Which countries belong to the Slavic peoples. What is Pan-Slavism? Scientists argue about the ethnic origin of Samo

The territory of modern Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania was inhabited in the period of the ancient Paleolithic, as evidenced by archeological data. The first people in this territory, about which written sources have been preserved, were the Celts, who came here in the 4th-2nd centuries.

BC. One of these tribes - the battles - occupied the northern part of Bohemia and Moravia, and subsequently penetrated to the south. Another Celtic tribe, the Kotini, settled in the southern part of Slovakia. At the dawn of our era, the Celts were driven out by the Germans, who came from the north and west. From the 1st to the 4th centuries AD Roman legions were located in the Danube region. They were constantly at war with the Germans. The Lombards passed through the Czech Republic to Italy, and the Goths through Slovakia. At the end of the 5th and in the 6th c. came to this area Slavic population. In essence, it was an agricultural colonization of almost deserted convenient lands. The main occupation of the Slavs was agriculture and cattle breeding, they occupied previously inhabited territories, and also expanded them by uprooting forests. The agricultural technique of the Slavs was sufficiently developed to ensure life and some population growth. The Slavs grew wheat and millet, as well as rye, peas, lentils, hemp, vegetables, and collected wild fruits. They bred mainly cattle, knew the processing of wood, clay, bones and horns, elementary textile production. Metal processing has reached a fairly high level. The Slavs lived mainly in rural-type settlements, but when the soil was depleted (15-20 years) they moved to other areas. As for the social system, the Slavs, apparently, were going through a period of transition from a tribal system to a military democracy. The main cell of society was a community of several families, only 50-60 people.

At the beginning of the VI century. Nomads invaded Central Europe Avars(obra in "The Tale of Bygone Years"). In the second half of the century, they occupied the Roman province of Pannonia, from where they attacked the Franks, Byzantium, and especially the Slavs, from whom they took tribute, forced them to take part in their military actions, etc. In 623-624 the Slavs revolted. They were joined by a Frankish merchant Samo with his squad. The only source about these events is the chronicle of Fredegar (c. 660) tells about the defeat of the Avars and the election of Samo as the leader of the Slavs. In 631, a conflict arose between Samo and the Frankish king Dagobert I (629-638), as a result of which the Slavs defeated the Franks and their allies, the Lombards and Alemans, invaded the Frankish kingdom and attracted the prince of the Lusatian Serbs, Drevan, to their side. State of Samo, located partly on the territory of the Czech Republic and also the Lusatian Serbs, was a tribal union, both defending itself against enemies and making predatory raids on neighbors. According to Fredegar's chronicle, Samo ruled for 35 years. At present, the opinion is expressed that the core of the territory of the state was South Moravia and parts of Lower Austria adjacent to it. The question is still open.

During the 8th and 9th centuries the area of ​​​​settlement of the Slavs is expanding. South Moravia becomes the most developed, where fortified castles and entire districts are created. The county centered in Mikulčice was probably a princely center, and the county of Nitra in Slovakia was also important. Between the territories of the Czech Republic and Slovakia there was a wide belt of uninhabited lands. Fortified castles also arose in the Czech region, in particular the Prague fortified castle in the 9th century. This testifies to the stabilization of the settlement of the territory and the further development of productive forces. Judging by the data of archeology, in the VIII-IX centuries. agriculture reached a high level, which was also ensured by the development of handicrafts that reached the European level. Archaeologists have discovered 24 furnaces for steel smelting, blacksmithing and woodworking have developed in the city, from which dwellings have already been built. Cooperage and pottery production became widespread. There was also the production of jewelry made of gold, silver, glass, concentrated in the main centers. Jewelry and small household items were made from bone and horn, fabric - from flax, hemp, wool. In the ninth century construction industry developed. 18 stone churches of that era are known.

All this implies a significant property differentiation of society, which is also evidenced by the development of internal exchange and trade. Imported items were precious metals, amber, expensive fabrics, weapons - for the rich strata of society. Salt was also imported. Money was already used, but irregularly, and the price was expressed, probably, in weight units of the precious metal (solidus). The main trade route of the Danube River connected the Arab Caliphate of Cordoba through the Frankish Empire with the lands of Asia.

There is no information about the political history of society in the indicated territory after the disappearance of the Samo tribal union. The Slavs of these regions belonged to the same ethnic group, but, having settled in different places, they developed social relations with some differences. The most favorable conditions were Moravia. In written sources of the IX century. Moravans always act under a single name and at the head of a single prince, whose power was hereditary. Ruled genus Moimirovtsy(according to prince Mojmir, c. 830-846). In 822, Moravian and Czech nobles already participated in the Frankfurt Diet, being, however, still dependent on the Frankish Empire. In Western Slovakia, the Principality of Pribina arose in Nitra. As a result of the struggle between Mojmir and Pribina, the Principality of Nitra c. 833 - 836 was annexed to the possessions of Mojmir, and Pribina was expelled from Nitra. This completed the integration of the possessions north of the middle reaches of the Danube. The crystallization of the state, named later Great Moravia.

The 8th century is the time when the process of folding the first state associations takes place on the territory of the entire Slavic world. In the ninth century it ends with the emergence of the first Slavic states. The first decades of the 9th century include information about the Principality of Ljudevit in Posavian Croatia, which, by its actions, created serious difficulties for the largest European power of that time - the Carolingian Empire. At the same time, the principality of Borna was formed in Dalmatian Croatia, which marked the beginning of the formation of the Croatian state here.

The first information about the Serbian princes also belongs to the beginning of the 9th century. The first state associations of Serbs arose simultaneously in several areas: in Raska, Dukla, Travuniya, Hum. From the end of the 9th to the beginning of the 11th centuries, Raska was the largest among them. Its zhupans, which were at the head of intertribal associations (zhup), recognized the power of Bulgaria. In 931 Župan Cheslav freed himself from Bulgarian domination and subjugated the neighboring Serbian lands. However, at the end of the 10th century, this state collapsed. Serbian lands were absorbed by the Western Bulgarian state. After its conquest by Byzantium, Serbian župans became vassals of the Empire.

From the beginning of the 9th century, a new large state association of Western Slavs began to take shape with a center in Moravia. At this time, the Slavs had to defend their independence in the fight against the East Frankish (German) state. During the reign of Prince Mojmir I (died c. 846), the Moravans adopted Christianity from Bavaria according to the Latin rite. The Great Moravian state reached its heyday under the successor of Mojmir Rostislav (846-870). He vigorously resisted the German invasion and achieved considerable foreign policy power for his state. In search of allies, he turned to Byzantium.

In an effort to make the country independent of the Bavarian Church associated with the Carolingian state, Rostislav asked Emperor Michael III to send a preacher and bishop from Constantinople who would stand at the head of the Moravian Church. The missionaries Constantine and Methodius sent by the emperor introduced Christian worship in the Slavic language in Great Moravia and wrote the first Slavic books using the newly created alphabet. The creation of Slavic worship and writing strengthened the political independence of the Great Moravian state. Using the contradictions between the Frankish Church and the papacy, Rostislav achieved in 869 the creation of an archbishopric for Great Moravia and neighboring Slavic lands, directly subordinate to Rome, headed by Methodius.

The rapid growth of political influence and the expansion of the state's borders continued during the reign of Rostislav's nephew, Svyatopolk (870-894). However, the large state formation that had developed under him was very fragile, and with the death of Svyatopolk, a significant part of the lands fell away from Great Moravia. The remaining lands were divided into destinies, divided among his sons. In 895, Bohemia became an independent principality. A little later, in 906, the Hungarians defeated Moravia and captured the eastern Slovak lands. The Great Moravian state ceased to exist.

The educational activity of Methodius took place against the wishes of Prince Svyatopolk and the German clergy, who openly resisted the spread of Slavic writing and worship. After the death of Methodius (885), his disciples were persecuted and expelled from Moravia. They settled in Bulgaria, which later became the largest center of Slavic written culture. In Moravia, the German clergy and ceremonies in Latin were established.

