All reforms are elected happy. Reforms of the elected council

The activities of Tsar Ivan the Terrible are still considered controversial by historians. But there is no doubt that at the beginning of his reign, the then young king was thinking about progressive changes in the country. And she helped him with this Elected Rada. What is the Elected Rada? Who was part of it? What transformations did Ivan the Terrible carry out together with its members?

Elected Rada

The elected Rada was an informal council under Ivan the Terrible, which included his friends and like-minded people. Despite the fact that the Rada was not an official body of power, it was its activities that primarily determined politics in Russia. The term was proposed by the tsar's closest associate, Prince A.M. Kurbsky. The word "rada" among the Western Slavs meant "council".

Years of activity of the Elected Rada

The elected Rada existed for 11 years: from 1549 to 1560 years. It was during this period that Grozny carried out large-scale reforms in literally all spheres of life.

Composition of the Elected Rada

Confessor of the Tsar Sylvester

A.F.Adashev

Metropolitan Macarius

Head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz Viskovaty I.M.

Princes Kurbsky A.M. , Vorotynsky, Serebryany, Sheremetyevs and others.

Reforms of the Elected Rada

Local government reform.

In 1549 was convened for the first time Zemsky Sobor, which marked the beginning of class representation in Rus'. The cathedral provided communication between the central government and local authorities and discussed important issues.

IN 1556 the system was abolished feedings, in their place were taken by representatives of zemstvo (local) self-government bodies - heads and kissers. The local nobility also had the opportunity to elect their own zemstvo authorities and resolve local issues.

Judicial reform.

In 1550, the Code of Laws was adopted, which significantly added to the provisions of the Code of Laws of Ivan III: the central government was strengthened, the powers of governors and volosts were reduced, the right of peasants to leave on St. George’s Day was confirmed, but the elderly were introduced , that is, payment for the use of the landowner’s land, which became the next stage in the enslavement of the peasants.

Reform of central authorities

The formation began order system of power. Orders are central government bodies in charge of a specific area of ​​activity. At the head are clerks and clerks. A similar system lasted until the end of the 17th century and was then replaced by Peter I with collegiums. Orders: Petition, Local, Ambassador, Streletsky, Robber and others .

Church reform.

IN 1551 was convened Stoglavy Cathedral received its name from the number of chapters of decisions made). Goal: unification of church rituals, recognition of local saints as all-Russian. Church canons (that is, requirements, laws) were clearly defined, for example, how to be baptized, how to go in procession, etc.

Much was given to improving the morality of the priests themselves.

Military reform

Much attention was paid to strengthening the country's military power. For this purpose it was created standing army- archers, gunners, 1556 accepted Service Regulations, which established a uniform procedure for serving. Interestingly, the Code noted that localism was limited during wars.

Thus, the Elected Rada played a huge role in reforming the country, its progressive development, and strengthening the state. For the first time Russia became class - representative monarchy. This is a great achievement.

Reasons for the fall of the Chosen Rada

Ivan the Terrible's desire for autocracy, he no longer needed friends and advisers.

Difficult relations of some members of the Rada (Sylvester and Adashev) with the relatives of the first wife of Ivan the Terrible, Anastasia Zakharyeva-Yuryeva, especially after her death.

Foreign policy differences arose related to the Livonian War.

Disagreement over reforms. The tsar expected quick results, but the reforms were designed for a long period of time; it was difficult to immediately transform so many aspects of life, and the state apparatus itself was not yet ready for this; it worked ineffectively.

The fate of the members of the Elected Rada

The fate of Ivan the Terrible's closest supporters was tragic.

Sylvester was exiled in 1560 to the Solovetsky Monastery

Adashev was sent to war with Livonia, was soon arrested, and died in prison.

Prince Kurbsky, seeing the reprisals against members of the Rada, fled to Livonia in 1564 and even fought with Grozny on the side of the Lithuanians.

The fate of the remaining members of the Elected Rada is also tragic. The defeat of the Rada was the beginning oprichnina- one of the most terrible periods in the history of Russia.

You can read material about the life and activities of Tsar Ivan the Terrible on my website

"Historical portraits":istoricheskiy-portret.ru

Material prepared by: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna

The term itself is found only in the work of Kurbsky, while Russian sources of that time do not give this circle of people any official name.

Creation

The formation of a select circle of people around the tsar occurs after the Moscow events of the summer of 1547: a fire and then an uprising of Muscovites. According to Kurbsky’s version, during these events Archpriest Sylvester appeared to the king and “threatened the king with a terrible spell from the Holy Scriptures,<...>to<...>stop his riots and moderate his violent temper.”

Compound

The composition of the “Elected Rada” is the subject of debate. Definitely, the priest of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kremlin, the confessor of the Tsar Sylvester and a young figure from a not very noble family A.F. Adashev participated in the “Rada”.

On the other hand, some historians deny the existence of the Elected Rada as an institution led exclusively by the three above-mentioned persons.

Reforms of the Chosen One:

1. 1549 The First Zemsky Sobor is a body of class representation that ensures the connection between the center and the localities, Ivan IV’s speech from the front: condemnation of the wrong boyar rule, announcement of the need for reforms.
2. Code of Law of 1550 - development of the provisions of the Code of Law of Ivan III, limitation of the power of governors and volosts, strengthening of control of the tsarist administration, uniform amount of court fees, preservation of the right of peasants to cross on St. George’s Day.
3. The Council of the Hundred Heads in 1551 – unification of church rites, recognition of all locally revered saints as all-Russian, establishment of a strict iconographic canon, requirements for improving the morals of the clergy, prohibition of usury among priests.
4. Military reform of 1556 - the Code of Service was adopted: restriction of localism for the period of hostilities, in addition to the mounted local militia, organization of a standing army - archers, gunners, a unified order of military service.
5. Formation of the order system:
   • Ambassadorial order - foreign policy
   • Petition order (Adashev) - the highest control body
   • The local order was in charge of land ownership
   • The robber order searched and tried
   • Streletsky order was in charge of the created Streltsy army
   • Rank - noble army, appointment of governor
   • Great Parish - tax collection
   • Yamskoy - postal service and stations
   • Zemsky - law enforcement in Moscow
6. Continuation of the provincial reform - the abolition of feedings, all power in the counties passed to elected provincial and zemstvo elders, and in cities - to favorite heads.

