The main stages in the formation of a single Russian centralized state. Prerequisites for the formation (features) of the Russian centralized state
The specifics of the formation of Russian centralized state
In the middle of the thirteenth century In 1263, a new state arose in the north-west of the Russian lands - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1243, another great state arose in the east of the Russian lands - the Golden Horde.
And Russia at that time was experiencing the apogee of feudal fragmentation. And Lithuania began to actively annex Russian lands. At the end of the fourteenth century Lithuania included the territories of Belarus, Bryansk, Kyiv, Chernigov, Seversk, Podolsk lands. Lithuania for 3/4 began to consist of Russian lands. Seeing the offensive of Lithuania on Russia, which was more actively implementing a policy towards Russian lands, the Golden Horde began to carry out the same actions.
The disintegrated Russian land found itself between two strong states - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Golden Horde. Two great states began to compete for control over the Russian lands. And such a moment came that both Lithuania and the Golden Horde could unite the Russian lands. Then the Russians, in the Golden Horde, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, would become a minor, insignificant people.
But there were two forces in Russia that could resist the aspirations of both Lithuania and the Golden Horde.
The first is the Russian Orthodox Church. During the period of the conquest of Russia, the Russian Church also underwent a terrible defeat. But, being religiously tolerant, and knowing what power the Church has, the Mongol khans began to support it. The Church was exempted from taxes, for insulting the Church, according to Mongolian laws, death was supposed. For the first 100 years after the Mongol invasion, Russia lay in ruins, but the Russian Church flourished. Monastic life became widespread. Only in the second half of the thirteenth century 200 monasteries arose in the northern forests. The Russian Church became the vessel where the spirit of the Russian people was kept, nurtured, strengthened, and spread.
The church initially maintained peaceful relations with the khans of the Golden Horde. But in 1312 the Horde converted to Islam. After that, the khans of the Horde began to pursue a policy of intolerance towards Orthodoxy. In particular, 70 Chingizid princes were executed in the Horde for practicing Orthodoxy. After the adoption of Catholicism in 1387, Lithuania also began to pursue a policy of intolerance towards Orthodoxy. And then the Russian Orthodox Church began to support the Russian princes in their quest for independence.
The second force is the will of the Russian princes. In the thirteenth century The Horde was worried better times. The forces were unequal, and the Russian princes were forced to grovel. But the desire of the Russian princes for independence was never broken. They always remembered that they were Rurikovich, that their mighty ancestors created the great Kievan Rus. Image great Russia called for resurrection.
Stages of formation of the Russian centralized state
Even in the XII century. in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, a tendency appeared to unite the lands under the rule of one prince. Over time, the population of Russia began to look at the Vladimir princes as the defenders of the entire Russian land.
At the end of the thirteenth century The Horde entered into a protracted crisis. Then the activity of the Russian princes intensified. It manifested itself in the collection of Russian lands. The gathering of Russian lands ended with the creation of a new state. It received the name "Muscovy", "Russian state", the scientific name - "Russian centralized state".
The formation of the Russian centralized state took place in several stages:
The rise of Moscow - the end of the 13th - the beginning of the 11th centuries; Moscow - the center of the struggle against the Mongols-Tatars (second half of the 11th-first half of the 10th centuries);
The completion of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow under Ivan III and Vasily III - the end of the 15th - the beginning of the 16th centuries.
Stage 1. Rise of Moscow (late 13th - early 14th centuries). By the end of the XIII century. the old cities of Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir are losing their former importance. The new cities of Moscow and Tver are rising.
The rise of Tver began after the death of Alexander Nevsky (1263), when his brother, Prince Yaroslav of Tver, received a label from the Tatars for the Great Vladimir reign. During the last decades of the thirteenth century Tver acts as a political center and organizer of the struggle against Lithuania and the Tatars. In 1304, Mikhail Yaroslavovich became the Grand Duke of Vladimir, who was the first to take the title of Grand Duke of "All Russia" and tried to subjugate the most important political centers: Novgorod, Kostroma, Pereyaslavl, Nizhny Novgorod. But this desire ran into strong resistance from other principalities, and above all from Moscow.
The beginning of the rise of Moscow is associated with the name younger son Alexander Nevsky - Daniel (1276 - 1303). Alexander Nevsky gave honorary inheritances to his eldest sons, and Daniil, as the youngest, got a small village of Moscow with a district on the far border of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Daniil had no prospects for taking the grand prince's throne, so he took up farming - he rebuilt Moscow, started crafts, and developed agriculture. It so happened that in three years the territory of Daniel's possession increased three times: in 1300 he took away Kolomna from the Ryazan prince, in 1302 the childless Pereyaslav prince bequeathed his inheritance to him. Moscow became a principality. During the reign of Daniel, the Moscow principality became the strongest, and Daniel, thanks to his creative policy, the most authoritative prince in the entire Northeast. Daniel of Moscow also became the founder of the Moscow princely dynasty. In Moscow, Daniel built a monastery, named it in honor of his heavenly patron Danilovsky. According to the tradition prevailing in Russia, sensing the approach of the end, Daniel accepted monasticism and was buried in the Danilovsky Monastery. Currently, the St. Danilov Monastery plays a significant role in the life of the Orthodox and is the residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II.
After Daniel, his son Yuri (1303 - 1325) began to rule in Moscow. The Grand Duke of Vladimir at that time was Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver. He owned the throne of Vladimir "in truth" - the ancient right of inheritance, established by Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century. Mikhail of Tverskoy looked like an epic hero: strong, brave, true to his word, noble. He enjoyed the full disposition of the khan. The real power in Russia left the hands of the descendants of A. Nevsky.
Yuri Danilovich - the grandson of Alexander Nevsky - had no rights to the first throne in Russia. But he had one of the most powerful principalities in Russia - Moscow. And Yuri Danilovich joined the Tver prince in the struggle for the throne of Vladimir.
A long and stubborn confrontation began for the title of Grand Duke in Russia between the descendants of Alexander Nevsky - the Danilovichs - and the descendants of Nevsky's younger brother Yaroslav - the Yaroslavichs, between the Moscow and Tver princes. Ultimately, the Moscow princes became the winners in this struggle. Why did this become possible?
By this time, the Moscow princes had been vassals of the Mongol khans for half a century. The khans tightly controlled the activities of the Russian princes, using cunning, bribery, and betrayal. Over time, the Russian princes began to adopt stereotypes of behavior from the Mongol khans. And the Moscow princes turned out to be more “capable” students of the Mongols.
Yuri Moskovsky married the Khan's own sister. Not wanting to strengthen one prince, the khan gave a label to the Great reign to his relative Yuri. Not wanting clashes with Moscow, Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy renounced the great reign in favor of Yuri Danilovich. But the Moscow army constantly devastated the land Tver Principality. During one of these clashes, the Tverites captured Yuri's wife, Princess Agafya (Konchaka). She died in captivity.
Yuri Danilovich and Mikhail Yaroslavich were summoned to the Horde. In the Horde, the prince of Tver was accused of non-payment of tribute, the death of the Khan's sister, and was killed. The label for the Great reign was transferred to the Moscow prince.
In 1325, at the headquarters of the Khan, Yuri Danilovich was killed by the eldest son of Mikhail Yaroslavich Dmitry. Dmitry, by order of the Khan, was executed, but the label for the Great reign was transferred to the next son of Mikhail Yaroslavich - Alexander Mikhailovich. Together with Alexander Mikhailovich, the Tatar detachment of Cholkan was sent to Tver to collect tribute.
And in Moscow, after the death of Yuri, his brother Ivan Danilovich, nicknamed Kalita, Ivan I (1325 - 1340), began to rule. In 1327, an uprising against the Tatar detachment took place in Tver, during which Cholkan was killed. Ivan Kalita went to the Tverchi with an army and crushed the uprising. In gratitude, in 1327 the Tatars gave him a label for the Great reign.
More Moscow princes will not let go of the label for a great reign.
