Muscovite Manorialism

Muscovite Manorialism

At the passing of the first millennium AD, Europe was experiencing the full effects of the order and advances in social structure begun during the early Middle Ages; however, the structure and development(s) offered by medieval European society were not found beyond the Carpathian Mountains and the Rus' was left as a disordered regionalist "state". The early development of feudal society in the absence of a strong central government helped the European states overcome the harshness experienced in the Dark Ages by enabling the creation of strong governments.

Western Europe's creation of the manorial (economic)/feudal (political) system, which spawned the full development of their feudal society spreading across Europe and bridging the gap to England; a society which divided land, top to bottom, from the monarch to his immediate trustee or vassal, to the peasant or serf, who worked the fiefs in tribute, in return for protection from invaders. This symbiotic system created the first central governments throughout Christendom since the fall of Rome.

The history of Eastern Europe, Rus' in particular, was different. Due to the expansion of trade and its geographical proximity, Kiev became the most important trade center of the Kievan Rus' and chief among the communes; therefore the leader of Kiev gained political "control" over the surrounding areas. This princedom emerged from a coalition of traditional patriarchic family communes banded together in an effort to increase the applicable workforce and expand the productivity of the land. This union developed the first major cities in the Rus' and was the first notable form of self-government. As these communes became larger, the emphasis was taken off the family holdings and placed on the territory that surrounded. This shift in ideology became known as the verv'.

The change in political structure led to the inevitable development of the peasant class or smerds. Smerds were free un-landed peoples that found work by laboring for wages on the manors which began to develop around 1031 as the verv' began to dominate socio-political structure. Smerds were initially given equality in the Kievian law code, they were theoretically equal to the prince, so they enjoyed as much freedom as can be expected of manual laborers. However in the 13th century they began to slowly lose their rights and became less equal in the eyes of the law.

Read more about Muscovite Manorialism:  Contrasts Between European Feudalism and Kievan Manorialism, Tartar Invasions, Throwing Off The Mongol Yoke