860 years ago, on May 15, 1157, the Grand Duke of Suzdal and Kiev Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky died. Yuri made Suzdal his capital and became the first real prince of North-Eastern Russia. The Grand Duke subdued Ryazan to his power by Murom, seized the lands along the banks of the Volga, subordinated Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria) to his will. Strengthening his land, but built the fortress cities of Yuryev-Polsky, Dmitrov, Zvenigorod, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Gorodets. He became the founder of the future capital of Russia-Russia, Moscow, realizing the idea of developing the interfluve of the Volga, Oka and Moskva rivers.
Yuri Dolgoruky actively encouraged the settlement of his possessions, attracting the population of South-Western Russia. He allocated loans to settlers and granted them the status of free farmers. Under him, in the northeast of Russia, a new state, cultural and passionate core of the Russian people began to form, which would become the center of attraction for the entire Russian civilization and the basis of statehood, which through a series of transformations (the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and Moscow, the Russian kingdom, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union) became modern Russia.
Yuri constantly strove to reach the power in Kiev from his northeastern lands, for which he received his nickname "Dolgoruky" from the chroniclers. Yuri took Kiev three times. The Grand Duke still cherished the hope that Kiev could again become an all-Russian center, but he was wrong. Yuri was poisoned by the Kiev boyars, as he tried to restore a strong princely power in the capital city, which violated the interests of the rich and influential Kiev elite. Yuri's business of creating a new core of Russian statehood in the north-east of Russia was continued by his son Andrei Bogolyubsky. He fled from Kiev during his father's lifetime. Andrei Bogolyubsky moved the capital of the Rostov-Suzdal principality to Vladimir. And having taken Kiev (1169), Andrei gave it to his younger brother Gleb, he himself ruled in Vladimir. During the reign of Andrei, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality became the center and head of the entire Russian land. The passionate center of Russian civilization shifted to the north-east of Russia.
The question of the date of birth of Yuri remains open. This date can still only be roughly defined as the 1090s. The father was Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh. Mother - the first wife of Vladimir Monomakh - the daughter of the last reigning Anglo-Saxon king Harold II, Geeta of Wessex. According to another version - the second wife of Father Efimia.
Yuri was not his father's favorite. Under Monomakh, the commanders Mstislav the Great and Yaropolk became famous. Yuri was at a distance, ruled in the Zalessky land, where Russian paganism still retained its positions. The Suzdal prince took part in the war against the Polovtsians. When some of the Polovtsians made peace with the Russians, Monomakh became related to them. Yuri's wife was the daughter of the Polovtsian Khan Aepa Osenevich, who was named Maria when she was baptized. Yuri led the struggle against the Volga Bulgars, who invaded Russian possessions to capture people who were sold into slavery. To fight the Bulgars, Yuri attracted the Polovtsian detachments of his father-in-law, Khan Aepa. In 1120, Yuri led a campaign of Russian troops against the Volga Bulgars. A strong river army moved up the Volga. Yuri's army was supported by cavalry Polovtsian detachments. The Bulgar-Bulgarians were defeated, took a large booty and forced to sign the peace.
Decay
During this period, the tendencies of feudal disintegration won in Russia. The princely-boyar elite (originally formed to protect the people from external enemies) was increasingly moving away from the people, forgetting about national interests. Russian appanage princes did not want to obey the Grand Duke. Their number grew with each generation, all large cities, and somewhere small ones, were occupied. Many of them were talented people with great ambitions, all this led to constant strife and strife. The boyars sought to obtain the same rights as those of the Polish lords, Hungarian or German barons, that is, to be independent and even dictate conditions to the prince, relying on rich lands and strong squads. Wealthy trading cities like Novgorod, Polotsk and Smolensk were also not opposed to living on their own and keeping all the profits for themselves. In some places, as in Kiev, there was a link between boyar and trade-usurious interests, and the strong princely power was disgusting to the big boyars, usurers and merchants.
