Which of the following principalities was formed in 12. Catholic orders, Sweden and Denmark


Among the dozens of principalities, the largest were Vladimir-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn and Novgorod land.

Vladimir-Suzdal Principality.

This principality occupied a special place in the history of the Russian Middle Ages. He was destined to become a link between the pre-Mongol period of Russian history and the period of Muscovite Rus', the core of the future unified state.

Located in distant Zalesye, it was well protected from external threats. Thick black soils, created by nature in the center of the non-chernozem zone, attracted settlers here. Convenient river routes opened the way to eastern and European markets.

In the 11th century this remote region becomes the “fatherland” of the Monomakhovichs. At first, they do not attach importance to this pearl of their possessions and do not even place princes here. At the beginning of the 12th century. Vladimir Monomakh founded the future capital of Vladimir-on-Klyazma and in 1120 sent his son Yuri to reign here. The foundations of the power of the Suzdal land were laid during the reign of three outstanding statesmen: Yuri Dolgoruky /1120-1157/, Andrei Bogolyubsky /1157-1174/, Vsevolod the Big Nest /1176-1212/.

They were able to prevail over the boyars, for which they were nicknamed “autocrats.” Some historians see in this a tendency to overcome fragmentation, interrupted by the Tatar invasion.

Yuri, with his irrepressible thirst for power and desire for primacy, turned his possession into an independent principality that pursued an active policy. His possessions expanded to include the colonized eastern regions. The new cities of Yuryev Polsky, Pereyaslavl Zalessky, and Dmitrov grew. Churches and monasteries were built and decorated. The first chronicle mention of Moscow dates back to the time of his reign /1147/.

Yuri more than once fought with Volga Bulgaria, a trade competitor of Rus'. He waged a confrontation with Novgorod, and in the 40s. got involved in a grueling and useless struggle for Kyiv. Having achieved his desired goal in 1155, Yuri left Suzdal land forever. Two years later he died in Kyiv /according to one version, he was poisoned/.

The master of North-Eastern Rus' - tough, power-hungry and energetic - was Dolgoruky's son Andrei, nicknamed Bogolyubsky for the construction of a palace in the village of Bogolyubovo near Vladimir. While his father was still alive, Andrei, Yuri’s “beloved child”, to whom he intended to transfer Kyiv after his death, leaves for the Suzdal land without his father’s consent. In 1157, the local boyars elected him as their prince.

Andrei combined several qualities that were important for a statesman of that time. A courageous warrior, he was a calculating, unusually astute diplomat at the negotiating table. Possessing an extraordinary mind and willpower, he became an authoritative and formidable commander, an “autocrat” whose orders even the formidable Polovtsians obeyed. The prince decisively placed himself not next to the boyars, but above them, relying on the cities and his military service court. Unlike his father, who aspired to Kyiv, he was a local Suzdal patriot, and he considered the fight for Kyiv only a means of elevating his principality. Having captured the city of Kyiv in 1169, he gave it to the army for plunder and put his brother there to rule. In addition to everything, Andrei was a well-educated person and was not devoid of original literary talent.

However, in an effort to strengthen princely power and rise above the boyars, Bogolyubsky was ahead of his time. The boyars grumbled silently. When, by order of the prince, one of the Kuchkovich boyars was executed, his relatives organized a conspiracy, in which the prince’s closest servants also participated. On the night of April 29, 1174, the conspirators broke into the prince's bedroom and killed Andrei. The news of his death became a signal for a popular uprising. The prince's castle and the courtyards of the townspeople were plundered, the most hated mayors, tiuns, and tax collectors were killed. Only a few days later the riot subsided.

Andrey's brother Vsevolod the Big Nest continued the traditions of his predecessors. Powerful, like Andrei, he was more prudent and careful. Vsevolod was the first among the princes of the Northeast to receive the title of “Grand Duke”, dictated his will to Ryazan, Novgorod, Galich, and led an attack on the lands of Novgorod and Volga Bulgaria.

Vsevolod had 8 sons and 8 grandchildren, not counting female descendants, for which he received the nickname “Big Nest”.

Having fallen ill in 1212, he bequeathed the throne to his second son Yuri, bypassing the elder Constantine. A new strife followed, lasting 6 years. Yuri ruled in Vladimir until the Mongol invasion and died in a battle with the Tatars on the river. City.

Novgorod land.

The vast expanses of Novgorod land, inhabited by Slavs and Finno-Ugric tribes, could successfully accommodate several European states. From 882 to 1136, Novgorod - the “northern guard of Rus'” - was ruled from Kyiv and accepted the eldest sons of the Kyiv prince as governors. In 1136, the Novgorodians expelled Vsevolod /the grandson of Monomakh/ from the city and from then on they began to invite the prince from wherever they wanted, and expelled the unwanted one / the famous Novgorod principle of “liberty in princes”/. Novgorod became independent.

A special form of government developed here, which historians call a boyar republic. This order had long traditions. Even in the Kiev period, distant Novgorod had special political rights. In the X1st century. a mayor had already been chosen here, and Yaroslav the Wise, in exchange for the support of the Novgorodians in the fight for Kyiv, agreed that the boyars would not have jurisdiction over the prince.

The Novgorod boyars descended from the local tribal nobility. It became rich through the division of state revenues, trade and usury, and from the end of the 11th century. began to acquire fiefdoms. Boyar land ownership in Novgorod was much stronger than princely land ownership. Although the Novgorodians tried more than once to “feed” a prince for themselves, their own princely dynasty never developed there. The eldest sons of the great princes, who sat here as governors, after the death of their father, aspired to the Kiev throne.

Situated on infertile lands along the famous route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” Novgorod developed primarily as a craft and trade center. Metalworking, woodworking, pottery, weaving, tanning, jewelry, and fur trading reached a particularly high level. Lively trade took place not only with Russian lands, but also with foreign countries of the West and East, from where cloth, wine, ornamental stone, non-ferrous and precious metals were brought.

In exchange they sent furs, honey, wax, and leather. In Novgorod there were trading yards founded by Dutch and Hanseatic merchants. The most important trading partner was the largest among the cities of the Hanseatic League, Lübeck.

The highest authority in Novgorod was a meeting of free owners of courtyards and estates - the veche. It made decisions on issues of domestic and foreign policy, invited and expelled the prince, elected the mayor, the thousand, and the archbishop. The presence without the right to vote of the masses of the urban population made veche meetings stormy and loud events.

The elected mayor actually headed the executive branch, administered court, and controlled the prince. Tysyatsky commanded the militia, judged trade matters, and collected taxes. The archbishop /"lord"/, who was appointed by the Kiev metropolitan until 1156, was also later elected. He was in charge of the treasury and foreign relations. The prince was not only a military commander. He was also an arbitrator, participated in negotiations, and was responsible for internal order. Finally, he was simply one of the attributes of antiquity, and in accordance with the traditionalism of medieval thinking, even the temporary absence of a prince was considered an abnormal phenomenon.

The veche system was a form of feudal "democracy". The illusion of democracy was created around the actual power of the boyars and the so-called “300 golden belts”.

Galicia-Volyn land.

Southwestern Rus', with its highly fertile soils and mild climate, located at the intersection of numerous trade routes, had excellent opportunities for economic development. In the XIII century. Almost a third of the cities of all Rus' were concentrated here, and the urban population played an important role in political life. But the princely-boyar feuds, acute as nowhere else in Rus', turned internecine conflicts into a constant phenomenon. The long border with the strong states of the West - Poland, Hungary, the Order - made the Galician-Volyn lands the object of the greedy claims of their neighbors. Internal turmoil was complicated by foreign interference that threatened independence.

At first, the fate of Galicia and Volyn was different. The Galician principality, the westernmost in Rus', until the middle of the 12th century. was divided into small holdings.

Prince Vladimir Volodarevich of Przemysl united them, moving the capital to Galich. The principality reached its highest power under Yaroslav Osmomysl /1151-1187/, so named for his high education and knowledge of eight foreign languages. The last years of his reign were marred by clashes with the powerful boyars. The reason for them was the prince’s family affairs. Having married Dolgoruky’s daughter Olga, he took a mistress, Nastasya, and wanted to transfer the throne to his illegitimate son Oleg “Nastasich”, bypassing the legitimate Vladimir. Nastasya was burned at the stake, and after the death of his father, Vladimir expelled Oleg and established himself on the throne /1187-1199/.

After the death of Yaroslav the Wise, Volyn passed from hand to hand more than once until it fell to the Monomakhovichs. Under Monomakh's grandson Izyaslav Mstislavich, she separated from Kyiv. The rise of the Volyn land occurs at the end of the 12th century. under the cool and energetic Roman Mstislavich, the most prominent figure among the Volyn princes. He fought for 10 years for the neighboring Galician table, and in 1199 he united both principalities under his rule.

The short reign of Roman /1199-1205/ left a bright mark on the history of southern Rus'. The Ipatiev Chronicle calls him “the autocrat of all Rus',” and the French chronicler calls him “the Russian king.”

In 1202 he captured Kyiv and established control over the entire south. Having initially begun a successful fight against the Polovtsians, Roman then switched to Western European affairs. He intervened in the struggle between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufens on the side of the latter. In 1205, during a campaign against the king of Lesser Poland, Roman's army was defeated, and he himself was killed while hunting.

Roman's sons Daniil and Vasilko were too young to continue the broad plans to which their father fell victim. The principality collapsed, and the Galician boyars began a long and ruinous feudal war that lasted about 30 years. Princess Anna fled to Krakow. The Hungarians and Poles captured Galicia and part of Volhynia. Roman's children became toys in a major political game that the warring parties sought to gain. The national liberation struggle against foreign invaders became the basis for the consolidation of forces in Southwestern Rus'. Prince Daniil Romanovich grew up. Having established himself in Volyn and then in Galich, in 1238 he again united both principalities, and in 1240, like his father, he took Kyiv. The Mongol-Tatar invasion interrupted the economic and cultural rise of Galician-Volyn Rus, which began during the reign of this outstanding prince.



Already in the middle of the 12th century. the power of the Kiev princes began to have real significance only within the boundaries of the Kiev principality itself, which included lands along the banks of the tributaries of the Dnieper - Teterev, Irpen and semi-autonomous Porosye, populated by the Black Hoods, vassals from Kiev. The attempt of Yaropolk, who became the prince of Kyiv after the death of Mstislav I, to autocratically dispose of the “fatherland” of other princes was decisively stopped.
Despite the loss of Kiev's all-Russian significance, the struggle for its possession continued until the Mongol invasion. There was no order in the inheritance of the Kyiv throne, and it passed from hand to hand depending on the balance of power of the fighting princely groups and, to a large extent, on the attitude towards them on the part of the powerful Kiev boyars and the “Black Klobuks”. In the conditions of the all-Russian struggle for Kyiv, the local boyars sought to end the strife and to political stabilization in their principality. The invitation by the boyars in 1113 of Vladimir Monomakh to Kyiv (bypassing the then accepted order of succession) was a precedent that was later used by the boyars to justify their “right” to choose a strong and pleasing prince and to conclude a “row” with him that protected them territorially. corporate interests. The boyars who violated this series of princes were eliminated by going over to the side of his rivals or through a conspiracy (as, perhaps, Yuri Dolgoruky was poisoned, overthrown, and then killed in 1147 during a popular uprising, Igor Olgovich Chernigovsky, unpopular among the people of Kiev). As more and more princes were drawn into the struggle for Kiev, the Kyiv boyars resorted to a kind of system of princely duumvirate, inviting representatives from two of several rival princely groups to Kiev as co-rulers, which for some time achieved the relative political balance much needed by the Kyiv land.
As Kiev loses its all-Russian significance, individual rulers of the strongest principalities, who have become “great” in their lands, begin to be satisfied by the installation of their proteges in Kyiv - “henchmen”.
Princely strife over Kyiv turned the Kyiv land into an arena of frequent military operations, during which cities and villages were ruined, and the population was taken prisoner. Kyiv itself was subjected to brutal pogroms, both from the princes who entered it as victors and those who left it as defeated and returned to their “fatherland.” All this predetermined the development that emerged from the beginning of the 13th century. the gradual decline of the Kyiv land, the flow of its population to the northern and northwestern regions of the country, which suffered less from princely strife and were virtually inaccessible to the Polovtsians. Periods of temporary strengthening of Kiev during the reign of such outstanding political figures and organizers of the fight against the Polovtsians as Svyatoslav Vsevolodich of Chernigov (1180-1194) and Roman Mstislavich of Volyn (1202 - 1205) alternated with the reign of colorless, kaleidoscopically successive princes. Daniil Romanovich Galitsky, into whose hands Kyiv passed shortly before Batu’s capture of it, had already limited himself to appointing his mayor from the boyars.

Vladimir-Suzdal Principality

Until the middle of the 11th century. The Rostov-Suzdal land was governed by mayors sent from Kyiv. Its real “princeship” began after it went to the younger “Yaroslavich” - Vsevolod of Pereyaslavl - and was assigned to his descendants as their ancestral “volost” in the XII-XIII centuries. The Rostov-Suzdal land experienced an economic and political upsurge, which put it among the strongest principalities in Rus'. The fertile lands of the Suzdal “Opolye”, vast forests cut through by a dense network of rivers and lakes along which ancient and important trade routes to the south and east ran, the presence of iron ores accessible for mining - all this favored the development of agriculture, cattle breeding, rural and forestry industries , crafts and trade. In accelerating the economic development and political rise of this forest region, the rapid growth of its population at the expense of the inhabitants of the southern Russian lands, subjected to Polovtsian raids, was of great importance. In the 11th-12th centuries, a large princely and boyar (and then ecclesiastical) state was formed and strengthened here. land ownership, which absorbed communal lands and involved peasants in personal feudal dependence In the 12th - 13th centuries, almost all the main cities of this land arose (Vladimir, Pereyaslavl-Zalesskii, Dmitrov, Starodub, Gorodets, Galich, Kostroma, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, etc.) , built by the Suzdal princes on the borders and inside the principality as strongholds and administrative points and equipped with trade and craft settlements, the population of which was actively involved in political life. In 1147, the chronicle first mentioned Moscow, a small border town built by Yuri Dolgoruky on the site of the estate of the boyar Kuchka, which he had confiscated.
In the early 30s of the 12th century, during the reign of Monomakh’s son Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky (1125-1157), the Rostov-Suzdal land gained independence. The military-political activity of Yuri, who intervened in all the princely strife, stretched out his “long hands” to cities and lands far from his principality, made him one of the central figures in the political life of Rus' in the second third of the 11th century. The struggle with Novgorod and the war with Volga Bulgaria, begun by Yuri and continued by his successors, marked the beginning of the expansion of the borders of the principality towards the Podvina region and the Volga-Kama lands. Ryazan and Murom, which had previously been “pulling” towards Chernigov, fell under the influence of the Suzdal princes.
The last ten years of Dolgoruky’s life were spent in a grueling and alien to the interests of his principality struggle with the southern Russian princes for Kyiv, the reign of which, in the eyes of Yuri and the princes of his generation, was combined with “eldership” in Rus'. But already the son of Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, having captured Kiev in 1169 and brutally robbed it, handed it over to the management of one of his vassal princes, “helpers”, which indicated a change on the part of the most far-sighted princes in their attitude towards Kyiv, which had lost its significance all-Russian political center.
The reign of Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky (1157 - 1174) was marked by the beginning of the struggle of the Suzdal princes for the political hegemony of their principality over the rest of the Russian lands. The ambitious attempts of Bogolyubsky, who claimed the title of Grand Duke of all Rus', to completely subjugate Novgorod and force other princes to recognize his supremacy in Rus' failed. However, it was precisely these attempts that reflected the tendency to restore the state-political unity of the country based on the subordination of appanage princes to the autocratic ruler of one of the strongest principalities in Rus'.
The reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky is associated with the revival of the traditions of the power politics of Vladimir Monomakh. Relying on the support of the townspeople and noble warriors, Andrei dealt harshly with the rebellious boyars, expelled them from the principality, and confiscated their estates. To be even more independent from the boyars, he moved the capital of the principality from a relatively new city - Vladimir-on-Klyazma, which had a significant trade and craft settlement. It was not possible to completely suppress the boyar opposition to the “autocratic” prince, as Andrei was called by his contemporaries. In June 1174 he was killed by conspiratorial boyars.
The two-year strife, unleashed after the murder of Bogolyubsky by the boyars, ended with the reign of his brother Vsevolod Yuryevich the Big Nest (1176-1212), who, relying on the townspeople and the squads of feudal lords, dealt harshly with the rebellious nobility and became the sovereign ruler in his land. During his reign, the Vladimir-Suzdal land reached its greatest prosperity and power, playing a decisive role in the political life of Rus' at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries. Extending his influence to other Russian lands, Vsevolod skillfully combined the force of arms (as, for example, in relation to the Ryazan princes) with skillful politics (in relations with the southern Russian princes and Novgorod). The name and power of Vsevolod were well known far beyond the borders of Rus'. The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” proudly wrote about him as the most powerful prince in Rus', whose numerous regiments could sprinkle the Volga with oars, and with their helmets draw water from the Don, from whose very name “all countries trembled” and with rumors about which “the world was full of the whole earth."
After the death of Vsevolod, an intensive process of feudal fragmentation began in the Vladimir-Suzdal land. The feuds of Vsevolod's numerous sons over the grand-ducal table and the distribution of principalities led to a gradual weakening of the grand-ducal power and its political influence on other Russian lands. Nevertheless, until the invasion of the Mongols, the Vladimir-Suzdal land remained the strongest and most influential principality in Rus', maintaining political unity under the leadership of the Vladimir Grand Duke. When planning a campaign of conquest against Rus', the Mongol-Tatars linked the result of the surprise and power of their first strike with the success of the entire campaign as a whole. And it is no coincidence that North-Eastern Rus' was chosen as the target of the first strike.

Chernigov and Smolensk principalities

These two large Dnieper principalities had much in common in their economics and political system with other South Russian principalities, which were ancient centers of culture for the Eastern Slavs. Here already in the 9th -11th centuries. Large princely and boyar land ownership developed, cities grew rapidly, becoming centers of handicraft production, serving not only the nearby rural districts, but also having developed external connections. The Smolensk Principality had extensive trade relations, especially with the West, where the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Western Dvina converged - the most important trade routes of Eastern Europe.
The separation of Chernigov land into an independent principality occurred in the second half of the 11th century. in connection with its transfer (together with the Murom-Ryazan land) to the son of Yaroslav the Wise Svyatoslav, to whose descendants it was assigned. Back at the end of the 11th century. The ancient ties between Chernigov and Tmutarakan, which was cut off by the Polovtsians from the rest of the Russian lands and fell under the sovereignty of Byzantium, were interrupted. At the end of the 40s of the 11th century. The Chernigov principality was divided into two principalities: Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky. At the same time, the Murom-Ryazan land became isolated, falling under the influence of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes. The Smolensk land separated from Kyiv at the end of the 20s of the 12th century, when it went to the son of Mstislav I Rostislav. Under him and his descendants (“Rostislavichs”), the Smolensk principality expanded territorially and strengthened.
The central, connecting position of the Chernigov and Smolensk principalities among other Russian lands involved their princes in all the political events that took place in Rus' in the 12th-13th centuries, and above all in the struggle for their neighboring Kyiv. The Chernigov and Seversk princes showed particular political activity, indispensable participants (and often initiators) of all princely strife, unscrupulous in the means of fighting their opponents and more often than other princes resorted to an alliance with the Polovtsians, with whom they devastated the lands of their rivals. It is no coincidence that the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” called the founder of the dynasty of Chernigov princes Oleg Svyatoslavich “Gorislavich,” who was the first to “forge sedition with the sword” and “sow” the Russian land with strife.
The grand ducal power in the Chernigov and Smolensk lands was unable to overcome the forces of feudal decentralization (the zemstvo nobility and the rulers of small principalities), and as a result, these lands at the end of the 12th - first half of the 13th century. were fragmented into many small principalities, which only nominally recognized the sovereignty of the great princes.

