The main cities of the Kyiv principality in 12 13. Kiev principality: geographical location and characteristics of government

KIEV PRINCIPALITY, ancient Russian principality in the 2nd third of the 12th century - 1470. The capital is Kyiv. Formed in the process of decay Old Russian state. Initially, the Kiev principality, in addition to its main territory, included Pogorina (Pogorynya; lands along the Goryn River) and the Beresteisky volost (the center is the city of Berestye, now Brest). There were about 90 cities in the Kiev principality, in many of them there were separate princely tables in different periods: in Belgorod Kiev, Berestye, Vasilevo (now Vasilkov), Vyshgorod, Dorogobuzh, Dorohichyn (now Drokhichin), Ovruch, Gorodets-Ostersky (now Oster ), Peresopnitsa, Torchesk, Trepol, etc. A number of fortress cities protected Kiev from Polovtsian raids along the right bank of the Dnieper River and from the south along the Stugna and Ros rivers; Vyshgorod and Belgorod Kyiv defended the capital of the Kyiv principality from the north and west. On southern borders The Kyiv principality, in Porosie, settled nomads who served the Kyiv princes - black hoods.

Economy. The basis of the economic development of the Kyiv principality was arable agriculture (mainly in the form of two-field and three-field), while with agriculture the population of cities was closely connected. The main grain crops grown on the territory of the Kyiv Principality are rye, wheat, barley, oats, millet and buckwheat; from legumes - peas, vetch, lentils and beans; from industrial crops - flax, hemp and camelina. Cattle breeding and poultry farming also developed: cows, sheep, goats and pigs were bred in the Kiev principality; chickens, geese and ducks. Horticulture and horticulture are quite widespread. The most common industry in the Kiev principality was fishing. Due to the constant inter-princely conflicts and the increase in Polovtsian raids, from the middle (and especially from the last third) of the 12th century, a gradual outflow of the rural population from the principality of Kiev (for example, from Porosie) began, primarily to North-Eastern Rus', Ryazan and Murom principalities.

Most of the cities of the Kyiv principality until the end of the 1230s were major centers crafts; almost the entire range of ancient Russian handicrafts was produced on its territory. Pottery, foundry (the production of copper encolpion crosses, icons, etc.), enamel, bone carving, woodworking and stoneworking, and the art of niello have reached a high level of development. Until the middle of the 13th century, Kyiv was the only center of glassmaking in Rus' (dishes, window glass, jewelry, mainly beads and bracelets). In some cities of the Kyiv Principality, production was based on the use of local minerals: for example, in the city of Ovruch, the extraction and processing of natural red (pink) slate, the manufacture of slate whorls; in the city of Gorodesk - iron production, etc.

The largest trade routes passed through the territory of the Kiev Principality, connecting it both with other Russian principalities and with foreign states, including the Dnieper section of the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", the land roads Kiev - Galich - Krakow - Prague - Regensburg; Kyiv - Lutsk - Vladimir-Volynsky - Lublin; Salt and Zalozny paths.

Struggle old Russian princes for dynastic seniority. The main feature of the political development of the Kyiv principality in the 12th - 1st third of the 13th century was the absence in it, unlike other ancient Russian principalities, of its own princely dynasty. Despite the collapse of the Old Russian state, the Russian princes until 1169 continued to consider Kiev as a kind of "oldest" city, and its possession as obtaining dynastic eldership, which led to an aggravation of the inter-princely struggle for the Kiev principality. Quite often, the closest relatives and allies of the Kyiv princes received separate cities and volosts in the territory of the Kyiv principality. During the 1130-1150s, two groups of Monomakhoviches played a decisive role in this struggle (Vladimirovichi - children of Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh; Mstislavichs - children of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich the Great) and Svyatoslavichi (descendants of the Chernigov and Kiev prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich). After the death of the Kyiv prince Mstislav Vladimirovich (1132), his younger brother Yaropolk Vladimirovich took the Kiev throne without any difficulty. However, Yaropolk's attempts to implement some of the provisions of the will of Vladimir Monomakh (the transfer of the sons of Mstislav the Great to the princely tables closest to Kiev, so that later, after the death of Yaropolk, they inherited the Kiev table) caused serious opposition from the younger Vladimirovichs, in particular Prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky. The weakening of the internal unity of the Monomakhoviches took advantage of the Chernigov Svyatoslavichs, who actively intervened in the inter-princely struggle in the 1130s. As a result of these troubles, Yaropolk's successor on the Kiev table, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich, lasted less than two weeks in Kiev (22.2-4.3.1139), after which he was expelled from the Kiev principality by the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich, who, in violation of the agreements of the Lyubech Congress of 1097, deprived the Chernigov princes of the right to inherit the Kievan table, not only managed to take and hold the Kievan table until his death (1146), but also took steps to secure the inheritance of the Kievan principality for the Chernigov Olgovichi. In 1142 and 1146-57 the Principality of Kyiv included the Principality of Turov.

In the mid-1140s - early 1170s, the role of the Kyiv Council increased, which discussed almost all key issues of the political life of the Kiev principality and often determined the fate of the Kiev princes or pretenders to the Kiev table. After the death of Vsevolod Olgovich, his brother Igor Olgovich (August 2-13, 1146) reigned for a short time in the Principality of Kiev, who was defeated in a battle near Kyiv by the Pereyaslav prince Izyaslav Mstislavich. The 2nd half of the 1140s - the middle of the 1150s - the time of open confrontation between Izyaslav Mstislavich and Yuri Dolgoruky in the struggle for the Kiev principality. It was accompanied by various innovations, including in the political life of the Kyiv principality. So, in fact, for the first time, both princes (especially Yuri Dolgoruky) practiced the creation of numerous princely tables within the Kyiv principality (under Yuri Dolgoruky they were occupied by his sons). Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1151 went to recognize the seniority of his uncle - Vyacheslav Vladimirovich in order to create a "duumvirate" with him to legitimize his own power in the Kiev principality. The victory of Izyaslav Mstislavich in the Battle of Ruta in 1151 actually meant his victory in the struggle for the Kiev principality. A new aggravation of the struggle for the Principality of Kiev fell on the time after the death of Izyaslav Mstislavich (on the night of November 13-14, 1154) and Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (December 1154) and ended with the reign of Yuri Dolgoruky (1155-57) in Kiev. The death of the latter changed the balance of power in the course of the struggle for the Kiev table among the Monomakhoviches. All Vladimirovichs died, only two Mstislavichs remained (Prince of Smolensk Rostislav Mstislavich and his younger half-brother Vladimir Mstislavich, who did not play a significant political role), in North-Eastern Russia the positions of Prince Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky were strengthened, coalitions of sons gradually formed (later - descendants in the following generations) Izyaslav Mstislavich - Volyn Izyaslavich and sons (later - descendants in the next generations) Rostislav Mstislavich - Smolensk Rostislavich.

In the short second reign of the Chernigov prince Izyaslav Davidovich (1157-1158), the Turov principality was separated from the Kiev principality, the power in which was seized by Prince Yuri Yaroslavich, who had previously been in the service of Yuri Dolgoruky (grandson of the Vladimir-Volyn prince Yaropolk Izyaslavich). Probably, at the same time, the Beresteisky volost finally passed from the Kyiv principality to the Vladimir-Volyn principality. Already in December 1158, the Monomakhoviches regained the Kiev principality. Rostislav Mstislavich, Prince of Kiev from 12.4.1159 to 8.2.1161 and from 6.3.1161 to 14.3.1167, sought to restore the former prestige and respect for the power of the Kyiv prince and largely achieved his goal. Under his control and the authority of his sons in 1161-67 were, in addition to the Kyiv principality, the Smolensk principality and the Novgorod Republic; the allies and vassals of Rostislav were the princes of Vladimir-Volynsky, Lutsk, Galich, Pereyaslavl; the suzerainty of the Rostislavichs extended to the Polotsk and Vitebsk principalities. The eldership of Rostislav Mstislavich was also recognized by Vladimir Prince Andrey Yuryevich Bogolyubsky. The closest relatives and allies of Rostislav Mstislavich received new holdings on the territory of the Kyiv Principality.

With the death of Rostislav Mstislavich, there was no prince left among the pretenders to the Kiev principality who would enjoy the same authority among relatives and vassals. In this regard, the position and status of the Kiev prince changed: during 1167-74, he almost always turned out to be a hostage in the struggle of various princely groups or individual princes, relying on the support of the inhabitants of Kiev or the population of some lands of the Kiev principality (for example, Porosie or Pogorynya) . At the same time, the death of Rostislav Mstislavich made Prince Vladimir Andrei Bogolyubsky the oldest among the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh (the youngest son of Mstislav the Great, Prince Vladimir Mstislavich, was not a serious political figure and was younger than his cousin). The campaign against the Kiev principality in 1169 by the troops of the coalition created by Andrei Bogolyubsky ended in a three-day defeat of Kyiv (12-15.3.1169). The capture of Kiev by the forces of Andrei Bogolyubsky and the fact that he himself did not occupy the Kiev table, but handed it over to his younger brother Gleb Yuryevich (1169-70, 1170-71), marked a change in the political status of the Kiev principality. Firstly, now seniority, at least for Vladimir princes, was no longer associated with the occupation of the Kiev table (beginning in the autumn of 1173, only one descendant of Yuri Dolgoruky occupied the Kiev table - Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in 1236-38). Secondly, since the beginning of the 1170s, the role of the Kyiv Council in making key political decisions, including in matters of determining candidates for the Kiev table, has seriously decreased. After 1170, the main part of Pogorynya gradually entered the sphere of influence of the Vladimir-Volyn principality. The suzerainty of Andrei Bogolyubsky over the Kiev Principality remained until 1173, when, after the conflict between the Rostislavichs and Andrei Bogolyubsky, the troops of the Vyshgorod prince David Rostislavich and the Belgorod prince Mstislav Rostislavich captured Kiev on 24.3. The Big Nest - and handed over the Kiev table to his brother - Ovruch prince Rurik Rostislavich. The defeat in the autumn of 1173 of the troops of the new coalition sent to Kyiv by Andrei Bogolyubsky meant the final liberation of the Kyiv principality from its influence.

Kiev principality - the sphere of interests of the South Russian princes. For the princes of South Rus', the occupation of the Kievan table continued to be associated with a kind of seniority until the mid-1230s (the only exception was the attempt of the Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich in 1201-05 to establish control over the Kiev principality, similar to what Andrei Bogolyubsky did in 1169- 73). The history of the Kyiv principality in 1174-1240 is essentially a struggle for it (sometimes subsiding, then again escalating) of two princely coalitions - the Rostislavichs and the Chernigov Olgoviches (the only exception was the period 1201-05). For many years, the key figure in this struggle was Rurik Rostislavich (Prince of Kiev in March - September 1173, 1180-81, 1194-1201, 1203-04, 1205-06, 1206-07, 1207-10). In 1181-94, a “duumvirate” of Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich and Rurik Rostislavich acted in the Kiev principality: Svyatoslav received Kyiv and nominal eldership, but at the same time the rest of the territory of the Kyiv principality was under the rule of Rurik. The sharp increase in the political influence of the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest forced the South Russian princes to officially recognize his seniority (probably in 1194 at the congress of the Kiev prince Rurik Rostislavich and the Smolensk prince David Rostislavich), but this did not change the sufficiently independent position of the rulers of the Kiev principality. At the same time, the problem of "communion" was identified - recognized as the oldest, Vsevolod the Big Nest in 1195 demanded a "part" on the territory of the Kiev principality, which led to a conflict, since the cities that he wanted to receive (Torchesk, Korsun, Boguslavl, Trepol, Kanev ), the Kiev prince Rurik Rostislavich had already transferred to the possession of his son-in-law - Vladimir-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich. The Kiev prince took the required cities from Roman Mstislavich, which led to a conflict between them, which only aggravated in the future (in particular, in 1196 the Vladimir-Volyn prince actually left his first wife, the daughter of Rurik Rostislavich Predslava) and largely determined the political fate of Kiev principalities at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. The conflict of interests of Roman Mstislavich (who united the Vladimir-Volyn and Galician principalities in 1199) and Rurik Rostislavich led to the overthrow of the latter and the appearance on the Kiev table of Roman Mstislavich's henchman, Prince Ingvar Yaroslavich of Lutsk (1201-02, 1204).

On January 1-2, 1203, the combined troops of Rurik Rostislavich, the Chernigov Olgovichi and the Polovtsy subjected Kyiv to a new defeat. At the beginning of 1204, Roman Mstislavich forced Rurik Rostislavich, his wife and daughter Predslava (his ex-wife) to take monastic tonsure, and captured Rurik's sons Rostislav Rurikovich and Vladimir Rurikovich and took him to Galich. However, soon, after the diplomatic intervention in the situation of the father-in-law of Rostislav Rurikovich - the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, Roman Mstislavich had to transfer the Kiev principality to Rostislav (1204-05). The death of Roman Mstislavich in Poland (June 19, 1205) made it possible for Rurik Rostislavich to start fighting again for the Kiev table, now with the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny (Kiev prince in 1206, 1207, 1210-12). During 1212-36, only the Rostislavichs ruled in the Kiev principality (Mstislav Romanovich the Old in 1212-23, Vladimir Rurikovich in 1223-35 and 1235-36, Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1235). In the 1st third of the 13th century, the “Bolokhov land” became practically independent of the Kyiv principality, turning into a kind of buffer zone between the Kyiv principality, the Galician and Vladimir-Volyn principalities. In 1236, Vladimir Rurikovich ceded the Kiev principality to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Novgorod, probably in exchange for support in taking the Smolensk table.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion of North-Eastern Rus' (1237-38) led to the departure of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich from the Kyiv principality to Novgorod, and then to Vladimir. For the first time since 1212, a representative of the Chernigov Olgovichi, Mikhail Vsevolodovich, became the prince of Kyiv. After the capture of Pereyaslavl by the Mongols (3.3.1239), the arrival of Mongolian ambassadors from Tsarevich Möngke in Kyiv and their murder, Mikhail Vsevolodovich fled to Hungary. According to indirect data from a number of chronicles, it can be assumed that his cousin Mstislav Glebovich became his successor, whose name is named first among the names of three Russian princes (formerly Vladimir Rurikovich and Daniil Romanovich), who signed a truce with the Mongols in the fall of 1239. However, Mstislav Glebovich soon, apparently, also left the Kiev principality and fled to Hungary. He was replaced by the son of Mstislav Romanovich the Old - Rostislav Mstislavich, who took the Kiev throne, probably after the death of Vladimir Rurikovich in Smolensk. Rostislav Mstislavich had no real support in the principality of Kiev and was easily captured by the Galician prince Daniil Romanovich, who left the thousandth Dmitri in Kiev in the face of the Mongol-Tatar threat to organize defense. After more than a 10-week siege by the main forces of the Mongol-Tatars, Kyiv fell on November 19, 1240, most of the cities of the Kyiv principality were taken by storm or destroyed.

Kiev principality under the control of the Mongol-Tatars . The destruction and devastation of cities and lands on the territory of the Kyiv principality led to a severe political and economic crisis. According to the Nikon chronicle (1520s), after the conquest of Kyiv and before continuing the campaign to the west, Batu left his governor in the city. Obviously, the appearance of the Mongol authorities in Pereyaslavl and Kanev, which was described by Carpini, dates back to 1239-40. One of their main functions at the first stage was the organization of the pit service and the recruitment of soldiers for a campaign against the countries of Western Europe. Already in 1241, Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich, who returned to Rus', was forced to live not in the princely court in Kiev (obviously occupied by representatives of another government), but on one of the islands on the Dnieper River, and then return to Chernigov. In the 1240s, he tried to unite the efforts of the Kyiv Principality, Hungary and the Roman Curia in the fight against the Golden Horde, Lithuania, Mazovia and the Galician prince Daniel Romanovich. The anti-Orda position of Mikhail Vsevolodovich alerted Batu, who in 1243 summoned Mikhail Vsevolodovich's longtime political opponent, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, to the Horde and gave him a label for the Kiev principality and the entire "Russian land". Yaroslav Vsevolodovich did not personally rule in Kyiv, but sent his governor to the city - the boyar Dmitry Yeikovich (1243-46). After the death of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1246), his eldest sons, princes Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky and Andrei Yaroslavich, went to the Mongol Empire. In 1248, the first of them received the right to the Kiev principality, and the second - to the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. This political act testified to the legal preservation of the seniority of the Kyiv principality in the system of ancient Russian principalities. However, the refusal of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich to move from Novgorod to Kyiv and his reign in Vladimir (1252) led to a decline in the importance of the Kyiv principality. This was facilitated not only by the political and economic crisis, favorable conditions for the settlement of nomads on the southern borders of the Kiev principality, but also by the establishment here of a stricter system of Horde control, which had not yet been introduced in North-Eastern Rus', and the frequent presence there, and not in Kiev the principality of Metropolitan Kirill II (III). The Mongolian administration supported the desire of the princes of the “Bolokhov Land” to get out of the control of Prince Daniel Romanovich, traces of the presence of its garrisons are known in the territory of some cities of Pogorynya, brodniki and black hoods, as well as a number of lands along the rivers Ros and Stugna. The unsuccessful plan to capture Kyiv (1254) and the defeat of Prince Daniil Romanovich in the fight against the Mongol noyon Burundai (1257-60) caused a new political crisis in the Kiev principality. In the 1260s, under Temnik Nogai, the bulk of the black hoods were resettled in the Volga region and the North Caucasus. The Mongol authorities resettled the conquered Polovtsy in the liberated regions of the Kyiv principality. On the southern borders of the Kyiv principality, there was a gradual desolation of cities, even those that were not destroyed during the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In a number of cases, the fortifications of the border towns of the Kiev Principality were burned and demolished, and they themselves turned into rural-type settlements (for example, Vyshgorod, Chuchin, Ivan in Rzhishchev, Voin at the mouth of the Sula, as well as settlements that were located on the site of the settlements explored by archaeologists near the village of Komarovka on the Dnieper, settlements near the Polovtsian farm on Ros, etc.). Separate categories of residents of the Kyiv principality, primarily artisans, moved to other Russian principalities and lands (to Novgorod, Smolensk, Galicia-Volyn lands, etc.).

