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There are several historiographic names of the state that prevailed in the literature at different times - "Ancient Russian state", "Ancient Russia", " Kievan Rus», « Kievan state". Currently, three historiographic names are most widely used - “ Old Russian state”, “Kievan Rus” and “Ancient Rus”. The definition of “Old Russian” is not connected with the division of antiquity and the Middle Ages generally accepted in historiography in Europe in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. In relation to Russia, it is usually used to refer to the so-called pre-Mongol period of the 9th - mid-13th centuries, in order to distinguish this era from the following periods of Russian history.

Old Russian state- a state that arose in the early Middle Ages in Eastern Europe, in 862 as a result of the unification of a number of East Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty of the two main centers of the Eastern Slavs - Novgorod and Kyiv, as well as lands (settlements in the area of ​​Staraya Ladoga, Gnezdovo ).

"Varangians", Vasnetsov V.M. 1909

Established by the IX century. the ancient Russian feudal state (also called Kievan Rus by historians) arose as a result of a very long and gradual process of splitting society into antagonistic classes, which took place among the Slavs throughout the first millennium of our era. Russian feudal historiography of the 16th - 17th centuries. sought to artificially link early history Russia with the ancient peoples of Eastern Europe known to her - the Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans; the name of Rus was derived from the Saomatian tribe of the Roxalans.
In the XVIII century. some of the German scientists invited to Russia, who were arrogant about everything Russian, created a biased theory about the dependent development of Russian statehood. Based on an unreliable part of the Russian chronicle, which conveys the legend of the calling of a number of Slavic tribes as princes of three brothers (Rurik, Sineus and Truvor) - Varangians, Normans by origin, these historians began to assert that the Normans (detachments of Scandinavians who robbed in the 9th century on seas and rivers) were the creators of the Russian state. "Normanists", who poorly studied Russian sources, believed that the Slavs in the 9th-10th centuries. were completely wild people, who supposedly did not know either agriculture, or handicrafts, or settled settlements, or military affairs, or legal norms. They attributed the entire culture of Kievan Rus to the Varangians; The very name of Russia was associated only with the Vikings.
M.V. Lomonosov heatedly objected to the "Normanists" - Bayer, Miller and Schlozer, initiating a two-century scientific controversy on the issue of the emergence of the Russian state. A significant part of the representatives of Russian bourgeois science of the 19th and early 20th centuries. supported the Norman theory, despite the abundance of new data that refuted it. This stemmed both from the methodological weakness of bourgeois science, which failed to rise to an understanding of the laws of the historical process, and due to the fact that the chronicle legend about the voluntary calling of princes by the people (created by the chronicler in the 12th century during the period of popular uprisings) continued into the 19th - XX centuries keep your political significance in explaining the question of the beginning of state power. The cosmopolitan tendencies of a part of the Russian bourgeoisie also contributed to the predominance of the Norman theory in official science. However, a number of bourgeois scholars have already criticized the Norman theory, seeing its inconsistency.
Soviet historians, approaching the question of the formation of the ancient Russian state from the standpoint of historical materialism, began to study the entire process of the disintegration of the primitive communal system and the emergence of the feudal state. To do this, it was necessary to significantly expand the chronological framework, look into the depths of Slavic history and draw on a number of new sources depicting the history of the economy and social relations many centuries before the formation of the Old Russian state (excavations of villages, workshops, fortresses, graves). It took a radical revision of Russian and foreign written sources that speak of Russia.
The work on studying the prerequisites for the formation of the Old Russian state has not yet been completed, but even now an objective analysis of historical data has shown that all the main provisions of the Norman theory are incorrect, since they were generated by an idealistic understanding of history and an uncritical perception of sources (the range of which was artificially limited), as well as the bias of the researchers themselves. At present, the Norman theory is being promoted by individual foreign historians of the capitalist countries.

Russian chroniclers about the beginning of the state

The question of the beginning of the Russian state was of keen interest to Russian chroniclers of the 11th-12th centuries. The earliest chronicles, apparently, began their exposition with the reign of Kyi, who was considered the founder of the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv principality. The prince of the cue was compared with other founders of the largest cities - Romulus (founder of Rome), Alexander the Great (founder of Alexandria). The legend about the construction of Kyiv by Kiy and his brothers Shchek and Khoryv arose, obviously, long before the 11th century, since it was already in the 7th century. was recorded in the Armenian chronicle. In all likelihood, the time of Kiy is the period of Slavic campaigns on the Danube and in Byzantium, i.e. VI-VII centuries. The author of "The Tale of Bygone Years" - "Where did the Russian (s) land (and) who in Kyiv began the first prince ...", written at the beginning of the 12th century. (as historians think, by the Kyiv monk Nestor), reports that Kiy went to Constantinople, was the guest of honor of the Byzantine emperor, built a city on the Danube, but then returned to Kyiv. Further in the "Tale" follows a description of the struggle of the Slavs with the nomadic Avars in the VI-VII centuries. Some chroniclers considered the “calling of the Varangians” to be the beginning of statehood in the second half of the 9th century. and to this date they drove all the other events of early Russian history known to them (Novgorod Chronicle). These writings, the tendentiousness of which was proved long ago, were used by the supporters of the Norman theory.

