Socio-economic development of the Russian state in the 16th century. Russia in the 16th century
HISTORY OF RUSSIA 16TH CENTURY. TIMES ARE TERRIBLE. TIMES ARE TROUBLESOME.
In the 16th century, Russia entered under the “sign” of the double-headed eagle, firmly holding the Russian lands in Europe and Asia in its paws. It was led by an intelligent politician and talented leader, “Sovereign of All Rus',” Ivan lll. Unification, law and autocracy are the goals and objectives that he strove for and which he put into practice. Endless civil strife and strife between principalities and cities weakened the military and economic potential of the Russian lands. Centralization of management was achieved by any possible means. The Grand Duke created a professional army, well equipped and organized. Many appanage rulers voluntarily and consciously recognized the priority of Moscow in public administration. All those dissatisfied with this policy were punished and deposed. Residents of the cities did not want to participate in fratricidal wars for the sake of princely sovereignty. Moscow was not perceived as an enemy and an enslaver. The city was known for its good nature and willingness to accept anyone who wanted to live and work peacefully and honestly. Ivan Kalita also cleared the Moscow lands of theft and robbery. Those oppressed by Catholic Lithuania found refuge here. The Crimean Tatars fled here, seeking protection from the Sultan.
Mr. Veliky Novgorod himself, who arrogantly rejected diplomatic attempts at peaceful solutions, was defeated. Novgorod troops suffered a brutal defeat on the Sheloni River in 1471. The Novgorodians paid a penny and lost part of their lands, and seven years later they voluntarily asked Moscow for a protectorate. By this time, the Russian state had already determined its basic forms, although the annexation of new lands continued.
Not all neighboring states were happy with the expansion, strengthening and independence of Russian lands in the 16th century. The Lithuanians and Livonians threatened from the northwest, and the Great Horde could not come to terms with the loss of the source of rich tribute in the southeast. Akhmat Khan, after many years of preparation, led his army to Rus'. The armies stood on opposite banks of the Ugra River. Attempts by the Mongols to cross were met with rebuff. The “stand on the Ugra River” lasted more than a month, after which the khan withdrew his troops. On the way back, Akhmat was killed, and his severed head was delivered to the Grand Duke. This is how the story of the Mongol-Tatar yoke ended.
But not only foreign policy was a priority in government reforms. Local government; estate, civil and criminal legal relations required adaptation and regulation in new conditions. In 1497, the first collection of laws and rules in the history of Rus', the Code of Laws, was published. It was based on the provisions of the “Russian Truth” (a set of regulations regulating legal and judicial decisions in Ancient Rus'). A large list of additions and new interpretations of some codes was included in the Code of Laws, in accordance with the conditions and spirit of the times.
The history of Russia in the 16th century took the baton from the past century. Vasily lll is crowned on the throne, continuing the work of his father. The new sovereign was a tough politician and autocrat. Appanage princes who declared disobedience to Moscow were perceived as internal enemies. Any unrest was nipped in the bud. The boyar class, which had great wealth, power and freedom of choice, did not go unnoticed (the boyar had the right to choose which prince to serve). The Duma boyars considered themselves no lower than the princes in matters of state. There were still memorable times in history when the princes could not implement decisions that were not approved by the Duma. Vasily Ivanovich eliminated those who were excessively free-thinking, without hesitation in means and methods. The opponent could be sent to another war, exiled to a monastery or executed, for a suitable reason. Foreign policy continued the line of establishing Russia as an independent and strong state. Diplomatic ties were established with European countries. There was an attempt to conclude a union with the Pope about a joint fight against the Sultan. In a treaty of 1514 concluded with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian, Grand Duke Vasily is first mentioned as “Emperor Rusov,” which suggests that in the 16th century Russia declared itself as an equal among equals. Vasily lll inherited from his father insight and patience in anticipation of the result. In order to protect the southern borders from restless Crimeans, he invited and accepted into the service of noble Tatar nobles who settled in Russia, started families, and thus received “dual citizenship.” They were interested in the stability of relations between the old and new homeland, using all their influence on this.
With the death of Vasily Ivanovich in 1533, Russia entered a period of struggle for the throne. The heir was three years old at that time. The boyar and princely nobility were divided into two camps. Some supported the rule of the dowager empress, others sought to establish a boyar protectorate, led by a representative of the Rurik dynasty. It was a time of intrigue and death. The heir's mother was poisoned when he was eight years old. For the same number of years, after her death, the state was ruled by boyars. In January 1547, sixteen-year-old Ivan lV was crowned king. A new stage in Russian history began in the 16th century. The young king, ambitious, suspicious and hot-tempered, zealously took the helm of power. He did not trust the boyars and brought into his circle representatives of the nobility and the progressive-minded priesthood, who became the backbone of the “Elected Rada”. Created in 1549, it is a reform-minded legislative body. The elected Rada was subject to “orders”, institutions performing control duties in all spheres of government: military, legal, financial and political. The orders were headed by trusted persons who controlled the flow of income into the state treasury. The Zemsky Sobor, convened in 1550, declared inter-class reconciliation. The theses of the new relations formed the basis of the Code of Law, adopted around the same time. In 1951, a church council was convened. The state power, headed by the tsar, presents to the council the structure of church-state relations, with a list of one hundred chapters (hence the name “One Hundred Head Cathedral”). Restrictions were introduced on the participation of the church in secular affairs and cuts in income and estates. Monasteries, in particular, were forbidden to give the population money in interest and bread at “nasp”, that is, at interest. The uncontrolled purchase of land by monasteries was prohibited.
A new structure of army service was established, in the direction of increasing “serving people according to the instrument.” Their maintenance was provided by the state treasury. Large landowners were obliged to provide, on occasion, a certain reserve of manpower in full military equipment. The “staff” militia of rural residents and townspeople also remained. “Localism” was abolished in the army, which opened the way to command positions for less noble, but more talented people.