Kalita achieved the collection of tribute in Russia instead of the Mongols. He had the opportunity to hide part of the tribute and use it to strengthen the Moscow principality. Collecting tribute, Kalita began to regularly travel around the Russian lands and gradually form an alliance of Russian princes. The cunning, wise, cautious Kalita tried to maintain the closest ties with the Horde: he regularly paid tribute, regularly traveled to the Horde with generous gifts to the khans, their wives, and children. With generous gifts, Kalita in the Horde endeared everyone to him. The khanshi were looking forward to his arrival: Kalita always brought silver. In the Horde. Kalita constantly asked for something: labels on individual cities, whole reigns, the heads of their opponents. And Kalita invariably got what he wanted in the Horde.
Thanks to the prudent policy of Ivan Kalita, the Moscow principality constantly expanded, grew stronger and for 40 years did not know the Tatar raids.
Ivan Kalita sought to ensure that Moscow, and not Vladimir, became a religious center. For the head of the Russian Church - the metropolitan - he built comfortable chambers. Metropolitan Peter liked to stay in Moscow for a long time: Kalita cordially received him, made generous gifts to the Church. Metropolitan Peter predicted that if Kalita builds a cathedral in Moscow to the glory of the Mother of God, as in Vladimir, and puts him to rest in it, then Moscow will become a true capital. Ivan Kalita built the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow (as in Vladimir) and laid to rest the head of the Russian Church in it. For the Russians, this was God's sign, a sign of Moscow's chosenness. The next metropolitan - Feognost - finally moved from Vladimir to Moscow. This was a great achievement for Ivan Kalita.
Moscow became the religious center of the Russian lands.
But historians believe that the main merit of Ivan Kalita was the following. During the time of Ivan Kalita, due to persecution by religious motives crowds of refugees from the Horde and Lithuania poured into Moscow. Kalita began to take on the service of everyone. The selection of service people was carried out exclusively on the basis of business qualities subject to the adoption of the Orthodox faith. All those who converted to Orthodoxy became Russians. A definition began to take shape - "Orthodox means Russian."
Under Ivan Kalita, the principle of ethnic tolerance was established, the foundations of which were laid by his grandfather, Alexander Nevsky. And this principle in the future became one of the most important on which the Russian empire.
Stage 2. Moscow - the center of the struggle against the Mongols-Tatars (the second half of the 14th - the first half of the 15th centuries). The strengthening of Moscow continued under the children of Ivan Kalita - Simeon Proud (1340-1353) and Ivan II the Red (1353-1359). This inevitably had to lead to a clash with the Tatars.
The clash occurred during the reign of Ivan Kalita's grandson Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359-1389). Dmitry Ivanovich received the throne at the age of 9 after the death of his father Ivan II the Red. Under the young prince, the position of Moscow, as the first principality in Russia, was shaken. But the young prince was supported by the powerful Moscow boyars and the head of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Alexei. The metropolitan understood that if Moscow loses the label for a great reign, then its many years of efforts to collect Russian lands would be nullified.
The metropolitan was able to achieve from the khans that the great reign would henceforth be transferred only to the princes of the Moscow princely house. This increased the prestige of the Moscow principality among other Russian principalities. The authority of Moscow increased even more after the 17-year-old Dmitry Ivanovich built the Kremlin in Moscow from white stone (stone was a rare building material in Moscow. The Kremlin wall made of stone so impressed the imagination of contemporaries that since that time the expression “Moscow is white stone” has arisen ). The Moscow Kremlin became the only stone fortress in the entire Russian Northeast. He became unapproachable.
In the middle of the fourteenth century The Horde entered a period of feudal fragmentation. Independent hordes began to emerge from the Golden Horde. They waged a fierce struggle for power among themselves. All the khans demanded tribute and obedience from Russia. Tension arose in relations between Russia and the Horde.
In 1380, the Horde ruler Mamai moved to Moscow with a huge army.
Moscow began to organize a rebuff to the Tatars. AT a short time regiments and squads from all Russian lands, except those hostile to Moscow, became under the banner of Dmitry Ivanovich.
And yet, it was not easy for Dmitry Ivanovich to decide on an open armed uprising against the Tatars.
Dmitry Ivanovich went for advice to the rector of the Trinity Monastery near Moscow, Father Sergius of Radonezh. Father Sergius was the most authoritative person both in the Church and in Russia. Even during his lifetime, he was called a saint, it was believed that he had the gift of foresight. Sergius of Radonezh predicted victory for the Moscow prince. This instilled confidence in Dmitry Ivanovich, and in the entire Russian army.
On September 8, 1380, the Battle of Kulikovo took place at the confluence of the Nepryadva River with the Don. Dmitry Ivanovich and the governors showed military talent, Russian army- unbending courage. The Tatar army was defeated.
The Mongol-Tatar yoke was not thrown off, but the significance of the Battle of Kulikovo in Russian history is enormous:
on the Kulikovo field, the Horde suffered its first major defeat from the Russians;
after the Battle of Kulikovo, the amount of tribute was significantly reduced;
The Horde finally recognized the supremacy of Moscow among all Russian cities;
the inhabitants of the Russian lands had a feeling of a common historical destiny; according to historian L.N. Gumilyov, "inhabitants of different lands went to the Kulikovo field - they returned from the battle as the Russian people."
Contemporaries called the Battle of Kulikovo "Mamaev's Battle", and Dmitry Ivanovich during the time of Ivan the Terrible received the honorary nickname "Donskoy".
Stage 3. Completion of the formation of the Russian centralized state (end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries). The unification of Russian lands was completed under the great-grandson of Dmitry Donskoy Ivan III (1462 - 1505) and Vasily III (1505 - 1533). Ivan III annexed the entire North-East of Russia to Moscow: in 1463 - the Yaroslavl principality, in 1474 - Rostov. After several campaigns in 1478, the independence of Novgorod was finally abolished.
Under Ivan III, one of the major events Russian history - the Mongol-Tatar yoke was thrown off. In 1476 Russia refused to pay tribute. Then Khan Akhmat decided to punish Russia. He made an alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir and set out on a campaign against Moscow with a large army.
In 1480, the troops of Ivan III and Khan Akhmat met along the banks of the Ugra River (a tributary of the Oka). Akhmat did not dare to cross to the other side. Ivan III took a wait-and-see position. Help for the Tatars did not come from Casimir. Both sides understood that the battle was pointless. The power of the Tatars dried up, and Russia was already different. And Khan Akhmat led his troops back to the steppe.
The Mongol-Tatar yoke is over.
After the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the unification of the Russian lands continued at an accelerated pace. In 1485, the independence of the Tver principality was abolished. During the reign of Vasily III, Pskov (1510) and the Ryazan principality (1521) were annexed. The unification of the Russian lands was basically completed.
Features of the formation of the Russian centralized state:
the state was formed in the northeastern and northwestern lands of the former Kievan Rus; its southern and southwestern lands were part of Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary. Ivan III immediately put forward the task of returning all Russian lands that were previously part of Kievan Rus;
the formation of the state took place in a very short time, which was associated with the presence of an external danger in the face of the Golden Horde; the internal structure of the state was "raw"; the state at any moment could break up into separate principalities;
the creation of the state took place on a feudal basis; in Russia, a feudal society began to form: serfdom, estates, etc.; in Western Europe, the formation of states took place on a capitalist basis, and bourgeois society began to take shape there.
The victories of Ivan III strengthened the Russian state and contributed to the growth of its international prestige. Western European countries and, first of all, the Roman curia and the German emperor are trying to conclude an alliance with the new state. The relations of the Russian state with Venice, Naples, Genoa are expanding, relations with Denmark are becoming more active. Russia's ties with the countries of the East are also growing. All this indicates that the Russian state is becoming the strongest and plays a significant role in international affairs.
The specifics of the formation of a unified Russian state in the XV - early. 16th century Unification of Russian lands and final release from the Tatar yoke and the general socio-economic changes taking place in the country led to the establishment of autocracy and created the prerequisites for the transformation of the great Moscow reign into a class-representative monarchy.
