4.2. Eastern Slavs on the threshold of the formation of a state (VI - IX centuries)

Natural conditions. The formation and development of the state and its population is influenced by a number of factors, and, above all, such as geographical location, climatic and environmental conditions.

The eastern half of Europe is a plain bounded by four seas - the White, Baltic, Black and Caspian and three mountain ranges - the Carpathians, the Caucasus and the Urals. Numerous rivers with their tributaries flow to the seas, which in ancient times served as the main means of communication for people.

A thousand years ago, the entire northern part of the East European Plain was distinguished by a harsh, cold climate, and was covered with dense coniferous and deciduous forests, numerous lakes and marshes. The soils in these areas are mainly loamy and sandy. Further to the south there is a strip of forest-steppe, which approximately coincides with the strip of the deepest and most powerful black soil. Still further is the steppe belt - treeless, but fertile and convenient for agriculture, and in the southeast of the plain, on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea is the desert - unsuitable for processing sandstones and salt marshes.

The climate in the middle belt is East-European plains continental: the hot, relatively short summer with a short activity of vegetation cover is replaced by a long cold and snowy winter.

All these natural conditions had a diverse influence on the lifestyle of the peoples of the East European Plain. In the forest belt, where after their settlement mainly Eastern Slavs lived, all the vital activity of people was connected with the forest. It was used as a building material, fuel, for the manufacture of household utensils, etc. The main trades were connected with the forest: hunting and beekeeping 1 - collecting honey from wild bees. People fed on animals from hunting animals, made clothes from their hides, and used honey to make sweets and drinks. In the forest, the locals were hiding from the invasion of enemies.

No less beneficial effect on the lives of people and rivers. They served as a means of communication between the tribes, supplying people with fish for food and for exchange. On the banks of the rivers there was a settlement of Slavic tribes: settlements were built - first small villages, and then large villages and cities.

With time, the river ways acquired international significance; they already united not only separate tribes, but also various peoples and countries.

The most important was known from the VI. the great water trade route from Scandinavia to Byzantium, which in the chronicles is called the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks”. This path went from north to south, from the Baltic (Varyazhsky) sea along the Neva River to Lake Ladoga (Lake Nevo), then along the Volkhov River to Lake Ilmen, from it along the Lovat River, then by small rivers and dredging to the upper reaches of the Dnieper, and on the Dnieper to the Black Sea. Thus, the Eastern Slavs were connected with the Black Sea Greek colonies, and through them - with Byzantium.

Another international river route “from the Varangians to the Persians” went southeast along the tributaries of the Upper Volga and further along this river to the lands of the Volga Bulgarians and through the Khazar kingdom into the Caspian Sea. This trade route served as a message with the Volga Bulgarians, the Khazar Kaganate and then with Central Asia and the Arab world: in its significance it did not yield the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks."

The resettlement of the Eastern Slavs. In the process of resettlement of the Eastern Slavs along the East European Plain, they had a decomposition of the primitive communal system. The Tale of Bygone Years speaks of tribal reigns, which historians call tribal unions. Such a union included 100-200 tribes united around the most powerful tribe, after whose name the whole union was named. In turn, each individual tribe consisted of many genera and occupied a large territory. In the chronicle are called a dozen and a half of such tribal reigns and places of their settlement. Thus, in the middle reaches of the Dnieper there lived a glade, in the basin of the Pripyat River - Drevlyane and Dregovichi, in the basin of the Sozh River (left tributary of the Dnieper) - Radimichi. Northerners settled in the basins of the Desna, Seym and Suly rivers , in the interfluve of the Southern Bug and the Dniester - the streets , between the Dniester and Prut rivers - the Tevertsy. In the foothills of the Carpathians, “white” Croats lived , and in the Western Bug - duleby, Volhynians and bougains , in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina and Dnieper - Krivichi , in the middle of the Western Dvina at the confluence of the Polot River - Polochans in the north, around Lake Ilmen and the Ilmen Slavs along the Volkhov River, and the easternmost of the Slavic tribes in the Oka basin are the Vyatichi.

