During the period of feudal fragmentation, crafts and construction rapidly improved, cities grew rapidly, trade developed. Fragmentation contributed to a richer and more diverse life of the Russian principalities.
The development of crafts was accompanied by the rapid growth of cities and the development of local markets. If in Kievan Rus there were about 20 cities, then in the appanage - more than 300. Old Russian cities were extremely complex socio-economic and political-administrative organisms, the basis of whose economic life was craft and trade, as well as agricultural production.
The appanage princes, having become the owners of the lands, acted as organizers of the construction of new cities and strengthening them with fortresses. Decentralization made it possible to better adapt the political structure of the lands to local conditions. In some lands, grand-ducal power was established in a monarchical form (Vladimir-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn principalities), others became boyar feudal republics (Novgorod, Pskov). The most striking evidence of the progressive development of Rus' at this time is the flourishing of its culture. Thus, political fragmentation is a natural stage in the development of Ancient Rus'.
All-Russian legislation played an important role in the development of the ancient Russian social system. Unlike some feudal-fragmented states of Western Europe (for example, Germany), where each principality had its own laws, in Ancient Rus' of the 11th-13th centuries. there was a unified legal code of judicial and legal norms that had equal force in all lands. The Kiev state ceased to exist. But the fate of his legal system, his legislation, turned out differently. It continued to operate in those states into which Ancient Rus' broke up. They created their own laws. However, they could not replace the entire complex system of legislation of Kievan Rus.
At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII century. In Rus', three main political centers were identified, each of which had a decisive influence on the political life of the surrounding lands and principalities: for North-Eastern and Western (and to a large extent for North-Western and Southern) Rus' - the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality; for Southern and Southwestern Rus' --
Galicia- Volyn Principality; for North-Western Rus' - Novgorod feudal republic
The Vladimir-Suzdal principality became independent during the reign of the son of Vladimir Monomakh - Yuri Dolgoruky (1132-1157). The most ancient cities of the principality are Rostov, Suzdal, Murom). From the middle of the 12th century. Vladimir-on-Klyazma became the capital of the principality.
The Vladimir-Suzdal principality became independent during the reign of the son of Vladimir Monomakh - Yuri Dolgoruky (1132-1157). The geographical location (remoteness from the steppe regions and control over the Volga trade route) contributed to the influx of refugees from the southern principalities and rapid economic development. Against the background of these features, a strong princely power was formed. The land was considered as the property of the prince, and its population, including the boyars, as its servants, which led to the formation of princely-subject relations.
The successor of Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157-1174), energetically strengthened his own power and statehood. He moved the capital to Vladimir, promoted the development of culture and constantly sought to extend his power to other lands, having won a victory over Kiev in 1169.
The prince's cruelty and autocracy gave rise to conspiracies around him. The internecine struggle for the princely table ended with the victory of his half-brother Vsevolod the Big Nest, so nicknamed for the large size of his family. Vsevolod suppressed the boyar opposition and strengthened the princely power. The time of his reign was the heyday of the Vladimir-Suzdal land.
At the beginning of the 13th century. Vladimir Rus' broke up into fiefs: Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Rostov, Uglich, Pereyaslav, Yuryev and Murom. Principalities of North-Eastern Rus' in the XIV-XV centuries. became the basis for the formation of the Moscow state. The process of economic recovery was interrupted by the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars.
The Galician-Volyn principality, located in the southwest of the Russian lands, arose as a result of the unification of the strong Galician and Volyn principalities. The territory from the Carpathians to Polesie.
Novgorod land occupied a vast territory from Arctic Ocean to the upper reaches of the Volga, from the Baltic to the Urals. She escaped the fate of ruin from the raids of nomads. The huge land fund was in the hands of the local boyars, who grew out of the tribal nobility. Hunting, fishing, salt making, and iron production received significant development. The city was located at the crossroads of trade routes connecting Western Europe with Russia, and through it with the East and Byzantium.
feudal fragmentation Russian principality
Among the dozens of principalities, the largest were Vladimir-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn and Novgorod land.
Vladimir-Suzdal Principality.
This principality occupied a special place in the history of the Russian Middle Ages. He was destined to become a link between the pre-Mongol period of Russian history and the period of Muscovite Rus', the core of the future unified state.
Located in distant Zalesye, it was well protected from external threats. Thick black soils, created by nature in the center of the non-chernozem zone, attracted settlers here. Convenient river routes opened the way to eastern and European markets.
In the 11th century this remote region becomes the “fatherland” of the Monomakhovichs. At first, they do not attach importance to this pearl of their possessions and do not even place princes here. At the beginning of the 12th century. Vladimir Monomakh founded the future capital of Vladimir-on-Klyazma and in 1120 sent his son Yuri to reign here. The foundations of the power of the Suzdal land were laid during the reign of three outstanding statesmen: Yuri Dolgoruky /1120-1157/, Andrei Bogolyubsky /1157-1174/, Vsevolod the Big Nest /1176-1212/.
They were able to prevail over the boyars, for which they were nicknamed “autocrats.” Some historians see in this a tendency to overcome fragmentation, interrupted by the Tatar invasion.
Yuri, with his irrepressible thirst for power and desire for primacy, turned his possession into an independent principality that pursued an active policy. His possessions expanded to include the colonized eastern regions. The new cities of Yuryev Polsky, Pereyaslavl Zalessky, and Dmitrov grew. Churches and monasteries were built and decorated. The first chronicle mention of Moscow dates back to the time of his reign /1147/.
Yuri more than once fought with Volga Bulgaria, a trade competitor of Rus'. He waged a confrontation with Novgorod, and in the 40s. got involved in a grueling and useless struggle for Kyiv. Having achieved his desired goal in 1155, Yuri left Suzdal land forever. Two years later he died in Kyiv /according to one version, he was poisoned/.
The master of North-Eastern Rus' - tough, power-hungry and energetic - was Dolgoruky's son Andrei, nicknamed Bogolyubsky for the construction of a palace in the village of Bogolyubovo near Vladimir. While his father was still alive, Andrei, Yuri’s “beloved child”, to whom he intended to transfer Kyiv after his death, leaves for the Suzdal land without his father’s consent. In 1157, the local boyars elected him as their prince.
Andrei combined several qualities that were important for a statesman of that time. A courageous warrior, he was a calculating, unusually astute diplomat at the negotiating table. Possessing an extraordinary mind and willpower, he became an authoritative and formidable commander, an “autocrat” whose orders even the formidable Polovtsians obeyed. The prince decisively placed himself not next to the boyars, but above them, relying on the cities and his military service court. Unlike his father, who aspired to Kyiv, he was a local Suzdal patriot, and he considered the fight for Kyiv only a means of elevating his principality. Having captured the city of Kyiv in 1169, he gave it to the army for plunder and put his brother there to rule. In addition to everything, Andrei was a well-educated person and was not devoid of original literary talent.
However, in an effort to strengthen princely power and rise above the boyars, Bogolyubsky was ahead of his time. The boyars grumbled silently. When, by order of the prince, one of the Kuchkovich boyars was executed, his relatives organized a conspiracy, in which the prince’s closest servants also participated. On the night of April 29, 1174, the conspirators broke into the prince's bedroom and killed Andrei. The news of his death became a signal for a popular uprising. The prince's castle and the courtyards of the townspeople were plundered, the most hated mayors, tiuns, and tax collectors were killed. Only a few days later the riot subsided.
Andrey's brother Vsevolod the Big Nest continued the traditions of his predecessors. Powerful, like Andrei, he was more prudent and careful. Vsevolod was the first among the princes of the Northeast to receive the title of “Grand Duke”, dictated his will to Ryazan, Novgorod, Galich, and led an attack on the lands of Novgorod and Volga Bulgaria.
Vsevolod had 8 sons and 8 grandchildren, not counting female descendants, for which he received the nickname “Big Nest”.
Having fallen ill in 1212, he bequeathed the throne to his second son Yuri, bypassing the elder Constantine. A new strife followed, lasting 6 years. Yuri ruled in Vladimir until Mongol invasion and died in a battle with the Tatars on the river. City.
Novgorod land.
On the vast expanses of Novgorod land, inhabited by Slavs and Finno-Ugric tribes, several European countries. From 882 to 1136, Novgorod - the “northern guard of Rus'” - was ruled from Kyiv and accepted the eldest sons of the Kyiv prince as governors. In 1136, the Novgorodians expelled Vsevolod /the grandson of Monomakh/ from the city and from then on they began to invite the prince from wherever they wanted, and expelled the unwanted one / the famous Novgorod principle of “liberty in princes”/. Novgorod became independent.
