Part 1.
Imagine that you and I are traveling through time, say, over the last two hundred years, making successive stops every fifty years and at each stop exploring how Russian knowledge about their history of the 5th-10th centuries has changed. Most likely, we will come to sad conclusions. The farther from that time, the less knowledge becomes. It would seem that everything should be the other way around: science is developing, new research methods are being discovered, and fewer and fewer secrets remain in the world. That’s how it is, but not quite. More precisely, not at all. Why did I suggest virtual time travel to the last 200 years and not 400 or 500? Yes, because during this period it is possible to track what was taught in educational institutions, what research in this area was carried out by historians, what articles were published in historical journals.Read, don’t be lazy, there are a lot of books, magazines and other materials of that time on the Internet. You will be surprised. For example, the first thing that came across on the Internet was the book by Alexander Vasiliev “On the ancient history of the Northern Slavs before the time of Rurik, and where Rurik and his Varangians came from,” St. Petersburg, 1858. By the way, quite an interesting study. The book can be downloaded from this link.
What is now ALLOWED teaching our children the history of Rus' is strikingly different from what was taught and known 200 years ago. Moreover, if I may say so, this historical material is an insignificant fraction of the huge layer of our chronicle, and it is so perverted that there are more lies in it than truth. Official history simply became fixated on the “wild” Slavs and Rurik the Viking. Our people are smart enough to understand the delusion of the official version. Then the question arises - if everyone understands everything, then why are there no alternatives to this nonsense in textbooks and books? Yes, because in Russia there are enough people of biblical and semi-biblical nationalities who are in key positions in governing the country (government and ministries), managing the mass consciousness of people (culture, art, media, film industry, religion), who support the official history with undisguised enthusiasm , promote it in the media, pursuing only one goal - mass misinformation of citizens. Only the three-hundred-year “enlightenment” reign of the Romanovs should remain in people’s memory. Before them there was turmoil, before the turmoil, the “wild” tribes of the Slavs existed miserably in their ignorance on these lands. The only “bright spot” in those days was the baptism of Rus' by Vladimir. This is the “great” story that official history offers us, although there are enough facts and information about what happened before Rurik, what crimes the same Romanovs and the Baptist Vladimir committed against the Russian people, but no one even tries to put it all together and comprehend how whole.
Let's open a little the curtain of the chronicle of Rus' before the 10th century, tightly drawn by our historical science, because we need to know and remember our own history, otherwise we will be forced to learn someone else's history. In this article I will make a short overview of the Slavic peoples who inhabited the lands of modern Belarus, Ukraine and Russia until the 10th century. Many of us don’t even know what these peoples were called and where they lived, what they did, what kind of relationships they had with their neighbors. I don’t pretend to be true, because we know only crumbs. Starting with the Romanovs, and to this day, there has been an undeclared war, an imperceptible, methodical destruction of the millennia-long history of Rus', on the lands of which many peoples arose and disappeared...
Legends of hoary antiquity.
IX
V. BC -
IV
AD Ruskolan.
This is either a legend or a true story, that in the period from the 9th century. BC to IV AD There was an ancient Slavic state of Ruskolan (Roksolan), which stretched from the Carpathian Mountains through the Caucasus Mountains to the Caspian Sea and the Volga with its capital in the city of Kiyar - Kyiv Antsky, near Elbrus. There is mention of him in the Gothic, Bulgarian and Ayart chronicles. Our great scientist Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov also spoke about it. Ruskolan and its last ruler Bus Beloyar are mentioned in the book of Veles, which is not controversial from the point of view of authenticity. In 368, hordes of Goths (West Germanic tribes) attacked Ruskolan and killed Bus and 70 other princes. The Slavs won this war, but the victory came at too high a price. The former power was lost, the decline and subsequent collapse of Ruskolani began. After the Goths' campaign to the East, the great migration of peoples in Europe began. This directly affected the Slavs. Bus Beloyar and Ruskolani are written about in an article on our website, so I won’t repeat myself.
V
-
X
century. Vedic Rus'.
At this time, the territory of the former Ruskolani (lower Volga region, Northern Caucasus and Azov region) was ruled first by the Turkic Khaganate (VI - VIII centuries), and then by the Khazar Khaganate with its capital Itil, which in 972 wiped out Svyatoslav the brave from the face of the earth. Every year, on July 3, grateful Slavs celebrate great victory over Judean Khazaria.
Some of the Ruskolan tribes remained in the Caucasus and assimilated with other tribes that came there a little later, which we now know as the Caucasian peoples. Look at the faces of their children. No, no, but you will find in them Slavic features with blue or gray eyes. Other tribes dispersed around the world, joining other Slavic unions. Let's list the main ones who lived in the 5th - 10th centuries on the territory of modern Ukraine, Belarus and Russia: Krivichi, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Northerners, Drevlyans, Polyane, Dregovichi, Slovenes, Ulichi, Tivertsy
. Do you notice? Who's missing from this list? Where is the Rus tribe? But there was no such tribe, for they all called themselves Rus. Wasn’t it because they called themselves Rus that they considered themselves the heirs of Ruskolani? But really, read the chronicles of that time. They talk about the Rus and the Slavs, but there was no Rus tribe!?
KRIVICHI- East Slavic tribal union. Around the 5th century, from the territory of modern Poland through the eastern Baltic to the territory of modern Russia, the Slavic tribes of the Pskov long barrow culture (Slavic early medieval culture) penetrated, which gave rise to the KRIVICHS. The Krivichi tribes settled in the territories of present-day Vitebsk, Mogilev, Pskov, Bryansk and Smolensk regions, as well as eastern Latvia.
The Krivichi comprised two large groups: Pskov and Polotsk-Smolensk.
There are two versions of where the name came from - Krivichi. According to one version with the name, the deity Krive-Kriveite, according to another - with the name of the elder of the clan (high priest) Krive. It is no coincidence that Latvians still call Russians Krivichi (Latvian krievi), and Russia Krievija (Latvian Krievija).
Northern Krivichi founded Novgorod. The western Krivichi created Polotsk, the northern Izborsk, and the southern Smolensk (Gnezdovo). In the 10th century, Rurik’s successor, Prince Oleg, would introduce them into the Old Russian state. The Krivichi interacted closely with the Varangians.
VYATICHI, RADIMICHI, NORTHERN. They can probably be combined into one group based on origin. Around the end of the 7th - beginning of the 8th century, a large group of Slavs left the upper reaches of the Dniester to the northeast: the future Radimichi (led by Radim), the Vyatichi led by Vyatko and the northerners. The synthesis of newcomers and aboriginal tribes led to the formation of tribal associations of northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi. This is how the Tale of Bygone Years speaks about it: “... the Radimichi were from the Poles and the Vyatichi were from the Poles. There were two brothers in Lyasi, - Radim, and the other Vyatko, - and Radim came to Sezha, and was called Radimichi, and Vyatko was gray with his family after his Father, from him he was called Vyatichi.
VYATICHI- East Slavic tribal union. In the 8th-9th centuries, from the banks of the Dniester, through modern Poland, between the Volga and Oka rivers and to the upper Don, an alliance of tribes led by elder Vyatko came; After his name, this people began to be called Vyatichi. The name Vyatko is a diminutive form of the name Vyacheslav. “Vyache” is an old Russian word meaning “more”, “more”. This word is also known in Western and South Slavic languages. Thus, Vyacheslav, Boleslav is “more glorious.” This confirms the hypothesis about the Western origin of the Vyatichi: the name Boleslav is most widespread among the Czechs, Slovaks and Poland.
The Vyatichi lived in the basin of the upper and middle reaches of the Oka and along the Moscow River. Archaeological excavations in the land of the Vyatichi discovered numerous craft workshops of metallurgists, blacksmiths, mechanics, jewelers, potters, and stone cutters. Metallurgy was based on local raw materials - swamp and meadow ores, as elsewhere in Rus'. Iron was processed in forges, where special forges with a diameter of about 60 cm were used. Jewelry making reached a high level among the Vyatichi. The collection of foundry molds is second only to Kyiv: 19 foundry molds were found in one place, Serensk. Craftsmen made bracelets, rings, temple rings, amulets, etc.
