal relations did not develop (see above). In Byzantium, feudal lords were forbidden to keep squads, build prisons on estates, and they lived, as a rule, in cities, and not in fortified castles. On charges of conspiracy, treason, any feudal owner could lose his property and life itself.
The “Queen” of all sciences was theology (translated from Greek “the doctrine of God”; theology). Theologians interpreted the Holy Scriptures, explained the surrounding world from Christian positions. Philosophy for a long time was in the position of "servant of theology." The clergy, especially the monks, were the most educated people of their time. They knew the writings of ancient authors, ancient languages, and especially respected the teachings of Aristotle. The language of the Catholic Church was Latin. Therefore, access to knowledge for the "simple" was actually closed.
Theological disputes were often artificial. Dogmatism and scholasticism became widespread. Dogma in Greek means "opinion, teaching, ordinance". “Dogmatism” is understood as one-sided, ossified thinking, operating with dogmas, that is, positions taken on faith as an immutable truth, unchanged under any circumstances. The tendency to dogmatism has successfully survived to this day. The term "scholasticism" and the well-known word "school" have a common origin from the Greek word meaning "school, scholar". During the Middle Ages, scholasticism was most widespread. It was a type of religious philosophy that combined theological and dogmatic approaches with rationalistic methods and interests in formal logical problems.
At the same time, in the depths of theology, rationalism eventually appeared (translated from Latin as “reason, reasonable”). The gradual recognition that truth can be obtained not only through faith, divine revelation, but also through knowledge, rational explanation, contributed to the gradual liberation of the natural sciences (medicine, alchemy, geography, etc.) from the strict control of the church.
The Church made sure that the peasant, artisan, merchant, any ordinary person of the Middle Ages felt sinful, dependent, insignificant. The daily life of the "little man" was under the overall control of the priest, the feudal lord and the community. The sacrament of confession, obligatory for all, forced a person to evaluate his actions and thoughts, accustomed him to self-discipline and self-restraint. Standing out from the general gray mass was not accepted and dangerous. The clothes of men and especially women were of a simple cut, should not accentuate the texture of the body.
The people of the Middle Ages were characterized by fear of the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment, which was expected more than once in a state of mass history and panic.
Of course, not everywhere, not always and not everything was so gloomy. In the spiritual culture of the Middle Ages, in the life of people, the dominant religious culture was opposed by heresies, the remnants of paganism, and folk culture. The people were entertained by wandering actors - jugglers (buffoons). During the holidays, mummers walked the streets of villages and cities (at Christmas), dances, competitions and games were held in the squares. During the "holidays of fools", which parodied the church service, the lower clergy put on monstrous masks right in the church, sang reckless songs, feasted and played dice. Clever clergymen understood that explosions of unbridled, “worldly” fun allow them to “let off steam”, brighten up a rather difficult, dull everyday life. In many European countries, modern festivals, carnivals, traditional events originated in the Middle Ages.
For a long time the centers of spiritual culture were monasteries. At the beginning of the second millennium, they were competed by universities.
7. Causes, nature and features of the period of feudal fragmentation. Russian lands in the XII-XIV centuries.
Modern researchers understand feudal fragmentation as the period of the XII - XV centuries. in the history of our country, when from several dozen to several hundred large states were formed and functioned on the territory of Kievan Rus. Feudal fragmentation was a natural result of the previous political and economic development of society, the so-called period of the early feudal monarchy.
There are four most significant reasons for the feudal fragmentation of the Old Russian state.
The main reason was political. The vast expanses of the East European Plain, numerous tribes of both Slavic and non-Slavic origin, which are at different stages of development - all this contributed to the decentralization of the state. Over time, the specific princes, as well as the local feudal nobility represented by the boyars, began to undermine the foundation under the state building with their independent separatist actions. Only strong power, concentrated in the hands of one person, the prince, could keep the state organism from disintegration. And the great Kyiv prince could no longer fully control the policy of local princes from the center, more and more princes left from under his authority, and in the 30s. 12th century he controlled only the territory around Kyiv. The specific princes, having felt the weakness of the center, now did not want to share their income with the center, and the local boyars actively supported them in this.