A special form of government developed here, which historians call a boyar republic. This order had long traditions. Also in Kyiv period distant Novgorod, had special political rights. In the X1st century. a mayor had already been chosen here, and Yaroslav the Wise, in exchange for the support of the Novgorodians in the fight for Kyiv, agreed that the boyars would not have jurisdiction over the prince.
The Novgorod boyars descended from the local tribal nobility. It became rich through the division of state revenues, trade and usury, and from the end of the 11th century. began to acquire fiefdoms. Boyar land ownership in Novgorod was much stronger than princely land ownership. Although the Novgorodians tried more than once to “feed” a prince for themselves, their own princely dynasty never developed there. The eldest sons of the great princes, who sat here as governors, after the death of their father, aspired to the Kiev throne.
Situated on infertile lands along the famous route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” Novgorod developed primarily as a craft and trade center. Metalworking, woodworking, pottery, weaving, tanning, jewelry, and fur trading reached a particularly high level. Lively trade took place not only with Russian lands, but also with foreign countries of the West and East, from where cloth, wine, ornamental stone, non-ferrous and precious metals were brought.
In exchange they sent furs, honey, wax, and leather. In Novgorod there were trading yards founded by Dutch and Hanseatic merchants. The most important trading partner was the largest among the cities of the Hanseatic League, Lübeck.
The highest authority in Novgorod was a meeting of free owners of courtyards and estates - the veche. It made decisions on internal and foreign policy, invited and expelled the prince, elected the mayor, thousand, archbishop. The presence without the right to vote of the masses of the urban population made veche meetings stormy and loud events.
The elected mayor actually headed the executive branch, administered court, and controlled the prince. Tysyatsky commanded the militia, judged trade matters, and collected taxes. The archbishop /"lord"/, who was appointed by the Kiev metropolitan until 1156, was also later elected. He was in charge of the treasury and foreign relations. The prince was not only a military commander. He was also an arbitrator, participated in negotiations, and was responsible for internal order. Finally, he was simply one of the attributes of antiquity, and in accordance with the traditionalism of medieval thinking, even the temporary absence of a prince was considered an abnormal phenomenon.
The veche system was a form of feudal "democracy". The illusion of democracy was created around the actual power of the boyars and the so-called “300 golden belts”.
Galicia-Volyn land.
Southwestern Rus', with its highly fertile soils and mild climate, located at the intersection of numerous trade routes, had excellent opportunities for economic development. In the XIII century. almost a third of the cities of all Rus' were concentrated here, and the urban population played an important role in political life. But the princely-boyar feuds, acute as nowhere else in Rus', turned internecine conflicts into a constant phenomenon. The long border with the strong states of the West - Poland, Hungary, the Order - made the Galician-Volyn lands the object of the greedy claims of their neighbors. Internal turmoil was complicated by foreign interference that threatened independence.
At first, the fate of Galicia and Volyn was different. The Galician principality, the westernmost in Rus', until the middle of the 12th century. was divided into small holdings.
Prince Vladimir Volodarevich of Przemysl united them, moving the capital to Galich. The principality reached its highest power under Yaroslav Osmomysl /1151-1187/, so named for his high education and knowledge of eight foreign languages. The last years of his reign were marred by clashes with the powerful boyars. The reason for them was the prince’s family affairs. Having married Dolgoruky’s daughter Olga, he took a mistress, Nastasya, and wanted to transfer the throne to his illegitimate son Oleg “Nastasich”, bypassing the legitimate Vladimir. Nastasya was burned at the stake, and after the death of his father, Vladimir expelled Oleg and established himself on the throne /1187-1199/.
After the death of Yaroslav the Wise, Volyn passed from hand to hand more than once until it fell to the Monomakhovichs. Under Monomakh's grandson Izyaslav Mstislavich, she separated from Kyiv. The rise of the Volyn land occurs at the end of the 12th century. under the cool and energetic Roman Mstislavich, the most prominent figure among the Volyn princes. He fought for 10 years for the neighboring Galician table, and in 1199 he united both principalities under his rule.
The short reign of Roman /1199-1205/ left a bright mark on the history of southern Rus'. The Ipatiev Chronicle calls him “the autocrat of all Rus',” and the French chronicler calls him “the Russian king.”
In 1202 he captured Kyiv and established control over the entire south. Having initially begun a successful fight against the Polovtsians, Roman then switched to Western European affairs. He intervened in the struggle between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufens on the side of the latter. In 1205, during a campaign against the king of Lesser Poland, Roman's army was defeated, and he himself was killed while hunting.
Roman's sons Daniil and Vasilko were too young to continue the broad plans to which their father fell victim. The principality collapsed, and the Galician boyars began a long and ruinous feudal war that lasted about 30 years. Princess Anna fled to Krakow. The Hungarians and Poles captured Galicia and part of Volhynia. Roman's children became toys in a major political game that the warring parties sought to gain. The national liberation struggle against foreign invaders became the basis for the consolidation of forces in Southwestern Rus'. Prince Daniil Romanovich grew up. Having established himself in Volyn and then in Galich, in 1238 he again united both principalities, and in 1240, like his father, he took Kyiv. The Mongol-Tatar invasion interrupted the economic and cultural rise of Galician-Volyn Rus, which began during the reign of this outstanding prince.
After the death of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, the process of disintegration of the previously unified state began in Rus'. Similar events occurred in Western Europe. This was the general trend of the feudal Middle Ages. Gradually, Rus' divided into several de facto independent principalities with common traditions, culture and the Rurik dynasty. The most important year for the country was 1132, when Mstislav the Great died. It is this date that historians consider the beginning of the finally established political fragmentation. In this state, Rus' existed until the middle of the 13th century, when it survived the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar troops.
Kyiv land
Over the course of many years, the principalities of ancient Rus' were divided, united, the ruling branches of the Rurik dynasty changed, etc. However, despite the complexity of these events, several key destinies can be identified that played the most important role in the life of the country. Even after the actual collapse of the de jure, it was the Kiev prince who was considered senior.
A variety of appanage rulers tried to establish control over the “mother of Russian cities.” Therefore, if the appanage principalities of ancient Rus' had their own hereditary dynasties, then Kyiv most often passed from hand to hand. After the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich in 1132, the city briefly became the property of the Chernigov Rurikovichs. This did not suit other representatives of the dynasty. Due to the subsequent wars, Kiev first ceased to control the Pereyaslavl, Turov and Vladimir-Volyn principalities, and then (in 1169) it was completely plundered by the army of Andrei Bogolyubsky and finally lost its political significance.
Chernigov
Ancient Rus' on Chernigov land belonged to the descendants of Svyatoslav Yaroslavovich. They have been in conflict with Kiev for a long time. For several decades, the Chernigov dynasty was divided into two branches: the Olgovichi and the Davydovichi. With each generation, more and more new ones emerged appanage principalities, which broke away from Chernigov (Novgorod-Severskoye, Bryansk, Kursk, etc.).
Historians consider Svyatoslav Olgovich the most prominent ruler of this region. He was an ally It was with their allied feast in Moscow in 1147 that the history of the Russian capital, confirmed by chronicles, begins. When the principalities of ancient Rus' united in the fight against the Mongols who appeared in the east, the appanage rulers of the Chernigov land acted together with the rest of the Rurikovichs and were defeated. The invasion of the steppe inhabitants did not affect the entire principality, but only its eastern part. Nevertheless, it recognized itself as a vassal of the Golden Horde (after the painful death of Mikhail Vsevolodovich). In the 14th century, Chernigov, along with many neighboring cities, was annexed to Lithuania.
Polotsk region
Polotsk was ruled by the Izyaslavichs (descendants of Izyaslav Vladimirovich). This branch of the Rurikovichs stood out earlier than others. In addition, Polotsk was the first to begin an armed struggle for independence from Kyiv. The earliest such war happened at the beginning of the 11th century.
Like other principalities of ancient Rus' during the period of fragmentation, Polotsk eventually split into several small fiefs (Vitebsk, Minsk, Drutsk, etc.). As a result of wars and dynastic marriages, some of these cities passed to the Smolensk Rurikovichs. But the most dangerous opponents of Polotsk, without a doubt, were the Lithuanians. At first, these Baltic tribes staged predatory raids on Russian lands. Then they moved on to conquest. In 1307, Polotsk finally became part of the growing Lithuanian state.
