One of the sad pages of our history is the fragmentation of Ancient Rus' in the Middle Ages. But internecine war is not the prerogative of the ancient Russian principalities. Interfeudal wars engulfed all of Europe; in France alone there were 14 large feudal majorates, between which there were continuous bloody clashes. Internecine warfare is a characteristic feature of the Middle Ages.
The weak power of Kyiv and the law of the ladder
The main reason for the emergence of civil strife was the weak centralization of power. Periodically, strong leaders appeared, such as Vladimir Monomakh or Yaroslav the Wise, caring for the unity of the state, but, as a rule, after their death, their sons began to fight again.
But there were always many children, and each branch of the family, descending from the common grandfather Rurik, tried to secure supremacy for itself. Everything was aggravated by the specifics of succession to the throne - the right of ladder, when power was transferred not by direct inheritance to the eldest son, but to the eldest in the family. Internecine wars raged throughout Rus' until the death of Moscow Prince Vasily II the Dark, that is, until the second half of the 15th century.
Disunity
In the early stages of the development of the state, some kind of alliances were periodically formed between several princes, and wars were fought in blocs, or for a time all of Kievan Rus united to repel the raids of the steppe peoples.
But all this was temporary, and the princes again locked themselves in their fiefs, each of whom individually had neither the strength nor the resources to unite all of Rus' under their leadership.
Very weak federation
An internecine war is a civil war. This is a bloody major confrontation between residents of one country, united in certain groups. Despite the fact that in those distant times our country represented several independent states, it remained in history as Kievan Rus, and its unity, albeit inactive, was still felt. It was such a weak federation, whose residents called representatives of neighboring principalities non-residents, and foreigners - strangers.
Explicit and secret reasons for the emergence of civil strife
It should be noted that the decision to go to war against his brother was made not only by the prince, but also by the townspeople, the merchants, and the church. The princely power was greatly limited by both the Boyar Duma and the city Veche. The causes of internecine wars lie much deeper.
And if the principalities fought among themselves, then there were strong and numerous motives for this, including ethnic, economic, and trade. Ethnic because on the outskirts of Rus' new states were formed, the population of which began to speak their own dialects and had their own traditions and way of life. For example, Belarus and Ukraine. The desire of the princes to transfer power by direct inheritance also led to the isolation of the principalities. The struggle between them was carried out due to dissatisfaction with the distribution of territories, for the Kiev throne, for independence from Kyiv.
Brothers' disunity
The internecine war in Rus' began in the 9th century, and minor skirmishes between the princes, in essence, never stopped. But there were also major civil strife. The first dispute arose at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries, after the death of Svyatoslav. His three sons, Yaropolk, Vladimir and Oleg, had different mothers.
The grandmother, Grand Duchess Olga, who was able to unite them, died in 969, and 3 years later the father also died. There are few exact dates of birth of the early Kyiv princes and their heirs, but there are assumptions that by the time the Svyatoslavichs were orphaned, the eldest Yaropolk was only 15 years old, and each of them already had their own allotment left by Svyatoslav. All this did not contribute to the emergence of strong brotherly bonds.
First major civil strife
The internecine war began when the brothers grew up - they had already gained strength, had squads and looked after their fiefdoms. The specific occasion was the moment Oleg discovered Yaropolk’s hunters in his forests, led by the son of the governor Sveneld Lyut. After the skirmish that arose, Lute was killed, and, according to some sources, his father Svenald strongly encouraged Yaropolk to attack and in every possible way fueled hatred of the brothers who allegedly dreamed of the Kiev throne.
One way or another, in 977 Yaropolk kills his brother Oleg. Having heard about the murder of his younger brother, Vladimir, who was sitting in Veliky Novgorod, fled to Sweden, from which he returned with a strong army of mercenaries led by his commander Dobrynya. Vladimir immediately moved to Kyiv. Having taken the rebellious Polotsk, he besieged the capital city. After some time, Yaropolk agreed to a meeting with his brother, but did not have time to reach the headquarters, as he was killed by two mercenaries. Vladimir reigned on the Kiev throne just 7 years after the death of his father. Yaropolk in history, oddly enough, remained a meek ruler, and it is believed that very young brothers became victims of intrigue led by experienced and cunning confidants such as Sveneld and Blud. Vladimir reigned in Kyiv for 35 years and received the nickname Red Sun.
Second and third internecine wars of Kievan Rus
The second internecine war of the princes begins after the death of Vladimir, between his sons, of whom he had 12. But the main struggle unfolded between Svyatopolk and Yaroslav.
In this feud, Boris and Gleb, who became the first Russian saints, perish. In the end, Yaroslav, who later received the nickname Wise, gains the upper hand. He ascended the Kiev throne in 1016 and ruled until 1054, in which he died.
Naturally, a third major feud began after his death between his seven sons. Although Yaroslav during his lifetime clearly defined the estates of his sons, and bequeathed the Kiev throne to Izyaslav, as a result of fratricidal wars, he reigned there only in 1069.
Centuries of fragmentation and dependence on the Golden Horde
The subsequent period of time until the end is considered a period of political fragmentation. Independent principalities began to form, and the process of fragmentation and the emergence of new fiefs became irreversible. If in the 12th century there were 12 principalities on the territory of Rus', then already in the 13th century there were 50 of them, and in the 14th century - 250.
In science, this process was called Even the conquest of Rus' by the Tatar-Mongols in 1240 failed to stop the process of fragmentation. Only being under the yoke of the Golden Horde for 2.5 centuries began to persuade the Kyiv princes to create a centralized strong state.