The order on “feeding” issued by the king in 1556 abolished the powers of the governors and the rights of the regional nobility. Was introduced new principle dividing territories into “lips”. At the head of the province, a local governor was appointed, who supervised the investigative, judicial and penal authorities. The headman reported directly to the central government.
The years of reform in the history of the reign of Ivan the Terrible were the most productive and served to further consolidate and centralize the Russian state. For many high-ranking officials, from among the clergy and boyar class, such changes seemed unacceptable. Discontent was brewing internal politics the king, so far only in minds and words. But Ivan Vasilyevich, whose suspicion intensified to mania after the death of his wife, makes a move unexpected for his opponents and supporters. He first demonstrates his desire to leave the throne, and then announces to the shocked people that he will remain in power if the citizens guarantee him unconditional support in the fight against traitors. Traitors meant all those dissatisfied with the authorities.
The time of “oprichnina” was coming. All royal and state lands and institutions, and everything that belonged to the oprichnina, were declared oprichnina. Repressions began among the opposition-minded boyars. The confiscated property of those repressed went into the royal register. The guardsmen guarded the Tsar and were his secret police. They carried out terror against undesirable members of the military and aristocratic elite. Began creepy time denunciations, torture and executions. Based on false slander, an expedition to Novgorod was undertaken. Novgorodians accused of treason were mercilessly exterminated without trial or investigation. Up to six hundred people died every day.
The failure of the guardsmen as a military force was revealed in 1571, when the hordes of the Crimean Khan besieged Moscow. Many simply did not show up at the military location. Soon the oprichnina was abolished, as state institute, but was preserved in the structure of the courtyard. The same goes for government properties. The renaming to “dvorovyi” and “domroviye” did not change the essence of affiliation.
There is no consensus on the causes and circumstances of the emergence of the oprichnina. Some researchers of the history of Russia of the 16th century see them in the unsuccessful wars with Livonia and the betrayal of Kurbsky, which prompted the tsarist authorities to think about conspiracy and treason. Others, in the paranoid tendencies of Ivan the Terrible. Whatever it was, the oprichnina caused enormous damage to the state. A colossal number of people at that time were exterminated. Many estates were plundered and neglected. People wandered without work, shelter and bread.
Ivan the Terrible died in 1584, leaving behind the feeble-minded Fyodor as his heir. Feodor reigned unnoticed and died unnoticed. The history of the Rurik dynasty ended with the 16th century. Troubled times were coming.
Russian history. From ancient times to the 16th century. 6th grade Kiselev Alexander Fedotovich
Chapter 6. RUSSIA IN THE XVI CENTURY
RUSSIA IN THE 16TH CENTURY
§ 31. ECONOMY OF RUSSIA AT THE END OF THE XV - XVI CENTURIES
Territory and population. The territory of the Moscow Principality from the second half of the 15th century to the first third of the 16th century increased from 430 thousand square kilometers to 2.8 million square kilometers. It was a huge state in which Russians lived, many peoples of the North, partly of Siberia and the Volga region (Karelians, Komi, Khanty, Mansi, Mordovians, Udmurts and others). In the south, Russia bordered on the territory called the Wild Field - a steppe strip where the hordes of the Crimean Khanate roamed in the summer months, in the east - on the Kazan Khanate. In the west, the Russians' neighbors were the Livonian Order and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In the middle of the 15th century, people settled on the border of Russia and the Wild Field Cossacks- free people. They fled here from their owners, who forced them to pay rent and perform various duties. Among the Cossacks there were Russians, Tatars and representatives of other nationalities. The Cossacks considered a free life to be “walking through an open field, drinking and eating sweets, and riding good horses.” Robbery was often the main way of their existence.
The Cossacks founded settlements in new places. The Volga Cossacks lived on the Volga, the Don Cossacks lived on the Don, the Zaporozhye Cossacks lived near the Dnieper below the Dnieper rapids, and the Yaik Cossacks lived on the Yaik River (later renamed the Ural).
In the middle of the 16th century, the construction of the Great Zasechnaya Line was completed. This system of defensive structures protected the southern and southeastern borders of the Russian state from attacks by the Crimean and Kazan Tatars. A large serif line stretched from Ryazan to Tula, Belyov and Zhizdra. The most dangerous sections of the defensive line consisted of two or three rows of fortifications. In some places, abatis were built. This is the name given to barriers made from fallen trees. The fences connected natural obstacles, such as rivers and forests. Where forests gave way to steppe, chastokols and earthen ramparts were built. It was forbidden to cut down the forests along which the abatis stretched and to build roads through them. To allow the population to pass through the Bolshaya Zasechnaya Line, wooden and earthen fortifications with drawbridges and palisades were built near the main roads.
Section of the Big Zasecnaya Line
The large serif line was built at the expense of the population, who paid a special tax - serif money. In addition, the local population carried out border service, providing one person from every twenty households.
Agriculture. Most of the Russian population was engaged in agriculture. In the central regions (Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Moscow, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan lands) the three-field farming system prevailed, which ensured higher and more stable yields. Here they grew oats, rye (barley), flax, and less often wheat and buckwheat were sown. The maximum yields of the main agricultural crop - rye - were one-four or one-five, i.e. the harvested crop was 4 - 5 times greater than the amount of grain sown. It was ground by hand. Water mills appeared on large farms.
When cultivating the land, peasants used a wooden plow with an iron tip and a horse as draft force. The presence of horses was considered a sign of family wealth.
In the north, a peasant household had one horse, in the south there were often 4–5 horses. In addition to horses, peasants kept cows, bulls, sheep, goats, chickens, geese, and ducks. Cattle and poultry They were also bred in the city. Foreigners noted that in Rus' “beef was sold not by weight, but by eye.”
Vegetable gardening and horticulture developed. Peasants and a significant part of the townspeople grew cabbage, onions, garlic, cucumbers and turnips.
