Russia's relations with European countries. Relations of Russia with the West (Germany, Italy, Spain)

Problematic question: What positions did
the state of Russia in modern
peace to him?

The 9th-11th centuries became the time of formation not only of the state of Russia, but also of many other European states. On the lands of the broken empire

The 9th-11th centuries became the time of the formation of not only the state
Russia, but also many other European states. On the lands
the collapsed empire of Charlemagne by the end of the 9th century
three large kingdoms were formed, which laid the foundation for
the future of France, Germany and Italy.

In the 10th century German kings
started hiking in
Italy. Having conquered the part
Italy and Rome, Germanic
King Otto I declared himself
by the Roman emperor.
The lands under his control
became known as the Holy
Roman Empire. But this
state, like others,
was not united, power
the emperor quickly weakened.
Germany itself consisted of
200 small actually
independent states.
Sometimes it was just a castle with
several villages.

In the north of Europe
appeared Danish,
Norwegian and Swedish
kingdoms.
To the kingdom of England
united in 829
Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms of Britain.
One of the first
Slavic states
became Great Moravian
the power that
did not last long.
In the ninth century began
take shape Polish and
Czech Principality
(later kingdom)

In the Balkans in the IX-X centuries
its heyday
experienced the Bulgarian
kingdom. At the beginning of the 10th century
Croatian
kingdom, and in the middle
X century - Serbian
principality. At the end of the 10th century
a kingdom was formed
Hungary. In the 10th century
a state appeared
Volga Bulgaria.

The Byzantine Empire remained the largest and most developed state of that time.

The result of the military
campaigns of princes Oleg, Igor
and Svyatoslav to Byzantium
were the treaties of Russia with
Greeks 911, 944 and 971.
These agreements show
that Byzantium was ready for
any conditions to
establish peaceful
relations with Russia. Russian
merchants were given
various benefits for
trading in
Constantinople. And then
Baptism of Russia in 988
relations between countries
strengthened considerably.

Constantinople (Tsargrad)

Constantinople was
cultural capital
Europe. Authority
Byzantine emperors
was recognized in all
European states.
However, Russia's relations with
Byzantium wore a special
character. For Russia
Tsargrad became spiritual and
religious center.

Special relations between Russia and
Byzantium found
expression and in
dynastic marriages.
most important
the event was marriage
Vladimir Svyatoslavovich
on a Byzantine princess
Anna, sister of two
Byzantine emperors.
Anna was the first
byzantine princess,
given to a foreigner.

Son of Yaroslav the Wise
Vsevolod was married to
Greek princess.
Byzantine princesses
were the wives of grandchildren
Yaroslav the Wise Oleg and
Svyatopolk, son
Vladimir Monomakh
Yuri.
Many Russian daughters
princes married
representatives
Byzantine
imperial house.

Russia was one of the largest European
states. Not only neighbors reckoned with her,
but also distant countries and peoples.
The geographic location itself determined
wide contacts of Russia with many countries
East and West.
Close ties between the Russian lands were established with
Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria.
Permanent relations existed between Russia and
Germany, Norway, Sweden, with distant
England and France.
Family ties indicate that Russia is already in
this time has taken a prominent place in the system
European states.

Dynastic marriages of children of Yaroslav the Wise

sons
Izyaslav (1025-1078)
- married sister
Polish king
Casimir I - Gertrude
Igor (1036-1060) -
married a German
Princess Kunigunde
daughters
Elizabeth became a wife
Norwegian king
Harald the Severe
Anastasia became a wife
King Andrew I of Hungary
Anna married
King Henry I of France
In France she became
known as Anna Russian
or Anna of Kyiv.

Particularly deep footprint
left in history
Queen Anne of France
Yaroslavna. Unlike
husband-king, she knew how
read and write, played on
musical
tools.
Arriving in France, Anna
was smitten with misery
Paris compared to
glorious capital
Russia.
She succeeded in many ways
transform french
royal court.

foreign princesses
became wives not only
sons of Yaroslav the Wise,
but also his grandson Vladimir
Monomakh was married to
daughter of the English king Gita of Wessex.
And Vladimir's sister
Monomakh Eupraxia
Vsevolodovna was married
for the Holy Emperor
Roman Empire.

Relations with nomads and countries of the East.

Nomadic peoples lived to the south and
east of the Russian borders.
Significant impact on
situation east of Russia
affirmed Islam
as a state
religions in the Volga Bulgaria.
She became one of
largest Muslim
centers of Europe. To Islam
later joined and
Pechenegs.

.

.After the Baptism of Russia
multi-year
war of Russia with the Pechenegs.
Constant raids
Pechenegs, and then
the Cumans were accompanied
destruction of towns and villages,
enslavement of thousands
inhabitants of Russia.
All this is essential
hindered the development
country.
Therefore, the fight against
nomads was
the most important direction
foreign policy of all
princes.

.

To escape raids
built fortifications along
borders and erected walls
around cities.
Princes traveled to
steppe, crushing the nomads
away from Russian lands.
But run anyway
continued, especially since
during the strife, many princes
themselves called nomads
to Russia as their
allies to fight
other princes.

Russian
the state played
key role in
European
trade IX-XI
centuries. Samo
the state of Russia
arose thanks to
his position
at the junction of two
the most important
trade routes
that time of the Volga
trade route and
way "from the Varangians to
Greeks"

Both ways
provided for
for several
centuries of sustainable
European trade
with the East, and
Northern Europe with
Byzantium. According to these
Russia led the way
trade with southern
Western Slavs,
Scandinavia,
Byzantium, Western
Europe, nations
Caucasus, Central Asia,
Middle East.

Tsar Ivan III (1462-1505) was the first and only Eastern European monarch who independently freed himself from the Mongol yoke, while he did not depend on European thrones. Indeed, in the fateful time of Ivan III, the first post-Mongolian western connections of Russia were established. But they looked at Russia as a possible object of influence, and not as a member of the European, Christian family of peoples. Pope Paul II tried to take advantage of the tsar's intention to marry Zoe Palaiologos (who took the name of Sophia), the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, who, having emigrated to northern Italy, was converted to Catholicism. Contrary to the papal wish, she nevertheless accepted the royal condition - in the very first Russian city she was converted to Orthodoxy. The marriage was concluded in November 1472. It can be said that Russia first met the West during the journey of the retinue of Princess Sophia to Moscow through the Baltic ports (Revel) and Pskov. The people of Pskov looked with surprise at the papal legate in the red cardinal's robes, who did not bow to Russian icons, did not make the sign of the cross on himself where Orthodox Russians knelt on their knees. It was then that the first meeting of the two worlds took place. “With the entry of Ivan III into marriage with Sophia Paleolog, the introduction in Russia of the coat of arms of the double-headed eagle, allegedly borrowed from Byzantium ... By introducing a new coat of arms, Ivan III sought to show the Habsburgs the increased role of his state and its international significance.” The first representatives of the West, who visited Moscow freed from the Mongols, were Catholic missionaries pursuing their own goals, dictated by the desire of the pope to expand the limits of his influence. Some Western travelers left very unflattering descriptions of Muscovy as a "rude and barbaric kingdom" with cruel morals. The first Russian-Western problem discussed by Ivan III with the boyars was whether a papal legate with a silver cast crucifix could be admitted to the princely capital - Moscow. Opposed to such blasphemy, the Moscow Metropolitan announced to the Grand Duke that if the Roman envoy was given official honors, he would leave the capital. The representative of the West immediately offered the Metropolitan of Moscow to fight in the world of abstract ideas, and lost. Eleven weeks of stay in Moscow convinced the Roman legate that the hope of subordinating the Russian Church to the Pope of Rome was rather ephemeral. The Pope was also mistaken in counting on the pro-Western orientation of Empress Sophia Palaiologos. She remained faithful to Orthodoxy and refused the role of a conductor of papal influence, from contributing to the introduction of the Florentine Union in Russia.

The first permanent ambassador of Russia in the West, a certain Tolbuzin (1472), represented Moscow in Venice. His main task was not theoretical debate, but the adoption of Western technology. The Grand Duke wanted to see Western architects in Moscow. Aristotle Fioravanti of Bologna was the first bearer of Western knowledge who found it acceptable (and desirable) to show his technical skill in Russia. “Italian architects built the Assumption Cathedral”, the Faceted Chamber and the Kremlin itself; Italian craftsmen cast cannons and minted coins. The Russian embassy was sent in 1472 to Milan. An exchange of embassies followed with the ruler Stefan the Great (1478), Matthias Corwin of Hungary (1485) and, finally, the first ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire Nicholas Poppel (I486) arrived in Moscow from Vienna.

Naturally, along with interest in the West at that fundamental time, there was also a reaction of the opposite direction - a trend of major importance for Russia. It is not surprising that the opposition to Westernism was carried out primarily under the banner of defending Orthodoxy. The idea of ​​a "Third Rome" (and there will be no "fourth" one) very quickly became the core of the ideological opposition to the still weak manifestations of Russia's Westernization. Thus, during the reign of Ivan III and Vasily III, who succeeded him, Russia begins to feel the influence of the West. Therefore, right opposite the fortress of the Teutonic Order, Ivan III in 1492 erected a stone fortress Ivangorod. In 1502, the Teutonic Order defeated the Russian troops south of Pskov. Since that time, the proximity of Russia to the West was already presented as an immediate danger. One form of response was an attempt at rapprochement - foreigners were invited to their place. Responding to the calls of the Russian Tsar, several newcomers from the West settled in Moscow, who proved themselves in crafts and art. The most famous was the resident of Vicenza, Gianbatista della Volpe, who established the minting of the state coin. But in general, the first wave of Western influence on Russia was mainly associated with medicine, in which the West achieved undoubted success. Even the first Russian translations from Latin were medical texts, encyclopedias of herbs, the treatise "The Secret Revelations of Aristotle to Alexander the Great about the true nature of the world, depending on biology." “Representatives of the West had rather contradictory impressions about Russia. On the one hand, Russia was a Christian state... On the other hand, the exceptional originality of the easternmost Christian people was obvious. Even highly experienced travelers were struck by the scale of Russian open spaces.