Each tribe was ruled by its leader — an elder; there was also a council of elders and a general meeting of the tribe — the veche.

The chronicle data on the resettlement of the Eastern Slavs through many centuries has been confirmed by archaeological findings of female ornaments - the temporal rings, typical of each tribal union.

An important factor in the formation of a people and a state is represented by neighboring peoples and tribes, which are distinguished by their language, way of life, way of life, customs and customs, culture, etc. At various times, the neighboring peoples subjugated the Slavic tribes to themselves, drawing them into the sphere of their economic activities or, on the contrary, were under the influence of the Slavs.

The neighbors of the Eastern Slavs (to the 9th century) were the Baltic tribes in the west: the Livs, the Chud, the whole, Korela, and others, the Western Slavs: the Poles (lyahi), Slovaks, Czechs, and also the Hungarians (Ugrians); in the northeast there are numerous Finno-Ugric tribes: Mordva, Mari, Murom, Merya, and others; on the Lower Volga - the Khazars, in the east - the Volga Bulgarians, and in the south in the Black Sea region - the Pechenegs and other Turkic tribes.

Settling, Eastern Slavs ousted the peoples living here or assimilated with them. After fixing on new places, Eastern Slavs create the foundations of their social and economic life.

Economic activities. Judging by the preserved literary monuments and archaeological finds, the Slavs, even before settling on the East European Plain, were engaged in arable farming and cattle breeding, as well as hunting and stepping. Populating new places, they continued their previous studies, although they had to be adapted to the new conditions. The Slavs of the forest-steppe belt were dominated by the plowing system of agriculture — a fallow when the land was sown for several years until it was exhausted, and then transferred to a new one. In the forest zone, the slash-and-burn farming system was used: a forest plot was cut down and uprooted, trees were burned, the land was fertilized with ashes and also used for two or three years, and then the new site was cleared. On cleared land, rye, wheat, barley, millet, and oats were grown; from garden crops - turnips, cabbage, beets, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, were engaged in cattle breeding: they bred horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats.

An ax, a hoe, a bitch harrow, a spade, a sickle, flails, stone grain graters and hand millstones were used as tools. In the southern regions, the main tool was labor, and later - a wooden plow with an iron tip - plowshare.

In the south, oxen were used as working livestock, and horses in the forest zone. The economy was of a natural nature: it was mainly products of agriculture and cattle breeding, which were necessary to meet basic needs.

Social system. Having settled on the East European Plain, the Eastern Slavs lived at first by tribal communities, and the chronicle testifies to this: “Zhivyakhu korzhdo with his clan and in his own places, kogodo khozhdoh his kin”.

Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky wrote: “The clan union rested on two pillars: on the power of the clan's elder and the inseparability of the clan's property. Ancestral cult, the veneration of ancestors sanctified and fastened both these supports. ”

C VI. tribal relations among the Eastern Slavs began to disintegrate due to the appearance of metal tools and the transition from podsnee to arable farming, since joint efforts of all members of the genus were already required for housekeeping. The main economic unit has become a separate family.

Gradually, first in the south, in the forest-steppe zone, and then in the forest, in the north, the tribal community of the neighboring territorial community, called “peace” - in the south, and “verv” 1 - in the north, is replaced. In the neighboring community, communal ownership of forest and hay fields, pastures, water bodies, and arable land remained intact, but the family already allocated plots of arable land for use . Each family handled these plots with its own tools, which received the crop it had harvested. Over time, the redistribution of arable land ceased, and plots became the permanent property of individual families.

The improvement of labor tools has led to the production of not only the necessary in kind, but also the surplus product. There was an accumulation of the surplus product , and on its basis - the development of exchange between individual families. This led to the differentiation of the community, the growth of property inequality, the accumulation of wealth by the elders and other nobles. The highest governing body of the Slavs continued to be the Council 2 - people's rule, jointly solving all the most important issues. But gradually its value fell.

