Where does the history of our homeland, our people begin? Where did the Russian land come from? These questions were of interest to ancient Russian chroniclers, but still remain poorly studied areas of historical science due to the small number of sources.
Our distant ancestors are Slavs. They lived in central Europe. The Greeks called them Antes and Wends. The Slavs were not a single people, but a collection of numerous small tribes, either uniting or at war with each other. In the VI-VII centuries. there was a separation of the eastern branch of the Slavs, their separation from the western and southern.
Where did the Eastern Slavs live? They occupied a vast territory of Eastern Europe: from Lake Ladoga and Onega in the north to the mouth of the rivers Bug, Prut, Dnieper in the south and from the upper reaches of the Volga in the east to the Carpathians in the west. Up to 15 tribal unions settled on this territory: the Polans, the Drevlyans, the Dregovichi, the Radimichi, the Krivichi, the Vyatichi, the Polochans, the Tivertsy, the Northerners, the Ilmen Slovenes, the Volhynians, the White Croats, etc.
Who lived next door to the Eastern Slavs? In Eastern Europe, the Slavs met with the Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes: Merya, All, Chud, Muroma and others. The Slavs did not conquer these tribes, but mixed with them, assimilated. The neighbors of the Slavs in the east were the Khazars and Magyars (Hungarians) from the Volga Bulgaria, and in the south - nomadic cattle breeders: Scythians, Sarmatians, Pechenegs, Polovtsians, who often made predatory raids on the Slavs.
What did the Eastern Slavs do? What did they live on? They were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing, hunting, handicraft and beekeeping, i.e. collecting honey from wild bees. The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. In the southern forest-steppe regions, it was fallow. The virgin lands were developed and used for several years. Then it was abandoned until fertility was restored, and after a few years it was processed again. Slash-and-burn agriculture prevailed in the northern forest regions. Trees were first cut down, dried, and then burned. The soil fertilized with ash gave a good harvest for several years. Then a new area was worked on.
The Eastern Slavs grew wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, and buckwheat. They called rye "zhito", which in translation from the Old Russian language means life. The Slavs have long had a high culture of cultivating the land. From ancient times they knew the sickle and the plow. The Slavs were engaged in cattle breeding. They raised cows, goats, sheep, pigs. Horse breeding developed especially rapidly. The horse was both a breadwinner - a plowman, and a prophetic friend of warriors, which was reflected in folk epics (in particular, about Ilya Muromets and Mikul Selyaninovich) and in fairy tales (for example, about Sivka-Burka).
In numerous rivers and lakes there were a huge number of different types of fish. Fishing was an important economic activity. Collecting honey from wild bees, the Slavs used it as a sweet and as a raw material for making intoxicating drinks. Archaeological excavations testify to the presence of various types of craft among the Slavs from ancient times: weaving, pottery, blacksmithing, embroidery, glass, metal, etc. In the VII-VIII centuries. among the Eastern Slavs, artisans are singled out as a social group.
The consequence of this was the emergence of cities as centers of crafts, trade and administration. By the 9th century the Slavs had more than 20 cities. Usually they were built on trade routes (Kyiv, Novgorod, Ladoga, etc.), the most important of which was the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" and from Europe to Asia through the Caspian Sea. These paths were also the ways of spreading culture. The Eastern Slavs imported wine, silk, spices, luxury items (gold and silver jewelry). The Slavs exported honey, wax, grain, furs, hemp, weapons.
What were the customs and customs of the Eastern Slavs? Byzantine and Arab historians and travelers told us about this. The Eastern Slavs were portrayed by him as strong, brave, courageous people who easily endured hunger, cold, northern bad weather, and any need. They ate rough raw food, were hardy, patient. The Slavs amazed the Byzantines with their agility and speed when they climbed the steepness, descended into crevices, rushed into swamps and deep rivers. They could stay under water for a long time, breathing through a reed straw. The main advantage of a man was considered strength, strength, endurance. The Slavs cared little about their appearance: in the dust and mud they could appear at a crowded meeting.
Eastern Slavs were freedom-loving. In the event of a threat of an attack on them by invaders, as well as during military campaigns, several tribes united in an alliance under the rule of one prince, i.e. military leader. The Slavs used bows, arrows, and spears as weapons. Arrows poisoned with potent poisons were widely used by the Scythians. The Slavs borrowed it from them.
Eastern Slavs were brave warriors. In addition to their usual courage, they possessed a special art of fighting in gorges, hiding in the grass, and surprising the enemy with a sudden attack. For this, the Greeks brutally dealt with the Slavs, but they endured all the tortures and tortures courageously, without groans and cries.
The Slavs did not know either cunning or anger, humanely treated the captives. They took people into slavery for a certain time, after which the person was released. The liberated could either return to his homeland, or live among the Slavs as a free farmer.
The Slavs were distinguished by exceptional hospitality. They greeted travelers with joy, lavishly treated them and gave food for the journey. It was even allowed to steal food from a neighbor for a guest. The traveler was helped to safely reach the nearest settlement.
Like other peoples, the Slavs in the early stages of development also had cruel customs. For a long time they had a blood feud, expressed in the proverb "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." In numerous families, the mother had the right to kill the newborn daughter, but not the son - the future warrior. Children had the right to kill old and sick parents, burdensome for the family.
What were the religious beliefs of the Eastern Slavs? They were pagans and worshiped many spirits, which were divided into evil and good. Evil vampire spirits allegedly attacked people, sucked their blood and could cause damage to all living things. Sacrifices, sometimes human, were made to evil spirits to appease them. Good spirits conjured, prayed for help. To protect themselves from evil spirits, the Slavs wore a set of bronze amulets on their chests - miniature images of animals, birds, and fish. Battle boats were decorated with dragon heads. Sacred groves were decorated with embroidered towels.
For the Eastern Slavs, all nature was a temple. He swore by the earth as a god, putting a clod of earth on his head. Going to a foreign land, he took with him a handful of his native land. Returning, he bowed low to the earth, falling to her, as to a mother. Every forest, stream, well, every tree seemed to our distant ancestors animated, i.e. having a soul. Each house was under the auspices of a spirit - a brownie who looked after the cattle, kept the fire in the hearth, and at night came out from under the stove to feast on food.
Each living being that came into contact with a person was endowed with special features. The rooster, who marked the hours with amazing accuracy and greeted the dawn with his singing, was considered a saint, a bird of things. The bull, loosening the earth, was the personification of fertility. Forest animals were presented as the enemies of man. Wolves portrayed sorcerers. A hare that crossed the road predicted failure. In every river lived a merman, in every forest a goblin. With dozens of conspiracies and magical rites, the Slav plowman tried to protect himself from the hostile forces of nature.
The whole life of a person from birth to death was furnished with rituals. When a child was born, amulets were hung on him. A sword was placed in the boy's cradle so that he would be a brave warrior. A domino was built for the deceased, reproducing housing. Food, tools, and weapons were placed in the grave. The wives of wealthy people were killed and buried in a magnificent wedding dress. The corpse was burned at the stake, and then a mound was poured and the remnants of the weapon of the deceased were erected. Relatives of the deceased annually gathered at the grave, commemorated him. Magical holidays among the Eastern Slavs were associated with agriculture and the change of seasons. In December, they met the stern god of winter Kolyada. The New Year was a celebration of well-being spells for the whole year. In spring, the joyful cycle of the holidays of the Sun began. On Shrovetide - in the days of spring balance - they baked pancakes - a symbol of the Sun, saw off the straw effigy of the god of winter and burned it outside the village. By the arrival of the birds, larks were baked - buns depicting birds.
The meeting of the summer took place in the Russian week. This week they entered into marriages, sang songs in honor of Lada and Lelya, the patrons of love. The summer holidays included Kupala Day - June 24 (July 7, according to a new style).
On the eve of the holiday, the Slavs doused themselves with water, jumped over the fires. The girls were thrown into the river, begging the mermaids and Kupala for rain for the harvest. The day of Perun, the god of thunder and thunder, also belonged to the summer holidays. A bull was sacrificed to Perun. The holiday consisted in eating meat by the whole brotherhood. The autumn harvest festivals were especially joyful.
What was the social system of the Eastern Slavs in the 6th-7th centuries? Until the 6th century they lived in a tribal community, where public ownership of the means of production dominated, and the harvest was divided equally among all. By the 9th century tribal community broke up into families. It was replaced by a neighboring community - a rope. It retained public ownership of land, forests, fields, meadows, reservoirs, but arable land was divided into allotments, which each family cultivated separately. The tribal community collapsed as a result of wars, the development of new lands, and the inclusion of captive slaves in its composition. The stratification of the community was facilitated by the development of crafts and trade.
The highest body of organization among the Eastern Slavs was the veche - the people's assembly. It ensured complete equality of all members of the tribe with the exception of women. Veche chose the prince - the military leader. When wars were rare, the entire male population participated in them. And when they became frequent, squads and combatants appeared - professional soldiers who were not engaged in agriculture, but were engaged only in military affairs. The squads were formed from tribal nobility. Gradually, all power began to be concentrated in the hands of the prince. The prince and the squad began to exploit the free agricultural population, collecting tribute from it, i.e. tax. Equality gradually disappeared. Among the combatants, there was a division into youths or juveniles who had recently come to the service, and into boyars - old-time soldiers. The boyars had estates - land plots that were inherited.
So, the general arming of the people, the people's assembly, patriarchal slavery and hospitality, the accumulation of wealth as a result of wars - all this indicates that the Eastern Slavs in the 7th-8th centuries. experienced a period of military democracy or a period of decomposition of the primitive system. By the 9th century inequality, exploitation appeared in their society, i.e. the prerequisites for the formation of the state were ripe.
The formation of the ancient Russian state, its socio-political system
The cities of Kyiv and Novgorod became the centers of formation of the ancient Russian state. By the 9th century in the north of Eastern Europe, a kind of federation was formed - the union of tribal unions with the center in Novgorod. It included not only the Slavs, but Merya, the whole Chud, Murom. This federation paid tribute to the Varangians - the Scandinavians. Another union of Eastern Slavs was formed with the center in Kyiv. It included Polyans, Northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi. This union paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. Both the Scandinavians and the Khazars sought to completely subjugate the Slavs in order to take over the trade routes "from the Varangians and the Greeks" and through the Caspian and Asia.
