History of Russia Lectures for technical students. Part 1. Учебное пособие

LECTURE 2. MEDIEVAL RUS: PRINCE VLADIMIR

AND HIS SUCCESSORS

Before the campaign of 970 Svyatoslav divided Kievan Rus among his three sons. After his death a period of fraternal strife took place in which two brothers were killed. Vladimir became a ruler in 980 and remained in power until his death in 1015. Vladimir Grand Prince of

Kiev was the most powerful man of the land but luckily there wasn’t content to be first among equals. The principal task of Vladimir was the struggle against the Pechenegs (his father’s murders). He constructed along the Northern bank of the rivers of the steppe five series of forts. Vladimir sent there the strongest men like knight Ilia Muromets and others. Vladimir followed his father’s policy by sending his sons to rule the cities in his name. Like Svyatoslav Vladimir carried out the same foreign policy – relations with Byzantium were the central point for him.

The Grand Prince sought greater power to reign over Rus as a godgiven ruler. One of the things which would be ruler of that large and diverse land needed was some central focus of authority some sort of central cult which would give him legitimacy and authority. Beyond simply the use of military force in the legends of Russia's birth Prince Vladimir searched for a single religion to bind together the many pagan peoples of Rus. New Emperor of Byzantium Basil II asked Vladimir for assistance because of the thread from the Bulgars and other peoples. More over Emperor promised to marry his sister Anna to Vladimir. Anna refused to marry Vladimir before his conversion.

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According to the ancient chronicles Vladimir sent out emissaries and met with the Jews, the Muslims and the Catholics in a quest to find the one true faith. Then his man came to Constantinople, the heart of the Christian Orthodox world. The Grand Prince was so impressed by the sheer of aesthetic beauty of it. If you see such beauty you do not know whether you are in heaven or on earth. Probably God must live in such place as Constantinople. He was convinced to convert to the Orthodox faith to be as God's agent on earth. He commanded his subjects to baptize as Christians. Vladimir was baptized around 988 and adopted Christianity as the state religion. Adoption of world religion meant that society reached a new level of development. After the death of Vladimir he was adopted as the Saint by Orthodox Church.

Prince Vladimir had united the land of Rus with religion till his death. He left his kingdom divided among his sons. New fraternal strife took place from 1015 to 1035 among Vladimir’s twelve sons. Civil war between rival brothers threatened to tear the kingdom apart. Iaroslav in Novgorod became a victor in this struggle. He wished to rule all by himself but he feared his brothers – Boris and Gleb. Neither Boris nor Gleb were interested in seizing power. Iaroslav was married to a daughter of the king of Sweden and he invited the Varangians to help him. Most of Vladimir’s sons died tragically: two of them – Boris and Gleb became Saints. They were killed. Boris was alone at prayer when his brothers found him. Boris knew about the fight for the throne.

Boris’ murders killed another brother – Gleb like wild beasts and overcame him by piercing him with sharp blades. Boris and Gleb were canonized as the first Saints of the Russian orthodox church.

Iaroslav became Grand Prince in 1036 for 18 years and made Kiev a great cultural centre. Iaroslav extended contacts with the outside world. Under Iaroslav Russia had diplomatic relations with Poland, Bohemia, Germany and France. Iaroslav married all his children to European kings and queens: Anna became Queen of France, other daughters – Queen of Norway, Hungary and so on. Iaroslav continued

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relations with Byzantium fighting against Emperor. This struggle ended by a dynastic marriage. Iaroslav established Russian law –

“Russkaya Pravda”. He divided Russian lands among his sons, giving

Kiev to the eldest Iziaslav, and other cities to other four sons.

Iziaslav was pointed as a senior prince and ruled in Kiev until 1073. Then Iziaslav went to Poland and asked for help of Roman Emperor. After the death of his brother Svyatoslav Iziaslav came back to Kiev and was killed there in two years by his younger brother Vsevolod. Vsevolod ruled Kiev from 1078 to 1093. From 1093 to 1113 the son of Iziaslav Sviatopolk ruled in Kiev while his cousin Vsevolod’d son

Vladimir Monomakh ruled in Chernigov. This Grand Prince was very unpopular because of state salt monopoly. The General Assembly of all Russian princes took place in Liubech near Chernigov in 1097 during which princes promised to be friends.

At the death of Sviatopolk in 1113 social tension was very high in Kiev. There was revolt and people invited Vladimir Monomakh to be Grand Prince because he was very popular among common people. He was a ruler for 12 years (1113-1125) he was already 60 when he started to rule, bur he had a reputation of “true knight” because of his permanent struggle against the Polovtsy. There were two aims of his reign: uniting Russian lands and princes and protection southern lands from invasions of the Polovtsy. Under Vladimir the first Russian Crusade took place to the steppe against the Polovtsy in 1111. He was married to the daughter of Harold II of England.

TASKS

1. Answer the following questions:

1.What did adoption of Christianity mean for Russia?

2.What was the cause of disintegration in Russia?

