The ancestors of the Slavs have long lived in Central and Eastern Europe. Archaeologists believe that the Slavic tribes can be traced according to excavations from the middle of the second millennium BC. The ancestors of the Slavs (in the scientific literature they are called Proto-Slavs) are supposedly found among the tribes that inhabited the basin of the Odra, Vistula and Dnieper. Slavic tribes appeared in the Danube basin and in the Balkans only at the beginning of our era.

Soviet historical science recognized that the formation and development of the Slavic tribes took place on the territory of Central and Eastern Europe. By origin, the Eastern Slavs are closely related to the Western and Southern Slavs. All these three groups of kindred peoples had one root.

At the beginning of our era, the Slavic tribes were known under the name of Venets, or Wends. Venedi, or "vento", without a doubt - the ancient self-name of the Slavs. The words of this root (which in ancient times included the nasal sound "e", which later became pronounced as "I") have been preserved for a number of centuries, in some places to the present day. The later name of the large Slavic tribal union "Vyatichi" goes back to this common ancient ethnonym. The medieval German name for the Slavic regions is Wenland, and the modern Finnish name for Russia is Vana. The ethnonym "Wends", it must be assumed, goes back to the ancient European community. From it came the Venets of the Northern Adriatic, as well as the Celtic tribe of the Venets of Brittany, conquered by Caesar during campaigns in Gaul in the 50s of the 1st century. BC e., and Wends (Veneti) - Slavs Notes on the Gallic War. Caesar. . For the first time, Wends (Slavs) are found in the encyclopedic work "Natural History" written by Plin the Elder (23/24-79 AD). In the section devoted to the geographical description of Europe, he reports that Eningia (some region of Europe, the correspondence of which is not on the maps) “is inhabited up to the Visula River by Sarmatians, Wends, Skirs ...” Natural history. Pliny the Elder. . Skiry - a tribe of Germans, localized somewhere north of the Carpathians. Obviously, their neighbors (as well as the Sarmatians) were the Wends.

Somewhat more specifically, the place of residence of the Wends is noted in the work of the Greek geographer and astronomer Ptolemy "Geographical Guide". The scientist names the Wends among the "big peoples" of Sarmatia and definitely connects the places of their settlements with the Vistula basin. Ptolemy names the Galinds and Sudins as the eastern neighbors of the Wends - these are quite well-known Western Baltic tribes localized in the interfluve of the Vistula and the Neman. On a Roman geographical map of the 3rd century. n. e., known in the historical literature as the "Peutinger Tables", the Wends-Sarmatians are indicated south of the Baltic Sea and north of the Carpathians. Ptolemy..

There is reason to believe that by the middle of the 1st millennium AD. refers to the division of the Slavic tribes into two parts - northern and southern. The writers of the 6th century - Jordan, Procopius and Mauritius - mention the southern Slavs - the Sklavens and Antes, emphasizing, however, that these are tribes related to each other and to the Wends. So, Jordan writes: “... Starting from the deposit of the Vistula (Vistula) River, a populous tribe of Venets settled down in the boundless spaces. Although their names are now changing according to different clans and localities, they are still predominantly called Slavs and Antes ”Jordan. On the origin and deeds of the Getae (Getika). M., 1960. S. 71-72. Etymologically, both of these names go back to the ancient common self-name of Venedi, or Vento. The Antes are repeatedly mentioned in the historical works of the 6th-7th centuries. According to Jordanes, the Antes inhabited the regions between the Dniester and the Dnieper. Using the writings of his predecessors, this historian also covers earlier events when the Antes were at enmity with the Goths. At first, the Antes managed to repel the attack of the Gothic army, but after a while the Gothic king Vinitary still defeated the Antes and executed their prince God and 70 elders.

The main direction of Slavic colonization in the first half of the 1st millennium AD. was northwest. The settlement of the Slavs in the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Western Dvina, occupied mainly by Finno-Ugric tribes, apparently led to some mixing of the Slavs with the Finno-Ugric peoples, which was also reflected in the nature of cultural monuments.

After the fall of the Scythian state and the weakening of the Sarmatians, Slavic settlements also moved south, where a population belonging to various tribes lived on the territory of a vast area from the banks of the Danube to the middle Dnieper.

Slavic settlements of the middle and second half of the 1st millennium AD in the south, in the steppe and forest-steppe zone, they were mainly open villages of farmers with adobe dwellings, semi-dugouts with stone stoves. There were also small fortified "towns", where, along with agricultural implements, the remains of metallurgical production were found (for example, crucibles for melting non-ferrous metals). Burials at that time were made, as before, by burning a corpse, but along with barrowless burial grounds, there were also burials of ashes under barrows, and in the 9th - 10th centuries. the rite of burial by cadaverization is spreading more and more.

In the VI - VII centuries. AD Slavic tribes in the north and north-west occupied the entire eastern and central parts of modern Belarus, previously inhabited by Letto-Lithuanian tribes, and new large areas in the upper reaches of the Dnieper and Volga. In the northeast, they also advanced along the Lovat to Lake Ilmen and further up to Ladoga.

In the same period, another wave of Slavic colonization is heading south. After a stubborn struggle with Byzantium, the Slavs managed to occupy the right bank of the Danube and settle in the vast territories of the Balkan Peninsula. Apparently by the second half of the 1st millennium AD. refers to the division of the Slavs into eastern, western and southern, which has survived to this day.

In the middle and second half of the 1st millennium AD. the socio-economic development of the Slavs reached a level at which their political organization outgrew the limits of the tribe. In the struggle against Byzantium, with the invasion of the Avars and other opponents, alliances of tribes were formed, often representing a large military force and usually receiving names according to the main of the tribes that were part of this alliance. Written sources contain information, for example, about an alliance that united the Duleb-Volyn tribes (VI century), about the alliance of the Carpathian tribes of Croats - Czech, Vislan and White (VI-VII centuries), about the Serbo-Lusatian alliance (VII century BC). ). Apparently, the Russ (or Ross) were such a union of tribes. Researchers associate this name itself with the name of the river Ros, where the dews lived, with their main city, Rodnya, and with the cult of the god Rod, which preceded the cult of Perun. Back in the VI century. Jordan mentions "Rosomon", which, according to B. A. Rybakov, can mean "people of the Ros tribe" Rybakov. B.A. Prerequisites for the formation of the Old Russian state.// Essays on the history of the USSR III-IX centuries, M., 1958. P.744. Until the end of the 9th century, sources mention Ross, or Russ, and from the 10th century the name "Rus", "Russian" already prevails. The territory of the Rus in the VI - VIII centuries. there was, apparently, a forest-steppe region of the middle Dnieper region, which for a long time was called by the people proper Rus even when this name spread to the entire East Slavic state.

Some archaeological sites suggest the existence of other East Slavic tribal unions. Various types of mounds - family burials with corpses - belonged, according to most researchers, to various unions of tribes. The so-called "long mounds" - rampart-shaped burial mounds up to 50 meters long - are common south of Lake Peipus and in the upper reaches of the Dvina, Dnieper and Volga, that is, in the territory of the Krivichi. It can be thought that the tribes that left these mounds (both Slavs and Leto-Lithuanian) were part of a once extensive union, which was headed by the Krivichi. High round mounds - “hills”, common along the Volkhov and Msta rivers (Priilmenye up to Sheksna), belong, in all likelihood, to an alliance of tribes led by the Slavs. Large burial mounds of the 6th - 10th centuries, hiding a whole palisade in the embankment, and a rough box with urns containing the ashes of the dead, could belong to the Vyatichi people. These mounds are found in the upper reaches of the Don and in the middle reaches of the Oka. It is possible that the common features found in the later monuments of the Radimichi (who lived along the Sozha River) and the Vyatichi are explained by the existence in antiquity of the Radimich-Vyatichi union of tribes, which could partially include northerners who lived on the banks of the Desna, Seim, Sula and Worksla. After all, it is not for nothing that later the Tale of Bygone Years tells us the legend about the origin of the Vyatichi and Radimichi from the two brothers Sedov V.V. Slavs: Historical and archaeological research. M., 2002. P.8.

