Personal life. Ivan III Vasilievich

The grateful descendants of their ruler Ivan III Vasilyevich called him “the Collector of Russian Lands” and Ivan the Great. And he extolled this statesman even higher than. He, the Grand Duke of Moscow, ruled the country from 1462 to 1505, managing to increase the territory of the state from 24 thousand square kilometers to 64 thousand. But the main thing is that he finally managed to free Rus' from the obligation to pay a huge quitrent to the Golden Horde every year.

Ivan the Third was born in January 1440. The boy became the eldest son of the Great Moscow Prince Vasily II Vasilyevich and Maria Yaroslavna, granddaughter of Prince Vladimir the Brave. When Ivan was 5 years old, his father was captured by the Tatars. In the Principality of Moscow, the eldest of the descendants, the prince, was immediately placed on the throne. For his release, Vasily II was forced to promise the Tatars a ransom, after which the prince was released. Arriving in Moscow, Ivan’s father again took the throne, and Shemyaka went to Uglich.

Many contemporaries were dissatisfied with the actions of the prince, who only worsened the situation of the people by increasing the tribute to the Horde. Dmitry Yuryevich became the organizer of a conspiracy against the Grand Duke, together with his comrades-in-arms, he took Vasily II prisoner and blinded him. Those close to Vasily II and his children managed to hide in Murom. But soon the freed prince, who by that time had received the nickname Dark due to his blindness, went to Tver. There he enlisted the support of Grand Duke Boris Tverskoy, betrothing six-year-old Ivan to his daughter Maria Borisovna.

Soon Vasily managed to restore power in Moscow, and after the death of Shemyaka, civil strife finally ceased. Having married his bride in 1452, Ivan became his father's co-ruler. The city of Pereslavl-Zalessky came under his control, and at the age of 15, Ivan had already made his first campaign against the Tatars. By the age of 20, the young prince led the army of the Moscow principality.

At the age of 22, Ivan had to take over the reign on his own: Vasily II died.

Governing body

After the death of his father, Ivan the Third inherited the largest and most significant inheritance, which included part of Moscow and the largest cities: Kolomna, Vladimir, Pereyaslavl, Kostroma, Ustyug, Suzdal, Nizhny Novgorod. Ivan's brothers Andrey Bolshoy, Andrey Menshoy and Boris were given control over Uglich, Vologda and Volokolamsk.

Ivan III, as his father bequeathed, continued the policy of collecting. He consolidated the Russian state by all possible means: sometimes by diplomacy and persuasion, and sometimes by force. In 1463, Ivan III managed to annex the Yaroslavl principality, and in 1474 the state expanded due to the lands of Rostov.

But that was just the beginning. Rus' continued to expand, acquiring vast expanses of Novgorod lands. Then Tver surrendered to the mercy of the winner, and behind it Vyatka and Pskov gradually came into the possession of Ivan the Great.

The Grand Duke managed to win two wars with Lithuania, taking possession of a large part of the Smolensk and Chernigov principalities. Tribute to Ivan III was paid by the Livonian Order.

A significant event during the reign of Ivan III was the annexation of Novgorod. The Grand Duchy of Moscow tried to annex Novgorod since the time of Ivan Kalita, but only succeeded in imposing tribute on the city. The Novgorodians sought to maintain independence from Moscow and even sought support from the Principality of Lithuania. The only thing that kept them from taking the final step was that Orthodoxy was in danger in this case.

However, with the installation of the Lithuanian protege, Prince Mikhail Olelkovich, in 1470 Novgorod signed an agreement with King Casemir. Having learned about this, Ivan III sent ambassadors to the northern city, and after disobedience, a year later he started a war. During the Battle of Shelon, the Novgorodians were defeated, but no help came from Lithuania. As a result of negotiations, Novgorod was declared the patrimony of the Moscow prince.

Six years later, Ivan III launched another campaign against Novgorod, after the city’s boyars refused to recognize him as sovereign. For two years, the Grand Duke led a grueling siege for the Novgorodians, ultimately finally subjugating the city. In 1480, the resettlement of Novgorodians began to the lands of the Moscow Principality, and Moscow boyars and merchants to Novgorod.

But the main thing is that from 1480 the Grand Duke of Moscow stopped paying tribute to the Horde. Rus' finally sighed from the 250-year yoke. It is noteworthy that liberation was achieved without bloodshed. For a whole summer, the troops of Ivan the Great and Khan Akhmat stood against each other. They were separated only by the Ugra River (the famous standing on the Ugra). But the battle never took place - the Horde left with nothing. In the game of nerves, the army of the Russian prince won.

And during the reign of Ivan III, the current Moscow Kremlin appeared, built of brick on the site of an old wooden building. A set of state laws was written and adopted - the Code of Laws, which cemented the young power. The rudiments of diplomacy and a local landowning system, advanced for its time, also appeared. Serfdom began to take shape. Peasants, who previously moved from one owner to another freely, were now limited to the term of St. George's Day. The peasants were allocated a certain time of year for the transition - the week before and after the autumn holiday.

Thanks to Ivan the Third, the Grand Duchy of Moscow turned into a strong state, which became known in Europe. And Ivan the Great himself turned out to be the first Russian ruler to call himself “the sovereign of all Rus'.” Historians claim that today’s Russia basically has the foundation that Ivan III Vasilyevich laid with his activities. Even the double-headed eagle migrated to the coat of arms of the state after the reign of the Grand Duke of Moscow. Another symbol of the Moscow principality borrowed from Byzantium was the image of St. George the Victorious slaying a serpent with a spear.

They say that the doctrine of “Moscow is the Third Rome” originated during the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich. Which is not surprising, because under him the size of the state increased almost 3 times.

Personal life of Ivan III

The first wife of Ivan the Great was Princess Maria of Tverskaya. But she died after giving birth to her husband's only son.

The personal life of Ivan III changed 3 years after the death of his wife. The marriage to the enlightened Greek princess, niece and goddaughter of the last emperor of Byzantium, Zoe Paleologus, turned out to be fateful both for the sovereign himself and for all of Rus'. Baptized in Orthodoxy, she brought a lot of new and useful things into the archaic life of the state.

Etiquette appeared at court. Sofya Fominichna Paleolog insisted on rebuilding the capital, “dispatching” famous Roman architects from Europe. But the main thing is that it was she who begged her husband to decide to refuse to pay tribute to the Golden Horde, because the boyars were extremely afraid of such a radical step. Supported by his faithful wife, the sovereign tore up another khan's letter, which the Tatar ambassadors brought him.

Probably, Ivan and Sophia really loved each other. The husband listened to the wise advice of his enlightened wife, although his boyars, who previously had undivided influence over the prince, did not like this. In this marriage, which became the first dynastic, numerous offspring appeared - 5 sons and 4 daughters. State power passed to one of the sons.

Death of Ivan III

Ivan III outlived his beloved wife by only 2 years. He died on October 27, 1505. The Grand Duke was buried in the Archangel Cathedral.

Later, in 1929, the relics of both wives of Ivan the Great - Maria Borisovna and Sofia Paleologue - were transferred to the basement chamber of this temple.

