During the VI-IX centuries. among the Eastern Slavs there was a process of class formation and the creation of the prerequisites for feudalism. The territory on which the Old Russian statehood began to take shape was located at the intersection of the paths along which the migration of peoples and tribes took place, nomadic routes ran. The southern Russian steppes were the scene of an endless struggle of moving tribes and peoples. Often Slavic tribes attacked the border regions of the Byzantine Empire.
In the 7th century in the steppes between the Lower Volga, the Don and the North Caucasus, a Khazar state was formed. Slavic tribes in the regions of the Lower Don and Azov fell under his dominion, retaining, however, a certain autonomy. The territory of the Khazar kingdom extended to the Dnieper and the Black Sea. At the beginning of the 8th century the Arabs inflicted a crushing defeat on the Khazars, and deeply invaded the north through the North Caucasus, reaching the Don. A large number of Slavs - allies of the Khazars - were taken prisoner.
From the north, the Varangians (Normans, Vikings) penetrate into the Russian lands. At the beginning of the 8th century they settle around Yaroslavl, Rostov and Suzdal, establishing control over the territory from Novgorod to Smolensk. Part of the northern colonists penetrates into southern Russia, where they mix with the Rus, taking their name. In Tmutarakan, the capital of the Russian-Varangian Khaganate was formed, which ousted the Khazar rulers. In their struggle, the opponents turned to the Emperor of Constantinople for an alliance.
In such a complex ooetanovka, the consolidation of the Slavic tribes into political unions took place, which became the embryo of the formation of a single East Slavic statehood.
Photo active tours 
In the ninth century as a result of the centuries-old development of the East Slavic society, the early feudal state of Rus was formed with its center in Kyiv. Gradually, all the East Slavic tribes united in Kievan Rus.
The theme of the history of Kievan Rus considered in the work is not only interesting, but also very relevant. Recent years have passed under the sign of changes in many areas of Russian life. The way of life of many people has changed, the system of life values has changed. Knowledge of the history of Russia, the spiritual traditions of the Russian people, is very important for raising the national consciousness of Russians. A sign of the revival of the nation is the ever-increasing interest in the historical past of the Russian people, in its spiritual values.
FORMATION OF THE OLD RUSSIAN STATE IN THE IX CENTURY
The time from the 6th to the 9th centuries is still the last stage of the primitive communal system, the time of the formation of classes and the imperceptible, at first glance, but steady growth of the prerequisites of feudalism. The most valuable monument containing information about the beginning of the Russian state is the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years, where did the Russian land come from, and who in Kyiv began to reign first and where did the Russian land come from," compiled by the Kiev monk Nestor around 1113.
Starting his story, like all medieval historians, with the Flood, Nestor tells about the settlement of Western and Eastern Slavs in Europe in antiquity. He divides the East Slavic tribes into two groups, the level of development of which, according to his description, was not the same. Some of them lived, in his words, “in a bestial way”, preserving the features of the tribal system: blood feud, remnants of matriarchy, the absence of marriage prohibitions, “kidnapping” (kidnapping) of wives, etc. Nestor contrasts these tribes with glades, in whose land Kyiv was built. Glades are "smart men", they have already established a patriarchal monogamous family and, obviously, blood feuds have been outlived (they are "distinguished by a meek and quiet disposition").
Next, Nestor tells how the city of Kyiv was created. Prince Kiy, who reigned there, according to Nestor's story, came to Constantinople to visit the emperor of Byzantium, who received him with great honors. Returning from Constantinople, Kiy built a city on the banks of the Danube, intending to settle here for a long time. But the locals were hostile to him, and Kiy returned to the banks of the Dnieper.
Nestor considered the formation of the Polyan principality in the Middle Dnieper region to be the first historical event on the path to the creation of the Old Russian states. The legend about Kii and his two brothers spread far to the south, and was even brought to Armenia.
Byzantine writers of the 6th century paint the same picture. During the reign of Justinian, huge masses of Slavs advanced to the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine historians colorfully describe the invasion of the empire by Slavic troops, who took away prisoners and rich booty, and the settlement of the empire by Slavic colonists. The appearance on the territory of Byzantium of the Slavs, who dominated communal relations, contributed to the eradication of the slave-owning order here and the development of Byzantium along the path from the slave-owning system to feudalism.
The successes of the Slavs in the fight against powerful Byzantium testify to the relatively high level of development of Slavic society for that time: material prerequisites for equipping significant military expeditions had already appeared, and the system of military democracy made it possible to unite large masses of Slavs. Distant campaigns contributed to the strengthening of the power of the princes in the indigenous Slavic lands, where tribal principalities were created.
Archaeological data fully confirm the words of Nestor that the core of the future Kievan Rus began to take shape on the banks of the Dnieper when the Slavic princes made campaigns in Byzantium and the Danube, in the times preceding the attacks of the Khazars (VII century).
The creation of a significant tribal union in the southern forest-steppe regions facilitated the advancement of the Slavic colonists not only in the southwest (to the Balkans), but also in the southeast direction. True, the steppes were occupied by various nomads: Bulgarians, Avars, Khazars, but the Slavs of the Middle Dnieper (Russian land) apparently managed to protect their possessions from their invasions and penetrate deep into the fertile black earth steppes. In the VII-IX centuries. Slavs also lived in the eastern part of the Khazar lands, somewhere in the Azov region, participated together with the Khazars in military campaigns, were hired to serve the kagan (Khazar ruler). In the south, the Slavs lived, apparently, as islands among other tribes, gradually assimilating them, but at the same time perceiving elements of their culture.
During the VI-IX centuries. productive forces were growing, tribal institutions were changing, and the process of class formation was going on. As the most important phenomena in the life of the Eastern Slavs during the VI-IX centuries. it should be noted the development of arable farming and the development of handicrafts; the disintegration of the tribal community as a labor collective and the separation of individual peasant farms from it, forming a neighboring community; the growth of private land ownership and the formation of classes; the transformation of the tribal army with its defensive functions into a squad that dominates the tribesmen; capture by princes and nobility of tribal land in personal hereditary property.
By the 9th century everywhere on the territory of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs, a significant area of arable land cleared from the forest was formed, testifying to the further development of productive forces under feudalism. An association of small tribal communities, which is characterized by a certain unity of culture, was an ancient Slavic tribe. Each of these tribes gathered a national assembly (veche). The power of the tribal princes gradually increased. The development of intertribal ties, defensive and offensive alliances, the organization of joint campaigns, and, finally, the subordination of weaker neighbors by strong tribes - all this led to the enlargement of the tribes, to their unification into larger groups.
Describing the time when the transition from tribal relations to the state took place, Nestor notes that in various East Slavic regions there were "their reigns." This is also confirmed by archeological data.
The formation of an early feudal state, which gradually subjugated all the East Slavic tribes, became possible only when the differences between the south and north were somewhat smoothed out in terms of agricultural conditions, when there was a sufficient amount of plowed land in the north and the need for hard collective labor for cutting and uprooting of the forest has decreased significantly. As a result, the peasant family emerged as a new production team from the patriarchal community.
The decomposition of the primitive communal system among the Eastern Slavs took place at a time when the slave-owning system had already outlived itself on a world-historical scale. In the process of class formation, Russia came to feudalism, bypassing the slaveholding formation.
In the IX-X centuries. antagonistic classes of feudal society are formed. The number of combatants is increasing everywhere, their differentiation is intensifying, there is a separation from their midst of the nobility - boyars and princes.
Important in the history of the emergence of feudalism is the question of the time of the appearance of cities in Russia. Under the conditions of the tribal system, there were certain centers where tribal councils met, a prince was chosen, trade was carried out, fortune-telling was carried out, court cases were decided, sacrifices were made to the gods and the most important dates of the year were celebrated. Sometimes such a center became the focus of the most important types of production. Most of these ancient centers later turned into medieval cities.
In the IX-X centuries. the feudal lords created a number of new cities, which served both for the purposes of defense against nomads and for the purposes of domination over the enslaved population. Handicraft production was also concentrated in the cities. The old name "city", "city", denoting a fortification, began to be applied to a real feudal city with a citadel-kremlin (fortress) in the center and an extensive craft and trading settlement.
With all the gradualness and slowness of the process of feudalization, one can still point out a certain line, starting from which there are grounds for talking about feudal relations in Russia. This line is the 9th century, when a feudal state was already formed among the Eastern Slavs.
The lands of the East Slavic tribes united into a single state were called Rus. The arguments of the "Norman" historians who tried to declare the founders of the Old Russian state the Normans, who were then called Varangians in Russia, are unconvincing. These historians stated that under Russia the chronicles meant the Varangians. But as has already been shown, the prerequisites for the formation of states among the Slavs developed over many centuries and by the 9th century. gave a noticeable result not only in the West Slavic lands, where the Normans never penetrated and where the Great Moravian state arose, but also in the East Slavic lands (in Kievan Rus), where the Normans appeared, robbed, destroyed representatives of local princely dynasties and sometimes became princes themselves. Obviously, the Normans could neither assist nor seriously interfere with the process of feudalization. The name Rus began to be used in sources in relation to part of the Slavs 300 years before the appearance of the Varangians.
For the first time, the mention of the people of Ros is found in the middle of the 6th century, when information about it had already reached Syria. The glades, called, according to the chronicler, Rus, become the basis of the future Old Russian people, and their land - the core of the territory of the future state - Kievan Rus.
Among the news belonging to Nestor, one passage has survived, which describes Russia before the appearance of the Varangians there. “These are the Slavic regions,” Nestor writes, “that are part of Russia - the glades, the Drevlyans, the Dregovichi, the Polochans, the Novgorod Slovenes, the northerners ...”2. This list includes only half of the East Slavic regions. The composition of Russia, therefore, at that time did not yet include the Krivichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Croats, Ulichi and Tivertsy. At the center of the new state formation was the Glade tribe. The Old Russian state became a kind of federation of tribes, in its form it was an early feudal monarchy
ANCIENT RUSSIA IN THE END OF THE IX - BEGINNING OF THE XII CENTURIES
In the second half of the ninth century Novgorod prince Oleg united in his hands the power over Kiev and Novgorod. The chronicle dates this event to 882. The formation of the early feudal Old Russian state (Kievan Rus) as a result of the emergence of antagonistic classes was a turning point in the history of the Eastern Slavs.
The process of unification of the East Slavic lands as part of the Old Russian state was complex. In a number of lands, the Kiev princes met with serious resistance from local feudal and tribal princes and their "husbands". This resistance was crushed by force of arms. During the reign of Oleg (late 9th - early 10th century), a constant tribute was already levied from Novgorod and from the lands of the North Russian (Novgorod or Ilmen Slavs), Western Russian (Krivichi) and northeastern. Prince Igor of Kyiv (beginning of the 10th century), as a result of a stubborn struggle, subjugated the lands of the streets and Tivertsy. Thus, the border of Kievan Rus was advanced beyond the Dniester. A long struggle continued with the population of the Drevlyane land. Igor increased the amount of tribute levied from the Drevlyans. During one of Igor's campaigns in the Drevlyane land, when he decided to collect a double tribute, the Drevlyans defeated the prince's squad and killed Igor. During the reign of Olga (945-969), Igor's wife, the land of the Drevlyans was finally subordinated to Kiev.
The territorial growth and strengthening of Russia continued under Svyatoslav Igorevich (969-972) and Vladimir Svyatoslavich (980-1015). The composition of the Old Russian state included the lands of the Vyatichi. The power of Russia spread to the North Caucasus. The territory of the Old Russian state also expanded to the west, including the cities of Cherven and Carpathian Rus.
With the formation of the early feudal state, more favorable conditions were created for maintaining the security of the country and its economic growth. But the strengthening of this state was connected with the development of feudal property and the further enslavement of the previously free peasantry.
The supreme power in the Old Russian state belonged to the great Kievan prince. At the princely court there lived a squad, divided into "senior" and "junior". The boyars from the prince's combat comrades-in-arms turn into landowners, his vassals, and estates. In the XI-XII centuries. there is a registration of the boyars as a special estate and the consolidation of its legal status. Vassalage is formed as a system of relations with the prince-suzerain; its characteristic features are the specialization of the vassal service, the contractual nature of relations and the economic independence of the vassal4.
The princely combatants took part in the administration of the state. So, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, together with the boyars, discussed the issue of introducing Christianity, measures to combat "robbery" and decided other matters. In some parts of Russia, their own princes ruled. But the great Kyiv prince sought to replace the local rulers with his proteges.
The state helped to strengthen the rule of the feudal lords in Russia. The apparatus of power ensured the flow of tribute, collected in money and in kind. The working population also performed a number of other duties - military, underwater, participated in the construction of fortresses, roads, bridges, etc. Individual princely combatants received entire regions in control with the right to collect tribute.
In the middle of the X century. under Princess Olga, the sizes of duties (tributes and quitrents) were determined and temporary and permanent camps and churchyards were established in which tribute was collected.
