Grand principality of Vladimir-Suzdal

Who rules

Name

Vsevolod III Yuryevich, baptismal name Dmitry, called Big Nest (Bolshoe Gnezdo) for his many children

Title

grand prince (veliky knyaz) of Vladimir, prince of the Suzdal land

Since

1176. When his elder brother Mikhalko died on 20 June 1176 the men of Vladimir took Vsevolod as their prince; his victory over his nephew Mstislav Rostislavich and Gleb of Ryazan on the Koloksha in 1177 settled the throne against the Rostov boyars' candidates.

Born

19 October 1154 (en.wikipedia), traditionally at Dmitrov on the Yakhroma, the town Yuri Dolgoruky founded that year and named after the baby's baptismal name; so 45 years old on 1 January 1200

Family

Youngest son of Yuri Dolgoruky (died 1157) by his second wife; half-brother of Andrei Bogolyubsky (murdered 29 June 1174) and brother of Mikhalko (died 1176). Andrei sent his stepmother and her young sons to Constantinople in 1162; Vsevolod came back to Rus' about 1169/1170. Married to Maria Shvarnovna between 1172 and 1174 (en.wikipedia). He is the last surviving son of Yuri and the head of the senior branch of the house of Monomakh.

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia Vsevolod the Big Nest; the Laurentian Chronicle as summarised in the standard accounts (Franklin and Shepard; Martin; Fennell). ru.wikipedia, uk.wikipedia, fmg.ac and the archive.org chronicle texts could not be loaded in this run, so the detail below rests on the researcher's knowledge of the chronicle record and is marked where it is not pinned.

Overlord

None. Vsevolod acknowledges no superior: the princes of the house of Monomakh named him the eldest of their tribe, as he reminded Rurik of Kiev in 1195 when he demanded his share of the Kiev land, and the prince of Kiev holds his throne with Vsevolod's consent.

What the realm holds

• Vladimir on the Klyazma, the capital, with Bogolyubovo
• Suzdal with Kideksha, and Yuryev-Polsky: the Suzdal Opolye
• Rostov with Yaroslavl, Uglich and the Rostov land
• Pereyaslavl-Zalessky with Ksnyatin on the Volga and the Volga crossing towards Novgorod
• Moscow and Dmitrov: the western march
• The Volga towns below Yaroslavl: Kostroma (first recorded 1213), Gorodets (Radilov) on the frontier
• Beloozero and the Sheksna: the Ves fur land
• Ustyug and Gleden at the Sukhona-Yug confluence: the northern fur outpost (first recorded 1207)
• The tribute of the Merya and Ves and the furs of the northern forests
• Overlordship of Ryazan and Murom; the gift of Novgorod's princely seat; a share of the Kiev land on the Ros (1195)

How it was acquired

Inherited from Yuri Dolgoruky's line: the Rostov-Suzdal land became the patrimony of Monomakh's descendants after 1097. Vsevolod won it in the war of 1174-1177 against Yuri's grandsons Mstislav and Yaropolk Rostislavich, the Rostov boyars' candidates, and their ally Gleb of Ryazan.

Allies and rivals

Allies and dependants: Rurik of Kiev and his son Rostislav (Vsevolod's son-in-law); Mstislav Romanovich of Smolensk (Konstantin's father-in-law); the princes of Ryazan and Murom; his son Sviatoslav, prince of Novgorod from 1 January 1200. Rivals: the Olgovichi of Chernigov (the old rivals for Kiev and Novgorod); Roman Mstislavich of Galicia-Volhynia (Rurik's enemy); the Novgorod boyars who drove out Vsevolod's man in 1196; the Volga Bulgars on the eastern frontier.

The realm that morning

Vsevolod controls the whole land himself on the morning of 1 January 1200: no son yet holds a town in the land, no other prince of his line rules in the north-east, and his governors hold the towns. Outside it he is the arbiter of Rus': Ryazan and Murom obey him, Novgorod enthrones his son Sviatoslav that very day, Kiev's prince recognises his seniority, and he holds towns on the Ros. His son Yaroslav is expected to be sent to the southern Pereyaslavl during 1200 (see likely course).

