Features of the political and state development of the Galicia-Volyn principality during the period of state fragmentation of the XII-XIV centuries. Features of the Galicia-Volyn principality in the appanage period (XII–XIII centuries)

The Galicia-Volyn principality was formed in 1199 as a result of the capture of Galich by Roman Mstislavovich Volynsky. Before this, the two principalities existed separately. The state existed until the end of the 14th century, when it was captured by Lithuania and Poland.

Between West and East

The location of the Galician-Volyn lands turned them into a connecting link between Western Europe and Russia. This feature led to the instability of the state - its territory was constantly claimed by neighbors who wanted to take advantage of natural advantages.

At the same time, this geographical position of the Galicia-Volyn principality was favorable for trade. During the heyday of the state, it was the largest supplier of bread to Europe, and had more than 80 cities, which was quite a lot by the standards of that time.

Nature and territories

The territory of the Galicia-Volyn principality was located in the valleys of the Western Bug, San, Danube, and Dniester rivers. Thanks to this location, it was possible to access the Black Sea. Initially, these lands were inhabited by tribal unions of Ulichs, Volynians, White Croats, Tiverts, and Dulebs. The principality bordered on Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, the Teutonic Order, Berlady (after the Mongol invasion - the Golden Horde), and from the Russian lands - on the Kiev, Turovo-Pinsk and Polotsk principalities. The borders were unstable. The reason was both strife between Russian princes and frequent conflicts with southern and western neighbors. For a long time, the principality was directly dependent on the Golden Horde.

The natural and climatic conditions were favorable. In general, they corresponded to the classics of central Europe. Significant areas of black soil in the western Bug region contributed to the development of agriculture. There were significant forest reserves (part of the Carpathians also belonged to the principality). Natural conditions stimulated not only agriculture, but also various crafts - hunting, fishing, beekeeping.

Administrative nuances

In addition to the Galician and Volyn territories themselves, the principality also owned the Terebovlyan, Kholmsky, Lutsk, and Belz lands. A significant part of them was annexed during the reign of Daniil Romanovich (1205-1264), both military and peacefully (for example, the prince inherited the Lutsk lands).

The capital of the united principality is Galich, although the Volyn prince stood at the origins of the united state. Later, the functions of the capital were partially transferred to Lvov (also built by Daniil Romanovich and named after the prince’s son).

In Volyn until the middle of the 12th century. there was no own dynasty of princes. As a rule, it was directly ruled from Kyiv or at times Kyiv proteges sat at the Vladimir table.

The formation of the Galician principality began in the second half of the 11th century. This process is associated with the activities of the founder of the Galician dynasty, Prince Rostislav Vladimirovich, grandson of Yaroslav the Wise.

The heyday of the Principality of Galicia occurred during the reign of Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153-1187), who gave a decisive rebuff to the Hungarians and Poles who were pressing on him and waged a fierce struggle against the boyars. With the death of his son Vladimir Yaroslavich, the Rostislavich dynasty ceased to exist, and in 1199, the Vladimir-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich took possession of the Galician principality and united the Galician and Volyn lands into a single Galician-Volyn principality. Its center was Galich, then Kholm, and from 1272 Lvov. The victorious campaigns of Roman's squads against Lithuania, Poland, Hungary and the Polovtsians created high international authority for him and the principality.

After the death of Roman (1205), the western lands of Rus' again entered a period of unrest and princely-boyar civil strife. The struggle between the feudal groups in the western lands of Rus' reached its greatest intensity under the young sons of Roman Mstislavich - Daniil and Vasilka.

The Galician-Volyn principality broke up into appanages - Galician, Zvenigorod and Vladimir. This made it possible for Hungary, where young Daniel was raised at the court of King Andrew II, to constantly interfere in Galician-Volyn affairs, and soon to occupy Western Russian lands. The boyar opposition was not so organized and mature as to turn the Galician land into a boyar republic, but it had enough strength to organize endless conspiracies and riots against the princes.

Shortly before the invasion of Batu's hordes, Daniil Romanovich managed to overcome the opposition from the powerful Galician and Volyn boyars and in 1238 entered Galich in triumph. In the fight against the feudal opposition, power relied on the squad, city leaders and feudal service lords. The masses strongly supported Daniel's unifying policy. In 1239, the Galician-Volyn army captured Kiev, but the success was short-lived.

Hoping to create an anti-Horde coalition on a European scale with the help of the pope, Daniil Romanovich agreed to accept the royal crown offered to him by Innocent IV. The coronation took place in 1253.

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

Social system. A feature of the social structure of the Galicia-Volyn principality was that a large group of boyars was created there, in whose hands almost all land holdings were concentrated. However, the process of formation of large feudal landownership did not proceed in the same way everywhere. In Galicia, its growth outpaced the formation of the princely domain. In Volyn, on the contrary, along with boyar land tenure, domain land ownership received significant development. This is explained by the fact that it was in Galicia that the economic and political prerequisites for a more rapid growth of large feudal landownership matured earlier than in Volyn. The princely domain began to take shape when the predominant part of the communal lands was seized by the boyars and the circle of free lands for the princely domains was limited. In addition, the Galician princes, trying to enlist the support of local feudal lords, distributed part of their lands to them and thereby reduced the princely domain.

The most important role among the feudal lords of the Galician-Volyn principality was played by the Galician boyars - “Galician men.” They owned large estates and dependent peasants. In the source

Nikahs of the 12th century the ancestors of the Galician boyars act as “princely men.” The strength of this boyars, who expanded the boundaries of their possessions and conducted large-scale trade, continuously increased. There was a constant struggle within the boyars for lands and power. Already in the 12th century. “Galician men” oppose any attempts to limit their rights in favor of princely power and growing cities.

Another group consisted of service feudal lords, whose sources of land holdings were princely grants, boyar lands confiscated and redistributed by the princes, as well as unauthorized seizures of communal lands. In the vast majority of cases, they held land conditionally while they served, i.e. for service and under the condition of service. Serving feudal lords supplied the prince with an army consisting of feudal-dependent peasants. The Galician princes relied on them in their fight against the boyars.

The ruling class of the Galicia-Volyn principality also included large church nobility in the person of archbishops, bishops, abbots of monasteries and others, who also owned vast lands and peasants. Churches and monasteries acquired land holdings through grants and donations from princes. Often they, like princes and boyars, seized communal lands, and turned peasants into monastic or church feudal dependent people.

The bulk of the rural population in the Galicia-Volyn principality were peasants. Both free and dependent peasants were called smerds. The predominant form of peasant land ownership was communal, later called “dvorishche”. Gradually the community broke up into individual households.

The process of the formation of large land holdings and the formation of a class of feudal lords was accompanied by an increase in the feudal dependence of the peasants and the emergence of feudal rent. Labor rent in the XI-XII centuries. gradually replaced by product rent. The amount of feudal duties was set by the feudal lords at their own discretion.

The brutal exploitation of peasants intensified the class struggle, which often took the form of popular uprisings against the feudal lords. Such a mass uprising of peasants was, for example, the uprising in 1159 under Yaroslav Osmomysl.

Serfdom in the Galicia-Volyn principality was preserved, but the number of serfs decreased, many of them were planted on the land and merged with the peasants.

In the Galicia-Volyn principality there were over 80 cities, including the largest - Berestye (later Brest), Vladimir, Galich, Lvov, Lutsk, Przemysl, Kholm.

The largest group of the urban population were artisans. Jewelry, pottery, blacksmithing and glass-making workshops were located in the cities. They worked both for the customer and for the market, internal or external. The salt trade brought great profits. Being a large commercial and industrial center, Galich quickly also acquired the significance of a cultural center. The famous Galician-Volyn chronicle and other written monuments of the 12th-13th centuries were created there.

Political system. The peculiarity of the Galicia-Volyn principality was that for a long time it was not divided into appanages. After the death of Daniil Romanovich, it split into Galician and Volyn lands, and then each of these lands began to split up in turn. Another special feature was that power was essentially in the hands of the large boyars.

Since the Galician-Volyn princes did not have a broad economic and social base, their power was fragile. It was passed down through generations. The place of the deceased father was taken by the eldest of the sons, whom his other brothers were supposed to “honor in their father’s place.” The widow-mother enjoyed significant political influence under her sons. Despite the system of vassalage on which relations between members of the princely house were built, each princely domain was politically largely independent.

Although the princes expressed the interests of the feudal lords as a whole, they nevertheless could not concentrate the fullness of state power in their hands. The Galician boyars played a major role in the political life of the country. It even controlled the princely table - it invited and removed princes. The history of the Galicia-Volyn principality is full of examples when princes who lost the support of the boyars were forced to leave their principalities. The forms of struggle of the boyars against unwanted princes are also characteristic. They invited Hungarians and Poles against them, put to death unwanted princes (this is how the princes Igorevich were hanged in 1208), and removed them from Galicia (in 1226). There is a known case when the boyar Volodislav Kormilchich, who did not belong to the dynasty, proclaimed himself a prince in 1231. Often, representatives of the ecclesiastical nobility were at the head of boyar revolts directed against the prince. In such a situation, the main

Chapter 5. Rus' during the period of feudal fragmentation

§ 3. Galicia-Volyn principality

The main support of the princes were the middle and small feudal lords, as well as the city elite.

The Galician-Volyn princes had certain administrative, military, judicial and legislative powers. In particular, they appointed officials in cities and towns, allocating them with land holdings under the condition of service, and were formally the commanders-in-chief of all armed forces. But each boyar had his own military militia, and since the Galician boyars’ regiments often outnumbered the prince’s, in case of disagreement, the boyars could argue with the prince using military force. The supreme judicial power of the princes in case of disagreements with the boyars passed to the boyar elite. Finally, the princes issued letters concerning various issues of government, but they were often not recognized by the boyars.

The boyars exercised their power with the help of the boyar council. Its members included the largest landowners, bishops and persons holding the highest government positions. The composition, rights, and competence of the council were not determined.

The Galician-Volyn princes from time to time, under emergency circumstances, convened a veche in order to strengthen their power, but it did not have much influence. Small merchants and artisans could be present, but the decisive role was played by the top feudal lords.

The Galician-Volyn princes took part in all-Russian feudal congresses. Occasionally, congresses of feudal lords were convened, relating only to the Galicia-Volyn principality. So, in the first half of the 12th century. A congress of feudal lords took place in the city of Shartse to resolve the issue of civil strife over the volosts between the sons of the Przemysl prince Volodar Rostislav and Vladimirk.

In the Galicia-Volyn principality, palace-patrimonial administration arose earlier than in other Russian lands. In the system of this administration, the courtier, or butler, played a significant role. He was in charge of basically all matters relating to the court

prince, he was entrusted with the command of individual regiments; during military operations he protected the life of the prince.

Among the palace ranks, mention is made of a printer, a steward, a cup keeper, a falconer, a hunter, a stable keeper, etc. The printer was in charge of the princely office and was the custodian of the princely treasury, which at the same time was also the princely archive. In his hands was the princely seal. The steward was in charge of the prince's table, served him during meals, and was responsible for the quality of the table. Chashnichiy was in charge of the side forests, cellars and everything related to the supply of drinks to the princely table. The falconer was in charge of bird hunting. The hunter was in charge of hunting the beast. The main function of the groom was to serve the princely cavalry. Numerous princely keykeepers acted under the control of these officials. The positions of butler, printer, steward, groom and others gradually turned into palace ranks.

The territory of the Galicia-Volyn principality was initially divided into thousands and hundreds. As the thousand and sotskys with their administrative apparatus gradually became part of the palace-patrimonial apparatus of the prince, the positions of governors and volostels arose in their place. Accordingly, the territory of the principality was divided into voivodeships and volosts. The communities elected elders who were in charge of administrative and minor judicial matters.

Posadniks were appointed and sent directly to the cities by the prince. They not only had administrative and military power, but also performed judicial functions and collected tributes and duties from the population.

Right. The legal system of the Galicia-Volyn principality was not much different from the legal systems that existed in other Russian lands during the period of feudal fragmentation. The norms of Russian Truth, only slightly modified, continued to apply here.

The Galician-Volyn princes, of course, also issued their own acts. Among them, a valuable source characterizing the economic relations of the Galician principality with Czech, Hungarian and other merchants is the charter of Prince Ivan Rosti-slavich Berladnik in 1134. It established a number of benefits for foreign merchants. Around 1287, the Manuscript of Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich was published, concerning the rules of inheritance law in the Vladimir-Volyn principality. The document says-

Chapter 5. Rus' during the period of feudal fragmentation

about the transfer by Prince Vladimir of the right to exploit the feudally dependent population to the heirs. At the same time, it provides materials for studying the management of villages and cities. Around 1289, the Charter of Volyn Prince Mstislav Daniilovich was published, characterizing the duties that fell on the shoulders of the feudally dependent population of Southwestern Rus'.

tttnChapter 6. MONGOL-TATAR STATES

ON THE TERRITORY OF OUR COUNTRY

tttk During the period of fragmentation in Rus', the development of the early feudal state continued. Relatively centralized Ancient Rus' breaks up into a mass of large, medium, small and tiny states. In their political forms, even small feudal estates are trying to copy the Kiev state.

During this period, a fundamentally new form of government appeared - the republic. The Novgorod and Pskov feudal republics are widely known. Less known is Vyatka, a colony of Novgorod that arose at the end of the 12th century. on the Mari and Udmurt lands, which became an independent state and existed until the end of the 15th century.1

All the considered feudal powers are united, in principle, by a single legal system, which is based on an epoch-making legal act - the Russian Truth. Not a single principality is creating a new law that can at least to some extent replace the Russian Truth. Only its new editions are being formed. Only in feudal republics (and this is not accidental) do new major legislative acts arise.

The feudal fragmentation of Rus', like other regions of the country, was an inevitable stage in the development of the state. But this inevitability cost our people dearly. In the 13th century Mongol-Tatar hordes fell on Rus'.

State and law of Rus' during the period of feudal fragmentation (XII - XIV centuries). Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. The Rostov-Suzdal (later Vladimir-Suzdal) principality was located between the middle and lower reaches of the Oka, on the one hand, and the upper and middle reaches of the Volga, on the other. This area was originally inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes: Merya, Muroma. The poor development of these tribes has long allowed the Slavs to penetrate their country and establish several colonies in it. In the 8th – 9th centuries, two main streams of colonizers – the Slavs – headed to the area between the Oka and Volga rivers: from the west (Krivichi) and southwest (Vyatichi), as well as from the north-west, from the Novgorod lands. There are several reasons for Slavic colonization. Firstly, these are relatively favorable conditions for economic activity: the presence of arable land, water meadows, a temperate climate, forests rich in furs, berries and mushrooms, rivers and lakes abounding in fish. Secondly, there was no external threat and internal strife. And although the northeastern princes in the 12th century took an active part in princely strife, the lands of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' themselves rarely became the arena of these wars. Favorable climatic and geographical conditions, the presence of iron ore deposits, and the proximity of river trade routes contributed to the fact that in the 12th – early 13th centuries the Rostov-Suzdal land experienced economic growth. The number of cities grew, Vladimir, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Kostroma, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod appeared. In the 11th – 12th centuries, large princely, boyar and church land ownership developed here.

