Western European countries (France, Spain, England). In all these states, including the Russian one, the same stages of power formation took place. The early feudal and class-representative monarchy grew into an absolute one, characterized by formally unlimited power of the monarch. Such a structure presupposes a strong, ramified professional bureaucracy, a standing army, and the liquidation of class-representative institutions and bodies. Having all these in Russia, it also had a number of features.
In Europe, the power structure was formed in the conditions of the elimination of old institutions and the formation of new capitalist relations. The rise of absolutism in Russia coincided with the development of serfdom. The union of the nobility and cities (imperial, free) was considered the social base for the development of the Western European monarchy. Absolutism in Russia relied to a greater extent on the service class, the feudal nobility. By the end of the 17th century, the landed estates of the nobility expanded significantly.
The second half of the 16th century is considered the time of the birth of the Russian monarchy. The final approval of absolutism in Russia - the first quarter of the 18th century.
One of the most important reasons for the development of this power was the country in the 16-17 centuries. In this era, agriculture is developing through the expansion of areas for crops and the strengthening of the oppression of serfs, the regions begin to specialize in the production of specific agricultural products.
Absolutism in Russia was accompanied by its expansion and intrusion into all areas of private, corporate, and public life. The expansionist aspirations of that time were expressed mainly in the desire to access the seas and expand the territory.
Another direction was the policy of further enslavement. This process became most pronounced by the 18th century.
The role of the state was manifested in a thorough and detailed regulation of the duties and rights of certain estates and groups. The power that was formed by the beginning of the 18th century is called the "police". due not only to the creation of the police at that time, but also to the unconditional desire of the state to intervene in all life's little things, trying to regulate them.
At certain stages in the development of the Russian absolute monarchy, legal forms resembling Western European ones arose, attempts were made to form a constitution, legal foundations in the state, and cultural enlightenment. These directions were associated not only with the personalities of the monarchs, but also with political and socio-economic conditions.
The system of power that was formed during the period of absolutism in Russia is characterized by fairly frequent palace coups carried out by the palace guards and the noble aristocracy. The change of monarchs took place quite easily, which may indicate that in the strengthened absolutism the personality of the autocrat was not given much importance. Everything was decided by the very mechanism of power, where each member of the state and society was only a detail.
Absolutism is characterized by the desire for a clear distinction between individuals and social groups. At the same time, the personality itself begins to dissolve in the concepts of "official", "soldier", "prisoner".
Absolutism is characterized by an abundance of legal acts signed and adopted for any reason. This sign reflects the desire of the authorities to regulate the activities of each of its subjects.
After the turmoil from the 20s to the 50s. 17th century Russia restored the ruined economy. Active development of lands that produced marketable bread begins - the Volga, Siberia, Chernozem regions.
The socio-economic development of Russia was based on the policy of further strengthening the feudal serf system. The Council Code of 1649 abolished the "lesson summer" and established an indefinite search for fugitive peasants and townspeople. This was the fact of the final enslavement of the peasants. The basis of the economy of agrarian Russia in the 17th century. corvee becomes: the work of the peasant with his own inventory in the economy of the feudal lord. The peasants were obliged to pay dues or work on corvee, that is, they were personally dependent on the feudal lord.
At this time, there are changes in government policy:
1682 - the abolition of parochialism, erasing the boundaries between class groups and eventually uniting the nobility;
1649 - recognition of the right of hereditary transfer of a noble estate, subject to the continuation of service in the state by the heirs. Thus, two forms of ownership were combined - patrimony and estate.
In the 17th century there is an increase in handicraft production, which is facilitated by a significant improvement in technology and the emergence of new industries: foundry, weapons, copper. A new form of production appeared - manufactory.
The law was amended to encourage trade. The trade charter of 1653 established a single trade duty and abolished internal taxes from merchants. For the same purpose, in 1667, the Novgorod Charter was adopted, which gave additional benefits in domestic trade.
The conditions for the formation of an all-Russian market are beginning to take shape. Commodity production and trade are the cause of the emergence and growth of new Russian cities. By the end of the 17th century. Russia has achieved high rates in the field of production and raising living standards.
