People of the Middle Ages in Russia. General characteristics of medieval Russia

Parameter name	Meaning
Article subject:	Medieval Russia
Rubric (thematic category)	History

The Slavic ethnic group is considered young. long before its appearance on the planet, many states, civilizations, cultures were formed, flourished and perished.
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Among the most ancient is the native culture of Egypt and the culture of the Mayan peoples (4 thousand BC), the culture of the island of Crete, and the culture of the pre-Aryan civilization in the region of the Indus River (3 thousand BC).

Among the most ancient states is the Sumerian state (3 thousand BC) Babylon, Shan Yin, the Egyptian kingdom (2 thousand BC). Greek and Roman civilization (1000 BC - 1000 AD) is considered to be the original peaks of the originality of antiquity.

Scientists are still arguing about the origin of the Slavs, a variety of concepts and theories are being discussed.

I. Migration theories - supporters of these theories believe that the Slavs were born in the era of the great migration of peoples and, as a result of complex migration processes, managed gain a foothold on the territory of the Danube River (the former Roman province of Noricum)

II. Autochthonous - i.e. theories local origin of the Slavs, the birthplace of the Slavic ethnic group is called the land east of the Elba River, west of the Dnieper River, south of the Pripyat River, north of the Ross River.

Most scientists believe that the 6th century AD became a turning point in the history of the Slavs. it was at this time that the Slavic massif began into 4 categories into the Slavs of the northern and southern, western and eastern. The Eastern Slavs managed to gain a foothold in the area of ​​the Dnieper River and gradually extended their influence to the Baltic and Black Seas. 7-8 in the AD began the process of forming the basic prerequisites for the emergence of the state among the Eastern Slavs.

State is a system of various institutions designed to ensure the survival, existence and development of a community of people living in the same territory.

Causes of the emergence of the state among the Eastern Slavs.

I. a sharp aggravation of social contradictions within the East Slavic tribes. Largely associated with the beginning of the technical revolution (active use of iron tools)

II. it is extremely important to ensure the security of the territory that the Eastern Slavs already considered their own. (The main threat comes from the east, the Khazar Khaganate), (South-Byzantine Empire), (West-Bulgarian state, Hungarian, Polish, etc.), (North- Varangians)

III. it is extremely important to ensure the coexistence of the Eastern Slavs with the tribes of other ethnic groups living on the territory of the East European Plain.

In the history of the formation of the ancient Russian state, there are several reference points.

862 - the leader of the hired Varangian squad Rurik established control over the situation in Novgorod.

882 – Oleg united the lands of Novgorod and Kyiv under his rule.

911 - one of the first Russian-Byzantine treaties.

988 - Baptism of Russia Vladimir 1

1019-1054 the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, the heyday of the state.

1097 congress of princes in Lyubyach (each keeps his own fatherland)

1113-1125 - reign of Vladimir Monomakh.

Character traits ancient Russian state

1) a weak state apparatus. Its functions were not clearly defined, the authority among the population was not very high, it was not very numerous. The basis of the state apparatus was the family of the Grand Duke and his squad (about 1000 people), while the number of all-Russian militia, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ, gathered for military campaigns reached 50,000 people.

2) a very complex social structure of the population, a motley ethnic composition. By the 10th century, the total population of the state was about 4.5 mil people who belonged to a wide variety of ethnic groups.

3) Christianity as dominant state religion.

4) the rapid emergence of written laws. 11 in Russkaya Pravda 3, the main editions are short, lengthy, abbreviated over a hundred lists.

5) a high level of cultural development. Culture is a system of material and spiritual values ​​created by man. Most Achievements ancient Russian culture one way or another connected with the Russian Orthodox Church(tithe church, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod) literature (word about law and grace, the tale of bygone years, Novgorod birch bark letters, proverbs, lyrical songs, epics)

P.S. scientists note the very low standard of living of the majority of the inhabitants of the ancient Russian state; short life expectancy, a young man from 14 was considered absolutely adult, and girls of 12 years old were marriageable.

At 17, Fristophorus Zillarius, a professor at the Gallic University, proposed dividing world history into antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. The debate about when the Middle Ages began in European countries has been going on for many years and is far from over (395ᴦ .- division of the Roman Empire into western and eastern. 476- abdication of Romulus Augustulus. Id.)

Today, the term Middle Ages or the Middle Ages is understood as a special historical era in the development of European states. This era implies a number of essential features in the life of these states.

A) a feudal system of land tenure. (with such a system, land owners, feudal lords or seigneurs, provide their vassals with land holdings (feuds) for service, serfs work on these allotments, who pay dues or work out the master)

B) the system of vassalage. (This is a system of special hierarchical relations between feudal lords based on the principle of personal dependence.)

C) the dominance of the church in the cultural and political life of the state.

D) the ideals of monasticism and chivalry.

The history of the Russian Middle Ages, most scholars begin with the era of feudal fragmentation, the reasons for the onset of which there are different points of view, among the main reasons for feudal fragmentation in Russia are usually called.

I. System development feudal tenure. (already by 10 the exploitation of dependent peasants had become more profitable L than the traditional collection of tribute and duties) = fiefdoms are becoming a mass phenomenon. The owners of the estates were interested in creating a strong local government L, able to quickly and effectively protect from the interest. (What are the interests)

II. The rapid growth of cities. 10 in the sources record 25 large Russian cities that have become the centers of political, cultural, economic life, having accumulated great wealth, the cities began to interfere in the relationship of the princes, violating the traditional procedure for the transfer of power.

III. The weakening of the pressure of the nomads in the east, which coincided with the growing pressure on the Russian lands from the west.

IV. The crisis of the control system (the process of constant expansion of the territories of the ancient Russian state by the end of the 10th century led to its logical result, the Grand Duke of Kyiv lost the ability to control the situation throughout the state) (weak information flows); weak transport communications;

V. The crisis of the norms of ancient Slavic ethics (the fall of morality).

The first turmoil began in 972 (after the death of Grand Duke Svyatoslav) Yaropol and Vladimir.

1016- after the death of Vladimir, Svyatopolk and Yaroslav, Boris, Gleb.

1073 after the death of Yaroslav the Wise.

1093 - after the death of Vsevolod.

By the middle of the 12th century, there were already 15 independent principalities on the territory of the former Old Russian state, in the 13th century there were about 50. In the 14th century there were 250. But simultaneously with the processes of disintegration in the 12th-13th centuries, the processes of unification of Russian lands were going on. The new centers of the new Russian statehood were the Galicia-Volyn principality, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, and Novgorod land.

Consequences of feudal fragmentation.

On the one side

1) the rapid development of crafts, agriculture, trade, in some lands and principalities.

2) design of institutions political power on the ground (power has become closer to the people).

3) the heyday of medieval Russian culture. (Assumption Cathedral in Galich, Dmitrovsky Cathedral in Vladimir, Church of the Intercession on the Nerl.)

But in other way.

1) Destruction of material and spiritual values ​​during strife.

2) death of people. Russians kill Russians.

3) weakening of the military potential of the Russian lands.

Mongol invasion.

Scientists know very little about the Mongolian ethnos, it is known that it originated on the border of the steppes and deserts of Central Asia (Baikal), it is known that its formation took place in the 11-12 centuries, it is known that Genghis Khan played a special role in its history. Scientists argue about the reasons for the migration of the Mongols, which began at the end of the 11th century and was very stable.
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Perhaps this was due to the search for new pastures, perhaps the Mongols were looking for the shortest paths to the rich regions of the world, perhaps the movement of the Mongols was associated with the peculiarities of their worldview (the last sea).

The first clash of the Mongols and Russia May 1, 1223 on the river.
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Kalka(Sea of ​​Azov), despite the victory, the Mongol troops did not go deep into the Russian lands. In 1235, at the kurultai in the town of Karakorum, a decision was made on a large campaign. The advance of troops began in 1237 ᴦ. Main fighting began 1238ᴦ. On March 4, 1238, the Mongols defeated the troops of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri on the Sit River. 14 cities of northeastern Russia were devastated. But at the same time, Novgorod was not ruined. In 1239, the Mongols undertook a campaign against southwestern Russia through which they went to eastern Europe, at the same time, the inhabitants of Novgorod had to repel an attack by the Swedes (1240) at the mouth of the Neva River and the Germans (1242) at Lake Peipus.

In the middle of the 13th century, a state was formed on a vast territory from the Danube to Altai Golden Horde. Russian lands were declared part of this state. A very ambiguous relationship developed between the Golden Horde and the Russian lands. The nature of these relationships continues to be debated to this day.

I. The Solovyov-Horde yoke became the main reason for the slow development of Russia, but it did not change the essence of Russian statehood. Arguments: a) the Mongols did not create their own ruling dynasty. B) Mongolian laws did not apply in Russian lands. C) the Mongols did not touch the spiritual basis of Russian statehood - Orthodoxy.

II. The Karamzin-Horde yoke changed the essence of Russian statehood. Arguments: a) veche institutions of power have disappeared in many Russian cities. B) the nature of the relationship between the princely power and its environment has fundamentally changed (vassal relations have been replaced by relations of allegiance. c) a sharp drop in the general level of culture, the death penalty, torture, sharply reduced the number of books and literate people.

III. Gumilyov - there was no Horde yoke, but there was a mutually beneficial compromise between the Russian lands and the Golden Horde. the essence of the compromise - the horde received huge material and human resources of Russia, Russia received protection from Western states that sought to extend their influence to the territory of Russia. The Mongols stimulated the trade of Russian merchants from the east led to Russian cultural traditions Eastern culture, updated the highest echelons of the Russian nobility. (Godunov, Karamzin, Saburov, etc.)

