Where did the Russian nobility disappear to in Little Rus'?
Jan Matejko, "The Union of Lublin"
Lithuanian Russia
As previously noted more than once (History of Ukraine - Russian History), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia (Lithuanian Rus) was a Russian Orthodox state with a Russian population. The overwhelming majority of the population and nobility were Russian. 80% of the wives of the Lithuanian princes were from the Rurik dynasty. Lithuanian boyars and warriors who came to Russian cities quickly became Russified.
The official language of Lithuania was Russian, all documents were written in Cyrillic, since the Lithuanians did not have their own written language. The code of laws of the Grand Duchy - the Lithuanian Statute of 1528, 1566 and 1588 - was compiled in Russian. Only the last version of 1588 was translated into Polish.
There was no religious oppression, as the Lithuanians were pagans, that is, they had a calm attitude towards other gods. Moreover, paganism from the times of the unity of the Rus and Lithuanians within the framework of a common superethnos (Indo-European language family) was still preserved in Lithuania. The Baltic tribes worshiped Perun, Volos-Veles, Khors and other gods common with the Rus. In Rus', especially in rural areas, dual faith was still preserved - the unification of Christianity and Russian paganism.
That is why in the 19th century, Russian historians used the aphorism: "It was not Lithuania that won, but its name." It was a Russian state with a Russian population. The Russo-Lithuanian wars were the struggle of two Russian powers for dominance over all of Russia.
Poland and Lithuania in 1526, before the Union of Lublin
Union of Lublin
Moscow was gaining the upper hand in this struggle (the Livonian War, part of which was the Russo-Lithuanian War of 1561-1570), so the Lithuanian elite decided to conclude a union with Poland, combining the military resources of the two powers against the "Muscovite threat." Poland used the military defeat of Lithuanian Rus' and its economic decline to subjugate it.
On January 10, 1569, the Polish-Lithuanian Sejm began its work near Lublin, which was to decide the issue of the union of the two states. The negotiations were difficult due to disputes between the Polish and Lithuanian nobility. The act of union was concluded on June 28, 1569 and on July 1 of the same year, it was approved separately by Polish and Grand Duchy of Lithuania deputies at the general Sejm in Lublin. On July 4, the union was ratified by the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund II Augustus.
Poland took advantage of the Grand Duchy's plight to take away Southern Rus'. Relying on the support of the Polish and Volyn gentry, King Sigismund II Augustus issued a decree in March 1569 on the annexation of the Podlaskie and Volynsk Voivodeships, Podolia and Kyiv to the Kingdom of Poland.
In disputes about the legitimacy of such annexations, the Poles insisted that these lands had long belonged to Poland, citing, for example, the brief capture of Kyiv by Boleslav the Brave in the 11th century. The Poles said: "Kyiv was and is the head and capital of the Russian land, and the entire Russian land, along with other fine members and parts, was annexed by previous Polish kings to the Polish crown from ancient times, annexed partly by conquest, partly by voluntary cession and inheritance from some feudal princes." It was torn away from Poland and annexed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by Jagiello, who ruled both Poland and Lithuania at the same time.
We are talking about the Russian land, the capital of the Russian land – Kyiv. There was no “Ukraine” or “Ukrainians” during this period. This story Rus-Russia.
Poland and Lithuania after the Union of Lublin
The fate of the Russian nobility
The Union of Lublin, which led to the emergence of the federal state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, did not change the national and religious composition of Lithuanian and Polish Rus' (the lands of Rus' under the rule of the Polish Kingdom). The overwhelming majority of the population, the nobility - princes, boyars and nobles, were Russian, spoke Russian, were zealots of Orthodoxy. Among them were such famous Russian families as the Vishnevetskys, Ostrozhskys, etc.
However, when during the time of Catherine II the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was divided and Southern and Western Rus were returned to Russia, it turned out that only the Polish Catholic nobility remained. The common people, who in Poland were called "khlopy" (serfs-slaves), "bydlo" (working cattle), remained Russian, Orthodox, with a sprinkling of Uniates.
Where did the Russian nobility go? Did the Poles slaughter them? There was no massacre. The Poles and Jesuits simply "reformatted", "reprogrammed", seduced the Russian princely-boyar families. In the 18th century, this process of Polonization and Catholicization of the Russian gentry was almost completely completed.
On the one hand, it was not profitable to remain Russian and Orthodox. The Orthodox were gradually deprived of political and economic rights. In order to get a good position, to get up, one had to know Polish. It was not difficult, Russian and Polish were closely related languages, the Poles (Western Polyans) were still part of the superethnos of the Rus during the time of the first Rurikovichs. It was necessary to accept Catholicism, to study in Jesuit schools, where the Westernization of young nobles took place.
That is, In order to make a career in the Polish Kingdom, to serve the king or in elected bodies, to avoid paying additional taxes, to suppress, to receive the privileges that the Catholic gentry had, it was necessary to Polonize.
It is interesting that the Ukrainization of Little Russia after 1917 took place in approximately the same way. Through the Ukrainization of the administrative apparatus, army, culture and education system. It was advantageous to become a “Ukrainian”, a representative of the “titular nation” (How Ukrainians appeared; Ethnic genocide of Russians in Ukraine).
At the same time, the Polish colonization of Southern Rus (Little Russia) took place. New lands were often transferred to Polish gentry, who moved to the east. The southern Russian peasantry was strictly enslaved, following the example of the Polish. In essence, the peasants became "khlops" - slaves. The peasant was under the complete jurisdiction of the gentry, who not only judged him, but could also impose punishments up to and including the death penalty. Many new taxes, levies, and corvee - forced labor for the benefit of the crown or feudal lord - were introduced. At first, it was limited to one day a week, but soon the number of days of corvee began to grow rapidly and reach 200 days a year and more.