Volyn
In Volyn (the southwest of modern Ukraine), two large political centers emerged - Vladimir-Volynsky and Galich. Having become independent from Kyiv, these principalities began to compete with each other for leadership in the region. At the end of the 12th century, Roman Mstislavovich united the two cities. His principality was named Galicia-Volyn. The influence of the monarch was so great that he sheltered the Byzantine Emperor Alexius III, expelled from Constantinople by the crusaders.
Roman's son Daniel eclipsed his father's successes with his fame. He successfully fought against the Poles, Hungarians and Mongols, periodically concluding alliances with one of his neighbors. In 1254, Daniel even accepted the title of King of Rus' from the Pope, hoping for help from Western Europe in the fight against the steppe inhabitants. After his death, the Galicia-Volyn principality fell into decline. At first it split into several fiefs, and then was captured by Poland. The fragmentation of Ancient Rus', whose principalities were constantly at enmity with each other, prevented it from fighting against external threats.
Smolensk region
The Smolensk principality was located in the geographical center of Rus'. It became independent under the son of Mstislav the Great, Rostislav. At the end of the 12th century, the principalities of Ancient Rus' again began a fierce struggle for Kyiv. The main contenders for power in the ancient capital were the Smolensk and Chernigov rulers.
The descendants of Rostislav reached the pinnacle of power under Mstislav Romanovich. In 1214-1223 he ruled not only Smolensk, but also Kiev. It was this prince who initiated the first anti-Mongol coalition, which was defeated at Kalka. Subsequently, Smolensk suffered less than others during the invasion. Nevertheless, its rulers paid tribute to the Golden Horde. Gradually, the principality found itself sandwiched between Lithuania and Moscow, which were gaining influence. Independence in such conditions could not last long. As a result, in 1404, the Lithuanian prince Vitovt naturally annexed Smolensk to his possessions.
Outpost on the Oka
The Ryazan principality occupied lands on the Middle Oka. It emerged from the possessions of the Chernigov rulers. In the 1160s, Murom broke away from Ryazan. The Mongol invasion hit this region hard. The inhabitants, princes, and principalities of ancient Rus' did not understand the threat posed by the eastern conquerors. In 1237, Ryazan was the first Russian city to be destroyed by the steppe inhabitants. Subsequently, the principality fought with Moscow, which was gaining strength. For example, the Ryazan ruler Oleg Ivanovich was an opponent of Dmitry Donskoy for a long time. Gradually Ryazan lost ground. It was annexed to Moscow in 1521.
Novgorod Republic
The historical characteristics of the principalities of Ancient Rus' cannot be complete without mentioning the Novgorod Republic. This state lived according to its own special political and social structure. An aristocratic republic with a strong influence of the national council was established here. The princes were elected military leaders (they were invited from other Russian lands).
A similar political system developed in Pskov, which was called “the younger brother of Novgorod.” These two cities were centers of international trade. Compared to other Russian political centers, they had the most contacts with Western Europe. After the Baltic states were captured by the Catholic military, serious friction began between the knights and Novgorod. This struggle reached its climax in the 1240s. It was then that the Swedes and Germans were defeated in turn by Prince Alexander Nevsky. When it's almost over historical path from Ancient Rus' to the Great, the republic was left alone with Ivan III. He conquered Novgorod in 1478.
North-Eastern Rus'
The first political centers of North-Eastern Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries. there were Rostov, Suzdal and Vladimir. The descendants of Monomakh and his youngest son Yuri Dolgoruky ruled here. Their father's successors, Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest, strengthened the authority of the Vladimir principality, making it the largest and strongest in fragmented Rus'.
Under the children of Vsevolod the Big Nest, a major development began. The first appanage principalities began to appear. However, real disasters came to North-Eastern Rus' with the Mongols. The nomads ravaged this region and burned many of its cities. During the Horde rule, the khans were recognized as elders throughout Rus'. Those who received a special label were put in charge there.
In the struggle for Vladimir, two new opponents emerged: Tver and Moscow. The peak of their confrontation occurred at the beginning of the 14th century. Moscow turned out to be the winner in this rivalry. Gradually, its princes united North-Eastern Rus', overthrew the Mongol-Tatar yoke and ultimately created a single Russian state (Ivan the Terrible became its first king in 1547).
Russian principalities- a period in the history of Russia (from the 12th to the 16th centuries), when the territory was divided into fiefs led by the princes of the house of Rurikovich. Within the framework of Marxist theory, it is described as a period of feudal fragmentation.
Review
From its very beginning, Kievan Rus was not a unitary state. The first division was made between the sons of Svyatoslav Igorevich in 972, the second - between the sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 1015 and 1023, and the descendants of Izyaslav of Polotsk, having become outcasts for Kiev, became a separate dynasty already at the beginning of the 11th century, as a result of which the Principality of Polotsk earlier others separated from Kievan Rus. However, the division of Rus' by Yaroslav the Wise in 1054 is considered to be the beginning of the division into principalities proper. The next important stage was the decision of the Lyubech Congress of Princes “let each one keep his fatherland” in 1097, but Vladimir Monomakh and his eldest son and heir Mstislav the Great, through seizures and dynastic marriages, were able to again put all the principalities under the control of Kiev.
The death of Mstislav in 1132 is considered to be the beginning of the period of feudal fragmentation, but Kiev remained not only a formal center, but also a powerful principality for several more decades; its influence on the periphery did not disappear, but only weakened in comparison with the first third of the 12th century. The Kiev prince continued to control the Turov, Pereyaslav and Vladimir-Volyn principalities and have both opponents and supporters in every region of Rus' until the middle of the century. Chernigov-Seversk, Smolensk, Rostov-Suzdal, Murom-Ryazan, Peremyshl and Terebovl principalities and Novgorod land became separated from Kyiv. Chroniclers began to use the name for the principalities land, which previously designated only Rus' as a whole (“Russian land”) or other countries (“Greek land”). The lands acted as independent subjects of international relations and were ruled by their own Rurik dynasties, with some exceptions: Principality of Kiev and the Novgorod land did not have their own dynasty and were objects of struggle between princes from other lands (at the same time, in Novgorod, the rights of the prince were severely limited in favor of the local boyar aristocracy), and for the Galician-Volyn principality, after the death of Roman Mstislavich, there was a war for about 40 years between all the southern Russian princes, ending with the victory of Daniil Romanovich Volynsky. At the same time, the unity of the princely family and church unity were preserved, as well as the idea of Kyiv as formally the most important Russian table and the Kyiv land as the common property of all princes. By the beginning of the Mongol invasion (1237), the total number of principalities, including appanages, reached 50. The process of formation of new fiefs continued everywhere (in the XIV century the total number of principalities is estimated at 250), but in the XIV-XV centuries the reverse process began to gain strength, the result of which was the unification of Russian lands around two great principalities: Moscow and Lithuania.
In historiography, when considering the period of the XII-XVI centuries, special attention is usually paid to several principalities.
Novgorod Republic
In 1136, Novgorod left the control of the Kyiv princes. Unlike other Russian lands, the Novgorod land became a feudal republic, its head was not a prince, but a mayor. The mayor and tysyatsky were elected by the veche, while in the rest of the Russian lands the tysyatsky was appointed by the prince. The Novgorodians entered into an alliance with some Russian principalities to protect their independence from others, and from the beginning of the 13th century, to fight external enemies: Lithuania and the Catholic orders that settled in the Baltic states.
Releasing his eldest son Constantine to the Novgorod throne in 1206, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Vsevolod the Big Nest made a speech: “ my son, Konstantin, God has placed upon you the eldership of all your brothers, and Novgorod the Great to have the eldership of the princess in the entire Russian land».
Since 1333, Novgorod for the first time invited a representative of the Lithuanian princely house to reign. In 1449, under an agreement with Moscow, the Polish king and Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV renounced claims to Novgorod, in 1456 Vasily II the Dark concluded the unequal Yazhelbitsky peace treaty with Novgorod, and in 1478 Ivan III completely annexed Novgorod to his possessions, abolishing the veche . In 1494, the Hanseatic trading court in Novgorod was closed.
Vladimir-Suzdal Principality, Grand Duchy of Vladimir
In chronicles until the 13th century it was usually called "Suzdal land", with con. XIII century - "the great reign of Vladimir". In historiography it is designated by the term "North-Eastern Rus'".
