What does Kievan Rus mean? The term "Kievan Rus"

Until now, historians have put forward various theories about the emergence of Kievan Rus as a state. Already for a long time taken as a basis official version, according to which the date of birth is called 862. But the state does not appear out of nowhere! It is impossible to imagine that before this date, in the territory inhabited by the Slavs there were only savages who, without help from “outside”, could not create their own power. After all, as we know, history moves along an evolutionary path. For the emergence of a state there must be certain prerequisites. Let's try to understand the history of Kievan Rus. How was this state created? Why did it fall into disrepair?

The emergence of Kievan Rus

At the moment, domestic historians adhere to 2 main versions of the emergence of Kievan Rus.

Norman. It is based on one significant historical document, namely the Tale of Bygone Years. According to this theory, the ancient tribes called on the Varangians (Rurik, Sineus and Truvor) to create and manage their state. Thus, they could not create their own public education. They needed outside help.

Russian (anti-Norman). The rudiments of the theory were first formulated by the famous Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov. He argued that the entire history of the ancient Russian state was written by foreigners. Lomonosov was sure that there was no logic in this story, the important question of nationality Varangians

Unfortunately, until the end of the 9th century there are no mentions of the Slavs in the chronicles. It is suspicious that Rurik “came to rule the Russian state” when it already had its own traditions, customs, its own language, cities and ships. That is, Rus' did not arise out of nowhere. Old Russian cities were very well developed (including from a military point of view).

According to generally accepted sources, the founding date of the ancient Russian state is considered to be 862. It was then that Rurik began to rule in Novgorod. In 864, his associates Askold and Dir seized princely power in Kyiv. Eighteen years later, in 882, Oleg, commonly called the Prophetic, captured Kyiv and became the Grand Duke. He managed to unite the scattered Slavic lands, and it was during his reign that the campaign against Byzantium was launched. More and more territories and cities were annexed to the grand ducal lands. During Oleg's reign, there were no major clashes between Novgorod and Kiev. This was largely due to blood ties and kinship.

Formation and flourishing of Kievan Rus

Kievan Rus was a powerful and developed state. Its capital was a fortified outpost located on the banks of the Dnieper. Taking power in Kyiv meant becoming the head of vast territories. It was Kyiv that was compared to the “mother of Russian cities” (although Novgorod, from where Askold and Dir arrived in Kyiv, was also quite worthy of such a title). The city retained its status as the capital of ancient Russian lands until the period of the Tatar-Mongol invasion.

Among the key events of the heyday of Kievan Rus can be called the Epiphany in 988, when the country abandoned idolatry in favor of Christianity.
The reign of Prince Yaroslav the Wise led to the appearance of the first Russian code of laws (code of laws) called “Russian Truth” at the beginning of the 11th century.
The Kiev prince became related to many famous ruling European dynasties. Also, under Yaroslav the Wise, the raids of the Pechenegs, which brought much trouble and suffering to Kievan Rus, became permanent.
Also, from the end of the 10th century, its own coin production began on the territory of Kievan Rus. Silver and gold coins appeared.

The period of civil strife and collapse of Kievan Rus

Unfortunately, a clear and uniform system of succession to the throne was not developed in Kievan Rus. Various grand ducal lands were distributed to warriors for military and other merits.

Only after the end of the reign of Yaroslav the Wise was a principle of inheritance established, which involved the transfer of power over Kiev to the eldest in the clan. All other lands were divided between members of the Rurik family in accordance with the principle of seniority (but this could not remove all the contradictions and problems). After the death of the ruler, there were dozens of heirs laying claim to the “throne” (from brothers, sons, and ending with nephews). Despite certain rules inheritance, supreme power was often asserted through force: through bloody clashes and wars. Only a few independently refused to rule Kievan Rus.

Contenders for the title of great Prince of Kyiv did not shy away from the most terrible deeds. Literature and history describe the terrible example of Svyatopolk the Accursed. He committed fratricide only in order to gain power over Kiev.

Many historians come to the conclusion that it was internecine wars that became the factor that led to the collapse of Kievan Rus. The situation was also complicated by the fact that the Tatar-Mongols began to actively attack in the 13th century. “Petty rulers with big ambitions” could have united against the enemy, but no. The princes dealt with internal problems “in their own area”, did not compromise and desperately defended their own interests to the detriment of others. As a result, Rus' became completely dependent on the Golden Horde for a couple of centuries, and the rulers were forced to pay tribute to the Tatar-Mongols.

The prerequisites for the coming collapse of Kievan Rus were formed under Vladimir the Great, who decided to give each of his 12 sons his own city. The beginning of the collapse of Kievan Rus is called 1132, when Mstislav the Great died. Then 2 powerful centers at once refused to recognize the grand ducal power in Kyiv (Polotsk and Novgorod).

In the 12th century. There was rivalry between 4 main lands: Volyn, Suzdal, Chernigov and Smolensk. As a result of internecine clashes, Kyiv was periodically plundered and churches burned. In 1240 the city was burned by the Tatar-Mongols. The influence gradually weakened; in 1299, the residence of the metropolitan was moved to Vladimir. To manage Russian lands it was no longer necessary to occupy Kyiv

Kievan Rus - ancient Russian state in the west, southwest, partly in the south of the East European Plain. Existed from the ninth to the early twelfth centuries AD. The capital was Kyiv. It arose by a union of Slavic tribes: Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polyans, Drevlyans, Dregovichs, Polotsk, Radimichi, Northerners, Vyatichi.

The year 862 is considered fundamental in the history of Kievan Rus, when, as the ancient written source “The Tale of Bygone Years” indicates, Slavic tribes The Varangians were called to reign. The first head of Kievan Rus was Rurik, who took the throne in Novgorod.

