Yugra is the chroniclers' name for the lands east of the northern Urals, home of the Khanty and Mansi (en.wikipedia Yugra); the Mansi also lived on the upper Pechora, on the European side.
Its princes sit in fortified towns. Novgorod sends armed companies for furs: in 1187 its Yugra collectors were killed; in 1193 the commander Yadrei led a Novgorod force into Yugra, took one town and besieged another for five or six weeks, until the Yugra, gathering men while they offered silver and sables, lured Yadrei, the priest Ivanko Legen and the leading men into the town on the eve of St Barbara (3 December) and killed them; the rest, starved, came out on St Nicholas' day and were cut down, and only a few survived. A Novgorodian named Savko had been in secret contact with the Yugra prince.
When the survivors came home in 1194 their comrades killed three of them as traitors (chronicle). No expedition has gone since. On 1 January 1200 Yugra is hostile and independent.
Who holds it
- Name
- none named; the chronicle speaks of 'the Yugra prince' in 1193
- Title
- the Yugra princes (none named)
- Confidence
- high
Novgorod chronicle under 6701-6702; en.wikipedia Yugra.
Overlord
None: Novgorod claims tribute, which has to be taken by force.
How things stand that morning
Independent and hostile since 1193; its heartland on the Ob lies beyond this sheet (outside).
Wealth
Sable, silver gained in trade.
Military
Fortified towns; skilled in ambush and siege.
Customs and assemblies
Princes in fortified towns; customs not recorded for 1200.
Overlord claims
Novgorod (tribute by force).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The 1193 story is detailed; nothing else for these years. The western fringe drawn is an estimate.
On the map: Only a sliver on the Ural slope falls inside the sheet; the Yugra of the chronicle is mainly east of the Urals, beyond 58 E.
Primary sources for Novgorod
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Chronicle of Novgorod (kept year by year; the Synodal manuscript written in the 13th and 14th centuries). Novgorod's own record, kept at St Sophia. Read online
- The Laurentian Chronicle (the Suzdal continuation kept in the late 12th and 13th centuries; manuscript 1377). The court record of Vsevolod III of Vladimir. Read online
- The Livonian Chronicle of Henry, Henry of Livonia (1225 to 1227). The chief source for the Baltic mission. Read online
- The birch-bark letters (11th to 15th centuries). Excavated letters and notes on birch bark, dated by the layer they lie in. Read online
- The law of the Gotlanders; The saga of the Gotlanders (Guta lag about 1220, Guta saga about 1220 to 1275; manuscript of about 1350). The law and the short history of the self-governing island. Read online
Sources and studies
- The Chronicle of Novgorod 1016-1471 (Novgorod First Chronicle), tr. R. Michell and N. Forbes (1914): entries for 1164-1215 read through the archive.org full-text search (scan pp. 76-106)
- Wikipedia (en): Yugra
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.