The Vyatichi were pagans and retained the ancient faith longer than other tribes. If in Kievan Rus the main god was Perun - the god of a stormy sky, then among the Vyatichi - Stribog ("Old God"), who created the universe, the Earth, all the gods, people, flora and fauna. It was he who gave people blacksmith tongs, taught them how to smelt copper and iron, and also established the first laws. In addition, they worshiped Yarila, the god of the Sun, who travels across the sky in a wonderful chariot harnessed by four white, golden-maned horses with golden wings. Every year on June 23, the holiday of Kupala, the god of earthly fruits, was celebrated, when the sun gives the greatest strength to plants and medicinal herbs were collected.

Vyatichi believed that on the night of Kupala, trees move from place to place and talk to each other with the noise of branches, and whoever has a fern with him can understand the language of each creation. Lel, the god of love, who appeared in the world every spring, was especially revered among young people in order to unlock the bowels of the earth with his keys-flowers for the violent growth of grasses, bushes and trees, for the triumph of the all-conquering power of Love. The goddess Lada, the patroness of marriage and family, was sung by the Vyatichi people.

In addition, the Vyatichi worshiped the forces of nature. So, they believed in the goblin - the owner of the forest, a wild creature that was taller than any tall tree. Goblin tried to knock a person off the road in the forest, lead him into an impenetrable swamp, slums and destroy him there. At the bottom of the river, lake, in the whirlpools lived a water man - a naked, shaggy old man, the owner of waters and swamps, all their riches. He was the lord of the mermaids. Mermaids are the souls of drowned girls, evil creatures. Coming out of the water where they live on a moonlit night, they try to lure a person into the water with singing and charms and tickle him to death. The brownie - the main owner of the house - enjoyed great respect. This is a little old man who looks like the owner of the house, all overgrown with hair, an eternal troublemaker, often grouchy, but deep down kind and caring. In the view of the Vyatichi, Santa Claus was an unsightly, harmful old man, who shook his gray beard and caused bitter frosts. Children were scared of Santa Claus. But in the 19th century, he turned into a kind creature who, together with the Snow Maiden, brings gifts for the New Year. Such were the life, customs and religion of the Vyatichi, in which they differed little from other East Slavic tribes.

In 882, Prince Oleg created a united Old Russian state. The freedom-loving and warlike tribe of the Vyatichi for a long time and stubbornly defended independence from Kyiv. They were headed by the princes elected by the people's assembly, who lived in the capital of the Vyatich tribe, the city of Dedoslavl (now Dedilovo). The strongholds were the fortress cities of Mtsensk, Kozelsk, Rostislavl, Lobynsk, Lopasnya, Moskalsk, Serenok and others, which numbered from 1 to 3 thousand inhabitants. Under the command of the Vyatich princes there was a numerous army, in the forefront of which stood recognized strong men and brave men, who boldly exposed their bare chests to arrows. All their clothes were linen trousers, tightly tied with belts and tucked into boots, and their weapons were wide axes-axes, so heavy that they fought with both hands. But how terrible were the blows of battle axes: they cut through even strong armor and split helmets like clay pots. Spear warriors with large shields made up the second line of fighters, and behind them crowded archers and javelin throwers - young warriors.

In 907, the Vyatichi are mentioned by the chronicler as participants in the campaign of the Kyiv prince Oleg against Tsargrad, the capital of Byzantium.
In 964, Prince Svyatoslav of Kyiv invaded the borders of the easternmost Slavic people. He had a well-armed and disciplined squad, but he did not want a fratricidal war. He held negotiations with the elders of the Vyatichi. The chronicle of this event reports briefly: “Svyatoslav went to the Oka River and the Volga and met the Vyatichi and said to them:“ To whom are you giving tribute? him.

However, the Vyatichi soon separated from Kyiv. The Prince of Kyiv Vladimir Svyatoslavich also fought twice with the Vyatichi. The chronicle says that in 981 he defeated them and laid tribute - from each plow, as his father took it. But in 982, as the chronicle reports, the Vyatichi rose up in a war, and Vladimir went to them and won a second time. Having baptized Russia in 988, Vladimir sent a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery to the land of the Vyatichi in order to introduce the forest people to Orthodoxy. Gloomy bearded men in bast shoes and women wrapped up to the very eyebrows in headscarves respectfully listened to the visiting missionary, but then they unanimously expressed bewilderment: why, why do you need to change the religion of your grandfathers and fathers to faith in Christ? that dark corner of the endless Vyatich forests at the hands of fanatical pagans.

It is noteworthy that in the epics about Ilya Muromets, his move from Murom to Kyiv by the road "straight" through the Vyatka territory is considered one of his heroic deeds. Usually they preferred to go around it in a roundabout way. With pride, as about a special feat, Vladimir Monomakh also speaks of his campaigns in this land in his “Instruction”, dating back to the end of the 11th century. It should be noted that he does not mention either the conquest of the Vyatichi by him, or the imposition of tribute. Apparently, they were ruled in those days by independent leaders or elders. In the Teaching, Monomakh crushes Khodota and his son out of them.
Until the last quarter of the 11th century. chronicles do not name a single city in the land of Vyatichi. Apparently, she was essentially unknown to the chroniclers.

In 1082-86, the proud and recalcitrant Vyatichi again rise against Kyiv. They are headed by Khodota and his son, well-known adherents of the pagan religion in their region. Modern historians, unbiased to the facts, call Hodota the Russian Robin Hood, who rebels against Monomakh's extortions, robs noble boyars and distributes the loot to the poor. Vladimir Monomakh goes to pacify them (which he tells about in his teaching!): "And two winters went to the Vyatichi land: on Khodota and on his son." His first two campaigns ended in nothing. The squad passed through the forests without meeting the enemy, praying to their forest gods. Only during the third campaign Monomakh overtook and defeated the Khodota forest army, but his leader managed to escape.

For the second winter, the Grand Duke prepared differently. First of all, he sent his scouts to the Vyatka settlements, occupied the main ones and brought there all kinds of supplies. And when the frost hit, Khodota was forced to go to warm himself in the huts and dugouts. Monomakh overtook him in one of the winter quarters. The combatants knocked out everyone who fell under the arm in this battle.

But the Vyatichi still fought and rebelled for a long time, until the governors intercepted and bandaged all the instigators and executed them in front of the villagers with a fierce execution. Only then did the land of the Vyatichi finally become part of the Old Russian state. In the XIV century, the Vyatichi finally leave the historical scene and are no longer mentioned in the annals.

Vyatichi is one of the tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs, which, according to official data, existed between the 8th and 13th centuries AD in the upper and middle reaches of the Oka. Now these are the territories of modern Tula, Orel, Ryazan, Kaluga, Moscow, Lipetsk and Smolensk regions.

