The Principality of Polotsk - state formation in the 10th and 2nd third of the 12th - end of the 13th centuries, political formation Old Russian state and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

One hundred-li-tsa - the city of Po-Lotsk. It was settled in the 2nd half of the 9th - 2nd half of the 10th centuries on the basis of the early-not-so-darted ob-e-di-ne-nia po-lo-chan (Western Cree -why). Ancient territory-ri-to-riya of the Polotsk principality okhva-you-va-la-land along the Western Dvina river and its branch-ku Po-lo-te. At the beginning - the middle of the 11th century, it expanded into the middle of the Western Dvina and Lo-va-ti, for example, then into the structure of the Polotsk principality came the territories of the races of the northern dre-go-vi-chey with the center in the go-ro-de on the river Me-na (look in the article Minsk) and on go-ro-di-shche "Za-mo-check" (see the article Za-Slavl), as well as land along the Drut 'river. With the beginning of the 11th century, there were dan-ni-kami of pilots, whether you, chicken-shi and zem-ha-ly, lit-va and part of lat-ha-lov. In 1021, go-ro-da Us-vyat and Vi-tebsk with ok-re-st-no-st-mi entered the Polotsk principality.

In the 2nd half of the 10th century, the prince Rog-vo-lod was the grand-vi-te-lem of the Polotsk principality (according to the "By-weight-ti-time years", scan-di-nav on pro -is-go-de-nii). Around 978, Prince Vla-di-mir Svyato-slavich co-made a move to Plotsk, killed Prince Rog-in-lo-da, with-strong took it in the same -we are his daughter Rog-no-do, and after-nyatya Kie-va turned on Polotsk principality in the composition of the Old Russian state.

About 988 Vla-di-mir Svyato-slavich you-de-lil the Polotsk principality in keeping his eldest son from the Horn-ne-dy Izya-sl-wu Vla-di-mi-ro-vi-chu (? - 1001), after that-ki-ki-ro-go right-vi-whether there until the last quarter of the XIII century. In the governing board of princes Brya-chi-sla-va Izya-sla-vi-cha (1001 or 1003 - 1044) and All-sla-va Brya-chi-sla-vi-cha (1044-1067, 1071-1101) Polotsk principality for-ni-mal-lo do-that-exactly about-so-lenn-n-lo-zenie from the ancient territories of the Old Russian state, by-lot kie princes rarely participate in the general Russian military ak-tsi-yakh. The Polotsk principality expanded into se-ve-ro-for-pas-de due to the acquisition of so-yuz-nikov and dan-niks in Pri-bal- ti-ke, in the south - due to the subordination of the northern group of dre-go-vi-chy; on se-ve-ro-vos-to-ke in ho-de war-ny-pilots the prince-yam managed to hold on to two new ... In 1069, the Polotsk principality was under-chi-not-but-ki-ev-prince Izya-sl-vom Yaro-sl-vi-than, on-right-lyav-shim for the princess in Po- pilots of their own sy-no-wei - Msti-sla-va Izya-sla-vi-cha (1069) and Svyato-pol-ka Izya-sla-vi-cha (1069-1071).

After the death of All-sla-va, Brya-chi-sla-vi-cha, the fraction-lection of the Polotsk principality between its many sons-nov-me , the leading role among others in the 1100-1110s was played by the Minsk prince Gleb Vse-slavich. Po-pilot table for-mal-but-ta-val-sya "old-rei-shim" for Izya-slavi-ch, while from the Polotsk principality you actually li-lis and about-so-bi-lis Minsk prince, Druts-prince-st-in and Wi-teb prince-st-in. In the 1st half of the XII century, three main lines of pilots Izya-sla-vi-chi (Minsk Gle-bo-vi-chi, other Rog- vo-lo-di-chi and vi-teb-sko-izya-slav-svy-to-sl-vi-chi), represented in the military-po-ly-tic relation -she-nii are practically equal-ve-li-kie forces. By-this-mu in XII-XIII centuries pre-ten-den-you on a float-cue table not rarely seek out support from outside. In the 1st third of the 12th century, his za-ni-ma-li Ro-man All-slavich (ve-ro-yat-no, 1101-1014), Yes-vid All-slavich (ve- ro-yat-no, 1114-1127 and 1128-1129), Rog-vo-lod - Bo-ris Vse-slavich (1127-1128). Serious pressure on Izya-sla-vi-whose was rendered by the Ki-ev-princes Vla-di-mir Vse-vo-lo-do-vich Mo-no-mah (1113-1125 ) and Msti-slav Vla-di-mi-ro-vich Ve-li-kiy (1125-1132), who in 1116 and 1127 were co-ver-shi-whether military moves on them. In 1129, Msti-slav Vla-di-mi-ro-vich sent most-shin-st-in-tom-kov All-sl-va Brya-chi-sla-vi-cha to a link in V -zan-tiyu, ob-vi-niv them in the na-ru-shee-nii of the cross-st-no-go-lo-va-niya (Izya-sla-vi-chi from-ka-za-lis from learning -stya in the ho-de on the catch). Pra-vi-te-la-mi of the Polotsk principality became sy-no-vya ki-ev-prince - Izya-slav Msti-slavich (1129-1132) and Holy regiment Msti slavich (1132).

Soon after the death of Msti-sla-va Vla-di-mi-ro-vi-cha to the power of the Polotsk principality, Izya-sl-vi-chi returned to power. In Po-lots-ke ut-ver-dil-sya Prince Vasil-ko Svyato-slavich (1132 - about 1143/1144). After his death, the struggle for power in the Polotsk principality was opened between the druts-ki-mi Rog-in-lo-di-cha-mi and min-ski-mi Gle -bo-wee-cha-mi. In the middle of the XII century, blah-go-da-rya with di-na-stic bra-kam they were in-teg-ri-ro-va-ny in the political life of South Russia: in 1143 the daughter Va-sil-ko Holy-to-sla-vi-cha became-la-same-no-boo-du-shche-go-ni-gov-sko and ki-ev-sko prince Saint-to-sl -va All-in-lo-do-vi-cha; in the same go-do drutsky prince Rog-vo-lod (Va-si-liy) Rog-vo-lo-do-vich (Bo-ri-so-vich) same-nil-sya on to-che- ri pe-re-yas-lav-sko-go (in the bu-du-shche ki-ev-sko-go) of Prince Izya-sla-va Msti-sla-vi-cha; in the 1140s or 1150s. All-glory Va-sil-ko-vich zhe-nil-sya on do-che-ri smo-lensk (later ki-ev-sko) prince Ros-ti-sl-va Msti- sla-vi-cha. In the re-zul-ta-te, the key influence on the events in the Polotsk principality in the middle - 2nd half of the 12th century began to be called the Smolensk Ros-ty -sla-vi-chi (pre-w-de of everything, prince Da-vid Ros-ti-slavich) and cher-no-in-se-ver-skie Ol-go-vi-chi. At the same time, Ros-ti-sla-vi-chi in the 1160-1170-ies de-la-li bet on the Wi-teb Svyato-slav-chi, and in the 1180s ta-lis to lean on druts-kih Horn-in-lo-di-chy. In turn, Ol-go-vi-chi at the end of the 1150s and in the 1190s you-stu-pa-li on a hundred-ro-not-foolish Horn-in-lo-di-chi , and in the early 1180s, dey-st-vo-wa-whether in union with vi-teb-ski-mi Svyato-sl-vi-cha-mi.

First-in-first-chal-but successful-infantry in the fight for the Polotsk principality co-put-st-in-shaft Horn-vo-lo-du (Va-si-liyu) Horn-vo-lo-do- wi-chu (Bo-ri-so-wi-chu) (about 1143/1144 - 1151), then pre-sta-wi-te-lu Minsk Gle-bo-wi-chey Ros-ti-sla -wu Gle-bo-vi-chu (1151-1158). At the end of the 1150s, with the support of the Cher-ni-gov-prince Svyato-sla-va Ol-go-vi-cha in Po-lotk ver-zero-sy Rog-vo-lod (Vas-si-liy) Rog-vo-lo-do-vich (Bo-ri-so-vich) (1158-1161), and with an increase in the position of Ros-ti-sl -whose-who-pilot's table was taken by the Vi-teb prince Vse-slav Va-sil-ko-vich (1161-1166, 1166 - ver-ro-yat-but, not earlier than 1181 ). In 1166, his ruling interrupted for a short while for a short time Po-pilot by Prince Volo-da-rem Gle-bo-wi-chem ...

