Власть в Полоцке в XIV - первой половине XV в.: из истории взаимоотношений центра и регионов в Великом княжестве Литовском

ENThe article analyzes the distribution ofpower between the inhabitants of the Polotsk land and the grand dukes of Lithuania in the light of their relations in the 14th and the first half of the 15th century. From the dawn of the 14lh century one can trace various displays of political activity of the Polotsk inhabitants. Due to a mention in an unpublished letter of the German merchants from Polotsk we learn that the form of such political activity was veche - an assembly of the townspeople convened with a ringing bell, like in Novgorod and Pskov. Similar processes in the three cities may also be traced, such as the gradual institutionalization of veche (e.g. the appearance of the seal of "Polotsk and St. Sophia") and the emergence of a group of its most influential participants. It is stressed that the political activity of the Polotsk dwellers and its forms were not borrowed from Latin Europe (Riga, Poland etc.) but may be traced back to the 12th century. The "personnel policy" of the grand dukes of Lithuania is also investigated in the article. It is shown that not only Catholic boyars from the noble Lithuanian families were appointed governors and palatines of the Polotsk land, but also Orthodox boyars and princes from the families connected to the local society’. The author argues that it was due to the powerful position of the local society that the grand dukes had to reckon with it.