Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal

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Uspensky Cathedral (2008)

The Vladimir-Suzdal ( Russian Владимиро-Суздальское княжество ) or Vladimir Rus (Russian Владимирская Русь ) was a great principality among the successor states of Kievan Rus and the most powerful East Slavic state between the second half of the 12th and 14th centuries. Traditionally, Vladimir-Suzdal is considered to be the cradle of the Great Russian language and culture. Over time, Vladimir-Suzdal became politically part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow .

Principality of Rostov

The Principality of Rostov was formed around 988. Rostov was one of the oldest and most important castles of the Kievan Rus. Yaroslav the Wise became the first prince . The area stretched roughly between the Volga , Oka and Northern Dvina rivers . The most important castles included Suzdal , Beloosero and Yaroslavl . It was divided from the southern steppes by a wide strip of forest. It was away from the centers of Kiev and Novgorod. In 1015 it lost its independence after the murder of Prince Boris .

In 1113 Yuri Dolgoruki became the new prince of Rostov.

Principality of Suzdal

In 1125 he moved the capital to Suzdal . Fifteen years later he founded the city of Vladimir on the Klyazma River , 31 km south of Suzdal.

Principality of Vladimir

In 1157 his son Andrei Bogolyubski made the city of Vladimir the new capital. However, the boyars of Rostov and Suzdal did not want to give up their power and a short civil war ensued.

Under Prince Yuri Dolgoruki an economic and cultural upswing of the principality followed. He transformed the inherited, sparsely populated, forest-covered area into a flourishing territory with many cities. This was also made possible by an immigration movement from the southern parts of the Rus. In the middle of the 12th century, the population of the southern Rus areas around Kiev , which was systematically attacked by nomads of Turkic origin, began to increasingly migrate to the northeast. In earlier sparsely populated forest areas, known as Zalessye (Russian Залесье , backwoods country) grew numerous cities, including Pereslavl-Zalessky , Kostroma , Dmitrov , Moscow, Yuriev-Polsky , Uglich and Tver . Their founding is attributed to Yuri Dolgoruki, whose nickname referred to his ability to have a lasting influence on politics in distant Kiev.

Grand Duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal (pink) before the Mongol storm in 1237

Under Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky , Vladimir-Suzdal reached the zenith of his power. Andrei was an extraordinarily capable ruler who did not care much for old centers of power like Kiev. After conquering and burning Kiev in 1169 , he refused to move there as the holder of the dignity of the Grand Duke. He released the title of Grand Duke for the first time from the Kiev location and installed his younger brother on the throne there. With that, Vladimir finally replaced Kiev as the leading center of Russia. Andrei Bogolyubsky had numerous monumental white stone structures built in Vladimir, including cathedrals, monasteries and fortifications. However, he fell victim to a conspiracy by boyars who murdered him in his suburban residence in Bogolyubovo .

After a short interregnum, Andreis brother, Vsevolod III. , called the Great Nest, the Throne. He continued his brother's policy to a large extent and subjugated Kiev again in 1203. Vsevolod's greatest competitors were the principality of Ryazan and Volga Bulgaria , which was located to the south, and which bordered to the east. After several campaigns, Ryazan was burned down and the Volga Bulgarians were forced to pay tribute .

The Golden Gate of Vladimir

Vsevolod's death in 1212 sparked a serious dynastic conflict. Shortly before his death in 1211, Vsevolod had ordered in his will that Vladimir-Suzdal was to be divided into feudal principalities. He gave the capital Vladimir to his eldest son Constantine , Rostov to the second son Yuri , and Pereslavl to his third son Yaroslav .

Konstantin, who secured the support of the boyars of Rostov, and Mstislav of Kiev drove out his brother Juri, who was the rightful heir to the throne and who only returned to the capital six years later - after Constantine's death. He turned out to be a strong ruler who decisively defeated Volga Bulgaria. He also gained influence in the Novgorod Republic when he brought his brother Yaroslav, the father of Alexander Nevsky, to the throne there. However, his rule ended in disaster when the Mongols under Batu Khan conquered and devastated Vladimir in 1238. The same fate befell most of the other large cities in the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal.

Mongolian rule

The Our Lady of Vladimir is a famous example of the Vladimir Icon Painting School

Neither Vladimir nor any of the other older cities were able to recover from the Mongolian destruction in the period that followed. The principality quickly fell apart into small splinter states: Moscow, Tver , Pereslavl, Rostov, Yaroslavl , Uglich, Beloosero, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod , Starodub and Jurjew-Polski. Although they all nominally accepted the feudal rule of the Grand Duke of Vladimir, he was personally appointed by the Grand Khan. Even the popular Alexander Nevsky of Pereslavl had to travel to the distant capital of the Khan, Karakorum , to get to the throne of the Grand Duke of Vladimir.

At the end of the 13th century, three principalities emerged that vied for the succession of Vladimir-Suzdal and claimed the status of the Grand Duchy: Moscow, Tver and Nizhny Novgorod. Their rulers did not even bother to move to Vladimir when they received the title. In 1321, Prince Ivan Kalita from Moscow managed to convince the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church to move his seat from Vladimir to Moscow. With this event, the Grand Duchy of Moscow managed to establish itself politically and psychologically as the new center of the Rus. Moscow also adopted many of the cultural traditions of Vladimir-Suzdal, for example in architecture and icon painting .

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Kappeler : Russian history (= Beck'sche series. C.-H.-Beck-Wissen 2076). 5th updated edition. Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-47076-9 , p. 17.
  2. ^ Carsten Goehrke, Manfred Hellmann , Richard Lorenz, Peter Scheibert: Russia (= Fischer-Weltgeschichte. Vol. 31). 82nd - 83rd thousand. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-596-60031-6 , p. 80.
  3. ^ Podskalsky: Christianity and theological literature. 1982, p. 320.
  4. ^ Podskalsky: Christianity and theological literature. 1982, p. 307.
  5. ^ Podskalsky: Christianity and theological literature. 1982, p. 311.
  6. ↑ Andrea Hapke, Evelyn Scheer: Moscow and the Golden Ring. Old Russian cities on Moskva, Oka and Volga. 3. Edition. Trescher, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89794-085-X , p. 19.