The next reason for feudal fragmentation was social. By the beginning of the XII century. the social structure of ancient Russian society became more complex: large boyars, clergy, merchants, artisans, and urban lower classes appeared. These were new, actively developing segments of the population. In addition, the nobility was born, serving the prince in exchange for a land grant. His social activity was very high. In each center, behind the specific princes, there was an impressive force in the face of the boyars with their vassals, the rich top of the cities, church hierarchs. The increasingly complex social structure of society also contributed to the isolation of the lands.
The economic reason also played a significant role in the collapse of the state. Within the framework of a single state, independent economic regions have developed over three centuries, new cities have grown, large patrimonial possessions of the boyars, monasteries and churches have arisen. The subsistence nature of the economy provided the rulers of each region with the opportunity to separate from the center and exist as an independent land or principality.
In the XII century. contributed to feudal fragmentation and foreign policy situation. Rus' during this period did not have serious opponents, since the great princes of Kyiv did a lot to ensure the security of their borders. A little less than a century will pass, and Rus' will face a formidable opponent in the person of the Mongols - Tatars, but the process of the collapse of Rus' by this time will have gone too far, there will be no one to organize the resistance of the Russian lands.
All major Western European states experienced a period of feudal fragmentation, but in Western Europe the economy was the engine of fragmentation. In Rus', in the process of feudal fragmentation, the political component was dominant. In order to receive material benefits, the local nobility - the princes and the boyars - needed to gain political independence and gain a foothold in their inheritance, to achieve sovereignty. The main force of the disunity process in Rus' was the boyars.
At first, feudal fragmentation contributed to the rise of agriculture in all Russian lands, the flourishing of handicrafts, the growth of cities, and the rapid development of trade. But over time, constant strife between the princes began to deplete the strength of the Russian lands, weaken their defenses in the face of external danger. Disunity and constant enmity with each other led to the disappearance of many principalities, but most importantly, they caused extraordinary hardships for the people during the period of the Mongol-Tatar invasion.
Under conditions of feudal fragmentation, the exploitation of the peasantry intensified, the number of free community members gradually decreased, and the community fell under the rule of farmers. Previously free community members became feudally dependent. The deterioration of the position of the peasants and the urban lower classes was expressed in various forms, and uprisings against the feudal lords became more frequent.
In the XII-XIII centuries. so-called immunities are widely used. Immunity is the provision to the landowner of a special charter (immunity of the charter), in accordance with which he carried out independent management and legal proceedings in his patrimony. At the same time, he was responsible for the performance of state duties by the peasants. Over time, the owner of the immunity letter became the sovereign and obeyed the prince only formally.
In the social development of Rus', the hierarchical structure of feudal landownership and, accordingly, lord-vassal relations within the class of feudal lords are quite clearly manifested.
The main suzerain was the Grand Duke - exercising supreme power and being the owner of all the land of this principality.
The boyars, being vassals of the prince, had their own vassals - medium and small feudal lords. The Grand Duke distributed estates, immunity letters and was obliged to resolve disputes between the feudal lords, to protect them from the oppression of their neighbors.
A typical feature of the period of feudal fragmentation was the palace and patrimonial system of government. The center of this system was the princely court, and the management of the princely lands and the state was not demarcated. Palace ranks (butler, equestrian, falconer, bowler, etc.) performed national duties, managing certain territories, collecting taxes and taxes.
Legal issues during the period of feudal fragmentation were resolved on the basis of Russkaya Pravda, customary law, various treaties, charters, charters, and other documents.
Interstate relations were regulated by treaties and letters ("finished", "row", "kissing the cross"). In Novgorod and Pskov in the XV century. appeared their own legal collections, developed in the development of "Russian Truth" and Church Charters. In addition, they implemented the norms of the customary law of Novgorod and Pskov, the letters of the princes and local legislation.
8. Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' and its impact on the economic, political, social and cultural development of the country. The struggle of the Russian people against foreign invaders (XIII-XV centuries).
The Russian state, formed on the border of Europe with Asia, which reached its peak in the 10th - early 11th century, at the beginning of the 12th century broke up into many principalities. This disintegration took place under the influence of the feudal mode of production. The external defense of the Russian land was especially weakened. The princes of individual principalities pursued their separate policy, taking into account, first of all, the interests of the local feudal nobility and entered into endless internecine wars. This led to the loss of centralized control and to a strong weakening of the state as a whole. At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongolian state was formed in Central Asia. By the name of one of the tribes, these peoples were also called Tatars. Subsequently, all the nomadic peoples with whom Rus' fought began to be called Mongolo-Tatars. In 1206, a congress of the Mongol nobility, the kurultai, took place, at which Temuchin was elected leader of the Mongol tribes, who received the name Genghis Khan (Great Khan). As in other countries, at an early stage in the development of feudalism, the state of the Mongol-Tatars was distinguished by strength and solidity. The nobility was interested in expanding pastures and organizing predatory campaigns against neighboring agricultural peoples who were at a higher level of development. Most of them, like Rus', experienced a period of feudal fragmentation, which greatly facilitated the implementation of the conquest plans of the Mongolo-Tatars. Then they invaded China, conquered Korea and Central Asia, defeated the allied forces of the Polovtsian and Russian princes on the Kalka River (1223). Reconnaissance in force showed that aggressive campaigns against Rus' and its neighbors could be carried out only by organizing a general Mongolian campaign against the countries of Europe. At the head of this campaign was the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu, who inherited from his grandfather all the territories in the west, "where the foot of the Mongol horse sets foot." In 1236, the Mongol-Tatars captured the Volga Bulgaria, and in 1237 they subjugated the nomadic peoples of the steppe. In the autumn of 1237, the main forces of the Mongol-Tatars crossed the Volga and concentrated on the Voronezh River, aiming at the Russian lands.
In 1237 Ryazan suffered the first blow. The Princes of Vladimir and Chernigov refused to help Ryazan. The battle was very hard. The Russian squad left the encirclement 12 times, Ryazan held out for 5 days. "One Ryazan fought with a thousand, and two - with ten thousand" - this is how the chronicle writes about this battle. But Batu's superiority in strength was great, and Ryazan fell. The entire city was destroyed.
The battle of the Vladimir-Suzdal army with the Mongol-Tatars took place near the city of Kolomna. In this battle, the Vladimir army perished, predetermining the fate of North-Eastern Rus'. In mid-January, Batu occupies Moscow, then, after a 5-day siege, Vladimir. After the capture of Vladimir, Batu divides his army into several parts. All the cities in the north, except for Torzhok, surrendered almost without a fight.
After Torzhok, Batu does not go to Novgorod, but turns south. The turn from Novgorod is usually explained by spring floods. But there are other explanations: firstly, the campaign did not meet the deadlines, and secondly, Batu was unable to defeat the combined forces of Northeastern Rus' in one or two battles, using numerical and tactical superiority.
Batu combs the entire territory of Rus' using the tactics of a hunting raid. The city of Kozelsk was declared the collection point of the Khan's troops. Kozelsk held out for 7 weeks, and withstood the general assault. Batu, on the other hand, took the city by cunning and did not spare anyone, he killed everyone, right down to infants. Batu ordered to destroy the city to the ground, plow up the land and fill this place with salt so that this city would never be reborn. On his way, Batu destroyed everything, including villages, as the main productive force in Rus'.
In 1240, after a 10-day siege of Kyiv, which ended with the capture and complete plunder of the latter, Batu's troops invaded the states of Europe, where they terrified and feared the inhabitants. In Europe, it was stated that the Mongols had escaped from hell, and everyone was waiting for the end of the world.