Most sources agree that the name of the union came from the name of the founder of the tribe - Vyatko.

In the VIII-IX centuries, tribes led by the elder Vyatko came to the interfluve of the Volga and Oka and to the upper Don. The chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" writes on this occasion: "And Vyatko is gray with his family according to Otse, from whom they are called Vyatichi." A map of the settlement of the Vyatichi in the 11th century can be viewed on the map.

Vyatichi life

The territory where the Vyatichi once lived was covered with impenetrable forests in the 12th century. There is even this story:

In 1175, during a princely feud, two troops marching against each other (one from Moscow, the other from Vladimir) got lost in the thickets and missed each other without a fight.

So, among these dense forests, the Vyatichi settled. They settled near rivers. And there are at least a few reasons for this:

• the river is a source of food;
• trade waterway - one of the most reliable, at that time.

The Vyatichi, however, like other Slavic tribes, built small (usually 4 by 4 meters) semi-dugouts for housing (a dwelling dug in the ground, lined with wood from the inside and having a gable roof, which slightly rose above the ground and was covered with turf).

A little later, the Slavs began to build log houses (sometimes even two floors), which, in addition to their main function, also performed a protective function. Outbuildings (sheds, cellars, barns) and, of course, cattle pens were located in the yards of such houses. All the houses in the settlement were turned "facing the water".

Archaeological excavations in the land of the Vyatichi have opened numerous craft workshops of metallurgists, blacksmiths, metalworkers, jewelers, potters, stone cutters. Metallurgy was based on local raw materials - swamp and meadow ores, as everywhere in Russia. Iron was processed in forges, where special forges with a diameter of about 60 cm were used. Jewelery reached a high level among the Vyatichi people. The collection of casting molds found in our area is second only to Kyiv: 19 foundry molds were found in one place called Serensk. Craftsmen made bracelets, rings, temporal rings, crosses, amulets, etc.

Rings found in the Vorotyn settlement on the Ressa River

The family nest of the Vyatichi in Russia was considered the city of Kozelsk.

Vyatichi conducted a brisk trade. Trade relations were established with the Arab world, they went along the Oka and Volga, as well as along the Don and further along the Volga and the Caspian Sea. At the beginning of the 11th century, trade was established with Western Europe, from where handicrafts came.

Freedom-loving tribe of Vyatichi

The Vyatichi settled in a fertile land, achieved some success in crafts and agriculture, actively traded with their neighbors, and all this naturally contributed to population growth.

Until the 12th century, there is no mention of their city in the annals. This, of course, is not such a mystery - the Vyatichi lived very, very apart. But back to the 12th century.

1146-1147 years - another round in the history of civil strife. This time the dispute between themselves was conducted by two princely dynasties: Monomakhovichi and Svyatoslavichi. Naturally, the war did not pass the territory where the Vyatichi lived. And where there are princes and wars, there are chroniclers. So the names of ancient Slavic cities began to flicker in the annals

The Tale of Bygone Years tells us about an alleged military clash in 964 by Prince Svyatoslav with Vyatichi: "Vyatichi defeat Svyatoslav and pay tribute to him ...".

In fact, there was no war, just Svyatoslav was preparing an attack on the Khazars, secretly gathering an army from loyal tribes all winter, from where his frightening expression sounded in the spring: “I’m going to you!”. It was the Ryazan land that became the stronghold of Svyatoslav's victories, where he enlisted the support of the Magi, receiving from them the ancient Aryan knowledge and the highest initiation.

After the insidious murder of Svyatoslav at the Dnieper rapids, the Vyatichi did not recognize the power of the traitor Sveneld. The same chronicle speaks of the new conquest of Aryan Rus by Kyiv, in 981, by Prince Vladimir: “Vyatichi win and put tribute on me from the plow, like his father imache ...”.

The annals also mention that a year later, Prince Vladimir had to pacify the Vyatichi for the second time: “Zaratisha Vyatichi and going to Volodymyr and I won the second ...”.

And here it seems that it was not just the indignation of the Vyatichi alone, but also of their relatives - the Severyans and the Radimichs. The defeat of the Radimichs in 984 is also mentioned in the annals: “Ide Volodymyr to the Radimichs. If he had a governor Volchiy Khvost and ambassador Volodymyr in front of him Volchiy Khvost, I will eat on the Pischan River, and defeat Radimich Volchiy Khvost. That and Russia are reproached by the Radimichs, saying: "The pishchantsy of the wolf's tail are running around." Bysha Radimich from the kind of Lyakhs, having come to this place and paying tribute to Russia ... ".

These clashes described in the annals were not any war of the Kyiv prince with the Vyatichi, Radimich and Severtsy, but there are only border conflicts that happened between neighbors, especially since the Kyiv land was not "Rus" and even more so called. The concept of "Kievan Rus" was born in scientific circles much later, somewhere in the 18th century (thanks to "our German scientists" who compiled the history of Russia).

Religion

The Vyatichi were pagans and for a long time retained the ancient faith. Among the Vyatichi, the main god was Stribog (“Old God”), who created the universe, the Earth, all the gods, people, flora and fauna. It was he who gave people blacksmith tongs, taught them how to smelt copper and iron, and also established the first laws.

In addition, they worshiped Yarila, the god of the Sun, who travels across the sky in a wonderful chariot harnessed by four white, golden-maned horses with golden wings.

Every year on June 23, the holiday of Kupala, the god of earthly fruits, was celebrated, when the sun gives the greatest strength to plants and medicinal herbs were collected. Vyatichi believed that on the night of Kupala, trees move from place to place and talk to each other with the noise of branches, and whoever has a fern with him can understand the language of each creation.

Lel, the god of love, who appeared in the world every spring, was especially revered among young people in order to unlock the bowels of the earth with his keys-flowers for the lush growth of grasses, bushes and trees, for the triumph of the all-conquering power of Love. The goddess Lada, the patroness of marriage and family, was sung by the Vyatichi people.

In addition, the Vyatichi worshiped the forces of nature. So, they believed in the goblin - the owner of the forest, a wild creature that was taller than any tall tree.

Archaeological evidence of the Vyatichi

On the Tula land, as well as in the neighboring regions - Oryol, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan - groups of mounds are known, and in some cases investigated - the remains of pagan cemeteries of the ancient Vyatichi. The mounds near the village of Zapadnaya and s. Dobrogo Suvorovsky district, near the village of Triznovo, Shchekino district.


During the excavations, the remains of cremations were found, sometimes several of different times. In some cases they are placed in an earthenware urn, in others they are stacked on a cleared area with an annular ditch. In a number of mounds, burial chambers were found - wooden log cabins with a plank floor and a covering of split limbs. The entrance to such a domina - a collective tomb - was laid with stones or boards, and therefore could be opened for subsequent burials. In other burial mounds, including those nearby, there are no such structures.

