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Belarusian lands in the speech of the post-political speech. Belarusian lands as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania The political crisis of the Commonwealth and its divisions

Section III

Belarus as part of the Commonwealth: the beginning of a new era in Russian history (1569–1795)

§ 1. The Union of Lublin in 1569 and the creation of the Commonwealth

In accordance with the Krevo union of 1385, there was a so-called personal union: the king of Poland and Grand Duke Lithuanian were represented in one person, otherwise the GDL and Poland remained independent states. However, the preservation of personal union allowed the Poles to exert their influence on all spheres of the state and socio-political life of the principality, to change them in the Polish way, to create conditions for the incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Polish Crown and the conversion of the Belarusian-Lithuanian lands to the Polish province. The hereditary monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania has evolved towards a constitutional, elective. The gentry received political rights and such bodies state power, as the diet and the pans-glad. Positions similar to those in Poland appeared: hetman, voivode, kashtelians, marshals, etc. The ruling circles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania gradually adopted from the Poles their traditions, customs, manner of dress, and equipping housing. A certain part of the gentry renounced their religion, became Catholic and polonized. Appanage principalities almost disappeared, such units of territorial division as voivodships, povetas and volosts appeared, which also contributed to the rapprochement of the two countries.

The Union of Lublin was signed on June 28, 1569, according to which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland were united into one people and one state - the Commonwealth (republic) with one elected sovereign - the king of Poland. The election of the Grand Duke of Lithuania was terminated. The right of the Grand Duke of Lithuania to a principality was abolished, it was transferred to Poland. The special Diet of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was also abolished. General Seimas were to be convened only in Poland. Customs was eliminated between the countries. All residents of the state were allowed to acquire estates, land in any part of the Commonwealth. Foreign policy was also to become common.

Why did the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland go for a closer union, for union, for the unification of countries and the creation of the Commonwealth?

There are three groups of reasons for the unification of countries and the creation of the Commonwealth. The first group of reasons is related to foreign policy circumstances.... At the beginning of the XVI century. the foreign policy position of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became more complicated. From 1500 to 1569, the hordes of the Crimean Khan violated its borders 45 times, 10 times they devastated the Belarusian lands. On the eastern border, the Russian state was strengthened, claiming all Russian lands, including those that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the end of the 15th - first half of the 16th century. this resulted in a series of Russian-Lithuanian wars, as a result of which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lost almost a quarter of its territory, and the eastern border of the principality moved from Mozhaisk to the west, somewhere to the Dnieper - Orsha, Mogilev, Gomel.

In the second half of the XVI century. relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Poland and the Russian state worsened because of their desire to seize the territory of Livonia. This led to the Livonian War of 1558-1583. After the defeats inflicted by the Russian army on the troops of Livonia, the Livonian feudal lords turned to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for help. An alliance was concluded between the order and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the order passed under the protectorate of a principality, which was no less interested than Russia in accessing the Baltic Sea. But the order could not preserve its territory during the war. Part of the land was seized by Denmark, part - by Sweden, and Courland and Semigallia from 1561 were dependent on the principality. Then the Russian Tsar Ivan IV sent troops to Belarus and Lithuania. In 1563, the most powerful fortress of Belarus, Polotsk, was taken, after the capture of which the threat hung over the capital of the state - Vilna.

The Belarusian-Lithuanian magnates turned to the rulers of Poland for help. “We will help you in the Livonian War, but we need to unite into one state,” answered the Polish magnates.

The second group of reasons is associated with the internal political development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The middle and small gentry of the principality and the "alien" Polish element (royal servants, fugitive Polish peasants, etc.) were dissatisfied with the strong power of the prince and the magnates. They saw that the Polish gentry had great rights and privileges, that it largely limited the influence of its own magnateria, took control supreme power... The gentry of the ON wanted the same position for themselves. Therefore, the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the “alien” Polish element advocated unification with Poland and pushed the central and local authorities to this - the Grand Duke, the Radu priests, the general Diet, the rulers of voivodships and poviets, and large magnates. In organizing political pressure on the authorities, the gentry of Belarus and Lithuania united with the gentry of Ukraine.

The third group of reasons is dynastic in nature. After the death of the first wife of Sigismund II Augustus, who really did not like his mother, the true Catholic Duchess of Milan Bona Sforza, who was reasonably considered a Vatican spy in the principality, the Grand Duke of Lithuania secretly, without the consent of Bona Sforza, married Barbara Radziwill. This marriage was not approved by the church clergy. The fact is that in the 50s. XVI century The Radziwills (Red and Black), who were Protestants, Calvinists, were fierce opponents of Catholicism. Panic broke out in the camp of the Catholic clergy. Perhaps, not without the participation of Bona Sforza, Barbara Radziwill, the second wife of Sigismund II Augustus, died prematurely. The Grand Duke of Lithuania married for the third time, but there were no heirs in this marriage. The Poles were afraid that with the death of Sigismund II Augustus, the personal union that united the two states would finally end. They were interested in his divorce and new marriage.

Sigismund II Augustus decided to divorce his third wife and marry for the fourth time. But according to the Catholic rite, you can only marry three times. Divorce and permission for a fourth marriage could only be obtained from the Pope. In this situation, Sigismund II Augustus was forced to make concessions to the papacy and the Catholic clergy, to conscientiously fulfill their proposals to strengthen Catholicism on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and to join the latter to the Polish Crown. The papacy and the Catholic clergy used the tragedy, the unsettled personal life of Sigismund II Augustus for their political and ideological purposes of uniting the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Poland and promoting Catholicism to the east to oust Orthodoxy from the Slavic lands. This was a real Catholic aggression against the Orthodox Slavic lands.

Promising aid to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the war with the Russian state, the Poles were in a hurry to carry out their political plans. In 1563 at the Warsaw Diet, they drew up a declaration on the unification of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Poland and invited the Lithuanian representatives at the Diet to sign it and affix it with a seal. At the Diet of 1564, the Poles demanded that Sigismund II Augustus give up his rights to the principality in favor of Poland and give the Poles the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the same time, a "recess" (Sejm decree) was spread, allegedly at the Warsaw Seim there was a merger of the Polish and Lithuanian peoples into one people, one body, and therefore one head is installed for one body - one ruler and one glad. The magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania forced Sigismund II Augustus to disagree with the incorporation efforts of the Poles.

In such a difficult situation, the principality made an attempt to conclude peace or even union with Moscow. But Ivan the Terrible did not go for it. The ON faced the prospect of a war on two fronts. Moscow's firm position to continue the war pushed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the arms of Krakow.

On January 10, 1569, a general Diet of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland met in Lublin with the aim of concluding a closer union between the states. The Poles put forward various conditions, up to the elimination of the Belarusian-Lithuanian statehood. The ambassadors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania wanted to preserve the alliance with Poland, but at the same time not to lose the independence and independence of their domination. The negotiations dragged on. On March 1, 1569, the ambassadors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania left Lublin.

The annexation of certain parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the Polish Crown was a betrayal of the Grand Duke of Lithuania in relation to his country, since he did not have the right to reduce the territory of the principality and issue legislative acts without the consent of the Rada nobles and the Diet. Moreover, ascending the throne, the Grand Duke took the oath and promised to act only in accordance with state laws.

Only Belarus and Lithuania remained in the GDL. On pain of the annexation of this part of the principality to Poland, ambassadors from Belarus and Lithuania returned to Lublin. Difficult, tiresome negotiations were going on. On June 28, 1569, on the day of the signing of the union, the elder Khodkevich of Zhmud spoke out, who asked the king not to destroy the principality, not to cause trouble for it: “We have now been brought to the point,” said Khodkevich, “that we must, with a humble request, fall at the feet of your lordship … ”At these words, all the Belarusian-Lithuanian ambassadors knelt down. However, the king did not cancel the conditions of the union for the actual destruction of the principality. We can say that the representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania betrayed their country by signing the union, but they had no other choice, circumstances forced them to do so. This is the opinion of some researchers of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth.

The Union of Lublin was nothing more than an annexation, the incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Polish Crown, a fig leaf to cover up the treason of the Grand Duke, a violent policy on the part of Polish feudal lords and the top of the Catholic clergy, the beginning of the death of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. For Belarus, the Lublin Act was a threat to the complete catholicization and polonization of the region, the destruction of the Belarusian nationality and its culture.

Study of the history of the creation of the Commonwealth, the legal and political position of the Belarusian lands in its composition. Foreign policy of the state, wars of the XVI-XVIII centuries. Beresteyskaya Church Union of 1596. The political crisis of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the division of the territory.

Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Belarus

Educational institution

"Belorussian State University transport "

Department of History, Philosophy and Political Science

Student independent work

Belarusian lands as part of the Commonwealth (1569-1795)

Completed:

mechanical student

MES-11 groups

Zarenok Alexander Grigorievich

Checked:

Senior Lecturer

Ryabtseva N.A.

Gomel 2015

4. The political crisis of the Commonwealth and the three sections of its territory. Inclusion of Belarusian lands in the Russian Empire

Literature

1. The Union of Lublin. Creation of the Commonwealth. State, legal and political status of the Belarusian lands within the Commonwealth

Appanage principalities almost disappeared, such units of territorial division as voivodships, povetas and volosts appeared, which also contributed to the rapprochement of the two countries. On June 28, 1569, the Union of Lublin was signed, according to which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland were united into one people and one state - the Rzeczpospolita (republic) with one elected sovereign - the Polish king. The election of the Grand Duke of Lithuania was terminated. The right of the Grand Duke of Lithuania to a principality was abolished, it was transferred to Poland.

The special Diet of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was also abolished. General Seimas were to be convened only in Poland. Customs was eliminated between the countries. All residents of the state were allowed to acquire estates, land in any part of the Commonwealth. Foreign policy was also to become common.

There are three groups of reasons for the unification of countries and the creation of the Commonwealth. The first group of reasons is associated with foreign policy circumstances. At the beginning of the XVI century. the foreign policy position of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became more complicated. From 1500 to 1569, the hordes of the Crimean Khan violated its borders 45 times, 10 times they devastated the Belarusian lands. On the eastern border, the Russian state was strengthened, claiming all Russian lands, including those that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the end of the 15th - first half of the 16th century. this resulted in a series of Russian-Lithuanian wars, as a result of which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lost almost a quarter of its territory, and the eastern border of the principality moved from Mozhaisk to the west, somewhere to the Dnieper - Orsha, Mogilev, Gomel.

The Belarusian-Lithuanian magnates turned to the rulers of Poland for help. "We will help you in the Livonian War, but we need to unite into one state," answered the Polish magnates. The second group of reasons is associated with the internal political development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The middle and small gentry of the principality and the "alien" Polish element (royal servants, fugitive Polish peasants, etc.) were dissatisfied with the strong power of the prince and the magnates. They saw that the Polish gentry had great rights and privileges, that it largely limited the influence of its own magnateria, and took control of the supreme power. The gentry of the ON wanted the same position for themselves. Therefore, the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the "alien" Polish element advocated unification with Poland and pushed the central and local authorities to this - the Grand Duke, the Radu priests, the general Diet, the rulers of the voivodships and poviets, and large magnates. In organizing political pressure on the authorities, the gentry of Belarus and Lithuania united with the gentry of Ukraine.

The third group of reasons is dynastic in nature. After the death of the first wife of Sigismund II Augustus, who really did not like his mother, the true Catholic Duchess of Milan Bona Sforza, who was reasonably considered a Vatican spy in the principality, the Grand Duke of Lithuania secretly, without the consent of Bona Sforza, married Barbara Radziwill. This marriage was not approved by the church clergy. The fact is that in the 50s. XVI century The Radziwills (Red and Black), who were Protestants, Calvinists, were fierce opponents of Catholicism. Panic broke out in the camp of the Catholic clergy. Perhaps, not without the participation of Bona Sforza, Barbara Radziwill, the second wife of Sigismund II Augustus, died prematurely. The Grand Duke of Lithuania married for the third time, but there were no heirs in this marriage. The Poles were afraid that with the death of Sigismund II Augustus, the personal union that united the two states would finally end. They were interested in his divorce and new marriage.

Promising aid to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the war with the Russian state, the Poles were in a hurry to carry out their political plans. In 1563 at the Warsaw Diet, they drew up a declaration on the unification of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Poland and invited the Lithuanian representatives at the Diet to sign it and affix it with a seal. At the Diet of 1564, the Poles demanded that Sigismund II Augustus give up his rights to the principality in favor of Poland and give the Poles the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the same time, a "reces" (Sejm decree) was spread, allegedly at the Warsaw Sejm there was a merger of the Polish and Lithuanian peoples into one people, one body, and therefore one head is installed for one body - one ruler and one glad. The magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania forced Sigismund II Augustus to disagree with the incorporation efforts of the Poles.

This behavior of the representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania caused indignation on the part of the Polish magnateria. Under her pressure, Sigismund II August began to carry out a plan for the dismemberment of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the annexation of its individual parts. On March 5, 1569, he announced the annexation of Podlasie to Poland and ordered the Podlasie ambassadors to swear allegiance to Poland under the threat of being deprived of their posts and privileges. On May 15, 1569, the annexation of Volhynia was announced. However, the Volyn ambassadors did not go to Lublin. Then the king promised to deprive them of their estates and threatened with exile. On pain of reprisals, the senators and ambassadors of Volhynia swore allegiance to Poland. In the same way, Podolia and Kiev region were annexed to Poland. The annexation of certain parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the Polish Crown was a betrayal of the Grand Duke of Lithuania in relation to his country, since he had no right to reduce the territory of the principality and issue legislative acts without the consent of the Rada nobles and the Diet. Moreover, ascending the throne, the Grand Duke took the oath and promised to act only in accordance with state laws.

