1. Origin of Ukrainian Statehood. Kyivan Rus

Kyivan Rus, one of the largest States of medieval Europe, was created in the 9th century. The State that was principally instrumental in bringing it into existence was the Polyan Duchy (it was the Polyan Prince Kiy, who together with his brothers, Shchek and Khoriv and their sister Lybed, as the annals have it, founded Kiev).

The fusion of isolated Slavonic dukedoms into one political organization was hastened by economic and social factors as well as by an involved external political population situation - the threat to Rus from the Avar and Khazar Khanates, the Hunnish Federation and Scandinavian feudal lords — Normans.

In the year 882 Prince Oleg of Novgorod went down the Dnieper all the way to Kyiv and, having killed the local princes, Ascold and Dir, proclaimed it to be the capital of Kyivan Rus. He became the ruler of one of the greatest countries of Medieval Europe, which played an important part in political life on the continent. It is also served as a certain protective barrier between European civilization and nomadic East. Kyivan Rus spread from the Black Sea to the White Sea, from the Carpathians to the Volga River. The vastness of the territory determined the availability (within limits) of certain language and the cultural peculiarities — a potentiality of centrifugal tendencies being inevitable.

The poly-ethnical Kyivan Rus state was a monarchical form of government. When he proclaimed Kyiv to be the political centre of Rus, Prince Oleg (as well as his successors) was greatly concerned about the problem of consolidation of the nearest tribal principalities around Kyiv - the force of central state institutions being applied it its territory. All the East-Slav tribes and many non-Slav people were under dominion of the Kyiv Prince at the end of the 1 Oth century.

Kyivan princes of the 9-1 Oth centuries cared mainly about strengthening the economic and political power of the state. They fortified cities, put in order legal proceedings and a fiscal system, and regulated the obligations of the dependent population. During Princess Olga's reign (approximately 946), the attempt was made to expel paganism and replace it with Christianity. But Christianity wasn't officially introduced as a state religion in Rus until 988 by Prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavych. Diplomatic relations of the Old Rus State with the neighboring countries, in particular, Byzanthia and the German Empire, intensified during the mid 10th century after the fall of Khozar's state.

The military marches of Kyivan Princes played an important part in the expansion of the territory of Kyivan Rus and assertions of its power in the eyes of surrounding people. The "Povist mynylykh lit" mentions the victorious raid of Prince Oleg of Tsarhorod in 907, owing to having made peace with the Byzantine Emperor. Some years later, the Russians made several raids on the lands of the Arabian caliphate. In the 940s, Prince Ihor (Oleg's successor) made several military raids to the Crimean East and Taman, to Byzanthia and to the Caspian Seaside. Military activity of the Old Rus State was also observed in the 960s and early 970s during the reign of Prince Sviatoslav (964-972).

The creation of Kyivan nation state took place during the reign of Prince Sviatoslav's son, Prince Volodymyr (980-1015). The economical and political strength of the state, the authority of the Prince's rule, and the organization of law considerably increased during his reign. The successful military raids of the Prince expanded the limits of the Rus territory.

The process of forming Kyivan Rus finished in the beginning of the 11th century under Yaroslav Mudriy (or Yaroslav the Wise) (1019-1054). That was the time of the greatest rise of Kyiv Rus. The international authority of the country increased, due to the dynastic relations and diplomacy of the Prince. Yaroslav put forth much effort to subdue civil war (which occurred after the death of Volodymyr) and to protect the state territory from nomad raids. Under Yaroslav, the importance of cities in economic and cultural life of the state increased, and relations between the different regions became revived, which helped to increase the trade, agriculture and handicraft industries. The first code of the Old Rus state was created - a collection of laws, "Ruska pravda". Unfortunately, the Prince's successors were involved in many feuds that inevitably resulted in breaking the unity of the Rus state.

