Formation of the Russian centralized state: reasons, features, main stages. The formation of a Russian centralized state in brief The formation of a single centralized state in brief

Back in the 12th century. In the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, a tendency towards unification of lands under the rule of one prince appeared. Over time, the population of Rus' began to look at the Vladimir princes as the defenders of the entire Russian land.
At the end of the 13th century. The Horde entered a protracted crisis. Then the activity of the Russian princes intensified. It manifested itself in the collection of Russian lands. The gathering of Russian lands ended with the creation of a new state. It was called “Muscovy”, “Russian State”, the scientific name is “Russian Centralized State”.
The formation of the Russian centralized state took place in several stages:

• The rise of Moscow - the end of the 13th - beginning of the 11th centuries;
• Moscow is the center of the fight against the Mongol-Tatars (second half of the 11th - first half of the 15th centuries);
• Completion of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow under Ivan III and Vasily III - the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.

Stage 1. The rise of Moscow (late XIII - early XIV centuries). By the end of the 13th century. the old cities of Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir are losing their former importance. The new cities of Moscow and Tver are rising.
The rise of Tver began after the death of Alexander Nevsky (1263), when his brother, Prince Yaroslav of Tver, received from the Tatars a label for the Great Reign of Vladimir. During the last decades of the 13th century. Tver acts as a political center and organizer of the fight against Lithuania and the Tatars. In 1304, Mikhail Yaroslavovich became the Grand Duke of Vladimir, who was the first to accept the title of Grand Duke of “All Rus'” and tried to subjugate the most important political centers: Novgorod, Kostroma, Pereyaslavl, Nizhny Novgorod. But this desire encountered strong resistance from other principalities, and above all from Moscow.
The beginning of the rise of Moscow is associated with the name of the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky - Daniel (1276 - 1303) . Alexander Nevsky distributed honorary inheritances to his eldest sons, and Daniil, as the youngest, inherited the small village of Moscow and its surrounding area on the far border of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Daniel had no prospects of taking the grand-ducal throne, so he took up farming - he rebuilt Moscow, started crafts, and developed agriculture. It so happened that in three years the territory of Daniel’s possession increased three times: in 1300 he took Kolomna from the Ryazan prince, in 1302 the childless Pereyaslavl prince bequeathed his inheritance to him. Moscow became a principality. During the reign of Daniel, the Moscow principality became the strongest, and Daniel, thanks to his creative policy, the most authoritative prince in the entire Northeast. Daniil of Moscow also became the founder of the Moscow princely dynasty. In Moscow, Daniel built a monastery and named it in honor of his heavenly patron Danilovsky. According to the tradition that has developed in Rus', sensing the approach of the end, Daniel took monasticism and was laid to rest in the Danilovsky Monastery. Currently, the St. Daniel Monastery plays a significant role in the life of the Orthodox and is the residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II.
After Daniel, his son began to rule in Moscow Yuri (1303 - 1325) . The Grand Duke of Vladimir at this time was Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy. He owned the Vladimir throne “in truth” - the ancient right of inheritance established by Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century. Mikhail Tverskoy was like an epic hero: strong, brave, true to his word, noble. He enjoyed the full favor of the khan. Real power in Rus' left the hands of the descendants of A. Nevsky.
Yuri Danilovich - the grandson of Alexander Nevsky - did not have any rights to the first throne in Rus'. But he had one of the most powerful principalities in Rus' - Moscow. And Yuri Danilovich entered into the struggle for the Vladimir throne with the Tver prince.
A long and stubborn struggle began for the title of Grand Duke in Rus' between the descendants of Alexander Nevsky - Danilovichi- and the descendants of Nevsky’s younger brother Yaroslav - Yaroslavich, between Moscow princes and Tver. Ultimately, the Moscow princes became the winners in this struggle. Why was this possible?
By this time, the Moscow princes had already been vassals of the Mongol khans for half a century. The khans strictly controlled the activities of the Russian princes, using cunning, bribery, and betrayal. Over time, the Russian princes began to adopt behavioral stereotypes from the Mongol khans. And the Moscow princes turned out to be the more “capable” students of the Mongols.
Yuri Moskovsky married the khan's sister. Not wanting the strengthening of one prince, the khan also granted the label for the Great Reign to his relative Yuri. Not wanting clashes with Moscow, Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy renounced the great reign in favor of Yuri Danilovich. But the Moscow army constantly devastated the lands of the Tver principality. During one of these clashes, Yuri's wife, Princess Agafya (Konchaka), was captured by the Tverites. She died in captivity.
Yuri Danilovich and Mikhail Yaroslavich were summoned to the Horde. In the Horde of Tver, the prince was accused of non-payment of tribute, the death of the khan's sister, and was killed. The label for the Great Reign was transferred to the Moscow prince.
In 1325, at the khan's headquarters, Yuri Danilovich was killed by the eldest son of Mikhail Yaroslavich, Dmitry. Dmitry, by order of the khan, was executed, but the label for the Great Reign was transferred to the next son of Mikhail Yaroslavich, Alexander Mikhailovich. Together with Alexander Mikhailovich, the Tatar detachment of Cholkan was sent to Tver to collect tribute.
And in Moscow, after Yuri’s death, his brother began to rule Ivan Danilovich by nickname Kalita, Ivan I (1325 - 1340). In 1327, an uprising took place in Tver against the Tatar detachment, during which Cholkan was killed. Ivan Kalita went against the people of Tver with an army and suppressed the uprising. In gratitude, in 1327 the Tatars gave him a label for the Great Reign.
The Moscow princes will no longer let go of the label for a great reign..
Kalita achieved the collection of tribute in Rus' instead of the Mongols. He had the opportunity to hide part of the tribute and use it to strengthen the Moscow principality. Collecting tribute, Kalita began to regularly travel around Russian lands and gradually form an alliance of Russian princes. Cunning, wise, cautious Kalita tried to maintain the closest ties with the Horde: he regularly paid tribute, regularly traveled to the Horde with generous gifts to the khans, their wives, and children. With generous gifts, Kalita endeared himself to everyone in the Horde. The Hanshi were looking forward to his arrival: Kalita always brought silver. In the Horde. Kalita constantly asked for something: labels for individual cities, entire reigns, the heads of his opponents. And Kalita invariably got what he wanted in the Horde.
Thanks to the prudent policy of Ivan Kalita, the Moscow principality constantly expanded, grew stronger and did not know Tatar raids for 40 years.
Ivan Kalita sought to ensure that Moscow, and not Vladimir, became a religious center. He built comfortable chambers for the head of the Russian Church - the Metropolitan. Metropolitan Peter loved to stay in Moscow for a long time: Kalita received him cordially and made generous gifts to the Church. Metropolitan Peter predicted that if Kalita builds a cathedral in Moscow in honor of the Mother of God, as in Vladimir, and rests him in it, then Moscow will become the true capital. Ivan Kalita built the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow (as in Vladimir) and laid to rest the head of the Russian Church in it. For the Russians, this was a sign from God, a sign of Moscow’s chosenness. The next metropolitan, Theognostus, finally moved from Vladimir to Moscow. This was a great achievement for Ivan Kalita.
Moscow has become the religious center of Russian lands.
But historians believe that the main merit of Ivan Kalita was the following. During the time of Ivan Kalita, crowds of refugees from the Horde and Lithuania poured into Moscow due to persecution for religious reasons. Kalita began to accept everyone into his service. The selection of service people was made solely on the basis of business qualities, subject to acceptance of the Orthodox faith. Everyone who converted to Orthodoxy became Russian. A definition began to emerge: “Orthodox means Russian.”
Under Ivan Kalita, the principle of ethnic tolerance was established, the foundations of which were laid by his grandfather, Alexander Nevsky. And this principle in the future became one of the most important on which the Russian Empire was built.
Stage 2. Moscow - the center of the fight against the Mongol-Tatars (second half of the 14th - first half of the 15th centuries). The strengthening of Moscow continued under the children of Ivan Kalita - Simeone Proud(1340-1353) and Ivan II the Red(1353-1359). This would inevitably lead to a clash with the Tatars.
The clash occurred during the reign of Ivan Kalita’s grandson Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359-1389) . Dmitry Ivanovich received the throne at the age of 9 after the death of his father Ivan II the Red. Under the young prince, the position of Moscow, as the first principality in Rus', was shaken. But the young prince was supported by the powerful Moscow boyars and the head of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Alexei. The Metropolitan understood that if Moscow lost the label for the great reign, then its many years of efforts to collect Russian lands would be nullified.
The Metropolitan was able to obtain from the khans that the great reign would henceforth be transferred only to the princes of the Moscow princely house. This increased the authority of the Moscow principality among other Russian principalities. The authority of Moscow increased even more after 17-year-old Dmitry Ivanovich built the Kremlin in Moscow from white stone (stone was a rare building material in Moscow. The Kremlin wall made of stone so captured the imagination of contemporaries that from that time the expression “White stone Moscow” arose. ). The Moscow Kremlin became the only stone fortress in the entire Russian Northeast. He became unapproachable.
In the middle of the 14th century. The Horde entered a period of feudal fragmentation. Independent hordes began to emerge from the Golden Horde. They waged a fierce struggle for power among themselves. All khans demanded tribute and obedience from Rus'. Tensions arose in relations between Russia and the Horde.
In 1380, the Horde ruler Mamai with a huge army moved towards Moscow.
Moscow began to organize resistance to the Tatars. In a short time, regiments and squads from all Russian lands, except those hostile to Moscow, came under the banner of Dmitry Ivanovich.
And yet, it was not easy for Dmitry Ivanovich to decide on an open armed uprising against the Tatars.
Dmitry Ivanovich went for advice to the rector of the Trinity Monastery near Moscow, Father Sergius of Radonezh. Father Sergius was the most authoritative person both in the Church and in Rus'. During his lifetime, he was called a saint; it was believed that he had the gift of foresight. Sergius of Radonezh predicted victory for the Moscow prince. This instilled confidence in both Dmitry Ivanovich and the entire Russian army.
September 8, 1380 at the confluence of the Nepryadva River with the Don took place Battle of Kulikovo. Dmitry Ivanovich and the governors showed military talent, the Russian army - unbending courage. The Tatar army was defeated.
The Mongol-Tatar yoke was not thrown off, but the significance of the Battle of Kulikovo in Russian history is enormous:

