4 Beginning of the Livonian War. Livonian War: fall of the order

Since then he has owned most of the modern Baltic states - Estland, Livonia and Courland. In the 16th century, Livonia lost some of its former power. From within, it was engulfed in strife, which was intensified by the church Reformation that was penetrating here. The Archbishop of Riga quarreled with the Master of the Order, and the cities were at enmity with both of them. Internal turmoil weakened Livonia, and all its neighbors were not averse to taking advantage of this. Before the start of the conquests of the Livonian knights, the Baltic lands depended on the Russian princes. With this in mind, the Moscow sovereigns believed that they had completely legal rights to Livonia. Due to its coastal position, Livonia was of great commercial importance. Afterwards, Moscow inherited the commerce of Novgorod, which it had conquered, with the Baltic lands. However, the Livonian rulers in every possible way limited the relations that Muscovite Rus' conducted with Western Europe through their area. Fearing Moscow and trying to interfere with its rapid strengthening, the Livonian government did not allow European craftsmen and many goods into Rus'. The obvious hostility of Livonia gave rise to hostility towards it among the Russians. Seeing the weakening of the Livonian Order, the Russian rulers feared that its territory would be taken over by some other, more strong enemy, which will treat Moscow even worse.

Already Ivan III, after the conquest of Novgorod, built the Russian fortress Ivangorod on the Livonian border, opposite the city of Narva. After the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan, the Chosen Rada advised Ivan the Terrible to turn to the predatory Crimea, whose hordes constantly raided the southern Russian regions, driving thousands of captives into slavery every year. But Ivan IV chose to attack Livonia. Confidence in easy success in the west, the king was given the successful outcome of the war with the Swedes of 1554–1557.

Beginning of the Livonian War (briefly)

Grozny remembered the old treaties that obligated Livonia to pay tribute to the Russians. It had not been paid for a long time, but now the tsar demanded not only to renew payment, but also to compensate for what the Livonians had not given to Russia in previous years. The Livonian government began to drag out negotiations. Having lost patience, Ivan the Terrible broke off all relations and in the first months of 1558 began the Livonian War, which was destined to drag on for 25 years.

In the first two years of the war, Moscow troops acted very successfully. They destroyed almost all of Livonia, except for the most powerful cities and castles. Livonia could not resist powerful Moscow alone. The order's state disintegrated, surrendering piecemeal to the supreme power of its stronger neighbors. Estland came under the suzerainty of Sweden, Livonia submitted to Lithuania. The island of Ezel became the possession of the Danish Duke Magnus, and Courland was subjected to secularization, that is, it turned from a church property into a secular one. The former master of the spiritual order, Ketler, became the secular Duke of Courland and recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish king.

Entry of Poland and Sweden into the war (briefly)

The Livonian Order thus ceased to exist (1560-1561). His lands were divided by neighboring powerful states, which demanded that Ivan the Terrible renounce all the seizures made at the beginning of the Livonian War. Grozny rejected this demand and opened a fight with Lithuania and Sweden. Thus, new participants were involved in the Livonian War. The struggle between the Russians and the Swedes proceeded intermittently and sluggishly. Ivan IV moved his main forces to Lithuania, acting against it not only in Livonia, but also in the regions south of the latter. In 1563, Grozny took the ancient Russian city of Polotsk from the Lithuanians. The royal army ravaged Lithuania all the way to Vilna (Vilnius). The war-weary Lithuanians offered Grozny peace with the concession of Polotsk. In 1566, Ivan IV convened a Zemsky Council in Moscow on the question of whether to end the Livonian War or continue it. The Council spoke in favor of continuing the war, and it went on for another ten years with the Russians outnumbered, until the talented commander Stefan Batory (1576) was elected to the Polish-Lithuanian throne.

