Arising in the second half of the 10th c. and became in the 11th century. In the second quarter of the 12th c. to its actual collapse. Conditional holders sought, on the one hand, to turn their conditional holdings into unconditional ones and achieve economic and political independence from the center, and on the other hand, by subordinating the local nobility, to establish full control over their possessions. In all regions (with the exception of the Novgorod land, where, in fact, the republican regime was established and the princely power acquired a military service character), the princes from the house of Rurikovich managed to become sovereign sovereigns with the highest legislative, executive and judicial functions. They relied on the administrative apparatus, whose members constituted a special service class: for their service they received either part of the income from the exploitation of the subject territory (feeding), or land for holding. The main vassals of the prince (boyars), together with the tops of the local clergy, formed under him an advisory and advisory body - the boyar duma. The prince was considered the supreme owner of all lands in the principality: some of them belonged to him on the basis of personal ownership (domain), and he disposed of the rest as the ruler of the territory; they were divided into dominal possessions of the church and conditional holdings of the boyars and their vassals (boyar servants).

The socio-political structure of Russia in the era of fragmentation was based on a complex system of suzerainty and vassalage (the feudal ladder). The feudal hierarchy was headed by the Grand Duke (until the middle of the 12th century he was the ruler of the Kyiv table, later the Vladimir-Suzdal and Galician-Volyn princes acquired this status). Below were the rulers of large principalities (Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Turov-Pinsk, Polotsk, Rostov-Suzdal, Vladimir-Volyn, Galicia, Muromo-Ryazan, Smolensk), even lower - the owners of the destinies within each of these principalities. At the lowest level there was an untitled serving nobility (boyars and their vassals).

From the middle of the 11th century the process of disintegration of large principalities began, which first of all affected the most developed agricultural regions (Kyiv and Chernihiv regions). In the 12th - first half of the 13th century. this trend has become universal. Particularly intense fragmentation was in the Kiev, Chernigov, Polotsk, Turov-Pinsk and Muromo-Ryazan principalities. To a lesser extent, it affected the Smolensk land, and in the Galicia-Volyn and Rostov-Suzdal (Vladimir) principalities, periods of disintegration alternated with periods of temporary unification of appanages under the rule of the "senior" ruler. Only Novgorod land throughout its history continued to maintain political integrity.

In the conditions of feudal fragmentation, all-Russian and regional princely congresses acquired great importance, at which domestic and foreign policy issues were resolved (inter-princely feuds, the fight against external enemies). However, they did not become a permanent, regular political institution and could not slow down the process of dissipation.

By the time of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, Russia was divided into many small principalities and was unable to combine forces to repel external aggression. Devastated by the hordes of Batu, she lost a significant part of her western and southwestern lands, which became in the second half of the 13th-14th centuries. easy prey for Lithuania (Turovo-Pinsk, Polotsk, Vladimir-Volyn, Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Smolensk principalities) and Poland (Galician). Only North-Eastern Russia (Vladimir, Muromo-Ryazan and Novgorod lands) managed to maintain its independence. In the 14th - early 16th century. it was "gathered" by the princes of Moscow, who restored the unified Russian state.

Kievan principality.

It was located in the interfluve of the Dnieper, Sluch, Ros and Pripyat (modern Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions of Ukraine and the south of the Gomel region of Belarus). It bordered in the north with Turov-Pinsk, in the east - with Chernigov and Pereyaslav, in the west with the Vladimir-Volyn principality, and in the south rested on the Polovtsian steppes. The population was made up of Slavic tribes of Polyans and Drevlyans.

Fertile soils and mild climate favored intensive farming; The inhabitants were also engaged in cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and beekeeping. Here the specialization of crafts took place early; “woodworking”, pottery and leatherworking acquired special importance. The presence of iron deposits in the Drevlyansk land (included in the Kyiv region at the turn of the 9th–10th centuries) favored the development of blacksmithing; many types of metals (copper, lead, tin, silver, gold) were brought from neighboring countries. The famous trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” passed through the Kiev region (from the Baltic Sea to Byzantium); through the Pripyat, it was connected with the basin of the Vistula and the Neman, through the Desna - with the upper reaches of the Oka, through the Seim - with the Don basin and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. An influential trade and handicraft layer formed early in Kyiv and nearby cities.

From the end of the 9th to the end of the 10th c. Kyiv land was the central region of the Old Russian state. Under St. Vladimir, with the allocation of a number of semi-independent destinies, it became the core of the grand ducal domain; at the same time Kyiv turned into the church center of Russia (as the residence of the metropolitan); an episcopal see was also established in nearby Belgorod. After the death of Mstislav the Great in 1132, the actual disintegration of the Old Russian state took place, and the Kievan land was constituted as a separate principality.

Despite the fact that the Kyiv prince ceased to be the supreme owner of all Russian lands, he remained the head of the feudal hierarchy and continued to be considered "senior" among other princes. This made the Kiev principality the object of a fierce struggle between the various branches of the Rurik dynasty. The powerful Kievan boyars and the trade and craft population also took an active part in this struggle, although the role of the people's assembly (veche) by the beginning of the 12th century. decreased significantly.

Until 1139, the Kyiv table was in the hands of the Monomashichs - Mstislav the Great was succeeded by his brothers Yaropolk (1132–1139) and Vyacheslav (1139). In 1139 it was taken from them by the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich. However, the reign of the Chernigov Olgoviches was short-lived: after the death of Vsevolod in 1146, the local boyars, dissatisfied with the transfer of power to his brother Igor, called Izyaslav Mstislavich, a representative of the older branch of the Monomashichs (Mstislavichs), to the Kyiv throne. On August 13, 1146, having defeated the troops of Igor and Svyatoslav Olgovich near the Olga grave, Izyaslav captured the ancient capital; Igor, taken prisoner by him, was killed in 1147. In 1149, the Suzdal branch of the Monomashichs, represented by Yuri Dolgoruky, entered the struggle for Kyiv. After the death of Izyaslav (November 1154) and his co-ruler Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (December 1154), Yuri established himself on the Kiev table and held it until his death in 1157. The strife within the Monomashich house helped the Olgoviches take revenge: in May 1157, Izyaslav Davydovich Chernigovskii seized princely power (1157 –1159). But his unsuccessful attempt to seize Galich cost him the grand-ducal table, which returned to the Mstislavichs - the Smolensk prince Rostislav (1159-1167), and then to his nephew Mstislav Izyaslavich (1167-1169).

From the middle of the 12th century the political significance of the Kyiv land is falling. Its disintegration into destinies begins: in the 1150s–1170s, the Belgorod, Vyshgorod, Trepol, Kanev, Torche, Kotelniche and Dorogobuzh principalities stand out. Kyiv ceases to play the role of the only center of the Russian lands; in the northeast and southwest, two new centers of political attraction and influence are emerging, claiming the status of great principalities - Vladimir on the Klyazma and Galich. The princes of Vladimir and Galicia-Volyn no longer seek to occupy the Kyiv table; periodically subjugating Kyiv, they put their proteges there.

In 1169–1174 Vladimir Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky dictated his will to Kyiv: in 1169 he expelled Mstislav Izyaslavich from there and gave the reign to his brother Gleb (1169–1171). When, after the death of Gleb (January 1171) and Vladimir Mstislavich (May 1171), who replaced him, the Kyiv table without his consent was taken by his other brother Mikhalko, Andrei forced him to give way to Roman Rostislavich, a representative of the Smolensk branch of the Mstislavichs (Rostislavichs); in 1172 Andrey expelled Roman as well and planted another of his brother Vsevolod the Big Nest in Kyiv; in 1173 he forced Rurik Rostislavich, who had seized the Kievan table, to flee to Belgorod.

After the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1174, Kyiv fell under the control of the Smolensk Rostislavichs in the person of Roman Rostislavich (1174–1176). But in 1176, having failed in the campaign against the Polovtsy, Roman was forced to give up power, which was used by the Olgovichi. At the call of the townspeople, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich Chernigov (1176-1194, with a break in 1181) took the Kyiv table. However, he did not succeed in ousting the Rostislavichs from the Kievan land; in the early 1180s, he recognized their rights to Porosie and the Drevlyane land; Olgovichi strengthened in the Kyiv district. Having reached agreement with the Rostislavichs, Svyatoslav concentrated his efforts on the fight against the Polovtsy, having managed to seriously weaken their onslaught on Russian lands.

After his death in 1194, the Rostislavichi returned to the Kievan table in the person of Rurik Rostislavich, but already at the beginning of the 13th century. Kyiv fell into the sphere of influence of the powerful Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich, who in 1202 expelled Rurik and installed his cousin Ingvar Yaroslavich of Dorogobuzh in his place. In 1203, Rurik, in alliance with the Polovtsy and Chernigov Olgovichi, captured Kyiv and, with the diplomatic support of the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, the ruler of North-Eastern Russia, held the Kievan reign for several months. However, in 1204, during a joint campaign of the South Russian rulers against the Polovtsy, he was arrested by Roman and tonsured a monk, and his son Rostislav was thrown into prison; Ingvar returned to the Kyiv table. But soon, at the request of Vsevolod, Roman released Rostislav and made him a prince of Kyiv.

After the death of Roman in October 1205, Rurik left the monastery and at the beginning of 1206 occupied Kyiv. In the same year, Prince Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny of Chernigov entered the fight against him. Their four-year rivalry ended in 1210 with a compromise agreement: Rurik recognized Kyiv for Vsevolod and received Chernigov as compensation.

After the death of Vsevolod, the Rostislavichs reasserted themselves on the Kievan table: Mstislav Romanovich the Old (1212/1214–1223 with a break in 1219) and his cousin Vladimir Rurikovich (1223–1235). In 1235, Vladimir, having suffered a defeat from the Polovtsy near Torchesky, was taken prisoner by them, and power in Kyiv was seized first by Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, and then Yaroslav, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest. However, in 1236, Vladimir, having redeemed himself from captivity, without much difficulty regained the grand prince's throne and remained on it until his death in 1239.

In 1239–1240, Mikhail Vsevolodovich Chernigov and Rostislav Mstislavich Smolensky were in Kyiv, and on the eve of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, he was under the control of the Galician-Volyn prince Daniil Romanovich, who appointed governor Dmitry there. In the autumn of 1240, Batu moved to South Russia and in early December took and defeated Kyiv, despite the desperate nine-day resistance of the inhabitants and a small squad of Dmitry; he subjected the principality to terrible devastation, after which it could no longer recover. Returning to the capital in 1241, Mikhail Vsevolodich was summoned to the Horde in 1246 and killed there. From the 1240s, Kyiv became formally dependent on the great princes of Vladimir (Alexander Nevsky, Yaroslav Yaroslavich). In the second half of the 13th c. a significant part of the population emigrated to the northern Russian regions. In 1299, the metropolitan see was transferred from Kyiv to Vladimir. In the first half of the 14th century the weakened Kiev principality became the object of Lithuanian aggression and in 1362, under Olgerd, it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Principality of Polotsk.

It was located in the middle reaches of the Dvina and Polota and in the upper reaches of the Svisloch and Berezina (the territory of the modern Vitebsk, Minsk and Mogilev regions of Belarus and southeastern Lithuania). In the south it bordered on Turov-Pinsk, in the east - on the Smolensk principality, in the north - on the Pskov-Novgorod land, in the west and north-west - on the Finno-Ugric tribes (Livs, Latgales). It was inhabited by the Polochans (the name comes from the Polota River) - a branch of the East Slavic tribe of the Krivichi, partially mixed with the Baltic tribes.

As an independent territorial entity, the Polotsk land existed even before the emergence of the Old Russian state. In the 870s, the Novgorod prince Rurik imposed tribute on the Polotsk people, and then they submitted to the Kyiv prince Oleg. Under the Kiev prince Yaropolk Svyatoslavich (972–980), the Polotsk land was a principality dependent on him, ruled by the Norman Rogvolod. In 980, Vladimir Svyatoslavich captured her, killed Rogvolod and his two sons, and took his daughter Rogneda as his wife; since that time, the Polotsk land finally became part of the Old Russian state. Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir transferred part of it to the joint holding of Rogneda and their eldest son Izyaslav. In 988/989 he made Izyaslav the prince of Polotsk; Izyaslav became the ancestor of the local princely dynasty (Polotsk Izyaslavichi). In 992, the Polotsk diocese was established.

Although the principality was poor in fertile lands, it had rich hunting and fishing lands and was located at the crossroads of important trade routes along the Dvina, Neman and Berezina; impenetrable forests and water barriers protected it from outside attacks. This attracted numerous settlers here; cities grew rapidly, turning into trade and craft centers (Polotsk, Izyaslavl, Minsk, Drutsk, etc.). Economic prosperity contributed to the concentration of significant resources in the hands of the Izyaslavichs, on which they relied in their struggle to achieve independence from the authorities of Kyiv.

Izyaslav's heir Bryachislav (1001–1044), taking advantage of the princely civil strife in Russia, pursued an independent policy and tried to expand his possessions. In 1021, with his retinue and a detachment of Scandinavian mercenaries, he captured and plundered Veliky Novgorod, but then was defeated by the ruler of the Novgorod land, Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise on the Sudoma River; nevertheless, in order to ensure the loyalty of Bryachislav, Yaroslav ceded to him Usvyatskaya and Vitebsk volosts.

The Principality of Polotsk achieved special power under the son of Bryachislav Vseslav (1044–1101), who launched expansion to the north and northwest. Livs and Latgalians became his tributaries. In the 1060s he made several campaigns against Pskov and Novgorod the Great. In 1067 Vseslav ravaged Novgorod, but was unable to keep the Novgorod land. In the same year, Grand Duke Izyaslav Yaroslavich struck back at his strengthened vassal: he invaded the Principality of Polotsk, captured Minsk, defeated Vseslav's squad on the river. Nemiga, by cunning, took him prisoner along with his two sons and sent him to prison in Kyiv; the principality became part of the vast possessions of Izyaslav. After the overthrow of Izyaslav by the rebellious Kievans on September 14, 1068, Vseslav regained Polotsk and even occupied the Kyiv grand prince's table for a short time; in the course of a fierce struggle with Izyaslav and his sons Mstislav, Svyatopolk and Yaropolk in 1069–1072, he managed to retain the Polotsk principality. In 1078, he resumed aggression against neighboring regions: he captured the Smolensk principality and devastated the northern part of Chernigov land. However, already in the winter of 1078–1079, Grand Duke Vsevolod Yaroslavich carried out a punitive expedition to the Principality of Polotsk and burned Lukoml, Logozhsk, Drutsk and the suburbs of Polotsk; In 1084 Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Chernigov took Minsk and severely destroyed the Polotsk land. Vseslav's resources were exhausted, and he no longer tried to expand the boundaries of his possessions.

