End of the 15th century many historians define it as the transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age. Suffice it to recall that in 1453 fell Byzantine Empire. In 1492 Columbus discovered America. Many great things have been done geographical discoveries. In countries Western Europe there is a leap in the development of productive forces. Printing appears (1456, Gutenberg). XIV-XVI centuries in world history they have been called the Renaissance.
The end of the 15th century is the time of completion of the formation of nation-states on the territory of Western Europe. Historians have long noticed that the process of replacing fragmentation by a single state is a natural outcome of historical development.
The unification of the principalities and lands of the fragmentation period took place in the most developed countries of Western Europe in connection with the growth of material production, due to the development of commodity-money relations and the destruction of natural economy as the basis of the economy. For example, the yield in the advanced countries of Western Europe was sam-5 and even sam-7 (that is, one planted grain yielded a crop of 5-7 grains, respectively). This, in turn, allowed the city and craft to develop rapidly. In the countries of Western Europe, the process of overcoming economic fragmentation began, national ties arose.
In the current conditions, the royal power, relying on the wealth of cities, sought to unite the country. The unification process was led by the monarch, who was at the head of the nobility - the ruling class of that time.
The formation of centralized states in different countries had its own characteristics. The comparative-historical method of studying historical processes gives reason to say that even if there are appropriate socio-economic reasons, unification may either not occur at all, or it may be greatly delayed due to subjective or objective reasons (for example, Germany and Italy were united only in the 19th century). There were certain features in education Russian state, the process of creation, which chronologically coincides with many Western European countries.
The Russian Centralized State has developed in the northeastern and northwestern lands Kievan Rus, its southern and southwestern lands were included in Poland, Lithuania, Hungary. His education was accelerated by the need to fight against external danger, especially with the Golden Horde, and later with the Kazan, Crimean, Siberian, Astrakhan, Kazakh khanates, Lithuania and Poland.
The Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke slowed down the socio-economic development of the Russian lands. Unlike the advanced countries of Western Europe, education united state in Russia took place under the complete dominance of the traditional way of the Russian economy - on a feudal basis. This allows us to understand why a bourgeois, democratic, civil society began to take shape in Europe, and why Russia will be dominated by serfdom, class, inequality of citizens before the laws.
The completion of the process of unification of Russian lands around Moscow into a centralized state falls on the years of the reign of Ivan III (1462-1505) and Vasily III (1505-1533).
Ivan III. The blind father Vasily II early made his son Ivan III co-ruler of the state. He received the throne when he was 22 years old. Behind him was established the glory of a prudent and successful, cautious and far-sighted politician. At the same time, it is noted that he more than once resorted to deceit and intrigue. Ivan III is one of the key figures in our history. He was the first to take the title "Sovereign of All Russia". Under him, the double-headed eagle became the emblem of our state. Under him, the red brick Moscow Kremlin, which has survived to this day, was erected. Under him, the hated Golden Horde yoke was finally overthrown. With him in 1497. The first Sudebnik was created and the nationwide governing bodies of the country began to form. Under him, in the newly rebuilt Chamber of Facets, they received ambassadors not from neighboring Russian principalities, but from the Pope, the German emperor, the Polish king. Under him, the term "Russia" began to be used in the relations of our state.
Ivan III, relying on the power of Moscow, it was possible to almost bloodlessly complete the unification of northeastern Russia. In 1468 The principality of Yaroslavl was finally annexed, whose princes became the service princes of Ivan III. In 1472 the annexation of Perm the Great began. Even Vasily II the Dark bought half of the Rostov principality, and in 1474. Ivan III purchased the rest. Finally, Tver, surrounded by Moscow lands, in 1485. passed to Moscow, after its boyars swore an oath to Ivan III, who approached the city with a large army. In 1489 in. the composition of the state entered Vyatka land, important commercially. In 1503, many princes of the western Russian regions (Vyazemsky, Odoevsky, Vorotynsky, Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky) passed from Lithuania to the Moscow prince.
Annexation of Novgorod. The Novgorod boyar republic, which still possessed considerable power, remained independent of the Moscow prince. in Novgorod in 1410. the posadnichestvo administration was reformed: the oligarchic power of the boyars was strengthened. Vasily the Dark in 1456 established that the prince is the highest court in Novgorod (Yazhelbitsky world).
Fearing the loss of their privileges in the event of submission to Moscow, part of the Novgorod boyars, led by the posadnik Marfa Boretskaya, concluded an agreement on the vassal dependence of Novgorod from Lithuania. Upon learning of the collusion of the boyars with Lithuania, Ivan III accepted decisive action to the subjugation of Novgorod. On a campaign in 1471. the troops of all lands subject to Moscow participated, which gave it an all-Russian character. Novgorodians were accused of "falling away from Orthodoxy to Latinism."
The decisive battle took place on the Shelon River. The Novgorod militia, having a significant superiority in strength, fought reluctantly; Muscovites, according to chroniclers close to Moscow, “like roaring lions,” attacked the enemy and pursued the retreating Novgorodians for more than 20 miles. Novgorod was finally annexed to Moscow seven years later, in 1478. A veche bell was taken from the city to Moscow. Opponents of Moscow were moved to the center of the country. But Ivan III, given the strength of Novgorod, left him a number of privileges; the right to conduct relations with Sweden, promised not to attract Novgorodians to serve on the southern borders. The city was now ruled by Moscow governors.
The accession to Moscow of the Novgorod, Vyatka and Perm lands with the non-Russian peoples of the north and northeast living here expanded the multinational composition of the Russian state.
The overthrow of the Golden Horde yoke. In 1480 the Mongol-Tatar yoke was finally overthrown. This happened after the clash of Moscow and Mongol-Tatar troops on the Ugra River. At the head of the Horde troops was Akhmat Khan, who made an alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir IV. Ivan III managed to attract to his side the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey, whose troops attacked the possessions of Casimir IV, disrupting his speech against Moscow. After standing on the Ugra for several weeks, Akhmat Khan realized that it was hopeless to enter the battle; and when he learned that his capital Saray was attacked by the Siberian Khanate, he withdrew his troops back.
Russia finally a few years before 1480. stopped paying tribute to the Golden Horde. In 1502 Crimean Khan Mengli Giray inflicted a crushing defeat on the Golden Horde, after which its existence ceased.
Vasily III . The 26-year-old son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog - the niece of the last Byzantine emperor - Vasily III continued his father's work. He began to fight for the abolition of the appanage system and behaved like an autocrat. Taking advantage of the attack Crimean Tatars to Lithuania, Vasily III in 1510. annexed Pskov. 300 families of the richest Pskovites were evicted from the city and replaced by the same number from Moscow cities. The veche system was abolished; Moscow governors began to rule Pskov.
In 1514, Smolensk, conquered from Lithuania, became part of the Muscovite state. In honor of this event in Moscow was built Novodevichy Convent, in which the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk, the defender of the western borders of Russia, was placed. Finally, in 1521, the Ryazan land, which was already dependent on Moscow, became part of Russia.
Thus, the process of unification of northeastern and northwestern Russia in one state was completed. The largest power in Europe was formed, which from the end of the 15th century. became known as Russia.
