Prerequisites for the causes and historical consequences of feudal fragmentation. Abstract: work Topic: Prerequisites, causes, consequences of feudal fragmentation in Rus'
From the second third of the 12th century to the end of the 15th century, the period lasted in Rus' feudal fragmentation. The main prerequisites for this are as follows:
weakening of central power Prince of Kyiv;
strengthening the power of feudal lords locally (uprising in Kyiv - 1113, disaster for the people due to the strife of the princes);
the growth of large feudal landownership.
Large feudal lords had their own squads and administrative apparatus, and as a result, a desire arose to separate from Kyiv.
During the period of feudal fragmentation, the previously united Russian land was divided into a number of political entities, each of which was ruled by its own princely dynasty. The collapse of a single political body began in the 11th century, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. In 1053, while still alive, he divided Rus' between his three sons - Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod.
However, Rus' still continued to be perceived as a single whole; real fragmentation occurred no earlier than the second quarter of the 12th century, after the death of the son of Vladimir Monomakh, Mstislav the Great, in 1132. His father and he managed to restrain the separatist aspirations of individual princes. But they no longer encroached on the complete internal independence of the principalities, but were limited to the requirement that all princes must participate in all-Russian campaigns against external enemies, which were the Polovtsians at that time.
The princes of individual principalities, as a rule, dealt with Western opponents themselves, and only the fight against the nomadic tribes of the southern steppe regions required the concentration of all the forces of Rus'. It is this fact that explains the fact that the first to achieve independence for the land and principality were those that did not border the Wild Field, as the steppe inhabited by nomadic tribes was then called in Rus'.
The Novgorod land and the Principality of Polotsk stood out first, later about fifteen more principalities emerged, the largest of which were:
Rostov-Suzdal;
Galitsky;
Volynskoe;
Chernigovskoe;
Ryazanskoe;
Pereyaslavskoe.
It should be noted that the borders of these principalities did not coincide with the borders of the old tribal principalities, which indicates the formation of a single ancient Russian nation within the state of Kievan Rus. With its formation, there was a constant movement of population from one area to another. The process of resettlement from the Dnieper region to the Volga-Oka interfluve was especially intense. One of the reasons for this resettlement was the Polovtsian danger.
The isolation of the principalities led to the fact that Kyiv - the “mother of Russian cities” - gradually lost its role as an all-Russian center; new cities grew up locally, becoming the capitals of new principalities. This, for example, became Vladimir, founded on the Klyazma River, which quickly pushed into the background such old centers of the principality as Rostov and Suzdal. The Vladimir Principality, where the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh ruled - Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod Yurievich Big Nest, becomes one of the strongest in Rus'. Yuri Dolgoruky lays claim to the Grand Duke's table in Kyiv, which, although it has lost its former importance, has long been considered the most prestigious. However, Yuri’s son, Andrei, having won internecine wars, does not seek to gain a foothold in Kyiv: political realities eventually turn out to be stronger than tradition and prestige, and the largest centers developed their own system of great reigns.
The consequences of feudal fragmentation manifested themselves during the aggression of neighbors, which occurred in the 11th - 13th centuries, when Rus' suffered a terrible blow from the Mongol-Tatar hordes. The knights decided to take advantage of the weakening of the Russian principalities and make territorial acquisitions. Formally, this was carried out under the banner of the Crusades, although the Russian lands had long been baptized.
At the same time, Rus' was invaded by a huge Mongol army under the command of Genghis Khan's grandson, Batu. Having captured Central Asia and Transcaucasia, Mongol troops came very close to Russian soil. Genghis Khan's troops crossed the Caucasus Mountains and invaded the southern Russian steppes. Here they met the Polovtsians. The Polovsky khans turned to the Russian princes for help. The princes decided to jointly oppose the troops of Genghis Khan and moved to help the Polovtsians. The battle took place in May 1223 on the Kalka River, near the mouth of the Don. The Russian troops suffered a severe defeat. The Tatar khans laid planks on the wounded and prisoners, sat on them and feasted, celebrating the victory.
The result of the Mongol-Tatar invasion was the unification of Russian lands and the end of feudal fragmentation. The old one ceased to exist political structure, which was characterized by independent principalities - lands.
A positive aspect of fragmentation was the development of the country's regions. TO negative consequences It can be attributed to civil strife, the struggle for the territory of the principality, Rus' turned out to be secure on the eve of the next invasion of nomads.
