In the east, the Vladimir lands bordered on another great principality of North-Eastern Rus' - Nizhny Novgorod. This principality was formed as a result of the political action of the Horde. In 1341, Khan Uzbek transferred the territories of Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets, which had hitherto been part of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, to the Suzdal prince Konstantin Vasilyevich. As a result of this action of the Horde, the Grand Duchy of Vladimir was weakened, i.e. The Moscow princes who ruled this principality and were gaining strength, since a large territory was leaving their control as the Grand Dukes of Vladimir. In addition, on the eastern outskirts of the Russian lands a new large state formation arose, the prince of which, relying on the support of the Mongol-Tatars and his own significant resources, could pursue a policy that was not coordinated with the policy of the rest of the Russian principalities. The Horde's action thus prevented the development of centripetal tendencies in North-Eastern Rus'.
In the 50s of the XIV century. The Nizhny Novgorod principality extended from the river. Nerl Klyazminskaya and its right tributary river. Irmes in the west to the river. Sura and its left tributaries of the Piana and Kishi rivers in the east, from Unzha in the north to Sarah (a settlement in the middle reaches of the Sura river) in the south. It included such cities as Nizhny Novgorod, Suzdal, Gorodets, Gorokhovets, Berezhets and, probably, Unzha. However, this significant territory was populated and developed unevenly.
The most populated and cultivated was the ancient district of Suzdal. The famous Suzdal Opolye contained within its borders many ancient large villages, but the areas located only 25-30 km east and north of Suzdal were large forests with small and rare settlements. Apparently, the areas of the upper reaches of the Uvodi, Teza and Lukha rivers that belonged to Suzdal were just as sparsely populated. The rest of the territory of the principality remained poorly developed. Even near Gorodets and Nizhny Novgorod by the middle of the 14th century. Such a rural district as Suzdal had had not yet been formed. Even at a much later time, Gorodets villages did not move far from the banks of the Volga 10. And in the territory that belonged to Nizhny Novgorod, even in the 15th century. forests grew over an area of several hundred square kilometers 11 . However, the economic level of development of the cities themselves was quite high. This especially applies to Nizhny Novgorod, in the 14th century. which has become one of the largest cities in Eastern Europe. In Nizhny Novgorod, complex and delicate medieval crafts such as bell casting, copper gilding, and stone construction developed. Nizhny Novgorod became the second city in North-Eastern Rus' after Moscow, where in 1372 the construction of the walls of the stone Kremlin began. The city grew into a large international trade center, where even eastern merchants sailed with their goods 12.
Politically, by the end of the 50s of the XIV century. The Nizhny Novgorod principality was not completely united. The first Nizhny Novgorod prince Konstantin Vasilyevich of Suzdal, who ruled the principality autocratically and even made an attempt in 1354 after the death of Simeon the Proud to challenge Ivan the Red in the Horde for the throne of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir 13, died in 1355. 14 He divided the Nizhny Novgorod principality into parts among his sons -heirs. The eldest son of Konstantin Andrei received Nizhny Novgorod proper with the volosts related to it along the lower Oka and lower Klyazma, as well as along the river. Volga, mainly along the right tributaries of the latter. The second son of Konstantin, Dmitry-Foma, received the city of Suzdal and settled in the Suzdal region. Perhaps he owned some lands to the northeast of Suzdal. Konstantin's third son Boris inherited Gorodets with its volosts located on both banks of the river. Volga from the lower reaches of the river. Unzhi until the later Balakhna. Finally, Konstantin’s fourth son, also Dmitry, nicknamed Nogot, owned suburban Suzdal villages and lands along the lower reaches of the river. Uvodi and its right tributaries of the Vyazma and Ukhtoma rivers 15.
To enlarge the map image, click on the map
Thus, in the second half of the 50s of the XIV century. The Nizhny Novgorod principality was divided into four parts according to the number of owners - heirs of Prince Constantine. The beginning of the feudal fragmentation of the Nizhny Novgorod territory did not yet entail the political isolation of local fiefs, but, apparently, it had a certain influence on the general political position of the Nizhny Novgorod princes. In any case, the Nizhny Novgorod prince Andrei Konstantinovich was forced to conclude an agreement in 1356 with the Moscow prince Ivan the Red, who occupied the Vladimir table, according to which he recognized himself as the “young brother” of the Grand Duke, i.e. formally agreed to consider the latter his overlord 16.
COMMENTS
Nasonov A.N. Mongols and Rus'. M.; L., 1940, p. 97-98.
PSRL, vol. XV, issue. 1, stb. 64.
There, Stb. 72.
There, Stb. 54.
NPL, p. 477; ASVR. M., 1958, vol. II, No. 435, p. 479.
PSRL, vol. XV, issue. 1, stb. 78; NPL, p. 477.
The city of Unzha was first mentioned in the 13th century. (PSRL. M.; L., 1949, vol. XXV, p. 116). At the beginning of the 15th century. the Unzha tamga is mentioned, which was collected by the prince who owned Gorodets (DDG, No. 86, p. 43; cf. NPL, p. 477). The cities of Gorokhovets, Berezhets and Unzha are mentioned in the famous list “And these are the names of all Russian cities, far and near” (NPL, p. 477), compiled around 1394-1396. (Naumov E.P. On the history of the chronicle “List of Russian cities far and near.” - In the book: Chronicles and Chronicles: Collection of articles, 1973. M., 1974, pp. 157, 163).
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Occupied the territory along the river. Irmes, the middle reaches of the Nerl Klyazminskaya River, the lower reaches of the Klyazma and Oka, the middle reaches of the Volga from the lower reaches of the Unzha River to the lower reaches of the Sura River.
Its main centers were Suzdal, Yuryevets, Gorodets. The capital is Nizhny Novgorod.
Story
The Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality was formed in 1341, when the Khan of the Golden Horde, Uzbek, divided the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, transferring Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets to the Suzdal prince Konstantin Vasilyevich. The rise of Nizhny Novgorod in the lane. floor. XIV century led to the transfer of the capital of the newly formed principality there from Suzdal. The development of feudal land ownership and trade, especially in the Volga region, support from the Horde and Novgorod allowed the princes of the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality Konstantin Vasilyevich and his son Dmitry to fight the Moscow princes for the great reign of Vladimir. Dmitry in 1360 and 1363 captured the great reign, but not for long. From 1364 to 1382 he was already acting as an ally of the Moscow prince. In 1382, the Nizhny Novgorod princes took part in Tokhtamysh’s attack on Moscow.
The existence of fiefs in the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality (the main fief was Gorodetsky) and the pressure of the Horde contributed to the aggravation of feudal contradictions. The orientation of some of the Nizhny Novgorod princes towards the Mongol-Tatars contradicted the unifying aspirations of Moscow. In 1392, Moscow Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich captured Nizhny Novgorod. From that time on, the Moscow Grand Dukes kept the Volga region in their hands, although the princes of the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal Principality, with the help of the Mongol-Tatars, sometimes sought the return of Nizhny Novgorod (1395, 1411-14, 1440s).
Relations with the Golden Horde
After the assassination of Khan Janibek in 1357, unrest began in the Golden Horde, indicating the beginning of the collapse of a unified state. From 1357 to 1380 More than 25 khans sat on the Golden Horde throne.
Individual Horde feudal lords strengthened their possessions in the territories directly bordering the southeastern borders of the principality. The response was the construction of guard fortresses on the Kisha and Sara rivers, and outposts in the middle reaches of the Piana River. In 1372, the city of Kurmysh was founded on the eastern border of the principality.
The Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal squads periodically organized military campaigns on the territory of the Saransk khans. The largest campaign was organized in 1370 against the possessions of the Bulgar prince Hasan (Osan).
K ser. 1370s In the Golden Horde, the influence of the temnik Mamai strengthened, who began to send detachments to the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Volga region. In 1377-78. The Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality suffered a series of crushing defeats. In the battle on the Pyana River, the army of Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich was defeated, and Nizhny Novgorod was burned by troops led by Arapsha.
Despite the weakening, the principality sent its squads to participate in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380) on the side of Dmitry Donskoy.
Chronology
- 1341 - The Gorodets principality passed to the brother of Alexander Vasilyevich, Konstantin Vasilyevich, then to the son of Konstantin Vasilyevich, Andrei Konstantinovich.
- 1350 - Konstantin Vasilyevich moved the capital to Nizhny Novgorod.
- 1356 - Andrei Konstantinovich gave Suzdal as an inheritance to his brother, Dmitry Konstantinovich.
- 1359 - Dmitry Konstantinovich Suzdal received a label to rule the Grand Duchy of Vladimir.
- 1362 - the Grand Duchy of Vladimir was transferred to Dmitry Donskoy (at that time he was 12 years old).
- 1363 - Dmitry of Suzdal regained Vladimir, but not for long.
- 1365 - after the death of Andrei, Dmitry Konstantinovich became Grand Duke.
- 1366 - reconciliation of Dmitry Donskoy and Dmitry Suzdal, marriage of Dmitry Donskoy with the daughter of Dmitry Suzdal Evdokia.
- 1376 - a joint campaign with Moscow against the Bulgar under the leadership of Dmitry Bobrok.
- 1377 - Ivan Dmitrievich, son of Dmitry of Suzdal, died in the battle on the Piana River.
- 1380 - troops of the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality took part in the Battle of Kulikovo on the side of Dmitry Donskoy. Almost the entire army of Dmitry Konstantinovich died in the battle (including about 100 boyars).
- 1382 - troops of the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality under the leadership of Vasily Kirdyapa and Semyon Dmitrievich joined the army of Tokhtamysh with the aim of attacking Moscow. Semyon and Vasily persuaded the Muscovites to open the gates, and subsequently participated in the sack of Moscow. Vasily Tokhtamysh took to the Horde.
- 1383 - death of Dmitry of Suzdal, his brother Boris Konstantinovich became the Grand Duke of Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal.
- 1387 - Vasily Kirdyapa, son of Dmitry of Suzdal, left the Horde with a label to reign.
- 1392 - Vasily I Dmitrievich, son of Dmitry Donskoy, captured Nizhny Novgorod.
- 1393 (according to other sources, 1395, according to Solovyov, 1399) - Semyon, the son of Dmitry of Suzdal, tried to return Nizhny Novgorod by force. The attempt turned out to be successful, but Tsarevich Yeytyak, who went with them as an ally, killed both the remaining defenders of the city and the attackers. At this time, Vasily Dmitrievich from Moscow bought a label for the reign, and gave Semyon and Vasily inheritance to Shuya. Vasily Kirdyapa, dissatisfied with this decision, went to the Horde in 1394, but did not achieve success there. Semyon died in Vyatka in 1402, Vasily died in Gorodets in 1403.
- 1408 - Edigei wiped Gorodets off the face of the earth.
- 1445 - Ulu-Muhammad used Nizhny Novgorod as a stronghold in the war with Vasily II the Dark.
- 1446-47 - Fyodor and Vasily, the sons of Yuri Vasilyevich Shuisky, the grandchildren of Vasily Dmitrievich Kirdyapa, with the help of Dmitry Shemyaki, regained the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality, but after the defeat the Shemyaks went over to the side of Moscow.
