Introduction 2

1 Prerequisites and features of the formation of the Russian centralized state 4

2 Social order 7

3 Political system and development of law 10

Conclusion 16

List of sources used 17

Introduction

One of the first reasons for the formation of the Russian centralized state is the strengthening of economic ties between the Russian lands. This process was caused by the general economic development of the country. First of all, agriculture developed strongly. The slash and fallow system is being replaced by another method of cultivating the land - the arable system, which requires more advanced production tools. There is an increase in sown areas due to the development of new and previously abandoned lands. Surpluses appear, which contributes to the development of animal husbandry, as well as trade, which begins to progress during this period. Handicraft is developing, as agriculture needs more and more tools. There is a process of separation of craft from agriculture, which entails the need for exchange between the peasant and the artisan, that is, between the city and the countryside. Everywhere there is not only the improvement of old technologies, but also the emergence of new ones. In the production of ore, there is a separation of mining and smelting of ore from its subsequent processing. In the leather industry, in addition to shoemakers, such professions as belt makers, bagmakers, chebotari, and bridle makers appear. In the XIV century, water wheels and water mills became widespread in Russia, parchment began to be actively replaced by paper.

All this urgently demanded the unification of the Russian lands, that is, the creation of a centralized state. Most of the population was interested in this, and, above all, the nobility, merchants and artisans.

Another prerequisite for the unification of Russian lands was the intensification of the class struggle. During this period, the exploitation of the peasantry by the feudal lords intensified. The process of enslaving the peasants begins. The feudal lords strive to secure the peasants to their estates and estates not only economically, but also legally. All this contributes to the resistance of the peasants. They kill feudal lords, rob and set fire to their estates, and sometimes simply run away to lands free from landlords.

The feudal lords were faced with the task of taming the peasantry and bringing its enslavement to the end. This task could only be accomplished by a powerful centralized state capable of fulfilling the main function of an exploiting state - suppressing the resistance of the exploited masses.

These two reasons played, of course, not the last role in the process of unification of the Russian lands, but there was also a third factor that accelerated the centralization of the Russian state, the threat of an external attack, which forced the Russian lands to gather into one powerful fist. The main external enemies during this period were the Commonwealth and the Golden Horde. But only after the individual principalities began to unite around Moscow, it became possible to defeat the Mongol-Tatars on the Kulikovo field. And when Ivan III united almost all Russian lands, the Tatar yoke was finally overthrown. With Lithuania, Moscow and other princes, Novgorod and Pskov fought 17 times. Lithuania constantly attacked the Novgorod and Pskov lands, which also contributed to the unification of these principalities with Moscow. The struggle for the annexation of the western and southwestern lands of Ancient Russia to the Muscovite state led to a protracted Lithuanian-Muscovite war of 1487-1494. According to the agreement of 1494, Moscow received the Vyazemsky principality and the territory in the basin of the upper reaches of the Oka.

The broad masses of the people were interested in the formation of a single centralized state, because only it can cope with an external enemy. one

1 Prerequisites and features of the formation of the Russian centralized state

From the beginning of the XIV century. the fragmentation of the Russian principalities stops, giving way to their unification. The creation of the Russian centralized state was caused primarily by the strengthening of economic ties between the Russian lands, which was a consequence of the overall economic development of the country.

The starting point in the development of the feudal economy was the progress of agriculture. Agricultural production is characterized in this period by the increasing spread of the arable system, which becomes the predominant method of cultivating the land in the central regions of the country. The arable system noticeably replaces the slashing system, which is widespread mainly in the northern forest areas, and fallow, which still dominates in the south.

The growing need for agricultural implements necessitates the development of handicrafts. As a result, the process of separation of handicraft from agriculture goes deeper and deeper. The number of artisans who have ceased to engage in agriculture is increasing.

The separation of handicraft from agriculture entails the need for exchange between the peasant and the artisan, i.e. between city and countryside. This exchange takes place in the form of trade, which in this period increases accordingly. Based on this exchange, local markets are created. The natural division of labor between individual regions of the country, due to their natural characteristics, forms economic ties on the scale of the whole of Russia. The development of foreign trade also contributed to the establishment of internal economic ties.

All this urgently demanded the political unification of the Russian lands, i.e. creation of a centralized state. Wide circles of Russian society were interested in this, and first of all, the nobility, merchants and artisans.

Another prerequisite for the unification of the Russian lands was the intensification of the class struggle, the strengthening of the class resistance of the peasantry.

The rise of the economy, the possibility of obtaining ever greater surplus product induce the feudal lords to intensify the exploitation of the peasants. Moreover, the feudal lords strive not only economically, but also legally to secure the peasants to their estates and estates, to enserf them. Such a policy evokes natural resistance from the peasantry, which assumes various forms. Peasants kill feudal lords, seize their property, set fire to estates. Such a fate often befalls not only secular, but also spiritual feudal lords - monasteries. Robbery directed against the masters sometimes acted as a form of class struggle. The flight of the peasants, especially to the south, to lands free from landlords, also takes on a certain scale.

Under such conditions, the feudal class was faced with the task of keeping the peasantry in check and bringing its enslavement to the end. This task could only be accomplished by a powerful centralized state capable of fulfilling the main function of an exploiting state - suppressing the resistance of the exploited masses.

These two reasons played a leading role in the unification of Russia. Without them, the process of centralization could not have achieved any significant success. At the same time, in itself, the economic and social development of the country in the XIV-XVI centuries. could not yet lead to the formation of a centralized state.

Although economic ties during this period reached a significant development, they were still not wide enough, deep and strong enough to bind the whole country together. This is one of the differences between the formation of the Russian centralized state and similar processes in Western Europe. There, centralized states were created in the course of the development of capitalist relations. In Russia, in the XIV - XVI centuries. there could still be no question of the emergence of capitalism, of bourgeois relations.

The same must be said about the development of class relations, the class struggle. No matter how great its scope was in this period, nevertheless this struggle did not acquire such forms as it already had in the West or at a later time in Russia (peasant wars led by Bolotnikov, Razin in the 17th century. Even for the beginning of the 16th century. predominantly outwardly imperceptible, latent accumulation of class contradictions is characteristic.

The factor that accelerated the centralization of the Russian state was the threat of an external attack, which forced the Russian lands to unite in the face of a common enemy. It is characteristic that when the formation of the Russian centralized state began, the defeat of the Mongol-Tatars on the Kulikovo field became possible. And when Ivan III managed to collect almost all Russian lands and lead them against the enemy, the Tatar yoke was finally overthrown.

It is known that only a powerful centralized state can cope with an external enemy. Therefore, rather broad masses of the people were also interested in his education.

The Russian centralized state was formed around Moscow, which was destined to eventually become the capital of a great power. This role of Moscow, a relatively young city, was due primarily to its economic and geographical position. Moscow arose in the then center of the Russian lands, due to which it was better than other principalities, covered from external enemies. It stood at the crossroads of river and land trade routes.

Having emerged as a city in the 12th century, Moscow was not originally the center of a separate principality. Only from time to time it was given to the younger sons of the Rostov-Suzdal princes. Only from the end of the XIII century. Moscow becomes the capital city of an independent principality with a permanent prince. The first such prince was the son of the famous hero of the Russian land Alexander Nevsky - Daniel. Under him in the late XIII - early XIV centuries. the unification of the Russian lands began, successfully continued by his successors. Pursuing a line towards the unification of the Russian principalities, the Muscovite princes bought up the lands of neighboring principalities, seized them at an opportunity by armed force, often using the Golden Horde for this, annexed them diplomatically, concluded agreements with the weakened specific princes, making them their vassals. The territory of the Moscow Principality also expanded due to the settlement of the Upper Trans-Volga region.

The foundation of Moscow's power was laid under Daniel's second son, Ivan Kalita (1325-1340). Under him, the collection of Russian lands continued. Ivan Kalita managed to get a label from the Tatars for a great reign, acquired the right to collect tribute for the Tatars from all or almost all Russian principalities that retained their independence. This position was used by the Moscow princes in order to gradually subjugate these principalities. Thanks to the flexible foreign policy of the Moscow princes, it was possible to ensure peace in Russia for several decades. Moscow became the center of the Orthodox Church, in 1326. the metropolitan see was transferred to it from Vladimir. Expanding the territory of the Muscovite state, the Grand Dukes turned the destinies into simple estates. The appanage princes ceased to be sovereigns in their appanages and were equated with the boyars, that is, they became subjects of the Grand Duke of Moscow. They could no longer pursue an independent domestic and foreign policy.

By the end of the XIV century. The Moscow principality became so strong that it was able to start a struggle for liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The first crushing blows were dealt to the Horde, the most significant of which was the victory of the Russian troops under the command of Prince Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo field. Under Ivan III, the unification of Russian lands entered its final phase. The most important lands were annexed to Moscow - Novgorod the Great, Tver, part of the Ryazan principality, Russian lands along the Desna. In 1480 after the well-known "standing on the Ugra", Russia finally freed itself from the Tatar yoke. The process of unification of Russian lands was completed at the beginning of the 16th century. Prince Vasily III annexed to Moscow the second half of the Ryazan principality, Pskov, liberated Smolensk from Lithuanian domination.

Even in the XII century. in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, a tendency appeared to unite the lands under the rule of one prince. Over time, the population of Russia began to look at the Vladimir princes as the defenders of the entire Russian land.
At the end of the thirteenth century The Horde entered into a protracted crisis. Then the activity of the Russian princes intensified. It manifested itself in the collection of Russian lands. The gathering of Russian lands ended with the creation of a new state. It received the name "Muscovy", "Russian state", the scientific name - "Russian centralized state".
The formation of the Russian centralized state took place in several stages:

• The rise of Moscow - the end of the 13th - the beginning of the 11th centuries;
• Moscow - the center of the struggle against the Mongols-Tatars (second half of the 11th-first half of the 10th centuries);
• The completion of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow under Ivan III and Vasily III - the end of the 15th - the beginning of the 16th centuries.