The norms of customary law developed among the Slavs from ancient times. With the emergence and development of class society and the state, along with customary law and gradually replacing it, written laws appeared and developed to protect the interests of the feudal lords. Already in Oleg's treaty with Byzantium (911), "Russian law" is mentioned. The collection of written laws is the "Russian Truth" of the so-called "Short Edition" (end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th century). In its composition, the “Ancient Truth” was preserved, apparently written down at the beginning of the 11th century, but reflecting some norms of customary law. It also speaks of the survivals of primitive communal relations, for example, blood feuds. The law considers cases of replacing revenge with a fine in favor of the relatives of the victim (subsequently in favor of the state).
The armed forces of the Old Russian state consisted of the retinue of the Grand Duke, the retinues, which were brought by the princes and boyars subordinate to him, and the people's militia (wars). The number of troops with which the princes went on campaigns sometimes reached 60-80 thousand. An important role in the armed forces continued to be played by the foot militia. In Russia, detachments of mercenaries were also used - nomads of the steppes (Pechenegs), as well as Polovtsians, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Czechs, Poles, Norman Varangians, but their role in the armed forces was insignificant. The ancient Russian fleet consisted of ships hollowed out of trees and sheathed with boards along the sides. Russian ships sailed the Black, Azov, Caspian and Baltic seas.
The foreign policy of the Old Russian state expressed the interests of the growing class of feudal lords, who expanded their possessions, political influence and trade relations. In an effort to conquer individual East Slavic lands, the Kiev princes came into conflict with the Khazars. The advance to the Danube, the desire to master the trade route along the Black Sea and the Crimean coast led to the struggle of the Russian princes with Byzantium, which tried to limit the influence of Russia in the Black Sea region. In 907 Prince Oleg organized a campaign by sea against Constantinople. The Byzantines were forced to ask the Russians to make peace and pay an indemnity. According to the peace treaty of 911. Russia received the right of duty-free trade in Constantinople.
The Kiev princes undertook campaigns to more distant lands - beyond the Caucasus Range, to the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea (campaigns of 880, 909, 910, 913-914). The expansion of the territory of the Kievan state was especially actively carried out under the reign of the son of Princess Olga, Svyatoslav (Svyatoslav's campaigns - 964-972). He dealt the first blow to the Khazar empire. Their main cities on the Don and Volga were captured. Svyatoslav even planned to settle in this region, becoming the successor to the empire he had destroyed6.
Then the Russian squads marched to the Danube, where they captured the city of Pereyaslavets (formerly owned by the Bulgarians), which Svyatoslav decided to make his capital. Such political ambitions show that the princes of Kiev did not yet associate the idea of the political center of their empire with Kiev.
The danger that came from the East - the invasion of the Pechenegs, forced the Kiev princes to pay more attention to the internal structure of their own state.
ACCEPTANCE OF CHRISTIANITY IN RUSSIA
At the end of the tenth century Christianity was officially introduced in Russia. The development of feudal relations prepared for the replacement of pagan cults by a new religion.
Eastern Slavs deified the forces of nature. Among the gods revered by them, the first place was occupied by Perun - the god of thunder and lightning. Dazhd-bog was the god of the sun and fertility, Stribog was the god of thunder and bad weather. Volos was considered the god of wealth and trade, the creator of all human culture - the blacksmith god Svarog.
Christianity began to penetrate early into Russia among the nobility. Even in the IX century. Patriarch Photius of Constantinople noted that Russia had changed "pagan superstition" to "Christian faith"7. Christians were among Igor's warriors. Princess Olga converted to Christianity.
Vladimir Svyatoslavich, having been baptized in 988 and appreciating the political role of Christianity, decided to make it the state religion in Russia. The adoption of Christianity by Russia took place in a difficult foreign policy situation. In the 80s of the X century. the Byzantine government turned to the prince of Kiev with a request for military assistance to suppress uprisings in subject lands. In response, Vladimir demanded an alliance with Russia from Byzantium, offering to seal it with his marriage to Anna, the sister of Emperor Basil II. The Byzantine government was forced to agree to this. After the marriage of Vladimir and Anna, Christianity was officially recognized as the religion of the Old Russian state.
Church institutions in Russia received large land grants and tithes from state revenues. During the 11th century Bishoprics were founded in Yuriev and Belgorod (in the land of Kiev), Novgorod, Rostov, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny, Vladimir-Volynsky, Polotsk and Turov. Several large monasteries arose in Kyiv.
The people met with hostility the new faith and its ministers. Christianity was forcibly planted, and the Christianization of the country dragged on for several centuries. Pre-Christian (“pagan”) cults continued to live among the people for a long time.
The introduction of Christianity was an advance over paganism. Together with Christianity, the Russians received some elements of a higher Byzantine culture, joined, like other European peoples, to the heritage of antiquity. The introduction of a new religion increased the international significance of ancient Russia.
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 Kiev 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.
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 - corvee, field and castle (construction of fortifications, bridges, roads, etc.), was combined with natural quitrent.
The forms of social protest of the masses against the feudal system were varied: from fleeing from their owner to armed "robbery", from violating the boundaries of feudal estates, setting fire to the beech trees belonging to the princes to open rebellion. The peasants fought against the feudal lords and with weapons in their hands. Under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, “robbery” (as the armed uprisings of the peasants were often called at that time) became a common phenomenon. In 996, Vladimir, on the advice of the clergy, decided to apply the death penalty to the "robbers", but then, having strengthened the apparatus of power and, needing new sources of income to support the squad, he replaced the execution with a fine - vira. The princes paid even more attention to the struggle against popular movements in the 11th century.
At the beginning of the XII century. further development of the craft took place. In the countryside, under the dominance of natural economy, the manufacture of clothing, footwear, utensils, agricultural implements, etc., was a domestic production that had not yet separated from agriculture. With the development of the feudal system, part of the communal artisans became dependent on the feudal lords, others left the village and went under the walls of princely castles and fortresses, where handicraft settlements were created. The possibility of a break between the artisan and the countryside was due to the development of agriculture, which was able to provide the urban population with food, and the beginning of the separation of handicrafts from agriculture.
Cities became centers for the development of handicrafts. In them by the XII century. There were over 60 handicraft specialties. Russian artisans of the XI-XII centuries. produced more than 150 types of iron and steel products, their products played an important role in the development of trade relations between the city and the countryside. Old Russian jewelers knew the art of minting non-ferrous metals. In craft workshops, tools, weapons, household items, and jewelry were made.
With its products, Russia won fame in what was then Europe. However, the social division of labor in the country as a whole was weak. The village lived by subsistence farming. The penetration of small retail traders into the countryside from the city did not disturb the natural character of the rural economy. Cities were the centers of internal trade. But urban commodity production did not change the natural economic basis of the country's economy.
The foreign trade of Russia was more developed. Russian merchants traded in the possessions of the Arab Caliphate. The Dnieper path connected Russia with Byzantium. Russian merchants traveled from Kyiv to Moravia, the Czech Republic, Poland, South Germany, from Novgorod and Polotsk - along the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia, the Polish Pomerania and further to the west. With the development of handicrafts, the export of handicraft products increased.
Silver bars and foreign coins were used as money. Princes Vladimir Svyatoslavich and his son Yaroslav Vladimirovich issued (albeit in small quantities) minted silver coins. However, foreign trade did not change the natural character of the Russian economy.
With the growth of the social division of labor, cities developed. They arose from fortresses-castles, gradually overgrown with settlements, and from trade and craft settlements, around which fortifications were erected. The city was connected with the nearest rural district, the products of which he lived and the population of which he served with handicrafts. In chronicles of the IX-X centuries. 25 cities are mentioned, in the news of the 11th century -89. The heyday of ancient Russian cities falls on the XI-XII centuries.
Craft and merchant associations arose in the cities, although the guild system did not develop here. In addition to free artisans, patrimonial artisans, who were serfs of princes and boyars, also lived in the cities. The urban nobility was the boyars. The large cities of Russia (Kyiv, Chernigov, Polotsk, Novgorod, Smolensk, etc.) were administrative, judicial and military centers. At the same time, having grown stronger, the cities contributed to the process of political fragmentation. This was a natural phenomenon in the conditions of the dominance of subsistence farming and the weakness of economic ties between individual lands.
PROBLEMS OF STATE UNITY OF RUSSIA
The state unity of Russia was not strong. The development of feudal relations and the strengthening of the power of the feudal lords, as well as the growth of cities as centers of local principalities, led to changes in the political superstructure. In the XI century. the Grand Duke still stood at the head of the state, but the princes and boyars dependent on him acquired large land holdings in different parts of Russia (in Novgorod, Polotsk, Chernigov, Volhynia, etc.). The princes of individual feudal centers strengthened their own apparatus of power and, relying on local feudal lords, began to regard their reigns as ancestral, that is, hereditary possessions. Economically, they almost did not depend on Kyiv, on the contrary, the Kyiv prince was interested in their support. Political dependence on Kyiv weighed heavily on local feudal lords and princes who ruled in certain parts of the country.
After the death of Vladimir in Kyiv, his son Svyatopolk became prince, who killed his brothers Boris and Gleb and began a stubborn struggle with Yaroslav. In this struggle, Svyatopolk used the military assistance of the Polish feudal lords. Then a mass popular movement against the Polish invaders began in the Kiev land. Yaroslav, supported by Novgorod citizens, defeated Svyatopolk and occupied Kyiv.
During the reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise (1019-1054), around 1024, a great uprising of smerds broke out in the northeast, in the Suzdal land. The reason for it was severe hunger. Many participants in the suppressed uprising were imprisoned or executed. However, the movement continued until 1026.
During the reign of Yaroslav, the strengthening and further expansion of the borders of the Old Russian state continued. However, the signs of the feudal fragmentation of the state became more and more distinct.
After the death of Yaroslav, state power passed to his three sons. Seniority belonged to Izyaslav, who owned Kiev, Novgorod and other cities. His co-rulers were Svyatoslav (who ruled in Chernigov and Tmutarakan) and Vsevolod (who reigned in Rostov, Suzdal and Pereyaslavl). In 1068, nomadic Polovtsy attacked Russia. Russian troops were defeated on the Alta River. Izyaslav and Vsevolod fled to Kyiv. This hastened the anti-feudal uprising in Kyiv, which had long been brewing. The rebels defeated the princely court, released from prison and elevated to the reign of Vseslav of Polotsk, previously (during the inter-princely strife) imprisoned by his brothers. However, he soon left Kyiv, and Izyaslav a few months later, with the help of Polish troops, resorting to deceit, again occupied the city (1069) and committed a bloody massacre.
Urban uprisings were associated with the movement of the peasantry. Since the anti-feudal movements were also directed against the Christian church, the rebellious peasants and townspeople were sometimes led by wise men. In the 70s of the XI century. there was a major popular movement in the Rostov land. Popular movements also took place in other places in Russia. In Novgorod, for example, the masses of the urban population, led by the Magi, opposed the nobility, headed by a prince and a bishop. Prince Gleb, with the help of military force, dealt with the rebels.
The development of the feudal mode of production inevitably led to the political fragmentation of the country. Class contradictions intensified noticeably. The ruin from exploitation and princely strife was exacerbated by the consequences of crop failures and famine. After the death of Svyatopolk in Kyiv, there was an uprising of the urban population and peasants from the surrounding villages. Frightened, the nobility and the merchants invited Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh (1113-1125), Prince of Pereyaslavsky, to reign in Kyiv. The new prince was forced to make some concessions in order to suppress the uprising.
Vladimir Monomakh pursued a policy of strengthening the grand ducal power. Owning, in addition to Kyiv, Pereyaslavl, Suzdal, Rostov, ruling Novgorod and part of Southwestern Russia, he simultaneously tried to subjugate other lands (Minsk, Volyn, etc.). However, contrary to the policy of Monomakh, the process of fragmentation of Russia, caused by economic reasons, continued. By the second quarter of the XII century. Russia finally fragmented into many principalities.
CULTURE OF ANCIENT RUSSIA
The culture of ancient Russia is the culture of the early feudal society. Oral poetic creativity reflected the life experience of the people, captured in proverbs and sayings, in the rituals of agricultural and family holidays, from which the cult pagan beginning gradually disappeared, the rites turned into folk games. Buffoons - wandering actors, singers and musicians, who came from the people's environment, were the bearers of democratic trends in art. Folk motifs formed the basis of the wonderful song and musical creativity of the "prophetic Boyan", whom the author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" calls "the nightingale of the old time."
The growth of national self-consciousness found a particularly vivid expression in the historical epic epic. In it, the people idealized the time of the political unity of Russia, although still very fragile, when the peasants were not yet dependent. In the image of the "peasant son" Ilya Muromets, a fighter for the independence of the motherland, the deep patriotism of the people is embodied. Folk art had an impact on the traditions and legends that developed in the feudal secular and ecclesiastical environment, and helped the formation of ancient Russian literature.
The appearance of writing was of great importance for the development of ancient Russian literature. In Russia, writing arose, apparently, quite early. The news has been preserved that the Slavic enlightener of the 9th century. Konstantin (Cyril) saw in Chersonese books written in "Russian characters". Evidence of the existence of writing among the Eastern Slavs even before the adoption of Christianity is an earthen vessel discovered in one of the Smolensk burial mounds of the beginning of the 10th century. with an inscription. Significant distribution of writing received after the adoption of Christianity.
History of Russia until 862.