Negative and positive sides of fragmentation
Internecine wars in Rus' destroyed and bled the country dry, preventing it from developing properly. But, as noted above, civil strife and fragmentation were shortcomings not only of Rus'. France, Germany, and England all resembled a patchwork quilt. Oddly enough, at some stage of development, fragmentation also played a positive role. Within the framework of one state, individual lands began to actively develop, turning into large fiefdoms, new cities were erected and flourished, churches were built, large squads were created and equipped. The political, economic and cultural development of the peripheral principalities under the weak political power of Kyiv contributed to the growth of their autonomy and independence. And in some way the emergence of democracy.
However, civil strife in Rus' was always skillfully used by its enemies, of whom there were plenty. So the growth of peripheral fiefdoms was put to an end by the attack on Rus' by the Golden Horde. The process of centralization of Russian lands slowly began in the 13th century and continued until the 15th century. But even then there were internecine clashes.
Duality of rules of succession to the throne
The beginning of an internecine war in the Moscow principality deserves special mention. After the death of Vasily I, power passed into the hands of his son Vasily II the Dark, all the years of whose reign were marked by civil strife. Immediately after the death of Vasily I in 1425, until 1433, the war was fought between Vasily the Dark and his uncle Yuri Dmitrievich. The fact is that in Kievan Rus until the 13th century, the rules of succession to the throne were determined by the law of the ladder. According to it, power was transferred to the eldest in the family, and Dmitry Donskoy in 1389 appointed his youngest son Yuri as heir to the throne in the event of the death of his eldest son Vasily. Vasily I died with his heirs, in particular his son Vasily, who also had rights to the Moscow throne, because from the 13th century power was increasingly transferred from father to eldest son.
In general, Mstislav I the Great, who ruled from 1125 to 1132, was the first to violate this right. Then, thanks to the authority of Monomakh, the will of Mstislav, and the support of the boyars, the other princes remained silent. But Yuri disputed Vasily’s rights, and some of his relatives supported him.
Strong ruler
The beginning of the internecine war in the Moscow principality was accompanied by the destruction of small fiefs and the strengthening of tsarist power. Vasily the Dark fought for the unification of all Russian lands. Throughout his reign, which lasted intermittently from 1425 to 1453, Vasily the Dark repeatedly lost the throne in the struggle, first with his uncle, and then with his sons and other people eager for the Moscow throne, but he always returned it. In 1446, he went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he was captured and blinded, which is why he received the nickname Dark. Power in Moscow at this time was seized. But even being blinded, Vasily the Dark continued a tough fight against Tatar raids and internal enemies tearing Rus' to pieces.
The internecine war in the Moscow Principality ceased after his death. The result of his reign was a significant increase in the territory of the Moscow Principality (he annexed Pskov and Novgorod), a significant weakening and loss of sovereignty of other princes who were forced to obey Moscow.
Princely feud - the struggle of Russian princes among themselves for power and territory.
The main period of civil strife occurred in the 10th-11th centuries. The main reasons for the enmity between the princes were:
- discontent in the distribution of territories;
- the struggle for sole power in Kyiv;
- the fight for the right not to depend on the will of Kyiv.
- first civil strife (10th century) - enmity between the sons of Svyatoslav;
- second civil strife (beginning of the 11th century) - enmity between the sons of Vladimir;
- third civil strife (end of the 11th century) - enmity between the sons of Yaroslav.
In Rus' there was no centralized power, a unified state and no tradition of passing the throne to the eldest of the sons, therefore the great princes, leaving many heirs according to tradition, doomed them to endless enmity among themselves. Although the heirs received power in one of the major cities, they all sought to become Kyiv princes and be able to subjugate their brothers.
The first civil strife in Rus'
The first family feud broke out after the death of Svyatoslav, who left three sons. Yaropolk received power in Kyiv, Oleg - in the territory of the Drevlyans, and Vladimir - in Novgorod. At first, after the death of their father, the brothers lived peacefully, but then conflicts over territory began.
In 975 (976), by order of Prince Oleg, the son of one of the governors Yaropolk was killed on the territory of the Drevlyans, where Vladimir ruled. The governor, who learned about this, reported to Yaropolk about what had happened and persuaded him to attack Oleg with his army. This was the beginning of a civil war that lasted for several years.
In 977 Yaropolk attacks Oleg. Oleg, who did not expect an attack and was not prepared, was forced, together with his army, to retreat back to the capital of the Drevlyans - the city of Ovruch. As a result of panic during the retreat, Oleg accidentally dies under the hooves of the horse of one of his warriors. The Drevlyans, having lost their prince, quickly surrender and submit to the authority of Yaropolk. At the same time, Vladimir, fearing an attack from Yaropolk, runs to the Varangians.
In 980, Vladimir returned to Rus' with the Varangian army and immediately launched a campaign against his brother Yaropolk. He quickly recaptures Novgorod and then moves on to Kyiv. Yaropolk, having learned about his brother’s intentions to seize the throne in Kyiv, follows the advice of one of his assistants and flees to the city of Rodna, fearing an assassination attempt. However, the adviser turns out to be a traitor who entered into an agreement with Vladimir, and Yaropolk, dying of hunger in Lyubech, is forced to negotiate with Vladimir. Having reached his brother, he dies from the swords of two Varangians, without concluding a truce.
This is how the civil strife between the sons of Svyatoslav ends. At the end of 980, Vladimir became prince in Kyiv, where he ruled until his death.
