The culture of medieval Rus' briefly. Culture of medieval Rus'
MOSCOW ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTE
Specialty: “Accounting, analysis and audit”
Academic discipline: "Culturology"
Course work
On the topic “History of Russian culture and the main stages of its development”
Saint Petersburg
Introduction
CHAPTER 1. The concept of “culture”
CHAPTER 2. Stages of development of Russian culture
1 The first stage in the development of Russian culture is Slavic culture
2 The second stage of the development of Russian culture
Conclusion
Introduction
The system of functioning of a society cannot be understood without studying its culture, abstracting from human destinies. Essentially, the concept of “culture” includes everything that is created by human labor and creative energy: means of labor, technical inventions and scientific discoveries; language, writing and literature; religious and atheistic ideas; works of art; ways of communication between people, etc.
Culture is a historically developing, multi-layered system of material and spiritual values created by man, sociocultural norms and methods of their dissemination and perception. Culture acts both as an external expression of the collective memory of a people, and as a way of human existence in the world, and as a world created by man.
The history of culture, understood as an integral system, involves a comprehensive study of its various fields (science, technology and education, everyday life and folklore, social thought and literature, art, etc.) and acts as a synthesizing discipline in relation to numerous sciences and branches of science that study individual aspects of the historical and cultural process.
The subject of the history of Russian culture is the study of the general patterns of the historical and cultural process, as well as the identification of the peculiarities of the functioning of culture in specific historical conditions.
The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the fact that the culture of modern Russia is in a crisis, critical state. Basic cultural values lost, no reference points, knowledge, traditions and customs are forgotten. It is necessary to have a history of our culture, how it developed, what stages were the main ones and, most importantly, to choose the most important and significant for our present and future.
In this work, I consider the history of Russian culture in the context of a general historical process. The purpose of the work is to develop ideas about Russian culture as a value-semantic unity at each of the most important stages of its development. In this regard, I highlight the following tasks: to define the concepts of “culture”, “Russian culture”, to consider the main stages in the development of the culture of the Russian people.
Chapter 1. The concept of “culture”
The term “culture” in Russia appeared in the 30-40s of the 19th century, although in Europe it was used since the 18th century. This word meant the action of cultivating something and came from Latin language. According to the Soviet cultural theorist L.E. Kertman, there are about 400 definitions of the term “culture”. This is due to the diversity of culture itself, which is one of the reasons for its existence at all. Culture is like life: it exists only because it is different.
The concept of “culture” is very capacious. It includes moral standards, and the whole range of ideas that determine the life of society, and creativity individual person and much more. In the research literature one can find several basic concepts of “culture” that determine the approaches of scientists to the history of Russian culture itself.
Proponents of the first approach view culture as a set of material and spiritual values created by man. The positive side of this approach is that it is possible to “cover” a larger amount of factual material, but the active principle practically disappears from the concept of culture and, accordingly, the subject of research is not the stages human activity, but the end result of this activity.
Proponents of the second approach, on the contrary, view culture as creative activity person. Therefore, the role of a creative personality comes to the fore here. The positive aspects of this approach are determined by the fact that the problem of an individual person is solved. But often in such studies the personality is considered on its own, and often the historical and cultural background either disappears completely or is in no way connected with the problems of the study.
In the 70s XX century, another interpretation of culture is emerging. Its very appearance is connected with the processes that took place in the humanities. The fact is that by this time it had become obvious that the disunity of the humanities was detrimental to humanities as a whole. In research circles it was realized that the separation of the spheres of material and spiritual culture often makes it difficult to understand the meaning, firstly, of culture itself and, secondly, the role that culture plays in the life of society and individuals.
As a result, a definition of culture took shape, which is closely connected with the functioning of society, with its social life. Culture is a way of human existence, a set of pictures of the world that are clearly or latently present in the minds of members of society and determine their social behavior. Culture is the phenomenon of a person in history or the way in which he reveals himself and sees himself in history.
With this understanding of culture creative person viewed in the context of its era. Consideration of culture as a way of human existence makes it possible to study an ordinary person, seemingly unremarkable in anything. These are absolute advantages the above definition, but it’s not ideal either, because carries with it the danger that all human history will be dissolved in culture.
The first problem that confronts us is the problem of the definition of “Russian culture”. Despite its apparent obviousness, Russian culture turns out to defy a simple and understandable definition. Should this be understood as the culture that has developed on the territory of Russia? Then it will be 2/3 the culture of the Finno-Ugric peoples, Turkic ethnic groups, numerous peoples of the Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia. Even in the heart of Russia, along the Volga, glorified in the songs of the “Russian river,” this will be the culture of the Chuvash, Bashkirs, Komi, Tatars, Mari, Volga Germans, etc. Do we need to understand this as a culture that is Russian in language, Orthodox in religious self-determination? Then it will not be the culture of Russia, but rather the culture of Russian minorities in North and South America, who have preserved Orthodoxy, the traditional peasant way of life, language, folklore, etc.
Slavophiles, in particular N.Ya. Danilevsky, saw the essential features of Russian culture in Orthodoxy, autocracy, communal peasant life, and cultural identity. In this understanding, “Russian culture” died in 1917. Westerners such as A.I. Herzen, V.G. Belinsky and others, saw the generic essence of Russian culture in mimeticity, imitation, and a willingness to perceive foreign cultural traditions, especially Western ones, which were attributed with a saving power that accelerates development. In this sense, “Russian culture” dissolved into Western culture and lost its own appearance.
P.N. Miliukov characterized Russian culture as elementary, in an embryonic state, with a predominance of primitive virtues and vices; in general, Russian culture, in his opinion, developed in the same direction as Western culture, but with a lag of several centuries. ON THE. Berdyaev 4, on the contrary, understood Russian culture as eastern, “the culture of the Christianized Tatar kingdom,” Europeanized only in the upper layer. G.P. Fedotov spoke about the split in Russian culture that predetermined it dramatic fate, about two vectors of its development - pro-Western and pro-Eastern; the first led, ultimately, to the emergence of the phenomenon of free culture of Russian emigration, and the second - to the formation of the totalitarian culture of the USSR.
L.N. Gumilyov defined Russian culture as Eurasian, combining European and Asian origins; this circumstance gave Russian culture special strength, dynamism, and unique passionarity.
D.S. Likhachev, putting completely different emphasis, highlighting the North and South as the essential dominants, described Russian culture as Scando-Byzantine; the Scandinavian beginning determined the military-druzhina structure of Ancient Rus', and the Byzantine beginning determined it spiritual character. The number of opinions can be multiplied indefinitely, but perhaps the above judgments are enough to see how difficult it is to define the subject of our discourse. Russian culture, like any other culture, represents something common between people united by a common space, time and a certain way of organized society. This commonality is found in language, the sign-symbolic system (images, drawings, things, stereotypes of thinking and behavior), in the understanding of essential phenomena such as “home”, “community”, “freedom”, “property”, etc.
Russian culture historical
Chapter 2. Stages of development of Russian culture
Any attempt to present Russian culture as a holistic, historically continuously developing phenomenon, possessing its own logic and expressed national identity, encounters great internal difficulties and contradictions. Each time it turns out that at any stage of its formation and historical development, Russian culture seems to double, revealing at the same time two faces that are different from each other. European and Asian, sedentary and nomadic, Christian and pagan, secular and spiritual, official and oppositional, collective and individual - these and similar “pairs” of opposites have been characteristic of Russian culture since ancient times and have actually persisted to the present day. Double faith, double thinking, dual power, schism - these are just a few of the concepts that are significant for understanding by the historian of Russian culture, identified already at the stage of ancient Russian culture. Such stable inconsistency of Russian culture, which generates, on the one hand, increased dynamism of its self-development, and on the other, periodically aggravated conflict inherent in the culture itself; constitutes its organic originality, typological feature and is called by researchers binary (from Latin duality).
Historians divide the stages of development of Russian culture into 2 large periods. The first covers almost three thousand years of pagan pre-state existence, the second dates back to the Christian era.
2.1 The first stage of development of Russian culture - Slavic culture
We know little about the culture of the Slavs of the first period. One of the reasons for this is that the main material of that era was wood - plastic, affordable, but short-lived. If ancient buildings, at least in a ruined form, have been preserved for millennia, then the wooden buildings of our ancestors disappeared almost without a trace, Russian cities burned down more than once already in XVII-XVIII centuries, leaving behind only ashes.1)
But it can still be argued that during the era of paganism, Russian culture was quite developed. There was a special writing, similar to knotted writing, which had sacred meaning; a system of signs was created to record economic information (“lines and cuts”), known to everyone. Wooden architecture and urban planning were developed, and in the Scandinavian sagas the Russian land was called "Gardarika", i.e. "the country of cities"; the most famous cities were Kyiv, which existed since the 6th century, Pskov and Novgorod; The most famous building of the pagan era was the Tithe Temple in Kyiv, decorated with 25 domes. Agricultural culture was developed. The Slavs especially revered the earth, the horse that connected the earthly world with the other world. They were the first in Europe to use a horse to plow the land, which had not only a pragmatic, but also a mystical meaning. The Slavs were the first to invent the plow, which was then borrowed by the Germans and became widespread in Europe. The Slavs of the Russian land were famous for making the best linen fabrics, embroidery, artistic metal processing, forging, chasing, casting; they knew the techniques of enamel, granulation, and filigree.
At the same time, Russian culture of the pagan era was characterized by the existence of polygamy, orgiastic festivals, blood feud and sacrifices, both animal and human, common among the Rus, Ugrians and some other peoples of the Russian Plain.
