The board of the "Chosen One" is good or evil for Russia?
The Moscow fire and the 1547 uprising of the year actually led to another coup in the Russian state. There was a fall of the Glinsky family. Alexey Adashev and the priests Sylvester moved to the first roles in the ranks of the circle of the young king. And at the same time, it is worth noting the fact that Adashev was descended from Kostroma nobles, far from being the most distinguished, and Sylvester in general was from “artistic”. However, none of the aristocrats was indignant and did not protest that they were elevated "not according to order". This indicated that they were “inscribed” in the plans of the conspirators. No wonder the Adashevs were close Shuisky.
Under Ivan III and Vasily III, the power of the Grand Duke in the Russian state approached the autocratic. The principles of autocratic power were developed back in the Byzantine Empire. The traditions of the Golden Horde also played a role. In Russia, they were adapted to local national and historical traditions. One of the most prominent theorists of strong monarchical power was Cyril Belozersky (1337-1427). In his letters to the princes of Moscow, he equated the princely ministry of equipping the Fatherland, protecting him from enemies, and the church. He even placed the sovereign service above the church. The thoughts of Cyril were highly appreciated and used by Joseph Volotsky (1440 - 1515). He developed the doctrine of autocratic power. Joseph wrote to Basil III: "In the likeness of heavenly authority, he gave the king of heaven the scepter of the reign of the kingdom." Power was given from God and the report in it was given only to God. At the same time, the sovereign bore enormous responsibility for the subjects, had to protect them from "mental and physical anxieties." Mental “disturbances” were heretical teachings, and bodily ones - theft, untruth, robbery, etc.
Such duties required extraordinary powers. Rights to encourage the worthy and to punish the wrong, regardless of their position. Joseph Volotsky pointed out: “You will frighten dignity for the sake of the power of the king and forbid you not to turn to malice, but to piety.” The right to punish was at the same time a duty. It was a grave sin before God to give will to the unrighteous, doing evil, to indulge them. To oppose the sovereign was both a secular and spiritual crime, since he was the main defender of the Faith and the church.
During the boyar rule in the years of Ivan Vasilyevich’s youth, this autocratic tradition was broken. Ivan IV had to practically rebuild these principles of power. At the same time, there were different points of view in the question of how the king should rule. Metropolitan Macarius (ca. 1482 - 1563) believed that it was necessary to act kindly, in harmony with everyone, and the union of royal power with the church was able to overcome all difficulties. For the emperor according to Macarius, the following commandments were the main ones: courage, wisdom, truth, chastity, righteous judgment and mercy for sinners. Maxim Grek was also close to his position (1470 - 1556), whom Ivan Vasilyevich freed from imprisonment caused by his struggle with the Josephites, who supported the right of the monasteries to have land. Maxim Grek was retired to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, to live a century to rest. In his works, he agreed that the power of the king was extraordinary, and his figure was sacred. He wrote that the earthly king - is generally "the image of the living and visible King of Heaven." Hence Maxim drew the conclusion that the sovereign, like God, must be merciful and generous to all who live on earth. Therefore, the young monarch, who was instructed by Macarius, first went exactly along this path.
It should be noted that the first reforms Ivan Vasilyevich began to implement even before the appearance of the so-called. "Favorite happy." Two years before the meeting with Sylvester, in October 1545, a decree was issued on the multiplication of salt mines. The decree was intended to all industrialists and distributed through the governors. In particular, the already well-known Stroganovs took advantage of this certificate. They received from the Sol'vychegodsky volostel, “according to the sovereign's word,” a place under the breweries with tax exemptions for 6 years. The decree was quite sensible. On the one hand, salt was considered a state monopoly, and from its extraction the treasury received duties. On the other hand, private initiative was encouraged, leading to an increase in salt production. And salt is a natural preservative for meat, fish. Multiplying the growth of salt production at the same time led to an increase in the amount of product harvested.
In 1547-1548, when Adashev and Sylvester penetrated the king's closest circle, no significant reforms were noted. Although in the field of government there have been significant changes. Sylvester verbally was an ardent advocate of autocratic power, but in reality he reduced this idea to the responsibility of the king before God. From the time of the Moscow fire, he relied on the Holy Scripture and claimed that it was the king who was sinful and guilty of the disasters that occurred in the Russian kingdom. Sylvester began to regulate the actions of the king, not only in spiritual, but also secular affairs, he even interfered in family life, dictating to Ivan Vasilyevich how and when to communicate with his wife. The main qualities were called meekness and humility. Instead of autocracy, the king was inspired by the idea that “consent” was needed. Ivan IV was persuaded to share his power not only with the Boyar Duma, but the old princes, Yuri and Vladimir. Even the decrees began to be issued from all together: "We laid with the brothers and boyars ...". And despite the fact that Vladimir Staritsky was still a boy, his mother, Yefrosinya, was in charge of him. Yuri was deaf and dumb from birth, he could not develop normally (there were no methods for teaching deaf and dumb people yet). Under Staritskikh, the participant of many conspiracies - Prince Paletsky. Yuri was married to his daughter.