The reforms of the Elected Rada outlined the path to strengthening and centralizing the state and contributed to the formation of an estate-representative state.

Fall of the Chosen Rada

The reason for the royal disfavor by some historians [ Who?] is seen in the fact that Ivan IV was dissatisfied with the disagreements of some members of the Rada with the late Anastasia Zakharyina-Yuryeva, the Tsar’s first wife. This is also confirmed by the fact that after the death of his second wife, Maria Temryukovna, Ivan the Terrible also carried out executions of those disliked by the queen and accused the boyars of “harassing” (poisoning) Maria.

In 1553, Ivan the Terrible fell ill. The illness was so severe that the question of transfer of power arose in the Boyar Duma. Ivan forced the boyars to swear allegiance to their infant son, Tsarevich Dmitry. But among the members of the Rada, the idea arose to transfer the Moscow throne to the Tsar’s cousin, Vladimir, Prince Staritsky. In particular, Sylvester noted that Vladimir’s quality is that he loves advisers. However, Ivan recovered from his illness, and the conflict, at first glance, was settled. But the king did not forget this story and later used it against Sylvester and Adashev.

The main contradiction was the radical difference in the views of the Tsar and the Rada on the issue of centralization of power in the state (the process of centralization is the process of concentrating state power). Ivan IV wanted to speed up this process. The elected Rada chose the path of gradual and painless reform.

Historical estimates

Among historians there is no unambiguous assessment of the activities of the “Elected Rada”.

Karamzin notes the positive features of the rule of the “Elected Rada”, emphasizing the “wise moderation” and “philanthropy” of the tsarist government: “Everywhere the people blessed the government’s zeal for the common good, everywhere they replaced unworthy Rulers: they punished them with contempt or prison, without excessive severity; wanted to mark a happy change of state not by the cruel execution of bad old officials, but by the better election of new ones...”

Kostomarov’s influence of the “circle of favorites” is such that “without consulting with the people of this elected council, Ivan not only did not arrange anything, but did not even dare to think,” in this influence the historian sees a “bitter humiliation” for the autocracy of Ivan IV.

see also

Notes

Links

• Elected Rada- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
• Elyanov E. Subjective interpretations: domestic historians about the era of Ivan the Terrible

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what the “Elected Rada” is in other dictionaries:

The unofficial government of the Russian state in the late 1540s and 1550s. The Elected Rada included those close to Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. A prominent position in the Elected Rada was occupied by Duma nobleman A.F. Adashev, court priest Sylvester,... ... Political science. Dictionary.

THE ELECTED RADA, the unofficial government of the Russian state under Tsar Ivan IV, in the late 40s and 50s. 16th century (A.F. Adashev, Sylvester, Makariy, A.M. Kurbsky, etc.). Supporters of a compromise between the various ruling strata, annexation... ... Modern encyclopedia

The question arose about strengthening a unified Russian state. To achieve this, it was necessary to take several decisive actions - to put an end to decentralization, to completely form a national apparatus and to expand the territory of the country. Vasily III only laid the foundation for this process, and it was left to his son Ivan, who was only three years old at the time of his father’s death, to solve the problems.

In 1546, the future Ivan IV reached the age of fifteen (at this age came of age), and power completely passed from his mother to him. In 1547 he took the title of king. The royal wedding took place in the Assumption Cathedral. In the same year, a series of fires and a popular uprising occurred, which proved that there was a confrontation between the boyars and the people in society. Ivan IV began an intensified struggle against the boyar power, bringing people from other classes closer to him. The circle of associates was called the “Chosen Rada”, which included such persons as Andrei Kurbsky, Metropolitan Macarius and Archpriest Sylvester. They carried out the following reforms that glorified the reign of Ivan:

1. In 1550, the so-called Sudebnik was published - a set of laws that strengthened the royal power.

2. The Streletsky army appeared in the army.

3. The financial system was reformed.

4. The local and central administration canceled feedings and introduced a system of orders.

5. Church reform was carried out.

The changes led to the fact that in a short time the authority of the authorities in the state grew noticeably. The elected Rada and its system of government turned out to be the most effective. All decisions made in the 50s of that century were aimed at centralizing the power of the king. Despite the fact that the Elected Rada and its reforms had a positive impact on the state and strengthened the royal power, it was dissolved in 1560. There were several reasons for this. The tsar stopped trusting his close people, especially when he suspected treason after Andrei Kurbsky escaped to Poland. Differences in views on foreign and domestic policy also grew.

In 1565, Ivan IV established a new sovereign appanage - the oprichnina, which included economically developed territories.

Here the tsar formed his government bodies - the Duma, the court, orders, as well as the oprichnina army, which later turned into an instrument. The Elected Rada and the oprichnina were endowed with punitive functions, but if the first punished only the boyars, then the oprichnina had power over all classes. As a result of the dominance of the oprichnina, a despotic regime of power under Ivan IV was established in the state. During these harsh years, the tsar received the nickname “Terrible”.

However, the reign of terror turned out to be less effective than the Elected Rada and its policies. As a result, the king in 1572. After this, the country experienced political events in the 70s and 80s. In addition, there was the destruction of peasant farms, which were the basis of the country's economy - the Elected Rada focused on them. The oprichnina largely determined the general crisis of power and the coming Time of Troubles.

The first Russian Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich IV the Terrible was born on August 25, 1530, died on March 18, 1584.

After the death of Vasily III in 1533, his three-year-old son Ivan IV ascended the grand-ducal throne. In fact, the state was ruled by his mother, Elena Vasilievna, the daughter of Prince Glinsky, a native of Lithuania. Both during the reign of Elena and after her death (1538; there is an assumption that she was poisoned), the struggle for power between the boyar groups of the Belskys, Shuiskys, and Glinskys did not stop.

Boyar rule led to the weakening of central power, and the arbitrariness of the patrimonial owners had a serious impact on the position of the masses, causing discontent and open protests in a number of Russian cities.

The boy sovereign, naturally intelligent, lively, impressionable and observant, grew up in an atmosphere of abandonment and neglect. Thus, in the boy’s soul an early feeling of enmity and hatred towards the boyars as his enemies and thefts of power was formed. The ugly scenes of boyar self-will and violence and his own helplessness and impotence developed in him timidity, suspicion, distrust of people, and on the other hand, disdain for the human person and human dignity.