Wealth

Furs above all (sable, marten, squirrel, beaver) from Beloozero, the Sukhona and the northern forests; the Volga trade, which carries furs, wax, honey and slaves down to Bulgar and brings silver, cloth, glass, spices and weapons back; grain from the Opolye, the fertile open fields round Suzdal, Yuryev and Pereyaslavl, which Novgorod needs and which Vsevolod can stop at Torzhok; tribute, court fines and fees (vira, prodazha) and tolls (myt) at the river crossings and markets. No figures survive.

Military

Fortified towns of wood and earth: Vladimir (earth ramparts with the white-stone Golden Gate of 1164 and Vsevolod's citadel of 1194-1196), Suzdal, Rostov, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yuryev-Polsky, Dmitrov, Moscow, Ksnyatin and Gorodets. Record: victory on the Koloksha (1177); the standoff on the Vlena against Sviatoslav of Chernigov and the taking of Torzhok (1180-1181); the great Volga campaign against the Bulgars (1183), in which his nephew Izyaslav Glebovich was mortally wounded, and the raid of 1186; campaigns into Ryazan (1180, 1186-1187); the march into the Vyatichi land against Chernigov (1196); the raid to the Don against the Cumans (1198 or spring 1199), which found no enemy to fight. No numbers are given.

Threats

• The Olgovichi of Chernigov, rivals for Novgorod and Kiev.
• Novgorod's independence: its veche drove out Vsevolod's man in 1196.
• Roman of Galicia-Volhynia, whose rise threatens Rurik and the order Vsevolod arbitrates in the south.
• The Volga Bulgars and the forest peoples of the middle Volga beyond Gorodets.
• The succession: a nest of young sons and the old pride of Rostov (the war of 1212-1216 is later).

Consort

Maria Shvarnovna, grand princess, married between 1172 and 1174 (en.wikipedia). Her origin is disputed: an Alan (Ossetian) princess tied to the Georgian royal house in some accounts, a Moravian in the Uspensky miscellany, the daughter of a Czech commander Shvarn in another reading; the study of her remains by Sergey Nikitin favours an Alan origin. She has borne Vsevolod twelve children, and has been gravely ill since the birth of her last son (1197 or 1198).

She is founding the Princess's (Knyaginin) Convent of the Dormition in Vladimir, for which she bought the land in 1198-1200 (en.wikipedia); she takes the veil there as the nun Marfa shortly before her death, on 19 March or 19 May 1205 or 1206 (later), and is buried there

Heirs

Sons, all children on 1 January 1200 and, apart from Sviatoslav in Novgorod, none with a town of his own: Konstantin (born 18 May 1186, aged 13), married in 1196 to a daughter of Mstislav Romanovich, now prince of Smolensk, the eldest and the expected heir; Yuri (born 26 November 1188 in the Russian tradition, 1189 in en.wikipedia; aged 11); Yaroslav, baptised Fyodor (born 8 February 1191, aged 8); Vladimir, baptised Dmitry (born 25 October 1192 by en.wikipedia's Vsevolod page, 1194 by its Maria Shvarnovna page; aged 7 or 5); Sviatoslav, baptised Gavriil (born 27 March 1196, aged 3), who is enthroned as prince of Novgorod on 1 January 1200 (his record is on the Novgorod sheet); Ivan (born 28 November 1197 by en.wikipedia, 28 August in some Russian accounts, 1198 in another; aged 1 or 2). Boris (died of plague in 1188) and Gleb (died 29 September 1189) died young. Daughters: Sbyslava, baptised Pelageya (born 26 October 1178, aged 21; her later life is not recorded); Verkhuslava, baptised Antonia (born 1181), sent south at the age of eight (1187 or 1188) as the bride of Rostislav Rurikovich, son of Rurik of Kiev, and living there with him; Vseslava, married in 1186 to Rostislav Yaroslavich of the Chernigov line, now prince of Snovsk; Elena (unmarried; buried in her mother's convent in 1203). en.wikipedia's Vsevolod page also lists an Anna married to Vladimir of Belgorod, but its Maria Shvarnovna page does not: not confirmed.