Through the efforts of Adashev and Sylvestre, a circle of "elected" advisers began to form around the king. Prince Andrei Kurbsky called this informal government "Elected Rada". In official documents, this advice is not mentioned, so the name of this body, and whether it had a name, is unknown. It includes Adashev's friends - Kurbsky, Kurlyatev-Obolensky, as well as the Sheremetevs, Vorotynsky, Odoyevsky, Silver, Humpbacked, Lobanov-Rostovsky. “The chosen is glad,” taking advantage of the king’s inexperience, has assumed enormous powers. She was actually the highest court, appointed the governor and governors, distributed awards, lands, complained to the boyars, expelled from the service, etc. Later it turned out that people close to the “Elected Rada” who received feedings were predating no less than before henchmen of Glinsky or Shuisky. In addition, the tax was greatly increased - they began to take rubles from the plow on 12. Sohoy called the unit of taxation, the nobility it was equal to 800 quarters of the land, the peasants - 500. The state needed money to restore Moscow after a terrible fire and military spending. But the amount was very high. This tax laid a heavy burden on the peasantry.
It must be said that, apparently, some members of the "Chosen Rada" were Westernizers of that time and inclined towards the Westernization of Russia. This is generally characteristic of various reformers and perestroika. I don't have my own mind, so all changes are copied in the West. So, in 1547, a certain Saxon Schlitte was introduced to the tsar and appointed as an envoy to the German emperor. He was instructed to recruit and bring to Russia about 300 people: doctors, book people who understand Latin and German letters, armory and mining craftsmen, jewelers, bell casters, construction craftsmen, urban architects and fortifiers, paper craftsmen, as well as theologians, translators, lawyers, hairdressers, singer, organist, tailor and pharmacists. Later, Tsar Peter Alekseevich will act in a similar way.
Schlitte arrived in Augsburg, the imperial Diet, met with Charles V and received permission to recruit anyone. Judging by the list, the "chosen" clearly interested in the European way of life. They also needed specialists in the field of Western theology, law, and linguistics. From this we can conclude that even before Nikon’s reform in the 17 century and Peter’s reforms that cut a “window” to Europe, some in Russia wanted to “work” on Orthodoxy, laws, literature (“book business”).
In addition, Schlitte was entrusted with certain foreign policy tasks. With the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, secret negotiations were conducted and the idea of an alliance against the Ottoman Empire arose. And the union was clearly unequal. The Russian state was supposed to support the emperor with money and people and give hostages to the 25 boyars and nobles to ensure their loyalty. At the same time, the Russian government was offered to organize a postal service from Moscow to Augsburg, that is, to enter into an alliance with Lithuania and Poland; to establish a joint Russian-German knightly order, which will hire 6 thousand German soldiers. The Russian state was clearly anxious to make a tool in the hands of Western politicians.
Schlitte’s mission was not limited to secret negotiations with the German emperor. The German visited Rome and was received by Pope Julius III, who handed over to Moscow the next project of subordinating the Russian church to the Vatican. For this, the Pope promised Ivan Vasilyevich "carrot" - the title of king.
However, there was an overlay. The West was not united, and if one part of it was playing a subtle game of engaging Russia in the orbit of its influence, the other part was set on blocking Russia and even direct confrontation. The letters sent from Schlitte, as well as the specialists hired by him, did not reach the Russian state. The first group of specialists was detained in Wenden, they were held in Livonia for 5 years, and then left in the Livonian service. The second group, with Schlitte himself, moved to Lübeck to sail further to Revel. But the Livonians, fearing that these specialists would increase the military and economic potential of Moscow, asked the Lübeck Magistrate to do everything possible not to miss Schlitte and his companions in the Russian state. Lubeck was connected with the Livonian Confederation of the Hanseatic Agreements, in particular, the European merchants were supposed to carry out the entire trade exchange with Russia only through the Livonian ports of Riga, Revel and Narva, and the goods were transported only by Hanseatic ships. Therefore, Lubeck went to meet the Livonians. Schlitte sued, he refused to pay and was thrown into prison. Began a long litigation. The transfer of a group of specialists to the Russian state was halted. The Pope and the Emperor were not a decree for the Hansa and the Livonian Order, they were imbued with the ideas of the Reformation and opposed the Catholics. Schlitte was able to return to Moscow only ten years later. The situation in the Russian state has already changed dramatically and the implementation of projects to involve Moscow in the game of Rome and the German emperor, as well as the beginning of its westernization, has become impossible.