At the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, the process of unification of Russian lands within the framework of a single state began, compared to Western Europe, it began late, was of a forced nature and went through the following chronological stages.

Medieval Russia - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Medieval Russia" 2017, 2018.

2/ Feudal fragmentation is a natural historical process. Western Europe and Kievan Rus during the period of feudal fragmentation

1. Formation of Old Russian statehood. Spiritual, moral, political and socio-economic foundations of the formation of the Russian ethnos

Kievan Rus is the successor of Ancient Russia and the next stage in the formation of the Russian ethnos. Kievan Rus is a society with a relatively high degree of development of statehood.

The early Middle Ages knew two types of statehood: the eastern one, based on the relationship of allegiance, and the European statehood, built on cooperation between government and society.

An example of a strong statehood of the eastern type was the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium remained a centralized state throughout its history. The bearer of supreme power was the emperor, endowed with great powers. There was a bureaucratic apparatus with strict subordination, a tax system, secret police, and financial services. The foreign policy department had a special influence, which could weaken its enemies with bribes, bribery and intrigues. The state owned large areas of land. Crafts and trade were under the control of government services, a developed system of state monopolies for the production and sale of individual products operated. The presence of a strong state power led to the fact that in Byzantium neither private property, nor a vassal-fief hierarchy, nor immunity reached maturity. Roman law remained the most important element of Byzantine life. Byzantium was the legal state of the Middle Ages.

The special role of the state principle in the Byzantine Empire received an ideological justification. It was believed that along with the one God, the one true faith and the one true church, there should also be a single Christian empire, the defender of faith and the church. The imperial power acquired sacred functions, for by its very existence it ensured the salvation of the human race. These ideas were a factor in the viability of the Byzantine civilization, they created a spiritual support for resisting external onslaught.

Islam gave a peculiar direction to the development of statehood among the Arabs. The Qur'an recognized no distinction between church and state. Caliphs had supreme religious and secular power. All land was the property of the caliph. State land ownership prevailed over other forms of land ownership, the existence of which did not contradict the Koran. In the field of state administration, the Arabs borrowed those forms that existed in the territory newly included in the Caliphate. Thus, the Arab Caliphate was a kind of strong sacred (sacred) state power, which was fundamentally different from the European one.

Kievan Rus, as a political association, begins to take shape during the expansion of the Varangians from Novgorod to the south immediately after Rurik and his retinue came to reign. In 882, Rurik's combatants Askold and Dir freed the glades from paying tribute to the Khazars and remained to rule Kiev. Rurik's relative Prince Oleg (882-912) tricked Askold and Dir out of the city, killed them, and then united the Novgorod and Kiev principalities, making Kyiv the capital of a new state. Unification of Southern and Northern Russia at the end of the 9th century. - the starting point for the formation of Kievan Rus as a new stage of the Old Russian state. In the future, the activities of the Kiev princes will be aimed at expanding the territory of the Kiev principality. Oleg conquered the Drevlyans and imposed tribute on the Northerners and Radimichi. Prince Igor (912-945) will have to reattach the Drevlyans and pacify the Uglichs. Igor's wife Olga (945-964) continued the work of her husband, and by force of arms, as well as by diplomacy, she significantly strengthened the Old Russian statehood. The case of Igor and Olga was continued by their son Svyatoslav (964-972), who annexed the Vyatichi and conquered Danube Bulgaria.

The formation of Kievan Rus as a political and cultural center under Vladimir I Svyatoslavovich (980-1015), the unification of the Western Slavs, Volhynians, Croats and the adoption of Christianity is being completed.

The most important milestone on the path of the formation of the Russian ethnos is the adoption of Christianity in the form of Orthodoxy as the state religion of Kievan Rus. The specific act of the adoption of Orthodoxy was the famous baptism on the Dnieper of the population of the city of Kyiv by Prince Vladimir in 988. However, the adoption of Orthodoxy is not limited to this act. It has a long history: the spread of Christianity in Russia began long before the baptism on the Dnieper and continued for another century and a half.

Orthodox sources connect the penetration of Christianity into the territory of Kievan Rus with the missionary activity of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called in the 1st century AD. e., who allegedly after the death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ went to preach his teachings in Byzantium, and then "and passed the Black Sea to the Dnieper and the Dnieper up to Kyiv, and from Kyiv further to Veliky Novgorod." There are no historical sources confirming the version of the missionary activity of the Apostle Andrew. However, there are sources indicating that Vladimir's grandmother, Princess Olga, was a Christian. Some prominent warriors of Prince Vladimir were also Christians.

Historians have always faced questions: what is the reason for the Christianization of Russia and why did Prince Vladimir choose Orthodoxy? The answer to these questions should be sought both in the personality of Prince Vladimir and in the analysis of the socio-political and spiritual processes that were taking place at that time in Kievan Rus.

Prince Vladimir was a major statesman of his time. He had long been aware that pagan polytheism did not meet the political and spiritual needs of the state. In 980, Vladimir undertook the first religious reform, the essence of which was an attempt to merge the heterogeneous gods of all the tribes of Kievan Rus into a single pantheon headed by the princely god Perun. However, the attempt to spread the cult of Perun everywhere failed. The pagan god was opposed by other pagan gods, who were worshiped by the Slavic and non-Slavic tribes of Kievan Rus. Paganism did not ensure the ethno-cultural unity of all the tribes and lands of Kievan Rus. Historical practice has shown that this unity is best ensured by the so-called world religions: Christianity and Islam.

The Orthodox version of the adoption of Christianity claims that this event was preceded by a procedure of "choosing faiths." Kievan Rus, in its geopolitical position, was in close contact with the Khazar Kaganate, which was dominated by Judaism, the Arab-Muslim world, which professed Islam, Orthodox Byzantium and the Catholic states of Western Europe. Vladimir allegedly sent his ambassadors to all these regions to determine the best faith. Having completed the task of the Grand Duke, the ambassadors returned and unequivocally gave preference to Orthodoxy because of the beauty of its churches and the spiritual uplift that they felt in them.

However, these circumstances did not play a major role in the adoption of Orthodoxy. The decisive factor in turning to the religious and ideological experience of Byzantium was the traditional political, economic, cultural ties of Kievan Rus with Byzantium. In the system of Byzantine statehood, spiritual power occupied a subordinate position from the emperor. This corresponded to the political aspirations of Prince Vladimir. Not the last role was played by dynastic considerations. The adoption of Orthodoxy opened the way for the marriage of Vladimir with the sister of the Byzantine emperor, Princess Anna - and thus further strengthened friendly relations with such an influential power as Byzantium. Friendship with Byzantium not only opened the way to expanding trade, economic and cultural ties, but also to some extent protected Russia from the raids of numerous nomadic tribes that inhabited the Great Steppe to the north of the Black Sea, which Byzantium constantly used in the fight against its northern neighbor .

And one more moment played its role in the choice of Orthodoxy. In Catholicism, worship took place in Latin, the texts of the Bible and other liturgical books - in the same language. Orthodoxy did not bind itself by linguistic canons. In addition, during this period, Orthodoxy was established in Slavic Bulgaria. Thus, the liturgical books and the entire rite were linguistically related to the population of Kievan Rus. Through Bulgarian liturgical books and Bulgarian clergy, Orthodoxy began to establish itself in the spiritual life of Russian society.

The establishment of Orthodoxy as the state religion of Kievan Rus was associated with significant difficulties. Religion is not just a belief in some gods and spirits, a system of rituals. This is a way of life, a certain system of ideas, beliefs, ideas about a person, his place in the world, etc. Religious beliefs are associated with such important aspects of life as marriage and family relations, moral norms, the food system, etc. Therefore, the process of Christianization meant breaking the existing way of life, worldview, culture, and way of life.

Christianization everywhere met with resistance from the population. Prince Vladimir, his warriors, the clan nobility had to make a lot of efforts, and sometimes use direct force in order to establish Christian rituals, beliefs, and a way of life. Repeatedly rose uprisings against Christianization. History knows the largest of them: in Suzdal, Kyiv, Novgorod.

A significant role in the Christianization of Russia was played by the monasteries that appeared on its territory in the middle of the 11th century. In the monasteries, cadres of clergymen were trained, the dogma was comprehended, the spiritual and moral foundations of the new rituals, Christian life, etc. were formed. Monasteries played a significant role in the dissemination of letters, were custodians and transmitters of cultural heritage. From the monasteries, missionary activities were carried out in all cities and rural areas of the ancient Russian state. By the middle of the XIII century. about 80 monasteries functioned in Russia.

The adoption of Christianity was of great importance for the entire Russian society. Christianity has created a broad basis for the unification of all the peoples of this society. The border between the Rus and the Slav, the Finno-Ugric and the Slav, etc., disappeared. All of them were united by a common spiritual basis. Christianity gradually began to supplant pagan rites and traditions, and on this basis the humanization of society took place. A significant cultural upheaval was the introduction of a single script. The adoption of Christianity contributed to the formation of urban culture in a predominantly agricultural country. Under the influence of Christians, temple construction, book publishing, literature, history and philosophy developed.

