Russian principalities of the XII-XIII centuries. Kiev principality

Kievan state Under St. Vladimir (980-1015) and Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054), Kievan Rus - a completely unusual and even strange historical phenomenon - in less than a century turned into a powerful and prosperous state. The historian Rostovtsev, who studied Greek and

Kievan State Sources We have the first information about the state of Kievan Rus from the annals. It is generally accepted that the original chronicle was the so-called "Initial Chronicle", written by Nestor, a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. But this is not entirely accurate,

The geographical position of which we will consider further existed from 1132 to 1471. Its territory included the lands of the Polyans and Drevlyans along the Dnieper River and its tributaries - the Pripyat, Teterev, Irpen and Ros, as well as part of the left bank.

Kiev principality: geographical location

This territory bordered on Polotsk land in the northwestern part, and Chernihiv was located in the northeast. Western and southwestern neighbors were Poland and the Principality of Galicia. The city, built on the hills, was ideally located militarily. Speaking about the peculiarities of the geographical position of the Kiev principality, it should be mentioned that it was well protected. Not far from it were the cities of Vruchiy (or Ovruch), Belgorod, and Vyshgorod - they all had good fortifications and controlled the territory adjacent to the capital, which provided additional protection from the western and southwestern sides. From the southern part, it was covered by a system of forts built along the banks of the Dnieper, and nearby well-defended cities on the Ros River.

Kiev principality: characteristics

This principality should be understood as a state formation in Ancient Russia, which existed from the 12th to the 15th century. Kiev was the political and cultural capital. It was formed from the separated territories of the Old Russian state. Already in the middle of the 12th century. the power of the princes from Kiev had significant significance only within the borders of the principality itself. The all-Russian significance was lost by the city, and the rivalry for control and power lasted until the invasion of the Mongols. The throne passed in an incomprehensible order, and many could claim it. And also, to a large extent, the possibility of obtaining power depended on the influence of the strong boyars of Kiev and the so-called "black hoods".

Public and economic life

The location near the Dnieper played a big role in economic life. In addition to communication with the Black Sea, he brought Kiev to the Baltic, in which Berezina also helped. The Desna and the Seim provided communication with the Don and Oka, and the Pripyat with the Neman and Dniester basins. Here was the so-called route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", which was a trade route. Thanks to fertile soils and a mild climate, agriculture developed intensively; cattle breeding, hunting were widespread, the inhabitants were engaged in fishing and beekeeping. Crafts were divided early in these parts. "Woodworking" played a rather significant role, as well as pottery and leather crafts. Due to the presence of iron deposits, the development of blacksmithing was possible. Many types of metals (silver, tin, copper, lead, gold) were delivered from neighboring countries. Thus, all this influenced the early formation of trade and craft relations in Kiev and the cities located next to it.

Political history

As the capital loses its all-Russian significance, the rulers of the strongest principalities begin to send their proteges - "handmaids" to Kiev. The precedent in which, bypassing the accepted order of succession to the throne, Vladimir Monomakh was invited, the boyars subsequently used to justify their right to choose a strong and pleasing ruler. The principality of Kiev, whose history is characterized by civil strife, turned into a battlefield, where cities and villages suffered significant damage, were ruined, and the inhabitants themselves were captured. Kiev saw the time of stability during the periods of Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich Chernigov, as well as Roman Mstislavovich Volynsky. Other princes who quickly replaced each other remained more colorless for history. The principality of Kiev suffered greatly, the geographical position of which allowed it to defend itself well for a long time, during the Mongol-Tatar invasion in 1240.

Fragmentation

The Old Russian state initially included tribal principalities. However, the situation has changed. Over time, when the local nobility began to be forced out thanks to the Rurik family, principalities began to form, which were ruled by representatives from the younger line. The established order of succession to the throne has always caused discord. In 1054, Yaroslav the Wise and his sons began to divide the principality of Kiev. Fragmentation was an inevitable consequence of these events. The situation escalated after the Lyubechensky Cathedral of Princes in 1091. However, the situation improved thanks to the policies of Vladimir Monomakh and his son Mstislav the Great, who managed to maintain integrity. They were able to once again place the Kiev principality under control of the capital, the geographical position of which was quite favorable for protection from enemies, and for the most part only internal civil strife spoiled the position of the state.

With the death of Mstislav in 1132, political fragmentation set in. However, despite this, Kiev for several decades retained the status of not only a formal center, but also the most powerful principality. His influence has not disappeared completely, but has significantly weakened compared to the situation at the beginning of the 12th century.