Memory

The memory of Ivan III is immortalized in a number of sculptural monuments, which are located in Kaluga, Naryan-Mar, Moscow, and in Veliky Novgorod on the “Millennium of Russia” monument. Several documentaries are devoted to the biography of the Grand Duke, including those from the “Rulers of Rus'” series. The love story of Ivan Vasilyevich and Sofia Paleolog formed the basis of the plot of the Russian series by Alexei Andrianov, where the main roles were played by and.

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The red sun does not shine in the sky
The blue clouds do not admire him:
Then he sits at a meal wearing a golden crown,
The formidable Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich sits...
Mikhail LERMONTOV

But getting to know you is the beginning
High and rebellious days!
Over the enemy camp, as it used to be,
And the splashing and trumpets of swans.
Alexander Blok

Both are Ivans, both are Vasilieviches, both are Terrible, both are Great, both are cruel passionaries, both are stubborn builders of the geopolitical power of the Russian state. Their greatness is especially impressive and prompts philosophical reflection in comparison with the monstrous betrayal and outrage of their efforts and the deeds of other ancestors, which several political herostrati allowed themselves, who overnight and in a drunken stupor destroyed a great power that had been created over a millennium by the efforts of two ruling dynasties , as well as the talent, sweat and blood of thousands and millions of outstanding or unknown Russian people.

Even in a nightmare it is impossible to imagine that one of the two Ivans would suddenly take it and offer it to the appanage princes and boyars: take, they say, as much sovereignty as you want. Yes, even today, just such a thought would turn over in their graves, and the stone tombstones over their graves in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin would shake. To the creators and gatherers - glory forever and ever! Destroyers and squanderers of greatness and wealth not created by them - eternal and indelible shame (and as they also say in such cases: let them burn in fiery hell)!

Russian history knows six Ivans involved in the reigning houses - Ivan I Kalita, Ivan II the Red, Ivan III the Great, Ivan IV the Terrible, Ivan Alekseevich V - half-brother and short-lived co-ruler of Peter I, Ivan Antonovich VI - the nominal Russian emperor, imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress and killed there during an unsuccessful attempt at liberation and enthronement. Of the six, two Ivans - Ivan Vasilyevich III and his grandson Ivan IV - without any doubt, can safely be included in the “golden ten” rulers of Russia, who made the greatest contribution to strengthening its geopolitical greatness and creating an appropriate image in the face of the rest of the world. (I personally think of the “golden ten” in the following order: Oleg the Prophet, Vladimir the Holy, Yaroslav the Wise, Alexander Nevsky, Ivan III the Great, Ivan IV the Terrible, Peter I the Great, Catherine II the Great, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Of course, almost for each stretches an endless string of shadows of innocently killed, tortured and disgraced people with the direct connivance of these rulers of the Russian land; nevertheless, each made an undeniable contribution to strengthening the greatness and prosperity of the State.)

The reign of Ivan III is covered in detail in many chronicles - both pro-Moscow and anti-Moscow. Among them, Ermolinskaya stands out, named after its customer and first owner Vasily Ermolin, a construction contractor during the said reign. He turned out to be an eyewitness to many events, and on the pages of the chronicle named after him, he ordered to reflect not only the chronology of that turbulent era, but also his own construction activities (how we know to the smallest detail: what, when and how was built, for example, in Moscow) . The accession of the great collector of Rus' and the creator of the powerful Russian state is spoken of here sparingly and casually: “The great prince Vasily Vasilyevich reposed and was buried in the Church of the Archangel [sic!] Michael in Moscow. And with his blessing, his eldest son, the great prince Ivan, sat after him in his great reign...”
And then the more than forty-year reign of Ivan III is covered in every detail and detail. It would seem that nothing was missed, everything came into the chronicler’s field of vision. But no - there are a lot of misunderstandings and ambiguities, sometimes you have to read between the lines. Not least of all, this concerns the family life of the new king and his complex relationships with his numerous relatives. The first wife of Tsar Ivan was Princess Maria Tverskaya. The marriage pursued primarily a political goal - the final pacification of the obstinate Tver and the neutralization of its grand-ducal ambitions. The wedding of the newlyweds took place when the groom was only twelve years old (the chronicles are silent about the bride’s age, but, presumably, she was in no way older than her betrothed). Five years later, the first-born was born, named Ivan after his father. Soon he became the official heir to the throne and received a dynastic addition to his name - Young.

It is now difficult to say for certain whether Tsar Ivan loved his Tver wife. In any case, when she died suddenly fifteen years after the wedding, her husband did not come to Moscow for the funeral, although he was very close by - in Kolomna. Five years later, in November 1472, Ivan III married a second time, choosing Princess Zoya as his bride, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine Palaiologos, who was killed by the Turks after the capture of Constantinople. Together with the surviving members of the imperial family, Zoya lived in Italy under the patronage of the Pope, but did not change her Orthodox faith and quickly agreed to the proposal to marry the Russian Tsar. In Russia, Zoya received the name Sophia, and after her father’s name she also received a patronymic - Fominichna. Having such a pedigree and even a European upbringing, Sofya Fominichna Paleolog was, of course, a powerful, proud, arrogant and restive woman, she felt far from completely at ease in “barbaric” Russia and, quite naturally, compensated for moral damage through palace intrigues - in the most perfect spirit of Byzantine traditions.

There were plenty of reasons to be intrigued in the capital of the Muscovite kingdom. But the main stumbling block inevitably became the question of the heir to the throne. Sofya Fominichna gave birth to a bunch of children for the Russian Tsar - five sons and several daughters. Meanwhile, the official heirs to the throne for a long time were the children and grandchildren of the first wife: first Ivan the Young, then (after an unexpected death) his son and grandson of the Tsar, Dmitry. It would be ridiculous to assume that Sophia Paleologus, in whose veins flowed the blood of the treacherous Byzantine emperors, could be indifferent to the current situation. At the beginning of 1498, 14-year-old Dmitry the grandson was solemnly crowned (“crowned to the throne”) in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Queen Sophia and her numerous supporters tried to prevent an action that was undesirable for them. A conspiracy quickly matured and took shape in favor of Vasily, the eldest son from his second marriage, whose birth was accompanied by miraculous signs. It was supposed to kill Dmitry the grandson, and transport Vasily to Vologda along with the state treasury and force Tsar Ivan to agree to the conditions dictated by the conspirators.

However, the conspiracy was discovered (not without, as always, “informers”). Potential perpetrators were quartered on the ice of the Moscow River (some, as a special favor, were only allowed to have their heads cut off). Several women from the queen's entourage, who were charged with witchcraft in order to kill the rightful heir, were drowned in an ice hole, Tsarevich Vasily was put into custody, and the main inspirer of the conspiracy, Queen Sophia, was driven out of the Kremlin - out of sight. But Tsar Ivan apparently forgot that he was dealing not with a conscientious Russian woman, but with an unprincipled Byzantine and a cunning Greek woman.