With the death of Vseslav in 1101, the decline of the Principality of Polotsk begins. It breaks up into divisions; Minsk, Izyaslav and Vitebsk principalities stand out from it. The sons of Vseslav waste their strength in civil strife. After the predatory campaign of Gleb Vseslavich in the Turov-Pinsk land in 1116 and his unsuccessful attempt to capture Novgorod and the Smolensk principality in 1119, the aggression of the Izyaslavichs against neighboring regions practically ceased. The weakening of the principality opens the way for the intervention of Kyiv: in 1119 Vladimir Monomakh easily defeats Gleb Vseslavich, seizes his inheritance, and imprisons himself in prison; in 1127 Mstislav the Great devastated the southwestern regions of the Polotsk land; in 1129, taking advantage of the refusal of the Izyaslavichs to take part in the joint campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsy, he occupies the principality and at the Kiev Congress seeks the condemnation of five Polotsk rulers (Svyatoslav, Davyd and Rostislav Vseslavich, Rogvolod and Ivan Borisovich) and their expulsion to Byzantium. Mstislav transfers the land of Polotsk to his son Izyaslav, and appoints his governors in the cities.

Although in 1132 the Izyaslavichs, in the person of Vasilko Svyatoslavich (1132–1144), managed to return the ancestral principality, they were no longer able to revive its former power. In the middle of the 12th c. a fierce struggle for the Polotsk princely table breaks out between Rogvolod Borisovich (1144-1151, 1159-1162) and Rostislav Glebovich (1151-1159). At the turn of the 1150s-1160s, Rogvolod Borisovich made the last attempt to unite the principality, which, however, collapsed due to the opposition of other Izyaslavichs and the intervention of neighboring princes (Yuri Dolgorukov and others). In the second half of the 7th c. the crushing process deepens; the Drutsk, Gorodensky, Logozhsky and Strizhevsky principalities arise; the most important regions (Polotsk, Vitebsk, Izyaslavl) end up in the hands of the Vasilkoviches (descendants of Vasilko Svyatoslavich); the influence of the Minsk branch of the Izyaslavichs (Glebovichi), on the contrary, is falling. Polotsk land becomes the object of expansion of the Smolensk princes; in 1164 Davyd Rostislavich Smolensky for some time even takes possession of the Vitebsk volost; in the second half of the 1210s, his sons Mstislav and Boris established themselves in Vitebsk and Polotsk.

At the beginning of the 13th c. the aggression of the German knights begins in the lower reaches of the Western Dvina; by 1212 the Sword-bearers conquered the lands of the Livs and southwestern Latgale, tributaries of Polotsk. Since the 1230s, the Polotsk rulers also had to repel the onslaught of the newly formed Lithuanian state; mutual strife prevented them from joining forces, and by 1252 the Lithuanian princes had captured Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Drutsk. In the second half of the 13th c. for the Polotsk lands, a fierce struggle unfolds between Lithuania, the Teutonic Order and the Smolensk princes, the winner of which is the Lithuanians. The Lithuanian prince Viten (1293–1316) takes Polotsk from the German knights in 1307, and his successor Gedemin (1316–1341) subdues the Minsk and Vitebsk principalities. Finally, the Polotsk land became part of the Lithuanian state in 1385.

Chernihiv principality.

It was located east of the Dnieper between the Desna valley and the middle reaches of the Oka (the territory of the modern Kursk, Orel, Tula, Kaluga, Bryansk, the western part of the Lipetsk and southern parts of the Moscow regions of Russia, the northern part of the Chernihiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine and the eastern part of the Gomel region of Belarus ). In the south it bordered on Pereyaslavsky, in the east - on Muromo-Ryazansky, in the north - on Smolensk, in the west - on Kyiv and Turov-Pinsk principalities. It was inhabited by East Slavic tribes of Polyans, Severyans, Radimichi and Vyatichi. It is believed that it received its name either from a certain Prince Cherny, or from the Black Guy (forest).

With a mild climate, fertile soils, numerous rivers rich in fish, and in the north with forests full of game, Chernihiv land was one of the most attractive areas for settlement in Ancient Russia. Through it (along the rivers Desna and Sozh) passed the main trade route from Kyiv to northeastern Russia. Towns with a significant artisan population arose early here. In the 11th-12th centuries. The Chernihiv principality was one of the richest and politically significant regions of Russia.

By the 9th c. the northerners, who formerly lived on the left bank of the Dnieper, having subjugated the Radimichi, Vyatichi and part of the glades, extended their power to the upper reaches of the Don. As a result, a semi-state entity emerged that paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. At the beginning of the 10th c. it recognized dependence on the Kyiv prince Oleg. In the second half of the 10th c. Chernihiv land became part of the grand ducal domain. Under St. Vladimir, the diocese of Chernihiv was established. In 1024, it fell under the rule of Mstislav the Brave, brother of Yaroslav the Wise, and became a principality virtually independent of Kyiv. After his death in 1036, it was again included in the grand ducal domain. According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Chernigov principality, together with the Muromo-Ryazan land, passed to his son Svyatoslav (1054–1073), who became the ancestor of the local princely dynasty of the Svyatoslavichs; they, however, managed to establish themselves in Chernigov only towards the end of the 11th century. In 1073, the Svyatoslavichs lost the principality, which ended up in the hands of Vsevolod Yaroslavich, and from 1078 - his son Vladimir Monomakh (until 1094). The attempts of the most active of the Svyatoslavichs, Oleg "Gorislavich", to regain control over the principality in 1078 (with the help of his cousin Boris Vyacheslavich) and in 1094-1096 (with the help of the Polovtsy) ended in failure. Nevertheless, by decision of the Lyubech princely congress of 1097, Chernigov and Muromo-Ryazan lands were recognized as the patrimony of the Svyatoslavichs; the son of Svyatoslav Davyd (1097-1123) became the prince of Chernigov. After Davyd's death, the throne was occupied by his brother Yaroslav of Ryazan, who in 1127 was expelled by his nephew Vsevolod, the son of Oleg "Gorislavich". Yaroslav retained the Muromo-Ryazan land, which from that time turned into an independent principality. The Chernihiv land was divided among themselves by the sons of Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich (Davydovichi and Olgovichi), who entered into a fierce struggle for allotments and the Chernigov table. In 1127-1139 it was occupied by the Olgovichi, in 1139 they were replaced by the Davydovichi - Vladimir (1139-1151) and his brother Izyaslav (1151-1157), but in 1157 he finally passed to the Olgovichi: Svyatoslav Olgovich (1157-1164) and his nephews Svyatoslav (1164-1177) and Yaroslav (1177-1198) Vsevolodichi. At the same time, the Chernihiv princes tried to subjugate Kyiv: Vsevolod Olgovich (1139-1146), Igor Olgovich (1146) and Izyaslav Davydovich (1154 and 1157-1159) owned the Kyiv grand prince's table. They also fought with varying success for Veliky Novgorod, the Turov-Pinsk principality, and even for distant Galich. In internal strife and in wars with neighbors, the Svyatoslavichs often resorted to the help of the Polovtsy.

In the second half of the 12th century, despite the extinction of the Davydovich family, the process of fragmentation of the Chernigov land intensified. It includes Novgorod-Seversk, Putivl, Kursk, Starodub and Vshchizh principalities; the principality of Chernigov proper was limited to the lower reaches of the Desna, from time to time also including the Vshchizh and Starobud volosts. The dependence of the vassal princes on the Chernigov ruler becomes nominal; some of them (for example, Svyatoslav Vladimirovich Vshchizhsky in the early 1160s) show a desire for complete independence. The fierce feuds of the Olgoviches do not prevent them from actively fighting for Kyiv with the Smolensk Rostislavichs: in 1176–1194 Svyatoslav Vsevolodich rules there, in 1206–1212/1214, intermittently, his son Vsevolod Chermny. They are trying to gain a foothold in Novgorod the Great (1180–1181, 1197); in 1205 they manage to take possession of the Galician land, where, however, in 1211 a catastrophe befell them - the three princes of the Olgovichi (Roman, Svyatoslav and Rostislav Igorevich) were captured and hanged by the verdict of the Galician boyars. In 1210, they even lose the Chernigov table, which for two years passes to the Smolensk Rostislavichs (Rurik Rostislavich).

In the first third of the 13th c. The Chernigov Principality breaks up into many small destinies, only formally subordinate to Chernigov; Kozelskoe, Lopasninskoe, Rylskoe, Snovskoe, then Trubchevskoe, Glukhovo-Novosilskoe, Karachevo and Tarusa principalities stand out. Despite this, Prince Mikhail Vsevolodich of Chernigov (1223-1241) does not stop his active policy towards neighboring regions, trying to establish control over Novgorod the Great (1225, 1228-1230) and Kyiv (1235, 1238); in 1235 he took possession of the Galician principality, and later the Przemysl volost.

The waste of significant human and material resources in civil strife and in wars with neighbors, the fragmentation of forces and the lack of unity among the princes contributed to the success of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In the autumn of 1239, Batu took Chernigov and subjected the principality to such a terrible defeat that it actually ceased to exist. In 1241, the son and heir of Mikhail Vsevolodich, Rostislav, left his fiefdom and went to fight in the Galician land, and then fled to Hungary. Obviously, the last Chernigov prince was his uncle Andrei (mid-1240s - early 1260s). After 1261, the Principality of Chernigov became part of the Principality of Bryansk, founded in 1246 by Roman, another son of Mikhail Vsevolodich; the Bishop of Chernigov also moved to Bryansk. In the middle of the 14th century The Principality of Bryansk and Chernihiv lands were conquered by the Lithuanian prince Olgerd.

Muromo-Ryazan principality.

It occupied the southeastern outskirts of Russia - the basin of the Oka and its tributaries Proni, Osetra and Tsna, the upper reaches of the Don and Voronezh (modern Ryazan, Lipetsk, northeast of Tambov and south of Vladimir regions). It bordered on the west with Chernigov, on the north with the Rostov-Suzdal principality; in the east, its neighbors were the Mordovian tribes, and in the south, the Cumans. The population of the principality was mixed: both Slavs (Krivichi, Vyatichi) and Finno-Ugric peoples (Mordva, Muroma, Meshchera) lived here.

Fertile (chernozem and podzolized) soils prevailed in the south and in the central regions of the principality, which contributed to the development of agriculture. Its northern part was densely covered with forests rich in game and swamps; The locals were mainly engaged in hunting. In the 11th-12th centuries. a number of urban centers arose on the territory of the principality: Murom, Ryazan (from the word "cassock" - a marshy swampy place overgrown with shrubs), Pereyaslavl, Kolomna, Rostislavl, Pronsk, Zaraysk. However, in terms of economic development, it lagged behind most other regions of Russia.

Murom land was annexed to the Old Russian state in the third quarter of the 10th century. under the Kiev prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. In 988-989 St. Vladimir included it in the Rostov inheritance of his son Yaroslav the Wise. In 1010, Vladimir allocated it as an independent principality to his other son Gleb. After the tragic death of Gleb in 1015, it returned to the Grand Duke's domain, and in 1023-1036 it was part of the Chernigov inheritance of Mstislav the Brave.

According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Murom land, as part of the Chernigov principality, passed in 1054 to his son Svyatoslav, and in 1073 he transferred it to his brother Vsevolod. In 1078, having become the great prince of Kyiv, Vsevolod gave Murom to Svyatoslav's sons Roman and Davyd. In 1095 Davyd ceded it to Izyaslav, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, receiving Smolensk in return. In 1096, David's brother Oleg "Gorislavich" expelled Izyaslav, but then he himself was expelled by Izyaslav's elder brother Mstislav the Great. However, by decision of the Lyubech Congress, Murom land, as a vassal possession of Chernigov, was recognized as the patrimony of the Svyatoslavichs: it was given to Oleg "Gorislavich", and for his brother Yaroslav, a special Ryazan volost was allocated from it.

In 1123, Yaroslav, who occupied the Chernigov throne, handed over Murom and Ryazan to his nephew Vsevolod Davydovich. But after being expelled from Chernigov in 1127, Yaroslav returned to the Murom table; from that time, the Muromo-Ryazan land became an independent principality, in which the descendants of Yaroslav (the younger Murom branch of the Svyatoslavichs) established themselves. They had to constantly repel the raids of the Polovtsy and other nomads, which diverted their forces from participating in the all-Russian princely strife, but by no means from internal strife associated with the process of crushing that had begun (already in the 1140s, the Yelets principality stood out on its southwestern outskirts). From the mid-1140s, the Muromo-Ryazan land became an object of expansion from the Rostov-Suzdal rulers - Yuri Dolgoruky and his son Andrei Bogolyubsky. In 1146, Andrei Bogolyubsky intervened in the conflict between Prince Rostislav Yaroslavich and his nephews Davyd and Igor Svyatoslavich and helped them capture Ryazan. Rostislav kept Moore behind him; only a few years later he was able to regain the Ryazan table. In the early 1160s, his great-nephew Yuri Vladimirovich established himself in Murom, who became the founder of a special branch of the Murom princes, and from that time the Murom principality separated from Ryazan. Soon (by 1164) it fell into vassal dependence on the Vadimir-Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky; under the subsequent rulers - Vladimir Yuryevich (1176-1205), Davyd Yuryevich (1205-1228) and Yury Davydovich (1228-1237), the Principality of Murom gradually lost its significance.

The Ryazan princes (Rostislav and his son Gleb), however, actively resisted the Vladimir-Suzdal aggression. Moreover, after the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1174, Gleb tried to establish control over the entire North-Eastern Russia. In alliance with the sons of Pereyaslav prince Rostislav Yuryevich Mstislav and Yaropolk, he began a struggle with the sons of Yuri Dolgoruky Mikhalko and Vsevolod the Big Nest for the Vladimir-Suzdal principality; in 1176 he captured and burned Moscow, but in 1177 he was defeated on the Koloksha River, was captured by Vsevolod and died in 1178 in prison.