Soon after the Rostov-Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky, as a result of many years of struggle, established himself in the reign of Kiev, his son Andrei left for the north, taking with him the icon Mother of God from Vyshgorod (1155). Andrey moved the capital of Rostov- Principality of Suzdal to Vladimir and became the first Grand Duke of Vladimir. In 1169, he organized the capture of Kyiv, and, in the words of V.O. Klyuchevsky, “separated seniority from place,” placing his younger brother in the reign of Kiev, while he himself remained reigning in Vladimir. The seniority of Andrei Bogolyubsky was recognized by all Russian princes, except those of Galicia and Chernigov. The winner in the struggle for power after the death of Andrei was his younger brother Vsevolod the Big Nest, supported by the residents of the new cities in the southwestern part of the principality (“slaves-masons”) against the proteges of the old Rostov-Suzdal boyars. By the end of the 1190s, he achieved recognition of his seniority by all the princes, except those of Chernigov and Polotsk. Shortly before his death, Vsevolod convened a congress of representatives of various social strata on the issue of succession to the throne (1211): The Great Prince Vsevolod summoned all his boyars from the cities and volosts and Bishop John, and the abbots, and the priests, and the merchants, and the nobles, and all the people.
The Pereyaslavl principality was under the control of the Vladimir princes from 1154 (with the exception of a short period 1206-1213). They also used the dependence of the Novgorod Republic on the supply of food from agricultural Opolye through Torzhok in order to extend their influence over it. Also, the Vladimir princes used their military capabilities to protect Novgorod from invasions from the west, and from 1231 to 1333 they invariably reigned in Novgorod.
In 1237-1238, the principality was devastated by the Mongols. In 1243, the Vladimir prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was summoned to Batu and recognized as the oldest prince in Rus'. At the end of the 1250s, a census was carried out and the systematic exploitation of the principality by the Mongols began. After the death of Alexander Nevsky (1263), Vladimir ceased to be the residence of the grand dukes. During the 13th century, appanage principalities with their own dynasties were formed: Belozerskoye, Galitsko-Dmitrovskoye, Gorodetskoye, Kostroma, Moscow, Pereyaslavskoye, Rostovskoye, Starodubskoye, Suzdal, Tverskoye, Uglitsky, Yuryevskoye, Yaroslavskoye (up to 13 principalities in total), and in the 14th century the Tver principalities , Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal princes began to be titled “great”. The Vladimir great reign itself, which included the city of Vladimir with a vast territory in the zone of the Suzdal Opolye and the right to collect tribute for the Horde from all the principalities of North-Eastern Rus', except the great ones, was received by one of the princes by label from the Horde khan.
In 1299, the Metropolitan of All Rus' moved from Kyiv to Vladimir, and in 1327 to Moscow. Since 1331, the Vladimir reign was assigned to the Moscow princely house, and since 1389 it appeared in the wills of the Moscow princes along with the Moscow domain. In 1428, the final merger of the Vladimir principality with the Moscow principality took place.
Galicia-Volyn Principality
After the suppression of the first Galician dynasty, Roman Mstislavich Volynsky took possession of the Galician throne, thereby uniting the two principalities in his hands. In 1201, he was invited to reign by the Kyiv boyars, but left a younger relative to reign in Kyiv, turning Kyiv into an outpost of his possessions in the east.
Roman hosted the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos, who was expelled by the crusaders during the Fourth Crusade. Received an offer of the royal crown from Pope Innocent III. According to the version of the “first Russian historian” Tatishchev V.N., Roman was the author of a project for the political structure of all Russian lands, in which the Kiev prince would be elected by six princes, and their principalities would be inherited by the eldest son. In the chronicle, Roman is called “the autocrat of all Rus'.”
After the death of Roman in 1205, there was a long struggle for power, from which Roman's eldest son and heir Daniel emerged victorious, having restored his control over all of his father's possessions by 1240 - the year of the beginning of the last phase of the western campaign of the Mongols - the campaign against Kiev, the Galician-Volyn principality and to Central Europe. In the 1250s, Daniil fought against the Mongol-Tatars, but he still had to admit his dependence on them. The Galician-Volyn princes paid tribute and participated as forced allies in the Horde campaigns against Lithuania, Poland and Hungary, but maintained the order of transfer of the throne.
The Galician princes also extended their influence to the Turovo-Pinsk principality. Since 1254, Daniil and his descendants bore the title of “Kings of Rus'”. After the transfer of the residence of the Metropolitan of All Rus' from Kiev to Vladimir in 1299, Yuri Lvovich Galitsky founded a separate Galician metropolis, which existed (with interruptions) until the capture of Galicia by Poland in 1349. The Galician-Volynian lands were finally divided between Lithuania and Poland in 1392 following the War of the Galician-Volynian Succession.
Principality of Smolensk
It became isolated under the grandson of Vladimir Monomoh - Rostislav Mstislavich. The Smolensk princes were distinguished by their desire to occupy tables outside their principality, thanks to which it was almost not subject to fragmentation into appanages and had interests in all regions of Rus'. The Rostislavichs were constant contenders for Kyiv and firmly established themselves in a number of its suburban tables. From 1181 to 1194, a duumvirate was established in the Kyiv land, when the city was owned by Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, and the rest of the principality was owned by Rurik Rostislavich. After the death of Svyatoslav, Rurik gained and lost Kyiv several times and in 1203 repeated the act of Andrei Bogolyubsky, subjecting the capital of Rus' to defeat for the second time in the history of civil strife.
The pinnacle of Smolensk power was the reign of Mstislav Romanovich, who occupied the Kiev throne from 1214 to 1223. During this period, Novgorod, Pskov, Polotsk, Vitebsk and Galich were under the control of the Rostislavichs. It was under the auspices of Mstislav Romanovich as the prince of Kyiv that an essentially all-Russian campaign against the Mongols was organized, which ended in defeat on the river. Kalke.
The Mongol invasion affected only the eastern outskirts of the principality and did not affect Smolensk itself. The Smolensk princes recognized their dependence on the Horde, and in 1275 a Mongol census was carried out in the principality. The position of Smolensk was more favorable compared to other lands. It was almost never subjected to Tatar raids; the appanages that arose within it were not assigned to individual princely branches and remained under the control of the Smolensk prince. In the 90s In the 13th century, the territory of the principality expanded due to the annexation of the Bryansk principality from the Chernigov land, at the same time, the Smolensk princes established themselves in the Yaroslavl principality through a dynastic marriage. In the 1st half. In the 14th century, under Prince Ivan Alexandrovich, the Smolensk princes began to be called great. However, by this time the principality found itself in the role of a buffer zone between Lithuania and the Moscow principality, whose rulers sought to make the Smolensk princes dependent on themselves and gradually seized their volosts. In 1395, Smolensk was conquered by Vytautas. In 1401, the Smolensk prince Yuri Svyatoslavich, with the support of Ryazan, regained his throne, but in 1404 Vytautas again captured the city and finally included it in Lithuania.
Principality of Chernigov
It became isolated in 1097 under the rule of the descendants of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, their rights to the principality were recognized by other Russian princes at the Lyubech Congress. After the youngest of the Svyatoslavichs was deprived of his reign in 1127 and, under the rule of his descendants, the lands on the lower Oka separated from Chernigov, and in 1167 the line of descendants of Davyd Svyatoslavich was cut off, the Olgovich dynasty established itself on all princely tables of the Chernigov land: the northern and upper Oka lands the descendants of Vsevolod Olgovich owned (they were also permanent claimants to Kiev), the Novgorod-Seversky principality was owned by the descendants of Svyatoslav Olgovich. Representatives of both branches reigned in Chernigov (until 1226).
Except Kyiv and Vyshgorod, at the end XII-early XIII centuries, the Olgovichs managed to briefly extend their influence to Galich and Volyn, Pereyaslavl and Novgorod.
In 1223, the Chernigov princes took part in the first campaign against the Mongols. In the spring of 1238, during the Mongol invasion, the northeastern lands of the principality were devastated, and in the autumn of 1239, the southwestern ones. After the death of the Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich in the Horde in 1246, the lands of the principality were divided between his sons, and the eldest of them, Roman, became a prince in Bryansk. In 1263, he liberated Chernigov from the Lithuanians and annexed it to his possessions. Starting from Roman, the Bryansk princes were usually titled as the Grand Dukes of Chernigov.