East Slavic tribes and unions of tribes on the eve of the formation of the state in Russia

The state of Rus was formed from fifteen large regions inhabited by Eastern Slavs, well known to the chronicler. Glades have long lived near Kyiv. The chronicler considered their land to be the core of the ancient Russian state and noted that in his time the glades were called Rus. The neighbors of the meadows in the east were the northerners who lived along the rivers Desna, Seim, Sula and the Northern Donets, which retained the memory of the northerners in its name. Down the Dnieper, south of the meadows, lived the streets, who moved in the middle of the 10th century. in the interfluve of the Dniester and the Bug. In the west, the neighbors of the glades were the Drevlyans, who often quarreled with the Kievan princes. Even further to the west were the lands of the Volynians, Buzhans and Dulebs. The extreme East-Slazian regions were the lands of the Tivertsy on the Dniester (ancient Tiras) and on the Danube and the White Croats in Transcarpathia.
To the north of the glades and the Drevlyans were the lands of the Dregovichi (on the swampy left bank of the Pripyat), and to the east of them, along the Sozhu River, were the Radimichi. The Vyatichi lived on the Oka and the Moscow River, bordering on the non-Slavic Meryan-Mordovian tribes of the Middle Oka. The chronicler calls the northern regions in contact with the Lithuanian-Latvian and Chud tribes the lands of the Krivichi (the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Dvina), Polotsk and Slovenian (around Lake Ilmen).
AT historical literature behind these areas, the conditional term “tribes” (“Polyan tribe”, “Radimichi tribe”, etc.) was strengthened, which, however, was not used by the chroniclers. In terms of size, these Slavic regions are so large that they can be compared with entire states. A careful study of these areas shows that each of them was an association of several small tribes, whose names were not preserved in the sources on the history of Russia. Among the Western Slavs, the Russian chronicler mentions in the same way only such large areas as, for example, the land of the Lutichi, and from other sources it is known that the Lutichi are not one tribe, but an association of eight tribes. Consequently, the term "tribe", speaking of family ties, should be applied to much smaller divisions of the Slavs, which have already disappeared from the memory of the chronicler. The regions of the Eastern Slavs, mentioned in the annals, should be considered not as tribes, but as federations, unions of tribes.
In ancient times, the Eastern Slavs apparently consisted of 100-200 small tribes. The tribe, representing a set of related clans, occupied an area of ​​about 40 - 60 km in diameter. In each tribe, probably, a veche gathered to decide the most important issues of public life; a military leader (prince) was chosen; there was a permanent squad of youth and a tribal militia (“regiment”, “thousand”, divided into “hundreds”). Within the tribe there was a "city". A tribal veche gathered there, there was a bargaining, a court was held. There was a sanctuary where representatives of the entire tribe gathered.
These "grads" were not yet real cities, but many of them, which for several centuries were the centers of a tribal district, with the development of feudal relations turned into either feudal castles or cities.
The result of major changes in the structure of tribal communities, replaced by neighboring communities, was the process of formation of tribal unions, which proceeded especially intensively from the 5th century BC. 6th century writer Jordanes says that the common collective name of the populous people of the Wends "is now changing according to different tribes and localities." The stronger the process of disintegration of primitive tribal isolation went on, the stronger and more durable the alliances of tribes became.
The development of peaceful ties between tribes, or the military victories of some tribes over others, or, finally, the need to combat a common external danger, contributed to the creation of tribal alliances. Among the Eastern Slavs, the addition of the fifteen large tribal unions mentioned above can be attributed approximately to the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e.

Thus, during the VI - IX centuries. the prerequisites for feudal relations arose and the process of folding the ancient Russian feudal state took place.
The natural internal development of Slavic society was complicated by a number of external factors (for example, nomadic raids) and the direct participation of the Slavs in major events in world history. This makes the study of the pre-feudal period in the history of Russia especially difficult.

Origin of Russia. Formation of the Old Russian people

Most pre-revolutionary historians associated the origin of the Russian state with the ethnicity of the people "Rus". about which chroniclers speak. Accepting without much criticism the chronicle legend about the calling of princes, historians sought to determine the origin of the "Rus" to which these overseas princes allegedly belonged. The "Normanists" insisted that "Rus" is the Varangians, the Normans, i.e. inhabitants of Scandinavia. But the absence in Scandinavia of information about a tribe or locality called "Rus" has long shaken this thesis of the Norman theory. Historians "anti-Normanists" undertook a search for the people "Rus" in all directions from the indigenous Slavic territory.

Lands and states of the Slavs:

Eastern

Western

Borders of states at the end of the 9th century.

Ancient Rus were searched among the Baltic Slavs, Lithuanians, Khazars, Circassians, Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga region, Sarmatian-Alanian tribes, etc. Only a small part of scientists, relying on direct evidence from sources, defended the Slavic origin of Russia.
Soviet historians, having proved that the annalistic legend about the calling of princes from across the sea cannot be considered the beginning of Russian statehood, also found out that the identification of Rus with the Varangians in the annals is erroneous.
Iranian geographer of the middle of the 9th century. Ibn-Khordadbeh points out that "the Rus are a tribe of Slavs." The Tale of Bygone Years speaks of the identity of the Russian language with the Slavic. The sources also contain more precise indications that help to determine among which part of the Eastern Slavs one should look for Rus.
Firstly, in the "Tale of Bygone Years" it is said about the glades: "even now the calling of Russia." Consequently, the ancient Rus tribe was located somewhere in the Middle Dnieper region, near Kyiv, which arose in the land of glades, on which the name of Rus subsequently passed. Secondly, in various Russian chronicles of the time of feudal fragmentation, a double geographical name of the words “Russian land”, “Rus” is noticed. Sometimes they understand all the East Slavic lands, sometimes the words "Russian land", "Rus" are used in the land should be considered more ancient and very narrow, geographically limited sense, denoting the forest-steppe strip from Kyiv and the Ros River to Chernigov, Kursk and Voronezh. This narrow understanding of the Russian land should be considered more ancient and be traced back to the 6th-7th centuries, when it was within these limits that a homogeneous material culture existed, known from archaeological finds.