Feudal fragmentation in Rus' appeared to XII century and continued until the end of the 15th century. This form of state existence was typical for most European states, characterized by the weakening of centralized power and its redistribution among local princes.
The emergence of a period of feudal fragmentation is associated with a will after his death, according to which all Russian land was distributed among his sons. The number of principalities during feudal fragmentation was constantly changing, initially there were only 12, however, over time their number increased to 50, and at the end of this period there were more than 200.
Positive points
Just as any action has positive and negative consequences, feudal fragmentation became a source of conflicting results. TO positive aspects can be attributed to the qualitative development of many peripheral cities besides Kyiv. Thus, cities such as Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov and others.
The standard of living in the appanage principalities increased significantly, as did their military power. Peasant farming began to develop farming and industry, everything was mastered large quantity arable land. Trade relations were also actively developing at this time both between the principalities and with neighboring states. During this period, the role of the Orthodox Church in public life countries. The first ruling dynasties began to take shape, where legitimate power passed from father to son.
Negative consequences
Negative consequences include a decrease in the country's defense capability against an external enemy. Not all the principalities formed during this period had good relations with each other. Many of them were in conflict with each other over disputed territories, this often turned into military confrontations.
This was often taken advantage of by neighboring countries, which carried out periodic raids in order to seize territories and gain wealth. The principalities could not assemble a joint army capable of giving a worthy rebuff to external invaders, so the principalities that were located on the border of the state suffered from the lack of ability to fight back.
Opposing principalities caused damage to each other; in addition to human casualties, the economy of the principalities suffered, and their development also slowed down. Feudal fragmentation had a negative impact on Kyiv; it lost its former power, local princes could no longer influence the appanage rulers of other principalities. Despite this, many princes tried to take the local throne of the Grand Duke. Power in the city very often changed hands, rulers changed regularly, who often pursued personal interests, forgetting about ordinary people. During the redistribution of power, the princes, who were blood relatives, killed each other.
The consequences of feudal fragmentation also include, which established the dependence of Rus' on the Golden Horde khans. Most of the princes of the Russian lands paid tribute to the Horde, impoverishing their own people. The power of the Horde over Russia lasted for several centuries.
Despite the division of the principalities, the final disintegration of the country did not occur; the Russian people have always felt the unity of views, religion, language and family ties. This helped save the country and unite it later.
Feudal fragmentation is a natural period in the history of any state. All early medieval countries in Europe and Asia passed through it, including Ancient Rus'. Today the focus is on the causes and consequences of feudal fragmentation in Rus'.
Chronology
The period when the unified ancient Russian state broke up into separate Russian principalities is called appanage or the period of feudal fragmentation in Rus'. Historians have no disagreement regarding the terms. However, there is controversy over the starting point of the country's disintegration process. There are five different opinions on the issue of chronological framework:
- Beginning of period specific Rus' associated with the death and will of Yaroslav the Wise (A. Kuzmin, N. Karamzin);
- The convening of the Lyubechsky Congress in 1097, when the descendants of Yaroslav the Wise agreed on the maintenance of their own patrimony, was the starting point of the process of the collapse of a single state (V. Kobrin, K. Bazilevich);
- The death of the Kyiv prince Mstislav the Great in 1132 led to the beginning of the division of the state (O. Rapov, B. Rybakov);
- The Mongol invasion of Ancient Rus' (1237-1241) launched the process of decomposition of the state (V. Kozhinov);
- The very fact of the existence of a single Old Russian state to the Tatars Mongol yoke is questioned (I. Froyanov).
Rice. 1. Kyiv Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise
Causes
Indeed, the first symptoms of decay appeared immediately after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. The princely family grew and each of the descendants of the Grand Duke, using the support of local boyars, strove for independence. Thus, there arises the whole system isolated princely possessions, which was consolidated in 1097 by the Lyubechsky Congress. But princes Vladimir Monomakh, and then his son Mstislav the Great, managed to stop the process of collapse, which helped get rid of the external enemy - the Polovtsians. The common enemy and the ability of the prince in Kyiv to maintain control over other lands and relative princes are the main components of the “unity” of the country.