Reform time
In the 1549 year, during negotiations with the Lithuanian delegation, which arrived to extend the truce, the king himself forbade Lithuanian Jews to trade in Russia. In the past treaty concluded by the Shuisky government, Lithuanian Jews received the right of free trade in the Russian state. King Sigismund II Augustus tried to insist on this point, he owed the Jews a lot, he had to pay off debts. However, Ivan Vasilyevich was adamant, answered the king that “these people brought bodily and mental poison to us: they sold deadly potions and blasphemed Christ the Savior; I don't want to hear about them. ” By "spiritual poison", apparently, heresy was meant. In addition to protecting the spiritual health of the Russian people, this decision was also aimed at protecting the domestic economy.
In 1549, Tsar Ivan Vasilievich convened a “Reconciliation Council” - he considered the problem of the abolition of feeding and abuse of local officials. Later, such cathedrals began to be called Zemsky (as opposed to church councils - “sanctified”). In Moscow, it was ordered to come to all the ranks of the Boyar Duma, the sovereign of the court, church hierarchs, representatives of various classes from cities. So in Russia was established the highest estate-representative institution, which represented almost all classes, except the serfs. The establishment of the Zemsky Sobor, many researchers attributed to the "Chosen Rada", but it is doubtful. The informal government, a narrow group of people who had usurped very wide powers of authority, was not interested in such a wide assembly.
But the king realized that the change of the boyar groups at the helm of power does not give any changes for the better and decided to turn "to all the land." Historians have this Zemsky Sobor received the name "Cathedral of Reconciliation" - the task was to unite different classes and groups of the population, reconcile them, forget mutual accounts and offenses, and jointly develop measures to strengthen and improve the state.
27 February Cathedral was opened. Its opening was not ceremonially festive. Ivan IV began by addressing the “consecrated” cathedral of the Russian church with the metropolitan with sincere repentance of his sins and in the evil that was happening in the state during his reign. It should be noted that to such heights of repentance (the king, after all, repented of other people's sins!), Not a single Western ruler, a contemporary of Ivan Vasilyevich, has grown. And this despite the fact that they, unlike the Russian tsar, shed blood in rivers and seas. The king repented not only in front of the clergy, he went to Red Square and addressed the common people. Sovereign bowed to ordinary people! He admitted that the boyars during the period of his childhood were deaf and dumb, did not heed the call of the poor, oppressed people. Boyars, apparently, were pretty scared when the king publicly declared: “What answer will you give us now? How many tears, how much blood has spilled from you? I am pure of this blood, and you wait for the judgment of heaven. " The king did not want cruelty and told the people: “You can’t fix the past evil, I can only save you from now on ... Leave the hatred of enmity, unite with Christian love. From now on, I am your judge and protector. ”
There were many accusations at the Council. It spoke of the iniquities and offenses that were caused to the “children of the boyars” and to all Christians. It was said about the unjust courts, illegal levies. Boyars in turn blamed and asked for forgiveness. The king promised to restore order, but severe punishment threatened only for future crimes. Old guilt was forgiven. Thus, an attempt was made to reconcile Russian society.
At the same time several important decisions were made. Now all offended received the right to submit petitions to the king, they were promised to consider quickly and without red tape. The boyars' children, who complained that they were being robbed by the governors, were taken out of their court. Once they served the sovereign, they were only subject to the royal court. It turned out that one of the causes of abuse is the entanglement of the legislative system. The Council decided to develop a new Law.
In order not to turn the Boyar Duma into a narrow grouping, its composition was expanded from 18 to 41 man. The consecrated Council, together with the king, held additional meetings, at which 16 saints also canonized. And for the execution of the decisions of the Zemsky Sobor, Russia's first central government institutions were created - “huts” (“orders”). Usually, the grand duke earlier instructed (“ordered”) that the court or the boyar, who attracted assistants and specialists to solve the task, would take the lead. When the problem was solved, the “order” ceased to function. Now the first permanent establishment was created - Petite hut, it had to accept petitions. By the same principle, they established the Ambassadorial hut (Ambassadorial Order), which was responsible for relations with other states, receiving foreign embassies.
Petition orders led Adashev, Sylvester immediately appeared next to him. They began to determine which complaints-petition to give a course, and how not. They still controlled the “personnel question”. When expanding the Boyar Duma, it included the "elect" - Kurlyatev, Sheremetev, Paletsky. Adashev himself received the rank of duma nobleman (the boyars, okolnichie, duma noblemen and duma clerks entered the Duma). And the leaders of the Ambassadorial order nominated Ivan Viskovaty (led him until 1570 year). Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty (Viskovatov) was from a noble family, a branch of the princes Meshchersky. He was a clever and talented official who held a modest clerk post. Apparently, he was dramatically elevated in the hope that he would be loyal to the benefactors. He ruled the Ambassadorial Order with Alexey Adashev.
Zemsky Sobor and the appeal of the sovereign to the people inspired people, caused a creative response in them. Not only complaints began to arrive to the tsar, but also suggestions on the topic “how we can equip Russia”. Not all such messages have reached us. But some are known. Several epistles of Maxim the Greek, a nobleman of Ivan Peresvetov, a writer Yermolai-Yerazm (Yermolai Pregreshny) have been preserved.
To be continued ...
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