Another external distinguishing feature: the growing cities in the West and the peculiar cities of Russia are, to a much lesser extent, the focus of artisans, merchants and philistines. The most striking thing for foreigners as representatives of the West was the absence of a self-regulating middle class in Russia. Only Novgorod and Pskov, separated from the Trans-Volga horde and close to the Hansa, had city self-government. In those years when the population of the West set sail, established an extensive trade and created manufactories, the bulk of the Russian people lived in peace, a rural community connected with the land, and not with crafts and commodity exchange. Communication with foreigners was hindered by ignorance of languages. Foreigners noted that Russians learn only their native language and do not tolerate any other in their country and in their society, and that all their church services take place in their native language. The diplomat of the Livonian Order T. Herner described (1557) the circle of reading of literate Muscovites as follows: “They have in translation various books of the Holy Fathers and many historical writings that treat both the Romans and other peoples; they have no philosophical, astrological and medical books.” The next wave of Western influence begins to penetrate through diplomatic channels through the main center of contacts with the West - the Decree of Foreign Relations, the future Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first head of the officially recognized foreign ministry, Fyodor Kuritsyn, arrived to serve Tsar Ivan III from the western lands. This Russian diplomat can be called one of the first active disseminators of Western culture and customs in Russia. “A circle of admirers of the West is beginning to take shape in Moscow, the informal leader of which was the boyar Fyodor Ivanovich Karpov, who was interested in astronomy and advocated the unification of Christian churches.” At the beginning of the XVI century. the political and psychological situation in the capital of Russia is beginning to be more conducive to the rapprochement of the two worlds. As later historians admit, Tsar Vasily III, who succeeded Ivan III, was raised by his mother Sophia in a Western manner. This was the first Russian sovereign who openly favored the idea of ​​rapprochement with the West. The subject of Vasily III's reflections is the split of the Christian world; he was worried about the religious division of Europe. “In 1517, the Reformation begins ... Both Catholics and Protestants persistently sought to win Russia over to their side, strenuously sending missionaries” Vasily III considered it possible for himself to discuss what until recently was considered heresy - the possibility of uniting the Russian and Western churches. He attracted to his service Lithuanians who had been to the West. How far Vasily III was ready to go in his Western sympathies is not known, but the very fact that he shaved off his beard was an expression of a new influence unknown to Moscow. Vasily III's pro-Western sympathies were underlined by his marriage to Elena Glinskaya, who came from a family known for its contacts with the West. Elena's uncle Mikhail Lvovich Glinsky served for a long time in the troops of Albert of Saxony and Emperor Maximilian I. He was converted to Catholicism and knew several Western languages. After the marriage of his niece, this Westerner held important government posts under Vasily III.

At the beginning of the XVI century. Russia could draw closer to the West for political reasons: a common foreign policy enemy appeared. In this sense, the first genuine interest of the West in Russia was associated with strategic goals: in alliance with Russia, to ease the pressure of the Ottoman Empire on the Holy Roman Empire, to strike at it. Such an alliance was proposed to Tsar Vasily III in 1519 by the Pope through Nicholas von Schoenberg. The Imperial ambassador, Baron Herberstein, was also a zealous follower of this idea and urged Pope Clement VII to overcome the opposition to this union from Poland. Such a strategic alliance, no doubt, would immediately bring Moscow and Vienna closer, but in Russia they feared the strengthening of the influence of Catholic Poland. Herberstein emphasized that the power of the Grand Duke in Moscow significantly exceeds the power of Western monarchs over their subjects. "Russians publicly declare that the will of the prince is the will of God." Freedom is a concept unknown to them. Baron Herberstein urged Pope Clement VII "to establish direct relations with Moscow, to reject the mediation of the Polish king in this matter." Irritated by such attempts, the Poles even threatened in 1553 to Rome to break off political relations with him and conclude an alliance with the Sultan. But we are already hurting the interests of Ivan the Terrible... If the first contacts with the West were carried out under the auspices of the popes and the German emperor, then in the second half of the 16th century. in Russia, the influence of the Protestant part of Europe begins to be felt. A sign of the "advent of the Protestant West" was the construction in Moscow in 1575-1576. Lutheran church for foreigners. Tsar Ivan the Terrible most of all loved the Italians and the British. But even the knights in armor and on horseback, who came mainly from Germany, could safely count on a special position at court. Artillery of the Italian type was issued from the West; German officers were invited to organize the troops.

In the middle of the century, maritime ties between Russia and the West were being established. After the transformation of Arkhangelsk into an international port, Russia had two "points of contact" with the West: Narva and the White Sea. Through Narva, which had passed to the Russians, Western merchants from 1558 began to master the Russian market. In 1553 In search of an Arctic route to China, Captain R. Chancellor dropped anchor in Arkhangelsk, which became a symbol of the first serious economic contacts between the West and Russia. Ivan the Terrible most kindly met the enterprising Englishman in Moscow, and the English Russian Company received a monopoly on duty-free trade with Russia.

The counter-reformation that began in Europe, which made Germany and the Polish-Lithuanian kingdom a battlefield for intra-Western forces, definitely slowed down the advance of the West to the East. It was with the British that Ivan the Terrible tried to formalize a military-political alliance. “England received at one time significant privileges in Russian foreign trade, which gave her an almost monopoly position. In exchange, Ivan counted on an alliance in the Livonian War. But the queen was not going to get involved in the war on the continent and only agreed to provide Tsar Ivan with political asylum if he was forced to flee Russia. Having been refused, the king turned to the continental powers. "With the Swedish king Eric XIV in 1567, Russia concluded an agreement on the union and division of Livonia." This was partly explained by the need to find allies in the West, the desire to strengthen Moscow's position on the eve of its expansion. However, feeling the growing pressure of the West, Ivan the Terrible, relying on the increased power of his state, proposed to the West to divide the Commonwealth between Moscow and the Holy Roman Empire (almost two centuries ahead of Catherine II). In a certain sense, it was an attempt to create a barrier to Western pressure and unite Russian and Western interests. But the unfortunate Livonian War prevented the cause of rapprochement with the West: its unsuccessful outcome for Russia devalued Ivan the Terrible's 25-year-old attempts to find his own way to the West. Moreover, Russia lost Narva in the Livonian War - the stronghold of its ties with the West. In the winter of 1581, Ivan the Terrible, under the pressure of the failures of the Livonian War, sent his ambassador Leonty Shevrigin to Rome with a proposal to the pope to mediate in the war between Russia and Poland, and in the future to conclude an alliance to fight Turkey. The envoy of Pope Gregory XIII, Antonio Possevino, for his help in concluding peace, demanded that new opportunities be provided to the Roman Catholic Church in Russia, which did not find understanding in Moscow. “In August 1582, an embassy of Fyodor Pisemsky was sent to London, the purpose of which was to establish allied relations with Elizabeth I ... Ivan IV insisted that Elizabeth get Batory to give up Polotsk and Livonia. However, the English queen was not inclined to support the proposals of Ivan IV and thought only about obtaining new trade benefits. After the death of Grozny, the British tried not to weaken their positions in Russia. Immediately after the stabilization of political life in Moscow, associated with the coming to power of Boris Godunov, Queen Elizabeth I sent an embassy to Moscow of more than forty people. The queen's ambassador promised to "supply Muscovy with everything necessary, (English) goods will be cheaper and of better quality than the goods of the Dutch and other peoples." Intuitively opposed to the monopoly, Tsar Boris eventually gave the British and Dutch the same conditions for concluding trade deals. Boris Godunov sent his ambassador to Denmark and in September 1602 received the Danish duke Johann with great pomp. Foreign guests looked with great surprise at the magnificence of the eastern capital, at the scope of the royal reception. For his part, the duke brought with him pastors, doctors, a surgeon, an executioner. Johann arrived with serious intentions - he asked for the hand of Godunov's daughter. The marriage union, for reasons beyond Godunov's control, did not take place, but Russia significantly expanded its contacts with the West in the last years before the Time of Troubles. In 1604, the ambassador of the Roman emperor arrived in Moscow. “Boris,” writes the Italian Massa, “was merciful and kind to foreigners; he had a huge memory and, although he could neither read nor write, he knew everything better than those who could do it all. ”Hundreds and even thousands of foreigners poured into the state, weakened after the cataclysms of the era of Ivan the Terrible. Western penetration into Russia became particularly intense during the Time of Troubles. Under Boris Godunov, a real cultural "self-defense" of the state began, which fell into a difficult period of development. So, in Moscow, a patriarchy was created, which the tsar considered the stronghold of Russian beliefs and traditions proper. War between Russia and Sweden at the end of the 16th century. was the first war between Russia and a truly Western power, and it ended in defeat for Russia. In 1592, the Polish king Sigismund III became the Swedish king, and clouds from the West gathered over Russia. At this time, Tsar Boris is discussing plans to create a higher school in Moscow, in which foreigners were invited to teach, which can be considered the first official recognition of the superiority of the West. At the same time, for the first time, many young people were sent to the West for knowledge - also a fairly clear sign. In April 1604, at the height of the political crisis in Russia, the unknown monk Gregory, who converted to Catholicism, pretended to be the (deceased) son of Ivan the Terrible Dmitry and marched with the Polish army to Moscow. In the spring of the following year, Tsar Boris Godunov dies, and the impostor enters the Kremlin. He was anointed king in 1605 by Metropolitan Ignatius, who was called from Ryazan and was ready to recognize the Union of Brest. Westernization, in modern terms, becomes a specific task of False Dmitry - reform of the state administration system, restructuring, establishing ties with the West, in particular, getting an education abroad.

Under pressure from the Poles and due to feudal enmity, a group of boyars in 1610 elected Vladislav, the son of the Polish king, who came from the Swedish royal house of Vasa, as Russian tsar. The Swedish troops launched an offensive in the northwest, and the Poles went straight to Moscow, capturing it in 1610. But three thousand soldiers of the Polish army and several dozen German bodyguards of False Dmitry I were not the strike force of the West, which at that time colonized the whole world . As an organism, as a society, the Polish world was not distinguished by Western efficiency. In addition, the Polish king Sigismund III began to encroach on the Russian throne of his son. And in Novgorod, the Swedes insisted on the recognition of the Swedish pretender as the Russian tsar. In the summer of 1612, Holy Roman Emperor Matthias nominated his brother, and then his nephew, to the Russian throne. Even the British began to develop plans for an English protectorate over Northern Russia. Russia was at the lowest point of its influence in Europe. She was really close to losing both her freedom and her identity. After the Polish occupation of Moscow, neither the acceptance of the union nor the submission to Catholicism was out of the question. The patriotic nationwide movement, headed by Kozma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, showed all applicants for the Russian throne the impossibility of realizing their plans. Russia, like other great states: China, India, the Ottoman Empire, in the 17th century. stood before a harsh prospect - to withstand or submit to the West. Russia has set an example of the longest historical opposition to the West in its practical, scientific, methodically organized subjugation of the entire surrounding world. Russia sought to preserve itself, and its epic struggle was practically the only alternative to gradual surrender - the share of the rest of the world. Thus, the Muscovite state successfully took advantage of the geopolitical situation prevailing at that time: the collapse of the Golden Horde elevated Moscow to the rank of successor to vast territories in the east, which will happen in the future; the presence of the West's interest in military and trade cooperation; patronage of the Orthodox population is the most important direction of foreign policy. But such an overactive foreign policy led to an overstrain of forces, and a way out was found first in cultural "self-defense", and then in the national-patriotic movement to expel the Poles from Russia.

Lecture: International relations of Ancient Russia

The foreign policy of the ancient Russian state arose from the moment of the formation of Kievan Rus in the 9th century. Its integral part was international relations, which depended on trade relations between states.

The most significant in this regard were two areas of trade:

the Danube-Dnieper Way (The Way "From the Varangians to the Greeks"), which connected Northern Europe with Byzantium;

The Volga-Baltic Way ("Volga Trade Route") - with the countries of the East.

Kievan Rus and Byzantium in the 9th - early 12th centuries.

Byzantium, the largest power in the trading world, was a more developed state and had a significant impact on the formation of Ancient Russia, its culture, life and religion. Relations between the two states cannot be characterized unambiguously. Russia sought to be on an equal footing with Byzantium. And the princes of Kiev, wanting to achieve profitable trade agreements, periodically fought with Byzantium. The main goal of the Rus was to strengthen positions at the mouths of the Dnieper and Dniester, as well as on the Crimean Peninsula, which was a crossroads of sea trade routes.

