The emergence of the Old Russian state was naturally accompanied by the formation of Old Russian feudal law. Its first source was the customs that passed into class society from the primitive communal system and have now become customary law. But already from the X century. we also know the princely legislation. Of particular importance are the statutes of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Yaroslav, who introduced important innovations in financial, family and criminal law. The largest monument of ancient Russian law is Russian Pravda, which retained its significance in subsequent periods of history, and not only for Russian law. The history of Russian Pravda is rather complicated. The question of the time of origin of its oldest part in science is debatable. Some authors date it even to the 7th century. However, most modern researchers associate the Most Ancient Truth with the name of Yaroslav the Wise. The place of publication of this part of Russian Pravda is also debatable. The chronicle points to Novgorod, but many authors admit that it was created in the center of the Russian land - Kyiv.

The original text of Russian Truth has not come down to us. However, it is known that the sons of Yaroslav in the second half of the XI century. significantly supplemented and changed it, creating the so-called Truth of the Yaroslavichs. The Truth of Yaroslav and the Truth of the Yaroslavichs, which were later united by scribes, formed the basis of the so-called Short Edition of the Russian Truth. Vladimir Monomakh made an even larger revision of this law. As a result, the Extended edition was formed. In subsequent centuries, new editions of the Russian Truth were created, of which S. V. Yushkov totaled up to six. All editions have come down to us as part of chronicles and various legal collections, of course, handwritten. More than a hundred such lists of Russian Pravda have now been found. They are usually assigned names associated with the name of the chronicle, the place of discovery, the person who found this or that list (Academic, Trinity, Karamzinsky, etc.).

With the introduction of Christianity in Russia, canon law began to take shape, based to a large extent on Byzantine legislation.

The whole set of laws and legal customs created the basis for a fairly developed system of ancient Russian law. Like any feudal right, it was a right-privilege, that is, the law directly provided for the inequality of people belonging to different social groups. So, the serf had almost no human rights. The legal capacity of the smerd, the purchase, was very limited. But the rights and privileges of the top of the feudal society were protected in an enhanced manner.

Old Russian legislation knew a fairly developed system of norms governing property relations. The law reflects property relations. Legal protection is provided for both immovable and movable property. Feudalism is characterized by the presence of full ownership of the feudal lord over the means of production and incomplete ownership of the worker. At the same time, the feudally dependent peasant is also endowed with certain means of production. Feudal property in Russia arises on the basis of the collapse of primitive communal relations.

Obligations arose from harm and from contracts. For example, a person who injured another person, in addition to a criminal fine, had to pay the damages of the victim, including the services of a doctor.

Old Russian law of obligations is characterized by foreclosure not only on property, but also on the person of the debtor, and sometimes even on his wife and children. So, a malicious bankrupt could be sold into slaves.

Russian Truth knows a certain system of contracts. The most fully regulated loan agreement. This was the result of an uprising of the lower classes of Kyiv in 1113 against usurers. Vladimir Monomakh, called by the boyars to save the situation, took measures to streamline interest on debts, somewhat limiting the appetites of usurers. The law in the form of a loan object provides not only money, but also bread, honey. There are three types of loans: an ordinary (household) loan, a loan made between merchants, with simplified formalities, a loan with self-mortgage - purchasing. There are various types of interest depending on the term of the loan.

Russkaya Pravda also mentions a contract of sale. The law is most interested in cases of sale and purchase of slaves, as well as stolen property.

Russkaya Pravda also mentions a storage agreement (luggage). Luggage was considered as a friendly service, was free of charge and did not require formalities when concluding a contract.

Feudalism is not characterized by hired labor. Nevertheless, Russkaya Pravda mentions one case of a contract of personal employment: hiring as tiuns (servants) or housekeepers. If a person entered such work without a special contract, he automatically became a serf. The law also mentions hiring, but some researchers identify it with a purchase.

You can obviously talk about the existence in the Old Russian state of contracts of transportation, as well as commissions. Russian Truth in Art. 54 mentions a merchant who could drink, lose or spoil someone else's goods, given to him either for transportation or for sale. The commission agreement is clearly visible in the following article, where a foreign merchant instructs a Russian to sell his goods at a local auction.

Already a brief edition of Russian Pravda contains a "Lesson to Bridgemen", which regulates a contract for the construction or repair of a bridge. Researchers believe that the law refers not only to bridges, but also to urban pavements. Archaeologists have found, for example, numerous wooden pavements in Novgorod. Interestingly, this element of urban improvement arose in Novgorod earlier than in Paris. It must be assumed that in Russia there was such an ancient agreement as exchange, although it is not reflected in the legislation. The same can be said about property rent.

The procedure for concluding contracts was mostly simple. Usually, an oral form was used with the performance of some symbolic actions, handshaking, tying hands, etc. In some cases, witnesses were required. There is some information about the origin of the written form of concluding a contract on real estate.

Inheritance law was characterized by an openly class approach of the legislator. So, daughters could also inherit from boyars and combatants, while among smerds, in the absence of sons, property was considered escheat and came in favor of the prince. In science, the question of the existence of testamentary inheritance in Ancient Russia was controversial. In our opinion, we should agree with those authors who resolve this issue in the affirmative. This is indicated by legislation, as well as practice. Wills were, of course, oral.

When inheriting by law, that is, without a will, the sons of the deceased had advantages. With their presence, the daughters did not receive anything. The only obligation on the heirs was to marry the sisters. The hereditary mass was divided, obviously, equally, but the youngest son had the advantage - he received his father's court. Illegal, children did not have hereditary rights, but if their mother was a robe-concubine, then they, along with her, received freedom.