Features of cultural development at this stage:
-openness of geographical location (invasion nomadic peoples);
-natural conditions (the abundance of river routes predetermined the characteristics and diversity economic activity);
-creation of mixed settlements (northern Black Sea coast);
-the decline of Greek cities and some rise in the culture of the Scythian ploughmen;
-the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the mass movement of the Slavs across the Danube lead to the emergence of large Slavic tribes (two branches of Slavic tribes - the Antes and the Slavs themselves) - the emergence of a culture that developed during the Kiev era.
The peculiarity of early Russian culture is that it absorbed numerous movements of its constituent tribes; adopted the features and qualities of its eastern and western neighbors and acquired its own specificity; had a patriarchal basis, so the emerging state for a long time retained some features of the patriarchal community; development of various crafts.
2.2 The second stage of development of Russian culture
The next stage in the development of culture begins with the adoption of Christianity in Rus' in 988. This stage can be divided into 3 periods.
The first period of development of Russian culture is associated with the Rurik dynasty (IX-XVI centuries). It is divided into two important stages - Kiev and Moscow. This period is called pre-Petrine. The main cultural dominant is the orientation of Russian art to the East, primarily to Byzantium. The main sphere where creative thought was formed and where the national genius manifested itself most forcefully was religious art.
The second period is associated with the Romanov dynasty (1613-1917). The two main cultural centers that determined the general direction and stylistic originality Russian culture during this period was represented by Moscow and St. Petersburg. The period is called Peter's, since it was the reforms of Peter I that turned the culture of our country towards the West. Western Europe became the main source of cultural borrowing and imitation at this time. The main sphere where creative thought was formed and where the national genius manifested itself with the greatest force was secular art.
The third period begins after the Great October Revolution, when tsarism was overthrown. Moscow becomes the main and only cultural center of Soviet art. The cultural reference point is neither the West nor the East. The main orientation is to search for one’s own reserves, to create an original socialist culture based on Marxist ideology. The latter cannot be called in the strict sense either religious or secular, since it amazingly connects both, and is not similar to either one or the other. Defining moment of cultural development Soviet society(within its state borders) we must consider the division of the general cultural space into official culture and unofficial culture, a significant (if not dominant) part of which is represented by dissidence and nonconformism. Outside the state, scattered throughout the countries of Europe and America, a powerful culture of the Russian diaspora was formed, which, like unofficial art within the USSR, was in antagonism with the official culture.
Let's look at each of these periods in more detail.
2.1 Culture of Ancient Rus'
The Christianization of Rus' was the most important typologically formative factor, first of all, in the development of the sacred, spiritual, moral essence of Russian culture. Agriculture, crafts, and lifestyle features associated with direct communication with nature and developed over many centuries into familiar forms of organization have undergone few changes. But spiritual culture, which accepted the gifts of Orthodox Byzantine civilization, made a qualitative breakthrough into new, higher spheres of creativity. Within the framework of Christian civilization, domestic literature, painting, music, architecture arise, take shape and achieve great successes - everything that we are proud of when remembering the past.
An important feature of the new stage in the development of culture was its integration into the European space. Christian universalism replaced patriarchal narrow-mindedness. Rus' began to feel itself a part of world civilization, its history was connected to the universal one, which clearly appears in the ancient Russian chronicles. At the same time, the pre-Christian stage was not forgotten. Metropolitan Hilarion in his “Sermon on Law and Grace” proudly recalls the old glorious times of warlike Rus', which went on campaigns against Constantinople.
The process of changing priorities during the Christianization of the country did not occur without problems. One of them consisted of a conflict between one’s own, native, familiar and introduced, alien, transplanted. People who arrived from across the sea (as they would now say, “Greek nationality”) brought their books, their icons, their language, their faith. Not only the simple-minded Slavs, but also the sophisticated Greeks themselves, over the course of several centuries, had difficulty rebuilding their worldview and their culture until it became Christian. This, and not only the persecution of pagan emperors, was one of the main reasons for the slow spread of Christianity as the dominant creed, which formed a new type of culture.
The path of the spread of Christianity in Rus' was just as long and difficult. Accustomed to their customs, who knew their Magi as flesh and blood of their native ethnic group, the ancient Russians had to honor the Old Testament Jewish prophets and Christian ascetics of the Greeks, Syrians, and Romans. Was it easy to renounce one’s own for the sake of someone else’s? But it was necessary to go through this for the sake of the spiritual growth of the country, the people, and the culture, which inevitably happened in the future. The old pagan culture was not destroyed, but adapted to the tasks of the new one. A so-called “dual faith” has developed, which should not be taken literally, but conceptualized as a complex synthesis of two different cultural types that have given something new and third. The modern diversity of Christian cultures, including Orthodox (for example, Greeks, Romanians, Russians), is to a large extent explained by the difference in their pre-Christian traditions and customs.
It is worth noting that monasteries played a unique role in the formation of Russian culture. They were not only secluded abodes where monks who had left the world prayed. They played the most important culture-forming, civilizational, social organizing function, especially in the underdeveloped regions of North-Eastern Rus'. Without them it is impossible to imagine the development of domestic architecture, painting, plastic arts, choral singing, music, books, decorative culture, not only in the Middle Ages, but also in modern times. In addition, they were educational centers, predecessors of museums as guardians of historical relics, defensive outposts, and centers of developed agrarian culture. With their appearance, combining the features of Heavenly Jerusalem and the ancient Russian city, monasteries have adorned our land since ancient times, being a symbol of divine harmonious order, opposing chaos and the dark forces of evil. The one who destroyed them, desecrated them, remade them, wanted to destroy, desecrate, remake the very soul of our culture, its foundations, its archetype.
Along with the new religion, writing, book culture, stone construction skills, canons of icon painting, and some genres and images of applied art were transmitted from Byzantium. After this, Kievan Rus experienced a rise in culture, which within the first century reached a high European level.
In general, the period of Old Russian culture can be characterized as follows:
-Russian cities became accomplices in the creation of a pan-European Romanesque artistic style;
-development of crafts (more than 40 craft specialties, more than 150 types of iron and steel products were produced);
-development of oral folk art (songs, fairy tales, riddles, proverbs, calendar language poetry: spells, spells, ritual songs);
-the emergence of the heroic epic;
-maintaining a unified written language - Russian;
-development of education (the urban population is literate; the princes speak foreign, ancient languages; Kievan Rus is called the “country of books”; schools, libraries, archives have been created at the monasteries, literature is translated, chronicles are written);
Christian values and rituals are included in folk culture, displacing paganism, mixing with it.
Tatar-Mongol invasion dealt a severe blow to the ancient culture, Kievan Rus, changed its appearance, stopped its growth for many decades, forced it to focus on one thing - maintaining political independence, restoring independence and freedom.
It was with the Tatars in Rus' that despotic power, relations of subjection and slavery were established, and the exclusive role of military force; It was then that the population began to attach to their place of residence, not daring to leave it; Regular censuses were carried out to monitor the collection of tribute; labels for reign were issued by Tatar khans. Some researchers, in particular N.I. Kostomarov, note the moral degradation of Russians during this period: previously uncharacteristic Russian qualities appeared, such as meanness, deceit, duplicity, servility and servility to the strong, cruelty and ruthlessness towards the weak. In general, the Tatar invasion had a complex impact on the development of Russian culture: a significant part of the Tatars were assimilated, adopted the Russian language, customs, and fashion; at the same time many Tatar traditions took root in Russian life, became an integral part of it, just as later it would be impossible to imagine Russia without the pit service, coachman bells and songs. The Tatars, moreover, patronized the Orthodox Church, exempting it from taxes and fees, recognizing the inviolability of its property rights.
The rule of the Golden Horde had a dual influence: on the one hand, it weakened the economic and political position of Rus', on the other, it accelerated the unification of the principalities and the emergence of a single Russian nation. Spiritual culture strives to preserve originality and literary monuments. During this period, the fusion of spiritual and political views, Christian and state, religious and secular. It is no coincidence that some researchers (D.S. Likhachev) attribute such a phenomenon as the Pre-Renaissance to this period. That was the time of the emergence of the Russian heroic epic, glorifying the victory of the Russians on the Kulikovo Field in 1380; it is worth mentioning only “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” and “Zadonshchina”. That was the time of spiritual asceticism of the Russian Saints Sergius of Radonezh, Stephen of Perm, who created the Komi alphabet, and others. At this time, one of the most outstanding writers of Ancient Rus', Epiphanius the Wise, and one of the most unsurpassed painters, Andrei Rublev, were working. At the same time, the Pskov elder Philotheus formulated the concept of Moscow - the Third Rome, according to which Moscow is the legal successor of Rome and Constantinople (Second Rome) for world domination, and the Russian people are God’s chosen people to carry out this mission. The implementation of this idea was a new grandiose construction in Moscow, the construction of the red stone Kremlin, the Faceted Chamber, the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals, the adoption by Ivan III of the royal title, new symbols of power (double-headed eagle, diadem, scepter, orb, etc.) and the minting of gold coins. There is a gradual rise of Rus', and it is associated with the rise of the Moscow Principality and the formation of the culture of Moscow Rus'. The culture of Muscovite Rus' is the heir to the culture of Kievan Rus, the successor to its traditions, monuments, and values. She preserved and developed the Old Russian language, folklore, literature, and urban planning traditions. The Old Russian language turned into Russian, the Old Russian nation - into Russian, Old Russian culture - into Russian culture. In turn, the Russian culture of the Moscow principality became the core for the formation of Russian culture, a model of development, an ideal of development for the peoples that make up Russia. This is a single line of development of culture at different stages of its existence, which is expressed in the unity of the language, the culture-forming ethnic group - the Russian people, their spiritual make-up.