Having a lot of free time at his disposal, Ivan indulged in reading and re-read all the books that he could find in the palace. His only sincere friend and spiritual mentor was Metropolitan Macarius (from 1542), the famous compiler of the Four Menaions, a huge collection of all church literature known at that time in Rus'.

The young Grand Duke was not yet fully 17 years old when his uncle Mikhail Glinsky and his grandmother Princess Anna managed to prepare a political act of great national importance. On January 16, 1547, the Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus' Ivan Vasilyevich was solemnly crowned with the title of Tsar Ivan IV. The ceremony of accepting the royal title took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. From the hands of the Moscow Metropolitan Macarius, who developed the ritual of crowning the king, Ivan IV accepted the Monomakh cap and other regalia of royal power. The Church seemed to affirm the divine origin of royal power, but at the same time strengthened its authority. Upon completion of the wedding ceremony, the Grand Duke became the “God-crowned Tsar.”

Thus, the new title - tsar - not only sharply emphasized the sovereignty of the Russian monarch in external relations, especially with the Horde khanates (khans in Rus' were called tsars), but also more clearly than before, separated the sovereign from his subjects. The royal title secured the transformation of vassal princes into subjects. The capital of the state, Moscow, was now adorned with a new title - it became the “reigning city”, and the Russian land - the Russian kingdom. But for the peoples of Russia, one of the most tragic periods of its history began. The “time of Ivan the Terrible” has come.

By the way, Russia as the name of the state appears in Russian sources in the second half of the 16th century. The term “Russia” is not Russian in origin, but Greek. It has been known in Byzantium since the 10th century. and was used in the lists of dioceses: the great princes in Greek were called archons of all Russia. During the wedding of Ivan IV, in order to give the individual more authority, they returned to this “foreign” word.

The term “Moscow State”, along with the name “Russia”, was used in official documents in the 16th-17th centuries. Russian began to mean belonging to the state, and “Russian” - to an ethnic group (nationality).

On June 21, 1547, a strong fire broke out in Moscow. The fire raged for two days. The city was almost completely burned out. About 4 thousand Muscovites died in the fire. Ivan IV and his entourage, fleeing smoke and fire, hid in the village of Vorobyovo. The cause of the fire was sought in the actions of real persons. Rumors spread that the fire was the work of the Glinskys, with whose name the people associated the difficult years of boyar rule.

A meeting gathered in the Kremlin on the square near the Assumption Cathedral. One of the Glinskys was torn to pieces by the rebel people. The yards of their supporters and relatives were burned and looted. With great difficulty the government managed to suppress the uprising. Actions against the feudal lords took place in the cities of Opochka, and somewhat later in Pskov and Ustyug.

Popular protests showed that the country needs reforms. Further development of the country required the strengthening of statehood and centralization of power. The nobility showed particular interest in carrying out reforms. Its original ideologist was the talented publicist of that time, nobleman Ivan Semenovich Peresvetov. He addressed the king with messages outlining a program of reforms. These proposals by Peresvetov largely anticipated the actions of Ivan IV.

Based on the interests of the nobility, I.S. Peresvetov sharply condemned the boyar arbitrariness. He saw the ideal of government in strong royal power, based on the nobility. “A state without a thunderstorm is like a horse without a bridle,” believed I.S. Peresvetov.

With the participation of Metropolitan Macarius, the young tsar was surrounded by those persons who were destined in the eyes of their contemporaries to symbolize the new government - the “Chosen Rada”. Around 1549 a new government was formed. It was called the Chosen Rada - that’s what A. Kurbsky called it in the Polish manner in one of his writings. The composition of the Elected Rada is not entirely clear. It was headed by A.F. Adashev, who came from a rich, but not very noble family. Representatives of various strata of the ruling class took part in the work of the Elected Rada: princes D. Kurlyatev, M. Vorotynsky, Moscow Metropolitan Macarius and the priest of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kremlin (the home church of the Moscow kings) Sylvester, clerk of the Ambassadorial Prikaz I. Viskovaty. The composition of the Elected Rada seemed to reflect a compromise between various layers of the ruling class. The elected council existed until 1560 and was the body that carried out the transformations that were called the reforms of the mid-16th century.

On February 27, 1549, the First Zemsky Sobor was convened. He decided to draw up a new Code of Law (approved in 1550) and formulated a program of reforms in the mid-16th century. According to experts, more than 50 Zemsky Sobors took place; The last Zemsky Sobors in Russia met in the 80s. XVI century The Zemsky Sobors included the Boyar Duma, the Consecrated Cathedral - representatives of the highest clergy; Many Zemsky Sobors were also attended by representatives of the nobility and the upper classes of the town.

1. Under the Elected Rada, an order system of public administration is drawn up. Even before the reforms of the mid-16th century. certain branches of government administration of individual territories began to be entrusted (“ordered,” as they called it then) to the boyars. This is how the first orders-institutions appeared that were in charge of branches of public administration or individual regions of the country. In the middle of the 16th century. There were already two dozen orders. Military affairs were supervised by the Razryadny Prikaz (in charge of the local army), Pushkarsky (artillery), Streletsky (streltsy), Armory Chamber (arsenal), Foreign Affairs were in charge of the Ambassadorial Prikaz, state lands distributed to the nobles, the Local Prikaz; serfs - Serf order. There were orders that were in charge of certain territories: the order of the Siberian Palace governed Siberia; order of the Kazan Palace - annexed by the Kazan Khanate.

At the head of the order was a boyar or clerk - a major government official. The orders were in charge of administration, tax collection and the courts. As the tasks of public administration became more complex, the number of orders grew. By the time of Peter the Great's reforms at the beginning of the 18th century. there were about 50 of them. The design of the order system made it possible to centralize the management of the country.

2. It should be noted that at first the Elected Rada did not intend to radically change the existing order of local government. The Code of Law of Ivan IV only clarified the rights and responsibilities of feeders (deputies - in districts and volostels - in volosts) and at the same time expanded the competence of zemstvo elders and tselovniks, turning them into permanent jurors (before that they simply acted as witnesses at the trial of governors and volostels ).

