Russian princes of the late XIII - early XIV centuries. Russian princes of the late XIII - early XIV centuries Stories that took place in the 14th century
The 14th century is a time of significant transformations in life. During this historical period, the power of the Golden Horde over the northeastern territories of Russian lands was finally established. Gradually, a struggle for primacy and the creation of a new centralized state around their fiefdom flares up among the small ones. Only through joint efforts could the Russian lands throw off the yoke of nomads and take their place among the European powers. Among the old cities, completely destroyed by the Tatar raids, there was no power, no political elites, no influence, so neither Kyiv, nor Vladimir and Suzdal could lay claim to the place of the future center of reign. Rus' in the 14th century introduced new favorites in this race. These are the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Principality of Moscow.
Novgorod land. Brief description
In the old days, the Mongol cavalry never reached Novgorod. This city flourished and maintained its influence thanks to its favorable location between the Baltic states, eastern Russian lands and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The sharp cooling of the 13th-14th centuries (Little Ice Age) significantly reduced harvests on the Novgorod lands, but Novgorod survived and became even richer due to increased demand for rye and wheat in the Baltic markets.
Political structure of Novgorod
The political structure of the city is close to the Slavic traditions of the veche. This form of managing internal affairs also existed in other Russian lands, but after the enslavement of Rus' it quickly faded away. Officially, the power in the principality was held by the veche - a standard form of ancient Russian self-government. But in fact, the history of Rus' in the 14th century in Novgorod was decided by the hands of wealthy citizens. Resale of grain and active trade in all directions created in Novgorod a wide layer of wealthy people - “golden belts”, who actually ruled politics in the principality.
Until the final annexation to Moscow, the lands were the most extensive among all that united Rus' in the 14th century.
Why didn't Novgorod become a center?
The Novgorod territories were not densely populated; even during the heyday of the principality, the population of Novgorod did not exceed 30 thousand people - such a number could neither conquer neighboring lands nor maintain their power in them. Although the history of the 14th century calls Novgorod one of the largest Christian centers, the church in the principality did not have much power. Another serious problem was the low fertility of Novgorod lands and strong dependence on more southern territories. Gradually, Novgorod became more and more dependent on Moscow and eventually became one of the cities of the Moscow Principality.
Second contender. Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The 14th century would not be complete without a description of the influence that the Principality of Lithuania (DPL) had on the western lands. Formed from the fragments of the possessions of the great Kyiv, it gathered Lithuanians, Balts and Slavs under its flags. Against the backdrop of constant raids by the Horde, Western Russians saw in Lithuania their natural defender from the warriors of the Golden Horde.
Power and religion in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The supreme power in the state belonged to the prince - he was also called the hospodar. Smaller vassals - lords - were subordinate to him. Soon, an independent legislative body appears in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - the Rada, which is a council of influential lords and strengthens their positions in many areas of domestic policy. A big problem was the lack of a clear ladder of succession to the throne - the death of the previous prince provoked strife between potential heirs, and often the throne went not to the most legitimate, but to the most unscrupulous of them.
Religion in Lithuania
As for religion, the 14th century did not define a specific vector of religious views and sympathies in the Principality of Lithuania. For a long time, Lithuanians successfully maneuvered between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, remaining pagans in their souls. The prince could be baptized in the Catholic faith, and the bishop at the same time profess Orthodoxy. The broad masses of the peasantry and townspeople generally adhered to Orthodox principles; the 14th century dictated the choice of faith as a list of likely allies and opponents. Powerful Europe stood behind Catholicism; Orthodoxy remained with the eastern lands, which regularly paid to give to the Gentiles.
Why not Lithuania
In the 14th and 15th centuries, it skillfully maneuvered between the Golden Horde and European invaders. This situation suited, by and large, all participants in the politics of those years. But after the death of Olgerd, power in the principality passed into the hands of Jagiello. Under the terms of the Union of Krevo, he married the heiress of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and actually became the ruler of both vast lands. Gradually, Catholicism penetrated into all spheres of life in the country. The strong influence of a hostile religion made it impossible to unite the northeastern lands around Lithuania, so Vilnius never became Moscow.