Princes of Kievan Rus

864 - Varangians Askold and Dir seized princely power in Kyiv
882 - Varyag Oleg, who reigned in Novgorod, killed Askold and Dir, sat down to reign in Kyiv, united the northern and southern Slavic lands and took the title of Grand Duke
912 - Death of Oleg. Rise of Igor, son of Rurik
945 - Death of Igor. On the throne is his wife Olga
957 - Olga transferred power to her son Svyatoslav
972 - Death of Svyatoslav at the hands of the Pechenegs. The Kyiv throne was occupied by Yaropolk
980 - Death of Yaropolk in a civil strife with his brother Vladimir. Vladimir - Prince of Kyiv
1015 - Death of Vladimir. Power in Kyiv was seized by his son Svyatopolk
1016 - Three-year struggle for supremacy in Rus' between Svyatopolk and Novgorod prince Yaroslav
1019 - Death of Svyatopolk. Yaroslav, nicknamed the wise - prince in Kyiv
1054 - After the death of Yaroslav, his son Izyaslav took the throne
1068 - Uprising of the Kyiv people, their proclamation of the Polotsk prince Vseslav as Grand Duke, Return of Izyaslav.
1073 - Expulsion of Izyaslav by his brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. Prince - Svyatoslav Yaroslavich
1076 - Death of Svyatoslav. Return of Izyaslav.
1078 - Death of Izyaslav at the hands of the nephew of Oleg Svyatoslavich, Prince of Chernigov. The Kyiv throne was occupied by Vsevolod Yaroslavich
1099 - Prince Svyatopolk, son of Izyaslav
1113 - Prince Vladimir Monomakh
1125 - Death of Vladimir Monomakh. His son Mstislav ascended the throne
1132 - Death of Mstislav. Disintegration of Novgorod-Kievan Rus.

Brief history of Kievan Rus

Kyiv remained the center of Kievan Rus until 1169, when it was captured and plundered by troops of Prince of Rostov-Suzdal Andrei Bogolyubsky

Cities of Kievan Rus

Novgorod (until 1136)
Pskov
Chernigov
Polotsk
Smolensk
Lyubech
Zhytomyr
Iskorosten
Vyshgorod
Crossed
Pereyaslavl
Tmutarakan

Until the Mongol-Tatar invasion in the middle of the 13th century, Kyiv continued to be formally considered the center of Rus', but in fact lost its significance. The time of feudal fragmentation has come in Rus'. Kievan Rus split into 14 principalities, ruled by the descendants of different branches of the Rurik tree, and the free city of Novgorod

Filaret Denisenko, hiding behind the brand “Patriarch of Kiev and All Ukraine-Rus,” recently said regarding the upcoming celebration of the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus': “ This holiday is ours, Ukrainian. And you need to realize this, because we are talking about baptism Kievan Rus, not Moscow. There was no Moscow at that time, and therefore it was too early for them to celebrate” (1). In other words, Filaret understands “Kievan Rus” a certain state with its capital in Kyiv, which adopted Christianity more than a thousand years ago and which in no case should be confused with a completely different, later state - Muscovite Russia.

You don’t need to be an outstanding historian to know: Moscow really was in the 10th century. It hasn't happened yet. Just like there was no Ukraine. However, Rus' already existed. Filaret corrects: not Rus', but Kyiv Rus! That's what the state was called!

These features of the “patriarch’s” vocabulary are worth dwelling on. In this regard, let us take a short historical excursion. Firstly, in ancient times the concept of “Kievan Rus” never not used. The name of the country and people was simply the word “Rus”. As an ethnic self-name, it was already used in the treaties of Oleg and Igor with the Greeks in 912 and 945. The Byzantines even then called Rus' “Russia”. In the “Sermon on Law and Grace” (mid-11th century) the “Russian language (i.e. people)” and “Russian land” are mentioned, in the “Tale of Bygone Years” - “Russian people” (1015), “ Russian people" (1103), in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" - "Russian land", in "Zadonshchina" - "Russian people". Already from the 11th century. The form “Russian” (with two “s”) is also fixed. At the same time, initially the entire state territory was called Russia (in the “Sermon on Law and Grace”, the Laurentian Chronicle from 1015, the Ipatiev Chronicle from 1125). Only after the collapse of the unified statehood, the name “Rus” in the narrow sense of the word was assigned to the Middle Dnieper region and the Kiev region (in the Ipatiev region - from 1140, in the Laurentian region - from 1152).

The word “Rus” (along with the word “Russia”) has been used in historical science since its inception to designate the vast space in which Russian statehood was formed and developed in the 9th-14th centuries.

What about " Kyiv Rus"? Initially, this concept arose in historical science in the mid-19th century. V narrowly geographical sense: to designate a small region near the Dnieper - Kyiv region. This is exactly how the historian S.M. began to use it. Soloviev (1820-1879), author of the famous 29-volume “History of Russia since Ancient Times” (published since 1851) (2). He, in particular, distinguished between “Kievan Rus', Chernigov Rus' and Rostov or Suzdal Rus'” (3). The same understanding is found in N.I. Kostomarova (“Russian history in the biographies of its main figures”, 1872) (4), V.O. Klyuchevsky (“Complete course of Russian history”, published since 1904) (5) and other historians of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century. another meaning has appeared - chronological: “Kievan Rus” began to be understood as the first (Kievan) period of Russian history (X-XII centuries). Marxist historians N.A. started talking about this. Rozhkov, M.N. Pokrovsky, as well as V.N. Storozhev, M.D. Priselkov et al. (6). If, within the framework of the first understanding, “Kievan Rus” was a geographical part of Rus', then under the second, it was the initial stage of Russian history. Both versions were based on the idea of the inseparability of the history of Rus'.

However, at the end of the 19th century. an opposite theory took shape, according to which the historical destinies of Southern Rus' and Northern Rus' were very weakly connected, and Southern Rus' was proclaimed the historical predecessor of Ukraine alone. This theory, in particular, was intensively cultivated by M.S. Grushevsky (1866-1934). However, Grushevsky did not use the concept of “Kievan Rus”. He coined the term “Kiev State” (“Kiev Power”), although he also used its synonym “ Russian state"("Russian Power") (7). Ukrainian nationalist historiography did not favor “Kievan Rus”: in the meanings of that time, it seemed to dissolve within the spatial or historical boundaries of greater Rus-Russia.

Approval of the concept of “Kievan Rus” in state-political sense - as the official name of the East Slavic state of the 9th - 12th centuries. with the capital in Kyiv - happened only in Soviet time. In this sense, “Kievan Rus” was first used in Soviet history textbooks written after 1934, together with the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).” Textbooks were written at the direction of Stalin and underwent his personal editing ( 8). Academician B.D. Grekov, who was responsible for preparing sections until the 17th century, simultaneously prepared his main works: “Kievan Rus” (1939) and “Culture of Kievan Rus” (1944), which received the Stalin Prize. Grekov, following Grushevsky (since 1929, a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences), used the concept of “Kievan State”, but for the first time identified it with “Kievan Rus”. Since then, the concept of “Kievan Rus” began to be used precisely in this Stalinist meaning.