The turning point of the Livonian War (briefly)

Livonian War by that time it had significantly weakened Russia. The oprichnina, which ruined the country, undermined its strength even more. Many prominent Russian military leaders fell victims to the oprichnina terror of Ivan the Terrible. From the south they began to attack Russia with even greater energy Crimean Tatars, whom Ivan the Terrible frivolously allowed to conquer or at least completely weaken after the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan. Crimeans and Turkish Sultan They demanded that Russia, now bound by the Livonian War, renounce possession of the Volga region and restore the independence of the Astrakhan and Kazan khanates, which had previously brought it so much grief with brutal attacks and robberies. In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey, taking advantage of the diversion of Russian forces to Livonia, staged an unexpected invasion, marched with large army all the way to Moscow and burned the entire city outside the Kremlin. In 1572 Devlet-Girey tried to repeat this success. He again reached the Moscow outskirts with his horde, but the Russian army of Mikhail Vorotynsky at the last moment distracted the Tatars with an attack from the rear and inflicted a strong defeat on them in the Battle of Molodi.

Ivan groznyj. Painting by V. Vasnetsov, 1897

The energetic Stefan Batory began decisive action against Grozny just when the oprichnina brought the central regions of the Moscow state to desolation. The people fled en masse from the tyranny of Grozny to the southern outskirts and to the newly conquered Volga region. The Russian government center is depleted of people and resources. Grozny could no longer easily send large armies to the front of the Livonian War. Batory's decisive onslaught did not meet with adequate resistance. In 1577, the Russians achieved their last successes in the Baltic states, but already in 1578 they were defeated there near Wenden. The Poles achieved a turning point in the Livonian War. In 1579 Batory recaptured Polotsk, and in 1580 he took the strong Moscow fortresses of Velizh and Velikiye Luki. Having previously shown arrogance towards the Poles, Grozny now sought the mediation of Catholic Europe in peace negotiations with Batory and sent an embassy (Shevrigin) to the pope and the Austrian emperor. In 1581

After the conquest of Kazan, Russia turned its gaze to the Baltic and put forward plans to capture Livonia. For Russia main goal The Livonian War was the conquest of access to the Baltic Sea. The struggle for supremacy at sea was between Lithuania and Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Russia.

The reason for the start of the war was the failure of the Livonian Order to pay tribute, which they were obliged to pay under the peace treaty of 1554. In 1558, Russian troops invaded Livonia.

At the first stage of the war (1558-1561), several cities and castles were taken, including such significant ones as Narva, Dorpat, Yuryev.

Instead of continuing the successfully launched offensive, the Moscow government granted the Order a truce and at the same time equipped an expedition against the Crimea. Taking advantage of the respite, the Livonian knights gathered military forces and, a month before the end of the truce, defeated the Russian troops.

Russia did not achieve results in the war against the Crimean Khanate and missed favorable opportunities for victory in Livonia. Moscow made peace with Crimea and concentrated all its forces in Livonia.

The second stage of the war (1562-1578) for Russia passed with varying degrees of success.

Russia's highest achievement in the Livonian War was the capture of Polotsk in February 1563, after which military failures followed

In 1566, Lithuanian ambassadors came to Moscow with a proposal for a truce and so that Polotsk and part of Livonia would remain with Moscow. Ivan the Terrible demanded all of Livonia. Such demands were rejected, and the Lithuanian king Sigismund Augustus resumed the war with Russia. In 1568, Sweden dissolved its previously concluded alliance with Russia. In 1569 Poland and Lithuania united in single state- Rzeczpospolita. After the death of Sigismund Augustus in 1572, Stefan Batory took the throne.

The third stage of the Livonian War (1679-1583) began with the invasion of Russia by the Polish king Stefan Batory. At the same time, Russia had to fight with Sweden. On September 9, 1581, Sweden captured Narva, and after that the continuation of the struggle for Livonia lost its meaning for Grozny. Realizing the impossibility of waging war against two opponents at once, the tsar began negotiations with Batory on a truce in order to concentrate all forces on the reconquest of Narva. But plans to attack Narva remained unfulfilled.

The result of the Livonian War was the conclusion of two treaties that were unfavorable for Russia.

On January 15, 1582, the Yam Zapolsky Treaty on a 10-year truce was signed. Russia ceded all its possessions in Livonia to Poland, and Batory returned to Russia the fortresses and cities he had conquered, but retained Polotsk.