Stage 1. Rise of Moscow (late 13th - early 14th centuries). By the end of the XIII century. the old cities of Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir are losing their former importance. The new cities of Moscow and Tver are rising.
The rise of Tver began after the death of Alexander Nevsky (1263), when his brother, Prince Yaroslav of Tver, received a label from the Tatars for the Great Vladimir reign. During the last decades of the thirteenth century Tver acts as a political center and organizer of the struggle against Lithuania and the Tatars. In 1304, Mikhail Yaroslavovich became the Grand Duke of Vladimir, who was the first to take the title of Grand Duke of "All Russia" and tried to subjugate the most important political centers: Novgorod, Kostroma, Pereyaslavl, Nizhny Novgorod. But this desire ran into strong resistance from other principalities, and above all from Moscow.
The beginning of the rise of Moscow is associated with the name of the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky - Daniel (1276 - 1303) . Alexander Nevsky gave honorary inheritances to his eldest sons, and Daniil, as the youngest, got a small village of Moscow with a district on the far border of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Daniil had no prospects for taking the grand prince's throne, so he took up farming - he rebuilt Moscow, started crafts, and developed agriculture. It so happened that in three years the territory of Daniel's possession increased three times: in 1300 he took away Kolomna from the Ryazan prince, in 1302 the childless Pereyaslav prince bequeathed his inheritance to him. Moscow became a principality. During the reign of Daniel, the Moscow principality became the strongest, and Daniel, thanks to his creative policy, the most authoritative prince in the entire Northeast. Daniel of Moscow also became the founder of the Moscow princely dynasty. In Moscow, Daniel built a monastery, named it in honor of his heavenly patron Danilovsky. According to the tradition prevailing in Russia, sensing the approach of the end, Daniel accepted monasticism and was buried in the Danilovsky Monastery. Currently, the St. Danilov Monastery plays a significant role in the life of the Orthodox and is the residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II.
After Daniel, his son began to rule in Moscow Yuri (1303 - 1325) . The Grand Duke of Vladimir at that time was Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver. He owned the throne of Vladimir "in truth" - the ancient right of inheritance, established by Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century. Mikhail of Tverskoy looked like an epic hero: strong, brave, true to his word, noble. He enjoyed the full disposition of the khan. The real power in Russia left the hands of the descendants of A. Nevsky.
Yuri Danilovich - the grandson of Alexander Nevsky - had no rights to the first throne in Russia. But he had one of the most powerful principalities in Russia - Moscow. And Yuri Danilovich joined the Tver prince in the struggle for the throne of Vladimir.
A long and stubborn confrontation began for the title of Grand Duke in Russia between the descendants of Alexander Nevsky - Danilovichi- and the descendants of the younger brother of Nevsky Yaroslav - Yaroslavichs, between Moscow princes and Tver. Ultimately, the Moscow princes became the winners in this struggle. Why did this become possible?
By this time, the Moscow princes had been vassals of the Mongol khans for half a century. The khans tightly controlled the activities of the Russian princes, using cunning, bribery, and betrayal. Over time, the Russian princes began to adopt stereotypes of behavior from the Mongol khans. And the Moscow princes turned out to be more "capable" students of the Mongols.
Yuri Moskovsky married the Khan's own sister. Not wanting to strengthen one prince, the khan gave a label to the Great reign to his relative Yuri. Not wanting clashes with Moscow, Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy renounced the great reign in favor of Yuri Danilovich. But the Moscow army constantly devastated the lands of the Tver principality. During one of these clashes, the Tverites captured Yuri's wife, Princess Agafya (Konchaka). She died in captivity.
Yuri Danilovich and Mikhail Yaroslavich were summoned to the Horde. In the Horde, the prince of Tver was accused of non-payment of tribute, the death of the Khan's sister, and was killed. The label for the Great reign was transferred to the Moscow prince.
In 1325, at the headquarters of the Khan, Yuri Danilovich was killed by the eldest son of Mikhail Yaroslavich Dmitry. Dmitry, by order of the Khan, was executed, but the label for the Great reign was transferred to the next son of Mikhail Yaroslavich - Alexander Mikhailovich. Together with Alexander Mikhailovich, the Tatar detachment of Cholkan was sent to Tver to collect tribute.
And in Moscow, after the death of Yuri, his brother began to rule Ivan Danilovich nicknamed Kalita, Ivan I (1325 - 1340). In 1327, an uprising against the Tatar detachment took place in Tver, during which Cholkan was killed. Ivan Kalita went to the Tverchi with an army and crushed the uprising. In gratitude, in 1327 the Tatars gave him a label for the Great reign.
More Moscow princes will not let go of the label for a great reign.
Kalita achieved the collection of tribute in Russia instead of the Mongols. He had the opportunity to hide part of the tribute and use it to strengthen the Moscow principality. Collecting tribute, Kalita began to regularly travel around the Russian lands and gradually form an alliance of Russian princes. The cunning, wise, cautious Kalita tried to maintain the closest ties with the Horde: he regularly paid tribute, regularly traveled to the Horde with generous gifts to the khans, their wives, and children. With generous gifts, Kalita in the Horde endeared everyone to him. The khanshi were looking forward to his arrival: Kalita always brought silver. In the Horde. Kalita constantly asked for something: labels for individual cities, entire reigns, the heads of his opponents. And Kalita invariably got what he wanted in the Horde.
Thanks to the prudent policy of Ivan Kalita, the Moscow principality constantly expanded, grew stronger and for 40 years did not know the Tatar raids.
Ivan Kalita sought to ensure that Moscow, and not Vladimir, became a religious center. For the head of the Russian Church - the metropolitan - he built comfortable chambers. Metropolitan Peter liked to stay in Moscow for a long time: Kalita cordially received him, made generous gifts to the Church. Metropolitan Peter predicted that if Kalita builds a cathedral in Moscow to the glory of the Mother of God, as in Vladimir, and puts him to rest in it, then Moscow will become a true capital. Ivan Kalita built the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow (as in Vladimir) and laid to rest the head of the Russian Church in it. For the Russians, this was God's sign, a sign of Moscow's chosenness. The next metropolitan - Feognost - finally moved from Vladimir to Moscow. This was a great achievement for Ivan Kalita.
Moscow became the religious center of Russian lands.
But historians believe that the main merit of Ivan Kalita was the following. During the time of Ivan Kalita, due to religious persecution, crowds of refugees from the Horde and Lithuania poured into Moscow. Kalita began to take on the service of everyone. The selection of service people was carried out solely on the basis of business qualities, subject to the adoption of the Orthodox faith. All those who converted to Orthodoxy became Russians. A definition began to take shape - "Orthodox means Russian."
Under Ivan Kalita, the principle of ethnic tolerance was established, the foundations of which were laid by his grandfather, Alexander Nevsky. And this principle in the future became one of the most important on which the Russian Empire was built.
Stage 2. Moscow - the center of the struggle against the Mongols-Tatars (the second half of the 14th - the first half of the 15th centuries). The strengthening of Moscow continued under the children of Ivan Kalita - Simeone Gordom(1340-1353) and Ivan II the Red(1353-1359). This inevitably had to lead to a clash with the Tatars.
The collision took place during the reign of the grandson of Ivan Kalita Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359-1389) . Dmitry Ivanovich received the throne at the age of 9 after the death of his father Ivan II the Red. Under the young prince, the position of Moscow, as the first principality in Russia, was shaken. But the young prince was supported by the powerful Moscow boyars and the head of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Alexei. The metropolitan understood that if Moscow loses the label for a great reign, then its many years of efforts to collect Russian lands would be nullified.
The metropolitan was able to achieve from the khans that the great reign would henceforth be transferred only to the princes of the Moscow princely house. This increased the prestige of the Moscow principality among other Russian principalities. The authority of Moscow increased even more after the 17-year-old Dmitry Ivanovich built the Kremlin in Moscow from white stone (stone was a rare building material in Moscow. The Kremlin wall made of stone so impressed the imagination of contemporaries that since that time the expression "Moscow white stone" has arisen ). The Moscow Kremlin became the only stone fortress in the entire Russian Northeast. He became unapproachable.
In the middle of the fourteenth century The Horde entered a period of feudal fragmentation. Independent hordes began to emerge from the Golden Horde. They waged a fierce struggle for power among themselves. All the khans demanded tribute and obedience from Russia. Tension arose in relations between Russia and the Horde.
In 1380, the Horde ruler Mamai moved to Moscow with a huge army.
Moscow began to organize a rebuff to the Tatars. In a short time, regiments and squads from all Russian lands, except those hostile to Moscow, became under the banner of Dmitry Ivanovich.
And yet, it was not easy for Dmitry Ivanovich to decide on an open armed uprising against the Tatars.
Dmitry Ivanovich went for advice to the rector of the Trinity Monastery near Moscow, Father Sergius of Radonezh. Father Sergius was the most authoritative person both in the Church and in Russia. Even during his lifetime, he was called a saint, it was believed that he had the gift of foresight. Sergius of Radonezh predicted victory for the Moscow prince. This instilled confidence in Dmitry Ivanovich, and in the entire Russian army.
September 8, 1380 at the confluence of the Nepryadva River in the Don took place Battle of Kulikovo. Dmitry Ivanovich and the governors showed military talent, the Russian army - unbending courage. The Tatar army was defeated.
The Mongol-Tatar yoke was not thrown off, but the significance of the Battle of Kulikovo in Russian history is enormous:

• on the Kulikovo field, the Horde suffered its first major defeat from the Russians;
• after the Battle of Kulikovo, the amount of tribute was significantly reduced;
• The Horde finally recognized the supremacy of Moscow among all Russian cities;
• the inhabitants of the Russian lands had a feeling of a common historical destiny; according to historian L.N. Gumilyov, "inhabitants of different lands went to the Kulikovo field - they returned from the battle as the Russian people."

Contemporaries called the Battle of Kulikovo the "Mamaev Battle", and Dmitry Ivanovich during the time of Ivan the Terrible received the honorary nickname "Donskoy".
Stage 3. Completion of the formation of the Russian centralized state (end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries). The unification of Russian lands was completed under the great-grandson of Dmitry Donskoy Ivan III (1462 - 1505) and Basil III (1505 - 1533). Ivan III annexed the entire North-East of Russia to Moscow: in 1463 - the Yaroslavl principality, in 1474 - Rostov. After several campaigns in 1478, the independence of Novgorod was finally abolished.
Under Ivan III, one of the most important events in Russian history took place - the Mongol-Tatar yoke was thrown off. In 1476 Russia refused to pay tribute. Then Khan Akhmat decided to punish Russia. He made an alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir and set out on a campaign against Moscow with a large army.
In 1480, the troops of Ivan III and Khan Akhmat met along the banks of the Ugra River (a tributary of the Oka). Akhmat did not dare to cross to the other side. Ivan III took a wait-and-see position. Help for the Tatars did not come from Casimir. Both sides understood that the battle was pointless. The power of the Tatars dried up, and Russia was already different. And Khan Akhmat led his troops back to the steppe.
The Mongol-Tatar yoke ended.
After the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the unification of the Russian lands continued at an accelerated pace. In 1485, the independence of the Tver principality was abolished. During the reign of Vasily III, Pskov (1510) and the Ryazan principality (1521) were annexed. The unification of the Russian lands was basically completed.
Features of the formation of the Russian centralized state:

• the state was formed in the northeastern and northwestern lands of the former Kievan Rus; its southern and southwestern lands were part of Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary. Ivan III immediately put forward the task of returning all Russian lands that were previously part of Kievan Rus;
• the formation of the state took place in a very short time, which was associated with the presence of an external danger in the face of the Golden Horde; the internal structure of the state was "raw"; the state at any moment could break up into separate principalities;
• the creation of the state took place on a feudal basis; in Russia, a feudal society began to form: serfdom, estates, etc.; in Western Europe, the formation of states took place on a capitalist basis, and bourgeois society began to take shape there.

