Russian principalities and lands in the XII – XIII centuries. Principality of Kiev: geographical location and characteristics of government

In modern historiography, the title “Kyiv princes” is usually used to designate a number of rulers of the Kyiv principality and the Old Russian state. The classical period of their reign began in 912 under the reign of Igor Rurikovich, the first to bear the title of “Grand Duke of Kyiv,” and lasted until approximately the middle of the 12th century, when the collapse of the Old Russian state began. Let's briefly look at the most prominent rulers during this period.

Oleg Veschy (882-912)

Igor Rurikovich (912-945) – the first ruler of Kyiv, called the “Grand Duke of Kyiv.” During his reign, he conducted a number of military campaigns, both against neighboring tribes (Pechenegs and Drevlyans) and against the Byzantine kingdom. The Pechenegs and Drevlyans recognized the supremacy of Igor, but the Byzantines, better equipped militarily, put up stubborn resistance. In 944, Igor was forced to sign a peace treaty with Byzantium. At the same time, the terms of the agreement were beneficial for Igor, since Byzantium paid significant tribute. A year later, he decided to attack the Drevlyans again, despite the fact that they had already recognized his power and paid him tribute. Igor’s vigilantes, in turn, had the opportunity to profit from the robberies of the local population. The Drevlyans set up an ambush in 945 and, having captured Igor, executed him.

Olga (945-964)– Widow of Prince Rurik, killed in 945 by the Drevlyan tribe. She headed the state until her son, Svyatoslav Igorevich, became an adult. It is unknown when exactly she transferred power to her son. Olga was the first of the rulers of Rus' to convert to Christianity, while the entire country, the army, and even her son still remained pagans. Important facts of her reign were the submission of the Drevlyans, who killed her husband Igor Rurikovich. Olga established the exact amounts of taxes that the lands subject to Kyiv had to pay, and systematized the frequency of their payment and deadlines. An administrative reform was carried out, dividing the lands subordinate to Kyiv into clearly defined units, at the head of each of which a princely official “tiun” was installed. Under Olga, the first stone buildings appeared in Kyiv, Olga's tower and the city palace.

Svyatoslav (964-972)- son of Igor Rurikovich and Princess Olga. Characteristic feature reign was that most of his time was actually ruled by Olga, first due to Svyatoslav’s minority, and then due to his constant military campaigns and absence from Kyiv. Took power around 950. He did not follow his mother’s example and did not accept Christianity, which was then unpopular among the secular and military nobility. The reign of Svyatoslav Igorevich was marked by a series of continuous campaigns of conquest that he carried out against neighboring tribes and state entities. The Khazars, Vyatichi, the Bulgarian Kingdom (968-969) and Byzantium (970-971) were attacked. The war with Byzantium brought heavy losses to both sides, and ended, in fact, in a draw. Returning from this campaign, Svyatoslav was ambushed by the Pechenegs and was killed.

Yaropolk (972-978)

Vladimir the Holy (978-1015)- Kiev prince, most famous for the baptism of Rus'. He was the prince of Novgorod from 970 to 978, when he seized the Kiev throne. During his reign, he continuously carried out campaigns against neighboring tribes and states. He conquered and annexed to his power the tribes of the Vyatichi, Yatvingians, Radimichi and Pechenegs. He carried out a number of government reforms aimed at strengthening the power of the prince. In particular, he began minting a single state coin, replacing the previously used Arab and Byzantine money. With the help of invited Bulgarian and Byzantine teachers, he began to spread literacy in Rus', forcibly sending children to study. Founded the cities of Pereyaslavl and Belgorod. The main achievement is considered to be the baptism of Rus', carried out in 988. The introduction of Christianity as a state religion also contributed to the centralization of the Old Russian state. The resistance of various pagan cults, then widespread in Rus', weakened the power of the Kyiv throne and was brutally suppressed. Prince Vladimir died in 1015 during another military campaign against the Pechenegs.

SvyatopolkDamned (1015-1016)

Yaroslav the Wise (1016-1054)- son of Vladimir. He feuded with his father and seized power in Kyiv in 1016, driving out his brother Svyatopolk. The reign of Yaroslav is represented in history by traditional raids on neighboring states and internecine wars with numerous relatives laying claim to the throne. For this reason, Yaroslav was forced to temporarily leave the Kiev throne. He built the churches of St. Sophia in Novgorod and Kyiv. The main temple in Constantinople is dedicated to her, so the fact of such construction spoke of the equality of the Russian church with the Byzantine one. As part of the confrontation with the Byzantine Church, he independently appointed the first Russian Metropolitan Hilarion in 1051. Yaroslav also founded the first Russian monasteries: the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery in Kyiv and the Yuriev Monastery in Novgorod. For the first time he codified feudal law, publishing a code of laws “Russian Truth” and a church charter. He did a lot of work translating Greek and Byzantine books into Old Russian and Church Slavonic languages, constantly spent large amounts for copying new books. He founded a large school in Novgorod, in which the children of elders and priests learned to read and write. He strengthened diplomatic and military ties with the Varangians, thus securing the northern borders of the state. He died in Vyshgorod in February 1054.

SvyatopolkDamned (1018-1019)– secondary temporary government

Izyaslav (1054-1068)- son of Yaroslav the Wise. According to his father's will, he sat on the throne of Kyiv in 1054. Throughout almost his entire reign, he was at odds with his younger brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod, who sought to seize the prestigious Kiev throne. In 1068, the Izyaslav troops were defeated by the Polovtsians in the battle on the Alta River. This led to the Kyiv Uprising of 1068. At the veche meeting, the remnants of the defeated militia demanded that they be given weapons in order to continue the fight against the Polovtsians, but Izyaslav refused to do this, which forced the Kievites to revolt. Izyaslav was forced to flee to the Polish king, his nephew. With the military help of the Poles, Izyaslav regained the throne for the period 1069-1073, was again overthrown, and ruled for the last time from 1077 to 1078.

Vseslav the Magician (1068-1069)

Svyatoslav (1073-1076)

Vsevolod (1076-1077)

Svyatopolk (1093-1113)- son of Izyaslav Yaroslavich, before occupying the Kyiv throne, he periodically headed the Novgorod and Turov principalities. The beginning of the Kyiv principality of Svyatopolk was marked by the invasion of the Cumans, who inflicted a serious defeat on Svyatopolk’s troops in the battle of the Stugna River. After this, several more battles followed, the outcome of which is not known for certain, but ultimately peace was concluded with the Cumans, and Svyatopolk took the daughter of Khan Tugorkan as his wife. The subsequent reign of Svyatopolk was overshadowed by the continuous struggle between Vladimir Monomakh and Oleg Svyatoslavich, in which Svyatopolk usually supported Monomakh. Svyatopolk also repelled the constant raids of the Polovtsy under the leadership of the khans Tugorkan and Bonyak. He died suddenly in the spring of 1113, possibly poisoned.

Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125) was the prince of Chernigov when his father died. He had the right to the Kiev throne, but lost it to his cousin Svyatopolk, because he did not want war at that time. In 1113, the people of Kiev rebelled and, having overthrown Svyatopolk, invited Vladimir to the kingdom. For this reason, he was forced to accept the so-called “Charter of Vladimir Monomakh”, which alleviated the situation of the urban lower classes. The law did not affect the foundations of the feudal system, but regulated the conditions of enslavement and limited the profits of moneylenders. Under Monomakh, Rus' reached the peak of its power. The Principality of Minsk was conquered, and the Polovtsians were forced to migrate east from the Russian borders. With the help of an impostor who posed as the son of a previously murdered Byzantine emperor, Monomakh organized an adventure aimed at placing him on the Byzantine throne. Several Danube cities were conquered, but it was not possible to further develop the success. The campaign ended in 1123 with the signing of peace. Monomakh organized the publication of improved editions of The Tale of Bygone Years, which have survived in this form to this day. Monomakh also independently created several works: the autobiographical “Ways and Fishing”, a set of laws “The Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich” and “The Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh”.