The legislation does not indicate the inheritance of ascending relatives (parents after children), as well as lateral (brothers, sisters). Other sources suggest that the former was excluded, while the latter was allowed. The law nowhere speaks of the succession of a husband after his wife. The wife also does not inherit after her husband, but remains to manage the common household until it is divided among the children. If this property is divided among the heirs, then the widow receives a certain amount for a living. If a widow remarries, she does not receive anything from the inheritance of her first husband.

Family law developed in Ancient Russia in accordance with canonical rules. Initially, there were customs associated with a pagan cult. There was bride kidnapping, polygamy. According to The Tale of Bygone Years, then men had two or three wives. And the Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavich, before baptism, had five wives and several hundred concubines. With the introduction of Christianity, new principles of family law were established - monogamy, the difficulty of divorce, the lack of rights for illegitimate children, cruel punishments for extramarital affairs that came to us from Byzantium.

According to Byzantine law, there was a rather low age of marriage: 12 - 13 years for the bride and 14 - 15 years for the groom. In Russian practice, earlier marriages are also known. It is no coincidence, obviously, that the requirement of parental consent to marriage was put forward. The conclusion of marriage was preceded by betrothal, which was given decisive importance. The marriage took place and was registered in the church. The Church took upon itself the registration of other important acts of civil status - birth, death, which gave her considerable income and dominion over human souls. It should be noted that church marriage met with stubborn resistance from the people. If it was quickly accepted by the ruling elite, then among the working masses new orders had to be introduced by force, and this took more than one century. However, Byzantine family law was not fully applied in Russia at all.

The question of property relations between spouses is not entirely clear. However, it is obvious that the wife had a certain property independence. In any case, the law allowed property disputes between spouses. The wife retained ownership of her dowry and could pass it on through inheritance. Children were completely dependent on their parents, especially on their father, who had almost unlimited power over them.

Old Russian legislation pays great attention to criminal law. Many articles of Russian Pravda are devoted to him, and there are also criminal law norms in princely charters.

Russkaya Pravda interprets the general concept of a crime in a peculiar way: only that which causes direct damage to a particular person, his person or property is criminal. Hence the term for a crime - "resentment". In the princely statutes, one can also find a broader understanding of the crime, covering some formal compositions. This is borrowed from Byzantine canon law.

According to the understanding of the crime as "offense" is built in the Russian Truth and the system of crimes. Russian Truth knows only two types of crimes - against the person and property. There are no state, official, or other kinds of crimes in it. This did not mean, of course, that speeches against princely power went unpunished. Simply in such cases, direct reprisals were used without trial or investigation.

Russkaya Pravda does not yet know the age limit of criminal liability, the concept of insanity. The state of intoxication does not exclude liability. In the literature, it was argued that intoxication, according to Russian Pravda, mitigated responsibility (murder at a feast). In fact, when killing in a fight, it is not the state of intoxication that matters, but an element of a simple quarrel between equal people. Moreover, Russkaya Pravda knows cases when intoxication causes increased responsibility. So, if the owner beats the purchase under a drunken hand, then he loses this purchase with all his debts; a merchant who drinks someone else's goods entrusted to him is liable not only in civil, but also in criminal proceedings, and very strictly at that.

Russian Pravda knows the concept of complicity. This problem is solved simply: all accomplices in the crime are equally responsible, the distribution of functions between them has not yet been noted. Russian Truth distinguishes between liability depending on the subjective side of the crime. It does not distinguish between intent and negligence, but distinguishes between two types of intent - direct and indirect. This is noted with responsibility for murder: murder in robbery is punishable by the highest measure of punishment - flood and plunder, while murder in a "marriage" (fight) - only vira. On the subjective side, liability for bankruptcy also differs: only intentional bankruptcy is considered criminal. The state of affect excludes liability.

As for the objective side of the crime, the vast majority of crimes are committed through action. Only in very few cases is criminal inaction punishable (concealment of a find, prolonged failure to return a debt).

Responsibility differs sharply depending on the social affiliation of the victim. So, for the murder of the bulk of free people, a vira of 40 hryvnias is paid. The life of representatives of the top of the feudal lords is estimated at a double cost of 80 hryvnia. The life of dependent people is estimated at 12 and 5 hryvnias, which are not even called vira.

Russian truth knows only two generic objects of crime - the personality of a person and his property. Hence, as already mentioned, there are only two kinds of crimes. However, each of the genera includes quite a variety of types of crimes. Among the crimes against the person should be called murder, bodily harm, beatings, insult by action. Princely statutes also know the composition of an insult with a word, where the object of the crime is mainly the honor of a woman.

Among property crimes, Russian Truth pays the most attention to theft (tatba). Horse stealing was considered the most serious type of tatba, because the horse was the most important means of production, as well as military property. The criminal destruction of other people's property by arson is also known, punishable by flood and plunder. The severity of punishment for arson is determined, obviously, by three circumstances. Arson is the most easily accessible, and therefore the most dangerous way to destroy someone else's property. It was often used as a means of class struggle when enslaved peasants wanted to take revenge on their master. Finally, arson had an increased social danger, since in wooden Russia a whole village or even a city could burn down from one house or barn. In winter conditions, this could lead to the death of a mass of people left without shelter and essentials.

The princely statutes also provided for crimes against the church, as well as against family relations. The Church, planting a new form of marriage, fought hard against the remnants of pagan orders.

The system of punishments in Russian Pravda is still quite simple, and the punishments themselves are relatively mild. The highest measure of punishment, as already noted, was flood and plunder. The essence of this measure is not entirely clear. In any case, at different times and in different places, the flow and plunder were understood in different ways. Sometimes this meant the murder of the convict and the direct taking away of his property, sometimes the expulsion and confiscation of property, sometimes the sale to slaves.