The history of the emergence of Russia before 862 is very interesting. The main reason for this story
starts. Or from the moment the Slavic tribes were separated from the total mass of all Indo-Europeans, and this is a long period that begins around 4800 BC.
(on the site of which the cities of Novgorod and Staraya Russa are now located), and this was in 2395 BC.
First, I'll start with the fact that there are many theories about the origin of the Slavs and Russians (Tyunyaev, Demin, Zhuk, Chudinov and others). According to one theory, the Hyperboreans (they are sometimes called the Arcto-Russians) are the ancestors of all the Caucasoid peoples of the world, and they lived already 38 thousand years ago. According to another theory, the ancient Rus are the ancestor of all the Indo-European peoples of the world and they already existed by the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. But I will take a more moderate theory, according to which the Slavs (you can call them the ancient Rus, because all other Slavic peoples later separated from them) were already an independent people in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. They lived on the territory of the future Kievan Rus already in those distant times and had their own cities (Slovensk and Rusa) and their own princes. According to legend, these princes even had connections with the Egyptian pharaohs (this is according to legend), often with their squads they helped the eastern monarch in the fight between themselves. But in any case, they returned home after the campaigns.
Already about two thousand years ago, Greek and Roman scientists knew that in the east of Europe, between the Carpathian Mountains and the Baltic Sea, numerous tribes of Wends live. These were the ancestors of modern Slavic peoples. By their name, the Baltic Sea was then called the Venedian Gulf of the Northern Ocean. According to archaeologists, the Wends were the original inhabitants of Europe, the descendants of the tribes that lived here in the Stone and Bronze Ages.
The ancient name of the Slavs - Wends - was preserved in the language of the Germanic peoples until the late Middle Ages, and in the Finnish language Russia is still called Veneia. The name "Slavs" (or rather, the Slavs) began to spread only one and a half thousand years ago - in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. At first, only Western Slavs were called that way. Their eastern counterparts were called Antes. Then the Slavs began to call all the tribes speaking Slavic languages.
By 700 AD, the ancient Slavs inhabited the vast territory of Eastern and Central Europe, including eastern Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Balarus, Ukraine, and the western regions of Russia (Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk). To the south of them lived the Scythians, probably there were still tribes who spoke the Scythian-Slavic language. Even to the south of the Slavs lived the Thracians of the Balkan Peninsula, and to the west of the Slavs lived the ancient Germanic tribes and the tribes of the Celts. To the north of the Slavs lived the Finno-Ugric Ural peoples. During this period, the Letto-Lithuanian tribes had much in common with the ancient Slavs (for sure, the language of the Baltic tribes still had much in common with the Slavs).
Around 300-400 AD, the Slavs were divided into two groups, western (Sklavins) and eastern (Antes). Just at that time, the great migration of peoples began, or rather, it could be called the invasion of a large multi-tribal association of Hun tribes into Europe, as a result of which large movements of ancient peoples began to occur in Europe. This particularly affected the Germanic tribes. Slavic tribes did not participate in these movements for the most part. They only took advantage of the weakening power of the Illyrian and Thracian tribes and began to methodically occupy their lands. The Sklavins began to penetrate into the territory previously inhabited by the Illyrians, and the southern Antes began to penetrate into the territory of modern Bulgaria. The main part of the Ants remained on their territory, which in the future became Kievan Rus. By about 650, these migrations were completed.
Now the southern neighbors of the Ants were steppe nomads - Bulgars, Hungarians, Khazars.
The tribes were still led by princes, as before, each Antes tribe
had its own tribal center (city), although there is no exact data on these cities. Most likely, some large settlements existed in Novgorod, Ladoga, Smolensk,
Polotsk, Kyiv. In ancient scriptures and legends, many names of Slavic princes are mentioned - Boreva (it seems that this name remained as a memory of the name of the Borean civilization), Gostomysl, Kiy, Shchek, Khoriv). It is believed that the princes Askold, Dir, Rurik, Sineus, Truvor were Varangians, which was undoubtedly possible. Especially in the northern part of Ancient Russia, there were traditions to hire foreigners from among the Varangians for military leadership (I would still hire foreigners, especially Germans, for the highest posts from Russia, because Great Catherine was German and Russia in her times was the greatest power). But you can say it differently. Slavic princes, trying to be like their Western counterparts, called themselves names similar to Varangian ones. There are sayings that Rurik had the name Yurik, Oleg had the name Olaf.
At the same time, the long coexistence (close to each other) of the Old Russian and Norman (Scandinavian) tribes also entailed a common culture (some important heads of clans and leaders bore both Russian and Scandinavian names).
Here is information about the ancient Rus (wounds, rugs) from foreign sources (medieval):
- The end of the VIII century. In the Life of Stefan of Surozh, the Russian prince Bravlin is mentioned. The prince's name probably comes from Bravalla, during which in 786 a great battle took place between the Danes and the Frisians. The Frisians were defeated, and many of them left their country, moving to the east.
- The end of the VIII century. The geographer Bavarian calls the Rus next to the Khazars, as well as some Ross (Rots) somewhere in the interfluve of the Elbe and Sala: Attorosy, Vilirosy, Hozirosy, Zabrosy.
- VIII-IX centuries. Popes Leo III (795-816), Benedict III (855-858) and other holders of the Roman table sent special messages to the "clerics of the horns". Obviously, the Rug communities (they were Arians) continued to keep apart from the rest of the Christians.
- 839 year. The Vertinsky annals inform about the arrival of representatives of the people of Ros, whose ruler bore the title of kagan (prince), with the ambassadors of the Byzantine emperor Theophilus, to Louis I the Pious.
- Until 842. The life of George of Amastrid tells about the attack of the Ross on Amastrida (Asia Minor).
- Between 836-847 years Al-Khwarizmi in his geographical work mentions the Russian Mountain, from which the river Dr. mustache (Dnepr?). The news is also found in a treatise of the second half of the 10th century (Khudul al-Alam), where it is specified that the mountain is located to the north of the “inner Bulgarians”.
- 844 year. Al-Yakubi reports an attack by the Rus on Seville in Spain.
- 844 year. Ibn Khordadbeh calls the Rus a kind or a kind of Slavs (two editions of his work are known).
- June 18, 860. Ros attack on Constantinople.
- 861 year. Konstantin-Kirill The philosopher, the future creator of the Slavic alphabet, discovered in the Crimea a gospel and a psalter written in Russian scripts, and, having met a person who spoke this language, he mastered the spoken language and deciphered the script.
- IX century. According to the Persian historian Fakhr al-Din Mubarakshah (XIII century), the Khazars had a letter that originated from Russian. The Khazars borrowed it from the nearby living "branch of the Rumians" (Byzantines), whom they call the Russ. There are 21 letters in the alphabet, which are written from left to right, without the letter aleph, as in Aramaic or Syriac-Nestorian writing. The Khazar Jews had this letter. Russes in this case are believed to be called Alans.
- 863 year. In the document confirming the previous award, Rusaramarha (brand of the Rusars) is mentioned on the territory of modern Austria.
- OK. 867 years. Patriarch Photius in the district message reports the baptism of the Ross (the area of residence is unknown).
- OK. 867 years. The Byzantine emperor Basil, in a letter to Louis II, who assumed the title of emperor, uses the title of kagan, equal to the royal one, in relation to four peoples: Avars, Khazars, Bulgarians and Normans. The news is usually associated with the mention of the kagan among the Rus under the year 839 (see note 33), as well as in a number of Eastern and Russian sources proper.
- OK. 874 years. A protege of Rome, the Patriarch of Constantinople Ignatius sent a bishop to Russia.
- 879 year. The first mention of the Russian diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, apparently located in the city of Rosiya in the Eastern Crimea. This diocese exists until the XII century.
- 879 year. Baptism of the Ross by Emperor Basil (message by John Skylitsa).
- Until 885. The chronicle of Dalimil of the beginning of the 14th century calls the Archbishop of Moravia Methodius a Rusyn.
- Until 894. The Czech chronicle of Pulkava at the end of the 14th century includes Polonia and Russia in the Moravia of the era of the Moravian prince Svyatopolk (871-894).
- A historian of the middle of the 15th century, later Pope Pius II, Aeneas Silvius speaks of the subjugation of Rome by Svyatopolk to Polonia, Hungaria (later Hungary, formerly the region of the Huns) and Russans - Russ.
- In the "Chronicle of the whole world" by Martin Velsky (XVI century) and the chronograph of the Western Russian edition (XVI century) it is said that Svyatopolk "held the Russian lands." Svyatopolk "with the Russian boyar" baptized the Czech prince Borzhivoy.
- The Czech chronicler Hagetius (d. 1552) recalls that Russia used to be part of the Moravian kingdom. A number of eastern authors retell the story about the Rus living on the island "in three days' journey" (about 100 km), whose ruler was called Khakan.
- The end of the IX - the beginning of the X century. Al-Balkhi (c. 850-930) speaks of three groups of Rus: Kuyab, Slavia, Arsania. The nearest to the Bulgar on the Volga is Kuyaba, the most distant is Slavia.
- OK. 904 years. The Raffelstetten trade charter (Austria) speaks of the Slavs coming "from Rugia". Researchers usually choose between Rugiland on the Danube, Rugia in the Baltics, and Kievan Rus.
- 912-913 years. The campaign of the Rus to the Caspian Sea from the Black Sea, noted by the Arab scientist Masudi (middle of the 10th century) and other oriental authors.
- 921-922 years. Ibn Fadlan described the Rus, whom he saw in Bulgar.
- OK. 935 years. The charter of the tournament in Magdeburg names Velemir, the prince (princeps) of Russia, as well as those who perform under the banner of the Duke of Thuringia, Otton Redebotto, Duke of Russia and Wenceslas, Prince of Rugia, among the participants. The document was published among other Magdeburg acts by Melchior Goldast (XVII century).
- 941 year. The attack of the Ross or Russ on Byzantium. The Greek authors Theophanes, the Successor of George Amartola and Simeon Magister (all in the middle of the 10th century) explain that the dews are “dromites” (i.e., migrants, migrating, fidgets) descending “from the family of the Franks”. In the Slavic translation of the Chronicle of George Amartol, the last phrase is translated as "from the Varangian family." Langobard Liudprand (c. 958) wrote a story in which he called the Rus "Northern people", whom the Greeks "in appearance call the Rus" (i.e., "Reds"), and the inhabitants of Northern Italy "by their location, the Normans." In Northern Italy, the “Normans” were called those living north of the Danube, in Southern Italy the Lombards themselves were identified with the northern Veneti.
- Until 944. The Jewish-Khazar correspondence of the 10th century mentions the “King of the Rus Halegva”, who first attacked the Khazars, and then, at their instigation, under Romanus Lekapinus (920-944) went to the Greeks, where he was defeated by Greek fire. Ashamed to return to his country, Khalegvu went to Persia (in another version - Thrace), where he died along with the army.
- 943-944 years. A number of eastern sources close to the events speak of a campaign of the Rus against Berdaa (Azerbaijan).
- 946 year. A document is dated this year, in which the Baltic Sea is called the “sea of rugs”. A similar name is repeated in a document of 1150.
- Between 948-952. Konstantin Porphyrogenitus mentions Russia "near" and "far", and also gives a parallel designation of the names of the Dnieper rapids in Russian and in Slavonic.
- 954-960 years. The wounds-rugs act in alliance with Otto I, helping him in the subjugation of the rebellious Slavic tribes. As a result, all the tribes living by the sea "against Russia" were conquered. Similarly, Adam of Bremen and Helmold locate the island of the Rugs as lying "against the land of the Vilians".
- 959 year. An embassy to Otto I of “Queen of the Rugs Helena” (Olga), shortly before this, baptized by the Byzantine emperor Roman, with a request to send a bishop and priests. Libutius, a monk of the Mainz monastery, was appointed bishop of Russia. But Libutius died in 961. Instead of him, Adalbert was appointed, who made a trip to the Rugs in 961-962. The enterprise, however, ended in complete failure: the missionaries were expelled by the Rugs! The message about these events is described by the so-called Continuer of Reginon, behind which the researchers see Adalbert himself. In other chronicles, Russia is called instead of Rugiya.
- The middle of the X century. Masudi mentions the Russian River and the Russian Sea. In the view of Masudi, the Russian Sea - Pontus is connected to the Gulf of the Ocean (Baltic Sea), and the Rus are called islanders, who rotate a lot on ships.
- Second half of the 10th century. Compiled in southern Italy, the Jewish collection Josippon (Joseph ben Gorion) places the Rus immediately on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and along the "Great Sea" - "Ocean" next to the Angles and Saxons. The confusion, apparently, was facilitated by the mention in the Caspian regions, in addition to the Rus, also of the Saksin people in a number of sources.
- 965 year. Ibn Yakub visited the German (Holy Roman) Empire on a diplomatic mission and met with Otto I. In the report on the trip (included in the work of the 11th-century author al-Bekri), he gives a description of the Slavic lands and names the Rus, which border in the east with the possessions of the Polish Prince Mieszko, as well as from the west on ships attack the Prussians.
