The emergence of Russian statehood is traditionally associated with the emergence of the Old Russian state with centers first in Novgorod and then in Kyiv. Marxism believed that the main reason for the formation of the state was the emergence of private property and the class stratification of society. Other strands of political thought do not share such a categorical statement. In the history of many peoples of the world, the emergence of the state preceded an intensive process of social differentiation, and then the state as a political institution played an active role in the formation of property relations. So among the Eastern Slavs, the formation of the state caused changes in the social and economic spheres.

For more than two centuries, disputes have been going on in Russia around the “Norman” version of the origin of the Old Russian state. Opponents of this version cannot agree that foreigners brought statehood to Russia. Recently, a point of view has been expressed according to which the “calling of the Varangians” is recognized, but the “Varangians” themselves are declared not Scandinavians, but Western Slavs who lived on the coast of the Baltic Sea. In our opinion, there is nothing offensive to the national identity of Russians (as well as modern Ukrainians and Belarusians) in the very fact of “calling the Varangians”. For many peoples, including European ones, the state arose under the influence of an external foreign factor. Among the theoretical concepts that explain the emergence of the state, there is one that connects its formation with the conquest by foreigners. In Ancient Russia, there was no talk of any conquest. Whoever the legendary Rurik himself was - a Scandinavian or a Slav, his descendants became Russian princes. Regardless of the ethnic roots of the Rurikids, one cannot deny the fact that immigrants from Scandinavia lived in the ancient Russian political centers - Kyiv, Novgorod and others - both before and after the formation of the first East Slavic state. It should also be remembered that in the creation of this state, along with the East Slavic tribes of the Polyans, Krivichi, Radimichi, Ilmen Slovenes and others, Finno-Ugric tribes participated - Chud, Vodi, Meri and Murom.

The Old Russian state was formed on the territory along which one of the most important trade routes "from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed in those days. In this regard, R. Pipes, a well-known American political scientist and specialist in Russian history, compared the original Kievan Rus with a gigantic trading enterprise.

“The Varangian state in Russia,” he noted, “resembled rather the great European trading enterprises of the 17th-18th centuries, such as the East India Company or the Hudson’s Bay Company, created for profit, but forced due to the lack of any administration in the regions its activities to become, as it were, a surrogate for state power. The Grand Duke was par excellence a merchant, and his principality was essentially a commercial enterprise, made up of loosely connected cities, whose garrisons collected tribute and maintained - in a somewhat rude way - public order.

During its formation, Kievan Rus was a kind of early feudal federation, consisting of old territories occupied by the tribes of the Eastern Slavs, and new lands developed during the Slavic colonization of the Oka and Volga interfluves. The centralization of the Kievan state reached its peak during the time of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054). By this time, in 988, under Prince Vladimir, the most important event in Russian history had already taken place - the baptism of Russia. As a result, Orthodoxy became the official religion of the new state. The social structure and political institutions of ancient Russian society remained undeveloped, the processes of social differentiation and state building were just unfolding. The daily life of the majority of Eastern Slavs in the created Kievan state has changed little compared to the tribal period. The traditions of the former “military democracy” were preserved, which was characterized by the participation of all adult men in the management of the community, the general arming of the population and the public appointment of military leaders. Mandatory norms for all were approved by the people's assembly - veche.

The veche was also preserved in the conditions of the early Old Russian statehood. To some extent, it limited the power of the ancient Russian princes. In the northwestern Russian lands - Novgorod and Pskov - the role of the veche was even more important. A kind of “feudal republics” developed there, in which princes were called up and expelled by decision of the veche. The veche elected the lord - the head of the local church, the posadnik - the head of the civil executive power, and the thousandth - the head of the people's militia, convened in case of military necessity. There was also the so-called Council of Masters, which consisted of representatives of the richest and most noble families. This Council performed some governmental functions and periodically came into conflict with the veche. Such a socio-political structure of the Lord Veliky Novgorod was largely due to its economy, in which, due to natural and climatic conditions, the leading role was played not by agriculture, but by trade and handicrafts. The political traditions of the northwestern Russian lands differed from the traditions of the northeastern lands and could have become the starting point for a different variant of socio-political development, but this did not happen, since Novgorod and Pskov subsequently fell under the control of Moscow.

