Urban culture of medieval Europe. Medieval urban culture. Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation
The term "Middle Ages" originated in the Renaissance. The thinkers of the Italian Renaissance understood it as a gloomy "middle" age in the development of European culture, a time of general decline, lying in the middle between the brilliant era of antiquity and the Renaissance itself, a new flowering of European culture, the revival of ancient ideals. And although later, in the era of romanticism, a “bright image” of the Middle Ages arose, about
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………3
2. Urban culture……………………………………………………………4
Conclusion……………………………………………………….………………..8
References……………………………………………….……………9
The work contains 1 file
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
FEDERAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
IZHEVSK STATE AGRICULTURAL
ACADEMY
FACULTY OF LIFELONG PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
Control work on cultural studies
On the topic: "Urban culture of the Middle Ages."
Checked by: Associate Professor, Ph.D. F.N. diarrhea
Completed by: I.V. Lukasevich
Specialty: ECU
gr. 50, code 10050133
Izhevsk 2011
Introduction………………………………………………………………………3
1. The emergence of “urban culture”………………………………………..4
2. Urban culture…………………………………………………………… 4
3. The role of the medieval city in the development of culture………………………..6
Conclusion…………………………………………………….………………..8
References……………………………………………….……………9
Introduction:
The term "Middle Ages" originated in the Renaissance. The thinkers of the Italian Renaissance understood it as a gloomy "middle" age in the development of European culture, a time of general decline, lying in the middle between the brilliant era of antiquity and the Renaissance itself, a new flowering of European culture, the revival of ancient ideals. And although later, in the era of romanticism, a “bright image” of the Middle Ages arose, both of these assessments of the Middle Ages created extremely one-sided images of this most important stage in the development of Western European culture. Culturologists call the Middle Ages a long period in the history of Western Europe between Antiquity and New Time. This period covers more than a millennium from the 5th to the 15th centuries. Within the millennial period of the Middle Ages, it is customary to distinguish at least three periods. This is:
Early Middle Ages, from the beginning of the era to 900 or 1000 years (up to the 10th - 11th centuries);
High (Classical) Middle Ages. From the X-XI centuries to about the XIV century;
Late Middle Ages, 14th and 15th centuries.
1. The birth of "urban culture".
During this period, the so-called “urban literature” was rapidly developing, which was characterized by a realistic depiction of urban everyday life of various segments of the urban population, as well as the appearance of satirical works. Representatives of urban literature in Italy were Cecco Angiolieri, Guido Orlandi (end of the 13th century). The development of urban literature testified to a new phenomenon in the cultural life of Western European society - urban culture, which played a very important role in the development of Western civilization as a whole. The essence of urban culture was reduced to the constant strengthening of secular elements in all spheres of human existence. Urban culture originated in France in the 11th-12th centuries. During this period, it was represented, in particular, by the work of “jugglers”, who performed in city squares as actors, acrobats, animal trainers, musicians and singers. They performed at fairs, folk festivals, weddings, christenings, etc. and were very popular with the people. From about the middle of the 12th century, theatrical actions moved from under the church vaults to the square and the actions were no longer played in Latin, but in French. The role of the actors is no longer the clergy, but the townspeople, the plots of the plays become more and more secular, until they turn into scenes from everyday city life, often flavored with a good portion of satire. At the same time, theatrical art was developing in England. A new and extremely important phenomenon, testifying to the deepening of the process of development of urban culture, was the creation of non-church schools in the cities - these were private schools that were not financially dependent on the church. The teachers of these schools lived on the light of fees charged from students and anyone who could afford to pay for education could educate their children in them. Since that time, there has been a rapid spread of literacy among the urban population.
2.Urban culture
In the X-XI centuries. in Western Europe, old cities begin to grow and new ones arise. A new way of life, a new vision of the world, a new type of people were born in the cities. Based on the emergence of the city, new social strata of medieval society are formed - townspeople, guild artisans and merchants. They unite in guilds and workshops that protect the interests of their members. With the emergence of cities, the craft itself becomes more complicated, it already requires special training. In the cities, new social relations are being formed - the artisan is personally free, protected from arbitrariness by the workshop. Gradually, large cities, as a rule, managed to overthrow the power of the lord, in such cities a city self-government arose. Cities were centers of trade, including foreign trade, which contributed to greater awareness of the townspeople, expanding their horizons. The citizen, independent of any authority other than the magistrate, saw the world differently than the peasant. Striving for success, he became a new type of personality. The formation of new social strata of society had a huge impact on the further development of medieval culture, nations, and the formation of the education system. The freedom-loving orientation of urban culture, its connection with folk art, was most clearly reflected in urban literature. Although at an early stage in the development of urban culture, the demand for clerical literature - the lives of saints, stories about miracles, etc. - was still great, these works themselves have changed: psychologism has increased, artistic elements have intensified. In urban freedom-loving, anti-church literature, an independent layer is being formed, parodying the main points of the church cult and dogma (both in Latin and in folk languages). Numerous parodic liturgies have survived (for example, the Liturgy of Drunkards), parodies of prayers, psalms, and church hymns. In parodic literature in folk languages, the main place is occupied by secular parodies ridiculing knightly heroics (for example, Roland's comic double appears). Parodic chivalric novels, parodic epics of the Middle Ages are created - animals, picaresque, stupid. So, in the XIII century. numerous stories about animals - the cunning fox Renan, the stupid wolf Isengrin and the rustic lion Noble, in whose behavior human traits were easily guessed, were brought together and put into verse. This is how the extensive epic poem "The Romance of the Fox" appeared. One of the most popular genres of French urban medieval literature of the XII - XIV centuries. were fablio (from the French - fablio - fable). Fablio are short funny stories in verse, comic everyday stories. The anonymous authors of this genre of urban literature were townspeople and itinerant singers and musicians. The hero of these short stories was most often a commoner. Fablios are closely connected with folk culture (folk turns of speech, an abundance of folklore motifs, comedy and speed of action). Fablio entertained, taught, praised the townspeople and peasants, condemned the vices of the rich and priests. Often the plot of the fablio was love stories. Fablio reflected the vitality of the townspeople, their faith in the triumph of justice. Thematically, schwank (from German - a joke) adjoins the fablio - a genre of German urban medieval literature. Schwank, like fablio, is a short humorous story in verse, later in prose. Arising in the 13th century, Schwank was very loved by German burghers not only in the Middle Ages, but also in the Renaissance. Folklore often served as the basis for the plot of Shvank, and later - the short story of the early Renaissance. Schwank had an anti-clerical character, ridiculing the vices of the Catholic Church. The anonymous authors of fablio and schwank contrasted their works with elite chivalric literature. Cheerfulness, rudeness, satirical ridicule of the knights were a kind of response to the spiritual elite and its refined culture.
Urban literature of the XIV - XV centuries. reflected the growth of the social self-awareness of the townspeople, who increasingly became the subject of spiritual life. German poets appeared in urban poetry - singers from the craft and workshop environment - Meistersingers (literally - master singer). They adopted in their singing schools the canonical manner of performing the songs of the Minnesingers, which they replaced. Religious and didactic motives were not completely alien to the poetry of the Meistersingers, although their work was mainly of a secular nature. The most famous mastersingers were G. Sachs, H. Foltz, G. Vogel and others. In the same period, a new genre of urban literature appeared - a prose novel, in which the townspeople appear as independent, sharp-witted people seeking success, cheerful.