A unified management system gradually began to be created locally. Local tax collection was previously entrusted to feeding boyars. They were actually rulers of individual lands. All funds collected in excess of the required taxes to the treasury were at their personal disposal, i.e. they “fed” by managing the lands. In 1556, feedings were abolished. Local administration (investigation and court in particularly important state affairs) was transferred to the hands of provincial elders (guba-okrug), elected from local nobles, zemstvo elders - from among the wealthy strata among the black sosh population where there was no noble land ownership, and city officials clerks or favorite heads - in cities. Thus, in the middle of the 16th century. An apparatus of state power emerged in the form of an estate-representative monarchy.

3. Code of Law 1550

The general trend of centralization of the country and the state apparatus entailed the publication of a new collection of laws - the Code of Laws of 1550. Taking the Code of Laws of Ivan III as a basis, the compilers of the new Code of Laws made changes to it related to the strengthening of central power. It confirmed the right of peasants to move on St. George’s Day and increased the payment for the “elderly”. The feudal lord was now responsible for the crimes of his peasants, which increased their personal dependence on the lord. For the first time, punishment for bribery was introduced.

4. Even under Elena Glinskaya, monetary reform was started. The Moscow ruble became the main payment unit in the country. The right to collect trade duties passed into the hands of the state. The population of the country was obliged to bear taxes - a complex of natural and monetary duties. In the middle of the 16th century. a single unit for collecting taxes was established for the entire state - the large plow. Depending on the fertility of the soil, as well as the social status of the owner of the land, the plow amounted to 400-600 hectares of land. The tax reform further worsened the situation of the masses.

5. Military reform

Much has been done to strengthen the country's forces. The core of the army was the noble militia. Near Moscow, the “chosen thousand” were planted on the ground - 1070 provincial nobles, who, in the opinion of the tsar, were to become the support of power.

The “Code of Service” was drawn up. A votchinnik or landowner could begin service at the age of 15 and pass it on by inheritance. From 150 dessiatines of land, both the boyar and the nobleman had to present one warrior and appear at the reviews “on horseback, in crowds and armed.”

A big step forward in the organization of Russian military forces was the creation in 1550 of a permanent Streltsy army. At first there were three thousand archers. In addition, foreigners began to be recruited into the army, the number of whom was insignificant. Artillery was reinforced. The Cossacks were recruited to perform border service.

The boyars and nobles who made up the militia were called “serving people for the fatherland,” i.e. by origin. Another group of people consisted of “service people according to the instrument” (i.e., recruited). In addition to the archers, there were gunners (artillerymen), city guards, and the Cossacks were close to them. Rear work (cart trains, construction of fortifications) was carried out by the “staff” - a militia from among the Chernososhny, monastery peasants and townspeople.

6. Limitation of localism

During military campaigns, localism was limited - the procedure for filling positions depending on the nobility and career of the ancestors. In the middle of the 16th century. An official reference book was compiled - “The Sovereign's Genealogist”, which streamlined local disputes.

7. Church councils

Significant reforms were carried out in the life of the church. During the period of feudal fragmentation, each principality had its own “locally revered” saints. In 1549, a church council carried out the canonization of the “new miracle workers”: local saints turned into all-Russian saints, and a unified pantheon was created for the entire country. In 1551 a new church council was held.

Stoglavy Cathedral

In 1551, on the initiative of the Tsar and the Metropolitan, a Council of the Russian Church met, which was called the Stoglavy Council, since its decisions were formulated in one hundred chapters. The decisions of the clergy reflected the changes associated with the centralization of the state. The Council approved the adoption of the Code of Law of 1550 and the reforms of Ivan IV. An all-Russian list was compiled from the number of local saints revered in individual Russian lands. Rituals were streamlined and unified throughout the country. Even art was subject to regulation.

The Council of the Hundred Heads in 1551 drew a line under the historical dispute between the Josephites and non-covetous people. Even before its convening in September 1550, an agreement was reached between the tsar and Metropolitan Macarius (1542-1568), according to which monasteries were forbidden to found new settlements in cities, and to establish new courtyards in old ones. The townspeople, who were hiding there from the burden of the burden, were expelled from the monastery settlements. In the future, clergy could buy land and receive it as a gift only with royal permission. Thus, on the issue of monastic land ownership, the line to limit it and control it on the part of the tsar won.

Even under Ivan III and Vasily III, the issue of church land ownership was acute. A number of clergy, whose spiritual forerunner was Nil Sorsky (1433-1508), advocated the renunciation of land ownership by monasteries and strict asceticism (hence their name - non-acquisitive). Another group of church leaders fought against this, the head of which was Abbot Joseph Volotsky (1439-1515), who believed that only a rich church could fulfill its high mission in the state. During the reign of Vasily Sh, the Josephites (money-grubbers) gained the upper hand.

During the Council of the Hundred Heads, the issue of church lands was raised again. It was decided to preserve the lands of churches and monasteries, but in the future their acquisition or receipt as a gift could only be carried out after a report to the king.

Reforms of the mid-16th century. significantly strengthened central power and public administration, which allowed Ivan IV to move on to solving foreign policy problems.

Agreement between the king and his closest advisers, i.e. Sylvester and Adashev did not last long: the ardent, power-hungry John soon began to be burdened by the influence of his favorites. This was also accompanied by their rivalry with the Zakharyins, relatives of the queen, and Anastasia herself’s dislike of them.

The beginning of this reluctance dates back to 1553. Soon after the Kazan campaign, the tsar fell into a serious illness; wrote a spiritual document, appointed his son, baby Dimitri, as heir, and demanded that the boyars swear allegiance to him. Then there was noise and abuse in the palace: some took the oath, others refused on the grounds that Dimitri was still small and the Zakharins would rule instead of him, that it was better for an adult to be sovereign, while they pointed to the royal cousin Vladimir (son of Andrei Staritsky) , the latter also did not want to swear allegiance to Dimitri, Sylvester and Adashev’s father sided with the disobedient boyars. Only after persistent persuasion by the king and the nobles loyal to him did the opposing side yield. John recovered, although he showed no signs of displeasure at first, but he could not forget this incident and began to look suspiciously at the people around him. The queen also considered herself offended.