At the beginning of the 14th century, the Smolensk princes established themselves in Bryansk, presumably through a dynastic marriage. The struggle for Bryansk lasted for several decades, until in 1357 the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd Gediminovich installed one of the contenders, Roman Mikhailovich, to reign. In the second half of the 14th century, in parallel with him, Olgerd’s sons Dmitry and Dmitry-Koribut also reigned in the Bryansk lands. After the Ostrov agreement, the autonomy of the Bryansk principality was eliminated, Roman Mikhailovich became the Lithuanian governor in Smolensk, where he was killed in 1401.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
It arose in the 13th century as a result of the unification of Lithuanian tribes by Prince Mindovg. In 1320-1323, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas conducted successful campaigns against Volyn and Kyiv (the Battle of the Irpen River). After Olgerd Gediminovich established control over Southern Russia in 1362, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became a state in which, despite the presence of a foreign ethnic core, the majority of the population was Russian, and the predominant religion was Orthodoxy. The principality acted as a rival to another rising center of Russian lands at that time - the Moscow principality, but Olgerd's campaigns against Moscow were unsuccessful.
The Teutonic Order intervened in the struggle for power in Lithuania after the death of Olgerd, and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagiello was forced to abandon the plan of concluding a dynastic union with Moscow and recognize (1384) the condition of baptism into the Catholic faith within the next 4 years. Already in 1385 the first Polish-Lithuanian union was concluded. In 1392, Vitovt became the Lithuanian prince, who finally included Smolensk and Bryansk in the principality, and after the death of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily I (1425), married to his daughter, he extended his influence to Tver, Ryazan and Pronsk for several years.
The Polish-Lithuanian Union of 1413 granted privileges to the Catholic nobility in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but during the struggle for power after the death of Vytautas they were abolished (equality of rights for Catholic and Orthodox nobility confirmed by the privilege of 1563).
In 1458, on the Russian lands subject to Lithuania and Poland, the Kiev metropolis was formed, independent of the Moscow metropolis of “All Rus'”.
After the entry of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Livonian War and the fall of Polotsk, the principality was united with Poland into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth confederation (1569), while the lands of Kiev, Podolsk and Volyn, previously part of the principality, became part of Poland.
Grand Duchy of Moscow
It emerged from the Grand Duchy of Vladimir at the end of the 13th century as the inheritance of the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, Daniel. In the first years of the 14th century, it annexed a number of adjacent territories and began to compete with the Tver Principality. In 1328, together with the Horde and Suzdal, Tver was defeated, and soon the Moscow Prince Ivan I Kalita became the Grand Duke of Vladimir. Subsequently, the title, with rare exceptions, was retained by his offspring. After the victory on the Kulikovo Field, Moscow became the center of the unification of Russian lands. In 1389, Dmitry Donskoy transferred the great reign in his will to his son Vasily I, which was recognized by all the neighbors of Moscow and the Horde.
In 1439, the Moscow Metropolis of “All Rus'” did not recognize the Florentine Union of the Greek and Roman churches and became virtually autocephalous.
After the reign of Ivan III (1462), the process of unification of the Russian principalities under the rule of Moscow entered a decisive phase. By the end of the reign Vasily III(1533) Moscow became the center of Russian centralized state, annexing, in addition to all of North-Eastern Rus' and Novgorod, also the Smolensk and Chernigov lands conquered from Lithuania. In 1547, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan IV was crowned king. In 1549, the first Zemsky Sobor was convened. In 1589, the Moscow metropolitanate was transformed into a patriarchate. In 1591, the last inheritance in the kingdom was eliminated.
Economy
As a result of the capture of the city of Sarkel and the Tmutarakan principality by the Cumans, as well as the success of the first crusade, the importance of trade routes changed. The route “From the Varangians to the Greeks,” on which Kyiv was located, gave way to the Volga trade route and the route that connected the Black Sea with Western Europe through the Dniester. In particular, the campaign against the Polovtsians in 1168 under the leadership of Mstislav Izyaslavich was aimed at ensuring the passage of goods along the lower Dnieper.
The “Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich,” issued by Vladimir Monomakh after the Kyiv uprising of 1113, introduced an upper limit on the amount of interest on debts, which freed the poor from the threat of long-term and eternal bondage. In the 12th century, although custom work remained predominant, many signs point to the beginning of more progressive work for the market.
Large craft centers became targets of the Mongol invasion of Rus' in 1237-1240. Their ruin, the capture of craftsmen and the subsequent need to pay tribute caused the decline of crafts and trade.
At the end of the 15th century, the distribution of land to nobles under the condition of service (estate) began in the Moscow principality. In 1497, the Code of Law was adopted, one of the provisions of which limited the transfer of peasants from one landowner to another on St. George’s day in the autumn.
Warfare
In the 12th century, instead of a squad, a regiment became the main fighting force. The senior and junior squads are transformed into the militia of the landowner boyars and the prince's court.
In 1185, for the first time in Russian history, the division of the battle order was noted not only along the front into three tactical units (regiments), but also in depth up to four regiments, the total number of tactical units reached six, including the first mention of a separate rifle regiment, which is also mentioned on Lake Peipsi in 1242 (Battle of the Ice).
The blow dealt to the economy by the Mongol invasion also affected the state of military affairs. The process of differentiation of functions between the detachments of heavy cavalry, which dealt a direct blow with melee weapons, and the detachments of riflemen, broke down, reunification occurred, and the warriors again began to use a spear and sword and shoot from a bow. Individual rifle units, and on a semi-regular basis, reappeared only at the end XV-early XVI centuries in Novgorod and Moscow (pishchalniki, archers).
Foreign Wars
Cumans
After a series of offensive campaigns at the beginning of the 12th century, the Polovtsians were forced to migrate to the southeast, right up to the foothills of the Caucasus. The resumption of internecine struggle in Rus' in the 1130s allowed the Polovtsians to again ravage Rus', including as allies of one of the warring princely factions. The first offensive movement of the allied forces against the Polovtsians in several decades was organized by Mstislav Izyaslavich in 1168, then Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich in 1183 organized a general campaign of forces of almost all southern Russian principalities and defeated a large Polovtsian association of the southern Russian steppes, led by Khan Kobyak. And although the Polovtsians managed to defeat Igor Svyatoslavich in 1185, in subsequent years the Polovtsians did not undertake large-scale invasions of Rus' outside of princely strife, and the Russian princes undertook a series of powerful offensive campaigns (1198, 1202, 1203). By the beginning of the 13th century, there was a noticeable Christianization of the Polovtsian nobility. Of the four Polovtsian khans mentioned in the chronicle in connection with the first Mongol invasion of Europe, two had Orthodox names, and the third was baptized before the joint Russian-Polovtsian campaign against the Mongols (battle of the Kalka River). The Polovtsians, like Rus', became victims of the western campaign of the Mongols in 1236-1242.
Catholic orders, Sweden and Denmark
The first appearance of Catholic preachers in the lands of the Livs dependent on the Polotsk princes occurred in 1184. The founding of the city of Riga and the Order of the Swordsmen dates back to 1202. The first campaigns of the Russian princes were undertaken in 1217-1223 in support of the Estonians, but gradually the order not only subjugated the local tribes, but also deprived the Russians of their possessions in Livonia (Kukeinos, Gersik, Viljandi and Yuryev).
In 1234, the crusaders were defeated by Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Novgorod in the battle of Omovzha, in 1236 by Lithuanians and Semigallians in the Battle of Saul, after which the remnants of the Order of the Swords became part of the Teutonic Order, founded in 1198 in Palestine and seized the lands of the Prussians in 1227, and northern Estonia became part of Denmark. An attempt at a coordinated attack on Russian lands in 1240, immediately after the Mongol invasion of Rus', ended in failure (Battle of the Neva, Battle of the Ice), although the crusaders managed to briefly capture Pskov.
After combining the military efforts of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Teutonic Order suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Grunwald (1410), subsequently became dependent on Poland (1466) and lost its possessions in Prussia as a result of secularization (1525). In 1480, while standing on the Ugra, the Livonian Order launched an attack on Pskov, but to no avail. In 1561, the Livonian Order was liquidated as a result of the successful actions of Russian troops at the initial stage of the Livonian War.
Mongol-Tatars
After the victory on Kalka in 1223 over the combined forces of the Russian principalities and the Polovtsians, the Mongols abandoned the plan to march on Kiev, which was the final goal of their campaign, turned east, were defeated by the Volga rainfeds at the crossing of the Volga and launched a large-scale invasion of Europe only 13 years later , but at the same time they no longer met organized resistance. Poland and Hungary also became victims of the invasion, and the Smolensk, Turovo-Pinsk, Polotsk principalities and the Novgorod Republic managed to avoid defeat.