Less than a year later, the situation changed radically. Unfortunately, the chroniclers are silent (and this is still one of the unsolved mysteries of Russian chronicles) exactly how Sophia managed to convince her husband that she was slandered. Presumably, the arguments seemed more than convincing, because already in the winter following the coronation of the heir, completely different heads rolled onto the ice of the Moscow River. Ivan did not even spare the family of Prince Ryapolovsky, to whom he owed his own life: in the year of the blinding of his father, Vasily the Dark, the Ryapolovskys hid and saved the young prince Ivan from the killers sent by Dmitry Shemyaka. Sophia Paleologus triumphed again: the tsar returned his love to her, and made their son Vasily his official successor. The fate of Dmitry the grandson turned out to be sad: he fell into disgrace, and after the death of Ivan III, which followed in 1505, by order of the new king and half-brother Vasily, he was captured, chained, thrown into prison, where four years later he died under unclear circumstances.

In fact, Moscow chroniclers diligently avoid the slippery aspects associated with both this and subsequent reigns. But they did not spare bright colors and sublime words in praise of the authoritative and formidable ruler of the Russian State. They were definitely imbued with the common passionary spirit that was inherent in Tsar Ivan himself, his closest associates and all the Moscow people who forged the power and greatness of the Russian state. This is especially clear during the fight against Novgorod separatism. The independent and rich Novgorod Republic, which did not know the Tatar-Mongol yoke, in its rivalry with Moscow reached the final limit: it was ready to sacrifice all-Russian interests and become a citizen of the Polish king. The leader and ideological inspirer of the anti-Moscow party, by chance, became the widow of the Novgorod mayor Marfa Boretskaya and her children. The truth is rarely on the side of state traitors and traitors. This happened with the Novgorod independentists. They did not even heed the heavenly signs and noospheric warnings, which clearly warned of the disastrous outcome of their dark plans. One of the Pskov chronicles reports:

“...And on Thursday (November 30, 1475) that night there was a marvelous miracle and filled with fear: Velikiy Novgorod shook itself off against the great prince, and there was a commotion all night long throughout Novugrad. And that same night I saw and heard many truths, like a pillar of fire standing over the Settlement from heaven to earth, as well as the thunder of heaven, and still nothing came to light, God tamed all of this with His mercy; As the prophet said: God does not want sinners to die, but to wait for conversion.”

At the same time, Savvaty Solovetsky had a terrible vision: being on monastery business in Novgorod and going to a feast in the tower of Martha Boretskaya, he suddenly saw the boyars sitting at the table, headless, and predicted their imminent death. Ordinary Novgorodians did not want to fight for a wrong cause, and did not consider Moscow a mortal enemy: they were driven into battle by force and through intimidation: “And the Novgorod mayors, and thousands, and with merchants, and with living people, and all sorts of craftsmen, or, more simply, carpenters and potters, and others who had never been on a horse in their lives and had never thought of raising a hand against the Grand Duke - those traitors drove them all by force, and whoever did not want to go out to fight, they themselves robbed and killed, and others were thrown into the Volkhov River..."

That is why in the Novgorod epic there was the passionate inspiration of Muscovites, which broke the apathy of the many times greater majority of Novgorodians. The latter thought primarily about their money, the former - about the interests of the Motherland. All the chronicles describe in various details the famous battle on the Sheloni River on July 14, 1471, where a small Moscow army under the leadership of the passionary prince Danila Kholmsky completely defeated the Novgorod militia, which was many times superior to it. Karamzin summarized the stories of various chronicles into an overall impressive picture (volume 6, entirely dedicated to the reign of John IV, was considered by many to be the best in the entire 12-volume “History of the Russian State”):
“At the very time when Kholmsky was thinking of crossing to the other side of the river, he saw an enemy so numerous that the Muscovites were amazed. There were 5,000 of them, and the Novgorodians from 30,000 to 40,000: for the Boretskys’ friends still managed to recruit and send several regiments to strengthen their cavalry army.<Июля 14>. But the Governors of Ioannov, saying to the squad: “the time has come to serve the Sovereign; We will not be afraid of three hundred thousand rebels; righteousness and the Lord Almighty are for us,” they rushed on horseback to Shelon, from a steep bank, and in a deep place; however, none of the Muscovites doubted to follow their example; no one drowned; and everyone, having safely crossed to the other side, rushed into battle with the exclamation: Moscow! The Novgorod chronicler says that his compatriots fought courageously and forced the Muscovites to retreat, but that the Tatar cavalry [The Tatars were allies of Tsar Ivan during the 1st campaign against Novgorod. – V.D.], being in ambush, with an unexpected attack upset the first ones and decided the matter. But according to other news [In most chronicles. – V.D.] The Novgorodians did not stand for an hour: their horses, wounded by arrows, began to knock off their riders; horror seized the commander of the cowardly and the inexperienced army; turned their rear; they galloped without memory and trampled each other, persecuted, exterminated by the winner; having tired the horses, they rushed into the water, into the mud of the swamp; they did not find their way in their forests, drowned or died from wounds; others rode past Novgorod, thinking that it had already been taken by John. In the madness of fear, the enemy seemed to them everywhere, the cry was heard everywhere: Moscow! Moscow! Over an area of ​​twelve miles, the Grand Ducal regiments drove them, killed 12,000 people, took 17,000 prisoners, including two of the most noble Posadniks, Vasily Kazimer and Dmitry Isakov Boretsky; finally, tired, they returned to the battlefield...”

The pacification and pacification of Novgorod was accompanied by severe repressions. Chroniclers report about them in chilling detail. After the Battle of Shelon, on the ashes of Staraya Russa, the Grand Duke of Moscow personally carried out a demonstrative massacre of adherents of Novgorod independence and supporters of Marfa Posadnitsa. To begin with, the noses, lips and ears of ordinary prisoners were cut off and in this form they were sent home for a visual demonstration of what would henceforth await any troublemakers who did not agree with the position of the supreme Moscow authorities. The captured governors were taken to the Old Russian Square, and before cutting off their heads, each had their tongue first cut out and thrown to be devoured by hungry dogs. Scary? Certainly! Cruel? Undoubtedly! Pointless? But the Novgorodians did not listen to the words of reason and conviction. Enough letters of admonition were sent to them. And if Tsar Ivan continued to send letters and wait for the veche to discuss them and make a decision by voting, then we can predict without much mental effort that today Novgorod (and after it Pskov) would be part of the Kingdom of Sweden or Great Poland, and the external border of Russia would pass not far from Moscow, somewhere near Mozhaisk (as it was in the middle of the 15th century).

