We know about who the first princes in Rus' were from the works of chroniclers - Nestor, who lived at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, his contemporary Sylvester and the semi-legendary Joachim, about the reality of whose existence historians cannot assert with complete certainty. It is from their pages that “deeds of bygone years” come to life before us, the memory of which is kept only in the depths of silent steppe mounds and in folk legends.
The first prince of Ancient Rus'
The chronicler Nestor was canonized, therefore, during his lifetime he did not lie, and therefore we will believe everything that he wrote, especially since we, admittedly, have no choice. So, in the middle of the 9th century, the Novgorodians, together with the Krivichi, Chud and the whole, invited three Varangian brothers to rule - Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. The chronicler explains such a strange desire - to voluntarily surrender oneself to the power of foreigners - by the fact that our ancestors lost hope of independently establishing order in their vast lands, and therefore decided to turn to the Varangians for help.
By the way, at all times there have been skeptics among historians. In their opinion, the warlike Scandinavians simply seized the Russian lands and began to rule them, and the legend of voluntary calling was composed only for the sake of trampled national pride. However, this version has also not been proven and is based only on idle reasoning and speculation, and therefore, it is not worth talking about. In the generally accepted view, the first prince of Kievan Rus was an invited guest here.
The Rise of Moscow
It just so happened that both of these principalities (Tver and Moscow) had convenient positions both in terms of the economy and in terms of defense and security, so people from all over Rus' began to come here after the Mongol invasion. Both of these principalities wanted to unite Rus' under their leadership and repel the Golden Horde, but they chose different methods.
Tver openly tried to oppose the Mongols, gathered principalities to fight them, and Moscow accumulated strength, money, did not shy away from “dirty” methods, and even used the help of the Horde, pitting it against other Russian princes.
Moscow won. The Russian princes of Moscow originate from Daniil Alexandrovich, the son of Alexander Nevsky, the great-grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest, then there was his son Yuri, and after him another son, Ivan. All this time there was a stubborn rivalry between the Moscow and Tver princes for the right to the Vladimir throne, which was issued by the Khan of the Golden Horde, who even more pitted these two principalities against each other.
Reign on the banks of the Volkhov
The first Varangian prince in Rus' was Rurik. He settled in Novgorod in 862. At the same time, his younger brothers began to rule in the estates allotted to them - Sineus in Beloozero, and Truvor in Izborsk. It is curious that Smolensk and Polotsk did not allow foreigners in - either without them the order in the cities was exemplary, or the Varangians simply did not have enough strength to break their resistance. Two years later, Sineus and Truvor simultaneously die, as they say now, “under unclear circumstances,” and their lands are annexed to the possessions of their elder brother Rurik. This became the basis for the subsequent creation of the Russian monarchy.
The chroniclers mentioned above attribute another important event to this period. Two Varangian princes, Askold and Dir, accompanied by a squad, set off on a campaign against Constantinople, but before reaching the Byzantine capital, they captured the small Dnieper city of Kiev, which later became the capital of Ancient Rus'. The campaign they planned to Byzantium did not bring glory, but as the first Kyiv princes Askold and Dir entered our history forever. And although the first Varangian prince in Rus' was Rurik, they also played an important role in the formation of the state.
The treacherous capture of Kyiv
When in 879, after fifteen years of sole reign, Rurik died, he left his young son Igor as heir to the princely throne, and until he came of age appointed his relative Oleg as ruler, the same one whom descendants would call the Prophetic. From the first days, the new ruler showed himself to be a powerful, warlike man and devoid of excessive morality. Oleg conquers Smolensk and Lyubech, everywhere covering his actions with the name of the young prince Igor, in whose interests he allegedly acts. Having begun the conquest of the Dnieper lands, he captured Kyiv by cunning and, having killed Askold and Dir, became its ruler. It is to him that the chroniclers attribute the words that Kyiv is the mother of Russian cities.
Time of the first
As everyone knows from school history lessons, the name of the dynasty of Kyiv princes was given by the Varangian Rurik. Frankly speaking, little information has been preserved about this period, and it is even more difficult to judge the degree of its veracity. Rurik in history is a semi-legendary person; some consider him a real person, others consider him a collective image. One way or another, according to the official historical version, he began to rule in Novgorod in 862, and from this moment the first Russian princes begin to count. A few years after this, Rurik’s comrades - Askold and Dir - recaptured Kyiv from the Khazars, which marked the unification of the two most important cities of that time: Novgorod and Kyiv.