The bulk of the population were peasants. Landlord peasants belonged to the owners of estates and estates, palace peasants belonged to the Moscow Grand Dukes (later tsars). Black-nosed peasants lived in communities on state lands and carried tax in favor of the state. For them, the unit of taxation was still the plow. From the end of the 15th century, it was no longer measured by the quantity of labor, but by the quantity and quality of land cultivated for arable land. On the “black” lands, the average plow in the middle of the 16th century was 250 – 300 tithes. The monastery peasants were engaged in agriculture, increasing the income of the church. The largest owners of the land were the Trinity-Sergius, Kirillo-Belozersky, Simonov, and Joseph-Volokolamsky monasteries.
Plowman. 16th century drawing
In areas less favorable for agriculture, trade and various crafts developed. For example, in the north and northeast - fishing and hunting fur-bearing animal, salt making, in marshy areas - iron production.
With the growth of local land ownership, a large amount of black-plowed land passed into the hands of private owners, but the peasants themselves remained personally free.
Cities and trade. By the middle of the 16th century, there were about 170–180 cities in Russia. New cities were built along the banks of rivers as small fortresses, the garrisons of which guarded the newly annexed lands.
As trade and crafts developed, the fortresses were built up and expanded. For example, in Sviyazhsk, built at the confluence of the Sviyaga River with the Volga, artisans and merchants settled. After 15 years, Sviyazhsk turned into a strong fortress with gilded domes of churches and an established life for the townspeople. Arkhangelsk (ancient name - Novokholmogory) in the north became the most important port on the sea route from Western Europe along the Scandinavian Peninsula with access to the White Sea. Behind the fortifications of Tula, townspeople and residents of the surrounding area were saved from the raids of the hordes of the Crimean Khanate. Novgorod and Pskov closed Russian lands from restless neighbors in the west.
Narva, Vologda, and Nizhny Novgorod, Tver, Beloozero, Yaroslavl, Ustyug, Vladimir and other cities.
The central place of the city was the trading area with numerous shops, guest courtyards, customs huts and cages. They also traded briskly on the streets, bridges, and near churches. In villages, trading places were called “markets”. Fairs appeared in the 16th century.
In Moscow, Kitay-Gorod was a trading place. There were also specialized markets in the capital: horses were sold on Konskaya Square near the Varvarsky Gate, cattle on Cow Square near the Myasnitsky Gate, and forests were sold between the Tverskaya Gate and the Neglinnaya River. In winter they also traded on the ice of the frozen Moscow River. Novgorod, as foreigners noted, remained “the greatest marketplace of all Rus', for goods flocked there from everywhere, from Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and from Germany itself.”
Nizhny Novgorod. Reconstruction by S. Agafonov
Bread, flax, meat, lard, fish, honey, wax, salt, blacksmith products, wood products (barrels, sleighs, carts, shovels, dishes, whole log houses), pottery masters (pots, jugs), different types fabrics (canvas, sermyagi, selvedge), clothing, and shoes were the main agricultural and peasant products on the domestic market. An increasing number of people bought food and handicrafts at the market rather than producing them on their own farms.
A specialization of certain regions of the state developed. In Moscow, Pskov, Smolensk they made icons, in Novgorod - iron products, in Kaluga and Tver - wooden dishes, in Kostroma - soap. In Vologda, Kazan and adjacent areas, where cattle breeding was developed, leatherwork flourished. The northern monasteries were successfully engaged in the salt trade. The Stroganov merchants got rich from its sale.
The Austrian diplomat Sigismund Herberstein, who visited Moscow twice under Vasily III, reported: “Anyone who brings any goods to Moscow must immediately declare them and identify them with duty collectors or customs officers. Those at the appointed hour inspect the goods and evaluate them; after the assessment, no one dares to sell or buy them, unless they are first shown to the sovereign.” The royal treasury was replenished with trade duties. Trade without tariffs was very rare.
Foreign merchants lived separately. In Moscow there were English, Lithuanian, and Armenian courtyards; in Novgorod there were German, Danish, Swedish, and Dutch guest houses. A variety of furs, which were in great demand in the West, were exported to Spain, England, France, and Italy.
In the 16th century, the most important land and river routes in Russia began or ended in Moscow. From Tverskaya Street the road to Tver and further to Veliky Novgorod began, from Sretenskaya Street to Yaroslavl. The route to Suzdal lay through Stromynka, and from Rogozhskaya Sloboda to Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod. Along Arbat and Dorogomilovo we moved to Mozhaisk and Smolensk. Along the Moscow River through the Oka, ships entered the waters of the Volga. The Don route to the south was one of the main ones in the 16th century. It passed through Kolomna and Ryazan to Voronezh and the Don. Then they went to Azov, and then by sea to Constantinople.
Large tracts had road stations - pits where one could rest, hire horses from coachmen. The pits were mainly used by sovereign messengers, foreigners, and servicemen. In big cities, Yamsky settlements appeared, where you could take horses, sleighs, and carts.
English trading compound in Moscow
Cossack – originally – free man, tramp, robber. Further – a person who performed military service in the border regions of the state.
Tax – state duties of peasants and townspeople in the 15th – early 18th centuries.
Tithe – a measure of land area equal to 1.09 hectares.
Tract – improved dirt road connecting major settlements.
Coachman – a peasant who performed yam duty.
Mid-16th century– completion of the construction of the Big Zasechnaya Line.
Questions and tasks
1. Write a story about the Cossacks, their life, morals and customs. Find on the map the territory of settlement of the Don Cossacks.
2*. Show on the map (p. 223) where the Big Notch Line was located. Using online resources, prepare a presentation about this defensive structure?
3. How did agriculture develop in the 16th century? How did the peasants live and work?
4. Tell us about the development of trade in the 16th century. Find on the map (p. 223) the most important shopping centers Russia.
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Russia at the beginning of the 16th century.