In the 1180s, there was a union of the Minsk Gle-bo-vi-chi and druts-kikh Rog-in-lo-di-chy, leading to the sta-bi-li-za -tsii vnutri-po-ly-ticheskogo po-lo-zeniya in Polotsk principality. Perhaps, at the beginning of the 1180s, the prince-prince Gleb Rog-vo-lo-do-vich lived in Po-pilot for a short time (not earlier than 1181 - about 1184). Then for a long time the representative of the Minsk princes Vla-di-mir Volo-da-re-vich (about 1184 - 1216). Around 1184, Vla-di-mir Vol-lo-da-re-vich resolved-shil Mei-nar-do pro-po-ve-to-vat ka-to-licism in the li-vov. In 1184, 1206, 1208, 1216, the pilot prince actively intervened in the events in Pri-bal-ti-ke, but he could not -that-to-stand in-ste-pen-no-mo pe-re-ho-du ras-po-la-gav-shikh-Xia in the middle and lower te-che-nii of the Western Dvi River- on the principalities of Er-si-ka and Kok-ne-se under the control of the Riga bishops.

The death of Vla-di-mi-ra Vol-lo-da-re-vi-cha caused a new fight for the Polotsk principality. On January 17, 1223, the Smolensk troops for grab-ti-li Polotsk, having displaced the princes Bo-ri-sa and Gle-ba, who were right here. loneliness to this or that line of pilots princes is not us-ta-nov-le-na). In the pilot-kim prince-land (1223-1232) became Svyato-glav Msti-slavich, the eldest son of the Ki-ev-prince Msti-sla-va Ro-ma-no-vi- cha Old-ro-th. By-vi-di-mo-mo, named-but-pilot-prince Svyato-glav Msti-slavich and Vi-teb prince Brya-chi-slav (Va-sil-ko-vich? ) intoxicated as sub-chi-nen-ny to the Smolensk prince Msti-sl-vu Da-vi-do-vi-chu in his go-to-re with R- goy and "Gotsky be-re-gom" (1229).

Soon after the ear-yes of the Holy-to-glory Msti-slav-cha to the princess in Smo-lensk (1232) by the right-wi-te-lem of the Polotsk principality, ve-ro- yat-but, became the Vy-teb-sky prince Brya-chi-slav (Va-sil-co-vich?). His power was based on family and church ties with North-Eastern Russia. Back in 1209, the prince of vl-di-mir-sky Vse-vo-lod Yur-e-vich Bolshoye Gnez-before the same-nil-Xia 2nd marriage in Sofia, before-che-ri vi -your prince Va-sil-ka Brya-chi-sla-vi-cha (that is, throughout the vi-di-mo-sti, se-st-re Brya-chi-sla-va), and in 1239, Brya-chi-slav himself had already given his daughter for a husband for the new prince Alek-san-dr Yaro-sla-vi-cha. At the end of the 1230s, there was a sharp increase in military pressure on the Polotsk principality from the side of the Lithuanian princes. In-wi-di-mo-mu, for help against them until 23.5.1254, pilot prince Kon-stan-tin Bez-ru-kiy (not later 1245 - about 1258) from -dal Li-von-sko-moo-de-nu pra-va on the ground in the Lower Pod-vi-nye and tribute from lat-ha-lov.

Around 1258-1263, in the Polotsk principality, the rules-Vil (at the invitation of-lo-chan) were the ple-myan-nickname of the Li-tov prince Min-dov-ga - Tov-ti-Vil. In 1262, as you-sal of the Grand Duke vl-di-mir-sko Alek-san-dr Yaro-sla-vi-cha of Nev-sko-go, he took part in the -de to the city of Dorpat (we are not Tartu). After gi-be-whether Tov-ti-vi-la in the fight against the Lithuanian prince Tre-nya-toi (Troy-na-tom), the Polotsk principality passed into the hands of prince Ger- de nya (1264-1267). His power was subordinated to the Vi-teb principality that you-called military actions against the Polotsk principality from the side with-se-dei. In the years 1266-1267, with the help of Psko-vi-ch and new-born prince Dov-mont took a number of troubles over Ger-de-him, who was killed in one of the battles. One-na-ko in Po-pilot-ke uk-re-pyl-sya vas-sal of the Lithuanian prince Voy-shel-ka - Izya-slav (possibly, pro-ex-ho-dil from mines -skih Gle-bo-vi-ch; also, ver-ro-yat-but that he is one-but-tso with the prince Izya-slav, whose possession is in In 1257, the Mongol troops under the command of Noah-about-na Burun-dai raz-grom-mi-li). Under-solid-divine, as before Ger-day, a to-go do-go-thief with Ri-goy and "Got-skim be-re-gom", Prince Izya-Slav could not na-la - to share a relationship with the neighboring Russian princes.

The Principality of Polotsk, an ancient Russian principality of the 9-13th centuries, lay west of the great waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks" and bordered in the east with Smolensk, in the southeast with Kiev, in the south with Turov-Pinsk princedoms, in the north with Pskov and Novgorod, in the west, up to the 13th century, the possessions of the Polotsk principality reached along the course of the Western Dvina to the shores of the Baltic Sea. The center of the Polotsk principality was the middle course of the Western Dvina and Polota rivers, inhabited by Slavic tribes of Dregovichi, Rodimichi, Polotsk Krivichi (Polochans). The ancient period in the history of the Polotsk principality is little known. According to the chronicle, Rurik, being a Novgorod prince, had a governor in Polotsk. At the end of the 9th century or the beginning of the 10th century, the Polotsk principality was subordinated to the Kiev prince Oleg. At the end of the 10th century, the Norman prince Rogvold reigned there. Vladimir Svyatoslavich married his daughter Rogneda. Having become a Kiev prince, he annexed the Polotsk principality to Kiev, but then he allocated Polotsk to the eldest son of Rogneda Izyaslav. After Izyaslav (died 1001) the Polotsk principality went to his son Bryachislav. From this time began a long period of strife between the descendants of Izyaslav and the Kiev Yaroslavichs for the possession of the Polotsk principality. This struggle ended in 1127 with the victory of the Kiev prince Mstislav, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, who expelled the Izyaslavichi. Mstislav Izyaslavich was planted to reign in Polotsk, but after the death of Mstislav (1132), the Polotsk princes Izyaslavich returned from Constantinople and reoccupied their lands. They still had to largely obey the Kiev, and from the beginning of the 13th century and the Smolensk princes.

In the economic life of the Polotsk principality, the extraction of furs and honey, and the cultivation of hops played an important role. The geographical position of the Polotsk principality on the Western Dvina, near the upper reaches of the Dnieper and Volga, determined its importance as an intermediary in trade between the West and the East. The Polotsk principality traded with Scandinavia and the island of Gotland, from the beginning of the 13th century - through Riga with the Hansa. The Polotsk principality also conducted a lively trade with Novgorod and Pskov. Mainly furs, wax, hops were exported, bread, salt, cloth, metal were imported. In the 12th century, in connection with the development of trade relations with the West along the Western Dvina, German trading settlements arose at the mouth of this river with living yards for a warehouse of goods and military fortifications (Ikskul, Golm). Following the German merchants, Catholic missionaries also appeared here. Having received permission from the Polotsk prince Vladimir to preach the "word of God" in his domain, they began to forcibly baptize the Livs and demand from the baptized "tithes" for the church and work for themselves - "servants of God." The rich lands and the possibility of an easy seizure attracted German feudal invaders to the mouth of the Western Dvina. The land, where pre-feudal relations prevailed, was an object of easy capture for German feudal lords, seekers of easy money. Having built a new strong fortress, the city of Riga, in 1202 they established the Order of the Livonian Knights (see Livonian Order), began an organized seizure of the land belonging to the Livonian people and established a regime of feudal exploitation of the local population. The local population offered stubborn resistance to the invaders. The Livs turned to Prince Vladimir for help and pointed out that "the Germans are a great burden for them, and the burden of faith is intolerable." The quarrel with the Germans was also unprofitable for Prince Vladimir. He received large profits from the growing trade with them. In addition, the arriving German ambassadors delivered him large gifts and assured the prince that the tribute paid by the Livs would arrive in Polotsk carefully. Believing them, Prince Vladimir ordered to sort out the complaints of the Livs, for which he summoned Albert (Bishop of Livonia). Meanwhile, the Germans defeated the Livs. After that, Albert did not go to the court and soon announced to Vladimir about his refusal to pay tribute from the Livs, since the latter allegedly did not want to pay it to Polotsk. So the German knights began to own the Livs, although the latter fought hard against them for a long time. Moving upstream of the Western Dvina, the German knights soon captured the principality of the Polotsk principality - Kukonois and Gersika. The lands captured by the Livonian knights were named Livonia (flax of the Holy Roman-German Empire). After the death of Prince Vladimir (1216), the Livonian knights, using their connections with the traders of Polotsk and Smolensk, interfering in the internal affairs of the Polotsk principality, having secured themselves from Polotsk, rushed to the lands of Pskov and Novgorod, but in 1242 on the ice of Lake Peipsi (see The Battle of the Ice), the Russian troops under the leadership of Prince Alexander Nevsky defeated them. After the formation of the Lithuanian principality with the assistance of Livonia, the latter, taking advantage of the feudal disunity of the Russian lands, the Tatar invasion and the Mongol-Tatar yoke that was devastating Russia, took possession of the Belarusian and part of the Ukrainian and Russian lands. In 1307 the Principality of Polotsk became part of Lithuanian principality.For the return of these Russian lands, the Moscow state waged a number of wars over the 16-18 centuries.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. ed. O. Yu. Schmidt. Volume forty-six. Paula - Optical prisms. - M., JSC Soviet encyclopedia... - 1940. Column. 191-193.