Polotsk-Minsk land

The Polotsk-Minsk land showed early trends towards separation from Kyiv. Despite the unfavorable soil conditions for agriculture, the socio-economic development of the Polotsk land occurred at a high pace due to its favorable location at the crossroads of the most important trade routes along the Western Dvina, Neman and Berezina. Lively trade relations with the West and the Baltic neighboring tribes (Livs, Lats, Curonians, etc.), which were under the sovereignty of the Polotsk princes, contributed to the growth of cities with a significant and influential trade and craft stratum. A large feudal economy with developed agricultural industries, the products of which were exported abroad, also developed here early.
At the beginning of the 11th century. The Polotsk land went to the brother of Yaroslav the Wise, Izyaslav, whose descendants, relying on the support of the local nobility and townspeople, fought for the independence of their “fatherland” from Kyiv for more than a hundred years with varying success. The Polotsk land reached its greatest power in the second half of the 11th century. during the reign of Vseslav Bryachislavich (1044-1103), but in the 12th century. an intensive process of feudal fragmentation began in it. In the first half of the 13th century. it was already a conglomerate of small principalities that only nominally recognized the power of the Grand Duke of Polotsk. These principalities, weakened by internal strife, faced a difficult struggle (in alliance with neighboring and dependent Baltic tribes) with the German crusaders who invaded the Eastern Baltic. From the middle of the 12th century. The Polotsk land became the target of an offensive by the Lithuanian feudal lords.

Galicia-Volyn land

The Galician-Volyn land extended from the Carpathians and the Dniester-Danube Black Sea region in the south and southwest to the lands of the Lithuanian Yatvingian tribe and the Polotsk land in the north. In the west it bordered with Hungary and Poland, and in the east with the Kyiv land and the Polovtsian steppe. The Galicia-Volyn land was one of the most ancient centers of the arable farming culture of the Eastern Slavs. Fertile soils, mild climate, numerous rivers and forests, interspersed with steppe spaces, created favorable conditions for the development of agriculture, cattle breeding and various crafts, and at the same time the early development of feudal relations, large feudal princely and boyar land ownership. Craft production reached a high level, the separation of which from agriculture contributed to the growth of cities, which were more numerous here than in other Russian lands. The largest of them were Vladimir-Volynsky, Przemysl, Terebovl, Galich, Berestye, Kholm, Drogichin, etc. A significant part of the inhabitants of these cities were artisans and merchants. The second trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea (Vistula-Western Bug-Dniester) and overland trade routes from Rus' to the countries of South-Eastern and Central Europe passed through the Galicia-Volyn land. The dependence of the Dniester-Danube lower land on Galich made it possible to control the European shipping trade route along the Danube with the East.
Galician land until the middle of the 12th century. was divided into several small principalities, which in 1141 were united by the Przemysl prince Vladimir Volodarevich, who moved his capital to Galich. The Principality of Galicia reached its greatest prosperity and power under his son Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153-1187), a major statesman of that time, who highly raised the international prestige of his principality and successfully defended in his policy all-Russian interests in relations with Byzantium and the European states neighboring Russia. . The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” dedicated the most pathetic lines to the military power and international authority of Yaroslav Osmomysl. After the death of Osmomysl, the Principality of Galicia became the arena of a long struggle between the princes and the oligarchic aspirations of the local boyars. Boyar land ownership in the Galician land was ahead of the princely land in its development and significantly exceeded the latter in size. The Galician “great boyars”, who owned huge estates with their own fortified castle cities and had numerous military servants-vassals, in the fight against the princes they disliked, resorted to conspiracies and rebellions, and entered into an alliance with the Hungarian and Polish feudal lords.
The Volyn land separated from Kyiv in the middle of the 12th century, securing itself as a ancestral “fatherland” for the descendants of the Kyiv Grand Duke Izyaslav Mstislavich. Unlike the neighboring Galician land, a large princely domain was formed early in Volyn. Boyar land ownership grew mainly due to princely grants to serving boyars, whose support allowed the Volyn princes to begin an active struggle to expand their “fatherland.” In 1199, the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich managed to unite the Galician and Volyn lands for the first time, and with his occupation in 1203, Kyiv brought all of Southern and Southwestern Rus' under his rule - a territory equal to the large European states of that time. The reign of Roman Mstislavich was marked by the strengthening of the all-Russian and international position of the Galicia-Volyn region
lands, successes in the fight against the Polovtsians, the fight against the rebellious boyars, the rise of Western Russian cities, crafts and trade. Thus, the conditions were prepared for the flourishing of Southwestern Rus' during the reign of his son Daniil Romanovich.
The death of Roman Mstislavich in Poland in 1205 led to the temporary loss of the achieved political unity of Southwestern Rus' and to the weakening of princely power in it. All groups of the Galician boyars united in the struggle against the princely power, unleashing a devastating feudal war that lasted over 30 years.
The boyars entered into an agreement with the Hungarian and
Polish feudal lords who managed to take possession of the Galician land and part of Volyn. During these same years, an unprecedented case in Rus' occurred in the reign of boyar Vodrdislav Kormilich in Galich. The national liberation struggle against the Hungarian and Polish invaders, which ended in their defeat and expulsion, served as the basis for the restoration and strengthening of the positions of princely power. Relying on the support of cities, the service boyars and the nobility, Daniil Romanovich established himself in Volyn, and then, having occupied Galich in 1238, and Kyiv in 1240, he again united all of South-Western Rus' and the Kyiv land.

Novgorod feudal republic

A special political system, different from princely monarchies, developed in the 12th century. in Novgorod land, one of the most developed Russian lands. The ancient core of the Novgorod-Pskov land consisted of the lands between Ilmen and Lake Peipsi and along the banks of the Volkhov, Lovat, Velikaya, Mologa and Msta rivers, which were divided territorially and geographically into “pyatitins”, and
in administrative terms - “hundreds” and “cemeteries”. The Novgorod “suburbs” (Pskov, Ladoga, Staraya Russa, Velikiye Luki, Bezhichi, Yuryev, Torzhok) served as important trading posts on trade routes and military strongholds on the borders of the land. The largest suburb, which occupied a special, autonomous position in the system of the Novgorod Republic (the “younger brother” of Novgorod), was Pskov, distinguished by its developed crafts and its own trade with the Baltic states, German cities and even with Novgorod itself. In the second half of the 13th century. Pskov actually became an independent feudal republic.
From the 11th century active Novgorod colonization of Karelia, the Podvina region, the Onega region and the vast northern Pomerania began, which became Novgorod colonies. Following the peasant colonization (from the Novgorod and Rostov-Suzdal lands) and the Novgorod trade and fishing people, the Novgorod feudal lords also moved there. In the XII - XIII centuries. there already were the largest patrimonial estates of the Novgorod nobility, who jealously did not allow feudal lords from other principalities to enter these areas and create princely land ownership there.
In the 12th century. Novgorod was one of the largest and most developed cities in Rus'. The rise of Novgorod was facilitated by its exceptionally advantageous location at the beginning of trade routes important for Eastern Europe, connecting the Baltic Sea with the Black and Caspian Seas. This predetermined a significant share of intermediary trade in Novgorod’s trade relations with other Russian lands, with Volga Bulgaria, the Caspian and Black Sea regions, the Baltic states, Scandinavia and North German cities. Trade in Novgorod was based on crafts and various trades developed in the Novgorod land. Novgorod artisans, distinguished by their wide specialization and professional skills, worked mainly to order, but some of their products came to the city market, and through merchant buyers to foreign markets. Craftsmen and merchants had their own territorial (“Ulichansky”) and professional associations (“hundreds”, “brotherhood”), which played a significant role in the political life of Novgorod. The most influential, uniting the top of the Novgorod merchants, was the association of merchants-women (“Ivanskoye Sto”), who were mainly engaged in foreign trade. The Novgorod boyars also actively participated in foreign trade, virtually monopolizing the most profitable fur trade, which they received from their possessions in the Podvina and Pomerania and from the trade and fishing expeditions they specially equipped to the Pechersk and Ugra lands.
Despite the predominance of the trade and craft population in Novgorod, the basis of the economy of the Novgorod land was agriculture and related crafts. Due to unfavorable natural conditions, grain farming was unproductive and bread constituted a significant part of Novgorod imports. Grain reserves in the estates were created at the expense of food rent collected from smerds and were used by feudal lords for speculation in frequent lean years of famine, to entangle the working people in usurious bondage. In a number of areas, peasants, in addition to ordinary rural crafts, were engaged in the extraction of iron ore and salt.
In the Novgorod land, large boyar and then church land ownership arose early and became dominant. The specificity of the position of the princes in Novgorod, sent from Kyiv as prince-deputies, which excluded the possibility of Novgorod turning into a principality, did not contribute to the formation of a large princely domain, thereby weakening the position of the princely authorities in the fight against the oligarchic aspirations of the local boyars. Already the end! V. the Novgorod nobility largely predetermined the candidacies of the princes sent from Kyiv. Thus, in 1102, the boyars refused to accept the son of the Kyiv Grand Duke Svyatopolk into Novgorod, declaring with a threat to the latter: “if your son had two heads, then they ate him.”
In 1136, the rebels of Novgorod, supported by the Pskovians and Ladoga residents, expelled Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, accusing him of “neglecting” the interests of Novgorod. In the Novgorod land, freed from the rule of Kyiv, a unique political system was established, in which republican governing bodies stood next to and above the princely power. However, the Novgorod feudal lords needed the prince and his squad to fight the anti-feudal protests of the masses and to protect Novgorod from external danger. In the first time after the uprising of 1136, the scope of the rights and activities of the princely power did not change, but they acquired a service-executive character, were subject to regulation and were placed under the control of the mayor (primarily in the field of court, which the prince began to administer together with the mayor). As the political system in Novgorod acquired an increasingly pronounced boyar-oligarchic character, the rights and sphere of activity of the princely power were steadily reduced.
The lowest level of organization and management in Novgorod was the unification of neighbors - “ulichans” with elected elders at their head. Five urban “ends” formed self-governing territorial-administrative and political units, which also had special Konchan lands in collective feudal ownership. At the ends, their own veche gathered and elected Konchan elders.
The highest authority, representing all ends, was considered the city veche meeting of free citizens, owners of city yards and estates. The bulk of the urban plebs, who lived on the lands and estates of feudal lords as tenants or enslaved and feudal-dependent people, were not authorized to participate in the passing of veche sentences, but thanks to the publicity of the veche, which gathered on Sophia Square or Yaroslav's Courtyard, they could follow the progress of veche debates and with its violent reaction often exerted a certain amount of pressure on the eternalists. The veche considered the most important issues of domestic and foreign policy, invited the prince and entered into a series with him, elected the mayor, who was in charge of administration and court and controlled the activities of the prince, and the thousand, who headed the militia and the court for trade matters, which was of particular importance in Novgorod.
Throughout the history of the Novgorod Republic, the positions of posadnik, Konchan elders and tysyatsky were occupied only by representatives of 30 - 40 boyar families - the elite of the Novgorod nobility (“300 golden belts”).
In order to further strengthen the independence of Novgorod from Kyiv and transform the Novgorod bishopric from an ally of the princely power into one of the instruments of its political domination, the Novgorod nobility managed to achieve the election (since 1156) of the Novgorod bishop, who, as the head of the powerful church feudal hierarchy, became soon one of the first dignitaries of the republic.
The veche system in Novgorod and Pskov was a kind of Feudal “democracy”, one of the forms of the feudal state, in which the democratic principles of representation and election of officials at the veche created the illusion of “democracy”, the participation of “the whole of Novgovgorod in governance, but where in reality all the power was concentrated in the hands of the boyars and the privileged elite of the merchant class. Taking into account the political activity of the urban plebs, the boyars skillfully used the democratic traditions of Konchan self-government as a symbol of Novgorod freedom, which covered their political dominance and provided them with the support of the urban plebs in the fight against the princely power.
Political history of Novgorod in the XII - XIII centuries. was distinguished by the complex interweaving of the struggle for independence with anti-feudal protests of the masses and the struggle for power between boyar groups (representing the boyar families of the Sofia and Trade sides of the city, its ends and streets). The boyars often used anti-feudal protests of the urban poor to eliminate their rivals from power, dulling the anti-feudal nature of these protests to the point of reprisals against individual boyars or officials. The largest anti-feudal movement was the uprising in 1207 against the mayor Dmitry Miroshkinich and his relatives, who burdened the urban people and peasants with arbitrary exactions and usurious bondage. The rebels destroyed the city estates and villages of the Miroshkinichs and seized their debt bonds. The boyars, hostile to the Miroshkinichs, took advantage of the uprising to remove them from power.
Novgorod had to wage a stubborn struggle for its independence with neighboring princes who sought to subjugate the rich “free” city. The Novgorod boyars skillfully used the rivalry between the princes to choose strong allies among them. At the same time, rival boyar groups drew the rulers of neighboring principalities into their struggle. The most difficult thing for Novgorod was the struggle with the Suzdal princes, who enjoyed the support of an influential group of Novgorod boyars and merchants connected by trade interests with North-Eastern Russia. An important weapon of political pressure on Novgorod in the hands of the Suzdal princes was the cessation of the supply of grain from North-Eastern Rus'. The positions of the Suzdal princes in Novgorod were significantly strengthened when their military assistance to the Novgorodians and Pskovians became decisive in repelling the aggression of the German Crusaders and Swedish feudal lords who sought to seize the western and northern Novgorod territories.

Kievan Rus and Russian principalities

Principalities of southern Rus'

I. Principality of Kiev (1132 - 1471)

Zap. Kievskaya, North-West Cherkasskaya, East. Zhytomyr region Ukraine. Table. Kyiv

II. Principality of Chernigov (1024 - 1330)

North of Chernigov region. Ukraine, east of Gomel region. Belarus, Kaluga, Bryansk, Lipetsk, Orel regions. Russia. Capital of Chernihiv

1) Bryansk Principality (ca. 1240 - 1430). The capital is Bryansk (Debryansk).

2) Principality of Vshchizh (1156 - 1240)

Feudal Republic of Northern Rus'

I. Novgorod feudal republic (X century - 1478)

Novgorod, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, northern Tver region, Komi and Karelia republics. Capital Novgorod (Mr. Veliky Novgorod)

II. Pskov feudal republic (XI century - 1510)

Pskov region Capital Pskov (Pleskov)

Principalities of Eastern Rus'

I. Principality of Murom (989 - 1390)

South of Vladimir, north of Ryazan, southwest of Nizhny Novgorod region. Capital Murom

II. Principality of Pron (1129 - 1465). South of the Ryazan region

Capital Pronsk. From the middle of the 14th century. led principality

III. Ryazan Principality (1129 - 1510)

Center of the Ryazan region. Capital Ryazan, since 1237 Pereyaslavl-Ryazan (New Ryazan). From the end of the 13th century. grand duchy

1) Belgorod Principality (c. 1149 - 1205). Capital Belgorod Ryazansky

2) Kolomna Principality (c. 1165 - 1301). Capital Kolomna

IV. Vladimir-Suzdal Principality (1125 - 1362).

Vologda, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Moscow and northern Nizhny Novgorod regions. Capitals Rostov, Suzdal, from 1157 Vladimir on Klyazma. From 1169 grand duchy

1) Poros (Tor) principality (? - ?)

V. Pereyaslavl - Zalessk Principality (1175 - 1302)

Capital Pereyaslavl (n. Pereyaslavl - Zalessky)

VI. Rostov Principality (c. 989 - 1474).

Capital Rostov the Great.

In 1328 it fell into parts:

1) Senior line (Sretenskaya (Usretinskaya) side of Rostov).

2) Junior line (Borisoglebskaya side of Rostov).

1) Ustyug Principality (1364 - 1474). Capital Veliky Ustyug

2) Bokhtyuzh Principality (1364 - 1434)

VII. Yaroslavl Principality (1218 - 1463). Capital Yaroslavl

1) Principality of Molozhskaya (ca. 1325 - 1450). Capital of Mologa

2) Principality of Sitsa (c. 1408 - 60). Capital unknown

3) Prozorovsky principality (ca. 1408 - 60). The capital of Prozorov (now the village of Prozorovo)

4) Shumorovsky principality (ca. 1365 - 1420). Capital village Shumorovo

5) Principality of Novlensk (ca. 1400 - 70). Capital village Novleno

6) Zaozersko - Kubensky principality (ca. 1420 - 52). Capital unknown

7) Sheksninsky principality (ca. 1350 - 1480). Capital unknown

8) Shekhon (Poshekhon) principality (c. 1410 - 60). Capital Knyazhich Gorodok

9) Principality of Kurb (c. 1425 - 55). Capital village Kurby

10) Ukhorsk (Ugric) principality (c. 1420 - 70). Capital unknown

11) Romanov Principality (? - ?)

VIII. Uglitsky Principality (1216 - 1591). Capital Uglich

Principality of Nizhny Novgorod

1) Principality of Gorodets (1264 - 1403). Capital Gorodets

2) Shuya Principality (1387 - 1420). Capital Shuya

XVI. Grand Duchy of Tver (1242 - 1490). Capital Tver

1) Principality of Kashin (1318 - 1426). Capital Kashin

2) Kholm Principality (1319 - 1508). Capital Hill

3) Dorogobuzh Principality (1318 - 1486). Capital Dorogobuzh

4) Mikulin Principality (1339 - 1485). Capital Mikulin

5) Principality of Goroden (1425 - 35).

6) Zubtsovsky principality (1318 - 1460).

7) Telyatevsky inheritance (1397 - 1437).

8) Chernyatinsky inheritance (1406 - 90). Capital Chernyatin (now the village of Chernyatino)

XVII. Grand Duchy of Moscow (1276 - 1547). Moscow the capital

2) Zvenigorod Principality (1331 - 1492). Capital Zvenigorod

3) Vologda Principality (1433 - 81). Capital Vologda

4) Mozhaisk Principality (1279 - 1303) (1389 - 1492).

5) Principality of Verei (1432 - 86).

6) Principality of Volotsk (1408 - 10) (1462 - 1513). Capital Volok Lamsky (now Volokolamsk)

7) Ruza Principality(1494 - 1503). Capital Ruza

8) Staritsa Principality(1519 - 63). Capital Staritsa

9) Rzhev Principality (1408 - 10) (1462 - 1526). Capital Rzhev

10) Kaluga Principality (1505 - 18). Capital Kaluga

The factors that caused the collapse of Kievan Rus are diverse. The system of subsistence farming that had emerged by that time in the economy contributed to the isolation of individual economic units (family, community, inheritance, land, principality) from each other. Each of them was self-sufficient, consuming all the product it produced. There was no significant exchange of goods.

Along with the economic prerequisites for fragmentation, there were socio-political preconditions. Representatives of the feudal elite (boyars), having transformed from the military elite (combatants, princely men) into feudal landowners, strived for political independence. The process of “settling the squad to the ground” was underway.

In the financial field, it was accompanied by the transformation of tribute into feudal rent. Conventionally, these forms can be divided as follows: tribute was collected by the prince on the basis that he was the supreme ruler and defender of the entire territory over which his power extended; rent is collected by the owner of the land from those who live on this land and use it. During this period, the system of government changes: the decimal system is replaced by the palace-patrimonial system. Two control centers are formed: the palace and the fiefdom. All court ranks (Kravchiy, bed-keeper, equerry, etc.) are simultaneously government positions within each individual principality, land, appanage, etc.

Finally, foreign policy factors played an important role in the process of collapse of the relatively unified Kyiv state.