3.What is Iaroslav the Wise famous for?

4.What happened at the general assembly at Liubech?

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5.Why was Vladimir Monomakh elected in 1113?

6.What is Vladimir Monomakh famous for?

2.Watch video “History of Russian Empire” (Matteo Zilli, part

1of 20) and summarize new information.

3.Topics for writing essay.

1.Baptism of Russia. The role of the Church in the further development of the state.

2.The main features of the reign of Iaroslav the Wise.

3.The role of Vladimir Monomakh in Russian history.

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LECTURE 3. IVAN THE TERRIBLE

Part I

In 1533 Muscovite passed to Ivan IV, a three-year-old boy, the elder son of Vasiliy III. From the age of three until seven the infant despot lived under the regency of his mother – Grand Princess Helen. Helen was the second female ruler in Russia after Princess Olga. Her origin

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was western Russian and from Khan Mamay. In 1538 Princess died, she was murdered by poison. After this a decade of chaos became. It was a time when aristocracy and boyars had a claim to power. That time was a reason of paranoiac mentality and massacres of Ivan IV.

Ivan married at the age of sixteen and was crowned in the same year – 1547 with great ceremony in Moscow Uspenskiy Cathedral as a Tsar of All Russia. So he was the first Muscovite sovereign to be crowned with this august title. His first wife was Anastasia Zacharina – an indirect relative of the Romanov dynasty which was later succeeded to the Russian throne.

The Ivan’s greatest contribution to the growth of the county came from military campaigns against the Tatars. In 1552 Ivan and his army besieged the fortress of Kazan. It was situated in the lower of the Volgariver (on the trade route to the Orient). Tatar’s fortress fell down after a six week siege. Four years later Ivan captured Astrachan. After that Russia ruled the Volga-river route all the way to the Caspian Sea. Kazan and Astrachan lands that had been the Tatar’s home now belong to the Tsar of Russia. So Ivan embraced the course of the Volga-river with nonSlavic population too. During the reign Ivan expanded at the rate of something like on the average square miles per day, it was an extraordinary thing for that time, only Americans could do this when they drive towards the Pacific Ocean from another coast. To commemorate his victories the Cathedral of Virgin’s Intercession was erected in the heart of

Moscow. The second name of it was after Saint Basil. This Cathedral became a masterpiece of art and architecture and symbol of Russia. The architects of this Cathedral (Russian craftsmen – Barma and Postnik) were blinded.

The Cossack leader Yermak invades the Tatar Khanate of Siberia with few troops, destroyed and occupied its capital in 1582. Yermak was killed later. So the territory of Russia was increased.

Ivan’s passion for lands and power was matched in these years by passion for his wife. His bride Anastasia came from a family destined for

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the pinnacle of greatness. Ivan loved his wife very much. When Anastasia was his wife there were no executions and tsar behaved himself very well. So as his contemporaries remember this was the finest time of his reign, his glory: his court was rich and strong, his empire extended the influence to the Poles. His wife had to born a healthy heir to the throne.

During the early years of Ivan’s reign important domestic reforms took place under the influence of four men – A. Kurbskiy, member of gentry A. Adashev, a priest Sylvestor and Viskovatiy who were the closest advisers of the Tsar. New Law Code was published. Local government was also reformed. Then there were various ecclesiastical and military reforms. At that time the first Russian army was established, it was called “Streltsy”. They were equipped with fire arms. Other reform was introduction of printing.

But the fate turned against Ivan. A devastating fire swept across Moscow. After this Tsarina Anastasia fell sick with terrible fever. Tsar prayed for God to spare his beloved wife. Poison had taken his mother, Anastasia had been poisoned too. The death of Tsarina Anastasia in 1560 marked a change in the reign of Ivan IV. The throne was the object of the dark conspiracy. That particular death was a real part and parcel of a much larger complex. He began to earn the title of the “Terrible”. In his own essays Ivan wrote that he wanted to be called the Tsar of terror.

In 1553 the explorer Richard Chancellor sailed from Gravesend and landed on the bank of the Northern Dvina. He was a founder of new trade route. Thirty years later town Archangelsk was founded on that place. Chancellor went to Moscow and was welcomed by the Tsar. Ivan had a hope to set an anti-Polish military alliance with England and wanted to get marry one of the Lady of the Queen. Since the death of his first wife Anastasia, he had married so many times that the Orthodox Church would no longer bless the Ceremony. Ivan's amorous intentions extended to England's royal court. He actually investigated the possibility of a marriage proposal to marry of Lady Hastings who was a lady-in-waiting in Elizabeth's court and who was related to Elizabeth

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herself. This two would have made for a rather strange alliance of Moscow and London in the age of Shakespeare. The Tsar had not need of a wife to bring an area, the succession was assured. That’s why he granted England extensive trading concessions. Chancellor when he passed through Muscovy was struck by the country’s size and prosperity. He found Moscow to be a city larger than London.