By the middle of the VI century. The first mention of Russia in written sources also applies. One Syrian author - the successor of Zechariah Rhetor - mentions the people "ros", who lived next to the mythical Amazons (whose residence is usually dated to the Don basin).
On the territory outlined by chronicle and archaeological data, several Slavic tribes lived here for a long time. In all probability. The Russian land got its name from one of them, but it is not known for certain where this tribe was located. Judging by the fact that the oldest pronunciation of the word "Rus" sounded somewhat different, namely as "ros" (the people "rose" in the 6th century, "Rossky letters" in the 9th century, "Pravda Rosskaya" in the 11th century), apparently , the initial location of the Ros tribe should be sought on the Ros River (a tributary of the Dnieper, below Kyiv), where, moreover, the richest archaeological materials of the 5th-7th centuries were found, including silver items with princely signs on them.
The further history of Russia should be considered in connection with the formation ancient Russian people, which eventually covered all the East Slavic tribes.
The core of the ancient Russian people is that "Russian land" of the 6th century, which, apparently, included the Slavic tribes of the forest-steppe zone from Kyiv to Voronezh. It included the lands of the glades, northerners, Russ and, in all likelihood, the streets. These lands formed a union of tribes, which, as one might think, took the name of the most significant Rus tribe at that time. The Russian union of tribes, which became famous far beyond its borders as a land of tall and strong heroes (Zacharia Rhetor), was stable and long-lasting, since a similar culture developed throughout its space and the name of Russia was firmly and permanently entrenched in all its parts. The union of the tribes of the Middle Dnieper and the Upper Don took shape during the period of Byzantine campaigns and the struggle of the Slavs with the Avars. The Avars failed in the VI-VII centuries. to invade this part of the Slavic lands, although they conquered the Dulebs who lived to the west.
Obviously, the rallying of the Dnieper-Don Slavs into an extensive alliance contributed to their successful struggle against the nomads.
The formation of the nation went in parallel with the folding of the state. National events strengthened the ties established between the individual parts of the country and contributed to the creation of the Old Russian people with a single language (if there were dialects), with their own territory and culture.
By IX - X centuries. the main ethnic territory of the Old Russian people was formed, the Old Russian literary language was formed (based on one of the dialects of the original "Russian Land" of the 6th-7th centuries). The ancient Russian nationality arose, uniting all the East Slavic tribes and becoming the single cradle of the three fraternal Slavic peoples of the later time - Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
In the composition of the ancient Russian people, who lived in the territory from Lake Ladoga to the Black Sea and from Transcarpathia to the Middle Volga, small foreign-speaking tribes gradually joined in the process of assimilation, falling under the influence of Russian culture: Merya, all, Chud, the remnants of the Scythian-Sarmatian population in the south, some Turkic-speaking tribes.
Faced with the Persian languages, which were spoken by the descendants of the Scythian-Sarmatians, with the Finno-Finnish languages ​​of the peoples of the northeast and others, the Old Russian language invariably emerged victorious, enriching itself at the expense of the conquered languages.