Gleb's son and heir Roman (1178-1207) took the vassal oath to Vsevolod the Big Nest. In the 1180s, he made two attempts to dispossess his younger brothers and unite the principality, but the intervention of Vsevolod prevented the implementation of his plans. The progressive fragmentation of the Ryazan land (in 1185–1186 the Principalities of Pronsk and Kolomna separated) led to increased rivalry within the princely house. In 1207, Roman's nephews Gleb and Oleg Vladimirovich accused him of plotting against Vsevolod the Big Nest; Roman was summoned to Vladimir and thrown into prison. Vsevolod tried to take advantage of these strife: in 1209 he captured Ryazan, put his son Yaroslav on the Ryazan table, and appointed Vladimir-Suzdal posadniks to the rest of the cities; however, in the same year, the Ryazanians expelled Yaroslav and his proteges.

In the 1210s, the struggle for allotments intensified even more. In 1217, Gleb and Konstantin Vladimirovich organized in the village of Isady (6 km from Ryazan) the murder of six of their brothers - one brother and five cousins. But Roman's nephew Ingvar Igorevich defeated Gleb and Konstantin, forced them to flee to the Polovtsian steppes and occupied the Ryazan table. During his twenty-year reign (1217-1237), the process of fragmentation became irreversible.

In 1237 the Ryazan and Murom principalities were defeated by the hordes of Batu. Prince Yuri Ingvarevich of Ryazan, Prince Yuri Davydovich of Murom and most of the local princes perished. In the second half of the 13th c. Murom land fell into complete desolation; Murom bishopric at the beginning of the 14th century. was moved to Ryazan; only in the middle of the 14th century. Murom ruler Yuri Yaroslavich revived his principality for a while. The forces of the Ryazan principality, which was subjected to constant Tatar-Mongol raids, were undermined by the internecine struggle between the Ryazan and Pronsk branches of the ruling house. From the beginning of the 14th century it began to experience pressure from the Moscow principality that had arisen on its northwestern borders. In 1301 Moscow Prince Daniil Alexandrovich captured Kolomna and captured Ryazan Prince Konstantin Romanovich. In the second half of the 14th century Oleg Ivanovich (1350–1402) was able to temporarily consolidate the forces of the principality, expand its borders and strengthen the central government; in 1353 he took Lopasnya from Ivan II of Moscow. However, in the 1370s–1380s, during the struggle of Dmitry Donskoy with the Tatars, he failed to play the role of a “third force” and create his own center for the unification of the northeastern Russian lands. .

Turov-Pinsk principality.

It was located in the basin of the Pripyat River (the south of the modern Minsk, the east of the Brest and the west of the Gomel regions of Belarus). It bordered in the north with Polotsk, in the south with Kyiv, and in the east with the Chernigov principality, reaching almost to the Dnieper; the border with its western neighbor - the Vladimir-Volyn principality - was not stable: the upper reaches of the Pripyat and the Goryn valley passed either to the Turov or Volyn princes. The Turov land was inhabited by the Slavic tribe of the Dregovichi.

Most of the territory was covered with impenetrable forests and swamps; Hunting and fishing were the main occupations of the inhabitants. Only certain areas were suitable for agriculture; there, first of all, urban centers arose - Turov, Pinsk, Mozyr, Sluchesk, Klechesk, which, however, in terms of economic importance and population could not compete with the leading cities of other regions of Russia. The limited resources of the principality did not allow its owners to participate on an equal footing in the all-Russian civil strife.

In the 970s, the land of the Dregovichi was a semi-independent principality, which was in vassal dependence on Kyiv; its ruler was a certain Tur, from which the name of the region came. In 988-989 St. Vladimir singled out the “drevlyansk land and Pinsk” as an inheritance for his nephew Svyatopolk the Accursed. At the beginning of the 11th century, after the revelation of Svyatopolk's conspiracy against Vladimir, the Principality of Turov was included in the Grand Duchy domain. In the middle of the 11th c. Yaroslav the Wise passed it on to his third son Izyaslav, the ancestor of the local princely dynasty (Turov's Izyaslavichi). When Yaroslav died in 1054 and Izyaslav occupied the grand prince's table, Turovshchina became part of his vast possessions (1054–1068, 1069–1073, 1077–1078). After his death in 1078, the new Kyiv prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich gave the Turov land to his nephew Davyd Igorevich, who held it until 1081. In 1088 it ended up in the hands of Svyatopolk, the son of Izyaslav, who in 1093 sat on the grand prince's table. By decision of the Lyubech Congress of 1097, Turovshchina was assigned to him and his offspring, but soon after his death in 1113, it passed to the new Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh. Under the division that followed the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, the Principality of Turov passed to his son Vyacheslav. From 1132 it became the object of rivalry between Vyacheslav and his nephew Izyaslav, son of Mstislav the Great. In 1142-1143 it was owned for a short time by the Chernihiv Olgovichi (Great Prince of Kyiv Vsevolod Olgovich and his son Svyatoslav). In 1146-1147 Izyaslav Mstislavich finally expelled Vyacheslav from Turov and gave him to his son Yaroslav.

In the middle of the 12th c. the Suzdal branch of the Vsevolodichi intervened in the struggle for the Turov Principality: in 1155, Yuri Dolgoruky, becoming the great Kyiv prince, put his son Andrei Bogolyubsky on the Turov table, in 1155 - his other son Boris; however, they failed to hold on to it. In the second half of the 1150s, the principality returned to the Turov Izyaslavichs: by 1158, Yuri Yaroslavich, the grandson of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, managed to unite the entire Turov land under his rule. Under his sons Svyatopolk (until 1190) and Gleb (until 1195), it broke up into several destinies. By the beginning of the 13th century. the principalities of Turov, Pinsk, Slutsk and Dubrovitsky took shape. During the 13th century the crushing process progressed inexorably; Turov lost its role as the center of the principality; Pinsk began to acquire more and more importance. Weak petty rulers could not organize any serious resistance to external aggression. In the second quarter of the 14th c. The Turov-Pinsk land turned out to be an easy prey for the Lithuanian prince Gedemin (1316–1347).

Smolensk principality.

It was located in the Upper Dnieper basin (modern Smolensk, southeast of the Tver regions of Russia and the east of the Mogilev region of Belarus). It bordered Polotsk in the west, Chernigov in the south, Rostov-Suzdal principality in the east, and Pskov-Novgorod in the north earth. It was inhabited by the Slavic tribe of Krivichi.

The Smolensk principality had an extremely advantageous geographical position. The upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Western Dvina converged on its territory, and it lay at the intersection of two major trade routes - from Kyiv to Polotsk and the Baltic states (along the Dnieper, then dragged to the Kasplya River, a tributary of the Western Dvina) and to Novgorod and the Upper Volga region ( through Rzhev and Lake Seliger). Here, cities arose early, which became important trade and craft centers (Vyazma, Orsha).

In 882, Prince Oleg of Kyiv subjugated the Smolensk Krivichi and planted his governors in their land, which became his possession. At the end of the 10th c. St. Vladimir singled her out as an inheritance to his son Stanislav, but after some time she returned to the grand ducal domain. In 1054, according to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Smolensk region passed to his son Vyacheslav. In 1057, the great Kyiv prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich handed it over to his brother Igor, and after his death in 1060 he shared it with his other two brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. In 1078, by agreement between Izyaslav and Vsevolod, the Smolensk land was given to Vsevolod's son Vladimir Monomakh; soon Vladimir moved to reign in Chernigov, and the Smolensk region was in the hands of Vsevolod. After his death in 1093, Vladimir Monomakh planted his eldest son Mstislav in Smolensk, and in 1095 his other son Izyaslav. Although in 1095 the Smolensk land was for a short time in the hands of the Olgoviches (Davyd Olgovich), the Lyubech congress of 1097 recognized it as the patrimony of the Monomashichs, and the sons of Vladimir Monomakh, Yaropolk, Svyatoslav, Gleb and Vyacheslav, ruled in it.

After the death of Vladimir in 1125, the new Kyiv prince Mstislav the Great allocated the Smolensk land as an inheritance to his son Rostislav (1125–1159), the ancestor of the local princely dynasty of the Rostislavichs; henceforth it became an independent principality. In 1136 Rostislav achieved the creation of an episcopal see in Smolensk, in 1140 he repelled an attempt by the Chernigov Olgoviches (the great Kyiv prince Vsevolod) to seize the principality, and in the 1150s he entered the struggle for Kyiv. In 1154 he had to cede the Kyiv table to the Olgoviches (Izyaslav Davydovich of Chernigov), but in 1159 he established himself on it (he owned it until his death in 1167). He gave the Smolensk table to his son Roman (1159-1180 with interruptions), who was succeeded by his brother Davyd (1180-1197), son Mstislav Stary (1197-1206, 1207-1212/1214), nephews Vladimir Rurikovich (1215-1223 with a break in 1219) and Mstislav Davydovich (1223–1230).

In the second half of the 12th - early 13th century. Rostislavichi actively tried to bring under their control the most prestigious and richest regions of Russia. The sons of Rostislav (Roman, Davyd, Rurik and Mstislav the Brave) waged a fierce struggle for the Kyiv land with the older branch of the Monomashichs (Izyaslavichs), with the Olgoviches and with the Suzdal Yuryevichs (especially with Andrei Bogolyubsky in the late 1160s - early 1170s); they were able to gain a foothold in the most important regions of the Kiev region - in Posemye, Ovruch, Vyshgorod, Torcheskaya, Trepolsky and Belgorod volosts. In the period from 1171 to 1210, Roman and Rurik sat down at the Grand Duke's table eight times. In the north, Novgorod land became the object of expansion of the Rostislavichs: Davyd (1154–1155), Svyatoslav (1158–1167) and Mstislav Rostislavich (1179–1180), Mstislav Davydovich (1184–1187) and Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny (1210–1215 and 1216–1218); in the late 1170s and in the 1210s, the Rostislavichs held Pskov; sometimes they even managed to create appanages independent of Novgorod (in the late 1160s and early 1170s in Torzhok and Velikiye Luki). In 1164-1166 the Rostislavichs owned Vitebsk (Davyd Rostislavich), in 1206 - Pereyaslavl Russian (Rurik Rostislavich and his son Vladimir), and in 1210-1212 - even Chernigov (Rurik Rostislavich). Their success was facilitated by both the strategically advantageous position of the Smolensk region and the relatively slow (compared to neighboring principalities) process of its fragmentation, although some destinies (Toropetsky, Vasilevsky-Krasnensky) were periodically separated from it.

In the 1210s–1220s, the political and economic importance of the Smolensk Principality increased even more. The merchants of Smolensk became important partners of the Hansa, as their trade agreement of 1229 (Smolenskaya Torgovaya Pravda) shows. Continuing the struggle for Novgorod (in 1218–1221 the sons of Mstislav the Old Svyatoslav and Vsevolod reigned in Novgorod) and Kyiv lands (in 1213–1223, with a break in 1219, Mstislav the Old sat in Kyiv, and in 1119, 1123–1235 and 1236–1238 – Vladimir Rurikovich), Rostislavichi also intensified their onslaught to the west and southwest. In 1219 Mstislav the Old captured Galich, which then passed to his cousin Mstislav Udatny (until 1227). In the second half of the 1210s, the sons of Davyd Rostislavich, Boris and Davyd, subjugated Polotsk and Vitebsk; the sons of Boris Vasilko and Vyachko vigorously fought the Teutonic Order and the Lithuanians for the Dvina.

However, from the end of the 1220s, the weakening of the Smolensk principality began. The process of its fragmentation into destinies intensified, the rivalry of the Rostislavichs for the Smolensk table intensified; in 1232, the son of Mstislav the Old, Svyatoslav, took Smolensk by storm and subjected it to a terrible defeat. The influence of the local boyars increased, which began to interfere in princely strife; in 1239 the boyars put Vsevolod, the brother of Svyatoslav, who pleased them, on the Smolensk table. The decline of the principality predetermined failures in foreign policy. Already by the mid-1220s, the Rostislavichs had lost the Podvinye; in 1227 Mstislav Udatnoy ceded the Galician land to the Hungarian prince Andrei. Although in 1238 and 1242 the Rostislavichs managed to repulse the attack of the Tatar-Mongol detachments on Smolensk, they could not repulse the Lithuanians, who in the late 1240s captured Vitebsk, Polotsk and even Smolensk itself. Alexander Nevsky drove them out of the Smolensk region, but the Polotsk and Vitebsk lands were completely lost.

In the second half of the 13th c. the line of Davyd Rostislavich was established on the Smolensk table: it was successively occupied by the sons of his grandson Rostislav Gleb, Mikhail and Theodore. Under them, the collapse of the Smolensk land became irreversible; Vyazemskoye and a number of other destinies emerged from it. The princes of Smolensk had to recognize vassal dependence on the great prince of Vladimir and the Tatar khan (1274). In the 14th century under Alexander Glebovich (1297–1313), his son Ivan (1313–1358) and grandson Svyatoslav (1358–1386), the principality completely lost its former political and economic power; Smolensk rulers unsuccessfully tried to stop the Lithuanian expansion in the west. After the defeat and death of Svyatoslav Ivanovich in 1386 in a battle with the Lithuanians on the Vekhra River near Mstislavl, the Smolensk land became dependent on the Lithuanian prince Vitovt, who began to appoint and dismiss the Smolensk princes at his own discretion, and in 1395 established his direct rule. In 1401, the Smolensk people rebelled and, with the help of the Ryazan prince Oleg, expelled the Lithuanians; Smolensk table was occupied by the son of Svyatoslav Yuri. However, in 1404 Vitovt took the city, liquidated the principality of Smolensk and included its lands into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Pereyaslav principality.

It was located in the forest-steppe part of the Dnieper left bank and occupied the interfluve of the Desna, Seim, Vorskla and Northern Donets (modern Poltava, east of Kyiv, south of Chernihiv and Sumy, west of Kharkov regions of Ukraine). It bordered on the west with Kyiv, in the north with the Chernigov principality; in the east and south, its neighbors were nomadic tribes (Pechenegs, Torks, Polovtsy). The southeastern border was not stable - it either moved forward into the steppe, or retreated back; the constant threat of attacks made it necessary to create a line of border fortifications and settle along the borders of those nomads who were moving to a settled life and recognized the power of the Pereyaslav rulers. The population of the principality was mixed: both the Slavs (Polyans, northerners) and the descendants of the Alans and Sarmatians lived here.

The mild temperate continental climate and podzolized chernozem soils created favorable conditions for intensive agriculture and cattle breeding. However, the neighborhood with warlike nomadic tribes, which periodically devastated the principality, had a negative impact on its economic development.