Kievan principality. The Kiev principality, although it lost its significance as the political center of the Russian lands, was still considered the first among other principalities. Kiev has retained its historical glory as the "mother of Russian cities". It also remained the church center of the Russian lands. The Kiev principality was the center of the most fertile lands in Russia. The largest number of large patrimonial farms and the largest amount of arable land were located here. Thousands of artisans worked in Kiev itself and the cities of the Kiev land, whose products were famous not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders.

The death of Mstislav the Great in 1132 and the subsequent struggle for the throne of Kiev became a turning point in the history of Kiev. It was in the 30s and 40s. 12th century he irretrievably lost control over the Rostov-Suzdal land, where the energetic and power-hungry youngest son of Vladimir Monomakh, Yuri Dolgoruky, ruled, over Novgorod and Smolensk, whose boyars themselves began to select princes for themselves.

For Kievan land, big European politics and long-distance campaigns are a thing of the past. Now Kiev's foreign policy is limited to two directions. The old exhausting struggle with the Polovtsy continues. The principality of Vladimir-Suzdal becomes a new strong adversary.

The Kiev princes managed to contain the Polovtsian danger, relying on the help of other principalities, which themselves suffered from Polovtsian raids. However, it was much more difficult to deal with the northeastern neighbor. Yuri Dolgoruky and his son Andrey Bogolyubsky more than once made trips to Kiev, took it by storm several times and subjected it to pogroms. The victors plundered the city, burned the churches, killed the inhabitants and took them into captivity. As the chronicler said, there were then “on all people there is groaning and longing, inconsolable sadness and incessant tears”.

However, during the peaceful years, Kiev continued to live a full-blooded life as the capital of a large principality. Beautiful palaces and temples have been preserved here, here, in monasteries, primarily in the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, or lavra (from the Greek word "Laura"- a large monastery), pilgrims converged from all over Russia. An all-Russian chronicle was also written in Kiev.

There were periods in the history of the Kiev principality when, under a strong and skillful ruler, it achieved certain successes and partially regained its former authority. This happened at the end of the 12th century. under the grandson of Oleg Chernigov Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, a hero "Words about Igor's Campaign". Svyatoslav shared power in the principality with the great-grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, Rurik Rostislavich, brother of the Smolensk prince. So the Kiev boyars sometimes united representatives of the warring princely groups on the throne and avoided another civil strife. When Svyatoslav died, Roman Mstislavich, Prince of Volyn, great-great-grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, became co-ruler of Rurik.

After some time, the co-rulers began to fight among themselves. During the struggle of the warring parties Kiev several times passed from hand to hand. During the war, Rurik burned Podil, plundered the St. Sophia Cathedral and the Church of the Tithes - Russian shrines. The Polovtsians allied with him plundered the Kiev land, took people into captivity, cut down old monks in monasteries, and "young maids, wives and daughters of Kiev were taken to their camps". But then Roman captured Rurik and tonsured him a monk.

The development of feudal relations in Russia.

Time from the end of the X to the beginning of the XII century. is an important stage in the development of feudal relations in Russia. This time is characterized by the gradual victory of the feudal mode of production over a large area of ​​the country.

The agriculture of Russia was dominated by sustainable field farming. Cattle breeding developed more slowly than agriculture. Despite a relative increase in agricultural production, harvests were low. Shortage and famine were frequent occurrences, undermining the Kresgyap economy and contributing to the enslavement of the peasants. Hunting, fishing, and beekeeping remained of great importance in the economy. Furs of squirrels, martens, otters, beavers, sables, foxes, as well as honey and wax went to the foreign market. The best hunting and fishing areas, forests with side lands were seized by feudal lords.

In the 11th and early 12th centuries part of the land was exploited by the state by collecting tribute from the population, part of the land area was in the hands of individual feudal lords as estates that could be inherited (later they became known as estates), and possessions received from the princes in temporary conditional holding.

The ruling class of feudal lords was formed from local princes and boyars, who became dependent on Kiev, and from the husbands (combatants) of the Kiev princes, who received land, "tortured" by them and the princes, into administration, possession or patrimony. The Kievan Grand Dukes themselves had large land holdings. The distribution of land by the princes to combatants, while strengthening feudal production relations, was at the same time one of the means used by the state to subjugate the local population to its power.

Land property was protected by law. The growth of boyar and ecclesiastical landownership was closely connected with the development of immunity. The land, which used to be peasant property, fell into the ownership of the feudal lord “with tribute, viry and sales”, that is, with the right to collect taxes and court fines from the population for murder and other crimes, and, consequently, with the right to court.

