The Principality of Suzdal,[a] from 1157 theGrand Principality of Vladimir,[b] also known asVladimir-Suzdal,[c] or simplySuzdalia,[1] was a medievalprincipality that was established during the disintegration ofKievan Rus'. In historiography, the territory of the grand principality and the principalities that emerged from it is commonly denoted asnorth-east Russia ornorth-east Rus'.[d][2]
By the end of the 13th century, the grand principality hadfragmented into over a dozenappanages.[8]Moscow andTver emerged as the two leading principalities, leading to a struggle between them for possession of the grand princely throne.[9] From 1331, theprince of Moscow was also thegrand prince of Vladimir, except for one brief interruption from 1359 to 1363, when the throne was held byNizhny Novgorod.[10] In 1389, the grand principality became a family possession of the prince of Moscow and the two thrones were united.[11] The original territory of the grand principality would later serve as the core of the Russian state.[12]
The first known prince ofRostov mentioned in thePrimary Chronicle under the year 988 wasYaroslav Vladimirovich, appointed by his fatherVladimir I of Kiev.[13] In 1024, there was reportedly a famine in the area, and a revolt stoked up by pagan sorcerers was suppressed by Yaroslav personally.[13] Upon his death in 1054,Vsevolod Yaroslavich received the lands of Rostov andSuzdal.[13] Little is known about the region until the 1090s, except that the town ofYaroslavl had been founded upon the upper Volga by 1071, and thatVladimir Monomakh ordered a church to be built in Rostov.[14]Bishops are recorded in the 1080s and 1090s, but the seat appears to have remained vacant for the next half-century.[15] The 1097Council of Liubech confirmed Vladimir Monomakh's possession of Rostov and Suzdal.[14] By the early 12th century, the towns of Rostov, Suzdal andMurom remained junior postings.[16]
At the 1097Council of Liubech, Monomakh became prince of Pereyaslavl, including Rostov, for which he made anappanage for his sons.[14] From that time onwards, the Rostov region was a point of contention between theMonomakhovichi of Pereyaslavl and theSviatoslavichi ofMurom.[17] Control of theupper Volga river was particularly important, as it was the primary route for trade betweenVolga Bulgaria to the east andVeliky Novgorod to the west.[18] Intercepting that commercial shipping for their own profit was tempting for the Monomakhovichi, but also risky, as it provoked hostilities with both the Bulgars and Novgorodians.[18]
It seems that by the year 1108, Monomakh's sixth sonYuri Dolgorukiy, who resided in the town ofSuzdal', was the prince of Rostov.[19] In the same year, he supposedly founded the fortified outpost ofVladimir (Volodimer) on theKlyazma, to control that river and defend against raids of theVolga Bulgars who had attacked in 1107.[17] In 1120, Yuri conducted a military campaign againstBolghar territory.[20]
During the 11th and 12th centuries when southern parts of Rus' were systematically raided by Turkic nomads, their inhabitants began to migrate northward. In the formerly wooded areas, known asZalesye, many new settlements were established.[citation needed] The foundations ofPereslavl,Kostroma,Dmitrov,Moscow,Yuriev-Polsky,Uglich,Tver,Dubna, and many others were assigned (either by chronicle or popular legend) to G, whose sobriquet ("the Long-Armed") alludes to his dexterity in manipulating the politics of far-awayKiev. Sometime in 1108 Monomakh strengthened and rebuilt the town ofVladimir on theKlyazma River, 31 km south of Suzdal. During the rule of Yuri, the principality gained military strength, and in the Suzdal-Ryazan war of 1146, it conquered theRyazan Principality. Later in the 1150s, Yuri occupied Kiev a couple of times as well. From that time the lands of the northeastern Rus' played an important role in the politics of Kievan Rus'.[citation needed]