Literature:

Henry of Latvia, Chronicle of Livonia. Introduction, trans. and comments by S. A. Anninsky, M.-L., 1938; Keisser F., The end of the initial Russian rule in the Baltic region in the 13th century, St. Petersburg, 1900; Danilevich V. Ye., Essay on the history of the Polotsk land until the end of the 14th century, Kiev, 1896; Berezhkov M., On the Russian trade with Riga in the 13th and 14th centuries, "Journal of the Ministry of Public Education", St. Petersburg, 1877, February.

IX. SMOLENSK AND POLOTSK. LITHUANIA AND THE LIVONIAN ORDER

(continued)

Polotsk Krivichi. - Rogvolod Polotsk and Rostislav Minsky. - The obstinacy of the Polotsk people. - Dvina stones. - Intervention of the Smolyan and Chernigovites in the Polotsk troubles. - Capital Polotsk. - St. Euphrosinia. - Cities and boundaries of the Polotsk land.

The Savior Church of the Euphrosyne Monastery in Polotsk. Built in the 1150s.
Image by Szeder László

The history of the Polotsk land after the return of the princes from Greek captivity is extremely dark and inconsistent. We only see that the troubles of Southern Russia, the struggle of the Monomakhovichs with the Olgovichs and the uncles with their nephews helped the Polotsk land finally free itself from Kiev dependence. The rivalry of different generations in the offspring of Yaroslav I gave the Polotsk Vseslavichs the opportunity to always find allies for themselves. Since they were driven from the east by the Smolensk Monomakhovichs, and from the south by the Kiev and Volynian, the Vseslavichs became natural allies of the Chernigov Olgovichi and with their help defended their independence.

However, the Polotsk reign did not achieve significant strength and fortress. It offered too little resistance when it had to defend itself against alien enemies who were advancing from the west, namely from Lithuania and the Livonian Order. The main reasons for his weakness were both in the lack of internal unity between the Vseslavichs, as well as in the restless, obstinate attitude of the population towards their princes. The coups carried out in the Polotsk land by Monomakh and his son Mstislav I, the repeated capture, displacement and then expulsion of the Polotsk princes, of course, confused the ancestral scores between the descendants of the numerous sons of Vseslav. We do not find here that rather strict order that was observed in relation to seniority, for example, in the family of the princes of Chernigov-Seversky or Smolensk. The main Polotsk table becomes the subject of strife between the grandchildren of Vseslav; but the one who managed to take possession of them usually does not enjoy great importance among his other relatives, the appanage princes of Polotsk. The latter often strive for independence and follow their own policy in relation to neighboring lands. This can be especially said about the princes of Minsk. Throughout the entire century that has elapsed from the return of the Vseslavichs to Polotsk to the time of the Tatar and Lithuanian conquest, we have not met a single person on the Polotsk table marked with the stamp of energy or clever politics.

The feuds of the Vseslavichs, in turn, contributed a lot to the weakening of the princely power and some of the success of the people’s government, or the veche principle. Such a beginning, which we noticed among the Smolensk Krivichs, was even more evident among the Polotsk people, who in this respect are even closer to their fellow tribesmen, the Novgorod Krivichs. It is especially strong in the inhabitants of the capital city, which, like other oldest cities, seeks not only to resolve inter-princely strife, but also to subordinate the population of the younger cities and suburbs to its decisions. No wonder the chronicler noted that "Novgorodians, Smolnyans, Kievans and Polochans, as if in spirit at the veche, converge, and what the elders put on, the suburbs will become on that."

The character of Polotsk history in this era was vividly reflected in the struggle of two grandchildren of Vseslav, cousins: Rogvolod Borisovich Polotsky and Rostislav Glebovich Minsky.

Married to the daughter of Izyaslav II of Kiev, Rogvolod was in some subordination to the Monomakhovichs. Perhaps, this circumstance served as a source of displeasure against him on the part of the Polotsk Glebovich Minsky, i.e. Rostislav with his brothers. In 1151, the citizens of Polotsk, in secret conspiracy with Rostislav Glebovich, seized Rogvolod and sent him to Minsk, where he was taken into custody. Rostislav took the Polotsk table, although, in fact, he had no right to do so; since his father Gleb never occupied this table. Fearing the intervention of the Monomakhovichs, the Glebovichs surrendered under the patronage of Svyatoslav Olgovich Novgorod-Seversky and swore "to have him as a father and walk in obedience to him." Rogvolod later freed himself from captivity, but did not receive his volosts back, and in 1159 he resorted to the same Svyatoslav Olgovich, now Prince of Chernigov, with a request for help. The Glebovichs, apparently, had already managed not only to quarrel with him, but also to incite the Polotsk population against themselves. At least we see that as soon as Rogvolod received an army from Svyatoslav Olgovich and appeared in the Polotsk land, more than 300 men of the Druchan and Polotsk people came out to meet him and led him into the city of Drutsk, from where Rostislav's son Gleb was expelled; moreover, they robbed his own courtyard and the courtyards of his warriors. When Gleb Rostislavich rode to Polotsk, confusion arose here as well; the people split into two sides, Rogvolodova and Rostislavova. The latter managed to calm down the opposing side with many gifts, and he again brought the citizens to the oath. Citizens kissed the cross saying that Rostislav was "their prince" and that God forbid "to live with him without knowing." He went with his brothers Vsevolod and Volodar to Rogvolod to Drutsk; but after his unsuccessful siege, the opponents reconciled, and Rogvolod received some more volosts. However, unrest in Polotsk was not slow to resume. The obstinate Polotsk residents, having forgotten their recent oath, began to secretly get in touch with Rogvolod. Their messengers spoke such speeches: "Our prince, we have sinned before God and before you in that we stood up against you without guilt, robbed your property and your retinue, and gave you to the Glebovich people for great torment. But if now you don’t remember that, what we have done out of our madness, kiss our cross on the fact that you are our prince, and we are your people. We will give Rostislav into your hands, and do with him what you want. "

Rogvolod kissed the cross to forget the past treason and dismissed the ambassadors. Then the Polotsk veterans conceived in a perfidious way to seize their prince, who, obviously, surrounded himself with precautions and did not live in the city itself, but stayed in the prince's country courtyard beyond the Dvina on the Belchitsa River. The Polotsk people called the prince on Peter's day to the "Holy Mother of God the Old", to the brotherhood, which was arranged either by the whole city, or by some kind of parish on a temple holiday. But Rostislav had friends who informed him of malicious intent. They came to the feast, having armor under their cloak and with a decent number of squads, so that the citizens did not dare to do anything against him that day. The next morning they sent again to invite him to the city under the pretext of some important speeches. "Yesterday I was with you; why didn't you tell me what your need is?" - said the prince to the envoys; however, he got on his horse and rode into the city. But on the way he was met by a "child", or one of the younger warriors, who secretly left the city to inform the prince about the betrayal of the Polotsk people. At that moment they were creating a stormy veche against the prince; and meanwhile the predatory rabble has already rushed into the courtyards of the main warriors, began to rob them and beat the princely officials who fell into their hands, i.e. tiuns, mytniks, etc. Rostislav, in view of the open rebellion, hastened to return to Belchitsa, gathered his squad and went to Minsk to his brother Volodar, fighting the Polotsk volosts along the road, taking cattle and servants. Meanwhile Rogvolod from Drutsk arrived in Polotsk and again sat down at the table of his grandfather and father. But at the same time, his war with the Glebovich Minsky resumed. Rogvolod received help from his wife's uncle Rostislav Smolensky, but not for nothing: he conceded Vitebsk and some other border volosts for her. Rostislav Smolensky soon moved to the great Kiev table and continued from here to help Rogvolod against the Glebovichi. However, the war with the latter was not successful for the Polotsk prince. Several times he went to Minsk and could not take this city. In 1162, Rogvolod besieged Gorodets, where Volodar Glebovich was defending himself with an army recruited from neighboring Lithuania. Here Volodar by an accidental night attack inflicted such a defeat on Rogvolod, after which he did not dare to appear in the capital city; as he lost a lot of Polochans killed and captured. He went to his former appanage town of Drutsk.