Vyatichi maintained its independence from Kievan Rus up to the 12th century. Until the end of the 13th century, the Vyatichi preserved many pagan rituals and traditions, for example, cremation of the dead and the erection of small burial mounds over burial sites.
RADIMICHI - East Slavic tribal union .
They have the same origin as the Vyatichi and Severyans. They lived in the main basin of the lower and middle Sozh and the interfluve of the Sozh, Desna and Dnieper. They bordered the Dnieper with the Dregovichi. At the same time, individual settlements of the Dregovichi people penetrated the Dnieper left bank, being located interspersed with the Radimichi ones. In the southeast, between the Sozh and Desna rivers, they bordered the northerners. The border with the Vyatichi passed in certain places of the Desna, and on its right tributaries.
Convenient river routes passed through the lands of the Radimichi, connecting them with Kiev.
The connection between the Radimichi and the indigenous local population of Posozhye, observed both in objects of material culture and in rituals, suggests that the newcomer Radimichi Slavs felt the influence of the Baltic population here.
The Radimichi and Vyatichi had a similar burial rite - the deceased was burned in a krada, the ashes were buried in a log house on a pillar - and similar female temple jewelry (temporal rings) - seven-pointed (among the Vyatichi - seven-pointed).
In 885, the Kiev prince Oleg established his power over the Radimichi, who had previously paid tribute to the Khazars.
NORTHERN(IMENKOVSKAYA CULTURE) this is another wave of Slavs from the upper reaches of the Dniester and it has reached the middle Volga region. But under the influence of Asian nomads they return to the west, where on their basis the Northerners are formed - an East Slavic tribal union that lived in the 8th - early 9th centuries. on the territory of modern Chernigov, Sumy and Kursk regions, along the Desna, Seim and Sula rivers. The origin of the name northerners is most likely Scythian-Sarmatian and is traced back to the Iranian word “black”, which is confirmed by the name of the city of northerners - Chernigov. The main occupation of the northerners was agriculture.
SLOVEN- an East Slavic tribal union on the territory of the Novgorod land, mainly in the lands near Lake Ilmen, adjacent to the Krivichi. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Ilmen Slovenes, together with the Krivichi, Chud and Meri, participated in the calling of the Varangians, who were related to the Slovenes - immigrants from the Baltic Pomerania. A number of historians consider the Dnieper region to be the ancestral home of the Slovenes, others trace the ancestors of the Ilmen Slovenes from the Baltic Pomerania, since the legends, beliefs and customs, the type of dwellings of the Novgorodians and Polabian Slavs are very similar.
DREGOVICHI- East Slavic tribal union. The exact boundaries of the habitat of Dregovichi have not yet been established. According to a number of researchers, in the 6th - 9th centuries the Dregovichi occupied the territory in the middle part of the Pripyat River basin, in the 11th - XII centuries the southern border of their settlement ran south of Pripyat, the northwestern border in the watershed of the Drut and Berezina rivers, and the western border in the upper reaches of the Neman River. When settling Belarus, the Dregovichi moved from south to north to the Neman River, which indicates their southern origin.
STREETS - East Slavic tribal union that existed in the 9th - 10th centuries. The Ulichi lived in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Bug and on the shores of the Black Sea. The center of the tribal union was the city of Peresechen. Ulichi for a long time resisted the attempts of the Kyiv princes to subjugate them to their power. It is likely that the ethnonym Ulichi comes from the word "Angle". It is known that in 885 Oleg the Prophet fought with the Ulichs. In the 10th century, the Kiev governor Svineld kept the main city of Peresechen under siege for three years.
TIVERTS- east Slavic tribe, settled in the 9th century in the area between the Dniester and Prut rivers, as well as the Danube, including along the Budjak coast of the Black Sea in the territory of modern Moldova and Ukraine. The name Tivertsi possibly goes back to the ancient Greek word Tiras, which they used to call the Dniester River. At the beginning of the 12th century, the Tivertsy left their lands due to the constant raids of the Pechenegs and Cumans, and subsequently mixed with other tribes.
POLANA- an East Slavic tribal union that lived in the forest-steppe region of the Dnieper region, between the mouths of the Desna and Ros rivers, in the area of modern Kyiv. The name “glades” explains the chronicle: “zane v poly sedyakhu,” that is, they lived in the fields. The area of the glades was part of the zone of ancient agricultural culture. According to chronicles and archival data, the glades were engaged in arable farming, cattle breeding, hunting, beekeeping and fishing. The remains of their settlements with small square dwellings were usually located on low river banks. The very origin of the glades remains unclear, since the territory of their settlement was at the junction of several archaeological cultures.
The glades contain burial mounds. Jewelry glades known from treasures of the 6th -8th centuries, and distribution in the 9th century. potter's wheel indicate a significant development of their crafts. The chronicle repeatedly noted that the economic and social order of the glades was at a higher stage of development than that of their neighbors. Polyana became the core of Russian statehood in the 8th - 9th centuries, which subsequently united other East Slavic regions around itself. The last time the name of the Polyans was mentioned in the chronicle was in 994, after which they were replaced by the ethnonym “Rus”.
DREVLYANES- East Slavic tribal union, which occupied in the 6th-10th centuries. the territory of Polesie, the Right Bank of the Dnieper, west of the glades, along the rivers Teterev, Uzh, Ubort, Stviga. In the west they reached the Sluch River. They had cities, the largest of which were Vruchy (Ovruch), Iskorosten (Korosten), which played the role of the capital. The area of residence of the Drevlyans corresponds to the area of the Luka-Raykovets culture. The name Drevlyans was given to them because they lived in forests. After the uprising against Prince Igor (945) they were finally annexed to Kyiv.
DULEBY- one of the largest tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs. During the great migration of peoples, the tribal union of the Dulebs broke up into Czech Dulebs and Dulebs in the Pripyat and Bug river basins, which at the end of the 8th or beginning of the 9th century. moved beyond Pripyat to the lands of the Dregovichs. The word "duleb" has become a common noun in many dialects. In the Bolkhov district of the Oryol province, the word “duleb” was Bolkhov’s nickname. The Ryazan word “duleby” means cross-eyed, odd-eyed. According to the chronicle, in the 7th century. Duleby suffered heavily from the invasion of the Avars; in 907 their squad took part in the campaign Oleg to Constantinople. In the 10th century the association apparently disintegrated, and its components entered into Kievan Rus under the name Volynians And buzhan. Archaeologists have discovered in the territories occupied by the Dulebs the remains of agricultural settlements with dwellings and burial mounds with remains of corpses burned. In the 10th century The association of Dulebs disintegrated, and their lands became part of Kievan Rus.
MIRACLE - a legendary tribe that lived in the north of the European part of Rus' and the Urals. This tribe is mainly known only from the legends of the Komi peoples. Currently, it is believed that Chud are the ancestors of modern Estonians, Vepsians, Karelians, Komi and Komi-Permyaks. The name is associated with their identification in ancient Rus' as a tribe with a wonderful language and wonderful customs, which were very different from other Slavic tribes.
To be continued.
The chronicler places the Radimichi along the Sozh River, the Vyatichi - along the Oka River. However, in both cases, especially in the second, this is very approximate. The Oka basin is large, and we know that the Finnish tribes of Murom, Mordovians and Merya also lived there. More precisely, the border of the Radimichi can only be established in the east with the Vyatichi. The toponymy of this area and archaeological data show that the border between them passed along the watershed of the Snov and Iput rivers, a tributary of the Sozh. In the west, the border between the Radimichi and Dregovichi ran approximately at the Dnieper and Berezina; the upper reaches of the Sozh in the north were already Krivichi, and in the northeast Kozelsk, a fortified point on the Zhizdra, in 1154 was already known as Vyatichi. There is little information about the Radimichi in the chronicle. The chronicle also does not know a single large fortified city of the Radimichi. Apparently, the Radimichi were one of the weak and dependent tribes. They submitted to Kyiv without resistance and already in 885 they paid tribute to Kyiv, which they had previously paid to the Khazars. The Vyatichi occupied a territory stretching in the west to the watershed between the Zhizdra River and the left tributaries of the Desna, but their main part occupied the areas along the Oka River up to Kolomna - Kaluga, Tula - and part of the Moscow province. As for the Ryazan region, although V.A. Gorodtsov, on the basis of archaeological finds, classifies it as the Vyatichi, but the results modern research of the ancient dialect of the Ryazan region are very different from the conclusions he made. The same applies to the study of the ancient dialect in the south of the former Oryol province35. We cannot yet determine the border of the Vyatichi settlements here. However, here, on the other bank of the Oka, as well as in the north, the settlements of the Vyatichi undoubtedly mixed with the settlements of the northerners and Krivichi, and these areas were mainly inhabited not by Slavic, but by Finnish tribes.