3. The role of the medieval city in the development of culture.
"The separation of craft from agriculture and the emergence of cities were of great importance for the development of medieval culture. The emergence of early urban culture of medieval society was an important turning point in the history of society, because it was it that broke the centuries-old monopoly of the Catholic Church in the field of intellectual education. Defenders of secular culture grouped around urban schools which were separated from the church.These schools differed from the church both in the program and in the contingent.Secular city schools were a fundamentally new phenomenon in the intellectual life of medieval society.Secular school was private and existed at the expense of fees collected from students.Especially many of these schools arose in Northern France, which since the beginning of the 12th century became one of the centers of intellectual education.These schools were headed by people who affirmed the priority of reason, bowed to ancient philosophy and tirelessly glorified secular knowledge. There were the Parisian schools of Guillaume de Conche and Peter Abelard. An objective consequence of the development of cities was the creation of universities. Bologna was considered the first university in the West, which arose on the basis of the Bolovskaya private school, in which Irnerius, an expert on Roman law, known for his lectures throughout Europe, taught. Similar universities by the beginning of the XIII century. opened in Palermo, Salerno, Paris, Montpellier, Oxford, etc. A typical medieval university was Paris, which received the first royal charter with the legalization of its rights as early as 1200 and was the center of students from various European countries.
The international language of science - Latin - determined the international character of universities. The members of the university were students, teachers, booksellers, scribes, apothecaries and even innkeepers. There were four faculties at the University of Paris: the “junior”, the so-called artistic, which studied the “seven liberal arts”, that is, the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and dialectics) and the quadrium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music theory), and three "senior" - medical, legal and theological, which accepted students after the end of the "artistic." faculty. It was possible to graduate with a bachelor's or master's degree. But the education was difficult, and only one-third of the students completed a bachelor's degree and one-sixteenth a master's degree. Students (from the Latin verb "studere" - to work hard) united in organizations ("fellowships," provinces "and" sciences "), headed by the procurator, and all together elected the rector. Secular literature made rapid progress in the city, early revealing its anti-feudal features. Already in the 12th-13th centuries, satirical works began to appear in the cities in the form of the so-called fablio (among the French) or shvenks (among the Germans), which contained witty attacks on the feudal lords. Many satirical moments directed against the feudal lords were also contained in Italian short stories. The Romance of the Fox, which finally developed in France in the 13th century, gained pan-European fame, in which the feudal lords are presented in the form of a hungry and greedy Wolf, constantly deceived by a sly Fox. Medieval theater was also born in the city, first in the form of mysteries, that is, dramatic scenes based on various biblical subjects. Then secular everyday material was gradually included in them, often also receiving a comic-satirical character in the form of a farce. The townspeople, like the knights, but in a different way, had their favorite mass entertainments. One of them was carnivals, street processions with music and masks, held at the end of winter between the feast of Christmas and the beginning of Lent. In the cities of Italy, already at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century, a new culture of the Renaissance was born.
Conclusion:
A characteristic phenomenon of medieval European civilization since the XI century. were cities. The question of the relationship between feudalism and cities is debatable. Cities gradually destroyed the natural character of the feudal economy, contributed to the liberation of the peasants from serfdom, and contributed to the emergence of a new psychology and ideology.
At the same time, the life of the medieval city was based on the principles characteristic of medieval society. The cities were located on the lands of the feudal lords, so initially the population of the cities was in feudal dependence on the lords, although it was weaker than the dependence of the peasants.
The medieval city was based on such a principle as corporatism. The townspeople were organized into workshops and guilds, within which there were leveling tendencies. The city itself was also a corporation. This was especially evident after the liberation from the power of the feudal lords, when the cities received self-government and city law.
But precisely due to the fact that the medieval city was a corporation, after the liberation it acquired some features that made it related to the city of antiquity. The population consisted of full-fledged burghers and non-corporate members: beggars, day laborers, visitors.
The transformation of a number of medieval cities into city-states (as was the case in ancient civilization) also shows the opposition of cities to the feudal system. With the development of commodity-money relations, the central state power began to rely on the cities. Therefore, cities contributed to overcoming feudal fragmentation - a characteristic feature of feudalism. Ultimately, the restructuring of medieval civilization occurred precisely thanks to the cities.
The picture of the world of a medieval European is unique. It contains such traits characteristic of ancient Eastern man as the simultaneous coexistence of the past, present and future, the reality and objectivity of the other world, an orientation towards the afterlife and otherworldly divine justice.
Bibliography:
1. Gurevich A.Ya. "The Medieval World: The Culture of the Silent Majority". M., 1990 - 260s.
2. Drach G.V. "Culturology in questions and answers", - Rostov n / D .: Phoenix, 1997. - 480 p.
3. Rozin V.M. Culturology. – M.: Infra-M., 1999. – 448 p.
12. Urban medieval European culture.
In the 12th-15th centuries. cities flourished in Western Europe. In the beginning, most cities were dependent on their lord. The townspeople fought for independence, i.e. for the transformation into a free city. He also practiced redemption of his rights from the seigneur. Only the richest cities, such as London and Paris, could afford such a ransom. The wealth of cities was based on the wealth of their citizens. An important layer of the urban population were merchants, who played a major role in domestic and foreign trade. They constantly traveled around the cities with goods. Merchants, as a rule, were literate and could speak the languages of the countries through which they passed. The medieval city, which played an important political role, did much for the development of culture. Secular literature developed rapidly in the cities. Oral poetry developed, especially the heroic epic. Singers - musicians performing these songs enjoyed great respect among the Anglo - Saxons. The largest work of the Anglo-Saxon heroic epic is the poem "Beowulf". The so-called chivalric literature arises and develops. One of the most famous works is the Song of Roland. The novel by the German Strasbourg "Tristan and Isolde" - about the passionate love of two young people - was very popular. An important monument of German folk literature of the 12th-13th centuries. "Song of the Nibelungs". A significant phenomenon in the literature of France were the vagantes and their poetry. Wandering poets were called vagants. The most important monument of English literature of the 13th century is the famous ballads about Robin Hood. During this period, urban literature was developing rapidly, which was characterized by a realistic depiction of the urban everyday life of various segments of the urban population, as well as the appearance of satirical works. C. Angiolieri and Guido Orlandi were representatives of urban literature. The development of urban literature testifies to a new phenomenon - urban culture, which played a very important role in the development of Western civilization as a whole. The essence of urban culture was reduced to the constant strengthening of secular elements in all spheres of human existence. Urban culture originated in France in the 11th-12th centuries. During this period, it was represented, in particular, by the work of jugglers who performed at city venues as actors, acrobats, animal trainers, singers, and musicians. Jugglers performed at fairs, folk festivals, weddings, christenings; enjoyed great popularity among the people. Even the liturgical drama, i.e. the staging in Latin of biblical scenes that were played out in the church by its listeners, as cities develop, becomes more and more secular. Medieval theater was at first in the form of such mysteries. Then secular everyday material began to be included, often taking on a comic-satirical character in the form of a farce. Approximately from the middle of the 12th century. theatrical performances were no longer played in Latin, but in French, not in churches, but in city squares, the townspeople performed more and more often, and the plays were more and more saturated with all sorts of plots from everyday city life. Theatrical art actively developed in England. At the same time, a dramatic genre begins to develop here - morality, an instructive allegorical drama, the main thing in which was the image of the struggle between good and evil principles for the human soul. It involved characters personifying human feelings and qualities - Love, Prudence, Humility, Patience, Repentance, Avarice, Flattery, etc. feudal lords. Many satirical moments directed against the feudal lords contained Italian short stories. The Romance of the Fox, which took shape in France, gained pan-European fame, in which the feudal lords are presented in the form of a hungry and greedy Wolf, who is constantly deceived by the sly Fox. A new and extremely important phenomenon was the creation of non-church schools in the cities; these were private schools, financially independent of the church. Since that time, there has been a rapid spread of literacy among the urban population. An outstanding master of France in the 12th century. was Peter Abelard - philosophers, theologian, poet, who founded a number of non-church schools. In poetry since the 14th century. the custom of apprentices to wander was reflected: they had to pass their experience, moving from one city to another and changing their place of work. Especially common in Germany. Many poems and songs have been written about the journeys of apprentices. A vivid picture of such a life was drawn by the poet Hans Sachs, who was born in Nuremberg, headed the Nuremberg cobblers' guild and became a famous poet.