In 879, Rurik dies and leaves behind only his young son Igor (some historians do not consider him the first prince’s own son). Below is the further development of his family.
The Novgorod throne is occupied by another Varangian: Oleg, nicknamed the Prophet. And yes, it was his image that A.S. Pushkin used in his work “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg.”
Three years later, in 882, Oleg captured Kyiv from Askold and Dir (according to some versions, this happened fraudulently by dressing Oleg’s soldiers as merchants). During his lifetime, this prince achieved success both in domestic and foreign policy. The first includes the annexation of various Slavic peoples under princely rule: the Drevlyans, the Northerners, the Radimichi. The second included military campaigns against Constantinople (Constantinople) in 907 and 911, which resulted in an agreement between Kievan Rus and Byzantium on trade and the opportunity for Russian merchants to work in the markets of Constantinople.
Conqueror and conqueror of lands
At the end of the 9th century, the Russian lands were still very scattered, and between Novgorod and Kiev there were significant territories inhabited by foreigners. Oleg and his large retinue conquered many peoples who had until then maintained their independence. These were the Ilmen Slavs, the Chud, Vesi, Drevlyan tribes and many other inhabitants of forests and steppes. Having united them under his rule, he gathered the lands of Novgorod and Kyiv into a single powerful state.
His campaigns put an end to the dominance of the Khazar Kaganate, which had controlled the southern territories for many years. Oleg also became famous for his successful campaign against Byzantium, during which, as a sign of victory, he nailed his famous shield, praised by both Pushkin and Vysotsky, to the gates of Constantinople. He returned home with rich booty. The prince died at a ripe old age, satiated with life and glory. Whether the cause of death was the snake that bit him and crawled out of the horse’s skull, or whether it was just a work of fiction is unknown, but the prince’s life itself was brighter and more amazing than any legend.
Massive influx of Scandinavians to Rus'
As can be seen from the above, the first princes in Rus', immigrants from the Scandinavian peoples, saw their main task in the conquest of new lands and the creation of a single state capable of resisting those numerous enemies who continuously encroached on its integrity.
During these years, seeing the success of their fellow tribesmen in Rus', Scandinavians rushed to the Novgorod and Kyiv lands in large numbers, wanting to grab their piece, but, finding themselves among a large and resilient people, they inevitably assimilated into it and soon became part of it. The activities of the first princes of Rus', of course, relied on their support, but over time the foreigners gave way to the indigenous inhabitants.
Period of Igor's reign
With the death of Oleg, his successor appeared on the historical stage, the son of Rurik, who had matured by that time, the young Prince Igor. All his life he tried to achieve the same fame that Oleg got, but fate was not kind to him. Having undertaken two campaigns against Byzantium, Igor became famous not so much for his military success as for his incredible cruelty towards civilians in the countries through which his army moved.
However, he did not return home empty-handed, bringing back abundant booty from his campaigns. His actions against the steppe Pecheneg robbers, whom he managed to drive away to Bessarabia, were also successful. Naturally ambitious and ambitious, the prince ended his life very ingloriously. Once again collecting tribute from the Drevlyans under his control, with his irrepressible greed he drove them to the extreme, and they, revolting and killing their squad, betrayed him to a brutal death. His actions expressed the entire policy of the first princes of Rus' - the search for fame and wealth at any cost. Unencumbered by any moral standards, they considered all paths leading to achieving the goal acceptable.
Princess, canonized
After Igor's death, power passed to his widow, Princess Olga, whom the prince married in 903. Beginning her reign, she brutally dealt with the Drevlyans, her husband’s killers, sparing neither the elderly nor children. The princess set out on the campaign with her young son Svyatoslav, wanting to accustom him to fighting from an early age.
According to most historians, Olga, as a ruler, deserves praise, and this is due primarily to her wise decisions and good deeds. This woman managed to adequately represent Rus' in the world. Her special merit is that she was the first to bring the light of Orthodoxy to Russian soil. For this, the church canonized her as a saint. While still a pagan, in 957 she headed an embassy heading to Byzantium. Olga understood that without Christianity it was impossible to strengthen the prestige of the state and the ruling dynasty.
