Mongol Empire

The Effects of the Mongol Empire on Russia

The history of Russia has always been a relatively sad and tumultuous one wrought with wars, power struggles, and abrupt changes. These changes have often been forcibly thrust wholesale upon Russia, rather than evolving through gradual, measured methods as in most peoples’ histories. From an earlier time, in which we know Russia as ‘Kievan Rus,’ the princes of the various cities (such as Vladimir, Pskov, Suzdal, and Kiev) constantly battled and bickered for power and control of the small semi-united state. Under the reigns of St. Vladimir (980-1015) and Yaroslav the Wise (1015-1054), the Kievan state was at its highest point and attained relative peace in contrast with years past. However, as history went, once the reigning rulers died, a power struggle ensued and wars once again flared.
It was perhaps the decision of Yaroslav the Wise before his death in 1054 to assign princedoms to his sons that set the future of Kievan Russia for the next two hundred years. Following this decision, civil wars between the various sons ravaged much of the Kievan confederation, draining it of essential resources it would later need. As the princes incessantly fought with each other, the confederation of cities known as the Kievan state slowly decayed, declined, and lost its former glory. Further weakened by the incursions of steppe tribes such as the Polovtsy (aka Cumans/Kumans or Kipchaks) and previously by the Pechenegs, eventually the Kievan state was ripe for a takeover by more powerful invaders from distant lands.

go to the site:

www.sras.org/the_effects_of_the_mongol_empire_on_russia

Medieval Russia

Medieval Russia

A casual glance at the map of Europe and Asia will reveal quite clearly certain of the physical conditions under which Russia has developed. Compared with England, France, or Spain in point of size, what a vast extent of territory is embraced by a single state: running east and west, from the Baltic to the Sea of Kamchatka; and north and south, from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, the Caspian, and, as it may some day appear, the waters of the Indian Ocean. A heritage truly imperial, and offering a greater expanse of continuous land than any other empire. Examined more closely, other features in contrast to the states of western Europe begin to appear. The mountains of Continental Europe lie for the most part in the western and southern quarters. But easterly from the Carpathians, the Continent broadens out into a huge monotonous plain, watered by rivers of considerable length. And were the Ural Mountains correctly appreciatedÑtheir blackness on the ordinary map making them seem much more formidable than they really are, being for the most part only hillsÑit would appear that this vast plain extends almost uninterruptedly from shore to shore of the several bodies of water mentioned above. Scarcely within this enormous expanse of level country is there to be found any one feature which offers itself as a natural frontier or boundary line. The essential unity of the whole, physically, seems to have contributed in no small measure to the political unity which is now fast being achieved.
go to the site:
www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/MorRus.htm

Russia Medievale

Un evento medievale epocale del secolo scorso: La scoperta delle BERJOSTY

Articolo dedicato ad un grande archeologo e storico russo contemporaneo: Valentin Lavrent'evic' JANIN

Quando il prof. A. V. Arcihovskii trovò le prime berjòsty nei suoi scavi a Novgorod nell’estate (è l’unica stagione buona per il lavoro di scavo qui nel Grande Nord) del 1951 (26 luglio) probabilmente non ne rimase molto sorpreso poiché qui e là nelle zone archeologiche dove lavoravano gli altri colleghi delle università statali nell’ex URSS di tali reperti se ne trovavano ogni tanto. E’ vero che, quando lo scritto non era visibile o riconoscibile, gli archeologi li avevano presi per “galleggianti per la pesca”, ma ora il fatto eccezionale fu che con il proseguire degli scavi in pochi mesi di campagna il numero dei reperti salì a varie centinaia! Fino ad oggi (anno 2000) di berjòsty ne sono state catalogate circa un migliaio in questa zona di scavi, ma restano ca. 20.000 reperti simili da mettere ancora in ordine e da decifrare!

Che cosa sono le berjòsty (il singolare è berjòsta in russo)? E’ presto detto! Sono delle strisce oblunghe (da 25 cm fino a 40 cm e oltre) di scorza di betulla di larghezza tipica standard fra i 4 e gli 8 cm sulla cui faccia interna mediante uno stiletto appuntito d’osso o di metallo o di legno (pisàlo in russo) si incidono agevolmente le lettere. Le strisce, per essere così scritte, devono essere preparate immergendole o bollendole in acqua calda per dare loro una maggiore elasticità. A questo punto la striscia inverte la sua proprietà di avvolgersi su se stessa e lo scritto sulla berjòsta arrotolata risulterà ora sulla faccia esterna. Subito dopo l’incisione i solchi infatti imbruniscono e la scrittura è subito leggibile e, se poi le condizioni lo permettono, ecco che queste lettere sui generis riescono a conservarsi per secoli per essere scoperte poi dagli archeologi.
vai al sito:
www.amoit.ru/CulturaRussa/Storia/Articolo4.html

Russian Medieval Castles

Castles of Order of Sword-bearers and Livonian Order

Here you will find information about medieval (ancient) castles was built by Crusaders on Latvian's nowadays territory. This castles was built by Crusaders of Order of Sword-bearers and later Livonian Order. Furthermore some of the castles built in accord Riga's Bishops and Archbishops order. On this land Order's and Archbishop's liegemen (vassals) also built their castles.
go to the site:
www.castle.lv