Yuri's sonAndrey Bogolyubsky significantly increased Vladimir's power at the expense of the nearby princely states, which he treated with contempt.[citation needed] Unwilling to share power with his brothers and cousins, he drove them out and seized all their lands by 1162, thus uniting his father's patrimony in Vladimir-Suzdal under his sole rule (samovlastets).[21] When grand princeRostislav I of Kiev died in 1167, a succession crisis broke out in which Andrey argued that, according to the emergent tradition of thePrincipality of Pereyaslavl being the domain of the crown prince of Kiev, his brotherGleb ought to be enthroned.[22] Aftersacking Kiev in 1169, he enthroned his younger brother. Meanwhile, Andrey embellished Vladimir with white stone churches and monasteries. Gleb's death in 1171 led to yet another succession crisis that saw the Suzdalians kicked out of Kiev; Andrey formed another coalition in an attempt to retake the capital, but was utterly defeated in theSiege of Vyshgorod (1173).[23] The coalition fell apart, and some months later, prince Andrey was murdered by his own boyars in his suburban residence atBogolyubovo in 1174.[23]
During the1174–1177 Suzdalian war of succession, Andrey's brotherVsevolod III secured the throne of Vladimir, although the Yurievichi lost control of theNovgorod Republic for a decade.[23] The Yurievichi clan also dropped out of the competition for the Kievan throne, never seeking it again,[24] supportingRurik Rostislavich's accession in 1194.[25] Instead, Vsevolod's chief focus was on subjugating the southernRyazan Principality, which appeared to stir discord in the princely family, and the mighty Turkic state ofVolga Bulgaria, which bordered Vladimir-Suzdal to the east. After several military campaigns, Ryazan was burnt to the ground in 1208, and the Bulgars were forced to pay tribute.[citation needed]
Vsevolod's death in 1212 precipitated another serious dynastic conflict. His eldest sonKonstantin gained the support of powerful Rostovan boyars andMstislav the Bold of Kiev and expelled the lawful heir, his brotherGeorge, from Vladimir toRostov. George managed to return to the capital six years later, upon Konstantin's death. George proved to be a shrewd ruler who decisively defeated Volga Bulgaria and installed his brotherYaroslav inNovgorod. His reign, however, ended when the Mongol hordes underBatu Khan took and burnt Vladimir in 1238. Thereupon they proceeded to devastate other major cities of Vladimir-Suzdal during theMongol invasion of Kievan Rus'.[citation needed]
While heavy tribute payments and the initial Mongol invasions did manage to cause much destruction to Vladimir-Suzdal, rule under the Mongols also brought wealth to the region, as Vladimir was able to access the Mongol's lucrative patronage of oriental trade.[26]
None of the cities of the principality managed to regain the power of Kievan Rus' after the Mongol invasion. Vladimir became a vassal of theMongol Empire, later succeeded by theGolden Horde, with the Grand Prince appointed by theGreat Khan. Even the popularAlexander Nevsky of Pereslavl had to go to the Khan's capital inKarakorum to be installed as the Grand Prince in Vladimir. As many factions strove for power, the principality rapidly disintegrated into eleven tiny states:Moscow,Tver,Pereslavl,Rostov,Yaroslavl,Uglich,Belozersk,Kostroma,Nizhny Novgorod,Starodub-upon-Klyazma, andYuriev-Polsky. All of them nominally acknowledged the suzerainty of the Grand Prince of Vladimir, but his effective authority became progressively weaker.[citation needed]
By the end of the century, only three cities — Moscow, Tver, and Nizhny Novgorod — still contended for the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir. Once installed, however, they chose to remain in their own cities rather than move to Vladimir. ThePrincipality of Moscow gradually came to eclipse its rivals. The decision ofmetropolitan Peter of Kiev and all Rus' to move his chair from Vladimir to Moscow in 1325 was another sign of Moscow's rising prominence.[citation needed] When theTver Uprising of 1327 broke out, the Muscovites and Nizhegorodians helped the Mongols crush it.[citation needed] By the end of the 1330s, Moscow had eclipsed Tver, which then descended inter-princely wars between the various appanages of Tver, particularly between Kashin and Mikulin.[27] During theGreat Troubles, Tver and Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal both attempted to regain the title of grand prince of Vladimir, with Tver succeeding a few times, but since 1394, Moscow effectively inherited the title and controlled Vladimir thereafter, signifying the end of a separate Vladimirian principality.