By the end of the 9th c. on this territory a semi-state formation arose with a center in the city of Pereyaslavl. At the beginning of the 10th c. it fell into vassal dependence on the Kyiv prince Oleg. According to a number of scientists, the old city of Pereyaslavl was burned by nomads, and in 992 Vladimir the Holy, during a campaign against the Pechenegs, founded a new Pereyaslavl (Pereyaslavl Russian) at the place where the Russian daring Jan Usmoshvets defeated the Pecheneg hero in a duel. Under him and in the first years of the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, Pereyaslavshchina was part of the grand ducal domain, and in 1024-1036 it became part of the vast possessions of Yaroslav's brother Mstislav the Brave on the left bank of the Dnieper. After the death of Mstislav in 1036, the Kyiv prince again took possession of it. In 1054, according to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, Pereyaslav land passed to his son Vsevolod; from that time on, it separated from the Kyiv principality and became an independent principality. In 1073, Vsevolod handed it over to his brother, the great Kievan prince Svyatoslav, who, possibly, planted his son Gleb in Pereyaslavl. In 1077, after the death of Svyatoslav, Pereyaslavshchina again fell into the hands of Vsevolod; an attempt by Roman, the son of Svyatoslav, to capture it in 1079 with the help of the Polovtsians ended in failure: Vsevolod entered into a secret agreement with the Polovtsian Khan, and he ordered Roman to be killed. After some time, Vsevolod transferred the principality to his son Rostislav, after whose death in 1093 his brother Vladimir Monomakh began to reign there (with the consent of the new Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich). By decision of the Lyubech congress of 1097, the Pereyaslav land was assigned to the Monomashichi. Since that time, she remained their fiefdom; as a rule, the great princes of Kyiv from the Monomashich family allocated it to their sons or younger brothers; for some of them, the Pereyaslav reign became a stepping stone to the Kyiv table (Vladimir Monomakh himself in 1113, Yaropolk Vladimirovich in 1132, Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1146, Gleb Yurievich in 1169). True, the Chernigov Olgovichi tried several times to put it under their control; but they managed to capture only the Bryansk Estate in the northern part of the principality.

Vladimir Monomakh, having made a number of successful campaigns against the Polovtsy, secured the southeastern border of Pereyaslavshchina for a while. In 1113 he transferred the principality to his son Svyatoslav, after his death in 1114 - to another son Yaropolk, and in 1118 - to another son Gleb. According to the will of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, Pereyaslav land again went to Yaropolk. When Yaropolk left to reign in Kyiv in 1132, the Pereyaslav table became a bone of contention within the Monomashich family - between the Rostov prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky and his nephews Vsevolod and Izyaslav Mstislavich. Yuri Dolgoruky captured Pereyaslavl, but reigned there for only eight days: he was expelled by the Grand Duke Yaropolk, who gave the Pereyaslav table to Izyaslav Mstislavich, and in the next, 1133, to his brother Vyacheslav Vladimirovich. In 1135, after Vyacheslav left to reign in Turov, Pereyaslavl was again captured by Yuri Dolgoruky, who installed his brother Andrei the Good there. In the same year, the Olgovichi, in alliance with the Polovtsians, invaded the principality, but the Monomashichs joined forces and helped Andrei repel the attack. After the death of Andrei in 1142, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich returned to Pereyaslavl, who, however, soon had to transfer the reign to Izyaslav Mstislavich. When in 1146 Izyaslav occupied the Kyiv throne, he planted his son Mstislav in Pereyaslavl.

In 1149, Yuri Dolgoruky resumed the struggle with Izyaslav and his sons for dominion in the southern Russian lands. For five years, the Principality of Pereyaslav turned out to be either in the hands of Mstislav Izyaslavich (1150–1151, 1151–1154), or in the hands of the sons of Yuri Rostislav (1149–1150, 1151) and Gleb (1151). In 1154, the Yuryevichs established themselves in the principality for a long time: Gleb Yuryevich (1155–1169), his son Vladimir (1169–1174), brother of Gleb Mikhalko (1174–1175), again Vladimir (1175–1187), grandson of Yuri Dolgorukov Yaroslav Krasny (until 1199 ) and the sons of Vsevolod the Big Nest Konstantin (1199–1201) and Yaroslav (1201–1206). In 1206, the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vsevolod Chermny from the Chernigov Olgovichi planted his son Mikhail in Pereyaslavl, who, however, was expelled in the same year by the new Grand Duke Rurik Rostislavich. From that time on, the principality was held either by the Smolensk Rostislavichs or the Yuryevichs. In the spring of 1239, the Tatar-Mongol hordes invaded Pereyaslav land; they burned Pereyaslavl and subjected the principality to a terrible defeat, after which it could no longer be revived; the Tatars included him in the "Wild Field". In the third quarter of the 14th c. Pereyaslavshchina became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Vladimir-Volyn principality.

It was located in the west of Russia and occupied a vast territory from the upper reaches of the Southern Bug in the south to the upper reaches of the Nareva (a tributary of the Vistula) in the north, from the valley of the Western Bug in the west to the Sluch River (a tributary of the Pripyat) in the east (modern Volynskaya, Khmelnitskaya, Vinnitskaya, north of Ternopil, northeast of Lvov, most of the Rivne region of Ukraine, west of Brest and southwest of Grodno region of Belarus, east of Lublin and southeast of Bialystok voivodeship of Poland). It bordered in the east with Polotsk, Turov-Pinsk and Kyiv, in the west with the Principality of Galicia, in the northwest with Poland, in the southeast with the Polovtsian steppes. It was inhabited by the Slavic tribe Dulebs, who were later called Buzhans or Volynians.

Southern Volyn was a mountainous area formed by the eastern spurs of the Carpathians, the northern one was lowland and wooded woodland. A variety of natural and climatic conditions contributed to economic diversity; The inhabitants were engaged in agriculture, and cattle breeding, and hunting, and fishing. The economic development of the principality was favored by its unusually advantageous geographical position: the main trade routes from the Baltic to the Black Sea and from Russia to Central Europe passed through it; at their intersection, the main urban centers arose - Vladimir-Volynsky, Dorogichin, Lutsk, Berestye, Shumsk.

At the beginning of the 10th c. Volyn, together with the territory adjacent to it from the south-west (the future Galician land), became dependent on the Kyiv prince Oleg. In 981, St. Vladimir annexed to it the Peremyshl and Cherven volosts, which he had taken from the Poles, pushing the Russian border from the Western Bug to the San River; in Vladimir-Volynsky, he established an episcopal see, and made the Volyn land itself a semi-independent principality, transferring it to his sons - Pozvizd, Vsevolod, Boris. During the internecine war in Russia in 1015-1019, the Polish king Boleslav I the Brave returned Przemysl and Cherven, but in the early 1030s they were recaptured by Yaroslav the Wise, who also annexed Belz to Volhynia.

In the early 1050s, Yaroslav placed his son Svyatoslav on the Vladimir-Volyn table. According to Yaroslav's will in 1054, he passed to his other son Igor, who held him until 1057. According to some sources, in 1060 Vladimir-Volynsky was transferred to Igor's nephew Rostislav Vladimirovich; he, however, did not last long. In 1073, Volhynia returned to Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, who had taken the Grand Duke's throne, and gave it to his son Oleg "Gorislavich" as an inheritance, but after the death of Svyatoslav at the end of 1076, the new Kyiv prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich took this region from him.

When Izyaslav died in 1078 and the great reign passed to his brother Vsevolod, he planted Yaropolk, the son of Izyaslav, in Vladimir-Volynsky. However, after some time, Vsevolod separated the Przemysl and Terebovl volosts from Volyn, transferring them to the sons of Rostislav Vladimirovich (the future Galician principality). The attempt of the Rostislavichs in 1084-1086 to take away the Vladimir-Volyn table from Yaropolk was unsuccessful; after the murder of Yaropolk in 1086, Grand Duke Vsevolod made his nephew Davyd Igorevich Volhynia ruler. The Lyubech congress of 1097 secured Volyn for him, but as a result of the war with the Rostislavichs, and then with the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (1097–1098), Davyd lost it. By decision of the Uvetichi Congress of 1100, Vladimir-Volynsky went to Svyatopolk's son Yaroslav; Davyd got Buzhsk, Ostrog, Czartorysk and Duben (later Dorogobuzh).

In 1117, Yaroslav rebelled against the new Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, for which he was expelled from Volhynia. Vladimir passed it on to his son Roman (1117–1119), and after his death to his other son Andrei the Good (1119–1135); in 1123, Yaroslav tried to regain his inheritance with the help of the Poles and Hungarians, but died during the siege of Vladimir-Volynsky. In 1135, Prince Yaropolk of Kyiv installed his nephew Izyaslav, son of Mstislav the Great, in place of Andrei.

When in 1139 the Olgoviches of Chernigov took possession of the Kyiv table, they decided to oust the Monomashichs from Volhynia. In 1142, Grand Duke Vsevolod Olgovich managed to plant his son Svyatoslav in Vladimir-Volynsky instead of Izyaslav. However, in 1146, after the death of Vsevolod, Izyaslav seized the great reign in Kyiv and removed Svyatoslav from Vladimir, allocating Buzhsk and six more Volyn cities as his inheritance. Since that time, Volyn finally passed into the hands of the Mstislavichs, the eldest branch of the Monomashichs, who ruled it until 1337. Izyaslav Mstislav (1156–1170). Under them, the process of fragmentation of the Volyn land began: in the 1140s–1160s, the Buzh, Lutsk and Peresopnytsia principalities stood out.

In 1170, the Vladimir-Volyn table was taken by the son of Mstislav Izyaslavich Roman (1170-1205 with a break in 1188). His reign was marked by the economic and political strengthening of the principality. Unlike the Galician princes, the Volyn rulers had an extensive princely domain and were able to concentrate significant material resources in their hands. Having strengthened his power within the principality, Roman in the second half of the 1180s began to pursue an active foreign policy. In 1188 he intervened in civil strife in the neighboring principality of Galicia and tried to seize the Galician table, but failed. In 1195 he came into conflict with the Smolensk Rostislavichs and ruined their possessions. In 1199 he managed to subjugate the Galician land and create a single Galicia-Volyn principality. At the beginning of the XIII century. Roman extended his influence to Kyiv: in 1202 he expelled Rurik Rostislavich from the Kyiv table and placed his cousin Ingvar Yaroslavich on him; in 1204 he arrested and tonsured a monk, Rurik, who was newly established in Kyiv, and restored Ingvar there. Several times he invaded Lithuania and Poland. By the end of his reign, Roman had become the de facto hegemon of Western and Southern Russia and styled himself "King of Russia"; nevertheless, he failed to put an end to feudal fragmentation - under him, old and even new appanages continued to exist in Volhynia (Drogichinsky, Belzsky, Chervensko-Kholmsky).

After the death of Roman in 1205 in a campaign against the Poles, there was a temporary weakening of princely power. His successor Daniel already in 1206 lost the Galician land, and then was forced to flee from Volhynia. The Vladimir-Volyn table turned out to be the object of rivalry between his cousin Ingvar Yaroslavich and cousin Yaroslav Vsevolodich, who constantly turned to the Poles and the Hungarians for support. Only in 1212 Daniil Romanovich was able to establish himself in the Vladimir-Volyn principality; he managed to achieve the liquidation of a number of destinies. After a long struggle with the Hungarians, Poles and Chernigov Olgoviches, in 1238 he subjugated the Galician land and restored the united Galicia-Volyn principality. In the same year, while remaining its supreme ruler, Daniel handed over Volhynia to his younger brother Vasilko (1238–1269). In 1240 Volhynia was ravaged by the Tatar-Mongol hordes; Vladimir-Volynsky taken and plundered. In 1259 the Tatar commander Burundai invaded Volyn and forced Vasilko to demolish the fortifications of Vladimir-Volynsky, Danilov, Kremenets and Lutsk; however, after an unsuccessful siege of the Hill, he had to retreat. In the same year, Vasilko repulsed the attack of the Lithuanians.

Vasilko was succeeded by his son Vladimir (1269–1288). During his reign, Volyn was subjected to periodic Tatar raids (especially devastating in 1285). Vladimir restored many devastated cities (Berestye, etc.), built a number of new ones (Kamenets on Losnya), erected temples, patronized trade, and attracted foreign artisans. At the same time, he waged constant wars with the Lithuanians and Yotvingians and intervened in the feuds of the Polish princes. This active foreign policy was continued by Mstislav (1289–1301), the youngest son of Daniil Romanovich, who succeeded him.

After death ca. 1301 childless Mstislav Galician Prince Yuri Lvovich again united the Volyn and Galician lands. In 1315 he failed in the war with the Lithuanian prince Gedemin, who took Berestye, Drogichin and laid siege to Vladimir-Volynsky. In 1316, Yuri died (perhaps he died under the walls of besieged Vladimir), and the principality was divided again: most of Volyn was received by his eldest son, the Galician prince Andrei (1316–1324), and the Lutsk inheritance was given to his youngest son Lev. The last independent Galician-Volyn ruler was Andrey's son Yuri (1324-1337), after whose death the struggle for the Volyn lands between Lithuania and Poland began. By the end of the 14th century Volyn became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Galician principality.

It was located on the southwestern outskirts of Russia to the east of the Carpathians in the upper reaches of the Dniester and Prut (modern Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Lvov regions of Ukraine and the Rzeszow province of Poland). It bordered in the east with the Volyn principality, in the north with Poland, in the west with Hungary, and in the south it ran into the Polovtsian steppes. The population was mixed - Slavic tribes occupied the Dniester valley (Tivertsy and streets) and the upper reaches of the Bug (Dulebs, or Buzhans); Croats (herbs, carps, hrovats) lived in the Przemysl region.

Fertile soils, mild climate, numerous rivers and vast forests created favorable conditions for intensive agriculture and cattle breeding. The most important trade routes passed through the territory of the principality - the river from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea (through the Vistula, the Western Bug and the Dniester) and the land route from Russia to Central and South-Eastern Europe; periodically extending its power to the Dniester-Danube lowland, the principality also controlled the Danube communications between Europe and the East. Here, large shopping centers arose early: Galich, Przemysl, Terebovl, Zvenigorod.