Formation of the state of Russia

The formation of the state is the natural completion of a long process of formation of feudal relations and antagonistic classes of feudal society. The feudal state apparatus, as an apparatus of coercion, adapted for its own purposes the previous tribal governments, which were completely different from it in essence, but similar to it in form and terminology. Such tribal bodies were, for example, "prince", "voivode", "team", etc. KI X-X centuries. the process of gradual maturation of feudal relations in the most developed areas of the Eastern Slavs (in the southern, forest-steppe lands) was clearly defined. Tribal elders and leaders of squads, who seized communal land, turned into feudal lords, tribal princes became feudal sovereigns, tribal unions grew into feudal states. A hierarchy of landowning nobility took shape and was established. coaod^-management of princes of different ranks. The young emerging class of feudal lords needed to create a strong state apparatus that would help it secure communal peasant lands and enslave the free peasant population, as well as provide protection from external intrusions.
The chronicler mentions a number of principalities - federations of tribes of the pre-feudal period: Polyansky, Drevlyansky, Dregovichsky, Polotsk, Slovenian. Some Eastern writers report that Kyiv (Kuyaba) was the capital of Russia, and besides it, two more cities were especially famous: Dzhervab (or Artania) and Selyabe, in which, in all likelihood, you need to see Chernigov and Pereyas-lavl - the oldest Russian cities always mentioned in Russian documents near Kyiv.
Treaty of Prince Oleg with Byzantium at the beginning of the 10th century. knows the already branched feudal hierarchy: boyars, princes, grand dukes (in Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Lyubech, Rostov, Polotsk) and the supreme overlord of the “Grand Duke of Russia”. Eastern sources of the 9th century. they call the head of this hierarchy the title "Khakan-Rus", equating the prince of Kyiv with the lords of strong and powerful powers (Avar Khagan, Khazar Khagan, etc.), sometimes competing with the Byzantine Empire itself. In 839, this title was also included in Western sources (the Vertinsky Annals of the 9th century). All sources unanimously call Kyiv the capital of Russia.
The fragment of the original chronicle text that survived in The Tale of Bygone Years allows us to determine the size of Russia in the first half of the 9th century. The composition of the ancient Russian state included the following tribal unions, which previously had independent reigns: the glades, the northerners, the drevlyans, the Dregovichi, the Polochans, and the Novgorod Slovenes. In addition, the chronicle lists up to a dozen Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes who paid tribute to Russia.
Russia of that time was a vast state, which already united half of the East Slavic tribes and collected tribute from the peoples of the Baltic and the Volga region.
In all likelihood, the Kiya dynasty reigned in this state, the last representatives of which (judging by some chronicles) were in the middle of the 9th century. princes Dir and Askold. About Prince Dir, an Arab author of the 10th century. Masudi writes: “The first of the Slavic kings is the king of Dir; it has vast cities and many inhabited countries. Muslim merchants arrive in the capital of his state with various kinds of goods. Later, Novgorod was conquered by the Varangian prince Rurik, and Kyiv was captured by the Varangian prince Oleg.
Other Eastern writers of the 9th - early 10th centuries. report interesting information about agriculture, cattle breeding, beekeeping in Russia, about Russian gunsmiths and carpenters, about Russian merchants who traveled along the “Russian Sea” (Black Sea), and made their way to the East in other ways.
Of particular interest are data on the internal life of the ancient Russian state. So, the Central Asian geographer, who used the sources of the 9th century, reports that “the Rus have a class of knights”, that is, the feudal nobility.
Other sources also know the division into noble and poor. According to Ibn-Ruste (903), dating back to the 9th century, the king of the Rus (i.e. Grand Duke Kyiv) judges and sometimes exiles criminals "to the rulers of remote regions." In Russia there was a custom God's judgment”, i.e. resolving disputes by duel. For particularly serious crimes, the death penalty was applied. The king of the Rus annually traveled around the country, collecting tribute from the population.
The Russian tribal union, which turned into a feudal state, subjugated the neighboring Slavic tribes and equipped distant campaigns across the southern steppes and seas. In the 7th century the sieges of Constantinople by the Rus and the formidable campaigns of the Rus through Khazaria to the Derbent passage are mentioned. In the VII - IX centuries. the Russian prince Bravlin fought in the Khazar-Byzantine Crimea, passing from Surozh to Korchev (from Sudak to Kerch). About the Rus of the 9th century the Central Asian author wrote: "They fight with the surrounding tribes and defeat them."
Byzantine sources contain information about the Rus who lived on the Black Sea coast, about their campaigns against Constantinople, and about the baptism of a part of the Rus in the 60s of the 9th century.
The Russian state was formed independently of the Varangians, as a result of the natural development of society. At the same time, other Slavic states arose - the Bulgarian kingdom, the Great Moravian state and a number of others.
Since the Normanists greatly exaggerate the impact of the Varangians on Russian statehood, it is necessary to resolve the question: what is the actual role of the Varangians in the history of our Motherland?
In the middle of the 9th century, when Kievan Rus had already formed in the Middle Dnieper region, on the far northern outskirts of the Slavic world, where the Slavs lived peacefully side by side with the Finnish and Latvian tribes (Chud, Korela, Letgola, etc.), detachments of the Varangians began to appear, sailing from the Baltic Sea. The Slavs and the Chud drove these detachments away; we know that the Kyiv princes of that time sent their troops to the north to fight the Varangians. It is possible that it was then that near the old tribal centers of Polotsk and Pskov, a new city, Novgorod, grew up in an important strategic place near Lake Ilmen, which was supposed to block the Varangians from reaching the Volga and the Dnieper. For nine centuries until the construction of St. Petersburg, Novgorod either defended Russia from overseas pirates, or was a “window to Europe” for the trade of the northern Russian regions.
In 862 or 874 (the chronology is inconsistent), the Varangian king Rurik appeared near Novgorod. From this adventurer, who led a small squad, the genealogy of all the Russian princes of the “Rurikoviches” was conducted without any special reason (although Russian historians of the 11th century led the genealogy of princes from Igor the Old, without mentioning Rurik).
The Varangians-aliens did not take possession of Russian cities, but set up their fortifications-camps next to them. Near Novgorod they lived in the “Ryurik settlement”, near Smolensk - in Gnezdovo, near Kyiv - in the Ugorsky tract. There could be both merchants and Varangian warriors hired by the Russians. The important thing is that nowhere the Varangians were the masters of Russian cities.
Archaeological data show that the number of Varangian warriors themselves, who lived permanently in Russia, was very small.
In 882 one of the Varangian leaders; Oleg made his way from Novgorod to the south, took Lyubech, which served as a kind of northern gate of the Kyiv principality, and sailed to Kyiv, where he managed to kill the Kyiv prince Askold and seize power by deceit and cunning. Until now, in Kyiv, on the banks of the Dnieper, a place called "Askold's Grave" has been preserved. It is possible that Prince Askold was the last representative of the ancient Kiya dynasty.
The name of Oleg is associated with several campaigns for tribute to neighboring Slavic tribes and the famous campaign of Russian troops against Constantinople in 911. Apparently, Oleg did not feel like a master in Russia. It is curious that after a successful campaign in Byzantium, he and the Varangians surrounding him ended up not in the capital of Russia, but far to the north, in Ladoga, from where the path to their homeland, Sweden, was close. It also seems strange that Oleg, to whom the creation of the Russian state is completely unreasonably attributed, disappeared without a trace from the Russian horizon, leaving the chroniclers in bewilderment. Novgorodians, geographically close to the Varangian lands, Oleg's homeland, wrote that, according to one version known to them, after the Greek campaign, Oleg came to Novgorod, and from there to Ladoga, where he died and was buried. According to another version, he sailed across the sea "and I will peck (his) winters in the leg and from that (he) will die." The people of Kiev, repeating the legend of the snake that stung the prince, told that he was buried in Kyiv on Mount Schekavitsa (“Serpent Mountain”); perhaps the name of the mountain influenced the fact that Shchekavitsa was artificially associated with Oleg.
In the IX - X centuries. Normans played an important role in the history of many peoples of Europe. They attacked the shores of England, France, Italy from the sea in large fleets, conquered cities and kingdoms. Some scientists believed that Russia was subjected to the same massive invasion of the Varangians, while forgetting that continental Russia was the complete geographical opposite of the western maritime states.
The formidable fleet of the Normans could suddenly appear in front of London or Marseilles, but not a single Varangian boat that entered the Neva and sailed upstream of the Neva, Volkhov, Lovat could not go unnoticed by Russian watchmen from Novgorod or Pskov. The portage system, when heavy, deep-sea vessels had to be pulled ashore and rolled for tens of miles along the ground on skating rinks, excluded the element of surprise and robbed the formidable armada of all its fighting qualities. In practice, only as many Varangians could get into Kyiv as the prince of Kievan Rus allowed. Not without reason, that one time, when the Varangians attacked Kyiv, they had to pretend to be merchants.
The reign of the Varangian Oleg in Kyiv is an insignificant and short-lived episode, overblown by some pro-Varangian chroniclers and later Normanist historians. The campaign of 911 - the only reliable fact from his reign - became famous thanks to the brilliant literary form in which it was described, but in essence this is only one of the many campaigns of Russian squads of the 9th - 10th centuries. on the coast of the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, about which the chronicler is silent. During the X century. and the first half of the 11th century. Russian princes often hired detachments of the Varangians for wars and palace service; they were often entrusted with murders from around the corner: hired Varangians stabbed, for example, Prince Yaropolk in 980, they killed Prince Boris in 1015; Varangians were hired by Yaroslav for the war with his own father.
In order to streamline the relationship between the mercenary Varangian detachments and the local Novgorod squad, Yaroslav's Pravda was published in Novgorod in 1015, limiting the arbitrariness of violent mercenaries.
Historical role Vikings in Russia was negligible. Appearing as "finders", the newcomers, attracted by the splendor of the rich, already far-famous Kievan Rus, they plundered the northern outskirts in separate raids, but they were able to get to the heart of Rus only once.
There is nothing to say about the cultural role of the Varangians. The treaty of 911, concluded on behalf of Oleg and containing about a dozen Scandinavian names of the Oleg boyars, was written not in Swedish, but in Slavonic. The Vikings had nothing to do with the creation of the state, the construction of cities, the laying of trade routes. They could neither speed up nor significantly delay the historical process in Russia.
The short period of Oleg's "principality" - 882 - 912. - left in the people's memory an epic song about the death of Oleg from his own horse (processed by A.S. Pushkin in his "Songs about the Prophetic Oleg"), interesting for its anti-Varangian tendency. The image of a horse in Russian folklore is always very benevolent, and if the owner, the Varangian prince, is already predicted to die from his war horse, then he deserves it.
The struggle against the Varangian elements in the Russian squads continued until 980; there are traces of it both in the annals and in the epic epic - the epic about Mikul Selyaninovich, who helped Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich fight the Varangian Sveneld (black raven Santal).
The historical role of the Varangians is incomparably less than the role of the Pechenegs or Polovtsy, who really influenced the development of Russia for four centuries. Therefore, the life of only one generation of Russian people, who endured the participation of the Varangians in the administration of Kyiv and several other cities, does not seem to be a historically important period.