With the transfer of land into the ownership of individual feudal lords, the peasants fell into dependence on them in various ways. Some peasants, deprived of the means of production, were enslaved by the landowners, using their need for tools, implements, seeds, etc. Other peasants, who were sitting on land subject to tribute, who owned their tools of production, were forced by the state to transfer their land under the patrimonial power of the feudal lords. With the expansion of estates and the enslavement of smerds, the term servants, which previously denoted slaves, began to spread to the entire mass of the peasantry dependent on the landowner.

The peasants who fell into bondage to the feudal lord, legally formalized by a special agreement - nearby, were called purchases. They received from the landowner a plot of land and a loan, which they worked out in the feudal lord's household with the master's inventory. For escaping from the master, the zakuns turned into serfs - slaves deprived of any rights. Labor rent - corvée, field and castle (construction of fortifications, bridges, roads, etc.), was combined with natural quitrent.

With the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125. the decline of Kievan Rus began, which was accompanied by its disintegration into separate states-principalities. Even earlier, the Lyubech Congress of Princes in 1097 established: “... let each one keep his fatherland” - this meant that each prince becomes the full owner of his hereditary principality.

The collapse of the Kievan state into small principalities-patrimonies, according to V.O. Klyuchevsky, was caused by the existing order of succession to the throne. The princely throne was not passed from father to son, but from the elder brother to the middle and younger. This gave rise to strife in the family and the struggle for the division of estates. External factors played a certain role: nomad raids devastated the southern Russian lands and interrupted the trade route along the Dnieper.

As a result of the decline of Kiev in southern and southwestern Russia, the Galicia-Volyn principality rose, in the northeastern part of Russia - the Rostov-Suzdal (later Vladimir-Suzdal) principality, and in northwestern Russia - the Novgorod Boyar Republic, from which in the XIII century stood out Pskov land.

All these principalities, with the exception of Novgorod and Pskov, inherited the political system of Kievan Rus. They were led by princes, relying on their squads. The Orthodox clergy had great political influence in the principalities.

The political system in Novgorod and Pskov developed in a special way. The supreme power there belonged not to the prince, but to the veche, which consisted of the urban aristocracy, large landowners, wealthy merchants and the clergy. Veche, at its discretion, invited the prince, whose functions were limited only to the leadership of the city militia - and then under the control of the council of gentlemen and the posadnik (the highest official, the actual head of the boyar republic). The constant opponents of the Novgorodians were the Swedes and the Livonian Germans, who repeatedly tried to subjugate Novgorod. But in 1240 and 1242. they suffered a crushing defeat from Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who received the nickname Nevsky for his victory over the Swedes on the Neva River.

A special situation has developed in Kiev. On the one hand, he became the first among equals. Soon, some Russian lands caught up and even outstripped him in their development. On the other hand, Kiev remained an "apple of discord" (they joked that there was not a single prince in Russia who did not seek to "sit" in Kiev). Kiev was "recaptured", for example, by Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince of Vladimir and Suzdal; in 1154 he achieved the throne of Kiev and sat on it until 1157. His son Andrei Bogolyubsky sent regiments to Kiev, and so on. Under such conditions, the Kiev boyars introduced a curious system of "duumvirate" (co-government), which lasted the entire second half of the 12th century. The meaning of this original measure was as follows: at the same time, representatives of two warring branches were invited to Kiev land (an agreement was concluded with them - a “row”); thus, a relative balance was established and strife was partly eliminated. One of the princes lived in Kiev, the other - in Belgorod (or Vyshgorod). They acted jointly on military campaigns and carried out diplomatic correspondence in concert. So, co-rulers duumvirs were Izyaslav Mstislavich and his uncle - Vyacheslav Vladimirovich; Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich and Rurik Mstislavich.