Only Belarus and Lithuania remained in the GDL. On pain of the annexation of this part of the principality to Poland, ambassadors from Belarus and Lithuania returned to Lublin. Difficult, tiresome negotiations were going on. On June 28, 1569, on the day of the signing of the union, the headman of Zhmud Khodkevich spoke out, who asked the king not to destroy the principality, not to cause trouble for it: “We have now been brought to the point,” said Khodkevich, “that we must, with a humble request, fall at the feet of your lordship ... "At these words, all the Belarusian-Lithuanian ambassadors knelt down. However, the king did not cancel the conditions of the union for the actual destruction of the principality. We can say that the representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania betrayed their country by signing the union, but they had no other choice, circumstances forced them to do so. This is the opinion of some researchers of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth.

On July 1, 1569, the oath of the Union of Lublin took place, and then prayer in churches. The Union of Lublin was nothing more than an annexation, the incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Polish Crown, a fig leaf to cover up the treason of the Grand Duke, a violent policy on the part of Polish feudal lords and the top of the Catholic clergy, the beginning of the death of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. For Belarus, the Lublin Act was a threat to the complete catholicization and polonization of the region, the destruction of the Belarusian nationality and its culture.

After the signing of the Union of Lublin, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not cease to exist. It survived until the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795 as part of the Belarusian and Lithuanian lands. Ukrainian lands (Volyn, Podolia, Kiev region), as well as Podlasie at the beginning of 1569 were forcibly annexed to the Polish Crown. On the Ukrainian lands, next to the local feudal lords, the Polish lords, who mocked the Ukrainians, rudely and rudely ruled. This, in the end, led to the national liberation war of the Ukrainian people under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the unification of Ukraine with Russia in 1648-1654. The Belarusian lands were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Poles did not manage here - the acquisition of land, property and the receipt of state positions by foreigners, including Poles, was prohibited by the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1588.

In 1565-1566. in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, an administrative-territorial reform was carried out. According to this reform, the entire territory of Belarus was divided into voivodships, and those, in turn, into poviets. Among the Belarusian voivodeships and poets were Brest voivodeship (Brest, Pinsk povet), Vitebsk (Vitebsk, Orsha povet), Minsk (Minsk, Rechitsa, Mozyr povet), Mstislav (Mstislavsky povet, other povetas - non-Belarusian), Novogrudok, Volkovysogrud Slonim provinces), Vilna (Oshmyany, Lida, Braslav provinces, the rest of the provinces are Lithuanian), the Trok voivodeship (Grodno povet, the rest of the provinces are Lithuanian).

As a result of the administrative-territorial reform, the last autonomous principalities disappeared, which for a long time remained on the territory of Belarus - Kobrin, Yukhetskoye, Slutsko-Kopylskoye. At the same time, the chaos in the administrative-territorial division of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania intensified. In the territories of poets and voivodships, kingdoms wedged themselves in, which, through their administrators (economists), was ruled by the king (hence the name "royal economy", or kingdoms). The latter were of two types: elders - state estates, which were given into the lifetime possession of one or another feudal lord (called the elders, hence the name "elders"), and dining (palace) estates. In the headmen, the peasants served their duty in favor of the headman. The income from the dining rooms (palace) estates went to the king.

There were also volosts (small rural districts in which local rural administrations operated), voytstvo (one or more villages, a city with suburban lands, a small royal grand ducal possession, which was subject to the power of a rural voyt), counties (hereditary feudal possession headed by count), governorship (the territory in which local government was carried out headed by the governor) and other administrative-territorial units.

The main administrative and judicial authority and the military leader was the voivode. The prince distributed administrative positions, as a rule, to princely families from his entourage, most often to Lithuanians. Of the 29 large feudal families in the middle of the 16th century. 13 were Lithuanian (Olelkovichi, Golyiansky, Radziwills, Czartorysky, Sapegi, etc.), 7 were Belarusian (Glebovichi, Valovichi, Tyshkevichi, Drutsky, Masalsky, etc.), 5 were Ukrainian, 2 were descendants of Rurikovich as local princes and .d.

Military service in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a matter of the feudal class. The small gentry had to be personally present in the army, and those who had estates and subjects also supplied armed soldiers. Military service was an honorary duty of the gentry, and pursuing handicrafts and trade, as emphasized in the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1566, disgraced her. A nobleman, who was engaged in craft and trade, was deprived of his gentry rights and dignity.

As part of the Commonwealth, both states - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown - retained their former names, their governments, laws (Polish law did not apply to the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Statute of 1588 was in force there). There were independent judicial systems, local self-government bodies (administrations of voivodships and provinces), financial systems, armed forces, various state languages (on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1696, the state language was Old Belarusian). Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland retained their relative independence, autonomy within the Commonwealth.

Under favorable circumstances, the magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania sought to secede from the Commonwealth and achieve full independence. The statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1588 actually crossed out the Union of Lublin, limited admission to the principality of the Polish lords, defended the sovereignty and independence of the state. Janusz Radziwill led a conspiracy of Lithuanian magnates, who aimed at the secession of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the Commonwealth, during the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Polish lords under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1648-1654). Similar attempts were made by the magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Northern War of 1700-1721, as well as during the three partitions of the Commonwealth.

The foregoing allows some historians to conclude that the Rzeczpospolita is a confederate state in which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown retained their independence. At the same time, other historians consider the Rzeczpospolita federal state, the union of equal state entities - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown. However, they regard this independence as relative, since there was a single body of legislative power - the Seim of the Commonwealth and a single ruler of the state - the Polish king. Both those and other historians have reasons for such judgments. In our opinion, the Rzeczpospolita is a complex state formation with elements of federalism and confederation, where there was a strong tendency towards complete independence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

2. Foreign policy. Wars of the second half of the 16th-18th centuries

Livonian War 1558-1583 The first war of the Commonwealth, inherited from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was the Livonian War. Livonia at that time meant the territory of modern Latvia and Estonia, captured by the crusaders in the 13th century. Livonia was nominally ruled by the Pope and the German emperor. Continuous internal unrest in the XIV-XV centuries. weakened the crusaders, which led to their defeat at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 and the transition in 1466 to the vassal dependence of the Prussian bishopric from Poland, formerly dependent on Riga. In the division of the Livonian inheritance, neighboring powers are beginning to show interest: Sweden, Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Denmark and Russia. In 1554, an agreement was concluded between Russia and the Livonian Order, according to which the order pledged not to conclude treaties with Poland, to maintain neutrality in the event of a Russian-Polish war, and to revive Orthodox churches.

However, the Livonian Order violated the agreement with Russia and entered into a defensive-offensive alliance with Poland against Moscow. This prompted the government of Ivan the Terrible to start military operations against Livonia in 1558. The Russian army captured Narva, Dorpat (Tartu), and reached Revel (Tallinn). Denmark captured the island of Ezel (Saaremaa), Estonia came under the patronage of Sweden. The order began to disintegrate.

Master of the Order G. Kettler turned to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund II Augustus for help. In 1561, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania accepted the order under a protectorate and thus was drawn into the division of the Livonian inheritance. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania set itself the main tasks: to annex the territory of the Livonian Order to its possessions and prevent Russia from entering the Baltic Sea, i.e. to the Western European market. Under these conditions, Russia shifted hostilities to the territory of the principality and in 1563 captured the most powerful fortress of the state - Polotsk. The road of the Russian army to Vilno and Riga was opened. However, in 1564 the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania won a victory on the river. Ula and near Orsha.

The defeat of the Russian troops, the raids of the Crimean Tatars, the escape of Prince Kurbsky to Lithuania led Ivan the Terrible to the idea of boyar treason and laid the foundation for the oprichnina in the Russian state. Internal affairs overshadowed the problems of the Livonian War.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not manage to take advantage of the difficult situation that had arisen in Russia, since with the outbreak of hostilities, Poland resumed its incorporation intentions, which it had pursued since the days of the Krevo Union. This prompted the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to seek an agreement with Russia. In 1566, an embassy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was sent to Moscow, which invited Ivan the Terrible to partition Livonia, taking into account the current situation. Ivan the Terrible decided to continue the war. He was supported by the Zemsky Sobor in 1566.

This position of Russia put the GDL in an even more difficult position. Representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the Lublin Diet were forced to sign the humiliating Union of Lublin in 1569. From that time on, the war for Livonia became the war of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Elected in 1576, the Polish king Stefan Batory forms a mercenary army and begins a counteroffensive against Russian army in Livonia and Belarus. He recaptures Polotsk, liberates Livonia and transfers military operations to Russian territory proper. Having conquered Velikiye Luki and a number of small fortresses, Stefan Batory begins the siege of Pskov and dreams of a campaign against Novgorod and Moscow. However, the heroic defense of Pskov in 1581-1582. forced states weakened by the 25-year-old war to begin peace negotiations. According to the Yam-Zapolsk truce, concluded for 10 years, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth returned the captured Russian cities to Russia - Velikiye Luki, Kholm, Izborsk, Opochka, Sebezh, etc. Russia, in turn, renounced all the lands seized in Livonia and Belarus. The goal set by Russia - to find an outlet to the Baltic Sea - was not achieved. The goal of the Vatican was not achieved either: the spread of Catholicism to the East, the subordination of Russia to the Pope, the inclination of Ivan the Terrible to the union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

"Troubles" in the Russian state at the beginning of the 17th century. For three years (1600-1602), torrential rains fell in Russia in spring and summer, followed by early frosts in autumn. The poor harvest led to a terrible famine. In Moscow alone, over 120,000 people died in two years and four months. Hundreds of hungry and cold people roamed the roads of Russia. Unfortunately, Fyodor Ivanovich, the last Russian tsar from the Rurik dynasty, died in 1598. Boyar Boris Godunov came to power. In the Russian state, "troubles" began - the struggle of the boyars for power and the actions of the masses against the feudal lords, for the right to exist an independent state.

The "Troubles" in Russia pushed the Polish and Lithuanian feudal lords to an active policy. In 1600, rumors began to spread that the eight-year-old Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich, who, according to the official version, "stabbed himself with a knife during an epileptic fit" in Uglich on May 15, 1591, escaped and declared his claims to the Moscow throne. The role of the impostor, as the Russian government believed, was played by Grishka Otrepiev, a fugitive monk who, after long walks across Russia, moved to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The organizer of the campaign of False Dmitry I to Russia was Senator of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Yuri Mnishek, who helped the impostor to enlist the support of the Lithuanian Chancellor Lev Sapieha, meet with the Polish king Sigismund III and receive from him a promise to support the adventure on condition of the impostor's transition to Catholicism, which made it interested in the rooting of Catholicism. would be the Catholic circles of Krakow and Rome. But Chancellor L. Sapega resolutely rejected the offer to lead a campaign against Moscow, which forced Sigismund III to refrain from open intervention at that time. At the same time, the king, the magnates and the clergy financed the adventurer's intentions to seize the Moscow throne.

In October 1604, the troops of False Dmitry I broke into the Chernigov-Seversk land, where a lot of hungry and poor people gathered. The arrival of the "real and legitimate tsar" provoked popular uprisings in Chernigov, Putivl, Kursk and other cities. Then the Oryol and Bryansk regions rose. In December 1604, a battle took place between the troops of the impostor and the tsarist army led by Prince Mstislavsky. After the battle, most of the mercenaries left False Dmitry I and headed towards the border with the Commonwealth. Senator Mniszek, the main inspirer of the intervention, also moved there, to Poland. The Jesuits, who took part in the intervention from the very beginning, remained with the impostor.

The next battle took place in January 1605 near the village of Dobrynichi, Komarichi volost. She brought an undoubted victory to the tsarist army. However, the defeated army of the impostor began to replenish with ordinary Russian people, who still believed in the tale of the miraculously survived Tsarevich Dmitry.

A new impetus to the "turmoil" was given by the death of Boris Godunov in 1605 and the election of his son Fyodor Borisovich as tsar. Under the young tsar, the boyars who were dissatisfied and offended by Boris Godunov raised their heads, some of them were returned from exile. The nobles began to go over to the side of "Tsarevich Dmitry", which cleared the way for the impostor to Moscow. The uprising of the common people opened the gates of Moscow. Tsar Fyodor was dethroned from the throne. On June 20, 1605, the impostor entered Moscow. Muscovites tolerated only a year, and then they overthrew False Dmitry I from the Moscow throne. He was executed, his body was burned, and the ashes were driven into a cannon and fired in the direction from which the impostor had come to Moscow. The boyars declared Vasily Shuisky to be the new Moscow tsar. He and his supporters began to pursue a course of restoring the old order, which was very displeasing to the common people. On the one hand, a peasant uprising begins under the leadership of Ivan Bolotnikov, and on the other, a new wave of movement rises under the banner of "the good Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich," who supposedly escaped death for the second time. The companion of the first impostor, the nobleman Mikhail Molchanov, becomes False Dmitry II.

Dozens of cities swear allegiance to "Tsar Dmitry", masses of the people gather under his banner, some of the nobles and even boyars, dissatisfied with the policy of Vasily Shuisky, go over to his side. Detachments of Polish magnates come to the aid of False Dmitry II. In the village of Tushino near Moscow, where the impostor has settled, Marina Mnishek arrives and recognizes him as the real prince, who secretly marries the new impostor. He receives support from the Pope, Catholics who dream of leading Russia to union.