The chronicler, explaining the names “Radimichi” and “Vyatichi,” calls them direct descendants of Radim and Vyatka. To this he adds the legend that they were brothers, descended from the Poles, that is, they came from Poland, and that they came immediately with their people and settled on the Sozh and Oka36. Is this legend true? Are the Radimichi and Vyatichi really of Polish origin?
Theoretically, one can imagine that in the rapid movement of the Slavs and their development, observed throughout the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries, one or two tribes could leave the crowded West Slavic center (for example, as a result of the invasion of the Goths or Avars), break through the strip of Russian tribes and end up in the east among the Eastern Slavs and Finnish tribes. The point is only that it is hardly possible to prove such an assumption with any other data other than the chronicle legend. The legend itself contains too many fictitious analogies for it to be accepted unconditionally.
This legend is not confirmed by any historical data. True, from a linguistic point of view, the entire region of the ancient Radimichi, as well as the neighboring Dregovichi, now belongs to the region of the Belarusian language, in which there are many similarities with the Polish language. But this no longer applies to the area once occupied by the Vyatichi, which is Great Russian, in which traces of connections with the Polish language are much weaker.
Thus, it is absolutely clear that if in relation to the Radimichi the chronicle tradition is to some extent confirmed by linguistic data, then in relation to the Vyatichi such confirmation is much weaker. The chronicler, seduced by their proximity, apparently only by mistake added the Vyatichi to them. In any case, it is striking that in other places in the chronicle, which sound much more definite, they speak of the Lyash origin of only the Radimichi. Finally, the expression “Radimichi and Vyatichi (descend) from the Poles” should not mean that they came from Poland and were directly Polish tribes, it may mean that they came from the Poles, that is, from the other side, from the Polish borders. It is very likely that the ancestors of the Radimichi, as well as the Dregovichi, originally lived in the Slavic ancestral home next to the Poles, were under their influence and, apparently, formed an intermediate zone between the Poles and purely Russian tribes. From there they moved east and penetrated the rest of the northern and southern Russian tribes. The belonging of the Vyatichi to this wedge remains controversial.
It also remains unknown where this wedge formed and when these tribes arrived. The arrival of the Vyatichi, based on archaeological and linguistic data, usually dates back to a rather late period, namely to the 10th and even 11th centuries, but against this one can make the argument that their arrival in the oldest part of the chronicle is spoken of as an old tradition, and not as a something that happened during the chronicle period. I would not hesitate to dwell even on the statement that they came much earlier and their arrival was already associated with the movement of the Dnieper Slavs, which began as a result of the Avar or even Gothic invasion. Someday archaeologists will establish the time of the arrival of Slavic elements on Sozh and Oka. Now we are still quite far from solving this problem.
Slovenia Novgorod
The chronicle tells that the Slovenes settled on Lake Ilmen, built Novgorod and were there even before, according to tradition, in 862, and in fact even earlier, the Scandinavian Russes came there led by Rurik37. We know nothing about the arrival of the Novgorod Slovenes on Lake Ilmen (but I believe that this happened long before the 9th century, see above, p. 28); it is also unknown why this Ilmen colony, unlike others, retained the name “Slavs” and how they were related to the area where the tribal name arose.
The Slavs came to the area occupied by the Finns, namely the Chud tribe. The advantageous location of the colony on Lake Ilmen, due to which the northern end of the Dnieper route was in its hands, significantly contributed to its rapid prosperity and development. The Novgorod Slovenes began to move west to the Luga River, north to Ladoga and east to Msta, but since the resistance of the Finnish tribes was apparently strong here, colonization soon went in the other direction - to Zavolochye, where Finnish settlements were more rare, and resistance is much weaker. Already in the 10th century we see Slovenes on Beloozero, where the entire Finnish tribe lived before, and in the 11th and subsequent centuries, Novgorod colonization moved further to Mologa, Tvertsa, Sheksna, Sukhona, Kostroma and along the Volga - to the lower Oka. Simultaneously with the Novgorod colonization and in parallel with it, the Krivichi colonization also took place.
However, it is difficult to say where in these distant lands the Novgorod, Krivichi or even Vyatichi settlements were located; Russian historians and philologists, who differ significantly on the question of the origin of the Slavs of the Yaroslavl, Suzdal, Rostov or Moscow regions, even more disagree on the question of the origin of the Slavs in more distant lands.
Krivichi and Polochans
The Krivichi, even before their mention in the chronicle, were historically attested by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (Κριβιτζοί, Κριβιταιηνοί, De adm. imp., p. 9), however, only the chronicle indicates where they lived: “... to the top of the Volga, and to the top of the Dvina and to the top of the Dnieper"38. At the same time, the chronicle adds that the Krivichi, who lived on the Polota River, a tributary of the Western Dvina, were a separate tribe and were called “Polotsk”39. Consequently, the Krivichi lived in a territory that was wedged into the lands of the Dregovichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi and Novgorod Slovenes, while the latter, as the whole situation shows, just like, for example, the Polochans on the Dvina, were only a Krivichi colony on the Ilmen. Thus, the boundaries of the territory occupied by the Krivichi can be determined based on what was said above about the areas occupied by their neighbors, and N.P. Barsov further clarifies them, giving a detailed list of topographic names in which traces of the name of the Krivichi are obvious on originally non-Slavic lands (Krivichi, Krevo, Krivsk, Krivtsy, Krivets, Krivche, Krivskaya, Krivtsovskaya, Krivtsov, Krivik, Krivens, etc.). It turned out that these names are common in the territory from the Dnieper to the upper Ugra, Sozh, Desna, Moskva River, Klyazma and Suzdal and Vladimir regions40. Moreover, from Chronicle XII century, we know that the fortified points of Izyaslav, Borisov, Logoisk and Mstislavl on Sozh were Krivichi, thanks to which we can more accurately determine the southern border of the Krivichi, despite the fact that individual names are found further, to the upper reaches of the Don. Colonies in the east mixed with tribal Novgorod colonies have already been mentioned. In the north, the border between the Krivichi and Novgorod land ran approximately along the Valdai Upland, and in the west the Krivichi crossed the Velikaya River and Lake Peipsi, where already in the 9th century a strong fortified Krivichi point was founded - Izborsk (not far from the later Pskov), which was then annexed to Novgorod. The Krivichi also crossed the Dvina (the topographic names mentioned on it are common right up to the Neman River basin), and it is extremely interesting that on this western border the name Krivichi has been preserved to this day, however, only in the mouths of Latvians, who even now call their Russians neighbors Krews (krevs), and the Russian land is the land of Kreewu.
The second center of the Krivichi (Polotsk) was Polotsk on the Dvina, but the main and most important center of the entire tribal association always remained Smolensk on the Dnieper, erected in a convenient place, at the intersection of ancient trade routes (see above, p. 136). The excavations of the Gnezdovo mounds near present-day Smolensk by V.I. Sizov give us the opportunity to quite clearly imagine the Krivichi culture in the 10th century, half Slavic, half Scandinavian41.
This is the picture of the Russian tribes and this was the ethnographic map of Eastern Europe at the end of the first millennium.
