The Old Russian Pereyaslavl principality 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 part of the serif line that protected the country from the steppe nomads: first the Pechenegs, and then the Polovtsy. The principality itself appeared in 1054, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, followed by a period of political fragmentation of Russia.
Geographical position
Pereyaslav land was located on the territory of the pools of the Trubezh, Sula and Soups. In the north-west of it was the Principality of Kiev. From the south and east Pereyaslavl possessions were surrounded by the wild steppe, where robber hordes ruled. Throughout its history, the Pereyaslavl principality opposed the nomads and was ravaged many times by them.
Occurrence
The specific Pereyaslavl principality was one of the first to break away from Kiev. In 1054, it went to the youngest son of Yaroslav the Wise, Vsevolod Yaroslavovich. Then Pereyaslavl was considered the third most important city of Russia after Kiev and Chernigov. Due to 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 Polovtsy undertook the first devastating campaign in the Pereyaslavl principality in 1061. Until that moment, there were only rumors about them, and the Rurikovich did not take the nomads seriously enough. In 1068, the Polovtsian army met with the combined squad of three Yaroslavichs - Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. The battle took place on the Alta River near Pereyaslavl itself. Polovtsy won. The princes had to flee to Kiev, where the population, dissatisfied with the passivity of power, raised an uprising.
Feuds
In 1073, Pereyaslavl Prince Vsevolod received from his older brother Svyatoslav Chernigov. His nephew Oleg disagreed with this decision. The conflict led to war. Although the Pereyaslav princes, like no one else, fought much with the Polovtsy in the steppe, they had to fight with the nomads during internal strife in Russia. Some Rurikovich (like Oleg Svyatoslavovich) did not hesitate to turn to the horde for help.
In 1078, Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich defeated his nephew. After that victory, he also became a Kiev ruler, transferring Pereyaslavl to his son Rostislav, and giving Chernigov to another son - Vladimir Monomakh. The heir regularly defended the inheritance of his father. In 1080, he went to Pereyaslavschina to suppress the uprising of the Torquay.
Prince of Monomakh
Rostislav Vsevolodovich tragically died in 1093 in the battle against the Polovtsy on the Stugne River. His brother Vladimir inherited the Principality of Pereyaslav. The geographical position of this inheritance required a constant effort. Monomakh gave Chernigov to Oleg Svyatoslavovich, and he concentrated on protecting Pereyaslavl from the steppe hordes.
Vladimir Vsevolodovich became the protagonist of his time. He was the first among the Russian princes not only to defend himself against the nomads, but he himself undertook campaigns in their lands. The ancient Russian state has long needed such a leader. It was under Monomakh that the Pereyaslav principality reached its peak of political importance. The history of those years is made up of many bright victories over the Polovtsy. In 1103, Monomakh persuaded the other Rurikovich to join forces and go with one squad far into the steppe. The army descended along the Dnieper rapids and defeated the nomads who were not expecting a blow.
Yaropolk Vladimirovich
As the most influential prince of Russia, in 1113, Vladimir Monomakh took the Kiev throne. This was the last period when the Old Russian state still had signs of unity. Vladimir handed Pereyaslavl to his son Yaropolk. In 1116, he and his father participated in a campaign against the Minsk Prince Gleb Vseslavich. Yaropolk captured Drutsk and settled part of its inhabitants in the city of Zheldi in the lower reaches of Sula.
In the same year, the son of Monomakh went to the Polovtsian Don region, where he attacked three cities: Balin, Sharukan and Sugrov. In alliance with the prince of Pereyaslav, then the son of the Chernigov ruler Vsevolod Davydovich acted. The victories of Russian weapons did their job. Polovtsy temporarily left alone the Eastern Slavic principalities. The world lasted until 1125, when Vladimir Monomakh died in Kiev.
The fight for Pereyaslavl
The heir to Vladimir in Kiev was his eldest son Mstislav the Great. He died in 1132. Yaropolk took the place of his older brother. After this rotation, a period of constant change of rulers began in Pereyaslavl. Rostov-Suzdal Prince Yuri Dolgoruky began to claim the city . During the internecine war, he expelled from Pereyaslavl the two sons of Mstislav the Great (Vsevolod and Izyaslav).
In 1134, Yaropolk of Kiev recognized the rights of his brother Dolgoruky to the southern principality. However, representatives of the Chernihiv branch of the Rurikovich were dissatisfied with this decision. In alliance with the Polovtsy, these princes devastated Pereyaslav land. They even approached Kiev, after which Yaropolk went on negotiations. Pereyaslavl was transferred to another of his younger brothers Andrei Vladimirovich Dobrom, who ruled there in 1135-1141.
The further fate of the principality
In the middle of the XII century, before the united Russia finally split into many principalities. Some destinies became fully independent of Kiev. Pereyaslavl belonged to the type of secondary principalities, where its own dynasty did not establish itself, and the city itself with the surrounding lands randomly changed the rulers as a result of internecine wars and diplomatic combinations.
The main struggle for this land unfolded between the Kiev, Rostov and Chernigov rulers. In 1141-1149 in Pereyaslavl the son and grandson of Mstislav the Great ruled. Then the principality passed to the descendants of Yuri Dolgoruky, whose closest senior relatives controlled Suzdal Northeast Russia.
In 1239, Pereyaslavl was on the path of the Mongols invading Russia. 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 XIV century, South Russia was dependent on Lithuania. The principality of Pereyaslavl was annexed to it in 1363.
Culture and religion
The Old Russian Pereyaslav principality, whose culture experienced its heyday in the 11th-12th centuries, was located on the territory of the East Slavic tribal unions of the glades, northerners and streets. The archeological monuments belonging to them are found in the basins of Sula, Sejm, Worksla, Psla and Seversky Donets. Basically, they are funeral pagan in nature (mounds, graves, etc.).
Christianity came to Pereyaslavl, as well as to other Russian 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 Sophia Cathedral.
Trade
The economic and cultural development of the Pereyaslavl principality was stimulated by its proximity to the trade routes along which Russia traded with eastern and southern countries. The main one was the river artery of the Dnieper, connecting the eastern Slavs with Byzantium. In addition to the “from the Varangians to the Greeks” route, there was also the Salt Route, which traded with the coast of the Azov and Black Sea. Through the Pereyaslavschina merchants reached the far eastern Tmutarakan and partially the Volga.
It was the protection of profitable trade that was one of the main factors of the princes' special attention to the defense of this forest-steppe land. Caravans and flotillas (including on the Dnieper rapids) were often attacked by nomads and just bandits. As a result of this, fortified fortresses and towns were built precisely on trade routes. The ships of the Pereyaslav merchants entered the channel of the Dnieper through Trubezh. At the mouth of this river there was a commercial parking. In its place, archaeologists have discovered fragments of Greek amphoras.
Cities
The largest cities of the principality, in addition to Pereyaslavl itself, were the Oster Town, built by Vladimir Monomakh, the transit trade point of Voin, Baruch, Ksnyatin, Lukoml, as well as a fortress on the site of the current Miklashevsky fortress. Most of them belonged to the Posulsky defense line, which went around the tributary of the Dnieper Sulu. Their decline occurred after the invasion of Batu.
The main attraction of Pereyaslavl itself was St. Michael's Cathedral. The residence of the prince was in detinets. The highest clergy of the city lived there. The bishop's courtyard was protected by a stone wall, the ruins of which have survived to our time. As in other medieval cities, the population mainly lived in a posad. Archaeologists have found many items of trade and crafts. In the city there was a glass workshop, rare for its time.