Kievan Rus is one of the largest states medieval Europe- developed in the ninth century. as a result of a long internal development of the East Slavic tribes.

According to the chronicles, in 862 several tribes at once - Ilmen Slovenes, Chud, Krivich - called on the three Varangian brothers Rurik, Truvor and Sineus to reign in Novgorod. This event was called the "calling of the Varangians." According to historians, the calling happened because the tribes that lived on the territory of the future Russia constantly overcame internecine wars, and they could not decide who should rule. And only with the arrival of the three brothers, civil strife ceased and the Russian lands began to gradually unite, and the tribes turned into a kind of state.

Before the calling of the Varangians, numerous scattered tribes lived on Russian lands, which did not have their own state and management system. With the advent of the brothers, the tribes began to unite under the rule of Rurik, who, along with himself, brought his entire clan. It was Rurik who became the founder of the future princely dynasty, which was destined to rule in Russia for more than a century.

Despite the fact that Rurik himself is the first representative of the dynasty, very often in the annals the Rurik family is traced back to Prince Igor, the son of Rurik, since it was Igor who was not called, but the first truly Russian prince. Disputes about the origin of Rurik himself and the etymology of his name are still ongoing.

The Rurik dynasty ruled the Russian state for over 700 years. The first princes from the Rurik family (Igor Rurikovich, Oleg Rurikovich, Princess Olga, Svyatoslav Rurikovich) initiated the process of forming a centralized state in Russian lands.

In 882, under Prince Oleg, the city of Kyiv became the capital of a new state - Kievan Rus.

In 944, during the reign of Prince Igor, Russia for the first time concluded a peace treaty with Byzantium, stopped military campaigns and got the opportunity to develop.

In 945, Princess Olga for the first time introduced a fixed amount of dues - tribute, which marked the beginning of the formation of the tax system of the state. In 947, the Novgorod lands were subjected to administrative-territorial division.

In 969, Prince Svyatoslav introduced a system of governorship, which helped the development of local self-government, in 963 Kievan Rus was able to subjugate a number of significant territories of the Tmutarakan principality - the state expanded.

The formed state came to feudalism and a feudal system of government during the reign of the Yaroslavichi and Vladimir Monomakh (second half of the 11th-first half of the 12th century). Numerous internecine wars led to a weakening of the power of Kyiv and the Kyiv prince, to the strengthening of local principalities and a significant division of territories within one state. Feudalism held out for quite a long time and seriously weakened Russia.

Starting from the second half of the 12th century and until the middle of the 13th century, the following representatives of the Rurikids ruled in Russia - Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest. During this period, although the princely civil strife continued, trade began to develop, individual principalities grew greatly in economic terms, and Christianity developed.

From the second half of the 13th century until the end of the 14th century, Russia was under the yoke of the Tatar-Mongol yoke (the beginning of the Golden Horde period). The ruling princes more than once tried to throw off the oppression of the Tatar-Mongol, but they did not succeed, and Russia gradually declined due to constant raids and devastation. Only in 1380 was it possible to defeat the Tatar-Mongol army during the Battle of Kulikovo, which was the beginning of the process of liberating Russia from the oppression of the invaders.

After the overthrow of the oppression of the Mongol-Tatars, the state began to recover. The capital was moved to Moscow during the reign of Ivan Kalita, under Dmitry Donskoy the Moscow Kremlin was built, the state was actively developing. Vasily 2 finally united the lands around Moscow and established the practically indestructible and sole power of the Moscow prince in all Russian lands.

The last representatives of the Rurik dynasty also did a lot for the development of the state. During the reign of Ivan 3, Vasily 3 and Ivan the Terrible, the formation of a new centralized state began with a completely different way of life and a political and administrative system similar to a class-representative monarchy. However, the Rurik dynasty was interrupted by Ivan the Terrible, and soon the “Time of Troubles” began in Russia, when it was not known who would take the post of ruler.