The culture of Muscovite Rus', although it made it possible to develop the productive forces of the people, restore independence, statehood, and independence of development, was unable to overcome the emerging gap in socio-economic and technical-technological development. When Europe began to move to manufacturing production, in Rus' they were forced to restore the system of handicraft production. When in Europe they were forced to provide freedom to the peasantry and limit feudalism, Rus' had to consolidate the peasants, depriving them of the remnants of their former freedom and independence.
2.2 Peter's era
V. in Russia, or the “century of Russian Enlightenment”, is a period in the development of Russian culture, which meant a gradual transition from ancient Russian culture to the culture of modern times (Russian classical culture of the 19th century), which began with Peter the Great’s reforms (the first consistent attempt to modernize Russia “from above” ). The main content of Peter's reforms was the secularization of culture, which destroyed the medieval integrity of ancient Russian culture, despite all its internal contradictions, entirely religious and “frozen” as a system of ready-made standards, clichés, and forms of etiquette. Being a logical continuation of the dramatic processes of the Russian religious schism of the 17th century, the period of Peter’s reforms, imbued with the pathos of secularization, divided the previously unified Russian culture (syncretistic “culture-faith”) into “culture” itself and “faith” itself, i.e. in fact, into two cultures: secular and religious (spiritual). At the same time, the religious part of Russian culture went to the periphery of national-historical development, and the newly formed secular, secular culture took root in the center of cultural and public life, acquiring a self-sufficient character.
Fundamentally new phenomena, unthinkable for traditional Russian culture, were - as a result of Peter's reforms - libraries and a public theater, the Kunstkamera and the Academy of Sciences, parks and park sculpture, palace architecture and navy. The apotheosis of things and the fight against the “inertia of the word” were associated in the Petrine era with the abolition of numerous prohibitions in culture, public life and everyday life, characteristic of the Middle Ages, with the acquisition of a new level of spiritual freedom. Overcoming staticity, Russian culture of the 18th century. began to be imbued with the principle of historicism: history is now perceived not as predestination, not as frozen eternity, a standard, an ideal of the universe, but as an illustration and lesson to contemporaries, as a result of human participation in the course of events, the result of conscious actions and deeds of people, as the progressive movement of the world from the past to the future. The first ideas about social and cultural progress appear as the progressive movement of society forward, its development and improvement - from lower to higher forms.
Peter's reforms, consistently oriented towards the Westernization of Russia, its inclusion in the world community, were aimed at joining Western European civilization. It was unthinkable to remain aloof from scientific, technical, and civilizational progress, and Russia entered into cooperation with the West. However, it was fraught with the danger of imposing other forms of cultural development, as well as religious expansion. Attempts to combine national foundations and the achievements of modern civilization led to the creation in Russia on the eve of the revolution of a fairly balanced system of various trends, which gave rise to a genuine flowering of literature, music, and philosophy, in particular in the era of the “Silver Age.”
2.3 Soviet culture
20th century of social upheaval, hope and collapse. The beginning of the century was marked by a sharp transition from one state of society to another, the emergence of philosophy associated with the search for the meaning of life, with the image of man, with social problems. IN AND. Lenin formulated the most important principles of the attitude of the Communist Party to artistic and creative activity, which formed the basis of cultural policy Soviet state. Culture must express the interests of the class, and therefore of society as a whole.
The following features of socialist culture can be distinguished:
-socialist society forms a new culture;
culture belongs to the people and serves as an expression of their interests and spiritual needs;
proletarian culture is created through the destruction of the past and the support of the advanced experience of modernity.
However, a number of outstanding artists, writers and poets actively opposed this - A. Platonov, E. Zamyatin, M. Bulgakov, M. Tsvetaeva, O. Mandelstam. The unconditional priority of the universal humanistic principle over the particular (including narrow class) was for them an immutable law of creativity. The proletarian revolution in Russia began the period of formation of a new Soviet culture.
The Soviet period is a complex and contradictory phenomenon in the development of not only history, but also culture. The emergence of brilliant scientists and researchers is associated with it, talented artists, writers, musicians, directors; the birth of numerous creative communities, art schools, trends, trends, styles. But at the same time, a totalized sociocultural mythology was created, accompanied by dogmatization, manipulation of consciousness, destruction of dissent, primitivization of artistic assessments and physical destruction of the color of the Russian scientific and artistic intelligentsia.
The traditional Russian culture, built on Orthodox foundations, was subjected to total destruction in the name of creating a new one, based on the communist faith as a quasi-religion of a secular type, trying to create a kingdom of justice and prosperity on earth.
This situation is reminiscent of the times of the collapse of the Roman Empire, when many preachers and false teachers were carried away in different directions exhausted people, and true faith has not yet become the property of everyone who seeks it. The difference, however, is that we do not need a new faith, but a return to what was once already acquired, which was a support for a thousand years and will remain so forever. Domestic civilization, after catastrophic upheavals and disastrous experiments, for the sake of its recovery and further development, must return to its true foundations, the most important of which is Orthodoxy adopted from Byzantium at the time of baptism.
This, of course, does not exclude, taking into account the complex ethnic and religious character of the population of the entire country, the revival of the spiritual and cultural traditions of all the peoples inhabiting it. However, the faith that our ancestors accepted and bequeathed and which successfully fulfilled this mission for many centuries is called upon to bind the country, society, and culture into a single whole.
Conclusion
Berdyaev identified “five different Russias” in Russian history - as five different cultural and historical types or styles of culture: Kievan Rus, Mongol-Tatar Rus, the Muscovite kingdom, St. Petersburg-imperial (post-Petrine) Russia and Soviet Russia. However, today it is obvious that these five do not exhaust Russian history: along with Soviet Russia there was also Russian emigration (Russian emigration); starting from 1991, we have been counting down the post-totalitarian history of Russia; and the era of the “Silver Age” ( turn of the XIX century- the beginning of the 20th century) - including according to Berdyaev’s own ideas, constituted a special type of culture, different from the culture of imperial Russia. If we add to the listed Russias pre-Christian, pagan Rus', which existed, albeit very amorphously, before Kievan Rus, then we will already count nine different cultural and historical paradigms in the history of Russian culture, which is extremely large for one culture, even one that has lived for more than 11 centuries (the origins of pagan Rus' are lost in prehistoric depths and cannot be dated with any certainty).
Cultural and historical paradigms in Russian history were layered on top of each other: one stage had not yet ended, while the other had already begun. The future sought to come true when the conditions for this had not yet developed, and, on the contrary, the past was in no hurry to leave the historical stage, clinging to traditions, norms and values. A similar historical layering of stages, of course, is found in other world cultures - eastern and western, but in Russian culture it becomes a constant, typological feature: paganism coexists with Christianity, the traditions of Kievan Rus are intertwined with Mongol innovations in the Muscovite kingdom, in Peter's Russia there is sharp modernization combined with the deep traditionalism of pre-Petrine Russia, etc. Russian Culture for centuries was at the historical “crossroads,” on the one hand, of the modernization paths of civilizational development characteristic of Western European culture, and on the other, “the paths of organic traditionalism characteristic of the countries of the East. Russian culture has always strived for modernization, but modernization in Russia was slow, difficult, constantly weighed down by the unambiguousness and “givenness” of traditions, every now and then “revolting” against them and violating them.
Thus, we can conclude that Russian culture:
1)developed as a result of the merger of primary cultures of various tribes of Slavic and Eastern origin.
2)was in constant flux, a radical change in religious views, types of statehood and forms of inheritance and government.
)is closely related to the political trends of society.
)synthesized the essential features of the culture of East and West. Russia, having absorbed the emotionality of the East and the rationality of the West, has created a specific fusion of these two sides.
)exists not only and not so much in its official expression, but in the popular consciousness, in its traditions, customs, language, morality, ways of perceiving the world and understanding the world.
List of used literature
1.Kravchenko A.I. Culturology: Study. manual for universities. - M.: Academic project, 2001.
2.Muravyov A.V., Sakharov A.M. Essays on the history of Russian culture of the 9th-17th centuries. - M.: Education, 1984.
3.
.
5.http://www.gumfak.ru/ Electronic Humanities Library
.
7.www.tmnlib.ru/
8.http://www.refbank.ru/ website of the company Refbank.ru
Http://www.rustrana.ru/ Russian civilization
Tutoring
Need help studying a topic?
Our specialists will advise or provide tutoring services on topics that interest you.
Submit your application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.
The most important event of the 9th century was the adoption of Christianity by Russia. Before the adoption of Christianity, in the second half of the 9th century, it was created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius - Slavic writing based on Greek alphabet. After the baptism of Rus', it became the basis of Old Russian writing.
Russian literature born in the first half of the 11th century. The church played the leading role. It existed within the framework of a manuscript tradition. Material parchment - calfskin. They wrote with ink and cinnabar, using goose quills. In the 11th century Luxurious books with cinnabar letters and artistic miniatures appeared in Rus'. Their binding was bound in gold or silver, decorated with precious stones (Gospel (XI century) and Gospel (XII century) V.). Cyril and Methodius were translated into Old Church Slavonic. books of Holy Scripture.
The first original works date back to the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th centuries. ("The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Tale of Boris and Gleb"). Genre diversity- chronicle, life and word.
Architecture. With the advent of Christianity, the construction of churches and monasteries began (the Kiev-Pechersk monastery in the mid-11th century, the Ilyinsky underground monastery in the thickness of Boldinskaya Mountain). Underground monasteries were centers of hesychia (silence) in Rus'.
At the end of the 10th century. Stone construction began in Rus' (989 in Kyiv, the Tithe Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary). In the 30s of the 11th century. The stone Golden Gate with the Gate Church of the Annunciation was built. Outstanding work Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod (1045 - 1050) became the centerpiece of the architecture of Kievan Rus.
