Ivan the Terrible In 1547, the Grand Duke of Moscow turned 17 years old. This means that from now on, power should have passed into the hands of an adult sovereign. In January 1547, Ivan Vasilyevich solemnly married the king in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin IV over the rest of the Rurikovich and meant the transfer of all power into the hands of the young sovereign.

The reforms of the Chosen One are glad.

By 1549, a circle of close people had formed around the tsar, which included Metropolitan Macarius, Archpriest Sylvester, Prince A. Kurbsky, as well as clerks and clerks, who enjoyed great influence in the Boyar Duma and recognized the need for reforms. A. Kurbsky called this "near Duma" "The Chosen Rada." At the head of the Rada was a young nobleman A.F. Adashev. The elected council lasted 10 years. Under her leadership, comprehensive reforms were carried out in Russia. In the scientific literature, they are called "Reforms of the middle of the XVII century."

The nobility was especially interested in carrying out reforms. One of the people close to the tsar is the nobleman I.S. Peresvetov became the initiator of the reforms. He addressed the king with a number of messages in which he outlined the program of transformations. The ideal of the state system is the strong power of the king, the support of the king is the nobility.

Among the reforms carried out, the most important were the reforms of central and local government.

Central government reform.

From time immemorial, the Boyar Duma has played an important role under the ruler as a legislative and advisory body. In order to weaken the role of the boyar aristocracy in the Duma, the tsar tripled its composition.

A new body of power arose - the Zemsky Sobor (council). The Zemsky Sobor began to include: the tsar, the Boyar Duma, the Consecrated Cathedral - a meeting of the highest clergy, representatives of the nobility, merchants and the top of the cities. In fact, the Zemsky Sobor became the people's representation (in the West - the parliament) under the government. Zemsky Sobors met irregularly, as needed, and the most important state issues were decided on them: foreign policy, finance, during the period of interregnums, the election of a new king took place.

The order system was further developed. Under Ivan IV, there were already more than 20 orders. The largest of them were the orders of Razryadny (military affairs), Pushkarsky (artillery), Streletsky (streltsy army), Armory (arsenal), Posolsky (foreign affairs), Grand Parish (finance), Local (state lands), Siberian Palace ( Siberian lands), etc. At the head of the order was a boyar or clerk - a major government official. Orders were in charge of administration, tax collection, and the courts.

Local government reform.

A reform of local government was carried out, as a result of which zemstvo self-government developed locally. Now, elected zemstvo authorities are being established in the localities in the person of "zemstvo elders", who were chosen from wealthy townspeople and peasants. The general supervision of local government passed into the hands of the labial elders, who were in charge of the criminal court and performed the functions of the local police, and the city clerks, who dealt with issues of military-administrative and financial management in the counties.

The territory was divided into the following territorial units:

lip (district) - headed by the labial headman (from the nobility);

volost - zemstvo headman (from the black-haired population);

city ​​- represented an independent territorial unit - "a favorite head" (from local service people).

Prior to Ivan IV, the rulers of certain territories did not receive salaries from the treasury, but were "fed" at the expense of the population. In 1556 the feeding system was abolished. The governors of the territories began to receive salaries from the treasury.

Thus, as a result of the reform of public administration in Russia, state power was formed - a class - a representative monarchy.

A huge, multinational, very difficult to manage country gained power under which it lived as a European power for another 400 years. The monarchy at that historical moment was the most optimal state structure for Russia. It was the monarchy, which stood above the interests of various estates, social and national groups, that was able to unite the population of the whole country to solve problems that are very important for the whole people. The Russian Orthodox Church provided enormous assistance to the monarchy, which had no other interests than the interests of the monarchy and the people.

military reform.

In the middle of the XVI century. from the Volga to the Baltic, Russia was surrounded by a ring of hostile states. In this situation, it was extremely important for Russia to have a combat-ready army. The most important of the reforms of the Chosen Rada was the military one.

The military forces of the country were reorganized. Due to the weak financial and economic situation of the country, it was not possible to create a permanent army, but the first steps were taken in this direction.