Eastern Slavs waged “numerous wars with their neighbors, repelling the onslaught of nomadic peoples. At the same time, they traveled to the Balkans and Byzantium. Under these conditions, the role of the commander, the prince, who was often the main person in the administration of the tribe, was extremely growing. When wars were rare, all the men of the tribe participated in them. In the context of frequent wars, it became economically unprofitable. The growth of the surplus allowed the prince to be maintained and his retinue — a group of warriors devoted only to the prince. So, in the VIII-IX centuries. was formed in the tribes and tribal alliances of the military-armed nobility, which concentrated both power and wealth. They declared themselves owners of the lands of a tribe or tribal union, taxing their tribesmen with a tribute (tax).

The prince and warriors grew rich at the expense of military booty: they turned captured prisoners of war into slaves, forcing them to work on their lands.

In VI-VIII centuries. slaves from the Eastern Slavs were mostly captives captured in the war. At that time, the Slavs had the customary right 3 , according to which it was forbidden to enslave their fellow tribesmen, for example, for debts, etc. Slaves of prisoners of war were used mainly in the household, in the most difficult jobs. There was no fundamental difference between a free congregator and a slave. Slavic slavery wore a patriarchal form when slaves did not form a class, but are considered the younger non-full members of the family.

Thus, the Eastern Slavs experienced a sharp differentiation (stratification) of society, it came close to the formation of the state.

Trade, cities. The emergence of surplus products contributed to the active exchange, and later the emergence and development of trade, which was mainly on numerous rivers and their tributaries. Great waterways were especially actively used - “from the Varangians to the Greeks” and along the Volga to the Caspian Sea - “from the Varangians to the Persians”.

The way “from the Varangians to the Greeks” was actively used by the Scandinavian peoples, whom the Slavs called the Varangians (hence the name of the path itself). Varyags traded with coastal tribes, including the Slavs. They also reached the Greek Black Sea colonies, and Byzantium. Varyags not only peacefully traded, but often plundered, and sometimes were hired to serve in the guards, including the Slavic princes, and to serve in Byzantium.

The main subjects of foreign trade were fur, wax, honey, servants (slaves). From the East and Byzantium went silks, silver and gold products, luxury items, incense, weapons, spices.

The spread of the nomadic Turkic tribe of the Khazars in the South Russian steppes contributed to the success of the trade. Unlike other Asian peoples, the Khazars soon began to settle on the ground. They occupied the steppes along the banks of the Volga and the Dnieper, created their own state, the center of which was the city of Itil on the Lower Volga. The Khazars subjugated the Eastern Slavic tribes of the fields, northerners, Vyatichi, from whom they took tribute. At the same time, the Slavs used the Don and Volga rivers that flowed through the Khazars to trade. IN. Klyuchevsky, referring to Arab sources, wrote that Russian merchants carry goods from remote parts of the country to the Black Sea to Greek cities, where the Byzantine emperor takes from them the trade tax - tithe. Along the Volga merchants descend to the Khazar capital, go to the Caspian Sea, penetrate its south-eastern shores and even transport their goods on camels to Baghdad. Found by archaeologists treasures of Arab coins in the area of ​​the Dnieper indicate that this trade was conducted from the end of the VII-VIII centuries.

With the development of trade is associated with the appearance of Slavs cities. Most cities arose along the Dnieper-Volkhov waterway. More often, at the confluence of two rivers, a place for the exchange of goods appeared, where hunters and boaters came together for trade, as they said for guest 1 . In their place, there were future Russian cities. Cities served as shopping centers and main warehouses where goods were stored.

In The Tale of Bygone Years, the cities Kiev, Chernigov, Smolensk, Lyubech, Novgorod, Pskov, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Rostov, Suzdal, Murom , etc. are already called. By the 9th century in total. there were about 24 major cities. Therefore, the Varangian aliens called the Slavic land Gardariki - the country of cities.

The chronicles told us the story of the emergence of Kiev. Kyi, his brothers Shchek and Khoriv and their sister Lybid established their settlements (yards) on three hills on the Dnieper. Then they united into one city, which they called Kiev in honor of Kyi.

The first principalities appeared. From the Arab sources VIII. We learn that at that time the following principalities existed among the Eastern Slavs: Kuyaviya (Kuyaba - around Kiev), Slavia (in the area of ​​Lake Ilmen with its center in Novgorod) and Artania. The emergence of such centers testified to the emergence of new intra-tribal relations in the organization of the Eastern Slavs, which created the prerequisites for the emergence of their state.