In the south, in the interfluve of the Dniester and the Danube, from the second half, VI - early VII century. there are Slavic settlements that belonged to the tribal union of Tivertsy.

To the north and northeast up to Lake Ladoga, in a remote forest region inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes, the Krivichi and Slovenes at that time penetrated up the large rivers and their tributaries.

To the south and southeast, to the Black Sea steppes, the Slavic tribes advanced in an unceasing struggle against the nomads. The promotion process, which began as early as the 6th-7th centuries, proceeded with varying degrees of success. Slavs to the X century. reached the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov. The basis of the later Tmutarakan principality, in all likelihood, was the Slavic population, which penetrated into these places in a much earlier period. Ibid. C.8.

In the middle of the tenth millennium, the main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture, the development of which, however, was not the same in the south, in the steppe and forest-steppe zones and in the forests of the north. In the south, plow farming has had centuries-old traditions. The finds of the iron parts of the plow (more precisely - the ral) here date back to the 2nd, 3rd and 5th centuries. The developed agricultural economy of the Eastern Slavs of the steppe zone had a considerable influence on their neighbors in the second half of the 10th millennium. This explains, for example, the existence of the Slavic names of many agricultural implements among the Moldavians up to the present time: plow, secure (axe - ax), shovel, tesle (adze) and others.

In the forest belt, only by the end of the 10th millennium, arable farming became the dominant form of economy. The oldest iron opener in these places was found in Staraya Ladoga in layers dating back to the 8th century. Arable agriculture, both plow and ploughshare, already required the use of the draft power of livestock (horses, oxen) and fertilization of the land. Therefore, along with agriculture, cattle breeding played an important role. Fishing and hunting were important secondary occupations. The widespread transition of the East Slavic captives to arable farming as the main occupation was accompanied by serious changes in their social system. Arable farming did not require the joint work of large tribal groups. In the VIII - X centuries. in the steppe in the forest-steppe belts of the south of the European part of Russia, there were settlements of the so-called Roman-Borshchi culture, which researchers consider characteristic of the neighboring community. Among them were small villages fortified by a rampart, consisting of 20-30 houses, ground or several deepened into the ground, and large villages in which only the central part was fortified, and most of the houses (there are up to 250 in total) were located outside it. No more than 70 - 80 people lived in small settlements; in large villages - sometimes over a thousand inhabitants. Each dwelling (16 - 22 sq.m. with a separate stove and closet) had its own outbuildings (barn, cellars, various kinds of sheds) and belonged to one family. In some places (for example, on the settlement of Blagoveshchenskaya Gora), larger buildings were discovered, possibly serving as meetings of members of the neighboring community - bratchin, which, according to B.A. Rybakov, was accompanied by some kind of religious rites. Rybakov B.A. Kievan Rus and Russian principalities XII - XIII centuries. M., 1993. .

The settlements of the Roman-Borshchevsky type are very different in character from the settlements located in the north, in Staraya Ladoga, where, in the layers of the 8th century, V.I. with a small porch and a stove-heater, located in the center of the dwelling. Probably, a large family (from 15 to 25 people) lived in each such house; food was prepared in the oven for everyone, and food was taken from collective stocks. Outbuildings were located separately, next to the dwelling. The settlement of Staraya Ladoga also belonged to the neighboring community, in which the remnants of tribal life were still strong, and the dwellings belonged to even larger families. Already in the 9th century, here these houses were replaced by small huts (16 - 25 sq.m.) with a stove-heater in the corner, the same as in the south, the dwellings of one relatively small family.

Natural conditions contributed to the formation of the East Slavic population in the forest and steppe belts already in the 1st millennium AD. e. two types of housing, the differences between which further deepened. In the forest zone, ground log houses with a stove-heater dominated, in the steppe - adobe mud houses (often on a wooden frame) somewhat recessed into the ground with an adobe stove and an earthen floor Sedov V.V. Slavs in antiquity. M., 1994..

In the process of the disintegration of patriarchal relations from quite distant times, the remnants of more ancient social forms described in the Tale of Bygone Years were preserved in some places - marriage by abduction, the remains of a group marriage, which the chronicler mistook for polygamy, traces of the avunculate, who said in the custom of feeding, burning the dead.

Based on the ancient alliances of Slavic tribes, territorial political associations (principalities) were formed. In general, they experienced a “semi-patriarchal-semi-feudal” period of development, during which, with increasing property inequality, local nobility stood out, gradually seizing communal lands and turning into feudal owners. The chronicles also mention representatives of this nobility - Mala among the Drevlyans, Khodota and his son among the Vyatichi. Mala they even call the prince. I considered the legendary Kyi, the founder of Kyiv, to be the same prince.

The territories of the East Slavic principalities are described in the Tale of Bygone Years. Some features of the life of their population (in particular, differences in the details of the funeral rite, local women's wedding dress) were very stable and persisted for several centuries even when the reigns themselves ceased to exist. Thanks to this, archaeologists managed, starting from chronicle data, to significantly clarify the boundaries of these areas. The East Slavic territory at the time of the formation of the Kievan state was a single massif, stretching from the shores of the Black Sea to Lake Ladoga and from the upper reaches of the Western Bug to the middle reaches of the Oka and Klyazma. The southern part of this massif was formed by the territories of the Tivertsy and Ulich, covering the middle and southern reaches of the Prut Dniester and the Southern Bug. To the north-west of them, in the upper reaches of the Dniester and Prut in Transcarpathia, white Croats lived. To the north of them, in the upper reaches of the Western Bug - Volynians, east and northeast of the White Croats, on the banks of the Pripyat, Sluch and Irsha - Drevlyans, southeast of the Drevlyans, in the middle reaches of the Dnieper, in the Kyiv region - a clearing, on the left on the banks of the Dnieper, along the course of the Desna and the Seim - northerners, to the north of them, along the Sozh - radimichi. The neighbors of the Radimichi from the west were the Dregovichi, who occupied the lands along the Berezina and in the upper reaches of the Neman, from the east, the Vyatichi, who inhabited the upper and middle parts of the Oka basin (including the Moscow River) and the upper reaches of the Don, bordered the northerners and Radimichi. To the north of the Moskva River, a vast territory in the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and western Dvina, extending in the northwest to the eastern shore of Lake Peipus, was occupied by the Krivichi. Finally, in the north and northeast of the Slavic territory, on Lovat and Volkhov, lived the Ilmenian Slovenes. M., 1950, T.1. S. 12.

Within the East Slavic principalities, smaller divisions can be traced from archaeological materials. So, the Krivichi burial mounds include three large groups of monuments that differ in details in the funeral rite - Pskov Smolensk and Polotsk (the chronicler also singled out a special group of Polotsk among the Krivichi) Ibid. P.13. The Smolensk and Polotsk groups apparently formed later than the Pskov one, which makes it possible to think about the colonization by the Krivichi, newcomers from the southwest, from Prinemaniya or the Buzh-Vistula interfluve, first Pskov (in the 4th - 6th centuries), and then - Smolensk and Polotsk lands. Among the Vyatichi burial mounds, several local groups are also distinguished.

In the IX - XI centuries. a continuous territory of the ancient Russian state of the Russian land is being formed, the concept of which as a homeland was highly characteristic of the Eastern Slavs of that time. Until that time, the coexisting consciousness of the commonality of the East Slavic tribes rested on tribal ties. Russian land occupied vast expanses from the left tributaries of the Vistula to the foothills of the Caucasus from the Taman and the lower reaches of the Danube to the shores of the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. Numerous people who lived on this territory called themselves "Rus", having adopted, as mentioned above, a self-name that was previously only inherent in the population of a relatively small area in the Middle Dnieper. Rus was called this country, and other peoples of that time. The territory of the Old Russian state included not only the East Slavic population, but also parts of neighboring tribes.