Noble militia - formed the core of the army. Near Moscow, 1000 provincial nobles were given land - estates. For this, they had to serve the king and become his support. In the army, they were in a privileged position. From among them were appointed governors, "heads" - lower officers, diplomats, administrators. In 1556, the "Code of Service" was drawn up for the first time, which regulated the passage of military service. In relation to military service, estates were equated with estates. Now the votchinnik or landowner could start service from the age of 15 and pass it on by inheritance. Due to the lack of money in the treasury, the government paid for the service with land. For service, a nobleman received from 150 to 450 tithes (1 tithe - 1.09 ha) of land. From every 150 acres of land, a boyar or nobleman had to supply one warrior with a horse and weapons. Now service people were divided into two main groups: service people "by fatherland" (by inheritance - boyars and nobles) and by "instrument" (by recruitment) - gunners, archers, etc.

The Streltsy army - infantrymen with firearms - made up another corps of the army. At first there were 3000 archers. All free people could enter the archers. For the service, the archers received from the treasury a monetary salary, weapons and uniforms. But there was always not enough money in the treasury, so they were also paid with land. Archers were given collective land plots of land - "dachas". From the collective "dacha" each archer received an allotment for personal use. Sagittarians lived in settlements and in their free time were engaged in crafts and trade.

Cossacks - began to be used to carry out the border service. By this time, a special layer of Russian society began to take shape on the southern borders of Russia - the Cossacks (from the Turkic "Cossack" - a daring, free man).

Foreigners have become another integral part of the Russian army. But their number was small.

As a result of the military reform, Russia in the time of Ivan IV began to have such an army that it had not previously had. The creation of a combat-ready army allowed Russia to solve some of the long-standing strategic tasks of foreign policy.

The beginning of the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich was promising. By 1549, a circle of close people had formed around the tsar, which included Metropolitan Macarius, priest Sylvester, Prince A.M. Kurbsky, as well as clerks and clerks, who enjoyed great influence in the Boyar Duma and recognized the need for reforms. A.M. Kurbsky called this "near Duma" "The Chosen Rada." Since 1550, the Rada was headed by a young Kostroma nobleman A.F. Adashev. The elected council lasted 10 years. Under her leadership, comprehensive reforms were carried out in Russia, which in the scientific literature were called "Reforms of the middle of the 16th century."

The nobility was especially interested in carrying out reforms. The term "nobles" - people from the court of the Grand Duke - has been known since the 12th century. Initially, this was the name given to people who were in the military service under the prince and carried out various administrative and judicial assignments. In the thirteenth century nobles - the lowest stratum of the nobility. From the sixteenth century nobles began to receive estates for military service, later they were allowed to buy land.

One of the people close to the tsar, the nobleman I.S. Peresvetov, became the initiator of the reforms. He addressed the king with a number of messages in which he outlined the program of transformations. The ideal of the state system is the strong power of the king, the support of the king is the nobility.

Public Administration Reform. Among the reforms carried out, the most important place was occupied by the reforms of central and local government.

Central government reform. From time immemorial, the Boyar Duma has played an important role under the ruler as a legislative and advisory body. In order to weaken the role of the boyar aristocracy in the Duma, the tsar tripled its composition.

A new body of power arose - the Zemsky Sobor (council). The Zemsky Sobor began to include: the tsar, the Boyar Duma, the Consecrated Cathedral - a meeting of the highest clergy, representatives of the nobility, merchants and the top of the cities. In fact, the Zemsky Sobor became the people's representation (in the West - the parliament) under the government. Zemsky Sobors met irregularly, as needed, and for 150 years the most important state issues were resolved at them: foreign policy, finance, during the period of interregnums, the election of a new king took place.

The order system was further developed. Under Ivan IV, there were already more than 20 orders. The largest of them were the orders of Razryadny (military affairs), Pushkarsky (artillery), Streletsky (streltsy army), Armory (arsenal), Posolsky (foreign affairs), Grand Parish (finance), Local (state lands), Siberian Palace ( Siberian lands), etc. At the head of the order was a boyar or clerk - a major government official. Orders were in charge of administration, tax collection, and the courts.

Local government reform. A reform of local government was carried out, as a result of which zemstvo self-government developed locally. Now, elected zemstvo authorities are being established in the localities in the person of "zemstvo elders", who were chosen from wealthy townspeople and peasants. The general supervision of local government passed into the hands of the labial elders, who were in charge of the criminal court and performed the functions of the local police, and the city clerks, who dealt with issues of military-administrative and financial management in the counties.

The territory was divided into the following territorial units:

Guba (district) - headed by the labial headman (from the nobility);

Volost - zemstvo headman (from the black-haired population);

The city - represented an independent territorial unit - "a favorite head" (from local service people).