The first feudal feud marked the beginning of a long period of internal wars between the princes, which would last almost a century and a half.
Second civil strife in Rus'
In 1015, Vladimir dies and a new feud begins - the civil strife of the sons of Vladimir. Vladimir had 12 sons left, each of whom wanted to become a Kyiv prince and gain almost unlimited power. However, the main struggle was between Svyatopolk and Yaroslav.
Svyatopolk becomes the first prince of Kyiv, since he had the support of Vladimir’s warriors and was closest to Kyiv. He kills the brothers Boris and Gleb and becomes the head of the throne.
In 1016, a bloody struggle for the right to rule Kiev began between Svyatopolk and Yaroslav.
Yaroslav, who ruled in Novgorod, gathers an army, which includes not only Novgorodians, but also Varangians, and goes with him to Kyiv. After a battle with Svyatoslav's army near Lyubech, Yaroslav captured Kyiv and forced his brother to flee. However, after some time, Svyatoslav returns with Polish soldiers and recaptures the city again, pushing Yaroslav back to Novgorod. But the struggle does not end there either. Yaroslav again goes to Kyiv and this time he manages to win a final victory.
1016 - becomes prince in Kyiv, where he rules until his death.
The third civil strife in Rus'
The third feud began after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, who, during his lifetime, was very afraid that his death would lead to family strife and therefore tried to divide power between his children in advance. Although Yaroslav left clear instructions for his sons and established who would reign where, the desire to seize power in Kyiv again provoked civil strife between the Yaroslavichs and plunged Rus' into another war.
According to Yaroslav's covenant, Kyiv was given to his eldest son Izyaslav, Svyatoslav received Chernigov, Vsevolod received Pereyaslavl, Vyacheslav received Smolensk, and Igor received Vladimir.
In 1054, Yaroslav died, but his sons did not seek to conquer territories from each other; on the contrary, they unitedly fought against foreign invaders. However, when the external threat was defeated, a war for power in Rus' began.
Almost all of 1068, various children of Yaroslav the Wise were on the throne of Kyiv, but in 1069 power returned to Izyaslav again, as Yaroslav bequeathed. Since 1069, Izyaslav has ruled Russia.
1015-1019 - civil strife between the sons of Vladimir. Sources vaguely say to whom the dying Prince Vladimir was going to transfer his grand-ducal throne. Most modern historians (M. Braichevsky, M. Sverdlov, P. Tolochko), referring to the chronicle article, believe that such an heir, despite seniority, should have been his beloved son, the Rostov prince Boris. Other authors (A. Kuzmin, A. Karpov) believe that, according to the then custom of “tribal suzerainty,” all the sons of the Grand Duke had an equal right to occupy their father’s throne, and everything depended only on who would be the first of the de facto princes to take possession of it. Finally, another authors (N. Milyutenko) claim that shortly before his death, Vladimir, by analogy with the Byzantine tradition, intended to establish either a “duumvirate” consisting of Svyatopolk and Boris, or a “triumvirate” consisting of Svyatopolk, Boris and Gleb. However, this original hypothesis is in no way consistent with well-known sources.
In July 1015, without appointing his successor, the Grand Duke of Kiev "in illness and death" which his stepson Svyatopolk Yaropolkovich immediately took advantage of, who, being the first to learn about the death of his adoptive father, fled from Vyshgorod to Kyiv at night and, having presented the people of Kiev with rich gifts at a meeting he convened, took his father’s throne. When information about the events that took place in Kyiv reached Prince Boris, who was camped opposite the Pechenegs on the Alta River near Pereyaslavl, the princely governors invited him to march on Kyiv and regain his father’s throne by force. Prince Boris refused “raise your hands against your brother, against your elder” and father's squad "I got away from him" and the Rostov prince remained only "with your youths."
Prince Svyatopolk, “Filled with lawlessness, I accepted Cain’s meaning,” began to prepare the physical elimination of Boris as the most real contender for the grand ducal throne, for which he returned to Vyshgorod, where he agreed with the local boyars to carry out his insidious plan. After a secret conspiracy, boyar Putsha and "Putshina Chad" Talets, Elovich and Lyashko urgently left for the Alta River, where “like putting a beast on a spear and gouging Boris” in his princely tent, where after fervent prayer he lay down to rest. Svyatopolk’s next victim was the Murom prince Gleb, who was Boris’s brother not only on his father’s side, but also on his mother’s side. Having received false news from Svyatopolk about his father’s illness, Prince Gleb urgently left for Kyiv, but while already near Smolensk, he received news from the Novgorod Prince Yaroslav about the death of their father and the death of his brother. Yaroslav begged his younger brother not to go to Kyiv and not expose his life to mortal danger. However, Gleb “crying for my father, and especially for my brother,” said that “It would be better for me to die with my brother than to live in this world,” He quite deliberately doomed himself to death and remained near Smolensk, where a month later he was stabbed to death on the prince’s boat by his own cook, Judas Torchin. Soon the same fate befell another son of Vladimir, Prince Svyatoslav of Pinsk, who, trying to escape from the treacherous Svyatopolk, fled to the “Ugric Land”, but was overtaken by hired killers and killed by them somewhere in the Carpathians.