The next most severe punishment was vira, which was imposed only for murder. If his rope paid for the criminal, then this was called wild vira. Until the second half of the 11th century. blood feud was used as a punishment for murder, which was abolished in Russkaya Pravda by the sons of Yaroslav the Wise.

For the bulk of the crimes, the punishment was the so-called sale - a criminal fine. Its size varied depending on the crime. Vira and sales that went in favor of the prince were accompanied by compensation for damage to the victim or his family. Vira was accompanied by golovnichestvo, the size of which is unknown to us, the sale is a lesson.

For crimes within the competence of the ecclesiastical court, specific ecclesiastical punishments were applied - penitims. So, the Byzantine law provided, for example, for fornication with a sister for 15 years "fast and poster"; 500 bows a day were considered light penance. Epitimya was often combined with state punishment. According to S. V. Yushkov, in addition to penitimia, the church used self-harmful punishments and imprisonment.

Old Russian law did not yet know a sufficiently clear distinction between criminal and civil proceedings, although, of course, some procedural actions (for example, persecution of a trace, code) could only be applied in criminal cases. In any case, both in criminal and civil cases, an adversarial (accusatory) process was used, in which the parties are equal and are themselves the engine of all legal proceedings. Even both sides in the process were called plaintiffs.

Russkaya Pravda knows two specific procedural forms of pre-trial preparation of a case - persecution of a trace and a set.

Pursuing a trace is the search for a criminal in his footsteps. The law provides for special forms and procedures for conducting this procedural action. If the trail led to the house of a specific person, it is believed that he is the criminal (Article 77 of the Trinity List). If the trail just led to a village, the verv (community) is responsible. If the trail is lost on the main road, then the search stops.

If neither the lost thing nor the thief is found, the victim has no choice but to resort to a cry, that is, to an announcement on the marketplace about the loss, in the hope that someone will identify the stolen or lost property from another person. A person who is found to have lost property may, however, claim that he acquired it in a lawful manner, for example, he bought it. Then the bridging process begins. The owner of the property must prove the good faith of its acquisition, i.e., indicate the person from whom he acquired the thing. This requires the testimony of two witnesses or a collector of trade duties.

The law provides for a certain system of evidence. Among them, the testimony of witnesses occupies an important place. Old Russian law distinguished between two categories of witnesses - vidok and rumors. Vidocqs are witnesses, in the modern sense of the word, eyewitnesses of a fact. Rumors are a more complex category. These are people who heard about what happened from someone who has second-hand information. Sometimes rumors were also understood as witnesses of the good glory of the parties. They had to show that the defendant or the plaintiff were trustworthy people. Without even knowing anything about the disputed fact, they simply, as it were, gave a characterization to one or another side in the process. However, already Russian Truth does not always maintain a clear distinction between rumors and vidoks. It is characteristic that an element of formalism appears in the application of witness testimony. Thus, in some civil and criminal cases, a certain number of witnesses were required (for example, two witnesses to the conclusion of a contract of sale, two witnesses in case of insult by action, etc.).

In the Old Russian state, a whole system of formal proofs appeared - ordeals. Among them should be called a judicial duel - "field". The one who won the duel won the case, because it was believed that God helps the right. The Russkaya Pravda and other laws of the Kievan state do not mention the sex, which gave reason to some researchers to doubt its existence. However, other sources, including foreign ones, speak of the practical application of the field.

Another type of God's judgment was trials with iron and water. The iron test was used when other evidence was lacking, and in more serious cases than the water test. Russkaya Pravda, which devotes three articles to these ordeals, does not disclose the technique for carrying them out. Later sources report that the water test was carried out by lowering a bound person into the water, and if he drowned, he was considered to have won the case.

A special type of evidence was an oath - "company". It was applied when there was no other evidence, but, of course, in small cases. A company could confirm the presence of some event or, conversely, its absence. In some cases, external signs and physical evidence had probative value. So, the presence of bruises and bruises was enough to prove the beating.

In Russkaya Pravda, certain forms of enforcement of a court decision are visible, for example, the recovery of vira from the murderer. A special official, the virnik, came to the convict's house with a large retinue and patiently waited for the payment of the vira, receiving a plentiful natural allowance every day. Because of this, it was more profitable for the criminal to get rid of his debt as quickly as possible and get rid of unpleasant guests.

Books, having appeared in the cultural life of man, undoubtedly began to play a key role in the development of world civilization. With the invention of printing, their scope has expanded significantly. Modern man needs to remember that our ancestors always had a special cult of the book. In Ancient Russia and other states of the world, it occupied a separate place in the general culture.

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book features

The invention of writing and printing led to the fact that for centuries the book has been a means by which all the life experience accumulated by mankind is transmitted.

Books are used to educate the people. Thanks to the book, people have the opportunity to communicate with each other. To do this, they do not need to be in close proximity. Communication through a book does not depend on either spatial or temporal boundaries.

A special cult of the book in Ancient Russia, the countries of Europe, Asia led to its worldwide veneration and love. There is an opinion that mankind has two main inventions - writing and printing. Everything else is just a consequence.

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Great miracle

At all times, any book was considered a miracle of miracles. After all, she could heal the soul, enrich with knowledge, give strength and wisdom. The special cult of the book in Ancient Russia and other countries of the world is confirmed, for example, by the following statements:

• the book is a storehouse of treasures;
• a book is a river that fills the entire Universe with life-giving moisture;
• a book, like sunlight, illuminates the path for everyone.

When did the first book appear?