Crafts were highly developed in Kievan Rus: pottery, metalworking, jewelry, etc. By the middle of the 11th century. refers to the first sword. Jewelry technology was complex, Russian products were in great demand on the world market.
Painting in Ancient Rus' was represented by icons, frescoes and mosaics. Wood and stone carvings were widespread.
Musical art - church singing, secular music. The first ancient Russian buffoon actors appeared. There were epic storytellers, they told epics to the sound of the gusli.
Kievan Rus in pre-Mongol times reached the level of advanced European countries. During this era, the type of cultural and historical development of the Russian people was set, in which Christianity and paganism were closely intertwined.
XIV-XVI centuries Rus' begins to gradually emerge from under the Horde yoke. This cultural process was a renaissance for the country. R Russian Renaissance or Pre-Renaissance.
Literary creativity of the second half of the 14th century. works of the Kulikovo cycle stand out (poem "Zadonshchina", "The Tale of Mamaev's Massacre"). XIV century became the heyday of Russian folk ballads patriotic content. Russian hagiography under the direction of Metropolitan Macarius in 1600, a 13-volume work was created - “Great Menaion-Chets”. Travel literature that arose in the 12th - 15th centuries on the theme of Christian pilgrimage (“Walking across the Three Seas”). The main themes and images of the 16th century were: the capture of Siberia, Kazan, Novgorod, Ivan the Terrible, Ermak, Marfa Posadnitsa. Correspondence between Tsar Ivan the Terrible and Prince Andrei Kurbsky.
Architecture. Under Ivan Kalita, stone construction began in Moscow, the Assumption Cathedral and the Church of the Savior on Bor were built. By project Italian masters New brick walls of the Kremlin were built, the Faceted Chamber and the Archangel Cathedral were being built. XVI century laid the foundation for new styles in architecture - hipped and pillar-shaped architecture(tent church of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye, Intercession Cathedral),
Russian fine art of the time of Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev ( "Trinity","Spas") and Dionysius - the era of the Russian Renaissance.
An innovation of the 16th century. became typography. In Moscow in 1563 the state was organized. the printing house where the first book was printed "Apostle". "Domostroy" describes normative relationships in the family, which are represented as a model of government.
XVI century - the heyday of applied art, especially gold and silversmithing, the best examples of which are kept in the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin (Monomakh's Cap and Ivan the Terrible's Kazan Cap).
Russian song develops on the basis of two songs, lyrical and historical. Church music includes a tradition of polyphony.
“Skomorokh” is a household “jester” or “fool”.
XVII century Interpenetration local traditions determined the development communities of Russian culture.
The process worldliness, those. the departure of culture from the church.
The spread of literacy was facilitated by printing. In addition to printed publications, they published handwritten books, ABC books, copybooks, arithmetic manuals. A handwritten newspaper was published "Chimes". In Russia they began to create schools. In 1687, the first higher educational institution was founded in Moscow, called Hellenic-Greek Academy.
In 1627 Lavrenty Zizaniy introduced the signs of the Zodiac. Reducing the role of chronicles, Gesel was compiled "Synopsis"(1674),.
In the 17th century In Russia, medicine and pharmacology developed, and the teachings of Hippocrates were introduced. In 1620, the Pharmacy Order was created in Moscow.
Literature. Many new genres of literature have appeared - realistic household And historical story. At the end of the 17th century a new genre appeared - democratic satire.
In Russian art of the 17th century. the topic was new human drama poetic "The Tale of Misfortune." XVII century became the time of birth dramaturgy And poetry. Their ancestor was Simeon of Polotsk, play “Comedy - the parable of the Prodigal Son”, collection of poems “Rhymegion”. A new stylistic genre has established itself in Russian literature - baroque - picturesqueness, abundance of details, decorativeness, secular aspiration. The main literary genres remained chronicles, legends, lives.
To the cultural achievements of the 17th century. refer to the first entries folklore - oral folk art (songs about Stepan Razin and his daring fellows, “workers”).
Painting In the 17th century pictorial art included icon painting, fresco painting and easel painting. Icon became an isolated work of art (the best are the icons from the Chudov Monastery (1626)). Sample monumental painting of the mid-17th century. The painting of the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin is considered. A number of portraits are created on icons, frescoes and gravestone images. New techniques for creating portraits from life are coming. Born new form portrait - secular easel portrait.
In development architecture XVII V. There are three stages: 1) the first thirty years, - trends in tent architecture XVI V.; 2) 40-70s, - search for a new style; 3) 80-90s - the birth of a new architectural style.
The tent church is the Church of the Intercession. It was built in honor of the victory over the Swedes. The Trinity Church, the Moscow Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Putanki, became the last of the tented churches in Moscow. In the middle of the 17th century. the type of small parish church is spreading throughout the country. Church of John the Baptist in Tolchkovo.
The main tower of the Kremlin, Spasskaya, was built on; it became a monument to the Revival of the Russian state after the expulsion of foreigners from Moscow. In 1635-1636. built the Kremlin Terem Palace - the largest secular building at that time.
In the 17th century monastery ensembles of Rus' lose their harsh appearance - they are luxuriously decorated (monasteries in Moscow (Danilovsky, Novodevichy) and the Moscow region (Trinity-Sergius Lavra)).
At the end of the 17th century. Secular architecture - new forms of artistic taste in the construction of chambers and palaces. Chambers of V.V. Golitsyn - luxury and decoration. At the end of the 17th century. The following buildings are being built: the Printing Yard and the Mint Yard, the Prikazov building. A new architectural style is being approved - Russian Baroque ( Church of the Intercession in Fili (1693-1694)).
XVII century - time of birth in Rus' theater It was replaced by rituals, weddings, and holidays. Important role played at such holidays buffoons. The first theater building was the Amusement Chamber, built in 1613 under Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. This chamber contained a staff of jesters. In 1648, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich banned the performances of buffoons. Sh stake theater, arose at the end of the 17th century - beginning of the 18th century. at theological academies. Plays on religious subjects,
In the 17th century created in Rus' court theater. Its organizer was boyar Matveev. After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1676, the court theater was closed.
Music. The chant is replaced by polyphonic polyphonic performance. At the end of the 17th and beginning of centuries. A school of masters of polyphonic choral writing, V.P. Titov, N. Kalashnikov, was formed. N. Bavykin. A polyphonic everyday song has developed -. Psalm cant - song of praise, psalm and Kant - singing, song. Folk genre musical creativity a historical song appeared - Cossack And peasant.
In the XI-XII centuries, when the traditions of antiquity and Christianity were combined with the spiritual life of the people of Ancient Rus'. Thanks to Byzantium, Rus' had the opportunity to get acquainted with Christian culture in its classical form, to perceive mature techniques of church architecture and icon painting. However, Ancient Rus' very soon managed to develop its own style, which clearly reflected the peculiarities of national identity.
Appeal to Russian art of the XII-XIII centuries. allowed cultural researchers to say that the spiritual life of the ancient Russian people and the various artistic forms of its expression bore the stamp of an original and unique experience of Christianity.
The culture of mature Byzantium is characterized by severe asceticism, while ancient Russian art is characterized by harmony and humanity. The culture of Rus' is painted in different, softer and lighter colors. This is due to the peculiarities of cultural development.
Firstly, it was the culture of peoples who had recently entered the stage of world history.
Secondly, this culture initially developed as a synthetic culture, absorbing and fusing into a single whole cultural traditions various tribes and ethnic groups, agricultural and nomadic peoples.
Old Russian art is part of medieval Christian art.
Characteristic is a dual perception of the world, a well-known dualism of earthly and heavenly, divine and worldly. At the same time, earthly things are frail and transitory. However, dualism does not at all prevent the medieval worldview from remaining unusually integral, since the higher and lower are not only hierarchical, but also inseparable. The culture is dominated by synthesis, the desire for unity and harmony.
World medieval artist and his contemporary was perceived quite differently from how we perceive him.
For example, the hierarchy and unity of the heavenly world and the earthly world encouraged a different expression of the surrounding space. The icon and mosaic lack the familiar three-dimensional depth.
Old Russian art is deeply symbolic. Symbolism was one of the main means of solving the main problem medieval culture- achieving spiritual unity, the union of the divine and human, worldly and heavenly. Every detail of the icon, every element of the temple was complete for the people of Ancient Rus' deep meaning. Art itself was a sign, a symbol, an expression of the highest and sacred. Hence the namelessness of most ancient Russian monuments of art, so incomprehensible to us and so natural for their authors.
Writing and enlightenment. The adoption of Christianity contributed to the spread of writing and written culture. It was significant that Orthodoxy allowed worship on national languages. This created favorable conditions for the development of writing. Along with liturgical literature, Rus' also adopted its first literary language - Church Slavonic. medieval russian cultural
The education of the urban population is evidenced by birch bark letters - unique sources for the study of Ancient Rus'. Their diversity is indisputable proof that literacy was widespread among various segments of the townspeople's population, including not only men, but also women. Even student “notebooks” of Novgorod schoolchildren fell into the hands of archaeologists.
In a cultural layer that dates back to the 11th-12th centuries, several years ago a love letter was found, the oldest in our history.
“What kind of evil do you have against me that you didn’t come to me this week?..,” a resident of Novgorod wrote with melancholy in a message to her flighty betrothed. “Did I really offend you by sending you to you?” But I see you don’t like it. If you cared, you would have escaped from under human eyes and come..."
The spread of literacy can also be judged by such a unique source as graffiti - inscriptions scrawled on the walls of churches.
There were various educational institutions. Naturally, education was in the hands of the church and schools arose mainly in monasteries and churches.
Bookishness, as a great virtue, was encouraged and glorified. Sources name the names of such scribes as Yaroslav the Wise and his son Vsevolod, Yaroslav Osmomysl.
