Pereyaslavl Principality: geographical location, culture, Pereyaslavl princes, history

Old Russian Pereyaslavl Principalitywas formed around the city of Pereyaslavl, the first reliable mention of which dates back to 992, when it was founded by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. The fortress was built as a part of the zase line, which protected the country from steppe nomads: first the Pechenegs, and then the Polovtsians. The principality itself appeared in 1054, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, which was followed by a period of political fragmentation of Russia.

Geographical position

Pereyaslavl land was on the territoryTrubezh, Sula and Soup pools. In the north-west of it was the principality of Kiev. From the south and east, the Pereyaslavl possessions were surrounded by a wild steppe, where the hordes of bandits ruled. Throughout its history, the Pereyaslavl principality opposed the nomads and ravaged them many times.

Occurrence

Specific Pereyaslavl principality split fromKievsky one of the first. In 1054, it was given to the youngest son of Yaroslav the Wise, Vsevolod Yaroslavovich. Then Pereyaslavl was considered the third most important city in Russia after Kiev and Chernigov. Because of the proximity of the Polovtsian steppe, there was a powerful squad in it. The southern border of the principality was strewn with outposts. Archaeological finds in their ruins show that these fortresses were captured, burned, destroyed and rebuilt.

The first devastating campaign in Pereyaslavlthe principality of the Polovtsi undertook in 1061. Until then, only rumors were circulating about them, and the Rurikovichs did not take the nomads seriously enough. In 1068 the Polovtsian army met with the united squad of the three Yaroslavichs - Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. The battle took place on the river Alte near Pereyaslavl itself. Polovtsy won. The princes had to flee to Kiev, where the population, discontented with the passivity of power, raised the insurrection.

Internal strife

In 1073, the Prince of Pereyaslavl Vsevolod receivedfrom the elder brother of Svyatoslav Chernigov. With this decision, his nephew Oleg disagreed. The conflict led to war. Although the Pereyaslav princes, like no one, fought a lot with the Polovtsi in the steppe, they had to fight with nomads and during internal feuds in Russia. Some Rurikovichi (like Oleg Svyatoslavovich) did not hesitate to seek help from the horde.

In 1078, Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich defeatednephew. After that victory he became also the Kiev ruler, transferring Pereyaslavl to his son Rostislav, and Chernigov having given to his other son - Vladimir Monomakh. The heir regularly defended the inheritance of his father. In 1080 he went to Pereyaslavshchina to suppress the uprising of torques.

The Monk of Monomakh

Rostislav Vsevolodovich tragically died in 1093year in the battle against the Polovtsians on the Stugne River. His brother Vladimir inherited the Pereyaslav Principality. The geographical position of this inheritance required constant strength. Monomakh gave Chernigov to Oleg Svyatoslavovich, and he himself concentrated on protecting Pereyaslavl from the steppe hordes.

Vladimir Vsevolodovich became the main hero of histime. He was the first among the Russian princes not only to defend himself against nomads, but he himself undertook campaigns to their lands. The old Russian state long ago needed such a leader. It was under Monomakh that the peak of its political significance reached the Pereyaslavl princedom. The history of those years is made up of a number of bright victories over the Polovtsians. In 1103, Monomakh persuaded the other Rurikovichs to join forces and set off on one of their retreats far into the steppe. The army descended the Dnieper rapids and crushed the nomads who did not wait for the blow.

Yaropolk Vladimirovich

As the most influential prince of Rus, in 1113Vladimir Monomakh took the throne of Kiev. This was the last period when the Old Russian state still had signs of unity. Vladimir gave Pereyaslavl to his son Yaropolk. In 1116, together with his father, he participated in a campaign against the Minsk prince Gleb Vseslavich. Yaropolk was captured by Drutsk and settled some of its inhabitants in the town of Zheldy in the lower reaches of Sula.

In the same year the son of Monomakh went toPolovtsian Podonie, where he seized a bunch of three cities: Balin, Sharukan and Sugrov. In alliance with the Prince of Pereyaslavl, the son of the Chernihiv ruler, Vsevolod Davydovich, acted. The victories of Russian weapons did their job. The Polovtsi temporarily left the East Slavic principalities in peace. The world lasted until 1125, when Vladimir Monomakh died in Kiev.