Culture
In the 16th century. The culture of Rus' developed especially brightly in such areas as painting, architecture, and literature. Painting was represented by iconography. In architecture, in addition to wood, it continued. Churches and temples were erected. The tent style is common. Various fortifications were built. In the literature, the most relevant topics were those related to changes in political life (with the emergence of autocracy). A 12-volume edition of Macarius appeared - a collection of popular works for home reading. “Domostroy” was written - a collection of tips and rules. They were printed (“Apostle” is the first precisely dated one), which marked the beginning of book printing in Russia.
Ivan 4. Wedding to reign
By the end of the first third of the 16th century, Russia was a large country, but still much smaller than in subsequent times. In the west, the border region was the Smolensk land (conquered from the Principality of Lithuania in 1514), Kaluga was the border in the southwest, beyond it lay the steppe, which was under constant threat of attack by the Crimean Khan. In the east, Russia ended with Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan districts. In the east, the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates bordered Russia. Only in the north did the country’s borders, as now, reach the Arctic Ocean. In the north-west, the coast of the Gulf of Finland was also in Russian hands.
The unification of Russian lands was completed under the son of Ivan 3rd, Vasily 3rd, who reigned in Moscow from 1505 to 1533. A huge Russian state arose in Eastern Europe, spreading over 2,800 thousand square kilometers. It was a single centralized state, all cities and lands of which were subordinate to the Grand Duke of Moscow. The population of Russia was 9 million people.
The state was already united, but its unification ended only half a century before Ivan IV ascended the throne (for the medieval pace of life, a very short period). Political unification was by no means equivalent to centralization. The princes of many of those territories that became part of a single state still owned fragments of their former principalities as fiefdoms, retaining parts of their former power. Feudal lords from different parts of the country move, receive fiefdoms and estates in new places. A single all-Russian class of feudal lords is gradually emerging. By the end of the reign of Vasily III, only two appanage principalities remained. They belonged to the younger brothers of Vasily III: Yuri, who owned Dmitrov and Zvenigorod, and Andrei, whose inheritance included Staritsa in the Tver land and Vereya in the southwest.
Former appanage princes became the boyars of the Grand Duke. They became part of the Boyar Duma - the class body of the princely-boyar aristocracy. The Boyar Duma limited the power of the Grand Duke. The prince decided all the most important issues of domestic and foreign policy together with her. In government decrees they wrote: “The Grand Duke ordered, and the boyars sentenced.”
But significant traces of feudal fragmentation remained in the country. The descendants of appanage princes - they were called boyars-princes - retained their land holdings. In their estates, they felt like absolute rulers, had squads, established their own rules and did not always follow the instructions of Moscow.
In the 16th century, the Moscow government waged an intense struggle against the separatism of the boyar-princes to strengthen the central government. This internal struggle was complicated by continuous wars with neighboring states.
The marriage of Vasily III with Solomonia Saburova was unsuccessful: the couple had no children for 20 years. In the end, Vasily III decided on the unheard-of act of divorce, and Solomonia was imprisoned in the Intercession Convent. The new wife of Vasily III was Princess Elena Glinskaya, a young beauty.
Before his death in 1533, Vasily III bequeathed the Moscow throne to his three-year-old son Ivan. Ivan's mother, Princess Elena, and her brothers, Princes Glinsky, began to rule the state. Taking advantage of the sovereign's minority, various groups of boyars began to fight for the throne. The contenders were the brothers of Vasily III - appanage princes Yuri from Dmitrov and Andrey from Staritsa. But the Glinskys dealt harshly with them. They were sent into captivity and died there.
The Glinsky government pursued a policy of strengthening centralized power. In 1538, Ivan IV's mother died unexpectedly. There were rumors that she was poisoned. Power was seized by opponents of centralization - the Shuisky princes. Soon they were pushed back by the Belsky princes. In 1543, the Vorontsov boyars, supporters of the rise of Moscow, came to power; then again the Shuiskys. Finally, in 1546, the Glinskys, led by Ivan IV’s grandmother, Princess Anna, returned to governing the state. Each time a change in the ruling group was accompanied by bloody reprisals against opponents. Boyar temporary workers used their stay in power to enrich themselves.
Ivan was born on August 25, 1530 II. When he was three years old, he lost his father, and when he was less than eight years old, he lost his mother, Elena Glinskaya. His four-year-old brother Yuri could not share children's fun with him. The child was deaf and mute from birth. In accordance with his father's will, government of the state passed into the hands of the boyars, who were supposed to transfer power to the prince upon reaching adulthood.
The situation created as a result of the “disorderly conduct and arbitrariness” of the boyars posed a serious danger to the integrity of the state and should have caused attempts to strengthen power on the part of those groups of the ruling classes that feared the collapse of state unity. Under the leadership of Metropolitan Macarius, highly educated for that time, Ivan IV received a good education. He read a lot, deeply studied the history of Kievan Rus, the Principality of Vladimir and European countries. Ivan IV realized early on that many princes and boyars were not interested in strengthening the unity of Russia, but wanted to remain autocratic rulers in their fiefdoms. He set as his goal to strengthen the centralized Russian state.
The first such attempt was made by Metropolitan Macarius. By conviction, he was an ardent supporter of strong autocratic power. The political ideology of Ivan the Terrible also took shape under the undoubted influence of Macarius. Macarius probably had the idea of crowning young Ivan. This act was supposed to not only increase the international importance of the Russian state, but also strengthen the shaky central power.
At the age of 17-20, he amazed those around him with an exorbitant number of experienced impressions and changed thoughts, which his ancestors did not think of even in adulthood. When the Grand Duke turned 17 years old, he gathered the court and announced his intention to marry, but even before his marriage, he announced to them his intention to marry into the kingdom. The adoption of the royal title marked the beginning of his independent reign.
The crowning took place on January 16, 1547. Everything was done to give it as much splendor and solemnity as possible.
Floated over Moscow bell ringing. They rang in all the Kremlin cathedrals, they were echoed by outlying churches and monasteries. They announced to Moscow residents about a solemn event - the crowning of the young sovereign, Grand Duke of All Rus' Ivan Vasilyevich.