Information about the political development of the Kiev principality in the last third of the 13th century is associated exclusively with the activities of the Russian metropolitans Cyril II (III) and Maxim, who spent a lot of time here, and sometimes also consecrated new bishops in Kiev. The gradual restoration of the Kyiv principality was interrupted in the 1290s, during a fierce struggle for power in the Golden Horde between the Mongol princes and the influential temnik Nogai, to whom the Kiev principality was directly subordinate. This struggle caused the attacks of the Horde (probably, the troops of Khan Tokhta) on the territory of the Kyiv principality. Horde violence also led to the flight of Metropolitan Maxim, along with the entire clergy of the St. Sophia Cathedral, from Kiev to Vladimir (1299), after which, as it is said in the Laurentian Chronicle (1377), "and the whole of Kiev fled."

In the 1st quarter of the 14th century, the Kiev principality gradually revived (this is evidenced, in particular, by dated graffiti in the churches of Kyiv, starting from 1317). At the turn of the 1320s-30s, the younger brother of the Lithuanian prince Gediminas, Prince Fyodor, reigned in the Kiev principality, probably, who occupied the Kiev table with the consent of the Horde. In Kyiv, the Basque institution was preserved. At the same time, the jurisdiction of Prince Fedor extended to part of the Chernigov principality, which indicates a change in the boundaries of the Kyiv principality in the 1st quarter of the 14th century. The reign of Prince Fedor in Kyiv, apparently, ended no later than the 1340s. The Horde took advantage of the weakening position of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) in the mid-1340s and early 1350s. The next prince of Kiev known from sources was Vladimir Ivanovich (probably died between 1359 and 1363), who came from the senior (Bryansk) line of the Chernigov Olgovichi dynasty and was the great-grandson of the Kiev and Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich. It is possible that his claims were caused by the previous reign in the Kiev principality of his father, Prince Ivan Romanovich of Putivl, who, like Vladimir himself, died at the hands of the Horde.

Kievan principality within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The beginning of the “Great Memory” in the Horde (1359) weakened the Horde’s control over the Kiev Principality, and the death of Vladimir Ivanovich allowed the newly representative of the Lithuanian Gediminoviches, Prince Vladimir Olgerdovich (not later than 1367-95) to occupy the Kiev table that had become vacant and entailed the inclusion in the Kiev principalities of escheated possessions of the senior branch of the Olgovichi in the territory of Chernihiv and Putivl regions. The reign of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Olgerdovich, despite the political dependence of the Kyiv principality on the Golden Horde, was characterized by a noticeable military-economic and cultural upsurge of the cities and lands of the Kyiv principality. In the middle - the 2nd half of the 14th century, they finally entered the zone of interests of the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Vladimir Olgerdovich led a large construction and reconstruction in the cities of the Kyiv principality, mainly in Kyiv. With the help of the military forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Horde were gradually driven out across the Dnieper River, and on the southeastern border of the Kyiv Principality they were recreated defensive fortifications along the Sula River. Apparently, already under the Grand Duke Vladimir Olgerdovich, the Pereyaslav principality (on the left bank of the Dnieper) was included in the Kyiv principality. Vladimir Olgerdovich, like other Orthodox specific Lithuanian princes - his contemporaries, began minting silver coins in Kyiv with his name (they were widely used on the territory of the Kiev principality and the Chernigov principality, in the GDL). In the struggle for control over the Kyiv Metropolis, Vladimir Olgerdovich supported Cyprian, who in 1376-81 and 1382-90 was in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and often lived in Kyiv. In the winter of 1385, the daughter of Vladimir Olgerdovich married the 4th son of the Grand Duke of Tver, Mikhail Alexandrovich, Prince Vasily Mikhailovich. After the accession of Jagiello to the royal throne in Poland under the name of Vladislav II Jagello in 1386, Vladimir Olgerdovich recognized the power and suzerainty of his younger brother (in 1386, 1388 and 1389 he took an oath of allegiance to the king, his wife, Queen Jadwiga and the Polish crown). In 1390 he supported Vladislav II Jagello in the fight against Vytautas; together with the Kyiv army participated in the siege of Grodno. In 1392, after Vytautas came to power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vladimir Olgerdovich refused to obey him, motivating his decision by the fact that he had already taken an oath of allegiance to Vladislav II Jagiello. Another reason for the conflict was the terms of the 1392 agreement between Vladislav II Jagello and Vitovt, according to which the Kiev principality was to pass to Prince John-Skirgailo as compensation for the lands of North-Western Belarus and the Troksky principality he had lost. In 1393-94, Vladimir Olgerdovich supported the Novgorod-Seversky prince Dmitry-Koribut Olgerdovich and the Podolsk prince Fyodor Koryatovich in the fight against Vitovt. In the spring of 1394, Vitovt and Polotsk prince John-Skirgaylo captured the cities of Zhitomir and Ovruch in the northern part of the Kyiv principality and forced Vladimir Olgerdovich to negotiate. The princes made peace for 2 years, but already in 1395 Vladimir Olgerdovich lost the Kyiv principality, and his place was taken by Prince John-Skirgailo, who immediately had to besiege the cities of Zvenigorod and Cherkasy that did not submit to him. In 1397, the Grand Duke of Kiev, John-Skirgailo, was poisoned by Thomas (Izufov), the vicegerent of Metropolitan Cyprian in Kyiv. Probably, after that, Vytautas essentially turned the Kiev principality into a governorship, which sharply reduced the status of the Kyiv principality among the ancient Russian principalities subordinate to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the same time, the inheritances of minor princes were preserved in the Kiev principality, whose role was largely determined by service at the court of Vitovt (for example, the princes of Glinsky). Prince Ivan Borisovich (died in 1399), the son of Prince Boris Koryatovich of Podolsk, and Ivan Mikhailovich Golshansky (died after 1401), son of the Lithuanian prince Mikhail Olgimont, became the first governors of the Kiev principality. In 1399, after the defeat of the troops of Vitovt and his allies in the Battle of Vorskla, the Kiev Principality was attacked by the troops of the Horde rulers. Having ruined the rural district, Khan Timur-Kutlug and Emir Yedigey were satisfied with 1 thousand rubles from Kyiv and 30 rubles from the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery; in 1416, the Horde again raided the Kiev principality, ruining the rural district of Kyiv and the Kiev Caves Monastery. According to the Belarusian-Lithuanian chronicles of the 1st third of the 16th century, I. M. Golshansky's successors as governors of the Kiev principality were his sons - Andrei (died no later than 1422) and Mikhail (died in 1433).

In 1440, Casimir Jagiellonchik, who became the new Grand Duke of Lithuania (later the Polish King Casimir IV), went to a partial revival of the appanage system in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in particular, the Principality of Kiev received such a status. The specific Kyiv prince was the son of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Olgerdovich - Slutsk prince Alexander Olelko Vladimirovich. His reign was interrupted for a short time in 1449, when the Grand Duke of Lithuania Mikhail Sigismundovich, with the support of the Horde Khan Seid-Ahmed, captured the Kiev principality and Seversk land. However, the joint actions of the troops of Casimir IV and the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark led to the defeat of Mikhail Sigismundovich and the return to Kyiv of Prince Alexander Olelko Vladimirovich. In 1455, after his death, the Principality of Kiev was inherited by his eldest son Semyon Alexandrovich.

Some increase in the status of the Kiev Principality within the GDL helped to strengthen the role of the Kiev boyars within the Kiev principality, where the Kiev princes continued the policy of distributing large and small possessions to the princes and boyars who were part of their council, as well as to smaller boyars and servants. For large boyars who were not members of the Rada, the system of annual feeding continued to operate. The boyars took part in the collection and distribution of taxes collected in the Kiev principality, and also sometimes received salaries and lands from the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who was considered the ruler of the Kyiv principality. In the 1450s and 60s, relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crimean Khanate normalized, Khan Hadji Giray I issued a label to Casimir IV for the possession of the Kyiv principality and other lands of Western and Southern Rus'.

After strengthening his positions in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland, winning the war with the Teutonic Order, Casimir IV, taking advantage of the death of Prince Semyon Alexandrovich in 1470 and the absence of his brother Mikhail in Kiev (he reigned in Novgorod in 1470-71), liquidated the Kiev principality and transformed it into a voivodeship , while in 1471 Casimir IV, with a special privilege, secured a certain autonomy of the Kiev region as part of the ON.

Lit .: Lyubavsky M.K. Regional division and local government of the Lithuanian-Russian state at the time of the publication of the first Lithuanian statute. M., 1893; Klepatsky P. G. Essays on the history of the Kyiv land. Od., 1912. T. 1; Nasonov A.N. Mongols and Rus'. M.; L., 1940; Rybakov B. A. Craft Ancient Rus'. M., 1948; Dovzhenok V. I. Farming of Ancient Pyci until the middle of the XIII century. Kiev, 1961; Umanskaya A.S. On the importance of birds in the economy of the Old Russian population of the territory of Ukraine // Archeology. 1973. No. 10; Rapov O. M. Princely possessions in Rus' in the X - first half of the XIII century. M., 1977; Dovzhenok V. O. Middle Dnieper after the Tatar-Mongol invasion // Ancient Rus' and the Slavs. M., 1978; Tolochko P.P. Kyiv and Kiev land in the era of feudal fragmentation of the XII-XIII centuries. K., 1980; Pashkevich G. O., Petrashenko V. O. Farming and cattle breeding in the Middle Dnieper in the VIII-X centuries. // Archeology. 1982. No. 41; Pashuto V. T., Florya B. N., Khoroshkevich A. L. Old Russian heritage and historical fate of Eastern Slavs. M., 1982; Belyaeva S. A. South Russian lands in the second half of the XIII-XIV centuries. K., 1982; Rychka V. M. Formation of the territory of the Kyiv land (IX - the first third of the XII century). K., 1988; Stavisky V.I. To the analysis of news about Rus' in the "History of the Mongols" by Plano Carpini in the light of its archaeographic tradition // Ancient states on the territory of the USSR: Materials and research. 1986 M., 1988; he is. "History of the Mongols" by Plano Carpini and Russian chronicles // Ibid. 1990 M., 1991; Grushevsky M.S. Essay on the history of the Kyiv land from the death of Yaroslav to the end of the XIV century. K., 1991; Hrushevsky M. S. History of Ukraine-Rus. Kiev, 1992-1993. T. 2-4; Gorsky A. A. Russian lands in the XIII-XIV centuries: Ways of political development. M., 1996; Rusina O. V. Ukraine under the Tatars and Lithuania // Ukraine kpiz wiki. Kiev, 1998. Vol. 6; Ivakin G. Yu. Historical development Southern Rus' and Batu's invasion // Rus' in the XIII century: Antiquities of the dark time. M., 2003; Pyatnov A.P. The struggle for the Kiev table in 1148-1151 // Bulletin of Moscow State University. Series 8. History. 2003. No. 1; he is. Kyiv and Kiev land in 1167-1169 // Ancient Rus': questions of medieval studies. 2003. No. 1; he is. Kyiv and Kiev land in 1169-1173 // Collection of Russian historical society. M., 2003. T. 7; he is. Kiev principality in 1235-1240 // The first open historical readings "Young Science". M., 2003; Kuzmin A. V. Sources of the XVI-XVII centuries. about the origin of Kyiv and Putivl Prince Vladimir Ivanovich // Eastern Europe in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Problems of Source Studies. M., 2005. Part 2.

A. V. Kuzmin, A. P. Pyatnov.

Kievan Rus and Russians principalities XII-XIII centuries. Rybakov Boris Alexandrovich

Kiev principality

Kiev principality

For the author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, the Principality of Kiev was the first among all Russian principalities. He soberly looks at the contemporary world and no longer considers Kyiv the capital of Rus'. The Grand Duke of Kiev does not order other princes, but asks them to enter "into the golden stirrup ... for the Russian land," and sometimes, as it were, asks: "Do you think to fly here from afar to guard your father's golden throne?" So he turned to Vsevolod the Big Nest.

“The author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign has great respect for sovereign sovereigns, princes of other lands, and does not at all suggest redrawing the political map of Rus'. When he talks about unity, he means only what was quite real then - a military alliance against the "nasty", a single defense system, a single plan for a distant raid into the steppe. But he does not claim the hegemony of Kiev, since Kiev has long turned from the capital of Russia into the capital of one of the principalities and was almost on an equal footing with such cities as Galich, Chernigov, (Vladimir on Klyazma, Novgorod, Smolensk. Kiev distinguished from these cities only its historical glory and the position of the church center of all Russian lands. Until the middle of the 12th century, the Kiev principality occupied significant areas on the Right Bank of the Dnieper: almost the entire Pripyat basin and the Teterev, Irpen and Ros basins. Only later did Pinsk and Turov separate from Kiev, and the lands west of Goryn and Sluch went to the Volyn land.

A feature of the Kyiv principality was a large number of old boyar estates with fortified castles, concentrated in the old land of Polyany to the south of Kyiv. To protect these estates from the Polovtsians back in the 11th century. along the river Rosi (in "Porosye") were settled by significant masses of nomads expelled by the Polovtsy from the steppes: Torks, Pechenegs and Berendeys, united in the XII century. common name - Black Cowls. They seemed to anticipate the future border noble cavalry and carried out border service in the vast steppe space between the Dnieper, Stugna and Ros. Cities populated by the Chernoklobutsky nobility (Yuriev, Torchesk, Korsun, Dveren, etc.) arose along the banks of the Ros. Defending Rus' from the Polovtsy, the Torks and Berendeys gradually adopted the Russian language, Russian culture, and even the Russian epic epic.

Kyiv land. Pereyaslav land (east of the Dnieper) (according to A. N. Nasonov)

The capital of the semi-autonomous Porosye was either Kanev or Torchesk, a huge city with two fortresses on the northern bank of the Ros.

Black hoods played an important role in the political life of Rus' in the 12th century. and often influenced the choice of one or another prince. There were cases when the Black Hoods proudly declared to one of the pretenders to the Kiev throne: “In us, prince, there is both good and evil,” i.e., that the achievement of the grand prince’s throne depends on them, border cavalry constantly ready for battle, located two days from the capital.

For half a century that separates "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" from the time of Monomakh, the Kiev Principality lived a difficult life.

In 1132, after the death of Mstislav the Great, Russian principalities began to fall away from Kiev one after another: either Yuri Dolgoruky would ride from Suzdal to seize the Pereyaslav principality, then the neighboring Chernigov Vsevolod Olgovich, together with his Polovtsy friends, “went fighting villages and cities ... and people even came to Kiev…” Novgorod finally freed itself from the power of Kiev. The Rostov-Suzdal land was already acting independently. Smolensk voluntarily accepted the princes. Galich, Polotsk, Turov had their own special princes. The horizons of the Kyiv chronicler narrowed down to the Kiev-Chernigov conflicts, in which, however, the Byzantine prince, the Hungarian troops, the Berendeys, and the Polovtsy took part.

After the death of the unlucky Yaropolk in 1139, the even more unlucky Vyacheslav sat on the Kiev table, but lasted only eight days - he was expelled by Vsevolod Olgovich, the son of Oleg "Gorislavich".

The Kiev Chronicle depicts Vsevolod and his brothers as cunning, greedy and crooked people. The Grand Duke waged incessant intrigues, quarreled with his relatives, granted dangerous rivals distant destinies in bearish corners in order to remove them from Kyiv.

An attempt to return Novgorod to Kyiv was unsuccessful, since the Novgorodians expelled Svyatoslav Olgovich “for his malice”, “for his violence”.

Igor and Svyatoslav Olgovichi, brothers of Vsevolod, were unhappy with him, and all six years of reigning passed in mutual struggle, violations of the oath, conspiracies and reconciliations. Of the major events, one can note the stubborn struggle between Kyiv and Galich in 1144-1146.

Vsevolod did not enjoy the sympathy of the Kyiv boyars; this was reflected both in the annals and in the characterization that V. N. Tatishchev took from sources unknown to us: “This Grand Duke was a man of great stature and very fat, had little hair on his head, a wide beard, considerable eyes, a long nose. Wise (cunning - B.R.) was in the councils and courts, for that - whom he wanted, he could justify or accuse. He had many concubines and practiced more in fun than in reprisals. Through this, the burden of him was great for the people of Kiev. And when he died, hardly anyone, except for his beloved women, wept, but more were glad. But at the same time, they feared more burdens from Igor (his brother. - B.R.), knowing his ferocious and proud temper.

The protagonist "" The Tale of Igor's Campaign "- Svyatoslav of Kiev - was the son of this Vsevolod.

Vsevolod died in 1146. Subsequent events clearly showed that the main force in the principality of Kiev, as well as in Novgorod and other lands at that time, was the boyars.

Vsevolod's successor, his brother Igor, the same prince of a ferocious temper, whom the people of Kiev so feared, was forced to swear allegiance to them at the veche "with all their will." But the new prince had not yet had time to leave the veche meeting for dinner, when the “kiyans” rushed to smash the courtyards of the hated tiuns and swordsmen, which was reminiscent of the events of 1113.

The leaders of the Kiev boyars, Uleb Tysyatsky and Ivan Voitishich, secretly sent an embassy to Prince Izyaslav Mstislavich, the grandson of Monomakh, in Pereyaslavl with an invitation to reign in Kiev, and when he approached the walls of the city with his troops, the boyars threw down their banner and, as agreed, surrendered to him. Igor was tonsured a monk and exiled to Pereyaslavl. A new stage of the struggle between the Monomashichs and the Olgoviches began.

Smart Kyiv historian of the late XII century. hegumen Moses, who had a whole library of annals of various principalities, compiled a description of these turbulent years (1146-1154) from fragments of the personal chronicles of the warring princes. It turned out to be a very interesting picture: the same event is described from different points of view, the same act was described by one chronicler as a good deed inspired by God, and by others as the intrigues of the “all-sly devil”.

The chronicler of Svyatoslav Olgovich carefully conducted all the economic affairs of his prince and, with each victory of his enemies, pedantically listed how many horses and mares were stolen by the enemies, how many haystacks were burned, what utensils were taken in the church and how many troughs of wine and honey stood in the prince's cellar.