Only the mighty will and talents of Vladimir Monomakh restrained the process of general decomposition and disintegration of the Russian state with its capital in Kiev. He could force all the princes to do a common cause, put up a united army, pacified troublemakers like Yaroslav Volynsky. For some time the situation was stable and under his son Mstislav, who was a talented commander, he earned the nickname the Great. Everyone was used to the fact that he was the "second me" of his father. Mstislav had no rivals, although according to the ladder system it was not his turn. Mstislav drove the Polovtsi across the Don, Volga and even Yaik. He managed to annex the isolated and hostile Polotsk principality to Kiev, to restrain warring relatives. But already under Mstislav, the Muromo-Ryazan principality became isolated, the Galician principality pursued its policy. The Kiev elite was able to round up Mstislav. And as soon as Mstislav died in 1132, everything collapsed. Almost all the principalities became isolated and began to live independently. Fifteen principalities gradually turned into sovereign states with their own rulers, armies, foreign and domestic policies. Novgorod was turning into a feudal aristocratic republic. Kiev has lost the role of the political center of Rus, although for some time it was one of the leading centers, symbols of a single state.
Mstislav left the brothers what they owned. Yuri had to stay in Suzdal. The Russian outskirts were gradually changing. New fortified cities were built, old ones expanded, peasant communities grew. But in general, the vast Zalesskaya land was still a sparsely populated outskirts of Russia. Some areas were developed, but wild forests stretched between them. The Rostov and Suzdal boyars felt at ease, they ruled their lands with autocracy. They were local, descended from the ancient tribal nobility. And the prince usually came here for a while, did not stay long. It often happened that the land was left without a prince for a long time. While Yuri was a boy, a youth, he was tolerated. Like, he will sit for several years, then they will take him away, like the former princes. However, now their world was coming to an end. Yuri became the permanent owner of the Rostov-Suzdal land, and gradually tidied up the Zalessky land for himself, introduced new orders. And he was a tough, decisive ruler. The boyars murmured. Yuri even moved out of Suzdal, settled in Kideksha.
The opposition was led by Stepan Kuchka, the richest and most powerful of the boyars. He owned a large area on the Moscow River and Klyazma, numerous villages. The town of Moscow also belonged to him. They had their own large squad. As a result, there was a conflict. The prince invited Kuchka's sons to the service, but he pointedly refused. He acted rudely and insolently - you will not have my sons. It was a challenge, an example for other boyars. In fact, Yuri was shown who the real owner of these lands was. However, Yuri acted decisively and quickly. At a convenient moment, he came to Moscow only with his princely squad and ordered the execution of the rebel. The handful was not ready for such a turn and could not resist. The news of such a massacre instantly spread throughout the Zalessky land and the aristocracy calmed down for a while. The boyars realized that jokes with such a prince were bad. For his part, Yuri did not go too far, and went to meet the nobility. He took the sons of Kuchka to the court, gave them high posts. Also, Yuri Dolgoruky married his son Andrei to the daughter of the executed boyar Kuchka, Ulita, who was distinguished by her extraordinary beauty. However, as it turned out later, this was a mistake. Kuchkovichi and Ulita will lead a conspiracy against Andrey.
Internecine war
However, all his affairs in the Rostov-Suzdal land, Yuri considered secondary. Since childhood, he has absorbed that the capital city is Kiev, and all the main things take place in the south. In the south, the situation has deteriorated significantly. Before his death, the Grand Duke Mstislav the Great began to lose control over Russia and Kiev. Before his death, he agreed to transfer the throne to his brother Yaropolk. He received the throne, but had to support the rights of the sons of Mstislav - the Mstislavichi. The treaty finally crossed out the laws on succession by seniority and was directed against the younger brothers of the Grand Duke, Yuri and Andrei. The Kiev elite supported the agreement. In this situation, the Kiev nobles retained their positions at the court. Yaropolk at the time of accession to the throne was already 49 years old - an advanced age for those times. A brave warrior and a capable commander, Yaropolk was a weak politician. Yaropolk Pereyaslavsky all his life fulfilled the will of Monomakh and Mstislav, he himself was indecisive and weak-willed. Thus, the Kiev elite, without a congress of princes, without any coordination with them, proclaimed Yaropolk Vladimirovich the ruler.
The clan capital of the Monomakhs - the Pereyaslavl principality - became the bone of contention. According to the established tradition, the eldest in the family usually sat on the Pereyaslavl throne. After Yaropolk's transition to the table in Kiev, according to the law of trees, it should have gone to the eldest after Yaropolk among the descendants of Monomakh - his younger brother Vyacheslav. Yaropolk, after moving from Pereyaslavl to Kiev, transferred his son Vsevolod Mstislavich to his place (before that he ruled in Novgorod). It turned out that the new Grand Duke, bypassing his brothers, gave Pereyaslavl to his nephew, recognizing him as his heir. The younger Vladimirovichs Yuri and Andrei Volynsky, not without reason, saw in this step an infringement of their rights, the intention of Yaropolk to make the Mstislavichs his heirs. Yuri immediately occupied Pereyaslavl.
