The southern Pereyaslavl (Vsevolod III's)

Who rules

Name

Vsevolod III Yurievich (Big Nest), grand prince of Vladimir, as lord; in the town, his great-nephew Yaroslav Mstislavich if he still lives, otherwise Vsevolod's governors

Title

Lord of Pereyaslavl (the town's prince that morning is not pinned)

Since

Vsevolod's hold dates from after the death of Pereyaslavl's own prince Vladimir Glebovich in 1187 (not pinned more closely)

Born

Vsevolod: 1154

Family

Vsevolod is a son of Yuri Dolgoruky and the senior living grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, whose line regarded Pereyaslavl as its patrimony; Vladimir Glebovich (prince 1169-1187) was his nephew. The princely lists name 'Yaroslav Mstislavich' as prince of Pereyaslavl between Vladimir Glebovich and Vsevolod, without dates; he is usually taken to be a son of Mstislav Rostislavich (Bezokiy), Vsevolod's nephew.

Confidence

low

en.wikipedia's list of princes of Pereyaslavl gives: Vladimir Glebovich (appointed 1169, died 1187), Yaroslav Mstislavich (no dates), Vsevolod III (to 1206). ru.wikipedia's article names no prince for 1187-1201. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich is sent in 1200 (en.wikipedia; Martin) or 1201. Who sat in the town on 1 January 1200 is therefore not pinned.

What the realm holds

• Pereyaslavl with its stone bishop's town, the cathedral of St Michael and the princes' burial church (Pereyaslavl)
• Gorodets on the Oster (Oster), rebuilt by Vsevolod in 1195 (Oster)
• The Sula forts (Posulye): Voin at the Sula mouth, Zhelni, Goroshin, Sneporod, Lubno, Lukoml, Ksnyatin, Romen, Pesochen (Voin, Lubno, Romen)
• The towns of the inner land: Baruch, Bronkniazh, Polkosten, Varin, Priluk (holders not pinned)

How it was acquired

Pereyaslavl was given to Vsevolod Yaroslavich in 1054 and stayed with his heirs, the Monomashichi, as the seat of the heir to Kiev; Yuri Dolgoruky's sons held it from the 1150s (Gleb Yurievich 1155-1169, his son Vladimir Glebovich 1169-1187). After 1187 it passed to Vsevolod III, Yuri's youngest son.

Allies and rivals

Allies: Vsevolod III and his sons; Rurik's son Rostislav through Vsevolod's daughter. Rivals: the Olgovichi; the Cumans.

The realm that morning

Held for Vsevolod III and apart from Kiev. The prince in the town that morning is not pinned (Yaroslav Mstislavich or none). The Sula frontier is quiet as far as the sources show; across the Dnieper is Rurik's Kiev (Kiev (Rurik Rostislavich)), to the north the Olgovichi's Chernigov (che), to the south and east the Cuman steppe (cum).

Wealth

Grain and cattle of the left-bank forest-steppe; the river trade on the Dnieper, the Desna and the Sula; horses and captives from the steppe wars; tolls on the Dnieper crossings at Pereyaslavl and Voin.

Military

The detinets of Pereyaslavl with its stone bishop's town and gate church, built under Bishop Ephraim in the 1080s-1090s; the Sula forts; the Desna crossing at Oster. The garrisons are the prince's men and the forts' settlers; no numbers.

Threats

• The Cumans across the Sula
• A Rurik-Olgovichi or Roman-Olgovichi war spilling over the Dnieper
• The Olgovichi's claim to the left bank

Officers and household

• The bishop of Pereyaslavl: not pinned for 1200
• Vsevolod's steward (tiun) and men at Gorodets on the Oster (the Laurentian Chronicle names the steward sent in 1195; not re-checked here)
• The commanders of the Sula forts: not named

Wars and feuds

No war on 1 January 1200 as far as the sources show. The Sula frontier faces the Cumans; Vsevolod led a campaign into the Don steppe against them in 1198 (Laurentian Chronicle as usually dated; cum and vla).

Relations

Vladimir

Pereyaslavl serves Vsevolod III and is his foothold in the south, opposite Kiev.

Kiev

Held apart from Rurik's Kiev. Rurik's son Rostislav is Vsevolod's son-in-law; Rurik resented Vsevolod's claims in 1195-1196.

Chernigov

The Olgovichi's Chernigov land (Nezhatin, Baturin, Putivl) borders it to the north and north-east (che).

Cumans

The Sula line is the frontier with the Cumans of the Dnieper and the Donets (cum).

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1200 (en.wikipedia, citing Martin; the chronicle year can also be read as 1201)Vsevolod III sends his son Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, born 8 February 1191, to rule Pereyaslavl with his tutors and men.Depends on: Vsevolod's decision and peace on the left bank. Stopped by: A war in the north that keeps Vsevolod's men at home, a Cuman threat, or an Olgovich or Kievan seizure of the town first.

Later, on the likely course

1. Later: 1206Vsevolod Sviatoslavich the Red of Chernigov drives Yaroslav out of Pereyaslavl (given for orientation).Depends on: The Olgovichi's rise after Roman's death in 1205. Stopped by: Anything that keeps Vsevolod III's grip on the south.

Where the sources disagree

• ru.wikipedia's article on the principality names no prince for 1187-1201 and mentions Gleb Sviatoslavich as possibly prince in 1190-1194 or 1210-1212; en.wikipedia's list puts Yaroslav Mstislavich (no dates) and then Vsevolod III. Neither settles 1 January 1200.

Evidence: The Kievan Chronicle says little of Pereyaslavl after 1187, the Laurentian Chronicle names it only when Vsevolod acts there, and we could not open the chronicle texts online; who sat in the town that winter is not pinned.

On the map: The border with Chernigov between the Oster and the Sula and the eastern edge beyond the Sula (towards the Khorol and the Vorskla, where Ltava stood) are not fixed for 1200; beyond the Sula the ground is frontier steppe.

Primary sources for this realm

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