While being part of the Great Moravian state, two principalities formed on the territory of the Czech Republic: one - with a center in Prague, headed by a prince from the Přemyslid family, the other - with a center in Libice, headed by the Zlichansky princes Slavnikovich. Until the tenth century, there was a struggle for supremacy between them. The first steps towards the formation of a single state were taken in the 80s. 9th century Then the prince of the Czech tribe Borzhivoy from the Přemyslid family, who was baptized at the court of the Moravian prince Svyatopolk, managed, with his support, to become the main among the tribal princes of the Czech Valley. The final unification of the tribal principalities under the rule of the Czech princes with the capital in Prague refers to the reign of Prince Boleslav I (935-972) - A Czech bishopric was created in Prague. The vast power, however, was fragile. Part of its lands subsequently went to the Polish state.

Almost all Polish lands were united at the end of the 10th century by the Piast dynasty into a relatively unified Polish state. The first reliably known Polish prince was Mieszko I (969-992). The young state had to constantly defend its independence from the encroachments of the German kings, who were trying to turn the Polish prince into their vassal. In 966, Mieszko I and his associates converted to Christianity according to the Latin rite. Latin writing spread throughout the country. In 1000, a Polish archdiocese was established in Gniezno. By the beginning of the 11th century, Poland had become one of the major states of Eastern Europe.

Bolesław I the Brave (992-1025) pursued an active and successful foreign policy. However, after his death, Poland's international position became more complicated. Germany starts the war again, the Czech Republic and Russia also oppose Poland. The country is defeated, and after a great popular uprising in 1037, suppressed with the help of German feudal lords, it temporarily falls into vassal dependence on the German Empire.

In the first half of the IX century, Bulgaria expanded its possessions and became one of the major European states. In the middle of the century, Khan Boris (852-889) decided to Christianize the country. He hesitated for a long time on the question of who to do this with, trying to play on the contradictions between the pope and the Byzantine patriarch. Taking advantage of the severe famine in Bulgaria, the Byzantines invaded its borders. Yielding to their pressure, in 865 Boris and his associates converted to Christianity according to the Byzantine rite. At the same time, Boris achieved the establishment of an archdiocese in Bulgaria. Twenty years later, it was from him that the disciples of Methodius, persecuted in Moravia, found protection and patronage. In 893 the Slavic language was declared the official language of the Bulgarian state and church. From that moment on, all documents and texts had to be written in the Slavic alphabet.

At the end of the 9th century, part of the Bulgarian nobility made an attempt to prevent the strengthening of the central government. In 889, the son and successor of Boris, who had retired to the monastery, Vladimir tried to restore paganism. However, this met with strong resistance. Vladimir was deposed and blinded. The throne was taken by another son of Boris - Simeon (893-927), one of the most prominent rulers of Bulgaria. Highly educated, talented and ambitious, he dreamed of founding a unified Slavic-Byzantine state in the Balkans with its center in Constantinople.

At this time, relations with Byzantium escalated. In 894 Bulgarians were forbidden to trade in Constantinople. This was the reason for Simeon to start hostilities that lasted 30 years and ended in his complete victory. He appropriated to himself the title of "King of the Bulgarians and Greeks", which had not previously been worn by any of the Bulgarian princes, and forced the Byzantines to pay tribute. Simeon was preparing for the siege of Constantinople, but it did not take place, and Simeon's successor Peter (927-969) made peace with Byzantium.

In 931, with the support of the Empire, the Serbs separated from Bulgaria. A third of a century later, Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas refused to pay tribute and began to prepare for war. In 971, the northern part of Bulgaria was captured by Byzantium. Western Bulgaria continued to exist as an independent state for almost 50 more years. However, in 1018, under Emperor Basil II the Bulgar Slayer, the First Bulgarian Kingdom fell and became part of Byzantium.

The emergence of medieval states in Europe, the first Slavic states. Polotsk and Turov principalities.

The medieval civilization of Europe developed quite rapidly. In the early period, many small and large states were formed.

The largest was the Frankish. The Roman region of Italy also became an independent state. The rest of Medieval Europe broke up into many large and small principalities, which were only formally subordinate to the kings of larger entities.

This, in particular, applies to the British Isles, Scandinavia and other lands that are not part of the big states. Similar processes also took place in the eastern part of the world. So, for example, on the territory of China at different times there were about 140 states. Together with the imperial power, there was also feudal power - the owners of the fiefs had, among other things, the administration, the army, and in some cases even their own money.

As a result of this fragmentation, wars were frequent, self-will was clearly manifested, and the state was generally weakened. Medieval refers to the period between modern times and ancient times. Chronologically, this period is placed within the boundaries of the end of the 5th-6th centuries. up to 16th c. (or including it). This period, in turn, is divided into: - the early Middle Ages (6-10 centuries), - the high or middle Middle Ages (11-13 centuries), - and the later or Renaissance (14-16 centuries).

On the territory of Western Europe during the early Middle Ages, many large and small states arose, among them the state of the Franks was the largest. The Roman region of Italy became an independent state. In other territories (Scandinavia, the British Isles, on lands that were not included in larger states in Western and Eastern Europe), many small and large principalities were formed, only formally subordinate to the kings of larger entities. In certain periods, there were up to 30 in France, 7 in the British Isles, and so on.

states. A similar process took place in the East. At various times, up to 140 states existed on the territory of China. Therefore, along with the imperial power on the ground, there was the power of many feudal lords who had at their disposal all the attributes of power: the army, the court and the administration, and often their own money.

This gave rise to self-will, frequent military clashes between the feudal lords, and the weakness of the state as a whole.

Medieval culture was not homogeneous in terms of social countries either. It distinguishes subcultures: urban (burgher), which should include merchants and artisans, feudal (knightly) and peasant. The issue of the emergence of statehood among the Slavs has been worrying scientists for many years.

Quite a few theories have been put forward, each of which, perhaps, is not devoid of logic. But in order to form an opinion about this, you need to familiarize yourself with at least the main ones. If we talk about the history of the emergence of statehood among the ancient Slavs in these territories, then scientists usually rely on several theories, which I would like to consider.

The most common version today of when the first Slavic states arose is the Norman or Varangian theory. It originated at the end of the 18th century in Germany. The founders and ideological inspirers were two German scientists: Gottlieb Siegfried Bayer (1694-1738) and Gerhard Friedrich Miller (1705-1783). In their opinion, the history of the Slavic states has Nordic or Varangian roots.

Such a conclusion was made by pundits, having thoroughly studied The Tale of Bygone Years, the oldest opus created by the monk Nestor. There really is a reference, dated 862, to the fact that the ancient Slavic tribes (Krivichi, Slovenes and Chud) called for Varangian princes to reign in their lands. Allegedly, tired of the endless internecine strife and enemy raids from outside, several Slavic tribes decided to unite under the leadership of the Normans, who at that time were considered the most experienced and successful in Europe.

The history of the Polotsk principality begins simultaneously with the creation of the city of Polotsk. The first official mention of the city dates back to 862. However, historians say that it appeared much earlier.

So, even in the undated part of The Tale of Bygone Years (the oldest chronicle in the Slavic lands), the name "Polotchane" is mentioned simultaneously with the "Krivichi". From this we can conclude that even in the days of the Krivichi, a separate state stood out with its capital in Polotsk. Long before the first Varangians appeared on those lands and the Old Russian state was formed. The city got its name due to the river on the banks of which it is located. As already mentioned, not far from this settlement, the Polota River flowed into the Western Berezina.

The Polotsk and Turov principalities were located on extremely infertile lands. However, Polotsk had one important advantage. It was here that the intersection of significant trade routes along the Berezina, Dvina and Neman was located. That is, the waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks." This contributed not only to the development of trade and economy in the state, but also caused a massive migration of other peoples and tribes to the Polotsk lands. And the territories of the principality were surrounded by impenetrable forests, which served as a reliable defense against enemies.