Vladimir-Suzdal land. For many centuries, North-Eastern Rus' was one of the most remote corners of the East Slavic lands. At a time when in the X-XI centuries. Kiev, Novgorod, Chernigov and other cities of the Middle Dnieper and north-west, thanks to their advantageous geographical position, economic and political development, the concentration of the bulk of the East Slavic population here, became prominent economic, political, religious and cultural centers, entered the international arena, and became the basis for the creation a single state, in the area between the Oka, Volga, and Klyazma rivers, where the Vladimir-Suzdal principality later arose, primitive customs still reigned.

Features of the political, socio-economic development of Russian principalities and lands in the XII-XIII centuries. Vladimir-Suzdal Principality.

By the beginning of the 13th century, the Russian land had reached a high degree of prosperity. In the absence of a single center, as Kyiv used to be, regional cities, the capitals of large state entities-lands, became centers of political and cultural life along with it. It is customary to designate individual principalities or lands by the names of these capital cities. The largest of them were: Novgorod, Vladimir-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn, Ryazan and other lands. Each of the lands was ruled by appanage princes, who were subordinate to their elder relatives, who owned the central and most significant cities. Quarrels constantly arose between the rival princes.

But among the political heirs of Kievan Rus, the most significant were the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, the Novgorod boyar republic and the Galicia-Volyn land. Each of these state formations developed its own original political tradition. Each of them had features in socio-economic development.

Only in the VIII-IX centuries. The Vyatichi tribe appeared here, moving here from the southwest, from the Voronezh region. Before this, Finno-Ugric tribes lived here, and to the west - Baltic tribes, who were the main inhabitants of the region. The Slavic colonization of these places proceeded in two directions - from the southwest and west, from the region of the Middle Dnieper and from the northwest, from the Novgorod lands, the Beloozero region, and Ladoga. An ancient trade road from Novgorod Rus' to the Volga ran here; Following the traders, settlers walked along this road, who, together with the local Vyatichi tribe, as well as the Krivichi and Finno-Ugric people who lived nearby, began to develop these places.

In the area between the Oka, Volga, and Klyazma rivers there was a lot of arable land suitable for agriculture, especially in the future Suzdal Rus'; Magnificent water meadows stretched here for hundreds of kilometers. The temperate climate made it possible to develop both agriculture and cattle breeding; The dense forests were rich in furs, berries and mushrooms grew here in abundance, and beekeeping had long flourished, which produced honey and wax that were so valued at that time. Wide and calmly flowing rivers, full-flowing and deep lakes abounded in fish. With persistent and systematic work, this land could fully feed, water, shoe, warm a person, give him material for building houses, and people persistently developed these unpretentious places.

In addition, North-Eastern Rus' knew almost no foreign invasions. The waves of violent invasions of the steppe inhabitants did not reach here in the first millennium AD. Later, the sword of the enterprising Baltic conquerors - the Varangians - did not reach here, and the Polovtsian cavalry did not reach these distances, crashing into impenetrable forest thickets. Life here did not flow as brightly and dynamically as in the Dnieper region, but it was calm and thorough. Later, Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', which remained in retreat, although it took an active part in the internecine battles of the 12th century, rarely became the scene of bloody battles. More often, its princes led their squads to the south, reaching Chernigov, Pereslavl, Kyiv and even Vladimir-Galician Rus'.

All this contributed to the fact that, albeit at a slow pace, life here developed, new lands were developed, trading posts arose, cities were built and became richer; later than in the south, but patrimonial land ownership also arose.

In the 11th century large urban centers already stood here - Rostov, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Murom, Ryazan. Under Vladimir Monomakh, Vladimir-on-Klyazma and Pereyaslavl, built by him and named in his honor, arose.

By the middle of the 12th century. Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' embraced vast expanses of East Slavic, Finno-Ugric, and Baltic lands. Its possessions extended from the taiga forests of the north, the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina, the coast of the White Sea to the borders with the Polovtsian steppe in the south, from the upper reaches of the Volga in the east to the Smolensk and Novgorod lands in the west and northwest.

Back in the 11th century. The lands of Rostov and Suzdal, with their backward economic systems, where hunting and trade predominated, with a population that stubbornly adhered to their tribal traditions and old pagan beliefs, represented a permanent stronghold of tribal, later pagan, separatism. And it took Kyiv great efforts to keep the rebellious Vyatichi tribe in check and to overcome strong uprisings led by pagan sorcerers. In the fight against the Vyatichi, Svyatoslav, Vladimir I, Yaroslav the Wise, and Vladimir Monomakh tested their military talents.

But as soon as this northeastern corner finally entered the orbit of influence of Kyiv, new centrifugal forces began to work, which seemed to breathe new life into the desire of North-Eastern Rus' for a life separate from Kiev. Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', which was then called the Rostov, and later the Rostov-Suzdal principality after the names of the main cities of these places - Rostov and Suzdal, began to rise under Vladimir Monomakh. He came here to reign at the age of 12, sent by his father Vsevolod Yaroslavich. Since then, the Rostov-Suzdal land has firmly become part of the “fatherland” of Monomakh and the Monomakhovichs. In times of difficult trials, in times of bitter defeats, the children and grandchildren of Monomakh knew that here they would always find help and support. Here they will be able to gain new strength for fierce political battles with their rivals.

At one time, Vladimir Monomakh sent one of his younger sons, Yuri Vladimirovich, to reign here, then, having made peace with the Polovtsians, he married him to the daughter of the allied Polovtsian khan. For the time being, Yuri, as the youngest, remained in the shadow of his other brothers. Yes, there were older rulers in Rus' - his uncles and the Chernigov Olgovichs.

But as he matured, as the older princes passed away, the voice of the Rostov-Suzdal prince sounded louder in Rus' and his claims to primacy in all-Russian affairs became more and more solid. And it was not only his irrepressible thirst for power, his desire for primacy, not only his policy of seizing foreign lands, for which he received the nickname Dolgoruky, but also the economic, political, cultural isolation of a huge region, which increasingly sought to live according to of your own free will. This was especially true of the large and wealthy northeastern cities. There are no words, they were smaller, poorer, unsightly than Kyiv, Chernigov, Galich, but in these places they increasingly became the focus of economic power and independence, enterprise and initiative. If the “old” cities - Rostov and especially Suzdal were, in addition, strong with their boyar groups and the princes there felt increasingly uncomfortable, then in the new cities - Vladimir, Yaroslavl they relied on the growing urban classes, the top of the merchant class, artisans, and dependent from them were small landowners who received land for service to the Grand Duke.

In the middle of the 12th century. Thanks mainly to the efforts of Yuri Dolgoruky, the Rostov-Suzdal principality from a distant outskirts, which had previously dutifully sent its squads to help the Kiev prince, turned into a vast independent principality that pursued an active policy within the Russian lands and expanded its external borders.

Yuri Dolgoruky tirelessly fought with the Volga Bulgaria, which, at a time of deterioration in relations, tried to block Russian trade on the Volga route, blocking the road to the Caspian Sea, to the East. He waged a confrontation with Novgorod for influence on adjacent and border lands. Even then, in the 12th century, rivalry between North-Eastern Rus' and Novgorod arose, which later resulted in a bitter struggle between the Novgorod aristocratic republic and the rising Moscow. For many years, Yuri Dolgoruky also stubbornly fought to seize the Kyiv throne.

Participating in inter-princely strife, fighting with Novgorod, Yuri had an ally in the person of the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav Olgovich, who was older than the Rostov-Suzdal prince and had previously laid claim to the Kiev throne. Yuri helped him with an army, and he himself undertook a successful campaign against the Novgorod lands. Svyatoslav did not win the throne of Kyiv, but he “fought” the Smolensk lands. And then both prince-allies met for negotiations and a friendly feast in the border town of Suzdal, Moscow. Yuri Dolgoruky invited his ally there, to the small fortress, and wrote to him: “Come to me, brother, in Moscow.” On April 4, 1147, the allies met in Moscow. Svyatoslav gave Yuri a hunting cheetah, and Yuri gave “many gifts,” as the chronicler noted. And then Yuri arranged a “strong dinner” and feasted with his ally. This is how Moscow was first mentioned in historical sources. But the activities of Yuri Dolgoruky are connected not only with this city. He built a number of other cities and fortresses. Among them are Zvenigorod, Dmitrov, Yuryev-Polsky, Ksnyatin.

Ultimately, in the 50s of the 12th century. Yuri Dolgoruky took possession of the Kyiv throne, but soon died in Kyiv in 1157.

V.N. Tatishchev, in whose hands were many ancient Russian chronicles that have not reached us, described the appearance and character of Yuri Dolgoruky this way: “This Grand Duke was of considerable height, fat, white in face, not great eyes, long and crooked nose, small hair; a great lover of wives, sweet treats and drinks; most of all, he was diligent about fun, rather than about justice (government) and the army, but all of this consisted in the power and supervision of his nobles and favorites.” News about feasts in Moscow and Kiev seem to confirm this characterization, but at the same time one cannot help but see its certain one-sidedness. Yuri Dolgoruky was one of the first major statesmen of North-Eastern Rus', under whom this region firmly took a leading place among other Russian lands. And even the fact that he entrusted all matters to his assistants and advisers does not in any way detract from some of his merits: the prince knew how to select people who carried out his policies.

In 1157, the son of Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Yuryevich (1157-1174), born of a Polovtsian princess, ascended the throne in the Rostov-Suzdal principality. Andrei Yuryevich was born around 1120, when his grandfather Vladimir Monomakh was still alive. The prince lived in the north until he was thirty. His father gave him the city of Vladimir-on-Klyazma as his inheritance, where Andrei spent his childhood and youth. He rarely visited the south, did not like Kyiv, and vaguely imagined all the difficulties of the dynastic struggle among the Rurikovichs. All his thoughts were connected with the north. During the life of his father, who, after capturing Kiev, ordered him to live nearby in Vyshgorod, independent Andrei Yuryevich, against Yuri’s will, went north to his native Vladimir.

In his youth, Andrei Yuryevich and his father carried out more than one military campaign to the south and became known as a brave warrior and a skilled military leader. He loved to start the battle himself, to cut into the ranks of his enemies. His personal courage was legendary.

After the death of Yuri Dolgoruky, the boyars of Rostov and Suzdal elected Andrei (1157 - 1174) as their prince, seeking to establish their own dynastic line in the Rostov-Suzdal land and stop the established tradition of great princes sending first one or the other of their sons to these lands to reign.

However, Andrei immediately confused all their calculations. First of all, he drove his brothers from other Rostov-Suzdal tables. Among them was the future famous Vladimir-Suzdal prince Vsevolod Yurievich the Big Nest. Then Andrei removed the old boyars Yuri Dolgoruky from business and disbanded his squad, which had turned gray in battle. The chronicler noted that Andrei sought to become the “autocrat” of North-Eastern Rus'.

Who did Andrei Yuryevich rely on in this fight? First of all, on cities, urban classes. Similar aspirations were shown at this time by the rulers of some other Russian lands, for example, Roman, and then Daniil of Galicia. Royal power also strengthened in France and England, where the urban population also began to actively support the kings and oppose the willfulness of large landowners. Thus, the actions of Andrei Bogolyubsky lay in the general mainstream of the political development of European countries. He moved his residence from the boyars of Rostov and Suzdal to the young city of Vladimir; near the city in the village of Bogolyubovo, he built a magnificent white-stone palace, which is why he received the nickname Bogolyubsky. From this time on, North-Eastern Rus' can be called the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality, after the name of its main cities.

In 1169, together with his allies, Andrei Bogolyubsky took Kyiv by storm, expelled his cousin Mstislav Izyaslavich from there and gave the city up for plunder. By this alone he showed his disdain for the former Russian capital, all his dislike for the south. Andrei did not leave the city behind him, but gave it to one of his secondary relatives, and he himself returned to Vladimir-on-Klyazma, to his suburban white-stone Palace in Bogolyubovo. Later, Andrei undertook another campaign against Kyiv, but was unsuccessful. He, like Yuri Dolgoruky, fought with Volga Bulgaria.

The actions of Andrei Bogolyubsky caused increasing irritation among the Rostov-Suzdal boyars. Their cup of patience was overflowing when, by order of the prince, one of his wife’s relatives, a prominent boyar Stepan Kuchka, whose possessions were located in the Moscow region, was executed (unlike the Finno-Ugric, it also bore the Old Russian name Kuchkovo). Having seized the possessions of the executed boyar, Andrei ordered the construction of his fortified castle here. This is how the first fortress appeared in Moscow.

The brother of the executed man and other relatives organized a conspiracy against Andrei Bogolyubsky. His wife and closest servants were also involved in the conspiracy - the Ossetian Anbal, the palace key keeper and a servant of Jewish origin Efrem Moizevich.

On the eve of the conspiracy, Anbal stole the prince's sword from the bedroom, and on the night of June 29, 1174, the conspirators entered the palace and approached the prince's chambers. However, they were overcome with fear. Then they went down to the basement, refreshed themselves with princely wine, and in a warlike and excited state again approached the door of the princely bedroom. Andrei responded to their knock, and when the conspirators replied that it was Procopius, the prince’s favorite, who had come, Andrei Bogolyubsky realized that he was in trouble: an unfamiliar voice sounded from behind the door. The prince ordered the bed boy not to open the door, and he himself tried in vain to find the sword. At this time, the conspirators broke down the door and burst into the bedroom. Andrei Bogolyubsky desperately resisted, but the forces were unequal. The conspirators struck him several times with swords, sabers, and stabbed him with spears. Deciding that Andrei had been killed, the conspirators left the bedroom and were already leaving the mansion, when suddenly his housekeeper Anbal heard the prince’s groans. They returned and finished off the prince at the bottom of the stairs, where he managed to reach. Then the conspirators dealt with people close to the prince and robbed his treasury.

The next morning, news of the murder of Andrei Bogolyubsky spread throughout the capital city. Unrest began in Vladimir, Bogolyubovo and surrounding villages. The people rose up against the princely mayors, tiuns, and tax collectors; The yards of wealthy landowners and townspeople were also attacked. Only a few days later the riot subsided.

Events in the Vladimir-Suzdal land showed that the center of political power had finally moved from the south to the north of Rus', that centralizing tendencies began to grow stronger in individual Russian principalities-states, which were accompanied by a desperate struggle for power between various groups of the upper population. These processes were complicated by the actions of the lower strata of cities and villages, who fought against violence and extortion on the part of princes, boyars, and their servants.

The death of Andrei Bogolyubsky did not stop the process of centralization of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus'. When the boyars of Rostov and Suzdal tried to place Andrei’s nephews on the throne and rule the principality behind their backs, the “lesser people” of Vladimir, Suzdal, Pereslavl, and other cities rose up and invited Mikhail, Andrei Bogolyubsky’s brother, to the Vladimir-Suzdal throne. His final victory in the difficult internecine struggle with his nephews meant the victory of the cities and the defeat of the boyar cliques.

After the death of Mikhail, his business was taken into his hands by the third son of Yuri Dolgoruky, Vsevolod Yuryevich (1176-1212), who was again supported by the cities. In 1177, having defeated his opponents in open battle near the city of Yuryev, he took possession of the Vladimir-Suzdal throne. The rebellious boyars were captured and imprisoned, their possessions were confiscated. Ryazan, which supported the rebels, was captured, and the Ryazan prince was captured. Vsevolod III became the Grand Duke (following Vsevolod I Yaroslavich and Vsevolod II Olgovich). He received the nickname "Big Nest" because he had eight sons and eight grandchildren, not counting his female offspring. In his fight against the boyars, Vsevolod the Big Nest relied not only on the cities, but also on the nobility, which was maturing every year (in the sources the terms “youths”, “swordsmen”, “virniks”, “gridi”, “smaller squad” and etc.), the social feature of which is service to the prince for land, income and other favors. This category of the population existed before, but now it is becoming more and more numerous. With the increasing importance of grand ducal power in the once provincial principality, their role and influence also grew year by year. They, in essence, carried out all the main public service: in the army, legal proceedings, embassy affairs, collection of taxes and taxes, reprisals, palace affairs, management of the princely household.