The book was intended for soul-saving reading; they didn’t read it—they “ate it.” The ancient scribe’s attitude towards the book was equally reverent: work on the book began and ended with washing the hands and reading a prayer.
Old Russian literature. Despite the irretrievable losses, the literature of Ancient Rus' amazes with its richness and diversity. A huge layer of it is represented by translated, primarily Byzantine, literature, especially the lives of saints and historical works.
Original ancient Russian literature also reached great heights. At the beginning of the 12th century. the famous “Tale of Bygone Years” was created - an all-Russian chronicle collection. Most historians consider the monk Nestor to be its creator. Later, local chronicles also developed. Hagiographic literature appears - entire hagiographic cycles dedicated to Russian saints - Boris and Gleb, Theodosius of Pechersk.
Readers loved a variety of teachings and instructions, among which the “Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh”, which appeared around 1117, is especially interesting.
Vertex ancient Russian literature- the famous “Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, which tells about the unsuccessful campaign of the Novgorod-Seversk prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsians in 1185. Architecture.
The Russian city is predominantly a wooden city. The study of book miniatures and archaeological excavations made it possible to partially recreate its appearance. It is spread out somewhat wider than its European sister city. Houses with yards. The nobility have a tower of two, three, or even four floors.
In church architecture the influence of Byzantium is especially noticeable. Ancient Rus' adopted the Byzantine type of cross-domed church. At the same time, churches very soon began to be built with complex system vaulted and domed ceilings, which gave them a special monumentality.
Such buildings include the famous St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, crowned with 13 domes.
Very soon, ancient Russian architecture acquired original and unique features. Soon after the construction of the Kyiv Cathedral, St. Sophia Cathedral appeared in Novgorod. The festivity and harmony of Sofia of Kyiv was contrasted with the majestic severity and laconicism of the northern Sofia of Novgorod.
The architecture of different lands, while maintaining their commonality, acquires its own personality traits. Architecture is receiving new development impulses, the result of which is the creation of world-class architectural monuments.
In the second half of the 12th century. Under Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest, the Assumption Cathedral was built in Vladimir. The traditional cross-domed design receives a new development here: the elegant facade is decorated with a number of small arches - a reinforcing belt, pilasters and half-columns give the building a special solemnity. On Vladimir land there is another pearl of ancient Russian architecture, striking with its amazing simplicity and harmony of proportions - the Church of the Intercession on Nerli.
Dmitrievsky Cathedral, built in the center of Vladimir, next to the Assumption Cathedral and the princely chambers, was a palace cathedral, designed to exalt the pious princely power in the person of Vsevolod Yuryevich. The cathedral amazes with its splendor and sophisticated white stone carvings. On its northern facade, the Vladimir prince himself is depicted, surrounded by his many sons.
Art.. Leading role in acting occupied by monumental and easel painting, which developed under strong Byzantine influence. The techniques of mosaics, frescoes and easel painting came to Russian soil from Byzantium.
The most complete mosaic has been preserved in St. Sophia of Kyiv. The interior is organized by two compositions, in the center of which is the image of the omnipotent and triumphant Christ, overwhelming the viewer with his power and inner strength, and the intercessor of the Mother of God.
Many art historians attribute the 12th century Savior Not Made by Hands to the Old Russian school. with his expressive combination of deep thoughtfulness of the gaze with expressiveness born of the asymmetry of the face. The appearance of the “Angel of Golden Hair” icon is equally expressive.
The applied art of Ancient Rus' reached a high level. Objects of decorative art still amaze with their beauty, variety of materials and the highest technology - filigree, grain, enamel. Decorations made using the granulation technique were intricate patterns created from thousands of tiny soldered balls. The filigree technique required the master to create patterns from thin gold and silver wire; sometimes the gaps between these wire partitions were filled with multi-colored enamel - an opaque glassy mass.
The class heterogeneity inherent in feudal society also made the culture heterogeneous. The culture of the elite, educated strata stood out, to which part of the clergy and secular feudal lords and townspeople can be classified. Researchers of the European Middle Ages call such culture “high.” There is no doubt that Kievan and appanage Rus' provided many examples of such “high” culture.
“High” culture is permeated with Christian values. In this sense, the culture of the “lower classes” is the opposite of it. This folk culture intricately preserved and combined Christian and pagan elements; it contains both sentiments of opposition to the church and the state, and memories of tribal orders and ethnic identity. Cult of spirituality and asceticism Christian culture coexisted with vigorous manifestations of folk culture.
Ancient Rus' - the Rus' of a simple farmer and city dweller, worker and defender - appears in the oral folk art. Folklore cultural monuments of the distant past. It is especially noticeable in epics - epic tales of Ancient Rus'.
Researchers attribute such epics as “Dobrynya and the Serpent”, “Alyosha and Tugarin”, etc. to the Kiev era. In the epics it is clearly visible which princes and which intercessors-heroes the people dreamed of, what ideals and ideas they lived by.
Folk psychology, imagery, ideas and stereotypes - all this is palpable in many ancient Russian literary works, in fine arts is a breeding ground for cultural development.
Life Turning to the history of everyday life, historians naturally find features that simultaneously unite and divide the inhabitants of Ancient Rus'. The first is connected with the ethnic, religious, historical and cultural community of the population of Rus', be it a prince or a peasant. Differences in everyday life are generated by social affiliation, the nature of work, lifestyle, natural and climatic conditions. Thus, rural and trade and craft labor divided the inhabitants of Rus' into urban and rural populations. This difference left its mark on everyday life.
The life of a city dweller was more varied, especially if it took place in large cities, such as Kyiv.
The capital of Ancient Rus' amazed its contemporaries with its size. Already in the 11th century. it was called "the rival of Constantinople." The height of the ramparts of the “city of Yaroslav” reached 16 meters. The ramparts were crowned by a wooden fortress wall with stone passage gates. Princely and boyar palaces were crowded into mountainous, heavily fortified areas - concern for external and internal security was an integral part of the then existence.
The estates were inhabited by junior warriors and were crowded with numerous servants, the number of which multiplied as the owner moved up. Mansions usually consisted of a whole complex of log buildings connected by passages, vestibules, and galleries. Some of them reached 2-3 floors.
Princely mansions. Tributes and tributes flocked here, punishments and trials were carried out here.
The pastime of the prince and the boyars is war, hunting, government, feasts. Feasts were one of the most common forms of communication and performed important social functions: they cemented peace, strengthened the prince’s ties with his boyars and warriors, etc. Women often sat at tables along with men.
This was no accident. The woman's status was quite high. They took an active part in farming and raising children. Law and custom did not make a sharp distinction in parental rights, and often a widowed woman managed a large household until her children came of age.
Most ordinary Kiev residents lived in Podol, a city suburb near the Pochayna River. Archaeologists have counted masters of almost six dozen specialties here. Dwellings most often depended on the luck and skill of their owners. There were semi-dugouts and huts here.
The cut of clothes for all segments of the population was the same and differed mainly in the quality of the fabric and decorations. The main type of clothing is a shirt, longer for women and short for men. For the nobility, it was made from expensive, often imported, fabrics; the common people wore homespun shirts. Women decorated them with embroidery. They wore skirts over their shirts. Men wore “ports” - long pants.
The outerwear of the common people is a long, tight-fitting robe, a retinue. The nobility wore cloaks made of expensive fabrics, lined with fur, with buckles made of gold and silver. There was a lot of jewelry in general - necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, chains. They were loved by both women and men, rich and poor. City shoes, especially where there were wooden pavements, were made of leather. Lapti - "lychenitsy" were peasant shoes. The rhythms of life here were more subordinate to the rhythms of the agricultural cycle and more dependent on nature. Hence the great commitment to pagan ideas. Crop failure and hunger are inseparable companions of life. The resources of the peasant household were scarce, and in times of famine people ate linden leaves, birch bark, and chaff. The chronicle news of 1127 tells of a terrible crop failure, which forced parents to give their children to passing merchants - the merchants saved them from starvation by selling them... to foreign countries.
Compared to the city, the life and way of life of the village was poorer and more modest.
The companions of life at that time were epidemics that spread neither city nor village. In 1093 in Kyiv from unknown illness 7 thousand people died. In 1158, the plague hit Novgorod so that they did not have time to remove the dead from the streets and courtyards.
Fires were a real scourge. News of large and small fires fill the chronicles. People and property were lost in the fire. As a result, life seemed changeable, unsteady even in the minds of rich people - today they are alive, tomorrow they are dead. This instability encouraged everyone to look for strong principles in everyday life: not only the protection of God, deserved by a diligent and pious life, but also of a prince, a boyar, a strong man. Relationships were built hierarchically and encouraged behavior in accordance with the hierarchy.
On the other hand, this same life taught us to be thrifty, even stingy. Life was strictly structured, verified and functional, and this functionality was based on the experience of the ancestors and over time acquired conservative features. That is why changes in everyday life not only seemed undesirable, but were also condemned.
Social and political system ancient Russian state
In the second half of the 9th century. An Old Russian state was formed on the territory of Eastern Europe. It was an early feudal state, the production basis of which was agriculture. The Old Russian state was not homogeneous in terms of socio-economic system and culture. In some areas - in the Dnieper region, in the Novgorod land, the process of feudalization was more intense, in others - the remnants of patriarchal-tribal relations persisted longer. This left a certain imprint on the development original culture Ancient Rus'. However, there were general trends in the development of its culture. They consisted in a close connection with the cultural traditions of the agricultural Scythian and then early Slavic tribes, in the interaction of Old Russian culture with the culture of neighboring peoples, in the formation of a single Old Russian nationality within the framework of the Old Russian state. The high level of culture achieved in the ancient Russian state is due to the long previous process of development of the culture of the Eastern Slavs. The rise of ancient Russian culture laid a solid foundation for development in
further unity of culture of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples.
