For the territorial definition of a group of principalities in Russia, settled between the Volga and the Oka in the IX-XII centuries, historians have adopted the term "North-Eastern Russia". It meant lands located within Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir. Synonymous terms were also applicable, reflecting the unification of state entities in different years - "Rostov-Suzdal Principality", "Vladimir-Suzdal Principality", and also "Grand Duchy of Vladimir". In the second half of the XIII century, Russia, which was called North-Eastern, actually ceases to exist - many events contributed to this.
Grand Dukes of Rostov
All three principalities of North-Eastern Russia united the same lands, only capitals and rulers changed in different years. The first city built in these parts was Rostov the Great, in the annals of which it was mentioned in 862 AD. e. Before its foundation, the Merya and Ves tribes, related to the Finno-Ugric peoples, lived here. The Slavic tribes did not like this picture, and they are Krivichi,Vyatichi, Ilmen Slovenes - began to actively populate these lands.
After the formation of Rostov, which was one of the five largest cities under the rule of the Kyiv prince Oleg, references to Merya and Vesi began to appear less frequently in chronicles. For some time, Rostov was ruled by proteges of the Kievan princes, but in 987 Yaroslav the Wise, the son of Vladimir, the prince of Kyiv, already ruled the principality. From 1010 - Boris Vladimirovich. Until 1125, when the capital was transferred from Rostov to Suzdal, the principality passed from hand to hand now to the Kyiv rulers, then it had its own rulers. The most famous princes of Rostov - Vladimir Monomakh and Yuri Dolgoruky - did a lot to ensure that the development of North-Eastern Russia led to the prosperity of these lands, but soon the same Dolgoruky moved the capital to Suzdal, where he ruled until 1149. But he built numerous fortresses and cathedrals in the style of the same fortification with heavy proportions, squat. Under Dolgoruky, writing and applied arts developed.
Rostov's legacy
The significance of Rostov was, nevertheless, quite significant for the history of those years. In the annals of 913-988. the expression "Rostov land" is often found - a territory rich in game, crafts, crafts, wooden and stone architecture. In 991, one of the oldest dioceses in Russia - Rostov - was not formed here by chance. At that time, the city was the center of the principality of North-Eastern Russia, conducted intensive trade with other settlements,artisans, builders, gunsmiths flocked to Rostov … All Russian princes tried to have a combat-ready army. Everywhere, especially in the lands separated from Kyiv, a new faith was propagated.
After Yuri Dolgoruky moved to Suzdal, Rostov was ruled by Izyaslav Mstislavovich for some time, but gradually the influence of the city finally faded away, and he was rarely mentioned in chronicles. The center of the principality is moved to Suzdal for half a century.
The feudal nobility built mansions for themselves, while artisans and peasants vegetated in wooden huts. Their dwellings were more like cellars, household items were mostly wooden. But in the premises illuminated by torches, unsurpassed products, clothing, luxury items were born. Everything that the nobility wore on themselves and with which they decorated their towers was made by the hands of peasants and artisans. The wonderful culture of North-Eastern Russia was created under the thatched roofs of wooden huts.
Rostov-Suzdal Principality
During that short period, while Suzdal was the center of North-Eastern Russia, only three princes managed to rule the principality. In addition to Yuri himself, his sons Vasilko Yuryevich and Andrey Yuryevich, nicknamed Bogolyubsky, and then, after the transfer of the capital to Vladimir (in 1169), Mstislav Rostislavovich Bezokiy ruled Suzdal for a year, but he did not play a special role in Russian history. All the princes of North-Eastern Russia came from the Rurikovich, but not everyone was worthy of his kind.
The new capital of the Principality had severalyounger than Rostov and was originally referred to as Suzhdal. It is believed that the city got its name from the words "build" or "create". The first time after the formation of Suzdal was a fortified fortress and was ruled by princely governors. In the first years of the XII century, there was some development of the city, while Rostov began to slowly but surely fall into decay. And in 1125, as already mentioned, Yuri Dolgoruky left the once great Rostov.
Under Yuri, who is better known as the founder of Moscow, other events of no small importance for the history of Russia took place. So, it was during the reign of Dolgoruky that the North-Eastern principalities forever separated themselves from Kyiv. A huge role in this was played by one of the sons of Yuri - Andrei Bogolyubsky, who sacredly loved his father's patrimony and could not imagine himself without it.