The first Russian chronicle - The Tale of Bygone Years - tells us that in 859 the members of the northern federation with the center in Novgorod expelled the Varangians and refused to pay tribute to them. But then a sharp struggle for power broke out within the federation. Then a group of Slavs went to the Varangians and invited Rurik, one of the Varangian princes, to the princely throne in Novgorod. Of course, not all Novgorodians were happy with the invitation of the Varangians. Some of them, according to the Nikon chronicle, revolted under the leadership of Vadim the Brave. Nevertheless, Rurik established himself on the Novgorod throne.
After the death of Rurik, his relative Oleg became the prince. In 882 he made a campaign against Kyiv. Oleg cunningly lured the combatants out of the city, killed them and captured Kyiv. He managed to unite all the East Slavic lands of Novgorod up to Kyiv. The year 882 is considered to be the year of the formation of the ancient Russian state. Kyiv became its capital, and the state received the name of Kievan Rus.
Information from the Tale of Bygone Years served as the basis for the creation of the so-called Norman theory of the emergence of the ancient Russian state (the Slavs called the Scandinavians the Varangians, and the Europeans called the Normans). The founders of this theory were invited in the XVIII century. from Germany to work at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, scientists G.Z. Bayer, G.F. Miller, A.L. Schlozer. Based solely on the annals, they argued that the Eastern Slavs were so wild and backward that they were not capable of creating a state on their own: their state was created by the Varangians. Supporters of this theory were Russian scientists of the late XIX - early XX centuries. A.A. Shakhmatov, A.E. Presnyakov, and in our time the American historian R. Pipes. M.V. acted as a sharp opponent of her. Lomonosov. He denied any participation of the Varangians in the process of formation of the ancient Russian state. This is how the anti-Normanist theory appeared.
Today the failure of the Norman theory is obvious. It is based on the thesis about the possibility of "teaching the state", "imposing the state". In reality, the state arises only in the presence of economic, political and social prerequisites, it cannot be imposed, brought from outside. Any participation of the Varangians in the formation of Kievan Rus should not be denied. Slavic princes often invited the Varangians as experienced warriors to protect the borders and protect trade routes. The Novgorodians invited Rurik to be princes so that he would rule them without violating Slavic customs and protecting the interests of the Slavs.
The first princes of Kyiv - Rurik, Oleg, Igor, Olga - bore names of Varangian origin. The Scandinavians gave the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus, but they themselves quickly dissolved among the Slavic population. The son of Igor and Olga already bore a Slavic name - Svyatoslav.
How did the name Rus appear? In the Tale of Bygone Years, it is said on this occasion that the Rurikoviches invited to Novgorod were Varangians from the Rus tribe, and therefore their possession began to be called Rus. But already in the Novgorod Chronicle there is a contrast between Russia and the Vikings. In the Lavrentiev and Ipatiev Chronicles it is said that the Varangians were not Rus. Today, most scholars believe that the word "Rus" is not of Scandinavian origin. Rus was the name of the region in the region of the middle Dnieper region, near the river Ros. The word "Rus" was widespread in Europe, including in Eastern Europe. According to L.N. Gumilyov, Rus was called one of the South Germanic tribes. Other historians believe that Russia is the name of one of the Baltic tribes that lived next to the Eastern Slavs. This dispute is unlikely to be resolved because of the extremely narrow range of sources.
The first thing Oleg did in Kyiv was to expand his possessions, to unite the Eastern Slavs under his rule. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, Oleg joined one tribe each year: in 883. captured the Drevlyans, in 884. - northerners, in 885. - radimichi. The dates may not be exact, but the essence of the event was conveyed by the chronicler correctly: Kievan Rus was a forcible union of multilingual tribes. Subjugated tribes paid tribute (tax). Every year in November, the prince of Kyiv with his warriors went to the polyudye, i.e. to collect tribute to the lands of the Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Krivichi, etc. Feeding there throughout the winter, they returned in April along the Dnieper to Kyiv. The collected tribute (honey, fur, wax) was sold to Byzantium and other countries.
Oleg repeatedly and successfully fought with Byzantium, concluded an agreement with her that was beneficial for Russia. Russia was recognized as an equal ally of Byzantium. Oleg's successor on the throne of Kiev was Igor, the son of Rurik (912-945). Under him, two large campaigns were made against Byzantium, as well as in Transcaucasia. Igor sought to strengthen his power over the conquered peoples, suppressing the uprisings of the Drevlyans, streets and other tribes.
Igor died under peculiar circumstances. They are described in detail in the Tale of Bygone Years. Igor's warriors complained that they were poor and offered him to re-collect tribute from the Drevlyans. Igor agreed and thereby violated the agreement (row) on the collection of tribute. The Drevlyans did not want to endure this violation. They attacked the prince, killed his squad. Igor himself was tied to two leaning trees and torn to pieces.
Igor's widow Princess Olga brutally took revenge on the killers. Having first exterminated the ambassadors of the Drevlyans (some were buried alive in the ground, others were burned in a bathhouse), she undertook a campaign against the capital of the Drevlyans Iskorosten and burned it to the ground. Olga abolished polyudye and replaced it with the systematic payment of tribute in a strictly defined amount. From now on, taxes were collected by special officials in the administrative centers at strictly appointed times.
The son of Igor and Olga Svyatoslav (964-972) spent a lot of time on campaigns. It was a Spartan warrior who did not want to be any different from his warriors. During campaigns, he slept on the grass, putting his saddle under his head, and ate horse meat. Svyatoslav continued the aggressive policy of his ancestors. His aspirations were directed to the steppe to the east, where the Khazars dominated, exacting tribute from the Vyatichi Slavs. Within two years, Svyatoslav not only freed the Vyatichi from the Khazar tribute, but also defeated the Khazar Khaganate. Svyatoslav conquered the Yases (ancestors of the Ossetians) and Kasogs (ancestors of the Adyghes). On their territory, the Tmutarakan principality was formed. Byzantium used Svyatoslav to fight the Danube Bulgars. Having defeated the Bulgars, Svyatoslav wanted to settle on the Danube himself. The Greeks did not like this, and they set the Pechenegs on him. In 972 the Pechenegs ambushed Svyatoslav at the Dnieper rapids and killed him. From the skull of Svyatoslav, the leader made himself a cup and drank from it at feasts.
What was the social structure of Kievan Rus? There was a process of formation of feudal relations. The main feudal system is the complete ownership of the feudal land and incomplete ownership of the peasant producer. How did feudal property come about? The princes either developed free lands, or seized them from previously free smerd farmers, and turned the smerds themselves into dependent workers. Following the princely, boyar and estate landownership appeared. Boyars - long and well-served warriors - received land from the prince as a gift with the right to transfer it by inheritance. Such land ownership was called a fiefdom. Youths, juveniles - not long serving combatants - also received land for service, but without the right to inherit. Such land ownership was called an estate. So, the class of feudal lords was formed primarily from princes, boyars, youths, and later from clergymen.
Gradually formed different groups of dependent people. Purchases appeared - these are people who received a kupa from the landowner, i.e. loans, assistance in the form of seeds, livestock, land, tools, etc. The kupa had to be returned or worked out with interest. Another group of dependent people were ryadovichi-people who entered into an agreement (row) with the landowner and were obliged to perform various work according to this agreement. The third group of non-free people were outcasts - these are people expelled from the community. They were expelled either for a crime or for some other reason. A free person could also become an outcast if he left the community after a flood or fire. The bulk of the rural population of Kievan Rus was made up of free community members, smerds, who paid taxes to the prince.
In Kievan Rus, along with the emerging feudal relations, there was patriarchal slavery, which did not play a significant role in the economy. Slaves were called serfs or servants. Prisoners were the first to become slaves. They fell into slavery and for non-payment of debts. A free man could become a slave if he entered the service of the master without a special contract or married a slave without stipulating his freedom. Usually serfs were used as domestic servants. Slavery in Kievan Rus was widespread, it existed in the form of a way of life.
What was the political system of Kievan Rus? The Old Russian state was an early feudal monarchy. It was headed by the Great Kyiv Prince. The Grand Prince of Kyiv enjoyed great power: he led the army, organized the protection of the borders, the defense of the country, led all military campaigns. He was in charge of the entire system of government of the country and the judiciary.
Separate regions of the country or individual tribes were led and ruled by relatives of the Grand Duke of Kyiv - specific princes or posadniks. The boyar duma, the body of power of the feudal lords, helped the great Kyiv prince in governing the country. It included boyars, specific princes, clergymen. Specific princes had their squads and boyar thoughts. There was also a veche in Kievan Rus, but its role was noticeably declining.
The power of the Kyiv prince was transferred to relatives by seniority (brother, son). The generic principle of inheritance was often violated, which made the situation very confusing. Gradually, the principle of ancestry began to be applied more and more widely, i.e. transfer of the throne from father to son. But even this did not contribute to the strengthening of the grand duke's power. Created by conquering multilingual tribes, Kievan Rus could not become a strong unified state. In the XI century. it broke up into several independent principalities.
So, in the IX century. the Eastern Slavs and the Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes living with them formed a state - Kievan Rus. It was an early feudal monarchy with a diversified economy.
The adoption of Christianity and its significance.
The formation and strengthening of the ancient Russian state, the struggle of the grand ducal power against tribal disunity, the formation of feudal relations - all this gave rise to the need to adopt a new ideology that would sanctify the processes of feudalization taking place in Russia and help strengthen the power of the great Kyiv prince. Paganism did not contribute to this, so it had to be replaced by a new religion.
In 988 Kievan Rus, on the initiative of Prince Vladimir, adopted Christianity from Byzantium in the form of Orthodoxy. It was an event of great historical importance. Prince Vladimir, back in 980, tried to carry out a religious reform in order to strengthen his power. Its essence was that the god Perun was proclaimed the only supreme nationwide god of Russia. But this reform did not give the desired results, so a few years later Vladimir faced the question: what religion to accept as the state religion - Islam, Orthodoxy, Catholicism or Judaism.
The Tale of Bygone Years contains an interesting legend about the introduction of Christianity in Russia. Allegedly, Prince Vladimir sent his ambassadors to different countries so that they could get acquainted with various religious ideas, ceremonies, rituals and choose the best religion. The ambassadors completed this task. Returning, they enthusiastically told about visiting the Byzantine Orthodox Church. In Constantinople (now Istanbul) they were taken to the majestic St. Sophia Cathedral, painted with icons, frescoes, and mosaics. A festive church service was held in it to the appropriate music. The ambassadors expressed their admiration for her with the following words: “We didn’t even know we were in heaven or on earth: for there is no such sight and beauty on earth” (Old Russian Literature. M., 1993. P. 48).