Of particular interest is the chronicler of Grand Duke Izyaslav Mstislavich (1146–1154). This is a man who knew military affairs well, participated in campaigns and military councils, and carried out the diplomatic missions of his prince. In all likelihood, this is the boyar, Kievan thousand Peter Borislavich, mentioned many times in the annals. He conducts, as it were, a political account of his prince and tries to put him in the most favorable light, to show him as a good commander, a managerial ruler, a caring overlord. Exalting his prince, he skillfully vilifies all his enemies, showing an outstanding literary talent. To document his chronicle-report, obviously intended for influential princely-boyar circles, Peter Borislavich widely used the authentic correspondence of his prince with other princes, the people of Kiev, the Hungarian king and his vassals. He also used the minutes of princely congresses and diaries of campaigns. Only in one case does he disagree with the prince and begins to condemn him - when Izyaslav acts against the will of the Kyiv boyars.

The reign of Izyaslav was filled with a struggle with the Olgovichi, with Yuri Dolgoruky, who twice managed to briefly capture Kiev.

In the process of this struggle, Prince Igor Olgovich, a prisoner of Izyaslav (1147), was killed in Kyiv, by the verdict of the veche.

In 1157 Yuri Dolgoruky died in Kyiv. It is believed that the Suzdal prince, unloved in Kyiv, was poisoned.

During these strife in the middle of the XII century. the future heroes of The Tale of Igor's Campaign are repeatedly mentioned - Svyatoslav Vsevolodich and his cousin Igor Svyatoslavich. So far, these are third-rate young princes who went into battle in the avant-garde detachments, received small cities as inheritance and “kissed the cross with all their will” of the older princes. Somewhat later, they are fixed in major cities: since 1164 Svyatoslav in Chernigov, and Igor in Novgorod-Seversky. In 1180, not long before the events described in the Tale of Igor's Campaign, Svyatoslav became the Grand Duke of Kyiv.

Monetary hryvnias of the XII century.

Due to the fact that Kyiv was often a bone of contention between the princes, the Kiev boyars entered into a “row” with the princes and introduced a curious duumvirate system that lasted the entire second half of the 12th century. Duumvir co-rulers were Izyaslav Mstislavich and his uncle Vyacheslav Vladimirovich, Svyatoslav Vsevolodich and Rurik Rostislavich. The meaning of this original measure was that at the same time representatives of two warring princely branches were invited and thereby partly eliminated strife and established a relative balance. One of the princes, who was considered the eldest, lived in Kyiv, and the other - in Vyshgorod or Belgorod (he disposed of the land). On campaigns, they acted together and diplomatic correspondence was carried out in concert.

The foreign policy of the Kyiv principality was sometimes determined by the interests of this or that prince, but, in addition, there were two constant directions of struggle that always required readiness. The first and most important is, of course, the Polovtsian steppe, where in the second half of the XII century. feudal khanates were created, uniting separate tribes. Usually Kyiv coordinated its defensive actions with Pereyaslavl (which was in the possession of the Rostov-Suzdal princes), and thus a more or less unified Ros-Sula line was created. In this regard, the significance of the headquarters of such a general defense passed from Belgorod to Kanev. Southern border outposts of the Kyiv land, located in the X century. on the Stugna and on the Sula, now moved down the Dnieper to Orel and Sneporod-Samara.

Kyiv bracelets of the 12th-13th centuries.

The second direction of the struggle was the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Since the time of Yuri Dolgoruky, the northeastern princes, freed by their geographical position from the need to wage a constant war with the Polovtsy, directed their military forces to subjugate Kyiv, using the border Principality of Pereyaslavl for this purpose. The arrogant tone of the Vladimir chroniclers sometimes misled historians, and they sometimes believed that Kyiv at that time was completely stalled. Particular importance was attached to the campaign of Andrei Bogolyubsky, the son of Dolgoruky, against Kiev in 1169. The Kiev chronicler, who witnessed the three-day robbery of the city by the victors, described this event so colorfully that he created an idea of ​​some kind of catastrophe. In fact, Kiev continued to live a full-blooded life as the capital of a wealthy principality even after 1169. Churches were built here, an all-Russian chronicle was written, and “The Tale of the Regiment…” was created, incompatible with the concept of decline.

The Kievan prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodich (1180-1194) is characterized by the "Word" as a talented commander. His cousins ​​Igor and Vsevolod Svyatoslavich, with their haste, awakened the evil that Svyatoslav, their feudal overlord, managed to cope with shortly before:

Svyatoslav the formidable great Kiev thunderstorm

Byashet ruffled his strong regiments and haraluzhny swords;

Step on the Polovtsian land;

Pritopta hills and yarugi;

Stir up rivers and lakes;

Dry up streams and swamps.

And the filthy Kobyak from the bow of the sea

From the great iron regiments of the Polovtsians,

Like a whirlwind, vytorzhe

And falling Kobyak in the city of Kyiv,

In the grid of Svyatoslavl.

Tu Nemtsi and Veneditsi, that Gretsi and Morava

Sing the glory of Svyatoslav

Prince Igor's cabin...

The poet meant here the victorious campaign of the united Russian forces against Khan Kobyak in 1183.

Svyatoslav's co-ruler was, as it is said, Rurik Rostislavich, who reigned in the "Russian Land" from 1180 to 1202, and then became for some time the Grand Duke of Kyiv.

The Tale of Igor's Campaign is entirely on the side of Svyatoslav Vsevolodich and says very little about Rurik. Chronicle, on the contrary, was in the sphere of influence of Rurik. Therefore, the activities of the duumvirs are biased by the sources. We know about the conflicts and disagreements between them, but we also know that Kyiv at the end of the XII century. experienced an era of prosperity and even tried to play the role of an all-Russian cultural center. This is evidenced by the Kiev annals of 1198 of Abbot Moses, which entered together with the Galician chronicle of the XIII century. in the so-called Ipatiev Chronicle.

The Kiev collection gives a broad idea of ​​the various Russian lands in the 12th century, using a number of annals of individual principalities. It opens with The Tale of Bygone Years, which tells about the early history of all of Rus', and ends with a recording of Moses' solemn speech on the construction of a wall at the expense of Prince Rurik, strengthening the banks of the Dnieper. The orator, who prepared his work for the collective performance of “one mouth” (cantata?), calls the Grand Duke the king, and his principality magnifies “an autocratic power ... known not only in Russian borders, but also in distant overseas countries, to the end of the universe.”

After the death of Svyatoslav, when Rurik began to reign in Kiev, his co-ruler in the "Russian land", that is, the southern Kiev region, was briefly his son-in-law Roman Mstislavich Volynsky (great-great-grandson of Monomakh). He received the best lands with the cities of Trepol, Torchesky, Kanev and others, which made up half of the principality. However, Vsevolod the Big Nest, the prince of the Suzdal land, who wanted to be in some form an accomplice in the management of the Kiev region, envied this "goddamn volost".

A long enmity began between Rurik, who supported Vsevolod, and the offended Roman Volynsky. As always, the Olgovichi, Poland, and Galich were quickly drawn into the strife. The case ended with the fact that Roman was supported by many cities, Black hoods, and, finally, in 1202, "opened the gates for him."

In the very first year of the great reign, Roman organized a campaign deep into the Polovtsian steppe "and took the Polovtsian vezhe and brought a lot of souls full of Christians from them (from the Polovtsians. - V.R.), and there was great joy in the lands of Rus'."

Rurik did not remain in debt and on January 2, 1203, in alliance with the Olgovichi and "the whole Polovtsian land" took Kyiv. “And great evil was created in the Russtey of the earth, what evil was not from baptism over Kiev ... Podolia took and burned; otherwise you took Mount and plundered Saint Sophia and the Tithes (church) as metropolitan ... plundered all the monasteries and adorned icons ... then put everything in your chest. Further, it is said that Rurik's allies, the Polovtsians, hacked to death all the old monks, priests and nuns, and took the young black women, wives and daughters of the people of Kiev to their camps.

Obviously, Rurik did not hope to gain a foothold in Kyiv, if he robbed him like that, and went to his own castle in Ovruch.

In the same year, after a joint campaign against the Polovtsians in Trepol, Roman captured Rurik and tonsured his entire family (including his own wife, Rurik's daughter) as monks. But Roman did not rule long in Kyiv - in 1205 he was killed by the Poles, when he drove too far from his squads while hunting in his western possessions.

The poetic lines of the chronicle are connected with Roman Mstislavich, which, unfortunately, has come down to us only partially. The author calls him the autocrat of all Rus', praises his mind and courage, noting especially his struggle with the Polovtsy: them, like an eagle; hrobor bo be, yako and tour. Regarding the Polovtsian campaigns of Roman, the chronicler recalls Vladimir Monomakh and his victorious struggle against the Polovtsians. Epics with the name of Roman have also been preserved.

One of the chronicles that has not come down to us, used by V. N. Tatishchev, provides extremely interesting information about Roman Mstislavich. As if after the forcible tonsure of Rurik and his family, Roman announced to all Russian princes that his father-in-law had been dethroned by him for violating the treaty. This is followed by a presentation of Roman’s views on the political structure of Rus' in the 13th century: the Kiev prince must “defend the Russian land from everywhere, and keep good order among the brethren, Russian princes, so that one cannot offend another and run into and ruin other people’s regions.” The novel blames the younger princes who are trying to capture Kyiv, having no strength for defense, and those princes who "bring in the filthy Polovtsians." Then follows the draft of the election of the prince of Kyiv in the event of the death of his predecessor. Six princes must choose: Suzdal, Chernigov, Galicia, Smolensk, Polotsk, Ryazan; "Junior princes are not needed for that election." These six principalities should be inherited by the eldest son, but not divided into parts, "so that the Russian land does not diminish in strength." Roman proposed to convene a princely congress to approve this order.

It is difficult to say how reliable this information is, but in the conditions of 1203 such an order, if it could be put into practice, would be a positive phenomenon. However, it is worth remembering the good wishes on the eve of the Lubech Congress of 1097, his good decisions and tragic events who followed him.

V. N. Tatishchev retained the characteristics of Roman and his rival Rurik:

“This Roman Mstislavich, the grandson of the Izyaslavs, although not very large, was broad and overbearingly strong; his face is red, his eyes are black, his nose is great with a hump, his hair is black and short; Velmy Yar was angry; stagnant tongue, when angry, could not pronounce a word for a long time; he had a lot of fun with the nobles, but he was never drunk. He loved many wives, but not a single one owned him. The warrior was brave and cunning in organizing regiments ... He spent his whole life in wars, received many victories, and was defeated by one (only once. - B.R.).

Rurik Rostislavich is characterized differently. It is said that he was in the great reign for 37 years, but during this time he was expelled six times and “suffered a lot, having no peace from anywhere. Ponezhe he himself was drinking a lot and possessing wives, he was diligent about the government of the state and his own security. His judges and rulers over the cities caused a lot of burden to the people, for this he had very little love among the people and respect from the princes.

Obviously, these characteristics, full of medieval juiciness, were compiled by some Galician-Volynian or Kievan chronicler who sympathized with Roman.

It is interesting to note that Roman is the last of the Russian princes sung by epics; book and folk assessments coincided, which happened very rarely: the people very carefully selected heroes for their epic fund.

Roman Mstislavich and the "wise-loving" Rurik Rostislavich are the last bright figures in the list of Kievan princes of the 12th-13th centuries. Next come the weak rulers, who left no memory of themselves either in the annals or in folk songs.

The strife around Kyiv continued even in those years when an unprecedented new danger hung over Russia - the Tatar-Mongol invasion. During the time from the battle on the Kalka in 1223 to the arrival of Batu near Kyiv in 1240, many princes were replaced, there were many battles over Kyiv. In 1238, Prince Michael of Kiev fled, fearing the Tatars, to Hungary, and in the terrible year of Batu's arrival, he collected in the principality of Daniel of Galicia the feudal dues donated to him: wheat, honey, "beef" and sheep.

The "mother of Russian cities" - Kyiv - lived a bright life for a number of centuries, but in the last three decades of its pre-Mongol history, the negative features of feudal fragmentation, which led to the dismemberment of the Kiev principality into a number of destinies, were too affected.

The singer of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" could not stop the historical process with his inspired stanzas.

Golden diadems of the 12th–13th centuries from the composition of the treasures buried in the ground during the invasion of Batu in 1240.

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From the book The Missing Letter. The unperverted history of Ukraine-Rus the author Wild Andrew

Kievan State Sources We have the first information about the state of Kievan Rus from the annals. It is generally accepted that the original chronicle was the so-called "Initial Chronicle", written by Nestor, a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. But this is not entirely accurate,

The Kiev principality was still considered the first among other Russian principalities. His prince continued to sing the title of "Great Prince of Kyiv". Kyiv has preserved the historical glory of the "mother of Russian cities". It also remained the main religious center of the Russian lands. This principality had the largest area of ​​arable land and many large patrimonial and monastic farms. Thousands of skilled artisans worked in Kyiv and the cities of the principality, whose products were famous not only in Rus', but also abroad. The Kiev principality occupied a large territory along the right bank of the Dnieper and almost the entire basin of the river. Pripyat.

But at the same time, from the 1140s. Kyiv irrevocably lost control over the Russian lands and turned into one of the Russian principalities, with which strong neighbors and. The Chernigov-Seversky land did not recognize the power of the Kyiv princes over itself. The energetic and power-hungry prince of Rostov-Suzdal Yuri Dolgoruky frankly pushed around the Kyiv rulers. In Novgorod and Smolensk, the boyars themselves, without the knowledge of the Kievan princes, chose their rulers. Only one condition was preserved without fail - the prince had to be from the Rurik dynasty. This dynasty itself grew and now included dozens of large and small princes, their children and grandchildren.

The water spaces of the Dnieper became more and more deserted, the international route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was dying. Now only caravans serving the Russian lands were moving along the Dnieper. The Kiev trade under the mountain near the Dnieper also became more modest and quieter. There was no longer such a multilingual speech as it was before.

For the Kyiv land, a big thing remained in the past: European: politics, grandiose trips to the Balkans, to the center of Europe, to the depths of the Polovtsian steppe. Now the foreign policy of Kyiv focused only on the fight against North-Eastern Russia, against Yuri Dolgoruky and his heirs, and on the former exhausting struggle against the Polovtsy.

If the Polovtsian danger could be contained by involving other interested princes in the defense of the Russian borders, then there were no forces to cope with the northeastern neighbor. First, Yuri Dolgoruky took the Pereyaslav principality from Kyiv, and then he himself established himself in Kyiv and declared himself the Grand Prince of Kyiv. Thus, for the first time, the northeast prevailed over the south of the Russian lands. This indicated the increased power of Rostov-Suzdal Rus and the fact that the center of Russian statehood was gradually moving to the northeast.

The policy of Yuri Dolgoruky in relation to the Kyiv principality was continued by the eldest son of Yuri and the daughter of the Polovtsian Khan, Andrei Yuryevich (about 1111–1174). He was nicknamed Bogolyubsky, because he spent almost all the time in his new residence in the village. Bogolyubovo, near the city of Vladimir on the river. Klyazma, which under him became the capital of North-Eastern Rus'. Since then, the North-Eastern Russian principality began to be called Vladimir-Suzdal, or Vladimir.

Andrei Bogolyubsky did not recognize the power of the Kyiv Grand Duke. To them in the 1160s. was one of the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh. The Vladimir-Suzdal prince, together with his allies - other Russian princes, approached Kyiv in 1169 and, after a three-day siege, took it by storm. It was a historic event. For the first time in its history, Kyiv was captured, taken "on the shield" not by the Pechenegs, not by the Polovtsians, but by the Russians themselves. For several days, the victors plundered the city, burned churches, killed the inhabitants and took them captive, robbed the houses of wealthy citizens and monasteries. As the chronicler said, there were then in Kyiv "on all people there was a groan and anguish, inconsolable sadness and incessant tears."

Andrei Bogolyubsky received the title of the Grand Prince of Kyiv, but he did not rule in Kyiv for a single day, but left for Vladimir, dear to his heart. This defeat emphasized that the era of Kyiv, among other Russian lands, was over. Rus' began to live according to other laws.

But the storm passed, and Kyiv did not disappear from the pages of Russian history. He rebuilt after the fire, restored his economy and continued to live as the capital of a rather large principality, which, however, lost its leading role. Beautiful stone palaces and temples have been preserved here. The famous Sophia of Kiev stood, as before, and the wonderful Golden Gate, erected by Yaroslav the Wise, delighted the eyes of people. Every year, thousands of pilgrims came here, to the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, or the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (Greek Laura - the name of the largest male Orthodox monasteries subordinate directly to the patriarch). Here the all-Russian chronicle continued to be created and at the end of the 12th century. the famous Russian poem "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" appeared.

There were periods in the history of this principality when, under a strong and skillful ruler, it achieved certain successes and partially regained its former authority. This happened at the end of the 12th century. under Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, the grandson of the Chernigov prince Oleg. In order to maintain his power in the fight against the prince of Smolensk, the pretender to the Kiev throne, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich agreed that his opponent also took the Kiev throne. The boyars of Kyiv also supported this decision in order to avoid another internecine war. This was a new phenomenon in the history of Russian lands. But it did not save from strife. The co-rulers began to fight among themselves. Later, after the death of Svyatoslav, the ruler of the Galicia-Volyn principality Roman Mstislavich (?–1205), the great-great-grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, began to claim the throne of Kiev. And again the princes peacefully divided the throne of Kiev, but not for long. The Smolensk prince, together with his allies, the Polovtsy, again took Kiev by storm and brutally plundered it, Russian shrines - St. Sophia Cathedral, the Tithe Church and the Kiev Caves Monastery - were badly damaged from this raid. There was nothing sacred in the fierce struggle for power for the Russian princes and their associates. Roman Mstislavich eventually defeated his rival and annexed the Principality of Kiev to his possessions in Galich and Volhynia. Having the title of the Grand Prince of Kyiv, he continued to rule in his land.

The Kiev principality is one of the specific lands formed as a result of the collapse of Kievan Rus. After the death of Prince Yaroslav the Wise in the middle of the 11th century, the principality began to separate and by the 30s of the 12th century it became absolutely independent.

Its territory covered the original lands of the Drevlyans and Polyans along the Dnieper River and its tributaries (Teterev, Pripyat, Irpen and Ros). It also included part of the left bank of the Dnieper opposite Kyiv. All these are modern lands of Kyiv and Ukraine and the southern part of Belarus. In the east, the principality was bordered by the Pereyaslav and Chernigov principalities, in the west - Vladimir-Volyn, in the south it was closely adjacent

Thanks to the mild climate, agriculture developed intensively here as well. Also, the inhabitants of these lands were actively engaged in cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and beekeeping. Quite early there was a specialization of crafts. "Woodworking", leather and pottery crafts acquired particular importance. Iron deposits allowed the development of blacksmithing.

