The development of culture took place in difficult conditions of fragmentation of Russian lands. However, despite the constant strife and threats from neighboring states and tribes, there were achievements and successes in the ancient Russian culture of this period. The Oka became more democratic: new territories, cities, new strata of society were actively involved in cultural life. For example, the customers of religious buildings, monumental paintings and precious jewelry were not only princes and boyars, but also wealthy representatives of the urban population, who had their own views, tastes, ideas.
There were changes in ancient Russian architecture. Russian architects began to move away from traditional Byzantine architectural canons and forms and, under the influence of local conditions, began to look for new solutions. In the specific principalities, architectural schools arose, which differed in their characteristics. Kyiv, Chernihiv and Pereyaslav architectural schools are known, which were united by a single style. In Russia, they began to build smaller temples of a simplified design. The internal and external decoration of the temples has changed. The new decoration of the facades became more characteristic: they began to be decorated with pilasters, semi-columns, arcade belts and the so-called curb.
The growth and strengthening of cities - the political and cultural centers of individual principalities - was accompanied by the construction of a large number of religious and civil buildings in Kiev, Chernigov, Galich, Pereyaslav and many other cities. Some of them have survived to this day.
The most famous of them are: the Church of the Virgin Pirogoshcha (1132) in Kyiv on Podil, the Borisoglebsky and Assumption Cathedral of the Yelets Monastery in Chernigov, etc.
The interior of ancient Russian palaces and temples, as before, was decorated with mosaics, frescoes, mosaic floors and a variety of applied arts. The latter were used not only as decorations, but often served as amulets-amulets and were designed to protect their owners from the evil forces of nature. The role of amulets was also played by magical ornaments, which were used to decorate many of their products by master jewelers and artisans who created household items. During the period of fragmentation, the writing of chronicles continued. New centers of chronicle writing appeared in Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Kholm, Vladimir-Volynsky. Some monasteries had entire libraries that consisted exclusively of chronicles. These chronicles were used by subsequent generations of chroniclers, who created entire chronicles, depicting the events of past years from different points of view, and trying to give these events the most objective assessment.
New original forms of historical works appeared; family and tribal princely annals, biographies of princes, etc. Unfortunately, most of these works have not been preserved.
The masterpiece of ancient Russian fiction is "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". This work was written in a difficult time for Russia, when it suffered from the Polovtsy raids, and tells about the unsuccessful campaign of the Novgorod-Seversky prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsy in 1185. The word is permeated with the idea of uniting all the forces of Russia to fight enemies. Using the example of the defeat of Prince Igor, the author of the Lay sought to show what disputes and hostility of princes could lead to.
The Galicia-Volyn land became the center of the cultural life of the Ukrainian principalities during the period of fragmentation. So, as elsewhere at that time, the church played an important role in the development of culture. Chronicles were created in monasteries. The most famous is the Galicia-Volyn Chronicle, which covers the events of the Galician and Volyn lands from 1201 to 1292. A feature of this chronicle is its secular nature. The author of the chronicle figuratively tells about the time of the reign of Roman and Danila, about the life of princes and boyars, about the military campaigns of Russian squads, about their struggle with the Tatars, Hungarians, Poles and other conquerors.
A clear evidence of the high level of culture was the architecture of the region. They were built mainly of wood, for a long time temples remained stone structures, in some cases chambers.
Temples were built mainly of white stone with carved
ornaments. Archaeologists have established that in Galicia in the XII century there were about 30
monumental stone buildings, but only a small part of them
studied to date. Interesting architectural monuments
Galician land is the princely palace and the Church of Panteleimon in Galicia.
Galician and Volyn principalities, at the turn of the XII and XIII centuries. merged into a single Galicia-Volyn principality, in the second half of the XII century. and in the 13th century, at the time of the decline of the Kyiv principality, they reached significant political power and cultural flourishing. The reigns of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Roman Mstislavich, his sons Daniil and Vasilko Romanovich and grandson Vladimir Vasilkovich are associated with the most glorious pages of Galicia-Volyn history. But from the beginning of the XIV century. The Galicia-Volyn land was politically weakening and in the middle of the same century it became part of the Polish-Lithuanian state.
Galician-Volhynian literacy, which developed on the basis of the Kievan literary tradition, if not quantitatively, then qualitatively stood at a significant height. A number of copies of the gospel text have come down to us, including the Galician Four Gospels of 1144, the Dobrilovo Gospel of 1164, and others, the lives of Nifont and Fyodor Studit in the Vygoleksin collection of the 12th-13th centuries Pandecty of Antioch of 1307 and other manuscript books of the 12th-13th centuries centuries The chronicler characterizes Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich as a "great scribe" and a philosopher, which has not been on the whole earth. In one of the monasteries, he donated the gospel, transcribed by his own hand, as well as the Great Cathedral, which belonged to his father. He sent liturgical books to several churches, including the Aprakos Gospel in Chernihiv, written in gold and richly decorated. On his initiative, the full life of Dmitry Solunsky, the Pilot Book and, probably, the Conversations of Grigory Dvoeslov were written off. He had collaborators, just like him, bibliophiles who were engaged in the correspondence of liturgical and other books. Metropolitan Peter should be mentioned among the Galician-Volyn figures of that time.
In the second half of the XIII century. in the Galicia-Volyn land, a collection was apparently compiled (used in the so-called Archival collection of the 15th century and in the Vilna manuscript), which included the Explanatory Apocalypse, the Chronograph, which included biblical books, the chronicles of George Amartol and John Malala, Alexandria and the History of the Jewish War by Josephus; further - under the title "Russian Chronicler" - The Tale of Bygone Years and a collection of the type of Svyatoslav's Izbornik of 1073
Thus, the Galicia-Volyn land in the XII-XIII centuries. owned the best works of translated and Russian historical literature of the Kievan period.
Book activity in the Galicia-Volyn land continued, although not so intensively, even after the loss of its political independence.
There can be no doubt that many monuments of literature perished in that restless historical situation that befell the Galicia-Volyn principality.
Chronicle writing in Galicia apparently began in the 11th century. judging by individual stories, which, undoubtedly, were included from the Galician Chronicle in the Tale of Bygone Years and the Kyiv Chronicle (the description of the blinding of Prince Vasilko and the subsequent events of 1098-1100, set out under 1097). The Galician-Volyn chronicle of the 13th century, preserved precisely in Russian lists, based on sources that also entered Russian use. supported in northeastern Russia the traditions of that retinue poetry, the highest achievement of which at the end of the 12th century. there was a Word about Igor's regiment,
Art of the Galicia-Volyn land of the XII-XIII centuries. cannot be divided by the edge of the Mongol conquest into two halves. The higher military training of the Galician armed forces, the strong defensive walls of the city centers made it difficult for the Tatar conquest, and the subsequent international policy of Daniil of Galicia softened the hardships of the Tatar yoke and ensured an almost normal course of public life, and with it the development of art. Here, as in Novgorod, which escaped the direct defeat of the land by the Mongol hordes, the fateful years 1238-1240. did not interrupt cultural development.
The origins of the art of Galicia-Volyn Rus are connected with the common treasury of artistic culture for all from the ancient Russian principalities - the art of the Kyiv land. We can judge the Galician-Volyn art only by architectural monuments, which, moreover, are poorly studied and are represented almost exclusively by the archaeologically unearthed ruins of temples.
In Kiev architecture of the XI-XII centuries. a foundation was laid for solving a number of new tasks - the city cathedral of the specific capital, the palace princely temple and the ensemble of the princely or generally feudal residence as a whole; they were given in the cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersky monastery, in the Church of the Savior on Berestovo - Monomakh's country palace, and then repeated many times with various modifications, both in the construction of Kyiv itself and in other feudal centers of the 12th century; Galich and Vladimir-Volynsky were among them.
It is essential to note the features of originality that distinguish the architecture of Volhynia and Galicia. Monuments of Vladimir-Volynsky - Mstislav Assumption Cathedral (1157-1160) and the ruins of the temple located in the tract "Old Cathedra", apparently dating back to the same time, are exceptionally close to the Kiev-Chernigov monuments.
Volyn in art, as well as in literature, was the direct heir of the Kyiv land and quite zealously followed its traditions.
The art of Galich followed a slightly different path and more critically perceived the artistic heritage and canonical examples. The originality of Galician architecture was facilitated by the very international position of Galich, which facilitated direct connection with Western Europe and the direct impact of Western artistic culture. The abundance of natural building stone made it possible to replace ordinary brick with it and enriched the possibilities for decorative processing of buildings - carving, the play of various tones of facing stone, etc. (Even in the middle of the 12th century), a complex architectural ensemble of the princely palace was created in Galich. The story of the chronicle about the circumstances of the death of Prince Vladimir Galitsky depicts this building for us in the form of a combination of a number of buildings: the residential part of the palace, the "senei" and the palace temple, united by a system of passages; This composition is based on the system of rich wooden housing - the “choir”, which was developed here even in the conditions of life of the princely retinues of Kievan Rus. features with the composition of the Bogolyubovsky castle of the XII century.
Built at the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. The Church of Panteleimon in Galicia with its portals and Romanesque carvings shows how the Kiev heritage is reshaped in Galician architecture, how Romanesque features are laid on the all-Russian Kiev-Byzantine basis, creating a peculiar look of architecture.
It has received especially magnificent development since the 40s of the 13th century. This fact cannot but be connected with the circumstance noted above that the Galicia-Volyn land was that corner of the Russian land where cultural development continued in the first years of Mongol rule, where social life was not interrupted. Undoubtedly, all cultural forces that escaped captivity and death rushed here; Chronicle, telling about the development of the Hill, paints a colorful picture of the settlement of the new princely city; at the call of the prince “parishioners of Germans and Russia, foreigners and Lyakhs go day and day and hunes and masters of all bezhehu_is Tatars, saddlers and archers and tulnitsy and forge iron and copper and silver, and be life, and fill the yards around the city, field and villages ".
It is in connection with this story about the large number of craftsmen of various professions who flocked to the Galician land that the Galician-Volyn chronicle reports about the beautiful buildings created in the 40-50s by Prince Daniel in the Hill, which caused genuine delight and surprise of his contemporaries.
The church of Ivan deserved special attention and admiration of the chronicler: its vaults rested on carved four-sided capitals depicting human heads. “sculpted from a certain trickster”, “Roman glass”, that is, colored stained-glass windows on the windows of the temple, created a bizarre illumination of its internal space; in the altar above the throne, a beautiful canopy rose on two columns of solid stone. A ciborium decorated with gilded stars on an azure background; the floor was made of copper and tin and shone like a mirror.
Another building of the Hill - the Church of Mary (1260) was not inferior, according to the chronicler, with its beauty and size to other temples. For this church, a beautiful water-blessing cup was made of red marble, it was decorated with snake heads along the edges. The bowl was placed in front of the main church doors, as was done at the temples of that time in the West.
These characteristics, dedicated by the chronicler to the Kholmsk buildings, reveal to us an exceptionally complex and peculiar composition of its constituent elements. The appearance of the Kholmsky temples allows us to see a peculiar interweaving of features born in the process of development of ancient Russian architecture of the 12th century, with clearly borrowed techniques of Romanesque art. The same features characterize the second half of the 12th century. in the Vladimir principality; moreover, individual details of the decoration and decoration of the buildings of the Bogolyubov castle (1158-1165) are so strikingly repeated a century later in the Hill that the idea arises of the possibility of direct work with Prince Daniel of Vladimir architects and carvers who fled from Tatar captivity, and, together with other masters who built and decorated the Kholmsky temples.
The Galician-Volynian culture is characterized by the absence of a pronounced and irreconcilable religious and national aversion to the "Latin" world, and this feature of it also contributed to the enrichment of art by acquaintance with the West. The appeal to Romanesque art was quite understandable for Vladimir of the 12th century. and for Galician Russia of the XIII century, since this art more fully than Byzantine, expressed the ideas and tastes of the feudal world, the leading representatives of which in Russia in the XII century. there were Vladimir "autocrats", and in the XIII century. - Galician-Volyn "king" Daniel.
On the other hand, turning to Western culture was a peculiar form of asserting one's own ways of artistic and cultural development in general and moving away from traditions.
This also explains the significant fact that in the Galician-Volyn art, unlike other principalities, the art of sculpture was significantly developed, which was denied by the Orthodox Byzantine Church when applied to religious subjects. It was expressed here not only in the decorative sculpture of the Kholmsky temples, but developed into an independent branch of art, even of a secular nature. The chronicle tells of an interesting statue erected by Prince Daniel outside the city of Kholm, probably on the way to it.
The same influence of Romanesque art is felt in the Galician-Volyn painting, which can only be judged by a few miniatures.
They trace the techniques of Romanesque-Gothic painting, both in terms of the color range and in the very construction of the picturesque image.
So, the Galician-Volyn art of the XIII century. is one of the brightest and most significant pages in the history of ancient Russian art. Having started its journey along with literature from a common source for all ancient Russia - the Kiev-Byzantine artistic culture, it was enriched by communication with the art of its western neighbors. These introductions were organically mastered by the Galician masters, who created quite original and high-quality monuments of art of Galicia-Volyn Rus.