Customs, manners and beliefs . The life of the East Slavic tribes is brightly described in the monuments of ancient Russian literature. So, they organized games between the villages - religious holidays, in which residents of neighboring villages snickered (abducted) their wives by agreement with them. At that time, the Slavs had polygamy; there were not enough brides. In order to appease the clan in whom the bride was snitched, her relatives were given a veno (ransom). Over time, the bride's abduction was replaced by the rite of marrying the bride's brother-in-law, when the bride was bought from her relatives by mutual agreement. Another rite came to replace this rite - the bride's drive to the bridegroom. The relatives of the bride and groom became sbayami, i.e. their people for each other.

A woman held a subordinate position. After the death of her husband, one of his wives was to be buried with him. The dead person was burned at the stake. The burial was accompanied by a triznaya - feast and war games.

It is known that the Eastern Slavs still had a blood feud: the relatives of the murdered man took revenge on the murderer's death.

Like all nations that were at the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system, the Slavs were pagans. They worshiped the phenomena of nature, deifying them. So, the god of the sky was Svarog, the god of the sun — Dazhbog (other names: Dazhbog, Yarilo, Khoros), the god of thunder and lightning — Perun, the god of the wind — Stribog, the patron saint of livestock — Velos (Volos). Dazhdbog and the deity of fire were considered sons of Svarog and were called Svarozhichs. The goddess Mokosh - Mother-Cheese earth, the goddess of fertility. In the 6th century, according to the testimony of the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, the Slavs recognized the god of the universe as one god — Perun, the god of thunder, lightning, and war.

At that time there were no public worship services, there were no temples or priests. Usually the images of gods in the form of stone or wooden figures (idols) were placed on certain open places - temples, gods were offered sacrifices - demands.

The cult of ancestors received great development. He is associated with the guardian of the family, family, the founder of life - Rod and with his Rozhanitsy, i.e. grandfather with grandmothers. The ancestor was also called “chur”, according to Church Slavonic - “schur”. The expression “mind you” that still remains today means “keep me grandfather”. Sometimes this kind of keeper is under the name of the brownie, the keeper of not the whole kind, but of a separate yard, house. All nature was represented to the Slavs as animate and inhabited by a multitude of spirits, wood goblins lived in the forests, water mermaids and mermaids lived in the rivers .

The Slavs had their pagan holidays associated with the seasons, with agricultural work. At the end of December - they would go to the houses of kolyadi ryazhennye with songs and jokes, glorified the owners, who were supposed to give gifts to the mummers. A great holiday was seeing off the winter and the meeting of spring - Shrovetide. On the night of June 24 (old style), the holiday of Ivan Kupala was celebrated - ceremonies were held with fire and water, divination, danced, sang songs. In the autumn after the end of the field work, the harvest festival was celebrated: they baked a huge honey loaf.

Our distant ancestors who inhabited the East European Plain have passed a difficult path of development. Difficult natural and geographical conditions and the constant need to reflect the raids on their lands of various tribes and peoples, the emergence of cities among the ancient Slavs delayed the formation of individual principalities into an independent state for several centuries compared with Western European states. At the same time, embarking on the path of decomposition of the clan system, the emergence of land and property inequality and the creation of tribal principalities, the development of international trade and external economic and cultural ties, the Eastern Slavs in the 9th century. came close to creating a single state - Kievan Rus.

Self Test Questions

1. What factors determine Russia's place in world civilization?

2. Tell us about the oldest settlements in Ukraine, the western part of Russia and Belarus.

3. Who were the forerunners of the ancient Slavs on the territory of Ukraine, the western part of Russia and Belarus?

4. Where was the ancestral home of the Slavs, what is the origin (ethnogenesis) of the Slavic peoples?

5. What factors influence the folding and development of people?

6. How was the resettlement of the Eastern Slavs, who were their neighbors?

7. Tell us about the economic activity and social structure of the ancient Slavs.

8. Tell us about the development of trade and the emergence of cities among the Slavs.