The cultural capital of the Russian North is one of those places where the centuries-old heritage of ancestors is carefully preserved. Many famous rulers, saints, writers and poets have left their mark on the history of Vologda. Today, on the streets of Vologda, ancient temples coexist with civil buildings, local oil with a nutty flavor and amazing folk art - Vologda lace.
Versions of the origin of the name
Most likely, the name of the city is of Finno-Ugric origin. This version was put forward at the beginning of the last century by linguists Yalo Kalima and Joseph Julius Mikkola. The same was confirmed in 1988 by the philologist Y. Chaikina in a reference publication. According to this version, the name of the Vologda River, which gave the name to the nearby settlement, comes from the Vepsian "white". Russian "Vologda" can be deciphered as "river with clear water".
There are assumptions that connect the name of the city with the nightingale "drag". This versionhowever, it did not find wide support among linguists and philologists interested in geographical names. The version is presented mainly in fiction and journalistic literature, in particular in the work "My Wanderings" by V. Gilyarovsky. The assumption is also popular among Vologda residents.
The first settlements on the territory of Vologda
The history of Vologda begins in the eighth century BC, when ancient people settled the territories along the Sukhona River. Small groups of hunters and fishermen moved through the territories that were freed from the glacier, gradually developing new sites. In support of this, bone and stone tools were found along the Vologda River. The shores were densely populated already in the Neolithic era, that is, in the fifth or third millennium BC.
Beginning of Slavic colonization
The beginning of Slavic colonization in the vicinity of the Vologda River dates back to the eleventh century. Then a system of portage was formed, which connected the paths from Belozerye (located in the modern Vologda region) and Kargopol (modern Arkhangelsk region) with local rivers. Already by the thirteenth century, a waterway had formed from the upper Volga region to the White Lake.
The official foundation of Vologda
The official history of Vologda begins in 1147. This date of formation of the settlement is substantiated by the evidence of the "Tale of the Miracles of Gerasim of Vologda" dated 1666. This date was introduced into scientific circulation by one of the first local historians of Vologda, Alexei Zasetsky, in 1777. Writer andthe researcher also relied on the data of the chronicler Slobodsky (records from 1716). Both of these sources are borrowed from earlier codes. The text by Ivan Slobodsky is closer to the early record than the text of The Tale of Miracles by Gerasim of Vologda.
The first doubts about the history of the creation of Vologda appeared in the works of the same Zasetsky. Subsequently, skeptical statements became even more. The founding of a monastery on the Vologda River runs counter to the general picture of monastic construction in the northeast and northwest of Russia. The first monasteries appeared in Novgorod in the first half of the twelfth century; in the northeast, the process began much later. The first monastery in Rostov was founded in 1212, in Vladimir - in 1152, in Belozersky Kart - in 1251. It turns out that there was virtually no monastic life near Vologda in the twelfth century.
According to archaeologists, the history of Vologda (as an official settlement) begins in the thirteenth century. Around this time, the fortifications of the Vologda settlement date back. A mistake is also possible in the "Tales of the Miracles of Gerasim of Vologda": the year of the advent could be indicated in comparison with the date of the emergence of Moscow. In ancient Russian written sources, the city is not mentioned either in 1147 or in the twelfth century at all. The city was first mentioned in 1264 in agreements with the Grand Duke Yaroslav Yaroslavich as the outskirts of Novgorod.
Accession to Moscow and dependence on Novgorod
The history of the city of Vologda is still partiallyunknown. For example, only in 2015 was found a birch bark letter, which dates back to 1280-1340. Prior to this, the only documentary evidence of the existence of the settlement in the thirteenth century was a record of the attack of the Tver prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, in which the Golden Horde detachments took part.
The oldest documented mention of the construction of monasteries in Vologda dates back to 1303. Then Bishop Theokrist consecrated the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin. At this time, Vologda remained in the possession of Novgorod. A representative of Vladimir Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich was already present in the city. Then, under a tripartite agreement between the prince of Moscow, Tver and Novgorod, the borders between Vologda and the Novgorod volost were restored.
In the future, the settlement passed into the possession of Prince Dmitry Donskoy. At first, a duumvirate was established (Novgorod and Moscow), after the founding of the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, four kilometers from Vologda, Dmitry Donskoy managed to establish himself in the northern lands. But around Vologda, throughout the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, the actions of the next wars between Moscow and Novgorod were unfolding.
Vologda Principality
Briefly the history of Vologda is considered only episodically: the first settlements, the year of foundation, the Vologda Principality, a city within Kievan Rus and the Russian Empire, Soviet times. As for the Vologda Principality, it existed in the fifteenth century. This is a short historical period, but enoughsignificant, because the territories received a certain independence. The Principality was taxed, there were several routes of communication for Vologda (water - to Novgorod, the B altic Sea, the Upper Volga, the White Sea and Siberia, land - to Moscow and Yaroslavl), there were four monasteries on the territory. Only Vasily the Dark and Andrei Menshoi managed to become princes.