The Russian economy took shape in the contradictory conditions of the struggle between the feudal-serf foundations and the emerging bourgeoisie.
In political life, there is a transition to absolutism (the concentration of power). In 1649, the code of laws of the Russian state, the Cathedral Code, was adopted. Two of its chapters are devoted to the protection of the rights and prestige of the royal power and the royal court. There is a gradual transfer of power into the hands of the autocracy. The prestige and role of the Zemsky Sobors, which resolved issues of foreign policy, finance and taxes, are falling. With the onset of economic and political stability, there was no longer any need for autocracy to be supported by various sections of society. The Zemsky Sobor was gradually replaced by the Boyar Duma. In the 17th century the boyars ceased to represent tsarist power and, together with the nobility, transferred to the state service.
One of the characteristic features of the growing absolutism is the emergence of a centralized administrative apparatus. In the 17th century in Russia there was a system of orders - institutions in which there were no uniform principles for creating decrees and distributing functions between them. In 1654, the Order of Secret Affairs was created, dealing with control over state institutions and employees.
In local self-government, there is a concentration of power in the hands of governors, who replaced representatives of elected bodies - clerks, elders. The county government is under strict control.
In the middle of the 17th century. a church reform was carried out, the need for which was caused by the desire for the centralization of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Reunification with Ukraine, strengthening ties with the South Slavic peoples required the unification of rituals and church books. The transformations of Patriarch Nikon caused dissatisfaction among believers, and attempts to create a church independent of the state led to a break with the tsar. There was a split in the church, which acquired the character of an oppositional confrontation. In 1666 Nikon was deposed.
17. Features of the formation of Russian absolutism in the 17th century.
After a troubled time, the state of the state prompted Michael to make some changes in administration in order to strengthen centralization. The old dynasty left the administration in a state of extreme fragmentation. It was necessary to increase the authority of the dynasty, and to prevent the continuation of unrest.
The country needed the centralization of administrative power in order to overcome the collapse of the tax system, the decline of the economy, rampant crime, and the decline in defense capability. Gradually, the fullness of the supreme, legislative, executive and judicial power was concentrated in the hands of the king. The central state institutions, called orders, reported directly to the king. Under the first Romanovs, the system of orders expanded as administrative tasks became more complex. The orders were divided into nationwide (Ambassadorial, Local, Discharge, Rogue, Big Treasury, Big Parish, etc.) and territorial (Siberian, Little Russian, etc.). With the development of the command system, the number of command people increased. In 1640 there were less than 900 of them, and by the end of the century - more than 3 thousand.
An important place in the administrative structure was occupied by the Boyar Duma, which constituted the circle of the closest advisers and employees of the tsar. From the 15th century, Moscow monarchs ruled the country with the help of the Boyar Duma. During the reign of Mikhail, the role of the boyars and the boyar duma was just as significant. Royal decrees also began with the words: "The great sovereign indicated and the boyars were sentenced."
The Duma consisted mainly of representatives of aristocratic families. Under Tsar Alexei, the most competent people from the middle nobility were introduced into it. Technical functions in the Duma were performed by clerks, secretaries and speakers. The Duma, having legislative powers, discussed administrative and judicial issues, drafted decrees and laws. Members of the Duma created special commissions for specific events, and were also appointed ambassadors, chiefs of orders, governors. There was also a limitation of the powers of the Boyar Duma. Its functions began to be performed by the so-called "near sovereign Duma", composed of the tsar's proxies. The Order of Secret Affairs arose, which was directly subordinate to the tsar, "so that the boyars and duma people ... knew nothing."
The Muscovite state, being in a state of continuous war, was in dire need of a regular army. With the stabilization of public finances, military units were created that were more regular than the noble militia. These were dragoon, reiter and infantry regiments. Cossack formations were involved in military service.
