Principality of Goroden (Grodno)

The Principality of Goroden was an autonomous principality with a center in Goroden ( Grodno), which existed in the 12th century. In the thirteenth century it broke up into two seoarate principalities (Novogrudok and Volkovsk), which came under the control of the Lithuanian princes in the 1240s in unknown circumstances.

Contents [ hide ]

2	Interpretation in Historiography 2.1	Prinemane as a Volyn volost 2.2	Prinemane as a Dregovichi volost 2.3	Prinemane as a Polotsk Parish 3	The structure and culture of the Principality 4	Decline 5	Notes 6	See also 7	References 8	External links

Data from chronicles
The Principality of Goroden was first mentioned in the chronicles under 1127 (1128) year [1] in connection with the participation of the local prince Vsevolod Davydovich of Goroden in the great campaign of the prince of Kiev Mstislav the Great against the Princes of Polotsk. Mstislav was Vsevolod brother-in-law, since 10 years before the events described Vladimir Monomakh married Vsevolod to his daughter Agafia.

Up to 1183 in the chronicles mentioned gorodenskie princes Vsevolodkovichi - usually in connection with the military campaigns of Monomakhovich. The marriage of two daughters of Vsevolod in 1144 (after his death) was organized by the Kiev prince Vsevolod Olgovich. Throughout the 12th century chronicles record the "subordinate position of the princes of the city in relation to Kiev " [2], which contrasted sharply with the self-will of their neighbors - the Polotsk Izyaslavichi.

Alexander Nazarenko restores the following sequence of the princes of Goroden [2] :


 * Vsevolod Davydovich of Goroden (Vsevolodko) (bef.1117-1141);
 * Boris Vsevolodovich of Goroden (1141-bef.1166) [3] ;
 * Gleb Vsevolodovich of Goroden (bef.1166-1170);
 * Mstislav Vsevolodovich of Goroden (1170-aft.1183).

After 1183, the news of the Gorodenskoye reign disappears from the Russian chronicles. In the second quarter of the 13th century, its territory became part of the Lithuanian principality. To fill the lacuna up to 1241, the name of Prince Yuri Glebovich is sometimes quoted in the literature, but the source of this information is unclear.

Interpretation in historiography [ edit | edit source ] Prinemane as Volyn volost [ edit | edit source ] The father and patronymic of the first Gorodensk prince, Vsevolodka, is not mentioned in ancient sources [2]. In the XVII century, the compiler of the abounding inaccuracies of the Gustyn annals called the wife of Agafia "Vsevolod Davydovich Chernyegovsky." Starting from this news, VN Tatishchev was looking for Old Russian Goroden near Chernigov (compare Gorodnya ), and Vsevolodka's father considered Chernigov prince Davyd Svyatoslavich.

The assumption of Chernihiv origin of Vsevolodka is incredible already because at the behest of the chronicle the son of David Sviatoslavich, Vladimir Chernigovsky, was married to Vsevolodka's daughter. In the final edition of his "History" Tatishchev identified Father Vsevolodka as the ruler of the more closely geographically Volyn principality - Davyd Igorevich. Under this assumption, he was guided, probably, by the patronymic "Davydovich", which Vsevolodok gave to the compiler of the Gustyn annals.

The hypothesis about the origin of the city princes from Davyd Igorevich was repeated uncritically by Nikolai Karamzin and Sergei Solovyov, after which it became generally accepted [2]. As Davyd Igorevich ruled south of Pripyat, Karamzin denied the identity of the Vsevolodkov capital of Goroden with modern Grodno and tried to search for the capital city of Vsevolodka in the Pripyat basin, namely, in the vicinity of Pinsk. Meanwhile, all the lands of the Dregovichi - Turov, Pinsk , and Berestye , originally associated with them  - were in those years included in Svyatopolk Izyaslavich's extensive lot.

Finally, the dispute over the localization of the capital of the Gorodensky princedom was resolved in favor of Grodno- on- Neman during the Soviet era by excavations of Nikolai Voronin, who did not reveal a significant archaeological layer in the town of Pripyat Gorodny, but in Grodno powerful cultural strata were discovered since the XI century. Nikolai Voronin does not question Tatischev's thesis about the origin of the Gorodensk dynasty from the Volyn prince, but suggests the hypothesis: "Did David Igorevich, while still a Volyn prince, attempt to penetrate Prinemania and gain a foothold in it?" [4]

Prinemane as a Dregovichi volost [ edit | edit source ] Alexander Nazarenko objects to the origin of Vsevolodka from the Volyn Prince Davyd Igorevich for reasons both geographic and genealogical. From the point of view of geography Prinemanya borders not with Volhynia, but with the lands of Dregovichi, in particular, with Beresteyskaya volost , whose rulers in 1112 and earlier went to war against Lithuania in Yatvingagi. This indicates that in 1112 Beresteyskaya, Gorodenskaya and Dorogichinskaya volosts were a single whole. From the point of genealogy, be Vsevolodko Davydovich, his wife, Agafya Vladimirovna, would be his second cousin, and marriage would be uncanonically closely related. In church law, such marriages were considered incestuous, while the initiator of marriage, Monomakh, on the contrary, was praised by hierarchs for deanery [2].

To remove these objections, Alexander Nazarenko searches for Vsevolodka's father among the owners of the Beresteysky volost at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries [2]. They were descendants of Izyaslav Yaroslavich from the Turov-Pin dynasty - Mstislav Svyatopolchich, and after his death in 1097 - the cousin of the latter, Yaroslav Yaropolchich (son of Yaropolk Izyaslavich , died in 1102).