Grekov wrote: “I consider it necessary to point out once again that in my work I deal with Kievan Rus not in narrow-territorial sense of this term (Ukraine), namely in the broad sense of the “Rurikovich empire”, corresponding to the Western European “empire of Charlemagne” - including a huge territory on which several independent state units were subsequently formed. It cannot be said that the process of feudalization during the studied period of time throughout the entire vast expanse of the territory Kyiv State proceeded at its own pace completely parallel: according to the great waterway“from the Varangians to the Greeks” it undoubtedly developed more intensively and was ahead central interfluve [Volga and Oka, - F.G.]. A general study of this process is only in major centers this part of Europe, occupied by the Eastern Slavs, seems to me in some respects acceptable, but even then with constant consideration of the differences in natural, ethnic and historical conditions of each of the large parts of this association” (9). So, Grekov directly denied the main pre-revolutionary use of the term “Kievan Rus” (“narrow-territorial”), and also noted that the territories of the vast “Kievan State”, where Moscow is now located, were poorly developed, and later generally began their independent development (as France and Germany after the collapse of the Carolingian Empire). This is exactly the scheme that is now being voiced by the “patriarch of all Ukraine-Rus.”

Did he really read the works of Grekov? Extremely doubtful. But the secret of such coincidences is revealed simply. Little Misha Denisenko went to Donetsk school in 1936. There, in the 3rd grade, he received a brand new textbook, “A Short Course in the History of the USSR,” 1937 edition, developed with the active participation of Grekov. It read: “Since the beginning of the 10th century, the Kievan Principality of the Slavs has been called Kievan Rus” (p. 13). Little Misha could well imagine the ancient Russian red-green border pillars from the time of Prince Oleg, on which the official name of the state was written: “Kievan Rus”. As stated in the same textbook, the “Russian national state” appeared only under Ivan III (p. 32). Thus, Misha learned: Kievan Rus has nothing to do with the Russians. Comrade Stalin, the main author of this textbook, was a friend of all schoolchildren, so Mikhail Antonovich firmly remembered “Kievan Rus” for many years. Let's not be demanding of him. He was just a proper Soviet schoolboy.

(2) “Kiev region (Rus in the narrowest sense)” (S. M. Soloviev, History of Russia since ancient times. M., 1993. Book 1. T. 1. Chapter 1. P. 25). “Askold and Dir became the leaders of a fairly large gang, the surrounding clearings had to submit to them... Askold and Dir settled in the glade town of Kiev... so the importance of Kiev in our history was discovered early on - a consequence of the clashes between Kievan Rus and Byzantium” (Ibid. Chapter 5 pp. 99-100).

(3) Ibid. T. 2. Ch. 6. P. 675.

(4) “Then Kievan Rus was disturbed by the Pechenegs, a nomadic and equestrian people. For about a century they had been attacking the Russian region and, under Vladimir’s father, during his absence, they almost took Kyiv. Vladimir repulsed them with success and, caring both about increasing military strength and increasing the population in the region adjacent to Kiev, populated the cities or fortified places he built along the banks of the Sula, Stugna, Trubezh, Desna rivers with settlers from different lands, not only Russian- Slavic, but also Chud” (http://www.magister.msk.ru/library/history/kostomar/kostom01.htm).

(5) Klyuchevsky V.O. Russian history. A complete course of lectures in three books. Book 1. M., 1993. S. 111, 239-251.

(6) Rozhkov N.A. Review of Russian history from a sociological point of view. Part 1. Kievan Rus (from the 6th to the end of the 12th century). Ed. 2nd. 1905; Pokrovsky M.N. Russian history from ancient times. T. 1. 1910; Kievan Rus. Collection of articles ed. V.N. Storozheva. Volume 1. 2nd revision. ed. 1910. Preface; Priselkov M.D. Essays on the church-political history of Kievan Rus of the X-XII centuries. St. Petersburg, 1913.

(7) See: Grushevsky M.S. History of Ukraine-Rus (1895); him, Essay on the history of the Ukrainian people. 2nd ed. 1906. pp. 5-6, 63-64, 66, 68, 81, 84.

(8) Dubrovsky A.M. Historian and power: historical science in the USSR and the concept of the history of feudal Russia in the context of politics and ideology (1930-1950s). Bryansk: Bryansk State Publishing House. University named after acad. I. G. Petrovsky, 2005. P. 170-304 (Chapter IV). http://www.opentextnn.ru/history/historiography/?id=2991

(9) Grekov B.D. Kievan Rus. M., 1939. Ch. 4; http://bibliotekar.ru/rusFroyanov/4.htm

Kievan Rus or the Old Russian State is a medieval state in Eastern Europe that arose in the 9th century as a result of the unification of East Slavic tribes under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty.

At its peak, it occupied the territory from the Taman Peninsula in the south, the Dniester and the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the headwaters of the Northern Dvina in the north.

By the middle of the 12th century, it entered into a state of fragmentation and actually broke up into one and a half dozen separate principalities, ruled by different branches of the Rurikovichs. Political ties were maintained between the principalities, Kyiv continued to formally remain the main table of Rus', and the Principality of Kiev was considered as the collective possession of all the Rurikovichs. The end of Kievan Rus is considered to be the Mongol invasion (1237-1240), after which the Russian lands ceased to form a single political whole, and Kyiv fell into decline for a long time and finally lost its nominal capital functions.

In chronicle sources the state is called “Rus” or “Russian Land”, in Byzantine sources - “Russia”.

Term

The definition of “Old Russian” is not connected with the division of antiquity and the Middle Ages in Europe generally accepted in historiography in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. In relation to Rus', it is usually used to refer to the so-called. the “pre-Mongol” period of the 9th - mid-13th centuries, in order to distinguish this era from the following periods of Russian history.

The term “Kievan Rus” arose at the end of the 18th century. In modern historiography it is used to mean single state, which existed until the middle of the 12th century, and for the wider period of the mid-12th - mid-13th centuries, when Kyiv remained the center of the country and the governance of Russia was carried out by a single princely family on the principles of “collective suzerainty”.

Pre-revolutionary historians, starting with N.M. Karamzin, adhered to the idea of transferring the political center of Rus' in 1169 from Kyiv to Vladimir, going back to the works of Moscow scribes, or to Vladimir and Galich. However, in modern historiography these points of view are not popular, since they are not confirmed in the sources.