For the villainous murder of his brothers, Svyatopolk was nicknamed the Cursed by the chronicler, and under such a monstrous nickname of a fratricide he forever remained on the tablets of Russian history. However, back in the middle of the last century, Soviet historian N.N. Ilyin, in his famous monograph “The Chronicle Article of 6523 and Its Source” (1957), referring to one of the Scandinavian sagas, suggested that the true culprit in the death of Boris was not Svyatopolk the Accursed, but the Novgorod prince Yaroslav. In Soviet times, this original version was supported by a number of famous historians, in particular V.L. Yanin, M.Kh. Aleshkovsky, A.S. Khoroshev and A.B. Golovko. But at the same time, all these authors considered this version hypothetically and did not put on the mantle of judges pronouncing the final verdict. Recently, not only some liberal historians, in particular A.L., have assumed the judicial mantle. Yurganov, I.N. Danilevsky and N.F. Kotlyar, who turned this scientific hypothesis into an axiom, but also amateurs like G.M. Philist, who wrote a frankly weak work “The History of the “Crimes” of Svyatopolk the Accursed” (1990). Supporters of the “criminal acts of Yaroslav” questioned not only the circumstances, but also the very chronicle date of Boris’s death. N.N. Ilyin dated this event to 1018, and A.B. Golovko and I.N. Danilevsky - 1017
Despite such an active development of an “alternative version” of those bloody events, most modern authors (A. Kuzmin, P. Tolochko, M. Sverdlov, M. Braichevsky, A. Karpov, D. Borovkov) tend to trust Russian rather than foreign sources of dubious content and origin. Although some of them, in particular A.G. Kuzmin, M.Yu. Braichevsky and D.A. Borovkov, paid special attention to the different factual outline of those tragic events contained both in the PVL itself and in “The Tale of Boris and Gleb”, suggesting an obvious edition of the original PVL article.
While the fratricidal massacre was going on in the south of Rus', the Novgorod prince Yaroslav was preoccupied with the internal conflict in Novgorod itself, where a bloody brawl took place between the Novgorodians and the alien Varangian squad, hired by him for a possible rebuff to his father. Ultimately, Yaroslav not only managed to extinguish this conflict by granting the Novgorodians the so-called “Charter of Massacre”, but also enlisted the support of the local people. "ostentatious husbands" who gathered several thousand armed smerds under the banner of the Novgorod prince. After the internal affairs were resolved, Yaroslav decided to punish the insidious fratricide and went on a march to Kyiv. Svyatopolk himself, having received news of his half-brother’s speech, concluded an alliance treaty with the Pechenegs and set out to meet him. Both armies met near the city of Lyubech, where in the late autumn of 1016. "would slash evil" in which Yaroslav prevailed over his half-brother's drunken squad and victoriously ascended to his father's throne in Kyiv, and Svyatopolk "running to Lyakhi" under the protection of his father-in-law, the Polish king Boleslav the Brave.
In the summer of 1017, having repelled another Pecheneg raid on Kyiv, Grand Duke Yaroslav entered into a military alliance with the German Emperor Henry II and marched on the city of Brest, bordering Poland, where the fugitive prince Svyatopolk was possibly hiding. But in January 1018, the Budishin Peace Treaty was concluded between Germany and Poland and Yaroslav, finding himself in a difficult situation, retreated back. Throughout the first half of the coming year, both sides intensively prepared for the decisive battle, which took place at the end of July 1018 on the banks of the Bug River in Volyn. According to a long-established tradition, before it began, to raise morale, both sides began "bark obscene words" each other. But when the breadwinner and governor of Yaroslav Buda rudely insulted the Polish king himself, "verb" Besides that “I will rip through your fat belly with cod,” Boleslav, unable to bear the humiliating personal insult, despite his impressive size and weight, quickly jumped on his horse, crossed the Bug and immediately began the battle, which ended in the complete defeat of Yaroslav and his squad.
Yaroslav barely escaped from the battlefield and, accompanied by only four nearby youths, fled to Novgorod, and the victors solemnly entered Kiev, where Svyatopolk the Accursed sat on his father’s throne. True, Polish and German chronicles claimed that the Polish king actually took the throne, and Svyatopolk was only a puppet in his hands. But be that as it may, soon a rift arose between the son-in-law and father-in-law, and the Kievans themselves, outraged by the outrages of the visiting foreigners, "beat up the Poles" forced the Polish king and his squad to flee Kyiv. On the way home, Boleslav did not fail to add to his possessions the controversial “Cherven Castles” of Przemysl, Cherven, Kholm and Brody, which Vladimir had conquered from him almost forty years ago.
Prince Yaroslav, coolly received by the Novgorodians, was about to flee “overseas”, but the indignant townspeople, led by the mayor Konstantin Dobrynich, rebelled and forced Yaroslav to submit to their will and continue the fight for his father’s throne. Their joint efforts soon bore fruit: 1) the Novgorodians themselves, “When you start taking cattle from your husband at four kunas each, you buy a lot of them,” and 2) Prince Yaroslav, having concluded a military alliance with the powerful Swedish king Olaf Shotkonung, received his daughter Ingigerd and a large Norman squad as his wife. In the spring of 1019, the united army of the Novgorod prince went on a campaign against Svyatopolk and the Pechenegs allied to him. And in the summer of 1019 on the Alta River, in the very place “the idea of killing Boris was a slaughter of evil, even though it was not in Rus',” during which the Grand Duke of Kiev and his allied Pechenegs were completely defeated. Having suffered a crushing defeat, Svyatopolk again ran to "Lyadskaya land" under the protection of his father-in-law, but on the way he fell ill and “The desert borders the Lyakhi and the Czechs with their stomachs of evil.” And the winner Yaroslav finally regained his father’s throne and the title of Grand Duke of Kyiv. At the same time, in gratitude for the support in this long and difficult struggle, Prince Yaroslav probably granted Novgorod a special charter that freed it from paying the traditional “lesson” to the Grand Duke in Kyiv.