But this is a legend, and it is certain that one of the reasons for the adoption of Christianity was the development and strengthening of relations between Kievan Rus and Byzantium. Prince Vladimir wanted to marry the sister of the Byzantine emperor Anna, and he was given a condition - to accept Christianity.
The adoption of Christianity is not a one-time act. It began long before 988. Christianity was accepted by Princess Olga and many warriors who visited Byzantium. But in general, it took more than one century for Christianity to firmly establish itself in Russia. People hardly accepted the new faith, preserved the old rituals and customs, continued to celebrate pagan holidays, which later merged and mixed with Christian ones: Kolyada with Christmas, Shrovetide with Candlemas, Kupala Day and the day of John the Baptist, etc. Paganism persisted for a particularly long time in the northeastern part of Russia.
What was the significance of the adoption of Christianity?
1. It contributed to the rallying of all multilingual East Slavic tribes into a single ancient Russian people on the basis of a single faith.
2. It contributed to the strengthening of the grand ducal power, asserting its divine origin. Christianity became for many centuries the state religion and social outlook.
3. It contributed to the development of feudal relations. The Orthodox Church sanctified feudal relations (let the servant fear his master), defended feudal laws and orders. It soon became a big landowner and exploiter of the peasants.
4. The adoption of Christianity led to a significant softening of the morals that prevailed in ancient Russia. The Orthodox Church categorically forbade human sacrifice, the ritual murder of wives and slaves during the funeral of rich people, and also fought against the slave trade. Christianity brought into the morality and customs of ancient Russian society a great potential for universal values (do not kill, do not steal, love your neighbor as yourself). The Orthodox Church helped to strengthen family ties, forbade polygamy, took care of orphans, the poor, and the disabled. By order of Vladimir, food for the very old, sick people were taken home.
5. The adoption of Christianity gave a powerful impetus to the development of culture.
The translation of Holy Scripture (Bible) and other theological literature into Old Russian began. The construction of stone buildings began - temples, monasteries. Monasteries in the Middle Ages were not only religious, but also cultural centers. Kievan Rus gradually became a state of high culture.
6. With the baptism of Russia, its international position changed qualitatively. Yesterday's pagan power has now joined the ranks of European Christian states on an equal footing, standing on a par with the entire civilized world. Russia's international relations were strengthened and expanded.
So, our distant ancestors - the Eastern Slavs - up to the 9th century. They lived in a tribal system, were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, crafts and trade. In the ninth century they formed a state - Kievan Rus - which was an early feudal monarchy. Christianity became the state religion of Kievan Rus in 988. In the X-XII centuries. Russia was approximately on the same level with European countries.
The history of the emergence of such a great and powerful people as the Slavs has been of interest to many generations and does not cease to lose interest in itself even in our time. The origin of the Eastern Slavs was of interest to many historians, and this is still being debated. In ancient times, the Slavs were admired by such great minds and scribes as Bishop Otto of Bamber, Emperor of Byzantium Mauritius the Strategist, Procopius of Pisaria, Jordan and many others. Read more about who the Slavs are, where they came from and how they formed the first community, read our article.
Eastern Slavs in antiquity
A definite theory about where the ancestral home of the ancient Slavs was located has not yet been deduced. Historians and archaeologists have been arguing for several decades, and one of the most important is Byzantine sources, which claim that the Eastern Slavs in antiquity are closer to the 6th century BC. occupied a vast territory of Central and Eastern Europe, and were also divided into three groups:
- Wends (lived near the Vistula basin);
- sklavins (lived between the upper reaches of the Vistula, the course of the Danube and the Dniester);
- Antes (lived between the Dnieper and the Dniester).
According to historians, these three groups of Slavs later formed the following branches of Slavism:
- South Slavs (Sklavins);
- Western Slavs (Vendi);
- Eastern Slavs (Antes).
Historical sources of the 6th century claim that there was no fragmentation between the Slavs at that time, since the tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs had a similar language, customs, and laws. They also had a similar lifestyle, customs and love of freedom. The Slavs generally distinguished themselves by a very great will and love for freedom, and only a prisoner of war acted as a slave, and this was not life-long slavery, but only for a certain period of time. Later, the prisoner could be redeemed, or he was released and offered to become part of the community. Since ancient times, the ancient Slavs lived in the people's rule (democracy). By their temperament, they were distinguished by strong character, endurance, courage, solidarity, were hospitable to strangers, differed from the rest in pagan polytheism and special thoughtful rites.
Tribes of the Eastern Slavs
The earliest tribes of the Eastern Slavs, about which the chroniclers wrote, were the Polans and the Drevlyans. They mainly settled in forests and fields. The Drevlyans often lived by raiding their neighbors, which often affected the meadows. These two tribes founded Kyiv. The Drevlyans were located on the territory of modern Ukraine in Polissya (Zhytomyr region and the western part of the Kyiv region). The glades inhabited the lands near the middle reaches of the Dnieper and on its right side.
After the Dregovichi came the Krivichi and the Polochans. They inhabited the modern territory of the Pskov, Mogilev, Tver, Vitebsk and Smolensk regions of the Russian Federation, as well as the eastern part of Latvia.
After them were the Novgorod Slavs. Only the indigenous inhabitants of Novgorod and those who lived in neighboring lands called themselves so. Also, the chroniclers wrote that the Novgorod Slavs are the Ilmen Slavs, who came from the Krivichi tribes.
The northerners were also migrants of the Krivichi, and inhabited the modern territory of the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kursk and Belgorod regions.
The Radimichi and Vyatichi were the deportees of the Poles, and were called so from the names of the ancestors. Radimichi inhabited the interfluve of the upper part of the Dnieper, as well as the Desna. Their settlements were also located along the entire course of the Sozha and all its tributaries. Vyatichi inhabited the upper and middle Oka and the Moscow River.
Dulebs and buzhani are the names of the same tribe. They were located on the Western Bug, and since it was written about them in the annals that this tribe was located at the same time in one place, they were later called Volynians. Duleb can also be seen as a branch of the Croatian tribe that settled to this day on the banks of the Volhynia and the Bug.
The last tribes that inhabited the South were the Ulichi and the Tivertsy. The streets were located along the lower reaches of the Southern Bug, the Dnieper and the Black Sea coast. The Tivertsy were located in the interfluve of the Prut and Dnieper, as well as the Danube and the Budzhak coast of the Black Sea (modern territory of Moldova and Ukraine). These same tribes resisted the Russian princes for hundreds of years, and they were as well known to Iornad and Procopius as the Antes.
Neighbors of the Eastern Slavs
At the turn of the II-I millennium BC. the neighbors of the ancient Slavs were the Cimmerians, who inhabited the Northern Black Sea region. But already in the VIII-VII centuries. BC. they were forced out of the lands by the warlike tribe of the Scythians, who years later founded their own state on this place, which will be known to everyone as the Scythian kingdom. They were subject to many Scythian tribes who settled in the lower reaches of the Don and Dnieper, as well as in the coastal steppes from the Danube to the Crimea and the Don.
In the III century BC. Sarmatian tribes began to move from the east because of the Don to the Northern Black Sea region. Most of the Scythian tribes assimilated with the Sarmatians, and the rest retained their former name and moved to the Crimea, where the Scythian kingdom continued to exist.
In the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, East Germanic tribes, the Goths, moved to the Black Sea region. They significantly influenced the economy and culture of the Northern Black Sea region, the current territory of Ukraine and Russia. After the Goths came the Huns, who destroyed and plundered everything in their path. It was because of their frequent attacks that the great-grandfathers of the Eastern Slavs were forced to move closer to the north in the forest-steppe zone.
The last ones who had no small influence on the resettlement and formation of the Slavic tribes were the Turks. In the middle of the 6th century, proto-Turkish tribes came from the east, who formed the Turkic Khaganate on a vast territory stretching from Mongolia to the Volga.
Thus, with the advent of more and more neighbors, the settlement of the Eastern Slavs took place closer to the current territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, where the forest-steppe zone and swamps mainly prevailed, near which communities were built and which protected the clans from the raids of warlike tribes.
In the VI-IX centuries, the territory of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs stretched from east to west, starting from the upper reaches of the Don and the Middle Oka and up to the Carpathians, and from south to north from the Middle Dnieper to the Neva.
Eastern Slavs in the pre-state period
The Eastern Slavs in the pre-state period mainly formed small communities and clans. At the head of the clan was the "ancestor" - the elder of the community, who made the final decision for his tribe. The tribes often moved from place to place, since the main occupation of the ancient Slavs was agriculture, and they needed new land for plowing. They plowed the land either in the field, or cut down the forest, burned the fallen trees and then sowed everything with seeds. The land was cultivated in winter so that by spring it would already be rested and full of strength (ash and manure fertilized the land well for sowing, helping it to achieve greater productivity).
Another reason for the constant movement of Slavic tribes was the attacks of neighbors. The Eastern Slavs in the pre-state period often suffered from the raids of the Scythians and Huns, because of which, as we wrote above, they had to settle the lands closer to the north in the forest area.
The main religion of the Eastern Slavs is pagan. All their gods were prototypes of natural phenomena (the most important god Perun is the god of the Sun). An interesting fact is that the pagan religion of the ancient Slavs originates from the religion of the ancient Indonesians. During the entire migration, it was often subject to changes, as many rituals and images were borrowed from neighboring tribes. Not all images in the ancient Slavic religion were considered gods, since God in their concept is a giving inheritance, wealth. As in ancient culture, the gods were divided into heavenly, underground and earthly.
Formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs
The formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs took place at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries, as the clans became more open and the tribes more friendly. After their unification into a single territory, a competent and strong leader was required - the prince. While in all of Northern, Eastern and Central Europe the tribes united into the Czech, Great Moravian and Old Polish states, the Eastern Slavs invited an overseas prince to rule their people, named Rurik, after which Russia was formed. Novgorod was the center of Russia, but when Rurik died, and his legitimate heir, Igor, was still small, Prince Oleg took power into his own hands and, having killed Askold and Dir, annexed Kyiv. This is how Kievan Rus was formed.
Summing up, we can say that our ancestors experienced a lot of troubles, but having steadfastly withstood all the trials, they founded one of the strongest states that lives and flourishes to this day. The Eastern Slavs are one of the strongest ethnic groups that eventually united and founded Kievan Rus. Their princes conquered more and more territories every year, uniting them into one single great state, which was feared by kingdoms that have existed for much longer with a more developed economy and politics.
The first evidence of the Slavs.