Establishing the features of the funeral rite, ceramics and things found during excavations, their comparison with other materials helps to at least to some extent compensate for the extreme scarcity of written information that has come down to us about the local population of that distant time, about the ancient history of our region. Archaeological materials confirm the information of the chronicle about the connections of the local Vyatichi, Slavic tribe with other kindred tribes and tribal unions, about the long-term preservation of old tribal traditions and customs in the life and culture of the local population.

Sanctuaries of the Vyatichi

Dedilovo village (formerly Dedilovskaya Sloboda) - the remains of the sacred city of the Vyatichi Dedoslavl on the Shivoron River (a tributary of the Upa), 30 km. southeast of Tula. [B.A. Rybakov, Kievan Rus and Russian principalities of the 12th-13th centuries, M., 1993]

Venevsky toponymic node - 10-15 km from Venev in the South-Eastern sector; settlements of Dedilovskie settlements, settlements of Terebush, settlements of Gorodenets.

How did the history of the Vyatichi tribe end?

The Vyatichi tribes for a long time resisted the invasion of the Kyiv princes and, most importantly, the new religion that they carried. It is known about the uprising of Khodota with his son, which took place in 1066. Vladimir Monomakh goes to pacify them. His first two campaigns ended in nothing. The squad passed through the forests without meeting the enemy. Only during the third campaign Monomakh overtook and defeated the Khodota forest army, but his leader managed to escape.

Since the XII century, the territory of the Vyatichi became part of the Chernigov, Rostov-Suzdal and Ryazan principalities. Until the end of the 13th century, the Vyatichi retained many pagan rituals and traditions, in particular, they cremated the dead, erecting small mounds over the burial place. After Christianity took root among the Vyatichi, the rite of cremation gradually went out of use.

In the future, feeling the pressure of Kyiv, some freedom-loving families of the Vyatichi went further to the North, beyond the Urals, to Siberia. Nestor in his chronicle says the following: "Radimichi and Vyatichi, and Severo are the same customs of the imakh ...".

Vyatichi retained their tribal name longer than other Slavs. They lived without princes, the social structure was characterized by self-government and democracy. The last time the Vyatichi are mentioned in the annals under such a tribal name was in 1197.

The Vyatichi tribes occupy a significant place in the history of ancient Russia, although most readers associate their name with the city of Vyatka. Oddly enough, they are partly right about this. We can trace the paths of the Vyatichi ancestors from here from central Russia and the Upper Volga. But for this we need to look at several millennia.

VENEDS AND VANDALS

During the existence of the glacier in the central part of Russia, the taiga belt never existed, and mixed forests began almost immediately from the ice edge. Here the Aryan tribes lived, the basis of their life activity was hunting and gathering. As the glacier retreated from the east, the taiga moved in, and the belt of mixed forests began to move into central Europe. The Aryan tribes of hunters and gatherers moved west along with them, and their place, as the coniferous forests advanced, was occupied by the Finno-Ugric peoples - hunters and fishermen. Both those and others were fair-haired and light-eyed, and those and others lived in small tribal communities scattered in the area. But even with a similar lifestyle and external data, these two peoples did not interpenetrate. The main difference was the language. The inhabitants of mixed forests were explained in ancient Sanskrit, which allows them to be attributed to the Aryan tribes that once lived in the zone of polar meadows.
By the beginning of the new era, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bsettlement of Aryan hunters was not inferior in size to the territory of the Roman Empire. The neighbors called them differently, the Greeks called them Enets (the Greek language did not know the letter “v”), the Romans called them Venets, the Finno-Ugric peoples called them Venyas or Veni (in today's Finnish language - Russia, Russians). Historians and researchers use various variants of the names of these tribes: Veneti (Vineti), Venedi (Vineti), Vendi, Venti and Vandi.
In the history of the ancient world before the 1st millennium BC. almost nothing is known about them. The forest area was of no interest to either pastoralists or tillers, just as the Venets did not need fields and meadows. Changes occurred when the Celts appeared in Europe. The Celts, who came from Asia Minor, were pastoralists and farmers, they also spoke Sanskrit, which undoubtedly contributed to mutual assimilation with the Veneti. This is especially noticeable in the Lusatian culture, where on the vessels there are ornaments, drawings and plots similar to the ancient Hittites. This was also noticed in the Pomeranian culture (VII-II centuries BC), where “facial urns” became widespread – burial urns with a human face depicted on them. Such urns were previously known only in Troy.
The Celtic god Lug became the main European deity for a long time, and his most ardent worshipers were called Lugii. Subsequently, the name of God was included in the name of the area Lusatia (eastern Germany and northern Bohemia). The prevalence of the cult can be judged by toponyms scattered throughout Western Europe: the cities of Lugano in Switzerland, Lyon (formerly Luglunum) in France, Lugo in northern Spain.
Western Veneti were romanized in northern Italy - the region of Venice, as well as in northern France. They were assimilated by the Germanic tribes in the center of Europe - Vienna (formerly Vindabon). The modern Bavarian city of Augsburg, in Roman times, was called Augusta Vindelicorum, that is, "the city of Augustus, in the country of the Wends (Vineds) living according to the Lik." There is no information about any statehood of the Venedian tribes themselves.
In the east, the Veneds merged with the Slavic tribes of the Skolots, becoming Sclavins and Slovenes (the Slovenian historian Matej Bor deduces the ethnonym from the name of his people - "slo-ven-t-ci"). An illustrative example of the inability of the Venets to an independent state structure is the appearance in the center of Europe of Hungarians who speak the Finno-Ugric language similar to the Mansi language. In the 9th century, the Venets, who lived in Panonia, were conquered by the Ugrians who came here from the Northern Urals and adopted their language and customs. Byzantine chroniclers, without further ado, called this people the Hungarians (Veneti + Ugrians).
The last mention of the Venets as an independent people we meet in the XIII century in Latvia. The stone castle of the sword-bearers Wenden was built in 1207, not far from the castle of the Wends that already existed there. In the same place, in the region of Cesis, an ancient settlement was discovered, which since the 9th century was inhabited by Vendians. In Latvia, there are many geographical names with the stem vent or vind - toponyms: Ventspils (Vindava), Ventava village. On the river Venta, where the Wends lived, the village of Piltene was mentioned in 1230 as Venetis. According to Estonian local historians, many Vendians lived near Derpt (Tartu). There is an assumption that the Wends also settled on the Volkhov near Novgorod, and the small island of Vindin south of Novaya Ladoga quite likely got its name from the Wends who lived there.
The Wends, who lived in the neighborhood of Lusatia in Poland, learned agriculture and cattle breeding from their western tribesmen. They also adopted the god, whom they called more gently - Luko. It was the god of oak groves, who, they believed, gave the Wends an excellent weapon - a bow, taught them how to work wood, and warmed them with their warmth. At that time, this was quite enough. But at the end of the 1st millennium BC. From Scandinavia, Germanic tribes began to penetrate the territory of Poland. They were large and strong fair-haired people armed with spears, clubs and swords, distinguished by great organization. Tacitus left a classic description of the appearance of the Germans: "Hard blue eyes, blond hair, tall bodies ... grow up with such a physique and such a camp that lead us to astonishment." It is unlikely that at that time someone could resist them in close combat, but ...
Veneti gave a rebuff to the aliens. Most of all, the Germans were surprised that their mighty fighters fell dead from an arrow shot from behind a tree by some young man. There was a temporary reconciliation. As a sign of respect, the aliens even introduced the Venedian god into their pantheon, and Loki (Luko) joined the well-known trinity of Thor, Odin and Baldur. The tactics of the Germanic tribes changed and, being outnumbered, they behaved comparatively friendly for some time. For several centuries they settled the Danish Islands and free areas along the coast of the Baltic Sea without any conflict. Such tactics led in some areas to the mutual assimilation of Germans and Wends. Until now, scientists argue about the ethnicity of the Rugians and Vandals.