Under the rotating seniority of Rus' Vsevolod has no brother left; the land is expected to pass to his sons, Konstantin first. (In 1211-1212 Vsevolod will try to put Yuri over Konstantin: later.)

Officers

The grand prince's household and retinue (druzhina): senior boyars, junior men (otroki, detskie) and the commanders (voevoda) he sends on campaign; governors (posadnik) in the towns that have no prince of their own; the tysyatsky (commander of the town host) in Vladimir and probably in Rostov; tribute collectors (dannik) and toll keepers (mytnik). No officer of 1199-1200 is named in the sources reached in this run. The chief churchman is Ioann (John), bishop of Rostov since 1190, whose see covers the whole land and who sits mostly in Vladimir as Vsevolod's own bishop (a separate see of Vladimir is created only in 1214).

Court in 1200

Vsevolod holds court at Vladimir, in his palace beside the court cathedral of St Demetrius (built 1194-1197) within the citadel (detinets) he walled in 1194-1196, and uses his brother Andrei's castle at Bogolyubovo and the old residences at Suzdal and Kideksha. His other sons live with him: Konstantin rode with him against the Cumans (1198 or 1199). The court is Greek in taste (Vsevolod grew up in Constantinople) and rich in books, icons and relics: in 1197 he brought from Thessaloniki the grave board of St Demetrius, his name-saint, for the new cathedral.

Treaties

• Seniority: Rurik Rostislavich of Kiev accepted Vsevolod as the eldest of the house of Monomakh in 1195 and, at his demand, gave him a share of the Kiev land on the Ros (Torchesk, Trepol, Korsun, Boguslavl and Kanev, towns Rurik had first given to his son-in-law Roman); Vsevolod passed Torchesk to his own son-in-law Rostislav Rurikovich (Hypatian Chronicle under 1195; detail of which towns he kept: not pinned for 1200).
• Peace with the Olgovichi of Chernigov, sworn in the autumn of 1196 after Vsevolod and the Smolensk forces had invaded the Vyatichi land: the Olgovichi freed Mstislav Romanovich of Smolensk, taken prisoner earlier that year, and by the Chernigov researcher's reading gave up their claims on Kiev and Smolensk for the Rostislavichi's lifetime. Rurik of Kiev resented that Vsevolod made it without him. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, who swore it, died in 1198; Igor Sviatoslavich, his successor, is held to it (see the che records).
• Ryazan and Murom: their princes march when Vsevolod calls and take his judgement in their quarrels (since his campaigns of 1180 and 1186-1187).
• Novgorod: Vsevolod has withdrawn his kinsman by marriage Yaroslav Vladimirovich, prince there since 1197, and given the Novgorodians his son Sviatoslav, who is enthroned in St Sophia on 1 January 1200 (Novgorod First Chronicle under 6707, as read for the Novgorod records; see the nov records).
• Peace with Volga Bulgaria: when Yuri II made peace with the Bulgars in 1220 he agreed to keep it as it had been under his father Vsevolod (Laurentian Chronicle, as reported by en.wikipedia's Volga Bulgaria page). The date of Vsevolod's peace is not pinned, but no fighting between Vladimir and Bulgar is recorded between 1186 and 1218, so a peace or truce is taken to be in force on 1 January 1200.
• Marriage ties: Konstantin with Mstislav Romanovich of Smolensk (1196); Verkhuslava with Rostislav Rurikovich of Kiev (1187); Vseslava with Rostislav Yaroslavich of Chernigov (Snovsk).