The fight against the boyars and the choice of a new capital of Russia
The plans of Yuri Dolgoruky, in which he saw his elder sons as the rulers of the southern principalities, and the younger ones as the rulers of Rostov and Suzdal, were not destined to come true. But their role in some way was even more significant. So, Andrew declared himself as a wise and far-sighted ruler. His wayward character was tried in every possible way to restrain the boyars included in his council, but even here Bogolyubsky showed his will, moving the capital from Suzdal to Vladimir, and then captured Kyiv itself in 1169.
However, the capital of Kievan Rus did not attract this man. Having won both the city and the title of "Grand Duke", he did not stay in Kyiv, but planted his younger brother Gleb as governor in it. Rostov and Suzdal, he also took a smallrole in the history of those years, since by that time Vladimir was the capital of North-Eastern Russia. It was this city that Andrei chose as his residence in 1155, long before the conquest of Kyiv. From the southern principalities, where he ruled for some time, he took to Vladimir the icon of the Vyshgorod Mother of God, which he greatly revered.
The choice of the capital was very successful: for almost two hundred years this city held the palm in Russia. Rostov and Suzdal tried to regain their former greatness, but even after the death of Andrei, whose seniority as the Grand Duke was recognized in almost all Russian lands, except perhaps Chernigov and Galich, they did not succeed.
Civil strife
After the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky, the people of Suzdal and Rostov turned to the sons of Rostislav Yuryevich - Yaropolk and Mstislav - in the hope that their rule would return the cities to their former glory, but the long-awaited unification of North-Eastern Russia did not come.
Vladimir was ruled by the younger sons of Yuri Dolgoruky - Mikhalko and Vsevolod. By that time, the new capital had significantly strengthened its significance. Andrei did a lot for this: he successfully developed construction, during his reign the famous Assumption Cathedral was erected, he even sought the establishment of a separate metropolis in his principality, in order to stand apart from Kyiv in this as well.
North-Eastern Russia during the reign of Bogolyubsky became the center of the unification of Russian lands, and later the core of the great Russian state. After the death of Andrei, the Smolensk and Ryazan princes Mstislav and Yaropolk, the children of one of the sons of Dolgoruky Rostislav, triedseize power in Vladimir, but their uncles Mikhail and Vsevolod were stronger. In addition, they were supported by the prince of Chernigov Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. The internecine war lasted more than three years, after which Vladimir secured the status of the capital city of North-Eastern Russia, leaving both Suzdal and Rostov the lot of subordinate principalities.
From Kyiv to Moscow
North-Eastern lands of Russia by that time consisted of many cities and villages. So, the new capital was founded in 990 by Vladimir Svyatoslavovich as Vladimir-on-Klyazma. About twenty years after its founding, the city, which is part of the Rostov-Suzdal principality, did not arouse much interest among the ruling princes (until 1108). At this time, another prince, Vladimir Monomakh, took up its strengthening. He gave the city the status of a stronghold of North-Eastern Russia.
The fact that this small town will eventually become the capital city of Russian lands, no one could imagine. Many more years passed before Andrei turned his attention to it and moved the capital of his principality there, which would remain it for almost two hundred more years.
From the moment the grand dukes began to be called Vladimir, not Kyiv, the ancient capital of Russia has lost its key role, but interest in it has by no means disappeared among the princes. Everyone considered it an honor to rule Kyiv. But from the middle of the XIV century, the once outlying city of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality - Moscow - gradually but surely began to rise. Vladimir, like Rostov in his time, and thenSuzdal - to lose their influence. The move to Belokamennaya Metropolitan Peter in 1328 contributed a lot to this. The princes of North-Eastern Russia fought among themselves, and the rulers of Moscow and Tver tried in every possible way to win back the advantage of the main city of Russian lands from Vladimir.
The end of the XIV century was marked by the fact that the local owners received the privilege to be called the Grand Dukes of Moscow, so the advantage of Moscow over other cities became obvious. The Grand Duke of Vladimir Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy was the last to bear this title, after him all the rulers of Russia were called the Grand Dukes of Moscow. Thus ended the development of North-Eastern Russia as an independent and even dominant principality.
Crushing the once mighty principality
After the Metropolitan moved to Moscow, the Vladimir principality was divided. Vladimir was transferred to the Suzdal prince Alexander Vasilievich, Veliky Novgorod and Kostroma were taken over by the Moscow prince Ivan Danilovich Kalita. Even Yuri Dolgoruky dreamed of uniting North-Eastern Russia with Veliky Novgorod - in the end, this happened, but not for long.