Second strife in Russia. 1015 Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavovich
died. But even before his death there appeared
prerequisites for civil strife.
1) Vladimir had many sons
2) Even before Vladimir’s death, Yaroslav (who
sat in Novgorod) stopped paying Kyiv
tribute.
After the death of Vladimir, Novgorod separated
Stopped paying tribute to Tmutarakan
Polotsk also overthrew the power of Kyiv.
Svyatopolk seized power in Kyiv (and ruled
should have been Boris).
Second strife in Rus'.
BorisI didn't want to go against my brother.
His words are known that glory,
wealth, honors are not eternal, what comes after them
it all went away as if it never happened.
Boris decided: “It’s better for me to die alone,
rather than destroy so many souls.”
07/24/1015 Boris was killed on the Alta River.
Gleb is Boris's brother. Gleb by deception
was withdrawn from Murom and by order
Svyatopolk was killed.
Second strife in Rus'.
Svyatopolk was nicknamed the Damned.He killed another of his brothers - Svyatoslav
Yaroslav came out against Svyatopolk with
Varangian squad.
Svyatopolk called the Pechenegs for help.
THIS IS THE FIRST CASE WHEN
THE PRINCE TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE FEDERAL FIGHT
WITH THE HELP OF THE STEPPE PEOPLE.
1016 BATTLE OF THE DNIEPR BETWEEN
YAROSLAV AND SVYATOPOLK.
1017 Yaroslav occupied Kyiv.
Svyatopolk did not want to give in and, together with
Polish army returned to Rus' and occupied
Kyiv. Yaroslav fled to Novgorod
Second Civil War in Rus'.
Soon Yaroslav took Kyiv for the second time.Svyatopolk returned to Russian land again and
the opponents met at the place where
Boris was killed.
Yaroslav's troops defeated Svyatopolk's troops.
Svyatopolk fled and died along the way.
There was a problem with Mstislav Tmutarakansky,
he did not want to submit to Kyiv. He subdued
themselves territories in the North Caucasus.
In 1024 he won for himself the right to half
Rus'.
But in 1036 these lands were again
annexed to Kyiv.
Why did strife become traditional for Rus'?
1) Huge territory of the state2) Different levels of development of its parts
3) Multinational composition of the population
The reign of Yaroslav the Wise. 1019-1054 (General information at home)
Historians equate Yaroslav's reign withthe heyday of the ancient Russian state.
1) Yaroslav the Wise developed and improved
viceroyalty system, built a vertical
authorities
2) Development of a full-fledged monetary system.
3) Russian truth is the first written set of laws,
a single set of laws began to function.
4) Yaroslav continues the policy of his father, according to
penetration into the Baltic. (in 1030 g it forms g.
Yuryev near Lake Peipus).
5) Development of architecture according to the Byzantine model
6) Kyiv is developing, 8 markets are being formed here, 400
churches.
7) Schools and libraries appear in monasteries.
There was an attempt to chronicle.
8) Architecture and icon painting are developing.
Domestic policy of Yaroslav the Wise.
Strengtheningcontrol systems
country.
Put into effect the first written document in Rus'
code of laws - Russian Truth.
Stone town planning developed.
Churches and cathedrals were erected.
Ya. The Wise begins politics
Reform of succession to the throne.
Strengthening the country's governance system.
Continuing the policies of his father and grandfather, hesent to large cities and lands his
sons.
Vladimir (he died), Izyaslav-Novgorod
Svyatoslav-Chernigov and Tmutarakan
Vsevolod – Pereyaslavl
The rest of his sons were seated in Rostov,
Smolensk, Vladimir-Volynsky
Russian truth
In the code of laws “Russian Truth” by YaroslavThe wise included punishments for theft, murder,
even various insults, as well as rules
conduct of the trial. It is very important that he canceled
death penalty! According to this law you can
determine that the country has begun the process of division
on estates, signs of social
inequalities. This is clearly visible in the system
fines, according to which for the same
crime, but in relation to different
social status of persons, the punishment was
various: for the murder of the fireman-vir
was 80 hryvnia, and for a slave - 5.
But blood feud was allowed. For murder you can
was to take revenge on the murderer and even kill him.
Vira is a fine for killing a person.
Urban planning.
Kyivhas become one of the largest
and beautiful cities of Europe.
The city of Yaroslavl was founded.
In the land of miracles - Yuryev.
1037 - foundation stone of St. Sophia Cathedral.
Golden Gate. (first mentioned 1037)
The policy of independence from the Byzantine Church.
For the first time as a metropolitan under himbecomes a Russian man - Illarion,
that is, Ya. The Wise begins politics
independence from the Byzantine Church.
Hilarion was a wonderful speaker,
author of "The Word of Law and Grace", in
in which he wrote about the equality of peoples and
glorified his native Russian land.
Reform of succession to the throne. Ladder law.
Yaroslav bequeathed that henceforth he would be the Grand Duke of Rus'eldest in the family.
Those. one brother was dying, his youngest sat on the Kiev table
brother, etc...
This reform in the future became one of the reasons for strife and
civil strife.
Older brother
Younger brothers in order
Big brother's children
Children of the following brothers
Grandchildren, great-grandchildren in the same order, etc.
Thus, those of the descendants whose fathers did not have time to visit
during the great reign, were deprived of the right to queue and received
allotments for food (or even became rogue princes). As the main prince changes, all the others
moved according to seniority from city to city. Same
the ladder order was preserved within individual
principalities into which Rus' broke up.