The principality became the successor of K. Rus, fought for reunification and land consolidation, promoted the development of the economy, cities, crafts, trade, and culture; contributed to the protection of the population of the southwestern lands from physical destruction by the Mongols-Tatars; raised the prestige of Ukrainian lands in the international arena, especially in the context of feudal fragmentation.
After the fall of Kyiv, the Galicia-Volyn principality continued the existence of a state entity in the Slavic lands for a whole century and became the main political center of the future Ukraine.
The word “Ukrainian” was first used in the “Sermons” by the theologian Gregory as early as the middle of the 11th century. The term "Ukraine" is mentioned in the Kyiv Chronicle in 1187 as a synonym for the concept of "crash", that is, the land, native land (for comparison: Serbia. in Serbo-Croatian - Serbian Crash). Since 1335, for Galicia, the concept of “Little Russia” borrowed from the Greeks began to be used, which later turned into the concept of “Little Russia”. However, in different periods it denoted different regions of Ukraine.
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Educational and practical guide on the discipline history of culture and arts of Ukraine
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The development of culture took place in difficult conditions of fragmentation of Russian lands. However, despite the constant strife and threats from neighboring states and tribes, there were achievements and successes in the ancient Russian culture of this period. The Oka became more democratic: new territories, cities, new strata of society were actively involved in cultural life. For example, the customers of religious buildings, monumental paintings and precious jewelry were not only princes and boyars, but also wealthy representatives of the urban population, who had their own views, tastes, ideas.
There were changes in ancient Russian architecture. Russian architects began to move away from traditional Byzantine architectural canons and forms and, under the influence of local conditions, began to look for new solutions. In the specific principalities, architectural schools arose, which differed in their characteristics. Kyiv, Chernihiv and Pereyaslav architectural schools are known, which were united by a single style. In Russia, they began to build smaller temples of a simplified design. The internal and external decoration of the temples has changed. The new decoration of the facades became more characteristic: they began to be decorated with pilasters, semi-columns, arcade belts and the so-called curb.
The growth and strengthening of cities - the political and cultural centers of individual principalities - was accompanied by the construction of a large number of religious and civil buildings in Kiev, Chernigov, Galich, Pereyaslav and many other cities. Some of them have survived to this day.
The most famous of them are: the Church of the Virgin Pirogoshcha (1132) in Kyiv on Podil, the Borisoglebsky and Assumption Cathedral of the Yelets Monastery in Chernigov, etc.
The interior of ancient Russian palaces and temples, as before, was decorated with mosaics, frescoes, mosaic floors and a variety of applied arts. The latter were used not only as decorations, but often served as amulets-amulets and were designed to protect their owners from the evil forces of nature. The role of amulets was also played by magical ornaments, which were used to decorate many of their products by master jewelers and artisans who created household items. During the period of fragmentation, the writing of chronicles continued. New centers of chronicle writing appeared in Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Kholm, Vladimir-Volynsky. Some monasteries had entire libraries that consisted exclusively of chronicles. These chronicles were used by subsequent generations of chroniclers, who created entire chronicles, depicting the events of past years from different points of view, and trying to give these events the most objective assessment.
New original forms of historical works appeared; family and tribal princely annals, biographies of princes, etc. Unfortunately, most of these works have not been preserved.
The masterpiece of ancient Russian fiction is "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". This work was written in a difficult time for Russia, when it suffered from the Polovtsy raids, and tells about the unsuccessful campaign of the Novgorod-Seversky prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsy in 1185. The word is permeated with the idea of uniting all the forces of Russia to fight enemies. Using the example of the defeat of Prince Igor, the author of the Lay sought to show what disputes and hostility of princes could lead to.
The Galicia-Volyn land became the center of the cultural life of the Ukrainian principalities during the period of fragmentation. So, as elsewhere at that time, the church played an important role in the development of culture. Chronicles were created in monasteries. The most famous is the Galicia-Volyn Chronicle, which covers the events of the Galician and Volyn lands from 1201 to 1292. A feature of this chronicle is its secular nature. The author of the chronicle figuratively tells about the time of the reign of Roman and Danila, about the life of princes and boyars, about the military campaigns of Russian squads, about their struggle with the Tatars, Hungarians, Poles and other conquerors.
A clear evidence of the high level of culture was the architecture of the region. They were built mainly of wood, for a long time temples remained stone structures, in some cases chambers.
Temples were built mainly of white stone with carved
ornaments. Archaeologists have established that in Galicia in the XII century there were about 30
monumental stone buildings, but only a small part of them
studied to date. Interesting architectural monuments
Galician land is the princely palace and the Church of Panteleimon in Galicia.
Galician and Volyn principalities, at the turn of the XII and XIII centuries. merged into a single Galicia-Volyn principality, in the second half of the XII century. and in the 13th century, at the time of the decline of the Kyiv principality, they reached significant political power and cultural flourishing. The reigns of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Roman Mstislavich, his sons Daniil and Vasilko Romanovich and grandson Vladimir Vasilkovich are associated with the most glorious pages of Galicia-Volyn history. But from the beginning of the XIV century. The Galicia-Volyn land was politically weakening and in the middle of the same century it became part of the Polish-Lithuanian state.
Galician-Volhynian literacy, which developed on the basis of the Kievan literary tradition, if not quantitatively, then qualitatively stood at a significant height. A number of copies of the gospel text have come down to us, including the Galician Four Gospels of 1144, the Dobrilovo Gospel of 1164, and others, the lives of Nifont and Fyodor Studit in the Vygoleksin collection of the 12th-13th centuries Pandecty of Antioch of 1307 and other manuscript books of the 12th-13th centuries centuries The chronicler characterizes Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich as a "great scribe" and a philosopher, which has not been on the whole earth. In one of the monasteries, he donated the gospel, transcribed by his own hand, as well as the Great Cathedral, which belonged to his father. He sent liturgical books to several churches, including the Aprakos Gospel in Chernihiv, written in gold and richly decorated. On his initiative, the full life of Dmitry Solunsky, the Pilot Book and, probably, the Conversations of Grigory Dvoeslov were written off. He had collaborators, just like him, bibliophiles who were engaged in the correspondence of liturgical and other books. Metropolitan Peter should be mentioned among the Galician-Volyn figures of that time.
In the second half of the XIII century. in the Galicia-Volyn land, a collection was apparently compiled (used in the so-called Archival collection of the 15th century and in the Vilna manuscript), which included the Explanatory Apocalypse, the Chronograph, which included biblical books, the chronicles of George Amartol and John Malala, Alexandria and the History of the Jewish War by Josephus; further - under the title "Russian Chronicler" - The Tale of Bygone Years and a collection of the type of Svyatoslav's Izbornik of 1073
Thus, the Galicia-Volyn land in the XII-XIII centuries. owned the best works of translated and Russian historical literature of the Kievan period.
Book activity in the Galicia-Volyn land continued, although not so intensively, even after the loss of its political independence.
There can be no doubt that many monuments of literature perished in that restless historical situation that befell the Galicia-Volyn principality.
Chronicle writing in Galicia apparently began in the 11th century. judging by individual stories, which, undoubtedly, were included from the Galician Chronicle in the Tale of Bygone Years and the Kyiv Chronicle (the description of the blinding of Prince Vasilko and the subsequent events of 1098-1100, set out under 1097). The Galician-Volyn chronicle of the 13th century, preserved precisely in Russian lists, based on sources that also entered Russian use. supported in northeastern Russia the traditions of that retinue poetry, the highest achievement of which at the end of the 12th century. there was a Word about Igor's regiment,
Art of the Galicia-Volyn land of the XII-XIII centuries. cannot be divided by the edge of the Mongol conquest into two halves. The higher military training of the Galician armed forces, the strong defensive walls of the city centers made it difficult for the Tatar conquest, and the subsequent international policy of Daniil of Galicia softened the hardships of the Tatar yoke and ensured an almost normal course of public life, and with it the development of art. Here, as in Novgorod, which escaped the direct defeat of the land by the Mongol hordes, the fateful years 1238-1240. did not interrupt cultural development.
The origins of the art of Galicia-Volyn Rus are connected with the common treasury of artistic culture for all from the ancient Russian principalities - the art of the Kyiv land. We can judge the Galician-Volyn art only by architectural monuments, which, moreover, are poorly studied and are represented almost exclusively by the archaeologically unearthed ruins of temples.
In Kiev architecture of the XI-XII centuries. a foundation was laid for solving a number of new tasks - the city cathedral of the specific capital, the palace princely temple and the ensemble of the princely or generally feudal residence as a whole; they were given in the cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersky monastery, in the Church of the Savior on Berestovo - Monomakh's country palace, and then repeated many times with various modifications, both in the construction of Kyiv itself and in other feudal centers of the 12th century; Galich and Vladimir-Volynsky were among them.
It is essential to note the features of originality that distinguish the architecture of Volhynia and Galicia. Monuments of Vladimir-Volynsky - Mstislav Assumption Cathedral (1157-1160) and the ruins of the temple located in the tract "Old Cathedra", apparently dating back to the same time, are exceptionally close to the Kiev-Chernigov monuments.
Volyn in art, as well as in literature, was the direct heir of the Kyiv land and quite zealously followed its traditions.
The art of Galich followed a slightly different path and more critically perceived the artistic heritage and canonical examples. The originality of Galician architecture was facilitated by the very international position of Galich, which facilitated direct connection with Western Europe and the direct impact of Western artistic culture. The abundance of natural building stone made it possible to replace ordinary brick with it and enriched the possibilities for decorative processing of buildings - carving, the play of various tones of facing stone, etc. (Even in the middle of the 12th century), a complex architectural ensemble of the princely palace was created in Galich. The story of the chronicle about the circumstances of the death of Prince Vladimir Galitsky depicts this building for us in the form of a combination of a number of buildings: the residential part of the palace, the "senei" and the palace temple, united by a system of passages; This composition is based on the system of rich wooden housing - the “choir”, which was developed here even in the conditions of life of the princely retinues of Kievan Rus. features with the composition of the Bogolyubovsky castle of the XII century.
Built at the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. The Church of Panteleimon in Galicia with its portals and Romanesque carvings shows how the Kiev heritage is reshaped in Galician architecture, how Romanesque features are laid on the all-Russian Kiev-Byzantine basis, creating a peculiar look of architecture.
It has received especially magnificent development since the 40s of the 13th century. This fact cannot but be connected with the circumstance noted above that the Galicia-Volyn land was that corner of the Russian land where cultural development continued in the first years of Mongol rule, where social life was not interrupted. Undoubtedly, all cultural forces that escaped captivity and death rushed here; Chronicle, telling about the development of the Hill, paints a colorful picture of the settlement of the new princely city; at the call of the prince “parishioners of Germans and Russia, foreigners and Lyakhs go day and day and hunes and masters of all bezhehu_is Tatars, saddlers and archers and tulnitsy and forge iron and copper and silver, and be life, and fill the yards around the city, field and villages ".
It is in connection with this story about the large number of craftsmen of various professions who flocked to the Galician land that the Galician-Volyn chronicle reports about the beautiful buildings created in the 40-50s by Prince Daniel in the Hill, which caused genuine delight and surprise of his contemporaries.
The church of Ivan deserved special attention and admiration of the chronicler: its vaults rested on carved four-sided capitals depicting human heads. “sculpted from a certain trickster”, “Roman glass”, that is, colored stained-glass windows on the windows of the temple, created a bizarre illumination of its internal space; in the altar above the throne, a beautiful canopy rose on two columns of solid stone. A ciborium decorated with gilded stars on an azure background; the floor was made of copper and tin and shone like a mirror.
Another building of the Hill - the Church of Mary (1260) was not inferior, according to the chronicler, with its beauty and size to other temples. For this church, a beautiful water-blessing cup was made of red marble, it was decorated with snake heads along the edges. The bowl was placed in front of the main church doors, as was done at the temples of that time in the West.
These characteristics, dedicated by the chronicler to the Kholmsk buildings, reveal to us an exceptionally complex and peculiar composition of its constituent elements. The appearance of the Kholmsky temples allows us to see a peculiar interweaving of features born in the process of development of ancient Russian architecture of the 12th century, with clearly borrowed techniques of Romanesque art. The same features characterize the second half of the 12th century. in the Vladimir principality; moreover, individual details of the decoration and decoration of the buildings of the Bogolyubov castle (1158-1165) are so strikingly repeated a century later in the Hill that the idea arises of the possibility of direct work with Prince Daniel of Vladimir architects and carvers who fled from Tatar captivity, and, together with other masters who built and decorated the Kholmsky temples.
The Galician-Volynian culture is characterized by the absence of a pronounced and irreconcilable religious and national aversion to the "Latin" world, and this feature of it also contributed to the enrichment of art by acquaintance with the West. The appeal to Romanesque art was quite understandable for Vladimir of the 12th century. and for Galician Russia of the XIII century, since this art more fully than Byzantine, expressed the ideas and tastes of the feudal world, the leading representatives of which in Russia in the XII century. there were Vladimir "autocrats", and in the XIII century. - Galician-Volyn "king" Daniel.
On the other hand, turning to Western culture was a peculiar form of asserting one's own ways of artistic and cultural development in general and moving away from traditions.