- 967 year. Pope John XIII, by a special bull authorizing the establishment of the Prague bishopric, forbade the involvement of priests from the Russian and Bulgarian people and worship in the Slavic language. The document is reproduced in the Chronicle of Cosmas of Prague (c. 1125) and also by Annalist Saxo (c. 1140).
- 968 year. Adalbert was approved by the Archbishop of Magdeburg. The letter reminds us that he used to go to the Rugs.
- 969 year. The Magdeburg annals call the inhabitants of the island of Rügen Russians.
- 968-969 years. Ibn Haukal and other Eastern authors talk about the defeat of the Volga Bulgaria and Khazaria by the Rus, after which the Rus army went to Byzantium and Andalusia (Spain). In the annals, these events are dated 6472-6473, which, according to the Constantinopolitan era, should indicate the years 964-965. But in the texts of the 10th century, another space era is often used, which differs by four years from the Constantinople era, and therefore the chronicle indicates the same dates as the Eastern sources. As for campaigns in Spain, we could talk about other Russians.
As can be seen from all these reports of the ancient Rus, Western historians often confused with the Normans (Varangians), because in those days the culture of the northern Rus and the Varangians was very similar (the ties between them were very close), and with the Letto-Lithuanian tribes this connection was even stronger, even the border between the Russians and the Prussians cannot be drawn.
So by 862, Ancient Russia was basically the same as after 862, only the difference was that during this period there was no strong single centralized state, and the principalities were tribal.
The state itself under the name "Kievan Rus" appeared after the conquest (subordination) of the Kiev tribal state to another tribal state - Novgorod, and after the transfer of the capital from Novgorod the Great to Kyiv.
History of Ancient Russia- the history of the Old Russian state from 862 (or 882) to the Tatar-Mongol invasion.
By the middle of the 9th century (according to the chronicle chronology in 862), in the north of European Russia, in the Priilmenye region, a large alliance was formed from a number of East Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes, under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty, who founded a centralized state. In 882, the Novgorod prince Oleg captured Kyiv, thereby uniting the northern and southern lands of the Eastern Slavs under one authority. As a result of successful military campaigns and diplomatic efforts of the Kiev rulers, the lands of all East Slavic, as well as some Finno-Ugric, Baltic, Turkic tribes became part of the new state. In parallel, the process of Slavic colonization of the north-east of the Russian land was going on.
Ancient Russia was the largest state formation in Europe, fought for a dominant position in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region with the Byzantine Empire. Under Prince Vladimir in 988, Russia adopted Christianity. Prince Yaroslav the Wise approved the first Russian code of laws - Russian Truth. In 1132, after the death of the Kiev prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, the Old Russian state began to disintegrate into a number of independent principalities: Novgorod land, Vladimir-Suzdal principality, Galicia-Volyn principality, Chernigov principality, Ryazan principality, Polotsk principality and others. At the same time, Kyiv remained the object of the struggle between the most powerful princely branches, and the Kyiv land was considered the collective possession of the Rurikovichs.
Since the middle of the 12th century, the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal has risen in North-Eastern Russia, its rulers (Andrey Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest), fighting for Kyiv, left Vladimir as their main residence, which led to its rise as a new all-Russian center. Also, the most powerful principalities were Chernigov, Galicia-Volyn and Smolensk. In 1237-1240, most of the Russian lands were subjected to the devastating invasion of Batu. Kyiv, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Galich, Ryazan and other centers of Russian principalities were destroyed, the southern and southeastern outskirts lost a significant part of the settled population.
background
The Old Russian state arose on the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" on the lands of the East Slavic tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polyans, then covering the Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Polochans, Radimichi, Northerners.
Before calling the Varangians
The first information about the state of the Rus dates back to the first third of the 9th century: in 839, the ambassadors of the kagan of the Ros people are mentioned, who first arrived in Constantinople, and from there to the court of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious. Since that time, the ethnonym "Rus" has also become famous. The term " Kievan Rus”appears for the first time only in historical studies of the 18th-19th centuries.
In 860 (The Tale of Bygone Years erroneously refers it to 866), Russia makes its first campaign against Constantinople. Greek sources associate with him the so-called first baptism of Russia, after which a diocese may have arisen in Russia and the ruling elite (possibly led by Askold) adopted Christianity.
Rurik's reign
In 862, according to The Tale of Bygone Years, the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes called the Varangians to reign.
In the year 6370 (862). They expelled the Varangians across the sea, and did not give them tribute, and began to rule themselves, and there was no truth among them, and clan stood against clan, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: "Let's look for a prince who would rule over us and judge by right." And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia. Those Varangians were called Rus, as others are called Swedes, and others are Normans and Angles, and still other Gotlanders, - like these. The Russians said Chud, Slovenes, Krivichi and all: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us." And three brothers with their clans were elected, and they took all of Russia with them, and they came, and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before that they were Slovenes. |
In 862 (the date is approximate, like the entire early chronology of the Chronicle), the Varangians and Rurik's combatants Askold and Dir, who were heading to Constantinople, subjugated Kyiv, thereby establishing full control over the most important trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks." At the same time, the Novgorod and Nikon chronicles do not connect Askold and Dir with Rurik, and the chronicle of Jan Dlugosh and the Gustyn chronicle call them the descendants of Kiy.
In 879, Rurik died in Novgorod. The reign was transferred to Oleg, the regent under the young son of Rurik Igor.
The first Russian princes
The reign of Oleg the Prophet
In 882, according to chronicle chronology, Prince Oleg ( Oleg Prophetic), a relative of Rurik, went on a campaign from Novgorod to the south, capturing Smolensk and Lyubech along the way, establishing his power there and putting his people on the reign. In Oleg's army there were Varangians and warriors of tribes subject to him - Chuds, Slovenes, Meri and Krivichi. Further, Oleg, with the Novgorod army and a mercenary Varangian squad, captured Kyiv, killed Askold and Dir, who ruled there, and declared Kyiv the capital of his state. Already in Kyiv, he established the size of the tribute that the subject tribes of the Novgorod land had to pay annually - Slovene, Krivichi and Merya. The construction of fortresses in the vicinity of the new capital was also begun.
Oleg militarily extended his power to the lands of the Drevlyans and Northerners, and the Radimichi accepted Oleg's conditions without a fight (the last two tribal unions had previously paid tribute to the Khazars). The annals do not indicate the reaction of the Khazars, however, the historian Petrukhin suggests that they began an economic blockade, ceasing to let Russian merchants through their lands.
As a result of the victorious campaign against Byzantium, the first written agreements were concluded in 907 and 911, which provided for preferential terms of trade for Russian merchants (trade duties were canceled, repairs of ships were provided, accommodation for the night), the solution of legal and military issues. According to the historian V. Mavrodin, the success of Oleg's campaign is explained by the fact that he managed to rally the forces of the Old Russian state and strengthen its emerging statehood.
According to the chronicle version, Oleg, who bore the title of Grand Duke, ruled for more than 30 years. Rurik's own son Igor took the throne after the death of Oleg around 912 and ruled until 945.
Igor Rurikovich
The beginning of Igor's reign was marked by an uprising of the Drevlyans, who were again subjugated and subjected to even greater tribute, and the appearance of the Pechenegs in the Black Sea steppes (in 915), who ruined the possessions of the Khazars and ousted the Hungarians from the Black Sea region. By the beginning of the X century. the nomad camps of the Pechenegs stretched from the Volga to the Prut.
Igor made two military campaigns against Byzantium. The first, in 941, ended unsuccessfully. It was also preceded by an unsuccessful military campaign against Khazaria, during which Russia, acting at the request of Byzantium, attacked the Khazar city of Samkerts on the Taman Peninsula, but was defeated by the Khazar commander Pesach and turned its weapons against Byzantium. The Bulgarians warned the Byzantines that Igor started the campaign with 10,000 soldiers. Igor's fleet plundered Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Pontic Heraclea and Nicomedia, but then was defeated and he, leaving the surviving army in Thrace, fled to Kyiv with several boats. The captured soldiers were executed in Constantinople. From the capital, he sent an invitation to the Vikings to take part in a new invasion of Byzantium. The second campaign against Byzantium took place in 944.
Igor's army, which consisted of glades, Krivichi, Slovenes, Tivertsy, Varangians and Pechenegs, reached the Danube, from where ambassadors were sent to Constantinople. They entered into an agreement that confirmed many of the provisions of the previous agreements of 907 and 911, but abolished duty-free trade. Russia pledged to protect the Byzantine possessions in the Crimea. In 943 or 944 a campaign was made against Berdaa.
In 945, Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlyans. According to the chronicle version, the reason for the death was the desire of the prince to receive tribute again, which was demanded of him by the combatants, who envied the wealth of the squad of the governor Sveneld. A small squad of Igor was killed by the Drevlyans near Iskorosten, and he himself was executed. The historian A. A. Shakhmatov put forward a version according to which Igor and Sveneld began to conflict because of the Drevlyan tribute and, as a result, Igor was killed.
Olga
After Igor's death, due to the infancy of his son Svyatoslav, real power was in the hands of Igor's widow, Princess Olga. The Drevlyans sent an embassy to her, offering her to become the wife of their prince Mal. However, Olga executed the ambassadors, gathered an army, and in 946 began the siege of Iskorosten, which ended with its burning and the subjugation of the Drevlyans to the Kiev princes. The Tale of Bygone Years described not only their conquest, but also the revenge that preceded this on the part of the Kiev ruler. Olga imposed a large tribute on the Drevlyans.
In 947, she undertook a trip to the Novgorod land, where instead of the former polyudya, she introduced a system of quitrents and tributes, which the locals themselves had to bring to the camps and graveyards, passing them on to specially appointed people - tiuns. Thus, a new method of collecting tribute from the subjects of the Kievan princes was introduced.
She became the first ruler of the Old Russian state who officially adopted Christianity of the Byzantine rite (according to the most reasoned version, in 957, although other dates are also proposed). In 957, Olga, with a large embassy, paid an official visit to Constantinople, known for the description of court ceremonies by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the work "Ceremonies", and she was accompanied by the priest Gregory.
The emperor calls Olga the ruler (archontissa) of Russia, the name of her son Svyatoslav (in the retinue listing are " people of Svyatoslav”) is mentioned without a title. Olga sought baptism and recognition by Byzantium of Russia as an equal Christian empire. At baptism, she received the name Elena. However, according to a number of historians, it was not possible to agree on an alliance immediately. In 959, Olga received the Greek embassy, but refused to send an army to help Byzantium. In the same year, she sent ambassadors to the German emperor Otto I with a request to send bishops and priests and establish a church in Russia. This attempt to play on the contradictions between Byzantium and Germany was successful, Constantinople made concessions by concluding a mutually beneficial agreement, and the German embassy, headed by Bishop Adalbert, returned with nothing. In 960, the Russian army went to help the Greeks, who fought in Crete against the Arabs under the leadership of the future emperor Nicephorus Focas.
The monk Jacob in the 11th century essay “Memory and Praise to the Russian Prince Volodimer” reports the exact date of Olga’s death: July 11, 969.
Svyatoslav Igorevich
Around 960, the matured Svyatoslav took power into his own hands. He grew up among his father's warriors and was the first of the Russian princes to have a Slavic name. From the beginning of his reign, he began to prepare for military campaigns and gathered an army. According to the historian Grekov, Svyatoslav was deeply involved in the international relations of Europe and Asia. Often he acted in agreement with other states, thus participating in solving the problems of European, and, partly, Asian politics.
His first action was the subjugation of the Vyatichi (964), who were the last of all the East Slavic tribes to continue to pay tribute to the Khazars. Then, according to Eastern sources, Svyatoslav attacked and defeated the Volga Bulgaria. In 965 (according to other data also in 968/969) Svyatoslav made a campaign against the Khazar Khaganate. The Khazar army, led by the kagan, went out to meet Svyatoslav's squad, but was defeated. The Russian army stormed the main cities of the Khazars: the city-fortress Sarkel, Semender and the capital Itil. After that, the ancient Russian settlement Belaya Vezha arose on the site of Sarkel. After the defeat, the remnants of the Khazar state were known under the name of the Saksins and no longer played their former role. The establishment of Russia in the Black Sea region and the North Caucasus is also connected with this campaign, where Svyatoslav defeated the Yases (Alans) and Kasogs (Circassians) and where Tmutarakan became the center of Russian possessions.
In 968, a Byzantine embassy arrived in Russia, proposing an alliance against Bulgaria, which had then left Byzantium. The Byzantine ambassador Kalokir, on behalf of Emperor Nicephorus Foki, brought a gift - 1,500 pounds of gold. Having included the allied Pechenegs in his army, Svyatoslav moved to the Danube. In a short time, the Bulgarian troops were defeated, the Russian squads occupied up to 80 Bulgarian cities. Svyatoslav chose Pereyaslavets, a city on the lower reaches of the Danube, as his headquarters. However, such a sharp strengthening of Russia caused fears in Constantinople and the Byzantines managed to convince the Pechenegs to make another raid on Kyiv. In 968, their army besieged the Russian capital, where Princess Olga and her grandchildren, Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir, were located. The city saved the approach of a small squad of governor Pretich. Soon, Svyatoslav himself arrived with a cavalry army, driving the Pechenegs into the steppes. However, the prince did not seek to remain in Russia. Chronicles quote him as follows:
Svyatoslav remained in Kyiv until the death of his mother Olga. After that, he divided the possessions between his sons: Yaropolk left Kyiv, Oleg - the lands of the Drevlyans, and Vladimir - Novgorod).