Before Ivan IV, the rulers of certain territories did not receive salaries from the treasury, but "fed" at the expense of the population. In 1556 the feeding system was abolished. The governors of the territories began to receive salaries from the treasury.

Thus, as a result of the reform of public administration in Russia, state power was formed - a class - a representative monarchy.

The monarchy at that historical moment was the most optimal state structure for Russia. It was the monarchy, which stood above the interests of various estates, social and national groups, that was able to unite the population of the whole country to solve problems that are very important for the whole people. The monarchy has become another supporting structure of Russian society. The Russian Orthodox Church provided enormous assistance to the monarchy, which had no other interests than the interests of the monarchy and the people.

military reform. In the middle of the XVI century. the young state, due to objective reasons, from the Volga to the Baltic, was surrounded by hostile countries. In this situation, the availability of combat-ready troops was extremely important. It is no coincidence that the most important of the reforms of the Chosen Rada was the military one.

The military forces of the country were reorganized. Due to the weak financial and economic situation, it was not possible to create a permanent army, but the first steps were taken in this direction.

The core of the army was the Noble Militia. On the lands of the Moscow region, a “chosen thousand” was planted - 1070 provincial nobles. They were given land - estates. For this, they had to serve the king and become his support. In the army, they were in a privileged position. Governors were appointed from among them, "heads" - lower officers, diplomats, administrators. In 1556, for the first time, the Code of Service was drawn up, which regulated the passage of military service. In relation to military service, estates were equated with estates. Now the votchinnik or landowner could start service from the age of 15 and pass it on by inheritance. Due to the lack of money in the treasury, the government paid for the service with land. The nobleman received from 150 to 450 acres (1 acre - 1.09 hectares) of land. From every 150 acres of land, a boyar or nobleman had to supply one warrior with a horse and weapons. Now service people were divided into two main groups: service people "by fatherland" (by inheritance - boyars and nobles) and by "instrument" (by recruitment) - gunners, archers, etc.

In 1550, a permanent archery army was created. These are foot soldiers with firearms, who made up another corps of the army. At first, there were 3,000 archers. All free people could enter the archers. For the service, the archers received from the treasury a monetary salary, weapons and uniforms. But there was always not enough money in the treasury, so they were also paid with land. Sagittarius were given collective land plots of land - "dachas". From the collective "cottage" each archer received an allotment for personal use. Sagittarians lived in settlements and in their free time were engaged in crafts and trade.

Cossacks - began to be used to carry out the border service. By this time, a special layer of Russian society began to take shape on the southern borders of Russia - the Cossacks (from the Turkic "Cossack" - a daring, free man).

Foreigners have become another integral part of the Russian army. But their number was small.

The rear work (convoy, construction of fortifications) was carried out by the “staff” - a militia from among the black-eared, monastic peasants and townspeople.

As a result of the military reform, Russia during the time of Ivan IV began to have such an army that it did not have before. The creation of a combat-ready army allowed Russia to solve the long-awaited strategic tasks of foreign policy.

Judicial reform. In 1550, she put into effect a new set of laws - Sudebnik. The Sudebnik of Ivan III of 1497 was expanded, systematized and took into account the new that appeared in judicial practice since 1497. Changes were made related to the strengthening of the central government. The right of peasants to move from one feudal lord to another was confirmed, but only on St. George's Day (November 26), while the "old" (payment to the feudal lord for the use of his property during the transition) increased. In 1581, Ivan the Terrible introduced "reserved years" - the transition of a peasant to another feudal lord was temporarily stopped. For the first time, punishments were introduced for boyars and clerks-bribe-takers. The new code strengthened control over the judicial activities of governors and volostels: the tsar and the Boyar Duma began to decide the most important cases in Moscow, the elders and kissers (elected people from local townsmen and black-haired (free) peasants) observed the trial in the field.

monetary reform. A single monetary unit, the Moscow ruble, was introduced throughout the country. The right to collect trade duties passed into the hands of the state. From now on, the entire population of the country had to bear the tax - a complex of natural and monetary duties. For the entire state, a single unit of taxation was established - a large plow. Depending on the fertility of the soil and the social status of the owner, a large plow was from 400 to 600 gazemli.