In the fall of 1609, a new and more dangerous enemy was declared than the "Tushino thief", the Polish king Sigismund III, who began an open intervention against Russia. He himself led the army and, stationed near the Dnieper, sent a letter to the inhabitants of Smolensk with a proposal to surrender the city to the Poles. However, the Smolensk governors resolutely refused to do this. The army of the Polish king suffered heavy losses. In 1609, the Tushino camp began to fall apart, and the "Tushino thief" fled to Kaluga. But the calls of Vasily Shuisky to the people with the words to stand up for the defense of the Fatherland did not have an echo. The king was losing city after city.

On July 17, 1610, a mutiny began in Moscow. The rebels captured Vasily Shuisky and forcibly tonsured him and his wife a monk. A group of boyars came to power, led by Prince F.I. Mstislavsky, who, under pressure from the Tushin people, invited the people to invite the son of Sigismund III, the prince Vladislav, to the Russian throne. The gates of Moscow were opened, and in September 1610 a Polish detachment led by Hetman Zholkiewski entered Moscow. The power in the state was seized by the invaders.

In the summer of 1611. the threat of loss of national independence hung over Russia. The capital was in the hands of the Poles, the Swedes ruled in the north-west, the Tatars raided from the south, and the British planned to seize the Russian north and the Volga region. In this difficult time, the people take the fate of the Motherland into their own hands. In Nizhny Novgorod, a second national militia was created (the first national militia was defeated by the Poles in March 1611), led by a citizen Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. In February 1612, the militia headed for Moscow and established itself in Yaroslavl, where a temporary body of supreme power was created. On October 22, 1612, the militia liberated Kitay-Gorod, and on October 26, the Polish garrison in the Kremlin surrendered. The king tried to organize another campaign against Moscow, but it began unsuccessfully, and Sigismund III was forced to return to Poland. The Polish-Lithuanian intervention in Russia ended in defeat.

In January 1613, the Zemsky Sobor, consisting of the highest clergy, noblemen, townspeople, black-haired peasants and the boyar duma, elected 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov, the son of Patriarch Filaret, who was Ivan the Terrible's brother-in-law through his wife. The Romanov dynasty began in Russian history.

The Polish prince Vladislav did not want to come to terms with the election of Mikhail Romanov to the Russian throne and in 1618 led the Polish army to the walls of Moscow. Having failed, he was forced in December 1618 to conclude an armistice agreement in the village of Devlino near the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. According to the agreement, the Novgorod-Seversk, Chernigov and Smolensk lands were transferred to the Commonwealth.

Smolensk war. In 1632-1634. Russia made an attempt to regain Smolensk. However, this attempt was unsuccessful and ended with the Polyanovsk peace treaty in the village of Semlevo on the river. Polyanovka. Rzeczpospolita retained all the lands received under the Devlin Treaty, except for the city of Serpeisk with a small border region of Severshchina, which became part of Russia. The diplomatic success of Russia was the refusal of the Polish king from claims to the Moscow throne, the recognition of Mikhail Fedorovich by the Russian tsar and the promise to return the act on the election of the king's son Vladislav to the Russian throne by the Moscow boyars.

War of Russia with the Commonwealth of 1654-1667 This war began in May 1654. The central direction was the Smolensk direction, the main forces were operating here - more than 40 thousand people, led by the tsar. Already in July of this year, Russian troops captured Polotsk, then Vitebsk, in August Mogilev surrendered, in September, at the request of the population, Smolensk. In the south of Belarus, 20 thousand Cossacks were advancing, led by hetman Ivan Zolotorenko. The territory of Belarus has become the main theater of military operations.

The campaign of 1654 for the Russian army was successful: 33 cities were occupied. This success was not accidental. It is explained by the fact that the Orthodox part of the population was waiting for the Russian army as its liberator from the Catholic-Uniate offensive against the Orthodox and helped it by all possible means - from informing the Russian army about the movement of Polish troops to creating detachments and participating in hostilities on the side of the Russian army. The inhabitants of many cities surrendered to the Russian troops almost without resistance and swore allegiance to the Russian Tsar. This was the case in Polotsk, Mogilev, Orsha, Krichev and other cities. Tsarist diplomacy circulated a letter to Belarus in which the tsar promised the gentry and the clergy to preserve their rights and privileges, and guaranteed new possessions to those who would transfer to the tsarist service. For the voluntary surrender of cities, the petty bourgeois of the Orthodox faith promised to reward the tsarist salary and weaken tax pressure, the common people - the Belarusians of the Christian faith, who do not oppose the tsarist troops - do not beat, do not rob, and do not touch their wives and children. Naturally, the tsarist favors did not extend to those who opposed the Russian troops with arms in their hands.

In the summer of 1655, the Russian army won a number of victories in Ukraine, reaching Lvov. Minsk, Grodno, as well as Vilno and Kovno were taken on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Almost the entire territory of Belarus was occupied by Russian troops.

In the summer of 1655 Sweden entered the war with Poland. The Swedes soon occupied Warsaw. Some Polish feudal lords began to go over to the side of the Swedish occupiers. In May 1656, Russia declared war on Sweden and ceased military operations against Poland, which caused the rise of the national liberation struggle of the Poles against the Swedish invaders and saved Poland from its complete defeat by Sweden.

In 1657, Bohdan Khmelnitsky died, and he was replaced one by one by several hetmans who were supporters of Poland and Turkey and were striving to return Ukraine to the rule of the Turkish sultan. As a result, the position of the Russian troops in Belarus and Ukraine deteriorated significantly, and the war became protracted. Already in 1661 Russian troops left Minsk, Borisov, Mogilev. The exhausted states in 1667 in the village of Andrusovo, located near Smolensk, signed an armistice for thirteen and a half years. According to the armistice, Russia regained the Smolensk voivodeship with all the counties and cities, the Starodubsky povet and the Chernigov voivodeship, the Left-Bank Ukraine. Kiev with its surroundings up to 1 mile was transferred to Russia for two years. The treaty provided for joint actions by Russia and the Commonwealth in connection with the growing threat of the Tatar-Turkish invasion.

In 1683, the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Turkey began. In 1686, an "eternal peace" was signed in Moscow between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in which territorial changes were consolidated in accordance with the Andrusov armistice of 1667. Poland finally abandoned Kiev, having received monetary compensation. Russia broke off its relations with the Porte and pledged to send its troops to Crimea. Eternal Peace guaranteed freedom of religion for Orthodox Christians in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (in Belarus and Ukraine) and recognized Russia as having the right to protect them.

Of course, any war is a terrible phenomenon, as it leads to large losses of the population, destruction of material and spiritual values, hunger and epidemics, devastation and poverty. War 1654-1667 was no exception. But it is not clear on the basis of what data S.V. Morozova established that the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian state was "the most tragic in our history," "the first national catastrophe." Russia was fighting not with Belarus, but with the Commonwealth, which included the Belarusian lands. Therefore, perhaps, the statement about the "tragedy and national catastrophe" of the Commonwealth without the words "most" and "first" would be more accurate, since they can hardly be scientifically proven by the author. And about the "consequences of the war" about which G. Saganovich writes, we can say that incomplete social structure Belarusian society and the Belarusian peasantry appeared not as a result of the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667, but as a result historical development Belarusian nationality in connection with the entry of Belarus first into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then into the Commonwealth. The latter pursued a policy of polonization, Catholicization, and in fact the destruction of the Belarusian ethnos. This is what the authors do not want to admit, who write history not from a scientific standpoint, but from the standpoint of justifying any actions of the Polish authorities and unfounded accusations of the Russian state in everything.

Northern War 1700-1721 At the beginning of the 18th century. Sweden was one of the most powerful powers in Europe. Its possessions included Finland, Estland, Livonia, the former Russian lands - Ingria and part of Karelia, as well as Northern Pomerania, the Duchy of Bremen, Verdun, Wismar in Northern Germany. In 1697, Charles XII came to the throne of Sweden, who devoted most of his time to amusement, amusement and hunting, frightening the inhabitants of the capital with his eccentricities. Perhaps this lifestyle of the king prompted the interested rulers of neighboring states to think that the time had come to return the lost territories. A coalition of European states was created as part of Russia, Denmark, Saxony (the so-called "Northern Union") with the participation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prussia and the Elector of Hanover against Sweden for domination of the Baltic Sea.

The Saxon Elector and King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth August II began military operations. In February 1700, the Saxon corps burst into Livonia to seize Riga unexpectedly and with the help of traitors. However, these calculations did not come true, since the army did not have artillery, without which the siege of Riga was hopeless.

In March 1700, the Danish army entered the Duchy of Holstein and captured almost all of its territory a month later. Charles XII came to the aid of Holstein with his army, as well as England and Holland. Together, they forced Denmark to recognize the sovereign rights of the duke over Holstein and not provide assistance to the enemies of Sweden. Thus, one of the allies of the anti-Swedish coalition was knocked out of the game. Remained August II and Peter I.

In August 1700, Russia declared war on Sweden. Russian troops besieged Narva, but in November 1700 they were utterly defeated by the Swedes. Since that time, the territory of Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Belarus has become the theater of military action. At the beginning of 1702, the Swedes broke into the territory of the Commonwealth, in April they occupied Vilno and Grodno, and in May - Warsaw. Karl HP defeated the Polish-Saxon army near Kliszew and Pultusk. The Commonwealth was going through a deep internal political crisis. The society was divided into opponents and supporters of the Swedes. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Sapegn went over to the Swedes in Potocki, who wanted to create a state independent from Poland. Oginsky and Vishnevetsky sought support from the Russian army. In 1704, supporters of August II united in the Sandomierz Confederation, which entered into an alliance with Russia and declared war on Sweden. In response, the Warsaw Confederation, organized by Charles XII, elected Stanislav Leshchinsky as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As for the masses, the majority of Belarusians, mostly Orthodox, greeted the Russian army amicably and helped as much as they could - from food to joint military operations.

In October 1706, a battle between Swedish and Russian troops took place near the Polish city of Kalisz. The united allied army led by AD. Menshikov won a brilliant victory. The Swedish infantry was defeated, only part of the Swedish cavalry escaped. After the Battle of Kalisz, Charles XII announced the Altranstatt Peace Treaty. Russia was left without allies. The main Swedish troops from Saxony headed for Belarus, intending to go through Smolensk to Moscow.

In 1707, Russian troops again concentrated in Belarus. At the beginning of 1708 Karl XII occupied Grodno and moved to Lida, Smorgon. The main forces of the Russian army withdrew from the Chashnikov and Beshenkovichi. Karl HP crossed the Berezina, and near the town of Golovchin (in the Mogilev region) on July 14, 1708, a battle took place in which the Russian army was defeated and withdrew for the Dnieper. The Swedes occupied Mogilev. This was the last victory of the Swedes in the Northern War.

In the battles near the villages of Dobroe and Raevka (in the Mstislav region) in September 1708, Swedish troops suffered significant losses; in addition, difficulties arose in providing the army with food and fodder. Therefore, Karl KHP decided to take advantage of the help promised to him by the supporter of the Polish orientation, the Ukrainian hetman I. Mazepa, and in mid-September 1708 he turned to Ukraine. The 16-thousandth corps of A. Levengaupt left Riga to join the main forces of Karl HP.

In October 1708, near the village of Lesnaya (in the Mogilev region), A. Livengaupt was defeated by Russian troops, lost the train and brought only about 7 thousand people to Charles XII. Later, Peter I called the battle near Lesnaya "the mother of the Poltava victory." The Ukrainian people rose to partisan struggle against the Swedes and national traitors.

The general battle of the Northern War was the Battle of Poltava, in which the Swedish army was defeated on July 8, 1709. Charles XII and Mazepa fled to Turkey. The alliance of Russia with Denmark and Saxony was renewed. Stanislav Leshchinsky left for Pomerania, and August I returned to Warsaw. Military operations were transferred to the Baltic States and Northern Germany. In 1710, Russian troops occupied Livonia and Estonia, as well as England and Holland. Together, they forced Denmark to recognize the sovereign rights of the duke over Holstein and not provide assistance to the enemies of Sweden. Thus, one of the allies of the anti-Swedish coalition was knocked out of the game. Remained August II and Peter I.

In August 1700, Russia declared war on Sweden. Russian troops besieged Narva, but in November 1700 they were utterly defeated by the Swedes. Since that time, the territory of Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Belarus has become the theater of military operations. At the beginning of 1702, the Swedes broke into the territory of the Commonwealth, in April they occupied Vilno and Grodno, and in May - Warsaw. Charles XII defeated the Polish-Saxon army near Kliszew and Pultusk. The Commonwealth was going through a deep internal political crisis. The society was divided into opponents and supporters of the Swedes. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Sapieha and Pototskys went over to the side of the Swedes, who wanted to create a state independent from Poland. Oginsky and Vishnevetsky sought support from the Russian army. In 1704, supporters of August II united in the Sandomierz Confederation, which entered into an alliance with Russia and declared war on Sweden. In response, the Warsaw Confederation, organized by Charles XII, elected Stanislav Leshchinsky as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As for the masses, the majority of Belarusians, mostly Orthodox, greeted the Russian army amicably and helped as much as they could - from food to joint military operations.

The Russian troops allied to Augustus II were brought into the territory of Belarus, which in the fall of 1704 began to concentrate near Polotsk. In July 1705 they moved to Vilno, and in September they occupied Grodno, where they were joined by several regiments of Saxon cavalry. The united group was led by August II.

