Administrative units of the Polotsk principality. State structure and social system of the Polotsk and Turov principalities. Need help with a topic

The first chronicle information about Polotsk dates back to 862. Under this date, in the "Tale of Bygone Years" there is information that the Scandinavian prince Rurik, the Novgorod prince, began to distribute cities to "his husbands" along with other cities, Polotsk is also mentioned. The name of this prince was not preserved in the Tale, but it can be assumed that he, like Rurik, was a Varangian.

The fact that Polotsk fell under the influence of Rurik, who sought to subjugate the northern part of the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", could not but cause opposition from Kyiv. The Kiev princes Askold and Dir in 865 (according to some sources in 867) carried out a campaign against the Krivichi. The Ipatiev Chronicle does not provide information about the consequences of the campaign, but notes that the Kiev princes "fought the Polotsk people, and did a lot of trouble to them."

At the end of the ninth century Polotsk was conquered by Prince Oleg and annexed to Kievan Rus. This is evidenced by the mention in the annals of the campaign of Prince Oleg of Kiev to Smolensk, after which a tribute was established for the Krivichi. The significant influence of Kyiv on the development of the Polotsk principality of that time is also confirmed by chronicle information about Oleg's campaign against Tsargrad in 907, in which the Polotsk people also took part. This is evidenced by the list of cities that received the reward. Polotsk, in addition to the prescribed 12 hryvnias, each participant in the campaign also received an additional reward due to the fact that Oleg's vassal was the prince in it.

There was no mention of the withdrawal of the Polotsk principality from the power of Kyiv as a military-political event, but the fact that this happened in one way or another from 907 to 947 is confirmed by the following: in 947, Princess Olga begins on lands dependent on Kyiv, to establish a regulated amount of tribute. Among the lands for which new tribute values ​​were established, there is no Polotsk, therefore, she did not pay tribute to Kiev.

By 980, one can definitely talk about the independence of Polotsk from both Kyiv and Novgorod. At this time, Prince Rogvolod reigns, about whom Tatishchev's "History of Russia" says: "Rogvolod was from the princes who came from the Varangians." In the historical literature there is no single approach to the ethnicity of Rogvolod: whether he was a Slav or a Varangian, but the main thing is that it was under him that Polotsk turned into a strong independent state. The definition given by the chroniclers to the first prince of Polotsk Rogvolod: "He held, owned and reigned the land of Polotsk" - testifies to the completion of the first stage of the formation of the state. Borders were defined, the political system and internal economic relations were established. The process of creating statehood during the time of Rogvolod coincided with similar processes among other European nations: Czechs, Moravians, Croats, Slovenes, Poles, as well as with the creation of the first centralized states in Scandinavia - Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

And it arose on the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks." It was this path that contributed to the rapid rise of the principality, its strong economy and well-known culture. The desire for independence, the struggle against the princes of Kiev, and then the Lithuanians who replaced them - this is the history of the Polotsk principality. Briefly, it looks like this: the more Kyiv put pressure on the Polotsk nobility, the more powerful became the resistance and desire of Polotsk for independence. However, the wars with Kiev weakened the principality, and in 1307 Polotsk became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Formation and dissociation of the principality

Polotsk is mentioned in Russian chronicles in 862. In the middle of the 10th century, Polotsk had its own lord - Rogvolod of Polotsk, whom, at the end of the 10th century, he kills, and takes his daughter as his wife. That allows you to attach this land to the Novgorod possessions. In 987, Prince Vladimir appointed the heir of Izyaslav as the prince of Polotsk, and the city of Izyaslavl became the capital.

As an adult, Prince Izyaslav rebuilt Polotsk, moving the capital of the principality to the left bank of the Polota River, to the most impregnable and high place. Under him, the isolation of the principality from the dominion of Kyiv was started. It should be noted that at the beginning of the XI century, the Polotsk land occupied a vast territory of North-Western Russia. The location of Polotsk at the intersection of the waterways of the Western Dvina and the Upper Dnieper gave great benefits to the principality. Not a small role in the independence of the principality was played by iron-working production.

The reign of Vseslav the Enchanter (1044 - 1101)

The principality acquired the greatest prosperity under the grandson of Izyaslav - Vseslav Bryachislavovich. After a campaign against Torkov, in 1060, Vseslav began a long struggle with Kiev for possession of North-Western Russia. In 1065, the prince made an unsuccessful attack on Pskov. The failure did not break the prince, and the next year he attacked Novgorod and plundered the city. However, then luck turned away from Vseslav and in February 1067 the Kiev princes Yaroslavovichi attacked the Polotsk principality, capturing Minsk.