Having strengthened his position within the principality, Vsevolod the Big Nest began to exert increasing influence on the affairs of Rus': he intervened in the affairs of Novgorod, took possession of lands in the Kyiv land, and completely subordinated the Ryazan principality to his influence. He successfully opposed the Volga Bulgaria. His campaign against the Volga in 1183 ended in a brilliant victory.

Having become seriously ill in 1212, Vsevolod the Big Nest gathered his sons and bequeathed the throne to the elder Konstantin, who was sitting in Rostov at that time as his father’s governor. But Konstantin, who had already firmly linked his fate with the Rostov boyars, asked his father to leave him in Rostov and transfer the throne there from Vladimir. Since this could disrupt the entire political situation in the principality, Vsevolod, with the support of his comrades-in-arms and the church, transferred the throne to his second eldest son Yuri, ordering him to remain in Vladimir and from here rule all of North-Eastern Russia.

Vsevolod died at the age of 58, having “sat” on the grand-ducal throne for 36 years. His successor Yuri did not immediately manage to prevail over his older brother. A new civil strife followed, lasting six whole years, and only in 1218 did Yuri Vsevolodovich (1218 - 1238) manage to seize the throne. Thus, the old official tradition of inheriting power by seniority was finally broken, and from now on the will of the Grand Duke - the “unique ruler” became stronger than the former “old times”. In 1220, his regiments defeated the Mordovians and Kama Bulgarians. Already in the next year, in 1221, at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga, he founded the strategically important fortress of Nizhny Novgorod.

North-Eastern Rus' took another step towards the centralization of power. In the struggle for power, Yuri, however, was forced to compromise with his brothers. Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' broke up into a number of fiefs, where the children of Vsevolod III sat. But the process of centralization was already irreversible. The Mongol-Tatar invasion disrupted this natural development of political life in Rus' and threw it back.

Suzdal princely house.

The Vladimir-Suzdal principality is regarded as a classic example of a Russian principality during the period of feudal fragmentation. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, it occupied a huge territory of northeastern lands - from the Northern Dvina to the Oka and from the sources of the Volga to the confluence of the Oka and the Volga. Over time, Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' became the center around which the Russian lands were united, and the Russian centralized state took shape. Moscow was formed on the territory of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, which eventually became the capital of a great state.

Secondly, it was to the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality that the grand-ducal title passed from Kyiv. All Vladimir-Suzdal princes, descendants of Monomakh - from Yuri Dolgoruky (1125 -1157) up to Daniil of Moscow (1276 - 1303) - bore the title of grand duke. This placed the Vladimir-Suzdal principality in a central position compared to other Russian principalities during the period of feudal fragmentation.

Thirdly, the metropolitan see was moved to Vladimir. After Batu’s ruin of Kyiv in 1240, the Patriarch of Constantinople replaced the Greek metropolitan Joseph in 1246 with Metropolitan Kirill, a Russian by birth, as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. In his travels around the dioceses, Kirill clearly gave preference to North-Eastern Rus'. And Metropolitan Maxim, who followed him, in 1299, “not tolerating Tatar violence,” left the metropolis in Kyiv. In 1300 he finally “sat in Volodymyr and with all his clergy.” Maxim was the first of the metropolitans to appropriate the title of Metropolitan of “All Rus'”.

Rostov the Great and Suzdal are two of the oldest Russian cities, the first of which is mentioned in the chronicle in 862, the second in 1024. From ancient times, these important northeastern Russian centers were given by the great princes of Kiev as inheritance to their sons. Vladimir Monomakh founded the city of Vladimir on Klyazma in 1108 and gave it as an inheritance to his seventeen-year-old son Andrei. The city became part of the Rostov-Suzdal Principality, the grand-ducal throne of which was occupied by Andrei’s elder brother, Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky. After the death of Yuri Dolgoruky, his son Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157 - 1174) moved the capital from Rostov to Vladimir. From then on, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality began.

It should be said that the Vladimir-Suzdal principality maintained its unity and integrity for a short time. Soon after its rise under the Grand Duke Vsevolod Yuryevich the Big Nest (1176–1212), it began to split into small principalities. At the beginning of the 13th century. The Principality of Rostov separated from it, and in the 70s of the same century, under the youngest son of Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (1252 - 1263) - Daniel - the Principality of Moscow became independent.

Socio-political system. The economic state of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality reached its peak in the second half of the 12th – early 13th centuries. under the Grand Dukes Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest. The power of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' was symbolized by two magnificent temples erected in Vladimir in the second half of the 12th century - the Assumption and Demetrius Cathedrals, as well as the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, built on the eastern approaches to Vladimir. The erection of such architectural structures was possible only with a well-established economy.

Russian people who moved from the south settled on land that had long been inhabited by Finnish tribes. However, they did not displace the ancient population of the region; they mostly coexisted peacefully with them. The matter was made easier by the fact that the Finnish tribes did not have their own cities, and the Slavs built fortified cities. In total, in the XII - early XIII centuries. About a hundred cities were built, which became centers of higher culture.

In the social development of Rus', the hierarchical structure of feudal land ownership and, accordingly, seignorial-vassal relations within the class of feudal lords are quite clearly manifested. The Vladimir-Suzdal principality was an early feudal monarchy with a strong grand-ducal power. Already the first Rostov-Suzdal prince - Yuri Dolgoruky - is characterized as a strong monarch who managed to conquer Kyiv in 1154, where he imprisoned his son Andrei, who, however, fled from there a year later. In 1169, Andrei Bogolyubsky again conquered Kyiv, but did not remain on the Kiev throne, but returned to Vladimir. He managed to subjugate the Rostov boyars, for which he received the description in Russian chronicles of the “autocratic” of the Vladimir-Suzdal land.

After the death of Vsevolod the Big Nest, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality began to split into a number of smaller ones, but the Vladimir table throughout the XIII-XIV centuries. nevertheless, it was traditionally regarded as the grand ducal, first throne even at the time of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The Mongol-Tatars left intact the internal state structure and the law of the Russian people, including the clan order of succession to grand-ducal power.

The hierarchical structure in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality differed little from that of Kyiv. The main overlord was the Grand Duke - exercising supreme power and being the owner of all the land of a given principality.

A feature of the social system of the Vladimir land was that feudal relations began to develop here later than in other lands. Therefore, the position of the local boyars was weaker than that of the feudal nobility, formed from the princely squad.

The exception was the strong local Rostov boyars. Only the top of the feudal nobility were called boyars, the rest were called “free servants.” Both of them were vassals of their princes, and at their call they had to arrive with their militias. The boyars, being vassals of the prince, had their own vassals - medium and small feudal lords. The Grand Duke distributed estates, immunities and was obliged to resolve controversial issues between feudal lords and protect them from the oppression of their neighbors. For this, his vassals had to perform certain duties: perform military service and administer the lands as governors, volosts and closers. Sometimes the boyars provided financial assistance to the Grand Duke.

In the XII-XIII centuries. so-called immunities have become widespread. Immunity is the provision of a special charter to the landowner (letter immunities), in accordance with which he exercised independent management and legal proceedings in his patrimony. He was simultaneously responsible for the performance of state duties by the peasants.

Over time, the owner of the immunity charter became the sovereign and obeyed the prince only formally.

Also during this period, another category of servants was formed - nobles. This social group was formed from palace people who performed certain duties in managing the princely household. Over time, the nobles began to perform military service under the prince. The nobles, unlike the boyars, did not have the right to move from one prince to another.

Historical monuments also mention “children of boyars” - these are either those who crushed boyar families or younger princely and boyar warriors.

The system of formation of the armed forces, militia and feudal squads, was also built on a hierarchical structure. It gave real power to the feudal lords over the dependent peasantry. The Grand Duke of Vladimir relied in his activities on the squad, with the help of which the military power of the principality was created. From the squad, as in Kyiv times, the Council under the prince was formed. The council concentrated the reins of government over the entire Vladimir-Suzdal principality; it included vigilante warriors who ruled the cities. The Council also included representatives of the clergy, and after the transfer of the metropolitan see to Vladimir, the metropolitan himself.

Before the transfer of the metropolitan see to Vladimir, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality had several dioceses headed by archbishops or bishops. Candidates for bishops were elected at councils of the highest clergy with the participation of the Grand Duke and were ordained by the metropolitans. Dioceses were divided into districts headed by church foremen. The lowest unit of church organization were parishes led by priests. The “black” clergy included monks and nuns, headed by monastery abbots. Monasteries were often founded by princes, chroniclers spoke fondly of such princes as Yuri Dolgoruky, Vsevolod the Big Nest and others. Monasteries in North-Eastern Rus' appeared already in the 11th century, such as the Avraamievsky Monastery in Rostov the Great, which is still amazing to this day us with its greatness and beauty.

The clergy in all Russian lands was organized according to the rules of the Nomocanon and according to the church charters of the first Christian princes - Vladimir the Holy and Yaroslav the Wise. And even the Mongol-Tatars, having destroyed Russian cities and turned Rus' into a subordinate state, nevertheless retained the organization of the Orthodox Church. This made it easier to control the conquered people. The privileges of the church were formalized by labels issued by the khans. The oldest one that has come down to us is the label of Khan Mengu-Temir (1266–1267). According to the khan's labels, the inviolability of faith, worship and canons of the Russian Church, the jurisdiction of the clergy and other church persons to church courts, with the exception of cases of robbery and murder, and exemption from taxes, duties and duties were guaranteed.

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

The Grand Duke's palace was managed by a butler or courtier, who was the second most important person in the state apparatus. The Ipatiev Chronicle mentions in 1175 the tiuns, swordsmen and children, who were also among the princely officials. It is obvious that the Vladimir-Suzdal principality inherited the palace-patrimonial system of government from Kievan Rus.

The urban population consisted of the trade and craft elites, who sought to free themselves from boyar influence and supported the grand ducal power, the “best” people - the upper layer of the urban population and the “young” or “black” people, who were called the lower layers of the trade and craft people of the city.

Local government was concentrated in the hands of governors stationed in cities and volostels in rural areas. The governing bodies also administered justice in the lands under their jurisdiction. As the Ipatiev Chronicle mentions this, the posadniks “created a lot of burdens on the people with sales and viciousness.”

The peasants gradually fell under the power of the feudal lords, and communal lands came into the possession of the feudal lords and the Church. This was especially typical for the Vladimir land. The main form of peasant service was quitrent.

“Stradniki” or “suffering people” constituted a special group formed from slaves planted on the land who worked on the lands in feudal farms.

In the Vladimir land they gradually stopped using the terms stink, zakup, outcast, and the general names of the rural population used the terms: orphans, Christians, and then peasants.

Legal system. Unfortunately, the sources of law of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality have not reached us, but there is no doubt that the national legislative codes of Kievan Rus were in force there. The legal system consisted of sources of secular law and ecclesiastical legal sources. Secular law was represented by the Russian Truth, which has come down to us in a large number of lists compiled in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality in the 13th – 14th centuries, which indicates its wide distribution in North-Eastern Rus'. Church law was represented by the all-Russian charters of the first Christian princes - the Charter of the Prince. Vladimir about tithes, church courts and church people, as well as the Charter of the book. Yaroslav about church courts. These sources of law also came down in a large number of lists compiled in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality.

Probably, the Grand Dukes of Vladimir specified the general provisions of these statutes in relation to specific dioceses, but there is no doubt that the general provisions of these legislative codes were unshakable. They acquired particular significance after the transfer of the metropolitan see to Vladimir.

Interstate relations were regulated by treaties and letters (“finished”, “row”, “kissing of the cross”).

In general, legal issues during the period of feudal fragmentation were resolved on the basis of "Russian Truth", customary law, various agreements, charters, charters, etc.

Galicia and Volyn. The Galicia-Volyn principality, with its fertile soils, mild climate, steppe space interspersed with rivers and forests, was the center of highly developed agriculture and cattle breeding. The fishing industry was actively developing on this land. A consequence of the further deepening of the social division of labor was the development of crafts, which led to the growth of cities. The largest cities of the Galicia-Volyn principality were Vladimir-Volynsky, Przemysl, Terebovl, Galich, Berestye, Kholm.

Galicia was located in the eastern foothills of the Carpathians, in the upper reaches of the rivers (the Dniester, which flows into the Black Sea, and the Prut, which flows into the Danube near its mouth). At first, Galicia was inhabited by the tribes of Dulebs, Tiverts and White Croats. In the east, Galicia bordered Volyn, a forested, hilly area also inhabited by Dulebs and White Croats. To the east of Volhynia was the Principality of Kiev.

Unlike Volyn, which has only one foreign neighbor in the north - the Lithuanians, Galicia on its western and northern borders was forced to repel constant raids by warlike Hungarians and Poles.

Both principalities had a favorable location. Also a great success for both principalities was their location: mountains and hills, forests and ravines made them difficult to reach for their southern neighbors - the steppe nomads.

Both principalities, especially Galicia, were densely populated. Trade routes to Western Europe passed through these lands. The waterway from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea passed along the Vistula - Western Bug - Dniester rivers, overland trade routes led to the countries of South-Eastern Europe. There was a land trade route with the countries of the East along the Danube. Numerous cities arose at the most important strategic intersections of these routes. In addition, Galicia was home to large deposits of salt, an important commodity. All of Rus' depended on Galician salt.

On the Galicia-Volyn land, large princely and boyar land ownership developed early. Until 980-990, until the time when Vladimir the Great annexed these lands to his possessions, they were controlled by the Poles. In Volyn, Vladimir founded a city and named it after himself. Over time, Vladimir-Volynsky became a worthy capital of the new principality. And in Galicia, the political center moved from Przemysl to the city of Galich, which arose near the Carpathian salt mines

At first, Galicia and Volyn were the patrimony of the Kyiv princes, and then passed to their direct descendants. Galicia was ruled by the Rostislavichs, descendants of the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, and Volyn by the Mstislavichs, descendants of the son of Vladimir Monomakh. And although historians, as a rule, consider the Galician-Volyn principality as something single, these were still not only different, but also not very similar political entities of the 12th-13th centuries.

Perhaps the most striking difference was in the nature and character of the ruling elite. The Galician boyars were undoubtedly the richest, most powerful and wayward boyars in Rus'. Their influence on the political life of Galicia was limitless.

The influence of this aristocracy was so enormous that Galicia is often considered an ideal example of oligarchic rule in Rus'. Compared to republican Novgorod and absolutist Vladimir and Moscow, the political structure of Galicia represented a third option for the development of the Kyiv political system.

According to historians, the unique role of the Galician boyars is largely explained by the peculiarities of their origin. Unlike other principalities, where boyars, as a rule, became princely warriors and their descendants, the Galician aristocracy, in all likelihood, came mainly from the local tribal nobility. So the Galician boyars received their estates not from the prince, like the boyars of other lands, but by usurping communal possessions. Obviously, already the first Rurikovichs, having come to Galicia, encountered a perimeter defense of the local nobility, who were not going to sacrifice their own interests.