The question of what exactly the ancient Russian tribes listed in the chronicles and by Constantine Porphyrogenitus were, whether they were ethnographic - tribal or territorial - political associations, has occupied many historians. Personally, I believe that any one-sided point of view and one-sided solution to this issue would be wrong. The formation of individual tribes was influenced by various factors: sometimes it was primarily the tribal tradition and family ties, and secondarily the nature of the language42; in other cases, on the contrary, the peculiarities of customs, the cut of clothing, social forms, culture in general and, of course, sometimes to a greater, sometimes to a lesser extent, political and geographical factors (the emergence of power and administrative centers, nature of the territory). There is no doubt, however, that most of the tribes represent an ethnographic whole, since the chronicler, listing at the beginning of the chronicle the Polyans, Drevlyans, Slovenes, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Northerners, Croats, Dulebs, Ulichs and Tiverts, emphasizes that they “in the name of their customs, and the law is the father of his own and his traditions, each with his own character”43. Family names also indicate the origin of the tribe as a result of the expansion of the clan; I don’t think that already in the 10th century the idea of clan and blood union “muddied” as much as N. Barsov believes. On the other hand, non-ethnographic factors undoubtedly had an influence on the formation of tribal units, and in certain places in the chronicle political and geographical aspects are emphasized quite strongly. A tribe is a political entity within a certain territory, subordinate to the power of the prince. However, this nature of the formation of the tribe was undoubtedly not decisive and did not exclude a community that arose from the clan and was ethnographically unified.
Thus, if already in the pre-chronicle period, in the formation of the tribal structure of the Russian people, along with linguistic and cultural factors, geographical and political factors also played a role, then later, as we see, the former lose their importance, and the role of the latter is increasingly strengthened. Ancient tribal and ethnographic associations disappear and new ones appear, arising on a geographical basis under the influence of political and economic factors alone; or, as Russian historians say, the old tribal way of life disappears and a regional way of life arises; in place of the old tribes we see territorial regions, united in more or less large unions, over which the power of princes from the clan of Rurik and his squad was established. The old tribal names are disappearing, and their place is taken by the names of urban regions44, derived from the names of the central cities: the land of Kiev, Chernigov, Smolensk, Pereyaslav, Rostov, Suzdal, Ryazan, Murom, Polotsk, Pinsk, Turov, Volyn, Galich. Each such city in these lands was a commercial and industrial center of the entire region, a religious, administrative and garrison center for the princely squad, which provided protection for the population of the city and its environs, relying on powerful ramparts with fortifications, the remarkable design of which was shown by excavations in Belgorodka near Kyiv. The capture of the central city meant the conquest of the entire land, and we see from the chronicle that the Varangians, having occupied the main cities, subjugated the Slavs. From these cities the Varangians extended their power to the Slavic tribes.
It is possible that these new political areas in some places remained tribal associations, but Russian history of the 11th and 12th centuries for the most part suggests that they also included individual parts of various ancient tribes. Thus, the Novgorod region was formed from the Slovenes and Krivichi, the Chernigov region - from the northerners, Radimichi and part of the Vyatichi, the Kiev region - from the glades, Drevlyans and Dregovichi, Polotsk - from the Dregovichi and Krivichi, Smolensk - from the eastern Krivichi, Dregovichi and Radimichi, in a word, ethnographic boundaries the ancient tribes no longer coincided with the borders of the new regions; the map of the newly formed political areas looked different from the map of the tribes.
One more issue deserves special attention. This is a question about the relationship between the old tribes and the division of the Eastern Slavs45 into three large groups, which, as we see, began in the 13th century. It is quite obvious that the division into the Little Russian (Ukrainian)46, Belarusian and Great Russian branches had its roots already in the ancient period and was not a phenomenon of a later time.
Much research and work has been devoted to the issue of the emergence of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, and, in particular, the question of which of these three languages should include the language of certain ancient tribes has caused a lot of controversy. Thus, there were disputes about where the Northerners, Vyatichi and even the Novgorod Slovenes should be classified, but the most heated debate was the question of who should be considered the ancient Polyans, the founders of the Russian state, Russian culture and literature: Great Russians or Little Russians47. On this issue, the stated position of the largest Russian linguist A. A. Shakhmatov is as follows.
Already in the chronicle period, the ancient Russian tribes formed three groups, or three belts, of different dialects: 1) North Russian, consisting of Novgorod Slovenes and Krivichi; 2) Central Russian, consisting of the Dregovichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Northerners, and 3) South Russian, consisting of the Polyans, Drevlyans, Volynians, Ulichs, Tiverts and Croats. The southern Russian belt laid the foundation of Little Rus', the northern - Great Rus'; the middle one disintegrated in such a way that the southeastern part - the Vyatichi-Severskaya - under the influence of the new center that arose in Moscow, joined the Great Russians, while from the western - Dregovichi-Radimichsky - and part of the southern Krivichi, Belaya Rus was formed48. Even to this day, traces of its dual origin can be traced in the Great Russian language, since the dialects north of Moscow are very different from the southern Russian dialects (mainly in the pronunciation of unstressed a and in the pronunciation of the sound g). However, this interpretation of the famous Russian philologist-historian is not the last word, since it also contains very controversial individual issues. However, it is noteworthy that Russian archeology, based on the conclusions made by A. A. Spitsyn, came to the same conclusion about the presence of three belts, consisting, from the point of view of the cultures they represented, of the same tribes49.
To sum up our modern knowledge, oldest development The Russian people can be imagined as follows.
After the division of the Proto-Slavs into the western, southern and eastern branches, in this last one, which had long lived in the Pripyat and middle Dnieper basin, further differentiation took place into two groups with different dialects: a group of northern and a group of southern tribes, which began to move from their cradle , the first - to the north and northeast, to the upper Dnieper, Lake Ilmen and the Volga, the second - to the southeast to the Don and south to the Black Sea. Between them, apparently, a part of the Slavs who belonged to the group wedged in later oriental language, but formed on the Polish border (and under the influence of the Polish language), which separated southern group from the north and formed a middle belt between them. It included, first of all, the tribes of the Dregovichi and Radimichi. This part of the Slavs laid the foundation for Belarus, which arose later, while the Slovenes of Novgorod and the Krivichi of the northern belt (together with the Vyatichi) laid the foundation for the formation of Great Rus', and the tribes southern zone- Little Rus'.
Later, the further division of these three groups, along with linguistic differentiation, was influenced by other factors: the ethnic mixing of the people, in one case with Lithuanian elements, in another with Finnish and in the third with Turkic-Tatar elements; then the influence of the different environment in which the northern and southern branches developed, the influence of new large political associations, on the one hand, the Kyiv and Galich states and on the other, the Moscow state, then the Tatar invasion and the resulting movements in the southern and middle zone. However, all this already refers to a later historical period and goes beyond the scope of this book. It is clear, however, that none of these factors was so strong as to completely destroy the original unity of the Russian people. White, Great and Little Rus' remained and continue to remain to this day parts of a single Russian people, and it is completely wrong to exclude the Ukrainian people from this unity or to prove that they are not of Russian origin at all. The differentiation between Great and Little Russia has now gone so far that Ukraine demands recognition of its language and its people as equally valuable and equal in rights with the language and people of Great Rus'. However, this differentiation, fueled mainly by political factors, even now has not yet gone so far as to refute the actual unity of the Russian people, which, unlike other Slavic peoples, always reliably connects its individual branches. Until today, as a rule, notes A. Meillet - a remarkable expert in comparative Slavic linguistics50 - the differences in the Russian language of these three branches are less significant than the differences in the German or French dialects, and White Rus', Ukraine and Great Rus', even if each of them acquires political independence, will remain branches of one people and one of the free parts of the united Russian state.