Already in the middle of the XII century. the power of the Kiev princes began to have real significance only within the Kiev principality itself, which included lands along the banks of the tributaries of the Dnieper - the Teterev, the Irpin and the semi-autonomous Porose, inhabited by the "Black Hoods" vassals from Kiev. The attempt of Yaropolk, who became the prince of Kiev after the death of Mstislav I, to autocratically dispose of the "fatherlands" of other princes was decisively suppressed.
Despite the loss of all-Russian significance by Kiev, the struggle for possession of it continued until the invasion of the Mongols. There was no sequence in the succession of the Kiev table, and it passed from hand to hand depending on the balance of power of the fighting princely groups and, to a large extent, on the attitude towards them from the powerful Kiev boyars and the Black Hoods. In the context of the all-Russian struggle for Kiev, the local boyars sought to end the strife and to political stabilization in their principality. In 1113, the boyars’ invitation of Vladimir Monomakh to Kiev (bypassing the then accepted order of succession) was a precedent used later by the boyars to justify their “right” to choose a strong and pleasing prince and conclude a “row” with him that protected them territorially. corporate interests. The boyars who violated this series of princes were eliminated by going over to the side of his rivals or by conspiracy (as, perhaps, Yuri Dolgoruky was poisoned, overthrown, and then killed in 1147 during a popular uprising, Igor Olgovich Chernigov, unpopular among the people of Kiev). As more and more princes were drawn into the struggle for Kiev, the Kievan boyars resorted to a peculiar system of princely duumvirate, inviting representatives from two of several rival princely groups as co-rulers to Kiev, which for some time achieved relative political balance, which was so necessary for Kiev land.
As Kiev loses the all-Russian significance of individual rulers of the strongest principalities, who have become “great” in their lands, the appointment of their henchmen in Kiev, “handmaids”, begins to satisfy.
Princely strife over Kiev turned Kiev land into an arena of frequent hostilities, during which cities and villages were ruined, and the population was driven into captivity. Kiev itself was also subjected to cruel pogroms, both by the princes who entered it as victors and by those who left it as a vanquished and returned to their "homeland". All this predetermined the emerging from the beginning of the XIII century. the gradual decline of the Kiev land, the outflow of its population to the northern and northwestern regions of the country, which suffered less from princely strife and were virtually inaccessible to the Polovtsians. Periods of temporary strengthening of Kiev during the reign of such prominent political figures and organizers of the struggle against the Polovtsy as Svyatoslav Vsevolodich of Chernigov (1180-1194) and Roman Mstislavich Volynsky (1202-1205) alternated with the rule of colorless, kaleidoscopically successive princes. Daniil Romanovich Galitsky, in whose hands Kiev passed shortly before Batu took it, had already limited himself to appointing his posadnik from the boyars.

Vladimir-Suzdal Principality

Until the middle of the XI century. The Rostov-Suzdal land was ruled by posadniks sent from Kiev. Her real “reigning” began after she went to the younger “Yaroslavich” - Vsevolod Pereyaslavlsky - and was assigned to his descendants as their tribal “volost” In the XII-XIII centuries. The Rostov-Suzdal land experienced an economic and political upsurge, which made it one of the strongest principalities in Russia. The fertile lands of the Suzdal "Opole", boundless forests, cut through by a dense network of rivers and lakes, along which ancient and important trade routes ran to the south and east, the availability of iron ore available for mining - all this favored the development of agriculture, cattle breeding, rural and forestry industries In the acceleration of economic development and the political rise of this forest region, the rapid growth of its population at the expense of the inhabitants of the southern Russian lands, subjected to Polovtsian raids, was of great importance. landownership, absorbing communal lands and involving peasants In personal feudal dependence In the XII - XIII centuries almost all the main cities of this land arose (Vladimir, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Dmitrov, Starodub, Gorodets, Galich, Kostroma, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, etc.) , built by the Suzdal princes on the borders and inside the principality as a supporting fortress and administrative center comrades and built up trade and craft settlements, the population of which was actively involved in political life. Under 1147, the annals first mentioned Moscow, a small border town built by Yuri Dolgoruky on the site of the estate of the boyar Kuchka, confiscated by him.
In the early 30s of the XII century, during the reign of Monomakh's son Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky (1125-1157), the Rostov-Suzdal land gained independence. The military-political activity of Yuri, intervening in all princely strife, stretching out his “long arms” to cities and lands far from his principality, made him one of the central figures in the political life of Russia in the second third of the 11th century. Started by Yuri and continued by his successors, the struggle with Novgorod and the wars with Volga Bulgaria marked the beginning of the expansion of the borders of the principality towards the Dvina and the Volga-Kama lands. Under the influence of the Suzdal princes fell Ryazan and Murom, "pulled" earlier to Chernigov.
The last ten years of Dolgoruky's life were spent in an exhausting and alien to the interests of his principality struggle with the southern Russian princes for Kiev, the reign in which, in the eyes of Yuri and the princes of his generation, was combined with the "elder" in Russia. But already the son of Dolgoruky, Andrey Bogolyubsky, having captured Kiev in 1169 and brutally robbed it, transferred it to the control of one of his vassal princes, “handmaids”, which testified to a turning point on the part of the most far-sighted princes in their attitude towards Kiev, which had lost its significance all-Russian political center.
The reign of Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky (1157 - 1174) was marked by the beginning of the struggle of the Suzdal princes for the political hegemony of their principality over the rest of the Russian lands. The ambitious attempts of Bogolyubsky, who claimed the title of Grand Duke of all Russia, to completely subjugate Novgorod and force other princes to recognize his supremacy in Russia failed. However, it was precisely in these attempts that the tendency to restore the state-political unity of the country on the basis of the subordination of specific princes to the autocratic ruler of one of the strongest principalities in Russia was reflected.
With the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky, the revival of the traditions of the power policy of Vladimir Monomakh is associated. Relying on the support of the townspeople and the nobility-druzhinniks, Andrei severely cracked down on the recalcitrant boyars, expelled them from the principality, confiscated their estates. To be even more independent from the boyars, he moved the capital of the principality from a relatively new city - Vladimir-on-Klyazma, which had a significant trade and craft settlement. It was not possible to finally suppress the boyar opposition to the “autocratic” prince, as Andrei was called by his contemporaries. In June 1174, he was killed by boyar conspirators.
The two-year strife unleashed after the murder of Bogolyubsky by the boyars ended with the reign of his brother Vsevolod Yurievich the Big Nest (1176-1212), who, relying on the townspeople and the retinue layers of the feudal lords, severely cracked down on the rebellious nobility and became the sovereign ruler in his land. During his reign, the Vladimir-Suzdal land reached its highest prosperity and power, playing a decisive role in the political life of Russia at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries. Spreading his influence on other Russian lands, Vsevolod skillfully combined the power of arms (as, for example, in relation to the Ryazan princes) with skillful politics (in relations with the South Russian princes and Novgorod). The name and power of Vsevolod were well known far beyond the borders of Russia. The author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign proudly wrote about him as the most powerful prince in Russia, whose numerous regiments could scatter the Volga with oars, and scoop water from the Don with helmets, on whose name alone "all countries trembled" and the rumor about which "replete the whole earth."
After the death of Vsevolod, an intensive process of feudal fragmentation began in the Vladimir-Suzdal land. The strife of the numerous sons of Vsevolod over the grand ducal table and the distribution of principalities led to a gradual weakening of the grand ducal power and its political influence on other Russian lands. Nevertheless, until the invasion of the Mongols, the Vladimir-Suzdal land remained the strongest and most influential principality in Russia, which retained political unity under the leadership of the Grand Duke of Vladimir. When planning an aggressive campaign against Russia, the Mongol-Tatars associated the result of the surprise and power of their first strike with the success of the entire campaign as a whole. And it is no coincidence that North-Eastern Russia was chosen as the object of the first strike.