The Russian lands became dependent on the Golden Horde, which was expressed in the right of the Horde khans to appoint princes to their tables and the payment of annual tribute. The rulers of the Horde were called “kings” in Rus'.
During the onset of the “great turmoil” in the Horde following the death of Khan Berdibek (1359), Olgerd Gediminovich defeated the Horde at Blue Waters (1362) and established control over Southern Russia, thereby putting an end to the Mongol-Tatar yoke. During the same period, the Grand Duchy of Moscow took a significant step towards liberation from the yoke (Battle of Kulikovo in 1380).
During periods of struggle for power in the Horde, the Moscow princes suspended the payment of tribute, but were forced to resume it after the invasions of Tokhtamysh (1382) and Edigei (1408). In 1399, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt, who tried to return the Horde throne to Tokhtamysh and thus establish control over the Horde, was defeated by Timur’s henchmen in the Battle of Vorskla, in which the Lithuanian princes who took part in the Battle of Kulikovo also died.
After the collapse of the Golden Horde into several khanates, the Moscow Principality received the opportunity to pursue an independent policy in relation to each khanate. The descendants of Ulu-Muhammad received the Meshchera lands from Vasily II, forming the Kasimov Khanate (1445). Since 1472, in alliance with Crimean Khanate Moscow fought against the Great Horde, which entered into an alliance with the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV. The Crimeans repeatedly ravaged the southern Russian possessions of Casimir, primarily Kyiv and Podolia. In 1480, the Mongol-Tatar yoke (standing on the Ugra) was overthrown. After the liquidation of the Great Horde (1502), a common border arose between the Moscow Principality and the Crimean Khanate, immediately after which regular Crimean raids on Moscow lands began. The Kazan Khanate, starting from the middle of the 15th century, increasingly experienced military and political pressure from Moscow, until in 1552 it was annexed to the Muscovite kingdom. In 1556, the Astrakhan Khanate was also annexed to it, and in 1582 the conquest of the Siberian Khanate began.
Introduction
3..Vladimiro - Suzdal land
4..Galitsko - Volyn principality
5..Novgorod land
6..Kiev Principality
7. The significance of the period of fragmentation in Russian history
Conclusion
Introduction
The topic of the history of Ancient Rus' considered in the work seems not only interesting, but also very relevant. Recent years have been marked by changes in many areas of Russian life. The lifestyle of many people has changed, the system of life values has changed. Knowledge of the history of Russia, the spiritual traditions of the Russian people, is very important for increasing the national self-awareness of Russians. A sign of the revival of the nation is the ever-increasing interest in the historical past of the Russian people, in their spiritual values.
Time from the beginning of the XII to the end of the XV century. traditionally called the specific period. And indeed, on the basis of Kievan Rus, approximately 15 principalities and lands were formed by the middle of the 12th century, about 50 principalities by the beginning of the 13th century, approximately 250 - 14th centuries.
The territory of the Kyiv state was concentrated around several political centers that were once tribal. In the second half of the 11th - early 12th centuries. Quite stable principalities began to form within Kievan Rus. As a result of the merger of East Slavic tribes during the period of Kievan Rus, the Old Russian people gradually formed, which was characterized by a certain common language, territory and mental makeup, manifested in a common culture.
The Old Russian state was one of the largest European states. The fight of Rus' against the raids of nomads was of great importance for the security of the countries of both Western Asia and Europe. Rus''s trade relations were extensive. Rus' maintained political, trade and cultural relations with the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria, had diplomatic ties with Byzantium, Germany, Norway and Sweden, and also established ties with France and England. The international significance of Rus' is evidenced by the dynastic marriages concluded by Russian princes. Treaties with Byzantium preserve valuable evidence about social relations in Kievan Rus and its international significance.
However, already in the 12th century. separated from the ancient Russian state whole line principalities
The main goal of this work is to consider the causes and factors of the fragmentation of Ancient Rus', which led to the creation of new government centers, consider the largest of these centers and analyze the significance of this period in the history of Russia.
1. Causes and factors of fragmentation
By the middle of the 11th century. The Old Russian state reached its peak. Sometimes Kievan Rus is even called an early feudal monarchy. Over time, the single state united by the power of the Kyiv prince no longer existed.
According to the generally accepted point of view, from the middle of the 11th to the beginning of the 12th century. The Old Russian state entered a new stage in its history - the era of political and feudal fragmentation.
Political fragmentation is a natural stage in the development of statehood and feudal relations. Not a single early feudal state in Europe escaped it. Throughout this era, the power of the monarch was weak and the functions of the state were insignificant. The trend towards unity and centralization of states began to appear only in the 13th-15th centuries.
The political fragmentation of the state had many objective reasons. The economic reason for political fragmentation was, according to historians, the dominance of subsistence farming. Trade relations in the XI-XII centuries. were developed rather poorly and could not ensure the economic unity of the Russian lands. By this time the once powerful Byzantine Empire began to decline. Byzantium ceased to be world shopping center, and therefore, the main ancient way“from the Varangians to the Greeks,” which for many centuries allowed the Kievan state to carry out trade relations.
Another reason for the political disintegration was the remnants of tribal relations. After all, Kievan Rus united several dozen large tribal unions. The constant raids of nomads on the Dnieper lands also played a significant role. Fleeing from raids, people went to live in sparsely populated lands located in the northeast of Rus'. Continuous migration contributed to the expansion of territory and the weakening of the power of the Kyiv prince. The process of continuous fragmentation of the country could have been influenced by the absence of the concept of primordium in Russian feudal law. This principle, which existed in many states of Western Europe, provided that all land holdings of a particular feudal lord passed only to the eldest of their sons. In Rus', land holdings after the death of the prince could be divided among all heirs.
Most modern historians consider the development of large private feudal land ownership to be one of the most important factors that gave rise to feudal fragmentation. Back in the 11th century. There is a process of “settlement of the vigilantes on the ground”, the emergence of large feudal estates - boyar villages. The feudal class gains economic and political power. The presence of a large number of large and medium-sized feudal estates became incompatible with the early feudal state, which had a vast territory and a weak state apparatus.
Kievan Rus was a vast but unstable state entity. The tribes that were part of it maintained their isolation for a long time. Individual lands under the dominance of subsistence farming could not form a single economic space. In addition, in the XI-XII centuries. New factors are emerging that contribute to the fragmentation of this unstable state.
The main force in the process of separation was the boyars. Relying on his power, local princes were able to establish their power in each land. However, subsequently, inevitable contradictions and a struggle for influence and power arose between the strengthened boyars and the local princes.
The growth of population and, accordingly, the military potential of various regions of Rus' became the basis for the formation of a number of sovereign principalities. Civil strife among the princes arose.
The gradual growth of cities, trade and economic development of individual lands led to the loss of Kiev's historical role due to the movement of trade routes and the emergence of new centers of craft and trade, increasingly independent from the capital of the Russian state.
The social structure of society became more complex and the nobility emerged.
Finally, the collapse of the unified state was facilitated by the absence of a serious external threat to the entire East Slavic community. Later, this threat appeared from the Mongols, but the process of separating the principalities had already gone too far by that time.
These processes actually manifested themselves in the middle of the second half of the 11th century. Prince Yaroslav the Wise, shortly before his death (1054), divided the lands between his five sons. But he did this in such a way that the sons' possessions mutually divided each other; it was almost impossible to manage them independently. Yaroslav tried to solve two problems at once in this way: on the one hand, he sought to avoid bloody strife between the heirs, which usually began after the death of the Kiev prince: each of the sons received lands that were supposed to ensure his existence as a sovereign prince; on the other hand, Yaroslav hoped that his children would jointly defend all-Russian interests, related primarily to the defense of borders. The Grand Duke did not intend to divide the united Rus' into independent ones, independent states; he only hoped that now it, as a single whole, would be ruled not by one person, but by the entire princely family.
It is not entirely clear how exactly the subordination of various lands to Kyiv was ensured, or how these lands were distributed among the princes. Described by historians of the 19th century. the principle of gradual (alternate) movement of princes from one throne to another was more of an ideal scheme than a practically functioning mechanism.