Everything changed in the III-IV centuries, when the cold snap peaked in the Baltic region. It was then that the more Germanized Vandas (Vandilii) moved towards the borders of the Roman Empire, and the Eastern Vandas (Vanti) moved to the southeast. Soon they appeared in the territories of Lithuania and Belarus, and by the end of the 4th century they ended up in the Dnieper region. The Ants were quite organized and, if you can apply this word to those times, civilized. This can be judged by the calendar of the 4th c. n. e. with an exact definition of the timing of prayers found in the Middle Dnieper. On the jug for sacred water, the days of the all-European period for the appearance of the first sprouts and until the end of the harvest are marked: the first sprouts - May 2 (“Boris Khlebnik”); semik or Yarilin day - June 4; "Ivan Kupala - June 24; the beginning of preparations for Perun's Day - July 12; Perun's day (Ilyin's day) - July 20; the end of the harvest - August 7 ("Saviour"). The accuracy of the calendar intended for prayers for rain is amazing, the calendar of the ancient Antes is confirmed by the agrotechnical manual of the late 19th century. for Kiev region.
About these times in the middle Dnieper we can find only a legend about Kyi, Shchek and Khoriv. It is quite real, but not in terms of the blood relationship of these legendary personalities, but in the union of three tribes united in an attempt to create the first Slavic state. These were the Antes (the Greek chroniclers again excluded the letter “v”), the Sclavins and the Croats (Khorses). The Ants have already settled quite densely on the middle Dnieper. The Sklavins lived in the black earth regions of Russia and the steppe Ukraine. The Slavic Khors (as they were called after the worship of the god Khors) came here from the North Caucasus, the Kuban and Don steppes, fleeing from the Huns.
Croats - descendants of the Cimmerians - large, fair-haired, courageous warriors. Their ancient ancestral home can be judged from the chronography of Orosius (the end of the 9th century), which mentions the ancient “khorota”, to the north of which, the “land of Magda” (Meotia, the land of the Amazons) was located, and even to the north - “sermends” (Sarmatians ). In the III century, the Croats suffered a sensitive defeat from Germanarich, and a little later, under the onslaught of the Huns, most of them left with the Ostrogoths to the west. This is mentioned in his chronicle by the priest-Duklyanina (XII century), which reports the arrival in Europe in the first centuries of the “Goth-Slavs” from the “northern country”.
The settlers from the south were at that time the most combat-ready, but the smallest in the created triumvirate. Cut off from their land, the Croats settled south of Kyiv in the region of Pereyaslavl, where their main outpost was a settlement on the island of Khortitsa. These were the ancestors of the Zaporozhye Cossacks.
When choosing an archon (the chief leader of the commonwealth), an ant was elected, whose name or nickname Kyi meant a staff, a rod, a club. There is another no less real version that the Persian word ki, introduced by the Croats, meaning ruler or prince, was adopted to designate this elective position. Pseudo-Mauritius writes about the election of the first archons in his work “Strategikon”: “These tribes, Slavs and Antes, are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they live in the rule of the people, and therefore they consider happiness and unhappiness in life to be a common thing. And in all other respects, both of these barbarian tribes have the same life and laws.
According to the calculations of Academician B.A. Rybakov, the first Kiy reigned at the turn of the 5th-6th centuries and met with the Byzantine emperor Anastasius (491-518). At the same time, at the end of the 5th century, Kyiv was founded on the steep bank of the Dnieper. Perhaps, initially it was not the main city, but was only a trading center. Sambotas - this was the name of this city in Constantinople, it means a trading pier or, in a more accurate translation from the Germanic languages, a collection of boats (sam - collection, botas - boats). This is another indirect evidence that the Antes (vanty) were partially Germanized. Goods were really brought here along the Dnieper, Desna and their tributaries. Over the next century, a number of Slavic tribes on the right bank of the Dnieper and Transnistria and living north of the Krivichi joined the three main allies. Sambotas began to have political and religious significance, becoming the main city or city of the prince - Kyiv. Here questions of war and peace were discussed, prayers were made and sacrifices were made to the gods. Judging by the sanctuary found by archaeologists, there were four of them. It could be Rod or Svarog (Sklavins), Khors (Croats), Stribog, aka Luko (Antes) and Perkunas (Krivichi).
The union of tribes had a purely military basis. Joint defense of frontiers, and joint predatory campaigns. After the first campaign to the borders of Byzantium, part of the Slavin warriors, led by Czech, did not return. They chose not to share the booty and stay on the lands that they liked. At that time, it was an ordinary phenomenon, when the conditions of intertribal agreements were fulfilled only during the life of the leader who accepted them, and even were forgotten as circumstances dictated. According to one of the legends, Ant Khilbudiy participating in this campaign, who opposed such a decision, was captured, but nevertheless managed to return to Kyiv.
After that, hostile relations began between the Antes and the Western Slavs, which Byzantium was not slow to take advantage of. In 545-546. Justinian's embassy arrives in Kyiv. These were the first diplomatic relations, as a result of which a trade and military alliance was concluded. Within half a century, all trade relations with Byzantium were restored. Through the former Greek colonies, mainly through Olbia, caravans with grain went there. Fabrics, weapons and luxury items were brought from there. During excavations in Kyiv, not only Byzantine coins from the times of Anastasius I and Justinian I were found, but also various decorations produced in Constantinople.
At the same time, Justinian I instructed the leader of the Ants, Khilbudiy, to restore the defensive line in the Danube and Transnistria, and later appointed him the chief strategist, and in fact the governor of Thrace. The Antes were supposed to protect the borders of the Byzantine Empire not only from the steppe nomads from the east, but also from the Slavs from the north. The very name of this real historical person (a tombstone was found near Constantinople) could well be pronounced Kiy-budiy, which can be easily translated as a builder prince. In Thrace on the Danube, Khilbudius immediately began to restore the defensive line of the time of the Roman emperor Trojan and build his new capital, Kievets.
At the same time, intensive construction of serpent ramparts was carried out near Kyiv. For the wild hordes of nomads, it was an insurmountable defensive structure, and perhaps that is why the Avars did not turn towards Kyiv, but went to the west. Their stream swept away all the tribes and peoples who lived in the steppe zone. The Avars adopted the tactics of the Huns. They forced the conquered peoples to join their army or simply killed all the men, and sent the women and children to the Asian slave markets. So two centuries earlier, Croats, Alans, Bulgarians ended up in Europe, and now again part of these peoples was carried away to the west. The heterogeneity of the Avars is confirmed by anthropologists - 80% of the studied skulls are of Caucasoid origin, although they themselves considered the descendants of the Huns (from the Var tribe).
The renewed defense line in the area of ​​the city of Tirras could not withstand the onslaught of the Avars, Kievets was destroyed. The steppe people managed to move deep into Europe and the Avar Khaganate existed for almost two centuries, in the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and southern Germany (Bavaria).
The Antes continued to maintain relations with Byzantium, some sources report that a meeting took place between the leader of the Antes Kiy (confirmation of the second version that Kiy means prince) with the emperor. The answer was not long in coming, and in the same year the Avar Khagan sent his commander Apsikha with an order to completely exterminate the tribe of Ants. Theophylact Simocatta reports that this happened around the end of the reign of Emperor Mauritius (582-602). But the Antes were too numerous to be completely destroyed as a result of just one attack. Most likely, the military-political elite was destroyed, the territory of settlement was devastated and plundered, and many people were killed.