4. Rise and fall of the Old Russian state. The period of feudal fragmentation.

The Old Russian state, or Kievan Rus, is the first large stable association of the Eastern Slavs. His education became possible with the formation of feudal (land) relations. The state included 15 large regions - the territories of tribal associations (Polans, Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Ilmen Slovenes, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Northerners, etc.). The most developed in economic and political terms were the lands of the Ilmen Slovenes (Novgorod) and the Polyans (Kyiv), the union of which prince of novgorod Oleg summed up the economic base for the emerging state.

800-882 gg. - First stage the unification of the East Slavic tribes, the formation of two centers of statehood (Kyiv and Novgorod) and their unification by Oleg;

882-912 - the strengthening of the Old Russian state by Oleg, the inclusion of neighboring East Slavic tribes in its composition. Oleg's first trade agreements with Byzantium (907 and 911);

912-1054 gg. - the heyday of the early feudal monarchy, the rise of productive forces, the development of feudal relations, the struggle against nomads, a significant increase in territory due to the entry into the state of all East Slavic tribes. Establishing close relations with Byzantium. Adoption of Christianity (988-989). Creation of the first code of laws - "The Truth of Yaroslav" (1016). The largest politicians this period - Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav, Vladimir I, Yaroslav the Wise;

1054-1093 gg. - the first tangible phenomena of the collapse of the early feudal state, the specific principalities of the heirs of Yaroslav the Wise, the intensification of the inter-princely struggle; Izyaslav, Svyatoslav, Vsevolod - the triumvirate of Yaroslavichs succeed each other in the Kievan great reign. Further development feudal relations. Growth of popular uprisings. The emergence of a new set of laws - "The Truth of Yaroslavichi" (1072), which supplemented the "Truth of Yaroslav" and became known as "Russian Truth";

1093-1132 gg. - new strengthening of the feudal monarchy. The onslaught of the Polovtsy forced the specific princes to unite their efforts under the rule of the great Kievan prince. Improvement of legal and political relations. The new legislative code - "The Charter of Vladimir Monomakh" (1113) - became an integral part of the "Russian Pravda", which is now considered to be the "Large Russian Truth". After the disappearance of the Polovtsian threat, the state disintegrates. The most prominent political figures are Vladimir II Monomakh and Mstislav the Great.

In the second half of the 11th c. in Russia, signs of strengthening feudal fragmentation are becoming more and more distinct.

Prince Yaroslav the Wise gained his father's throne in a fierce internecine struggle. With this in mind, he left a will in which he clearly defined the inheritance rights of his sons. He divided the entire Russian land into five "districts" and determined which of the brothers to reign in which. The Yaroslavichi brothers (Izyaslav, Svyatoslav, Vsevolod, Igor, Vyacheslav) fought together against invasions for two decades and maintained the unity of the Russian land.

However, in 1073 Svyatoslav expelled his brother Izyaslav from Kyiv, deciding to become the sole ruler. Izyaslav, having lost his possessions, wandered for a long time and was able to return to Russia only after the death of Svyatoslav in 1076. Since that time, a bloody struggle for power began.

At the heart of the bloody troubles lay the imperfection of the specific system created by Yaroslav, which could not satisfy the overgrown family of Rurikovich. There was no clear order in the distribution of destinies and inheritance. According to the old custom, the eldest in the family was supposed to inherit the reign. But Byzantine law, which came with the adoption of Christianity, recognized inheritance only by direct descendants. The inconsistency of hereditary rights, the uncertainty of the boundaries of inheritances gave rise to more and more civil strife.

The bloody feuds were aggravated by the continuous raids of the Polovtsy, who skillfully used the disunity of the Russian princes. Other princes took the Polovtsy as allies and brought them to Russia.

In 1097, on the initiative of Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh, the son of Vsevolod Yaroslavovich, a congress of princes was held in Lyubech. On it, in order to stop civil strife, it was decided to establish a new order of organizing power in Russia. In accordance with the new principle, each principality became the hereditary property of the local princely family.

Passed law became the main cause of feudal fragmentation and destroyed the integrity of the ancient Russian state. It became a turning point, as there was a turning point in the distribution of land ownership in Russia.

The pernicious error in lawmaking did not immediately make itself felt. The need for a joint struggle against the Polovtsy, the strong power and patriotism of Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125) pushed back the inevitable for a while. His work was continued by his son Mstislav the Great (1125-1132). However, since 1132, the former counties, having become hereditary "fatherlands", gradually turned into independent principalities.

In the middle of the 12th c. civil strife reached an unprecedented severity, the number of their participants increased due to the fragmentation of princely possessions. At that time, there were 15 principalities in Russia, in the next century - 50, and during the reign of Ivan Kalita - 250. Many historians consider one of the reasons underlying these events to be the large number of children of princely families (by distributing land by inheritance, they multiplied the number of principalities ).

The largest state formations were:

To the Principality of Kiev (despite the loss of the all-Russian status, the struggle for its possession continued until the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars);

AT the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal (in the 12th-13th centuries an economic boom began, the cities of Vladimir, Dmitrov Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Gorodets, Kostroma, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod arose);

H Ernigov and Smolensk principalities (the most important trade routes to the upper reaches of the Volga and Dnieper);

G Alitsko-Volyn principality (located between the Bug and Dniester rivers, the center of arable landowning culture);

P Olotsk-Minsk land (had a favorable location at the crossroads of trade routes).

Feudal fragmentation characteristic of the history of many states of the Middle Ages. The uniqueness and grave consequences for the Old Russian state lay in its duration - about 3.5 centuries.

They unite in a powerful union, which will later be called Kievan Rus. The ancient state embraced the vast territories of the central and southern parts of Europe, united completely different culturally peoples.