Since that time, the chronicles no longer mention Rogvolod Borisovich. But there is another kind of monument, which, apparently, speaks of the same prince nine years after his defeat at Gorodets. About twenty versts from the city of Orsha, on the way to Minsk, a reddish boulder lies in the field, on the flat surface of which a cross with a stand is carved; and around the cross the following inscription is excised: "In the summer of 6679 (1171) May, on the 7th day, this cross was finished. Lord, help your servant Vasily in baptism, named Rogvolod, son of Borisov." It is very likely that this Rogvolod-Vasily is the former Polotsk prince Rogvolod Borisovich, who at the end of his life had to be content with the Drutsk inheritance; and the mentioned stone is on the ground, apparently belonging to this inheritance. It is curious that, in addition to Rogvolod, several more similar stones have survived in the channel of the Western Dvina. Namely, a little below the city of Disna in the most rapids of this river rises in the middle of it a gray granite boulder with a cross and the inscription: "Lord, help your servant Boris." Even lower is another boulder with the same inscription and a cross. In the same place on the Dvina there are several more stones with inscriptions that cannot be made out. In all likelihood, the Borisov stone belongs to Rogvolod's father, the Grand Duke of Polotsk. And a pious appeal to God with a request for help was, of course, a prayer 6 for the successful completion of any undertaking; most likely, it related to the building of temples.

Soon after the above-mentioned events, the Polotsk residents put Vseslav Vasilkovich, one of the great-grandsons of the famous Vseslav, on their table. This Vasilko was in property with the Smolensk princes and only with their help kept himself on his table. But once he was defeated by his rival Volodar Glebovich, Prince Gorodetsky, and his Lithuanian allies, and was forced to seek refuge in Vitebsk with David Rostielavich, then one of the appanage princes of Smolensk. Volodar captured Polotsk, swore the residents in and then moved to Vitebsk. David Rostislavich defended the crossing over the Dvina; but he did not give a decisive battle, because he was waiting for the help of his brother Roman Smolensky. Suddenly at midnight in Volodar's camp they heard some kind of noise, as if a whole army were crossing the river. Volodar's squad fancied that Roman was coming at her, and David wanted to strike from the other side. She rushed to run and drew the prince along with her. In the morning, David, having learned about the flight of the enemies, hastened in pursuit and captured many who had lost their way in the forest. And he again planted Vseslav's brother-in-law in Polotsk (1167), which thus found himself dependent on Smolensk, and the latter provided him with protection in relation to other neighbors. For example, in 1178 Mstislav the Brave went with the Novgorodians to the Polotsk people to take away from them the Novgorod churchyard, once seized by Vseslav Bryachislavich. But Roman Smolensky sent his son to help Vseslav Vasilkovich, and sent to Mstislav to dissuade him from the campaign. The brave listened to his older brother and turned back from Velikiye Luki. But the dependence of Smolensk was very unpleasant for the Polotsk people; The concession of Vitebsk was equally sensitive to them. Therefore, the Polotsk princes again began to seek alliances with Lithuania and Chernigov. They finally managed to win back the Vitebsk inheritance when David Rostislavich received a volost in Kievan Rus (Vyshgorod). Vitebsk passed to Bryachislav Vasilkovich, brother of Vseslav of Polotsk.

In 1180 there was a remarkable meeting of the Smolensk princes with those of Chernigov in the Polotsk land. David Rostislavich had just reigned in Smolensk after the death of his older brother; and his assistant Gleb Rogvolodovich, of course, the son of the aforementioned Rogvolod Borisovich, was in the Drut estate. At that time, the struggle between the Monomakhovichs and the Olgovichs over Kiev was in full swing, grand Duke Kiev Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, returning from his campaign against Vsevolod of Suzdal (about which later), drove to Novgorod the Great, where his son reigned then. From here he went to the Polotsk land; at the same time, his brother Yaroslav of Chernigovsky and his cousin Igor Seversky came from the other side, having hired Polovtsy, and went to Drutsk to take him away from the Smolensk assistant. David Rostilavich rushed to the aid of Gleb Rogvolodovich and tried to attack Yaroslav and Igor ("give them a regiment"), before Svyatoslav of Kiev arrived, with whom most of the Polotsk princes joined, including both Vasklkovich brothers, Vseslav Polotsky and Bryachislav Vitebsky Lithuanian and Livonian mercenary detachments. But the Chernigov-Seversk princes evaded a decisive battle, and took a strong position on the opposite bank of the Druti, and both rats stood here for a whole week, limiting themselves to a skirmish. When the Grand Duke Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich came with the Novgorodians and the brothers began to direct the road across the river, David Smolensky went home. The Grand Duke burned the prison and the outer fortress of Drutsk, but did not take the city itself and, having dismissed the allies, returned to Kiev. Polotsk land, thus, found itself dependent on the Chernigov Olgovichi, but before the first change of circumstances. In 1186, David Rostislavich took advantage of the Polovtsian pogrom of the Olgovichi to subdue Polochan. He undertook a winter campaign against them from Smolensk; and his son Mstislav, then reigning in Novgorod, went to his aid with the Novgorodians; on his side were two more appanage princes of Polotsk, Vseslav Drutsky and Vasilko Logozhsky. The Polotsk people were embarrassed and made the following decision at the veche: "We cannot stand against the Novgorodians and Smolnyans; if we let them into our land, they will have time to do much harm to it before we conclude peace; we'd better go out to them in the lane." And so they did: they met David on the border with bow and honor; offered him many gifts and settled in a peaceful manner, i.e. agreed, of course, to his demands.

At the request of David, Vitebsk was given to his son-in-law, one of the grandsons of Gleb Minsky. But Yaroslav Vsevolodovich opposed this order, and from here a new clash between the Chernigovites and the Smolyans took place, in 1195. We saw above how the meeting of opponents in the Smolensk limits ended and how the Drut Prince Boris helped the Chernigovites win the battle. Vitebsk was taken away from David's son-in-law. It seemed that the Smolensk influence on Polotsk affairs was finally to yield to Chernigov's. But, on the one hand, the turmoil intensified in Southern Russia distracted the attention of the Chernigovites; on the other hand, hostile foreigners more and more crowded the Polotsk land from the west. Therefore, the Smolensk supremacy prevailed here again. Proof of this is the well-known contractual letter of Mstislav Davidovich with Riga and Gotland. The main artery of the Polotsk land, the Western Dvina, the Smolensk prince recognizes as free for merchant ships along its entire course, and at the end of the letter declares the treaty binding not only for the Smolensk "volost", but also for Polotsk and Vitebsk. Consequently, the latter were then dependent on Smolensk.

The most important settlements in the land of the Polotsk Krivichi were located along the banks of its main river, i.e. Western Dvina. On its upper part, on the border with the Smolensk land, there was the Vitebsk inheritance. The city of Vitebsk was built at the confluence of the Vitba river with the Dvina on the rather elevated left bank of the latter and, being well fortified, also had a ship dock, one of the most important on the Dvina. On its middle course, on the right bank, at the confluence of the Polota River, was the capital city of the Kriva land of Polotsk. Its main part, or the Kremlin ("upper castle"), was located on the coastal hill, which rises at the confluence of the Polota with the Dvina. To this Kremlin from the east adjoined the outer city ("lower castle"), separated from it by a moat and fortified by an earthen rampart with wooden walls. Suburban settlements located on opposite banks of both rivers comprised Zapolot'e and Zadvin'e. In the Polotsk Kremlin, in addition to the princely and episcopal towers, according to custom, was the main shrine of the city, the stone cathedral of St. Sophia, about seven tops and chapters. Its very name shows that it was built in the likeness of Kiev churches, which served as models for all of Russia. In addition to the St. Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk, as in other Russian capital cities, there was also a cathedral church in the name of the Mother of God, which in the second half of the 12th century was already called the "Old Mother of God", judging by the history of Rostislav Glebovich.

Like other capitals, here, in addition to temples, pious princes early build monastic cloisters both in the city itself and in its vicinity. Of the monasteries for men, Borisoglebsk is the most famous: the names of the brothers-martyrs are especially often found in the family of Polotsk princes. This monastery was located in Zadvinya, in the midst of groves and bushes, on the slope of a deep ravine, along the bottom of which the Belchitsa river flows, which flows into the Dvina. It was founded by Boris Vseslavich, they say, the very one who built the Polotsk Sophia. There was also a country princely court near the same monastery. It is known that the Russian princes for the most part liked to stay not in their city mansion, but in the country house, in which various economic establishments were set up, especially their favorite pastime, i.e. hunting. Suburban life attracted them, of course, not only clean air, spaciousness and economic amenities, but also some distance from the noisy party and obstinate urban mob. At least a similar conclusion can be drawn from the above story of Rostislav Glebovich.

Saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk. Icon 1910

Among the women's monasteries, Spaso-Euphrosyne is most famous here. In Polotsk, predominantly over other capitals, there were many princesses and princesses who devoted themselves to monastic life. Among them, St. Euphrosinia, who bore the secular name of Predislav. Her life is adorned with legends; but its historical basis is beyond doubt. The beginning of her monastic exploits dates back to the time of the aforementioned Polotsk prince Boris Vseslavich, to whom she was a niece, being the daughter of his younger brother George and, consequently, the granddaughter of the famous Vseslav.

Even in her adolescent years, when she was preparing for marriage, Predislava secretly left the parental home for her aunt, the widow of Prince Roman Vseslavich, who was the abbess of the women's monastery, which was apparently located near the cathedral Sophia church. Here Predislava cut her hair under the name of Euphrosyne, much to the chagrin of her parents. At her request, Bishop Elijah of Polotsk allowed her to live for a while in a cell attached to the cathedral, or in the so-called. "stuffed cabbage". Here she was engaged in writing off church books and distributed the money received from this labor to the poor. Soon her thoughts turned to the usual aspiration of pious Russian princesses, to the construction of her own convent. For this purpose, the bishop ceded to her his nearby village, where he had a country house with a small wooden church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Savior. This place lies two versts from the city on the right bank of the Polota. Here Euphrosinia set up a new monastery, in which she was made abbess. Among her nuns, to the new chagrin of her father, she attracted her own sister Gorislava-Evdokia and her cousin Zvenislava-Ephrasia Borisovna. With the help of relatives, in the place of the wooden one, she built and decorated the stone Transfiguration Church, which was consecrated by Elijah's successor, Bishop Dionysius, in the presence of the prince's house, with a large crowd of people. Euphrosinia did not limit herself to this and, in order to have her own priests, founded a monastery nearby in the name of the Virgin. In her monastery, she peacefully survived the thunderstorm that erupted over her family during the time of Mstislav Monomakhovich of Kiev, who expelled the Polotsk princes to Greece. The time of this exile has passed; the princes returned. The time of internecine strife between her cousins, Rogvolod Borisovich and Rostislav Glebovich, has also passed. Euphrosinia managed to tonsure two more princesses, her nieces, as a nun. Having reached old age, she wished to visit the Holy Land, in accordance with the godly mood of her age. This, apparently, was at a time when her nephew Vseslav Vasilkovich was sitting on the Polotsk table, and Manuil Komnen was the Byzantine emperor. The holy abbess left her monastery in the care of Sister Evdokia; and she herself, accompanied by a cousin and one of her brothers, set off for Constantinople. Bowing to the shrines of Constantinople, she sailed to Jerusalem, where she took refuge in the Russian hospice at the Theodosievsky monastery of the Virgin. There she died and was buried in the vestibule of the monastery church.

The face of Euphrosyne became the subject of special veneration in the Polotsk land. A wonderful monument of her piety is the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, erected by her (hitherto preserved in its main parts), small in size, but elegant architecture, like all examples of the Byzantine-Russian style of that era. In this temple is kept the cross of Euphrosyne, built in 1161; it is six-pointed, wooden, bound in silver and adorned with precious stones, containing particles of relics. One of Euphrosyne's successors in the abbess was her niece - the Monk Paraskevia, the daughter of Rogvolod-Vasily Borisovich, who donated her entire estate to the Spasskaya monastery and brought it into a very flourishing form.

The strip lying to the north of the Dvina represents a somewhat hilly lake area that does not appear to have a dense population. The Polotsk limits here converged with the Novgorod ones near the upper reaches of the Lovati and Velikaya. The only significant city known from the chronicles in this direction was Usvyat, which lies on the lake of the same name, on the border with Smolensk and Novgorod lands. The largest and best populated part of the Polotsk land stretched south of the Dvina; it embraced the area of \u200b\u200bthe right Dnieper tributaries, the Druti and Berezina. This area is a wooded sandy-clay plain, often elevated and hilly in its northwestern strip, and low and swampy in the southeast; the latter imperceptibly merges with Turovsky Polesie. The most prosperous land in this area was the Minsk inheritance, which had a drier and more fertile soil, with an admixture of black soil, with deciduous forests and rich pastures. The capital city of the appanage, Minsk, rose on the coastal hills of the Svisloch River (the right tributary of the Berezina). This is one of the oldest Kriva cities, along with Polotsk and Smolensk. Near the city itself, a small but historical river Nemiza flowed into the Svisloch. The famous battle of Vseslav with the Yaroslavichs in 1067 took place on its banks. The singer of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" sang this battle in such images: "On Nemiza, sheaves are laid with their heads, threshed with damask flails, they put their belly on the current, the soul blows from the body; the bloody shores of Nemiza are sown not with good, sown with the bones of Russian people." Not far from Minsk, to the northwest, on one of the tributaries of the Svisloch, lay Izyaslavl, built by Vladimir the Great for Rogneda and her son Izyaslav. A little further north on the Goyne River, a tributary of the Berezina, was Logozhsk, and on the Berezina itself, Borisov, founded by Boris Vseslavich. Moving from it to the east, we meet one of the most significant Polotsk cities, Drutsk, in a very wooded and swampy area. In the southeast, the extreme Polotsk cities were Rogachev, at the confluence of the Druti into the Dnieper, and Strezhev, somewhat lower on the Dnieper; these cities lay on the Chernigov-Kiev borderland.

In the west, the boundaries of the Polotsk land were lost in the Lithuanian forests, where the settlements of the Krivichi gradually penetrated. Such settlements were established partly through trade relations, partly by force of arms. The Russian princes imposed tributes on neighboring Lithuanian peoples and cut down Russian towns on the convenient coastal hills, from where their vigilantes went to collect tributes and where the natives could exchange the booty from their animal crafts for household implements, fabrics, women's jewelry and other Russian goods. Lithuania quite easily submitted to the influence of a more developed Russian civic spirit and, in its Ukraine, was subjected to gradual Russification; in the 12th century we more than once meet Lithuanian auxiliary units in the Polotsk troops. But the disorder and lack of unity in the Polotsk land itself hindered the strength of Russian rule in these remote lands.

According to some indications, the Polotsk princes owned the Dvina course almost to the Baltic Sea, that is, they collected tributes from the native Latvians. But they did not bother to strengthen the mouth of this river by building strong Russian cities and, apparently, did not occupy with their squads fortified places on it further than two castles that bore Latvian names: Gersike (now Kreutzburg, below Dvinsk) and Kukeynos (Kokenguzen). From the side of the Neman the Polotsk borders crossed the Viliya and headed towards its middle course. On the river Svyatoy tributary Viliya, we have a city with the Russian name Vilkomir, then Novgorodok, on one of the left Neman tributaries, and Gorodno, on the high right bank of the Neman at the confluence of the Gorodnichanka river. The prosperity of this last city is clearly evidenced by the remains of the beautiful Borisoglebsky temple (better known as "Kolozhansky"), the foundation of which dates back to the 12th century and which only in our time has been destroyed by the action of water that washed away the sandy loose bank of the Neman. This temple is especially remarkable for the multitude of its voices, i.e. earthen elongated pots embedded in the walls, presumably in order to make the sounds of church singing more pleasant. Gorodno and Novgorodok served as a stronghold of the Kriva land from the wild Zaneman tribe of the Yatvingians.