• on the Kulikovo field, the Horde suffered its first major defeat from the Russians;
• after the Battle of Kulikovo, the size of the tribute was significantly reduced;
• The Horde finally recognized the primacy of Moscow among all Russian cities;
• the inhabitants of Russian lands began to feel a sense of common historical destiny; according to historian L.N. Gumilyov, “residents of different lands walked to the Kulikovo field - they returned from the battle as the Russian people.”

Contemporaries called the Battle of Kulikovo "Mamaev's Massacre", and Dmitry Ivanovich during the time of Ivan the Terrible received the honorary nickname "Donskoy".
Stage 3. Completion of the formation of the Russian centralized state (end of the 10th - beginning of the 16th centuries). The unification of Russian lands was completed under the great-grandson of Dmitry Donskoy Ivan III (1462 - 1505) And Basil III (1505 - 1533). Ivan III annexed the entire North-East of Rus' to Moscow: in 1463 - the Yaroslavl principality, in 1474 - the Rostov principality. After several campaigns in 1478, the independence of Novgorod was finally eliminated.
Under Ivan III, one of the most important events in Russian history took place - the Mongol-Tatar yoke was thrown off. In 1476, Rus' refused to pay tribute. Then Khan Akhmat decided to punish Rus'. He entered into an alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir and set out on a campaign against Moscow with a large army.
In 1480, the troops of Ivan III and Khan Akhmat met along the banks of the Ugra River (a tributary of the Oka). Akhmat did not dare to cross to the other side. Ivan III took a wait-and-see attitude. Help for the Tatars did not come from Casimir. Both sides understood that the battle was pointless. The power of the Tatars dried up, and Rus' was already different. And Khan Akhmat led his troops back to the steppe.
The Mongol-Tatar yoke ended.
After the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the unification of Russian lands continued at an accelerated pace. In 1485, the independence of the Tver principality was eliminated. During the reign of Vasily III, Pskov (1510) and the Ryazan principality (1521) were annexed. The unification of Russian lands was basically completed.
Features of the formation of the Russian centralized state:

• the state developed in the northeastern and northwestern lands of the former Kievan Rus; its southern and southwestern lands were part of Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary. Ivan III immediately put forward the task of returning all Russian lands that were previously part of Kievan Rus;
• the formation of the state took place in a very short time, which was due to the presence of external danger in the form of the Golden Horde; the internal structure of the state was “raw”; the state could at any moment disintegrate into separate principalities;
• the creation of the state took place on a feudal basis; a feudal society began to form in Russia: serfdom, estates, etc.; in Western Europe, the formation of states took place on a capitalist basis, and bourgeois society began to form there.

The victories of Ivan III strengthened the Russian state and contributed to the growth of its international authority. Western European countries and, first of all, the Roman Curia and the German Emperor are trying to conclude an alliance with the new state. The ties of the Russian state with Venice, Naples, Genoa are expanding, and relations with Denmark are intensifying. Rus''s ties with the countries of the East are also strengthening. All this indicates that the Russian state is becoming the strongest and playing a significant role in international affairs.
The specifics of the formation of a unified Russian state in the 15th - early years. XVI centuries The unification of Russian lands and the final liberation from the Tatar yoke and general socio-economic changes occurring in the country led to the establishment of autocracy and created the preconditions for the transformation of the great Moscow reign into an estate-representative monarchy.
The supreme ruler of the state was the Moscow prince. He was the supreme owner of the land and had full judicial and executive powers. Under the prince there was Boyar Duma, which included the most notable feudal lords and clergy. The metropolitan and Consecrated Cathedral - meeting of the highest clergy. National bodies appeared - Castle And Coffers . The butlers were in charge of the personal lands of the Grand Duke, sorted out land disputes, and judged the population. The treasury was in charge of state finances. The formation of central government bodies began - orders. The palace order was in charge of the Grand Duke's own possessions, the ambassadorial order was in charge of external relations, the discharge order was in charge of military affairs, etc. Clerks and clerks were engaged in office work.
Under Ivan III, local government remained conservative. As before, it was based on the feeding system - one of the sources of enrichment for the upper classes at the expense of the population. "Feeders", i.e. governors and volostels (governors of volosts) were supported by the local population - literally fed. Their powers were varied: rulers, judges, collectors of princely taxes. Princes, boyars, and former “free servants” of the Grand Duke had the right to receive feedings.
The institute was important localism, according to the system of which all boyar families were distributed along the steps of the hierarchical ladder, and all their appointments (military and civilian) had to correspond to their birth.
For the first time after Yaroslav the Wise, Ivan III began to streamline legislation. In 1497, a new collection of laws was published - Code of Law. The new collection of laws established a unified procedure for judicial and administrative activities. Laws on land use, especially the law on St. George's Day, occupied an important place in the Code of Laws. In Rus' there was an old custom: in the fall, after harvesting, peasants could move from one owner to another. By the beginning of the 16th century. this custom took on the character of a disaster: the peasants left their master even before the harvest, and often the fields remained unharvested. The Code of Law of Ivan III limited the right of peasants to transfer from one owner to another to two weeks a year - before and after St. George's Day (November 26).
The formation of serfdom began in Rus'. Serfdom- this is the dependence of the peasant on the feudal lord in personal, land, property, legal relations, based on their attachment to the land.
This was still the period when they ruled in the old way, having all gathered together in agreement - conciliarly: all authoritative forces were involved in solving the most important issues of the country - the Grand Duke himself, the Boyar Duma, the clergy. The Grand Duke was a strong and respected figure, but the attitude towards him was “simple”; in the eyes of the Russians he was only the eldest among equals.
Under Ivan III, important changes took place in the system of government: the process of establishing an unlimited monarchy began.
The reasons for the formation of an unlimited monarchy are Mongol and Byzantine influence.
Mongolian influence - by this time, the Mongol-Tatar yoke had lasted in Rus' for more than 200 years. Russian princes began to adopt the style of behavior of the Mongol khans, the model of the political structure of the Horde. In the Horde, the khan was an unlimited ruler.
Byzantine influence - the second marriage of Ivan III was married to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Sophia Paleologus. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell under the blows of the Ottoman Turks. The emperor died on the streets of Constantinople defending the city. His niece Sophia found refuge with the Pope, who later had the idea to marry her to the widowed Russian ruler. The Byzantine princess brought the idea of ​​absolute monarchy to distant Rus'.
Ivan III was the first of the Russian princes to pursue a policy of increasing the power of the Grand Duke. Before this, appanage princes and boyars were free servants. At their own request, they could serve the Moscow Grand Duke or go to serve in Lithuania and Poland. Now they began to swear allegiance to the Moscow prince and sign special oaths. From now on, the transfer of a boyar or prince to the service of another sovereign began to be considered as treason, a crime against the state. Ivan III was the first to take the title "Sovereign of All Rus'". IN 1497 Ivan III for the first time, as the coat of arms of the Moscow state, adopted the unofficial coat of arms of Byzantium - the double-headed eagle - a sacred religious symbol (By this time, the double-headed eagle in Byzantium symbolized the unity of spiritual and secular power). Under him, signs of grand princely dignity were adopted: the “Monomakh cap”, which became a symbol of autocracy, precious mantles - barmas and a scepter. Under the influence of Sophia, a magnificent court ceremony according to the Byzantine model was introduced at the court of Ivan III.
Ideology of the times of Ivan III and Vasily III. At the end of the 15th century. A number of important events took place in Russian statehood:

• the unification of Russian lands was basically completed;
• in 1480, the Russian lands were freed from the Mongol-Tatar yoke;
• Ivan III, in the Byzantine manner, began to call himself the title “Tsar”.

