The Legal Nature of Princely Power in Ancient Russia

Abstract

Introduction. The effectiveness of the functioning of public power largely depends on how its image is actualized in the public consciousness and the legal culture of society. As part of the study of the emerging public power of medieval Russia, one of the basic and, at the same time, difficult to solve problems should be considered the identification of the nature of the Old Russian public power. The researcher has to take into account not only the fact that the Old Russian society has not become a subject of a single legal process, but also the discreteness of its legal space. Territorial disunity, preservation of traditional normative attitudes in society, their complex combination with legal innovations during the IX-XII centuries actively influenced the process of formation of the Old Russian legal culture. Materials and methods. In addition to documentary monuments, the works of ancient Russian literature of various genres - from epics to hagiographic works of the IX-XII centuries - have been studied. In this study, general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition were used. At the same time, the comprehension of the concept of princely power as state power in the Old Russian cultural tradition presupposes a qualitative analysis of its formation. To determine the nature of princely power in the process of formation of ancient Russian statehood, the method of reconstruction of conventional models of ancient Russian legal culture was used, as well as a genetic method that allows us to consider the process of formation of public power in Ancient Russia in dynamics. The results of the study. The conducted research gives every reason to believe that the conceptualization of princely power in the consciousness of ancient Russian society begins from the moment of its formation. The analysis of chronicle texts has shown that the phenomenon of power is reflected initially in everyday consciousness, gradually moving from reflecting reality to constructing the imageconcept of power. The process of statehood formation is reflected in the etiological myths about the origin of the founder of the state or the dynasty of rulers. This process was most fully reflected in the text of the "Legend of the Vocation of the Varangians", preserved in various editions of the Tale of Bygone Years, the author of which justified in detail the contractual basis of the princely power of the first Rurikovich. Discussion and conclusion. The use of semantic resources of the ordinary Old Russian language, most vividly reflected in the epic epic, allows us to reveal the reflection of the existence of power at the level of everyday consciousness. The historicism of epics is clearly manifested in the selection of sung events, in the popular assessment of these events and actors. For the chronicler of the XII century, it was important to emphasize that the transfer of supreme power takes place according to a contract ("in a row"), which establishes the duty of the invited ruler to ensure order and stability in society and limits his powers.