So, under Prince Oleg, the Russian-Byzantine war of 907 took place. It repeated itself in 911. Prince Igor also made sea and land campaigns against Constantinople in 941 and 944. These campaigns ended with the conclusion of more or less favorable peace treaties for Russia. In exchange for favorable trade agreements for Russia, Byzantium received military assistance. Russian squads made Caspian campaigns against Byzantine enemies - the Muslim rulers of Transcaucasia. But it should be borne in mind that the Caspian also attracted Russia with its advantageous position for world trade, because it was located between Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Many events in relations with Byzantium occurred during the reign of Svyatoslav. Initially, he acted as an ally of Byzantium against Bulgaria, which was at war with it. As a result, the Bulgarians were defeated near Dorostol. The entire coast of the Black Sea from the Danube to the Kerch Strait began to belong to Russia. What was contrary to the interests of Byzantium and forced to change their attitude, turning against Russia. Thus, in 970-971, the Russian-Byzantine war unfolded, ending with the conclusion of a peace treaty, which confirmed the terms of cooperation between Russia and Byzantium from 944.

An important factor in the rapprochement of Russia with Christian Byzantium was the adoption of Christianity. The first step in this direction was taken by Princess Olga. She wanted to establish former ties with Byzantium after the defeat of Prince Igor. Prince Vladimir also took the next step. He was baptized himself, but did something more by baptizing all of Russia in 988. Although this was preceded by brawls between the squads of Russia and Byzantium. Vladimir even captured Korsun - Chersonese, a city in the Crimea. But later, having taken the emperor's sister Anna as his wife, and adopting a common religion with Byzantium, their ties were further strengthened. After the adoption of Christianity, Russia came under the cultural influence of Byzantium. Not only goods were exported from Byzantium, but also knowledge and traditions. The construction of temples was carried out according to the Byzantine model. Iconography spread in Russia. And also thanks to the Byzantine missionaries, a writing reform was carried out, in Russia they began to use the Cyrillic alphabet.

The next stage in the improvement of relations was 1046. After the failure of the attack on Byzantium in 1043 and the loss of many people, Yaroslav the Wise concluded a peace treaty, sealing it with the marriage of his son Vsevolod and daughter of Constantine Monomakh (Emperor of Byzantium).

In 1116, Prince Vladimir Monomakh decided to send troops to Byzantium. But in order to avoid an attack on the lands near the Danube, the Byzantine ruler offers his own son Andronicus Komnenos as a groom to Monomakh's granddaughter, Dobronega Mstislavna.

Kievan Rus and the countries of Europe in the 9th - early 12th centuries.

Under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, relations with the Central European countries were rapidly improving. For the first time in the history of Kievan Rus, she became an active participant in major political changes in the center of Europe. Dynastic marriages became an increasingly important instrument of international relations. So, Vladimir married his son Svyatopolk to the daughter of the King of Poland - Boleslav the Brave. For the second son, Yaroslav, the heiress of Olaf, the king of Norway, was given.

In general, during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, many dynastic marriages were concluded. His daughters became the spouses of European rulers: Elizabeth became the wife of the king of Norway, Anastasia - of Hungary, Anna - of France. Son Izyaslav was married to the Polish princess Gertrude, Svyatoslav - to the German princess Oda of Trier, Vsevolod - to the Byzantine princess Zoya (Anastasia) from the Monomakh family.

During the internecine war, kindled among the Yaroslavichs (heirs of Yaroslav the Wise) in the 70s of the XI century. Prince Svyatoslav in 1076 attacks the Czechs, who were in allied relations with Germany, wins a victory and concludes a peace treaty on conditions convenient for himself.

Under Vsevolod Yaroslavich, his daughter Evpraksia Vsevolodovna was the wife of the German ruler Henry IV and represented an impressive position in European politics. Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh also tried to strengthen family relations with European courts, being married to Guide, who was the daughter of the English King Harold II. His son Mstislav married the daughter of the king of Sweden, Yaropolk Vladimirovich married a Moldavian princess, and Yuri married a Byzantine princess. Vladimir's daughter, Eupraxia, was married to the King of Hungary - Koloman, Maria - to the Byzantine prince Leon, Sophia - to the Hungarian king Bela II.

The "dynastic history" of Ancient Russia is a strong proof of the power and strength of the Kiev princes, with whom the most influential autocrats of Europe tried to intermarry.

Kievan Rus and the Khazar Khaganate in the 9th - early 12th centuries.

The Khazar Khaganate is the largest eastern neighbor of Russia. Many Slavic tribes before the reign of Prince Oleg paid tribute to the Khazars. The Khazar yoke did not particularly oppress the Slavs. In addition, the Khaganate ensured the security of Russia from the invasion of Asian nomads. However, relations between Russia and the Khazars deteriorated under the influence of Byzantium. For which the Khaganate was a hated enemy because of the clash of interests in the Black Sea. Another ground for strife was the religious views of Christian Byzantium and Jewish Khazaria.

The following military campaigns of the Russian princes testify to how relations with the kaganate developed:

Caspian campaign 909-910 : the Russian fleet of 16 ships attacked Abaskun (Iran) - "the place of bargaining for all those who trade in the Khazar Sea." The city was sacked. But after that, the Rus were defeated by the ruler of another Iranian city of Sari.

Caspian campaign 913-914: the Russian fleet of 500 ships entered the Kerch Strait, controlled by the Khazars. Having taken the permission of the Khazar king, the Rus descended the Volga into the Caspian Sea and plundered the cities of the southern, and then the western coast. Russ killed thousands of Muslims. Arriving in the capital of the Khazar Khaganate, Itil, the Rus handed over to the Khazar king the share of booty promised in return for permission. But the royal guard of Khazaria could not come to terms with the fact that the Rus had destroyed their co-religionists and demanded revenge from the king. He couldn't interfere. The battle between the Rus and Muslims lasted three days. As a result, 30,000 Rus were killed and only 5,000 managed to escape on ships up the Volga.

Caspian campaign 943-945: raid and plunder of Berdaa, the capital of Caucasian Albania.

After the destruction of the Khazar Khaganate, a wave of nomadic attacks on Russia began. The most dangerous of them were the Pechenegs, who occupied the entire steppe part of the Northern Black Sea region. Russian princes more than once had to repel their attacks. During the reign of Igor in 915, an agreement was concluded with the Pechenegs. After which they did not disturb Russia for five years. After that, military clashes took place, which did not bring decisive success for Russia. And only Yaroslav the Wise managed to defeat the Pecheneg horde near Kiev in 1036. Thus, the main foreign policy task of Ancient Russia of that time was solved.

But after the Pechenegs, the Polovtsy appeared, capturing the entire steppe strip from the Volga to the Danube. The first clash with them took place in 1061. The Polovtsy constantly made predatory raids on the Rus. Often the Polovtsians became accomplices in princely civil strife. Vladimir Monomakh during the years of his reign conducted a number of successful campaigns against the Polovtsy and managed to push them far from the borders of Russia. But such success was not always the case. The lack of unity in the actions of the Russian princes made the Polovtsy stronger. Supported by some Russian princes, they sacked entire volosts. This continued until the invasion of the Black Sea steppes of the Mongol-Tatars in 1222-1223 and the defeat of the Polovtsy, after which they went to Russia ...

Course work

Foreign policy of Kievan Rus: relationship with Byzantium and European states

INTRODUCTION

Russia and Byzantium

Relations with European countries

Russia and Slavs

Russia and the West

Russia and the East

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

In general, the attitude of Russians towards foreigners in the Kievan period was friendly. In peacetime, a foreigner who came to Russia, especially a foreign merchant, was called a "guest"; in the Old Russian language the word "guest" had the accompanying meaning "merchant" in addition to the main meaning.

In relation to foreigners, Russian law stood out distinctly against the background of German law, which included such provisions. According to the first, any foreigner (or any indigenous person who does not have a master over himself) could be captured by local authorities and deprived of liberty until the end of days. According to the second, shipwrecked foreigners, together with all their property, became the property of the ruler of the land on the coast where their ship was cast ashore - the duke or king. In the tenth century, in treaties with Byzantium, the Russians pledged not to use coastal law when it came to Greek travelers. As for the first provision, it is not mentioned in any of the Russian sources of this period. Also in Kievan Rus, it was not known about the right of the state to inherit the property of a foreigner who died within the borders of this state.

Considering the problem of relations between Russia and foreign countries, one should take into account not only the sphere of organizational political and economic relations, but also mutual cultural influence, as well as private contacts between Russians and foreigners. From this point of view, we should take a special interest in information concerning Russians who traveled and stayed abroad, as well as about foreigners who visited Russia on an official mission on business matters or for some other reason.

1. Russia and Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire was politically and culturally the main force in the medieval world, at least until the era of the Crusades. Even after the first crusade, the empire still occupied an extremely important place in the Middle East, and it was only after the fourth campaign that its power declined. Thus, throughout almost the entire Kievan period, Byzantium represented the highest level of civilization not only for Russia, but also in relation to Western Europe. Characteristically enough, from the Byzantine point of view, the knights who took part in the Fourth Crusade were nothing more than rude barbarians, and it must be said that they actually behaved in this way.

For Russia, the influence of Byzantine civilization meant more than for any other European country, with the possible exception of Italy and, of course, the Balkans. Together with the latter, Russia became part of the Greek Orthodox world, that is, speaking in terms of that period, part of the Byzantine world. The Russian Church was nothing more than a branch of the Byzantine Church, Russian art was permeated with Byzantine influence.

It should be taken into account that, according to Byzantine doctrine, the Greek Orthodox world should be led by two heads - the patriarch and the emperor. Theory does not always correspond to fact. First of all, the patriarch of Constantinople was not the head of the entire Greek Orthodox Church, since there were four more patriarchs, namely: the bishop of Rome and three eastern patriarchs (Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem). As for Russia, this did not matter much, since in the Kievan period the Russian Church was nothing more than a diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the power of that patriarch was enormous. But the nature of the relationship between the emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople could affect, and sometimes affected Russia. Although in theory the patriarch was not subordinate to the emperor, in reality in many cases the election of a new patriarch depended on the attitude of the emperor, who was in a position to interfere in ecclesiastical affairs. Consequently, if a foreign people recognized the power of the Patriarch of Constantinople, then this meant that he fell into the sphere of political influence of the Byzantine emperor. The Russian princes, as well as the rulers of other countries who were ready to accept Christianity, understood this danger and made efforts to avoid the political consequences of conversion.

The desire of Vladimir I to preserve his independence resulted in a military conflict with Byzantium, as well as an attempt to organize the Russian Church as a self-governing body outside the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Yaroslav the Wise, however, came to terms with Byzantium and received the metropolitan from Constantinople (1037). Following this, the emperor, apparently, began to consider Yaroslav his vassal, and when the war broke out between Russia and the Empire in 1043, the Byzantine historian Psellos treated it as a "Russian rebellion."

Although the Byzantine doctrine of the emperor's suzerainty over other Christian rulers was never accepted by Yaroslav's successors in Kyiv, Prince Galitsky formally recognized himself as a vassal of the emperor in the middle of the twelfth century. However, speaking in general, Kievan Rus cannot be considered a vassal state of Byzantium. Kyiv subordination went along church lines, and even in this area the Russians made two attempts to free themselves: under Metropolitan Hilarion in the eleventh century and under Clement in the twelfth.