Statehood in Ancient Russia was represented only by the prince himself with his retinue. With the help of the squad, the princes controlled their possessions and protected them from external danger. The institution of private ownership of land in Ancient Russia did not take shape, but a certain social differentiation emerged among its population. The population was divided into free and not free people. The free were smerds, i.e. peasant farmers, who made up the vast majority. The bulk of non-free people were called serfs. Kholops were in complete submission and dependence on their masters. It was possible to become a serf in various ways: to be captured, to be sold for money or for debts. Slaves were those who married not free people, and those who were born in such a marriage. The transitional form in terms of their social status between free smerds and not free serfs were Zakg/yab/ and outcasts. However, one cannot identify ancient Russian serfs with ancient slaves. They were not at all, like the latter, "talking instruments." Kholops had certain rights, in particular, they could participate in the trial. This was reflected in the most important source of ancient Russian legislation - "Russkaya Pravda", which appeared during the time of the centralized Kievan state.

Social differentiation also took place within the princely squads. From the moment the grand dukes became not the first among other princes, but full-fledged rulers of the whole country, those who ruled locally entered the grand ducal squad and occupied a privileged position in it. They formed the so-called senior squad and began to be called boyars. The lowest stratum of the grand ducal squad was the “young squad”, which included warriors younger in age and less noble in origin. The "young squad" also included the prince's squad, which was in his personal service. At first, the squad performed only military functions, then more and more began to take on administrative and managerial functions.

The power of the Grand Duke himself was extensive. In modern terms, he was the "supreme commander" and led the army during campaigns. The Grand Duke stood at the head of the entire system of government of the country and was the personification of the highest judicial power. However, initially clear mechanisms for the transfer of grand ducal power were not developed in Kievan Rus. Power belonged not to a specific person, but to the entire family of Rurikovich. More than once between the sons and other relatives of the deceased Grand Duke feuds broke out over the succession to the throne. In addition, the way of life of the princes from the Rurik dynasty was such that they constantly moved from city to city, from one local principality to another. Under these conditions, maintaining a single centralized state headed by the Grand Duke of Kyiv was a difficult and, as subsequent events showed, an impossible task.

After the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125 and the subsequent death of his eldest son Mstislav in 1132, civil strife broke out again, which led to the disintegration of the united Kievan Rus. The era of specific principalities began. The largest principality in the west was Galicia-Volyn, and in the east - Vladimir-Suzdal, which arose on the new northeastern lands, which differed from the old ancient Russian lands in a number of features, as already discussed. The title of the Grand Duke of Kyiv was preserved, but his power turned into a nominal one. Nevertheless, the struggle for it between the specific princes continued. However, from the moment when the Vladimir-Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who conquered and ruined Kyiv, did not remain to reign here, but transferred the capital along with the grand ducal title to Vladimir, the isolation of the lands began, on which the Muscovite state subsequently arose.

The reason for the collapse of Kievan Rus was not only the struggle for power between the princes of the Rurik dynasty. The reasons for this process were also geopolitical and geo-economic in nature. It was difficult to control such a fairly vast state as Kievan Rus, with medieval management technologies and transport communications. Economically, Kievan Rus was not, and could not be, a single economic system. By the time of the collapse of the Kievan state into specific principalities, the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks” also lost its former meaning.

With the disintegration of Kievan Rus, the nature of princely power in its former northeastern lands changed, and a different principle of succession to the throne was established. If earlier power belonged to the entire princely family and could pass to any of its representatives, then in North-Eastern Russia the order of succession adopted in most European countries was formed, based on the principle of primogeniture. In accordance with this principle, princely power belonged to a specific person and passed from him to his eldest son. The attitude of the princes to their possessions also changed.