The Slavs, according to most historians, separated from the Indo-European community in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The ancestral home of the early Slavs (Proto-Slavs), according to archaeological data, was the territory to the east of the Germans - from the Oder River in the west to the Carpathian Mountains in the east. A number of researchers believe that the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape later, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC.
The first information about the political history of the Slavs dates back to the 4th century. ad. From the Baltic coast, the Germanic tribes of the Goths made their way to the Northern Black Sea region. The Gothic leader Germanaric was defeated by the Slavs. His successor Vinitar deceived 70 Slavic elders headed by God (Bus) and crucified them. Eight centuries later, an unknown author " Words about Igor's regiment” mentioned “Busovo time”.
A special place in the life of the Slavic world was occupied by relations with the nomadic peoples of the steppe. Along this steppe ocean, stretching from the Black Sea to Central Asia, wave after wave of nomadic tribes invaded Eastern Europe. At the end of the IV century. the Gothic tribal union was broken by the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Huns, who came from Central Asia. In 375, the hordes of the Huns occupied the territory between the Volga and the Danube with their nomads, and then moved further into Europe to the borders of France. In their advance to the west, the Huns carried away part of the Slavs. After the death of the leader of the Huns, Atilla (453), the Hunnic state disintegrated, and they were thrown back to the east.
In the VI century. the Turkic-speaking Avars (the Russian chronicle called them obrams) created their own state in the southern Russian steppes, uniting the tribes that roamed there. The Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium in 625. “Proud in mind” and in body, the great Avars-obras disappeared without a trace. “Keep dead like an obre” - these words, with the light hand of the Russian chronicler, became an aphorism.
The largest political formations of the VII-VIII centuries. in the southern Russian steppes were Bulgarian kingdom and Khazar Khaganate, and in the Altai region - the Turkic Khaganate. The states of the nomads were unstable conglomerates of the steppes, who hunted for military booty. As a result of the collapse of the Bulgarian kingdom, part of the Bulgarians, led by Khan Asparuh, migrated to the Danube, where they were assimilated by the southern Slavs who lived there, who took the name of Asparuh's warriors, i.e. Bulgarians. Another part of the Bulgarian-Turks with Khan Batbai came to the middle reaches of the Volga, where a new power arose - Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria). Its neighbor, who occupied from the middle of the 7th century. the territory of the Lower Volga region, the steppes of the North Caucasus, the Black Sea region and partly the Crimea, was the Khazar Khaganate, which levied tribute from the Dnieper Slavs until the end of the 9th century.
Eastern Slavs in the 6th century. repeatedly made military campaigns against the largest state of that time - Byzantium. From that time, a number of works by Byzantine authors have come down to us, containing original military instructions on the fight against the Slavs. For example, the Byzantine Procopius from Caesarea in the book “War with the Goths” wrote: “These tribes, Slavs and Antes, are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they have lived in democracy (democracy), and therefore they consider happiness and misfortune in life to be a common thing ... They consider that only God, the creator of lightning, is the lord over all, and bulls are sacrificed to him and other sacred rites are performed ... Both of them have the same language ... And once even the name of the Slavs and Antes was the same Same".
Byzantine authors compared the way of life of the Slavs with the life of their country, emphasizing the backwardness of the Slavs. Campaigns against Byzantium could only be undertaken by large tribal unions of the Slavs. These campaigns contributed to the enrichment of the tribal elite of the Slavs, which accelerated the collapse of the primitive communal system.
For the formation of large tribal associations of the Slavs indicates the legend contained in the Russian chronicle, which tells about the reign of Kyi with the brothers Shchek, Khoriv and sister Lybid in the Middle Dnieper. The city founded by the brothers was allegedly named after the elder brother Kyi. The chronicler noted that other tribes had the same reigns. Historians believe that these events took place at the end of the 5th-6th centuries. AD The chronicle tells that one of the Polyansky princes Kiy, together with his brothers Shchek and Khoriv and sister Lybid, founded the city and named it Kyiv in honor of their elder brother.
Then Kiy went to the Tsar-city, i.e. to Constantinople, was received there by the emperor with great honor, and returning back, he settled with his squad on the Danube, founded a “town” there, but subsequently entered into a fight with the locals and returned to the Dnieper banks, where he died. This legend finds a well-known confirmation in the data of archeology, which indicate that at the end of the 5th - 6th centuries. on the Kyiv mountains there already existed a fortified urban-type settlement, which was the center of the Polyan union of tribes.
Origin of the Eastern Slavs.
Europe and part of Asia have long been inhabited by tribes of Indo-Europeans who spoke the same language and had many common features in appearance. These tribes were in constant motion, moving and developing new territories. Gradually, separate groups of Indo-European tribes began to separate from each other. Once a common language broke up into a number of separate languages.
Approximately 2 thousand years BC, the Balto-Slavic tribes emerged from the Indo-European tribes. They settled part of the territory of Central and Eastern Europe. In the 5th century BC, these tribes were divided into Balts and Slavs. The Slavs mastered the territory from the middle reaches of the Dnieper to the Oder River.
In the 5th century, Slavic tribes rushed to the east and south in powerful streams. They reached the upper reaches of the Volga and the White Lake, the shores of the Adriatic, penetrated the Peloponnese. During this movement, the Slavs were divided into three branches - eastern, western and southern. The Eastern Slavs settled in the 6th-8th centuries the vast territory of Eastern Europe, from Lake Ilmen to the Black Sea steppes and from the Eastern Carpathians to the Volga, that is, most of the East European Plain.
Economy of the Eastern Slavs.
The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. The main part of the territory inhabited by them was covered with dense forests. Therefore, before plowing the land, it was necessary to cut down the trees. The stumps left on the field were burned, fertilizing the soil with ash. The land was cultivated for two or three years, and when it ceased to produce a good harvest, a new plot was abandoned and burned. This system of farming is called slash-and-burn. More favorable conditions for agriculture were in the steppe and forest-steppe zone of the Dnieper region, rich in fertile lands.
At first, the Slavs lived in dugouts, then they began to build houses - hearths were built in these wooden dwellings in the middle, the smoke escaped through a hole in the roof or wall. Each house necessarily had outbuildings, they were made of wattle, adobe or similar materials and were placed in the yard either freely, scattered, or along the perimeter of a quadrangular yard, forming an open space inside.
There were few households in Slavic settlements: from two to five. They were surrounded by earthen ramparts for protection from enemies.
As mentioned earlier, the main occupation of the Slavs, of course, was agriculture. Archaeological finds suggest that they grew rye, wheat, barley, millet, turnips, cabbage, beets, etc. From industrial crops, the Slavs bred flax and hemp.
Another important activity Slavic tribes were cattle breeding. The cattle breeding of the Eastern Slavs was organically connected with agriculture. Cattle breeding provided meat and milk; livestock was used as a tax on arable land (in the non-chernozem zone - horses, in the black earth zone - oxen); without manure, it was impossible to conduct field farming in the non-chernozem zone; both wool and leather were obtained from livestock. East Slavic peoples bred large and small cattle, horses, pigs, poultry. Ducks and geese were bred less, but chickens were almost certainly kept in every household.
Fishing and hunting were of no small importance, especially since there were many fur-bearing animals in dense forests, the fur of which was used to make clothes, and was also sold.
The Slavs used bows, spears, swords, clubs (sticks with heavy knobs and spikes) as weapons. Fired from hard bows, hardened arrows could overtake the enemy even at a great distance. For protection, the Slavs used helmets and strong "shirts" made of small metal rings - chain mail.
An important role in the life of the Eastern Slavs was also played by beekeeping - the collection of honey from wild bees.
But besides agriculture The Slavs were also engaged in metal processing (blacksmithing), the production of ceramic products. Jewelry, stone-cutting, carpentry crafts were also not alien to them. The settlements located in the most successful (from the point of view of the possibility of trade) places turned into cities. Also became cities and princely fortresses. The most ancient cities of Russia were: Novgorod, Chernigov, Suzdal, Murom, Smolensk, Pereslavl, Ladoga, Rostov, Beloozero, Pskov, Lyubech, Turov. According to scientists, by the beginning of the IX century. On the territory of Russia there were about 30 cities.
The city usually arose on a hill or at the confluence of two rivers, which was associated with trade. And trade relations between the Slavic and neighboring tribes were quite well-established. Cattle were driven from the south to the north. The Carpathians supplied everyone with salt. Bread went to the north and northwest from the Dnieper and Suzdal lands. They traded in furs, linen, cattle and honey, wax and slaves.
There were two main trade routes that passed through Russia: along the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov, Lovat and Dnieper, the great water route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed, connecting the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea; and through the Carpathians, trade routes led to Prague, to German cities, to Bulgaria, to the countries of the Muslim world.
Life and customs of the Eastern Slavs.
The Slavs were distinguished by high stature, strong physique, possessed extraordinary physical strength and unusual endurance. They had blond hair, a ruddy face, and gray eyes.
The settlements of the Eastern Slavs were located mainly along the banks of rivers and lakes. The inhabitants of these settlements lived in families, in semi-dugout houses, with an area of 10 - 20 sq.m. The walls of houses, benches, tables, household utensils were made of wood. Several exits were arranged in the houses, and valuables were hidden in the ground, because enemies could attack at any moment.
Eastern Slavs were good-natured and hospitable. Each wanderer was considered an honored guest. The owner did everything possible to please him, put the best food and drinks on the table. The Slavs were also known as brave warriors. Cowardice was considered their greatest shame. Slavic warriors swam well and could stay under water for a long time. They breathed through hollowed-out reeds, the top of which came out to the surface of the water.
The weapons of the Slavs were spears, bows, arrows smeared with poison, round wooden shields. Swords and other iron weapons were rare.
The Slavs respectfully treated their parents. Between the villages, they arranged games - religious holidays, on which the inhabitants of neighboring villages kidnapped (kidnapped) their wives by agreement with them. At that time, the Slavs had polygamy, there were not enough brides. To appease the clan from which the bride was kidnapped, her relatives were given a wreath (ransom). Over time, the kidnapping of the bride was replaced by the rite of walking the son-in-law after the bride, when the bride was redeemed from her relatives by mutual agreement. This rite was replaced by another - bringing the bride to the groom. The relatives of the bride and groom became brothers-in-law, that is, their own people for each other.
The woman was in a subordinate position. After the death of a husband, one of his wives was to be buried with him. The deceased was burned at the stake. The burial was accompanied by a feast - a feast and military games.
It is known that the Eastern Slavs still had a blood feud: the relatives of the murdered man took revenge on the killer with death.