The invasion of the Tatar-Mongols and the disappearance of the ancient trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” which united the Slavic tribes around itself, completed the collapse. In the 13th century The Principality of Kiev, seriously damaged by the Mongol invasion, was losing its significance as a Slavic state center. But already in the 12th century. A number of principalities are separated from it. A conglomerate of feudal states was formed:

Rostov-Suzdal;

Smolensk;

Ryazanskoe;

Muromskoe;

Galicia-Volynskoe;

Pereyaslavskoe;

Chernigovskoe;

Polotsk-Minsk;

Turovo-Pinsk;

Tmutarakanskoe;

Kyiv;

Novgorod land.

Smaller feudal formations formed within these principalities, and the process of fragmentation deepened.

In the XII - XIII centuries. The immune system has developed greatly. liberating boyar estates from princely administration and court. A complex system of vassal relations and a corresponding system of feudal land ownership was established. The boyars received the right of free “departure”, that is, the right to change overlords.


Old Russian principalities- these are state formations that existed in Rus' during the period of feudal fragmentation.

Originated in the second half of the 10th century. and became in the 11th century. The practice of distributing lands for conditional holding by the rulers of the Old Russian state to their sons and other relatives became the norm in the second quarter of the 12th century. to its actual collapse.

The conditional holders wanted, on the one hand, to turn their conditional holdings into unconditional ones and achieve economic and political independence from the center, and on the other, by subjugating the local nobility, to establish complete control over their possessions.

The prince was considered the supreme owner of all lands in the principality: part of them belonged to him as a personal possession (domain), and he disposed of the rest as the ruler of the territory; they were divided into domain possessions of the church and conditional holdings of the boyars and their vassals (boyar servants).

In the middle of the 11th century. The process of disintegration of large principalities began, first of all affecting the most developed agricultural regions. In the XII - first half of the XIII century. this trend has become universal. Fragmentation was especially intense in the Kiev, Chernigov, Polotsk, Turovo-Pinsk and Murom-Ryazan principalities. To a lesser extent, it affected the Smolensk land, and in the Galicia-Volyn and Rostov-Suzdal (Vladimir) principalities, periods of collapse alternated with periods of temporary unification of destinies under the rule of the “senior” ruler. Only the Novgorod land continued to maintain political integrity throughout its history.

Principality of Smolensk was located in the Upper Dnieper basin. It bordered in the west with Polotsk, in the south with Chernigov, in the east with the Rostov-Suzdal principality, and in the north with the Pskov-Novgorod land. It was inhabited by the Slavic tribe of Krivichi.

In 1125, the new Kiev prince Mstislav the Great allocated the Smolensk land as an inheritance to his son Rostislav, the founder of the local princely dynasty of the Rostislavichs, since then it has become an independent principality.

In the second half of the XII - early XIII century. The Rostislavichs very actively tried to bring the most prestigious and richest regions of Rus' under their control.

In the second half of the 13th century. The lines of Davyd Rostislavich were established on the Smolensk table: it was successively occupied by the sons of his grandson Rostislav Gleb, Mikhail and Feodor. Under them, the collapse of the Smolensk land became inevitable, Vyazemsky and a number of other appanages emerged from it. The Smolensk princes had to recognize vassal dependence on the Great Prince of Vladimir and the Tatar Khan (1274).

In the XIV century. Under Alexander Glebovich, his son Ivan and grandson Svyatoslav, the principality completely lost its former political and economic power; the Smolensk rulers tried unsuccessfully to stop Lithuanian expansion in the west. After the defeat and death of Svyatoslav Ivanovich in 1386 in a battle with the Lithuanians on the Vehra River near Mstislavl, the Smolensk land became dependent on the Lithuanian prince Vitovt, who began to appoint and remove Smolensk princes at his discretion, and in 1395 established his direct rule.

In 1401, the Smolensk people rebelled and, with the help of the Ryazan prince Oleg, expelled the Lithuanians, the Smolensk table was occupied by Svyatoslav's son Yuri. However, in 1404 Vytautas took the city, liquidated the Smolensk Principality and included its lands in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Galicia - Volyn principality. The southwestern lands of Rus' - Volyn and Galicia, where the Slavic tribes of the Dulebs, Tiverts, Croats, and Buzhans had long settled - became part of Kievan Rus at the end of the 10th century. under Vladimir Svyatoslavich.

The heyday of the Principality of Galicia occurred during the reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich Osmomysl (1153 - 1187). Yaroslav Osmomysl had unquestioned authority, both in domestic Russian affairs and in international ones, he gave a decisive rebuff to the Hungarians and Poles who pressed him and led a fierce struggle against the boyars. After the death of Yaroslav Osmysl, the Galician land became the arena of a long internecine struggle between the princes and the local boyars.

Its duration and complexity is explained by the relative weakness of the Galician princes, whose land ownership lagged behind that of the boyars in size.

The situation was different in the Volyn land. Volyn until the middle of the 12th century. did not have its own dynasty of princes. From the middle of the 12th century, the Volyn land became the ancestral domain of the descendants of Izyaslav Mstislavich. A powerful princely fiefdom developed here early on.

In 1189, the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich united the Galician and Volyn lands. With the death of Osmomysl's son, Vladimir Yaroslavich, the Rostislavich dynasty ceased to exist. In 1199, Roman Mstislavich again took possession of the Galician principality and again united the Galician and Volyn lands into a single Galician-Volyn principality.

The economic and cultural rise of the Galicia-Volyn principality during the reign of Daniil Romanovich was interrupted by the invasion of Batu. In 1259, at the request of the Tatars, Daniil tore down the fortifications of the cities of Danilov, Lvov, Kremenets, Lutsk, Vladimir, the only way he managed to save these cities from destruction and ruin. Hoping to create an anti-Horde coalition on a European scale with the help of the pope, Daniil Romanovich agreed to accept the royal crown offered to him by Innocent IV. The coronation took place in 1253 during the campaign against the Lithuanian Yatvingians, in the small town of Dorogichina, located near the western border of the principality. The Roman Curia turned its attention to Galicia and Volhynia, hoping to spread Catholicism to these lands.

In 1264, Daniil Romanovich died in Kholm. After his death, the decline of the Galicia-Volyn principality began, breaking up into four appanages.
In the 1270s, Lev Daniilovich moved the capital of the principality to Lviv, where it was located until 1340. In 1292 - annexed Lublin.

In the XIV century. Galicia was captured by Poland, and Volyn by Lithuania. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Galician and Volyn lands became part of a single multinational Polish-Lithuanian state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Rostov-Suzdal (Vladimir-Suzdal) principality. The state of society in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality is most easily understood by its class composition, dividing the population by class, legal and social status.

The feudal class consisted of princes, boyars, free servants, nobles, children of boyar and church feudal lords. The legal status of the princes was characterized by:

Ownership of hereditary princely estates - domains;

The combination of the supreme power of the prince and his ownership of the largest land estates, villages and cities;

Allocation of the prince's estates, merging with state lands, into palace lands.

The legal status of the boyars was characterized by:

1. vassalage to the prince, military service with him;

2. the presence of land estates, formed as a result of princely grants and the seizure of communal lands;

3. the presence of the right to sever official ties with the prince at his own discretion while maintaining the estates;

4. development of immunities, i.e., exemption of estates from princely taxes and duties;

5. exercise of the right of sovereign rulers in their fiefdoms;

6. the presence of their own vassals - that is, medium and small feudal lords.

The majority of feudal lords in the Northeast were free servants. They were obliged to perform military service to the Vladimir princes, they were given the right to freely move from one prince to another. The boyar children included former descendants of impoverished boyar families. The nobles, who emerged as a social group at the top of society in the 12th century, constituted its lowest layer. The nobles were characterized by the following features of their legal status: they served their prince, received land for this, the property was conditional - that is, during the time the nobleman served.

Church feudal lords occupied a significant place among the feudal lords. Their land ownership grew from princely grants, land contributions from boyars, and the seizure of peasant communal lands. The dependent population united, in addition to smerds, purchases, outcasts, and serfs, also new categories: ladles, mortgages, sufferers. The ladles went into bondage to the feudal lords for a share of the harvest. Mortgages were “pawned” to the feudal lords for food. The term "sufferers" meant slaves who were put on the ground.

The legal status of dependent peasants was characterized by the fact that they had the right to transfer from one feudal lord to another after paying off the debt. Peasants bore service in the form of quitrent in kind, labor rent (corvee labor), and state duties.

By the middle of the 12th century. The Rostov-Suzdal principality seceded from the Kyiv state and became an independent land; at the end of the same century, the capital of the land moved to Vladimir, the city of the Great Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal. The prince's power extended over most of the territory of North-Eastern Rus'.

The features of the reign were a very strong princely power, deprivation of cities of veche independence, and the construction of new cities. The transfer of the grand prince's throne from Kyiv to Vladimir, as well as the move of the Kyiv metropolitan, contributed to the transformation of Vladimir into the central city of the Northeast.

Vladimir-Suzdal Principality began to lay claim not only to independence, but also to a central position in all of Rus'. It strengthened and grew. The principality maintained international relations with the countries of the West and East, fought with neighboring Russian principalities and established close economic and political ties with Novgorod. It reached its greatest prosperity in the 12th and first half of the 13th centuries.

On the territory of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality there were many large cities, but the urban population was divided into two categories: citizens of old cities, with veche privileges, and residents of new cities, entirely subject to the prince.

The feudal-dependent population consisted of peasants living on lands owned by princes and boyars. In part it was completely enslaved, in part it was semi-free.

At the head of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality was the Grand Duke, who had great political influence. The prince had a council consisting of boyars and clergy; to restore order and wars - the princely squad. Feudal congresses were occasionally held. Even less often, a city people's assembly - a veche - was convened to resolve important issues.

In the Vladimir-Suzdal principality there was a palace-patrimonial system of government, with all the characteristic features: at the head of the system was a butler, local representatives of the princely power were posadniks (governors) and volostels, who carried out the functions of management and court; instead of a salary for their service, they received “food” - part of what was collected from the population. The time of greatest prosperity of the principality also coincided with the time of its decline: in the 13th century. it was conquered by the Mongols.

Novgorod land. It occupied a huge territory (almost 200 thousand sq. km.) between the Baltic Sea and the lower reaches of the Ob. Its western border was the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipus, in the north it included Lake Ladoga and Onega and reached the White Sea, in the east it captured the Pechora basin, and in the south it was adjacent to the Polotsk, Smolensk and Rostov-Suzdal principalities (modern Novgorod, Pskov, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, most of the Tver and Vologda regions, Karelian and Komi autonomous republics). It was inhabited by Slavic (Ilmen Slavs, Krivichi) and Finno-Ugric tribes (Vod, Izhora, Korela, Chud, Ves, Perm, Pechora, Lapps).

The unfavorable natural conditions of the North hindered the development of agriculture; grain was one of the main imports. At the same time, huge forests and numerous rivers were conducive to fishing, hunting, fur trading, and the extraction of salt and iron ore became of great importance.

Since ancient times, the Novgorod land has been famous for its variety of crafts and high quality handicrafts. Its advantageous location at the intersection of routes from the Baltic Sea to the Black and Caspian Sea ensured its role as an intermediary in the trade of the Baltic and Scandinavian countries with the Black Sea and Volga regions. Craftsmen and merchants, united in territorial and professional corporations, represented one of the most economically and politically influential layers of Novgorod society. Its highest stratum – large landowners (boyars) – also actively participated in international trade.

The Novgorod land was divided into administrative districts - Pyatina, directly adjacent to Novgorod (Votskaya, Shelonskaya, Obonezhskaya, Derevskaya, Bezhetskaya), and remote volosts: one stretched from Torzhok and Volok to the Suzdal border and the upper reaches of the Onega, the other included Zavolochye (the interfluve of the Onega and Mezen), and the third - lands east of Mezen (Pechora, Perm and Yugorsk territories).

In 1102, the Novgorod elite (boyars and merchants) refused to accept the reign of the son of the new Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, wishing to retain Mstislav, and the Novgorod land ceased to be part of the grand ducal possessions. In 1117 Mstislav handed over the Novgorod table to his son Vsevolod (1117–1136).

In 1136 the Novgorodians rebelled against Vsevolod. Accusing him of misgovernment and neglect of the interests of Novgorod, they imprisoned him and his family, and after a month and a half they expelled him from the city. From that time on, a de facto republican system was established in Novgorod, although princely power was not abolished.

The supreme governing body was the people's assembly (veche), which included all free citizens. The Veche had broad powers - it invited and removed the prince, elected and controlled the entire administration, decided issues of war and peace, was the highest court, and introduced taxes and duties.

The prince turned from a sovereign ruler into a supreme official. He was the supreme commander-in-chief, could convene a veche and make laws if they did not contradict customs; Embassies were sent and received on his behalf. However, upon election, the prince entered into contractual relations with Novgorod and gave an obligation to rule “in the old way”, to appoint only Novgorodians as governors in the volost and not to impose tribute on them, to wage war and make peace only with the consent of the veche. He did not have the right to remove other officials without a trial. His actions were controlled by the elected mayor, without whose approval he could not make judicial decisions or make appointments.

The local bishop (lord) played a special role in the political life of Novgorod. From the middle of the 12th century. the right to elect him passed from the Kyiv metropolitan to the veche; the metropolitan only sanctioned the election. The Novgorod ruler was considered not only the main clergyman, but also the first dignitary of the state after the prince. He was the largest landowner, had his own boyars and military regiments with a banner and governors, certainly participated in negotiations for peace and the invitation of princes, and was a mediator in internal political conflicts.

Despite the significant narrowing of princely prerogatives, the rich Novgorod land remained attractive to the most powerful princely dynasties. First of all, the elder (Mstislavich) and younger (Suzdal Yuryevich) branches of the Monomashichs competed for the Novgorod table; The Chernigov Olgovichi tried to intervene in this struggle, but they achieved only episodic success (1138–1139, 1139–1141, 1180–1181, 1197, 1225–1226, 1229–1230).

In the 12th century. the advantage was on the side of the Mstislavich family and its three main branches (Izyaslavich, Rostislavich and Vladimirovich); they occupied the Novgorod table in 1117–1136, 1142–1155, 1158–1160, 1161–1171, 1179–1180, 1182–1197, 1197–1199, some of them (especially the Rostislavichs) managed to create independent, but short-lived principalities in the Novgorod land (Novotorzhskoe and Velikolukskoe).

However, already in the second half of the 12th century. The position of the Yuryevichs began to strengthen, who enjoyed the support of the influential party of Novgorod boyars and, in addition, periodically put pressure on Novgorod, closing the routes for the supply of grain from North-Eastern Rus'.

In 1147, Yuri Dolgoruky made a campaign in the Novgorod land and captured Torzhok; in 1155, the Novgorodians had to invite his son Mstislav to reign (until 1157). In 1160, Andrei Bogolyubsky imposed his nephew Mstislav Rostislavich on the Novgorodians (until 1161); he forced them in 1171 to return Rurik Rostislavich, whom they had expelled, to the Novgorod table, and in 1172 to transfer him to his son Yuri (until 1175). In 1176, Vsevolod the Big Nest managed to plant his nephew Yaroslav Mstislavich in Novgorod (until 1178).

In the 13th century The Yuryevichs (the line of Vsevolod the Big Nest) achieved complete dominance. In the 1200s, the Novgorod table was occupied by Vsevolod's sons Svyatoslav (1200–1205, 1208–1210) and Constantine (1205–1208). True, in 1210 the Novgorodians were able to get rid of the control of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes with the help of the Toropets ruler Mstislav Udatny from the Smolensk Rostislavich family; The Rostislavichs held Novgorod until 1221 (with a break in 1215–1216). However, then they were finally forced out of the Novgorod land by the Yuryevichs.

The success of the Yuryevichs was facilitated by the deterioration of the foreign policy situation of Novgorod. In the face of an increased threat to its western possessions from Sweden, Denmark and the Livonian Order, the Novgorodians needed an alliance with the most powerful Russian principality at that time - Vladimir. Thanks to this alliance, Novgorod managed to protect its borders. Summoned to the Novgorod table in 1236, Alexander Yaroslavich, nephew of the Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodich, defeated the Swedes at the mouth of the Neva in 1240, and then stopped the aggression of the German knights.

The temporary strengthening of princely power under Alexander Yaroslavich (Nevsky) gave way at the end of the 13th – beginning of the 14th centuries. its complete degradation, which was facilitated by the weakening of external danger and the progressive collapse of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. At the same time, the role of the veche decreased. An oligarchic system was actually established in Novgorod.

The boyars turned into a closed ruling caste, sharing power with the archbishop. The rise of the Moscow Principality under Ivan Kalita (1325–1340) and its emergence as a center for the unification of Russian lands aroused fear among the Novgorod elite and led to their attempts to use the powerful Lithuanian Principality that had arisen on the southwestern borders as a counterweight: in 1333, it was first invited to the Novgorod table Lithuanian prince Narimunt Gedeminovich (although he only lasted a year), in the 1440s the Grand Duke of Lithuania was granted the right to collect irregular tribute from some Novgorod volosts.

Although the XIV century. became a period of rapid economic prosperity for Novgorod, largely due to its close ties with the Hanseatic Trade Union; the Novgorod elite did not take advantage of it to strengthen their military-political potential and preferred to pay off the aggressive Moscow and Lithuanian princes. At the end of the 14th century. Moscow launched an offensive against Novgorod. Vasily I captured the Novgorod cities of Bezhetsky Verkh, Volok Lamsky and Vologda with the adjacent regions; in 1401 and 1417 he tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to take possession of Zavolochye.

Principality of Chernigov became isolated in 1097 under the rule of the descendants of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, their rights to the principality were recognized by other Russian princes at the Lyubech Congress. After the youngest of the Svyatoslavichs was deprived of his reign in 1127 and, under the rule of his descendants, the lands on the lower Oka separated from Chernigov, and in 1167 the line of descendants of David Svyatoslavich was cut off, the Olegovich dynasty established itself on all the princely tables of the Chernigov land: the northern and upper Oka lands the descendants of Vsevolod Olegovich owned (they were also permanent claimants to Kyiv), the Novgorod-Seversky principality was owned by the descendants of Svyatoslav Olegovich. Representatives of both branches reigned in Chernigov (until 1226).

In addition to Kyiv and Vyshgorod, at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, the Olegovichs managed to briefly extend their influence to Galich and Volyn, Pereyaslavl and Novgorod.

In 1223, the Chernigov princes took part in the first campaign against the Mongols. In the spring of 1238, during the Mongol invasion, the northeastern lands of the principality were devastated, and in the autumn of 1239, the southwestern ones. After the death of the Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich in the Horde in 1246, the lands of the principality were divided between his sons, and the eldest of them, Roman, became a prince in Bryansk. In 1263, he liberated Chernigov from the Lithuanians and annexed it to his possessions. Starting from Roman, the Bryansk princes were usually titled as the Grand Dukes of Chernigov.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the Smolensk princes established themselves in Bryansk, presumably through a dynastic marriage. The struggle for Bryansk lasted for several decades, until in 1357 the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd Gediminovich installed one of the contenders, Roman Mikhailovich, to reign. In the second half of the 14th century, in parallel with him, Olgerd’s sons Dmitry and Dmitry-Koribut also reigned in the Bryansk lands. After the Ostrov agreement, the autonomy of the Bryansk principality was eliminated, Roman Mikhailovich became the Lithuanian governor in Smolensk, where he was killed in 1401.

The Grand Duchy of Moscow was formed around the middle of the 14th century. as a result of the growth of the Moscow principality, which emerged in the 1st half. XIII century as the inheritance of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality.

Since the 1320s, Moscow princes bore the title of Grand Dukes of Vladimir. In 1247, the Principality of Moscow went to Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich Khorobrit.