After recovery, John with his wife and little Demetrius, according to a vow, went on a pilgrimage to the Kirillov Belozersky Monastery. First, the Tsar stopped by the Trinity Lavra. Here,” says Prince Kurbsky in his History of Ivan the Terrible, “the famous Maxim the Greek talked to him and persuaded him not to undertake such a long and difficult journey, but rather to work on alleviating the lot of widows and orphans who were left behind by the soldiers who fell under the walls of Kazan. But the king went by water to Kirillov. The journey was truly unhappy: John lost his son. On the way, in one monastery, he saw the former Bishop of Kolomna Vassian and asked him how one should reign in order to have nobles in obedience. “If you want to be an autocrat,” answered Vassian, “then do not keep advisers smarter than yourself” (an allusion to Sylvester and Adashev).

Seeing John's cooling towards him, Sylvester himself withdrew from the court, and the king sent Adashev to Livonia (to the army). In 1560, Anastasia died. It was said at court that Sylvester and Adashev had harassed the queen. The Tsar imprisoned Sylvester in the Solovetsky Monastery, and imprisoned Alexei Adashev (in Yuryev). Relatives and supporters of the accused were exiled or executed.

Oprichnina of Ivan IV (the Terrible):

goal and means of its implementation

On December 3, 1564, Ivan IV with his family and associates suddenly went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery to the tomb of Sergius of Radonezh. Having been delayed near Moscow due to the sudden onset of thaw, the tsar, by the end of December, reached the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda (now the city of Aleksandrov, Vladimir region), where Ivan III and Vasily III rested more than once. From there, on January 3, 1565, a messenger arrived in Moscow, bringing two letters.

In the first, addressed to the metropolitan, it was reported that “the sovereign placed his anger on all bishops and abbots of monasteries, and his disgrace on all service people, from boyars to ordinary nobles, since service people drain his treasury, serve poorly, and church hierarchs cover them up.” . He asked to be given a special inheritance. The term “oprichnina” comes from the word “oprich” - except. This is what Ivan IV called the territory, which he asked to allocate to himself as a special inheritance.

In the second message addressed to the townspeople, the tsar reported on the decision made and added that he had no complaints about the townspeople.

It was a well-calculated political maneuver. Using the people's faith in the tsar, Ivan the Terrible expected that he would be called to return to the throne. Soon a crowded deputation beat him with their foreheads, begging him to return to the kingdom. The tsar dictated his conditions: the right to unlimited autocratic power and the establishment of the oprichnina. The country was divided into two parts: the oprichnina and the zemshchina.

To maintain his new court, or personal estate, Ivan IV took over 10 cities with counties, individual volosts, several settlements near Moscow, and even several streets in Moscow itself. The tsar granted land to his faithful servants, without stopping to evict the former patrimonial owners and landowners), some of them simply moved to the oprichnina (in the “zemskie” districts. The new servants chosen for it were obliged to obey exclusively the tsar. Oprichniki dressed in black, whose corps initially numbered a thousand people, they were called upon to “gulp” the tsar’s enemies and “sweep out” treason from the country (dog heads and brooms were attached to their saddles, symbolizing the canine devotion of the guardsmen to the tsar and the readiness to sweep treason out of the country).

With the increase in the number of oprichnina troops (up to 6 thousand people), there was an expansion of oprichnina possessions and the zone of special (oprichnina) control. The rest of the territory of the state constituted the “Zemshchina,” remaining under the jurisdiction of the “Zemstvo” boyars, who ruled according to the will of Tsar Ivan “according to the previous custom” (i.e., the Boyar Duma).

The introduction of the oprichnina (1565-1572) was preceded by a number of events that had an undoubted impact on the mental state of Ivan IV.

So, in 1554 he became aware of the boyars’ sympathies for the Staritsa prince Vladimir Andreevich, which manifested themselves during his serious illness in 1553.

It was then that his distrust of Adashev and Sylvester first arose. In 1557-1558 the tsar faced boyar opposition to the course of unleashing the Livonian War. He did not find support on this issue from the Elected Rada either.

In 1560, Ivan IV was acutely worried about the death of his beloved wife Anastasia Romanovna. It was then that his final break with Sylvester and Adashev occurred. The king's closest advisers, suspected of infidelity, were removed from the court and then sent into exile.

A real flurry of emotions caused the tsar to escape from the governor, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, to Lithuania (1564). After this, the persecution of the boyars was intensified.

There is no doubt that each of these events could somehow influence the change in political course in 1565. It seems, however, that the transition to the oprichnina was caused not so much by the personal motives of Tsar Ivan, but by the objective contradictions (political and social) of the internal structure of the Moscow state:

1. Relations between the monarch and the boyar aristocracy remained disordered and unsettled.

2. An active military policy and the need to constantly increase the number of troops forced the state to systematically subordinate the interests of producers (peasants, artisans and traders) to the interests of the service class.

Both contradictions in their development in the second half of the 16th century. created a state crisis.

Indeed, the titled boyars occupied at this time all the highest positions in the central and local government, commanded Moscow regiments (very often the former appanage prince continued to rule his appanage as a Moscow governor). At the same time, the boyars were dissatisfied with the burdensomeness of military service and other duties assigned to them by the supreme power, and bitterly regretted the lost benefits of their former appanage independence. The Moscow sovereigns did not always take into account his opinion and advice.

Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich called the boyars “smerds.” The omnipotence enjoyed by the titled nobility in the years of Ivan the Terrible's youth should have increased their dissatisfaction with the strengthening of the position of their matured sovereign, who became the “tsar.” Some of the boyars doubted his right to individually dispose of state power and pass it on by inheritance.

Attempts by the Elected Rada to soften the contradictions between the boyars and the tsar and the nobility ended in failure. It is possible that in carrying out structural reforms she showed more pandering to boyar interests than the tsar wanted. In addition, the tsar and his advisers had different concepts of centralization, and their rivalry ended with the victory of the concept of Ivan the Terrible.

At the same time, one should not overestimate the anti-boyar orientation of the oprichnina policy. It is estimated that at the beginning of the 17th century. The princely estate was on average twice the area of ​​the noble estate.