The Moscow prince was the supreme ruler in the state. He was the supreme owner of the land, had full judicial and executive power. Under the prince, there was the Boyar Duma, which included the most noble feudal lords, clerics. The metropolitan and the Consecrated Cathedral began to play a significant role in the state - an assembly higher clergy. State bodies appeared - the Palace and the Treasury. Butlers were in charge of the personal lands of the Grand Duke, sorted out land disputes, judged the population. The treasury was in charge of public finances. The formation of central authorities - orders began. The palace order was in charge own possessions Grand Duke, embassy - with external relations, bit - with military affairs, etc. Office work was carried out by clerks and clerks.
Under Ivan III, local government remained conservative. As before, it was based on the system of feeding - one of the sources of enrichment of the upper classes at the expense of the population. "Feeders", i.e. governors and volostels (volost governors) were kept by the local population - they were fed in the literal sense. Their powers were varied: rulers, judges, collectors of princely taxes. The princes, boyars, former "free servants" of the Grand Duke had the right to receive feedings.
The institute of localism was of great importance, according to the system of which all boyar surnames were distributed along the steps of the hierarchical ladder, and all their appointments (military and civilian) had to correspond to birth.
For the first time after Yaroslav the Wise, Ivan III began to streamline legislation. In 1497, a new collection of laws was published - Sudebnik. The new collection of laws established a unified procedure for judicial and administrative activities. An important place in Sudebnik was occupied by laws on land use, especially the law on St. George's Day. In Russia, there was an old custom: in the fall, after harvesting, the peasants could move from one owner to another. By the beginning of the XVI century. this custom took on the character of a disaster: the peasants left their master before the harvest, and often the fields remained unharvested. The Sudebnik of Ivan III limited the right of peasants to move from one owner to another two weeks a year - before and after St. George's Day (November 26).
In Russia, the folding of serfdom began. Serfdom is the dependence of the peasant on the feudal lord in personal, land, property, legal relations, based on attaching them to the land.
It was still the period when they ruled in the old way, having gathered all together in agreement - in a conciliar way: to a decision critical issues countries involved all authoritative forces - himself Grand Duke, Boyar Duma, clergy. The Grand Duke was a strong and respected figure, but the attitude towards him was "simple", in the eyes of the Russians he was only the eldest among equals.
Under Ivan III, important changes take place in the system government controlled: the process of folding an unlimited monarchy began.
The reasons for the folding of an unlimited monarchy are the Mongol and Byzantine influence.
Mongolian influence - by this time, the Mongol-Tatar yoke lasted more than 200 years in Russia. Russian princes began to adopt the style of behavior of the Mongol khans, the model of the political structure of the Horde. In the Horde, the khan was an unlimited ruler.
Byzantine influence - the second marriage of Ivan III was married to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Sophia Paleolog. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell under the blows of the Ottoman Turks. The emperor died on the streets of Constantinople, defending the city. His niece Sophia took refuge with the Pope, who later had the idea of marrying her off to a widowed Russian ruler. The Byzantine princess brought the idea of absolute monarchy to distant Russia.
The first of the Russian princes, Ivan III began to pursue a policy of elevating the power of the Grand Duke. Prior to this, the specific princes and boyars were free servants. At their request, they could serve the Grand Duke of Moscow, leave for service in Lithuania, Poland. Now they began to swear allegiance to the Moscow prince and sign special oaths. From now on, the transfer of a boyar or prince to the service of another sovereign began to be regarded as treason, a crime against the state. Ivan III was the first to take the title "Sovereign of All Russia". In 1497, Ivan III for the first time adopted the unofficial emblem of Byzantium as the coat of arms of the Moscow State - the double-headed eagle - a sacred religious symbol (By this time, the double-headed eagle in Byzantium symbolized the unity of spiritual and secular power). Under him, signs of grand ducal dignity were adopted: the "cap of Monomakh", which became a symbol of autocracy, precious mantles - barmas and a scepter. Under the influence of Sophia, at the court of Ivan III, a magnificent court ceremonial was introduced according to the Byzantine model.
The ideology of the times of Ivan III and Vasily III. At the end of the XNUMXth century. A number of important events took place in Russian statehood:
the unification of the Russian lands was basically completed;
in 1480 the Russian lands were liberated from the Mongol-Tatar yoke;
Ivan III, in the Byzantine manner, began to call himself the title "king".
historical process Moscow princes headed Russia. Moscow princes rose rapidly. According to the ancient right of inheritance, they did not have the right to the first throne in Russia. "In truth" the princes of Tver were to hold the first throne. The Moscow princes, using a whole range of political means, “wrested” the right to all-Russian primacy from the princes of Tver.
And now the moment has come when the Moscow princes had to prove to everyone by what right they own the Russian land.
Besides, Ivan III it was necessary to establish itself among the Western European monarchs. The Russian state appeared at the beginning of the 16th century. suddenly for Western Europe. The large Western European states had already taken shape, the system of relations between them had also already taken shape, the most important trade routes were already occupied.
In order to survive in these conditions, the vast Moscow state needed ideas, an ideology that would reflect the dominant position in Russia of the Moscow princes, the antiquity of the state, the truth of the Orthodox faith, the importance, the need for the existence of Muscovy among other states. Such ideas appeared at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.
Three ideas became the most important.
1. The idea of the succession of the power of the Moscow princes from the princes of Vladimir and Kyiv. Chronicles appeared in which it was stated that the Moscow princes received power over the Russian land from their forefathers - the princes of Vladimir and Kyiv. After all, the head of the Russian Church lived - the metropolitan - first in Kyiv, then in Vladimir (1299 - 1328) and Moscow (since 1328). Therefore, the Kievan, Vladimir, and then Moscow princes also owned the Russian land. This idea also emphasized the idea that the source of grand ducal power is the will of the Lord himself. The Grand Duke is the vicar of the Lord - God on earth. The Lord - God handed over to the Grand Duke the Russian land in control. Therefore, the Russian sovereign was personally responsible before the Lord - God for how he ruled the Russian land. Since it was handed over by the Lord Himself - God, the Orthodox sovereign should not share his power (responsibility) with anyone. Any renunciation of power is sacrilege.
2. The idea of the relationship of Russian princes with the Roman emperors. At this time, the "Legend of the princes of Vladimir" appears. At the heart of the Tale are two legends. One contained the assertion that the family of Russian princes was associated with the king of the “universe” Augustus. In Rome from 27 BC. e. Octavian ruled. He managed to unite under his authority all the territories inhabited world. After that, the Roman state began to be called an empire, and Octavian was given the title "Augusta", i.e. "divine". The Tale said that Augustus had a younger brother named Prus. Prus Augustus sent the ruler to the banks of the Vistula and the Neman (this is how Prussia arose). And Prus had a descendant of Rurik. It was this Rurik that the Novgorodians called to reign in Novgorod (It should be noted that almost all Western European monarchs tried to connect their ancestry with the Roman emperors). Another legend told that in the XII century. Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh, the heir to the Roman emperors, handed over to his grandson, the Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, the symbols of imperial power: a cross, a crown (in Russia they began to call the Monomakh's cap), a bowl of Emperor Augustus and other items. From this it followed that the Russian rulers (Monomashichi) had a legal right to the title "Caesar" (in Russia, the king).