Some other historians add the following to this explanation. At least four generations of Rostislavichs, they claim, happily ruled this country, and the boyars had plenty of time and opportunity to organize their own affairs. In addition, many of them traded salt, and this gave considerable profit, strengthening the already solid boyar fortune. As a result, the richest of the Galician boyars stood so firmly on their feet that they could even afford to maintain their own fighting squads, consisting of small feudal lords. Finally, due to the remote location of Galicia from Kyiv, the grand dukes, even in their best times, did not have much opportunity to intervene in Galician affairs. While the proximity to Poland and the Ugorshchina gave the Galician boyars not only inspiring examples of the power and dominance of the aristocracy, but also the opportunity to turn to foreigners for help against their own especially obstinate princes.

In contrast to the Galician, the Volyn boyars were of a simpler type. Most of them came to Volyn as part of the squads of those princes, whose appointment or removal depended entirely on the will of Kyiv. From here, from Volyn, Kyiv did not seem as distant as it seemed to the inhabitants of Galicia, and its influence was much more noticeable. Volyn boyars, as was common throughout Rus', were awarded lands for faithful service to the prince. Dependent on princely favors, the Volyn nobility was more loyal than the Galician nobility. The princes could rely on the Volyn boyars. That is why, when it came to uniting the two principalities, it was not the Galician princes who had the best chance of achieving this, but the Volyn princes.

Until the middle of the 12th century, the Galician land was divided into small principalities. In 1141, Prince Vladimir of Przemysl united them, moving the capital to Galich. The Galician principality reached its highest power under his son Yaroslav Osmysl (1151-1187), who received this nickname for his high education and knowledge of eight foreign languages. Yaroslav Osmysl had unquestioned authority, both in domestic and international affairs. The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” aptly spoke about his power.

Feudal feuds. After the death of Osmysl, the Galician land became the scene of a long internecine struggle between the princes and the local boyars. Its duration and complexity is explained by the relative weakness of the Galician princes, whose land ownership lagged behind that of the boyars in size. The huge estates of the Galician boyars and numerous servants - vassals allowed them to fight against the princes they disliked, since the latter, having a smaller estate, could not, due to a lack of land, increase the number of service people, their supporters, on whom they relied in the fight against the boyars.

The situation was different in the Volyn land, which in the middle of the 12th century became the family domain of the descendants of Izyaslav Mstislavich. A powerful princely fiefdom developed here early on. Increasing the number of service people through land distributions, the Volyn princes began to fight against the boyars for the unification of the Galician and Volyn lands, the strengthening of their power. In 1189 Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich united the Galician and Volyn lands. In 1203 he occupied Kyiv. Under the rule of Roman Mstislavich, Southern and Southwestern Rus' united. The period of his reign was marked by the strengthening of the position of the Galicia-Volyn principality within the Russian lands and in the international arena. In 1205, Roman Mstislavich died in Poland, which led to the weakening of princely power in the Galician-Volyn principality and its collapse. The Galician boyars began a long and ruinous feudal war that lasted about 30 years. The boyars entered into an agreement with the Hungarian and Polish feudal lords, who seized the Galician land and part of Volyn. The national liberation struggle against the Polish and Hungarian invaders began. This struggle served as the basis for the consolidation of forces in Southwestern Rus'. Prince Danilo Romanovich, relying on the townspeople and his service people, managed to strengthen his power, break the boyar opposition, establish himself in Volyn, and in 1238 he managed to take the city of Galich and reunite the Galician and Volyn lands.

When Prince Danilo entered Galich in triumph in 1238, he was joyfully greeted by the townspeople. The Galician boyars were forced to ask Danilo for forgiveness for treason. Danilo's victory over the rebellious and powerful Galician boyars meant the unification of the Galician land with the Volyn region. In the fight against the feudal opposition, the princely power relied on the squad, the city elite and the petty boyars. The people who suffered most from the feudal “kotors” (swars) strongly supported Danilo’s unification policy. Developing military success, the Galician-Volyn army advanced east and in 1239 captured Kiev.

A thunderstorm was approaching from the East. Having learned about the approach of Batu's hordes, Danilo Romanovich, together with his son Lev, travels to Hungary and seeks to conclude a defensive alliance with King Bela IV. However, Danilo's diplomatic mission ended unsuccessfully. Bela IV did not help him, hoping that the nomads would bypass Hungary. Not finding support from the Hungarian feudal lords, Danilo left for Poland, since the conquerors were already in control of Volyn.

Soon after Batu’s hordes, having passed through the southern Russian lands, invaded Poland and Hungary, Danilo Romanovich returned to Volyn. Death and destruction met him on the land of his fathers. A terrible picture of the destruction of the population of the cities of the Volyn principality by barbarians is described by Galician chroniclers.

The rebellious Galician and Volyn boyars raised their heads again. When Danilo arrived at Dorogichin, the feudal lords did not let him into the city. Galicia again escaped from the control of the Grand Duke: power in Galich was seized by the rich man Dobroslav, “the judge, the priest’s grandson,” as the Galician chronicler disdainfully calls him. At the same time, the longtime enemy of the Romanovichs, boyar Grigory Vasilyevich, settled in Przemysl.

The domination of boyars and “low-born” people in Galicia was an unheard-of violation of the feudal hierarchy at that time. But most importantly, they further ruined the country, already devastated by the conquerors. Dobroslav Sudich, like a real prince, distributed volosts, and not only to Galician, but also to Chernigov boyars. This caused indignation among the people.

Meanwhile, the struggle of the boyar groups led by Gregory and Dobroslav did not stop. This ultimately forced each of them to seek support from Danilo Romanovich. Taking advantage of the favorable moment when Grigory and Dobroslav came to him for arbitration, he threw both of them into prison. So Danilo regained Galich. The people welcomed the prince's return to Galich, but the feudal lords did not stop fighting against the central government.

In 1243, the protege of the boyar opposition, Rostislav, again briefly captured Galich. Expelled by Danil and Vasilko, he received support and assistance from the Hungarian king Bela IV and the Polish prince Boleslav the Shy. But Danilo and Vasilko, in alliance with the Mazovian prince Konrad, organized a campaign against Poland. Volyn and Galician regiments operated on a wide front from Lublin to the Vistula and San. The campaign ended with Danilo taking the Polish king out of the game with a lightning march to Lublin.

Things gradually led to a decisive clash between Danilo Romanovich and Rostislav, who was also supported by part of the Galician and Chernigov boyars. But on Danilo’s side there were warriors, petty boyars, and city leaders. The prince was also supported by the working people of Galicia and Volyn, who suffered from civil strife and the tyranny of feudal lords who exterminated and ruined their subjects.

In 1244, Rostislav, having asked his father-in-law Bela IV for “many Ugors,” moved to Przemysl, defeated a small army stationed there, but when the main forces appeared, Danilo was forced to retreat to Hungary. A year later, Rostislav again invaded Galicia at the head of Hungarian, Polish and Russian regiments (fielded by the rebellious Danilo boyars). His army captured Przemysl and besieged the city of Yaroslav, located in Western Galicia. While Rostislav, together with the Hungarian governor (ban) Filniy, was leading the siege of Yaroslav, Danilo and Vasilko Romanovich, at the head of their “warriors”, the bulk of whom were people, hastened to the rescue of the city.

On August 17, 1245, a general battle took place near Yaroslav. Danilo Romanovich proved himself to be a talented commander. Having bypassed the enemy from the flank, he hit Rostislav's army in the rear and defeated the Hungarian knightly regiment of Filnius. The Hungarians ran, followed by the Polish and other detachments of Rostislav. The victory of the Galician-Volyn squads was complete. Almost all the enemy commanders were captured, and only Rostislav managed to escape to Krakow. Danilo ordered the execution of the cruel oppressor of Galicia, the Hungarian ban Filnius, and many boyar leaders.

The Battle of Yaroslav drew a line under the forty-year struggle of the Galician-Volyn princes against the boyar oligarchy. Danilo Romanovich's victory is explained by the fact that he relied on the small service boyars, wealthy merchants, artisans, and most importantly, he was supported by the townspeople and broad sections of the rural population, dissatisfied with the boyars' tyranny. Opposition to state power in the Galicia-Volyn principality was defeated, but not completely eradicated. The fight against the boyars continued in the future. However, after the battle of Yaroslav, the state was able to decisively and openly suppress boyar uprisings, for which it previously lacked the strength.

After a decisive victory near Yaroslavl in 1245, Danilo subjugated all of Galicia. Also, Danilo, in addition to Galicia, also owned part of Volyn: the lands of Dorogichinskaya, Belzskaya and Kholmskaya. Vasilko held Vladimir along with most of Volyn, which Danilo gave to his brother. But this division of lands between the Romanovichs should be considered formal, since the brothers were actually co-rulers. True, Danilo, thanks to his outstanding state, diplomatic and military abilities, was the first in the harmonious duet of the Romanovichs.

Despite this, both principalities continued to exist as a single entity under the leadership of their stronger older brother. Like his father, Danilo sought to enlist the support of townspeople and peasants against the boyar nobility. He founded many cities, including in 1256 Lviv, named after Danilov's son Leo. Old cities were strengthened, new ones were populated by artisans and merchants from Germany, Poland, as well as from the cities of Rus'. In addition, after the fall of Kyiv, large Armenian and Jewish communities moved here. Galician cities have been multinational since their founding, and they have remained so to this day. In the villages, the prince tried to protect the peasants from the boyars' tyranny by sending special officials there. Peasant regiments were created in the army.

The economic and cultural rise of the Galicia-Volyn principality during the reign of Danilo Romanovich was interrupted by the invasion of Batu.

Soon after the Battle of Yaroslavl, in the fall of 1245, Batu Khan turned to Danilo with the demand: “Give Galich!”, i.e. Galician land. So far, nothing has been said about Volyn. As the Galician chronicle tells, Danilo, after consulting with his brother, personally went to the khan’s headquarters.

The fight against the Mongol-Tatars. The conquest of Rus' by economically and socially backward nomads artificially delayed the evolution of commodity-money relations and preserved the natural way of farming for a long time. This was facilitated by the destruction by the enemy of centers of craft and trade - cities - carriers of economic progress. Many ancient Russian cities were not only destroyed, but also devastated: the conquerors killed part of the population, many artisans were taken captive. Raids and extortions of enemy hordes in the second half of the 13th century. caused great harm to the agriculture of South-Western Rus', and this hindered the restoration of economic ties between city and countryside.

The Horde conquest led to increased feudal oppression in Rus'.

Local princes and large feudal lords acted as conductors of Horde policy. They, in turn, were supported by the khans, helping to suppress anti-feudal protests.

The Horde rulers imposed many taxes and duties on the conquered population of the southern Russian lands. However, until 1340, until the moment of its collapse, the Galician-Volyn principality was the only state formation of Rus' that did not pay tribute to the Horde khan. The Horde yoke subsequently became one of the reasons that the southern Russian lands in the middle of the 14th century. found themselves under the rule of Polish, Lithuanian and Moldavian feudal lords.

In 1241. The Mongol-Tatars passed through Volyn and Galicia, although they did not bring them such irreparable troubles as they did to other lands of Rus'. However, the successes of the Romanovichs did not leave the Mongol-Tatars indifferent. Soon after the victory at Yaroslav, Danilo received a formidable order to appear at the khan's court. He had to obey. In 1246, Danilo went to the Volga, to Sarai-Batu, the capital of Batu. The prince was well received and, what is much more important, well seen off: in any case, he left the khan alive. However, he also gave a considerable ransom for his life - recognition of Mongol rule. At the same time, Batu tried in every possible way to humiliate the prince. So, handing him a bowl of sour kumiss, the khan remarked: “Get used to it, prince, now you are one of us.”

However, the khan’s capital was located quite far from Volyn and Galicia from the khan’s capital, so it was difficult for the khan to establish his own order in the principality of Danila (like how it was done in the northeastern principalities closest to the Horde). And all the duties of the Galicians and Volynians to the new overlords, in fact, boiled down to the fact that during the Mongol-Tatar raids on Poland and Lithuania, they were in the train of their daring cavalry. In all other respects, the influence of the Horde in Galicia and Volyn was initially so weak that Danilo even had the opportunity to pursue a completely independent foreign policy, sometimes openly aimed at getting rid of humiliating dependence.

The successful completion of Danilo's trip to Batu increased the prince's authority in Europe. The Hungarian king Bela IV, who did not want to help Danilo on the eve of the invasion of the nomads, already in 1246 approached him with a proposal for an alliance, which was to be sealed by the marriage of Leo, Danilo’s son, with Constance, the king’s daughter. The Galician chronicler explains the king's diplomatic step with fear of Danil.

Bela IV himself, in a letter to Pope Innocent IV, motivated the marriage of his daughter with Lev Danilovich by the need for joint action against the Horde. Bela IV had another reason to seek an alliance with Danil. In the spring of 1246, the Hungarian king began a war with Austria and needed a strong ally. Therefore, Bela IV abandoned his intention to plant his son-in-law Rostislav in Galicia, making him governor first of Slavonia, and then of Macva - the land located between the rivers Danube, Drina, Sava and Morava. Thus, the long-time enemy of the Romanovichs, a representative of the Chernigov dynasty and leader of the feudal opposition in Galicia, left the political arena.

Danilo was wary of the Hungarian king's proposal. But strategic considerations forced the Galician-Volyn prince to reconcile with Hungary, for he nurtured the dream of creating a united front of European powers against the Horde. Negotiations with Bela IV ended with the conclusion of an alliance and the marriage of Lev Danilovich to the Hungarian princess. In the person of the Hungarian king, Danilo acquired, albeit unreliable, but still an ally in the inevitable struggle against the enslavers.

When Danilo Romanovich became Batu’s “peacenik” (the Galician chronicler puts his dependence on the Horde in a similar delicate form) and concluded an alliance treaty with Hungary, his reputation in Europe increased significantly. The Roman Curia paid attention to Galicia and Volhynia, hoping to spread Catholicism in these lands.

The Roman Curia instructed the papal legate (ambassador) to Batu, the experienced diplomat Plano Carpini, to begin negotiations with the Galician-Volhynian princes. At the beginning of 1246, Carpini visited Vladimir, where he introduced Vasilko to the contents of the papal bull of March 25, 1245, which called for strengthening the defense capabilities of states in the event of a new Horde invasion. Danilo was then with Batu. On the way to the Horde, between the Dnieper and the Don, Carpini met with Danil and told him about Rome’s desire to enter into negotiations with him. Danilo agreed.

Having established friendly relations with Poland and Hungary, Danilo turned to Pope Innocent IV with a request for help in organizing the Slavic crusade against the Mongol-Tatars. When entering into contacts with the curia, Danilo Romanovich proceeded from the promise of Pope Innocent IV to support him in the fight against the conquerors. In return, the prince promised his consent to the transfer of all his possessions to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Rome. Thus, for the first time, the main and constant problem of the entire history of Galicia was expressed out loud - the problem of the attitude of Western Ukrainians to the Roman Catholic Church.

Further negotiations between Danilo and the pope revealed significant differences in the intentions of the parties. Galician-Volyn diplomats firmly insisted on the organization by Innocent IV of an anti-Horde coalition on a European scale, i.e. demanded the declaration of a crusade, but the pope, avoiding a direct answer, promised in a bull in mid-1248 that in the event of an attack by the Horde on the Galicia-Volyn principality, he would think about what assistance could be provided. It became clear to Danilo that there was no hope for real help from the Roman Curia in the fight against the conquerors, so in 1248 he broke off negotiations with the pope.