At the beginning of the 14th century. The Principality of Suzdal, which in 1341 became part of the Principality of Nizhny Novgorod, apparently occupied a middle place between the other principalities of North-Eastern Rus' in terms of the size of its territory. It is possible to get an idea of the boundaries of this territory only from the data of the 15th, and partly even the 16th century. We have to resort to such late evidence because information on the geography of the Suzdal principality for the entire XIV century, not to mention the first decades of the said century, when the Suzdal principality, at least nominally, remained independent, is literally isolated. The use of a retrospective method of determining the boundaries of the Suzdal principality at the time of its sovereignty makes it possible to outline these boundaries, naturally, approximately. But the error should not be particularly large. In the XIV century. the Suzdal princes did not enter into conflicts with their neighbors that would result in a significant redrawing of territories. Of course, the borders of the principality did not remain unchanged. During the XIV-XV centuries. they apparently expanded primarily as a result of the continued economic development of the region, and mainly to the north, but the amplitude of their fluctuations could not be very large. Therefore, a retrospective restoration of the boundaries of the Suzdal principality of the first three decades of the 14th century. gives, although not detailed, a fairly solid idea of the territory that was under the rule of the descendants of Prince Andrei Yaroslavich.
Vladimir was located to the south, in comparative proximity to Suzdal, and Yuryev to the west. These two ancient cities of North-Eastern Rus' in the 14th century. were princely centers. The territories under their control were formed long ago and in the developed areas had clear boundaries. Consequently, it is possible to outline the southern border of the Suzdal Principality, which separated its territory from the territory of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, as well as the western border, dividing the Suzdal lands and the lands of the Yuryev Principality.
Documents of the 15th century record a number of settlements and other geographical objects in the southern part of the Suzdal region, the location of which makes it possible to identify the old Suzdal-Vladimir border. So, in this letter N.D. Narbekov, compiled around 1444-1445, mentions “Kruglaya meadow, going to Pechuza.” The Pechuga River flows into the river. Nerl Klyazminskaya on the left side. The Round Meadow was located “under the settlement near Niska on the other side of the Nerl.” Slobodka Nizkaya is the latest Shchenyacha settlement, standing on the right bank of the Nerl not far from the confluence of the Pechuga into it. Consequently, Krugly meadow is localized in the area between the Nerl and Pechuga rivers. The meadow was mowed by the peasants of the settlement of Chapikhi - the possessions of the descendants of the Suzdal princes. Thus, the right bank part of the lower Pechuga was Suzdal. According to data from the end of the first quarter of the 16th century, the lands along the left bank of the Pechuga belonged to the Vladimir Chistush beekeepers. The village of Chistukha survived into the 19th century. It was located about three kilometers southwest of the mouth of the Pechuga. It is obvious that the Pechuga in its lower reaches was the Suzdal-Vladimir border.
To the west of the Pechuzhsky mouth, down the Nerl, on its right bank stood those mentioned in acts of the 15th century. villages Mordash and Vasilkovo. The lands of these villages had a common border. The village of Mordash was a long-time possession of the Suzdal princes. The fact that in the middle of the 15th century. The Moscow grand-ducal administration did not know how to separate the Mordash lands from the Vasilkov lands, and entrusted the delimitation of these lands to the people of Princess Maria, the widow of the Suzdal prince Semyon Alexandrovich, which allows us to conclude that the village. Vasilkovo once belonged to the Suzdal princes. This establishes that the lands along the right bank of the Nerl below the confluence of the Pechuga into it have long been Suzdal.
The village also applied to Suzdal. Ulola. By name it is identified with the village. Ulol XIX century The village of Ulola was located to the west, with a slight deviation to the north, from the village. Vasilkova, about three km from it. In the 15th century the villages of Ulola and Vasilkovo were given by the Moscow Grand Dukes to the Vladimir Nativity Monastery, and documents from the 17th century. and the retelling of the ancient letters of this monastery from the same time indicate that both villages belonged to the territory of the Suzdal district. The lands of the named villages were apparently located on the very border of the Suzdal region. This can be thought because it was located less than four km southwest of the village. Uloli s. Borisovskoe referred to Vladimir.
Further from the village. Uloli to the west - northwest, in a space of 12 km, stood the villages of Pavlovskoye, Fedorovskoye and Turtinskoye, which are known to have been Suzdal. The villages of Pavlovskoye and Turtinskoye, according to the data of the 16th century, were part of the Suzdal district. They were the property of the Suzdal Vladyka See, and, apparently, from a fairly early time. The village of Pavlovskoye, in particular, is mentioned in a document from the 70s of the 15th century. . As for s. Fedorovsky, then it appears in a number of acts of the 15th century, and in some with the indication “in Suzdal”. Mention in one of the charters of the third quarter of the 15th century. next to the lands of Fedorovsky of Vypovskaya land and Tarbaev indicates that we are talking specifically about the village. Fedorovsky, located west-northwest of the village. Ulol, since the villages of Vypovo and Tarbaevo, which survived into the 19th century. , as cartographic materials show, were neighbors with the village. Fedorovsky.
Thus, the localization of the settlements and lands listed above in the south of the Suzdal region and partly in the north of the Vladimir territory allows us to draw an approximate border between the Suzdal principality and the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. It turns out that this ancient border basically coincided with the later border of Suzdal and Vladimir districts.
The western limit of the possessions of the Suzdal princes is established in a similar way. Evidence has been preserved that the wife of Dmitry Donskoy, Princess Evdokia, the daughter of the Nizhny Novgorod prince (from Suzdal) Dmitry Konstantinovich, donated the village of Baskakovo to the Vladimir Nativity Monastery. The lands of this village were located along the banks of the river. Irmesa, near the village. Dergaev, which belonged to the 60s of the 15th century. Trinity-Sergius Monastery. According to data from the 17th century, p. Baskakovo belonged to the Suzdal district. The given evidence about the village. Baskakov allows us to identify it with the village of Baskaki in the 19th century, which stood in the upper reaches of the river. Irmes, near its right bank.
Other possessions of the Suzdal princes were located on the same river. Thus, in the contractual document of 1445 between Dmitry Shemyaka and the Nizhny Novgorod princes Vasily and Fyodor Yuryevich, the “specific” Suzdal village “Slobodka Shipovskaya” is mentioned. A settlement with this name was also known in the 19th century. It stood on the right bank of the Irmes, 7-7.5 km (in a straight line) from the village of Baskaki. Somewhat higher than Shipovskaya Slobodka on the other bank of the Irmes, cartographic materials from the 19th century. fix with. Shipovo. Near this village (now a village) a burial mound of the 11th-13th centuries was discovered. . Consequently, Shipovo was a fairly ancient settlement. There is no doubt that there is a genetic connection between Shipov and Shipovskaya Slobodka (the latter probably branched off from the former). But if Shipovskaya Slobodka was part of the lands of the Suzdal princes, then Shipovo, most likely, should have belonged to the same princes. Their possessions apparently lay on both banks of the Irmes.
The agreement concluded in the second half of 1434 between Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich and his cousins Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry the Red contained the following clause: “And what did my son-in-law, Prince Oleksandr Ivanovich, introduce to your father four villages, two Gavrilovsky, and Yaryshevo, and Ivanovo , I owe five hundred rubles, and I’ll send it to you as soon as possible.” From the text of the agreement it turns out that the four villages named in it at one time belonged to the son-in-law of the Grand Duke. We are talking about Prince Alexander Ivanovich, married to Vasily Vasilyevich's sister Vasilisa. Prince Alexander came from a family of Nizhny Novgorod (Suzdal) princes and his patrimonial villages of Gavrilovsky, Yaryshevo and Ivanovskoye should be considered as part of the territory of the once independent Suzdal principality.
The two Gavrilovsky villages by name can be identified with the later Gavrilovsky Posad and Gavrilovskaya Sloboda, located adjacent to each other on the left bank of the Irmes, on both sides of the mouth of the river. Vaimigi (Voimigi). Regarding the location of the village. Yarysheva M.K. Lyubavsky wrote that it stood on Irmes, but placed the village on the map attached to his study. Yaryshevo north of the villages of Gavrilovskiye, with the latest localization M.K. Lyubavsky agreed to I.A. Golubtsov. Indeed, for the premises with. Yaryshev's charter of 1434 on Vaimig has every reason. Firstly, this village is located near the Gavrilovsky villages mentioned with it. Secondly, it was also in the 19th century. belonged to state villages. As for s. Ivanovsky, then he should apparently be identified with s. Ivanovo of the 19th century, located 8 km north-northwest of the village. Yaryshev near a large forest area.
From the above it follows that the western border of the Suzdal principality passed somewhere in the Irmes region, probably capturing its upper reaches and lands along the left bank of the river before its course turned east. From this bend of Irmes, the western Suzdal lands extended north to the neighboring village. Ivanovsky forests.
It is difficult to say how far the Suzdal lands went to the northwest from the outlined area. Perhaps they reached the upper reaches of the Nerl Klyazminskaya. This river was part of the waterway connecting the Upper Volga region with the Volga-Klyazma interfluve in both the pre-Mongol and post-Mongol periods. The upper reaches of the Nerl Klyazminskaya were inhabited by the Slavs in the 11th-13th centuries. . Pearl Klyazminskaya represented a convenient route for the distribution of Suzdal tribute, so it seems very likely that the lands along its upper course were part of the Suzdal principality.
The northern and eastern borders of this principality are even more difficult to outline than the southern or western ones. On the one hand, there are facts that allow us to talk about development only in the second half of the 15th century. lands located just 25-30 km north of Suzdal. Thus, in one of the charters of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, dating back to approximately the mid-60s of the 15th century, the reapings on the Nerl River of the monastic village of Stebachev, which were mowed down by the peasants of the Grand Duke, are mentioned. At the trial, these peasants testified that they were “newcomers” and that “our sovereign prince ordered us to plant great roads from Krasenskie roads to Shatrishchi.” The village of Shatrishchi was located on the right bank of the Nerl Klyazminskaya at a distance of approximately 22 km in a straight line north of Suzdal. The village of Stebachevo stood on the other bank of the Nerl, 5 kilometers (also in a straight line) north of Shatrishchi. Apparently, even in the second half of the 15th century. this area was not populated enough, since peasants were “called” here by Grand Duke Ivan III.
On the other hand, data from the 13th century. indicate the existence of a land route from Vladimir to Gorodets Radilov, passing through the village. Omutskoe, i.e. through Suzdal to the north and further to the east. If this rather long road, which in pre-Mongol times connected various centers of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, did not run through the territory of the Starodub principality, but went only through the Vladimir lands, then it should have passed north of the Starodub village of Palekh. Such a long path had to be laid between some villages. And the populated lands in the XIII-XIV centuries. could not help but be objects of state feudal exploitation. After the separation of Suzdal from the Vladimir principality in 1238, a significant part of the territory along which the road to Gorodets Radilov passed should have gone to the Suzdal princes. And then the border of the Suzdal principality must be moved much north of the previously indicated area of the villages of Shatrishch and Stebachev.
