The reasons for feudal fragmentation in Rus', the beginning of the isolation of Russian principalities, their separation and the formation of a confederation in the territory Kyiv State. The struggle of Russian princes for territories. Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' and the establishment of the yoke.

ALL-RUSSIANCORRESPONDENCE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMICINSTITUTE

TEST

In the discipline "National History"

on the topic "Feudal fragmentation in Rus' inXII- XIIIcenturies»

Moscow - 2010

1. The beginning of feudal fragmentation in Rus'.

2. Southern and Southwestern Rus'.

3. North-Eastern Rus'.

4. Novgorod land.

5. Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' and the establishment of the yoke.

1. The beginning of feudal fragmentation in Rus'

The separation of the Russian principalities, which began in the second half of the 11th century, ended after the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich. From the second third of the 12th century. Rus' entered the stage of feudal fragmentation. Its culmination occurred in the 12th-13th centuries. In the 14th century, with the strengthening of the Moscow principality, the political decentralization of Rus' gradually weakened and by the second half of the 15th century. is finally becoming obsolete.

“And the whole Russian Land became angry,” reports “The Tale of Bygone Years” under the entry of 1132. “Human eyelids shrank” and “the life of Dazhbog’s grandson perished,” exclaims the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” “The destruction of the Russian Land” is what contemporaries call the “non-identity” of Russian princes.

Feudal fragmentation was not feudal anarchy. Statehood in Rus' did not cease, it changed its forms. The painfulness of this turning point was reflected in the literary consciousness of the era. Rus' has actually turned into confederation principalities, the political head of which was first the great Kyiv princes, and later the great Vladimir princes. The purpose of the internecine struggle also changed. Now she was pursuing not the seizure of power throughout the country, but the expansion of the borders of her own principality at the expense of her neighbors. The breadwinner prince, striving to grab a piece of someone else's land, and, if successful, to occupy the all-Russian table, is a typical figure of his time. It is not for nothing that a saying arose among the princes: “the place does not go to the head, but the head to the place.” And yet, the contractual principle in inter-princely relations, although violated, formed the basis of the political system of Rus' in the era of fragmentation.

The allocation of principalities on the territory of the Kyiv state occurred everywhere. This was an all-Russian process. It cannot be considered as a consequence of the desolation of the Dnieper region, which began later and was caused by the action special conditions. The fragmentation of Kievan Rus was due to the formation of stable local associations of the military-service nobility, which fed on income from state taxes. It was also caused by the growth of patrimonial property: princely, boyar, church and monastic land holdings. The process of gradual settling of the squad on the ground forced the prince to be less mobile, developing in him a desire to strengthen his possessions, and not to move to new tables. The political decentralization of Rus' was determined by the flourishing of cities and the economic rise of individual lands. By that time, small handicraft production had already developed in the cities and local trade had arisen. The orientation of more or less significant feudal estates towards regional markets made them extremely independent political formations, and the larger they were, the more self-sufficient. Thus, political reasons decentralization of the Kyiv state was rooted in the conditions of its socio-economic development.

Large independent principalities formed during the political fragmentation of Kievan Rus began to be called lands. The principalities that were part of them were called volosts. Thus, the structure of the Kyiv state was reproduced at the regional level. In the lands, the processes of economic isolation and political fragmentation were repeated with the same pattern as on the all-Russian scale. Each land gradually turned into a system of small semi-independent principalities with its own ruling dynasty, its senior and junior lines, with main capital and secondary residences. The number of principalities was not stable. During the course of family divisions, new ones were formed. Only in rare cases did neighboring principalities unite. The rule was the smallerness of the principalities; it was not for nothing that the saying arose: “Seven princes have one warrior.”

There were 12 large lands assigned to the branches of the Rurik family: Kiev, Pereyaslav, Chernigovo-Seversk, Galician and Volyn (united into Galician-Volyn), Smolensk, Polotsk, Turovo-Pinsk, Rostov-Suzdal (later Vladimir-Suzdal), Murom , Ryazan, Novgorod and the Pskov land that separated from it. The strongest and most stable formations were the Novgorod land, the Rostov-Suzdal and Galician-Volyn principalities. Until the invasion of Batu, Kyiv continued to be considered the all-Russian table. But Kyiv prince Now he was not always the eldest not only in the clan, but even in his branch. The nominal nature of all-Russian rule necessitated a special title to reinforce political supremacy. Thus the title was revived great prince, which ceased to be used in Rus' from the 11th century. Consecutive use of the title is associated with the name Vsevolod Big Nest.

In the era of fragmentation, Russian lands became subjects of international relations. They independently entered into alliances with foreign states. The practice of military alliances between principalities and foreigners was widespread. Hungarians, Poles and Polovtsians took part in the struggle for the Kiev table (40-70s of the 12th century) and the Principality of Galicia (first half of the 13th century). In the middle of the 12th century. Polovtsian raids again became frequent, but starting in the 90s of the 12th century. their intensity began to subside due to the transition of the Polovtsians to sedentary life. At the same time, until their complete defeat by the Mongol-Tatars, they continued to participate in the internecine wars of the Russian princes, without, however, committing independent actions. Russian-Byzantine ties developed mainly through the church, since in 1204 the Byzantine Empire temporarily ceased to exist after the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders.

Russian lands also faced the aggression of the Crusaders in the first half of the 13th century. The Baltic states became the prey of the German Order of the Sword, whose expansion was accompanied by the distribution of lands to German feudal lords and the forced conversion of the population to Catholicism. Russian colonization of this region was fundamentally different from the actions of the Crusaders. The Russian princes were content with receiving tribute. The unification of the Swordsmen with the Teutonic Order in 1237 confronted the peoples of this region with the task of resisting the Order’s aggression, which was most successfully solved by Lithuania, Novgorod and Pskov. The military successes of Russian city-republics were determined by the nature of their political system. They were not deeply woven into princely civil strife, since they had the right to invite princes from Russian lands at their discretion. They valued the most talented militarily: the Novgorodians - Mstislav the Brave, his son Mstislav the Udal, Alexander Nevsky, the Pskovites - the Lithuanian prince Dovmont. Other Russian lands became hostages of the political “diversity” of their princes, whom the new powerful enemy, the Mongol-Tatars, defeated one by one, first on the Kalka River, and later during Batu’s invasion of Rus'.

Among the new forms of feudal relations were local land ownership, the institution of mortgages and palace estates, feudal immunities in the form of letters of grant. The dominant form of land ownership remained patrimonial, formed, as in the Kiev period, through the seizure of communal lands by boyars and princes (the process fumbling), expropriation of the free agricultural population and its subsequent enslavement.

Despite the fact that the estates of spiritual and secular feudal lords in the XII-XIII centuries. became stronger and more independent, the first estates appeared. On military service Most often, princes, boyars and monasteries invited people to their homes, i.e. large fiefdoms. These, as a rule, were younger princely or boyar children, as well as bankrupt feudal lords. They constituted the court of a prince or boyar, so they began to be called nobles, and their plots were estates (hence the word “landowner” would later come from). At the same time, the landowner could not arbitrarily dispose of the land, although he acquired the rights of a feudal lord over the population living on this land.

The immunities of feudal lords, formalized in Rus' as complained diplomas, were closely associated with the institute pawnbroking. The privileges of the boyars, granted to them by the princes, helped attract rural residents to the patrimonial lands. Benefits reflected such feudal farms from the arbitrariness of the volost-feeders, princely tiuns and other administrative officials of the principalities. The nature of the acquisition of estates determined their name: princely, patrimonial, purchased, granted. Palace agriculture, like patrimonial agriculture, expanded through purchases, seizure, transfer by will, donation, barter, etc.

The palace economy was under the control of the butlers, who were in charge of the lands and people, and palace paths: falconers, stables, stewards, bedkeepers, etc.

2. Southern and Southwestern Rus'

Until the Mongol-Tatar devastation, the Kiev table remained the oldest in Rus'. Strong princes claimed a “part” within its borders. Therefore, Kyiv was the subject of disputes and bloody struggles of princes, the frequent change of which became an ordinary phenomenon of the 12th-13th centuries. The oldest table was alternately occupied by Chernigov, Vladimir-Suzdal, Smolensk and Galician princes. The most powerful princely branches, Galician and Vladimir-Suzdal, tried to keep it under their control.

After the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich, an internecine war broke out between the Chernigov Olgovichi(descendants of Oleg Svyatoslavovich) and Kyiv and Pereyaslavl Monomakhovich(descendants of Vladimir Monomakh). Soon civil strife struck the Monomakhovich clan itself. The youngest son of Vladimir Monomakh, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky of Suzdal, based on the right of seniority, laid claim to the Kiev table, which was occupied by his nephew Izyaslav II Mstislavovich. The war between uncle and nephew went on for several years with varying success. Only after the death of Izyaslav, Yuri Dolgoruky, in his later years of life, managed to secure Kyiv for himself and remain there until his death (1155-1157).