The historical process in Rus' was led by the Moscow princes. The Moscow princes rose rapidly. According to the ancient right of inheritance, they did not have the right to the first throne in Rus'. “In truth,” the Tver princes should have owned the first throne. The Moscow princes, using a whole range of political means, “wrested” the right to all-Russian primacy from the Tver princes.
And now the moment had come when the Moscow princes needed to prove to everyone by what right they owned the Russian land.
In addition, Ivan III needed to establish himself among Western European monarchs. The Russian state appeared at the beginning of the 16th century. suddenly for Western Europe. Large Western European states had already taken shape, the system of relationships between them had also already taken shape, the most important trade routes were already occupied.
To survive in these conditions, the huge Moscow state needed ideas, ideology, which would reflect the dominant position in Rus' of the Moscow princes, the antiquity of the state, the truth of the Orthodox faith, the importance and necessity of the existence of Muscovy among other states. Such ideas appeared at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.
Three ideas became the most important.
1. The idea of ​​succession of power of the Moscow princes from the princes of Vladimir and Kyiv. Chronicles appeared in which it was stated that the Moscow princes received power over the Russian land from their ancestors - the Vladimir and Kyiv princes. After all, the head of the Russian Church - the Metropolitan - lived first in Kyiv, then in Vladimir (1299 - 1328) and Moscow (from 1328). Therefore, the Russian land was owned by the Kyiv, Vladimir, and then Moscow princes. This idea also emphasized the idea that the source of grand-ducal power is the will of the Lord himself. The Grand Duke is the deputy of the Lord - God on earth. The Lord God gave the Grand Duke the control of the Russian land. Therefore, the Russian sovereign bore personal responsibility before the Lord - God for the way he ruled the Russian land. Since it was given by the Lord himself - God, the Orthodox sovereign should not share his power (responsibility) with anyone. Any refusal of power is sacrilege.
2. The idea of ​​kinship between Russian princes and Roman emperors. At this time, “The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir” appears. The "Tale" is based on two legends. One contained a statement that the family of Russian princes was connected with the king of “the whole universe” Augustus. In Rome from 27 BC. e. Octavian ruled. He managed to unite under his rule all the territories of the inhabited world. After this, the Roman state began to be called an empire, and Octavian was given the title "Augusta", i.e. "divine". The Tale said that Augustus had a younger brother named Prus. Augustus sent Prus as ruler to the banks of the Vistula and Neman (This is how Prussia arose). And Prus had a descendant, Rurik. It was this Rurik that the Novgorodians called to reign in Novgorod (It should be noted that almost all Western European monarchs tried to connect their ancestry with the Roman emperors). Another legend said that in the 12th century. The heir to the Roman emperors, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh, handed over to his grandson - the Kiev prince Vladimir Monomakh - symbols of imperial power: a cross, a crown (in Rus' they began to call Monomakh's cap), the cup of Emperor Augustus and other objects. It followed that the Russian rulers (Monomashichi) had the legal right to the title “Caesar” (in Rus', king).
3. The idea of ​​Moscow as the custodian of the true Christian faith. This idea is better known as “Moscow - the third Rome”. This idea was formulated by the monk of the Pskov Eleazar Monastery Philotheus in his letters to Vasily III in 1510-1511. Monk Philotheus was sure that Moscow was called upon to play a special role in history. After all, it is the capital of the last state where the true Christian faith has been preserved in its original, unspoiled form. At first, Rome preserved the purity of the Christian faith. But the apostates muddied the pure source, and as punishment for this, in 476 Rome fell under the blows of the barbarians. Rome was replaced by Constantinople, but even there they abandoned the true faith, agreeing to a union with the Catholic Church. By the middle of the 15th century. The Byzantine Empire perished under the blows of the Ottoman Turks. Hoping for help from Western European powers, the Patriarch of Constantinople signed a union with the Pope in Florence in 1439. Under the terms of the union, the Orthodox recognized the supremacy of the Pope, and not the Orthodox Patriarch, and switched to Catholic dogmas during worship, but Orthodox rituals were preserved. Before this, the power of the Patriarch of Constantinople had universal significance. It extended to Byzantium, Rus', Serbia, Georgia, and Bulgaria. The conclusion of a union with the Pope meant that the Greeks abandoned the universal mission of guardians of the Orthodox tradition, which they had undertaken. The Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the union and broke off relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Philotheus wrote that for apostasy from Orthodoxy - the true Christian faith - ancient Constantinople was captured by the Turks. Since then, Moscow, the capital of the largest Orthodox state, has become the center of world Orthodoxy, the “third Rome”. “Watch and listen, for two Romes have fallen, and the third (Moscow) stands, but the fourth will not exist,” wrote Philotheus. Therefore, the role of Rus' in world history is to be the patroness of all Orthodox peoples.

TO THE BEGINNING OF THE TOPIC

Control questions

1. What stages can be identified in the formation of the Russian centralized state?
2. Which Russian principalities fought among themselves for all-Russian primacy in the first half of the 14th century?
3. Indicate what are the results of Ivan Kalita’s activities for the Principality of Moscow?
4. When did the Battle of Kulikovo take place and what is its significance?
5. Indicate the features of the formation of the Russian centralized state.
6. What were the bodies of power and administration in the Moscow state at the beginning of the 16th century?

additional literature

1. Borisov N.S. Ivan III. - M.: Mol. Guard, 2000.
2. Sinitsyna N.V. Third Rome. Origins and evolution of the Russian medieval concept. /XV - XVI centuries/- M.: Publishing House "Indrik", 1998.
3. Cherepnin L.V. Formation of the Russian centralized state in the XIV - XV centuries. essays on the socio-economic and political history of Rus'. - M., 1960.

The first stage: the rise of Moscow and the beginning of the unification of the state.

At the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries. The political fragmentation of Rus' reached its apogee. In the northeast alone, 14 principalities appeared, which continued to be divided into fiefs. By the beginning of the 14th century. The importance of new political centers increased: Tver, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, while many old cities fell into decay, never regaining their positions after the invasion. The Grand Duke of Vladimir, being the nominal head of the entire land, having received the label, practically remained the ruler only in his own principality and did not move to Vladimir. True, the grand reign provided a number of advantages: the prince who received it controlled the lands that were part of the grand ducal domain and could distribute them to his servants, he controlled the collection of tribute, as the “eldest” represented Rus' in the Horde. This, ultimately, raised the prince’s prestige and increased his power. That is why the princes of individual lands fought fiercely for the label.

The main contenders in the 14th century. there were Tver, Moscow and Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod princes. In their confrontation, it was decided which way the unification of Russian lands would take place.

In the initial period, the main rivalry developed between Moscow and Tver. At first, the predominant position belonged to the Tver Principality. After the death of Alexander Nevsky, the grand-ducal throne was taken by his younger brother, Prince Yaroslav of Tver (1263-1272). The advantageous geographical position in the Upper Volga and fertile lands attracted people here and contributed to the growth of the boyars. The Moscow principality, which went to the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, Daniil, became an independent principality only in the 1270s. and, it seemed, did not have any prospects in competition with Tver. However, the founder of the dynasty of Moscow princes, Daniel, managed to make a number of land acquisitions (in 1301, take away Kolomna from Ryazan, and in 1302, annex the Pereyaslavl principality) and, thanks to prudence and frugality, somewhat strengthen the Moscow principality.

His son Yuri (1303-1325) had already waged a decisive struggle for the label with Grand Duke Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver. In 1303, he managed to capture Mozhaisk, which allowed him to take control of the entire Moscow River basin. Having gained the trust of Khan Uzbek and having married his sister Konchak (after the baptism of Agafya), Yuri Danilovich in 1316 received a label taken from the Tver prince. But soon he was defeated in a battle with Michael’s army, and his wife was captured. She died in Tver, which gave Yuri grounds to accuse the Tver prince of all sins. Realizing what awaited him in the Horde, Mikhail Yaroslavovich nevertheless decided to appear before the Khan's court, hoping thereby to save his land from Tatar devastation.

Thus, in his behavior one can trace features characteristic of the Russian princes of the pre-Mongol era. The Moscow princes represented politicians of a new generation, professing the principle “the end justifies the means.”