Feuds

• No war on 1 January 1200. The last campaigns were against the Cumans of the Don, led at the Ryazan princes' request (1198, or spring 1199: see the notes), and against the Olgovichi in 1196. No raid either way is recorded for the winter of 1199-1200.
• The Volga Bulgars: the chronicles record no fighting between Vladimir and Bulgar after 1186, and no raid on either side in 1199-1200. The Bulgar attacks on Ustyug and Unzha (1218-1219) and Vladimir's campaign to Oshel (1220) are later.
• The Rostov boyars' old grievance against the upstart Vladimir (1174-1177) is quiet but alive; it surfaces again when Konstantin makes Rostov his base after 1207 (later).

Relations with neighbours

Kiev (kie): Rurik Rostislavich holds Kiev as Vsevolod's junior; Vsevolod's son-in-law Rostislav Rurikovich holds Torchesk. Galicia and Volhynia (hal): Roman Mstislavich, at odds with Rurik since 1195, took Galich in 1199; Vladimir Yaroslavich of Galich, who died that year, had put himself under Vsevolod's protection in 1189. Vsevolod's attitude to Roman's new power is not pinned for the winter. Chernigov (che): Igor Sviatoslavich senior since 1198; peace since 1196.

Smolensk (pol): Mstislav Romanovich, Konstantin's father-in-law, prince since 1197, a friend. Ryazan and Murom (rya): dependent princes. Novgorod (nov): from 1 January 1200 Vsevolod's own small son is its prince, and Vsevolod's men rule for him. Volga Bulgaria (rya): peace and trade. The Cumans (cum): Vsevolod's raid of 1198 or 1199 drove the Don Cumans towards the sea without a battle; no peace is recorded.

Coinage

None. No coins are struck anywhere in Rus' in this period (the 'coinless period'): large payments are made in silver ingots (grivna) by weight, small ones in furs and pelts (kuna, squirrel skins), and in foreign silver brought in by the Volga and Baltic trades.

The host

The grand prince's retinue (druzhina); the town hosts of Vladimir, Pereyaslavl, Rostov, Suzdal and the lesser towns, raised through the tysyatsky and the prince's commanders; boats and boatmen for the Volga (the men of Gorodets went down the river against the Bulgars in 1186); and the dependent princes of Ryazan and Murom with their men, who joined the campaigns of 1183 and 1196. The sources give no numbers.

Church

Ioann, bishop of Rostov (from 1190, retired 1213/1214), whose see covers the whole land. Cathedrals: the Dormition at Vladimir (Andrei's of 1158-1160, burnt on 13 April 1185, rebuilt and enlarged by Vsevolod and consecrated in 1189), keeping the Vladimir icon of the Mother of God; the Dormition at Rostov (Andrei's stone church of 1162, with the relics of St Leontius found in 1164); the Nativity at Suzdal (Monomakh's church, repaired in 1194 by Bishop Ioann with local masters). Vsevolod's own foundations at Vladimir: St Demetrius (1194-1197) and the Nativity monastery (founded 1191, cathedral 1192-1196).

St Abraham's monastery at Rostov is the old missionary house of the Merya country. The Orthodox Church is not on the Church map. The bishop and the Vladimir cathedral hold villages, settlements of bought people, a tenth of the prince's herds and market tolls (Andrei's endowment) and the church courts: a modest but real temporal lordship, written as a thin record of its own (Bishop of Rostov's estates).

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.