And Polotsk residents made more and more enemies every year. Since the control of the principality over trade routes did not like the neighboring states - Kyiv and Novgorod. Which eventually led to territorial disputes and mass bloodshed. The Principality of Polotsk included not only the Polotsk lands, but also part of the territory of the Dregovichi, Lithuanian and Finnish tribes. Polochans settled throughout the Western Dvina, Polota, as well as in the basins of the Berezina, Svisloch and Neman.

The principality included such large cities as Minsk, Vitebsk, Orsha, Borisov, Logoisk, Zaslavl, Drutsk, Lukoml and others. Thus, during the IX-XIII centuries it was a large and strong European state. The first mention of the sovereign who united the Principality of Polotsk dates back to the second half of the 10th century. As the chronicles say, "valadaryu, trymau i prince Ragvalod Polatsk land."

Norman Rogvolod "came from beyond the sea" and ruled from 972 to 978. This period is considered the final stage in the formation of the Polotsk principality. The state had its own borders, the political and administrative systems were established, a strong army was formed, trade relations began to be established. The city of Polotsk became the historical core and center. The history of the Principality of Polotsk is the history of the struggle for independence, which was eventually lost.

So, already in 980, the lands were listed as part of the Old Russian state. The principality became a bargaining chip between the then warring Novgorod and Kyiv. As the chronicles say, in 978, Prince Rogvolod, in order to strengthen the borders of his state, decided to marry his daughter Rogneda to the Kyiv prince Yaropolk, while refusing Vladimir Svyatoslavich (the sovereign of Novgorod from the Rurik dynasty). Unable to bear the insult, Vladimir took Polotsk by storm, killed Rogvolod and his two sons, and forcibly made Rogneda his wife, giving her the name Gorislava.

Then the prince of Novgorod captured Kyiv and introduced a new religion in the Polotsk lands - Christianity. According to The Tale of Bygone Years, Rogneda and Vladimir had four sons: Izyaslav (Prince of Polotsk), Yaroslav the Wise (Prince of Kyiv and Novgorod), Vsevolod (Prince Vladimir-Volynsky) and Mstislav (Prince of Chernigov). And also two daughters: Premislava, who later married Laszlo the Lysy (Ugric king), and Predslava, who became the wife of Boleslav III the Red (Czech prince). After Rogneda tried to kill Vladimir, she, along with her son Izyaslav (who stood up for his father for his mother), was sent to the Polotsk lands, to the city of Izyaslavl.

The princess cut her hair as a nun and took a third name - Anastasia. In 988, the inhabitants of Izyaslavl invited the son of Rogneda and Vladimir Izyaslav to reign. He became famous as a sovereign-scribe and a distributor of a new belief, Christianity, in the Polotsk land. It is with Izyaslav that a new branch in the Rurik dynasty begins - the Izyaslavichi (Polotsk). The descendants of Izyaslav, unlike the children of his brothers, emphasized their kinship with Rogvolod (on the maternal side).

And they called themselves Rogvolodovichi. Prince Izyaslav died young (in 1001), outliving his mother Rogneda by only one year. His younger son Bryachislav Izyaslavich began to rule the Polotsk principality.

Until 1044, the sovereign pursued his own policy aimed at expanding the land. Taking advantage of civil strife and the weakening of Russia, Bryachislav captured Veliky Novgorod and held power for five years together with his uncle Yaroslav the Wise. At the same time, the city of Bryachislavl (modern Braslav) was built. The Principality of Polotsk reached the peak of its power in 1044–1101, during the reign of Vseslav the Prophet, son of Prince Bryachislav. Knowing that he was facing life-and-death battles, the prince prepared for war until the mid-60s of the 11th century - he fortified cities, raised an army.

So, Polotsk was moved to the right bank of the Western Dvina, to the mouth of the Polota River. Vseslav began to expand the Polotsk lands far to the north, subjugated the tribes of Latgalians and Livs. However, in 1067, when his campaigns in Novgorod ended unsuccessfully, the prince, along with his sons, was captured by Izyaslav Yaroslavich, and the state was captured.

But a year later, the rebellious people freed Vseslav, and he managed to return the lost lands. From 1069 to 1072, the Principality of Polotsk waged a relentless and bloody war with the Kyiv sovereigns. The principality of Smolensk was captured, as well as part of the Chernigov lands in the north. In those years, the population of the capital of the principality was more than twenty thousand people. After the death of Vseslav in 1101, his sons divided the principality into destinies: Vitebsk, Minsk, Polotsk, Logoisk and others.

And already in 1127, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, taking advantage of the disagreements between the princes, captured and plundered the Polotsk land. Izyaslavichi were taken prisoner, and then completely exiled to distant Byzantium.

Thus, by the end of the 12th century, the authority of the Principality of Polotsk in the international arena had finally fallen, and Novgorodians and Chernigovians seized part of the territories.

State of Samo -

Prince Vladimir of Polotsk, then ruling, fought with the crusaders for more than twenty years, but he was unable to stop them.

This was the beginning of the end of independence. And in 1307 Polotsk became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was this principality that became the place where Belarusian statehood was born, as well as culture and writing.

Polotsk is associated with such names as Euphrosyne of Polotsk, Lazar Bogsha, Francysk Skaryna, Cyril of Turovsky and Simeon of Polotsk. They are the pride of the Belarusian nation.

With the advent of Christianity in the Polotsk lands, architecture began to develop. So, the first monumental building made of stone was the Polotsk St. Sophia Cathedral, built in the 1050s. And in 1161, the jeweler Lazar Bogsha created a masterpiece of applied art of the Eastern Slavs - a unique cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk.

The 13th century was the time when the Belarusian language appeared.

§ 12. Formation of the Slavic states.

Questions and tasks.

1. Study the first map of the paragraph and name the Slavic tribes that entered the first Slavic states.

What tribe names can you explain?

The composition of the Bulgarian state included: Bulgarians, Serbs, Vlachs.
The composition of Great Moravia included: Lusatian Serbs, Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks.
The composition of Russia included: Dregovichi, Tivertsy, Volhynians.
Pomeranians are those who live by the sea. Poles are those who live in the fields.

2. Why did the states of the Slavs form later than the states of the Germans?

The German states were formed earlier, because this was facilitated by the unification of all German lands under the rule of Charlemagne.

After the collapse of his empire, the territories inhabited by the Germans formed the East Frankish kingdom. And on the territory of Russia, the tribal unions of the Slavs retained their independence for a long time, and each new Kyiv prince had to conquer them again.

3. Fill in the table "Formation of the Slavic states."

Table "Formation of the Slavic states"

State name	Age of State Formation	The ruler under whom the heyday of the state came	Reasons for the weakening of the state
Bulgarian kingdom	7th century	Prince Boris	internal strife, attacks by the Hungarians, Pecheneg nomads, the Byzantine army
Principality of Samo	7th century	Prince Samo	the union of several West Slavic tribes turned out to be fragile, and the state soon broke up into separate principalities
Great Moravia	9th century	Svyatopolk	after the death of Svyatopolk, the state was divided between his sons, then the Hungarian nomads captured most of the territory of the state and it ceased to exist
Principality of the Czech Republic	9th century	Wenceslas I	The Czech Republic recognized the authority of the German emperor and became part of the Roman Empire
Poland	10th century	Boleslav I the Brave	the son of Boleslav Mieszko II, forced to fight simultaneously with Germany, Bohemia and Russia, lost almost all the conquests of his father, including the royal title, which he renounced in 1033

A very important source on the history of the Czech Republic is the written source "Czech Chronicle" by Kozma of Prague. He collected traditions, legends, letters and compiled a chronicle of the Czech Republic.