The political system of the ancient Russian state combined the institutions of the new feudal formation and the old, primitive communal one. The head of the state was the crown prince; The rulers of other principalities were subordinate to the prince of Kyiv. We know few of them from the chronicle, but the treaties of Oleg and Igor with Byzantium contain references to the fact that there were many of them. Thus, according to Igor’s treaty, ambassadors were sent from Igor and “from every prince,” and ambassadors were named from individual princes and princesses.
The prince was a legislator, military leader, supreme judge, and recipient of tribute. The functions of the prince are precisely defined in the legend about the calling of the Varangians: “to rule and judge by right.” The prince was surrounded by a squad, the warriors lived in the prince's court, feasted with the prince, took part in campaigns, shared tribute and spoils of war. The relationship between the prince and the warriors was far from the relationship of citizenship - the prince consulted with the squad on all matters. At the same time, the squad needed the prince not only as a real military leader, but also as a kind of symbol of statehood.
The most respected, senior warriors who made up the permanent council - the “Duma”, the princes began to be called boyars, some of them could have their own squad. To designate the junior squad, the terms “youths”, “child”, “gridi” were used. The boyars acted as governors, and junior warriors performed the duties of administrative agents: swordsmen (bailiffs), virniks (fines collectors), etc. The princely squad, separated from the community and dividing tribute among themselves, represented the emerging class of feudal lords. Princely power was also limited by the elements of preserved popular self-government; The national assembly - "veche" - was active in the 9th-11th centuries. and later. The people's elders - the "city elders" - participated in the princely duma, and without their consent it was apparently difficult to make any important decision.
The socio-political system of the ancient Russian state is expressed in the Russian Pravda - the oldest code of laws of Rus' (it consists of the Yaroslav Pravda, the Yaroslavich Pravda, the Extensive Pravda and additional articles). The system of punishments in Russian Pravda shows that remnants of the tribal system still existed in the ancient Russian state. Yaroslav's truth (c. 1016) allows for blood feud, an institution typical of an era when there is no state to punish crimes. And in the Truth of the Yaroslavichs (second half of the 11th century), blood feud is already prohibited; instead, a monetary fine for murder (vira) has been introduced, which is differentiated depending on the social status of the murdered person.
Russian Truth
According to Russian Pravda, ancient Russian society consisted of free community members - “people” (the main population of the country), smerds (semi-free tributaries of the prince), serfs (slaves), purchases (part-time slaves), ryadovichi (children from marriages of freemen with slaves, husbands of slaves and etc.) and outcasts (people who have lost their social status). Russian Truth depicts the difficult situation of slaves who were completely powerless. A slave who hit a free man, even if the master paid a fine for him, could be killed by the offended person upon meeting, and at a later time - severely corporally punished. The serf did not have the right to testify in court. The master himself punished the runaway slave, but heavy monetary fines were imposed on those who would help the runaway by showing the way or at least feeding him. For the murder of his slave, the master did not answer to court, but was subjected only to church repentance.
The life of a private soldier was protected by a minimum fine of five hryvnia; The purchasing situation is close to the status of the future serf. Russkaya Pravda examines in detail cases when a community helps a member in trouble, when he must pay himself, “but people don’t need it.”
The question of the time of the emergence of feudal land tenure in Ancient Rus' remains controversial. Some authors attribute its appearance to the 9th-10th centuries, but most believe that in the second half of the 11th - first half of the 12th century. a feudal estate is formed. Therefore, the predominance of free community members among the direct producers of material goods, the significant role of slave labor and the absence of feudal land tenure allow us to conclude that the ancient Russian state was of an early feudal nature. Its further development necessarily required the introduction of Christianity in Rus', because it was not based on just one military system - it was a multinational state, so a supranational, world religion was needed.
The historical act of accepting Byzantine, Orthodox Christianity was committed by Prince Vladimir in 988, and from that moment on, Kievan Rus appeared among the host of European Christian states. Grand Duke Vladimir carried out a bold state reform that allowed Ancient Rus' to stand on a par with developed feudal monarchies. Indeed, in this era, Byzantium was still in its heyday, the ancient tradition did not die there - Homer and other classics of antiquity were studied in its schools, Plato and Aristotle continued to live in philosophical debates. The Byzantine version of Christianity met the needs of feudal society, which was quite consistent with Vladimir’s plans. At the same time, the task of a single cult for all the tribes of Ancient Rus' was solved. The state reform of Vladimir, as it were, released the potential that had gradually accumulated in ancient Russian society - the rapid, rapid development of the country began. Craftsmen invited from Byzantium build stone buildings and temples, paint them, decorate them with frescoes, mosaics, icons, and Russians work next to them, learning previously unknown skills. The next generation will build complex structures in Russian cities, almost without resorting to the help of foreigners. The arriving clergy not only serve in new churches, but also prepare Russian personnel for the church, and, as a result, knowledge and literacy spread. Schools are organized in which Vladimir gathers the children of the upper class to the cry of their mothers, and sends young people to study abroad. Chronicles are introduced; like any developed state, Kievan Rus begins to mint gold coins.
Ancient Rus' is gradually becoming a state of a new high culture. However, one should not think that in pagan times it did not have a perfect culture in its own way. This folk pagan culture will live for a long time and will sell the ancient Russian culture peculiar and inimitable features: it is the fusion of the achievements of the then world culture (from the works of Aristotle to the methods of laying a stone arch) and the successes of pagan culture that gave rise to the original character of Russian culture. What is the originality? First of all, it manifests itself in the primacy of the aesthetic moment over the philosophical. Who are the best Russian philosophers? Derzhavin (in the ode “God”), Tyutchev, Dostoevsky, Vladimir Solovyov. Even Chernyshevsky strives to be a philosopher. One can argue whether they are good or bad, but Russian philosophers are all writers and artists. And “speculation in colors” are icons. Proof of this are the masterpieces of the classical era of Russian icon painting. To write like this, you had to believe with your whole being that beauty is not so much an aesthetic category as an ontological one.
Let us remember that Rus' until the 17th century. did not know school philosophy, and therefore did not produce such learned works as “The Source of Knowledge” by John of Damascus (c. 650 - c. 749) in Byzantium or “Summa Theology” by Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) in the medieval West, which would have failed the result of the semantic content of an entire era. But this does not mean that Rus' did not have its own philosophical understanding of existence, only philosophizing was carried out in specific forms - in the forms of icon painting. Not in treatises, but in icons, not in syllogisms and definitions, but in visible phenomena of beauty - sufficiently strict, solid and unclouded to let in the pure light of spiritual meaning - one has to look for the central ideas of ancient Russian culture. The creativity of beauty took on additional functions that abstract thinking took on in other cultures.
The influence of baptism on the culture of Rus'
Another feature of Old Russian culture in both Kievan Rus and Muscovite Rus is religiosity, i.e. we can say that ancient Russian culture is a religious culture. At a time when the crisis of the Reformation was taking place in Western Europe, the spheres of life of Russian people were permeated with Orthodox religious influence and were largely determined by it. In Rus', entire cities are emerging - monuments of Orthodox art, which modern people can talk about as cities-reserves: Suzdal, Rostov the Great, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Kirillov, etc. Our churches are monumental and cheerful, decorated. If you want, there is even some element of the East or, more precisely, an element of cheerful beauty: Orthodox Christianity is the most cheerful Christianity. Remember from Tyutchev: “I am a Lutheran and love worship?” But the poet emphasizes the gloominess of this service; moreover, it should be borne in mind that Catholic churches are also severe in their grandeur. Whereas the Russian church, thanks to its light, bright, shining iconostasis, thanks to the humanized structure of space, its cosmism and the gold of fire, is simply beautiful and bright.
And finally, a characteristic feature of ancient Russian culture is dual faith - a combination of the Christian faith and former pagan customs. Indeed, since paganism was fragmented, it was destroyed by Vladimir quite peacefully. They pushed the pagan idols that had stood in Kyiv for several years into the water, cried and forgot about them. And note - they did not chop it up, did not burn it, but carried it off with honors: this is how they will put a dilapidated icon on the water, entrusting it to the river. And that's it - the ancient gods are gone, but paganism in its agricultural and everyday moral forms is still alive.
It must be remembered that ancient Russian culture, the main center of which was Kyiv, was a European culture in its origin and character, but it also absorbed significant influences from the cultures of the East. Ancient Rus' in the X-XII centuries. maintained diverse ties with many European and Eastern peoples and countries, and this also explains the rapid rise of ancient Russian culture. Undoubtedly, the most important and fruitful connections were between Kievan Rus and Byzantium, which at that time was the world cultural center and a common source of cultural phenomena. As modern scientists believe, Byzantine cultural influence over time rose in Rus' to a fairly high level of communication developed cultures. In a relatively short time, Kyiv scribes mastered enormous literary riches Byzantium. The assimilation of examples of Byzantine art, especially architecture and painting, took place just as rapidly.
The originality of the culture of Medieval Rus'
Directly growing out of Hellenism, Byzantine culture carried a rich ancient heritage that formed the common basis
European civilization. Kievan Rus, mastering the literary riches and art of Byzantium, thereby joined the named common basis; at the same time, it was included in the process of further creation and development of European culture. However, such a significant Byzantine influence did not at all lead to the fact that ancient Russian culture turned into a copy of the Byzantine one, and Kyiv into a kind of branch of Constantinople. Assimilating the more developed Byzantine culture and through it the experience and heritage of European and partly Eastern cultures, the culture of Kievan Rus also discovered a vibrant originality. This is evidenced by the original literature of Kievan Rus, in particular “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - a work that has no precedents in Byzantine literature and differs from Western epic poems.
