« Who is good to live in Rus'? "(N. Nekrasov, prod. "Who is it good to live in Rus'?")

« Rus', where are you going? ? (N.V. Gogol, prod. "Dead Souls")

- « Who is guilty? "(A. I. Herzen, prod. "Who is to blame?")

- « What to do? "(I. G. Chernyshevsky, prod. "What to do")

« Who to be? » (V.V. Mayakovsky, prod. “Who to be?”)

Periodization of the history of Russia

Traditionally, Russian history is counted from 862 when the Varangians from Scandinavia came to Rus' and became princes of the Russian lands. Russian civilization is relatively young.

The history of Russia can be divided into 5 cycles:

9th-13th centuries

The heyday was reached under Yaroslav the Wise in the 12th century, when Kievan Rus became one of the leaders of medieval society. The cycle ended as a result of the feudal fragmentation of the state and the Tatar-Mongol invasion.

14th c. - early 17th century

The center of the country was moved to Moscow, formed Moscow State. The cycle reached its peak under Ivan III and ended in a national catastrophe in the Time of Troubles.

Early 17th century - early 20th century

The third cycle began with the accession of the Romanov dynasty and reached its peak in the reign of Peter I and Catherine II. Russian empire became a world power. However, then conservative tendencies prevailed, there was a delay in the transition to industrial society(almost a century compared to Europe). The completion of this cycle is a series of national catastrophes: defeat in the war with Japan, in World War I, the collapse of the Russian Empire and civil war.

20 20 c. – 1991

The Russian Bolsheviks, with labor and violence, reassembled most of the disintegrated empire under the rule of a single center. A local civilization is reborn again, but for the first time not under the flag of Orthodoxy, but of socialism. Soviet Union became a superpower. This cycle ended with economic and geopolitical weakening, internal national problems and then the collapse of the USSR.

Many people think that in the 20th century. the natural course of Russian history was interrupted by a catastrophe. Tens of millions of people died at the hands of fellow citizens and with their consent. There was a sharp degradation of morals and culture. Sometimes this situation is compared with the death of classical ancient culture.

Since 1991

Rejecting the socialist ideology and overcoming the economic crisis of the 1990s, Russian Federation looking for a way to a better future.

(Based on the book by Kononenko, B.I.: Culture. Civilization. Russia.)

Features of Russian history

Several times in the thousand-year history of Russia, a radical socio-political and economic transformation took place (the era of the reign of Peter I, socialism, the reforms of the 90s of the 20th century).
Several times the country entered a dead end (Time of Troubles, socialism). The population often had to experience disasters. There were wars and famines.

However, against the tragic background of the history of Russia, a high culture arose, stages of upsurges of spirituality were observed, and world successes in science were achieved.

East-West

In Russian history, the eastern and western phases alternate. Russians see their country as largely Asian, which needs to be civilized along the European path.
Western historians see in Russia rather a type of Eastern society (the person rules, not the law; power is concentrated in the hands of one person; there is no understanding of the individual as an absolute value).
However, Russian civilization can generally be considered hybrid: it includes elements of Europeanism and Asianism.

Eastern Slavs and Kievan Rus

East Slavs

In the 6th-8th centuries. in progress final stage Great Migration different tribes of the Eastern Slavs (for example, Vyatichi, Drevlyans, Krivichi, etc.) settled in a vast area from the Middle Dnieper in the south to Lake Ladoga in the north, from the Western Bug in the west to the Volga in the east.
Although the conditions for the effective development of agriculture in these areas were unsuitable due to the harsh climate (the fertile southern steppe regions were occupied by nomadic tribes - Polovtsy, Pechenegs, Turks, Khazars, etc.), the Eastern Slavs were mainly engaged in agriculture, as well as hunting, fishing and cattle breeding. Traded in honey, wax, furs.
At the head of the East Slavic communities were princes with retinues. Their residences were fortified settlements - castles.

The religion of the Eastern Slavs was paganism - they revered natural gods (Perun - chief god, the god of thunder and lightning, Radegast - the god of the sun).

Rus and Kievan Rus

The north-south water trade route passed along the rivers Dnieper and Volkhov "from the Varangians to the Greeks". This route was chosen by the Varangians, the northern tribe of Scandinavians (Vikings) for trade with Byzantium. Large cities arose on it - Novgorod And Kyiv.

In 862, the Varangians created the earliest union of East Slavic lands in Novgorod - Rus, later called Kievan Rus.
The Varangians left traces in the Russian language - for example, the name Vladimir = Waldemar, Olga = Helga. The word "Rus" probably comes from the Finnish "Ruotsi", which, according to one hypothesis, was the name of the tribes of the Eastern Slavs.

The first ruler of Rus' is the Varangian prince (Hrörekr, Roderick) who came to Novgorod. The founder of the first dynasty of Russian rulers - Rurikovich. Under Rurik's heir, prince Oleg, Kyiv was annexed to his lands, which became the capital of the principality.

In 988 under the prince Vladimir Orthodox Christianity was adopted, borrowed from Byzantium. A sculpture of the pagan god Perun was thrown into the Dnieper River in Kyiv.
After baptism, Slavic writing, created in the 9th century, penetrates into Rus'. Cyril and Methodius.

Kievan Rus developed intensive trade and cultural ties with Byzantium. Byzantine civilization left many traces in Russian society.

Peaks reach Kievan Rus in the middle of the 11th century. at Yaroslav the Wise. At that time, it was part of the advanced European states, and its rich diplomatic and trade ties with Europe were strengthened. Yaroslav's sons married European princesses, daughters married European kings.
Under Yaroslav, the first set of laws of Ancient Rus' was adopted - Russian Truth .
In 1125, with the end of the reign Vladimir Monomakh, Kievan Rus broke up into separate principalities.

The first written monument testifying to the early history of Russia is the chronicle Tale of Bygone Years , created by monks in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

At the initial stage of the development of Rus' played an important role geographical position at the crossroads of Eurasian trade and migration routes. The history of that time is an almost continuous struggle between settled (mainly Slavic) and nomadic (mainly Asian) peoples. Kievan Rus blocked the way to the west for the hordes of nomads. There is a myth about Russia as a "shield of Europe".

Period of feudal fragmentation

After the collapse Kievan Rus a system of separate, actually independent principalities was formed. They developed around the large cities of Kievan Rus. The most significant: Novgorod, Vladimir-Suzdal, Smolensk, Chernigov, Later Tverskoe.

Novgorod land

Novgorod was the most developed, the largest trading center. He had his own money, laws, army, management system ("boyar republic"). The most valuable architectural monuments arose here.
The famous prince was from Novgorod Alexander Nevskiy, who twice defended the land from enemies - from the Swedes (battle on the Neva River, 1240) and the Teutonic Knights (Battle on the Ice on Lake Peipus, 1242).

Mongol-Tatar yoke

At the beginning of the 13th c. a large army of new nomads led by Genghis Khan approached the southeastern borders of Rus'.
In 1237, in the lower reaches of the Volga River, an alliance of Mongol tribes was founded Golden Horde. From here the Mongols invaded Russian lands, took Ryazan, Vladimir, Moscow, and ravaged Kyiv. From Rus', the Mongol troops began a campaign in Central Europe.
For 240 years, the Russian lands were practically a protectorate of the Mongol Empire and paid an annual tribute to it.
In 1380 the Moscow prince Dmitry Donskoy defeated the Tatars battle on the Kulikovo field and marked the beginning of liberation.

Consequences of the invasion

Many cities were destroyed, crafts were forgotten, construction was stopped. The invasion caused a deep decline in culture, a long lag of Russia from Western Europe.

An uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar. (Russian folk proverb)

Moscow state

The Moscow princes took advantage of Moscow's advantageous position in the center of the Russian principalities and, with the help of the Golden Horde, eliminated their rivals (the princes of the cities of Vladimir, Ryazan and Tver). Moscow began to claim the role of the center in the process of "gathering Russian lands."
In the middle of the 15th century The Horde broke up into the Crimean, Astrakhan, Kazan and Siberian khanates.

Ivan III

In 1462, Ivan III, "the Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus'" came to the throne. The era of his reign is associated with the centralization of the country and calm on its eastern borders. Ivan III annexed specific principalities: suppressed separatism in Novgorod, conquered Yaroslavl, Tver, Pskov, Ryazan. During the reign of the heirs of Ivan III, the borders of the Moscow State continued to expand further.

The ideological platform of the Moscow State

• the ancient origin of the power of the rulers from the Rurik dynasty
• the power of the sovereign is from God himself, the ruler is a fighter for the true faith
• Moscow - "the third Rome" (Moscow - spiritual center world christianity)

After overcoming the consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, a huge rise of culture. Stone Kremlin cathedrals grew up, the most valuable monuments of painting (icons and frescoes by Andrei Rublev) and literature (chronicles, hagiographies) arose.

Under Ivan III, the first central authorities(“orders” and institutions that decide matters of state affairs - for example, the Posolsky order, the predecessor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
Was written Sudebnik , a new set of laws.
A merchant class is being formed (for example, the famous old Stroganov family), crafts and construction are developing. However, in the economic field, the life of people (the population numbered about 6.5 million) in the Moscow state developed unevenly - ups and downs were replaced by stagnation, crop failures and plague epidemics were frequent.

Ivan IV the Terrible

In 1533, the three-year-old Ivan IV (later nicknamed the Terrible) came to the Moscow throne. All his childhood and youth, when he could not actually rule, there was a struggle of boyar groups at the court.
In 1547, 16-year-old Ivan, as the first Russian Grand Duke, was officially crowned king.

Personality of Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV grew up in an atmosphere of conspiracies and murders, without a mother, which greatly influenced his psyche. After the death of his beloved wife, he lost the last signs of humanity. The king, in a fit of anger, even killed his son.

Public Administration Reforms

The young tsar, with his boyar assistants, carried out a series of reforms.
Created the first Russian parliament - Zemsky Sobor. There was a system of orders of the central bodies governing different areas of the state.
The population paid taxes in cash and in kind.

Development of trade

In Russia, Ivan the Terrible developed industry and trade relations with other countries, mainly with Persia and England. English and Dutch merchants and entrepreneurs often arrived in Russia at that time.

Foreign policy and wars

A semi-regular army arises, and the tsar fights the enemies of Russia by military means. He manages to conquer the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates (their lands turn into almost deserted spaces); later the Siberian Khanate was also defeated. Lands along the entire course of the Volga were annexed to Russia, and the occupied territories were colonized. Russia for the first time became multinational state(non-Slavic and non-Orthodox peoples lived in the newly annexed territories).

At the end of the 50s. 16th century started Livonian Wars(Livonia - today's Latvia and Estonia), which ended in the actual defeat of Russia.

Repression

Gradually, the sole power of the monarch was strengthened, his suspicion deepened; the policy of repression affected all segments of the population.
The king divided the state in two: into the so-called. "oprichnina", to which those whom he trusted were ranked (the territory of the "oprichnina" occupied a third of the country). Here the boyars, who became the executors of the policy of tsarist terror, managed in their own way, not constraining themselves with any laws. It was forbidden to talk about the "oprichnina" in the presence of foreigners. The rest of Russia was called "zemshchina".
During the terror killed many thousands of people. The most terrible evil was the defeat and depopulation of Novgorod.

Consequences of the reign of Ivan IV

Muscovite Rus', headed by the first tsar, expanded significantly, turned into a multinational state and began to be called Russia. A rigidly centralized monarchy was created.

Time of Troubles

(vague = strange, obscure; turmoil - excitement, rebellion)
The Time of Troubles or Troubles is the name of the stage in the history of Russia, when dynasties changed in difficult and unclear conditions.
After the death of Ivan IV the Terrible in 1584, his weak-minded son became the heir to the throne. Fedor I who entrusted the conduct of public affairs to his brother-in-law, guardsman Boris Godunov. The second son of Ivan the Terrible, Dmitriy died unexpectedly at the age of eight; Godunov was unofficially accused of his murder. After the death of Tsar Fyodor, the Zemsky Sobor elected Godunov as Tsar. The Rurik dynasty was cut short.

Reign of Boris Godunov

The reign of Boris Godunov was plagued by failures - a terrible crop failure and famine, epidemics, invasions, uprisings, in which the people saw signs of God's wrath.
At the end of the 16th century measures were taken to establish serfdom in Russia.

Impostors

In an atmosphere of general discontent and chaos, impostors appear who act under the guise of the heirs of Ivan IV.
In Poland (at that time the Commonwealth), a young man declared himself miraculously saved Tsarevich Dmitry. Boris Godunov was killed as a result of a conspiracy, and after the capture of Moscow by the Poles in 1605, an impostor was elevated to the throne in Russia. He entered the history of Russia under the name False Dmitry I. The Russians learned that this was not a real Russian tsar, as various legends convey, for example, by the fact that he did not sleep after dinner, as was customary in Russia, and did not go to the bathhouse. The conspirators soon got rid of the new king.

Then the royal throne passed from hand to hand, for some time it was again at the disposal of the Poles.
Only in 1613, with the help of the people's patriotic movement (led by Novgorodians Minin and Pozharsky), the Russian throne was liberated from the power of foreigners. Zemsky Sobor elected to reign Mikhail Romanov. The reign of the Romanov dynasty begins.

The reign of Mikhail Romanov

The tightening of serfdom is connected with the first decades of the Romanovs' power. Peasant resistance culminated in Revolt of the Don Cossack Stepan Razin (1667–1671).
Cossacks are former serfs who ran away from their owners, free people living on the outskirts of Russia.

Today, our knowledge of Ancient Rus' is similar to mythology. Free people, brave princes and heroes, milky rivers with jelly banks. real story less poetic, but no less interesting for that.

"Kievan Rus" was invented by historians

The name "Kievan Rus" appeared in the 19th century in the writings of Mikhail Maksimovich and other historians in memory of the primacy of Kyiv. Already in the very first centuries of Rus', the state consisted of several separate principalities, living their own lives and quite independently. With the nominal subordination of the lands to Kyiv, Rus' was not united. Such a system was common in the early feudal states of Europe, where each feudal lord had the right to own land and all the people on it.

The appearance of the Kyiv princes was not always truly "Slavic" as it is commonly represented. It's all about subtle Kyiv diplomacy, accompanied by dynastic marriages, both with European dynasties and with nomads - Alans, Yases, Polovtsy. The Polovtsian wives of the Russian princes Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and Vsevolod Vladimirovich are known. On some reconstructions, Russian princes have Mongoloid features.

Organs in ancient Russian churches

In Kievan Rus, one could see organs and not see bells in churches. Although bells existed in large cathedrals, in small churches they were often replaced by flat beaters. After the Mongol conquests, the organs were lost and forgotten, and the first bell makers came again from Western Europe. A researcher writes about organs in the Old Russian era musical culture Tatiana Vladyshevskaya. On one of the frescoes of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, "Buffoons", a scene with playing the organ is depicted.

Western origin

The language of the Old Russian population is considered East Slavic. However, archaeologists and linguists do not quite agree with this. The ancestors of the Novgorod Slovenes and part of the Krivichi (Polochans) did not come from the southern expanses from the Carpathians to the right bank of the Dnieper, but from the West. Researchers see the West Slavic "trace" in the finds of ceramics and birch bark records. A prominent historian and researcher Vladimir Sedov is also inclined to this version. Household items and features of rituals are similar among the Ilmen and Baltic Slavs.

How Novgorodians understood Kyivans

Novgorod and Pskov dialects differed from other dialects of Ancient Rus'. They had features inherent in the languages ​​of the Polabs and Poles, and even completely archaic, Proto-Slavic. Well-known parallels: kirki - “church”, hede - “gray-haired”. The remaining dialects were very similar to each other, although they were not such a single language as modern Russian. Despite the differences, ordinary Novgorodians and Kievans could understand each other quite well: the words reflected the life common to all Slavs.

"White spots" in the most prominent place

We know almost nothing about the first Ruriks. The events described in The Tale of Bygone Years were already legendary at the time of writing, and the evidence from archaeologists and later chronicles is scarce and ambiguous. Written treaties mention certain Helga, Inger, Sfendoslav, but the dates of the events differ in different sources. The role of the Kyiv "Varangian" Askold in the formation of Russian statehood is not very clear either. And this is not to mention the eternal disputes around the personality of Rurik.

"Capital" was a border fortress

Kyiv was far from the center of Russian lands, but was the southern border fortress of Rus', while being located in the very north modern Ukraine. Cities south of Kyiv and its environs, as a rule, served as centers of nomadic tribes: Torks, Alans, Polovtsy, or were predominantly of defensive importance (for example, Pereyaslavl).

Rus' - the state of the slave trade

An important article of the wealth of Ancient Rus' was the slave trade. They traded not only captured foreigners, but also Slavs. The latter were in great demand in the Eastern markets. Arabic sources of the 10th-11th centuries describe in colors the way of slaves from Rus' to the countries of the Caliphate and the Mediterranean. The slave trade was beneficial to the princes, the large cities on the Volga and the Dnieper were the centers of the slave trade. A huge number of people in Rus' were not free, they could be sold into slavery to foreign merchants for debts. One of the main slave traders were Jewish radonites.

Khazars "inherited" in Kyiv

During the reign of the Khazars (IX-X centuries), in addition to the Turkic tribute collectors, there was a large diaspora of Jews in Kyiv. Monuments of that era are still reflected in the "Kiev letter", which contains the correspondence in Hebrew of Kyiv Jews with other Jewish communities. The manuscript is kept in the Cambridge Library. One of the three main Kyiv gates was called Zhidovskie. In one of the early Byzantine documents, Kyiv is called Sambatas, which, according to one of the versions, can be translated from the Khazar as “upper fortress”.

Kyiv - Third Rome

Ancient Kyiv, before the Mongol yoke, occupied an area of ​​​​about 300 hectares during its heyday, the number of churches went to hundreds, for the first time in the history of Rus', the planning of quarters was used in it, making the streets slender. The city was admired by Europeans, Arabs, Byzantines and called the rival of Constantinople. However, from all the abundance of that time, almost not a single building remained, not counting the St. Sophia Cathedral, a couple of rebuilt churches and the recreated Golden Gate. The first white-stone church (Desyatinnaya), where the people of Kiev fled from the Mongol raid, was destroyed already in the 13th century.