The procession moved slowly and sedately in the Kremlin. From the Grand Duke's palace she headed to the main Moscow Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, rebuilt under Ivan III, the grandfather of the current Grand Duke. In heavy fur coats, sable, ermine, squirrel, covered now with oriental silks with bright patterns, now with Italian velvet, now with Flemish cloth, the boyars moved smoothly. Mesmerized by the splendor of the procession and the seriousness of what was happening, the crowd froze. It's no joke, a royal wedding. Moscow has never seen anything like this before.
In the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, in the presence of the palace nobility and foreign ambassadors, for the first time in the history of Russia, the coronation ceremony was performed. During a long time, as usual Orthodox Church During the solemn service, the Metropolitan laid a cross, a crown and a barma on Ivan and proclaimed him an autocratic tsar. In a solemn speech, he emphasized the divine origin of the king's power.
Through the lips of the metropolitan, a program of the tsar’s activities was outlined: in alliance with the church, which was henceforth declared the “mother” of royal power, the tsar was supposed to strengthen “court and truth” within the country and fight for the expansion of the state.
Upon completion of the wedding ceremony, the Grand Duke became the “God-crowned Tsar.” Along the scarlet velvet, flowing like a stream of blood on the dazzling white snow, the first Russian Tsar, who bore this title on legal grounds, from the point of view of that world, walked to his mansions.
The capital of the state, Moscow, was now adorned with a new title - it became the “king city”, and the Russian land - the Russian kingdom. But for the peoples of Russia, one of the most tragic periods of its history began. The “time of Ivan the Terrible” was coming.
From that time on, Russian monarchs began not only in relations with other powers, but also within the state, in all matters and papers, to be called kings, retaining the title of Grand Dukes.
Meanwhile, noble dignitaries traveled around Russia and presented the best brides to the sovereign; he chose from them young Anastasia, the daughter of the widow Zakharyina, whose husband was a okolnik, and whose father-in-law was the boyar John III. But it was not the nobility, but the personal merits of the bride that justified his choice. Contemporaries attribute to her all the feminine virtues: chastity, humility, piety, sensitivity, kindness, intelligence; not to mention beauty.
In February 1547, Ivan IV married Anastasia. From the moment of his marriage, according to Russian custom, Ivan IV was recognized as an adult and could independently govern the country.
The wedding took place in the Church of Our Lady. Having interrupted the merry feasts of the court, John and his wife walked in the winter to the Trinity Sergius Lavra and spent the first week of Lent there, praying daily over the tomb of St. Sergius. But such piety of Ioannov, insincere love for his virtuous wife could not tame his ardent restlessness of the soul, accustomed to irrepressible idleness, to rude, indecent amusements. He loved to show himself as a king, but not in matters of wise rule, but in punishments, in the unbridled whims. He played with favors and opals; multiplied the number of favorites, even more multiplied the number of rejected ones; self-willed to prove his independence; he did not know that a truly independent sovereign can only be a virtuous sovereign. Russia has never been governed worse. The Glinskys, like the Shuiskys, did what they wanted in the name of the young sovereign; enjoyed honors, wealth and indifferently saw the infidelity of private rulers; they demanded servility from them, not justice.
Ivan IV had a natural sharp mind, brilliant eloquence and talent as a writer and publicist. He was a subtle politician, a skilled diplomat and a major military organizer. But a man of violent passions, nervous, harsh, hot-tempered, Ivan IV was endowed with a very heavy despotic character. He quickly lost control and flew into a terrible rage. From early youth, two traits appeared in him: suspicion and cruelty. Ivan IV did not tolerate the slightest disobedience. Prince Repnin was executed by order of the Tsar for refusing to wear a jester's mask. The vindictiveness of Ivan IV led to the death of innocent people. Together with the boyars, their servants, servants, even slaves and peasants were executed. The first Tsar of Russia went down in history as a merciless tyrant, nicknamed the Terrible by the people.
To correct Ioannov, Moscow had to burn. The capital has annually expanded in space and number of inhabitants. The courtyards became more and more crowded, new streets adjoined the old ones, houses were built better for the eyes, but no safer than before: the decaying masses of buildings were waiting only for a spark of fire to become ashes. Moscow chroniclers often talk about fires, calling some great; but fire never raged in it as terribly as in 1547. All the houses burned down from Arbat and Neglinnaya to Yauza and to the end of Velikaya Street, Varvarskaya, Pokrovskaya, Myasnitskaya, Dmitrovskaya, Tverskaya. Neither the vegetable gardens nor the orchards survived: the trees turned to coal, the grass to ash. 1,700 people were burned, except infants. It is impossible, according to contemporaries, to describe or imagine this disaster. 25 thousand households turned to ashes.
Almost all Moscow residents were left homeless. The fire disrupted the capital's food supply. An epidemic and famine began. Rumors spread among the people that Moscow was set on fire by the Glinskys. The townspeople rebelled. The crowd broke into the Assumption Cathedral and tore apart Prince Yuri Glinsky. The rebels destroyed the Moscow houses of the Glinskys, then came to the village of Vorobyovo, where Ivan IV was, and began to demand the extradition of grandmother Anna and the other Glinskys. The Tsar had difficulty convincing them that he was not hiding the Glinskys.
The last thesis aroused objections from V.I. Buganov and V.B. Kobrin, who published reviews of the book by I.I. Smirnov, and A.A. Zimin - in his monograph on reforms of the mid-16th century. According to these researchers, during the years of “boyar rule” we could no longer talk about a return to the time of feudal fragmentation; The rival groups did not strive to destroy the central apparatus of the state, but to take possession of it for their own selfish interests.
In addition, if I. I. Smirnov considered all the boyar groups of the 1530s-1540s to be reactionary, then his opponents unconditionally included only the Shuisky princes in the reactionary camp, finding in the policies of their rivals the Belskys some, albeit inconsistent, centralizing tendencies18. However, the extent of these differences should not be exaggerated. All participants in the discussion shared the thesis about the progressiveness of autocratic centralization, which was opposed by the feudal aristocracy.