At the beginning of 1706 Charles XII crossed the Neman and blocked the garrison in Grodno. Russian troops managed to get out of Grodno and through Brest and Kovel to reach Kiev. In February - May 1706, the Swedes, passing through the territory of Belarus, burned Korelichi, Mir, plundered Novogrudok, Slonim, Kletsk, Slutsk, Pinsk, Kobrin, after the siege they took Lyakhovichi and Nesvizh.

In the summer of 1706, Charles XII burst into Saxony, where, after a series of military victories, he forced August II to secretly sign from Russia in September 1706 the Altranstatt Peace Treaty (near Leipzig). August II renounced the Polish crown in favor of Stanislav Leshchinsky, from an alliance with Russia, agreed to withdraw the Saxons from the Russian army and hand over to Charles XII all the Russians who were in the Saxon army, to give the Polish fortresses of Krakow, Tikotin and others to the Swedes.

In October 1706, a battle between Swedish and Russian troops took place near the Polish city of Kalisz. The united allied army led by A.D. Menshikov won a brilliant victory. The Swedish infantry was defeated, only part of the Swedish cavalry escaped. After the Battle of Kalisz, Charles XII announced the Altranstatt Peace Treaty. Russia was left without allies. The main Swedish troops from Saxony headed for Belarus, intending to go through Smolensk to Moscow.

In 1707, Russian troops again concentrated in Belarus. At the beginning of 1708 Karl XII occupied Grodno and moved to Lida, Smorgon. The main forces of the Russian army withdrew from the Chashnikov and Beshenkovichi. Charles XII crossed the Berezina, and near the town of Golovchin (in the Mogilev region) on July 14, 1708, a battle took place, in which the Russian army was defeated and withdrew for the Dnieper. The Swedes occupied Mogilev. This was the last victory of the Swedes in the Northern War.

In the battles near the villages of Dobroe and Raevka (in the Mstislav region) in September 1708, Swedish troops suffered significant losses; in addition, difficulties arose in providing the army with food and fodder. Therefore, Karl XII decided to use the help promised to him by the supporter of the Polish orientation, the Ukrainian hetman I. Mazepa, and in mid-September 1708 turned to Ukraine. The 16-thousandth corps of A. Levengaupt left Riga to join the main forces of Charles XII.

In October 1708, near the village of Lesnaya (in the Mogilev region) A. Livengaupt was defeated by Russian troops, lost the train and brought only about 7 thousand people to Charles XII. Later, Peter I called the battle near Lesnaya "the mother of the Poltava victory." The Ukrainian people rose to partisan struggle against the Swedes and national traitors.

The general battle of the Northern War was the Battle of Poltava, in which the Swedish army was defeated on July 8, 1709. Charles XII and Mazepa fled to Turkey. The alliance of Russia with Denmark and Saxony was renewed. Stanislav Leshchinsky left for Pomerania, and August II returned to Warsaw. The hostilities were moved to the Baltics and Northern Germany. In 1710 Russian troops occupied Livonia and Estonia, captured Riga, Pernov (Pärnu) and Revel. For reasons of "contradictions with Russia, especially over control over Livonia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth temporarily suspended active operations against Sweden. In 1713, Russian troops occupied Finland, together with their allies, took possession of almost all of Pomerania.

As a result of the victory over the Swedish fleet near Cape Gangut in 1714, the Russian fleet began to control the Baltic Sea. In 1715, Prussia and Hanover entered the war against Sweden. In July 1720, the Swedish fleet was defeated in the Battle of Grengam.

The Great Northern War ended with the signing of a peace treaty in the Finnish city of Nishtadt in 1721, according to which Estonia, Livonia, Ingria and part of Karelia were ceded to Russia. Later, Sweden signed the relevant agreements with Saxony and the Commonwealth. As a result of the Great Northern War, Sweden lost its status as a great power. However, for other European countries, especially for the ON, the consequences of the war were tragic: the population of Belarus decreased from 2.2 million to 13 million people. The most affected were Mstislavl, Vitebsk and Polotsk Voivodeships.

These were the main wars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the second half of the ХУ1-ХУШ centuries.

3. Beresteyskaya Church Union of 1596 Unity in Belarus

One of the features of religious development was the influence of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. Their rivalry led to the need to consolidate a state that was completely disunited on this basis. Thus, the Uniate Church was formed - the specificity of the religious-ecclesiastical and socio-political life of the Belarusian people. The Brest Church Union was an ambiguous event in the history of our country, therefore it is difficult to consider it separately, since it is closely related to the social, cultural and political situation in the country. A lot of literature and research of historians is devoted to the church union. different countries... It is interpreted in different ways and is given an ambiguous assessment. The task of this work is to consider the prerequisites for the emergence of the union, the tasks that were posed to it, its content and influence on the course of history.

The Uniate Idea in the GDL Catholicism began to penetrate the GDL even before the Krevo Union. After its imprisonment in 1385, the mass baptism of Lithuanians began to take place, and Catholicism, like Orthodoxy, became the state religion. Despite this, the Orthodox Church remained in the GDL a rather influential church-ideological and socio-political institution, behind which was the majority of representatives of different classes and common people. The dominant role of the culture of the Slavic ethnos and the state position of the Belarusian language were a powerful support for the Orthodox faith in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The position of Orthodoxy began to deteriorate sharply after the Gorodelsky decree of 1413, according to which only persons of the Roman Catholic faith were appointed to high government positions in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

At the same time, the grand dukes understood that the bi-religiousness of the main population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was fraught with a certain socio-political danger. In this regard, the emergence of the idea of union was a natural phenomenon. When the Moscow Metropolitan Cyprian Tsamblak visited Vilno in 1396, a conversation took place between him and Jagailo about the need for a union between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. The king and the metropolitan turned to the Patriarch of Constantinople, who supported this idea, but considered it necessary to postpone its implementation. Vytautas' ecclesiastical policy followed from his nationwide activities. The desire for church autonomy and union was part of his domestic and foreign policy. At the beginning of 1414, a meeting of the Belarusian-Ukrainian bishops took place, at which Vitovt nominated his candidate, Grigory Tsamblak, an outstanding church and cultural figure, to the metropolitan throne. In the fall of 1414, at a council of Orthodox church hierarchs of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Gregory Tsamblak was elected metropolitan. He went to Constantinople to be confirmed as the patriarch, but he was outstripped by the Moscow protege Photius. At the beginning of 1415, Vitovt again convened a council, at which he persuaded the Belarusian and Ukrainian bishops, without the patriarch's sanction, to appoint Tsamblak to the metropolitanate, which was done on November 15 of the same year in Novogrudok. In 1418, at the head of a large delegation, Gregory Tsamblak went to Constanta, where the 16th Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church was to be held, in order to achieve a more or less close union between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. In his speeches at the cathedral, Tsamblak called for the restoration of the former unity of Christianity. But his plan to create an equal union between the Catholic and Orthodox branches of Christianity was not accepted by either the Pope or the majority of Orthodox bishops. During the reign of Kazimir Yagailovich (1447-1482), a new, rather successful attempt was made to create Orthodox autocephaly. In 1458, Casimir agreed to establish a separate Orthodox metropolis for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Grigory was appointed to manage the Belarusian-Ukrainian church. After his death in 1473, Bishop Misail (1475-1480), who was a supporter of the union, became the Belarusian-Ukrainian metropolitan. Misail was supported by two of the most influential Orthodox organizations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and the Vilensky Holy Trinity Monastery, which in 1476 sent Pope Sixtus IV a written request to unite the two churches. Since 1480, a fairly democratic procedure for appointing Orthodox metropolitans was established in the GDL: with the consent of the Grand Duke, they were elected by the cathedral, and the patriarchal initiation was received on the spot from the patriarchal exarch. The Belarusian-Ukrainian metropolitans lived mainly in Vilna, but formally, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was considered their residence. At the end of the 15th century. again an attempt was made to implement the Uniate idea, initiated by the Belarusian-Ukrainian Metropolitan, Bishop Joseph of Smolensk (1497-1501). He came into contact with Pope Alexander VI.

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The main events that marked the beginning of the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania took place in the upper and middle Ponemanie - on the territory of the northwestern lands of Belarus (Grodno region) and partly on the lands of modern Lithuania. The formation of the new state was attended by the East Slavic Christian population of the Belarusian lands and the pagan Balts, who until the 13th century did not have a developed state organization, large cities, and a written language. That is why, according to many historians, the Novogrudok principality and its population played a decisive role in collecting Belarusian lands into a single state. But at the same time, one should take into account the fact that it was the Lithuanian princes who led this gathering and created the preconditions for the future greatness of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is, first of all, about Mindovg (1230-1263), the founder of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who, as a result of an internecine struggle with his neighbors, fled the Baltic states and settled in neighboring Novogrudok, making it the capital of the new state. In the same place in Novogrudok in 1253, Mindovg, with the blessing of the Pope, was crowned and received the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania. This gives grounds to say that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a Belarusian-Lithuanian state.

Under the successors of Mindaugas Voishelka (1263-1268), Troyden (1270-1282), Viten (1293-1316), Gediminas (1316-1341), the boundaries of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were significantly expanded due to the Belarusian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian lands. At the same time, their annexation to the principality took place in various ways: as a result of diplomatic negotiations, marriage alliances, by seizure and voluntary submission. Most of the Belarusian lands became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on a voluntary-contractual basis (in particular, the Polotsk and Vitebsk lands). This is evidenced by the certificates (privileges) of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, who affirmed the autonomous status of these lands within a single state. The autonomy of the above-mentioned lands consisted in their right to express their opinion when appointing governors and governors and limiting their judicial power, as well as in preserving the Polotsk and Vitebsk veche regime. The presence of such princely privileges gives reason to talk about federated structure The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in which regional autonomies were united near the initial nucleus.
Over time, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became one of the most significant state formations in Europe. Its territory was more than 900 thousand km. sq. The borders of the principality were in contact: in the north - with Livonia, Pskov and Novgorod lands, in the east - with the Moscow and Ryazan principality, in the southeast - with the Golden Horde, in the south - with the Crimean Khanate, in the southwest - with the Moldavian state, in in the west - with Poland, in the north-west - with the Order of the Crusaders.

With the coming to power of Prince Jagailo (1377-1392), the policy of the BKL changed its direction significantly. The principality began to lean towards an alliance with Poland, which was caused by a number of reasons. First, the active policy of the Roman curia, which sought to prevent the unification of the BKL with Orthodox Moscow Russia; secondly, the intensification of the aggressive measures of the crusaders; thirdly, the attempts of the Moscow princes to include in their state former lands Kievan Rus, which at that time were part of the Grand Duchy; fourthly, the struggle for power in the BKL itself between Yagailo and his older brother Andrei Polotsky.

The beginning of the unification of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland was laid by the Kreva Union (1385) and the marriage of Jagiello to the Polish queen Jadwiga (1386). In exchange for the Polish throne, Jagiello promised the Poles to make the inhabitants of their state Catholics. This marked the beginning of the spread of the Catholic religion in the Belarusian lands. The unification with Poland and the beginning of the Catholic expansion of the Poles led to the creation of opposition in the state, which advocated the preservation of the independence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The opposition was led by Jagailo's cousin Vitovt, who obtained from the Polish king the transfer of power to him in the Belarusian-Lithuanian lands and the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania (Ostrovets Agreement, 1392).

The reign of Vitovt (1392-1430) is called the “golden age” in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Under him, the state achieved significant success both internally and in foreign policy. The GDL included the southern regions of modern Ukraine, which gave the principality access to the Black Sea. In addition, in 1410, between the Teutonic Order and the combined forces of the Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian army, a decisive battle took place near Grunwald, which ended in the complete defeat of the crusaders. The Order was forced to abandon its claims to a number of territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and establish a permanent border with it.

Thus, it is obvious that the period of existence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was of great importance for the history of the Belarusian people. It was within the framework of this state formation that the processes of consolidation of the Belarusian ethnos and the formation of the Belarusian nationality began, which manifested itself in the development of the Old Belarusian language, which became the state language of the principality, oral folk art, writing, secular literature, printing, legislation (Statutes of the BKL 1529, 1566, 1588. ) etc.

The final alliance between Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was concluded with the signing of the Union of Lublin (1569), as a result of which a new state appeared in Europe - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was a federation consisting of 2 practically independent parts, united by a single monarch and a single foreign policy, about which the Act of Union says the following: “Since the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are already one inseparable and inseparable body, as well as not a separate, but one common republic, which has united and merged into one people from two states and peoples, it is necessary that these two peoples forever be ruled by one head, one sovereign, one common king, elected by the common votes of Poland and Lithuania. " Thus, the Rzeczpospolita as a whole state acted only outside, and inside there was always its division into two parts, which were designated as the Crown (Poland) and the Principality (Lithuania). Moreover, each of these parts had its own laws, treasury, courts, armed forces, administrative apparatus.

The Belarusian lands became part of this new political entity and existed in it until the end of the 18th century. Throughout this period, the population of our country was subjected to Polonization and Catholicization. The onset of the Catholic religion was facilitated by the signing of the Brest Church Union (1596), which led to the unification of Orthodoxy and Catholicism in new church(Uniate). Despite this, the period of the Belarusian lands joining the Rzecz Pospolita was of great importance for "self-identification of Belarusians as a Slavic-Russian ethnos, for their awareness of their common Russian origin, for their subsequent political self-determination."

In the second half of the 18th century, the Rzeczpospolita entered the stage of a deep economic and political crisis. Its main reason was the abuse of "gentry liberties", which during this period reached large sizes and led to anarchy in the Commonwealth. State administration in the country was characterized by the omnipotence of the magnates and gentry and the impotence of the royal power in the person of the last Polish king Stanislav August Poniatowski (1764-1795). This internal political position of the state was complicated by foreign policy circumstances associated with the failures of the Commonwealth in the wars. It became a "visiting courtyard and tavern" 2 for foreign troops, which allowed neighboring states to interfere in its internal affairs.