The spiritual world of the Eastern Slavs.
Like all peoples who were at the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system, the Slavs were pagans. They worshiped the phenomena of nature, deifying them. So, the god of the sky was Svarog, the god of the sun - Dazhdbog (other names: Dazhbog, Yarilo, Khoros), the god of thunder and lightning - Perun, the god of the wind - Stribog, the patron of cattle - Velos (Volos). Dazhdbog and the deity of fire were considered the sons of Svarog and were called Svarozhichs. Goddess Mokosh - Mother-Cheese earth, goddess of fertility. In the 6th century, according to the testimony of the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, the Slavs recognized one god, Perun, the god of thunder, lightning, war, as the ruler of the Universe.
At that time there were no public services, there were no temples, no priests. Usually, images of the gods in the form of stone or wooden figures (idols) were placed in certain open places - temples, sacrifices were made to the gods - trebs.
The cult of ancestors was greatly developed. He is associated with the guardian of the clan, family, the ancestor of life - the Family and its Women in Childbirth, i.e. grandparents. The ancestor was also called "chur", in Church Slavonic - "shur".
The expression “Chur me” that has survived to this day means “grandfather keep me”. Sometimes this guardian of the clan appears under the name of a brownie, the guardian of not the whole clan, but of a separate courtyard, house. All nature seemed to the Slavs animated and inhabited by many spirits, goblin lived in the forests, water mermaids lived in the rivers.
The Slavs had their own pagan holidays associated with the seasons, with agricultural work. At the end of December - mummers went from house to house with songs and jokes, glorified the owners, who were supposed to give mummers gifts. The big holiday was the farewell to winter and the meeting of spring - Maslenitsa. On the night of June 24 (according to the old style), the feast of Ivan Kupala was celebrated - rituals with fire and water, fortune telling, round dances, and songs were sung. In autumn, after the completion of field work, the harvest festival was celebrated: a huge honey loaf was baked.
Farming communities.
Initially, the Eastern Slavs lived "each in their own way and in their own places", i.e. united on the basis of consanguinity. At the head of the clan was an elder who had great power. As the Slavs settled over vast areas, tribal ties began to disintegrate. The consanguineous was replaced by the neighboring (territorial) community - the verv. Vervi members jointly owned hayfields and forest land, and the fields were divided among separate family farms. All the householders of the district converged on a general council - a veche. They chose elders to conduct common affairs. During the attacks of foreign tribes, the Slavs gathered the people's militia, which was built according to the decimal system (tens, groans, thousands).
Separate communities united into tribes. Tribes, in turn, constituted tribal unions. On the territory of the East European Plain lived 12 (according to some sources - 15) East Slavic tribal unions. The most numerous were the meadows that lived along the banks of the Dnieper, and the Ilmen Slavs, who lived on the shores of Lake Ilmen and the Volkhov River.
Religion of the Eastern Slavs.
The Eastern Slavs had a patriarchal-tribal system for a very long time, so they also retained a family-tribal cult for a long time in the form of veneration of ancestors associated with a funeral cult. Beliefs regarding the relationship of the dead to the living were very firmly held. All the dead were sharply divided into two categories: "clean" dead - those who died of natural causes ("parents"); and on the "unclean" - those who died a violent or premature death (they also included children who died unbaptized) and sorcerers. The first ones were usually revered, and the second ones (“dead people” - many superstitions associated with the dead come from here) were afraid and tried to neutralize:
The veneration of "parents" is a family, and earlier (ancestral) cult of ancestors. Many calendar holidays are associated with it - Shrovetide, hence the parental Saturday), Radunitsa, Trinity and others. From here, perhaps, the image of Chur (Shchur) appeared, exclamations such as “Chur me”, “Chur is mine”, could mean a spell calling Chur for help. From the cult of ancestors comes the belief in the brownie (domovik, domozhil, owner, etc.).
- "Unclean Dead". In many ways, these were people who were feared during their lifetime, and did not cease to be feared even after their death. An interesting rite of "neutralization" of such a dead man during a drought, which was often attributed to them. They dug up the grave of a dead man and threw him into a swamp (sometimes they filled it with water), perhaps this is where the name “Naviy” (dead, deceased) comes from, as well as “navka” - a mermaid.
Formation of political associations
In ancient times, the Slavs did not have the opportunity to pursue an independent foreign policy, acting in the international arena under their own name. If they had large political associations, they remained unknown to the written civilizations of that era. Archaeological research does not confirm the existence of significant proto-urban centers on the lands of the Eastern Slavs until the 6th century, which could indicate the strengthening of the power of local princes among the settled population. The East Slavic tribes in their habitat in the south came into contact and were partially involved in the area of distribution of the archaeological Chernyakhov culture, which modern archaeologists tend to associate with the settlement of the Goths in the northern Black Sea region.
Vague information about the wars in the 4th century between the Slavs and the Goths has been preserved. The great migration of peoples from the 2nd half of the 4th century led to global migrations of ethnic groups. The Slavic tribes in the south, previously subordinate to the Goths, submitted to the Huns and, probably under their protectorate, began to expand their area of \u200b\u200bdwelling to the borders of the Byzantine Empire in the south and the German lands in the west, forcing the Goths into the Crimea and Byzantium.
At the beginning of the 6th century, the Slavs become to make regular raids on Byzantium, as a result of which Byzantine and Roman authors started talking about them ( Procopius of Caesarea, Jordan). In this era, they already had large inter-tribal unions, which were formed mainly on a territorial basis and were something more than an ordinary tribal community. The Antes and Carpathian Slavs for the first time had fortified settlements and other signs of political control over the territory. It is known that the Avars, who first conquered the Black Sea (Ants) and West Slavic tribes, for a long time could not destroy a certain alliance of the “Sklavins” with a center in Transcarpathia, and their leaders not only behaved proudly and independently, but even executed the ambassador of the Avar Khagan Bayan for insolence . The leader of the Ants, Mezamir, was also killed during an embassy to the Avars for his insolence in front of the kagan.
The grounds for Slavic pride were, obviously, not only complete control over their own and adjacent Slavic territories, but also their regular, devastating and mostly unpunished raids on the Transdanubian provinces of the Byzantine Empire, as a result of which the Carpathian Croats and other tribes, apparently, part of the union of the Antes, partially or completely moved beyond the Danube, separating into a branch of the southern Slavs. The Dulebs also expanded their territories to the west to the present-day Czech Republic and east to the Dnieper. In the end, the Avars subjugated both the Antes and the Dulebs, after which they forced them to fight with Byzantium in their own interests. Their tribal unions broke up, the Ants were no longer mentioned from the 7th century, and, according to the assumption of some modern historians, several other Slavic unions separated from the Dulebs, including the meadow.
Later, part of the East Slavic tribes (Polyans, northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi) paid tribute to the Khazars. In 737, the Arab commander Marwan ibn Mohammed, during a victorious war with Khazaria reached a certain “Slavic river” (obviously, the Don) and captured 20,000 families of local residents, among whom were Slavs. The captives were taken to Kakheti, where they revolted and were killed.
The Tale of Bygone Years lists twelve East Slavic tribal unions that by the 9th century existed in the vast territory between the Baltic and Black Seas. Among these tribal unions are Polans, Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Krivichi, Slovenes, Dulebs (later known as Volhynians and Buzhans), White Croats, Northerners, Ulichs, Tivertsy.
In the 8th century with the beginning of the Viking Age Vikings began to penetrate into Eastern Europe. By the middle of the IX century. they imposed tribute not only on the Baltic states, which were the first to undergo regular invasions, but also on many territories between the Baltic and Black Seas. In 862, according to the chronicle chronology of the PVL, the leader of Russia Rurik was called to reign at the same time by the Chud (the Finno-Ugric peoples who inhabited Estonia and Finland), the whole and both Slavic tribes that lived next to them: the Pskov Krivichi and Slovenes.
Rurik settled among the Slavic villages in the fortress, near which Veliky Novgorod later arose. His legendary brothers received reigns in the tribal center of the village of Beloozero and the center of the Krivichi Izborsk. By the end of his life, Rurik expanded the possessions of his kind to Polotsk, Murom and Rostov, and his successor Oleg captured Smolensk and Kyiv by 882. The titular ethnos of the new state was not any of the Slavic or Finno-Ugric peoples, but Rus, a Varangian tribe, whose ethnicity is disputed.
Russia stood out as a separate ethnic group even under the closest successors of Rurik, princes Oleg and Igor, and gradually dissolved into the Slavic people under Svyatoslav and Vladimir the Holy, leaving its name to the Eastern Slavs, by whom they now differed from the western and southern ones (for more details, see the article Rus). At the same time, Svyatoslav and Vladimir completed the unification of the Eastern Slavs in their state, adding to it the lands of the Drevlyans, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Turov and the region of Cherven Rus.
Eastern Slavs and their immediate neighbors
The advance of the Slavs across the vast expanses of Eastern Europe and their development were in the nature of peaceful colonization.
Colonization - settlement, development of empty or sparsely populated lands.
The settlers lived next to the local tribes. The Slavs borrowed the names of many rivers, lakes, and villages from the Finno-Ugric tribes. Following the Finns, they began to believe in evil spirits, wizards. The Slavs also adopted from the forest inhabitants the belief in the Magi, sorcerers. Living together with the Finno-Ugric peoples also led to a change in the external appearance of the Slavs. Among them, people with flatter and rounder faces, high cheekbones, and wide noses began to be more common.
The descendants of the Iranian-speaking Scythian-Sarmatian population also had a great influence on the Slavs. Many Iranian words have firmly entered the Old Slavonic language and have been preserved in modern Russian (god, boyar, hut, dog, ax, and others). Some Slavic pagan deities - Horos, Stribog - bore Iranian names, and Perun was of Baltic origin.
However, the Slavs did not have friendly relations with all neighbors. Slavic legends tell about the attack of the Turkic-speaking nomads-Avars on the Slavic tribe of Dulebs, who lived in the Carpathian region. Having killed almost all the men, the Avars harnessed the Duleb women to the cart instead of the horses. In the 8th century, the East Slavic tribes of the Polyans, Severyans, Vyatichi and Radimichi, who lived close to the steppes, conquered the Khazars, forcing them to pay tribute - "for ermine and squirrel from smoke", that is, from each house.
Every person, who earlier, who later probably cares about the question - where did I come from? How was I born?