The architecture and other arts of Kievan Rus are also noted for their originality. Undoubtedly, Sophia of Kiev is unthinkable without Sophia of Constantinople, but it definitely speaks of the difference between the two cultures. Sophia of Constantinople has the shape of a basilica with one huge dome. Kiev - the form of a cross-domed church with small domes around the central dome, and this multi-domed completion is characteristic of the Old Russian style. The original features of the Kyiv Sophia also include open arcades-galleries, the widespread use, along with mosaics, of frescoes in the painting of the temple, and the presence of secular themes in fresco painting.
In the XI-XII centuries. the capital city of Rus' supported very much broad relations both with its eastern neighbors and with the countries of Central and Western Europe. At that time, the Old Russian state occupied an important place in the political life of the entire continent, as evidenced, in particular, by the extensive dynastic marriages of the great Kyiv princes. Suffice it to remember that Anna, the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, became the queen of France and took part in governing the country. A letter from Pope Nicholas II, written by him to Anna in 1059, has been preserved, in which he praises her virtue, intelligence and advises raising her sons in pure morals and supporting the king in his concerns about the state.
The significant weight of the Old Russian state in European affairs also determined the fact that Western ambassadors, merchants, and soldiers were frequent guests of Kyiv at that time. They were amazed by the size of the capital of Rus' and the splendor of its palaces and temples. The information they reported about Kyiv was summarized in Western chronicles and cosmographies. Thus, Adam of Bremen, a famous geographer of the 11th century, called Kyiv “a rival of Constantinople and the best decoration of the Greek world.” We find frequent mentions of Rus' and its capital in the epic works of the peoples of Western Europe - Scandinavian sagas, German heroic poems, French chivalric novels. It is interesting to note that these works contained echoes and images of the epic creativity of Rus', in particular the images of Prince Vladimir and Ilya Muromets, who in German and Scandinavian epic poems of the 11th-13th centuries. performs under the name of Ilya the Russian. The Mongol-Tatar invasion interrupted the ties of the ancient Russian state with Western countries; they were restored by Muscovite Russia, although they were not interrupted at Novgorod.
Russian literature, which arose back in the 10th century, also has a certain originality. The official adoption of Christianity by the ancient Russian state required not only many translated liturgical and educational books, but also the compilation of its own Russian works. From the monuments of civil literature, the so-called “Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh”, addressed to the prince’s children, has reached us. The literary device of a father addressing his children was widespread in medieval literature, there is not a single country in the West or East where there is not a work of this kind. Different in content and color, they had one goal - to give instructions to children. This is the work of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, “On the Administration of the Empire.” “Instructions” of the French king Louis the Saint, the teachings of the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred, etc. But the “Instructions” of Vladimir Monomakh stands out among them for its purposefulness and high artistry. Based on his own experience, Monomakh clearly formulates the main life principles. He does not limit himself to a simple call to his sons for unity and an end to strife, but also draws attention to the image of the prince himself, who in his mind should be courageous and brave, an active and tireless ruler of the Russian land. The prince must take care of the dead, servants, “widows”, and not allow the powerful to destroy a person. Having given the kiss of the cross, you need to guard it so as not to “destroy your soul.” You need to take care of the household, get up early, go to bed late, not be lazy, and always be ready for a hike. The prince must think about spreading the glory of the Russian land, honor “the guest, no matter where he comes to you, whether he is a commoner, or a noble, or an ambassador... for along the way they will glorify... throughout all lands...” It is essential that that Monomakh seeks to convince children by his own example. The “Instruction” reflected a deep concern for the future fate of the homeland, a desire to warn descendants and give them advice in order to prevent the political collapse of the Old Russian state.
Works of an ecclesiastical nature are also known: the lives of the Russian saints Boris and Gleb, Olga, Vladimir and others, the teachings of Theodosius of Pechersk and Luke Zhidyata and, finally, “The Sermon on Law and Grace”
the first Russian Metropolitan Hilarion. Last piece is of exceptional importance; in its theme it is addressed to the future of Rus', and in the perfection of its form it actually seems to anticipate this future. The theme of the “Word” is the theme of the equality of peoples, sharply opposed to the medieval theories of God's chosenness of only one people, the theory of a universal empire, or a universal church. Hilarion points out that God “saved all nations” with the Gospel and baptism, glorifies the Russian people among the peoples of the whole world and sharply polemicizes with the doctrine of the exclusive right to “God’s chosen people” of only one people. Hilarion’s entire “Lay”, from beginning to end, represents a harmonious and organic development of a single patriotic thought. And it is remarkable that this patriotic thought of Illarion is not at all distinguished by national limitations, because Illarion constantly emphasizes that the Russian people are only a part of humanity. The combination of theological thought and political ideas creates the genre originality of Hilarion’s “Lay”; it is the only work of its kind.
The fundamental idea of the need to end self-will and strife, of the unity of princes to protect the Russian land, permeates the amazing monument of ancient Russian literature - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” A rigorous analysis of the images of this poem shows that they are generated by a syncretic worldview, a combination of heterogeneous elements: “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” reflects the “imprinting” of the Christian worldview into the flesh of traditional Slavic culture. Answering the question of what prevailed in the type of culture formed during such an alloy, we have to admit the following. Christianity is present in the “Word” like a top cover, only dusting the ancient and centuries-old layer of culture; the main root core that gave birth to and nourished the “Word” largely remained the original mythological culture Eastern Slavs. A minor but necessary addition should be made to this. The paganism reflected in the “Word” was already “overripe” paganism, transformed and significantly rethought in comparison with the state of the pre-state era. The features of Christianity identified in the monument belong to a Christianity of an unorthodox type, a tolerant, down-to-earth and optimistic Christianity. This was the New Testament Christianity chosen by the Russian princes, and not Christianity toughened by monastic asceticism and pastoral teachings.
The first option fell relatively easily into the soul of a communal Slav and found a certain consonance in the worldly structure of existence, the second option oppressed the soul with the absolute punitive principle and permeated existence with the fear of punishment for inevitably committed sins,
those. most often for satisfying the natural needs of yesterday's pagan Slav. Hence, in Russian culture - oral and written - these two principles, mutually repelling and fighting with each other, will go hand in hand. From these clashes of volitional contradictions, it is as if examples of high spiritual achievement and immeasurable depth of human suffering are carved out, saturating the culture of the Russian people with rich spirituality and intimate spiritual experience called holiness.
Chronicles and ancient Russian social and political thought
Among written monuments In ancient Russian culture, the first place belongs to the chronicle. Russian chronicles appear in the 11th century. and continues until the 17th century. At different times of its existence it had different character and different meaning. Having reached significant development in the 11th-12th centuries, chronicle writing then fell into decline as a result of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In many old chronicle centers it ceases, in others it persists, but has a narrow, local character. The revival of chronicle writing began only after the Battle of Kulikovo. Chronicles are not just a list historical facts, they embodied a wide range of ideas and concepts of medieval society. Chronicles are monuments of social thought, literature, and even the beginnings of scientific knowledge. They represent, as it were, a synthetic monument of Russian medieval culture. It can be said without exaggeration that we do not have more valuable and interesting monuments past culture than our chronicles - from the famous “Tale of Bygone Years” by the Kyiv monk Nestor to the last chronicles of the 17th century.
With all the differences in political trends and style of presentation in all the chronicles of the XIV-XV centuries. their all-Russian character is clearly manifested. Wherever the chronicle was compiled, no matter what local political interests it defended, the theme of the community of the Russian land, its struggle against foreign conquerors, understood by the chronicler as a struggle in defense of Orthodoxy and Christianity, is still a red thread running through it. It is interesting that Moscow’s war against Novgorod was also clothed in a religious form of struggle against Novgorod’s apostasy from Christianity, for which the fact of connections between the boyar aristocracy of Novgorod and Lithuania and the Catholic Church was used. Patriotism in its peculiar religious overtones, typical of the Middle Ages, is clearly pronounced feature Russian chronicles.
The leading direction of socio-political thought of the 14th-15th centuries, reflected in chronicles and other literary works, was the idea of all-Russian unity and strong princely power in alliance with the church, expressed in religious form. It was a feudal ideology in its class and political content, expressing the progressive movement at that time towards the creation of a unified feudal monarchy. This ideology developed with the greatest force in the works of Moscow socio-political thought. After the formation of a unified Russian state, the center of socio-political thought was primarily the questions of autocratic power, the place and significance of the church in the state, and its international position. At the beginning of the 16th century. Closely related to the version about the origin of the Moscow Grand Dukes from the Roman emperors, the idea of “Moscow - the third Rome” took shape. And finally, in the 17th century. The “New Chronicler” arose, the main idea of which was to justify the legality of the election of the Romanov dynasty to the Russian throne.
The religious worldview was dominant in the Middle Ages, but the dominance of Christianity in medieval Rus' was far from comprehensive. Among the masses, remnants of pagan beliefs were persistently preserved, which was reflected in various holidays and rituals, and against which the church waged a persistent but rather unsuccessful struggle. IN folk customs and rituals there were many manifestations of ignorance, superstitions, such as witchcraft, sorcery, etc., but the persistence of these phenomena at the same time reflected the spontaneous resistance of the Christian Church with its institutions that sanctified relations of domination and subordination. The masses were the environment that ultimately nourished the diverse manifestations of anti-church ideology in Russian culture of the 14th-16th centuries. One of the most important and interesting phenomena of anti-church ideology was heresies.