Although the Russian princes defended their political independence from Constantinople, the prestige of the imperial power and the authority of the patriarch was great enough to influence the policy of the Russian princes in very many cases. Constantinople, the "Imperial City", or Tsargrad, as the Russians usually called it, was considered the intellectual and social capital of the world. Thanks to all these diverse factors, in relations between Russia and its neighbors, the Byzantine Empire occupied a unique position: while cultural interaction with other peoples was carried out on an equal footing, in relation to Byzantium, Russia found itself in the position of a debtor in a cultural sense.

At the same time, it would be a mistake to present Kievan Rus as completely dependent on Byzantium, even in terms of culture. Although the Russians adopted the principles of Byzantine civilization, they adapted them to their own conditions. Neither in religion nor in art did they slavishly imitate the Greeks, but, moreover, they developed their own approaches to these areas. As regards religion, the use of the Slavic language in church services, of course, was of great importance for the naturalization of the Church and the growth of a national religious consciousness, to some extent different from Byzantine spirituality. Since ecclesiastical ties were the strongest beginning that strengthened Russian-Byzantine relations, any review of the latter, as well as private contacts between Russians and Byzantines, should begin with the Church and religion.

The connections between the Russian princes and members of the Byzantine royal family were also very extensive. With regard to dynastic ties, the most important event, of course, was the marriage of St. Vladimir to the Byzantine princess Anna, sister of Emperor Basil II. By the way, one of Vladimir's wives, when he was still a pagan, was also a Greek woman (formerly the wife of his brother Yaropolk). Vladimir's grandson Vsevolod I (son of Yaroslav the Wise) was also married to a Greek princess. Of the grandchildren of Yaroslav the Wise, two had Greek wives: Oleg of Chernigov and Svyatopolk II. The first married Theophania Mouzalon (before 1083); the second - on Barbara Komnenos (about 1103) - she was the third wife of Svyatopolk. The second wife of the son of Vladimir Monomakh Yuri was, apparently, of Byzantine origin. In 1200, Prince Roman of Galicia married a Byzantine princess, a relative of Emperor Isaac II, from the family of Angels. The Greeks, for their part, showed interest in Russian brides. In 1074, Konstantin Duka was engaged to Princess Anna (Yanka) of Kiev, daughter of Vsevolod I. For reasons unknown to us, the wedding did not take place, as we know. Yanka took the tonsure. In 1104, Isaac Komnenos married Princess Irina of Przemysl, Volodar's daughter. About ten years later, Vladimir Monomakh gave his daughter Maria as a wife to the exiled Byzantine prince Leo Diogenes, the alleged son of Emperor Romanos Diogenes. In 1116 Leo invaded the Byzantine province of Bulgaria; at first he was lucky, but later he was killed. Their son Vasily was killed in a fight between the Monomashichi and the Olgovichi in 1136. Maria, heartbroken, died ten years later. Granddaughter of Vladimir Monomakh Irina, daughter of Mstislav I, was more successful in marriage; her marriage to Andronicus Komnenos took place in 1122. In 1194, a member of the Byzantine House of Angels married Princess Euphemia of Chernigov, daughter of Svyatoslav III's son, Gleb.

Thanks to these dynastic mixed marriages, many Russian princes felt at home in Constantinople, and indeed, many of the members of the house of Rurik visited Constantinople, and the first of them in the tenth century was Princess Olga. It is interesting to note that in some cases Russian princes were sent to Constantinople by their relatives. Thus, in 1079 Prince Oleg of Tmutarakan and Chernigov was exiled "over the sea to Tsargrad". In 1130, the princes of Polotsk with their wives and children were exiled by Mstislav I "to Greece, because they had broken their oath." According to Vasiliev, "this can be explained by the fact that the small princes who rebelled against their ruler were called to account not only by the Russian prince, but also by the suzerain of Russia - the Byzantine emperor. They were exiled as dangerous and undesirable not only for the Russian prince, but also for the emperor. First of all, the Russian princes, with the exception of the prince of Galicia, recognized the Byzantine emperor as their overlord. Secondly, there is no evidence that the princes exiled to Byzantium were brought before the court of the emperor; in one way or another they were granted It was in the tradition of the Byzantine emperors to show hospitality to the exiled rulers of other countries, their presence not only increased the prestige of the emperor, but some of them could eventually be used as a tool of Byzantine diplomacy, as was the case with Boris, son of Koloman In addition, the Russian princes, in turn, provided asylum to exiled members of the Byzantine royal x houses, as was the case with Leo Diogenes.

Not only the princes, but also members of their retinue, in all likelihood, had enough opportunities for contacts with the Byzantines. Russian troops took part in the Byzantine campaigns in southern Italy and Sicily in the eleventh century. Russians served in the Byzantine army operating in the Levant during the first and second crusades.

In addition to the Church, the princes and the army, another social group of Kievan Rus was in constant relationship with the Byzantines: the merchants. We know that Russian merchants came to Constantinople in large numbers from the beginning of the tenth century, and a permanent headquarters was allocated for them in one of the suburbs of Constantinople. There is less direct evidence of Russian trade with Byzantium in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but in the annals of this period, Russian merchants "trading with Greece" (Greeks) are mentioned on various occasions.

2. Relations with European countries

Relations with the countries of Europe began to develop actively at the end of the X-XI centuries, after the baptism of Russia. Having become Christian, Russia was included in a single family of European states. Dynastic marriages began. Already Vladimir's grandchildren were married to Polish, Byzantine and German princesses, and his granddaughters became queens of Norway, Hungary and France.

In the X-XI centuries. Russia fought with the Poles and ancient Lithuanian tribes, began to establish itself in the Baltic, where Prince Yaroslav the Wise founded the city Yuriev (now - Tartu).

3. Rus and Slavs

Prior to the beginning of the German "Drang nach Osten", the Slavs occupied most of Central and Eastern Europe, including some territories west of the Elbe. Around 800 AD e. the western borders of the Slavic settlements approximately ran along a line from the mouth of the Elbe south to the Gulf of Trieste, that is, from Hamburg to Trieste.

Over the next three centuries - the ninth, tenth and eleventh - the Germans consolidated their possessions on the Elbe and tried, with varying success, to extend their dominance to the Slavic tribes to the east of it. During the twelfth century, the Germans managed to establish firm control over the area between the Elbe and the Oder. At the same time, the Danes attacked the Slavs from the north, and in 1168 Arkona, a Slavic stronghold on the island of Rügen, fell under their onslaught. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, as we know, the Germans intensified their advance into the Baltic states, where the knightly Prussia arose, which became the stronghold of Germanism in Eastern Europe. Combining various methods, such as the expansion of the political suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as dynastic unions, colonization, penetration into foreign lands, and so on, the Germans by the end of the nineteenth century, in one way or another, established their control in the east up to the Carpathians and the Danube lands, including also Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Adriatic coast of Dalmatia.

During the First World War, they tried to move further east, and for some time they managed to capture Ukraine, Crimea and Transcaucasia. During World War II, their plans were even more ambitious and included a program for the complete political and economic enslavement of the Slavic peoples, as well as the gradual destruction of the Slavic civilization. The failure of the German plans resulted not only in the restoration by the Slavs of their positions, which they were on the eve of World War II, but also in the return of some western territories that had long been lost to them. The western frontier of the Slavic world now again runs where it was around 1200, along the line from Stettin to Trieste.

In this Slavic "sea" in Central and Eastern Europe, two "islands" with a different ethnic composition have been preserved. These are Hungary and Romania. The Hungarians, or Magyars, are a mixture of Finno-Ugric and Turkic tribes. The Hungarian language is still permeated with Turkic elements; in addition, the Hungarian dictionary contains many words borrowed from Slavic. The Magyars invaded the middle Danubian valleys at the end of the ninth century and still own these lands. The Romanian language belongs to the family of Romance languages. Romanians speak the Romance language, which historically was based on Vulgar Latin, which was spoken by Roman soldiers and settlers on the Lower Danube. The Latin basis of the Romanian language has been largely influenced by other linguistic elements, especially Slavic. Modern Romania was formed in the middle of the nineteenth century, thanks to the unification of two regions - Moldavia and Wallachia. In fact, the Romanian tribes of the early period did not have any political organization at that time and did not inhabit the entire territory on which modern Romania is located. Most of them were pastoral peoples. Some of them, the so-called Kutso-Vlachs, or Kutso-Vlachs, lived in Macedonia and Albania. Another group led an isolated life in the Transylvanian highlands until the end of the twelfth or early thirteenth century, when some of the tribes of this group were driven south and east by the Magyars and descended into the valley of the Prut and Danube, where they founded the regions of Moldavia and Wallachia.

During the Kyiv period, there was neither political nor cultural unity among the Slavs. On the Balkan Peninsula, the Bulgarians, Serbs and Croats formed their own states. The Bulgarian kingdom was founded by the Turkic - the Bulgar tribe at the end of the seventh century, by the middle of the ninth it was partially Slavicized. Under the rule of Tsar Simeon (888 - 927), it became the leading one among the Slavic states. Later, its power was undermined by internal strife and the imperial claims of Byzantium. The Russian invasion led by Svyatoslav added new worries to the Bulgarian people. It should be noted that Svyatoslav's goal was to create a vast Russian-Slavic empire with Bulgaria as its cornerstone. At the beginning of the eleventh century, the Byzantine emperor Basil II (nicknamed "Bulgarokton" - "the killer of the Bulgarians") defeated the Bulgarian army and made Bulgaria a Byzantine province. Only at the end of the twelfth century, with the help of the Vlachs, did the Bulgarians manage to free themselves from Byzantium and restore their own kingdom.

The "centrifugal forces" in Serbia were stronger than in Bulgaria, and only in the second half of the twelfth century did the majority of Serbian tribes recognize the power of the "Great Zhupan" Stefan Neman (1159-1195) over themselves. The Kingdom of Croatia was established during the tenth and eleventh centuries. In 1102, the Croats chose Koloman (Kalman) of Hungary as their king, and thus a union of Croatia and Hungary arose, in which the latter played a leading role. Even earlier than the Croats, the Slovaks in the north of Hungary recognized the rule of the Magyars over themselves.

As for the Czechs, their first state, formed around 623, did not last long. The Kingdom of Great Moravia was the second attempt at state unification among the Western Slavs, but it was destroyed by the Hungarians at the beginning of the tenth century. The third Czech state was formed in the middle of the tenth century and played an important role in European politics throughout the Middle Ages, especially because of its alliance with the Holy Roman Empire. From the middle of the tenth century, most rulers of Bohemia recognized the German emperor as their overlord.

The Polish tribes achieved political unity at the end of the tenth century under the rule of King Bolesław I the Brave (992-1025). After the death of Bolesław III (1138), the Polish kingdom became a free association of local regions, similar to the unification of Russian lands. Before the collapse of Poland, the Polish kings pursued an aggressive foreign policy, from time to time threatening both the integrity of the Kievan state and the Czech kingdom. An interesting trend of Polish expansion was its westward direction. It was Boleslav I who first developed an ambitious plan to unite the Baltic and Polabian Slavs under his rule in order to prevent the German "Drang nach Osten".