Strengthening centralism in management, the Muscovite tsars understood the danger of distortions in the direction of total administration. They recognized the existence of church-moral traditions and legal norms that limited the autocracy. It was impossible not to reckon with the increased civic consciousness of the subjects, which was reflected in the work of the Zemsky Sobors, representing all Russian lands and cities. The opinion of the Zemsky Sobors for Mikhail and Alexei Romanov was significant. Zemsky Sobors sat almost continuously during the first 10 years of Mikhail's reign, they actively helped to restore the Russian state after the Time of Troubles. And in the future, the councils were convened less often and mainly decided questions of the foreign policy position of Russia. In 1653, the cathedral decided to accept Ukraine under the rule of Moscow.
To discuss more specific issues, the government repeatedly convened meetings of representatives of individual estates.
After the Time of Troubles, in connection with the centralization of government, the powers of local self-government were reduced, and governors were sent from Moscow to all the lands of the country, taking military and civil power into their own hands.
According to Klyuchevsky, after the turmoil, all areas, even internal ones, were in danger of attack. Therefore, even in the inner counties, governors, regional governors with military power began to appear. Voivodeship under Michael became a ubiquitous institution. The governor concentrated in his hands power over the entire county, and in all matters. With the introduction of the voivode, the zemstvo elective administration did not disappear, but was only constrained and largely subordinate to the voivode, to whom court cases, which were in the department of elected zemstvo judges, passed. In the circle of the elective zemstvo administration, there are now criminal police cases, which were conducted by the headman, financial ones, that is. government fees, and local affairs, which consisted in the division of taxes between members of a tax society, fees for worldly needs, in general, in the conduct of a worldly economy.
At the same time, in some central and most northern volosts at the county level, the former self-government was preserved - elected elders were placed at the head of the “all-county worlds”. Peasant and Cossack self-government was also preserved; landlords and officials had to deal with peasant communities that acted on the principles of mutual responsibility and protected their members.
The first Romanovs sought to introduce elements of centralization into social policy as well. All estates were obliged to serve the state, and differed only in the nature of the duties assigned to them. The population was divided into service and tax people.
An essential element of the autocratic trend was the attitude towards the person of the sovereign. It becomes almost religious. Each appearance of the tsar was considered an event; when he went out to the people, he was led under the arms of the boyars. The Council Code contained a whole chapter devoted to “how to protect his state health.”
Thus, in Russia there is a gradual formation autocracy- a national form of absolutism, in which monarchical power, not limited by any elected representative body, is based on a developed administrative apparatus and is regulated by law. The legislative formalization of autocracy is associated with the adoption of the Council Code of 1649. The unity of the central and local authorities, courts, and the territory of the country was ensured by the rule of law and was supplemented by the inseparability of ideas about the unity of church and state. The Code provided for special measures for the protection of royalty. Coming to the palace "en masse and conspiracy" was punishable by death, insulting the monarch entailed severe punishments.
ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF THE MOSCOW KINGDOM
Representatives world-historical theory(S. M. Solovyov, V. O. Klyuchevsky and others) drew attention to the fact that the monarchy in the 17th century was recreated after the Time of Troubles thanks to the initiative of the broadest masses of the people, thereby demonstrating that the state is not a “royal fiefdom”, but the common concern of all the people. In some writings, this period is called the "rebellious age", but many researchers have noted relative internal stability.
materialistic direction world-historical theory, studying the progress of mankind, gives it priority to the development of society.
The processes in Russia in the 17th century are interpreted by historians of this trend (B. A. Rybakov, N. I. Pavlenko, L. V. Cherepnin, and others) as “the further development of the feudal-serf system.”
Local historical theory studies the unity of man and territory, which is the concept of local civilization. On the territory of Russia, such a civilization is Eurasia.
The historians of this theory (G.V. Vernadsky, L.N. Gumilyov and others) saw in the restoration of the state the ability of the Russian people, led by monarchs, to “show the unity of the national spirit” and thereby resist external aggression from all directions. Foreign policy was viewed, on the one hand, as a continuation of the struggle against the aggression of the Catholic and Protestant West, and on the other hand, as the end of a centuries-old dispute with the Golden Horde for dominance in Eurasia.