The victories of Ivan III strengthened the Russian state and contributed to the growth of its international prestige. Western European countries and, first of all, the Roman curia and the German emperor are trying to conclude an alliance with the new state. The relations of the Russian state with Venice, Naples, Genoa are expanding, relations with Denmark are becoming more active. Russia's ties with the countries of the East are also growing. All this indicates that the Russian state is becoming the strongest and plays a significant role in international affairs.
The specifics of the formation of a unified Russian state in the XV - early. 16th century The unification of the Russian lands and the final liberation from the Tatar yoke and the general socio-economic changes taking place in the country led to the establishment of autocracy and created the prerequisites for the transformation of the great Moscow reign into a class-representative monarchy.
The Moscow prince was the supreme ruler in the state. He was the supreme owner of the land, had full judicial and executive power. Under the prince there was Boyar Duma, which included the most noble feudal lords, clerics. A significant role in the state began to play the Metropolitan and Consecrated Cathedral - assembly of the higher clergy. Public bodies emerged Castle and Coffers . Butlers were in charge of the personal lands of the Grand Duke, sorted out land disputes, judged the population. The treasury was in charge of public finances. The formation of the central authorities began - orders. The palace order was in charge of the Grand Duke's own possessions, the embassy order was in charge of external relations, the bit order was in charge of military affairs, etc. Office work was carried out by clerks and clerks.
Under Ivan III, local government remained conservative. As before, it was based on the system of feeding - one of the sources of enrichment of the upper classes at the expense of the population. "Feeders", i.e. governors and volostels (volost governors) were kept by the local population - they were fed in the literal sense. Their powers were varied: rulers, judges, collectors of princely taxes. The princes, boyars, former "free servants" of the Grand Duke had the right to receive feedings.
Institute was important localism, according to the system of which all boyar surnames were distributed along the steps of the hierarchical ladder, and all their appointments (military and civilian) had to correspond to birth.
For the first time after Yaroslav the Wise, Ivan III began to streamline legislation. In 1497 a new collection of laws was published - Sudebnik. The new collection of laws established a unified procedure for judicial and administrative activities. An important place in Sudebnik was occupied by laws on land use, especially the law on St. George's Day. In Russia, there was an old custom: in the fall, after harvesting, the peasants could move from one owner to another. By the beginning of the XVI century. this custom took on the character of a disaster: the peasants left their master before the harvest, and often the fields remained unharvested. The Sudebnik of Ivan III limited the right of peasants to move from one owner to another two weeks a year - before and after St. George's Day (November 26).
In Russia, the folding of serfdom began. Serfdom- this is the dependence of the peasant on the feudal lord in personal, land, property, legal relations, based on attaching them to the land.
It was still the period when they ruled in the old way, having gathered all together in agreement, - catholic: all authoritative forces were involved in solving the most important issues of the country - the Grand Duke himself, the Boyar Duma, the clergy. The Grand Duke was a strong and respected figure, but the attitude towards him was "simple", in the eyes of the Russians he was only the eldest among equals.
Under Ivan III, important changes were taking place in the system of state administration: the process of folding an unlimited monarchy began.
The reasons for the folding of an unlimited monarchy are the Mongol and Byzantine influence.
Mongolian influence - by this time, the Mongol-Tatar yoke lasted more than 200 years in Russia. Russian princes began to adopt the style of behavior of the Mongol khans, the model of the political structure of the Horde. In the Horde, the khan was an unlimited ruler.
Byzantine influence - the second marriage of Ivan III was married to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Sophia Paleolog. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell under the blows of the Ottoman Turks. The emperor died on the streets of Constantinople, defending the city. His niece Sophia took refuge with the Pope, who later had the idea of ​​marrying her off to a widowed Russian ruler. The Byzantine princess brought the idea of ​​absolute monarchy to distant Russia.
The first of the Russian princes, Ivan III began to pursue a policy of elevating the power of the Grand Duke. Prior to this, the specific princes and boyars were free servants. At their request, they could serve the Grand Duke of Moscow, leave for service in Lithuania, Poland. Now they began to swear allegiance to the Moscow prince and sign special oaths. From now on, the transfer of a boyar or prince to the service of another sovereign began to be regarded as treason, a crime against the state. Ivan III was the first to take the title "Sovereign of All Russia". AT 1497 Ivan III for the first time adopted the unofficial emblem of Byzantium as the coat of arms of the Moscow State - the double-headed eagle - a sacred religious symbol (By this time, the double-headed eagle in Byzantium symbolized the unity of spiritual and secular power). Under him, signs of grand ducal dignity were adopted: the "cap of Monomakh", which became a symbol of autocracy, precious mantles - barmas and a scepter. Under the influence of Sophia, at the court of Ivan III, a magnificent court ceremonial was introduced according to the Byzantine model.
The ideology of the times of Ivan III and Vasily III. At the end of the XNUMXth century. A number of important events took place in Russian statehood:

• the unification of the Russian lands was basically completed;
• in 1480 the Russian lands were liberated from the Mongol-Tatar yoke;
• Ivan III in the Byzantine manner began to call himself the title "king".

The historical process in Russia was headed by Moscow princes. Moscow princes rose rapidly. According to the ancient right of inheritance, they did not have the right to the first throne in Russia. "In truth" the princes of Tver were to hold the first throne. The Moscow princes, using a whole range of political means, "wrested" the right to all-Russian primacy from the princes of Tver.
And now the moment has come when the Moscow princes had to prove to everyone by what right they own the Russian land.
In addition, Ivan III needed to establish himself among the Western European monarchs. The Russian state appeared at the beginning of the 16th century. suddenly for Western Europe. The large Western European states had already taken shape, the system of relations between them had also already taken shape, the most important trade routes were already occupied.
To survive in these conditions, the huge Muscovite state needed ideas, ideology, which would reflect the dominant position in Russia of the Moscow princes, the antiquity of the state, the truth of the Orthodox faith, the importance, the need for the existence of Muscovy among other states. Such ideas appeared at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.
Three ideas became the most important.
1. The idea of ​​the succession of the power of the Moscow princes from the princes of Vladimir and Kyiv. Chronicles appeared in which it was stated that the Moscow princes received power over the Russian land from their forefathers - the Vladimir and Kyiv princes. After all, the head of the Russian Church lived - the metropolitan - first in Kyiv, then in Vladimir (1299 - 1328) and Moscow (since 1328). Therefore, the Kievan, Vladimir, and then Moscow princes also owned the Russian land. This idea also emphasized the idea that the source of grand ducal power is the will of the Lord himself. The Grand Duke is the vicar of the Lord - God on earth. The Lord - God handed over to the Grand Duke the Russian land in control. Therefore, the Russian sovereign was personally responsible before the Lord - God for how he ruled the Russian land. Since it was handed over by the Lord Himself - God, the Orthodox sovereign should not share his power (responsibility) with anyone. Any renunciation of power is sacrilege.
2. The idea of ​​the relationship of Russian princes with the Roman emperors. At this time, the "Legend of the princes of Vladimir" appears. The Tale is based on two legends. One contained the assertion that the family of Russian princes was connected with the king of the "universe" Augustus. In Rome from 27 BC. e. Octavian ruled. He managed to unite under his rule all the territories of the inhabited world. After that, the Roman state began to be called an empire, and Octavian was given the title "Augusta", i.e. "divine". The Tale says that Augustus had a younger brother named Prus. Prus Augustus sent the ruler to the banks of the Vistula and the Neman (this is how Prussia arose). And Prus had a descendant of Rurik. It was this Rurik that the Novgorodians called to reign in Novgorod (It should be noted that almost all Western European monarchs tried to connect their ancestry with the Roman emperors). Another legend told that in the XII century. the heir of the Roman emperors, the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh, gave his grandson, the Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, the symbols of imperial power: the cross, the crown (in Russia they began to call the Monomakh's cap), the cup of Emperor Augustus and other items. From this it followed that the Russian rulers (Monomashichi) had a legal right to the title "caesar" (in Russia, the king).
3. The idea of ​​Moscow as the guardian of the true Christian faith. This idea is better known under the name "Moscow - the third Rome". This idea was formulated by the monk of the Pskov Eleazarov Monastery Philotheus in his letters to Vasily III in 1510-1511. Monk Philotheus was sure that Moscow was called upon to play a special role in history. After all, it is the capital of the last state, where the true, Christian faith has been preserved in its original, unspoiled form. In the beginning, the purity of the Christian faith was kept by Rome. But the apostates muddied the pure source, and as a punishment for this, in 476 Rome fell under the blows of the barbarians. Rome was replaced by Constantinople, but even there they abandoned the true faith, agreeing to a union (unification) with the Catholic Church. By the middle of the XNUMXth century. The Byzantine Empire perished under the blows of the Ottoman Turks. Hoping for help from the Western European powers, the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1439 in Florence signed a union with the Pope. Under the terms of the union, the Orthodox recognized the supremacy of the Pope of Rome, and not the Orthodox Patriarch, switched to Catholic dogmas during worship, but Orthodox rites were preserved. Prior to this, the power of the Patriarch of Constantinople was of ecumenical significance. It spread to Byzantium, Russia, Serbia, Georgia, Bulgaria. The conclusion of a union with the pope meant the Greeks' refusal from the universal mission of the guardians of the Orthodox tradition, which they had taken upon themselves. The Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the union and broke off relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Philotheus wrote that for the retreat from Orthodoxy - the true Christian faith - ancient Constantinople was captured by the Turks. Since then, the center of world Orthodoxy, the "third Rome" has become Moscow - the capital of the largest Orthodox state. "Observe and listen, as if two Romes have fallen, and the third (Moscow) is standing, and the fourth will not be," wrote Filofey. Therefore, the role of Russia in world history is to be the patroness of all Orthodox peoples.

TO THE BEGINNING OF THE TOPIC

test questions

1. What stages can be identified in the formation of the Russian centralized state?
2. What Russian principalities fought among themselves for the all-Russian superiority in the first half of the 14th century?
3. Indicate what are the results of Ivan Kalita's activities for the Moscow Principality?
4. When did the Battle of Kulikovo take place and what is its significance?
5. Specify the features of the formation of the Russian centralized state.
6. What were the organs of power and administration in the Muscovite state at the beginning of the 16th century?

additional literature

1. Borisov N.S. Ivan III. - M.: Mol. guard, 2000.
2. Sinitsyna N.V. third Rome. Origins and evolution of the Russian medieval concept. / XV - XVI centuries / - M .: Publishing house "Indrik", 1998.
3. Cherepnin L.V. Formation of the Russian centralized state in the XIV - XV centuries. essays on the socio-economic and political history of Russia. - M., 1960.

Formation of the Russian centralized state (second half of the 15th - first half of the 16th)

Causes and features of the formation of a single state

The process of formation of the Russian centralized state began in the second half of the 13th century and ended at the beginning of the 16th century.

Certain economic, social, political and spiritual prerequisites led to the process of formation of the Russian centralized state:

· the main economic reason is the further development of feudal relations "in breadth" and "deep" - the appearance along with the fiefdoms of conditional feudal landownership, which was accompanied by increased feudal exploitation and exacerbation of social contradictions. The feudal lords needed a strong centralized authority that could keep the peasants in subjection and limit the feudal rights and privileges of the patrimonial boyars.

