Russian specific principalities: features of feudal fragmentation in Russia

In the history of Russia, a long and difficult period is known when the country was divided into many small, almost independent specific principalities. It was a time of constant internecine wars and the ongoing struggle for power between the Rurikovich. In history, this period was called "feudal fragmentation." But what was it like? And what were the specific principalities? This question often baffles not only schoolchildren, but also adults.

The meaning of the term

The concept of "specific princedom" is directly related to the word "share." This word in Russia called the part of the territory of the country, which was to be inherited by the young princes. Remember folk tales, where the hero who performed the sovereign's service was promised a beautiful girl and half the kingdom in addition? This is an echo of the specific period. Unless in ancient Russia, princes usually received not half of their father's lands, but a much smaller part of them: there were always many sons in the Rurikovich families.

Causes of feudal fragmentation

In order to understand why a strong centralized state in less than a few decades broke up into many specific principalities, we will have to recall the peculiarities of the succession in Russia. In contrast to Western European countries where the principle of mayorate was in effect (that is, the transfer of the entire inheritance only to the eldest son), in our country, each of the princes had the right to part of his father's lands. This system is called “ladders” (literally translated - “stairs”, that is, a kind of hierarchy).

For example, Vladimir I had 13 recognized male children.

Only 11 survived to a more or less conscious age, in which it was customary to allocate land plots to the princes. But this turned out to be more than Russia, which at that time could withstand. After the death of Vladimir, a struggle for power began between his sons, which ended only with the accession of Yaroslav the Wise to the Kiev throne.

The world, however, was short-lived. Yaroslav did not draw conclusions from the civil strife that made him the Grand Duke. He secured the Ladder system of power transfer officially. United before Russia began to crumble. Each specific principality was, in fact, an independent state, subordinate to Kiev only formally. And this process was finally completed only in the 15th century, during the reign of Ivan III.

Features of feudal fragmentation

The specific principalities and lands in Russia were a motley and rather strange formation in political, economic and legal terms:

1. Each had its own borders and capital.
2. The princes' desire for separation led to the fact that internal economic relations were strengthened, and external, between the principalities, on the contrary, were weakening.
3. The internecine struggle had several goals at once: to strengthen its borders, expand its land, and gain more political influence. And most importantly - to seize power in the city in which the Grand Duke's throne was located. First it was Kiev, then, from the end of the XII century, Vladimir, after - Moscow.
4. Despite the fact that the specific principalities were legally subordinate to the Grand Duke, in practice, each was an independent state. Even to fight against an external enemy (for example, with the Pechenegs, Polovtsy or Mongols), it was necessary to negotiate with neighbors. And often the principalities were face to face with the enemy. This happened, for example, with Ryazan during the Batu invasion. The Vladimir and Kiev princes refused their relatives help, preferring to strengthen their own lands.

Russian specific principalities, unlike feuds in Western Europe, had political independence. And this meant a rather paradoxical situation. The Polish king or the Polovtsian khan could be an ally of one principality and at the same time fight against another.

The number of principalities

In the era of Yaroslav the Wise, in Russia there were only 12 principalities, completely controlled by Kiev:

1. Actually Kiev, giving the right to a grand princely throne.
2. Chernihiv, where he ruled second in seniority in the Rurik dynasty.
3. Pereyaslavsky, the third in the Ladder system.
4. The Tmutarakan, which lost independence after the death of Mstislav the Brave.
5. Novgorod (in fact, it was the second most important in Russia, but from time immemorial the city council called for princes in it, and even Yaroslav did not dare to go against this order).
6. Galitsky.
7. Volyn (in 1198 it turned into the Galicia-Volyn, annexing the lands of Galich).
8. Smolensk.
9. Suzdal.
10. Turovo-Pinsk with its capital in Turov (it was given to reign as stepson of Vladimir I, Svyatopolk).
11. Murom.
12. Suzdal.

Plus one, Polotsk, remained independent and was ruled by Vseslav. Total 13.

However, even with the sons and grandchildren of Yaroslav, the situation began to change rapidly. It became increasingly difficult to control the isolated territories. Each prince sought to strengthen his land, to gain great power and influence. Under the first Yaroslavichi, Kiev was the most coveted prize in the political struggle. The prince, who received the title of Great, moved to the capital. And his inheritance passed to the next in seniority Rurikovich. But already under the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomakh, the concept of “patrimony” began to appear - that is, a land allotment that was the property of the princely family. Literally, this word can be translated as “fatherland”, “father's inheritance”. This is exactly what happened with the Pereyaslavl principality: it remained in the possession of Vladimir Vsevolodovich even after he began to rule in Kiev.

In practice, this meant that the land continued to be divided into parts, only already between the descendants of individual dynasties: Monomashichi, Svyatoslavichi, etc. The number of principalities in the specific period increased with each generation and reached nearly 180 by the 15th century.

The political consequences of feudal fragmentation

In 1093, the first shock occurred, which showed the weakness of the specific Russia. After the death of Vsevolod Yaroslavich, the Polovtsy demanded confirmation of the union agreement (and it included the payment of a kind of "lender"). When the new Grand Duke Svyatopolk refused to negotiate and threw ambassadors into prison, the offended steppes went to war in Kiev. Due to disagreements between Svyatopolk and Vladimir Monomakh, Russia could not give a worthy rebuff; moreover, for a long time they could not even agree on whether to fight or make peace with the Polovtsian khans.

When Vladimir came to Kiev, they met in the monastery of St. Michael, started feuds and quarrels among themselves, agreed, kissed each other's cross, and the Polovtsi meanwhile continued to ruin the earth - and the rational men told them: “Why do you have a feud between "And the filthy are destroying the Russian land. Then settle down, and now go to meet the filthy - either in peace or in war."

(The Tale of Bygone Years)

As a result of the lack of unity between the brothers in the battle on the Stugne River, near the town of Trepol, the princely army was defeated.

Subsequently, it was precisely the rivalry between the specific principalities that caused the tragedy on Kalka, where the Russian troops were routed by the Mongols. It was civil strife that prevented the princes from uniting in 1238, when the hordes of Batu moved to Russia. And they, ultimately, became the cause of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. It was possible to get rid of the dominion of the Golden Horde only when specific lands again began to rally around a single center - Moscow.