But Rus' still resisted. In 1241 Batu returned to Rus'. In 1242, Batu was in the lower reaches of the Volga, where he set up his new capital - Sarai-bata. The Horde yoke was established in Rus' by the end of the 13th century, after the creation of the state of Batu - the Golden Horde, which stretched from the Danube to the Irtysh.
Already the first consequences of the conquests of the Mongols were catastrophic for the Slavic lands: the fall and destruction of the role of cities, the decline of crafts and trade, demographic losses - physical destruction, slavery and flight became factors that significantly reduced the population in the south of Rus', the destruction of a significant part of the feudal elite.
The essence of the Golden Horde invasion as a historical phenomenon lies in the formation and strengthening of a stable system of dependence of Russian lands on the conquerors. The Golden Horde invasion manifested itself primarily in 3 areas: economic (the system of taxes and duties - tribute, plow, underwater, duties, fodder, more dexterous, etc.), political (approval by the Horde of princes on the tables and the issuance of labels for land management) , military (the obligation of the Slavic principalities to delegate their soldiers to the Mongol army and take part in its military campaigns). The khan's governors in the Russian lands, the Baskaks, were called upon to maintain and strengthen the system of dependence. In addition, in order to weaken Rus', the Golden Horde practiced periodic devastating campaigns for almost a whole period of its own domination.
The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused great damage to the Russian state. Enormous damage was done to the economic, political and cultural development of Rus'. The old agricultural centers and the once developed territories were abandoned and fell into decay. Russian cities were subjected to mass destruction. Simplified, and sometimes disappeared, many crafts. Tens of thousands of people were killed or driven into slavery. The unceasing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative authorities in Rus'. Rus' retained its statehood. This was facilitated by the lower level of cultural and historical development of the Tatars. In addition, the Russian lands were unsuitable for breeding nomadic cattle breeding. The main meaning of enslavement was to receive tribute from the conquered people. The tribute was very large. The amount of tribute in favor of the khan alone was 1300 kg of silver per year. In addition, deductions from trade duties and various taxes went to the khan's treasury. In total there were 14 types of tribute in favor of the Tatars.
Russian principalities made attempts not to obey the horde. However, the forces to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke were still not enough. Understanding this, the most far-sighted Russian princes - Alexander Nevsky and Daniil Galitsky - undertook a more flexible policy towards the Horde and the Khan. Realizing that an economically weak state would never be able to resist the Horde, Alexander Nevsky set a course for the restoration and recovery of the economy of the Russian lands.
In the summer of 1250, the Mighty Khan sent his ambassadors to Daniel of Galicia with the words: “Give Galich!” Realizing that the forces are unequal, and fighting with the Khan's army, he dooms his lands to complete plunder, Daniel goes to the Horde to bow to Batu and recognize his strength. As a result, the Galician lands are included in the Horde as autonomies. They kept their land, but were dependent on the khan. Thanks to such a soft policy, the Russian land was saved from complete plunder and destruction. As a result of this, a slow recovery and economic recovery of the Russian lands began, which ultimately led to the Battle of Kulikovo and the overthrow of the Tatar-Mongol yoke.
In the difficult years of the Mongol invasion, the Russian people had to repel the onslaught of the German and Swedish feudal lords. The purpose of this campaign was to capture Ladoga, and if successful, Novgorod itself. The predatory goals of the campaign, as usual, were covered with phrases that its participants were striving to spread among the Russian people the "true faith" - Catholicism.
At dawn on a July day in 1240, the Swedish flotilla unexpectedly appeared in the Gulf of Finland and, having passed along the Neva, stood at the mouth of the Izhora. Here was a temporary camp of the Swedes. Prince of Novgorod Alexander Yaroslavich (son of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich), having received a message from the head of the sea guard, Izhorian Pelgusy, about the arrival of enemies, gathered his small squad and part of the Novgorod militia in Novgorod. Considering that the Swedish army was much more numerous than the Russian, Alexander decided to deliver an unexpected blow to the Swedes. On the morning of July 15, the Russian army suddenly attacked the Swedish camp. The cavalry squad fought its way to the center of the location of the Swedish troops. At the same time, the foot Novgorod militia, following along the Neva, attacked enemy ships. Three ships were captured and destroyed. With blows along the Izhora and the Neva, the Swedish army was overturned and pushed into the corner formed by two rivers. The ratio of forces
The Old Russian state, or Kievan Rus, is the first large stable association of the Eastern Slavs. His education became possible with the formation of feudal (land) relations. The state included 15 large regions - the territories of tribal associations (Polyans, Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Northerners, and others).