Name

The question of the history of the emergence of Russian statehood has been causing a lot of controversy among historians and archaeologists for decades. For a very long time, the manuscript "The Tale of Bygone Years", one of the main documented sources of information about this period, was considered a falsification, and therefore the data on when and how Kievan Rus appeared were called into question. The formation of a single center among the Eastern Slavs is presumably dated to the eleventh century.

The state of the Russians received the usual name for us only in the 20th century, when the textbook studies of Soviet scientists were published. They specified that this concept does not include a separate region of modern Ukraine, but the entire empire of the Rurikids, located on a vast territory. The Old Russian state is called conditionally, for a more convenient distinction between the periods before the Mongol invasion and after.

Prerequisites for the emergence of statehood

In the era of the early Middle Ages, almost throughout Europe, there was a tendency to unite disparate tribes and principalities. This was due to the aggressive campaigns of some king or knight, as well as the creation of alliances of wealthy families. The prerequisites for the formation of Kievan Rus were different and had their own specifics.

By the end of the IX, several large tribes, such as the Krivichi, Polyany, Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Vyatichi, Northerners, Radimichi, gradually united into one principality. The main reasons for this process were the following factors:

1. All unions rallied to confront common enemies - the steppe nomads, who often made devastating raids on cities and villages.
2. And also these tribes were united by a common geographical location, they all lived near the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks."
3. The first Kyiv princes known to us - Askold, Dir, and later Oleg, Vladimir and Yaroslav made aggressive campaigns in the North and South-East of Europe in order to establish their rule and impose tribute on the local population.

Thus, the formation of Kievan Rus gradually took place. It is difficult to talk briefly about this period, there are many events and bloody battles preceded the final consolidation of power in one center, under the leadership of the all-powerful prince. From the very beginning, the Russian state was formed as a multi-ethnic one, the peoples differed in terms of beliefs, way of life and culture.

"Norman" and "anti-Norman" theory

In historiography, the question of who and how created the state called Kievan Rus has not yet been finally resolved. For many decades, the formation of a single center among the Slavs was associated with the arrival of leaders from outside - the Varangians or Normans, whom the locals themselves called on these lands.

The theory has many shortcomings, the main reliable source of its confirmation is the mention of a certain legend of the chroniclers of the Tale of Bygone Years about the arrival of princes from the Varangians and the establishment of statehood by them, there is still no archaeological or historical evidence. This interpretation was adhered to by the German scientists G. Miller and I. Bayer.

The theory of the formation of Kievan Rus by foreign princes was disputed by M. Lomonosov, he and his followers believed that statehood in this territory arose through the gradual establishment of the power of one center over others, and was not introduced from outside. Until now, scientists have not come to a consensus, and this issue has long been politicized and is used as a lever of pressure on the perception of Russian history.

First princes

Whatever disagreements exist regarding the issue of the origin of statehood, official history speaks of the arrival of three brothers in the Slavic lands - Sinius, Truvor and Rurik. The first two soon died, and Rurik became the sole ruler of the then large cities of Ladoga, Izborsk and Beloozero. After his death, his son Igor, due to his infancy, could not take control, so Prince Oleg became regent under the heir.

Education is associated with his name. eastern state Kievan Rus, at the end of the ninth century, he made a trip to the capital city and declared these lands "the cradle of the Russian land." Oleg showed himself not only as a strong leader and a great conqueror, but also as a good manager. In each city, he created a special system of subordination, legal proceedings and rules for collecting taxes.

Several destructive campaigns against the Greek lands, which were made by Oleg and his predecessor Igor, helped to strengthen the authority of Russia as a strong and independent state, and also led to the establishment of a wider and more profitable trade with Byzantium.

Prince Vladimir

Igor's son Svyatoslav continued aggressive campaigns to remote territories, annexed the Crimea, the Taman Peninsula to his possessions, returned the cities previously conquered by the Khazars. However, the management of such economically and culturally diverse territories was very difficult to carry out from Kyiv. Therefore, Svyatoslav carried out an important administrative reform, putting all big cities their sons.

The education and development of Kievan Rus was successfully continued by his illegitimate son Vladimir, this man became an outstanding figure. national history, it was during his reign that the Russian statehood was finally formed, and also a new religion was adopted - Christianity. He continued the consolidation of all the lands under his control, removing the sole rulers and appointing his sons as princes.

Rise of the state

Vladimir is often called the first Russian reformer, during his reign he created a clear system of administrative division and subordination, and also established a single rule for collecting taxes. In addition, he reorganized the judiciary, now the governors in each region made the law on his behalf. In the first period of his reign, Vladimir devoted much effort to fighting the raids of the steppe nomads and strengthening the country's borders.

It was during his reign that Kievan Rus was finally formed. The formation of a new state is impossible without the establishment of a single religion and worldview among the people, so Vladimir, being a smart strategist, decides to convert to Orthodoxy. Thanks to rapprochement with the strong and enlightened Byzantium, the state very soon becomes the cultural center of Europe. Thanks to the Christian faith, the authority of the head of the country is strengthened, as well as schools are opened, monasteries are built and books are printed.

internecine wars, disintegration

Initially, the system of government in Russia was formed on the basis of tribal traditions of inheritance - from father to son. Under Vladimir, and then Yaroslav, such a custom played a key role in uniting disparate lands, the prince appointed his sons as governors in different cities, thereby maintaining a single government. But already in the 17th century, the grandchildren of Vladimir Monomakh were mired in internecine wars among themselves.

The centralized state, created with such zeal over the course of two hundred years, soon broke up into many specific principalities. The absence of a strong leader and harmony between the children of Mstislav Vladimirovich led to the fact that the once powerful country was completely unprotected against the forces of the devastating hordes of Batu.

Way of life

By the time of the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in Russia, there were about three hundred cities, although the majority of the population lived in the countryside, where they were engaged in cultivating the land and raising livestock. The formation of the state of the Eastern Slavs of Kievan Rus contributed to the massive construction and strengthening of settlements, part of the taxes went both to create infrastructure and to build powerful defensive systems. To establish Christianity among the population, churches and monasteries were built in every city.