Mstislav the Great (1125-1132)- son of Monomakh, formerly the prince of Belgorod. He ascended the throne of Kyiv in 1125 without resistance from the other brothers. Among the most outstanding acts of Mstislav, one can name the campaign against the Polovtsians in 1127 and the plunder of the cities of Izyaslav, Strezhev and Lagozhsk. After a similar campaign in 1129, the Principality of Polotsk was finally annexed to the possessions of Mstislav. In order to collect tribute, several campaigns were made in the Baltic states against the Chud tribe, but they ended in failure. In April 1132, Mstislav died suddenly, but managed to transfer the throne to Yaropolk, his brother.

Yaropolk (1132-1139)- being the son of Monomakh, inherited the throne when his brother Mstislav died. At the time of coming to power he was 49 years old. In fact, he only controlled Kyiv and its environs. By his natural inclinations he was a good warrior, but did not have diplomatic and political abilities. Immediately after taking the throne, traditional civil strife began related to the inheritance of the throne in the Pereyaslav Principality. Yuri and Andrei Vladimirovich expelled Vsevolod Mstislavich, who had been placed there by Yaropolk, from Pereyaslavl. Also, the situation in the country was complicated by the increasingly frequent raids of the Polovtsians, who, together with the allied Chernigovites, plundered the outskirts of Kyiv. Yaropolk's indecisive policy led to military defeat in the battle on the Supoya River with the troops of Vsevolod Olgovich. The cities of Kursk and Posemye were also lost during the reign of Yaropolk. This development of events further weakened his authority, which the Novgorodians took advantage of, announcing their secession in 1136. The result of Yaropolk's reign was the virtual collapse of the Old Russian state. Formally, only the Principality of Rostov-Suzdal retained its subordination to Kyiv.

Vyacheslav (1139, 1150, 1151-1154)

PRINCIPALITY OF KIEV, ancient Russian principality in the 2nd third of the 12th century - 1470. Capital - Kyiv. It was formed during the collapse of the Old Russian state. Initially, the Principality of Kiev, in addition to its main territory, included Pogorina (Pogorynye; lands along the Goryn River) and Beresteyskaya volost (center - the city of Berestye, now Brest). In the Principality of Kiev there were about 90 cities, in many of them separate princely tables existed in different periods: in Belgorod of Kiev, Berestye, Vasilyev (now Vasilkov), Vyshgorod, Dorogobuzh, Dorogichin (now Drokhichin), Ovruch, Gorodets-Ostersky (now Oster ), Peresopnytsia, Torchesk, Trepol, etc. A number of fortified cities defended Kiev from Polovtsian raids along the right bank of the Dnieper River and from the south along the Stugna and Ros rivers; Vyshgorod and Belgorod of Kiev defended the capital of the Kyiv principality from the north and west. On southern borders In the Principality of Kyiv, in Porosye, the nomads who served the Kyiv princes - the black hoods - settled.

Economy. The basis for the economic development of the Kyiv principality was arable farming (mainly in the form of two-field and three-field), with agriculture The population of the cities was also closely connected. The main grain crops grown on the territory of the Principality of Kyiv were rye, wheat, barley, oats, millet and buckwheat; from legumes - peas, vetch, lentils and beans; Industrial crops include flax, hemp and camelina. Cattle breeding and poultry farming also developed: cows, sheep, goats and pigs were bred in the Kiev principality; chickens, geese and ducks. Vegetable gardening and horticulture have become quite widespread. The most common trade in the Principality of Kiev was fishing. Due to constant inter-princely conflicts and the increase in Polovtsian raids, from the middle (and especially from the last third) of the 12th century, a gradual outflow of the rural population from the Kiev principality (for example, from Porosye), primarily to North-Eastern Rus', the Ryazan and Murom principalities began.

Most of the cities of the Kyiv principality were major centers of crafts until the end of the 1230s; Almost the entire range of ancient Russian handicrafts was produced on its territory. Pottery, foundry (production of copper encolpion crosses, icons, etc.), enamel, bone-carving, woodworking and stone-working industries, and the art of the mob have reached a high level of development. Until the mid-13th century, Kyiv was the only center of glassmaking in Rus' (dishes, window glass, jewelry, mainly beads and bracelets). In some cities of the Kyiv principality, production was based on the use of local minerals: for example, in the city of Ovruch - the extraction and processing of natural red (pink) slate, the production of slate whorls; in the city of Gorodesk - iron production, etc.

The largest trade routes passed through the territory of the Kiev principality, connecting it both with other Russian principalities and with foreign countries, including the Dnieper section of the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, the land roads Kyiv - Galich - Krakow - Prague - Regensburg; Kyiv - Lutsk - Vladimir-Volynsky - Lublin; Salt and Zalozny paths.

The struggle of ancient Russian princes for dynastic eldership. main feature the political development of the Kyiv principality in the 12th - 1st third of the 13th century - the absence in it, unlike other ancient Russian principalities, of its own princely dynasty. Despite the collapse of the Old Russian state, the Russian princes, until 1169, continued to consider Kyiv as a kind of “oldest” city, and its possession as receiving dynastic eldership, which led to an intensification of the inter-princely struggle for the Principality of Kiev. Often the closest relatives and allies of the Kyiv princes received separate cities and volosts in the territory of the Kyiv principality. Throughout the 1130-1150s, the decisive role in this struggle was played by two groups of Monomakhovichs (Vladimirovichs - the children of Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh; Mstislavichs - the children of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich the Great) and Svyatoslavichs (descendants of the Chernigov and Kiev prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich). After the death of the Kyiv prince Mstislav Vladimirovich (1132), the Kiev table was occupied by his younger brother Yaropolk Vladimirovich without any difficulties. However, Yaropolk’s attempts to implement some provisions of the will of Vladimir Monomakh (transferring the sons of Mstislav the Great to the princely tables closest to Kiev, so that later, after the death of Yaropolk, they would inherit the Kiev table) caused serious opposition from the younger Vladimirovichs, in particular Prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky. The Chernigov Svyatoslavichs took advantage of the weakening of the internal unity of the Monomakhovichs and actively intervened in the inter-princely struggle in the 1130s. As a result of these troubles, Yaropolk's successor on the Kiev table, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich, lasted in Kiev for less than two weeks (22.2-4.3.1139), after which he was expelled from the Kiev principality by the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich, who, in violation of the agreements of the Lyubech Congress of 1097, deprived the Chernigov princes of the right inherit the Kiev table, not only managed to occupy and hold the Kiev table until his death (1146), but also took steps to secure the inheritance of the Kiev principality to the Chernigov Olgovichs. In 1142 and 1146-57, the Principality of Kyiv included the Principality of Turov.

In the mid-1140s - early 1170s, the role of the Kyiv Council, which discussed almost all key issues, increased political life the Principality of Kyiv and often determined the fate of the Kyiv princes or contenders for the Kiev throne. After the death of Vsevolod Olgovich, his brother Igor Olgovich (August 2-13, 1146) briefly reigned in the Kiev principality, who was defeated in a battle near Kyiv by the Pereyaslavl prince Izyaslav Mstislavich. The 2nd half of the 1140s - mid-1150s - the time of open confrontation between Izyaslav Mstislavich and Yuri Dolgoruky in the struggle for the Principality of Kiev. It was accompanied by various innovations, including in the political life of the Kyiv principality. So, essentially for the first time, both princes (especially Yuri Dolgoruky) practiced the creation of numerous princely tables within the Kyiv principality (under Yuri Dolgoruky, they were occupied by his sons). Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1151 agreed to recognize the eldership of his uncle, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich, in order to create a “duumvirate” with him to legitimize his own power in the Principality of Kiev. The victory of Izyaslav Mstislavich in the Battle of Rut in 1151 actually meant his victory in the struggle for the Principality of Kiev. A new aggravation of the struggle for the Kiev principality occurred after the death of Izyaslav Mstislavich (on the night of November 13 to 14, 1154) and Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (December 1154) and ended with the reign of Yuri Dolgoruky (1155-57) in Kyiv. The death of the latter changed the balance of power during the struggle for the Kiev table among the Monomakhovichs. All the Vladimirovichs died, the Mstislavichs remained only two (Smolensk prince Rostislav Mstislavich and his younger half-brother Vladimir Mstislavich, who did not play a significant political role), in North-Eastern Rus' the position of Prince Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky strengthened, coalitions of sons (later - descendants in the following generations) Izyaslav Mstislavich - Volyn Izyaslavichs and sons (later - descendants in subsequent generations) Rostislav Mstislavich - Smolensk Rostislavichs.