In 1772, in St. Petersburg, a document was signed on the first division of the Commonwealth between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Eastern Belarus was annexed to Russia. In 1793, Prussia and Russia made the second partition of the Republic of Poland, as a result of which Russia ceded central part modern Belarus. And finally, in 1795, the third partition took place, according to which the remaining Belarusian lands became part of Russia. Stanislav August Ponyatovsky abdicated the throne, as a result of which the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist.

Thus, the territory of modern Belarus was included in the centralized, with a strong supreme power of the Russian Empire, which put an end to military clashes on our lands and contributed to a certain political stabilization. In addition, the entry of the Belarusian lands into Russia contributed, to some extent, to the return of the Belarusians to their historical Slavic-Russian roots, to their religious and national foundations. It was during the period when Belarus was part of the Russian Empire that all the prerequisites for the creation of its own Belarusian statehood were prepared, namely, the national culture was revived, the Belarusian literary language appeared, the social and political movement of the Belarusian people took shape, the processes of the formation of the Belarusian nation began.

Creation of the Commonwealth. State, legal and political status of the Belarusian lands within the Commonwealth. The political crisis of the Commonwealth and the three sections of its territory.

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Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Belarus

Educational institution

"Belarusian State University of Transport"

Department of "History, Philosophy and Political Science"

SORS No. 2

For the obligatory module "History"

On the topic:

"Belarusian lands as part of the Commonwealth (1569-1795)"

Completed: Checked:

Mechanical Student Senior Lecturer

MES-11 groups N.A. Ryabtseva

Zarenok Alexander Grigorievich

Gomel 2015

Union of Lublin. Creation of the Commonwealth. State, legal and political status of the Belarusian lands within the Commonwealth ………………………………………… .Pages 3-9.
Foreign policy. Wars II half. XVI - XVIII centuries .... ... .... Pages 10-20.
Beresteyskaya Church Union of 1596 Unity in

Belarus ……………………………………………… ........ Pages 21-31.

The inclusion of Belarusian lands in the Russian

empire ……………………………………………………. Pages 32-36.

Literature ………………………………………………… .page 37

Union of Lublin. Creation of the Commonwealth. State, legal and political status of the Belarusian lands within the Commonwealth

In accordance with the Krevo Union of 1385, there was a so-called personal union: the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania were represented in one person, in all other respects the GDL and Poland remained independent states. However, the preservation of personal union allowed the Poles to exert their influence on all spheres of the state and socio-political life of the principality, to change them in the Polish way, to create conditions for the incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Polish Crown and the conversion of the Belarusian-Lithuanian lands to the Polish province. The hereditary monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania has evolved towards a constitutional, elective. The gentry received political rights and such bodies of state power as the Seim and the pany-Rada. Positions similar to those in Poland appeared: hetman, voivode, kashtelians, marshals, etc. The ruling circles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania gradually adopted from the Poles their traditions, customs, manner of dress, and equipping housing. A certain part of the gentry renounced their religion, became Catholic and polonized. Appanage principalities almost disappeared, such units of territorial division as voivodships, povetas and volosts appeared, which also contributed to the rapprochement of the two countries.On June 28, 1569, the Union of Lublin was signed, according to which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland were united into one people and one state - the Rzeczpospolita (republic) with one elected sovereign - the Polish king. The election of the Grand Duke of Lithuania was terminated. The right of the Grand Duke of Lithuania to a principality was abolished, it was transferred to Poland. The special Diet of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was also abolished. General Seimas were to be convened only in Poland. Customs was eliminated between the countries. All residents of the state were allowed to acquire estates, land in any part of the Commonwealth. Foreign policy was also to become common.

moved from Mozhaisk to the west, somewhere to the Dnieper - Orsha, Mogilev, Gomel.

The Belarusian-Lithuanian magnates turned to the rulers of Poland for help. “We will help you in the Livonian War, but we need to unite into one state,” answered the Polish magnates.The second group of reasons is associated with the internal political development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The middle and small gentry of the principality and the "alien" Polish element (royal servants, fugitive Polish peasants, etc.) were dissatisfied with the strong power of the prince and the magnates. They saw that the Polish gentry had great rights and privileges, that it largely limited the influence of its own magnateria, and took control of the supreme power. The gentry of the ON wanted the same position for themselves. Therefore, the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the "alien" Polish element advocated unification with Poland and pushed the central and local authorities to this - the Grand Duke, the Radu priests, the general Diet, the rulers of the voivodships and poviets, and large magnates. In organizing political pressure on the authorities, the gentry of Belarus and Lithuania united with the gentry of Ukraine.

The third group of reasons is dynastic in nature.After the death of the first wife of Sigismund II Augustus, who really did not like his mother, the true Catholic Duchess of Milan Bona Sforza, who was reasonably considered a Vatican spy in the principality, the Grand Duke of Lithuania secretly, without the consent of Bona Sforza, married Barbara Radziwill. This marriage was not approved by the church clergy. The fact is that in the 50s. XVI century The Radziwills (Red and Black), who were Protestants, Calvinists, were fierce opponents of Catholicism. Panic broke out in the camp of the Catholic clergy. Perhaps, not without the participation of Bona Sforza, Barbara Radziwill, the second wife of Sigismund II Augustus, died prematurely. The Grand Duke of Lithuania married for the third time, but in

this marriage had no heirs. The Poles were afraid that with the death of Sigismund II Augustus, the personal union that united the two states would finally end. They were interested in his divorce and new marriage.

Promising aid to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the war with the Russian state, the Poles were in a hurry to carry out their political plans. In 1563 at the Warsaw Diet, they drew up a declaration on the unification of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Poland and invited the Lithuanian representatives at the Diet to sign it and affix it with a seal. At the Diet of 1564, the Poles demanded that Sigismund II Augustus give up his rights to the principality in favor of Poland and give the Poles the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the same time, a "recess" (Sejm resolution) was spread, allegedly at the Warsaw Sejm there was a merger of the Polish and Lithuanian peoples into one people, one body, and therefore one head is installed for one body - one ruler and one glad. The magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania forced Sigismund II Augustus to disagree with the incorporation efforts of the Poles.

This behavior of the representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania caused indignation on the part of the Polish magnateria. Under her pressure, Sigismund II Augustus began

to carry out the plan of dismemberment of the ON and the annexation of its individual parts. On March 5, 1569, he announced the annexation of Podlasie to Poland and ordered the Podlasie ambassadors to swear allegiance to Poland under the threat of being deprived of their posts and privileges. On May 15, 1569, the annexation of Volhynia was announced. However, the Volyn ambassadors did not go to Lublin. Then the king promised to deprive them of their estates and threatened with exile. On pain of reprisals, the senators and ambassadors of Volhynia swore allegiance to Poland. In the same way, Podolia and Kiev region were annexed to Poland.The annexation of certain parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the Polish Crown was a betrayal of the Grand Duke of Lithuania in relation to his country, since he had no right to reduce the territory of the principality and issue legislative acts without the consent of the Rada nobles and the Diet. Moreover, ascending the throne, the Grand Duke took the oath and promised to act only in accordance with state laws.

Only Belarus and Lithuania remained in the GDL. On pain of the annexation of this part of the principality to Poland, ambassadors from Belarus and Lithuania returned to Lublin. Difficult, tiresome negotiations were going on. On June 28, 1569, on the day of the signing of the union, the elder Khodkevich of Zhmud spoke out, who asked the king not to destroy the principality, not to cause trouble for it: “We have now been brought to the point,” said Khodkevich, “that we must, with a humble request, fall at the feet of your lordship ... ”At these words, all the Belarusian-Lithuanian ambassadors knelt down. However, the king did not cancel the conditions of the union for the actual destruction of the principality. We can say that the representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania betrayed their country by signing the union, but they had no other choice, circumstances forced them to do so. This is the opinion of some researchers of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth.

people under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the unification of Ukraine with Russia in 1648-1654. The Belarusian lands were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Poles did not manage here - the acquisition of land, property and the receipt of state positions by foreigners, including Poles, was prohibited by the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1588.

In 1565-1566. in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, an administrative-territorial reform was carried out. According to this reform, the entire territory of Belarus was divided into voivodships, and those, in turn, into poviets. Among the Belarusian voivodeships and poets were Brest voivodeship (Brest, Pinsk povet), Vitebsk (Vitebsk, Orsha povet), Minsk (Minsk, Rechitsa, Mozyr povet), Mstislav (Mstislavsky povet, other povetas - non-Belarusian), Novogrudok, Volkovysogrud Slonim provinces), Vilna (Oshmyany, Lida, Braslav provinces, the rest of them are Lithuanian), Troki voivodeship (Grodno povet, the rest of the provinces are Lithuanian).

As a result of the administrative-territorial reform, the last autonomous principalities disappeared, which for a long time remained on the territory of Belarus - Kobrin, Yukhetskoye, Slutsko-Kopylskoye. At the same time, the chaos in the administrative-territorial division of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania intensified. In terrhetorias of poets and voivodships were wedged in by the kingdoms, which were ruled by the king through their administrators (economists) (hence the name "royal economy", or kingdoms). The latter were of two types: elders - state estates, which were given into the lifetime possession of one or another feudal lord (called the elders, hence the name “elders”), and canteens(palace) estates. In the headmen, the peasants served their duty in favor of the headman. The income from the dining rooms (palace) estates went to the king.

(Olelkovichi, Golyiansky, Radziwills, Czartorysky, Sapieha, etc.), 7 - Belarusian (Glebovichi, Valovichi, Tyshkevichi, Drutsky, Masalsky, etc.), 5 - Ukrainian, 2 were descendants of Rurikovich as local princes, etc.

As part of the Commonwealth, both states - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown - retained their former names, their governments, laws (Polish law did not apply to the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Statute of 1588 was in force there). There were independent judicial systems, local government bodies (administrations of voivodships and provinces), financial systems, armed forces, various state languages (on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1696.the state language was Old Belarusian). ThatThus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland retained their relative independence, autonomy within the Commonwealth.

Under favorable circumstances, the magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania sought to secede from the Commonwealth and achieve full independence. The statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1588 actually crossed out the Union of Lublin, limited admission to the principality of the Polish lords, defended the sovereignty and independence of the state. Janusz Radziwill led a conspiracy of Lithuanian magnates, who aimed at the secession of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the Commonwealth, during the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Polish lords under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1648-1654).Similar attempts were made by the magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Northern War of 1700-1721, as well as during the three partitions of the Commonwealth.

The foregoing allows some historians to conclude that the Rzeczpospolita is a confederate state in which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown retained their independence. At the same time, other historians consider the Rzeczpospolita to be a federal state, a union of equal state formations - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown. However, they regard this independence as relative, since there was a single body of legislative power - the Seim of the Commonwealth and a single ruler of the state - the Polish king. Both those and other historians have reasons for such

judgments. In our opinion, the Rzeczpospolita is a complex state formation with elements of federalism and confederation, where there was a strong tendency towards complete independence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Foreign policy. Wars II half. XVI - XVIII centuries

it from the time of the Krevo Union. This prompted the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to seek an agreement with Russia. In 1566, an embassy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was sent to Moscow, which invited Ivan the Terrible to partition Livonia, taking into account the current situation. Ivan the Terrible decided to continue the war. He was supported by the Zemsky Sobor in 1566.

Elected in 1576, the Polish king Stefan Batory forms a mercenary army and begins a counteroffensive against the Russian army in Livonia and Belarus. He recaptures Polotsk, liberates Livonia and transfers military operations to Russian territory proper. Having conquered Velikiye Luki and a number of small fortresses, Stefan Batory begins the siege of Pskov and dreams of a campaign against Novgorod and Moscow. However, the heroic defense of Pskov in 1581-1582. forced states weakened by the 25-year-old war to begin peace negotiations. According to the Yam-Zapolsk truce, concluded for 10 years, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth returned the captured Russian cities to Russia - Velikiye Luki, Kholm, Izborsk, Opochka, Sebezh, etc. Russia, in turn, renounced all the lands seized in Livonia and Belarus. The goal set by Russia - to find an outlet to the Baltic Sea - was not achieved. The goal of the Vatican was not achieved either: the spread of Catholicism to the East, the subordination of Russia to the Pope, the inclination of Ivan the Terrible to the union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

"Troubles" in the Russian state at the beginning of the 17th century. For three years (1600—1602), torrential rains fell in Russia in spring and summer, followed by early frosts in autumn. The poor harvest led to a terrible famine. In Moscow alone, over 120,000 people died in two years and four months. Hundreds of hungry and cold people roamed the roads of Russia. Unfortunately, Fyodor Ivanovich, the last Russian tsar from the Rurik dynasty, died in 1598. Boyar Boris Godunov came to power. In the Russian state, "troubles" began - the struggle of the boyars for power and the actions of the popular masses against the feudal lords, for the right to exist an independent state.

of walks in Russia, having moved to the Rzeczpospolita. The organizer of the campaign of False Dmitry I to Russia was Senator of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Yuri Mnishek, who helped the impostor to enlist the support of the Lithuanian Chancellor Lev Sapieha, meet with the Polish king Sigismund III and receive from him a promise to support the adventure on condition of the impostor's transition to Catholicism, which made it interested in the rooting of Catholicism. would be the Catholic circles of Krakow and Rome. But Chancellor L. Sapega resolutely rejected the offer to lead a campaign against Moscow, which forced Sigismund III to refrain from open intervention at that time. At the same time, the king, the magnates and the clergy financed the adventurer's intentions to seize the Moscow throne.

