The Vladimir-Suzdal Principality


At the decline of the Middle Ages in Eastern Europe, a new state emerged and intensified, the Moscow state, with which historical destiny closely linked Ukraine. It was formed around Moscow, the first annalistic mention of which dates back to 1147.

Rostov-Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky, the youngest son of the Kiev prince Vladimir Monomakh, surrounded Moscow with wooden walls, turning it into a “castle” – a fortress. This was part of the territory of the present Moscow Kremlin.

Moscow was in the center of the northeastern Russian lands, at the crossroads of trade routes. About its safety took care of nature itself – from the south it protected the dense forests. Moscow was part of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, one of the strongest in the territory of the former Kiev state.

The capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal princedom was the city of Vladimir-on-Klyazma. In this wooded region lived the Finno-Hungarian tribes, which gradually merged with the

Slavic – krivichami and vyatichami.

After the death of Vladimir Monomakh, the Vladimir-Suzdal princedom was given to Yuri Dolgoruky, who initiated the local princely dynasty. His son Andrew moved his capital to Vladimir and laid a majestic cathedral there. While the cathedral was being built, Andrei lived in the neighboring village of Bogolyubov, so he was called Bogolyubsky. Andrei Bogolyubsky first called himself “Grand Duke of All Russia.” Since the final collapse of the Kiev principality, the Vladimir prince was considered “great” – that is, the first among the Russian princes.

Andrei Bogolyubsky was arrogant and cruel. In the struggle for the throne of Kiev, he seized Kiev in 1169 and devastated it. Wealth and power passed to the marginal lands of the Kiev state – Vladimir-Suzdal, Novgorod and Galicia.

Andrei Bogolyubsky did not get on with his warriors and boyars. Eventually, the conspirator-boyars killed him. The Grand Duke was his brother – Vsevolod the Big Nest. He still held in his hands the rebellious local boyars. But after his death, the

principality broke up into independent Udela. Although over time it increased again. In the middle of the XIII century. Vladimir-Suzdal prince Yaroslav also became a prince of Kiev and achieved that his son Alexander took the prince’s throne in Novgorod the Great.

After the death of Alexander in the territory of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, a small Moscow principality was formed, which was inherited by his son – Danil Aleksandrovich. He also initiated the dynasty of the Moscow princes.

Udela – small principalities.


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The Vladimir-Suzdal Principality