In the 10th-11th centuries. this region was part of the Vladimir-Volyn land. In the late 1070s - early 1080s, the great Kyiv prince Vsevolod, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, separated the Przemysl and Terebovl volosts from it and gave it to his great-nephews: the first Rurik and Volodar Rostislavich, and the second - to their brother Vasilko. In 1084–1086, the Rostislavichs unsuccessfully tried to establish control over Volhynia. After the death of Rurik in 1092, Volodar became the sole owner of Przemysl. The Lubech congress of 1097 assigned him the Przemysl, and Vasilko the Terebovl volost. In the same year, the Rostislavichi, with the support of Vladimir Monomakh and the Chernigov Svyatoslavichs, repelled an attempt by the Grand Duke of Kyiv Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and the Volyn prince Davyd Igorevich to seize their possessions. In 1124 Volodar and Vasilko died, and their inheritances were divided among themselves by their sons: Przemysl went to Rostislav Volodarevich, Zvenigorod to Vladimirko Volodarevich; Rostislav Vasilkovich received the Terebovl region, allocating a special Galician volost from it for his brother Ivan. After the death of Rostislav, Ivan annexed Terebovl to his possessions, leaving a small Berladsky inheritance to his son Ivan Rostislavich (Berladnik).

In 1141, Ivan Vasilkovich died, and the Terebovl-Galician volost was captured by his cousin Vladimirko Volodarevich Zvenigorodsky, who made Galich the capital of his possessions (now the Galician principality). In 1144, Ivan Berladnik tried to take Galich from him, but failed and lost his Berladsky inheritance. In 1143, after the death of Rostislav Volodarevich, Vladimirko included Przemysl in his principality; thus, he united under his rule all the Carpathian lands. In 1149-1154 Vladimirko supported Yuri Dolgoruky in his struggle with Izyaslav Mstislavich for the Kyiv table; he repulsed the attack of Izyaslav's ally the Hungarian king Geyza and in 1152 captured Izyaslav's Upper Pogorynya (the cities of Buzhsk, Shumsk, Tihoml, Vyshegoshev and Gnojnitsa). As a result, he became the ruler of a vast territory from the upper reaches of the San and Goryn to the middle reaches of the Dniester and the lower reaches of the Danube. Under him, the Galician principality became the leading political force in Southwestern Russia and entered a period of economic prosperity; his ties with Poland and Hungary were strengthened; it began to experience a strong cultural influence of Catholic Europe.

In 1153 Vladimirko was succeeded by his son Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153–1187), under whom the Principality of Galicia reached the peak of its political and economic power. He patronized trade, invited foreign artisans, built new cities; under him, the population of the principality increased significantly. Yaroslav's foreign policy was also successful. In 1157, he repelled an attack on Galich by Ivan Berladnik, who settled in the Danube and robbed Galician merchants. When in 1159 the Kyiv prince Izyaslav Davydovich tried to put Berladnik on the Galician table by force of arms, Yaroslav, in alliance with Mstislav Izyaslavich Volynsky, defeated him, expelled him from Kyiv and transferred the Kievan reign to Rostislav Mstislavich Smolensky (1159–1167); in 1174 he made his vassal Yaroslav Izyaslavich Lutsky prince of Kyiv. Galich's international prestige increased enormously. Author Words about Igor's regiment described Yaroslav as one of the most powerful Russian princes: “Galician Osmomysl Yaroslav! / You sit high on your gold-forged throne, / propped up the Hungarian mountains with your iron regiments, / blocking the way for the king, shutting the gates of the Danube, / sword of gravity through the clouds, / rowing courts to the Danube. / Your thunderstorms flow across the lands, / you open the gates of Kyiv, / you shoot from the father’s golden throne of the saltans behind the lands.

During the reign of Yaroslav, however, the local boyars intensified. Like his father, he, in an effort to avoid fragmentation, handed over cities and volosts to the holding not of his relatives, but of the boyars. The most influential of them ("great boyars") became the owners of huge estates, fortified castles and numerous vassals. The boyar landownership surpassed the princely in size. The strength of the Galician boyars increased so much that in 1170 they even intervened in the internal conflict in the princely family: they burned Yaroslav's concubine Nastasya at the stake and forced him to take an oath to return his legitimate wife Olga, the daughter of Yuri Dolgoruky, who had been rejected by him.

Yaroslav bequeathed the principality to Oleg, his son by Nastasya; he allocated the Przemysl volost to his legitimate son Vladimir. But after his death in 1187, the boyars overthrew Oleg and elevated Vladimir to the Galician table. Vladimir's attempt to get rid of the boyar guardianship and rule autocratically already in the next 1188 ended with his flight to Hungary. Oleg returned to the Galician table, but soon he was poisoned by the boyars, and Volyn Prince Roman Mstislavich occupied Galich. In the same year, Vladimir expelled Roman with the help of the Hungarian king Bela, but he gave the reign not to him, but to his son Andrei. In 1189 Vladimir fled from Hungary to the German emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, promising him to become his vassal and tributary. By order of Frederick, the Polish king Casimir II the Just sent his army to the Galician land, at the approach of which the boyars of Galich overthrew Andrei and opened the gates to Vladimir. With the support of the ruler of North-Eastern Russia, Vsevolod the Big Nest, Vladimir was able to subjugate the boyars and hold on to power until his death in 1199.

With the death of Vladimir, the family of the Galician Rostislavichs ceased, and the Galician land became part of the vast possessions of Roman Mstislavich Volynsky, a representative of the older branch of the Monomashichs. The new prince pursued a policy of terror in relation to the local boyars and achieved its significant weakening. However, shortly after the death of Roman in 1205, his power collapsed. Already in 1206, his heir Daniel was forced to leave the Galician land and go to Volhynia. A long period of unrest began (1206-1238). The Galician table passed either to Daniel (1211, 1230–1232, 1233), then to the Chernigov Olgoviches (1206–1207, 1209–1211, 1235–1238), then to the Smolensk Rostislavichs (1206, 1219–1227), then to the Hungarian princes (1207-1209, 1214-1219, 1227-1230); in 1212-1213 the power in Galich was even usurped by the boyar - Volodislav Kormilichich (a unique case in ancient Russian history). Only in 1238 Daniel managed to establish himself in Galicia and restore the united Galicia-Volyn state. In the same year, while remaining its supreme ruler, he allocated Volhynia to his brother Vasilko.

In the 1240s, the foreign policy situation of the principality became more complicated. In 1242 it was devastated by the hordes of Batu. In 1245, Daniil and Vasilko had to recognize themselves as tributaries of the Tatar Khan. In the same year, the Chernigov Olgoviches (Rostislav Mikhailovich), having entered into an alliance with the Hungarians, invaded the Galician land; only with great effort, the brothers managed to repel the invasion, having won a victory on the river. San.

In the 1250s, Daniel launched an active diplomatic activity to create an anti-Tatar coalition. He concluded a military-political alliance with the Hungarian king Bela IV and began negotiations with Pope Innocent IV on a church union, a crusade of European powers against the Tatars and recognition of his royal title. In 1254 the papal legate crowned Daniel with a royal crown. However, the inability of the Vatican to organize a crusade removed the issue of union from the agenda. In 1257, Daniel agreed on joint actions against the Tatars with the Lithuanian prince Mindovg, but the Tatars managed to provoke a conflict between the allies.

After the death of Daniil in 1264, the Galician land was divided between his sons Leo, who received Galich, Przemysl and Drogichin, and Shvarn, to whom Kholm, Cherven and Belz passed. In 1269, Shvarn died, and the entire Galician principality passed into the hands of Leo, who in 1272 transferred his residence to the newly built Lvov. Leo intervened in internal political strife in Lithuania and fought (though unsuccessfully) with the Polish prince Leshko Cherny for the Lublin volost.

After the death of Leo in 1301, his son Yuri reunited the Galician and Volhynian lands and took the title "King of Russia, Prince of Lodimeria (i.e. Volhynia)". He entered into an alliance with the Teutonic Order against the Lithuanians and tried to achieve the establishment of an independent church metropolis in Galicia. After the death of Yuri in 1316, Galicia and most of Volhynia were given to his eldest son Andrei, who was succeeded in 1324 by his son Yuri. With the death of Yuri in 1337, the senior branch of the descendants of Daniil Romanovich died out, and a fierce struggle began between the Lithuanian, Hungarian and Polish pretenders to the Galician-Volyn table. In 1349-1352, the Polish king Casimir III captured the Galician land. In 1387, under Vladislav II (Jagiello), it finally became part of the Commonwealth.

Rostov-Suzdal (Vladimir-Suzdal) Principality.

It was located on the northeastern outskirts of Russia in the basin of the Upper Volga and its tributaries Klyazma, Unzha, Sheksna (modern Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, most of Moscow, Vladimir and Vologda, southeast of Tver, west of Nizhny Novgorod and Kostroma regions); in the 12th–14th centuries the principality was constantly expanding in the eastern and northeastern directions. In the west, it bordered on Smolensk, in the south - on Chernigov and Muromo-Ryazan principalities, in the north-west - on Novgorod, and in the east - on Vyatka land and Finno-Ugric tribes (Merya, Mari, etc.). The population of the principality was mixed: it consisted of both Finno-Ugric autochthons (mainly Merya) and Slavic colonists (mainly Krivichi).

Most of the territory was occupied by forests and swamps; fur trade played an important role in the economy. Numerous rivers abounded with valuable species of fish. Despite the rather harsh climate, the presence of podzolic and soddy-podzolic soils created favorable conditions for agriculture (rye, barley, oats, garden crops). Natural barriers (forests, swamps, rivers) reliably protected the principality from external enemies.

In 1 thousand AD. the upper Volga basin was inhabited by the Finno-Ugric tribe Merya. In the 8th–9th centuries an influx of Slavic colonists began here, who moved both from the west (from the Novgorod land) and from the south (from the Dnieper region); in the 9th century Rostov was founded by them, and in the 10th century. - Suzdal. At the beginning of the 10th c. Rostov land became dependent on the Kyiv prince Oleg, and under his closest successors it became part of the grand ducal domain. In 988/989 St. Vladimir singled it out as an inheritance for his son Yaroslav the Wise, and in 1010 he transferred it to his other son Boris. After the assassination of Boris in 1015 by Svyatopolk the Accursed, direct control of the Kyiv princes was restored here.

According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, Rostov land passed to Vsevolod Yaroslavich, who in 1068 sent his son Vladimir Monomakh to reign there; under him, Vladimir was founded on the Klyazma River. Thanks to the activities of the Rostov Bishop St. Leonty, Christianity began to actively penetrate into this area; St. Abraham organized the first monastery here (Bogoyavlensky). In 1093 and 1095 Vladimir's son Mstislav the Great sat in Rostov. In 1095, Vladimir singled out the Rostov land as an independent principality for his other son Yuri Dolgoruky (1095–1157). The Lyubech congress of 1097 assigned it to the Monomashichs. Yuri moved the princely residence from Rostov to Suzdal. He contributed to the final approval of Christianity, widely attracted settlers from other Russian principalities, founded new cities (Moscow, Dmitrov, Yuryev-Polsky, Uglich, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Kostroma). During his reign, the Rostov-Suzdal land experienced an economic and political flourishing; the boyars and the trade and craft layer intensified. Significant resources allowed Yuri to intervene in the princely civil strife and spread his influence to neighboring territories. In 1132 and 1135, he tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to bring Pereyaslavl Russian under control, in 1147 he made a trip to Novgorod the Great and took Torzhok, in 1149 he began the fight for Kyiv with Izyaslav Mstislavovich. In 1155, he managed to establish himself on the Kievan grand-ducal table and secure the Pereyaslav region for his sons.

After the death of Yuri Dolgoruky in 1157, the Rostov-Suzdal land broke up into several destinies. However, already in 1161 Yuri's son Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157-1174) restored its unity, depriving his three brothers (Mstislav, Vasilko and Vsevolod) and two nephews (Mstislav and Yaropolk Rostislavichs) of their possessions. In an effort to get rid of the guardianship of the influential Rostov and Suzdal boyars, he moved the capital to Vladimir-on-Klyazma, where there was a numerous trade and craft settlement, and, relying on the support of the townspeople and the squad, began to pursue an absolutist policy. Andrei renounced his claims to the Kyiv table and accepted the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir. In 1169-1170, he subjugated Kyiv and Novgorod the Great, transferring them respectively to his brother Gleb and his ally Rurik Rostislavich. By the early 1170s, the Polotsk, Turov, Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Murom and Smolensk principalities recognized dependence on the Vladimir table. However, his campaign in 1173 against Kyiv, which fell into the hands of the Smolensk Rostislavichs, failed. In 1174 he was killed by boyars-conspirators in the village. Bogolyubovo near Vladimir.

After the death of Andrei, the local boyars invited his nephew Mstislav Rostislavich to the Rostov table; Suzdal, Vladimir and Yuryev-Polsky received Mstislav's brother Yaropolk. But in 1175 they were expelled by the brothers of Andrei Mikhalko and Vsevolod the Big Nest; Mikhalko became the ruler of Vladimir-Suzdal, and Vsevolod became the ruler of Rostov. In 1176 Mikhalko died, and Vsevolod remained the sole ruler of all these lands, behind which the name of the great Vladimir principality was firmly established. In 1177, he finally eliminated the threat from Mstislav and Yaropolk, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Koloksha River; they themselves were taken prisoner and blinded.

Vsevolod (1175-1212) continued the foreign policy of his father and brother, becoming the chief arbiter among the Russian princes and dictating his will to Kyiv, Novgorod the Great, Smolensk and Ryazan. However, already during his lifetime, the process of crushing the Vladimir-Suzdal land began: in 1208 he gave Rostov and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky as inheritance to his sons Konstantin and Yaroslav. After the death of Vsevolod in 1212, a war broke out between Konstantin and his brothers Yuri and Yaroslav in 1214, ending in April 1216 with Constantine's victory in the Battle of the Lipitsa River. But, although Constantine became the great Prince of Vladimir, the unity of the principality was not restored: in 1216-1217 he gave Yuri Gorodets-Rodilov and Suzdal, Yaroslav - Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and his younger brothers Svyatoslav and Vladimir - Yuryev-Polsky and Starodub . After Constantine's death in 1218, Yuriy (1218–1238), who had taken the Grand Duke's throne, endowed his sons Vasilko (Rostov, Kostroma, Galich) and Vsevolod (Yaroslavl, Uglich) with lands. As a result, the Vladimir-Suzdal land broke up into ten specific principalities - Rostov, Suzdal, Pereyaslav, Yuriev, Starodub, Gorodet, Yaroslavl, Uglich, Kostroma, Galicia; the Grand Prince of Vladimir retained only formal supremacy over them.