Church reform. The second power in the state was the Church. The centralization of the state required changes within the Church as well. In 1551, on the initiative of Metropolitan Macarius, a Council of the Russian Orthodox Church was held. In a special book - "Stoglav" (hence the name Stoglavy Cathedral) the decisions of this cathedral are recorded, which for a long time become the code of Russian church law. An all-Russian list of saints was compiled, rituals throughout the country were streamlined and unified. Church art was subject to regulation: samples were approved, which were to be followed. As a model in painting, the work of Andrei Rublev was proclaimed, in architecture - the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Thus, the circle of reforms conceived by Ivan the Terrible and his Rada, emphasizes S. F. Platonov, was very wide and, according to the plan, should renew all aspects of the life of the Muscovite state. But the government of Grozny could not quite successfully carry on the work of reform for the reason that there was no agreement and unanimity in itself. In 1560, after the death of Anastasia Romanovna, Ivan the Terrible's wife, Ivan Vasilyevich had a direct break with his advisers. Sylvester and Adashev were exiled, the attempts of the boyars to return them led to repressions. If in the first years they did not reach bloody executions, then later, in connection with the departures of the boyars abroad, the persecution became decisive and cruel.

I don’t know if the era of Ivan the Terrible is becoming relevant, but at least one of his reforms is worth remembering now.
The case concerns local government - probably the most painful area of ​​Russian administration, where the Russian people are waging a centuries-old litigation with the "dark bureaucratic power, with the damned horde."

Local or regional administration then extended to counties and volosts that were not assigned to the sovereign's court. They bore the name of the zemshchina. The management of these lands has been in the hands of governors and volostels since the specific time. The governor ruled in the city and the county, the volost - in the volost.

The positions of governors and volosts were considered mainly as "feeding" princely servants, means of their maintenance. Feeding consisted of fodder and duties. For example, in 1528, the serviceman Kobyakov was given to feed the parish of Soltsa Malaya, which was engaged in salt production. In the letter of commendation to this rather petty volost, up to 14 income items, feed and duties are listed, not counting the entry feed (lifting). In addition, each government act of the governor and volost, as well as a court decision, was associated with a certain collection of money or in kind.

The feeding system was a continuation of the ancient custom of "planting" by the princes of their henchmen in subject cities and lands. Over many centuries, it has become so firmly rooted in Russian life that its echoes can be observed even today - for example, in the form of a fee collected by priests in the performance of trebs, or in the bureaucratic attitude to their position, as to a profitable place, to a trough provided at his disposal by the state.

The system of feeding, with its ear-piercing name and meaning that offended the moral sense, was maintained thanks to the dominance of subsistence farming and the lack of a current coin. Public service was poorly paid and irregular. Having spent in the service, the governor or volost went for a year or two to feed himself in the volost, to correct his "bellies"; then, with a restored prosperity, he returned to the capital to serve, to carry out unprofitable military and other assignments of the sovereign, in anticipation of a new stern line.

That is, the management of a city or parish was not considered a service - feeding was considered as a reward for court and military service, one of the means of maintaining a service person.

From this it is clear that the governors and volostels looked at the administration of their posts mainly as a collection of income, and not as a public service - they were fed at the expense of the ruled in the literal sense of the word.

By the middle of the 16th century, the feeding system had turned into political nonsense - it did not contribute to state centralization, since the supreme power transferred the entire management of the region to the feeder without any account and control, and at the same time did not meet the interests of local self-government, because the feeder appeared before the population in the form of a stray bird, which appeared solely for the purpose of profit.

Realizing this, the government of the young sovereign Ivan IV Vasilyevich began to take its own measures against the judicial and administrative abuses of governors and volosts.

At first, it tried to constrain the arbitrariness of the feeders: a fixed fee for feeding was established. Then it was forbidden for feeders to collect feed from the population themselves: this business was entrusted to elected representatives from zemstvo societies; feeding period was reduced to one year.

Finally, in 1550, the government launched a zemstvo reform designed to eliminate the feeding system, replacing governors and volostels with elected public authorities, which were entrusted not only with criminal law, but also with the entire local zemstvo administration, together with the civil court.

Until now, the litigation of the population with governors and volosts was based on the ancient right of the ruled to complain to the supreme authority about their rulers. At the end of the feeding, the inhabitants, who suffered from the arbitrariness of the feeders, filed their complaints in the usual manner to the court. The accused ruler in this case was an ordinary civilian and could be forced to reward his former subjects for the offenses caused to them.
The offended had another means of bringing the feeder to account - the ancient custom of the field, that is, an armed duel between the plaintiff and the defendant. Litvin Mikhalon, familiar with the Moscow order, indignant at the unpunished arbitrariness of the pans in his own country, spoke enthusiastically about such a Moscow method of keeping the regional administration within the boundaries of legal decency. But the observance of decorum here was inseparable from the scandal and the complete profanation of the social hierarchy and discipline.