Quite recently we celebrated the 850th anniversary of Moscow, the city where I live, my relatives and friends, my friends. The first mention of Moscow dates back to 1147, but even before that people lived here, among the forests, on the banks of the same river, under the same sky. Our ancestors. Who were they, how did they live, where did they come from to these lands? It is interesting and tempting to look into the past of your country, your people. Almost two centuries ago, Nikolai Karamzin did this in his “Traditions of the Ages”, describing the history of the Russian State, and before him, back in the 70s of the 11th century. the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, the chronicler Nestor, based on ancient legends, created the main historical document about Ancient Russia - “Chronicle of Bygone Years”. These two works allowed me to look into the distant past, almost two thousand years ago. From there we will start our journey. So...
Origin of the Eastern Slavs
rare Slavs have long lived in Central and Eastern Europe. According to their language, they belong to the Indo-European peoples who inhabit Europe and part of Asia up to India. 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. It is possible that Herodotus speaks about the ancestors of the Slavs when he describes the agricultural tribes of the middle Dnieper region.
He calls them "chips" or "borisfenites" (Borisfen is the name of the Dnieper among ancient authors), noting that the Greeks erroneously classify them as Scythians, although the Scythians did not know agriculture at all.
The estimated maximum territory of the settlement of the ancestors of the Slavs in the west reached the Elbe (Laba), in the north to the Baltic Sea, in the east - to the Seim and Oka, and in the south their border was a wide strip of forest-steppe, walking from the left bank of the Danube east towards Kharkov. Several hundred Slavic tribes lived in this territory.
In the VI century. from a single Slavic community, the East Slavic branch stands out (future Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian peoples). Around this time, the emergence of large tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs. The chronicle preserved the legend about the reigning in the Middle Dnieper region of the brothers Kyi, Shchek, Khoriv and their sister Lybid and about the founding of Kyiv. The same reigns were in other tribal unions, including 100-200 separate tribes.
Many Slavs, of the same tribe with the Poles, who lived on the banks of the Vistula, settled on the Dnieper in the Kyiv province and were called glades from their clean fields. This name disappeared in ancient Russia, but became the common name of the Poles, the founders of the Polish state. From the same tribe of Slavs were two brothers, Radim and Vyatko, the heads of the Radimichi and Vyatichi: the first chose a dwelling on the banks of the Sozh, in the Mogilev province, and the second on the Oka, in Kaluga, Tula or Oryol. The Drevlyans, so named from their forest land, lived in the Volyn province; dulebs and buzhans along the Bug River, which flows into the Vistula; the Luticians and Tivirians along the Dniester to the very sea and the Danube, already having cities in their land; white Croats in the vicinity of the Carpathian mountains; northerners, neighbors of the meadows, on the banks of the Desna, Seven and Suda, in the Chernigov and Poltava provinces; in Minsk and Vitebsk, between Pripet and the Western Dvina, Dregovichi; in Vitebsk, Pskov, Tver and Smolensk, in the upper reaches of the Dvina, Dnieper and Volga, Krivichi; and on the Dvina, where the Polota River flows into it, Polotsk people of the same tribe; on the shores of Lake Ilmena are the so-called Slavs, who, after the birth of Christ, founded Novgorod.
The most developed and cultural among the East Slavic associations were glades. To the north of them was a kind of border, beyond which the tribes lived in a "bestial way." According to the chronicler, "the land of the glades also bore the name "Rus". One of the explanations of the origin of the term "Rus", put forward by historians, is associated with the name of the Ros River, a tributary of the Dnieper, which gave the name of the tribe on whose territory the meadow lived.
The beginning of Kyiv belongs to the same time. Nestor in the chronicle tells about it this way: “The brothers Kyi, Shchek and Khoriv, with their sister Lybid, lived between glades on three mountains, of which two are reputed to be named after two younger brothers, Shchekovitsa and Khorivitsa; and the elder lived where now (in Nestor's time) Zborichev vzvoz. They were men of knowledge and understanding; they caught animals in the then dense forests of the Dnieper, built a city and named it after their elder brother, that is, Kiev. Some consider Kiya to be a carrier, because in the old days there was a carrier in this place and was called Kiev; but Kyi ruled in his generation: he went, as they say, to Constantinople, and received great honor from the king of Greece; on the way back, seeing the banks of the Danube, he fell in love with them, cut down the town and wanted to live in it, but the inhabitants of the Danube did not allow him to establish himself there and still call this place the settlement of K. Kievets. He died in Kyiv, along with two brothers and a sister.”
In addition to the Slavic peoples, according to Nestor, many foreigners also lived in Russia at that time: measuring around Rostov and on Lake Kleshchina or Pereslavsky; Murom on the Oka, where the river flows into the Volga; Cheremis, Meshchera, Mordovians southeast of Mary; rain in Livonia, Chud in Estonia and east to Lake Ladoga; narova where Narva is; a pit, or eat in Finland, all on Beloozero; Perm in the province of this name; Yugra, or the current Berezovsky Ostyaks, on the Ob and Sosva; Pechora on the Pechora River.
The data of the chronicler about the location of the Slavic tribal unions are confirmed by archaeological materials. In particular, data on various forms of women's adornments (temporal rings) obtained as a result of archaeological excavations coincide with the indications of the annals on the placement of Slavic tribal unions.
economy
The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. This is confirmed by archaeological excavations, during which seeds of cereals (rye, barley, millet) and garden crops (turnips, cabbage, carrots, beets, radishes) were found. Industrial crops (flax, hemp) were also grown. The southern lands of the Slavs overtook the northern ones in their development, which was explained by differences in natural and climatic conditions, soil fertility. The southern Slavic tribes had more ancient agricultural traditions, and also had long-standing ties with the slave-owning states of the Northern Black Sea region.
The Slavic tribes had two main systems of agriculture. In the north, in the region of dense taiga forests, the dominant system of agriculture was slash-and-burn.
It should be said that the border of the taiga at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. was much further south than today. The famous Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a remnant of the ancient taiga. In the first year, with the slash-and-burn system, trees were cut down in the area being developed, and they dried up. The following year, the felled trees and stumps were burned, and grain was sown in the ashes. A plot fertilized with ash gave a fairly high yield for two or three years, then the land was depleted, and a new plot had to be developed. The main tools of labor in the forest belt were an ax, a hoe, a spade and a bough harrow. They harvested with sickles and ground the grain with stone grinders and millstones.
In the southern regions, fallow was the leading system of agriculture. In the presence of a large amount of fertile land, the plots were sown for several years, and after the depletion of the soil, they were transferred ("shifted") to new plots. Ralo was used as the main tools, and later a wooden plow with an iron share. Plow farming was more efficient and produced higher and more consistent yields.
Cattle breeding was closely connected with agriculture. The Slavs bred pigs, cows, sheep, goats. Oxen was used as working livestock in the southern regions, and horses were used in the forest belt. An important place in the economy of the Eastern Slavs was played by hunting, fishing and beekeeping (gathering honey from wild bees). Honey, wax, furs were the main items of foreign trade.
The set of agricultural crops differed from the later one: rye still occupied a small place in it, wheat prevailed. There was no oats at all, but there were millet, buckwheat, and barley.
The Slavs bred cattle and pigs, as well as horses. The important role of cattle breeding is evident from the fact that in the Old Russian language the word "cattle" also meant money.
Forest and river crafts were also common among the Slavs. Hunting provided more fur than food. Honey was obtained with the help of beekeeping. It was not a simple collection of honey from wild bees, but also the care of hollows (“boards”) and even their creation. The development of fishing was facilitated by the fact that Slavic settlements were usually located along the banks of rivers.
A large role in the economy of the Eastern Slavs, as in all societies at the stage of decomposition of the tribal system, was played by military booty: tribal leaders raided Byzantium, extracting slaves and luxury goods there. The princes distributed part of the booty among their fellow tribesmen, which, naturally, increased their prestige not only as leaders of campaigns, but also as generous benefactors.
At the same time, squads are formed around the princes - groups of constant combat comrades-in-arms, friends (the word "team" comes from the word "friend") of the prince, a kind of professional warriors and advisers to the prince. The appearance of the squad did not mean at first the elimination of the general armament of the people, the militia, but created the prerequisites for this process. The separation of the squad is an essential stage in the creation of a class society and in the transformation of the power of the prince from tribal into state power.
The growth in the number of hoards of Roman coins and silver found on the lands of the Eastern Slavs testifies to the development of their trade. The export was grain. About the Slavic export of bread in the II-IV centuries. speaks of the borrowing by the Slavic tribes of the Roman bread measure - the quadrantal, which was called the quadrant (26, 26l) and existed in the Russian system of measures and weights until 1924. The scale of grain production among the Slavs is evidenced by the traces of storage pits found by archaeologists, containing up to 5 tons of grain.
According to archaeological data, we can judge to some extent about the life of the ancient Slavs. Their settlements located along the banks of the rivers were grouped into a kind of nest of 3-4 villages. If the distance between these settlements did not exceed 5 km, then between the “nests” it reached at least 30, or even 100 km. Several families lived in each settlement; sometimes they numbered in the tens. The houses were small, like semi-dugouts: the floor was a meter and a half below ground level, wooden walls, an adobe or stone stove, heated in black, a roof plastered with clay and sometimes reaching the ends of the roof to the very ground. The area of such a semi-dugout was usually small: 10-20 m 2.
Several settlements probably made up the ancient Slavic community - verv. The strength of communal institutions was so great that even an increase in labor productivity and the general standard of living did not immediately lead to property, and even more so social, differentiation within the vervi. So, in the settlement of the X century. (i.e., when the Old Russian state already existed) - the settlement of Novotroitsky - no traces of more or less wealthy households were found. Even the cattle was, apparently, still in communal ownership: the houses stood very closely, sometimes touching the roofs, and there was no room for individual barns or cattle pens. The strength of the community at first slowed down, despite the relatively high level of development of the productive forces, the stratification of the community and the separation of richer families from it.
Approximately in the VII - VIII centuries. handicraft is finally separated from agriculture. Blacksmiths, foundry workers, goldsmiths and silversmiths, and later potters stand out. Craftsmen usually concentrated in tribal centers - cities or on settlements - churchyards, which gradually turn from military fortifications into centers of craft and trade - cities. At the same time, cities become defensive centers and residences of power holders.
Cities, as a rule, arose at the confluence of two rivers, since such an arrangement provided more reliable protection. The central part of the city, surrounded by a rampart and a fortress wall, was called the Kremlin or citadel. As a rule, the Kremlin was surrounded by water from all sides, since the rivers, at the confluence of which the city was built, were connected by a moat filled with water. Settlements - settlements of artisans adjoined the Kremlin. This part of the city was called the suburb.