The victorious cry “Moscow! Moscow!”, sounded for the first time in Shelon, for many years became dominant throughout the vast territory of the new and expanding Russia. In the meantime, the great sovereign Ivan Vasilyevich had to fight with an iron fist on two fronts: from within the state was being shaken by appanage princes and Novgorod separatists, from the outside the traditional enemies of Rus' and, first of all, the Tatars were continuously annoying. What it was like for the Russian people at that time is told in the ingenuous story of Afanasy Nikitin, who undertook his unprecedented “walk across the three seas” to India just at the very time when John entered into mortal combat with Martha the Posadnitsa (and he had not yet reached the Tatars hands):
“We are sailing past Astrakhan, and the moon is shining, and the king saw us, and the Tatars shouted to us: “Kachma - don’t run!” But we haven’t heard anything about this and are running under our own sail. For our sins, the king sent all his people after us. They overtook us on Bohun and started shooting at us. They shot a man, and we shot two Tatars. But our smaller ship got stuck near the Ez, and they immediately took it and plundered it, and all my luggage was on that ship.

We reached the sea on a large ship, but it became aground at the mouth of the Volga, and then they overtook us and ordered the ship to be pulled up the river to the point. And our large ship was robbed here and four Russian men were taken prisoner, and we were released with our bare heads across the sea, and were not allowed back up the river, so that no news was given

And we went, crying, on two ships to Derbent; in one ship there is Ambassador Hassan-bek, and the Teziki, and there are ten of us Russians, and in the other ship there are six Muscovites, and six Tver residents, and cows, and our food. And a storm arose on the sea, and the smaller ship was broken on the shore. And here is the town of Tarki, people came ashore, and the kaytaki came and took everyone prisoner...” (Translation by L.S. Semenov)

Distracting from the general line of the story about the reign of Ivan III, one cannot help but marvel at the further narration of Afanasy Nikitin - if only because his famous “Walking” is not at all a separate and independent book, but organic chronicle inserts: the earliest texts are included in the Second Sophia and Lviv Chronicle. Russian people have always strived to discover other worlds for themselves and have always been open to the rest of the world. That is why the revelations of Afanasyev’s diary are read so vividly to this day (as if you were seeing the “miracles of India” with your own eyes:

“And here is the Indian country, and people walk naked, and their heads are not covered, and their breasts are naked, and their hair is braided in one braid, everyone walks with bellies, and children are born every year, and they have many children. Both men and women are all naked and all black. Wherever I go, there are many people behind me - they are amazed at the white man. The prince there has a veil on his head and another on his hips, and the boyars there have a veil over their shoulder and another on their hips, and the princesses walk with a veil over their shoulder and another veil on their hips. And the servants of the princes and boyars have one veil wrapped around their hips, and a shield, and a sword in their hands, some with darts, others with daggers, and others with sabers, and others with bows and arrows; Yes, everyone is naked, and barefoot, and strong, and they do not shave their hair. And women walk - their heads are not covered, and their breasts are bare, and boys and girls walk naked until they are seven years old, their shame is not covered.

From Chaul they went overland, walked to Pali for eight days, to the Indian mountains. And from Pali they walked ten days to Umri, an Indian city. And from Umri there are seven days' journey to Junnar.
The Indian khan rules here - Asad Khan of Junnar, and he serves Melik-at-Tujar. Melik-at-Tujar gave him troops, they say, seventy thousand. And Melik-at-Tujar has two hundred thousand troops under his command, and he has been fighting the Kafars for twenty years: and they have defeated him more than once, and he has defeated them many times. Assad Khan rides in public. And he has a lot of elephants, and he has a lot of good horses, and he has a lot of warriors, Khorasans. And horses are brought from the Khorasan land, some from the Arab land, some from the Turkmen land, others from the Chagotai land, and they are all brought by sea in tavs - Indian ships.
And I, a sinner, brought the stallion to Indian land, and with him I reached Junnar, with God’s help, healthy, and he cost me a hundred rubles. Their winter began on Trinity Day. I spent the winter in Junnar. lived here for two months. Every day and night - for four whole months - there is water and mud everywhere. These days they plow and sow wheat, rice, peas, and everything edible. They make wine from large nuts, they call it Gundustan goats, and they call them mash from tatna. Here they feed the horses peas, and cook khichri with sugar and butter, and feed the horses with them, and in the morning they give them hornets. There are no horses in the Indian land; bulls and buffaloes are born in their land - they ride on them, carry goods and carry other things, do everything.

Junnar-grad stands on a stone rock, is not fortified by anything, and is protected by God. And the path to that mountain day, one person at a time; The road is narrow, two people cannot pass.
In Indian land, merchants are settled in farmsteads. The housewives cook for the guests, and the housewives make the bed, and sleep with the guests. If you have a close connection with her, give two residents, if you do not have a close connection, give one resident. There are many wives here according to the rule of temporary marriage, and then a close relationship is for nothing, but they love white people.”

During the time of Ivan III, Russia itself, in full force, in all its vastness and grandeur, opened up to the rest of the world, which was surprised to discover in the recent Tatar ulus a powerful European power and a successful rival. This merit again undoubtedly belongs to Ivan III. The rule of the Horde, as is well known from any textbook, was ended in the fall of 1480 during the famous stand on the Ugra. Then two huge armies - Russian and Tatar - froze in a mute stupor on different banks of the Oka tributary, which, by a strange whim of fate, captured in its name another terrible invasion of half a thousand years ago - the Ugric (Hungarian) migration from the Northern Ob region to the Danube through the territory of Rus', completely devastated and robbed along the migrants' route.

The end is well known - it is enthusiastically described in all the chronicles of that time. The Typographical Chronicle says this: “It was then that the glorious miracle of the Most Pure Mother of God happened: when our people retreated from the shore, the Tatars, thinking that the Russians were giving them the shore in order to fight them, overwhelmed with fear, ran. (The first Sofia chronicle adds: “after all, the Tatars were naked and barefoot, they were all torn”). In conclusion, the chronicler’s pathos reaches its climax:

“Oh brave, courageous sons of the Russians! Work hard to save your fatherland, the Russian land, from the infidels, do not spare your life, so that your eyes will not see the captivity and plunder of your houses, and the killing of your children, and the abuse of your wives and children, as other great and glorious lands suffered from Turk. I will name them: Bulgarians, and Serbs, and Greeks, and Trebizond, and Morea, and Albanians, and Croats, and Bosna, and Mankup, and Kafa and many other lands that did not find courage and died, ruined the fatherland, and the land, and state, and wander through foreign countries, truly miserable and homeless, and much crying and worthy tears, reproached and reviled, spat upon for lack of courage. People who fled with much property, and wives, and children to foreign countries, not only lost gold, but also destroyed their souls and bodies and envy those who died then and should not now wander homeless in foreign countries. By God, I saw with my sinful eyes the great sovereigns who fled from the Turks with their property, and wandered like strangers, and asked God for death as deliverance from such a misfortune. And, Lord, have mercy on us, Orthodox Christians, through the prayers of the Mother of God and all the saints. Amen". (Translation by Y.S. Lurie)

The chronicler sees the victory over the Horde in the living context of world history and is closely linked with the common fate of the Slavs, when, after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in May 1453, the Orthodox world had its last hope - Russia.