Russian fortresses older than Rus'

One of the first stone fortresses of Rus' was the stone-and-earth fortress in Ladoga (Lyubshanskaya, 7th century), founded by the Slovenes. The Scandinavian fortress that stood on the other side of the Volkhov was still made of wood. Built in the era of the Prophetic Oleg, the new stone fortress was in no way inferior to similar fortresses in Europe. It was she who was called Aldegyuborg in the Scandinavian sagas. One of the first strongholds on the southern border was a fortress in Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny. Among Russian cities, only a few could boast of stone defensive architecture. These are Izborsk (XI century), Pskov (XII century) and later Koporye (XIII century). Kyiv in ancient Russian times was almost completely wooden. The oldest stone fortress was Andrey Bogolyubsky's castle near Vladimir, although it is more famous for its decorative part.

Cyrillic was almost never used

The Glagolitic alphabet, the first written alphabet of the Slavs, did not take root in Rus', although it was known and could be translated. Glagolitic letters were used only in some documents. It was she who in the first centuries of Rus' was associated with the preacher Cyril and was called "Cyrillic". The Glagolitic was often used as a secret script. The first inscription in Cyrillic proper was a strange inscription “goroukhshcha” or “gorushna” on an earthenware vessel from the Gnezdovo mound. The inscription appeared shortly before the baptism of the people of Kiev. The origin and exact interpretation of this word is still controversial.

Old Russian universe

Lake Ladoga was called the “Great Lake Nevo” after the Neva River. The ending "-o" was common (for example: Onego, Nero, Volgo). The Baltic Sea was called the Varangian, the Black Sea - the Russian, the Caspian - the Khvalis, the Azov - the Surozh, and the White - the Studyon. The Balkan Slavs, on the contrary, called the Aegean Sea the White (Bialo Sea). The Great Don was not called the Don, but its right tributary, the Seversky Donets. The Ural Mountains in the old days were called Big Stone.

Heir of Great Moravia

With the decline of Great Moravia, the largest Slavic power for its time, the rise of Kyiv and the gradual Christianization of Rus' began. So, the annalistic white Croats got out from under the influence of the collapsing Moravia, and fell under the attraction of Rus'. Their neighbors, Volhynians and Buzhans, have long been involved in Byzantine trade along the Bug, which is why they were known as translators during Oleg's campaigns. The role of the Moravian scribes, who were oppressed by the Latins with the collapse of the state, is unknown, but the largest number of translations of Great Moravian Christian books (about 39) was in Kievan Rus.

Alcohol and sugar free

There was no alcoholism as a phenomenon in Rus'. Wine alcohol came to the country after the Tatar-Mongol yoke, even brewing in its classical form did not work out. The strength of drinks was usually not higher than 1-2%. They drank nutritious honey, as well as intoxicated or set (low alcohol), digests, kvass.

Ordinary people in Ancient Rus' did not eat butter, did not know spices like mustard and bay leaf as well as sugar. They cooked turnips, the table abounded with cereals, dishes from berries and mushrooms. Instead of tea, they drank decoctions of fireweed, which would later become known as “Koporsky tea” or Ivan tea. Kissels were unsweetened and made from cereals. They also ate a lot of game: pigeons, hares, deer, wild boars. Traditional dairy dishes were sour cream and cottage cheese.

Two "Bulgaria" in the service of Rus'

These two most powerful neighbors of Rus' had a huge impact on her. After the decline of Moravia, both countries, which arose on the fragments of Great Bulgaria, are flourishing. The first country said goodbye to the "Bulgarian" past, dissolving into the Slavic majority, converted to Orthodoxy and adopted Byzantine culture. The second, following the Arab world, became Islamic, but retained the Bulgarian language as the state language.

The center of Slavic literature moved to Bulgaria, at that time its territory expanded so much that it included part of the future Rus'. A variant of the Old Bulgarian language became the language of the Church. It has been used in numerous lives and teachings. Bulgaria, in turn, sought to restore order in trade along the Volga, suppressing the attacks of foreign bandits and robbers. The normalization of the Volga trade provided the princely possessions with an abundance of oriental goods. Bulgaria influenced Rus' with culture and literacy, and Bulgaria contributed to its wealth and prosperity.

Forgotten "megacities" of Rus'

Kyiv and Novgorod were not the only major cities of Rus'; it was not for nothing that it was nicknamed “Gardarika” (country of cities) in Scandinavia. Before the rise of Kyiv, one of the largest settlements in all of Eastern and Northern Europe was Gnezdovo, the ancestor city of Smolensk. The name is conditional, since Smolensk itself is on the sidelines. But perhaps we know his name from the sagas - Surnes. The most populated were also Ladoga, symbolically considered the "first capital", and the Timerevskoye settlement near Yaroslavl, which was built opposite the famous neighboring city.

Rus' was baptized by the XII century

The annalistic baptism of Rus' in 988 (and according to some historians in 990) affected only a small part of the people, mainly limited to the people of Kiev and the population of the largest cities. Polotsk was baptized only at the beginning of the 11th century, and at the end of the century - Rostov and Mur, where there were still many Finno-Ugric peoples. The fact that most of the common population remained pagans was confirmed by the regular uprisings of the Magi, supported by the smerds (Suzdal in 1024, Rostov and Novgorod in 1071). Dual faith arises later, when Christianity becomes a truly dominant religion.

The Turks also had cities in Rus'

In Kievan Rus, there were also completely “non-Slavic” cities. Such was Torchesk, where Prince Vladimir allowed nomadic Torks to settle, as well as Sakov, Berendichev (named after the Berendeys), Belaya Vezha, where the Khazars and Alans lived, Tmutarakan, inhabited by Greeks, Armenians, Khazars and Circassians. By the 11th-12th centuries, the Pechenegs were no longer a typically nomadic and pagan people, some of them were baptized and settled in the cities of the union of “black hoods”, subordinate to Rus'. In the old cities on the site or in the vicinity of Rostov, Murom, Beloozero, Yaroslavl lived mainly Finno-Ugric peoples. In Murom - murom, in Rostov and near Yaroslavl - Merya, in Beloozero - all, in Yuryev - Chud. The names of many important cities are unknown to us - in the 9th-10th centuries there were almost no Slavs in them.

"Rus", "Roksolania", "Gardarika" and not only

The Balts called the country “Krevia” after the neighboring Krivichi, the Latin “Ruthenia” took root in Europe, less often “Roksolania”, Scandinavian sagas called Rus' “Gardarika” (country of cities), Chud and Finns “Venemaa” or “Venaya” (from the Wends), the Arabs called the main population of the country "As-Sakaliba" (Slavs, Slavs)

Slavs outside the borders

Traces of the Slavs could be found outside the state of Rurikovich. Many cities along the middle Volga and in the Crimea were multinational and populated, including Slavs. Before the Polovtsian invasion, many Slavic towns existed on the Don. The Slavic names of many Byzantine Black Sea cities are known - Korchev, Korsun, Surozh, Gusliev. This speaks of the constant presence of Russian merchants. The Chud cities of Estland (modern Estonia) - Kolyvan, Yuryev, Bear's Head, Klin - with varying success passed into the hands of the Slavs, then the Germans, then the local tribes. Along the Western Dvina, the Krivichi settled interspersed with the Balts. In the zone of influence of Russian merchants was Nevgin (Daugavpils), in Latgale - Rezhitsa and Ochela. Chronicles constantly mention the campaigns of Russian princes on the Danube and the capture of local cities. So, for example, the Galician prince Yaroslav Osmomysl "locked the door of the Danube with a key."

Both pirates and nomads

Fugitive people of various volosts of Rus' formed independent associations long before the Cossacks. Berladniks were known, who inhabited the southern steppes, the main city of which was Berlady in the Carpathian region. They often attacked Russian cities, but at the same time they participated in joint campaigns with Russian princes. Chronicles also introduce us to wanderers, a mixed population of unknown origin, who had much in common with Berladniks.

Sea pirates from Rus' were ushkuyniki. Initially, these were Novgorodians who were engaged in raids and trade on the Volga, Kama, in Bulgaria and the Baltic. They even undertook campaigns in the Cis-Urals - to Yugra. Later, they separated from Novgorod and even found their own capital in the city of Khlynov on Vyatka. Perhaps it was the Ushkuyniki, together with the Karelians, who ravaged the ancient capital of Sweden, Sigtuna, in 1187.

9 792

The chronicle of the ancient Slavic state was almost forgotten thanks to the German professors who wrote Russian history and aimed to rejuvenate the history of Rus', to show that the Slavic peoples were allegedly pristine, not tainted by the deeds of the Russians, Antes, barbarians, vandals and Scythians, whom the whole world remembered very well . The goal is to tear Rus' away from the Scythian past. On the basis of the works of German professors, a national historical school arose. All history textbooks teach us that before the baptism in Rus' lived wild tribes - pagans.

This is a big lie, because history has been repeatedly rewritten to please the existing ruling system - starting with the first Romanovs, i.e. history is interpreted as beneficial to this moment ruling class. Among the Slavs, their past is called Heritage or Chronicle, and not History (the word “Summer” preceded the concept of “year” introduced by Peter the Great in 7208 from S.M.Z.Kh., when instead of the Slavic chronology they introduced 1700 from supposedly Christmas). S.M.Z.H. - this is the Creation / signing / of the World with the Arims / Chinese / in the summer, called the Star Temple - after the end of the Great World War (something like May 9, 1945, but more significant for the Slavs).

Therefore, is it worth trusting textbooks, which even in our memory have been copied more than once? And is it worth trusting textbooks that contradict many facts that say that before baptism - in Rus' there was a huge state with many cities and villages (Country of cities), a developed economy and crafts, with its own original Culture (Culture = Culture = Cult of Ra = Cult of Light). Our ancestors who lived in those days possessed vital Wisdom and a worldview that helped them always act according to their Conscience and live in harmony with the world around them. This attitude to the World is now called the Old Faith ("old" - means "pre-Christian", and earlier it was simply called - Faith - Knowledge of Ra - Knowledge of Light - Knowledge of the Shining Truth of the Most High). Faith is primary, and Religion (for example, Christian) is secondary. The word "Religion" comes from "Re" - repetition, "League" - connection, association. Faith is always one (there is either a connection with God, or it is not), and there are many religions - as many as the people of the Gods have or how many ways intermediaries (popes, patriarchs, priests, rabbis, mullahs, etc.) come up with to establish with them connection.

Since the connection with God, established through third parties - intermediaries, for example - priests, is artificial, then, in order not to lose the flock, each religion claims to be "Truth in the first instance." Because of this, many bloody religious wars have been and are being waged.

Mikhailo Vasilyevich Lomonosov fought against the German professorship alone, arguing that the history of the Slavs is rooted in antiquity.
The ancient Slavic state RUSKOLAN occupied the lands from the Danube and the Carpathians to the Crimea, North Caucasus and the Volga, and the subject lands captured the steppes of the Volga and South Urals.
The Scandinavian name of Rus' sounds like Gardarika - the country of cities. Arab historians also write about the same, numbering hundreds of Russian cities. At the same time, he claims that there are only five cities in Byzantium, while the rest are “fortified fortresses”. In ancient documents, the state of the Slavs is referred to, among other things, as Scythia and Ruskolan. In his works, Academician B.A. Rybakov, the author of the books “Paganism of the Ancient Slavs” 1981, “Paganism of Ancient Rus'” 1987, and many others, writes that the state of Ruskolan was the bearer of the Chernyakhov archaeological culture and experienced a period of prosperity in the Troyan Ages (I-IV centuries AD). ). To show what level of scientists were engaged in the study of ancient Slavic history, we will cite who Academician B.A. Rybakov.
Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov headed the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences for 40 years; M. V. Lomonosov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Honorary Doctor of Krakow Jagiellonian University.

The word "Ruskolan" has the syllable "lan", present in the words "hand", "valley" and meaning: space, territory, place, region. Subsequently, the syllable "lan" was transformed into the European land - country. Sergey Lesnoy in his book “Where are you from, Rus?” says the following: “With regard to the word “Ruskolun”, it should be noted that there is also a variant “Ruskolun”. If the latter option is more correct, then you can understand the word differently: “Russian doe”. Lan - field. The whole expression: "Russian field". In addition, Lesnoy makes an assumption that there was a word "cleaver", which probably meant some kind of space. It also occurs in other contexts. Also, historians and linguists believe that the name of the state "Ruskolan" could come from two words "Rus" and "Alan" after the name of the Rus and Alans, who lived in a single state.

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was of the same opinion, who wrote:

“The Alans and Roxolans are of the same tribe from many places of ancient historians and geographers, and the difference lies in the fact that the Alans common name of a whole people, and the Roxolans are a saying composed from their place of residence, which is not without reason produced from the river Ra, as the Volga (Volga) is known among ancient writers.
The ancient historian and scientist Pliny - Alans and Roxolans together has. The Roksolanes of the ancient scientist and geographer Ptolemy are called alanorsi by portable addition. The names of Aorsi and Roksane or Rossane in Strabo - “the exact unity of the Russians and Alans is confirmed, to which the reliability is multiplied, that they were wallpaper of the Slavic generation, then that the Sarmatians were of the same tribe from ancient writers and therefore they are of the same root with the Varangians-Rosses.”

We also note that Lomonosov also refers the Varangians to the Russians, which once again shows the fraud of the German professors, who deliberately called the Varangians a foreign, and not a Slavic people. This juggling and the born legend about calling a foreign tribe to reign in Rus' had political overtones so that once again the “enlightened” West could point out to the “wild” Slavs their denseness, and that it was thanks to the Europeans that the Slavic state was created. Modern historians, in addition to adherents of the Norman theory, also agree that the Varangians are precisely a Slavic tribe.

Lomonosov writes:
"According to Gelmold's testimony, the Alans were mixed with the Kurlandians, who were of the same tribe as the Varangians-Russians."

Lomonosov writes - the Varangians-Russians, and not the Varangians-Scandinavians, or the Varangians-Goths. In all documents of the pre-Christian period, the Varangians were classified as Slavs.

Further, Lomonosov writes:
“The Rugen Slavs were abbreviated as wounds, that is, from the Ra (Volga) River, and Rossans. This, by their resettlement to the Varangian shores, as follows, will be more detailed. Weissel from Bohemia suggests that Amakosovia, Alans, Vendi came from the east to Prussia.

Lomonosov writes about Rugen Slavs. It is known that on the island of Rügen in the city of Arkona there was the last Slavic pagan temple, destroyed in 1168. Now there is a Slavic museum.
Lomonosov writes that it was from the east that the Slavic tribes came to Prussia and the island of Rügen and adds:

“Such a resettlement of the Volga Alans, that is, the Russians or Ross, to the Baltic Sea took place, as can be seen from the above authors’ testimonies, not once and not in a short time, which, according to the traces that have remained to this day, it is clear that the names of cities and rivers are honored must"

But back to the Slavic state.
The capital of Ruskolani, the city of Kiyar, was located in the Caucasus, in the Elbrus region near the modern villages of Upper Chegem and Bezengi. Sometimes it was also called Kiyar Antsky, after the name of the Slavic tribe Antes. The results of the expeditions to the site of the ancient Slavic city will be written at the end. Descriptions of this Slavic city can be found in ancient documents.

"Avesta" in one of the places tells about the main city of the Scythians in the Caucasus near one of the highest mountains in the world. And As you know, Elbrus is the highest mountain not only in the Caucasus, but also in Europe in general. "Rig Veda" tells about the main city of the Rus all on the same Elbrus.
Kiyar is mentioned in the Book of Veles. Judging by the text, Kiyar, or the city of Kiy the Old, was founded 1300 years before the fall of Ruskolani (368 AD), i.e. in the ninth century BC.

The ancient Greek geographer Strabo, who lived in the 1st century. BC. - beginning of the 1st c. AD writes about the temple of the Sun and the sanctuary of the Golden Fleece in the sacred city of the Ross, in the Elbrus region, on the top of Mount Tuzuluk.
On the mountain, our contemporaries discovered the foundation of an ancient structure. Its height is about 40 meters, and the diameter of the base is 150 meters: the ratio is the same as that of the Egyptian pyramids and other religious buildings of antiquity. There are many obvious and not at all random patterns in the parameters of the mountain and the temple. The observatory-temple was created according to a "typical" project and, like other cyclopean structures - Stonehenge and Arkaim - was intended for astrological observations.
In the legends of many peoples there is evidence of the construction on the sacred mountain Alatyr (modern name - Elbrus) of this majestic structure, revered by all ancient peoples. There are mentions of him in the national epic of the Greeks, Arabs, and European peoples. According to Zoroastrian legends, this temple was captured by Rus (Rustam) in Usen (Kavi Useinas) in the second millennium BC. Archaeologists officially note at this time the emergence of the Koban culture in the Caucasus and the appearance of the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes.

Mentions the temple of the Sun and the geographer Strabo, placing in it the sanctuary of the golden fleece and the oracle of Eeta. There are detailed descriptions of this temple and evidence that astronomical observations were made there.
The Temple of the Sun was a true paleoastronomical observatory of antiquity. The priests, who possessed certain knowledge, created such observatory temples and studied stellar science. There were calculated not only dates for reference Agriculture, but also, most importantly, the most important milestones in world and spiritual history were determined.

The Arab historian Al Masudi described the temple of the Sun on Elbrus as follows: “In the Slavic regions there were buildings revered by them. Between others they had a building on a mountain, about which philosophers wrote that it was one of the highest mountains in the world. There is a story about this building: about the quality of its construction, about the arrangement of its heterogeneous stones and their different colors, about the holes made in its upper part, about what was built in these holes to watch the sunrise, about the precious stones placed there and signs marked in it, which indicate future events and warn against incidents before their implementation, about the sounds heard in its upper part and about what comprehends them when they hear these sounds.
In addition to the above documents, information about the main ancient Slavic city, the temple of the Sun and the Slavic state as a whole is in the Elder Edda, in Persian, Scandinavian and ancient German sources, in the Book of Veles. According to the legends, near the city of Kiyar (Kiev) was the sacred mountain Alatyr - archaeologists believe that it was Elbrus. Next to it was the Iriysky, or the Garden of Eden, and the Smorodina River, which separated the earthly world and the afterlife, and connected Yav and Nav (that Light) Kalinov Bridge.
This is how they talk about two wars between the Goths (an ancient Germanic tribe) and the Slavs, the invasion of the Goths into the ancient Slavic state, the Gothic historian of the 4th century Jordan in his book “The History of the Goths” and “The Book of Veles”. In the middle of the 4th century, the Goth king Germanareh led his people to conquer the world. This was a great commander. According to Jordanes, he was compared with Alexander the Great. The same was written about Germanarekh and Lomonosov:

"Ermanarik, the king of the Ostrogoths, for his courage in conquering many northern peoples was compared by some with Alensander the Great."