The most ancient cities arose most often on the most important trade routes. One of these trade routes was the route from the Varangians to the Greeks. Through the Neva or the Western Dvina and the Volkhov with its tributaries and further through the portage system, ships reached the Dnieper basin. Along the Dnieper they reached the Black Sea and further to Byzantium. 9th century
Another trade route, one of the oldest in Eastern Europe, was the Volga trade route, which connected Russia with the countries of the East.
Religion
the ancient Slavs were pagans who deified the forces of nature. The main god was, apparently, Rod, the god of heaven and earth. He performed surrounded by female deities of fertility - Rozhanitsy. An important role was also played by deities associated with those forces of nature that are especially important for agriculture: Yarilo - the god of the sun (among some Slavic tribes he was called Yarilo, Horos) and Perun - the god of thunder and lightning. Perun was also the god of war and weapons, and therefore his cult was subsequently especially significant among the retinue. In Russia, before the introduction of the Christian faith, the first degree among the idols was occupied by Perun, the god of lightning, whom the Slavs worshiped back in the 6th century, adoring the supreme World Ruler in him. His idol stood in Kyiv on a hill, outside the courtyard of Vladimirov, and in Novgorod over the Volkhov River it was wooden, with a silver head and a golden mustache. Also known are the “cattle god” Volos, or Belee, Dazhdbog, Stribog, Samargla, Svarog (the god of fire) Mokosha (the goddess of earth and fertility), etc. The gods were sacrificed, sometimes even human. The pagan cult was performed in specially constructed temples, where an idol was placed. The princes acted as high priests, but there were also special priests - sorcerers and magicians. Paganism was preserved even during the first period of the existence of the Old Russian state, and its remnants were felt for several more centuries.
Oleg's treaty with the Greeks also mentions Volos, whose name and Perunov the Russians swore allegiance to, having special respect for him, since he was considered the patron of cattle, their main wealth. - Sii. The god of fun, love, harmony and all prosperity was called Lado in Russia; he was sacrificed by those entering into a marriage union. The Slavs willingly multiplied the number of their idols and accepted foreign ones. Russian pagans traveled to Courland and Samogitia to worship idols; consequently, they had the same gods with the Latvians. Kupala, the god of earthly fruits, was sacrificed before the gathering of bread, on June 23, on the day of St. Agrippina, who for this reason was nicknamed by the people the Bathing House. Young people decorated themselves with wreaths, laid out a fire in the evening, danced around it and sang Kupala. The memory of this idolatry has been preserved in some countries of Russia, where the night games of the villagers and dances around the fire with an innocent intention are performed in honor of the pagan idol.
On December 24, Russian pagans praised Kolyada, the god of celebrations and peace. On the eve of the Nativity of Christ, the children of farmers were going to carol under the windows of rich peasants, called the owner in songs, repeated the name of Kolyada and asked for money. Holy games and divination seem to be a remnant of this pagan Feast.
Wanting to express the power and menacingness of the gods, the Slavs represented them as giants, with terrible faces, with many heads. The Greeks wanted to love their idols (depicting in them examples of human harmony), and the Slavs only to be afraid; the former adored beauty and pleasantness, while the latter adored strength alone, and, not yet content with their own nasty appearance of idols, surrounded them with vile images of poisonous animals: snakes, toads, lizards, and so on.
We have no information about the temples of the Russian Slavs: Nestor speaks only of idols and altars; but the convenience of offering sacrifices at all times and reverence for the shrine of idols demanded protection and shelter, especially in northern countries, where cold and bad weather are so common and prolonged. There is no doubt that on the hill of Kiev and on the banks of the Volkhov, where Perun stood, there were temples, of course, not huge and not magnificent, but consistent with the simplicity of the customs of that time and with little knowledge of people in the art of architecture.
Priests in the name of the people made sacrifices and predicted the future. In ancient times, the Slavs sacrificed some oxen and other animals in honor of the invisible God; but afterwards, idolatry darkened by superstition, they stained their tremblings with the blood of Christians chosen by lot from captives or bought from sea robbers. The priests thought that the idol was amused by Christian blood, and to complete their horror they drank it, imagining that it conveyed the spirit of prophecy. People were also sacrificed in Russia, at least in the time of Vladimirov. The Baltic Slavs gave idols the heads of dead most dangerous enemies.
The Slavs had an annual cycle of agricultural holidays in honor of the sun and the change of seasons. Pagan rituals were supposed to ensure a high harvest, the health of people and livestock.
The main of them was after the gathering of bread and proceeded in this way: the high priest had to sweep the sanctuary the day before, impregnable for all but him; on the day of the celebration, taking the horn from the hand of Svyatovid, he looked to see if it was filled with wine, and by that guessed the future harvest; having drunk the wine, he again filled the vessel with it and handed it over to Svyatovid; brought to his god a honey cake, the length of a man's height; he asked the people if he saw him, and wished that next year this cake would already be eaten by an idol, as a sign of happiness for the island; finally, he announced to everyone the blessing of Svyatovid, promising the soldiers victory and booty. Other Slavs, celebrating the gathering of bread, doomed the rooster as a gift to the gods, and poured beer consecrated on the altar on the cattle to protect it from disease.
The most important events in a person's life - birth, wedding, death - were accompanied by special rites. The burial of the dead was also a sacred act among the pagan Slavs. The elders in the village announced to the inhabitants the death of one of them by means of a black rod carried from yard to yard. They all saw off the corpse with a terrible howl, and some women, in white clothes, poured tears into small vessels, called mournful. They kindled a fire in the cemetery and burned the dead with his wife, horse, weapons; they collected the ashes in urns, earthenware, copper or glass, and buried them together with the deplorable vessels.
Sometimes they built monuments: they lined the graves with wild stones or fenced them with pillars. The sad rites were concluded with a cheerful celebration, which was called strava and was the cause of a great disaster for the Slavs in the 6th century: for the Greeks took advantage of the time of this feast in honor of the dead and utterly beat their army.
Russian Slavs - Krivichi, northerners, Vyatichi, Radimichi - performed a feast on the dead: they showed their strength in various military games, burned the corpse on a large fire and, enclosing the ashes in an urn, placed it on a pillar in the vicinity of the roads.
social order
The current level of development of the productive forces required significant labor inputs for the management of the economy. Labor-intensive work, which had to be performed within a limited and strictly defined time frame, could only be performed by the team. The great role of the community in the life of the Slavic tribes is connected with this.
The cultivation of the land became possible by the efforts of one family. The economic independence of individual families made the existence of stable tribal groups superfluous. Natives of the tribal community were no longer doomed to death, because. could develop new lands and become members of a territorial community. The tribal community was also destroyed during the development of new lands (colonization) and the inclusion of slaves in the community.
Each community owned a certain territory on which several families lived. All possessions of the community were divided into public and private. The house, household land, livestock, inventory were the personal property of each community member. The common property was arable land, meadows, forests, fishing grounds, reservoirs. Arable land and mowing could be periodically divided among the community members.
The collapse of primitive communal relations was facilitated by the military campaigns of the Slavs and, above all, campaigns against Byzantium.
The participants in these campaigns received most of the military booty. Particularly significant was the proportion of military leaders - princes and tribal nobility - the best husbands. Gradually, a special organization of professional warriors formed around the prince - a squad, whose members differed from their fellow tribesmen both in economic and social status. The squad was divided into the eldest, from which the princely stewards came out, and the youngest, who lived with the prince and served his court and household.
The most important issues in the life of the community were resolved at public meetings - veche gatherings. In addition to the professional squad, there was also a tribal militia (regiment, thousand).
Culture of the Eastern Slavs
little is known about the culture of the Slavic tribes. This is due to the extremely scarce data sources. Changing over time, folk tales, songs, riddles have preserved a significant layer of ancient beliefs. Oral folk art reflects the diverse ideas of the Eastern Slavs about the nature and life of people.
Very few samples of the art of the ancient Slavs have survived to this day. In the basin of the Ros River, an interesting treasure of items from the 6th-7th centuries was found, among which silver figurines of horses with golden manes and hooves and silver images of men in typical Slavic clothes with patterned embroidery on their shirts stand out. Slavic silver items from the southern Russian regions are characterized by complex compositions of human figures, animals, birds and snakes. Many subjects in modern folk art are of very ancient origin and have changed little over time.
Many clay urns were found in ancient graves, very well made, with
the image of lions, bears, eagles and varnished; also spears, knives, swords, daggers, skillfully crafted, with a silver frame and notch. Back in the 17th century, copper idols of Slavic gods were found, the work of their own artists, who, however, had no idea about the beauty of metal images, casting the head, camp and legs in different shapes and very rudely. So it was in Greece, where in the time of Homer
artists were already famous for sculpting, but they still did not know how to cast statues in one form. A monument of the stone-cutting art of the ancient Slavs remained large smoothly-worked slabs, on which images of hands, heels, hooves, etc. were hollowed out.
Loving military activity and exposing their lives to incessant dangers, our ancestors did little in architecture that required time, leisure, patience, and did not want to build solid houses for themselves: not only in the sixth century, but much later, they lived in huts that barely covered them. from bad weather and rain.
Slavic cities were nothing more than a collection of huts surrounded by a fence or an earthen rampart. There rose the temples of idols, not such splendid edifices as Egypt, Greece, and Rome boasted, but
large wooden roofs. Not knowing the benefits of luxury, which builds chambers and invents brilliant outdoor decorations, the ancient Slavs in their low huts knew how to enjoy the action of the so-called fine arts. First
the need of people is food and shelter, the second is pleasure, and the wildest peoples seek it in music, in the harmony of sounds that amuse the soul and delight the ear. Ancestors took with them on the road not weapons, but citharas or psaltery. The bagpipe, whistle and pipe were also known to our ancestors. Not only in peacetime, but also in their raids, in view of numerous enemies, the Slavs had fun, sang and forgot the danger.
According to the current folk, we can judge the ancient dance of the Slavs, with which they celebrated the sacred rites of paganism and all sorts of pleasant occasions: it consists in waving your arms, twirling in one place, squatting, stamping your feet, and corresponds to the character of people strong, active, tireless.
Folk games and amusements: wrestling, fisticuffs, running, have also remained a monument to their ancient amusements, representing to us the image of war and strength.