Scientists have not yet been able to establish the exact date and place of birth. But an interesting fact is that for many Slavic peoples the sound of the word is very similar. And in order to understand that we are talking about a book, a Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Pole does not need a special translation: people will understand each other anyway.

It remains to make an assumption: a person knew how to make books, she was in his everyday life even before the division of peoples along territorial and linguistic lines. And the preservation of the word in the modern language of different peoples in an unchanged form also determines the special cult of the book.

In ancient Russia, as some modern scholars suggest, books already existed in the middle of the first millennium. True, they were handwritten and did not correspond much to our ideas about them. I must say that even then the first attempts were made to invent a printing method.

The creation of manuscripts was an expensive procedure, but this did not stop people, which also indicates a special cult of the book. In ancient Russia, this treasure was highly valued. The cost of the book was equal to the cost of a medium-sized estate with all the buildings, land and peasants living here.
The dominant position of the church in the rewriting of books could not be disputed in those days by anyone. The church also determined the content of the volumes, it was subordinated to the interests of the clergy. Most of the books copied in Russia were translated.

Development of book publishing

The situation began to change after the adoption of Christianity. This influenced the development of interstate relations. During the entire subsequent period, a special cult of the book continued to be created in Ancient Russia.

Grade 4 of some modern educational programs contains a list of literary works created in a period when the rewriting of books was no longer just a matter for the church. The first examples of secular literary creativity have survived to this day. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "Russian Truth",

Ancient Russia IX-XIII centuries. - one of the largest states of medieval Europe. Occupying a vast territory - from the Baltic and the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea and from the Volga to the Carpathians - Russia was a historically important contact zone between the Arab East and Western Europe, Byzantium and Scandinavia. This led to its rapid entry into the pan-European historical and cultural landscape. A strong East Slavic state was talked about in various parts of the Old World. The news of Arab and Byzantine authors, information from the Scandinavian sagas, French epic works present Russia as a powerful country that occupies an important place in the system of European political and economic relations. Al-Masudi reported that the Russians "form a great people." The famous song about Roland testifies to the participation of Russian squads in the war against Charlemagne. Nikita Choniates notes that the "most Christian" Russian people saved Byzantium from the invasion of the Polovtsians.

Simultaneously with international recognition in Russia, the consciousness of its own involvement in world history, the awareness of its place in the system of the then world, grew and strengthened. It is no coincidence that on the coins of Vladimir Svyatoslavich the great Kyiv prince is depicted as a Byzantine emperor. He and his predecessors, according to a major church and political figure in Russia in the first half of the 11th century. Hilarion, "not in thinness and in the unknown land of your dominion, but in Ruska, even known and audible to all four ends of the earth" .

Kievan Rus has a special place in the history of Eastern Europe. K. Marx considered it similar to that which was occupied by the empire of Charlemagne in the history of Western Europe. The completion of the processes of formation of the Old Russian state had a positive effect on the ethnic development of the East Slavic tribes, which gradually formed into a single Old Russian nationality. It was based on a common territory, a single language, a common culture, and relatively close economic ties. Throughout the entire period of the existence of Kievan Rus, the Old Russian nationality, which was the common ethnic basis of the three East Slavic peoples - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian - developed through further consolidation.

Kievan Rus was also of great historical importance for many non-Slavic peoples. The advanced achievements of Russia in the field of social, economic and cultural development became the property of Lithuania, Latvians, Estonians, Karelians, Vesi, Mary, Muroms, Mordovians, Turkic nomadic tribes of the southern Russian steppes. Some of these peoples were ethnically and politically consolidated as part of the Old Russian state.

The Old Russian state with its center in Kyiv opened a new - feudal - period in the history of the peoples of Eastern Europe. In their development they have bypassed the slave-owning formation; on the basis of the decomposition of the primitive communal system, feudalism was formed in them. Its main distinguishing feature at an early stage was the dominance of the tributary form of exploitation of the population, the so-called "polyudya" (the first, or natural, form of rent). According to K. Marx, in the Kievan state there was "vassal dependence without fiefs, or fiefs, consisting only in the payment of tribute" . Gradually, as the princes and nobility seized communal lands, a feudal estate was formed, which gave rise to such a form of exploitation as working off (the second form of rent). For the first time they are mentioned in the chronicle under 946 in connection with the reform of Princess Olga. The "lessons" introduced by the Kyiv administration were, apparently, normalized working off in the economy of the feudal lords. Their importance increased with the development of commodity production and the increase in demand for agricultural products. The princes and boyars in their possessions sought to obtain the maximum surplus product, which entered the market and was the main source of their enrichment.

The main category of the population employed in working off were feudally dependent smerds. They had their own economy, but for a certain time they had to work for the feudal lord. Sources also testify to another category of the population that served the economy of the feudal lords. This is the yard servants, or serfs, who were in the full ownership of the owner. Close to servile was the position of the rank and file and purchases. These are former smerds, who, as a result of increased feudal exploitation, lost their own farms and went into bondage to the feudal lord; worked under an agreement - "row" (hence "ryadovichi") or worked out borrowed money - "kupu" (hence "purchases").

The third form of feudal exploitation in Russia was cash rent. It is reflected in written sources as early as the 10th century, and later became more common.

The forms of feudal exploitation were determined by the level of development of production and, in turn, influenced the economic situation of society. A characteristic feature of the Old Russian state was the rapid pace of its socio-economic development. In a relatively short historical period, Russia has achieved significant success in the development of the economy, culture, and cities.