The 17th century is a period of intensive formation of absolutist nation-states in Europe, a period of violent clash between feudal and capitalist relations, a period of feudal-Catholic reaction that came after the suppression of the peasant movements of the 16th century and in response to the Reformation, as well as a period of intensifying struggle of the masses against absolutist oppression and predation of the era of the primitive accumulation of capital.
The artistic culture of the 17th century, reflecting the complexity of the era, becomes more complex in content and artistic forms. The holistic poetic perception of the world, characteristic of the Renaissance, is destroyed, the ideal of harmony and clarity becomes inaccessible. But the image of man remains the focus of the artist's attention. The titans, sung in the works of art of the Renaissance, gave way to a person who is aware of his dependence on the social environment and the objective laws of being. Its embodiment becomes more concrete and psychologically complex, with a rich inner world, with a certain place in society and national identity.
In the 17th century, the aristocracy's desire for splendor and theatricality was perfectly matched by baroque aesthetics. It is no coincidence that in the parks nature is presented so theatrically - here we meet the theater in the setting of nature itself, in which alleys and bushes serve as backstage.
At this time, ancient allegory is used in magnificent ballets to praise any secular person who has not even left a mark on history, and they compare it with all the gods and heroes of antiquity.
At this time, documents are covered with titles and ranks, stamps and seals, behind which there is no real meaning. Then a solemn address and a long signature with an expression of humility appear; swagger in title and rank reaches enormous proportions. They also compose books on ceremonial science. All feelings are translated into the language of appearance. It is considered good form to send wedding and mourning odes even to the closest relatives.
It comes to absurdity: the confectioner must build cakes with allegorical figures. A huge army of artisans, and sometimes artists, are busy decorating the life of the aristocracy, all their dexterity and knowledge are aimed at creating toy curiosities in the form of fireworks, all kinds of entertainment attractions.
It is no coincidence that at this time the ceremonial portrait with its deliberate pose, theatricality of gesture, lush and decorative attributes becomes so widespread. A whole gallery of portraits of aristocrats, created by the greatest artists of this time, gives a vivid idea of the aesthetic ideal of the beauty of a person of that era, which is undergoing significant changes.
Man no longer appears as the center of the universe, as it was in the Renaissance. With the end of the Thirty Years' War, the male warrior gradually turns into a secular courtier. Mandatory training of a nobleman in dances and music gives plasticity and grace to his appearance.
The masculinity of the 17th century is both the majesty of posture and the gallant treatment of ladies. The ideal of female beauty is majesty, splendor, affectation. The female figure is characterized by high stature, a swan neck, sloping and thrown back shoulders, a narrow waist, and lush hips. Wavy long hair complements the representative and decorative female appearance.
The costume, obeying the dictates of aesthetic ideas, changes shape. In contrast to the natural form with harmonious proportions of the Renaissance, in the Baroque era it begins to dominate the figure, lose almost all signs of freedom and fantasy, and at the end of the 17th century, as it were, freezes in favor of the fashion prescribed by court etiquette, equally luxurious and tough.
It was the age of absolutism and the flourishing of noble culture, the age of art, marked by solemnity and grandiloquence. This century brought forward the type of a new artist - the court virtuoso, called upon to create by means of his art, first of all, a dazzling spectacle.
This is also the time of the strengthening of centralized state power in the form of an absolutist monarchy, which was especially pronounced in France, where, after a long period of civil wars and the struggle of the king with the highest nobility, the sole and absolute power of the king was established during the reign of Louis XIV - the "Sun King", who belongs to the well-known phrase: "The state is I". The glittering royal courts were at that time the place where the new fashion was born and concentrated. The person of the king was an absolute role model among his subjects, and his taste was an indisputable authority. Rivalry in the political realm sometimes took the form of a rivalry in the field of fashion - the struggle for the role of trendsetter between King Louis XIV of France and King Charles II of England.