Centralization of power. Fragmentation gradually gave way to centralization. Ivan III, after the annexation of Tver, received the honorary title "by the grace of God the sovereign of All Russia, the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow, Novgorod and Pskov, and Tver, and Yugra, and Perm, and Bulgaria, and other lands"
The princes in the annexed lands became the boyars of the Moscow sovereign (“boyarization of the princes”). These principalities were now called uyezds and were ruled by governors from Moscow. The governors were also called boyars-feeders, since they received food for managing the counties - part of the tax, the amount of which was determined by the previous payment for service in the troops. Localism is the right to occupy one or another position in the state, depending on the nobility and official position of the ancestors, their merits to the Grand Duke of Moscow.
A centralized control apparatus began to take shape.
Boyar Duma. It consisted of 5-12 boyars and no more than 12 okolnichi (boyars and okolnichi - the two highest ranks in the state). In addition to the Moscow boyars from the middle of the 15th century. local princes from the annexed lands, who recognized the seniority of Moscow, also sat in the Duma. The Boyar Duma had advisory functions on the "affairs of the land."
The future order system grew out of two nationwide departments: the Palace and the Treasury. The palace controlled the lands of the Grand Duke, the Treasury was in charge of finances, state seal, archive.
At the Moscow court during the reign of Ivan III, a magnificent and solemn ceremony began to be established. Contemporaries associated his appearance with the marriage of Ivan III to Byzantine princess Zoya (Sophia) Paleolog - daughter of the brother of the last emperor of Byzantium Constantine Palaiologos in 1472.
Sudebnik of Ivan III. In 1497 A new set of laws of the Russian state was adopted - the Sudebnik of Ivan III. Sudebnik including 68 articles and reflected the strengthening of the role of the central government in state structure and judiciary of the country.
Article 57 limited the right of the peasant transition from one feudal lord to another for a certain period for the whole country: a week before and a week after the autumn St. George's Day (November 26). For leaving, the peasant had to pay "old" - a fee for the years lived in the old place. The restriction of the peasant transition was the first step towards the establishment of serfdom in the country. However, until the end of the XVI century. peasants retained the right to transfer from one landowner to another.
The Russian Church played a significant role in the unification process. After being elected metropolitan in 1448. Ryazan Bishop Jonah, the Russian Church became independent (autocephalous).
On the western lands of Russia, which became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia, in 1458 a metropolitan was installed in Kyiv. Russian Orthodox Church split into two independent metropolises - Moscow and Kyiv. Their unification will take place after the reunification of Ukraine with Russia.
The intra-church struggle was associated with the appearance of heresies. In the XIV century. Heresy of the Strigolniks arose in Novgorod. On the head of the one who was accepted as a monk, the hair was cut crosswise. The strigolniki believed that faith would become stronger if it was based on reason.
At the end of the XV century. in Novgorod, and then in Moscow, the heresy of the Judaizers spread (a Jewish merchant was considered its initiator). The heretics denied the power of the priests and demanded the equality of all people. This meant that the monasteries did not have the right to own land and peasants.
For some time, these views coincided with the views of Ivan III. There was also no unity among the clergy. Militant churchmen led by the founder of the Assumption Monastery (now the Joseph-Volokolamsky Monastery near Moscow) Joseph Volotsky sharply opposed the heretics. Joseph and his followers (the Josephites) defended the church's right to own land and peasants. The opponents of the Josephites also did not support heretics, but objected to the accumulation of wealth and land holdings of the church. The followers of this point of view were called non-possessors or Sorians - after the name of Nil Sorsky, who retired to a skete on the Sora River in the Vologda region.
Ivan III at the church council of 1502 supported the Josephites. Heretics were executed. The Russian Church became both state and national. Church hierarchs proclaimed the autocrat an earthly king, with his power similar to God. Church and monastic land ownership was preserved.
the last stage - the second half of the 15th - the beginning of the 16th century: the formation of a single centralized state.
The Russian centralized state took shape in the northeastern and northwestern lands of Kievan Rus, its southern and southwestern lands were included in Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary. His education was accelerated by the need to fight against external danger, especially with the Golden Horde, and later with the Kazan, Crimean, Siberian, Astrakhan, Kazan khanates, Lithuania and Poland. The Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke slowed down the socio-economic development of the Russian lands. The formation of a single state in Russia took place under the complete dominance of the traditional way of the Russian economy - on a feudal basis. The completion of the process of unification of Russian lands around Moscow into a centralized state falls on the years of the reign of Ivan III (1462-1505) and Vasily III (1505-1533). Ivan III, after assigning Tver, received the honorary title "By God's grace of the Sovereign of All Russia, the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow, Novgorod and Pskov, and Tver, and Yugra, and Perm, and Bulgaria, and other lands." The princes in the annexed lands became the boyars of the Moscow sovereign. These principalities were now called uyezds and were ruled by governors from Moscow. A centralized control apparatus began to take shape.
Ivan III managed to complete the unification of northeastern Russia. In 1468, the Yaroslavl principality was finally annexed. In 1472, the annexation of Perm the Great began. Even Vasily II the Dark bought half of the Rostov Principality, and in 1474 Ivan III acquired the rest. Tver, surrounded by Moscow lands, in 1485 passed to Moscow. In 1489, the Vyatka land became part of the state. Novgorod was annexed to Moscow in 1478. The veche bell was taken from the city to Moscow. The accession to Moscow of the Novgorod, Vyatka and Perm lands with the non-Russian peoples of the north and northeast living here expanded the multinational composition of the Russian state.
After the unification of the two largest Russian centers - Moscow and Novgorod, the next step of Ivan 3 was the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke:
in 1478 Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the Horde
Khan Akhmat, together with the Golden Horde army, marched on Russian lands
in October-November 1480. Russian and Golden Horde armies became camps on the Ugra River, which was called "standing on the Ugra River."
This event is considered the moment of the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. lasting 240 years. The Muscovite state was gaining strength and international prestige. Ivan III married Sophia Palaiologos, the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium. Therefore, the young Moscow state was declared the political and spiritual successor of Byzantium. This found its expression both in the slogan: “Moscow is the third Rome”, and in the borrowing of Byzantine symbols and symbols of power.
In honor of the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke under Ivan3, the construction of a new symbol of power, the Moscow Kremlin, began. The project of the Italian architect Aristotle Fiorovanti was taken as a basis, according to which, instead of white stone, the main part of the modern Moscow Kremlin was built of red brick.
Also under Ivan 3 in 1497. Sudebnik was adopted - the first set of laws of an independent Russian state.
Vasily III (1505-1533) annexed to Moscow:
Pskov 1510
Grand Duchy of Ryazan 1517
Principality of Starodub and Novgorod-Severskoe 1517-1523
Smolensk 1514
Vasily 3 actually completed the unification of Great Russia and turned the Moscow principality into a national state.
In the XIV-XV centuries. specific Russia persistently collected its “crushed parts into something whole. Moscow became the center of the state formed in this way” (V. O. Klyuchevsky). The process of gathering Russian lands led to the formation of a single Russian state. Devastated, bled dry by the Mongol-Tatar yoke, divided into dozens of specific principalities, the country for more than two centuries consistently, difficultly, overcoming obstacles, went to state and national unity.
Centralization policy under Ivan III and Vasily III
Ivan the Great (1440-1505), Grand Duke Moscow and sovereign of All Russia, under which Russian state finally got rid of dependence (from the Golden Horde) and significantly expanded its boundaries.