To concretize the idea expressed, evidence from the 15th-16th centuries is important. about the ownership of the lands along the middle and lower reaches of the left tributary of the Klyazma river by the descendants of the Suzdal princes. Uvodi and the right tributaries of the latter - the rivers Ukhtoma (Ukhtokhma) and Vyazma, as well as lands along the upper reaches of the river. Tezy, in the area of the St. Nicholas Shartom Monastery. Probably, the northern border of the Suzdal principality at the time of its political independence crossed the upper reaches of the rivers Vyazma, Ukhtoma, Uvodi and Teza, reaching the river in the east. Lukh or the watershed between the Teza and Lukh rivers. In any case, beyond Lukh at the beginning of the 15th century. Gorodets lands were located in 1341-1392. were part of the Grand Duchy of Nizhny Novgorod.
The lands of the Starodub principality extended to the middle reaches of the Lukh, and the lower reaches of this river demarcated in the 15th century. Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod territories. Thus, the eastern border of the Suzdal principality could only reach the upper and partly the middle reaches of the Lukh. From here the Suzdal border ran in a southwestern direction to the southern outskirts of the principality, sharply wedged along the river. Take me to the Starodub lands.
Possessions of the Suzdal princes of the first four decades of the 14th century. within the outlined limits they were developed and populated far from evenly. Most of all, the lands around Suzdal itself along the Nerl Klyazminskaya and its right tributary of the river were developed. Irmes. The wooded northern and eastern parts of the principality were developed during the 15th-17th centuries. Thus, at the time of the political independence of the Suzdal principality, its princes actually had at their disposal a rather limited in size inhabited and developed territory, from the population of which feudal rent could be collected.
Economic weakness largely determined the political weakness of the Suzdal princes at the beginning of the 14th century. An indicator of the deterioration of their property situation and the decline of power in their own principality is the purchase by the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Danilovich of Moscow. Vessky and the village of Koshcheevo. The purchase took place between the summer of 1317 and the autumn of 1322, when Yuri occupied the grand-ducal table. The village of Vesskoye (Ves) and the village of Koshcheevo stood on the right bank of the Irmes, 7 and 14 km northwest of Suzdal. We are, therefore, talking about the grand ducal acquisition not on the outskirts of the Suzdal principality, where his lands were in contact with the grand ducal ones, but in the very center of the Suzdal region, in the thick of the possessions of local princes. This introduction of grand-ducal power into Suzdal territory, although it was short-lived (Yuri of Moscow donated Vesskoe and Koshcheevo to the Vladimir Nativity Monastery, which could have taken place before Yuri’s death in 1325), nevertheless eloquently demonstrates the political weakness of the Suzdal princes and their certain dependence on the Vladimir Grand Duke.
It is possible that this decline in the role and significance of the Suzdal principality was aggravated by the fragmentation of its territory. After the death of Suzdal Prince Vasily Mikhailovich in 1309, his two sons remained - Alexander and Konstantin. The existence of two princely heirs makes the division of the Suzdal principality theoretically possible already at the end of the first decade of the 14th century. However, researchers have no data to support or refute this assumption.
Under Prince Konstantin Vasilyevich, the historical destinies of Suzdal became linked with Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets. A new state entity arose in North-Eastern Rus' - the Nizhny Novgorod Principality. But in the first years of the 14th century, the Gorodets principality, allocated to the third son of Alexander Nevsky, Andrei, continued to exist in the Middle Volga region. With the death of Prince Andrei Alexandrovich, who simultaneously occupied the table of the great reign of Vladimir, the Gorodets principality did not lose its independence. The fact that Prince Andrei was buried in Gorodets indicates that this city remained the center of his patrimonial lands. The existence of a special principality in the Volga region is indirectly indicated by the chronicle record of the Nizhny Novgorod events of 1305. In the Sophia I Chronicle, under the named year, it is reported that “in Novgorod in Nizhny, black people beat the boyars; Prince Mikhailo Andreevich from the Horde arrived in Nizhny Novgorod and beat up the eternal people.” Since a very similar text is also in the IV Novgorod Chronicle, it becomes clear that the news about the Nizhny Novgorod events of the beginning of the 14th century. was read in the common source of the Sofia I and Novgorod IV chronicles - the Novgorod-Sophia code of the 30s of the 15th century. and, apparently, went back to the all-Russian source of this code - the code of 1423 by Metropolitan Photius.
The data on the origin of the chronicle record of 1305 that interests us must be kept in mind because in some other chronicles the person who dealt with the Nizhny Novgorod Eternalists is named Prince Mikhail, but not Andreevich, but Yaroslavich. The latter circumstance gave rise to some historians to suspect an error in the Novgorod IV and Sofia I chronicles and write about the Tver prince Mikhail Yaroslavich, who returned from the Horde in 1305 with a label for the great reign of Vladimir, attributing to him the pacification of the Nizhny Novgorod uprising. If you agree with these researchers, you will have to admit that after the death of Grand Duke Andrei Alexandrovich, the Gorodets principality (or at least a significant part of it - Nizhny Novgorod) came under the rule of his successor on the grand ducal throne, Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy. However, the name of this prince, when describing the Nizhny Novgorod events of 1305, appears only in the code of 1509 (in the so-called “Tsar’s list”) and in the Resurrection Chronicle. Of the two named monuments, the older is undoubtedly the Tsarsky list, which, moreover, as it turns out, was the direct source of the Resurrection Code. An appeal to the manuscript of the Tsar's list shows that the original patronymic of Prince Mikhail in the article of 1305 “[And]reevich” was washed out and transferred to “Yaroslavich” in a different handwriting. Obviously, this is the result of the not entirely qualified editorial work of the 16th century compilers, based on the entries in the Tsar’s list adjacent to the article of 1305, where Mikhail Yaroslavich was mentioned, who decided that under 1305 we are talking about him, and the patronymic “[ Andreevich" is a mistake. From Tsarsky's list, the incorrect amendment was transferred to the Resurrection Chronicle. So, in the first half of the 16th century. As a result of unsuccessful comprehension of chronicle texts, news arose about the involvement of Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy in the events in Nizhny Novgorod.
In fact, we should be talking about Prince Mikhail Andreevich. It follows that in Nizhny Novgorod at the beginning of the 14th century. a special prince acted.
What branch of Russian princes did Mikhail Andreevich belong to? Researchers do not have a consensus on this matter. CM. Solovyov was inclined to think that Mikhail Andreevich was the son of Grand Duke Andrei Alexandrovich. Opinion of S.M. Solovyov was strongly challenged by A.V. Ekzemplyarsky, following N.M. Karamzin believed that Prince Mikhail was the son of Alexander Nevsky’s brother Andrei Yaroslavich. Both researchers relied on the genealogical paintings of the Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod princes placed in the Nikon Chronicle. However, these genealogical paintings are from a late chronicle monument, as A.E. rightly noted. Presnyakov, confused and contradictory. In addition, they turn out to be inserts made by the compilers of the Nikon Code in the 16th century. . Therefore, rely on them when solving genealogical issues of the 14th century. it is forbidden. If we proceed from the data of the article of 1305, then it is necessary to note two circumstances: firstly, Prince Mikhail acts in the area where Andrei Alexandrovich reigned immediately before (Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets always belonged to the same political-administrative territory); secondly, Mikhail’s patronymic coincides with the name of the same Andrei Alexandrovich. The combination of both facts makes us see in Mikhail Andreevich the son of Andrei Alexandrovich. The consistency of this conclusion with the testimony of the record of 1303 about the consecration of the church in Vologda under Prince Andrei Alexandrovich and his son Mikhail leads to the firm conclusion that Grand Duke Andrei had a son Mikhail. At the same time, it becomes obvious that Mikhail inherited his father’s patrimony - the Principality of Gorodets.
Thus, the chronicle evidence of 1304 about the burial of Grand Duke Andrei Alexandrovich in Gorodets and 1305 about the actions of his son Mikhail in Nizhny Novgorod indicate the continued existence of an independent Gorodets principality in the eastern part of Rus'. This was the case until 1311.
Under 1311, in some chronicles, the news was preserved that “Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Tfersky, having gathered many people, and wants to march an army to Novugorod against Prince Yury, and Peter Metropolitan did not bless him with a table in Volodymeri; He stood by Volodymeri for 3 weeks and disbanded the army and returned to his land.” Having quoted this message, as M.D. believes. Priselkov - from the parchment Trinity Chronicle, N.M. Karamzin considered it to belong to a later time and tell about events associated not with Novgorod Nizhny, but with Novgorod the Great. Dating the conflict between Dmitry Tverskoy and Yuri Moskovsky to 1312, S.M. Soloviev admitted that the Tver prince intended to go on a campaign against Nizhny Novgorod. However, the scientist found that all the news was “difficult to explain.” It turned out to be “not entirely clear” for A.V. Instance. Referring to the corresponding places in the Novgorod IV, Sofia I, Nikon and Resurrection chronicles, the researcher for some reason focused his attention on the latest of them - the Resurrection Chronicle, where it was said that Dmitry Mikhailovich “wanted to march against Novgorod Nizhny with an army and against Prince Yury.” The saving union “and” made it possible for A.V. Ekzemplyarsky to deny the presence of the Moscow prince in Nizhny Novgorod in 1311. However, finishing the consideration of data on the fate of Nizhny in the first third of the 14th century, the historian was forced to draw a disappointing conclusion: “So, it is difficult to say anything more or less definite about whether or not the Moscow princes owned the Suzdal suburbs (we are talking about Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets. - VC.), although it is obvious that there are fewer chances in favor of this opinion than in the opposite direction.” An interesting commentary on the news of 1311 was given by A.E. Presnyakov, but the researcher ignored A.V.’s statement in complete silence. Exemplary question of who owned Nizhny Novgorod at the beginning of the second decade of the 14th century. A.N. Nasonov spoke out for “the correctness and antiquity of the chronicle note of 1311 about the possession of the Nizhny Moscow prince,” but did not provide convincing arguments in favor of his point of view. Thus, in the scientific literature there are different interpretations of the message of 1311, made, however, without taking into account all the testimony of the source. What indisputable things can be gleaned from the above chronicle record about the planned campaign of Dmitry Tverskoy against the Moscow prince?
First of all, the older chronicles, where the indicated message has been preserved, allow us to assert that the object of the attack of the Tver army should have been Nizhny Novgorod, and not Novgorod the Great, as N.M. once thought. Karamzin. Although Nizhny Novgorod appears in later texts, and in earlier texts simply Novgorod is indicated, the latter should be understood specifically as Novgorod Nizhny. Dmitry Tverskoy gathered regiments in Vladimir for the campaign, and after Metropolitan Peter actually imposed a church ban on speaking out, the prince was forced to return “home” or “to his land,” as it was more definitely read, apparently, in the parchment Trinity Chronicle and is read in Sophia I Chronicle. However, no matter which of the chronicle expressions is recognized as the most ancient, it is clear that Dmitry went to the Tver principality. If we assume that in 1311 a campaign against Novgorod the Great was planned, then it becomes strange why the regiments gathered in Vladimir, and not in Tver, which was much closer to Novgorod the Great. This strangeness makes us reject N.M.’s thought. Karamzin and recognize the correctness of the opinion of subsequent historians, according to which the Novgorod of the chronicle article of 1311 should be understood as Nizhny Novgorod. In this case, the concentration of forces near Vladimir is easily explained: there were convenient river and land roads from Vladimir to Nizhny.