3. The idea of Moscow as the guardian of the true Christian faith. This idea is better known under the name "Moscow - the third Rome". This idea was formulated by the monk of the Pskov Eleazarov Monastery Philotheus in his letters to Vasily III in 1510-1511. Monk Philotheus was sure that Moscow was called upon to play a special role in history. After all, it is the capital of the last state, where the true, Christian faith has been preserved in its original, unspoiled form. In the beginning, the purity of the Christian faith was kept by Rome. But the apostates muddied the pure source, and as a punishment for this, in 476 Rome fell under the blows of the barbarians. Rome was replaced by Constantinople, but even there they abandoned the true faith, agreeing to a union (unification) with the Catholic Church. By the middle of the XNUMXth century. The Byzantine Empire perished under the blows of the Ottoman Turks. Hoping for help from the Western European powers, the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1439 in Florence signed a union with the Pope. Under the terms of the union, the Orthodox recognized the supremacy of the Pope of Rome, and not the Orthodox Patriarch, switched to Catholic dogmas during worship, but Orthodox rites were preserved. Prior to this, the power of the Patriarch of Constantinople was of ecumenical significance. It spread to Byzantium, Russia, Serbia, Georgia, Bulgaria. The conclusion of a union with the pope meant the Greeks' refusal from the universal mission of the guardians of the Orthodox tradition, which they had taken upon themselves. The Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the union and broke off relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Philotheus wrote that for the retreat from Orthodoxy - the true Christian faith - ancient Constantinople was captured by the Turks. Since then, Moscow, the capital of the largest Orthodox state, has become the center of world Orthodoxy, the "third Rome". “Watch and listen, like two Romes have fallen, and the third (Moscow) is standing, and the fourth will not be,” wrote Filofei. Therefore, the role of Russia in world history is to be the patroness of all Orthodox peoples.
Bibliography
Borisov N.S. Ivan III. - M.: Mol. guard, 2000.
Sinitsyna N.V. third Rome. Origins and evolution of the Russian medieval concept. / XV - XVI centuries / - M .: Publishing house "Indrik", 1998.
Cherepnin L.V. Formation of the Russian centralized state in the XIV - XV centuries. essays on socio-economic and political history Russia. - M., 1960.
The Russian centralized state took shape in XIV-XVI centuries
Groups of prerequisites for the formation of a Russian centralized state.
1. Economic background: to the beginning of the XIV century. in Russia, after the Tatar-Mongol invasion, economic life gradually revived and developed, which was the economic basis for the struggle for unification and independence. Cities were also restored, residents returned to their native places, cultivated the land, were engaged in crafts, and trade relations were established. Novgorod contributed a lot to this.
2. Social background: to end of XIV in. the economic situation in Russia has already completely stabilized. Against this background, later feudal features are developing, and the dependence of the peasants on large landowners is growing more and more. At the same time, the resistance of the peasants also increases, which reveals the need for a strong centralized government.
3. Political background, which in turn are subdivided into internal and external ones:
1) internal: in the XIV-XVI centuries. significantly increases and expands the power of the Moscow principality. His princes are building a state apparatus to strengthen their power;
2) foreign policy: the main foreign policy task of Russia was the need to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which hampered the development of the Russian state. The restoration of the independence of Russia required a general unification against a single enemy: the Mongols - from the south, Lithuania and the Swedes - from the west.
One of the political prerequisites for the formation of a unified Russian state was union Orthodox Church and the Catholic Western Church, signed by the Byzantine-Constantinople Patriarch. Russia became the only Orthodox state uniting all the principalities of Russia at the same time.
The unification of Russia took place around Moscow.
The reasons for the rise of Moscow are:
1) good geographical and economic position;
2) Moscow was independent in foreign policy, it did not gravitate towards either Lithuania or the Horde, therefore it became the center of the national liberation struggle;
3) Moscow's support from the largest Russian cities (Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, etc.);
4) Moscow - the center of Orthodoxy in Russia;
5) the absence of internal enmity among the princes of the Moscow house.
Merging Features:
1) the unification of Russian lands took place not in the conditions of late feudalism, as in Europe, but in the conditions of its heyday;
2) the basis for unification in Russia was the union of Moscow princes, and in Europe - the urban bourgeoisie;
3) Russia united initially for political reasons, and then for economic ones, while the European states - primarily for economic reasons.
The unification of Russian lands took place under the leadership of the prince of Moscow. He was the first to become the king of all Russia. AT 1478 after the unification of Novgorod and Moscow, Russia finally freed itself from the yoke. In 1485, Tver, Ryazan, etc., joined the Muscovite state.
Now the specific princes were controlled by proteges from Moscow. The Moscow prince becomes the supreme judge, he considers especially important cases.
Moscow principality for the first time creates new class nobles(service people), they were soldiers of the Grand Duke, who were awarded land on the terms of service.
Overcoming feudal fragmentation and the creation of centralized states is a natural process of the development of feudalism, which was based primarily on socio-economic factors:
growth feudal tenure and the inclusion of the feudal economy in trade relations;
the emergence of new and strengthening of old cities - centers of trade and crafts;
expansion of economic ties and commodity-money relations.
Changes in the socio-economic order inevitably led to more intensive exploitation of the peasants and their enslavement. The aggravation of the class struggle required the ruling classes to carry out political reforms that could help consolidate their power.
The strengthening of economic ties, as well as the aggravation of the class struggle, required the organization of administration, courts, and the collection of taxes; and new ones: the creation of roads, postal services, etc. A politically important moment in the process of centralization could be the need for protection from external enemies.
The process of creating the Russian neutralized state is largely identical general patterns historical development feudal state, but it also had its own characteristics.
The prerequisites for the elimination of feudal fragmentation in Russia were outlined as early as the 13th century, especially in the northeast, in the Vladimir principality. However further development Russian lands were interrupted by the Mongol conquest, which caused great damage to the Russian people and significantly slowed down their progress. Only in the 14th century did the Russian principalities begin to gradually revive: agricultural production was restored, cities were rebuilt, new trade and craft centers arose, and economic ties were strengthened. Great importance acquired Moscow, Moscow principality, territory . which has been constantly (starting from the 111th century) expanded.
The process of formation of a unified Russian state was expressed, firstly, in unification of territories previously independent states-principalities into one - the Grand Duchy of Moscow; and secondly, in changing the very nature of statehood, in the transformation of the political organization of society.
The unification of the lands around Moscow and the Moscow principality begins at the end of the 13th century. and ends at the end of the 15th century. - the beginning of the XVI century. At this time, the Novgorod Republic and Pskov, the Ryazan Principality, Smolensk and others were annexed to Moscow. Ivan III and his son Vasily III - the Grand Dukes of Moscow - began to call themselves "sovereigns of all Russia."
As the unified state was formed, its character also changed. Determined in the second half of the XV century. - the beginning of the XVI century. the processes of changing the political system, however, were not completed simultaneously with the unification of the lands of the Russian state. The political apparatus of the centralized state was fully formed only in the second half of the 16th century. At the end of the XV century. The first Code of Laws was adopted in 1497.
In parallel with the unification of the Russian lands, the creation of the spiritual basis of the national state, there was a process of strengthening Russian statehood, the formation of a centralized Russian state. The prerequisites for this process were laid during the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke.
Researchers note that the vassal dependence of Russian lands on the Golden Horde to a certain extent contributed to the strengthening of Russian statehood. During this period, the volume and authority of princely power within the country increases, the princely apparatus crushes the institutions of people's self-government, and the veche, the oldest body of democracy, gradually disappears from practice throughout the historical core of the future Russian state.
During the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, city liberties and privileges were destroyed. Outflow of money into Golden Horde prevented the emergence of the "third estate", the pillar of urban independence in the countries of Western Europe.
Significant changes took place in the main sphere of production - agriculture. Agriculture became more productive. Trade in bread and other agricultural products acquired a more lively character. Rich buyers of bread and other products appeared in the localities (including in peasant villages). The largest of them conducted trading operations not only within the volost, but also in larger areas. A large consumer of imported bread, meat and other products was Moscow with its 100,000 population. Large trading operations in bread and other products were carried out by some monasteries, especially Trinity-Sergius and Solovetsky.
An important indicator of the strengthening of the social division of labor in the XV-XVI centuries. was the development of handicraft production. Trades and crafts developed both in the tree and especially in the city. Such largest cities like Moscow, Novgorod, there were thousands of craft yards; compared with Ancient Russia the number of handicraft specialties has increased several times. At the same time, some artisans broke ties with agriculture, began to work specifically for the market.