The colonization of non-Slavic lands (in the Volga region, Ladoga region, in the North) was initially peaceful. First of all, Slavic peasants and artisans penetrated into these territories. New settlers lived even in unfortified settlements, without fear, apparently, of attacks by the local population. Peasants developed new lands, artisans supplied the district with their products. In the future, Slavic feudal lords came there with their squads. They set up fortresses, imposing tribute on the Slavic and non-Slavic population of the region, seized the best plots of land.

In the course of the economic development of these lands by the Russian population, the complex process of mutual cultural influence of the Slavs and the Finno-Ugric population intensified. Many Chud tribes even lost their language and culture, but in turn influenced the material and spiritual culture of the ancient Russian people.

In the ninth and especially in the tenth century. The common self-name of the Eastern Slavs manifested itself with much greater force and depth in the spread of the term "Rus" to all East Slavic lands, in the recognition of the ethnic unity of all living in this territory, in the consciousness of a common destiny and in the common struggle for the integrity and independence of Russia.

The replacement of old tribal ties with new, territorial ones took place gradually. So, in the field of military organization, one can trace the presence of independent militias in the ancient principalities until the end of the 10th century. Militias of Slovenes, Krivichi, Drevlyans, Radimichis, Polyans, Northerners, Croats, Dulebs, Tivertsy (and even non-Slavic tribes - Chuds, etc.) participated in the campaigns of the Kievan princes. From the beginning of the XI century. They began to be forced out in the central regions by the militias of the cities of Novgorod, the Kievans (Kyivians), although the military independence of individual principalities continued to exist in the 10th and 11th centuries.

On the basis of ancient related tribal dialects, the Old Russian language was created, which had local dialect differences. By the end of the ninth - beginning of the tenth century. The addition of the Old Russian written language and the appearance of the first monuments of writing should be attributed.

The further growth of the territories of Russia, the development of the Old Russian language and culture went hand in hand with the strengthening of the Old Russian people and the gradual elimination of the remnants of tribal isolation. An important role here was played by the isolation of the classes of feudal lords and peasants, the strengthening of the state Sedov V.V. Slavs: Historical and archaeological research. M., 2002..

Written and archaeological sources relating to the 9th - 10th and early 11th centuries clearly depict the process of class formation, the separation of senior and junior squads.

By IX - XI centuries. include large burial mounds, where for the most part warriors are buried, burned at the stake along with weapons, various luxury items, sometimes with slaves (more often with slaves), who were supposed to serve their master in the “other world”, as they served in this. Such burial grounds were located near the large feudal centers of Kievan Rus (the largest of them is Gnezdovsky, where there are more than 2 thousand mounds, near Smolensk; Mikhailovsky near Yaroslavl). In Kyiv itself, soldiers were buried according to a different rite - they were not burned, but often laid with women and always with horses and weapons in a log cabin (house) specially buried in the ground with a floor and ceiling. A study of weapons and other things found in the burials of combatants convincingly showed that the vast majority of combatants are Slavs. In the Gnezdovsky burial ground, only a small minority of burials belong to the Normans - "Varangians". Along with the burials of combatants in the tenth century. There were magnificent burials of the feudal nobility - princes or boyars. A noble Slav was burned in a boat or a specially built building - a domino - with slaves, a slave, horses and other domestic animals, weapons and a lot of precious utensils that belonged to him during his lifetime. First, a small mound was arranged over the funeral pyre, on which a feast was performed, possibly accompanied by a feast, ritual competitions and war games, and only then a large mound was poured.

The economic and political development of the Eastern Slavs naturally led to the creation among them, on a local basis, of a feudal state headed by Kievan princes. The Varangian conquest, reflected in the legend about the "calling" of the Varangians to the Novgorod land and the capture of Kyiv in the 9th century, had no more, and most likely less influence on the development of the Eastern Slavs than on the population of medieval France or England. The case was limited to a change of dynasty and the penetration of a certain number of Normans into the nobility. But the new dynasty was under the strongest influence of Slavic culture and "Russified" after a few decades. The grandson of the legendary founder of the Varangian dynasty, Rurik, bore a purely Slavic name - Svyatoslav, and in all likelihood, the manner of dressing and holding was no different from any representative of the Slavic nobility.

Thus, it is clear that at the time of the formation of the Old Russian state on the territory of the East Slavic tribes, there were ethnic characteristics common to all that preceded the formation of the Old Russian nationality. This is confirmed by archeological data: a uniform material culture can be traced. Also in this territory a single language has developed, with minor local dialect features.

Eastern Slavs in antiquity: ethnogenesis, social system, economic activity, beliefs.

Ethnogenesis- the moment of origin and the subsequent process of development of any people, which led to a certain state, type, phenomenon. It includes both the initial stages of the emergence of any people, and the further formation of its ethnographic, linguistic and anthropological features.

Origin and settlement of the Eastern Slavs.

The Slavs separated from the Indo-European group by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. Under the name of "Vendi" they first became known to ancient authors of the 1st - 2nd centuries. n. e. - Cornelius Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, who placed them between the Germans and Finno-Ugric peoples.

Name " Slavs" appears in sources in the 6th century. n. e. At this time, the Slavic ethnos was actively involved in the process of the Great Migration of Peoples - a major migration movement that swept the European continent in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. and almost completely redrawn its ethnic and political map. The settlement of the Slavs in the vast expanses of Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe became the main content of the late phase of the Great Migration of Peoples (6th - 8th centuries). One of the groups of Slavs, settled in the forest-steppe regions of Eastern Europe, was called acts (a word of Iranian or Turkic origin). Discussions continue around the question of what territory the Slavs occupied until the 6th century. It is most likely that they occupied in the first half of the 1st millennium AD. e. land from the upper and middle Vistula to the middle Dnieper. The settlement of the Slavs took place in three main directions:

1) to the south, to the Balkan Peninsula;

2) to the west, to the Middle Danube and the region between the Oder and the Elbe;

3) to the east and north along the East European Plain.

Accordingly, as a result of the resettlement, three branches of the Slavs that still exist today were formed: southern, western and eastern Slavs. Eastern Slavs to the 8th - 9th centuries. reached in the north of the Neva and Lake Ladoga, in the east - the middle Oka and the upper Don, gradually assimilating part of the local Baltic, Finno-Ugric, Iranian-speaking population. The resettlement of the Slavs coincided with the collapse of the tribal system. As a result of the crushing and mixing of tribes, new communities were formed, which were no longer consanguineous, but territorial and political in nature. Their names were most often formed from the habitat: landscape features (for example, "glade" - "living in the field", "drevlyans" - "living in the forests"), or the name of the river (for example, "buzhane" - from the river Bug) . The structure of these communities was two-stage: several small formations ("tribal principalities"), as a rule, formed larger ones ("unions of tribal principalities").

Among the Eastern Slavs by the 8th - 9th centuries. happened 15 tribal unions principalities. In the Middle Dnieper region (the area from the lower reaches of the Pripyat and Desna rivers to the Ros river) lived a meadow, to the north-west of them, south of the Pripyat, - Drevlyans, west of the Drevlyans to the Western Bug - Buzhans (later called Volynians), in the upper reaches of the Dniester and The Carpathians are Croats (part of a large tribe that broke up into several parts during settlement), Tivertsy down the Dniester, and Ulichi in the Dnieper region south of the glades. On the Dnieper Left Bank, in the basins of the Desna and Seim rivers, an alliance of northerners settled, in the basin of the river. Sozh (left tributary of the Dnieper north of the Desna) - Radimichi, on the upper Oka - Vyatichi. Between the Pripyat and the Dvina (to the north of the Drevlyans), the Dregovichi lived, and in the upper reaches of the Dvina, Dnieper and Volga, the Krivichi. The northernmost Slavic community, settled in the area of ​​Lake Ilmen and the river. Volkhov up to the Gulf of Finland, was called "Slovene", which coincided with the common Slavic self-name.

social order

Having settled along the East European Plain, the Eastern Slavs first lived in tribal communities, this is also evidenced by the chronicle.