Chernigov and Smolensk principalities

These two large principalities under the Dnieper had much in common in their economy and political system with other southern Russian principalities, which were the ancient centers of culture of the Eastern Slavs. Here already in the IX-XI centuries. a large princely and boyar land ownership was formed, cities grew rapidly, becoming centers of handicraft production, serving not only the surrounding rural districts, but having developed external relations. Extensive trade relations, especially with the West, had the Smolensk principality, in which the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Western Dvina converged - the most important trade routes of Eastern Europe.
Allocation of the Chernihiv land in an independent principality occurred in the second half of the XI century. in connection with its transfer (together with the Muromo-Ryazan land) to the son of Yaroslav the Wise, Svyatoslav, for whose descendants it was assigned. Even at the end of the XI century. the ancient ties between Chernigov and Tmutarakan, cut off by the Polovtsians from the rest of the Russian lands and falling under the sovereignty of Byzantium, were interrupted. At the end of the 40s of the 11th century. The Chernihiv principality was divided into two principalities: Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversk. At the same time, the Muromo-Ryazan land became isolated, falling under the influence of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes. Smolensk land separated from Kiev at the end of the 20s of the XII century, when it went to the son of Mstislav I, Rostislav. Under him and his descendants (“Rostislavichs”), the Smolensk principality expanded territorially and strengthened.
The median, connecting position of the Chernigov and Smolensk principalities among other Russian lands involved their princes in all the political events that took place in Russia in the 12th-13th centuries, and above all in the struggle for their neighboring Kiev. The princes of Chernigov and Seversk, indispensable participants (and often initiators) of all princely strife, were especially active in politics, unscrupulous in the means of combating their opponents and more often than other princes resorted to an alliance with the Polovtsy, with whom they devastated the lands of their rivals. It is no coincidence that the author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign called the founder of the dynasty of Chernigov princes Oleg Svyatoslavich "Gorislavich", the first to start "forging sedition with a sword" and "sowing" the Russian land with strife.
The grand princely power in the Chernihiv and Smolensk lands could not overcome the forces of feudal decentralization (zemstvo nobility and rulers of small principalities), and as a result, these lands at the end of the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries. fragmented into many small principalities, only nominally recognizing the sovereignty of the great princes.