On March 3, a significant battle took place near the Nemiga River. For several days, the opponents did not dare to start a battle, not yielding to each other in stubbornness and not making compromises, and on the seventh day, Vseslav Polotsky decided to drive the Yaroslavovichs out of their native land. This battle was described in the Tale of Igor's Campaign, as well as in the Kiev chronicles. The prince himself escaped captivity and fled to Polotsk. According to legend, the prince was a werewolf sorcerer and fled the battlefield in the form of a wolf.

In the summer of the same year, the Yaroslavovichs invited the prince to Kyiv for peace negotiations, promising him safety before the cross. However, Kyiv did not keep his word, and Vseslav was captured. In 1068, the Yaroslavoviches had to defend their native land against the Polovtsy. However, they lost the battle on the Alta River and fled. Kyiv was left without protection. On September 15, 1068, the Kiev uprising took place, and the people of Kiev freed Vseslav by force, appointing him the Grand Duke. The Yaroslavoviches naturally did not like this turn of affairs, and they fled to Poland for help.

When Vseslav heard that the Yaroslavovich army was heading for Kyiv, he abandoned the city and fled to his native land - Polotsk. Like, houses and walls help, but he needs Kyiv, like a second tail to a wolf. This did not help him much, and Izyaslav captured Polotsk, placing his son to reign there. In 1072, Vseslav regained Polotsk, after which the rapprochement between Izyaslav and Vseslav began. With the rest of the Yaroslavovichi, he fought uncompromisingly.

Accession of Polotsk to ON

Having many sons in the family, Vseslav Charodey divided the Polotsk land into 6 destinies, which were further divided more and more. In 1127, Kyiv captured the Polotsk lands, devastated them and sent the Polotsk princes to Byzantium. However, three years later, power fell to one of the Polotsk princes, and after his death, a struggle for the throne began between three dynasties by a descendant of Vseslav, which finally undermined the combat capability of Polotsk, and in 1216 the Livonian Order captured the lands in the lower reaches of the Western Dvina.

A century later, the principality submitted to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL). The principality finally ceased to exist after 76 years, when Lithuania abolished the autonomy of Polotsk.

Kievan Rus and Russian principalities of the XII-XIII centuries. Rybakov Boris Alexandrovich

Polotsk principality

Polotsk principality

Polotsk land was located in the north-west of Russia; a very important route to Western Europe along the Western Dvina passed through it, shorter than the route through Novgorod. The Lithuanian-Latvian tribes were neighbors of Polotsk for a long distance; when tribal squads began to grow in the lands of Lithuania, Latygoly and Zemigoli, they sometimes raided the Russian regions of the Dvina region. However, these campaigns cannot be compared with the devastating raids of the Polovtsy on the southern lands. For the most part, relations with neighbors were peaceful.

Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk (XI century)

The author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, an ardent admirer of Vseslav of Polotsk, one of the main participants in the Kiev uprising of 1068, speaks a lot about the Polotsk land and its princes and even idealizes them somewhat. He divides all Russian princes into two unequal parts - into "Yaroslavl grandchildren" and into "Veslavl grandchildren"; if the dynastic princes of Polotsk really constituted a separate branch, then these two parts were not equal in terms of land volume.

The Polotsk land had all the conditions for gaining independence; in this respect it resembled Novgorod. There was also a strong local boyars here; in Polotsk, a rich trading center, there was a city council and, in addition, some kind of "brothers" who fought with the princes; it is possible that these were merchant associations similar to Ivan on Opoki in Novgorod.

The princely power here was not particularly strong, and the Polotsk land broke up into several rather independent destinies: Minsk, Vitebsk, Drutsk, Izyaslavl, Strezhev, etc.

A bright era in the life of the Polotsk land was the long reign of Vseslav Bryachislavich (1044–1101). This energetic prince fought with Novgorod, and with Pskov, and with the Yaroslavichs. One of the enemies of Vseslav was Vladimir Monomakh, who went on campaigns to the Polotsk land from 1084 to 1119. The Kiev princes managed only for a while to subjugate this land, which lived its own isolated life. The last time a decisive attempt to subdue it was made by Mstislav the Great in 1127, sending troops from all over Russia - from Volyn and Kursk, from Novgorod and from Tork Porosie. All detachments were given exact routes, and all of them were assigned a single, common day for the invasion of the Polotsk principality. Prince Bryachislav of Polotsk, seeing himself surrounded, "feared, could not drink either Semo or Ovamo." Two years later, some Polotsk princes were exiled to Byzantium, where they stayed for ten years.