It was during the reign of Ivan III that the unifying - on an all-Russian and worldwide scale - national idea: “Moscow is the third Rome” finally took shape. It is symbolic and significant that she was born not on the banks of the Moscow River, but in Pskov - one of the main nests of Russian separatism. This indicates, first of all, that awareness of the need for all-Russian unity under the auspices of Moscow has become widespread and has penetrated all layers of society. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the messianic role of Russia became obvious - the main heir and custodian of Orthodox traditions. This all-Russian idea, which remains popular to this day, was proclaimed by the elder and abbot of the Pskov Spaso-Elizarov Monastery Philotheus (c. 1465 - c. 1542). Subsequently, in a special message to the Grand Duke, he wrote:
“And if you order your kingdom well, you will be a son of light and a resident of heavenly Jerusalem, and as I wrote to you above, so now I say to you: keep and pay attention, pious king, to the fact that all the Christian kingdoms have come together into one of yours, that two Romes have fallen , and the third one is standing, but there won’t be a fourth one.”

During the reign of Ivan III, Russia also experienced a serious ideological shock, when in Novgorod, and then in Moscow, like an infection, the so-called heresy of the Judaizers spread, engulfing the most diverse strata of the Russian people. The fight against heresy required the mobilization of all the spiritual forces of the best representatives of the Orthodox Church, which was especially difficult, since at first the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III himself fell for the foreign dummy and treated it not without favor. Fortunately, the Sovereign of All Rus' was quickly brought to his senses and directed to the true path by the main overthrower of the heresy of the “Judaizers” Joseph Volotsky (1439/40-1515).

And it all started simple and innocent. Being under constant pressure from Moscow and exhausted by internal contradictions, one of the anti-Moscow groups oriented towards Lithuania invited the Lithuanian prince Mikhail Olelkovich to Novgorod in 1470. A learned Karaite Jew named Skaria (Zachary Skara) also arrived in his retinue. Prince Mikhail soon returned home, and Skhariya not only stayed, but also invited two more learned Jews from Lithuania. Together they launched secret heretical propaganda in Novgorod - first among the Orthodox clergy, and then among the laity, hypnotizing everyone with their prophecies and promises.

This is how the same story sounds in the angry and accusatory word of the Monk Joseph of Volotsky, who dedicated a voluminous polemical treatise entitled “The Enlightener” to the heresies of the Judaizers (the fragment is given in the canonical church translation):
“... At that time there lived in Kyiv a Jew named Skaria, and he was an instrument of the devil - he was trained in every villainous invention: sorcery and witchcraft, astronomy and astrology. He was known to the then reigning prince named Mikhail, the son of Alexander, the great-grandson of Volgird, a true Christian, Christian-minded. This Prince Mikhail in 6979 (1470), during the reign of Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, came to Veliky Novgorod, and with him the Jew Skhariya. The Jew first seduced the priest Denis and seduced him into Jewry; Denis brought to him Archpriest Alexei, who was then serving on Mikhailovskaya Street, and this one also retreated from the immaculate Christian faith. Then other Jews arrived from Lithuania - Joseph Shmoilo-Skaravey, Mosei Hanush. Alexey and Denis tried so hard to strengthen themselves in the Jewish faith that they always drank and ate with the Jews and studied Judaism; and not only did they study themselves, but they also taught their wives and children the same. They wanted to be circumcised according to the Jewish faith, but the Jews did not allow them, saying: if Christians find out about this, they will see and expose you; keep your Judaism in secret, but outwardly be Christians. And they changed their names: they called Alexei Abraham, and his wife Sarah. Subsequently, Alexei taught Judaism to many: his son-in-law Ivashka Maximov, his father priest Maxim and many other priests, deacons and ordinary people. Priest Denis also taught many to practice Judaism: Archpriest Gabriel of Sophia, Gridya Kloch; Gridya Kloch taught Judaism to Grigory Tuchin, whose father had great power in Novgorod. And they taught many more - here are their names: priest Gregory and his son Samsonka, Gridya, clerk Borisoglebsky, Lavresha, Mishuka Sobaka, Vasyuk Sukhoi, son-in-law of Denis, priest Fedor, priest Vasily Pokrovsky, priest Yakov Apostolsky, Yurka Semenov, son of Dolgogo, Avdey and Stepan are also clerics, priest Ivan Voskresensky, Ovdokim Lyulish, deacon Makar, deacon Samukha, priest Naum and many others; and they committed such iniquities as the ancient heretics did not commit.”

The Talmudic dope spread among the Novgorodians with the speed of an epidemic. Why did such a general psychosis suddenly arise and Orthodox people, and among many clergy, immediately fell for Judaistic casuistry? There are many reasons for this, but they had a complex effect. The first reason is political: fear of Moscow expansion and rejection of everything Moscow (hence the constant flirting with non-Orthodox neighbors, including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Livonia and Sweden). The second reason is humanistic: Russians have always been drawn to new knowledge, and Jewish scientists brought to Novgorod the latest achievements of European science and many books on astronomy, astrology, logic, fortune-telling practice, etc., hitherto unknown in Rus'. Finally, the third reason that led to mass interest in the propaganda of Skhariya and his followers is eschatological, associated with the expectation that the End of the World and the Last Judgment will soon occur.

According to Christian chronology, in 1492 the 7th thousand years from the biblical creation of the world began (5508 years before the birth of Christ + 1492 years after the birth of Christ = 7000 years). The mystical belief in the secret meaning of the number 7, coming from paganism, led the Christian world to the conclusion: the day of the Last Judgment is approaching, the world is moving towards its end. In Orthodox Easter, the calculation of the celebration of Easter - the Resurrection of Christ was carried out only until 1491, and in relation to the fateful year 1492, the following notes were made: “woe, woe to those who reached the end of the ages” or “here is fear, here is sorrow, just as in the crucifixion of Christ this circle was, this Summer will appear at the end, and your worldwide coming will also be in it.”

The end of the world was awaited with fear and trembling; it seemed inevitable; the exact date was even announced - on the night of March 25, 1492. And in this situation of complete doom and hopelessness, three learned Jews suddenly appear, who, relying on the Torah and Talmud, declare: according to Judaic chronology, from the creation of the world to the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who was later declared the Christ, not 5508 years passed, but only only 3761 years old. Consequently, the end of the world is still very, very far away, and how can one not laugh at the “scare” of Orthodox priests and monks and doubt the truth of Christian dogmas.