After such a defeat, left without a tribal elite, the guys along the Desna and the Seim began to move east. An analysis of the Vyatichi antiquities found during excavations shows that they are closest to the material archaeological evidence of the upper Dniester. And the names of these rivers themselves speak of their western roots: the Desna is the right hand or sleeve, if you go up the Dnieper, and the Seim is a common river. The Vanty settled in the upper reaches of the Oka, on the lands of the disappeared "Moshchinskaya culture" with Baltic roots. Historians suggest that a pestilence probably passed here, which is why relatively free lands appeared. The Finno-Ugric tribes Merya, Meshchera, Murom, could not provide any resistance to the Vyatichi, and were gradually pushed back to the northeast.
Whether the settlers had a leader, Vyatko, remains unclear. According to one version, the word Vyatichi did not come from the name of their leader, but from their distorted self-name - Ventichi or Vantichi. Most likely, this was the name of the Novgorodians, who approximately similarly called the Karelians - Onezhichi, Pskov and Smolensk - Krivichi. A confirmation of this version can be considered the message of the Arab author of the 9th century al Gardizi, he writes about the Vyatichi: “And on the extreme limits of the Slavic lies the land called Vantit.”
Vyatichi settled in the territory of the present Kaluga region. Their capital was the city of Gordno, which, due to the mistake of the scribe Vladimir Monomakh, turned into Kordno. Proudly stood at the intersection of two ancient trade routes: along the Ugra - from the Baltic states and along the upper Oka - to Kyiv. The Vyatichi were actively involved in trade with their neighbors and carried their furs to Bulgar, where the Khazars bought them. After the Vyatichi helped the Novgorodians in the campaign against the Crimea (790-800), the Khazars conquered them and imposed tribute. The tribute was cruel, a hat (gold coin) from a ral (plow) and the Vyatichi stopped paying it. To get away from it, they used the already proven tactics used by them in the past - they skillfully hid their homes in the forest, and therefore tribute was collected only from those they could find. Perhaps at first this was not done intentionally, because the Vyatichi-plowmen changed their settlements after about 5 years as the soil was depleted. The top of the Vyatichi was in a difficult position, she had to get out. In Gordno, the Khazar messengers were received with honor, they were assured that no one refused to pay, but there was no one to collect from. Perhaps the Khazars tried to do it themselves, but realizing that their raids were not effective (more expenses), they fell behind the Vyatichi. Another reason for the loss of interest in the Vyatichi is also possible, the Khazars were interested in the furs of martens and sables, and here there were almost no more of them for two or three decades of intensive hunting. And the quality of the furs of the middle zone was clearly inferior to the northern ones. The Vyatichi people obviously liked such a good deal, and since that time they were very fond of hiding their valuables and showing off.
The relationship between the Vyatichi and Kievan Rus is interesting. Oleg considered them as allies in the fight against Khazaria, but at that time he did not try to attach them to Kyiv by force. Interestingly, in the annals, the Vyatichi were not mentioned as part of Oleg's army during the campaign against Tsargrad (907). As the further course of events showed, the Vyatichi did not like to get involved in all sorts of adventures, and sought to draw less attention to themselves. For example, they never built large and rich cities, which could serve as a bait for conquerors.
In a campaign against Khazaria in 964, Svyatoslav freed the Vyatichi from the Khazar tribute on the way there, and they helped him in moving the troops, supplying him with cut down boats, guides and even soldiers. But on the way back, Svyatoslav imposed a tribute on the Vyatichi, no less than the Khazar. The Vyatichi people did not like this very much, and, having paid at first, they soon refused to pay it. It is possible that the Vyatichi were aware of the events, and knew that Svyatoslav and his retinue had gone to Bulgaria. In approximately the same way, they decided to act with the son of Svyatoslav Vladimir, who conquered the Vyatichi in 981. Vladimir had to go there again a year later: “Vyatichi started up, and went to Vladimir, and won the second one.” What happened next, the chronicles are silent, but the Vyatichi received an unflattering description of the Kyiv chronicler as a rude tribe, "like animals, eating everything is unclean."
In fact, archaeological excavations show that the Vyatichi were not so wild after all. They were engaged in cattle breeding and tillage, they had numerous craft workshops of blacksmiths, locksmiths, jewelers, potters, stone cutters. The Vyatichi had a high level of jewelry, and the collection of foundry molds found on their lands is second only to Kyiv. Master jewelers made bracelets, rings, temporal rings, crosses, amulets. About 60 types of rings were produced by the Vyatichi, and the famous seven-lobed temporal pendants were worn only by Vyatichi women. Today, archaeologists accurately determine the boundaries of the Vyatichi settlement using these temporal rings.
After the campaigns of Vladimir, mention of the Vyatichi disappear from the pages of chronicles for almost a hundred years. If somewhere the chronicler monks casually mention them, then they blacken them without sparing colors. This was due to the fact that the Vyatichi blocked the direct road from Kyiv to Rostov and Murom, because of which the people of Kiev had to go around their lands through Smolensk. You can learn about this from epics. Ilya Muromets, having traveled from Murom to Kyiv by a direct road, proudly tells Vladimir about this:

And I drove straight along the road,
From the capital city of Murom,
from that village of Karacharova.