Polotsk-Minsk land

The Polotsk-Minsk land showed early tendencies towards separation from Kiev. Despite the unfavorable soil conditions for agriculture, the socio-economic development of the Polotsk land proceeded at a high pace due to its favorable location at the crossroads of the most important trade routes along the Western Dvina, Neman and Berezina. Lively trade relations with the West and neighboring Baltic tribes (Livs, Lats, Curonians, etc.), who were under the sovereignty of the Polotsk princes, contributed to the growth of cities with a significant and influential trade and craft stratum in them. A large-scale feudal economy with developed agricultural crafts, the products of which were also exported abroad, also developed here early.
At the beginning of the XI century. Polotsk land went to the brother of Yaroslav the Wise, Izyaslav, whose descendants, relying on the support of the local nobility and townspeople, fought for the independence of their “fatherland” from Kiev for more than a hundred years with varying success. Polotsk land reached its greatest power in the second half of the 11th century. in the reign of Vseslav Bryachislavich (1044-1103), but in the XII century. it began an intensive process of feudal fragmentation. In the first half of the XIII century. it was already a conglomeration of petty principalities, only nominally recognizing the power of the Grand Duke of Polotsk. These principalities, weakened by internal strife, faced a difficult struggle (in alliance with the neighboring and dependent Baltic tribes) with the German crusaders who invaded the Eastern Baltic. From the middle of the XII century. The Polotsk land became the object of an offensive by the Lithuanian feudal lords.

Galicia-Volyn land

Galicia-Volyn land stretched from the Carpathians and the Dniester-Danube Black Sea region in the south and southwest to the lands of the Lithuanian Yotvingian tribe and Polotsk land in the north. In the west, it bordered on Hungary and Poland, and in the east, on Kiev land and the Polovtsian steppe. The Galicia-Volyn land was one of the oldest centers of plowed agricultural culture of the Eastern Slavs. Fertile soils, mild climate, numerous rivers and forests, interspersed with steppe spaces, created favorable conditions for the development of agriculture, cattle breeding and various crafts, and at the same time the early development of feudal relations, large feudal princely and boyar land ownership. Handicraft production reached a high level, the separation of which from agriculture contributed to the growth of cities, of which there were more than in other Russian lands. The largest of them were Vladimir-Volynsky, Przemysl, Terebovl, Galich, Berestye, Holm, Drogichin and others. A significant part of the inhabitants of these cities were artisans and merchants. The second trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea (Vistula-Western Bug-Dniester) and overland trade routes from Russia to the countries of South-Eastern and Central Europe passed through the Galicia-Volyn land. The dependence of the Dniester-Danube lower land on Galich made it possible to control the European navigable trade route along the Danube with the East.
Galician land until the middle of the XII century. was divided into several small principalities, which in 1141 were united by Przemysl prince Vladimir, Volodarevich, who moved his capital to Galich. The principality of Galicia reached its highest prosperity and power under his son Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153-1187), a major statesman of that time, who highly raised the international prestige of his principality and successfully defended in his policy all-Russian interests in relations with Byzantium and neighboring European states with Russia . The author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign dedicated the most pathetic lines to the military power and international authority of Yaroslav Osmomysl. After the death of Osmomysl, the Principality of Galicia became the scene of a long struggle between the princes and the oligarchic aspirations of the local boyars. Boyar landownership in the Galician land was ahead of the princely in its development and significantly exceeded the latter in its size. The Galician “great boyars”, who owned huge estates with their own fortified castle cities and had numerous military retainers-vassals, resorted to conspiracies and rebellions in the fight against princes they did not like, entered into an alliance with the Hungarian and Polish feudal lords.
The Volhynian land became isolated from Kiev in the middle of the 12th century, having secured itself as a tribal “fatherland” for the descendants of the Kiev Grand Duke Izyaslav Mstislavich. Unlike the neighboring Galician land, a large princely domain formed early in Volhynia. Boyar land ownership grew mainly due to princely grants to the serving boyars, whose support allowed the Volyn princes to start an active struggle to expand their "fatherland". In 1199, the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich managed to unite the Galician and Volyn lands for the first time, and with his occupation in 1203, Kiev, under his rule, was the whole of South and South-Western Russia - a territory equal to the large European states of that time. The reign of Roman Mstislavich was marked by the strengthening of the all-Russian and international position of the Galicia-Volyn region
land, successes in the fight against the Polovtsy, the fight against the recalcitrant boyars, the rise of Western Russian cities, crafts and trade. Thus, the conditions were prepared for the flourishing of South-Western Russia during the reign of his son Daniil Romanovich.
The death in 1205 in Poland of Roman Mstislavich led to a temporary loss of the achieved political unity of Southwestern Russia, to a weakening of princely power in it. In the struggle against princely power, all groups of the Galician boyars united, unleashing a devastating feudal war that lasted over 30 years.
The boyars colluded with the Hungarian and
Polish feudal lords, who managed to seize the Galician land and part of Volhynia. In the same years, there was an unprecedented case in Russia when the boyar Vodrdislav Kormilich reigned in Galich. The national liberation struggle against the Hungarian and Polish invaders, which ended in their defeat and expulsion, served as the basis for restoring and strengthening the position of princely power. Relying on the support of the cities, the serving boyars and the nobility, Daniil Romanovich established himself in Volhynia, and then, having occupied Galich in 1238, and Kiev in 1240, he again united all of South-Western Russia and the Kievan land.