Such an order of dealing with abuses led to endless litigation. The congress of the feeder from his post served as a signal for the initiation of intricate claims for busts and other grievances. The chronicler says that the peasants of those cities and volosts did a lot of deceit to the feeders and even killed their people: when the feeder leaves the feeding, the peasants look for him with many lawsuits, and at the same time a lot of “bloodshed and defilement of souls” is committed - from false cross-kissing and fights.

One should not think that the Moscow clerks always gave peace to the provincial rulers. Many governors and volostels lost such lawsuits with the population and were deprived not only of the “bellies” acquired by feeding, but also of their old hereditary property, which went to pay the losses of the plaintiffs and reimburse legal costs.

Unresolved cases, however, were immeasurably more, and their number increased every year.

And so, in order to stop this ruinous litigation, the tsar at the council of 1550 "commanded" his boyars, clerks and feeders to make peace "with all the peasants" of his kingdom, that is, he invited the service people to end their administrative litigation with the zemstvo people not in the usual, lawsuit and militant, but sinless world order. The royal commandment was fulfilled with such accuracy that a year later Ivan could already report to the fathers of the church, the so-called Stoglavy Cathedral, that the boyars, clerks and feeders "reconciled with all the lands in all matters."

This peace was a preparatory measure for the abolition of the feeding system. First, a trial run was carried out. In some volosts and uyezds, the peasants received the right to sit "among themselves" with the help of elders and kissers (those who "kissed the cross", jurors of that time), "whom they will choose for themselves by the whole volost"; for this, instead of local feed, they were charged a dues to the treasury. The government granted this benefit to the experimental peasants for a period of one year, but it pleased them so much that they procured it for the next year, agreeing to double the quitrent.

In 1552, with the approval of the boyar duma, the tsar could already officially announce his decision to organize local government without feeders throughout the land.

Cities, counties and volosts, one after another, began to move to a new order of administration. In 1555, the government issued a law: “in all cities and volosts, create beloved elders ... whom the peasants among themselves will love and choose with the whole earth” and who would be able to judge them in truth, “recklessly and without red tape”, and would also be able to collect and deliver to the sovereign's treasury the dues established in exchange for the governor's dues.

The Zemstvo duty of feeding was replaced by the right.

These actions of the government of Ivan IV can rightfully be considered a model of administrative reform. A sharp political turning point took place quickly and painlessly. At the same time, the reform did not require either new bodies or a new district division; Zemstvo elected officials acted in the former districts of governors and volostels. Favorite elders or elected judges with kissers conducted the court cases entrusted to them under personal responsibility and worldly bail: dishonest performance of duties was punishable by death and confiscation of property that went to the injured plaintiffs.

With such a formulation of the case, with such strict responsibility, Zemstvo elected judges conducted cases not only without conscience and red tape, but also free of charge. Their activities pursued only a common interest: the sovereign's charters promised that if the zemstvo judges would judge directly and bring state dues in full, then "the sovereign from their lands does not order to take any duties and taxes, and even more than that."

The government managed not only to avoid the costs associated with the reorganization of local government, but also to receive income from this, and without the slightest burden for the population!

Even more important was the fact that local self-government was not opposed to centralization, but successfully coexisted with it and even strengthened it. Zemstvo bodies were in charge of both local affairs and national affairs, which were previously under the jurisdiction of representatives of the central government - governors and volostels. From this we can conclude that the essence of zemstvo self-government of that time consisted not so much in the right of zemstvo societies to manage their local affairs, but in the obligation to fulfill nationwide orders, to choose responsible executors of the "sovereign's business" from their midst. In this sense, it was a special kind of public service; freedom was inseparable from duties, the right to choose meant the duty to answer for the elected.

