In the history of Russia, the years 1547-1583 play a large role. These years (the reign of Ivan the Terrible) are associated with the general public, primarily with the infamous oprichnina. And she really had an important influence on the further political, social and economic development of Moscow
state. At the same time, it is important to note other large-scale transformations that have occurred in these years. The reign of Ivan the Terrible was accompanied by versatile reforms carried out by the peculiar government of his time - the Elected Rada. In essence, all the transformations were aimed at centralizing the state and further creating, in fact, uniform state orders and structures throughout the country. In this sense, these years were not distinguished by something special. The reign of Ivan the Terrible completely fit into the pan-European tendencies towards the absolutization of monarchical rule, which began in the High Middle Ages. Here one more reason should be mentioned, which Ivan the Terrible probably had in mind. The years of the reign of his father and predecessor Vasily III were marked by large-scale riots. And in 1547, the mob even dared to kill a representative of the royal family, indignant at the arbitrariness of the boyars. It was obvious that the state needed reforms. First of all, judicial and administrative.
Reform activities of the elected Council
For the implementation of the goals was created a kind of unofficial government under the king, which operated from 1547 to 1560. All the reforms were actually aimed at creating a high-quality bureaucratic state system in the Moscow kingdom, taking control of the situation in the country, centralizing power, eliminating remnants of feudal strife, and so on. The structure of this unofficial government included some nobles, boyars, and spiritual leaders. The main transformations were as follows:
- Judicial Reform The boyar court could no longer judge the boyars themselves, this right was transferred under the exclusive jurisdiction of the royal court. The new judge, developed by the Rada, eliminated a number of judicial privileges of the feudal lords and increased the importance of the central courts. For the first time, the law was proclaimed the main and only source of law. That is, the ordinary rights that indulged in boyar arbitrariness were abolished.
- Zemsky reform transferred independent management to the department of city or rural municipality communities: collecting taxes and maintaining order on their own. In addition, the peasant community was recognized equal in rights with the city. Now all her chosen ones — village elders and court elders — were considered state servants.
- Military reform is perhaps the most important, which marked the time of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. She proclaimed the principle of obligatory noble service. In the 1550s, a streltsy army was created , for the first time in Russian lands. Important was the decree that abolished governorate during periods of hostilities.
Oprichnina
However, despite the work of the boyars themselves, aimed at centralizing the state, harsh years soon came for them. The reign of Ivan the Terrible in his last period was marked by total terror against the aristocracy. It seemed to the king that the reforms were too slow, that members of the government deliberately delay the absolutization of his power. In the early 1960s, the king resolves the issue from his shoulder. He creates a very obedient corps of military oprichniks who literally physically begin to destroy representatives of the nobility.