On the basis of Christianization, a new type of statehood is emerging in Kievan Rus, which largely takes on a Byzantine form. A close relationship is being established between secular and ecclesiastical authorities, with the primacy of the former over the latter. In the first half of the XI century. ecclesiastical jurisdiction begins. Matters of marriage, divorce, family, some inheritance cases are transferred to the jurisdiction of the church. By the end of the XII century. the church began to supervise the service of weights and measures. A significant role is assigned to the church in international affairs related to the deepening of relations with Christian states and churches.

In general, thanks to the adoption of Christianity, Kievan Rus was included in the European Christendom, and therefore became an equal element of the European civilizational process. However, the adoption of Christianity in the Orthodox version had its negative consequences. Orthodoxy contributed to the isolation of Russia from Western European civilization. With the fall of Byzantium, the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church were, in fact, isolated from the rest of the Christian world. It is this circumstance that may partly explain the refusal of Western

Europe to come to the aid of Russia in its confrontation with the infidels (Tatar-Mongols, Turks and other conquerors).

The structure of the system of power. Kievan Rus was not a static society. Its political structure and economic relations underwent certain changes. At the first stage of its existence, Kievan Rus was relatively centralized state. It was headed by the prince of Kyiv, to whom the princes of the subject lands were subordinate. During the life of the prince-father, his sons sat as governors in the main cities and paid tribute. admitted in Russia tribal suzerainty. Power over the territory belonged to the entire ruling family of Rurikovich. Representatives of the ruling dynasty ruled part of the territory, that is, they co-ruled through the institution of communion. But this did not mean collective leadership, there should be a person who was the eldest - princeps - this is the Kyiv prince, that is, there was a principate system - eldership. Who became a principle? Elder in the family. Inheritance followed a straight descending male line. But this principle was often violated, which made the situation extremely confusing. This system continued until the end of the 11th century.

The Kyiv prince was a legislator, military leader, supreme judge and tax collector. Around the prince there was a squad that lived in the prince's court and shared tribute and military booty with its head. The feasts that the prince arranged in his courtyard were also a kind of remuneration for the squad.

There are two types of relations between power and subjects: vassal and subject. Vassal relations were established between the Kiev prince and the retinue. The prince consulted with the combatants on all issues, otherwise he could lose their support. The most experienced, senior warriors made up the council (duma) and were called boyars. The younger warriors were called "lads" or "gridi". The boyars often acted as governors, while the youths became junior administrators. At first, the combatants replaced the general armament of the people, then they turned into an administrative-military layer, and later - into the estate of feudal lords. The princely retinue power was for the time being limited to elements of self-government, preserved from previous times. This "veche" - the people's assembly, "the elders of the city." These institutions were especially strong on the outskirts of the country.

Socio-economic relations. The formation of feudal relations in Russia proceeded in general according to the pan-European type: from state forms to seigneurial (patrimonial). But unlike Western Europe, where the traditions of private property in antiquity led to the rapid growth of senior landownership, in Russia this process was much slower.

Until the middle of the tenth century the nature of socio-economic relations was determined by tributary relations. Method - collection of tribute during polyudya. On the basis of the collection of tribute, an institution arises feeding. Tribute entered the prince's treasury, then the prince redistributed part of the tribute among the combatants in the form of gifts, feasts. In addition to tribute, the treasury received various kinds of fines imposed in the form of punishment on offenders, as well as court fees.

Socio-economic relations also determined the social structure of ancient Russian society. We can judge the nature of this structure on the basis of studying the code of laws of that time - "Russian Truth", the first part of which was compiled on the initiative of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054). According to Russkaya Pravda, there were two groups of the population in Kievan Rus: “people who served and those who did not serve,” “people who sat down as princes” and ordinary people. The former personally served the prince in the military, civil or economic field. The latter paid tribute to the prince, forming rural and urban tax societies. Among the princely husbands, the boyars stood out - the top of the nobility, and among the common people - smerds, purchases and ryadovichi.

The bulk of the population of the Old Russian state were free community members.(people) who lived in societies (rope). Rural societies were no longer tribal, but territorial, moreover, wealthy families often stood out from them. For a long time, communal people were confused with smerds. However, a different monetary fine was due for their murder, and besides, the smerds were closely connected with the prince. Apparently, it was a non-free or semi-free population, princely tributaries who sat on the ground and carried duties in favor of the prince.

Many articles in Russkaya Pravda are devoted to slaves known as servants or serfs. Most historians are inclined to believe that “servants” is a term of an earlier period, which is used along with the new name “serf”. The serfs were completely powerless - a serf who hit a free man could be killed with impunity. They did not have the right to testify in court, for their murder the owner was subjected only to church repentance.

In addition to serfs, Russkaya Pravda names purchases, ryadoviches and outcasts. A purchase is a bankrupt community member who has gone into debt bondage for a loan (kupa) taken and not repaid. The status of Ryadovich is not entirely clear, although the name comes from a certain agreement (row). An outcast is a person who has lost his social status (people who have broken with the community, serfs who have been set free). Ryadovichi and outcasts, as well as purchases, were subjected to corporal punishment, had no full rights in court and were not responsible for some crimes themselves (the owner paid a penalty for them).

2. Feudal fragmentation is a natural historical process. Western Europe and Kievan Rus during the period of feudal fragmentation

In the history of the early feudal states of Europe in the X-XII centuries. are a period of political fragmentation. By this time, the feudal nobility had already turned into a privileged group, belonging to which was determined by birth. The existing monopoly property of the feudal lords on land was reflected in the rules of law. "There is no land without a lord." The peasants found themselves for the most part in personal and land dependence on the feudal lords.

Having received a monopoly on land, the feudal lords also acquired significant political power: transferring part of their land to vassals, the right to judiciary and minting money, maintaining their own military force etc. In accordance with the new realities, a different hierarchy of feudal society is now taking shape, which has a legal basis: "The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal." Thus, the internal cohesion of the feudal nobility was achieved, its privileges were protected from encroachments by the central government, which was weakening by this time. For example, in France before the beginning of the XII century. the real power of the king did not extend beyond the domain, which was inferior in size to the possessions of many large feudal lords. The king, in relation to his immediate vassals, had only formal suzerainty, and the big lords behaved completely independently. Thus began to take shape the foundations of feudal fragmentation.

It is known that on the territory that collapsed in the middle of the 9th century. Three new states arose in the empire of Charlemagne: French, German and Italian (Northern Italy), each of which became the base of the emerging territorial-ethnic community - nationality. Then the process of political disintegration embraced each of these new formations. So, in the territory of the French kingdom at the end of the 9th century. there were 29 possessions, and at the end of the tenth century. - about 50. But now they were for the most part not ethnic, but patrimonial seigneurial formations.

The process of feudal fragmentation in the X-XII centuries. began to develop in England. This was facilitated by the transfer by the royal power to the nobility of the right to collect feudal duties from the peasants and their lands. As a result of this, the feudal lord (secular or ecclesiastical), who received such an award, becomes the full owner of the land occupied by the peasants and their personal master. The private property of the feudal lords grew, they became economically stronger and sought greater independence from the king.

The situation changed after England in 1066 was conquered by the Duke of Normandy William the Conqueror. As a result, the country, moving towards feudal fragmentation, turned into a cohesive state with strong monarchical power. This is the only example on the European continent in this period.

The point was that the conquerors deprived many representatives of the former nobility of their possessions, carrying out mass confiscation of landed property. The king became the actual owner of the land, who transferred part of it as fiefs to his warriors and part of the local feudal lords who expressed their readiness to serve him. But these possessions were now in different parts England. The only exceptions were a few counties, which were located on the outskirts of the country and were intended for the defense of the border areas. The dispersion of feudal estates (130 large vassals had land in 2-5 counties, 29 - in 6-10 counties, 12 - in 10-21 counties), their private return to the king served as an obstacle to the transformation of the barons into independent landowners, as it was, for example, in France.

The development of medieval Germany was characterized by a certain originality. Until the 13th century it was one of the most powerful states in Europe. And then the process of internal political fragmentation, the country is disintegrating into a number of independent associations, while other Western European countries have embarked on the path of state consolidation. The fact is that the German emperors, in order to maintain their power over dependent countries, needed the military assistance of the princes and were forced to make concessions to them. Thus, if in other countries of Europe the royal power deprived the feudal nobility of its political privileges, then in Germany the process of legislative consolidation of the highest state rights for the princes developed. As a result, the imperial power gradually lost its positions and became dependent on large secular and church feudal lords.

In addition, in Germany, despite the rapid development already in the tenth century. cities (the result of the separation of craft from agriculture), did not develop, as was the case in England, France and other countries, an alliance between the royal power and the cities. Therefore, the German cities were unable to play an active role in the political centralization of the country. And, finally, Germany has not formed, like England or France, a single economic center that could become the core of political unification. Each principality lived separately. As the princely power strengthened, the political and economic fragmentation of Germany intensified.

In Byzantium at the beginning of the XII century. the formation of the main institutions of feudal society was completed, a feudal estate was formed, and the bulk of the peasants were already in land or personal dependence. The imperial power, presenting wide privileges to secular and church feudal lords, contributed to their transformation into all-powerful patrimonials, who had an apparatus of judicial and administrative power and armed squads. It was the payment of the emperors to the feudal lords for their support and service.

The development of crafts and trade led at the beginning of the XII century. to the fairly rapid growth of Byzantine cities. But unlike Western Europe, they did not belong to individual feudal lords, but were under the rule of the state, which did not seek an alliance with the townspeople. Byzantine cities did not achieve self-government, like Western European cities. The townspeople, subjected to cruel fiscal exploitation, were thus forced to fight not with the feudal lords, but with the state. Strengthening the positions of feudal lords in the cities, establishing their control over trade and marketing of their products, undermined the well-being of merchants and artisans. With the weakening of imperial power, the feudal lords became sovereign masters in the cities.