The problem of the emergence of statehood

There are two main hypotheses for the formation of the Old Russian state. According to the Norman theory, based on the Tale of Bygone Years of the 12th century and numerous Western European and Byzantine sources, statehood in Rus' was brought from outside by the Varangians - the brothers Rurik, Sineus and Truvor in 862. The founders of the Norman theory are considered to be the German historians Bayer, Miller, and Schlözer who worked at the Russian Academy of Sciences. The point of view on the external origin of the Russian monarchy was generally held by Nikolai Karamzin, who followed the versions of The Tale of Bygone Years.

The anti-Norman theory is based on the concept of the impossibility of introducing statehood from the outside, on the idea of the emergence of the state as a stage in the internal development of society. The founder of this theory in Russian historiography was considered to be Mikhail Lomonosov. In addition, there are different points of view on the origin of the Varangians themselves. Scientists classified as Normanists considered them to be Scandinavians (usually Swedes); some anti-Normanists, starting with Lomonosov, suggest their origin from West Slavic lands. There are also intermediate versions of localization - in Finland, Prussia, and other parts of the Baltic states. The problem of the ethnicity of the Varangians is independent of the issue of the emergence of statehood.

In modern science, the prevailing point of view is that the strict opposition between “Normanism” and “anti-Normanism” is largely politicized. Prerequisites for primordial statehood Eastern Slavs were not seriously denied by either Miller, Schlözer, or Karamzin, and the external (Scandinavian or other) origin of the ruling dynasty was a fairly common phenomenon in the Middle Ages, which in no way proves the inability of the people to create a state or, more specifically, the institution of monarchy. Questions about whether Rurik was a real historical person, what is the origin of the chronicled Varangians, whether the ethnonym (and then the name of the state) is associated with them Rus, continue to remain controversial in modern Russian historical science. Western historians generally follow the concept of Normanism.

History Education of Kievan Rus

Kievan Rus arose on the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” on the lands of the East Slavic tribes - the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polyans, then covering the Drevlyans, Dregovichs, Polotsk, Radimichi, Severians, Vyatichi.

The chronicle legend considers the founders of Kyiv to be the rulers of the Polyan tribe - the brothers Kiya, Shchek and Khoriv. According to archaeological excavations carried out in Kyiv in the 19th-20th centuries, already in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. there was a settlement on the site of Kyiv. Arab writers of the 10th century (al-Istarhi, Ibn Khordadbeh, Ibn-Haukal) later speak of Kuyab as big city. Ibn Haukal wrote: “The king lives in a city called Cuyaba, which is larger than Bolgar... The Rus constantly trade with the Khozar and Rum (Byzantium).”

The first information about the state of the Rus dates back to the first third of the 9th century: in 839, the ambassadors of the Kagan of the people of Rus were mentioned, who arrived first in Constantinople, and from there to the court of the Frankish emperor Louis the Pious. From this time on, the ethnonym “Rus” also became known. The term “Kievan Rus” appears for the first time in historical studies of the 18th–19th centuries.

In 860 (The Tale of Bygone Years erroneously dates it to 866), Rus' makes its first campaign against Constantinople. Greek sources connect it with the so-called first baptism of Rus', after which a diocese may have arisen in Rus', and the ruling elite (possibly led by Askold) adopted Christianity.

In 862, according to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes called the Varangians to reign.

“Per year 6370 (862). They drove the Varangians overseas, and did not give them tribute, and began to control themselves, and there was no truth among them, and generation after generation arose, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: “Let’s look for a prince who would rule over us and judge us by right.” And they went overseas to the Varangians, to Rus'. Those Varangians were called Rus, just as others are called Swedes, and some Normans and Angles, and still others Gotlanders, just like these. The Chud, the Slovenians, the Krivichi and all said to the Russians: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us." And three brothers were chosen with their clans, and they took all of Rus' with them, and they came and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, in Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. Novgorodians are people from the Varangian family, but before that they were Slovenians.”

In 862 (the date is approximate, like the entire early chronology of the Chronicle), the Varangians, Rurik’s warriors Askold and Dir, sailing to Constantinople, seeking to establish complete control over the most important trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” established their power over Kiev.

In 879 Rurik died in Novgorod. The reign was transferred to Oleg, regent for Rurik’s young son Igor.

Reign of Oleg the Prophet

In 882, according to chronicle chronology, Prince Oleg, a relative of Rurik, set off on a campaign from Novgorod to the south. Along the way, he captured Smolensk and Lyubech, establishing his power there and putting his people under reign. Then Oleg, with the Novgorod army and a hired Varangian squad, under the guise of merchants, captured Kiev, killed Askold and Dir, who ruled there, and declared Kiev the capital of his state (“And Oleg, the prince, sat down in Kyiv, and Oleg said: “Let this be the mother of Russian cities.” “.”); the dominant religion was paganism, although there was also a Christian minority in Kyiv.

Oleg conquered the Drevlyans, Northerners and Radimichi; the last two alliances had previously paid tribute to the Khazars.

As a result of the victorious campaign against Byzantium, the first written agreements were concluded in 907 and 911, which provided for preferential terms of trade for Russian merchants (trade duties were abolished, ship repairs and overnight accommodation were provided), and resolution of legal and military issues. The tribes of the Radimichi, Northerners, Drevlyans, and Krivichi were subject to tribute. According to the chronicle version, Oleg, who bore the title of Grand Duke, reigned for more than 30 years. Rurik's own son Igor took the throne after Oleg's death around 912 and ruled until 945.

Igor Rurikovich

Igor made two military campaigns against Byzantium. The first, in 941, ended unsuccessfully. It was also preceded by an unsuccessful military campaign against Khazaria, during which Rus', acting at the request of Byzantium, attacked the Khazar city of Samkerts on the Taman Peninsula, but was defeated by the Khazar commander Pesach, and then turned its arms against Byzantium. The second campaign against Byzantium took place in 944. It ended with a treaty that confirmed many of the provisions of the previous treaties of 907 and 911, but abolished duty-free trade. In 943 or 944, a campaign was made against Berdaa. In 945, Igor was killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlyans. After Igor's death, due to the minority of his son Svyatoslav, real power was in the hands of Igor's widow, Princess Olga. She became the first ruler of the Old Russian state to officially accept Christianity of the Byzantine rite (according to the most reasoned version, in 957, although other dates are also proposed). However, around 959 Olga invited the German bishop Adalbert and priests of the Latin rite to Rus' (after the failure of their mission they were forced to leave Kyiv).

