Posadniks appear together with the state and cities in ancient Russia, their main purpose was to carry out such a policy in the city entrusted to them, which would exactly correspond to the interests of the Grand Duke, as well as the urban aristocracy.
The need for managerial functions
The Old Russian state was born in the ninth century, as a result of the successful and energetic actions of the Novgorod prince Oleg, a single state appeared - Kievan Rus. The territory of the state grew, and there is a need for special people who would represent the prince in the cities of the country. From the end of the ninth century, Novgorod played a special role in the ancient Russian possessions, at one time even acting as a rival of Kyiv in terms of primacy in Russia. Unlike other urban settlements, it did not become the lot of any princely family, but retained its independence and stood apart from all the possessions of the Grand Duke of Kyiv. In order to control the city, the Kyiv rulers sent their sons there, but this was not always the case, none of the grand ducal offspring could gain a foothold there, and the posadnial administration and the people's council received the greatest power there. It is in Novgorod and Pskov that thesepeople used the greatest force and could even openly oppose the Grand Duke. Thus, posadniks are, in modern terms, the mayors of the cities of Ancient Russia.
Features of the Old Russian system of governance
Why exactly in Novgorod the posadniks had such power. This is due to a number of reasons. The first is that the city originally arose as a trade and craft center, and this was due to its natural and geographical location. Huge forest lands provided a lot of goods that were in demand, the abundance of river routes made trade a very profitable business, and, among other things, Novgorod from the moment the Varangians and the Swedish-German crusaders were called did not experience major external dangers, so the power of the princes, who acted as military leaders and supreme judges, was not a special need for Novgorodians. Therefore, quite early, the Novgorod posadnik began to be elected from among the local population, of course, from the most prosperous part of it at a national assembly - a veche. The interests of the big boyars were in the first place here, and in the event of pressure from Kyiv, all Novgorodians acted as a consolidated front. Identical orders developed in other important centers of the Novgorod land.
Etymology of the term
In general, the term itself appeared at the end of the tenth century and is found in the Tale of Bygone Years. The first Kyiv princes sent their representatives to cities of particular importance, and the very wordderived from the verb "to plant". Sometimes the term "settlers" is encountered, that is, "posadniks", this is a distorted word that emphasizes the subordination of this person to a certain prince. For example, the settler Yaropolkov - refers to the head of the city, appointed by the great Kyiv prince Yaropolk Svyatoslavovich. If at the initial stage of the existence of Kievan Rus, grand princely leaders were specially sent to Novgorod, then later the sons of Russian rulers also performed the role of posadniks. But this was characteristically emphasized in the city on the Volkhov, he was also called a posadnik, although he was a prince by origin, and all the way to feudal fragmentation, the city always showed its special status, and the Kyiv rulers were forced to reckon with this.
Autonomy of the North-West of Russia and its liquidation
During the period of feudal fragmentation, Novgorod became even more isolated, and since that period, with the exception of the invitation of Alexander Nevsky to repel the German-Swedish invasion, Novgorod posadniks are exclusively local nobility. The leading cities in Russia changed, from Kyiv to Vladimir, from Vladimir to Moscow, but Novgorod continued to maintain its rather broad autonomy, and even the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars could not radically change this tradition. In the fifteenth century, instead of one posadnik, six were elected, each of whom was in charge of certain areas of the city economy, as well as the main posadnik, who coordinated and worked with all subordinates, according toin fact, in modern terms, it was the mayor's office with all the ensuing powers. Everything changes with the gradual rise of the Moscow principality, the unifying policy pursued by its princes could not bypass this outpost of medieval liberty. By the end of this century, the freedom of Novgorod was crushed by Ivan III, who did not want to have a self-governing unit in his state, the last posadnik Martha Boretskaya was taken to Moscow along with the veche bell, and from that period the post of posadnik was abolished.
New historical realities
As for the rest of the cities, there the posadniks were appointed by the central government and did not have any significant autonomy in the conduct of business. The duties of the posadnik were not very great, in particular, they included, first of all, the proper provision of tax receipts, the trial and reprisal of the local population, the observance of law and order in the territory entrusted to them, the protection of the city and its improvement. This is who such a posadnik is in Ancient Russia. However, it should be noted that the use of this term is most applicable to Novgorod and its lands, in particular Pskov. With the strengthening of the central government, this position was eliminated throughout Russia, replaced by governors and governors.