Igor and Olga
In 912 Oleg dies and Igor comes to power. It is quite possible that he was a good person or had many talents, but, alas, he went down in history as a prince who died from greed and stupidity. At that time, a certain Sveneld was appointed to collect tribute from the Drevlyans who had recently been subjugated by Oleg, who made good money from them. Igor’s squad noticed this and began to egg on the prince: “Look how rich Sveneld is and how poor we are, why don’t you go and take tribute from the Drevlyans yourself?” As a result, the next time the prince himself went to them, but, having taken the usual tribute, he demanded an additional one for himself and part of his people. The Drevlyans, who had not yet lost their independence, gathered a veche and simply decided to kill Igor.
In 945, the prince was killed, and after him his wife Olga began to rule as regent for their young son Svyatoslav. The Drevlyans were not at a loss and sent matchmakers to her so that they would marry their local prince in return for Igor. Of course, they were brutally killed: they were buried alive in the ground. From that moment, Olga began her revenge, as a result of which about five thousand Drevlyans died from various cruel deaths.
But no matter how much she avenged her husband, apparently, deep down in her soul she understood that he himself was to blame, and therefore, during her reign, certain rules for collecting tribute were finally introduced: “lessons and graveyards,” that is, specific numbers and places for collecting it, which made this process more regulated and not subject to change on either side. In addition, she was also remembered for the fact that she was the first among the Russian princes to convert to Christianity. This happened back in 955 in Constantinople, that is, 33 years before the Baptism of Rus'.
Newly baptized servant of God Elena
The sacrament of Baptism was performed on her in the Church of St. Sophia personally by the patriarch, and the emperor himself acted as godfather. The princess emerged from the holy font with the new name Elena. Unfortunately, having returned to Kyiv, she could not persuade her son Svyatoslav, like all the first princes in Rus', who worshiped Perun, to accept the faith of Christ. All of boundless Rus' remained in the darkness of paganism, which was to be illuminated by her grandson, the future Prince of Kyiv Vladimir, with the rays of true faith.
Prince-conqueror Svyatoslav
Princess Olga died in 969 and was buried according to Christian custom. A characteristic feature of her reign was that she limited her activities only to the concerns of government, leaving the male princes to wage war and assert her power with the sword. Even Svyatoslav, having matured and received all the princely powers, was busy with campaigns, boldly left the state in the care of his mother.
Having inherited power from his mother, Prince Svyatoslav devoted himself entirely to military campaigns, wanting to revive the glory of Rus', which shone so brightly during the time of Prince Oleg. By the way, he was perhaps the first to begin to follow the laws of knightly honor. The prince, for example, considered it unworthy to attack the enemy by surprise, and it was to him that the famous phrase “I’m coming at you!”
Possessing an iron will, a clear mind and military leadership talent, Svyatoslav managed to annex many lands to Rus' over the years of his reign, significantly expanding its territory. Like all the first princes in Rus', he was a conqueror, one of those who, with his sword, conquered a sixth of the land for the future Russian state.
Svyatoslav
Around 957, power passed to the already matured Svyatoslav, the son of Igor and Olga. This prince went down in history as the first Russian prince who loved conquests most of all and was a tireless warrior who lived with his squad as the simplest person.
During his reign, vast territories were annexed to Rus' - the lands of the Vyatichi, Volga Bulgaria, the Khazar Khaganate, Tmutarakan, and he constantly repelled all the Pecheneg raids on the territory of Rus'. The prince himself practically never visited Kyiv and even planned to move the capital to the occupied lands of Bulgaria, where he liked to live more. During his life, he managed to become known as, one might say, an invincible commander. Only at the end of his life did he fail in the war with Byzantium: returning back to Kyiv, he was ambushed by the Pechenegs. Needless to say, how much they hated and feared Svyatoslav, that after the murder of the prince, the Pecheneg Khan made himself a cup from his skull, believing that this way his luck could pass on to him.
The struggle for power and the victory of Prince Vladimir
The death of Svyatoslav became the beginning of a struggle for power between his three sons - Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir, each of whom, having his own legal inheritance, sought to seize the territories of his brothers by treachery and force. After several years of mutual hostility and intrigue, Vladimir won, becoming the sole and rightful ruler.