From the chronicles it is known about the marriage of the daughter of Vsevolodka with Yuri Yaroslavich (the son of Yaroslav Svyatopolchich ), and such a marriage would be inadmissible from the point of view of canon law, be the father of Vsevolodka brother of Yaroslav Svyatopolchich Mstislav. Therefore, Nazarenko argues in favor of the fact that the ancestor of the Gorodensky princes was Yaroslav Yaropolchich. In this case, the descendants of Svyatopolk from the sons of Izyaslav Yaroslavich were ruled by Turov, and the descendants of Yaropolk by Goroden.

It can be assumed that the outbreak of the Gorodensky princedom from the ownership of Yaroslav Svyatopolchich was carried out by Monomakh about 1117 in connection with the marriage of Vsevolodka to his daughter and within the framework of the general redistribution of volosts that followed the death of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich in 1113. These years were marked by the campaigns of Monomakh against the son of Svyatopolk, Yaroslav Turovsky and Volynsky, as well as his probable ally, Gleb of Minsk. It is possible that the condition of the peace treaty was the separation of the separate Gorodensky principality from the Yaroslavl possessions.

Prinemane as a Polotsk volost [ edit | edit source ] In the second half of the 12th century, the Gorodtsov Principality is mentioned in the territory of the Polotsk Izyaslavichi ("Gorodenski pipes are trumpeting," writes the author of The Lay of Igor's Campaign ), which a number of historians are trying to identify with Gorodensky. Meanwhile Prinemania up to Novogrudok was separated from the possessions of the Polotsk Izyaslavichi by impenetrable forests, so that its settlement by the Slavs took place from the tribal lands of the Dregovichi and Volhynians, and not from the Krivichi [5]. Proceeding from these considerations, the hypothesis of the cultural and dynastic relationship of the Gorodensky principality with the Polotsk land seems insufficiently substantiated.

The structure and culture of the principality [ edit | edit source ] The founder of the Gorodensky principality, Vsevolodko, died in 1142. About his descendants, Vsevolodkovichi, the chronicle is spoken in a dual number, which suggests the existence in the principality of at least one more table. Judging by the fact that the stone construction was carried out, in addition to Goroden, in Vaukavysk and Novogrudok, one can assume that one of the Vsevolkodich brothers (Boris or Gleb) ruled in one of these cities (most likely in Novogrudok, as the cathedral church there, as and in the capital city, had a dedication to St. Boris and Gleb ).

The heyday of the principality is connected with the fact that the princes of Gorodino controlled the trade route from Neman to the Dnieper. One of the paths passed along the left tributary of Neman Roshi, then by dragging to Yaselda and Pripyat ; The second along the tributary of the Neman of the Western Berezina , by dragging to Svisloch and Berezina.

The second half of the 12th century was a period of flourishing of Grodno culture, which is evidenced by a special architectural style, the only surviving example of which is the Kolozhskaya church in Grodno. In 1184, Goroden was devastated by a fire, after which several more stone buildings were erected there.

After 1184, information about the Gorodensky princes from the annals disappear. These sphragistics point to the dynastic proximity of the rulers of Goroden, Dorogichin and Volkovysk and at the end of the 12th century. On many seals there is an image of St. Simeon (according to NN Voronin, this was the Christian name of the ancestor of local princes, Vsevolodka). [4] The plinth of the princely palace in Gorodene preserves the princely marks of Vsevolodkovichi ("a two-tooth with a crossed lower spur, slightly bent to the left") [2].

Decline [ edit | edit source ] The fate of the Gorodensky principality in the 13th century can not be traced by sources. It is also unknown when exactly and how the so-called. Black Russia was included in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The genus Vsevolodkovich, perhaps, for a while continued to rule as vassals of Lithuanian princes. [2] Judging by the name, it belonged to the Vaukavysk prince Gleb, in the 1250s (according to the news of the Galician-Volhynian annals) he recognized the power of Wojselka over himself.

Probably, in 1224 the town was ravaged by German knights, in 1241 - by the Mongol-Tatars. In 1250, for a short time, was captured by Daniel Galitsky, and then returned to Mindovg. His son Roman Danilovicha Galician prince planted in Novogrudok, married the daughter of the mentioned Gleb Volkovysk. For further history of this area, see Black Russia.

Notes [ edit | edit source ] ↑ Grodno // Encyclopaedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 dop.). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Jump up to: Nazarenko AV The  Gorodensky Principality and the Gorodensky princes in the 12th century. // The most ancient states of Eastern Europe. - M .: Eastern Literature, 2000. - P. 169-188. ↑ Rudakov VE Boris Vsevolodovich // Encyclopaedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 ext.). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907. ↑ 1 2Jump up to: Voronin NN Ancient Grodno (based on archaeological excavations from 1932-1949 - M., 1954. ↑ Sedov VV Eastern Slavs in the VI-XIII centuries. - M. , 1982. - P. 119-122, map 16. See also [ edit | edit source ] commons:	Gorodenskoye Principality on Wikimedia Commons Architecture of the Gorodensky Principality Gorodtsov Principality Literature [ edit | edit source ] Ermalovich M. І. Starazhitnaya Belarus. Polacki i Navagarodskiy periyad. - Mn. , 1990. Reference [ edit | edit source ] Genealogy of the Gorodensky princes