As a result, Mikhail was executed. In 1324, his son Dmitry the Terrible Eyes, having met the culprit of his father’s death in the Horde, could not stand it and hacked to death Yuri Danilovich. He had to pay for this lynching with his own life, but Khan Uzbek decided to transfer the label to the great reign to Dmitry’s younger brother, Alexander Mikhailovich. Thus, by pitting the Russian princes against each other, fearing the strengthening of one of them and transferring the label to the weakest, the Horde maintained dominance.

The economic, political and military strengthening of the Moscow principality occurred under Ivan Kalita and his sons. In 1327, a spontaneous popular uprising broke out in Tver, caused by the actions of a Tatar detachment led by Baskak Chol Khan. The successor of Moscow Prince Yuri, Ivan Danilovich, nicknamed Kalita, took advantage of this (Kalita was the name given to a purse for money). At the head of the Moscow-Horde army, he suppressed the popular movement and devastated the Tver land. As a reward, he received a label for a great reign and did not miss it until his death.

After the Tver uprising, the Horde finally abandoned the Baska system and transferred the collection of tribute to the hands of the Grand Duke. The collection of tribute - the “Horde exit”, the establishment of control over a number of neighboring territories (Uglich, Kostroma, northern Galich, etc.), and in connection with this - the expansion of land holdings, which attracted the boyars, and ultimately strengthened the Moscow principality. In addition, Kalita himself acquired and stimulated the purchase by his boyars of villages in other principalities, which strengthened the influence of Moscow and brought boyar families from other principalities under Kalita’s rule.

In 1325, taking advantage of the quarrel between Metropolitan Peter and the Tver prince, Ivan managed to move the metropolitan see to Moscow. The authority and influence of Moscow also increased in connection with its transformation into the religious center of North-Eastern Rus'.

Historians explain in different ways the reasons for the transformation of Moscow from a seedy principality of North-Eastern Rus' into the strongest economically and military-politically.

Some advantages lay in the geographical location: important trade routes passed through Moscow, it had relatively fertile lands that attracted the working population and boyars, and was protected from the attacks of individual Mongol detachments by forests. But similar conditions existed in Tver, which stood on the Volga and was even further from the Horde.

Moscow was the spiritual center of the Russian lands, but it became one after the first victories in the struggle for the right to lead the unification process.

The main role was played by the policies of the Moscow princes and their personal qualities. Having relied on an alliance with the Horde and, in this regard, continuing the line of Alexander Nevsky, realizing the role of the church in the conditions of the Horde’s departure from the policy of religious tolerance, the Moscow princes of the first half of the 14th century. used all means to achieve their goals. As a result, humiliating themselves before the khan and brutally suppressing anti-Horde protests, hoarding, enriching themselves and collecting Russian land bit by bit, they managed to elevate their principality and create conditions for both unifying the lands and entering into an open fight with the Horde.

Second stage of unification

If at the first stage Moscow only became the most significant and powerful principality, then at the second stage (second half of the 14th - mid-15th centuries) it turned into the undisputed center of unification. The power of the Moscow prince increased, an active struggle against the Horde began, and dependence gradually weakened.

Kalita's grandson Dmitry Ivanovich (1359-1389) at the age of 9 found himself at the head of the Moscow principality. Taking advantage of his early childhood, the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod prince Dmitry Konstantinovich obtained a label from the Horde. But the Moscow boyars, rallying around Metropolitan Alexei, managed to return the great reign into the hands of their prince. Evidence of the strengthening of the position of the Moscow prince was the construction of the Kremlin from white limestone in 1367 - the first stone structure in Rus' after the invasion.

His opponent was Lithuania, on which Tver relied. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (9/10 of its inhabitants were Orthodox people who inhabited the Southern, Southwestern and Western lands of the former Ancient Rus') under the leadership of Prince Olgerd turned into a powerful force claiming to unite all Russian lands. Olgerd inflicted a series of defeats on the Horde and liberated the Kiev, Chernigov and Volyn principalities from the yoke. Three campaigns against Moscow (1368, 1370 and 1372) did not bring him the desired success. As a result, Lithuania, due to internal religious and ethnic contradictions, the weakness of the princely power and the intervention of external Catholic forces, was unable to become the head of the unification process of the Russian lands.

In 1375, Dmitry Ivanovich, at the head of a coalition of princes of North-Eastern Rus', attacked Tver, took away the label, which, as a result of intrigues, ended up in the hands of the Tver prince, and forced him to recognize vassal dependence on Moscow (to become a “young brother” in the terminology of that time) . Thus began the process of transforming independent princes into appanages, which unusually strengthened the Moscow principality, secured its rear and allowed it to enter the fight against the Horde.

This was also facilitated by the offensive from the late 1350s. “Great trouble” in the Horde itself, expressed in frequent and violent changes of khans. In 1375, power was seized by Temnik Mamai, who had no legal rights to the “royal throne.” Dmitry Ivanovich, taking advantage of the weakening of the Horde, refused to pay tribute. A collision became inevitable. After the first defeat of the Russians on the river. Drunk in 1377, Dmitry Ivanovich in 1378 personally led the regiments and inflicted a crushing defeat on the troops of Murza Begich on the river. Vozhe.

The decisive battle took place on the Kulikovo field on September 8, 1380. Mamai entered into an alliance with the Lithuanian prince Jagiello and moved towards him. Dmitry, having rallied the forces of almost all the North-Eastern lands under his banners (except Tver and Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal; information about the participation of Novgorodians in the militia is contradictory), supported by two brothers Yagaila (Andrei Polotsky and Dmitry Bryansky) crossed the Don to prevent the allies from uniting . In addition, with this action he cut off the possible routes of retreat of the Russian troops and demonstrated his readiness to fight to the last. The forces of the parties (approximately 50 thousand people each) were equal.

Thanks to the patriotism and courage of the Russian soldiers, united by a common faith and unified leadership, as well as the skillful actions of the ambush regiment under the command of Dmitry’s cousin Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky and the governor Dmitry Bobrok-Volynets, who at the decisive moment managed to turn the tide of the battle, a brilliant victory was won.

The historical significance of the victory lay in the fact that Rus' was saved from ruin, which threatened to become no less terrible than Batyev’s. Moscow finally secured the role of a unifier, and its princes - the defenders of the Russian land. This first strategically important victory, which gave Dmitry the nickname “Donskoy,” made the Russian people believe in their strength and strengthened them in the correctness of their faith.

However, the Battle of Kulikovo has not yet brought liberation. In 1382, Khan Tokhtamysh, who led the Horde after the murder of Mamai, burned Moscow. Dmitry, having lost a lot of strength in the Battle of Kulikovo, left before the Horde arrived from the city in order to have time to recruit a new militia. As a result, Rus' resumed paying tribute, but political dependence on the Horde became much weaker. In his will, Dmitry Donskoy transferred to his son Vasily I (1389-1425) the right to a great reign, without referring to the will of the khan.

Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow, eldest son of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy. He ascended the throne in 1389. Both by his character and by the conditions created partly under his father, Vasily could have little influence on the policy of the great reign. After the Tokhtamyshev pogrom in 1382, sent by his father to the Horde to represent in the dispute over the grand-ducal table with the Tver prince Mikhail Alexandrovich, Vasily was held there as a hostage for the eight-thousand-dollar debt of the Moscow Grand Duke. After spending two years in the Horde, he fled from there to Moldavia and through Lithuania, where he saw Vitovt and, where his marriage to Sofia Vitovtna was decided (concluded in 1391), accompanied by a Polish-Lithuanian retinue, he returned to Moscow only in January 1387 G.

In the East, thanks to the experience of the 80s. and skillful politics in the Horde of the Moscow boyars, Vasily was given the opportunity to succeed in collecting appanage Russian lands. The acceptance of the great reign with the approval of the Horde provided Vasily with a strong political position. In the same 1389, an agreement was concluded recognizing Vasily’s grand-ducal power. One clause of the agreement provided for the possibility of expanding (Murom, Tarusa and “other places”) Vasily’s possessions.

Having secured peace on the western border (a treaty with Veliky Novgorod in 1390, marriage with Sophia in 1391), Vasily in 1392 went to the Horde, where Moscow money and, perhaps, the danger from the approaching Tamerlane brought him a label for the Great Nizhny Novgorod principality, Gorodets, Meshchera, Murom and Tarusa. The Nizhny Novgorod prince Boris Konstantinovich failed to defend either his rights, confirmed by the Horde in 1389, or the city: Nizhny Novgorod was taken by the Moscow boyars as a result of the betrayal of the local boyars led by Vasily Rumyants; Moscow governors settled there.

After the death of Boris Konstantinovich in captivity (1393), Vasily had to fight for his acquisition with Boris’s nephew, Semyon Dmitrievich; in 1401 it was possible to bring him to renounce his claims to inheritance. With the death of Semyon in 1402, the Nizhny Novgorod issue was resolved in a sense favorable for Moscow for a long time.