Increasing tax oppression led to frequent uprisings that weakened the state. At the end of the XII century. the empire began to fall apart. This process accelerated after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the crusaders. The empire fell, and the Latin Empire and several other states were formed on its ruins. And although in 1261 the Byzantine state was restored again (it happened after the fall of the Latin Empire), but the former power was no longer there. This continued until the fall of Byzantium under the blows of the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

The collapse of the early feudal territorial organization of state power and the triumph of feudal fragmentation represented the completion of the formation of feudal relations and the flourishing of feudalism in Western Europe. In its content, it was a natural and progressive process, due to the rise of internal colonization, the expansion of the area of ​​cultivated land. Thanks to the improvement of labor tools, the use of animal draft power and the transition to three-field cultivation, land cultivation improved, industrial crops began to be cultivated - flax, hemp; new branches of agriculture appeared - viticulture, etc. As a result, the peasants began to have surplus products that they could exchange for handicrafts, and not make them themselves.

The labor productivity of artisans increased, and the technique and technology of handicraft production improved. The craftsman turned into a small commodity producer working for trade. Ultimately, these circumstances led to the separation of craft from agriculture, the development of commodity-money relations, trade and the emergence of a medieval city. They became centers of crafts and trade.

As a rule, cities in Western Europe arose on the land of the feudal lord and therefore inevitably submitted to him. The townspeople, most of whom were mainly former peasants, remained in the land or personal dependence of the feudal lord. The desire of the townspeople to free themselves from such dependence led to a struggle between cities and lords for their rights and independence. This movement, widely developed in Western Europe in the X-XIII centuries. went down in history under the name of "communal movement". All rights and privileges won or acquired for a ransom were recorded in the charter. By the end of the XIII century. many cities achieved self-government, became commune cities. So, about 50% of English cities had their own self-government, city council, mayor and court. The inhabitants of such cities in England, Italy, France, etc. became free from feudal dependence. A fugitive peasant who lived in the cities of these countries for a year and one day became free. Thus, in the XIII century. a new estate appeared - the townspeople - as an independent political force with its own status, privileges and liberties: personal freedom, jurisdiction of the city court, participation in the city militia. The emergence of estates that achieved significant political and legal rights was important step on the way to the formation of class-representative monarchies in the countries of Western Europe. This became possible thanks to the strengthening of the central government, first in England, then in France.

The development of commodity-money relations and the involvement of the countryside in this process undermined the subsistence economy and created conditions for the development of the domestic market. The feudal lords, seeking to increase their incomes, began to transfer land to the peasants for hereditary holding, reduced the lord's plowing, encouraged internal colonization, willingly accepted fugitive peasants, settled uncultivated lands with them and provided them with personal freedom. The estates of the feudal lords were also drawn into market relations. These circumstances led to a change in the forms of feudal rent, the weakening, and then the complete elimination of personal feudal dependence. Quite quickly this process took place in England, France, Italy.

The development of social relations in Kievan Rus is probably following the same scenario. The onset of a period of feudal fragmentation fits into the framework of the all-European process. As in Western Europe, tendencies towards political fragmentation in Russia appeared early. Already in the tenth century after the death of Prince Vladimir in 1015, a struggle for power breaks out between his children. However, a single ancient Russian state existed until the death of Prince Mstislav (1132). Since that time, historical science has been counting down the feudal fragmentation in Russia.

What are the reasons for this phenomenon? What contributed to the fact that the unified state of the Rurikovich quickly disintegrated into many large and small principalities? There are many such reasons.

Let's highlight the most important of them.

The main reason is the change in the nature of relations between the Grand Duke and his warriors as a result of the settlement of warriors on the ground. In the first century and a half of the existence of Kievan Rus, the squad was completely supported by the prince. The prince, as well as his state apparatus, collected tribute and other requisitions. As the combatants received land and received from the prince the right to collect taxes and duties themselves, they came to the conclusion that the income from military robbery was less reliable than fees from peasants and townspeople. In the XI century. the process of "settlement" of the squad on the ground intensified. And from the first half of the XII century. in Kievan Rus, the votchina becomes the predominant form of ownership, the owner of which could dispose of it at his own discretion. And although the possession of a fiefdom imposed on the feudal lord the obligation to perform military service, his economic dependence on the Grand Duke was significantly weakened. The incomes of the former feudal combatants no longer depended on the mercy of the prince. They made their own existence. With the weakening of economic dependence on the Grand Duke, political dependence also weakens.

A significant role in the process of feudal fragmentation in Russia was played by the developing institution feudal immunity, providing for a certain level of sovereignty of the feudal lord within the boundaries of his fiefdom. In this territory, the feudal lord had the rights of the head of state. The Grand Duke and his authorities did not have the right to act in this territory. The feudal lord himself collected taxes, duties, and administered court. As a result, a state apparatus, a squad, courts, prisons, etc., are formed in independent principalities-patrimonies, and specific princes begin to dispose of communal lands, transfer them on their own behalf to boyars and monasteries. Thus, local princely dynasties are formed, and local feudal lords make up the court and squad of this dynasty. Of great importance in this process was the introduction of the institution of heredity on the earth and the people inhabiting it. Under the influence of all these processes, the nature of relations between the local principalities and Kiev changed. Service dependence is being replaced by relations of political partners, sometimes in the form of equal allies, sometimes suzerain and vassal.

All these economic and political processes politically meant fragmentation of power, the collapse of the former centralized statehood of Kievan Rus. This disintegration, as it was in Western Europe, was accompanied by internecine wars. Three most influential states were formed on the territory of Kievan Rus: Vladimir-Suzdal principality (North-Eastern Rus), Galicia-Volyn principality (South-Western Rus) and Novgorod land (North-Western Rus). Both within these principalities and between them, fierce clashes and destructive wars took place for a long time, which weakened the power of Russia, led to the destruction of cities and villages.

Foreign conquerors did not fail to take advantage of this circumstance. The uncoordinated actions of the Russian princes, the desire to achieve victory over the enemy at the expense of others, while maintaining their own army, the lack of a unified command led to the first defeat of the Russian army in the battle with the Tatar-Mongols on the Kalka River on May 31, 1223. Serious disagreements between the princes, which did not allow them to act as a united front in the face of the Tatar-Mongol aggression, led to the capture and destruction of Ryazan (1237). In February 1238, the Russian militia on the Sit River was defeated, Vladimir and Suzdal were captured. In October 1239, Chernigov was besieged and taken; in the fall of 1240, Kyiv was captured. Thus, from the beginning of the 40s. 13th century the period of Russian history begins, which is usually called the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which lasted until the second half of the 15th century.

It should be noted that the Tatar-Mongols did not occupy Russian lands during this period, since this territory was of little use for the economic activity of nomadic peoples. But this yoke was very real. Russia found itself in vassal dependence on the Tatar-Mongol khans. Each prince, including the Grand Duke, had to receive permission from the khan to rule the "table", the khan's label. The population of the Russian lands was subject to heavy tribute in favor of the Mongols, there were constant raids of the conquerors, which led to the devastation of the lands and the destruction of the population.

At the same time, a new dangerous enemy appeared on the northwestern borders of Russia - in 1240 the Swedes, and then in 1240-1242. German crusaders. It turned out that Novgorod land had to defend their independence and their type of development under pressure from both the East and the West. The struggle for the independence of the Novgorod land was led by the young prince Alexander Yaroslavich. His tactics were based on the struggle against the Catholic West and concession to the East (Golden Horde). As a result, the Swedish troops that landed in July 1240 at the mouth of the Neva were defeated by the retinue of the Novgorod prince, who received the honorary nickname "Nevsky" for this victory.

Following the Swedes, German knights attacked the Novgorod land, which at the beginning of the 13th century. settled in the Baltics. In 1240 they captured Izborsk, then Pskov. Alexander Nevsky, who led the fight against the crusaders, managed to liberate Pskov in the winter of 1242, and then on the ice of Lake Peipsi in the famous battle on the ice (April 5, 1242) inflicted a decisive defeat on the German knights. After that, they no longer made serious attempts to seize Russian lands.

Thanks to the efforts of Alexander Nevsky and his descendants in the Novgorod land, despite the dependence on the Golden Horde, the traditions of Western orientation were preserved and features of subjection began to form.

However, in general, by the end of the XIII century. North-Eastern and Southern Russia fell under the influence of the Golden Horde, lost ties with the West and the previously established features of progressive development. It is difficult to overestimate the negative consequences that the Tatar-Mongol yoke had for Russia. Most historians agree that the Tatar-Mongol yoke significantly delayed the socio-economic, political and spiritual development Russian state, changed the nature of statehood, giving it the form of relations characteristic of the nomadic peoples of Asia.

It is known that in the fight against the Tatar-Mongols, the princely squads took the first blow. The vast majority of them died. Together with the old nobility, the traditions of vassal-druzhina relations left. Now, with the formation of the new nobility, the relationship of allegiance was established.

Relations between princes and cities changed. Veche (with the exception of the Novgorod land) has lost its significance. The prince in such conditions acted as the only protector and master.

Thus, Russian statehood begins to acquire the features of oriental despotism with its cruelty, arbitrariness, complete disregard for the people and the individual. As a result, a peculiar type of feudalism was formed in Russia, in which the “Asian element” is quite strongly represented. The formation of this peculiar type of feudalism was facilitated by the fact that, as a result of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, Russia developed for 240 years in isolation from Europe.