The zemstvo reform of Ivan the Terrible perfectly illustrates the idea, which is still new to us, that genuine democracy (power of the people) does not really depend on the political system and can exist within the framework of a monarchy as naturally and organically as within the framework of a republic.
Link to history

Reforms of Ivan IV

During the reign Ivan IV (1533-1584) objective prerequisites for a number of transformations have ripened in the country. In January 1547, an important event took place in the Muscovite state - Ivan IV was crowned and took the title of tsar. Since that time, important transformations have been carried out in the country, affecting many areas of public life. The policy of reforms was developed and carried out by a small circle of close associates of the king, who went down in history under the name of "The Chosen One". The reforms were aimed at further centralization of the state, improvement of the order system, armed forces, finances, and affected a number of areas of public life. The starting point for the reforms was the criticism of boyar abuses. The first decade of the reign of Ivan IV was marked by the birth of Zemsky Sobors. The first council was convened on the initiative of the tsar in 1549. The Zemsky Sobors played a significant role in the history of the Russian state during the 16th-17th centuries. Was judicial reform- in 1550, a new Sudebnik of Ivan IV. He eliminated the judicial privileges of the specific princes and strengthened the role of the central judiciary. First time in Russia law was proclaimed the only source of law.

During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the so-called. lip reform, which was a reform of local government in the Russian state. Under this reform, some important cases were withdrawn from the court of governors and volostels and transferred to "elected heads", who were elected from local boyar children. In the same years, the zemstvo reform was carried out, which was a continuation of the lip reform. It was introduced with the aim of eliminating "feeding" and introducing zemstvo self-government. At the beginning of the 1950s, the power of governors was abolished in certain regions of the Moscow State, and in 1556, by the tsar’s verdict on “feeding,” the governorship was abolished on a nationwide scale. Instead of local governors and volostels, elected zemstvo authorities were established. Some state functions were transferred to them. The reforms were directed primarily against administrative arbitrariness.

The most important reform was the military reform, which approved the principle of compulsory service of nobles from the land. In the early 50s of the 16th century, a new archery army was created. An important role in strengthening the armed forces of the Moscow state was also played by the decree on the abolition of localism during the fighting. The biggest fact of Russian history was the birth of the prikaz system of central government.

Throughout the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Muscovite state waged wars for the expansion of its territories and access to the Baltic coast, which required the exertion of all forces from society. The first event successfully carried out by Ivan IV can be considered the conquest of the lands of the Kazan Khanate and the capture of Kazan. As a result, the fertile lands of the Volga region became part of the Muscovite state, which made it possible for the tsar to provide significant land grants to his servants and thereby increase the number of local troops. In 1556, the tsarist troops managed to take Astrakhan almost without a fight. Since that time, the Volga has become the most important trade route of the Muscovite state. In the same period, the Bashkirs and Udmurts voluntarily transferred to Russia. Thus, the territory of the Moscow State expanded to the Ural Mountains, which created favorable conditions for the further development of the Urals and Siberia by the Russians. By the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, Russian detachments, led by Yermak, began to conquer Western Siberia.

Ivan the Terrible for 25 years (1558-1583) waged a grueling struggle for the mastery of the Baltic, which is known as the Livonian War. However, after such powerful military states of that time as the Commonwealth and Sweden entered the war against Russia, military failures began to haunt the Russian troops. In the Livonian War, Russia was defeated and lost access to the Gulf of Finland. The negative consequences of the Livonian War subsequently affected the emergence of such a phenomenon in Russian history as turmoil. On the whole, by the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, Russia was a huge state stretching from the shores of the White Sea to the Caspian Sea and from the Urals to the borders with the Commonwealth.

6. Time of Troubles (1598 - 1613)

The turn of the 16th - 17th centuries became a turning point in the life of the Muscovite state. In the previous period, so many negative phenomena and factors accumulated in Russian society that they ultimately led to a systemic crisis - Troubles.

The Time of Troubles can be defined as the first civil war in Russian history. An important role in shaping the prerequisites for the Troubles was played by the Livonian War and the oprichnina.. A sharp deterioration in the position of the peasantry led to an increase in the number of fugitive peasants and serfs, and to the extension of the "reserved years", an increase in the period of investigation of fugitive serfs.

The main cause of the Troubles was the suppression of the dynasty. In 1598, the last of the Rurik dynasty, the son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsar Fedor Ivanovich, died, who left no descendants. The Zemsky Sobor, convened on this occasion, elected Boris Godunov to reign. However, the emergence of a new political precedent - election of a new king, created a number of consequences dangerous for the new king in the state. And here the peculiarities of the political culture and the mentality of the people played their role, who saw in Godunov not a natural sovereign - the anointed of God, but just a person chosen by the people. The most important reason for the struggle for power of Godunov's opponents was the mysterious death of the last son of Ivan the Terrible - Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich in May 1591.