The most developed in economic and political relations were the lands of Novgorod and Kyiv, the unification of which by the Novgorod prince Oleg brought the economic base under the emerging state.
In the history of the Old Russian state, academician B.A. Rybakov identified the following stages:
800-882 - the initial stage of the unification of the East Slavic tribes, the formation of two centers of statehood (Kyiv and Novgorod), the subordination of Kyiv to the Novgorod prince Oleg.
According to Sakharov:
By the end of the VIII - the beginning of the IX century. Economic and social processes in the East Slavic lands led to the unification of various tribal unions into strong intertribal groupings.
The centers of such an association were the Middle Dnieper region, headed by Kyiv, and the northwestern region, where settlements were grouped around Lake Ilmen, along the upper reaches of the Dnieper, on the banks of the Volkhov, i.e., near the key points on the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks." At first, it was said that these two centers began to stand out more and more among other large tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs.
The glades, earlier than other tribal unions, showed signs of statehood.
This was based on the most rapid economic, political and social development of the region. Polyana tribal leaders, and later Kyiv princes, held in their hands the keys to the entire Dnieper highway, and Kyiv was not only a center of crafts, trade, to which the entire agricultural district was drawn, but also a well-fortified point. By the beginning of the IX century. The Polyana lands had already freed themselves from the power of the Khazars and stopped paying tribute to them, but other Russian lands still paid tribute to the Khazaria.
In 860, the Russian army unexpectedly, furiously attacked the city of Constantinople. But they were not strong enough to take the city. The siege lasted exactly one week, then peace negotiations began. The Greeks paid the attackers a huge indemnity, promised to pay annual cash payments, gave the Russians the opportunity to freely trade in the Byzantine markets.
At that time, in the northwestern lands of the Eastern Slavs, in the area of Lake Ilmen, along the Volkhov and in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, events were brewing that were destined to become one of the most remarkable in Russian history. A powerful union of Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes was formed here, the unifier of which was the Slavs.
This unification was facilitated by the struggle that began here between the Slavs, Krivichi, Mary, Chud and the Varangians, who managed to establish control over the local population for some time. And just as the meadows in the south overthrew the power of the Khazars, in the north the union of local tribes overthrew the Varangian rulers.
The Varangians were expelled, but "family upon clan arose," as the chronicle tells. The issue was resolved in the same way as it was often resolved in other European countries: in order to establish peace, tranquility, stabilize governance, and introduce a fair trial, the quarreling tribes invited an outside prince.
The choice fell on the Varangian princes. Because there was no other organized military force nearby, and also because they were close to the Slavs in terms of language, customs, and religion.
Well, and also because their arrival could put an end to the onslaught of other Varangian squads on the Slavic and Finno-Ugric lands. Chronicle sources under 862
It is reported that after turning to the Varangians, three brothers arrived from there to the Slavic and Finno-Finnish lands: Rurik and Truvor. Rurik sat down to reign in Novgorod.
882-912 - the strengthening of the Old Russian state by Oleg, the inclusion of neighboring East Slavic tribes in its composition. Oleg's first trade agreements with Byzantium (907 and 911).
After Rurik died in 879, he left his young son Igor. And all affairs in Novgorod were taken over either by the voivode, or by Oleg, a relative of Rurik. It was he who undertook a campaign against Kyiv. Having sailed to the Kyiv mountains and not expecting to take a strong fortress by storm, Oleg went to a military trick.