First Slavic state

The chronicle is written in Latin. Explain why a Czech wrote down the history of his country in a foreign language.

In the 11th century, the Czech Republic officially adopted Christianity according to the Western Christian, Catholic, pattern and became part of the Holy Roman Empire, where the main language was Latin.

In addition, all written documents in Western Europe were in Latin, which was in common use.

First Slavic state

The vast space between the two largest powers of the early Middle Ages - the empire of Charlemagne and Byzantium - was occupied by the barbarian tribes of the Slavs.

At the beginning of our era, the Slavs, according to most scientists, lived between the Vistula and the Dnieper, primarily in the Carpathian region (Proto-Slavic territory, or the territory of the ancient Slavs).

From there they began to spread throughout Europe. One part of the Slavs headed west - to the Elbe River, another moved to the lands of present-day Russia, displacing the tribes of the Finno-Ugric peoples, and the third came close to the borders of the Byzantine Empire on the Danube.

Slavic invasions of Byzantium

At the end of the 5th century the invasion of the southern Slavs into the Byzantine Empire through its Danube border begins.

Emperor Justinian managed to stop the Slavs and prevent them from entering the Balkans. To do this, he built many fortresses along the Danube border. However, the southern Slavs became an increasingly formidable force. In subsequent centuries, they not only conquered the northern regions of the Balkan Peninsula from Byzantium, but also settled in large groups in the central and southern parts of the Balkans, in the heart of Byzantium. From these Slavic tribes came the South Slavic peoples: Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, etc.

The ancient Slavs, like all barbarians, were pagans.

Franks and Greeks often argued for influence over these tribes. There was even a rivalry between Rome and Constantinople over who would convert the Slavs to Christianity first. That church, which in missionary work among the Slavs will outstrip its rival, will receive power over vast lands.

The rivalry between the West and the East for influence on the Slavic world largely determined the fate of the Slavic peoples and their states.

Principality of Samo?

Historians often call the principality of Samo on the land of present-day Czech Republic and Moravia the first Slavic state.

Information about him is extremely scarce and uncertain. In sparing words, the chronicler reports that a certain man named Samo rallied the Slavic tribes and raised them to fight first with the Avars, and then with the Franks. In 627, Samo was elected prince, and he ruled for 35 years. Apparently, immediately after his death, the state he created collapsed. Most likely, it was not yet a real state, but an unstable union of tribes.

It is not entirely clear whether Samo was a Slav. According to some reports, he is a Frank by birth, who for some reason left his homeland. The second major political formation among the Slavs arose in the same century, but already in the south.

The first Bulgarian kingdom of the 7th-11th centuries.

In 681, Khan Asparukh from the Turkic tribe of the Bulgarians, who had moved shortly before that from the Volga region to the Danube, united the Danubian Slavs and created a powerful state, the so-called First Bulgarian Kingdom. Very soon, the newcomer Turks dissolved among the numerous Slavs, while the name "Bulgarians" passed to the Slavic people.

Neighborhood with Byzantium greatly contributed to their cultural development. In 864 Tsar Boris accepted Christianity from the Byzantines. The Patriarch of Constantinople did not insist that the language of worship and Christian literature in Bulgaria must be Greek.

Therefore, all Christian literature was translated from Greek into Slavonic, understandable to both noble and simple Bulgarians. Ancient Bulgarian literature flourished in the reign of Simeon, son of Boris.

The tsar in every possible way encouraged theologians, poets, historians who wrote in the Slavic language.

In foreign policy, the Bulgarian tsars competed with Byzantium for a long time. But in 1018, the Byzantine basileus from the Macedonian dynasty, Vasily II the Bulgar Slayer, won a complete victory over the Bulgarians and annexed the Bulgarian kingdom to Byzantium.

Vasily II treated the captured Bulgarian soldiers very cruelly - he blinded 15 thousand soldiers, leaving one guide for every hundred blind, who could see in one eye.

This was the end of the First Bulgarian Kingdom.

Saints Cyril and Methodius. Great Moravia

In the ninth century north of the Bulgarian kingdom, approximately where the legendary principality of Samo was, another Slavic power arose - Great Moravia. The Moravian prince Rostislav was very afraid of his neighbor - the East Frankish kingdom, and therefore sought support from the Byzantines. Rostislav asked to send a spiritual mentor from Byzantium to Moravia: he thought that Greek teachers would help weaken the influence of the East Frankish Church in his lands.

In response to the request of Rostislav in 865

Two brothers arrived in Moravia - Constantine and Methodius. It must be said that Konstantin is better known under the name Cyril, which he took just before his death when he was tonsured a monk. Cyril (Konstantin) and Methodius came from the city of Solun (in Greek - Thessaloniki).

Both received a very good education in Constantinople. Although they were Greeks, both brothers were fluent in the Slavic language from childhood. In order to more successfully spread Christianity among the Slavs, they created the Slavic alphabet. Cyril and Methodius were the first to translate the Bible into Slavic, writing the translation in a new Slavic script. The first Slavic alphabet was called Glagolitic.

The brothers took part of the letters of the Glagolitic alphabet from the Greek alphabet, part from the Semitic languages, and several characters were new.

Subsequently, Cyril's students created another Slavic alphabet, now exclusively based on the Greek alphabet with the addition of a few new signs. In honor of their teacher, they named it Cyrillic. We still use this alphabet. It is also common in Bulgaria, Serbia, Belarus, Ukraine and some other countries.

The activities of the brothers Cyril and Methodius are of great importance for the entire Slavic culture.

The Slavic writing and translation of the Bible brought by them to Moravia quickly spread throughout all the Slavic lands. Therefore, Cyril and Methodius are considered the enlighteners of the Slavs, who brought them Christianity, and the founders of their literature.

In the Slavic countries they are revered as "equal-to-the-apostles" saints, that is, equal to the apostles themselves.

Byzantium and Russia

Pagan Rus from the 9th century.

organized robbery campaigns against Byzantium.

One of these Rus attacks on Constantinople turned out to be so sudden that the residents of the Byzantine capital, not ready for defense, no longer hoped to save the city.

Desperate Romans with prayers carried around the walls of the city the main shrine of Constantinople - a cover that once belonged, as they believed, to the Mother of God. Immediately after this, the barbarian army lifted the siege from the city. The Byzantines considered the inexplicable departure of the Rus as a miracle, accomplished thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God.

The Rus not only fought, but also traded with the Romans. An important trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed through the lands of the Eastern Slavs, which connected the northern regions of Russia and Scandinavia with Byzantium.

The Varangians - immigrants from Russia, as well as the Rus themselves served as mercenaries in the Byzantine army and even once saved the basil from the rebels. However, during the reign of Emperor Basil II Bulgar-Slayers, relations between the Romans and the Rus deteriorated. In 988 Prince Vladimir of Kyiv laid siege to the Byzantine fortress of Kherson in the Crimea. Although the Byzantines made concessions to the Slavs, passing off the emperor's sister Anna as Vladimir, the Byzantines also managed to achieve their goals.

Vladimir accepted Christianity from them and spread the new religion in Russia.

At the origins of Slavic writing

Now the prince of Kyiv became a true ally of Byzantium.

The value of Byzantium in the history of the Slavs

Byzantium had the strongest influence on the culture of the southern and eastern Slavic peoples. They adopted Christianity from Byzantium, joined the high and refined Greco-Roman culture. Architecture, fine arts, literature, many customs came to the Slavs from Byzantium.

Byzantium, itself gradually fading away, seemed to give strength to the Slavic peoples. In this sense, the history of Byzantium is closely connected with the history of all the southern and eastern Slavs, in particular, with the history of the peoples of Russia.

From the "Strategikon" ("Strategikon" - instruction on military affairs) by an unknown author (Pseudo-Mauritius) about the Slavs

The tribes of the Slavs are similar in their way of life, in their customs, in their love of freedom; they can in no way be persuaded into slavery or submission in their own country.