In August 1583, Russia and Sweden signed the Treaty of Plus on a three-year truce. The Swedes retained all the captured Russian cities. Russia has retained a section of the coast of the Gulf of Finland with the mouth of the Neva.

The end of the Livonian War did not give Russia access to the Baltic Sea.

1) 1558–1561 - Russian troops completed the defeat of the Livonian Order, took Narva, Tartu (Dorpat), approached Tallinn (Revel) and Riga;

2) 1561–1578 - the war with Livonia turned for Russia into a war against Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark. The hostilities became protracted. Russian troops fought with varying success, occupying a number of Baltic fortresses in the summer of 1577. However, the situation was complicated:

The weakening of the country's economy as a result of the devastation by the guardsmen;

A change in the attitude of the local population towards Russian troops as a result of military raids;

By going over to the side of the enemy, Prince Kurbsky, one of the most prominent Russian military leaders, who also knew the military plans of Ivan the Terrible;

Devastating raids on Russian lands by the Crimean Tatars;

3) 1578–1583 - Russia's defensive actions. In 1569, Poland and Lithuania were united into a single state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Stefan Batory, elected to the throne, went on the offensive; Since 1579, Russian troops fought defensive battles. In 1579 Polotsk was taken, in 1581 - Velikiye Luki, the Poles besieged Pskov. The heroic defense of Pskov began (it was headed by governor I.P. Shuisky), which lasted five months. The courage of the city's defenders prompted Stefan Batory to abandon further siege.

The Livonian War ended with the signing of the Yam-Zapolsky (with Poland) and Plyussky (with Sweden) truces, which were unfavorable for Russia. The Russians had to abandon the conquered lands and cities. The Baltic lands were captured by Poland and Sweden. The war exhausted Russia's strength. The main task - conquering access to the Baltic Sea - was not solved.

Evaluating foreign policy Russia in the 16th century - the conquest of the Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556) khanates, the Livonian War (1558–1583), the beginning of the colonization of Siberia, the creation of a defensive line of the Moscow state that protected against ruinous raids, mainly from the Crimean Khanate, it is important to keep in mind that the largest The country achieved foreign policy successes during the first period of the reign of Ivan the Terrible (50–60s).

In addition, it is necessary to emphasize that Russia’s military policy was determined not only by its fundamentally natural desires to defend its young statehood, secure its borders, overcome the syndrome of more than two centuries of yoke, and finally reach the Baltic Sea, but also by expansionist and aggressive aspirations , generated by the very logic of the formation of a centralized state and the interests of the military service class.

Features of the political development of the Moscow state in the 16th century.

Unlike Europe, where national centralized states emerged, the unification of Russian lands into Moscow State did not yet mean their merging into a single political and economic whole.

Throughout the 16th century. There was a complex and contradictory process of centralization and the elimination of the specific system.

In the study of the features of the political development of the Russian state in the 16th century. Several of the most controversial issues can be identified.

In domestic and foreign literature there is no consensus on the definition of the state form established in Russia. Some authors characterize this form as an estate-representative monarchy, others - as an estate monarchy.

Some define the political system of Russia in the 16th century. as autocracy, understanding by it a despotic form of absolutism and even eastern despotism.

The course of the discussion is influenced by the following circumstances:

Firstly, demonization in the assessment of the personality and politics of Ivan the Terrible, which was started by N.M. Karamzin;

Secondly, the ambiguity of the concepts of “autocracy”, “absolutism”, “oriental despotism”, and their relationships.

The formal legal, or purely rational, definition of these concepts does not take into account the traditional nature of power characteristic of the medieval worldview, which influenced the essence and form of statehood. Autocracy of the 16th century. - this is the Russian national form of Orthodox class statehood, a churched state, which cannot be identified either with varieties of Eastern despotism or with European absolutism, at least until the reforms of Peter I (V.F. Patrakov).