Judging by the testimonies of Jordan, the Elder Edda and the Book of Veles, Germanareh, after long wars, captured almost all of Eastern Europe. He fought along the Volga to the Caspian, then fought on the Terek River, crossed the Caucasus, then went along the Black Sea coast and reached Azov.

According to the “Book of Veles”, Germanareh first made peace with the Slavs (“drank wine for friendship”), and only then “went with a sword against us”.

The peace treaty between the Slavs and the Goths was sealed by the dynastic marriage of the sister of the Slavic prince-king Bus - Swans and Germanarekh. This was a payment for peace, for Germanarekh was then many years old (he died at 110 years old, but the marriage was concluded shortly before that). According to Edda, the son of Germanareh Randver wooed Swan-Sva, and he took her to his father. And then Jarl Bikki, adviser to Germanarekh, told them that it would be better if the Swan went to Randver, since both of them are young, and Germanarekh is an old man. These words pleased Swans-Sva and Randver, and Jordan adds that Swans-Sva fled from Germanarekh. And then Germanarekh executed his son and Swan. And this murder was the cause of the Slavic-Gothic war. Having treacherously violated the "peace treaty", Germanarekh defeated the Slavs in the first battles. But then, when Germanarekh moved into the heart of Ruskolani, the Ants stepped in to Germanarekh. Germanareh was defeated. According to Jordan, he was struck with a sword in the side by the Rossomons (Ruskolans) - Sar (king) and Ammius (brother). The Slavic prince Bus and his brother Zlatogor inflicted a mortal wound on Germanarekh, and he soon died. Here is how Jordan, the Book of Veles, and later Lomonosov wrote about it.

“The Book of Veles”: “And Ruskolan was defeated by the Goths of Germanarekh. And he took a wife from our generation and killed her. And then our leaders flowed against him and Germanarekh was defeated.

Jordan. “History is ready”: “The wrong clan of the Rosomones (Ruskolan) ... took advantage of the following opportunity ... After all, after the king, driven by rage, ordered a certain woman named Sunhilda (Swan) from the named clan for insidious leaving her husband to break, tying to ferocious horses and prompting the horses to run in different directions, her brothers Sar (King Bus) and Ammii (Gold), avenging the death of their sister, struck Germanarekh in the side with a sword.

M. Lomonosov: “Sonilda, a noble Roxolan woman, Yermanarik ordered to be torn apart by horses for her husband's escape. Her brothers Sar and Ammius, avenging the death of their sister, Ermanarik was pierced in the side; died of a wound a hundred and ten years"

A few years later, a descendant of Germanarekh, Amal Vinitary, invaded the lands of the Slavic tribe of Ants. In the first battle, he was defeated, but then "began to act more decisively", and the Goths, led by Amal Vinitar, defeated the Slavs. The Slavic prince Busa and 70 other princes were crucified by the Goths. This happened on the night of March 20-21, 368 AD. On the same night that Bus was crucified, there was a total lunar eclipse. Also, the earth was shaken by a monstrous earthquake (the entire Black Sea coast was shaking, destruction was in Constantinople and Nicaea (ancient historians testify to this. Later, the Slavs gathered their strength and defeated the Goths. But the former powerful Slavic state was no longer restored.

“The Book of Veles”: “And then Rus' was again defeated. And Busa and seventy other princes were crucified on crosses. And there was great turmoil in Rus' from Amala Vend. And then Sloven gathered Rus' and led it. And at that time the Goths were defeated. And we didn't let the Sting go anywhere. And everything got better. And our grandfather Dazhbog rejoiced, and welcomed the soldiers - many of our fathers who won victories. And there were no troubles and worries of many, and so the land of the Gothic became ours. And so it will be until the end"

Jordan. "History is ready": Amal Vinitary ... moved the army into the borders of the Ants. And when he came to them, he was defeated in the first skirmish, then he behaved more bravely and crucified their king, named Boz, with his sons and 70 noble people, so that the corpses of the hanged would double the fear of the conquered.

The Bulgarian chronicle “Baradj Tarihy”: “Once in the land of the Anchians, the Galidjians (Galicians) attacked Bus and killed him along with all 70 princes.”

The Slavic prince Busa and 70 princes were crucified by the Goths in the eastern Carpathians at the sources of Seret and Prut, on the current border of Wallachia and Transylvania. In those days, these lands belonged to Ruskolani, or Scythia. Much later, under the famous Vlad Dracul, it was at the place of the crucifixion of Bus that mass executions and crucifixions were held. They removed the bodies of Bus and other princes from the crosses on Friday and took them to the Elbrus region, to the Etoka (a tributary of the Podkumka). According to Caucasian legend, the body of Bus and other princes was brought by eight pairs of oxen. Busa's wife ordered a mound to be built over their grave on the banks of the Etoko River (a tributary of the Podkumka River) and, in order to perpetuate the memory of Busa, ordered the Altud River to be renamed Baksan (Busa River).
Caucasian legend says:

“Baksan (Bus) was killed by the Goth king with all his brothers and eighty noble Narts. Hearing this, the people gave way to despair: the men beat their breasts, and the women tore their hair on their heads, saying: “Dauov’s eight sons are killed, killed!”

Those who carefully read "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" remember that it mentions the "gone Time of Busovo" long ago.

The year 368, the year of the crucifixion of Prince Bus, has an astrological meaning. According to Slavic astrology, this is a milestone. On the night of March 20-21, 368 moves, the Aries era ended and the Pisces era began.

It was after the story of the crucifixion of Prince Bus, which became known in the ancient world, that the plot with the crucifixion of Christ appeared (was stolen) in Christianity.
The canonical gospels nowhere say that Christ was crucified on the cross. Instead of the word "cross" (kryst), the word "stavros" (stavros) is used there, which means a pillar, and it does not talk about crucifixion, but about pillaring. Therefore, there are no early Christian images of the crucifixion.
The Christian Acts 10:39 says that Christ was "hanged on a tree." The plot with the crucifixion first appeared only after 400!!! years after the execution of Christ, translated from Greek. The question is why, if Christ was crucified, and not hanged, Christians for four hundred years wrote in holy books that Christ was amused? Somehow illogical! It was the Slavic-Scythian tradition that influenced the distortion of the original texts during translation, and then the iconography (for there are no early Christian images of crucifixes).

The meaning of the original Greek text was well known in Greece itself (Byzantium), but after the corresponding reforms in the modern Greek language, in contrast to the previous custom, the word "stavros" took on the meaning of "pillar" in addition to the meaning of "cross".
In addition to the direct source of the execution - the canonical Gospels, others are also known. In the closest to the Christian, in the Jewish tradition, the tradition of the hanging of Jesus is also affirmed. There is a Jewish “Tale of the Hanged Man” written in the first centuries of our era, which describes in detail the execution of Jesus precisely by hanging. And in the Talmud there are two stories about the execution of Christ. According to the first, Jesus was stoned, and not in Jerusalem, but in Lud. According to the second story, because Jesus was of a royal family, the execution by stones was also replaced by hanging. And this was the official version of Christians for 400 years!!!

Even throughout the Muslim world, it is generally accepted that Christ was not crucified, but hanged. The Koran, based on early Christian traditions, curses Christians who claim that Jesus was not hanged, but crucified, and who claim that Jesus was Allah (God) himself, and not a prophet and the Messiah, and also denies the crucifixion itself. Therefore, Muslims, respecting Jesus, do not reject either the Ascension or the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, but reject the symbol of the cross, as they rely on early Christian texts that talk about hanging, not crucifixion.

Moreover, the natural phenomena described in the Bible simply could not take place in Jerusalem on the day of the crucifixion of Christ.
In the Gospel of Mark and in the Gospel of Matthew it is said that Christ endured passionate agony on the spring full moon from Good Thursday to Good Friday, and that there was an eclipse from the sixth to the ninth hour. The event, which they call an "eclipse," occurred at a time when, for objective astronomical reasons, it simply could not occur. Christ was executed during the Jewish Passover, and it always falls on a full moon.

First, there are no solar eclipses on a full moon. During a full moon, the Moon and Sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, so there is no way the Moon can cover the Earth's sunlight.

Secondly, solar eclipses unlike the lunar ones, they do not last three hours, as it is written in the Bible. Maybe the Judeo-Christians had in mind a lunar eclipse, but the whole world did not understand them? ...
But solar and lunar eclipses are very easy to calculate. Any astronomer will say that there were no lunar eclipses in the year of the execution of Christ and even in the years close to this event.

The nearest eclipse accurately indicates only one date - on the night of March 20-21, 368 AD. This is an absolutely accurate astronomical calculation. Namely, on this night from Thursday to Friday, March 20/21, 368, Prince Bus and 70 other princes were crucified by the Goths. On the night of March 20-21, a total lunar eclipse occurred, which lasted from midnight to three hours on March 21, 368. This date was calculated by astronomers, including the director of the Pulkovo Observatory, N. Morozov.

Why did Christians write from the 33rd move that Christ was hanged, and after the 368th move they rewrote the “holy” scripture and began to claim that Christ was crucified? Obviously, the plot with the crucifixion seemed to them more interesting and they once again engaged in religious plagiarism - i.e. simply by stealing… That's where the information appeared in the Bible that Christ was crucified, that he endured torment from Thursday to Friday, that there was an eclipse. Having stolen the plot with the crucifixion, the Judeo-Christians decided to supply the Bible with the details of the execution of the Slavic prince, not thinking that people in the future would pay attention to the natural phenomena described, which could not have been in the year of the execution of Christ in the place where he was executed.

And this is far from the only example of the theft of materials by the Judeo-Christians. Speaking of the Slavs, the myth of the father of Aria, who received a covenant from Dazhbog on Mount Alatyr (Elbrus), is recalled, and in the Bible, Arius and Alatyr miraculously turned into Moses and Sinai ...
Or the Judeo-Christian rite of baptism. The Christian rite of baptism is one third of the Slavic pagan rite, which included: naming, fiery baptism and water bathing. In Judeo-Christianity, only the water bath remained.
We can recall examples from other traditions. Mitra - born on December 25th!!! 600 years before the birth of Jesus!!! December 25 - the day after 600 years, Jesus was born. Mitra was born a virgin in a barn, a star rose, the magi came!!! Everything is one to one, as with Christ, only 600 years earlier. The cult of Mithras included: baptism with water, holy water, faith in immortality, faith in Mithra as a savior god, the concepts of Paradise and Hell. Mitra died and resurrected in order to become an intermediary between God the Father and man! Plagiarism (theft) of Christians is 100%.

More examples. Immaculately conceived: Gautama Buddha - India 600 BC; Indra - Tibet 700 BC; Dionysus - Greece; Quirinus is a Roman; Adonis - Babylon all in the period from 400-200 years BC; Krishna - India 1200 B.C.; Zarathustra - 1500 BC In a word, whoever read the originals knows where the Judeo-Christians took materials for their writing.

So modern neo-Christians, who are trying in vain to find some kind of mythical Russian roots in the native Jew Yeshua - Jesus and his mother, need to stop doing stupid things and start worshiping Bus, nicknamed the Cross, i.e. Busu Cross or what would be completely clear to them - Busu Christ. After all, this is the real Hero from whom the Judeo-Christians wrote off their New Testament, and the one invented by them - the Judeo-Christian Jesus Christ - turns out to be some kind of charlatan and rogue, to say the least ... After all, the New Testament is just a romantic comedy in the spirit of Jewish fiction, allegedly written by the so-called. "Apostle" Paul (in the world - Saul), and even then, it turns out - it was not written by him himself, but by unknown /!? / disciples of the disciples. Well, they had fun though ...

But back to the Slavic chronicle. The discovery of an ancient Slavic city in the Caucasus no longer looks so surprising. In recent decades, several ancient Slavic cities have been discovered on the territory of Russia and Ukraine.
The most famous today is the famous Arkaim, whose age is more than 5000 thousand years.

In 1987, in the South Urals in the Chelyabinsk region, during the construction of a hydroelectric power station, a fortified settlement of the early city type, dating back to the Bronze Age, was discovered. to the time of the ancient Aryans. Arkaim is older than the famous Troy by five hundred to six hundred years even older than the Egyptian pyramids.

The discovered settlement is a city-observatory. In the course of its study, it was established that the monument was a city fortified by two circles of walls, ramparts and ditches inscribed in each other. The dwellings in it had a trapezoidal shape, tightly adjoined each other and arranged in a circle in such a way that the wide end wall of each dwelling was part of the defensive wall. Every home has a bronze casting oven! But in Greece, according to traditional academic knowledge, bronze came only in the second millennium BC. Later, the settlement turned out to be integral part of the most ancient Aryan civilization - the "Country of Cities" of the Southern Trans-Urals. Scientists have discovered a whole complex of monuments belonging to this amazing culture.

Despite their small size, fortified centers can be called proto-cities. The use of the term “city” to the fortified settlements of the Arkaim-Sintashta type is, of course, conditional. However, they cannot be called simply settlements, since the Arkaim “cities” are distinguished by powerful defensive structures, monumental architecture, and complex communication systems. The entire territory of the fortified center is extremely saturated with planning details, it is very compact and carefully thought out. From the point of view of the organization of space in front of us is not even a city, but a kind of super-city.

Fortified centers Southern Urals older than Homeric Troy by five or six centuries. They are contemporaries of the first dynasty of Babylon, the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and the Cretan-Mycenaean culture of the Mediterranean. The time of their existence corresponds to the last centuries of the famous civilization of India - Mahenjo-Daro and Harappa.

In Ukraine, in Trypillya, the remains of the city were discovered, the age of which is the same as that of Arkaim, more than five thousand years. It is five hundred years older than the civilization of Mesopotamia - the Sumerian!

At the end of the 90s, not far from Rostov-on-Don, in the town of Tanais, settlement cities were found, the age of which even scientists find it difficult to name ... The age varies from ten to thirty thousand years. The traveler of the last century, Thor Heyerdahl, believed that from there, from Tanais, the entire pantheon of the Scandinavian Gods, led by Odin, came to Scandinavia.

Slabs with inscriptions in Sanskrit, which are 20,000 years old, have been found on the Kola Peninsula. And only Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, as well as the Baltic languages ​​coincide with Sanskrit. Draw your own conclusions.

The results of the expedition to the site of the capital of the ancient Slavic city of Kiyara in the Elbrus region.
Five expeditions were carried out: in 1851,1881,1914, 2001 and 2002.
In 2001, the expedition was led by A. Alekseev, and in 2002 the expedition was carried out under the patronage of the Shtenberg State Astronomical Institute (GAISh), which was supervised by the director of the institute, Anatoly Mikhailovich Cherepashchuk.
Based on the data obtained as a result of topographic, geodetic studies of the area, fixing astronomical events, the participants of the expedition made preliminary conclusions that are fully consistent with the results of the expedition of 2001, following the results of which, in March 2002, a report was made at a meeting of the Astronomical Society at the State Astronomical Institute in the presence of members of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, members of the International Astronomical Society and the State Historical Museum.
A report was also made at a conference on the problems of early civilizations in St. Petersburg.

What exactly did the researchers find?
Near Mount Karakaya, in the Rocky Range at an altitude of 3,646 meters above sea level between the villages of Upper Chegem and Bezengi on the eastern side of Elbrus, traces of the capital of Ruskolani, the city of Kiyar, were found, which existed long before the birth of Christ, which is mentioned in many legends and epics of different peoples of the world, as well as the oldest astronomical observatory - the Temple of the Sun, described by the ancient historian Al Masudi in his books as the Temple of the Sun.

The location of the found city exactly matches the indications from ancient sources, and later the Turkish traveler of the 17th century, Evliya Celebi, confirmed the location of the city.

On Mount Karakaya, the remains of an ancient temple, caves and graves were found. An incredible number of settlements, ruins of temples have been discovered, and a lot of them have been preserved quite well. Menhirs were found in a valley near the foot of Mount Karakaya, on the Bechesyn plateau - high man-made stones similar to wooden pagan idols.
On one of the stone pillars, the face of a knight is carved, looking straight to the east. And behind the menhir is a bell-shaped hill. This is Tuzuluk ("Treasury of the Sun"). At its top, the ruins of the ancient sanctuary of the Sun are really visible. At the top of the hill is a tour that marks the highest point. Then three large rocks that have undergone manual processing. Once a gap was cut in them, directed from north to south. Stones were also found laid out like sectors in the zodiac calendar. Each sector is exactly 30 degrees.

Each part of the temple complex was intended for calendar and astrological calculations. In this it is similar to the South Ural city-temple Arkaim, which has the same zodiac structure, the same division into 12 sectors. It is also similar to Stonehenge in the UK. It is close to Stonehenge, firstly, by the fact that the axis of the temple is also oriented from north to south, and secondly, one of the most important distinguishing features of Stonehenge is the presence of the so-called “Heel Stone” at a distance from the sanctuary. But after all, at the sanctuary of the Sun on Tuzuluk, a landmark-menhir was installed.

There is evidence that at the turn of our era the temple was plundered by the Bosporus king Farnak. The temple was finally destroyed in IV AD. Goths and Huns. Even the dimensions of the temple are known; 60 cubits (about 20 meters) in length, 20 (6-8 meters) in width and 15 (up to 10 meters) in height, as well as the number of windows and doors - 12 according to the number of signs of the Zodiac.