They are numerous, hardy, easily endure heat and cold, rain, nakedness, lack of food. Foreigners who come to them are treated kindly and, showing them signs of their location (when they move) from one place to another, guard them if necessary ...

They have a large number of different livestock and fruits of the earth lying in heaps, especially millet and wheat.

The modesty of their women exceeds all human nature, so that most of them consider the death of their husband their death and voluntarily strangle themselves, not counting being a widow for life.

They settle in forests, near impassable rivers, swamps and lakes, arrange many exits in their dwellings due to the dangers they encounter, which is natural.

They bury the things they need in hiding places, do not openly own anything superfluous and lead a wandering life ...

Each is armed with two small spears, some also have shields, strong but difficult to carry. They also use wooden bows and small arrows soaked in a poison special for arrows, which is very effective if the wounded person does not take an antidote beforehand, or (does not use) other auxiliary means known to experienced doctors, or does not immediately cut off the wound with a sharp cut so that the poison does not spread throughout the body.

Byzantine chronicler about the meeting of the Byzantine basileus Roman I and the Bulgarian king Simeon

In September (924)…

Simeon with his army moved to Constantinople. He devastated Thrace and Macedonia, set fire to everything, destroyed it, cut down trees, and approaching Blachernae, he asked to send Patriarch Nicholas and some nobles to him for peace negotiations.

The parties exchanged hostages, and Patriarch Nikolai (followed by other messengers) was the first to go to Simeon... his intelligence, courage and intelligence.

The king was very happy about this, for he longed for peace and wanted to stop this daily bloodshed. He sent people ashore ... to build a reliable pier in the sea, to which the royal trireme could approach. He ordered to enclose the pier on all sides with walls, in the middle to build a partition where they could talk to each other. Simeon, meanwhile, sent soldiers and burned the temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, showing by this that he did not want peace, but was fooling the king with empty hopes.

The tsar, having arrived in Blachernae together with Patriarch Nicholas, entered the holy tomb, stretched out his hands in prayer ... asked the All-Glorious and Immaculate Mother of God to soften the unbent and inexorable heart of proud Simeon and convince him to agree to peace. And so they opened the holy kivot, ( Kivot (kiot) - a special cabinet for icons and relics) where the holy omophorion was kept (i.e.

e. cover) of the Holy Mother of God, and, throwing it on, the king seemed to cover himself with an impenetrable shield, and instead of a helmet he set up his faith in the Immaculate Mother of God and so left the temple, defended by reliable weapons. Having supplied his retinue with weapons and shields, he appeared at the appointed place for negotiations with Simeon ... The king was the first to appear at the mentioned pier and stopped in anticipation of Simeon.

The parties exchanged hostages, and the Bulgarians. They carefully searched the pier: was there any trick or ambush, only after that Simeon jumped off his horse and entered the king. After greeting each other, they began to negotiate for peace. They say that the king said to Simeon: “I heard that you are a pious and true Christian, however, as I see, words do not agree with deeds.

After all, a pious person and a Christian rejoices in peace and love… but a wicked and unfaithful one enjoys murders and unrighteously shed blood… What account will you give God, having departed to another world, for your unrighteous murders? With what face will you look at the formidable and just Judge?

If you do this for the love of wealth, I will feed you your fill of it, just hold on to your right hand. Rejoice in the world, love harmony, so that you yourself live a peaceful, bloodless and calm life, and Christians will get rid of misfortunes and stop killing Christians, for it is not worth it for them to raise a sword against fellow believers.

So the king said and fell silent. Simeon was ashamed of his humility and his speeches and agreed to make peace. Having greeted each other, they dispersed, and the king pleased Simeon with luxurious gifts.

History claims that the first Slavic states arose in the period dated to the 5th century AD. Around this time, the Slavs migrated to the banks of the Dnieper River. It was here that they split into two historical branches: Eastern and Balkan. The eastern tribes settled along the Dnieper, and the Balkan tribes occupied the Slavic states in the modern world occupy a vast territory in Europe and Asia. The peoples who live in them are becoming less and less similar to each other, but common roots are visible in everything - from traditions and language to such a fashionable term as mentality.

The question of the emergence of statehood among the Slavs has been worrying scientists for many years. Quite a few theories have been put forward, each of which, perhaps, is not devoid of logic. But in order to form an opinion about this, you need to familiarize yourself with at least the main ones.

How states arose among the Slavs: assumptions about the Varangians

If we talk about the history of the emergence of statehood among the ancient Slavs in these territories, then scientists usually rely on several theories, which I would like to consider. The most common version today of when the first Slavic states arose is the Norman or Varangian theory. It originated at the end of the 18th century in Germany. The founders and ideological inspirers were two German scientists: Gottlieb Siegfried Bayer (1694-1738) and Gerhard Friedrich Miller (1705-1783).

In their opinion, the history of the Slavic states has Nordic or Varangian roots. Such a conclusion was made by pundits, having thoroughly studied The Tale of Bygone Years, the oldest opus created by the monk Nestor. There really is a reference, dated 862, to the fact that the ancients (Krivichi, Slovenes and Chud) called for the reign of the Varangian princes to their lands. Allegedly, tired of the endless internecine strife and enemy raids from outside, several Slavic tribes decided to unite under the leadership of the Normans, who at that time were considered the most experienced and successful in Europe.

In the old days, in the formation of any state, the experience of its leadership was a higher priority than economic. And no one doubted the power and experience of the northern barbarians. Their combat units raided almost the entire inhabited part of Europe. Probably, proceeding primarily from military successes, according to the Norman theory, the ancient Slavs decided to invite the Varangian princes to the kingdom.

By the way, the very name - Rus, was allegedly brought by the Norman princes. In Nestor the Chronicler, this moment is quite clearly expressed in the line "... and three brothers got out with their families, and took all of Russia with them." However, the last word in this context, according to many historians, rather means a combat squad, in other words, professional military men. It is also worth noting here that among the Norman leaders, as a rule, there was a clear division between the civil clan and the military clan detachment, which was sometimes called the “kirch”. In other words, it can be assumed that the three princes moved to the lands of the Slavs not only with fighting squads, but also with full-fledged families. Since the family will not be taken on a regular military campaign under any circumstances, the status of this event becomes clear. The Varangian princes took the request of the tribes seriously and founded the early Slavic states.

"Where did the Russian land come from"

Another curious theory says that the very concept of "Varangians" meant in Ancient Russia precisely the professional military. This once again testifies in favor of the fact that the ancient Slavs relied on the militarized leaders. According to the theory of German scientists, which is based on the chronicle of Nestor, one Varangian prince settled near Lake Ladoga, the second settled on the shore of the White Lake, the third - in the city of Izoborsk. It was after these actions, according to the chronicler, that the early Slavic states were formed, and the lands in the aggregate began to be called the Russian Land.

Further in his chronicle, Nestor retells the legend of the emergence of the subsequent royal family of Rurikovich. It was the Ruriks, the rulers of the Slavic states, who were the descendants of those same legendary three princes. They can also be attributed to the first "political leading elite" of the ancient Slavic states. After the death of the conditional “founding father”, power passed to his closest relative Oleg, who, through intrigue and bribery, captured Kyiv, and then united Northern and Southern Russia into one state. According to Nestor, this happened in 882. As can be seen from the chronicle, the formation of the state was due to the successful "external control" of the Varangians.

Russians - who are they?

However, scientists are still arguing about the real nationality of the people who were so called. Adherents of the Norman theory believe that the very word "Rus" came from the Finnish word "ruotsi", which the Finns called the Swedes in the 9th century. It is also interesting that most of the Russian ambassadors who were in Byzantium had Scandinavian names: Karl, Iengeld, Farlof, Veremund. These names were recorded in agreements with Byzantium dated 911-944. Yes, and the first rulers of Russia bore exclusively Scandinavian names - Igor, Olga, Rurik.