During the short second reign of the Chernigov prince Izyaslav Davidovich (1157-1158), the Principality of Turov was separated from the Kyiv principality, power in which was seized by Prince Yuri Yaroslavich - who had previously been in the service of Yuri Dolgoruky (grandson of the Vladimir-Volyn prince Yaropolk Izyaslavich). Probably at the same time, the Beresteyskaya volost finally transferred from the Principality of Kyiv to the Principality of Vladimir-Volyn. Already in December 1158, the Monomakhovichs regained the Principality of Kiev. Rostislav Mstislavich, Prince of Kiev from 12.4.1159 to 8.2.1161 and from 6.3.1161 to 14.3.1167, sought to restore the former prestige and respect for the power of the Kyiv prince and largely achieved his goal. Under his control and the power of his sons in 1161-67 were, in addition to the Principality of Kyiv, the Principality of Smolensk and the Novgorod Republic; Rostislav's allies and vassals were the princes of Vladimir-Volynsky, Lutsk, Galich, Pereyaslavl; The suzerainty of the Rostislavichs extended to the Polotsk and Vitebsk principalities. The eldership of Rostislav Mstislavich was also recognized by the Vladimir prince Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky. The closest relatives and allies of Rostislav Mstislavich received new holdings on the territory of the Kyiv principality.

With the death of Rostislav Mstislavich, among the contenders for the Principality of Kiev, there was no prince left who would enjoy the same authority among relatives and vassals. In this regard, the position and status of the Kyiv prince changed: during 1167-74 he almost always found himself a hostage in the struggle of certain princely groups or individual princes, who relied on the support of the residents of Kiev or the population of some lands of the Kyiv principality (for example, Porosye or Pogorynya) . At the same time, the death of Rostislav Mstislavich made Vladimir Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky the oldest among the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh (the youngest son of Mstislav the Great, Prince Vladimir Mstislavich, was not a serious political figure and was younger than his cousin). The campaign against the Principality of Kiev in 1169 by the troops of the coalition created by Andrei Bogolyubsky ended in a three-day defeat of Kyiv (12-15.3.1169). The capture of Kiev by the forces of Andrei Bogolyubsky and the fact that he himself did not occupy the Kiev table, but handed it over to his younger brother Gleb Yuryevich (1169-70, 1170-71), marked a change in the political status of the Kiev principality. Firstly, now eldership, at least for the Vladimir princes, it was no longer associated with the occupation of the Kiev table (starting from the fall of 1173, only one descendant of Yuri Dolgoruky occupied the Kiev table - Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in 1236-38). Secondly, from the beginning of the 1170s, the role of the Kyiv Council in making key political decisions, including in determining candidates for the Kiev table, seriously decreased. After 1170, the main part of Pogoryn gradually entered the sphere of influence of the Vladimir-Volyn principality. The suzerainty of Andrei Bogolyubsky over the Kiev principality remained until 1173, when, after the conflict between the Rostislavichs and Andrei Bogolyubsky, the troops of the Vyshgorod prince David Rostislavich and the Belgorod prince Mstislav Rostislavich captured Kiev on March 24, 1173, and captured the governors of the Vladimir prince, Prince Yaro, who reigned here for 5 weeks regiment of Rostislavich and Prince Vsevolod Yurievich The Big Nest - and handed over the Kiev table to their brother - the Ovruch prince Rurik Rostislavich. The defeat of the troops of the new coalition sent to Kyiv by Andrei Bogolyubsky in the fall of 1173 meant the final liberation of the Kyiv principality from its influence.

The Principality of Kiev is the sphere of interests of the South Russian princes. For the princes of Southern Rus', the occupation of the Kyiv table continued to be associated with a kind of eldership until the mid-1230s (the only exception was the attempt of the Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich in 1201-05 to establish control over the Kiev principality, just as Andrei Bogolyubsky did in 1169-05). 73). The history of the Kyiv principality in 1174-1240 essentially represents a struggle for it (either subsiding or intensifying again) of two princely coalitions - the Rostislavichs and the Chernigov Olgovichs (the only exception was the period 1201-05). For many years, the key figure in this struggle was Rurik Rostislavich (Kiev prince in March - September 1173, 1180-81, 1194-1201, 1203-04, 1205-06, 1206-07, 1207-10). In 1181-94, a “duumvirate” of Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich and Rurik Rostislavich operated in the Principality of Kiev: Svyatoslav received Kyiv and nominal eldership, but at the same time the entire rest of the territory of the Principality of Kyiv came under the rule of Rurik. The sharp increase in the political influence of the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest forced the southern Russian princes to officially recognize his eldership (probably in 1194 at the congress of the Kyiv prince Rurik Rostislavich and the Smolensk prince David Rostislavich), but this did not change the rather independent position of the rulers of the Kyiv principality. At the same time, the problem of “communion” emerged - recognized as the oldest, Vsevolod the Big Nest in 1195 demanded a “part” for himself in the territory of the Kiev principality, which led to a conflict, since the cities that he wanted to receive (Torchesk, Korsun, Boguslavl, Trepol, Kanev ), the Kiev prince Rurik Rostislavich had previously transferred ownership to his son-in-law, the Vladimir-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. The Kiev prince took away the required cities from Roman Mstislavich, which led to the emergence of a conflict between them, which only worsened in the future (in particular, in 1196 the Vladimir-Volyn prince actually left his first wife - the daughter of Rurik Rostislavich Predslava) and largely determined the political fate of Kyiv principalities at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. The conflict of interests of Roman Mstislavich (who united the Vladimir-Volyn and Galician principalities in 1199) and Rurik Rostislavich led to the overthrow of the latter and the appearance of Roman Mstislavich’s protege, the Lutsk prince Ingvar Yaroslavich (1201-02, 1204), on the Kiev table.

1-2.1.1203 the united troops of Rurik Rostislavich, the Chernigov Olgovichi and the Polovtsians subjected Kyiv to a new defeat. At the beginning of 1204, Roman Mstislavich forced Rurik Rostislavich, his wife and daughter Predslava (his ex-wife) take monastic vows, and the sons of Rurik - Rostislav Rurikovich and Vladimir Rurikovich were captured and taken to Galich. However, soon, after diplomatic intervention in the situation by Rostislav Rurikovich’s father-in-law, the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, Roman Mstislavich had to transfer the Principality of Kiev to Rostislav (1204-05). The death of Roman Mstislavich in Poland (19.6.1205) gave Rurik Rostislavich the opportunity to once again begin the struggle for the Kiev table, now with the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny (Kiev prince in 1206, 1207, 1210-12). During 1212-36, only the Rostislavichs ruled in the Kiev principality (Mstislav Romanovich the Old in 1212-23, Vladimir Rurikovich in 1223-35 and 1235-36, Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1235). In the 1st third of the 13th century, the “Bolokhov Land” became practically independent from the Principality of Kyiv, turning into a kind of buffer zone between the Principality of Kyiv, the Galician and Vladimir-Volyn principalities. In 1236, Vladimir Rurikovich ceded the Principality of Kiev to the Novgorod prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, probably in exchange for support in occupying the Smolensk throne.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion of North-Eastern Rus' (1237-38) led to the departure of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich from the Principality of Kyiv to Novgorod, and then to Vladimir. For the first time in 1212, a representative of the Chernigov Olgovichi, Mikhail Vsevolodovich, became the prince of Kyiv. After the capture of Pereyaslavl by the Mongols (3.3.1239), the arrival of Mongol ambassadors from Tsarevich Mongke in Kyiv and their murder, Mikhail Vsevolodovich fled to Hungary. According to indirect data from a number of chronicles, it can be assumed that his successor was his cousin Mstislav Glebovich, whose name is named first among the names of the three Russian princes (previously Vladimir Rurikovich and Daniil Romanovich), who signed a truce with the Mongols in the fall of 1239. However, Mstislav Glebovich soon, apparently, also left the Principality of Kiev and fled to Hungary. He was replaced by the son of Mstislav Romanovich the Old - Rostislav Mstislavich, who took the Kiev table, probably after the death of Vladimir Rurikovich in Smolensk. Rostislav Mstislavich had no real support in the Kiev principality and was easily captured by the Galician prince Daniil Romanovich, who left the thousand-year-old Dmitry in Kyiv in the face of the Mongol-Tatar threat to organize the defense. After a more than 10-week siege by the main forces of the Mongol-Tatars, Kyiv fell on November 19, 1240, most of the cities of the Kyiv principality were taken by storm or destroyed.