The oprichnina was a system of internal political measures of a predominantly repressive nature; it was not something unified for seven years:

1. At the very beginning of the oprichnina rule (1565/), about 100 of the 282 princes were sent into exile in Kazan with simultaneous confiscation from their ancestral estates.

2. Then came the turn of the boyars and zemstvo nobles (in the “case” of boyar I.P. Fedorov alone, 500 people were executed in 1568).

Among the guardsmen, Prince A.I. Vyazemsky, boyar Vasily Gryaznoy and the common nobleman G.L. stood out. Malyuta Skuratov-Belsky, who was in charge of executions and torture.

In an effort to destroy the separatism of the feudal nobility, Ivan IV did not stop at any cruelty. Oprichnina terror, executions, exiles began. Major church figures were among the first to die at the hands of the guardsmen: in 1568, Archimandrite German; in 1569, the deposed Metropolitan Philip, who had publicly refused the Tsar’s blessing, was strangled by Skuratov in Tver. In the fall of the same year, the entire family of Prince Vladimir Staritsky was destroyed and he himself was killed.

Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich “smashed” Novgorod the Great. The reason for this terrible action was a false denunciation that the Novgorodians allegedly wanted to come under the rule of the Polish king, and to “lime” Tsar Ivan himself and install the old appanage prince Vladimir Andreevich in his place. The pogrom lasted more than five weeks, from January 6 to February 13, 1570, when 500-600 people were “thrown into the water” (under the ice) every day, and on other days up to 1,500 people.

In the summer of 1570, with the personal participation of Ivan IV, mass repressions unfolded in Moscow, where about a hundred people were executed. The terror was all the more terrible because it was completely unpredictable. On average, there were 3-4 ordinary landowners per killed boyar, and 10 commoners per 1 landowner. In 1570, it was the turn of the organizers of the oprichnina themselves: they were all killed in a manner no less brutal than they killed themselves. Closing the bloody list were the direct creators of the oprichnina - father and son Basmanov, Prince Afanasy Vyazemsky, Mikhail Cherkassky (brother of Maria Temryukovna, Russian queen 1561-1569).

The end of the oprichnina was helped, paradoxically, by the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey, who broke through to Moscow in the summer of 1571 due to the fault of the oprichnina army, which did not offer resistance to him. The Khan did not besiege the city, but managed to set it on fire. Moscow burned to the ground, and the bodies of those who were burned and suffocated took almost two months to be removed. Ivan the Terrible understood: a mortal danger loomed over the state.

In the summer of 1572, Devlet-Girey repeated the campaign against Moscow. The Tsar appointed Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky as commander of the troops.

The united army on June 30, 1572 near the village of Molodi (about 45 km south of Moscow, near Podolsk) completely defeated Devlet-Girey. Even the famous Crimean commander Divey-Murza was captured. The country was saved. Tsar Ivan thanked Vorotynsky in his own way: less than a year later he was executed on the denunciation of his servant, who claimed that Vorotynsky wanted to bewitch the tsar.

Most historians believe that in the fall of 1572 the tsar abolished the oprichnina. However, the executions of the “conspirators” did not stop. In 1573, the governor, Prince M.I., died from torture. Vorotynsky, who defeated Devlet-Girey in the Battle of Molodin in 1572. In 1575, Ivan IV tried to return to the oprichnina order. He again secured his “destiny”, leaving the country to the baptized Tatar Khan Simeon Bekbulatovich, who was titled “Grand Duke of All Rus'”, to formally rule the country. Simeon's reign lasted less than a year, then Ivan IV returned to the throne again. Mass terror has ceased. However, since the lawlessness, the “excess of little people” continued until the death of Ivan the Terrible, some scientists (S.M. Solovyov, S.F. Platonov, P.A. Sadikov) considered the oprichnina within the chronological framework of 1565-1584.

What are the immediate and long-term results of the oprichnina?

1. During the seven years of oprichnina, the country has moved significantly forward along the path of centralization: the influence of the titled Moscow boyars has weakened; with the death of Vladimir Staritsky, the last appanage principality disappeared; with the deposition of Metropolitan Philip Kolychev, the previous relations between the state and the church were disrupted; With the defeat of Novgorod, the social independence of the “third estate” was completely undermined.

It should be borne in mind that the oprichnina policy, carried out in the absence of sufficient socio-economic prerequisites for centralization (in the 16th century, the state did not yet have the necessary means to maintain a large bureaucracy, regular troops, developed punitive bodies, separated from the landowner class), with inevitably gave rise to such relapses of decentralization, such as, for example, the division of the country into the oprichnina and zemshchina.

2. Oprichnina led to an aggravation of the economic crisis: a significant area was not cultivated, the “taxable population”, fleeing the burden of ever new state duties, landowner enslavement, hunger and disease, especially in the late 60s - early 70s of the 16th century, fled to the southern and eastern outskirts of the state. This flow, continuing until the end of the 16th century, led to the fact that vast areas of the central and northwestern counties were half empty. Villages in the 70-80s. were overgrown with forest, arable land turned into pastures for livestock.

The oprichnina gave new impetus to the process of enslavement. Having an anti-peasant orientation, it helped many service people acquire land and peasants, and in those areas where not only large-scale boyar land ownership did not prevail, but where in general feudal-serf relations were characterized by comparative immaturity. The first serfdom decrees, which forbade peasants to leave their former owners even on St. George’s Day, in the so-called reserved years, appeared in the early 80s, even under Ivan IV. The government of Fyodor Ivanovich (1584-1598) and Boris Godunov (1598-1605) also adhered to the policy of enslaving the peasants. It is even possible that around 1592-1593. A decree was issued that forever banned peasant “exit” throughout the country. If the government of Godunov in 1601-1602. during the famine and allowed transitions for certain categories of peasants, they were of a temporary, situational nature. In 1597, a law was passed that established a five-year statute of limitations for the search of peasants (prescribed summers). At the same time, government authorities proceeded primarily from their own interests, trying to prevent the progressive desolation of the central counties. Until the beginning of the 17th century. the state considered contractual relations between landowners and peasants as their private matter: fugitives were prosecuted only on the claims of landowners.

4. Ultimately, the oprichnina inevitably degenerated into a senseless war between Ivan the Terrible and his people. The oprichnina, having split the noble class, contributed to the ripening of the preconditions for the first civil war (from the Time of Troubles) in Russia at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries.