From the 6th century tribal relations among the Eastern Slavs began to disintegrate in connection with the appearance of metal tools and the transition from slash to plow agriculture, since the joint efforts of all members of the clan were already required to manage the economy. The individual family became the basic economic unit.

Gradually, first in the south, in the forest-steppe zone, and then in the forest, in the north, the tribal community is replaced by a neighboring, territorial one, which was called "mir" - in the south, and "verv"1 - in the north. In the neighboring community, communal ownership of forest and hay lands, pastures, reservoirs, and arable land was preserved, but plots of arable land are already allocated to the family for use. Each family cultivated these plots with their own tools, which received the harvest they had harvested as their property. Over time, the redistribution of arable land ceased, and the allotments became the permanent property of individual families.

The improvement of the tools of labor led to the production of not only the necessary as in natural economy, but also a surplus product. There was an accumulation of a surplus product, and on its basis - the development of exchange between individual families. This led to the differentiation of the community, the growth of property inequality, the accumulation of wealth by the elders and other nobility. The supreme body of government among the Slavs continued to be the veche - the people's government, which jointly resolved all the most important issues. But gradually its value decreased.

The Eastern Slavs waged "numerous wars with their neighbors, repelling the onslaught of nomadic peoples. At the same time, they made campaigns in the Balkans and in Byzantium. Under these conditions, the role of the military commander, the prince, who was often the main person in the management of the tribe, increased enormously. When wars were rare, all the men of the tribe participated in them. In conditions of frequent wars, this became economically unprofitable. The growth of the surplus product made it possible to support the prince and his squad - a group of warriors devoted only to the prince. So, in the VIII-IX centuries. formed in the tribes and tribal unions military retinue nobility, concentrating both power and wealth. They declared themselves the owners of the lands of the tribe or tribal union, imposing tribute (tax) on fellow tribesmen.

The prince and the combatants also grew rich at the expense of military booty: they turned the captured prisoners of war into slaves, forcing them to work on their lands.

In the VI-VIII centuries. The slaves of the Eastern Slavs were mostly prisoners captured in the war. At that time, the Slavs had customary law, according to which it was forbidden to enslave their fellow tribesmen, for example, for debts, etc. Slaves from prisoners of war were used mainly in the household, in the most difficult work. There was no fundamental difference between a free community member and a slave. Slavery among the Slavs had a patriarchal form, when slaves do not form a class, but are considered junior incomplete members of the family.

Thus, among the Eastern Slavs there was a sharp differentiation (stratification) of society, it came close to the formation of the state.

Economic activity

Conventionally, economic activity can be divided into:

1. Farming.

2. Gathering (honey from wild bees (beekeeping) and berries, wax).

3. Hunting for animals.

4. Cattle breeding (cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses).

5. Fishing.

6. Craft and trade.

Hunting.

Prey: foxes, hares, bears, birds, etc.

Tools: arrows, spear, spear with an iron tip, ax (heavy ax).

Craft and trade.

Represented by: blacksmithing, jewelry, stone-cutting, carpentry, etc.

Blacksmith craft.

tools: potter's wheel, anvil, hammer, tongs, chisel, swage, etc.

Beliefs

Belief: paganism.

It covered the entire sphere of the spiritual, as well as most of the material life. It has Indo-European origins, was associated with ancient mythology. In a broad sense, East Slavic paganism is considered as a complex of ancient (primitive and early medieval) views, beliefs, rituals that served as the basis for later religions, spirituality, mentality (E. V. Anichkov, V. Ya. Propp, B. A. Rybakov and others. ). In a narrow sense, they are considered as tribal cults.

There are many principles for classifying East Slavic paganism. For example:

A) reflecting nature and personifying nature,

B) cosmological division: The transfer of mythological characters to the structure of the Universe, stars, planets, etc.

C) Main, secondary, minor, etc.

But most often there are three periods of Russian paganism:

Old Russian pantheon

(deities whose idols were installed in Kyiv under Prince Vladimir I in 980)

Veles- the god of cattle, the patron of wealth.

Dazhdbog- fire, heavenly light, giver of earthly blessings. Son of Svarog. It dies in the autumn, and on December 24 it is born again.

Makosh- the goddess of fate, the mother of a good harvest. "Ma" - mother, "cat" - basket, purse. Helped with housework. In Russian Orthodoxy, she reincarnated as Paraskeva Pyatnitsa (celebration - October 28, the time when the harvest was over and homework began).

Perun- god of lightning, thunderstorms, hail, war. In mythology, it is represented as a rider on a horse, striking a serpentine enemy. In Christian times, he was replaced by Elijah the prophet. According to B. A. Rybakov, Perun’s day is July 20.

Svarog- the deity of heavenly fire, the giver of cultural benefits. After baptism, he was forced out by Kuzma and Demyan.

Stribog- the god of the winds, is related to wealth. According to Rybakov, it is identical to Jupiter.

Formation of the Old Russian state. Norman theory.

The emergence of the Old Russian state is traditionally associated with the unification of the Ilmen and Dnieper regions as a result of a campaign against Kyiv by the Novgorod prince Oleg in 882. Having killed Askold and Dir, who reigned in Kyiv, Oleg began to rule on behalf of the young son of Prince Rurik, Igor.

The formation of the state was the result of long and complex processes that took place in the vast expanses of the East European Plain in the second half of the 1st millennium AD.

By the 7th century East Slavic tribal unions settled in its expanses, the names and location of which are known to historians from the ancient Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" by St. Nestor (XI century). These are the meadows (along the western bank of the Dnieper), the Drevlyans (to the north-west of them), the Ilmen Slovenes (along the banks of Lake Ilmen and the Volkhov River), the Krivichi (in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, the Volga and the Western Dvina), the Vyatichi (along the banks of the Oka), northerners (along the Desna), etc. The Finns were the northern neighbors of the eastern Slavs, the Balts were the western ones, and the Khazars were the southeastern ones. Of great importance in their early history were trade routes, one of which connected Scandinavia and Byzantium (the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" from the Gulf of Finland along the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov, Lake Ilmen to the Dnieper and the Black Sea), and the other connected the Volga regions with the Caspian Sea and Persia.

Nestor cites a famous story about the calling of the Varangian (Scandinavian) princes Rurik, Sineus and Truvor by the Ilmen Slovenes: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it: go reign and rule over us.” Rurik accepted the offer and in 862 he reigned in Novgorod (that is why the monument "Millennium of Russia" was erected in Novgorod in 1862). Many historians of the XVIII-XIX centuries. were inclined to understand these events as evidence that statehood was brought to Russia from outside and the Eastern Slavs could not create their own state on their own (Norman theory). Modern researchers recognize this theory as untenable. They pay attention to the following:

Nestor's story proves that among the Eastern Slavs by the middle of the 9th century. there were bodies that were the prototype of state institutions (the prince, the squad, the assembly of representatives of the tribes - the future veche);

The Varangian origin of Rurik, as well as Oleg, Igor, Olga, Askold, Dir is indisputable, but the invitation of a foreigner as a ruler is an important indicator of the maturity of the prerequisites for the formation of a state. The tribal union is aware of its common interests and is trying to resolve the contradictions between the individual tribes by calling the prince who stands above local differences. The Varangian princes, surrounded by a strong and combat-ready squad, led and completed the processes leading to the formation of the state;

Large tribal superunions, which included several unions of tribes, were formed among the Eastern Slavs already in the 8th-9th centuries. - around Novgorod and around Kyiv; - external factors played an important role in the formation of the Ancient T. state: threats coming from outside (Scandinavia, the Khazar Khaganate) pushed for unity;

The Varangians, having given Russia a ruling dynasty, quickly assimilated, merged with the local Slavic population;

As for the name "Rus", its origin continues to cause controversy. Some historians associate it with Scandinavia, others find its roots in the East Slavic environment (from the Ros tribe that lived along the Dnieper). There are other opinions on this matter as well.