The development of handicraft production and trade led to an increase in the number of cities and the strengthening of their role in the life of the country. In about a century, by the middle of the 16th century, the number of cities had more than doubled. At the end of the XV - the first half of the XVI centuries. Rows, market stalls, and settlements quickly grew in the localities, gradually turning into cities.
In Russian cities of the late XV - mid-XVI centuries. hardly more than 2-3% of the population lived, but many cities became centers of economic relations of the region, administrative and cultural centers, objectively turned into strongholds for the unification of the state, although, unlike Western Europe, they did not become the main force in this process.
Thus, the main objective prerequisites for the formation of a unified Russian state were economic development, economic convergence of Russian lands. However, this process until the middle of the XVI century. was still far from complete and developed more slowly than in a number of Western European countries (England, Holland, France, etc.).
The slower development of production and commodity-money relations in Russia is primarily due to the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which destroyed and slowed down the development of productive forces for a long time. A great hindrance to the normal economic development of the southern regions of Russia was constant raids. Crimean Tatars, which continued in the XV-XVI centuries, which ruined everything in their path and diverted significant forces of the Russian state.
Other factors were also involved. While in Western Europe in the XV-XVI centuries. the peasant community was intensively destroyed, in Russia it still retained its isolation, which also held back the development of commodity-money relations. The countries of Western Europe were also in more favorable natural and climatic conditions for the development of production, they had more convenient sea and other means of communication. Russia, with its vast expanses and harsh winters, was cut off from the seas, land roads stretched with the thinnest threads, rivers were covered with ice for half a year. This created additional difficulties for the development of production and trade.
The consequence of the economic development of Russia on this stage was not the decomposition, but the strengthening of the feudal system, a certain restructuring of the forms of feudal economy and the exploitation of the peasants. The value of land and labor increased. The need for land grew, especially from the service nobility. The Grand Dukes began to widely distribute black-taxed, state-owned lands to service people. But this fund could not be spent indefinitely, as the "state tax" and the revenues of the treasury were reduced. The struggle for land and for working hands within the feudal class intensified. The lordly plowing increased due to the reduction of peasant lands. If before the XV century. the predominant form was rent in kind (natural dues), then from the end of the XV-XVI centuries. labor rent - corvée - began to receive wide distribution. In Western Europe, it was already disappearing at that time.
Along with the corvée system, money rent began to develop, especially in the northeastern regions of Russia. The size of the corvee and cash dues grew.
All this led to an increase in the intensity of the feudal exploitation of the peasants and the process of their enslavement, which in turn was accompanied by an aggravation of class contradictions and class struggle. The class protest of the peasants and the urban lower classes took various forms. These were open actions of townspeople and peasants (a number of urban uprisings of 1547-1550, numerous attacks of peasants on the possessions of feudal lords, arson, etc.), and the flight of peasants and townspeople to the outskirts of the state (at that time the Don Cossacks began to take shape), and numerous cases of unauthorized plowing by peasants of the lands of feudal lords, monasteries, cutting down forests, etc., and the intensification of the ideological struggle, which took the form of heresies (the appearance of sects of Josephites and non-possessors in the late XV - early XVI centuries). To suppress the class protest of the lower classes, to ensure the exploitation of the peasants in the new conditions, the class of feudal lords needed a strong unified state.
The formation of the Russian centralized state coincided in time mainly with the formation of the Great Russian people (the beginning of its formation dates back to the 14th-15th centuries). The formation of the Great Russian people on the basis of an economic, cultural, linguistic, and territorial community accelerated the growth of national self-consciousness and contributed to the unification of Russian lands. In its turn single state contributed to the creation of a political community and the formation of the Great Russian people.
These are the internal socio-economic and political prerequisites for the formation of the Russian unified state.
Russia's foreign policy position played an important role in this process. Not a single large state of Western Europe at the time of centralization was in such unfavorable external conditions as Russia, over which two hundred extra years the Tatar-Mongol yoke weighed heavily and which, for centuries, had to ensure its security from the constant mass raids of the Crimean Tatars and the threat of such large and strong countries, as Sweden, Turkey, etc. History of the State and Law of the USSR / Ed. Kalinina G. S. - M .: Legal Literature, 1972. - P. 148 All this led to severe destruction of the economy, to the death of thousands and thousands of people, to the diversion of huge forces and means to fight external enemies, for centuries it put pressure on the consciousness of Russians of people. The need for liberation from the Tatar-Mongol yoke and defense from the constant threat of invasions by others foreign conquerors accelerated the formation of a unified Russian state.
The totality of all these causes took shape and was clearly manifested by the second half of the 15th century. By this time, the forces capable of ensuring the unification of Russia had also developed.
In Western Europe, the decisive force in the formation of centralized states was the union royalty and cities supported by petty chivalry. In Russia, the growing cities often also united around the grand duke's power in the struggle for unification. Residents of a number of cities (Tver, Novgorod, etc.) with their active participation contributed to the annexation of lands to Moscow. But one can hardly speak of a strong and permanent alliance of cities with the Grand Duke. in Russia in the 15th century. in contrast to Western Europe, the townspeople have not yet become "more necessary to society than the feudal nobility." Home political force in the creation of a single Russian, and then a centralized state, there was a growing feudal nobility in alliance with the grand ducal power with the support of cities. A strong unified state was also supported by some boyars, whose interests were closely connected with the great Moscow prince. The Russian Church as a whole also needed a strong state power to secure its privileges. However, she also entered into a struggle with princely power when it affected the land and other interests of the church and monasteries.
At the center of the entire economic and political process of the unification of Russia were peasants and urban townspeople. Their labor created economic conditions for the unification. Centuries of military labor, exploits and sacrifices of the people led to the overthrow of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The popular masses stood for the elimination of internecine strife, for a strong state capable of defending the independence of the country.
On the way to the unification process, it was necessary not only to overthrow the foreign yoke, but also to overcome the resistance of the significant internal forces of the great and specific princes, the boyar elite. These elements were strong not in numbers, but in their economic and political power, influence on various groups of the population associated with them, and the strength of age-old traditions and habits.
The center of the unification of the Russian lands was the most developed and strong Moscow principality, which led all the Russian lands in the struggle against the Tatar-Mongols.
The Russian centralized state took shape in XIV-XVI centuries (14-16)
Groups of prerequisites for the formation of a Russian centralized state .
- 1. Economic background : to the beginning of the XIV century. in Russia, after the Tatar-Mongol invasion, economic life gradually revived and developed, which was the economic basis for the struggle for unification and independence. Cities were also restored, residents returned to their native places, cultivated the land, were engaged in crafts, and trade relations were established. Novgorod contributed a lot to this.
- 2. Social background : by the end of the XIV century. the economic situation in Russia has already completely stabilized. Against this background, later feudal features are developing, and the dependence of the peasants on large landowners is growing more and more. At the same time, the resistance of the peasants also increases, which reveals the need for a strong centralized government.
- 3. Political background , which in turn are subdivided into internal and external ones:
- 1. internal: in the XIV-XVI centuries. significantly increases and expands the power of the Moscow principality. His princes are building a state apparatus to strengthen their power;
- 2. foreign policy : the main foreign policy task of Russia was the need to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which hampered the development of the Russian state. The restoration of the independence of Russia required a general unification against a single enemy: the Mongols - from the south, Lithuania and the Swedes - from the west.
One of the political prerequisites for the formation of a unified Russian state was Union of the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Western Church , signed by the Byzantine-Constantinople Patriarch. Russia became the only Orthodox state uniting all the principalities of Russia at the same time.
The unification of Russia took place around Moscow.
The reasons for the rise of Moscow are :
- 1. good geographical and economic position;
- 2. Moscow was independent in foreign policy, it did not gravitate towards either Lithuania or the Horde, therefore it became the center of the national liberation struggle;
- 3. support for Moscow from the largest Russian cities (Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, etc.);
- 4. Moscow - the center of Orthodoxy in Russia;
- 5. the absence of internal enmity among the princes of the Moscow house.