It was not until the early 12th century that Volodymyr Monomakh (1113-1125) managed to stop these feuds for a while. It was under his reign that Kyiv's authority as the capital was once again increased, and the authority of the Kyiv Prince expanded to the major principalities, and other princes. It was by his initiative that the convention of princes was called to decide important affairs and disputable issues. The internal and external position of the state was stabilized. This was the stage when all the characteristics of the medieval socio-political system with great feudal property, certain ideological religious and political directions had been established in Kyivan Rus.

From the 1130s the disintegration process of the Old Rus State attained an irreversible character. For several years, the territory of this newly powerful state was separated into several independent principalities whose owners did not stop military conflicts until the mid 13th century. The authority of the Kyivan Prince as the state head became quite formal but did not lead to the complete disintegration of the Old Rus state. Kyiv still remained its capital. The personal power of the Kyivan Prince was replaced by the government of "collective suzerainty" of the most influential and powerful Princes. A single centralized monarchy was changed into a federal monarchy, which no longer had the might or size of its predecessor.

The period of feudal disintegration on Kyivan Rus lands not only set a mark on their political, socio-economic and cultural development, but also introduced certain innovations to geographical definitions of the state. In particular, the Kyiv Chronicle of 1187 had first coined the term "Ukraine" to define the southern area of Rus lands (Kyiv, Pereyaslav and Chernihiv provinces). After some time, this name was also applied to Halychyna, Volyn, and Podillia. Despite several attempts to unite principalities separated by boundaries, which took place during the 12th and 13th centuries, Kyivan Rus from 1240 weakened economically and politically and suffered the forays of Mongol-Tatar Hordes of Batyi. The Horde reign in the lands of Ukraine continued for more than two centuries.

Political Order, Social Structure and economic development of Kyivan Rus

By its political structure, Kyivan Rus was one of the early feudal States of medieval Europe. In the 9th and the 10th centuries, it was keeping almost all of the Eastern Slavonic tribes and quite a few non-Slavonic tribes under the suzerainty of the Grand Duke. As the territory of the State expanded, then Grand Duke's power was strengthened. The traditional veche (popular assembly) degenerated: it met on no more than extraordinary occasions. Major affairs of the State were settled by a boyar rada made up of feudal lords who were the Grand Duke's close associates.

The Grand Duke had some other princes of smaller calibre and boyars in vassal dependence. His escort was his standing army and his machinery of government. Whenever necessary, the Grand Duke called scores of thousands of fighting men under his colours, mostly from among free peasants. The army consisted of infantry and cavalry. It used river- and sea-going warships in its campaigns. The warriors were armed with swords, sabres, knives, spears, battle-axes.

The Prince's armed forces played the role of the state elite in Kyiv Rus until the early 11th century. Elder men at arms served as the Prince's advisers in the most important state affairs, occupied all administrative, and court posts. Under the reign of Yaroslav Mudriy (or Yaroslav the Wise), they performed only military functions, while administrative and legislative staffs were subject to boyars (old tribal aristocrats by birth).

Land cultivation, using a wide variety of implements was basic to Kyivan Rus agriculture. Recent archaeological excavations have demonstrated that iron ploughshares were in use in Ukraine by the 10th century and that the relatively advanced two or three-field crop rotation system (leaving one-half to one-third of the land fallow) was also used. Wheat, oats, rye and barley were the favored crops. Livestock breeding was also widespread among the peasants of Rus, providing them not only with meat and milk, but also with leather for closing and shoes. So too was the raising of horses, swine, sheep, geese, chickens and pigeons. Oxen made cultivation possible on a large scale. Although peasants often owned the implements necessary for farming the land on their own, they usually banded together in communes, or "obshchyny" (which consisted of blood relatives from several generations led by a patriarch).

Handicrafts made notable headway. The range of iron articles alone comprised about 150 items. Iron was produced, as a rule, from bog ore by smelting in bloomeries. Scores of them have been discovered in some localities, for instance, on the site of the ancient Russian city of Gorodsk on the Teterev River.