An important factor was that the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks” (from Byzantium to the Baltic) passed through the Kiev principality. Therefore, an influential layer of merchants and artisans formed early in Kyiv.

From the 9th to the 10th century these lands were central part ancient Russian state. During the reign of Vladimir, they became the core of the grand ducal domain, and Kyiv - the church center of all Rus'. Although the Kiev prince was no longer the supreme owner of all the lands, he was the actual head of the feudal hierarchy, he was considered "senior" in relation to other princes. It was the center of the Old Russian principality, around which all other destinies were concentrated.

However, this situation had not only positive aspects. Very soon, the Kievan lands turned into an object of intense struggle between separate branches. The powerful Kievan boyars and the top of the trade and craft population also joined the struggle.

Until 1139, Monomashichs sat on the throne of Kiev: after Mstislav the Great, his brother Yaropolk (1132-1139), and then Vyacheslav (1139) came to power. After that, the throne passed into the hands of the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich, who seized it by force. The reign of the Olgovichi was very short-lived. In 1146, power passed to (a representative of the Monomashichs). In 1154, it was captured by the Suzdal branch of the Monomashichs, who was on the throne of Kiev until his death in 1157). Then power again passed to the Olgovichi, and in 1159 returned to the Mstislavichi.

Already from the middle of the XII century, the political significance that the Kiev principality had before began to decrease. At the same time, it was disintegrating into destinies. By the 1170s, the Kotelnichesky, Belgorod, Trepolsky, Vyshgorodsky, Torchesky, Kanevsky and Dorogobuzh principalities had already stood out. Kyiv ceased to play the role of the center of Russian lands. At the same time, Vladimir and Galicia-Volyn make every effort to subjugate Kyiv. Periodically, they succeed and their henchmen appear on the Kiev throne.

In 1240, the Kievan principality came under the rule of Batu. In early December, after a desperate nine-day resistance, he captured and defeated Kyiv. The Principality was devastated, after which it could not recover. Since the 1240s, Kyiv has been formally dependent on the princes of Vladimir (Alexander Nevsky, then Yaroslav Yaroslavich). In 1299, the metropolitan see was transferred from Kyiv to Vladimir.

Arising in the second half of the 10th c. and became in the 11th century. In the second quarter of the 12th c. to its actual collapse. Conditional holders sought, on the one hand, to turn their conditional holdings into unconditional ones and achieve economic and political independence from the center, and on the other hand, by subordinating the local nobility, to establish full control over their possessions. In all regions (with the exception of the Novgorod land, where, in fact, the republican regime was established and the princely power acquired a military service character), the princes from the house of Rurikovich managed to become sovereign sovereigns with the highest legislative, executive and judicial functions. They relied on the administrative apparatus, whose members constituted a special service class: for their service they received either part of the income from the exploitation of the subject territory (feeding), or land for holding. The main vassals of the prince (boyars), together with the tops of the local clergy, formed under him an advisory and advisory body - the boyar duma. The prince was considered the supreme owner of all lands in the principality: part of them belonged to him on the basis of personal possession (domain), and he disposed of the rest as the ruler of the territory; they were divided into dominal possessions of the church and conditional holdings of the boyars and their vassals (boyar servants).

The socio-political structure of Rus' in the era of fragmentation was based on a complex system of suzerainty and vassalage (the feudal ladder). The feudal hierarchy was headed by the Grand Duke (until the middle of the 12th century he was the ruler of the Kievan table, later the Vladimir-Suzdal and Galician-Volyn princes acquired this status). Below were the rulers of large principalities (Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Turov-Pinsk, Polotsk, Rostov-Suzdal, Vladimir-Volyn, Galicia, Muromo-Ryazan, Smolensk), even lower - the owners of appanages within each of these principalities. At the lowest level there was an untitled serving nobility (boyars and their vassals).

From the middle of the 11th century the process of disintegration of large principalities began, which first of all affected the most developed agricultural regions (Kyiv and Chernihiv regions). In the 12th - first half of the 13th century. this trend has become universal. Particularly intense fragmentation was in the Kiev, Chernigov, Polotsk, Turov-Pinsk and Muromo-Ryazan principalities. To a lesser extent, it affected the Smolensk land, and in the Galicia-Volyn and Rostov-Suzdal (Vladimir) principalities, periods of disintegration alternated with periods of temporary unification of appanages under the rule of the "senior" ruler. Only Novgorod land throughout its history continued to maintain political integrity.

In the conditions of feudal fragmentation great importance acquired all-Russian and regional princely congresses, at which domestic and foreign policy issues were resolved (inter-princely strife, the fight against external enemies). However, they did not become a permanent, regular political institution and could not slow down the process of dissipation.

By the time of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, Rus' was divided into many small principalities and was unable to combine forces to repel external aggression. Devastated by the hordes of Batu, she lost a significant part of her western and southwestern lands, which became in the second half of the 13th-14th centuries. easy prey for Lithuania (Turovo-Pinsk, Polotsk, Vladimir-Volyn, Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Smolensk principalities) and Poland (Galician). Only North-Eastern Rus' (Vladimir, Muromo-Ryazan and Novgorod lands) managed to maintain its independence. In the 14th - early 16th century. it was "gathered" by the princes of Moscow, who restored the unified Russian state.

Kievan principality.

It was located in the interfluve of the Dnieper, Sluch, Ros and Pripyat (modern Kiev and Zhytomyr regions of Ukraine and the south of the Gomel region of Belarus). It bordered in the north with Turov-Pinsk, in the east - with Chernigov and Pereyaslav, in the west with the Vladimir-Volyn principality, and in the south it ran into the Polovtsian steppes. The population was made up of Slavic tribes of Polyans and Drevlyans.

Fertile soils and mild climate favored intensive farming; The inhabitants were also engaged in cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and beekeeping. Here the specialization of crafts took place early; “woodworking”, pottery and leatherworking acquired special importance. The presence of iron deposits in the Drevlyansk land (included in the Kyiv region at the turn of the 9th–10th centuries) favored the development of blacksmithing; many types of metals (copper, lead, tin, silver, gold) were brought from neighboring countries. The famous trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” passed through the Kiev region (from the Baltic Sea to Byzantium); through the Pripyat, it was connected with the Vistula and Neman basins, through the Desna - with the upper reaches of the Oka, through the Seim - with the Don basin and Sea of ​​Azov. An influential trade and handicraft layer formed early in Kyiv and nearby cities.

From the end of the 9th to the end of the 10th c. Kiev land was the central region of the Old Russian state. Under St. Vladimir, with the allocation of a number of semi-independent destinies, it became the core of the grand ducal domain; at the same time Kyiv turned into the church center of Rus' (as the residence of the metropolitan); an episcopal see was also established in nearby Belgorod. After the death of Mstislav the Great in 1132, the actual disintegration of the Old Russian state took place, and the Kievan land was constituted as a separate principality.

Despite the fact that the Kiev prince ceased to be the supreme owner of all Russian lands, he remained the head of the feudal hierarchy and continued to be considered "senior" among other princes. This made the Kiev principality the object of a fierce struggle between the various branches of the Rurik dynasty. The powerful Kievan boyars and the trade and craft population also took an active part in this struggle, although the role of the people's assembly (veche) by the beginning of the 12th century. decreased significantly.

Until 1139, the Kiev table was in the hands of the Monomashichs - Mstislav the Great was succeeded by his brothers Yaropolk (1132–1139) and Vyacheslav (1139). In 1139 it was taken from them by the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich. However, the rule of the Chernigov Olgoviches was short-lived: after the death of Vsevolod in 1146, the local boyars, dissatisfied with the transfer of power to his brother Igor, called Izyaslav Mstislavich, a representative of the older branch of the Monomashichs (Mstislavichs), to the Kiev throne. On August 13, 1146, having defeated the troops of Igor and Svyatoslav Olgovich near the Olga grave, Izyaslav captured the ancient capital; Igor, taken prisoner by him, was killed in 1147. In 1149, the Suzdal branch of the Monomashichs, represented by Yuri Dolgoruky, entered the struggle for Kyiv. After the death of Izyaslav (November 1154) and his co-ruler Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (December 1154), Yuri established himself on the Kiev table and held it until his death in 1157. The strife within the house of Monomashichs helped the Olgoviches take revenge: in May 1157, Izyaslav Davydovich Chernigovskii seized princely power (1157 –1159). But his unsuccessful attempt to seize Galich cost him the grand-ducal table, which returned to the Mstislavichs - the Smolensk prince Rostislav (1159-1167), and then to his nephew Mstislav Izyaslavich (1167-1169).

From the middle of the 12th century the political significance of the Kyiv land is falling. Its disintegration into destinies begins: in the 1150s–1170s, the Belgorod, Vyshgorod, Trepol, Kanev, Torche, Kotelniche and Dorogobuzh principalities stand out. Kyiv ceases to play the role of the only center of the Russian lands; in the northeast and southwest, two new centers of political attraction and influence are emerging, claiming the status of great principalities - Vladimir on the Klyazma and Galich. The princes of Vladimir and Galicia-Volyn no longer seek to occupy the Kiev table; periodically subjugating Kyiv, they put their proteges there.

In 1169–1174 Vladimir Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky dictated his will to Kyiv: in 1169 he expelled Mstislav Izyaslavich from there and gave the reign to his brother Gleb (1169–1171). When, after the death of Gleb (January 1171) and Vladimir Mstislavich (May 1171), who replaced him, the Kiev table without his consent was taken by his other brother Mikhalko, Andrei forced him to give way to Roman Rostislavich, a representative of the Smolensk branch of the Mstislavichs (Rostislavichs); in 1172 Andrey expelled Roman as well and planted another of his brother Vsevolod the Big Nest in Kyiv; in 1173 he forced Rurik Rostislavich, who had seized the Kievan table, to flee to Belgorod.

After the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1174, Kyiv fell under the control of the Smolensk Rostislavichs in the person of Roman Rostislavich (1174–1176). But in 1176, having failed in the campaign against the Polovtsy, Roman was forced to give up power, which was used by the Olgovichi. At the call of the townspeople, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich Chernigov (1176-1194, with a break in 1181) took the Kiev table. However, he did not succeed in ousting the Rostislavichs from the Kievan land; in the early 1180s, he recognized their rights to Porosie and the Drevlyane land; Olgovichi strengthened in the Kyiv district. Having reached agreement with the Rostislavichs, Svyatoslav concentrated his efforts on the fight against the Polovtsy, having managed to seriously weaken their onslaught on Russian lands.

After his death in 1194, the Rostislavichi returned to the Kievan table in the person of Rurik Rostislavich, but already at the beginning of the 13th century. Kyiv fell into the sphere of influence of the powerful Galician-Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich, who in 1202 expelled Rurik and installed his cousin Ingvar Yaroslavich of Dorogobuzh in his place. In 1203, Rurik, in alliance with the Polovtsy and Chernigov Olgovichi, captured Kyiv and, with the diplomatic support of the Vladimir prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, the ruler of North-Eastern Rus', held the Kievan principality for several months. However, in 1204, during a joint campaign of the South Russian rulers against the Polovtsy, he was arrested by Roman and tonsured a monk, and his son Rostislav was thrown into prison; Ingvar returned to the Kyiv table. But soon, at the request of Vsevolod, Roman released Rostislav and made him a prince of Kyiv.

After the death of Roman in October 1205, Rurik left the monastery and at the beginning of 1206 occupied Kyiv. In the same year, Prince Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny of Chernigov entered the fight against him. Their four-year rivalry ended in 1210 with a compromise agreement: Rurik recognized Kyiv for Vsevolod and received Chernigov as compensation.

After the death of Vsevolod, the Rostislavichs reasserted themselves on the Kievan table: Mstislav Romanovich the Old (1212/1214–1223 with a break in 1219) and his cousin Vladimir Rurikovich (1223–1235). In 1235, Vladimir, having been defeated by the Polovtsy near Torchesky, was taken prisoner by them, and power in Kyiv was seized first by Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, and then Yaroslav, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest. However, in 1236, Vladimir, having redeemed himself from captivity, without much difficulty regained the grand prince's throne and remained on it until his death in 1239.

In 1239-1240, Mikhail Vsevolodovich Chernigov, Rostislav Mstislavich Smolensky were in Kiev, and on the eve of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, he was under the control of the Galician-Volyn prince Daniil Romanovich, who appointed the voivode Dmitr there. In the autumn of 1240, Batu moved to South Rus' and in early December took and defeated Kyiv, despite the desperate nine-day resistance of the inhabitants and a small squad of Dmitry; he subjected the principality to terrible devastation, after which it could no longer recover. Returning to the capital in 1241, Mikhail Vsevolodich was summoned to the Horde in 1246 and killed there. From the 1240s, Kyiv became formally dependent on the great princes of Vladimir (Alexander Nevsky, Yaroslav Yaroslavich). In the second half of the 13th c. a significant part of the population emigrated to the northern Russian regions. In 1299, the metropolitan see was transferred from Kyiv to Vladimir. In the first half of the 14th century the weakened Kiev principality became the object of Lithuanian aggression and in 1362, under Olgerd, it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Principality of Polotsk.

It was located in the middle reaches of the Dvina and Polota and in the upper reaches of the Svisloch and Berezina (the territory of the modern Vitebsk, Minsk and Mogilev regions of Belarus and southeastern Lithuania). In the south it bordered on Turov-Pinsk, in the east - on the Smolensk principality, in the north - on the Pskov-Novgorod land, in the west and north-west - on the Finno-Ugric tribes (Livs, Latgales). It was inhabited by the Polochans (the name comes from the Polota River) - a branch of the East Slavic tribe of the Krivichi, partially mixed with the Baltic tribes.

As an independent territorial entity, the Polotsk land existed even before the emergence of the Old Russian state. In the 870s, the Novgorod prince Rurik imposed tribute on the Polotsk people, and then they submitted to the Kyiv prince Oleg. Under the Kiev prince Yaropolk Svyatoslavich (972–980), the Polotsk land was a principality dependent on him, ruled by the Norman Rogvolod. In 980, Vladimir Svyatoslavich captured her, killed Rogvolod and his two sons, and took his daughter Rogneda as his wife; since that time, the Polotsk land finally became part of the Old Russian state. Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir transferred part of it to the joint holding of Rogneda and their eldest son Izyaslav. In 988/989 he made Izyaslav the prince of Polotsk; Izyaslav became the ancestor of the local princely dynasty (Polotsk Izyaslavichi). In 992 the diocese of Polotsk was established.

Although the principality was poor in fertile lands, it had rich hunting and fishing lands and was located at the crossroads of important trade routes along the Dvina, Neman and Berezina; impenetrable forests and water barriers protected it from outside attacks. This attracted numerous settlers here; cities grew rapidly, turning into trade and craft centers (Polotsk, Izyaslavl, Minsk, Drutsk, etc.). Economic prosperity contributed to the concentration of significant resources in the hands of the Izyaslavichs, on which they relied in their struggle to achieve independence from the authorities of Kyiv.

Izyaslav's heir Bryachislav (1001–1044), taking advantage of the princely civil strife in Rus', pursued an independent policy and tried to expand his possessions. In 1021, with his retinue and a detachment of Scandinavian mercenaries, he captured and plundered Veliky Novgorod, but then was defeated by the ruler of the Novgorod land, Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise on the Sudoma River; nevertheless, in order to ensure the loyalty of Bryachislav, Yaroslav ceded to him Usvyatskaya and Vitebsk volosts.

The Principality of Polotsk achieved special power under the son of Bryachislav Vseslav (1044–1101), who launched expansion to the north and northwest. Livs and Latgalians became his tributaries. In the 1060s he made several campaigns against Pskov and Novgorod the Great. In 1067 Vseslav ravaged Novgorod, but was unable to keep the Novgorod land. In the same year, Grand Duke Izyaslav Yaroslavich struck back at his strengthened vassal: he invaded the Principality of Polotsk, captured Minsk, defeated Vseslav's squad on the river. Nemiga, by cunning, took him prisoner along with his two sons and sent him to prison in Kyiv; the principality became part of the vast possessions of Izyaslav. After the overthrow of Izyaslav by the rebellious Kievans on September 14, 1068, Vseslav regained Polotsk and even occupied the Kiev grand prince's table for a short time; in the course of a fierce struggle with Izyaslav and his sons Mstislav, Svyatopolk and Yaropolk in 1069–1072, he managed to retain the Polotsk principality. In 1078, he resumed aggression against neighboring regions: he captured the Smolensk principality and devastated the northern part of Chernigov land. However, already in the winter of 1078-1079, Grand Duke Vsevolod Yaroslavich carried out a punitive expedition to the Principality of Polotsk and burned Lukoml, Logozhsk, Drutsk and the suburbs of Polotsk; In 1084 Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Chernigov took Minsk and severely destroyed the Polotsk land. Vseslav's resources were exhausted, and he no longer tried to expand the limits of his possessions.

With the death of Vseslav in 1101, the decline of the Principality of Polotsk begins. It breaks up into divisions; Minsk, Izyaslav and Vitebsk principalities stand out from it. The sons of Vseslav waste their strength in civil strife. After the predatory campaign of Gleb Vseslavich in the Turov-Pinsk land in 1116 and his failed attempt capture Novgorod and the Smolensk principality in 1119, the aggression of the Izyaslavichs against neighboring regions practically ceases. The weakening of the principality opens the way for the intervention of Kyiv: in 1119 Vladimir Monomakh easily defeats Gleb Vseslavich, seizes his inheritance, and imprisons himself in prison; in 1127 Mstislav the Great devastated the southwestern regions of the Polotsk land; in 1129, taking advantage of the refusal of the Izyaslavichs to take part in the joint campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsy, he occupies the principality and at the Kiev Congress seeks the condemnation of five Polotsk rulers (Svyatoslav, Davyd and Rostislav Vseslavich, Rogvolod and Ivan Borisovich) and their expulsion to Byzantium. Mstislav transfers the land of Polotsk to his son Izyaslav, and appoints his governors in the cities.