Kievan Rus cannot be imagined without its closest neighbors, and especially those with whom it was connected by political, economic and cultural relations. Geographical position left an undoubted imprint on its place in medieval Europe and, in particular, even affected the nature of art, and to a greater extent than can be traced among the southern and western Slavs. The orientation towards Byzantium was exceptionally strong, but, nevertheless, after initial stage The development of Christian art on ancient Russian soil was soon followed by a process of radical adaptation of the classical heritage: local masters clearly looked at it with different eyes than the Greeks themselves. Accordingly, they discovered a new understanding of artistic forms, adequate to their own perception. Left its mark and contact with the Western tradition, especially in the border
zone and in the main political and shopping malls. These external factors development of art theoretically exclude its isolation from the two main civilizations of the European Middle Ages: Byzantine and Western.

Byzantine Empire, as you know, was multi-tribal, and at the same time the Slavic ethnic element in its political and cultural life played a prominent role. In essence, the situation was similar in Western Europe, where the culture of the Carolingian, Ottonian and Romanesque periods cannot be imagined outside of their national variants. Therefore, speaking about the historical development of ancient Russian art, it is wrong to exclude it from the general system of European cultures.

Art of the pre-Christian period The history of Kievan Rus, despite the great successes of Slavic archeology, is still extremely difficult to imagine as a complete artistic system. Based on the data of literary sources, in pagan antiquities one should look for echoes of Finno-Ugric beliefs, that is, a material connection with the Varangians. Meanwhile, the volume of Norman imports is determined ambiguously. For the Middle Dnieper region of the second half of the 1st millennium AD. a mixed ethno-cultural type of monuments with separate features, the roots of which are associated with the Celtic environment and the Baltic ethnic group, with the Huns, jewelry of Byzantine origin, is characteristic. In the tenth century in Kiev Podil, judging by the find of slate casting molds, there was a workshop of an Arabic-speaking jeweler. Was it the only one or can we talk about its analogues?

New paths of ancient Russian art were opened by a long and difficult process Christianization of the Slavs. The first works most likely owe their appearance to the missionaries and clearly performed primarily a religious, and not an aesthetic function. By these paths, the Byzantine civilization as a whole penetrated here before it became an integral part of state policy.

The initiative of Prince Vladimir the Holy is due to the transfer to Kyiv of Chersonese trophies - works of ancient and Byzantine art, which found both liturgical and decorative use in the new place. We are talking about a bronze quadriga and church utensils donated to the Church of the Tithes. And if it is impossible to determine the volume of Byzantine artistic imports as a whole, then the Kiev slate reliefs of the 11th century make it possible to judge its nature in part. with antique themes: Constantinople caskets decorated with carved plates from Ivory. Ornamental motifs penetrated the Kievan decorative art mainly through illuminated manuscripts and artistic textiles.

End of the 10th century seems to be a time of widespread penetration into the art of Kievan Rus of the Byzantine cultural tradition. However, it is possible that here it was first of all placed at the service of state interests. The tithe church, built by the Greek masters, to some extent could become a model for other temples, although they did not copy it in everything. This can be seen by comparing the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and the cathedral churches in Chernigov, Novgorod, Polotsk and Pereyaslav. In each of these structures, certain features are found that are characteristic of the architecture of Constantinople, Thessalonica and Asia Minor architecture, in their entirety constituting that single "Byzantine" trend, the influence of which was also partially affected by Western Europe.

Activity Byzantine builders, stone carvers, mosaicists, artisans in Russia, of course, had great importance for the formation of young ancient Russian art. And yet it was unthinkable to create a national artistic movement only through their efforts: this required the creative efforts of several generations. The fulfillment of this condition was able to ensure intensive construction of the principality. The role of the order here cannot be overestimated, as well as in the future, when almost every strong ruler sought to build at least one stone temple. We must not forget that this was the era of prosperity and monumental construction in the West.

The first stone cathedrals appear in France and Lombardy. Then northern Spain, England, the Rhine regions and the southwestern part of Germany are intensively covered with majestic temples. Thus, the baptism of Russia coincided in time with a period of exceptional creative activity in Europe. This is a very important historical and cultural context.

The revival of artistic activity caused a search for something new in art. By the 11th century innovations of the Romanesque style. A significant rise also reigns in the Byzantine East. It is easy to see that all this is characteristic mainly of culturally developed European countries. One direction follows the old traditions of the Mediterranean civilizations, the other gravitates toward that North European one, which remained unaffected by the reflexes of the Carolingian shifts. And yet the revival was not universal: between the countries of the West, which have already been mentioned, and Eastern Europe, a wide strip of land lay where majestic cathedrals could be opposed only by small rotundas and basilicas without vaults.

Christian art appeared where preachers and missionaries penetrated, and its development was entirely regulated by the norms of the requirements of liturgical practice. Along with this, one can also trace the desire to give works of new art symbolic meaning. The dedication of temples is also rooted in the heritage of local traditions.

In the countries covered by the activities of Latin missions, monastic orders, led by Germany, played an important role. Hence the close connection with the Rhine shrines. So, in Poland there are temples modeled on the famous church of St. Geryon in Cologne. In Moravia and Bohemia, where Cyril and Methodius traditions were not completely forgotten, one can see ancient churches dedicated to St. Clement of Rome. Kievan Rus has its own tradition of initiation, also symbolic, but associated mainly with Constantinople. That is why, like the Great Church, as before in Nicaea, Thessalonica and Ohrid, St. Sophia Cathedrals arise in Kyiv, Novgorod and Polotsk. A different trend goes to the Blachernae Church of the Byzantine capital and reflects the veneration of the relics of the Mother of God, which falls on the feast of the Assumption. It is already noticeable in the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv.

Then, partly transforming, it inspires the appearance of numerous Assumption Cathedrals, which in the Middle Ages covered Eastern Europe with a dense network. It was one of the expressions of the connection with the official imperial architecture of Byzantium, but, of course, it took on different forms here. Central Europe, as already noted, is characterized by the existence of numerous rotundas, that is, small round stone temples built by missionaries near the palaces of local rulers, similar to the rotunda of Charlemagne in Aachen, symbolically associated with the Holy Sepulcher. This tradition, obviously not without the efforts of the same missionaries, was also brought to Russia: this is evidenced by archaeological finds of structures in Kyiv, Galich, Vladimir-Volynsky, Smolensk. In the field of activity of the Greek missions, large stone temples were usually built. Often not inferior in size to those that adorned the Byzantine capital. There are quite a lot of them in Bulgaria and in Ancient Russia.

It is impossible not to pay attention to one important circumstance: both the First Bulgarian Kingdom and Kievan Rus in the history of their Christian art almost do not know the "lullaby" period. And there is an undoubted pattern in this: the baptism of these countries coincided with the era of their great political and economic upsurge, which in every possible way contributed to the development of culture, especially monumental construction. As in Bulgaria during the time of Simeon, its capital Preslav, so under St. Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv could widely finance not only the activities of missionaries, but also the work of highly qualified craftsmen invited from Byzantium.

Everything that, on the basis of the preservation of ancient traditions, managed to develop Byzantium over half a millennium, was subject to assimilation in its completed forms. At the same time, the experience of not only Constantinople, but also such other centers as Thessalonica and Trebizond was used. Of course, Western missionaries who were heading to the Slavic lands from Salzburg, Regensburg, Hamburg and Magdeburg could not contribute to the same extent to the development of culture. True, the accelerated pace of assimilation of the high achievements of Byzantium also had clearly negative consequences: local cadres of craftsmen were not always sufficiently prepared to master complex building and artistic techniques. After all, it is no coincidence that the art of mosaic has not taken root even on Kiev soil. All known monuments are the work of the Greek mosaicists: at least they were made under their guidance and with their personal participation that determines the general character.

Tracing the main direction of medieval Russian culture, and above all the development of monumental art, it is impossible not to notice the genetic connection of all the most significant phenomena with the Byzantine world. But at the same time, here and there, at first glance, there are sometimes not entirely clear traces of Western influences, individual elements, and this distinguishes ancient Russian art from the “classical” manifestations of Byzantine art. The main basis, we have to repeat, remains the Byzantine tradition, but in contact with Western artistic trends, Old Russian art only involuntarily differentiates itself. In the West by the XII century. it turned out that Romanesque art was formed, which had already reached its peak, developing simultaneously in several directions. It was finally established in Central Europe and became dominant in Scandinavia. Old Russian buildings of the 12th-13th centuries, even the most "Romanesque" of them, actually gravitate towards this circle solely due to architectural plasticity. But even it is not always identical to the Romanesque proper with its characteristic artistic system. Finally, its most indisputable manifestations, only in isolated cases, can be associated with local Romanesque schools, such as, for example, the carving of the church of St. Panteleimon in Galicia with the Hungarian Esztergom.