The invasion of Tamerlane, which touched the south-eastern edge of Rus', but did not penetrate to Moscow, in 1395 upset the Horde of Tokhtamysh in the lower Volga and threw Tatar masses from there along the Volga up to the Kama, threatening the Russian border. The Moscow prince was faced with the task of defending the border, and subsequently a colonization offensive to the east. In his hands was the beginning of the trade route down the Volga and a new source of influence on Veliky Novgorod: with the strengthening of Moscow power on the Volga, Veliky Novgorod had to fear more for its Dvina and other lands, weakly connected with the metropolis and economically looking more to the south than to the west .

Immediately after the annexation of the Nizhny Novgorod principality, Vasily made demands on Veliky Novgorod, including the metropolitan court (abolished in the evening in 1385 and not restored, contrary to the insistence of Metropolitan Cyprian, in 1391). Novgorod responded with an attack on Ustyug and Beloozero, but then asked for peace, which was concluded “as of old” (1393), with the fulfillment of all Vasily’s conditions.

An attempt to tear away its “lands” from Veliky Novgorod soon became possible - at the cost of national humiliation. The year 1395 was critical for Moscow in this sense: only an accident saved it from ruin by Tamerlane; Vitovt launched an offensive to the east, taking Smolensk and sending an army to Ryazan, where one of the Smolensk princes took refuge. Vasily not only did not come to the defense of the Russian regions, but together with Metropolitan Cyprian he ended up in Smolensk in 1396 visiting Vytautas, where negotiations (on church affairs in Lithuania) were successfully conducted by the metropolitan. After Vitovt’s defeat of the Ryazan land, he was honorably received by Vasily Dmitrievich on Moscow territory, in Kolomna. Here joint actions were decided against Veliky Novgorod, which concluded an agreement with the Germans that was undesirable to Vytautas and indifferent to Moscow. Vasily's embassy demanded in 1397 in Novgorod the abolition of this treaty, but to no avail. But at the same time an invitation was sent to the Dvina to leave Novgorod and kiss the cross of Moscow. The Dvinians accepted the offer. Volok-Lamsky, Torzhok, Bezhetsky Verkh and Vologda were taken away from Novgorod, but in 1398 the Novgorodians returned what had been taken away, and Vasily had to make peace again “in the old way.”

Attempts to get out of the influence of Vytautas’s policies lasted several years. In 1408, Vasily took in Jogaila's unfortunate rival, Svidrigail. With the princes of Zvenigorod, Putivl, Peremyshl and Minsk and the boyars of Chernigov, Bryansk, Starodub and Roslavl, they gave Svidrigail the cities of Vladimir, Pereyaslavl and others. Vitovt responded to this with a campaign to the Ugra River, where the Moscow regiments with Vasily Dmitrievich also marched; The stand ended this time with eternal peace.

Meanwhile, a Tatar thunderstorm approached from the east. The leader of the Horde army Edigei in November 1408, within a month, devastated Moscow cities right up to Nizhny Novgorod. Moscow was freed from the siege for 3,000 rubles, Edigei was recalled by the khan, explaining to Vasily in a letter the reasons for the attack on the “ulus” (as the Tatars called Rus') by the obstinacy of Rus'. Under the influence of a circle of young boyars, headed by the treasurer Ivan Fedorovich Koshka, the Moscow government stopped sending an embassy to the Horde and stopping the payment of tribute.

Edigei's campaign once again aroused the claims of the Nizhny Novgorod princely family to the inheritance taken from them; Her efforts in the Horde convinced Vasily of the need for personal opposition to them. Vasily Dmitrievich won the Nizhny Novgorod case against the new Khan Kerimberdey. In 1419, Vasily appointed his son Vasily as his successor; dying, Vasily entrusted Vitovt with protecting the grand-ducal rights of his ten-year-old son.

Under Vasily Dmitrievich, Moscow's positions continued to strengthen. In 1392, he managed to annex the Nizhny Novgorod principality, generally improve, thanks to his marriage to Vitovt’s daughter, relations with Lithuania, and defend Moscow in 1408 from the raid of the Horde troops of Edigei. Some local princes moved into the category of service princes - servants of the Moscow prince, i.e. became governors and governors in counties that had previously been independent principalities.

In the second quarter of the fifteenth century. the unification process took on a more intense and contradictory character. Here the struggle for leadership no longer took place between individual principalities, but within the Moscow princely house. At the same time, behind the clash between Vasily II (1425-1462) and his uncle Yuri Dmitrievich Galitsky (the second son of Dmitry Donskoy), there was hidden a confrontation between the traditional principle of inheritance (from brother to brother), inherent in the transitional society of the era of Ancient Rus', with the new family one (from the father to his son), coming from Byzantium and strengthening the grand-ducal power.

During his childhood, Vasily II was under the patronage of his grandfather Vytautas, which forced Yuri in 1428 to recognize his 13-year-old nephew as “eldest brother” and grand duke. But after the death of the Lithuanian prince, the talented commander Yuri expelled Vasily II from Moscow in 1433. Having not received the support of the Moscow boyars, who began to “move” to Vasily II in Kolomna, allocated to him as an inheritance, Yuri was forced to leave the city. The behavior of the Moscow boyars, guided by clear ideas about the differences in the status of the great and appanage princes and understanding that with the arrival of Yuri, the service-local hierarchy that had developed within the boyars would change, predetermined the outcome of the war. True, due to the military and political inexperience of Vasily II and his fatal failure, it will continue for many years and will entail numerous casualties. Already in 1434, near Galich, the troops of the Grand Duke would be defeated again, and Prince Yuri would take the Moscow throne for the second time.

He soon died, and the fight for the great reign was continued by his eldest son, Vasily Kosoy (1434-1436). Yuri's younger sons, Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny, knowing the imperious nature of their brother, recognized Vasily II as the “eldest brother,” and therefore the legal heir to the throne. In the fratricidal war, means were used that corresponded to the spirit of this cruel age. Thus, Vasily II, having achieved victory and captured Vasily Kosoy, ordered him to be blinded.

Until 1445 a peaceful respite continued, which, however, did not extend to the foreign policy sphere, because The disintegrating Horde increased pressure on Rus'. In the summer of 1445, Vasily II was defeated by the founder of the Kazan Khanate, Ulu-Muhammad, and was captured. He is released for a huge ransom, the full burden of which falls on the civilian population. Taking advantage of the discontent of Muscovites, Dmitry Shemyaka carried out a coup in February 1446. Having seized the Moscow throne, he blinded Vasily II (hence his nickname “Dark” came from) and exiled him to Uglich, but the situation of 1433 repeated itself - the Moscow boyars began to “move away” from the capital, which allowed Vasily II, who received the support of the church and Prince of Tver in 1447 once again regained the throne. The war continued until Dmitry, who hid in Novgorod, was poisoned there by the people of Vasily II in 1453.

What are the results of the war? On the one hand, bringing with it innumerable disasters and devastation, it strengthened the power of the Horde, which again gained the opportunity to interfere in the affairs of weakened Rus'. On the other hand, the war aroused among all segments of the population a thirst for order, which only strong princely power could provide. And the fact that Vasily II, who was unsuccessful in military affairs, won the victory only confirms this situation.

Vasily II conducted a census of the tax-paying population, reduced land grants to the boyars and increased the number of conditional holders - landowners, faithful servants of the Grand Duke of Moscow.

The church also came under the influence of princely power. After Metropolitan Isidore signed the Union of Florence and recognized the supreme power of the Pope, Basil II ordered his arrest. In 1448, at a council of hierarchs of the Russian Church, at his insistence, Ryazan Bishop Jonah was installed as metropolitan, which meant the establishment of autocephaly of the Russian Orthodox Church (i.e., its complete independence from the Byzantine one). But, on the other hand, this was the beginning of her transformation into an obedient instrument of the grand ducal power.

Thus, the bloody events of the second quarter of the 15th century ultimately accelerated the unification of the Russian lands, which, in turn, led to the final liberation from the yoke and the creation of a unified Russian state.

Third stage: completion of the unification of Russian lands. Formation of a single state.

At this stage, the process of unification of Russian lands acquired new dynamics. Grand Duke Ivan III (1462-1505) by 1468 completely subjugated the Yaroslavl principality, and in 1474 eliminated the remnants of independence of the Rostov principality.