In February-March 1238, North-Eastern Russia fell victim to the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Vladimir-Suzdal regiments were defeated on the river. City, Prince Yuri fell on the battlefield, Vladimir, Rostov, Suzdal and other cities were subjected to a terrible defeat. After the departure of the Tatars, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich occupied the grand-ducal table, who transferred to his brothers Svyatoslav and Ivan Suzdal and Starodub, to his eldest son Alexander (Nevsky) Pereyaslav, and to his nephew Boris Vasilkovich the Rostov principality, from which the Belozersky inheritance (Gleb Vasilkovich) separated. In 1243, Yaroslav received from Batu a label for the great reign of Vladimir (d. 1246). Under his successors, brother Svyatoslav (1246–1247), sons Andrei (1247–1252), Alexander (1252–1263), Yaroslav (1263–1271/1272), Vasily (1272–1276/1277) and grandsons Dmitry (1277–1293) ) and Andrei Alexandrovich (1293–1304), the crushing process was on the rise. In 1247, the Tver (Yaroslav Yaroslavich) principalities were finally formed, and in 1283, the Moscow (Daniil Alexandrovich) principalities. Although in 1299 the metropolitan, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, moved to Vladimir from Kyiv, its importance as the capital gradually declined; from the end of the 13th century the grand dukes stop using Vladimir as a permanent residence.

In the first third of the 14th century Moscow and Tver begin to play a leading role in North-Eastern Russia, which enter into rivalry for the Vladimir Grand Duke's table: in 1304/1305–1317 it was occupied by Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy, in 1317–1322 by Yuri Danilovich of Moscow, in 1322–1326 by Dmitry Mikhailovich Tverskoy, in 1326-1327 - Alexander Mikhailovich Tverskoy, in 1327-1340 - Ivan Danilovich (Kalita) of Moscow (in 1327-1331 together with Alexander Vasilyevich Suzdalsky). After Ivan Kalita, it becomes the monopoly of the Moscow princes (with the exception of 1359-1362). At the same time, their main rivals - the Tver and Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod princes - in the middle of the 14th century. also take the title of great. The struggle for control over North-Eastern Russia during the 14th–15th centuries. ends with the victory of the Moscow princes, who include the disintegrated parts of the Vladimir-Suzdal land into the Moscow state: Pereyaslavl-Zalesskoe (1302), Mozhaiskoe (1303), Uglichskoe (1329), Vladimirskoe, Starodubskoe, Galicia, Kostroma and Dmitrovskoe (1362–1364), Belozersky (1389), Nizhny Novgorod (1393), Suzdal (1451), Yaroslavl (1463), Rostov (1474) and Tver (1485) principalities.

Novgorod land.

It occupied a vast territory (almost 200 thousand square kilometers) between the Baltic Sea and the lower reaches of the Ob. Its western border was the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipsi, in the north it included Lakes Ladoga and Onega and reached the White Sea, in the east it captured the Pechora basin, and in the south it was adjacent to the Polotsk, Smolensk and Rostov-Suzdal principalities (modern Novgorod, Pskov, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, most of the Tver and Vologda regions, Karelian and Komi autonomous republics). It was inhabited by Slavic (Ilmen Slavs, Krivichi) and Finno-Ugric tribes (Vod, Izhora, Korela, Chud, All, Perm, Pechora, Lapps).

The unfavorable natural conditions of the North hindered the development of agriculture; grain was one of the main imports. At the same time, huge forests and numerous rivers favored fishing, hunting, and fur trade; The extraction of salt and iron ore was of great importance. Since ancient times, the Novgorod land has been famous for its various crafts and the high quality of handicrafts. Its favorable location at the crossroads from the Baltic Sea to the Black and Caspian ensured her the role of an intermediary in the trade of the Baltic and Scandinavia with the Black Sea and the Volga region. Craftsmen and merchants, united in territorial and professional corporations, represented one of the most economically and politically influential strata of Novgorod society. Its highest stratum, large landowners (boyars), also actively participated in international trade.

Novgorod land was divided into administrative districts - pyatins, directly adjacent to Novgorod (Votskaya, Shelonskaya, Obonezhskaya, Derevskaya, Bezhetskaya), and remote volosts: one extended from Torzhok and Volok to the Suzdal border and the upper reaches of the Onega, the other included Zavolochye (onega interfluve and Mezen), and the third - the land to the east of the Mezen (Pechora, Perm and Yugra regions).

Novgorod land was the cradle of the Old Russian state. It was here that in the 860s-870s a strong political formation arose, uniting the Slavs of the Ilmen, Polotsk Krivichi, Meryu, all and partly Chud. In 882 Prince Oleg of Novgorod subjugated the Polans and the Smolensk Krivichi and moved the capital to Kyiv. Since that time, Novgorod land has become the second most important region of the Rurik dynasty. From 882 to 988/989 it was ruled by governors sent from Kyiv (with the exception of 972–977, when it was the inheritance of St. Vladimir).

At the end of the 10th-11th centuries. Novgorod land, as the most important part of the grand princely domain, was usually transferred by the Kyiv princes to the eldest sons. In 988/989 St. Vladimir installed his eldest son Vysheslav in Novgorod, and after his death in 1010, his other son Yaroslav the Wise, who, having taken the throne in 1019, in turn passed it on to his eldest son Ilya. After Elijah's death c. 1020 Novgorod land was captured by the Polotsk ruler Bryachislav Izyaslavich, but was expelled by the troops of Yaroslav. In 1034 Yaroslav handed over Novgorod to his second son Vladimir, who held it until his death in 1052.

In 1054, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, Novgorod fell into the hands of his third son, the new Grand Duke Izyaslav, who ruled it through his governors, and then planted his youngest son Mstislav in it. In 1067 Novgorod was captured by Vseslav Bryachislavich of Polotsk, but in the same year he was expelled by Izyaslav. After the overthrow of Izyaslav from the Kyiv table in 1068, the Novgorodians did not submit to Vseslav of Polotsk, who reigned in Kyiv, and turned for help to Izyaslav's brother, Prince Svyatoslav of Chernigov, who sent his eldest son Gleb to them. Gleb defeated the troops of Vseslav in October 1069, but soon, obviously, he was forced to transfer Novgorod to Izyaslav, who returned to the grand prince's table. When in 1073 Izyaslav was again overthrown, Novgorod passed to Svyatoslav of Chernigov, who received the great reign, who planted his other son Davyd in it. After the death of Svyatoslav in December 1076, Gleb again took the throne of Novgorod. However, in July 1077, when Izyaslav regained the Kievan reign, he had to cede it to Svyatopolk, the son of Izyaslav, who returned the Kievan reign. Izyaslav's brother Vsevolod, who became Grand Duke in 1078, retained Novgorod for Svyatopolk and only in 1088 replaced him with his grandson Mstislav the Great, son of Vladimir Monomakh. After the death of Vsevolod in 1093, Davyd Svyatoslavich again sat in Novgorod, but in 1095 he came into conflict with the townspeople and left the reign. At the request of the Novgorodians, Vladimir Monomakh, who then owned Chernigov, returned Mstislav (1095–1117) to them.

In the second half of the 11th c. in Novgorod, the economic power and, accordingly, the political influence of the boyars and the trade and craft layer increased significantly. Large boyar land ownership became dominant. The Novgorod boyars were hereditary landowners and were not a service class; possession of land did not depend on the service of the prince. At the same time, the constant change of representatives of different princely families on the Novgorod table prevented the formation of any significant princely domain. In the face of the growing local elite, the prince's position gradually weakened.

In 1102, the Novgorod elites (boyars and merchants) refused to accept the reign of the son of the new Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, wishing to keep Mstislav, and the Novgorod land ceased to be part of the Grand Duke's possessions. In 1117 Mstislav handed over the Novgorod table to his son Vsevolod (1117–1136).

In 1136 the Novgorodians revolted against Vsevolod. Accusing him of bad management and neglect of the interests of Novgorod, they imprisoned him with his family, and after a month and a half they expelled him from the city. From that time on, a de facto republican system was established in Novgorod, although the princely power was not abolished. The supreme governing body was the people's assembly (veche), which included all the free citizens. The veche had broad powers - it invited and dismissed the prince, elected and controlled the entire administration, resolved issues of war and peace, was the highest court, introduced taxes and duties. The prince from a sovereign ruler turned into the highest official. He was the supreme commander in chief, could convene a council and issue laws if they did not contradict customs; embassies were sent and received on his behalf. However, when elected, the prince entered into contractual relations with Novgorod and gave an obligation to govern “in the old way”, appoint only Novgorodians as governors in the volosts and not impose tribute on them, wage war and make peace only with the consent of the veche. He did not have the right to remove other officials without trial. His actions were controlled by an elected posadnik, without whose approval he could not make judicial decisions and make appointments.

The local bishop (lord) played a special role in the political life of Novgorod. From the middle of the 12th century the right to elect him passed from the Metropolitan of Kyiv to the veche; the metropolitan only sanctioned the election. The Novgorod lord was considered not only the main clergyman, but also the first dignitary of the state after the prince. He was the largest landowner, had his own boyars and military regiments with a banner and governors, certainly participated in peace negotiations and inviting princes, and was a mediator in internal political conflicts.

Despite the significant narrowing of princely prerogatives, the rich Novgorod land remained attractive to the most powerful princely dynasties. First of all, the senior (Mstislavichi) and junior (Suzdal Yuryevich) branches of the Monomashichs competed for the Novgorod table; Chernigov Olgovichi tried to intervene in this struggle, but they achieved only episodic successes (1138–1139, 1139–1141, 1180–1181, 1197, 1225–1226, 1229–1230). In the 12th century the preponderance was on the side of the Mstislavich clan and its three main branches (Izyaslavichi, Rostislavichi and Vladimirovichi); they occupied the Novgorod table in 1117-1136, 1142-1155, 1158-1160, 1161-1171, 1179-1180, 1182-1197, 1197-1199; some of them (especially the Rostislavichs) managed to create independent, but short-lived principalities (Novotorzhskoe and Velikoluki) in the Novgorod land. However, already in the second half of the 12th century. the positions of the Yurievichs began to strengthen, who enjoyed the support of the influential party of the Novgorod boyars and, in addition, periodically put pressure on Novgorod, blocking the supply of grain from North-Eastern Russia. In 1147, Yuri Dolgoruky made a trip to the Novgorod land and captured Torzhok, in 1155 the Novgorodians had to invite his son Mstislav to reign (until 1157). In 1160, Andrei Bogolyubsky imposed on the Novgorodians his nephew Mstislav Rostislavich (until 1161); in 1171 he forced them to return Rurik Rostislavich, who had been expelled by them, to the Novgorod table, and in 1172 to transfer him to his son Yuri (until 1175). In 1176 Vsevolod the Big Nest managed to plant his nephew Yaroslav Mstislavich in Novgorod (until 1178).

In the 13th century Yuryevichi (Vsevolod's Big Nest line) achieved complete predominance. In the 1200s, the Novgorod throne was occupied by the sons of Vsevolod Svyatoslav (1200–1205, 1208–1210) and Konstantin (1205–1208). True, in 1210 the Novgorodians were able to get rid of the control of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes with the help of the Toropetsk ruler Mstislav Udatny from the Smolensk Rostislavich family; The Rostislavichs held Novgorod until 1221 (with a break in 1215–1216). However, then they were finally ousted from the Novgorod land by the Yurievichs.

The success of the Yurievichs was facilitated by the deterioration of the foreign policy situation of Novgorod. In the face of the increased threat to its western possessions from Sweden, Denmark and the Livonian Order, the Novgorodians needed an alliance with the most powerful Russian principality at that time - Vladimir. Thanks to this alliance, Novgorod managed to defend its borders. Called to the Novgorod table in 1236, Alexander Yaroslavich, the nephew of the Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodich, defeated the Swedes at the mouth of the Neva in 1240, and then stopped the aggression of the German knights.

The temporary strengthening of princely power under Alexander Yaroslavich (Nevsky) was replaced in the late 13th - early 14th century. its complete degradation, which was facilitated by the weakening of external danger and the progressive disintegration of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. At the same time, the role of the veche also declined. In Novgorod, an oligarchic system was actually established. The boyars turned into a closed ruling caste that shared power with the archbishop. The rise of the Moscow principality under Ivan Kalita (1325–1340) and its formation as the center of the unification of the Russian lands aroused fear among the Novgorod leaders and led to their attempts to use the powerful Lithuanian principality that had arisen on the southwestern borders as a counterweight: in 1333 he was first invited to the Novgorod table the Lithuanian prince Narimunt Gedeminovich (although he only lasted a year on it); in the 1440s, the Grand Duke of Lithuania was given the right to collect irregular tribute from some Novgorod volosts.

Although 14-15 centuries. became a period of rapid economic prosperity of Novgorod, largely due to its close ties with the Hanseatic Trade Union, the Novgorod leaders did not use it to strengthen their military-political potential and preferred to pay off the aggressive Moscow and Lithuanian princes. At the end of the 14th century Moscow launched an offensive against Novgorod. Vasily I captured the Novgorod cities of Bezhetsky Verkh, Volok Lamsky and Vologda with adjacent regions; in 1401 and 1417 he tried, though unsuccessfully, to seize Zavolochye. In the second quarter of the 15th c. Moscow's offensive was suspended due to the internecine war of 1425–1453 between Grand Duke Vasily II and his uncle Yuri and his sons; in this war, the Novgorod boyars supported the opponents of Vasily II. Having established himself on the throne, Vasily II imposed tribute on Novgorod, and in 1456 went to war with him. Having suffered a defeat at Russa, the Novgorodians were forced to conclude a humiliating Yazhelbitsky peace with Moscow: they paid a significant indemnity and pledged not to enter into an alliance with the enemies of the Moscow prince; the legislative prerogatives of the veche were abolished and the possibilities of conducting an independent foreign policy were seriously limited. As a result, Novgorod became dependent on Moscow. In 1460, Pskov was under the control of the Moscow prince.

In the late 1460s, the pro-Lithuanian party led by the Boretskys triumphed in Novgorod. She achieved the conclusion of an alliance treaty with the great Lithuanian prince Casimir IV and an invitation to the Novgorod table of his protege Mikhail Olelkovich (1470). In response, Moscow Prince Ivan III sent a large army against the Novgorodians, which defeated them on the river. Shelon; Novgorod had to annul the treaty with Lithuania, pay a huge indemnity and cede part of Zavolochye. In 1472 Ivan III annexed the Perm Territory; in 1475 he arrived in Novgorod and massacred the anti-Moscow boyars, and in 1478 liquidated the independence of the Novgorod land and included it in the Muscovite state. In 1570 Ivan IV the Terrible finally destroyed Novgorod's liberties.

Ivan Krivushin

GREAT Kyiv PRINCES

(from the death of Yaroslav the Wise to the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Before the name of the prince - the year of his accession to the throne, the number in brackets indicates at what time the prince occupied the throne, if this happened again.)