Ivan the Terrible died on March 18, 1584. Of Anastasia’s children, John and Fyodor reached adulthood: during the Livonian War in 1581, the tsar once became angry with his eldest son Ivan for a contradiction and so carelessly hit him with his iron crutch that the prince died a few days later . The heir to the throne was his second son Fyodor, weak, sickly, and mentally retarded. Together with his eldest son Ivan, who died at the hands of his father, his hope for a worthy successor perished. Ivan the Terrible appointed Fyodor a regency council to help govern the country, where the leading role belonged to the Tsar's brother-in-law Boris Godunov. Boris Fedorovich Godunov is an intelligent, capable, energetic and ambitious boyar. Under Ivan the Terrible, he strengthened his position by marrying the daughter of his beloved guardsman Malyuta Skuratov-Belsky, and then Tsarevich Fyodor married his sister Irina, and Boris thus became a person close to the royal family. Having overcome the resistance of the old nobility, Godunov became the ruler of the state under Tsar Fedor.

A dynastic dispute arose immediately after the death of Ivan the Terrible. Tsarevich Dmitry was the youngest and last son of Ivan IV from his eighth (and fifth “crowned”) wife, Maria Nagaya.

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, young Dmitry (1882) with his mother and uncles was sent to Uglich, allocated as an inheritance to the prince. On May 15, 1591, under mysterious circumstances, Dmitry was killed. The dynastic dispute that had arisen with the murder of Dmitry was removed from the agenda.

The beginning of reforms is associated with the creation in 1549 of the Elected Rada - a circle of close like-minded people of the king, who began to play the role of government under the young sovereign. Among the most important events of this government is the convening of the first Zemsky Sobor in the history of Russia in Moscow in February 1549. Throughout the 16th century. Zemstvo councils met quite regularly and were meetings under the tsar, which were assigned an advisory role.

The “Elected Rada” was the body that exercised direct executive power, formed a new administrative apparatus and directed it. The compromise on which the new government was based had three sides: the feudal aristocracy on one side, the serving nobility on the other, and the tsar was also a party to the compromise. In this government activity, bold external enterprises went hand in hand with broad and well-thought-out plans for internal change.

The “Elected Rada” began the creation of centralized government bodies - orders (until the mid-60s they were called “lips”). The task of this institution was to receive petitions (complaints addressed to the sovereign) and conduct investigations into them. Order reform(2nd half of the 50s of the 16th century). A system of executive power and public administration has been created, consisting of 22 orders. The reform resulted in an increase in the size of the bureaucracy, covering all spheres of society with its influence.

Even before the reforms of the mid-16th century. certain branches of government, as well as the management of individual territories, began to be entrusted (“ordered,” as they said then) to the boyars. This is how the first orders appeared - institutions in charge of branches of public administration or individual regions of the country. In the middle of the 16th century. There were already two dozen orders. Military affairs were managed by the Razryadny Prikaz (in charge of the local army), Pushkarsky (artillery), Streletsky (streltsy), Armory Chamber (Arsenal), foreign affairs were managed by the Ambassadorial Prikaz, finances were managed by the Grand Parish Order, state lands distributed to the nobles were managed by the Local Prikaz , serfs - The serf order dealt with the distribution of estates and estates among service people. There were orders that were in charge of certain territories, for example, the order of the Siberian Palace governed Siberia, the order of the Kazan Palace governed the annexed Kazan Khanate.

At the head of the order was a boyar or clerk - a major government official. The orders were in charge of administration, tax collection and the courts. As the tasks of public administration became more complex, the number of orders increased. By the time of Peter the Great's reforms at the beginning of the 18th century. there were about 50 of them. The design of the order system made it possible to centralize the management of the country [ 3] . reign reformist formidable

Law code 1550 Undoubtedly, the largest undertaking of the government of Ivan the Terrible was the new legislative code drawn up in June 1550, which replaced the outdated Code of Laws 1497. Of the 99 articles of the new Code of Laws, 37 were completely new, and in the rest the text of the previous code was subject to coordinate revision.

Social legislation, included in the code of law of 1550, concerns two important issues - land ownership and the dependent population (peasants and slaves).

One of the articles deals with patrimonial land ownership in general. Since the nobility increasingly began to be supported by estates rather than fiefdoms, it is quite clear that the main content of the article mainly concerned land ownership of the feudal nobility. The article proclaims that persons who sold the estate or their relatives who signed the deed of sale are deprived of the right to redeem the alienated land property. The law is on the side of the land buyer. The law promoted the alienation of patrimonial-boyar land property.

The second group of articles of the Code of Laws consists of laws on peasants and slaves. “In an environment of growing class struggle, Adashev’s government did not risk further enslaving the peasants, although this was what the demands of the nobles amounted to. The attitude towards slaves has become even more bitter.”

The Code of Law paid special attention to issues of central and local government. This legislative monument already outlines the main directions along which the restructuring of the state apparatus will take place in the 50s. All transformations begin with local government. Law code 1550 clearly reflected this feature: its transformations relate mainly to viceroyal administration.

The first royal questions set out three groups of problems concerning church reform. Church services and the order of church life were criticized; it was said that it was necessary to elect “immaculate” priests and abbots so that they would carefully fulfill their duties. In a cautious form, it was proposed to eliminate the non-jurisdiction of monasticism and the clergy to the royal court, but the question of the fate of monastic land ownership was of particular importance. While maintaining the old feeding system as a whole, it only makes adjustments to it that limit the power of governors and volosts.

Religious reform was held at the so-called “Stoglavy Council” (meeting of the highest hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church) in 1551. The decisions of the council were summarized in 100 chapters (code of legal norms of the internal life of the Russian clergy and their relationships with society and the state) [ 4] . They included the transfer to the tsar of lands seized by the church from nobles and peasants during his childhood, as well as estates given by the boyars to monasteries for the funeral of the soul; the prohibition of the church from increasing its land holdings without the permission of the king; establishment of uniformity in religious rituals, responsibility for their violation, election of archimandrites and abbots.

Stoglav is written in the form of answers to questions about church structure. These questions, written on behalf of Ivan the Terrible, contained a kind of reform program and were presented by the government for consideration by the church council. However, they were only compiled by order of the king, and not by himself [ 5] .