MM. Shumilov drew attention to the fact that the authors’ opinions differ in their characterization of the Russian autocracy. Thus, according to R. Pipes, the autocratic system in Russia was formed under the influence of the Golden Horde. The American historian believes that since for centuries the khan was an absolute master over the Russian princes, then “his power and greatness almost completely erased the image of the Byzantine basileus from memory.” The latter was something very distant, a legend; none of the appanage princes had been to Constantinople, but many of them knew the road to Sarai very well.

It was in Sarai that the princes had the opportunity to closely contemplate the power “with which one cannot enter into an agreement, which must be obeyed unconditionally.” Here they learned to tax households and trade transactions, conduct diplomatic relations, manage a courier service and deal with disobedient subjects.

S.G. Pushkarev believed that the political system of the Russian state was formed under the influence of Byzantine church-political culture, and the power of the Moscow Grand Dukes (Ivan III, Vasily III) and tsars (with the exception of Ivan IV) was unlimited only formally. “In general, the Moscow sovereign was - not formally, but morally - limited by old customs and traditions, especially church ones. The Moscow sovereign could not and did not want to do what was “not done.”

Depending on the answer to the question about the essence of monarchical power in Russia, historians have different opinions regarding the political role of the Boyar Duma. Thus, according to R. Pipes, the Duma, having neither legislative nor executive power, performed only the functions of a registration institution that approved the decisions of the tsar. “The Duma,” he said, “did not have a number of the most important features that distinguish institutions with real political power. Its composition was extremely unstable... There was no regular schedule of meetings. There were no minutes of discussions, and the only evidence of the participation of the Duma in the development of decisions is the formula written in the text of many decrees: “The Tsar indicated, and the boyars sentenced.” The Duma did not have a clearly defined sphere of activity.”

In the 16th century The Duma turned into a permanent government institution, where Duma people acted not only as advisers to the tsar on issues of legislation and administration, not only participated in the development of decisions, often debating and sometimes objecting to the tsar, but also administered central orders, carried out special assignments on central and local affairs administration (V.O. Klyuchevsky).

Another facet of the question of the essence of Russian statehood in the 16th century. - the activities of zemstvo councils in 1549–1550, 1566 and 1598, the study of their formation, functions and relationships with the tsar.

Attempts to solve this problem in the spirit of Eurocentric concepts dominant in historiography give polar, sometimes mutually exclusive points of view of researchers. Zemsky Sobors in Russia did not have a permanent composition, clearly certain functions in contrast to estate-representative authorities European countries. If the parliament in England, the states general in France and other estate-representative bodies arose as a counterweight to royal power and were, as a rule, in opposition to it, then the Zemsky Sobors never came into conflict with the tsar.

In historical studies, an opinion is often expressed about the class-representative nature of Zemsky Sobors (S.G. Goryainov, I.A. Isaev, etc.). However, M.M. Shumilov believes that, apparently, the Zemsky Sobors of the 16th century. They were neither popular, nor class-representative institutions, nor advisory bodies under the tsar. Unlike the corresponding institutions in Western Europe, they did not interfere in public administration, did not ask for any political rights for themselves, and did not even perform advisory functions. Participants in the first Zemsky Sobors were not elected representatives. They were dominated by representatives of the highest metropolitan nobility and merchants appointed or conscripted by the government itself. Although the work of the Zemsky Sobor of 1598, unlike the previous ones, also involved elected representatives who vouched for their worlds, it was still not they who prevailed, but representatives of the government itself: various holders of power, officials, managers, “agents of the military and financial institutions"(V.O. Klyuchevsky). All of them were convened at councils not in order to declare to the government the needs and desires of their constituents, and not to discuss socially significant issues, and not for the purpose of vesting the government with any powers. It was their responsibility to answer questions, and they themselves had to return home as responsible executors of conciliar obligations (in fact, government decisions).

Nevertheless, it is difficult to agree with the opinion of some foreign and domestic historians about the underdevelopment of Zemsky Sobors. According to V.F. Patrakova, if in the West the idea of ​​separation of powers is being formed, then in Russia the idea of ​​​​conciliarity of power is developing on the basis of its spiritual, Orthodox community. Ideally, the Councils achieved the spiritual and mystical unity of kings and people (including through mutual repentance), which corresponded to Orthodox ideas about power.