The first known to us mention of the Dvina stones is found in the 16th century in Stryikovsky's chronicle. He tells the following. It happened to him once to ride along with other zholner on plows from Vitebsk to Dynaminda. Then he heard from a merchant from Disna that seven miles from Polotsk below on the Dvina River between the cities of Drissa and Disnoy there is a large stone on which a cross is carved in the "Russian way" and a Slavic inscription: "God help your servant Boris, son of Ginvilovago" When the plow landed near that place for the night, Stryjkovsky himself went in the canoe to watch it. He explains that this inscription was made by order of Boris Ginvilovich to commemorate the safe delivery of bricks, alabaster and other materials from Livonia by Dvina on plows for the construction of a temple in Polotsk (Kronika. I. 241 p. Warsaw edition). Another historian of the Lithuanian region, Koyalovich, in his Historia Litvaniae, from Stryjkovsky's words, literally repeated his news about the same inscription, translating it in Latin; Miserere, Domine, mancipio tuo Boryso Ginvilonis filio. But Stryjkovsky's news turns out to be incorrect, and he hardly examined the inscription himself well during his evening trip in the shuttle. Sementovsky, Secretary of the Vitebsk Statistical Committee, in his essay "Monuments of the Vitebsk Province" (St. Petersburg, 1867) presented drawings of five Dvina stones; three of them can still read the name of Boris; the inscription on which Stryjkovsky speaks is very well preserved; but the words "son of Ginvilov" are not found on a single stone. They turned out to be an addition to Stryjkovsky. Further information about these Dvina stones and Rogvolodovoy see in the messages of Keppen (Uchen. Zap. Ak. N. on 1 and 3 sections. Vol. III, issue I. St. Petersburg 1855). Plater (Collection Rubon. Wilno. 1842), Narbuta (Viteb. Governorate. Ved. 1846. No. 14). Shpilevsky ("Journey through Belarus". St. Petersburg. 1858), in the newspaper "Vilensky Vestnik", edited by Kirkor (1864. No. 56), gr. K. Tyshkevich "On ancient stones and monuments of Western Russia and Podlyakhia" (Archaeological Bulletin, published, edited by A. Kotlyarevsky. M. 1867), Kustsinsky and Schmidt (Proceedings of the first Archeological congress LXX - LXXVI) and finally gr. Uvarova (Antiquities of Moscow. Archeological Society. Vol. VI, issue 3). Sapunov's "Dvinsky, or Borisov, stones" (Vitebsk 1890).

The main source for the Polotsk history is Rus. chronicle, mainly according to the Ipatiev list. Stryjkovsky, referring to some old chronicler, says in his Chronicle that the direct generation of the Vseslavichs ended in the second half of the 12th century; that the Polotsk people introduced a republican government with a vechem and thirty judges at the head; that then the Lithuanian prince Mingailo took possession of Polotsk, and his son Gynvil entered into marriage with the Tver princess and adopted Christianity; that Ginvil was succeeded by his son Boris, the one who built St. Sophia with some other churches and left a memory of himself on the Dvina stones. Boris was succeeded by Rogvolod-Vasily, who reverted to the Polotsk people their veche customs, taken away by Mingail; and Rogvolod was succeeded by his son Gleb, with whose death the family of the Miigailovichs in Polotsk ceased (Kronika. 239 - 242). The same goes for Pomniki do dziejow Litewskich. Ed. Narbuta. Wilno. 1846. (The so-called Chronicle of Bykhovets.) Some writers dealing with the history of Western Russia continued to repeat these news until a later time without a critical attitude towards them. (Including August Schletser - Allgemeine Nordische Geschichte. II. 37.) Meanwhile, Karamzin pointed out their improbability and complete inconsistency with chronology (to vol. IV, note 103). The Dvina stones, as we have seen, finally exposed Stryikovsky for adding the words "son of Ginvilov". If we accept his testimony, it would appear that Boris built the Polotsk temples in the 13th century, while his son Rogvolod-Vasily reigned in the 12th century; for the stone of the latter is clearly marked in 1171, etc. Pogodin and Soloviev also rejected the existence of the Polotsk Mingailovichs, as well as Belyaev ("Essay on the History of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania". Kiev. 1878). To prove that in the first half of the 13th century the Russian dynasty, and not the Lithuanian one, still reigned in Polotsk, I will add the following instructions. Firstly, Henryk Letysh reports about the Polotsk prince Vladimir, under whom the Germans were settled in Livonia. Secondly, the mentioned trade agreement of Smolensk with Riga and Gotland in 1229; the treaty included the Polotsk and Vitebsk volosts without any hint of any change in their princes. Thirdly, the direct news of the Russian Chronicle (according to Voskresen and Nikonov, the list) that Alexander Nevsky in 1239 married the daughter of the Polotsk prince Bryachislav. There is some bewilderment about the aforementioned Prince Vladimir. Heinrich Lettysh's news about him lasted for thirty whole years (1186 - 1216); and yet the Russian chronicles do not know him at all. Hence the assumption that this Vladimir is none other than Vladimir Rurikovich, later the Prince of Smolensk and the Grand Duke of Kiev, see Lyzhin "Two pamphlets of the time of Anna Ioannovna" (Izv. Acad. N. T. VII. 49). This assumption, however, is too bold; Vladimir Rurikovich was just born in 1187. However, it is also unlikely that the same Vladimir reigned in Polotsk in 1186 and 1216. Tatishchev under 1217 (vol. III, 403) has a story about the Polotsk prince Boris Davidovich and his second wife Svyatokhna, Princess Pomoryanskaya. Svyatokhna, in order to deliver the reign to her son Vladimir Voitsekh, slandered her two stepsons Vasilka and Vyachka before the prince. This story ends with the indignation of the Polotsk people against her and the beating of her Pomor accomplices. According to Tatishchev, the story was borrowed by him from the Yeropkin Chronicle. In his reasoning mentioned above, Lyzhin considers this entire romantic story to be a pamphlet, which was directed against the German government of Anna Ioannovna and was composed by Yeropkin himself. This opinion is still a question. On this issue, see Mr. Sapunov "Reliability of a passage from the Polotsk chronicles, placed in the history of Tatishchev under 1217" (Th. O. I. from 1898. III. Mixture). He proves the existence of the Polotsk chronicles, from where this story was borrowed by Yeropkin. Of the new works on the history of the region, the main place is occupied by professors Dovnar Zapolsky "Sketch of the Krivichi and Dregovichi lands until the end of the XII century". Kiev. 1891 and Danilevich "Essay on the history of the Polotsk land to the XIV century." 1897 g.

For archeology and ethnography of the Northwest Territory, we will indicate the following. works: Sapunova "Vitebsk antiquity". T. V. Vitebsk 1888. His "Polotsk Sophia Cathedral". Vit. 1888. His "Inflants". Vit. 1886. Sementovsky "Belarusian antiquities". Issue I. SPb. 1890. Romanov "Belarusian Collection". 4 issues. 1886 - 1891. (Fairy tales, songs, etc.). Published by Batiushkov "Belarus and Lithuania". SPb. 1890. (With 99 engravings and a map.) Antiquities of the North-West, the edge. Published. Archeol. Commission. SPb. 1890. Pavlinova "Ancient temples of Vitebsk and Plock" (Proceedings of the IX Archeological Congress. M. 1895). Eremenka and Spitsyna "Radimic kurgans" and "Supposed Lithuanian kurgans" (Western Archeol. Ob. VIII. 1896).

"The Life of Euphrosyne" in the Book of Degrees. I. 269. Stebelsky Dwa swiata na horyzoncie Polockim czyli zywot ss. Evfrozynii i Parackewii. Wilno. 1781. "Life of the Venerable Princess Euphrosyne of Polotsk" - Govorsky (West. South-West. And West. Russia. 1863. Nos. XI and XII) "Monuments of antiquity of Vitebsk province." - Sementovsky with the image of the cross of Euphrosyne. The inscription on it concludes a spell so that no one would dare to take this cross from the monastery of St. Spas. The same inscription testifies that silver, gold, expensive stones and pearls for 140 hryvnias were used to decorate it and that the master who made it was called Lazar Bogsha. About Euphrosyne and Paraskev at Sapunov Viteb. Old man. T. V. "Minsk Province" - lieutenant regiment. Zelensky. SPb. 1864, and "Grodno Province" - Lieutenant Regiment. Bobrovsky. SPb. 1863. (Mater, for geogr. And stat. Russia - officers general, staff.) "Grodno Kolozhan Church" (Bulletin West. Russia. 1866. book 6). Commemorative book of the Vilna governorship-general for 1868, edited by Sementovsky. SPb. 1868 (with some historical and ethnographic notes). Starozytna Polska Balinsky and Lipinsky. Tom. III. Warsch. 1846.

1. Location: Principality of Polotsk is the first state that was formed on the Belarusian lands. It covered the modern Vitebsk and part of the Minsk region. In the northwest, the possession of the Polotsk princes extended to the Gulf of Riga. An important trade route "From the Varangians to the Greeks" (from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea) passed through the Polotsk principality. For the first time Polotsk was mentioned in the tale of bygone years in 862.

2. Polotsk princes: Rogvolod - 1st prince of the Polotsk principality (had Varangian origin), Izyaslav (son of Rogneda), Bryachislav, Vseslav the Charodey

The Polotsk principality reached the greatest power under Vseslav the Sorcerer; take the area of \u200b\u200bthe principality increased several times and the St. Sophia Cathedral was built. Under him, a struggle for influence was fought between Kiev and in 1067 a battle took place near Mensk with the sons of the Kiev prince Yaroslav the Wise. After his death, the Polotsk principality split into Menskoe, Drutsk, Vitebsk and Logoisk princedoms. After the collapse of the Polotsk principality, the Belarusian lands became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

3. The main occupations of the residents of the city are craft (blacksmithing, pottery, spinning and weaving, leather processing) and trade. The main categories of the population are artisans, merchants, peasants, black people (slaves).