The most ancient vaults, in contrast to the later Resurrection Chronicle, contain a completely unambiguous indication that Dmitry Mikhailovich intended to march “to Novugorod against Prince Yury.” This eliminates any doubts as to whether or not there was a Moscow prince in Nizhny Novgorod in 1311. He was there. The difficulty lies in answering the questions in what connection and why Yuri Moskovsky ended up in the Volga region city.
A surviving copy of the first quarter of the 18th century clarifies a lot here. from a memorial sheet that lay on the tomb of Prince Yuri’s brother, Prince Boris Danilovich. The sheet indicated that Boris died “in the summer of 6828”, was buried “in the cathedral church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the glorious city of Vladimir” and that he was “in Nizhny Novgorod on his appanage reign.” The date of death of the fourth son of the founder of the Moscow dynasty and the indication of the place of his burial are accurate. They fully correspond to the chronicle record of this. But the message about the reign of Boris Danilovich in Nizhny Novgorod is unique. There is hardly any doubt about its reliability, since other information about Prince Boris contained in the sheet on his tomb is correct. And there are no visible reasons that would force informants of the past to falsify such news.
The fact of the existence before 1320 of a special Nizhny Novgorod principality headed by a representative of the Moscow house gives the key to understanding the events of 1311. Obviously, by 1311, the Gorodets prince Mikhail Andreevich died and his principality turned out to be escheated. As such, it was to be annexed to the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. The latter was owned at that time by Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy. However, Yuri Moskovsky - Mikhail's worst enemy - fearing the strengthening of his rival, managed to achieve the preservation of the independence of the escheated principality by placing his brother on the local table. This action of Yuri caused military preparations for the eldest son of Mikhail Yaroslavich Dmitry and the Tver and Vladimir boyars who stood behind him (Dmitry himself was then 12 years old), since Yuri’s actions seriously violated both the tradition and the grand-ducal interests of Mikhail Yaroslavich and his entourage. Dmitry Tverskoy’s speech was, as you know, paralyzed by Metropolitan Peter. With his help, the Moscow princes were able to gain a foothold in the Volga region, and Nizhny Novgorod became the capital city of the new dynasty instead of Gorodets. The territory of the principality, apparently, remained unchanged.
So, the above facts indicate that during the first two decades of the 14th century. In the Middle Volga region, a special principality functioned, first with its center in Gorodets, and from about 1311 - with its center in Nizhny Novgorod. The limits of this state formation can be outlined very schematically based on some data from the second half of the 14th-15th centuries.
According to the agreement between Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich and the Serpukhov prince Vladimir Andreevich, concluded around 1401-1402, the following volosts belonged to Gorodets: Belogorodye, Yuryevets, Koryakova Sloboda, Chernyakova, as well as the Unzhinskaya tamga. In the spiritual charter of Vladimir Serpukhovsky, compiled somewhat later, in addition to the just listed Gorodets volosts, Norozdna and Sol are indicated, as well as nameless camps on the left bank of the Volga above Gorodets and on the right bank of the river below Gorodets.
Of all the named Gorodets volosts of the early 15th century. The location of Yuryevets is easiest to determine. We are talking about Yuryevets Povolsky, who stood on the right bank of the Volga, and the territory administratively subordinate to it. As for Belogorodye, Koryakova Sloboda, Chernyakova, Porozdna and Sol, their localization is fraught with certain difficulties.
V.N. Debolsky believed that Belogorodie lay somewhere along the Volga below Gorodets, but “it cannot be precisely indicated.” Presumably, the researcher took the village as the center of the volost - ancient Belgorod. Belovo, Balakhninsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province. Regarding Koryakova Sloboda and Chernyakova V.N. Debolsky wrote that the first of them lay 63 versts from Makaryev, Kostroma province, and the second - in the same province, 40 versts from Kineshma. Village Porozdna V.N. Debolsky identified it with the contemporary village of Porozdna, which stood 52 versts from Yuryevets Povolsky. It is obvious that the localizations were made by V.N. Debolsky according to the List of populated places of the Kostroma province based on the similarity of ancient names with the names of the 19th century. .
According to scribe books of the 17th century. Yu.V. Gauthier determined the position of Koryakova Sloboda: along the left bank of the Volga opposite Yuryevets and upstream of the Unzha approximately to the confluence of the Unzha river. Her . Conclusion Yu.V. Gauthier clarified M.K. Lyubavsky. He placed the Koryakov settlement in the lower reaches of the Neya and along the right bank of the Unzha. In addition, the researcher indicated where Chernyakova was located: “between Elnadya and Volga”, and Porozdna: “south of Chernyakova”. Here M.K. Lyubavsky essentially repeated V.N. Debolsky. One should agree with the last two localizations proposed by the researchers. The Chernyakova and Porozdna they identified fit well into the area of the Gorodets lands, which can be outlined based on data from the beginning of the 15th century. However, it should be borne in mind that the localizations were made according to a very late source - the List of populated places of the Kostroma province. Only regarding the Koryakova Sloboda, it should be added that, according to information from the 17th century, its territory also extended to the left bank of the Unzha. Koryakova Sloboda included, in particular, Nikolsky Pogost on the river. Vileshem - the right tributary of the river. Kurdyugi, pochinok (later - the village) Sobolevo on the river. Yumchishchi (Yunchishchi) - the left tributary of the Unzha, lands along the rivers Kurdyuga - the left tributary of the Unzha, Shemakhta, Borisovka and Rodinka - the left tributaries of the river. Virgasovka, Virgasovka itself - the left tributary of the Unzha.
The location of Belogorodye, which has not yet been clarified by researchers who studied the historical geography of medieval Rus', is determined on the basis of a number of evidence from fairly early sources. Thus, in the Tver chronicle collection there is preserved a story about the attack in 1408 on the Nizhny Novgorod lands by one of the detachments of the Horde temnik Edigei. Having captured Nizhny Novgorod, the Mongol-Tatars moved up the Volga to Gorodets, took this city, and then “went from Gorodets up the Vilza, fighting in both countries, and was in Belogorodiya... wanting to go to Kostroma and Vologda.” From the above text it becomes clear that Belogorodie was located on the Volga, or near it, higher, and not lower, as V.N. thought. Debolsky, Gorodets. According to the will of the Serpukhov prince Vladimir Andreevich, Belogorodye was to go to his second son Semyon. But the lands on the left bank of the Volga above Gorodets were intended for the third son of Prince Vladimir, Yaroslav. Consequently, Belogorodie could not be higher than Gorodets on the left bank of the Volga. It was supposed to be located on the right bank of the river northwest of Gorodets. This conclusion may be supported by another consideration. It is significant that it was in the northwestern direction from the Volga Gorodets that a detachment of Mongol-Tatars intended to move in 1408, capturing Belogorodye and planning to attack Kostroma and Vologda.
Made on the basis of data from the early 15th century. the conclusion about the location of Belogorodye is fully confirmed by later material. According to the scribal description of 1619 by scribes I. Zhitkov and clerk I. Dementyev, the Belogorodskaya volost of the Nizhny Novgorod district was located along the right bank of the Volga, north of the confluence of the South into it, further up the Volga above the village. Katunok, along the right tributaries of the Volga rivers Trotsa and Sanakhta (Sanakhta), as well as along the left tributary of the Trotsa river. Dorku.
Mentioned in the spiritual letter of Prince Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, “Salt on Gorodets” has also not yet been localized. A.L. Khoroshkevich even considered that “the fate of Salt on Gorodets is unknown; salt was probably mined here in small quantities and not for long,” from which we can conclude that the settlement itself quickly ceased to exist. Meanwhile, there is every reason to see the beginning of the 15th century in Salt on Gorodets. later Balakhna. Balakhna was located only 18.5 km from Gorodets down the Volga, but on the opposite, right bank. And the Volga right bank below Gorodets was populated already by the beginning of the 15th century. Vladimir Serpukhovsky bequeathed to his son Semyon “camps on this side of the Volga, below Gorodets.” Salt outcrops in the developed territory could not, of course, go unnoticed. Near them the settlement of Sol appeared, later called Balakhna.
So, the localization of those mentioned in sources of the early 15th century. Gorodets volosts shows that the ancient Gorodets included lands along the lower reaches of the Utka, including, apparently, the city of Unzha itself, the right tributary of the Unzha river. Neya, the left Unzha tributaries of the Kurdyuga and Virgasovka rivers, lands along the right bank of the Volga from the river. Elpati up to Balakhna inclusive, in the west most likely limited by the flow of the Lukh, as well as the lands along the left bank of the Volga from the Unzha mouth to Gorodets. Perhaps they extended further along the Volga left bank beyond the river. Uzolu. The fact is that in the 16th century. The Zauzolskaya volost, located on the left bank of the Uzola, is known. The name and location of the volost show that it was settled from Gorodets: it was for the residents of Gorodets that the lands along the left bank of Uzoli were “beyond Uzola”. However, there are no hard facts to establish whether the lands adjacent to Uzola were developed at the beginning of the 14th century. or later. Hopes here have to be placed almost exclusively on archaeology.
According to the data of the 15th century, the lands that belonged to Gorodets constituted only part of the territory of the Gorodets (somewhat later - Nizhny Novgorod) principality at the beginning of the 14th century. Another part of this territory was the lands adjacent to Nizhny Novgorod. The dimensions of the latter at the beginning of the 14th century. were apparently small.
Judging by the acts of the late XIV-XV centuries, the westernmost Nizhny Novgorod volost was Gorokhovetskaya. So, in the granted tarhan and non-conviction letter, issued around 1418-1419. Nizhny Novgorod Prince Alexander Ivanovich named several villages “in my patrimony, in the Nougorod reign, in Gorokhovets” to the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimev Monastery. According to the grant letter dated December 22, 1485 from Grand Duke Ivan III, the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery received a number of new lands “in the Nizhny Novgorod district, in the Gorokhov volost” in addition to its former lands. Finally, according to the charter of Metropolitan Simon dated January 15, 1496, tax benefits were granted to the Church of Basil of Caesarea in the monastery of the same name “on Gorokhovets in the tithe of Lower Iovagrad.” The above material shows that in the 15th century. Both secular and ecclesiastical administrative divisions referred Gorokhovets and its volost to Nizhny Novgorod. It is characteristic that the oldest (koptsa of the 14th - early 15th centuries) of the surviving charters for the Gorokhovets lands was issued by the Nizhny Novgorod prince Daniil Borisovich. All this gives certain, although not indisputable, grounds to believe that at the beginning of the 14th century. Gorokhovets was from Nizhny Novgorod.
In the 15th century The Gorokhovets lands included two Sala lakes and the mouth of the river. Klyazma. On maps of the 18th-19th centuries. lake Salo is shown on the floodplain left bank of the Klyazma, approximately 2 km from the confluence of the Lukha. Since the fishermen of the Vladimir Yaropolch volost stood on Lukha, it becomes obvious that the border between Yaropolch and Gorokhovets passed along Lukh. The lands along the Klyazma River below the Lukhovsky mouth up to the confluence of the Klyazma River and the Oka River were Gorokhovets.