Meideval Russian Life

Sofya la Rus: 13th-14th Century Medieval Russian Life

During the first century A.D., the Goths started to move down out of Scandinavia - conquering and displacing the peoples they met. Among these peoples are mentioned the Venedae, the Sclaveni, and the Antes. Jordanis, a sixth century A.D. Goth, says that that these tribes gave rise to the Slavs. The Goths generally adopted the culture of the Sarmatians, so that the period from 500 B.C. to 500 A.D. was a time of general cultural continuity for the Eurasian plain.
The Huns arrived in the fourth century A.D. from Central Asia, after having been blocked from eastward movement by the construction of the Great Wall of China. They crushed the Alans between the Don River and the Sea of Azov. Many Alans fled west, pursued by the Huns, who then fought the Goths. This movement of the Huns gave rise to the "Great Migration of Peoples" as it caused massive dislocations. They forced the Visigoths (West Goths) and Ostrogoths (East Goths) and Alans out of the Eurasian plain. The Visigoths went to southern Gaul, then Spain. The Ostrogoths went to Thrace, then conquered Italy, destroying the Western Roman Empire. A group of the Alans moved into the Caucasus Mountains and became the Ossetians. (Joseph Stalin was Ossetin.) The Huns peaked under Attila and attacked the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire in 447, invaded Frankish Gaul in 451 and attacked Italy in 452. Fortunately for all of western Europe, Attila died in 453 and his empire crumbled. But many historians believe that it was during this period of the Great Migration of Peoples that the Slavs began to migrate out of central and eastern Europe - heading east, south and west
After the Huns came the Avars, a mixed people of Turkish, Mongolian and Chinese decent, who conquered in the mid-sixth century and created a state reaching from the Volga River to the Elbe. They were powerful enough to pressure the Byzantine Empire into paying tribute in 581, and the Byzantine sources make it clear that Slavic groups were included in the Avar campaigns - refered to as Sclaveni. The Avars ruled (and oppressed according to the oldest Russian histories) until the seventh century when they were defeated by the Byzantine Empire.
In the eighth century, the nomadic Turkic Khazars arrived along the Black and Caspian seas to rule over the array of peoples now living in the Eurasian plain - Huns, Avars, Antes, Altaic Turks and Slavs. The Khazars developed lively trading relationships with the Byzantine Empire to the west and the rising Arab Empire to the east, and served as the middlemen between these two empires and the tribes living to the north. As a result, south Russia as a fairly cosmopolitan region at this time. Also by the eighth century, Slavic tribes had settled permanently along the Dnieper River, forming the basis for the future Kievan state.
In summary, there is no definite evidence of Slavs in the Eurasian plain until the sixth century, when Slavic or proto-Slavic tribes had moved east out of central Europe and spread along the Dnieper to form the nucleus of the eastern Slavs - the "Great Russians", the "White Russians" (Byelorussians) and the "Little Russians" (Ukrainians). Other Slavic tribes moved south into the Balkans and gave rise to the southern Slavs - Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Bulgars. Slavic tribes also moved west to become the western Slavs - Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Moravians, Kashubs and Wends.
go to the site:
www.strangelove.net/~kieser/Russia/

Medieval Rivers

The Medieval River Trade Network of Russia

Many historians have written about Moscow's gradual rise to a position of dominance over other towns. Most claim that the growth was a response to favorable geographical conditions. The Russian historian Kluchevsky (1911) comments:
"The political fortunes of Moscow were closely connected with its geographical position." "Thus Moscow arose at the point of intersection of three great land roads - a geographical position which conferred important economic advantages upon the city and its neighborhood. ...Boyars always followed the currents of popular migration, so that their genealogical records are evidence that at that period [time of Daniel, youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, circa 1270 AD.] the general trend was toward Moscow. This steady influx into the city, as into a central reservoir, of all the Russian popular forces threatened by external foes was primarily due to the geographical position of Moscow."
go to the site:
www.analytictech.com/networks/pitts.htm

Medieval Russia

A Brief History of Medieval Russia

A casual glance at the map of Europe and Asia will reveal quite clearly certain of the physical conditions under which Russia has developed. Compared with England, France, or Spain in point of size, what a vast extent of territory is embraced by a single state: running east and west, from the Baltic to the Sea of Kamchatka; and north and south, from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, the Caspian, and, as it may some day appear, the waters of the Indian Ocean. A heritage truly imperial, and offering a greater expanse of continuous land than any other empire. Examined more closely, other features in contrast to the states of western Europe begin to appear. The mountains of Continental Europe lie for the most part in the western and southern quarters. But easterly from the Carpathians, the Continent broadens out into a huge monotonous plain, watered by rivers of considerable length. And were the Ural Mountains correctly appreciatedÑtheir blackness on the ordinary map making them seem much more formidable than they really are, being for the most part only hillsÑit would appear that this vast plain extends almost uninterruptedly from shore to shore of the several bodies of water mentioned above. Scarcely within this enormous expanse of level country is there to be found any one feature which offers itself as a natural frontier or boundary line. The essential unity of the whole, physically, seems to have contributed in no small measure to the political unity which is now fast being achieved.
go to the site:
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/MorRus.html

Across Medieval Russia

Across Medieval Russia

Maps of the Baltic Lands

These maps depict the lands bordering the Baltic Sea, including Russia, Scandinavia and Northern Europe. They are from the Atlas to Freeman's Historical Geography, edited by J.B. Bury, Longmans Green and Co. Third Edition, 1903, and are online here at the Medieval History site.

The Medieval Atlas is a directory of maps, charts, geographic drawings and illustrations, illuminations, and other cartographic representations of the world in general, and the geography of Europe in particular, during the Middle Ages. Both historical maps and period or "antique" maps are included. The maps display the changing face of northern Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Go to the site;
http://historymedren.about.com/library/atlas/blatrusdex.htm