As soon as Yuri Dolgoruky died, the Kiev throne was recaptured by Izyaslav’s son Mstislav II, who went to war with Dolgoruky’s son Andrei Bogolyubsky. The latter sent a large army against Mstislav II, which was joined by 11 more princes, including South Russian ones. Kyiv was taken “on the shield” and plundered by the allies. At the same time, Andrei himself did not go to Kyiv, but sent his younger brother Gleb, Prince of Pereyaslavl, to dispose of the oldest table at his own discretion. In fact, from that moment on, the capital of Rus' was moved to Vladimir on Klyazma. Thus, from 1169, the Principality of Kiev lost its primacy, although nominally it continued to be considered the oldest Russian possession. Possession of it became a symbol of political prestige.

In 1203, Kyiv was subjected to a new devastation, the results of which, according to the chronicler, exceeded all previous cases of devastation of the city. The defeat was carried out by a coalition of the Smolensk prince Rurik Rostislavovich, the Chernigov Olgovichs and the Polovtsians allied with them. In the 30s of the 13th century, on the eve of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, a real feudal war. The Chernigov, Smolensk and Volyn princes led her to the “all-Russian” tables of Kyiv and Galich. The Kiev and Galician principalities changed hands several times. In 1235, Kyiv was subjected to a new pogrom by the Chernigov and Polovtsians. The strife was not stopped even by the news of the devastation of North-Eastern Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars. The war continued until the attack on Southern Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars, who dealt the final blow to Kyiv in 1240. The missionary Plano Carpini, traveling through the Kyiv land to the east in 1246, saw Kyiv as a small town of 200 houses.

Signs of desolation of the Dnieper region, which appeared in the middle of the 12th century, began to rapidly increase in subsequent times. One of the reasons for the decline was the uneven development of feudal production, which had developed earlier in the basin of the Dnieper route than on the outskirts of the Kyiv state. With the development of feudal exploitation, stinkers began to move to lands undeveloped by the feudal lords. The outflow of the population took place in two directions: to the northeast, to the Rostov-Suzdal land, and to the southwest, to the Galicia-Volyn region.

Takeoff Galician Rus' was associated with growth economic significance Dniester and was a consequence of the decline of the Volkhov-Dnieper route. The centers of the principality were the Galician cities: Galich on the Dniester, Przemysl and Yaroslavl on the San. The peculiarity of the development of Southwestern Rus' was that the boyars, which chronicles from the middle of the 12th century. called " Galician husbands", became stronger here before the Rostislav branch of the Kyiv princes was finally established. It was based on old families with extensive land holdings. So, in their composition, the “Galician men” differed from the boyars of other Russian principalities, in which the leading role was played by the warriors of the princes who settled on the land. The importance of the boyars' possessions was further enhanced by the influx of Kyiv settlers. Due to constant communication with the powerful feudal aristocracy of neighboring countries, the Galician boyars felt independent of the princely power, the strengthening of which they resisted in every possible way. It is not for nothing that one Hungarian monument calls the “Galician men” “barons.”

After the death of Yaroslav Osmomysl, a dynastic struggle broke out in Galich between his two sons, descended from different mothers, in which the boyars, the Hungarian king and the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavovich took an active part. After the line of Galician princes ended with Yaroslav’s son Vladimirka II, the prince finally established himself in Galich Novel-- eldest grandson of Vladimir Monomakh (1199). Under him, the unification of Galicia and Volyn took place. An echo of his intense struggle with the boyars was the proverb attributed to him: “without crushing the bees, there is no honey.” Roman continued the policies of his predecessors and sought to unite all southwestern Russian lands. His struggle with the petty Lithuanian princelings on the northern border of Volyn and the Polish kingdom was especially fierce. At the request of Byzantium, Roman, who was constantly at war, made a campaign against the Polovtsian vezhi and forced the Polovtsians to leave the northern Balkan possessions of the empire. In the fight against the Polovtsians, as the chronicle says, he was “jealous” of his grandfather Vladimir Monomakh. Pope Innocent III, in exchange for help in acquiring new lands, offered Roman to convert to Catholicism and accept the “royal crown” from him. In response, Roman took out his sword and ordered to ask dad: “Is that what dad has? As long as he is at my hip, I have no need to buy cities for myself except with blood, following the example of our fathers and grandfathers, who multiplied the Russian land.” In 1205, during the war with the Poles, Roman was killed. His death caused rejoicing among the Polish gentry, and the king even erected a special altar in the Krakow Cathedral in honor of those saints on whose celebration Prince Roman died. The Galician chronicle preserved a portrait of Roman: “He rushed at the filthy like a lion; he was angry as a lynx; destroyed them like a crocodile; flew around the earth like an eagle; was brave as a tour.”

Roman was succeeded by his eldest son Daniel, who was three years old in the year of his father's death. Before establishing his power in his fatherland in 1229, 10 years before Batu’s pogrom of South-Western Rus', Daniil wandered around a foreign land for 25 years, and his land was the scene of fierce clashes between Hungary, Poland, Russian princes and “Galician men.” On a short time The boyars even managed to imprison a prince from among them - Vladislav Kormilichich. This was the only prince who did not belong to the Rurik family. Polish-Hungarian plans to conquer Southwestern Rus' met resistance from Prince Mstislav the Udal (from the Smolensk princely line). He twice expelled the Hungarians from Galich and was twice forced to yield to the Hungarian prince.

During Batu's campaign against the Galicia-Volyn land, Daniel went to Hungary. Soon he returned to Galich and began to restore the destroyed cities. The prince avoided going to the Horde for a long time, but nevertheless, at the request of the khan (“Give Galich!”) in 1250 he was forced to go there and recognize his citizenship. About the honor shown to the Russian prince Batu, the Galician chronicler left the famous bitter remark: “Oh, Tatar honor is more evil than evil.” Submitting to the Horde's power, the prince saved his land from final ruin. At the same time, he did not abandon the thought of fighting the Mongol-Tatars. For this purpose, Daniel communicated with the Vladimir prince Andrei Yaroslavovich, the brother of Alexander Nevsky. He even negotiated with Pope Innocent IV, who was preparing to declare a crusade against the Horde, accepted from him the signs of royal dignity (crown and scepter) and was crowned with them in the city of Drogichin in 1255. However, he did not receive real help from the pope.

Despite his dependence on the Golden Horde, Daniel extended his power over a large territory, from the headwaters of the Western Bug to the Kiev region. The prince kept his governor in Kyiv. At the same time, he became increasingly involved in the struggle between the Hungarian kings and the German emperors. Each side sought to have its ally in the Galician prince. Daniel continued his fight against the boyars. It is the vicissitudes of this confrontation that explain the transfer of the capital from Galich to the city of Kholm, which he founded, built with amazing splendor.

After the death of Daniil Romanovich in 1264, his successors failed to overcome the collapse of Southwestern Rus'. His last descendant, Yuri II, still bore the title of “king of all Little Rus'" With his death in 1340, Volyn was captured by Lithuania, and Galicia by Poland.

3. North-Eastern Rus'

From the middle of the 12th century. A stream of settlers poured into North-Eastern Rus' from the south, seeking security, free lands and economic independence. There were no Polovtsians, princely estates or boyar estates here. The memory of this movement was preserved by the names of cities and geographical names: Pereyaslavl Zalessky and Pereyaslavl Ryazan (Ryazan), which both stand on the rivers of the same name Trubezh, Galich in the Kostroma region, the Lybid River in Old Ryazan. The consequences of this colonization are manifold. Ethnically, it contributed to the formation of the Great Russian people, born from the combination of Russian settlers with Russified Finno-Ugric tribes. The socio-economic consequence was the predominance of the rural population over the urban population and the subsistence economy over the cash economy. The cities of the Volga-Oka interfluve have never had such political significance, like Kyiv. But the most important result was a change in the nature of princely power and the relationship of the prince with the population.

The princely power here was initially more powerful than in the Dnieper region, where strong urban communities invited alien princes. In the northeast, on the contrary, the prince, who owned vast empty lands, invited colonists to his place and acted as the rightful owner of his territories. The areas received by the princes as their undivided property were called destinies. “The concept of the prince as the personal owner of the estate was a legal consequence of the importance of the prince as an assessor and organizer of his estate,” wrote V.O. Klyuchevsky. In the relationship between the prince and his squad there was no equality, but rather citizenship was visible. It is not for nothing that it arose here in the 12th century. “Prayer” by Daniil Zatochnik is a true hymn to princely power. The author compares the prince with his father and God: just as the birds of the air do not sow or plow, trusting in God’s mercy, “so we, sir, desire your mercy.” In this regard, eternal life did not develop here either. The rural population did not have the opportunity to travel to a distant city without roads. The appanage towns did not have the necessary strength to resist the prince.