What the Kyiv heroes say to the prince:

And the sun is gentle, Prince Vladimir,
In the eyes of the kid, he twists:
And where should he drive a straight road.

The action of another epic about the Nightingale the Robber also takes place on the land of the Vyatichi. The Baltic tribe Golyad, who lived in the Smolensk and Kaluga regions, constantly robbed the merchant carts. According to the epic, you can even specify the habitat of the Nightingale the Robber - "Bryn Forests". On the river Bryn, which flows into the tributary of the Oka Zhizdra, not far from the Vyatichi city of Kozelsk, today there is the village of Bryn. Captured in those places, the Nightingale the Robber is none other than the famous leader of the golyad Mogut, according to one of the chronicles, was brought to a feast to Prince Vladimir in 1006.
Having received relative freedom, by the end of the 11th century, the Vyatichi significantly expanded their possessions, and turned their community into a kind of principality. It was a monarchical state located in the territories of the present Tula, Kaluga and Ryazan regions. It was soon joined by the Baltic tribes living on the territory of the Moscow region, and the Slavs living to the south (Kursk, Oryol and Lipetsk regions). This can be judged by the culture of the Vyatichi and their economy. For example, they borrowed a braid from the Balts. According to the finds of archaeologists, the length of the blades, it reached half a meter, and a width of 4-6 cm. This, despite all that, almost until the 17th century, a sickle was preferred throughout Russia, and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich even had to issue a decree on the mandatory transition in farms from sickles to a scythe "Lithuanian", - failure to comply with the decree was punished with severe punishment.
Another trend from Lithuania can be attributed to the first estates of the Vyatich feudal lords, very similar to Western castles. The fortified estates were small: in the middle there was a courtyard - a small area free from buildings, outbuildings, craft workshops, semi-dugouts of servants and cellars were located in a circle. An impressive house on a powerful stone foundation was heated by a stove very similar to a fireplace. As a rule, there was an underground passage from the estate to the nearest river. In the Tula region, only in the basin of the Upa River such manor-fortresses were near the villages of Gorodna, Taptykovo, Ketri, Staraya Krapivenka, Novoe Selo. They also met in the southern regions, for example, in the Oryol region, exactly the same estates were found on the Nepolodi River (Spasskoe settlement) and near the village of Titovo-Motyka.
The influence from the southern Slavic tribes can be attributed to the increase in the pantheon of gods and the expansion of religious rites. To the veneration of Stribog (the old god Luko), who created the world, was added the veneration of Yarila, the god of farmers and war. On June 23, when the sun gives the greatest strength to plants, the Vyatichi celebrated the holiday of Kupala, the god of earthly fruits. Vyatichi believed that on the night of Kupala, trees move from place to place and talk to each other with the noise of branches. Among young people, the spring Lel, the god of love, was especially revered, the Vyatichi people also sang the goddess Lada, the patroness of marriage and family. The Slavic gods gradually pushed back the Baltic beliefs in wonderful companions of life, goblin, water, brownie. The brownie seemed to be a little old man, overgrown with hair, grouchy, but kind and caring. In the view of the Vyatichi, Santa Claus was also a harmful and unsightly old man, who shook his gray beard and caused bitter frosts. Vyatichi Santa Claus frightened children. Both of these characters were undoubtedly similar to the gnomes or elves, whose cult flourished in the west even before Christ. e.
During the XI century, the lands of the Vyatichi continued to grow rich and built up. To date, archaeologists have found 1621 settlements, including about 30 settlements. The cities of the Vyatichi were small and had from 1 to 3 thousand people. Among them are the cities known to us today - Voronezh (first mentioned in 1155), Dedoslavl (1146), Kozelsk (1146), Kromy (1147), Kolomna (1177), Moscow (1147), Mtsensk (1146), Nerinsk ( 1147), Yelets (1147), Serensk (1147), Teshilov (1147), Trubech (1186). These include the current city of Ryazan (1095), at first called Pereyaslavl-Ryazan. Here in the floodplain of the Oka on the northern outskirts on the former island there was a rich trading settlement of the Vyatichi.
The Vyatichi continued to be friends with the Novgorodians and sold them grain. Together with them they participated in trade with Khazaria. One of the main goods of the Vyatichi were squirrel and marten furs, beaver skins and honey. From there they brought fabrics, spices and sweets, and they melted the dirhams, making silver bracelets and other jewelry out of them.
Only in the second half of the 11th century, after two campaigns, Vladimir Monomakh reasserted his authority over the Vyatichi. In his “Instruction” to his sons, he wrote: “And I go to Vyatichi for two winters and I am his son Hodot.” The campaigns of Monomakh were directed against the Vyatich prince Khodota, whose capital Kordno archaeologists have not yet established. But interestingly, Monomakh does not report anything, neither about the results of these campaigns, nor about the taxation of Vyatichi tribute. And a year later, at the congress of princes in Lyubech, where the princely tables were divided, the land of the Vyatichi is not mentioned anywhere.
In 1096, Oleg Svyatoslavich, expelled from Chernigov by Monomakh, occupied Old Ryazan. From his brother Yaroslav, the dynasty of Ryazan princes begins and the Vyatichi find themselves in the ring of ancient Russian principalities. After the death of Monomakh, the Vyatka outskirts were already subordinated to Murom, Chernigov, Smolensk and Ryazan. The Vyatichi were finally annexed to Kievan Rus during the period of civil strife between the Olgovichi and Monomakhovichi, when the Slavic squads of Svyatoslav Olgovich and Yuri Dolgorukov passed through their lands more than once.
The chronicle mentions the Vyatichi for the last time - in 1197. For comparison, I will give the last mentions of other tribes in them: the Polyan in 944, the Drevlyans - in the 990th, the Krivichi - in the 1127th, the Radimichi - in the 1169th. The most freedom-loving tribe kept its name the longest.