Relations with the curia were resumed only in 1252, and again on the initiative of the papal throne, acting through the mediation of the Hungarian king Béla IV. Danilo was forced to negotiate due to the complication of the political situation: the horde of Khan Kuremsa was approaching the eastern borders of the Galicia-Volyn principality. Danilo himself intervened in the struggle for the Austrian inheritance and counted on the support of the curia. In 1252, Danilo Romanovich married his son Roman to Gertrude, the niece of the Austrian Duke Frederick II. Thus, Roman Danilovich formally became an Austrian Duke.

But in Austria, Roman failed in the fight against another contender for the inheritance of Frederick II - the Czech king Przemysl II, and at the end of 1253 he was forced to return to Galicia.

When negotiations resumed, Innocent IV offered Danilo the royal crown, but he refused it, answering that he did not need a crown, but real help against his enslavers.

In 1253, the pope declared a crusade against the Horde, calling on Christians from Poland, the Czech Republic, Moravia, Serbia and Pomerania to participate in it. The campaign declared by Innocent IV could not, however, take place for many reasons. The states to which the pope turned were experiencing political difficulties, some of them were bogged down in the struggle for the Austrian inheritance, and they were unable to defeat such a formidable enemy as they were in the 50s of the 13th century. an innumerable army of Horde feudal lords.

Still hoping, with the help of the pope, to create a European anti-Horde coalition and somehow cut the Austrian knot, Danilo Romanovich agreed to accept the crown. Danilo's coronation took place in the second half of 1253 during a campaign against the Yatvingians in the small town of Dorogichina near the western border of the principality. Danilo decided to give battle to the enslavers and therefore was crowned, regardless of the opinion of the Horde.

Without waiting for real assistance and help, Danilo, already in the next year, 1254, nevertheless decided to move his troops to Kiev in order to free it from the Mongol-Tatars, while their main forces remained far in the east. At first, the Galician prince was successful. And yet he failed to hold Kyiv. Moreover, he paid dearly for his ambitious plans.

Meanwhile, the international situation, already complicated due to Austrian affairs, became increasingly tense as the Horde troops approached the borders of the Galicia-Volyn principality. The Hungarian king expected their invasion from day to day and sent desperate requests to the pope for help. The danger of invasion loomed over Western Russia, and the receipt of the royal crown by Prince Danilo could not improve the political situation of the Galician-Volyn principality. King Danilo had as little chance of receiving support from the West as his “predecessor” Prince Danilo. Therefore, he resolutely refused any concessions to Rome in religious, cultural and educational matters. In response to Danilo’s position, the new Pope Alexander IV, by a bull of 1255, allowed the Lithuanian prince Mendovg to plunder the Galician and Volyn lands.

In 1257, the pope turned to Danilo, reproaching him for disobedience to the Roman Church and threatening him with “the weapon of the faithful” - a crusade against Galician-Volynian Rus'. This ended Danilo's relationship with Rome. The prince retained only the mythical royal title as a keepsake, but since then Galician chroniclers have called him king.

In 1259, a huge Mongol-Tatar army of Khan Burundai unexpectedly attacked Galicia and Volhynia. The defeated Romanovichs were faced with a choice: either the fortress walls of all cities would be immediately dismantled (and their defenseless inhabitants would become completely dependent on the Mongol-Tatars) - or they would all be mercilessly destroyed. Danilo had to agree to completely disarm before the invaders. The prince was forced to watch as the very walls that he had so persistently built were destroyed.

Nevertheless, the failures of Danilo’s anti-Mongol policy did not lead to the loss of his influence on his western neighbors. The authority of the Galician prince in Poland, especially in the Principality of Mazovia, was enormous. That is why the Lithuanian prince Mindaugas (Mendovg) was forced to make territorial concessions to the Galician prince in Mazovia - despite the fact that just at this time Lithuania was beginning its path to hegemony in the entire Eastern European region. Moreover, as a sign of good neighborliness, Mindaugas had to give consent to the marriage of his two offspring with Danilov’s son and daughter. Never before have the Galician princes played such a significant role in Central European affairs as under Danilo. He perfectly mastered such an important instrument of medieval foreign policy as dynastic marriages. Having married his son Roman to Princess Gertrude, the heir to the Babenberg throne, Danilo then even tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to place him on the throne of the Austrian Duke.

Danilo died in 1264. Thus, his political activity lasted for almost six decades. His political successes were very significant, especially if we take into account that the conditions to which he was forced to apply all his life did not in any way contribute to a successful reign. At the very beginning, fighting for the restoration and expansion of his father’s possessions, Danilo experienced the expansionist aspirations of Hungary and Poland. Having broken the powerful resistance of the boyars, he did a lot to ensure that the socio-economic and cultural standard of living of his subjects became one of the highest in Eastern Europe. But he was unable to carry out all his plans. He failed to either hold Kyiv or achieve his main goal - liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Yet he almost always managed to keep the Horde's influence to a minimum. Trying to isolate himself from the East, Danilo turned to the West.

Galicia-Volyn principality at the beginning of the 14th century. For almost a whole century after Danilo’s death, no special changes occurred in Volyn and Galicia. The Galician throne was inherited by the son of Danilo Lev (1264-1301); Volynsky, after the death of Vasilko, went to his son Vladimir (1270-1289). The cousins ​​continued to rule their lands as their fathers had ruled: the energetic, active Lev was constantly drawn into political conflicts - the modest Vladimir remained in the shadows.

When the last ruler of the Arpad dynasty died in Hungary, Leo captured Transcarpathian Rus, thereby setting a precedent for future Ukrainian claims to the western slopes of the Carpathians. Poland, which became the scene of internecine wars, was also an important object of application of Leo’s remarkable forces: at one time he even sought the throne of the Polish kings in Krakow. Since at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries. the western neighbors of the Galicia-Volyn land were temporarily weakened; both principalities, despite Leo’s aggressiveness, lived relatively calmly. Sometimes, however, some tension arose in the relationship between the cousins ​​themselves, for, as already said, Vladimir was the complete opposite of Leo. Without being active either in the military or diplomatic fields, he devoted himself entirely to peaceful affairs: he built cities, castles, churches. The Galician-Volyn Chronicle depicts Vladimir as a “great scribe and philosopher.” Reading and copying ancient handwritten books was his favorite pastime. The death of Vladimir in 1289 greatly saddened not only his subjects, but equally the historians of Ukraine, since these latter see a certain connection between the death of the prince and the termination of the Galician-Volyn legation, which suddenly ended with this sad event. We know practically nothing about what happened in Volyn and Galicia in the last decades of their independence - between 1289 and 1340, except for a few scattered and random ones. Before his death, Volyn Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich bequeathed Volyn to his cousin Mstislav Daniilovich - a politician of limited abilities and weak character. During his reign in Volhynia, the influence of the boyars increased, feudal fragmentation deepened, and the situation of the common people worsened. After the death of Lev Daniilovich (around 1301) and Mstislav, who briefly survived him, Galicia and Volyn were united by Lev’s son Yuri, who made Vladimir his capital city. His seal with the title “Russian king, princeps of Vladimir region” has been preserved. Thus, the Galicia-Volyn principality was revived. But the renewed principality was far from the strong power of Yuri’s grandfather, Daniil Romanovich. Relying on the small service boyars, using the support of the city elite, Yuri Lvovich sought to pursue an active foreign policy. He entered into an alliance with the Polish prince Wladyslaw Loketok (the future king of Poland), whose sister, Euphemia, he was married to. According to the Polish chronicle, in 1302, Vladislav, in the struggle for the Polish crown with the then king Wenceslas II, in alliance with Yuri, went to the Sandomierz region. In addition to the Rusyns, there were also Horde soldiers in Loketok’s army. They were probably brought by Prince Yuri, who, like his father, used the forces of the Horde in foreign policy. The Polish campaign ended unsuccessfully for the Galician-Volyn prince. The Russian-Horde troops were forced to retreat, and Yuri lost the Lublin land, obtained by his father shortly before his death. However, in the future, Yuri remained an ally of Loketok.

Yuri simultaneously ruled both Galicia and Volyn. Obviously, he was a strong prince, for, as the chroniclers of neighboring countries point out, under him his subjects lived peacefully and “flourished in wealth and glory.” Yuri's position was so strong and solid that it allowed him to proclaim himself “King of Rus'.” An event that occurred in 1303 also convincingly testifies to his authority. Dissatisfied with the decision of the Kyiv metropolitan to transfer the metropolis to the northeast, to the capital of the Vladimir principality, Yuri obtained permission from Constantinople to create a separate metropolis in Galicia.

The last of the Romanovichs were Yuri's sons Andriy and Lev. Together they ruled the Galicia-Volyn principality. Concerned about the growing power of neighboring Lithuania, they formed an alliance with the German knights of the Teutonic Order. With the Mongol-Tatars, the brothers behaved independently and even hostilely. There is reason to believe that it was in battles with them that they died.

After the death of Yuri in 1308, his sons Andrei and Lev maintained an alliance with Vladislav Loketok and also used Horde forces in military operations. Andrew and Leo reigned together in Galician-Volyn Rus. In one of their charters of 1316, which confirmed the alliance with the Prussian Order of Knights, they call themselves princes of the Russian land, Galicia and Vladimir region. However, they acted together mainly in foreign affairs, and in domestic affairs each adhered to their father’s inheritance. The eldest, Andrey, ruled in Volyn, the younger, Leo, ruled in Galicia.

From the beginning of the 14th century. The conflict between Galicia and Volyn and Lithuania intensifies. Since 1316, when Gediminas became the Grand Duke, Lithuania began to openly encroach on the Galician and Volyn lands. In this situation, Andrei and Leo sought to use the Prussian Order to fight against the expansion of the Lithuanian princes. The Galician and Volyn rulers also intervened in the internecine struggle of the Hungarian feudal lords.

The above-mentioned letter from Andrei and Leo in 1316 sheds light on their relations with the Horde khans: the princes promised the Prussian knights to protect them from the nomads. This indicates that the Galician-Volyn princes, although they continued to formally recognize the power of the Horde, actually pursued an independent foreign policy. It was not without reason that after the death of Andrei and Lev, Loketek remembered them with regret as defenders of the West, in particular Poland, from the Horde.

The sources preserve little information about the last years of the lives of Andrei and Lev. In the early 20s of the 14th century. both of them died in the fight against Gediminas, who attacked Volyn in 1321 and captured Lutsk the following year. As a result of this campaign, Lithuania captured the Berestei and Dorogichin lands. With the death of Andrei and Lev, the Romanovich dynasty ended. The boyars came to power again - the descendants of those powerful Galician and Volyn oligarchs, to the taming of whom Roman Mstislavich and his son Daniil had put so much effort.

Neighbors looked enviously at the rich Galician heritage. A recent ally of Andrew and Leo, the Polish king Wladyslaw Loketek, attempted to capture Galicia and Volyn. Not relying on his own strength, in the summer of 1325 he obtained from the pope the declaration of a crusade against the “schismatics” (as the Orthodox were called in the Catholic West), i.e. to Galicia-Volyn Rus'. However, Loketka's campaign did not take place. The Silesian princes Heinrich and Jan also sought to establish themselves in the Romanovich state, who had already called themselves princes of the Galician and Volyn lands in their charters. Under these conditions, the boyar oligarchy decided to choose the prince it liked. The choice fell on the Mazovian prince Boleslav - the son of Troyden, married to the sister of the last Romanovichs, Maria. Consequently, this applicant was the nephew of Andrew and Leo. Catholic Boleslav converted to Orthodoxy, took the name Yuri and became the Galician-Volyn prince in 1325. He chose Vladimir as his capital. The prince went down in history under the name of Yuri-Boleslav II. According to sources, Yuri-Boleslav maintained peaceful relations with the khans and went to the Horde for a label to reign. He was in agreement with the Prussian knights, but fought long wars with Poland. In 1337, in alliance with the Horde, Yuri-Boleslav besieged Lublin, but he failed to take possession of the Lublin land. At the end of the 30s, relations between the Galician-Volyn principality and the Kingdom of Poland worsened even more. In relations with Lithuania, Yuri-Boleslav lost the vigilance characteristic of the Romanovich policy and entered into a friendly alliance with the Lithuanian prince Gediminas, marrying his daughter Ofka in 1331. In turn, the Lithuanian prince Lubart Gediminovich married a girl from the family of Galician-Volyn princes, most likely the daughter of Yuri-Boleslav himself from his first wife. Yuri-Boleslav had no sons, so the message of the Lithuanian-Russian chronicler that in the 30s he made the Lithuanian prince his heir is credible.

The rapprochement between the Galicia-Volyn principality and Lithuania worried the long-time contenders for Ukrainian lands - the Polish and Hungarian feudal lords. In 1339, in Visegrad, the Polish king Casimir III concluded an agreement directed against Galicia and Volhynia with his son-in-law, the Hungarian king Charles Robert. The agreement provided: if Casimir had no sons, then after his death the Polish crown would pass to the Hungarian prince Louis - the son of Charles Robert and Casimir's sister Elizabeth.

By this time, Casimir III found himself in a difficult situation. For the agreement of the Czech king to renounce his rights to Polish lands, he paid very dearly, giving Silesia to the Czech Republic in 1336. At the same time, the Polish king was forced to cede Pomerania to the Teutonic Order. Under these conditions, Casimir III decided to compensate for his territorial losses at the expense of the Galician-Volyn principality. For the right to inherit the Polish crown, the Hungarian king promised Casimir to support his claims to Galicia and Volhynia. However, in reality, the Hungarian feudal lords were not going to give up their intentions to take possession of this land themselves.

Thus, by the middle of the 14th century. Southwestern Rus', weakened by the dominance of the Horde, was torn into dozens of large and small principalities and lands. Attempts by prominent politicians such as Roman Chernigovsky and Daniil Galitsky to consolidate the efforts of the masses to liberate themselves from foreign yoke and unite the southern Russian lands did not yield results. Fragmented and weakened Southwestern Rus' became the prey of new feudal enslavers.

Annexation of Volyn to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Capture of Galicia by feudal Poland. From fragmentary reports from sources about the last years of the reign of Yuri-Boleslav II, it is known that the struggle for primacy in the Galicia-Volyn principality did not subside between the boyars and the prince. Large feudal lords sought to limit the power of Yuri-Boleslav and supervised his every step. The prince had, for example, to sign state charters only together with his boyars. Yuri-Boleslav's attempts to escape from boyar tutelage and centralize the principality ended tragically for him.

At the beginning of 1340, the conflict between the prince and the boyars led to a conspiracy against Yuri-Boleslav. It was headed by the powerful Galician feudal lord Dmitry Dyadka (Detko). On April 7, 1340, Yuri Boleslav II was poisoned in Vladimir-Volynsky. Most authors of medieval chronicles, sparingly explaining the reasons for the clash between Yuri-Boleslav and the boyars, agree that the prince surrounded himself with Catholics and sought to change the “law and faith” of Rus'. European chroniclers say that Yuri Boleslav flooded the principality with foreign colonists, primarily Germans, and promoted Catholicism. Obviously, it was the “Western” orientation of the prince, a Pole by birth and a Catholic by upbringing, that aroused the indignation of wide sections of the population of the Galician and Volyn lands, which the boyars were able to take advantage of.