Everyone was alarmed - the Grand Duke, the Mstislavichi, the capital's nobility. Together they persuaded Yuri to retreat. Yaropolk tried to extinguish the conflict and transferred another son of Mstislav, Izyaslav, to Pereyaslavl from Polotsk. This step turned out to be a mistake: an uprising began in Polotsk, the exiled descendants of Vseslav (the "magician") returned to power, and the principality separated from Kiev. Izyaslav's candidacy did not suit Yuri, the Pereyaslavl prince eventually became the "legitimate" heir - Vyacheslav Vladimirovich. Yuri and Andrei did not object to him. Vyacheslav was the senior prince and, according to the law, was indeed the heir to the Grand Duke Yaropolk. But Vyacheslav did not like Pereyaslavl, and he voluntarily returned to quiet and peaceful Turov.
Yuri and Andrei Vladimirovich categorically refused to concede Pereyaslavl to their nephews, the Mstislavichs. If Vyacheslav abdicated the throne, then Yuri should receive it. Izyaslav Mstislavich was also unhappy. He lost Polotsk and did not receive Pereyaslavl. True, Yuri offered to exchange - the path of Pereyaslavl would go to him, and he would cede part of the Rostov land to Izyaslav. But such a proposal did not suit Izyaslav. He did not want to replace the second-ranked city, owning which one could claim Kiev, the wild outskirts. Deprived of his inheritance, Izyaslav went to his brother Vsevolod in Novgorod and stirred up the Novgorodians. In Novgorod, they remembered that Mstislav the Great was their favorite prince, they decided to stand up for the Mstislavichi. Veche came out for the war. They organized a campaign with the aim of putting Izyaslav to reign in Rostov. The Grand Duke did not intervene in this conflict.
Vsevolod, Izyaslav, the mayor Ivanko and the thousand Petrilo Mikulich brought out a large army in winter, leaving Novgorod at the end of 1134 and moving along the river ice. They reached Zhdanaya Gora along the Dubna River. The Novgorodians strove to occupy Zhdanaya Gora and Zhdan-Gorodok in order to control the waterway along the Kubri, and then to fortify in Zalesye and Opolye. From here it was possible to move on, cutting off the southern regions of North-Eastern Russia and the Moskva River basin from the old boyar cities of Rostov and Suzdal. The battle at Zhdanova Gora took place on January 26, 1135. First, the Novgorodians rushed from the heights and began to press the Suzdal people, but one of Yuri's detachments attacked the Novgorodians from the rear and crushed them. The people of Suzdal cheered up and defeated the enemy utterly, the main leaders of the Novgorodians were killed - the mayor Ivanko "brave husband", the thousand Petrilo Mikulich and many soldiers. The rich convoy became the prey of the Suzdal people. Due to the flight of Vsevolod Mstislavich from the battlefield, the prince's authority in the city was undermined. The Novgorod veche on May 28, 1136 deprived him of the Novgorod table, which is considered to be the beginning of the republican period in the history of the Novgorod land.
At the end of 1134, Yaropolk managed to negotiate with Izyaslav, giving him the Volyn principality. Prince of Volyn Andrey Vladimirovich the Good, he put to rule Pereyaslavl. Dolgoruky agreed with this option. Meanwhile, the turmoil was growing. The Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich took advantage of the war that broke out in 1134 between the sons of Vladimir Monomakh and their nephews, the sons of Mstislav. Vsevolod decided to compete for the Kiev table. Having entered into an alliance with the Mstislavichs and relying on the Polovtsians, Vsevolod unleashed a war against the Grand Duke, demanding the return of Kursk and Posemye. In 1135, Yaropolk's troops were defeated by Vsevolod in the upper reaches of the Supoy River. According to the concluded peace, Vsevolod returned Kursk and Posemye to the power of the Chernigov princes. The Novgorodians took advantage of the weakening of the authority of the Kiev prince: in 1136 they expelled Yaropolk's nephew, Vsevolod Mstislavich, departed from Kiev and proclaimed "freedom to the princes."