Principality of Moscow
One of the many small fortresses built by Dolgoruky around his native Vladimir principality, it had an advantageous location at the crossroads of trade routes. Little Moscow received merchants from the east and west, and had access to the Volga and the northern banks. The 14th century brought Moscow many battles and destruction, but after each invasion the city was rebuilt.
Gradually, Moscow acquired its own ruler - the prince - and successfully pursued a policy of encouraging settlers who, for various concessions, settled firmly in the new borders. The constant expansion of the territory contributed to the strengthening of the forces and positions of the principality. The state was ruled by an absolute monarchy, and the order of succession to the throne was observed. The power of the eldest son was not disputed, and the largest and best lands of the principality were under his jurisdiction. The authority of Moscow increased noticeably after the principality's victory over Mamai in 1380 - one of the most significant victories that Rus' won in the 14th century. History has helped Moscow rise above its eternal rival, Tver. After the next Mongol invasion, the city was never able to recover from the devastation and became a vassal of Moscow.
Strengthening sovereignty
The 14th century gradually puts Moscow at the head of a single state. The oppression of the Horde is still strong, the claims to the northeastern lands of the northern and western neighbors are still strong. But the first stone Orthodox churches in Moscow had already risen up, and the role of the church, which was strongly interested in creating a unified state, intensified. In addition, the 14th century marked a milestone for two great victories.
The battle showed that the Golden Horde could be expelled from Russian lands. The long war with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ended in the defeat of the Lithuanians, and Vilnius forever abandoned attempts to colonize the north-west. This is how Moscow took the first steps towards establishing its statehood.
If before the invasion of the Tatars Rus' consisted of large principalities (Rostov-Suzdal, Novgorod, Kyiv, Ryazan, Smolensk, Chernigov and others), then with the beginning of vassalage the appanage princes were able to formalize their cities as independent hereditary feudal possessions.
And they immediately took advantage of it.
Collapse of the Old Russian State and Lithuania
This is how full-fledged independent states emerged, the number of which soon began to be measured in dozens. And although formally the Vladimir prince was considered the eldest among the princes, everyone understood that the real supreme power lay in the Horde. And independent princes can do whatever they want in their domains, regardless of traditions and seniority.
Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas - founder of the dynasty
In the 14th century, the rapid rise of Lithuania began. Despite its name, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was created on ancient Russian lands and had the same relationship to the indigenous ethnic Lithuania - Samogitia and Aukshaiti - as the Russian principalities to the Finno-Ugric peoples who once inhabited the expanses of North-Eastern Rus'.
If in the ancient Russian principalities the Rurikovichs remained in power, then in Lithuania their own dynasty of Gediminovichs appeared.
The ruling family, apparently, came from the tribal princes of the Yatvingians, who at that time had the reputation of real savages and robbers.
In general, in the Middle Ages, when everyone was enthusiastically slaughtering each other, only peoples with a special character could gain the reputation of robbers. The Yatvingians could just boast of this.
The belligerence of the Lithuanian Gediminovichs became an important factor in their policy.
Three parts of Russian lands after the Tatar invasion
A hundred years after the Tatar invasion, the Russian lands looked completely different. In the northeast there was a conglomeration of many appanage principalities under the formal authority of Moscow. However, its rulers were called the Grand Dukes of Vladimir: the Moscow lands were still not prestigious enough to give the right to rule over other Russian principalities.
All the destinies of this region were ruled by the Rurikovichs - the old Russian dynasty. Formally, Muscovite Rus' remained a vassal of the Horde. In fact, vassal obligations were already ignored from the middle of the 14th century, and dependence was limited to the payment of tribute.
To the west lay the possessions of the Gediminovichs. Their first big acquisitions were the principalities of Polotsk and Turov, which had previously been ruled by the princes of the house of Rurik. Together with Vilna, these territories constituted the indigenous lands of Lithuania.