As a result of the work of the first expedition, there is every reason to believe that the stones on the top of Mount Tuzluk served as the foundation of the Temple of the Sun. Mount Tuzluk is a regular grassy cone about 40 meters high. The slopes rise to the top at an angle of 45 degrees, which actually corresponds to the latitude of the place, and, therefore, looking along it, you can see the North Star. The axis of the foundation of the temple is 30 degrees with the direction to the Eastern peak of Elbrus. The same 30 degrees is the distance between the axis of the temple and the direction to the menhir, and the direction to the menhir and the Shaukam pass. Considering that 30 degrees - 1/12 of a circle - corresponds to a calendar month, this is no coincidence. Sunrise and sunset azimuths on summer and winter solstice differ by only 1.5 degrees from the directions to the peaks of Kanjal, the "gate" of two hills in the depths of the pastures, Mount Dzhaurgen and Mount Tashly-Syrt. There is an assumption that the menhir served as a heel stone in the temple of the Sun, by analogy with Stonehenge, and helped predict solar and lunar eclipses. Thus, Mount Tuzluk is tied to four natural landmarks by the Sun and is tied to the Eastern peak of Elbrus. The height of the mountain is only about 40 meters, the diameter of the base is about 150 meters. These are dimensions comparable to those of the Egyptian pyramids and other places of worship.

In addition, two square tower-like tours were found on the Kayaesik pass. One of them lies strictly on the axis of the temple. Here, on the pass, there are the foundations of structures, ramparts.
In addition, in the central part of the Caucasus, at the northern foot of Elbrus, in the late 70s and early 80s of the XX century, an ancient center of metallurgical production, the remains of smelting furnaces, settlements, burial grounds were discovered.

Summing up the results of the work of the expeditions of the 1980s and 2001, which discovered the concentration of traces of ancient metallurgy, deposits of coal, silver, iron, as well as astronomical, cult and other archaeological objects within a radius of several kilometers, we can confidently assume the discovery of one of the most ancient cultural and administrative centers of the Slavs in the Elbrus region.
During the expeditions of 1851 and 1914, the archaeologist P.G. Akritas examined the ruins of the Scythian Temple of the Sun on the eastern slopes of Beshtau. The results of further archaeological excavations of this shrine were published in 1914 in the Notes of the Rostov-on-Don Historical Society. There was described a huge stone "in the form of a Scythian cap", installed on three abutments, as well as a domed grotto.
And the beginning of major excavations in Pyatigorye (Kavminvody) was laid by the famous pre-revolutionary archaeologist D.Ya. Samokvasov, who described 44 mounds in the vicinity of Pyatigorsk in 1881. Later, after the revolution, only some mounds were examined; only initial exploration work was carried out on the settlements by archaeologists E.I. Krupnov, V.A. Kuznetsov, G.E. Runich, E.P. Alekseeva, S.Ya. Baychorov, Kh.Kh. Bidzhiev and others.

History of Ancient Rus'- the history of the Old Russian state from 862 (or 882) to the Tatar-Mongol invasion.

By the middle of the 9th century (according to the chronicle chronology in 862) in the north European Russia in the Priilmenye region, a large alliance was formed from a number of East Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes, under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty, who founded a centralized state. In 882, the Novgorod prince Oleg captured Kyiv, thereby uniting the northern and southern lands of the Eastern Slavs under one authority. As a result of successful military campaigns and diplomatic efforts of the Kyiv rulers, the new state included the lands of all East Slavic, as well as some Finno-Ugric, Baltic, Turkic tribes. In parallel, the process of Slavic colonization of the north-east of the Russian land was going on.

Ancient Rus' was the largest state formation in Europe, fought for a dominant position in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region with byzantine empire. Under Prince Vladimir in 988, Rus' adopted Christianity. Prince Yaroslav the Wise approved the first Russian code of laws - Russian Truth. In 1132, after the death of the Kiev prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, the Old Russian state began to disintegrate into a number of independent principalities: Novgorod land, Vladimir-Suzdal principality, Galicia-Volyn principality, Chernigov principality, Ryazan principality, Polotsk principality and others. At the same time, Kyiv remained the object of the struggle between the most powerful princely branches, and the Kiev land was considered the collective possession of the Rurikovichs.

Since the middle of the 12th century, the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal has been rising in North-Eastern Rus', its rulers (Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest), fighting for Kiev, left Vladimir as their main residence, which led to its rise as a new all-Russian center. Also, the most powerful principalities were Chernigov, Galicia-Volyn and Smolensk. In 1237-1240, most of the Russian lands were subjected to the devastating invasion of Batu. Kyiv, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Galich, Ryazan and other centers of the Russian principalities were destroyed, the southern and southeastern outskirts lost a significant part of the settled population.

background

The Old Russian state arose on the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" on the lands of the East Slavic tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polyans, then embracing the Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Polochans, Radimichi, Northerners.

Before calling the Varangians

The first information about the state of the Rus dates back to the first third of the 9th century: in 839, the ambassadors of the kagan of the Ros people are mentioned, who first arrived in Constantinople, and from there to the court of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious. Since that time, the ethnonym "Rus" has also become famous. The term " Kievan Rus”appears for the first time only in historical studies of the 18th-19th centuries.

In 860 (The Tale of Bygone Years erroneously refers it to 866), Rus' makes its first campaign against Constantinople. Greek sources associate with him the so-called first baptism of Rus', after which a diocese may have arisen in Rus' and the ruling elite (possibly led by Askold) adopted Christianity.

Rurik's reign

In 862, according to The Tale of Bygone Years, the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes called the Varangians to reign.

In the year 6370 (862). They expelled the Varangians across the sea, and did not give them tribute, and began to rule themselves, and there was no truth among them, and clan stood against clan, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: "Let's look for a prince who would rule over us and judge by right." And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Rus'. Those Varangians were called Rus, as others are called Swedes, and others are Normans and Angles, and still other Gotlanders, - like these. The Russians said Chud, Slovenes, Krivichi and all: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us." And three brothers with their clans were elected, and they took all of Rus' with them, and they came, and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before that they were Slovenes.

In 862 (the date is approximate, like the entire early chronology of the Chronicle), the Varangians and Rurik's combatants Askold and Dir, who were heading to Constantinople, subjugated Kiev, thereby establishing full control over the most important trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks." At the same time, the Novgorod and Nikon chronicles do not connect Askold and Dir with Rurik, and the chronicle of Jan Dlugosh and the Gustyn chronicle call them the descendants of Kiy.

In 879, Rurik died in Novgorod. The reign was transferred to Oleg, the regent under the young son of Rurik Igor.

The first Russian princes

The reign of Oleg the Prophet

In 882, according to chronicle chronology, Prince Oleg ( Oleg Prophetic), a relative of Rurik, went on a campaign from Novgorod to the south, capturing Smolensk and Lyubech along the way, establishing his power there and putting his people on the reign. In Oleg's army there were Varangians and warriors of tribes subject to him - Chuds, Slovenes, Meri and Krivichi. Further, Oleg, with the Novgorod army and a mercenary Varangian squad, captured Kyiv, killed Askold and Dir, who ruled there, and declared Kyiv the capital of his state. Already in Kyiv, he established the size of the tribute that the subject tribes of the Novgorod land had to pay annually - Slovene, Krivichi and Merya. The construction of fortresses in the vicinity of the new capital was also begun.

Oleg militarily extended his power to the lands of the Drevlyans and Northerners, and the Radimichi accepted Oleg's conditions without a fight (the last two tribal unions had previously paid tribute to the Khazars). The annals do not indicate the reaction of the Khazars, however, the historian Petrukhin suggests that they began an economic blockade, ceasing to let Russian merchants through their lands.

As a result of the victorious campaign against Byzantium, the first written agreements were concluded in 907 and 911, which provided for preferential terms of trade for Russian merchants (trade duties were canceled, ships were repaired, accommodation was provided), and legal and military issues were resolved. According to the historian V. Mavrodin, the success of Oleg's campaign is explained by the fact that he managed to rally the forces of the Old Russian state and strengthen its emerging statehood.

According to the chronicle version, Oleg, who bore the title of Grand Duke, ruled for more than 30 years. Rurik's own son Igor took the throne after the death of Oleg around 912 and ruled until 945.

Igor Rurikovich

The beginning of Igor's reign was marked by an uprising of the Drevlyans, who were again subjugated and subjected to even greater tribute, and the appearance of the Pechenegs in the Black Sea steppes (in 915), who ruined the possessions of the Khazars and ousted the Hungarians from the Black Sea region. By the beginning of the X century. the nomad camps of the Pechenegs stretched from the Volga to the Prut.

Igor made two military campaigns against Byzantium. The first, in 941, ended unsuccessfully. It was also preceded by an unsuccessful military campaign against Khazaria, during which Rus', acting at the request of Byzantium, attacked the Khazar city of Samkerts on the Taman Peninsula, but was defeated by the Khazar commander Pesach and turned its weapons against Byzantium. The Bulgarians warned the Byzantines that Igor started the campaign with 10,000 soldiers. Igor's fleet plundered Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Pontic Heraclea and Nicomedia, but then was defeated and he, leaving the surviving army in Thrace, fled to Kyiv with several boats. The captured soldiers were executed in Constantinople. From the capital, he sent an invitation to the Vikings to take part in a new invasion of Byzantium. The second campaign against Byzantium took place in 944.

Igor's army, consisting of glades, Krivichi, Slovenes, Tivertsy, Varangians and Pechenegs, reached the Danube, from where ambassadors were sent to Constantinople. They entered into an agreement that confirmed many of the provisions of the previous agreements of 907 and 911, but abolished duty-free trade. Rus' pledged to protect the Byzantine possessions in the Crimea. In 943 or 944 a campaign was made against Berdaa.

In 945, Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlyans. According to the chronicle version, the reason for the death was the desire of the prince to receive tribute again, which was demanded of him by the warriors, who envied the wealth of the squad of the governor Sveneld. A small squad of Igor was killed by the Drevlyans near Iskorosten, and he himself was executed. The historian A. A. Shakhmatov put forward a version according to which Igor and Sveneld began to conflict because of the Drevlyan tribute and, as a result, Igor was killed.

Olga

After Igor's death, due to the infancy of his son Svyatoslav, real power was in the hands of Igor's widow, Princess Olga. The Drevlyans sent an embassy to her, offering her to become the wife of their prince Mal. However, Olga executed the ambassadors, gathered an army, and in 946 began the siege of Iskorosten, which ended with its burning and the subjugation of the Drevlyans to the Kyiv princes. The Tale of Bygone Years described not only their conquest, but also the revenge that preceded this on the part of the Kyiv ruler. Olga imposed a large tribute on the Drevlyans.

In 947, she undertook a trip to the Novgorod land, where, instead of the former polyudya, she introduced a system of dues and tributes, which the locals themselves had to bring to the camps and churchyards, transferring them to specially appointed people - tiuns. Thus, a new method of collecting tribute from the subjects of the Kievan princes was introduced.

She became the first ruler of the Old Russian state who officially adopted Christianity of the Byzantine rite (according to the most reasoned version, in 957, although other dates are also proposed). In 957, Olga, with a large embassy, ​​paid an official visit to Constantinople, known for the description of court ceremonies by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the work "The Ceremony", and she was accompanied by the priest Gregory.

The emperor calls Olga the ruler (archontissa) of Rus', the name of her son Svyatoslav (in the retinue listing are " people of Svyatoslav”) is mentioned without a title. Olga sought baptism and recognition by Byzantium of Rus' as an equal Christian empire. At baptism, she received the name Elena. However, according to a number of historians, it was not possible to agree on an alliance immediately. In 959, Olga received the Greek embassy, ​​but refused to send an army to help Byzantium. In the same year, she sent ambassadors to the German emperor Otto I with a request to send bishops and priests and establish a church in Rus'. This attempt to play on the contradictions between Byzantium and Germany was successful, Constantinople made concessions by concluding a mutually beneficial agreement, and the German embassy, ​​headed by Bishop Adalbert, returned with nothing. In 960, to help the Greeks went Russian army, who fought in Crete against the Arabs under the leadership of the future emperor Nicephorus Phocas.

The monk Jacob in the 11th century essay “Memory and Praise to the Russian Prince Volodimer” reports the exact date of Olga’s death: July 11, 969.

Svyatoslav Igorevich

Around 960, the matured Svyatoslav took power into his own hands. He grew up among his father's warriors and was the first of the Russian princes to have a Slavic name. From the beginning of his reign, he began to prepare for military campaigns and gathered an army. According to the historian Grekov, Svyatoslav was deeply involved in the international relations of Europe and Asia. Often he acted in agreement with other states, thus participating in solving the problems of European, and, partly, Asian politics.

His first action was the subjugation of the Vyatichi (964), who were the last of all the East Slavic tribes to continue to pay tribute to the Khazars. Then, according to Eastern sources, Svyatoslav attacked and defeated the Volga Bulgaria. In 965 (according to other data also in 968/969) Svyatoslav made a campaign against the Khazar Khaganate. The Khazar army, led by the kagan, went out to meet Svyatoslav's squad, but was defeated. The Russian army stormed the main cities of the Khazars: the city-fortress Sarkel, Semender and the capital Itil. After that, the ancient Russian settlement Belaya Vezha arose on the site of Sarkel. After the defeat, the remnants of the Khazar state were known under the name of the Saksins and no longer played their former role. The assertion of Rus' in the Black Sea region and the North Caucasus is also connected with this campaign, where Svyatoslav defeated the Yases (Alans) and Kasogs (Circassians) and where Tmutarakan became the center of Russian possessions.

In 968, a Byzantine embassy arrived in Rus', proposing an alliance against Bulgaria, which had then left Byzantium. The Byzantine ambassador Kalokir, on behalf of Emperor Nicephorus Foki, brought a gift - 1,500 pounds of gold. Having included the allied Pechenegs in his army, Svyatoslav moved to the Danube. Behind a short time Bulgarian troops were defeated, Russian squads occupied up to 80 Bulgarian cities. Svyatoslav chose Pereyaslavets, a city on the lower reaches of the Danube, as his headquarters. However, such a sharp strengthening of Rus' caused fears in Constantinople and the Byzantines managed to convince the Pechenegs to make another raid on Kyiv. In 968, their army besieged the Russian capital, where Princess Olga and her grandchildren, Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir, were located. The city saved the approach of a small squad of governor Pretich. Soon, Svyatoslav himself arrived with a cavalry army, driving the Pechenegs into the steppes. However, the prince did not seek to remain in Rus'. Chronicles quote him as follows:

Svyatoslav remained in Kyiv until the death of his mother Olga. After that, he divided the possessions between his sons: Yaropolk left Kyiv, Oleg - the lands of the Drevlyans, and Vladimir - Novgorod).

Then he returned to Pereyaslavets. In a new campaign with a significant army (according to various sources, from 10 to 60 thousand soldiers) in 970, Svyatoslav captured almost all of Bulgaria, occupied its capital Preslav and invaded Byzantium. The new emperor John Tzimiskes sent a large army against him. The Russian army, which included Bulgarians and Hungarians, was forced to retreat to Dorostol (Silistria) - a fortress on the Danube.

In 971 it was besieged by the Byzantines. In the battle near the walls of the fortress, Svyatoslav's army suffered heavy losses, he was forced to negotiate with Tzimisces. According to the peace treaty, Rus' pledged not to attack the Byzantine possessions in Bulgaria, and Constantinople promised not to incite the Pechenegs to campaign against Rus'.

Governor Sveneld advised the prince to return to Rus' by land. However, Svyatoslav preferred to sail through the Dnieper rapids. At the same time, the prince planned to gather a new army in Rus' and resume the war with Byzantium. In winter, they were blocked by the Pechenegs, and a small squad of Svyatoslav spent a hungry winter in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. In the spring of 972, Svyatoslav made an attempt to break into Rus', but his army was defeated, and he himself was killed. According to another version, the death of the Kyiv prince occurred in 973. From the skull of the prince, the Pecheneg leader Kurya made a bowl for feasts.

Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise. Baptism of Rus'

The reign of Prince Vladimir. Baptism of Rus'

After the death of Svyatoslav, a civil strife broke out between his sons for the right to the throne (972-978 or 980). The eldest son Yaropolk became the great prince of Kyiv, Oleg received the Drevlyansk lands, and Vladimir - Novgorod. In 977, Yaropolk defeated Oleg's squad, and Oleg himself died. Vladimir fled "over the sea", but returned two years later with the Varangian squad. During a campaign against Kyiv, he conquered Polotsk, an important trading post on the western Dvina, and married the daughter of Prince Rogvolod, Rogneda, whom he had killed.

During the civil strife, Vladimir Svyatoslavich defended his rights to the throne (r. 980-1015). Under him, the formation of the state territory of Ancient Rus' was completed, the Cherven cities and Carpathian Rus, which were disputed by Poland, were annexed. After the victory of Vladimir, his son Svyatopolk married the daughter of the Polish king Boleslav the Brave, and peaceful relations were established between the two states. Vladimir finally annexed the Vyatichi and Radimichi to Rus'. In 983 he made a campaign against the Yotvingians, and in 985 against the Volga Bulgarians.

Having achieved autocracy in the Russian land, Vladimir began a religious reform. In 980, the prince established in Kyiv a pagan pantheon of six gods of different tribes. Tribal cults could not create a unified state religious system. In 986, ambassadors from various countries began to arrive in Kyiv, offering Vladimir to accept their faith.

Islam was offered by the Volga Bulgaria, Western-style Christianity by the German emperor Otto I, Judaism by the Khazar Jews. However, Vladimir chose Christianity, which the Greek philosopher told him about. The embassy that returned from Byzantium supported the prince. In 988, the Russian army besieged the Byzantine Korsun (Chersonese). Byzantium agreed to peace, Princess Anna became the wife of Vladimir. The pagan idols that stood in Kyiv were overthrown, and the people of Kiev were baptized in the Dnieper. A stone church was built in the capital, which became known as the Tithes Church, since the prince gave a tenth of his income for its maintenance. After the baptism of Rus', treaties with Byzantium became unnecessary, since closer relations were established between the two states. These ties were largely strengthened thanks to the church apparatus that the Byzantines organized in Rus'. The first bishops and priests arrived from Korsun and other Byzantine cities. The church organization within the Old Russian state was in the hands of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who became a great political force in Rus'.

Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir faced the increased Pecheneg threat. To protect against nomads, he builds a line of fortresses on the border, the garrisons of which he recruited from the "best men" of the northern tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Chud and Vyatichi. Tribal borders began to blur, the state border became important. It was during the time of Vladimir that the action of many Russian epics telling about the exploits of heroes takes place.