In 1132, Polotsk independently chose a prince for itself and, along with other lands of Russia, completely separated itself from the power of Kyiv. True, unlike the neighboring principalities, the Polotsk land immediately broke up into destinies; Minsk (Menesk) was the first to stand out as an independent reign. In the struggle between Rogvolod Borisovich of Polotsk and Rostislav Glebovich of Minsk in 1158, the townspeople of Polotsk and Drutsk took an active part.

Rogvolod, the grandson of Vseslav, turned out to be an outcast prince without a principality; his relatives "dug under him his parish and his life (property, household. - B.R.)". The Druchans began to invite him: when he was near Drutsk with an army, 300 Druchans and Polotsk people left on boats for a solemn meeting of the prince. Then in Polotsk "the revolt was great." The townspeople and the boyars of Polotsk invited Rogvolod to the great reign, and they wanted to lure Rostislav, the instigator of the strife, on June 29 to a feast - “brotherhood”, but the prudent prince put chain mail under his dress “and don’t dare dare to dare me.” The next day, an uprising began against the Rostislav boyars, which ended with the reign of Rogvolod. However, the attempt of the new prince of Polotsk to unite all the destinies was not successful. After one unsuccessful campaign, during which many Polotsk people died, Rogvolod did not return to his capital, and the Polotsk people once again showed their will, like the people of Kiev or Novgorod, - they invited Prince Vseslav Vasilkovich (1161–1186) from Vitebsk in 1162 .

The Tale of Igor's Campaign refers to the brother of this Vseslav, Prince Izyaslav Vasilkovich, who fought against the Lithuanian feudal lords.

One is Izyaslav, son of Vasilkov

Call with your sharp swords about Lithuanian helmets,

Pritrepa glory to his grandfather Vseslav,

And he himself under the Chryleny shields on the bloody grass

Worn with Lithuanian swords...

The attacks of the Lithuanian squads became possible as a result of the weakening of the Polotsk land, fragmented into many destinies.

Polotsk land (according to L. V. Alekseev)

Yaroslavl and all the grandchildren of Vseslavl!

Lower your burdens already,

Throw in your swords of cordage;

Already more out of the glory of the day.

You are with your sedition

Direct the filthy things on the Russian land,

For the life of Vseslavl;

What more violence from the Polovtsian land!

The singer likens the danger of Lithuanian raids (naturally intensified due to the growth of feudalization) to the Polovtsian danger and believes that the Russians should “bow the banners and sheath their chipped swords”, that is, submit to the existing order, since the reason for their defeats is their own strife, alliances with the "filthy".

The sad story of the Polotsk strife, as a result of which the soldiers died in the field and “the birds covered their bodies with their wings, and the animals licked up the blood,” the author ends with historical reminiscences, enthusiastically singing the prophetic Vseslav.

History of the Polotsk land at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century. is poorly known to us. Unfortunately, the Polotsk Chronicle, which belonged to the beginning of the 18th century, perished. architect P. M. Eropkin. V. N. Tatishchev wrote out from her an interesting detailed account of the events of 1217 in Polotsk: the wife of Prince Boris Davydovich Svyatokhna led a complex intrigue against her stepsons Vasilka and Vyachka: either she wanted to poison them, then she sent forged letters, then she sought their expulsion and , finally, with the help of her retinue, she began to destroy the Polotsk boyars, hostile to her. Were killed: thousand, posadnik and keykeeper. The veche bell rang, and the inhabitants of Polotsk, embittered by the fact that the supporters of the princess “ravaged the cities and robbed the people,” opposed the intriguer Svyatokhna Kazimirovna; she was taken into custody.

V. N. Tatishchev held this chronicle in his hands for a very short time. He noted that in it “a lot is written about the Polotsk, Vitebsk and other ... princes; only I didn’t have time to write everything out and then ... I didn’t get to see.

Prince Vyachko subsequently fell in battle with the German knights, defending the Russian and Estonian lands.

The Polotsk-Vitebsk-Minsk land, which later, in the 14th century, became the basis of the Belarusian nationality, had a peculiar culture, an interesting history, but the far-reaching process of feudal fragmentation did not allow it to maintain its integrity and political independence: in the 13th century. The principalities of Polotsk, Vitebsk, Drutsk and Minsk were first of all absorbed by the new feudal formation - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in which, however, Russian laws were in force and the Russian language dominated.

Plan of ancient Polotsk (according to L. V. Alekseev)

1 - places of archaeological research; 2 - area of ​​the most ancient settlement; 3 - burial mounds; 4 - ruins of ancient stone buildings (before the beginning of the 13th century); 5 - (the oldest temples)

Principality of Polotsk Polotsk land was located in the north-west of Russia; a very important route to Western Europe along the Western Dvina passed through it, shorter than the route through Novgorod. The neighbors of Polotsk for a long distance were the Lithuanian-Latvian tribes; when in the lands