One of the most serious arguments in favor of the Norman theory about which states are Slavic is the mention of Russians in the Western European Bertin Annals. In particular, it is noted there that in 839 the Byzantine emperor sent an embassy to his Frankish colleague Louis I. The delegation included representatives of the “people of the people”. The bottom line is that Louis the Pious decided that the "Russians" are the Swedes.

In the year 950, the Byzantine emperor in his book “On the Management of the Empire” noted that some names of the famous Dnieper rapids have exclusively Scandinavian roots. And finally, many Islamic travelers and geographers in their opuses dating back to the 9th-10th centuries clearly separate the “Rus” from the “Sakaliba” Slavs. All these facts, put together, helped German scientists build the so-called Norman theory of how the Slavic states arose.

Patriotic theory of the emergence of the state

The main ideologist of the second theory is the Russian scientist Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov. Slavic theory is also called "autochthonous theory". Studying the Norman theory, Lomonosov saw a flaw in the arguments of German scientists about the inability of the Slavs to self-organize, which led to external control by Europe. A true patriot of his fatherland, M.V. Lomonosov questioned the whole theory, deciding to study this historical mystery himself. Over time, the so-called Slavic theory of the origin of the state was formed, based on the complete denial of the facts of the "Norman".

So, what are the main counterarguments brought by the defenders of the Slavs? The main argument is the assertion that the very name "Rus" is not etymologically connected with either Ancient Novgorod or Ladoga. It refers, rather, to Ukraine (in particular, the Middle Dnieper). As proof, the ancient names of the reservoirs located in this area are given - Ros, Rusa, Rostavitsa. Studying the Syriac "Church History" translated by Zachary Rhetor, adherents of the Slavic theory found references to a people called Hros or "Rus". These tribes settled a little south of Kyiv. The manuscript was created in 555. In other words, the events that are described in it were long before the arrival of the Scandinavians.

The second serious counterargument is the lack of mention of Russia in the ancient Scandinavian sagas. Quite a few of them were composed, and, in fact, the entire folklore ethnos of the modern Scandinavian countries is based on them. It is difficult to disagree with the statements of those historians who say that at least in the early time part of the historical sagas there should be minimal coverage of those events. The Scandinavian names of ambassadors, which supporters of the Norman theory rely on, also do not completely determine the nationality of their bearers. According to historians, the Swedish delegates could well represent the Russian princes in the far abroad.

Criticism of the Norman theory

The ideas of the Scandinavians about statehood are also doubtful. The fact is that during the described period, the Scandinavian states as such did not exist. It is this fact that causes a fair amount of skepticism that the Varangians are the first rulers of the Slavic states. It is unlikely that visiting Scandinavian leaders, not understanding the construction of their own power, would arrange something like that in foreign lands.

Academician B. Rybakov, speaking about the origin of the Norman theory, expressed an opinion about the general weak competence of the then historians, who believed, for example, that the transition of several tribes to other lands creates the prerequisites for the development of statehood, and in just a few decades. In fact, the process of formation and formation of statehood can last for centuries. The main historical basis on which German historians rely is full of rather strange inaccuracies.

The Slavic states, according to Nestor the chronicler, were formed over several decades. Often, he equates the founders and the state, replacing these concepts. Experts suggest that such inaccuracies are due to the mythological thinking of Nestor himself. Therefore, the peremptory interpretation of his chronicle is highly doubtful.

Variety of theories

Another noteworthy theory of the emergence of statehood in ancient Russia is called the Iranian-Slavic. According to her, at the time of the formation of the first state, there were two branches of the Slavs. One, which was called Russ-encouraged, or Rug, lived on the lands of the present Baltic. Another settled in the Black Sea region and originated from the Iranian and Slavic tribes. The convergence of these two "varieties" of one people, according to the theory, made it possible to create a single Slavic state of Rus.

An interesting hypothesis, which was later put forward into a theory, was proposed by Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine V. G. Sklyarenko. In his opinion, the Novgorodians turned for help to the Varangians-Balts, who were called Rutens or Russ. The term "rutens" comes from the people of one of the Celtic tribes who took part in the formation of the ethnic group of Slavs on the island of Rügen. In addition, according to the academician, it was during that time period that the Black Sea Slavic tribes already existed, the descendants of which were the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. This theory was called - Celtic-Slavic.

Finding a compromise

It should be noted that from time to time there are compromise theories of the formation of Slavic statehood. This is the version proposed by the Russian historian V. Klyuchevsky. In his opinion, the Slavic states were the most fortified cities at that time. It was in them that the foundations of trade, industrial and political formations were laid. Moreover, according to the historian, there were entire "urban areas", which were small states.

The second political and state form of that time was those very warlike Varangian principalities, which are mentioned in the Norman theory. According to Klyuchevsky, it was the merger of powerful urban conglomerates and the military formations of the Varangians that led to the formation of Slavic states (the 6th grade of the school calls such a state Kievan Rus). This theory, which was insisted on by Ukrainian historians A. Efimenko and I. Krypyakevich, was called the Slavic-Varangian. She somewhat reconciled the orthodox representatives of both directions.

In turn, academician Vernadsky also doubted the Norman origin of the Slavs. In his opinion, the formation of the Slavic states of the eastern tribes should be considered on the territory of the "Rus" - the modern Kuban. The academician believed that the Slavs received such a name from the ancient name "Roksolany" or bright Alans. In the 60s of the XX century, the Ukrainian archaeologist D.T. Berezovets proposed to consider the Alanian population of the Don region as Rus. Today, this hypothesis is also considered by the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.

There is no such ethnic group - Slavs

The American professor O. Pritsak proposed a completely different version of which states are Slavic and which are not. It is not based on any of the above hypotheses and has its own logical basis. According to Pritsak, the Slavs as such did not exist at all on ethnic and state lines. The territory on which Kievan Rus was formed was a crossroads of trade and commercial routes between East and West. The people who inhabited these places were a kind of warrior-merchants who ensured the safety of trade caravans of other merchants, and also equipped their carts on the way.

In other words, the history of the Slavic states is based on a certain trade and military community of interests of representatives of different peoples. It was the synthesis of nomads and sea robbers that later formed the ethnic basis of the future state. A rather controversial theory, especially considering that the scientist who put forward it lived in a state whose history is hardly 200 years old.

Many Russian and Ukrainian historians came out against it with sharp criticism, who were jarred even by the very name - “Volga-Russian Khaganate”. According to the American, this was the first formation of the Slavic states (the 6th grade should hardly get acquainted with such a controversial theory). However, it has the right to exist and was called the Khazar.

Briefly about Kievan Rus

After considering all theories, it becomes clear that the first serious Slavic state was Kievan Rus, formed around the 9th century. The formation of this power took place in stages. Until 882, there is a merger and unification under the single authority of the glades, drevlyans, slovenes, ancients and polots. The union of Slavic states is marked by the merger of Kyiv and Novgorod.

After the seizure of power in Kyiv by Oleg, the second, early feudal stage in the development of Kievan Rus began. There is an active accession of previously unknown areas. So, in 981, the state expanded across the East Slavic lands up to the San River. In 992, the Croatian lands that lay on both slopes of the Carpathian Mountains were also conquered. By 1054, the power of Kyiv had spread to almost everything, and the city itself began to be referred to in documents as the “Mother of Russian Cities”.

Interestingly, by the second half of the 11th century, the state began to disintegrate into separate principalities. However, this period did not last long, and in the face of the common danger in the face of the Polovtsy, these tendencies ceased. But later, due to the strengthening of the feudal centers and the growing power of the military nobility, Kievan Rus nevertheless breaks up into specific principalities. In 1132, a period of feudal fragmentation began. This state of affairs, as we know, existed until the Baptism of All Russia. It was then that the idea of ​​a single state became in demand.