Although in 1132 the Izyaslavichs, in the person of Vasilko Svyatoslavich (1132–1144), managed to return the ancestral principality, they were no longer able to revive its former power. In the middle of the 12th c. a fierce struggle for the Polotsk princely table breaks out between Rogvolod Borisovich (1144–1151, 1159–1162) and Rostislav Glebovich (1151–1159). At the turn of the 1150s-1160s, Rogvolod Borisovich made the last attempt to unite the principality, which, however, collapsed due to the opposition of other Izyaslavichs and the intervention of neighboring princes (Yuri Dolgorukov and others). In the second half of the 7th c. the crushing process deepens; the Drutsk, Gorodensky, Logozhsky and Strizhevsky principalities arise; the most important regions (Polotsk, Vitebsk, Izyaslavl) end up in the hands of the Vasilkoviches (descendants of Vasilko Svyatoslavich); the influence of the Minsk branch of the Izyaslavichs (Glebovichi), on the contrary, is falling. Polotsk land becomes the object of expansion of the Smolensk princes; in 1164 Davyd Rostislavich Smolensky for some time even takes possession of the Vitebsk volost; in the second half of the 1210s, his sons Mstislav and Boris established themselves in Vitebsk and Polotsk.

At the beginning of the 13th c. the aggression of the German knights begins in the lower reaches of the Western Dvina; by 1212 the Sword-bearers conquered the lands of the Livs and southwestern Latgale, tributaries of Polotsk. Since the 1230s, the Polotsk rulers also had to repel the onslaught of the newly formed Lithuanian state; mutual strife prevented them from joining forces, and by 1252 the Lithuanian princes had captured Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Drutsk. In the second half of the 13th c. for the Polotsk lands, a fierce struggle unfolds between Lithuania, the Teutonic Order and the Smolensk princes, the winner of which is the Lithuanians. The Lithuanian prince Viten (1293–1316) takes Polotsk from the German knights in 1307, and his successor Gedemin (1316–1341) subdues the Minsk and Vitebsk principalities. Finally, the Polotsk land became part of the Lithuanian state in 1385.

Chernihiv principality.

It was located east of the Dnieper between the Desna valley and the middle course of the Oka (the territory of the modern Kursk, Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Bryansk, the western part of the Lipetsk and southern parts of the Moscow regions of Russia, the northern part of the Chernihiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine and the eastern part of the Gomel region of Belarus ). In the south it bordered on Pereyaslavsky, in the east - on Muromo-Ryazansky, in the north - on Smolensk, in the west - on Kyiv and Turov-Pinsk principalities. Was inhabited East Slavic tribes glades, northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi. It is believed that it received its name either from a certain Prince Cherny, or from the Black Guy (forest).

With a mild climate, fertile soils, numerous rivers rich in fish, and forests full of game in the north, Chernihiv land was one of the most attractive regions of Ancient Rus' for settlement. Through it (along the rivers Desna and Sozh) passed the main trade route from Kyiv to northeastern Rus'. Towns with a significant artisan population arose early here. In the 11th-12th centuries. The Chernihiv principality was one of the richest and politically significant regions of Rus'.

By the 9th c. the northerners, who formerly lived on the left bank of the Dnieper, having subjugated the Radimichi, Vyatichi and part of the glades, extended their power to the upper reaches of the Don. As a result, a semi-state entity emerged that paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. At the beginning of the 10th c. it recognized dependence on the Kyiv prince Oleg. In the second half of the 10th c. Chernihiv land became part of the grand ducal domain. Under St. Vladimir, the diocese of Chernihiv was established. In 1024, it fell under the rule of Mstislav the Brave, brother of Yaroslav the Wise, and became a principality virtually independent of Kyiv. After his death in 1036, it was again included in the grand ducal domain. According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Chernigov principality, together with the Muromo-Ryazan land, passed to his son Svyatoslav (1054-1073), who became the ancestor of the local princely dynasty of Svyatoslavichs; they, however, managed to establish themselves in Chernigov only towards the end of the 11th century. In 1073, the Svyatoslavichs lost the principality, which ended up in the hands of Vsevolod Yaroslavich, and from 1078 - his son Vladimir Monomakh (until 1094). The attempts of the most active of the Svyatoslavichs, Oleg "Gorislavich", to regain control over the principality in 1078 (with the help of his cousin Boris Vyacheslavich) and in 1094-1096 (with the help of the Polovtsy) ended in failure. Nevertheless, by decision of the Lyubech princely congress of 1097, Chernigov and Muromo-Ryazan lands were recognized as the patrimony of the Svyatoslavichs; the son of Svyatoslav Davyd (1097-1123) became the prince of Chernigov. After Davyd's death, the throne was occupied by his brother Yaroslav of Ryazan, who in 1127 was expelled by his nephew Vsevolod, the son of Oleg "Gorislavich". Yaroslav retained the Muromo-Ryazan land, which from that time turned into an independent principality. The Chernihiv land was divided among themselves by the sons of Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich (Davydovichi and Olgovichi), who entered into a fierce struggle for allotments and the Chernigov table. In 1127-1139 it was occupied by the Olgovichi, in 1139 they were replaced by the Davydovichi - Vladimir (1139-1151) and his brother Izyaslav (1151-1157), but in 1157 he finally passed to the Olgovichi: Svyatoslav Olgovich (1157-1164) and his nephews Svyatoslav (1164-1177) and Yaroslav (1177-1198) Vsevolodichi. At the same time, the Chernihiv princes tried to subjugate Kyiv: Vsevolod Olgovich (1139-1146), Igor Olgovich (1146) and Izyaslav Davydovich (1154 and 1157-1159) owned the Kyiv grand prince's table. They also fought with varying success for Veliky Novgorod, the Turov-Pinsk principality, and even for distant Galich. In internal strife and in wars with neighbors, the Svyatoslavichs often resorted to the help of the Polovtsy.

In the second half of the 12th century, despite the extinction of the Davydovich family, the process of fragmentation of the Chernigov land intensified. It includes Novgorod-Seversk, Putivl, Kursk, Starodub and Vshchizh principalities; the principality of Chernigov proper was limited to the lower reaches of the Desna, from time to time also including the Vshchizh and Starobud volosts. The dependence of the vassal princes on the Chernigov ruler becomes nominal; some of them (for example, Svyatoslav Vladimirovich Vshchizhsky in the early 1160s) show a desire for complete independence. The fierce feuds of the Olgoviches do not prevent them from actively fighting for Kyiv with the Smolensk Rostislavichs: in 1176–1194 Svyatoslav Vsevolodich rules there, in 1206–1212/1214, intermittently, his son Vsevolod Chermny. They are trying to gain a foothold in Novgorod the Great (1180–1181, 1197); in 1205 they manage to take possession of the Galician land, where, however, in 1211 a catastrophe befell them - the three princes of the Olgovichi (Roman, Svyatoslav and Rostislav Igorevich) were captured and hanged by the verdict of the Galician boyars. In 1210, they even lose the Chernigov table, which for two years passes to the Smolensk Rostislavichs (Rurik Rostislavich).

In the first third of the 13th c. The Chernigov Principality breaks up into many small destinies, only formally subordinate to Chernigov; Kozelskoe, Lopasninskoe, Rylskoe, Snovskoe, then Trubchevskoe, Glukhovo-Novosilskoe, Karachevo and Tarusa principalities stand out. Despite this, Prince Mikhail Vsevolodich of Chernigov (1223-1241) does not stop his active policy towards neighboring regions, trying to establish control over Novgorod the Great (1225, 1228-1230) and Kiev (1235, 1238); in 1235 he took possession of the Galician principality, and later the Przemysl volost.

The waste of significant human and material resources in civil strife and in wars with neighbors, the fragmentation of forces and the lack of unity among the princes contributed to the success of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In the autumn of 1239, Batu took Chernigov and subjected the principality to such a terrible defeat that it actually ceased to exist. In 1241, the son and heir of Mikhail Vsevolodich, Rostislav, left his fiefdom and went to fight in the Galician land, and then fled to Hungary. Obviously, the last Chernigov prince was his uncle Andrei (mid-1240s - early 1260s). After 1261, the Principality of Chernigov became part of the Principality of Bryansk, founded in 1246 by Roman, another son of Mikhail Vsevolodich; the Bishop of Chernigov also moved to Bryansk. In the middle of the 14th century The Principality of Bryansk and Chernihiv lands were conquered by the Lithuanian prince Olgerd.

Muromo-Ryazan principality.

It occupied the southeastern outskirts of Rus' - the basin of the Oka and its tributaries Proni, Osetra and Tsna, the upper reaches of the Don and Voronezh (modern Ryazan, Lipetsk, northeast of Tambov and south of Vladimir regions). It bordered on the west with Chernigov, on the north with the Rostov-Suzdal principality; in the east, its neighbors were the Mordovian tribes, and in the south, the Cumans. The population of the principality was mixed: both Slavs (Krivichi, Vyatichi) and Finno-Ugric peoples (Mordva, Muroma, Meshchera) lived here.

Fertile (chernozem and podzolized) soils prevailed in the south and in the central regions of the principality, which contributed to the development of agriculture. Its northern part was densely covered with forests rich in game and swamps; The locals were mainly engaged in hunting. In the 11th-12th centuries. a number of urban centers arose on the territory of the principality: Murom, Ryazan (from the word "cassock" - a marshy swampy place overgrown with shrubs), Pereyaslavl, Kolomna, Rostislavl, Pronsk, Zaraysk. However, in terms of economic development, it lagged behind most other regions of Rus'.

Murom land was annexed to the Old Russian state in the third quarter of the 10th century. under the Kiev prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. In 988-989 St. Vladimir included it in the Rostov inheritance of his son Yaroslav the Wise. In 1010, Vladimir allocated it as an independent principality to his other son Gleb. After the tragic death of Gleb in 1015, it returned to the Grand Duke's domain, and in 1023-1036 it was part of the Chernigov inheritance of Mstislav the Brave.

According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Murom land, as part of the Chernigov principality, passed in 1054 to his son Svyatoslav, and in 1073 he transferred it to his brother Vsevolod. In 1078, having become the great prince of Kyiv, Vsevolod gave Murom to Svyatoslav's sons Roman and Davyd. In 1095 Davyd ceded it to Izyaslav, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, receiving Smolensk in return. In 1096, David's brother Oleg "Gorislavich" expelled Izyaslav, but then he himself was expelled by Izyaslav's elder brother Mstislav the Great. However, by decision of the Lyubech Congress, the Murom land, as a vassal possession of Chernigov, was recognized as the patrimony of the Svyatoslavichs: it was given to Oleg "Gorislavich", and for his brother Yaroslav, a special Ryazan volost was allocated from it.

In 1123, Yaroslav, who occupied the Chernigov throne, handed over Murom and Ryazan to his nephew Vsevolod Davydovich. But after being expelled from Chernigov in 1127, Yaroslav returned to the Murom table; from that time, the Muromo-Ryazan land became an independent principality, in which the descendants of Yaroslav (the younger Murom branch of the Svyatoslavichs) established themselves. They had to constantly repel the raids of the Polovtsians and other nomads, which diverted their forces from participating in the all-Russian princely strife, but by no means from internal strife associated with the process of crushing that had begun (already in the 1140s, the Yelets principality stood out on its southwestern outskirts). From the mid-1140s, the Muromo-Ryazan land became an object of expansion from the Rostov-Suzdal rulers - Yuri Dolgoruky and his son Andrei Bogolyubsky. In 1146, Andrei Bogolyubsky intervened in the conflict between Prince Rostislav Yaroslavich and his nephews Davyd and Igor Svyatoslavich and helped them capture Ryazan. Rostislav kept Moore behind him; only a few years later he was able to regain the Ryazan table. In the early 1160s, his great-nephew Yuri Vladimirovich established himself in Murom, who became the founder of a special branch of the Murom princes, and from that time the Murom principality separated from Ryazan. Soon (by 1164) it fell into vassal dependence on the Vadimir-Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky; under the subsequent rulers - Vladimir Yuryevich (1176-1205), Davyd Yuryevich (1205-1228) and Yury Davydovich (1228-1237), the Principality of Murom gradually lost its significance.

The Ryazan princes (Rostislav and his son Gleb), however, actively resisted the Vladimir-Suzdal aggression. Moreover, after the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1174, Gleb tried to establish control over the entire North-Eastern Russia. In alliance with the sons of Pereyaslav prince Rostislav Yuryevich Mstislav and Yaropolk, he began a struggle with the sons of Yuri Dolgoruky Mikhalko and Vsevolod the Big Nest for the Vladimir-Suzdal principality; in 1176 he captured and burned Moscow, but in 1177 he was defeated on the Koloksha River, was captured by Vsevolod and died in 1178 in prison.

Gleb's son and heir Roman (1178-1207) took the vassal oath to Vsevolod the Big Nest. In the 1180s, he made two attempts to dispossess his younger brothers and unite the principality, but the intervention of Vsevolod prevented the implementation of his plans. The progressive fragmentation of the Ryazan land (in 1185–1186 the Principalities of Pronsk and Kolomna separated) led to increased rivalry within the princely house. In 1207, Roman's nephews Gleb and Oleg Vladimirovich accused him of plotting against Vsevolod the Big Nest; Roman was summoned to Vladimir and thrown into prison. Vsevolod tried to take advantage of these strife: in 1209 he captured Ryazan, put his son Yaroslav on the Ryazan table, and appointed Vladimir-Suzdal posadniks to the rest of the cities; however, in the same year, the Ryazanians expelled Yaroslav and his proteges.

In the 1210s, the struggle for allotments intensified even more. In 1217, Gleb and Konstantin Vladimirovich organized in the village of Isady (6 km from Ryazan) the murder of six of their brothers - one brother and five cousins. But Roman's nephew Ingvar Igorevich defeated Gleb and Konstantin, forced them to flee to the Polovtsian steppes and occupied the Ryazan table. During his twenty-year reign (1217-1237), the process of fragmentation became irreversible.

In 1237 the Ryazan and Murom principalities were defeated by the hordes of Batu. Prince Yuri Ingvarevich of Ryazan, Prince Yuri Davydovich of Murom and most of the local princes perished. In the second half of the 13th c. Murom land fell into complete desolation; Murom bishopric at the beginning of the 14th century. was moved to Ryazan; only in the middle of the 14th century. Murom ruler Yuri Yaroslavich revived his principality for a while. The forces of the Ryazan principality, which was subjected to constant Tatar-Mongol raids, were undermined by the internecine struggle between the Ryazan and Pronsk branches of the ruling house. From the beginning of the 14th century it began to experience pressure from the Moscow principality that had arisen on its northwestern borders. In 1301 Moscow Prince Daniil Alexandrovich captured Kolomna and captured Ryazan Prince Konstantin Romanovich. In the second half of the 14th century Oleg Ivanovich (1350–1402) was able to temporarily consolidate the forces of the principality, expand its borders and strengthen the central government; in 1353 he took Lopasnya from Ivan II of Moscow. However, in the 1370s–1380s, during the struggle of Dmitry Donskoy with the Tatars, he failed to play the role of a “third force” and create his own center for the unification of the northeastern Russian lands. .

Turov-Pinsk principality.

It was located in the basin of the Pripyat River (the south of the modern Minsk, the east of the Brest and the west of the Gomel regions of Belarus). It bordered in the north with Polotsk, in the south with Kyiv, and in the east with the Chernigov principality, reaching almost to the Dnieper; the border with its western neighbor - the Vladimir-Volyn principality - was not stable: the upper reaches of the Pripyat and the Goryn valley passed either to the Turov or Volyn princes. The Turov land was inhabited by the Slavic tribe of the Dregovichi.

Most of the territory was covered with impenetrable forests and swamps; Hunting and fishing were the main occupations of the inhabitants. Only certain areas were suitable for agriculture; there, first of all, urban centers arose - Turov, Pinsk, Mozyr, Sluchesk, Klechesk, which, however, in terms of economic importance and population could not compete with the leading cities of other regions of Rus'. The limited resources of the principality did not allow its owners to participate on an equal footing in the all-Russian civil strife.

In the 970s, the land of the Dregovichi was a semi-independent principality, which was in vassal dependence on Kyiv; its ruler was a certain Tur, from which the name of the region came. In 988-989 St. Vladimir singled out the “drevlyansk land and Pinsk” as an inheritance for his nephew Svyatopolk the Accursed. At the beginning of the 11th century, after the revelation of Svyatopolk's conspiracy against Vladimir, the Principality of Turov was included in the Grand Duchy domain. In the middle of the 11th c. Yaroslav the Wise passed it on to his third son Izyaslav, the ancestor of the local princely dynasty (Turov's Izyaslavichi). When Yaroslav died in 1054 and Izyaslav occupied the grand prince's table, Turovshchina became part of his vast possessions (1054–1068, 1069–1073, 1077–1078). After his death in 1078, the new Kiev prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich gave the Turov land to his nephew Davyd Igorevich, who held it until 1081. In 1088 it ended up in the hands of Svyatopolk, the son of Izyaslav, who in 1093 sat on the grand prince's table. By decision of the Lyubech Congress of 1097, Turovshchina was assigned to him and his offspring, but soon after his death in 1113, it passed to the new Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh. Under the division that followed the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, the Principality of Turov passed to his son Vyacheslav. From 1132 it became the object of rivalry between Vyacheslav and his nephew Izyaslav, son of Mstislav the Great. In 1142-1143 it was owned for a short time by the Chernihiv Olgovichi (Great Prince of Kiev Vsevolod Olgovich and his son Svyatoslav). In 1146-1147 Izyaslav Mstislavich finally expelled Vyacheslav from Turov and gave him to his son Yaroslav.

In the middle of the 12th c. the Suzdal branch of the Vsevolodichi intervened in the struggle for the Turov Principality: in 1155, Yuri Dolgoruky, becoming the great Kyiv prince, put his son Andrei Bogolyubsky on the Turov table, in 1155 - his other son Boris; however, they failed to hold on to it. In the second half of the 1150s, the principality returned to the Turov Izyaslavichs: by 1158, Yuri Yaroslavich, the grandson of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, managed to unite the entire Turov land under his rule. Under his sons Svyatopolk (until 1190) and Gleb (until 1195), it broke up into several destinies. By the beginning of the 13th century. the principalities of Turov, Pinsk, Slutsk and Dubrovitsky took shape. During the 13th century the crushing process progressed inexorably; Turov lost its role as the center of the principality; Pinsk began to acquire more and more importance. Weak petty rulers could not organize any serious resistance to external aggression. In the second quarter of the 14th c. The Turov-Pinsk land turned out to be an easy prey for the Lithuanian prince Gedemin (1316–1347).