In addition to this, it can be noted that the Slavs, while not yet literate, had some information in arithmetic, in chronology. Home economics, war, trade taught them to multisyllabic reckoning; dark name,
signifying 10,000 is an ancient Slavic. Observing the course of the year, they, like the Romans, divided it into 12 months, and each of them was given a name corresponding to temporary phenomena or actions of nature:
genvaryu-prosinets (probably from the blue of the sky),
february,
march-dry,
April-berezozol (probably from birch ash),
mayu-herbal,
June-izok (as some kind of songbird was called among the Slavs),
July-nerven (is it not from red fruits or berries?),
August-glow (from dawn or lightning),
september-ryuen (or howler, as they say: from the roar of animals),
October - leaf fall,
November-breast (from piles of snow. Or frozen mud?),
December-cold.
A century was called a century, that is, a human life.
The Slavs did not have any alphabet until 863, when the philosopher Constantine, named Cyril in monasticism, and Methodius, his brother, the inhabitants of Thessaloniki, being sent by the Greek emperor Michael to Moravia to the local Christian princes Rostislav, Svyatopolk and
Kotsel, for the translation of church books from Greek, invented a special Slavic alphabet, formed in Greek, with the addition of new letters: B. Zh.Ts. Sh. Sh. b. Y. b. Yu. Ya. Zh. This alphabet, called Kirillovskaya, or Cyrillic, is used, with some changes, until now in Russia.
Formation of the Old Russian state
The formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs was the logical result of a long process of decomposition of the tribal system and the transition to a class society.
The process of property and social stratification among the community members led to the separation of the most prosperous part from their midst. The tribal nobility and the prosperous part of the community, subjugating the mass of ordinary community members, needs to maintain their dominance in state structures.
The embryonic form of statehood was represented by the East Slavic unions of tribes, which united in superunions, however, fragile ones. One of these associations was, apparently, the union of tribes headed by Prince Kiy. There is information about a certain Russian prince Bravlin who fought in the Khazar-Byzantine Crimea in the VIIIIX centuries, passing from Surozh to Korchev (from Sudak to Kerch). Eastern historians talk about the existence on the eve of the formation of the Old Russian state of three large associations of Slavic tribes: Kuyaba, Slavia and Artania. Kuyaba, or Kuyava, then called the area around Kyiv. Slavia occupied the territory in the area of Lake Ilmen. Its center was Novgorod. The location of Artania - the third major association of Slavs - has not been precisely established.
According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the Russian princely dynasty originates in Novgorod. In 859, the Northern Slavic tribes, who then paid tribute to the Varangians, or Normans (according to most historians, immigrants from Scandinavia), drove them across the sea. However, soon after these events, internecine struggle began in Novgorod. To stop the clashes, the Novgorodians decided to invite the Varangian princes as a force standing above the opposing factions. In 862, Prince Rurik and his two brothers were called to Russia by the Novgorodians, laying the foundation for the Russian princely dynasty.
The Norman legend about the calling of the Varangian princes served as the basis for the creation of the so-called Norman theory of the emergence of the Old Russian state. Its authors were invited in the XVIII century. to Russia, German scientists G.Bayer, G.Miller and A.Schletser. The authors of this theory emphasized the complete absence of prerequisites for the formation of a state among the Eastern Slavs. The scientific inconsistency of the Norman theory is obvious, since the determining factor in the process of state formation is the presence of internal prerequisites, and not the actions of individual, even outstanding, personalities.
If the Varangian legend is not fiction (as most historians believe), the story of the calling of the Varangians only testifies to the Norman origin of the princely dynasty.
The version about the foreign origin of power was quite typical for the Middle Ages.
The date of formation of the Old Russian state is conditionally considered to be 882, when Prince Oleg, who seized power in Novgorod after the death of Rurik (some chroniclers call him the governor of Rurik), undertook a campaign against Kyiv. Having killed Askold and Dir, who reigned there, for the first time he united the northern and southern lands as part of a single state. Since the capital was moved from Novgorod to Kyiv, this state is often called Kievan Rus.
Socio-economic development
again, the economy was arable rural agriculture. In the south, the economy was mainly plowed with a plow, or a rake, with a double team of oxen. In the north - a plow with an iron plowshare, drawn by horses. They grew mainly grain crops: rye, wheat, barley, spelt, oats. Millet, peas, lentils, and turnips were also common.
Two-field and three-field crop rotations were known. The two-field system consisted in the fact that the entire mass of cultivated land was divided into two parts. One of them was used for growing bread, the second "rested" - was under fallow. With a three-field crop rotation, in addition to the fallow and winter field, a spring field also stood out. In the forest north, the amount of old arable land was not so significant, slash-and-burn agriculture remained the leading form of agriculture.
The Slavs kept a stable set of domestic animals. Bred cows, horses, sheep, pigs, goats, poultry. Crafts played a rather significant role in the economy: hunting, fishing, beekeeping. With the development of foreign trade, the demand for furs will increase.
Trades and handicrafts, developing, are more and more separated from agriculture. Even in conditions of subsistence farming, home craft techniques are being improved - the processing of flax, hemp, wood, and iron. Actually, handicraft production already numbered more than a dozen types: weapons, jewelry, blacksmithing, pottery, weaving, leather. Russian craft in its technical and artistic level was not inferior to the craft of the advanced European countries. Jewelry, chain mail, blades, locks were especially famous.
Internal trade in the Old Russian state was poorly developed, since subsistence farming dominated the economy. The expansion of foreign trade was associated with the formation of a state that provided Russian merchants with safer trade routes and supported them with its authority in international markets. In Byzantium and the countries of the East, a significant part of the tribute collected by the Russian princes was realized. Products of crafts were exported from Russia: furs, honey, wax, products of artisans - gunsmiths and goldsmiths, slaves. Mostly luxury items were imported: grape wines, silk fabrics, fragrant resins and spices, expensive weapons.
Craft and trade were concentrated in cities, the number of which grew. The Scandinavians who often visited Russia called our country Gardarika - the country of cities. In Russian chronicles at the beginning of the XIII century. more than 200 cities are mentioned. However, the inhabitants of the cities still retained close ties with agriculture and were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding.
The process of formation in Kievan Rus of the main classes of feudal societies is poorly reflected in the sources. This is one of the reasons why the question of the nature and class basis of the Old Russian state is debatable. The presence of various economic structures in the economy gives reason to a number of specialists to assess the Old Russian state as an early class state, in which the feudal structure existed along with the slave-owning and patriarchal.
Most scholars support the idea of academician B.D. Grekov about the feudal nature of the Old Russian state, since the development of feudal relations began from the 9th century. leading trend in the socio-economic development of ancient Russia.
Feudalism is characterized by full ownership of the land by the feudal lord and incomplete ownership of the peasants, against whom he applies various forms of economic and non-economic coercion. The dependent peasant cultivates not only the land of the feudal lord, but also his own plot of land, which he received from the feudal lord or the feudal state, and is the owner of tools, housing, etc.
The beginning process of the transformation of tribal nobility into land owners in the first two centuries of the existence of the state in Russia can be traced, mainly, only on archaeological material. These are rich burials of boyars and combatants, the remains of fortified suburban estates (patrimonies) that belonged to senior combatants and boyars.
The class of feudal lords also arose by singling out the most prosperous members of the community, who turned part of the communal arable land into property. The expansion of feudal landownership was also facilitated by direct seizures of communal lands by the tribal nobility. The growth of the economic and political power of landowners led to the establishment of various forms of dependence of ordinary community members on landowners.
However, in the Kyiv period, there remained a fairly significant number of free peasants, dependent only on the state. The term "peasants" itself appeared in the sources only in the XIV century. The sources of the period of Kievan Rus call the community members dependent on the state and the Grand Duke people, or smerds.
The main social unit of the agricultural population continued to be the neighboring community - verv. It could consist of one large village or several small settlements. The members of the vervi were bound by collective responsibility for paying tribute, for crimes committed on the territory of the vervi, by mutual responsibility. The community (vervi) included not only smerds-farmers, but also smerds-artisans (blacksmiths, potters, tanners), who provided the needs of the community in handicrafts and worked mainly to order. A person who broke ties with the community and did not enjoy its patronage was called an outcast.
With the development of feudal landownership, various forms of dependence of the agricultural population on the landowner appear. A common name for a temporarily dependent peasant was a purchase. This was the name of a person who received a kupa from the landowner - assistance in the form of a plot of land, a cash loan, seeds, tools or draft power and was obliged to return or work out the kupa with interest. Another term referring to dependent people is ryadovich, i.e. a person who has concluded a certain agreement with the feudal lord - a series and is obliged to perform various works according to this series.
In Kievan Rus, along with feudal relations, there was patriarchal slavery, which, however, did not play a significant role in the country's economy. Slaves were called serfs or servants. First of all, captives fell into slavery, but temporary debt servitude, which ceased after payment of the debt, became widespread. Kholops were commonly used as household servants. In some estates there were also so-called plowed serfs, planted on the ground and having their own farm.
The main cell of the feudal economy was the estate. It consisted of a princely or boyar estate and dependent communities-verveys. In the estate there was a yard and mansions of the owner, bins and barns with "abundance", i.e. stores, servants' dwellings and other buildings. Various branches of the economy were in charge of special managers - tiuns and key-keepers, and a fireman was at the head of the entire patrimonial administration. As a rule, artisans worked in the boyar or princely estates. serving the bar economy. Craftsmen could be serfs or be in some other form of dependence on the votchinnik. The patrimonial economy had a natural character and was focused on the internal consumption of the feudal lord himself and his servants. “The sources do not allow us to unambiguously judge the dominant form of feudal exploitation in the patrimony. It is possible that some part of the dependent peasants cultivated corvée, the other paid the landowner in kind.
The urban population also become dependent on the princely administration or the feudal elite. Near cities, large feudal lords often founded special settlements for artisans. In order to attract the population, the owners of the villages provided certain benefits, temporary tax exemptions, etc. As a result, such craft settlements were called freedoms or settlements.
The spread of economic dependence, increased exploitation caused resistance from the dependent population. The most common form was on the run of dependent people. This is also evidenced by the severity of the punishment provided for such an escape - turning into a complete, "whitewashed" serf. Data on various manifestations of the class struggle are contained in Russkaya Pravda. It refers to violations of the boundaries of land holdings, arson of side trees, murders of representatives of the patrimonial administration, and theft of property.
List of used literature
1. N. M. Karamzin. Traditions of the Ages. Moscow, 1988
2. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 20th century. Moscow, 1996
3. B. Rybakov “... Who in Kyiv began first to reign ...”
Science and life, No. 4, 1982
4. A. Melnikova. Treasures of the Russian land. Science and Life, No. 9, 1979
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