A new impetus to the "turmoil" was given by the death of Boris Godunov in 1605 and the election of his son Fyodor Borisovich as tsar. Under the young tsar, the boyars who were dissatisfied and offended by Boris Godunov raised their heads, some of them were returned from exile. The nobles began to go over to the side of "Tsarevich Dmitry", which cleared the way for the impostor to Moscow. The uprising of the common people opened the gates of Moscow. Tsar Fyodor was dethroned from the throne. On June 20, 1605, the impostor entered Moscow. Muscovites tolerated only a year, and then they overthrew False Dmitry I from the Moscow throne. He was executed, his body was burned, and the ashes were driven into a cannon and fired in the direction from which the impostor had come to Moscow. The boyars declared Vasily Shuisky to be the new Moscow tsar. He and his supporters began to pursue a course of restoring the old order, which was very displeasing to the common people. On the one hand, a peasant uprising begins under the leadership of Ivan Bolotnikov, and on the other, a new wave of movement rises under the banner of “the good Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich,” who supposedly escaped death for the second time. The companion of the first impostor, the nobleman Mikhail Molchanov, becomes False Dmitry II.

In January 1613, the Zemsky Sobor, consisting of the higher clergy, noblemen, townspeople, black-haired peasants and the boyar duma, elected 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov, the son of Patriarch Filaret, as tsar.

line of his wife was the brother-in-law of Ivan the Terrible. The Romanov dynasty began in Russian history.

The war between Russia and the Commonwealth of 1654-1667. This war began in May 1654. The central direction was the Smolensk direction, the main forces were operating here - more than 40 thousand people, led by the tsar. Already in July of this year, Russian troops captured Polotsk, then Vitebsk, in August Mogilev surrendered, in September, at the request of the population, Smolensk. In the south of Belarus, 20 thousand Cossacks were advancing, led by hetman Ivan Zolotorenko. The territory of Belarus has become the main theater of military operations.

The campaign of 1654 for the Russian army was successful: 33 cities were occupied. This success was not accidental. It is explained by the fact that the Orthodox part of the population was waiting for the Russian army as its liberator from the Catholic - Uniate offensive against the Orthodox and helped it by all possible means - from informing the Russian army about the movement of Polish troops to creating detachments and participating in hostilities on the side of the Russian army. The inhabitants of many cities surrendered to the Russian troops almost without resistance and swore allegiance to the Russian Tsar. This was the case in Polotsk, Mogilev, Orsha, Krichev and other cities. Tsarist diplomacy circulated a letter to Belarus in which the tsar promised the gentry and the clergy to preserve their rights and privileges, and guaranteed new possessions to those who would transfer to the tsarist service. The philistines of the Orthodox faith for the voluntary surrender of cities promised to reward the tsarist salary and ease tax pressure, the common people - the Belarusians of the Christian faith who do not oppose the tsarist troops - do not beat, do not rob, their wives and children are not

touch. Naturally, the tsarist favors did not extend to those who opposed the Russian troops with arms in their hands.

In 1657, Bohdan Khmelnitsky died, and he was replaced one by one by several hetmans who were supporters of Poland and Turkey and were striving to return Ukraine to the rule of the Turkish sultan. As a result, the position of the Russian troops in Belarus and Ukraine deteriorated significantly, and the war became protracted. Already in 1661 Russian troops left Minsk, Borisov, Mogilev. Exhausted statedignity in 1667 in the village of Andrusovo, located near Smolensk, signed an armistice for thirteen and a half years. According to the armistice, Russia regained the Smolensk voivodeship with all the counties and cities, the Starodubsky povet and the Chernigov voivodeship, the Left-Bank Ukraine. Kiev with its surroundings up to 1 mile was transferred to Russia for two years. The treaty provided for joint actions by Russia and the Commonwealth in connection with the growing threat of the Tatar-Turkish invasion.

In 1683, the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Turkey began. In 1686, an "eternal peace" was signed between Russia and the Commonwealth in Moscow, in which territorial changes were consolidated in accordance with the Andrusov armistice in 1667. Poland finally abandoned Kiev, having received monetary compensation. Russia broke off its relations with the Porte and pledged to send its troops to Crimea. Eternal Peace guaranteed freedom of religion for Orthodox Christians in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (in Belarus and Ukraine) and recognized Russia as the right to protect them.

which included the Belarusian lands. Therefore, perhaps, the statement about the "tragedy and national catastrophe" of the Rzeczpospolita without the words "most" and "first" would be more accurate, since they can hardly be scientifically proven by the author. As for the “consequences of the war”, about which G. Saganovich writes, we can say that the incomplete social structure of the Belarusian society and the Belarusian peasantry appeared not as a result of the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667, but as a result of the historical development of the Belarusian nationality in connection with the entry of Belarus first into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then into the Rzeczpospolita. The latter pursued a policy of polonization, Catholicization, and in fact the destruction of the Belarusian ethnos. This is what the authors do not want to admit, who write history not from a scientific standpoint, but from the standpoint of justifying any actions of the Polish authorities and unfounded accusations of the Russian state in everything.

In March 1700, the Danish army entered the Duchy of Holstein and captured almost all of its territory a month later. Charles XII came to the aid of Holstein with his army, andalso England and Holland. Together, they forced Denmark to recognize the sovereign rights of the duke over Holstein and not provide assistance to the enemies of Sweden. Thus, one of the allies of the anti-Swedish coalition was knocked out of the game. Remained August II and Peter I.

In August 1700, Russia declared war on Sweden. Russian troops besieged Narva, but in November 1700 they were utterly defeated by the Swedes. From this

In time, the territory of Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Belarus becomes the theater of military action. At the beginning of 1702, the Swedes broke into the territory of the Commonwealth, in April they occupied Vilno and Grodno, and in May - Warsaw. Karl HP defeated the Polish-Saxon army near Kliszew and Pultusk. The Commonwealth was going through a deep internal political crisis. The society was divided into opponents and supporters of the Swedes. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Sapegn went over to the Swedes in Potocki, who wanted to create a state independent from Poland. Oginsky and Vishnevetsky sought support from the Russian army. In 1704, supporters of August II united in the Sandomierz Confederation, which entered into an alliance with Russia and declared war on Sweden. In response, the Warsaw Confederation, organized by Charles XII, elected Stanislav Leshchinsky as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As for the masses, the majority of Belarusians, mostly Orthodox, greeted the Russian army amicably and helped as much as they could - from food to joint military operations.

In 1707, Russian troops again concentrated in Belarus. At the beginning

1708 Karl XII occupied Grodno and moved to Lida, Smorgon. The main forces of the Russian army withdrew from the Chashnikov and Beshenkovichi. Karl HP crossed the Berezina, and near the town of Golovchin (in the Mogilev region) on July 14, 1708, a battle took place in which the Russian army was defeated and withdrew for the Dnieper. The Swedes occupied Mogilev. This was the last victory of the Swedes in the Northern War.

In August 1700, Russia declared war on Sweden. Russian troops besieged Narva, but in November 1700 they were utterly defeated by the Swedes. Since that time, the territory of Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Belarus has become the theater of military operations. At the beginning of 1702, the Swedes broke into the territory of the Commonwealth, in April they occupied Vilno and Grodno, and in May - Warsaw. Charles XII defeated the Polish-Saxon army near Kliszew and Pultusk. The Commonwealth was going through a deep internal political crisis. The society was divided into opponents and supporters of the Swedes. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Sapieha and Pototskys went over to the side of the Swedes, who wanted to create a state independent from Poland. Oginsky and Vishnevetsky sought support from the Russian army. In 1704, supporters of August II united in the Sandomierz Confederation, which entered into an alliance with Russia and declared war on Sweden. In response, the Warsaw Confederation,

organized by Charles XII, elected Stanislav Leshchinsky as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As for the masses, the majority of Belarusians, mostly Orthodox, greeted the Russian army amicably and helped as much as they could - from food to joint military operations.

In the summer of 1706, Charles XII burst into Saxony, where, after a series of military victories, he forced August II to secretly sign from Russia in September 1706 the Altranstatt Peace Treaty (near Leipzig). August II renounced the Polish crown in favor of Stanislav Leszczynski, from an alliance with Russia,I was able to recall the Saxons from the Russian army and hand over to Charles XII all the Russians who were in the Saxon army, to give the Polish fortresses of Krakow, Tikotin, etc. to the Swedes.

In 1707, Russian troops again concentrated in Belarus. At the beginning of 1708 Karl XII occupied Grodno and moved to Lida, Smorgon. The main forces of the Russian army withdrew from the Chashnikov and Beshenkovichi. Charles XII crossed the Berezina, and near the town of Golovchin (in the Mogilev region) on July 14, 1708, a battle took place, in which the Russian army was defeated and withdrew for the Dnieper. The Swedes occupied Mogilev. This was the last victory of the Swedes in the Northern War.

a supporter of the Polish orientation by the Ukrainian hetman I. Mazepa, and in mid-September 1708 he turned to Ukraine. The 16-thousandth corps of A. Levengaupt left Riga to join the main forces of Charles XII.

The general battle of the Northern War was the Battle of Poltava, in which the Swedish army was defeated on July 8, 1709. Charles XII and Mazepa fled to Turkey. The alliance of Russia with Denmark and Saxony was renewed. Stanislav Leshchinsky left for Pomerania, and August II returned to Warsaw. The hostilities were moved to the Baltics and Northern Germany. In 1710 Russian troops occupied Livonia and Estonia, captured Riga, Pernov (Pärnu) and Revel. Due to the "contradictions with Russia, especially on the issue of control over Livonia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth temporarily suspended active actions against Sweden. In 1713, Russian troops occupied Finland, together with the allies, took possession of almost all of Pomerania.

These were the main wars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the second half of the ХУ1-ХУШ centuries.

Beresteyskaya Church Union of 1596 Unity in Belarus

The lands of the Belarusian people were historically located at the intersection of two civilizations: Slavic-Orthodox and Western, that is, in fact, it was a fault line of civilizations. Since the most serious conflict for the world community is the conflict between peoples of different civilizations, the history of the Belarusian lands contains many features in its historical development. One of these Conflicts, of course, became religion. One of the features of religious development was the influence of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. Their rivalry led to the need to consolidate a state that was completely disunited on this basis. Thus, the Uniate Church was formed - the specificity of the religious-ecclesiastical and socio-political life of the Belarusian people.
The Brest Church Union was an ambiguous event in the history of our country, therefore it is difficult to consider it separately, since it is closely related to the social, cultural and political situation in the country. A lot of literature and research by historians from different countries are devoted to the church union. It is interpreted in different ways and is given an ambiguous assessment. The task of this work is to consider the prerequisites for the emergence of the union, the tasks that were posed to it, its content and influence on the course of history.

Uniate idea in ON
Catholicism began to penetrate the Grand Duchy of Lithuania even before the Union of Krevo. After its conclusion in 1385, a mass baptism of Lithuanians began to take place, and Catholicism, like Orthodoxy, became statereligion. Despite this, the Orthodox Church remained in the GDL a rather influential church-ideological and socio-political institution, behind which was the majority of representatives of different classes and common people. The dominant role of the culture of the Slavic ethnos and the state position of the Belarusian language were a powerful support for the Orthodox faith in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The position of Orthodoxy began to deteriorate sharply after the Gorodelsky decree of 1413, according to which only persons of the Roman Catholic faith were appointed to high government positions in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
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At the same time, the grand dukes understood that the bi-religiousness of the main population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was fraught with a certain socio-political danger. In this regard, the emergence of the idea of union was a natural phenomenon. When the Moscow Metropolitan Cyprian Tsamblak visited Vilno in 1396, a conversation took place between him and Jagailo about the need for a union between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. The king and the metropolitan turned to the Patriarch of Constantinople, who supported this idea, but considered it necessary to postpone its implementation.
Vytautas' ecclesiastical policy followed from his nationwide activities. The desire for church autonomy and union was part of his domestic and foreign policy.
At the beginning of 1414, a meeting of the Belarusian-Ukrainian bishops took place, at which Vitovt nominated his candidate, Grigory Tsamblak, an outstanding church and cultural figure, to the metropolitan throne. In the fall of 1414, at a council of Orthodox church hierarchs of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Gregory Tsamblak was elected metropolitan. He went to Constantinople to be confirmed as the patriarch, but he was outstripped by the Moscow protege Photius.
At the beginning of 1415, Vitovt again convened a council, at which he persuaded the Belarusian and Ukrainian bishops, without the patriarch's sanction, to appoint Tsamblak to the metropolitanate, which was done on November 15 of the same year in Novogrudok. In 1418, at the head of a large delegation, Gregory Tsamblak went to Constanta, where the 16th Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church was to be held, in order to achieve a more or less close union between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. In his speeches at the cathedral, Tsamblak called for the restoration of the former unity of Christianity. But his plan to create an equal union between the Catholic and Orthodox branches of Christianity was not accepted by either the Pope or the majority of Orthodox bishops.
During the reign of Kazimir Yagailovich (1447-1482), a new, rather successful attempt was made to create Orthodox autocephaly. In 1458, Casimir agreed to establish a separate Orthodox metropolis for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Grigory was appointed to manage the Belarusian-Ukrainian church. After his death in 1473, Bishop Misail (1475-1480), who was a supporter of the union, became the Belarusian-Ukrainian metropolitan. Misail was supported by two of the most influential Orthodox organizations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and the Vilensky Holy Trinity Monastery, which in 1476 were sent to Pope Sixtus IV