“Before, the Russian land was considered the common fatherland of the princely family, which was the collective bearer of supreme power in it,” wrote V. O. Klyuchevsky, “and individual princes, participants in this collective power, were temporary owners of their principalities. But in the composition of this power, the thought of the right of ownership of land as land is not noticeable - the right that belongs to a private landowner to his land. Ruling their principalities in turn, or by agreement between themselves and with the volost cities, the princes practiced supreme rights in them; but neither all of them together, nor each of them individually applied to them the methods of disposition arising from the right of ownership, did not sell them and did not pledge, did not give them as dowries for their daughters, did not bequeath, etc. ” .

However, the territories of individual specific principalities, into which North-Eastern Russia broke up, began to be considered the personal, hereditary property of the specific princes. As V. O. Klyuchevsky wrote, “... they (the princes) ruled the free population of their principalities as sovereigns and owned their territories as private owners, with all the rights of disposal arising from such property.”

This order marked the beginning of the "patrimonial structure", according to which the state is identified with the private property of the ruling monarch, and public political power is combined with economic power. Along with the specific princes, for a long time, the boyars, who were also "patrimonial estates", retained some economic rights to part of the lands of their inheritances. About the contradiction that arose in this case, V. O. Klyuchevsky writes as follows:

“How could the prince remain the landowner of the entire inheritance next to these also full landowners who owned parts of the same inheritance? With the merger of the rights of the sovereign and the landowner in the person of the prince, this was not only legally possible, but also brought important political benefits to the prince. Along with the right to own land in his allotment, the prince ceded to the owner his state rights to a larger or smaller amount, thus turning him into his administrative tool.

As a result, according to the same Klyuchevsky, “the prince differed from these votchinniki not as a political owner of the territory from private landowners, but as a common patrimony of an inheritance from partial ones, on whose lands he retained some patrimonial, economic rights” . This situation existed during the entire specific period, which fell mainly at the time of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The attack of the Tatar-Mongolian hordes on Russian lands, in contrast to the earlier raids of nomads, had a serious impact on the subsequent political history of Russia. The former unity of the Eastern Slavic lands was finally destroyed. Weakened by the Mongol invasion, the Western and Southwestern Russian principalities were included in other state formations, primarily the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The northeastern Russian lands became dependent on the Mongol Empire, and after the collapse of the Mongol Empire, on its successor, the Golden Horde. Russia retained its Orthodox Christian religion. The presence of the Tatar-Mongols was not permanent, they did not leave their garrisons and controlled the conquered territories not directly, but indirectly. But the northeastern Russian principalities lost their political independence. As the modern Russian historian A. Kamensky notes,

“Before, the Russian princes themselves went on distant campaigns of conquest, even reaching the walls of Constantinople. Now Prince Alexander Nevsky, who defeated the Swedes in 1240, and two years later the crusaders of the Teutonic Order, had to crawl on his stomach to the khan's throne, begging for a label to reign. It is quite obvious that the international significance of Russia has fallen, for a long time it turned out to be excluded from world politics.

The Tatar-Mongol yoke had an impact on the development of Russian statehood. In particular, the already low role of the veche in the northeastern lands during this period is fading away. Thus, the institution that limited the princely power to any extent disappears. The Mongols brought with them more cruel methods of government and, according to many researchers, spread the traditions of oriental despotism to Russia. At the same time, during the time of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the process of unification of Russian lands began. The Moscow Principality becomes the center of this association. Gradually, other northeastern Russian principalities are included in its composition. For some time, the alternative to Moscow was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was also dominated by Eastern Slavs (ancestors of modern Belarusians and Ukrainians). But after the adoption of Catholicism by the Lithuanian princes, the rapprochement of this principality with Poland begins, culminating in complete unification with it.