The death of Yuri-Boleslav and the feudal anarchy that followed it in the Galician-Volyn principality allowed the Polish king Casimir III to carry out a predatory raid on Galician Rus' at the end of April 1340. Polish troops captured several castles, including Lvov, and robbed the local population. At the same time, by agreement with Casimir III, the Hungarian king sent an army to Galicia. But this attack was repelled at the border by Galician guard detachments.

The plans of the boyar oligarchy, which had just gotten rid of the rebellious prince, did not include going back to the hand of an independent and independent ruler, such as Casimir III. Therefore, the boyars took advantage of the people's anger against the Polish feudal lords, which resulted in an uprising, and joined it. In an effort to lead a nationwide movement against the threat of the conquest of Galicia and Volhynia by the Polish kingdom, the boyars put one of their leaders, Dmitry Dyadka, at the head of this movement. In June 1340, the Galician-Volyn army, together with the Horde called to help, entered Poland and reached the Vistula. Although this campaign was not completely successful, it was thanks to it that Galicia retained its independence from Poland until 1349. Casimir III was forced to sign an agreement on mutual neutrality with Dmitry Dyadka. Meanwhile, the boyar elite, in search of a suitable prince for Volyn, settled on the candidacy of Lubart, whom Yuri-Boleslav considered his heir. The boyars thought that Lubart, as a representative of the Lithuanian princely family, who had no support in Volyn, should turn into their puppet. So, Volyn went to Lithuania.

Since 1340, the history of Galicia has been separated from the history of Volyn. The unity of the Galician-Volyn principality, immediately before that in many ways ephemeral, ceased to exist. Galicia only nominally recognized Lubart of Volyn as its prince, but in fact it was ruled by the Galician boyars led by Dmitry Dyadka. In the 40s of the XIV century. The uncle independently, without the participation of Lubart, conducts military operations and diplomatic negotiations with the Polish and Hungarian kings. So, the Galicia-Volyn principality split into two parts: the boyar oligarchic republic of Galicia, headed by Dmitry Dyadka, and Volyn, where the boyar protege Lubart reigned. This continued until the end of the 40s of the 14th century.

4. Novgorod boyar republic.

Administrative division of Novgorod. Novgorod was divided into two parts or sides - Trade and Sofia. They were located on two different banks of the Volkhov and were connected by the Great Bridge. The trading side got its name from the trading market located there. At the auction there was Yaroslav's courtyard, where the meeting was held. There was also a veche tower, at the top of which there was a veche bell, and below there was a veche office. The Sofia side received its name from the St. Sophia Cathedral located there. Detinets was also there.

Novgorod was divided into five ends or districts: Slavensky and Plotnitsky made up the Trade side; Nerevsky, Zagorodsky and Goncharsky (Lyudin) - Sofia side. The division into ends was historical. “Novgorod was made up of several settlements or settlements, which at first were independent societies, and then merged into one large urban community.” Slavenskoe end was previously a separate city – Slovenskoe. In the middle of the 9th century, with the advent of the Rurikovichs, the Rurik settlement became the residence of the princes, and the Novaya fortress was built opposite Slovensk, which soon became Novgorod. Later, the fortress was replaced by Detinets, pagan statues of gods inside the fortress - the Temple of St. Sophia. The Zagorodsky End, judging by the name, was the last to be formed; initially it was located outside the city, and only after the construction of the fortress could it become part of the city. The ends of Plotnitsky and Goncharsky probably constituted working-class suburbs of Slovensk, in which carpenters and potters lived. The name of Nerevsky comes from the words “on the moat” - as a designation that it was located on the very outskirts of the city.

Novgorod, with its five ends, was divided into pyatinas and volosts. The five spots were as follows: Votskaya, Obonezhskaya, Derevskaya, Shelonskaya, Bezhetskaya. According to the Novgorod charters, the Novgorod land was divided into lands, and in the 12th century. rows that bore the same name as Pyatina.

In addition to Pyatina, there were also volosts in the Novgorod land - “possessions that were more distant and later acquired...”. The volosts included cities that were jointly owned with other principalities, such as Volok-Lamsky, Bezhichi, Torzhok, Rzhev, Velikiye Luki with their districts. They also included a vast part of the Novgorod Republic, located to the northeast of the Bezhetsk and Obonezh Pyatina - Dvinskaya land or Zavolochye. The Perm land was located on the Vychegda River and its tributaries. Further to the northeast was the volost of Pechora on both sides of the river of the same name, and beyond the Ural Mountains was Yugra. On the northern shore of the White Sea there was the volost of Tre or Tersky Coast. Most of these volosts were acquired by Novgorod in the 11th-12th centuries.

Social structure of the city-state. The village of Novgorod was divided into spiritual and secular, the laity, in turn, were divided into the oldest (front, large) people and the younger (smaller, black) people.

There were the following classes: firemen, gnidba, princely nobles, posadniks, boyars, boyar children, merchants, common people, zemstvos and actually black people: smerdas and serfs. The title of nobles and gnidba was given only to the prince's retinue. The Ognishchans also formed the prince's squad and court. The rest of the princely servants in Novgorod were called shestniki or sestniki.

The Novgorod boyars, unlike the boyars of other principalities, were not the prince’s squad, but large landowners. They became the leaders of the entire Novgorod society. The boyars formed from the military elders who ruled Novgorod before the advent of the Rurikovichs and were the main political force of Novgorod. By the beginning of the 12th century. In Novgorod, a certain circle of noble families formed, which later played a prominent role in the politics of Novgorod.

The middle class of Novgorod society was mainly represented by living people. “The Zhichi were, apparently, people of average wealth, middle-class tenants in Moscow social terminology - standing between the boyars and the Molodochi, or black people.” Living people, receiving income from their lands, invested it in merchant enterprises, from which they made a profit. In the political life of the city, this class carried out judicial and diplomatic assignments and represented the ends in which they lived.

Unlike other Russian principalities, Novgorod retained a class of small landowners - homeowners. According to the Novgorod land register of 1500, each native had 18 acres of land. Sovesemtsy either cultivated their land themselves or rented it out to peasants. Most of them were city residents who bought plots of land. The natives formed together into agricultural partnerships, called syabrs or storekeepers.

The Novgorod merchants conducted large transit trade and had their own land holdings. Gradually, the merchant class began to divide into “hundreds.” Each hundred had its own charter, its own privileges. The most privileged merchant society was called the “Ivanovo hundred”. He was in charge of all trade affairs and the commercial court in Novgorod, regardless of the mayor and the Lord. In addition to the “Ivanovo Hundred,” there were “guilds” or hundreds of tanners, clothiers, and butchers.

The bulk of the population were young people. Most of them were artisans and small traders. They were responsible for the construction and repair of bridges and roads, the construction of churches and city fortifications, and in wartime they were drafted into the militia.

Rural society consisted of two categories of dependent population - smerds and slaves. The bulk of the rural population were stinkers. Initially, they had their own farm and paid tribute to the state. With the development of boyar land ownership, the smerds increasingly turned into an economically dependent population. Gradually they fell into two categories - community members, who paid taxes to Novgorod, and smerds, who were divided into mortgagers and ladles. The mortgagees were peasants who left the community and became dependent on the boyars. Ladles were peasants who sat on the land of private owners. According to the type of work, ladles were divided into izorniks (plowmen), gardeners and kochetniks (fishermen). The ladle had the right to leave his master once a year within the period established by law - the Filippov plot. Before leaving, the ladle had to fully repay his debt to the master.

The most powerless group of the population in Novgorod were the slaves.

Supreme bodies of state power. The highest bodies of state power of the Novgorod land were: the Veche and the Council of Gentlemen or Lords.

To convene a veche meant to present a matter for discussion by the people, and therefore anyone who considered himself entitled to speak before the people could convene a veche. The ringing of the veche bell was a sign that there was a demand from the people's voice.

Sometimes, especially during uprisings, two meetings would gather at the same time: one on the Trade Side, and the second on Sofia. The veche did not have a chairman and was not a permanent body; it was convened only when there was a real need for it. Most often this happened during wars, uprisings, conscription of princes and other social cataclysms. If the veche met to elect an archbishop, then it met in the square near the St. Sophia Cathedral, on the throne of which the electoral lots were laid.

The Veche in its composition was not a representative institution and consisted not of deputies, but of the entire free population of the Novgorod Republic. The meeting was also attended by delegates from large suburbs of Novgorod, such as Pskov and Ladoga.

An agenda and candidates for elected officials were prepared for the meetings. Decisions at meetings had to be made unanimously. There was an office and archive of the veche meeting, office work was carried out by veche clerks. The organizational and preparatory body was the boyar council (“Gentlemen”), which included the most influential persons - representatives of the city administration, noble boyars, and worked under the chairmanship of the archbishop. The decision of the veche was called a verdict and was recorded in the charter by the eternal clerk (secretary). The document was accompanied by a seal with the words engraved on it: “Seal of Veliky Novgorod.”

The veche had the right to pass laws, invite and expel princes, elect, judge and remove mayors and mayors from office, resolve their disputes with princes, resolve issues of war and peace, distribute volosts for feeding to princes, establish ruling sentences, and draw up treaties with foreigners. lands, make orders for the collection of troops and the protection of the country, determine trade rights and the quality of coins, sometimes establish churches and monasteries as peace: it was thus a legislative power, and at the same time a judicial one, especially in cases concerning violations of public rights.

The veche also elected the bishop - the head of the Novgorod church. He was a bishop (later an archbishop), who had some secular powers: judicial, financial, foreign policy. By presiding over meetings of the Council of Gentlemen and blessing the opening of veche meetings, he thereby performed the functions of the head of state.

There was no concept of quorum at the meeting. The result of the vote was determined not by the number of votes, but by the “power of the throats” of those shouting: for which they shouted louder, it was considered accepted.

Regardless of the big meeting, each end had the right to gather its own meetings, which elected Konchan elders. The ends, in turn, were divided into streets led by Ulychansky elders.

Since the veche did not meet constantly, but only when it was needed, a permanent authority was needed that would be involved in the governance of Novgorod. The Council of Masters or Lord became such a body of power. This council consisted of old and sedate posadniks, thousanders, sotskies and the archbishop. The gentlemen were of an aristocratic character, the number of its members in the 15th century. reached up to 50 people. The permanent chairman of the Lord was the archbishop. His duties included gathering the Lord in his chambers. In addition to the archbishop, the Lord included the princely governor and city authorities: the sedate mayor and the thousand, the Konchan elders and the sotskie. Together with them, the old mayors and thousands sat in the Lord. Frequent changes of senior officials in Novgorod became the reason for the rapid growth of the Lord's composition. All members of the Lord, except the chairman, were called boyars. Gentlemen prepared and introduced legislative issues at the meeting and presented ready-made bills. The gentlemen carried out general supervision over the work of the state apparatus and officials of the republic, and controlled the activities of the executive branch. She, together with the prince, the mayor and the thousand, decided on the convening of the veche and subsequently directed all its activities. The Lord was of great importance in the life of Novgorod. “Consisting of representatives of the highest Novgorod class, which had a powerful economic influence on the entire city, this preparatory council often predetermined the questions raised by it at the veche, conducting among the citizens the answers it had prepared. In the history of the political life of Novgorod, the boyar council was of much greater importance than the veche, which was usually its obedient instrument: it was a hidden, but very active spring of Novgorod government.”

The evolution of republican statehood was accompanied by the fading of the role of the city council. At the same time, the importance of the city boyar council grew. At the beginning of the 15th century. The decisions of the meeting were already entirely prepared by the council. Novgorod became similar to the structures of Italy (Venice, Florence).

Executive power of Novgorod. In the second half of the 10th century. Novgorod's dependence on Kyiv consisted in the fact that posadnik-princes were sent from the Dnieper capital as governors of the Kyiv Grand Duke. However, already the first decades of the 11th century. full of events that reflect new phenomena that mark the initial phase of the history of the Novgorod volost community.

Thus, under 1014, the chronicler reports that Prince Yaroslav, while ruling Novgorod, sent two thousand hryvnia as a “lesson” to Kiev every year, and this year he refused to pay the “lesson” to his father. Thus, he decided to break off traditional relations with the Kyiv rulers and free himself from dependence. Researchers believe that he was encouraged to do this by the Novgorodians, who were burdened by the obligation to “give tribute” to Kyiv. In any case, without their support, Yaroslav would not have started a fight with his powerful parent.

Second half of the 11th century. characterized by noticeable changes in the position of the prince on the Novgorod table. The result of these changes was the practice of expelling princes, which in the Novgorod history of the second half of the 11th century. can be traced clearly and definitely. Many researchers consider the first experience of exile to be the flight of Prince Rostislav from Novgorod somewhere between 1052 and 1054. In particular, I.Ya. Froyanov believes that Rostislav’s departure was connected with the danger that threatened him from the Novgorodians. And he directly calls this flight the expulsion of the prince from the city.

The next prince who attracts the attention of researchers is Mstislav Izyaslavich. Judging by the chronicles, the end of Mstislav's reign in Novgorod was marked by his defeat in the Battle of Cherekhe. He fled the city. In this case, the flight of the prince is tantamount to exile. Thus, the exile of princes sent from Kyiv to Novgorod becomes in the second half of the 11th century. becoming a habitual phenomenon, as it were, becoming a style of relations between Novgorod society and Kyiv proteges.

Another invention appeared in the arsenal of the Novgorodians, with the help of which they resisted the claims of the great Kyiv princes: “nurturing,” or education, raising princes from a young age. Thus, Prince Mstislav, nurtured by the Novgorodians, reigned in Novgorod for a total of almost 30 years, and the Novgorodians valued him primarily because they nurtured him. This served as a basis for them to reject the son of Svyatopolk in 1102.

The next period in the history of the city-state in Novgorod covers the first decades of the 12th century, ending with the events of 1136-1137. (Exile of Vsevolod).

In March 1117, Prince Mstislav, who had spent about 30 years in Novgorod, was transferred to the Kyiv land. Leaving Novgorod, Mstislav, according to the chronicler, “placed his son Vsevolod on the table in Novgorod.” In 1125 Vladimir Monomakh died. Mstislav became the prince of Kyiv. And in Novgorod, “that same summer, the Novgorodians sat on Vsevolod’s table.” Thus, the Novgorodians themselves, without outside participation, elected and seated Vsevolod on the princely table.

The election presupposed a certain procedure (ritual), the essential element of which was a series, or agreement, sealed by a mutual oath - the kiss of the cross.

The ranks with the princes determined the three most important blocks of relations between Novgorod and the princes: judicial-administrative, financial and commercial. The prince had no right to judge without a mayor. The prince had the right to appoint people from the Novgorod population to lower positions in the administration of the Novgorod Republic, but did not have the right to appoint people from his squad or his boyars. Moreover, the prince could appoint people to all these positions only with the consent of the mayor. Also, the prince could not distribute the volosts for feeding without the consent of the mayor. The prince could not take away the position from a Novgorod official without first declaring his guilt at the assembly. The prince could fulfill all his duties only in Novgorod itself: “And from the Suzhdal land of Novgorod, do not leave, nor distribute the volosts.”

Financial relations between the Novgorod Republic and the prince were even more unfavorable for the prince. The prince did not have the right to collect tribute from the Novgorod possessions; he could only receive a “gift” from the Novgorod volosts, such as Volok, Torzhok, Vologda and Zavolochye, that is, those that did not belong to the Novgorod Pyatina. He also received a “gift” when he traveled to Novgorod, but did not receive it upon his departure from Novgorod.