The annexation of Novgorod and its vast possessions took place more intensely. Of particular importance to the struggle with Novgorod was the fact that there was a clash between two types of state system - the veche-boyar and the monarchical, moreover, with a strong despotic tendency. Part of the Novgorod boyars, trying to preserve city liberties and their privileges, entered into an alliance with Casimir IV, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the Polish king. Ivan III, having learned about the signing of an agreement in which Novgorod recognized Casimir as its prince, organized a campaign and defeated it in 1471 on the river. Sheloni Novgorod militia, and in 1478 he completely annexed it. All attributes of former freedom, including the veche bell, were eliminated; instead of posadniks, the city was now ruled by the prince's governors. In addition, not keeping his word, Ivan III gradually evicted the boyars from the Novgorod land, transferring their possessions to Moscow service people.

In 1485, Tver, surrounded by the troops of Ivan III and abandoned by its prince Mikhail Borisovich, forced to seek salvation in Lithuania, was included in the Moscow possessions. The annexation of Tver completed the formation of the territory of the state, which filled the title previously used by the Moscow prince with real content - sovereign of all Rus'.

As a result of the wars with Lithuania (1487-1494, 1500-1503) and the transfer of Russian Orthodox princes from Lithuania to Moscow service with their lands, Ivan III managed to expand his possessions. Thus, the principalities located in the upper reaches of the Oka (Vorotynskoye, Odoevskoye, Trubetskoye, etc.) and the Chernigov-Seversky lands became part of the Moscow state.

Under the son of Ivan III, Vasily III, Pskov (1510) was annexed, after a new war with Lithuania - Smolensk (1514), and in 1521 - Ryazan.

Thus, the main content of the third stage was the annexation of the remaining territories of North-Eastern Rus' to the Moscow Principality. If Ivan III, upon his accession to the throne, inherited a territory of 430 thousand km 2, then his grandson Ivan IV in 1533 received 6 times more.

One of the main conquests of Rus' during the reign of Ivan III was the complete liberation from the Horde yoke. In 1480, Khan Akhmat decided to force Rus' to pay tribute, the receipt of which probably stopped in mid. 70s To do this, he gathered a huge army and, having concluded a military alliance with the Lithuanian prince Casimir, moved to the southwestern borders of Rus'.

Ivan III, after some hesitation, took decisive action and closed the road to the Tatars, standing on the bank of the river. The Ugrians are a tributary of the Oka. Khan's attempts to cross the Ugra were decisively repulsed by Russian troops. Therefore, the famous “stand” on the Ugra River can hardly be called peaceful and bloodless, as some historians believe. Without waiting for help from Casimir, whose actions were neutralized by the raid on Lithuania by the troops of the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey, an ally of Ivan III, and internal strife, as well as fearing the early cold weather, Akhmat eventually retreated.

Thus ended the 240-year Horde yoke. The Horde broke up into a number of independent khanates, which the Russian state fought against throughout the 16th-18th centuries, gradually incorporating them into its composition.

In the second half of the 14th century. in northeastern Rus', the tendency towards land unification intensified. The center of unification was the Moscow principality, which separated from the Vladimir-Suzdal principality in the 12th century.

Causes.

The role of unifying factors was played by: the weakening and collapse of the Golden Horde, the development of economic ties and trade, the formation of new cities and the strengthening of the social stratum of the nobility. A system developed in the Moscow Principality local relations: the nobles received land from the Grand Duke for their service and for the duration of their service. This made them dependent on the prince and strengthened his power. Also the reason for the merger was struggle for national independence.

Features of the formation of the Russian centralized state:

When talking about “centralization,” two processes should be kept in mind: the unification of Russian lands around a new center - Moscow and the creation of a centralized state apparatus, a new power structure in the Moscow state.

The state developed in the northeastern and northwestern lands of the former Kievan Rus; From the 13th century Moscow princes and the church begin to carry out widespread colonization of the Trans-Volga territories, new monasteries, fortresses and cities are formed, and the local population is conquered.

The formation of the state took place in a very short time, which was due to the presence of an external threat in the form of the Golden Horde; the internal structure of the state was fragile; the state could at any moment disintegrate into separate principalities;

the creation of the state took place on a feudal basis; a feudal society began to form in Russia: serfdom, estates, etc.; in Western Europe, the formation of states took place on a capitalist basis, and bourgeois society began to form there.

Features of the process of state centralization And boiled down to the following: Byzantine and Eastern influence determined strong despotic tendencies in the structure and politics of power; the main support of autocratic power was not the union of cities with the nobility, but the local nobility; centralization was accompanied by the enslavement of the peasantry and increased class differentiation.

The formation of the Russian centralized state took place in several stages:

Stage 1. The Rise of Moscow(late XIII - early XIV centuries). By the end of the 13th century. the old cities of Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir are losing their former importance. The new cities of Moscow and Tver are rising.

The rise of Tver began after the death of Alexander Nevsky (1263). During the last decades of the 13th century. Tver acts as a political center and organizer of the struggle against Lithuania and the Tatars and tried to subjugate the most important political centers: Novgorod, Kostroma, Pereyaslavl, Nizhny Novgorod. But this desire encountered strong resistance from other principalities, and above all from Moscow.

The beginning of the rise of Moscow is associated with the name of the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky - Daniil (1276 - 1303). Daniel inherited the small village of Moscow. In three years, the territory of Daniil’s possession tripled: Kolomna and Pereyaslavl joined Moscow. Moscow became a principality.

His son Yuri (1303 - 1325). entered into a struggle with the Tver prince for the Vladimir throne. A long and stubborn struggle for the title of Grand Duke began. Yuri's brother Ivan Danilovich, nicknamed Kalita, in 1327 in Tver, Ivan Kalita went to Tver with an army and suppressed the uprising. In gratitude, in 1327 the Tatars gave him a label for the Great Reign.

Stage 2. Moscow - the center of the fight against the Mongol-Tatars(second half of the 14th - first half of the 15th centuries). The strengthening of Moscow continued under the children of Ivan Kalita - Simeon Gordom (1340-1353) and Ivan II the Red (1353-1359). During the reign of Prince Dmitry Donskoy, the Battle of Kulikovo took place on September 8, 1380. The Tatar army of Khan Mamai was defeated.

Stage 3. Completion of the formation of the Russian centralized state (end of the 10th - beginning of the 16th centuries). The unification of Russian lands was completed under the great-grandson of Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan III (1462 - 1505) and Vasily III (1505 - 1533). Ivan III annexed the entire North-East of Rus' to Moscow: in 1463 - the Yaroslavl principality, in 1474 - the Rostov principality. After several campaigns in 1478, the independence of Novgorod was finally eliminated.

Under Ivan III, one of the most important events in Russian history took place - the Mongol-Tatar yoke was thrown off (in 1480 after standing on the Ugra River).

13. Code of Law of 1497. General characteristics. Evolution of law.

Code of laws of 1497- a set of laws of the Russian state; a normative legal act created to systematize existing rules of law.

A monument of Russian feudal law of the 15th century, created during the reign of Ivan III. For a long time, the compilation of the Code of Law was attributed to clerk Vladimir Gusev, however, according to L.V. Cherepnin, supported by other historians, there was a typo in the original document and it was about the execution of the mentioned Gusev. According to the same Cherepnin, the most likely compilers of the Code of Law were Prince I. Yu. Patrikeev, as well as clerks: Vasily Dolmatov, Vasily Zhuk, Fyodor Kuritsyn.

Prerequisites for the adoption of the Law Code:

1. extension of the power of the Grand Duke to the entire territory of the centralized state;

2. destruction of the legal sovereignty of individual lands, destinies and regions;

3. the presence of central management and court in the absence of their formal consolidation.

Sources of the Code of Laws:

1. charter documents of local government;

2. Pskov Judicial Charter;

3. customs, isolated cases (precedents), judicial practice;

4. Russian Truth.

Features of the Law Code of 1497:

1. the legislation of the veche is equated to the acts of the “Grassroots State”;

2. the text of the Code of Law is an amended Pskov Judicial Charter;

3. The Sudebnik is poorer than the Pskov Judicial Charter in terms of language, legal concept and editorial art.

System of the Grand Duke's Code of Law:

1. first part (Articles 1-36) – about the central court;

2. second (articles 37–44) – about the provincial court (viceroy);

3. third part (45–55 and 67–68 articles) – substantive law.

Procedural law was regulated in detail by the Code of Laws. The process is adversarial with elements of inquisition. Torture (for example, in Tatba cases) and written records of court proceedings appear as means of proof.

The trial was carried out with the participation of the “best people”, who were part of the court together with the grand ducal (royal) governor (analogous to the modern jury).

The process and procedural actions are paid, at the expense of the plaintiff.

The Sudebnik adopted the process as a whole from the Pskov Judicial Charter.

A higher (second) judicial authority appeared - the Boyar Duma and the Grand Duke (Tsar).

Material law according to the Code of Laws concerned real rights, inheritance rights, contracts, transfer of peasants, and servitude. The code of law allowed for the application of customary law.