The veneration of the Theotokos as a holy protectress of Vladimir was introduced by Prince Andrew, who dedicated to Her many churches and installed in his palace a revered image, known asTheotokos of Vladimir.
As part of the Christian world, Rus' principalities gained a wide range of opportunities for developing their political and cultural ties not only with Byzantium but with the European countries, as well. By the end of the eleventh century, Rus' gradually fell under the influence ofRoman architecture. Whitestone cathedrals, decorated withsculpture, appeared in the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal due to Andrey Bogolyubsky's invitation ofarchitects from "all over the world". These cathedrals, however, are not identical to the Roman edifices ofCatholic Europe and represent a synthesis of the Byzantine cruciform plan andcupolas with Roman whitestone construction and decorative technique. This mixture of Greek and Western European traditions was possible only in Kievan Rus'. One of its results was a famous architectural masterpiece of Vladimir, theChurch of Pokrova na Nerli, a symbol of cultural originality of Suzdalia.[citation needed]
In the early Middle Ages, Rus' principalities were similar to other European countries culturally and in historical development. Later on, however, the Rus' polities and Europe began diverging due to a number of factors. TheEast-West Schism of 1054 was one of the reasons for this. Barely noticeable in the eleventh century, it became very obvious two centuries later during the resistance of the citizens ofNovgorod to theTeutonic Knights. Also, by the middle of the twelfth century, the dominating influence of the Kievan Rus’ (some historians do not consider it possible to even call it a state in the modern sense of the word) began to wane. The famousTheotokos of Vladimir, an icon of theVirgin Mary, was moved to Vladimir. From this time on, almost every principality began forming its own architectural and art schools.[citation needed]
The invasion ofBatu Khan and subsequent domination of Rus' lands by theGolden Horde was also a turning point in the history of Russian culture and statehood.Mongol rule imposed its principles of state on the northeastern Rus' principalities, which were very different from those of Western Europe. In particular, Russia adopted a principle of universal subordination and undivided authority.[citation needed]
Rus' was only able to recover from the consequences of the Mongol invasion by the late thirteenth century. The first areas to recover wereNovgorod andPskov, which had been spared theTatarraids. Thesecity-states, withparliamentarian rule, created an original kind of culture under some influence from their westernBaltic neighbours. In the early fourteenth century, leadership in the northeastern lands was transferred from the Principality of Vladimir toMoscow, which, in turn, would fight for leadership againstTver for another century. Moscow was a part of the Vladimir lands and functioned as one of the borderfortresses of north-eastern Rus'. In 1324,Metropolitan Peter left Vladimir and settled down in Moscow, thus, transferring the residence of theRussian Orthodox Church (Metropolitan Maximus had moved the residence from Kiev to Vladimir not long before, in 1299). In the late fourteenth century, the principal object of worship of the "old" capital—the icon of theTheotokos of Vladimir—was transferred to Moscow. Vladimir became a model forMuscovy.[citation needed]
Emphasizing the succession, Muscovite princes took good care of Vladimir's sacred places. In the early fifteenth century,Andrei Rublev andProkhor of Gorodets painted the Assumption (Uspensky) Cathedral. In the mid-1450s, they restored theCathedral of St. George inYuriev-Polsky under the supervision ofVasili Dmitriyevich Yermolin.[28] The architecture of Muscovy and its surrounding lands in the fourteenth to early fifteenth centuries, usually referred to as early Muscovite architecture, inherited the technique of whitestone construction and typology of four-pillar cathedrals from Vladimir. Art historians, however, notice that early Muscovite architecture was influenced by theBalkans and EuropeanGothic architecture.[citation needed]