The Baltic Slavs are linguistically related to the Poles. They were divided into a large number of tribes, which sometimes formed loose unions and associations. In this sense, we can speak of four main groups of Baltic Slavs. The most western were obodrichs. They settled in Holstein, Lüneburg and western Mecklenburg. In their neighborhood, in eastern Mecklenburg, western Pomerania and western Brandenburg, lived the Lutici. To the north of them, on the island of Rügen, as well as on two other islands in the Oder estuary (Usedom and Wolin), the tribes of brave sailors lived - the Runyans and the Volyns. The territory between the lower Oder and the lower Vistula was occupied by the Pomeranians (or Pomeranians), their name comes from the word "sea" - "people living by the sea." Of these four tribal groups, the first three (Obodrichi, Lutichi and island tribes) completely disappeared, and only the eastern group of Pomeranians partially survived, due to the fact that they were included in the Polish state and thus avoided Germanization.

There was even less political unity between the Baltic Slavs than between the Balkan Slavs. The Obodriches even sometimes allied with the Germans against their Slavic neighbors. Only at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth centuries did the obodrich princes try to unite the Slavic tribes in the Baltic. Their state, however, turned out to be short-lived, especially due to the fact that at that time political differences among the Slavs were aggravated by religious strife - the struggle between Christianity and paganism.

The first Slavic tribe to adopt Christianity at the beginning of the ninth century were the Dalmatians, but, as is known, it was in Moravia, thanks to the efforts of Saints Cyril and Methodius, around 863 that Christianity won its first important victory on Slavic soil. Bulgaria followed, around 866. The Serbs and Croats adopted Christianity in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. Part of the Russians were converted, as we know, at about the same time as the Bulgarians, but only at the end of the tenth century both Russia and Poland officially became Christian countries.

In view of the diversity of political and cultural foundations in the life of the Slavs during the Kiev period, considering the relationship of Russia with its Slavic neighbors, it is advisable to divide them into three regions: 1 - the Balkan Peninsula, 2 - Central and Eastern Europe and 3 - the Baltics.

In the Balkans, Bulgaria was the most important for Russia. During the pagan period, Russia was close to extending its control over this Balkan country. After the conversion of Russia to Christianity, Bulgaria became an important factor in the development of Russian civilization, providing Russia with liturgical and theological books in Slavonic translation, as well as sending priests and translators to Kyiv. Individual Bulgarian authors, such as John the Exarch, became very popular in Russia. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Russian ecclesiastical literature of the early Kievan period was based on a Bulgarian foundation. Bulgarian literature of that time consisted mainly of translations from Greek, therefore, from the Russian point of view, the role of Bulgaria was primarily to mediate between Russia and Byzantium. This is also true of trade: Russian trade caravans passed through Bulgaria on their way to Constantinople, and there is little evidence of direct trade relations with the Bulgarians.

While Bulgaria was a Greek Orthodox country, and Serbia, after some hesitation, also joined the Greek Church, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe - the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland - became part of the Roman Catholic world, as well as Croatia. It should be noted, however, that in each of these four countries the people had great doubts before opting for the Roman Catholic hierarchy, and all of them came to Catholicism after a period of intense internal struggle. The final schism between the Greek and Roman Churches occurred in 1054. Prior to that, the main problem for the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe was not which Church to join - Roman or Constantinople - but in the language of church services, in the choice between Latin and Slavonic.

The Slavic influence on Hungary was very strong in the tenth and eleventh centuries, since the Magyars were at first less numerous than the Slavs subordinate to them. Initially, the ancestors of the Magyars - Ugrians and Turks - were pagans, but during their stay in the North Caucasus and the Black Sea steppes, they came into contact with Byzantine Christianity. In the second half of the ninth century, at a time when the Slavs both in Bulgaria and in Moravia had already been converted to Christianity, some Magyars came to the Danubian lands and were also baptized.

In a broader cultural as well as political sense, the union with Croatia strengthened the Slavic element in Hungary for some time. It is noteworthy that the code of laws of Koloman was issued, at least according to K. Grot, in the Slavic language. During the reign of Bela II (1131-41) and Géza II (1141-61), Bosnia was placed under a Hungarian protectorate, and thus close relations were established between Hungary and the Serbian lands, since Bela II's wife Elena was a Serbian princess from the house of Nemeni. From the end of the twelfth century, however, the Slavic element in Hungary began to wane.

An interesting aspect of the cultural relationship between Russia and its West Slavic neighbors is contained in the historiography of that time. According to the plausible argument of N. K. Nikolsky, the compiler of The Tale of Bygone Years used some Czech-Moravian legends and traditions, describing the relationship between Russians, Poles and Czechs. Probably, Czech scientists took part in the translation of theological and historical books, which was organized in Kyiv by Yaroslav the Wise. It is also noteworthy that some information about Russia and Russian affairs can be found in the writings of Czech and Polish chroniclers of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, for example, in the successor of the chronicle of Kozma of Prague and Vincent Kadlubek from Poland.

In terms of commerce, the trade route from Ratisbon to Kyiv passed through both Poland and Bohemia. In addition to this transit trade, both countries undoubtedly had direct commercial relations with Russia. Unfortunately, only fragments of evidence can be found about them in the surviving written sources of that period. It should be noted that the Jewish merchants from Ratisbon had close ties with the Prague ones. Thus, the Jews were the link between German and Czech trade and Russians.

Private contacts of a military and commercial nature between Russians on the one hand and Poles, Hungarians and Czechs on the other must have been extensive. In some cases, Polish prisoners of war settled in Russian cities, while at the same time, Polish merchants were frequent guests in the south of Russia, especially in Kyiv. One of the Kiev city gates was known as the Polish Gate, which is an indication that numerous Polish settlers lived in this part of the city. As a result of the Polish invasion of Kyiv in the eleventh century, many prominent Kievans were taken hostage to Poland. Most of them were later returned.

Private relations between Russians and Poles, as well as between Russians and Hungarians, were especially lively in the western Russian lands - in Volhynia and Galicia. Not only princes, but also other nobility of these countries had rich opportunities for meetings here.

Information about the relations between Russian and Baltic Slavs in the Kievan period is scarce. Nevertheless, trade relations between Novgorod and the cities of the Baltic Slavs were probably quite lively. Russian merchants frequented Wolin in the eleventh century, and in the twelfth century there was a corporation of Novgorod merchants who traded with Szczecin. In "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" among the foreign singers at the court of the Kiev prince Svyatoslav III, Venedi women are mentioned. It is tempting to see them as residents of Vineta on the island of Voline, but it seems more reasonable to identify them with the Venetians. In terms of dynastic ties, at least two Russian princes had Pomeranian wives, and three Pomeranian princes had Russian wives.

Russia and Scandinavia

The Scandinavian peoples are now considered - and rightly so - part of the Western world. Therefore, from a modern point of view, it would be logical to consider Scandinavian-Russian relations under the heading "Russia and the West." And yet, of course, it is more convenient to consider Scandinavia separately, because from the point of view of history and culture in the early Middle Ages, it was a separate world, more a bridge between East and West, rather than part of both. Indeed, in the Viking Age, the Scandinavians not only ravaged many eastern and western lands with their constant raids, but also established control over certain territories, both in the Baltic and in the North Seas, not to mention their expansion in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

In terms of culture, the Scandinavian peoples remained outside the Roman church for a long time. Although the "Scandinavian apostle" St. Ansgar began to preach Christianity in Denmark and Sweden in the ninth century, it was not until the late eleventh century that the Church really developed in Denmark, and her rights and privileges were formally established there no earlier than 1162. In Sweden, an old pagan sanctuary in Uppsala was destroyed at the end of the eleventh century, in 1248 the church hierarchy was finally established and the celibacy of the clergy was approved. In Norway, the first king who made an attempt to Christianize the country was Haakon the Good (936-960), who himself was baptized in England. Neither he nor his immediate heirs were able to complete the religious reform. The privileges of the Church were finally established in Norway in 1147. From a social point of view, in Norway and Sweden, unlike France and West Germany, there was no slavery, nor was it introduced in Denmark until the sixteenth century. Therefore, the peasants in Scandinavia remained free during the Kievan period and throughout the Middle Ages.

Politically, also unlike in the West, the assembly of freemen was of particular importance, playing an administrative and judicial role in the Scandinavian countries, at least until the twelfth century.

The Swedes, who, obviously, were the first to come and penetrate the south of Russia back in the eighth century, mixed with the local Anto-Slavic tribes, borrowing the very name "Rus" from the indigenous population, the Danes and Norwegians, whose representatives were Rurik and Oleg, came in the second half of the ninth century and immediately mixed with the Swedish Russ. The participants in these two early streams of Scandinavian expansion firmly established themselves on Russian soil and united their interests with the interests of the indigenous Slavic population, especially in the Azov and Kiev lands.

Scandinavian immigration to Russia did not stop with Rurik and Oleg. The princes invited new detachments of Scandinavian warriors to Russia at the end of the tenth and throughout the eleventh centuries. Some came on their own initiative. These newcomers were called Varangians by the Russian chroniclers in order to distinguish between them and the old settlers called Rus. It is clear that the old Scandinavian settlers already in the ninth century formed part of the Russian people. The Varangians, however, were foreigners, both in terms of native Russians and Russified Scandinavians, representatives of the early Scandinavian penetration.

The Scandinavians also visited Russia on their way to Constantinople and the Holy Land. So, in 1102, the King of Denmark, Eric Eyegod, appeared in Kyiv and was warmly received by Prince Svyatopolk II. The latter sent his squad, which consisted of the best warriors, to accompany Eric to the holy land. On the way from Kyiv to the Russian border, Eric was greeted enthusiastically everywhere. "Priests joined the procession carrying holy relics to the singing of hymns and the ringing of church bells."

Varangian merchants were regular guests in Novgorod, and some of them lived there permanently, they eventually built a church, which is referred to in Russian chronicles as the "Varangian church". In the twelfth century, the Baltic, or Varangian, trade with Novgorod passed through the island of Gotland. Hence the formation of the so-called Gotland "factory" in Novgorod. When the German cities expanded the scope of their commercial affairs to Novgorod, at first they also depended on the Gotlandic mediation. In 1195, a trade agreement was signed between Novgorod, on the one hand, and the Gotlanders and Germans, on the other.

It should be remembered that Baltic trade involved movement in both directions, and while Scandinavian merchants often traveled around Russia, Novgorod merchants traveled abroad in the same way. They formed their own "factory" and built a church in Visby on the island of Gotland, they came to Denmark, as well as to Lübeck and Schleswig. The Novgorod chronicles record that in 1131, on the way back from Denmark, seven Russian ships with all their cargo perished. In 1157, the Swedish king Svein III captured many Russian ships and divided all the goods that were on them among his soldiers. By the way, it can be seen here that in 1187 Emperor Frederick II granted equal rights to trade in Lübeck to the Gotlanders and Russians.

With regard to social relations with other peoples, private ties between Russians and Scandinavians can best be seen by pointing to dynastic ties. Apparently, four of the wives of Vladimir I (before his conversion) were of Scandinavian origin. The wife of Yaroslav I was Ingigerda, daughter of the Swedish king Olaf. The son of Vladimir II, Mstislav I, had a Swedish wife - Christina, daughter of King Inge. In turn, two Norwegian kings (Harald Haardrode in the eleventh century and Sigurd in the twelfth) took Russian brides for themselves. It should be noted that after the death of Harald, his Russian widow Elizabeth (daughter of Yaroslav I) married King Svein II of Denmark; and after the death of Sigurd, his widow Malfrid (daughter of Mstislav I) married the king of Denmark, Erik Eymun. Another Danish king, Valdemar I, also had a Russian wife. In view of the close ties between Scandinavia and England, it is worth mentioning here the marriage between the English princess Gita and Vladimir Monomakh. Gita was the daughter of Harald II. After his defeat and death at the Battle of Hastings (1066), his family took refuge in Sweden and it was the Swedish king who arranged the marriage between Gita and Vladimir.