Like I. I. Smirnov, A. A. Zimin wrote about the “temporary triumph of the princely-boyar reaction during the early childhood of Ivan the Terrible”: it was precisely this assessment of “boyar rule” that was contained in the vast majority of works on the history of Russia in the 16th century, published in 1940 -x- 1960s.19 The power of the historiographic tradition turned out to be so great that original research carried out on the basis of non-chronicle sources - oral and immune letters, scribal books, noble petitions - and highlighting new aspects of the internal political history of the 1530-1540s. , - labial reform (N. E. Nosov), immunity policy (S. M. Kashtanov), local layout (G. V. Abramovich)20, made only some adjustments to the existing scheme, but did not lead to a revision of the already familiar concept "boyar reaction" during Grozny's childhood.
Many and many years passed before Ivan IV achieved obedience from the boyars, while he himself became an instrument in the hands of the courtiers.
During the period of boyar rule, the life of the peasants and urban masses deteriorated sharply. The boyars disposed of the state land fund in their favor, the state treasury was plundered. The boyar governors shamelessly robbed the population and collected large taxes. Popular uprisings broke out in a number of places.
The popular uprisings made a strong impression on Ivan IV. He wrote: “From this, fear entered my soul and trembling into my bones.” The Tsar removed the Glinskys and other boyars who abused power from control, and brought the relatives of the wife of the Zakharyin-Romanov boyars closer to him. Not trusting the princely-boyar aristocracy, he began to rely more on service people - nobles, who received their name from the butler managing the royal palace, at whose disposal they were.
The nobles (aka landowners) were interested in strengthening the power of the tsar, who provided them with estates and positions.
To summarize this paragraph, we can say that by the end of the 40s, under the young tsar, a circle of court figures was formed, to whom he entrusted the conduct of state affairs. A new group came to power, which went down in history under the name of the Chosen Rada. The “Elected Rada” was destined to exist for only a decade; only a decade was allotted by historical fate for the activities of decisive and energetic reformers, which took place in conditions of relative peace between all classes and estates of Russian society. But during this short period, the state and social structure of Russia underwent such strong changes that had not occurred during centuries of quiet development. The “elected council” arose in 1549, and in 1560 it no longer existed.
Elected Rada: composition, character, political courseAn expression of compromise between different layers of the ruling class at the beginning of the reign of Ivan 4 was the so-called “Chosen Rada” - a small circle of people close to the tsar, the exact composition of which is not entirely clear. The very expression “chosen council” was used by its former member, Prince A.M. Kurbsky, in one of his messages to Grozny. The “Chosen Rada” included representatives of service people, such as A.F. Adashev, who came from humble, but large landowners; clergy, such as Metropolitan Macarius and the tsar's confessor, archpriest of the Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral Sylvester; from the princely-boyar nobility, such as the young Prince Andrei Kurbsky and Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky; representative of the court administration I.M. Viskovaty and others. The Rada was not an official state body, but in fact for 13 years it was the government and governed the state on behalf of the tsar.
The new government was faced with the question of ways to transform the state apparatus. The first steps towards reforms were expressed in the convocation on February 27, 1549. an extended meeting at which the Boyar Duma, the consecrated cathedral, governors, as well as boyar children and “big” nobles (obviously from Moscow) were present. February meeting of 1549 (“Cathedral of Reconciliation”) was actually the first Zemsky Sobor. Its convocation marked the transformation of the Russian state into an estate-representative monarchy and the creation of a central estate-representative institution. It was extremely important that the most important state measures began to be taken with the sanction of representatives of the ruling class, among which the nobles played a significant role.
Decision of the Council of 1549 showed that the government was going to continue to use the support of both the boyars and the nobles. It was clearly not in favor of the feudal aristocracy, since it had to give up a number of its privileges in favor of the bulk of the service people. The abolition of the jurisdiction of the nobles (later the Code of Laws of 1550) meant the gradual formalization of the class privileges of the nobility.
Due to the fact that in February 1549. it was decided to “give justice” if a person filed a petition against the boyars, treasurers and butlers, a special Petition Hut was created, which was in charge of A. Adashev and, possibly, Sylvester. 1 The author of the Piskarevsky Chronicle gives its location at the Annunciation in the Kremlin. But in reality, the location of the Petition Hut is not entirely clear: the treasury premises were located near the Annunciation. Without being formally a treasurer, Adashev in the 50s of the 16th century. actually headed the activities of the state treasury. 2. But in any case, the connection between the emergence of the Petition Hut and the reforms of the mid-century is undeniable. Petitions addressed to the sovereign were received at the Petition Hut, and here decisions were made on them. The Petition Hut was a kind of supreme appellate department and a control body that supervised another government agency.
Simultaneously with the “Council of Reconciliation,” sessions of a church council also took place, which established the church celebration of 16 more “saints” and examined the lives of these “miracle workers.” In the context of the growth of the Reformation movement, the church sought to strengthen its declining authority by canonizing its prominent figures.
After the February councils, government activities in 1549 turned into various areas. The growth of popular movements in the city and countryside forced the resumption of the lip reform after the triumph of the Shuiskys in 1542. September 27, 1549. a labial order was issued to the peasants of the Kirillov Monastery. This order testified to the growing influence of the nobility. Now provincial affairs were transferred to the jurisdiction of elected provincial elders from among the children of the boyars.
The formation of various huts occurred according to functional differences, and not according to territorial ones. This indicated the significant success of centralization of control. 1 However, many huts did not completely break with the territorial principle of management.
1549 was the year of an active attack on the immunity privileges of spiritual feudal lords. June 4, 1549 A letter was sent to Dmitrov, according to which a number of monasteries were deprived of the right to duty-free trade in Dmitrov and other cities. But large monasteries retained their privileges.