Ivan III became a "collector" of Russian lands and increased the territory of the Muscovite state from 24 thousand to about 64 thousand square meters. km. He annexed lands with the help of skillful diplomacy, bought them and seized them by force. In 1463 The Principality of Yaroslavl was annexed in 1474. - Principality of Rostov, in 1471-1478. - Vast Novogorodsk lands. In 1485 Ivan's power was recognized by the besieged Tver, and in 1489. v Vyatka, most of the Ryazan lands; influence on Pskov was strengthened. As a result of two wars with Lithuania (1487-1494 and 1501-1503), significant parts of the Smolensk, Novgorod-Seversky and Chernigov principalities came into the possession of Ivan.
The Livonian Order paid tribute to him (for the city of Yuryev). He became the first Prince of Moscow, who claimed the entire territory of Kievan Rus, including the western and southwestern lands, which at that time were part of the Polish-Lithuanian state, which caused a centuries-old strife between the Russian state and Poland. Ivan refused to pay tribute to the Golden Horde and in 1480. liberated the Russian state from the Mongol-Tatar yoke that lasted 250 years after two troops (Ivan III and Khan Akhmat) stood against each other for a summer on the Ugra River without entering into battle (“standing on the Ugra”).
Ivan III, pursuing a policy of centralization, took care of the transfer of full power through the line of his eldest son, with a restriction of power younger sons. Therefore, already in 1470, he declared his eldest son from the first wife of Ivan the Young as his co-ruler. However, in 1490 he died of an illness. Two parties were created at the court: one grouped around the son of Ivan the Young, the grandson of Ivan III Dmitry Ivanovich and his mother, the widow of Ivan the Young, Elena Stefanovna, and the second around Vasily and his mother. At first, the first party took over, Ivan III intended to crown his grandson to the kingdom. Under these conditions, surrounded by Vasily III, a conspiracy matured, which was revealed, and its participants, including Vladimir Gusev, were executed. Vasily and his mother Sophia Paleolog fell into disgrace. However, the grandson's supporters came into conflict with Ivan III, which ended with the grandson's disgrace in 1502. On March 21, 1499, Vasily was declared the Grand Duke of Novgorod and Pskov, and in April 1502, the Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir and All Russia, autocrat, that is, he became co-ruler of Ivan III.
In his domestic politics Basil III enjoyed the support of the Church in the fight against the feudal opposition. In 1521, Metropolitan Varlaam was expelled because of his refusal to participate in the struggle of Vasily against Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich. The Rurik princes Vasily Shuisky and Ivan Vorotynsky were exiled into exile. Diplomat and statesman Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev was executed in 1525 because of criticism of Vasily's policy. Maxim Grek (publicist), Vassian Patrikeyev (statesman) and others were sentenced for the same reason in 1525 and 1531. During the reign of Vasily III, the landed nobility increased, the authorities actively limited the immunity and privileges of the boyars.
2. Completion of the unification of Russian lands
The Russian centralized state took shape in the northeastern and northwestern lands of Kievan Rus, its southern and southwestern lands were included in Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary. His education was accelerated by the need to fight against external danger, especially with the Golden Horde, and later with Lithuania and Poland, with the Kazan, Crimean, Siberian, Astrakhan, Kazakh khanates.
The socio-economic development of the Russian lands was slowed down by the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke. The formation of a single state in Russia took place under the complete dominance of the traditional way of the Russian economy, that is, on a feudal basis, in contrast to the advanced countries of Western Europe. This is what makes it possible to understand why a bourgeois, civil, democratic society began to form in Europe, why estates, serfdom, inequality of citizens before the laws will dominate in Russia for a long time Orlov A.S., Georgiev V.A., Georgiev N.G. , Sivokhina T.A. History of Russia from ancient times to the present day. Textbook. - M., 2006. - S. 57 ..
The completion of the process of unification of the Russian lands around Moscow into a centralized state falls on the years of the reign of Ivan the 3rd (1462–1505) and Vasily the 3rd (1505–1533).
Blind father Vasily 2nd early made his son Ivan 3rd co-ruler of the state. He received the throne when he was 22 years old. Behind him was established the glory of a cautious and far-sighted, prudent and successful politician. At the same time, it is noted that he more than once resorted to intrigue and deceit. Ivan 3rd? one of the key figures in our history. Let's list some facts. He was the first to take the title "Sovereign of All Russia". The red brick Moscow Kremlin, which has survived to this day, was erected under him. The double-headed eagle with him became the emblem of our state. The hated Golden Horde yoke was finally overthrown under him. Under him, in the newly rebuilt Chamber of Facets, they received ambassadors not from neighboring Russian principalities, but from the pope, the German emperor, the Polish king. The first Sudebnik was created under him in 1497, and under him, nationwide governing bodies of the country began to form. The use of the term "Russia" in relation to our state began under him.
Relying on the power of Moscow, Ivan the 3rd was able to almost bloodlessly complete the unification of northeastern Russia:
· in 1468 Yaroslavl principality was finally annexed. The princes of the Yaroslavl principality became the service princes of Ivan the 3rd;
· Tver, surrounded by Moscow lands, passed to Moscow in 1485, after its boyars swore allegiance to Ivan the 3rd, who approached the city with a large army;
· even Vasily the 2nd Dark bought half of the Rostov Principality, and in 1474 Ivan the 3rd acquired the rest;
· in 1472, the annexation of Perm the Great began;
· in 1489, the Vyatka land, important in terms of trade, became part of the state;
In 1503, many princes of the western Russian regions (Chernigov, Vyazemsky, Odoevsky, Vorotynsky, Novgorod-Seversky,) passed from Lithuania to the Moscow prince Orlov A.S., Georgiev V.A., Georgiev N.G., Sivokhina T .A. History of Russia from ancient times to the present day. Textbook. - M., 2006. - S. 59 ..
The Novgorod boyar republic, which still possessed considerable power, remained independent of the Moscow prince. In Novgorod in 1410, a reform of the posadnik administration took place: the oligarchic power of the boyars increased. Vasily the Dark in 1456 established that the prince is the highest court in Novgorod (Yazhelbitsky world).
Part of the Novgorod boyars, led by the posadnik Marfa Boretskaya, concluded an agreement on the vassal dependence of Novgorod on Lithuania, fearing the loss of their privileges in case of submission to Moscow. Ivan the 3rd, having learned about the conspiracy of the boyars with Lithuania, took decisive measures to subdue Novgorod. The campaign of 1471 was attended by the troops of all the lands subject to Moscow, and this gave it an all-Russian character. Novgorodians were accused of "falling away from Orthodoxy to Latinism."
The decisive battle took place on the Shelon River. The Novgorod militia, which had a significant superiority in strength, fought reluctantly. According to chroniclers close to Moscow, the Muscovites, “like roaring lions,” attacked the enemy and pursued the Novgorodians for more than twenty miles. Seven years later, in 1478, Novgorod was finally annexed to Moscow. A veche bell was taken from the city to Moscow. Opponents of Moscow were moved to the center of Russia. But, given the strength of Novgorod, Ivan the 3rd left him a number of privileges: he promised not to involve Novgorodians in serving on the southern borders, the right to conduct relations with Sweden. The city was now ruled by Moscow governors.