From 1267, Daniil, the son of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, reigned in Moscow. At the beginning of the 14th century. The Moscow principality expanded significantly due to the annexation of Kolomna (1301), Pereslavl-Zalessky (1302), and Mozhaisk (1303). Relying on growing material forces, the Moscow princes waged a stubborn struggle for political supremacy in the Russian lands.

Prince Yuri Danilovich, relying on the support of Novgorod the Great, as well as using the Golden Horde khans, became the Grand Duke of Vladimir in 1318, but from 1325 the great reign was transferred to the Tver prince. Ivan Danilovich Kalita gained great confidence from the khan and in 1328 became the Grand Duke of Vladimir.

The skillful policy of Ivan Kalita provided the Moscow principality with a long respite from Mongol invasions, which contributed to the rise of its economy and culture. Kalita's heir, Grand Duke Semyon Ivanovich Proud (1340 - 53), called himself “Grand Duke of All Rus'.”

In the 1360s, after the struggle with the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod prince, the great reign was established with Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359 - 89). Moscow became the center of gathering forces against the Mongol-Tatar conquerors, Moscow troops repulsed the attacks of the Mongol-Tatars in the Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan principalities, and in 1380 Dmitry Ivanovich led the all-Russian forces that moved towards the troops of Temnik Mamai.

The victory in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 consolidated the leading position of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the Russian lands. Dmitry Ivanovich for the first time transferred the Great Reign to his son Vasily Dmitrievich (1389-1425) as his “fatherland”, without the sanction of the Golden Horde Khan.

The territory of the Grand Duchy of Moscow at the end of the 14th century consistently expanded, in 1392 Nizhny Novgorod was annexed, and the influence of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the possessions of the Novgorod feudal republic increased significantly.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania. One of the consequences of the state decentralization of the Kievan state, intensified by Batu’s pogrom, was the disunion of ancient Russian territories, when Southern and Western Rus' fell under the rule of Lithuania. The once united Russian people were divided into three branches - Great Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The severance of cultural and political ties between parts of a previously unified whole led to the conservation of some dialectal and ritual features, although the awareness of spiritual and ethnic community did not leave the descendants of the ancient Russians in conditions of mutual isolation.

The annexation of Western Russian lands to Lithuania began in the second third of the 13th century under the Grand Duke of Lithuania Mindovgas. During the reign of Gediminas and his son Olgerd, Lithuania's territorial acquisitions continued. It included Polotsk, Vitebsk, Minsk, Drutsk principalities, Turov-Pinsk Polesie, Beresteyshchyna, Volyn, Podolia, Chernigov land and part of the Smolensk region. In 1362, Kyiv was brought under the rule of the Lithuanian prince. Indigenous Lithuania was surrounded by a belt of Russian lands subject to it, which amounted to 9/10 of the entire territory of the resulting state, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

Russian cultural influence in the new state enjoyed overwhelming predominance, subjugating the politically dominant nation - the Lithuanians. Gediminas and his sons were married to Russian princesses, and the Russian language dominated at court and in official business. Lithuanian writing did not exist at all at that time.

Until the end of the 14th century, Russian regions, joining Lithuania, did not experience national-religious oppression. The structure and character of local life was preserved, the descendants of Rurik remained in their economic positions, losing little in political terms, since the political system of Lithuania was federal in nature. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was more of a conglomerate of lands and possessions than a single political whole. For some time now, Russian cultural influence in the Lithuanian-Russian state has been increasing. The Gediminites became Russified, many of them converted to Orthodoxy. There were trends leading towards the formation of a new, unique version of Russian statehood in the southern and western lands of the former Kyiv state.

These trends were broken when Jogaila became the Grand Duke of Lithuania. His pro-Western orientation was the result of Jagiello's personal characteristics: lust for power, vanity, cruelty. In 1386, he converted to Catholicism and formalized the union of Lithuania with Poland. The ambitions of the Polish gentry, associated with the desire to penetrate the vast Western Russian lands, were satisfied.

Her rights and privileges quickly outweighed the rights of the Russian aristocracy. Catholic expansion into the western lands of Rus' began. Large regional principalities in Polotsk, Vitebsk, Kyiv and other places were abolished, self-government was replaced by governorship. The Lithuanian aristocracy changed its cultural orientation from Russian to Polish.

Polonization and Catholicization captured part of the Western Russian nobility, while the majority of Russians remained faithful to Orthodoxy and ancient traditions. National and religious enmity began, which did not exist until the 80s of the 14th century. This enmity developed into a fierce political struggle, during which the nationally-minded part of the Western Russian population inevitably grew stronger in favor of a unified Russian state. The process of forming the state core in the northeast of Rus' influenced and strengthened these sentiments.

So, each principality in southwestern Rus' had its own prince. The prince was considered the supreme owner of all lands in the principality: part of them belonged to him as a personal possession (domain), and he disposed of the rest as the ruler of the territory; they were divided into domain possessions of the church and conditional holdings of the boyars and their vassals.

ANCIENT RUSSIAN PRINCIPALITIES state entities that existed in Rus' during the period of feudal fragmentation ( 12 15 centuries).

Arising in the second half

10th century and became at 11 V. The practice of distributing lands in conditional holding by the rulers of the Old Russian state (the great princes of Kyiv) to their sons and other relatives became the norm in the second quarter 12 V. to its actual collapse. Conditional holders sought, on the one hand, to transform their conditional holdings into unconditional ones and achieve economic and political independence from the center, and on the other, by subjugating the local nobility, to establish complete control over their possessions. In all regions (with the exception of the Novgorod land, where in fact a republican regime was established and princely power acquired a military-service character), the princes from the house of Rurikovich managed to become sovereign sovereigns with the highest legislative, executive and judicial functions. They relied on the administrative apparatus, whose members constituted a special service class: for their service they received either part of the income from the exploitation of the subject territory (feeding) or land in their possession. The prince's main vassals (boyars), together with the top of the local clergy, formed an advisory and advisory body under him - the boyar duma. The prince was considered the supreme owner of all lands in the principality: part of them belonged to him as a personal possession (domain), and he disposed of the rest as the ruler of the territory; they were divided into domain possessions of the church and conditional holdings of the boyars and their vassals (boyar servants).

The socio-political structure of Rus' in the era of fragmentation was based on a complex system of suzerainty and vassalage (feudal ladder). The feudal hierarchy was headed by the Grand Duke (until the middle

12 V. ruler of the Kyiv table, later this status was acquired by the Vladimir-Suzdal and Galician-Volyn princes). Below were the rulers of the large principalities (Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Turovo-Pinsk, Polotsk, Rostov-Suzdal, Vladimir-Volyn, Galician, Murom-Ryazan, Smolensk), and even lower were the owners of appanages within each of these principalities. At the lowest level were the untitled service nobility (boyars and their vassals).

From the middle

11 V. The process of disintegration of large principalities began, first of all affecting the most developed agricultural regions (Kiev region, Chernihiv region). IN 12 first half 13 V. this trend has become universal. Fragmentation was especially intense in the Kiev, Chernigov, Polotsk, Turovo-Pinsk and Murom-Ryazan principalities. To a lesser extent, it affected the Smolensk land, and in the Galicia-Volyn and Rostov-Suzdal (Vladimir) principalities, periods of collapse alternated with periods of temporary unification of destinies under the rule of the “senior” ruler. Only the Novgorod land continued to maintain political integrity throughout its history.

In conditions of feudal fragmentation, all-Russian and regional princely congresses acquired great importance, at which domestic and foreign policy issues were resolved (interprincely feuds, the fight against external enemies). However, they did not become a permanent, regularly operating political institution and were unable to slow down the process of dissipation.

By the time of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, Rus' found itself divided into many small principalities and was unable to unite forces to repel external aggression. Devastated by the hordes of Batu, it lost a significant part of its western and southwestern lands, which became in the second half of the 13th-14th centuries. easy prey for Lithuania (Turovo-Pinsk, Polotsk, Vladimir-Volyn, Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Smolensk principalities) and Poland (Galician). Only North-Eastern Rus' (Vladimir, Murom-Ryazan and Novgorod lands) managed to maintain its independence. In the 14th and early 16th centuries. it was “collected” by the Moscow princes, who restored a unified Russian state.

Principality of Kiev. It was located in the interfluve of the Dnieper, Sluch, Ros and Pripyat (modern Kiev and Zhitomir regions of Ukraine and the south of the Gomel region of Belarus). It bordered in the north with Turovo-Pinsk, in the east with Chernigov and Pereyaslavl, in the west with the Vladimir-Volyn principality, and in the south it abutted the Polovtsian steppes. The population consisted of the Slavic tribes of the Polyans and Drevlyans.

Fertile soils and a mild climate encouraged intensive farming; the inhabitants were also engaged in cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and beekeeping. Specialization of crafts occurred here early; Woodworking, pottery and leatherworking acquired particular importance. The presence of iron deposits in the Drevlyansky land (included in the Kyiv region at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries) favored the development of blacksmithing; many types of metals (copper, lead, tin, silver, gold) were imported from neighboring countries. The famous trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” passed through the Kiev region

» (from the Baltic Sea to Byzantium); through Pripyat it was connected with the Vistula and Neman basin, through the Desna with the upper reaches of the Oka, through the Seim with the Don basin and the Sea of ​​Azov. An influential trade and craft industry was formed early in Kyiv and nearby cities.layer.

From the end of the 9th to the end of the 10th century. The land of Kiev was the central region of the Old Russian state. At Vladimir Saint, with the allocation of a number of semi-independent appanages, it became the core of the grand ducal domain; at the same time Kyiv turned into the ecclesiastical center of Rus' (as the residence of the metropolitan); an episcopal see was also established in nearby Belgorod. After the death of Mstislav the Great in 1132, the actual collapse of the Old Russian state occurred, and the Kiev land was constituted as

special principality.

Despite the fact that the Kiev prince ceased to be the supreme owner of all Russian lands, he remained the head of the feudal hierarchy and continued to be considered the “senior” among other princes. This made the Principality of Kiev the object of a bitter struggle between various branches of the Rurik dynasty. The powerful Kiev boyars and the trade and craft population also took an active part in this struggle, although the role of the people's assembly (veche) by the beginning of the 12th century. decreased significantly.

Until 1139, the Kiev table was in the hands of the Monomashichs. Mstislav the Great was succeeded by his brothers Yaropolk (11321139) and Vyacheslav (1139). In 1139 it was taken from them by the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich. However, the reign of the Chernigov Olgovichs was short-lived: after the death of Vsevolod in 1146, the local boyars, dissatisfied with the transfer of power to his brother Igor, summoned Izyaslav Mstislavich, a representative of the senior branch of the Monomashichs (Mstislavichs), to the Kiev table. Having defeated the troops of Igor and Svyatoslav Olgovich at Olga’s grave on August 13, 1146, Izyaslav took possession of the ancient capital; Igor, who was captured by him, was killed in 1147. In 1149, the Suzdal branch of the Monomashichs, represented by Yuri Dolgoruky, entered the fight for Kyiv. After the death of Izyaslav (November 1154) and his co-ruler Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (December 1154), Yuri established himself on the Kiev table and held it until his death in 1157. Feuds within the Monomashich house helped the Olgovichs take revenge: in May 1157, Izyaslav Davydovich of Chernigov (1157) seized princely power 1159). But his unsuccessful attempt to take possession of Galich cost him the grand-ducal throne, which returned to the Mstislavichs - the Smolensk prince Rostislav (1159-1167), and then to his nephew Mstislav Izyaslavich (1167-1169).

From the middle of the 12th century. the political significance of the Kyiv land is declining. Its disintegration into appanages begins: in the 1150s-1170s the Belgorod, Vyshgorod, Trepol, Kanev, Torcheskoe, Kotelnicheskoe and Dorogobuzh principalities were distinguished. Kyiv ceases to play the role of the only center of Russian lands; in the north-east

and in the southwest, two new centers of political attraction and influence arise, claiming the status of great principalities, Vladimir on the Klyazma and Galich. The Vladimir and Galician-Volyn princes no longer strive to occupy the Kiev table; periodically subjugating Kyiv, they put their proteges there.

In 11691174 the Vladimir prince dictated his will to Kyiv Andrey Bogolyubsky: in 1169 he expelled Mstislav Izyaslavich from there and gave the reign to his brother Gleb (1169-1171). When, after the death of Gleb (January 1171) and Vladimir Mstislavich, who replaced him (May 1171), the Kiev table was occupied by his other brother Mikhalko without his consent, Andrei forced him to give way to Roman Rostislavich, a representative of the Smolensk branch of the Mstislavichs (Rostislavichs); in 1172, Andrei drove out Roman and imprisoned another of his brothers, Vsevolod the Big Nest, in Kyiv; in 1173 he forced Rurik Rostislavich, who had seized the Kiev throne, to flee to Belgorod.

After the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1174, Kyiv came under the control of the Smolensk Rostislavichs in the person of Roman Rostislavich (1174-1176). But in 1176, having failed in a campaign against the Polovtsians, Roman was forced to relinquish power, which the Olgovichi took advantage of. At the call of the townspeople, the Kiev table was occupied by Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich Chernigovsky (1176-1194 with a break of 11

8 1). However, he failed to oust the Rostislavichs from the Kyiv land; in the early 1180s he recognized their rights to Porosye and the Drevlyansky land; The Olgovichi fortified themselves in the Kyiv district. Having reached an agreement with the Rostislavichs, Svyatoslav concentrated his efforts on the fight against the Polovtsians, managing to seriously weaken their onslaught on Russian lands.

After his death in 1194, the Rostislavichs returned to the Kiev table in the person of Rurik Rostislavich, but already at the beginning of the 13th century. Kyiv fell into the sphere of influence of the powerful Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich, who in 1202 expelled Rurik and installed his cousin Ingvar Yaroslavich Dorogobuzh in his place. In 1203, Rurik, in alliance with the Cumans and Chernigov Olgovichs, captured Kyiv and, with the diplomatic support of the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, the ruler of North-Eastern Rus', retained the reign of Kiev for several months. However, in 1204, during a joint campaign of the southern Russian rulers against the Polovtsians, he was arrested by Roman and tonsured as a monk, and his son Rostislav was thrown into prison; Ingvar returned to the Kyiv table. But soon, at the request of Vsevolod, Roman freed Rostislav and made him the prince of Kyiv.

After the death of Roman in October 1205, Rurik left the monastery and at the beginning of 1206 occupied Kyiv. In the same year, the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny entered the fight against him. Their four-year rivalry ended in 1210 with a compromise agreement: Rurik recognized Vsevolod as Kyiv and received Chernigov as compensation.

After the death of Vsevolod, the Rostislavichs re-established themselves on the Kiev table: Mstislav Romanovich the Old (1212/1214-1223 with a break in 1219) and his cousin Vladimir Rurikovich (1223-1235). In 1235, Vladimir, having been defeated by the Polovtsy near Torchesky, was captured by them, and power in Kyiv was seized first by the Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich, and then by Yaroslav, the son of Vsevolod the Big Nest. However, in 1236, Vladimir, having redeemed himself from captivity, without much difficulty regained the grand-ducal table and remained on it until his death in 1239.

In 1239–1240, Mikhail Vsevolodovich Chernigovsky and Rostislav Mstislavich Smolensky were sitting in Kyiv, and on the eve of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, he found himself under the control of the Galician-Volyn prince Daniil Romanovich, who appointed governor Dmitry there. In the fall of 1240, Batu moved to Southern Rus' and in early December took and defeated Kyiv, despite the desperate nine-day resistance of the residents and Dmitr’s small squad; he subjected the principality to terrible devastation, from which it could no longer recover. Mikhail Vsevolodich, who returned to the capital in 1241, was summoned to the Horde in 1246 and killed there. Since the 1240s, Kyiv fell into formal dependence on the great princes of Vladimir (Alexander Nevsky, Yaroslav Yaroslavich). In the second half of the 13th century. a significant part of the population emigrated to the northern Russian regions. In 1299, the metropolitan see was moved from Kyiv to Vladimir. In the first half of the 14th century. the weakened Principality of Kiev became the object of Lithuanian aggression and in 1362 under Olgerd it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Principality of Polotsk. It was located in the middle reaches of the Dvina and Polota and in the upper reaches of the Svisloch and Berezina (the territory of the modern Vitebsk, Minsk and Mogilev regions of Belarus and southeastern Lithuania). In the south it bordered with Turovo-Pinsk, in the east with the Smolensk principality,in the north with the Pskov-Novgorod land, in the west and north-west with the Finno-Ugric tribes (Livs, Latgalians). It was inhabited by the Polotsk people (the name comes from the river Polota), a branch of the East Slavic Krivichi tribe, partially mixed with the Baltic tribes.

As an independent territorial entity, the Polotsk land existed even before the emergence of the Old Russian state. In the 870s, the Novgorod prince Rurik imposed tribute on the Polotsk people, and then they submitted to the Kyiv prince Oleg. Under the Kiev prince Yaropolk Svyatoslavich (972-980), the Polotsk land was a dependent principality ruled by the Norman Rogvolod. In 980, Vladimir Svyatoslavich captured her, killed Rogvolod and his two sons, and took his daughter Rogneda as his wife; from that time on, the Polotsk land finally became part of the Old Russian state. Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir transferred part of it to joint ownership by Rogneda and their eldest son Izyaslav. In 988/989 he made Izyaslav prince of Polotsk; Izyaslav became the founder of the local princely dynasty (Polotsk Izyaslavichs). In 992 the Polotsk diocese was established.

Although the principality was poor in fertile lands, it had rich hunting and fishing grounds and was located at the crossroads of important trade routes along the Dvina, Neman and Berezina; Impenetrable forests and water barriers protected it from outside attacks. This attracted numerous settlers here; Cities grew rapidly and turned into trade and craft centers (Polotsk, Izyaslavl, Minsk, Drutsk, etc.). Economic prosperity contributed to the concentration in the hands of the Izyaslavichs of significant resources, on which they relied in their struggle to achieve independence from the authorities of Kyiv.

Izyaslav's heir Bryachislav (10011044), taking advantage of the princely civil strife in Rus', pursued an independent policy and tried to expand his possessions. In 1021, with his squad and a detachment of Scandinavian mercenaries, he captured and plundered Veliky Novgorod, but then was defeated by the ruler of the Novgorod land, the Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise on the Sudom river; nevertheless, in order to ensure Bryachislav’s loyalty, Yaroslav ceded to him the Usvyatsky and Vitebsk volosts.

The Principality of Polotsk achieved particular power under Bryachislav’s son Vseslav (10441101), who expanded to the north and northwest. The Livs and Latgalians became his tributaries. In the 1060s he made several campaigns against Pskov and Novgorod the Great. In 1067 Vseslav ravaged Novgorod, but could not hold onto the Novgorod land. In the same year, Grand Duke Izyaslav Yaroslavich struck back at his strengthened vassal: he invaded the Principality of Polotsk, captured Minsk, and defeated Vseslav’s squad on the river. Nemige, by cunning, took him prisoner along with his two sons and sent him to prison in Kyiv; the principality became part of the vast possessions of Izyaslav. After the overthrow

Izyaslav by the rebels of Kiev on September 14, 1068 Vseslav regained Polotsk and even occupied the Kiev grand-ducal table for a short time; during a fierce struggle with Izyaslav and his sons Mstislav, Svyatopolk and Yaropolk in 1069–1072, he managed to retain the Principality of Polotsk. In 1078, he resumed aggression against neighboring regions: he captured the Smolensk principality and ravaged the northern part of Chernigov land. However, already in the winter of 1078–1079, Grand Duke Vsevolod Yaroslavich carried out a punitive expedition to the Principality of Polotsk and burned Lukoml, Logozhsk, Drutsk and the outskirts of Polotsk; in 1084 Prince of Chernigov Vladimir Monomakh took Minsk and brutally destroyed the Polotsk land. Vseslav's resources were exhausted, and he no longer tried to expand the boundaries of his possessions.