In connection with the lively relations between Scandinavians and Russians, the Scandinavian influence on the development of Russian civilization was of considerable importance. Indeed, in modern historical science there is even a tendency to overestimate this influence and present the Scandinavian element as the leading factor in the formation of the Kievan state and culture.

4. Russia and the West

The term "West" is used here with reservations. The two "pillars" of the medieval West were the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire. From a religious point of view, some of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe discussed in the previous chapter - the peoples of Bohemia, Poland, Hungary and Croatia - belonged to the "West" rather than to the "East", and Bohemia was actually part of the empire. On the other hand, in Western Europe, as such, there was no strong unity at that time. As we have seen, Scandinavia kept aloof in many respects and was converted to Christianity much later than most other countries. England was for some time under Danish control, and she entered into closer relations with the continent through the Normans - that is, the Scandinavians, however, in this case, Gallic.

In the south, Spain, like Sicily, became part of the Arab world for a time. And in terms of trade, Italy was closer to Byzantium than to the West. Thus, the Holy Roman Empire and the French Kingdom formed the backbone of Western Europe during the Kievan period.

Let us turn first to Russian-German relations. Until the German expansion into the eastern Baltic at the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries, the German lands did not come into contact with the Russians. However, some contact between the two peoples was maintained through trade and diplomacy, as well as through dynastic ties. The main German-Russian trade route in that early period passed through Bohemia and Poland. As early as 906, the Raffelstadt customs office mentions Bohemians and Rugs among foreign merchants coming to Germany. It is clear that the former refers to the Czechs, while the latter can be identified with the Russians.

The city of Ratisbon became the starting point for German trade with Russia in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; here German merchants doing business with Russia formed a special corporation, whose members are known as "ruzaria". As already mentioned, the Jews also played an important role in Ratisbon's trade with Bohemia and Russia. In the middle of the twelfth century, commercial links between Germans and Russians were also established in the eastern Baltic, where Riga had been the main German trading base since the thirteenth century. On the Russian side, both Novgorod and Pskov took part in this trade, but Smolensk was its main center during this period. As already mentioned, in 1229 an important trade agreement was signed between the city of Smolensk, on the one hand, and a number of German cities, on the other. The following German and Frisian cities were represented: Riga, Lübeck, Sest, Münster, Groningen, Dortmund and Bremen. German merchants often visited Smolensk; some of them permanently resided there. The contract mentions the German Church of the Holy Virgin in Smolensk.

With the development of active commercial relations between Germans and Russians, and through diplomatic and family ties between the German and Russian ruling houses, the Germans must have collected a significant amount of information about Russia. Indeed, the notes of German travelers and the records of German chroniclers were an important source of knowledge about Russia not only for the Germans themselves, but also for the French and other Western Europeans. In 1008, the German missionary St. Bruno visited Kyiv on his way to the lands of the Pechenegs to spread Christianity there. He was warmly received by Saint Vladimir, and he was given all the help that could be offered. Vladimir personally accompanied the missionary to the border of the Pecheneg lands. Russia made the most favorable impression on Bruno, just like the Russian people, and in his message to Emperor Henry II, he presented the ruler of Russia as a great and rich ruler.

The chronicler Titmar from Merseburg (975 - 1018) also emphasized the wealth of Russia. He claimed that there were forty churches and eight markets in Kyiv. Canon Adam of Bremen in his book "History of the Diocese of Hamburg" called Kyiv a rival of Constantinople and a bright decoration of the Greek Orthodox world. The German reader of that time could also find interesting information about Russia in the "Annals" by Lambert Hersfeld. Valuable information about Russia was also collected by the German Jew Rabbi Moses Petahia from Ratisbon and Prague, who visited Kyiv in the seventies of the twelfth century on his way to Syria.

Eupraxia's first husband died when she was barely sixteen years old (1087). There were no children in this marriage, and it turned out that Eupraxia intended to be tonsured at the Quedlinburg Monastery. However, it so happened that Emperor Henry IV, during one of his visits to the abbess of Quedlinburg, met a young widow and was struck by her beauty. In December 1087 his first wife Bertha died. In 1088 the engagement of Henry and Eupraxia was announced, and in the summer of 1089 they were married in Cologne. Eupraxia was crowned as empress under the name Adelheid. Henry's passionate love for his bride did not last long, and Adelheida's position at court soon became precarious. Henry's palace soon became the site of obscene orgies; according to at least two contemporary chroniclers, Henry joined the perverted sect of the so-called Nicolaitans. Adelgeide, who at first suspected nothing, was forced to take part in some of these orgies. The chroniclers also relate that one day the emperor offered Adelheid to his son Conrad. Conrad, who was about the same age as the Empress and was friendly towards her, indignantly refused. He soon rebelled against his father. Russian ties with Italy were due to a number of factors, of which the Roman Church was probably the most important. Relations between the pope and Russia began at the end of the tenth century and continued, partly through the mediation of Germany and Poland, even after the division of the Churches in 1054. In 1075, as we have seen, Izyaslav turned to Henry IV for help. At the same time, he sent his son Yaropolk to Rome to negotiate with the pope. It should be noted that the wife of Izyaslav was the Polish princess Gertrude, daughter of Mieszko II, and the wife of Yaropolk was the German princess, Kunegunda from Orlamunde. Although both of these women were supposed to officially join the Greek Orthodox Church, after they married, apparently, they did not break with Roman Catholicism in their hearts. Probably, under their pressure and on their advice, Izyaslav and his son turned to the pope for help. We saw earlier that Yaropolk, on his own behalf and on behalf of his father, swore allegiance to the Pope and placed the Kievan principality under the protection of St. Peter. The Pope, in turn, in a bull of May 17, 1075 granted the Principality of Kiev to Izyaslav and Yaropolk in fief possession and confirmed their rights to rule the principality. After that, he convinced the Polish king Boleslav to provide all kinds of assistance to his new vassals. While Boleslav hesitated, Izyaslav's rival Svyatopolk died in Kyiv (1076). ), and this made it possible for Izyaslav to return there. As you know, he was killed in a battle against his nephews in 1078, and Yaropolk, who had no way to keep Kyiv, was sent by the senior princes to the Turov principality. He was killed in 1087.

Thus was put an end to the dreams of the Roman pope about the spread of power over Kiev. However, the Catholic prelates closely watched further events in Western Russia. In 1204, as we have seen, papal emissaries visited Prince Roman of Galicia and Volhynia to persuade him to convert to Catholicism, but they did not succeed.

Religious contacts of Russia with Italy should not be associated only with the activities of the pope; in some cases they were the result of popular sentiments. The most interesting example of such spontaneous religious ties between Russia and Italy was the veneration of the relic of St. Nicholas in Bari. Of course, in this case, the object of veneration was a saint of the pre-Schismatic period, popular both in the West and in the East. And yet this case is quite typical, since it demonstrates the absence of confessional barriers in the Russian religious mentality of that period. Although the Greeks celebrated St. Nicholas Day on December 6, the Russians had a second St. Nicholas Day on May 9th. It was founded in 1087 in memory of the so-called "transfer of relics" of St. Nicholas from Myra (Lycia) to Bari (Italy). In fact, the relics were transported by a group of merchants from Bari who traded with the Levant and visited Myra under the guise of pilgrims. They managed to break through to their ship before the Greek guards realized what was happening, then they headed straight for Bari, where they were enthusiastically received by the clergy and authorities. Later, the whole enterprise was explained as a desire to move the relics to a safer place than Mira, since this city was threatened by the potential danger of Seljuk raids.

From the point of view of the inhabitants of Myra, it was just a robbery, and it is understandable that the Greek Church refused to celebrate this event. The joy of the inhabitants of Bari, who now could install a new shrine in their city, and the Roman Church, which blessed it, is also quite understandable. The speed with which the Russians accepted the feast of the Transfer is much more difficult to explain. However, if we take into account the historical soil of southern Italy and Sicily, Russian connections with them become clearer. This touches on longstanding Byzantine interests in that region and concerns the even earlier advance of the Normans from the west. The Normans, whose original goal was war against the Arabs in Sicily, later established their control over the entire territory of southern Italy, and this situation caused a number of clashes with Byzantium. We have already seen that there were Russo-Varangian auxiliaries in the Byzantine army from at least the beginning of the tenth century. It is known that a strong Russian-Varangian unit took part in the Byzantine campaign against Sicily in 1038-1042. Among other Varangians, the Norwegian Harald took part in the expedition, who later married the daughter of Yaroslav Elizabeth and became the king of Norway. In 1066, another Russian-Varangian detachment, which was in the Byzantine service, was stationed in Bari. This was before the "transfer" of the relics of St. Nicholas, but it should be noted that some of the Russians liked this place so much that they settled there permanently and eventually became Italianized. Apparently, through their mediation, Russia learned about Italian affairs and took the joy of the new shrine in Bari especially close to her heart.

Since throughout this period the war was closely connected with trade, the result of all these military campaigns, apparently, was some kind of commercial relationship between Russians and Italians. At the end of the twelfth century, Italian merchants expanded their trading activities to. the Black Sea region. According to the terms of the Byzantine-Genoese treaty of 1169, the Genoese were allowed to trade in all parts of the Byzantine Empire, with the exception of "Rus" and "Matraha".

During the period of the Latin Empire (1204 - 1261) the Black Sea was open to the Venetians. Both the Genoese and the Venetians eventually founded a number of trading bases ("factories") in the Crimea and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. Although there is no evidence of the existence of such trading posts in the pre-Mongol period, both Genoese and Venetian merchants must have visited the Crimean ports long before 1237. Since Russian merchants also visited them, there was an obvious possibility of some contacts between Russians and Italians in the Black Sea region. and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov even in the pre-Mongolian period.

It may be noted that a significant number of Russians must have come to Venice and other Italian cities against their will, otherwise connected with the Black Sea trade. They were not merchants, but, on the contrary, objects of trade, that is, slaves that Italian merchants bought from the Cumans (Polovtsians). Speaking of Venice, we can recall the "Venedic" singers mentioned in the Tale of Igor's Campaign. As we have seen, they can be considered either Baltic Slavs or Venets, but most likely they were Venetians.

With Spain, or, more precisely, with the Spanish Jews, the Khazars corresponded in the tenth century. If any Russians came to Spain during the Kievan period, then they, too, were probably slaves. It should be noted that in the tenth and eleventh centuries the Muslim rulers of Spain used slaves as bodyguards or mercenaries. Such troops are known as "Slavic", although in reality only a part of them were Slavs. Many of the Arab rulers of Spain relied on these Slavic units of several thousand people, who consolidated their power. However, knowledge about Spain in Russia was vague. In Spain, however, thanks to the research and travels of Muslim scholars who lived there, a certain amount of information was gradually collected about Russia - ancient and modern to them. Al-Bakri's treatise, written in the eleventh century, contains valuable information about the pre-Kiev and early Kiev periods. Along with other sources, AlBakri used the story of the Jewish merchant Ben-Yakub. Another important Arabic work containing information about Russia belongs to Idrisi, also a resident of Spain, who completed his treatise in 1154. The Spanish Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, left valuable notes about his travels in the Middle East in 1160 - whom he met with many Russian merchants.