In the 14th century, the power of the Lithuanian princes began to gradually spread to the neighboring Russian principalities: Kiev, Smolensk, Pereyaslavl, Novgorod-Seversk. However, having captured these areas, Lithuania fell into vassal dependence on the Horde. Accordingly, from 1362 the Gediminovichs received khan's labels for the right to own part of Rus' and paid the due tribute.
Daniil Galitsky from the Rurik family, a descendant of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, in 1252 accepted the title of “King of Rus'” from the Pope.
With the help of the prestigious royal crown, he hoped to strengthen his power.
However, his heirs forgot about the title, and only Daniel’s grandson, Yuri, became the next “King of Rus'”.
Why him? Under Yuri, the Galician and Volyn principalities united. However, at the same time, stronger Poland and Lithuania were nearby, and Galician Rus' - as the most remote, peripheral part of the Russian lands - was doomed to be torn to pieces by its neighbors.
Galicia, of course, was also a vassal of the Golden Horde, paid tribute to the khans and even sent troops to participate in joint campaigns with the Tatars against Poland.
Confrontation between Moscow and Lithuania
In the second half of the 14th century, the political situation in the Russian lands changed dramatically. In the east, the rise of Moscow led to the first attempt to free ourselves from the Tatar yoke: the Russian army of Prince Dmitry of Moscow was victorious in the Battle of Kulikovo Field.
In the west, Lithuania's expansion led to conflict with Moscow. Their confrontation became the main content of Russian domestic policy in the next hundred years.
The conflict was related to the resolution of the issue of the unification of Rus'. Both the old Rurikovichs and the new Gediminovichs laid claim to the role of head of the new unified state.
Initially, the position of the Lithuanian princes was stronger due to the number of troops and the wealth of their possessions, however, from the point of view of legitimacy, the Moscow princes found themselves in a more advantageous position. It was they who could lay claim to the restoration of power by the right of dynastic succession.
Later, a religious conflict between Orthodoxy and Catholicism was added to the confrontation. But in the XIV-XV centuries, the descendants of the appanage princes - who were all Rurikovichs without exception - had a simple choice: to serve the Grand Duke from “their” dynasty or from someone else’s. Many consciously chose “their own”.
Adventures of the title "King of Rus'"
But Galician Rus' ceased to exist at the end of the 14th century. Since 1349, there was a fierce struggle for the lands of Galicia between Poland and Lithuania.
The war ends in 1392 with the division of the failed kingdom. Galicia began to belong to Poland, and Volyn went to Lithuania. At the same time, the Lithuanian princes began to be called the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and Russia. The Polish kings Louis and Casimir III also used the title "King of Rus'" for some time.
The next Polish rulers, already from the Gediminovich dynasty, forgot about the Galician title. But the Hungarian kings immediately remembered him.
Using the title, they symbolically designated claims to the lands of Galicia, descending from its first conqueror, King Louis. The monarch was also the ruler of not only Poland, but also Hungary.
"Reitan - the decline of Poland." Artist Jan Matejko
The title of the kings of Galicia and Lodomeria (Lodomeria is the name of the Vladimir-Volyn lands distorted by the Hungarians and Germans) has already become a real title of the crown Austrian possession.
And how did it all end?
In the 15th century, great changes took place in Russian lands. Moscow was able to subjugate most of the Russian principalities that were once part of the Old Russian state. This gave its rulers the opportunity to legally accept the title of Sovereign of All Rus', declaring the succession of their power from the Kyiv Rurikovichs, and at the same time the rights to all lands that were previously part of the Kyiv state.
Lithuania, which became dependent on Catholic Poland, gradually lost its possessions. The appanage princes of Lithuania, taking advantage of the feudal right of emigration, went to serve the Moscow Rurikovichs along with their principalities.
Already at the end of the century, the Moscow principality was completely freed from the power of the Horde, while Lithuania continued to pay tribute and receive labels from the Crimean Khanate.
Thus ended the history of the Middle Ages in the lands of Rus'.