How far did they extend at the beginning of the 14th century? It’s hard to say these lands to the north and south of the lower reaches of the Klyazma. In any case, in the 15th century. The Klyazma left bank was developed no more than 10 km from the river. Probably, the right bank of the lower Klyazma was developed over a slightly larger distance. But in general, the populated Gorokhovets lands at the beginning of the 14th century. most likely stretched in a narrow ribbon along the banks of the Klyazma. Adjacent to the ecumene were possibly significant desert spaces along which the borders of principalities and volosts passed, i.e. the state territory exceeded the developed one. However, it is impossible to categorically insist on this due to the lack of accurate data.
The “ribbon” appearance of the Nizhny Novgorod territory apparently did not change as we approached Nizhny Novgorod. Even from information that can be traced back to the end of the 15th century at the earliest, it follows that the lands from the Oka to Lake. Pyrsky (north of the Oka) and to the river. The Vorsma (the right tributary of the Oka) was poorly developed. Here grew “a mansion, red and black ramen and firewood forest.” It is clear that at the beginning of the 14th century. The territory controlled from Nizhny Novgorod stretched along the Oka. Only near the city itself this territory may have expanded somewhat to the south.
Down the Volga, the Nizhny Novgorod lands at the indicated time apparently reached the right tributary of the Volga river. Sundoviti, or Sundovika, as it is now called. In 1958 A.N. Nasonov published a chronicle text, which reported on the purchase of six villages from Prince Muranchik by Nizhny Novgorod guest Tarasy Petrov. Tarasy Petrov, according to the same source, lived during the time of the Nizhny Novgorod princes Konstantin Vasilyevich and Dmitry Konstantinovich, i.e. between 1341 and 1383. “And how Novgorod was abandoned by the Tatars,” Tarasy moved to Moscow. During the indicated period of time, the Mongol-Tatars managed to capture Nizhny twice: on August 5, 1377 and July 24, 1378. Obviously, after these attacks, Tarasy Petrov left Nizhny Novgorod. In this case, his purchases should date back to the time between the early 40s and the end of the 70s of the 14th century, most likely to the 60-70s of the 14th century, when the eastern policy of the Nizhny Novgorod principality intensified. Tarasy Petrov acquired from Prince Muranchik the villages of Salovo, Gorodishche, Khrepovskoye, Zaprudnoye, Khalyapchikovo and Munar. Of these, three villages survived into the 19th century. The villages of Salovo and Gorodishche stood on the right bank of Sundovik, the village of Munar (Munari) - on the river. Munarka, the right tributary of the Supdovik. Judging by the name, the previous owner of these villages, Prince Muranchik, belonged to the local Mordovian princes. If before the 60s of the XIV century. The lands along the right bank of the Sundovik were owned by a Mordovian feudal lord; there is good reason to believe that at the beginning of the 14th century. The territory controlled by Nizhny Novgorod did not pass beyond Sundovik. For that time, this river can be considered a border river.
Thus, based on evidence from the second half of the XIV-XV centuries. the approximate borders of the Gorodetsky (from 1311 - Nizhny Novgorod) principality of the early 14th century are outlined retrospectively. The territory of the principality included lands on both banks of the lower reaches of the Unzha together with the city of Unzha, lands along the right tributary of the Unzha river. Nee, the left Unzha tributaries of the Kurdyuga and Virgasovka rivers, the right and left bank Volga lands approximately from the mouth of Elnati to the mouth of Sundovik, the lower reaches of the Klyazma and Oka rivers. In the west, the lands of the principality probably reached Lukh.
After the death of Prince Boris Danilovich in 1320, the Principality of Nizhny Novgorod was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. This continued until 1328, when the Nizhny Novgorod lands, as an integral part of the Vladimir ones, were given by Khan Uzbek to the politically insignificant Suzdal prince Alexander Vasilyevich. For the first time, both Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets came under the authority of a representative of the Suzdal house. However, 1328 cannot be recognized as “the moment of formation of the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod principality,” as A.E. once believed. Presnyakov. A.N. Nasonov correctly noted that in 1328 the Nizhny Novgorod territory was not separated from the Vladimir territory. Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets were received by Alexander Suzdalsky along with Vladimir and Pereyaslavl. After the death of Alexander in 1331, these centers assigned to Suzdal were removed from the possessions of the Suzdal princes and given by Uzbek Khan to Ivan Kalita. Having thus reunited the entire territory of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir in his hands, Ivan Kalita ruled it with the help of governors. They could have been his sons. This is how, I think, we should interpret the chronicle indication from 1340 about the stay of Ivan Kalita’s eldest son Simeon the Proud in Nizhny Novgorod, who probably did not even attend his father’s funeral due to some local events. The fact that Simeon Ivanovich was in Nizhny cannot be considered accidental, as A.E. tried to do. Presnyakov, nor see in it evidence of Simeon’s reign in Nizhny Novgorod, which P.I. was inclined to do at one time. Melnikov and N.I. Khramtsovsky. A.N. is right Nasonov, believing that the Nizhny Novgorod lands (as part of the Vladimir lands) were under his rule until the death of Ivan Kalita. And the surviving news about Simeon for the 30s of the 14th century. they paint him not as an independent Nizhny Novgorod prince, but as a faithful assistant to his father, his successor on the Moscow and, under favorable conditions, Vladimir tables.
The Grand Duchy of Nizhny Novgorod was formed after the death of Ivan Kalita and as a result of the direct influence of the Horde. The label to Nizhny Novgorod was received in 1341 by the Suzdal prince Konstantin Vasilyevich. Thus, in North-Eastern Rus' a new state entity arose with a vast territory formed from the lands of the former Suzdal and former Nizhny Novgorod (formerly Gorodetsky) principalities. The capital of the fourth northeastern Russian Grand Duchy was Nizhny Novgorod.
The transfer of the capital here by Konstantin Vasilyevich from the patrimonial Suzdal, the concentration of the feudal apparatus of power in Nizhny Novgorod, and the accumulation of the nobility contributed to the rise of the city. Data on Nizhny Novgorod crafts and trade in the 40-70s of the 14th century. carefully collected and analyzed by A.M. Sakharov. The picture he obtained is very eloquent. Among the Nizhny Novgorod artisans were representatives of such complex medieval professions as bell foundries, copper gilders, architects and masons. A chronicle story from 1366 mentions eastern merchants trading in Nizhny Novgorod. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that Nizhny Novgorod was the second city in North-Eastern Rus' after Moscow, where construction of a stone Kremlin began. In the Nizhny Novgorod Spassky Cathedral under Konstantin Vasilyevich, chronicle recording began. The new principality and its capital became one of the most significant in the Russian Northeast, and the Nizhny Novgorod prince began to play a major political role not only in Rus', but throughout Eastern Europe. Konstantin Vasilyevich managed to become related to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd. Mikhail Alexandrovich Tverskoy and Andrei Fedorovich Rostovsky, who later became the Grand Dukes of their principalities, married Konstantin’s daughters. In 1347, the Nizhny Novgorod prince achieved the establishment of a special Suzdal bishopric. In 1354, when Grand Duke Simeon the Proud died, Konstantin Vasilyevich made an attempt to establish himself on the table of the great reign of Vladimir, but the Horde did not support his claims, giving preference to Simeon’s brother, Moscow Prince Ivan Ivanovich the Red.
After the death of Prince Constantine in 1355, his four sons remained: Andrei, Dmitry (baptized Thomas), Boris and another Dmitry, nicknamed Nail. They all received inheritances, apparently according to their father's will. In any case, the news from the late 50s-70s of the 14th century. fix the inheritance of each of the brothers. The very possibility of allocating to each Konstantinovich a part in the common patrimony, obviously, was a definite result of the economic rise of the Nizhny Novgorod principality, which was mentioned above. What inheritances did the brothers own?
The eldest, Andrey, inherited the Nizhny Novgorod table. The Rogozhsky chronicler testifies that after Konstantin Vasilyevich “his son Prince Andrei reigned.” However, Andrei had to seek approval of his paternal rights in the Horde. Apparently, in the winter, at the beginning of 1356, he “came from the Horde... and sat down to reign in Novgorod in Nizhny.”
Dmitry-Foma received Suzdal. Under 1362, the chronicle noted that Dmitry “fled again from Volodymer to his city of Suzhdal, to his homeland.”
His youngest brother and namesake Dmitry, nicknamed Nail, is mentioned in the chronicle with the definition “Suzhdalsky”. From this we can conclude that Nogol also had possessions in Suzdal. This is confirmed by the analysis of the famous “given” blueberry Marina. At present, it can be considered established that this document should date not from the 13th century, as previously thought, but from 1453. A special analysis of the “data” confirms what was said by A.V. Copy guessed that Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich mentioned in the letter is Dmitry Nogot. According to the text of the “given”, Dmitry owned the villages of Mininskoye, Romanovskoye and the “purchased” meadow of Lyuboscha “near the Nerl River”, near the “Vasilkovsky Mochisha”. The village of Mininskoye, in the 16th century. which turned into a wasteland, was located two miles south of Suzdal, to the left of the Suzdal-Vladimir road. The village of Romanovskoye by name is identified with the later village. Romanov, who stood on Irmes six miles north of Suzdal. Luboshcha was located on the right bank of the Nerl Klyazminskaya, below the village. Vasilkov, near the Suzdal-Vladimir border. Thus, the villages of Prince Dmitry Nogt indicated in the “given” of Marina’s blueberry were concentrated around Suzdal. Only the “purchase” meadow of Lyuboshcha was approximately 16 km away from Suzdal.
Other possessions of the younger Dmitry Konstantinovich are determined, although in part, by the patrimony of his descendants. Villages, hamlets, and various lands that belonged to the Nogtev princes are mentioned in some documents of the 15th-16th centuries. So, Prince Andrei Andreevich in the 40s of the 15th century. belonged to the village. Cowshed "in the old way and with justice." The village was the “vontchina” of the owner. I.A. Golubtsov, who published the document, initially identified Prince Andrei Andreevich with the great-great-great-great-grandson or great-great-great-grandson of Prince Dmitry Nogt Andrei, the son of Prince Andrei Vasilyevich Nogtev. However, then the researcher made an amendment, indicating that this Andrei Andreevich was the father of Vasily Nogt, i.e., the great-grandson of Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich the Younger. Latest opinion of I.A. Golubtsova is absolutely correct. The great-grandson of Dmitry Nogt, Prince Andrei Andreevich, is included in one of the oldest genealogies, preserved in the list of the 40s of the 16th century. and discovered several years ago by the author of these lines. The former estate of Prince Andrei Andreevich s. The cowshed survived into the 19th century. It was located on the northwestern outskirts of Suzdal.
The charter of Ivan III to the authorities of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimev Monastery dated October 17, 1472 names those belonging to Prince Andrei Andreevich Nogtev “in Suzdal... the lands of Bear Corner and with wastelands on the river on Uvot.” We are talking about the same person who owned the village. Korovnichesky. Medvezhiy Ugol was also a village. I.A. Golubtsov, who published the earliest documents that deal with the village. Bear's Corner supposedly identified this village with the one that existed in the 19th century. village of Medvezhye, Kovrov district. The identification turns out to be incorrect. Accurately localize s. Bear Corner is based on the data from the 1678 census book of the Suzdal district. There are mentioned s. Bear Corner and the Church of the Ascension in it. And in the List of populated places of the Vladimir province there is a state-owned (usually former monastery) village “Voznesenie, in Medvezhiy Uglu”. It becomes obvious that Ascension is the second name of the village. Bear's Corner, which he received from the local church. This village stood on the right bank of the Uvod, in its lower reaches.