Agriculture, which occupied a leading place in the economy of Kievan Rus, had ancient traditions and reached a high level of development. It had perfect tools of labor, as well as a high agrotechnical level, characterized by several farming systems - fallow with two-field and three-field crop rotation, slash and fallow. Labor productivity in agriculture was high enough to allow growing much more grain than was necessary to meet the needs of the population. The high level of agriculture, the availability of pastures and hay harvesters made it possible to keep huge herds of cattle, horses, and sheep in feudal farms.

In the economic development of Kievan Rus, a highly developed handicraft production occupied a prominent place. Its most important industry was ferrous metallurgy and metalworking. The range of iron products consisted of about 150 items, and the ancient Russian blacksmiths mastered all the then known technical and technological methods of its processing: forging, welding, hardening, welding of steel blades, inlay with non-ferrous metals. The products of the Old Russian “blacksmiths for gold and silver” were distinguished by a high level of craftsmanship: gold tiaras and barmas, kolts and necklaces, silver bracelets - bracers, and other jewelry items. They are made in the technique of cloisonné enamels, filigree, niello, casting, embossing, which have reached a high level of development in Russia. The craftsmanship of ancient Russian artisans has received international recognition. In the famous treatise of the monk Theophilus from Paderborn "On various arts", Russia is called the country that discovered the secrets of "the art of enamel and the variety of niello".

The craft developed both in the economy of the feudal lords and on a free urban basis. In the XII-XIII centuries. Posad artisans begin to unite in corporations, which is evidenced by the names of the city ends (potter's, carpenter's, kozhemyatsky), gates (blacksmith's), as well as the mention of written sources about artels of city dwellers, bridgemen.

An important branch of the Russian economy was trade, the level of development of which was determined by the state of agricultural and handicraft production. Along with the domestic, the international trade of Russia was widely developed. The largest trade communication was the path "from the Greek", or "Greek", connecting Russia with the Baltic and Black Sea markets. Salt and Zalozny trade routes leading to Galicia and the Caucasus also played an important role. The trade route Kyiv - Galich - Prague - Regensburg connected Russia with the countries of Central and Western Europe. Kievan Rus supplied furs, honey, wax, skins, some types of handicrafts, as well as slaves to international markets; received gold, expensive fabrics, wine, oil, silver and glassware, things of the Christian cult, weapons, non-ferrous metals. The main counterparties of the international trade of Kievan Rus were: Byzantium, Volga-Kama Bulgaria, Khazaria, countries of the Arab East, Scandinavian, Central European and Western European states. In Kievan Rus, there were merchant associations that specialized in trade with certain countries or in certain types of goods. The well-known Ivanovo community of Novgorod, which concentrated the wax trade in its hands, had a charter developed almost simultaneously with the guild statutes of European countries.

Merchant corporations of "Greeks" and "hostages" traded with Byzantium and the Caucasus. In many ancient Russian cities - Kyiv, Novgorod, Smolensk and others - there were trading yards of foreign merchants. Evidence of the high level of trade in Kievan Rus is the practice of credit transactions, which is reflected in the legislation. Russkaya Pravda contains articles regulating the procedure for collecting debt from debtor merchants and paying them interest on borrowed amounts of money.

Trade gave rise to money circulation. At an early stage (VIII-X centuries), Arab dirhems circulated in Russia, of which hundreds of thousands were found on ancient Russian lands, Byzantine nomisms and miliaris, Western European denarii. Under Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Yaroslav, Russia minted its own money - pieces of silver and gold coins. From the 11th century for settlements in large trade transactions, silver bars were used, the so-called hryvnias weighing from 95 to 197 g. Three types of hryvnias are known: Kyiv, Novgorod and Chernihiv. The development of feudal relations was accompanied by the social differentiation of settlements. Most of them were villages in which the population engaged in agricultural production lived, some were feudal yards, which were the center of the administrative apparatus of the district. In written sources, rural settlements of the times of Kievan Rus have several names: "village", "village", "village", "graveyard", "yard", "house". They differed from each other not only in size, but also in social functions. "Village" was the name given to small subsidiary settlements formed by people from large villages. "Pogost" is defined by sources as the central settlement of the district, possibly a rural community, where there were auctions, religious institutions. "Yards" or "houses" were the estates of individual feudal lords, the centers of feudal estates. The latter had powerful fortifications, which was due to the need to protect the property of the feudal lords.

The changes that took place in the socio-political and socio-economic life of the Eastern Slavs already in the third quarter of the 1st millennium AD. e., led to the emergence of new forms of settlements, fortified "towns", in which one should see the emerging urban centers. They were intertribal centers, frontier fortifications, tribute collection points, communal sacred places. Such is the path of emergence of Kyiv, Chernigov, Pskov, Izborsk, Staraya Ladoga and other ancient cities. "The Tale of Bygone Years" mentions in the IX-X centuries. more than 20 ancient Russian cities, in the XI century. - 32 more. In general, according to chronicle data, in Russia by the XIII century. there were about 300 cities. The main of them - the capitals of the lands-principalities - were large settlements with an area of ​​several hundred hectares and a population of several tens of thousands of people. They were complex social organisms that performed a complex of functions in the system of feudal relations - economic, political, administrative, cultural.

The economic life of cities was characterized by a high degree of concentration of handicrafts and trade in them, as well as a close relationship with agriculture. This is evidenced by the numerous finds of agricultural tools, the concentration in the cities of the estates of feudal lords, who had large estates in the lands. The surplus product created in the sphere of agricultural production flowed to the cities: here it was redistributed, materialized in architectural complexes, monuments of material and spiritual culture.

