Moscow is a small fort with a trading settlement at the meeting of the Neglinnaya and the Moskva, on the south-western march of the Suzdal land.
It is first named in 1147, when Yuri Dolgoruky called his ally Sviatoslav Olgovich of Chernigov to a feast there ('come to me, brother, to Moscow'). Yuri enlarged and walled the fort in 1156. In the war of 1177 Gleb of Ryazan burnt the town and its villages. Tradition puts the estates of the Kuchkovichi, the boyars of the plot of 1174, here. In 1200 Moscow is a wooden fort town governed for Vsevolod, guarding the river road from the Oka at Kolomna (Ryazan's) towards the Klyazma and the roads to Chernigov's Vyatichi and to Smolensk.
It is not yet the seat of a principality: that begins in 1213, and the Mongols burn it in the winter of 1237-1238 (later). It is not the capital of anything, and Muscovy lies far in the future.
Who holds it
- Name
- Grand Prince Vsevolod III, through his governor (posadnik), not named for 1200
- Title
- lord of the town
- Since
- 1176
- Born
- not applicable
- Family
- not applicable
- Confidence
- medium
Laurentian Chronicle as summarised in the standard accounts; en.wikipedia
Lord in 1200
Grand Prince Vsevolod III, through his man (not named). Moscow has no prince of its own until Vsevolod's son Vladimir is given it in 1213 (later).
How things stand that morning
A frontier fort town of Vsevolod's, quiet on 1 January 1200.
Charter
None: Rus' towns had no charters. Custom and the prince's word governed.
Council
None recorded.
Communities
No foreign community recorded.
Fairs and markets
Not recorded.
Militia
A small garrison and the men of the district.
Walls and castle
A wooden wall on earth ramparts round the south-western part of the Borovitsky hill (the fort of 1156), with a trading settlement below.
Trade and crafts
River traffic on the Moskva between the Oka and the Klyazma portages; farming and crafts.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Mentions of 1147, 1156 and 1177 are firm; nothing is recorded for 1199-1200.
Primary sources for Vladimir-Suzdal
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 Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. 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 birch-bark letters (11th to 15th centuries). Excavated letters and notes on birch bark, dated by the layer they lie in. Read online
- The Tale of Igor's Campaign (about 1187 to 1200 (disputed)). A poem on Igor Sviatoslavich's defeat by the Polovtsians in 1185 that addresses the princes of the day by name: Vsevolod of Vladimir, Rurik and David Rostislavich, Yaroslav of Galich, Roman of Volhynia and the Olgovichi of Chernigov, of whom Igor himself was prince from 1198. Read online
Sources and studies
- The Laurentian (Suzdal) Chronicle, PSRL vol. 1, entries for 1176-1212, cited from the researcher's knowledge of the standard accounts (not fetched in this run: ru.wikipedia, fmg.ac and the archive.org texts would not load)
- S. Franklin and J. Shepard, The Emergence of Rus 750-1200 (1996); J. Martin, Medieval Russia 980-1584 (2007); J. Fennell, The Crisis of Medieval Russia 1200-1304 (1983): standard accounts, cited from the researcher's knowledge
- Wikipedia (en): Moscow Kremlin (the fort of 1156)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.