With the death of Vseslav in 1101, the decline of the Principality of Polotsk began. It breaks up into destinies; The principalities of Minsk, Izyaslavl and Vitebsk stand out from it. The sons of Vseslav are wasting their strength in civil strife. After the predatory campaign of Gleb Vseslavich in the Turovo-Pinsk land in 1116 and his unsuccessful attempt to seize Novgorod and the Smolensk principality in 1119, the Izyaslavich aggression against neighboring regions practically ceased. The weakening of the principality opens the way for Kyiv's intervention: at 11

1 9 Vladimir Monomakh without much difficulty defeats Gleb Vseslavich, seizes his inheritance, and imprisons himself; in 1127 Mstislav the Great devastates the southwestern regions of the Polotsk land; in 1129, taking advantage of the refusal of the Izyaslavichs to take part in the joint campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians, he occupied the principality and at the Kiev Congress sought the condemnation of the five Polotsk rulers (Svyatoslav, Davyd and Rostislav Vseslavich, Rogvolod and Ivan Borisovich) and their deportation to Byzantium. Mstislav transfers the Polotsk land to his son Izyaslav, and installs his governors in the cities.

Although in 1132 the Izyaslavichs, in the person of Vasilko Svyatoslavich (11321144), managed to return the ancestral principality, they were no longer able to revive its former power. In the middle of the 12th century. A fierce struggle breaks out for the Polotsk princely table between Rogvolod Borisovich (11441151, 11591162) and Rostislav Glebovich (11511159). At the turn of the 1150-1160s, Rogvolod Borisovich makes a last attempt to unite the principality, which, however, fails due to the opposition of other Izyaslavichs and the intervention of neighboring princes (Yuri Dolgorukov and others). In the second half

7 V. the crushing process deepens; the Drutskoe, Gorodenskoe, Logozhskoe and Strizhevskoe principalities arise; the most important regions (Polotsk, Vitebsk, Izyaslavl) end up in the hands of the Vasilkovichs (descendants of Vasilko Svyatoslavich); the influence of the Minsk branch of the Izyaslavichs (Glebovichs), on the contrary, is declining. Polotsk land becomes the object of expansion of the Smolensk princes; in 1164 Davyd Rostislavich of Smolensk even took possession of the Vitebsk volost for some time; in the second half of the 1210s, his sons Mstislav and Boris established themselves in Vitebsk and Polotsk.

At the beginning of the 13th century. the aggression of German knights begins in the lower reaches of the Western Dvina; by 1212 the Swordsmen conquered the lands of the Livs and southwestern Latgale, tributaries of Polotsk. Since the 1230s, the Polotsk rulers also had to repel the onslaught of the newly formed Lithuanian state; mutual strife prevented them from uniting their forces, and by 1252 the Lithuanian princes

capture Polotsk, Vitebsk and Drutsk. In the second half of the 13th century. A fierce struggle unfolds for the Polotsk lands between Lithuania, the Teutonic Order and the Smolensk princes, in which the Lithuanians turn out to be the winner. The Lithuanian prince Viten (1293-1316) took Polotsk from the German knights in 1307, and his successor Gedemin (1316-1341) subjugated the Minsk and Vitebsk principalities. The Polotsk land finally became part of the Lithuanian state in 1385.Principality of Chernigov. It was located east of the Dnieper between the Desna valley and the middle reaches of the Oka (the territory of modern Kursk, Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Bryansk, the western part of the Lipetsk and southern parts of the Moscow regions of Russia, the northern part of the Chernigov and Sumy regions of Ukraine and the eastern part of the Gomel region of Belarus ). In the south it bordered with Pereyaslavl, in the east with Murom-Ryazan, in the north with Smolensk, in the west with the Kyiv and Turovo-Pinsk principalities. It was inhabited by the East Slavic tribes of Polyans, Severians, Radimichi and Vyatichi. It is believed that it received its name either from a certain Prince Cherny, or from the Black Guy (forest).

Possessing a mild climate, fertile soils, numerous rivers rich in fish, and in the north forests full of game, the Chernigov land was one of the most attractive regions of Ancient Rus' for settlement. The main trade route from Kyiv to northeastern Rus' passed through it (along the Desna and Sozh rivers). Cities with a significant craft population arose here early. In the 11th-12th centuries. The Chernigov principality was one of the richest and politically significant regions of Rus'.

By the 9th century The northerners, who previously lived on the left bank of the Dnieper, subjugated the Radimichi, Vyatichi and part of the glades, and extended their power to the upper reaches of the Don. As a result, a semi-state entity arose that paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. At the beginning of the 10th century. it recognized dependence on the Kyiv prince Oleg. In the second half of the 10th century. The Chernigov land became part of the Grand Duke's domain. Under Saint Vladimir, the Chernigov diocese was established. In 1024 it came under the rule of Mstislav the Brave, brother of Yaroslav the Wise, and became a virtually independent principality from Kyiv. After his death in 1036 it was again included in the grand ducal domain. According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Principality of Chernigov, together with the Murom-Ryazan land, passed to his son Svyatoslav (1054-1073), who became the founder of the local princely dynasty of the Svyatoslavichs; they, however, managed to establish themselves in Chernigov only towards the end of the 11th century. In 1073, the Svyatoslavichs lost their principality, which ended up in the hands of Vsevolod Yaroslavich, and from 1078 - his son Vladimir Monomakh (until 1094). Attempts by the most active of the Svyatoslavichs, Oleg "Gorislavich", to regain control of the principality in 1078 (with the help of his cousin Boris Vyacheslavich) and in 10941096

(with the help of the Polovtsians) ended in failure. Nevertheless, by the decision of the Lyubech princely congress of 1097, the Chernigov and Murom-Ryazan lands were recognized as the patrimony of the Svyatoslavichs; Svyatoslav's son Davyd (10971123) became the prince of Chernigov. After the death of Davyd, the princely throne was taken by his brother Yaroslav of Ryazan, who in 1127 was expelled by his nephew Vsevolod, the son of Oleg “Gorislavich”. Yaroslav retained the Murom-Ryazan land, which from that time turned into an independent principality. The Chernigov land was divided among themselves by the sons of Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich (Davydovich and Olgovich), who entered into a fierce struggle for allotments and the Chernigov table. In 11271139 it was occupied by the Olgovichi, in 1139 they were replaced by the Davydovichi Vladimir (11391151) and his brotherIzyaslav (11511157), but in 1157 he finally passed to the Olgovichs: Svyatoslav Olgovich (11571164) and his nephews Svyatoslav (11641177) and Yaroslav (11771198) Vsevolodichs. At the same time, the Chernigov princes tried to subjugate Kyiv: the Kyiv grand-ducal table was owned by Vsevolod Olgovich (1139-1146), Igor Olgovich (1146) and Izyaslav Davydovich (1154 and 1157-1159). They also fought with varying success for Novgorod the Great, the Turovo-Pinsk principality, and even for distant Galich. In internal strife andin wars with neighbors, the Svyatoslavichs often resorted to the help of the Polovtsians.

In the second half of the 12th century, despite the extinction of the Davydovich family, the process of fragmentation of the Chernigov land intensified. The Novgorod-Seversky, Putivl, Kursk, Starodub and Vshchizhsky principalities are formed within it; The Chernigov principality itself was limited to the lower reaches of the Desna, from time to time also including Vshchizhskaya and Starobudskaya volosts. The dependence of the vassal princes on the Chernigov ruler becomes nominal; some of them (for example, Svyatoslav Vladimirovich Vshchizhsky in the early 1160s) showed a desire for complete independence. Fierce feuds of the Olgovichs do not prevent them from actively fighting for Kyiv with the Smolensk Rostislavichs: in 1176-1194 Svyatoslav Vsevolodich ruled there, in 1206-1212/1214, with interruptions, his son Vsevolod Chermny ruled. They are trying to gain a foothold in Novgorod the Great (11801181, 1197); in 1205 they managed to take possession of the Galician land, where, however, in 1211 a disaster befell them: three Olgovich princes (Roman, Svyatoslav and Rostislav Igorevich) were captured and hanged by the verdict of the Galician boyars. In 1210 they even lost the Chernigov table, which passed to the Smolensk Rostislavichs (Rurik Rostislavich) for two years.

In the first third of the 13th century. The Chernigov principality breaks up into many small fiefs, only formally subordinate to Chernigov; Kozelskoye, Lopasninskoye, Rylskoye, Snovskoye, then Trubchevskoye, Glukhovo-Novosilskoye, Karachevskoye and Tarusskoye principalities stand out. Despite this, Prince Mikhail Vsevolodich of Chernigov

(12231241) does not cease his active policy in relation to neighboring regions, trying to establish control over Novgorod the Great (1225, 12281230) and Kiev (1235, 1238); in 1235 he took possession of the Galician principality, and later the Przemysl volost.

The waste of significant human and material resources in civil strife and wars with neighbors, fragmentation of forces and lack of unity among the princes contributed to the success of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In the fall of 1239, Batu took Chernigov and subjected the principality to such a terrible defeat that it virtually ceased to exist. In 1241, the son and heir of Mikhail Vsevolodich Rostislav left his patrimony and went to fight the Galician land, and then fled to Hungary. Obviously, the last Chernigov prince was his uncle Andrei (mid-1240s - early 1260s). After 1261, the Chernigov principality became part of the Bryansk principality, founded back in 1246 by Roman, another son of Mikhail Vsevolodich; The bishop of Chernigov also moved to Bryansk. In the middle of the 14th century. The Principality of Bryansk and Chernigov lands were conquered by the Lithuanian prince Olgerd.

Murom-Ryazan principality. It occupied the south-eastern outskirts of Rus' - the basin of the Oka and its tributaries Prony, Osetra and Tsna, the upper reaches of the Don and Voronezh (modern Ryazan, Lipetsk, north-eastern Tambov and southern Vladimir regions). It bordered on the west with Chernigov, on the north with the Rostov-Suzdal principality; in the east its neighbors were the Mordovian tribes, and in the south the Cumans. The population of the principality was mixed: both Slavs (Krivichi, Vyatichi) and Finno-Ugric people (Mordovians, Murom, Meshchera) lived here.

In the south and central regions of the principality, fertile (chernozem and podzolized) soils predominated, which contributed to the development of agriculture. Its northern part was densely covered with forests rich in game and swamps; local residents were mainly engaged in hunting. In the 11th-12th centuries. A number of urban centers arose on the territory of the principality: Murom, Ryazan (from the word “cassock” - a marshy swampy place overgrown with bushes), Pereyaslavl, Kolomna, Rostislavl, Pronsk, Zaraysk. However, in terms of economic development it lagged behind most other regions of Rus'.

The Murom land was annexed to the Old Russian state in the third quarter of the 10th century. under the Kiev prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. In 988989 Vladimir the Holy included it in the Rostov inheritance of his son Yaroslav the Wise. In 1010, Vladimir allocated it as an independent principality to his other son Gleb. After the tragic death of Gleb in 1015, it returned to the Grand Duke's domain, and in 1023–1036 it was part of the Chernigov appanage of Mstislav the Brave.

According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Murom land, as part of the Chernigov principality, passed in 1054 to his son Svyatoslav, and in 1073 he transferred it to his brother Vsevolod. In 1078, having become the great prince of Kyiv, Vsevolod gave Murom to Svyatoslav’s sons Roman and Davyd. In 1095, David ceded it to Izyaslav, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, receiving Smolensk in return. In 1096, Davyd's brother Oleg "Gorislavich" expelled Izyaslav, but was then himself expelled by Izyaslav's elder brother Mstislav the Great. However, by decision

At the Lyubech Congress, the Murom land as a vassal possession of Chernigov was recognized as the patrimony of the Svyatoslavichs: it was given to Oleg “Gorislavich” as an inheritance, and for his brother Yaroslav a special Ryazan volost was allocated from it.

In 1123, Yaroslav, who occupied the Chernigov throne, transferred Murom and Ryazan to his nephew Vsevolod Davydovich. But after being expelled from Chernigov in 1127, Yaroslav returned to the Murom table; from that time on, the Murom-Ryazan land became an independent principality, in which the descendants of Yaroslav (the younger Murom branch of the Svyatoslavichs) established themselves. They had to constantly repel the raids of the Polovtsians and other nomads, which distracted their forces from participating in all-Russian princely strife, but not from internal strife associated with the beginning of the fragmentation process (already in the 1140s, the Yelets Principality stood out on its southwestern outskirts). From the mid-1140s, the Murom-Ryazan land became the object of expansion by the Rostov-Suzdal rulers Yuri Dolgoruky and his son Andrey Bogolyubsky. In 1146, Andrei Bogolyubsky intervened in the conflict between Prince Rostislav Yaroslavich and his nephews Davyd and Igor Svyatoslavich and helped them capture Ryazan. Rostislav kept Murom behind him; only a few years later he was able to regain the Ryazan table. Early 1160

- x his great-nephew Yuri Vladimirovich established himself in Murom, becoming the founder of a special branch of the Murom princes, and from that time on the Murom principality separated from the Ryazan principality. Soon (by 1164) it fell into vassal dependence on the Vadimir-Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky; under subsequent rulers Vladimir Yuryevich (1176–1205), Davyd Yuryevich (1205–1228) and Yuri Davydovich (1228–1237), the Murom principality gradually lost its importance.

The Ryazan princes (Rostislav and his son Gleb), however, actively resisted the Vladimir-Suzdal aggression. Moreover, after the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1174, Gleb tried to establish control over all of North-Eastern Russia. In alliance with the sons of the Pereyaslavl prince Rostislav Yuryevich Mstislav and Yaropolk, he began to fight with the sons of Yuri Dolgoruky Mikhalko and Vsevolod the Big Nest for the Vladimir-Suzdal principality; in 1176 he captured and burned Moscow, but in 1177 he was defeated on the Koloksha River, was captured by Vsevolod and died in 1178 in prison

. Gleb's son and heir Roman (11781207) took the vassal oath to Vsevolod the Big Nest. In the 1180s, he made two attempts to deprive his younger brothers of their inheritance and unite the principality, but the intervention of Vsevolod prevented the implementation of his plans. The progressive fragmentation of the Ryazan land (in 1185-1186 the Pronsky and Kolomna principalities emerged) led to increased rivalry within the princely house. In 1207, Roman's nephews Gleb and Oleg Vladimirovich accused him of plotting against Vsevolod the Big Nest; Roman was summoned to Vladimir and thrown into prison. Vsevolod tried to take advantage of these strife: in 1209 he captured Ryazan, placed his son Yaroslav on the Ryazan table, and appointed Vladimir-Suzdal mayors to the rest of the cities; however in the sameyear, the Ryazan people expelled Yaroslav and his henchmen.

In the 1210s, the struggle for allotments intensified even more. In 1217, Gleb and Konstantin Vladimirovich organized the murder of six of their brothers - one brother and five cousins ​​- in the village of Isady (6 km from Ryazan). But Roman's nephew Ingvar Igorevich defeated Gleb and Konstantin, forced them to flee to the Polovtsian steppes and took the Ryazan table. During his twenty-year reign (1217–1237), the process of fragmentation became irreversible.

In 1237, the Ryazan and Murom principalities were defeated by the hordes of Batu. The Ryazan prince Yuri Ingvarevich, the Murom prince Yuri Davydovich and most of the local princes died. In the second half of the 13th century. The Murom land fell into complete desolation; Murom bishopric at the beginning of the 14th century. was moved to Ryazan; only in the middle of the 14th century. Murom ruler Yuri Yaroslavich revived his principality for some time. The forces of the Ryazan principality, subjected to constant Tatar-Mongol raids, were undermined by the internecine struggle of the Ryazan and Pron branches of the ruling house. From the beginning of the 14th century. it began to experience pressure from the Moscow Principality that had arisen on its northwestern borders. In 1301, the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich captured Kolomna and captured the Ryazan prince Konstantin Romanovich. In the second half of the 14th century. Oleg Ivanovich (13501402) was able to temporarily consolidate the forces of the principality, expand its borders and strengthen the central government; in 1353 he took Lopasnya from Ivan II of Moscow. However, in the 1370-1380s, during the struggle of Dmitry Donskoy with the Tatars, he failed to play the role of a “third force” and create his own center for the unification of the northeastern Russian lands

. In 1393, Moscow Prince Vasily I, with the consent of the Tatar Khan, annexed the Principality of Murom. The Ryazan principality during the 14th century. gradually became increasingly dependent on Moscow. The last Ryazan princes Ivan Vasilyevich (1483-1500) and Ivan Ivanovich (1500-1521) retained only a shadow of independence. The Ryazan principality finally became part of the Moscow state in 1521. Principality of Tmutarakan. It was located on the Black Sea coast, occupied the territory of the Taman Peninsula and the eastern tip of Crimea. The population consisted of Slavic colonists and the Yas and Kasog tribes. The Principality had an advantageous geographical position: it controlled the Kerch Strait and, accordingly, the Don (from Eastern Rus' and the Volga region) and Kuban (from the North Caucasus) trade routes to the Black Sea. However, the Rurikovichs did not attach much importance to Tmutarakan; often it was a placewhere the princes expelled from their estates took refuge, and where they gathered forces to invade the central regions of Rus'.

From the 7th century The Taman Peninsula belonged to the Khazar Kaganate. At the turn of the 9th-10th centuries. its settlement by the Slavs began. It came under the rule of the Kyiv princes as a result of the campaign of Svyatoslav Igorevich in 965, when the Khazar port city of Samkerts (ancient Hermonassa, Byzantine Tamatarkha, Russian Tmutarakan) located on its western tip was probably taken; it became the main Russian outpost on the Black Sea. Vladimir the Holy made this region a semi-independent principality and gave it to his son Mstislav the Brave. Perhaps Mstislav held Tmutarakan until his death in 1036. Then it became part of the grand ducal domain, and according to the will of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054 it passed to his son, Prince of Chernigov Svyatoslav, and from that time on was considered a territory dependent on Chernigov.

Svyatoslav planted his son Gleb in Tmutarakan; in 1064 Gleb was expelled by his cousin Rostislav Vladimirovich, who, despite Svyatoslav’s campaign in Tmutarakan in 1065, was able to retain the principality until his death in 1067. When he died, Svyatoslav, at the request of local residents, again sent Gleb to Tmutarakan, but he did not reign for long and Already in 10681069 he left for Novgorod. In 1073, Svyatoslav transferred Tmutarakan to his brother Vsevolod, but after Svyatoslav’s death it was captured by his sons Roman and Oleg “Gorislavich” (1077). In 1078, Vsevolod, having become the Grand Duke, recognized Tmutarakan as the possession of the Svyatoslavichs. In 1079, Roman was killed by his Polovtsian allies during a campaign against Pereyaslavl-Russky, and Oleg was captured by the Khazars and sent to Constantinople to the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus III Botaniates, who exiled him to the island of Rhodes. Tmutarakan again fell under the rule of Vsevolod, who ruled it through his posadniks. In 1081 Volodar Rostislavich of Peremyshl and his cousin Davyd Igorevich of Turov attacked Tmutarakan, removed Vsevolodov, the governor of Ratibor, and began to reign there. In 1083 they were expelled by Oleg “Gorislavich” who returned to Rus', who ruled Tmutarakan for eleven years. In 1094 he left the principality and, together with his brothers, began the fight for the “fatherland” (Chernigov, Murom, Ryazan). By decision of the Lyubech Congress of 1097, Tmutarakan was assigned to the Svyatoslavichs.