With the growth of feudal relations in Kievan Rus, there was a polarization of the property and social status of various groups of the population. A huge mass of the rural and urban poor were opposed by the feudal elite, which gave rise to irreconcilable class contradictions, often resulting in popular uprisings. In written sources, information about a number of such movements has been preserved: 1068-1069, 1113, 1146-1147, 1157. in Kyiv; 1024, 1070-1071, 1175 in the Rostov-Suzdal land; 1069-1070, 1136, 1209, 1228 in Novgorod; 1219 - in Galich.

Ancient Russia was distinguished by a high level of cultural development. The phenomenon of its unusually rapid development is often explained by close contacts with Byzantium - the heir and continuer of the traditions of ancient civilization, as well as other advanced European countries. Undoubtedly, influences (especially Byzantine) had a significant impact on the cultural development of Russia, but this alone cannot explain its high level. In order for the seeds of advanced crops to thrive in a new environment, they had to be planted in well-prepared soil. This was precisely the “cultural soil” of the Eastern Slavs, which absorbed centuries-old traditions and became the basis on which the original ancient Russian culture flourished.

The threads of cultural traditions, coming from the depths of centuries, are clearly visible in housing and fortification construction, applied arts, literature and music. Pagan songs and dances, folklore, wedding and funeral rites, epic legends had a huge impact on the development of ancient Russian culture, were its integral part.

Studies of the brilliant works of ancient Russian jewelry craft reveal many such features in them that originate from the Scythian era. The famous Scythian animal style of applied art, which developed under the influence of the cultures of Greece and the Near East, is clearly discerned in Kyiv serpentines, bracelets, kolts, in Galician ceramic tiles, and Vladimir-Suzdal white stone carvings.

Many outstanding works of ancient Russian architecture were created in Russia. The best of them was Sophia of Kyiv, which amazed contemporaries with majestic architectural forms, solemn and festive splendor of its interior decoration. Metropolitan Hilarion, a witness to the construction and completion of Sophia, wrote: “The Church is wondrous and glorious to all the surrounding countries, as if another would not be found in the whole earthly midnight from East to West.” This monument captures the fusion of the achievements of the Byzantine medieval culture, passed through the consciousness of a Russian person and inspired by his humanistic worldview.

The historical writing of Russia, represented by The Tale of Bygone Years and other chronicles, is a unique phenomenon in world history. The broad erudition of Russian chroniclers is striking. The best of them - Nestor - in The Tale of Bygone Years, which absorbed all the experience of the historical knowledge of Russia, the achievements of European historical thought and the tradition of Byzantine written culture, unfolded a broad picture of world history, showed the place of the Slavs and Kievan Rus in it, conducted a progressive philosophical the idea of ​​the interconnection and interdependence of the historical development of all peoples. The Tale of Igor's Campaign rightfully belongs to the best works of world culture, which expressed in a beautiful poetic form the nationwide idea of ​​preserving the unity of the Russian lands.

The international relations of Russia in the 10th-13th centuries were wide and varied. Particularly close contacts were maintained with Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Georgia, Armenia, Central Asia, the countries of Western Europe - France, England, Denmark, the Scandinavian states, as well as Byzantium. At the early feudal stage of the development of the Old Russian state, they were centralized, later, along with Kyiv, other centers of Russia - Novgorod, Galich, Smolensk, Vladimir-on-Klyazma - actively joined the system of European political relations.

Ancient Russia as a major European power existed from the turn of the 8th-9th centuries. to the 40s of the XIII century. Despite internal political instability, separatist tendencies of specific rulers, civil strife (phenomena characteristic of all the feudal states of Europe), it retained its unity until the invasion of the hordes of Genghis Khan and Batu. Its traditions manifested themselves in the most difficult years of foreign domination. The consciousness of the former greatness of Kievan Rus inspired Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, for whom it was a common cradle, to fight for their national independence. It is no coincidence that the unknown author of "Zadonshchina", singing the victory of the Russians on the Kulikovo field, found it necessary to look at contemporary Russia from the height of the Kyiv mountains. "Let's climb the mountains of Kiev, and see the glorious Dnieper, and look throughout the Russian land."

Notes

. Rozov N.N. Synodal list of works of Hilarion - Russian writer of the 11th century. // Slavia. Casopis pro slavanskou filologii. 1963, Roc. 32, scs. 2. s. 161.

. Mark K. Secret diplomatie history of the eighteenth century and the story of the Life of Lord Palmerston / Ed. by K. Marxs, Hutchiston.-New York: Beekman, 1967.

. Mark K. Op. cit., p. 77.

Theophilus, presbyter. Schedule diversarum artium. - Vienna, 1874, p. nine.

. Rozov N.N. Decree. cit., p. 168.

Military stories of Ancient Russia. - M.; L., 1949, p. 33.

There were several ways to become a slave in Russia. One of them is the capture of foreign prisoners. Such “polonyan” slaves were called “servants”.

In one of the articles of the agreement concluded in 911 with Byzantium after the successful raid of the ancient Rus on Constantinople, the Byzantines were asked to pay 20 gold coins (solids) for each captured "chalet". This amounted to about 90 grams of gold and was twice the average market price for slaves.

After the second campaign against Byzantium (944), which ended less successfully, prices were reduced. This time, 10 gold coins (45 grams of gold) or "two curtains" - two pieces of silk fabric - were given for a "good boy or girl". For a "seredovich" - a middle-aged slave or slave - eight coins were relied on, and for an old man or child - only five.

"Chelyad" was most often used for various unskilled jobs, for example, as a domestic servant. Polonian women, especially young ones, were valued above men - they could be used for love pleasures. Many of them became concubines and even wives of slave owners.