When the “enemy” was defeated, and the heir to the Kyiv “table” did not have strong character, it turned out to be impossible to avoid disintegration. The violation of the unity of the territory of Ancient Rus' was natural and necessary. Despite its productivity and some saving power, it was outdated by that time. In addition, there were other objective and subjective prerequisites for feudal fragmentation:
- Violation of the principles of succession to the grand ducal throne : the Rurik family was divided into several dynasties, each of which claimed a leading role, which led to civil strife after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. Each prince had his own patrimony, within which his own apparatus of power was formed, his own squad, which was not inferior to the Kyiv one and was capable of keeping dependent slave people in check. Over time, the patrimony was considered not as a gift from the Kyiv prince, but as one’s own principality, which could be passed on by inheritance;
- Dominance of subsistence farming : this type of economy when production is carried out primarily “for oneself” and not for further sale, allows you to not depend on the center;
- Growth of cities, urban populations and development of crafts : this trend led to the emergence of new political centers whose economic ties were limited to the immediate area;
- “Settling” of the princely squad on the earth : this process contributed to the emergence of large landowners - patrimonial boyars, on whom the landowning population legally and economically depended. Possible conflicts between the top and bottom were resolved on the spot and did not require the intervention of the center. Therefore, the boyars did not want to share income with the Kyiv prince and in every possible way contributed to the appanage princes in the fight against the central government.
Rice. 2. Novgorod Republic in the 12th century
Advantages and disadvantages
Every phenomenon has its positive and negative sides. The feudal fragmentation of Russian lands, which continued until the end of the 15th century, is not an exception. TO positive consequences The development of the country includes economic growth, the development of feudal land tenure, crafts, trade, and an increase in the number of cities.
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Along with progress, there was also regression - decline, stagnation. He expressed himself in the fact that the relationship between the princes is an endless struggle for military and economic power, which resulted in internecine wars. In addition, with increasing isolation, the country's vulnerability to external danger increases. And she didn’t keep her waiting: Mongol invasion enslaved the Russian lands for a long time.
In the first half of the 12th century after the death of Mstislav the Great, Rus' with single center in Kyiv broke up into 12 appanage principalities. The largest on the map were Novgorod land, Galicia-Volyn Principality and Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', each of which had its own form of government.
Since the 30s. XII century Kievan Rus entered a period of feudal fragmentation. This was a natural stage of socio-economic development, caused by objective prerequisites.
Let us name the main reasons and prerequisites for feudal fragmentation:
1) the growth of large appanage princely and boyar land ownership (patrimony) created the conditions for political independence;
2) the dominance of subsistence farming and weak economic ties allowed isolated princely and boyar households to lead an independent economic life and not depend on the central authority of the Kyiv prince;
3) as a result of the rapid development of crafts, the transformation of large cities into new political and cultural centers, some of them (Novgorod, Pskov, etc.) became independent administrative centers around which local markets developed and the power of governor-boyars and local princes was established;
4) small feudal lords were interested in firm princely power in the localities to jointly suppress peasant revolts and repel external dangers;
5) the weakening of the central power of the Grand Duke of Kiev was largely due to the inheritance of the princely throne not by the eldest son, but by the eldest in the family, which gave rise to quarrels, military clashes and the creation of new independent principalities.
With the establishment of feudal fragmentation in Rus', the specific order (destiny - princely possession), when the princes ruled the free population of their principalities as sovereigns and owned their territories as private owners. With the cessation of the movement of princes among principalities in order of seniority, all-Russian interests were replaced by private ones: increasing one’s principality at the expense of its neighbors.
With the change in the position of the prince, the position of the rest of the population also changed. Now the boyars and boyar children had the opportunity to choose whom to serve, which was recorded in the right of departure. While maintaining their land holdings, they had to pay tribute to the prince in whose principality their estates were located.
Political fragmentation led to an unprecedented economic and cultural rise of each Russian land separately, and in this sense it undoubtedly played a progressive role. On the other hand, the political disunity of the Russian lands led to a weakening of their military potential, which turned out to be disastrous during the era of the Mongol invasion.
Formation of a single Great Russian state (XIV – first quarter of the 16th centuries)
The Mongol-Tatar invasion radically changed the territorial and economic structure of Rus'. Fleeing from the Horde, the Russians moved north of the Oka and to the upper reaches of the Volga, which resulted in the economic rise of the cities of Pereyaslavl, Gorodets, Kostroma, and Moscow. In the XIV century. in Rus' new large political associations- Moscow, Tver and Ryazan principalities, between which rivalry developed for the great reign of Vladimir and the role of the unifier of all Russian lands. As a result, victory went to the Moscow Principality, which led the unification process in the northeast of Rus'.