The need to participate in wars and pay salaries to mercenaries ruined the treasury and forced them to save money, and the interests of their own producers required the adoption of special government measures. This led to a policy of mercantilism under King Henry IV in France - encouraging their own trade and national industry through all sorts of benefits to the owners of manufactories and merchants and prohibiting or restricting the import of foreign goods. This policy was continued by Cardinal Richelieu under Louis XIII, and Cardinal Mazarin under Louis XIV, and the ban on wearing gold trim (in order to save gold in the treasury), brocade, imported lace and silk stockings even applied to persons of the royal house. Similar austerity measures were taken in Spain, when, during the reign of Philip IV, a ban was introduced on the wearing of imported lace, gold and silver jewelry with precious stones.
During the 17th century, the political system of Russia underwent significant changes and the state embarked on the path of forming an absolute monarchy.
Absolutism is a form of government in which the monarch has unlimited power. Under absolutism, the state reaches the highest degree of centralization, an extensive bureaucratic apparatus, a standing army and police are created.
Causes of absolutism:
1. New bourgeois relations are formed and the bourgeoisie appears, which claims a dominant role, fights for power and thereby establishes a balance between the bourgeoisie and the nobility, and the monarch becomes independent.
2. The social struggle is intensifying and the aristocracy needs the strong power of the monarch in order to continue the enslavement of the peasants and suppress their uprisings.
Absolutism is established as a result of the elimination of pre-existing bodies that limited the power of the king. In parallel, new authorities are being formed, which become completely dependent on the king.
In the 17th century, Russia had the following governance structure:
Tsar
There are 3 stages of transition to absolutism:
1. The title of the king is changing, where 2 points are combined - the divine origin of royal power and its unlimited nature. For example, the Council Code of 1649 provided for capital punishment for encroachment on the king and verbal abuse.
2. There has been an evolution in the composition of the boyar duma. The Boyar Duma was previously the supreme body of power that shared power with the tsar and dealt with issues of administration, legislation and legal proceedings. But in the second half of the 17th century, B.D. began to include not well-born surnames. Due to this, the apparatus of the boyars increased and was ineffective.
3. The role of zemstvo sobors - class-representative bodies of power, convened by the tsar as necessary to resolve financial issues and foreign policy tasks, is decreasing.
With the fall of the Rody Zemsky Sobors and the Boyar Duma, the role of orders intensifies. As a rule, orders were in charge of a certain territory and its population. Therefore, the orders were maintained by collecting taxes from the population of the subject territory. Orders were headed by boyars or large nobles, and paperwork was carried out by clerks.
Orders
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Palace: management of the royal estates and maintenance of the royal court.
Patriarchal: management of church estates and personal property of the patriarch.
State : territorial- order of the Kazan Palace, Siberian order, Astrakhan Prikah; functional- embassy, local, robbery, discharge.
Under Alexei Mikhailovich to control orders secret order was created.
In the 17th century, there were changes in the system of local government. In administrative-territorial terms, Russia was divided into districts headed by governors who were appointed by the tsar. The voivode and his apparatus were supported by the population of the county. For the service of the voivode he received a cash salary and a fiefdom. Service life 1-3 years. The governor carried out legal proceedings, the search for fugitive peasants.
Discharges also arise - military-administrative border districts, the main task of which was to mobilize military forces during military campaigns. The counties were part of the discharges and were headed by boyars.
At this time, the army was reformed: the basis of the armed forces was the noble militia, but it was not combat-ready, since they were called up for service only in wartime.
There were streltsy units that were under martial law. In 1630, the formation of regiments of a new system began - Reitar and dragoon units. Initially, recruitment was carried out on a voluntary basis, and then fugitive peasants began to be recorded. Military service became lifelong and the regiments were armed with modern weapons. The army was maintained at the expense of the state, which was burdensome in peacetime. Specialists (commanders) were invited from abroad, who taught military tactics to Russian soldiers according to the charter. There was no navy in Russia.
Since the economy suffered as a result of the Time of Troubles, a number of reforms were undertaken, but resulted in salt and copper riots.
In 1678 a census was taken. The system of taxation has been changed. The land tax was abolished and a house tax was introduced.
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