After the death of the Suzdal prince Alexander Vasilyevich, in 1331, his lands passed to the princes of Moscow. And 10 years later, in 1341, the territory of the former North-Eastern Russia again underwent a redistribution: Nizhny Novgorod passed to Suzdal, like Gorodets, while the Vladimir principality remained forever with the Moscow rulers, who by that time, as alreadyit was said, also bore the title of the Great. This is how the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality arose.
The campaign against the North-Eastern Russia of the princes from the south and the center of the country, their militancy, contributed little to the development of culture and arts. Nevertheless, new temples were erected everywhere, in the design of which the best techniques of arts and crafts were used. A national school of icon painting was created with bright colorful ornaments characteristic of that time, combined with Byzantine painting.
Capture of Russian lands by Mongol-Tatars
The internecine wars brought many misfortunes to the peoples of Russia, and the princes constantly fought among themselves, but a more terrible misfortune came with the Mongols-Tatars in February 1238. The entire North-Eastern Russia (the cities of Rostov, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Vladimir, Suzdal, Uglich, Tver) was not just ruined - it was practically burned to the ground. The army of Vladimir Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich was defeated by a detachment of the temnik Burundai, the prince himself died, and his brother Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was forced to submit to the Horde in everything. The Mongol-Tatars only formally recognized him as the oldest over all the Russian princes, in fact, it was they who ruled everything. In the total defeat of Russia, only Veliky Novgorod managed to survive.
In 1259, Alexander Nevsky conducted a population census in Novgorod, developed his own strategy of government and strengthened his position in every possible way. Three years later, tax collectors were killed in Yaroslavl, Rostov, Suzdal, Pereyaslavl and Vladimir, North-Eastern Russia again froze in anticipation of a raid and ruin. This punitive measure succeededavoid - Alexander Nevsky personally went to the Horde and managed to prevent trouble, but died on the way back. It happened in 1263. It was only through his efforts that it was possible to maintain the Vladimir principality in some integrity, after the death of Alexander it broke up into independent destinies.
The liberation of Russia from the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars, the revival of crafts and the development of culture
These were terrible years… On the one hand - the invasion of North-Eastern Russia, on the other - the incessant skirmishes of the surviving principalities for possession of new lands. Everyone suffered: both the rulers and their subjects. Liberation from the Mongol khans came only in 1362. The Russian-Lithuanian army under the command of Prince Olgerd defeated the Mongol-Tatars, forever ousting these warlike nomads from the Vladimir-Suzdal, Muscovy, Pskov and Novgorod regions.
The years spent under the enemy yoke had disastrous consequences: the culture of North-Eastern Russia fell into complete decline. The ruin of cities, the destruction of temples, the extermination of a significant part of the population and, as a result, the loss of certain types of crafts. For two and a half centuries, the cultural and commercial development of the state stopped. Many monuments of wooden and stone architecture perished in the fire or were taken to the Horde. Many technical methods of construction, plumbing and other crafts were lost. Many monuments of writing disappeared without a trace, chronicle writing, applied art, painting fell into complete decline. It took almost half a century to restorethe little that was saved. But on the other hand, the development of new types of crafts proceeded rapidly.
The peoples of the devastated lands managed to preserve their unique national image and love for the ancient culture. In some way, the years of dependence on the Mongol-Tatars caused the emergence of new types of applied art for Russia.
Unity of cultures and lands
After the liberation from the Yoke, more and more Russian princes came to a difficult decision for them and advocated the unification of their possessions into a single state. Novgorod and Pskov lands became the centers of revival and love of freedom and Russian culture. It was here that the able-bodied population began to flock from the southern and central regions, bringing with them the old traditions of their culture, writing, and architecture. Of great importance in the unification of Russian lands and the revival of culture was the influence of the Moscow principality, where many ancient documents, books, works of art have been preserved.
The construction of cities and temples, as well as defensive structures, has begun. Tver became perhaps the first city in North-Eastern Russia, where stone construction began. We are talking about the construction of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior in the style of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture. In each city, along with defensive structures, churches and monasteries were built: the Savior on Ilna, Peter and Paul in Kozhevniki, Vasily on Gorka in Pskov, Epiphany in Zapskovye and many others. The history of North-Eastern Russia was reflected and continued in these buildings.
Painting was revived by Feofan the Greek, Daniil Cherny and Andrey Rublev - famous Russian icon painters. Jewelry craftsmen recreated the lost shrines, many artisans worked to restore the technique of creating national household items, jewelry, and clothing. Many of those centuries have survived to this day.