This also explains the significant fact that in the Galician-Volyn art, unlike other principalities, the art of sculpture was significantly developed, which was denied by the Orthodox Byzantine Church when applied to religious subjects. It was expressed here not only in the decorative sculpture of the Kholmsky temples, but developed into an independent branch of art, even of a secular nature. The chronicle tells of an interesting statue erected by Prince Daniel outside the city of Kholm, probably on the way to it.
The same influence of Romanesque art is felt in the Galician-Volyn painting, which can only be judged by a few miniatures.
They trace the techniques of Romanesque-Gothic painting, both in terms of the color range and in the very construction of the picturesque image.
So, the Galician-Volyn art of the XIII century. is one of the brightest and most significant pages in the history of ancient Russian art. Having started its journey along with literature from a common source for all ancient Russia - the Kiev-Byzantine artistic culture, it was enriched by communication with the art of its western neighbors. These introductions were organically mastered by the Galician masters, who created quite original and high-quality monuments of art of Galicia-Volyn Rus.
The principality became the successor of K. Rus, fought for reunification and land consolidation, promoted the development of the economy, cities, crafts, trade, and culture; contributed to the protection of the population of the southwestern lands from physical destruction by the Mongols-Tatars; raised the prestige of Ukrainian lands in the international arena, especially in the context of feudal fragmentation.
After the fall of Kyiv, the Galicia-Volyn principality continued the existence of a state entity in the Slavic lands for a whole century and became the main political center of the future Ukraine.
The word “Ukrainian” was first used in the “Sermons” by the theologian Gregory as early as the middle of the 11th century. The term "Ukraine" is mentioned in the Kyiv Chronicle in 1187 as a synonym for the concept of "crash", that is, the land, native land (for comparison: Serbia. in Serbo-Croatian - Serbian Crash). Since 1335, for Galicia, the concept of “Little Russia” borrowed from the Greeks began to be used, which later turned into the concept of “Little Russia”. However, in different periods it denoted different regions of Ukraine.
In the process of feudalization, the Old Russian state was fragmented into a number of separate, to a certain extent independent, principalities and lands. Feudal fragmentation, which was a natural stage in the historical development of Russia, was a consequence of the economic isolation of individual principalities. The growth of large property and the spread of food rent created during this period more favorable conditions for the further development of the economy. At the same time, the consequence of fragmentation was the strengthening of princely strife. In the conditions of constant internecine wars, the foreign policy position of Russia worsened, and in the end, as a result of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, it lost its independence.
Agriculture and the condition of the peasants
During the period of feudal fragmentation, there were significant shifts in the productive forces of the country, and agricultural technology improved. So, for example, in the territory located along the Dniester, as evidenced by excavation materials, the population used the colum (a plow knife installed in front of the plowshare) when plowing virgin lands with a plow, a plowshare for cultivating old arable land and small plowshares for pre-sowing tillage. A water mill was used to grind grain. In the central regions of Russia, along with undercutting and fallow, a three-field system of agriculture spread, the Russian people mastered vast expanses of new lands, especially in the northeast of the country (in the Volga region, in the basin of the Northern Dvina, etc.). New field, garden and horticultural crops appeared. The number of livestock grew.
Changes took place in the position of the peasants during the period of feudal fragmentation. The number of quitrent peasants dependent on the feudal lords increased. In the Novgorod and Suzdal lands, for example, ladles and pawns appeared. Ladles were called smerds, who were obliged to give the feudal lord a share of the harvest as quitrent; mortgages - peasants who left the former landowner and became dependent (into a "mortgage") from another. In Smolensk land, forgivers were known - peasants who were dependent on church feudal lords, who took quitrent from them (honey and "kuns" - money) and had the right to judge them.
The peasant, who was obliged to pay the owner a feudal rent in products, received greater economic independence and had greater opportunities for manifesting his own labor initiative than the corvée. Therefore, with the development (along with corvée) of rent in products, the productivity of the peasant's labor increased. He was able to produce a certain surplus of products that he could turn into a commodity on the market. The beginnings of a property stratification of the peasantry appeared.
The expansion of ties between the peasant economy and the market contributed to the growth of cities, the development of handicrafts and trade in them, and the development of commodity production. In turn, the feudal lords, selling products received at the expense of dues in kind, acquired expensive weapons, fabrics, overseas wines and other luxury items in the cities. The desire to increase their wealth pushed the feudal lords to increase the dues, to intensify the exploitation of the peasantry.
The peasants were an estate of an inferior category of the population. In the annals, when describing the "exploits" of the feudal lords, captive peasants and serfs were mentioned along with cattle. The Church consecrated this order, regarding the murder by the master of a “complete servant” (that is, a serf) not as “murder”, but only as a “sin before God”. If the serf fled, a chase would follow him, and the one who gave him bread and showed him the way had to pay a fine. But the one who detained the serf received a reward for the "transfer". True, the property rights of serfs have expanded somewhat. The agreement of 1229 between Smolensk and German cities speaks of the right of serfs to transfer their property by inheritance.
The rise of feudal landownership
The period of feudal fragmentation in Russia is characterized by the rapid growth of large-scale landownership and the struggle of the feudal lords for land and for the peasants. Princely possessions included both cities and villages. For example, the Galician-Volyn prince Daniil Romanovich owned the cities of Kholm, Danilov, Ugrovesk, Lvov, Vsevolozh, and others. Boyar and church land ownership also grew. The Novgorod, Galician, and Vladimir-Suzdal boyars were especially wealthy.
New monasteries appeared in different parts of the country. Bishop Simon of Vladimir (XIII century) boasted of the riches of his bishopric - lands and income from the population ("tithe"). Throughout Russia, the patrimonial economy, which retained a natural character, expanded significantly. The boyar courts grew. The former boyar servants (part of which carried the corvée) turned into courtyard people.
The growth of feudal property was accompanied by the strengthening of the political power of the landowners, who had the right to judge their peasants and were responsible to the state for their performance of state duties, primarily taxes. Gradually, a large landowner became himself a "sovereign" in his possessions, sometimes dangerous for princely power.
Struggle within the ruling class
Among the landowners were feudal lords of various ranks, who had different political rights. Grand dukes - in Galich, in Vladimir, and even in the relatively small Ryazan - were considered the heads of their principalities, but in fact they had to share power with other feudal lords. The grand ducal power, which sought to implement a unifying policy, faced both boyar and church nobility. In this struggle, the local grand dukes found support from small and medium service feudal lords - nobles and boyar children. Free servants, boyar children, nobles - these are usually the younger members of the princely and boyar squads, who constituted the largest group of the ruling class. They owned the land, some conditionally, while they served, and were the support of the Grand Duke, supplying him with an army consisting of dependent smerds - footmen (infantrymen). The princely power expanded the ranks of the nobles, attracting them to itself by distributing land. The nobles were part of the spoils of war.
The severity of the struggle within the class of feudal lords can be judged from the works of social and political thought. The defender of strong princely power, spokesman for the views of the then nobility, Daniil Zatochnik sharply denounced the secular and spiritual nobility: “A fat horse snores against his master like an enemy; so does a strong, wealthy boyar plotting evil against his prince.” “It would be better for me,” Daniel says to the prince, “to serve in bast shoes in your house than in morocco boots in the boyar court.” Daniil Zatochnik expressed the idea of the need for the participation of the nobles in management: they, and not from the "rulers without a mind," should consist of "princely duma members."
Although the tendency towards the centralization of the country was developed at that time in Russia, however, it could not end with a lasting victory for the grand ducal power. More than once, the "young" boyars and the "nobility", growing rich, took the place of the "old" and, colliding with individual princes in feudal wars, overturned their attempts to unite significant territories. The economic conditions are not yet ripe for the victory of the trend towards unity. The struggle for land among the ruling class led to constant clashes. Often the princes devastated the land of their opponents so much that they did not leave “neither servants nor cattle” in them. The princely detachments stopped in the villages and took away all household supplies.
City
The city became a very important factor in the economic and political history of the period of developed feudalism in Russia. It was a craft, trade and administrative center for the surrounding lands, as well as a gathering point for their military forces. Describing the important role of large cities, the chronicler reports that residents of the suburbs came here to veche meetings, for whom the decisions of the “oldest cities” were binding.
The number of cities (large and small) has grown since the 11th century. more than three times, and by the XIII century, only according to incomplete data from the annals, it reached almost three hundred. The flourishing of urban crafts continued until the Mongol invasion. Archaeological material allows us to speak about the existence of up to 60 different craft specialties at that time. Even in small urban centers there were complex blast furnaces for iron smelting, there were several systems of pottery forges, etc. Chroniclers unanimously describe cities as large craft and trade centers, where significant stone construction is carried out. The remarkable princely palace in Bogolyubovo, magnificent temples decorated with stone carvings in Vladimir, Novgorod, Galich, Chernigov and other cities, water pipes and pavements, partly preserved to this day and discovered by Soviet archaeologists, characterize the achievements of ancient Russian masters.
Russian artisans performed a wide variety of work. So, for example, in Vladimir-on-Klyazma, some local artisans poured tin, others covered the roofs, others whitewashed the walls. In Galicia-Volyn Rus, in the city of Kholm, bells were cast and a platform for the local church was cast from copper and tin. It is not for nothing that the images characterizing handicraft work were widely used in the literature of that time: “Just as tin, often melted down, dies, so a person languishes from many misfortunes”; “You boil iron, but you can’t teach an evil wife,” wrote Daniil Zatochnik.
Along with the craft, trade also developed. The sales area for the products of rural artisans was still insignificant, while the sales area for urban craftsmen who worked to order for boyars and warriors reached 50-100 km. Many urban craftsmen (Kyiv, Novgorod, Smolensk) worked for the market. Some, though not numerous, products were sold for hundreds of kilometers, and individual works of artisans went abroad (to Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden).
Trade developed within the principalities. Merchants traveled across the Russian lands, merchant caravans, numbering several hundred people, passed. Galician merchants brought salt to Kyiv, Suzdal merchants delivered bread to Novgorod, etc.
The princes received a variety of income from trade: tribute from merchants (guests), taverns - duties from taverns; myta - duties for the right to transport goods; transportation - for transportation across the river, etc. The princes more and more often included in contracts with each other an article stating that merchants have the right to free passage through customs gates. But under the dominance of feudal fragmentation and frequent wars, these trade ties were often interrupted. The economy as a whole continued to remain natural.
Foreign trade reached a significant scale at this time. So, "guests" from Byzantium and other countries came to Vladimir-on-Klyazma. Large cities - Novgorod, Smolensk, Vitebsk, Polotsk concluded trade agreements with German cities (treaties of 1189, 1229, etc.). Russian merchant associations won more and more stable positions in neighboring lands. There were "Russian streets" in Constantinople, Riga, Bolgar.
The political significance of the urban trade and handicraft population has greatly increased. The artisans of the largest cities united in "streets", "rows" and "hundreds", had their own churches, built in honor of one or another "saint" - the patron of the craft, and their own treasury. Craft associations met to discuss their affairs, elected elders. Merchants also had their own organizations.
The leadership of both merchant associations (such as the Greeks, who traded with Byzantium, the Chudins, who traded with the Baltic states, the Obonezhtsy, who traded with the peoples of the North, etc.), and craft corporations were in the hands of the trade and craft elite, closely associated with the boyar nobility . Large merchants and usurers sharply opposed the urban artisan poor - the smaller people.
The feudal lords during the constant internecine wars plundered and ravaged the cities. Under these conditions, the townspeople sought to free their city from the power of the boyars and petty princes and enter into an agreement with some major prince. Thus, the cities received certain guarantees in the event of feudal wars and at the same time sought recognition from the local grand dukes of their privileges, which primarily protected the rights of wealthy citizens. Cities, which contributed to the establishment of political fragmentation in the country at an early stage in the development of feudalism, gradually turned into a force that, along with the nobility, more and more energetically contributed to the unification of larger areas into grand principalities.
Class struggle
No matter how complex and contradictory were the relations between individual groups of the ruling class, this class as a whole opposed the peasantry, which continued the struggle against its oppressors. The forms of the peasant struggle against the feudal lords were diverse: escapes, damage to the master's inventory, extermination of livestock, arson of estates, murder of representatives of the princely administration, and finally, open uprisings.
Repeatedly, uprisings broke out in the cities. The struggle with the landowning nobility, the internal differentiation of the urban population, the growth of debt enslavement of artisans, frequent wars, etc. - all this worsened the already difficult situation of the urban poor and led to uprisings. In these uprisings, the urban poor and the peasantry often acted in concert. Thus, a large uprising of the peasantry and the urban poor broke out in 1136 in Novgorod, when the Novgorodians, together with the Pskovians and Ladoga residents, expelled Prince Vsevolod, who oppressed the smerds. But the fruits of the uprising were appropriated by the boyars, who established a feudal republic in Novgorod, independent of the Kievan grand dukes.
Uprising in Kyiv in 1146. Miniature from the Radzivilov Chronicle. 15th century
In 1207, a new major uprising took place in Novgorod. It was directed primarily against the posadnik Dmitr, who came from a family of wealthy boyars Miroshkinich, who brutally oppressed the urban and rural poor and were engaged in usurious operations. The movement, which began in the city, received a wide response in the countryside. The rebels defeated the yards and villages of Miroshkinichi, seized the IOUs they took from the enslaved "black people", and divided the boyar property among themselves.