During the Middle Ages, architecture, sculpture, and painting developed. The church played a strong role in this. It acted here as a universal force, superimposed on the specifics of national culture; this was expressed in particular architectural forms and techniques of fine arts, ornamentation, combinations of colors, etc. In the architecture of Byzantium, the type of cross-domed church predominated. The walls were decorated with mosaics. In church painting, realistic traditions were combined with elements of conventionality and more and more stylization. Under Charlemagne, grandiose construction was launched in France. Feudal castles and church cathedrals were built. The style was called Romanesque. An example of Romanesque architecture is Notre Dame Cathedral in Poitiers, cathedrals in Toulouse, Orcival, Velez, Arles in France; cathedrals in Oxford, Winchester, Norwich in England, in Stanager (Norway), in Lund (Sweden). K12v. refers to the emergence of a new architectural style - Gothic. The first cathedrals built in the Gothic style in northern France date from the second half of the 12th century. A characteristic feature of Gothic is the aspiration of buildings upwards. Huge windows appear in them, decorated with bright multi-colored glass - stained-glass windows. Magnificent Gothic cathedrals in Paris, Chartres, Bourges, Beauvais.
The townspeople, like the knights, had their favorite mass entertainment. Carnivals - street processions with music and masks, were held at the end of winter between the Christmas holiday and the beginning of Lent. In the cities of Italy already in the late 13th - early 14th century. a new Renaissance culture emerged.
Federal Agency for Education
Penza State Technological Academy
Control work on discipline
"Culturology" on the topic:
"Culture of the Medieval City"
Completed by a student
group 06PE1z
Sagareva Marina Evgenievna
Checked KIN,
Associate Professor of the Department
"Philosophy" Kolchugina S.V.
440034 Penza, st. Metalworkers 1-18
Tel. 32-49-67
Penza 2006
Introduction #1.
Society is the interaction of people endowed with will and consciousness. On their basis, people enter into social relations. The system of social relations is a unity:
All of them are interconnected and interdependent.
Labor is at the heart of the development of man and society.
Work- this is an expedient human activity aimed at creating material and spiritual values. There are such concepts as “work culture” and “work is culture”. In other words, "labor and culture" are at the center of the development of society. Now let's talk about what culture is.
culture(from Latin - means cultivation, upbringing, education, development, veneration) - a historically determined level of development of society, the creative forces and abilities of a person. The level expressed in the types and forms of organization of life and activities of people, and the material and spiritual values they create.
The concept of culture is used to characterize certain historical eras of specific societies, nationalities and nations, as well as specific areas of activity or life (culture of work, life, artistic culture). In a narrower sense - sphere of spiritual life of people.
In my work, I will focus on the culture of "Rus" in the Middle Ages (9th-15th centuries), in the center of which there was a city. The culture of "Rus", like the culture of other peoples, has absorbed both universal and its own special, centuries-old, temporary. Here, Kievan Rus (9th-12th centuries) and the formation and rise of the Muscovite state (13th-15th centuries) merged together. Here we see the world civilization and identity. But in the center stood, stands, and will stand the identity of "Rus" and "Russia".
Introduction #2.
Topic: "Factors of the identity of Russian history"
There are a lot of points of view on the problem of the identity of Russian history in general and culture in particular.
1. K. Marx- began to study "Rus" from the books of A. Bakunin (on anarchism).
2. V.I.Lenin- “Until you scold a Russian peasant forty times, you won’t wear it out thirty times, you won’t do one thing properly. But once you start doing it, you can't stop."
3. I.P. Pavlov- "The brain of a Russian person is arranged in such a way that he believes only the word, and he does not care about the rest." This quote is still relevant today.
4. F.I. Tyutchev“You can’t understand Russia with the mind,
Do not measure with a common yardstick,
She has a special become,
One can only believe in Russia.”
4. I.A. Ilyin- "The history of Russia is the history of torment and struggle: from the Pechenegs and the Khazars to the great war of the twentieth century."
5. V.O.Klyuchevsky“The history of Russia is the history of a country that is being colonized.”
There are many more, but they can be reduced to three main ones:
The first is the unilinear nature of world history.
· The second is the multilinearity of historical development (Russia is a Slavic civilization).
Third - tries to reconcile the first two.
So, representatives of the three approaches interpret the problem of the peculiarities of Russian history in different ways. But they all point to some powerful factors in which the history of Russia differs significantly from the history of Western societies. There are four factors:
1. Natural and climatic factor. Of the many elements, we point out only one. Our agricultural work took only 125-130 working days a year (from mid-April to mid-September). In the West, in a number of countries, agricultural work was interrupted in December-January. In the Southern countries, agricultural work was carried out all year round.
2. Geopolitical factor. Geopolitical conditions that influenced the specifics of Russian history:
Large and sparsely populated area;
· Unprotected by natural barriers border;
· Isolation for a long time from the seas and maritime trade;
· The river network is the only good;
· Intermediate position between Europe and Asia.
3. religious factor.
All of the above factors have formed:
Body of Russia
Temperament
Habits
· The West went through Rome - "Catholicism", Russia - through Byzantium - "Orthodoxy". But in general, this is Christianity, which brought up the soul.
In Europe, the salvation of man is in active economic power, in civil society.
In Russia - the political path of salvation: the king, the Secretary General and the CPSU, the president and United Russia.
4. factor of social organization.
Specific elements of social organization in Russia:
· Community, artel, partnership, etc.;
· The state, society, personality are not separated, but are interpenetrating, integral, conciliar.
If connect general and particular, then it should be said that the baptism of Russia, as many historians and culturologists believe, was the beginning of the history of Russian culture. Before that, there was paganism with its many deities, which naturally prevented the strengthening of Kievan Rus. And the Kyiv prince Vladimir 1 (his wife Anna, the sister of the Byzantine emperor) converted to Orthodoxy and in 988 baptized the people of Kiev in the Dnieper.