The Volga-Oka interfluve, according to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, went to Vsevolod, whose son Vladimir Monomakh gave it to his youngest son Yuri in 1125. Under him, the Rostov-Suzdal principality separated from Kyiv immediately after the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich (1132). Suzdal became the actual capital of the land. With name Yuri Dolgoruky The founding of many cities is connected: Yuryev-Polsky, Dmitrov, Zvenigorod, Gorodets, Kostroma, Pereyaslavl Zalessky. During his reign (1125-1157), the first chronicle mentions of Volokolamsk (1135), Tula (1146), Moscow (1147), and Uglich (1148) occurred.

Prince Yuri was distinguished by enviable activity. His “long” (long) arms stretched from Suzdal to all corners of Rus'. In 1149-1150 and 1155-1157 he occupied the Kiev table. Since 1155, he no longer left the southern capital, and sent one of his younger sons, Vasilka. The people of Kiev were not particularly fond of Yuri, saying that they “wouldn’t get along with him.” After the death of the prince, a popular uprising of 1157-1159 began. As the chronicler reports, “there was a lot of gossip in town and village.” During his lifetime, Dolgoruky actively intervened in the affairs of the Galicia-Volyn and Novgorod lands. In 1149, he attempted to recapture the Yugra tribute from the Novgorodians. From two marriages (Yuri was married to the daughter of the Polovtsian khan Aepa and the daughter of the Byzantine emperor John Komnenos Olga), the prince had 11 sons. Of these, history has singled out two names: Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest. The age difference between them was 42 years, but this did not prevent them from being political like-minded people. And although they took different paths in establishing a “fatherland”, under them North-Eastern Rus' entered its peak period.

The eldest son of Yuri Dolgoruky went down in history as a brave warrior, an autocratic sovereign and a hot-tempered man. His mother's eastern blood was showing. The prince's outward, proud appearance was determined by the peculiarities of his anatomical structure: he had two fused cervical vertebrae. Andrei's character manifested itself during the life of his father, whose will he violated by leaving without permission from the southern Vyshgorod to the Zalessky region. But even there, in the old cities - Rostov and Suzdal - he could not get along with the arrogant boyars. Andrei settled in young Vladimir on the Klyazma, where there were no strong veche traditions, no old political connections, no large boyar land ownership. The boyars called the people of Vladimir, from whom the prince recruited his squad, “little people,” their “slaves,” “bricklayers.”

Thus, the preference given by Prince Vladimir was explained by the main goal of his domestic policy - strengthening the grand-ducal power. In order to avoid its weakening, Andrei expelled his father’s younger brothers, nephews and older boyars from the Rostov-Suzdal possessions. With the help of foreign craftsmen, Vladimir magnificently rebuilt his suburban residence in the village of Bogolyubovo. His favorite country chambers were built on the spot where, according to legend, the horses stopped carrying the “miraculous” icon of the Mother of God from Vyshgorod to Rostov. The Mother of God allegedly herself “decided” to choose Vladimir as her place of residence and even informed the prince about this in a dream. Since then the icon has been called Vladimir Mother of God, and Andrey - Bogolyubsky. The transformation of the icon into the heavenly patroness of the principality contributed to the increasing role of the Vladimir-Suzdal land in all-Russian politics and its final isolation from the old centers, Kyiv and Novgorod, where Hagia Sophia was worshiped. Andrei Bogolyubsky also found a local saint, Bishop Leonty of Rostov, and managed to achieve the transfer of the episcopal see from Rostov to Vladimir.

In the southern direction, Andrei successfully participated in the all-Russian struggle for Kyiv. In the east, he waged a successful fight - the war with the Volga-Kama Bulgaria (1164). In honor of the victory over her, by order of the prince, the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary was erected at the mouth of the Nerl River - a pearl of ancient Russian architecture. The prince developed a special relationship with Novgorod, which Andrei, in his own words, “wanted to seek... both good and bad.” Here the prince sought to keep the rulers' henchmen: sons, nephews and Smolensk princes obedient to him. A direct clash occurred in 1169 Zavolochye(Dvina land), where two hostile detachments of tribute collectors, Novgorod and Suzdal, met. The Novgorodians then defeated the Suzdalians and took additional tribute from the Suzdal smerds. Then the prince himself with a large retinue went to Novgorod, but was completely defeated at the city walls, so the captive Suzdalian was sold into slavery for less than a sheep (for two nogat, the cost of a sheep was six nogat). But soon Andrei restored his political influence in the Novgorod region with the help of economic pressure: in a lean year he forbade the export of grain from his principality, which caused high prices and famine in Novgorod, and he asked for peace1.

Prince Andrei ended his days as a result of a boyar conspiracy in which up to 20 people participated. It was headed by the Moscow boyars Kuchkovichi. In June 1174, the conspirators, among whom were the prince’s personal servants, broke into the bedroom of the Bogolyubov chambers at night and mortally wounded the prince. The next day, popular unrest began, which soon spread to Vladimir. The uprising took such a turn that the clergy preached: whoever resists the princely power resists God himself. The older cities of Rostov and Suzdal invited the nephews of Andrei Bogolyubsky, the sons of Rostislav Yuryevich, to reign. The people of Vladimir wished for the youngest son of Yuri Dolgoruky, Vsevolod, and won.

Vsevolod Yurievich with the support of the Vladimir residents, he managed to bleed the boyar opposition. It was under him that Vladimir became the official princely capital. He was the first to introduce the use of the title Grand Duke of Vladimir. At the end of the 13th century. the nickname Big Nest stuck to him, because his descendants sat in all, with the exception of Ryazan, principalities of North-Eastern Rus'. He was married twice, to the Ossetian Maria and the daughter of the Vitebsk prince Vasilko, Lyubov, and had 8 sons and 15 grandchildren. Vsevolod ascended the throne at the age of 22 and reigned for 36 years (1176-1212). He differed in character from his famous brother - he was balanced, wise and diplomatic. He achieved his political goals by rarely engaging in direct confrontation with his opponent. He preferred to save and collect rather than scatter his father’s wealth to the winds of military glory.

The reign of Vsevolod Yuryevich is the time of the highest power of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus'. The chronicler calls him “the Grand Duke,” and the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” says about him: “You can sprinkle the Volga with oars and pour out the Don with helmets!” (“After all, you can splash the Volga with oars, and scoop up the Don with helmets”). With the most independent part of the Russian land, Novgorod, Vsevolod lived in peace and at the same time called it his “fatherland” and “grandfather”. In 1209, the prince recognized the political independence of the Novgorodians. They, in turn, sent him an army to fight against Chernigov.

The Murom-Ryazan principality was in complete political dependence on Vsevolod. In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” it is said: “You can throw living spears on dry land, alive - the daring sons of Gleb” (“You can throw living spears on dry land - the daring sons of Gleb”). Here the author of the Lay compares the Ryazan princes, the sons of Gleb Rostislavovich, with spears - the weapon of the first skirmish in battle. These five brothers took part in the campaign of 1183, organized by Vsevolod against the Volga Bulgars. In the 80s of the 12th century. The Ryazan principality was politically dependent on Vladimir. When the Ryazan princes tried to separate from him, Vsevolod arrested most of them and sent them with their families to the north. He sent his sons and mayors around the cities. He maintained control over Southern Russia, not allowing any of the two warring lines - the Monomakhovichs and the Olgovichs - to strengthen.

After the death of Vsevolod the Big Nest, civil strife began between his sons, complicated by relations with Novgorod. Vsevolod bequeathed the Vladimir table not to his eldest son Konstantin, Prince of Rostov, but to his middle son, Yuri, who ruled in Vladimir in 1212-1216. Among his allies was his brother Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who owned Pereyaslavl-Zalessky and then reigned in Novgorod. This autocratic prince quarreled with the Novgorodians because he illegally dealt with his political rivals, supporters of the Toropets prince Mstislav the Udal, who was sitting before him, whose daughter Rostislavna, by the way, was the wife of Vsevolod. The prince punished the Novgorodians following the example of his great uncle Andrei Bogolyubsky - he locked the “grassroots” grain in the previously occupied Torzhok. The Novgorodians responded by entering into an alliance with Konstantin Vsevolodovich, the elder brother of Yuri and Yaroslav, and again invited Mstislav the Udal. In 1216, on the Lipitsa River near Yuryev-Polsky, the Novgorodians defeated a coalition of Vladimir princes, defended their political independence and helped Constantine settle in Vladimir.

After the brief reign of Konstantin Vsevolodovich (1216-1218), power again passed to Yuri (1218-1238). Novgorod then entered the sphere of political influence of North-Eastern Rus'. In view of the impending order aggression in 1234, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich undertook a campaign against the German crusading knights and helped the Novgorodians repel the offensive of the Livonian Order on the borders of Pskov. In the east, the Vladimir-Suzdal princes continued their offensive against the Mordovians and Bulgars. In 1221, on Mordovian soil at the confluence of the Oka and Volga, the Nizhny Novgorod. In 1226, the princes undertook a campaign deep into Mordovian territory and thereby indirectly contributed to the process of unification of the Mordovian tribes, headed by the leader Purgas. In 1228, he led his fellow tribesmen to Nizhny Novgorod itself. The first chronicle mention of Galich as the town of Mersky dates back to 1238.