The reason for the popular movement of 1174-1175. in the Vladimir-Suzdal land there was a performance of a part of the rich combatants who entered into an alliance with the boyars and betrayed Prince Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky. The prince was killed, his castle was plundered. The boyars seized power. At this time, a peasant uprising broke out. The peasants began to destroy representatives of the princely administration, which consisted mainly of nobles. This forced the feudal lords to once again look for the premises of a strong prince. Local cities, led by Vladimir, fearing the autocracy of the boyars, also stood for strong princely power. Ultimately, the popular uprising was crushed.
"Russian Truth" according to the Synoidal List (sheet 1). 1282
In 1146, after the death of the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich, who captured Kyiv, the local trade and craft population rebelled and cracked down on the princely administration. Kievans fought for city liberties, protesting against the transfer of Kyiv by inheritance to the princes of Chernigov.
In Galicia-Volyn Rus, popular movements took place in the 40s of the XII century. The Galician prince Vladimirko Volodarevich, who then fought against the Kyiv prince because of Volhynia, failed and lost some cities. This was reflected in the attitude of other cities towards him, which began to support the Kyiv prince. When the troops of the latter besieged Zvenigorod, the townspeople gathered veche and opposed Vladimirok. But the princely governor suppressed the movement of the townspeople. He captured three men who led the assembly, ordered them to be hacked to death and thrown into the moat. They raised an uprising against Prince Vladimirok and the townspeople of Galich. After the Galicians, forced to surrender by military force, opened the gates to the prince, he killed many people, and executed many with an “evil execution”. A large movement of peasants took place in the Galician land in the 40s of the XIII century.
Political system and state apparatus
With the dismemberment of the Old Russian state in different Russian lands during the XII-XIII centuries. the political importance of the landowning nobility grew and at the same time the grand ducal power struggled with it, leading to unequal results. Such strong princes, such as Vladimir-Suzdal, after the decline of Kyiv, managed to curb the local boyars for a while. In some lands, for example in Novgorod, the landowning nobility defeated the princes. Finally, in the Galicia-Volyn land, a fierce struggle between the strong boyars and the princes went on with varying success. In the rest of the principalities, as far as scarce sources allow us to judge, events developed in one of the indicated directions.
As certain lands were liberated from the domination of the Kievan great princes, the power of the latter increasingly fell into decay. The all-Russian significance of the Kievan princely power decreased, although it did not disappear completely. The Grand Princely Kyiv table turned into a bone of contention between the strongest rulers of other principalities. The real state power was in the hands of the feudal lords who headed individual principalities, while the rulers of the largest of them, over time, began to advocate for the unification of the country, declaring themselves the grand dukes of all Russia.
In all Russian lands at that time there was a further development and strengthening of the administrative apparatus that protected the interests of the feudal lords. Chronicles and legal monuments mention a large number of various military, administrative, financial and other bodies of state and palace power. "Russkaya Pravda", the main guide for the court, was replenished with new legal norms and operated in all the lands of Russia. Prisons served as places of detention: cuts, cellars, dungeons - deep dark pits, tightly sealed with wood, where, according to sources, prisoners suffocated more than once.
An important place in the state apparatus belonged to the army, in which feudal squads and city regiments received great importance. Among them were the boyars who served the prince with their courts. The main part of the troops was still made up of people's militias on foot, the number of which reached 50-60 thousand people in some principalities. The disunity of the principalities, the strife of the princes scattered and weakened the military forces of the country. At the same time, weapons technology did not stand still. Defensive structures were improved, city fortifications, stone towers, etc. were erected. Siege and throwing weapons (slings, battering rams) began to be used more widely in the defense and siege of cities.
The legal norms regulating the relations of the Russian principalities with foreign states were further developed, as can be seen, for example, from the treaties of Novgorod with the Livonian Order, Sweden and Norway, Galicia-Volyn Rus - with Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and the Teutonic Order.
Vladimir-Suzdal land
As a result of the dismemberment of the Old Russian state on the territory of Russia in the XI-XII centuries. more than a dozen large principalities were formed - Vladimir-Suzdal, Polotsk-Minsk, Turov-Pinsk, Smolensk, Galicia-Volynsk, Kiev, Pereyaslav, Chernigov, Tmutarakan, Murom and Ryazan, as well as feudal republics - Novgorod and Pskov. Of the isolated lands, the Rostov-Suzdal (later Vladimir-Suzdal) principality, the main part of the future Great Russia, received the greatest importance. In the Rostov-Suzdal land, a prerequisite for strengthening princely power was the presence of early princely possessions and cities that arose on the basis of local crafts and were associated with trade, which was carried out with the East along the Volga and with Western Europe along the system of rivers that connected the Rostov-Suzdal land with the Baltic by sea.
The Rostov-Suzdal land came out from under the rule of Kyiv in the 30s of the XII century, when Monomakh's son Yuri Vladimirovich (1125-1157), nicknamed Dolgoruky, reigned there. He was the first of the Suzdal princes to seek predominance in Russia. Under him, the influence of the Rostov-Suzdal land extended to Novgorod, Murom and Ryazan, and, in addition, a strong alliance was established with the Galician land. Wanting to unite power in Russia in his hands, Yuri sought to gain a foothold in Kyiv. Suzdal troops captured this capital city. However, after the death of Yuri, the Kyiv citizens hastened to break their dependence on the Suzdal princes, plundering the courtyards of Yuri, his supporters and merchants throughout the Kyiv land.
Rostov-Suzdal Rus in the middle of the XII century. experienced significant economic growth. An agricultural culture developed here. New cities were built and grew - Vladimir-on-Klyazma, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yuryev-Polsky, Zvenigorod, Dmitrov and others. single state.
Yuri's successor, Prince Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky (1157-1174), supported by the nobles and supported by the townspeople of Rostov, Suzdal and residents of other cities, fought resolutely against the recalcitrant boyars. He made Vladimir his capital, where there was a strong trade and craft settlement, appropriated the title of the Grand Duke of all Russia and sought to extend his power to Kyiv and Novgorod. Continuing to compete with the Volyn princes, Andrei Bogolyubsky organized in 1169 a campaign of the united Suzdal, Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk-Minsk and other regiments against Kyiv, captured it and took out many riches to his land, transferring the ancient capital to the control of one of his proteges. This completed the decline of Kyiv. Novgorod was forced to take on the reign of persons pleasing to Andrei. But the unifying policy of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky was unexpectedly interrupted. He was killed, as already mentioned above, by conspirators from among the boyars and wealthy combatants. His successor Vsevolod Yurievich Big Nest (1177-1212) crushed the resistance of the feudal nobility and executed a number of boyars. The author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, emphasizing the strength and power of his regiments, wrote that they could "splash the Volga with oars, and scoop out the Don with helmets."
The princes of Chernigov and Smolensk, who ruled in Kyiv, considered Vsevolod their "master". Vsevolod was thinking about joining the Galician land to his possessions. Novgorod princes and posadniks were Vladimir proteges, and even the local archbishop was actually appointed by Vsevolod. By this time, the Vladimir princes had broken the "disobedience" of the Ryazan princes. According to the figurative expression of the author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, Vsevolod could shoot them like "live arrows." The Vladimir-Suzdal princes sought to consolidate their power in the basin of the Volga, Kama (where the Mordovians and Mari lived) and the Northern Dvina, where Russian colonization was heading. Fortified cities such as Ustyug and Nizhny Novgorod were founded (1221). Trade was conducted with the peoples of the Caucasus along the Volga. With Transcaucasia, in addition, there were political ties.
Novgorod-Pskov land
Novgorod land bordered on Vladimir-Suzdal land in the southeast, Smolensk land in the south and Polotsk land in the southwest. Novgorod possessions extended far to the east and north, up to the Urals and the Arctic Ocean. A number of fortresses guarded the approaches to Novgorod. Ladoga was located on the Volkhov, protecting the trade route to the Baltic Sea. The largest Novgorod suburb was Pskov.
Owning the banks of the Neva and the Gulf of Finland, Novgorod was closely connected with the Estonian, Latvian and Karelian lands, in which the Novgorod boyars collected tribute from the population. Tribute was also levied from the land of the Emi (Finns) and from the land of the Sami (Lapps) located to the north of it, up to the borders of Norway. Finally, tribute collectors were also sent from Novgorod, accompanied by armed detachments, to the Novgorod possessions in the north along the Tersky coast of the White Sea and in Zavolochye (as the vast lands east of Beloozero, inhabited by various peoples, were called).
The main occupation of the Novgorod peasantry was agriculture, the technique of which reached a significant level for that time. However, the development of agriculture was not favored by soil and climatic conditions, and it could not meet the needs of the population. Along with agriculture, various crafts were developed: hunting for fur and sea animals, fishing, and salt extraction. Iron mining played an important role in the occupations of the rural population. Novgorod was one of the largest craft and trade centers in Europe.
After the uprising of 1136, a boyar republic was formed in Novgorod Rus, dominated by large feudal lords. A similar public organization has also developed in the Pskov land. Formally, the supreme power belonged to the vechu. However, in reality, the veche was in the hands of the boyars, although they had to reckon with his opinion, especially if the veche decision was supported by the armed actions of the urban "black people". The archbishop played a major role in the political life of Novgorod. Under his chairmanship, the boyar council met. From among the boyars, the posadnik and the tysyatsky were approved at the veche, who exercised executive power in the city.
In their struggle against the boyars, the artisan population of the city won back certain rights. Associations of konchans (residents of urban areas - the ends of Goncharny, Plotnitsky, etc.), ulichans (street residents) and merchant brothers became a major force. Each end had its own elected self-government and had some power over a certain territory of the Novgorod region. But even these authorities remained under the control of the boyars. Princely power was also preserved in Novgorod. But the princes were invited by the veche and their rights were very limited, although they received certain incomes from administration, court and trade.
The first 100 years (1136-1236) of the existence of the Novgorod boyar republic, up to the Mongol invasion, were characterized by a sharp class struggle, more than once resulting in open uprisings of the urban poor and peasants. At the same time, the role of the merchants intensified, part of which acted on the side of the strong Vladimir-Suzdal princes.
Vladimir-Suzdal princes strengthened their positions in Novgorod. They seized lands here, appropriated the right to judge and collect taxes. Novgorod's resistance to the policy of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes led to repeated clashes, the consequences of which were heavily reflected in the position of the masses. Novgorodians had a particularly difficult time when there were breaks in the supply of Volga grain. When in 1230, a lean year, a severe famine broke out in the Novgorod land, the Vladimir prince closed the trade routes, and the boyars and merchants engaged in grain speculation. Driven to despair, the poor began to set fire to the houses of rich people who kept rye, and seize these stocks.
Galicia-Volyn land
Galician land occupied the northeastern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. In the north, it bordered on the territory of Volhynia, in the northwest - with Poland, in the southwest, the "Ugric Mountains" (Carpathians) separated it from Hungary. In the mountains and behind them lay Carpathian Rus, largely captured by the Hungarian feudal lords in the 11th century. Part of Carpathian Rus (with the cities of Brasov, Barduev, etc.) remained behind Galician land. In the southeast, the Galician Principality included lands stretching from the Southern Bug to the Danube (on the territory of modern Moldavia and Northern Bukovina).
The Galician land, whose ancient center was Przemysl, became isolated by the beginning of the 12th century. into a separate principality under the rule of the great-grandchildren of Yaroslav the Wise. The strong boyars that had developed here sought help from the Hungarian and Polish feudal lords in their quarrels with the princes and for a long time hindered the political consolidation of the country. Volyn land, named after the ancient city of Volyn on the Guchva River, occupied a vast territory in the basin of the Western Bug and the upper reaches of the Pripyat with its tributaries. Volhynia and Galicia have been especially closely connected with each other for a long time.
Plowed agriculture has long been known here. In the Galician land there were rich salt mines and salt was exported. The development of iron-making, jewelry, pottery and leather crafts reached a high level in the Galicia-Volyn land. There were more than 80 cities in this region. Being at the crossroads of numerous water and land roads, the Galicia-Volyn land played a prominent role in European trade. In the XII century. The Galinka and Volyn principalities experienced a significant rise. Already Vladimirko Volodarevich (1141-1153) united under his authority all the Galician lands, including the cities along the Danube (Berlad and others). Around the same time, Kyiv and Volhynia withdrew from the power.
The reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich Osmomysl (1153-1187), one of the largest political figures in Russia in the 12th century, was marked by a further rise in the Galician land and, in particular, by the extensive construction of new cities. Yaroslav Osmomysl, with the help of the Volyn princes, defeated the troops of the Kyiv prince and forced him to abandon his attempt to establish himself in the Danube lands. Yaroslav established peace with Byzantium, and sealed the alliance with Hungary by the marriage of his daughter to King Stephen (Istvan III). At the end of the XII century. the Galician and Volyn lands were united under the rule of the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich (1199-1205). In seeking to strengthen the princely power, he relied on an agreement with the cities and, above all, with the top of the urban population - "bad men", to whom he granted a number of privileges. Roman weakened the Galician boyars, he exterminated part of it, and some boyars fled to Hungary. The lands of the boyars were seized by the prince and used by him for distribution to the squad. Having overcome the resistance of the Suzdal prince Vsevolod, Yurievich, Roman's troops occupied Kyiv (1203), after which he proclaimed himself the Grand Duke.