1054 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (1)

1068 Vseslav Bryachislavich

1069 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (2)

1073 Svyatoslav Yaroslavich

1077 Vsevolod Yaroslavich (1)

1077 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (3)

1078 Vsevolod Yaroslavich (2)

1093 Svyatopolk Izyaslavich

1113 Vladimir Vsevolodich (Monomakh)

1125 Mstislav Vladimirovich (Great)

1132 Yaropolk Vladimirovich

1139 Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (1)

1139 Vsevolod Olgovich

1146 Igor Olgovich

1146 Izyaslav Mstislavich (1)

1149 Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (1)

1149 Izyaslav Mstislavich (2)

1151 Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (2)

1151 Izyaslav Mstislavich (3) and Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (2)

1154 Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (2) and Rostislav Mstislavich (1)

1154 Rostislav Mstislavich (1)

1154 Izyaslav Davydovich (1)

1155 Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (3)

1157 Izyaslav Davydovich (2)

1159 Rostislav Mstislavich (2)

1167 Mstislav Izyaslavich

1169 Gleb Yurievich

1171 Vladimir Mstislavich

1171 Mikhalko Yurievich

1171 Roman Rostislavich (1)

1172 Vsevolod Yurievich (Big Nest) and Yaropolk Rostislavich

1173 Rurik Rostislavich (1)

1174 Roman Rostislavich (2)

1176 Svyatoslav Vsevolodich (1)

1181 Rurik Rostislavich (2)

1181 Svyatoslav Vsevolodich (2)

1194 Rurik Rostislavich (3)

1202 Ingvar Yaroslavich (1)

1203 Rurik Rostislavich (4)

1204 Ingvar Yaroslavich (2)

1204 Rostislav Rurikovich

1206 Rurik Rostislavich (5)

1206 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (1)

1206 Rurik Rostislavich (6)

1207 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (2)

1207 Rurik Rostislavich (7)

1210 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (3)

1211 Ingvar Yaroslavich (3)

1211 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (4)

1212/1214 Mstislav Romanovich (Old) (1)

1219 Vladimir Rurikovich (1)

1219 Mstislav Romanovich (Old) (2), possibly with his son Vsevolod

1223 Vladimir Rurikovich (2)

1235 Mikhail Vsevolodich (1)

1235 Yaroslav Vsevolodich

1236 Vladimir Rurikovich (3)

1239 Mikhail Vsevolodich (1)

1240 Rostislav Mstislavich

1240 Daniel Romanovich

Literature:

Old Russian principalities of the X-XIII centuries. M., 1975
Rapov O.M. Princely possessions in Russia in the X - the first half of the XIII century. M., 1977
Alekseev L.V. Smolensk land in the IX-XIII centuries. Essays on the history of Smolensk and Eastern Belarus. M., 1980
Kyiv and the western lands of Russia in the 9th–13th centuries. Minsk, 1982
Yury A. Limonov Vladimir-Suzdal Rus: Essays on socio-political history. L., 1987
Chernihiv and its districts in the 9th–13th centuries. Kyiv, 1988
Korinny N. N. Pereyaslav land X - the first half of the XIII century. Kyiv, 1992
Gorsky A. A. Russian lands in the XIII-XIV centuries: Ways of political development. M., 1996
Aleksandrov D. N. Russian principalities in the XIII-XIV centuries. M., 1997
Ilovaisky D.I. Ryazan principality. M., 1997
Ryabchikov S.V. Mysterious Tmutarakan. Krasnodar, 1998
Lysenko P.F. Turov land, IX–XIII centuries Minsk, 1999
Pogodin M.P. Ancient Russian history before the Mongol yoke. M., 1999. T. 1–2
Aleksandrov D. N. Feudal fragmentation of Russia. M., 2001
Mayorov A.V. Galicia-Volyn Rus: Essays on socio-political relations in the pre-Mongolian period. Prince, boyars and city community. SPb., 2001



Kievan principality. The Kiev principality, although it lost its significance as the political center of the Russian lands, was still considered the first among other principalities. Kyiv has retained its historical glory as the "mother of Russian cities". It also remained the church center of the Russian lands. The Kiev principality was the center of the most fertile lands in Russia. The largest number of large patrimonial farms and the largest amount of arable land were located here. Thousands of artisans worked in Kyiv itself and the cities of the Kyiv land, whose products were famous not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders.

The death of Mstislav the Great in 1132 and the subsequent struggle for the throne of Kyiv became a turning point in the history of Kyiv. It was in the 30s and 40s. 12th century he irretrievably lost control over the Rostov-Suzdal land, where the energetic and power-hungry youngest son of Vladimir Monomakh, Yuri Dolgoruky, ruled, over Novgorod and Smolensk, whose boyars themselves began to select princes for themselves.

For Kievan land, big European politics and long-distance campaigns are a thing of the past. Now Kyiv's foreign policy is limited to two directions. The old exhausting struggle with the Polovtsy continues. The principality of Vladimir-Suzdal becomes a new strong adversary.

The Kyiv princes managed to contain the Polovtsian danger, relying on the help of other principalities, which themselves suffered from Polovtsian raids. However, it was much more difficult to deal with the northeastern neighbor. Yuri Dolgoruky and his son Andrey Bogolyubsky more than once made trips to Kyiv, took it by storm several times and subjected it to pogroms. The victors plundered the city, burned the churches, killed the inhabitants and took them into captivity. As the chronicler said, there were then “on all people there is groaning and longing, inconsolable sadness and incessant tears”.

However, during the peaceful years, Kyiv continued to live a full-blooded life as the capital of a large principality. Beautiful palaces and temples have been preserved here, here, in monasteries, primarily in the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, or lavra (from the Greek word "Laura"- a large monastery), pilgrims converged from all over Russia. An all-Russian chronicle was also written in Kyiv.

There were periods in the history of the Kyiv principality when, under a strong and skillful ruler, it achieved certain successes and partially regained its former authority. This happened at the end of the 12th century. under the grandson of Oleg Chernigov Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, a hero "Words about Igor's Campaign". Svyatoslav shared power in the principality with the great-grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, Rurik Rostislavich, brother of the Smolensk prince. So the Kyiv boyars sometimes united representatives of the warring princely groups on the throne and avoided another civil strife. When Svyatoslav died, Roman Mstislavich, Prince of Volyn, great-great-grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, became co-ruler of Rurik.

After some time, the co-rulers began to fight among themselves. During the struggle of the warring parties Kyiv several times passed from hand to hand. During the war, Rurik burned Podil, plundered the St. Sophia Cathedral and the Church of the Tithes - Russian shrines. The Polovtsians allied with him plundered the Kyiv land, took people into captivity, cut down old monks in monasteries, and "young maids, wives and daughters of Kiev were taken to their camps". But then Roman captured Rurik and tonsured him a monk.

Until the middle of the XII century. The principality of Kiev occupied significant areas along both banks of the Dnieper, bordering Polotsk in the northwest, Chernigov in the northeast, Poland in the west, Galician principality in the southwest and the Polovtsian steppe in the southeast.

Only later the lands to the west of Goryn and Sluch went to the Volyn land, Pereyaslavl, Pinsk and Turov also separated from Kyiv.

Story

After the death of Mstislav the Great in 1132, during the reign of Yaropolk Vladimirovich, there was a conflict between the Mstislavichs and Vladimirovichs for the South Russian tables.

The Mstislavichs were supported by Vsevolod Olgovich, who was thus able to return Kursk and Posemye, which had been lost during the reign of Mstislav.

Also during the conflict, Novgorod came out from under the power of the Kyiv prince.

After the death of Yaropolk in 1139, Vsevolod Olgovich expelled the next Vladimirovich, Vyacheslav, from Kyiv.

In 1140, the Galician principality was united under the rule of Vladimir Volodarevich.

Despite the struggle for power in Galich between Vladimir and his nephew Ivan Berladnik in 1144, the Kyiv prince did not manage to maintain control over the southwestern outskirts of Russia.

After the death of Vsevolod Olgovich (1146), the yards of his combatants were plundered, his brother Igor Olgovich was killed (1147).

In the next period, there was a fierce struggle for the reign of Kiev between the grandson of Monomakh Izyaslav Mstislavich and the younger Monomakhovich Yuri.

Izyaslav Mstislavich Volynsky expelled Yuri Dolgoruky from Kyiv several times, because he was not notified in time about the approach of the enemy (Yury's ally, Vladimir Volodarevich Galitsky, was perplexed about this), but he was forced to take into account the rights of his uncle Vyacheslav.

Yuri was able to establish himself in Kyiv only after the death of his nephew in the Kiev reign, but died under mysterious circumstances (presumably, he was poisoned by the people of Kiev), after which the courtyards of his combatants were plundered.

Izyaslav's son Mstislav led the fight for Kyiv against Izyaslav Davydovich Chernigov (who was killed by the Black Hoods), but was forced to cede Kyiv to his uncle Rostislav Mstislavich Smolensky, and the defense of Kyiv in 1169 from the troops of Andrei Bogolyubsky.

By this time, the territory on the right bank of the Dnieper in the basins of the Teterev and Ros rivers remained under the direct control of the Kyiv prince.

And if Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1151 said it doesn’t go to the head, but the head to the place, justifying his attempt to seize Kyiv by force from his uncle Yuri Dolgoruky, then in 1169 Andrei Bogolyubsky, having taken Kyiv, planted his younger brother Gleb to reign there Pereyaslavsky and remaining in Vladimir, according to Klyuchevsky V.V., for the first time separated seniority from place.

Subsequently, Andrei's younger brother Vsevolod the Big Nest (Vladimir reign 1176-1212) achieved recognition of his seniority from almost all Russian princes.

In the 1170s-90s, a duumvirate of the heads of the Chernigov and Smolensk princely houses operated in Kyiv - Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, who occupied the Kyiv throne proper, and Rurik Rostislavich, who owned the Kyiv land.

Such an alliance made it possible for a short time not only to protect itself from the influence of Galich and Vladimir, but also to influence the internal political situation in these principalities.

Having established himself in Galich in 1199, Roman Mstislavich Volynsky was invited by the people of Kiev and black hoods to reign in Kiev.

This led to the second defeat of Kyiv by the combined forces of the Smolensk Rostislavichs, Olgovichi and Polovtsy in 1203.

Then Roman captured his uncle Rurik Rostislavich in Ovruch and tonsured him a monk, thereby concentrating the entire principality in his hands.

The death of Roman in 1205 opened a new stage in the struggle for Kyiv between Rurik and Vsevolod Svyatoslavich of Chernigov, which ended under the diplomatic pressure of Vsevolod the Big Nest in 1210, when Vsevolod sat down in Kyiv, and Rurik - in Chernigov.

After the death of Rurik in 1214, Vsevolod tried to deprive the Smolensk Rostislavichs of their possessions in the south, as a result of which he was expelled from Kyiv, where Mstislav Romanovich the Old reigned.

The fight against the Polovtsians

In the Polovtsian steppe in the second half of the XII century. feudal khanates were created, uniting separate tribes.

Usually Kyiv coordinated its defensive actions with Pereyaslavl, and thus a more or less unified Ros-Sula line was created.

In this regard, the significance of the headquarters of such a general defense passed from Belgorod to Kanev.

Southern border outposts of the Kyiv land, located in the tenth century. on the Stugna and on the Sula, now moved down the Dnieper to Orel and Sneporod-Samara.

Especially significant were the campaigns against the Polovtsians of the Kyiv princes Mstislav Izyaslavich in 1168, Svyatoslav and Rurik in 1183 (after which the Polovtsian Khan Kobyak fell in the city of Kyiv, in the grid of Svyatoslav), Roman Mstislavich in 1202 and 1203 (in the fierce winter ... was filthy great burden) years (for which Roman was compared with his great ancestor Vladimir Monomakh).

Kyiv continued to be the center of the struggle against the steppe.

Despite the actual independence, other principalities (Galicia, Volyn, Turov, Smolensk, Chernigov, Seversk, Pereyaslavl) sent troops to the Kyiv camps.

The last such collection was carried out in 1223 at the request of the Polovtsy against a new common enemy - the Mongols.

The battle on the Kalka River was lost by the allies, the Kyiv prince Mstislav Stary died, the Mongols invaded Russia after the victory, but did not reach Kyiv, which was one of the goals of their campaign.

Turks in Kyiv lands

A feature of the Kyiv principality was a large number of old boyar estates with fortified castles, concentrated in the old land of glades south of Kyiv.

To protect these estates from the Polovtsians back in the 11th century. Significant masses of nomads expelled from the steppes by the Polovtsians were settled along the Ros River: Torks, Pechenegs and Berendeys, united by a common name - Black Hoods.

They seemed to anticipate the future border Cossack cavalry and carried out border service in the steppe space between the Dnieper, Stugna and Ros.

Cities populated by the Chernoklobut nobility (Yuriev, Torchesk, Korsun, Dveren, and others) arose along the banks of the Ros. Defending Russia from the Polovtsy, the Torks and Berendeys gradually adopted the Russian language, Russian culture, and even the Russian epic epic.

The capital of the semi-autonomous Porose was sometimes Kanev, sometimes Torchesk, a city with two fortresses on the northern bank of the Ros.

Black hoods played an important role in the political life of Russia in the 12th century and often influenced the choice of one or another prince.

There were times when the Black Hoods proudly declared to one of the contenders for the Kyiv throne: “We, prince, have both good and evil,” that is, that the achievement of the grand prince’s throne depends on them, border cavalry constantly ready for battle, located in two days away from the capital.

Mongol invasion and yoke

In 1236, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Novgorod captured Kyiv, thereby intervening in the struggle between the Smolensk and Chernigov princes.

After his older brother Yuri Vsevolodovich died in a battle with the Mongols on the City River in March 1238, Yaroslav took his place on the Vladimir table and left Kyiv.

At the beginning of 1240, after the ruin of the Chernigov Principality, the Mongols approached the left bank of the Dnieper opposite Kyiv and sent an embassy to the city demanding surrender.

The embassy was destroyed by the people of Kiev.

The Kyiv prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich Chernigov left for Hungary in an unsuccessful attempt to conclude a dynastic marriage and alliance with King Bela IV.

Rostislav Mstislavich, who arrived in Kyiv from Smolensk, was captured by Daniil Galitsky, the son of Roman Mstislavich, the defense against the Mongols was headed by the thousand Daniil Dmitr.