Traditionally, False Dmitry I is identified with the fugitive monk of the Chudov Monastery Grigory Otrepiev. Having received support from the Polish king Sigismund III and the Catholic Church, he gathered an army consisting of Cossacks and Lithuanians, and set out on a campaign against Moscow. Due to a number of circumstances and factors, including the sudden death of B. Godunov, the applicant entered Moscow in June 1605 with an army and was crowned king under the name of Dmitry Ivanovich. During his reign, the discontent of the boyars increased sharply. In 1606, as a result of a narrow boyar conspiracy, which was organized by V. Shuisky and his accomplices, False Dmitry I was killed, Russia was left without a king. May 19 already Prince Vasily Shuisky was “shouted out” to the Moscow throne by a narrow circle of people. His election was purely oligarchic in nature. The accession of Shuisky can be considered the turning point of the Time of Troubles: it takes on a nationwide character. Essential became a sign of Troubles Polish-Lithuanian intervention, which began in the summer of 1609. In the summer of 1610, Shuisky was deposed, and power in the country passed to seven members of the Boyar Duma - the Seven Boyars. They decided to invite the Polish prince Vladislav to the Russian throne. During the discussion of the articles of the agreement on the "calling" of Vladislav, the Poles were admitted to Moscow. Their outrages caused widespread discontent, and in 1611 the first militia was formed under the leadership of P. Lyapunov. However, this event was unsuccessful. In the autumn of 1611, a second people's militia was convened in Nizhny Novgorod under the leadership of K. Minin and D. Pozharsky, which in October 1612 liberated Moscow from the Poles. Thus ended the main events of the Russian Troubles. The statehood and sovereignty of Russia were restored.

In 1533, before his death, Vasily III bequeathed the throne of Moscow to his three-year-old son Ivan. Ivan's mother, Princess Elena, and her brothers, the princes Glinsky, began to rule the state. Taking advantage of the sovereign's infancy, various groups of boyars began to fight for the throne. He grew up homeless, in an atmosphere of court intrigues, struggle and violence.

In 1543, 13-year-old John rebelled against the boyars, gave Prince Andrey Shuisky to be torn to pieces by the psars. Power passed to the Glinskys, relatives

John, who eliminated rivals with exile and executions and involved the young Grand Duke in his measures, playing on cruel instincts, and even encouraging them in John. Not knowing family affection, suffering to a fright from violence in the environment in everyday life, John from the age of 5 acted as a powerful monarch in ceremonies and court holidays: the transformation of his own posture was accompanied by the same transformation of the hated environment - the first visual and unforgettable in autocracy.

The reign of Elena Glinskaya for her son, after her death, was replaced by 10 years of unrest. Instability prepared a major revolt of the population of Moscow in 1547, the cause of which was a grandiose fire, when the Kremlin, most of the settlement burned out in 6 hours, 25 thousand households burned down in the fire. Four thousand people died, others were left homeless. Muscovites began a spontaneous uprising against the Glinskys, who were accused of a fire, killed Prince Yu.V. Glinsky and some boyars in the Assumption Cathedral. After the veche meeting, the townspeople moved to Vorobyovo, where the tsar had taken refuge, and made demands for the extradition of other alleged culprits of the fire. During this rebellion, suppressed by the government, the houses of many boyars were looted. Unrest began in other cities - in Pskov, Ustyug.

The dominance of the boyar aristocracy, the backwardness of Russia from Europe brought to life the reforms of Ivan IV. In the struggle against the boyars, the tsar was supported by the nobles. Ivan IV announced the preparation of reforms in a declaration made by him in 1549 on Red Square in Moscow. He asked the people for forgiveness, called the boyars the causes of all executions and disasters, and promised that from now on everything would be different. This cathedral is sometimes called the "Cathedral of Reconciliation". The talented publicist Peresvetov Ivan Semyonovich acted as the ideologist of the nobility and reforms (he owns the phrase: The state without a thunderstorm is like a horse without a bridle - this is how he ended his petitions to the tsar). The advisory body under the tsar - the Elected Rada - became an instrument of reform.