The Roman curia sought an "alliance" with Prince Roman, but he rejected the proposal of Pope Innocent III. Having supported the struggle of the Hohenstaufen with the Welfs, Roman in 1205 set out on a big campaign against the ally of the Welfs, the Krakow prince Leshko, with the goal of advancing then to Saxony. However, the death of Roman in the campaign prevented the implementation of these broad plans and facilitated the destruction of the unity of the Galician and Volyn principalities that had arisen under him.
A long and devastating feudal war began (1205-1245), in which the boyars, acting with the help of Hungarian and Polish feudal lords, seized power in the Galician land. According to the agreement in Spis (1214), the Hungarian and Polish feudal lords, with the sanction of the papal curia, tried to divide Galicia-Volyn Rus among themselves. However, the masses frustrated these calculations. As a result of the popular uprising that swept the country, the Hungarian garrisons were expelled.
In Volyn, with the support of service boyars and townspeople, princes Daniil and Vasilko Romanovichi established themselves, with a fight ousting the Polish feudal lords from the boundaries of the Russian land (1229). Daniel's troops, with the active help of the townspeople, inflicted a number of defeats on the Hungarian feudal lords and Galician boyars. Prince Daniil distributed the captured boyar lands to the nobility warriors. He maintained friendly relations with Lithuania and Mazovia, as well as with the Austrian Duke Frederick II, who was hostile to Hungary. The struggle for the independence of Galician Rus was bloody and dragged on for many years. Only in 1238 did Daniel finally take possession of the Principality of Galicia, and then Kyiv, thus uniting the vast lands of Southwestern Russia under his rule.
Polotsk-Minsk land
Polotsk-Minsk land occupied the territory along the rivers Western Dvina and Berezina, bordering Novgorod, Smolensk and Turov-Pinsk lands. In the northwest, the possessions of the Polotsk princes extended to the lower reaches of the Western Dvina, where the cities of Jersike and Koknese stood. Part of the population of the Lithuanian and Latvian lands recognized the power of the Polotsk princes and paid tribute to them.
The main occupation of the inhabitants of the Polotsk-Minsk land was agriculture, although the soil conditions were not very favorable for this. Polotsk constantly needed imported bread. Hunting for fur-bearing animals, fishing, and beekeeping have become widespread here. Furs were exported abroad (to the island of Gotland and to Lübeck). Feudal relations developed early in the Polotsk-Minsk land and a number of cities arose - Izyaslavl, Vitebsk, Usvyat, Orsha, Kopys, etc.
The Polotsk-Minsk land was subject to the Kyiv princes for a short time. Already under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, it passed into the possession of his son Bryachislav. The successor of the latter, Vseslav Bryachislavich (1044-1101), relying on the squad and using the help of cities, held power over the entire Pododka-Minsk land in his hands. The reign of Vseslav, according to the "Tale of Igor's Campaign", was a time of "glory" for this part of Russia. But then feudal fragmentation intensified. In the twelfth century, a series of warring principalities formed; the most significant of them were Polotsk and Minsk. Internal wars weakened the Polotsk-Minsk land, which gradually lost its former influence in the Eastern Baltic. Despite stubborn resistance, the Polotsk people could not repel the invasion of the German crusaders. The prince of Polotsk, under an agreement with Riga (1212), lost his rights to the tribute of plums, he also lost land in southwestern Latgale. The cities of Jersike and Koknese were captured by the German knights. At the beginning of the XIII century. the foreign policy of Polotsk and Vitebsk was already controlled by the Smolensk prince, concluding agreements with German cities on their behalf.
Russia and neighboring peoples
Russia was surrounded by many non-Slavic peoples. Its influence extended to the peoples of the Baltic States (Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians), Finland and Karelia, some peoples of the North (Nenets, Komi, Yugra), the Volga region (Mordovians, Mari, part of the Bulgarians, Chuvashs and Udmurts), the North Caucasus (Ossetians and Circassians) , as well as the peoples of the Northern Black Sea region (Turkic nomadic tribal unions of the Polovtsians, Uzes and Torks) and Moldova. Russia maintained ties with Transcaucasia (the population of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) and Central Asia.
The level of social development of these peoples was different: some of them still had a primitive communal system, while others had an already established feudal mode of production.
The peoples of the Baltic in the XI-XII centuries. experienced the formation of feudal relations. They didn't have states yet. The peasants lived in rural communities, significant groups of which were semi-feudal-semi-patriarchal associations headed by representatives of the landowning nobility - the "best", "oldest" people. Such associations were in Lithuania (Aukstaitia, Samogitia, Deltuva, etc.), in Latvia (Latgale, Zemgalia, Kors, etc.), in Estonia (Läanemaa, Harjumaa, Sakkala, etc.).
The population of the Baltics was engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding and handicrafts, traded with neighbors. Trade and craft settlements were formed in the Baltic States - the embryos of future cities (Lindanis, on the site of which Tallinn, Mezhotne, etc. grew up). The population adhered to pre-Christian beliefs. Remarkable cultural monuments of this time are the Estonian epic Kalevipoeg, Lithuanian and Latvian historical songs and fairy tales.
The ancient connections of the Baltic lands with Russia were interrupted at the beginning of the 13th century. by the invasion of German and Danish feudal lords. Using the contradictions among the rulers, the crusaders seized the Estonian and Latvian lands. The history of Lithuania developed differently. Here, on the basis of higher economic development, first an alliance of princes of different lands arose (1219), and then an early feudal state was formed with a grand duke at its head. The first Lithuanian prince was Mindovg (1230-1264). The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with the help of Russia, managed to defend its independence, repulsing the advance of the German feudal lords.
In the Karelian land, which was part of the possessions of Novgorod Russia, agriculture dominated in the presence of developed crafts (hunting and fishing), crafts and trade. With the development of feudal relations in the 70s of the XIII century. Karelian land was allocated to an independent administrative region of the Novgorod Republic. Christianity began to spread widely among the Karelians. The culture and way of life of the Karelian people are vividly reflected in the outstanding monument of the folk Karelian-Finnish epic - "Kalevala". From the middle of the XII century. Swedish feudal lords began to attack Karelia with the aim of capturing and enslaving it. The Karelians, together with the Russians, repelled the onslaught of the Swedish invaders and dealt them heavy retaliatory blows.
The Novgorod Republic was subject to the Komi people, who lived on Vychegda. The Komi were engaged in hunting and fishing, but they also knew agriculture and handicrafts. They began to disintegrate the patriarchal-communal system, a communal nobility appeared - the elders.
Under the conditions of the tribal system, the Nenets (“Samoyeds”) lived on the shores of the White Sea, and the Yugra lived along the slopes of the Northern Urals. A prominent role in the history of the peoples of the Volga, Kama and Ural regions belonged to the early feudal state of the Volga Bulgarians. They had developed agriculture, and in large cities - Bolgar, Suvar and Bilyar, there were various crafts. Russian artisans also lived in Bolgar. Merchants from Russia, Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Iran and other countries came to this city. Bulgarian merchants traded grain with the Vladimir-Suzdal land.
Among the peoples of the Volga region, subject to the Vladimpro-Suzdal principality, the beginning of the formation of class relations was observed only among the Mordovians, who were engaged in agriculture and beekeeping. Here stood out the "princes" of individual regions. Among other peoples - the Mari, Chuvash, Udmurts, the primitive communal system still dominated. Bashkirs - nomads of the Urals have just begun to unite in tribal unions, headed by elders (aksakals). People's meetings also played an important role here.
The agricultural and pastoral peoples of the North Caucasus - the Alans (Ossetians) and the Adyghes, had unstable tribal unions. Separate tribal leaders were at enmity with each other. In the pastoral and pastoral societies of Dagestan, there were patriarchal-feudal associations headed by local rulers: nusals (in Avaria), shamkhals (in Kumukia), utsmiy. (in Kaitag). Some of them were dependent on Georgia.
The population of the Crimea, which consisted of Alans, Greeks, Armenians and Russians, continued to maintain political, commercial and cultural ties with Russia, despite the Byzantine claim to dominance in the coastal cities of Chersonese (Korsun), Sudak (Surozh) and Kerch (Korchev). The ties of the peoples of the North Caucasus and Crimea with Russia were weakened by the invasion of the Polovtsy in the Northern Black Sea region (mid-11th century).
On the territory of Moldova, subject to the Galician-Volyn princes, lived the Slavs and the Romanized population, which later developed into the Moldavian people. There were cities here: Maly Galich, Byrlad, Tekuch, etc.
A number of peoples that were part of the Old Russian state continued to develop within the framework of Russian feudal principalities and regions. Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Karelian peoples were formed in close contact with the Russian people.
The non-Slavic lands subject to Russia bore the burden of exploitation. Russian princes and boyars enriched themselves at the expense of the oppressed peoples, receiving tribute from them - silver, furs, wax and other valuables. But at the same time, non-Slavic peoples developed in conditions of economic, political and cultural interaction with Rusyo. Cities were built on the lands of these peoples, Russian peasants and artisans settled, and merchants appeared. The local population approached the Russian working people and learned from them a higher culture, was drawn into market relations and got acquainted with urban life and writing.
In Central Asia, an unification of the Kirghiz tribes took shape, covering the lands from the Altai Mountains to Baikal and the Sayan Range, as well as the Tuvan and Minusinsk lands. The Kirghiz were engaged in cattle breeding, but they knew agriculture and crafts and traded with China. By the middle of the XII century. the Kirghiz became dependent on the Kara-Kitais (Khitans), who advanced from Northern China to Altai and captured the Yenisei and South Semirechye. The domination of the Kara-Kitais, which was difficult for the local population, was undermined by the performance at the end of the 12th century. Mongol-speaking tribes of the Naimans, who advanced from the Altai to the Irtysh and East Turkestan. Most of the Naimans subsequently gradually dissolved among various tribes and nationalities (Kyrgyz, Altai, Turkic-speaking tribes of present-day Kazakhstan), having completely lost their language. Later, all these lands fell under the rule of the Mongol khans.
Some peoples of the Far East, in particular the population of the Ussuri Territory, where the ancestors of the Nanais (Golds), the Khoy River basin (the Udyagai tribe - later the Udeges), the lower reaches of the Amur (Gilyaks - Nivkhs) lived, were mainly engaged in hunting and lived in a primitive communal system. In the middle of the XII century. they fell under the power of the unification of the Jurchen tribes, who occupied the possessions of the Khitans and created the state of Jin. It included most of Manchuria, Northern China and Mongolia. This state existed until the start of the Mongol conquests.
Some peoples of North-Eastern Siberia and the Far East were at the level of Stone Age culture, settled in semi-underground dwellings, were engaged in fishing, hunting and, where conditions allowed, fishing for sea animals. Of the domestic animals they bred only dogs. Such was the way of life of the ancestors of the Ainu and Gilyaks (Nivkhs) in Sakhalin, the Itelmens and Koryaks in Kamchatka, the Yukaghirs in the Kolyma, in the lower reaches of the Lena and Khatanga. In especially harsh natural conditions, the life of the inhabitants of the Arctic (ancestors of the Eskimos and the coastal Chukchi) proceeded. The Ob tribes - the Mansi (Voguls) and the Khanty (Ostyaks) - hunted and fished, and in the north of Western Siberia - the Nenets. To the east of the Yenisei, in the East Siberian taiga, hunting and fishing tribes of reindeer herders, the Evenks, lived. The ancestors of the Yakuts lived in the Baikal region; they raised cattle and horses. The socio-economic structure of these peoples remained more or less unchanged until the time when they came under the influence of Russian culture.
The international position of Russia
During the period of feudal fragmentation, Russia, remaining a large European country, did not have a single state power that would conduct a foreign policy common to the whole country. In the middle of the XII century. Russian princes entered into allied relations with states that were part of mutually hostile coalitions.
Nevertheless, the largest Russian principalities had a significant impact on the fate of neighboring countries. Back in 1091, when Byzantium was looking everywhere for help against the Seljuk and Pecheneg Turks, it received military support from the Prince of Galicia Vasilko. In general, the Russian princes occupied a much more independent position in relation to the church center of Orthodoxy - Byzantium, than other European states in relation to the center of Catholicism, Rome.
The papal curia sought to draw Russia into the orbit of its policy, but the most far-sighted papal emissaries already then saw the unfulfillment of these hopes. So, at the request of one of the ideologists of militant Catholicism - Bernard of Clairvaux on the possibility of introducing Catholicism in Russia, Bishop Matthew of Krakow in the middle of the 12th century. wrote that "the Russian people, with their multiplicity similar to the stars, does not want to conform to either the Latin or the Greek Church."
Russian princes actively intervened in the international relations of their time. The Vladimir-Suzdal and Galician princes allied to them maintained diplomatic relations with Byzantium, and their opponents, the Volyn princes, maintained diplomatic relations with Hungary. The army of the Galician princes contributed to the strengthening of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom and helped at the beginning of the XIII century. return the throne to the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II. The Russian princes contributed to the strengthening of the position of the Mazovian princes in Poland. Later, the princes of Mazovia were for some time in vassal dependence on Russia.
Separate principalities of Russia had significant armed forces, which managed to repulse, and partially subjugate the Polovtsians. The rulers of Byzantium, Hungary, Poland, Germany and other countries sought dynastic ties with the Russian princes, especially with the strongest of them - Vladimir-Suzdal and Galicia-Volyn. Rumors about the treasures of Russia struck the imagination of medieval chroniclers in France, Germany and England.