Principality of Kiev under the control of the Mongol-Tatars. The destruction and devastation of cities and lands on the territory of the Principality of Kyiv led to a strong political and economic crisis. According to the Nikon Chronicle (1520s), after the conquest of Kyiv and before continuing the campaign to the west, Batu left his governor in the city. Obviously, the appearance of Mongol authorities in Pereyaslavl and Kanev dates back to 1239-40, which Carpini described. One of their main functions at the first stage was the organization of yam service and the recruitment of warriors for campaigning against the countries Western Europe . Already in 1241, Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich, who returned to Rus', was forced to live not at the princely court in Kyiv (obviously occupied by representatives of another government), but on one of the islands on the Dnieper River, and then return to Chernigov. In the 1240s, he tried to unite the efforts of the Principality of Kyiv, Hungary and the Roman Curia in the fight against the Golden Horde, Lithuania, Mazovia and the Galician prince Daniil Romanovich. The anti-Horde position of Mikhail Vsevolodovich alerted Batu, who in 1243 summoned Mikhail Vsevolodovich’s long-time political opponent, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, to the Horde and gave him a label for the Principality of Kiev and the entire “Russian Land”. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich did not personally rule in Kyiv, but sent his governor, boyar Dmitry Eykovich (1243-46), to the city. After the death of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1246), his eldest sons, princes Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky and Andrei Yaroslavich, went to the Mongol Empire. In 1248, the first of them received the right to the Principality of Kiev, and the second - to the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. This political act testified to the legal preservation of the eldership of the Kyiv principality in the system of ancient Russian principalities. However, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich's refusal to move from Novgorod to Kyiv and his enthronement in Vladimir (1252) led to a decline in the importance of the Kyiv principality. This was facilitated not only by the political and economic crisis, favorable conditions for the settlement of nomads on the southern borders of the Kiev principality, but also by the establishment here of a stricter system of Horde control, which had not yet been introduced in North-Eastern Rus', and the frequent presence there, and not in Kiev the principality of Metropolitan Kirill II(III). The Mongolian administration supported the desire of the princes of the “Bolokhov land” to get out of the control of Prince Daniil Romanovich, traces of the presence of its garrisons are known in the territory of some cities of Pogorynya, brodniks and black hoods, as well as a number of lands along the rivers Ros and Stugna. The unsuccessful plan to capture Kyiv (1254) and the defeat of Prince Daniil Romanovich in the fight against the Mongol noyon Burundai (1257-60) caused a new political crisis in the Principality of Kiev. In the 1260s, under the Temnik Nogai, the bulk of the black hoods were resettled to the Volga region and the North Caucasus. The Mongol authorities resettled the conquered Cumans to the liberated areas of the Kyiv principality. On the southern borders of the Kyiv principality, there was a gradual desolation of cities, even those that were not destroyed during the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In a number of cases, the fortifications of the border towns of the Kiev principality were burned and razed, and they themselves turned into rural-type settlements (for example, Vyshgorod, Chuchin, Ivan in Rzhishchev, Voin at the mouth of the Sula, as well as settlements located on the site of a settlement explored by archaeologists near the village of Komarovka on the Dnieper, settlements near the Polovetsky farm on Ros, etc.). Certain categories of residents of the Kyiv principality, primarily artisans, moved to other Russian principalities and lands (Novgorod, Smolensk, Galicia-Volyn lands, etc.).

Information about the political development of the Kyiv principality in the last third of the 13th century is associated exclusively with the activities of the Russian metropolitans Kirill II (III) and Maxim, who spent a lot of time here, and sometimes consecrated new bishops in Kyiv. The gradual restoration of the Principality of Kyiv was interrupted in the 1290s, during a fierce struggle for power in the Golden Horde between the Mongol princes and the influential temnik Nogai, to whom the Principality of Kiev was directly subordinate. This struggle caused attacks by the Horde (probably the troops of Khan Tokhta) on the territory of the Kyiv principality. Horde violence also led to the flight of Metropolitan Maxim, along with the entire clergy of St. Sophia Cathedral, from Kyiv to Vladimir (1299), after which, as stated in the Laurentian Chronicle (1377), “all of Kiev fled.”

In the 1st quarter of the 14th century, the Principality of Kiev was gradually revived (this is evidenced, in particular, by dated graffiti in the churches of Kyiv, starting from 1317). At the turn of the 1320s-30s, the younger brother of the Lithuanian prince Gediminas, Prince Fedor, reigned in the Kiev principality, who probably occupied the Kiev table with the consent of the Horde. The institution of Baskaism was preserved in Kyiv. At the same time, the jurisdiction of Prince Fedor extended to part of the Chernigov principality, which indicates a change in the borders of the Kyiv principality in the 1st quarter of the 14th century. The reign of Prince Fedor in Kyiv apparently ended no later than the 1340s. The Horde took advantage of the weakening positions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) in the mid-1340s - early 1350s. The next Kyiv prince known from sources was Vladimir Ivanovich (died probably between 1359 and 1363), who came from the senior (Bryansk) line of the Chernigov Olgovich dynasty and was the great-grandson of the Kyiv and Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich. It is possible that his claims were caused by the previous reign in the Kiev principality of his father, the Putivl prince Ivan Romanovich, who, like Vladimir himself, died at the hands of the Horde.