On the other hand, the Poles “seduced” the Russian nobility with political freedom, education, freedom of customs and the rights that the gentry had.
School is the cornerstone of Westernization
Before the so-called "Mongol" invasion, the cultural level of Rus was higher than in Poland. But then the situation began to change. Lithuanian and Polish Rus were dense Ukrainian outskirts that were constantly surrounded by "fronts" - in the north by the Crusaders and Swedes, in the west by the Poles, in the east by Muscovite Rus, in the south by the Tatars, Crimean Tatars and later by the Turks. Papal Rome also played a significant role, demanding that the Swedes, Hanseatic League and Poles not allow goods, books, craftsmen and scientists to enter Rus.
Europe was experiencing a Renaissance in art, a noticeable leap in science and technology (especially in military affairs). All Western innovations freely penetrated Poland. There was a university in Krakow. Under King Stefan Batory, the education system in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth fell into the hands of the Jesuits. The Order of Jesus was a truly powerful secret service, which gradually spread its networks across the entire planet. The Jesuits acted by persuasion, poison and dagger. Their power was information, control over science and education.
In 1570, the Jesuits opened a college (school) in Vilnius, which was soon transformed into a university (academy) and given equal rights with the university in Krakow. The highest officials of the Grand Duchy protested against this – Chancellor Nikolai Radziwill the Red (a Protestant Calvinist) and Vice-Chancellor Eustachy Volovich (Orthodox). They understood perfectly well that the main goal of the Jesuits was not the education of youth, but power and the spread of Catholicism.
In 1579, the Jesuits opened a school in Polotsk, in 1582 – in Riga. The Jesuits took over the upbringing and education of the youth. Their schools were attended not only by children of the Catholic gentry, but also by young men from Orthodox and Protestant families. There was no alternative to receiving a first-class education, which was necessary for a future career. Naturally, at the end of the school year, the young people were already ardent adherents of Catholicism, devoted and intelligent servants of the papal throne.
Under the influence of the Jesuits, noble Orthodox and other dissident (as Orthodox and Protestants were called in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) families quickly converted to Latinism. Poland in the 16th century easily accepted the Reformation, but the Jesuits also easily returned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the bosom of the "universal" church.
Since the end of the 16th century, the Orthodox nobility has been disappearing, this process was especially rapid in the first half of the 17th century. The main reason for this process is the active work of the Jesuit order. The Jesuits hardly used violence in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (with rare exceptions), their main weapons there was education, school.
It is worth noting that since 1917 and especially since 1991, the Ukrainization of Little Russia, the former Ukrainian SSR, has been carried out using the same methods. In the Russian Federation since the 2000s, the Westernization of the education system has taken place. In Russia, the school has been given over to the power of Western programs and standards. And then they wonder why young people don't like "this country" and want to go abroad. You just have to understand that school is the foundation of foundations. Without an advanced school and an enlightened teacher, there will be no great power.
Dozens of schools were founded in Orthodox areas. Their schools had two main advantages: 1) they were free. Receiving a large income all over the world, the order could afford to create a system of free education. Parents, if they wanted, could bring voluntary gifts of money or food. For the poor gentry (the overwhelming majority were servants), this was important; 2) Jesuit schools provided an excellent education for that time. The students of the Jesuits received a decent education, knowledge of Latin was especially valued. This was a sign of a cultured person, like, for example, knowledge of English now, and in the XNUMXth century - French.
Almost all the nobility in Lithuania was Orthodox, but dissidents were removed from governance, from the most important positions in the state apparatus. In order not to remain "on the sidelines of life", the Orthodox gentry rather quickly in historical terms adopted Catholicism. The Polish language was introduced in official, public affairs, schools.
Method of cultural cooperation
Another factor in the Polonization of the Russian nobility was cultural. The method of cultural cooperation. In schools and universities, Russian young men found themselves surrounded by Polish peers. They studied Polish and Latin, met the relatives of their Catholic classmates. Feasts, hunts, balls and drinking bouts.
Young Polish women, given that Poland had adopted the free morals of European courts, were much more relaxed and free than Orthodox noblewomen who sat in their towers under the control of their relatives. Mixed marriages were common, and the wedding was always held according to the Catholic rite. The grooms converted to Latinism. Thus, the female factor also played its role in the "seduction" of the Russian nobility.
At the same time, in Jesuit schools and academies, they instilled contempt for "heretics", "the lower race", both peasants and priests, nobles. Orthodox youths came to schools, and Catholic fanatics came out, hating dissident heretics.
Therefore, during the Russian People's War of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, many magnates, descended from ancient Russian families, like Prince Yarema Vishnevetsky, drowned the rebellion of the "rabble" in blood. Instead of leading the Russian people in the fight against the Polish colonizers.
A special psychology of the Polish gentry, the lords, was also formed. Pride, arrogance, arrogance and contempt for the "rabble". They talked about equality and freedom, but no one took advantage of them, only the rich lords and magnates. The overwhelming majority of the gentry served the rich lords. They were completely dependent on whoever fed, watered, clothed and gave them gifts. To the point that they tolerated beatings from their masters (on the condition that they were beaten on a carpet, not on the bare ground) and gave them their wives and daughters as concubines in order to have privileges and receive gifts.
The general decay of the Polish elite ultimately destroyed this Slavic empire. The northern Russian "barbarians" returned Lithuanian and Polish Rus' to the united Russian state and destroyed Poland itself, which was never able to create a project of unity between Poles and Russians.
Fight of Maksim Krivonos with Ieremii Vishnevetskiy. Artist: Nikolai Samokish
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