5. Russia and the East

"East" is just as vague and relative a concept as "West". Each of the eastern neighbors of Russia was at a different cultural level, and each was endowed with its own specific features.

Ethnographically, most of the eastern peoples who lived in the neighborhood of Russia were Turkic. In the Caucasus, as we know, the Ossetians represented the Iranian element. With the Iranians in Persia, the Russians had some relationship, at least from time to time. Russian knowledge of the Arab world was limited mainly to Christian elements in it, as, for example, in Syria. They were familiar with the peoples of the Far East - the Mongols, Manchus and Chinese - insofar as these peoples interfered in Turkestan affairs. In the same Turkestan, the Russians could meet with the Indians, at least occasionally.

From a religious and cultural point of view, a distinction must be made between the areas of paganism and Islam. The nomadic Turkic tribes in the south of Russia - the Pechenegs, Polovtsy and others - were pagans. In Kazakhstan and northern Turkestan, most of the Turks were originally pagan, but as they began to expand their area of ​​incursion southward, they came into contact with the Muslims and were quickly converted to Islam. The Volga Bulgars represented the northernmost outpost of Islam in this period. Despite the fact that they were separated from the main core of the Islamic world by pagan Turkic tribes, they managed to maintain a close relationship, both in trade and religion, with the Muslims of Khorezm and southern Turkestan.

It should be noted that politically the Iranian element in Central Asia has been in decline since the end of the tenth century. The Iranian state under the rule of the Samanid dynasty, which flourished in the late ninth and tenth centuries, was overthrown by the Turks around 1000 BC.

Some of the former vassals of the Samanids have now created a new state in Afghanistan and Iran. Their dynasty is known as the Ghaznavids. The Ghaznavids also controlled the northwestern part of India. However, their state did not last long, being destroyed by the new Turkic horde of the Seljuks (1040). The latter, under the rule of Sultan Alp-Arslan (1063 - 1072), soon invaded Transcaucasia, and then went on the offensive to the west against the Byzantine Empire. In the twelfth century they already controlled most of Anatolia and also spread to the south, devastating Syria and Iraq. However, they recognized the spiritual authority of the Baghdad Caliphate over themselves. In Egypt, by that time, a separate Cairo Caliphate had formed, in which the ruling dynasty was known as the Fatimids. At the end of the twelfth century, Syria and Egypt were politically united by Saladin, known for his success in opposing the crusaders. On the whole, it can be said that the Islamic zone to the east and southeast of Russia in the Kievan period formed the limit for the degree of acquaintance of Russia with the East. However, beyond this limit, powerful peoples of Turkic, Mongol and Manchu origin were in constant motion, fighting with each other. The dynamics of the history of the Far East led to the fact that some Far Eastern tribes from time to time fell into the Central Asian and Russian field of vision. So, around 1137, a part of the Kitans, ousted from northern China by the Jurchens, invaded Turkestan and established their power there, which lasted about half a century, until the power of the Khorezm Empire grew. It is from the name "Kitan" (also known as kara-kitai) that the Russian name of China comes. The next Far Eastern breakthrough to the west was the Mongolian one.

It seems that, apparently, relations with the Islamic peoples were more beneficial for the Russians than with the pagan Turks. The Turkic tribes in the southern Russian steppes were typically nomadic, and although relations with them greatly enriched Russian folklore and folk art, they could not be expected to make a serious contribution to Russian science and education. Unfortunately, the irreconcilable attitude of the Russian clergy towards Islam, and vice versa, did not provide an opportunity for any serious intellectual contact between Russians and Muslims, although it could easily be established on the lands of the Volga Bulgars or in Turkestan. They had only some intellectual connections with the Christians of Syria and Egypt. It was said that one of the Russian priests in the early Kievan period was a Syrian. It is also known that Syrian doctors practiced in Russia during the Kievan period. And, of course, through Byzantium, the Russians were familiar with Syrian religious literature and Syrian monasticism.

It may be added that along with the Greek Orthodox Christian Church in the Middle East and Central Asia there were also two other Christian churches, the Monophysite and the Nestorian, but the Russians undoubtedly avoided any relationship with them. On the other hand, some Nestorians, as well as some Monophysites, were interested in Russia, at least judging by the Syrian chronicle of Ab-ul-Faraj, called Bar Hebreus, which contains a certain amount of information about Russian affairs. It was written in the thirteenth century, but is based in part on the work of Michael, the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch in the twelfth century, as well as other Syriac material.

Commercial relations between Russia and the East were lively and profitable for both. We know that in the late ninth and tenth centuries Russian merchants visited Persia and even Baghdad. There is no direct evidence to indicate that they continued to travel there in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but they probably visited Khorezm during this later period. The name of the Khorezm capital Gurganj (or Urganj) was known to Russian chroniclers who called it Ornach. Here the Russians must have met travelers and merchants from almost every eastern country, including India. Unfortunately, there are no records of Russian travels to Khorezm during this period. Speaking of India, Russians in the Kievan period had a rather vague idea of ​​Hinduism. "Brahmins are pious people" are mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years. With regard to Egypt, Solovyov claims that Russian merchants visited Alexandria, but the credibility of the source of such evidence he used is problematic.

Despite the fact that private contacts through trade between the Russian and Volga Bulgars and the inhabitants of Khorezm were apparently lively, the difference in religions represented an almost insurmountable barrier to close social relations between citizens belonging to different religious groups. Marital relations between followers of Greek Orthodoxy and Muslims were impossible, unless, of course, one of the parties expressed a willingness to renounce their religion. During this period, cases of conversion to Islam by Russians are practically unknown, with the exception of those Russian slaves who were transported on ships by Italian and Eastern merchants to various Eastern countries. In this regard, it was much easier for the Russians to have contacts with the Cumans, since the pagans were less attached to their religion than the Muslims, and did not mind converting to Christianity if necessary, especially for women. As a result, mixed marriages between Russian princes and Polovtsian princesses were frequent. Among the princes who entered into such alliances were such prominent rulers as Svyatopolk II and Vladimir II of Kiev, Oleg of Chernigov, Yuri I of Suzdal and Kyiv, Yaroslav of Suzdal and Mstislav the Brave.

Religious isolation ruled out the possibility of direct intellectual contact between Russians and Muslims; in the field of art, the situation was different. In Russian decorative art, the influence of oriental patterns (such as, for example, arabesques) is clearly traced, but, of course, some of these patterns could not have come to Russia directly, but through contacts either with Byzantium or with Transcaucasia. However, as far as folklore is concerned, we should recognize the direct influence of Eastern folklore on Russian. Regarding the influence of Iranian epic poetry on Russian, Ossetian folklore was obviously its main conductor. Turkic patterns are also clearly identified in Russian folklore, both in epics and fairy tales. A striking similarity in the structure of the scale of the Russian folk song with the songs of some Turkic tribes has already been noted. Since many of these tribes were under the control of the Polovtsy, or were in close contact with them, the role of the latter in the development of Russian folk music was probably extremely important.

In sum, the Russian people throughout the Kievan period were in close and diverse contacts with their neighbors, both eastern and western. There is no doubt that these contacts were very beneficial for Russian civilization, but basically they demonstrated the growth of the creative forces of the Russian people themselves.

political connection west Kievan Rus

CONCLUSION

In the ninth century most of the Slavic tribes merged into a territorial union, called the "Russian Land". The center of the association was Kyiv, where the semi-legendary dynasty of Kiya, Dir and Askold ruled. In 882, the two largest political centers of the ancient Slavs - Kyiv and Novgorod united under the rule of Kyiv, forming the Old Russian state.

From the end of IX to the beginning of XI, this state included the territories of other Slavic tribes - the Drevlyans, Severyans, Radimichi, Tivertsy, Vyatichi. At the center of the new state formation was the Glade tribe. The Old Russian state became a kind of federation of tribes, in its form it was an early feudal monarchy.

The territory of the Kievan state was concentrated around several political centers that were once tribal. In the second half of the XI - the beginning of the XII century. fairly stable principalities began to form within Kievan Rus. As a result of the merger of the East Slavic tribes during the period of Kievan Rus, the Old Russian nationality gradually formed, which was characterized by a certain commonality of language, territory and mental warehouse, manifested in the commonality of culture.

The Old Russian state was one of the largest European states. Kievan Rus pursued an active foreign policy. Its rulers established diplomatic relations with neighboring countries.

Trade relations of Russia were wide. Russia maintained political, commercial and cultural relations with Byzantium, and also established ties with France and England. The international significance of Russia is evidenced by dynastic marriages concluded by Russian princes. Treaties with Byzantium keep valuable evidence of social relations in Kievan Rus and its international significance.

Bibliography

1. Averintsev S.S. Byzantium and Russia: two types of spirituality. / "New World", 1988, No. 7, p. 214.

Diamond M. Jews, God and history. - M., 1994, p.443

Gurevich A.Ya. Selected works. T. 1. Ancient Germans. Vikings. M, 2001.

Litavrin G.G. Byzantium, Bulgaria, Ancient Russia. - St. Petersburg: Aletheya, 2000. - 415 p.

Munchaev Sh. M., Ustinov V. M. History of Russia: Textbook for universities. - 3rd ed., rev. and additional - M.: Publishing house NORMA, 2003. - 768 p.

Katsva L. A. “History of the Fatherland: A Handbook for High School Students and Applicants to Universities” AST-Press, 2007, 848p.

Kuchkin V.A.: "The formation of the state territory of North-Eastern Russia in the X - XIV centuries." Managing editor academician B. A. Rybakov - M.: Nauka, 1984. - 353 p.

Pashuto V.T. "Foreign Policy of Ancient Russia" 1968 p. 474

Protsenko O.E. History of the Eastern Slavs from ancient times to the end of the 18th century: Textbook-method. Benefit. - Grodno: GrGU, 2002. - 115 p.

The term "West" is used here with reservations. The two "pillars" of the medieval West were the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire. From a religious point of view, some of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe discussed in the previous chapter - the peoples of Bohemia, Poland, Hungary and Croatia - belonged to the "West" rather than to the "East", and Bohemia was actually part of the empire. On the other hand, in Western Europe, as such, there was no strong unity at that time. As we have seen, Scandinavia kept aloof in many respects and was converted to Christianity much later than most other countries. England was for some time under Danish control, and she entered into closer relations with the continent through the Normans - that is, the Scandinavians, however, in this case, Gallic.

In the south, Spain, like Sicily, became part of the Arab world for a time. And in terms of trade, Italy was closer to Byzantium than to the West. Thus, the Holy Roman Empire and the French Kingdom formed the backbone of Western Europe during the Kievan period.

Let us turn first to Russian-German relations. Until the German expansion into the eastern Baltic at the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries, the German lands did not come into contact with the Russians. However, some contact between the two peoples was maintained through trade and diplomacy, as well as through dynastic ties. The main German-Russian trade route in that early period passed through Bohemia and Poland. As early as 906, the Raffelstadt customs office mentions Bohemians and Rugs among foreign merchants coming to Germany. It is clear that the former refers to the Czechs, while the latter can be identified with the Russians.