Novgorod feudal republic

A special political system, different from the principalities-monarchies, developed in the XII century. in Novgorod land, one of the most developed Russian lands. The ancient core of the Novgorod-Pskov land was the land between Ilmen and Lake Peipus and along the banks of the Volkhov, Lovat, Velikaya, Mologa and Msta rivers, which were divided geographically into "pyatinas", and
in the administrative - into "hundreds" and "graveyards". Novgorod "suburbs" (Pskov, Ladoga, Staraya Russa, Velikie Luki, Bezhichi, Yuriev, Torzhok) served as important trading posts on trade routes and military strongholds on the borders of the land. The largest suburb, which occupied a special, autonomous position in the system of the Novgorod Republic (the “younger brother” of Novgorod), was Pskov, which was distinguished by a developed handicraft and its own trade with the Baltic states, German cities, and even with Novgorod itself. In the second half of the XIII century. Pskov actually became an independent feudal republic.
From the 11th century active Novgorodian colonization of Karelia, Podvinya, Prionezhye and the vast northern Pomorye, which became Novgorod colonies, began. Following the peasant colonization (from the Novgorod and Rostov-Suzdal lands) and the Novgorod trade and fishing people, the Novgorod feudal lords also moved there. In the XII - XIII centuries. there were already the largest patrimonial possessions of the Novgorod nobility, who jealously did not allow feudal lords from other principalities to penetrate into these areas and create princely landed property there.
In the XII century. Novgorod was one of the largest and most developed cities in Russia. The rise of Novgorod was facilitated by its exceptionally advantageous location at the beginning of trade routes important for Eastern Europe, linking the Baltic Sea with the Black and Caspian Seas. This predetermined a significant share of intermediary trade in Novgorod's trade relations with other Russian lands, with Volga Bulgaria, the Caspian and Black Sea regions, the Baltic states, Scandinavia and North German cities. The trade of Novgorod relied on the handicraft and various trades developed in the Novgorod land. Novgorod artisans, distinguished by their wide specialization and professional skills, worked mainly to order, but some of their products went to the city market, and through merchants-buyers to foreign markets. Craftsmen and merchants had their own territorial (“Ulichansky”) and professional associations (“hundreds”, “brothers”), which played a significant role in the political life of Novgorod. The most influential, uniting the top of the Novgorod merchants, was the association of wax merchants (“Ivanskoye Sto”), who were mainly engaged in foreign trade. The Novgorod boyars also actively participated in foreign trade, virtually monopolizing the most profitable trade in furs, which they received from their possessions "in the Dvina and Pomorie and from specially equipped trading and fishing expeditions to the Pechersk and Yugorsk lands.
Despite the predominance of the trade and craft population in Novgorod, the basis of the economy of the Novgorod land was agriculture and related crafts. Due to unfavorable natural conditions, grain farming was unproductive and bread was a significant part of Novgorod's imports. Grain stocks in the estates were created at the expense of food rent collected from smerds and used by the feudal lords for speculation in frequent lean years of famine, to entangle the working people in usurious bondage. In a number of areas, the peasants, in addition to the usual rural trades, were engaged in the extraction of iron ore and salt.
In the Novgorod land, a large boyar, and then a church landownership early developed and became dominant. The specifics of the position of the princes in Novgorod, sent from Kiev as princes-governors, which excluded the possibility of turning Novgorod into a principality, did not contribute to the formation of a large princely domain, thereby weakening the position of princely power in the fight against the oligarchic aspirations of the local boyars. Already the end! v. the Novgorod nobility largely predetermined the candidacies of the princes sent from Kiev. So, in 1102, the boyars refused to accept the son of the Kiev Grand Duke Svyatopolk to Novgorod, threatening the latter: “if your son has two heads, then eat him.”
In 1136, the rebellious Novgorodians, supported by the Pskovians and Ladoga residents, expelled Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, accusing him of "neglecting" the interests of Novgorod. In the Novgorod land liberated from the power of Kiev, a peculiar political system was established, in which the republican governing bodies stood side by side with and above the princely power. However, the Novgorod feudal lords needed the prince and his retinue to fight against the anti-feudal uprisings of the masses and to protect Novgorod from external danger. In the first period after the uprising of 1136, the scope of the rights and activities of the princely power did not change, but they acquired a service-executive character, were regulated and were placed under the control of the posadnik (primarily in the field of court, which the prince began to administer together with the posadnik). As the political system in Novgorod acquired an increasingly pronounced boyar-oligarchic character, the rights and sphere of activity of princely power were steadily reduced.