Svyatoslav Igorevich

Around 962, the matured Svyatoslav took power into his own hands. His first action was the subjugation of the Vyatichi (964), who were the last of all the East Slavic tribes to pay tribute to the Khazars. In 965, Svyatoslav made a campaign against the Khazar Kaganate, taking its main cities by storm: Sarkel, Semender and the capital Itil. On the site of the city of Sarkela, he built the Belaya Vezha fortress. Svyatoslav also made two trips to Bulgaria, where he intended to create his own state with its capital in the Danube region. He was killed in a battle with the Pechenegs while returning to Kyiv from an unsuccessful campaign in 972.

After the death of Svyatoslav, civil strife broke out for the right to the throne (972-978 or 980). The eldest son Yaropolk became the great prince of Kyiv, Oleg received the Drevlyan lands, Vladimir received Novgorod. In 977, Yaropolk defeated Oleg’s squad, Oleg died. Vladimir fled “overseas”, but returned 2 years later with a Varangian squad. During the civil strife, Svyatoslav's son Vladimir Svyatoslavich (reigned 980-1015) defended his rights to the throne. Under him, the formation of the state territory was completed Ancient Rus', Cherven cities and Carpathian Rus' were annexed.

Characteristics of the state in the 9th-10th centuries.

Kievan Rus united under its rule vast territories inhabited by East Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. In the chronicles the state was called Rus; the word “Russian” in combination with other words was found in various spellings: both with one “s” and with a double one; both with and without “b”. In a narrow sense, “Rus” meant the territory of Kyiv (with the exception of the Drevlyan and Dregovichi lands), Chernigov-Seversk (with the exception of the Radimich and Vyatichi lands) and Pereyaslavl lands; It is in this meaning that the term “Rus” is used, for example, in Novgorod sources up to the 13th century.

The head of state bore the title of Grand Duke, Russian Prince. Unofficially, other prestigious titles could sometimes be attached to it, including Turkic kagan and Byzantine king. Princely power was hereditary. In addition to the princes, grand-ducal boyars and “men” participated in the administration of the territories. These were warriors appointed by the prince. The boyars commanded special squads, territorial garrisons (for example, Pretich commanded the Chernigov squad), which, if necessary, were united into a single army. Under the prince, one of the boyar-voevodas also stood out, who often performed the functions of real government of the state; such governors under the young princes were Oleg under Igor, Sveneld under Olga, Svyatoslav and Yaropolk, Dobrynya under Vladimir. At the local level, the princely government dealt with tribal self-government in the form of the veche and “city elders.”

Druzhina

Druzhina during the 9th-10th centuries. was hired. A significant part of it were newcomer Varangians. It was also replenished by people from the Baltic lands and local tribes. The size of the annual payment of a mercenary is estimated by historians differently. Salaries were paid in silver, gold and furs. Typically, a warrior received about 8-9 Kyiv hryvnia (more than 200 silver dirhams) per year, but by the beginning of the 11th century, the pay of a private soldier was 1 northern hryvnia, which is much less. Ship helmsmen, elders and townspeople received more (10 hryvnia). In addition, the squad was fed at the expense of the prince. Initially, this was expressed in the form of canteen, and then turned into one of the forms of taxes in kind, “feeding”, the maintenance of the squad by the tax-paying population during polyudye. Among the squads subordinate to the Grand Duke, his personal “small”, or junior, squad, which included 400 warriors, stands out. The Old Russian army also included a tribal militia, which could reach several thousand in each tribe. Total number The ancient Russian army reached from 30 to 80 thousand people.

Taxes (tribute)

The form of taxes in Ancient Rus' was tribute, which was paid by subject tribes. Most often, the unit of taxation was “smoke,” that is, a house or family hearth. The tax amount was traditionally one skin per smoke. In some cases, from the Vyatichi tribe, a coin was taken from the ral (plough). The form of collecting tribute was polyudye, when the prince and his retinue visited his subjects from November to April. Rus' was divided into several tax districts; Polyudye in the Kiev district passed through the lands of the Drevlyans, Dregovichs, Krivichis, Radimichis and Northerners. A special district was Novgorod, paying about 3,000 hryvnia. Maximum size According to the late Hungarian legend, the tribute in the 10th century was 10 thousand marks (30 or more thousand hryvnia). The collection of tribute was carried out by squads of several hundred soldiers. The dominant ethno-class group of the population, which was called “Rus”, paid the prince a tenth of their annual income.

In 946, after the suppression of the Drevlyan uprising, Princess Olga carried out a tax reform, streamlining the collection of tribute. She established “lessons”, that is, the size of the tribute, and created “cemeteries”, fortresses on the route of Polyudya, in which the princely administrators lived and where the tribute was brought. This form of collecting tribute and the tribute itself was called a “cart.” When paying the tax, subjects received clay seals with a princely sign, which insured them against repeated collection. The reform contributed to the centralization of grand-ducal power and the weakening of the power of tribal princes.

Right

In the 10th century, customary law was in force in Rus', which in sources is called “Russian Law”. Its norms are reflected in the treaties of Rus' and Byzantium, in the Scandinavian sagas and in “The Truth of Yaroslav”. They concerned the relationship between equal people, Russia, one of the institutions was “vira” - a fine for murder. Laws guaranteed property relations, including ownership of slaves (“servants”).

The principle of inheritance of power in the 9th-10th centuries is unknown. The heirs were often minors (Igor Rurikovich, Svyatoslav Igorevich). In the 11th century, princely power in Rus' was transferred along the “ladder”, that is, not necessarily to the son, but to the eldest in the family (the uncle had precedence over his nephews). At the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, two principles collided, and a struggle broke out between the direct heirs and the collateral lines.

Monetary system

In the 10th century, a more or less unified monetary system developed, focused on the Byzantine liter and the Arab dirham. The main monetary units were the hryvnia (the monetary and weight unit of Ancient Rus'), kuna, nogata and rezana. They had a silver and fur expression.

State type

Historians have different assessments of the nature of the state of a given period: “barbarian state”, “military democracy”, “druzhina period”, “Norman period”, “military-commercial state”, “the formation of the early feudal monarchy”.