Merging Features :
- 1. The unification of the Russian lands took place not in the conditions of late feudalism, as in Europe, but in the conditions of its heyday;
- 2. the union of Moscow princes served as the basis for unification in Russia, and in Europe - the urban bourgeoisie;
- 3. Russia united initially for political reasons, and then for economic ones, while the European states - primarily for economic ones.
The unification of the Russian lands took place under the leadership of the prince of Moscow Ivan 3. He was the first to become the king of all Russia. AT 1478 after the unification of Novgorod and Moscow, Russia finally freed itself from the yoke. In 1485, Tver, Ryazan, etc. joined the Muscovite state. Now the specific princes were controlled by proteges from Moscow. The Moscow prince becomes the supreme judge, he considers especially important cases. The Moscow principality creates a new class for the first time nobles(service people), they were soldiers of the Grand Duke, who were awarded land on the terms of service. At the end of the XV century. The first Code of Laws was adopted in 1497.
21. Formation and strengthening of the service centralized state in the 14th-16th centuries
Unification of Russian lands around Moscow
The formation of a centralized state is an important stage in the development of Russian statehood. The process of centralization was carried out for two centuries. A centralized state can be considered a state in which there are laws recognized in all its parts, a management apparatus that ensures the implementation of laws. The rationale for centralization is the idea of a national community.
The formation of a centralized state chronologically coincides with the formation of monarchies in a number of Western European countries. In Russia, a special type of feudal society was formed, different from the common European one, with autocracy at the head, a high degree of exploitation of the peasantry.
The birth of the state took place in civil strife, the struggle with the Golden Horde, Kazan, Crimean (from the beginning of the 16th century), Lithuanian principalities, the Livonian Order, and the Kingdom of Sweden.
The peculiarity of statehood was determined by:
1. The length and openness of easily accessible borders.
2. The confessional isolation of Russian Orthodoxy.
3. The Russian state could become centralized only by throwing off the economic and political dependence of the Horde
The reasons for the formation of a centralized state are not only the need for the country to gain independence, but also:
1. The interest of the feudal lords in the centralized apparatus for enslavement.
2. The development of cities dictated an interest in the elimination of feudal fragmentation
3. The interest of the peasantry in the stabilization of power.
Prerequisites for the formation of a Russian centralized state.
Economic background 1) Nascent landownership 2) The need to eliminate customs borders between the principalities in order to create favorable conditions for the development of trade 3) The gradual destruction of the naturalness of agricultural production 4) The need to introduce a single monetary system, common measures of weight, volume and length in order to ensure favorable conditions for development trade 5) The growth and strengthening of cities as trade and craft centers
Political background 1) The preservation of North-Eastern Russia, which is under the Mongol-Tatar yoke, of its Orthodoxy and statehood 2) The experience of the Golden Horde from the end of the 14th century of feudal fragmentation.
At the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, the Golden Horde broke up into separate khanates: Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberian, Crimean and Nogai Horde. 3) The need to fight for national independence 4) The far-sighted policy of the Moscow princes 5) The transformation of Moscow into the religious center of the Russian lands as a result of the transfer of the metropolitan see from Vladimir to Moscow 6) The transformation of the Moscow principality into a national center that raised the banner of the liberation struggle Social background 1) The need of the feudal lords for a strong princely power, which has an effective administrative apparatus and an army to suppress popular uprisings 2) The need for boyars and free servants in a powerful and rich prince, distributing estates for service princely power, capable of overcoming the disunity of the Russian lands, providing conditions for the exchange of goods, as well as the independence of the country.
Factors that influenced the formation of a centralized Russian state. a) Natural-climatic and economic factors.
Infertile soils
Slash-and-burn farming system -> fallow three-field (reduced yield) -> the need for community labor
Effects:
1) Commodity production developed slowly. The volume of the total surplus product was extremely low. And this was of great importance for the formation of a certain type of statehood on the territory of the historical core of Russia, forcing the ruling class to create rigid levers of the state mechanism, allowing them to withdraw that share of the surplus product that went to the needs of the development of the state itself, society and ruling class. From here come the origins of the strict regime of serfdom, and the colonization of new territories, because it was possible to increase the surplus product only through the growth of the agricultural population and the development of new spaces while maintaining the extensive nature of agriculture.
2)The development of the Russian economy as predominantly agricultural led to a slowdown in the process of separation of industry from agriculture, which led to a slowdown in the process of urban formation. The economic development of the Russian lands was negatively affected by the Tatar-Mongol conquest. The Mongol invasion led to a decline in the role of cities in the economic life of Russia, to a sharp reduction in the population, to the outflow of a significant share of the surplus product to the Horde in the form of tribute, although the Mongols refused to directly include Russian lands in the Golden Horde and did not encroach on the Orthodox faith.
Features of natural and climatic conditions largely predetermined the features of the formation of the Russian centralized state.
Unlike the countries of Western Europe, the growth of cities, the development of trade, the formation of a single national market and the formation of economic unity on this basis were not the main reasons for the formation of a centralized state in Russia.
b) Socio-political factors Centralization is not a spontaneous process carried out by historical subjects.
Land ownership on patrimonial and conditional holding in islands interspersed in the sea of peasant communities, until the end of the 15th century. black lands dominated in North-Eastern Russia. Black lands: communal land tenure of peasants with individual ownership of a personal plot and arable land. Relations in the community were regulated through elected peasant volost self-government under the control of representatives of the princely administration - governors and volosts.
In the XIV century, the term "peasants" appears.
Black peasants who lived in communities in villages that did not belong to individual feudal lords paid a tax;
Owning peasants who lived on allotment lands in the system of feudal patrimony, dependent on the feudal lord
During the formation of a centralized state, the main form of dependence is field barshchina.
The end of the XIII-XIV centuries - the emergence of the need for labor to cultivate specific land in the field corvée, the peasants are still free and do not want to work for the landowner. Motivation requires coercive force, namely, state power.
The landowners were interested in attracting the agricultural and artisan population to their territories, as well as in the development of new lands and colonization. In this sense, the colonization of the population in the North-Eastern lands was supported by those who sought to unite the lands and create a unified state power.
Consolidation stages (briefly(1)+additions(1.1))
1) (late XIII-80g. XIV) economic recovery, the struggle between the strongest Russian principalities for the throne (Moscow, Tver, Ryazan.), 1301 - the rise of Moscow, the beginning of unification around it.
Reasons for the rise of Moscow: Vladimir-Suzdal principality - the center of arable farming and crafts, trade; Favorable geographical position: security, control over river and trade routes, developed economic ties with other principalities .; A constant influx of population, the growth of villages, settlements, estates; Metropolitan residence; Active policy of the Moscow princes; Protection of the Horde. Moscow becomes an economic, political, spiritual and cultural center.
Ivan Kalita(1325-1340). He maintained ties with the Golden Horde, paid tribute, enlisted its support, received a label to reign.
Dmitry Ivanovich (1359-1389). Rallying principalities around Moscow to fight the Golden Horde. The victory of 1380 (Battle of Kulikovo) became possible because the army was all-Russian in territory. and nationwide in composition, the motive of defending the united Russian land determined the victory. Victory Meaning: the revival of the national consciousness of Russia, a new ethnic community - Moscow Russia.
1.1Initial stage of consolidation(late XIII-first half of the XIV centuries)
In North-Eastern Russia, the unification of large feudal centers and the selection of the strongest among them
The main rivals in the struggle for the role of the center: Moscow and Tver
Increase in population due to the influx of peasants and artisans (economy and political rise)
NB! The important role of the Horde. In order to keep Russia in obedience and draw income from it, centralized power was needed. But a strong prince would be dangerous, and the unity of Russia under his rule is a direct threat to the dominion of the Horde. The Horde could not allow the strengthening of one prince and constantly intervened in the rivalry between the Moscow and Tver princes. After the reign and struggle of Yuri Danilovich of Moscow and Mikhail Yaroslavovich of Tverskoy, the time of Ivan Kalita came.