In the Novgorod Republic, the prince used various judicial and travel duties, various fishing, haymaking, boarding, and animal rutting. But the use of this took place according to strictly defined rules, at strictly defined times and in strictly determined quantities. The prince could not have his own sources of income in the Novgorod Republic, independent of Novgorod. A special condition in the ranks of the Novgorodians and the princes prohibited the prince, princess, their boyars and nobles from acquiring or establishing villages and settlements in the Novgorod land and accepting people as mortgages, that is, as personal dependence.

The prince had the right to participate in foreign trade, but only through Novgorod intermediaries. He did not have the right to close the German court or assign his own bailiffs to it, that is, Novgorod foreign trade was reliably protected from princely tyranny.

In the agreements between the Novgorod Republic and the princes, one important aspect of the relationship between the prince and Novgorod was passed over in silence - the defense of the Novgorod Republic from foreign invaders. Only in later letters is it mentioned that in the event of an attack on Novgorod, the prince is obliged to help Novgorod “without cunning.”

The rights and duties of the prince in the letters were stated unclearly, they were only assumed, their scope and consequences were outlined, that is, rewards for the performance of duties.

Thus, the prince was the highest judicial and military authority in Novgorod, led and administered the court, sealed deals and asserted rights, but only with the permission of the Novgorodians.

In addition to the prince, two persons were the main administrative managers in Novgorod: the mayor and the thousand, who combined the collective and executive power of Veliky Novgorod.

The word posadnik was known throughout the Russian Land, and was not the exclusive property of Veliky Novgorod. In other lands, the mayor was a person with the significance of a princely governor. In Novgorod, the mayor is the highest elected official, not appointed by the prince, who was the executive body of the veche, to whom management of the affairs of the republic was transferred. Officially, he was elected by the veche from among all full-fledged citizens of Novgorod, but in fact from the few most noble families of the Novgorod Republic. The term of the mayor was not limited, but in fact the mayors held their position for one to two years. They directed the activities of all persons of the Novgorod Republic, exercised control over their work, together with the prince were in charge of issues of administration and court, commanded troops during campaigns, supervised the construction of defensive structures, conducted diplomatic relations with other Russian principalities and foreign states, led the meetings of the Lord and evening meetings. The mayor, as a representative of the city, protected the interests of Novgorod and the entire Novgorod Republic before the prince. Without him, the prince could not judge the Novgorodians and distribute Novgorod volosts. In the absence of the prince, the mayor ruled the entire city. The mayor did not receive a specific salary, but enjoyed a special tax from the volosts, called “poralie”.

Tysyatsky was the second most important person in the Novgorod Republic after the mayor. Tysyatsky was involved in regulating trade relations, the commercial court, convening the militia, defending the city and the republic, and had police functions. Tysyatsky, although appointed by the prince, was a representative of the urban population. He had under his command a whole staff of small agents who carried out various judicial and administrative-police orders, announced the decisions of the veche and called for trial, notified the court about the crime, carried out searches, etc. In addition, Tysyatsky was involved in a military court - a trial of the assembled militias. According to S.F. Platonov's thousand was elected as a counterweight to the mayor from the lower classes of Novgorod society. Over time, the position of thousand became hereditary and elective, which emphasized its importance. So in the second half of the 15th century. The thousandth was Dmitry Boretsky, who came from a very noble and influential family.

Another important elected position in the Novgorod Republic was the archbishop, whom the Novgorodians called the lord. After separation from Kievan Rus in 1136, the Bishop of Novgorod began to be elected by the veche. The Archbishop of Novgorod presided over the meetings of the Lord, exercised the right of the church court, oversaw trade measures and weights, and was the custodian of the state treasury. The highest ranks of the Novgorod administration constantly listened to his voice. The archbishop was the largest feudal lord of the Novgorod Republic, owned vast lands, formed mainly from the confiscated possessions of the prince.

Judicial branch. In Novgorod, the judicial branch of government was not separated from the executive-administrative branch. All bodies of power and administration had judicial powers: the veche, the archbishop, the prince, the mayor, and the thousand. Upon taking office, the elected officials took an oath (“kissing the cross”). An image of the Novgorod court can be found in the surviving part of the Novgorod Judicial Charter. The source of the Judgment Charter was “old times,” that is, the legal customs of the Novgorod court and its practice, agreements with princes and veche resolutions.

The court was not concentrated in a separate department, but was distributed among different government authorities. The emergence of new government institutions introduced complications into the existing judicial system.

According to the treaty letters of the princes with the Novgorod Republic, the prince could not judge without the mayor. So, according to the Novgorod Judgment Charter, the mayor judged together with the governor of the prince, and “the trial does not end without the governor.” In practice, this joint jurisdiction of the posadnik and the governor was resolved by the fact that the representatives of both, the tiuns, each separately examined the cases subject to their consideration in their “odrins” with the assistance of bailiffs elected by the litigants, but did not decide the cases finally, but transferred them to a higher authority either for a report, that is, to draw up a final decision, or for a review, that is, for verification, to review the case and approve the decision laid down by the tiun.

In the court of this reporting and auditing instance, 10 jurors sat with the mayor and governor or with their tiuns, a boyar and a zhizhim from each end. They formed a permanent panel of speakers, as they were called, and met in the courtyard of the Novgorod archbishop “in the lord’s room” three times a week under pain of a fine for failure to appear.

Legal proceedings were complicated by combinations of different jurisdictions in mixed cases where parties from different jurisdictions met. In a lawsuit between a church person and a layman, the city judge judged together with the lord's governor or his tiun. The princely man and the Novgorodian were judged by a special commission, consisting of two boyars, the princely and the Novgorodian, and if they could not agree on a decision, the case was reported to the prince himself when he arrived in Novgorod, in the presence of the mayor.

Tysyatsky judged mainly cases of a police nature. But he was also the first of three elders in the council, which stood at the head of what arose in the 12th century. at the Church of St. John the Baptist on Opochki merchant society (“Ivanskoye Sto”) and was in charge of the commercial court. The same council, with the participation of the mayor, dealt with matters between the Novgorodians and the merchants of the German court in Novgorod.

This distribution of responsibilities in legal proceedings was supposed to ensure law and public peace.

To summarize, it is necessary to emphasize that until the 11th century, the Novgorod land was a practically independent state with an independent culture; in Novgorod there was a completely definite system - a republic, which presupposed “Liberty in the princes.” Novgorod had fairly developed crafts, trade, and agriculture. However, the basis of the Novgorod economy was determined by its agrarian character. Novgorod had a fairly developed culture and a high level of spirituality. And finally, Novgorod had a strong enough army that could withstand almost any threat within the framework of that time.

As a result of the war of 1471 and the campaign of Moscow troops against Veliky Novgorod in 1477-1478. Many institutions of republican power were abolished. The Novgorod Republic became an integral part of the Russian state, while maintaining some autonomy.

The southwestern principalities of Rus' - Vladimir-Volyn and Galician - which united the lands of the Dulebs, Tiverts, Croats, and Buzhans, became part of Kievan Rus at the end of the 10th century. under Vladimir Svyatoslavich. However, the policy of the great Kyiv princes regarding Volhynia and Galicia did not find support among the local landed nobility, and already from the end of the 11th century. The struggle for the isolation of these lands began, although the Volyn land traditionally had close ties with Kiev. Volyn until the middle of the 12th century. did not have its own dynasty of princes. As a rule, it was directly controlled from Kyiv or at times Kiev proteges sat at the Vladimir table.

The formation of the Galician principality began in the second half of the 11th century. This process is connected with the activities of the founder of the Galician dynasty, Prince Rostislav Vladimirovich, grandson of Yaroslav the Wise.

The heyday of the Principality of Galicia occurred during the reign of Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153 - 1187), who gave a decisive rebuff to the Hungarians and Poles who were pressing on him and waged a fierce struggle against the boyars. With the death of his son Vladimir Yaroslavich, the Rostislavich dynasty ceased to exist, and in 1199, the Vladimir-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich took possession of the Galician principality and united the Galician and Volyn lands into a single Galician-Volyn principality. Its center was Galich, then Kholm, and from 1272 Lvov. The victorious campaigns of Roman's squads against Lithuania, Poland, Hungary and the Polovtsians created high international authority for him and the principality.

After the death of Roman (1205), the western lands of Rus' again entered a period of unrest and princely-boyar civil strife. The struggle between the feudal groups in the western lands of Rus' reached its greatest intensity under the young sons of Roman Mstislavich - Daniil and Vasilka.

The Galician-Volyn principality broke up into appanages - Galician, Zvenigorod and Vladimir. This made it possible for Hungary, where young Daniel was raised at the court of King Andrew II, to constantly interfere in Galician-Volyn affairs, and soon to occupy Western Russian lands. The boyar opposition was not so organized and mature as to turn the Galician land into a boyar republic, but it had enough strength to organize endless conspiracies and riots against the princes.

Shortly before the invasion of Batu's hordes, Daniil Romanovich managed to overcome the opposition from the powerful Galician and Volyn boyars and in 1238 entered Galich in triumph. In the fight against the feudal opposition, power relied on the squad, city leaders and feudal service lords. The masses strongly supported Daniel's unifying policy. In 1239, the Galician-Volyn army captured Kiev, but the success was short-lived.

Hoping to create an anti-Horde coalition on a European scale with the help of the pope, Daniil Romanovich agreed to accept the royal crown offered to him by Innocent IV. The coronation took place in 1253 during campaigns against the Lithuanian Yatvingians in the small town of Dorogichina near the western border of the principality. The Roman Curia turned its attention to Galicia and Volhynia, hoping to spread Catholicism to these lands. In 1264, Daniil Romanovich died in Kholm. After his death, the decline of the Galicia-Volyn principality began, breaking up into four appanages.

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

Social system. A feature of the social structure of the Galicia-Volyn principality was that a large group of boyars was created there, in whose hands almost all land holdings were concentrated. However, the process of formation of large feudal landownership did not proceed in the same way everywhere. In Galicia, its growth outpaced the formation of the princely domain. In Volyn, on the contrary, along with boyar land tenure, domain land ownership received significant development. This is explained by the fact that it was in Galicia that the economic and political prerequisites for a more rapid growth of large feudal landownership matured earlier than in Volyn. The princely domain began to take shape when the predominant part of the communal lands was seized by the boyars and the circle of free lands for the princely domains was limited. In addition, the Galician princes, trying to enlist the support of local feudal lords, distributed part of their lands to them and thereby reduced the princely domain.

The most important role among the feudal lords of the Galician-Volyn principality was played by the Galician boyars - “Galician men.” They owned large estates and dependent peasants. In sources of the 12th century. the ancestors of the Galician boyars act as “princely men.” The strength of this boyars, who expanded the boundaries of their possessions and conducted large-scale trade, continuously increased. There was a constant struggle within the boyars for lands and power. Already in the 12th century. “Galician men” oppose any attempts to limit their rights in favor of princely power and growing cities.

The other group consisted of service feudal lords, whose sources of land holdings were princely grants, boyar lands confiscated and redistributed by the princes, as well as unauthorized seizures of communal lands. In the vast majority of cases, they owned land conditionally while they served, that is, for service and under the condition of service. Serving feudal lords supplied the prince with an army consisting of feudal-dependent peasants. The Galician princes relied on them in their fight against the boyars.

The ruling class of the Galicia-Volyn principality also included large church nobility in the person of archbishops, bishops, abbots of monasteries and others, who also owned vast lands and peasants. Churches and monasteries acquired land holdings through grants and donations from princes. Often, like princes and boyars, they seized communal lands, and turned peasants into monastic or church feudal-dependent people.

The bulk of the rural population in the Galicia-Volyn principality were peasants. Both free and dependent peasants were called smerds. The predominant form of peasant land ownership was communal, later called “dvorishche”. Gradually the community broke up into individual households.

The process of the formation of large land holdings and the formation of a class of feudal lords was accompanied by an increase in the feudal dependence of the peasants and the emergence of feudal rent. Labor rent in the 11th - 12th centuries. gradually replaced by product rent. The amount of feudal duties was set by the feudal lords at their own discretion.

The brutal exploitation of peasants intensified the class struggle, which often took the form of popular uprisings against the feudal lords. Such a mass uprising of peasants was, for example, the uprising in 1159 under Yaroslav Osmomysl.

Serfdom in the Galicia-Volyn principality was preserved, but the number of serfs decreased, many of them were planted on the land and merged with the peasants.

In the Galicia-Volyn principality there were over 80 cities, including the largest - Berestye (later Brest), Vladimir, Galich, Lvov, Lutsk, Przemysl, Kholm, etc. The largest group of the urban population were artisans.

Jewelry, pottery, blacksmithing and glass-making workshops were located in the cities. They worked both for the customer and for the market, internal or external. The salt trade brought great profits. Being a major commercial and industrial center. Galich quickly acquired the importance of a cultural center. The famous Galician-Volyn Chronicle and other written monuments of the 12th - 13th centuries were created there.

Political system. The peculiarity of the Galicia-Volyn principality was that for a long time it was not divided into appanages. After the death of Daniil Romanovich, it split into Galician and Volyn lands, and then each of these lands began to split up in turn. Another special feature was that power was essentially in the hands of the large boyars.

Since the Galician-Volyn princes did not have a broad economic and social base, their power was fragile. It was passed down through generations. The place of the deceased father was taken by the eldest of the sons, whom his other brothers were supposed to “honor in their father’s place.” The widow-mother enjoyed significant political influence under her sons. Despite the system of vassalage on which relations between members of the princely house were built, each princely domain was politically largely independent.

Although the princes expressed the interests of the feudal lords as a whole, they nevertheless could not concentrate the fullness of state power in their hands. The Galician boyars played a major role in the political life of the country. It even controlled the princely table - it invited and removed princes. The history of the Galicia-Volyn principality is full of examples when princes who lost the support of the boyars were forced to leave their principalities. The forms of struggle of the boyars against unwanted princes are also characteristic. They invited Hungarians and Poles against them, put to death unwanted princes (this is how the princes Igorevich were hanged in 1208), and removed them from Galicia (in 1226). There is a known case when the boyar Volodislav Kormilchich, who did not belong to the dynasty, proclaimed himself a prince in 1231. Often, representatives of the ecclesiastical nobility were at the head of boyar revolts directed against the prince. In such a situation, the main support of the princes were the middle and small feudal lords, as well as the city elite.

The Galician-Volyn princes had certain administrative, military, judicial and legislative powers. In particular, they appointed officials in cities and towns, allocating them with land holdings under the condition of service, and were formally the commanders-in-chief of all armed forces. But each boyar had his own military militia, and since the Galician boyars’ regiments often outnumbered the prince’s, in case of disagreement, the boyars could argue with the prince using military force. The supreme judicial power of the princes in case of disagreement with the boyars passed to the boyar elite. Finally, the princes issued letters concerning various issues of government, but they were often not recognized by the boyars.

The boyars exercised their power with the help of the boyar council. Its members included the largest landowners, bishops and persons holding the highest government positions. The composition, rights, and competence of the council were not determined. The boyar council was convened, as a rule, on the initiative of the boyars themselves. The prince did not have the right to convene a council at his own request, and could not issue a single state act without his consent. He zealously guarded the interests of the boyars, even interfering in the prince’s family affairs. This body, while not formally the highest authority, actually governed the principality. Since the council included boyars who occupied the largest administrative positions, the entire state administrative apparatus was actually subordinate to it.

The Galician-Volyn princes from time to time, under emergency circumstances, convened a veche in order to strengthen their power, but it did not have much influence. Small merchants and artisans could be present, but the decisive role was played by the top class of feudal lords.