Then he returned to Pereyaslavets. In a new campaign with a significant army (according to various sources, from 10 to 60 thousand soldiers) in 970, Svyatoslav captured almost all of Bulgaria, occupied its capital Preslav and invaded Byzantium. The new emperor John Tzimiskes sent a large army against him. The Russian army, which included Bulgarians and Hungarians, was forced to retreat to Dorostol (Silistria) - a fortress on the Danube.
In 971 it was besieged by the Byzantines. In the battle near the walls of the fortress, Svyatoslav's army suffered heavy losses, he was forced to negotiate with Tzimiskes. According to the peace treaty, Russia pledged not to attack the Byzantine possessions in Bulgaria, and Constantinople promised not to incite the Pechenegs to campaign against Russia.
Governor Sveneld advised the prince to return to Russia by land. However, Svyatoslav preferred to sail through the Dnieper rapids. At the same time, the prince planned to gather a new army in Russia and resume the war with Byzantium. In winter, they were blocked by the Pechenegs and a small squad of Svyatoslav spent a hungry winter in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. In the spring of 972, Svyatoslav made an attempt to break into Russia, but his army was defeated, and he himself was killed. According to another version, the death of the Kiev prince occurred in 973. From the skull of the prince, the Pecheneg leader Kurya made a bowl for feasts.
Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise. Baptism of Russia
The reign of Prince Vladimir. Baptism of Russia
After the death of Svyatoslav, a civil strife broke out between his sons for the right to the throne (972-978 or 980). The eldest son Yaropolk became the great prince of Kiev, Oleg received the Drevlyansk lands, and Vladimir - Novgorod. In 977, Yaropolk defeated Oleg's squad, and Oleg himself died. Vladimir fled "over the sea", but returned two years later with the Varangian squad. During a campaign against Kyiv, he conquered Polotsk, an important trading post on the western Dvina, and married the daughter of Prince Rogvolod, Rogneda, whom he had killed.
During the civil strife, Vladimir Svyatoslavich defended his rights to the throne (r. 980-1015). Under him, the formation of the state territory of Ancient Russia was completed, the Cherven cities and Carpathian Rus, which were disputed by Poland, were annexed. After the victory of Vladimir, his son Svyatopolk married the daughter of the Polish king Boleslav the Brave, and peaceful relations were established between the two states. Vladimir finally annexed the Vyatichi and Radimichi to Russia. In 983 he made a campaign against the Yotvingians, and in 985 against the Volga Bulgarians.
Having achieved autocracy in the Russian land, Vladimir began a religious reform. In 980, the prince established in Kyiv a pagan pantheon of six gods of different tribes. Tribal cults could not create a unified state religious system. In 986, ambassadors from various countries began to arrive in Kyiv, offering Vladimir to accept their faith.
Islam was offered by the Volga Bulgaria, Western-style Christianity by the German emperor Otto I, Judaism by the Khazar Jews. However, Vladimir chose Christianity, which the Greek philosopher told him about. The embassy that returned from Byzantium supported the prince. In 988, the Russian army besieged the Byzantine Korsun (Chersonese). Byzantium agreed to peace, Princess Anna became the wife of Vladimir. The pagan idols that stood in Kyiv were overthrown, and the people of Kiev were baptized in the Dnieper. A stone church was built in the capital, which became known as the Tithes Church, since the prince gave a tenth of his income for its maintenance. After the baptism of Russia, treaties with Byzantium became unnecessary, since closer relations were established between the two states. These ties were largely strengthened thanks to the church apparatus that the Byzantines organized in Russia. The first bishops and priests arrived from Korsun and other Byzantine cities. The church organization within the Old Russian state was in the hands of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who became a great political force in Russia.
Having become the prince of Kiev, Vladimir faced the increased Pecheneg threat. To protect against nomads, he builds a line of fortresses on the border, the garrisons of which he recruited from the "best men" of the northern tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Chud and Vyatichi. Tribal borders began to blur, the state border became important. It was during the time of Vladimir that the action of many Russian epics telling about the exploits of heroes takes place.
Vladimir established a new order of government: he planted his sons in Russian cities. Svyatopolk received Turov, Izyaslav - Polotsk, Yaroslav - Novgorod, Boris - Rostov, Gleb - Murom, Svyatoslav - the Drevlyane land, Vsevolod - Vladimir-on-Volyn, Sudislav - Pskov, Stanislav - Smolensk, Mstislav - Tmutarakan. Tribute was no longer collected during polyudya and only on churchyards. From that moment on, the princely family with their warriors "fed" in the cities themselves and sent part of the tribute to the capital - Kyiv.
The reign of Yaroslav the Wise
After the death of Vladimir, a new civil strife took place in Russia. Svyatopolk the Accursed in 1015 killed his brothers Boris (according to another version, Boris was killed by Yaroslav's Scandinavian mercenaries), Gleb and Svyatoslav. Having learned about the murder of the brothers, Yaroslav, who ruled in Novgorod, began to prepare for a campaign against Kyiv. Svyatopolk received help from the Polish king Boleslav and the Pechenegs, but in the end he was defeated and fled to Poland, where he died. Boris and Gleb in 1071 were canonized as saints.
After the victory over Svyatopolk, Yaroslav had a new opponent - his brother Mstislav, who by that time had entrenched himself in Tmutarakan and Eastern Crimea. In 1022, Mstislav conquered the Kasogs (Circassians), defeating their leader Rededya in a fight. Having strengthened the army with the Khazars and Kasogs, he marched to the north, where he subjugated the northerners, who replenished his troops. Then he occupied Chernigov. At this time, Yaroslav turned for help to the Varangians, who sent him a strong army. The decisive battle took place in 1024 at Listven, the victory went to Mstislav. After her, the brothers divided Russia into two parts - along the bed of the Dnieper. Kyiv and Novgorod remained with Yaroslav, and it was Novgorod that remained his permanent residence. Mstislav moved his capital to Chernigov. The brothers maintained a close alliance, after the death of the Polish king Boleslav, they returned to Russia the Cherven cities captured by the Poles after the death of Vladimir the Red Sun.
At this time, Kyiv temporarily lost the status of the political center of Russia. The leading centers then were Novgorod and Chernigov. Expanding his possessions, Yaroslav undertook a campaign against the Estonian Chud tribe. In 1030, the city of Yuryev (modern Tartu) was founded on the conquered territory.
In 1036, Mstislav fell ill while hunting and died. His only son had died three years earlier. Thus, Yaroslav became the ruler of all Russia, except for the Principality of Polotsk. In the same year Kyiv was attacked by the Pechenegs. By the time Yaroslav arrived with an army of Varangians and Slavs, they had already captured the outskirts of the city.
In the battle near the walls of Kyiv, Yaroslav defeated the Pechenegs, after which he made Kyiv his capital. In memory of the victory over the Pechenegs, the prince laid the famous Hagia Sophia in Kyiv, and artists from Constantinople were called to paint the temple. Then he imprisoned the last surviving brother - Sudislav, who ruled in Pskov. After that, Yaroslav became the sole ruler of almost all of Russia.
The reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) was at times the highest flowering of the state. Public relations were regulated by the collection of laws "Russian Truth" and princely charters. Yaroslav the Wise pursued an active foreign policy. He intermarried with many ruling dynasties of Europe, which testified to the wide international recognition of Russia in the European Christian world. Intensive stone construction began. Yaroslav actively turned Kyiv into a cultural and intellectual center, taking Constantinople as a model. At this time, relations between the Russian Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople were normalized.
From that moment on, the Russian Church was headed by the Metropolitan of Kyiv, who was ordained by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Not later than 1039, the first Metropolitan of Kyiv Feofan arrived in Kiev. In 1051, having gathered the bishops, Yaroslav himself appointed Hilarion as metropolitan, for the first time without the participation of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Hilarion became the first Russian metropolitan. Yaroslav the Wise died in 1054.
Crafts and trade. Monuments of writing (“The Tale of Bygone Years”, the Novgorod Codex, the Ostromir Gospel, Lives) and architecture (the Tithe Church, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and the cathedrals of the same name in Novgorod and Polotsk) were created. The high level of literacy of the inhabitants of Russia is evidenced by numerous birch bark letters that have come down to our time. Russia traded with the southern and western Slavs, Scandinavia, Byzantium, Western Europe, the peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Board of sons and grandsons of Yaroslav the Wise
Yaroslav the Wise divided Russia between his sons. Three eldest sons received the main Russian lands. Izyaslav - Kyiv and Novgorod, Svyatoslav - Chernigov and Murom and Ryazan lands, Vsevolod - Pereyaslavl and Rostov. The younger sons Vyacheslav and Igor received Smolensk and Vladimir Volynsky. These possessions were not inherited, there was a system in which the younger brother inherited the eldest in the princely family - the so-called "ladder" system. The eldest in the clan (not by age, but by line of kinship), received Kievi and became the Grand Duke, all other lands were divided among members of the clan and distributed according to seniority. Power passed from brother to brother, from uncle to nephew. The second place in the hierarchy of tables was occupied by Chernihiv. At the death of one of the members of the family, all the younger in relation to him Rurik moved to the lands corresponding to their seniority. When new members of the clan appeared, they were assigned a lot - a city with land (volost). A certain prince had the right to reign only in the city where his father reigned, otherwise he was considered an outcast. The ladder system regularly caused strife between the princes.
In the 60s. In the 11th century, Polovtsians appeared in the Northern Black Sea region. The sons of Yaroslav the Wise could not stop their invasion, but were afraid to arm the militia of Kyiv. In response to this, in 1068, the people of Kiev overthrew Izyaslav Yaroslavich and put Prince Vseslav of Polotsk on the throne, a year before that he had been captured by the Yaroslavichs during the strife. In 1069, with the help of the Poles, Izyaslav occupied Kyiv, but after this, the uprisings of the townspeople became constant during crises of princely power. Presumably in 1072, the Yaroslavichi edited the Russkaya Pravda, significantly expanding it.
Izyaslav tried to regain control over Polotsk, but to no avail, and in 1071 he made peace with Vseslav. In 1073 Vsevolod and Svyatoslav expelled Izyaslav from Kyiv, accusing him of an alliance with Vseslav, and Izyaslav fled to Poland. Svyatoslav, who himself was in allied relations with the Poles, began to rule Kiev. In 1076 Svyatoslav died and Vsevolod became the prince of Kyiv.
When Izyaslav returned with the Polish army, Vsevolod returned the capital to him, keeping Pereyaslavl and Chernigov behind him. At the same time, the eldest son of Svyatoslav Oleg remained without possessions, who began the struggle with the support of the Polovtsy. In the battle with them, Izyaslav Yaroslavich died, and Vsevolod again became the ruler of Russia. He made his son Vladimir, born of a Byzantine princess from the Monomakh dynasty, the prince of Chernigov. Oleg Svyatoslavich fortified himself in Tmutarakan. Vsevolod continued the foreign policy of Yaroslav the Wise. He sought to strengthen ties with European countries by marrying his son Vladimir to the Anglo-Saxon Gita, the daughter of King Harald, who died in the Battle of Hastings. He gave his daughter Eupraxia to the German Emperor Henry IV. The reign of Vsevolod was characterized by the distribution of land to nephew princes and the formation of an administrative hierarchy.
After the death of Vsevolod, Kyiv was occupied by Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. The Polovtsy sent an embassy to Kyiv with an offer of peace, but Svyatopolk Izyaslavich refused to negotiate and seized the ambassadors. These events became the occasion for a large Polovtsian campaign against Russia, as a result of which the combined troops of Svyatopolk and Vladimir were defeated, and significant territories around Kyiv and Pereyaslavl were devastated. The Polovtsy took away many prisoners. Taking advantage of this, the sons of Svyatoslav, with the support of the Polovtsy, laid claim to Chernigov. In 1094, Oleg Svyatoslavich with Polovtsian detachments moved to Chernigov from Tmutarakan. When his army approached the city, Vladimir Monomakh made peace with him, losing Chernigov and going to Pereyaslavl. In 1095, the Polovtsy repeated the raid, during which they reached Kyiv itself, devastating its environs. Svyatopolk and Vladimir called for help from Oleg, who reigned in Chernigov, but he ignored their requests. After the departure of the Polovtsians, the Kiev and Pereyaslav squads captured Chernigov, and Oleg fled to his brother Davyd in Smolensk. There he replenished his troops and attacked Mur, where the son of Vladimir Monomakh, Izyaslav, ruled. Murom was taken, and Izyaslav fell in battle. Despite the offer of peace that Vladimir sent him, Oleg continued his campaign and captured Rostov. He was prevented from continuing the conquest by another son of Monomakh, Mstislav, who was the governor in Novgorod. He defeated Oleg, who fled to Ryazan. Vladimir Monomakh once again offered him peace, to which Oleg agreed.