· internal political reason is the rise and growth of the political influence of several feudal centers: Moscow, Tver, Suzdal. There is a process of strengthening princely power, seeking to subjugate the specific princes and boyars - estates. · foreign policy reason was the need to confront the Horde and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Features of the formation of the Russian centralized state:

1. The absence in Russia of sufficient socio-economic prerequisites for the formation of a single state. Since, in Western Europe:

senior relations dominated

weakened the personal dependence of the peasants

cities and the third estate were strengthened

state-feudal forms prevailed

relations of personal dependence of the peasants on the feudal lords were just being formed

The cities were in a subordinate position in relation to the feudal nobility.

2. The leading role in the formation of the state of the foreign policy factor.

3. Eastern style of political activity.

Stages of political unification in Russia

Stage 1 (1301-1389).

Rise of Moscow (late XIII - early XIV centuries). By the end of the XIII century. the old cities of Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir are losing their former importance. The new cities of Moscow and Tver are rising.

Stage 2 (1389-1462).

Moscow - the center of the struggle against the Mongols-Tatars (the second half of the 14th - the first half of the 15th centuries). The strengthening of Moscow continued under the children of Ivan Kalita - Simeon Proud (1340-1353) and Ivan II the Red (1353-1359). This inevitably had to lead to a clash with the Tatars.

Stage 3 (second quarter of the 15th century)

Feudal War - 1431-1453 Internecine war in the second quarter of the 15th century. The strife, called the feudal war of the second quarter of the 15th century, began after the death of Basil I. By the end of the 14th century. in the Moscow principality, several specific possessions were formed, belonging to the sons of Dmitry Donskoy. The largest of them were Galician and Zvenigorod, which were received by the youngest son of Dmitry Donskoy, Yuri. After the death of the Grand Duke, Yuri, as the eldest in the princely family, began the struggle for the Grand Duke's throne with his nephew, Vasily II (1425-1462). The struggle after the death of Yuri was continued by his sons - Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka. The struggle went according to all the "rules of the Middle Ages", i.e. blindness, and poisoning, and deceptions, and conspiracies were used. The feudal war ended with the victory of the forces of centralization. By the end of the reign of Vasily II, the possessions of the Moscow principality had increased 30 times compared to the beginning of the 14th century. The Moscow Principality included Murom (1343), Nizhny Novgorod (1393) and a number of lands on the outskirts of Russia.

Stage 4 (1462-1533).

The process of completing the formation of the Russian state falls on the reign of Ivan III (1462-1505) and Vasily III (1505-1533).

March 28, 1462 Moscow welcomed its new ruler - Ivan III Ivan. III - (1440-1505) Grand Duke of Moscow, son of Vasily II and Princess Maria Yaroslavovna. Opens the era of Muscovite Russia, which lasted until the transfer of the capital by Peter I to St. Petersburg. Anxious childhood taught the future Grand Duke a lot. He was ten years old when his blind father appointed him as his co-ruler. It was on the lot of Ivan III that the completion of the two-century process of unification of Russian lands and the overthrow of the Golden Horde yoke fell.

Ivan III pursued a consistent policy of uniting the Russian lands around Moscow and in fact was the creator of the Muscovite state. He inherited from his father the Principality of Moscow with a territory of 4,000 thousand km, and left his son a huge power: its area increased 6 times and amounted to more than 2.5 million square meters. km. The population was 2-3 million people.

Under him, the Grand Duchy of Yaroslavl (1463) and Rostov (1474) were relatively easily annexed to Moscow, which had already lost real political power. Things related to the annexation of a strong and independent Novgorod were more complicated. It took Ivan III seven long years during which, with the help of military and diplomatic measures, Veliky Novgorod lost its independence. In Novgorod there was a struggle between pro-Moscow and anti-Moscow parties. The Boretskys intensified their activities, who led the activities directed against the strengthening of the pro-Moscow party. The Boretsky party pursued a policy aimed at bringing Novgorod closer to Lithuania. Ivan 3 in July 1471 launched a war against traitors. Novgorod land was devastated and destroyed. The Moscow army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Novgorodians on the river. Shelon. According to the Korostyn Treaty, signed on August 11, 1471, Novgorod recognized itself as the fatherland of the Moscow prince. From the document “And for the king and for the Grand Duke of Lithuania, whoever the king or grand duke in Lithuania may be, from you, from the grand dukes, to us, your fatherland Veliky Novgorod, a free man, not surrender to any cunning, but to be us from you, from great princes, relentless towards anyone. Thus, the first step was taken towards the liquidation of the republic. The final, main blow to Novgorod was delivered by the campaign of 1478, as a result of which the Novgorod Boyar Republic ceased to exist. Veche system is liquidated, the bell, as a symbol of freedom, was taken to Moscow.

In 1485, Ivan III annexed another old enemy and rival of Moscow - Tver. Thus, Ivan III was able to connect the North-Eastern and North-Western Russia. In 1489, Vyatka was annexed to Moscow.

As an independent sovereign, Ivan III began to behave towards the Tatars. By the beginning of the reign of Ivan III, the Golden Horde had already broken up into several uluses. As she lost strength, Russia, on the contrary, strengthened its power. In 1476, Ivan III refused to pay them an annual tribute and entered into an alliance with the Crimean Khan, an opponent of the Golden Horde. Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat, who considered himself the successor of the khans of the Golden Horde, which had disintegrated by this time, followed with alarm the strengthening of Moscow. In 1480, he gathered an army and moved to Russia, trying to restore the shattered power of the Horde. In the autumn, the army of Khan Akhmat approached the Ugra River, but a large Moscow army stood on the opposite bank. Khan Akhmat did not dare to join the battle and, having stood for two months, returned to the Nogai steppes, where he died in a skirmish with the Siberian Tatars. "Standing on the Ugra" ended the hated Horde yoke. The Russian state restored its independence. Information about the end of the Tatar yoke is contained in the Sofia Second Chronicle. “In 1480. The news came to the Grand Duke that Tsar Akhmat was indeed coming (against him) with his entire horde - with princes, ulans and princes, as well as with King Casimir in a common thought; king and led the king against the Grand Duke, wanting to ruin the Christians ...

The Grand Duke, took a blessing, went to the Ugra ... The king, with all his Tatars, went across the Lithuanian land, past Mtsensk, Lubutsk and Odoev, and, having reached, stood at Vorotynsk, waiting for help from the king. The king himself neither went to him, nor sent help, because he had his own affairs: at that time, Mengli-Girey, the king of Perekop, fought the Volyn land, serving the Grand Duke ...

And the Tatars were looking for roads where they would secretly cross (the river) and go hastily to Moscow. And they came to the river Ugra, near Kaluga, and wanted to ford it. But they were guarded and let the son of the Grand Duke know. The Grand Duke, the son of the Grand Duke, moved with his army and, having gone, stood on the banks of the Ugra River and did not allow the Tatars to cross to this side ...

The tsar was afraid and ran away with the Tatars, because the Tatars were naked and barefoot, skinned ... When the tsar arrived at the Horde, he was killed by the Nogais there ... "

Ivan III himself played a significant role in overthrowing the yoke, who, in the difficult situation of 1480, showed prudence, reasonable restraint and diplomatic skill, which made it possible to unite Russian forces and leave Akhmat without allies.

In 1493, Ivan III was the first of the Moscow princes to call himself the sovereign of "all Russia", openly claiming the lands of Lithuanian Russia. Acting as a defender of the Orthodox faith and leading the movement for the creation of a Great Russian nation, Ivan III waged a series of successful wars with Lithuania, tearing away the Vekhi and Chernihiv-Seversky principalities from it. Under the terms of the truce with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander (1503), 25 cities and 70 volosts went to Moscow. So, by the end of the reign of Ivan III, the bulk of the Russian lands were again collected under the rule of the Moscow prince.

Thus, at the end of the 15th century, a powerful state, Russia, arose in the east of Europe. According to Karl Marx, “Amazed Europe, at the beginning of Ivan’s reign, barely noticing the existence of Muscovy, squeezed between Tatars and Lithuanians, was struck by the sudden appearance of a huge state on its eastern borders, and Sultan Bayazet himself, before whom all of Europe trembled, for the first time heard arrogant speeches Muscovite".

Being a far-sighted politician, Ivan III activated trade and diplomatic relations with the countries of Western Europe. Under Ivan III, diplomatic relations were established with Germany, Venice, Denmark, Hungary and Turkey. This was facilitated by his second marriage to Sophia Paleolog, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. Having become the head of a vast Orthodox power, Ivan III considered the Russian state as the successor to the Byzantine Empire. Moscow is beginning to be called the "Third Rome". It was at this time that the name "Russia" appeared.

Important symbolic and political significance was attached to the marriage (second) of Ivan III with the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Sophia Fominichnaya Paleolog. “The marriage of Sophia with the Russian Grand Duke had the significance of transferring the hereditary rights of the offspring of the Palaiologos to the grand princely house of Russia,” wrote the Russian historian N. Kostomarov. - But most important and essential was the internal change in the dignity of the Grand Duke, strongly felt and clearly visible in the actions of the slow Ivan Vasilyevich. The Grand Duke became an autocrat.

The equality of Ivan III with the first monarchs of Europe was also emphasized by the appearance on the seal of the Russian sovereign of a double-headed eagle crowned with two crowns. With this seal in 1497, Ivan III sealed the sovereign's letter of commendation to his nephews, the Volotsk princes Fedor and Ivan. The images placed on the seal of 1497 formed the basis of Russian state symbols. Its later interpretation is as follows: the first head of the eagle is turned to the east, the second - to the west, because it is impossible to survey such great expanses of the Russian state with one head. Another component of the coat of arms inherited from Byzantium was the horseman George the Victorious, striking a snake with a spear - the enemies of the Fatherland. George the Victorious became the patron saint of the Grand Dukes of Moscow and the city of Moscow. Monomakh's cap, a luxuriously decorated headdress of the ruler of the state, became a symbol of supreme power. The foundations of the personality cult of the top leadership, which later became known as the king, were laid: special ceremonies of going out to the people, meetings with ambassadors, signs of royal power.

The Moscow Grand Duke's court under Ivan III acquired a special splendor and magnificence. Unprecedented construction began on the territory of the Kremlin. It was at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century that the Kremlin ensemble was formed, which amazes with its grandeur and monumentality.

In 1485, construction began on the new residence of the sovereign - the princely palace. Particular attention was paid to the fortress walls. Erected under Prince Dmitry Donskoy, they fell into disrepair. During the years 1485-1495, the red-brick walls and towers of the Kremlin were raised, which still exist today.