According to "Russkaya Pravda" - a collection of laws of the XI century - the average cost of "chelyadin" was five to six hryvnia. Many historians believe that we are not talking about silver grivnas, but about hryvnia kunas, which were four times cheaper. Thus, for a slave at that time they gave about 200 grams of silver or 750 dressed squirrel skins.

In 1223, after an unsuccessful battle with the Mongols on Kalka, the Smolensk prince Mstislav Davidovich concluded an agreement with Riga and Gotland merchants, according to which the cost of one servant was estimated at one hryvnia in silver (this corresponded to 160-200 grams of silver and about 15 grams of gold).

Prices for servants depended on the region. So, in Smolensk, a slave cost a little cheaper than in Kyiv, and three times cheaper than in the same Constantinople ... The more people were captured into slavery during military campaigns, the more the price fell.

Already in that era, agriculture was the predominant industry in Russia. Its development, of course, was in close connection with soil and climate. Meanwhile, in the southern Russian black earth zone, it brought a rich harvest, although it sometimes suffered from drought, locusts, diggers, worms, etc. enemies; in the northern regions, especially in the Novgorod land, agriculture developed with great difficulty. Early autumn or late spring frosts often broke bread and produced famine years, and only deliveries from other Russian regions or from foreign countries saved the population from pestilence. Meanwhile, in the southern strip, the abundance of free fat fields, with a relatively small population, made it possible to often plow up and sow virgin lands, or novina, i.e. virgin soil, and then, in case of depletion, run it for a long number of years, in the northern zone the farmer had to wage a stubborn struggle with scarce soil and impenetrable forests. In order to get a piece of convenient land, he cleared a piece of forest, cut down and burned trees; the ash that remained from them served as fertilizer. For several years, such a plot gave a decent harvest, and when the soil was depleted, the farmer left it and went further into the forest, clearing a new plot for arable land. Such areas cleared from under the forest were called pritereby. As a result of such mobile agriculture, the peasant population itself adopted a mobile character. But at the same time, our peasantry spread Slavic-Russian colonization far in all directions and secured new lands for the Russian tribe with their sweat or their suffering (hard work).

Various testimonies certify us that the cultivation of the land was carried out with the same tools and methods that have been preserved in Russia to our time. Spring bread was sown in spring, and winter bread in autumn. But in the south, in the same way, they plowed more with a "plow", and in the north - with a plow, or "ral"; horses were harnessed to them, but, in all likelihood, they were used for a plow and oxen; the plowed field, or "role", was harrowed. Ears were also removed with a "sickle" and "oblique". Compressed or beveled bread was piled into a shock, and then it was taken to the threshing floor and put there in "stacks" and "tables"; before threshing, they dried it in "barns", and threshed it with "flails". The threshed grain, or "zhito", was kept in "cages", "barns" (bins), but mostly buried in pits. They grinded grain into flour mainly with hand millstones; mills are still rarely mentioned and only about water mills. Hay was harvested in the same way as now, i.e. they mowed the grass in the meadows (otherwise "hay harvesters" or "reapers") and put them in stacks. The main article of grain products and folk food was already then rye, as the most suitable plant for Russian soil. Wheat was also produced in the south; in addition, millet, oats, barley, peas, spelt, lentils, hemp, flax and hops are mentioned; only we do not meet buckwheat in those days.

As for the cultivation of vegetables, or gardening, then it was not alien to ancient Russia. We have news of vegetable gardens planted near cities and monasteries, especially somewhere in Bologna, i.e. in a low place near the river. Of garden plants, turnips, cabbages, poppies, pumpkins, beans, garlic and onions are mentioned - all the same that hitherto are the usual affiliation of the Russian economy. We also have indications of the existence in cities and monasteries of gardens containing various fruit trees, and mainly apples. Nuts, berries and mushrooms, of course, even then served the needs of the Russian people. For wealthy people, trade delivered expensive foreign vegetables and fruits brought from the south, from the borders of the Byzantine Empire, especially dry grapes, or raisins.

Rye bread has been baked sour since ancient times. During crop failures, poor people mixed in other plants, especially quinoa. There were breads and wheat. Porridge was prepared from millet, and jelly was made from oats, which was sometimes eaten with full honey. They knew how to make sweet pies with honey and milk. Oil was beaten out of hemp and linseed; butter was also beaten from milk; they knew how to make cheese. Meat food, apparently, was very common in Ancient Russia due, among other things, to the abundance of game and constant hunting. Our ancestors not only ate black grouse, hazel grouse, cranes, deer, elk, aurochs, boars, hares, etc., but did not disdain bear meat and squirrels, against which the clergy rebelled, referring them to "foul", i.e. to unclean animals. The clergy also rebelled against the eating of animals, even clean ones, but not slaughtered, but strangled, considering the latter "dead"; here it included black grouse and other birds that were caught with snares. During the famine, the common people, of course, did not pay attention to such prohibitions and ate not only linden bark, but also dogs, cats, snakes, etc., not to mention horse meat, which was generally used by Russians in pagan times. The main article of the usual meat food was delivered, of course, by poultry and animals: chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, goats, pigs and cattle; the latter in the old days was called "beef". Strict observance of fasts, which later distinguished Russian Orthodoxy, was still only part of the pious customs in the first three centuries of our Christianity, and, despite the efforts of the clergy, many Russian people did not yet refuse to eat meat on fast days.