The craftsmanship of Rus goldsmiths was amazing, as one can judge from the fine articles they made of gold, silver and murate enamel. Pottery trade and glass blowing attained a high level of achievement. Glazing pottery was widely used to decorate temples and palaces in Kiev, Novgorod, Smolensk and other cities. All kinds of bracelets, finger-rings, beads, cups of glass, made in hearths or crucibles, were widespread in everyday life. Wood was used to build homes and fortifications as well as household utensils, furniture and private vehicles like carts, sledges, boats.

Trade was instrumental in promoting a close relationship between lands. Articles made by Kyiv handicraftsmen, for instance, reached the markets in Novgorod whence a wide variety of furs came to the Dnieper country. The Halych land supplied salt not only for the local population but also for that of distant Russian lands. The external economic links of the ancient Russian State were being strengthened. These were maintained mostly through the Greek (Scandinavia — Rus — Byzantine Empire), Solyanoi (the Dnieper Country - the Halych Land) and Zalozny (the Dniester Country - the Azov Country — and the Caucasus) trade routes.

Various goods (furs, honey, wax, hides, and products of handicraft industry) went from Rus to the markets of Poland, Czechia, Moravia and countries of Western Europe. Rus was, in her turn, importing articles of gold, expensive fabrics, wine and vegetables from Byzantium, plates and dishes from the Arab world, copper, lead, arms, and all kinds of recreational and household objects from Western Europe.

Forward-looking processes in the economy of Rus (division of labour and development of handicrafts and commerce), made for the emergence of cities as centres of handicrafts and trade as well as administrative, defense, cultural and religious centres. Kyiv was one of the oldest cities of Rus. It was founded late in the 5th century - 1500 years ago. First, it was the political centre of the federation of Polyan tribes but from the 9th century on, it became known as the "capital city" of the integrated ancient Russian State. Little by little, other cities sprang up in Kyivan Rus, as Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Novgorod, Smolensk, Minsk, Polotsk, Vladimir, Novgorod-Seversky.

Artisans, like iron forgers, potters, glass blowers, goldsmiths, tailors and dress-makers (altogether about 60 trades) who joined together in communes - corporations (for instance, of potters and tanners in Kiev), were the largest category of the urban population. Big markets were held in cities where most of the population engaged in commerce. Tradesmen used to come down there even from out-of-the-way places.

Most of the urban dwellers remained personally free. Only servants and estate artisans were feudatory to boyars and merchants. The urban low classes paid no end of taxes to princes and feudal lords, performed heavy duties, built and repaired fortifications and maintained the clergymen. All that had the effect of exacerbating class contradictions and precipitating rebellions in cities.

Little by little, a system of vassal and hierarchical relations shaped up in Rus. It was presided over by the "Grand Duke of Russia", the owner of the land whose authority was identified with that of the State, to all intents and purposes. "Noble princes" and boyars, who owned dukedoms, lands, and big cities, were vassals dependent on him. Smaller towns or villages belonged to small-time feudal lords - vassals of princes. The Orthodox Church and monasteries owned vast tracts of land. That feudal pyramid was quite a heavy burden lying on the shoulders of peasants, the actual makers of the material values of ancient Russian society.

Feudal corvee and tribute in money were introduced in Rus more and more often from the 10th century on. The peasants, the main category of the dependent population, were required to pay tribute in kind (in furs, honey, or wax). Those very peasants, even though they had their own plots of land to farm, still were under obligation to work a specified number of days on feudal estates.

Historians divide the political history of Kyivan Rus into 3 phases:

1. The origin and formation of Kyivan Rus (late IX — late X cen.)

2. The height of Kyivan Rus political power and stability, economic prosperity and cultural achievement (late X— mid XI cen.)

3. Feudal fragmentation of Kyivan Rus (second half of XI — mid I XIII).

The total destruction inflicted on the city by the Mongols in 1240 marked the tragic conclusion to the Kyivan period in Ukrainian history.

Projects

1. The Kyiv Grand Princes.

2. Landowning and land-exploiting in Kyivan Rus.