The city resisted the united troops of all the Mongol uluses from September 5 to December 6. The outer fortress fell on November 19, the last line of defense was the Church of the Tithes, the vaults of which collapsed under the weight of people.

Daniel of Galicia, like Mikhail a year earlier, was with Bela IV in order to conclude a dynastic marriage and union, but also unsuccessfully.

After the invasion, Kyiv was returned to Daniil Michael. The Hungarian army was destroyed by the minor forces of the Mongols in the battle on the Shaio River in April 1241, Bela IV fled under the protection of the Austrian duke, giving him the treasury and three Hungarian committees for help.

In 1243, Batu gave the devastated Kyiv to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who was recognized as "aging all the prince in the Russian language."

In the 40s. 13th century in Kyiv, the boyar of this prince, Dmitry Eikovich, was sitting. After the death of Yaroslav, Kyiv was transferred to his son - Alexander Nevsky.

This is the last case when the city is mentioned in the annals as the center of the Russian land.

Until the end of the XIII century. Kyiv, apparently, continued to be controlled by the Vladimir governors.

In the subsequent period, minor southern Russian princes ruled there, along with them the Horde Baskaks were in the city.

Porosie was dependent on the Volyn princes.

After the fall of the Nogai ulus (1300), vast territories on the left bank of the Dnieper, including Pereyaslavl and Posemye, became part of the Kyiv land, the Putivl dynasty (descendants of Svyatoslav Olgovich) established itself in the principality.

In 1331, the Kyiv prince Fedor is mentioned. Around this time, the Kiev principality enters the sphere of influence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Regarding the reliability of the battle on Irpin, described in later sources, opinions differ: some accept the date of Stryikovsky - 1319-20, others attribute the conquest of Kyiv by Gediminas to 1333, and finally, some (V. B. Antonovich) completely reject the fact of the conquest of Kyiv Gediminas and attribute it to Olgerd, dating it to 1362.

Lithuanian period

After 1362, the son of Olgerd, Vladimir, was sitting in Kyiv, who was distinguished by his devotion to Orthodoxy and the Russian people.

In 1392, Jagiello and Vitovt signed the Ostrov agreement, and soon transferred Kyiv to Skirgailo Olgerdovich as compensation for the loss of governorship in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1385-92).

But Skirgailo was also imbued with Russian sympathies; under him, Kyiv becomes the center of the Russian party in the Lithuanian state. Skirgailo soon died, and the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vitovt did not give Kyiv to anyone, but appointed a governor there.

Only in 1440 was the Kyiv inheritance restored; Vladimir's son Olelko (Alexander) was appointed prince.

After his death, the Grand Duke Casimir IV did not recognize the patrimonial rights of his sons to the Kyiv land and gave it only as a lifelong fief to the eldest of them, Simeon.

Both Olelko and Simeon rendered many services to the Kyiv principality, taking care of its internal structure and protecting it from Tatar raids.

They enjoyed great love among the population, so when, after the death of Simeon, Casimir did not transfer the reign to either his son or brother, but sent the governor of Gashtold to Kiev, the people of Kiev put up armed resistance, but had to submit, although not without protest.

At the beginning of the 16th century, when Prince Mikhail Glinsky raised an uprising with the aim of tearing away the Russian regions from Lithuania, the people of Kiev reacted sympathetically to this uprising and assisted Glinsky, but the attempt failed.

When the Commonwealth was formed in 1569, Kyiv, together with all of Ukraine, became part of Poland.

In the Lithuanian period, the Kiev principality extended west to Sluch, in the north it passed beyond the Pripyat (Mozyr district), in the east it went beyond the Dnieper (Oster district); in the south, the border either retreated to Ros, or reached the Black Sea (under Vitovt).

At this time, the Kiev principality is divided into povets (Ovruch, Zhytomyr, Zvenigorod, Pereyaslav, Kanevsky, Cherkasy, Oster, Chernobyl and Mozyr), which were ruled by governors, elders and derzhavtsy appointed by the prince.

All the inhabitants of the povet were subordinate to the governor in military, judicial and administrative respects, paid tribute in his favor and bore duties.

The prince owned only the supreme power, expressed in the leadership in the war of the militia of all districts, the right to appeal to him to the court of the governor and the right to distribute land property.

Under the influence of the Lithuanian order, the social system also began to change.

According to Lithuanian law, the land belongs to the prince and is given to them for temporary possession under the condition of performing public service.

Persons who have received plots of land on such a right are called "zemyans"; thus, from the 14th century, a class of landowners was formed in the Kievan land. This class is concentrated mainly in the northern part of the principality, better protected from Tatar raids and more profitable for the economy, due to the abundance of forests.

Below the zemyans were the “boyars”, assigned to povet castles and carrying out service and various duties due to their belonging to this class, regardless of the size of the plot.

Peasants (“people”) lived on the lands of the state or zemyanskiye, were personally free, had the right to move and carried duties in kind and monetary tributes in favor of the owner.

This class is moving south to the uninhabited and fertile steppe povets, where the peasants were more independent, although they risked suffering from Tatar raids.

To protect against Tatars from peasants from the end of the 15th century. groups of military people are distinguished, designated by the term "Cossacks".

In the cities, a bourgeois class begins to form.

In recent times of the existence of the Kyiv principality, these estates are only beginning to be identified; there is still no sharp line between them; they are finally formed only later.

Trade

“The path from the Varangians to the Greeks”, which was the core of the Old Russian state, lost its relevance after the loss of the cities of Sarkel on the Don, Tmutarakan and Kerch on the Black Sea and the Crusades by Russia.

Europe and the East were now connected bypassing Kyiv (through the Mediterranean Sea and through the Volga trade route).

Church

The entire Old Russian territory constituted a single metropolis, ruled by the metropolitan of All Russia.

Until 1299, the residence of the metropolitan was located in Kyiv, then it was divided into the Galician and Vladimir metropolises.

Cases of violation of church unity under the influence of political struggle periodically arose, but were of a short-term nature (the establishment of a metropolis in Chernigov and Pereyaslavl during the triumvirate of the Yaroslavichs of the 11th century, an attempt by Andrei Bogolyubsky to establish a separate metropolis for Vladimir, the existence of the Galician metropolis in 1303-1347, etc. .). A separate Kyiv Metropolia became isolated only in the 15th century.

The development of feudal relations in Russia.

Time from the end of the X to the beginning of the XII century. is an important stage in the development of feudal relations in Russia. This time is characterized by the gradual victory of the feudal mode of production over a large area of ​​the country.

The agriculture of Russia was dominated by sustainable field farming. Cattle breeding developed more slowly than agriculture. Despite a relative increase in agricultural production, harvests were low. Shortage and famine were frequent occurrences, undermining the Kresgyap economy and contributing to the enslavement of the peasants. Hunting, fishing, and beekeeping remained of great importance in the economy. Furs of squirrels, martens, otters, beavers, sables, foxes, as well as honey and wax went to the foreign market. The best hunting and fishing areas, forests with side lands were seized by feudal lords.

In the 11th and early 12th centuries part of the land was exploited by the state by collecting tribute from the population, part of the land area was in the hands of individual feudal lords as estates that could be inherited (later they became known as estates), and possessions received from the princes in temporary conditional holding.

The ruling class of feudal lords was formed from local princes and boyars, who became dependent on Kyiv, and from the husbands (combatants) of the Kyiv princes, who received land, "tortured" by them and the princes, into administration, possession or patrimony. The Kievan Grand Dukes themselves had large land holdings. The distribution of land by the princes to combatants, while strengthening feudal production relations, was at the same time one of the means used by the state to subjugate the local population to its power.

Land property was protected by law. The growth of boyar and ecclesiastical landownership was closely connected with the development of immunity. The land, which used to be peasant property, fell into the ownership of the feudal lord “with tribute, viry and sales”, that is, with the right to collect taxes and court fines from the population for murder and other crimes, and, consequently, with the right to court.

With the transfer of land into the ownership of individual feudal lords, the peasants fell into dependence on them in various ways. Some peasants, deprived of the means of production, were enslaved by the landowners, using their need for tools, implements, seeds, etc. Other peasants, who were sitting on land subject to tribute, who owned their tools of production, were forced by the state to transfer their land under the patrimonial power of the feudal lords. With the expansion of estates and the enslavement of smerds, the term servants, which previously denoted slaves, began to spread to the entire mass of the peasantry dependent on the landowner.

The peasants who fell into bondage to the feudal lord, legally formalized by a special agreement - nearby, were called purchases. They received from the landowner a plot of land and a loan, which they worked out in the feudal lord's household with the master's inventory. For escaping from the master, the zakuns turned into serfs - slaves deprived of any rights. Labor rent - corvée, field and castle (construction of fortifications, bridges, roads, etc.), was combined with natural quitrent.

With the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125. the decline of Kievan Rus began, which was accompanied by its disintegration into separate states-principalities. Even earlier, the Lyubech Congress of Princes in 1097 established: “... let each one keep his fatherland” - this meant that each prince becomes the full owner of his hereditary principality.

The collapse of the Kievan state into small principalities-patrimonies, according to V.O. Klyuchevsky, was caused by the existing order of succession to the throne. The princely throne was not passed from father to son, but from the elder brother to the middle and younger. This gave rise to strife in the family and the struggle for the division of estates. External factors played a certain role: nomad raids devastated the southern Russian lands and interrupted the trade route along the Dnieper.

As a result of the decline of Kyiv in southern and southwestern Russia, the Galicia-Volyn principality rose, in the northeastern part of Russia - the Rostov-Suzdal (later Vladimir-Suzdal) principality, and in northwestern Russia - the Novgorod Boyar Republic, from which in the XIII century stood out Pskov land.

All these principalities, with the exception of Novgorod and Pskov, inherited the political system of Kievan Rus. They were led by princes, relying on their squads. The Orthodox clergy had great political influence in the principalities.

The political system in Novgorod and Pskov developed in a special way. The supreme power there belonged not to the prince, but to the veche, which consisted of the urban aristocracy, large landowners, wealthy merchants and the clergy. Veche, at its discretion, invited the prince, whose functions were limited only to the leadership of the city militia - and then under the control of the council of gentlemen and the posadnik (the highest official, the actual head of the boyar republic). The constant opponents of the Novgorodians were the Swedes and the Livonian Germans, who repeatedly tried to subjugate Novgorod. But in 1240 and 1242. they suffered a crushing defeat from Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who received the nickname Nevsky for his victory over the Swedes on the Neva River.

A special situation has developed in Kyiv. On the one hand, he became the first among equals. Soon, some Russian lands caught up and even outstripped him in their development. On the other hand, Kyiv remained an "apple of discord" (they joked that there was not a single prince in Russia who did not seek to "sit" in Kyiv). Kyiv was "recaptured", for example, by Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince of Vladimir and Suzdal; in 1154 he achieved the throne of Kyiv and sat on it until 1157. His son Andrei Bogolyubsky sent regiments to Kyiv, and so on. Under such conditions, the Kiev boyars introduced a curious system of "duumvirate" (co-government), which lasted the entire second half of the 12th century. The meaning of this original measure was as follows: at the same time, representatives of two warring branches were invited to Kyiv land (an agreement was concluded with them - a “row”); thus, a relative balance was established and strife was partly eliminated. One of the princes lived in Kyiv, the other - in Belgorod (or Vyshgorod). They acted jointly on military campaigns and carried out diplomatic correspondence in concert. So, co-rulers duumvirs were Izyaslav Mstislavich and his uncle - Vyacheslav Vladimirovich; Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich and Rurik Mstislavich.

The Kiev principality is one of the specific lands formed as a result of the collapse of Kievan Rus. After the death of Prince Yaroslav the Wise in the middle of the 11th century, the principality began to separate and by the 30s of the 12th century it became absolutely independent.

Its territory covered the original lands of the Drevlyans and Polyans along the Dnieper River and its tributaries (Teterev, Pripyat, Irpen and Ros). It also included part of the left bank of the Dnieper opposite Kyiv. All these are modern lands of Kyiv and Ukraine and the southern part of Belarus. In the east, the principality was bordered by the Pereyaslav and Chernigov principalities, in the west - Vladimir-Volyn, in the south it was closely adjacent

Thanks to the mild climate, agriculture developed intensively here as well. Also, the inhabitants of these lands were actively engaged in cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and beekeeping. Quite early there was a specialization of crafts. "Woodworking", leather and pottery crafts acquired particular importance. Iron deposits allowed the development of blacksmithing.

An important factor was that the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks” (from Byzantium to the Baltic) passed through the Kiev principality. Therefore, an influential layer of merchants and artisans formed early in Kyiv.

From the 9th to the 10th centuries, these lands were the central part of the Old Russian state. During the reign of Vladimir, they became the core of the grand ducal domain, and Kyiv - the church center of all Russia. Although the Kyiv prince was no longer the supreme owner of all the lands, he was the actual head of the feudal hierarchy, he was considered "senior" in relation to other princes. It was the center of the Old Russian principality, around which all other destinies were concentrated.

However, this situation had not only positive aspects. Very soon the Kyiv lands turned into an object of intense struggle between separate branches. The powerful Kyiv boyars and the elite of the trade and craft population also joined the struggle.

Until 1139, Monomashichs sat on the throne of Kiev: after Mstislav the Great, his brother Yaropolk (1132-1139), and then Vyacheslav (1139) came to power. After that, the throne passed into the hands of the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich, who seized it by force. The reign of the Olgovichi was very short-lived. In 1146, power passed to (a representative of the Monomashichs). In 1154, it was captured by the Suzdal branch of the Monomashichs, who was on the throne of Kiev until his death in 1157). Then power again passed to the Olgovichi, and in 1159 returned to the Mstislavichi.

Already from the middle of the XII century, the political significance that the Kievan principality had previously had began to decrease. At the same time, it was disintegrating into destinies. By the 1170s, the Kotelnichesky, Belgorod, Trepolsky, Vyshgorodsky, Torchesky, Kanevsky and Dorogobuzh principalities had already stood out. Kyiv ceased to play the role of the center of Russian lands. At the same time, Vladimir and Galicia-Volyn make every effort to subjugate Kyiv. Periodically, they succeed and their henchmen appear on the Kiev throne.

In 1240, the Kievan principality came under the rule of Batu. In early December, after a desperate nine-day resistance, he captured and defeated Kyiv. The Principality was devastated, after which it could not recover. Since the 1240s, Kyiv has been formally dependent on the princes of Vladimir (Alexander Nevsky, then Yaroslav Yaroslavich). In 1299, the metropolitan see was transferred from Kyiv to Vladimir.