The Baptism of Rus' and its heyday

Under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 988, Christianity became the official religion of Rus'. Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir faced an increased Pecheneg threat. To protect against nomads, he builds a line of fortresses on the border. It was during the time of Vladimir that many Russian epics took place, telling about the exploits of heroes.

Crafts and trade. Monuments of writing (The Tale of Bygone Years, the Novgorod Codex, the Ostromirovo Gospel, Lives) and architecture (Tithe Church, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and the cathedrals of the same name in Novgorod and Polotsk) were created. ABOUT high level The literacy of the inhabitants of Rus' is evidenced by numerous birch bark letters that have survived to this day). Rus' traded with the southern and western Slavs, Scandinavia, Byzantium, Western Europe, the peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

After the death of Vladimir, a new civil strife occurs in Rus'. Svyatopolk the Accursed in 1015 kills his brothers Boris (according to another version, Boris was killed by Scandinavian mercenaries of Yaroslav), Gleb and Svyatoslav. Boris and Gleb were canonized as saints in 1071. Svyatopolk himself is defeated by Yaroslav and dies in exile.

The reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019 - 1054) was the time of the greatest prosperity of the state. Public relations were regulated by the collection of laws “Russian Truth” and princely statutes. Yaroslav the Wise pursued an active foreign policy. He became related to many ruling dynasties of Europe, which testified to the wide international recognition of Rus' in the European Christian world. Intensive stone construction is underway. In 1036, Yaroslav defeated the Pechenegs near Kiev and their raids on Rus' ceased.

Changes in public administration at the end of the X - beginning of the XII centuries.

During the baptism of Rus', the power of the sons of Vladimir I and the power of Orthodox bishops, subordinate to the Kyiv Metropolitan, were established in all its lands. Now all the princes who acted as vassals of the Kyiv Grand Duke were only from the Rurik family. Scandinavian sagas mention the fief possessions of the Vikings, but they were located on the outskirts of Rus' and on newly annexed lands, so at the time of writing “The Tale of Bygone Years” they already seemed like a relic. The Rurik princes waged a fierce struggle with the remaining tribal princes (Vladimir Monomakh mentions the Vyatichi prince Khodota and his son). This contributed to the centralization of power.

The power of the Grand Duke reached its highest strength under Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise and later under Vladimir Monomakh. Attempts to strengthen it, but less successfully, were also made by Izyaslav Yaroslavich. The position of the dynasty was strengthened by numerous international dynastic marriages: Anna Yaroslavna and the French king, Vsevolod Yaroslavich and the Byzantine princess, etc.

Since the time of Vladimir or, according to some information, Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, the prince began to distribute lands to the warriors instead of monetary salaries. If initially these were cities for feeding, then in the 11th century villages received warriors. Along with the villages, which became fiefdoms, the boyar title was also granted. The boyars began to form the senior squad, which was a feudal militia in type. The younger squad (“youths”, “children”, “gridi”), who were with the prince, lived off feeding from the princely villages and the war. To protect the southern borders, a resettlement policy was carried out " best husbands» of the northern tribes to the south, and agreements were also concluded with the allied nomads, the “black hoods” (Torks, Berendeys and Pechenegs). The services of the hired Varangian squad were largely abandoned during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise.

After Yaroslav the Wise, the “ladder” principle of land inheritance in the Rurik family was finally established. The eldest in the clan (not by age, but by line of kinship) received Kyiv and became the Grand Duke, all other lands were divided among members of the clan and distributed according to seniority. Power passed from brother to brother, from uncle to nephew. Chernigov occupied second place in the hierarchy of tables. When one of the members of the clan died, all the Rurikovichs younger in relation to him moved to lands corresponding to their seniority. When new members of the clan appeared, their destiny was determined - a city with land (volost). In 1097, the principle of mandatory allocation of inheritance to princes was established.

Over time, the church began to own a significant part of the land (“monastery estates”). Since 996, the population has paid tithes to the church. The number of dioceses, starting from 4, grew. The department of the metropolitan, appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, began to be located in Kiev, and under Yaroslav the Wise, the metropolitan was first elected from among the Russian priests; in 1051, Hilarion, who was close to Vladimir and his son, became the metropolitan. Monasteries and their elected heads, abbots, began to have great influence. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery becomes the center of Orthodoxy.

The boyars and squad formed special councils under the prince. The prince also consulted with the metropolitan, bishops and abbots who made up the church council. With the complication of the princely hierarchy, by the end of the 11th century, princely congresses (“snems”) began to gather. There were veches in the cities, which the boyars often relied on to support their own political demands (uprisings in Kyiv in 1068 and 1113).

In the 11th - early 12th centuries, the first written set of laws was formed - “Russian Truth”, which was successively replenished with articles from “The Truth of Yaroslav” (c. 1015-1016), “The Truth of the Yaroslavichs” (c. 1072) and the “Charter of Vladimir” Vsevolodovich" (c. 1113). The “Russian Truth” reflected the increasing differentiation of the population (now the size of the vira depended on the social status of the killed), and regulated the position of such categories of the population as servants, serfs, smerdas, purchases and ryadovichi.

“Pravda Yaroslava” equalized the rights of “Rusyns” and “Slovenians”. This, along with Christianization and other factors, contributed to the formation of a new ethnic community that was aware of its unity and historical origin.
Since the end of the 10th century, Rus' has known its own coin production - silver and gold coins of Vladimir I, Svyatopolk, Yaroslav the Wise and other princes.

Decay

The Principality of Polotsk first separated from Kyiv at the beginning of the 11th century. Having concentrated all the other Russian lands under his rule only 21 years after the death of his father, Yaroslav the Wise, dying in 1054, divided them between the five sons who survived him. After the death of the two youngest of them, all lands were concentrated in the hands of the three elders: Izyaslav of Kyiv, Svyatoslav of Chernigov and Vsevolod of Pereyaslav (the “Yaroslavich triumvirate”). After the death of Svyatoslav in 1076, the Kiev princes attempted to deprive his sons of the Chernigov inheritance, and they resorted to the help of the Polovtsians, whose raids began in 1061 (immediately after the defeat of the Torks by the Russian princes in the steppes), although for the first time the Polovtsians were used in strife by Vladimir Monomakh (against Vseslav of Polotsk). In this struggle, Izyaslav of Kiev (1078) and the son of Vladimir Monomakh Izyaslav (1096) died. At the Lyubech Congress (1097), designed to stop civil strife and unite the princes for protection from the Polovtsians, the principle was proclaimed: “Let everyone keep his fatherland.” Thus, while preserving the right of ladder, in the event of the death of one of the princes, the movement of the heirs was limited to their patrimony. This made it possible to stop the strife and join forces to fight the Cumans, which was moved deep into the steppes. However, this also opened the way to political fragmentation, since a separate dynasty was established in each land, and the Grand Duke of Kiev became first among equals, losing the role of overlord.