The lowest level of organization and management in Novgorod was the association of neighbors - "convicted" with elected elders at the head. Five urban districts - "ends" formed self-governing territorial-administrative and political units, which also had special Konchan lands in collective feudal ownership. At the ends, their veche gathered, electing the Konchan elders.
The city veche meeting of free citizens, owners of city yards and estates was considered the highest body of power, representing all ends. The bulk of the urban plebs, who lived on the lands and estates of the feudal lords in the position of tenants or bonded and feudal-dependent people, were not entitled to participate in the issuance of veche sentences, but thanks to the publicity of the veche, which met on Sofia Square or Yaroslav's Court, could follow the course of the veche debate and with her stormy reaction she often exerted a certain amount of pressure on the Vechnikovs. The veche considered the most important issues of domestic and foreign policy, invited the prince and entered into a series with him, elected the posadnik, who was in charge of administration and court and controlled the activities of the prince, and the tysyatsky, who led the militia and had a special significance in Novgorod, the commercial court.
In the entire history of the Novgorod Republic, the positions of posadnik, Konchansky elders and thousandths were occupied only by representatives of 30-40 boyar families - the elite of the Novgorod nobility (“300 golden belts”).
In order to further strengthen the independence of Novgorod from Kiev and turn the Novgorod bishopric from an ally of princely power into one of the instruments of their political domination, the Novgorod nobility managed to elect (from 1156) the Novgorod bishop, who, as the head of a powerful feudal church hierarchy, turned soon one of the first dignitaries of the republic.
The veche system in Novgorod and Pskov was a kind of feudal "democracy", one of the forms of the feudal state, in which the democratic principles of representation and election of officials at the veche created the illusion of "people's power", the participation of "all Novgorodgorod in governance, but where in reality all the fullness of power was concentrated in the hands of the boyars and the privileged elite of the merchant class. Considering the political activity of the city plebs, the boyars skillfully used the democratic traditions of Konchan self-government as a symbol of Novgorodian freedom, covering their political dominance and providing them with the support of the city plebs in the struggle against princely power.
Political history of Novgorod in the XII - XIII centuries. was distinguished by the complex interweaving of the struggle for independence with the anti-feudal actions of the masses and the struggle for power between the boyar groups (representing the boyar families of the Sofia and Trade sides of the city, its ends and streets). The boyars often used the anti-feudal actions of the urban poor to remove their rivals from power, dulling the anti-feudal character of these actions to the point of reprisals against individual boyars or officials. The largest anti-feudal movement was the uprising in 1207 against the posadnik Dmitry Miroshkinich and his relatives, who burdened the city people and peasants with arbitrary exactions and usurious bondage. The rebels destroyed the city estates and villages of Miroshkinichi, confiscated their debt bondages. The boyars, hostile to the Miroshkinichs, took advantage of the uprising to remove them from power.
Novgorod had to wage a stubborn struggle for its independence with the neighboring princes, who sought to subjugate the rich "free" city. The Novgorod boyars skillfully used the rivalry between the princes to choose among them strong allies. At the same time, rival boyar groups drew the rulers of neighboring principalities into their struggle. The most difficult for Novgorod was the struggle with the Suzdal princes, who enjoyed the support of an influential group of Novgorod boyars and merchants, connected by trade interests with North-Eastern Russia. An important instrument of political pressure on Novgorod in the hands of the Suzdal princes was the cessation of the supply of grain from North-Eastern Russia. The positions of the Suzdal princes in Novgorod were significantly strengthened when their military assistance to the Novgorodians and Pskovians became decisive in repelling the aggression of the German Crusaders and Swedish feudal lords, who were striving to capture the western and northern Novgorod territories.