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TheYugra campaigns (Russian:Югорские походы) were a series of military campaigns against the principalities ofYugra undertaken by theGrand Principality of Moscow during the reign ofIvan III.The campaigns began in 1465 and ended in 1499–1500, leading to the Russians to increase their dominance in the region.
Prior to the campaigns by Moscow, the rival city-state ofNovgorod had laid claim to the region and launched numerous military expeditions to collect tribute. The first campaign by Moscow in 1465 led to the capture of the princes of Yugra and a tribute was imposed. Following the second campaign in 1483, Yugra was included in the title of the grand prince and the princes of Yugra swore allegiance to Ivan. The final and largest campaign in 1499–1500 once again re-established Russian dominance in the region.
TheNovgorodians were aware of the lands of Yugra from at least the 11th century, if not earlier, and launched expeditions to the region.[1] The Novgorodians established trade relations, exchanging iron artefacts and textiles for fur, but they also launched military campaigns to collect tribute from the local population.[2] The campaigns often met resistance, such as two expeditions in 1187 and 1193 mentioned in chronicles that were defeated.[2]
Similar events are mentioned in the following centuries, such as in 1445, when two commanders and an army of 3,000 marched into Yugra:[3][4]
They seized many Yugrian people and their women and children, who were terrified. But the Yugrians succeeded in deceiving them, saying 'we shall give you tribute...', but meanwhile they gathered together and struck at Vasiliy's fort, and they killed as many as eighty good [Russian] people, of boyar line and gallant people, and it was pitiful to hear the slaughter.[3]
— Novgorod First Chronicle
In the Novgorodian treaty agreements of the 13th to 15th centuries, the Yugravolost is noted among other possessions of the Novgorod Republic; however, as the treaties are only known from 1264 onwards, it is not known exactly when Novgorod started to consider Yugra as one of its possessions.[4] After Novgorod was annexed byMoscow in the 15th century, the newly emerging centralized Russian state also laid claim to the region.[2]
AsGreat Perm was included in the sphere of influence of the Grand Principality of Moscow, the lands of Yugra also attracted increased interest in Moscow, as it had been paying tribute to Novgorod. According to the northern chronicles, the first Muscovite campaign against Yugra was carried out in 1465 by forces fromUstyug and theVym, by order ofIvan III.[4] Although some historians believed that the first campaign was carried out in 1483, after Novgorod was annexed, the 1465 campaign was carried out before Novgorod was annexed, and after Ivan III received power over the northern cities.[5]
According to theUstyug Chronicle, Ivan III ordered Vasily Skryaba, a native of Ustyug, to launch a campaign against Yugra.[5] An army was assembled from volunteers and people of the Vym, and numbered more than a thousand people.[5] The army brought back many captives, including the princes of Yugra.[4] According to the chronicle, Ivan III sent them back to Yugra and imposed a tribute.[5] TheArkhangelsk Chronicle provides more detail about the 1465 campaign, saying that the Russian army had secured Yugra for Ivan III, who granted the captured princes authority over their principalities and imposed a tribute.[5]
Ivan III sent another army in 1483 to fight against theMansi andKhanty nobility and to collect tribute.[5] The campaign was carried out by theOb andIrtysh rivers under the command of Ivan Ivanovich Saltyk and Fyodor Semyonovich Kurbsky.[5] According to the chronicle, the campaign involvedboyar children from the grand prince's court, as well as forces from the northern cities.[5] According to theUstyug Chronicle, the Russian army defeated the Mansi, then moved along theTavda to the Irtysh and Ob rivers, where they defeated the princes of Yugra.[5]
On 14 March 1484, Ivan III included Yugra in his title for the first time, which established Russian power over Yugra.[5] In the spring of 1484, the princes of Yugra swore allegiance to Ivan III.[5]
The largest campaign of Russian troops against Yugra was carried out in 1499–1500. According to information inrazriady (register books), over four thousand people took part in the campaign under the command of Semyon Kurbsky, Pyotr Ushaty, and Vasily Ivanovich.[6][5] The army used skis during battle.[5]
Under the year 7007 (1499), theGrand Princely Chronicle says:
In the same year, the grand prince sent his voivodes Prince Semyon Fyodorovich Kurbsky, Prince Pyotr Fyodorovich Ushaty, and Vasily Brazhnik, with a force from Ustyug, the Dvina, the Vychegda and Vyatka to Yugra and the Gogulichs. And they, having went, took the towns and conquered the land, and having captured the princes, brought them to Moscow, and other princes and local people they made swear an oath, according to their faith, to the grand prince, and other princes and many Yugrians and Gogulichs they killed there. And they came to Moscow to the grand prince all healthily in the year 7008, in March.[a][7]
— Grand Princely Chronicle
TheVologda-Perm Chronicle contains additional information, including the exact dates of departure:[7]
In the year 7000 on the seventh, of March at 12, the grand prince... sent his military leaders, Prince Semyon Fyodorovich Kurbsky, Prince Pyotr Fyodorovich Ushaty, and Vasily Ivanovich Brazhnik to the Novgorodian land to Kada and to the Gogulichs. And with them, people from Ustyug, Vyatka, Perm, the Dvina, the Vaga, and the Pechora.[b][7]
— Vologda-Perm Chronicle
Sigismund von Herberstein, an ambassador of theHoly Roman Empire sent to Russia in 1517 and 1526, referred to a "Russian road guide" that came into his possession for geographical data on the northernUrals and Siberia, which indicated that the territories were well known at the time.[4]
In 1556, following the recognition of Russian authority over theKhanate of Sibir, a letter fromIvan the Terrible was sent to the princes of Yugra, in which the land was called "our patrimony", indicating that Moscow considered Yugra to be part of the Russian state, according to the political terminology of the time.[5] By the end of the 16th century, northwestSiberia became part of theTsardom of Russia.[5] The Russian campaign in Siberia, spearheaded by theCossacks, and the founding of new cities, includingTyumen in 1586,Tobolsk in 1587,Berezovo in 1593, andSurgut in 1594, completed the process of integrating the tribes into the state.[8]