6.3. Formation and elevation of the Muscovite state (XIII-XV centuries)

Features of occurrence. Mongol-Tatar yoke bled the Russian land . It weakened it not only economically, political life was slowed down. In the conditions of economic development, which was slowed down to the limit, it was rather difficult to overcome feudal fragmentation, to achieve the formation of a national state, similar to the Western counterpart. The nature of Russian history has become increasingly different from the European. In Russia, the creation of a strong unified state required an enormous centralization of power, which acquired increasingly despotic, cruel features. Almost the entire population of the country was drawn into the establishment of feudal relations.

By the end of the XIII century. The ruined Russian land was composed of dozens of appanage princedoms, which with each new generation of princes continued to break up. There was a fierce struggle between the princes for the grand prince of Vladimir throne, seeking to get a label (certificate) to the reign of the Horde Khan. Especially intense rivalry broke out between the descendants of Alexander Nevsky - the princes of Tver and Moscow destinies. The grandson of Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Moscow Ivan Danilovich (? 1341), who received the nickname Kalita (purse for money), managed to eliminate his opponent with the help of the Horde. Tver was burned, and the principality was ravaged. Having refused baskachstvo (baskak - Mongolian tribute collector), the Horde now entrusted its collection to the Moscow prince.

So, the great reign of Vladimir finally passed to the Moscow princes. By hiding part of the “Horde exit,” Ivan Kalita, and then his successor sons, greatly strengthened the power of their principality. Expanded and its territory, where buying, and where seizing land by force. Feeling confident in their abilities, Ivan Kalita’s grandson, Moscow’s Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (1350-1389), nicknamed Donskoy, led the Russian army in 1380 on the Kulikovo Field at the confluence of the River Nepryadva in the Don, defeated the Maidai Horde (? -1380). Mamai after this defeat hoped to gather a new army to march on Russia. But on his return to the Horde he was overthrown, fled to the Crimea and was killed there. The victory of the Russians on the Kulikovo Field was a serious start to the expulsion of the Mongol-Tatars.

Formation of the Moscow centralized state. The process of gathering lands and strengthening their power, started by the first Moscow princes, was actively continued. And after years of hard struggle between the princes, Moscow irreversibly turns into a political center of fragmented Russian lands, into the capital of an emerging powerful state, the size of which shook the imagination of its contemporaries.

Ivan III (1440-1505) annexes Novgorod (1478), canceling the veche and imprisoning his governor. This was followed by a particularly important politically Tver land and Vyatka. A cautious and prudent politician, Ivan III, was able to complete the expulsion of the Horde by a long "standing" on the Ugra River (a tributary of the Oka). And in November 1480 the Horde yoke was over. Ivan III was faced with the task of uniting the Russian lands around Moscow and centralizing the grand-ducal power.

Along with the expansion of the territory and the struggle for independence, the Moscow princes set themselves the task of strengthening the economy, creating a strong management system and a large army. During this period, they expand the practice of awarding their estates to service people. Unlike the fiefdoms, these lands remained state property and were given for temporary use only for the period of service, especially military. Under Ivan III, Sudebnik was adopted (1497), which marked the beginning of the peasant attachment to the land. Now a peasant could move from one landowner to another only once a year (one week before and one week after St. George’s day - November 26), provided that the elderly paid compensation to the landowner for the loss of workers.

The system of centralized government begins to build. It included the treasury (financial, foreign policy and other national affairs), palaces (management from the center of the newly joined lands), governors (appointed from the center of the county rulers), and so forth. Moscow princes took measures to strengthen their power. All sides of state life submitted to a specially designed solemn ritual.

The lengthy process of collecting fragmented Russian lands into a single state was completed. Ivan III took the title of Grand Duke of All Russia. He had a seal of the great sovereign, on one side of which a two-headed eagle was depicted, on the other a horseman fighting with a dragon, and an inscription around: "John, by God's grace, the ruler of all Russia." Moscow became the center of a large Russian centralized state. She is declared the successor of Byzantium and the center of Orthodoxy. The idea of ​​a union of princely power with the Christian world was embodied in the philosophy: "Moscow is the third Rome."

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So, Kievan Rus (IX-XII centuries) - the society of military democracy, the country of commerce and cities - was actively involved in European affairs. It is essentially an early medieval society in which free people were the predominant social category.

However, from the middle of the XII century. here centrifugal forces intensified, which led to the feudal fragmentation of Kievan Rus: it broke up into a dozen independent principalities. This factor led to the weakening of the defense power of the state, Russia was invaded by foreign invaders (Swedes, Lithuanians, Germans) and in the beginning of the XIII century. was enslaved by the Golden Horde.

The prolonged Mongol-Tatar yoke pushed aside Russia, delayed its development by two or three centuries, possibly, and caused Eurasian Russianism.

In the second half of the XIII-XIV centuries. Moscow princes began the process of gathering lands and strengthening their power, which was held in difficult conditions of opposition to the Golden Horde, as well as overcoming separatism of the princes in power. He was accompanied by the advancement of a new estate into the historical arena of Russia — the military-service nobility (landowners) as a social pillar of the grand-ducal power and the approval of a local land tenure system. This process ended with the formation at the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. powerful state that demanded a rigid centralization of power. The progressive process of the formation of a unified state was accompanied by the gradual enslavement of the peasants in law.

Questions for self-test

1. 1. What determined the formation of the ancient Russian state?

2. 2. Give your point of view on the problems of feudal fragmentation in Russia.

3. 3. What influence did the Mongol-Tatar and Swedish-German aggression have on the subsequent history of Russia?

4. 4. What are the main stages and results of the formation of the Moscow centralized state?