Vladimir established a new order of government: he planted his sons in Russian cities. Svyatopolk received Turov, Izyaslav - Polotsk, Yaroslav - Novgorod, Boris - Rostov, Gleb - Murom, Svyatoslav - the Drevlyane land, Vsevolod - Vladimir-on-Volyn, Sudislav - Pskov, Stanislav - Smolensk, Mstislav - Tmutarakan. Tribute was no longer collected during polyudya and only on churchyards. From that moment on, the princely family with their warriors "fed" in the cities themselves and sent part of the tribute to the capital - Kyiv.

The reign of Yaroslav the Wise

After the death of Vladimir, a new civil strife took place in Rus'. Svyatopolk the Accursed in 1015 killed his brothers Boris (according to another version, Boris was killed by Yaroslav's Scandinavian mercenaries), Gleb and Svyatoslav. Having learned about the murder of the brothers, Yaroslav, who ruled in Novgorod, began to prepare for a campaign against Kyiv. Svyatopolk received help from the Polish king Boleslav and the Pechenegs, but in the end he was defeated and fled to Poland, where he died. Boris and Gleb in 1071 were canonized as saints.

After the victory over Svyatopolk, Yaroslav had a new opponent - his brother Mstislav, who by that time had entrenched himself in Tmutarakan and Eastern Crimea. In 1022, Mstislav conquered the Kasogs (Circassians), defeating their leader Rededya in a fight. Having strengthened the army with the Khazars and Kasogs, he marched to the north, where he subjugated the northerners, who replenished his troops. Then he occupied Chernigov. At this time, Yaroslav turned for help to the Varangians, who sent him a strong army. Decisive battle occurred in 1024 at Listven, the victory went to Mstislav. After her, the brothers divided Rus' into two parts - along the bed of the Dnieper. Kyiv and Novgorod remained with Yaroslav, and it was Novgorod that remained his permanent residence. Mstislav moved his capital to Chernigov. The brothers maintained a close alliance, after the death of the Polish king Boleslav, they returned to Rus' the Cherven cities captured by the Poles after the death of Vladimir the Red Sun.

At this time, Kyiv temporarily lost the status of the political center of Rus'. The leading centers then were Novgorod and Chernigov. Expanding his possessions, Yaroslav undertook a campaign against the Estonian Chud tribe. In 1030, the city of Yuryev (modern Tartu) was founded on the conquered territory.

In 1036, Mstislav fell ill while hunting and died. His only son had died three years earlier. Thus, Yaroslav became the ruler of all Rus', except for the Principality of Polotsk. In the same year Kyiv was attacked by the Pechenegs. By the time Yaroslav arrived with an army of Varangians and Slavs, they had already captured the outskirts of the city.

In the battle near the walls of Kyiv, Yaroslav defeated the Pechenegs, after which he made Kyiv his capital. In memory of the victory over the Pechenegs, the prince laid the famous Hagia Sophia in Kyiv, and artists from Constantinople were called to paint the temple. Then he imprisoned the last surviving brother - Sudislav, who ruled in Pskov. After that, Yaroslav became the sole ruler of almost all of Rus'.

The reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) was at times the highest flowering of the state. Public relations were regulated by the collection of laws "Russian Truth" and princely charters. Yaroslav the Wise pursued an active foreign policy. He intermarried with many ruling dynasties of Europe, which testified to the wide international recognition of Rus' in the European Christian world. Intensive stone construction began. Yaroslav actively turned Kyiv into a cultural and intellectual center, taking Constantinople as a model. At this time, relations between the Russian Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople were normalized.

From that moment on, the Russian Church was headed by the Metropolitan of Kiev, who was ordained by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Not later than 1039, the first Metropolitan of Kiev Feofan arrived in Kyiv. In 1051, having gathered the bishops, Yaroslav himself appointed Hilarion as metropolitan, for the first time without the participation of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Hilarion became the first Russian metropolitan. Yaroslav the Wise died in 1054.

Crafts and trade. Monuments of writing (“The Tale of Bygone Years”, the Novgorod Codex, the Ostromir Gospel, Lives) and architecture (the Church of the Tithes, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and the cathedrals of the same name in Novgorod and Polotsk) were created. The high level of literacy of the inhabitants of Rus' is evidenced by numerous birch bark letters that have come down to our time. Rus' traded with the southern and western Slavs, Scandinavia, Byzantium, Western Europe, the peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Board of sons and grandsons of Yaroslav the Wise

Yaroslav the Wise divided Rus' between his sons. Three eldest sons received the main Russian lands. Izyaslav - Kyiv and Novgorod, Svyatoslav - Chernigov and Murom and Ryazan lands, Vsevolod - Pereyaslavl and Rostov. The younger sons Vyacheslav and Igor received Smolensk and Vladimir Volynsky. These possessions were not inherited, there was a system in which the younger brother inherited the eldest in the princely family - the so-called "ladder" system. The eldest in the clan (not by age, but by line of kinship), received Kievi and became the Grand Duke, all other lands were divided among members of the clan and distributed according to seniority. Power passed from brother to brother, from uncle to nephew. The second place in the hierarchy of tables was occupied by Chernihiv. At the death of one of the members of the family, all the younger Ruriks moved to the lands corresponding to their seniority. When new members of the clan appeared, they were assigned a lot - a city with land (volost). A certain prince had the right to reign only in the city where his father reigned, otherwise he was considered an outcast. The ladder system regularly caused strife between the princes.

In the 60s. In the 11th century, Polovtsians appeared in the Northern Black Sea region. The sons of Yaroslav the Wise could not stop their invasion, but were afraid to arm the militia of Kyiv. In response to this, in 1068, the people of Kiev overthrew Izyaslav Yaroslavich and put Prince Vseslav of Polotsk on the throne, a year before that he had been captured by the Yaroslavichs during the strife. In 1069, with the help of the Poles, Izyaslav occupied Kyiv, but after this, the uprisings of the townspeople became constant during crises of princely power. Presumably in 1072, the Yaroslavichi edited the Russkaya Pravda, significantly expanding it.

Izyaslav tried to regain control over Polotsk, but to no avail, and in 1071 he made peace with Vseslav. In 1073 Vsevolod and Svyatoslav expelled Izyaslav from Kyiv, accusing him of an alliance with Vseslav, and Izyaslav fled to Poland. Svyatoslav, who himself was in allied relations with the Poles, began to rule Kiev. In 1076 Svyatoslav died and Vsevolod became the prince of Kyiv.

When Izyaslav returned with the Polish army, Vsevolod returned the capital to him, keeping Pereyaslavl and Chernigov behind him. At the same time, the eldest son of Svyatoslav Oleg remained without possessions, who began the struggle with the support of the Polovtsy. In the battle with them, Izyaslav Yaroslavich died, and Vsevolod again became the ruler of Rus'. He made his son Vladimir, born of a Byzantine princess from the Monomakh dynasty, the prince of Chernigov. Oleg Svyatoslavich fortified himself in Tmutarakan. Vsevolod continued the foreign policy of Yaroslav the Wise. He sought to strengthen ties with European countries by marrying his son Vladimir to the Anglo-Saxon Gita, the daughter of King Harald, who died in the Battle of Hastings. He gave his daughter Eupraxia to the German Emperor Henry IV. The reign of Vsevolod was characterized by the distribution of land to nephew princes and the formation of an administrative hierarchy.

After the death of Vsevolod, Kyiv was occupied by Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. The Polovtsy sent an embassy to Kyiv with an offer of peace, but Svyatopolk Izyaslavich refused to negotiate and seized the ambassadors. These events became the reason for a large Polovtsian campaign against Rus', as a result of which the combined troops of Svyatopolk and Vladimir were defeated, and significant territories around Kyiv and Pereyaslavl were devastated. The Polovtsy took away many prisoners. Taking advantage of this, the sons of Svyatoslav, with the support of the Polovtsy, laid claim to Chernigov. In 1094, Oleg Svyatoslavich with Polovtsian detachments moved to Chernigov from Tmutarakan. When his army approached the city, Vladimir Monomakh made peace with him, losing Chernigov and going to Pereyaslavl. In 1095, the Polovtsy repeated the raid, during which they reached Kyiv itself, devastating its environs. Svyatopolk and Vladimir called for help from Oleg, who reigned in Chernigov, but he ignored their requests. After the departure of the Polovtsians, the Kyiv and Pereyaslav squads captured Chernigov, and Oleg fled to his brother Davyd in Smolensk. There he replenished his troops and attacked Mur, where the son of Vladimir Monomakh, Izyaslav, ruled. Murom was taken, and Izyaslav fell in battle. Despite the offer of peace that Vladimir sent him, Oleg continued his campaign and captured Rostov. He was prevented from continuing the conquest by another son of Monomakh, Mstislav, who was the governor in Novgorod. He defeated Oleg, who fled to Ryazan. Vladimir Monomakh once again offered him peace, to which Oleg agreed.

The peaceful initiative of Monomakh was continued in the form of the Lubech Congress of Princes, who gathered in 1097 to resolve existing differences. The congress was attended by Kiev prince Svyatopolk, Vladimir Monomakh, Davyd (son of Igor Volynsky), Vasilko Rostislavovich, Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavovichi. The princes agreed to stop the strife and not claim other people's possessions. However, the peace did not last long. Davyd Volynsky and Svyatopolk captured Vasilko Rostislavovich and blinded him. Vasilko became the first Russian prince to be blinded during civil strife in Rus'. Outraged by the actions of Davyd and Svyatopolk, Vladimir Monomakh and Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich set off on a campaign against Kyiv. The people of Kiev sent a delegation to meet them, headed by the metropolitan, who managed to convince the princes to keep the peace. However, Svyatopolk was entrusted with the task of punishing Davyd Volynsky. He released Vasilko. However, another civil strife began in Rus', which grew into a large-scale war in the western principalities. It ended in 1100 with a congress in Uvetichi. Davyd Volynsky was deprived of the principality. However, for "feeding" he was given the city of Buzhsk. In 1101, the Russian princes managed to conclude peace with the Polovtsy.

Changes in public administration at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 12th centuries

During the baptism of Rus' in all its lands, the power of Orthodox bishops was established, subordinate to the Kyiv Metropolitan. At the same time, the sons of Vladimir were installed as governors in all the lands. Now all the princes who acted as allotments of the Kyiv Grand Duke were only from the Rurik family. The Scandinavian sagas mention fief possessions of the Vikings, but they were located on the outskirts of Rus' and on the newly annexed lands, so at the time of writing The Tale of Bygone Years, they already seemed like a relic. The Rurik princes waged a fierce struggle with the remaining tribal princes (Vladimir Monomakh mentions the Vyatichi prince Khodota and his son). This contributed to the centralization of power.

The power of the Grand Duke reached its highest level under Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise (then after a break under Vladimir Monomakh). The position of the dynasty was strengthened by numerous international dynastic marriages: Anna Yaroslavna and the French king, Vsevolod Yaroslavich and the Byzantine princess, etc.

From the time of Vladimir, or, according to some reports, Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, the prince began to give land to combatants instead of a monetary salary. If initially these were cities for feeding, then in the 11th century, combatants began to receive villages. Together with the villages, which became estates, the boyar title was also granted. The boyars began to make up the senior squad. The service of the boyars was determined by personal loyalty to the prince, and not by the size of the land allotment (conditional land ownership did not become noticeably widespread). The younger squad (“youths”, “children”, “gridi”), who was with the prince, lived off feeding from the princely villages and the war. The main fighting force in the 11th century was the militia, which received horses and weapons from the prince for the duration of the war. The services of the hired Varangian squad were basically abandoned during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise.

Over time, the church (“monastic estates”) began to possess a significant part of the land. Since 996, the population has paid tithes to the church. The number of dioceses, starting from 4, grew. The chair of the metropolitan, appointed by the patriarch of Constantinople, began to be located in Kiev, and under Yaroslav the Wise, the metropolitan was first elected from among the Russian priests, in 1051 he became close to Vladimir and his son Hilarion. The monasteries and their elected heads, abbots, began to have great influence. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery becomes the center of Orthodoxy.

The boyars and the retinue formed special councils under the prince. The prince also consulted with the metropolitan, the bishops and abbots, who made up the church council. With the complication of the princely hierarchy, by the end of the 11th century, princely congresses (“snems”) began to gather. There were vechas in the cities, on which the boyars often relied to support their own political demands (the uprisings in Kyiv in 1068 and 1113).

In the 11th - early 12th centuries, the first written code of laws was formed - "Russian Pravda", which was consistently replenished with articles "Pravda Yaroslav" (c. 1015-1016), "Pravda Yaroslavichi" (c. 1072) and "Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich" (c. 1113). Russkaya Pravda reflected the increased differentiation of the population (now the size of the virus depended on social position killed), the position of such categories of the population as servants, serfs, serfs, purchases and ryadovichi was regulated.

"Pravda Yaroslava" equalized the rights of "Rusyns" and "Slovenes" (it should be clarified that under the name "Slovene" the chronicle mentions only Novgorodians - "Ilmen Slovenes"). This, along with Christianization and other factors, contributed to the formation of a new ethnic community, which was aware of its unity and historical origin.

Since the end of the 10th century, Rus' has known its own coin production - silver and gold coins of Vladimir I, Svyatopolk, Yaroslav the Wise and other princes.

Decay

The first to separate from Kyiv was the Polotsk principality - this happened already at the beginning of the 11th century. Having concentrated all the other Russian lands under his rule only 21 years after the death of his father, Yaroslav the Wise, dying in 1054, divided them among his five surviving sons. After the death of the two youngest of them, all the lands were under the rule of the three elders: Izyaslav of Kyiv, Svyatoslav of Chernigov and Vsevolod Pereyaslavsky (“the triumvirate of Yaroslavichi”).

Since 1061 (immediately after the defeat of the Torques by the Russian princes in the steppes), the Polovtsy raids began, replacing the Pechenegs who migrated to the Balkans. During the long Russian-Polovtsian wars, the southern princes long time could not cope with the opponents, undertaking a number of unsuccessful campaigns and suffering sensitive defeats (the battle on the Alta River (1068), the battle on the Stugna River (1093).

After the death of Svyatoslav in 1076, the Kyiv princes attempted to deprive his sons of the Chernigov inheritance, and they resorted to the help of the Polovtsy, although for the first time the Polovtsy were used in strife by Vladimir Monomakh (against Vseslav of Polotsk). In this struggle, Izyaslav of Kiev (1078) and the son of Vladimir Monomakh Izyaslav (1096) died. At the Lyubech Congress (1097), called to stop civil strife and unite the princes to protect themselves from the Polovtsians, the principle was proclaimed: “ Let each one keep his own". Thus, while maintaining the right of the ladder, in the event of the death of one of the princes, the movement of heirs was limited to their patrimony. This opened the way to political fragmentation (feudal fragmentation), since a separate dynasty was established in each land, and the Grand Duke of Kiev became the first among equals, losing the role of overlord. However, this also made it possible to stop the strife and join forces to fight the Polovtsy, which was moved deep into the steppes. In addition, agreements were concluded with allied nomads - “black hoods” (torks, berendeys and pechenegs, expelled by the Polovtsy from the steppes and settled on the southern Russian borders).

In the second quarter of the 12th century, the Old Russian state broke up into independent principalities. The modern historiographic tradition considers the chronological beginning of fragmentation to be 1132, when, after the death of Mstislav the Great, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, Polotsk (1132) and Novgorod (1136) ceased to recognize the power of the Kiev prince, and the title itself became an object of struggle between various dynastic and territorial associations of the Rurikovichs. The chronicler under 1134, in connection with the split among the Monomakhoviches, wrote down “ the whole Russian land was torn apart". The civil strife that began did not concern the great reign itself, but after the death of Yaropolk Vladimirovich (1139), the next Monomakhovich Vyacheslav was expelled from Kyiv by Vsevolod Olgovich of Chernigov.

During the XII-XIII centuries, part of the population of the southern Russian principalities, due to the constant threat emanating from the steppe, and also because of the incessant princely strife for the Kiev land, moved north, to the calmer Rostov-Suzdal land, also called Zalesie or Opole. Having joined the ranks of the Slavs of the first, Krivitsko-Novgorod migration wave of the 10th century, settlers from the populous south quickly made up the majority on this land and assimilated the rare Finno-Ugric population. Massive Russian migration during the 12th century is evidenced by chronicles and archaeological excavations. It was during this period that the foundation and rapid growth of numerous cities of the Rostov-Suzdal land (Vladimir, Moscow, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yuryev-Opolsky, Dmitrov, Zvenigorod, Starodub-on-Klyazma, Yaropolch-Zalessky, Galich, etc.) often repeated the names of the cities of origin of the settlers. The weakening of Southern Rus' is also associated with the success of the first crusades and the change in the main trade routes.

During two major internecine wars of the mid-12th century, the Kiev principality lost Volyn (1154), Pereyaslavl (1157) and Turov (1162). In 1169, the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, Vladimir-Suzdal Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, sent an army led by his son Mstislav to the south, which captured Kyiv. For the first time, the city was brutally plundered, Kyiv churches were burned, the inhabitants were taken into captivity. Andrey's younger brother was planted to reign in Kiev. And although soon, after unsuccessful campaigns against Novgorod (1170) and Vyshgorod (1173), the influence of the Vladimir prince in other lands temporarily fell, Kiev began to gradually lose, and Vladimir to acquire the political attributes of an all-Russian center. In the 12th century, in addition to the prince of Kyiv, the princes of Vladimir also began to bear the title of great, and in the 13th century, episodically also the princes of Galicia, Chernigov and Ryazan.