Cattle breeding was the same common occupation in Russia as agriculture, but even more ancient. Of course, it did not have a significant development in the northern forest belt, but flourished more in the southern lands, where there was an abundance of pastures and even steppe spaces. However, to what extent these lands abounded in cattle, we do not have direct information. We meet more indications of the prosperity of horse breeding, but even that is actually princely. The size of this latter can be judged from the annalistic news that the Novgorod-Seversky princes on the Rakhna River alone grazed several thousand mares (in 1146). However, the princes had to take special care of the horse herds, just because they delivered horses not only to their squad, but also to part of the Zemstvo rati, who gathered in wartime. Horses of noble people were usually distinguished by a special brand, or "spot". Southern Russia also enjoyed the proximity of nomadic peoples and acquired from them a large number of horses and oxen through trade; and in wartime, the herds and herds of the steppes served as the main prey of Russian squads; but the nomads, in turn, during the raids stole Russian cattle. Ugrian pacers and horses were especially famous, which the chronicle calls "headlights". In general, the "greyhound" horse was highly valued in Russia and was the joy of a Russian young man.

Along with agriculture and cattle breeding, an important place in the national economy was occupied by fishing, with a great abundance of fish lakes and rivers. Since ancient times, it has been produced with the same gear and tools as in our time, i.e. a net, a bait, a long net, or a net, and a fishing rod. The most common custom of fishing was through eza, i.e. partitions of stakes stuffed across the river, with a hole in the middle, also fenced, where the fish enters. Along with the squads of animal catchers, the princes had entire squads of fish catchers; going out to hunt, they were usually called "troops", and their leader was called "vataman". By the way, the Novgorodians granted their princes the right to send fishing gangs to the Northern Pomerania, namely to the Tersky coast; and they themselves sent their gangs to other shores of Pomerania, where, in addition to fish, they also caught walruses and seals. Since ancient times, in places especially fishing, a whole class of people was formed who were mainly engaged in this trade. As a result of the prohibition of meat to monks, the monasteries especially valued the fishing grounds; wherefore, princes and rich men tried to endow them with such waters, where fish were found in abundance. The monks themselves were engaged in fishing and received a fish quitrent from the inhabitants who were sitting on the monastery land. The sturgeon has always been considered the most valuable fish in Russia. The need to stock up on fish for the winter, especially with the gradual establishment of fasting, taught me to cook fish for the future, i.e. dry it and salt it. Russians already knew how to cook caviar.

Salt was obtained in Russia from different places. Firstly, it was mined in the Galician land on the northeastern slope of the Carpathian Mountains; Salt breaks are especially known in the vicinity of Udech, Kolomyia and Przemysl. From Galich, salt caravans were sent to the Kyiv land either by land through Volyn, or in boats descended the Dniester into the Black Sea, and from there they went up the Dnieper. Secondly, salt was extracted from the Crimean and Azov lakes. Partly it was also transported by sea and the Dnieper, and partly by land on carts. Even then, apparently, there was a special trade of salt carriers (Chumaks), who traveled from South Russia to these lakes for salt. The duty on salt was one of the articles of princely income; sometimes trade in it was farmed out. In Northern Russia, salt was either obtained through foreign trade, or was obtained by boiling. The latter was also produced on the shores of the White Sea, and in various other places where the soil was saturated with salt precipitation; it was mined especially in large quantities in Staraya Rusa. In Novgorod, there were a number of merchants who were engaged in salt mining and were called "prasols". In the Suzdal land, Soligalich, Rostov, Gorodets, etc. are known for their brewing plants. Salt was boiled down very simply: they dug a well and made a solution in it; then this solution was poured into a large iron frying pan ("tsren") or into a cauldron ("salga") and the salt was boiled out by means of boiling.

The usual drinks of Ancient Russia were kvass, braga, beer and honey, which were brewed at home; and wines were obtained through foreign trade from the Byzantine Empire and Southwestern Europe. Beer was brewed from flour with malt and hops. But a particularly common drink was honey, which served as the main subject of treat during feasts and drinking parties. It was brewed with hops and seasoned with some spices. Russia, as you know, loved to drink both with joy and with grief, at a wedding and at a wake. Noble and rich people, along with wine and beer, always kept large stocks of honey in their cellars, which were mostly called "medushes". What huge reserves the princes had, we saw during the capture of the court of the Seversky prince in Putivl, in 1146, and this is quite understandable, since the princes had to constantly treat their retinue with strong honey. In those days, when they did not yet know the use of sugar, honey served in Russia as a seasoning not only for drinks, but also for sweet dishes. Such a great demand for it was satisfied by the widespread bee trade, or beekeeping. Bort was a natural or hollow hollow in an old tree in which wild bees lived; and a grove with such trees was called a side land, or "leaving". Airborne fishing occurs throughout the entire territory of the Russian land, under various soil and climate conditions. The princes in their volosts, along with animal and fish catchers, also had special beekeepers who were engaged in onboard grooming and cooking honey. Sometimes these uhozhai were given to free people with the condition of paying the prince a certain part of the honey. In addition, among the tributes and dues to the prince's treasury, a prominent part was honey. The usual measure for this was "onion", or a certain size of a box of popular prints (whence our "bast basket").

Bortniks in North-Eastern Russia were also called "dart climbers": some dexterity and the habit of climbing trees were required, since honey sometimes had to be obtained at a considerable height. In general, ship fishing was very profitable, because, in addition to honey, it also delivered wax, which not only went to candles for temples and wealthy people, but also constituted a very significant vacation item in our trade with foreigners.

Belyaev "A few words about agriculture in ancient Russia" (Temporary General I. and Dr. XXII). A wonderful essay by Aristov "Industry of Ancient Russia". SPb. 1866. In addition to chronicles, about agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing and airborne trades, there are many indications in Russkaya Pravda, The Life of Theodosius and Paterik Pechersky, as well as in contract and letters of commendation. For example, fishing gangs are mentioned in the treaties of Novgorod with the Grand Dukes (Sobr. G. Gr. and Dog. I).