Economic and socio-political prerequisites were formed for the unification of Russian lands:
1) the growth of the population of North-Eastern Rus' and the reasonable policy of its princes, who invited boyars with their numerous warriors and servants from other principalities to serve, contributed to the intensive development of new lands and the elimination of economic isolation;
2) energetic recovery Agriculture North-Eastern Rus' (along with cutting and fallowing, the “steam” system of agriculture with three-field crop rotation began to spread; plows with two iron coulters (ploughshares) and water mills appeared) contributed to the revival of old cities and the emergence of new ones, and consequently, the development of crafts and population growth townspeople, strengthening trade relations and creating a common economic space;
3) the interest of peasants, townspeople, small and medium-sized feudal lords in a strong princely power capable of stopping feudal strife and protecting the interests of the entire population;
4) the interests of self-defense and the fight against external enemies in the east and west dictated the need for unification, developed national consciousness, the desire for consolidation and independence of all forces of the Russian people;
5) active support for unifying trends Orthodox Church, who acted as the spiritual leader of all Russian people and the guarantor of strengthening the supreme power of the prince, who personified the power of the Russian people and defender of religion. In 1299, the residence of Metropolitan Maxim was transferred from Kiev to Vladimir-on-Klyazma, who turned spiritual power into a powerful weapon in the struggle for the unification of the Slavs on the basis of a single faith, recognized the sacred duty of Christians to fight the Horde yoke, pursued a policy of “conciliarity”, those. spiritual unity of all people.
The beginning of the collection of Russian lands
At the end of the XIII - beginning of the XIV century. First the Pereyaslav, Gorodets, then the Tver, and finally the Moscow princes joined the struggle for leadership in the northeast.
Moscow, as a peripheral inheritance, went to one of the younger lines of descendants of Vsevolod the Big Nest, the fourth son of Alexander Nevsky, Prince Daniil(1273-1303), who became the founder of the Moscow princely house .
In 1316, Daniel’s son Yuri (1303-1325) married the sister of Khan Uzbek - Konchak, thereby “snatching” from the Tver prince Mikhail the golden label for the great reign of Vladimir and strengthened his patrimony - the Moscow principality, which became the centers of unification of Russian lands. Under Prince Yuri, the residence of Metropolitan Peter was moved from Vladimir to Moscow, which made it the spiritual center of Rus'.
He played a major role in the unification of Russian lands around Moscow. Ivan Danilovich Kalita (1325-1340), who led the fight against the Tver princes for the khan's label, bypassing seniority. In 1328, Ivan received from Khan Uzbek a golden label for the great reign of Vladimir, as well as the right to collect tribute (“exit”) from all Russian lands and send it to the Horde. Thus, the Russian people were delivered from the Baskaks, and a relative peace. Tribute began to be collected on plows, i.e. depending on the amount of cultivated land and industries. The collection of tribute allowed Ivan to improve the financial affairs of the principality. Because of this, he went down in history under the nickname Kalita (wallet).
Ivan Kalita managed to transfer the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir to his son Simeon the Proud (1340-1353), and then to his grandson - Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359-1389).
Prince Dmitry from a young age showed strength of character, a desire for independence and independence from the Horde. He expanded the boundaries of the Moscow principality, annexing Dmitrov, Starodub (Suzdal) and Kostroma. During Horde yoke he introduced his own coinage (with the image of a cockerel), which testified to the increased independence of Moscow. Prince Dmitry was the first to raise the banner of the all-Russian armed struggle against the Mongol yoke. In 1374, he stopped paying tribute to the Golden Horde, which at that moment was experiencing a process of feudal civil strife.
After the victory on the Kulikovo field, he included the Vladimir principality into his Moscow fiefdom, without asking permission from the Golden Horde, and from that time on, the throne of the Grand Duke of Moscow-Vladimir was inherited from father to son, and the “escheated” appanage principalities became the property of the Grand Duke .