The peaceful initiative of Monomakh was continued in the form of the Lubech Congress of Princes, who gathered in 1097 to resolve existing differences. The congress was attended by Kyiv prince Svyatopolk, Vladimir Monomakh, Davyd (son of Igor Volynsky), Vasilko Rostislavovich, Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavovichi. The princes agreed to stop the strife and not claim other people's possessions. However, the peace did not last long. Davyd Volynsky and Svyatopolk captured Vasilko Rostislavovich and blinded him. Vasilko became the first Russian prince to be blinded during civil strife in Russia. Outraged by the actions of Davyd and Svyatopolk, Vladimir Monomakh and Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich set off on a campaign against Kyiv. The people of Kiev sent a delegation to meet them, headed by the metropolitan, who managed to convince the princes to keep the peace. However, Svyatopolk was entrusted with the task of punishing Davyd Volynsky. He released Vasilko. However, another civil strife began in Russia, which grew into a large-scale war in the western principalities. It ended in 1100 with a congress in Uvetichi. Davyd Volynsky was deprived of the principality. However, for "feeding" he was given the city of Buzhsk. In 1101, the Russian princes managed to conclude peace with the Polovtsy.
Changes in public administration at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 12th centuries
During the baptism of Russia in all its lands, the power of Orthodox bishops was established, subordinate to the Kiev Metropolitan. At the same time, the sons of Vladimir were installed as governors in all the lands. Now all the princes who acted as allotments of the Kiev Grand Duke were only from the Rurik family. The Scandinavian sagas mention fief possessions of the Vikings, but they were located on the outskirts of Russia and on the newly annexed lands, so at the time of writing The Tale of Bygone Years, they already seemed like a relic. The Rurik princes waged a fierce struggle with the remaining tribal princes (Vladimir Monomakh mentions the Vyatichi prince Khodota and his son). This contributed to the centralization of power.
The power of the Grand Duke reached its highest level under Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise (then after a break under Vladimir Monomakh). The position of the dynasty was strengthened by numerous international dynastic marriages: Anna Yaroslavna and the French king, Vsevolod Yaroslavich and the Byzantine princess, etc.
From the time of Vladimir, or, according to some reports, Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, the prince began to give land to combatants instead of a monetary salary. If initially these were cities for feeding, then in the 11th century, combatants began to receive villages. Together with the villages, which became estates, the boyar title was also granted. The boyars began to make up the senior squad. The service of the boyars was determined by personal loyalty to the prince, and not by the size of the land allotment (conditional land ownership did not become noticeably widespread). The younger squad (“youths”, “children”, “gridi”), who was with the prince, lived off feeding from the princely villages and the war. The main fighting force in the 11th century was the militia, which received horses and weapons from the prince for the duration of the war. The services of the hired Varangian squad were basically abandoned during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise.
Over time, the church (“monastic estates”) began to possess a significant part of the land. Since 996, the population has paid tithes to the church. The number of dioceses, starting from 4, grew. The chair of the metropolitan, appointed by the patriarch of Constantinople, began to be located in Kyiv, and under Yaroslav the Wise, the metropolitan was first elected from among the Russian priests, in 1051 he became close to Vladimir and his son Hilarion. The monasteries and their elected heads, abbots, began to have great influence. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery becomes the center of Orthodoxy.
The boyars and the retinue formed special councils under the prince. The prince also consulted with the metropolitan, the bishops and abbots, who made up the church council. With the complication of the princely hierarchy, by the end of the 11th century, princely congresses (“snems”) began to gather. There were vechas in the cities, on which the boyars often relied to support their own political demands (the uprisings in Kyiv in 1068 and 1113).
In the 11th - early 12th centuries, the first written code of laws was formed - "Russian Pravda", which was consistently replenished with articles "Pravda Yaroslav" (c. 1015-1016), "Pravda Yaroslavichi" (c. 1072) and "Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich" (c. 1113). Russkaya Pravda reflected the growing differentiation of the population (now the size of the virus depended on the social status of the murdered), regulated the position of such categories of the population as servants, serfs, serfs, purchases and ryadovichi.
"Pravda Yaroslava" equalized the rights of "Rusyns" and "Slovenes" (it should be clarified that under the name "Slovene" the chronicle mentions only Novgorodians - "Ilmen Slovenes"). This, along with Christianization and other factors, contributed to the formation of a new ethnic community, which was aware of its unity and historical origin.
Since the end of the 10th century, Russia has known its own coin production - silver and gold coins of Vladimir I, Svyatopolk, Yaroslav the Wise and other princes.
Decay
The first to separate from Kyiv was the Polotsk principality - this happened already at the beginning of the 11th century. Having concentrated all the other Russian lands under his rule only 21 years after the death of his father, Yaroslav the Wise, dying in 1054, divided them among his five surviving sons. After the death of the two younger of them, all the lands were under the rule of the three elders: Izyaslav of Kiev, Svyatoslav of Chernigov and Vsevolod Pereyaslavsky (“the triumvirate of Yaroslavichi”).
Since 1061 (immediately after the defeat of the Torques by the Russian princes in the steppes), the Polovtsy raids began, replacing the Pechenegs who migrated to the Balkans. During the long Russian-Polovtsian wars, the southern princes could not cope with the opponents for a long time, undertaking a number of unsuccessful campaigns and suffering painful defeats (the battle on the Alta River (1068), the battle on the Stugna River (1093).
After the death of Svyatoslav in 1076, the Kiev princes attempted to deprive his sons of the Chernigov inheritance, and they resorted to the help of the Polovtsy, although for the first time the Polovtsy were used in strife by Vladimir Monomakh (against Vseslav of Polotsk). In this struggle, Izyaslav of Kyiv (1078) and the son of Vladimir Monomakh Izyaslav (1096) died. At the Lyubech Congress (1097), called to stop civil strife and unite the princes to protect themselves from the Polovtsians, the principle was proclaimed: “ Let each one keep his own". Thus, while maintaining the right of the ladder, in the event of the death of one of the princes, the movement of heirs was limited to their patrimony. This opened the way to political fragmentation (feudal fragmentation), since a separate dynasty was established in each land, and the Grand Duke of Kyiv became the first among equals, losing the role of overlord. However, this also made it possible to stop the strife and join forces to fight the Polovtsy, which was moved deep into the steppes. In addition, agreements were concluded with allied nomads - “black hoods” (torks, Berendeys and Pechenegs, expelled by the Polovtsy from the steppes and settled on the southern Russian borders).
In the second quarter of the 12th century, the Old Russian state broke up into independent principalities. The modern historiographic tradition considers the chronological beginning of fragmentation to be 1132, when, after the death of Mstislav the Great, son of Vladimir Monomakh, Polotsk (1132) and Novgorod (1136) ceased to recognize the power of the Kiev prince, and the title itself became an object of struggle between various dynastic and territorial associations of the Rurikovichs. The chronicler under 1134, in connection with the split among the Monomakhoviches, wrote down “ the whole Russian land was torn apart". The civil strife that began did not concern the great reign itself, but after the death of Yaropolk Vladimirovich (1139), the next Monomakhovich Vyacheslav was expelled from Kyiv by Vsevolod Olgovich of Chernigov.
During the XII-XIII centuries, part of the population of the southern Russian principalities, due to the constant threat emanating from the steppe, and also because of the incessant princely strife for the Kiev land, moved north, to the calmer Rostov-Suzdal land, also called Zalesie or Opole. Having joined the ranks of the Slavs of the first, Krivitsko-Novgorod migration wave of the 10th century, settlers from the populous south quickly made up the majority on this land and assimilated the rare Finno-Ugric population. Massive Russian migration during the 12th century is evidenced by chronicles and archaeological excavations. It was during this period that the foundation and rapid growth of numerous cities of the Rostov-Suzdal land (Vladimir, Moscow, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yuryev-Opolsky, Dmitrov, Zvenigorod, Starodub-on-Klyazma, Yaropolch-Zalessky, Galich, etc.), whose names often repeated the names of the cities of origin of the settlers. The weakening of Southern Russia is also associated with the success of the first crusades and the change in the main trade routes.
During two major internecine wars of the mid-12th century, the Kiev principality lost Volyn (1154), Pereyaslavl (1157) and Turov (1162). In 1169, the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, Vladimir-Suzdal Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, sent an army led by his son Mstislav to the south, which captured Kyiv. For the first time, the city was brutally plundered, Kiev churches were burned, the inhabitants were taken into captivity. Andrey's younger brother was planted to reign in Kiev. And although soon, after the unsuccessful campaigns against Novgorod (1170) and Vyshgorod (1173), the influence of the Vladimir prince in other lands temporarily fell, Kyiv began to gradually lose, and Vladimir to acquire the political attributes of the all-Russian center. In the 12th century, in addition to the prince of Kiev, the princes of Vladimir also began to bear the title of great, and in the 13th century, episodically also the princes of Galicia, Chernigov and Ryazan.
Kyiv, unlike most other principalities, did not become the property of any one dynasty, but served as a constant bone of contention for all strong princes. In 1203, it was again plundered by the Smolensk prince Rurik Rostislavich, who fought against the Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. In the battle on the Kalka River (1223), in which almost all South Russian princes took part, the first clash of Russia with the Mongols took place. The weakening of the southern Russian principalities increased the onslaught from the Hungarian and Lithuanian feudal lords, but at the same time contributed to the strengthening of the influence of the Vladimir princes in Chernigov (1226), Novgorod (1231), Kyiv (in 1236 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich occupied Kyiv for two years, while his older brother Yuri remained reign in Vladimir) and Smolensk (1236-1239). During the Mongol invasion of Russia, which began in 1237, in December 1240, Kyiv was turned into ruins. It was received by Vladimir princes Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, recognized by the Mongols as the oldest in the Russian lands, and later by his son Alexander Nevsky. They, however, did not begin to move to Kyiv, remaining in their ancestral Vladimir. In 1299, the Metropolitan of Kyiv moved his residence there. In some ecclesiastical and literary sources - for example, in the statements of the Patriarch of Constantinople and Vytautas at the end of the 14th century - Kyiv continued to be considered as a capital city at a later time, but by that time it was already a provincial city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Since 1254, the Galician princes bore the title "King of Russia". The title of "great princes of all Russia" from the beginning of the 14th century began to be worn by the princes of Vladimir.
In Soviet historiography, the concept of "Kievan Rus" was extended both until the middle of the XII century, and for a wider period of the middle of the XII - the middle of the XIII centuries, when Kyiv remained the center of the country and the control of Russia was carried out by a single princely family on the principles of "collective suzerainty". Both approaches remain relevant today.
Pre-revolutionary historians, starting with N. M. Karamzin, adhered to the idea of transferring the political center of Russia in 1169 from Kyiv to Vladimir, dating back to the works of Moscow scribes, or to Vladimir (Volyn) and Galich. In modern historiography there is no unity of opinion on this matter. Some historians believe that these ideas do not find confirmation in the sources. In particular, some of them point to such a sign of the political weakness of the Suzdal land as a small number of fortified settlements compared to other lands of Russia. Other historians, on the contrary, find confirmation in the sources that the political center of Russian civilization moved from Kyiv, first to Rostov and Suzdal, and later to Vladimir-on-Klyazma.
I understand that such an article can break the fan, so I will try to avoid sharp corners. I write more for my own pleasure, most of the facts will be from the category taught in school, but nevertheless I will gladly accept criticism and corrections, if there are facts. So:
Ancient Russia.
It is assumed that Russia appeared as a result of the merger of a number of East Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. The first mentions of us are found in the 830s. First, in the region of 813g. (very controversial dating) some Rosas successfully ran into the city of Amastrida (modern Amasra, Turkey) in Byzantine Palfagonia. Secondly, the ambassadors of the "Kagan Rosov" as part of the Byzantine embassy came to the last emperor of the Frankish state, Louis I the Pious (a good question, however, who they really were). Thirdly, the same Dews ran into Constantinople in 860, without much success (there is an assumption that the famous Askold and Dir commanded the parade).
The history of serious Russian statehood begins, according to the most official version, in 862, when a certain Rurik appears on the scene.
Rurik.
In fact, we have a rather poor idea of who he was and whether he was at all. The official version is based on the "Tale of Bygone Years" by Nestor, who, in turn, used the sources available to him. There is a theory (quite similar to the truth) that Rurik was known as Rorik of Jutland, from the Skjoldung dynasty (a descendant of Skjold, King of the Danes, mentioned already in Beowulf). I repeat that the theory is not the only one.
Where did this character come from in Russia (specifically, in Novgorod), is also an interesting question, I personally am closest to the theory that he was originally a hired military administrator, moreover, in Ladoga, and he brought the idea of \u200b\u200ba hereditary transfer of power with him from Scandinavia, where it just came into fashion. And he came to power completely by himself by seizing it during a conflict with another military leader of the same kind.
However, in the PVL it is written that the Varangians were still called upon by three tribes of Slavs, unable to resolve the disputed issues themselves. Where did it come from?
Option one- from the source that Nestor read (well, you yourself understand, it would be enough for those who wanted to do fascinating editing from among the Rurikovichs at their leisure. Princess Olga could also do this, in the midst of a conflict with the Drevlyans, who for some reason still did not understand what to break the prince in half and offer a replacement, as always in their memory and done in such cases - a bad idea).