In general, the political weight of Yuri Vsevolodovich was significantly weaker than his predecessors. He was no longer able, like his grandfather, father and uncle, to keep Russian lands under his control. In the principality itself, signs of collapse were brewing. Large cities (Pereyaslavl, Yaroslavl, Rostov, Uglich, Yuryev-Polsky, Murom, etc.) turned into centers of new feudal estates. The attempt of the Suzdal princes to create a strong state in the north-east of Rus' could not end in success at this stage, because it contradicted the main trend in the development of feudal society of that time - strengthening the economic independence and political independence of feudal estates.

4. Novgorod land

Among the Russian lands, Novgorod occupied a special place. No wonder he was called Mister Velikiy Novgorod. Princely power was established here early, playing an important role in the political unification of Rus'. Later, when the Kiev state was formed, princes who were defeated in internecine battles took refuge here, they recruited help, and hired Scandinavian troops were called from here. From the 11th century The Kyiv princes kept their eldest sons and mayors here, ensuring ownership not only of the city itself, but also of its vast lands.

Novgorod was the center of a vast territory that occupied the entire north of the Great Russian Plain. The most important cities were Pskov, Staraya Russa, Torzhok and Ladoga. The boundaries of the Lord of Veliky Novgorod expanded due to military colonization, which did not meet serious resistance from the scattered and few tribal unions of trappers and sea hunters of the North. The most active part of the colonists were the squads " Ushkuinikov"(their boats were called ushkii). They equipped themselves on private initiative, set up strongholds on the conquered lands and collected tribute in furs from the local population to the city treasury. The violent disposition of such fellows is depicted in the image of Vaska Buslay, a popular hero of Novgorod epics, who did not believe in “neither in choch, nor in the evil eye, nor in the crow’s face.”

First of all, the Novgorodians subjugated the Finnish tribes living on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland ( water), in the territory of inland Finland ( yam) and around Lake Ladoga ( Karelians). From the middle of the 12th century. Russian colonialists encountered the Swedes who settled on the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Finland. The constant allies of the Novgorodians in the fight against the Swedes were the Karelians and Vods. Since the 30s of the 12th century. The campaigns of the Novgorodians to the land of the Estonians became constant ( Chud). At the beginning of the 13th century. The territory of Chud was captured by the Livonian knights, and the border of the Novgorod lands ran along the line of Lakes Peipus and Pskov.

The richest Novgorod possessions were formed in Northern Pomerania, from “ Terek coast» White Sea (eastern part of the Kola Peninsula) to the Trans-Urals. Their center was Zavolochye, which geographically coincided with the Dvina land. It was located behind a portage that had to be overcome in order to get from the Sheksna River to the upper reaches of the Severodvinsk system. With the beginning of the development of Zavolochye in 1032, the Novgorodians began to advance eastward, into the Pechora River basin, further through “ Stone"(Ural), where the height of the mountains was "as high as the skies", to the lower reaches of the Ob River, which was called Ugra among the Russian colonists. In the story about the first campaign against Ugra in 1096, the chronicler reports: “Yugra is a people with a dumb tongue and they sit with complacency in half-powerful countries.” Residents of the region, the Ostyak-Khanty, who did not know iron, silently exchanged iron objects for furs.

This is how the territory of the Novgorod possessions gradually developed. Its original core was divided into five parts (“ Pyatina"): Vodskaya, Shelonskaya, Bezhetskaya, Obonezhskaya and Derevskaya. From them to the north and northeast went the lands: Zavolochye, Tre, Pechora, Perm and Ugra. Novgorod itself was also divided into five ends and two sides: Torgovaya - on the eastern bank of the Volkhov River and Sofia - on the western bank. On the eastern side was located " bargain"(market square), "Yaroslav Dvorishche" - a place of veche gatherings of townspeople, Gothic and German trading yards. On the western side there was " child"(Kremlin), in which there was a temple of St. Sophia of the Wisdom of God, built under the son of Yaroslav the Wise Vladimir in 1045-1050.

The Novgorodians themselves attributed the beginning of political independence to the “letters of Yaroslav” (1016 and 1036), the contents of which have not reached us. In all subsequent negotiations with the princes, they demanded that they kiss the cross “on all the will of Novgorod and on all the charters of Yaroslavl.” In 1095, Novgorod resolutely refused to submit to the will of the great Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavovich and accept his son to reign: “Behold, prince, we have been sent to you, and this is what we are ordered to say: we do not want Svyatopolk or his son; if your son has two heads, then send him to Novgorod.” In 1126, the chronicle first mentions that the Novgorodians themselves chose a mayor, previously sent from Kyiv.

The events of 1136 finally made Novgorod independent of Kyiv. Their prehistory began in 1117, when Vladimir Monomakh planted his grandson Vsevolod Mstislavovich in Novgorod, who kissed the cross for the Novgorodians to be their prince for the rest of their lives. All Novgorod boyars were then sworn to allegiance to Vsevolod. After the death of Vsevolod's father, the Kyiv prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, his place was taken by Vsevolod's uncle Yaropolk Vladimirovich, who recalled Vsevolod from Novgorod and put him in charge in Pereyaslavl. At the same time, Vsevolod was soon expelled from Pereyaslavl by his other uncle, Yuri Dolgoruky. Then he returned to Novgorod, where an anti-princely uprising broke out: “become great among the people.” The townspeople put the prince and his family under arrest in the bishop's court and released him two months later, presenting the following charges: he “does not respect” the smerds, showed personal cowardice during the campaign, violated the kissing of the Novgorodians. The first accusation could not have come from the smerds themselves. It reflected the interests of the feudal economy, the labor force of which, Smerdov, the prince did not protect well enough. The second charge relates to violation of the princely duty to protect the security of the city.

By the end of the 12th century. Novgorod was already fully exercising the right to choose any of the Russian princes: “Novgorod set all the princes free: wherever they can, they can catch the same prince for themselves” - recorded in the first Novgorod chronicle under 1196. Frequent changes of princes were an ordinary phenomenon here. The prince in Novgorod was mainly a military leader. Therefore, the Novgorodians valued the most warlike princes. Inviting the prince to their place, the Novgorodians concluded an agreement with him that precisely established the competence of the parties. All judicial and administrative activities of the prince were to be carried out with the consent and under the supervision of the mayor. The prince could not appoint to administrative positions, should not have interfered with trade with the Germans, and had no right to take part in it himself. Also, he could not start the war “without the Novgorod word,” i.e. resolutions of the evening. Out of fear that the prince would not become an influential political force, he and his people were forbidden to live within the city, to accept Novgorodians into personal dependence, or to acquire land property within the Novgorod territory.

Novgorod political power can be called feudal boyar republic oligarchic type. It reached the greatest completeness of its development at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th century. It was based on veche activities, guided by the interests of the wealthy boyars and merchants. The supreme power in the city was exercised by: Archbishop Vladyka of Novgorod, sedate posadnik and sedate thousand(“degree” was the platform on the main veche square from which officials addressed the people). Administratively, the city was organized on the principle of self-governing communities. It was divided into " ends», « hundreds" And " streets“, each of which had its own veche and could “call” a citywide meeting. It took place in the Yaroslav Courtyard of the trading part of the city. All free, full-fledged male Novgorodians could come here. The decision was made by ear, based more on the strength of the shouts than on the majority of votes. When it came to a fight, the winning side was recognized by the majority. Sometimes two meetings met at the same time - on the Trade and Sofia sides. Sometimes, when the participants appeared “in armor,” disputes were resolved hand-to-hand on the Volkhov Bridge.

The competence of the veche was comprehensive: it adopted laws, “dressed up” with the princes, elected the mayor, the thousand and candidates for archbishops, disposed of state lands, buildings of churches and monasteries. The Veche was the highest court for the suburbs of Novgorod and private individuals; it was in charge of the court for state and especially serious crimes, the area of ​​foreign relations, defense and trade.

Due to the spontaneous nature of veche meetings, there was a need for preliminary elaboration of reports in order to approve them at the veche. This is how a special government body emerged - Council of gentlemen, which included senior representatives of the city administration, Konchansky and Sotsky elders and the top of the Novgorod boyars. Judicial functions were distributed between the princely governor, the townsman and the thousand. Posadniks were sent from the center to the suburbs and volosts of Novgorod, which paid tribute to him. Only Pskov managed to break out of obedience to Master Veliky Novgorod. The inhabitants of the Dvina land, who “married” themselves to the Grand Duke of Moscow in 1397, were brought to submit to Novgorod by force.