WHAT WE LEFT FROM VYATICHI

Moscow was the last of the important trading settlements of the Vyatichi. Its creation can be attributed to the time of the capture of Old Ryazan by the Kyiv princes (1096), after which the main trade artery of the Vyatichi Oka was blocked. It was then that a workaround was found - from the Moskva River by dragging to the Klyazma. To the north of Moscow, the village of Goretny Stan arose. Perhaps its name, like the tributary of the Skhodnya (Vskhodnya) Goretovka, came from a heavy, steep ascent, along which the Vyatichi had to drag ships.
But the central settlement in this area, almost a century older than Goretny Stan, was Moskov. This is confirmed by the Spassky mounds of the Vyatichi XI-XIII centuries. This is one of the latest barrow groups, the center of which was the Great Grave barrow (more than 7 m in height and about 20 m in diameter). During its excavations in 1883, the remains of an old warrior wrapped in birch bark with two horse bits and two pots at the head were found there. In neighboring mounds, Vyatichi women's jewelry was found: seven-lobed temporal pendants, carnelian red and white beads, etc.
From medieval sources it is known that during the time of Vladimir Monomakh (10-20 years of the XII century) on the site of the Kremlin there was a "village of the red boyar good Kuchka Stepan Ivanovich". In one of the annals of the second half of the 12th century, his name is also mentioned: “Moscow, river Kuchkovo”. The area of ​​Sretenka and Chistye Prudy was also called “Kuchkovo Pole” until the 15th century. Who was the boyar Kuchkov is unknown. Historian-researcher Igor Bystrov suggests that this was one of the last tribal leaders of the Vyatichi, who was executed by Yuri Dolgoruky, who came here. But, it should not be ruled out that it was a posadnik sent here to restore order, who did not cope with his task of blocking the trade routes of the Vyatichi people. After Yuri Dolgoruky puts things in order in this "bear corner" and a well-known invitation appears to Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich dating back to 1147: "Come to me, brother, to Moscow."
The main Russian name Ivan can also be attributed to the inheritance from the Vyatichi. It is quite logical to draw an analogy to the custom that existed during the period of tribal communities, when people called themselves by their clan-tribe. For example, among the Dulebs, the main name is Dulo, among the Russ-Alans - Ruslan. So the vantites, vants, vans could introduce themselves: I am a van. The fact that this name appears among the descendants of Rurik already in the 12th century among the children of Rostislav Vladimirovich and Izyaslav Yaroslavich suggests that this is a Slavic name, because canonical names among Russian princes began to dominate only a century later. In the course were Vladimirs, Yaroslavs, Svetopolki. For example, Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko, although he was named Vasily at baptism, never remembered him.
Indirect confirmation of the Slavic origin of this name can be the saying: “Stop playing Vanka” - which very well illustrates the Vyatichi’s shirking of tribute, as well as the well-known toy Vanka-vstanka, when Vanka, seemingly laid down and subjugated, suddenly gets up, as if nothing had happened. Quite logically, the well-known phraseological unit fits here - to play the fool. I think everyone knows the main character of our fairy tales, Ivanushka the Fool, in fact, only pretending to be him. But in critical situations, Ivan the Fool defeats all enemies with his mind and ingenuity.
Until the middle of the XII century, the Vyatichi retained a pagan religion. The people of Kiev tried more than once to convert their neighbors to the Orthodox faith, but the Vyatichi listened to the preachers and even agreed, but were not going to give up their gods. In 1141, the Vyatichi killed the monk Kuksha and his companion Pimen, who had come to the Vyatichi lands to spread the Christian faith. It was then that the name of the old god of the Vyatichi Luko was used to characterize not only the Vyatichi themselves, but also everything that was contrary to the Christian faith - the evil one. The people of Kiev were not the first to notice this feature of the Vyatichi. Almost a thousand years earlier, the Germans overthrew the Vendian god Luko from their pantheon, accusing him of cunning and the ability to adapt, acting according to circumstances.
Indeed, the definition most suitable for Vyatichi is that he is on his own mind. They, clearly losing to their neighbors in organization and in military power, ingenuity has always been held in high esteem. This is very well illustrated by a fairy tale recorded in the 19th century by Afanasyev on Vyatichi land (Ryazan region). A little girl went with her friends into the forest and got lost there. Night fell, the girl climbed a tree, began to cry and called for her grandfather and grandmother. A bear approaches: - Let me take you to your grandfather and grandmother. - No, the girl answers, - you will eat me. Suitable wolf: - Let me take you to your grandparents. “No,” the girl replies. The fox comes up and also offers to take her home - the girl agrees. Grandfather and grandmother were delighted, praised the fox, fed and sipped. And she suddenly: - And you still owe me a chicken! Grandfather and grandmother, without hesitation, answer: - Yes, we will give you two, - and they put a chicken in one of the bags, and a dog in the other. Fox came into the forest, untied the bags, the dog drove her away, and then returned home with the hen.
This is where you think: if the girl was savvy, she climbed a tree and did not succumb to the proposals of the wolf and the bear, if the grandmother and grandfather were not born, then what can we say about adults. By the way, the expression is not a bastard, it is also quite suitable for the Vyatichi: although they wore bast shoes, it was quite difficult to fool them. Therefore, the people of Kiev did not like them, not knowing that, in essence, they were of the same kind-tribe.
The above-mentioned principle of the Vyatichi people will come to terms, is well illustrated by archaeologists who have found a huge number of treasures on the land of the Vyatichi people. Academician B.A. Rybakov writes: "Treasures in the land of the Vyatichi make up almost half of all treasures in the Slavic lands." So you think: is this not the habit of our people to save everything for a rainy day?
This also includes the habit of taking your lands - fields and gardens away from your home - maybe they won’t find it. could take place.
And, finally, what our historical science simply ignores: the Vyatichi brought pig breeding to Russian soil. As you know, the Celts began to domesticate pigs. It began in the center of Europe about 4 thousand years ago. The sign of the Celts was a crest formed on the withers of a wild boar, symbolizing the fighting spirit. They also made their hair look like a boar's comb, lubricating their hair with boar's blood. An echo of that distant time is the familiar word koltun - meaning a ball of tangled hair. There is no doubt that this word and its concept were brought by the Vyatichi, because the female temporal rings with an inverted crest inside were called kolts.
Over time, the German tribes and Veneti intercepted the initiative in breeding pigs. Pork is a favorite food of Poles, Belarusians and Ukrainians. All this way was done at the beginning of the ante. The Vyatichi were also engaged in pig breeding, and this is confirmed in the writings of Arab chroniclers who wrote that the Vyatichi graze pigs in the same way as they graze sheep.

Reviews

I was pleased to read such a historical study on a literary site. The value of this work, first of all, is that it causes a desire to renew something in memory, to discuss, to clarify ... As I see it, the work of archaeologists was used to a large extent, hence some narrowness and one-sidedness of individual historical interpretations, messages. For example, where we are talking about the area of ​​settlement of certain tribes in specific historical periods or chronological frames. Often this happened in wider territorial boundaries ...

As for the Vyatichi, in the work, as in many other similar studies about this ethnic group, its somewhat simplified presentation prevails. Vyatichi in their socio-political organization, economic activity, culture was a rather highly organized tribe with extensive external relations, and by the XII-XIII centuries. many prosperous ancient Russian lands were already ahead in their development! Many researchers write about this - Kizilov, Sakharov and others.