Thus, in the 16th century. Russia has turned into a state with an autocratic political system. The sole bearer of state power, its head was the Moscow Grand Duke(tsar). All legislative, executive and judicial power was concentrated in his hands. All government actions were carried out in his name and according to his personal decrees.

In the 16th century in Russia the birth of an empire and imperial politics is taking place (R.G. Skrynnikov). Almost all historians see the oprichnina as one of the factors that prepared the Time of Troubles early XVII V.

The article briefly talks about the Livonian War (1558-1583), which was waged by Ivan the Terrible for the right to access the Baltic Sea. The war for Russia was initially successful, but after Sweden, Denmark and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth entered it, it became protracted and ended in territorial losses.

1. Causes of the Livonian War
2. Progress of the Livonian War
3. Results of the Livonian War

Causes of the Livonian War

• Livonia was a state founded by German knightly order in the 13th century and included part of the territory of the modern Baltic states. By the 16th century it was a very weak state formation, the power in which was shared between knights and bishops. Livonia was easy prey for an aggressive state. Ivan the Terrible set himself the task of capturing Livonia in order to secure access to the Baltic Sea and in order to prevent its conquest by someone else. In addition, Livonia, being between Europe and Russia, in every possible way prevented the establishment of contacts between them, in particular, the entry of European masters into Russia was practically prohibited. This caused discontent in Moscow.
• The territory of Livonia before the capture by the German knights belonged to the Russian princes. This pushed Ivan the Terrible to war for the return of ancestral lands.
• According to the existing treaty, Livonia was obliged to pay Russia an annual tribute for possession ancient Russian city Yuryev (renamed Dorpat) and neighboring territories. However, this condition was not met, which was the main reason for the war.

Progress of the Livonian War

• In response to the refusal to pay tribute, Ivan the Terrible in 1558 began a war with Livonia. A weak state, torn by contradictions, cannot resist the huge army of Ivan the Terrible. The Russian army victoriously passes through the entire territory of Livonia, leaving only large fortresses and cities in the hands of the enemy. As a result, by 1560 Livonia, as a state, ceased to exist. However, its lands were divided between Sweden, Denmark and Poland, which declared that Russia must abandon all territorial acquisitions.
• The emergence of new opponents did not immediately affect the nature of the war. Sweden was at war with Denmark. Ivan the Terrible concentrated all his efforts against Poland. Successful fighting lead to the capture of Polotsk in 1563. Poland begins to ask for a truce, and Ivan the Terrible convenes Zemsky Sobor and turns to him with such a proposal. However, the cathedral responds with a sharp refusal, declaring that the capture of Livonia is necessary in economic terms. The war continues, it becomes clear that it will be protracted.
• The situation changes for the worse after Ivan the Terrible introduced the oprichnina. The state, already weakened during a tense war, receives a “royal gift.” The tsar's punitive and repressive measures lead to a decline in the economy; the executions of many prominent military leaders significantly weaken the army. At the same time, he intensifies his actions Crimean Khanate, starting to threaten Russia. In 1571, Moscow was burned by Khan Devlet-Girey.
• In 1569, Poland and Lithuania united into a new strong state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1575, Stefan Batory became its king, who later showed the qualities of a talented commander. This became a turning point in the Livonian War. The Russian army holds the territory of Livonia for some time, besieges Riga and Revel, but soon the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden begin active military operations against the Russian army. Batory inflicts a series of defeats on Ivan the Terrible and wins back Polotsk. In 1581 he besieged Pskov, whose courageous defense lasted five months. Batory's lifting of the siege becomes the last victory of the Russian army. Sweden at this time seizes the coast of the Gulf of Finland, which belongs to Russia.
• In 1582, Ivan the Terrible concluded a truce with Stefan Batory, according to which he renounced all his territorial acquisitions. In 1583, a treaty was signed with Sweden, as a result of which the captured lands on the coast of the Gulf of Finland were assigned to it.