Option two- Nestor could have been asked to write this by Vladimir Monomakh, who was just called by the people of Kiev, and who really did not want to prove the legitimacy of his reign to everyone who was older than him in the family. In any case, somewhere from Rurik, the well-known idea of a Slavic state appears. "Somewhere" because it was not Rurik who took real steps in building such a state, but his successor, Oleg.
Oleg.
Called "prophetic", Oleg took over the reins of Novgorod Rus in 879. Probably (according to PVL), he was a relative of Rurik (possibly brother-in-law). Some identify Oleg with Odd Orvar (Arrow), the hero of several Scandinavian sagas.
All the same PVL claims that Oleg was the guardian of the real heir, the son of Rurik Igor, something like a regent. In general, in a good way, the power of the Rurikovichs for a very long time was transferred to the "eldest in the family", so that Oleg could be a full-fledged ruler not only in practice, but also formally.
Actually, what Oleg did during his reign - he made Russia. In 882 he gathered an army and in turn subjugated Smolensk, Lyubech and Kyiv. According to the history of the capture of Kyiv, we, as a rule, remember Askold and Dir (I won’t speak for Dir, but the name “Askold” seems to me very Scandinavian. I won’t lie). PVL believes that they were Varangians, but had nothing to do with Rurik (I believe, because I heard somewhere that not only did they have - Rurik sent them along the Dnieper with the task "capture everything that is badly worth "). The annals also describe how Oleg defeated his compatriots - he hid military paraphernalia from the boats, so that they looked like trade ones, and somehow lured both governors there (according to the official version from the Nikon Chronicle, he let them know that he was there . but he said he was sick, and on the ships he showed them the young Igor and killed them. But, perhaps, they simply inspected the incoming merchants, not suspecting that an ambush was waiting for them on board).
Having seized power in Kyiv, Oleg appreciated the convenience of its location in relation to the eastern and southern (as far as I understand) lands compared to Novgorod and Ladoga, and said that his capital would be here. He spent the next 25 years "swearing in" the surrounding Slavic tribes, repelling some of them (Northerners and Radimichi) from the Khazars.
In 907 Oleg undertakes a military campaign in Byzantium. When 200 (according to PVL) boats with 40 soldiers on board each appeared in sight of Constantinople, Emperor Leo IV the Philosopher ordered to block the harbor of the city with stretched chains - perhaps in the expectation that the savages would be satisfied with the robbery of the suburbs and go home. "Savage" Oleg showed ingenuity and put the ships on wheels. The infantry, under the cover of sailing tanks, caused confusion in the walls of the city, and Leo IV hastily paid off. According to the legend, along the way, an attempt was made to slip wine and hemlock into the prince during the negotiations, but Oleg somehow felt the moment and pretended to be a teetotaler (for which, in fact, he was called "Prophetic" upon his return). The ransom was a lot of money, tribute and an agreement under which our merchants were exempt from taxes and had the right to live in Constantinople for up to a year at the expense of the crown. In 911, however, the agreement was renegotiated without exempting merchants from duties.
Some historians, not finding a description of the campaign in Byzantine sources, consider it a legend, but recognize the existence of the treaty of 911 (perhaps there was a campaign, otherwise why would the Eastern Romans bend like that, but without the episode with "tanks" and Constantinople).
Oleg leaves the stage in connection with his death in 912. Why and where exactly is a very good question, the legend tells about the skull of a horse and a poisonous snake (interestingly, the same happened with the legendary Odd Orvar). The circular buckets, foaming, hissed, Oleg left, but Russia remained.
Generally speaking, this article should be brief, so I will try to summarize my thoughts further.
Igor (r. 912-945). The son of Rurik, took over the reign of Kiev after Oleg (Igor was governor in Kyiv during the war with Byzantium in 907). He conquered the Drevlyans, tried to fight with Byzantium (however, the memory of Oleg was enough, the war did not work out), concluded an agreement with her in 943 or 944 similar to that concluded by Oleg (but less profitable), and in 945 unsuccessfully went for the second time to take tribute all from the same Drevlyans (it is believed that Igor perfectly understood how all this could end, but he could not cope with his own squad, which at that time was not particularly surprising). Husband of Princess Olga, father of the future Prince Svyatoslav.
Olga (r. 945-964)- Igor's widow. She burned the Drevlyansky Iskorosten, thereby demonstrating the sacralization of the figure of the prince (the Drevlyans offered her to marry their own prince Mal, and 50 years before that this could seriously work). She carried out the first positive tax reform in the history of Russia, setting specific deadlines for collecting tribute (lessons) and creating fortified yards for receiving it and standing collectors (graveyards). She laid the foundation for stone construction in Russia.
Interestingly, from the point of view of our chronicles, Olga never officially ruled, since the death of Igor, his son, Svyatoslav, ruled.
The Byzantines were not allowed such subtleties, and in their sources Olga is mentioned as the archontissa (ruler) of Russia.
Svyatoslav (964 - 972) Igorevich. Generally speaking, 964 is rather the year of the beginning of his independent reign, since formally he was considered the prince of Kiev from 945. But in practice, until 969, his mother, Princess Olga, ruled for him, until the prince got out of the saddle. From PVL "When Svyatoslav grew up and matured, he began to gather many brave warriors, and he was fast, like a pardus, and fought a lot. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or boilers with him, did not cook meat, but, thinly slicing horse meat, or beast, or beef, and roasted on coals, so he ate, he did not have a tent, but slept, spreading a sweatshirt with a saddle in his head, - all the rest of his soldiers were the same. .. I'm going to you!" In fact, he destroyed the Khazar Khaganate (to the joy of Byzantium), imposed a tribute to the Vyatichi (to his own joy), conquered the First Bulgarian Kingdom on the Danube, built Pereyaslavets on the Danube (where he wanted to move the capital), frightened the Pechenegs and, on the basis of the Bulgarians, quarreled with Byzantium, the Bulgarians fought against she is on the side of Russia - the vicissitudes of wars are vicissitudes). In the spring of 970, he put up a free army of 30,000 of his own, Bulgarians, Pechenegs and Hungarians against Byzantium, but lost (possibly) the battle of Arcadiopol, and, taking a retreat, left the territory of Byzantium. In 971, the Byzantines already besieged Dorostol, where Svyatoslav organized his headquarters, and after a three-month siege and another battle, they convinced Svyatoslav to take another retreat and go home. Svyatoslav did not get back home - first he got stuck in the winter at the mouth of the Dnieper, and then ran into the Pecheneg prince Kurya, in a battle with whom he died. Byzantium received Bulgaria as a province and minus one dangerous rival, so it seems to me that Kurya was stuck on the doorsteps all winter for a reason. However, there is no evidence for this.
By the way. Svyatoslav was never baptized, despite repeated proposals and the possible breakdown of the engagement with the Byzantine princess - he himself explained this by the fact that the squad would not specifically understand such a maneuver, which he could not allow.
The first prince who gave reigns to more than one son. Perhaps this led to the first strife in Russia, when, after the death of their father, the sons fought for the throne of Kyiv.
Yaropolk (972-978) and Oleg (prince of the Drevlyans 970-977) Svyatoslavichi- two of the three sons of Svyatoslav. Legitimate sons, unlike Vladimir, the son of Svyatoslav and the housekeeper Malusha (although it’s still a good question how much such a trifle played a role in Russia in the middle of the 10th century. There is also an opinion that Malusha is the daughter of the same Drevlyansky prince Mal, who executed Igor) .
Yaropolk had diplomatic relations with the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. In 977, during the strife, opposing the brothers, he attacked Oleg's possessions in the land of the Drevlyans. Oleg died during the retreat (according to the chronicle - Yaropolk lamented). In fact, after the death of Oleg and the flight of Vladimir, he became the sole ruler of Russia somewhere "over the sea". In 980 Vladimir returned with a squad of Varangians, began to take the city, Yaropolk left Kyiv with a better fortified Roden, Vladimir laid siege to it, famine began in the city and Yaropolk was forced to negotiate. In place, instead of or in addition to Vladimir, there were two Varangians who did their job.
Oleg - Prince of the Drevlyans, the first successor of Mala. Perhaps he accidentally started a strife by killing the son of the governor Yaropolk, Sveneld, who poached on his land. Chronicle version. Personally, it seems to me (together with Wikipedia) that the brothers would have had enough motives even without the voevoda father burning with a thirst for revenge. Also, perhaps, he laid the foundation for one of the noble families of Maravia - only the Czechs and only the 16th-17th centuries have evidence of this, so believe it or not - on the conscience of the reader.
Brief history of Russia. How Russia was created
14 ratings, Average rating: 4.4 out of 5in the 5th century split into 3 branches
western southern
Eastern
Russian ancestors,
Belarusian and
Ukrainian peoples
Proto-Slavs lived in the territory of Central and Eastern Europe, stretching from the Elbe and Oder rivers in the west to the upper reaches of the Dniester and the middle reaches of the Dnieper in the east. Slavs in ancient written sources (eg Greek) are referred to as Wends, Sklavins and Antes.
The great migration of peoples set in motion, including the Slavic tribes. In the 5th century - the division of the Slavs into 3 branches.
In the 4th-6th centuries, according to various sources, the lands to the east of the Carpathians were inhabited by the descendants of the eastern Venets - Antes.
Our immediate ancestors, the Eastern Slavs, leave for the East European Plain and settle, as Nestor writes in the 12th century. in "The Tale of Bygone Years" along the Dnieper. History knows about 15 East Slavic tribes, more precisely, tribal unions that existed around the 9th-11th centuries, and by the 11th-13th centuries formed the Old Russian people.
Tribes of the North: Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polochans
Tribes of the Northeast: Radimichi, Vyatichi, northerners
Duleb group: Volhynians, Drevlyans, glades, Dregovichi
Tribes of the South-East: Buzhans, Don Slavs
Tribes of the South: White Croats, Ulichi, Tivertsy
Periodization of the ancient history of Russia
IX-XI centuries - Kievan Rus
XII - XIII centuries. - fragmentation of Russia (Vladimir Rus)
XIV - XV centuries. - Muscovite Russia
Gardarika- "country of cities", the so-called lands of the Eastern Slavs in Greek, Arabic and Scandinavian sources
Local reigns (Gostomysl in Novgorod, Kiy in Kyiv, Mal among the Drevlyans, Khodot and his son among the Vyatichi) are the embryonic form of the statehood of Ancient Russia.
Eastern chroniclers singled out 3 centers of the emergence of statehood in the Slavic lands: Kuyaba (in the south, around Kyiv), Slavia (in the Ilmenye), Artania (in the east, around ancient Ryazan)
Rurik (862-879)
862 - the calling of the Varangians (Rurik with his tribe Rus) The calling of the Varangians in the painting by Vasnetsov
Rurik founded a dynasty of Russian princes and ruled in Novgorod.
"Norman theory" is a theory about the creation of a state by the Slavs from the outside (Varangians-Scandinavians).
The first anti-Normanist Mikhail Lomonosov (the origin of the Varangians from the West Slavic lands)
Anti-Normanists (the formation of the state is a stage in the internal development of society).
Oleg(Prophetic) (879-912)
882 - the formation of Kievan Rus (unification of the two political centers of Novgorod and Kyiv into a single ancient Russian state by Prince Oleg)
907 and 911 - Oleg's campaigns against Byzantium (the goal is the signing of profitable trade agreements)
Fight against the Khazars
polyudie- collection of tribute by the prince from subject East Slavic tribes
Polyudye trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" ( Baltica-Volkhov-Lovat-Western Dvina-Dnepr) Constantinople
Varangians. Nicholas Roerich, 1899
Igor(Old) (912-945)
The unsuccessful campaign of Prince Igor against Byzantium in 941
Greek fire- a combustible mixture ejected from copper pipes under pressure onto an enemy ship, not extinguished by water.
A second campaign in 943 ended with a peace treaty in 944.
In 945 he was killed during the uprising of the Drevlyans
Olga(organizer of the Russian land) (945-969)
1) Cunning (cruelly avenged the Drevlyans for her husband)
2) "The organizer of the Russian land" - streamlined the collection of tribute (polyudye taxes) (introduced lessons- the exact amount of tribute,
churchyards- collection points)
3) Carried out a volost reform (divided the state into volosts), (introduced uniform rules for the court of princely governors)
4) Established diplomatic relations with Byzantium
5) First converted to Christianity (Elena)
Svyatoslav(warrior prince) (962-972)
He spent his whole life on campaigns (expanded the borders of the state, ensured the safety of trade routes for Russian merchants)
1. Subdued the Vyatichi
2. Defeated the Bulgars and the Khazars by opening a bargain. the way along the Volga to the eastern countries
("Coming at you")
3. Campaigns against the Bulgarians on the Danube (an attempt to move the capital to the city of Pereyaslavets)
But he often left the state without protection, for example, the siege of Kyiv by the Pechenegs (968), undertaken while the Kiev prince Svyatoslav was on the Danube.
(According to the chronicle, while Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was campaigning against the Bulgarian kingdom, the Pechenegs invaded Russia and laid siege to its capital, Kyiv. The besieged suffered from thirst and hunger. People from the other side of the Dnieper, led by the governor Pretich, gathered on the left bank of the Dnieper.