Conclusion: the Slavs before the Varangians had elements of statehood, but the Varangians played the role of catalysts (accelerating the process)

At the end of the 9th - beginning of the 11th century. The Old Russian state was going through a period of formation. The formation of its territory and composition was actively going on. Oleg (882-912) subjugated the tribes of the Drevlyans, Northerners and Radimichi to Kyiv, Igor (912-945) successfully fought with the streets, Svyatoslav (964-972) - with the Vyatichi. During the reign of Prince Vladimir (980-1015), Volynians and Croats were subordinated, power over the Radimichi and Vyatichi was confirmed. In addition to the East Slavic tribes, the Finno-Ugric peoples (Chud, Merya, Muroma, etc.) were part of the Old Russian state. The degree of independence of the tribes from the Kyiv princes was quite high.

For a long time, only the payment of tribute was an indicator of submission to the authorities of Kyiv. Until 945, it was carried out in the form of polyudya: from November to April, the prince and his squad traveled around the subject territories and collected tribute. The murder in 945 by the Drevlyans of Prince Igor, who tried to collect a second tribute that exceeded the traditional level, forced his wife, Princess Olga, to introduce lessons (the amount of tribute) and establish graveyards (places where tribute was to be brought). This was the first example known to historians of how the princely government approves new norms that are obligatory for ancient Russian society.

Important functions of the Old Russian state, which it began to perform from the moment of its inception, were also protecting the territory from military raids (in the 9th - early 11th centuries, these were mainly raids by the Khazars and Pechenegs) and conducting an active foreign policy (campaigns against Byzantium in 907, 911, 944, 970, Russian-Byzantine treaties of 911 and 944, the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate in 964-965, etc.).

The period of formation of the Old Russian state ended with the reign of Prince Vladimir I of the Holy, or Vladimir the Red Sun. Under him, Christianity was adopted from Byzantium, a system of defensive fortresses was created on the southern borders of Russia, and the so-called ladder system of transfer of power finally took shape. The order of succession was determined by the principle of seniority in the princely family. Vladimir, having taken the throne of Kyiv, planted his eldest sons in the largest Russian cities. The most important after Kyiv - Novgorod - the reign was transferred to his eldest son. In the event of the death of the eldest son, his place was to be taken by the next in seniority, all other princes moved to more important thrones. During the life of the Kyiv prince, this system worked flawlessly. After his death, as a rule, there was a more or less long period of struggle between his sons for the reign of Kiev.

The heyday of the Old Russian state falls on the reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) and his sons. It includes the oldest part of Russian Truth - the first monument of written law that has come down to us ("Russian Law", information about which dates back to the reign of Oleg, was not preserved either in the original or in the lists). Russian Truth regulated relations in the princely economy - the patrimony. Its analysis allows historians to talk about the established system of state administration: the Kyiv prince, like the local princes, is surrounded by a retinue, the top of which is called the boyars and with whom he confers on the most important issues (a duma, a permanent council under the prince). Of the combatants, posadniks are appointed to manage cities, governors, tributaries (collectors of land taxes), mytniki (collectors of trade duties), tiuns (managers of princely estates), etc. Russkaya Pravda contains valuable information about ancient Russian society. Its basis was the free rural and urban population (people). There were slaves (servants, serfs), farmers dependent on the prince (purchases, ryadovichi, serfs - historians do not have a single opinion about the situation of the latter).

Yaroslav the Wise pursued an energetic dynastic policy, linking his sons and daughters by marriage with the ruling families of Hungary, Poland, France, Germany, etc.

Yaroslav died in 1054, before 1074. his sons managed to coordinate their actions. At the end of the XI - beginning of the XII century. the power of the Kyiv princes weakened, individual principalities gained more and more independence, the rulers of which tried to agree with each other on cooperation in the fight against the new - Polovtsian - threat. Tendencies towards the fragmentation of a single state intensified as its individual regions grew richer and stronger. The last Kyiv prince who managed to stop the collapse of the Old Russian state was Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125). After the death of the prince and the death of his son Mstislav the Great (1125-1132), the fragmentation of Russia became a fait accompli.

Russia under Vladimir Monomakh

In 1113, as a result of the uprising in Kyiv, Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125) was invited to the Kyiv table. all thanks to military campaigns and victories over the Polovtsians. In total, according to his own calculations, he made 83 military campaigns in Russia, Europe and the Polovtsian steppes. One of the main goals of Monomakh was to unite the forces of all Russian princes to fight the Polovtsy. By repeated campaigns against them, he achieved the fact that the Polovtsian danger weakened for a while.

Having occupied the Kyiv table, Vladimir Monomakh began to consistently restore the state powers of the Grand Duke lost in strife. His "Charter", put into effect in 1113, supplemented the "Russian Truth" in the sphere of regulation of social relations. During the reign of Monomakh, the most complete set of Russian laws was drawn up - the "Large Russian Truth", which included Yaroslav's letter to the people of Novgorod in 1015, the "Truth of the Yaroslavichs" and the "Charter" of Vladimir Monomakh. In the "Charter" the position of serfs, purchases, etc. was regulated, the system of collecting interest by usurers was streamlined. There are new articles about the protection of property. The new law regulated the princely share of the fine more strictly, so that the princely collectors could not abuse their power. Here the word “lord” is repeated many times, which could equally refer to both the prince and any feudal lord in general. The drafter of the law seeks to protect not only the princely domain, but also the boyar estate. After Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomakh was the first prince who managed to restore the unity of Kievan Rus: he kept his brothers in obedience, the Grand Duke punished the disobedient with deprivation of inheritances. At the same time, the Old Russian state could no longer exist in the form in which it was under Yaroslav the Wise. In order to strengthen his power, he handed over to his sons princely tables in the most important political centers: Novgorod, Pereyaslavl, Smolensk, Suzdal, Vladimir-Volynsky, demanding complete submission to himself from representatives of other princely families. The princes of other branches were real vassals of Vladimir Monomakh.

At the same time, Vladimir Monomakh did not begin to make changes to the system of hereditary destinies. The political content of his views was most clearly presented in the "Instruction", where the leading place is occupied by the problem of organizing and exercising supreme power. He urged to preserve the independence of the principalities, but at the same time to remember the all-Russian unity and to fulfill the agreements on the fight against the Polovtsians. Monomakh advises the future grand dukes to decide all matters together with the Council of the Squad, to prevent lawlessness and “untruth” in the country, to administer justice “in truth”. Judicial functions Monomakh offered to carry out the prince himself, not allowing violations of the laws and showing mercy to the most defenseless segments of the population. The denial of blood feuds resulted in his complete rejection of the death penalty. Monomakh develops the problem of the prince's responsibility to his subjects, posed by Hilarion. In all controversial cases, he advises to give preference to the world.

In 1125, the Kyiv throne was occupied by Monomakh's son Mstislav the Great. His death (1132) drew a line under the era of the great Kyiv sovereigns. The period of feudal fragmentation began. In connection with the development of the princely domain, a palace and patrimonial system of government was formed. It was headed by a fireman, who took care of the court (youths) of the prince, household and finances. Ognishchanin was subordinated to a staff of servants (tiuns), who were in charge of various branches of patrimonial administration. The patrimonial administration could consist of both free and personally dependent on the prince under the contract - ryadovichi, as well as serfs, servants. Over time, the princes, in agreement with the veche, entrust this agent of the patrimonial administration with the performance of state executive and judicial functions. Two control centers are being formed: the palace and the patrimony. All court ranks are at the same time state positions within each principality, land, inheritance.