As the northeastern Russian lands unified, their desire to free themselves from the Tatar-Mongol yoke grew. This finally happened in 1489, and since that time the Muscovite state has become an independent and sovereign subject of international law. The Tatar yoke actually strengthened and strengthened the power of the Grand Duke of Moscow:

“If earlier the prince was in the “first between equals” squad, similarly to how the Western European kings of the early Middle Ages were the first among their knights, now the prince was singled out from his environment by the will of the khan, his overlord. The label received in the Horde changed the legal status of the prince, making him the de facto governor of the khan in a certain territory. By the time when the composition of noble families was determined in Moscow, from which the ruling elite, the privileged layer of the new state, was formed, the institute of princely power was already quite developed and independent. Applicants for the title of aristocrats, on the contrary, turned out to be more dependent on the prince than could be if the institutions of princely power and the aristocracy developed simultaneously.

Relations between the supreme power and those social strata that could claim the status of aristocratic remained difficult at subsequent stages in the history of not only the Moscow principality and the Moscow kingdom, but also during the period of the Petrine Empire.

"Russian Truth" is the legislative design of the political system of the Old Russian state, which combined the features of a new feudal formation in the form of the autocracy of the Grand Duke and the remnants of old tribal communal relations in the form of a people's assembly, or vecha of all free city residents. At the head of the state was the Grand Duke, who transferred power both by seniority, and by will, and by inheritance from father to son, and thanks to the calling of the prince by the inhabitants of the city - the center of the principality. This variety of forms of inheritance of power speaks of the transitional, unstable nature of ancient Russian society. The Kyiv prince exercised full power in the state: he was a legislator, military leader, supreme judge and administrator on the territory of all Russian lands.

A special place in the political structure of Kievan Rus was occupied by the princely squad. She was not only a military force, but also took a direct part in the government of the country. Some princely combatants performed the function of bailiffs (“swordsmen”), others acted as tax and fine collectors (“virniki”), and others carried out assignments in the field of diplomatic relations with other countries. With the help of the squad, the princes strengthened their power, expanded the territory of the state.

The princely squad was divided into senior and junior. The eldest included "husbands" and "boyars", rich and influential landowners who had their own courts, servants, and their warriors. The most respected senior combatants made up a permanent council - the "Duma". The prince consulted with them, or “thought”, about every important matter. The combatants were personally free, and connected with the prince only by the bonds of a personal contract, mutual trust and respect.

The younger squad was called "gridny", or "lads". They lived at the court of the prince, served his house, yard, household, acted in peacetime as stewards and servants, and in wartime as warriors.

The prince's squad formed the main core and backbone of the army, bodyguards, constant companions and advisers to the prince, a kind of "headquarters", which during the war gave commanders to the people's militia, were formed from it. The people's militia was called to arms in case of extensive hostilities. The prince could call the people to arms only with the consent of the veche. The armed people were organized according to the decimal system (tens, hundreds, thousands). At the head of the people's militia was the "thousand", appointed by the prince. It was the people's militia ("voi") that decided the outcome of the battle.

As already mentioned, "Russkaya Pravda" is one of the main sources of our ideas about the socio-economic structure of Kievan Rus. Already her first article speaks of the presence of class stratification in ancient Russian society. The main criterion for class division was the attitude of subjects to the prince. On this basis, the Old Russian state was divided into three estates: princely husbands, people and serfs.

The highest privileged class in Russia was the "princes of men", or "the elders of the city." All of them personally served the prince, made up his squad. Their position was very high at the princely courts. The middle class was made up of "people", that is, free commoners who paid tribute to the prince, thereby forming a taxable estate. Kholops, or "servants", were a serf class, they served not the Grand Duke, but private individuals. "Chelyad" mainly served the princely and boyar courts.

At the beginning of the 12th century, along with the political division of Russian society, an economic gradation associated with property status was also revealed. According to Russkaya Pravda, a privileged layer of landowners appeared among the “princely husbands”, who began to be called boyars. The boyars consisted of two elements: firstly, the zemstvo boyars, descendants of the elders of the clans and the military-commercial aristocracy, and secondly, the serving princely boyars, the highest layer of the princely squads. The zemstvo boyars and the boyars of the prince were originally two different feudal groups, which often had completely opposite political and economic interests. Over time, the zemstvo and princely boyars merged, as a result of which all the boyars turned into a single class of large landowners.