Kyiv, unlike most other principalities, did not become the property of any one dynasty, but served as a constant bone of contention for all strong princes. In 1203, it was again plundered by the Smolensk prince Rurik Rostislavich, who fought against the Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. In the battle on the Kalka River (1223), in which almost all South Russian princes took part, the first clash of Rus' with the Mongols took place. The weakening of the southern Russian principalities increased the onslaught from the Hungarian and Lithuanian feudal lords, but at the same time contributed to the strengthening of the influence of the Vladimir princes in Chernigov (1226), Novgorod (1231), Kiev (in 1236 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich occupied Kiev for two years, while his older brother Yuri remained reign in Vladimir) and Smolensk (1236-1239). During the Mongol invasion of Rus', which began in 1237, in December 1240, Kyiv was turned into ruins. It was received by Vladimir princes Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, recognized by the Mongols as the oldest in the Russian lands, and later by his son Alexander Nevsky. They, however, did not begin to move to Kyiv, remaining in their ancestral Vladimir. In 1299, the Metropolitan of Kiev moved his residence there. In some church and literary sources - for example, in the statements of the Patriarch of Constantinople and Vytautas at the end of the 14th century - Kiev continued to be considered as a capital city at a later time, but by that time it was already a provincial city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Since 1254, the Galician princes bore the title "King of Rus'". The title of "great princes of all Rus'" from the beginning of the 14th century began to be worn by the princes of Vladimir.

In Soviet historiography, the concept of "Kievan Rus" was extended both until the middle of the XII century, and for a wider period of the middle of the XII - the middle of the XIII centuries, when Kiev remained the center of the country and the control of Russia was carried out by a single princely family on the principles of "collective suzerainty". Both approaches remain relevant today.

Pre-revolutionary historians, starting with N. M. Karamzin, adhered to the idea of ​​transferring the political center of Rus' in 1169 from Kiev to Vladimir, dating back to the works of Moscow scribes, or to Vladimir (Volyn) and Galich. In modern historiography there is no unity of opinion on this matter. Some historians believe that these ideas do not find confirmation in the sources. In particular, some of them point to such a sign of the political weakness of the Suzdal land as a small number of fortified settlements compared to other lands of Rus'. Other historians, on the contrary, find confirmation in the sources that the political center of Russian civilization moved from Kyiv, first to Rostov and Suzdal, and later to Vladimir-on-Klyazma.

Its history can be conditionally divided into three periods:

the first - the period of the formation of Ancient Rus' under the first Rurik princes (the second half of the 9th - the last third of the 10th centuries);

the second - the heyday of Kievan Rus under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise (end of the 10th - first half of the 11th centuries);

the third - the period of the beginning of the territorial and political fragmentation of the Old Russian state and its collapse (the second half of the 11th - the first third of the 12th centuries).

- First period history of ancient Rus' begins since 862 when in Novgorod or, perhaps, first in Staraya Ladoga he began to reign Rurik (862 - 879). As already noted, this year is traditionally considered the legendary beginning of Russian statehood.

Unfortunately, information about the details of the reign of Rurik has not reached us. Since Rurik's son Igor was a minor, he became a guardian with him and the Novgorod prince Oleg (879 - 912). According to some reports, it was a relative of Rurik, according to others - the leader of one of the Varangian detachments.

In 882, Oleg undertook a campaign against Kyiv and killed Askold and Dir, who reigned there, who were the last representatives of the genus of the legendary Kiya. True, some scientists consider them to be Rurik's warriors who occupied the throne of Kiev. Oleg made Kyiv the capital of the united state, calling it "the mother of Russian cities." That is why the Old Russian state also went down in history under the name of Kievan Rus.

In 911, Oleg made a victorious campaign against Constantinople(so the Russians called Constantinople - the capital of Byzantium). He concluded a very favorable agreement for Rus' with the Byzantine emperor and returned to Kyiv with rich booty. Under the agreement, Russian merchants, or guests, as they were then called, could buy goods in Constantinople without paying duties for them, live in the capital for a month at the expense of the Greeks, and so on. Oleg included the Krivichi, Northerners, Radimichi and Drevlyans into his state, who began to pay tribute to the Kyiv prince.

For luck, wisdom and cunning, Oleg was nicknamed the Prophetic people, that is, who knows in advance what to do in a given situation.

After the death of Oleg, the prince of Kyiv became the son of Rurik Igor (912 - 945). Under him, the Russian squads twice made a trip to Byzantium and concluded a new agreement with the Byzantine emperor, which stipulated the order of trade between the two states. It also included articles on a military alliance.

Igor fought with the Pechenegs who attacked the Russian lands. Under him, the territory of the state expanded by including the lands of the streets and Tivertsy in its composition. Subject lands paid tribute to the Kyiv prince, which he annually collected, going around them with his retinue. In 945, trying to re-take tribute from the Drevlyans, Igor was killed by them.

Igor's successor was his wife, Princess Olga (945 - 964). She cruelly took revenge on the Drevlyans for the death of her husband, killing many of the rebellious ones, and burned their capital, the city of Iskorosten (now Korosten). The Drevlyans were finally included in the composition of the Old Russian state.

Under Olga, tribute collection was streamlined. Special places for collecting tribute were established - graveyards, the amount of tribute - lessons, the timing of its collection was determined.

During this period, the international relations of Ancient Rus' expanded significantly. There was an exchange of embassies with the German emperor Otto I, relations with Byzantium were strengthened. Making a visit to Constantinople, Olga promised support to the Byzantine emperor in his policy towards neighbors, and also adopted Christianity there. Later Russian Orthodox Church canonized Olga among the saints.

The next Kyiv prince was the son of Igor and Olga - Svyatoslav (964 - 972). He was a talented commander who glorified the Russian land with his military campaigns. It is Svyatoslav who owns the famous words that he uttered in front of his squad in one of the difficult battles: "Let's lie down here with bones: the dead have no shame!"

He began the subordination of Ancient Rus' to the Vyatichi, who until the last fought for their independence and remained the only Slavic tribe in the east that was not subject to the Kyiv prince. Svyatoslav defeated the Khazars, repelled the onslaught of the Pechenegs, defeated the Volga Bulgaria, successfully fought on the Azov coast, capturing Tmutarakan (modern Taman) on the Taman Peninsula.

Svyatoslav began a war with Byzantium for the Balkan Peninsula, which at first developed successfully, and he even thought of moving the capital of his state from Kyiv to the banks of the Danube, to the city of Pereyaslavets. But these plans failed to materialize. After stubborn battles with a large Byzantine army, Svyatoslav was forced to conclude a non-aggression pact with Byzantium and return the occupied lands.

Returning to Kyiv with the remnants of his squads, Svyatoslav at the Dnieper rapids was ambushed by the Pechenegs and was killed. The Pecheneg prince cut off his head and made a bowl out of the skull, believing that all the strength of the great warrior would pass to the drinker from it. These events took place in 972. Thus ended the first period of the history of Ancient Rus'.

After the death of Svyatoslav, turmoil began, the strugglefor power among his sons. It stopped after the Kiev throne was taken by his third son, Prince Vladimir. He went down in history as Vladimir I, an outstanding statesman and commander (980 - 1015). And in Russian epics - this is Vladimir the Red Sun.

Under him, as part of Ancient Rus', all the lands of the Eastern Slavs finally united, some of which, primarily the Vyatichi, during the period of unrest tried to again become beyond the control of the Kyiv prince.

Vladimir managed to solve the main task of the foreign policy of the Russian state of that time - to organize an effective defense against the raids of the Pechenegs. To do this, several defensive lines were built on the border with the steppe with a well-thought-out system of fortresses, ramparts, signal towers. This made it impossible for the sudden attack of the Pechenegs and saved the Russian villages and cities from their raids. It was in those fortresses that the epic heroes Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikitich served. In battles with Russian squads, the Pechenegs suffered heavy defeats.

Vladimir made several successful military campaigns in the Polish lands, Volga Bulgaria and others.

The Kiev prince reformed the system of government and replaced the local princes, who continued to rule the tribes that became part of Ancient Rus', with their sons and "husbands", that is, the heads of squads.

Under him, the first Russian coins appeared: golden coins and silver coins. Vladimir himself was depicted on the coins, as well as Jesus Christ.

The appearance of Jesus Christ on the coins was not accidental. In 988, Vladimir I adopted Christianity and made it the state religion.

Christianity has long penetrated Rus'. Even under Prince Igor, part of the combatants were Christians, in Kyiv there was the Cathedral of St. Elijah, Vladimir's grandmother, Princess Olga, was baptized.

The baptism of Vladimir took place in the Crimea after the victory over the Byzantine troops during the siege of the city of Korsun (Chersonese). Vladimir demanded the Byzantine princess Anna as his wife and announced his intention to be baptized. This was gladly accepted by the Byzantine side. A Byzantine princess was sent to the Kyiv prince, as well as priests who baptized Vladimir, his sons and the squad.

Returning to Kyiv, Vladimir, under pain of punishment, forced the people of Kiev and the rest of the people to be baptized. The baptism of Rus', as a rule, took place peacefully, although it met with some resistance. Only in Novgorod did the inhabitants revolt and were pacified by force of arms. After that, they were christened, driven into the Volkhov River.

The adoption of Christianity was great importance for the further development of Rus'.

Firstly, it strengthened the territorial unity and state power of Ancient Rus'.

Secondly, having rejected paganism, Rus' now stood on a par with other Christian countries. There was a significant expansion of its international relations and contacts.

Thirdly, it had a huge impact on further development Russian culture.

For his merits in the baptism of Rus', Prince Vladimir was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as a saint and named Equal-to-the-Apostles.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church was the Metropolitan, who until the middle of the 15th century was appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

After the death of Vladimir I, turmoil began again, in which twelve of his sons fought for the throne of Kiev. The turmoil lasted for four years.

During this princely civil strife, on the orders of one of the brothers, Svyatopolk, three other brothers were killed: Boris Rostovsky, Gleb Murom and Svyatoslav Drevlyansky. For these crimes, Svyatopolk received the nickname Cursed among the people. And Boris and Gleb began to be revered as holy martyrs.

Civil strife ended after the beginning of the reign in Kyiv Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich, who received from his contemporaries the nickname the Wise (1019 - 1054). The years of his reign in history are considered the period of the highest flowering of Ancient Rus'.

Under Yaroslav, the raids of the Pechenegs stopped, which were given a tough rebuff. In the north, in the Baltic lands, Yuryev (now the city of Tartu in Estonia) was founded, on the Volga - the city of Yaroslavl. The Kyiv prince managed to unite under his command all of Ancient Rus', that is, he finally became the sovereign prince of the Old Russian state.

Rus' has received wide international recognition. Yaroslav was related to many of the European ruling dynasties. His daughters were married to the Hungarian, Norwegian, French kings. Yaroslav's sister married the Polish king, and her granddaughter married the German emperor. Yaroslav himself married a Swedish princess, and his son Vsevolod married a Byzantine princess, daughter of Emperor Constantine Monomakh. The grandson of Yaroslav Vladimir, who was born from this marriage, received the nickname Monomakh. It was he who later continued the glorious deeds of his grandfather.

Yaroslav went down in history as a Russian legislator. It was under him that the first code of laws "Russian Truth" appeared, in which life in Ancient Rus' was regulated. The law, in particular, permitted blood feuds. A murder could be avenged legally: a son for a father and a father for a son, a brother for a brother and a nephew for an uncle.

Under Yaroslav, there was a rapid development of Russian culture: temples were built, work was carried out to teach literacy, translation from Greek and correspondence of books into Russian, and a book depository was created. In 1051, shortly before the death of Yaroslav, the Kyiv Metropolitan for the first time became not a Byzantine, but a Russian clergyman, Hilarion. He wrote that the Russian state at that time was "known and heard in all corners of the earth." With the death of Yaroslav in 1054, the second period of the history of Ancient Rus' ended.

- Public and political system Kievan Rus

Geographically, Rus' in the XI century was located from the Baltic (Varangian) and White Seas, Lake Ladoga in the north to the Black (Russian) Sea in the south, from the eastern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the upper reaches of the Volga and Oka in the east. About 5 million people lived in vast territories. The family made up the yard, "smoke", "ten". Families constituted territorial-neighboring (no longer consanguineous) communities (“verv”, “hundred”). Communities gravitated towards graveyards - trade and administrative centers, on the site of which cities grew up (“regiment”, “thousand”). In place of the former tribal unions, principalities ("lands") were formed.

The political system of the Old Russian state combined the institutions of the new feudal formation and the old, primitive communal one. At the head of the state was a hereditary prince, called the Grand Duke. He ruled with the help of a council of other princes and combatants. The rulers of other principalities were subordinate to the Kyiv prince. The prince had a significant military force, which included the fleet.

The supreme power belonged to the Grand Duke, the eldest among the Ruriks. The prince was a legislator, a military leader, a supreme judge, an addressee of tribute. The prince was surrounded by a squad. The warriors lived in the princely court, participated in campaigns, shared tribute and military booty, and feasted with the prince. The prince consulted with the squad on all matters. The Boyar Duma, which was originally composed of senior warriors, participated in the management. In all lands, the people's assembly played an important role. Management was carried out by princes, posadniks from the boyars, governors, elected thousands in cities, etc.

The armed forces included a professional princely squad and a militia. Initially, the permanent detachments (“courts of princes”) included yard servants, both free and dependent (“serfs”). Later, the service to the prince began to be based on his contract with his servant (boyar) and became permanent. The very word "boyar" takes its origin from the word "bolyar" or "fighter". If necessary, in case of military danger, a people's militia was assembled, headed by a thousand, by decision of the veche meeting. The militia was made up of free people - peasants and townspeople. The militia was built according to the "decimal principle". Warriors united in tens, tens - in hundreds, hundreds - in thousands. Most of the commanders - tenth, sotsky, thousandth - were chosen by the soldiers themselves. The warriors knew each other well. A hundred were usually men from the same volost, usually connected by some degree of kinship. Over time, the decimal system is replaced by a territorial, (district) principle. "Thousand" is replaced by a territorial unit - the army. Detachments began to be called "regiments". "Dozens" were transformed into a new territorial unit - "spear".

In 988, under Vladimir I, Christianity in the Byzantine version was adopted as the state religion instead of paganism. The Russian Orthodox Church initially supported the state and depended on it, since according to the Charter of Vladimir, who was proclaimed a saint, it received 10% of all income in the state for its functioning. The Grand Dukes actually appointed the highest clergy and encouraged the development of monasteries. The principle of the predominance of secular power over the spiritual is usually called Caesaropapism.

The majority of landowners, the boyars, who had extensive farms in the countryside, lived in Russian cities. They were interested in collecting and sharing the tribute collected in the surrounding territories. Thus, the state apparatus was born in the cities, the upper strata of society were consolidated, inter-territorial ties were strengthened, that is, the process of state formation developed.

The basis of the social organization of Ancient Rus' was the community. In modern Russian historical science, the prevailing opinion is that in the Old Russian state the absolute majority of the population was made up of free communal peasants who united in a rope (from the rope with which land plots were measured; the rope was also called “hundred”, later - “lip”). They were respectfully called "people", "men". They plowed, sowed, chopped and burned the forest for new arable land (“slash and fire system”). They could fill up a bear, an elk, a wild boar, catch fish, collect honey from forest boards. The “husband” of Ancient Rus' participated in the gathering of the community, chose the headman, participated in the trial as part of a kind of “jury” - “twelve best husbands” (called “exodus”). The ancient Russian, together with his neighbors, pursued a horse thief, an arsonist, a murderer, participated in an armed militia in the event of major military campaigns, and, together with others, fought off a raid by nomads. A free person had to control his feelings, be responsible for himself, relatives and dependent people. For premeditated murder in accordance with the "Russian Truth", a code of laws of the first half of the XI century. property was confiscated, and the family was completely converted into slavery (this procedure was called "flood and plunder"). For a tuft of hair torn from a beard or mustache, an offended free person “for moral damage” was entitled to compensation of 12 hryvnias (hryvnia is a silver bar weighing about 200 grams; currently hryvnia is the main monetary unit in Ukraine). Thus the personal dignity of a free man was valued. Murder was punishable by a fine of 40 hryvnia.

The "husband" of Ancient Rus' was an indisputable conscript, a participant in military campaigns. By decision of the people's council, all combat-ready men marched on the campaign. Weapons (swords, shields, spears) were obtained, as a rule, from the prince's arsenal. Each man knew how to handle an ax, a knife, a bow. So, the army of Svyatoslav (965-972), including along with the squad and the people's militia, totaled up to 50-60 thousand people.

The communal population was the absolute majority in Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, Chernigov, Vladimir, Polotsk, Galicia, Kyiv and other lands. A peculiar community was also the population of cities, among which Novgorod with its veche system is of the greatest interest.

At the same time, various life circumstances created categories of people of a different legal status. Ryadovichi were those who fell into temporary dependence on the owner on the basis of an agreement (“row”) concluded with him. Those who lost their property and received from the owner a small plot of land and tools became purchases. Zakup worked for a loan (kupa), grazed the owner's cattle, could not leave him, could be subjected to corporal punishment, but could not be sold into slavery, retaining a chance to redeem himself to freedom. As a result of captivity, self-sale, sale for debts or for crimes, through marriage or marriage to a serf or serf, Russian people could become serfs. The right of the master in relation to the serf was not limited in any way. His murder "cost" only 5 hryvnia. Slaves were, on the one hand, the servants of the feudal lord, who were part of his personal servants and squads, even the princely or boyar administration. On the other hand, serfs (slaves of Russian society), in contrast to ancient slaves, could be planted on the ground (“suffering people”, “sufferers”), worked as artisans. The lumpen-proletarians of Ancient Rus', by analogy with Ancient Rome, can be called outcasts. These were people who had lost their former social status: peasants expelled from the community; freed serfs who ransomed their freedom (as a rule, after the death of the owner); bankrupt merchants and even princes "without a place", that is, who did not receive the territory in which they performed managerial functions. When considering court cases, the social status of a person played an important role, the principle was in effect - "it's fun to judge according to your husband, depending." Landowners, princes and boyars acted as owners of dependent people.

3. Feudalism in Western Europe and the socio-economic structure of Ancient Rus': similarities and differences.

The emergence and development of feudal landownership and the enslavement of the peasantry associated with it took place in different ways. In Western Europe, for example, in France military service the land was granted to the king first for life, and then as hereditary property. Over time, the peasants were attached both to the personality of the feudal landowner and to the land. The peasant had to work on his farm and on the farm of the lord (senior, master). The serf gave the owner a significant part of the products of his labor (bread, meat, poultry, fabrics, leather, shoes), and also performed many other duties. All of them were called feudal rent and were considered the peasant's payment for the use of land, thanks to which his family was fed. This is how the main economic unit of the feudal mode of production arose, which in England was called a manor, in France and many other countries - a seigneury, and in Russia - a fiefdom.