Having hidden the soldiers in the boats, he sent the news to Askold and Dir, who reigned in Kyiv, that a merchant caravan had sailed from the north and he was asking the princes to go ashore. Unsuspecting Kyiv rulers came to the meeting. Oleg's soldiers jumped out of the ambush and surrounded the people of Kiev. Oleg picked up little Igor in his arms and told the Kyiv rulers that they did not belong to the princely family, but he himself "is the prince's family" and Igor is the son of Prince Rurik. And Askold and Dir, ruling in Kyiv, were killed by deceit. And Oleg established himself in Kyiv. Entering the city, he declared: "Let Kyiv be the mother of Russian cities."
This is how a single Old Russian state arose with a center in Kyiv in 882.
Oleg did not complete his military successes. Having settled in Kyiv, he imposed a tribute on the territories subject to him - he “established a tribute” to the Novgorod Slavs, Krivichi, other tribes and peoples.
Oleg concluded an agreement with the Varangians to pay them annually 300 silver hryvnias so that there would be peace on the northwestern borders of Rus'. He undertook campaigns against the Drevlyans, northerners, Radimichi and imposed tribute on them. But here he encountered Khazaria, which considered the northerners of the Radimichi to be their tributaries. Military success again accompanied Oleg. From now on, these East Slavic tribes ceased their dependence on the Khazar Khaganate and became part of Rus'. Vyatichi remained tributaries. Rus' strove:
- - firstly, to unite all East Slavic tribes;
- - secondly, to ensure the security of trade routes for the Russian merchants, both to the East and to the Balkan Peninsula;
- - thirdly, to seize the territories important in the military-strategic sense - the mouth of the Dnieper, the mouth of the Danube, the Kerch Strait.
In 907, a huge Russian army by land and sea, led by Oleg, moved to Constantinople. But the Greeks locked themselves behind the mighty walls of Constantinople. Then the Russ “fought” the whole district, captured huge booty, prisoners, robbed and burned the churches. And then Oleg ordered his soldiers to put the boats on wheels and move them around the obstacles set above the water.
With a fair wind, the Rus unfolded their sails, and the boats went to the walls of the city. The Greeks were horrified at the sight of this unusual sight and asked for peace. They undertook to pay Rus' a monetary indemnity, and then annually also a tribute, to provide for the Russian Polovtsians and merchants coming to Byzantium, as well as for representatives of other states, a certain food allowance.
Oleg achieved for Russian merchants the right to free trade in the Byzantine markets. The Russians even got the right to bathe in Constantinople baths as much as they want.
In 911, Oleg confirmed his peace treaty with Byzantium. During lengthy embassy negotiations, the first detailed written treaty between Byzantium and Russia was concluded in the history of Eastern Europe. From now on, Russian detachments regularly appear as part of the Byzantine army during its campaign against enemies.
912-1054 - the flourishing of early feudal relations, the struggle against nomads, a significant increase in territory due to the entry into the state of all East Slavic tribes. Establishing close relations with Byzantium. Adoption of Christianity (988-989). Creation of the first code of laws - Pravda Yaroslav (1016).
The most prominent political figures of this period are Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav, Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise.
The work of Prince Oleg was continued by Prince Igor, who ascended the throne at a mature age. After the death of Oleg, the state he created began to disintegrate: the Drevlyans rebelled, the Pechenegs approached the borders of Rus'. But Igor managed to prevent the collapse. The Drevlyans were again conquered and subjected to heavy tribute. Igor made peace with the Pechenegs.
In the summer of 941, a huge Russian army moved to Constantinople. The war lasted from 941-944. The Greeks did not tempt fate and offered peace. The right of duty-free trade in Byzantium was abolished.
How was the tribute collected from the principalities subject to the Grand Duke? In late autumn, the prince, together with his retinue, traveled around his possessions in order to collect the due tribute from them. This detour by the prince of his vassal possessions was called polyud (walking among people).
The detour continued throughout the winter and ended in early spring. What was the tribute? In the first place were furs, honey, wax, flax, the main measure of tribute from subject tribes was the furs of martens, ermine, squirrels. They were taken from the "smoke", that is, from each residential building. In addition, the composition of the tribute included food, even clothing.