Vasily III (1479-1533) - Grand Duke of Moscow and All Russia, was the eldest son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog. According to marriage agreements, the children of the Grand Duke from the Greek princess could not occupy the Moscow throne. But Sophia Paleolog could not accept this and continued to fight for power. By his second marriage, he married Elena Glinskaya, the mother of Ivan the Terrible, who ascended the throne in 1505, sought to continue the traditions of his father. Baron S. Herberstein visited the Russian state as an ambassador of the German emperor. Subsequently, he created an extensive scholarly work in which he emphasized the desire of Basil III to strengthen centralization. “In the power he exercises over his subjects, he easily surpasses all the monarchs of the world. And he also finished what his father had begun, namely: he took from all the princes and other potentates all their cities and fortifications. In any case, he does not entrust fortresses even to his own brothers, not trusting them. He oppresses everyone equally with cruel slavery, so that if he orders someone to be at his court or go to war, or rule any embassy, ​​he is forced to do all this at his own expense. The exception is the young sons of the boyars, that is, noble persons with a more modest income; such persons, crushed by their poverty, he usually annually takes in and maintains, appointing a salary, but not the same.

During the reign of Vasily III, the foreign policy of the Russian state also continued the traditions of its predecessor. Under him, Pskov (1510) and Ryazan (1521) were completely annexed. In addition, successful wars with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania led to the annexation of the Seversk and Smolensk lands. Thus ends the process of gathering Russian lands around Moscow. In general, unlike the advanced countries of Western Europe, the formation of a single state in Russia took place under the complete dominance of the feudal mode of economy, i.e. on a feudal basis. This makes it possible to understand why a bourgeois, democratic, civil society began to take shape in Europe, and why serfdom, estates, and inequality of citizens before the law will long prevail in Russia.

Historians identify three main stages in the unification of lands around the Moscow principality. (See appendix 2.)

1. The first stage of unification (the first half of the 14th century) is associated with the activities of the Moscow princes Daniil Alexandrovich (1276-1303) and Ivan Danilovich Kalita (1325-1340). Daniil Alexandrovich expanded the territory of his inheritance, achieved control over the Moscow River. In 1301 he occupied Kolomna. In 1302, he received Pereyaslavsky inheritance by will. In 1303 he annexed Mozhaisk to Moscow. Under Yuri Danilovich (1303-1325), the Moscow principality became one of the strongest in North-Eastern Russia, he was able to receive a label for a great reign. In 1325, Yuri was killed by the Tver prince Dmitry. The claims of the princes of Tver become the main obstacle to the gathering of Russian lands around Moscow. Ivan Kalita managed to withdraw Tver from the political struggle. In 1328, he received a label for the Great reign, achieved the abolition of the Basque system and took over the collection of the Horde tribute from Russia. As a result, Tatars did not appear in Russia for 40 years, economic growth was ensured and economic conditions were created for unification and transition in the second half of the 14th century. to the armed struggle against the Tatars. Ivan Danilovich acquired and annexed the Galician, Belozersk and Uglich principalities to Moscow.

2. The second stage of the unification (the second half of the 14th - the first half of the 15th centuries) is associated with the activities of the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359-1389), his son Vasily I (1389-1425) and grandson Vasily II the Dark (1425-1462). At this time, there is an awareness of the need for unification, the creation of a strong unified state and the overthrow of the power of the Mongol-Tatar khans. The main success in the reign of Dmitry Ivanovich was the first major victory over the Tatars on the Kulikovo field on September 8, 1380, which marked the beginning of the process of overthrowing the Tatar yoke. For this victory, Dmitry was named Donskoy. After the battle, Moscow was recognized as the center of the emerging unified state. The son of Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily I, managed to strengthen the position of Moscow as the center of Russian lands. He annexed the Nizhny Novgorod, Murom, Tarusa principalities, some possessions of Veliky Novgorod. Further unification and liberation of the Russian lands was slowed down by the cruel princely civil strife of the second quarter of the 15th century, which was called the feudal war. The reason for it was the dynastic conflict between the princes of the Moscow house. After the death of the son of Dmitry Donskoy Vasily I, his 9-year-old son Vasily and brother Yuri Dmitrievich became contenders for the throne. According to Donskoy's will, after the death of Vasily I, the throne was to pass to Yuri Dmitrievich, but it was not agreed what to do if Vasily had a son. The forces in the struggle that began were not equal: Yuri was known as a brave warrior, builder of fortresses and temples, and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt was the guardian of the 9-year-old boy. The death of Vitovt in 1430 untied Yuri's hands.

In 1433, he expelled Vasily from Moscow and took the grand throne. However, the Moscow boyars supported the young prince, and Yuri was forced to leave Moscow, the fight was continued by his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka. The princes did not disdain the most barbaric means: first Vasily Kosoy was blinded, and then Vasily Vasilyevich (after that he received the nickname "Dark" - blind). The church and the Moscow boyars supported the Moscow prince. In 1447, Vasily the Dark entered Moscow. The feudal war continued until 1453 and cost the country dearly: burned villages, hundreds of killed supporters of Shemyaka and Vasily the Dark, increased dependence of the Moscow principality on the Horde. The feudal war confirmed the need to unite the Russian lands, showing the danger of new princely strife. In the future, Vasily II significantly strengthened the grand ducal power. Moscow's influence in Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, Ryazan and other lands increased. Vasily II subjugated the Russian Church, and after the fall of Constantinople under the blows of the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Grand Duke began to play a decisive role in choosing a metropolitan. In subsequent years, Dmitrov, Kostroma, Starodub, the Nizhny Novgorod principality and other lands were annexed to Moscow. In fact, the foundations of a unified Russian state were laid.

3. The third stage of unification (the second half of the 15th - the first quarter of the 16th centuries), associated with the activities of the Grand Duke Ivan III (1462-1505) and his son Vasily III (1505-1533), completed the process of creating a unified Russian state. Ivan III annexed the Yaroslavl and Rostov principalities. The struggle with Novgorod was more difficult for him. In July 1471, a battle took place on the Shelon River between the troops of the Moscow prince and the Novgorodians, ending in the complete defeat of the latter. Novgorod was finally included in the Moscow principality in January 1478. After the fall of Novgorod, the struggle for the annexation of the Tver principality began.

Since 1476, Ivan III did not send tribute to the Horde, as a result of which Khan Akhmat decided to punish Moscow and in 1480 went on a campaign against it. At the beginning of October 1480, Moscow and Tatar troops converged on the banks of the Ugra River (a tributary of the Oka River). An ally of Khan Akhmat, the Lithuanian prince Casimir, did not appear, after the appearance of snow, the cavalry became impossible to use and the Tatars left. Khan Akhmat died in the Horde, and "standing on the Ugra" ended with the victory of the Russian troops.

In September 1485, Moscow troops approached Tver, Prince Mikhail of Tver fled, and the Tver lands became part of the Muscovite state. From that moment on, Ivan III began to call himself the sovereign of all Russia. In the new state, specific vestiges coexisted with state institutions. The Grand Duke was forced to put up with the fact that the princes retained their power on the ground. But gradually the power of the sovereign became autocratic. The Boyar Duma was an advisory body. The Moscow boyars included the princes of the earlier independent principalities.

The central state apparatus had not yet taken shape, but its two highest bodies, the Palace and the Treasury, already existed. Administratively, the country was divided into counties, camps, and volosts, headed by governors and volosts. In 1497 Sudebnik - the first code of laws of a single state.

In 1472, Ivan III married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine I. The fall of Byzantium and the kinship with the ancient dynasty of the Palaiologos gave grounds to the Moscow sovereigns to proclaim themselves the successors of the Byzantine Empire. At the end of the XV - beginning of the XVI centuries. there is a well-known theory about Moscow as the successor of Constantinople - the "second Rome". Moscow is proclaimed the "third Rome" - the capital of the Orthodox world. Ivan III assumes the title of "God's Grace Sovereign of All Russia" with the addition of a long list of his princely possessions. For the first time, the concepts of "king" and "autocrat" appear. The coat of arms was borrowed from Byzantium - a double-headed eagle.

Vasily III continued the work of his father. He completed the unification of the country. In 1510, he annexed Pskov to Moscow, in 1514 Smolensk, in 1517 the Ryazan principality, in 1523 the Chernigov-Seversk land.

The Russian centralized state took shape in XIV-XVI centuries

1. Economic background: to the beginning of the XIV century. in Russia, after the Tatar-Mongol invasion, economic life gradually revived and developed, which was the economic basis for the struggle for unification and independence. Cities were also restored, residents returned to their native places, cultivated the land, were engaged in crafts, and trade relations were established. Novgorod contributed a lot to this.

2. Social background: by the end of the XIV century. the economic situation in Russia has already completely stabilized. Against this background, later feudal features are developing, and the dependence of the peasants on large landowners is growing more and more. At the same time, the resistance of the peasants also increases, which reveals the need for a strong centralized government.

3. Political background, which in turn are subdivided into internal and external ones:

internal: in the XIV-XVI centuries. significantly increases and expands the power of the Moscow principality. His princes are building a state apparatus to strengthen their power;

foreign policy: the main foreign policy task of Russia was the need to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which hampered the development of the Russian state. The restoration of the independence of Russia required a general unification against a single enemy: the Mongols - from the south, Lithuania and the Swedes - from the west.

One of the political prerequisites for the formation of a unified Russian state was Union of the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Western Church, signed by the Byzantine-Constantinople Patriarch. Russia became the only Orthodox state uniting all the principalities of Russia at the same time.

The unification of Russia took place around Moscow.

The reasons for the rise of Moscow are:

good geographical and economic position;

Moscow was independent in foreign policy, it did not gravitate towards either Lithuania or the Horde, therefore it became the center of the national liberation struggle;

support for Moscow from the largest Russian cities (Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, etc.);

Moscow is the center of Orthodoxy in Russia;

the absence of internal enmity among the princes of the Moscow house.

Merging Features:

the unification of the Russian lands took place not in the conditions of late feudalism, as in Europe, but in the conditions of its heyday;

the basis for unification in Russia was the union of Moscow princes, and in Europe - the urban bourgeoisie;

Russia united initially for political reasons, and then for economic ones, while the European states - first of all for economic ones.

The unification of Russian lands took place under the leadership of the prince of Moscow. He was the first to become the king of all Russia. AT 1478 after the unification of Novgorod and Moscow, Russia finally freed itself from the yoke. In 1485, Tver, Ryazan, etc., joined the Muscovite state.

Now the specific princes were controlled by proteges from Moscow. The Moscow prince becomes the supreme judge, he considers especially important cases.

The Moscow principality creates a new class for the first time nobles(service people), they were soldiers of the Grand Duke, who were awarded land on the terms of service.

MOSCOW PRINCIPALITY (XIII-XV centuries) AND THE FORMATION OF THE GREAT RUSSIAN STATE

In the second half of the XIV century. in northeastern Russia, the tendency to unite the lands intensified. The Moscow principality became the center of the association.

As early as the 12th century, an ideology of grand-princely power began to take shape in Russia, which could overcome the disintegration and fragmentation of Russia. The prince must have Duma members near him and rely on their Council. He needs a large and strong army. Only this can ensure the autocracy of the prince and protect the country from external and internal enemies.

From the 13th century Moscow princes and the Church begin to carry out a wide colonization of the territories beyond the Volga, new monasteries, fortresses and cities appear, the local population is subjugated and assimilated.