CM. Soloviev, analyzing the political structure of Rus' after Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054), came to the conclusion that the lands subject to the Grand Duke were not divided into separate possessions, but were considered as the common property of the entire Yaroslavich family. The princes received for temporary control any part of this common possession - the better, the “older” this or that prince was considered. Seniority, according to Yaroslav's plan, was to be determined as follows: all his brothers followed the ruling Grand Duke of Kyiv; after their death, their eldest sons succeeded their fathers in the line of princes, gradually moving from less prestigious thrones to more important ones. At the same time, only those princes whose fathers managed to reign in the capital could claim the title of Grand Duke. If some prince died before it was his turn to take the throne in Kyiv, then his descendants were deprived of the right to this throne and reigned somewhere in the province.
This system of “ladder ascent” - the “next order” of inheritance, was very far from perfect and gave rise to constant strife between the brothers and children of the princes (the eldest son of the Grand Duke could take his father’s throne only after the death of all his uncles). Disputes about seniority between uncles and nephews were a frequent occurrence in Rus' in a later period, until in the 15th century. there was no established procedure for transferring power from father to son.
At every opportunity, the Yaroslavichs strove to break the order - of course, for the benefit of themselves or their closest relatives and allies. The “ladder scheme” turned out to be unviable; the confusing order of inheritance was the reason for frequent strife, and the discontent of the princes, excluded from the line for power, led to the fact that they turned to the Hungarians, Poles, and Cumans for help.
Thus, since the 50s. XI century The process of determining the boundaries of future independent lands was underway. Kyiv became the first among the principality-states. Soon other lands caught up with it and even outstripped it in their development. A dozen independent principalities and lands emerged, the boundaries of which were formed within the framework of the Kyiv state as the boundaries of appanages, volosts, where local dynasties ruled.
As a result of fragmentation, the principalities emerged as independent principalities, the names of which were given to the capital cities: Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Murmansk, Ryazan, Rostov-Suzdal, Smolensk, Galicia, Vladimir-Volyn, Polotsk, Turovo-Pinsk, Tmutarakan, Novgorod and Pskov lands. Each of the lands was ruled by its own dynasty - one of the branches of the Rurikovichs. New form The state-political organization became political fragmentation, which replaced the early feudal monarchy.
In 1097, on the initiative of Yaroslav’s grandson, Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh of Pereyaslavl, a congress of princes met in the city of Lyubech. It established a new principle for the organization of power in Rus' - “everyone holds his own homeland.” Thus, the Russian land ceased to be the combined possession of an entire clan. The possessions of each branch of this family - the fatherland - became its hereditary property. This decision consolidated feudal fragmentation. Only later, when Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125) became the Grand Duke of Kyiv, and also under his son Mstislav (1126-1132), the state unity of Rus' was temporarily restored. Rus' maintained relative political unity.
The beginning of the period of fragmentation (both political and feudal) should be considered from 1132. However, Rus' was ready for collapse a long time ago (it is no coincidence that V.O. Klyuchevsky defines the beginning of “ specific period", i.e. the period of independence of Russian principalities, not from 1132, but from 1054, when, according to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, Rus' was divided among his children). Since 1132, the princes stopped reckoning with the Grand Duke of Kyiv as the head of all Rus'.
The collapse of the Old Russian state did not destroy the established ancient Russian people. Art historians and philologists note that the spiritual life of various Russian lands and principalities, with all its diversity, retained common features and unity of styles. Cities grew and were built - the centers of the newly emerged appanage principalities. Trade developed, which led to the emergence of new routes of communication. The most important trade routes passed from the lake. Ilmen and r. Western Dvina to the Dnieper, from the Neva to the Volga, the Dnieper was also connected to the Volga-Oka interfluve.
Thus, the specific period should not be considered as a step back in Russian history. However, the ongoing process of political fragmentation of lands and numerous princely strife weakened the country's defense capability in the face of external danger.
2. Formation of new government centers
Some modern historians do not use the term “feudal fragmentation” to characterize the processes that took place in the Russian lands at the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th centuries. They see the main reason for the fragmentation of Rus' in the formation of city-states. The super-union led by Kiev broke up into a number of city-states, which, in turn, became centers of land-volosts that arose on the territory of the former tribal unions. According to these views, Rus' entered the period of the existence of autonomous communal unions, which took the form of city-states.
The principalities and lands of Rus' during the appanage period were fully established states, comparable in territory to European ones. Kyiv, suffering from raids by nomads and princely strife, gradually lost its importance. And although throughout almost the entire XII century. Traditionally, it continued to be looked upon as the main city of Rus'; it actually turned into the capital of the small Principality of Kyiv, located in the Middle Dnieper region. Most important at the turn of the 12th – 13th centuries. acquire the Vladimir-Suzdal and Galician-Volyn principalities, as well as the Novgorod land, which became the political centers of the North-Eastern, South-Western and Northwestern Rus'. Each of them develops a unique political system: a princely monarchy in the Vladimir-Suzdal land, a princely-boyar monarchy in Galicia-Volyn and a boyar republic in Novgorod.
Vladimiro (Rostovo) – Suzdol land
Vladimir-Suzdal land played an important role in the political life of Rus'. At the turn of the XII - XIII centuries. it covered vast areas between the Oka and Volga rivers. This territory, now considered the very center of Russia, was completely sparsely populated a thousand years ago. Since ancient times, Finno-Ugric tribes lived here, later almost completely assimilated by the Slavs. The growth of the population of Kievan Rus caused the need to develop new territories. In the XI – XII centuries. the southern borders of the state were constantly subject to raids by nomads. At this time, the intensive movement of Slavic settlers to the northeastern region began. The city of Rostov becomes the center of the newly developed lands.
The main factors that influenced the formation of a rich and powerful principality:
distance from the steppe nomads in the south;
landscape obstacles for easy penetration of the Varangians from the north;
possession of the upper reaches of waterways (Volga, Oka), through which rich Novgorod merchant caravans passed; good opportunities for economic development;
significant emigration from the south (population influx);
developed since the 11th century. network of cities (Rostov, Suzdal, Murom, Ryazan, Yaroslavl, etc.);
very energetic and ambitious princes who headed the principality.
There was a direct relationship between the geographical features of North-Eastern Rus' and the formation of strong princely power. This region was developed on the initiative of the princes. The lands were considered as the property of the prince, and the population, including the boyars, as his servants. Vassal and druzhina relations, characteristic of the period of Kievan Rus, were replaced by princely and subject relations. As a result, a patrimonial system of power developed in North-Eastern Rus'. (scheme 1)
The names of Vladimir Monomakh and his son Yuri Dolgoruky (1125-1157), who was distinguished by his desire to expand his territory and subjugate Kiev (for this he received the nickname Dolgoruky), are associated with the formation and development of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. He captured Kyiv and became the Grand Duke of Kyiv; actively influenced the politics of Novgorod the Great. Ryazan and Murom fell under the influence of the Rostov-Suzdal princes. Yuri carried out extensive construction of fortified cities on the borders of his principality. In 1147, the chronicle first mentioned Moscow, built on the site of the former estate of the boyar Kuchka, confiscated by Yuri Dolgorukov. Here, on April 4, 1147, negotiations between Yuri and the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav took place, who brought Yuri a leopard skin as a gift.
The son and successor of Yuri, Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157-1174), so nicknamed for his significant reliance on the church, fell to the unification of Russian lands and the transfer of the center of all Russian political life from the rich boyar Rostov, first to a small town, and then built up with unprecedented speed, Vladimir - on - Klyazma. Impregnable white stone gates were built, and the majestic Assumption Cathedral was erected. In the country residence of Bogolyubovo on a dark July night in 1174, Andrei was killed as a result of a conspiracy of boyars, led by the boyars Kuchkovichi, the former owners of Moscow.
The policy of unifying all Russian lands under the rule of one prince was continued by Andrei’s half-brother, Vsevolod the Big Nest (1176-1212), so nicknamed for his large family. Under him, there was a significant strengthening of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, which became the strongest in Rus' and one of the largest feudal states in Europe, the core of the future Moscow state.
Vsevolod influenced the politics of Novgorod, received a rich inheritance in the Kiev region, almost completely controlled the Ryazan principality, etc. Having completed the fight against the boyars, he finally established a monarchy in the principality. By this time, the nobility was increasingly becoming the support of princely power. It consisted of servicemen, military men, courtyard people, and servants who depended on the prince and received from him land for temporary use, payment in kind, or the right to collect princely income.
