Kievan Economics

Kievan society was largely centered around trade during the reigns of Vladimir and Iaroslav, and that continued after their deaths. Kiev's location on the Dneiper River made it relatively accessible; foreign policy, necessarily, followed this trading economy, with Kievan rulers making alliances that would benefit their trading position and going to war to ensure that their trade routes were unblocked. All treaties with the Byzantines, for example, included some sort of commercial or trade clauses.

Kievan exports included most raw materials, particularly honey, wax, and furs, as well as forest products; in return, the Kievans purchased luxury goods such as wines, spices, silks, precious stones, and art from the east and textiles and glassware from the west.

The Kievan state collected tribute in the form of goods and services, and slaves; in addition, because of the amount of foreign trade which occurred, Kiev began to use silver bars and coins, both issued by the Kievan state and from foreign countries. In addition to trade, recent historical accounts point to the role of agriculture in the rise of Kiev; the lands of the Kievan region were, in many places, arable, and it appears that the Kievans were familiar with a variety of different types of grains. It appears possible that the majority of the nobility engaged in trade while the peasantry were farmers, although there are many missing links regarding Kievan society, so that can only be speculated upon.

Towards the end of the Kievan period it appears that a three field system developed, with spring, winter, and fallow alternating; agricultural tools, including ploughs, also improved over time. Livestock raising also occurred, especially on the steppe region, and while a wide range of animals appear to have been present, the most common form of livestock was cattle.

Kievan Society

It is estimated that the Kievan state had a population of 7-8 million in the 12th century.

Society was organized in a pyramid shape. At the top of the pyramid was the Grand Prince and his family; this apex was followed by his retainers, initially known as the muzhi, but eventually called the boyars, who were essentially nobles or aristocrats. Next were the liudi, or middle class (merchants, tradespeople, and artisans, who had considerably more power than their somewhat smaller European counterparts). The next group were the smerdy (peasants), who made up the bulk of the population, and appear to have been mostly free men (serfdom does not become commonplace until later). Finally, at the bottom were slaves.

Taxes were collected by the household, and they were collected exclusively from the peasantry.

A group outside of the regular pyramid were those associated with the Church, married clergy as well as monks. These men operated hospitals and hostels, dispensed charity when possible, and were closely involved in education. They were among the most powerful and wealthiest members of society, and would continue to be so until the reign of Peter the Great.

Each of the groups in society had specific roles. The boyars worked closely with the prince, advising him and assisting him when necessary. This role allowed for the creation of a boyar duma, or noble parliament, which developed from the closest advisors of the prince. It was not quite a parliament in terms of power, but was an important institution in terms of advisement. The peasants were virtually all farmers, and they either owned small pieces of land, or worked land controlled by the boyars or the Grand Prince. Slaves were both agricultural and non-agricultural workers, and most wealthy households possessed them as servants.

Each town possessed a veche, or town meeting, at which all heads of household were allowed to participate; even widows were allowed to attend, although they had less say than their male counterparts. The veche could possess power if it chose to defy the grand prince, although that did not occur often; there was certainly the realisation that the prince would not defend them if they were defiant or unruly, and with the prevalance of barbaric tribes, this was not a good thing! While Kiev was the most important city of the time, there were others, especially Novgorod and Tver, which would rival it for power.

All in all, this was definitely not a feudal society; there was simply too great a dependence on town life and the trade to be considered feudal, and the boyars, while powerful, were not as powerful as their European equivalents.

Kievan Religion and Culture

Paganism did not disappear with the appearance of Christianity; rather, as in Western Europe, elements of the old religion found their way into Christian rituals. Scholars call the melding of the two dvoreverie, or double faith.

Kievan Christianity was clearly modeled on the Byzantine faith, but also possessed some ideas of its own, and this can most clearly be seen in the creation of the Kievan saints (Olga, Vladimir, Boris and Gleb, St. Anthony and St. Theodosius, monks who helped spread the monastic movement in Kiev). All of them had different personalities and reasons for being canonised, which was very different from the first generations of Christian saints in the west, where virtually everyone was a martyr to the faith.

In addition, most of the metropolitans and high church officials came from Byzantium, although there were occasional native born high officials. The liturgy was said in church Slavonic, and therefore easily understood; this was quite different from the other Christian Churches, where the liturgy was said either in Greek or Latin, and therefore not understandable to most of the adherents. The church's growth during the Kievan period was amazing and led to the church becoming a major land owner. In addition, the church became, as it had in the West, a major patron and creator of arts, music, literature, education, and so on.

The emergence of language was devised by St. Cyril and St. Methodius, and while this is usually associated with the conversion, the language was actually in existence nearly a century earlier. The literary and spoken languages have been believed to be similar to Church Slavonic, although recent scholarship has argued that the Kievan language is similar to Russian (Church Slavonic and Russian are quite different). As a result, it appears most correct to say that the language was a mixture of the two.

The conversion to Christianity meant not only an influx of Greek words, but also Bulgarian, Moravians, and others which had been adopted by the Byzantines.
In literature, the byliny, the epic poems, were especially popular. They were similar in many ways to the literature of the Homeric epics, possessing great warriors, moral battles, mythology, and so on. Much of the writing which was developed can be associated with the conversion; the Lay of the Host of Igor can be seen as this type of writing, although its authenticity in terms of when it was written has been questioned in recent years.

The other type of writing were the chronicles, which gave historical accounts of events in Kiev and the surrounding areas. These were frequently written by monks, and they provide historians with specifics about the time of the Kievans. As with most works written by religious figures, they focus primarily on areas of church and political concern, so historians are not able to discern much in terms of society, gender, etc, but they are still valuable tools.

In art and architecture, there were a number of major developments during the Kievan period. Both wooden and stone architecture date from this time, and the most significant surviving example is the church of St. Sophia in Kiev, built in 1037, and modeled after a church in Constantinople. Other churches, as well as friezes and mosaics, also demonstrate a Greek/Byzantine influence during this period, and this will continue to be seen into the fifteenth century and in some cases beyond.