The accession to Moscow of the Novgorod, Perm and Vyatka lands with the non-Russian peoples of the north and northeast living here expanded the multinational composition of the Russian state Kudinova N.T. History of Russia 9-20 centuries. - Khabarovsk, 2003. - S. 49 ..
26-year-old son of Ivan the 3rd and Sophia Paleolog? nieces of the last Byzantine emperor? Vasily III continued the work of his father. Namely, he behaved like an autocrat, starting a struggle to abolish the appanage system.
Basil the 3rd in 1510 annexed Pskov, taking advantage of the attack of the Crimean Tatars on Lithuania. 300 families of the richest Pskovites were evicted from the city and replaced by the same number from Moscow cities. Veche system was abolished. Moscow governors began to rule Pskov.
In 1514, Smolensk, conquered from Lithuania, became part of the Muscovite state. In honor of this event, the Novodevichy Convent was built in Moscow, in which the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk was placed? defenders of the western borders of Russia. Finally, in 1521, the Ryazan land, which was already dependent on Moscow, became part of Russia.
The process of unification, thus, of northeastern and northwestern Russia in one state was completed. The largest power in Europe was formed, which from the end of the 15th century. became known as Russia.
Gradually fragmentation was replaced by centralization. After the annexation of Tver, Ivan the 3rd received the honorary title "by the grace of God the sovereign of All Russia, the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow, Novgorod and Pskov, and Tver, and Yugra, and Perm, and Bulgarian, and other lands" Arslanov R.A., Kerov V.V., Moseykina M.N. History of Russia from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century: Proc. for students humanit. specialist. / Ed. V.V. Kerova. - M., 2006. - S. 259 ..
The princes in the annexed lands became the boyars of the Moscow sovereign (“boyarization of the princes”). Now these principalities were called uyezds and were ruled by governors from Moscow. The governors were also called boyars-feeders, since they received food for managing the counties? part of the tax, the amount of which was determined by the former pay for service in the troops. Localism? this is the right to occupy one or another position in the state, depending on the nobility and official position of the ancestors, their merits before the Grand Duke of Moscow.
A centralized control apparatus began to take shape.
Consider the composition and activities of the Boyar Duma. The composition of the Boyar Duma was as follows: 5 × 12 boyars and no more than 12 okolnichi (boyars and okolnichi? the two highest ranks in the state). In addition to the Moscow boyars from the middle of the 15th century. local princes from the annexed lands, who recognized the seniority of Moscow, also sat in the Duma. The Boyar Duma had advisory functions on the "affairs of the land."
The future order system grew out of two nationwide departments: the Palace and the Treasury. The palace controlled the lands of the Grand Duke, the Treasury was in charge of finances, the state seal, and archives.
A magnificent and solemn ceremony began to be established at the Moscow court during the reign of Ivan the 3rd. Contemporaries associated his appearance with the marriage of Ivan the 3rd to the Byzantine princess Zoya (Sophia) Paleolog? daughter of the brother of the last emperor of Byzantium Constantine Palaiologos in 1472
On the western lands of Russia, which became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia, in 1458 a metropolitan was installed in Kyiv.
The Russian Church played a significant role in the unification process. After the election in 1448 of Ryazan Bishop Jonah as metropolitan, the Russian Church became independent (autocephalous).
The Russian Orthodox Church split into two independent metropolises: Kyiv and Moscow. Their unification will take place after the reunification of Ukraine with Russia Kudinova N.T. History of Russia 9-20 centuries. - Khabarovsk, 2003. - S. 58 ..
The struggle within the Church was associated with the appearance of heresies. In the 14th century Heresy of the Strigolniks arose in Novgorod. On the head of the one who was accepted as a monk, the hair was cut crosswise. The strigolniki believed that faith would become stronger if it was based on reason.
At the end of the 15th century in Novgorod, and then in Moscow, the heresy of the Judaizers spread (a Jewish merchant was considered its initiator). The heretics denied the power of the priests and demanded the equality of all people. This meant that the monasteries did not have the right to own land and peasants.
For some time, these views coincided with the views of Ivan III. There was also no consensus among the churchmen. Led by the founder of the Assumption Monastery (currently the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery near Moscow), Joseph Volotsky, the militant churchmen sharply opposed the heretics. Joseph and his followers (the Josephites) defended the church's right to own land and peasants. The opponents of the Josephites also did not support heretics, but objected to the accumulation of wealth and land holdings of the church.
The followers of this point of view were called nonpossessors or sorians? by the name of Nil Sorsky, who retired to a skete on the river Sora in the Vologda region Arslanov R.A., Kerov V.V., Moseykina M.N. History of Russia from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century: Proc. for students humanit. specialist. / Ed. V.V. Kerova. - M., 2006. - S. 263 ..
Church hierarchs proclaimed the autocrat an earthly king, with his power similar to God. Church and monastic land ownership was preserved. rus centralization sudnik
Ivan the 3rd at the church council of 1502 supported the Josephites. Heretics were executed. The Russian Church became both national and state.
3. Legal registration of centralization. Sudebnik 1497
In 1497, a new set of laws of the Russian state was adopted? Sudebnik of Ivan the 3rd. The Sudebnik contained 68 articles and reflected the strengthening of the role of the central government in the state structure and legal proceedings of the country. Article 57 of the Sudebnik limited the right of the peasant transition from one feudal lord to another by a certain period for the whole country: a week before and a week after the autumn St. George's Day (November 26) Sudebnik 1497 // Russian justice. - 2006. - No. 11. - S. 47 - 50 ..
Sudebnik 1497- the most important monument of the legal nature of Muscovite Russia at the end of the 15th century, the first Russian national judicial code of law, Code of Laws of 1497.aimed at extending the jurisdiction of the Grand Duke to the entire territory of the centralized state, the elimination of the legal sovereignties of individual lands, appanages and regions. The Sudebnik codified the norms of customary law, princely decrees, statutory letters, etc. Most of the Sudebnik is devoted to the rules of procedural law, and only a few articles deal with issues of substantive law. The elements of the search process are also being strengthened. However, criminal cases were still decided by a duel between the parties. In the Sudebnik, the norms of substantive law include provisions on the purchase, loan, lands, inheritance, boundaries, serfs, and farmers. For the first time, the Sudebnik legislates the attachment of free farmers to the land. The former complete freedom of transition of the peasants is limited by the term (St. George's day) and the payment of the "elderly".
For leaving, the peasant had to pay "old", that is, payment for the years that he lived in the old place. The restriction of the peasant transition is the first step towards the establishment of serfdom in Russia. However, until the end of the 16th century. peasants retained the right to transfer from one landowner to another.
Conclusion
So, we examined the process of completing the unification of Russian lands, as well as the legal formalization of centralization. Sudebnik 1497
From all of the above, the following conclusions can be drawn.
The restoration of Russia's political independence logically led to the restoration and expansion of contacts with the West. Grand Duke Ivan the 3rd, who united northeastern Russia, conquered Novgorod and threw off the Mongol yoke, thereby returned Russia - but already as Russia - to the political map of Europe. He also became the first Russian Westerner. Ivan Vasilyevich made a serious attempt to bring Muscovy closer to Western Europe - both politically and culturally. He not only invited Italian craftsmen to build the Kremlin fortress and cathedrals, but also applied for participation in the emerging system of international relations. Inside the country, Ivan sought to streamline the legal system, publishing in 1497 the Sudebnik - the first document of this kind after the Russkaya Pravda of Yaroslav the Wise.