Russian travelers visited different countries. So, the Novgorod boyar Dobrynya Yadreykovich visited at the beginning of the 13th century. Byzantium. He left an interesting description of the sights of the country. Hegumen Daniel of Chernigov visited Palestine and also described his journey shortly after the first crusade. Chronicles and other monuments show that Russian people are well aware of a number of countries in Europe and Asia.
Nevertheless, the international position of Russia during the period of feudal fragmentation deteriorated significantly. This was noted by contemporaries-publicists. The “Word on the Destruction of the Russian Land”, created in the first half of the 13th century, describes the beauty and wealth of Russia and at the same time speaks with concern about the weakening of its international significance. Gone are the days when the sovereigns of neighboring countries trembled at the mere name of Russia, when the Byzantine emperor, fearing the Grand Duke of Kyiv, “sent great gifts to him”, when the German knights rejoiced that they were far “beyond the blue sea”.
The weakening of the foreign policy position of Russia, the reduction of its territory was facilitated by the feudal strife of the princes, which did not stop even when enemies invaded the country. The nomadic Polovtsians, having occupied the Northern Black Sea region, made devastating raids on the southern Russian lands, took away the Russian population into captivity and sold it into slavery. They undermined the trade and political ties of Russia with the Black Sea region and the countries of the East. This led to the loss of Russia's possessions in the North Caucasus, as well as the loss of the Taman Peninsula and part of the Crimea, captured by Byzantium. In the west, the Hungarian feudal lords captured Carpathian Rus. In the Baltic states, the lands of the Latvians and Estonians came under attack from the German and Danish feudal lords, while the lands of the Finns and Karelians came under attack from the Swedish. In the XIII century. the Mongol invasion led to the conquest, ruin and dismemberment of Russia itself.
Russian culture in the XII - XIII centuries.
The invasions of the invaders and natural disasters have led to the death of many precious works of architecture, painting, applied art and literature. The names of ordinary people who created for the secular and spiritual feudal lords “worn out by various cunning” masterpieces of wall painting and stone carving, the finest silver chasing and monumental architecture have almost not been preserved. Only a few of the Russian masters are mentioned in the chronicles that have come down to us. These are “stone builders” - Ivan from Polochan, Novgorodians Pyotr and Korova Yakovlevich, Pyotr Miloneg; Oleksa, who worked in Volhynia on the construction of cities; Volyn "hytrech" Avdey - a master of stone carving. The news about the Kiev artist Alimpiy, who painted the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, has survived. Known are the names of the Novgorod chasers Costa and Bratila, who left beautiful chased silver vessels, as well as the caster Avraamy, whose sculptural self-portrait has survived to our time. It was the labor of peasants and artisans that was the basis for the further development of Russia.
The Russian language and culture were enriched as a result of interaction with the culture of a number of peoples. Such interaction is reflected in Suzdal architecture (which has connections with Georgian and Armenian architecture), in Novgorod painting (in which there are common motifs with Armenian fresco painting), in folklore and literature, where there are numerous references to other peoples, their culture and life.
"Golden Gate" in Vladimir-on-Klyazma. 12th century
Despite the dominance of theology, with the growth of experience accumulated in production and the development of enlightenment (although it affected only an insignificant part of society), the rudiments of knowledge in the field of the study of nature and history spread in Russia. Literacy among the feudal nobility, the nobility and townspeople grew noticeably. In handwritten monuments, praises of “book teaching” were more and more often met, and “mind without books” was likened to a wingless bird: no one can fly, and a person cannot achieve “perfect reason without books”. In teaching, the main manuals were the Psalter, the Book of Hours, the Apostle. The biblical view of the world, common in medieval Europe, was expounded in the Six Days, which gave a theological and scholastic description of nature, in Kozma Indikoplov's Topography, and in other works translated into Russia. The Greek chronicles of George Amartol, John Malala and others introduced Russian readers to ancient history.
Along with sorcerers and "divine healers", doctors appeared - healers. In Kyiv, for example, lived the famous healer Agapit, who knew "what kind of potion heals what disease." Knowledge in the field of mathematics increased, which was also used in agriculture and in the calculation of taxes and in the preparation of chronological calculations in the annals.
The development of historical knowledge was vividly reflected in chronicles. In all major cities, from Novgorod to Kholm, from Novgorod to Ryazan, historical chronicles were kept and chronicles were compiled (holistic historical works, which were the processing of chronicles). Until our time, only the annals of Vladimir-Suzdal, Volyn and Novgorod have been partially preserved. Most of them are imbued with the idea of a strong princely power. The close connection of the Letonians with the activities of the princely chancelleries led to the inclusion in the annals of business documents - diplomatic, administrative, military.
In Russia, as well as in other countries, there was a close connection between the development of crafts, applied folk art and architecture. Since religious ideology dominated society, the best examples of architecture were associated with the church, which was also a rich customer. With the transition to feudal fragmentation, architectural monuments became characterized by reduced sizes of temples, the simplification of their interior decoration, and the gradual replacement of mosaics by frescoes. The "cubic" temple with a heavy dome became the dominant type of church architecture. These changes were also associated with the rapid spread of stone architecture.
In Kievan land, the construction of churches and monasteries continued (the Church of the Savior on Berestov, St. Cyril's Church), but the constant transition of Kyiv from one prince to another created unfavorable conditions for the development of art here. A number of outstanding works of art originated in the Vladimir-Suzdal land, in particular in Vladimir-on-Klyazma with its "golden gates", white-stone architecture and stone carvings. Magnificent churches were erected here - the Assumption Cathedral, a masterpiece of world architecture, the Dmitrievsky Cathedral with stone carved reliefs, the four-pillar Church of the Intercession on the Nerl with decorative sculpture, and the Bogolyubovsky Prince's Palace, which included a cathedral in its complex of buildings.
Construction was carried out in Rostov, Suzdal, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities of North-Eastern Russia. An example is the St. George's Cathedral (30s of the XIII century) in Yuryev-Polsky, the narthex of which was decorated with stone carvings.
In the Novgorod land of the time of the boyar republic, instead of large cathedrals built by princes, more modest churches appeared, but outstanding in terms of perfection of forms and artistic painting. Among them stood out the world-famous Church of the Savior-Nereditsa (end of the XII century) in Novgorod ( Barbarously destroyed by the German fascists during the Second World War.). Of great interest, as a monument of art, is the Pskov Church of the Savior in the Mirozhsky Monastery (mid-12th century), painted with frescoes.
No less remarkable was the architecture of Galicia-Volyn Rus. The Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir-Volynsky, the complex of princely palace buildings in Galich, the Church of St. Panteleimon, etc. The architecture of the Hill has not been preserved, but it is known from the annals that Prince Daniel ordered the construction of three temples here, decorated with carved Galician white and Kholm green stone and columns “made of whole stone”. On the way to the city stood a "pillar" with a huge statue of an eagle. Architecture developed in Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Gorodno (Grodno) and other cities. A variety of civil buildings also appeared - palace princely ensembles in Vladimir, Galich and other cities, using the traditions of the ancient Russian "mansion building".
In the visual arts, stylistic diversity increased, and local folk art often came into conflict with the dominant church ideology. For Novgorod painting (painting of St. Sophia Cathedral, Nikolo-Dvorishchenskaya and Annunciation churches) is characterized by bright, juicy brilliance. Particularly remarkable were the paintings of the Spas-Nereditsa - its walls, vault, pillars and arches. Novgorod icon painting is characterized by the same features as monumental painting, and is rooted in folk art.
The art of Vladimir-Suzdal Russia was peculiar. Local temples were filled with "various icons and precious stones without number." But little of this wealth has been preserved: the remains of the painting of the Assumption and Demetrius Cathedrals, the icon of Dmitry Solunsky. Even fewer artistic monuments of other regions of Russia have come down to us.
Applied art and sculpture, less than painting associated with church canons, often reflected folk games and dances, fight scenes, etc. in their subjects. The art of minting coins, seals and stone carving (decoration of cathedrals, stone icons, etc.) P.). The motifs of folk art are richly reflected in embroidery, as well as in book decorations - headpieces, endings, capital letters, etc., where, along with floral and color ornaments, scenes of folk life and work are often presented.
The influence of folk art is also felt in one of the surviving drawings on the margins of the Pskov manuscript of the 12th century, which depicts a resting peasant, and next to him a shovel is drawn and there is an inscription: “Worker, work”.
In the monuments of literature of the period of feudal fragmentation, the ideas of the ruling class were carried out. In her best creations, calling on the princes for peace and the defense of the independence of the motherland, the aspirations of the broad masses of the people are also reflected.
Church preaching literature, the ideological orientation of which was to call the population to obey the authorities of heaven and earth, is represented by the works of Kliment Smolyatich, Cyril of Turov and others. These writers were widely educated and used the heritage of ancient literature in their works. The famous scribe Kliment Smolyatich (mid-12th century) willingly refers to Omir (Homer), Aristotle and Plato, being attacked for this by representatives of orthodox theology.
The ideology of the ecclesiastical and partly secular nobility was vividly reflected in a remarkable literary monument of the 20s of the 13th century. - "Paterike" of the Kiev Caves Monastery. Imbued with the idea of the superiority of spiritual power over secular, it included 20 instructive stories about the life of this largest church feudal corporation.
An extensive range of ideas is contained in an outstanding monument of early noble journalism, preserved in two editions of the 12th-13th centuries, the “Word”, or “Prayer”, by Daniil Zatochnik. The brilliantly educated Daniel skillfully used the treasures of folklore to praise the strong princely power and denounce the autocracy of the secular and church nobility, harmful to Russia.
As part of the chronicles, there are stories about princes (about Andrei Bogolyubsky, Izyaslav Mstislavich Volynsky, etc.), about major historical events - about the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders, etc. These stories contain many details that testify to the growing interest in the human person, to the actions and experiences of individuals.
The greatest monument of Russian culture of the XII century. is the "Word of Igor's Campaign", dedicated to the description of the unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsians (in 1185) of the Norgorod-Seversky prince Igor Svyatoslavich. The author is a supporter of the unity of the country, the unity of its strongest princes, the unity of the people. The Russian land for him is the whole of Russia, from the Taman Peninsula to the Baltic states, from the Danube to the Suzdal land. At a time when, as a result of princely strife and Polovtsian raids, “plowmen rarely shouted across the Russian land, but often crows crowed, dividing corpses among themselves,” the author praises peaceful labor. Describing one of the bloodiest internecine battles on the Nemiga and opposing peace to war, he uses images that depict the work of a peasant plowman. “The black earth,” the author writes, “was sown with bones under the hooves, watered with blood: they ascended the Russian land in grief.”
The Word is imbued with deep patriotism. The image of the Russian land is central in this work. The author calls on the princes to defend their homeland and condemns those who are engaged in strife (“forge sedition” and “sow arrows on the ground”). The author draws images of strong and powerful princes (Vsevolod the Big Nest, Yaroslav Osmomysl, etc.), who extended their power over a large territory, and were famous in neighboring countries.
The Tale of Igor's Campaign generously uses images of folk poetry. This is felt in the description of nature, in the words of grief over the misfortunes that befell Russia, in those comparisons inherent in folk art, which the author resorted to when describing wars and battles. Unforgettable in brightness are the lyrical female images sung in the "Word" (the wife of Prince Igor Evfrosinya Yaroslavna and the "red" Glebovna). The Russian people, through the words of the author of the Lay, expressed their call for unity in the name of labor and peace, in the name of defending the motherland.
The development of Russian culture in the XII-XIII centuries. took place in close connection with the further development of the Russian nationality.
In the Russian land and during the period of feudal fragmentation, a common language was preserved (in the presence of various dialects) and common civil and church legal norms were in force. The people were alien to feudal strife and kept the memory of the former unity of Russia. This was reflected primarily in epics.
The culture of Russia in the period of feudal fragmentation. Cultuga of the Galicia-Volyn principality.
The development of culture took place in difficult conditions of fragmentation of Russian lands. At the same time, despite the constant strife and threats from neighboring states and tribes, there were achievements and successes in the ancient Russian culture of this period. The Oka became more democratic: new territories, cities, new strata of society were actively involved in cultural life. For example, the customers of religious buildings, monumental paintings and precious jewelry were not only princes and boyars, but also wealthy representatives of the urban population, who had their own views, tastes, ideas.
There were changes in ancient Russian architecture. Russian architects began to move away from traditional Byzantine architectural canons and forms and, under the influence of local conditions, began to look for new solutions. In the specific principalities, architectural schools arose, which differed in their characteristics. Kyiv, Chernihiv and Pereyaslav architectural schools are known, which were united by a single style. In Russia, they began to build smaller temples of a simplified design. The internal and external decoration of the temples has changed. The new decoration of the facades became more characteristic: they began to be decorated with pilasters, semi-columns, arcade belts and the so-called curb.
The growth and strengthening of cities - the political and cultural centers of individual principalities - was accompanied by the construction of a large number of religious and civil buildings in Kiev, Chernigov, Galich, Pereyaslav and many other cities. Some of them have survived to this day.