The class division in Kievan Rus took shape over a long period of time. One of the first is a group of leaders, usually it consisted of representatives of a separate family, social inequality between the leaders and the rest of the population was striking. Gradually, the future feudal nobility is formed from the princely squad. Despite the active slave trade with Byzantium by other eastern countries, slaves in Ancient Russia there wasn't much. Among the subject people, historians single out smerds, who obey the will of the prince, and serfs, who have practically no rights.

Economy

The formation of the monetary system in Ancient Russia takes place in the first half of the 9th century and is associated with the beginning of active trade with the major states of Europe and the East. For a long time, coins minted in the centers of the Caliphate or in Western Europe, for the manufacture of their own banknotes, the Slavic princes had neither the experience nor the necessary raw materials.

The formation of the state of Kievan Rus became possible largely due to the establishment of economic ties with Germany, Byzantium, and Poland. Russian princes have always prioritized protecting the interests of merchants abroad. The traditional goods of trade in Russia were furs, honey, wax, linen, silver, jewelry, locks, weapons and much more. The message took place along the famous route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", when the ships rose along the Dnieper River to the Black Sea, as well as along the Volga route through Ladoga to the Caspian Sea.

Meaning

The social and cultural processes that took place during the formation and flourishing of Kievan Rus became the basis for the formation of the Russian nationality. With the adoption of Christianity, the country changed its appearance forever, for the next centuries Orthodoxy will become a unifying factor for all peoples living in this territory, despite the fact that pagan customs and rituals of our ancestors still remain in the culture and way of life.

A huge influence on Russian literature and the worldview of people was exerted by folklore, for which Kievan Rus was famous. The formation of a single center contributed to the emergence of common legends and fairy tales glorifying the great princes and their exploits.

With the adoption of Christianity in Russia, the widespread construction of monumental stone structures begins. Some architectural monuments have survived to this day, for example, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, which dates back to the 19th century. Of no less historical value are examples of paintings by ancient masters, which remained in the form of frescoes and mosaics in Orthodox churches and churches.

State formations in most of the East European Plain appeared relatively late. The Old Russian state arose during the period when other European states appeared on the historical arena: the collapse of the empire of Charlemagne (843) into the Western (future France), Middle (later Italy) and Eastern (Germany) kingdoms; Moravian state (830); Hungarian state (896); Polish state (960).

The emergence of Russian civilization was inextricably linked with the processes taking place on the European continent. At the same time, the formation of Russian civilization, the Old Russian state, ancient Russian culture was the result of historical development East Slavic tribes, their life activity, creativity of the Russian people. The Russian people had many close and distant ancestors who left behind a very different memory in a vast area where in the 9th century. the state of Ancient Russia was formed.

The prerequisites for the formation of the Old Russian state were:

the development of the productive forces of the East Slavic tribes;

development of trade, including international and tribal;

the growth of social and property inequality, the allocation of tribal nobility;

the existence of an external threat.

The tribal reigns of the Slavs had signs of the emerging statehood. Tribal principalities often united into large superunions, which revealed features of early statehood. The widespread use of agriculture with the use of iron tools, the collapse of the tribal community and its transformation into a neighboring one, the growth in the number of cities, the emergence of a squad are evidence of the emerging statehood.

The Slavs mastered the East European Plain, interacting with the local Baltic and Finno-Ugric populations. The military campaigns of the Antes, Sclavens, Russ against more developed countries, primarily against Byzantium, brought significant military booty to the combatants and princes. All this contributed to the stratification of East Slavic society. Thus, as a result of economic and socio-political development, statehood began to take shape among the East Slavic tribes.

"Our country is great, but there is no order in it." This statement is connected with the version of the "calling of the Varangians". In the Tale of Bygone Years, Nestor the chronicler (who lived in the 11th century) wrote under 852: “When Michael (the Byzantine emperor) began to reign, the Russian land began to be called. We learned about this because under this king Russia came to Tsargrad (Constantinople ), as it is written about this in the Greek annals. That is why from now on we will begin and put the numbers. Further under 859g. it is reported: "The Varangians from overseas levied tribute from the Chud and from the Slavs, and from Mary, and from all the Krivichi, and the Khazars took from the glades and from the northerners, and from the Vyatichi - they took a silver coin and a squirrel from the smoke." (Smoke in At that time they called a separate farm, one family.)

Under 862, which is considered the date of the formation of the Old Russian state, Nestor wrote: “They drove the Varangians across the sea and did not give them tribute, and began to rule themselves. strife and began to fight with themselves. 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. Swedes), and some Normans and Angles, and still other Gotlanders - that's how these were called. Chud, Slavs, Krivichi and all said to Russia: "Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us. "And three brothers were elected with their families and took all of Russia with them, and they came to the Slavs, and the elder Rurik sat in Novgorod, and the other - Sineus - on Beloozero, and the third - Truvor - in Izborsk. And from all the Varangians, the Russian land was nicknamed. Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before they were Slavs.

The lack of reliable, indisputable data on the pre-state period in the history of our country is the cause of many years of discussions and various speculations.

According to the Norman theory, the Old Russian state was founded by the Varangians (Vikings, Normans, i.e. Scandinavians), who in 862 were invited to reign, to rule themselves, two Slavic (Ilmenian, Slovenian and Krivichi) and two Finnish tribes (Chud and all). For the first time this theory, based on the legendary chronicle story, formulated in the XVIII century. German scientists G.-F. Miller and G.-Z. Bayer invited to work in Russia.

The first anti-Normanist was M. V. Lomonosov. Supporters of the Slavic theory believed that already in the VI-VIII centuries. Slavic tribal principalities united in large superunions with features of early statehood. As such proto-states, relying on various sources, they name the Power of the Volynians, Kuyaba (around Kyiv), Slavia (around Novgorod), Artania (the region of Ryazan, Chernigov), Rus.