He, like his father, showed extraordinary military leadership abilities, pacifying the revolts of the peoples under his control and conquering new ones. However, the main merit that truly immortalized his name was the Baptism of Rus', which took place in 988 and put the young state on a par with European countries, which had long before received the light of the Christian faith.
The end of the life of the holy prince
But at the end of his life, the Baptist of Rus' was destined to experience many bitter moments. The passion for power consumed the soul of his son Yaroslav, who ruled in Novgorod, and he rebelled against his own father. To pacify him, Vladimir was forced to send a squad under the command of his other son Boris to the rebellious city. This caused the prince severe psychological trauma, from which he was unable to recover and died on July 15, 1015.
For his services to the state and the Russian Orthodox Church, Prince Vladimir entered the history of our homeland with the addition of the epithet Great or Holy to his name. A special proof of the people's love for this outstanding man is the trace that he left in the folk epic, which mentioned him in epics about Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya of Novgorod and many other Russian heroes.
Boris and Gleb. The first saints of Rus'
PRINCE VLADIMIR'S FAVORITE SONS
Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, the baptist of Rus', had no less than twelve sons.
They grew up to be very different people: everyone was baptized, but not everyone was equally imbued with the truths of the faith. And Vladimir’s favorites were Boris (reigned in Rostov) and Gleb (“sat” in Murom) - offspring from the Bulgarian wife, the last one he took in paganism. Both sons of the “Bulgarian” stood out for their lack of military pride and extreme piety, which was usual for the Kyiv military court. “This blessed Boris,” wrote the author of his life, “a son of good roots, was obedient to his father, submitting to his father in everything. He was handsome in body, tall, round in face, broad-shouldered, thin in the loins, kind eyes, cheerful in face. And although of a small age and with a young mustache, he shone like a king, strong in body, adorned in every possible way, like a flower blooming in his youth, brave in wars, wise in advice and sensible in everything, and the grace of God bloomed on him.”
Vladimir saw in him a worthy heir. And this aroused the natural jealousy of the older brothers - Yaroslav and especially Svyatopolk. A deeper circumstance also led to the brewing civil strife. Placed in outlying cities, surrounded by local squads, the sons of Vladimir became imbued with the concerns of their new lands. And the dissatisfaction of the local nobility: after all, under Vladimir, not only tribute was taken from them, but also their best warriors; Novgorod, which was gaining strength, was especially dissatisfied.
At the same time, both Svyatopolk, married to the daughter of the Polish prince Boleslav, and Yaroslav, who was served by Scandinavian mercenaries, were in close contact with external forces.
Svyatopolk, who hated Vladimir and the brothers, was the first to take the warpath - hand in hand with his father-in-law Boleslav.
BETRAYAL OF SVYATOPOLK
The plot failed, Svyatopolk found himself in captivity in Kiev. In response, Boleslav started a war with Russia in 1013. And a year later, Yaroslav unexpectedly refused to pay tribute to his father. To defend Novgorod, he called upon new detachments of Swedish and Norwegian Vikings. However, it did not come to a direct collision. “God did not give the devil joy,” says the chronicler.
But on July 15, 1015, Vladimir died. And the smoldering flame of unrest flared up into a fire.
Neither Boris nor Gleb were in Kyiv - the first was sent by his father with the Kyiv army to the steppe borders, fearing the invasion of the Pecheneg nomads; the second was in Murom. In the absence of the sons of the “Bulgarian”, the Kiev nobility freed the determined and treacherous Svyatopolk and installed him on the throne.
A messenger with a message about the death of his father met Boris when he, at the head of an army of eight thousand, was returning to Kyiv. Moving away from the city, the saddened son set up camp near the Alta River. The squad gathered for council. Those close to the late prince were unanimous: “Look, you have your father’s squad and all the warriors at hand. Go and sit in Kyiv on your father’s table.”
But Boris’s answer, who did not want to incite another internecine war, was stern: “I will not raise my hand against my brother, and my elder one at that. If my father died, then he will be my father.”
Boris was not naive at all. He understood perfectly well that Svyatopolk did not have the slightest brotherly feelings for him. And he knew what the compromise threatened him with: “My heart is burning, my soul is confused by thoughts, and I know who to turn to and to whom to extend this bitter sadness? To my brother, who became my father? But he, I think, listens to the vanity of the world and is thinking about killing me...” However, the reluctance to participate in the fratricidal feud turned out to be more important than concerns and one’s own fate.