Foreign policy of Yaroslav the Wise.
Yaroslav continues his father's policy of infiltratingBaltic. He went on campaigns against the Lithuanian tribes.
In 1030 it forms the city of Yuryev near Lake Peipsi.
IN 1036 YAROSLAV DEFEATED THE PECHENAZH
ARMY.AFTER THIS BATTLE THE PECHENEGS ALMOST
WE STOPPED RAIDING ON RUSSIAN LANDS.
In 1043, Rus' went to war against Byzantium. There was a peace treaty
signed in 1046 - peaceful relations were resumed.
A marriage was arranged in honor of reconciliation between the son of Yaroslav
Vsevolod and the daughters of Constantine Monomakh.
Yaroslav established connections with the courtyards through marriage contracts
Europe. Yaroslav was married to the daughter of the Swedish king
Ingigerde, his sister was the wife of the Polish king Casimir
I. Yaroslav's daughter was married to the king of Norway.
All of Yaroslav's eldest sons were married to princesses
Poland, Germany, Byzantium. The daughters were married to
rulers of different countries. Anna - married to a Frenchman
king, Anastasia is the wife of the Hungarian king.
Foreign policy of Yaroslav the Wise. Results:
ATIN YAROSLAV Rus' BECOMES
EUROPEAN POWER.
All neighbors took into account the politics of Rus'.
Rus' defeated hordes of nomads, borders
were from the Carpathians to the Kama, from the Baltic to
Black Sea.
In the east, up to the lower reaches of the Volga, near
Rus' had no rivals.
Development of Culture under Yaroslav the Wise.
The prince paid a lot of attention to the developmenteducation: the first schools were built in which
primary education was given.
Many books were translated during his reign from
Greek into Russian was created
library. Yaroslav collected books, invited
translators, read a lot myself, had a huge
library. He considered books to be “rivers capable of
give wisdom to drink." The first one was created under him
library in St. Sophia Cathedral.
He paid great attention to education, including
number of their children. He wrote a “Will” to the children. IN
in it he urged his sons to love each other, not
to be at enmity, since strife is death for everyone,
called for peace and harmony.
Civil strife between the sons and grandsons of Yaroslav the Wise. The order of succession to the throne, established by Yaroslav the Wise, was maintained for 19 years. His eldest son stood at the head of Rus'. ruled in Chernigov, and Vsevolod ruled in Pereyaslavl, bordering the steppe. The younger sons sat in other distant cities. All of them, as the father established, obeyed their elder brother. But in 1073 everything changed.
There was a rumor in Kyiv that Izyaslav wants to rule just like his father, to be "autocratic". This alarmed the brothers, who did not want to obey their elder brother as they obeyed their father. Svyatoslav and Vsevolod moved their squads to Kyiv. Izyaslav fled to Poland, then to Germany. The Grand Duke's throne was captured by Svyatoslav, the second most important city in Rus' - Vsevolod took Chernigov into his own hands. But in 1076 Svyatoslav died. Not wanting to shed blood, Vsevolod voluntarily gave Kyiv to Izyaslav, and he himself retired to Chernigov. The brothers divided Rus' among themselves, pushing aside the sons of the late Svyatoslav. Vsevolod gave Pereyaslavl to his eldest son Vladimir, who was born in 1053 from the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh. From birth, Vladimir was assigned the family name of his Byzantine grandfather Monomakh. He entered Russian history as Vladimir Monomakh.
It was here that the beginning of another great and long unrest in Rus' was born. Svyatoslav's eldest son Oleg fled to Tmutarakan. In 1078, he gathered a large army, attracted the Polovtsians to his service and went to war against his uncles. This was not the first time that a Russian prince involved nomads in internecine wars in Rus', but Oleg made the Polovtsians his constant allies in the fight against other princes. For their help, he provided them with the opportunity to plunder and burn Russian cities and take people captive. No wonder he was nicknamed Oleg Gorislavich in Rus'.
A. Kalugin. Civil strife of princes
In the battle on Nezhatina Niva, Oleg was defeated and again took refuge in Tmutarakan. But in the same battle, Grand Duke Izyaslav was also killed. Vsevolod Yaroslavich settled in Kyiv, Chernigov passed to his son Vladimir.
Since the time of this internecine struggle, the Polovtsy began to constantly interfere in the struggle of the Russian princes with each other.
For the first time, hordes of Turkic Polovtsians appeared at the borders of Rus' in 1061. This was a new, numerous, merciless and insidious enemy. In the autumn, when the horses of the Polovtsians were well-fed after the free summer pastures, the time for raids began, and woe was to those who stood in the way of the nomads.
All adult Polovtsians went on a hike. Their horse avalanches suddenly appeared in front of the enemy. Armed with bows and arrows, sabers, lassos, and short spears, the Polovtsian warriors rushed into battle with a piercing cry, shooting while galloping, showering the enemy with a cloud of arrows. They raided cities, robbing and killing people, taking them captive.
The nomads did not like to fight with a large and well-organized army. To attack by surprise, to crush a numerically weak enemy, to suppress him, to separate enemy forces, to lure him into ambush, to destroy him - this is how they fought their wars. If the Polovtsy faced a strong enemy, they knew how to defend themselves: they quickly formed the carts in several circles, covered them with bull skins so that they could not be set on fire, and desperately fought back.
Illustration. Polovtsy in a devastated Russian city.