It should be noted the historical significance of the adoption of Orthodoxy by "Rus":
· Orthodoxy is the spiritual foundation of Russian culture;
· Formation of Christian morality of the Russian people;
· Emergence of monasteries – the center of education and culture;
· Appearance of Russian icon painting;
· Dawn of church architecture;
· Emergence of chronicle writing and distribution of religious literature.
But Kievan Rus was fragmented. By the end of the 13th century there were dozens of specific principalities that were at enmity with each other. The most fierce struggle was between the princes of Tver and Moscow. The unification was completed under Ivan 3 (1462-1505). Moscow became the center. "Moscow - the third Rome" - the union of power and church.
1. Introduction #1
2. Introduction No. 2 on the topic: "Factors of the identity of Russian history"
3. The main part of the "Culture of the medieval city"
4. Conclusion
5. References
Culture of the medieval city.
In any state, in any century, if there was a city, then there was a village. They were closely linked economically, politically, socially and spiritually.
Before talking about the culture of a medieval city, we will briefly say what a city is and what a village is.
City, a settlement that has reached a certain population density (the criterion for which is different, usually at least 2-5 thousand inhabitants) and embodies mainly industrial, transport, trade, cultural, administrative and political functions.
Village, a settlement, covering, first of all, natural and geographical features, and hence the features of production and culture.
So, the culture of the medieval city.
By the time of the adoption of Christianity, Russia was already a country with a distinctive culture. Crafts and wood construction techniques reached a high level. In the era of transition from pre-class society and feudalism, like other European peoples, an epic is being formed (epos is from the Greek “word”, “tradition”. This is a fairy tale, historical epic, song, folk legends, etc.). His plots were preserved mainly in epics recorded many centuries later.
By the 9th-10th centuries. refers to the appearance of plots, such epics as "Mikhailo Potok", "Danube", "Volga and Mikula". The end of the 10th century, the era of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, turned out to be especially fruitful. His reign became the "epic time" of Russian epics, and the prince himself became a generalized image of Russia. The heroes of these epics were Dobrynya Nikitich (his prototype was Vladimir Svyatoslavovich's maternal uncle Dobrynya, who was the governor and adviser to the prince in his youth) and Ilya Muromets.
Not later than the end of the 9th, beginning of the 10th centuries. Slavic alphabets - Cyrillic and Glagolitic - are spreading in Russia. Created in the second half of the 9th century by the brothers Cyril (Konstantin) and Methodius and initially distributed in the West Slavic state - Great Moravia, they soon penetrate into Bulgaria and Russia. The first Russian monument of Slavic writing is the Russian-Byzantine treaty of 911. With the adoption of Christianity in Russia, this will become the language of church service and as a literary language understandable to the entire population.
The appearance in Russia of literature in the Slavic language, on the one hand, led to the complication of social life by the development of feudal relations and the formation of a state structure, on the other hand, contributed to the spread of literacy. A clear evidence of this is the birch bark letters - letters on birch bark of various contents. They have been found in dozens of ancient Russian cities, mostly coming from Novgorod. The earliest letters date back to the 11th century.
At the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th centuries. a large number of translated works (mainly from Greek) of both religious and secular content are distributed in Russia. The latter include, in particular, historical works, among which one can single out the translation of the Byzantine Chronicle of George Amartol.
The earliest of the works of ancient Russian literature that have come down to us is the “Word of Law and Grace”. It was written in the middle of the 11th century by Metropolitan Hilarion, the first Russian by origin, the head of the Russian church, erected by Yaroslav the Wise in 1051 without the sanction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The main idea of the "Word about Law and Grace" is the entry of Russia after the adoption of Christianity into the family of Christian peoples.
Turn of the XV - XVI centuries. - a turning point in the historical development of the Russian lands. The phenomena characteristic of this time had a direct impact on the spiritual life of Russia, on the development of its culture, predetermined the nature and direction of the historical and cultural process. The overcoming of fragmentation, the creation of a unified state power created favorable conditions for the economic and cultural development of the country, served as powerful incentives for the rise of national self-consciousness.
Turn of the XV - XVI centuries. - a turning point in the historical development of the Russian lands. The phenomena characteristic of this time had a direct impact on the spiritual life of Russia, on the development of its culture, predetermined the nature and direction of the historical and cultural process.
The overcoming of fragmentation, the creation of a unified state power created favorable conditions for the economic and cultural development of the country, served as powerful incentives for the rise of national self-consciousness.
The largest country in Europe consisted of the middle of the XVI century. hardly more than 9-10 million people, distributed moreover unevenly across the territory. Only the center and the Novgorod-Pskov land were relatively densely populated, where the density apparently reached 5 people per 1 sq. km. km. (For comparison: in the countries of Western Europe at that time the density was from 10 to 30 inhabitants per sq. km.). At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the first half of the 16th century was favorable for the growth of the population of Russia, which increased approximately one and a half times during this period; consequently, at the beginning of the century, when the Russian state arose, it united about 6 million people under its rule. This means that the average population density was about 2 people. per 1 sq. km. Such a low population density, even if in some areas of the center and northwest and during the first half of the 16th century it increased by 2-3 times, remained extremely insufficient for the intensive development of the economy and the solution of tasks related to the defense of the country.
dwelling
For a long time, housing has served not only to satisfy a person's need for housing, but also as a part of his economic and economic life. Naturally, the social differentiation of society was also reflected in the features of the dwelling, its size, well-being. Each era is characterized by its own special features in residential and outbuildings, in their complexes. The study of these features gives us additional knowledge about the past era, provides details not only about the everyday life of past generations, but also about the social and economic aspects of their existence.
The end of the 15th and 16th centuries is a kind of milestone in our sources on the history of the material culture of the Russian people; archaeological data, as a rule, do not rise chronologically above the 15th century. Separate observations of archaeologists on the material culture of the 16th - 17th centuries. are mined along with the study of earlier periods and are relatively fragmentary. Special works on the late Russian Middle Ages are rare, although their data on dwellings are very valuable to us. But with the decrease in archaeological data, the amount of documentary information also increases. Fragmentary and accidental references to housing in the annals, which we are forced to content ourselves with for periods up to the 16th century, are now significantly supplemented by an ever-increasing number of act records and other official documents. Dry, brief, but very valuable in their mass character, the data of cadastral books make it possible to make the first generalizations, calculations, and comparisons of various types of buildings. In some places in these sources, a description of curious details in the characterization of residential and outbuildings also slips. To these data from written Russian sources, one must add the notes of foreigners who visited Russia at that time. Not everything in their observations and descriptions is reliable and clear for us, but many details of Russian life in the 16th century. they are noticed and conveyed accurately, and much is understood taking into account the comparative study of other sources. Sketches of Russian life, made from outside, conveyed to us something that was not at all reflected in Russian documents, since for Russian authors much was so familiar that, in their opinion, it was not worth paying special attention to.