Moscow princes Yuri and Ivan Daniilovich waged a fierce struggle with competitors - the princes of Tver, who claimed a leading role among the Russian principalities. In 1325, the Moscow prince Ivan Kalita received the title of Grand Duke of all Russia and the khan's label for a great reign. The metropolitan moves from Vladimir to Moscow and Moscow becomes not only an important political, but also an ecclesiastical center.

In general, the entire Russian land during this period was divided into two large regions, each of which included many specific principalities: its southwestern part was under the rule of Lithuania and Poland, and the northeastern part still paid tribute to the Golden Horde.

When the principality of Moscow emerged as part of the great Vladimir principality (XII century), it, like other principalities, was considered the patrimony of the princes who ruled it. Gradually, this order is changing: the Moscow principality began to be considered not the possession of one senior prince, but a family, dynastic possession, in which each prince had his share. Thus, the Moscow principality acquired a special status among other Russian lands of the northeast.

Under Ivan Kalita, the Vladimir region becomes the common property of the dynasty, the same status then passes to Moscow (which in the 14th century was a specific principality).

There were no political and legal prerequisites in the 14th century that could ensure the political unity of the Russian lands (inter-princely treaties on an alliance often remained only good wishes). Only the actual real strength and flexible policy of any of the political centers could solve the problem of unity. Moscow became such a center.

The ways of annexing Russian lands to Moscow were varied. The appanage princes were subordinate to the Grand Duke by agreement, remaining masters in their appanages and, as vassals, pledging to serve Moscow.

There were numerous cases of the purchase of appanages by the Grand Duke, while the appanage prince became the user of his former estate and performed various official functions in favor of Moscow.

There was also a procedure reminiscent of the Western European medieval "homage": the owner of the patrimony, the specific prince, refused it in favor of the Grand Duke and immediately received it back in the form of an award.

By the end of the XV century. Moscow manages to cope with its strongest competitors.

The territorial expansion of the Muscovite state was accompanied by the realization of the fact that on the territory of Russia a new nationality, united in spirit and blood, was emerging - the Great Russian nationality. This realization facilitated the task of collecting lands and the transformation of the Moscow principality into a national Great Russian state.

Speaking of centralization, two processes should be kept in mind: the unification of Russian lands around a new center - Moscow and the creation of a centralized state apparatus, a new power structure in the Muscovite state.

The Grand Dukes were at the head of a whole hierarchy, consisting of artisanal princes and boyars. Relations with them were determined by a complex system of contracts and letters of commendation, which established various degrees of feudal dependence for different subjects.

With the entry of specific principalities into the Muscovite state, specific princes were forced to either enter the service of the Moscow Grand Duke, or leave for Lithuania. The old principle of free boyar service has now lost its meaning - in Russia there was now only one Grand Duke, there was now no one to go to the service.

The meaning of the very concept of "boyar" has changed. Instead of a serviceman, a recent combatant, they now understand him as a member of the boyar council (duma), who has the right to occupy the highest positions in the state apparatus and the army. The boyars became a rank, a title, the bearers of which made up the new ruling aristocratic stratum of the Muscovite state.

Localism. According to the new hierarchical ladder, the Moscow boyars were no longer placed “by agreement”, but in accordance with their official dignity.

The position in the Moscow service of the former possessory (great, appanage, etc.) princes was determined by the meaning of the “tables” on which they sat, i.e. the status of their principality, capital city, and so on.

The boyars and service people were placed on the service ladder depending on the position occupied by the courts in which they served.

The old specific order with its institutions and relations continued to exist under the auspices of the new state order established by Moscow.

Under the auspices of Moscow, an aristocratic class of rulers was formed, each of which linked their rights with the ancient tradition, when Russia was ruled by a whole dynasty of Rurikovich, each Moscow boyar estimated his noble origin as the most weighty argument in local disputes about positions, ranks and privileges.

In addition to the nobility of origin, belonging to the boyar class required the possession of the rank of a boyar, it could only be granted to a specific person by the Grand Duke of Moscow himself.

The boyars were the top layer of the emerging ruling elite of the Muscovite state.

Feeding. Local government was based on a system of feeding: the manager "fed" at the expense of the governed, the position of the manager was considered primarily as his source of income. Feeding included fodder and duties, fodder was brought in by local by the population within the established time limits, duties were paid for the commission by officials of certain legally significant actions. Feeds (entry, Christmas, holiday, etc.) were determined by charter letters issued by the prince to the territorial district, and by letters of commendation issued by the feeders themselves. Feeds were deployed according to taxable units (“ploughs”), each of which included a certain number of tax yards, the size of arable land, etc. Part of the feed went to the treasury, to the prince or boyars introduced (officials of the central administration). Feeding was a form of remuneration for service, due to the existence of a system of subsistence farming (as well as local distributions), it was a way of providing, maintaining a service person by the state. The service itself was not directly related to feeding. Over time, this method of material support for service people begins to give way to other forms of organizing local government. First of all, Code of Laws and statutory letters of the XV century. the rights of feeders began to be more strictly regulated: the governor or volost received a mandate or revenue list, which determined the amount of feed and duties. Feeders were forbidden to collect fodder from the population themselves, this was entrusted to elected officials - sotskys and elders. In the XVI century. feeding periods become more definite and shorter, they are reduced to one or two years. Gradually, the feeders themselves begin to acquire the features of local

rulers, their state functions are outlined more and more clearly. More and more strict control was established over their activities. Local governors (deputies and volostels), considering court cases and making decisions on them, were obliged to transfer the most important of them to higher authorities for a new consideration (“according to the report”). Cases were transferred to the central state institutions - orders or the Boyar Duma. From the end of the XV century. most of the land disputes are also transferred locally to the center. Representatives of local societies began to oversee the judicial activities of the feeders. Sotsky, elders and elected payers carried out already in the 15th century. the layout of state taxes and duties, as well as feed for feeders. From the second half of the XV century. electives from the population begin to introduce governors and volostels into the court (the Sudebnik of 1497 speaks about this) as assessors, witnesses of the correctness of the consideration of the case. When considering a case in the highest instance (order, Duma), these elected judicial representatives were obliged to testify to the correctness of the actions of the governor or volost in legal proceedings. In the XVI century. these representatives are transformed into a permanent judicial collegium. According to the Sudebnik of 1550, Zemstvo elders with jurors (tsolovalniks) were to be present in the court of the governor and volost, who oversaw the correct conduct of the court, compliance with the law and legal customs (especially local ones). Thus, the judicial rights of local representatives (“the best people”) are significantly expanded

Chosen council. In his activities, Ivan IV relied on the Boyar Duma in 1549, which included the establishment of the "Chosen Duma" ("Chosen Rada") from authorized persons. The preparation of materials for the Duma was carried out by a staff of professional officials associated with orders.

In the XVI century. the Duma began to include okolnichi and duma nobles, as well as duma clerks who conducted office work. The Boyar Duma decided the most important state affairs and had legislative powers. The Duma approved the final editions of the Code of Laws of 1497 and 1550. According to the formula “the tsar pointed out and the boyars were sentenced,” the Boyar Duma approved decrees of 1597 on bonded servitude and fugitive peasants. Together with the tsar, the Duma approved various legislative acts:

statutes, lessons, decrees. The Duma led the system of orders, exercised control over local government, and resolved land disputes. In addition to participating in the work of the State Council (Boyar Duma), Duma people controlled the central departments (orders), commanded regiments and armies, and led the regions as governors and governors. The Duma itself conducted embassy, ​​discharge and local affairs, for which the Duma Chancellery was created. The Duma's legal proceedings also passed through this structure. Legislative initiative came most often from the sovereign or from below from orders that faced specific problems.

Lip organs. Even before the beginning of the XVI century. There was an institution of "wild vira", according to which the feeder could receive criminal payments from entire communities (mutual responsibility). At the same time, there were no special institutions on the ground that would wage an organized struggle against the "dashing people." Special investigators and punitive expeditions sent from Moscow from time to time could not solve the problems. Therefore, it was decided to transfer police functions to combat robbers to local communities. Urban and rural societies in the late 40s. 16th century Lip letters began to be issued, granting the right to persecute and punish "dashing people." The fight against the robbers was organized and carried out by elected jurors (from the feeders' court), sots and elders, who were led by city clerks. In a number of places, this task was carried out by boards specially elected from local residents. The district within which all these elected officials acted was called the lip, its borders at first coincided with the borders of the volost. The lip organs were headed by elected heads from the children of the boyars (nobles) of the given volost. Representatives of the lipoan organizations held their congresses, at which the most important matters were decided. At these congresses, all uyezd labial elders (heads) were elected, who headed the labial organizations of all volosts and camps that were part of the uyezd. There was a gradual centralization of provincial administration on state, church and owner's lands. The labial elders in their activities relied on numerous staffs of labial kissers (elected in volost, stanovoye, rural, township districts), sotsky, fifty, tenth - police ranks of small districts. In the competence of the labial organs in the middle of the XVI century. (Sudebnik 1550) included robbery and tatba, and in the 17th century. - already murders, arson, insulting parents, etc. The process was either of a search character, when the case was initiated without a statement from the victim (when a thief was caught red-handed, a general search, a slander, etc.), or an adversarial character (a private lawsuit, testimonies , "field", recognition of responsibility.

Land authorities. Another local reform of the middle of the 16th century took the path of further restriction and elimination of feeding altogether. - zemstvo. Its goal was to replace governors and volostels with elected public authorities. One of the reasons for the elimination of feeding was their harmful effect on the organization of the military and defense service of the country. In 1550, the tsar ordered the feeders to resolve all disputes with representatives of the local population in a world order. Since 1551, in a number of regions, the local population was offered to pay quitrent to the treasury instead of fodder, and to resolve litigation on their own, through the mediation of elders and kissers. In 1552, an official decision was made to eliminate feeding. Zemstvo was to become an all-Russian institution. Local societies, on their own initiative, one after another, began to establish zemstvos, refusing feeders. In 1555, the government passed a law proclaiming the zemstvo as a general and obligatory form of local self-government. The voluntary refusal of the local worlds from the feeders was accompanied by the payment of a ransom - an amount previously paid in the form of feed and duties, and now in the form of quitrent, which went directly to the treasury. The competence of the zemstvo authorities included the trial of court (civil) cases and those criminal cases that were considered in the adversarial process (beatings, robbery, etc.). Sometimes more serious cases (arson, murder, robbery, etc.) were considered by zemstvo elders and kissers together with the labial elders. Their clients were Black Hundred peasants and townspeople. The zemstvo elected officials collected the rent, as well as other salary taxes. Zemstvo institutions of the XVI century. were not local governments, they were units of local government. The activities of these bodies were guaranteed and bound by mutual responsibility. In areas where the peasant population was not free, instead of zemstvo huts, management was carried out by city clerks and labial elders, who performed administrative, police and financial functions. Some of the financial functions were taken over by other local governments - customs and tavern elected heads and tselovalniks, who were in charge of collecting indirect taxes.