4. The emergence of feudal relations: at the beginning of the 9th century, feudal relations began to take shape on the Belarusian lands. Reasons: property inequality.

5. Management in the Principality of Polotsk:

Ticket, question 2: Belarus during the First World War.

The First World War began on 1 August 1914. In October 1915, Germany occupied 2/3 of the land. In these territories, a German occupation regime was established. An occupation - This is the seizure of one state by another and the establishment of their power there. On this territory the Soviet power was destroyed, private property was returned, people and resources of Belarus were exported to Germany. A curfew and requisition (forced confiscation of property) were introduced. In the occupied territory, with the help of the Bolsheviks, a partisan movement arose: Rudobelsk republic (territory near Bobruisk, where partisans held power). Unoccupied territories also suffered during the war. They were transformed into a front-line zone, which also underwent requisitions. Many people became refugees who were used as cheap labor.

Results: a sharp decline in the living standards of the population, an increase in prices for essential goods, a decline in the industry of Belarus, large losses among the population of Belarus.

Ticket, 1 question: The development of culture in the Belarusian lands in the 10-13th centuries.

Historical conditions for the development of culture until 992 (before the adoption of Christianity) pagan culture (fairy tales, epics, applied art) operated on the Bulorussian lands.

The basis of pagan culture is belief in gods.

The adoption of Christianity contributed to the development of writing and the appearance of handwritten books. In the 11th century, the Cyrillic alphabet (it had 34 letters) spread on the Polotsk land, and the first schools of monasteries spread.

In the first half of the 11th century, chronicle writing (presentation of events in chronological order) began to develop. "The Tale of Bygone Years" is a chronicle written by Nester and in which information about Rogvolod, Rogned, Izyaslav, Vseslav the Sorcerer was mentioned. The first handwritten parchment books appeared

Illuminators of Christianity: Efrosinya Polotskaya, Kirila Turovsky, Klement Smolyavich.

Architecture: the first wooden churches began to appear. By the middle of the 11th century, the stone Sophia Cathedral (7 domes decorated with frescoes) was built.

Applied art: consisted of church utensils, the cross of Lazar Bogsha (commissioned by Efrosinya Polotskaya) was made from a cypress board, its front and back sides were overlaid with gold, and the sides - with silver plates with embossed inscriptions. It is considered the shrine of the Belarusians.

Ticket, question 2: Events of the February and October revolutions of 1917 in Belarus. Establishing the power of the councils.

February revolution.

The reasons: Resolution of agrarian and national issues, Russia's participation in the 1st World War.

The revolution began with mass protests by workers in Petrograd. On March 2, 1917, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne. The autocracy was overthrown. The bourgeois power of the provisional government and the liberal-democratic power of the Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies were established in Belarus. Also BSG made efforts to resolve the national issue. She sought autonomy for Belarus. The executive body is the Belarusian National Committee, which was not recognized by the interim government.

Results: The overthrow of the autocracy, power passed to the interim government. But landlord landownership remained, an unresolved national question.

October Revolution.

The reasons: Discontent with the management of the Provisional Government, the desire of the Bolsheviks to get to power.

It began in Belarus with the receipt of information on the radio about the armed uprising in Petrograd on October 25, 1917. Power passed into the hands of the Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. At the 2nd Congress of Soviets, Soviet power was proclaimed, a Soviet government headed by Lenin was created. After the uprising, the Minsk City Council proclaimed itself the power in Minsk. The transition to power to the Soviets was controlled by the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC). All the bourgeois parties opposed the Soviet regime (the advantage was on their side), but the Bolsheviks called an armored train with soldiers from the front. In a short time, Soviet power quickly spread throughout Belarus.

In November 1917, the Regional Executive Committee of the Western Region and Front ( obliskomap) as the supreme body of Soviet power.

Active members: Frunze, Myasnikov, Lander, Lyubimov.

Major events: Nationalization of industry and land (transfer from private to state ownership).

Results: a radical change in the life of society, a transition to a different political system.

Ticket, 1 question: Education ON. Strengthening of the grand ducal power in the first half of the 14th century.

Reasons for education: foreign political ( geographical position Belarusian lands, the need to overcome the external danger from the German crusaders from the west and the Tatar-Mongols from the southeast), to unite efforts on the part of the Baltic and East Slavic peoples living on the border, internal political (small appanage principalities sought to overcome feudal fragmentation in front of the external danger), economic, associated with the division of labor (separation of handicrafts from agriculture and overcoming the subsistence economy), the formation of the East Slavic community.

Fighting the Crusaders: Using catholic church the crusaders created military-religious organizations on the Baltic lands - the Livonian and Teutonic Order. In 1237 they united and created Prussia (capital - Balbork). The crusaders led an active aggressive policy in the East Slavic territories. 5 times they tried to capture Polotsk. The fight against the German knights and the Swedish feudal lords became the common cause of the Russian lands. So in the battle with the Swedes on the Niva River in 1240, the Novgorodians and the Polotsk fought together. The union of Polotsk and Novgorod contributed to the defeat of the Crusaders in 1242 in the Battle of Lake Peipsi, which was called the Battle of Ice. The winner of these 2 battles, Prince Alexander Nevsky (was married to the daughter of a Polotsk prince).

Education process ON: began with the intensification of political life in Novogrudok. In the middle of the 13th century, the Novgorod principality was quickly strengthened.

Reasons: remoteness from areas of struggle, a high level of development of the economy, crafts and trade, the desire of the wealthy strata of the population to increase the principality.

The unification processes unfolded in the upper and middle reaches of the Neman River (modern Grodno region and the eastern part of Lithuania). East took part in the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. the Slavic Christian population of the Belarusian lands and the pagan population of the Lithuanian lands. There was a strong army in the Lithuanian lands, and in the Belarusian lands there were large cities as centers of trade and crafts. The Baltic prince Mindovg, having suffered defeat in the internecine struggle, went with the remnants of his squad to Novogorodog. Here the Pagan prince adopted Christianity for political reasons and made the city his residence. With the help of the Novgorod boyars, Mindovg recaptured his lands. In 1253, the coronation of Mindaugas took place in Novogrudok.

Under the Grand Duke Gediminas in 1316-1341, most of the modern Belarusian lands became part of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, whose territory increased 3 times. Under him, the autocracy of the ON was consolidated. In 1323 he founded the permanent capital of the state of Vilna. He was respectful of the land holdings of the feudal lords and advocated the preservation of the historical traditions of the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Under him, the role of the Grand Duke increased (title - King of Lithuania and Russia). After the annexation of Samogitia (Western part of modern Lithuania), the state began to be called the “Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russia and Zemaitia”.

Education ON Features of the state. And the socio-economic system.

Formation of the Commonwealth. State crisis and its 3 sections.

1) Written sources indicate that in the 6-8 centuries AD, the Krivichi, Radimichi and Dregovichi existed state formations in the form of reigns. The princes, according to Shtykov, are not the tribes of the Iron Age, but the so-called unions of tribes. The princes consisted of volosts and principalities, which were created on the site of the former tribal communities. Each volost-principality had its own prince and veche. Legislative power belonged to the veche. The functions of the prince were quite diverse: he was supposed to defend the territory of the principality, guard trade routes, and exercise court. Tribal princes were chosen from among the volosts by the right of seniority and moral and leadership qualities. The princes were usually formed from the clan elders, as well as the Varangians, who came from the Scandinavian peninsula. The Varangians could either be invited by the local population, or seize power by force into their own hands.

The threat from the Varangians, Cossacks and other peoples contributed to the unification of the East Slavic tribes into a single state - Kievan Rus. Written sources note that initially the Krivichi, the Novgorod Slavs were slightly ruled by the Varangians. But then they drove them over the pestilence. The Slavs had troubles, and in order to avoid them, the Vikings, in particular Rurik, were again invited. On the territory of Eastern Europe n. Two unions of reigns: the northern reign, which was headed by Novgorod and the southern union of reigns, headed by Kiev. The Northern Union of Princedoms was headed by Rurik, who sent one of his governors to Polotsk. This did not like the Kiev princes Oskold and Dir, who in 865 made a campaign against Polotsk and captured it, subjugating Kiev. After the death of Rurik, Oleg became a sovereign politician in Novgorod, who was the guardian of Prince Igor Rurikovich.