The spread of Slavic writing in Kievan Rus caused the development of book writing, the art of which is associated primarily with the most significant cultural centers. The earliest manuscripts reflect Eastern Christian artistic tastes in terms of their decoration. The overall design system follows the principles inherited from the Bulgarian designs. The arrangement of the text on the sheet, the typology of geometric and floral ornamentation and the methods of its use, the nature of the initials - all this is close to the norm for the design of the Greek book of the 9th-10th centuries, as well as the Slavic of that archaic type, which was retained for a long time
in the Balkans. The letter retains the features of the Byzantine uncial. But already from the third quarter of the XI century. in the Kiev princely scriptorium, there is a reorientation to the luxurious enamel style cultivated in the book-writing workshops of Constantinople. His examples are the Ostromir Gospel (1056-1057), Svyatoslav's Izbornik of 1073, and the Mstislav Gospel (about 1100). Compared to them, the design of such “pre-Ostromir” manuscripts as the Putyanina Menaion, the Reims Gospel, the Pandects of Antioch, the Chudov Psalter is perceived as clearly archaizing. But it also has its own aesthetic standards and is not without attractiveness, and even charm. And at this very time, literally shortly after the production of the Mstislav gospel "Ugrinets" Theodore skillfully uses his knowledge of Carolingian and Romanesque illuminated books on the pages of the Yuryevsky gospel. It is hardly accidental that such different cultural traditions intersect precisely in the book business, where sacredness was more determined by the word than by the decor that attracts so much attention today, but also had its own functional purpose.

The Byzantine type of a three-nave temple, sometimes complicated by two additional naves, becomes the main stone building of the XI-XII centuries. Small one-apse churches were also built, such as St. George's Goddess in Ostreya and the tomb church in the "roundabout city" of Pereyaslav.

Question of genesis architectural forms such ancient structures as the Spassky Cathedral in Chernigov, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, can only be solved on the basis of the Constantinople tradition. It is with her that new manifestations of Byzantine currents are closely connected. When architects invited from Constantinople erected the Assumption Cathedral of the Caves Monastery (1073-1078), the latter caused imitation not only in the Dnieper region, but also in the distant Vladimir-Suzdal region. At the same time, as is known from the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon, there are also Western influences in the ideological plan for the construction of this temple: dew falls around the construction site, the dimensions are determined by the measure of the golden belt from the Latin Crucifix, brought by the Varangian Shimon. The Mikhailovsky Cathedral of the Vydubitsky Monastery (1070-1088), following the example of the early medieval oratories of the Archangel Michael "above the deep sea" in Normandy, is erected on a steep above the waters of the Dnieper.

In Russian architecture of the XII century. there are enough examples of the assimilation of elements of Romanesque architecture. This concerns, in particular, the Transfiguration Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky (1152) and the buildings of Andrei Bogolyubsky, the Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir (1193-1197) and the St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky (1230-1234). The Romanesque construction of the neighboring countries left its mark on the architecture of Volyn and Galich, and later on the Hill. In the last quarter of the thirteenth century Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich built a stone tower, Belaya Vezha, near the stone tower above Lesnaya, typologically similar to Western European donjons.

The development of stone plastics at first, it was limited to the use of carved slate slabs with ornamental compositions in the interior of the temple and with plot carvings above the entrances of churches. First of all, reliefs allow us to judge this. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, as well as Kiev reliefs with images of holy riders, from the territory of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. But from the beginning of the XII century. façade stone carving is also used, and it is noticeably close to Romanesque sculpture. This characterizes the white-stone Chernihiv capitals, fragments from Old Ryazan, and especially materials from Galich related to the decor of the Assumption Cathedral and the Church of St. Panteleimon.

In the second half of the same XII century. in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, stone carving is already constantly filling the plane of the facades of the temple, slightly penetrating into the interior. Both foreign and domestic craftsmen worked on the reliefs. Book miniatures, icons, fabrics, Byzantine and Western carved bone served as direct models for them: the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, the Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir, the cathedral in Suzdal perfectly document the stages of the dynamic development of architectural plasticity in this region. Its apotheosis was the facade carving of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryevo-Polsky. On this material, one can clearly see how Byzantine and Romanesque sources seem to fade into the background, neutralized, since the own artistic concept of customers and masters turns out to be much stronger than foreign samples. This is a natural result of the creative adaptation of elite models, the role of which, however, cannot be disputed.

Iconography and murals program were largely regulated by the Byzantine artistic tradition, and all the early Kiev paintings were made with the direct participation of Greek masters. The mosaics and frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral are, in fact, one of the most remarkable monuments of Byzantine monumental painting of the Macedonian era. By the middle of the XII century. a kind of "monopoly" of the Byzantines in Russia in this area artistic creativity was no longer certain. In 1125, the cathedral of the Antoniev Monastery in Novgorod was painted, it is possible that the Benedictines, although recently there has been a tendency to return these frescoes in line with Byzantine painting.

Elements of Western iconography and partly of the Romanesque style penetrate the frescoes of the Novgorod churches of the Annunciation on Myachina (circa 1189) and the Savior on Nereditsa (1199). But in the same years, the brilliant frescoists of Constantinople were working in Vladimir on decorating with murals. Dmitrievsky Monastery. The choice of masters depended on the customers of the paintings, and the masters went where they found a field of activity for themselves, and at the same time, at times, they easily overcame long distances. So it was in Byzantium and in the countries of Western Europe.

When in 1204 Constantinople was captured and plundered by the crusaders and the Latin Empire formed over most of Byzantium, Greek masters began to emigrate intensively. In this way, they greatly contributed to the formation of national art schools. In particular, Serbian churches were decorated with wonderful frescoes. In Russia, their activity is best traced so far in the field of artistic crafts, plastics of small forms. Special mention should be made of artistic imports. To date, many of his items are known. It is a work of painting and applied art, predominantly of Byzantine origin, increasing in numbers thanks to archaeological finds. If artistic fabrics and dishes were brought to Russia in ready-made, then it is far from in every single case that one can speak as definitely about the place of manufacture, say, miniature stone icons from steatite, with Greek or Slavic accompanying inscriptions, a characteristic Byzantine artistic appearance. After 1204, emigrant craftsmen who ended up in Kyiv could make such products. There is a known case when in a carved stone icon of the beginning of the 13th century. It turned out to be a reproduction of a fold-kiot with a sculptural image of St. Nicholas in the vestments of a Catholic bishop. For medieval

Novgorod's Scandinavian artistic imports and their impact on local crafts are not unexpected. As it is now increasingly becoming clear, even among the works of metal-plastics, the number of products of the Byzantine tradition in Russia was more significant and diverse than one might have expected.

General view of the place ancient Russian art in the history of spiritual culture The Christian Middle Ages evolved from its perception as a provincial branch of the Byzantine to its realization as an independent, internally mature, comparable to neighboring ones. New finds, the introduction of previously unknown monuments into scientific circulation, their comprehension force us to introduce more and more precise characteristics into the assessment. Each assessment should take into account, as far as possible, the results of a thorough study of a particular material. Meanwhile, not all surviving works have been identified and published. There are still too many monuments in museums and book depositories that can help in the future
take a slightly different look at the solution of the issues under discussion. This seems to be natural.

So, the ratio of medieval Russian cultural heritage with the European can be presented in a more balanced way than before, most often in terms of their opposition. Indeed, the differences between them are sometimes quite noticeable. But after all, everything is not about their indissoluble unity, and even in relation to the Byzantine culture, Russian culture is too rich in differences. The interpenetration of cultural influences, apparently, will also remain one of the debatable topics for a long time. On the one hand, statistical data are important here, although without a general historical and artistic context, they still mean too little. On the other hand, it is essential to understand the general cultural process with its components. In relation to the situation under discussion, it can be said that the consistent (albeit sometimes somewhat spasmodic) assimilation of Byzantine culture by Russia, albeit in an obviously “textbook” volume, is a historical reality, while the penetration of Western cultural elements is more of a “capillary” nature. All this has its reasons, mostly political and confessional, which, in essence, no one has tried to eliminate.

The existing order of things clearly seemed to be eternal, and only occasionally was it violated by its individual events, which unexpectedly made a breach in the solid wall of misunderstanding and alienation. There was also a craving for the unknown, which turned into an interest in other people's achievements, especially if they turned out to be attractive. Borrowings arose of what they were able to understand and assimilate, obviously without a “school curriculum”.

Shreds of darkness on the needle of time.
E. Parnov.

Let's start with the term...

Middle Ages... Middle Ages... Between what and what are they average? In the Renaissance, centuries from the XIV, they began to consider: there used to be a high ancient culture ... Ancient - in Latin it will be “antique”. culture Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Then the barbarians conquered the Western Roman Empire, the Dark, Middle Ages began. They lasted until the revival of the ancient, ancient culture began.

So in the word itself lies the idea that it used to be good, then it became very bad, and in the end it gets better and better again.

Such an opinion is justified. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire from the 6th to the 12th-13th centuries, there was a merciless war of all against all. The land was deserted, the yield fell from 10-15 centners per hectare to 3-5 centners, forests even in Italy were advancing on fields and orchards. The population of Italy decreased by 4-5 times, Southern France - by 3-4 times, Northern France - by 2 times.

The economy has become natural again. And in Italy they began to grow bread, where it grows worse than in the north. It became impossible to bring the goods, everything had to be grown on the spot.

Eternal war demanded warriors, not scientists. Dropped level common culture, literacy, education.

After these terrible times, even the feudal hierarchy and the cruel power of the feudal lords seemed to be a salvation from anarchy and general madness. By the 11th-12th centuries, Europe began to turn into that conglomerate of peoples and countries that we see today.

But I’ll note right away that there was nothing like this in Russia!

The history of Russia did not take place on the old lands of the former Roman Empire. In Russia, there were different groups of dependent people, and scientists are still arguing what kind of duties they carried, in what relationship to the owner were purchases, smerds, ryadovichi, serfs, rabichichs, whitewash serfs. But in any case, even the "white-washed serfs", that is, complete serfs, were not slaves.