The creation in 1497 of the all-Russian Sudebnik was an important event in the history of Russian legislation. It should be noted that such a unified code did not exist even in some European countries (in particular, in England and France). The publication of the Sudebnik was an important measure to strengthen the political unity of the country through the unification of legislation. Here the Grand Duke acted no longer as a sophisticated commander and diplomat, but as a talented administrator.
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Question 11. Completion of the process of unification of Russian lands around Moscow under Ivan 3 and Vasily 3.
background
End of the 15th century many historians define it as the transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age. The end of the 15th century is the time when the formation of nation-states on the territory of Europe was completed. The Russian state also did not stand aside. Historians have long noticed that the process of replacing fragmentation by a single state is a natural outcome of historical development.
The Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke slowed down the socio-economic development of the Russian lands. Unlike the advanced countries of Western Europe, the formation of a single state in Russia took place under the complete dominance of the traditional way of the Russian economy - on a feudal basis. This makes it possible to understand why a bourgeois, democratic, civil society began to take shape in Europe, and why serfdom, estates, and inequality of citizens before the laws will dominate in Russia for a long time to come.
The completion of the process of unification of Russian lands around Moscow into a centralized state falls on the years of the reign of Ivan III (1462-1505) and Vasily III (1505-1533).
Ivan III
Ivan 3 received the throne at the age of 22. In his person, Moscow received a cunning, dexterous diplomat, with a broad outlook, capable of both compromise and treachery. One of the main tasks set by Ivan 3 was to continue the course towards centralization.
Who was attached?
Ivan III, relying on the power of Moscow, managed to complete the unification of northeastern Russia almost without bloodshed.In 1463-1471, the Yaroslavl principality was annexed , whose princes became the service princes of Ivan III.In 1472, the annexation of Perm the Great began . Vasily II the Dark bought halfRostov Principality, and in 1474 . Ivan III purchased the rest. Finally,Tver, surrounded by Moscow lands, in 1485 passed to Moscow , after her boyars took the oath to Ivan III, who approached the city with a large army.1478 year the first expedition sent to the Dvina land , as a result of which she was captured, subjugated.In 1489, the Vyatka land became part of the state , important commercially.In 1503, many princes of the western Russian regions (Vyazemsky, Odoevsky, Vorotynsky, Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky) passed from Lithuania to the Moscow prince.
Relations with the Kazan Khanate were extremely difficult. Kazan fluctuated between the Crimea and Moscow, while the Kazan Tatars raided as far as Kostroma.In 1467 Ivan 3 made the first trip to Kazan and forced her into submission. However, peaceful relations lasted only until 1479, when a coup d'etat took place in Kazan, and Ali Khan became the Kazan khan, who pursued an independent policy against Moscow. Over the next 10 years, the Kazan Tatars ravaged Russia. Such relations hindered normal trade along the Volga.In 1487, Ivan 3 undertook a second military campaign against Kazan. , Ali Khan was deposed, captured and exiled to Beloozero. Until the death of Ivan 3, Kazan was ruled by Moscow proteges.
Annexation of Novgorod
Novgorod felt that the preponderanceallmore inclinedinside of Moscow. And therefore,sending embassies to Moscow with a request to keep their liberties "in the old days", the top of Novgorod simultaneously began negotiations with Lithuania, asking for help against Moscow. Lithuania agreed. At the same time, Lithuania tried to enlist the support of the Great Horde and the Crimean Khanate. Novgorod, thus, was included in the big Eastern European politics. The goal was one - to stop the strengthening of the Moscow principality.
Feeling yourforce,IvanIIIsent a letter to Novgorod, where he called the Novgorod Republic his "ancestral homeland".
This caused an explosion of indignation in the city. And not only the boyars - supporters of the Lithuanian party, but also ordinary townspeople - merchants, artisans. Stormy meetings began to take place in the city - Vecha. Novgorodians said that they did not want to be serfs of the Moscow prince. The freedom-loving, medieval democratic order of this northwestern Russian city, close to Europe, faced irresistible processes of unification of all Russian lands, the creation of a powerful centralized state.
IvanIIIresolved the conflict by force of arms. Before that, he, as an experienced politician, gave the upcoming campaign an all-Russian character, gathered representatives of princely families, boyars, nobles, merchants in order to enlist the support of the whole land. In addition, the punitive expedition was also of a religious nature. IvanIIIannounced that it would be a campaign againstthose who leaned towards "Latinism", towards "heretics", becauseunionNovgorod with Lithuania was an agreement with a Catholic country. In addition, Orthodoxy, the "true faith" was in danger due to the fact that in 1453 Constantinople was conquered by the Turks. Over Orthodoxy hangs not only the "scourge" of Latinism, but also the threat of Islam.
IvanIIIand his assistants recalled the attempt of papal Rome to subdue the weakening Greek Orthodoxy by creating a union in 1439 between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. In the face of the Turkish offensive against Byzantium, the Patriarch of Constantinople agreed to such an alliance. This decision was made in Italy at the famous church council, which took place in the cities of Ferrara and Florence.
Metropolitan Isidore of Moscow also attended this council and agreed to support the union. However, when he returned to Moscow, he was accused of betraying the Orthodox faith, arrested and removed from the metropolitan throne by Vasily P.
For Russia, the fight against Catholicism and Uniatism meant protection from ideological aggression. Western countries. But at the same time it led to the isolation of the country from European civilization.
Under the sign of the salvation of the "true faith" and led his regiments to Novgorod, IvanIII. He mobilized against Novgorod all the forces of the then Russia. Regiments from Tver, Pskov, Vyatka went north. The avant-garde moved ahead, followed by the entire Russian army with the Grand Duke himself. Another blow was dealt to the territories of the Novgorod principality along the Northern Dvina.
On July 14, 1471, on the banks of the Shelon River, the historical battle of the Novgorod rati against the vanguard of the Russian forces took place. A small, but well-organized and equipped Russian army, without waiting for the approach of the lead forces, defeated the Novgorod army, which was numerically superior to it. Freedoms and liberties did the Novgorodians a disservice in military affairs. Their army turned out to be disunited, it had poor discipline, separate detachments marched under the command of their boyars. The regiment of the archbishop generally refused to fight against the grand duke's army.
The result of this defeat was the constraint of Novgorod freedoms. Novgorod recognized himself as the "father" of IvanIII. The power of the Moscow governor and other officials increased in the city, relations with Lithuania were declared illegal, they were called treason. Novgorod posadniks were executed, among them - Boretsky, an active supporter of rapprochement with Lithuania; a number of boyars and other noble persons were sent to prison in Kolomna. Novgorod paid Moscow a huge indemnity.
After the defeat at Shelon, the anti-Moscow party in Novgorod did not lay down its arms. It was headed by the widow of the executed posadnik Marfa Boretskaya. More and more persistent efforts were made to go under the rule of Lithuania. Opponents of Moscow were driven by hatred for IvanIII, personal selfish interests. Objectively, the victory of this party would mean the preservation of urban freedoms, getting rid of the heavy hand of Moscow and moving along the path of other Eastern European states that are in the orbit of European civilizational development.