Perhaps, only since the 16th century we have the right to talk about the appearance of another type of sources on material culture, the importance of which is difficult to overestimate, various graphic materials. No matter how accurate the written information, they give us at best a list of the names of buildings or their parts, but from them it is almost impossible to imagine what they looked like. Only from the 16th century did drawings come into our possession, which quite fully reflect the life of then Russia. The manner of these drawings is sometimes unusually conventional for us, subject to certain canons of icon painting or book miniatures, but, having carefully looked at them, having mastered the language of conventions to some extent, one can quite accurately imagine the real features of the life of that time. Among the monuments of this kind, an outstanding place is occupied by the colossal illustrated Chronicle, created according to the plan and with the participation of Ivan IV in 1553-1570. Thousands of miniatures of this collection provide the researcher with excellent visual material on many aspects of Russian life, including housing. They are successfully complemented by some iconic scenes and miniatures of other books of this era.
The social structure of Russian society was also reflected in the system of subdivision of settlements into certain units, which for the peasantry were at the same time units of taxation, taxable units and actually existing cells of the settlement of a peasant family. Yards were such units. Documents and chronicles know a courtyard, a courtyard place, a courtyard in these two, at first glance, not equivalent, meanings. Of course, where we are talking about monastery yards, boyar yards, clerks’ yards, clerk yards, craftsmen’s yards, or even more specific names cow yard, stable yard, gross yard, we are dealing only with the designation of a certain space occupied by a complex of residential and outbuildings. But for the main taxable population, for the peasantry, the concepts of a yard as a farmstead, a complex of buildings and a yard as a taxable unit coincided to a certain extent, since only a full-fledged peasant household, which had a full set of buildings necessary for farming and residence of a peasant family.
The composition of buildings typical of a medieval Russian peasant household has recently been aroused by lively controversy. It is believed that the composition of buildings and even those types of buildings that ethnography knows from the life of a Russian village in the 19th century are primordial and almost unchanged in Russia from ancient times, even from the period before Mongolian Russia. However, the accumulation of archaeological data on ancient Russian dwellings, a more careful analysis of written sources and medieval graphics cast doubt on this conclusion.
Archaeological data speak quite clearly about a more complex history of the development of the Russian complex of residential and outbuildings, this was drawn earlier. The most striking thing seemed to be the minimum number of buildings for livestock, although there is no doubt that the population had a lot of livestock. For hundreds of open residential buildings, there are literally a few fundamental buildings for livestock. Equally unusual was the conclusion about the predominance of single-chamber residential buildings. Quite complex types of multi-chamber and two-chamber communication of residential and utility premises were also known, but they are a minority. From these facts one inevitably has to draw a conclusion about the gradual and rather complex development of residential complexes, moreover, this development in different geographical zones went its own way, led to the formation of special zonal types. As far as our sources allow us to judge this, the beginning of this process falls at the turn of the 15th to the 17th centuries, although the addition of ethnographic types in the 19th century also increased. can hardly be considered completely finished, since by their nature residential complexes were closely connected with changes in the socio-economic life of the population and constantly reflected these changes.
The earliest documentary records of the composition of peasant households describe it to us very succinctly: a hut and a crate. The above extracts from documents of the end of the 15th century might seem random and atypical, if some sources did not allow supporting their typicality with mass material. One of the scribe books contains a more detailed than usual list of buildings in peasant households that were abandoned during the tragic events of the last decade of the 16th century. The analysis of these descriptions gave very demonstrative results. The vast majority of peasant households were very poor in terms of the composition of buildings: 49% consisted of only two buildings at all ("hut and cage", "hut and hay"). These documents are confirmed by another, original source - the Illuminated Chronicle of the 16th century. It is difficult to say why, but even the latest researchers consider the architectural background of the miniatures of this vault to be a borrowing from Byzantine sources. Research by A.V. Artsikhovgov in his time convincingly showed the Russian basis of the nature with which these miniatures were painted, the Russian character of things, everyday details, scenes. And only the dwelling is made dependent on foreign sources and the conventions of the "fantastic chamber writing of Russian icon painting." In fact, the dwelling, which is mostly made up of miniature scenes (although there are very realistic images not only of temples, but also of ordinary huts, cages), basically has the same Russian reality, the same Russian life, well known to the creators of miniatures. both according to the more ancient facial manuscripts that have not come down to us, and according to our own observations. And among these pictures there are few images of villages. The language of the miniatures of the Facial Vault is notable for its conventionality. The pictogram of dwellings is deciphered quite simply. The hut always has on the end wall, three windows and a door, a cage, two windows and a door. The walls are not lined with logs, they do not have the remnants of logs in the corners so typical for a log dwelling, and the windows and doors are smoothed, rounded, provided with curls for the sake of beauty, it is difficult to recognize them, but they are always there and always in a firmly established place, in the traditional number for each type of building. Villages, and even more so individual peasant households, are rarely depicted, since the main content of the chronicle remains the life of the feudal elites, the feudal city. But where we are talking about villages, they are, and the pictographic formula for them is built from two buildings, which, by signs, are easily identified as a hut and a crate. This was, in all likelihood, the real basis of the peasant household, its typical composition until the 16th century.
But for the 16th century, such courtyards are already becoming a relic. The economic recovery after the final liberation from the Tatar yoke, the elimination of feudal fragmentation, the general ordering of life in a centralized and strong state could not but affect the changes in the complex of peasant households. Previously, this process began in the northern regions, where social relations also favored it, where more severe nature required it, later we notice this in the central regions, but it is the 16th century that can be considered the beginning of those changes both in the composition and in the layout of the peasant household, which by the 19th century give us an ethnographic scheme of various types of Russian peasant households. All the main buildings of the peasant household were log cabins - huts, cages, senniks, mshaniks, stables, barns (although there are mentions of wattle barns). where in the winter they worked and worked (weaving, spinning, making various utensils, tools), here in the cold, cattle also found shelter. As a rule, there was one hut per yard, but there were peasant yards with two or even three huts, where large undivided families were accommodated. Apparently, already in the 16th century, two main types of peasant dwellings were distinguished in the northern regions; having underground. In such cellars they could keep livestock, store supplies. In the central and southern regions, ground huts still continue to exist, the floor of which was laid at ground level, and, possibly, was earthen. But the tradition was not yet established. Ground huts are mentioned in documents up to Arkhangelsk, and huts in the basement of rich peasants were also placed in the central regions. Often here they were called upper rooms.
According to the documentary records of the dwelling of the 16th century, we know rare cases of mentioning the passage as part of peasant households. But just in the 16th century, the vestibule is increasingly being mentioned as an element, first of an urban, and then of a peasant dwelling, and the vestibule definitely serves as a connecting link between the two buildings - the hut and the cage. But the change in the internal layout cannot be considered only formally. The appearance of the vestibule as a protective vestibule in front of the entrance to the hut, as well as the fact that now the firebox of the hut was turned inside the hut - all this greatly improved housing, made it warmer, more comfortable. The general upsurge of culture was also reflected in this improvement of the dwelling, although the 16th century was only the beginning of further changes, and the appearance of canopies even at the end of the 16th century became typical for peasant households in far from all regions of Russia. Like other elements of the dwelling, they first appeared in the northern regions. The second obligatory construction of the peasant household was the cage, i.e. a log building that served to store grain, clothes, and other property of peasants. But not all districts knew exactly the crate as the second utility room.