The struggle for Pereyaslavl

The heir of Vladimir in Kiev was his elderson of Mstislav the Great. He died in 1132. Yaropolk took the place of his elder brother. After this rotation in Pereyaslavl, a period of constant change of rulers began. The city began to claim the Rostov-Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky. During the internecine war, he expelled from Pereyaslavl two sons of Mstislav the Great (Vsevolod and Izyaslav).

In 1134 Yaropolk of Kiev recognized the rights of hisbrother Dolgoruky to the southern principality. However, this decision was dissatisfied with representatives of the Chernigov branch of the Rurik. In alliance with the Polovtsi, these princes devastated the Pereiaslav land. They even came to Kiev, after which Yaropolk went to negotiations. Pereyaslavl was transferred to one of his younger brother Andrei Vladimirovich Dobrom, who ruled there in 1135-1141.

The future of the principality

In the middle of the 12th century,finally split into many principalities. Some areas became fully independent from Kiev. Pereyaslavl belonged to a type of secondary principalities, where its dynasty was not established, and the city itself with neighboring lands chaotically changed rulers as a result of internecine wars and diplomatic combinations.

The main struggle for this region unfolded betweenKiev, Rostov and Chernihiv rulers. In 1141-1149 years. in Pereyaslavl ruled the son and grandson of Mstislav the Great. Then the principality passed to the descendants of Yuri Dolgoruky, whose closest elder relatives controlled Suzdal Northeast Russia.

In 1239, Pereyaslavl was on the wayinvading the Rus of the Mongols. The city (like many others) was captured and destroyed. After that, he was never able to fully recover and become an important political center. Pereyaslavl was included in the ownership of the Kiev prince and ceased to play an independent role. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, Southern Russia was dependent on Lithuania. Finally, the Pereyaslavl principality was annexed to it in 1363.

Culture and religion

Old Russian Pereyaslavl Principality, culturewhich experienced its flourishing in the 11th-12th centuries, was located on the territory of the East Slavic tribal unions of glades, northerners and ulicha. Related archaeological monuments are found in the basins of Sula, Seimas, Worksla, Psla and Seversky Donets. They are mostly burial pagan (burial mounds, graves, etc.).

Christianity came to Pereyaslavl, as well as to otherRussian cities, at the end of the 10th century after the baptism of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. There is an unconfirmed theory that it was in this city that the first residence of the metropolitans was located, until Kiev acquired the St. Sophia Cathedral.

Trade

Economic and cultural developmentPereyaslavl princedom was stimulated by proximity to trade routes, according to which Russia traded with the eastern and southern countries. The main one was the river artery of the Dnieper, linking the Eastern Slavs with Byzantium. In addition to the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", there was also the Salt Road, along which they traded with the coast of the Azov and Black Seas. Through Pereyaslavshchina merchants reached far eastern Tmutarakan and partly the Volga region.

It was the protection of profitable trade that was one of thethe main factors of the princes' special attention to the defense of this forest-steppe land. Caravans and flotillas (including those on the Dnieper rapids) were often attacked by nomads and simply bandits. As a consequence, fortified fortresses and small towns were built just on the trade routes. The ships of the Pereyaslav merchants entered the channel of the Dnieper through the Trubezh. At the mouth of this river there was a parking lot. In its place, archaeologists discovered fragments of Greek amphorae.

Cities

The largest cities of the principality, in addition to thePereyaslavl, were built by Vladimir Monomakh Ostersky town, transit trade point Voin, Baruch, Ksnyatin, Lukoml, as well as a fortress on the site of the present Miklashevsky hillfort. Most of them belonged to the Posol defense line, which circumambulated the tributary of the Dnieper Sulu. Their decline occurred after the invasion of Batu.

The main attraction of Pereyaslavl itselfwas the Cathedral of St. Michael. The residence of the prince was on detinets. In the same place lived the highest clergy of the city. The courtyard of the bishop was protected by a stone wall, the ruins of which have survived to our time. Like in other medieval cities, the population mostly lived on the land. Archaeologists have found there many items of trade and crafts. In the city there was a rare workshop for the manufacture of glass.