Other possessions of the Nogtev princes also approached the same river. Compiled around 1500-1515, it has survived. separate charter of the grandchildren of Prince A.A. Nogtev of princes Semyon, Ivan and Andrei Vasilyevich Nogtev to their father’s patrimony - Lyamtsynsky Corner. The deed indicates the boundaries of the lands of the youngest of the brothers, Andrei. They consisted of three separate sections. The rivers Ukhtakhma with Pochevinsky ez, Sagalenka, Vyazma, Yuryevka, Sheresh, Chernaya, Uvod, near which there was an “island” of Singor, are named as landmarks; swamps Sagalinskoe, Bologovskoe, Yuryevskoe, Kozinskoe, Berezovo, floating river Razveevsky; Dolgaya creek, Ineul mouth, Cordovsky ravine, Malkov meadow; villages and settlements Maslovskaya, Old and New Lyamtsyno, Selyshki, Bologovo, Zmeinskoye, Yakovlya (Yakovlskoye), Stroikovo, Selyshko Krugloye, Shchitnikovo (Shchitniche), Bushmanovo, Sheresh, Borshchovovo, Maloe Golubtsovo. I.A. Golubtsov believed that Lyamtsyno Corner got its name from the village of Lyamtsyno in the 19th century. listed in the Nerekhotsky district of the Kostroma province. The possessions of Prince A.V. He localized Nogtev significantly to the south of this Lyamtsyn, in the lower reaches of the Uvodi and Vyazma rivers. Indeed, the bulk of the possessions of Prince A.V. Nogtev extended from the village of Maslovskaya, located on the right bank of the Ukhtoma (Ukhtakhma), in its lower reaches, to the village of Maslovskaya, located on the left bank of the river. Vyazma village Bologovo, further down Vyazma, from it back east to the Kozinsky swamp, further to the villages of Yakovle (Yakovlsky), Shchitnikov (Shchitnichu) and to the river. Ukhtoma (Ukhtakhme), where he was “killed” by the peasants of the village of Pochevina. The second section of the possessions of Prince Andrei Vasilyevich was located below the first along the river. Vyazma and not on the left, but on the right bank of this river. The separate charter mentions the village of Bushmanovo and the village. Sheresh. The map of 1812 shows the village of Bushmakovo, located on the right bank of the Vyazma, and the right tributary of the Vyazma river to the south of it. Averesh. Despite some differences in the names (it is possible that there are simply typos in the names on the map), it becomes obvious that the speech in the charter of the early 16th century. refers to a property located in the area recorded by a 19th century source. village Bushmakovo and r. Averesha. Finally, the third plot of Prince A.V. Nogteva - “an island on the river on Uvoti Singor” - I.A. Golubtsov absolutely correctly placed it on the river. Singori, flowing from the left into the river. Uvod, 12-13 km from the mouth of the latter. Thus, the possessions of Prince A.V. Nogteva were located along the lower reaches of the Uvodi, Vyazma and Ukhtoma (Ukhtakhma) rivers. Since they formed only part of his father’s patrimony, one can think that at one time Prince Vasily Nogtev owned lands along the middle reaches of the named rivers. However, it is doubtful that the estates of the Nogtevs included Perekhot Lyamtsyno, as I.A. believed. Golubtsov. Old and New Lyamtsyno are mentioned in a separate charter of 1500-1515. when fixing the border of Prince A.V. Nogteva from the village of Maslovskaya to the village of Bologovo. Obviously, the names of these Lyamtsyns, now no longer preserved, should be associated with the name of the entire area - the possession of the Nogtev brothers - Lyamtsynsky Angle, and not Perekhotsky Lyamtsyn.
So, consideration of the acts of the XV-XVI centuries. convinces of the accuracy of the chronicle definition of Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich Nogty as the prince of Suzdal. The data from the act material allows us to say that the inheritance of the youngest of the sons of Konstantin Vasilyevich Nizhny Novgorod consisted of at least individual villages and lands in the Suzdal urban district and vast spaces along the middle and lower reaches of the Uvod, Vyazma and Ukhtoma rivers.
Having found out the geography of the possessions of three of the four Konstantinovichs, it is relatively easy to determine the ancestry of their brother Boris. Following the method of exclusion, we can come to the conclusion that Boris should have owned Gorodets with its volosts. This idea was expressed by A.V. Ezemplyarsky, and after him A.E. Presnyakov. However, neither one nor the other researcher had any significant arguments in favor of this conclusion. Meanwhile, even if we do not resort to exclusion, historians have at their disposal one forgotten source, the data of which confirm the assumption of A.V. Ekzemplyarsky and A.E. Presnyakova. We are talking about the Instructive Message of Metropolitan Alexei to the churchmen and parishioners “of the entire region of Novgorod and Gorodets,” compiled, as his publisher K.I. rightly believed. Kevostruev, at the moment of Boris’s seizure of the Grand Duke’s table in Nizhny Novgorod. Since the Epistle is addressed not only to the people of Nizhny Novgorod, whose power Boris usurped, but also to the townspeople, it becomes obvious that before his move to Nizhny Novgorod in 1363, Boris owned Gorodets. (See Figure 7).
The localization of the possessions of all four sons of Konstantin Vasilyevich allows us to draw some conclusions. First of all, it becomes obvious that formed in the late 50s - early 60s of the 14th century. The destinies of the Nizhny Novgorod principality were based on the earlier administrative-territorial structure that was inherent in the Nizhny Novgorod (Gorodetsky), and partly the Suzdal principalities during their separate existence. Such continuity provided a certain stability to the possessions of the sons of Konstantin Vasilyevich, but complete identity between the territories of the appanages and cities with volosts of the first decade of the 14th century. did not have. Materials of the XV-XVI centuries. show that the specific division of the Nizhny Novgorod territory was quite strong. At one time A.E. Presnyakov wrote about the undeveloped forms of the internal “appanage” system of the Nizhny Novgorod Grand Duchy, explaining this by the stormy and fleeting fate of this state formation. Now, using new facts, we can state that this is not so. Despite the tense conditions of its external existence. The Nizhny Novgorod principality retained its system of division into appanages. In this respect, it developed in the same way as other large state formations of North-Eastern Rus'.
However, the feudal division of the Nizhny Novgorod principality at first did not prevent the Nizhny Novgorod princes from continuing the struggle for the great reign of Vladimir, which their father Konstantin Vasilyevich began. Taking advantage of the infancy of the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich and, as one might think, the dissatisfaction of the Horde with the policies of his father, Grand Duke Ivan the Red, the Great Reign of Vladimir was seized by Dmitry Thomas of Suzdal. Having received the label from Khan Nouruz (Naurus), Prince Dmitry was solemnly seated on the Vladimir table on June 22, 1360. She occupied it for two years, with the support of her elder brother Andrei of Nizhny Novgorod, Prince of Rostov Konstantin Vasilyevich and Novgorod the Great. In 1362, Dmitry of Moscow (more precisely, his entourage, since Dmitry himself was then 12 years old) obtained from the next Horde khan Murid (Amurat) a label for the Great Reign of Vladimir. The Suzdal prince tried to keep Vladimir behind him, but was driven out of there by Moscow troops. In the spring or summer of 1363, Dmitry Konstantinovich, with the help of the Mongol-Tatars, again sat down in Vladimir, but lasted there only a week. The Muscovites “drove him out of his great reign” and even besieged him in his native Suzdal. Dmitry was forced to ask for peace.
Meanwhile, unexpected events occurred in the Nizhny Novgorod principality itself. The third of the Konstantinovichs, Prince Boris Gorodetsky, taking advantage of the fact that his elder brother Andrei apparently removed himself from control, and the other brother Dmitry-Foma was drawn into the struggle for the Vladimir table, captured Nizhny Novgorod in 1363. The lands of the Gorodetsky and Nizhny Novgorod appanages, that is, most of the territory of the principality, came under his rule. Dmitry's attempt to persuade Boris to cede Nizhny Novgorod to him as the elder was unsuccessful. An armed conflict was brewing between the brothers. Under these conditions, Dmitry-Thomas was forced to finally abandon rivalry with the Moscow prince for the great reign of Vladimir and, moreover, to ask him for help against Boris. Moscow's diplomatic intervention regarding the “division” of the Nizhny Novgorod principality between the brothers did not produce results. Then Dmitry of Moscow sent his troops to help Dmitry of Suzdal. But it didn’t come to bloodshed. Boris met his brother at Berezhets (a village on the left bank of the Oka, slightly above the mouth of the Klyazma), “bowing and repenting and asking for peace.” Submission led to peace. The brothers “lost the reign of Novgorod,” and Dmitry “sat reigning in Novgorod in Nizhny, and Prince Boris ... gave Gorodets” .
As a result, by the end of 1364, the political situation within the Nizhny Novgorod principality had stabilized, although a redistribution of territories had occurred. Nizhny Novgorod passed to Dmitry-Foma Konstantinovich. He retained his former Suzdal inheritance. Part of the Suzdal lands remained with Dmitry Nogt, and the Gorodets lands with Prince Boris. In addition to Gorodets, sources record Boris’s possessions on the eastern outskirts of the Nizhny Novgorod principality. What did Boris own here?
Chronicle news for the 60-70s of the 14th century. show that by the named time the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod principality had grown significantly in the eastern and southeastern directions from Sundovik. Under 1361, the chronicle noted that a certain Sekiz-biy, who fled from the unrest in the Horde, “Zapaniye plundered everything and, breaking into a ditch, sat there.” The above text indicates that Zapyanie was not Horde territory; it could have belonged to either Nizhny Novgorod or Mordovian princes. A chronicle article from 1375 allows you to make a choice. It says twice that the Mongol-Tatars Mamai killed the boyar Parfeny Fedorovich “and plundered everything”, or that they “fought for the Piana volost, and beat the outpost of Nizhny Novgorod.” Based on these words, it becomes clear that Zapyanie was part of the Nizhny Novgorod principality.
Data from articles of 1364 and 1375 allow us to localize Drunkenness. Rogozhsky chronicler and articles of 1408 from the Tver collection. The first of them reports about the sea, which struck people “in Novgorod in Nizhny [and in the district, and in Sara, and in Kishi, and in countries, and in volosts." We are talking about localities (“countries”) and administrative units (“volostekh”) of the Nizhny Novgorod principality. These included Sarah and Kish. The latter is mentioned for the second time in the Rogozhsky chronicler under 1375. Before robbing Zapyane, the Mongol-Tatars “took Kish and burned it with fire.” Quiche and Drunkenness were therefore located nearby. In the already quoted story of the Tver collection about the attack of the Mongol-Tatars on Nizhny Novgorod, Gorodets and Belogorodye in 1408, their retreat from the Nizhny Novgorod borders is described: “having gone away from Novgorod at war, Uyady and Berezovo Pole, so they went both ways and through the forest, looking for people... . and from there they went to Sura, they began to fight Sura, Kormysh burned and Sarah the Great burned...” The escape route of the Mongol-Tatars is clear: from Nizhny to the east to the river. Sura, then south up the Sura to Kurmysh located on it. It is obvious that Sarah the Great was located relatively close to Kurmysh to the south or southeast of it.