And the Orthodox Novgorodians, and after them the Muscovites, who had never heard of any Talmudic or Kabbalistic wisdom, immediately rejected the creed and dogma of the Holy Trinity (according to the Jewish canons, only God the Father is recognized - Yahweh; Christ was a mere mortal , rightfully crucified, decayed and never resurrected; well, the Holy Spirit is just a “concussion of the air,” that is, breathing). This is only one of sixteen heretical theses defended by the “Judaizers,” which were subjected to merciless criticism by Joseph Volotsky in his “The Enlightener.” Of course, the theological-scholastic side of religious sedition played an important role in this:

“The vile idolatrous wolf, dressed in pastoral clothing, fed the common people he met with the poison of Judaism, while this destructive snake desecrated others with Sodomite debauchery. Overeating and getting drunk, he lived like a pig and in every possible way dishonored the immaculate Christian faith, introducing damage and temptation into it. He blasphemed our Lord Jesus Christ, saying that Christ called himself God; he raised many blasphemies against the Most Pure Mother of God; He threw divine Crosses into unclean places, burned holy icons, calling them idols. He rejected the gospel teaching, the apostolic statutes and the works of all the saints, saying this: there is no Kingdom of Heaven, no second coming, no resurrection of the dead, if someone died, it means he died completely, until then he was only alive. And with him many others - students of Archpriest Alexei and Priest Denis: Fyodor Kuritsyn, clerk of the Grand Duke, Sverchok, Ivashko Maximov, Semyon Klenov and many others, who secretly adhered to various heresies - taught Judaism according to the ten words of Moses, adhered to the Sadducean and Mesalian heresies and introduced much confusion. Those whom they knew as prudent and knowledgeable in the Holy Scriptures, they did not dare to convert to Judaism, but, falsely interpreting to them some chapters of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, they persuaded them to their heresy and taught various fabrications and astronomy: how to determine and arrange the birth and life of a person - and they taught to despise the Holy Scriptures as empty and unnecessary to people. They directly taught Judaism to less learned people. Not everyone deviated into Judaism, but many learned from them to condemn the Holy Scriptures, and in the squares and in houses they argued about faith and doubted.”

As Joseph Volotsky testifies, some of the “Judaizers” went so far as to begin to insistently demand that the rite of circumcision be performed on them, which, however, was prevented by their Jewish mentors, fearing possible reprisals. The latter were not long in coming. The heresy was exposed, condemned by the highest church court and fiercely suppressed: heretics were seized, brutally tortured and most of them burned at the stake. The fate of Skhariya himself is unknown: according to some sources, he was burned with a group of Novgorodians, according to others, the learned troublemaker managed to escape to the Crimea.

This is how the history of the Erisiarch was outlined in literature until the twentieth century. The researchers relied on data contained in church documents of the 15th century and the writings of Joseph Volotsky, which cannot be trusted. However, relatively recently, facts have been introduced into scientific circulation that shed new light on the biography of Skhariya (a detailed presentation of this issue and links to hard-to-reach sources published in small-circulation peripheral publications can be found in the book: V.V. Kozhinov. History of Rus' and the Russian word M ., 1999. pp. 432-440). According to discovered documents, Zakhary Skhariya (exact name Zaccaria-Skharia) was the son of a rich and noble Genoese merchant who settled on the Taman Peninsula and married a Circassian princess. Before being ousted by the Ottoman Turks, the Genoese occupied strong positions in the Crimea, on the opposite Taman Peninsula, the coast of the Black and Azov Seas, where they erected fortresses (their remains are still preserved), founded trading posts, successfully traded with a motley and multilingual population, and weaved political intrigues and even participated in the Battle of Kulikovo on the side of Mamai.

Do new data contradict previously prevailing ideas about the sources and inspirers of Russian “Judaizers”? It’s unlikely - rather, they specify the situation. Although the Karaites are a small Turkic-speaking people professing simplified Judaism, in the opinion of the uninitiated or those who have little understanding of ethnic ones. linguistic and religious subtleties, Karaite is first of all Jewish, and then everything else. Moreover, it is well known. that among the Genoese merchants, bankers and moneylenders there were many Jews who converted to Christianity or secretly professed Judaism. There is evidence (not supported by everyone, however) that the son of just such a Genoese Jew was Christopher Columbus, whose activity, by the way, began at about the same time as the activity of Sharia. But no matter who Shariya was by blood, so to speak, there is no doubt about his interest and deep knowledge in Jewish dogma, astrology and Kabbalistics. That is why in Russian letters and documents he is quite rightly called a “Jew” and a “Jew.” And also the Taman prince - hence his ability to communicate directly, albeit in writing, with representatives of the royal family. It is known that Elena Voloshanka, the daughter of the Moldavian ruler and the wife of the heir to the throne, the early deceased Ivan the Young, the son of Ivan III from his first marriage, came under his direct influence.

Russian chronicles, with various details, pay close attention to this - one of the most amazing - events in the ideological life of medieval Rus'. The Mazurin chronicler is stern, laconic and at the same time capacious:

“In the summer of 6999, in October, the Nougorodt heretics arrived in Moscow to the Sovereign and to Metropolitan Zosima. Zosima does not yet know about them, as they are the leaders and teachers of the heretic; What Zosima is doing is a Christian philosophizing. And he commanded to curse the heretics: the Novgorod archpriest Gabriel and the priest Denis and many who philosophize in such a way. And other messages were sent from the powers to Veliky Novgrad to Archbishop Genadius according to his scripture against heretics. He commanded them to be placed on horses in pack saddles and ordered their clothes to be turned front to back and the backs of the horses to be turned to the heads of the horses, as if they were looking to the west, into the fire prepared for them, and on their heads he commanded them to put sharp birch bark helmets, like those of demons, and the spruce washcloths, and crowns of straw with hay mixed, and targets written on the helmets in ink: “This is Satan’s army.” And he commanded them to be led on horses through the city, and those who met them commanded them to spit on them and say: “This is God’s enemy, Christian blasphemers.” Then he commanded them to lead them away from the city 40, burning the field and the helmets on their heads, although they would also frighten other heretics. Others from the sovereign are condemned to imprisonment. Seeing the heretics in Moscow, Fyodor Kuritsyn and his brother Volk, and hearing how much the heretics suffered in Veliky Novgrad from Vladyka Genady, they were offended by sadness about this and thought about it, they came to the sovereign and begged him to send him to Veliky Novgrad, to Yuriev Monastery, archimorite monk, you yourself taught him, Kasian, heresy and Judaism. The Grand Duke commanded him to be. He took the region from the sovereign and came to Veliki Novgrad. Archimorite Kasiyan began to live in the Yuriev Monastery and gathered all the heretics to himself with boldness, not fearing Archbishop Gspadiy, since he had help from the clerk of the Grand Duke from Fyodor Kuritsyn. When his brother came with him to Novgrad, he was black. And they did a lot of desecration of divine churches and holy icons and honorable crosses. And Archbishop Genady wrote to the Grand Duke about their heresy.

In the same year, by order of the Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Russia, a council was held in Moscow against the Nougorod heretics, according to a letter from the Nougorod Archbishop Gennady. At the cathedral there was Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich instead of his autocratic father and the Most Eminent Zosima, Metropolitan of Russia, and Tikhon, Archbishop of Rostov, and the bishops: Nifont of Suzdal, Simeon of Rezansky, Vasyan of Tver, Prokhor of Sarsk, Filetheus of Perm and Troetsk of the Sergius Monastery, Abbot Afonasei , and hermits, the virtuous elders Paisius and Nil, and many archimorites, and abbots, archpriests, and priestesses, and deacons, and the entire consecrated cathedral of the Russian Metropolitanate. And so, having gathered together and truly assailed those apostate Novgorod heretics and all their like-minded people who want to corrupt the Christian faith, they did not succumb to it, but, like a stone, struck down and themselves were erased and destroyed, even deceiving many ordinary people with their vile heresies. They were brought to that council and questioned about their heretical wickedness; they were the first to commit a lot of deceit, concealing their own iniquities and locking themselves in their heresies, but not based on the false evidence of the conviction. And thus the repentance poured out all the poison of its madness and clearly exposed all its apostasy deeds, and began to speak inappropriately. And abiya, as if in the entry of the mind, stasha, and was as if silent. According to the rule of the saints, the apostle and the father of the saints excommunicated them from the holy catholic church and subjected them to the rank of a monster and the curse of a traitor; Ovii, according to the Gradets law of death, was betrayed. The deacon Volk Kuritsyn and Mitya Konoplev, and Nekras Rukavov, and the Yuryev archimorite Kasiyan, and his brother, and many other heretics were burned in Novegrad and Moscow. Others were imprisoned and in the dungeons of Rososlash, others in the monastery. Having established the holy, immaculate and Orthodox faith and glorified the holy trinity in one Divinity: father and son and the holy spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen...”