In Byzantium, such a rigid system of feudal relations did not develop. In Byzantium, feudal lords were forbidden to keep squads, build prisons on estates, and they lived, as a rule, in cities, and not in fortified castles. On charges of conspiracy, treason, any feudal owner could lose his property and life itself. In all feudal societies, land was the main value. To cultivate the land, the feudal landowners used various systems of exploitation of peasant labor, without which the land remained dead.

In the Russian lands, the formation of social economic relations inherent in feudal society, had its own characteristics. Pressure from the prince, his administration had certain limits. There were many free lands in the country. For centuries, it was possible to leave the former place and settle 50-100 miles to the north or east. In a new place, in a few days it was possible to put up a house, in a few months to clear a plot for arable land. Such an opportunity warmed the soul of the Russian people for many decades. The colonization of free territories, their economic development took place almost continuously. They fled from the raids of nomads in the nearest forest. The process of feudalization, restriction of freedom of rural and urban workers was slow.

In the IX - X centuries. at the initial stage of the development of feudal relations, direct producers were subordinated to state power. The main form of dependence of the peasants was state taxes: land tax - tribute (polyudye), court taxes ( vira, sales).

At the second stage, an individual, large landed property, which in Western Europe was called senior. Feudal ownership of land arose, legally formalized in different ways in different Russian lands, at different speeds as a result of increasing property inequality and in connection with the transfer of a significant part of the arable land of the community members into the private property of large owners - feudal lords, princes and boyars. Agricultural communities gradually came under the patronage of the prince and his squad. A system of exploitation of the personally free population by the military service nobility (team) of the Kyiv princes was formed by collecting tribute. Another way to subjugate the neighboring community to the feudal lords was to capture them by warriors and princes. But most often, tribal nobility turned into large owners, subjugating the community members. Communities that did not fall under the rule of the feudal lords were obliged to pay taxes to the state, which in relation to these communities acted both as the supreme authority and as a feudal lord.

In the tenth century arises, and in the following century, the dominal land tenure of the Kyiv princes is strengthened. The main form of organization of economic life is feudal fiefdom, i.e., the father's estate, betrayed from father to son. In the XI century. landed property appears among representatives of the top of the service nobility - the boyars. The princes and their noble combatants begin to seize various, mostly communal lands. There is a process of feudalization of Russian society, since the possession of land gives significant economic advantages and becomes an important political factor.

The princes of individual lands and other large, medium, small feudal lords were in vassal dependence on the Grand Duke. They were obliged to supply soldiers to the Grand Duke, to appear at his request with a squad. At the same time, these vassals themselves exercised control over their estates and the grand ducal governors had no right to interfere in their internal affairs.

Each fiefdom was something like a small independent state with their own business. The feudal patrimony was stable because it led a subsistence economy. If necessary, the peasants were attracted to the "corvée", that is, to general work in favor of the owner.

In the XII - the first half of the XIII century. patrimonial land ownership continues to grow. In economic life, boyar and princely patrimonies, as well as ecclesiastical, feudal land holdings in their essence, come to the fore. If in written sources of the XI century. there is little information about the boyar and monastic estates, then in the 12th century, references to large landholdings become regular. The state-feudal form of ownership continued to play a leading role. Most of the direct producers continued to be personally free people. They depended only on state power, paying tribute and other state taxes.

4. Neighbors of Ancient Rus' in the IX-XII centuries: Byzantium, Slavic countries, Western Europe, Khazaria, Volga Bulgaria.

At the stage of the formation of the Old Russian state (862-980), the Rurikovichs solved the following tasks:

1. They expanded their sphere of influence, subjugated all the new East Slavic and non-Slavic tribes. Rurik joined the Finnish tribes to the Slavs - all, I measure, Meshchera. In 882, Oleg moved the center of Ancient Rus' to Kyiv, "the mother of Russian cities." He included the lands of the Krivichi, Drevlyans, Severyans, Radimichi, Dulebs, Tivertsy and Croats into the composition of Ancient Rus' and essentially completed the unification of all East Slavic tribes within a single state. Ancient Rus' included most of the East European Plain.

2. The first Rurikovichs entered into relations with neighboring established and emerging states, fought wars, achieved international recognition through the signing of international agreements.

Oleg, at the head of a significant army, besieged Constantinople (Tsargrad), the capital of Byzantium, and concluded with it in 911 the first international treaty of equal rights for Rus'. Igor, the son of Rurik and Oleg's pupil, began to fight Pechenegs, which were completely defeated by his great-grandson Yaroslav the Wise. Igor made unsuccessful campaigns against Byzantium in 941 and 944, concluded an agreement in 944. He kept in subjection the tribes conquered by Rurik and Oleg. He was killed in the Drevlyansk land for arbitrariness in the collection tribute (polyudye).

The outstanding commander Svyatoslav freed the Vyatichi from the Khazars, subjugated them to Rus', and defeated the Khazar Khaganate in 965. Svyatoslav founded Tmutarakan near the Kerch Strait and Preslavets near the mouth of the Danube. He waged a difficult war against Byzantium (the Battle of Dorostol), sought to advance as far as possible in the south-western direction to areas with a more favorable climate. Signed a truce with Byzantium and was killed by the Pechenegs while returning home.

3. The first Russian rulers established trade, economic, cultural, family and dynastic relations with neighboring states and rulers. Rus' did not have its own deposits of gold and silver. Therefore, at first Byzantine denarii and Arab dirhems were used, and then their gold coins and silver coins began to be minted.

During the heyday (980-1132), the content and priorities of foreign policy began to change in accordance with the growth of the economic and military power of the Russian state.

The Ruriks established trade, economic, cultural, family and dynastic relations with neighboring states and rulers. During its heyday (980-1132), the ancient Russian state occupied a prominent place on the political map of Europe. Political influence grew as economic and military power strengthened, due to entry into the circle of Christian states. The borders of the Russian state, the nature of relations, the order of trade and other contacts were determined by a system of international treaties. The first such document was signed with Byzantium by Prince Oleg in 911 after a very successful military campaign. Rus' for the first time acted as an equal subject of international relations. The Baptism of Rus' in 988 also took place under circumstances in which Vladimir I took an active position. In exchange for helping the Byzantine emperor Basil II in the fight against internal opposition, he actually forced the emperor's sister Anna to be his wife. Vladimir's son Yaroslav the Wise was married to the Swedish princess Ingigerda (baptized Irina). Through his sons and daughters, Yaroslav the Wise became related to almost all European ruling houses. Novgorod land, Galicia-Volynsk, Polotsk, Ryazan and other principalities had extensive international ties.

Foreign trade played an exceptional role in the economic life of Novgorod. This was facilitated by the geographical position of the northwestern corner of Rus', adjacent to the Baltic Sea. Many artisans lived in Novgorod, who worked mainly to order. But the main role in the life of the city and the entire Novgorod land was played by merchants. Their union at the church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa has been known since the 12th century. Its participants conducted distant, that is, overseas, foreign trade. Wax merchants united in the Ivan merchant class. Pomeranian merchants, Nizovsky merchants and other entrepreneurial artels traded with other Russian lands. Since ancient times, Novgorod has been most closely connected with Scandinavia. In the IX-XI centuries. improved relations with the Danes, Germans (especially the "Hanseans"), with the Dutch. Chronicles, acts and treaties of Novgorod for the XI-XIV centuries. record regular trips of Novgorod merchants to Narva, Revel, Derpt, Riga, Vyborg, Abo, Stockholm, Visby (Gotland Island), Danzig, Lübeck. A Russian trading post was formed in Visby. Foreign trade of Novgorodians was oriented exclusively to the western direction. An important role was played by the re-export of Western goods deep into Rus', further to the countries of the East, and Russian and Eastern goods - to the West. The Neva and Ladoga region for many centuries played the role of a kind of gateway to Eurasia, which predetermined economic importance this region and a fierce struggle for influence in it. A variety of contractual relations, kinship alliances connected the Rurikovich with their neighbors in the east, especially with the Polovtsy. Russian princes were members of many international coalitions, often relied on the support of foreign military forces, and provided their services. Most of the princes, in addition to the Russian language, spoke Greek, German, Polish, Polovtsian and others.

1. Vladimir I, Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir II successfully defended the territory of their state, strengthened the recognition of its borders by a system of treaties.

Vladimir I finally conquered Vyatichi, Radimichi, Yatvagov, annexed lands in Galicia (Cherven, Przemysl, etc.). Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) in 1036 utterly defeated the Pechenegs, who began to serve the Russian princes or migrated to Hungary. In 1068, the struggle of the Russian people against the Polovtsy began, which went on with varying success due to the flaring civil strife within the House of Rurikovich. During the reign of Vladimir II Monomakh (1113-1125), serious defeats were inflicted on the Polovtsy, with whom predominantly peaceful relations began to develop.

2. In the east, the fight against the nomads became protracted. The Pechenegs were defeated, powerful blows were inflicted on the Polovtsy, some of the nomads went over to the service of the Russian princes.

3. With the adoption of Christianity, Rus' stood on a par with most European states. But in 1054 there was a split in Christianity. Formed over time Catholicism And orthodoxy. The split has persisted for almost a thousand years. Byzantium and Rus' drew closer on the basis of adherence to Orthodoxy.

During the period of feudal fragmentation, each principality pursued its own foreign policy.

1. Strengthened ties with the ruling houses of European states. Vladimir II was married to the daughter of the Byzantine emperor, from whom, according to legend, he received a symbol of supreme power - the "cap of Monomakh", a prototype of the future royal crown.

Wars were waged against close neighbors, seizures were carried out, peace treaties were concluded and violated, mutual claims accumulated. Under Vsevolod III Yurievich (nicknamed the Big Nest) (1176-1212), the center of the Russian state actually moved to the richest city of Vladimir. Vsevolod subjugated the Ryazan principality, made campaigns against the Kama Bulgarians.

2. The rulers of the principalities in the fight against their relatives in the "House of Rurikovich" increasingly turned to foreign states (Poland, Hungary, Sweden, etc.) for help. This was often accompanied by cessions of territories, benefits for foreign merchants, etc. Foreign policy activities were carried out directly by the princes from the House of Rurikovich, who usually spoke European and Eastern languages, conducted diplomatic correspondence, and sent their trusted representatives from among the boyars and wealthy merchants as ambassadors.

3. Russian rulers underestimated the danger from the east. The Russian regiments, even united with the Polovtsy, suffered a catastrophic defeat on the Kalka River (a tributary of the Don) in 1223 from large advanced forces of the Mongol-Tatars, led by the commander of Genghis Khan. No conclusions were drawn from this defeat, and the Mongol invasion of 1237/38. took the Russian lands by surprise. The policy of "going apart, fighting together" was carried out inconsistently and turned out to be ineffective.

5. Old Russian culture of the IX-XII centuries.

1. Culture and beliefs of the Eastern Slavs

The ancient Slavs were people of the Vedic culture, so it would be more correct to call the ancient Slavic religion not paganism, but Vedism. This is a peaceful religion of a highly cultured agricultural people, related to other religions of the Vedic root - Ancient India, Ancient Greece.

According to the Book of Veles (presumably written by Novgorod priests no later than the 9th century, dedicated to the god of wealth and wisdom Veles and resolving the dispute on the origin of the Slavs), there was an archaic Trinity-Triglav: Svarog (Svarozhich) - the heavenly god, Perun - the thunderer, Veles (Volos) the god of destruction Universe. There were also mother cults. art and the folklore of the ancient Slavs were inextricably linked with paganism. The main deities of the Slavs were: Svarog (god of heaven) and his son Svarozhich (god of fire), Rod (god of fertility), Stribog (god of cattle), Perun (god of thunder).

The decomposition of tribal relations was accompanied by the complication of cult rites. So, the funeral of princes and nobility turned into a solemn ritual, during which huge mounds were poured over the dead - barrows, one of his wives or a slave was burned along with the deceased, a feast was celebrated, i.e. commemoration, accompanied by military competitions. Archaic folk holidays: New Year's divination, Shrovetide were accompanied by incantatory magical rites, which were a kind of prayer to the gods for general well-being, harvest, deliverance from thunder and hail.

Not a single culture of a spiritually developed people can exist without writing. Until now, it was believed that the Slavs did not know writing before the missionary activities of Cyril and Methodius, but a number of scientists (S.P. Obnorsky, D.S. Likhachev, etc.) pointed out that that there is indisputable evidence of the presence of writing among the Eastern Slavs long before the baptism of Rus'. It was suggested that the Slavs had their own original writing system: knot writing, its signs were not written down, but transmitted using knots tied on threads that were wrapped in ball books. The memory of this letter remained in the language and folklore: for example, we still talk about the “thread of the story”, “the intricacies of the plot”, and we also tie knots for memory. Nodular-pagan writing was very complex and accessible only to the elite - priests and the highest nobility. Obviously, nodular writing could not compete with a simpler logically perfect writing system based on Cyrillic.

2. The adoption of Christianity by Russia and its significance in the development of Russian culture

The adoption of Christianity by Russia is the most important event in the cultural life of that period. The nature of the historical choice made in 988 by Prince Vladimir was not accidental. In the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" there is a long story about the doubts of Vladimir and his boyars when choosing a faith. However, the prince made his choice in favor of Greek Orthodox Christianity. The decisive factor in turning to the religious and ideological experience of Byzantium was the traditional political, economic, cultural ties of Kievan Rus with Byzantium. Around 988, Vladimir himself was baptized, baptized his retinue and boyars, and under pain of punishment forced the people of Kiev and all Russians in general to be baptized. The baptism of the rest of Rus' took a long time. In the Northeast, the conversion of the population to Christianity was completed only by the end of the 11th century. Baptism met with resistance more than once. The most famous uprising took place in Novgorod. Novgorodians agreed to be baptized only after the prince's combatants set fire to the recalcitrant city. Many ancient Slavic beliefs entered the Christian canon in Rus'. The Thunderer Perun became Elijah the prophet, Veles - St. Blaise, the Kupala holiday turned into the day of St. John the Baptist, Shrovetide pancakes are a reminder of the pagan worship of the Sun. Belief in lower deities - goblin, brownies, mermaids, and the like has been preserved. However, all these are only remnants of paganism, which do not make an Orthodox Christian a pagan.

The adoption of Christianity by Russia had a progressive significance, it contributed to the development of feudal relations in ancient Russian society, sanctifying the relationship of domination-subordination (“let the servant fear his master”, “there is no power except from God”); the church itself became a major landowner. Christianity introduced humanistic values ​​(“do not kill”, “do not steal”, “love your neighbor as yourself”) into the morality and customs of ancient Russian society. The adoption of Christianity strengthened the unity of the country and the central government. Qualitatively changed international position Rus' - from a pagan barbarian power, it turned into a European Christian State. The development of culture received a powerful impetus: liturgical books appeared in the Slavonic language, iconography, fresco painting, mosaics, stone architecture flourished, the first schools opened at monasteries, and literacy spread.

3. Old Russian literature

Russian literature was born in the first half of the 11th century. among the ruling class and was elitist. The church played a leading role in the literary process, therefore, along with secular literature, church literature received great development. The material for writing was parchment, calfskin of a special manufacture, birch bark. Paper finally replaced parchment only in the 15th-16th centuries. They wrote in ink and cinnabar, using goose quills. An Old Russian book is a voluminous manuscript made up of notebooks sewn into a wooden binding covered with embossed leather. In the 11th century Luxurious books with cinnabar letters and artistic miniatures appear in Rus'. Their binding was bound with gold or silver, decorated with pearls and precious stones. Such is the "Ostromir Gospel", written by the deacon Gregory for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir in 1057.

At the heart of the literary language is the living spoken language of Ancient Rus', at the same time, in the process of its formation, a closely related to it, although foreign in origin, Old Church Slavonic or Church Slavonic played an important role. On its basis, church writing developed in Rus', and worship was conducted.

One of the genres of ancient Russian literature was chronicle - a weather account of events. The chronicler not only described historical events, but also had to give them an assessment that met the interests of the prince-customer. The oldest chronicle that has come down to us dates back to 1113. It went down in history under the name "The Tale of Bygone Years", as is commonly believed, it was created by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor. "The Tale" is distinguished by the complexity of the composition and the variety of materials included in it.

One of the most ancient monuments of ancient Russian literature is the famous "Sermon on Law and Grace" (1037-1050) by the princely priest in Berestov and the future first Kyiv Metropolitan Hilarion. The content of the "Word" was the substantiation of the state-ideological concept of Ancient Rus', the definition of its place among other peoples and states, its contribution to the spread of Christianity.

At the beginning of the 12th c. in ancient Russian culture, newer literary genres are formed: teachings and walking (travel notes). The most striking examples are the “Instruction for Children”, compiled in his declining years by the Kiev Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh, and also created by one of his associates, hegumen Daniel, the famous “Journey”, describing his journey through the holy places through Constantinople and Crete to Jerusalem.

At the end of the 12th century the most famous of the poetic works of ancient Russian literature was created - "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" (came down to us in a single list that died during a fire in 1812 in Moscow), the plot of which was the description of an unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsy of Novgorod-Seversky Prince Igor Svyatoslavich (1185). The unknown author of the "Word" apparently belonged to the retinue nobility. The main idea of ​​the work was the need for the unity of the Russian princes in the face of external danger, his call is aimed at ending civil strife and princely strife.

The legal code of Rus' was "Russian Truth", which contains, first of all, the norms of criminal, inheritance, commercial and procedural legislation and is the main source of legal, social and economic relations of the Eastern Slavs. Most modern researchers associate the Ancient Truth with the name of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise. The approximate period of its creation is 1019-1054. The norms of Russian Truth were gradually codified by the Kievan princes.

4. Construction and architecture.

With the advent of Christianity in Rus', the construction of religious buildings and monasteries began on a large scale. Unfortunately, the monuments of ancient Russian wooden architecture have not survived to this day. One of the first central monasteries was the Kiev Caves, founded in the middle. 11th c. Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves. Caves, or caves, are the places where Christian ascetics originally settled, and around which a settlement arose, turning into a cenobitic monastery. Monasteries became centers for the dissemination of spiritual knowledge.