In former times, an invasion of such nomads would have brought Rus' to the brink of disaster. But now Rus' was a single state with large, well-fortified cities, a strong army, and a good security system. Therefore, nomads and Rus' began to coexist. Their relationship was sometimes peaceful, sometimes hostile. There was brisk trade between them, and the population communicated widely in the border areas. Russian princes and Polovtsian khans began to enter into dynastic marriages among themselves.
But as soon as the central government in Rus' weakened or strife began between the princes, the Polovtsians began their raids. They took part in the internecine struggle on the side of one prince or another, and at the same time robbed everyone. During their strife, the princes increasingly began to invite the Polovtsians to Rus'.
In the absence of a leader. In 1093, the last of the sons of Yaroslav the Wise, Vsevolod, died. The time has come for Yaroslav's grandchildren. There were no big state affairs behind them, no deep reforms, no major military campaigns. But there was a lot of ambition, pride, envy, and scores against each other. And there was no leader among them who could calm this chaos.
Formally, Izyaslav’s son Svyatopolk became the eldest in the family. He laid claim to the grand-ducal throne. But he was an indecisive, lightweight person, distinguished by petty intrigue and a feeling of envy of his capable and bright cousins Vladimir and Oleg. However, the Kiev veche proclaimed him Grand Duke. The second most important prince in Rus' remained, who continued to own Chernigov. And the third cousin Oleg Svyatoslavich was in Tmutarakan. Oleg, quite rightly, due to his seniority, now laid claim to the second table in Rus' - the Principality of Chernigov.
Oleg was a brave knight, but an extremely ambitious and touchy person. In anger, he destroyed everything left and right. If his honor, his right to primacy were hurt, he stopped at nothing. Wisdom, prudence, and the interests of the homeland receded into the background.
In Rus', with external unity and in the presence of the great Kyiv prince Svyatopolk, three groups of rival princes emerged: one - Kiev, led by Svyatopolk; the second - Chernigov-Pereyaslav, headed by Vladimir Monomakh; the third is Tmutarakan, led by Oleg. And behind each prince there was a squad, there were strengthened, rich, populous cities, supporters throughout Rus'. This situation threatened new strife, new civil strife.
The beginning of the military activities of Vladimir Monomakh.
From a young age, Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh showed himself to be a brave warrior, a talented commander and a skilled diplomat. For many years he reigned in different cities of Rus' - Rostov, Vladimir-Volynsky, Smolensk, but most of all in Pereyaslavl, next to the Polovtsian steppe. Already in those years he acquired extensive military experience.
Back in 1076, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich placed Monomakh, together with his son Oleg, at the head of his army, sent to help the Poles in their war with the Czechs and Germans. The army under his command fought through the Czech Republic, won a number of victories over the united Czech-German forces and returned to their homeland with glory and great booty.
Vladimir Monomakh became especially famous in the 80s. 9th century in the fight against the Polovtsians. Vsevolod, who sat on the Kiev throne, essentially entrusted his son with the defense of the entire steppe border of Rus'. At that time, Monomakh, fighting with the nomads, did not hesitate for an hour. He acted boldly and decisively. Monomakh himself more than once went deep into the Polovtsian steppe and crushed the Polovtsian hordes there. Essentially, he became the first Russian prince who sought to beat the nomads on their territory. This was a new military tactic for Rus'. Already at that time, in Polovtsian tents and wagons, mothers frightened children with the name of Vladimir Monomakh.
By the beginning of the 90s. XI century he became the strongest and most influential prince in Rus', who did not know defeat on the battlefield. He was known among the people as a patriotic prince who spared neither strength nor life for the defense of Russian lands.
The Battle of Trepol and Oleg's campaign. In 1093 the Polovtsians undertook a great campaign. Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, who had just ascended the throne, was eager to fight. He turned to Vladimir Monomakh for help, but the cautious prince advised this time to pay off his enemies, because Rus' was not ready for a big war. However, Svyatopolk insisted on the campaign. The united Kiev, Chernigov and Pereyaslav army set out on a campaign. The Pereyaslavl team was commanded by Vladimir's young brother Rostislav.
The troops converged near the city of Trepol, on the banks of the Stugna River, a tributary of the Dnieper. A thunderstorm was approaching. Monomakh persuaded them to wait out the bad weather. He did not want the river to remain in the rear of the Russian army during a thunderstorm. But Svyatopolk and his warriors were eager to fight.
The Russian army barely crossed the river, swollen from the flood, and prepared for battle. At this time a thunderstorm broke out. The water in Stugna was rising before our eyes. The Polovtsy struck the first blow against Svyatopolk’s squad. The Kievans could not withstand the onslaught and fled. Then the entire mass of the Polovtsy swept away the left wing of Monomakh. The Russian army disintegrated. The warriors rushed back to the river. During the crossing, Rostislav was blown off his horse and drowned. Only a small part of the Russian army made it to the opposite bank of the river and escaped. This was Monomakh's first and last defeat.
That year the Polovtsians inflicted enormous damage on Rus'. They plundered many cities and villages, took large booty, and took away hundreds of captives. Oleg Svyatoslavich chose this time to regain Chernigov.
Oleg and his allied Polovtsians approached this city, behind whose walls Monomakh took refuge with a small number of warriors. The Polovtsians carried out robbery of the area. Monomakh's warriors repulsed all the assaults, but the situation was hopeless. And then Vladimir Monomakh agreed to give Oleg his family nest - Chernigov. He himself was returning to Pereyaslavl, orphaned after the death of his brother. And so a bunch of people leave the city and move through the ranks of the enemy army. Monomakh later recalled that the Polovtsy, like wolves, licked their lips at the prince and his family, but Oleg kept his word and did not allow them to attack their sworn enemy.