a written request for the need to unite the two churches.
Since 1480, a fairly democratic procedure for appointing Orthodox metropolitans was established in the GDL: with the consent of the Grand Duke, they were elected by the cathedral, and the patriarchal initiation was received on the spot from the patriarchal exarch. The Belarusian-Ukrainian metropolitans lived mainly in Vilna, but formally, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was considered their residence. At the end of the 15th century. again an attempt was made to implement the Uniate idea, initiated by the Belarusian-Ukrainian Metropolitan, Bishop Joseph of Smolensk (1497 - 1501). He came into contact with Pope Alexander VI. At the same time, the Roman Catholic side identified a number of dogmatic differences that hindered the unification. The Orthodox had to:
1. not to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son;
2. to partake of leavened bread;
3. to use not only grape, but also berry wine;
4. Communicate everyone, even babies;
5. not recognize purgatory;
6. to recognize the primacy of the Pope.
XV - first half of the XVI century. in the GDL there was a certain stabilization of the internal socio-political, religious-church and spiritual-cultural life.
A number of legal acts and privileges were adopted, which equalized the rights of Orthodox and Catholics, and gradually established an atmosphere of religious tolerance in the country. The position of the Orthodox improved significantly under the Grand Duke Zhigimont I (1506-1548). During the years of his reign, the number of Orthodox monasteries increased significantly (from 30 to 50). The number of Orthodox churches in Vilna increased to 20, in Pinsk - up to 12, in Polotsk - up to 7, in Grodno - up to 6.
The dominant principle of religious tolerance became during the reign of the Grand Duke and King Zhigimont II Augustus (1544-1572). An important role in establishing this principle of public life of the GDL was played by the reformation-humanist movement, which embraced not only the Catholic, but also the Orthodox population of the GDL, primarily the magnates and the gentry. It persuaded the king to issue a series of decrees that enshrined the principle of religious tolerance as a legal norm. So, at the Diet in Vilna in 1563, Zhigimont II issued his famous decree, which established the equality of the Orthodox and Catholic gentry. After the death of the king, the Warsaw Confederation was adopted (1573), which proclaimed the equality of all Christian denominations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania -

Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant - and as a legal norm was enshrined in the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1588.
This relatively short period of time in public life is often called the “golden age”, the century of relative religious freedom and social balance, which pointed the nation to a different, humanistic, liberal-democratic model of life, the basis of which could be religious tolerance, intellectual freedom, rejection of the spiritual and religious compulsion. Therefore, abandoning this liberal model and turning to a unitary model of religious and intellectual life turned into a real tragedy for the Belarusian-Ukrainian people and caused a powerful conflict.
Thus, in the complex of prerequisites and reasons for the emergence and development of the idea of concluding the Union of Brest, the following stand out:
1. The decline of the Orthodox Church on the one hand; the offensive of militant Catholicism, coming to Belarus from Poland - on the other; Moscow's declaration of its religious and cultural exclusivity after the creation in 1589 of its own patriarchy - from the third. All this forced the local leaders of Christianity to seek a religious alternative to Orthodoxy and Catholicism in the form of a religious consolidation of the people.
2. The process of the formation of the Belarusian and Ukrainian nationalities, which needed to stand out in religious terms, was coming to an end. The emergence of the national Belarusian church in the form of Uniatism fully fit into the cultural and historical process of that time.
3.The conclusion of the Brest Union was preceded by a specific linguistic situation: the penetration of the Polish language into social life, the culture of Belarus; artificial support by the Orthodox Church of the Church Slavonic language; and most importantly, the interest revived by the Reformationnational language.
4.In the post-Lyublinsky period, the national and cultural potential of the Belarusian nation has significantly weakened. Therefore, in Uniatism, one can consider the “salvation” of national forms of culture in the face of the threat of denationalization, the path to the spiritual revival of the Belarusian society and the strengthening of its cultural and religious peculiarities and isolation.

The signing of the union, its conditions and content
The draft union, consisting of 33 articles, which provided that in

Created by the Uniate Church, the rites of service of the Greek Orthodox Church will be preserved, the Uniate clergy will enjoy the same rights as the Catholic, the Uniate priests will be able to have their families, and not be celibate, as the priest was sent to the Roman curia. At the same time, supporters of the union were delegated to Rome.
In December 1595, the idea of creating a Uniate church was blessed by Pope Clement VII, and in January 1596 he signed a project to create a church union.
The Metropolitan of Kiev, with the consent of the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, announced the convocation on October 6, 1596. In Brest, the church council for the final approval of the provisions of the church union.
In addition to the Catholic and Orthodox clergy, some representatives of provinces, counties and cities also gathered at the council. However, many magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania declined to participate in the cathedral. On the very first day of the council, the delegates were divided into supporters and opponents of the union, who could not come to any joint decisions and created two councils.
On October 8, 1596, the Uniate Cathedral solemnly announced the Brest Church Union and the creation of a new Uniate Church.
The second council - a council of opponents of the union, refused to conclude a union. From among the highest clergy of the Orthodox Church, two Orthodox bishops (Peremyshl and Lvov) took part in it, as well as the Kiev voivode Prince Constantin Ostrozhsky and representatives of the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Moscow.
The Uniate Council adopted a decision according to which the priests who did not accept the union were deprived of their ecclesiastical dignities. Opponents of the union at their council also symbolically defrocked the Uniate metropolitan and bishops.
Both councils appealed to the supreme secular authorities of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to recognize the legality of their decisions. The King of the Republic of Poland and the Grand Duke Zhigimont III Vaza supported the supporters of the union. Most of the Belarusian and Ukrainian gentry supported the idea of creating a Uniate church.
Thus, the union had not only religious, but also state and legal significance. However, instead of consolidating society and peace between confessions, it only exacerbated the struggle between them. The highest ranks of the Catholic Church in Poland opposed many of the provisions of the union. Barriers were created for the Uniates to occupy the highest government positions in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The activity and influence on the Orthodox population on the part of the Moscow Patriarchate intensified. Union not

supported by a significant part of the townspeople of the Grand Duchy.
But gradually Uniatism found more and more supporters in the 18th century. on the Belarusian lands it became a massive religious movement (70-75% of the peasants were Uniates).
The essence of the conditions of the ecclesiastical union adopted at the council was as follows:
The Western Russian rulers recognize the need for the unity of the Church, especially now, when, as a result of its division, heresies and unrest have multiplied.
Having lost faith in the fact that the Eastern Patriarchs subject to the Turks will take care of the union, they (i.e. the Russian rulers) take the initiative and recognize the supremacy of the Pope. At the same time, some Catholic dogmas are accepted in full, others in a somewhat softened form towards Orthodoxy (the dogma about the origin of the Holy Spirit).
Orthodox rites and church order remain inviolable. Conversion of Uniate monasteries to Catholic ones is prohibited.
The organization of Russian schools and printing houses under the supervision of bishops is permitted. Mixed marriages are allowed.
Episcopal sees are replaced by the king from among candidates elected by the clergy; the metropolitan is ordained by the bishops, and from the pope he receives approval.
Uniate hierarchs enjoy all the privileges of the Catholic clergy, namely: they participate in the Senate and the Diet and are exempted from all taxes, and the Uniate laity can hold any office.
All monasteries are run by bishops. Neither secular authorities nor lay people have the right to interfere in the relationship of bishops to priests.
Brotherhoods, if they accept union, can exist under the condition of obedience to the metropolitan and bishops. The privileges granted to them by the patriarchs are destroyed.
Any dependence on the Greek hierarchs is rejected, and they themselves are not allowed into the Commonwealth, as they can interfere with the union and cause civil strife. Do not attach any importance to their curses about union, their letters. Persons who will receive initiations from them should not be recognized or allowed to cross the borders of the state.
The government is obliged to take measures to ensure that the clergy who do not accept the union could not fulfill their duties, and that the people protest against the unification of the churches.
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Thus, after a long preparation of various versions of the text of the union and their agreement with the requirements of both sides, at the Brest Church Council, which opened on October 6, 1596, the final version of the union was approved and adopted. In parallel with the Brest Cathedral, an Orthodox Cathedral was opened with the participation of Orthodox opponents of the union, headed by K. Ostrog and Protestants. The struggle between the opponents of the union and the Uniates went on in different directions (both constitutional and illegal). The opponents launched a real anti-Uniate protest, having in their ranks the Cossacks and forcing the government to make some concessions to the Orthodox population.

The results of the Beresteyskaya Church Union and the fate of the Uniate Church.
So, although a certain part of the Belarusian-Ukrainian society supported the idea of union, its majority, primarily Orthodox, rejected it. Despite the fact that the union had quite substantial and organic spiritual and cultural roots in the life of the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples, its Brest version, which was being prepared in secret from the general public, had a pronounced political connotation. In essence, it envisaged the disappearance of Orthodoxy as an independent religious denomination within the Rzeczpospolita, the rupture of traditional spiritual and cultural ties. It provided for the decree, administrative-command introduction of the union, which, in a situation where most of the society refused to accept it, turned into coercion, violence and almost led to a civil war.
The Union set one of its tasks to separate the Western Orthodoxy from the Eastern. But the government of the Republic of Poland was unable to protect either the property or the religious rights of the Belarusian Orthodox. As a result, this led to the opposite effect: they began to seek protection in Russia.

As a result of the Brest Church Union in 1596, the Uniate Church was created. In Russian and Belarusian historiography, there are few serious studies on the history of the Uniate Church. There are the following points of view regarding the Uniate Church.

The Uniate Church is seen as the result of the defeat of the Jesuits and other monastic Catholic orders (Bernardines, Franciscans,

Dominicans, Carmelites, etc.) on the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands. When they failed to catholicize the inhabitants of these lands, the Pope, together with the Polish Catholic clergy, went for a trick and created the Uniate Church with the same goal of catholicizing Belarusians and Ukrainians.

Unreasonably, without scientific arguments, with disdain for the "obsolete Church Slavic system" the Grodno historian S.V. Morozova in the book “History of Belarus” asserts that the Orthodox clergy “pursued a policy of spiritual and cultural isolation of Belarus from the Western world. Those who wanted to lead their peoples along the path of European progress, went to establish a dialogue with the West. Union promised to join the rich intellectual achievements ... and the emergence in the form of Uniatism of the Belarusian and Ukrainian national churches. "

Other historians believe that Rome was not interested in the polonization of Belarusians through Catholicism, Poland and Polish feudal lords became stronger. It was decided to spread the union using the Belarusian national soil, the Belarusian language and culture. This is how the Belarusian national church - the Uniate church - was created.

The Uniate Church is a symbol of the independence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Catholic Church was oriented towards the Rzeczpospolita, the Orthodox towards Moscow. Therefore, the magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had the idea to create their own church, which would be independent of the Commonwealth and the Russian state and would be a symbol of the independence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Uniate Metropolitan Joseph Rutsky, according to S.V. Morozova, "sought to unite Orthodox and Uniates within the framework of one church organization and administrative independence from Moscow, Constantinople and Rome by creating his own patriarchy." The most scientifically grounded is the view of the Uniate Church and the Church Union of 1596 as a continuation of Catholic expansion, Catholic aggression on the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands in order to catholicize the population. The Uniate Church is a means of Catholicizing Belarusians and Ukrainians. Polish and radical Belarusian historians do not adhere to this point of view for obvious reasons.

Arguments in favor of the point of view that the Uniate Church is a means of Catholicizing Belarusians and Ukrainians.

The Uniate Church was subordinate to the Pope, and the rituals in it were initially the same. The solution, as you can see, is a compromise. When it was not possible to convert Belarusians to Catholicism immediately, by the method of assault, with the help of Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans and other monastic orders, in Rome they decided to go for a trick: to do this gradually, unnoticed by the people, deceive the illiterate rural population and convert it to Catholicism over time. And this plan was a success: the peasants, the urban lower classes, the bourgeoisie, part of the small and middle gentry accepted the Uniatism. Therefore, the Uniate Church is sometimes called the "Khlosskaya church", and its believers are called the people of the "Khlopian faith." The magnates and the majority of the Belarusian gentry turned to the state church - the Catholic Church.

Uniatism was introduced forcibly, with the support of the Polish king and the Polish state, sometimes with calls to destroy the Orthodox like mad dogs. The Polish king Sigismund III Vasa gave the richest Orthodox monasteries and parishes to the Uniates and appointed them to high government posts. Opponents of the union were persecuted, insulted, excommunicated from parishes, put on trial on false denunciations, sometimes ended their lives in shackles. Entire Orthodox districts were left without priests, churches were closed or destroyed, some turned into shanks or stables.

The compulsory introduction of union is also evidenced by the fact that the Polish authorities and the polished gentry leased Orthodox churches to other Jews of other faiths, whose parishioners did not accept church unity. Christian believers were obliged to ask the tenant for the keys to the temple, pay for christenings, funerals, the performance of a Christian marriage ceremony, etc., listen to offensive words about Christian worship. And all this was done with the consent of the Polish authorities.

The forcible introduction of Uniatism provoked strong resistance from the Orthodox population. One can cite the fact of the murder in Vitebsk in 1623 of priest Josaphat Kuntsevich and his associates for the closure of Orthodox churches in Polotsk, Vitebsk, Orsha and Mogilev, for violence and calls to drown, cut, hang,

to burn Orthodox believers at the stake as evil and incorrigible heretics. The Royal Commission for participation in the murder sentenced 75 people to death. Vitebsk was deprived of the Magdeburg Law and all previously granted rights and privileges. Military administration was introduced in the city, the veche bell was removed.