1. 1 January 1200, St Basil's day, the morning of play (Novgorod First Chronicle under 6707, as read for the Novgorod records)Sviatoslav Vsevolodovich, aged three, granted by his father to the Novgorod envoys in the autumn of 1199, comes to Novgorod and is enthroned as prince in St Sophia; Vsevolod's men will rule in the boy's name. Yaroslav Vladimirovich, withdrawn by Vsevolod, is on his way back to the Suzdal land or already there (not pinned).Depends on: Already in train at first light. Stopped by: Only a sudden rising of the Novgorod veche against Vsevolod's choice, of which there is no sign.
2. 1200 (en.wikipedia; some accounts 1201), month not pinnedYaroslav Vsevolodovich, aged nine, is sent as prince to the southern Pereyaslavl, the old patrimony of Yuri Dolgoruky's line on the Cuman frontier.Depends on: Vsevolod's claim to Pereyaslavl and Rurik of Kiev's acceptance; quiet on the steppe. Stopped by: Rurik, the Olgovichi or Roman taking Pereyaslavl, or Vsevolod's falling out with Rurik.
3. 1200 (the foundation is dated 1198-1200)Grand princess Maria's Knyaginin Convent of the Dormition at Vladimir is completed and its community gathered.Depends on: Maria's health and Vsevolod's purse. Stopped by: Her death or a worsening of her illness.
4. During 1200-1201 (see the Novgorod records for the date)Mitrofan, chosen archbishop of Novgorod after Martirii's death in 1199 (by the usual account with Vsevolod's backing), goes for consecration.Depends on: Vsevolod's and the metropolitan's support. Stopped by: A Novgorod party rejecting Vsevolod's candidate.

Places of note

• Vladimir: the citadel, St Demetrius and the Dormition cathedral: Capital and court
• Bogolyubovo: Andrei's castle: Princely residence
• Rostov: the bishop's see: Old senior town
• Gorodets on the Volga: Eastern frontier fortress
• Ustyug and Gleden: Northern fur outpost

Where the sources disagree

• The GM's Church notes do not touch Rus'; no conflict.
• Maria Shvarnovna: en.wikipedia dates the marriage 1172-1174 and her death 19 March or 19 May 1205 or 1206; Russian handbooks often give 1176 and 19 March 1206. Both are outside the morning of play.
• Dates of the sons: Yuri's birth is 26 November 1188 in the Russian tradition (Laurentian) but 1189 in en.wikipedia; Ivan's is 28 August 1197 in the Russian tradition but 28 November 1197 in en.wikipedia. Both are born well before 1200, so the point does not change the map.
• Vsevolod's Cuman campaign: the Ryazan records date it to spring 1199, at the Ryazan princes' request (Ilovaisky, from the Laurentian Chronicle under the March year 6707); the Cuman records and several handbooks give 1198. Either way it lies before 1 January 1200 and found no Cumans to fight.
• Yaroslav's dispatch to Pereyaslavl: en.wikipedia says 1200; other accounts 1201. Either way it is after 1 January 1200 and is likely course.
• Sviatoslav's enthronement in Novgorod: the date 1 January 1200 (the Novgorod First Chronicle under the March year 6707, St Basil's day) is taken from the Novgorod researcher's reading (he came to the city and was enthroned that day, after his father granted him to Novgorod's envoys in the autumn of 1199); the chronicle text did not load in this run, and en.wikipedia gives only the year 1200.

Evidence: The Laurentian (Suzdal) Chronicle is full for Vsevolod's reign and records the births of his children and his campaigns, but names few officers or boyars. The primary texts and the Russian encyclopedias could not be loaded in this run; the record rests on en.wikipedia for the dates and on the researcher's knowledge of the chronicle record, with doubtful points marked.

On the map: The outline follows the known towns and the watersheds. The western edge against Novgorod (Torzhok, Volok Lamsky, Bezhetsk) and Smolensk (Mozhaisk) and the southern edge against Chernigov's Vyatichi and Ryazan (Lopasnya, Kolomna) are fair; the eastern edge beyond Gorodets and Galich and the northern fur lands are estimates, since the forest frontier was a matter of tribute, not lines. Tver, Kashin and Galich Mersky are not yet recorded as towns; their ground is drawn as Vladimir's on the evidence of 1209-1238. The lower Unzha, where a Rus' fort of Unzha is attacked by the Bulgars in the 1210s, is anchored to Vladimir only lightly; beyond it the Vetluga forests are Mari country (rya records).

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 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