Results of the Livonian War

• The war started by Ivan the Terrible promised to be successful. At first, Russia made significant progress. However, due to a number of internal and external reasons, a turning point occurs in the war. Russia loses the captured territories and, ultimately, access to the Baltic Sea, remaining cut off from European markets.

I decided to intensify my foreign policy in the western direction, namely in the Baltic states. The weakening Livonian Order could not provide adequate resistance, and the prospects for acquiring these territories promised a significant expansion of trade with Europe.

BEGINNING OF THE LIVONIAN WAR

In those same years, there was a truce with the Livonian land, and ambassadors came from them with a request to make peace. Our king began to remember that they had not paid tribute for fifty years, which they owed to his grandfather. The Lifoyandians did not want to pay that tribute. Because of this, the war started. Our king then sent us, three great commanders, and with us other stratilates and an army of forty thousand, not to acquire lands and cities, but to conquer all their land. We fought for a whole month and did not encounter resistance anywhere, only one city held its defense, but we took that too. We crossed their land with battles for four dozen miles and left the great city of Pskov into the land of Livonia almost unharmed, and then quite quickly reached Ivangorod, which stands on the border of their lands. We brought with us a lot of wealth, because the land there was rich and the inhabitants were very proud, they retreated from Christian faith and from the good customs of their forefathers they all rushed along the wide and spacious path leading to drunkenness and other intemperance, they became committed to laziness and long sleep, to lawlessness and internecine bloodshed, following evil teachings and deeds. And I think that because of this God did not allow them to be at peace and to rule over their homelands for a long time. Then they asked for a truce for six months in order to think about that tribute, but, having asked for a truce, they did not stay in it for even two months. And they violated it like this: everyone knows the German city called Narva, and the Russian one - Ivangorod; they stand on the same river, and both cities are large, Russian is especially densely populated, and on that very day when our Lord Jesus Christ suffered for the human race with his flesh and every Christian must, according to his ability, show passion-suffering, remaining in fasting and abstinence, the noble and proud Germans invented a new name for themselves and called themselves Evangelists; at the beginning of that day they got drunk and overeat, and began to shoot with all the big guns at the Russian city, and beat a lot of Christian people with their wives and children, shedding Christian blood on such great and holy days, and they beat incessantly for three days, and did not even stop V Christ's Resurrection, while they were in a truce approved by oaths. And the governor of Ivangorod, not daring to violate the truce without the Tsar’s knowledge, quickly sent news to Moscow. The king, having received it, gathered a council and at that council decided that since they were the first to start, we need to defend ourselves and fire our guns at their city and its surroundings. By this time, a lot of guns had been brought there from Moscow, in addition, stratilates were sent and the Novgorod army from two spots was ordered to gather to them.

IMPACT OF THE LIVONIAN WAR ON TRADE

However, more distant Western countries were ready to ignore the fears of neighbors - enemies of Russia and showed interest in Russian-European trade. The main “trade gate” to Russia for them was Narva, conquered by the Russians during the Livonian War. (The northern route, found by the British, was their monopoly for almost two decades.) In the last third of the 16th century. Following the British, the Flemings, Dutch, Germans, French, and Spaniards flocked to Russia. For example, from the 1570s. French merchants from Rouen, Paris, and La Rochelle traded with Russia through Narva. Narva merchants who swore allegiance to Russia received various benefits from the tsar. In Narva, the most original detachment of German servicemen appeared in the service of Russia.” Ivan the Terrible hired the pirate leader Karsten Rohde and other privateers to protect the Narva estuary. All mercenary corsairs in Russian service also received licenses from Russia's ally in the Livonian War - the owner of the island of Ezel, Prince Magnus. Unfortunately for Moscow, the Livonian War went badly from the late 1570s. In 1581 the Swedes occupied Narva. The project of the Russian vassal Livonian kingdom, led by Prince Magnus, successively betrothed to two daughters of the unfortunate appanage prince Vladimir Staritsky (nieces of Ivan the Terrible), also collapsed. In this situation, the Danish king Frederick II decided to stop the passage of foreign ships carrying goods to Russia through the Danish Sound, a strait connecting the North and Baltic seas. English ships that found themselves in the Sound were arrested there, and their goods were confiscated by Danish customs.

