Ovruch

Who holds it

Name

Rurik Rostislavich

Title

Prince of Ovruch (patrimony)

Since

1168

Confidence

high

Lord in 1200

Rurik Rostislavich, whose own patrimony it is

How things stand that morning

Rurik's.

Charter

No charter: Rus' towns of this age had no written privileges. The prince's governor or steward judges and collects; the townsmen meet in assembly (veche) at need.

Council

The prince's court and steward.

Communities

Rus'.

Fairs and markets

None recorded.

Militia

The prince's men and the Derevlian levy.

Walls and castle

Earth-and-timber detinets on the hill; the stone church of St Basil at the prince's court (about 1190).

Trade and crafts

Slate quarries and spindle-whorl workshops whose products reach every Rus' town; furs, honey and wax from the Derevlian forests.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Rurik's patrimony and church are well attested.

Primary sources for Kiev (Rurik Rostislavich)

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 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 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