Soon Boretskaya's party took over, supporters of the "Moscow party" were executed, and Moscow merchants were expelled from Novgorod. In reply to IvanIIIin 1477 he again sent an all-Russian army to the rebellious city, which besieged Novgorod and forced the city elite to negotiate. Again, as before, neither Lithuania nor the Horde came to the aid of Novgorod.
According to the new treaty, Novgorod from now on became one of the parts of the Russian state. The lands of the enemies of Moscow and part of the church lands were confiscated in favor of the Grand Duke.
In January 1478 IvanIIIsolemnly entered "his fatherland" - Novgorod. Grand princely governors took power in the city. The most stubborn opponents of Moscow were arrested and sent to prison, including the indomitable Marfa Boretskaya.
Ivan spent a monthIIIin the once independent Novgorod Republic, establishing the Moscow order. When he returned to Moscow, a veche bell was carried behind him on a sleigh - a symbol of the former freedom and independence of Novgorod.
Victory over the Horde
In 1480, the Mongol-Tatar yoke was finally overthrown . This happened after a clash between Moscow and Mongol-Tagar troops on the Ugra River. At the head of the Horde troops was Akhmat Khan, who made an alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir IV. Ivan III managed to attract the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girs to his side, whose troops attacked the possessions of Casimir IV, disrupting his speech against Moscow. After standing on the Ugra for several weeks, Akhmat Khan realized that it was hopeless to enter the battle; and when he learned that his capital Sarai was attacked by the Siberian Khanate, he withdrew his troops back. Russia finally stopped paying tribute to the Golden Horde a few years before 1480. In 1502, the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey inflicted a crushing defeat on the Golden Horde, after which its existence ceased.
Vasiliy III
The 26-year-old son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog Vasily III continued his father's work. Hebegan the struggle for the abolition of the appanage system and behaved like an autocrat. Taking advantage of the attack of the Crimean Tatars on Lithuania,Vasily III annexed Pskov in 1510 . 300 families of the richest Pskovites were evicted from the city and replaced by the same number from Moscow cities. Veche system was abolished. Moscow governors began to rule Pskov.In 1514, Smolensk became part of the Moscow State conquered from Lithuania. In honor of this event, the Novodevichy Convent was built in Moscow, in which the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk, the protector of the western borders of Russia, was placed. Finally,in 1521 Ryazan land became part of Russia , which was already dependent on Moscow. Thus, the process of unification of northeastern and northwestern Russia in one state was completed.
Centralization and government
Ivan III, after the annexation of Tver, received the honorary title "by the grace of God the sovereign of All Russia, the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow, Novgorod and Pskov, and Tver, and Yugra, and Perm, and Bulgaria, and other lands."
The princes in the annexed lands became the boyars of the Moscow sovereign (“boyarization of the princes”). These principalities were now called uyezds and were ruled by governors from Moscow. The governors were also called boyars-feeders, since they received food for managing the counties - part of the tax, the amount of which was determined by the previous payment for service in the troops.
Localism - this is the right to occupy a particular position in the state, depending on the nobility and official position of the ancestors, their merits to the Moscow Grand Duke.
Boyar Duma. It consisted of 5-12 boyars and no more than 12 okolnichi (boyars and okolnichi - the two highest ranks in the state). In addition to the Moscow boyars from the middle of the 15th century. local princes from the annexed lands, who recognized the seniority of Moscow, also sat in the Duma. The Boyar Duma had advisory functions on the "affairs of the land."
Castle ruled the lands of the Grand Duke.Coffers was in charge of finances, the state press, archives.
In 1497 - Sudebnik of Ivan III. It included 68 articles and reflected the strengthening of the role of the central government in the state structure and legal proceedings of the country. Article 57 limited the right of the peasant transition from one feudal lord to another for a certain period for the whole country: a week before and a week after the autumn St. George's Day (November 26). For leaving, the peasant had to pay "old" - a fee for the years lived in the old place. The Code of Law regulated the following types of contracts: employment, loan, bondage, exchange, as well as inheritance rules. Established the judiciary in the country. Sudebnik strengthened the power of the prince, and also created a single law for all.
The Russian Church played a significant role in the unification process. After the election of the Ryazan Bishop Jonah as metropolitan in 1448, the Russian Church became independent (autocephalous).
Association Russian State Moscow
The history of the emergence of united states is one of the central themes of history. Variety of ways of becoming statehood different countries arouses the unquenchable interest of scientists.
One of the options for centralization is the formation of the Russian state on the basis of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow. Decisive steps in the creation of a unified Russian state were made by the son of Vasily the Dark, Ivan III and his son Vasily III.
The tasks of my work are disclosed by me in the chapters of the control work.
In the first chapter, it is necessary to show at the cost of what efforts the process of uniting the Russian lands around Moscow was completed and the Mongol-Tatar yoke was overthrown. To do this, it must be pointed out that the reign of Ivan III was preceded by a period filled with the struggle for grand princely power, political rivalry and culminating in the formation of several political centers, to which all other regions gravitated. Then it is necessary to show by whom the Russian lands were finally united.
In the second chapter, it is necessary to show that during the years of the reign of Ivan III and Vasily III, in parallel with the unification of the Russian lands around Moscow, there was a process of state centralization. In the same place, I highlighted the main points of this process.
In the third chapter, we will consider the features of relations between the state and the church in the 15th - early 16th centuries.
It is also necessary to characterize the religious and political currents of non-possessors and Josephites and find out under the influence of which current the theory “Moscow is the third Rome” was formed.
“The final stage of the unification process took about 50 years - the time of the great reign of Ivan III Vasilyevich (1462-1505) and the first years of the reign of his successor - Vasily III Ivanovich (1505-1533).
Already by 1462, the Moscow principality was the strongest state formation in northeastern Russia, but not the only one. There were Rostov, Yaroslavl, Tver, Ryazan principalities, as well as the Novgorod and Pskov republics. In addition, many primordially Russian lands were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and their return was one of the tasks of Moscow policy.
The simplest situation was with the Ryazan principality: its prince was married to the sister of Ivan III and was in fact completely dependent on Moscow. The accession of Rostov and Yaroslavl also went easily - the Yaroslavl principality ceased to exist in 1463, and Rostov - in 1474. The liquidation of their independence was not accompanied by any armed clashes.
More difficult was the annexation of Novgorod. The Novgorod government, headed by Marfa Boretskaya (the mayor's widow), decided to defend independence. Novgorodians entered into an alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. An agreement with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir was signed. Under its terms, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania guaranteed the independence of the Novgorod Republic. Ivan III became aware of the treaty. It was decided to start a war. The decisive battle took place on the Shelon River (July 1471). Novgorod troops were completely defeated. In the same year, peace was concluded between Ivan III and Novgorod in Korostyn, after which the Novgorod Republic lost its independence. Novgorod was finally conquered in January 1478. The pretext for this was the question of the title of Ivan III. The city was surrounded by Moscow troops and the government of the Novgorod Republic had to capitulate.
After the liquidation of the independence of the Novgorod land, the turn of the Tver principality came. Prince of Tver Mikhail Borisovich, trying to avoid submission to Moscow, concluded an agreement with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir. The experience of the Novgorodians taught him nothing. Tver lands were devastated. But a few months later, Muscovites intercepted a Tver messenger sent to Kazimir. This event served as a pretext for the final annexation of Tver. In September 1485, Tver was occupied by Moscow troops. With the annexation of Tver, Ivan III began to call himself the sovereign of all Russia, thereby showing his claims to the Russian lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The end of the process of territorial unification of Russian lands was fully carried out under Vasily III Ivanovich (1505-1533), during which Pskov (1510) and Ryazan (1521) went to Moscow.