And this was completely incomprehensible to the battle-hardened warriors of Vladimir, participants in many civil strife. Moreover, Boris’s refusal to fight for the throne with Svyatopolk outraged and offended them.
The squad immediately left the camp on Alta. Then the Kiev militia left, without a twinge of conscience, going over to Svyatopolk. Only his younger squad remained with Boris - the Rostov “youths”.
"HE'S THINKING ABOUT KILLING MY..."
The people of Kiev abandoned Boris on Saturday, July 23. On the same day, a messenger arrived from Svyatopolk from the capital with a blessed message: “Brother,” he conveyed to Boris the words of the Grand Duke, “I want to have love with you and we will give you fatherly gifts.” But Boris already knew what to expect. The Rostov prince spent the entire day and the next night in his tent, in tears, prayers and painful thoughts.
Death was already on the doorstep.
At night, Svyatopolk went to his supporters in Vyshgorod, a fortified princely residence near Kyiv. It was to Vyshgorod that the impostor owed his ascension to the throne. Here he called four boyars to him - Putsha, Talts, Elovich and Lyashko: “Tell me the truth, do you accept me with all your heart?” “We can all lay our heads for you,” replied the elder Putsha. “Since you accept me with all your heart and promise to lay down your heads for me,” Svyatopolk said to this, “then, my brothers, go secretly and seize the time, kill my brother Boris where you find him.”
The conspirators arrived at the deserted camp on Alta in the pre-dawn hour of July 24. But Boris got up even earlier: having ordered his confessor to begin Matins, he himself sang prayers loudly. The third in the tent was the prince’s bodyguard, the Hungarian Georgy, to whom Boris bestowed a once-expensive neck ornament—a gold hryvnia—for his faithful service.
The murderers hurried to the voice of the prince singing psalms. Boris, having heard the “evil whisper” behind the canopy of his tent, again lay down on his bed - ready to face death. A moment later, the tent was surrounded by warriors with drawn swords and spears. Four leaders thrust spears into the prince through the canopy. At the last moment, Georgy covered Boris with his body - and fell lifeless.
But the prince was still alive.
“In a daze,” Boris ran out of the tent. Themselves, dumbfounded, the Vyshgorod residents shouted to their own: “Why are you standing and looking? Go ahead, let’s do what we’ve been ordered to do!” Boris fell under the blow of the sword. His last words were words of prayer.
And in the camp a massacre began, in which almost all the Rostov youths died. The killers also turned out to be looters, trying to take an expensive hryvnia from George’s neck. When this failed, the dead Hungarian was beheaded. Because of this, no one was able to identify his body later.
Having wrapped Boris’s body in his own tent, Putsha and his associates took the murdered man to Vyshgorod. As we approached, “on the forest floor,” Boris moved his head. The killers were convinced that the prince was still breathing. Not daring to finish what they started, they sent to Svyatopolk. He immediately sent two Varangian mercenaries towards the drogs, one of whom stabbed Boris in the heart with a sword.
The prince was secretly buried in Vyshgorod at the Church of St. Basil, built by his father.
Gleb became the next martyr's victim.
BACKSTAB
Svyatopolk's plan was simple: to exterminate all the sons of Vladimir and unite Rus' under his rule. A messenger from Kyiv arrived in Murom and told Gleb: “Go quickly - your father is calling you, and he is very unwell.” At that time, Vladimir’s favorite was just over 25 years old. He is described as a pure and pious man, sometimes childishly naive, who endeared himself to everyone.
Gleb set off from Murom by ship, and then dragged it from the Volga to the Dnieper. On September 5, 1015, near Smolensk, messengers from his brother Yaroslav, the Novgorod prince, overtook him. The news about the events in Kyiv reached such a point that he realized that all the Vladimirovichs were facing the same danger. The envoys told Gleb: “Don’t go, your father died, and your brother was killed by Svyatopolk.”
Gleb “cryed out with tears,” mourning his father and brother: “Woe is me, Lord! It would be better for me to die with my brother than to live in this world!” And fate was already approaching him: several boats with Svyatopolk’s envoys appeared on the river. The killers were led by a certain Goryaser. They surrounded Gleb's rook and drew their weapons. The Murom prince, not wanting unnecessary bloodshed, ordered his small warriors, the “youths,” to land on the shore. Only his cook Torchin, a Tork nomad, remained in the boat with Gleb.