The Archbishop of Novgorod and Pskov occupied an important place in the political structure. In 1156, the veche independently appointed Bishop Arkady to this position for the first time. In the XIII-XIV centuries. The veche elected an archbishop from three candidates, notes with their names were placed on the throne of the Church of St. Sophia, and the outcome of the matter was decided by lot. The Archbishop presided over the Council of Gentlemen. All government regulations were made with his blessing. He reconciled the warring parties, administered justice, and blessed the beginning of hostilities that were waged “for St. Sophia.” The Temple of St. Sophia was not only the main shrine of Novgorod, but also a symbol of its independence. The entire Novgorod land was considered " St. Sophia parish».

Northwestern Rus' was in direct territorial contact with the lands of the Baltic peoples: Estonians(who lived on the peninsula between the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga), Livs(occupying the lower reaches of the Western Dvina and sea ​​coast north of it), years(in contact with the Livs upstream), Semigallians(located south of the lower reaches of the Western Dvina) and kuron, western neighbors of the Semigallians. Subsequently, these lands will receive the names of Estland, Livonia, Latgale, Courland. The population of the Western Dvina basin paid in the 12th century. tribute to the Principality of Polotsk, the Estonians were partially conquered by the Novgorodians.

At the beginning of the 12th century. on the island of Ezel at the mouth of the Western Dvina, through which passed the ancient route from the Baltic states to Eastern Europe, a merchant trading post arose from northern German cities. Not far from it in 1184 the first missionary expedition of the Augustinian monk Maynard from Denmark landed. Under him and his successor Bartold, the first stone castles and churches appeared, and the baptism of the local population began. A new stage of Christianization and territorial expansion began in 1200 after Canon Albert of Bremen was elevated to the rank of Bishop of Livonia by Pope Innocent III. In the spring of this year, a new expedition arrived at the mouth of the Western Dvina under the leadership of Bishop Albert, who founded the city here in 1201 Riga. The following year, 1202, with the blessing of Pope Innocent III, Albert established a monastic knightly Order. Subsequently, the name was consolidated behind it Order of the Sword or Livonian Order. In 1207, in agreement with the pope, Albert provided the Order with a third of all lands conquered in the Baltic states. The Sword Bearers relatively quickly conquered Livonia, whose tribes were scattered and few in number. In 1212, the Order's struggle for Estonia began. Along with the Germans, the Danes and Swedes took part in the conquest of the country. Estonia's expansion provoked popular resistance. The crusaders accompanied their territorial seizures with the forced Christianization of the population and the terrible devastation of the region, the total extermination of the male population. In the fight against the bishop and the Order, the Estonians repeatedly turned to the princes of Novgorod, Pskov, and Vladimir for help. For the Estonians, the oppression brought by the knights was many times heavier than the tribute collected by the Russian princes. Russian troops under the leadership of the Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodovich reached Revel, founded by the Danes, and the old Russian city of Yuryev.

Near Yuryev in 1224 a turning point battle took place, which became the final stage of the Order’s struggle for Estonia. This city, in agreement with the Estonians, was occupied by a squad led by Novgorod prince Vyachko (originally from the Polotsk princes), whom the ancient Livonian chronicles called “the ancient root of all evil,” i.e. the worst enemy of the Order and the bishop. All the available forces of the crusaders went on a campaign against the last stronghold of Estonian independence: knights, Riga merchants and townspeople, dependent Livonians and Latvians. In a stubborn struggle, together with Prince Vyachko, the entire garrison of Yuryev perished, which after the fall was renamed Dorpat and became the seat of a special bishop. Thus, all of Estonia recognized the power of the Order.

This was the prologue to the long and brutal struggle of the Russians for the Baltic lands. In 1234, the Pereyaslavl prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich with the Novgorod and Suzdal squads took revenge and defeated the knightly troops near Yuryev. Two years later, in 1236, the Swordsmen were defeated by the allied army of Lithuanians and Semigallians. The Master of the Order himself was killed. These failures forced the Livonian Order to unite in 1237 with Teutonic, educated in Syria. Using the invitation of the Polish king Conrad, who fought against the Prussians, the Order began to own the territory of the lower Vistula.

A favorable time for the Order came at the end of the 30s of the 13th century, when Rus' was devastated by the Mongol-Tatars. They, however, did not reach Novgorod, which, together with Pskov, held the front line of defense. For Novgorod these were not better times. He fought back in several directions at once: from the north - from the Swedes, from the southwest - from the Lithuanians. The external onslaught was aggravated by internal struggle. The Vladimir-Suzdal, Smolensk and Chernigov princes “entered” for Novgorod. The Smolensk princes quickly expanded their possessions on the western border of the Novgorod region. The Vladimir-Suzdal princes were interested in the northwestern lands, through which strategic roads to the Baltic states passed. Pskov, whose trade relations were entirely determined by the Western Dvina direction, became increasingly independent from Novgorod. Pskov, in addition, covered the Novgorod region from the west and received the very first blows from the knightly offensive. Therefore, in Pskov, part of the boyars and merchants were ready to compromise with the Order in order to protect their economic interests in the Baltic states. The same applied to the Smolensk princes, who concluded trade agreements with Riga at the very height of the fight against the Order.

Hero of the fight against the Swedes, German knights and Lithuanians in the first half of the 40s of the 13th century. became Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich, grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest. He appeared in Novgorod at the age of eight and was, like no other prince, recognized by the Novgorodians as one of their own. Alexander was distinguished by strategic military thinking. He began in advance to strengthen the line of the Sheloni River against the invasion of knights, and in the Gulf of Finland he kept advanced observation posts that warned in time about the approach of the Swedes. Their summer hike 1240 was led by Earl Birger under the influence of papal messages about the crusade against Rus'. Under the leadership of Birger, a militia of Swedes, Finns, and Norwegians gathered. The Swedes approached the mouth of the Izhora River along the Neva and temporarily stayed here, intending to go to Staraya Ladoga. If they were successful, the trade artery of Novgorod, connecting it with Western Europe, would be blocked. Alexander's unexpected lightning attack on the Swedish camp determined success Neva Battle, held 15 July 1240G. The prince, who fought “in the fury of his courage,” was named Nevsky in honor of the victory.

In the year of Alexander Nevsky's victory, the Order began its offensive on Pskov land. The Germans, Danes and warriors of the Bishop of Dorpat captured the Russian city of Izborsk, devastated the outskirts of Pskov and, taking advantage of the betrayal of the mayor of Pskov, Tverdila Ivanovich, took the city. In the winter of 1242, the knights invaded the Novgorod land. Novgorod was surrounded on almost all sides, so trade traffic completely stopped. The danger hanging over the city forced its inhabitants to turn again to Alexander Nevsky, who had gone to his father in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky because of a quarrel with the Novgorod boyars. With a squad of Novgorodians, Karelians, Ladoga residents and Izhorians, he took Koporye, a knightly fortress built on the site of the Novgorod churchyard, from the Order, and cleared the Votskaya land. During the liberation of Pskov, the Suzdal army helped him. According to the Livonian chronicle, Alexander Nevsky did not leave a single knight in the Pskov land. Without returning to Novgorod, he moved to the land of the Dorpat bishop, who managed to create a knightly army. While waiting for him, Alexander took up an advantageous position on the ice of Lake Peipus in the Uzmen tract near the Crow Stone, thereby intending to hamper the movement of the knight's heavily armed cavalry. The battle took place on April 5, 1242 and ended in complete victory for the Russians, who beat the knights over 7 km of ice. 500 knights fell in the battle, 50 were captured. In the same year, the Order abandoned all its conquests in the Novgorod and Pskov regions. This historic victory stopped the advance of the knights to the east.

5. Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'and the establishment of the yoke

The Mongol-Tatars first appeared in the southern Russian steppes during the campaign of the commanders Jebe and Subudai, sent by Genghis Khan in 1220 to pursue Khorezmkhash Muhammad. They walked along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, devastated the lands of Transcaucasia along the way, broke through the Derbent Passage and defeated the Polovtsians in the steppes of the North Caucasus. The Laurentian Chronicle says about their first appearance: “When the pagans appeared, no one knows clearly who they are, and who they are, and what their language is, and what tribes they are, and what their faith is, and I call them Tatars, and others say "Taumen, and Druzii Pechenesi." After the victory over the Cumans, the Mongol-Tatars ravaged the Crimean city of Surozh (modern Sudak).

The Polovtsian khans, defeated by an unknown enemy, turned to the Russian princes for help with the words: “If you don’t help us, then we will be defeated today, and you - tomorrow.” At the suggestion of Mstislav the Udal, who was then reigning in Galich, the Russian princes gathered in Kyiv, where they decided to go to the steppe against an unknown enemy. The first clashes with the advanced detachments of the Mongol-Tatars were favorable for the Russians, who easily defeated them and were ready to accept these skirmishes as a victory over the main forces. According to eastern sources, they deliberately lured the Russians to the steppe. The meeting with the main forces took place on the Kalka River, which flows into the Sea of ​​Azov, on May 31, 1223. The first to enter the battle were Polovtsian troops and the Russian militia under the leadership of Mstislav the Udal and 13-year-old Prince Daniil of Galitsky. The princes, confident of victory, did not want to wait for help from other princes who were approaching, who never took part in the battle, although they watched as the Cumans, who were put to flight, upset the Russian regiments. Mstislav and Daniil managed to fight off pursuit and cross to the other side of Kalka. After this, the Mongol-Tatars besieged the camp of the remaining Russian princes and three days later forced them to surrender. All Russian soldiers were killed, and the princes were crushed under the boards on which the victors feasted. Having won the victory and carried out military reconnaissance, Jebe and Subudai returned back to the Central Asian steppes. “And we don’t know where they came from and where they are again,” the chronicler ends the story about the first appearance of the Mongol-Tatars.