Autochthony of the Slavs 1
Above, we have already repeatedly encountered the fact that in the course of studying the ancient period of Slavic history, certain theories arose, according to which the Slavs settled in their historical ancestral home not in the first centuries of our era, but even earlier, in ancient times. These theories are usually called “autochthonistic”, since they are based on autochthonism, that is, the thesis that the Slavs from ancient times occupied almost all of Central Europe and a significant part of southern Europe, including Italy and the Balkan Peninsula. Some adherents of this theory do not even hesitate to extend their settlements as far as Brittany, the Pyrenees, Greece and Asia Minor. Many of them defended these huge borders of Slavic expansion in ancient times in full, but most of them limited themselves to proving the autochthony of the Slavs in certain countries, for example in Hungary, the Balkans or Germany. In this sense, the theory of autochthony of the Slavs has its supporters among the southern Slavs, Czechs and Poles. However, scientists from other countries, for example the Germans, despite the objections of the majority of German scientists, were also not inferior to them in this regard.
The history of such theories, existing to this day, goes back over a thousand years. Starting from the 8th century, some Slavic and non-Slavic chroniclers, usually monks, tried to embellish and glorify the past of the Slavs by establishing their direct connection with the past of ancient peoples. This was the first step towards autochthonism. This was how the connection between the ancient Poles and the Vandals and Goths in Germany was established; it was argued that they lived precisely in the area where the name of the Vandals sounded before the first century BC. The similarity of their name with the name of the “Wends” was especially emphasized (see “Vita Sancti Marini”, VIII; Annales alaman., under 798; Adam Brem., II. 18; Helmold, 1. 2); hence also ancient name Vistula “Vandalicus amnis”2.
Later, the South Slavic and Polish clergy linked the origin of the Slavs with the Goths (see the epitaph of Prince Boleslav at the beginning of the 11th century, the beginning of the chronicle of Kadlubek and Dlugosz, the annals of the Abbot of Duklja and Tomasz of Split)3. In the same way, as evidenced by the above sources, in particular the beginning of the Kievan Chronicle4, the southern Slavs identified the ancient Illyrians or Pannonians with the Slavs.
These peoples, with whom the Slavs were identified, were gradually joined by others5. Thus, a hypothesis arose, which became widespread in the 18th century, that the ancestors of the Slavs appeared at the beginning of our era, or even much earlier, not only on the Oder, Elbe and the middle Danube, but also in the Balkans. The similarity of the names Vend, Vénet with the names of the ancient Enets of Herodotus, the Venets of Homer and Caesar6 prompted the expansion of the ancestral home of the Slavs up to Italy, Asia Minor, Gaul and the shores of Lake Constance, so that in the 18th and 19th centuries, some considered almost all of Germany and most of Europe to be Slavic. The first adherents of these absurd theories appeared, in particular, among the Serbs and Croats (F. Dolzi, Fr. Appendini, Severini, K. Grubishits, Rajich, etc.), as well as among the Poles (S. Kleczewski, J. Potocki, St. Sestrentsevich), among the Slovaks (G. Papanek, Dankovsky), among the Russians (V.K. Tredyakovsky, I. Boltin, V.N. Tatishchev). There were few supporters of this theory among the Russians, since the Eastern Slavs were not directly interested in establishing the autochthony of the Slavs in Germany or the Balkans7. The Germans, who during this period allowed themselves to be carried away by this theory, retained great sobriety of judgment, for example August Schlozer, who defended the autochthony of the Slavs in the territory between the Elbe, Vistula and the Adriatic Sea, or I. H. Hatterer, who defended the Slavism of the Getae and Dacians, and partly also and L. Gebhardi8.
These theories became most widespread already in the 19th century among historians of all Slavic peoples, especially among the Poles and Czechs. These two peoples produced the largest number of outstanding adherents of the theory of autochthony of the Slavs: A. N. Shember, V. Kętrzynski and E. Boguslavski.
Throughout the first half of the 19th century, there were researchers among the Slavs who adhered to this theory; it is enough to recall among the Polish scientists V. Surovetsky, A. Belovsky, I. Lelewel, K. Schultz, V. Matsiyovsky, A. Kucharsky, G. Suchetsky, A. Mickiewicz9, among the Czechs - P. Safarik in the first period of his scientific activity10, Franto, F. Shira, J. Kollar, K. Vinarzycki11, among the southern Slavs - T. Yaritsa, I. Shvear, J. Rakovsky, S. Zakharyev, T. Shishkov, S. Verkovich, M. Milojevic, J. Kukulevich - Saksinsky, D. Trestenyak12. Even the Germans did not escape these trends13. The theory of the autochthony of the Slavs became most widespread in 1868, when prof. A. Shembera undermined the authority of Safarik by publishing his work on the Western Slavs in ancient times,14 in which he again collected all the evidence in favor of the autochthony of the Slavs in Central Europe, using evidence that was weak from a linguistic point of view with such dexterity that his book became a guide and model for subsequent works of the same direction. Soon after this, a number of researchers appeared following in the footsteps of Schember, but, with the exception of a few significant advocates of this theory, most of them were only amateurs who did not know ancient history, archaeology, comparative linguistics and their precise methodology15. Among the most sober supporters of this theory in later times were J. Pervolf, the author of a serious work on the Slavs, their mutual relations and connections,16 then G. Papanek, Slavik, T. Voitsekhovsky, V. Boguslavsky, archaeologists E. Mayevsky, J. L. Pich and K. Buchtela17, finally, and mainly, Polish historians - W. Kętrzynski and E. Bogusławski, who, thanks to their wide erudition, became the head of this trend18.
In the 8th-9th centuries, in the area between the Volga and Oka rivers and in the upper Don, an alliance of tribes led by elder Vyatko came; After his name, this people began to be called “Vyatichi”. The chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years” writes about this: “And Vyatko lived with his family in Otsa, from him they were called Vyatichi.”
Resettlement of peoples
The first people in the upper reaches of the Don appeared several million years ago, during the Upper Paleolithic era. The hunters who lived here knew how to make not only tools, but also amazingly carved stone figurines, which glorified the Paleolithic sculptors of the Upper Don region. For many millennia, various peoples lived on our land, among them the Alans, who gave the name to the Don River, which means “river”; wide open spaces were inhabited by Finnish tribes, who left us many inheritances geographical names, for example: the rivers Oka, Protva, Moscow, Sylva.
In the 5th century, the resettlement of the Slavs to the lands of Eastern Europe began. In the 8th-9th centuries, in the area between the Volga and Oka rivers and in the upper Don, an alliance of tribes led by elder Vyatko came; After his name, this people began to be called “Vyatichi”. The chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years” writes about this: “And Vyatko lived with his family in Otsa, from him they were called Vyatichi.” A map of the settlement of the Vyatichi in the 11th century can be viewed here.
Life and customs
The Vyatichi-Slavs received an unflattering description from the Kyiv chronicler as a rude tribe, “like animals that eat everything unclean.” The Vyatichi, like all Slavic tribes, lived in a tribal system. They knew only clan, which meant the totality of relatives and each of them; the clans constituted the "tribe". The people's assembly of the tribe elected a leader who commanded the army during campaigns and wars. He was called by the old Slavic name "prince". Gradually, the prince's power strengthened and became hereditary. The Vyatichi, who lived among vast forests, built log huts similar to modern ones; small windows were cut into them, which were tightly closed with bolts during cold weather.
The land of the Vyatichi was vast and famous for its riches, abundance of animals, birds and fish. They led a secluded half-hunting, half-agricultural life. Small villages of 5-10 households, as the arable land was depleted, were moved to other places where the forest was burned, and for 5-6 years the land gave a good harvest until it was depleted; then it was necessary to move again to new areas of the forest and start all over again. In addition to farming and hunting, the Vyatichi were engaged in beekeeping and fishing. Beaver ruts existed then on all rivers and streams, and beaver fur was considered an important article of trade. The Vyatichi raised cattle, pigs, and horses. Food for them was prepared with scythes, the length of the blades of which reached half a meter and the width - 4-5 cm.
Vyatic temporal ring
Archaeological excavations in the land of the Vyatichi discovered numerous craft workshops of metallurgists, blacksmiths, mechanics, jewelers, potters, and stone cutters. Metallurgy was based on local raw materials - swamp and meadow ores, as elsewhere in Rus'. Iron was processed in forges, where special forges with a diameter of about 60 cm were used. Jewelry making reached a high level among the Vyatichi. The collection of foundry molds found in our area is second only to Kyiv: 19 foundry molds were found in one place called Serensk. Craftsmen made bracelets, rings, temple rings, crosses, amulets, etc.