Principality of Kiev as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The beginning of the “great turmoil” in the Horde (1359) weakened Horde control over the Kiev principality, and the death of Vladimir Ivanovich allowed the vacant Kiev table to be occupied by the representative of the Lithuanian Gediminovichs - Prince Vladimir Olgerdovich (no later than 1367-95) and entailed inclusion in the Kyiv principalities of escheat possessions of the senior branch of the Olgovichi in the territory of the Chernihiv and Putivl regions. The reign of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Olgerdovich, despite the political dependence of the Kyiv principality on the Golden Horde, was characterized by a noticeable military-economic and cultural rise of the cities and lands of the Kyiv principality. In the mid-2nd half of the 14th century they finally entered the zone of interests of the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Vladimir Olgerdovich led large-scale construction and reconstruction in the cities of the Kyiv principality, mainly in Kyiv. With the help of the military forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Horde were gradually driven out beyond the Dnieper River, and defensive fortifications along the Sula River were recreated on the southeastern border of the Kyiv Principality. Apparently, already under Grand Duke Vladimir Olgerdovich, the Pereyaslav Principality (on the left bank of the Dnieper) was included in the Kyiv Principality. Vladimir Olgerdovich, like other Orthodox appanage Lithuanian princes - his contemporaries, began minting silver coins in Kyiv with his name (they were widely circulated in the territory of the Kyiv principality and the Chernigov principality, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania). In the struggle for control over the Kyiv Metropolis, Vladimir Olgerdovich supported Cyprian, who in 1376-81 and 1382-90 was in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and often lived in Kyiv. In the winter of 1385, the daughter of Vladimir Olgerdovich married the 4th son of the Grand Duke of Tver Mikhail Alexandrovich - Prince Vasily Mikhailovich. After Jagiello ascended the royal throne in Poland under the name of Vladislav II Jagiello in 1386, Vladimir Olgerdovich recognized the power and suzerainty of his younger brother (in 1386, 1388 and 1389 he took an oath of allegiance to the king, his wife, Queen Jadwiga, and the Polish crown). In 1390 he supported Vladislav II Jagiello in the fight against Vytautas; Together with the Kyiv army, he took part in the siege of Grodno. In 1392, after Vytautas came to power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vladimir Olgerdovich refused to obey him, citing the fact that he had already sworn an oath of allegiance to Vladislav II Jagiello. Another reason for the conflict was the terms of the 1392 agreement between Vladislav II Jagiello and Vytautas, according to which the Principality of Kiev was to pass to Prince John-Skirgailo as compensation for the lands of North-Western Belarus and the Principality of Troki that he had lost. In 1393-94, Vladimir Olgerdovich supported the Novgorod-Seversk prince Dmitry-Koribut Olgerdovich and the Podolsk prince Fyodor Koryatovich in the fight against Vytautas. In the spring of 1394, Vytautas and the Polotsk prince John-Skirgailo captured the cities of Zhitomir and Ovruch in the northern part of the Kyiv principality and forced Vladimir Olgerdovich to negotiate. The princes made peace for 2 years, but already in 1395 Vladimir Olgerdovich lost the Principality of Kyiv, and his place was taken by Prince John-Skirgailo, who immediately had to besiege the cities of Zvenigorod and Cherkassy that did not submit to him. In 1397, the Grand Duke of Kiev John-Skirgailo was poisoned by the governor of Metropolitan Cyprian in Kyiv, Thomas (Izufov). Probably, after this, Vytautas essentially turned the Principality of Kiev into a governorate, which sharply reduced the status of the Principality of Kyiv among the Old Russian principalities subordinate to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the same time, the principality of Kiev retained the appanages of minor princes, whose role was largely determined by their service at the court of Vytautas (for example, the princes of Glinsky). The first governors of the Kyiv principality were Prince Ivan Borisovich (died in 1399), the son of the Podolian prince Boris Koryatovich, and Ivan Mikhailovich Golshansky (died after 1401), the son of the Lithuanian prince Mikhail Olgimont. In 1399, after the defeat of the troops of Vytautas and his allies in the Battle of Vorskla, the Principality of Kiev was attacked by the troops of the Horde rulers. Having ravaged the rural district, Khan Timur-Kutlug and Emir Edigei were satisfied with 1 thousand rubles from Kyiv and 30 rubles from the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery; in 1416 the Horde again raided the Principality of Kiev, ravaging the rural district of Kyiv and the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. According to the Belarusian-Lithuanian chronicles of the 1st third of the 16th century, I.M. Golshansky’s successors as governors of the Kyiv principality were his sons - Andrei (died no later than 1422) and Mikhail (died in 1433).

In 1440, Casimir Jagiellonczyk, who became the new Grand Duke of Lithuania (later the Polish king Casimir IV), went for a partial revival of the system of appanages in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in particular, the Principality of Kiev received this status. The son of the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Olgerdovich, Prince of Slutsk Alexander Olelko Vladimirovich, became the appanage prince of Kyiv. His reign was a short time interrupted in 1449, when the Grand Duke of Lithuania Mikhail Sigismundovich, with the support of the Horde Khan Seid-Akhmed, captured the Principality of Kiev and the Seversk land. However, the joint actions of the troops of Casimir IV and the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark led to the defeat of Mikhail Sigismundovich and the return of Prince Alexander Olelko Vladimirovich to Kyiv. In 1455, after his death, the Principality of Kiev was inherited by his eldest son Semyon Alexandrovich.

Some increase in the status of the Kyiv principality within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania contributed to the strengthening of the role of the Kyiv boyars within the Kiev principality, where the Kyiv princes continued the policy of distributing large and small estates to the princes and boyars who were members of their rada, as well as to smaller boyars and servants. For large boyars who were not members of the rada, the system of annual feeding continued to operate. The boyars took part in the collection and distribution of taxes collected in the Principality of Kiev, and also sometimes received salaries and lands from the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who was considered the ruler of the Principality of Kyiv. In the 1450-60s, relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crimean Khanate were normalized; Khan Hadji Giray I gave Casimir IV a label for the possession of the Principality of Kyiv and other lands of Western and Southern Rus'.

After strengthening his position in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland, victory in the war with the Teutonic Order, Casimir IV, taking advantage of the death of Prince Semyon Alexandrovich in 1470 and the absence of his brother Mikhail in Kiev (in 1470-71 reigned in Novgorod), liquidated the Principality of Kiev and transformed it into a voivodeship , while in 1471 Casimir IV, with a special privilege, secured a certain autonomy of the Kiev region as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Lit.: Lyubavsky M.K. Regional division and local government of the Lithuanian-Russian state at the time of publication of the first Lithuanian statute. M., 1893; Klepatsky P. G. Essays on the history of the Kyiv land. Od., 1912. T. 1; Nasonov A. N. Mongols and Rus'. M.; L., 1940; Rybakov B. A. Craft of Ancient Rus'. M., 1948; Dovzhenok V. I. Agriculture of Ancient Pyci until the middle of the 13th century. Kiev, 1961; Umanskaya A. S. On the importance of birds in the economy of the ancient Russian population of the territory of Ukraine // Apxeologia. 1973. No. 10; Rapov O. M. Princely possessions in Rus' in the 10th - first half of the 13th century. M., 1977; Dovzhenok V. O. Middle Dnieper after the Tatar-Mongol invasion // Ancient Rus' and the Slavs. M., 1978; Tolochko P. P. Kyiv and the Kiev land in the era of feudal fragmentation of the XII-XIII centuries. K., 1980; Pashkevich G. O., Petrashenko V. O. Agriculture and animal husbandry in the Middle Dnieper region in the VIII-X centuries. // Archaeology. 1982. No. 41; Pashuto V. T., Florya B. N., Khoroshkevich A. L. Old Russian heritage and historical destinies of the Eastern Slavs. M., 1982; Belyaeva S. A. South Russian lands in the second half of the XIII-XIV centuries. K., 1982; Rychka V.M. Formation of the territory of the Kyiv land (IX - first third of the 12th century). K., 1988; Stavisky V.I. On the analysis of news about Rus' in the “History of the Mongols” by Plano Carpini in the light of its archaeographic tradition // The most ancient states on the territory of the USSR: Materials and research. 1986 M., 1988; aka. “History of the Mongols” Plano Carpini and Russian chronicles // Ibid. 1990 M., 1991; Grushevsky M. S. Essay on the history of the Kyiv land from the death of Yaroslav to the end of the XIV century. K., 1991; Grushevsky M. S. History of Ukraine-Rus. Kiev, 1992-1993. T. 2-4; Gorsky A. A. Russian lands in the XIII-XIV centuries: Paths of political development. M., 1996; Rusina O. V. Ukraine under the Tatars and Lithuania // Ukraine crisis wiki. Kiev, 1998. T. 6; Ivakin G. Yu. Historical development of Southern Rus' and Batya’s invasion // Rus' in the XIII century: Antiquities of the Dark Time. M., 2003; Pyatnov A.P. The struggle for the Kiev table in 1148-1151 // Bulletin of Moscow State University. Episode 8. History. 2003. No. 1; aka. Kyiv and the Kiev land in 1167-1169 // Ancient Rus': questions of medieval studies. 2003. No. 1; aka. Kyiv and the Kiev land in 1169-1173 // Collection of the Russian Historical Society. M., 2003. T. 7; aka. The Principality of Kiev in 1235-1240 // First open historical readings “Young Science”. M., 2003; Kuzmin A.V. Sources of the XVI-XVII centuries. about the origin of the Kyiv and Putivl prince Vladimir Ivanovich // Eastern Europe in antiquity and the Middle Ages: Problems of source study. M., 2005. Part 2.