Driven to the extreme, Svyatoslav's mother, Princess Olga (who was in the city with all of Svyatoslav's sons) decided to tell Pretich that she would surrender the city in the morning if Pretich did not lift the siege, and began to look for ways to contact him. Finally, a young Kievan who spoke fluent Pecheneg volunteered to get out of the city and get to Pretich. Pretending to be a Pecheneg looking for his horse, he ran through their camp. When he rushed to the Dnieper and swam to the other side, the Pechenegs understood his deceit and began to shoot at him with bows, but did not hit.
When the young man reached Pretich and informed him of the desperate situation of the people of Kiev, the governor decided to suddenly cross the river and take out Svyatoslav's family, and if not, Svyatoslav will destroy us. Early in the morning, Pretich and his squad boarded their ships and landed on the right bank of the Dnieper, blowing their trumpets. Thinking that Svyatoslav's army had returned, the Pechenegs lifted the siege. Olga and her grandchildren left the city to the river.
The leader of the Pechenegs returned to negotiate with Pretich and asked him if he was Svyatoslav. Pretich confirmed that he was only a governor, and his detachment was the vanguard of Svyatoslav's approaching army. As a sign of peaceful intentions, the ruler of the Pechenegs shook hands with Pretich and exchanged his own horse, sword and arrows for Pretich's armor.
Meanwhile, the Pechenegs continued the siege, so that it was impossible to water the horse on Lybid. The Kievans sent a messenger to Svyatoslav with the news that his family was almost captured by the Pechenegs, and the danger to Kiev still remains. Svyatoslav quickly returned home to Kyiv and drove the Pechenegs into the field. A year later, Olga died, and Svyatoslav made Pereyaslavets on the Danube his residence)
But after a difficult campaign against Byzantium in 972, the pleasing army of Svyatoslav with heavy military booty was met on the Dnieper rapids by the waiting hordes of Pechenegs. The Rus were surrounded and completely destroyed. They all perished, including Prince Svyatoslav. From his skull, Khan Kurya ordered to make a drinking cup, encasing it in gold.
Vladimir(Red Sun, Saint) (980-1015)
Civil strife (Vladimir - the son of a slave, Yaropolk wins)
1. We love the people (the image of the prince is displayed in epics):
A) the creation of a system of fortresses in the south for defense against the Pechenegs;
B) recruited people from the people into the squad;
C) arranged feasts for all Kievans.
2. Strengthens the state and princely power:
A) conducts a pagan reform (Perun is the main god)
Purpose: an attempt to unite the tribes into a single people through religion
B) 988 - baptism of Russia byzantine style
C) the acquisition of an important military and political ally in the person of Byzantium
D) development of culture:
1) Slavic writing (Cyril and Methodius);
2) books, schools, churches, iconography;
The Church of the Tithes is the first stone church in Kyiv (1/10 of the prince's income for construction);
3) the establishment of the Russian metropolis
Baptism of Vladimir. Fresco by V. M. Vasnetsov.
Prince Vladimir went down in history as the Baptist of Russia. The prince's decision to be baptized was not spontaneous. According to the Chronicle of Bygone Years, a few years before the campaign against Korsun (Chersonese), Vladimir thought about choosing a faith. The heart of the prince was inclined to Orthodoxy. And he established himself in this decision after his ambassadors went "for reconnaissance" to Constantinople. Returning, they said: “When we came to the Greeks, we were led to where they serve their God, and we did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth: we cannot forget this beauty, for every person, having tasted sweet, turns away from the bitter, so we "are not imams here to be," we do not want to remain in the old pagan faith. Then they remembered: “If the Greek law was not good, then your grandmother Olga, the wisest of all people, would not have accepted it.”
Monument "Millennium of Russia"- a monument erected in Veliky Novgorod in 1862 in honor of the millennial anniversary of the legendary calling of the Varangians to Russia. The authors of the monument project are sculptors Mikhail Mikeshin, Ivan Shreder and architect Viktor Hartman. The monument is located in the Novgorod citadel, opposite St. Sophia Cathedral
The prince ruled the Russian state for 37 years, 28 of them being a Christian. It is worth noting that Prince Vladimir accepted Orthodoxy from Byzantium not as a vassal, but as an equal. “Historians are still building different versions of why the prince went to the siege of Chersonese,” says S. Belyaev. One of the versions says: having decided to accept Orthodoxy, Vladimir did not want to appear before the Greeks as a petitioner. Significantly: Vladimir did not go to Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, to be baptized. It was to him, in the conquered Chersonese, that they came, and even brought Princess Anna. At the same time, the very decision of Vladimir to become Orthodox was dictated by the need of the soul, as evidenced by the dramatic changes that occurred with the prince.
Looking closely at the Baptist of Russia, it becomes clear that he was also an outstanding state strategist. And in the first place he put the national interests of Russia, which under his leadership united, straightened its shoulders and subsequently became a great empire.
On the Day of National Unity, November 4, 2016, the grand opening of the monument to the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, which was designed by People's Artist of Russia Salavat Shcherbakov, took place on Borovitskaya Square. The monument was created on the initiative of the Russian Military Historical Society and the Government of Moscow. the opening ceremony of the monument to Prince Vladimir. The ceremony was attended by President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
The President emphasized that Prince Vladimir went down in history forever as a collector and defender of Russian lands, as a far-sighted politician who laid the foundations of a strong, unified, centralized state.
After the President's speech, Patriarch Kirill consecrated the monument to the holy Prince Equal-to-the-Apostles.
Yaroslav the Wise(1019-1054)
Vladimir has 12 feuding sons (the eldest Svyatopolk killed his brothers Boris and Gleb, who became the first saints in Russia, and Svyatopolk was christened the Accursed also because he brought foreigners to Russia who ruined and killed)
Yaroslav, who ruled Novgorod, supported by the Novgorodians in the fight against his brother, seizes the throne (from 1019 to 1036 he rules jointly with his brother Mstislav). A calm wise rule begins - the heyday of the Old Russian state.
1. Strengthened power (the highest power belonged to the great Kiev prince, who issued laws, was the supreme judge, led the army, determined foreign policy). Power was inherited by the eldest in the family (sons-deputies in the volosts, moved in the event of the death of their elder brother to a larger volost).
2. He laid the foundation for the creation of a unified code of laws "Russian Truth" (1016). (In Pravda Yaroslav, for example, blood feud is limited and replaced by a fine-vira)
3. Measures to strengthen the independence of the Russian Church (since 1051, not Greeks, but Russians began to be appointed metropolitans, and without the knowledge of Constantinople. Hilarion was the first Russian metropolitan).
4. Developed culture (built churches, cathedrals (St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Novgorod), monasteries (Kiev-Pechersky - the monk Nestor in the 12th century wrote the first Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years"), where the scripture was distributed annals(description of historical events by years-years), schools, libraries, which contributed to the development of literacy)
5. Conducted a wise foreign policy:
· strengthened the southern borders of Russia (built defensive lines from fortress cities on the southeastern borders);
· defeated the Pechenegs under the walls of Kyiv in 1036, where he built the St. Sophia Cathedral;
expanded the northwestern borders of the state (in 1030 he built the city of Yuryev on the western coast of Lake Peipus, which he captured from the Poles and Lithuanians)
All land acquisitions were secured by peace treaties and dynastic marriages
It was under Yaroslav the Wise that the process of state formation among the Eastern Slavs ended, and the Old Russian nationality was taking shape.
The social structure of society in the Old Russian state
In the XI century. Kievan Rus is an early feudal state (along with the emergence of the upper stratum and, conversely, dependent, the bulk of the population are still free community members who paid taxes to the state. And the formation of feudal land ownership was very slow).
The land belonged to the state, so the community (the land was jointly owned, divided among all the families that were part of the community) paid a tax for the use of state land.
The first feudal lords who seized land as their property were the princes. They granted lands to the church and boyars for their service ( votchina - hereditary land holding) who also became feudal lords.
I. Upper layer:
II. Free landowners united in communities
(the largest part of the population of the Old Russian state)
III. Dependent population:
Smerd- a member of a rural community, but a peasant directly dependent on the prince in the Old Russian state in the period of the XI-XIV centuries.
Ryadovich- concluded an agreement ("row") on work for the feudal lord on certain conditions.
Purchase- ruined community members who fell into debt dependence for non-payment of loans (“kupy”). If he returned the debt, he became free.
serf a slave who worked on the land of a feudal lord. (prisoners of war became slaves, purchases that did not fulfill their obligations and ryadovichi, children of slaves, from great need a person sold himself into slaves).
Culture of Ancient Russia
culture- a set of material and spiritual values created by society.
East Slavs
1) Beliefs - paganism, from the word "language" - a tribe, a people.
Gods - Perun, Dazhdbog, Stribog, Svarog, Yarilo, Lada, Makosh, etc.
The place of worship of idols is a temple where sacrifices were made.
Magi ("magician, magician, fortuneteller") - ancient Russian pagan priests who performed worship, sacrifices and allegedly knew how to conjure the elements and predict the future.
Vasnetsov "Meeting of Prince Oleg with a magician"
2) ancient legends, epics - poetic tales about the past, where the exploits of Russian heroes were glorified (Mikula Selyaninovich, Ilya Muromets, Stavr Godinovich, etc.). The main motive is the defense of the Russian land from the enemy.
Victor Vasnetsov "Bogatyrs"
3) the art of blacksmiths, wood and bone carvers.
The Christianization of Russia had a huge impact.
1) The spread of writing and literacy in Russia (the 60s of the 9th century - Cyril and Methodius - lived in Thessaloniki (Greece), the compilers of the Slavic alphabet - Glagolitic, translated the Gospel into Slavic, preached in the Slavic language. Cyrillic, subsequently created by them students, in a modified form is the basis of the modern Russian alphabet).
2) Distribution of chronicles (1113 - "The Tale of Bygone Years")
At the church of St. Sofia Yaroslav created the first library in Russia.
Yaroslav created a powerful center for book writing and translated literature in Kyiv.
There are monasteries - Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (founders Anthony and Theodosius).
XI - n. 12th century - Annalistic centers are being formed in Kyiv and Novgorod.
3) The origin of Russian literature:
A) 1049 - "Sermon on Law and Grace" by Hilarion (solemn address, message and teaching, sermon on the moral assessment of the ruler);
B) lives - a literary description of the life of people canonized as saints (Nestor wrote the life of Boris and Gleb)
Passion-bearers Boris and Gleb. Icon, early 14th century. Moscow
C) 1056 - "Ostromir Gospel" - the oldest of the handwritten books.
Books were written in monasteries, which were centers of culture (they wrote on parchment - thin tanned calfskin).
Ordinary people, exchanging information, used birch bark.
The art of book miniature developed (handwritten illustrations)
4) Architecture (the construction of temples was based on the Byzantine cross-domed system).
Wooden (terema, city walls, huts)
Feature: multi-tiered, turrets, outbuildings, carving)
· The first stone church in Kyiv was called Desyatinnaya (989), as the prince gave a tenth of his income for its construction. The church had 25 domes.
· 1037 - Construction of the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv.
Model-reconstruction of the original appearance of the cathedral
Modern view of St. Sophia Cathedral
Many domes are a characteristic feature of Russian architecture (1 dome in the center, 12).
For facing temples, plinth is used - a wide and flat brick
Yaroslav's stone tomb is located in Sofia.
In the altar there is an image of the Mother of God. Image type - Oranta - with hands raised up. The people of Kiev called her the "Indestructible Wall" and considered her to be their protector.
There are frescoes depicting the family of Yaroslav the Wise.
Interior decoration of temples: frescoes, icons, mosaics
The icons were painted by the monk Alimpiy from the Caves.
Under Yaroslav, Kyiv is being built. It is called "an ornament of the East and a rival of Constantinople." The Golden Gate is the main entrance to the city.
1113-1125 - reign of Vladimir Monomakh (grandson of Yaroslav and the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh). At the age of 60 he ascended the throne of Kyiv.
1) Campaigns against the Polovtsy (1111 - a crushing blow to the Polovtsy
gone to the steppes, relative calm
2) Fought against strife (the initiator of the Lyubech Congress (1097) - “let everyone keep his patrimony.” Although this only consolidated fragmentation in Russia (legislatively)
3) Fought for the unity of Russia (subdued the Russian princes, punished for strife), but after the death of Vladimir and his son Mstislav, who continued his father's policy, civil strife resumed
4) An educated person and a gifted writer, he left a covenant to his sons to live in peace, faithfully serve the Fatherland (1117 - “Instruction for Children” - a valuable historical source and a vivid literary monument).
5) Created a set of laws "Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich", in which he eased the position of debtors, forbidding them to turn into slaves.
6) Founded on the river. Klyazma city named after him.
7) New literary genres are being formed - parables, teachings, walking.
8) Under Vladimir, they began to mint gold and silver coins, then they replaced them with silver bars - hryvnias.
9) A high level of craft development - casting, chasing, ceramics, embroidery, enamel
art craft
A) blacksmithing (weapons, armor);
B) jewelry craft (grain, filigree, enamel)
Filigree - an image made of thin gold wire;
Grain - the balls are soldered onto a filigree;
