Medieval Thinkers on the Organization of Supreme Power (Form of Government)

Abstract

As a rule, Russia of the XI–XIII centuries is called an early feudal monarchy in modern historical literature. In pre-revolutionary historiography, there was a widespread statement about Russia’s initial commitment to a monarchical form of government. In foreign literature, it has been transformed into an idea of the imperial thinking that has long been characteristic of Russia. Currently, the expansion of the source base, achieved as a result of scientific discoveries and the application of new research methods by modern historians, philologists, philosophers and historians of state and law, political and legal doctrines, has largely changed the perception of the level of general cultural and political and legal development of Medieval Russia. Russian mediev all thinkers gave various recommendations on the organization of state power in the country, the creation of an image of an ideal ruler, the limitation of supreme power. The article examines the ideas about the organizationof the supreme power of three of the most prominent thinkers of the XI – first quarter of the XIII centuries: Metropolitan Hilarion, the great Prince of Kiev Vladimir Monomakh and an unknown author who hid his name under the nickname Daniel the Sharpener.