So, it is established that Kish, Sara (Great), Zapyanie and Kurmysh must belong to the same geographical area. Since the location of Kurmysh is well known (on the left bank of the Sura, in its lower reaches), all of the listed points and areas must be looked for in the lower reaches of the Sura. Indeed, turning to cartographic materials, it is easy to find the river on maps. Pyanu, the left tributary of the lower Sura, another left tributary of the Sura - the river. Kisha, and on the left bank of the Sura above the mouth of Kishi - the village. Sarah. The latter should be identified with Kishya and Sarah of the 14th century. Their geography suggests that the lands located south of the upper reaches of the Piana were called Zapyania. The southeastern border of the Nizhny Novgorod principality passed here. Its eastern border reached at least Sura, and the news of 1374 and 1377. about the plunder of Zasuria by the Novgorod ushkuiniki and the Horde prince Arab Shah (Arapsha) give certain grounds to believe that some lands along the right bank of the Sura also belonged to Nizhny Novgorod.
The possessions of Prince Boris Gorodetsky were located along Sura. True, the earliest news about them suffers from some geographical uncertainty. Under 1367, the chronicle reports that the Horde prince Bulat-Temir fought the Nizhny Novgorod “district even to the Volga and to Soundovity and the village of the princes Borisov.” Obviously, the territory between the right banks of the Volga and Sundovik rivers, that is, the southeastern part of the principality, was attacked. Somewhere here the “villages of the princes Borisov” were located.
The location of these villages is being clarified on the basis of the chronicle news of 1374 about the establishment of the city of Kurmysh on Sura by Prince Boris. Much later, after Nizhny Novgorod passed into the hands of the Moscow prince, Boris Konstantinovich issued a charter to the Nizhny Novgorod Annunciation Monastery for “his fishing along the Sura” and beaver runs from the confluence of the Sura river. Kurmyshki to the mouth of the Sura. It is obvious that the possessions of the third of the Konstantinovichs were located along this river. Boris could have received them either according to his father’s will, or according to an agreement in 1364 with his brother Dmitry. The latter seems more likely. It concretizes the chronicle evidence that the brothers “shared the reign of Novgorod.” However, no matter how you explain the origin of Boris Gorodetsky’s possessions according to Sura, it is clear that the possession of the border lands of Sura, which suffered from Mongol-Tatar raids, made Boris interested in unity with the Nizhny Novgorod Grand Duke and forced him to follow the mainstream of the local Grand Duke’s foreign policy.
This policy, in turn, was largely determined by the anti-Horde goals and objectives of the foreign policy of Moscow, with whose prince Dmitry, the future Donskoy, Dmitry of Nizhny Novgorod became related, marrying him his daughter Evdokia in early 1367. At first, the alliance with Moscow brought certain benefits to the Nizhny Novgorod prince. His brothers obediently walked under his hand, and a series of successful military actions against the Mongol-Tatars in 1367, 1370, 1374 and 1377. allowed Dmitry Konstantinovich, apparently, to somewhat expand his possessions in the east and even plant his protege in Bulgar.
But in 1375 Mamai began active actions against the Nizhny Novgorod principality. In 1375, the Mongol-Tatars of Mamai, as already mentioned, burned Kish and plundered Zapyanye. In August 1377, despite the help of Moscow, they, together with the Mordovian princes, treacherously attacked the blundering Russian governors, inflicted a terrible defeat on them at Pyana, and then took Nizhny Novgorod as an “exile”. In the autumn of the same year, Tsarevich Arapsha and the emboldened Mordovian princes fought on the eastern and southern borders of the Nizhny Novgorod principality. In the summer of 1378, Mamaev's troops unexpectedly captured Nizhny Novgorod again. Participation together with Moscow in the anti-Horde struggle resulted in grave consequences for the border Russian principality. And although in 1380 Dmitry Konstantinovich still helped his son-in-law (Suzdal regiments fought on the Kulikovo field, although there were no Gorodets and Nizhny Novgorod regiments), a conflict was brewing between the allies. When Khan Tokhtamysh moved to Moscow in 1382, Dmitry of Nizhny Novgorod sent his two sons to help him. Their treacherous behavior, which led to the capture and burning of Moscow by the Mongol-Tatars on August 26, deprived the Nizhny Novgorod prince of grand-ducal support.
This immediately led to an outbreak of internecine struggle and redistribution of inheritances within the Nizhny Novgorod principality. Already in the fall of 1382, Boris Gorodetsky went to the Horde. The next year his son Ivan arrived there. Apparently, fearing the machinations of Boris, Dmitry of Nizhny Novgorod in 1383 sent his youngest son Semyon to the khan. But Tokhtamysh was in no hurry to make a decision. Only after learning about the death of Dmitry (5 VII 1383), he released the Nizhny Novgorod princes to Rus', transferring Nizhny Novgorod to Boris, and Suzdal to Semyon. Relying on the help of the Horde, Boris was at the same time forced to act in line with Moscow politics. When Dmitry of Moscow marched against Novgorod the Great in 1386, Boris took part in the campaign. Meanwhile, the eldest son of Dmitry-Foma Vasily in 1388 received a label for Gorodets from Tokhtamysh. The Khan's power increasingly intervened in the political life of the principality. Under the influence of the Horde, the usual Russian rules of succession here broke down. The estates continued to exist, but their ownership now depended entirely on the khan. Vasily and Semyon Dmitrievich and their son-in-law Dmitry Moskovsky could not come to terms with this.
In 1388, the combined forces of the named princes besieged Nizhny Novgorod. Boris Konstantinovich was forced to capitulate. On March 15, 1388, a peace was concluded, according to which Boris “conceded” to the nephews of the “Noutorodsky volosts, and [they] ceded his inheritance to him,” i.e., obviously, Gorodets and Posurye. But as soon as the Moscow Grand Duke died (19 V 1389), Boris Gorodetsky hurried to Tokhtamysh. Busy with the fight against Timur, the Horde khan did not immediately help his protege. Only in 1391 did Boris return to Rus' and again sit down in Nizhny Novgorod. Sources do not report anything about the fate of Vasily and Semyon Dmitrievich. Based on the logic of previous events, one can think that they again turned to Moscow for help.
However, this time things took a different turn. The Nizhny Novgorod boyars, tormented by constant discord among local princes, entered into relations with Vasily Dmitrievich of Moscow. The latter did not dare to act without the sanction of the khan. On July 46, 4392, he went to the Horde. There, for a huge sum, he bought a label to Nizhny Novgorod. In October 1392, together with the Horde ambassador, the Moscow prince returned to Rus'. Having reached Kolomna, Vasily Dmitrievich released the ambassador and his boyars to Nizhny Novgorod, and he himself headed to Moscow. The Mongol-Tatars and Moscow boyars who arrived in Nizhny Novgorod, with the help of the Nizhny Novgorod boyars and, apparently, with the support of the townspeople (the Mongol-Tatars and Muscovites “started ringing bells, flocking people”) quickly and without bloodshed removed Boris from the Nizhny Novgorod table. On November 6, 1392, the Moscow prince arrived in Nizhny Novgorod. He stayed here for quite a long time - seven weeks. When all the issues related to the future of the princes of the Nizhny Novgorod house and the administrative structure of the annexed territory were settled, Vasily Dmitrievich returned home. The Moscow governor, Dmitry Alexandrovich Vsevolozh, began to rule in Nizhny Novgorod. The sovereign Nizhny Novgorod table was liquidated. Although Suzdal, Posurye and, possibly, Gorodets were left to the local princes, they, apparently, were deprived of the right to “in charge of the Horde,” that is, independent foreign policy relations, and were supposed to become subordinate to the Moscow Grand Duke. Thus, the annexation of the Nizhny Novgorod Grand Duchy to Moscow did not yet completely deprive the local princes of their inheritance. The latter continued to exist in the 15th century. The liquidation of the political independence of the Grand Duchy of Nizhny Novgorod led to partial and incomplete internal control of the grand ducal power over its territory.
Notes
TsGVIA, VUA, No. 21272, l. 12. It is not included in the List of Populated Places of the Vladimir Province.
. Nasonov A.N.“Russian land” and the formation of the territory of the Old Russian state. M., 1951, p. 173-174; Kuchkin V.A. Stories about Mikhail Tverskoy. M., 1974, p. 230.
. Goryunova E.I. Decree. cit., adj., map 4a.
Despite the fact that in the east the Suzdal principality bordered on the one formed in the 13th century. Starodub principality, their specific boundary is difficult to determine due to lack of data.
ASVR, vol. 2, no. 463, p. 501, 500.
TsGVIA, VUA, No. 21272, l. 12 (the village is mistakenly named Shatryashchi); Vladimir province. List of populated places, pp. 194, No. 5158.
There, p. 199, No. 5296.
ASVR, vol. 3, no. 500 (business of the Nogtev princes). According to filigree data, the document dates back to the first two decades of the 16th century, but the act states that the lands listed in it constituted the “patrimony” of the father of the princes who divided it among themselves. Consequently, these lands belonged to the Nogtev princes back in the 15th century. The location of the geographical objects listed in the business will be discussed below.
The oldest indirect mention of the Shartom monastery (Shartom Archimandrite Konon) is contained in the charter of the Nizhny Novgorod (Suzdal) Princess Maria to the Spaso-Evfimev Monastery in 1444 (ASVR, vol. 2, no. 444, p. 485). Konon was present during the drawing up of this letter as an ear. This position of Konon was obviously due to the fact that his monastery stood on the land of the descendants of the Suzdal princes.
On the river Lukh in the 15th century. there were fishermen from Yaropolch (ASVR, vol. 1, no. 362, p. 265). The Yaropolch volost was part of the Vladimir Grand Duchy (DDG, No. 13, p. 38). Near Yaropolch down the river. In Klyazma there was Gorokhovets - the center of the volost of the same name (ASVR, vol. 1, no. 200, p. 143; no. 383, p. 241). The Gorokhovets volost was Nizhny Novgorod (ASVR, vol. 2, no. 435, p. 479).
ASVR, vol. 3, no. 86, p. 117-118. It is stated here that, in addition to s. Vessky, the Nativity Monastery was given something “different”. In other acts s. Vesskoe is mentioned together with the village of Koshcheevo (Ibid., No. 92 a, p. 128). Therefore, there is reason to believe that s. Vesskoe was acquired by the prince. Yuri of Moscow together with the village of Koshcheevo and then donated by him to the Vladimir monastery.
. Ekzemplyarsky A.V. Great and appanage princes... St. Petersburg, 1889, vol. 1, p. 63, 68.
Vladimir province. List of populated places, p. 194, No. 5167, 5176; TsGVIA, VUA, No. 21272, l. 12.
At the village Vessky, a burial ground dating from the 11th to 13th centuries was discovered. ( Goryunova E.I. Decree. cit., appendix, map 4, mound No. 459). Obviously, this village existed in the pre-Mongol period and has long been the possession of the Suzdal princes.