There is another building, which, apparently, performed the same function as the crate. This is a canopy. Of the other buildings of the peasant household, first of all, barns should be mentioned, since grain farming in the relatively damp climate of Central Russia is impossible without drying the sheaves. Sheeps are more often mentioned in documents relating to the northern regions. Cellars are often mentioned, but they are better known to us from urban materials. The "bayna" or "mylna" was just as obligatory in the northern and part of the central regions, but not everywhere. It is unlikely that the baths of that time were very different from those that can still be found in deep villages - a small log house, sometimes without a dressing room, in the corner - a stove - a heater, next to it - shelves or beds on which they bathe, in the corner - a barrel for water, which is heated by throwing red-hot stones into it, and all this is illuminated by a small window, the light from which drowns in the blackness of the sooty walls and ceilings. From above, such a structure often has an almost flat shed roof, covered with birch bark and turf. The tradition of washing in baths among Russian peasants was not universal. In other places they washed in ovens.
The 16th century is the time of the spread of buildings for livestock. They were placed separately, each under its own roof. In the northern regions, already at this time, one can notice a tendency towards two-story buildings of such buildings (shed, mshanik, and on them a hay barn, that is, a hay barn), which later led to the formation of huge two-story household yards (below - barns and pens for livestock, above - povit, a barn where hay, inventory is stored, a crate is also placed here). The feudal estate, according to the inventories and archaeological evidence, differed significantly from the peasant one. One of the main signs of any feudal court, in a city or in a village, was special watch, defensive towers - tumblers. Such defensive towers in the 16th century were not only an expression of boyar arrogance, but also a necessary building in case of an attack by neighbors - landlords, restless free people. The overwhelming majority of these towers were log cabins, with several floors. The residential building of the feudal court was the upper room. These chambers did not always have skewed windows, and not all of them could have white stoves, but the very name of this building suggests that it was on a high basement.
The buildings were logged, from selected wood, had good gable roofs, and on the tumblers they were of several types gable, four-slope and covered with a figured roof - barrels, etc. Close in composition and names of buildings to the boyar courts and the court of a wealthy citizen, and the Russian cities themselves in those days, as foreigners have repeatedly noted, were still very similar rather to the sum of rural estates than to a city in the modern sense. We know very little about the dwellings of ordinary artisans from documents; they did not often have to describe their poor inheritance in legal acts. Archaeologists do not have enough information about them either. There were entire settlements of artisans. But many of them lived in the yards of the monasteries, boyars, with rich townspeople in the courtyard. Based on the materials of the 16th century, it is difficult to distinguish them into a separate group. It can be thought that the yards of artisans in urban settlements were closer to peasant yards in terms of the composition of buildings, they did not have a rich choir. Stone residential buildings, known in Russia since the 14th century, continued to be a rarity in the 16th century. The few residential stone mansions of the 16th century that have come down to us amaze with the massiveness of the walls, the obligatory vaulted ceilings and the central pillar supporting the vault. Researchers of ancient architecture and folklore paint us a colorful picture of antiquity as a world of patterned, carved, ornate huts, towers, chambers with chiseled porches, with gilded domes. However, our data do not allow us to judge how richly and how the peasant huts and other buildings were decorated. Apparently, peasant huts were decorated very modestly, but some parts of the huts were decorated without fail; roof ridges, doors, gates, oven.
Comparative materials of the ethnography of the 19th century show that these adornments played, in addition to an aesthetic role, the role of amulets that protected the "entrances" from evil spirits, the roots of the semantics of such adornments date back to pagan ideas. But the dwellings of wealthy townspeople and feudal lords were decorated with the hands and talent of the peasants magnificently, intricately, colorfully. We also know little about the interior decoration of dwellings, although it is unlikely that the interior of peasant huts and craftsmen's houses was very different from what was typical for the peasantry in the 19th century. But no matter how fragmentary our information on some elements of the dwelling of the 16th century, we can still state a significant shift in this area of the culture of the Russian people in the 16th century, associated with the general processes of the historical development of the country.
clothing
We can restore the true picture of how our ancestors dressed in the 16th century in general terms only by synthesizing information from various sources - written, graphic, archaeological, museum, ethnographic. It is completely impossible to trace local differences in clothing from these sources, but they undoubtedly existed.
The main clothing in the 16th century was a shirt. Shirts were sewn from woolen fabric (sackcloth) and linen and hemp. In the 16th century, shirts were always worn with certain decorations, which were made of pearls, precious stones, gold and silver threads for the rich and noble, and red threads for the common people. The main element of such a set of jewelry is a necklace that closed the slit of the gate. The necklace could be sewn to the shirt, it could also be laid on, but wearing it should be considered mandatory outside the home. Decorations covered the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the hem of the shirts. The shirts varied in length. Consequently, short shirts, the hem of which reached approximately the knees, were worn by peasants and the urban poor. The rich and noble wore long shirts, shirts that reached to the heels. Pants were a mandatory element of men's clothing. But there was no single term for this clothing yet. Shoes of the 16th century were very diverse both in materials and in cut.
Archaeological excavations show a clear predominance of leather shoes woven from bast or birch bark. This means that bast shoes were not known to the population of Russia since ancient times and were rather additional shoes intended for special occasions.
For the 16th century, a certain social gradation can be outlined: boots - the shoes of the noble, the rich; boots, pistons - the shoes of the peasants and the masses of the townspeople. However, this gradation could not be clear, since soft boots were worn by both artisans and peasants. But the feudal lords are always in boots.
Men's headdresses were quite diverse, especially among the nobility. The most common among the population, peasants and townspeople, was a cone-shaped felt hat with a rounded top. The ruling feudal strata of the population, more associated with trade, seeking to emphasize their class isolation, borrowed a lot from other cultures. The custom of wearing a tafya, a small hat, spread widely among the boyars and the nobility. Such a hat was not removed even at home. And, leaving the house, they put on a high "throat" fur hat - a sign of boyar arrogance and dignity.
The nobility also wore other hats. If the difference in the main male attire between the class groups was mainly reduced to the quality of materials and decorations, then the difference in outerwear was very sharp, and, above all, in the number of clothes. The richer and nobler the person, the more clothes he wore. The very names of these clothes are not always clear to us, since they often reflect such features as the material, the method of fastening, which also coincides with the nomenclature of later peasant clothing, which is also very vague in terms of functionality. With the ruling strata, only fur coats, single-row coats and caftans were the same in name among the common people. But in terms of material and decorations, there could be no comparison. Among men's clothing, sundresses are also mentioned, the cut of which is hard to imagine, but it was a spacious long dress, also decorated with embroidery and trims. Of course, they dressed so luxuriously only during ceremonial exits, receptions and other solemn occasions.
As in a men's suit, the shirt was the main, and often the only clothing of women in the 16th century. But the shirts themselves were long, we do not know the cut of a women's shirt to the heels. The material from which women's shirts were sewn was linen. But there could also be woolen shirts. Women's shirts were necessarily decorated.
Of course, peasant women did not have expensive necklaces, but they could be replaced by embroidered ones, decorated with simple beads, small pearls, and brass stripes. Peasant women and ordinary townswomen probably wore ponevs, plakhty or similar clothes under other names. But in addition to belt clothes, as well as shirts, from the 16th century, some kind of maid clothes were issued.