Vologda under Ivan III and Vasily III
By the end of the fifteenth century, the history of Vologda became more interesting: it was a gathering place for military campaigns, storage of part of the state treasury, grain reserves, exile. Khan Ilgam and his wives were exiled to Vologda in different years, Prince Mikhail Kholmsky, princes Dmitry and Ivan - the sons of Ivan III's brother, who at that time were 12 and 10 years old respectively, the Lithuanian hetman Konstantin Ostrozhsky, who went over to the side of the Moscow prince in the fall of 1506. In the first third of the sixteenth century, the city was visited by the Austrian diplomat S. Herberstein, who left a detailed description of the territory, economy, life and geography. He described Vologda as a source of furs.
City under Ivan the Terrible and in the Time of Troubles
Ivan the Terrible first visited Vologda during a trip to the monasteries in 1545. Here was the English navigator Richard Chancellor, who, having gone to India from England through the northern seas, reached Muscovy and met with Ivan the Terrible. As a result of this meeting, diplomatic relations were established between the Moscow principality and England, and trade began to develop. Chancellor noted,that Vologda trades in lard and flax. The city was chosen as the main warehouse and logistics hub of the trading "Moscow Company" in 1555.
The laying of the walls of the Vologda Kremlin - an outstanding monument of the history of Vologda - took place in 1567 during the direct examination of the king. There is a legend (does not have documentary evidence) that the city was named after the Apostle Jason, and in common parlance - Nason. The work on the construction of the monument was led by the English engineer H. Locke. In the second half of the sixteenth century, the British built shipyards and a fleet of river vessels in Vologda. In 1591, the settlement was one of the main cities of the state and was mentioned as one of the best producers of fat.
The second heyday under the first Romanovs
After the plague and several attacks during the Time of Troubles, the city experienced a new heyday under the Romanovs. About fifty professions were widespread in Vologda, there was foreign and domestic trade, stone construction, handicrafts developed. Foreigners settled in Fryazino Sloboda. But the troubles were not left behind: in 1661-1662, due to a poor harvest of bread, prices rose sharply and famine began, another crop failure occurred eight years later, in 1680 there was a strong fire, in 1686 a hurricane demolished roofs and damaged several churches, in 1689 the city suffered from a flood, in 1689 another fire.
Provincial Vologda under Peter I
Under Peter I, Vologda became a major military base, where technical and military equipment for ships under construction andfortresses. The city could become a training center for the Russian fleet that was being created, but Kubenskoye Lake turned out to be unsuitable. In 1708, the settlement ceased to be a significant administrative center. Then Vologda was included in the Arkhangelsk province. The economy was finally undermined when Peter I restricted trade through Arkhangelsk.
City at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries
The history of Vologda at the turn of the century is not distinguished by significant events. Cargo flows that previously went through the city have now changed direction, the Vologda industry did not correspond to technological progress, the weaving factory, sugar and bell factories were closed, the production of tallow candles decreased, and gradually entrepreneurs completely curtailed leather and candle production.
The formation of Soviet power
In 1917, the Vologda Council did not recognize the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks and their decrees. Until January 1919, Soviet power was not recognized in the city. Subsequently, the Bolsheviks dissolved all objectionable administrative bodies and put "their own" in the main places. In 1918, Vologda became the "diplomatic capital" of Russia, because it was here, fearing the capture of Petrograd by the Germans, that eleven embassies, consulates and missions headed by American David R. Francis were evacuated. The Soviet authorities forced foreigners to leave Vologda and go to their native places through Arkhangelsk. The Bolsheviks continued to subjugate the city to the new authorities: in 1918, for example, 22 streets of Vologda were renamed (historypre-revolutionary names became known only in the 1990s, when a few streets were returned to their old names) and squares, Congresses were held to deal with the restoration of industry and transport.
City during the Great Patriotic War
The history of Vologda during the war years is the history of a transit point for the mass evacuation of the population and industrial enterprises to the deep rear. With the outbreak of hostilities, all the factories of the city switched to military production, the construction of defense structures began, and cargoes for besieged Leningrad were sent along the Northern Railway. By September 1941, the front approached the borders of the region. In general, the city suffered heavy losses during the war years, primarily demographic. Since 1942, the death rate in Vologda has been five times higher than the birth rate.
After the end of hostilities on the territory of the USSR, an active restoration of urban industry began, new treatment and water facilities, roads and trolleybus lines were put into operation, hundreds of thousands of square meters were built. meters of housing. The population quickly began to grow, because the city could provide a large number of people with jobs. Families moved to Vologda and stayed permanently.
Modern history of the city
Today's Vologda is the administrative, transport, cultural and scientific center of the Vologda Oblast and the Northwestern Federal District as a whole. The history of Vologda endowed the city with a valuable heritage. On the territory of the settlement there are 224monument, 128 of which are protected by the state. Interesting facts are connected with the history of the bridges of Vologda: the film “Property of the Republic” was filmed on the Red Bridge, Alexandra, the daughter of the last Emperor Nicholas II, walked along the Ovsyannikovsky Bridge over the Pyatnitsky Ponds, the Stone Bridge is a living evidence of the architecture of the late eighteenth century. There are few tourists in the city, but locals are happy to immerse themselves in the history and culture of their native places.