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Boniface IX
Pontificate: November 2, 1389 - October 1, 1404
Majapahit Empire
Battle of Kosovo Field
Battle of Kosovo Field The Battle of Kosovo is a major battle that took place on June 15, 1389 between the united army of Serbian feudal lords in alliance with the Kingdom of Bosnia on the one hand and the army of the Ottoman Turks on the other. The battle took place on Kosovo Field, 5 kilometers from modern Pristina. The Serbian troops were led by Prince Lazar Hrebelyanović, Vuk Branković and the great voivode Vlatko Vuković. The Ottoman army was commanded by Sultan Murad I along with his sons Yaqub and Bayezid.Murad I died at the hands of the Serbian prince Milos Obilic. The Ottoman army was led by Sultan Bayezid.
In the battle of Kosovo, the Serbian army was defeated. Bayazid brutally took revenge for the murder of his father by exterminating most of the Serbian nobility located on the Kosovo field. With Stefan Vulkovic, the son and heir of the Serbian prince Lazar, who died in battle, the Sultan entered into an alliance under which Serbia became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Stephen, in exchange for maintaining his father's privileges, undertook to pay tribute from the silver mines and provide Serbian troops to the Ottomans at the first request of the Sultan. Stephen's sister and Lazarus's daughter, Olivera, was given in marriage to Bayezid.
Vasily I Dmitrievich
Dmitry was succeeded by his son, Vasily Dmitrievich (1389-1425). Under him, the policy of the former Moscow princes was continued, the main directions of which were the annexation of new lands and the defense of external borders.
Vasily managed to annex the Nizhny Novgorod principality (1392), buying a label for it in the Horde, as well as Murom and Tarusa.
At the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. Rus' again experienced the invasion of the Horde rulers. In the 70s of the XIV century. one of the small Central Asian rulers, Timur (Tamerlane), strengthened. Soon he conquered Central Asia, Transcaucasia, and the Caucasian peoples. At the turn of the 80-90s, having defeated Tokhtamysh, he subjugated the Golden Horde. Timur was a cruel and bloody conqueror: painting by a Russian artist of the 19th century. V. Vereshchagin's "Apotheosis of War" well conveys the result of his conquests.
During the war with the Golden Horde, Timur appears within Rus': in 1395 he reached the city of Yelets and plundered it. Vasily Dmitrievich and his army came out to meet him, but the battle did not take place: Timur turned back. The reasons for this are not given, but, apparently, his plans of conquest did not include a war with Russia, especially during the ongoing battle with the Horde.
In 1408, a new Horde ruler, Emir Edigei, unexpectedly for Vasily, made a campaign against Rus'. His troops burned Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov, Dmitrov, Serpukhov, and destroyed villages. Having reached Moscow, Edigei “made everything captive and empty,” but he failed to take the city itself. Having received the ransom money, he left. But the Horde yoke, somewhat weakened at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, was restored.
The struggle between the North and the Center in the second quarter of the 15th century.
Usually events in Rus' in the second quarter of the 15th century. called "feudal war", meaning strife and military activity primarily of the princes. However, this does not take into account that the main force in military operations was the broad masses of the various regions of the country. The princes relied on them, and without this foundation it is impossible to imagine their successes and failures. War of the second quarter of the 15th century. should be considered within the framework of the confrontation between the old ancient Russian traditions of democracy and new trends that strengthen princely power. Behind the first stood the black-plowed North, which preserved its freedom, and behind the second - the Moscow Center.
According to A.A. Zimin, this war breaks down into two stages: the first - 1425-1446, the second - 1447-1451.
The reason for it was a dynastic conflict between the princes of the Moscow house. After the death of Vasily Dmitrievich, there were two contenders for the grand-ducal throne due to uncertainty in the inheritance: his ten-year-old son Vasily and his younger brother; Prince of Zvenigorod and Galitsky Yuri Dmitrievich. Yuri defended the generic principle of inheritance (“from brother to brother”), and Vasily defended the family principle (“from father to son”). Already in the first clashes, the troops gathered by Yuri in the northern territories took part. After the first failure, in 1433 Galician troops captured Moscow, and Yuri became the Grand Duke. But without receiving support from the Moscow population and boyars, he was forced to leave Moscow. The next year he again conquers the reign of Moscow, but dies 2.5 months later.