Vyatichi conducted brisk trade. Trade relations were established with Arab world, they walked along the Oka and Volga, as well as along the Don and further along the Volga and the Caspian Sea. At the beginning of the 11th century, trade with Western Europe, where the artistic crafts came from. Denarii are replacing other coins and becoming the main means of monetary circulation. But the Vyatichi traded with Byzantium for the longest time - from the 11th to the 12th centuries, where they brought furs, honey, wax, products of gunsmiths and goldsmiths, and in return they received silk fabrics, glass beads and vessels, and bracelets.
Judging by archaeological sources, Vyatic settlements and settlements of the 8th-10th centuries. and even more so XI-XII. centuries were settlements no longer so much of tribal communities as of territorial, neighboring ones. The finds indicate a noticeable stratification of property among the inhabitants of these settlements of that time, the wealth of some and the poverty of others in dwellings and graves, and the development of crafts and trade exchange.
It is interesting that among the local settlements of that time there are not only “urban” type settlements or obvious rural settlements, but also very small settlements surrounded by powerful earthen fortifications. Apparently, these are the remains of fortified estates of local feudal lords of that time, their original “castles”. In the Upa basin, similar fortified estates were found near the villages of Gorodna, Taptykovo, Ketri, Staraya Krapivenka, and Novoe Selo. There are such in other places in the Tula region.
About significant changes in the life of the local population in the 9th-11th centuries. Ancient chronicles tell us. According to the Tale of Bygone Years in the 9th century. The Vyatichi paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. They continued to remain his subjects in the 10th century. The initial tribute was apparently levied on furs and household goods (“from smoke”), and in the 10th century. a monetary tribute was already required and “from the rala” - from the plowman. So the chronicle testifies to the development of arable farming and commodity-money relations among the Vyatichi at this time. Judging by the chronicle data, the land of the Vyatichi in the 8th-11th centuries. was an integral East Slavic territory. For a long time, the Vyatichi maintained their independence and isolation.
Religion
The Vyatichi were pagans and retained the ancient faith longer than other tribes. If in Kievan Rus the main god was Perun - the god of the stormy sky, then among the Vyatichi it was Stribog (" Old God"), who created the universe, the Earth, all the gods, people, flora and fauna. It was he who gave people blacksmith's tongs, taught how to smelt copper and iron, and also established the first laws. In addition, they worshiped Yaril - the sun god who rides across the sky in a wonderful chariot drawn by four white golden-maned horses with golden wings. Every year on June 23, the holiday of Kupala, the god of earthly fruits, was celebrated, when the sun gives the greatest power to plants and medicinal herbs were collected. The Vyatichi believed that on the night of Kupala, trees move from place to place place and talk to each other with the noise of the branches, and whoever has a fern with him can understand the language of every creation. Among young people, Lel, the god of love, was especially revered, who appeared in the world every spring to unlock the bowels of the earth with his keys-flowers for lush growth herbs, bushes and trees, for the triumph of the all-conquering power of Love.The goddess Lada, the patroness of marriage and family, was sung by the Vyatichi people.
In addition, the Vyatichi worshiped the forces of nature. So, they believed in the goblin - the owner of the forest, a wild-looking creature that was taller than any tall tree. The goblin tried to lead a man off the road in the forest, lead him into an impassable swamp, slums and destroy him there. At the bottom of the river, lake, in the pools lived a waterman - a naked, shaggy old man, the owner of the waters and swamps, all their riches. He was the lord of mermaids. Mermaids are the souls of drowned girls, evil creatures. Coming out of the water where they live on a moonlit night, they try to lure a person into the water by singing and charming and tickle him to death. The brownie, the main owner of the house, enjoyed great respect. This is a little old man who looks like the owner of the house, all overgrown with hair, an eternal busybody, often grumpy, but deep down he is kind and caring. In the minds of the Vyatichi people, an unsightly, harmful old man was Father Frost, who shook his gray beard and caused bitter frosts. They used to scare children with Santa Claus. But in the 19th century he turned into a kind creature who, together with the Snow Maiden, brings New Year present. Such were the life, customs and religion of the Vyatichi, in which they differed little from other East Slavic tribes.
Sanctuaries of the Vyatichi
Dedilovo village (formerly Dedilovskaya Sloboda) - the remains of the sacred city of the Vyatichi Dedoslavl on the Shivoron River (a tributary of the Upa), 30 km. southeast of Tula. [B.A. Rybakov, Kievan Rus and Russian principalities of the 12th-13th centuries, M., 1993]
Venevsky toponymic node - 10-15 km from Venev in the South-Eastern sector; Dedilovskie settlements, Terebush village, Gorodenets village.
Vyatichi burial mounds
On Tula land, as well as in neighboring regions - Oryol, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan - groups of mounds are known, and in some cases explored, the remains of pagan cemeteries of the ancient Vyatichi. The mounds near the village of Zapadnaya and the village have been studied in most detail. Dobrogo Suvorovsky district, near the village of Triznovo, Shchekinsky district.
During excavations, remains of corpses were discovered, sometimes several at different times. In some cases they are placed in a clay vessel-urn, in others they are placed on a cleared area with a ring ditch. In a number of mounds, burial chambers were found - wooden frames with plank floors and a covering of split wood. The entrance to such a house - a collective tomb - was blocked with stones or boards, and therefore could be opened for subsequent burials. In other mounds, including those located nearby, there are no such structures.
Establishing the features of funeral rites, ceramics and things discovered during excavations, comparing them with other materials helps to at least to some extent compensate for the extreme paucity of written information that has reached us about the local population of that distant time, about the ancient history of our region. Archaeological materials confirm the chronicle's information about the connections of the local Vyatic, Slavic tribe with other related tribes and tribal unions, about the long-term preservation of old tribal traditions and customs in the life and culture of the local population.
Conquest of Kyiv
In 882, Prince Oleg created a united Old Russian state. The freedom-loving and warlike tribe of the Vyatichi long and persistently defended independence from Kyiv. They were led by princes elected by the people's assembly, who lived in the capital of the Vyatic tribe, the city of Dedoslavl (now Dedilovo). The strongholds were the fortified cities of Mtsensk, Kozelsk, Rostislavl, Lobynsk, Lopasnya, Moskalsk, Serenok and others, which numbered from 1 to 3 thousand inhabitants. Under the command of the Vyatic princes there was a large army, in the front ranks of which stood recognized strongmen and brave men, who boldly exposed their bare breasts to the arrows. Their entire clothing consisted of canvas trousers, tightly belted and tucked into boots, and their weapons were wide axes, so heavy that they fought with both hands. But how terrible were the blows of battle axes: they cut even strong armor and split helmets like clay pots. Warrior-spearmen with large shields made up the second line of fighters, and behind them were crowded archers and javelin throwers - young warriors.
In 907, the Vyatichi were mentioned by the chronicler as participants in the campaign of the Kyiv prince Oleg against Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium.
In 964, the Kiev prince Svyatoslav invaded the easternmost Slavic people. He had a well-armed and disciplined squad, but he did not want a fratricidal war. His negotiations took place with the elders of the Vyatichi people. The chronicle briefly reports this event: “Svyatoslav went to the Oka River and the Volga and met the Vyatichi and said to them: “To whom are you giving tribute?” They answered: “To the Khazars.” Svyatoslav removed the power of the Khazar Kaganate from the Vyatichi, they began to pay tribute to him.
However, the Vyatichi soon separated from Kyiv. The Kiev prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich also fought twice with the Vyatichi. The chronicle says that in 981 he defeated them and laid tribute - from each plow, just as his father took it. But in 982, as the chronicle reports, the Vyatichi rose up in war, and Vladimir went against them and won a second time. Having baptized Rus' in 988, Vladimir sent a monk from the Kiev Pechersk Monastery to the land of the Vyatichi to introduce the forest people to Orthodoxy. Gloomy, bearded men in bast shoes and women wrapped in scarves up to their eyebrows respectfully listened to the visiting missionary, but then unanimously expressed bewilderment: why, why do they need to change the religion of their grandfathers and fathers to faith in Christ? then in a dark corner of the endless Vyatic forests at the hands of fanatical pagans.