13 years after the Battle of Kalka in 1236, a new large army of Batu appeared in the Volga steppes, moving accompanied by a huge cattle train with the families of warriors; along the way, the Mongol-Tatars took with them the defeated inhabitants, Polovtsians, Turks, etc. The number of hordes was so great that, according to an eyewitness, “the earth groaned, wild animals and night birds went mad.” Batu had to carry out a plan to conquer the lands west of the Irtysh and the Urals, which he inherited from his father, Genghis Khan's eldest son Jochi.

The Volga Bulgars were the first to be conquered. In the fall of 1236, their capital, the Great Bulgar, fell. Having passed further through the Mordovian forests, at the beginning of the winter of 1237, the Mongol-Tatars appeared within the Ryazan principality and demanded recognition of their power and payment of “tithes in everything,” from people, horses, and various property. To this the Ryazan princes replied: “If we are not there, then everything will be yours,” and they sent for help to Chernigov and Vladimir. But Yuri Vsevolodovich, Prince of Vladimir, “wanted to create a fight himself” and did not help his neighbors, with whom he had a long-standing rivalry. The Mongol-Tatars first ravaged the cities of the Ryazan land, and then besieged its capital, in which the princes locked themselves. After the siege, the city was destroyed to the ground and was never rebuilt in this place.

From the Ryazan land, the Mongol-Tatars headed north to the Vladimir principality, the cities, settlements and graveyards of which they brutally ravaged throughout 1237. Then Kolomna and Moscow fell. For the Mongol-Tatars, who had extensive experience in sieges and destruction of adobe walls of Central Asian cities, Russian wooden fortresses with their small garrisons did not pose a serious obstacle. The siege of Vladimir lasted from February 3 to 7, 1238. During the assault, the city was burned. Then Suzdal also fell. In just one February 1238, they captured the territory from Klyazma to Torzhok, destroying 14 cities. On March 4, the decisive battle between the Russians and them took place on the City River. The Suzdal army under the command of Yuri Vsevolodovich, although carefully preparing to meet the enemy, was completely defeated, and the prince himself fell in battle. Moving further to the northwest, the Mongol-Tatars approached Novgorod, but did not reach it for about 200 km and at the town of Ignach-Cross they turned south. The reason was an early thaw, which made swampy forest areas impassable.

From the Novgorod region, Batu moved south to the Polovtsian steppes. On the way, he was forced to stop for seven whole weeks near the small town of the Seversky principality of Kozelsk, whose population heroically defended itself and all died in a fierce massacre. The khan spent the entire year 1239 in the south, between the Dnieper and Sea of ​​Azov, sending detachments towards the Dnieper and Oka. This year, the Mongol-Tatars captured southern Pereyaslavl, Chernigov, ravaged settlements along the Klyazma, and reached Murom and Gorokhovets. In the winter of 1240, “in legal force,” Batu approached Kyiv. None of the Russian princes dared to defend the capital city. Its defense was led by Dmitry Tysyatsky. Residents of the city could not hear each other from the creaking of carts, the roar of camels, and the neighing of horses. The Tatars used battering guns to make a hole in the wall and through the gap broke into the city, which they captured after a fierce hand-to-hand fight.

After the fall of Kyiv, Batu continued to move with his main forces in a western direction and captured the southern Russian cities: Kamenets, Vladimir-Volynsky, Galich. From there, through the Carpathian passes, the Tatars left for the Hungarian plain, which they devastated throughout 1241. Batu met his first serious resistance from the large Czech and German feudal lords, who united in the face of general danger. A lucky chance was also on their side. Events in Mongolia - the kurultai was facing the election of a new emperor after the death of Ogedei - forced Batu to leave Europe. Returning, he passed through the Danube Plain, Bulgaria and Wallachia to the Caspian steppes, where Batu’s main horde stopped in the lower reaches of the Volga.

Here his first headquarters arose, which became the center of the new Mongol-Tatar state - Golden Horde . Its eastern border ran along the upper reaches of the Irtysh until the Tobol River flows into it, the southern along the lower reaches of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya, in the north it coincided with the border of the northern Russian possessions, in the west it included the lands of Volga Bulgaria and Rus', in the southwest it reached to the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region and the Dniester.

The capital of the Golden Horde, the city of Sarai, founded by Batu, was located on one of the branches of the lower Volga. It was a city of felt yurts, against which the huge tent of the khan stood out. Batu's brother Berke founded a new city, Sarai, up the Volga, not far from present-day Volgograd, which soon became the official capital of the Golden Horde. Already at the beginning of the 14th century. he was big city with many stone buildings and, along with Urgench, was major center trade. Until 1359, the khan's power in the Golden Horde belonged to the descendants of Batu, who actually shared it with close relatives and major vassals. These included: Nogai, who ruled the Black Sea region, Sartak, who was in charge of the Russian lands, Batu's brother Sheiban, who owned the eastern borders of the state. Under Khan Uzbek in the first half of the 14th century. The ruler of Khorezm, Kutluk-Timur, occupied an influential position. The Mongol-Tatar clans brought by Batu quickly merged within the Golden Horde with local Turkic noble families. In the 14th century the Mongols accepted Turkic language. Islam became the state religion under Uzbek Khan. The variety of administrative positions in the Mongol state was mainly associated with the extraction of income from conquered peoples. The largest role was played by local representatives of the khan’s authorities: Baskaki(Turkic term) or darugi(Mongolian). Their main responsibility was collecting tribute. Khans and their vassals sent punitive expeditions to conquered countries, taking advantage of the slightest pretext to rob the population.

Rus' turned into an ulus (possession) of the Golden Horde khans, whom the Russian chronicle called tsars. Each of the Russian princes, at the request of Batu, had to officially recognize his power, visit headquarters, undergo purification by fire and on his knees accept the supreme suzerainty of the khan. In case of refusal, the culprit was subject to death. Thus, by order of Batu, the Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich and the boyar Fedor, who did not want to “bow to the fire” for religious reasons, were killed in the Horde. But they killed them not as confessors of Orthodoxy, but as politically unreliable persons, thinking that they had malicious intent against the khan and did not want to cleanse themselves of him. After this procedure was completed, the princes were confirmed by the khan in their possessions, receiving label(Khan's letter) for reign. Batu recognized the seniority of the Vladimir prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who ascended the throne after the death of his brother Yuri in 1238. He was the first of the princes to travel to the Horde in 1243, and three years later he had to take another long journey - to Mongolia, to headquarters Emperor Karakorum on the Orkhon River, during which he suddenly died. After him, the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir was borne by his brother Svyatoslav (1246--1248), sons: Mikhail Khorobry (1248), Andrei (1249--1252), Alexander Nevsky (1252--1263), Yaroslav Tverskoy (1263--1272) , Vasily Kostroma (1272--1276), and grandchildren, descendants of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry (1276--1281, 1283--1294) and Andrey (1281--1283, 1294--1304).

The most far-sighted of the sons of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was Alexander Nevsky. Understanding the futility of resistance to Mongolian power, he, while still a Novgorod prince, unlike his brother Andrei, who took a hostile position towards the Horde, in the year of his father’s death he went “to the Tatars” and recognized their power over Novgorod. Later, as Grand Duke of Vladimir, he forcibly suppressed the opposition in Novgorod and forced the Tatars to accept " numerals" This was the name in Rus' for the official representatives of the khan who carried out the census (“ number") of the Russian population to impose tribute on them. “The same winter (1257) came number, and exhausted the entire Russian Land, but it’s not like who serves at the church,” the chronicler wrote. “And more and more often the cursed ones drive through the streets, squealing Christian houses,” another echoes him. The first time of addiction was the most difficult. Until 1262, tribute was collected by tax farmers from Muslim merchants sent by the Tatars, called “ Besermensky" The atrocities committed were so great that in the people's memory their name became a common noun - “busurmans”. The violence of tax farmers more than once caused unrest in Rus': in 1259 in Novgorod, in 1262 and 1289 in Rostov, Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Suzdal. The most powerful was the anti-Tatar uprising of 1262: “God deliver the people of the Rostov lands from the fierce languor of the Besurmen: put rage into the hearts of the peasants, not tolerating the violence of the filthy, will the veche, and drive them out of the cities, from Rostov, from Volodymyr, from Suzdal, from Yaroslavl; to recoup this accursed, inexorable tribute, and therefore do great harm to people.” Alexander Nevsky begged the Khan's forgiveness for the rebellious cities. This was his last deed for the benefit of Rus'. On the way back from the Horde to Gorodets on the Volga on November 14, 1263, the prince died. It is believed that he, like his father, was poisoned.