At the end of the 11th century. Yaroslav Svyatoslavich was sitting on the Tmutarakan table. At the beginning of the 12th century. Oleg Gorislavich returned to Tmutarakan, holding it until his death in 1115. Under his heir and son Vsevolod, the principality was defeated by the Polovtsians. In 1127 Vsevolod transferred the reign of Tmutarakan to his uncle Yaroslav, who was expelled by him from Chernigov. However, this title was already purely nominal: Yaroslav, until his death in 1129, was the owner of the Murom-Ryazan land. By this time, ties between Rus' and Tmutarakan were completely broken.

In 1185, the grandchildren of Oleg “Gorislavich” Igor and Vsevolod Svyatoslavich organized a campaign against the Polovtsy with the aim of restoring the Tmutarakan principality, which ended in complete failure (the campaign of Prince Igor). see also KHAZAR KAGANATE.

Turovo-Pinsk Principality. It was located in the Pripyat River basin (south of modern Minsk, east of Brest and west of Gomel regions of Belarus). It bordered in the north with Polotsk, in the south with Kyiv, and in the east with the Chernigov principality, reaching almost to the Dnieper; border with its western neighborThe Vladimir-Volyn principality was not stable: the upper reaches of the Pripyat and the Goryn valley passed either to the Turov or to the Volyn princes. The Turov land was inhabited by the Slavic tribe of Dregovichs.

Most of the territory was covered with impenetrable forests and swamps; hunting and fishing were the main occupations of the inhabitants. Only certain areas were suitable for agriculture; This is where the earliest urban centers arose: Turov, Pinsk, Mozyr, Sluchesk, Klechesk, which, however, in terms of economic importance and population could not compete with the leading cities of other regions of Rus'. The limited resources of the principality did not allow its rulers to participate on equal terms in all-Russian civil strife.

In the 970s, the land of the Dregovichi was a semi-independent principality, in vassal dependence on Kyiv; its ruler was a certain Tour, from whom the name of the region came. In 988989, Vladimir the Holy allocated “Drevlyansky land and Pinsk” as an inheritance to his nephew Svyatopolk the Accursed. At the beginning of the 11th century, after the discovery of Svyatopolk’s conspiracy against Vladimir, the Principality of Turov was included in the grand ducal domain. In the middle of the 11th century. Yaroslav the Wise passed it on to his third son Izyaslav, the founder of the local princely dynasty (Turov Izyaslavichs). When Yaroslav died in 1054 and Izyaslav took the grand-ducal throne, the Turov region became part of his vast possessions (10541068, 10691073, 10771078). After his death in 1078, the new Kiev prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich gave the Turov land to his nephew Davyd Igorevich, who held it until 1081. In 1088 it ended up in the hands of Svyatopolk, the son of Izyaslav, who sat on the grand-ducal table in 1093. By decision of the Lyubech Congress of 1097, the Turov region was assigned to him and his descendants, but soon after his death in 1113 it passed to the new Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh

. According to the division that followed the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, the Principality of Turov went to his son Vyacheslav. From 1132 it became the object of rivalry between Vyacheslav and his nephew Izyaslav, the son of Mstislav the Great. In 11421143 it was briefly owned by the Chernigov Olgovichs (Grand Prince of Kiev Vsevolod Olgovich and his son Svyatoslav). In 11461147 Izyaslav Mstislavich finally expelled Vyacheslav from Turov and gave it to his son Yaroslav.

In the middle of the 12th century. the Suzdal branch of the Vsevolodichs intervened in the struggle for the Principality of Turov: in 1155 Yuri Dolgoruky, having become the great prince of Kyiv, placed his son Andrei Bogolyubsky on the Turov table, in 1155 his other son Boris; however, they were unable to hold on to it. In the second half of the 1150s, the principality returned to the Turov Izyaslavichs: by 1158, Yuri Yaroslavich, the grandson of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, managed to unite the entire Turov land under his rule. Under his sons Svyatopolk (before 1190) and Gleb (before 1195) it broke up into several fiefs. By the beginning of the 13th century. The Turov, Pinsk, Slutsk and Dubrovitsky principalities themselves took shape. During the 13th century. the crushing process progressed inexorably; Turov lost its role as the center of the principality; Pinsk began to acquire increasing importance. Weak small lords could not organize any serious resistance to external aggression. In the second quarter of the 14th century. The Turovo-Pinsk land turned out to be easy prey for the Lithuanian prince Gedemin (13161347).

Smolensk Principality. It was located in the Upper Dnieper basin(modern Smolensk, southeast of the Tver regions of Russia and east of the Mogilev region of Belarus).It bordered in the west with Polotsk, in the south with Chernigov, in the east with the Rostov-Suzdal principality, and in the north with the Pskov-Novgorod land. It was inhabited by the Slavic tribe of Krivichi.

The Smolensk principality had an extremely advantageous geographical position. The upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Western Dvina converged on its territory, and it lay at the intersection of two important trade routes from Kiev to Polotsk and the Baltic states (along the Dnieper, then along the Kasplya River, a tributary of the Western Dvina) and to Novgorod and the Upper Volga region ( through Rzhev and Lake Seliger). Cities arose here early and became important trade and craft centers (Vyazma, Orsha).

In 882, the Kiev prince Oleg subjugated the Smolensk Krivichi and installed his governors in their land, which became his possession. At the end of the 10th century. Vladimir the Holy allocated it as an inheritance to his son Stanislav, but after some time it returned to the grand ducal domain. In 1054, according to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Smolensk region passed to his son Vyacheslav. In 1057, the great Kiev prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich transferred it to his brother Igor, and after his death in 1060 he divided it with his other two brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. In 1078, by agreement of Izyaslav and Vsevolod, the Smolensk land was given to Vsevolod’s son Vladimir Monomakh; Soon Vladimir moved to reign in Chernigov, and the Smolensk region found itself in the hands of Vsevolod. After his death in 1093, Vladimir Monomakh planted his eldest son Mstislav in Smolensk, and in 1095 his other son Izyaslav. Although in 1095 the Smolensk land briefly fell into the hands of the Olgovichs (Davyd Olgovich), the Lyubech Congress of 1097 recognized it as the patrimony of the Monomashichs, and it was ruled by the sons of Vladimir Monomakh Yaropolk, Svyatoslav, Gleb and Vyacheslav.

After the death of Vladimir in 1125, the new Kiev prince Mstislav the Great allocated the Smolensk land as an inheritance to his son Rostislav (1125–1159), the founder of the local princely dynasty of the Rostislavichs; from now on it became an independent principality. In 1136, Rostislav achieved the creation of an episcopal see in Smolensk, in 1140 he repelled the attempt of the Chernigov Olgovichi (Grand Prince Vsevolod of Kyiv) to seize the principality, and in the 1150s he entered the struggle for Kyiv. In 1154 he had to cede the Kiev table to the Olgovichs (Izyaslav Davydovich of Chernigov), but in 1159 he established himself on it (he owned it until his death in 1167). He gave the Smolensk table to his son Roman (11591180 with interruptions), who was succeeded by his brother Davyd (11801197), son Mstislav the Old (11971206, 12071212/12

1 4), nephews Vladimir Rurikovich (12151223 with a break in 1219) and Mstislav Davydovich (12231230).

In the second half of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century. The Rostislavichs actively tried to bring the most prestigious and richest regions of Rus' under their control. The sons of Rostislav (Roman, Davyd, Rurik and Mstislav the Brave) waged a fierce struggle for the Kiev land with the senior branch of the Monomashichs (Izyaslavichs), with the Olgovichs and with the Suzdal Yuryeviches (especially with Andrei Bogolyubsky in the late 1160s and early 1170s); they were able to gain a foothold in the most important areas of the Kiev region - in Posem, Ovruch, Vyshgorod, Torcheskaya, Trepolsk and Belgorod volosts. In the period from 1171 to 1210, Roman and Rurik sat on the grand ducal table eight times. In the north, the Novgorod land became the object of expansion of the Rostislavichs: Novgorod was ruled by Davyd (11541155), Svyatoslav (11581167) and Mstislav Rostislavich (11791180), Mstislav Davydovich (11841187) and Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny (12101215 and 12161218); at the end of the 1170s and in the 1210s the Rostislavichs held Pskov; sometimes they even managed to create appanages independent of Novgorod (in the late 1160s and early 1170s in Torzhok and Velikiye Luki). In 11641166 the Rostislavichs owned Vitebsk (Davyd Rostislavich), in 1206 Pereyaslavl in Russia (Rurik Rostislavich and his son Vladimir), and in 12101212 even Chernigov (Rurik Rostislavich). Their successes were facilitated by both the strategically advantageous position of the Smolensk region and the relatively slow (compared to neighboring principalities) process of its fragmentation, although some appanages were periodically allocated from it (Toropetsky, Vasilevsko-Krasnensky).

In the 1210–1220s, the political and economic importance of the Smolensk Principality increased even more. Smolensk merchants became important partners of the Hansa, as their trade agreement of 1229 shows (Smolenskaya Torgovaya Pravda). Continuing the struggle for Novgorod (in 12181221 the sons of Mstislav the Old reigned in Novgorod, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod) and Kiev lands (in 12131223, with a break in 1219, Mstislav the Old sat in Kiev, and in 1119, 11231235 and 12361238 Vladimir Rurikovich), the Rostislavichs also intensified their onslaught to the west and southwest. In 1219 Mstislav the Old took possession of Galich, which then passed to his cousin Mstislav Udatny (until 1227). In the second half of the 1210s, the sons of Davyd Rostislavich Boris and Davyd subdued Polotsk and Vitebsk; Boris's sons Vasilko and Vyachko vigorously fought the Teutonic Order and the Lithuanians for the Podvina region.

However, from the late 1220s, the weakening of the Smolensk principality began. The process of its fragmentation into appanages intensified, the rivalry of the Rostislavichs for the Smolensk table intensified; in 1232, the son of Mstislav the Old, Svyatoslav, took Smolensk by storm and subjected it to a terrible defeat. The influence of the local boyars increased, which began to interfere in princely strife; in 1239, the boyars placed their beloved Vsevolod, brother of Svyatoslav, on the Smolensk table. The decline of the principality predetermined failures in foreign policy. Already by the mid-1220s, the Rostislavichs had lost Podvinia; in 1227 Mstislav Udatnoy ceded the Galician land to the Hungarian prince Andrew. Although in 1238 and 1242 the Rostislavichs managed to repel the attack of Tatar-Mongol troops on Smolensk, they were unable to repel the Lithuanians, who captured Vitebsk, Polotsk and even Smolensk itself in the late 1240s. Alexander Nevsky knocked them out of the Smolensk region, but the Polotsk and Vitebsk lands were completely lost.

In the second half of the 13th century. The line of Davyd Rostislavich was established on the Smolensk table: it was successively occupied by the sons of his grandson Rostislav Gleb, Mikhail and Feodor. Under them, the collapse of the Smolensk land became irreversible; Vyazemskoye and a number of other appanages emerged from it. The Smolensk princes had to recognize vassal dependence on the Great Prince of Vladimir and the Tatar Khan (1274). In the 14th century under Alexander Glebovich (12971313), his son Ivan (13131358) and grandson Svyatoslav (13581386), the principality completely lost its former political and economic power; Smolensk rulers tried unsuccessfully to stop Lithuanian expansion in the west. After the defeat and death of Svyatoslav Ivanovich in 1386 in a battle with the Lithuanians on the Vehra River near Mstislavl, the Smolensk land became dependent on the Lithuanian prince Vitovt, who began to appoint and remove Smolensk princes at his discretion, and in 1395 established his direct rule. In 1401, the Smolensk people rebelled and, with the help of the Ryazan prince Oleg, expelled

Lithuanians; The Smolensk table was occupied by Svyatoslav's son Yuri. However, in 1404 Vytautas took the city, liquidated the Smolensk Principality and included its lands in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.Pereyaslavl Principality. It was located in the forest-steppe part of the Dnieper left bank and occupied the interfluve of the Desna, Seim, Vorskla and Northern Donets (modern Poltava, eastern Kyiv, southern Chernigov and Sumy, western Kharkov regions of Ukraine). It bordered in the west with Kyiv, in the north with the Chernigov principality; in the east and south its neighbors were nomadic tribes (Pechenegs, Torques, Cumans). The southeastern border was not stable; it either advanced into the steppe or retreated back; the constant threat of attacks forced the creation of a line of border fortifications and settlements along the bordersthose nomads who switched to a settled life and recognized the power of the Pereyaslav rulers. The population of the principality was mixed: both Slavs (Polyans, Northerners) and descendants of Alans and Sarmatians lived here.

The mild temperate continental climate and podzolized chernozem soils created favorable conditions for intensive farming and cattle breeding. However, the proximity to warlike nomadic tribes, which periodically devastated the principality, negatively affected its economic development.

By the end of the 9th century. a semi-state formation arose in this territory with its center in the city of Pereyaslavl. At the beginning of the 10th century. it fell into vassal dependence on the Kyiv prince Oleg. According to a number of scientists, the old city of Pereyaslavl was burned by nomads, and in 992, Vladimir the Holy, during a campaign against the Pechenegs, founded the new Pereyaslavl (Russian Pereyaslavl) on the place where the Russian daredevil Jan Usmoshvets defeated the Pecheneg hero in a duel. Under him and in the first years of the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, the Pereyaslav region was part of

grand-ducal domain, and in 10241036 it became part of the vast possessions of Yaroslav's brother Mstislav the Brave on the left bank of the Dnieper. After the death of Mstislav in 1036, the Kiev prince took possession of it again. In 1054, according to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Pereyaslavl land passed to his son Vsevolod; from that time on, it separated from the Principality of Kyiv and became an independent principality. In 1073 Vsevolod handed it over to his brother, the Great Prince of Kyiv Svyatoslav, who may have imprisoned his son Gleb in Pereyaslavl. In 1077, after the death of Svyatoslav, the Pereyaslav region again found itself in the hands of Vsevolod; An attempt by Roman, the son of Svyatoslav, to capture it in 1079 with the help of the Polovtsians ended in failure: Vsevolod entered into a secret agreement with the Polovtsian khan, and he ordered the death of Roman. After some time, Vsevolod transferred the principality to his son Rostislav, after whose death in 1093 his brother Vladimir Monomakh began to reign there (with the consent of the new Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich). By decision of the Lyubech Congress of 1097, the Pereyaslav land was assigned to the Monomashichs. From that time on, it remained their fiefdom; as a rule, the great Kyiv princes from the Monomashich family allocated it to their sons or younger brothers; for some of them, the Pereyaslav reign became a step to the Kyiv table (Vladimir Monomakh himself in 1113, Yaropolk Vladimirovich in 1132, Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1146, Gleb Yuryevich in 1169). True, the Chernigov Olgovichi tried several times to bring it under their control; but they managed to capture only the Bryansk Posem in the northern part of the principality.

Vladimir Monomakh, having made a number of successful campaigns against the Polovtsians, temporarily secured the southeastern border of the Pereyaslav region. In 1113 he transferred the principality to his son Svyatoslav, after his death in 1114 to another son Yaropolk, and in 1118 to another son Gleb. According to the will of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, the Pereyaslavl land again went to Yaropolk. When Yaropolk went to reign in Kyiv in 1132, the Pereyaslav table became a bone of contention within the house of Monomashich between the Rostov prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky and his nephews Vsevolod and Izyaslav Mstislavich. Yuri Dolgoruky captured Pereyaslavl, but reigned there for only eight days: he was expelled by the Grand Duke Yaropolk, who gave the Pereyaslavl table to Izyaslav Mstislavich, and the next year, 1133, to his brother Vyacheslav Vladimirovich. In 1135, after Vyacheslav left to reign in Turov, Pereyaslavl was again captured by Yuri Dolgoruky, who planted his brother Andrei the Good there. In the same year, the Olgovichi, in alliance with the Polovtsians, invaded the principality, but the Monomashichi joined forces and helped Andrei repel the attack. After the death of Andrei in 1142, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich returned to Pereyaslavl, who, however, soon had to transfer the reign to Izyaslav Mstislavich. When in 1146 Izyaslav

took the Kiev table, he planted his son Mstislav in Pereyaslavl.

In 1149, Yuri Dolgoruky resumed the struggle with Izyaslav and his sons for dominion in the southern Russian lands. For five years, the Pereyaslav principality found itself either in the hands of Mstislav Izyaslavich (11501151, 11511154), or in the hands of the sons of Yuri Rostislav (11491150, 1151) and Gleb (1151). In 1154, the Yuryevichs established themselves in the principality for a long time: Gleb Yuryevich (1155–1169), his son Vladimir (1169–1174), Gleb’s brother Mikhalko (1174–1175), again Vladimir (11

7 51187), grandson of Yuri Dolgorukov Yaroslav the Red (before 1199) and sons of Vsevolod the Big Nest Konstantin (11991201) and Yaroslav (12011206). In 1206, the Grand Duke of Kiev Vsevolod Chermny from the Chernigov Olgovichi planted his son Mikhail in Pereyaslavl, who, however, was expelled in the same year by the new Grand Duke Rurik Rostislavich. From that time on, the principality was held either by the Smolensk Rostislavichs or by the Yuryevichs. In the spring of 1239, Tatar-Mongol hordes invaded the Pereyaslavl land; they burned Pereyaslavl and subjected the principality to a terrible defeat, after which it could no longer be revived; the Tatars included it in the “Wild Field”. In the third quarter of the 14th century. The Pereyaslav region became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.Vladimir-Volyn principality. It was located in the west of Rus' and occupied a vast territory from the headwaters of the Southern Bug in the south to the headwaters of the Narev (a tributary of the Vistula) in the north, from the valley of the Western Bug in the west to the Sluch River (a tributary of the Pripyat) in the east (modern Volyn, Khmelnitsky, Vinnitsa, north of Ternopil, northeast of Lviv, most of the Rivne region of Ukraine, west of the Brest and southwest of the Grodno region of Belarus, east of the Lublin and southeast of the Bialystok region of Poland). It bordered on the east with Polotsk, Turovo-Pinsk and Kyiv,in the west with the Principality of Galicia, in the northwest with Poland, in the southeast with the Polovtsian steppes. It was inhabited by the Slavic tribe of Dulebs, who were later called Buzhans or Volynians.

Southern Volyn was a mountainous area formed by the eastern spurs of the Carpathians, the northern one was lowland and wooded woodland. The diversity of natural and climatic conditions contributed to economic diversity; The inhabitants were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, and fishing. The economic development of the principality was favored by its unusually advantageous geographical position: the main trade routes from the Baltic States to the Black Sea and from Rus' to Central Europe passed through it; At their intersection, the main urban centers arose: Vladimir-Volynsky, Dorogichin, Lutsk, Berestye, Shumsk.

At the beginning of the 10th century. Volyn, together with the territory adjacent to it from the southwest (the future Galician land), became dependent on the Kyiv prince Oleg. In 981, Vladimir the Holy annexed the Przemysl and Cherven volosts that he had taken from the Poles, moving the Russian border from the Western Bug to the San River; in Vladimir-Volynsky he established an episcopal see, and made the Volyn land itself a semi-independent principality, transferring it to his sons Pozvizd, Vsevolod, Boris. During the internecine war in Rus' in 10151019, the Polish king Boleslav I the Brave returned Przemysl and Cherven, but in the early 1030s they were recaptured by Yaroslav the Wise, who also annexed Belz to Volhynia.

In the early 1050s, Yaroslav placed his son Svyatoslav on the Vladimir-Volyn table. According to Yaroslav's will, in 1054 it passed to his other son Igor, who held it until 1057. According to some sources, in 1060 Vladimir-Volynsky was transferred to Igor's nephew Rostislav Vladimirovich; he, however

, I didn't own it for long. In 1073, Volyn returned to Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, who occupied the grand-ducal throne, who gave it as an inheritance to his son Oleg “Gorislavich,” but after Svyatoslav’s death at the end of 1076, the new Kiev prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich took this region from him.

