How was the ancient Russian state governed?

We are talking about the period from the 9th to the 13th century, from about 862 or 882 to the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

The head of the ancient Russian state was the prince, but in other languages ​​in various historical sources his title could sound like “kagan”.

The center of political power was Kiev, there was not only the prince, but also the head of church power – the metropolitan, after the adoption of Christianity.

The prince obeyed the squad (older and younger, boyars and “youths”) and princes of tribal unions (in the pagan period until the end of the 10th century), and then appanage princes (from the beginning of the 11th century), who also had their own squads and boyars, and also the heads of the church authorities, for example, the archbishop of Novgorod the Great.

Since the beginning of the 11th century, Russkaya Pravda has been the main body of laws.

After the death of Prince Mstislav (1132), the Kiev prince lost control over the princes in the provinces (Volyn, Chernigov, Polotsk, Smolensk, Ryazan, Suzdal), and in 1136 the prince was expelled from Novgorod and since then the Novgorod veche republic was ruled by the mayor and the archbishop, as well as tysyatsky and veche (in Novgorod itself), the prince was invited.