The Old Russian Principality of Pereyaslav was 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 security line that protected the country from the steppe nomads: first the Pechenegs, and then the Polovtsians. The principality itself appeared in 1054, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, followed by a period of political fragmentation of Russia.
Geographic location
Pereyaslav land was located on the territory of the Trubezh, Sula and Supa basins. In the north-west of it was the Kiev principality. From the south and east, the Pereyaslav possessions were surrounded by wild steppe, where bandit hordes ruled. Throughout its history, the Principality of Pereyaslav resisted the nomads and was ruined by them many times.
Rise
The specific Pereyaslav principality broke away from Kyiv one of the first. 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 Kyiv and Chernigov. Due to the proximity of the Polovtsian steppe, it containedpowerful squad. 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 Principality of Pereyaslavl in 1061. Until that moment, there were only rumors about them, and the Rurikovichs did not take the nomads seriously enough. In 1068, the Polovtsian army met with the united squad of three Yaroslavichs - Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. The battle took place on the Alta River not far from Pereyaslavl itself. The Polovtsians were victorious. The princes had to flee to Kyiv, where the population, dissatisfied with the passivity of the authorities, revolted.
Civil strife
In 1073 Pereyaslav prince Vsevolod received Chernigov from his elder brother Svyatoslav. His nephew Oleg disagreed with this decision. The conflict led to war. Although the Pereyaslav princes, like no one else, fought a lot with the Polovtsy in the steppe, they had to fight with the nomads during internal civil strife in Russia. Some Rurikoviches (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 the ruler of Kyiv, passing Pereyaslavl to his son Rostislav, and giving Chernigov to another son, Vladimir Monomakh. The heir regularly defended the inheritances of his father. In 1080, he went to Pereyaslavshchina to suppress the uprising of the Torks.
The reign of Monomakh
Rostislav Vsevolodovich died tragically in 1093 in a battle against the Polovtsians on the Stugna River. His brother Vladimir inherited the Principality of Pereyaslavl. The geographical position of this lot required a constant effort. Monomakh gave Chernigov to Oleg Svyatoslavovich, and he concentrated on protecting Pereyaslavl from the steppe hordes.
Vladimir Vsevolodovich became the main character 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 had long needed such a leader. It was under Monomakh that the Pereyaslav principality reached its peak of political significance. The history of those years is made up of many bright victories over the Polovtsians. In 1103, Monomakh persuaded the other Rurikovichs to join forces and go far into the steppe in one retinue. The army descended the Dnieper rapids and defeated the nomads' carriages that were not expecting a blow.
Yaropolk Vladimirovich
As the most influential prince of Russia, in 1113 Vladimir Monomakh took the throne of Kyiv. 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 captured Drutsk and settled part of its inhabitants in the city of Zheldi in the lower reaches of the Sula.
In the same year, the son of Monomakh went to the Polovtsian Don region, where he took three cities by storm: Balin, Sharukan and Sugrov. In alliance with Pereyaslavskythe prince then acted the son of the Chernigov ruler Vsevolod Davydovich. The victories of Russian weapons did their job. The Polovtsy left the East Slavic principalities alone for a while. Peace lasted until 1125, when Vladimir Monomakh died in Kyiv.
Fight for Pereyaslavl
Vladimir's heir in Kyiv 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. The Rostov-Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky began to claim the city. During the internecine war, he expelled two sons of Mstislav the Great (Vsevolod and Izyaslav) from Pereyaslavl.
In 1134, Yaropolk of Kyiv 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 the Pereyaslav land. They even approached Kyiv, after which Yaropolk went to negotiations. Pereyaslavl was transferred to another of his younger brothers, Andrei Vladimirovich Good, who ruled there in 1135-1141.
The further fate of the principality
In the middle of the 12th century, previously united Russia finally split into many principalities. Some destinies became fully independent from Kyiv. Pereyaslavl belonged to the type of minor principalities, where its own dynasty did not establish itself, and the city itself with the surrounding lands randomly changed rulers as a result of internecine wars and diplomatic combinations.
The main struggle for this region has unfoldedbetween Kyiv, 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 elder relatives controlled the Suzdal North-Eastern Russia.
In 1239, Pereyaslavl was on the path of the Mongols who invaded 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 property of the Kyiv prince and ceased to play an independent role. At the beginning of the XIV century, Southern Russia became dependent on Lithuania. The Principality of Pereyaslavl was finally annexed to it in 1363.
Culture and religion
The Old Russian Principality of Pereyaslav, whose culture flourished in the 11th-12th centuries, was located on the territory of the East Slavic tribal unions of glades, northerners and streets. Related to them, archaeological sites are found in the basins of the Sula, Seim, Vorksla, Psla and Seversky Donets. Basically, they are pagan funerary 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 Kyiv acquired the St. Sophia Cathedral.
Trading
Economic and cultural development of the Principality of Pereyaslavlstimulated by proximity to the trade routes along which Russia traded with eastern and southern countries. The main one was the river artery of the Dnieper, which connected the Eastern Slavs with Byzantium. In addition to the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", there was also the S alt Route, along which they traded with the coast of the Azov and Black Seas. Merchants reached far eastern Tmutarakan and partly the Volga region through Pereyaslavshchina.
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 fleets (including those on the Dnieper rapids) were often attacked by nomads and simply bandits. As a result, fortified fortresses and towns were built just on the trade routes. The ships of Pereyaslav merchants entered the channel of the Dnieper through the Trubezh. There was a trading post at the mouth of this river. In its place, archaeologists discovered fragments of Greek amphorae.
Cities
The largest cities of the principality, in addition to Pereyaslavl itself, were the Oster town built by Vladimir Monomakh, the transit trading point Voin, Baruch, Ksnyatin, Lukoml, as well as the fortress on the site of the current Miklashevsky settlement. Most of them belonged to the Posular defense line, which skirted 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 on the citadel. The highest clergy of the city also lived there. The bishop's courtyard was protected by a stone wall, the ruins of which have survived to this day. As inother medieval cities, the population mainly lived in the suburbs. Archaeologists have found many items of trade and crafts there. The city had a rare glass workshop for its time.