The bulk of the rural population of Kievan Rus were serfs. In historical literature, there are many versions about the social status of smerds, but most researchers agree that smerds were personally free, ran an independent household, owned property, land allotment, and were legally capable people. Smerds paid monetary and in-kind taxes and were sometimes called up for military service.

Gradually, a layer of feudal-dependent population appears in the countryside. The ruined smerd entered into an agreement (“row”) with the feudal lord on certain conditions and became a “ryadovich”, or took a loan from the owner (“kupa”) and turned into a “purchase”. Neither one nor the other could leave the master before they fulfilled the terms of the contract.

Despite the fact that the basis of production was the labor of the free peasantry, during the period under review, serfs played a significant role in feudal farms. The sources of serfdom were various circumstances: birth from serfs, and sale into slavery, and certain crimes, and debt insolvency, and marriage to a slave, and entry into domestic service without a contract. The master's right to dispose of the work and personality of the serf was almost unlimited, up to murder with impunity.

To some extent, the church sought to mitigate the lack of rights of the serfs. Along with the secular society in Kievan Rus, there was a numerous society of "church people": monasticism, "white" clergy, clergy, homeless, cherished by the church, etc. All of them were under the subordination, management and jurisdiction of church authorities.

With the development of feudal relations, the forms of exploitation of direct producers also changed. In the 11th century, tribute, the primary form of feudal exploitation, was replaced by primitive labor rent and rent in products, that is, quitrent in kind. Gradually developed and improved the monetary system of levying taxes. The process of establishing and spreading feudal relations was accompanied by the formation of patrimonial land ownership and the growing role of the local boyars. This strengthened the power of the feudal lords over the dependent population and, at the same time, weakened the internal unity of the Old Russian state. The separatism of the feudal lords was also supported by the cities that had grown stronger by that time. The first signs of the collapse of Kievan Rus appeared. The boyars, who grew up locally, sought to secede from Kyiv and create independent principalities.

After the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, the prerequisites for feudal fragmentation took shape. For several years, his sons Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod ruled together. But soon their union broke up, new feudal strife began, which lasted for several decades. In the turbulent events of the late 11th - early 12th centuries, Prince Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125), who ruled the Principality of Pereyaslavl, located on the border with the Polovtsy, came to the fore. Under him, several successful campaigns in the "Polovtsian field" were undertaken. Russian squads reached the lower reaches of the Don and the shores of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, crushing the Polovtsian hordes. Vladimir Monomakh managed to significantly ease the pressure of the Polovtsians on Russia.

The successful campaigns of Vladimir Monomakh against the Polovtsy brought the Pereyaslavl prince fame as a remarkable commander, patriot and wise statesman. It is no coincidence that when a popular uprising broke out in Kyiv in 1113, local boyars and merchants decided to invite the sixty-year-old prince Vladimir Monomakh from Pereyaslavl to the grand-ducal throne. The grandson of Yaroslav the Wise and the Byzantine emperor Konstantin Monomakh, the son of Vsevolod Yaroslavich Vladimir Monomakh enjoyed great prestige among the people. He was known in Russia as an intelligent, energetic and courageous person. Having become the Grand Duke, Vladimir Monomakh could not but reckon with the just demands of the rebellious inhabitants of Kyiv. In 1113, he published an addition to Russkaya Pravda, the Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodich, which regulated the position of social groups in society. Thus, the process of creating the Russkaya Pravda code of laws was completed, which testified to the victory of feudalism in the Russian state. This law eased the position of the urban lower classes, smerds, purchases, rank and file serfs. Vladimir Monomakh forbade charging too high interest from debtors, forced merchants to reduce food prices. All this for some time weakened the social tension in society.

