ABSTRACT
The combination of spiritual, cultural, and economic influence at its disposal made the Russian Church better placed than its Western counterparts. The Church took the lead in rallying the forces which drove out the Poles and established the Romanovs on the throne. The general decline in the Church's influence was reflected in a degree of secularization in Russian culture. The ensuing struggle to detach the Ukraine from Poland and bring it under Russian rule did nothing to weaken Western influence. One of the features which most sharply distinguished Muscovy from western and much of central Europe was the relative back-wardness of her commercial, manufacturing, and urban development. Kiev's flourishing trade had been undermined by inter-princely warfare, and the virtual severance of her commerce with Byzantium. The Mongol invasion had hit the urban centres particularly hard, and the tribute paid to the Golden Horde. The abolition of mestnichestvo symbolized the decline of boyar pretensions and their fusion with the pomeshchiks.