Not only did we not know slavery and its consequences for the economy, social relations and psychology. There was also no terrible period of the fall of culture, the war of all against all, collapse and decline. The period, in the very name of which - the justification of blood and cruelty.

The term as an excuse

The Middle Ages... such a terrible definition refers to the entire European era, thereby depersonalizing and removing responsibility for cruelty and bloodshed from specific European rulers of that time.

John (John) Landless

Indeed, what do you want from timelessness, the era of decline and decay? Charlemagne is not guilty, who ordered the slaughter of 4.5 thousand Saxon prisoners in the Bois de Vincennes? Or John Landless, who tortured bankers by extorting money from them? Or are the French feudal lords guilty of muzzling their own peasants to the point of losing the instinct of self-preservation and forcing them to climb the terrible Jacquerie of the XII-XIV centuries? And aren't the peasants to blame for tearing children apart and burning alive every knight and every city dweller that got in their way? Here, personal responsibility seems to be erased, because "the era was like that." It's not us! It's the Middle Ages!

At first, the concept of the Middle or Dark Ages included the time from the 6th to the 11th centuries. Then the upper bar smoothly moved up ... The Middle Ages began to be officially considered at first the time until the XIII century ... until the XIV ... until the XV ... And in the minds of the inhabitants, far from historical science, even the XVI century, the Reformation, as it were, belong to the Middle Ages.

And then all the events of this time are also depersonalized, erased. It seems that no one is to blame for specific and striking events! After all statesman and the military leader act not on their own, but as "inhabitants of the Middle Ages." It was such a time! They don't matter!

There are events of great significance, even entire periods of history, which everyone knows about, but practically does not think about what really stood behind them. For example, the war of the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy is a war of supporters of the secular power of the Pope and supporters of the German Emperor.

The popes declared themselves heirs of the Apostle Peter, entitled to secular power in Italy. The German emperors of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" called themselves the heirs of the Roman emperors.

Guelphs and Ghibellines slaughtered each other for three centuries. The monstrous cruelty of this war is hardly remembered. What elves? What fairies? What goblins? any student will ask. And if something was unsightly, then what can be done about it?

Middle Ages!
Inquisition?
Harness "witches"?
Barons rob on the highways?
Any armed cuts anyone?
Crusades?
So the Middle Ages ... the Middle Ages ...

In the mind of an enlightened person, the characteristics of many negative phenomena arise, but not the names of individuals personally responsible for atrocities, for example, the Inquisition or internecine war.

Ideology of self-justification

In the Middle Ages, political ideology existed in a religious and ethical form and was developed by the efforts of theologians. Christian morality influenced social relations, and it also justified the bloody events of that time.

Thomas Aquinas - 13th century philosopher

Thomas Aquinas is a philosopher of the 13th century, one of the main figures of all medieval philosophy and science. His book "The Sum of Theology" is still revered in Catholic countries. Thomas substantiates and justifies European cruelty. He believes that in order to avoid trouble, one must obey the instructions, since the preservation of the community is based on domination and submission. It is also possible that the ruler's arbitrary actions are an evil sent down to his subjects for sins, in any case, resistance is a sin.
It is in Thomas Aquinas that controversial and cruel events take the form of “common” sense: “If this is the case, then it must be so!”

There is nothing like it in Russia. We have the same centuries - from the 7th to the 13th - these are not the "Middle Ages" of decline and catastrophe. This is not the hour of the bull, but morning. Russia in the period of the European "Dark Middle Ages" as a whole is experiencing cultural growth and the acquisition of a solid statehood. Christian values ​​become the moral basis of the Russian state. Russia, of course, like any state, experienced its periods of unrest and riots. But these events almost always bear the label of personification.

The attitude of Russians is painted in much more iridescent tones. And the motive of self-justification, writing off rudeness and cruelty for the era is completely absent.
A modern European easily repeats after Thomas Aquinas: "Otherwise it would be even worse!" And it's all right. Not the slightest feeling of embarrassment for the cruelty and rudeness of the ancestors.

But the same modern European is convinced that the Russian Middle Ages and, in general, the whole of Russian history are extremely bloody and evil! As an illustration, for example, there is a book by James Haley Billington with a wonderful title: “The Icon and the Axe”. This study was written by one of the world's leading experts on Russian culture, a graduate of Princeton University, a doctorate at Princeton and Oxford. Billington speaks Russian well, completed an internship at Moscow State University, and lectured at Leningrad University.

He was already widely known and respected in academia by 1966, when The Icon and the Ax. An Interpretive History of Russian Culture" made him famous. The book made him an indisputable authority, an expert on literally all aspects of Russian social thought, culture and history.
Since 1987, Billington has been director of the US Library of Congress. In terms of significance, this post in America is as honorable as the position of a senator. But senators get elected and re-elected all the time, and Billington stays in office.

Undoubtedly, this book was not written by an enemy of our country. She feels sincere love and respect for the Russian people and their history. All the more surprising: the author seriously believes that periods of worship and the overthrow of authorities are naturally combined in the history of Russia. That is why it is so bloody, terrible and cruel, Russian history: we put someone on a pedestal, and then we overthrow and exterminate yesterday's idol with all the children and household members. And Europe?! Well, in Europe, of course, there was nothing like this! ..
The example of Billington's book clearly shows how the modern West, as a rule, justifying its bloodiness and cruelty, with surprising tenacity supports the myth of the bloody and cruelty of the Russian people.

Stereotype of "Russian bloodiness"

Oh, this terrible and bloody history of a huge, mysterious and gloomy country ... We ourselves almost believed the terrible tales about Russia of the 9th-15th centuries. Ask any more or less knowledgeable European, and even Russian, what associations the words “Russian Middle Ages” evoke ", - and in return you will receive a complete gentleman's set: a block covered in blood, a rack in a torture chamber, crows over the Execution Ground, guardsmen, similar to the characters of modern "horror films" and similar delights. Was it all in our history? Of course, there was something to deny here ...

Interrogation. Rack in a German dungeon

The question is how much...

We were so bombarded with stories about our cruelty that even the guides on Red Square say: they say, the Execution Ground served for torture and executions. And the expression “yelling all over Ivanovskaya” goes back to the cry of those who are publicly tortured and flogged with a whip. And this is not true.

The execution place was necessary for the announcement of the decrees of the Sovereigns. Before the redevelopment of Red Square in the 16th century, the decrees of the Grand Duke were proclaimed on Ivanovskaya Square in the Kremlin. The clerk came out in a crimson caftan, blue trousers, light brown boots, an orange hat, with an inkwell and a tube with goose feathers on his side, in a bushy beard ... and shouted, "yelled all over Ivanovo" the decree of the Sovereign and the Grand Duke ...

Are you so accustomed to considering your ancestors as sadists that you believed it ?! After all, they believe that the scarlet blood of Pugachev and his comrades flowed down, quartered right on the snow-white pedestal of the Execution Ground on Red Square. Yes, and it is called Red, because for centuries it was flooded with the blood of the innocently killed ... Such are the tales.

Execution place and gallows

And what was the situation with blood and torture equipment in enlightened Europe? Is it somehow different? Indeed, it is different, but not in the way that the average European and domestic intellectual think, but more terrible than ours.
On the squares of ALL European cities, the gallows certainly flaunted. And not always empty.

Torture was a completely common, normal way to conduct an investigation, not only in the dark Middle Ages, but also in the Renaissance XV-XVI centuries. Torture instruments were ordered from the most ordinary artisans, and they performed their useful work by selling finished products to members of the municipality.

Everyday customs... According to the laws of almost all European countries, the wife and children were considered as the PROPERTY of the head of the family. It is no coincidence that in English the word woman (woman) itself is a direct derivative of man (man). And the word man means both "man" and "person". And the appeal to married woman in English and now means a certain belonging to her husband. Not at all “Mrs. such and such”, as we translate, according to the norms of the Russian language. And Mrs. So-and-so.

Beatings of wives and children were quite common. In the 16th and 17th centuries, priests began to raise their voice against everyday cruelty, but they were little listened to.

The execution of Pugachev. "Forgive me, Orthodox people"

Fights, stabbings were such common occurrences that it was reflected in customs. Take, for example, the “cup of love” described by Mark Twain. Two people took turns drinking from it. Both held the bowl by the handles, one of them took off the napkin, and the other took off the lid. Why such difficulties? And then that “in the old days, when morals were harsh and rude, wise precaution required that both participants in the feast, drinking from the cup of love, have both hands occupied. Otherwise, it could happen that while he is expressing his feelings of love and devotion to another, he will stab him with a knife.

The execution of Pugachev. Engraving. Fragment. 17th century

The people were silent

At the feudal estate, they tried to introduce mores into some kind of framework ... But these frameworks are such that they give off some kind of direct cosmic horror. How many fans of fairy tales about King Arthur and the noble Lancelot know that during a jousting tournament, the winner had the right to kill (!) The loser? Even someone who admitted defeat and gave up? Even a bleeding, unconscious wounded man?

The act of killing was called “the blow of mercy”. There was even a weapon specifically designed to finish off a helpless person. It's called a stylet. A stylet is a long triangular or polyhedral rod on a handle. It has no blade, it is not suitable as a substitute for a dagger, not even as a knife. The stiletto can only be stabbed.

In Europe, it was considered “correct” and “noble” to drive a stylet to a wounded person either between the plates of the shell on the chest, into the heart, or into the eye socket, so that the stylet would pass directly into the brain after breaking through the eye.