During the 12 years of his reign, Vladimir Monomakh proved to be a strong and strong-willed ruler. He subjugated all the princes to his power, stopped the princely strife, managed to temporarily stop the natural process of the disintegration of the Russian state into separate lands.

Vladimir Monomakh is known not only as a prominent commander and far-sighted politician, but also as a zealous host and a gifted writer. In his declining years, he wrote a very interesting autobiographical Teaching to Children, in which he shared his thoughts about the meaning of life, about relationships between people, and gave practical advice on how to run a patrimonial economy. The chronicler wrote about the success of his foreign policy activities: “The Polovtsy frightened their children in the cradle in the name of Vladimir. Lithuania did not emerge from its swamps. The Hungarians built stone cities with iron gates so that the Great Vladimir would not defeat them. And the Germans were glad that they were far away ... ".

During the reign of Vladimir Vsevolodovich, the economy of the Old Russian state reached a high level. Agriculture developed, new lands were developed. More than 40 types of crafts were known in the cities. Russian artisans made fine weapons, complex locks and other household utensils. Old Russian jewelers achieved especially great success. They created genuine masterpieces in the technique of granulation, filigree, cloisonné enamel. Products made of silver and gold gained fame far beyond the borders of the ancient Russian state. Construction and architecture developed. Cathedrals, fortresses, princely and boyar chambers were built. Foreign trade has been successfully developed. Traditional Russian goods in foreign markets were honey, wax, linen, linen fabrics, and various handicrafts. Russia imported silk fabrics, brocade, velvet, precious metals and stones, and spices. Imported goods were used to meet the needs of the ruling class of feudal lords and the top urban population.

Vladimir Monomakh died in 1125. After him, the unity of Kievan Rus existed as long as the eldest son of Monomakh, the great Kyiv prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, was on the throne. But soon after his death in 1132, according to the chronicler, "the whole Russian land was inflamed" into several independent principalities. A period of feudal fragmentation began.

Social The structure of society changed and became more complex as feudal relations developed. Some pre-revolutionary historians argued that the free population of the Kievan state did not know class divisions and partitions. Everyone enjoyed the same rights, but, of course, different groups of the population differed from each other in their actual situation, i.e., in wealth and social. influence. The social leaders were called: the best people, (husbands), goblin, big, first, deliberate, boyars.

The social ranks were smaller, black, simple children, smerds. Klyuchevsky and the historians of his school note that the upper stratum of the population (the boyars) consisted of two elements: the zemstvo boyars - the local tribal aristocracy (descendants of tribal elders, tribal princes), as well as the military-commercial aristocracy, the serving princely boyars and the upper layer of princely combatants. Soviet historiography in the class of feudal lords distinguishes the top - representatives of the grand ducal house with the grand duke at the head. According to Klyuchevsky, the middle strata were: an ordinary mass of princely combatants who were kept and fed at the princely court and received their share of tribute and military booty as an additional reward: the middle strata of the urban merchant class. The lower strata - the urban and rural common people - were the main population of Russia. Free community-farmers who owe tribute to the prince, urban and artisans, purchases and ryadovichi, smerds - not free or semi-free tributaries who sat on the land of the prince and carried duties for his personal benefit. The non-free population of Russia are serfs (prisoners of war, bonded serfs, outcasts).

The apparatus of power performed the following functions:

• - Collection of tribute from subject lands in favor of the Grand Duke of Kyiv (polyudye);
• - Maintenance of public order in their land. The princes judged and sorted out conflicts and defended their lands from external enemies, especially nomads;
• - Foreign policy activities. Military campaigns were undertaken against neighboring states in order to seize booty, alliances were concluded, and trade and diplomatic relations were established.

The historian Semenikova believes that the Old Russian state was built on the basis of the institution of vassalage.

The upper layer of society - the boyars were vassals of the Grand Duke of Kyiv and were obliged to serve his squad.

But at the same time they were full masters in their lands, where they had less noble vassals. The system of boyar immunity included the right to transfer to the service of another prince.