ASVR, vol. 3, no. 86; Wed: No. 92 a. On the date of Yuri's death - 21 November 1325 - see: PSRL. St. Petersburg, 1913, t. 18, p. 89.
PSRL. St. Petersburg, 1885, t. 10, p. 177. This is the only mention of the book in Russian chronicles. Vasily Mikhailovich is very difficult to interpret. Perhaps he was the son of Mikhail (Yuryevich?) Suzdalsky.
. Ekzemplyarsky A.V. Decree. soch., vol. 2, p. 399-400. But A.V. Ekzemplyarsky, it seems, incorrectly defines the patronymic of the father of these princes - Andreevich. In general, the researcher mixes up the descendants of the prince. Andrei Yaroslavich of Suzdal with the descendants of the prince. Andrey Alexandrovich Gorodetsky.
NPL, p. 92; PSRL, vol. 18, p. 86. The news apparently goes back to the Trinity Chronicle. Cm.: Priselkov M.D. Trinity Chronicle: Reconstruction of the text. M.; L., 1950, p. 351 and note. 3.
PSRL. St. Petersburg, 1851, t. 5, p. 204.
PSRL. 2nd ed. Pg., 1915, vol. 4, part 1, issue. 1. p. 253.
. Shakhmatov A.A. Review of Russian chronicles of the XIV-XVI centuries. M.; L., 1938, p. 152-153. Novgorod-Sofia arch A.A. Shakhmatov dated it first to 1448, and then to the 30s of the 15th century. (Ibid., pp. 154, 366).
The Novgorod-Sofia code was compiled on the basis of two sources: the all-Russian code and the local Novgorod chronicle. The latter served as a source for the Novgorod I Chronicle of the younger edition ( Shakhmatov A.A. Decree. cit., p. 155-157). In the Novgorod I Chronicle there is no younger edition of the article of 1305 about the Nizhny Novgorod events (See: NPL, p. 322). Consequently, this news came to the Novgorod-Sophia vault from an all-Russian source - the vault of Metropolitan Photius.
. Presnyakov A.E. Formation of the Great Russian State. Pg., 1918, p. 104, note. 2; Budovnits I.U. Support for the unifying efforts of Moscow by the population of Russian cities: Academician Boris Dmitrievich Grekov on his seventieth birthday. M., 1952, p. 119-120; Essays on the history of the USSR: The period of feudalism, XI-XV centuries. M., 1953, part 2, p. 192; Cherepnin L.V. Formation of the Russian centralized state in the XIV-XV centuries. M., 1960, p. 462. For I.U. Budovnitsa, the erroneous mention of chronicles about Mikhail Yaroslavich, who supposedly acted in 1305 in Nizhny Novgorod, served as the starting point of an entire historical construction, the instability of which is now clearly revealed.
PSRL, vol. 5, p. 204, var. and; St. Petersburg, 1856, t. 7, p. 184.
. Kuchkin V.A. Stories about Mikhail Tverskoy, p. 111-113, 115.
State Historical Museum, collection A.S. Uvarova, No. 248(231), l. 163.
In another source of the Resurrection Chronicle - the Moscow Code of 1479 - the patronymic of Prince Mikhail is indicated correctly - “Andreevich”. - PSRL. M.; L., 1949, t. 25, p. 392.
. Soloviev S.M. History of Russia from ancient times. M., 1960, book. 2, vol. 3/4, p. 225-226.
. Ekzemplyarsky A.V. Decree. soch., vol. 2, p. 388, note. 1086; With. 396 and note. 1113. Wed: Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State / Ed. I. Einerling. St. Petersburg, 1842, book. 1, vol. 4, note. 209.
. Soloviev S.M. Decree. op., book. 2, vol. 3/4, p. 340 (note 390-393); Ekzemplyarsky A.V. Decree. soch., vol. 2, p. 388, note. 1086.
. Presnyakov A.E. Decree. cit., p. 62, note. 3. However, noting the confusion in the testimony of the Nikonovsky Code regarding the origin of the Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod princes, A.E. For some reason Presnyakov joined the opinion of A.V. Ekzemplyarsky, based precisely on the contradictory data of the Nikon Chronicle.
. Class B.M. Metropolitan Daniel and the Nikon Chronicle. - TODRL, L., 1974, vol. 28, p. 189.
See chap. 3 of this edition.
. Priselkov M.D. Decree. cit., p. 354. In the Simeon Chronicle there are no words “table in Volodymeri”, instead of “he” - “prince” and instead of the last four words - “everyone returned to his own home”; the rest of the text is identical to the above. See: PSRL, vol. 18, p. 87.
Having settled in a new place, Constantine began to decorate his capital. By his order, in 1350-1352, a new building of the main temple of the city, the Transfiguration Cathedral, was built. It was decorated with paintings by the great medieval artist Theophanes the Greek. The cathedral had highly artistic gilded doors and a floor made of gilded copper plates. According to the prince's word, the settlement of the outskirts (or, as they said then, the district) of Nizhny Novgorod began.
Konstantin Vasilyevich took another, perhaps the most decisive step, which strengthened the power and influence of Nizhny Novgorod: in 1350 he moved the grand prince’s throne to the high Dyatlov Mountains. Thus, the prince was protected from the immediate proximity of the Moscow regiments. In the same year, he demolished the dilapidated Church of the Savior in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and replaced it with a new, white stone one. The renovated cathedral was moved from Suzdal " image of the Savior not made by hands».
At the same time, Konstantin Vasilyevich married his daughter Antonida to the Rostov prince Andrei Fedorovich, another daughter married Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich Tverskoy. The matchmaking, it should be noted, took place in Nizhny Novgorod. In 1352, in the Nizhny Novgorod Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, Prince Boris Konstantinovich married the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Olgerd Agrippina.
This is how the international ties of the Nizhny Novgorod principality were strengthened. In 1353, after the death of Semyon Ivanovich, Constantine tried to challenge the right to the great reign from Ivan the Red, enlisting the support of the Novgorodians, but the khan left the label with Moscow. Only before his death, Konstantin recognized the right of Ivan the Red to the grand-ducal throne.
After the death of Konstantin Vasilyevich, his eldest son Andrei Konstantinovich (1355 - 1365) sat on the Nizhny Novgorod throne. He erected the stone Church of the Archangel Michael in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin instead of the dilapidated old one.
During the reign of Prince Andrei, significant events took place that influenced the development of the Nizhny Novgorod principality. The Tatar Khan Naurus in 1360 offered Andrei Konstantinovich a label for the great reign of Vladimir, but the Nizhny Novgorod prince did not come.” Khan explained his decision by the fact that the Moscow prince Dmitry was too young, Andrei - by the fact that he kissed the cross out of loyalty to the Moscow prince and recognized himself as his younger brother.
The idea of all-Russian unity in its highest understanding was not alien to the Nizhny Novgorod prince. The Horde sent an army against the rebellious prince, but he “ not afraid of their thunderstorms" It was not accidental that the Nizhny Novgorod chronicler had a particularly enthusiastic attitude towards the personality of Prince Andrei, nor were the records of the miracles he performed by accident.
Under Andrei Konstantinovich, Nizhny reaches its peak. Its lands are scattered along the Volga from the city of Yuryevets in the north to the Sura River in the south, from the dense Murom forests in the west to the swampy and forested upper reaches of Vetluga in the east. Life on the Volga did not flow, but was in full swing. In 1364, on the Nizhny Novgorod land there was severe famine and terrible drought. In Nizhny Novgorod alone, up to a hundred or more people died per day.
Sergius to call him to Moscow for trial; Boris didn't go. Sergius, by order of the Metropolitan and Grand Duke, closed all the churches in Nizhny; but this measure did not help either. After this, regiments were sent from Moscow to help Dmitry, and when the latter approached Nizhny with them and his army, Boris came out to meet him and began to ask for peace, retreating from Nizhny Novgorod. Peace was given to him.
Since then he was a faithful ally of the Grand Duke. In 1367, together with Dmitry, his brother, he fought the Mongol Murza Bulat-Temir, who was plundering their lands. In 1370, at the request of his brother, he went against Asan, the king of the Bulgarians. In 1375 he helped Dmitry Ivanovich in his fight against the Tver prince. In 1377 and 1378 became famous for his victories over the Mordovians, who robbed his brother’s estate and burned Nizhny Novgorod.
In 1383, Dmitry Konstantinovich, Prince of Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod, died. Boris at that time was in the Horde with Tokhtamysh and managed to beg from him a label for the Nizhny Novgorod inheritance. The sons of Dmitry, Semyon and Vasily-Kirdyapa, had to be content with Suzdal; They, of course, were dissatisfied with this and upon returning from the horde, with the help of the Grand Duke, they began a war with their uncle for Nizhny Novgorod and even Gorodets, for which they received a label from the khan; but they soon made peace, losing Gorodets to Boris.
Returning to Gorodets, Boris nevertheless did not abandon the thought of taking possession of Nizhny. After the death of Dmitry Donskoy (1389), who more than once sent his regiments against him, he went to the Horde to take care of the Nizhny Novgorod principality. Not finding Tokhtamysh in the Horde, who had gone to the borders of Persia to fight Tamerlane, he caught up with him on the way, wandered with him for more than a month and finally returned with a label from the khan to Nizhny (1390). But Boris did not have to own Nizhny for long.
In 1392, Vasily Dmitrievich, the Grand Duke of Moscow, along with other appanages, received from the khan a label for the principality of Nizhny Novgorod. In the same year, upon returning from the Horde, he sent envoys to Nizhny, to whom the Nizhny Novgorod boyars, who did not like Boris, betrayed the city, declaring to the people that it now belonged to the Moscow prince, and Boris with his wife and children in chains, by order of Vasily I, was taken to different cities. In 1393, Boris died in Suzdal, where his body was buried in the Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral.
Thus, the reign of Konstantin Vasilyevich and Andrei Konstantinovich was the time of greatest prosperity for the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality, which stood on a par with Moscow and Tver. Konstantin Vasilyevich and his successor managed to achieve such significant results thanks to the expansion of the territory of the principality by actively developing the southern and southeastern borders principalities, including the Kudma River basin and the right bank of the Oka.
The lands of the principality were scattered along the Volga from the city of Yuryevets in the north to the Sura River in the south, from the dense Murom forests in the west to the swampy and forested upper reaches of Vetluga in the east. The settlement of new lands proceeded peacefully, the settlers were free to settle wherever they wanted. The eastern border of the principality expanded to the Sundovik River. The acquisition of new lands contributed to the development of agriculture, the development of cities, and consequently the development of crafts and trade.
The principality's international ties were strengthened through dynastic marriages. Nizhny Novgorod is becoming a cultural center. With the death of Andrei, who reigned for ten years, the internecine struggle of his brothers, Dmitry and Boris, began for the possession of Nizhny, which passed from hand to hand, and, thanks to the continuous struggle, depleted the entire region economically.
The reign of princes Dmitry and Boris coincides with the time of the struggle against Mongol rule, which was led by the Moscow principality. The role of the Nizhny Novgorod princes in this struggle was different: from close cooperation (the battle on the Piana River in 1377) to the participation of princes Semyon and Vasily in Tokhtamysh’s campaign against Moscow.