It is noteworthy that in the epics about Ilya Muromets, his move from Murom to Kyiv along the “straight road” through the Vyatic territory is considered one of his heroic feats. Usually they preferred to go around it in a roundabout way. Vladimir Monomakh speaks with pride, as if about a special feat, about his campaigns in this land in his “Teachings”, dating back to the end of the 11th century. It should be noted that he does not mention either his conquest of the Vyatichi or the imposition of tribute. Apparently, they were ruled in those days by independent leaders or elders. In the Instruction, Monomakh crushes Khodota and his son from them.
Until the last quarter of the 11th century. The chronicles do not name a single city in the land of the Vyatichi. Apparently, it was essentially unknown to the chroniclers.
Rise of Hodota
In 1066, the proud and rebellious Vyatichi again rose against Kyiv. They are led by Khodota and his son, famous adherents of the pagan religion in their region. Vladimir Monomakh goes to pacify them. His first two campaigns ended in nothing. The squad passed through the forests without encountering the enemy. Only during the third campaign did Monomakh overtake and defeat the forest army of Khodota, but its leader managed to escape.
For the second winter, the Grand Duke prepared differently. First of all, he sent his scouts to the Vyatic settlements, occupied the main ones and brought there all kinds of supplies. And when the frosts hit, Khodota was forced to go to the huts and dugouts to warm up. Monomakh overtook him in one of his winter quarters. The vigilantes knocked out everyone who came to hand in this battle.
But the Vyatichi continued to fight and rebel for a long time, until the governors intercepted and bandaged all the instigators and executed them in front of the villagers with a brutal execution. Only then did the land of the Vyatichi finally become part of the Old Russian state. In the 14th century, the Vyatichi finally disappeared from the historical scene and were no longer mentioned in the chronicles.
Capital of the Vyatichi
The following is known about the capital of the state: “In the 7th-10th centuries, on the Oka and upper Don, there was a Vyatichi state, independent of Kievan Rus. The center of this state, the ancient Russian city of Kordno, is seen by historians near the modern village of Karniki, Venevsky district. Arab sources called this city Khordab and described how the squad collected tribute from the population."
Source - http://www.m-byte.ru/venev/
Vyatichi, Krivichi, Polyan, Dregovichi... Who were our ancestors before they became Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
Vyatichi
The name Vyatichi, in all likelihood, comes from the Proto-Slavic vęt- “big”, as do the names “Vendals” and “Vandals”. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Vyatichi descended “from the clan of the Poles,” that is, from the Western Slavs. The settlement of the Vyatichi came from the territory of the Dnieper left bank and even from the upper reaches of the Dniester. In the Oka River basin they founded their own “state” - Vantit, which is mentioned in the works of the Arab historian Gardizi.
The Vyatichi were an extremely freedom-loving people: the Kyiv princes had to capture them at least four times.
The last time the Vyatichi as a separate tribe was mentioned in chronicles was in 1197, but the legacy of the Vyatichi can be traced back to the 17th century. Many historians consider the Vyatichi to be the ancestors of modern Muscovites.
It is known that the Vyatichi tribes adhered to the pagan faith for a very long time. The chronicler Nestor mentions that polygamy was the order of the day among this tribal union. In the 12th century, the Vyatichi tribes killed the Christian missionary Kuksha Pechersky, and only by the 15th century did the Vyatichi tribes finally accept Orthodoxy.
Krivichi
The Krivichi were first mentioned in the chronicle in 856, although archaeological finds indicate the emergence of the Krivichi as a separate tribe back in the 6th century. The Krivichi were one of the largest East Slavic tribes and lived on the territory of modern Belarus, as well as in the regions of the Podvina and Dnieper regions. The main cities of the Krivichi were Smolensk, Polotsk and Izborsk.
The name of the tribal union comes from the name of the pagan high priest Krive-Krivaitis. Krwe meant “curved,” which could equally indicate the priest’s advanced years as well as his ritual staff.
According to legends, when the high priest could no longer perform his duties, he committed self-immolation. The main task of the krive-krivaitis was sacrifices. Usually goats were sacrificed, but sometimes the animal could be replaced by a human.
The last tribal prince of the Krivichi, Rogvolod, was killed in 980 by the Novgorod prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who took his daughter as his wife. Krivichi are mentioned in chronicles until 1162. Subsequently, they mixed with other tribes and became the ancestors of modern Lithuanians, Russians and Belarusians.
Glade
The Polyans lived along the Dnieper and had no relation to Poland. It is the Polyans who are the founders of Kyiv and the main ancestors of modern Ukrainians.
According to legend, in the Polyan tribe there lived three brothers Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv with their sister Lybid. The brothers built a city on the banks of the Dnieper and named it Kiev, in honor of their elder brother. These brothers laid the foundation for the first princely family. When the Khazars imposed tribute on the Polans, they paid them the first with double-edged swords.
The legend can also explain to us the origin of the glades. It is known that the Slavs, who lived in wooded and swampy areas from the Vistula to the Carpathians, “like spores” settled throughout Europe. Shchek could become the personification of the Czechs, Khoriv - the Croats, and Kiy - the people of Kiev, that is, the Polyans.
Initially, the glades were in a losing position, they were squeezed on all sides by their more numerous and powerful neighbors, and the Khazars forced the glades to pay them tribute. But by the middle of the 8th century, thanks to economic and cultural growth, the glades switched from waiting to offensive tactics. Having captured many of the lands of their neighbors, in 882 the glades themselves came under attack. Novgorod Prince Oleg seized their lands, and declared Kyiv the capital of his new state.
The last time the glades were mentioned in the chronicle was in 944 in connection with Prince Igor’s campaign against Byzantium.
White Croats
Little is known about the White Croats. They came from the upper reaches of the Vistula River and settled on the Danube and along the Morava River. It is believed that their homeland was Great (White) Croatia, which was located on the spurs of the Carpathian Mountains. From here, Europe was settled by red, black and white Croats. The first went to the south, the second to the west, and the third to the east. The fight against the Avars, Germans and other Slavs forced everyone to look for their own path.
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, white Croats took part in Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople in 907. But the chronicles also indicate that Prince Vladimir “went against the Croats” in 992. So the free tribe became part of Kievan Rus.
It is believed that the White Croats are the ancestors of the Carpathian Rusyns.
Drevlyans
The Drevlyans have a bad reputation. The Kyiv princes twice imposed tribute on the Drevlyans for raising an uprising. The Drevlyans did not abuse mercy. Prince Igor, who decided to collect a second tribute from the tribe, was tied up and torn in two.
The prince of the Drevlyans, Mal, immediately wooed Princess Olga, who had barely become a widow. She brutally dealt with his two embassies, and during the funeral feast for her husband she carried out a massacre among the Drevlyans.
The princess finally subjugated the tribe in 946, when she burned their capital Iskorosten with the help of birds that lived in the city. These events went down in history as “Olga’s four revenges on the Drevlyans.”
The Drevlyans could be descendants of the legendary Dulebs - the tribe from which all other Slavic tribes descended. And the word “ancient” is key here. It is interesting that the Drevlyans, along with the Polyans, are the distant ancestors of modern Ukrainians.
Dregovichi
The name Dregovichi comes from the Baltic root “dreguva” - swamp. Dregovichi is one of the most mysterious unions of Slavic tribes. Almost nothing is known about them. At a time when the Kyiv princes were burning neighboring tribes, the Dregovichi “entered” Rus' without resistance.
Apparently, the Dregovichi were a very old tribe. On the island of Peloponnese in Greece there lived a tribe with the same name, and it is quite possible that in ancient times they were the same tribe. The Dregovichi settled in the 9th-12th centuries on the territory of modern Belarus; they are believed to be the ancestors of the Ukrainians and Poleschuks.