Fragmentation Results

AT fragmentation Russian statehood began to represent a medieval federation - a union of princes, formalized by contractual relations on the basis of suzerainty-vassalage. Independent principalities began to be called lands and were equal in territorial scope to Western European kingdoms. They conducted their own foreign policy, concluded treaties with foreign states. The title of the Grand Duke was now called not only Kyiv, but also the princes of other Russian lands. At the same time, in the mass and elite consciousness, the idea of ​​Russia as a single territorial and spiritual whole was preserved. Centripetal tendencies and confederate ties found their expression in the activities of congresses of princes, the similarity of legal systems, the preservation of Orthodoxy and a single church organization for all of Russia - the metropolis (and in some lands of episcopal departments), whose spiritual authority was not disputed.

The struggle of Russia against foreign invasions in the thirteenth century In 1206, the Mongol empire was formed, headed by Temuchin (Genghis Khan). The Mongols defeated Primorye, Northern China, Central Asia, Transcaucasia, attacked the Polovtsians. Russian princes came to the aid of the Polovtsy (Kyiv, Chernigov, Volyn, etc.), but in 1223 they were defeated on Kalka due to inconsistency in actions.

In 1236 the Mongols conquered the Volga Bulgaria, and in 1237, led by Batu, invaded Russia. They ruined the Ryazan and Vladimir lands, in 1238 they defeated them on the river. The city of Yuri Vladimirsky, he himself died. In 1239, the second wave of invasion began. Chernigov, Kyiv, Galich fell. Batu went to Europe, from where he returned in 1242.

The reasons for the defeat of Russia were its fragmentation, the numerical superiority of the close-knit and mobile army of the Mongols, its skillful tactics, and the absence of stone fortresses in Russia. The yoke of the Golden Horde, the state of the invaders in the Volga region, was established. Russia paid her tribute (tithe), from which only the church was exempted, and supplied soldiers. The collection of tribute was controlled by the Khan's Baskaks, later by the princes themselves.

They received from the khan a charter for reigning - a label. The prince of Vladimir was recognized as the eldest among the princes. The Horde intervened in the feuds of the princes and ruined Russia many times. The invasion caused great damage to the military and economic power of Russia, its international prestige and culture. Southern and western lands

Russia (Galich, Smolensk, Polotsk, etc.) later passed to Lithuania and Poland. In the 1220s. Russians participated in Estonia in the struggle against the German crusaders - the Order of the Sword, in 1237 transformed into the Livonian Order, a vassal of the Teutonic Order. In 1240, the Swedes landed at the mouth of the Neva, trying to cut off Novgorod from the Baltic. Prince Alexander defeated them in the Battle of the Neva. In the same year, the Livonian knights launched an offensive, taking Pskov. In 1242, Alexander Nevsky defeated them on Lake Peipus, stopping the raids of the Livonians for 10 years.

FORMATION OF THE RUSSIAN CENTRALIZED STATE IN THE 14TH - THE FIRST THIRD OF THE 16TH CENTURIES.

ANSWER PLAN: A. Features and stages of the formation of a single national state. B. Prerequisites for the unification of Russian lands into a single state.

A.1. In Russia in the late XIII - early XIV centuries. the process of overcoming feudal fragmentation and the creation of a centralized state began. Unlike Western Europe, in Russia this process had a number of features studied by Russian historians Zimin, Sakharov and others.

2. These are the following features:

§ firstly, as a result of the Tatar yoke of the Golden Horde, Russia somewhat lagged behind in its development from England and France;

§ Secondly, in Russia the national market has not yet arisen, the Great Russian nation has not yet taken shape;

§ third, a centralized state in Russia developed by the end of the 15th century, on a feudal basis, was multinational in nature, it gradually included neighboring nationalities;

§ fourthly, accelerated the process of centralization, the danger from external enemies - Tatars, Turks, Poles, Germans, Lithuania.

3. Russian historians identify the following stages in the formation of a single national state:

FIRST STAGE - the end of the XIII - the first half of the XIV century. - strengthening of the Moscow principality and the beginning of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow. SECOND STAGE - the second half of the XIV - the beginning of the XV century. - further unification of the lands, headed by Moscow, the emergence of elements of a centralized state. THIRD STAGE - second quarter of the 15th century. - feudal war. FOURTH STAGE - the second half of the XV century. - the beginning of the XVI century. - the formation of a single state.

B.1 The Mongol-Tatar yoke held back the development of Russia, but could not stop it. The center of development and unification was North-Eastern Russia. Its lands, surrounded by forests and rivers, made it difficult for the Tatars to raid, and the influx of people increased there.

2. The peasants were restoring their farms, “cleansing”, “cutting” appeared - new plots freed from the forest. Repairs grew - new villages built in 2-4 yards. Plows and plows were used, livestock was used as a tax, the peasants switched from fallow farming to a three-field crop rotation. Gardening, horticulture, hunting, beekeeping, fishing, and home crafts developed. City crafts were restored: weapons, blacksmithing, leather, pottery, shoemaking. Innovations appear - casting cannons, minting silver coins, making paper. If in the 13th century there were 90 types of handicrafts, then in the 16th century there were more than 200 types.

3. Cities were restored, and the largest of them - Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Suzdal - became craft and trade centers. In rural areas local exchange prevailed. Extensive trade was conducted by monasteries - Trinity-Sergius, Solovetsky, Simonov and others. Trades (markets) were organized in the cities, to which merchants from other cities came. Strengthened economic ties between the principalities, which contributed to the unification.

Thus, the development of agriculture, crafts, trade was one of the reasons for the formation of a single state.

4. The feudal land tenure of princes, boyars, churches, and monasteries grew. Communal lands were transferred to them through seizures, donations, purchase and sale. So, Grand Duke Ivan Kalita had 50 villages, and his great-grandson Vasily the Dark - 125 villages. The main form of ownership is the patrimony (coming from the father), which is inherited. Conditional ownership appears - the estate, i.e. land that the prince gave to his warriors for a certain period of time for service. The growth of noble landlords (they were called "mercifuls") began. The landowners supported the strong centralized power of the prince, who gave them land, service, and peasants. The above is the second reason for the formation of a single state.

5. In the XIV century. peasants were also called “people”, “orphans”, “smerds”, but in the 15th century. the rural population began to be called "peasants" (from-Christians). Peasants cultivated from 5 to 15 acres (in three fields). The poor peasants had neither land nor a yard - they were called backbones. The peasants who lived on the land of the feudal lord paid quitrent in kind or worked out corvée on the master's fields. In the XV century. peasants still had the right to freely move to another feudal lord (only after harvesting). Kholopov were called "full people", in fact they were slaves. There were categories of slaves:

§ servants in the house (yard);

§ work on arable land (stradniki);

§ managers in the economy (tiuns, clerks);

§ military - serfs went on campaigns with the master;

§ slaves under the contract (for a certain period).

At the end of the XIV century. the number of escapes of peasants, serfs, arson, and uprisings increased. The interest of the feudal lords in the enslavement of the peasants is the third reason for the creation of a centralized state.

6. The position of artisans was not the same, they gathered in artels or squads, kept apprentices, lived on the same street, had their own churches; many of them were rich. Merchants also had their own corporations (guilds). The richest - "guests" traded with Western countries. The title of "guest" was inherited. Merchants and artisans lived in the suburbs, near the Kremlin, so they were called townspeople. There were few of them, but they played a significant role in economic and social life. Of course, they supported those princes who sought the unification of the Russian lands - this is the fourth reason ..

7. And the fifth reason for the unification of the Russian lands is that liberation from the yoke of the Tatars was possible only if a single state was created. Many segments of the population were interested in liberation.

To do this, it was necessary to assemble a single military force of all Russian lands. These were the reasons for the unification of Russian lands and the creation of a single national centralized state in the XIV - early XVI centuries.

Legal system

In accordance with the decision of the "Council of Reconciliation", a new code of laws was being prepared. Corrected "in the old days" Sudebnik was approved by the Boyar Duma in 1550. Those laws of the state that determined the relationship between feudal lords and peasants remained unchanged, in particular, the norms of St. George's Day were preserved. The problems of improving the system of central and local government turned out to be in the focus of attention of legislators. The new Sudebnik accelerated the process of forming orders, expanded the functions of the service bureaucracy, and somewhat limited the power of local governors.