After 1917, domestic historians and philosophers tried to get rid of the term “Judaizers.” In encyclopedias, dictionaries, and reference books, where it was impossible to ignore this original phenomenon in Russian spiritual life, as a rule, it was pointed out that this concept is outdated or not used in modern science. Almost no serious research has been conducted on this topic. Publications were not welcomed, and previous, pre-revolutionary* ones were either crossed out from the recommendation lists or were even handed over to a special storage facility. The essence of the heresy itself, where it was impossible to ignore it, was reported in an extremely abstract manner, smoothing out the “sharp corners,” so that God forbid it would turn out that the Jews were trying to seduce Russian Orthodox people from the true path. It was also apparently believed that the very name “Judaizers” offended the feelings of modern Jews. However, there is no logic in either this approach or the possible explanation. The fact is that the Russians themselves are solely to blame for the craze of Novgorodians (and even earlier, Muscovites) with Old Testament issues in general and Talmudic issues in particular. The Jews only satisfied, so to speak, the natural curiosity of the Russian people. Moreover, people were warned against being overly enthusiastic about the “forbidden fruit.” Is the Karaite Zechariah Scar to blame? if the Novgorod fools besieged him with a tearful request to circumcise them? So you should only blame yourself and no one else for everything that happened. As people say: “There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked”...

As for the supposedly abusive word “Jew,” there is nothing offensive or derogatory in it. The word “Jew” was used for a long time only in the Church Slavonic language as a translation from Greek, and in popular and literary usage its equivalent “Jew” was used - also a translated word, but borrowed through Western European (presumably Romance) languages. In order to be convinced of what has been said, it is enough to open the 5th volume of the “Dictionary of the Russian Language of the XI-XVII centuries” on the corresponding pages. (M., 1978) or classic works by Pushkin (for example, “The Miserly Knight”), Gogol (for example, “Taras Bulba”) or Leskov (for example, “The Jewish Somersault”). It was only in the twentieth century that the word acquired an offensive connotation.
V. Demin

Relations between the Orthodox rulers of Rus' and the See of St. Peter were not always hostile. The Vatican sought to subjugate the Orthodox churches through union, and Russian princes were sometimes not averse to taking advantage of this desire for their own political benefits.
One of the first such attempts was made in the middle of the 13th century by the Galician prince Daniil Romanovich. He hoped, with the help of the Pope, to overthrow the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars. In exchange, he agreed to a church union with Rome. Having not received the support from the Polish and Hungarian kings and the German emperor, which the Pope promised him, Prince Daniel dissolved the union. However, the title of “King of the Russians” (regisRusic), which was granted to him by the papal throne, was worn by his descendants until the middle of the 14th century.

There is information that Alexander Nevsky also tried to enlist the support of the Roman High Priest. It is unlikely that ambassadors from Pope Innocent IV could come to him without prior agreement with him. This happened in 1250 - at the same time when Daniel called on the Vatican to help him. Alexander's brother, Andrei Yaroslavich, who was then reigning in Vladimir, entered into an alliance with Daniil, and both of them were preparing to move against the Mongol-Tatars. There is no doubt that Alexander was exploring the possibility of entering into this alliance, and papal diplomats also tried to facilitate it. But something didn’t work out, and, as you know, while Andrei and Daniel rebelled, Alexander headed to the Horde and asked the khan for a label for a great reign. And in the chronicles there is only a story that the ambassadors of Innocent IV tried to persuade Alexander to accept Catholicism (which one has to doubt, since the usual desire of popes was always only church union, which is proven by the history of Daniil of Galicia).

At the end of the 15th century, Muscovite Rus' completed the unification of the Great Russian lands and approached the final overthrow of the Golden Horde yoke. These historical milestones are inextricably linked with the name of Ivan III the Great. Just in 1467, his wife Maria, Princess Tverskaya, suddenly died. The Moscow Grand Duke was looking for a new wife and was not averse to becoming related to some famous foreign dynasty. Ivan III understood well that such a step would strengthen the international position of the united Russian state he was creating.

Earlier, in 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople. The “Second Rome” fell, and a crowd of noble emigrants left Byzantium for Italy. Most of them settled in Venice, where they brought the legacy of ancient Greek writers, which gave enormous impetus to the Renaissance.

Among the exiles were the descendants of the last reigning dynasty - the Palaiologos. All of them accepted the union even earlier, and in Italy they became Catholics. The future wife of Ivan III, Sophia, was initially baptized into Catholicism under the name Zoya.

The initiator of the marriage of the Moscow sovereign with the Byzantine princess, according to most researchers, was Pope Paul II and the government of the Venetian Republic. The main intermediaries in concluding the marriage deal were the Venetian Gian Batista della Volpe, who served the Moscow Grand Duke, known in our country under the name Ivan Fryazin, and the Venetian ambassador Giovanni Trevisan. Volpe-Fryazin represented Ivan III at his betrothal to Zoya in Rome, and the ceremony was presided over by the Pope himself.

Ivan III was shown a portrait of his bride in advance. There was nothing attractive about her. In addition, the Moscow sovereign knew that the Pope had already tried three times to marry Zoya, and each time unsuccessfully - due to the refusal of suitors who found more attractive parties. The exile was not the ruling princess. This means that Ivan III decided on this marriage only out of convenience, and not an alliance with Byzantium, which no longer existed, but with the patron of Zoe herself, that is, with the papal throne.

The bride's procession through Russia was led by the papal legate Antonio Bonumbre, the princess's confessor, who carried a huge Latin (four-pointed) cross. Despite the obvious indignation of the Russians, the Grand Duke ordered the removal of this “roof” only when the procession approached Moscow itself. Apparently, he was afraid of angering the Vatican ambassador.

A strange change took place in Moscow. Our chronicles call Zoya Sophia, and this, according to historian M. Zarezin, indicates that Zoya was baptized according to the Orthodox rite and given a new name. We can only guess why such a change occurred in the attitude of Ivan III (and his new wife) towards Rome. After all, the Grand Duke could not help but know that Zoya was a Catholic; however, during the marriage negotiations there was no talk of her converting to Orthodoxy. The most likely version is related to politics.