In 1054 Yaroslav the Wise, dying, divided the country between 5 sons and established the procedure for transferring power not to the eldest son, but to the eldest in the family. In 1054-1072 - the reign of the three sons of Yaroslav the Wise: - the eldest Izyaslav Yaroslavich - sat in Kyiv; - Svyatoslav Yaroslavich - to Chernihiv; - Vsevolod Yaroslavich - to Pereyaslavl; The younger brothers got more distant lands: - Vyacheslav - Smolensk; - Igor - Vladimir-Volynsky. 1072 - Pravda Yaroslavichi was created. The contradictions laid down in the order of succession to the throne by seniority lead to the appearance of PRINCES - OUTSIDES - this is a prince whose father died without reaching seniority in the family. His sons were deprived of the right to be grand dukes. The area of ​​their reign was divided among other princes. 1 strife 1073-1076 Svyatoslav and Vsevolod violated their father's commandment to rule the world and expelled Izyaslav from Kyiv. Izyaslav fled to Poland. Svyatoslav became prince of Kyiv. 1076 - death of Svyatoslav. 2 strife 1076 - 1078 In 1076 Vsevolod took the throne of Kyiv, but lost it without a fight to Izyaslav, who, with the help of the Poles, returned to Kyiv again, and left for Chernigov himself. The son of Svyatoslav Oleg was left without a paternal throne in Chernigov. He fled to Tmutarakan and from there in 1078. came with the Polovtsians to wage war on Vsevolod. During the battle on the Nezhatina Field, Izyaslav Kyiv and Vsevolod Chernigov defeated Oleg Svyatoslavovich. But Izyaslav was killed in the battle. Oleg runs back to Tmutarakan. Vsevolod occupied the throne of Kyiv, and put his son Vladimir to reign in Chernigov. Vsevolod was the last of the Yaroslavichs. He held power thanks to the victories of his son Vladimir Monomakh (he received his nickname for being the son of a Byzantine princess, daughter of Emperor Constantine Monomakh, Maria Monomakh.) 1093. - death of Vsevolod. Vladimir, in an effort to avoid strife, refused the great reign and Svyatopolk Izyaslavovich, who had more rights to the capital's throne, received power. was the eldest in the family. Vladimir Monomakh himself settled in Chernigov. 3 strife 1094 Oleg Tmutarakansky came with the Polovtsy, occupied Chernigov and Vladimir Monomakh returned to Pereyaslavl, the city that his father received from his grandfather Yaroslav the Wise. For almost 20 years, Vladimir Monomakh reigned in Pereyaslavl. Vladimir Monomakh defeated Oleg and he agreed to negotiate on the rights to the inheritance. 1097 LUBECHESKY CONGRESS. On the initiative of Vladimir Monomakh, Svyatopolk of Kyiv, Oleg, Vladimir Monomakh, and other descendants of Yaroslav came to the city of Lyubech for the congress. Decisions: 1) Return to the order of inheritance of lands established by Yaroslav (“Each prince keeps his fatherland”), i.e. inherit land from his father. Pereyaslavl is assigned to the descendants of Vsevolod Yaroslavich. 2) Unification of forces in the fight against the Polovtsy. Thus, the congress will have a number of major political consequences: - it will lead to political fragmentation in Russia, which began in the 12th century; - will lead to an attempt by the princes to stop princely strife; - will lead to an attempt by the princes to jointly oppose the Polovtsy. But the strife continued: 4 strife 1097 Davyd Igorevich, the son of Igor Yaroslavich, violated the decisions of the congress and went to war against other princes, but was defeated and, as a punishment, lost the city of Vladimir-Volynsky, his ancestral homeland. In 1100 another congress was held in Vitichev, which consolidated the decisions of the congress in Lyubech. In 1103 in the city of Dolobsk, the princes agreed on a joint struggle against the Polovtsy. In 1113 Prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich died. After his death, a major uprising began in Kyiv. The people smashed the courts of princely tiuns, large feudal lords and usurers. The uprising lasted 4 days. The Kievan boyars summoned Vladimir Monomakh to the grand-ducal throne. He makes concessions to the people and, as a token of gratitude for the invitation, writes the Charter "On Purchases and Cuts." Cuts -% rate. (the essence of the rebellion on page 27). 1113 Monk Nestor writes the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years". 1113 - Vladimir Monomakh wrote "The Charter of Vladimir Monomakh", which became an integral part of the "Russian Truth". Vladimir Monomakh made a serious attempt to restore the former significance of the power of the Kyiv prince. Vladimir Monomakh considered the "younger" members of the princely family as vassals who had to go on campaigns on his orders and, in case of disobedience, were deprived of the princely throne. Vladimir Monomakh enjoyed great prestige and was widely educated, possessed a literary talent. After him, the crowning of kings was the Cap of Monomakh - allegedly transferred to Vladimir Monomakh from the Byzantine emperor - Constantine Monomakh, his grandfather.