We do not know anything about the shoes of ordinary women, but, most likely, they were identical to men's. We have very common ideas about women's headdresses of the 16th century. In the miniatures, women's heads are covered with robes (abrasions) - pieces of white fabric that cover their heads and fall over their shoulders over their clothes. The clothes of noble women were very different from the clothes of the common people, primarily in the abundance of dresses and their wealth. As for sundresses, even in the 17th century they remained predominantly men's clothing, and not women's. Talking about clothes, we are forced to note jewelry. Part of the jewelry has become an element of certain clothes. Belts served as one of the obligatory elements of clothing and at the same time decoration. It was impossible to go outside without a belt. XV-XVI centuries and later times can be considered a period when the role of metal jewelry sets is gradually fading away, although not in all forms. If archaeological data give us dozens of different types of neck, temple, forehead, hand jewelry, then by the 16th century there were relatively few of them: rings, bracelets (wrist), earrings, beads. But this does not mean that the former decorations have disappeared without a trace. They continued to exist in a highly modified form. These decorations become part of the clothing.
Food
Bread remained the main food in the 16th century. Baking and preparing other grain products and grain products in the cities of the 16th century was the occupation of large groups of artisans who specialized in the production of these foodstuffs for sale. Bread was baked from mixed rye and oatmeal, and also, probably, and only from oatmeal. Bread, kalachi, prosvir were baked from wheat flour. Noodles were made from flour, pancakes were baked and "bake" - rye fried cakes from sour dough. Pancakes were baked from rye flour, crackers were prepared. There is a very diverse assortment of pastry pies with poppy seeds, honey, porridge, turnips, cabbage, mushrooms, meat, etc. The listed products are far from exhausting the variety of bread products used in Russia in the 16th century.
A very common type of bread food was porridge (oatmeal, buckwheat, barley, millet), and kissels - pea and oatmeal. Grain also served as a raw material for the preparation of drinks: kvass, beer, vodka. The variety of garden and horticultural crops cultivated in the 16th century determined the variety of vegetables and fruits used for food: cabbage, cucumbers, onions, garlic, beets, carrots, turnips, radishes, horseradish, poppies, green peas, melons, various herbs for pickles (cherry, mint, cumin), apples, cherries, plums.
Mushrooms - boiled, dried, baked - played a significant role in nutrition. One of the main types of food, following in importance, after grain and vegetable food and livestock products in the 16th century, was fish food. For the 16th century, different ways of processing fish are known: salting, drying, drying. Very expressive sources depicting the variety of food in Russia in the 16th century are the canteens of the monasteries. An even greater variety of dishes is presented in Domostroy, where there is a special section "Books throughout the year, what food is served on the tables ... "
Thus, in the 16th century, the assortment of bread products was already very diverse. Successes in the development of agriculture, in particular horticulture and horticulture, have led to a significant enrichment and expansion of the range of plant foods in general. Along with meat and dairy food, fish food continued to play a very important role.
Rites
Folklore of the 16th century, like all the art of that time, lived by traditional forms and used artistic means developed earlier. Written memos that have come down to us from the 16th century testify that rituals, in which many traces of paganism have been preserved, were widespread in Russia, that epics, fairy tales, proverbs, songs were the main forms of verbal art.
Monuments of writing of the XVI century. buffoons are mentioned as people who amuse the people, jokers. They took part in weddings, played the role of friends, participated in funerals, especially in the final fun, told stories and sang songs, gave comic performances.
Fairy tales
In the XVI century. fairy tales were popular. From the 16th century few materials have been preserved that would allow one to recognize the fabulous repertoire of that time. We can only say that it included fairy tales. The German Erich Lassota, being in Kyiv in 1594, wrote down a fairy tale about a wonderful mirror. It tells about the fact that a mirror was built into one of the slabs of St. Sophia Cathedral, in which one could see what was happening far from this place. There were fairy tales about animals and everyday life.
Genres of traditional folklore were widely used at that time. 16th century - the time of great historical events, which left its mark on folk art. The themes of folklore works began to be updated, as heroes they included new social types and historical figures. He entered the fairy tales and the image of Ivan the Terrible. In one tale, Grozny is depicted as a shrewd ruler, close to the people, but severe in relation to the boyars. The tsar paid the peasant well for the turnips and bast shoes presented to him, but when the nobleman gave the tsar a good horse, the tsar unraveled the evil intent and gave him not a large estate, but a turnip that he received from the peasant. Another genre that was widely used in oral and written speech in the 16th century was the proverb. It was the genre that most vividly responded to historical events and social processes. The time of Ivan the Terrible and his struggle with the boyars later received a often satirical reflection, irony
they were directed against the boyars: "The times are shaky - take care of your hats", "Royal favors are sown in the boyar sieve", "The king strokes, and the boyars scratch".
Proverbs
Proverbs also give an assessment of everyday phenomena, in particular the position of a woman in the family, the power of parents over children. Many of these proverbs were created among backward and dark people, and they were influenced by the morality of churchmen. "A woman and a demon - they have one weight." But proverbs were also created, in which the life experience of the people is embodied: "The house rests on the wife."
Beliefs
Folklore of the 16th century many genres were widely used, including those that arose in ancient times and contain traces of ancient ideas, such as belief in the power of words and actions in conspiracies, belief in the existence of goblin, water, brownies, sorcerers, in beliefs, legends , which are stories about miracles, about meeting with evil spirits, about found treasures, deceived devils. For these genres in the XVI century. significant Christianization is already characteristic. Faith in the power of words and actions is now confirmed by a request for help to God, Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and the saints. The power of Christian, religious ideas was great, they began to dominate over pagan ones. The characters of the legends, in addition to the goblin, mermaids and the devil, are also saints (Nikola, Ilya).
epics
Important changes have also taken place in the epics. The past - the subject of the depiction of epics - receives new illumination in them. So, during the period of the struggle with the Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms, epics about battles with the Tatars receive a new sound in connection with the rise of patriotic sentiments. Sometimes epics were modernized. Kalin Tsar is replaced by Mamai, and Ivan the Terrible appears instead of Prince Vladimir. The fight against the Tatars lived the epic epic. It absorbs new historical events, includes new heroes.
In addition to such changes, researchers of the epic also attribute the emergence of new epics to this time. In this century, epics were composed about Duke and Sukhman, about the arrival of Lithuanians, about Vavila and buffoons. The difference between all these epics is the wide development of the social theme and anti-boyar satire. The Duke is represented in the epic as a cowardly "young boyar" who does not dare to fight a snake, is afraid of Ilya Muromets, but amazes everyone with his wealth. Duke is a satirical image. The bylina about him is a satire on the Moscow boyars.
The epic about Sukhman, old in origin, is characterized by the strengthening in it of the negative interpretation of the images of the boyars, princes and Vladimir, who comes into conflict with the hero who does not reconcile with the prince. The epic about the arrival of the Lithuanians contains vivid traces of time. Two brothers Livikov from the land of Lithuania are plotting a raid on Moscow. There are two storylines in the epic: the abduction of Prince Roman and his struggle against the Lithuanians. The epic about Babyla and buffoons and their struggle with the king Dog, whose kingdom they destroy and burn, is a work of a special kind. It is allegorical and utopian, as it expresses the age-old dream of the masses of the people about a "just kingdom." The epic is distinguished by satire and a cheerful joke, which entered it along with the images of buffoons.
lore
New features acquire in the XVI century. and legends - oral prose stories about significant events and historical figures of the past. From the legends of the XVI century. there are, first of all, 2 groups of legends about Ivan the Terrible and Yermak.
