Political prerequisites for the strengthening of the power of the grand dukes of Moscow in the XV–XVI centuries

Abstract

The article draws attention to the impact of changes in the size of the territory of the state and the social structure of society on the organization of state unity. It is proved that changes in the organization of the fight against local robberies occurred gradually and not simultaneously throughout the state. The restriction of the privileges of large patrimonial officials (serving princes) in the field of the court went hand in hand with the creation of local institutions for the implementation of the court for serious crimes, and the powers of this court were transferred from the breadwinners/kormlenshchiks appointed by the Grand Duke (later tsar) elected by the population. Along the way, attention is drawn to the high level of literacy of the local population of cities and municipalities, the elected ones of which conducted record-keeping on crimes, and then, from the middle of the XVI century, on fiscal matters. Attention is drawn to the fact that the combination of the central and local apparatus since the beginning of the XVII century was based not only on the sad experience of the Time of Troubles/Smutnoe vremya, but also took into account the need to change the management of places due to the sharply increased territory of the state, which objectively required increased centralization. It is emphasized that by the beginning of the XVII century a central bureaucratic management apparatus has already been formed, and during the Oprichnina and the Time of Troubles, changes took place in the nature of land ownership.

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