At the end of the 10th c. stone construction began in Rus'. One of the first stone buildings in Kyiv was the Tithe Church of the Assumption of the Virgin, built by Greek craftsmen and destroyed during the invasion of Batu in 1240. Excavations made it possible to find out that it was a powerful building made of thin brick, decorated with carved marble, mosaics, and frescoes. The Byzantine cross-domed temple became the main architectural form in Ancient Rus'. Archaeological excavations of this ancient temple of Rus' made it possible to establish that this building with an area of ​​\u200b\u200babout 90 sq.m. crowned, according to the chronicle, with 25 tops, i.e. heads, was grandiose in design and execution. In the 30s of the XI century. stone Golden Gates with the gate church of the Annunciation were built.

St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod became an outstanding work of architecture of Kievan Rus. It is much stricter than the Kyiv one, it has 5 domes, much more powerful and more severe walls made of local limestone. There are no bright mosaics in the interior, but only frescoes, but not as dynamic as in Kyiv, and an excess of ornamental decorations of pagan antiquity with a clearly visible pattern of knot writing.

5. Crafts.

Crafts were highly developed in Kievan Rus: pottery, metalworking, jewelry, beekeeping, etc. In the 10th century. the potter's wheel appears. By the middle of the XI century. refers to the first known sword with a Russian inscription: "Lyudota forged." Since that time, Russian swords are found in archaeological excavations in the Baltic States, Finland, Scandinavia.

The jewelry technique of Russian masters was very complex, and the products of Rus' were in great demand on the world market of that time. Many decorations are made using the granulation technique: a pattern consisting of many balls was soldered onto the item. Decorative and applied art was enriched with techniques brought from Byzantium: filigree - soldering thin wire and balls, niello - filling a silver surface with a black background, enamel - creating a color pattern on a metal surface.

6. The Middle Ages as a stage of the historical process in Western Europe, in the East and in Russia.

Technologies, production relations and modes of exploitation, political systems, ideology and social psychology.

The emergence and development of feudal landownership and the enslavement of the peasantry associated with it took place in different ways. In Western Europe, for example, in France, for military service to the king, land was first granted for life, and then in hereditary ownership. The peasant farmers who worked on the land became dependent on the owner. Over time, the peasants were attached both to the personality of the feudal landowner and to the land. The peasant had to work on his farm and on the farm of the lord (senior, master). The serf gave the owner a significant part of the products of his labor (bread, meat, poultry; fabrics, leather, shoes), and also performed many other duties. All of them were called feudal rent and were considered the peasant's payment for the use of land, thanks to which his family was fed. This is how the main economic unit of the feudal mode of production arose, which in England was called a manor, in France and many other countries - a seigneury, and in Russia - a fiefdom.

In Byzantium, such a rigid system of feudal relations did not develop (see above). In Byzantium, feudal lords were forbidden to keep squads, build prisons on estates, and they lived, as a rule, in cities, and not in fortified castles. On charges of conspiracy, treason, any feudal owner could lose his property and life itself.

The “Queen” of all sciences was theology (translated from Greek “the doctrine of God”; theology). Theologians interpreted the Holy Scriptures, explained the world from a Christian standpoint. Philosophy for a long time was in the position of "servant of theology." The clergy, especially the monks, were the most educated people of their time. They knew the writings of ancient authors, ancient languages, and especially respected the teachings of Aristotle. language catholic church was Latin language. Therefore, access to knowledge for the "simple" was actually closed.

Theological disputes were often artificial. Dogmatism and scholasticism became widespread. Dogma in Greek means "opinion, teaching, ruling." “Dogmatism” is understood as one-sided, ossified thinking, operating with dogmas, that is, positions taken on faith as an immutable truth, unchanged under any circumstances. The tendency to dogmatism has successfully survived to this day. The term "scholasticism" and the well-known word "school" have a common origin from the Greek word meaning "school, scholar". During the Middle Ages, scholasticism received most widespread. It was a type of religious philosophy that combined theological and dogmatic approaches with rationalistic methods and interests in formal logical problems.

At the same time, in the depths of theology, rationalism eventually appeared (translated from Latin as “reason, reasonable”). The gradual recognition that truth can be obtained not only through faith, divine revelation, but also through knowledge, rational explanation, contributed to the gradual liberation of the natural sciences (medicine, alchemy, geography, etc.) from the strict control of the church.

The Church made sure that the peasant, artisan, merchant, any ordinary person of the Middle Ages felt sinful, dependent, insignificant. Everyday life " little man"was under the comprehensive control of the priest, the feudal lord and the community. The sacrament of confession, obligatory for all, forced a person to evaluate his actions and thoughts, accustomed him to self-discipline and self-restraint. Standing out from the general gray mass was not accepted and dangerous. The clothes of men and especially women were of a simple cut, should not accentuate the texture of the body.

The people of the Middle Ages were characterized by fear of the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment, which was expected more than once in a state of mass history and panic.

Of course, not everywhere, not always and not everything was so gloomy. In the spiritual culture of the Middle Ages, in the life of people, the dominant religious culture was opposed by heresies, the remnants of paganism, and folk culture. The people were entertained by wandering actors - jugglers (buffoons). During the holidays, mummers walked the streets of villages and cities (at Christmas), dances, competitions and games were held in the squares. During the "holidays of fools", which parodied the church service, the lower clergy put on monstrous masks right in the church, sang reckless songs, feasted and played dice. Clever clergymen understood that explosions of unbridled, “worldly” fun allow them to “let off steam”, brighten up a rather difficult, dull everyday life. In many European countries, modern festivals, carnivals, traditional events originated in the Middle Ages.

For a long time the centers of spiritual culture were monasteries. At the beginning of the second millennium, they were competed by universities.

7. Causes, nature and features of the period of feudal fragmentation. Russian lands in the XII-XIV centuries.

Modern researchers understand feudal fragmentation as the period of the XII - XV centuries. in the history of our country, when from several dozen to several hundred large states were formed and functioned on the territory of Kievan Rus. Feudal fragmentation was a natural result of the previous political and economic development society, the so-called period of the early feudal monarchy.

There are four most significant reasons for the feudal fragmentation of the Old Russian state.

main reason became political. The vast expanses of the East European Plain, numerous tribes of both Slavic and non-Slavic origin, which are at different stages of development - all this contributed to the decentralization of the state. Over time, the specific princes, as well as the local feudal nobility represented by the boyars, began to undermine the foundation under the state building with their independent separatist actions. Only strong power, concentrated in the hands of one person, the prince, could keep the state organism from disintegration. And the great Kiev prince could no longer fully control the policy of local princes from the center, more and more princes left from under his authority, and in the 30s. 12th century he controlled only the territory around Kyiv. The specific princes, having felt the weakness of the center, now did not want to share their income with the center, and the local boyars actively supported them in this.

The next reason for feudal fragmentation was social. By the beginning of the XII century. the social structure of ancient Russian society became more complex: large boyars, clergy, merchants, artisans, and urban lower classes appeared. These were new, actively developing segments of the population. In addition, the nobility was born, serving the prince in exchange for a land grant. His social activity was very high. In each center, behind the specific princes, there was an impressive force in the face of the boyars with their vassals, the rich top of the cities, church hierarchs. The increasingly complex social structure of society also contributed to the isolation of the lands.

The economic reason also played a significant role in the collapse of the state. Within the framework of a single state, independent economic regions have developed over three centuries, new cities have grown, large patrimonial possessions of the boyars, monasteries and churches have arisen. The subsistence nature of the economy provided the rulers of each region with the opportunity to separate from the center and exist as an independent land or principality.

In the XII century. contributed to feudal fragmentation and foreign policy situation. Rus' during this period did not have serious opponents, since the great princes of Kyiv did a lot to ensure the security of their borders. A little less than a century will pass, and Rus' will face a formidable opponent in the person of the Mongols - Tatars, but the process of the collapse of Rus' by this time will have gone too far, there will be no one to organize the resistance of the Russian lands.

All major Western European states experienced a period of feudal fragmentation, but in Western Europe the economy was the engine of fragmentation. In Rus', in the process of feudal fragmentation, the political component was dominant. In order to receive material benefits, the local nobility - the princes and the boyars - needed to gain political independence and gain a foothold in their inheritance, to achieve sovereignty. The main force of the disunity process in Rus' was the boyars.

At first, feudal fragmentation contributed to the rise of agriculture in all Russian lands, the flourishing of handicrafts, the growth of cities, and the rapid development of trade. But over time, constant strife between the princes began to deplete the strength of the Russian lands, weaken their defenses in the face of external danger. Disunity and constant enmity with each other led to the disappearance of many principalities, but most importantly, they caused extraordinary hardships for the people during the period of the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

Under conditions of feudal fragmentation, the exploitation of the peasantry intensified, the number of free community members gradually decreased, and the community fell under the rule of farmers. Previously free community members became feudally dependent. The deterioration of the position of the peasants and the urban lower classes was expressed in various forms, and uprisings against the feudal lords became more frequent.

In the XII-XIII centuries. so-called immunities are widely used. Immunity is the provision to the landowner of a special charter (immunity of the charter), in accordance with which he carried out independent management and legal proceedings in his patrimony. At the same time, he was responsible for the performance of state duties by the peasants. Over time, the owner of the immunity letter became the sovereign and obeyed the prince only formally.

In the social development of Rus', the hierarchical structure of feudal landownership and, accordingly, lord-vassal relations within the class of feudal lords are quite clearly manifested.

The main suzerain was the Grand Duke - exercising supreme power and being the owner of all the land of this principality.

The boyars, being vassals of the prince, had their own vassals - medium and small feudal lords. The Grand Duke distributed estates, immunity letters and was obliged to decide contentious issues between the feudal lords, to protect them from the oppression of their neighbors.

A typical feature of the period of feudal fragmentation was the palace and patrimonial system of government. The center of this system was the princely court, and the management of the princely lands and the state was not demarcated. Palace ranks (butler, equestrian, falconer, bowler, etc.) performed national duties, managing certain territories, collecting taxes and taxes.

Legal issues during the period of feudal fragmentation were resolved on the basis of Russkaya Pravda, customary law, various treaties, charters, charters, and other documents.

Interstate relations were regulated by treaties and letters ("finished", "row", "kissing the cross"). In Novgorod and Pskov in the XV century. appeared their own legal collections, developed in the development of "Russian Truth" and Church Charters. In addition, they implemented the norms of the customary law of Novgorod and Pskov, the letters of the princes and local legislation.

8. Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' and its impact on the economic, political, social and cultural development of the country. The struggle of the Russian people against foreign invaders (XIII-XV centuries).

The Russian state, formed on the border of Europe with Asia, which reached its peak in the 10th - early 11th century, at the beginning of the 12th century broke up into many principalities. This disintegration took place under the influence of the feudal mode of production. The external defense of the Russian land was especially weakened. The princes of individual principalities pursued their separate policy, taking into account, first of all, the interests of the local feudal nobility and entered into endless internecine wars. This led to the loss of centralized control and to a strong weakening of the state as a whole. At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongolian state was formed in Central Asia. By the name of one of the tribes, these peoples were also called Tatars. Subsequently, all the nomadic peoples with whom Rus' fought began to be called Mongolo-Tatars. In 1206, a congress of the Mongol nobility, the kurultai, took place, at which Temuchin was elected leader of the Mongol tribes, who received the name Genghis Khan (Great Khan). As in other countries, at an early stage in the development of feudalism, the state of the Mongol-Tatars was distinguished by strength and solidity. The nobility was interested in expanding pastures and organizing predatory campaigns against neighboring agricultural peoples who were at a higher level of development. Most of them, like Rus', experienced a period of feudal fragmentation, which greatly facilitated the implementation of the conquest plans of the Mongolo-Tatars. Then they invaded China, conquered Korea and Central Asia, defeated the allied forces of the Polovtsian and Russian princes on the Kalka River (1223). Reconnaissance in force showed that aggressive campaigns against Rus' and its neighbors could be carried out only by organizing a general Mongolian campaign against the countries of Europe. At the head of this campaign was the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu, who inherited from his grandfather all the territories in the west, "where the foot of the Mongol horse sets foot." In 1236, the Mongol-Tatars captured the Volga Bulgaria, and in 1237 they subjugated the nomadic peoples of the steppe. In the autumn of 1237, the main forces of the Mongol-Tatars crossed the Volga and concentrated on the Voronezh River, aiming at the Russian lands.

In 1237 Ryazan suffered the first blow. The Princes of Vladimir and Chernigov refused to help Ryazan. The battle was very hard. The Russian squad left the encirclement 12 times, Ryazan held out for 5 days. "One Ryazan fought with a thousand, and two - with ten thousand" - this is how the chronicle writes about this battle. But Batu's superiority in strength was great, and Ryazan fell. The entire city was destroyed.

The battle of the Vladimir-Suzdal army with the Mongol-Tatars took place near the city of Kolomna. In this battle, the Vladimir army perished, predetermining the fate of North-Eastern Rus'. In mid-January, Batu occupies Moscow, then, after a 5-day siege, Vladimir. After the capture of Vladimir, Batu divides his army into several parts. All the cities in the north, except for Torzhok, surrendered almost without a fight.

After Torzhok, Batu does not go to Novgorod, but turns south. The turn from Novgorod is usually explained by spring floods. But there are other explanations: firstly, the campaign did not meet the deadlines, and secondly, Batu was unable to defeat the combined forces of Northeastern Rus' in one or two battles, using numerical and tactical superiority.

Batu combs the entire territory of Rus' using the tactics of a hunting raid. The city of Kozelsk was declared the collection point of the Khan's troops. Kozelsk held out for 7 weeks, and withstood the general assault. Batu, on the other hand, took the city by cunning and did not spare anyone, he killed everyone, right down to infants. Batu ordered to destroy the city to the ground, plow up the land and fill this place with salt so that this city would never be reborn. On his way, Batu destroyed everything, including villages, as the main productive force in Rus'.

In 1240, after a 10-day siege of Kyiv, which ended with the capture and complete plunder of the latter, Batu's troops invaded the states of Europe, where they terrified and feared the inhabitants. In Europe, it was stated that the Mongols had escaped from hell, and everyone was waiting for the end of the world.

But Rus' still resisted. In 1241 Batu returned to Rus'. In 1242, Batu was in the lower reaches of the Volga, where he set up his new capital - Sarai-bata. The Horde yoke was established in Rus' by the end of the 13th century, after the creation of the state of Batu - the Golden Horde, which stretched from the Danube to the Irtysh.

Already the first consequences of the conquests of the Mongols were catastrophic for the Slavic lands: the fall and destruction of the role of cities, the decline of crafts and trade, demographic losses - physical destruction, slavery and flight became factors that significantly reduced the population in the south of Rus', the destruction of a significant part of the feudal elite.

The essence of the Golden Horde invasion as a historical phenomenon lies in the formation and strengthening of a stable system of dependence of Russian lands on the conquerors. The Golden Horde invasion manifested itself primarily in 3 areas: economic (the system of taxes and duties - tribute, plow, underwater, duties, fodder, more dexterous, etc.), political (approval by the Horde of princes on the tables and the issuance of labels for land management) , military (the obligation of the Slavic principalities to delegate their soldiers to the Mongol army and take part in its military campaigns). The khan's governors in the Russian lands, the Baskaks, were called upon to maintain and strengthen the system of dependence. In addition, in order to weaken Rus', the Golden Horde practiced periodic devastating campaigns for almost a whole period of its own domination.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused great damage to the Russian state. Enormous damage was done to the economic, political and cultural development of Rus'. The old agricultural centers and the once developed territories were abandoned and fell into decay. Russian cities were subjected to mass destruction. Simplified, and sometimes disappeared, many crafts. Tens of thousands of people were killed or driven into slavery. The unceasing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative authorities in Rus'. Rus' retained its statehood. This was facilitated by the lower level of cultural and historical development of the Tatars. In addition, the Russian lands were unsuitable for breeding nomadic cattle breeding. The main meaning of enslavement was to receive tribute from the conquered people. The tribute was very large. The amount of tribute in favor of the khan alone was 1300 kg of silver per year. In addition, deductions from trade duties and various taxes went to the khan's treasury. In total there were 14 types of tribute in favor of the Tatars.

Russian principalities made attempts not to obey the horde. However, the forces to overthrow Tatar-Mongol yoke it was still not enough. Understanding this, the most far-sighted Russian princes - Alexander Nevsky and Daniil Galitsky - undertook a more flexible policy towards the Horde and the Khan. Realizing that an economically weak state would never be able to resist the Horde, Alexander Nevsky set a course for the restoration and recovery of the economy of the Russian lands.

In the summer of 1250, the Mighty Khan sent his ambassadors to Daniel of Galicia with the words: “Give Galich!” Realizing that the forces are unequal, and fighting with the khan's army, he dooms his lands to complete plunder, Daniel goes to the Horde to bow to Batu and recognize his strength. As a result, the Galician lands are included in the Horde as autonomies. They kept their land, but were dependent on the khan. Thanks to such a soft policy, the Russian land was saved from complete plunder and destruction. As a result of this, a slow recovery and economic recovery of the Russian lands began, which ultimately led to the Battle of Kulikovo and the overthrow of the Tatar-Mongol yoke.

IN hard years Mongol invasion, the Russian people had to repel the onslaught of the German and Swedish feudal lords. The purpose of this campaign was to capture Ladoga, and if successful, Novgorod itself. The predatory goals of the campaign, as usual, were covered with phrases that its participants were striving to spread among the Russian people the "true faith" - Catholicism.

At dawn on a July day in 1240, the Swedish flotilla unexpectedly appeared in the Gulf of Finland and, having passed along the Neva, stood at the mouth of the Izhora. Here was a temporary camp of the Swedes. Prince of Novgorod Alexander Yaroslavich (son of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich), having received a message from the head of the sea guard, Izhorian Pelgusy, about the arrival of enemies, gathered his small squad and part of the Novgorod militia in Novgorod. Considering that the Swedish army was much more numerous than the Russian, Alexander decided to deliver an unexpected blow to the Swedes. On the morning of July 15, the Russian army suddenly attacked the Swedish camp. The cavalry squad fought its way to the center of the location of the Swedish troops. At the same time, the Novgorod militia on foot, following along the Neva, attacked enemy ships. Three ships were captured and destroyed. With blows along the Izhora and the Neva, the Swedish army was overturned and pushed into the corner formed by two rivers.