Russian painting of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries is characterized by two major influences, namely those of Byzantine artistFeofan Grek and Russian icon-painterAndrei Rublev.[29] Feofan's style is distinguished by its monochromaticpalette and uncommon expressiveness of laconic blots and lines, which send a message of a complex symbolic implication, close to the then widely-spread doctrine ofhesychasm, from Byzantium. The soft-coloured icons of Rublev are closer to the late Byzantine painting style of the Balkan countries in the fifteenth century.[citation needed]
The late fourteenth century was marked by one of the most important events in Russian history. In 1380,Dmitry Donskoy and his army dealt the first serious blow to theGolden Horde.Sergii Radonezhsky, the founder andhegumen ofTroitse-Sergiyev monastery, played an exceptional role in this victory. The name of Saint Sergii, who became the protector and patron of Muscovy, has an enormous significance in Russian culture. Radonezhsky himself and his followers founded more than two hundred monasteries, which would become the basis for the so-called "monastic colonization" of the little-developed northern lands.The Life of Sergii Radonezhsky was written by one of the outstanding writers of that time,Epifaniy the Wise. Andrei Rublev painted hisTrinity, the greatest masterpiece of the Russian Middle Ages, for the cathedral of Sergii's monastery.[citation needed]
Mid-fifteenth-century Muscovy is known forbloody internecine wars for the Moscow seat of the Grand Prince.Ivan III managed to unite the Russian lands around Moscow (at the cost of ravaging Novgorod and Pskov) only by the end of the fifteenth century, and put an end to Russia's subordination to the Golden Horde after theGreat standing on the Ugra river of 1480. The river was later poetically dubbed the "Virgin Belt" (Poyas Bogoroditsy). This event marked the birth of thesovereign Russian state, headed by the Grand Prince of Moscow.[citation needed]
^Fennell 2014, p. 2, "The agriculturally rich 'land beyond the forests' {Zalesskaya zemlya) or Suzdalia, as it is convenient to call the federation of principalities in north-east Russia ruled by Vsevolod III and his numerous sons...".
^Fennell 2014, p. 12, "...north-east Russia — the lands of Suzdal' and Vladimir...";Fennell 2023, p. 11;Dmytryshyn 1977, p. 99, "...northeast Rus was the region of Vladimir-Suzdal...".
^Riasanovsky & Steinberg 2019, p. 68;Fennell 2014, p. 50, "Yury assumed the grand principality once again and installed himself in Vladimir, where he was to remain until his death at the battle on the Sit' river in 1238".
^Fennell 2014, p. 163, "By the end of the thirteenth century the disintegration of Suzdalia was well under way with more than a dozen principalities virtually separated from Vladimir, their rulers out of the running for the grand-princely throne...".
^Fennell 2014, p. 151, "Tver' and Moscow were emerging in the last decade of the thirteenth century as the true centres of power in north-east Russia...";Fennell 2023, p. 11;Crummey 2014, pp. 34, 36.
^Crummey 2014, p. 45;Crummey 2014, p. 40, "During his reign, Ivan I also established that the princes of Moscow had first claim on the grand princely throne. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that, after him, his heirs retained the title and office almost without interruption".
^Fennell 2023, p. 306, "But the most vivid proof of the assimilation of the thrones of Vladimir and Moscow is to be found in Dmitry Donskoy's will of 1389 in which hebequeaths Vladimir to his eldest son".
^Crummey 2014, pp. 36, 212;Feldbrugge 2017, p. 33;Cherniavsky 2017, p. 403, "Completely within the area conquered by the Tatars or Mongols was northeast Russia, the foundation of the later Muscovite tsardom and of Imperial Russia".
William Craft Brumfield.A History of Russian Architecture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993)ISBN978-0-521-40333-7 (Chapter Three: "Vladimir and Suzdal Before the Mongol Invasion")
Raffensperger, Christian;Ostrowski, Donald (2023).The Ruling Families of Rus: Clan, Family and Kingdom. London: Reaktion Books. p. 309.ISBN978-1-78914-745-2. (e-book)
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