Even before the wedding of the Grand Duke (1472), Ivan Fryazin fell from grace, and then there was a sharp deterioration in relations between Moscow and Venice. As it turned out, Trevisan came to lobby for an alliance between Moscow and the Golden Horde against Turkey, which at that time did not threaten Moscow in any way. Ivan III realized that they simply wanted to use him in the interests of others, and he would not receive help in liberating himself from the Golden Horde from the Italians.

True, then Ivan III changed his anger to mercy towards Venice, and throughout his reign masters of various crafts arrived in Moscow from there. But talk about a political union with the Republic of St. Mark (and with its debtor, the papal throne) was never brought up again. And the Horde yoke was overthrown by Moscow in alliance with the Crimean Khan.

Thus ended another short-term and invariably unsuccessful attempt by Rus' and the Vatican to conclude a political union. Rus' wanted concrete help in winning independence, not wanting to sacrifice church independence, and the main thing for the papal throne was to establish dominance over the Russian Church. But the marriage of Ivan the Great with the Byzantine princess patronized by the Vatican left a deep mark on the history of Russia.

1. Features of the formation and position of the Russian aristocracy in the 15th–16th centuries.

2. The situation of peasants in the Russian state in the 15th-16th centuries.

XV – XVI centuries - an important period in the formation of the Moscow state. Second half of the 15th century. - first half of the 16th century. - the final stage of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow. Second half of the 16th century. - the time of the formation of a unique form of monarchy in Russia - autocracy. Moscow rulers of the 15th – 16th centuries. solved the primary task of centralizing power in their own hands. The latter was impossible without a radical reorganization of the relationship between the Grand Duke and appanage princes, without the emergence of new social groups in the population, which became the socio-political support of the power of the Grand Duke of Moscow, and then the Sovereign of All Rus'. The changes that affected the military-political sphere and the fiscal system of the Moscow state entailed significant changes in the social structure of Russian society.

Getting acquainted with the peculiarities of the formation of the Russian aristocracy in the 15th – 16th centuries, it is necessary to first study the legal codes of 1497 and 1550, the administrative and military reforms of Ivan III and Ivan IV, and the period of the oprichnina. Think about what social groups of the population were involved in the implementation of these reforms? You should pay attention to the privileges (estate, patrimony, collection of “fodder”, etc.) received by one or another person in the process of performing official duties, to the availability of opportunities for additional, sometimes not entirely legal, enrichment (promises, etc. ).

Having studied the privileges and responsibilities of the elite of Russian society (high clergy, princes, boyars, guest merchants), analyze the legal status of social groups of the population that took shape in the second half of the 15th – 16th centuries. and who became the military support of the ruler (nobles, archers, gunners, etc.). Think about what segments of the population the above social groups could be recruited from? Compare the position of service people “according to the fatherland” and “according to the apparatus,” church hierarchs and ordinary clergy.

Turning to the problem of the situation of peasants in the Russian state in the 15th – 16th centuries, it should be remembered that it was during that period that the foundations of the serfdom system were laid. Analyze the existing forms of land ownership and the geography of the location of privately owned and black-plowed lands. Based on the codes of law of Ivan III and Ivan IV, restore the principles of traditional relations that existed between the owner of the land and dependent peasants living on his lands before the adoption of the codes of law. Determine the boundaries of attaching peasants to the land (transformation of the “St. George’s Day” law, introduction of reserved and designated years). Compare the position of the dependent peasant, the black-growing peasant and the serf in the second half of the 15th century. and at the end of the 16th century. Determine the main trends and reasons for changes in the social status of these segments of the population.

Based on the material studied, justify the specifics of the social structure of the Moscow state (mobility, lack of a clear class structure and social antagonisms) and its compliance with the tasks solved by the state in the 15th – 16th centuries.

Sources and literature

1. Reader on the history of Russia: textbook. manual / author. – comp. A. S. Orlov, V. A. Georgiev, N. G. Georgieva, T. A. Sivokhina. – M.: TK Welby, Prospekt Publishing House, 2004. – P. 82 – 84, 113 – 122, 125 – 132.

2. Sources and documents on the history of Russia.

URL: http://schoolart.narod.ru/doc.html

3. Russia XV – XVII centuries. through the eyes of foreigners. – L.: Lenizdat, 1986. – 543 p.

4. Grekov B.D. Peasants in Rus' from ancient times to the 17th century [Text]. – M.; L.: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1946. – 960 p.

Klyuchevsky V. O. History of estates in Russia

URL: http://dugward.ru/library/kluchevskiy/kluchevskiy_ist_sosloviy.html

Almost half a century of the reign of Ivan III, later nicknamed the Great, became the era of Moscow’s final victory in the struggle for the unification of the lands of northeastern Rus' and the elimination of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Ivan the Great abolished the statehood of Tver and Novgorod and conquered significant territories west of Moscow from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He refused to pay tribute to the Horde, and in 1480, after standing on the Ugra, tributary relations with the Horde were completely broken. By the time of the death of Ivan III, the process of collecting lands was almost completed: only two principalities remained formally independent from Moscow - Pskov and Ryazan, but they also actually depended on Ivan III, and during his reign, his son Vasily III was actually included in the Moscow principality.

Grand Duke Ivan III strengthened not only the foreign policy positions of his state, but also its legal and financial system. The creation of the Code of Laws and the implementation of monetary reform streamlined the social life of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

Years of reign (from 1462 to 1505);

He was the son of Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark;

The Novgorod land was annexed to the Moscow state during the reign of Ivan III;

In 1478, one of the oldest cities in Rus' was forcibly annexed to the Grand Duchy. This was the city of Novgorod the Great.

wars of the Moscow State with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - 1487-1494;

Vasily III - 1507-1508;

1512-1522 - wars of the Moscow state with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania;

Rus' finally stopped paying tribute to the Golden Horde during the reign of Prince Ivan III;

1480 - standing on the Ugra River;

The reign of Ivan III is characterized:

• a qualitatively new stage in the development of statehood (centralization):
• entry of Rus' into the number of European states.

Russia has not yet played a definite role in world life; it has not yet truly entered the life of European humanity. Great Russia still remained a secluded province in world and European life; its spiritual life was isolated and closed.

This period of Russian history can be characterized as pre-Petrine time.

About gradual formation of a centralized state in Russia testifies:

monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya

division of Russian lands into volosts

In the Moscow state of the XV-XVI centuries. an estate was a land holding granted on the condition of service in the fight against the feudal elite: the Russian clergy, who sought to play a key role in politics, the sovereign elevated a group of young Novgorod priests led by Fyodor Kuritsyn. As it turned out, many of the views of these grand ducal protégés were heretical (the heresy of the “Judaizers”)

Signs of a centralized state:

1. highest state body - Boyar Duma (legislative)

2. single law - Sudebnik

3. multi-stage system of service people

4. a unified management system is being formed

The first order is from the middle of the 15th century. The Treasury stands out (it managed the palace economy).

The attributes of royal power took shape, and the double-headed Byzantine eagle became the coat of arms.