The increasing severity of the yoke was facilitated by the policies of representatives of the ruling class. After the death of Alexander Nevsky, a brutal civil war broke out between his successors, sons and grandsons. It became especially intense from the moment when Prince Andrei Alexandrovich, one of the sons of Alexander Nevsky, bypassing seniority, persuaded the khan to give him a label for the great reign of Vladimir and came to Rus' with the Tatar army in 1280. In 1292, he, along with other princes, denounced sibling Dmitry Alexandrovich to the Horde that he was withholding tribute. Then Khan Tokhta sent his brother Dudenya to Rus'. Dudenev's army together with the princes, she devastated 14 cities, including Vladimir, not even sparing church property. And the Russian chronicle is full of such records, also reporting on anti-Tatar riots in 1289 and 1327. At the end of the 13th century. the collection of tribute from the hands of Tatar tax farmers and Baskaks was transferred to the Russian princes, who then took or sent it to the Horde. In most Russian principalities, by this time the Baskaks, the khan's governors, who sat in Russian cities and had unlimited power, had also disappeared. The post of the “great” Baskak of Vladimir was also eliminated.

In the popular consciousness and creativity, the fight against the Mongol-Tatars replaced the theme of the fight against other enemies. Russian folklore reflected the popular idea of ​​the enormous numerical superiority of the enemy, who suppressed the Russian heroic force. No matter how much the heroes chopped, from each cut enemy two emerged alive. Then the Russian knights ran to the stone mountains and became petrified in them. Since then, there have been no more knights in Holy Rus'. “Our greatness has been humbled, our beauty has perished,” writes a contemporary. “A disease has befallen Christians,” concludes the author of “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land.”

The main reason for the defeat of Rus' was feudal fragmentation. Each of the Russian principalities individually resisted the superior force of the enemy, who also used the rich military-technical experience of China and Central Asia: battering machines, stone throwers, gunpowder and vessels with flammable liquids.

IN socio-economically the consequences of the invasion were severe. The population of the country and the number of cities decreased sharply. According to the calculations of archaeologists from 74 cities of Rus' known from excavations in the 12th-13th centuries. 49 were devastated by Batu, and in 14 cities life did not resume, and 15 turned into villages. City dwellers died more often than the rural population, whose places of residence the enemy could not always even reach due to the density of forests and impassable roads. The physical extermination of professional warriors - princes and boyars - slowed down the process of growth of secular feudal land ownership, which in North-Eastern Rus' had only begun shortly before the invasion. Particularly affected was the craft industry, in which secrets had been passed down from father to son for centuries. During the invasion, entire craft professions disappeared, the skills of making glassware and window glass were lost, and stone construction was stopped. Economic ties between the population of the northeastern, western and southern Russian lands were almost completely disrupted. The latter were captured by Lithuania and Poland. Many countries that were permanent trading partners of Rus' experienced economic decline.

Ways of Christianization: peaceful and militant.

Peaceful: princely decrees, missionary activities, translations of holy books, construction of churches and temples.

Militant - the military campaigns of the prince. They forced people to be baptized with a sword.

Consequences of accepting Orthodoxy

Orthodoxy became the spiritual basis for political unification Russian lands.

The introduction of Rus' to culture began ancient world- the flourishing of ancient Russian culture.

Expanding international relations with European countries

The comprehensive influence of the church on Russian society - humanity, blood feud is abolished, the importance of the family (one husband, one wife)

Old Russian culture: 60s of the 9th century - the emergence of writing.

Chronicles, lives, instructive and everyday literature.

1136 scientific work with calculation of dates.

Schools at monasteries. Higher educational institution– Kiev-Pechora Monastery.

Exam question. Problems of political and social development Kievan Rus 10-12 centuries.

In the 10th century, the borders of the Kyiv state were formed, which outwardly remained unchanged until the 13th century. Inside, the state was divided not by tribes, but by volosts - cities with surrounding regions. The boundaries of the volosts in the 10th-12th centuries were not stable; they changed as a result of strife and divisions between princes. Public power was exercised by the Grand Duke of Kiev, and the rulers of the volosts were nominally subordinate to him. The eldest of the Rurikovichs was always appointed to the Kiev throne. After Vladimir I, mayors appeared in the volosts - the sons of the Rurikovichs. The Prince of Kyiv had a boyar duma as an advisory governing body; the entire peasantry depended on the power of the prince and the boyars. The monarchical tendency is intensifying - monarchical power among princes. The high role of free communities in rural areas and veche authorities in cities remains high. The city council resolved issues of war and peace, announced the convocation of the militia, and sometimes had the right to change princes. For example, the Galicia-Volyn principality, Novgorod land.

Problems of social development.

10-12 centuries – feudal system.

Feudal lords: 1) prince 2) boyars 3) clergy.

Peasants: 1) free - smerds 2) semi-dependent - purchasers and ryadovichi 3) dependent - serfs

Part of the land still belonged to free community members who had not only a farm, but also the necessary tools.

Smerds are the largest group of the peasant population. Often oppression by the boyars and the prince, the warriors led to the ruin of the smerds and the change in their social status. Smerdas could become semi-dependent, become ryadovichi (ruined, poor peasants who entered into an agreement - a series - on the conditions of work for the feudal lord).

Kupa - borrow grain, livestock, equipment for sowing.

The purchasers were community members, peasants who borrowed a kupa from the boyar. They were obliged to bear various duties in favor of the feudal lord - they plowed the land, grazed livestock - until the debt and interest on it were fully repaid.

If the purchaser could not repay the debt, he became dependent on the feudal lord. Often the whole family became slaves.

The social problem for Kievan Rus is the transition from a free state to a semi-dependent state, even to the point of servitude.

LEARN. Purchases, ryadovichi, patrimony, mayors, tithes.

exam question. Feudal fragmentation in Rus' in the 12th-13th centuries.

Feudal fragmentation - political and economic decentralization. The creation on the territory of one state of independent principalities independent from each other, formally having a common ruler, a single religion - Orthodoxy, and uniform laws of “Russian Pravda”.

An alternative to the social development of Udelnaya Rus'

The energetic and ambitious policy of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes led to the growing influence of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality on the entire Russian state.

Yuri Dolgoruky, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, received the Vladimir principality during his reign. 1125-1157.

1147 Moscow first appears in chronicles. The founder is the boyar Kuchka.

Andrei Bogolyubsky, son of Yuri Dolgoruky. 1157-1174. The capital was moved from Rostov to Vladimir, the new title of the ruler was Tsar and Grand Duke.

The Vladimir-Suzdal principality reached its heyday under Vsevolod the Big Nest. 1176-1212.

The monarchy was finally established.

Consequences of fragmentation.

Positive

Growth and strengthening of cities

Active development of crafts

Settlement of undeveloped lands

Laying roads

Development of domestic trade

The flourishing of the cultural life of the principalities

Strengthening the local government apparatus

Negative

Continuation of the process of fragmentation of lands and principalities

Civil Wars

Weak central authority

Vulnerability to external enemies

Russian history. From ancient times to the 16th century. 6th grade Kiselev Alexander Fedotovich

§ 13. SPECIFIC FRAGRANCE IN Rus'

Specific fragmentation and its causes. The son of Vladimir Monomakh, Prince Mstislav, faithful to the behests of his father, strengthened the unity of Rus' with a firm hand. After the death of Mstislav in 1132, difficult times came for the state - specific fragmentation. In the middle of the 12th century there were 15 principalities in Rus', the most powerful of them were Kiev, Polotsk, Chernigov, Smolensk, Galicia-Volyn, Vladimir-Suzdal; Novgorod stood apart. At the beginning of the 13th century there were 50, and in the 14th century - 250 principalities. Contemporaries ironically noted: “In Rostov land there is a prince in every village.”

The decision of the congress of princes in Lyubech (1097) - “let everyone own their fatherland” - secured land ownership to the local princely dynasties and boyars who were in their service. Many children were born into princely families, and each, growing up, received his share - an inheritance - in the territory of his father’s principality. The old and new principalities had their own capital cities, monasteries, bishops, and chroniclers wrote about the exploits of the local prince. Each of them issued legislative acts, directed the politics and economy of their lands,, if necessary, declared war, made peace, and entered into various alliances.

Rus' in the period of fragmentation. 30s XII century – first third of the 13th century.

Genealogy of the Rurikovichs (second half of the 11th - mid-12th centuries)

Under these conditions, princely feuds intensified: the struggle of princes for rich inheritances often escalated into a war for the lands of neighboring principalities. The warring parties relied more on force and often violated the principle of seniority when inheriting property.