Civil law: The Code of Law of 1497 establishes the procedure for the transition of peasants on St. George’s Day and during the week before and after this day, the transition is possible after payment of the elderly.

According to the Code of Laws of 1497, city key management appears - a new source of servitude.

The slave received release if he escaped from Tatar captivity.

The Code of Law duplicates the contract law of the Pskov Judicial Charter, but expands the application of the personal rental agreement, and the purchase and sale must now be carried out only in the presence of witnesses.

The Code of Laws of 1497 regulated bankruptcy.

According to the Code of Laws, the following were distinguished: types of inheritance:

1. by law;

2. according to a will (“handwriting”).

Criminal law: crime began to be understood as a “dashing matter” (these are serious crimes falling under the jurisdiction of the Grand Duke).

The code of law of 1497 expanded the number of crimes new compounds:

1. sedition (state crime);

2. rise (anti-government agitation);

3. arson with the aim of causing great damage (terrorist act);

4. head theft (theft of slaves, theft of people in general, or theft leading to murder).

The Code of Justice introduces new penalties; now criminal law has become punitive. The death penalty and trade penalty (beating with sticks in a shopping area) are used; fines are a thing of the past.

Formation of the Russian centralized state (second half of the XV - first half of the XVI)

Reasons and features of the formation of a single state

The process of formation of the Russian centralized state began in the second half of the 13th century and ended at the beginning of the 16th century.

Certain economic, social, political and spiritual prerequisites led to the formation of the Russian centralized state:

· the main economic reason is the further development of feudal relations “in breadth” and “in depth” - the emergence, along with fiefdoms, of conditional feudal land ownership, which was accompanied by increased feudal exploitation and aggravation of social contradictions. The feudal lords needed a strong centralized power that could keep the peasants in obedience and limit the feudal rights and privileges of the patrimonial boyars.

· the internal political reason is the rise and growth of the political influence of several feudal centers: Moscow, Tver, Suzdal. There is a process of strengthening of princely power, seeking to subjugate appanage princes and boyars - patrimonial lords. · the foreign policy reason was the need to confront the Horde and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Features of the formation of the Russian centralized state:

1. The absence in Rus' of sufficient socio-economic prerequisites for the formation of a single state. Since, in Western Europe:

· seigneurial relations prevailed

· personal dependence of peasants was weakened

· cities and the third estate grew stronger

· state-feudal forms prevailed

· relations of personal dependence of peasants on feudal lords were just emerging

· cities were in a subordinate position in relation to the feudal nobility.

2. The leading role in the formation of the state is the foreign policy factor.

3. Eastern style of political activity.

Stages of political unification in Rus'

Stage 1 (1301-1389).

The rise of Moscow (late XIII - early XIV centuries). By the end of the 13th century. the old cities of Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir are losing their former importance. The new cities of Moscow and Tver are rising.

Stage 2 (1389-1462).

Moscow is the center of the fight against the Mongol-Tatars (second half of the 14th - first half of the 15th centuries). The strengthening of Moscow continued under the children of Ivan Kalita - Simeon Gordom (1340-1353) and Ivan II the Red (1353-1359). This would inevitably lead to a clash with the Tatars.

Stage 3 (second quarter of the 15th century)

Feudal War - 1431-1453 Civil war of the second quarter of the 15th century. The feuds, called the feudal war of the second quarter of the 15th century, began after the death of Vasily I. By the end of the 14th century. In the Moscow principality, several appanage estates were formed, belonging to the sons of Dmitry Donskoy. The largest of them were Galitskoye and Zvenigorodskoye, which were received by the youngest son of Dmitry Donskoy, Yuri. After the death of the Grand Duke, Yuri, as the eldest in the princely family, began the struggle for the Grand Duke's throne with his nephew, Vasily II (1425-1462). After the death of Yuri, the fight was continued by his sons - Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka. The fight followed all the “rules of the Middle Ages”, i.e. Blinding, poisoning, deception, and conspiracies were used. The feudal war ended with the victory of the forces of centralization. By the end of the reign of Vasily II, the possessions of the Moscow principality increased 30 times compared to the beginning of the 14th century. The Moscow Principality included Murom (1343), Nizhny Novgorod (1393) and a number of lands on the outskirts of Rus'.

Stage 4 (1462-1533).

The process of completing the formation of the Russian state occurred during the reign of Ivan III (1462-1505) and Vasily III (1505-1533).

On March 28, 1462, Moscow welcomed its new ruler - Ivan III Ivan. III - (1440-1505) Grand Duke of Moscow, son of Vasily II and Princess Maria Yaroslavovna. Opens the era of Muscovite Rus', which lasted until Peter I moved the capital to St. Petersburg. A troubled childhood taught the future Grand Duke a lot. He was ten years old when his blind father appointed him as his co-ruler. It was Ivan III who completed the two-century process of unifying Russian lands and overthrowing the Golden Horde yoke.

Ivan III pursued a consistent policy of unifying Russian lands around Moscow and was in fact the creator of the Moscow state. He inherited from his father the Principality of Moscow with a territory of 4,000 thousand km, and left a huge power to his son: its area increased 6 times and amounted to more than 2.5 million square meters. km. The population was 2-3 million people.

Under him, the Grand Duchy of Yaroslavl (1463) and Rostov (1474), which had already lost their real political power, were relatively easily annexed to Moscow. Things related to the annexation of a strong and independent Novgorod were more complicated. It took Ivan III seven long years during which, with the help of military and diplomatic measures, Veliky Novgorod lost its independence. In Novgorod there was a struggle between pro-Moscow and anti-Moscow parties. The Boretskys intensified their activities and led activities aimed against the strengthening of the pro-Moscow party. The Boretsky party pursued a policy aimed at bringing Novgorod closer to Lithuania. Ivan 3 in July 1471 went to war against the traitors. The Novgorod land was devastated and destroyed. The Moscow army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Novgorodians on the river. Shelon. According to the Treaty of Korostyn, signed on August 11, 1471, Novgorod recognized itself as the fatherland of the Moscow prince. From the document “And for the king and for the Grand Duke of Lithuania, whoever the king or grand duke in Lithuania is, from you, from the great princes, we, your fatherland Veliky Novgorod, are a free husband, not to give in to any cunning, but to be from you, from great princes, unrelenting to anyone." Thus, the first step was taken aimed at eliminating the republic. The final, main blow to Novgorod was dealt by the campaign of 1478, as a result of which the Novgorod boyar republic ceased to exist. The veche system was liquidated, the bell, as a symbol of freedom, was taken to Moscow.

In 1485, Ivan III annexed another long-time enemy and rival of Moscow - Tver. Thus, Ivan III was able to unite North-Eastern and North-Western Rus'. In 1489, Vyatka was annexed to Moscow.

As an independent sovereign, Ivan III began to behave towards the Tatars. Even by the beginning of the reign of Ivan III, the Golden Horde had already split into several uluses. As it lost strength, Rus', on the contrary, strengthened its power. In 1476, Ivan III refused to pay them an annual tribute and entered into an alliance with the Crimean Khan, an enemy of the Golden Horde. Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat, who considered himself the successor to the khans of the Golden Horde that had disintegrated by this time, watched with alarm the strengthening of Moscow. In 1480, he gathered an army and moved to Rus', trying to restore the shaky power of the Horde. In the autumn, the army of Khan Akhmat approached the Ugra River, but on the opposite bank there was a large Moscow army. Khan Akhmat did not dare to enter the battle and, after standing for two months, returned to the Nogai steppes, where he died in a skirmish with the Siberian Tatars. “Standing on the Ugra” ended the hated Horde yoke. The Russian state regained its independence. Information about the end of the Tatar yoke is contained in the “Second Sofia Chronicle”. "In 1480. The news came to the Grand Duke that King Akhmat was definitely coming (against him) with his entire horde - with princes, lancers and princes, as well as with King Casimir in the general Duma; king and led the king against the Grand Duke, wanting to ruin the Christians...

The Grand Duke took the blessing and went to the Ugra... The Tsar with all his Tatars walked across the Lithuanian land, past Mtsensk, Lyubutsk and Odoev and, having reached it, stood at Vorotynsk, expecting help from the king. The king himself did not go to him, nor did he send help, because he had his own affairs: at that time Mengli-Girey, the king of Perekop, was fighting the Volyn land, serving the Grand Duke...

And the Tatars were looking for roads where they could secretly cross (the river) and quickly go to Moscow. And they came to the Ugra River, near Kaluga, and wanted to ford it. But they were guarded and let the son of the Grand Duke know. The Grand Duke, the son of the Grand Duke, moved with his army and, having gone, stood on the bank of the Ugra River and did not allow the Tatars to cross to this side...

The king was afraid and ran away with the Tatars, because the Tatars were naked and barefoot, they were ragged... When the king arrived in the Horde, he was killed there by the Nogais..."