Smolensk principality.

It was located in the Upper Dnieper basin (modern Smolensk, southeast of the Tver regions of Russia and the east of the Mogilev region of Belarus). It bordered on the west with Polotsk, in the south with Chernigov, in the east with the Rostov-Suzdal principality, and in the north with the Pskov-Novgorod earth. It was inhabited by the Slavic tribe of Krivichi.

The Smolensk principality had an extremely advantageous geographical position. The upper reaches of the Volga, the Dnieper and the Western Dvina converged on its territory, and it lay at the intersection of two major trade routes - from Kiev to Polotsk and the Baltic states (along the Dnieper, then dragged to the Kasplya River, a tributary of the Western Dvina) and to Novgorod and the Upper Volga region ( through Rzhev and Lake Seliger). Here, cities arose early, which became important trade and craft centers (Vyazma, Orsha).

In 882, Prince Oleg of Kiev subjugated the Smolensk Krivichi and planted his governors in their land, which became his possession. At the end of the 10th c. St. Vladimir singled her out as an inheritance to his son Stanislav, but after some time she returned to the grand ducal domain. In 1054, according to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, the Smolensk region passed to his son Vyacheslav. In 1057, the great Kiev prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich handed it over to his brother Igor, and after his death in 1060 he shared it with his other two brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. In 1078, by agreement between Izyaslav and Vsevolod, the Smolensk land was given to Vsevolod's son Vladimir Monomakh; soon Vladimir moved to reign in Chernigov, and the Smolensk region was in the hands of Vsevolod. After his death in 1093, Vladimir Monomakh planted his eldest son Mstislav in Smolensk, and in 1095 his other son Izyaslav. Although in 1095 the Smolensk land was for a short time in the hands of the Olgoviches (Davyd Olgovich), the Lyubech congress of 1097 recognized it as the patrimony of the Monomashichs, and the sons of Vladimir Monomakh, Yaropolk, Svyatoslav, Gleb and Vyacheslav, ruled in it.

After the death of Vladimir in 1125, the new Kiev prince Mstislav the Great allocated the Smolensk land as an inheritance to his son Rostislav (1125–1159), the ancestor of the local princely dynasty of the Rostislavichs; henceforth it became an independent principality. In 1136, Rostislav achieved the creation of an episcopal see in Smolensk, in 1140 he repelled an attempt by the Chernigov Olgoviches (the great Kyiv prince Vsevolod) to seize the principality, and in the 1150s he entered the struggle for Kiev. In 1154 he had to cede the Kiev table to the Olgoviches (Izyaslav Davydovich of Chernigov), but in 1159 he established himself on it (he owned it until his death in 1167). He gave the Smolensk table to his son Roman (1159-1180 with interruptions), who was succeeded by his brother Davyd (1180-1197), son Mstislav Stary (1197-1206, 1207-1212/1214), nephews Vladimir Rurikovich (1215-1223 with a break in 1219) and Mstislav Davydovich (1223–1230).

In the second half of the 12th - early 13th century. Rostislavichi actively tried to bring under their control the most prestigious and richest regions of Rus'. The sons of Rostislav (Roman, Davyd, Rurik and Mstislav the Brave) waged a fierce struggle for the Kiev land with the older branch of the Monomashichs (Izyaslavichs), with the Olgoviches and with the Suzdal Yuryevichs (especially with Andrei Bogolyubsky in the late 1160s - early 1170s); they were able to gain a foothold in the most important regions of the Kiev region - in Posemye, Ovruch, Vyshgorod, Torcheskaya, Trepolsky and Belgorod volosts. In the period from 1171 to 1210, Roman and Rurik sat down at the Grand Duke's table eight times. In the north, Novgorod land became the object of expansion of the Rostislavichs: Davyd (1154–1155), Svyatoslav (1158–1167) and Mstislav Rostislavich (1179–1180), Mstislav Davydovich (1184–1187) and Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny (1210–1215 and 1216–1218); in the late 1170s and in the 1210s, the Rostislavichs held Pskov; sometimes they even managed to create appanages independent of Novgorod (in the late 1160s and early 1170s in Torzhok and Velikiye Luki). In 1164-1166 the Rostislavichs owned Vitebsk (Davyd Rostislavich), in 1206 - Pereyaslavl Russian (Rurik Rostislavich and his son Vladimir), and in 1210-1212 - even Chernigov (Rurik Rostislavich). Their success was facilitated by both the strategically advantageous position of the Smolensk region and the relatively slow (compared to neighboring principalities) process of its fragmentation, although some destinies (Toropetsky, Vasilevsky-Krasnensky) were periodically separated from it.

In the 1210s–1220s, the political and economic importance of the Smolensk Principality increased even more. The merchants of Smolensk became important partners of the Hansa, as their trade agreement of 1229 (Smolenskaya Torgovaya Pravda) shows. Continuing the struggle for Novgorod (in 1218–1221 the sons of Mstislav the Old Svyatoslav and Vsevolod reigned in Novgorod) and Kiev lands (in 1213–1223, with a break in 1219, Mstislav the Old sat in Kiev, and in 1119, 1123–1235 and 1236–1238 – Vladimir Rurikovich), Rostislavichi also intensified their onslaught to the west and southwest. In 1219 Mstislav the Old captured Galich, which then passed to his cousin Mstislav Udatny (until 1227). In the second half of the 1210s, the sons of Davyd Rostislavich, Boris and Davyd, subjugated Polotsk and Vitebsk; the sons of Boris Vasilko and Vyachko vigorously fought the Teutonic Order and the Lithuanians for the Dvina.

However, from the end of the 1220s, the weakening of the Smolensk principality began. The process of its fragmentation into destinies intensified, the rivalry of the Rostislavichs for the Smolensk table intensified; in 1232, the son of Mstislav the Old, Svyatoslav, took Smolensk by storm and subjected it to a terrible defeat. The influence of the local boyars increased, which began to interfere in princely strife; in 1239 the boyars put Vsevolod, the brother of Svyatoslav, who pleased them, on the Smolensk table. The decline of the principality predetermined failures in foreign policy. Already by the mid-1220s, the Rostislavichs had lost the Podvinye; in 1227 Mstislav Udatnoy ceded the Galician land to the Hungarian prince Andrew. Although in 1238 and 1242 the Rostislavichs managed to repulse the attack of the Tatar-Mongol detachments on Smolensk, they could not repulse the Lithuanians, who in the late 1240s captured Vitebsk, Polotsk and even Smolensk itself. Alexander Nevsky drove them out of the Smolensk region, but the Polotsk and Vitebsk lands were completely lost.

In the second half of the 13th c. the line of Davyd Rostislavich was established on the Smolensk table: it was successively occupied by the sons of his grandson Rostislav Gleb, Mikhail and Theodore. Under them, the collapse of the Smolensk land became irreversible; Vyazemskoye and a number of other destinies emerged from it. The princes of Smolensk had to recognize vassal dependence on the great prince of Vladimir and the Tatar khan (1274). In the 14th century under Alexander Glebovich (1297–1313), his son Ivan (1313–1358) and grandson Svyatoslav (1358–1386), the principality completely lost its former political and economic power; Smolensk rulers unsuccessfully tried to stop the Lithuanian expansion in the west. After the defeat and death of Svyatoslav Ivanovich in 1386 in the battle with the Lithuanians on the Vekhra River near Mstislavl, the Smolensk land became dependent on the Lithuanian prince Vitovt, who began to appoint and dismiss the Smolensk princes at his own discretion, and in 1395 established his direct rule. In 1401, the Smolensk people rebelled and, with the help of the Ryazan prince Oleg, expelled the Lithuanians; Smolensk table was occupied by the son of Svyatoslav Yuri. However, in 1404 Vitovt took the city, liquidated the principality of Smolensk and included its lands into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Pereyaslav principality.

It was located in the forest-steppe part of the Dnieper left bank and occupied the interfluve of the Desna, Seim, Vorskla and Northern Donets (modern Poltava, east of Kiev, south of Chernihiv and Sumy, west of Kharkov regions of Ukraine). It bordered on the west with Kyiv, in the north with the Chernigov principality; in the east and south, its neighbors were nomadic tribes (Pechenegs, Torks, Polovtsy). The southeastern border was not stable - it either moved forward into the steppe, or retreated back; the constant threat of attacks made it necessary to create a line of border fortifications and settle along the borders of those nomads who were moving to a settled life and recognized the power of the Pereyaslav rulers. The population of the principality was mixed: both the Slavs (Polyans, northerners) and the descendants of the Alans and Sarmatians lived here.

The mild temperate continental climate and podzolized chernozem soils created favorable conditions for intensive agriculture and cattle breeding. However, the neighborhood with warlike nomadic tribes, which periodically devastated the principality, had a negative impact on its economic development.

By the end of the 9th c. on this territory a semi-state formation arose with a center in the city of Pereyaslavl. At the beginning of the 10th c. it fell into vassal dependence on the Kyiv prince Oleg. According to a number of scholars, the old city of Pereyaslavl was burned down by nomads, and in 992 Vladimir the Holy, during a campaign against the Pechenegs, founded a new Pereyaslavl (Pereyaslavl Russian) at the place where the Russian daring Jan Usmoshvets defeated the Pecheneg hero in a duel. Under him and in the first years of the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, Pereyaslavshchina was part of the grand ducal domain, and in 1024-1036 it became part of the vast possessions of Yaroslav's brother Mstislav the Brave on the left bank of the Dnieper. After the death of Mstislav in 1036, the Kiev prince again took possession of it. In 1054, according to the will of Yaroslav the Wise, Pereyaslav land passed to his son Vsevolod; from that time on, it separated from the Kyiv principality and became an independent principality. In 1073, Vsevolod handed it over to his brother, the great Kievan prince Svyatoslav, who, possibly, planted his son Gleb in Pereyaslavl. In 1077, after the death of Svyatoslav, Pereyaslavshchina again fell into the hands of Vsevolod; an attempt by Roman, the son of Svyatoslav, to capture it in 1079 with the help of the Polovtsians ended in failure: Vsevolod entered into a secret agreement with the Polovtsian Khan, and he ordered Roman to be killed. After some time, Vsevolod transferred the principality to his son Rostislav, after whose death in 1093 his brother Vladimir Monomakh began to reign there (with the consent of the new Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich). By decision of the Lyubech congress of 1097, the Pereyaslav land was assigned to the Monomashichi. Since that time, she remained their fiefdom; as a rule, the great princes of Kyiv from the Monomashich family allocated it to their sons or younger brothers; for some of them, the Pereyaslav reign became a stepping stone to the Kyiv table (Vladimir Monomakh himself in 1113, Yaropolk Vladimirovich in 1132, Izyaslav Mstislavich in 1146, Gleb Yurievich in 1169). True, the Chernigov Olgovichi tried several times to put it under their control; but they managed to capture only the Bryansk Estate in the northern part of the principality.

Vladimir Monomakh, having made a number of successful campaigns against the Polovtsy, secured the southeastern border of Pereyaslavshchina for a while. In 1113 he transferred the principality to his son Svyatoslav, after his death in 1114 - to another son Yaropolk, and in 1118 - to another son Gleb. According to the will of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, Pereyaslav land again went to Yaropolk. When Yaropolk left to reign in Kyiv in 1132, the Pereyaslav table became a bone of contention within the Monomashichs' house - between the Rostov prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky and his nephews Vsevolod and Izyaslav Mstislavich. Yuri Dolgoruky captured Pereyaslavl, but ruled there only eight days: he was expelled by the Grand Duke Yaropolk, who gave the Pereyaslav table to Izyaslav Mstislavich, and in the next, 1133, to his brother Vyacheslav Vladimirovich. In 1135, after Vyacheslav left to reign in Turov, Pereyaslavl was again captured by Yuri Dolgoruky, who installed his brother Andrei the Good there. In the same year, the Olgovichi, in alliance with the Polovtsians, invaded the principality, but the Monomashichs joined forces and helped Andrei repel the attack. After the death of Andrei in 1142, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich returned to Pereyaslavl, who, however, soon had to transfer the reign to Izyaslav Mstislavich. When in 1146 Izyaslav occupied the Kiev throne, he planted his son Mstislav in Pereyaslavl.

In 1149, Yuri Dolgoruky resumed the struggle with Izyaslav and his sons for dominion in the southern Russian lands. For five years, the Principality of Pereyaslav turned out to be either in the hands of Mstislav Izyaslavich (1150–1151, 1151–1154), or in the hands of the sons of Yuri Rostislav (1149–1150, 1151) and Gleb (1151). In 1154, the Yuryevichs established themselves in the principality for a long time: Gleb Yuryevich (1155–1169), his son Vladimir (1169–1174), brother of Gleb Mikhalko (1174–1175), again Vladimir (1175–1187), grandson of Yuri Dolgorukov Yaroslav Krasny (until 1199 ) and the sons of Vsevolod the Big Nest Konstantin (1199–1201) and Yaroslav (1201–1206). In 1206, the Grand Duke of Kiev Vsevolod Chermny from the Chernigov Olgovichi planted his son Mikhail in Pereyaslavl, who, however, was expelled in the same year by the new Grand Duke Rurik Rostislavich. From that time on, the principality was held either by the Smolensk Rostislavichs or the Yuryevichs. In the spring of 1239, the Tatar-Mongol hordes invaded Pereyaslav land; they burned Pereyaslavl and subjected the principality to a terrible defeat, after which it could no longer be revived; the Tatars included him in the "Wild Field". In the third quarter of the 14th c. Pereyaslavshchina became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Vladimir-Volyn principality.

It was located in the west of Russia and occupied a vast territory from the upper reaches of the Southern Bug in the south to the upper reaches of the Nareva (a tributary of the Vistula) in the north, from the valley of the Western Bug in the west to the Sluch River (a tributary of the Pripyat) in the east (modern Volynskaya, Khmelnitskaya, Vinnitskaya, north of Ternopil, northeast of Lvov, most of the Rivne region of Ukraine, west of Brest and southwest of Grodno region of Belarus, east of Lublin and southeast of Bialystok voivodeship of Poland). It bordered in the east with Polotsk, Turov-Pinsk and Kyiv, in the west with the Principality of Galicia, in the northwest with Poland, in the southeast with the Polovtsian steppes. It was inhabited by the Slavic tribe Dulebs, who were later called Buzhans or Volynians.

Southern Volyn was a mountainous area formed by the eastern spurs of the Carpathians, the northern one was lowland and wooded woodland. variety of natural and climatic conditions promoted economic diversity; The inhabitants were engaged in agriculture, and cattle breeding, and hunting, and fishing. The economic development of the Principality was favored by its unusually favorable geographical position: the main trade routes from the Baltic to the Black Sea and from Rus' to Central Europe passed through it; at their intersection, the main urban centers arose - Vladimir-Volynsky, Dorogichin, Lutsk, Berestye, Shumsk.

At the beginning of the 10th c. Volyn, together with the territory adjacent to it from the south-west (the future Galician land), became dependent on the Kyiv prince Oleg. In 981, St. Vladimir annexed to it the Peremyshl and Cherven volosts, which he had taken from the Poles, pushing the Russian border from the Western Bug to the San River; in Vladimir-Volynsky, he established an episcopal see, and made the Volyn land itself a semi-independent principality, transferring it to his sons - Pozvizd, Vsevolod, Boris. During the internecine war in Rus' in 1015-1019, the Polish king Boleslav I the Brave returned Przemysl and Cherven, but in the early 1030s they were recaptured by Yaroslav the Wise, who also annexed Belz to Volhynia.

In the early 1050s, Yaroslav placed his son Svyatoslav on the Vladimir-Volyn table. According to Yaroslav's will in 1054, he passed to his other son Igor, who held him until 1057. According to some sources, in 1060 Vladimir-Volynsky was transferred to Igor's nephew Rostislav Vladimirovich; he, however, did not last long. In 1073, Volhynia returned to Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, who had taken the Grand Duke's throne, and gave it as an inheritance to his son Oleg "Gorislavich", but after the death of Svyatoslav at the end of 1076, the new Kiev prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich took this region from him.

When Izyaslav died in 1078 and the great reign passed to his brother Vsevolod, he planted Yaropolk, the son of Izyaslav, in Vladimir-Volynsky. However, after some time, Vsevolod separated the Przemysl and Terebovl volosts from Volyn, transferring them to the sons of Rostislav Vladimirovich (the future Galician principality). The attempt of the Rostislavichs in 1084-1086 to take away the Vladimir-Volyn table from Yaropolk was unsuccessful; after the murder of Yaropolk in 1086, Grand Duke Vsevolod made his nephew Davyd Igorevich Volhynia ruler. The Lyubech congress of 1097 secured Volyn for him, but as a result of the war with the Rostislavichs, and then with the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (1097–1098), Davyd lost it. By decision of the Uvetichi Congress of 1100, Vladimir-Volynsky went to Svyatopolk's son Yaroslav; Davyd got Buzhsk, Ostrog, Czartorysk and Duben (later Dorogobuzh).

In 1117, Yaroslav rebelled against the new Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, for which he was expelled from Volhynia. Vladimir passed it on to his son Roman (1117–1119), and after his death to his other son Andrei the Good (1119–1135); in 1123, Yaroslav tried to regain his inheritance with the help of the Poles and Hungarians, but died during the siege of Vladimir-Volynsky. In 1135, Prince Yaropolk of Kiev installed his nephew Izyaslav, son of Mstislav the Great, in place of Andrei.

When in 1139 the Olgoviches of Chernigov took possession of the Kyiv table, they decided to oust the Monomashichs from Volhynia. In 1142, Grand Duke Vsevolod Olgovich managed to plant his son Svyatoslav in Vladimir-Volynsky instead of Izyaslav. However, in 1146, after the death of Vsevolod, Izyaslav seized the great reign in Kyiv and removed Svyatoslav from Vladimir, allocating Buzhsk and six more Volyn cities as his inheritance. Since that time, Volyn finally passed into the hands of the Mstislavichs, the eldest branch of the Monomashichs, who ruled it until 1337. Izyaslav Mstislav (1156–1170). Under them, the process of fragmentation of the Volyn land began: in the 1140s–1160s, the Buzh, Lutsk and Peresopnytsia principalities stood out.