In 1389, after the death of Dmitry Donskoy, his eldest 18-year-old son Vasily I (1389-1425) ascended the Grand Duke's Moscow-Vladimir throne. He bought Nizhny Novgorod, Gorodets, Tarusa and Meshchera from the khan of the Golden Horde and annexed Nizhny Novgorod, Gorodets, Tarusa and Meshchera to Muscovy, and practically stopped paying annual tribute to the Golden Horde.
After the death of Vasily I in North-Eastern Rus', an almost 30-year internecine feudal war for the grand-ducal throne (1425-1453). The reason for the discord was the will of Dmitry Donskoy, according to which after his death the throne passes to his son Vasily Dmitrievich (Vasily I), who was not yet married and had no children. Therefore, Dmitry Donskoy ordered that in the event of Vasily’s death, the great reign should pass to his uncle, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich of Galicia-Zvenigorod. But before his death in 1425, Vasily I bequeathed the Moscow throne to his 10-year-old son Vasily II (1425 - 1462). The war between Vasily II and Yuri Dmitrievich, and then his sons (Vasily Kosy and Dmitry Shemyaka), lasted about 20 years and reached excessive cruelty on both sides.
Results feudal war:
1) by the end of his reign, all the appanages of the Moscow principality, except Verei, were concentrated in the hands of Vasily II. The Grand Duke's possessions increased 30 times compared to the beginning of the 14th century;
2) the victory of Vasily II secured new order inheritance from father to eldest son. During his lifetime, he forced his son Ivan III to be recognized as the “Grand Duke”, which made him the generally recognized heir to the great reign according to the new order of inheritance;
3) Vasily II, who did not divide his possessions equally between his sons, mortgaged state principle in princely inheritance;
4) the Grand Duke ceased to be first among equals and found himself in the position of a master in relation to the appanage princes.
The final stage of the unification of Great Russia is associated with the activities of the son of Vasily II, Ivan III.
Having become the Grand Duke of Moscow, he outlined the main directions of foreign and domestic policy Moscow:
1) further collection of Russian lands
Calculating, strong-willed and decisive Ivan III managed to successfully achieve all of its main goals. Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod (1462), Yaroslavl (1463), Perm Territory (1472), Rostov the Great (1474), Tver (1485), etc. were annexed to the Moscow principality. The independence of Novgorod was liquidated (1478)
2) creation of a single centralized state with unified legislation, unified system measures and weights.
In 1464 he introduced the coat of arms of Moscow - St. St. George the Victorious on horseback, slaying the dragon. In 1472, he married the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI, who was overthrown by the Turks, Sophia Paleologus and proclaimed himself the successor of the Byzantine emperors, and Moscow - the center of the Christian world. Even the name of the country changed; they began to call it “Russia” in the Greek manner instead of “Rus”. In 1485, Ivan III accepted the title of Sovereign of All Rus', thereby declaring that he was the sovereign ruler of a single state to which his subjects must swear allegiance; the sovereign has the right to put disgrace on the boyars, take away their possessions and even execute the disobedient. Finally, in 1497, Ivan III accepted the first National emblem Russia - a double-headed Byzantine eagle, on the chest of which the coat of arms of Moscow was placed.
3) a system of central government agencies- The Palace and the Treasury, which were directly subordinate to the Grand Duke.
4) In 1497, the first set of laws of a single Russian state(Sudebnik), which was supposed to unite the judicial systems of different lands, based largely on the “Russian Truth”.
5) During the reign of Ivan III, Rus'’s dependence on the Golden Horde was destroyed. Ivan III did not go to bow to the khan, and from 1475 he stopped paying tribute. In 1480, Khan Akhmat decided to restore the payment of tribute by the Moscow principality and moved to Rus'. As a result of “standing on the river. Ugre" Mongol-Tatars admitted their defeat, and the Mongol-Tatar yoke, which lasted almost two and a half centuries, was finally overthrown.
two trends in the development of the state, a dynastic crisis.
Related information.
In the second half of the 11th century. In Rus', signs of increasing feudal fragmentation are becoming more and more clearly evident. Prince Yaroslav the Wise gained the paternal throne in a fierce internecine struggle. With this in mind, he left a will in which he clearly defined the inheritance rights of his sons. He divided the entire territory into 5 “districts” and determined which of the brothers should reign in which. The Yaroslavich brothers (Izyaslav, Svyatoslav, Vsevolod, Igor, Vyacheslav) lived together for some time. However, in 1073, Svyatoslav expelled his brother Izyaslav from Kyiv, deciding to become the sole ruler. Izyaslav, having lost his possessions, wandered for a long time and was able to return to Rus' only after the death of Svyatoslav in 1076. From that time on, a bloody struggle for power began.