Military. In the 17th century local government was reorganized: zemstvo, labial huts and city clerks began to obey the governors appointed from the center, who assumed administrative, police and military functions. The governors relied on a specially created apparatus (prikazba) of clerks, bailiffs and clerks. Applicants for the position of governor turned to the tsar with a petition in which they asked to be appointed to the position of “feed”. The voivode was appointed by the Discharge Order, approved by the tsar and the Boyar Duma. The service life of the governor was calculated in one to three years, for the service he received a fiefdom and a local cash salary. The voivode headed the prikazhny, or moving out, hut, in which matters were decided on the management of the city or county entrusted to him. Office work in the hut was conducted by a clerk, its staff consisted of bailiffs, allotment workers, etc. Control over the activities of the voivode was carried out by the order, which was in charge of this territory. The order prepared an order to the governor, which determined the terms of reference of the latter. The governors exercised control over the work of elected officials (starosts, kissers, heads), who collected direct and indirect taxes from the population, police supervision of the population, supervision of the court of labial and zemstvo elders, recruited service people (nobles and boyar children). The military reform was associated with the idea of ​​compulsory noble service. The servants were paid in the form of local allotments. The nobility was

backbone of the armed forces. They included "combat serfs", who were brought to the service by the same nobles, militias from peasants and townspeople, Cossacks, archers and other professional military employees for hire. From the beginning of the 17th century regular units of the "new system" appear: reiters, gunners, dragoons. Foreigners join the Russian army

Financial. An important place was occupied by financial reform: already in the 30s. 16th century the entire monetary system was concentrated in the hands of the state. The state tax policy followed the path of unification of the financial system (the introduction of a "per-per-per-horse" system of taxation, i.e. the establishment of uniform criteria for taxing land, the number of livestock, etc.). At the end of the XVI century. an inventory of land was made and the number of salary units (“sokh”) was determined. Direct (“farmed farming”, “pyatina” from movable property, pit, food money) and indirect (customs, salt, tavern) taxes and fees were introduced. A single trade duty was established - 5% of the price of the goods.

The need for systematization and codification of numerous legal acts that had accumulated by the end of the 15th century resulted in the work of compiling the first all-Russian legal codes - the Sudebnik of 1497 (grand princely) and the Sudebnik of 1550 (royal). In our opinion, it is more expedient to consider both of these sources in comparison, since one of them only develops the principles and ideas of the other, supplements and corrects it, but at the same time makes it its basis. Already in the structure of the first Code of Laws, a certain systematization of the material is noted, however, the norms of substantive (civil and criminal) law have not yet been distinguished from the mass of articles related to procedural law, and there were a majority of them in the Code of Laws. The content of the Sudebnik of 1497 is divided into four parts: the first was made up of articles that regulated the activities of the central court (Art. 1-36). The same section also includes the norms of criminal law (Art. 9-14). The second part consisted of articles related to the organization and activities of local, regional courts (Articles 37-45), the third - articles on civil law and procedure (Articles 46-66) and the last (Articles 67-68) - additional articles, by judicial process. The most important sources of the Sudebnik of 1497 were charters, letters of commendation and judicial letters, and it was on their basis that a generalization of legal practice was made. Such charters continued to be issued by the supreme authority even after the publication of the Sudebnik and more than 50 years later, the newly accumulated legal material formed the basis of the new “royal” Sudebnik of 1550, which developed the provisions contained in the Sudebnik of 1497. The appearance of the second Sudebnik is associated with the activities of the Zemsky Sobor of 1549 -1550s (however, a number of scientists doubted that the Zemsky Sobor really took place at that time). In any case, the Boyar Duma and the Consecrated Cathedral took part in its discussion. The Sudebnik of 1497 and numerous letters formed the basis of the new Sudebnik; Ultimately, the latter contained more than a third of the new articles that were not included in the first Sudebnik. Some researchers (Vladimirsky-Budanov) believed that the Sudebnik of 1550 also included articles from a certain lost Sudebnik book. Vasily Ivanovich, father of the Terrible. The structure of the second Sudebnik almost completely repeats the structure of the first. In contrast, the Sudebnik of 1550 divides its material into articles or chapters (about 100) and does not use headings (which in the first Sudebnik often did not correspond to the content). The Second Code of Laws subjects the material to a more rigorous systematization: articles on civil law are concentrated in one section (Art. 76-97), the codifier specifically provides for the procedure for replenishing the Sudebnik

new legislative materials (Article 98), etc. There are more than 30 new articles in the Sudebnik of 1550 compared to the first Sudebnik, a third of the entire Sudebnik. The most important innovations included: a ban on the issuance of tarkhan letters and an indication of the withdrawal of letters already issued (Article 43); the proclamation of the principle of the law does not have retroactive effect, expressed in the prescription from now on to judge all cases according to the new Code of Laws (Article 97); the procedure for supplementing the Sudebnik with new materials (Article 98).

New provisions, clearly related to the state policy of Ivan IV, were also: the establishment of severe criminal penalties for judges for abuse of power and unjust sentences (the first Sudebnik spoke about this indistinctly); detailed regulation of the activities of elected elders and kissers in the court of governors, "courtmen" in the process (Art. 62, 68-70). The Sudebnik of 1550 specifies the types of punishments (the Sudebnik of 1497 was characterized by uncertainty in this respect) introducing, among other things, a new one - prison punishment. The new Sudebnik also introduces new elements of crime (for example, forgery of judicial acts, fraud, etc.) and new civil law institutions (the issue of the right to redeem the estate was elaborated in detail, the procedure for

conversion to servitude - art. 85, 76). At the same time, like the Sudebnik that preceded it, the Sudebnik of 1550 did not fully reflect the level reached by Russian law in the 16th century. Noting the trends towards state centralization and focusing on the development of the judicial process, Sudebnik paid little attention to the development of civil law, which was largely based on customary law and legal practice.

Sources. In the first all-Russian (“grand-princely”) Sudebnik of 1497, the norms of Russian Truth, customary law, judicial practice and Lithuanian legislation were applied. The main goals of the Sudebnik were: to extend the jurisdiction of the Grand Duke to the entire territory of a centralized state, to eliminate the legal sovereignties of individual lands, appanages and regions. By the time the Code of Laws was adopted, not all relations were regulated centrally. Establishing its own courts, the Moscow authorities for some time were forced to compromise: along with the central judicial institutions and traveling courts, mixed (mixed) courts were created, consisting of representatives of the center and localities. If Russkaya Pravda was a set of customary norms and judicial precedents and a kind of manual for the search for moral and legal truth (“truth”), then the Code of Laws became, first of all, an “instruction” for organizing a trial (“court”).

In the Sudebnik of 1550 (“royal”), the range of issues regulated by the central government expanded, a clearly expressed social orientation of punishment was carried out, and the features of the search process were intensified. The regulation covered the spheres of criminal law and property relations. The class principle of punishments was fixed and at the same time the circle of subjects of the crime was expanded - it included serfs: the legislator established the subjective signs of a crime in the law much more clearly and developed forms of guilt. Under the crime, the judges understood not only the infliction of material or moral damage, "insult". The protection of the existing social and legal order came to the fore. A crime is, first of all, a violation of established norms, regulations, as well as the will of the sovereign, which is inextricably linked with

the interests of the state.

Crime system. Thus, we can state the appearance in the law of the concept of a state crime, which was unknown to Russkaya Pravda. A group of malfeasance and crimes against the order of administration and court adjoins this type: a bribe (“promise”), making a deliberately unfair decision, embezzlement. The development of the monetary system gave rise to such a crime as counterfeiting (minting, forgery, falsification of money). These compositions, new for the legislator, were associated with the growth of the bureaucratic apparatus. In the group of crimes against a person, qualified types of murder (“state murderer”, robbery murderer), insults by action and word were distinguished. In the group of property crimes, much attention was paid to tatba, in which qualified types were also distinguished: church, “head” (kidnapping) tatba, robbery and robbery (open theft of property) that are not legally separated from each other.

Punishments. The system of punishments according to the lawsuit became more complicated, new goals of punishment were formed - intimidation and isolation of the criminal. The purpose of the authorities was to demonstrate their omnipotence over the accused, his soul and body. The highest measure of punishment is the death penalty, which could be abolished with a sovereign pardon. The execution procedure turned into a kind of performance, new types of executions and punishments appeared. Punishments became characterized by the uncertainty of their formulation, as well as cruelty (which served the purpose of intimidation). Corporal punishment was used as the main or additional form. The most common type was the "commercial execution", i.e. whipping in the marketplace. In the period of the judges, self-damaging punishments (cutting off the ears, tongue, branding) were just beginning to be introduced. In addition to intimidation, these types of punishments performed an important symbolic function - to single out the criminal from the general mass, to "designate" him. Fines and monetary penalties were often used as additional punishments. As an independent type, property sanction was applied in cases of insult and dishonor (Article 26 of the Sudebnik of 1550), as an additional one - in case of malfeasance, violation of the rights of the owner, land disputes, etc. The amount of the fine varied depending on the severity of the act and the status of the victim.

Trial. There were two forms of litigation. The adversarial process was used in civil and less serious criminal cases. Witness testimony, an oath, ordeals (in the form of a duel) were widely used here. A wide range of procedural documents was present in the adversarial trial: the subpoena was carried out by means of a “petition”, “attached” or “urgent” letter. At the court session, the parties filed "petition petitions", declaring their presence. According to the resolved case, the court issued a “letter of law”, and thus terminated the claim. The second procedural form - the search process - was used in the most serious criminal cases (state crimes, murders, robbery, etc.), and their circle gradually expanded. The essence of the search (“inquisition”) process was as follows: the case was initiated at the initiative of a state body or official, during the proceedings such evidence as being caught red-handed or one’s own confession, for which torture was used, played a special role. As another new procedural measure, a "massive search" was used - a massive interrogation of the local population in order to identify eyewitnesses of the crime and carry out the procedure of "faking". In the search process, the case began with the issuance of a “letter of summons” or “letter of passage”, which contained an order to the authorities to detain and bring the accused to court. Judgment here was curtailed, interrogations, confrontations, and torture became the main forms of search. According to the verdict of the court, the “covered”, but not pleading guilty, criminal could be imprisoned for an indefinite period. The resolved case could not be retried in the same court. The case was transferred to the highest instance “on a report” or “on a complaint”, only an appellate review procedure was allowed (that is, the case was considered anew).

The judiciary and the organization of the court. In the centralized state system, the judiciary was not separated from the administrative apparatus. The state judicial bodies were the tsar, the Boyar Duma, worthy boyars, officials in charge of branch administrations, and orders. In the localities, judicial power belonged to governors and volostels, later - to the labial and zemstvo bodies, as well as governors.