The Byzantine treaties of princes Igor and Oleg tell about the complete structure of the society of that time. The social structure of Kievan Rus looked like this:

The Grand Duke - stood at the head of the state, was the legislative and judicial power, resolved issues of international politics, was responsible for protecting the state.

Specific prince - relatives of the prince, who were at the head of the principalities and formed the state administration; owned lands, provided the army of the king with uniformed warriors and themselves participated in military campaigns.

Boyars - the top of the princely squad, descendants of the tribal nobility and noble feudal lords; had the same social rights as the appanage princes.

Black clergy:

Metropolitan of Kyiv - stood at the head of the Church of Russia.

Bishops - controlled church districts.

Abbots of the monasteries - followed the economic and religious life of the monasteries.

Monks - served God, did not have their own property and completely abandoned worldly life, conducted economic activities in monasteries.

White clergy - held services in churches, conducted religious activities and could have a family.

The posadniks, the deputies of the prince, were responsible for the order and collection of tribute in the territories under their control.

Volosteli - were at the head of the parish or princely estate;

Tiuns - the servants of the prince and the boyars, took part in the management of the volosts or the city, were responsible for the safety of the owner's property.

Palace officials - officials, led the branches in the principalities.

Governors and thousanders are military leaders of boyar origin.

Ordinary combatants are professional soldiers who received rewards from the prince for good service.

Merchants - merchants, participated in the government of the states.

Artisans - engaged in various crafts, depended on wealthy patrons.

Smerdy - free peasants united in communities; they had at their disposal nearby forests, reservoirs, fields.

Ryadovichi - peasants working for the feudal lord by agreement.

Purchases are smerds who became dependent on the feudal lord because of an unpaid debt.

Kholops are peasants dependent on the owner.

The servants are the attendants of the household yard: laundresses, cooks, etc.

The mob are people without property who did dirty work.

Initially, the princes were the leaders of the squad, chosen by the veche. Gradually, their powers expanded. The prince had his own city, guarded by warriors. This city became the center of political and administrative control.

The support of the prince was the squad. She helped collect tribute and guarded the internal and external interests of the population.

The princely income, and, accordingly, the retinue replenished:

Judicial and commercial duties;

Military trophies;

Sale of tribute in kind;

Fees from the subject population;

Estate farming.

The largest social unit was the community (verv). In her possession were hayfields, forests, arable land - a collective form of land ownership. The community was built on democratic principles and controlled all spheres of life of its members.

In Kievan Rus there were personally dependent people. Kholops had the social status of slaves. For the most part, these were prisoners of war captured during military campaigns. A minority of dependent people are debtors.

Initially, there were no laws in Russia. People lived according to customs. There was a special custom of blood feud - talion. In the event of the violent death of a member of the clan, his relatives must take revenge on the culprit. The first law is mentioned in the 10th century - "Russian Law". The formation of a large state required state laws. Since the 11th century, Russkaya Pravda has been formed. She limited the talion and offered to replace it with monetary compensation. Each subsequent prince made his own additions or changes to the code of laws.