Who was the compiler of the royal questions? Some authors (a manual edited by I. A. Froyanov) call Sylvester . Others (A.V. Kartashev) point to Metropolitan Macarius with the participation of Archpriest Sylvester and Abbot of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Artemy (he was soon convicted by a church court and exiled to Solovki as a heretic). According to A.V. Kartashev, “... the council of 1551 really achieved its universal goal: it revised all aspects of Russian church life in order to cleanse it, if possible, of all its shortcomings.”

“Stoglav” approved previously adopted decisions on the canonization of local saints and recognition of them as All-Russian saints; prohibited innovation in icon painting; unified the procedure for performing church rites; planned the opening of special schools for the training of priests in Moscow and other cities; condemned the vices in secular and church life; forbade inviting buffoons to weddings; monasteries were forbidden to lend money for growth and to unnecessarily beg the tsar for new lands and preferential charters; monasteries were also forbidden to buy patrimonial estates “without reporting” to the tsar; lands taken from the boyars during Ivan’s childhood (from 1533) were taken away from them.

Monetary (tax) reform was the introduction in 1551 of a new unit of taxation - the large plow. Depending on the fertility of the soil, as well as the social status of the owner of the land, the plow amounted to 400-600 acres of land.

Its size varied depending on the class of the owner of the land,” according to which the Moscow ruble became the main monetary unit of the country. The right to collect trade duties under Ivan IV passed into the hands of the state. The population of the country was obliged to bear taxes - a complex of natural and monetary duties.

Military reform. At the beginning of 1550, the Streltsy army was created, initially numbering 3 thousand people. Artillery was separated into a separate branch of the military and quickly began to grow in quantity, having 3 thousand guns in service by the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. In July 1550, localism (occupation of military positions depending on the nobility of the family) was abolished. The local salary of the nobles for their service was increased to 600 quarters of land. In 1556, the feeding system was eliminated, and the boyars became; receive a monetary salary from the state for their service, which has become the main source of livelihood. In the same year, the Service Code was announced, equalizing the responsibilities of military service for boyars and nobles. Carrying out reforms, the government of the Elected Rada tried to satisfy the interests of the serving nobility at the expense of the aristocracy and peasantry. As a result of the reforms carried out, a tendency to limit autocracy to the new serving noble aristocracy emerged.

Land legislation. The central issue of domestic policy in the 50s was the land question. The nature of the land policy of the 50s was determined already in the first major enterprise in the field of the land issue. This event was the deportation, the sentence on October 3, 1550, of a thousand nobles around Moscow, on the basis of which it was planned to build a new Sovereign's court not on a territorial principle, but on the basis of nobility and career success. Therefore, it was decided to place the “chosen thousand” - 1070 nobles. The “thousand” included nobles who did not have their own land near Moscow, which made it difficult for them to serve at court. The deployment of the “best thousand” allowed the government to always have on hand people who could be appointed as commanders in regiments, heads of hundreds, and sent on diplomatic missions to neighboring states. In addition, the transformation was supposed to restore the unity of the peasant class. But the reform encountered some difficulties. To provide a “thousand” with land, at least 118 thousand quarters of arable land were required, and the Treasury did not have such an amount. And therefore the reform was carried out only partially. The Novgorodians were supposed to be the last to be disposed of, but no land was found for them. That is, due to the remoteness of Novgorod from Moscow, Novgorod landowners practically could not serve in Moscow. During the implementation of the reform, some landowners did not have enough land, but the removal of thousanders was, first of all, an event of enormous scale in the field of land relations. As a result of the execution of the sentence on October 3, 1550, the noble landowners received into their hands over 100 thousand quarters of arable land with a corresponding amount of land: meadows and forests. One of the most important acts of policy of the government of Ivan the Terrible is the verdict on May 11, 1551. The significance of this verdict lies in the fact that it formulates the basic principles of the policy of the government of Ivan IV in relation to the two most important categories of feudal land ownership: monastic and princely. According to the verdict of May 11, 1551, bishops and monasteries were to transfer to the treasury all the lands granted to them after the death of Vasily III by the boyar governments. Secondly, they were obliged to return to the old owners - nobles and “Christians” - local and black lands taken by the clergy for debts or “violence”. Thirdly, the law completely prohibited the clergy from acquiring new lands “without reporting.” But the practical results of land measures cannot be overestimated, since the system of restrictions came into effect only if there was a threat of the land leaving service. “If there were heirs and during the normal course of service, the princes from the Sovereign’s court had the right to both the redemption of ancestral lands and the priority right to receive lands from the local fund, replenished from confiscated estates.” The implementation of this reform, expressing the interests of the state and the nobility, was necessary to limit the autocracy of the church and establish control over the land. The purpose of this legislation was not the conservation of previously established land relations, but the expansion of the fund of land ownership, which served as the basis for the new military service

The central reform was the abolition of feeding and the creation of fundamentally new local authorities in their place. Most often in the literature this reform is also called zemstvo reform. It began in 1551 [ 6] It entailed changes in all the most important spheres of society, at all levels of government. “The zemstvo reform can be considered the fourth blow to the feeding system dealt during the reforms.” It was supposed to lead to the final elimination of the power of the governors by replacing it with local governing bodies chosen from the wealthy black-growing peasantry and townspeople. The wealthy circles of the townspeople and the volost peasantry were interested in the implementation of the zemstvo reform. The intensification of class struggle, in the form of brigandage, and the inability of the viceroyal apparatus to successfully suppress the popular masses were the main reasons that made the reform of local government urgent. The provincial and zemstvo reforms, as they were implemented, led to the creation of estate-representative institutions in the localities that met the interests of the nobility, upper towns and wealthy peasantry. The feudal aristocracy gave up some of its privileges, but the meaning of the reform was directed primarily against the working masses in the countryside and city.

“In 1684, the convening and dissolution of the Zemsky Sobor on eternal peace with Poland took place. Thus ended the history of zemstvo assemblies, which had been convened for more than a hundred years. Zemsky Sobors were very important in the history of Russia, which explains the fact that a huge number of works by various scientists and historians are devoted to their study. The creation of zemstvo councils was a big step in improving the state management system and became a key moment in the development of our country as a democratic state.