Symbols of the Slavic states

Modern Slavic states are very diverse. They are distinguished not only by nationality or language, but also by state policy, and the level of patriotism, and the degree of economic development. Nevertheless, it is easier for the Slavs to understand each other - after all, the roots that go back centuries form the very mentality that all known “rational” scientists deny, but which sociologists and psychologists confidently speak about.

Indeed, even if we consider the flags of the Slavic states, one can see some regularity and similarity in the color palette. There is such a thing - pan-Slavic colors. They were first discussed at the end of the 19th century at the First Slavic Congress in Prague. Supporters of the idea of ​​uniting all Slavs proposed to adopt a tricolor with equal horizontal stripes of blue, white and red as their flag. Rumor has it that the banner of the Russian merchant fleet served as a model. Is this really so - it is very difficult to prove, but the flags of the Slavic states often differ in the smallest details, and not in colors.

At the end of the 7th century (681 - 1018), another Slavic state association arose on the Balkan Peninsula - the First Bulgarian Kingdom. It is based on three ethnic components: the Thracians - Serbs, Odrises, Besses, Astis, Mysians, Getae, Tribals- the indigenous inhabitants of Thrace, one of the largest and richest provinces of the Roman Empire, which by the III century AD. lost its influence in the Balkans; Slavs - north, smolen, draguvites, rhinchites, from the end of the 5th century AD mastered the Rhodopes, Macedonia, northern Bulgaria; Proto-Bulgarians (1) - Turkic tribes who came to the Balkans in the 7th century AD. from Central Asia.

Map 6 . The territory of the First Bulgarian Kingdom at different historical stages: a - under Khan Asparukh; 6 - at Tervel; c - under Krum (803-814) and Omurtag (814-831); d - under Prince Boris (852-889); e - under Simeon (893-927)

The subjugation of the Slavs to the Proto-Bulgarians, obviously, without clashes. The Slavs of the Western Black Sea region, in all likelihood, have not yet created a military-political entity that could oppose Asparuh's army. Asparukh disbanded the Slavic association "Seven Clans" that existed before the arrival of the Bulgarians, moving part of the population to the west to protect against the Avar Khaganate, and part to the south to protect against Byzantine invasions. Some Slavic formations themselves recognized the supreme power of Asparuh.

The first mention of Bulgarian kingdom refers to the year 681, when the Byzantine emperor Constantine IV Pogonat, defeated by the troops of Khan Asparuh, signed an agreement under which he was forced to pay an annual tax to the Bulgarian Khan. Later, the Byzantine emperors would more than once recognize the legitimacy of the First Bulgarian Kingdom and its rulers. Pliska became the first capital of this state. It was a militarized state association, the supreme power in which belonged to the newcomer nomadic Turkic-speaking tribe, and the subordinate agricultural population was the Slavs and the Thracians who had previously assimilated to them (traces of the influence of the Thracian culture on the Slavs are revealed in ethnography - in elements of festive rites, wedding and funeral rituals, religious representations , as well as in the details of clothing and jewelry - and some folklore features). Archaeological data show that until the 9th century on the territory of the First Bulgarian Kingdom there were two independent ethnic groups - Turks and Slavs, but from the 9th century the Bulgarians adopted the culture of a larger Slavic population. The Bulgarian Khan Krum (803-814) in the legal provisions he issued no longer makes any distinctions on ethnic grounds. In the administration of the Bulgarian kingdom there are not only Turks, but also Slavs, and their role is gradually increasing. So, under Krum, the Slavic Dragomir was the ambassador of Bulgaria in Constantinople, among the close associates of the khan there were persons with Slavic names. As a result of the mixing of Slavs and Proto-Bulgarians, a new ethnic community was formed, which was assigned the name "Bulgarians". The process of ethnogenesis finally ended only in the tenth century. Having become a Slavic ethnic group, the Bulgarians inherited a rural community from the Slavs, and a military organization from the Proto-Bulgarians. The penetration of Turkisms into the language of the Slavs at this stage was insignificant: the Slavs learned some military terms, names of titles, specifically Proto-Bulgarian things, units of account and time.

The Bulgarians lived mainly in unfortified settlements, which were usually located among fertile lands, on the slopes of river valleys. Dwellings - rectangular semi-dugout buildings of log or wattle-pillar construction. They have gable roofs and continue the traditions of Slavic house building. Dwellings were heated with stone or clay ovens, and hearths are found in some buildings. The interior of the dwellings is typically Slavic: a stove or hearth is placed in one of the corners. Near the houses, there are often separate adobe bread ovens and utility pits.

Throughout the 7th - early 11th centuries, the entire period of the existence of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, the Bulgarians waged wars with various Slavic tribes and Byzantium with varying success. At the same time, the 8th-9th centuries became the "golden age" of Bulgarian architecture and literature. With the active assistance of the state authorities, Bulgarian architecture absorbs Byzantine traditions and, on their basis, develops new, proper Bulgarian ones.

In 865, Tsar Boris I (852–889) converted to Christianity in order to increase the international prestige of the Bulgarian kingdom, and from 870 the Bulgarian church was recognized as independent. The positions of Christianity in Bulgaria were further strengthened after the arrival here of Clement and Naum, disciples of the Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius, who translated the main parts of the text of the Bible and some Byzantine religious works into the Old Bulgarian language, thereby laying the foundations of Slavic literature. The state also flourished under the son of Boris, Simeon (893-927), who was educated in Constantinople and is considered the greatest of the Bulgarian rulers. He expanded the territory of the Bulgarian kingdom from the Adriatic Sea in the west to the Black Sea in the east, created the Serb state dependent on him in the interfluve of the Lim and Ibar rivers, which separated from Bulgaria a few years after the death of Simeon. Under Simeon, the capital of the Bulgarian state moved from Pliska, a military-administrative settlement, to Preslav, the actual urban center, built on the model of Byzantine cities. In 927, Simeon declared himself "king of the Bulgarians and Greeks." During his reign, Sofia (Sredets) also became a major center of education. Under Simeon, many Byzantine books on law and theology were translated into the Old Bulgarian language, and the first set of Slavic judicial laws was compiled.

Notes :
1. The first mention of the Proto-Bulgarians refers to IV century AD, when they, having migrated from Central Asia, lived in the North Caucasus. In the last decades of the 6th and at the beginning of the 7th century, the Bulgarian tribes were subject to the Western Turkic Khaganate, from whose power they freed themselves in the 30s of the 7th century. The leader of the Gunnogundur tribe, Kubrat, united the disparate Bulgarian hordes and created a military-political association, known to the Byzantines as "Great Bulgaria". After the death of Kurbat in the middle of the 7th century, the association disintegrated, and the sons of Kurbat stood at the head of its individual parts.Taking advantage of this, the Khazars began to attack the scattered hordes of the Bulgarians and, having won, forced the East Azov horde of the Bulgarians, led by Batbayan, to pay tribute to them. Another Bulgarian horde led by Kotrag under the pressure of the Khazar Khaganate went to the middle Volga (Volga Bulgarians). The Bulgarian horde Asparuh resisted the Khazars the longest. Not wanting to submit, she left the steppes of the Northern Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov in the 70s and moved to the west. Khan Asparuh with a horde, as reported "Chronicle"Theophanes," having crossed the Dnieper and Dniester and reaching Ongla, the rivers more northerly in relation to the Danube, settled between him and them. In the wars with Byzantium, the Bulgarians reached the environs of Varna. and the Balkan mountains.

The name of the Slavs is consonant with the root "glory"; maybe the Slavs, like the Indian Aryans, called themselves "famous", "noble". For the peoples of Western Europe, the name of the Slavs, however, received the exact opposite meaning - "slaves". This happened because it first appeared among Byzantine writers, who recognized the Slavs as humble, pitiful slaves under warlike nomads (the Byzantines pronounced sclavine, hence the Italian schiavi, French esclaves, German Sklaven).