The city of Ratisbon became the starting point for German trade with Russia in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; here German merchants doing business with Russia formed a special corporation, whose members are known as "ruzaria". As already mentioned, the Jews also played an important role in Ratisbon's trade with Bohemia and Russia. In the middle of the twelfth century, commercial links between Germans and Russians were also established in the eastern Baltic, where Riga had been the main German trading base since the thirteenth century. On the Russian side, both Novgorod and Pskov took part in this trade, but Smolensk was its main center during this period. As already mentioned, in 1229 an important trade agreement was signed between the city of Smolensk, on the one hand, and a number of German cities, on the other. The following German and Frisian cities were represented: Riga, Lübeck, Sest, Münster, Groningen, Dortmund and Bremen. German merchants often visited Smolensk; some of them permanently resided there. The contract mentions the German Church of the Holy Virgin in Smolensk.

With the development of active commercial relations between Germans and Russians, and through diplomatic and family ties between the German and Russian ruling houses, the Germans must have collected a significant amount of information about Russia. Indeed, the notes of German travelers and the records of German chroniclers were an important source of knowledge about Russia not only for the Germans themselves, but also for the French and other Western Europeans. In 1008, the German missionary St. Bruno visited Kyiv on his way to the lands of the Pechenegs to spread Christianity there. He was warmly received by Saint Vladimir, and he was given all the help that could be offered. Vladimir personally accompanied the missionary to the border of the Pecheneg lands. Russia made the most favorable impression on Bruno, just like the Russian people, and in his message to Emperor Henry II, he presented the ruler of Russia as a great and rich ruler.

The chronicler Titmar from Merseburg (975 - 1018) also emphasized the wealth of Russia. He claimed that there were forty churches and eight markets in Kyiv. Canon Adam of Bremen in his book "History of the Diocese of Hamburg" called Kyiv a rival of Constantinople and a bright decoration of the Greek Orthodox world. The German reader of that time could also find interesting information about Russia in the "Annals" by Lambert Hersfeld. Valuable information about Russia was also collected by the German Jew Rabbi Moses Petahia from Ratisbon and Prague, who visited Kyiv in the seventies of the twelfth century on his way to Syria.

As for diplomatic relations between Germany and Kiev, they began in the tenth century, as evidenced by the attempt of Otto II to organize a Roman Catholic mission to Princess Olga. In the second half of the eleventh century, during internecine strife among Russian princes, Prince Izyaslav I attempted to turn to the German emperor as an arbitrator in Russian inter-princely relations. Forced out of Kyiv by his brother Svyatoslav II, Izyaslav first turned to the king of Poland, Boleslav II, without receiving help from this ruler, he went to Mainz, where he asked for the support of Emperor Henry IV. To support his request, Izyaslav brought rich gifts: gold and silver vessels, precious fabrics, and so on. At that time, Henry was involved in the Saxon War and could not send troops to Russia, even if he wanted to. However, he sent an envoy to Svyatoslav to clarify the matter. The envoy, Burchardt, was Svyatoslav's son-in-law and therefore, naturally, was inclined to compromise. Burchardt returned from Kyiv with rich gifts given in support of Svyatoslav's request to Henry not to interfere in Kiev affairs, Henry reluctantly agreed to this request. Turning now to German-Russian marital relations, it must be said that at least six Russian princes had German wives, including two princes of Kiev - the aforementioned Svyatoslav II and Izyaslav II. Svyatoslav's wife was Burchardt's sister Kilikia from Dithmarschen. The name of Izyaslav's German wife (his first wife) is unknown. Two German margraves, one count, one landgrave and one emperor had Russian wives. The emperor was the same Henry IV, from whom in 1075 Izyaslav I sought protection. He married Eupraxia, daughter of Prince Vsevolod I of Kiev, at that time a widow (her first husband was Henry the Long, Margrave of Stadensky. In her first marriage, she, apparently, was happy. Her second marriage, however, ended tragically; for a worthy description and interpretation of its dramatic history would need Dostoevsky.

Eupraxia's first husband died when she was barely sixteen years old (1087). There were no children in this marriage, and it turned out that Eupraxia intended to be tonsured at the Quedlinburg Monastery. However, it so happened that Emperor Henry IV, during one of his visits to the abbess of Quedlinburg, met a young widow and was struck by her beauty. In December 1087 his first wife Bertha died. In 1088 the engagement of Henry and Eupraxia was announced, and in the summer of 1089 they were married in Cologne. Eupraxia was crowned as empress under the name Adelheid. Henry's passionate love for his bride did not last long, and Adelheida's position at court soon became precarious. Henry's palace soon became the site of obscene orgies; according to at least two contemporary chroniclers, Henry joined the perverted sect of the so-called Nicolaitans. Adelgeide, who at first suspected nothing, was forced to take part in some of these orgies. The chroniclers also relate that one day the emperor offered Adelheid to his son Conrad. Conrad, who was about the same age as the Empress and was friendly towards her, indignantly refused. He soon rebelled against his father. Russian ties with Italy were due to a number of factors, of which the Roman Church was probably the most important. Relations between the pope and Russia began at the end of the tenth century and continued, partly through the mediation of Germany and Poland, even after the division of the Churches in 1054. In 1075, as we have seen, Izyaslav turned to Henry IV for help. At the same time, he sent his son Yaropolk to Rome to negotiate with the pope. It should be noted that the wife of Izyaslav was the Polish princess Gertrude, daughter of Mieszko II, and the wife of Yaropolk was the German princess, Kunegunda from Orlamunde. Although both of these women were supposed to officially join the Greek Orthodox Church, after they married, apparently, they did not break with Roman Catholicism in their hearts. Probably, under their pressure and on their advice, Izyaslav and his son turned to the pope for help. We saw earlier that Yaropolk, on his own behalf and on behalf of his father, swore allegiance to the Pope and placed the Kievan principality under the protection of St. Peter. The Pope, in turn, in a bull of May 17, 1075 granted the Principality of Kiev to Izyaslav and Yaropolk in fief possession and confirmed their rights to rule the principality. After that, he convinced the Polish king Boleslav to provide all kinds of assistance to his new vassals. While Boleslav hesitated, Izyaslav's rival Svyatopolk died in Kyiv (1076). ), and this made it possible for Izyaslav to return there. As you know, he was killed in a battle against his nephews in 1078, and Yaropolk, who had no way to keep Kyiv, was sent by the senior princes to the Turov principality. He was killed in 1087.

Thus was put an end to the dreams of the Roman pope about the spread of power over Kiev. However, the Catholic prelates closely watched further events in Western Russia. In 1204, as we have seen, papal emissaries visited Prince Roman of Galicia and Volhynia to persuade him to convert to Catholicism, but they did not succeed.

Religious contacts of Russia with Italy should not be associated only with the activities of the pope; in some cases they were the result of popular sentiments. The most interesting example of such spontaneous religious ties between Russia and Italy was the veneration of the relic of St. Nicholas in Bari. Of course, in this case, the object of veneration was a saint of the pre-Schismatic period, popular both in the West and in the East. And yet this case is quite typical, since it demonstrates the absence of confessional barriers in the Russian religious mentality of that period. Although the Greeks celebrated St. Nicholas Day on December 6, the Russians had a second St. Nicholas Day on May 9th. It was founded in 1087 in memory of the so-called "transfer of relics" of St. Nicholas from Myra (Lycia) to Bari (Italy). In fact, the relics were transported by a group of merchants from Bari who traded with the Levant and visited Myra under the guise of pilgrims. They managed to break through to their ship before the Greek guards realized what was happening, then they headed straight for Bari, where they were enthusiastically received by the clergy and authorities. Later, the whole enterprise was explained as a desire to move the relics to a safer place than Mira, since this city was threatened by the potential danger of Seljuk raids.

From the point of view of the inhabitants of Myra, it was just a robbery, and it is understandable that the Greek Church refused to celebrate this event. The joy of the inhabitants of Bari, who now could install a new shrine in their city, and the Roman Church, which blessed it, is also quite understandable. The speed with which the Russians accepted the feast of the Transfer is much more difficult to explain. However, if we take into account the historical soil of southern Italy and Sicily, Russian connections with them become clearer. This touches on longstanding Byzantine interests in that region and concerns the even earlier advance of the Normans from the west. The Normans, whose original goal was war against the Arabs in Sicily, later established their control over the entire territory of southern Italy, and this situation caused a number of clashes with Byzantium. We have already seen that there were Russo-Varangian auxiliaries in the Byzantine army from at least the beginning of the tenth century. It is known that a strong Russian-Varangian unit took part in the Byzantine campaign against Sicily in 1038-1042. Among other Varangians, the Norwegian Harald took part in the expedition, who later married the daughter of Yaroslav Elizabeth and became the king of Norway. In 1066, another Russian-Varangian detachment, which was in the Byzantine service, was stationed in Bari. This was before the "transfer" of the relics of St. Nicholas, but it should be noted that some of the Russians liked this place so much that they settled there permanently and eventually became Italianized. Apparently, through their mediation, Russia learned about Italian affairs and took the joy of the new shrine in Bari especially close to her heart.

Since throughout this period the war was closely connected with trade, the result of all these military campaigns, apparently, was some kind of commercial relationship between Russians and Italians. At the end of the twelfth century, Italian merchants expanded their trading activities to. the Black Sea region. According to the terms of the Byzantine-Genoese treaty of 1169, the Genoese were allowed to trade in all parts of the Byzantine Empire, with the exception of "Rus" and "Matraha".

During the period of the Latin Empire (1204 - 1261) the Black Sea was open to the Venetians. Both the Genoese and the Venetians eventually founded a number of trading bases ("factories") in the Crimea and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. Although there is no evidence of the existence of such trading posts in the pre-Mongol period, both Genoese and Venetian merchants must have visited the Crimean ports long before 1237. Since Russian merchants also visited them, there was an obvious possibility of some contacts between Russians and Italians in the Black Sea region. and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov even in the pre-Mongolian period.

It may be noted that a significant number of Russians must have come to Venice and other Italian cities against their will, otherwise connected with the Black Sea trade. They were not merchants, but, on the contrary, objects of trade, that is, slaves that Italian merchants bought from the Cumans (Polovtsians). Speaking of Venice, we can recall the "Venedic" singers mentioned in the Tale of Igor's Campaign. As we have seen, they can be considered either Baltic Slavs or Venets, but most likely they were Venetians.

With Spain, or, more precisely, with the Spanish Jews, the Khazars corresponded in the tenth century. If any Russians came to Spain during the Kievan period, then they, too, were probably slaves. It should be noted that in the tenth and eleventh centuries the Muslim rulers of Spain used slaves as bodyguards or mercenaries. Such troops are known as "Slavic", although in reality only a part of them were Slavs. Many of the Arab rulers of Spain relied on these Slavic units of several thousand people, who consolidated their power. However, knowledge about Spain in Russia was vague. In Spain, however, thanks to the research and travels of Muslim scholars who lived there, a certain amount of information was gradually collected about Russia - ancient and modern to them. Al-Bakri's treatise, written in the eleventh century, contains valuable information about the pre-Kiev and early Kiev periods. Along with other sources, AlBakri used the story of the Jewish merchant Ben-Yakub. Another important Arabic work containing information about Russia belongs to Idrisi, also a resident of Spain, who completed his treatise in 1154. The Spanish Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, left valuable notes about his travels in the Middle East in 1160 - whom he met with many Russian merchants.