Before joining Rus', they had their own reign. The capital of the Dregovichi was the city of Turov. Not far from there was the city of Hil, which was an important ritual center where sacrifices were made to the pagan gods.
Radimichi
The ancestors of the Radimichi were not Slavs, but their closest relatives - the Balts. Their tribes came from the west, ousted by the Goths in the 3rd century, and settled in the area between the upper Dnieper and Desna along the Sozh and its tributaries.
By the 8th-9th centuries, Slavic tribes came from the west and merged with them. Perhaps the chronicles are right: these few “colonists” came “from the Poles,” that is, from the upper reaches of the Vistula, from where many Slavic tribes settled.
Until the 10th century, the Radimichi remained independent, ruled by tribal leaders and had their own army. Unlike most of their neighbors, the Radimichi never lived in dugouts - they built huts with smoking stoves.
In 885, the Kiev prince Oleg asserted his power over them and obliged the Radimichi to pay him tribute, which they had previously paid to the Khazars. In 907, the Radimichi army took part in Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople. Soon after this, the union of tribes freed itself from the power of the Kyiv princes, but already in 984 a new campaign against the Radimichi took place. Their army was defeated, and the lands were finally annexed to Kievan Rus. The last time the Radimichi were mentioned in the chronicle was in 1164, but their blood still flows among modern Belarusians
Slovenia
Slovenes (or Ilmen Slovenes) are the northernmost East Slavic tribe. Slovenes lived in the basin of Lake Ilmen and the upper reaches of Mologa. The first mention of the Slovenes can be dated back to the 8th century.
Slovenia can be called an example of vigorous economic and government development.
In the 8th century, they captured settlements in Ladoga, then established trade relations with Prussia, Pomerania, the islands of Rügen and Gotland, as well as with Arab merchants. After a series of civil strife, Slovenes in the 9th century called for the Varangians to reign. Veliky Novgorod becomes the capital. After this, the Slovenians began to be called Novgorodians; their descendants still live in the Novgorod region.
Ulichi
The Ulichi lived in the lands of the legendary Ants. They were called by many names - “Uglichi”, “uluchi”, “ultsy” and “lyutichi”. Initially, they inhabited the “corner” between the mouth of the Dnieper and the Bug, which is why they may have received one of the names. Later, the nomads drove them out, and the tribes had to move westward. The main “capital” city of the streets was Peresechen, located in the steppe zone.
With Oleg coming to power, the Ulichi began to fight for independence. Sveneld, the governor of the Kyiv prince, had to conquer the lands of the Ulichs piece by piece - the tribes fought for every village and settlement. Sveneld besieged the capital for three years until the city finally surrendered.
Even subject to tribute, the Ulichi tried to restore their own lands after the war, but soon a new trouble came - the Pechenegs. The Ulichi were forced to flee to the north, where they mixed with the Volynians. In the 970s, the streets were mentioned in chronicles for the last time.
Volynians
The Volynians lived at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries in the basin of the upper reaches of the Western Bug and near the sources of Pripyat. Archaeologists note that the Volynians were mainly engaged in agriculture and crafts, but it is known that the tribes owned more than 70 fortresses.
The Volynians took part in Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople in 907, albeit as translators. Unlike many other tribes captured by the prince of Kyiv by this time, the Volynians did this voluntarily.
The Volynians were captured only in 981, when the Kiev prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich subjugated the Przemysl and Cherven lands.
East Slavic union of tribes living in the basin of the upper and middle reaches of the Oka and along the Moscow River. The settlement of the Vyatichi occurred from the territory of the Dnieper left bank or from the upper reaches of the Dniester. The substrate of the Vyatichi was the local Baltic population. The Vyatichi preserved pagan beliefs longer than other Slavic tribes and resisted the influence of the Kyiv princes. Disobedience and belligerence - business card Vyatichi tribe.
Tribal union of the Eastern Slavs of the 6th-11th centuries. They lived in the territories of what are now Vitebsk, Mogilev, Pskov, Bryansk and Smolensk regions, as well as eastern Latvia. They were formed on the basis of the incoming Slavic and local Baltic population - Tushemlinskaya culture. The ethnogenesis of the Krivichi involved the remnants of local Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes - Estonians, Livs, Latgalians - who mixed with the numerous newcomer Slavic population. The Krivichi are divided into two large groups: Pskov and Polotsk-Smolensk. In the culture of the Polotsk-Smolensk Krivichi, along with Slavic elements of decoration, there are elements of the Baltic type.
Slovenian Ilmenskie- a tribal union of Eastern Slavs on the territory of the Novgorod land, mainly in the lands near Lake Ilmen, adjacent to the Krivichi. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Ilmen Slovenes, together with the Krivichi, Chud and Meri, participated in the calling of the Varangians, who were related to the Slovenes - immigrants from the Baltic Pomerania. A number of historians consider the ancestral home of the Slovenes to be the Dnieper region, others trace the ancestors of the Ilmen Slovenes from the Baltic Pomerania, since the legends, beliefs and customs, the type of dwellings of the Novgorodians and Polabian Slavs are very similar.
Duleby- tribal union of the Eastern Slavs. They inhabited the territories of the Bug River basin and the right tributaries of the Pripyat. In the 10th century The association of Dulebs disintegrated, and their lands became part of Kievan Rus.
Volynians- an East Slavic union of tribes that lived on the territory on both banks of the Western Bug and at the source of the river. Pripyat. In Russian chronicles, Volynians were first mentioned in 907. In the 10th century, the Vladimir-Volyn principality was formed on the lands of the Volynians.
Drevlyans- East Slavic tribal union, which occupied in the 6th-10th centuries. the territory of Polesie, the Right Bank of the Dnieper, west of the glades, along the rivers Teterev, Uzh, Ubort, Stviga. The area of residence of the Drevlyans corresponds to the area of the Luka-Raykovets culture. The name Drevlyans was given to them because they lived in forests.
Dregovichi- tribal union of the Eastern Slavs. The exact boundaries of the habitat of Dregovichi have not yet been established. According to a number of researchers, in the 6th-9th centuries the Dregovichi occupied territory in the middle part of the Pripyat River basin, in the 11th - 12th centuries the southern border of their settlement ran south of Pripyat, the northwestern - in the watershed of the Drut and Berezina rivers, the western - in the upper reaches of the Neman River . When settling Belarus, the Dregovichi moved from south to north to the Neman River, which indicates their southern origin.
Polotsk residents- a Slavic tribe, part of the tribal union of the Krivichi, who lived along the banks of the Dvina River and its tributary Polota, from which they got their name.
The center of Polotsk land was the city of Polotsk.
Glade- a tribal union of Eastern Slavs who lived on the Dnieper, in the area of modern Kyiv. The very origin of the glades remains unclear, since the territory of their settlement was at the junction of several archaeological cultures.
Radimichi- an East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the eastern part of the Upper Dnieper region, along the Sozh River and its tributaries in the 8th-9th centuries. Convenient river routes passed through the lands of the Radimichi, connecting them with Kiev. The Radimichi and Vyatichi had a similar burial rite - the ashes were buried in a log house - and similar female temple jewelry (temporal rings) - seven-rayed (among the Vyatichi - seven-paste). Archaeologists and linguists suggest that the Balt tribes living in the upper reaches of the Dnieper also participated in the creation of the material culture of the Radimichi.
Northerners- an East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the 9th-10th centuries along the Desna, Seim and Sula rivers. The origin of the name northerners is of Scythian-Sarmatian origin and is traced back to the Iranian word “black”, which is confirmed by the name of the city of northerners - Chernigov. The main occupation of the northerners was agriculture.
Tivertsy- an East Slavic tribe that settled in the 9th century in the area between the Dniester and Prut rivers, as well as the Danube, including along the Budjak coast of the Black Sea in the territory of modern Moldova and Ukraine.
Ulichi- East Slavic tribal union that existed in the 9th - 10th centuries. The Ulichi lived in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Bug and on the shores of the Black Sea. The center of the tribal union was the city of Peresechen. The Ulichi for a long time resisted the attempts of the Kyiv princes to subjugate them to their power.