Reforms of Ivan IV:

Zemstvo reform - convening of Zemsky Sobors has begun It was supposed to lead to the final liquidation of the power of the governors by replacing it with local government bodies selected from the wealthy black peasantry and townspeople. Prosperous circles of the townspeople and the volost peasantry were interested in implementing the Zemstvo reform. apparatus to successfully suppress the masses of the people - these are the main reasons that made the reform of local government urgent. The lip and zemstvo reforms, as they were implemented, led to the creation of class-representative institutions on the ground that met the interests of the nobility, the upper tenants and the wealthy peasantry, the feudal aristocracy sacrificed some of its privileges, but the meaning of the reform was directed primarily against the working masses in the countryside and city

In 1552, the Palace Notebook was compiled- a complete list of members of the Sovereign's court (about 4 thousand people). The people who entered the Sovereign's court were called courtyard children of the boyars or nobles. It’s just that the boyar children made up the lower layer of service people. In the Dvorovaya Notebook, nobles were recorded according to those counties ("cities") where they owned land; governors and heads, diplomats and administrators came out of their number.

Local government reform. Reduced locality. The power of governors was abolished, and they were reduced only to supervision over the activities of self-government bodies. Everywhere there was the creation of elected labial (nobles) and zemstvo (black-eared peasants) huts, which were in charge of the collection of taxes and the execution of duties, the court for civil and petty criminal cases. At the head of the huts were the labial and zemstvo elders. Stopped feeding. Instead of the former "feed income", it was necessary to pay "feed farming". The abolition of feeding completed the folding of the apparatus of state power in the form of estate-representative power.

New "Sudebnik". It was based on the Sudebnik 1497, but expanded, better systematized, it takes into account judicial practice.

The publication of the Sudebnik in 1550 was an act of great political importance. The main stages through which a newly issued law passes:

• 1 Report to the king, motivating the need to issue a law
• 2 The verdict of the king, formulating the norm, which should form the content of the new law.

The very drafting of the law and the final edition of the text is carried out in orders, more precisely, by the treasurers, who, by order of the king, perform this work. Finally, on the basis of the new laws, additional articles of the Sudebnik are compiled, which are attributed to its main text. Such is the general scheme of the legislative process in the Russian state in the second half of the 16th century. It is concretized by pointing to the variety of laws. The basis for the establishment of several varieties of laws is that different laws go through the stages of the legislative process outlined above in different ways. The main differences fall on the second stage. If the report is common to all varieties of laws of the second half of the 16th century, then the second stage of the legislative process - the "sentence" - is carried out for various laws in different ways:

• 1. By the verdict of one king.
• 2. The verdict of the king with the boyars.
• 3. Oral order of the king ("sovereign word").

It is hardly possible to speak of any dependence of the application of one or another legislative procedure on the content of the law. The involvement or non-involvement of the Boyar Duma in the discussion of the law depended entirely on the specific circumstances of the moment.

Tradition prescribed the participation of the boyars in the discussion of new laws, and for most of them, the participation of the boyars in the "sentences" on the issuance of laws is noted. Does the participation of the boyars in the legislative process give grounds to talk about the dualism of the legislative bodies of the Russian state? Is it possible to consider the tsar and the Boyar Duma as two factors of legislation, as two independent political forces? The answer to this can only be negative. The Boyar Duma in the second half of the 16th century was one of the links in the state apparatus of the Russian centralized state, and although the aristocratic composition of the Duma gave it the opportunity to take the position of protecting the princely-boyar interests, but as an institution, the Duma was the Tsar’s Duma, a meeting of the Tsar’s advisers, to clarify opinions whom the tsar addressed on certain issues when he considered it necessary. Therefore, to see in the discussion of the law in the Boyar Duma something similar to the discussion of the law in parliament means to completely arbitrarily transfer to the Boyar Duma of the Russian autocratic state the features of the legislative institution of a constitutional state. Therefore, it is impossible to see the limitations of royal power in the discussion of laws in the Boyar Duma.

Consideration of the issue of legislation in the Russian state in the second half of the 16th century makes it possible to draw one more conclusion of great importance. This is a conclusion about the huge role of orders in legislation. Concentrating its attention on the question of the Boyar Duma and its role, the noble-bourgeois historiography underestimated the role of orders. Meanwhile, it was the orders, in particular the treasurers, who actually held the Moscow legislation in their hands both in the preparatory stage, developing draft laws, and in the final stages of the legislative process, where it was in the hands of the treasurers that the formulation and editing of the text of laws was based on the norms of the royal sentence.

In this role of the clerk's apparatus in the legislation, the development and strengthening of the centralized Russian state found its vivid expression.