However, the resistance of the Orthodox population continued. In the XVII century. it was so strong that at times those who introduced Uniatism lost heart. A striking example of the armed struggle against the Polish-Catholic expansion is the struggle of the Ukrainian Cossacks under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in 1648-1649. This struggle also covered the southern regions of Belarus. The religious factor played a well-known role in the wars between Russia and the Commonwealth of the 17th century. First, Russia has always had a reason to start a war: forshield of the Orthodox population of White Russia and Ukraine. Secondly, the Orthodox population, which was persecuted by Catholics and Uniates, sometimes turned to Russia for protection and support, met the Russian troops as liberators from the Polish-Catholic expansion and supported the Russian army. Thirdly, a number of evidences are known about the desire of the population of Belarusian cities and towns to become part of Russia. This was stated by residents of Gomel in 1672, Borisov and Vitebsk in 1702, etc.

Nevertheless, the Polish-Catholic expansion in Belarus was carried out successfully. The number of Catholic parishes doubled, Catholic monastic orders opened new churches and monasteries. The laws of the Commonwealth of 1668-1674. Another blow was dealt to Orthodoxy: apostasy from Catholicism and Uniatism was declared a criminal offense and was subject to punishment by expulsion from the state. Was broken and such a form of resistance to Catholic expansion, as the Orthodox brotherhoods, which published books at their own expense, carried out a large propaganda work directed against the union. By the XVIII century. the activities of Orthodox brotherhoods ceased. At the end of the 18th century. more than 75% of the population of Belarus were Uniates. There is only one Orthodox diocese left in Belarus - in Mogilev. She, like the Kiev Metropolitanate, was subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate. Orthodox Church, preserved as small islands, continued to live and fight for its future.

The degree of Romanization of the Uniate Church was different. In some churches

divine services were conducted in Polish, and the address to the people was done in the Belarusian language, in others the Belarusian language prevailed both in divine services and in addressing believers; in the Uniate churches, the main language was Polish. Isolated cases of addressing believers in the Belarusian language in worship are unreasonably used by some historians to assert the thesis that the Uniate Church is a Belarusian church.

The fact that there was a process of romanization of the Uniate Church, the introduction of Catholic rituals, is evidenced by the decisions of the Zamoysk Church Council of 1720. In accordance with it, the rite of the Uniate Church was finally translated into a Catholic way: various attributes of the Catholic rite were introduced, the priests were obliged to shave their beards, change the robe to cassock.

The Uniate Church was liquidated by the decision of the Polotsk Church Council in 1839. It was transformed into an Orthodox one. Catholic expansion to the Belarusian lands was defeated. Believers of the Belarusian lands returned to their Orthodox origins.

The political crisis of the Commonwealth and the three sections of its territory.Incorporation of Belarusian lands into the Russian Empire

The aggregate internal and external reasons led to the fall Commonwealth and its destruction by more powerful neighboring states -Russia, Prussia and Austria.

First. Betrayal of the Grand Duke of Lithuania SigismundOn August II of his country during the signing of the Union of Lublin in 1569, the violence of the Polish gentry against a long-term ally laid a shaky foundation for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The whole history of the Commonwealth from Lublin and up to its three sections is the history of the struggle of magnates, gentry, the people of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a bloody and bloodless struggle, diplomatic and political for their stateroyalty, for the right to exist for the country. This struggle weakened the Commonwealth and made it easy prey for neighboring states. Union of Lublin - the beginning of the death of the Commonwealth.

Second. The reason for the death of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was its political system and, above all, the well-known "golden gentry liberties": the election of a king, Ras ta conventa (conditions for the election of the king), liberum veto , confederation, "rokoshi". The election of the king was accompanied by bribery, corruption, such concepts as morality, conscience, civic duty, patriotism, etc. gradually disappeared from public consciousness. The Saxon ambassador to the Warsaw court of Essen wrote: in order to dig under your homeland. Every day in Poland ... malicious bankruptcies of merchants and nobles, reckless gambling, robberies, all kinds of desperate actions ... the fourth sells the estate, which he never owned, the fifth takes bills of exchange from the creditor, tears them apart and at the same time orders the creditor to be beaten, the sixth seizes another man's wife, takes her home and shamelessly rapes her. I freeze at the thought, - Essen further writes, - that the Elector will impose on me the obligation to name him among the Poles three noble persons and, at the same time, conscientious, I cannot name him a single one ”.

The decisions of the king and the Diet could be rejected by the gentry. The nobility was characterized by such diseases as talkativeness, insane narcissism, absurd self-confidence. The nobleman knew only obedience to God and himself. Voivodship and povet noble seimiks ceased to be considered decisions of the Polish Sejm. As a result, the state power was weakened, and the gentry was strengthened, administrative management, spirituality and civic conscience fell into decay. Unlimited "gentry democracy" ruined the Rzeczpospolita. Third. Erroneous religious policy, Latinization of the Uniate Church after the Brest Church Union of 1569, the threatOrthodoxy and the Orthodox population, the desire to unite with the Russian people - all this led to a split in society and weakened the state - Rzeczpospolita.

Fourth. The combination of national and religious oppression with feudal oppression is another reason for the political crisis. Peasant uprising in Krichevskythe elder of the 40s. XVIII century, peasants in the Mozyr district (1745), the Gomel eldership (1747), in the Chechersk and other elders, shook the Rzeczpospolita, driving it into a coffin.

Fifth. The struggle between the magnates Radziwills, Sapieha, Pats, Vishnevetsky, Oginsky and others for power contributed to the deepening of the political crisis. In the 18th century, a new feature of political life appeared - the appeal of magnates and gentry for help to neighboring states to resolve internal affairs. The Polish gentry is divided into Russian, French, Swedish, Austrian and other groups, the country falls into the abyss of anarchy, anarchy, chaos and lawlessness. Neighboring countries (Russia, Prussia, Austria) in such a situation are drawn into the "domestic affairs" of the Commonwealth, in the resolution of Polish disputes, often with the help of the armed forces. The omnipotence of local magnates, their lack of control of the central government, the right to have castles and their own troops weakened the state. This ultimately led to the death of the Commonwealth.

Sixth. The lack of a powerful army from the Polish king (the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had only 16 thousand soldiers, Russia - 300 thousand soldiers) is another reason for the death of the state. The magnates and the Catholic clergy feared that a strong state and a strong army would not give them the opportunity to influence state affairs and rule the country. The gentry was afraid of peasants joining the army, as they believed that a strong army would be an obstacle for the "golden gentry liberties", for their

dominant position in the country. Historical experience shows that when the state and people do not want to maintain a strong own army, they will support (feed) someone else's army. And so it happened with the Commonwealth.

The patriots of the Commonwealth tried to somehow stop the agony of the country. In 1764. The Czartoryski convocation Diet tried to carry out moderate reforms of the state system: to limit liberum veto , weaken the dependence of deputies on the instructions of local seimiks, streamline the courts, finances, and increase the army. However, they affected the gentry liberties and therefore immediately provoked a decisive rebuff from the reactionaries.forces of the country, as well as Prussia and Russia. With the support of the Russian ambassador Repnin, the dissidents created confederations: Protestant in Torun and Orthodox in Slutsk. A 40,000-strong Russian army came to their aid, enjoying the right to protect the Orthodox in the Commonwealth. In 1768, Catholic fanatics created a confederation in Bar (in Ukraine) with the aim of opposing the influence of the Russian empress in Poland. Burst into flames Civil War, in which the confederate movement was strangled with the help of the Russian army.

At the suggestion of the Prussian king Frederick II the Great, on August 5, 1772, a convention was signed in St. Petersburg on the division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between Russia, Prussia and Austria. The territory of Eastern Belarus went to Russia. The Polotsk and Mogilev provinces were created on the annexed lands.

The first partition of the Commonwealth sobered the Polish magnates and the gentry. On May 3, 1791, the Sejm adopted the Constitution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which abolished the election of kings, liberum veto and the right to confederation. Legislative power belonged to a bicameral Diet, which was elected for two years and made decisions by a majority vote. The government, army and budget were declared common for the entire Rzeczpospolita. The Constitution once again proclaimed the complete merger of Poland with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single indivisible organism.

Undoubtedly, the Constitution was progressive in nature. The influence of the Great French bourgeois revolution was felt, more favorable conditions were created for the development of the country's productive forces.

Opponents of the constitution rose to fight, in May 1792 in the town of Torgovitsa (Ukraine) they created a confederation and proclaimed an act on the protection of the Catholic religion and the previous order of governing the country. The Confederates called on Catherine II to help. Civil war broke out again, in which the king joined the Confederates and opposed the Constitution and previous reforms.

In 1793. The second division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place - between Russia and Prussia. Central Belarus, the remnants of the Polotsk (on the left bank of the Zapadnaya Dvina River) and Vitebsk Voivodeships, the Minsk Voivodeship, the eastern parts of the Novogrudok and Brest Voivodeships, the Braslav and Oshmyany povetas, went to Russia. The Minsk province was created on this territory.

The second section of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth aroused anger and protest from various strata of the gentry. In March 1794, an uprising began in Krakow led by Lieutenant General Tadeusz Kosciuszko. The main goal of this uprising was the revival of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within the framework of 1772. For the Belarusian people, this meant the final Catholicization and polonization of the Belarusian region.

Tadeusz Kosciuszko on the first day of the uprising addressed an appeal to the army, citizens, clergy and women, in which he called to defend freedom and the Fatherland. In May 1794, the Polonets universal was published, declaring the peasants personally free, but without land.

The uprising spread to Lithuania. In April 1794, the rebels captured Vilna and created the highest parliament of the Lithuanian people, headed by the Vilna commandant, Colonel Yakub Yasinsky. The Rada created the governing bodies of the uprising (deputations). Soon the whole of Belarus and Lithuania were engulfed in the flames of the uprising, which was joined by a part of the peasants, who believed the promises of T. Kosciuszko to free them from feudal oppression. As the fulfillment of the promise was delayed, the peasants began to leave the ranks of the rebels.

The fate of the Commonwealth was decided in the battle between the Polish and Russian troops, which took place at Matiowice (near Warsaw). T. Kosciuszko was captured, and the Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops were sent to Warsaw. The last king Commonwealth August IV (Stanislav Poniatovsky) abdicated the throne.

In 1795 the third division of the Rzecz Pospolita took place. Russia received Western Belarus (Brest region and Grodno region) and Eastern Lithuania (Vilensk region), as well as Ukraine up to the Western Bug. The Slonim and Vilenskaya provinces were created on the Belarusian lands.

As a result of three sections (1772, 1793, 1795) of the Commonwealth, the territory of Belarus with a population of about 3.3 million people went to Russia.

The Commonwealth as a state ceased to exist. It was absent on the political map of Europe until 1918, the year of the end of the First World War. In the Polish historical-graphy Poland 1569-1795. called the first Commonwealth, Poland 1918-1939. - the second Commonwealth,Poland 1944-1990 (Polish Onnative Republic) - the third Rzeczpospolita and, finally, modern Poland since 1990 is called the fourth Rzeczpospolita Oh.

Literature

Kovkel I.I., Yarmusik E.S. History of Belarus from ancient times to our time. - Minsk: "Aversev", 2000. - 592 p.
History of Belarus. From ancient times to 2010: textbook. manual /E.K. Novik, I.L. Kachalov, N.E. Novik, ed. E.K. Novik. - 2nded., rev. - Minsk: Vysh. shk., 2011. - 526 p.
History of Belarus (in the context of world civilizations): textbook. - method. allowance. At 2 o'clock, Part 1. From ancient times to the end of the 18th century. / L. S. Scriabin; Ministry of Education Resp. Belarus, Belarus. state un-t transp. - Gomel: BelGUT, 2008 .-- 216 p.

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1. The Union of Lublin. Creation of the Commonwealth. State, legal and political status of the Belarusian lands within the Commonwealth

Promising aid to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the war with the Russian state, the Poles were in a hurry to carry out their political plans. In 1563 at the Warsaw Diet, they drew up a declaration on the unification of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Poland and invited the Lithuanian representatives at the Diet to sign it and affix it with a seal. At the Diet of 1564, the Poles demanded that Sigismund II Augustus give up his rights to the principality in favor of Poland and give the Poles the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the same time, a "reces" (Sejm decree) was spread, allegedly at the Warsaw Sejm there was a merger of the Polish and Lithuanian peoples into one people, one body, and therefore one head is installed for one body - one ruler and one glad. The magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania forced Sigismund II Augustus to disagree with the incorporation efforts of the Poles.

Only Belarus and Lithuania remained in the GDL. On pain of the annexation of this part of the principality to Poland, ambassadors from Belarus and Lithuania returned to Lublin. Difficult, tiresome negotiations were going on. On June 28, 1569, on the day of the signing of the union, the headman of Zhmud Khodkevich spoke out, who asked the king not to destroy the principality, not to cause trouble for it: “We have now been brought to the point,” said Khodkevich, “that we must, with a humble request, fall at the feet of your lordship ... "At these words, all the Belarusian-Lithuanian ambassadors knelt down. However, the king did not cancel the conditions of the union for the actual destruction of the principality. We can say that the representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania betrayed their country by signing the union, but they had no other choice, circumstances forced them to do so. This is the opinion of some researchers of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth.

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Turkish feudal aggression against the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, which intensified in the second half of the 17th century, led to dire consequences for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the end of 1666 and the beginning of 1667, the Crimean Tatars, acting on the orders of the Port ...

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