By the beginning of the XVI century. Pskov actually lost its independence, but still retained the old, veche order. The new Grand Duke Vasily III decided that the time had come to put an end to the remnants of Pskov's independence. In 1509 a governor was sent to Pskov - Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Repnya-Obolensky. He refused to recognize the laws of Pskov and did not take into account the veche. They decided to complain about him to the Grand Duke. Vasily ordered them to tell the residents of Pskov that he would sort out their complaints on January 6th. When that day came, the Pskov posadniks and boyars were invited to the Kremlin. The Grand Duke demanded the destruction of the Pskov Vech and the extension of the Moscow system of government to the Pskov land. This meant the complete elimination of the Pskov feudal republic and the annexation of the Pskov land to Moscow. The assembled posadniks and boyars were forced to accept the demand of the Moscow sovereign.
After the annexation of the North Russian lands and the strengthening of the Moscow centralized state, the Moscow Principality faced the question of annexing the Western Russian lands that were under the control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The Russian-Lithuanian war of 1487-1494 ended with the annexation of the territory of the majority of the Verkhovsky principalities to the Moscow principality; Smolensk, however, remained in Lithuanian possession. At this time, religious oppression began to manifest itself in the Principality of Lithuania. Orthodox Catholics. The princes of the Western Russian principalities began to seek protection from the Moscow prince Ivan III, who began to take defectors into his service. Ivan III decided, without waiting for the campaign of the Lithuanian troops against the defectors, in May 1500 to open hostilities.
In the southwestern direction, Russian troops under the command of voivode Koshkin set out from Moscow in early May, they captured Bryansk, Mtsensk and Serpeisk. The cities of Gomel, Chernigov, Pochep, Rylsk, Dorogobuzh and others surrendered.
An attempt to take Smolensk in 1502 ended in failure.
On December 19, 1512, Vasily III led a campaign against the city. But the siege ended in vain. In 1514, Vasily III undertook a third campaign against Smolensk. The storming of the city was carried out by the governors in an organized manner, and on July 21 the fortress surrendered. Smolensk became part of the Moscow state. From the end of the fifteenth century the term "Russia" began to be used ”Anthology on the history of Russia: textbook. allowance / ed. - comp. Orlov A.S., Georgiev V.A., Georgieva N.G., Sivokhina T.A. M.: Enlightenment, 2004, 342 p..
“Relations with the Horde, already tense, had completely deteriorated by the beginning of the 1470s. The Horde continued to disintegrate; Astrakhan, Kazan, Crimean, Nogai and Siberian Hordes were formed on its territory.
In 1480, the Mongol-Tatar yoke was overthrown. The ruler of one of the remnants of the disintegrated Golden Horde, Ahmed Khan (he owned the so-called Great Horde), having entered into an alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir IV, invaded the Russian land in order to again force the Grand Duke of Moscow to pay tribute (the payment of tribute was stopped by Ivan III already a few years before). The situation was complicated by the outbreak of a revolt of the specific princes - the brothers of Ivan III, who were dissatisfied with the strengthening of the power of the Grand Duke.
The Grand Duke of Moscow entered into an alliance with the opponent of Ahmed Khan, the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey, who attacked the Ukrainian possessions of Casimir IV and thereby prevented him from coming to the aid of Ahmed Khan. At the same time, Ivan III managed to eliminate the dangerous rebellion of the specific princes.
In September 1480, Khan Akhmat headed for the Ugra River - the border between Moscow and Lithuanian possessions. Violent clashes began. The attempts of the Horde to cross the river were successfully repulsed by Russian troops. On October 26, 1480, the Ugra River froze over. On November 11, Khan Akhmat, without waiting for help from Casimir and fearing the impending winter, gave the order to retreat.
"Standing on the Ugra" ended with the liberation of the Russian land from the Mongol-Tatar yoke. It was prepared by the struggle of the popular masses against the conquerors and the success of the unification process. Overthrowing the Mongol-Tatar yoke, Moscow continued the unification of Russian lands. However, there were still dangerous neighbors that had grown out of the Golden Horde - the Crimean, Kazan, Astrakhan khanates, the struggle against which continued for a long time" Artamonov V.A., Mezentsev E.V., Morozova L.E., and others. . M., 1997, 298 p.
Thus, "standing on the Ugra" ended in the actual victory of the Russian state, which received the desired independence.
The completion of the unification of Russian lands falls on the second XV century.
Ivan 3. Unifying policy.
After the death of Vasily the Dark in 1462, his son Ivan, who at that time was 22 years old, became the heir to the throne. This ruler is in many ways a key figure in Russian history, since he completed the unification of the lands around Moscow and put an end to the 240-year yoke of the Horde.
Ivan is characterized as a powerful, intelligent and far-sighted politician, but it is also said that he could resort to intrigue and deceit.
Ivan's first act on the throne was the final unification of North-Eastern Russia. In 1463, the Yaroslavl prince ceded his principality to Ivan's volosts, in 1472 he annexed Great Perm, in 1474 he acquired the rest of the Rostov principality, and in 1485 Tver was finally annexed. In 1489, the Vyatka land became part of the Moscow principality, and in 1503 the princes of the western Russian regions from Lithuania joined the territories of Russia - the Vyazemsky, Odoevsky, Vorotynsky, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky lands. A separate merit of Ivan was that he could annex Novgorod the Great.
In 1410, in the Novgorod Republic, there was a reform of the posadnik administration - the oligarchic power of the boyars increased, and the veche system lost its former significance. After 1456, the prince in Novgorod was the highest court. Novgorod feared submission to Moscow. For this reason, a group of townspeople, led by the posadnik Marfa Boretskaya and Dmitry Isaakovich, gathered to conclude an agreement on the vassal dependence of Novgorod on Lithuania, where King Casimir ruled at that time. The intentions of the Novgorodians to transfer their church to the jurisdiction of the Itov metropolitan Gregory were a suitable pretext for Ivan to start a war. And it broke out in 1471. Casimir did not provide effective assistance to Novgorod and on the Shelon River they were defeated by the troops of Ivan III. However, after this incident, Ivan began to visit there often and repair the court and justice, by the way, the leaders of the Prolitovskaya movement were brutally executed. In the spring of 1477, an embassy allegedly arrived to the prince, which confirmed Novgorod's dependence on Ivan. However, in the city itself, this idea was abandoned and these were outraged, calls arose again to go to Casimir. Therefore, in the fall, Ivan approached the city and negotiations began, according to which the Novgorodian autonomy was abolished, and in 1478 the veche bell was taken away from Novgorod. The city was now ruled by Moscow governors.
During his unification policy, Ivan was guided by several principles, the main of which was his desire to reduce the number of specific principalities. After all the independent principalities disappeared, Ivan began to remove the Moscow appanages, all territorial acquisitions of past years and new acquisitions were not subject to kinship division. Thus Ivan pursued a policy of preventing feudal warfare.
Ivan 3. Liberation from the Tatar yoke.