The most famous of them are: the Church of the Virgin Pirogoshcha (1132) in Kyiv on Podil, the Borisoglebsky and Assumption Cathedral of the Yelets Monastery in Chernigov, etc.
The interior of ancient Russian palaces and temples, as before, was decorated with mosaics, frescoes, mosaic floors and a variety of applied arts. The latter were used not only as decorations, but often served as amulets-amulets and were designed to protect their owners from the evil forces of nature. The role of amulets was also played by magical ornaments, which were used to decorate many of their products by master jewelers and artisans who created household items. During the period of fragmentation, the writing of chronicles continued. New centers of chronicle writing appeared in Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Kholm, Vladimir-Volynsky. Some monasteries had entire libraries that consisted exclusively of chronicles. These chronicles were used by subsequent generations of chroniclers, who created entire chronicles, depicting the events of past years from different points of view, and trying to give these events the most objective assessment.
New original forms of historical works appeared; family and tribal princely annals, biographies of princes, etc.
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Unfortunately, most of these works have not survived.
The masterpiece of ancient Russian fiction is ʼʼThe Tale of Igor's Campaignʼʼ. This work was written in a difficult time for Russia, when it suffered from the Polovtsy raids, and tells about the unsuccessful campaign of the Novgorod-Seversky prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsy in 1185. The word is permeated with the idea of uniting all the forces of Russia to fight the enemies. Using the example of the defeat of Prince Igor, the author of the ʼʼSlovʼʼ sought to show what disputes and hostility of princes could lead to.
The Galicia-Volyn land became the center of the cultural life of the Ukrainian principalities during the period of fragmentation. So, as elsewhere at that time, the church played an important role in the development of culture. Chronicles were created in monasteries. The most famous is the Galicia-Volyn Chronicle, which covers the events of the Galician and Volyn lands from 1201 to 1292. A feature of this chronicle is its secular nature.
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The author of the chronicle figuratively tells about the time of the reign of Roman and Danila, about the life of princes and boyars, about the military campaigns of Russian squads, about their struggle with the Tatars, Hungarians, Poles and other conquerors.
A clear evidence of the high level of culture was the architecture of the region. They were built mainly of wood, for a long time temples remained stone structures, in some cases chambers.
Temples were built mainly of white stone with carved ornaments. Archaeologists have established that there were about 30 monumental stone structures in Galicia in the 12th century, but only a small part of them have been studied to date. Interesting architectural monuments of the Galician land are the prince's palace and the church of Panteleimon in Galicia.
Galician and Volyn principalities, at the turn of the XII and XIII centuries. merged into a single Galicia-Volyn principality, in the second half of the XII century. and in the 13th century, at the time of the decline of the Kyiv principality, they reached significant political power and cultural flourishing. The reigns of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Roman Mstislavich, his sons Daniil and Vasilko Romanovich and grandson Vladimir Vasilkovich are associated with the most glorious pages of Galicia-Volyn history. But from the beginning of the XIV century. The Galicia-Volyn land was politically weakening and in the middle of the same century it became part of the Polish-Lithuanian state.
Galician-Volhynian literacy, which developed on the basis of the Kievan literary tradition, if not quantitatively, then qualitatively, stood at a considerable height. A number of copies of the gospel text have come down to us, incl. Galician Four Gospels 1144 ᴦ., Dobrilov Gospel 1164 ᴦ. and others, the lives of Nifont and Theodore the Studite in the Vygoleksin collection of the 12th-13th centuries Pandekty of Antioch 1307 ᴦ. and other handwritten books of the 12th-13th centuries. The chronicler characterizes Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich as a "great scribe" and a philosopher, which was not on the whole earth. In one of the monasteries, he donated the gospel, transcribed by his hand, as well as the ʼʼGreat Cathedralʼʼ, which belonged to his father. He sent liturgical books to several churches, incl. in Chernihiv, the Aprakos Gospel, written in gold and richly decorated. On his initiative, the full life of Dmitry Solunsky, the Pilot Book and, probably, the Conversations of Grigory Dvoeslov were written off. He had collaborators, just like him, bibliophiles who were engaged in the correspondence of liturgical and fourth books. Among the Galician-Volyn figures of that time, Metropolitan Peter should be mentioned.
In the second half of the XIII century. in the Galicia-Volyn land, a collection was apparently compiled (used in the so-called Archival collection of the 15th century and in the Vilna manuscript), which included the Explanatory Apocalypse, the Chronograph, which included biblical books, the chronicles of George Amartol and John Malala, Alexandria and the History of the Jewish War by Josephus; further - under the title ʼʼRussian chroniclerʼʼ - The Tale of Bygone Years and a collection of the Izbornik Svyatoslav type 1073 ᴦ.
Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, Galicia-Volyn land in the XII-XIII centuries. owned the best works of translated and Russian historical literature of the Kievan period.
Book activity in the Galicia-Volyn land continued, although not so intensively, even after the loss of its political independence.
There should be no doubt that many monuments of literature perished in that restless historical situation that befell the Galicia-Volyn principality.
Chronicle writing in Galicia apparently began in the 11th century. judging by individual stories, which, undoubtedly, were included from the Galician Chronicle in ʼʼThe Tale of Bygone Yearsʼʼ and in the Kyiv Chronicle (a description of the blinding of Prince Vasilko and the subsequent events of 1098-1100 ᴦ., set out under 1097 ᴦ.). The Galician-Volyn chronicle of the 13th century, preserved precisely in Russian lists, based on sources that also entered Russian use. supported in northeastern Russia the traditions of that retinue poetry, the highest achievement of which at the end of the 12th century. there was a Word about Igor's regiment,
Art of the Galicia-Volyn land of the XII-XIII centuries. cannot be divided by the edge of the Mongol conquest into two halves. The higher military training of the Galician armed forces, the strong defensive walls of the city centers made it difficult for the Tatar conquest, and the subsequent international policy of Daniil of Galicia softened the hardships of the Tatar yoke and ensured an almost normal course of public life, and with it the development of art. Here, as in Novgorod, which escaped the direct defeat of the land by the Mongol hordes, the fateful years 1238-1240. did not interrupt cultural development.
The origins of the art of Galicia-Volyn Rus are connected with the common treasury of artistic culture for all the ancient Russian principalities - the art of the Kievan land. We can judge the Galician-Volyn art only by architectural monuments, which, moreover, are poorly studied and are represented almost exclusively by the archaeologically unearthed ruins of temples.
In Kiev architecture of the XI-XII centuries. a foundation was laid for solving a number of new tasks - the city cathedral of the specific capital, the palace princely temple and the ensemble of the princely or generally feudal residence as a whole; they were given in the cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersky monastery, in the Church of the Savior on Berestovo - Monomakh's country palace, and then repeated many times with various modifications, both in the construction of Kyiv itself and in other feudal centers of the 12th century; Galich and Vladimir-Volynsky were among them.
It is essential to note the features of originality that distinguish the architecture of Volhynia and Galicia. The monuments of Vladimir-Volynsky - Mstislav Assumption Cathedral (1157-1160) and the ruins of the temple located in the ʼʼOld Cathedraʼʼ tract, apparently dating back to the same time, are exceptionally close to the Kiev-Chernigov monuments.
Volyn in art, as well as in literature, was the direct heir of the Kyiv land and quite zealously followed its traditions.
The art of Galich followed a slightly different path and more critically perceived the artistic heritage and canonical examples. The originality of Galician architecture was facilitated by the very international position of Galich, which facilitated direct connection with Western Europe and the direct impact of Western artistic culture. The abundance of natural building stone made it possible to replace ordinary brick with it and enriched the possibilities for decorative processing of buildings - carving, playing with different tones of facing stone, etc. (Even in the middle of the 12th century) a complex architectural ensemble of the princely palace was created in Galich. The story of the chronicle about the circumstances of the death of Prince Vladimir of Galicia depicts this building for us in the form of a combination of a number of buildings: the residential part of the palace, the "senei" and the palace temple, united by a system of passages; This composition is based on the system of rich wooden housing - ʼʼkhoromʼʼ, which has received significant development here, which was established even in the conditions of life of the princely retinues of Kievan Rus. composition of the Bogolyubovsky castle of the XII century.
Built at the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. The Church of Panteleimon in Galich with its portals and Romanesque carvings shows how the Kiev heritage is reshaped in Galician architecture, how Romanesque features are laid on the all-Russian Kiev-Byzantine basis, creating a peculiar look of architecture.
It has received especially magnificent development since the 40s of the 13th century. This fact cannot but be connected with the circumstance noted above that the Galicia-Volyn land was that corner of the Russian land where cultural development continued in the first years of Mongol rule, where social life was not interrupted. Undoubtedly, all cultural forces that escaped captivity and death rushed here; Chronicle, telling about the development of the Hill, draws a colorful picture of the settlement of the new princely city; at the call of the prince ʼʼparishioner of the Germans and Russia, foreigners and Lyakhs go day and day and hunots and masters of all bezhehu_is Tatars, saddlers and archers and tulnitsy and forge iron and copper and silver, and be life, and fill the yards around the city, field and selaʼʼ.
It is in connection with this story about the large number of craftsmen of various professions who flocked to the Galician land that the Galician-Volyn chronicle reports about the beautiful buildings created in the 40-50s by Prince Daniel in the Hill, which caused genuine delight and surprise of his contemporaries.
The church of Ivan deserved special attention and admiration of the chronicler: its vaults rested on carved four-sided capitals depicting human heads. ʼʼsculpted from some tricksterʼʼ, ʼʼRoman glassʼʼ, that is, colored stained-glass windows on the windows of the temple, created a bizarre illumination of its interior space; in the altar above the throne, a beautiful canopy rose on two columns of solid stone. A ciborium decorated with gilded stars on an azure background; the floor was made of copper and tin and shone like a mirror.
Another building of the Hill - the Church of Mary (1260) was not inferior, according to the chronicler, with its beauty and size to other temples. For this church, a beautiful water-blessing cup was made of red marble, it was decorated with snake heads along the edges. The bowl was placed in front of the main church doors, as was done at the temples of that time in the West.
These characteristics, dedicated by the chronicler to the Kholmsk buildings, reveal to us an exceptionally complex and peculiar composition of its constituent elements. The appearance of the Kholmsky temples allows us to see a peculiar interweaving of features born in the process of development of ancient Russian architecture of the 12th century, with clearly borrowed techniques of Romanesque art. The same features characterize the second half of the 12th century. in the Vladimir principality; moreover, individual details of the decoration and decoration of the buildings of the Bogolyubov castle (1158-1165) are so strikingly repeated a century later in the Hill that the idea arises of the possibility of direct work with Prince Daniel of Vladimir architects and carvers who fled from Tatar captivity, and, together with other masters who built and decorated the Kholmsky temples.
The Galician-Volyn culture is characterized by the absence of a pronounced and irreconcilable religious and national aversion to the ʼʼLatinʼʼ world, and this feature of it also contributed to the enrichment of art by acquaintance with the West. The appeal to Romanesque art was quite understandable for Vladimir of the 12th century. and for Galician Russia of the XIII century, since this art more fully than Byzantine, expressed the ideas and tastes of the feudal world, the leading representatives of which in Russia in the XII century. were Vladimir ʼʼautocratsʼʼ, and in the XIII century. - Galician-Volyn ʼʼKingʼʼ Daniel.
On the other hand, turning to Western culture was a peculiar form of asserting one's own ways of artistic and cultural development in general and moving away from traditions.
This also explains the significant fact that in the Galician-Volyn art, unlike other principalities, the art of sculpture was significantly developed, which was denied by the Orthodox Byzantine Church when applied to religious subjects. It was expressed here not only in the decorative sculpture of the Kholmsky temples, but developed into an independent branch of art, even of a secular nature.
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The chronicle tells of an interesting statue erected by Prince Daniel outside the city of Kholm, probably on the way to it.
The same influence of Romanesque art is felt in the Galician-Volyn painting, which can only be judged by a few miniatures.
They trace the techniques of Romanesque-Gothic painting, both in terms of the color range and in the very construction of the picturesque image.
So, the Galician-Volyn art of the XIII century. is one of the brightest and most significant pages in the history of ancient Russian art. Having started its journey along with literature from a common source for all ancient Russia - the Kievan-Byzantine artistic culture, it was enriched by communication with the art of Western neighbors. These introductions were organically mastered by the Galician masters, who created quite original and high-quality monuments of art of Galicia-Volyn Rus.
The principality became the successor of K. Rus, fought for the reunification and consolidation of lands, contributed to the development of the economy, cities, crafts, trade, and culture; contributed to the protection of the population of the southwestern lands from physical destruction by the Mongols-Tatars; raised the prestige of Ukrainian lands in the international arena, especially in the context of feudal fragmentation.
After the fall of Kyiv, the Galicia-Volyn principality continued the existence of a state entity in the Slavic lands for a whole century and became the main political center of the future Ukraine.
The word ʼʼUkrainianʼʼ was first used in the ʼʼHomilyʼʼ of theologian Gregory as early as the middle of the 11th century. The term ʼʼUkraineʼʼ is mentioned in the Kyiv Chronicle in 1187 ᴦ. as a synonym for the concept of ʼʼkrashaʼʼ, that is, the edge, native land (for comparison: Serbia. in Serbo-Croatian - Serbska Krasha). Since 1335, for Galicia, the concept of ʼʼLittle Russiaʼʼ, borrowed from the Greeks, began to be used, which later turned into the concept of ʼʼLittle Russiaʼʼ. At the same time, in different periods it denoted different regions of Ukraine.