The economic rise of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality continued for some time under the sons of Vsevolod. However, at the beginning of the 13th century. it disintegrates into destinies: Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Uglich, Pereyaslav, Yuryev, Murom. Principalities of North-Eastern Rus' in the XIV-XV centuries. became the basis for the formation of the Moscow state.
4. Galicia - Volga Principality
The Galician and Volyn principalities were formed in the southwest of Rus'. They occupied the northeastern slopes of the Carpathians and the territory between the Dniester and Prut. (Scheme 2).
Features and conditions of development:
fertile lands for agriculture and vast forests for fishing;
significant deposits of rock salt, which were exported to neighboring countries;
comfortable geographical position(neighborhood with Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic), which made it possible to conduct an active foreign trade;
the lands of the principality were relatively safe from the nomads;
the presence of an influential local boyars, who fought for power not only among themselves, but also with the princes.
The Principality of Galicia strengthened significantly during the reign of Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153-1187). His successor, the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavovich, managed to unite the Volyn and Galician principalities in 1199. At the beginning of the 13th century, after the death of Roman Mstislavovich in 1205, an internecine war broke out in the principality with the participation of Hungarians and Poles. Roman's son, Daniil Galitsky (1221-1264), broke the boyar resistance and in 1240, having occupied Kyiv, managed to unite the southwestern and Kyiv lands. However, in the same year, the Galicia-Volyn principality was devastated by the Mongol-Tatars, and 100 years later these lands became part of Lithuania (Volyn) and Poland (Galich).
5. Novgorod land
The Novgorod land, which occupied the northwestern territory of the former Old Russian state, was one of the first to emerge from the power of the Kyiv prince. At the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th century. A kind of political formation arose here, which in modern historical literature is called a feudal republic. The Novgorodians themselves called their state beautifully and solemnly - “Mr. Veliky Novgorod”. Novgorod possessions extended from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the borders of the modern Tver and Moscow regions in the south.
The Novgorod land developed along a special path (Diagram 3):
was far from the nomads and did not experience the horror of their raids;
wealth consisted in the presence of a huge land fund that fell into the hands of the local boyars, who grew out of the local tribal nobility;
Novgorod did not have enough of its own bread, but commercial activities - hunting, fishing, salt making, iron production, bee farming - received significant development and provided the boyars with considerable income;
the rise of Novgorod was facilitated by its exceptionally favorable geographical position: the city was located at the intersection of trade routes connecting Western Europe with Russia, and through it with the East and Byzantium;
both in Novgorod and later in Pskov land (originally part of Novgorod), a socio-political system developed - a boyar republic;
a favorable factor in the fate of Novgorod: it was not subjected to severe Mongol-Tatar plunder, although it paid tribute. In the struggle for the independence of Novgorod, Alexander Nevsky (1220-1263) became especially famous, who not only repelled the onslaught of German-Swedish aggression (Battle of the Neva, Battle of the Ice), but also pursued a flexible policy, making concessions to the Golden Horde and organizing resistance to the advance of Catholicism in the west;
The Novgorod Republic was close to the European type of development, similar to the city-republics of the Hanseatic League, as well as the city-republics of Italy (Venice, Genoa, Florence)
As a rule, Novgorod was owned by the prince who held the Kiev throne. This allowed the eldest prince among the Rurikovichs to control the great path and dominate Rus'.
Using the discontent of the Novgorodians (uprising of 1136), the boyars, who had significant economic power, managed to finally defeat the prince in the struggle for power. Novgorod became a boyar republic. In fact, power belonged to the boyars, the highest clergy and eminent merchants.
All the highest executive bodies - posadniks (heads of government), thousand (heads of the city militia and judges in commercial matters), bishop (head of the church, manager of the treasury, controlled the foreign policy of Veliky Novgorod), etc. - were replenished from the boyar nobility. At the same time, senior officials were elected. So, for example, in the second half of the 12th century. Novgorodians, like no one else in the Russian lands, began to choose their own spiritual shepherd - the Bishop (Archbishop of Novgorod).
On this land, earlier than in Europe, reformist tendencies towards the church appeared, anticipating the European Reformation, and even atheistic sentiments.
The position of the prince was peculiar. He did not have complete state power, did not inherit the Novgorod land, but was invited only to perform representative and military functions.
Any attempt by the prince to interfere in internal affairs inevitably ended in his expulsion (in just over 200 years there were 58 princes).
The rights of the highest authority belonged to the people's assembly - the veche, which had broad powers:
Consideration of the most important issues of domestic and foreign policy;
Inviting the prince and concluding an agreement with him;
Election of trade policy important for Novgorod, election of mayor, judge for trade matters, etc.
Along with the citywide veche, there were “Konchansky” (the city was divided into five districts, and the entire Novgorod land into five regions, Pyatyn) and “Ulichansky” (uniting street residents) veche gatherings. The actual hosts at the meeting were 300 “golden belts” - the largest boyars of Novgorod. By the 15th century they actually usurped the rights of the people's council.
6. Principality of Kiev
The Principality of Kiev, endangered by nomads, lost its former importance due to the outflow of population and the decline in the role of the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”; however, it still remained a major power. According to tradition, the princes still competed for Kyiv, although its influence on all-Russian life had weakened. On the eve of the Mongol invasion, the power of the Galician-Volyn prince Daniil Romanovich was established in it. In 1299, the Russian metropolitan moved his residence to Vladimir-on-Klyazma, as if establishing a new balance of power within Rus'. The Mongol invasion from the east, the expansion of the Catholic Church from the west, changes in the world (the weakening of Byzantium, etc.) largely determined the nature of the further development of the Russian principalities and lands - the successors of the Kyiv state.
7. The significance of the period of fragmentation in Russian history
Fragmentation, like any historical phenomenon, has both positive and negative sides. Let's compare Kievan Rus with the ancient Russian principalities in the 12th-13th centuries. Kievan Rus is a developed Dnieper region and Novgorod, surrounded by sparsely populated outskirts. In the XII-XIII centuries. The gap between centers and outskirts is disappearing. The outskirts are turning into independent principalities, which surpass Kievan Rus in terms of the level of economic, socio-political and cultural development. However, the period of fragmentation also has a number of negative phenomena:
1) there was a process of land fragmentation. With the exception of Veliky Novgorod, all the principalities were divided into internal fiefs, the number of which grew from century to century. If by 1132 there were about 15 isolated territories, then at the beginning of the 13th century. There were already 50 independent principalities and appanages, and at the end of the 13th century. – 250.
On the one hand, the resistance of the appanage princes and boyars restrained the despotic desire of many senior princes, who wanted to subordinate the life of entire principalities to their personal ambitious plans. But on the other hand, often the appanage princes, supported by the appanage boyars, became defenders of civil strife and tried to take possession of the senior table. The local aristocracy plotted and rebelled;
2) there were endless internecine wars. Contradictions between senior and junior princes within one principality, and between princes of independent principalities, were often resolved through war. According to S.M. Solovyov’s calculations, from 1055 to 1228 in Rus' there were 93 peaceful years in which strife occurred.
It was not the battles that were terrible, but their consequences. The victors burned and plundered villages and cities, and most importantly, they captured numerous villages, turned the captives into slaves, and resettled them on their lands. Thus, the grandson of Manomakh Izyaslav of Kiev in 1149 took away 7 thousand people from the Rostov land of his uncle Yuri Dolgoruky.
3) the military potential of the country as a whole was weakened. Despite attempts to convene princely congresses, which maintained a certain order in fragmented Rus' and softened civil strife, the country's military power weakened.
Western Europe survived this relatively painlessly due to the absence of strong external aggression. For Rus', on the eve of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the decline in defense capability turned out to be fatal.
Conclusion
Based on the work done, we analyzed the causes and factors of the fragmentation of Ancient Rus', saw what led to the creation of the formation of new state centers, reviewed the largest of these centers and examined the significance of this period in the history of Russia.
This period was an important prerequisite for the formation of a single and integral state.
Feudal fragmentation in Rus' was a natural result of economic and political development early feudal society. The formation of large landholdings - estates - in the Old Russian state under the dominance of subsistence farming inevitably made them completely independent production complexes, the economic ties of which were limited to the immediate surroundings.
The process of onset of feudal fragmentation was objectively inevitable. He made it possible to more firmly establish the developing system of feudal relations in Rus'. From this point of view, we can talk about the historical progressiveness of this stage of Russian history, within the framework of the development of economics and culture.
Literature
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