Ivan III himself played a significant role in overthrowing the yoke, who, in the difficult situation of 1480, showed prudence, reasonable restraint and diplomatic skill, which made it possible to unite Russian forces and leave Akhmat without allies.

In 1493, Ivan III was the first of the Moscow princes to call himself the sovereign of “all Rus',” openly laying claim to the lands of Lithuanian Rus'. Acting as a defender of the Orthodox faith and leading the movement for the creation of the Great Russian nation, Ivan III fought a series of successful wars with Lithuania, tearing away the Vekhi and Chernigov-Seversk principalities from it. Under the terms of the truce with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander (1503), 25 cities and 70 volosts went to Moscow. So, by the end of the reign of Ivan III, the bulk of the Russian lands were again gathered under the rule of the Moscow prince.

Thus, at the end of the 15th century, a powerful state arose in eastern Europe - Russia. According to Karl Marx, “amazed Europe, which at the beginning of Ivan’s reign barely noticed the existence of Muscovy, squeezed between the Tatars and Lithuanians, was amazed by the sudden appearance of a huge state on its eastern borders, and Sultan Bayazet himself, before whom all of Europe was in awe, heard arrogant speeches for the first time Moscovita."

Being a far-sighted politician, Ivan III intensified trade and diplomatic ties with the countries of Western Europe. Under Ivan III, diplomatic relations were established with Germany, Venice, Denmark, Hungary and Turkey. This was facilitated by his second marriage to Sophia Paleologus, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. Having become the head of a vast Orthodox power, Ivan III considered the Russian state as the successor to the Byzantine Empire. Moscow is beginning to be called the “third Rome”. It was at this time that the name “Russia” appeared.

Important symbolic and political significance was attached to the (second) marriage of Ivan III with the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Sophia Fominichna Paleolog. “Sophia’s marriage to the Russian Grand Duke had the significance of transferring the inheritance rights of the descendants of the Paleologians to the grand-ducal house of Rus',” wrote the Russian historian N. Kostomarov. - But most important and significant was the internal change in the dignity of the Grand Duke, strongly felt and clearly visible in the actions of the slow Ivan Vasilyevich. The Grand Duke became an autocrat."

The equality of Ivan III with the first monarchs of Europe was emphasized by the appearance on the seal of the Russian sovereign of a double-headed eagle, crowned with two crowns. With this seal in 1497, Ivan III sealed the sovereign's letter of grant to his nephews, the Volotsk princes Fyodor and Ivan. The images placed on the seal of 1497 formed the basis of Russian state symbols. Its later interpretation is as follows: the first head of the eagle is turned to the east, the second - to the west, for it is impossible to survey such great expanses of the Russian state with one head. Another component of the coat of arms inherited from Byzantium was the horseman St. George the Victorious, striking a serpent with a spear - the enemies of the Fatherland. George the Victorious became the patron saint of the Moscow Grand Dukes and the city of Moscow. The symbol of supreme power became the Monomakh cap, a luxuriously decorated headdress of the ruler of the state. The foundations were laid for the cult of personality of the top leadership, which later became known as the tsar: special ceremonies of appearances to the people, meetings with ambassadors, signs of royal power.

The Moscow Grand Duke's court under Ivan III acquired special pomp and splendor. Unprecedented construction has unfolded on the territory of the Kremlin. It was at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century that the Kremlin ensemble was formed, which amazes with its grandeur and monumentality.

In 1485, construction began on the new residence of the sovereign - the princely palace. Particular attention was paid to the fortress walls. Built during the reign of Prince Dmitry Donskoy, they fell into disrepair. During the years 1485-1495, the red brick walls and towers of the Kremlin rose, which still exist today.

Vasily III (1479-1533) - Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus', was the eldest son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus. According to the marriage agreements, the children of the Grand Duke from the Greek princess could not occupy the Moscow throne. But Sophia Paleologue could not come to terms with this and continued to fight for power. With his second marriage he married Elena Glinskaya, the mother of Ivan the Terrible. He ascended the throne in 1505 and sought to continue his father’s traditions. Baron S. Herberstein visited the Russian state as an ambassador of the German Emperor. Subsequently, he created an extensive scientific work, in which he emphasized the desire of Vasily III to strengthen centralization. “The power he exercises over his subjects easily surpasses all the monarchs of the world. And he also finished what his father began, namely: he took away all their cities and fortifications from all the princes and other rulers. In any case, he does not even entrust fortresses to his own brothers, not trusting them. He oppresses everyone equally with cruel slavery, so that if he orders someone to be at his court or to go to war, or to rule some embassy, ​​he is forced to do all this at his own expense. The exception is the young sons of boyars, that is, noble persons with more modest incomes; He usually accepts such persons, oppressed by their poverty, every year and supports them, assigning a salary, but not the same.”

During the reign of Vasily III, the foreign policy of the Russian state also continued the traditions of its predecessor. Under him, Pskov (1510) and Ryazan (1521) were completely annexed. In addition, successful wars with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania led to the annexation of the Seversk and Smolensk lands. This completes the process of gathering Russian lands around Moscow. In general, in contrast to the advanced countries of Western Europe, the formation of a single state in Russia took place under the complete dominance of the feudal method of economy, i.e. on a feudal basis. This allows us to understand why a bourgeois, democratic, civil society began to form in Europe, while in Russia serfdom, class, and inequality of citizens before the law will dominate for a long time.

Having won the struggle for the great reign in Rus', the Moscow princes continued their efforts to unite the lands around Moscow. The reign of Ivan the 3rd (1462-1505) accelerated this process. In 1463, pursuing a unification policy, he annexed the Yaroslavl principality.

The Tver Principality and the Novgorod Republic offered active resistance to the unification. To maintain independence, the Novgorod boyars entered into an alliance with Lithuania and found themselves under the partial authority of the Lithuanian prince Casimir 4th.

In 1471, Ivan the 3rd led an army to Novgorod and in the battle on the river. Sheloni achieved victory. To completely conquer Novgorod, a second campaign was needed. In 1478, Ivan the 3rd finally conquered the city (having withstood the siege) and deprived it of independence by abolishing local governments and eliminating symbols of independence (the Novgorod veche bell was taken to Moscow). With the fall of Novgorod, all of its vast territories came into the possession of Moscow.

In 1472 the Perm region was conquered. In 1474, the Rostov Principality was redeemed. In 1485, Ivan the 3rd, at the head of a large army, approached Tver and took the city in two days without losses, taking advantage of the betrayal of the Tver boyars. Grand Duke Mikhailo Borisovich fled to Lithuania.

Having annexed Tver, Ivan the 3rd created a unified state and began to title himself the sovereign of all Rus'.

In the middle of the 15th century. broke up into several independent khanates. Ivan the 3rd began to behave towards them as an independent sovereign. He stopped paying the ransom and created an alliance with the enemy of the Golden Horde - the Crimean Khan.

The Golden Horde Khan Akhmat tried to restore his power over Russia. In 1480, having concluded an alliance with the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the Polish King Casimir 4th, he led his troops to Moscow.

It all ended in a confrontation between Russian and Tatar troops on the river. Eel.

Without waiting for his allies, Akhmat did not dare to start a battle and in November 1480 was forced to retreat. This meant the final fall of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, which had weighed on Russia for more than two centuries.

Ivan the 3rd sought to further expand the state. In 1487, Kazan recognized its dependence on Moscow. By the end of the 15th century. The state includes territories in the northeast. Ivan the 3rd conquers a number of Belarusian and Ukrainian lands from Lithuania and Poland.

The unification policy was continued by the son of Ivan the 3rd, Vasily the 3rd. In 1503, having destroyed the Pskov feudal republic, he annexed Pskov. In 1514 he recaptured Smolensk from Lithuania. In 1517-1523 Vasily the 3rd took Chernigov and the Ryazan principality.

The process of formation of a single state involved significant internal socio-economic and political changes. This was expressed in the formation of a regime of class-representative monarchy, in which the autocracy is supported by various classes, primarily the nobility, townspeople and the top of the capital's boyars, interested in the creation of a state and the presence of a strong central government in it.

The years of the reign of Ivan the 3rd are characterized by changes in government bodies. becomes the supreme advisory body, institutions are created in charge of various spheres of state life, the first orders are issued, governors are involved in local administration and are supported at the expense of the territory they govern.

In 1497, a set of laws was published, the first code of the Russian state, which established a unified system of public administration and regulated the activities of government bodies. The Code of Law set a deadline for peasant transitions (once a year, on St. George’s Day) and payment for the use of the yard. The law limited the freedom of peasants and tied them to the land.

During the reign of Ivan the 3rd and Vasily the 3rd (1505-1533), the process of unification of Russian lands was completed and the strengthening of Russian statehood continued.