Invasion of the Cumans
The fight against the Polovtsians and the strife of the princes.
In 1095, the Polovtsians again came to Rus' and besieged Pereyaslavl, knowing that Vladimir had not yet managed to gather a new army and could not fight them in an open field. Having entered into negotiations with the enemy, Monomakh then managed to strike them. After this, he sent messengers to Kyiv and Chernigov, calling on his brothers to send squads and finish off the Polovtsians. Svyatopolk sent soldiers, but Oleg, an old friend of the steppes, refused. The Kiev-Pereyaslav army went deep into the steppe and destroyed several Polovtsian camps, capturing rich booty.
In 1096, the Russian princes decided with united forces to again strike at the Polovtsians in the depths of the steppes. But Oleg again refused to join his brothers, and then the Kiev-Pereyaslav army, instead of marching to the steppe, moved to Chernigov. The princes took this city from Oleg and assigned him to live in the forest Murom, away from the Polovtsian steppe. But while Vladimir Monomakh’s son Izyaslav reigned in Murom, this meant that Oleg was left without any possessions at all. This was unbearable for the ambitious prince, and he was only waiting for an opportunity to achieve his rights by force.
And such an opportunity presented itself in the same year: two large Polovtsian hordes moved towards Rus'. While Vladimir and Svyatopolk were repelling one horde from Pereyaslavl, the other besieged Kyiv, took and plundered the Kiev Pechersky Monastery. The princes rushed to the rescue of Kyiv, but the Polovtsy, loaded with booty, left before the Russian squads appeared here.
At this time, Oleg headed towards Murom. The young and inexperienced prince Izyaslav Vladimirovich came out to meet him. Oleg defeated his squad, and the Murom prince himself fell in battle. The news of his son's death shocked Vladimir, but instead of taking up the sword and taking revenge on the offender, he took up the pen.
Monomakh wrote a letter to Oleg. He proposed not to destroy the Russian land, but he himself promised not to avenge his son, noting that the death of a warrior in battle is a natural thing. Monomakh called on Oleg to put an end to the bloodshed and reach a peace agreement. He admitted that he was wrong in many ways, but at the same time wrote about Oleg’s injustices and cruelties. But this time the cousin refused. And then the entire Monomakh tribe set out to attack him. He himself did not take part in the campaign, but instructed his sons to crush Oleg. In the decisive battle, they defeated Oleg's squad, who soon asked for peace, swearing on the cross that he would carry out any order of the other princes.
Lyubech Congress
Lyubech Congress. In 1097 The Russian princes decided to put an end to civil strife and rally their forces in the fight against the Polovtsians. The meeting place was chosen as the ancestral castle of Monomakh in the city of Lyubech. This fact alone can tell who initiated the congress.
Illustration. Lyubechsky Congress of Princes.
Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, brothers Oleg and David Svyatoslavich, Vladimir Monomakh, David Igorevich from Vladimir-Volynsky and his opponent Vasilko Rostislavich from the neighboring city of Terebovlya, the great-grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, a brave and enterprising young prince, gathered in Lyubech. They all came with their boyars and squads. The princes and their closest associates sat down at a common table in the huge castle hall.
As the chronicle tells, the princes said at the congress: “Why are we destroying the Russian land, bringing quarrels upon ourselves? And the Polovtsians are plundering our land and rejoicing that we are torn apart by internecine wars. From now on, let us unite wholeheartedly and preserve the Russian land, and let everyone own his homeland.”. So, the princes agreed that each of them would retain the lands of their fathers. And for violating this order, the renegade princes were threatened with punishment from other princes. Thus, the congress once again confirmed the covenant of Yaroslav the Wise to preserve for the princes their "father". This indicated that the united state began to disintegrate, because even the Kiev prince could not enter into other people's possessions. At the same time, the congress confirmed that the Kiev prince is still the main prince of Rus'. The princes also agreed on joint actions against the Polovtsians.
The reason for this increased independence of individual lands of Rus' was the strengthening of their economic and military power, the growth of cities, and the increase in their population. And Chernigov, and Pereyaslavl, and Smolensk, and Novgorod, and Rostov, and Vladimir-Volynsky, and other cities did not need protection from the central government to the same extent as before: they had their own numerous boyars, squads, fortresses, temples, bishops, monasteries, strong merchants, artisans. And most importantly, at that time, at the head of Rus' there was a weak ruler who did not have the will and strength to subjugate the entire country. The only thing that still united all the lands was their fear of Polovtsian invasions. The church also spoke out for the unity of Rus'.
Several days passed after the Lyubech Congress, and it became clear that no amount of oaths could appease the princes fighting for power and wealth.
The meeting participants had not yet reached their cities, and terrible news came from Kyiv: Svyatopolk of Kiev and Davyd of Vladimir-Volynsky captured Prince Vasilko of Terebovlsky, who stopped by the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery to pray. Davyd ordered the prisoner's eyes to be gouged out and thrown into prison.
This angered the rest of the princes, and first of all Monomakh, who had done so much to gather the princes in Lyubech. The united army of many princes approached Kyiv. This time Oleg Chernigovsky also brought his squad. The princes forced Svyatopolk to obey and join them in the campaign against David. Davyd, frightened, asked for mercy, released the blinded Vasilko and returned his possessions to him.
The fragile peace in Rus' was restored, which made it possible to intensify the fight against the Polovtsians.