The judicial system consisted of several instances: 1) the court of governors (volosts, governor), 2) the court of orders, 3) the court of the Boyar Duma or the Grand Duke. In parallel, church and patrimonial courts operated, and the practice of “mixed” courts was preserved. Until the 16th century judicial power was exercised by the princely court, whose jurisdiction at first instance extended to the territory of the princely domain and persons who had tarkhan letters (i.e., those who had the privilege of courting the prince). The circle of such persons gradually narrowed, from the middle of the 17th century. even criminal punishment is introduced for direct appeal to the king with a request for a trial. The tsar considered cases only in cases of abuse of judges, refusal to consider the case in an order or on appeal (gossiping). The tsar could entrust the consideration of cases to worthy boyars and other officials of the palace administration. From the 15th century The Boyar Duma became an independent judicial body, combining these functions with managerial ones. As a court of first instance, the Duma considered the cases of its members, clerks, local judges, and resolved disputes about localism. "According to the report" there were cases coming from the vicegerent and command courts. In this case, the Duma acted as a court of second instance. The Duma itself could go to the sovereign with a "report", asking for clarification and a final resolution of the matter. The sentences considered by the Duma, coming from the orders, were summarized in a memorandum, which became a legislative act and was called the “new decree article”. With the increasing role of written legal proceedings, the role of clerks who headed the orders increased (since the 16th century, duma clerks were introduced into the Duma, who headed the Discharge, Posolsky, Local orders and the Order of the Kazan Palace). Since the 17th century As part of the Boyar Duma, a special judicial department (the Punishment Chamber) is formed. As a judicial instance, orders stood out already at the end of the 15th century, and from the middle of the 16th century. they became the main form of the central court. Judges were assigned to certain orders. Court cases were to be decided unanimously, and in the absence of such, they were reported to the sovereign. Punishment was envisaged both for judges who refused to accept a complaint, and for complainants who filed an illegal complaint or in violation of the established procedure.

Proof of. The legislative registration of the search form of the process, for the first time we find in the text of the Sudebnik of 1497. The same cases could be considered both by the “court” and the “search”. The choice of the form of the process depended on the personality of the accused. Therefore, both in the adversarial and in the search process, the same types of evidence were used: the accused’s own confession, testimonies, searches or inquiry through roundabout people, red-handed, judicial duel, oath and written acts. But the “search”, as the main procedural action aimed at clarifying the circumstances of the case, used torture. The "court" resorted to an oath for the same purposes.

This type of forensic evidence, such as the defendant's own confession, is given very little attention in legislative acts. In the Sudebnik of 1550, only one article mentions him. 25, and even then in passing. It can be seen from the text of the letters of right that the confession given in court, in the presence of judges, had the full force of forensic evidence. Only in this case did the confession become the basis for a judgment. Sometimes the confession was made in the presence of clerics who took the accused and witnesses to the oath, as it was often done before the kissing of the cross. Another means of obtaining a confession was a simple interrogation - "questioning", which always preceded torture. Note that torture was used even when the accused had already confessed to the crime.

Sources distinguish between a full confession, when the defendant admitted all the charges brought against him, and incomplete confession, when he admitted only a part of them. In the same article 25 of the Sudebnik we read: “And which the seeker will seek battle and robbery, and the defendant will say that he beat, and not robbed: and accuse the defendant of the battle ... and the court and the truth are in robbery, but do not blame everything.”

If recognition could not be achieved, then in the competitive form of the process, as a rule, they resorted to the court of God - a duel or an oath.

Testimony was one of the most reliable means of establishing the truth. However, the former strength of this type of evidence in the period under review has somewhat lost its significance. Now the law was allowed to bring some witnesses against others. The person against whom the testimony was made could call the witness to the field or demand an oath.

As can be seen from the sources, the testimony of some witnesses had undeniable probative value. These are the testimonies of the boyars, clerks and clerks, the testimonies of witnesses of the "general exile", i.e. the testimony of one or more persons referred to by both parties, as well as the testimony of "search people" obtained during the general search. Moreover, the legislator gave a clear preference to the “common link”. Only eyewitnesses were recognized as witnesses, and not those who know the case “by ear”. This rule is found in both Code of Laws and the Cathedral Code. A free position was not a mandatory condition for witness testimony. Slaves could be used as witnesses. However, freed serfs could not testify against their former masters. Witnesses could even be relatives of the parties. It was only forbidden to involve the wives of opposite sides to testify.

Persons who had previously been convicted of perjury were not allowed to testify. A wife could not testify against her husband, and children against their parents. Persons who were in friendly or, conversely, in hostile relations with the party could not give evidence. Consequently, the withdrawal of witnesses was also allowed, for example, "out of unfriendliness." Disqualification of witnesses was allowed only if the judges were completely sure of its fairness. The Code contains a whole list of persons who could not be removed.

In the absence of witnesses, contradictory testimonies, and also when it was impossible to conduct a search (for example, if the defendant was a foreigner), an oath could be used as judicial evidence. However, in the legislative acts of the Moscow period, the desire to limit its application is quite clearly traced. Thus, no one was allowed to take the oath more than three times in his life. Persons convicted of perjury could not swear an oath. When appointing an oath, the age of the swearer was also taken into account. True, there are discrepancies in the sources on this matter. So, according to one letter, persons under the age of 12 could not swear. When caught red-handed, the guilt was considered proven and no other evidence was required. Actively used in criminal proceedings was a "gross search" - the interrogation of all or most of the inhabitants of a certain area about a crime or criminals. Moreover, the data of the general search could replace both red-handed and confession as evidence. In the adversarial process on property and serf affairs, written evidence was of particular importance.

25 Estate system in Russia in the 15th-17th centuries: feudal aristocracy, service estates, legal categories of the peasantry. The ruling class was clearly divided into the feudal aristocracy - the boyars and the service class - the nobles. In the middle of the XVI century. the first attempt to legally equate the patrimony with the estate takes place: a single order of state (military) service is established. From a certain size of land (regardless of their type - estates or estates), their owners were obliged to put up the same number of equipped and armed people. At the same time, the rights of estate owners are expanding: permission is given to exchange an estate for a fiefdom, to transfer an estate as a dowry, to inherit estates, from the 17th century. estates can be transformed into estates by royal decree. The consolidation of the feudal class was accompanied by the consolidation of its privileges: the monopoly right to own land, exemption from duties, advantages in the judicial process and the right to hold bureaucratic positions.

Grand Duke - the largest feudal lord, who owned the palace and black-moss lands. The peasants of the palace lands carried dues or corvee. The peasants of the black-mossed lands bore a tax, duties. Boyars - large landowners, votchinniki. They became the main category of the ruling class of feudal lords. They had great rights to the land and the peasants who lived on it: they transferred the land by inheritance, alienated it, changed it. In their hands was the collection of taxes. They had the right to change the overlord-lord. They were members of the feudal council under the prince, occupied the most important positions in the system of government, and had privileges in court. Service people - owned land on a local right, i.e. for service and for the duration of service. They could not alienate lands, pass them on by inheritance, they were not included in the Boyar Duma, they did not receive the highest ranks. Peasants were subdivided into: chernososhnye (sovereign), palace (prince and his family) and privately owned. Chernososhnye paid taxes, carried natural duties. Together with the land they were transferred, complained to the feudal lords. Private owners had a land allotment from their feudal lords, for which land owners received rent or dues. The first legal act in the enslavement of the peasants was Art. 57 of the Sudebnik of 1497, which established the rule of St. George's Day (A definite and very limited transition period, payment of the "elderly"). This provision was developed in the Sudebnik of 1550. Since 1581, "reserved summers" were introduced, during which even the established transition of peasants was prohibited. Compiled in the 50s - 90s. 16th century scribe books became a documentary basis in the process of attaching peasants from the end of the 16th century. Decrees on "lesson years" began to be issued, setting the time limits for the investigation and return of fugitive peasants (5-15 years). The final act of the process of enslavement was the Council Code of 1649, which abolished the "lesson years" and established the perpetuity of the investigation. The law defined punishments for harborers of fugitive peasants and extended the rule of attachment to all categories of peasants. Attachment developed in two ways: non-economic and economic (bondage). In the XNUMXth century There were two main categories of peasants: old-timers and newcomers. The former ran their household and carried out their duties in full, forming the basis of the feudal economy. The feudal lord sought to secure them for himself, to prevent the transition to another owner. The latter, as new arrivals, could not fully bear the burden of duties and enjoyed certain benefits, received loans and credits. Their dependence on the owner was debt, bondage. According to the form of dependence, a peasant could be a ladle (work for half the harvest) or a silversmith (work for interest). Non-economic dependence was manifested most in its purest form in the institution of servility. The latter has changed significantly since the time of Russkaya Pravda: the sources of servitude are limited (serfdom in the city keykeeping is canceled, it is forbidden to enslave "boyar children"), cases of letting serfs into the wild become more frequent. The law delimited entry into servitude (self-sale, housekeeping) from entry into bondage. The development of bonded servitude (unlike full bonded serfs could not be passed on by will, his children did not become serfs) led to the equalization of the status of serfs with serfs.

26 Estate-representative monarchy in Russia. The creation of a centralized Russian state contributed to strengthening the position of the ruling class of feudal lords. In the XVI-XVII centuries. the feudal lords gradually united into a single estate, the general enslavement of the peasants was completed. In the middle of the XVI century. ongoing socio-economic and political processes led to a change in the form of government of the Russian state in estate-representative monarchy, which was expressed, first of all, in the convocation of class-representative bodies - zemstvo cathedrals. The estate-representative monarchy existed in Russia until the second half of the 17th century, when it was replaced by a new form of government - absolute monarchy. Since 1547. (Ivan IV) the head of state began to be called king. The title change pursued the following political goals: strengthening the power of the monarch and eliminating the basis for claims to the throne by the former appanage princes, since the title of king was inherited. At the end of the XVI century. there was a procedure for the election (approval) of the king at the Zemsky Sobor. The king, as the head of state, had great powers in the administrative, legislative and judicial spheres. In his activities, he relied on the Boyar Duma and the Zemsky Sobors. In the middle of the XVI century. Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible judicial, zemstvo and military reforms, aimed at weakening the power of the Boyar Duma and strengthening the state. In 1549 was established Chosen Council, members of which were trustees appointed by the king. The centralization of the state contributed to oprichnina. Its social support was the petty service nobility, who tried to seize the lands of the princely-boyar aristocracy and strengthen their political influence. ^ Boyar Duma formally retained its former position. It was a permanent body endowed with legislative powers and deciding, together with the king, all the most important issues. The Boyar Duma included boyars, former appanage princes, okolnichy, duma nobles, duma clerks and representatives of the urban population. Although the social composition of the Duma changed in the direction of increasing the representation of the nobility, it continued to be an organ of the boyar aristocracy. A special place in the system of public administration was occupied by land cathedrals. They convened from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th century. Their convocation was announced by a special royal charter. Zemsky Sobors included Boyar Duma. consecrated cathedral(the highest collegiate body of the Orthodox Church) and elected representatives from the nobility and the urban population. The contradictions that existed between them contributed to the strengthening of the power of the king. Zemsky Sobors resolved the main issues of state life: the election or approval of the tsar, the adoption of legislative acts, the introduction of new taxes, the declaration of war, issues of foreign and domestic policy, etc. Issues were discussed by class, but decisions were to be made by the entire composition of the Council.