By the end of 1549 Voices began to be heard more and more insistently, pushing the government to carry out reforms. Ermolai-Erasmus submitted his project to the Tsar, which proposed, at the cost of some concessions, to prevent the possibility of new unrest. He began measures to unify the land taxation system and provide land for service people.
The projects of I. S. Peresvetov, a defender of strong autocratic power, were distinguished by their versatility and thoughtfulness. Centralization of the court and finances, codification of laws, creation of a permanent army provided with salaries - these are some of the proposals of this “warrior”-publicist, who expressed the thoughts and aspirations of the advanced part of the nobility affected by the reformation-humanistic movement. 2 Initially, in tsarist issues, the task was to issue laws that were supposed to restore the order that existed under Ivan III and Vasily III. The reference to “father” and “grandfather” found in the legislation meant that they tried to give the reforms the appearance of measures aimed against those abuses of power by the boyars, which were “filled” with the minor years of Ivan IV.
After the statement on the abolition of localism, the draft eliminated a number of considerations about the need to restore order in patrimonial and local law. According to the author of the project, it was necessary to conduct an inspection of land holdings (patrimonies, estates) and feeding in order to determine the size of the holdings and the performance of military duties by servicemen. It was necessary to redistribute the available service fund in order to provide for the land-poor and landless feudal lords. But this project violated the original patrimonial rights of the feudal aristocracy, so the project was not implemented.
Financial reforms include a project to eliminate travel duties (taxes) within countries. Customs barriers between individual lands of the Russian state, reflecting the incompleteness of the process of eliminating economic fragmentation, prevented the further development of commodity-money relations.
If we summarize the consideration of the royal “issues,” we can state the far-reaching intentions of the government to satisfy the land demands of the nobles at the expense of boyar land ownership, to strengthen the army and state finances.
The time of the Chosen Rada is the brightest period of the reign of Ivan IV. The elected Rada was intensively engaged in reform activities with the aim of streamlining the laws and government of the country, expanding the sources of income to the treasury, taking into account the interests of the serving nobility and boyars. In terms of their content, the reforms largely met the requirements of the enlightener I. S. Peresvetov. Peresvetov believed that the position of people in the tsarist service should be determined not by noble origin, but by their personal merits, the tsar should have a strong army, judicial and financial reform was needed, he was a supporter of strong tsarist power, capable of supporting “truth” in everything, a fair state build. On February 27, 1549, the first Zemsky Sobor of “every rank of people” was convened. At the Council, the rights of the nobles were expanded and the rights of the boyar-governors were limited. The convening of the Council is evidence of the creation of an estate-representative institution and the transformation of Russia into an estate-representative monarchy. Zemsky sobors did not limit the power of the tsar; they were advisory in nature, but they contributed to the implementation of local political measures by the central government and allowed it to maneuver between the nobility and the boyars. Zemsky Sobors did not become a permanent body and met as necessary in 1565, 1584, 1589.
In 1550, a new Code of Law was adopted. It, in fact, was a development of the Code of Laws of Ivan III of 1497. The Code of Law was based on the old system of local government and court, but at the same time limited the power of governors and volosts, reducing their powers in court and strengthening control over them by the tsarist administration. The Code of Law abolished the trade privileges of the feudal lords and transferred the right to collect tamga (the main trade duty) to the tsarist administration, which met the interests of the elite of merchants and artisans. Tax benefits for monasteries were abolished, which weakened the material base of the church and strengthened the central government. The Code of Law confirmed St. George’s Day and increased the size of the “elderly”, which meant further enslavement of the peasants.
In 1550, a military reform was carried out aimed at strengthening the country's armed forces. Main directions of reform:
· during military operations, localism was limited in the appointment of commanders of military formations and units;
· in the Moscow district it was decided to place the “chosen thousand” (1070 nobles), to create the core of the noble militia, the support of autocratic power;
· For service people, two forms of military service were established: “according to the fatherland” and “according to the device”. Nobles and boyar children served “in their own country” from the age of 15 and for life. They formed a mounted militia and received land for their service. The service was carried out by the archers. The Streltsy troops created in 1550 were armed with firearms and bladed weapons. By the end of the 16th century, there were 25,000 people in the Streltsy troops, and their service took place not only in Moscow, but in almost all major cities of the country.
On the initiative of Ivan IV, a church council was held in January - May 1551. His decisions are summarized in 100 chapters, so he went down in history under the name Stoglavy. At the council, the Tsar called on those present to approve the new Code of Law and other reforms. The 100-Glavy Council unified worship and all church rituals, recognized 50 “locally revered” saints as all-Russian and established a single pantheon of saints for the entire state, and also set the task of improving the morals of the clergy.
In 1560, the Elected Rada ceased to exist: Ivan IV wanted to rule alone, without having advisers around him to constrain him; the king did not trust those around him; did not want to wait for the results of the policy, and advisers proposed a path of slow gradual reforms. Andrei Kurbsky fled to the enemy’s camp during one of the most difficult moments of the Livonian War for Russia, and then began an angry and accusatory correspondence with Ivan the Terrible.
If we summarize the second period of reforms of the “elected council”, then we have to note that in 1550-60. The government is pursuing a policy of implementing the demands of wide circles of feudal lords to a greater extent than in the previous period. The failure of attempts to resolve the land issue by eliminating monastic land ownership raised the question of an attack on the land wealth of the feudal aristocracy. Noble and posad-chernososhny local government bodies were created. The old territorial-palace central apparatus of power with the Boyar Duma at its head was forced to give up its position to the clerical administration. The Service Code and other military reforms strictly regulated the service duties of all service class without exception. The noble nobility found itself in a dangerous position, surrounded by the nobility.
Zemsky Sobor - the prospect of the formation of an estate-representative monarchyThe term “Zemsky Sobor” is not found in the monuments of the 16th century. It was rarely used even in the 17th century. Documents of the 17th century that treat the convening of zemstvo councils often simply say “sobor”, “council”, “zemsky council”.