Administrative system

A system of the first functional governing bodies - orders - was created. The centralization of local government was carried out in the mid-1550s. within the framework of the hut and zemstvo reforms. The government decided to give local power to the "best people" of volosts and cities. In 1555-1556. decrees were issued on the abolition of feeding and governorship, replacing it with an elected administration. These innovations weakened the political weight of the boyars and strengthened the position of the nobility, contributed to the unification of the provincial nobility into county corporations - service "cities", which became an important institution for the estate structure of the main part of the landowners.

Financial and tax system

Administrative reforms also meant the restructuring of the financial and tax system. In 1550, a population census was carried out, accompanied by a reform: household taxation was replaced by land taxation. On the main territory, a new tax unit was introduced - the "big plow", the size of which varied depending on the social status of the landowners. With the abolition of feeding, the payment of local taxes by the population acquired a centralized character. The former "feeding income" was replaced by a nationwide tax - "feeding payback".

Army reform

The "sentences" on parochialism of 1549 forbade the governors to conduct local disputes during the period of hostilities and made some changes to the structure of the military command.

The Adashev government set about organizing a permanent archery army and formed a three thousandth archery detachment for the personal protection of the king.

In the mid 1550s. The Service Regulations were adopted. It established a strict order of military service. A single norm of service from land plots was introduced. All feudal landowners, regardless of the size of their possessions, became the servants of the state. Even patrimonial land turned into state salaries. As a result of this reform, it became possible to have many tens of thousands of armed soldiers, well equipped and supplied with food. There was an opportunity to gain access to the seas.

The problem of the "lawful king"

After the death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584, his son Fedor succeeded to the throne. Almost immediately, a conspiracy was organized to replace Fedor on the throne with his young brother Dmitry. The plot failed, and in 1591 Dmitry died in Uglich (the reason for his death remained unclear). Fedor turned out to be a weak ruler, and in fact power in the country was exercised first by his uncle N. Zakharyin, and then by the tsar's brother-in-law B. Godunov.

In 1598 Fedor died without leaving an heir. The Rurik dynasty was interrupted. The problem of the "legitimate king" arose. It was decided by choosing the tsar at the Zemsky Sobors and meetings of the Boyar Duma. So Boris Godunov (1598-1605) and Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610) were elected. V. Shuisky came to power in May 1606 as a result of an uprising that overthrew False Dmitry I. For the first time in the history of Russia, V. Shuisky took an oath “to the whole earth” (the so-called “cross-kissing record”) during the coronation, in which he guaranteed the privileges of the boyars ( do not take away the estates, do not judge the boyars without the Boyar Duma, etc.). This was due to the need to enlist the support of the country's upper class. Failures in the struggle against foreign intervention led to the growth of general discontent. As a result, in July 1610, the nobility (led by V. Lyapunov) and the townspeople of Moscow achieved "information from the throne" of V. Shuisky. He was forcibly tonsured a monk. Power passed to the interim boyar government ("seven boyars").

Foreign policy

The struggle against the impostors was accompanied by an aggravation of Russia's foreign policy position. The speech of False Dmitry I sharply complicated relations between Russia and the Commonwealth: the Poles openly participated in his campaign, although formally King Sigismund III did not give his troops. To fight False Dmitry II, the Shuisky government invited the Swedes. As a result, this resulted in the Swedish intervention, as a result of which, in 1610, the Swedes captured Novgorod.

The invitation of the Swedes to fight the "Tushins" gave the Polish king Sigismund III an excuse to invade Russia. (But) the king's plans were thwarted by the heroic defense of Smolensk (1609-1611). A desperate attempt to solve the problem of the “legitimate tsar” and at the same time find a way to compromise with the Commonwealth was the call in August 1610 to the Russian throne by the boyar government (“seven-boys

The ethnogenesis of the Slavs is the origin and formation of the Slavic community. It includes not only the emergence and isolation of the Slavs from a whole set of peoples, but also their further resettlement, development as a people.

The problems of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs have remained relevant for many centuries. This is explained by the fact that there are many mysteries, many questions, to which there are no unambiguous answers yet. And to know the history of our ancestors is a sacred duty for each of us. Therefore, it is worth at least trying to delve into this important and serious historical aspect, like the ethnogenesis of the ancient Slavs.

The first written evidence about the Slavs dates back to the fourth century AD. However, we know that the ethnogenesis of the early Slavs goes back to the past era (in the middle of the first millennium). Then there was a separation of the Slavs from a large Indo-European family of peoples.

They can be divided into three large groups. The first of them is migration, that is, the Slavs moved from one territory to another. It, in turn, is divided into:

The second theory is autochthonous. It is diametrically opposed. It says that the Slavs did not move anywhere, but initially lived in Eastern European lands. This point of view is supported by Russian scientists.

And the third hypothesis is mixed. It was proposed by the scientist Sobolevsky. It consists in the fact that the Slavs appeared in the Baltic states, and then moved to the lands of Eastern Europe.

This is how different sources and historians imagine the ethnogenesis of the Slavs. And they have not yet come to a consensus, and they are unlikely to ever come.

Ethnogenesis and culture of the ancient Slavs

An important aspect is the culture of the Slavs, which existed at the dawn of their development. They lived in special houses that were built along the banks of the rivers.

The ancient Slavs carefully defended their dwellings. They did this with the help of palisades, ravines, ditches. After all, the threat of attack has always existed.

The first occupations of the ancient Slavs were fishing, and a little later, agriculture and hunting. The man was a provider, a protector. And the woman was assigned the role of the keeper of the hearth: she raised children, cooked food, made clothes.

Over time, the Slavs learned to process metal and make tools and household items from it.

Slavs: ethnogenesis and resettlement

The migration of the Slavs was due to the fact that in the third to seventh centuries it was generally massive. This era bears the appropriate name - the Great Migration of Nations. By the sixth century, the Slavs had reached the Baltic and Black Seas.

Around the same time, there was a division of all Slavs into eastern, western and southern. A little later, they appeared on the territory of modern Belarus. Already in the eighth century, the Slavs firmly settled in the Balkans, and from the north - in the region of Lake Ladoga. This, in brief, is the ethnogenesis and early history of the Slavs.

After dividing into three branches, each of them began its own history. But everywhere there was a tendency to form tribal unions. For example, among the Western Slavs, these are Pomeranians and Polabs. The Eastern Slavs were divided into thirteen tribal unions (glade, Krivichi, northerners and others). And the Bulgarian, Serbian and other tribes belonged to the South Slavic.

These alliances became a prerequisite for the formation of states, but that's another story...

The ethnogenesis of the Slavs according to archeology

The first recorded archaeological sources date back to the first millennium BC. However, we cannot reliably speak about their belonging to the Slavs. But the monuments attributed to the fifth or sixth centuries are definitely of Slavic origin.

The problem of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs according to archaeological excavations lies in the impossibility of classifying them with absolute certainty as Slavic. It is difficult to trace their succession.

The ancestral home of the Slavs and their ethnogenesis

Most scientists are inclined to believe that the ancestral home of the ancient Slavs was Eastern Europe, as well as Central. It was framed by the rivers Elba, Vistula, Dnieper and Dniester. It was there that the Proto-Slavs lived - the predecessors of the Slavs. Of course, there are scientists who hold other points of view, more dubious.

The early history of the Slavs, their ethnogenesis has always been strongly influenced by other peoples, who were often hostile. In addition, natural and climatic conditions also played an important role here.