Chernikova T.V. Europeanization of Russia in the XV-XVII centuries

WAR THROUGH THE EYES OF A CONTEMPORARY

In 1572, on December 16, the soldiers of the King of Sweden, reiters and bollards, numbering about 5,000 people, set out on a campaign, intending to besiege Overpallen. They made a long detour to Mariam, and from there to Fellin for the sake of robbery, and sent two cartauns (cannons), along with gunpowder and lead, straight along the Wittenstein road; In addition to these two guns, several more heavy guns were to arrive from Wittenstein. But during Christmas time both guns did not reach further than Nienhof, 5 miles from Revel. At the same time, the Grand Duke of Moscow for the first time personally with his two sons and with an army of 80,000 and many guns entered Livonia, while the Swedes in Revel and Wittenstein did not have the slightest news about this, being quite sure that that there is no danger for them. All of them, both high and low origin, imagined that when the Swedish royal army marched, the Muscovite would not even dare to make a word, so the Muscovite was now powerless and not afraid. So they threw aside all caution and all reconnaissance. But when they were least careful, the Muscovite himself personally approached Wesenberg with a huge army, and the Revelians, as well as Klaus Akezen (Klas Akbzon Tott), the military commander, and all the soldiers in Overpalen still knew nothing about this. However, the Wittensteiners learned something about the movement of the Russians, but did not want to believe that they were in danger, and everyone thought that this was only a raid by some Russian detachment sent to capture the cannons at Nienhof. In this assumption, Hans Boy (Boje), the governor (commandant), sent almost all the bollards from the castle 6 miles to meet the cannons sent from Revel and so weakened the garrison of the Wittenstein castle that there were only 50 warriors left in it capable of wielding weapons, except 500 ordinary men fled to the castle. Hans Boy did not believe that the Muscovite meant not the cannons in Nienhof, but the castle of Wittenschhain. Before he had time to come to his senses, the Muscovite and his army were already at Wittenstein. Hans Boy would be happy to dispose of his bollards differently now.

Russov Balthazar. Chronicles of the province of Livonia

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE LIVONIAN WAR

After the Peace of Pozvol, all the real benefits of which were on the side of Poland, the Livonian Order began to disarm. The Livonians failed to take advantage of the long peace, lived in excess, spent their time in celebrations and did not seem to notice what was being prepared against them in the east, as if they wanted to see how threatening symptoms began to appear everywhere. The traditions of firmness and steadfastness of the former knights of the order were forgotten, everything was swallowed up by quarrels and the struggle of individual classes. In the event of new clashes with any of their neighbors, the order frivolously relied on German Empire. Meanwhile, neither Maximilian I nor Charles V were able to take advantage of their position and tighten the bonds that connected the oldest German colony in the east with its metropolis: they were carried away by their dynastic, Habsburg interests. They were hostile towards Poland and were more likely to allow political rapprochement with Moscow, in which they saw an ally against Turkey.

MILITARY SERVICE DURING THE LIVONIAN WAR

The bulk of service people in the “fatherland” were city nobles and boyar children.

According to the charter of 1556, the service of nobles and boyar children began at the age of 15; before that time they were considered “underage.” To enlist the grown-up nobles and children of the boyars, or, as they were called, “noviks,” into the service, boyars and other Duma officials with clerks were periodically sent from Moscow to the cities; sometimes this matter was entrusted to local governors. Arriving in the city, the boyar had to organize elections from local service nobles and children of boyar special salary workers, with the help of which recruitment was carried out. Based on inquiries from those enlisted into the service and instructions from salary workers, the financial status and service suitability of each new recruit were established. Salaries showed who could be in the same article with whom based on origin and property status. Then the newcomer was enlisted in the service and was assigned a local and monetary salary.

Salaries were set depending on the origin, property status and service of the newcomer. Local salaries of new workers ranged on average from 100 quarters (150 dessiatines in three fields) to 300 quarters (450 dessiatines) and cash salaries - from 4 to 7 rubles. During the service, the local and monetary salaries of new recruits increased.