When Izyaslav died in 1078 and the great reign passed to his brother Vsevolod, he installed Yaropolk, the son of Izyaslav, in Vladimir-Volynsky. However, after some time, Vsevolod separated the Przemysl and Terebovl volosts from Volyn, transferring them to the sons of Rostislav Vladimirovich (the future Principality of Galicia). The attempt of the Rostislavichs in 10841086 to take the Vladimir-Volyn table from Yaropolk was unsuccessful; after the murder of Yaropolk in 1086, Grand Duke Vsevolod made his nephew Davyd Igorevich ruler of Volyn. The Lyubech Congress of 1097 assigned Volyn to him, but as a result of the war with the Rostislavichs, and then with the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (1097–1098), Davyd lost it. By decision of the Uvetich Congress of 1100, Vladimir-Volynsky went to Svyatopolk’s son Yaroslav; Davyd got Buzhsk, Ostrog, Czartorysk and Duben (later Dorogobuzh).

In 1117, Yaroslav rebelled against the new Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, for which he was expelled from Volyn. Vladimir passed it on to his son Roman (11171119), and after his death to his other son Andrei the Good (11191135); in 1123 Yaroslav tried to regain his inheritance with the help of the Poles and Hungarians, but died during the siege of Vladimir-Volynsky. In 1135, the Kiev prince Yaropolk replaced Andrei with his nephew Izyaslav, the son of Mstislav the Great.

When in 1139 the Chernigov Olgovichi took possession of the Kyiv table, they decided to oust the Monomashichs from Volyn. In 1142, Grand Duke Vsevolod Olgovich managed to plant his son Svyatoslav in Vladimir-Volynsky instead of Izyaslav. However, in 1146, after the death of Vsevolod, Izyaslav seized the great reign in Kyiv and removed Svyatoslav from Vladimir, allocating Buzhsk and six more Volyn cities to him as an inheritance. From this time, Volyn finally passed into the hands of the Mstislavichs, the senior branch of the Monomashichs, who ruled it until 1337. In 1148, Izyaslav transferred the Vladimir-Volyn table to his brother Svyatopolk (11481154), who was succeeded by his younger brother Vladimir (11541156) and his son Izyaslav Mstislav (11561170). Under them, the process of fragmentation of the Volyn land began: in the 1140-1160s, the Buzh, Lutsk and Peresopnytsia principalities emerged.

In 1170, the Vladimir-Volyn table was occupied by the son of Mstislav Izyaslavich Roman (1170-1205 with a break in 1188). His reign was marked by the economic and political strengthening of the principality. Unlike the Galician princes, the Volyn rulers had a vast princely domain and were able to concentrate significant material resources in their hands. Having strengthened his power within the principality, Roman in the second half of the 1180s began to carry out active external

politics. In 1188 he intervened in civil strife in the neighboring Principality of Galicia and tried to take possession of the Galician table, but failed. In 1195 he came into conflict with the Smolensk Rostislavichs and destroyed their possessions. In 1199 he managed to subjugate the Galician land and create a single Galician-Volyn principality. At the beginning of the 13th century. Roman extended his influence to Kyiv: in 1202 he expelled Rurik Rostislavich from the Kyiv table and installed his cousin Ingvar Yaroslavich on him; in 1204 he arrested and tonsured Rurik, who had once again established himself in Kyiv, as a monk and reinstated Ingvar there. He invaded Lithuania and Poland several times. By the end of his reign, Roman became the de facto hegemon of Western and Southern Rus' and called himself the “Russian King”; nevertheless, he was unable to put an end to feudal fragmentation; under him, old appanages continued to exist in Volyn and even new ones arose (Drogichinsky, Belzsky, Chervensko-Kholmsky).

After the death of Roman in 1205 in a campaign against the Poles, there was a temporary weakening of the princely power. His heir Daniel already lost the Galician land in 1206, and then was forced to flee Volyn. The Vladimir-Volyn table turned out to be the object of rivalry between his cousin Ingvar Yaroslavich and his cousin Yaroslav Vsevolodich, who constantly turned to the Poles and the Hungarians for support. Only in 1212 was Daniil Romanovich able to establish himself in the Vladimir-Volyn reign; he managed to achieve the liquidation of a number of fiefs. After a long struggle with the Hungarians, Poles and Chernigov Olgovichs, he subjugated the Galician land in 1238 and restored the unified Galician-Volyn principality. In the same year, while remaining its supreme ruler, Daniel transferred Volhynia to his younger brother Vasilko (12381269). In 1240, the Volyn land was devastated by the Tatar-Mongol hordes; Vladimir-Volynsky was taken and plundered. In 1259, the Tatar commander Burundai invaded Volyn and forced Vasilko to demolish the fortifications of Vladimir-Volynsky, Danilov, Kremenets and Lutsk; however, after the unsuccessful siege of the Hill, he was forced to retreat. In the same year, Vasilko repelled the attack of the Lithuanians.

Vasilko was succeeded by his son Vladimir (12691288). During his reign, Volyn was subject to periodic Tatar raids (especially devastating in 1285). Vladimir restored many devastated cities (Berestye and others), built a number of new ones (Kamenets on Losnya), erected temples, patronized trade, and attracted foreign artisans. At the same time, he waged constant wars with the Lithuanians and Yatvingians and intervened in the feuds of the Polish princes. This active foreign policy was continued by his successor Mstislav (12891301), the youngest son of Daniil Romanovich.

After death approx. In 1301, the childless Mstislav, the Galician prince Yuri Lvovich, again united the Volyn and Galician lands. In 1315 he failed in the war with the Lithuanian prince Gedemin, who took Berestye, Drogichin and besieged Vladimir-Volynsky. In 1316, Yuri died (perhaps he died under the walls of besieged Vladimir), and the principality was divided again: most of Volyn was received by his eldest son, the Galician prince Andrey (13161324

) , and Lutsk inheritance youngest son Lev. The last independent Galician-Volyn ruler was Andrei's son Yuri (13241337), after whose death the struggle for Volyn lands began between Lithuania and Poland. By the end of the 14th century. Volyn became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.Principality of Galicia. It was located on the southwestern outskirts of Rus' east of the Carpathians in the upper reaches of the Dniester and Prut (modern Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Lviv regions of Ukraine and Rzeszow voivodeship of Poland). It bordered in the east with the Volyn principality, in the north with Poland, in the west with Hungary, and in the south it abutted the Polovtsian steppes. The population was mixed Slavic tribes occupied the Dniester valley (Tivertsy and Ulichi) and the upper reaches of the Bug (Dulebs, or Buzhans); Croats (herbs, carps, hrovats) lived in the Przemysl region.

Fertile soils, mild climate, numerous rivers and vast forests created favorable conditions for intensive farming and cattle breeding. The most important trade routes passed through the territory of the principality: river from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea (via the Vistula, Western Bug and Dniester) and land from Rus' to Central and South-Eastern Europe; periodically extending its power to the Dniester-Danube lowland, the principality also controlled the Danube communications between Europe and the East. Large shopping centers arose here early: Galich, Przemysl, Terebovl, Zvenigorod.

In the 10th-11th centuries. this region was part of the Vladimir-Volyn land. In the late 1070s and early 1080s, the great Kiev prince Vsevolod, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, separated the Przemysl and Terebovl volosts from it and gave it to his great-nephews: the first to Rurik and Volodar Rostislavich, and the second to their brother Vasilko. In 10841086 the Rostislavichs unsuccessfully tried to establish control over Volyn. After the death of Rurik in 1092, Volodar became the sole ruler of Przemysl. The Lyubech Congress of 1097 assigned the Przemysl volost to him, and the Terebovl volost to Vasilko. In the same year, the Rostislavichs, with the support of Vladimir Monomakh and the Chernigov Svyatoslavichs, repelled the attempt of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and the Volyn prince Davyd Igorevich to seize their possessions. In 1124 Volodar and Vasilko died, and their estates were divided among themselves by their sons: Przemysl went to Rostislav Volodarevich, Zvenigorod to Vladimirko Volodarevich; Rostislav Vasilkovich received the Terebovl region, allocating from it a special Galician volost for his brother Ivan. After the death of Rostislav, Ivan annexed Terebovl to his possessions, leaving a small Berladsky inheritance to his son Ivan Rostislavich

(To Berladnik).

In 1141, Ivan Vasilkovich died, and the Terebovl-Galician volost was captured by his cousin Vladimirko Volodarevich Zvenigorodsky, who made Galich the capital of his possessions (from now on the Principality of Galicia). In 1144 Ivan Berladnik tried to take Galich from him, but failed and lost his Berlad inheritance. In 1143, after the death of Rostislav Volodarevich, Vladimirko included Przemysl into his principality; thereby he united all the Carpathian lands under his rule. In 11491154 Vladimirko supported Yuri Dolgoruky in his struggle with Izyaslav Mstislavich for the Kiev table; he repelled the attack of Izyaslav's ally, the Hungarian king Geyza, and in 1152 captured Verkhneye Pogorynye (the cities of Buzhsk, Shumsk, Tikhoml, Vyshegoshev and Gnoinitsa) that belonged to Izyaslav. As a result, he became the ruler of a vast territory from the upper reaches of the San and Goryn to the middle reaches of the Dniester and the lower reaches of the Danube. Under him, the Principality of Galicia became the leading political force in Southwestern Rus' and entered a period of economic prosperity; its ties with Poland and Hungary strengthened; it began to experience strong cultural influences from Catholic Europe.

In 1153, Vladimirko was succeeded by his son Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153–1187), under whom the Principality of Galicia reached the peak of its political and economic power. He patronized trade, invited foreign artisans, and built new cities; under him, the population of the principality increased significantly. Yaroslav's foreign policy was also successful. In 1157 he repelled an attack on Galich by Ivan Berladnik, who settled in the Danube region and robbed Galician merchants. When in 1159 the Kiev prince Izyaslav Davydovich tried to place Berladnik on the Galician table by force of arms, Yaroslav, in alliance with Mstislav Izyaslavich Volynsky, defeated him, expelled him from Kiev and transferred the reign of Kiev to Rostislav Mstislavich Smolensky (1159-1167); in 1174 he made his vassal Yaroslav Izyaslavich of Lutsk prince of Kyiv. Galich's international authority increased enormously. Author Words about Igor's Campaign described Yaroslav as one of the most powerful Russian princes: “Galician Osmomysl Yaroslav! / You sit high on your gold-plated throne, / propped up the Hungarian mountains with your iron regiments, / interceding the king’s path, closing the gates of the Danube, / wielding the sword of gravity through the clouds, / rowing judgments to the Danube. / Your thunderstorms flow across the lands, / you open the gates of Kyiv, / you shoot from the golden throne of the Saltans beyond the lands.”

During the reign of Yaroslav, however, the local boyars strengthened. Like his father, he, trying to avoid fragmentation, transferred cities and volosts to the boyars rather than to his relatives. The most influential of them (“great boyars”) became the owners of huge estates, fortified castles and numerous vassals. Boyar landownership surpassed the princely landownership in size. The power of the Galician boyars increased so much that in 1170 they even intervened in the internal conflict in the princely family: they burned Yaroslav’s concubine Nastasya at the stake and forced him to swear an oath to return his legal wife Olga, the daughter of Yuri Dolgoruky, who had been rejected by him.

Yaroslav bequeathed the principality to Oleg, his son from Nastasya; He allocated the Przemysl volost to his legitimate son Vladimir. But after his death in 1187, the boyars overthrew Oleg and elevated Vladimir to the Galician table. Vladimir's attempt to get rid of boyar tutelage and rule autocratically in the next year 1188 ended with his flight to Hungary. Oleg returned to the Galician table, but he was soon poisoned by the boyars, and Galich was occupied by the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. In the same year, Vladimir expelled Roman with the help of the Hungarian king Bela, but he gave the reign not to him, but to his son Andrei. In 1189, Vladimir fled from Hungary to the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, promising him to become his vassal and tributary. By order of Frederick, the Polish king Casimir II the Just sent his army to the Galician land, upon the approach of which the boyars of Galich overthrew Andrei and opened the gates to Vladimir. With the support of the ruler of North-Eastern Rus', Vsevolod the Big Nest, Vladimir was able to subjugate the boyars and hold out in power until

his death in 1199.

With the death of Vladimir, the line of Galician Rostislavichs ceased, and the Galician land became part of the vast possessions of Roman Mstislavich Volynsky, a representative of the senior branch of the Monomashichs. The new prince pursued a policy of terror towards the local boyars and achieved their significant weakening. However, soon after the death of Roman in 1205, his power collapsed. Already in 1206, his heir Daniel was forced to leave the Galician land and go to Volyn. A long period of unrest began (12061238).

The Galician table passed either to Daniel (1211, 12301232, 1233), then to the Chernigov Olgovichs (12061207, 12091211, 12351238), then to the Smolensk Rostislavichs (1206, 12191227), then to the Hungarian princes (12071209, 12141219, 12271230); in 12121213 power in Galich was even usurped by the boyar Volodislav Kormilichich (a unique case in ancient Russian history). Only in 1238 did Daniel manage to establish himself in Galich and restore the unified Galician-Volyn state. In the same year, he remained its supreme ruler, allocated Volyn as an inheritance to his brother Vasilko.

In the 1240s, the foreign policy situation of the principality became more complicated. In 1242 it was devastated by the hordes of Batu. In 1245, Daniil and Vasilko had to recognize themselves as tributaries of the Tatar Khan. In the same year, the Chernigov Olgovichi (Rostislav Mikhailovich), having entered into an alliance with the Hungarians, invaded the Galician land; Only with great effort did the brothers manage to repel the invasion, winning a victory on the river. San.

In the 1250s, Daniil launched active diplomatic activities to create an anti-Tatar coalition. He concluded a military-political alliance with the Hungarian king Béla IV and began negotiations with Pope Innocent IV about church union, a crusade by European powers against the Tatars and recognition of his royal title. B 125

4 The papal legate crowned Daniel with the royal crown. However, the failure of the Vatican to organize a crusade removed the issue of union from the agenda. In 1257, Daniel agreed on joint actions against the Tatars with the Lithuanian prince Mindovg, but the Tatarsmanaged to provoke a conflict between the allies.

After the death of Daniel in 1264, the Galician land was divided between his sons Lev, who received Galich, Przemysl and Drogichin, and Shvarn, to whom Kholm, Cherven and Belz passed. In 1269, Schwarn died, and the entire Principality of Galicia passed into the hands of Lev, who in 1272 moved his residence to the newly built Lviv. Lev intervened in internal political feuds in Lithuania and fought (albeit unsuccessfully) with the Polish prince Leshko the Black for the Lublin parish.

After Leo’s death in 1301, his son Yuri again united the Galician and Volyn lands and took the title “King of Rus', Prince of Lodimeria (i.e. Volyn).” He entered into an alliance with the Teutonic Order against the Lithuanians and tried to achieve the establishment of an independent church metropolis in Galich.

After the death of Yuri in 1316, the Galician land and most of Volyn were received by his eldest son Andrei, who was succeeded by his son Yuri in 1324. With the death of Yuri in 1337, the senior branch of the descendants of Daniil Romanovich died out, and a fierce struggle between Lithuanian, Hungarian and Polish pretenders to the Galician-Volyn table began. In 13491352 the Galician land was captured by the Polish king Casimir III. In 1387, under Vladislav II (Jagiello), it finally became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.Rostov-Suzdal (Vladimir-Suzdal) principality. It was located on the northeastern outskirts of Rus' in the basin of the Upper Volga and its tributaries Klyazma, Unzha, Sheksna (modern Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, most of the Moscow, Vladimir and Vologda, southeast Tver, western Nizhny Novgorod and Kostroma regions); in 12-14 centuries. the principality constantly expanded in the eastern and northeastern directions. In the west it bordered with Smolensk, in the south with Chernigov and Murom-Ryazan principalities, in the northwest with Novgorod, and in the east with Vyatka land and Finno-Ugric tribes (Merya, Mari, etc.). The population of the principality was mixed: it consisted of both Finno-Ugric autochthons (mostly Merya) and Slavic colonists (mostly Krivichi).

Most of the territory was occupied by forests and swamps; Fur trading played an important role in the economy. Numerous rivers abounded in valuable species of fish. Despite the rather harsh climate, the presence of podzolic and sod-podzolic soils created favorable conditions for agriculture (rye, barley, oats, garden crops). Natural barriers (forests, swamps, rivers) reliably protected the principality from external enemies.

In the 1st millennium AD. The Upper Volga basin was inhabited by the Finno-Ugric tribe Merya. In 89 centuries. an influx of Slavic colonists began here, moving both from the west (from the Novgorod land) and from the south (from the Dnieper region); in the 9th century Rostov was founded by them, and in the 10th century. Suzdal. At the beginning of the 10th century. The Rostov land became dependent on the Kyiv prince Oleg, and under his immediate successors it became part of the grand ducal domain. In 988/989 Vladimir the Holy allocated it as an inheritance to his son Yaroslav the Wise, and in 1010 he transferred it to his other son Boris. After the murder of Boris in 1015 by Svyatopolk the Accursed, direct control of the Kyiv princes was restored here.

According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, in 1054 the Rostov land passed to Vsevolod Yaroslavich, who in 1068 sent his son Vladimir Monomakh to reign there; under him, Vladimir was founded on the Klyazma River. Thanks to the activities of the Rostov Bishop St. Leonty, this area became

actively penetrate Christianity; St. Abraham organized the first monastery here (Epiphany). In 1093 and 1095, Vladimir's son Mstislav the Great sat in Rostov. In 1095, Vladimir allocated the Rostov land as an independent principality as an inheritance to his other son Yuri Dolgoruky (10951157). The Lyubech Congress of 1097 assigned it to the Monomashichs. Yuri moved the princely residence from Rostov to Suzdal. He contributed to the final establishment of Christianity, widely attracted settlers from other Russian principalities, and founded new cities (Moscow, Dmitrov, Yuryev-Polsky, Uglich, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Kostroma). During his reign, the Rostov-Suzdal land experienced economic and political prosperity; The boyars and the trade and craft layer strengthened. Significant resources allowed Yuri to intervene in princely feuds and spread his influence to neighboring territories. In 1132 and 1135 he tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to bring Pereyaslavl Russky under control, in 1147 he made a campaign against Novgorod the Great and took Torzhok, in 1149 he began the fight for Kyiv with Izyaslav Mstislavovich. In 1155 he managed to establish himself on the Kiev grand-ducal table and secure the Pereyaslav region for his sons.

After the death of Yuri Dolgoruky in 1157, the Rostov-Suzdal land split into several fiefs. However, already in 1161, Yuri's son Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157-1174) restored its unity, depriving his three brothers (Mstislav, Vasilko and Vsevolod) and two nephews (Mstislav and Yaropolk Rostislavich) of their possessions. In an effort to get rid of the tutelage of the influential Rostov and Suzdal boyars, he moved the capital to Vladimir-on-Klyazma, where there was a numerous trade and craft settlement, and, relying on the support of the townspeople and squad, began to pursue an absolutist policy. Andrei renounced his claims to the Kiev throne and accepted the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir. In 11691170 he subjugated Kyiv and Novgorod the Great, handing them over to his brother Gleb and his ally Rurik Rostislavich, respectively. By the early 1170s, the Polotsk, Turov, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Murom and Smolensk principalities recognized their dependence on the Vladimir table. However, his 1173 campaign against Kyiv, which fell into the hands of the Smolensk Rostislavichs, failed. In 1174 he was killed by conspiratorial boyars in the village. Bogolyubovo near Vladimir.