His sons are now performing in the arena: Vasily Kosoy, Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny. The first of whom, while in Moscow, declared himself the heir, but the other two brothers did not recognize him, saying: “If God doesn’t want it, let our father reign, but we ourselves don’t want you.” The Yuryevichs preferred to see on the throne the weakest, as it seemed to them, Vasily Vasilyevich, but they were mistaken. The war continued, involving ever larger masses of the population. It is now that it turns into a struggle for old liberties.
The theater of military operations, in addition to areas close to Moscow, covers the Upper Volga and Volga region with outlying centers: Vyatka, Vologda, Ustyug, Kostroma. A prince of an adventurous nature, Vasily Kosoy overestimated his strength and managed to lose his reliable allies. Vasily Vasilyevich, on the contrary, managed to unite the princes of “Kalita’s nest”. In the decisive battle in May 1436 near Rostov, the troops of Vasily Kosoy were defeated, and he himself was captured and blinded.
From the beginning of the 40s, Dmitry Shemyaka became an enemy of the Moscow prince. In 1445, after a raid on Rus' by the Kazan Khan Ulu-Mukhammed, Vasily Vasilyevich was captured by him. Shemyak seizes power in Moscow. However, Vasily, having promised a ransom to the Tatars, returns to Moscow with a label for a great reign. Tatars come with him to receive a "ransom". The people condemned the Grand Duke for this, which Shemyaka took advantage of, again establishing himself in Moscow in February 1446. Vasily was blinded, swore that he would not pretend to the great table, and was exiled to Vologda by an appanage prince. However, after this, public opinion (“many people are retreating from him”) turned away from Shemyaka. A year later, Vasily the Dark, from whom the oath was “revoked,” left for Moscow. In 145O, the troops of Vasily the Dark near Galich inflicted a decisive defeat on Dmitry Shemyaka, who fled to Novgorod, where he died in 1453.
With the defeat of the Galician princes, the possibilities for alternative development of Russian statehood decreased, and a more intensive formation of central power began, although the traditions of previous centuries would not die in the 16th century. will be implemented during reforms of local and central authorities.
Completion of the territorial unification of Russian lands
The final stages of the “gathering” of Russian lands around Moscow were the annexation of the Yaroslavl, Rostov, Tver principalities and the Novgorod land, as well as the Western Russian lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The independence of the Yaroslavl principality fell in the 60s of the 15th century, and Rostov was annexed in 1474.
The most difficult task was the annexation of Novgorod, where the traditions of independence remained very strong, despite the fact that in 1456, according to the Yazhelbitsky agreement, the judicial power of the Grand Duke was strengthened in Novgorod, and the Novgorodians were deprived of the right of independence in international affairs. Events were complicated by the fact that two political groups had formed in the city, the first of which was oriented towards Lithuania, and the second towards Moscow. In 1471, the Pro-Lithuanian "party", led by Martha Boretskaya, the "posadnitsa" (posadnik's widow), and her sons, entered into an agreement with the Grand Duke of Lithuania and Poland, King Casimir IV, who, while sending his governor, nevertheless promised to preserve the liberties of Novgorod and defend Novgorod from Moscow.
In response to this, Ivan III set out on a campaign, which also included the princes subordinate to him. On the Sheloni River in July 1471, the Novgorodians, who fought reluctantly (the archbishop's regiment did not take part in the battle at all), were defeated. But Novgorod remained independent for now, although it undertook not to enter into further relations with Lithuania.
In subsequent years, the pro-Lithuanian “party” came to life in Novgorod, but Ivan III also strengthened its position. And at the end of 1477 he undertakes a new campaign. The city was surrounded by a dense ring of Moscow troops. The Grand Duke presented a harsh ultimatum to the veche authorities, which meant the liquidation of the political independence of Novgorod: “there will be no veche bell in our fatherland in Novgorod, but we will keep our dominion.”