In the second quarter of the 12th century, Kievan Rus actually disintegrated into independent principalities. The modern historiographic tradition considers the chronological beginning of the period of fragmentation to be 1132, when, after the death of Mstislav the Great, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, the power of the Kiev prince was no longer recognized by Polotsk (1132) and Novgorod (1136), and the title itself became the object of struggle between various dynastic and territorial associations of the Rurikovichs. In 1134, the chronicler, in connection with a schism among the Monomakhovichs, wrote “the whole Russian land was torn apart.”

In 1169, the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, Andrei Bogolyubsky, having captured Kyiv, for the first time in the practice of inter-princely strife, he did not reign in it, but gave it as an appanage. From that moment on, Kyiv began to gradually lose the political and then cultural attributes of an all-Russian center. The political center under Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest moved to Vladimir, whose prince also began to bear the title of great.

Kyiv, unlike other principalities, did not become the property of any one dynasty, but served as a constant bone of contention for all powerful princes. In 1203, it was plundered for the second time by the Smolensk prince Rurik Rostislavich, who fought against the Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. The first clash between Rus' and the Mongols took place in the Battle of the Kalka River (1223), in which almost all the southern Russian princes took part. The weakening of the southern Russian principalities increased the pressure from the Hungarian and Lithuanian feudal lords, but at the same time contributed to the strengthening of the influence of the Vladimir princes in Chernigov (1226), Novgorod (1231), Kiev (in 1236 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich occupied Kyiv for two years, while his elder brother Yuri remained reign in Vladimir) and Smolensk (1236-1239). During the Mongol invasion of Rus', which began in 1237, Kyiv was reduced to ruins in December 1240. It was received by the Vladimir princes Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, recognized by the Mongols as the oldest in Rus', and later by his son Alexander Nevsky. However, they did not move to Kyiv, remaining in their ancestral Vladimir. In 1299, the Kiev Metropolitan moved his residence there. In some church and literary sources, for example, in the statements of the Patriarch of Constantinople and Vytautas at the end of the 14th century, Kyiv continued to be considered the capital at a later time, but by this time it was already a provincial city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From the beginning of the 14th century, the Vladimir princes began to bear the title of “Grand Dukes of All Rus'”.

The nature of statehood of Russian lands

At the beginning of the 13th century, on the eve Mongol invasion in Rus' there were about 15 relatively territorially stable principalities (in turn divided into appanages), three of which: Kiev, Novgorod and Galicia were objects of all-Russian struggle, and the rest were ruled by the Rurikovich’s own branches. The most powerful princely dynasties were the Chernigov Olgovichs, the Smolensk Rostislavichs, the Volyn Izyaslavichs and the Suzdal Yuryevichs. After the invasion, almost all Russian lands entered a new round of fragmentation and in the 14th century the number of great and appanage principalities reached approximately 250.

The only all-Russian political body remained the Congress of Princes, which mainly decided on issues of the fight against the Polovtsians. The church also maintained its relative unity (excluding the emergence of local cults of saints and veneration of the cult of local relics) headed by the metropolitan and fought against various kinds of regional “heresies” by convening councils. However, the position of the church was weakened by the strengthening of tribal pagan beliefs in the 12th-13th centuries. Religious authority and "zabozhni" (repression) were weakened. The candidacy of the Archbishop of Veliky Novgorod was proposed by the Novgorod Council, and cases of expulsion of the ruler (archbishop) are also known.

During the period of fragmentation of Kievan Rus, political power passed from the hands of the prince and the younger squad to the strengthened boyars. If earlier the boyars had business, political and economic relations with the whole Rurik family, headed by the Grand Duke, now - with individual families of appanage princes.

In the Principality of Kiev, the boyars, in order to ease the intensity of the struggle between the princely dynasties, in a number of cases supported the duumvirate (government) of the princes and even resorted to the physical elimination of the alien princes (Yuri Dolgoruky was poisoned). The Kiev boyars sympathized with the power of the senior branch of the descendants of Mstislav the Great, but external pressure was too strong for the position of the local nobility to become decisive in the choice of princes. In the Novgorod land, which, like Kyiv, did not become the fiefdom of the appanage princely branch of the Rurik family, retaining all-Russian significance, and during the anti-princely uprising a republican system was established - from now on the prince was invited and expelled by the veche. In the Vladimir-Suzdal land, princely power was traditionally strong and sometimes even prone to despotism. There is a known case when the boyars (Kuchkovichi) and the younger squad physically eliminated the “autocratic” prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. In the southern Russian lands, city councils played a huge role in the political struggle; there were councils in the Vladimir-Suzdal land (mentions of them are found until the 14th century). In the Galician land there was a unique case of electing a prince from among the boyars.

The main type of army became the feudal militia, the senior squad received personal inheritable land rights. The city militia was used to defend the city, urban area and settlements. In Veliky Novgorod, the princely squad was actually hired in relation to the republican authorities, the ruler had a special regiment, the townspeople made up the “thousand” (militia led by the thousand), there was also a boyar militia formed from the inhabitants of “Pyatin” (five dependent on the Novgorod boyars families of districts of Novgorod land). The army of a separate principality did not exceed 8,000 people. The total number of squads and city militia by 1237, according to historians, was about 100 thousand people.

During the period of fragmentation, several monetary systems emerged: Novgorod, Kyiv and “Chernigov” hryvnias are distinguished. These were silver bars of various sizes and weights. The northern (Novgorod) hryvnia was oriented towards the northern mark, and the southern one - towards the Byzantine liter. Kuna had a silver and fur expression, the former being to the latter as one to four. As monetary unit Old skins were also used, sealed with a princely seal (the so-called “leather money”).

The name Rus was retained during this period for the lands in the Middle Dnieper region. Residents of different lands usually called themselves after the capital cities of appanage principalities: Novgorodians, Suzdalians, Kurians, etc. Until the 13th century, according to archeology, tribal differences in material culture persisted; the spoken Old Russian language was also not unified, maintaining regional tribal dialects.