Against the background of this domestic, everyday atrocity, neither the Crusades, nor the Inquisition, nor the ordinary cruelty of wars are any longer surprising.

And the fires with heretics, and the methods of converting pagans to Christianity - everything was considered appropriate and correct. By the way, as for pagans and heretics - in Russia the treatment of both was much softer than in Europe, at least, the people were burned much less (although, unlike Europe, there was more firewood - an energy superpower, after all) .

Russia, unlike Europe, practically did not know religious wars. Compared to what happened in Germany, the Netherlands, France in the 16th-17th centuries, all the strife between the Nikonians and the Old Believers, as well as the persecution of the Strigolniks, non-possessors and other sectarians, seem to be just some kind of “showdown” of kids in the sandbox.

In 1618-1648, Catholics and Protestants slaughtered each other in absolutely monstrous quantities, even by the standards of the 1st and 2nd world wars. In Germany, during the Thirty Years' War, about forty (!) Percent of the population was destroyed, it came to the fact that in Hanover the authorities officially allowed the trade in the meat of people who died of starvation, and in some areas (Christian!) Germany, polygamy was allowed to replenish human losses.

There was nothing like it in Russia, and thank God!

And there were no special weapons to finish off a defeated enemy either.
And the gallows was not an indispensable "decoration" of a medieval Russian city.
But here's what's interesting! Not a single Russian scientist has yet written the book "Madonna and the Gallows", for which he would be made the director of the Russian State Library and a member of the Academy of Sciences.

And Billington wrote a similar book and became the head of the US Library of Congress.

V. R. Medinsky

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From Kievan Rus to Muscovy. - Russian law in the Middle Ages.

From Kievan Rus to Muscovy

The Russian people as a separate ethnic community was formed within the framework of the Slavs - a vast ethnic group that lived in the central, southern and eastern parts of Europe, which was influenced by the migration processes of the first half of the 1st millennium, known as the Great Migration of Peoples. The Slavic tribes, entrenched in the east of Europe, settled in the northwestern region (the Ilmen Slavs, then united by the Novgorod veche republic with an invited prince), in the Smolensk and Polotsk regions (Krivichi), on the western bank of the Dnieper (glade). The process of formation of the ancient Russian people was greatly influenced by local (Balts, Finno-Ugric tribes) or neighboring autochthonous tribes and peoples, some of which already had their own statehood or proto-state (Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths in the VIII century BC - IV century BC), and especially relations with the states of the Khazars and Avars (IV-VII centuries). Direct formation of the ancient Russian state in the VIII century. preceded by the coexistence of three neighboring state associations- Kuyavia (Principality of Kiev), Slavia (Principality of Novgorod) and Artania (presumably the Principality of Tmutarakan on the Taman Peninsula). If in ethnic terms the Slavs and Rus are not identical, then it is historically permissible to say that both the Varangians (Rus), and the Slavs of the north of the East European Plain, and the Finno-Ugric peoples, who lived with the latter in strips, found themselves within the boundaries of a single polyethnic state - Kiev Russia.

In the VIII-X centuries. on the territory of the Don and North Caucasus there was a state of the Khazar Khaganate, which in its composition was also multi-ethnic and subjugated about 25 states as vassals. In the capital of the state, Itil, there was a judicial institution in which seven judges used the norms of Sharia, Byzantine law, Torah and customary law. For w

the Slavic-Russians and other pagans who lived there had a special judge who judged them “according to the laws of the mind and heart” (see: Tsechoev V.K., Vlasov V.I., Stepanov O.V. History of the domestic state and law. M .; Rostov n/D, 2003, p. 198).

In the 8th century Favorable prerequisites are being created for the unification of the Eastern Slavs who lived in the Novgorod and Kiev lands. They were helped in this by the Varangian leaders invited, according to chronicle legend, in 862 to reign, among whom the legendary Rurik settled in Novgorod, and his governors Askold and Dir in Kiev. The rallying of the two lands was facilitated by the growth by that time of the importance of the trade route from the Baltic to the Black Sea along the rivers and portages (the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks"). In this sense, security concerns along this trade route are similar to those of the Quraysh tribe for the safety of the spice caravan route through the Arabian Peninsula. This tribe, as is known, also belonged to the clan of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of the state, which at first stretched along this trade route. Kiev princes part of their aggressive campaigns devoted to expanding the trading territory and providing the most favorable conditions trade. For example, all wars with Byzantium ended in trade agreements.

The Old Russian state arose as a kind of federation of tribes. Therefore, the important tasks of the new political organization, in addition to the traditional collection of taxes, law enforcement, border defense, were the establishment of peaceful, fruitful intertribal and interstate relations.

The main forms of feudal land ownership were the princely domain and patrimony. Land was acquired by grant, inheritance or purchase. The principality of Kiev takes shape as a typical early feudal (seigneurial) medieval monarchy headed by a grand prince, who has vassal relations with other princes fixed by tradition (including coercion with weapons) or by agreement. The strengthening of the specific princes brought to life the emergence of a new authority - the princely congress, at which the issues of war and peace, the division of lands, and vassal relations were decided. The Grand Duke relied in his activities on the squad and the council of elders, which included boyars and "princely" men. The princely palace economy was in charge of tiuns and elders. In the cities there were princely governors, in rural areas - volostels. Local government relied on military garrisons led by thousands, centurions and tenths. There was also a system of feeding (fees from the local population). The peasant community (verv) carried out land redistribution, investigated crimes on its territory, and resolved certain tax issues and disputes.

The prince and his warriors (according to age and social status they were divided into "senior" and "junior") made up a layer of service people. The other category was made up of the free - merchants, artisans and "people" (communal peasants). The lowest category was formed from dependent people who fell into bondage or slavery.

The fighting comrades-in-arms of the prince, called boyars, eventually turn into vassal farmers (patrimonials). In their relations with communal peasants they make extensive use of non-economic (capture, violence) and economic (bondage, debt) exploitation. Princes also use a similar manner of dominating the land and people at the same time on an ever-larger scale. In the X century. Princess Olga established points (“graveyards”) and terms for collecting tribute, regulated its size (lessons). At the beginning of the XI century. Prince Vladimir (980-1015) established a tithe - a tax in favor of the church.

The baptism of Russia and the transformation of Christianity into the state religion had a noticeable impact on the legal and political culture of the peoples inhabiting it. This contributed to the strengthening of military, economic, political and cultural ties with Byzantium and other Christian countries, the spread of writing and literacy, the introduction of Christian moral standards, more humane than pagan ones. Monotheism (monotheism) contributed to the ideological justification and strengthening of state unity headed by the monarch, but at the same time contributed to the emergence of an autocracy regime, a kind of Caesaropapism on Russian soil, especially after the abolition of the patriarchate during the reign of Peter I.

In the XII-XIII centuries. the system of immunities is spreading, which freed the boyar estates from princely administration and court, and the boyars received the right to free "departure" (to change the overlord). There were also internal and external causes that promoted feudal autonomy and princely appanage. The latter was partly caused by the unsuccessful system of succession to the princely throne along the lateral line - not from father to son, but from brother to brother, as was practiced by some Turkic tribes, such as the Pechenegs. The result was increased political fragmentation and the disintegration of Kievan Rus into a confederation of feudal states. Autonomous city veche republics arose in the northwest - Novgorod (1136-1478) and Pskov (1348-1510). In the north-eastern part of Russia, the Moscow principality, which separated from Vladimir-Suzdal, became the center of the unification. During the period of specific fragmentation, the Vladimir princes managed to expand their lands and create a large princely domain, in which the service nobility became the main social support of the prince. In the first half of the XIII century. Russian princes became tributaries of the Golden Horde, retaining their administration, faith and church. Some princes borrowed the Horde methods of taxation, the organization of the pit service, certain types of troops and the state financial department.

After the collapse of the Golden Horde into independent khanates - Siberian, Kazan, Crimean and Astrakhan - the latter were seized in turn by the strengthened Muscovite state, which was transformed from a principality first into a Great Russian kingdom, and then into a Russian empire. The church played an important role in this. Over time, she became the owner of significant land holdings and material values, although along with this there was a clergy oriented towards spiritual values ​​("non-possessors"). The idea of ​​an autocratic kingdom found consistent development and support among church leaders and educators (concepts: "Moscow is the Third Rome", "Orthodox kingdom", "the king is God's anointed one").

The centralization inherent in the autocracy was facilitated and conditioned not only by Byzantine and Eastern influence, but also by the fact that the mainstay of the regime, in addition to the church and the enslaved peasantry, was not the aristocratic patrimonial, but the serving local nobility. Cities in Russia were more garrison fortifications and storehouses than the focus of self-government, crafts and trade communication.

The autocratic (autocratic, authoritarian) trend in the development of the Russian state at times ran into resistance from class-representative institutions - princely congresses, veche meetings of cities, and zemstvo councils. Zemsky Sobors of the XV I - XV I I centuries turned out to be especially influential, at one of which the first ruler from the Romanov dynasty, which had been in power for three centuries, was elected to the kingdom. The last word of the political and administrative organization in the Muscovite kingdom was the introduction of a command system of government. Along with the Boyar Duma, permanent orders (protoministries) arose, subdivided into regional (Siberian, Kazan Palace, Little Russian, etc.), nationwide (ambassadorial, local, large treasury, etc.) and palace (large palace, state, stable, falconer, tsar's workshop, tsarina's workshop). In the category of temporary orders, there were secret affairs, counting, monastic, etc.