A. V. Kuzmin, A. P. Pyatnov.

PRINCIPALITY OF KIEV - an ancient Russian principality in the 2nd third of the 12th century - 1470.

Sto-litsa - Kiev. The formation of a moose in the process of dissolving the Old Russian state. Initially, the Principality of Kiev, in addition to its main territory, included Pogorina (Pogorynye; lands along the Goryn River) and Beresteyskaya volost (center - the city of Berestye, now Brest). In the Principality of Kiev there were about 90 cities, in many of them separate princely tables existed in different periods: in Belgorod of Kiev, Berestye, Vasilyev (now Vasilkov), Vyshgorod, Dorogobuzh, Dorogichin (now Drokhichin), Ovruch, Gorodets-Ostersky (now Oster ), Peresopnytsia, Torchesk, Trepol, etc. A number of fortified cities defended Kiev from Polovtsian raids along the right bank of the Dnieper River and from the south along the Stugna and Ros rivers; Vyshgorod and Belgorod of Kiev defended the capital of the Kyiv principality from the north and west. On the southern borders of the Kyiv principality, in Porosye, nomads who served the Kyiv princes - black hoods - settled.

Economy.

The basis of the economic development of the Kyiv principality was arable farming (mainly in the form of two-field and three-field), while the population of cities was closely connected with agriculture. The main grain crops grown on the territory of the Principality of Kyiv were rye, wheat, barley, oats, millet and buckwheat; from legumes - peas, vetch, lentils and beans; Industrial crops include flax, hemp and camelina. Cattle breeding and poultry farming also developed: cows, sheep, goats and pigs were bred in the Kiev principality; chickens, geese and ducks. Vegetable gardening and horticulture have become quite widespread. The most common trade in the Principality of Kiev was fishing. Due to constant inter-princely conflicts and the increase in Polovtsian raids, from the middle (and especially from the last third) of the 12th century, a gradual outflow of the rural population from the Kiev principality (for example, from Porosye), primarily to North-Eastern Rus', the Ryazan and Murom principalities began.

The struggle of ancient Russian princes for dynastic eldership. The main feature of the political development of the Kyiv principality in the 12th - 1st third of the 13th century is the absence in it, unlike other ancient Russian principalities, of its own princely dynasty. Despite the collapse of the Old Russian state, the Russian princes, until 1169, continued to consider Kyiv as a kind of “oldest” city, and its possession as receiving dynastic eldership, which led to an intensification of the inter-princely struggle for the Principality of Kiev. Often the closest relatives and allies of the Kyiv princes received separate cities and volosts in the territory of the Kyiv principality. Throughout the 1130-1150s, the decisive role in this struggle was played by two groups of Monomakhovichs (Vladimirovichs - the children of Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh; Mstislavichs - the children of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich the Great) and Svyatoslavichs (descendants of the Chernigov and Kiev prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich). After the death of the Kyiv prince Mstislav Vladimirovich (1132), the Kiev table was occupied by his younger brother Yaropolk Vladimirovich without any difficulties. However, Yaropolk’s attempts to implement some provisions of the will of Vladimir Monomakh (transferring the sons of Mstislav the Great to the princely tables closest to Kiev, so that later, after the death of Yaropolk, they would inherit the Kiev table) caused serious opposition from the younger Vladimirovichs, in particular Prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky. The Chernigov Svyatoslavichs took advantage of the weakening of the internal unity of the Monomakhovichs and actively intervened in the inter-princely struggle in the 1130s. As a result of these troubles, Yaropolk's successor on the Kiev throne, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich, lasted in Kiev for less than two weeks (22.2-4.3.1139), after which he was expelled from the Kiev principality by the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich, who, in violation of the agreements of the Lu-bech congress -yes 1097, which deprived the Chernigov princes of the right to inherit the Kiev throne, not only managed to occupy and hold the Kiev table until his death (1146), but also took steps to secure the inheritance of the Kyiv principality for the Chernigov Olgovichs. In 1142 and 1146-57, the Principality of Kyiv included the Principality of Turov.

In the mid-1140s - early 1170s, the role of the Kyiv Council intensified, which discussed almost all the key issues of the political life of the Kyiv principality and often determined the fate of the Kyiv princes or contenders for the Kiev table. After the death of Vsevolod Olgovich, his brother Igor Olgovich (August 2-13, 1146) briefly reigned in the Kiev principality, who was defeated in a battle near Kyiv by the Pereyaslavl prince Izyaslav Mstislavich. The 2nd half of the 1140s - mid-1150s - the time of open confrontation between Izyaslav Mstislavich and Yuri Dolgoruky in the struggle for the Principality of Kiev. It was accompanied by various innovations, including in the political life of the Kyiv principality. So, essentially for the first time, both princes (especially Yuri Dolgoruky) practiced the creation of numerous princely tables within the Kyiv principality (under Yuri Dolgoruky, they were occupied by his sons). Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1151 agreed to recognize the eldership of his uncle, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich, in order to create a “duumvirate” with him to legitimize his own power in the Principality of Kiev. The victory of Izyaslav Mstislavich in the Battle of Rut in 1151 actually meant his victory in the struggle for the Principality of Kiev. A new aggravation of the struggle for the Kiev principality occurred after the death of Izyaslav Mstislavich (on the night of November 13 to 14, 1154) and Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (December 1154) and ended with the reign of Yuri Dolgoruky (1155-57) in Kyiv. The death of the latter changed the balance of power during the struggle for the Kiev table among the Monomakhovichs. All the Vladimirovichs died, the Mstislavichs remained only two (Smolensk prince Rostislav Mstislavich and his younger half-brother Vladimir Mstislavich, who did not play a significant political role), in North-Eastern Rus' the position of Prince Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky strengthened, coalitions of sons (later - descendants in the following generations) Izyaslav Mstislavich - Volyn Izyaslavichs and sons (later - descendants in subsequent generations) Rostislav Mstislavich - Smolensk Rostislavichs.

Kiev-skoe prince-st-vo - the sphere of in-te-re-s of the southern Russian princes.

For the princes of Southern Rus', the occupation of the Kyiv table continued to be associated with a kind of eldership until the mid-1230s (the only exception was the attempt of the Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich in 1201-05 to establish control over the Kiev principality, just as Andrei Bogolyubsky did in 1169-05). 73). The history of the Kyiv principality in 1174-1240 essentially represents a struggle for it (either subsiding or intensifying again) of two princely coalitions - the Rostislavichs and the Chernigov Olgovichs (the only exception was the period 1201-05). For many years, the key figure in this struggle was Rurik Rostislavich (Kiev prince in March - September 1173, 1180-81, 1194-1201, 1203-04, 1205-06, 1206-07, 1207-10). In 1181-94, a “duumvirate” of Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich and Rurik Rostislavich operated in the Principality of Kiev: Svyatoslav received Kyiv and nominal eldership, but at the same time the entire rest of the territory of the Principality of Kyiv came under the rule of Rurik. The sharp increase in the political influence of the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest forced the southern Russian princes to officially recognize his eldership (probably in 1194 at the congress of the Kyiv prince Rurik Rostislavich and the Smolensk prince David Rostislavich), but this did not change the rather independent position of the rulers of the Kyiv principality. At the same time, the problem of “communion” emerged - recognized as the oldest, Vsevolod the Big Nest in 1195 demanded a “part” for himself in the territory of the Kiev principality, which led to a conflict, since the cities that he wanted to receive (Torchesk, Korsun, Boguslavl, Trepol, Kanev ), the Kiev prince Rurik Rostislavich had previously transferred ownership to his son-in-law, the Vladimir-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. The Kiev prince took away the required cities from Roman Mstislavich, which led to the emergence of a conflict between them, which only worsened in the future (in particular, in 1196 the Vladimir-Volyn prince actually left his first wife - the daughter of Rurik Rostislavich Predslava) and largely determined the political fate of Kyiv principalities at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. The conflict of interests of Roman Mstislavich (who united the Vladimir-Volyn and Galician principalities in 1199) and Rurik Rostislavich led to the overthrow of the latter and the appearance of Roman Mstislavich’s protege, the Lutsk prince Ingvar Yaroslavich (1201-02, 1204), on the Kiev table.