1) They are full of great public resonance, they include stories connected with the campaign against Kazan, with the subjugation of Novgorod: they are patriotic in nature, they praise Ivan the Terrible, but they are clearly democratic in nature.
2) Compiled by Novgorodians and contains the condemnation of Grozny for cruelty. The struggle with Marfa Posadnitsa, whom he allegedly exiled or killed, is also attributed to him. The name of Ivan the Terrible is associated with quite a few legends about the places he visited, or about the churches that he built. Novgorod legends depict the executions of townspeople, which, however, is condemned not only by the people, but also by the saints. In one of the legends, the saint, taking the severed head of the executed man in his hands, pursues the king, and he runs away in fear. The legends about Yermak are of a local nature: there are Don, Ural, and Siberian legends about him. Each of them gives his image its own special interpretation.
1) In the Don legends, Yermak is portrayed as the founder of the Cossack army, protecting the Cossacks: he liberated the Don from foreigners: he himself came to the Don, having fled after the murder of the boyar. So in the Don legends, Yermak, often at odds with history, appears as a Cossack leader. There is a rich group of legends in which Ermak acts as the conqueror of Siberia. His trip to Siberia is motivated differently: either he was sent there by the tsar, or he himself went to Siberia to earn the tsar's forgiveness for the crimes he had committed. His death is also described in different ways: the Tatars attacked his army and killed the sleeping ones; Yermak drowned in the Irtysh in a heavy shell; he was betrayed by Esaul Koltso.
Songs
The excitement of the townspeople in Moscow (1547), the desire of the Cossacks for self-government, the royal decrees on a temporary ban on the transfer of peasants from one landowner to another (1581), on bonded serfs (1597) - all this contributed to the growth of discontent among the masses, one of the forms whose protest became robbery. It was reflected in folklore in the so-called bandit or daring songs. The peasants fled not only from the landowners' estates, but also from the tsarist troops. Life in the "freedom" served as a condition that contributed to a more vivid expression of the age-old dreams of the masses of the masses of social liberation. The artistic form in which these dreams found a poetic embodiment was bandit songs. They only appeared at the end of the 16th century. The hero of these songs is a brave, daring good fellow, and therefore the songs themselves were popularly called "daring songs". They are notable for their sharp drama, the chanting of "will" and the image of a robber who hangs the boyars and the voivode. A classic example is the song "Don't make noise, you mother, green oak tree." Her hero rejects the demand of the royal servants to extradite his comrades.
In the XVI century. the genre of ballad songs is also formed - a small ethical narrative poetic form. This type of work, to which the Western - European term "ballad" is applied, is very peculiar. It is distinguished by a subtle characteristic of personal, family relationships of people. But it often includes historical motifs and heroes, but they are not interpreted in historical terms. The ballads have a clearly anti-feudal orientation (for example, the condemnation of the arbitrariness of the prince, the boyar in the ballad "Dmitry and Domna", where the prince brutally cracks down on the girl who rejected his hand), they often develop severe parental authority, family despotism. Although the criminal in ballads is usually not
punished, but the moral victory is always on the side of ordinary people. The heroes of ballads are often kings and queens, princes and princesses, their fate is connected with the fate of ordinary peasants, servants, whose images are interpreted as positive. A characteristic feature in ballads is an anti-clerical orientation (for example, "Churilia - abbess", "Prince and old women", in which representatives of the clergy play a negative role).
The ballads "Dmitry and Domna", "Prince Mikhailo", "Prince Roman lost his wife" are among the ballads that arose in the 16th century. In the first, a girl, protesting against a forced marriage, takes her own life. In other versions, her fiancé Prince Dimitri beats her to death. In the ballad "Prince Mikhailo" the mother-in-law destroys her daughter-in-law. A deeply dramatic ballad about Prince Roman and his wife. Having killed her, he hides it from his daughter. The works of the ballad genre are emotionally intense, and the plots are tragic in nature: the positive hero dies, evil, unlike bylinas and fairy tales, is usually not punished. The ideological and moral content in them is revealed through the positive hero, who, although he perishes, wins a moral victory. Despite the popularity in the XVI century. epics, fairy tales, proverbs, ballads, the most characteristic of the folklore of this time were historical songs. Having originated earlier, they became the most important genre in this century, since their plots reflected the events of the time that attracted general attention, and the heyday of this genre in the 16th century. It was due to a number of factors: the rise of the national creation of the masses and the deepening of their historical thinking; the completion of the unification of Russian lands; the aggravation of social conflicts between the peasantry and the local nobility as a result of the attachment of the former to the land. Historical songs are divided into 2 main cycles associated with the names of Ivan the Terrible and Yermak.
Songs about Ivan the Terrible include stories about the capture of Kazan, the fight against the Crimean Tatars, the defense of Pskov, the personal life of the tsar: the anger of the Terrible at his son, the death of the tsar himself. Songs about Yermak - stories about Yermak and the Cossacks, the march of the barren near Kazan, the robbery campaign against the Volga and the murder of the tsar's ambassador by the Cossacks, the capture of Kazan by Yermak, meetings with Grozny and being in Turkish captivity. The raids of the Crimean Khan Davlet-Girey on Moscow in 1571-72 also found a response in the songs. and the defense of Pskov from the troops of Bathory in 1581-82. the song "Raid of the Tatars" and the song "Siege of Pskov".
Great historical events and important social processes of the 16th century. determined the deep connection of songs with living reality, reduced the elements of conventionality in the narrative and contributed to a broad reflection of the phenomena and everyday details characteristic of the time.
Russian Civilization
During the Middle Ages, there is a special influence of the Christian Church on the formation of the mentality and worldview of Europeans. Instead of a meager and hard life, religion offered people a system of knowledge about the world and the laws that operate in it. That is why medieval culture is completely and completely imbued with Christian ideas and ideals, which considered the earthly life of a person as a preparatory stage for the upcoming immortality, but in a different dimension. People identified the world with a kind of arena in which heavenly and hellish forces fought, good and evil.
Medieval culture reflects the history of the struggle between the state and the church, their interaction and the realization of divine goals.
Architecture
In the 10-12 centuries in Western European countries, it dominates which is rightfully considered the first canon of medieval architecture.
Secular buildings are massive, they are characterized by narrow window openings and high towers. Typical features of Romanesque architectural structures are domed structures and semicircular arches. Bulky buildings symbolized the power of the Christian god.
Particular attention during this period was paid to the monastic buildings, as they combined the dwelling of the monks, the chapel, the prayer room, workshops and the library. The main element of the composition is a high tower. Massive reliefs decorating the facade walls and portals were the main element of the temple decor.
Medieval culture is characterized by the emergence of another style in architecture. It is called gothic. This style shifts the cultural center from secluded monasteries to crowded urban areas. At the same time, the cathedral is considered the main spiritual building. The first temple buildings are distinguished by slender columns, carried upwards, elongated windows, painted stained-glass windows and “roses” above the entrance. From the inside and outside, they were decorated with reliefs, statues, paintings, emphasizing the main feature of the style - the upward trend.
Sculpture
Metal processing is used primarily for the production