Several warriors jumped into the prince's boat. Traditions have brought to us his last prayer - for his deceased father and brother, for Yaroslav, for the murderer Svyatopolk himself. And the words with which he addressed Goryaser’s henchmen: “Since you have already created, having begun, do what you were sent to do.” Goryaser ordered Gleb to be stabbed to death, but his accomplices did not have to do this. Torchin, overcome with horror, betrayed his master: he pulled out his knife and cut Gleb’s throat.
The prince’s body was thrown in a deserted place on the shore, between two “decks,” where it lay in obscurity for a long time.
YAROSLAV'S REVENGE
And Svyatopolk continued to carry out his plan. Nicknamed the Accursed for his fratricide, he intended to exterminate all the remaining Vladimirovichs. His next victim was the Drevlyan prince Svyatoslav, who, unlike Boris and Gleb, tried to escape to Hungary. The Kyiv murderers overtook him in the Carpathian Mountains.
But Svyatopolk failed to defeat Yaroslav, who gathered all his Russian and Varangian forces in Novgorod. During the bloody war, Kyiv changed hands more than once. It was not only the desire to seize power that motivated Yaroslav - he wanted to avenge his brothers.
And then in 1019 a decisive battle followed on the Alta River, at the site of Boris’s death. Before the battle, Yaroslav raised his hands to the sky and said: “The blood of my brother cries out to you, Master! Avenge the blood of this righteous man, as you avenged the blood of Abel, bringing groaning and trembling upon the fratricide of Cain. So apply it to this one too.” For the last time, Yaroslav completely defeated Svyatopolk, who came with the Pechenegs, after which he disappeared unknown...
PS
Soon after the victory, at the behest of Yaroslav, Boris and Gleb were reburied in Vyshgorod. Their veneration as saints was established. These were the first Russian saints themselves, recognized by the entire Russian Church and the Greek clergy.
Boris and Gleb could not stop the strife with their death. And it did not end with a victory over the Accursed. But the brothers gave their lives so that they themselves would not violate the new moral ideal that was establishing itself on Russian soil, and not deviate from Orthodoxy. That is why the Church equated them with holy martyrs for the faith.
Their death and posthumous triumph became another moral victory of Christianity over the ancient law of blood and revenge.
Ancient Rus': the first princes
This is how the formation of Russia took place, rising from the darkness of paganism and becoming over time a powerful power, one of the legislators of European politics. But since Rus', during the reign of the first princes, stood out from among other nations, establishing its superiority over them, it had a long and difficult path ahead of it, which also included the process of evolution of state power. It continued throughout the entire period of Russian autocracy.
The concept of “the first Russian prince in Rus'” can be considered very conditional. The entire family of Rurik princes, which originated from the legendary Varangian who came to the banks of the Volkhov in 862 and ended with the death of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, carries Scandinavian blood, and it is hardly fair to call its members purely Russian. Numerous appanage princes who were not directly related to this dynasty also mostly had either Tatar or Western European roots.
But who the first prince of all Rus' is can be said with some accuracy. It is known from the chronicles that for the first time, Mikhail Yaroslavovich Tverskoy, who ruled at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, was awarded the title, which emphasized that its owner was not just the Grand Duke, but rather the ruler of “all Rus'”. The first Moscow prince of all Rus' is also reliably known. It was Ivan Kalita. His followers also bore the same title, right up to the first Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The main line of their foreign policy was the expansion of the borders of the Russian state and the annexation of new lands to it. Domestic policy boiled down to the comprehensive strengthening of centralized princely power.
Period of Mongol conquest
In the second quarter of the 13th century, the Mongol invasion of the territory of Rus' began. This became one of the darkest moments in the history of the country, the rule of the Russian princes was shaken: hordes of Mongols came from the east, Poland, the Principality of Lithuania and the knightly orders of the crusaders began their conquests from the west.
Split into small principalities, Rus' was unable to repel all these enemies, and for more than a hundred years it fell into vassalage to the Golden Horde. The main one during this period was still the Vladimir principality, although it itself was fragmented into fourteen independent regions, among which Tver and Moscow were of greatest importance.
During the Mongol conquest, the throne passed through dozens of people. There is no point in describing each, but you can familiarize yourself with them below in the table with the princes of Ancient Rus' by the years of their reign.