The relationship between princes and cities changed, the number of which constantly increased, and their economic power increased. The rich city elite - boyars, mayors, townspeople - expelled or refused to accept a prince who was unable to protect the population from an external threat. The reasons for this behavior could also be the prince’s excessive independence or his reluctance to take into account the interests of the city’s population. V. O. Klyuchevsky wrote about the Galician boyars: “They canceled the prince’s will, sealed by their own kiss of the cross (oath. - Auto.), they called up and drove out the princes, took the land from hand to hand for administration, distributed volosts and profitable government items to their supporters, without asking the prince.”

The relationship between the prince and his squad took on a different character. For warriors, ownership of land property in the form of an estate became a more reliable source of economic well-being than a princely salary. Therefore, they sought not only to receive land from the prince, but also to successfully manage it. The warriors were no longer attracted by distant princely campaigns associated with hardships and dangers. Separation separate principalities It was also explained by the decline of the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” which no longer connected the state into a single whole.

Principality of Kiev. Specific fragmentation led to a decline in the authority of Kyiv as a political center. For contemporaries it was just one of many cities Old Russian state. However, Kyiv retained its importance as the ecclesiastical center of the Russian lands - the metropolitan lived here. To protect the lands of the principality from nomads, the Torks, Pechenegs, and Berendeys who had been forced out of the steppe by the Polovtsians were resettled on the Ros River. They were called “black hoods” or “black hats”.

The Polovtsians disrupted the usual trade relations of Kyiv on the way “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” so new centers of trade arose. Merchants and artisans moved there. Residents of the Kyiv principality also left their homes, fleeing from the Polovtsians. The population of the Kyiv land was declining. In addition, there was a danger from the growing strength of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. His princes, claiming leadership, pursued an active policy in the south of Rus' with the goal of subjugating other principalities.

Trading area in a 12th-century Russian city

Principality of Chernigov. Previously united, it was fragmented into more than two dozen appanages. The Polovtsians constantly raided these lands. In 1185, Igor Svyatoslavich, the Seversky prince, went on a campaign against them, which ended in a three-day slaughter on the banks of the Kayala River and the destruction of the princely squad. Prince Igor was captured. These events formed the basis of the famous work of Russian literature “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” written in the 12th century.

The author of “The Lay” used a tragic example to show the doom of trying to cope alone with nomads who ravaged villages and cities, killed or drove their compatriots into captivity. He called on the Russian princes to forget about strife and unite for the joint defense of Russian lands: raise the sword not brother against brother, but against a common enemy - this is the central idea of ​​“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The author of the work seemed to see the future - the invasion of Batu - and warned his contemporaries about the consequences of princely strife.

After the massacre of Igor Svyatoslavich with the Polovtsians. Artist V. Vasnetsov

Galicia-Volyn principality. After the unification of the Galician lands and liberation from the power of Kyiv, the Principality of Galicia experienced a period of prosperity. The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” wrote about the Principality of Galicia under Yaroslav Osmomysl:

Galitsky Osmomysl Yaroslav!

You sit high on your golden throne,

Supported the Ugric Mountains (Carpathians. – Auto.)

With your iron shelves,

Blocking the king's path,

Having closed the gates of the Danube...

Your thunderstorms flow across the lands,

You open the gates to Kyiv,

You shoot from the golden throne of the Saltans (ruler of the Muslims. - Auto.) behind the lands.

The Vladimir-Volyn principality, separated from Kyiv, was divided by the sons of Izyaslav Mstislavich. His grandson, the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich, overcoming the resistance of the boyars, established his power in the Volyn lands and united them in 1199 with the Galician ones. The cities of the Galicia-Volyn principality - Galich, Przemysl, Vladimir-Volynsky, Lutsk, Berestye (Brest) and others - built up, surrounded by strong walls, were famous for their wealth and population. After the death of Roman Mstislavich, a struggle for power began between the boyars, who turned to neighboring states - Hungary and Poland - for support. The son of Roman Mstislavich, Daniil, in 1236, supported by the townspeople, forced the boyars to submit. He strengthened the princely power and, after a long struggle, united Southwestern Rus'.

Roman Mstislavich, Prince of Galicia-Volyn

Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. Its ancient capital was the city of Rostov. Rostov was first mentioned in the chronicle in 861, Suzdal - as the center of the principality - in 1024. Vladimir-on-Klyazma was founded by Vladimir Monomakh in 1108. The Vladimir-Suzdal principality spread over a vast territory between the Volga and Oka, bordering on the Ryazan, Chernigov, Smolensk principalities and the Novgorod Republic.

The Rostov-Suzdal land in Kyiv was called Zalesskaya. One of the younger sons of Vladimir Monomakh, Yuri, reigned here. For his craving for other people's possessions, he received the nickname Dolgoruky. The population of the Kyiv and Pereyaslav principalities feared the prince, who sought to acquire their lands. Kyiv chroniclers gave him unflattering assessments: “This great prince was of considerable height, fat, with a white face; the eyes are not great, the nose is long and crooked; Brada Malaya, a great lover of wives, sweet foods and drinks; He was more concerned with having fun than with reprisals and warfare, but all of this consisted in the power and supervision of his nobles and favorites.”

Yury Dolgoruky

Yuri Vladimirovich stood out as a skillful leader and diplomat who supported a good relationship with Byzantium and the Polovtsian khans. He married the daughter of the Polovtsian khan in order to enlist his support in the fight against Volga Bulgaria. In 1120, the prince defeated the Volga Bulgars and returned home with rich booty. He gave part of it to the construction of cities and their strengthening. Under Yuri Dolgoruky, Zvenigorod on the Moscow River, the country residence of Prince Kideksha, covering Suzdal, Yuryev-Polsky, which received its name from its location in Opole, and in 1154 Dmitrov were founded.

There is no reliable information about the beginning of the construction of Moscow. In 1147, in connection with the arrival of his ally, the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav, to Yuri, Moscow was first mentioned in the chronicle. According to some information, Yuri Dolgoruky, having arrived on the banks of the Moscow River in the village of the boyar Stepan Ivanovich Kuchka, who was under his control, ordered the willful boyar to be killed for insolence, and sent his two sons and daughter to his appanage city of Vladimir. Other sources linked the murder of boyar Kuchka not with Yuri, but with the prince’s son Andrei Bogolyubsky. For a long time after its formation, the wooden town was called Kuchkovo out of habit.

According to ancient legends, the Moscow River was originally called Smorodinka, since its upper reaches were replete with currant bushes. It was allegedly named Moscow later, when numerous bridges and walkways began to cross the river. Be that as it may, Moscow, as a small village or town, existed even before the reign of Yuri Dolgoruky. However, tradition firmly connects the founding of the city with the name of this prince.

Meeting of princes Yuri and Svyatoslav in Moscow. Chronicle miniature

For the last nine years of his reign, Yuri Dolgoruky fought for the Kiev throne with his nephew Izyaslav and older brother Vyacheslav. The stubborn Yuri Vladimirovich achieved his goal - he became the Grand Duke of Kyiv.

Specific fragmentation – the collapse of the united Old Russian state into separate independent states.

1130s- the beginning of the specific fragmentation of the Old Russian state.

1147- the first mention in the chronicles of Moscow.

1155 – 1157- reign in Kyiv of Yuri Dolgoruky.

Questions and tasks

1. What are the reasons for the specific fragmentation of Rus'?

2. Show on the map (p. 89) the main principalities-states that appeared in Rus' during this period.

4. What was the policy of Yuri Dolgoruky and what assessment did it receive from his contemporaries? Do you agree with this assessment?

5. Using the diagram (p. 90) and additional literature, compose a story about the Rurikovichs in the era of specific fragmentation.

6. Find material on the Internet about education in Moscow.

7*. Prepare reports on Roman Mstislavich Volynsky and Yuri Dolgoruky.

Working with the document

From “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign, Igor, son of Svyatoslav, grandson of Oleg”:

“That was in those battles and in those campaigns; and such an army has never been heard of: from early to evening, from evening to dawn, hardened arrows fly, sabers rattle on helmets, damask spears crack in an unknown field, in the middle of the Polovtsian land. The black soil under the hooves was sown with bones and watered with blood; they ascended the Russian land in grief.

What is this noise that is ringing for me this morning early before the dawn? Igor is turning around the shelves because he feels sorry for his dear brother, Vsevolod. They fought one day, they fought another; On the third day, by noon, Igor’s banners fell. Here both brothers were separated on the banks of the fast Kayala. There wasn't enough blood wine here; here the brave Russian sons ended the feast: they gave the matchmakers drink, and they themselves died for the Russian land... The struggle of the princes against the filthy ones stopped, because brother said to brother: “This is mine and that is mine.” And the princes began to say about small things: “This is great,” and forge sedition against themselves; and the filthy from all sides came with victories to the Russian land.

2.Using the text of the Lay, compose a story about Igor Svyatoslavich’s campaign against the Polovtsians.