The word “zemsky” in the 16th century means “state”
The cathedral, which in the 16th century was “a completely completed, developed type of political institution,” remained so in the 17th century. Only it was “complicated... by a new, elective element,” which “joined it from the outside, and is a product that grew on completely different soil.”
Different historians give different definitions of Zemsky Sobors. Let's pay attention to the most interesting of them.
V. O. Klyuchevsky: Zemsky Sobors are “a special type of popular representation, different from Western representative assemblies.”
S. F. Platonov: the zemstvo cathedral is a “council of the whole earth”, consisting of “three necessary parts”: 1) “the consecrated cathedral of the Russian church with the metropolitan, later with the patriarch at the head”, 2) the boyar duma, 3) the “zemsky people representing different population groups and different localities of the state.”
S. O. Schmidt: “... The councils of the 16th century are not representative institutions in the usual sense, but rather bureaucratic ones.” The cathedrals of the time of Ivan the Terrible are “bodies of territorial centralization, a sign of the unification of lands under the rule of one sovereign.” The cathedrals were needed by “the strengthening autocracy as a weapon of resistance to the still remaining feudal fragmentation.”
R. G. Skrynnikov believes that the Russian state of the 16th century, before the Zemsky Sobor of 1566, was an autocratic monarchy with an aristocratic boyar Duma, and from that time on it took the path of becoming a class-representative monarchy. Until 1566, cathedral meetings “represented the relatively small top of the ruling class in the person of members of the boyar duma and the leadership of the church.” The participants in the council of 1566 were, “in addition to the boyars and clergy, numerous representatives of the nobles, the official bureaucracy and merchants.” The author explains the reason for the “flourishing of conciliar practice in the dark era of the oprichnina” by “the first serious crisis of the oprichnina policy” and the attempts of the monarchy to find “direct support in broader strata of the ruling classes, among the nobility and the richest merchants.” But the “stripe of compromise” was short-lived; it was replaced by “terror, which put an end to conciliar practice for a long time.”
The year 1549 can be considered the year of birth of zemstvo councils - conditionally, because the roots of class-representative institutions go back to an earlier time. The cathedral of the mid-16th century refers to a decisive moment in the history of Russia, when major reforms began aimed at taming the state apparatus, when the course of foreign policy in the east was determined.
The Zemsky Sobor arose in the 16th century as a body that was supposed to replace the feeders. It was a “parliament of officials.” The form of the Zemsky Sobor may have been inspired by city councils, the existence of which can be guessed on the basis of reports from the early 17th century.
Zemsky councils of a national nature, which required the participation of representatives of the ruling class of the entire land, to some extent replaced the princely congresses and, together with the Duma, inherited their political role. At the same time, the Zemsky Sobor is a body that replaced the veche, adopting the traditions of the participation of public groups in resolving government issues, but replacing its inherent elements of democracy with the principles of class representation.
· Councils dealing with national issues. So to speak, “big politics”. These are zemstvo cathedrals in the full sense of the word.
· Conferences of the king with the wars on the eve of campaigns. They are better called “troop meetings.”
· The third group of councils consists of those at which both church and state matters, in particular judicial matters, were dealt with.
The history of Zemsky Sobors can be divided into 6 periods.
· The time of Ivan the Terrible (since 1549). The councils convened by the tsarist authorities had already taken shape. The cathedral, assembled on the initiative of the estates (1565), is also known.
· From the death of Ivan the Terrible to the fall of Shuisky (from 1584 to 1610). This was the time when the preconditions for civil war and foreign intervention were taking shape, and the crisis of autocracy began. The councils performed the function of electing the kingdom, and sometimes became an instrument of forces hostile to Russia.
· 1610 - 1613. The Zemsky Sobor, under the militias, turns into the supreme body of power (both legislative and executive), deciding issues of domestic and foreign policy. This is the time when the Zemsky Sobor played the largest and most progressive role in public life.
· 1613 - 1622. The cathedral acts almost continuously, but already as an advisory body under the royal power. Questions of current reality pass through them. The government seeks to rely on them when carrying out financial activities (collecting five-year money), restoring the damaged economy, eliminating the consequences of the intervention and preventing new aggression from Poland.
From 1622, the activity of the cathedrals ceased until 1632.
· 1632 - 1653. Councils meet relatively rarely, but on major policy issues - internal (drawing up the Code, uprising in Pskov) and external (Russian-Polish and Russian-Crimean relations, annexation of Ukraine, the question of Azov). During this period, speeches by class groups intensified, presenting demands to the government, in addition to cathedrals, also through petitions.
· After 1653 to 1684. The time of fading of cathedrals (there was a slight rise in the 80s).
If you take a closer look at the issues dealt with by the councils convened by the church authorities, then first of all you need to highlight four of them, which approved the implementation of major government reforms: judicial, administrative, financial and military. These are the cathedrals of 1549, 1619, 1648, 1681-82. Thus, the history of zemstvo councils is closely connected with the general political history of the country. The given dates fall on the key moments in her life: the reforms of Ivan the Terrible, the restoration of the state apparatus after the civil war of the early 17th century, the creation of the Council Code, the preparation of Peter the Great's reforms. For example, the meetings of the estates in 1565, when Ivan the Terrible left for Alexandrov Sloboda, and the verdict passed by the Zemstvo Assembly on June 30, 1611 in “stateless times” were devoted to the fate of the country’s political structure.
The most frequently discussed issues at the councils were foreign policy and the tax system (mainly in connection with military needs). Thus, the biggest problems facing the Russian state were discussed at the meetings of the councils.
As a result, the main essence of the creation of Zemsky Sobors came down to the emergence of a new aristocratic project of changing the shape of the Russian state. According to this plan, the tsarist state was divided into several states, each of which was forever headed by a boyar - the tsar's governor (Novgorod the Great, Kazan, Siberia and other regions). As a result, Russia turned into an aristocratic federation under the supreme rule of the tsar, but relying on a council of governors. Fyodor Alekseevich approved the project in principle, but the patriarch rejected it as a threat to the integrity of the country.