In terms of language, the Slavs are related to the Iranians, Greeks, Germans, that is, the peoples of the Aryans, or Indo-Europeans; closest to them by dialect are their northern neighbors, the Latvian-Lithuanian tribes. It is not known when the Slavs first appeared in Europe; the Byzantines found them living on the slopes of the Carpathians and along the rivers of the Black Sea basin. Compared with other Indo-European peoples, the Slavs occupied the most disadvantageous position on the eastern outskirts of the great European lowland, open to a wide steppe strip, along which militant nomadic tribes moved in an endless line; being an agricultural, sedentary people, they constantly suffered from the devastating raids of the mobile cavalry of the pastoralists. But even on their other, western border, the Slavs had no rest: they were oppressed by the Germanic peoples, who rushed to the spacious lands of Eastern Europe all the more willingly because in the west they had nowhere to go: in the countries of the former Roman Empire, they themselves met with a dense population and for a long time settled.

The great migration of the 5th century greatly shocked the Slavic world. The Goths from their old places of settlement near the Baltic Sea went to the Black Sea, cutting through the Slavic tribes in the middle; The state of Ermanrich included the southeastern Slavs who lived along the rivers of the Black Sea slope. Following this conquest, the Slavs were subjugated by the Huns, who pushed back the Goths. From the Huns begins the tide from Asia of peoples of Turkish or Ura-l o a l t a y s origin. When the Hunnic horde collapsed, the South Slavic tribes submitted to their successors, Avars and Bulgarians.

And the Huns, and the Avars, and the Bulgarians, remaining among the agricultural population as nomadic herd owners, divided between individual warriors the settled inhabitants of the villages, who became their serfs, like the columns of the Roman Empire: each horseman had at his disposal several agricultural households; the chiefs owned entire villages or several villages: the southern Slavs for a long time remained from the time of the rule of the nomads the names of zhups and zhupans, that is, rural districts and their chiefs, who controlled the work of the peasants and lived on their offerings. In the war, the master's cavalry drove the serfs in front of them, armed with slings and dracoli. If this crowd of weak warriors managed to overturn the enemy, the horsemen rushed to pursue him and take the booty; in case of failure of the advanced warriors, they had enough time to save themselves by retreat.

Soon after Justinian, the Avar kagan Bayan (from his name comes the title of banna, i.e. governor, preserved until the 20th century by the Croats, or Croats in present-day Yugoslavia) in a peculiar way arranged a large robber state, which had its center in the plains of present-day Hungary: on in the west, against the Saxons, Bavarians and Lombards, he everywhere put forward Slavic settlers who occupied a vast strip of land from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic; having thus secured the western border from the attacks of the Germans, he attacked the possessions of Byzantium with all the more courage, and here the Slavic soldiers were ahead of him.

Thus, under the pressure of the nomads, the circle of Slavic colonies expanded in different directions: in the west they reached the Elbe, the upper Danube, penetrated the valleys of the eastern Alps; in the south they occupied the plains of the middle and southern Danube, crossed this river and spread throughout the Balkan Peninsula; east of the lower reaches of the Dnieper reached the Don and Kuban. The Slavs still had free access to the north to the wooded regions of present-day central and northern Russia; leaving the nomads, they, in turn, pushed back the weaker native tribes of Finnish or Ugric origin here.

The Slavs, when they were in eternal fear from the attacks of the nomads, are described to us by the Byzantines, among other things Procopius, a contemporary of Justinian. Their dwellings are located on the banks of rivers and lakes, among forests and swamps, where they try to hide from the enemy. They live in dirty, scattered huts and often change their location. In their homes, they make several exits so that you can slip away from danger just in case. They bury all their property in the ground; nothing superfluous is visible from the outside, so as not to attract enemy raids. In battle, they attack enemies on foot, without armor and cloaks, armed only with spears and shields. They are distinguished by a soft character and pliability; there is neither greed nor deceit in them; on the contrary, they are cordial and hospitable.

The traits of life noticed by the Byzantines lasted the longest among those Slavs who took refuge in the wilds of the forest, stretching northeast from the Carpathians between the Vistula and the Dnieper, especially along the Pripyat River, in the current Belarusian Polesie. These Drevlyans (from the tree - "inhabitants of the forests") had the same fate with the Lithuanians, who lived even further from the steppes, along the Neman and the Western Dvina: they lived poorly, in savagery, "in a bestial way", as he says about them later (in the 11th century .) Kyiv chronicler. In contrast to them, the main masses of the Slavs, who remained among the nomads, although they experienced difficult vicissitudes of fate, but on the other hand were tempered in battles, entered the high road of cultural relations with other peoples, began to unite themselves into large states.

From the time of the subordination of the Slavs to the nomads, the Kyiv chronicler retained only the legend of how the Obry (i.e. Avars) oppressed the Duleb tribe - (in present-day Volhynia): “when it was necessary for the obryn to go, he harnessed not a horse and not an ox, but 3, 4, 5 (Slavic) women in a cart." Three centuries later, no one remembered the fight against the Avars itself, and the Chronicler notes only the end of the terrible rulers: Therefore, there is a saying still in Russia: they died like obras, from whom there is neither a tribe nor an inheritance.

After the destruction of the Avar state, in the 9th century Slavic states began to rise in three places: 1) between the Sudetes and the middle course of the Danube, the Czechs and Moravians united into a Great Moravian state; of all the Slavic tribes, the Czechs advanced the farthest to the west, occupying Bohemia (or Boiohemia, that is, the country of the battles, the people of the Celtic tribe, related to the Gauls) along the upper Elbe and its tributaries; in the 9th century, they already have a large city of Prague; 2) on the lower Danube and the part of the Balkan Peninsula adjacent to it, between the Carpathians and the Balkans, a Bulgarian state was formed from a mixture of Yugoslav tribes with an alien Turkish army of Bulgarians, with which the latter soon forgot their Asian language, passing on to the native population their name and their indomitable temper; 3) on the middle Dnieper, the closest neighbors of the Drevlyans were the glade, whose army was called Rus (among the Byzantines R o s), a Russian state was formed; the glade-Rus had several cities , i.e., fortified settlements, between which stood out a large, lively trade Kyiv.

Having settled first under the pressure of the nomads, and then by the power of their own weapons, the Slavs occupied about % of all of Europe. In the ninth century their settlements stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic, Aegean and Black Seas, from the Alps, from the Elbe to the upper Volga, Oka and Don. Due to mixing in various areas with the Turkish peoples, Germans, Celts, Illyrians and Finns, the Slavs in subsequent times no longer represented external uniformity. Where they have united with Asian nomads or with Celts and South European races, black-haired and dark-eyed with sharp features predominate: such are the Serbs and Croats in the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula, (between the Danube and the Adriatic Sea), Bulgarians, Ukrainians (descendants of the glades). Where they mixed with the Germans, Lithuanians, Finns, Scandinavians, near the Baltic Sea, in present-day central and northern Russia, blonds and red-haired, light-eyed outweigh; such are the Poles (along the Vistula River), Belarusians (from the tribes of the Dregovichi and Drevlyans) and the Great Russians (from the Krivichi, Radimichi and Vyatichi along the Western Dvina, in the region of the great lakes, along the Volga, Oka and the upper Dnieper).

The same must be said about the character of the Slavs, who lived far from the same way in different countries, depending on the fate and living conditions. Where they had to fight stubborn enemies, they developed fighting qualities, unlike the softness and stability of character, which Procopius of Byzantium wrote about. The Saxon Widukind speaks of the Western Slavs who fought on the Elbe against the Germans: “The Slavs are an unyielding people, stubborn in work; they are accustomed to the simplest food, and what seems to be a heavy burden for us Germans, they regard almost as a pleasure. Freedom is dearest to them, therefore, despite all the defeats, they take up arms again and again. While the Saxons fight for glory and for the sake of expanding borders, the Slavs fight exclusively for independence.