1-2.1.1203 the united troops of Rurik Rostislavich, the Chernigov Olgovichi and the Polovtsians subjected Kyiv to a new defeat. At the beginning of 1204, Roman Mstislavich forced Rurik Rostislavich, his wife and daughter Predslava (his ex-wife) to take monastic vows, and captured Rurik’s sons Rostislav Rurikovich and Vladimir Rurikovich and took them to Galich. However, soon, after diplomatic intervention in the situation by Rostislav Rurikovich’s father-in-law, the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, Roman Mstislavich had to transfer the Principality of Kiev to Rostislav (1204-05). The death of Roman Mstislavich in Poland (19.6.1205) gave Rurik Rostislavich the opportunity to once again begin the struggle for the Kiev table, now with the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny (Kiev prince in 1206, 1207, 1210-12). During 1212-36, only the Rostislavichs ruled in the Kiev principality (Mstislav Romanovich the Old in 1212-23, Vladimir Rurikovich in 1223-35 and 1235-36, Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1235). In the 1st third of the 13th century, the “Bolokhov Land” became practically independent from the Principality of Kyiv, turning into a kind of buffer zone between the Principality of Kyiv, the Galician and Vladimir-Volyn principalities. In 1236, Vladimir Rurikovich ceded the Principality of Kiev to the Novgorod prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, probably in exchange for support in occupying the Smolensk throne.

The Principality of Kiev occupied a central place in medieval Rus' for a long time. Kyiv was the main and richest city. It was the Kiev table that was occupied by the Grand Duke, who, in fact, was the head of state. Therefore, fierce internecine wars were fought for the Principality of Kiev for several centuries.

Development of the Principality of Kyiv in the 12th-13th centuries

To understand what influenced the development of the Principality of Kyiv in the 12th and 13th centuries, it is necessary to understand its position in Rus' at that time:

Kyiv emerged as a large shopping center due to its favorable location. The city was on a busy trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” The ruler of the principality controlled this route, extracting large profits. However, with the weakening of Byzantium in the 12th and 13th centuries, the importance of the trade route declined. This made the Kiev table less important for the rest of the Russian princes;
Kyiv is located in the steppe zone. Therefore, the city is convenient for nomadic raids. Immediately beyond the Dnieper began the lands through which the Pechenegs, Torques, Cumans and other steppe peoples roamed. Kyiv was constantly subject to destruction. In the 13th century, such vulnerability greatly reduced the prestige of the Principality of Kyiv;
In the 12-13 centuries, there was a strengthening of North-Eastern Rus'. This association included several principalities with the cities of Moscow, Suzdal, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, and Rostov the Great. They were located in a forest zone and were protected from raids by nomads. The principalities grew rich from trade; they supplied Novgorod and Pskov with bread. And Kyiv gradually weakened and lost its greatness.

Thus, the main features of the development of the Principality of Kyiv in the 12th-13th centuries were the weakening of the principality itself and the simultaneous strengthening of North-Eastern Rus'. It was there that the center of power of Rus' shifted. The northern princes had strong squads, large land holdings. But many of them still sought to seize the Kiev table.

The result of the weakening of the principality

The weakening of the Kyiv principality led to its capture by the Tatar-Mongols. However, Kyiv quite quickly left the sphere of their influence and fell under the control of the strong Polish-Lithuanian state. Until modern times, Kyiv was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Let us consider in two aspects: internal and external factors that influenced the development of the Principality of Kyiv.

Firstly, with the death of Mstislav in 1132, centrifugal processes intensified, which ultimately led to the isolation of the principalities and political fragmentation.

Secondly, the struggle between the princes for the Kiev throne weakened the defense capability, which the nomadic tribes took advantage of. The population, fleeing the nomads, began to move en masse to Zalesye and Novgorod land.

This is where external factors come in. The raids of nomads devastated the principality, and the princes were unable to field a united army.

The logical result of this state of affairs was the actual loss of independence in 1240, during the invasion of the troops of Batu Khan.

Originated in the second half of the 10th century. and became in the 11th century. 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 of the 12th century. 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 mid-12th century, the 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, Pereyaslavl, 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 of the 11th century. The process of disintegration of large principalities began, first of all affecting the most developed agricultural regions (Kiev region, Chernihiv region). In the 12th - first half of the 13th 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.

In conditions of feudal fragmentation great importance acquired all-Russian and regional princely congresses, 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 - 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” (from the Baltic Sea to Byzantium) passed through the Kiev region; 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 stratum was formed early in Kyiv and nearby cities.

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. Under Vladimir the Holy, 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 land of Kiev was constituted as a 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 (1132–1139) 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 northeast and 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 1169–1174, the Vladimir prince Andrei Bogolyubsky dictated his will to Kyiv: 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 give up 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 in 1181). 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 the 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 sat 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 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 (1001–1044), 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, 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 (1044–1101), 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 of 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, the Chernigov prince Vladimir Monomakh took Minsk and subjected the Polotsk land to a brutal defeat. 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 the intervention of Kyiv: in 1119, 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, represented by Vasilko Svyatoslavich (1132–1144), 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 for the Polotsk princely table breaks out between Rogvolod Borisovich (1144–1151, 1159–1162) and Rostislav Glebovich (1151–1159). At the turn of the 1150s–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 of the 7th century. 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 captured 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, and 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 1094–1096 (with the help of the Cumans) 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 (1097–1123) 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 1127–1139 it was occupied by the Olgovichi, in 1139 they were replaced by the Davydovichi - Vladimir (1139–1151) and his brother Izyaslav (1151–1157), but in 1157 it finally passed to the Olgovichi: Svyatoslav Olgovich (1157–1164) and his nephews Svyatoslav (1164–1177) and Yaroslav (1177–1198) Vsevolodich. 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 and in 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 try to gain a foothold in Novgorod the Great (1180–1181, 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, the Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodich (1223–1241) did not stop his active policy in relation to neighboring regions, trying to establish control over Novgorod the Great (1225, 1228–1230) 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 southeastern outskirts of Rus' - the basin of the Oka and its tributaries Pronya, Osetra and Tsna, the upper reaches of the Don and Voronezh (modern Ryazan, Lipetsk, northeast Tambov and south 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 988–989, 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 ducal 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 the decision of 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 Andrei 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. In the early 1160s, his great-nephew Yuri Vladimirovich established himself in Murom, becoming the founder of a special branch of the Murom princes, and from that time 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 (1178–1207) 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 same year 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 in the village of Isady (6 km from Ryazan) - one brother and five cousins. 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 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 (1350–1402) was able to temporarily consolidate the forces of the principality, expand its borders and strengthen the central power; in 1353 he took Lopasnya from Ivan II of Moscow. However, in the 1370s–1380s, during the struggle of Dmitry Donskoy against 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 .

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; The border with its western neighbor - the 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 urban centers arose first - 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 988–989, 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 table, the Turov region became part of his vast possessions (1054–1068, 1069–1073, 1077–1078). 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 1142–1143 it was briefly owned by the Chernigov Olgovichs (Grand Prince of Kiev Vsevolod Olgovich and his son Svyatoslav). In 1146–1147, 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 (1316–1347).

Smolensk Principality.

It was located in the Upper Dnieper basin (modern Smolensk, the southeast of the Tver regions of Russia and the 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 earth. 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), Lyubech Congress 1097 recognized it as the patrimony of the Monomashians, 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 (1159–1180 with interruptions), who was succeeded by his brother Davyd (1180–1197), son Mstislav the Old (1197–1206, 1207–1212/1214), nephews Vladimir Rurikovich (1215–1223 with interruptions in 1219) and Mstislav Davydovich (1223–1230).