Trade

The most important trade routes of Ancient Rus' were:

the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, starting from the Varangian Sea, along Lake Nevo, along the Volkhov and Dnieper rivers leading to the Black Sea, Balkan Bulgaria and Byzantium (by the same route, entering the Danube from the Black Sea, one could get to Great Moravia) ;
the Volga trade route (“the path from the Varangians to the Persians”), which went from the city of Ladoga to the Caspian Sea and further to Khorezm and Central Asia, Persia and Transcaucasia;
a land route that began in Prague and through Kyiv went to the Volga and further to Asia.

The conditional date of the founding of Kyiv is 482 AD, although there is no reliable scientific data about this. According to legend, the founders of Kyiv and perhaps its first princes were Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv. According to some assumptions, in the 6th-7th centuries, Kyiv became the center of the Polyans, a tribe that arose in the foothills of the Carpathians.

In the 9th century, Kiev was ruled by the Varangian princes Askold and Dir, who in 860 and 866 made campaigns in Constantinople, documented in Byzantine chronicles. The first campaign was successful and the Russians captured rich booty, but during the second, a flotilla of 200 ships perished in a storm, and the remnants of the squad returned to Kyiv.

In 882, power in Kyiv was seized by the Novgorod prince Oleg from the Rurik dynasty, nicknamed the Prophet, who treacherously killed Askold and Dir. This year is traditionally considered the date of the founding of the state of Rus' - Kievan Rus. Under Oleg, Kyiv received capital status and became political, religious and cultural center Rus' throughout the existence of this state. Until the end of the 9th century, the unification of the Slavic tribes under the rule of the Kyiv prince and the formation of Kievan Rus as an ancient Slavic feudal state took place.

In 902, Prince Oleg made a campaign against Constantinople, in which he received victory and in 911 an agreement was signed, according to which the Byzantines paid tribute to Kyiv and pledged to establish trade relations with it.

After the death of Prince Oleg in 912, the princely throne was taken by Prince Igor, but in 945 he was killed by the Drevlyan tribe, who did not agree to an increase in tribute, and the throne was taken by his wife Olga, who ruled Kievan Rus until 969. In 955, Princess Olga traveled to Constantinople, where she was received with honor by Emperor Constantine VII and Patriarch Theophylact.

According to Byzantine chronicles, Olga converted to Christianity under the name Helena in honor of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Queen Helena.

In 965, Prince Svyatoslav, the son of Igor and Olga, made a military campaign against the Khazars, as a result of which the Khazar Kaganate actually ceased to exist

In 970, Svyatoslav determined appanages for his sons, according to which Kyiv received Yaropolk, Oleg received the Drevlyansky land, and Vladimir received Novgorod.

After the death of Svyatoslav in a skirmish with the Pechenegs in 972, an internecine war began among his children, as a result of which Oleg died in 977, and Vladimir fled from Kyiv to Novgorod. However, in 980, Vladimir took the Kiev throne, killing his brother Yaropolk. The reign of Vladimir I Svyatoslavovich in Kyiv, later nicknamed the Great (in epics Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko) lasted until 1015.

The Kiev prince Vladimir the Great converted to Christianity in Chersonesus in 988, baptized 12 of his sons, and then the people of Kiev, proclaiming Christianity the state religion.

During the reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich (1019-1054) in Kyiv, later nicknamed the Wise, Kievan Rus flourished, which reached the peak of its power as a feudal state. Yaroslav the Wise approved the first chronicle code of laws of Rus' - “Russian Truth”.

After the death of Yaroslav the Wise, the principality of Kiev went to his son Vsevolod, after whose death in 1093 Svyatopolk became the prince of Kyiv, who died in 1113.

In 1113, the Kiev throne was occupied by Vladimir Monomakh, the son of Vsevolod and Anna, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh. He continued the policy of his grandfather Yaroslav the Wise, trying to subordinate other princes to his influence. During his reign, the Kiev state became the largest state in Europe in terms of territory, whose lands extended from the Baltic Sea to Taman.

Mstislav the Great, son of Vladimir Monomakh, who took the Kiev throne in 1125, continued campaigns against the Polovtsians, pushing them beyond the Don and Volga and securing the northwestern borders of Kievan Rus, and undertook campaigns against the Chuds and Lithuanians.

However, in 1155, the Kiev throne was taken by Yuri Dolgoruky, who fought for it for several years with his nephew Izyaslav, which led to the further weakening of Kyiv.

In 1169, Andrei Bogolyubsky conquered Kyiv and secured sole rule, but moved the capital of Rus' to Vladimir. Kyiv was plundered by his troops and ceased to be the center and capital.

After the Tatar-Mongol invasion of the southern Russian lands and the complete destruction of Kyiv, ancient state Kievan Rus breaks up into independent principalities - the Principality of Kiev, the Principality of Pereyaslavl, the Principality of Chernigov, the Principality of Galicia-Volyn, the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal, the Principality of Ryazan, the Principality of Polotsk, the Novgorod Land and others.

In the 11th century, the steppes of present-day Ukraine were inhabited by the Polovtsy, and in the 13th century there was an outflow of the population of the former Kievan Rus to the east, where settlers founded new cities (Zvenigorod, Vyshgorod, Galich, etc.)

In 1299, the Kiev Metropolitan moved to Vladimir on Klyazma, and from 1354 the territory of the dioceses under the authority of the Kyiv Metropolitan began to be called Makra Rosia - Great Russia, and from the 15th century this name passed to the Moscow State, which was called Muscovy.

In 1303, the Galician Metropolis was created, which covered six dioceses, which, according to the Byzantine chronicle, was named Mikra Rossia in 1395 - - Little Russia(Little Russia) as opposed to Great Russia.

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Update

Archaeological excavations carried out in the area of the village of Mayak indicate that the territory of modern Kerch was inhabited already in the 17th-15th centuries BC, the Cimmerians were the first to settle here, but the chronicle history of the city began with the Bosporus Kingdom.

2986

The 1 hryvnia banknote depicts Grand Duke Kiev Saint Vladimir, under whose leadership the first ancient Russian state, Kievan Rus, strengthened; During his reign, the baptism of Rus' took place. On back side banknotes – panorama of Chersonesus – ancient city in Crimea, founded by the Greeks more than 2500 years ago. In 1992, a 1 hryvnia banknote was printed in Canada, and two years later, after changing the design slightly, it was produced in Kyiv.