In 1170, the Vladimir-Volyn table was taken by the son of Mstislav Izyaslavich Roman (1170-1205 with a break in 1188). His reign was marked by the economic and political strengthening of the principality. Unlike the Galician princes, the Volyn rulers had an extensive princely domain and were able to concentrate significant material resources in their hands. Having strengthened his power within the principality, Roman in the second half of the 1180s began to pursue an active foreign policy. In 1188 he intervened in civil strife in the neighboring principality of Galicia and tried to seize the Galician table, but failed. In 1195 he came into conflict with the Smolensk Rostislavichs and ruined their possessions. In 1199 he managed to subjugate the Galician land and create a single Galicia-Volyn principality. At the beginning of the XIII century. Roman extended his influence to Kyiv: in 1202 he expelled Rurik Rostislavich from the Kyiv table and placed his cousin Ingvar Yaroslavich on him; in 1204 he arrested and tonsured a monk, Rurik, who was newly established in Kyiv, and restored Ingvar there. Several times he invaded Lithuania and Poland. By the end of his reign, Roman had become the de facto hegemon of Western and Southern Rus' and styled himself "King of Russia"; nevertheless, he failed to put an end to feudal fragmentation - under him, old and even new appanages continued to exist in Volhynia (Drogichinsky, Belzsky, Chervensko-Kholmsky).

After the death of Roman in 1205 in a campaign against the Poles, there was a temporary weakening of princely power. His successor Daniel already in 1206 lost the Galician land, and then was forced to flee from Volhynia. The Vladimir-Volyn table turned out to be the object of rivalry between his cousin Ingvar Yaroslavich and cousin Yaroslav Vsevolodich, who constantly turned to the Poles and the Hungarians for support. Only in 1212 Daniil Romanovich was able to establish himself in the Vladimir-Volyn principality; he managed to achieve the liquidation of a number of destinies. After a long struggle with the Hungarians, Poles and Chernigov Olgoviches, in 1238 he subjugated the Galician land and restored the united Galicia-Volyn principality. In the same year, while remaining its supreme ruler, Daniel handed over Volhynia to his younger brother Vasilko (1238–1269). In 1240 Volhynia was ravaged by the Tatar-Mongol hordes; Vladimir-Volynsky taken and plundered. In 1259 the Tatar commander Burundai invaded Volyn and forced Vasilko to demolish the fortifications of Vladimir-Volynsky, Danilov, Kremenets and Lutsk; however, after an unsuccessful siege of the Hill, he had to retreat. In the same year, Vasilko repulsed the attack of the Lithuanians.

Vasilko was succeeded by his son Vladimir (1269–1288). During his reign, Volyn was subjected to periodic Tatar raids (especially devastating in 1285). Vladimir restored many devastated cities (Berestye, etc.), built a number of new ones (Kamenets on Losnya), erected temples, patronized trade, and attracted foreign artisans. At the same time, he waged constant wars with the Lithuanians and Yotvingians and intervened in the feuds of the Polish princes. This active foreign policy was continued by Mstislav (1289–1301), the youngest son of Daniil Romanovich, who succeeded him.

After death ca. 1301 childless Mstislav Galician Prince Yuri Lvovich again united the Volyn and Galician lands. In 1315 he failed in the war with the Lithuanian prince Gedemin, who took Berestye, Drogichin and laid siege to Vladimir-Volynsky. In 1316, Yuri died (perhaps he died under the walls of besieged Vladimir), and the principality was divided again: most of Volyn was received by his eldest son, the Galician prince Andrei (1316–1324), and the Lutsk inheritance was given to his youngest son Lev. The last independent Galician-Volyn ruler was Andrey's son Yuri (1324-1337), after whose death the struggle for the Volyn lands between Lithuania and Poland began. By the end of the 14th century Volyn became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Galician principality.

It was located on the southwestern outskirts of Rus' to the east of the Carpathians in the upper reaches of the Dniester and Prut (modern Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Lvov regions of Ukraine and the Rzeszow province of Poland). It bordered in the east with the Volyn principality, in the north with Poland, in the west with Hungary, and in the south it ran into the Polovtsian steppes. The population was mixed - Slavic tribes occupied the Dniester valley (Tivertsy and streets) and the upper reaches of the Bug (Dulebs, or Buzhans); Croats (herbs, carps, hrovats) lived in the Przemysl region.

Fertile soils, mild climate, numerous rivers and vast forests created favorable conditions for intensive agriculture and cattle breeding. The most important trade routes passed through the territory of the principality - the river from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea (through the Vistula, the Western Bug and the Dniester) and the land route from Rus' to Central and South-Eastern Europe; periodically extending its power to the Dniester-Danube lowland, the principality also controlled the Danube communications between Europe and the East. Here, large shopping centers arose early: Galich, Przemysl, Terebovl, Zvenigorod.

In the 10th-11th centuries. this region was part of the Vladimir-Volyn land. In the late 1070s - early 1080s, the great Kiev prince Vsevolod, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, separated the Peremyshl and Terebovl volosts from it and gave it to his grand-nephews: the first Rurik and Volodar Rostislavich, and the second - to their brother Vasilko. In 1084–1086, the Rostislavichs unsuccessfully tried to establish control over Volhynia. After the death of Rurik in 1092, Volodar became the sole owner of Przemysl. The Lubech congress of 1097 assigned him the Przemysl, and Vasilko the Terebovl volost. In the same year, the Rostislavichi, with the support of Vladimir Monomakh and the Chernigov Svyatoslavichs, repelled an attempt by the Grand Duke of Kyiv Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and the Volyn prince Davyd Igorevich to seize their possessions. In 1124 Volodar and Vasilko died, and their inheritances were divided among themselves by their sons: Przemysl went to Rostislav Volodarevich, Zvenigorod to Vladimirko Volodarevich; Rostislav Vasilkovich received the Terebovl region, allocating a special Galician volost from it for his brother Ivan. After the death of Rostislav, Ivan annexed Terebovl to his possessions, leaving a small Berladsky inheritance to his son Ivan Rostislavich (Berladnik).

In 1141, Ivan Vasilkovich died, and the Terebovl-Galician volost was captured by his cousin Vladimirko Volodarevich Zvenigorodsky, who made Galich the capital of his possessions (now the Galician principality). In 1144, Ivan Berladnik tried to take Galich from him, but failed and lost his Berladsky inheritance. In 1143, after the death of Rostislav Volodarevich, Vladimirko included Przemysl in his principality; thus, he united under his rule all the Carpathian lands. In 1149-1154 Vladimirko supported Yuri Dolgoruky in his struggle with Izyaslav Mstislavich for the Kiev table; he repulsed the attack of Izyaslav's ally the Hungarian king Geyza and in 1152 captured Izyaslav's Upper Pogorynya (the cities of Buzhsk, Shumsk, Tihoml, Vyshegoshev and Gnojnitsa). As a result, he became the ruler of a vast territory from the upper reaches of the San and Goryn to the middle reaches of the Dniester and the lower reaches of the Danube. Under him, the Galician principality became the leading political force in Southwestern Rus' and entered a period of economic prosperity; his ties with Poland and Hungary were strengthened; it began to experience a strong cultural influence of Catholic Europe.

In 1153 Vladimirko was succeeded by his son Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153–1187), under whom the Principality of Galicia reached the peak of its political and economic power. He patronized trade, invited foreign artisans, built new cities; under him, the population of the principality increased significantly. Yaroslav's foreign policy was also successful. In 1157, he repelled an attack on Galich by Ivan Berladnik, who settled in the Danube and robbed Galician merchants. When in 1159 the Kiev prince Izyaslav Davydovich tried to place Berladnik on the Galician table by force of arms, Yaroslav, in alliance with Mstislav Izyaslavich Volynsky, defeated him, expelled him from Kiev and transferred the Kievan reign to Rostislav Mstislavich Smolensky (1159–1167); in 1174 he made his vassal Yaroslav Izyaslavich Lutsky prince of Kyiv. Galich's international prestige increased enormously. Author Words about Igor's regiment described Yaroslav as one of the most powerful Russian princes: “Galician Osmomysl Yaroslav! / You sit high on your gold-forged throne, / propped up the Hungarian mountains with your iron regiments, / blocking the way for the king, shutting the gates of the Danube, / sword of gravity through the clouds, / rowing courts to the Danube. / Your thunderstorms flow across the lands, / you open the gates of Kyiv, / you shoot from the father’s golden throne of the saltans behind the lands.

During the reign of Yaroslav, however, the local boyars intensified. Like his father, he, in an effort to avoid fragmentation, handed over cities and volosts to the holding not of his relatives, but of the boyars. The most influential of them ("great boyars") became the owners of huge estates, fortified castles and numerous vassals. The boyar landownership surpassed the princely in size. The strength of the Galician boyars increased so much that in 1170 they even intervened in the internal conflict in the princely family: they burned Yaroslav's concubine Nastasya at the stake and forced him to take an oath to return his legitimate wife Olga, the daughter of Yuri Dolgoruky, who had been rejected by him.

Yaroslav bequeathed the principality to Oleg, his son by Nastasya; he allocated the Przemysl volost to his legitimate son Vladimir. But after his death in 1187, the boyars overthrew Oleg and elevated Vladimir to the Galician table. Vladimir's attempt to get rid of the boyar guardianship and rule autocratically already in the next 1188 ended with his flight to Hungary. Oleg returned to the Galician table, but soon he was poisoned by the boyars, and Volyn Prince Roman Mstislavich occupied Galich. In the same year, Vladimir expelled Roman with the help of the Hungarian king Bela, but he gave the reign not to him, but to his son Andrei. In 1189 Vladimir fled from Hungary to the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, promising him to become his vassal and tributary. By order of Frederick, the Polish king Casimir II the Just sent his army to the Galician land, at the approach of which the boyars of Galich overthrew Andrei and opened the gates to Vladimir. With the support of the ruler of North-Eastern Rus', Vsevolod the Big Nest, Vladimir was able to subjugate the boyars and hold on to power until his death in 1199.

With the death of Vladimir, the family of the Galician Rostislavichs ceased, and the Galician land became part of the vast possessions of Roman Mstislavich Volynsky, a representative of the older branch of the Monomashichs. The new prince pursued a policy of terror in relation to the local boyars and achieved its significant weakening. However, shortly after the death of Roman in 1205, his power collapsed. Already in 1206, his heir Daniel was forced to leave the Galician land and go to Volhynia. A long period of unrest began (1206-1238). The Galician table passed either to Daniel (1211, 1230–1232, 1233), then to the Chernigov Olgoviches (1206–1207, 1209–1211, 1235–1238), then to the Smolensk Rostislavichs (1206, 1219–1227), then to the Hungarian princes (1207-1209, 1214-1219, 1227-1230); in 1212-1213 the power in Galich was even usurped by the boyar - Volodislav Kormilichich (a unique case in ancient Russian history). Only in 1238 Daniel managed to establish himself in Galicia and restore the united Galicia-Volyn state. In the same year, while remaining its supreme ruler, he allocated Volhynia to his brother Vasilko.

In the 1240s, the foreign policy situation of the principality became more complicated. In 1242 it was devastated by the hordes of Batu. In 1245, Daniil and Vasilko had to recognize themselves as tributaries of the Tatar Khan. In the same year, the Chernigov Olgoviches (Rostislav Mikhailovich), having entered into an alliance with the Hungarians, invaded the Galician land; only with great effort, the brothers managed to repel the invasion, having won a victory on the river. San.

In the 1250s, Daniel launched an active diplomatic activity to create an anti-Tatar coalition. He concluded a military-political alliance with the Hungarian king Bela IV and began negotiations with Pope Innocent IV on a church union, a crusade of European powers against the Tatars and recognition of his royal title. In 1254 the papal legate crowned Daniel with a royal crown. However, the inability of the Vatican to organize crusade removed the issue of the union from the agenda. In 1257, Daniel agreed on joint actions against the Tatars with the Lithuanian prince Mindovg, but the Tatars managed to provoke a conflict between the allies.

After Daniel's death in 1264, the Galician land was divided between his sons Leo, who received Galich, Przemysl and Drogichin, and Shvarn, to whom Kholm, Cherven and Belz passed. In 1269, Shvarn died, and the entire Galician principality passed into the hands of Leo, who in 1272 transferred his residence to the newly built Lvov. Leo intervened in internal political strife in Lithuania and fought (though unsuccessfully) with the Polish prince Leshko Cherny for the Lublin volost.

After the death of Leo in 1301, his son Yuri reunited the Galician and Volhynian lands and took the title "King of Rus', Prince of Lodimeria (i.e. Volhynia)". He entered into an alliance with the Teutonic Order against the Lithuanians and tried to achieve the establishment of an independent church metropolis in Galicia. After the death of Yuri in 1316, Galicia and most of Volhynia were given to his eldest son Andrei, who was succeeded in 1324 by his son Yuri. With the death of Yuri in 1337, the senior branch of the descendants of Daniil Romanovich died out, and a fierce struggle began between Lithuanian, Hungarian and Polish pretenders to the Galician-Volyn table. In 1349-1352, the Polish king Casimir III captured the Galician land. In 1387, under Vladislav II (Jagiello), it finally became part of the Commonwealth.

Rostov-Suzdal (Vladimir-Suzdal) Principality.

It was located on the northeastern outskirts of Rus' in the basin of the Upper Volga and its tributaries Klyazma, Unzha, Sheksna (modern Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, most of Moscow, Vladimir and Vologda, southeast of Tver, west of Nizhny Novgorod and Kostroma regions); in the 12th–14th centuries the principality was constantly expanding in the eastern and northeastern directions. In the west, it bordered on Smolensk, in the south - on Chernigov and Muromo-Ryazan principalities, in the north-west - on Novgorod, and in the east - on Vyatka land and Finno-Ugric tribes (Merya, Mari, etc.). The population of the principality was mixed: it consisted of both Finno-Ugric autochthons (mainly Merya) and Slavic colonists (mainly Krivichi).

Most of the territory was occupied by forests and swamps; fur trade played an important role in the economy. Numerous rivers abounded with valuable species of fish. Despite the rather harsh climate, the presence of podzolic and soddy-podzolic soils created favorable conditions for agriculture (rye, barley, oats, garden crops). Natural barriers (forests, swamps, rivers) reliably protected the principality from external enemies.

In 1 thousand AD. the upper Volga basin was inhabited by the Finno-Ugric tribe Merya. In the 8th–9th centuries an influx of Slavic colonists began here, who moved both from the west (from the Novgorod land) and from the south (from the Dnieper region); in the 9th century Rostov was founded by them, and in the 10th century. - Suzdal. At the beginning of the 10th c. Rostov land became dependent on the Kyiv prince Oleg, and under his closest successors it became part of the grand ducal domain. In 988/989 St. Vladimir singled it out as an inheritance for his son Yaroslav the Wise, and in 1010 he transferred it to his other son Boris. After the assassination of Boris in 1015 by Svyatopolk the Accursed, direct control of the Kyiv princes was restored here.

According to the will of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, Rostov land passed to Vsevolod Yaroslavich, who in 1068 sent his son Vladimir Monomakh to reign there; under him, Vladimir was founded on the Klyazma River. Thanks to the activities of the Rostov Bishop St. Leonty, Christianity began to actively penetrate into this area; St. Abraham organized the first monastery here (Bogoyavlensky). In 1093 and 1095 Vladimir's son Mstislav the Great sat in Rostov. In 1095, Vladimir singled out the Rostov land as an independent principality for his other son Yuri Dolgoruky (1095–1157). The Lyubech congress of 1097 assigned it to the Monomashichs. Yuri moved the princely residence from Rostov to Suzdal. He contributed to the final approval of Christianity, widely attracted settlers from other Russian principalities, founded new cities (Moscow, Dmitrov, Yuryev-Polsky, Uglich, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Kostroma). During his reign, the Rostov-Suzdal land experienced an economic and political flourishing; the boyars and the trade and craft layer intensified. Significant resources allowed Yuri to intervene in the princely civil strife and spread his influence to neighboring territories. In 1132 and 1135 he tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to control Pereyaslavl Russian, in 1147 he made a campaign against Novgorod the Great and took Torzhok, in 1149 he began the fight for Kiev with Izyaslav Mstislavovich. In 1155, he managed to establish himself on the Kievan grand-ducal table and secure the Pereyaslav region for his sons.

After the death of Yuri Dolgoruky in 1157, the Rostov-Suzdal land broke up into several destinies. However, already in 1161 Yuri's son Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157-1174) restored its unity, depriving his three brothers (Mstislav, Vasilko and Vsevolod) and two nephews (Mstislav and Yaropolk Rostislavichs) of their possessions. In an effort to get rid of the guardianship of the influential Rostov and Suzdal boyars, he moved the capital to Vladimir-on-Klyazma, where there was a numerous trade and craft settlement, and, relying on the support of the townspeople and the squad, began to pursue an absolutist policy. Andrei renounced his claims to the Kiev table and accepted the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir. In 1169-1170, he subjugated Kyiv and Novgorod the Great, transferring them respectively to his brother Gleb and his ally Rurik Rostislavich. By the early 1170s, the Polotsk, Turov, Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Murom and Smolensk principalities recognized dependence on the Vladimir table. However, his campaign in 1173 against Kyiv, which fell into the hands of the Smolensk Rostislavichs, failed. In 1174 he was killed by boyars-conspirators in the village. Bogolyubovo near Vladimir.

After the death of Andrei, the local boyars invited his nephew Mstislav Rostislavich to the Rostov table; Suzdal, Vladimir and Yuryev-Polsky received Mstislav's brother Yaropolk. But in 1175 they were expelled by the brothers of Andrei Mikhalko and Vsevolod the Big Nest; Mikhalko became the ruler of Vladimir-Suzdal, and Vsevolod became the ruler of Rostov. In 1176 Mikhalko died, and Vsevolod remained the sole ruler of all these lands, behind which the name of the great Vladimir principality was firmly established. In 1177, he finally eliminated the threat from Mstislav and Yaropolk, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Koloksha River; they themselves were taken prisoner and blinded.