In the second half of the 12th - early 13th centuries. 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 - early 1170s); they were able to gain a foothold in the most important areas of the Kiev region - in Posemye, Ovruch, Vyshgorod, Torchesky, Trepolsky 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 (1154–1155), Svyatoslav (1158–1167) and Mstislav Rostislavich (1179–1180), Mstislav Davydovich (1184–1187) and Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny (1210–1215 and 1216–1218); at the end of the 1170s and in the 1210s the Rostislavichs held Pskov; sometimes they even managed to create fiefs independent of Novgorod (in the late 1160s - early 1170s in Torzhok and Velikiye Luki). In 1164–1166, the Rostislavichs owned Vitebsk (Davyd Rostislavich), in 1206 – Pereyaslavl (Rurik Rostislavich and his son Vladimir), and in 1210–1212 – 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 1218–1221 the sons of Mstislav the Old reigned in Novgorod, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod) and Kiev lands (in 1213–1223, with a break in 1219, Mstislav the Old sat in Kiev, and in 1119, 1123–1235 and 1236–1238 - 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 admit vassal dependence on the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Tatar Khan(1274). In the 14th century under Alexander Glebovich (1297–1313), his son Ivan (1313–1358) and grandson Svyatoslav (1358–1386), 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 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.

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 the settlement along the borders of those nomads who moved 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 the grand ducal domain, and in 1024–1036 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 discord within the Monomashich house - between the Rostov prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky and his nephews Vsevolod and Izyaslav Mstislavich. Yuri Dolgoruky captured Pereyaslavl, but reigned there only for 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 Izyaslav took the Kiev throne in 1146, he installed 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 (1150–1151, 1151–1154), or in the hands of the sons of Yuri Rostislav (1149–1150, 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 (1175–1187), grandson of Yuri Dolgorukov Yaroslav the Red (until 1199 ) and the sons of Vsevolod the Big Nest Konstantin (1199–1201) and Yaroslav (1201–1206). 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 in 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 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. Economic development the principality was favored by its unusually profitable 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 1015–1019, the Polish king Boleslaw I the Brave regained 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, did not 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 (future Principality of Galicia). The attempt of the Rostislavichs in 1084–1086 to take away 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 (1117–1119), and after his death to his other son Andrei the Good (1119–1135); 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 (1148–1154), who was succeeded by his younger brother Vladimir (1154–1156) and son Izyaslav Mstislav (1156–1170). 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 began to pursue an active foreign policy in the second half of the 1180s. 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 (1238–1269). 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 (1269–1288). 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 (1289–1301), 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 (1316–1324), and the Lutsk inheritance was given to his youngest son Lev. The last independent Galician-Volyn ruler was Andrei's son Yuri (1324–1337), 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 Ulichs) 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 - 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 1084–1086 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 (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 1149–1154, 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 remain 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 (1206–1238). The Galician table passed either to Daniel (1211, 1230–1232, 1233), then to the Chernigov Olgovichs (1206–1207, 1209–1211, 1235–1238), then to the Smolensk Rostislavichs (1206, 1219–1227), then to the Hungarian princes (1207–1209, 1214–1219, 1227–1230); in 1212–1213, power in Galich was even usurped by a 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, while remaining its supreme ruler, he 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. In 1254, 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 Mindaugas, but the Tatars managed 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 1349–1352, 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 the 12th–14th 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 valuable species 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 the 8th–9th 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, it was restored here direct control Kyiv princes.

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, Christianity began to actively penetrate into this area; 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 (1095–1157). 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 1169–1170 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 ruler of Vladimir-Suzdal, and Vsevolod became the ruler of Rostov. 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 (1175–1212) 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 1216–1217 he gave Gorodets-Rodilov and Suzdal to Yuri, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky to Yaroslav, and Yuryev-Polsky and Starodub to his younger brothers Svyatoslav and Vladimir. . After the death of Constantine in 1218, Yuri (1218–1238), who occupied 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, Pereyaslavskoe, Yuryevskoe, Starodubskoe, Gorodetskoe, Yaroslavskoe, Uglichskoe, Kostroma, Galitskoe; 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 (1246–1247), sons Andrei (1247–1252), Alexander (1252–1263), Yaroslav (1263–1271/1272), Vasily (1272–1276/1277) and grandchildren Dmitry (1277–1293) ) and Andrei Alexandrovich (1293–1304), 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. Moscow and Tver begin to play a leading role in North-Eastern Rus', 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) Moskovsky (in 1327-1331 together with Alexander Vasilyevich Suzdalsky). After Ivan Kalita, it becomes a monopoly of the Moscow princes (with the exception of 1359–1362). At the same time, their main rivals - the Tver and Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod princes - in the mid-14th century. also accept the title of great. Struggle for control of North-Eastern Russia during the 14th–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 (1362–1364), 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 Lakes 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).

Unfavorable natural conditions 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.

Novgorod land was divided into administrative districts- Pyatina, directly adjacent to Novgorod (Votskaya, Shelonskaya, Obonezhskaya, Derevskaya, Bezhetskaya), and distant volosts: one extended from Torzhok and Volok to the Suzdal border and the upper reaches of the Onega, the other included Zavolochye (between the Onega and Mezen rivers), and the third – lands east of the 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 972–977, when it was the domain of St. Vladimir).

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 (1095–1117).

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, the constant 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 (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 bear court decisions and 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 (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 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 century. 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. the advance of Moscow 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 paid a 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 independent foreign policy. 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. Before the name of the prince is the year of his accession to the throne, the number in brackets indicates at what time the prince took the throne, if this happened again.)

1054 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (1)

1068 Vseslav Bryachislavich

1069 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (2)

1073 Svyatoslav Yaroslavich

1077 Vsevolod Yaroslavich (1)

1077 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (3)

1078 Vsevolod Yaroslavich (2)

1093 Svyatopolk Izyaslavich

1113 Vladimir Vsevolodich (Monomakh)

1125 Mstislav Vladimirovich (Great)

1132 Yaropolk Vladimirovich

1139 Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (1)

1139 Vsevolod Olgovich

1146 Igor Olgovich

1146 Izyaslav Mstislavich (1)

1149 Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (1)

1149 Izyaslav Mstislavich (2)

1151 Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (2)

1151 Izyaslav Mstislavich (3) and Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (2)

1154 Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (2) and Rostislav Mstislavich (1)

1154 Rostislav Mstislavich (1)

1154 Izyaslav Davydovich (1)

1155 Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (3)

1157 Izyaslav Davydovich (2)

1159 Rostislav Mstislavich (2)

1167 Mstislav Izyaslavich

1169 Gleb Yurievich

1171 Vladimir Mstislavich

1171 Mikhalko Yurievich

1171 Roman Rostislavich (1)

1172 Vsevolod Yurievich (Big Nest) and Yaropolk Rostislavich

1173 Rurik Rostislavich (1)

1174 Roman Rostislavich (2)

1176 Svyatoslav Vsevolodich (1)

1181 Rurik Rostislavich (2)

1181 Svyatoslav Vsevolodich (2)

1194 Rurik Rostislavich (3)

1202 Ingvar Yaroslavich (1)

1203 Rurik Rostislavich (4)

1204 Ingvar Yaroslavich (2)

1204 Rostislav Rurikovich

1206 Rurik Rostislavich (5)

1206 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (1)

1206 Rurik Rostislavich (6)

1207 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (2)

1207 Rurik Rostislavich (7)

1210 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (3)

1211 Ingvar Yaroslavich (3)

1211 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (4)

1212/1214 Mstislav Romanovich (Old) (1)

1219 Vladimir Rurikovich (1)

1219 Mstislav Romanovich (Old) (2), possibly with his son Vsevolod

1223 Vladimir Rurikovich (2)

1235 Mikhail Vsevolodich (1)

1235 Yaroslav Vsevolodich

1236 Vladimir Rurikovich (3)

1239 Mikhail Vsevolodich (1)

1240 Rostislav Mstislavich

1240 Daniil Romanovich

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