Ivan I Danilovich Kalita (1325-1340) (brother of Yuri, (1328-1340), grandson of Nevsky, laid the foundation for a centralized state and the foundations of the future power of the Muscovite state, had an ally in the form of the Orthodox Church).
Main directions of activity - Implementation of two principles: Peace - and - Order.
Expansion of the boundaries of the Moscow principality
Purchase of large territories - Galich, Uglich, Beloozero (1328). Accession of part of the Rostov Principality (1331)
Maintaining good relations with the Horde
Fight with Tver for the label
Participation together with the Horde army in a punitive campaign against Tver (1327)
Obtaining the right to collect tribute from Russian lands and deliver it to the Horde
Close cooperation with the Orthodox Church
Transfer of the center of Russian Orthodoxy from Vladimir to Moscow (since 1328)
Construction of five white stone churches in Moscow (from 1326 to 1333)
An alliance with Novgorod was achieved in 1335. Due to maintaining contact with the Horde, the positions of the Moscow principality were strengthened.
Semyon Proud(1340-1353, son of Kalita)
Continuation of the policy of Ivan Kalita
Good relations with the Horde
Conducting a balanced foreign policy Absence of military clashes with neighboring principalities
Subjugation of Novgorod through the appointment of Moscow governors
Outcome: Raised the importance of Moscow to the level of the all-Russian capital
IvanIIRed(1353-1359, son of Kalita)
Continuation of the policy of Kalita and Proud
Possession of a label for a great reign
Commencement of hostilities with Lithuania
Carrying out a peaceful policy towards neighboring principalities
Second half of the 14th century The North-Eastern lands with the center in Moscow were called "Great Russia".
Basis: Moscow's defeat of its political rivals, the transition from Moscow's assertion of its political supremacy in Russia to the state unification of Russian lands around it and the organization of a nationwide struggle to overthrow the Horde yoke.
The reign of Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359-1389). Support of Metropolitan Alexei.
Main policies
Unification of Moscow and Vladimir principalities
Struggle for leadership in Russia Confrontation:
With the Horde - the desire to weaken the dependence of the Russian principalities on the Horde
Fight with Mamai
With Tver - for a shortcut to a great reign, victory
With Ryazan - about disputed territories, victory
The collapse of the Horde-Lithuanian plans for the weakening of Russia
Impulse for the further unification of Russian lands under the rule of Moscow
Creation of prerequisites for the liberation of Russia from the Horde
The Horde recognized the supremacy of Moscow in Russia.
2) (80 XIV-mid XV). further unification, struggle with the Moscow specific princes.
The victory of the Moscow Principality under Vasily II was conditioned by an alliance with the Horde, the support of the church. Polit. unification ended under Ivan III(1462-1505) and his son Vasily III (1505-1533). Ivan III managed to unite almost all of Russia
2.2 Before his death, Dmitry Donskoy handed over to his eldest son Vasily I Dmitrievich (1389-1425) by will the Grand Duchy of Vladimir as the “fatherland” of the Moscow princes, thereby not recognizing the right of the khan to issue a label. The process of merging the principality of Vladimir and Moscow was completed. From that moment on, Moscow asserted the role and importance of the territorial and national center of the emerging Russian state. Even under Dmitry Donskoy, Dmitrov, Starodub, Ulich and Kostroma, vast territories in the Volga region were annexed. At the end of the XIV century. The Nizhny Novgorod principality lost its independence. The attempt of the specific princes, led by the Galician princes, to stop the liquidation of the feudal fragmentation order did not give any result. The defeat of the specific princes created the conditions for the transition to the final stage of unification.
The main activities of Vasily I
Horde - reconciliation and receiving a label for a great reign
Further growth of the Moscow principality
3) (2 floors. XV - beginning of the XVI century) the formation of a single state. Associated with the reigns of Ivan III and Vasily III.
The overthrow of the yoke (since 1476, Ivan III stopped paying tribute), the annexation by force of the Novgorod land (1478), the Principality of Tver (1485), the Pskov Republic. (1510), Smolensk (1514), Ryazan principality (1521).
A single territory was divided into counties, camps and volosts. In 1497, a legislative collection was put into effect - the Sudebnik, which fixed the rule for the transition of peasants from one feudal lord to another, was the beginning of the legal enslavement of the peasants. Boyar Duma - Council under the Grand Duke. Orders are the organs of central control. The Moscow army is a single military body of noble landlords. In the process of creating the state, there was a redistribution of landed property, a change in the structure of the ruling class of feudal lords. The service nobility appeared.
Russia's isolation from Western Europe was overcome. Development of culture, use of European experience.
The establishment of sole power, the elimination of independent principalities, the overthrow of the Horde yoke, the transition from defensive to offensive foreign policy are necessary conditions. The need for unity for survival contributed to the consolidation of the nation, the increase in the prestige of the state. Monarchical power stood above the interests of various classes, therefore it was the most effective state. form for the unification of the country.
A significant contribution to the strengthening of the Russian centralized state was made by Ivan III (1462-1505). He concentrated power in his hands, was supported by all classes.
With the support of the church, the nobility, the townspeople, the peasants, Ivan III laid the foundation of the empire and brought the struggle against the yoke to the end. Moscow governors in the former princely capitals - Nizhny Novgorod, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Rostov, Starodub, Beloozero.
In 1478 Ivan III conquered the Novgorod feudal republic. Then the Muscovite troops conquered the Grand Duchy of Tver. In 1480, the Mongol-Tatar yoke was overthrown. The ruler of the Golden Horde, Ahmed Khan, entered into an alliance with the Polish king Casimir IV, invaded Russian land in order to again force the Grand Duke of Moscow to pay tribute. The situation was complicated by the outbreak of rebellion of the specific princes - the brothers of Ivan III.
"Standing on the Ugra River" - the liberation of the Russian land from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. There remained the Kazan, Astrakhan and Crimean khanates that grew out of the Golden Horde.
Ivan III was helped with advice by Metropolitan Jonah, who took care of him. He opposed the separatist policy of the specific princes, for the creation of a strong centralized state, for its liberation from the Horde yoke, against any claims of Lithuania and Poland. Ivan III united almost all of Russia and became the first real sovereign of All Russia from 1485.
Under Ivan III:
Major changes in the structure of land ownership and ruling classes;
The service nobility and the local (conditional) landownership grew significantly;
Army: instead of the feudal squads supplied by the boyars, the army was equipped with noble militias, noble cavalry, foot regiments with firearms (squeakers).
A centralized administration apparatus was formed with the participation of the nobility - the Boyar Duma, the Grand Palace and the Treasury.
The need for labor is growing. A new legal order is needed.
Judicial reform of Ivan III in 1497 in the form of a special collection of laws "Sudebnik". Uniform all-Russian legislation was introduced. Prohibition of bribes for legal proceedings, the establishment of uniform court fees for all types of judicial activities.
According to the Sudebnik, the following acted on the territory of the entire state:
the court of the Grand Duke and his children, the court of boyars and roundabouts, the court of governors and volostels (the territory of the country was divided into counties, counties into volosts and camps.
Power in the counties belonged to the princely governors, and in the volosts and camps - to the volosts). The Sudebnik established the obligatory presence of a deacon at the boyar court, kissers (court elders) and the best people in local court.
some norms of the old law have been preserved. So, the complainants could resolve the dispute "by the field", that is, by a judicial duel on clubs. The judges had to watch that one did not kill the other.
According to Sudebnik, the long-standing rule of the transfer of peasants from one owner to another within two weeks of the year has become a national norm. In a single period of transition - a week before November 26 and after - the peasant could leave only after paying all his debts and "elderly". Sudebnik forbade free people to be enslaved into slaves.
Ivan III reformed the calendar. Since 1472 (since 7000 from the creation of the world), the New Year began to be celebrated not on March 1, but on September 1.