After Andrei's death, the local boyars invited his nephew Mstislav Rostislavich to the Rostov table; Mstislav's brother Yaropolk received Suzdal, Vladimir and Yuryev-Polsky. But in 1175 they were expelled by Andrei's brothers Mikhalko and Vsevolod the Big Nest; Mikhalko became the Vladimir-Suzdal ruler, and Vsevolod the Rostov ruler. In 1176 Mikhalko died, and Vsevolod remained the sole ruler of all these lands, for which the name of the great Vladimir principality was firmly established. In 1177 he finally eliminated the threat from Mstislav and Yaropolk

, inflicting a decisive defeat on them on the Koloksha River; they themselves were captured and blinded.

Vsevolod (11751212) continued the foreign policy course of his father and brother, becoming the main arbiter among the Russian princes and dictating his will to Kyiv, Novgorod the Great, Smolensk and Ryazan. However, already during his lifetime, the process of fragmentation of the Vladimir-Suzdal land began: in 1208 he gave Rostov and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky as an inheritance to his sons Konstantin and Yaroslav. After the death of Vsevolod in 1212, a war broke out between Constantine and his brothers Yuri and Yaroslav in 1214, which ended in April 1216 with the victory of Constantine in the Battle of the Lipitsa River. But, although Constantine became the great prince of Vladimir, the unity of the principality was not restored: in 12161217 he gave Yuri Gorodets-Rodilov and Suzdal, Yaroslav Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and his younger brothers Svyatoslav and Vladimir Yuryev-Polsky and Starodub. . After the death of Constantine in 1218, Yuri (1218-1238), who took the grand-ducal throne, allocated lands to his sons Vasilko (Rostov,

Kostroma, Galich) and Vsevolod (Yaroslavl, Uglich). As a result, the Vladimir-Suzdal land broke up into ten appanage principalities: Rostov, Suzdal, Pereyaslav, Yuryev, Starodub, Gorodets, Yaroslavl, Uglich, Kostroma, Galitsky; the Grand Duke of Vladimir retained only formal supremacy over them.

In February-March 1238, North-Eastern Rus' became a victim of the Tatar-Mongol invasion. The Vladimir-Suzdal regiments were defeated on the river. City, Prince Yuri fell on the battlefield, Vladimir, Rostov, Suzdal and other cities suffered terrible defeat. After the departure of the Tatars, the grand-ducal table was taken by Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who transferred to his brothers Svyatoslav and Ivan Suzdal and Starodubskoye, to his eldest son Alexander (Nevsky) Pereyaslavskoye, and to his nephew Boris Vasilkovich the Rostov principality, from which the Belozersk inheritance (Gleb Vasilkovich) was separated. In 1243, Yaroslav received from Batu a label for the great reign of Vladimir (d. 1246). Under his successors, brother Svyatoslav (12461247), sons Andrei (12471252), Alexander (12521263), Yaroslav (12631271/1272), Vasily (12721276/1277) and grandchildren Dmitry (12771293 ) and Andrei Aleksandrovich (12931304), the process of fragmentation was increasing. In 1247 the Tver (Yaroslav Yaroslavich) principality was finally formed, and in 1283 the Moscow (Daniil Alexandrovich) principality. Although in 1299 the metropolitan, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, moved to Vladimir from Kyiv, its importance as a capital gradually decreased; from the end of the 13th century. the grand dukes ceased to use Vladimir as a permanent residence.

In the first third of the 14th century. the leading role in North-Eastern Rus' begins to be played by Moscow and Tver, which enter into competition for the Vladimir grand-ducal table: in 1304/1305-1317 it was occupied by Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy, in 1317-1322 by Yuri Danilovich Moskovsky, in 1322-1326 by Dmitry Mikhailovich Tverskoy, in 1326-1327 Alexander Mikhailovich Tverskoy, in 1327-1340 Ivan Danilovich (Kalita) of Moscow (in 1327-1331 together with Alexander Vasilyevich Suzdalsky). After Ivan Kalita, it becomes a monopoly of the Moscow princes (with the exception of 13591362). At the same time, their main rivals were the Tver and Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod princes in the mid-14th century. also accept the title of great. The struggle for control of North-Eastern Russia during the 14th and 15th centuries. ends with the victory of the Moscow princes, who include the disintegrated parts of the Vladimir-Suzdal land into the Moscow state: Pereyaslavl-Zalesskoe (1302), Mozhaiskoe (1303), Uglichskoe (1329), Vladimirskoe, Starodubskoe, Galitskoe, Kostroma and Dmitrovskoe (13621364), Belozersk (1389), Nizhny Novgorod (1393), Suzdal (1451), Yaroslavl (1463), Rostov (1474) and Tver (1485) principalities.

Novgorod land. It occupied a huge territory (almost 200 thousand sq. km.) between the Baltic Sea and the lower reaches of the Ob. Its western border was the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipus, in the north it included Lake Ladoga and Onega and reached the White Sea, in the east it captured the Pechora basin, and in the south it was adjacent to the Polotsk, Smolensk and Rostov-Suzdal principalities (modern Novgorod, Pskov, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, most of the Tver and Vologda regions, Karelian and Komi autonomous republics). It was inhabited by Slavic (Ilmen Slavs, Krivichi) and Finno-Ugric tribes(Vod, Izhora, Korela, Chud, Ves, Perm, Pechora, Lapps).

The unfavorable natural conditions of the North hindered the development of agriculture; grain was one of the main imports. At the same time, huge forests and numerous rivers were conducive to fishing, hunting, and fur trading; The extraction of salt and iron ore gained great importance. Since ancient times, the Novgorod land has been famous for its variety of crafts and high quality handicrafts. Its advantageous location at the intersection of routes from

The Baltic Sea to the Black and Caspian Sea ensured its role as an intermediary in the trade of the Baltic and Scandinavian countries with the Black Sea and Volga regions. Craftsmen and merchants, united in territorial and professional corporations, represented one of the most economically and politically influential layers of Novgorod society. Its highest stratum, large landowners (boyars), also actively participated in international trade.

The Novgorod land was divided into administrative districts - Pyatina, directly adjacent to Novgorod (Votskaya, Shelonskaya, Obonezhskaya, Derevskaya, Bezhetskaya), and remote volosts: one stretched from Torzhok and Volok to the Suzdal border and the upper reaches of the Onega, the other included Zavolochye (the interfluve of the Onega and Mezen), and the third lands east of Mezen (Pechora, Perm and Yugorsk territories).

The Novgorod land was the cradle of the Old Russian state. It was here that in the 860-870s a strong political entity arose, uniting the Ilmen Slavs, Polotsk Krivichi, Merya, all and part of Chud. In 882, the Novgorod prince Oleg subjugated the glades and Smolensk Krivichi and moved the capital to Kyiv. From that time on, Novgorod land became the second most important region of the Rurik power. From 882 to 988/989 it was ruled by governors sent from Kyiv (with the exception of 972977, when it was the domain of Vladimir the Holy).

At the end of the 10th-11th centuries. The Novgorod land, as the most important part of the grand ducal domain, was usually transferred by the Kyiv princes to their eldest sons. In 988/989, Vladimir the Holy placed his eldest son Vysheslav in Novgorod, and after his death in 1010, his other son Yaroslav the Wise, who, having taken the grand-ducal table in 1019, in turn passed it on to his eldest son Ilya. After the death of Ilya approx. 1020 The Novgorod land was captured by the Polotsk ruler Bryachislav Izyaslavich, but was expelled by Yaroslav's troops. In 1034 Yaroslav transferred Novgorod to his second son Vladimir, who held it until his death in 1052.

In 1054, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, Novgorod found itself in the hands of his third son, the new Grand Duke Izyaslav, who ruled it through his governors, and then installed his youngest son Mstislav in it. In 1067 Novgorod was captured by Vseslav Bryachislavich of Polotsk, but in the same year he was expelled by Izyaslav. After the overthrow of Izyaslav from the Kyiv throne in 1068, the Novgorodians did not submit to Vseslav of Polotsk, who reigned in Kyiv, and turned for help to Izyaslav’s brother, the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav, who sent his eldest son Gleb to them. Gleb defeated Vseslav's troops in October 1069, but soon, apparently, was forced to hand over Novgorod to Izyaslav, who returned to the grand prince's throne. When Izyaslav was overthrown again in 1073, Novgorod passed to Svyatoslav of Chernigov, who received the great reign, who installed his other son Davyd in it. After the death of Svyatoslav in December 1076, Gleb again occupied the Novgorod table. However, in July 1077, when Izyaslav regained the reign of Kiev, he had to cede it to Svyatopolk, the son of Izyaslav, who regained the reign of Kiev. Izyaslav's brother Vsevolod, who became Grand Duke in 1078, retained Novgorod for Svyatopolk and only in 1088 replaced him with his grandson Mstislav the Great, the son of Vladimir Monomakh. After the death of Vsevolod in 1093, Davyd Svyatoslavich again sat in Novgorod, but in 1095 he came into conflict with the townspeople and left his reign. At the request of the Novgorodians, Vladimir Monomakh, who then owned Chernigov, returned Mstislav to them (10951117).

In the second half of the 11th century. in Novgorod, the economic power and, accordingly, the political influence of the boyars and the trade and craft layer increased significantly. Large boyar land ownership became dominant. The Novgorod boyars were hereditary landowners and were not a service class; ownership of land did not depend on service to the prince. At the same time constant

The change of representatives of different princely families on the Novgorod table prevented the formation of any significant princely domain. In the face of a growing local elite, the prince's position gradually weakened.

In 1102, the Novgorod elite (boyars and merchants) refused to accept the reign of the son of the new Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, wishing to retain Mstislav, and the Novgorod land ceased to be part of the grand ducal possessions. In 1117 Mstislav handed over the Novgorod table to his son Vsevolod (11171136).

In 1136 the Novgorodians rebelled against Vsevolod. Accusing him of misgovernment and neglect of the interests of Novgorod, they imprisoned him and his family, and after a month and a half they expelled him from the city. From that time on, a de facto republican system was established in Novgorod, although princely power was not abolished. The supreme governing body was the people's assembly (veche), which included all free citizens. The Veche had broad powers; it invited and removed the prince

, elected and controlled the entire administration, decided issues of war and peace, was the highest court, introduced taxes and duties. The prince turned from a sovereign ruler into a supreme official. He was the supreme commander-in-chief, could convene a veche and make laws if they did not contradict customs; Embassies were sent and received on his behalf. However, upon election, the prince entered into contractual relations with Novgorod and gave an obligation to rule “in the old way”, to appoint only Novgorodians as governors in the volost and not to impose tribute on them, to wage war and make peace only with the consent of the veche. He did not have the right to remove other officials without a trial. His actions were controlled by the elected mayor, without whose approval he could not make judicial decisions or make appointments.

The local bishop (lord) played a special role in the political life of Novgorod. From the middle of the 12th century. the right to elect him passed from the Kyiv metropolitan to the veche; the metropolitan only sanctioned the election. The Novgorod ruler was considered not only the main clergyman, but also the first dignitary of the state after the prince. He was the largest landowner, had his own boyars and military regiments with a banner and governors, and certainly participated in negotiations for peace and the invitation of princes,

was a mediator in internal political conflicts.

Despite the significant narrowing of princely prerogatives, the rich Novgorod land remained attractive to the most powerful princely dynasties. First of all, the elder (Mstislavich) and younger (Suzdal Yuryevich) branches of the Monomashichs competed for the Novgorod table; The Chernigov Olgovichi tried to intervene in this struggle, but they achieved only episodic success (11381139, 11391141, 11801181, 1197, 12251226, 12291230). In the 12th century the advantage was on the side of the Mstislavich family and its three main branches (Izyaslavich, Rostislavich and Vladimirovich); they occupied the Novgorod table in 11171136, 11421155, 11581160, 11611171, 11791180, 11821197, 11971199; some of them (especially the Rostislavichs) managed to create independent, but short-lived principalities (Novotorzhskoye and Velikolukskoye) in the Novgorod land. However, already in the second half of the 12th century. The position of the Yuryevichs began to strengthen, who enjoyed the support of the influential party of Novgorod boyars and, in addition, periodically put pressure on Novgorod, closing the routes for the supply of grain from North-Eastern Rus'. In 1147, Yuri Dolgoruky made a campaign in the Novgorod land and captured Torzhok; in 1155, the Novgorodians had to invite his son Mstislav to reign (until 1157). In 1160, Andrei Bogolyubsky imposed his nephew Mstislav Rostislavich on the Novgorodians (until 1161); he forced them in 1171 to return Rurik Rostislavich, whom they had expelled, to the Novgorod table, and in 1172 to transfer him to his son Yuri (until 117

5 ). In 1176, Vsevolod the Big Nest managed to plant his nephew Yaroslav Mstislavich in Novgorod (until 1178).

In the 13th century The Yuryevichs (the line of Vsevolod the Big Nest) achieved complete dominance. In the 1200s, the Novgorod table was occupied by Vsevolod's sons Svyatoslav (12001205, 12081210) and Constantine (12051208). True, in 1210 the Novgorodians were able to get rid of the control of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes with the help of the Toropets ruler Mstislav Udatny from the Smolensk Rostislavich family; The Rostislavichs held Novgorod until 1221 (with a break in 1215–1216). However, then they were finally forced out of the Novgorod land by the Yuryevichs.

The success of the Yuryevichs was facilitated by the deterioration of the foreign policy situation of Novgorod. In the face of an increased threat to its western possessions from Sweden, Denmark and the Livonian Order, the Novgorodians needed an alliance with the strongest Russian principality of that period, the Vladimir Principality. Thanks to this alliance, Novgorod managed to protect its borders. Summoned to the Novgorod table in 1236, Alexander Yaroslavich, nephew of the Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodich, defeated the Swedes at the mouth of the Neva in 1240, and then stopped the aggression of the German knights.

The temporary strengthening of princely power under Alexander Yaroslavich (Nevsky) gave way at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries. its complete degradation, which was facilitated by the weakening of external danger and the progressive collapse of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. At the same time, the role of the veche decreased. An oligarchic system was actually established in Novgorod. The boyars turned into a closed ruling caste, sharing power with the archbishop. The rise of the Moscow Principality under Ivan Kalita (1325-1340) and its emergence as a center for the unification of Russian lands aroused fear among the Novgorod elite and led to their attempts to use the powerful Lithuanian Principality that had arisen on the southwestern borders as a counterweight: in 1333 it was first invited to the Novgorod table Lithuanian prince Narimunt Gedeminovich (although he only lasted a year); in the 1440s, the Grand Duke of Lithuania was granted the right to collect irregular tribute from some Novgorod volosts.

Although 14-15 centuries. became a period of rapid economic prosperity for Novgorod, largely due to its close ties with the Hanseatic Trade Union, the Novgorod elite did not take advantage of it to strengthen their military-political potential and preferred to pay off the aggressive Moscow and Lithuanian princes. At the end of the 14th century. Moscow launched an offensive against Novgorod. Vasily I captured the Novgorod cities of Bezhetsky Verkh, Volok Lamsky and Vologda with adjacent regions

; in 1401 and 1417 he tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to take possession of Zavolochye. In the second quarter of the 15th century. Moscow's offensive was suspended due to the internecine war of 1425–1453 between Grand Duke Vasily II and his uncle Yuri and his sons; in this war, the Novgorod boyars supported the opponents of Vasily II. Having established himself on the throne, Vasily II imposed tribute on Novgorod, and in 1456 he entered into war with it. Having been defeated at Russa, the Novgorodians were forced to conclude a humiliating Peace of Yazhelbitsky with Moscow: they paida significant indemnity and pledged not to enter into an alliance with the enemies of the Moscow prince; The legislative prerogatives of the veche were abolished and the possibilities of conducting an independent foreign policy were seriously limited. As a result, Novgorod became dependent on Moscow. In 1460, Pskov came under the control of the Moscow prince.

At the end of the 1460s, the Pro-Lithuanian party led by the Boretskys triumphed in Novgorod. She achieved the conclusion of an alliance treaty with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV and an invitation to his protege Mikhail Olelkovich to the Novgorod table (1470). In response, Moscow Prince Ivan III sent a large army against the Novgorodians, which defeated them on the river. Shelone; Novgorod had to cancel the treaty with Lithuania, pay a huge indemnity and cede part of Zavolochye. In 1472, Ivan III annexed the Perm region; in 1475 he arrived in Novgorod and carried out reprisals against anti-Moscow boyars, and in 1478 he liquidated the independence of the Novgorod land and included it in the Moscow state. In 1570, Ivan IV the Terrible finally destroyed the liberties of Novgorod.

Ivan Krivushin

GREAT Kyiv PRINCE (from the death of Yaroslav the Wise to the Tatar-Mongol invasion)1054 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (1)

Vseslav Bryachislavich

Izyaslav Yaroslavich (2)

Svyatoslav Yaroslavich

Vsevolod Yaroslavich (1)

Izyaslav Yaroslavich (3)

Vsevolod Yaroslavich (2)

Svyatopolk Izyaslavich

Vladimir Vsevolodich (Monomakh)

Mstislav Vladimirovich (Great)

Yaropolk Vladimirovich

Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (1)

Vsevolod Olgovich

Igor Olgovich

Izyaslav Mstislavich (1)

Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (1)

Izyaslav Mstislavich (2)

Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (2)

Izyaslav Mstislavich (3) and Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (2)

Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (2) and Rostislav Mstislavich (1)

Rostislav Mstislavich (1)

Izyaslav Davydovich (1)

Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (3)

Izyaslav Davydovich (2)

Rostislav Mstislavich (2)

Mstislav Izyaslavich

Gleb Yurievich

Vladimir Mstislavich

Mikhalko Yurievich

Roman Rostislavich (1)

Vsevolod Yurievich (Big Nest) and Yaropolk Rostislavich

Rurik Rostislavich (1)

Roman Rostislavich (2)

Svyatoslav Vsevolodich (1)

Rurik Rostislavich (2)

Svyatoslav Vsevolodich (2)

Rurik Rostislavich (3)

Ingvar Yaroslavich (1)

Rurik Rostislavich (4)

Ingvar Yaroslavich (2)

Rostislav Rurikovich

Rurik Rostislavich (5)

Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (1)

Rurik Rostislavich (6)

Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (2)

Rurik Rostislavich (7

) 1210 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (3)

Ingvar Yaroslavich (3)

Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (4)

/1214 Mstislav Romanovich (Old) (1)

Vladimir Rurikovich (1)

Mstislav Romanovich (Old) (2), possibly with his son Vsevolod

Vladimir Rurikovich (2)

1 235 Mikhail Vsevolodich (1)

Yaroslav Vsevolodich

Vladimir Rurikovich (3)

Mikhail Vsevolodich (1)

Rostislav Mstislavich

Daniil Romanovich

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Alekseev L.V. Smolensk land in the IX-XIII centuries. Essays on the history of the Smolensk region and Eastern Belarus. M., 1980
Kyiv and the western lands of Rus' in the 9th-13th centuries. Minsk, 1982
Limonov Yu. A. Vladimir-Suzdal Rus': Essays on socio-political history. L., 1987
Chernigov and its districts in the IX-XIII centuries. Kyiv, 1988
Korinny N. N. Pereyaslavl land X first half of the XIII century. Kyiv, 1992
Gorsky A. A. Russian lands in the XIII-XIV centuries: Paths of political development. M., 1996
Alexandrov D. N. Russian principalities in the XIII-XIV centuries. M., 1997
Ilovaisky D. I. Ryazan Principality. M., 1997
Ryabchikov S.V. Mysterious Tmutarakan. Krasnodar, 1998
Lysenko P. F. Turov land, IX-XIII centuries. Minsk, 1999
Pogodin M. P. Ancient Russian history before the Mongol yoke. M., 1999. T. 12
Alexandrov D. N. Feudal fragmentation of Rus'. M., 2001
Mayorov A.V. Galician-Volyn Rus: Essays on socio-political relations in the pre-Mongol period. Prince, boyars and city community. St. Petersburg, 2001