Of interest is the heresy of the so-called Strigolniki, which arose in Novgorod (mid-14th century). They focused all their attention on the inner, spiritual state of man. Strigolniki believed that religion in its entirety is accessible to the perception of every person, and not just a special caste of churchmen, that a religious worldview should be based on the human mind, and not on belief in inexplicable miracles and sacraments. This was an important shift in medieval thinking towards rationalism, towards the liberation of the human spirit from helpless admiration before the mysterious power of the “highest deity”; ultimately, the teachings of the Strigolniks undermined the foundations of religion, although they themselves remained generally within the framework of a religious worldview. The spread of rationalistic thinking in Rus' is also evidenced by the work of the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin. He was not a heretic, but in his “Walk across the Three Seas” he expressed thoughts that contradicted the official religious dogma and were rationalistic at their core. First of all, this is the idea of equality of languages and faiths. It is also interesting that in Nikitin’s work there is no mention of the Trinity; the concept of a single god is closer to him (like the Strigolniki). Rationalistic ideas, disagreement with the church and its dogmas were a manifestation of the development of progressive social and philosophical thought.
Heresies
At the beginning of the 16th century. A church council met in Moscow to try the heretics, who, with the consent of the Grand Duke, were sentenced to death. In Moscow and Novgorod, heretics were burned at the stake; This is how the Russian Church, keeping up with the Catholic inquisitors, brutally dealt with its opponents. Not only in the Catholic countries of the West, but also in Russia in the Middle Ages, bonfires lit by churchmen burned, on which brave thinkers perished, heralds of the future victory of science over religion, humanism over asceticism.
For medieval Russian religious culture, a mystical-symbolic explanation of natural phenomena was typical. For example, the solar eclipse of 1366 is explained in the chronicle by God’s anger because the Egyptian sultan persecuted Christians, “and not tolerating this, the sun hid its rays.” But along with this, the chronicle shows signs of an emerging free observation of nature, not bound by religious and mystical symbolism. Thus, in a record of 1419, when describing a strong storm with a thunderstorm, it is said that thunder is the result of a “collision of clouds.” Interest in the structure of the Earth and the universe led to the appearance of special works. One handwritten collection of the Kirill-Belozersky Monastery (1424) contains articles: “On the latitude and longitude of the Earth”, “On stages and fields”, “On the earthly structure”, “On the distance between heaven and Earth”, “Lunar current”, etc. .P. Researcher of the history of Russian science T.I. Rainov notes that all these articles “are distinguished by a completely sober naturalistic character.” They contain digital data about some astronomical objects. The structure of the universe was understood as geocentric and was likened to an egg: the Earth is the yolk, the air is the white, the sky is the shell. The sky is everywhere at an equal distance from the Earth and rotates above the Earth, with the Moon and planets placed on special rotating belts. It is explained why the Sun looks small - due to the distance at which human vision (the “spectre”) sees everything in a reduced form. And although these ideas are naive, the very attempt at a naturalistic-concrete explanation of the universe on the basis of practical observations is essential.
The formation of the Russian state contributed to the further accumulation of knowledge about nature and the formation of a rationalistic worldview. The beginning of the weakening of the position of the church, the development of craft production and trade, and the growth of connections with foreign countries also played a role in the development of scientific knowledge in the 17th century. Of course, even at this time the old literature about nature continued to spread with its theological and mystical interpretation of various
phenomena. But along with this, there is an interest in the scientific literature of the Western European Renaissance with its rationalistic approach to natural phenomena. It was at this time that translations of a number of works appeared in Russia, which had a significant impact on the formation and dissemination of scientific views in the field of astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, geography, biology, etc. The very living conditions of the Russian state in the 17th century. demanded a transition to a more concrete and realistic study of nature, a rejection of its theological, symbolic and mystical interpretation. At the same time, the purely practical side of scientific knowledge developed, while its theoretical side remained in a completely undeveloped state, which is largely explained by the position of the church, hostile scientific knowledge. And yet, the development of rationalistic thinking undermined the foundations of Russian religious culture and contributed to its secularization.
The flourishing of ancient Russian art
In the course of its development, ancient Russian art flourished. In the second half of the XIV - first half of the XV century. two great Russian artists worked - Feofan the Greek and Andrei Rublev. Theophanes, a native of Byzantium, in the second half of the 14th century. worked in Novgorod and then in Moscow. The style of fresco paintings by Feofan and his icons is characterized by special expressiveness and emotionality. He did not always carefully draw his images, but he achieved enormous power of influence on the viewer’s feelings. This nature of the painting also corresponded to the temperament of the artist, who was said to be “a deliberate isographer and an elegant painter in iconography.” A contemporary says that while working, he never stood still (“bothering with his legs while standing”): probably in order to always see how the brushstroke looked from a distance. Without interrupting his work, Feofan had conversations with friends - both about art and philosophy.
The painting of Andrei Rublev (c. 1360-1430) has a different character. An excellent colorist, Andrei Rublev created peaceful compositions. During the years of bloody feudal civil strife and enemy raids, he reflected in painting the people's dream of peace, tranquility, prosperity, and human closeness. These features were especially clearly manifested in the most famous work he created together with his students - “The Trinity”. The icon depicts three beautiful young men conducting a leisurely, friendly and at the same time sad conversation. Andrei Rublev also worked in the field of book miniatures; at a time when art was largely nameless, he left behind a lasting memory. Even in the middle of the 16th century. in one of the wills, among the many icons without indicating the authors, the image of “Ondreev’s letter to Rublev” stands out. The traditions of Andrei Rublev continued in the painting of the second half.
wines of the 15th-16th centuries Particularly notable are the fresco paintings of Dionysius (they are best preserved in the Ferapontov Monastery in the Belozersky region), not only unique in composition, but also with a uniquely delicate coloring. The art of icon painting has preserved for us not only the name of Dionysius; but also the names of Prokhor from Gorodets, Daniil Cherny, Prokopiy Chirin, Istoma Savin, Simon Ushakov. About their level of icon painting, the Greek Deacon Pavel Alepsky, who visited Russia in 1666, wrote: “The icon painters in this city have no peers on the face of the earth in their art, subtlety of writing and skill in craftsmanship... It’s a pity that people with with such hands they are perishable.” In the second half of the 16th century. Portrait images with features of real similarity already appear in painting. The achievements of the art of medieval Rus' became part of the flesh and blood of Russian culture in the 18th-19th centuries.
In the life of the people of Ancient Rus', music, songs and dances occupied a large place. The song accompanied work, they went on hikes with it, it was an integral part of holidays, and was part of rituals. Dances and instrumental music accompanied the “merrymaking between the villages,” princely entertainments. A colorful picture of the description of a rich man’s feast is given in “The Tale of the Rich and the Poor,” which describes the performance of artist-musicians “with harp and pipes,” singers, dancers, and jesters. Buffoon artists occupied a special place among ancient Russian professional performers. They traveled from city to city, from village to village and performed at auctions, fairs or festivals. Buffoons were artists - professional dancers, acrobats, magicians, and led bears and other trained animals. Church circles had a negative attitude towards all these entertainments, seeing in them “dirty”, “demonic”, associated with pagan religious views that distract people from the church.
The discovery of birch bark documents in Novgorod rightfully belongs to the most remarkable archaeological achievements of our time. Birch bark played the same role in Rus' as papyrus in Egypt or waxed tablets in Rome. Feudal acts, subject to eternal preservation, were written on parchment, but everyday needs for the written word were satisfied with the help of birch bark. It was on it that business orders, promissory notes, notes for memory and private letters were recorded. Their authors and addressees were persons of different dignity and class affiliation - boyars, representatives of the nobility, ordinary artisans, peasants, and service people.
Household culture of Ancient Rus'
Characteristic features of Russian life in the 16th century. there remained conservatism and greater than in previous periods, but still insignificant differentiation: the difference in life between the ruling class and the “black” people was still more quantitative than qualitative. Urban and rural dwellings differed little from each other at this time. The city was a complex of estates; the streets and alleys were lined not with houses, but with high, blank fences. Each estate had a hut, outbuildings, and a small vegetable garden with a garden. The boyar estate was large in size, and the outbuildings were varied: in addition to the manor’s house, there were “human” huts in which slaves lived. The townspeople also kept livestock, and therefore pastures were always arranged outside the city limits.
Family life was built on the basis of unconditional submission to the head of the family of all household members - wife and children. Disobedience was punishable by corporal punishment. This is not surprising: corporal punishment was widely used, even boyars were subjected to it, they were not considered dishonorable. And yet it would be wrong to consider a Russian woman of the 15th-16th centuries. absolutely powerless. Of course, marriages took place at the will of the parents; “arranged” and “in-line” records of a future marriage were concluded not by the bride and groom, but by their parents or older relatives. But material and prestigious considerations prevailed in feudal families, where a profitable marriage promised an increase in estates or the establishment of good relations with influential persons. Among the peasants and townspeople, where, moreover, early work helped the communication of boys and girls, the foundations of marriage were different. Important responsibilities lay with the wife; she was the manager of the entire household; in rich houses, all female servants were subordinate to her. It is no coincidence that “Domostroy” includes a special chapter “Praise to Wives,” where it is stated that a good wife is more valuable than “a valuable stone,” that “wives are glad, a good husband is blessed.”
Literature:
UNESCO. Kyiv. Fifteen centuries of culture. 1982. May. UNESCO Courier.
Millennium of the introduction of Christianity in Rus'. 1988, July.
Leontyev K. Favorites. M., 1993.
Likhachev L.S., Napchepko A.M., Popyrko N.V. Laughter in Ancient Rus'. M., 1984.
Muravyov A.V., Sakharov A.M. Essays on the history of Russian culture of the 9th-17th centuries. M., 1984.
Rybakov V.A. Paganism of Ancient Rus'. M., 1986.