During the reign of Ivan III, four aspects of Russian foreign policy clearly emerged:
northwestern (Baltic problem)
western (Lithuanian issue)
southern (Crimean)
Eastern (Kazan and Nogai).
In accordance with the new political position as sovereign over the united Russian land, Ivan III in official relations called himself the "sovereign of all Russia", and sometimes "tsar". The idea of unlimited power was connected with the title "sovereign", the term "tsar" was used earlier in Russia in relation to the Byzantine emperor and the Tatar khan and corresponded to the title "emperor". Under Ivan, a new coat of arms was adopted in the form of a double-headed eagle. The external expression of continuity with the Byzantine Empire was the "barma" (mantle) and the cap of Monomakh.
The last years of the final stage of the unification of the Russian lands fell on the beginning of the reign of Vasily III (1505-1533). Vasily III was nicknamed "the last collector of the Russian land."
Completion of the unification of Russian lands
Vasily III bequeathed the throne to his eldest son Ivan IV (1533-1584)
Grand Duke Vasily III died when his son was three years old. After the death of her mother, Grand Duchess Elena, the country was ruled by the Boyar Duma. Power passed from one boyar group to another. As a result of many years of bloody strife, the relatives of the Grand Duchess, the Glinskys, won.
The uncle of the young Grand Duke Mikhail Glinsky and his grandmother Anna, on the advice and with the help of Metropolitan Macarius, managed to prepare an act of great national importance - the wedding of Ivan to the kingdom. The king received the crown from the hands of the head of the church. This emphasized that the church fully supports and blesses autocracy, as well as the special place of the church in the state. The Church became the mother of royal power and its guarantor. The coronation took place on January 16, 1547, when young Ivan was 16 years old.
The act of crowning the kingdom did not, however, put an end to boyar rule. It was ended by the popular uprising of 1547, which became a spontaneous outburst of indignation at the boyar civil strife and exorbitant need.
The result of the uprising was:
the liberation of the tsar from the heavy guardianship of the boyars and the nomination of new people into his entourage, expressing the interests of the service nobility and the top of the urban settlement.
A government was formed based on a compromise between the interests of various estates.
Metropolitan Macarius played a key role in the formation of the new ruling group. With his participation, those persons who symbolized the new government, the "Chosen Rada", turned out to be surrounded by the king. We are talking, first of all, about Alexei Fedorovich Adashev (an unborn nobleman) and the priest Sylvester, as well as about the princes Andrei Kurbsky, Vorotynsky, Odoevsky, Serebryany, the boyars Sheremetiev, Viskovat and others. This was the actual government, which under the leadership of the tsar implemented a number of important reforms.
The main goals of the reforms were:
1) create a state on a single legal basis, put an end to specific feudal orders;
2) to create such a system of supreme government in which royal power would be limited by "wise advice";
3) create a powerful army of central subordination;
4) active foreign policy, aimed at expanding the land, primarily the conquest of the Volga region.
What has been done to achieve these goals?
1) Release of the nobles from the jurisdiction of the boyars-governors
2) The abolition of parochialism and the establishment of appointment to the service as a state duty
3) Adoption of the new Code of Laws of 1550
By which:
jurors appeared at every trial
feudal immunities abolished
tarkhan letters were introduced (tax exemption)
unified legislation was created, confirming St. George's Day
4) Zemstvo reform , which introduced local elected self-government instead of the power of governors. The draft population (posad and black-soshnoe) elected from among the children of the boyars "favorite heads" or elders to collect taxes in favor of the state and judicial functions. Thus, direct ties were established between the state and its population, the inhabitants of the former appanages turned into subjects of one state
5) All lands rewritten and a unified system of taxation was established. New taxes were established - "squealing money" for the maintenance of the archery troops and "Polonian money" for the ransom of prisoners
6) Central Government Reform, which included the formation of a system of new orders: Local, Kazan, Posolsky
7) Military reform, which provided for the formation of an officer corps - 1070 nobles - the support of the king and autocratic power and established two types of service - by instrument (by choice) and by fatherland (by origin).
According to the device, the archery army was formed. Every free person could become a Sagittarius, the service was not hereditary. Marine fleet Russia did not have then. During the Livonian War, Ivan IV brought a privateer fleet in the Baltic Sea in order to prevent the trade of Poland, Lithuania and Sweden. In October 1570, the mercenary flotilla of Grozny was arrested by the Danish king, the ships were confiscated
8) Church reform. In 1551, on the initiative of Grozny, a Church Council was convened. His decisions are summarized in One Hundred Chapters (Stoglavy). The tsar gave a speech, urged the church to approve the reforms and the Sudebnik, and proposed to correct the church structure in a non-possessive spirit. The council headed by Macarius did not approve this proposal. The church and monastic land ownership was declared unshakable, those who attempted to attack it were called predators and robbers. A compromise was reached: the Council allowed monasteries to buy and sell land only with royal permission and forbade churchmen to engage in usury. The cathedral unified all ceremonies and worship
9) In 1552 and 1556, the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates were annexed. The Volga route became Russian.
The reforms of the government of Ivan IV tended not only to strengthen the centralized state, but also to turn it into a class-representative monarchy. The events of later years destroyed many of the results of these reforms. Ivan the Terrible himself was the first to have a hand in this. The path along which the members of the "Chosen Rada" led the state could lead to the non-full power of the monarch, such as, for example, in Poland, where the gentry actually ruled the country. Such an example frightened Grozny. He proceeded to decisive action and, in order to strengthen the autocracy, created the oprichnina.
Oprichnina.
Oprichnina is an instrument of coercion with which the king strengthened his power:
The main idea is the division of the sovereign's servants into those who "serve closely", that is, faithful, and those who are not so reliable.
The corps of faithful servants, with the help of which one can protect oneself and one's power from the encroachments of the surrounding and unreliable "siglicts", should be replenished from the inferior ranks.
The rise of a serviceman - from rags to riches - should chain him forever to the king. It does not follow from this that Ivan the Terrible created his apparatus of power out of the mediocre ones.
The noble ones also served in the highest posts, but they were "stratified" by the poor.
In 1564, the tsar leaves Moscow for Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda and announces that he is leaving his kingdom, because "the boyars and all ordered people" caused all sorts of losses to both the population of the country and the state. The goal is to enlist the support of the townspeople and put forward their conditions for returning. In order to "blow the sovereign and cry," a representative delegation from the clergy, boyars, nobles, clerks, merchants and townspeople went to Alexandrov Sloboda. After listening to the envoys, Grozny agreed to return to Moscow, but on the condition that from now on the tsar, at his own discretion, will execute those whom he considers necessary without the consent of the church.
On February 2, 1565, Tsar Ivan Vasilievich solemnly entered the capital, and the next day he announced to the clergy, boyars and noble officials about the establishment of the oprichnina.
The main activities were:
1) the allocation of oprichnina territories - the sovereign's destiny;
2) formation of the oprichnina corps;
3) the formation of the oprichnina court - the supreme leadership of the main services and institutions of the state. Law enforcement agencies (Discharge, Yamskoy, Palace, Treasury orders) entered into his subordination. The Boyar Duma was established in the oprichnina (along with the Zemsky Boyar Duma).
All forces opposed to the autocracy were persecuted. The victims of the oprichnina terror were not only representatives of the opposition boyars, the aristocracy, but also independently minded nobles and boyar children. The victims of land terror, that is, land confiscations, were landowners of all categories - everyone who was not close to the king did not prove his loyalty. In an effort to create the impression of popular support for his policy, Grozny continued to convene Zemsky Sobors from representatives of all strata of landowners, as well as tenements.
The decree on the introduction of the oprichnina was submitted for approval by the Zemsky Sobor in February 1565. Zemstvo, who turned to the tsar with a request to abolish the oprichnina, suffered a cruel reprisal. Most of the members of the Boyar Duma (zemstvo) were destroyed during the years of the oprichnina, the Duma turned into a submissive authority.