Judging by the fact that the feeding of the prince and his escort was part of the polyudya, requests were often determined by needs, and could not be taken into account. That is why during the Polyudia there were frequent violence against the inhabitants, their actions against the princely people. “Polyudie is the first form of domination of subordination, the establishment of the concept of allegiance.
During the collection of tribute in 945, the Warriors of Igor worked on the Drevlyans of violence. Having collected tribute, Igor sent the main part of the squad and the convoy back home, and he himself, with a small squad, decided to wander around the village lands in search of prey. The Drevlyans, led by their prince Mal, rebelled and killed Igor's squad. The prince himself was captured and executed by a cruel death: he was tied to two bent trees, and then they were released.
In Kyiv, his wife Olga remained with her young son Svyatoslav. The newly formed state was in critical condition. However, the people of Kiev not only recognized Olga's rights to the throne in connection with the minority of the heir, but also unconditionally supported her.
Having established order within the state, Olga turned her attention to foreign policy. Russia also faced the issue of establishing strong political and economic relations with strong neighbors. This could raise the authority of both the state and the dynasty, which was already firmly established on the Kiev throne.
In 957, Olga went to Constantinople, leading a magnificent and crowded embassy, consisting of more than a hundred people, not counting the servants and shipmen. An important issue of the negotiations was the baptism of the Russian princess.
She understood that further strengthening of the state prestige of the country and the dynasty was unthinkable without the adoption of Christianity. But she also understood the complexity of this process in Rus' with its powerful pagan tradition, with the great commitment of the people and part of the ruling circles to the old religion. Baptism took place in the church of Hagia Sophia. The emperor himself became her godfather, and the patriarch baptized her. Olga took the name Elena in baptism. Upon returning to Kyiv, Olga also tried to persuade Svyatoslav to Christianity, but Svyatoslav, being an ardent pagan who worshiped the retinue god Perun, refused her.
In 962, having matured and stood at the head of the squad, Svyatoslav, having become the ruler of Russia, he set about further expanding Rus'. He subjugated the principality of the Vyatichi.
He also continued the efforts of Oleg and Olga to centralize power. He left his eldest son, Yaropolk, in Kyiv, sent his second son, Oleg, to manage the village land, and sent the youngest, Vladimir, with his uncle, the famous governor Dobrynya, to manage Novgorod. The sons of the Grand Duke in the former semi-independent principalities, in essence, became his deputies.
During the three-year Eastern campaign, Svyatoslav captured vast territories from the Oka forests to the North Caucasus. At the same time, the Byzantine Empire was silent, the Russian-Byzantine military alliance was in effect. But soon the Russian-Byzantine war took place. In the spring of 972, Svyatoslav died in battle. And from his skull, the Pecheneg Khan Kurya, according to the old steppe custom, made a cup, bound it with gold and drank from it at feasts.
After the death of Svyatoslav in Kyiv, young Yaropolk took power. And Oleg and Vladimir became independent rulers of their lands. they became the center of attraction for forces that wanted to regain independence from Kyiv.
Three years later, on the orders of Oleg, who was only 13 years old, the grand princely governor was killed in the forests. The result of this was, after 2 years, the campaign of the Kyiv army, led by Yaropolk, against the Drevlyans. The Kievans defeated the Drevlyans, they fled for the fortress walls of the city of Ovruch. On the bridge over the fortress moat there was a stampede, in which the young prince Oleg died. The Drevlyans were again subordinated to Kyiv.
Novgorod also showed a desire to secede. Having received news of the death of his brother, Vladimir fled to the Varangians. In his place, Yaropolk sent his governor. The Russian land was reunited. But Vladimir did not accept the position of an outcast prince.
After spending more than two years in a foreign land, he hired a detachment of the Varangians and knocked out the governor Yaropolk from Novgorod. Then he gathered a large army, consisting of Slavs, Krivichi, Chud, and together with the Varangians moved south, repeating the path of Oleg.