Ethnogenesis is the initial stage of the emergence of a people and the further formation of its anthropological, ethnographic, and linguistic features.
Eastern Slavs - Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians.
Most of Europe and a significant part of Asia have long been inhabited by Indo-European tribes. Slavs are part of the Indo-European language family. This Indo-European language family already existed around the 4th millennium BC. e. There were constant migrations of various tribes. During this movement, the Slavs were divided into three branches - eastern, western and southern. The Eastern Slavs were located on the territory of modern Eastern Europe. Disputes about the origin of the Eastern Slavs are still going on.
The Slavs were not the first inhabitants, at least 4 nationalities lived before them:
Scythians - had a developed culture and statehood (in the 1st millennium BC, the ancient Greeks wrote about various peoples of the northern Black Sea region, calling them "Scythians" (but does not mean that all of them were Scythians));
 Ancient Greek colonists - neighbors of the Scythians;
 Sarmatians - nomadic people from Asia;
 Finno-Ugrians are a people who came from Siberia.
At the beginning of the first millennium A.D. e. the Romans wrote about "barbarians", among whom there could also be the ancestors of the Slavs.
In the 4th-7th centuries AD. e. there was a great migration of peoples, among whom were the Slavs.
In the 5th-7th centuries AD. e. Slavs occupied lands from the Elbe River (lava) in the West to the Dnieper River in the East. From the Baltic in the north to the Mediterranean in the south.
The historical community of the Eastern Slavs, who gave rise to the ancient Russian state, was formed on the territory of the Dnieper region.
Neighbors - Baltic (modern Lithuanians and Latvians), Finno-Ugric, Finnish tribes (Estonian, Finnish).
In the steppes of the northern Black Sea region lived nomadic pastoralists - Turkic tribes.
Neighbor states: Byzantium (medieval Greece), Khazaria (Khazar Khaganate; control over the Great Silk Road; Khazaria was in the lower reaches of the Volga and Don), Volga Bulgaria (Kazan).
The Eastern Slavs consisted of 15 large tribes (Polyany, Dvelyans, Krivichi, Slovene - the most developed). Each tribe had its own internal organization, tribal leaders. Kyiv became a major Polyana center.
The main occupations of the Eastern Slavs:
Forest trades (appropriating the type of economy);
Farming (arable) Most of the forests were covered with forests, so trees had to be cut down, stumps uprooted and burned. When the soil became unsuitable, they switched to another. This is a slash-and-burn farming system. They plowed with a plow, a plow, a harrow, then harvested the grain with sickles. Grain crops - wheat, millet, barley, buckwheat, rye, oats.
Animal husbandry (bred cows, goats, sheep, pigs, horses)
Home crafts (blacksmithing), as well as beekeeping, fishing and hunting;
Weaving (wool of goats, sheep, linen.)
The main religion is paganism (beliefs that arose at the stage of tribal relations; it is characterized by the animation of the surrounding world, the worship of the forces of nature and ancestors). 2 main cults - the cult of nature and the cult of ancestors. The Slavs were distinguished by their love of freedom.
In the 9th century, Varangians (mercenary warriors) appeared on the land of the Eastern Slavs. Version - people from Scandinavia and the coast of the Baltic Sea.
As the Eastern Slavs settled over large areas, blood and family ties began to disintegrate. In the 9th century, the tribal community turns into a neighboring one, where unity is maintained not by family ties, but by economic ones. The harsh natural conditions determined the longevity of the neighboring community, since often large amounts of work had to be done in a short time.
In the Slavic communities, tribal nobility (1-2%), warriors, and elected leaders stand out. This stage in the development of society is military democracy.
At this time, elements of the future statehood are being born. Pre-state stage of social development.

State genesis, as is known, usually occurs in two ways. It was either the natural development of peoples, or the conquest by external forces. All ancient states were divided into two large groups: nomadic and sedentary.

Trading in the country of Eastern Slavs. Paintings on Russian history.

Phases of the genesis of the state

1. Transition to a producing economy
2. Separation of management and production functions
3. Transition to a neighboring (agricultural) community
4. Property differentiation (singling out the poor, middle and prosperous strata)
5. Social stratification (differentiation) and the formation of tribal nobility
6. Formation of estates and classes
7. Association of territorial communities

Basic theories of ethnogenesis

There are three theories of the ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs:

1. autochthonous (i.e., the indigenous origin of the Slavs is the valley of the Dnieper River). It was based on archaeological sources. The most prominent supporter of this theory is Academician Rybakov.
2. migratory (Eastern Slavs, as a branch, stood out in the 1st century BC from the common Slavic branch). According to this theory, the Slavs during the Great Migration of Nations migrated east in two directions:
   1. Homeland: Oder and Vistula (Western) river basins
   2. Homeland: Danube (Southern) river basins
3. Synthesis of autochthonous and migration theories

In the 1st century AD, Slavic tribes lived in the Dnieper basin and on the East European Plain. Sources and works confirming this: Byzantine historians, such as: Herodotus, Tacitus, Ptolemy, Pliny the Elder, Arabic sources of the 6th - 8th centuries (Al-Masudi, Al-Istarkhi, etc.) The only Russian source: The Tale of Bygone Years ( XII century).

The resettlement of the Eastern Slavs by the VIII century

The approximate territory of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs is from the Carpathian Mountains to the Middle Oka and the Upper Don from west to east, and from the Neva and Lake Ladoga to the middle Dnieper from north to south. It is important to note that the Eastern Slavs were also called Ants.

Tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs in the 7th-8th centuries.

1. Glade (middle Dnieper)
2. Drevlyans
3. Dregovichi (territories of modern Belarus)
4. Polochane (R. Polot)
5. northerners
6. Krivichi (Upper reaches of the Volga and Dnieper)
7. Radimichi
8. Vyatichi
9. Ilmen Slovenes (Lake Ilmen)
10. Buzhans (or dulebs) / Volhynians
11. White Croats (Prykarpattya, the westernmost tribal union)
12. Tivertsy
13. Ulchi (southernmost tribal union)

Occupations of the Eastern Slavs

In particular, the main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture:

1. Slash-and-burn (in the North)
2. Translation
3. Arable (in the South)

Rye, wheat, barley, and millet were grown. The main tools of labor were: a plow (since the 7th century), a plow, a hoe, sickles, flails (for threshing), grain graters. Gathering, hunting and fishing also played a certain role. Crafts developed (they appeared in the 6th century, in cities). The Path from the Varangians to the Greeks, which arose in the 9th century, played a special role for the Slavs. This chain looked like this: the Baltic Sea - r. Neva - lake. Ladoga - r. Magus - lake. Ilmen - Dnieper rapids - Constantinople (Black Sea). Exported mainly furs, wax, honey, flax.

Some major cities of Russia VII - VIII centuries.

• Novgorod
• Chernihiv
• Pereyaslavl
• Smolensk
• Suzdal
• Murom

Of course, these are just some of them. It should be noted that in general, by the 9th century, there were about 24 large cities in Russia.

social order

At the head of tribal unions were princes and representatives of the tribal nobility. People's meetings took place (only men took part in them) - veche gatherings. In the VIII century, there were pre-state formations - tribal unions. There were pagan beliefs. In the VIII-IX centuries. a common Slavic pantheon of gods was formed:

• Svarog - the main god
• Perun - lightning
• Dazhdbog - the sun
• Stribog - wind
• Makosh - fertility
• Volos (Veles) - cattle and the underworld

Magi were called priests who performed various rituals. The places where these rituals were performed were called kapitsa.

Results of ethnogenesis

Certain conclusions follow from the above. The East Slavic ethnos by the 8th century consisted of 13 large tribal unions. The agricultural basis was agriculture. Crafts, trade, crafts, as well as appropriating types of economy developed. They lived in a neighboring community (the period of military democracy). There was an armament of all free people (an ancient Slavic man - lyudin). Customary law was preserved, and veche democracy also took place. There was an external threat. All these factors became the conditions for the formation of the ancient Russian state.

Questions and assignments to the topic "Ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs"

1. What are the main phases of the genesis of the state?
2. Name the main theories of the ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs and describe them.
3. What was the approximate territory of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs by the VIII century?
4. Name 13 tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs.
5. What was the social structure of the Eastern Slavs and what did they do?