In January 1478, Novgorod capitulated, the veche was cancelled, the veche bell was taken to Moscow, and Moscow governors began to rule instead of posadniks and thousands. The lands of the boyars most hostile to Ivan III (including Martha Boretskaya) were confiscated. And in 1484-1499. The mass eviction of the remaining Novgorod boyars began. Their lands were given to Moscow service people.
The northern Novgorod lands also went to Moscow. Thus. The Tver principality was surrounded on almost all sides. Tver Prince Mikhail Borisovich was forced to enter into an alliance with Casimir IV. This is just what Ivan III was waiting for. In September 1485, when Moscow troops approached Tver, Mikhail fled to Lithuania. The son of Ivan III, Ivan Ivanovich, became the prince of Tver. In fact, the annexation of Tver basically meant the end of the process of territorial unification of Russian lands. This was fully accomplished under Vasily III Ivanovich (1505-1533), under whom Pskov (1510) and Ryazan (1521) were transferred to Moscow. “What Ivan III did not have time to complete, Vasily completed,” wrote the Russian historian S.F. Platonov.
Somewhat earlier, as a result of two Russian-Lithuanian wars (1487-1494 and 1500-1503), the Chernigov-Seversk land and the eastern part of the Smolensk land, and in 1514 Smolensk itself, went to Rus'.
For Kievan Rus this period became one of the most difficult. The once powerful state collapsed in the 12th century as a result of internal strife. In the 13th century, this led to catastrophic consequences - most of the Russian principalities found themselves under the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars of the Golden Horde, only Novgorod and several other principalities managed to maintain independence. The western and southern regions of the former Kievan Rus were captured by Lithuania, Poland and Hungary. Kyiv lost its political significance; the most influential ruler in Rus' was the prince of the city, Vladimir.
Most of the Russian principalities were forced to pay tribute to the Golden Horde, despite successful campaigns against the Tatars by Galician Rus and the Principality of Lithuania. Under this oppression, Moscow began to receive its benefits. The isolated Muscovite Rus' began to fight with other principalities; in the 14th century, the bloody struggle of Tver Rus' against Moscow unfolded. The latter won, which predetermined the future development of the Russian state. To win, Moscow used the uprising that the residents of Tver raised against the Mongols. Ivan Kalita, Prince of Moscow, enlisted the support of the Horde, and to please the Mongols, they helped pacify the rebellious Tver, simultaneously annexing it to their lands.
This policy made it possible for Moscow to begin to unite the Russian principalities through seizure. The united Rus' became able to resist the iron grip of the Mongol-Tatars, and Moscow periodically began to rebel against its oppressors. In 1377, the Moscow army was defeated in the battle on the Piana River, and the next year Dmitry Donskoy defeated the Mongols on the Vozha River. Later, Moscow took advantage of the political instability in the Horde itself, siding with one of the khans fighting for power.
However, when the Russians tried to refuse to pay tribute to the Mongols, their former ally, Khan Tokhtamysh, took Moscow by storm and ravaged the city. In 1395, a new threat rolled in from the east - the army of Tamerlane. This conqueror defeated the army of the Golden Horde, and then moved into Rus'. The city of Yelets and a significant part of the lands around Ryazan were plundered. However, for unknown reasons, Tamerlane deployed his army and left the Russian lands. At the same time, the image of the Mother of God from Vladimir was brought to Moscow, therefore, in the chronicles, deliverance from the terrible threat was associated with this event and the intervention of forces from above.
Thus, Rus' in the 14th century, in short, tried with all its might to throw off the Mongol yoke, and during the same period Moscow began to seize other Russian principalities, uniting them into one powerful state.
American Revolutionary War, the war between Great Britain and the Loyalists (loyal to the legitimate government of the British Crown) - presentation
“It would be surprising if one of the Russians did not know Krylov”
John Milton and his poem "Paradise Lost" "Paradise Regained" and "Samson the Fighter"