The main reasons for feudal fragmentation were:
1) the dominance of subsistence farming with the simultaneous underdevelopment of economic ties; 2) the emergence of large feudal land ownership in the form of boyar estates; 3) strengthening of the political influence of the boyars, their desire for independence from Kyiv; 4) the weakening of the military and political power of the central government, caused by the struggle of the princes for Kyiv; 5) the development of cities in Rus' as local centers of economic (trade, craft) and political life. The bloody unrest was based on the imperfection of the appanage system created by Yaroslav, which could not satisfy the expanded Rurik family. There was no clear order in the distribution of inheritance and inheritance. According to ancient custom, the eldest in the family was supposed to inherit the reign. But Byzantine law, which came with the adoption of Christianity, recognized inheritance only by direct descendants. Controversy inheritance rights, the uncertainty of the boundaries of destinies gave rise to more and more civil strife.
In 1097, a congress of Russian princes took place in the city of Lyubech, the decisions of which became the beginning of the formation of independent principalities. However, princely strife continued. To the internal strife was added danger from without - the invasion of the nomadic Polovtsians - a strong and dangerous enemy. Military campaigns of individual princes (for example, the campaign of the Seversk prince Igor in 1185) ended unsuccessfully. To defeat the Polovtsians, it was necessary to unite the forces of the Russian princes and stop the princely strife. The author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” addressed the princes with such a patriotic appeal. But other princes themselves took the Polovtsians as allies and brought them to Rus'. For some time, the unity of Rus' was restored by Prince Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125). After his death, quarrels broke out between the princes new strength and the Russian lands broke up into independent states.
Largest lands During the period of feudal fragmentation there were the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality, the Galician-Volyn Principality and the Novgorod Republic.
The Vladimir-Suzdal principality was located in the northeast of Rus', between the Oka and Volga rivers. The natural and climatic conditions there were favorable for the development of agriculture and cattle breeding. The cities of this principality - Suzdal, Rostov, Vladimir - became centers of crafts and trade. Princely and boyar landholdings grew rapidly. Northeastern Rus' became independent under Prince Yuri Dolgoruky (1125-1157), so nicknamed for his intervention in princely strife and desire to seize distant cities and lands. His policy of expanding the principality, continued by his sons Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157-1174) and Vsevolod the Big Nest (1176-1212), turned beginning of XIII V. northeastern Rus' into the strongest state among the Russian lands.
The Galicia-Volyn principality was located in the southwest of Kyiv and had well-developed agriculture and handicraft production. A large boyar landholding developed here early. The boyars, having become rich, began to compete for power with the Galician and Volyn princes, ruining the country with military campaigns.
Novgorod land was located in the north and north-west of Rus'. Novgorod was the second largest city in Rus' after Kyiv. Located at the intersection of trade routes, Novgorod became largest center trade with the south, east and especially with the west.
IN Novgorod land there was a special political system. Since 1136, when the Novgorodians expelled the prince, they received the right to independently elect a prince from any princely family. The prince and his army were invited, if necessary, to defend borders and wage wars, but he could not interfere in internal relations. The head of the city-state was the bishop (later the archbishop), the highest ecclesiastical judge, custodian of the city treasury. Executive power belonged to the mayor, and the commander of the militia was the thousand. The posadnik and tysyatsky were annually elected from among the Novgorod boyars for general meeting townspeople - veche.
The consequences of feudal fragmentation were varied.
Positive: 1) the difficulties of life in the south forced people to move to the north and east of the country, settling and developing these previously undeveloped outskirts ancient Rus'; 2) each prince, having received part of the Russian lands into permanent possession, strove for their improvement - he built new cities, encouraged the development of agriculture, crafts, and trade; 3) in the Russian principalities a system of vassalage is developing, when small landowners are in the position of subjects and servants, and not relatives and co-rulers of the prince; 4) there is an increase in public life.
Negative: 1) the ruin of the population due to endless princely strife; 2) an increase in external danger, the possibility of complete enslavement of Russian lands by foreign invaders.