The Galician-Volyn princes took part in all-Russian feudal congresses. Occasionally, congresses of feudal lords were convened, relating only to the Galicia-Volyn principality. So, in the first half of the 12th century. A congress of feudal lords took place in the city of Shartse to resolve the issue of civil strife over the volosts between the sons of the Przemysl prince Volodar Rostislav and Vladimirk.

In the Galicia-Volyn principality, palace-patrimonial administration arose earlier than in other Russian lands. In the system of this administration, the courtier, or butler, played a significant role. He was basically in charge of all issues relating to the prince's court, he was entrusted with the command of individual regiments, and during military operations he protected the life of the prince.

Among the palace ranks, mention is made of a printer, a steward, a cup keeper, a falconer, a hunter, a stable keeper, etc. The printer was in charge of the princely office and was the custodian of the princely treasury, which at the same time was also the princely archive. In his hands was the princely seal. The steward was in charge of the prince's table, served him during meals, and was responsible for the quality of the table. Chashnichiy was in charge of the side forests, cellars and everything related to the supply of drinks to the princely table. The falconer was in charge of bird hunting. The hunter was in charge of hunting the beast. The main function of the groom was to serve the princely cavalry. Numerous princely keykeepers acted under the control of these officials. The positions of butler, printer, steward, groom and others gradually turned into palace ranks.

The territory of the Galicia-Volyn principality was initially divided into thousands and hundreds. As the thousand and sotskys with their administrative apparatus gradually became part of the palace-patrimonial apparatus of the prince, the positions of governors and volostels arose in their place. Accordingly, the territory of the principality was divided into voivodeships and volosts. The communities elected elders who were in charge of administrative and minor judicial matters.

Posadniks were appointed and sent directly to the cities by the prince. They had not only administrative and military power, but also performed judicial functions and collected tributes and duties from the population.

Right. The legal system of the Galicia-Volyn principality was not much different from the legal systems that existed in other Russian lands during the period of feudal fragmentation. The norms of Russian Truth, only slightly modified, continued to apply here.

The Galician-Volyn princes, of course, also issued their own acts. Among them, a valuable source characterizing the economic relations of the Galician principality with Czech, Hungarian and other merchants is the charter of Prince Ivan Rostislavich Berladnik in 1134. It established a number of benefits for foreign merchants. Around 1287, the Manuscript of Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich was published, concerning the rules of inheritance law in the Vladimir-Volyn principality. It talks about the transfer by Prince Vladimir of the right to exploit the feudally dependent population to the heirs. At the same time, it provides materials for studying the management of villages and cities. Around 1289, the Charter of the Volyn prince Mstislav Daniilovich was published, characterizing the duties that fell on the shoulders of the feudally dependent population of Southwestern Russia.

The southwestern principalities of Rus' - Vladimir-Volyn and Galician - which united the lands of the Dulebs, Tiverts, Croats, and Buzhans, became part of Kievan Rus at the end of the 10th century. under Vladimir Svyatoslavich. However, the policy of the great Kyiv princes regarding Volhynia and Galicia did not find support among the local landed nobility, and already from the end of the 11th century. The struggle for the isolation of these lands began, although the Volyn land traditionally had close ties with Kiev. Volyn until the middle of the 12th century. did not have its own dynasty of princes. As a rule, it was directly controlled from Kyiv or at times Kyiv proteges sat at the Vladimir table.

The formation of the Galician principality began in the second half of the 11th century. This process is connected with the activities of the founder of the Galician dynasty, Prince Rostislav Vladimirovich, grandson of Yaroslav the Wise.

The heyday of the Galician principality occurred during the reign of Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153 -1187), who gave a decisive rebuff to the Hungarians and Poles who were pressing on him and waged a fierce struggle against the boyars. With the death of his son Vladimir Yaroslavich, the Rostislavich dynasty ceased to exist, and in 1199, the Vladimir-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich took possession of the Galician principality and united the Galician and Volyn lands into a single Galician-Volyn principality. Its center was Galich, then Kholm, and from 1272 Lvov. Victorious campaigns of Roman's squads against Lithuania, Poland

Shu, Hungary and the Cumans created high international authority for him and the principality.

After the death of Roman (1205), the western lands of Rus' again entered a period of unrest and princely-boyar civil strife. The struggle between the feudal groups in the western lands of Rus' reached its greatest intensity under the young sons of Roman Mstislavich - Daniil and Vasilka.

The Galician-Volyn principality broke up into appanages - Galician, Zvenigorod and Vladimir. This made it possible for Hungary, where young Daniel was raised at the court of King Andrew II, to constantly interfere in Galician-Volyn affairs, and soon to occupy Western Russian lands. The boyar opposition was not so organized and mature as to turn the Galician land into a boyar republic, but it had enough strength to organize endless conspiracies and riots against the princes.

Shortly before the invasion of Batu's hordes, Daniil Romanovich managed to overcome the opposition from the powerful Galician and Volyn boyars and in 1238 entered Galich in triumph. In the fight against the feudal opposition, power relied on the squad, city leaders and feudal service lords. The masses strongly supported Daniel's unifying policy. In 1239, the Galician-Volyn army captured Kiev, but the success was short-lived.

Hoping to create an anti-Horde coalition on a European scale with the help of the pope, Daniil Romanovich agreed to accept the royal crown offered to him by Innocent IV. The coronation took place in 1253 during campaigns against the Lithuanian Yatvingians in the small town of Dorogichina near the western border of the principality. The Roman Curia turned its attention to Galicia and Volhynia, hoping to spread Catholicism to these lands. In 1264, Daniil Romanovich died in Kholm. After his death, the decline of the Galicia-Volyn principality began, breaking up into four appanages.

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

Social system. A feature of the social structure of the Galicia-Volyn principality was that a large group of boyars was created there, in whose hands almost all land holdings were concentrated. However, the process of formation of large feudal landownership did not proceed in the same way everywhere. In Galicia, its growth outpaced the formation of the princely domain. In Volyn, on the contrary, along with boyar land tenure, domain land ownership received significant development. This is explained by the fact that it is in Galicia

Earlier than in Volyn, the economic and political prerequisites for a more rapid growth of large feudal landownership matured. The princely domain began to take shape when the predominant part of the communal lands was seized by the boyars and the circle of free lands for the princely domains was limited. In addition, the Galician princes, trying to enlist the support of local feudal lords, distributed part of their lands to them and thereby reduced the princely domain.

The most important role among the feudal lords of the Galician-Volyn principality was played by the Galician boyars - “Galician men.” They owned large estates and dependent peasants. In sources of the 12th century. the ancestors of the Galician boyars act as “princely men.” The strength of this boyars, who expanded the boundaries of their possessions and conducted large-scale trade, continuously increased. There was a constant struggle within the boyars for lands and power. Already in the 12th century. “Galician men” oppose any attempts to limit their rights in favor of princely power and growing cities.

The other group consisted of service feudal lords, whose sources of land holdings were princely grants, boyar lands confiscated and redistributed by the princes, as well as unauthorized seizures of communal lands. In the vast majority of cases, they owned land conditionally while they served, that is, for service and under the condition of service. Serving feudal lords supplied the prince with an army consisting of feudal-dependent peasants. The Galician princes relied on them in their fight against the boyars.

The ruling class of the Galicia-Volyn principality also included large church nobility in the person of archbishops, bishops, abbots of monasteries and others, who also owned vast lands and peasants. Churches and monasteries acquired land holdings through grants and donations from princes. Often, like princes and boyars, they seized communal lands, and turned peasants into monastic or church feudal-dependent people.

The bulk of the rural population in the Galicia-Volyn principality were peasants. Both free and dependent peasants were called smerds. The predominant form of peasant land ownership was communal, later called “dvorishche”. Gradually the community broke up into individual households.

The process of the formation of large land holdings and the formation of a class of feudal lords was accompanied by an increase in the feudal dependence of the peasants and the emergence of feudal rent. Labor rent in the 11th - 12th centuries. gradually replaced by product rent. The amount of feudal duties was set by the feudal lords at their own discretion.

The brutal exploitation of peasants intensified the class struggle, which often took the form of popular uprisings against the feudal lords. Such a mass uprising of peasants was, for example, the uprising in 1159 under Yaroslav Osmomysl.

Serfdom in the Galicia-Volyn principality was preserved, but the number of serfs decreased, many of them were planted on the land and merged with the peasants.

In the Galicia-Volyn principality there were over 80 cities, including the largest - Berestye (later Brest), Vladimir, Galich, Lvov, Lutsk, Przemysl, Kholm, etc. The largest group of the urban population were artisans.

Jewelry, pottery, blacksmithing and glass-making workshops were located in the cities. They worked both for the customer and for the market, internal or external. The salt trade brought great profits. Being a major commercial and industrial center. Galich quickly acquired the importance of a cultural center. The famous Galician-Volyn Chronicle and other written monuments of the 12th - 13th centuries were created there.

Political system. The peculiarity of the Galicia-Volyn principality was that for a long time it was not divided into appanages. After the death of Daniil Romanovich, it split into the Gaditsky and Volyn lands, and then each of these lands began to split up in turn. Another special feature was that power was essentially in the hands of the large boyars.

Since the Galician-Volyn princes did not have a broad economic and social base, their power was fragile. It was passed down through generations. The place of the deceased father was taken by the eldest of the sons, whom his other brothers were supposed to “honor in their father’s place.” The widow-mother enjoyed significant political influence under her sons. Despite the system of vassalage on which relations between members of the princely house were built, each princely domain was politically largely independent.

Although the princes expressed the interests of the feudal lords as a whole, they nevertheless could not concentrate the fullness of state power in their hands. The Galician boyars played a major role in the political life of the country. It even controlled the princely table - it invited and removed princes. The history of the Galicia-Volyn principality is full of examples when princes who lost the support of the boyars were forced to leave their principalities. The forms of struggle of the boyars against unwanted princes are also characteristic. They invited Hungarians and Poles against them, put to death unwanted princes (this is how the princes Igorevich were hanged in 1208), removed them from Galicia

(in 1226). There is a known case when the boyar Volodislav Kormilchich, who did not belong to the dynasty, proclaimed himself a prince in 1231. Often, representatives of the ecclesiastical nobility were at the head of boyar revolts directed against the prince. In such a situation, the main support of the princes were the middle and small feudal lords, as well as the city elite.

The Galician-Volyn princes had certain administrative, military, judicial and legislative powers. In particular, they appointed officials in cities and towns, allocating them with land holdings under the condition of service, and were formally the commanders-in-chief of all armed forces. But each boyar had his own military militia, and since the Galician boyars’ regiments often outnumbered the prince’s, in case of disagreement, the boyars could argue with the prince using military force. The supreme judicial power of the princes in case of disagreement with the boyars passed to the boyar elite. Finally, the princes issued letters concerning various issues of government, but they were often not recognized by the boyars.

The boyars exercised their power with the help of the boyar council. Its members included the largest landowners, bishops and persons holding the highest government positions. The composition, rights, and competence of the council were not determined. The boyar council was convened, as a rule, on the initiative of the boyars themselves. The prince did not have the right to convene a council at his own request, and could not issue a single state act without his consent. He zealously guarded the interests of the boyars, even interfering in the prince’s family affairs. This body, while not formally the highest authority, actually governed the principality. Since the council included boyars who occupied the largest administrative positions, the entire state administrative apparatus was actually subordinate to it.

The Galician-Volyn princes from time to time, under emergency circumstances, convened a veche in order to strengthen their power, but it did not have much influence. Small merchants and artisans could be present, but the decisive role was played by the top class of feudal lords.

The Galician-Volyn princes took part in all-Russian feudal congresses. Occasionally, congresses of feudal lords were convened, relating only to the Galicia-Volyn principality. So, in the first half of the 12th century. A congress of feudal lords took place in the city of Shartse to resolve the issue of civil strife over the volosts between the sons of the Przemysl prince Volodar Rostislav and Vladimirk.

In the Galicia-Volyn principality, palace-patrimonial administration arose earlier than in other Russian lands. In the system of this

The courtier, or butler, played a significant role in governance. He was basically in charge of all issues relating to the prince's court, he was entrusted with the command of individual regiments, and during military operations he protected the life of the prince.

Among the palace ranks, mention is made of a printer, a steward, a cup keeper, a falconer, a hunter, a stable keeper, etc. The printer was in charge of the princely office and was the custodian of the princely treasury, which at the same time was also the princely archive. In his hands was the princely seal. The steward was in charge of the prince's table, served him during meals, and was responsible for the quality of the table. Chashnichiy was in charge of the side forests, cellars and everything related to the supply of drinks to the princely table. The falconer was in charge of bird hunting. The hunter was in charge of hunting the beast. The main function of the groom was to serve the princely cavalry. Numerous princely keykeepers acted under the control of these officials. The positions of butler, printer, steward, groom and others gradually turned into palace ranks.

The territory of the Galicia-Volyn principality was initially divided into thousands and hundreds. As the thousand and sotskys with their administrative apparatus gradually became part of the palace and patrimonial apparatus of the prince, the positions of governors and volostels arose in their place. Accordingly, the territory of the principality was divided into voivodeships and volosts. The communities elected elders who were in charge of administrative and minor judicial matters.

Posadniks were appointed and sent directly to the cities by the prince. They had not only administrative and military power, but also performed judicial functions and collected tributes and duties from the population.

Right. The legal system of the Galicia-Volyn principality was not much different from the legal systems that existed in other Russian lands during the period of feudal fragmentation. The norms of Russian Truth, only slightly modified, continued to apply here.

The Galician-Volyn princes, of course, also issued their own acts. Among them, a valuable source characterizing the economic relations of the Galician principality with Czech, Hungarian and other merchants is the charter of Prince Ivan Rostislavich Berladnik in 1134. It established a number of benefits for foreign merchants. Around 1287, the Manuscript of Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich was published, concerning the rules of inheritance law in the Vladimir-Volyn principality. It talks about the transfer by Prince Vladimir of the right to exploit the feudally dependent population to the heirs. At the same time, it provides materials for studying the management of villages and cities.

Around 1289, the Charter of the Volya prince Mstislav Daniilovich was published, characterizing the duties that fell on the shoulders of the feudally dependent population of South-Western Rus'.

During the period of fragmentation in Rus', the development of the early feudal state continued. Relatively centralized Ancient Rus' breaks up into a mass of large, medium, small and tiny states. In their political forms, even small feudal estates are trying to copy the Kiev state.

During this period, a fundamentally new form of government appeared - the republic. The Novgorod and Pskov feudal republics are widely known. Less known is Vyatka, which was originally a colony of Novgorod, and then, like Pskov, became an independent state."

All the considered feudal powers are united in principle by a single legal system, which is based on an epoch-making legal act - the Russian Truth. Not a single principality is creating a new law that can at least to some extent replace the Russian Truth. Only its new editions are being formed. Only in feudal republics (and this is no coincidence) are new major legislative acts created.

Feudal fragmentation in Rus', as in other regions of the country, was an inevitable stage in the development of the state. But this inevitability cost our people dearly. In the 13th century Mongol-Tatar hordes fell on Rus'.

"See: Kostomarov N. Northern Russian people's rights in the times of the appanage-veche way of life (history of Novgorod, Pskov and Vyatka). T. 1. St. Petersburg, 1886.

Chapter 6. Mongol-Tatar states on the territory of our country (XIII-XV centuries)