In 882 Oleg captures Kiev and kills the local princes Oskold and Dir. He is the creator of Kievan Rus and establishes his power over most of the East Slavic tribes. In 885, the Radimichi, who paid tribute to the barracks, were annexed to Kiev. Also in the structure of Kievan Rus were included the territories of the Belarusian underworld and subdnepr. As for the Dregovichi, they retained their independence until 980, but they became part of Kiev. Prince Igor carried out two campaigns against Byzantium in 907 and 942, while the Radimichi and Krivichi took part in the first of them. Soon Igor was killed by the Drevlyans, trying to take tribute from them. His wife, Olga, dealt with the Drevlyans. Igor's son, Prince Svyatoslav, significantly expanded the borders of Kievan Rus. He defeated the Kazakh Kagonat, the Volosko-Kama Bugaria, and also defeated the Yases and Kosokhs. Its greatest power Kievan Rus reached under Yaroslav the wise. Since the 11th century, the process of fragmentation of Kievan Rus begins and its gradual weakening. About statehood eastern Slavs noun Two positions: Norman and Anti-Norman. In the Norman theory, researchers in the west and some Russians adhere. According to this theory, the state. The Eastern Slavs were created by the Varangians. Anti-Normans claim that the state. The Eastern Slavs were originally, and the Varangians only gave rise to princely dynasties. Kievan Rus was a fragile state. education. It included various peoples who tried to get out of the subordination of Kiev at any cost.

2) In the 70s, Polotsk managed to get out of the power of Kiev. At this time, Prince Rogvalod, who was a Varangian, began to rule in Polotsk. After the death of the Kiev prince Svyatoslav, a stubborn struggle for the Kiev throne flared up between his sons: the Kiev prince Yaropolk and the Novgorod prince Vladimir. Each of the brothers tried to enlist the support of Polotsk by marrying Princess Ragneda. Ragneda, as her chosen one, chose the Kiev prince Yaropolk, but she refused Vladimir, saying that she did not want to be the wife of a “slave”. This offended Vladimir, who made a trip to Polotsk, burned the city, destroyed Rogvolod and his sons, and forcibly took Ragneda as his wife. After that, Vladimir defeated his brother Yaropolk and became the prince of Kiev. After an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Vladimir, he, after consulting with his boyars, decided to send Ragneda and her son Izyaslav back to their homeland, to the Polotsk land. Izyaslav began to rule Izyaslavl, and then became the prince of Polotsk. Izyaslav died young and became famous as an exemplary peasant who regularly attended church services. After the death of Izyaslav, the Polotsk principality was headed by his son Bryachislav. Under him, Polotsk began to conduct an aggressive foreign policy... The goal of Polotsk was to defeat Novgorod, as the main competitor on the way "From the Varangians to the Greeks", while the task was to capture the cities of Vitebsk and Usvyaty. Bryacheslav captures Novgorod in 921 and takes large booty in the city. His action provoked a reaction from his own uncle, the Kiev prince Yaroslav. The Kiev prince overtook the Polotsk army and defeated it. A peace treaty was concluded between Kiev and Polotsk, according to which Polotsk received Vitebsk and Usvyat. After the death of Bryachislav, Polotsk was ruled by his son Vseslav, who was nicknamed the Wizard. Under him, the Polotsk kingdom reached its power. In 1065, Vseslav made unsuccessful attempt to capture Pskov. In the next 1066, Vseslav captures Novgorod and returns with rich booty to the Polotsk land. The Kiev prince gathers a huge coalition and invades the Polotsk land. He burns Minsk and in 1067 a battle takes place on the Nemiga River, which ended in a draw. The Kiev prince invited Vseslav and his sons to negotiations, where the latter were treacherously captured. Vseslav and his sons were taken to Kiev, where they were sent to prison.

In 1068, an uprising took place in Kiev, and the townspeople proclaimed Vseslav a Kiev prince, who was released from prison. Vseslav ruled in Kiev for only 7 months. The army of the former Kiev prince Izyaslav and his father-in-law, the Polish king Borislav, approached Kiev. And Vseslav was forced to leave for the Polotsk land. In 1071 he expels the son of the Kiev prince from Polotsk and reigns over the principality. After the death of Vseslav, the Polotsk land fell apart into a number of appanages, in particular, Minsk, Turov, Vitebsk and others were formed. Polotsk remained the main one. At this time, the son of Vseslav, the Minsk prince Gleb, was active. Its goal is to strengthen the Minsk land by capturing the basins of the Dnieper and Pripyat rivers. Gleb captures Orsha, Kopys and controls the Dnieper basin. Gleb's activity caused concern about the side of the Kiev prince. In 1116 the Minsk principality was invaded by a coalition of Russian princes and Gleb was forced to make peace with the Kiev prince. He left Minsk with his wife, but in 1118 a coalition of Russian princes invaded Minsk land back, Gleb was captured and, being imprisoned in Kiev, dies there. The Polotsk princes have always shown their disobedience to Kiev. They refused to participate in the campaign against the Polovtsy, which was organized by the Kiev prince Mstislav. In revenge, in 1129, a coalition of Russian princes led by a Kiev prince invaded Polotsk land. The Polotsk princes were exiled to Byzantium, and only a few of them were able to return to their homeland in 1139. Thus, from the beginning of the 12th century and until its end, a period took place on the Polotsk land feudal fragmentation... It was expressed in the fact that various dynasties of Vseslav's heirs fought for the Polotsk throne. In 2-0-30 years of the 12th century, the role of the veche increased in the Polotsk land, in which merchants and boyars played the main role. The princes were elected at the veche, and if the townspeople did not like the prince, the prince was expelled from the city. The Turov principality was formed in the south of Belarus in the basin of the Pripyat River. Until the end of the 10th century, it developed independently, and the local princely dynasty ruled here. The first prince was the legendary Tur, whom a number of researchers consider Rogvalod's brother. In the history of the Turov land, several stages can be distinguished: the end of the 10th century, and it is associated with the activities of Prince Svyatopolk, the end of the 11th - the beginning of the 12th centuries, the Turov principality belongs to Kiev, which was ruled by the Izyaslavovich dynasty, from 1112 to 1154 tours owned by the heirs of Vladimir Monomakh and representatives of the dynasty of the Chernigov prince Olgovich, the 50s of the 12th century, the heirs of the Izyaslavovich dynasty began to rule in Turov and the city at this time was no longer subordinate to Kiev.

Features of the Turov principality:

1. The city was subordinate to the Kiev princes for a long time.

2. In the absence of the prince, the mayor ruled there.

3. The townspeople themselves elected a local bishop.

3) In the 13th century, the largest state in Eastern Europe arose - the ON.

There are several reasons for its formation:

1. Development of agricultural production, crafts and trade, contributed to the enrichment of the local political and economic elite, which was interested in creating a powerful state

2. The Lithuanian and Belarusian lands were threatened by the crusaders and Mongol-Tatars

3. Lithuanian and Belarusian feudal lords believed that a single state would help them keep the lower strata of society under their control.

The center of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania will become the upper Ponyomanye, now it is the territory of the Grodno region. In the upper Ponymane high level reached agriculture, the development of handicrafts (Novogrudok, Volkovysk, Slonim). This region maintained close economic contacts with Polish and Czech lands, as well as with Byzantium and a number of other states. The Upper Ponymanye was not attacked by the crusaders and the Mongol-Tatars, and the Polotsk land was weakened by the struggle with the crusaders. The formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is associated with the activities of Prince Mindovg. In 1246, Mindovg found himself in Novogrudok, was chosen by the local population as a prince and accepted Orthodoxy. After that, Mindovg begins to subordinate the upper Ponyomanye to Novogrudok. This policy of Mindaugas did not like the Galicia-Volyn princes and the Livonian Order. With whom Novogrudok had to fight. To defend the young state, Mindaugas entered into an alliance with the Livonian Order and in 1253 adopted Catholicism and the title of king. In 1254, peace was concluded with the Galicia-Volyn principality. The son of Sindovg played an important role here. By the terms of the contract, the upper Ponemane went to the son of the Galician-Volyn prince, and the daughter of Mindvoga was given in marriage to another son of this prince. Voishelk leaves for a monastery, which we ourselves found. In 1263, Mindaugas and his young sons were killed by hired killers, by order of the Zhmut prince Troyanyaty. For a short time, the Troinyts become the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Voyshelk, however, threw off his cassock, began to rule in Novogrudok and, together with the tribesman of Mindovg, the Polotsk prince Toltsevil, expelled Roman from Ponyomanye. The triplets tried to destroy their rival, he managed to kill, but in 1264 he himself dies at the hands of assassins. Voyshelk becomes the ruler of the ON. The GDL was opposed by the Galicia-Volyn principality, with which Voyshelk concludes an agreement. He gives the ON to the son of the Galician-Volyn prince Shvarka.