As a result, due to the distrust of the squad, Yaropolk was unable to gather troops to fight his brother and locked himself behind the Kyiv walls. Feeling that a conspiracy against him was being prepared in Kyiv, Yaropolk fled the city. And soon he was raised to swords by two Vikings on the orders of Vladimir.
Since 980, Vladimir became the sole ruler of Rus'. In the early years of his reign, Vladimir behaved like an unbridled and cruel pagan, but soon everything changed.
Byzantium sought to Christianize Rus' in order to exert political influence on it and protect itself from Russian raids. In 987, Vladimir demanded Princess Anna, the sister of Emperor Basil 1, as his wife, and the Byzantines, in turn, offered to be baptized. In 988 Vladimir was baptized in Chersonese. He took the name Vasily, and with him half the squad was baptized. It was only in 990 that Vladimir took the first steps to introduce Christianity throughout Rus'.
After the death of Vladimir, the struggle of the sons of Yaroslav Yaropolk, Gleb, Boris began.
In the winter of 1016, opponents met near the city of Lyubech, and the battle began. Yaropolk fled to Poland, and Yaroslav occupied Kyiv in 1017. In 1018, the Rivals met again in open battle, on the Alta River (Boris was murdered villainously). Yaroslav won.
The birth of the feudal system, the land with the population working on it acquired great value in the eyes of society.
1054-1093 - the first tangible phenomena of the collapse of the early feudal state, specific princedoms of the heirs of Yaroslav the Wise, increased inter-princely struggle.
Churches were erected, about 400, in Kyiv. In honor of the victory over the enemies, Yaroslav built the so-called Golden Gate, opened schools, and developed literacy. He died in 1054, in the 11-12th century one of the largest legal codes of the Middle Ages and the oldest monument of Slavic law appeared - Russkaya Pravda. It provides valuable information not only about legal norms, 10-11 centuries. but also about the development of feudal relations in Kievan Rus, the formation of social strata and groups, the social struggle, the categories of the feudally dependent population, land ownership and land ownership, watered. Building and even about the life and customs of a person. True, Yaroslav limited blood feuds to the circle of his closest relatives. If there was no one to take revenge, the guilty person paid a fine - viru to the Grand Duke. If the killer was hiding, then the Verv community, on whose territory the murder took place, had to pay the vir.
The laws of Yaroslav the Wise regulated disputes between free people. Pravda distinguished between robbery (murder) and murder in the heat of a quarrel (unintentional murder), according to a brief Pravda, one can trace the formation of feudal relations in K.R. , property and property of the feudal lords. He worked out a new solid system of the unity of Rus' - the transfer of grand-princely power according to seniority. He left his throne to his eldest son Izyaslav, the prince became the second by appointment, who received Chernigov in control, the third - Pereslavl, other capital cities were divided. Behind each of them was a district with other cities and villages. The eldest in the family became the Grand Duke. Heritage in a straight line retreated before the patriarchal, purely family principle.
1093-1132 - strengthening of the feudal monarchy. The onslaught of the Polovtsy forced the specific princes to unite under the rule of the great Kyiv prince. Improvement of legal political relations. The new legislative code - the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh (1113) - became an integral part of Russian Pravda. Vladimir Monomakh, who became the Grand Duke after the uprising in Kyiv in 1113.
He began his reign with lawmaking in order to smooth out the most acute social contradictions in the Kievan state. The charter of Vladimir Monomakh streamlined the collection of interest by usurers, setting its upper limit - 50% and the maximum payment period - 3 years, after which the debt was written off, improved the legal status of merchants by “insuring” them in case of property loss in a fire, shipwreck, regulated the entry into servitude ( slavery), identified the sources of servitude: marriage to a serf, birth from a serf, sale “at least for half a hryvnia” under Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise, “church charters” were created that determined tithes in favor of the church (a tenth of deductions from princely income - fines, judicial and trade duties.After the disappearance of the Polovtsian threat, the state disintegrates.