The creation of a single state was impossible without liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke. However, in order to do this, a broad mobilization of resources and military power was required, as well as the activation of foreign policy. By that time Golden Horde was already a fragment of the once huge empire - parts of the empire were divided into the Kazan, Siberian, Crimean and Astrakhan khanates.
By the end of the 1470s, the growing power of the Russian state began to disturb the Horde. For this reason, the Lithuanian prince Kaimir and the Khan of the Horde Akhmet concluded an alliance against Moscow. In response to this, Ivan 3 made an alliance with the enemy of the Horde - the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray. Akhmet wanted to restore the power of the Golden Horde, so he prepared for the campaign very carefully.
Ivan himself had problems with his brothers at that moment. They were outraged by the fact that, contrary to tradition, Ivan did not give away the new conquered lands to his relatives. The brothers with their troops stood in the cities of Velikie Luki, and this allowed them, in which case, to seek support even from Casimir, Ivan's worst enemy. At the same time, the Golden Horde Khan was going to attack, and in this situation Ivan had to make concessions to the brothers: the confessor Vassian was sent to them, who said that Ivan was giving Aleksin and Kaluga to the brothers. Thus, the troops of the brothers stood together with the troops of Ivan on the Ugra.
In autumn, Akhmet approached the Ugra River, a tributary of the Oka, in order to join forces with Kzimir's troops and cross the river. The regiments of the prince left earlier and prevented the crossing. This is how the “standing” on the river began. Ivan's ally Mengli-Giray defeated Casimir's troops, so he could not help his ally. Ivan 3 hesitated, many did not support him and said that it was necessary to give a general battle and utterly defeat the Tatars. One way or another, the khan stood on the Ugra for several weeks, but soon, either because of the cold, or because of the news that the Siberian Khanate had attacked the capital of the Horde, Saray, turned back and left, ruining the Lithuanian possessions along the way.
The Russian state freed itself from the 240-year yoke of the Tatars. The Horde itself suffered its collapse in 1502, when Mengli Giray inflicted such a defeat on it that it was never revived again.
Vasily 3. Unifying policy.
After the death of Ivan 3 in 1505, he was succeeded by his son Vasily 3. He continued the struggle for the abolition of the appanage system and behaved as befits a sovereign. Since only a few principalities and lands remained unattached by the death of Ivan 3, his son finally completed the unification.
Taking advantage of the attack of the Crimean Tatars on Lithuania, in 1510 he captured Pskov, which was under Lithuanian influence. The veche system was abolished, and Moscow governors began to rule the city. In 1514 Smolensk was annexed, and in 1521 Ryazan land became part of the Russian state.
Ivan 3 and Vasily 3. Domestic policy.
The unification of lands around Moscow led to the formation of a single system government controlled. After the final annexation of all the lands and the liberation from the Horde yoke, Ivan 3 appropriated the title of "Sovereign of All Russia, the Grand Duke ... of the lands." The coat of arms of the state appeared - a double-headed eagle and the walls of the brick Kremlin were erected.
There was a process of formation of the sovereign's court, within the boundaries of which the class definition of titled and non-titled nobility takes place. In the annexed lands, the princes became the boyars of the Moscow sovereign (the process of beating the princes), their former principalities began to be called counties and were ruled by Moscow governors. The governors were called boyars-feeders, since they received food for their service - part of the tax, the amount of which was determined by the previous payment for service in the troops. The procedure for appointing a position was called localism - the right to occupy a position depended on the position of your ancestors. There were territorial-county service corporations that hampered the consolidation of the ruling class.
The government apparatus began to take shape. The Boyar Duma was created as a legal advisory body under the monarch. It consisted of 5-12 boyars and no more than 12 roundabouts (boyars / roundabouts - ranks). In addition, the princes from the annexed lands, who recognized the supremacy of Moscow, also sat in the Duma. There were two state departments - the Palace and the Treasury. The palace controlled the lands of the Grand Duke, while the Treasury controlled the state archives, press, and finances. These departments were managed by clerks - people who specialized in permanent job in government bodies. This is the very beginning of the command system.
The basis of the economy remained the extensive way of economy and Agriculture. There were various types of settlements, where the main figure was the farmer (peasant), who had a wide legal capacity. (More about this and Sudebnik - a little lower).
With the receipt of such a large number land in the hands of the authorities is spreading the local system. The main task of the upper class is now the service to the sovereign, for which they are given an allotment.
In 1497, the Sudebnik was created - a new set of laws of a single state, which contained 68 articles. He unified judicial and procedural norms. However, the most important was Article 57, which limited the right of a peasant to move from one feudal lord to another and gave permission to do this exclusively in set time- for and after a week before St. George's Day (November 26). When leaving, the peasant paid the feudal lord a fee for the elderly - for the years lived in the old place. This step was one of the most important on the way to serfdom.
Relations with the church - the appearance of heresies - strigolniki, Judaizers, money-grubbers and non-possessors. Securing a magnificent ceremonial in the sovereign's palace.
Under Ivan III, the theory of "Moscow-the third Kyiv" was formed. The theory of "Moscow-the third Rome" was formed after his death.
The political ideology of the Russian state of the XIV-XV centuries was expressed by D.S. Likhachev in his theory “Moscow is the third Kyiv”. According to his theory, Moscow laid claim to the political legacy of Kyiv and then Vladimir. In order to show the continuity of Moscow, it is worth referring to the "Tale of the Princes of Vladimir".
"The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir" is a literary and journalistic monument of the 16th century, which was used in the political struggle to strengthen the authority of the grand duke, and then the royal power. This "Tale" is based on the legend of the origin of the Russian grand dukes from the Roman emperor Augustus through the legendary Prus, who, on the one hand, was related to Augustus, on the other hand, was possibly a relative of Rurik. (remove, perhaps this is a legend, there is no truth at all).
In 51 BC. Augustus, after the capture of Egypt, gave his relatives the provinces to govern. Prus, one of his relatives, he sent to “on the banks of the Vistula River to the city of Malbork, and Torun, and Khvoini, and Gdansk, and to many other cities along the river called the Neman and flowing into the sea.” Four generations of Prus's relatives lived there, so this land was called Prussian.
Prince Vladimir was a fourth-generation relative of Rurik, he converted to Christianity (in 988). His great-grandson, Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh, became a prince in Kyiv and, having gathered an army, went to Thrace, the region of Constantinople, and conquered it and returned with rich booty.
The second legend included in this "Tale" tells about the acquisition by Vladimir Monomakh of royal regalia from the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh, who confirmed the formation of Russian princes from God.
The time of appearance of these legends has not been established, and there is no evidence of their existence before the beginning of the 16th century. It is also important that in the legends there is no mention of Sophia Palaiologos, the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, although the legend itself dates back to the 16th century. This may mean that Sophia is not an important political figure in the affairs of the Muscovite state. Thus, we can conclude that Moscow was the political successor of Kyiv and Vladimir, which could be used to form political ideology Muscovy at the end of the 15th-beginning of the 16th century.
Thus, we see the existence of two parallel tendencies, thanks to which the Muscovite state could claim a politically active and important role in international relations. On the one hand, these are dynastic ties with the Byzantine emperors, whose authority was recognized throughout Europe, on the other hand, the rationale for succession to Kyiv princes, which were revered by both Russian princes and many European rulers.