The culture of Russia in the period of feudal fragmentation. Cultuga of the Galicia-Volyn principality. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Culture of Russia in the period of feudal fragmentation. Cult of the Galicia-Volyn principality." 2017, 2018.
2. Kievan Rus and the era of feudal fragmentation
The main idea of The Tale of Bygone Years, written by a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Nestor in 1113 - the unity of Russia. In his work, Nestor points to the beginning of princely strife and strife, condemning them.
Back to top XII in. there was a huge number of principalities (Vladimir-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn, etc.), which sought to have power in Russia, waged constant wars. By the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, there were about 50 independent principalities. That is why the period of the XII-XIII centuries. called in Russia a period of feudal fragmentation,"the death of the Russian land." But despite the difficult period for Russia, this era was accompanied by the flourishing of culture and the progressive growth of cities.
Literature continues to flourish. In the XI-XII centuries. the names of 39 scribes are known, 15 of them were clergy. As in Europe, during the Middle Ages, the culture of Russia was greatly influenced by the church. As a result, the most widespread church literature. The development of literature in Russia was hampered by the fact that literature existed only within the framework of the manuscript tradition. Until the XV-XVI centuries. continued to write on parchment, calfskin. Quills and ink (or cinnabar) were used for writing. This situation continued until the 19th century. That is why, due to the high cost of the material, scribes always tried to save money with handwriting and abbreviations under titles. The words were written without a syllabary. Due to its clarity and solemnity, the handwriting of the XI-XIII centuries. was named charter. Often, to increase the speed of writing, a type of charter was used - semi-status, it appeared in the 14th century.
The appearance of luxurious books with cinnabar letters falls on the 11th century. Artistic miniatures appear in books. Two books serve as an example: "Ostromir Gospel" (XI century) and "Mstislav Gospel" (XII century). Books have a very rich finish, their binding was bound with gold or silver, and also decorated with precious stones, gold, etc.
Old Russian literature can be divided into two sections:
1. translated literature, which was considered part of the national literature. They were mostly ecclesiastical works.
2. original literature, written by East Slavic authors.
In addition to the three well-known genres of ancient Russian literature (chronicle, life and word), speech, belonging to the genre of eloquence. Most of the speeches were instructive in nature, so they were often called teachings. The most famous teaching that has come down to us as part of The Tale of Bygone Years is the Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh. It contains moral instructions, testament, lessons for sons on the topic of government. Also a striking example of this genre are the Instructions of Archbishop Luke to the Brothers (1058), written by the Novgorod bishop Luka Zhidyata, and "Instructions for Priests" (XIII c.), written by an ancient Russian preacher and writer Serapion Vladimirsky. The main themes of these works are the themes of morality, spiritual purification and Christian piety.
In addition to speeches (teachings), there was another genre that required, in addition to ideology, and literary skill. This genre is called solemn eloquence. A vivid example of it is written by the Kyiv Metropolitan Illarion "A Word on Law and Grace". Illarion was known not only as an ecclesiastical politician, but also as a brilliant orator. He first pronounced his "Word" in 1038 at the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos at the Golden Gate in Kyiv. The "Sermon on Law and Grace" has three parts.
2. The narrative part, in which some biblical stories are interpreted, the author connects them with law and grace.
3. Conclusion, in which Hilarion praises the Christian religion and Prince Vladimir, who baptized Russia.
In the Lay, Illarion deals with issues of equality, independence of the Russian people, patriotism and other topics related to the meaning of the Fatherland. Like a true literary master, Hilarion uses various literary forms and tropes to embellish his speech. That is why the "Sermon on Law and Grace" is a sample of the literary language, according to which the scribes of the XII-XV centuries studied.
12th century - the time of exacerbation of feudal fragmentation. It was at this time that the most significant work appeared, written in Kyiv around 1185 - "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". The fate of this manuscript was very tragic, in 1812 the Moscow fire on Razgulyav carried away a great literary monument, and at the same time instilled many doubts in scientists. Since a copy of the manuscript has survived to this day, this has given rise to disputes about the originality of the text in it. Versions about the unreliability of this copy are offered to this day.
Despite everything, The Tale of Igor's Campaign remains the greatest work of ancient Russian literature. It is worth noting the language in which the "Word" is written. The author uses different rhythms depending on the plot being described. Recall at least the famous cry of Yaroslavna. The rhythm in it is like folk crying, makes the reader breathe faster. Another important feature of the work is the use of various metaphors: “he circled the field like an eagle like a gray wolf, soared under a cloud”, “damp mother earth groans with a groan”, etc.
"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is a unique work of the lyrical-epic genre, imbued with love for the motherland, for the Russian people, for its history. The "Word" greatly influenced subsequent generations, becoming a source of inspiration not only for writers, but also for artists and musicians.
The invasion of Batu did not go unnoticed in ancient Russian literature. By 1238–1246 The creation of the “Word about the destruction of the Russian land” refers to the creation of “The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu” also on the topic of the invasion.
In general, the literature of the XII-XIII centuries. represented by works, the main feature of which is patriotism, faith in one's people. The heroes of these works are always endowed with traits of high morality, spirituality, church diligence.
Another art of Ancient Russia, architecture, also received great development. The church had a huge influence on architecture, as well as on literature. That is why churches and monasteries remained the main architectural monuments.
The Kiev Caves Monastery was the very first in Russia. Its founders Feodosia and Anthony Pechersky. In 1069, Anthony of the Caves was forced to hide in Chernigov in order to avoid anger Izyaslav Yaroslavovich. There he founded the equally famous Ilyinsky underground monastery. Such underground monasteries became very common in Russia and served as centers hesychia, i.e. silence and detachment. In them, the cultural life was very developed, since it excluded strict orders, and the monastic inhabitants could engage in completely worldly activities. That is why it was the monasteries that for a long time remained the main centers of spiritual culture, where most of the literary and artistic treasures were created.
With the adoption of Christianity in Russia, the beginning of stone construction is associated, since at the first stages the construction was carried out precisely by Byzantine masters. One of the first buildings Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Kyiv. Only archaeological excavations allowed us to find out how majestic this building was, how skillfully everything was done, since the church has not survived to this day, as it was destroyed during the invasion of Batu in 1240.
During the reign Yaroslav the Wise in 1037, another magnificent architectural monument was erected, an indicator of the skill of the builders - Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. This cathedral became the main church and public building of all Kievan Rus. Sophia Cathedral had five naves (interiors), thirteen domes, and was built of brick and stone. In the XI century. it was decorated, adding to the majestic building mosaics(images from colored stones) and frescoes(painting on wet plaster with paints).
In the 30s of the XI century. by order of Yaroslav the Wise were built Golden Gate in Kyiv with the Gate Church of the Annunciation, as well as the monasteries of St. George and Irina. All these buildings from the reign of Yaroslav the Wise characterized Kyiv as a new center of the Orthodox world.
In addition to Kyiv, construction was carried out in other cities in Russia. Considered a great architectural monument Saint Sophia Cathedral(1045–1050) in Novgorod. It was built during the reign of the son of Yaroslav the Wise, Prince Vladimir Yaroslavovich. This is a five-nave cathedral with five domes, distinguished by external severity and lack of decor. It was built of stone, had a sixth huge stair tower.
In the XI century. temples were built in Polotsk, Vyshgorod, Chernigov and other cities. In the era of feudal fragmentation, architecture did not decline, but, on the contrary, it flourished. Of particular note is the Novgorod and Vladimir architecture.
Novgorodian architecture was characterized by such features as the severity of forms, simplicity, symmetry, and small decor. An example is the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa, built in 1198, the small church of Peter and Paul on Sinichya Gora, built by the inhabitants of Lukina Street in 1185–1192, the stone church of St. Nicholas on Lipna (1292), Yuryev and Antoniev monasteries.
In addition to religious buildings in Novgorod, it is worth noting the citadel located on a high Kremlin hill - an internal fortification in the city. The center of the trading life of the Novgorodians was Yaroslav's courtyard and the residence of the princes Settlement.
The architecture of Vladimir Rus has great cultural value. It belongs to the XII-XIII century. One of the largest buildings Assumption Cathedral, built during the reign of a prince Andrey Bogolyubsky in 1158–1160 The cathedral was made of white hewn stone and originally had three naves, six pillars, the height of the cathedral was 32.3 m. The Assumption Cathedral served as a model for the construction of many cathedrals in Russia. Under the prince Vsevolod the Big Nest in 1194–1197 built in Vladimir Dmitrievsky Cathedral. He was the prince's cathedral and at the first stages was part of the complex of the prince's palace. Demetrius Cathedral is a one-domed four-pillar temple, which has many sculptural decorations on its facade.
An outstanding monument of the Vladimir-Suzdal school is Church of the Intercession on the Nerl (Church of the Intercession of the Virgin), built in 1165. This one-domed temple is remarkable for its amazing harmony, it seems to be directed upwards.
Along with architecture, painting also developed. Basically, it was represented by two areas: frescoes and icons.
Since a huge number of temples were destroyed, very few frescoes of those times have come down to us. But many icons have been preserved. Among the most famous are the icon of the Apostles Paul and Peter (XI century), the icon of St. George (c. 1170), the Savior Not Made by Hands (XII century), the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, which became the main shrine of the Moscow state, the icon of the Prophet Elijah, etc.
In the XIII century. Russia was subjected to the Mongol-Tatar invasion, which tormented the state for almost 250 years. After the expulsion of the invaders, the Russian state begins to take shape around Moscow, so the period of the XIV-XVI centuries. called Muscovite Russia.
From the book History of World and National Culture author Konstantinova, S V26. General features of the culture of the era of fragmentation. Culture of Vladimir-Suzdal Russia The era of fragmentation covers the XII-XV centuries. Russian history and the beginning of the XVI century. For the Russian spiritual culture of the middle of the XII-XIII centuries. characteristic is the appearance in different regions of Russia of original
From the book History of Culture: Lecture Notes author Dorokhova M A27. Culture of Veliky Novgorod and the Principality of Moscow in the era of fragmentation For several centuries Novgorod the Great was the "second capital" of Russia after Kyiv. This city was famous for its population and wealth. Kyiv princes "planted" in Novgorod
From the book Daily Life of the Eastern Harem author Kaziev Shapi Magomedovich28. Creation of a special style of temple construction and painting of the XIV-XV centuries. era of fragmentation In the second half of the XIII - the middle of the XIV century. Novgorod masters created a special style of temple construction. The small size of churches was dictated by the fact that for church buildings
From the book Life will go out, but I will stay: Collected works author Glinka Gleb Alexandrovich2. Kievan Rus and the era of feudal fragmentation The main idea of the "Tale of Bygone Years", written by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Nestor in 1113, is the unity of Russia. In his work, Nestor points to the princely strife and strife that had begun, condemning them. By the beginning of the 12th century.
From the book From Russia to Russia [Essays on Ethnic History] author Gumilyov Lev NikolaevichRussia The well-known historian Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin tells about Prince Vladimir (980–1014) in the Tradition of the Ages: “Vladimir's piety did not prevent him from drowning in sensual pleasures. His first wife was Rogneda, mother of Izyaslav, Mstislav, Yaroslav, Vsevolod
From the book Rus - direct descendants of the Aryans the author Larichev YuriRUSSIA You will not understand dryly, You will not cover with a bottle Wild, intoxicated The essence of the Slavic soul Is wide, like the Volga In the rampage of the flood ... Narrow it a little, Pull up the reins. In Kyiv or in Omsk Songs of free moaning. On the paths of the Sodomite Ideal
From the book Civilization of Classical China the author Eliseeff VadimPart one Kyiv state
From the book Slavic mythology author Belyakova Galina SergeevnaRus. My people are called Rus. The word "Russia" denotes the name of the state, not the people. We are Russians, not Russians. Russians are called citizens of a federal state, which includes other peoples. Russ, Rusyns, Russians - one and the same. Russ belong to the genus Rus, wherever
From the book Ibn Dast's News about the Khazars, Burtases, Magyars, Slavs and Russ author Khvolson Daniil AvraamovichThe era of "Spring and Autumn" and the era of the Warring States It is quite difficult to study step by step the development of Chinese principalities in these eras. This study is even more difficult for us, who are not familiar with Chinese patronymics and toponyms. According to Sima Qian, the State of Qi,
From the book Moskovsky Prospekt. History essays author Veksler Arkady FaivishevichRUSS - ROS - ROD Historical science of the XX century. it is proved that the Russian state was formed from 15 large regions inhabited by Eastern Slavs. Each region was an association of several small tribes that had their own names, many of which have lost
From the book Non-Russian Rus (How the Ridna Mova was Born) author From the author's bookBelaya Rus The name "Belaya Rus", from which the name of the people of Belarusians originates, was first historically attested in the 14th century, but it can be assumed that it arose much earlier. The term "Belaya Rus" was well known in the 14th century. neighbors of Belarusians -
From the author's bookEast Russia and West Russia The unity of the Russian people disappeared in the Middle Ages, but the memory of it remained in Moscow Russia and Lithuanian Russia. Since then, Moscow has been looking at Western Russia