Vsevolod (1175-1212) continued the foreign policy of his father and brother, becoming the chief arbiter among the Russian princes and dictating his will to Kyiv, Novgorod the Great, Smolensk and Ryazan. However, already during his lifetime, the process of crushing the Vladimir-Suzdal land began: in 1208 he gave Rostov and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky as inheritance to his sons Konstantin and Yaroslav. After the death of Vsevolod in 1212, a war broke out between Konstantin and his brothers Yuri and Yaroslav in 1214, ending in April 1216 with Constantine's victory in the Battle of the Lipitsa River. But, although Konstantin became the great Prince of Vladimir, the unity of the principality was not restored: in 1216-1217 he gave Yuri Gorodets-Rodilov and Suzdal, Yaroslav - Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and his younger brothers Svyatoslav and Vladimir - Yuryev-Polsky and Starodub . After Constantine's death in 1218, Yuriy (1218–1238), who had taken the Grand Duke's throne, endowed his sons Vasilko (Rostov, Kostroma, Galich) and Vsevolod (Yaroslavl, Uglich) with lands. As a result, the Vladimir-Suzdal land broke up into ten specific principalities - Rostov, Suzdal, Pereyaslav, Yuriev, Starodub, Gorodet, Yaroslavl, Uglich, Kostroma, Galicia; the Grand Prince of Vladimir retained only formal supremacy over them.

In February-March 1238, North-Eastern Rus' fell victim to the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Vladimir-Suzdal regiments were defeated on the river. City, Prince Yuri fell on the battlefield, Vladimir, Rostov, Suzdal and other cities were subjected to a terrible defeat. After the departure of the Tatars, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich occupied the grand prince's table, who transferred to his brothers Svyatoslav and Ivan Suzdal and Starodub, to his eldest son Alexander (Nevsky) Pereyaslav, and to his nephew Boris Vasilkovich the Rostov principality, from which the Belozersky inheritance (Gleb Vasilkovich) separated. In 1243, Yaroslav received from Batu a label for the great reign of Vladimir (d. 1246). Under his successors, brother Svyatoslav (1246–1247), sons Andrei (1247–1252), Alexander (1252–1263), Yaroslav (1263–1271/1272), Vasily (1272–1276/1277) and grandsons Dmitry (1277–1293) ) and Andrei Alexandrovich (1293–1304), the crushing process was on the rise. In 1247, the Tver (Yaroslav Yaroslavich) principalities were finally formed, and in 1283, the Moscow (Daniil Alexandrovich) principalities. Although in 1299 the metropolitan, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, moved to Vladimir from Kyiv, its importance as the capital gradually declined; from the end of the 13th century the grand dukes stop using Vladimir as a permanent residence.

In the first third of the 14th century Moscow and Tver begin to play a leading role in North-Eastern Russia, which enter into rivalry for the Vladimir Grand Duke's table: in 1304/1305–1317 it was occupied by Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy, in 1317–1322 by Yuri Danilovich of Moscow, in 1322–1326 by Dmitry Mikhailovich Tverskoy, in 1326-1327 - Alexander Mikhailovich Tverskoy, in 1327-1340 - Ivan Danilovich (Kalita) of Moscow (in 1327-1331 together with Alexander Vasilyevich Suzdalsky). After Ivan Kalita, it becomes the monopoly of the Moscow princes (with the exception of 1359-1362). At the same time, their main rivals - the Tver and Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod princes - in the middle of the 14th century. also take the title of great. The struggle for control over North-Eastern Russia during the 14th–15th centuries. ends with the victory of the Moscow princes, who include the disintegrated parts of the Vladimir-Suzdal land into the Moscow state: Pereyaslavl-Zalesskoe (1302), Mozhaiskoe (1303), Uglichskoe (1329), Vladimirskoe, Starodubskoe, Galicia, Kostroma and Dmitrovskoe (1362–1364), Belozersky (1389), Nizhny Novgorod (1393), Suzdal (1451), Yaroslavl (1463), Rostov (1474) and Tver (1485) principalities.



Novgorod land.

occupied vast territory(almost 200 thousand sq. km.) between the Baltic Sea and the lower reaches of the Ob. Its western border was the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipus, in the north it included Lakes Ladoga and Onega and reached the White Sea, in the east it captured the Pechora basin, and in the south it was adjacent to the Polotsk, Smolensk and Rostov-Suzdal principalities (modern Novgorod, Pskov, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, most of the Tver and Vologda regions, Karelian and Komi autonomous republics). It was inhabited by Slavic (Ilmen Slavs, Krivichi) and Finno-Ugric tribes (Vod, Izhora, Korela, Chud, All, Perm, Pechora, Lapps).

The unfavorable natural conditions of the North hindered the development of agriculture; grain was one of the main imports. At the same time, huge forests and numerous rivers favored fishing, hunting, and fur trade; The extraction of salt and iron ore was of great importance. Since ancient times, the Novgorod land has been famous for its various crafts and the high quality of handicrafts. Its favorable location at the crossroads from the Baltic Sea to the Black and Caspian ensured her the role of an intermediary in the trade of the Baltic and Scandinavia with the Black Sea and the Volga region. Craftsmen and merchants, united in territorial and professional corporations, represented one of the most economically and politically influential strata of Novgorod society. Its highest stratum, large landowners (boyars), also actively participated in international trade.

Novgorod land was divided into administrative districts - pyatins, directly adjacent to Novgorod (Votskaya, Shelonskaya, Obonezhskaya, Derevskaya, Bezhetskaya), and remote volosts: one extended from Torzhok and Volok to the Suzdal border and the upper reaches of the Onega, the other included Zavolochye (onega interfluve and Mezen), and the third - the land to the east of the Mezen (Pechora, Perm and Yugra regions).

Novgorod land was the cradle of the Old Russian state. It was here that in the 860s-870s a strong political formation arose, uniting the Slavs of the Ilmen, Polotsk Krivichi, Meryu, all and partly Chud. In 882 Prince Oleg of Novgorod subjugated the Polans and the Smolensk Krivichi and moved the capital to Kyiv. Since that time, Novgorod land has become the second most important region of the Rurik dynasty. From 882 to 988/989 it was ruled by governors sent from Kyiv (with the exception of 972–977, when it was the inheritance of St. Vladimir).

At the end of the 10th-11th centuries. Novgorod land, as the most important part of the grand princely domain, was usually transferred by the Kyiv princes to the eldest sons. In 988/989, Vladimir the Holy installed his eldest son Vysheslav in Novgorod, and after his death in 1010, his other son Yaroslav the Wise, who, having taken the throne in 1019, in turn passed it on to his eldest son Ilya. After Elijah's death c. 1020 Novgorod land was captured by the Polotsk ruler Bryachislav Izyaslavich, but was expelled by the troops of Yaroslav. In 1034 Yaroslav handed over Novgorod to his second son Vladimir, who held it until his death in 1052.

In 1054, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, Novgorod fell into the hands of his third son, the new Grand Duke Izyaslav, who ruled it through his governors, and then planted his youngest son Mstislav in it. In 1067 Novgorod was captured by Vseslav Bryachislavich of Polotsk, but in the same year he was expelled by Izyaslav. After the overthrow of Izyaslav from the Kiev table in 1068, the Novgorodians did not submit to Vseslav of Polotsk, who reigned in Kiev, and turned for help to Izyaslav's brother, Prince Svyatoslav of Chernigov, who sent his eldest son Gleb to them. Gleb defeated the troops of Vseslav in October 1069, but soon, obviously, he was forced to transfer Novgorod to Izyaslav, who returned to the grand prince's table. When in 1073 Izyaslav was again overthrown, Novgorod passed to Svyatoslav of Chernigov, who received the great reign, who planted his other son Davyd in it. After the death of Svyatoslav in December 1076, Gleb again took the throne of Novgorod. However, in July 1077, when Izyaslav regained the Kievan reign, he had to cede it to Svyatopolk, the son of Izyaslav, who returned the Kievan reign. Izyaslav's brother Vsevolod, who became Grand Duke in 1078, retained Novgorod for Svyatopolk and only in 1088 replaced him with his grandson Mstislav the Great, son of Vladimir Monomakh. After the death of Vsevolod in 1093, Davyd Svyatoslavich again sat in Novgorod, but in 1095 he came into conflict with the townspeople and left the reign. At the request of the Novgorodians, Vladimir Monomakh, who then owned Chernigov, returned Mstislav (1095–1117) to them.

In the second half of the 11th c. in Novgorod, the economic power and, accordingly, the political influence of the boyars and the trade and craft layer increased significantly. Large boyar land ownership became dominant. The Novgorod boyars were hereditary landowners and were not a service class; possession of land did not depend on the service of the prince. At the same time, the constant change of representatives of different princely families on the Novgorod table prevented the formation of any significant princely domain. In the face of the growing local elite, the prince's position gradually weakened.

In 1102, the Novgorod elites (boyars and merchants) refused to accept the reign of the son of the new Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, wishing to keep Mstislav, and the Novgorod land ceased to be part of the Grand Duke's possessions. In 1117 Mstislav handed over the Novgorod table to his son Vsevolod (1117–1136).

In 1136 the Novgorodians revolted against Vsevolod. Accusing him of bad management and neglect of the interests of Novgorod, they imprisoned him with his family, and after a month and a half they expelled him from the city. From that time on, a de facto republican system was established in Novgorod, although the princely power was not abolished. supreme body management was popular assembly(veche), which included all free citizens. The veche had broad powers - it invited and dismissed the prince, elected and controlled the entire administration, resolved issues of war and peace, was the highest court, introduced taxes and duties. The prince from a sovereign ruler turned into the highest official. He was the supreme commander in chief, could convene a council and issue laws if they did not contradict customs; embassies were sent and received on his behalf. However, when elected, the prince entered into contractual relations with Novgorod and gave an obligation to govern “in the old way”, appoint only Novgorodians as governors in the volosts and not impose tribute on them, wage war and make peace only with the consent of the veche. He did not have the right to remove other officials without trial. His actions were controlled by an elected posadnik, without whose approval he could not make judicial decisions and make appointments.

The local bishop (lord) played a special role in the political life of Novgorod. From the middle of the 12th century the right to elect him passed from the Metropolitan of Kyiv to the veche; the metropolitan only sanctioned the election. The Novgorod lord was considered not only the main clergyman, but also the first dignitary of the state after the prince. He was the largest landowner, had his own boyars and military regiments with a banner and governors, certainly participated in peace negotiations and inviting princes, and was a mediator in internal political conflicts.

Despite the significant narrowing of princely prerogatives, the rich Novgorod land remained attractive to the most powerful princely dynasties. First of all, the senior (Mstislavichi) and junior (Suzdal Yuryevich) branches of the Monomashichs competed for the Novgorod table; Chernigov Olgovichi tried to intervene in this struggle, but they achieved only episodic successes (1138–1139, 1139–1141, 1180–1181, 1197, 1225–1226, 1229–1230). In the 12th century the preponderance was on the side of the Mstislavich clan and its three main branches (Izyaslavichi, Rostislavichi and Vladimirovichi); they occupied the Novgorod table in 1117-1136, 1142-1155, 1158-1160, 1161-1171, 1179-1180, 1182-1197, 1197-1199; some of them (especially the Rostislavichs) managed to create independent, but short-lived principalities (Novotorzhskoe and Velikoluki) in the Novgorod land. However, already in the second half of the 12th century. the positions of the Yurievichs began to strengthen, who enjoyed the support of the influential party of the Novgorod boyars and, in addition, periodically put pressure on Novgorod, closing the routes for the delivery of grain from North-Eastern Rus'. In 1147, Yuri Dolgoruky made a trip to the Novgorod land and captured Torzhok, in 1155 the Novgorodians had to invite his son Mstislav to reign (until 1157). In 1160, Andrei Bogolyubsky imposed on the Novgorodians his nephew Mstislav Rostislavich (until 1161); in 1171 he forced them to return Rurik Rostislavich, who had been expelled by them, to the Novgorod table, and in 1172 to transfer him to his son Yuri (until 1175). In 1176 Vsevolod the Big Nest managed to plant his nephew Yaroslav Mstislavich in Novgorod (until 1178).

In the 13th century Yuryevichi (Vsevolod's Big Nest line) achieved complete predominance. In the 1200s, the Novgorod throne was occupied by the sons of Vsevolod Svyatoslav (1200–1205, 1208–1210) and Konstantin (1205–1208). True, in 1210 the Novgorodians were able to get rid of the control of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes with the help of the Toropetsk ruler Mstislav Udatny from the Smolensk Rostislavich family; The Rostislavichs held Novgorod until 1221 (with a break in 1215-1216). However, then they were finally ousted from the Novgorod land by the Yurievichs.

The success of the Yurievichs was facilitated by the deterioration of the foreign policy situation of Novgorod. In the face of the increased threat to its western possessions from Sweden, Denmark and the Livonian Order, the Novgorodians needed an alliance with the most powerful Russian principality at that time - Vladimir. Thanks to this alliance, Novgorod managed to defend its borders. Called to the Novgorod table in 1236, Alexander Yaroslavich, the nephew of the Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodich, defeated the Swedes at the mouth of the Neva in 1240, and then stopped the aggression of the German knights.

The temporary strengthening of princely power under Alexander Yaroslavich (Nevsky) was replaced in the late 13th - early 14th century. its complete degradation, which was facilitated by the weakening of external danger and the progressive disintegration of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. At the same time, the role of the veche also declined. In Novgorod, an oligarchic system was actually established. The boyars turned into a closed ruling caste that shared power with the archbishop. The rise of the Moscow principality under Ivan Kalita (1325–1340) and its formation as the center of the unification of Russian lands aroused fear among the Novgorod leaders and led to their attempts to use the powerful Lithuanian principality that had arisen on the southwestern borders as a counterweight: in 1333, for the first time, he was invited to the Novgorod table the Lithuanian prince Narimunt Gedeminovich (although he only lasted a year on it); in the 1440s, the Grand Duke of Lithuania was given the right to collect irregular tribute from some Novgorod volosts.

Although 14-15 centuries. became a period of rapid economic prosperity of Novgorod, largely due to its close ties with the Hanseatic Trade Union, the Novgorod leaders did not use it to strengthen their military-political potential and preferred to pay off the aggressive Moscow and Lithuanian princes. At the end of the 14th century Moscow launched an offensive against Novgorod. Vasily I captured the Novgorod cities of Bezhetsky Verkh, Volok Lamsky and Vologda with adjacent regions; in 1401 and 1417 he tried, though unsuccessfully, to seize Zavolochye. In the second quarter of the 15th c. Moscow's offensive was suspended due to the internecine war of 1425–1453 between Grand Duke Vasily II and his uncle Yuri and his sons; in this war, the Novgorod boyars supported the opponents of Vasily II. Having established himself on the throne, Vasily II imposed tribute on Novgorod, and in 1456 went to war with him. Having suffered a defeat at Russa, the Novgorodians were forced to conclude a humiliating Yazhelbitsky peace with Moscow: they paid a significant indemnity and pledged not to enter into an alliance with the enemies of the Moscow prince; the legislative prerogatives of the veche were abolished and the ability to conduct an independent foreign policy. As a result, Novgorod became dependent on Moscow. In 1460, Pskov was under the control of the Moscow prince.

In the late 1460s, the pro-Lithuanian party led by the Boretskys triumphed in Novgorod. She achieved the conclusion of an alliance treaty with the great Lithuanian prince Casimir IV and an invitation to the Novgorod table of his protege Mikhail Olelkovich (1470). In response, Moscow Prince Ivan III sent a large army against the Novgorodians, which defeated them on the river. Shelon; Novgorod had to annul the treaty with Lithuania, pay a huge indemnity and cede part of Zavolochye. In 1472 Ivan III annexed the Perm Territory; in 1475 he arrived in Novgorod and massacred the anti-Moscow boyars, and in 1478 liquidated the independence of the Novgorod land and included it in the Muscovite state. In 1570 Ivan IV the Terrible finally destroyed Novgorod's liberties.

Ivan Krivushin

GREAT Kyiv PRINCES

(from the death of Yaroslav the Wise to the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Before the name of the prince - the year of his accession to the throne, the number in brackets indicates at what time the prince occupied the throne, if this happened again.)

1054 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (1)

1068 Vseslav Bryachislavich

1069 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (2)

1073 Svyatoslav Yaroslavich

1077 Vsevolod Yaroslavich (1)

1077 Izyaslav Yaroslavich (3)

1078 Vsevolod Yaroslavich (2)

1093 Svyatopolk Izyaslavich

1113 Vladimir Vsevolodich (Monomakh)

1125 Mstislav Vladimirovich (Great)

1132 Yaropolk Vladimirovich

1139 Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (1)

1139 Vsevolod Olgovich

1146 Igor Olgovich

1146 Izyaslav Mstislavich (1)

1149 Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (1)

1149 Izyaslav Mstislavich (2)

1151 Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (2)

1151 Izyaslav Mstislavich (3) and Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (2)

1154 Vyacheslav Vladimirovich (2) and Rostislav Mstislavich (1)

1154 Rostislav Mstislavich (1)

1154 Izyaslav Davydovich (1)

1155 Yuri Vladimirovich (Dolgoruky) (3)

1157 Izyaslav Davydovich (2)

1159 Rostislav Mstislavich (2)

1167 Mstislav Izyaslavich

1169 Gleb Yurievich

1171 Vladimir Mstislavich

1171 Mikhalko Yurievich

1171 Roman Rostislavich (1)

1172 Vsevolod Yurievich (Big Nest) and Yaropolk Rostislavich

1173 Rurik Rostislavich (1)

1174 Roman Rostislavich (2)

1176 Svyatoslav Vsevolodich (1)

1181 Rurik Rostislavich (2)

1181 Svyatoslav Vsevolodich (2)

1194 Rurik Rostislavich (3)

1202 Ingvar Yaroslavich (1)

1203 Rurik Rostislavich (4)

1204 Ingvar Yaroslavich (2)

1204 Rostislav Rurikovich

1206 Rurik Rostislavich (5)

1206 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (1)

1206 Rurik Rostislavich (6)

1207 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (2)

1207 Rurik Rostislavich (7)

1210 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (3)

1211 Ingvar Yaroslavich (3)

1211 Vsevolod Svyatoslavich (4)

1212/1214 Mstislav Romanovich (Old) (1)

1219 Vladimir Rurikovich (1)

1219 Mstislav Romanovich (Old) (2), possibly with his son Vsevolod

1223 Vladimir Rurikovich (2)

1235 Mikhail Vsevolodich (1)

1235 Yaroslav Vsevolodich

1236 Vladimir Rurikovich (3)

1239 Mikhail Vsevolodich (1)

1240 Rostislav Mstislavich

1240 Daniel Romanovich

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