Part II

Tsar wished to extend territory of the state on the Baltic coast. His aim was to get access to Western Europe and according this he started campaign against the weakest enemy in the West – the Livonian Order of Knights in the area of modern Estonia and Latvia. First time Ivan had some victories. But Poland, Sweden and Lithuania protected the interests of the Order and Ivan had to continue war against these countries. Defeated by Polish King Stephen Batoriy Ivan was forced to make peace in 1582-1583. So war lasted more than a quarter of century. Poland and Sweden divided lands of the Order. The war in the north-west was a failure.

During long and bloody war against Swedes, Poles and Livonians Ivan IV had been engaged in warfare against his own subjects. It was called “Oprichnina” and established in 1565. Ivan the Terrible recognized that he still had very many internal enemies. Therefore on December 1565 the Tsar left Moscow and after some time he appealed in a letter to the Moscow people complaining that he was leaving the posting because he was not being allowed to rule by noblemen and he was moving out for good with a heart filled with sorrow no longer wishing to enjoy betrayal. Ivan the Terrible renounced his throne, the crown, Empire and had noted that people have no master. He abandoned the Kremlin. Russian people feared the country would fall apart and advocated he removed himself from the religion. He knew he was going to be asked back, the mood of the people was against boyars especially the people in Moscow. The people came to him and they said one of the classic Rus-

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sian phrases that sheep cannot be without a shepherd and he may do what ever he wants. Ivan agreed to return but only on one condition he must have free hands to rule Russia as he pleased and punish enemies anyway he chose. After that the terror began at the foot of the Kremlin walls.

Ivan ordered the execution of hundreds nobles, counselors, even priests. The limits were turned on his advisers, military heroes, trusted noblemen. They had opposed his wars, denied taxes. They were cast into prison, subjected to torture. So they paid with their lands and their lives. Sylvestor and A. Adashev were the first victims. They were imprisoned. The reason was a difference of opinion over military policy. The two advisers wanted to follow the campaign against the Tatars, proposing to attack the powerful Crimean Khanate. Even his closest allies like Andrey Kurbskiy fled the field of battle and defected to Russian enemies. Soon after an angry letter from general arrived at the Tsar court,

Kurbskiy asked Ivan the Terrible “why have you murdered the illustrious warriors”. The correspondence between the Tsar and A. Kurbskiy became a masterpiece of ancient literature.

To crush all opposition Ivan the Terrible created his own private army, who were cloaked in black and recruited from some parts of the society, ride horses. This army terrorized the population and could be considered as a version of the Spanish Inquisition. Ivan’s warriors dressed like monks and they acted as though they were in some kind of quasi monastery and at the same time they were engaged in terrible killings, tortures. The Oprichniks were private army of the Tsar. They were five or six thousand people in black clothes riding black horses with special emblems (a dog’s head and broom). Ivan the Terrible sometimes even invented special executions. Tsar pointed out to kill not just noble boyars but their entire families what it left no one of a family to pray for the dead.

Oprichnina was the name given to the lands in the north of Russia which covered a third or a half of Muscovy. One of the most popular

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events of Oprichnina was massacre in Novgorod in 1570. During five weeks many thousands of people were killed, because Novgorod was very independent town with its own archbishop and town manager. The second town after Novgorod was Tver. Even Metropolitan Philip of Moscow and All Russia was prisoned and waiting his killing because he said in public that Ivan and his policy are wrong. On 25 July 1570 Ivan presided by himself on Moscow square dismemberment and boiling alive of some victims (even elephant was cut to pieces because it didn’t bow to him). For his deeds Tsar gave sums of money to priests and monasteries that they must pray for the souls of victims. As his crusade of terror swept the land, only the most devout dared to challenge the Tsar. For nearly eight years the war was waged against his own people.

Ivan was so busy with Oprichnina and he didn’t defend the centre of the state. When Russian real enemies attacked, the nation was too weak to resist. In 1571 Russian old enemies with the Crimean Khan DevletGirey swept north out of the Crimea and sack Moscow. Flame engulfed the wooden metropolis. In three hours the city burned to the ground. Over 60,000 people died in a day. Ivan faced with a ruined capital in a shattered land. After that his terrible army of Black Riders was abolished, but the damage had already been done. The brutality of the guardsmen coupled with disaster and disease in years to come would devastate the heart of Muscovy. If we are to believe the statistics that have survived some of the areas of Muscovy are 50 per cent, 60 per cent, some of them eighty and ninety per cent were depopulated. In a year Devlet-Girey came with army to Moscow again but met defeat by Russian army under Prince M. Vorotynskiy, a hero of the conquest of Kazan. Later this general was killed by fire according order of the Tsar.

This event belongs to the last years of Ivan’s reign. The domestic tragedy was occurred when Ivan swung his iron-tipped stuff in a fit of temper and struck dead his beloved eldest son and heir, the Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich. The Tsar had never been happy with his son's choice for a bride. Data of the November evening in 1581: Ivan was furious at the

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