The Vyatichi Slavs brought with them to the local population new forms of social organization with a higher agricultural and pastoral culture, with the widespread use of metal products. Their contacts with the Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes - political, economic and cultural - lead to a close rapprochement of these peoples, to a large extent - assimilation (and not ousting them from the inhabited territories, as you think - A.P.) and the emergence of social -political synthesis - Slavic-Finno-Ugric and Slavic-Baltic.

In the Middle Ages, on the Oka and the Upper Don, according to a number of researchers, there was a strong Vyatichian state (!!!) - a tribal association independent of Kievan Rus with the center - the city of Kordno.

In the epics about Ilya Muromets, his trip from Murom to Kyiv "by the straight road" through the Vyatka lands was considered one of the heroic deeds. Usually they preferred to go around this territory in a roundabout way.

Christian monks vilify the Vyatichi people, first of all, not because they blocked the road from Kyiv to Rostov and Murom, but because they are pagans of other faiths, with their own original culture. Paganism among the Vyatichi persisted until the 17th century, when the term “Vyatichi” itself had already gone out of use. This once again emphasizes their independence and originality, and not the archetype...

Thanks for the interesting read. Good luck!

Vyatichi

They were the easternmost ancient Russian tribe. According to legend, they got their name from the name of Prince Vyatko (the name is short for Vyacheslav). Old Ryazan was located in the land of the Vyatichi.

The Vyatichi Union existed from the 12th century to the 12th century in the basin of the Upper and Middle Oka (on the territory of modern Moscow, Kaluga, Oryol, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tula and Lipetsk regions).

As for the origin of the name, there is a hypothesis that it is associated with the Indo-European root "ven-t" - "wet, wet" (Proto-Slavic vet). Another hypothesis raises the name to the Proto-Slavic "vgt-" - "big" and asserts its relationship with the name of the Veneds (Venets), which means "big people".

In addition to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Vyatichi are mentioned in a letter from the Khazar Khagan Joseph to the dignitary of the Caliph of Cordoba Hasdai ibn Shaprut (960s).

Archaeologists claim that the settlement of the Vyatichi took place from the territory of the Dnieper left bank in the 6th-8th centuries. When the Slavs came to the Oka, they mixed with the local Baltic population. In the upper reaches of the Oka, before the Ugra flows into it, the process of assimilation of the Balts proceeded most intensively and ended by the 11th-12th centuries. To the northeast, along the valleys of the Oka, and then Moscow, the Slavs move in the 9th-10th centuries, while the Slavic colonization does not occur in the basins of the Nara and Protva rivers.

In the 9th-10th centuries, as the Tale of Bygone Years says, the Vyatichi paid tribute to Khazaria in a slot (presumably a silver coin) from a plow. The finds of numerous hoards of coins indicate that the Vyatichi participated in international trade.

Around 965, Prince Svyatoslav subjugated the Vyatichi, now they paid tribute to him, and not to the Khazars. However, the submission was not complete, since the son of Svyatoslav - Prince Vladimir again fought with the Vyatichi and imposed tribute on them in 981. They rebelled, and in 982 they had to be conquered again. Until the end of the 11th century, campaigns against the Vyatichi princes of Kyiv are mentioned.

According to Academician B.A. Rybakov, the main city of the Vyatichi was Kordno (the exact location is unknown). There is a version that it was located near the modern village of Karniki, Venevsky district. Arab sources called this city Khordab.

As early as the 8th century, settlements and even settlements of the Vyatichi speak of property stratification. Among the local settlements there are quite small in area, surrounded by powerful earthen fortifications of the settlement. Probably, these are the remains of the fortified estates of local feudal lords of that time, a kind of "castles".

The Vyatichi princes lived in the capital of the Vyatichi tribe, the city of Dedoslavl (now Dedilovo). The strongholds were the fortress cities of Mtsensk, Kozelsk, Rostislavl, Lobynsk, Lopasnya, Moskalsk, Serenok and others, which numbered from 1 to 3 thousand inhabitants.

The Vyatichi remained pagans for a long time. Even in the XII century they killed the Christian missionary Kuksha.

Vyatichi, like all Slavic tribes, lived in a tribal system. The clans made up the tribe. The people's assembly of the tribe elected the leader - the prince, who commanded the army during campaigns and wars. Gradually, the power of the prince increased and became hereditary.

Vyatichi, who lived among the forests, built log huts, small windows were cut through in them, which were tightly closed with valves during cold weather.

In the land of the Vyatichi, rich in forests, there were many animals, birds and fish. Therefore, the clans lived by agriculture, hunting, fishing, beekeeping. Small villages of 5-10 households, as the arable land was depleted, were transferred to other places where the forest was burned. Beaver ruts then existed on all rivers and rivers, and beaver fur was considered an important article of trade. Vyatichi bred cattle, pigs, horses.

Archaeological excavations in the land of the Vyatichi have opened numerous craft workshops of metallurgists, blacksmiths, jewelers, potters, stone cutters. Metallurgy was based on local raw materials: marsh and meadow ores. Iron was processed in forges, where special forges were used. Jewelry has reached a high level. Craftsmen made bracelets, rings, temple rings, crosses, amulets, etc.

Vyatichi carried on a lively trade with the Arab world (along the Oka and the Volga, as well as along the Don and further along the Volga and the Caspian Sea). At the beginning of the 11th century, trade was established with Western Europe, from where handicrafts came. The Vyatichi brought furs, honey, wax, products of gunsmiths and goldsmiths to Byzantium, and in return they received silk fabrics, glass beads and vessels, bracelets.

The last time the Vyatichi are mentioned in the annals under their tribal name was in 1197. Their lands subsequently became part of the Chernigov, Rostov-Suzdal and Ryazan principalities.

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Introduction

1. The origin of the Vyatichi

2. Life and customs

3. Religion

4. Vyatichi burial mounds

5. Vyatichi in the X century

6. Independent Vyatichi (XI century)

7. Vyatichi lose their independence (XII century)

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The first people in the upper reaches of the Don appeared several million years ago, in the era of the Upper Paleolithic. The hunters who lived here knew how to make not only tools, but also amazingly carved stone figurines, which glorified the Paleolithic sculptors of the Upper Don region. For many millennia, various peoples lived on our land, among which are the Alans, who gave the name to the Don River, which means "river" in translation; wide expanses were inhabited by Finnish tribes, who left us many geographical names as a legacy, for example: the rivers Oka, Protva, Moscow, Sylva.

In the 5th century, the migration of the Slavs to the lands of Eastern Europe began. In the VIII-IX centuries, in the interfluve of the Volga and Oka and on the upper Don, an alliance of tribes headed by the elder Vyatko came; after his name, this people began to be called "Vyatichi".

1. Origin of vyatandwhose

Where did the Vyatichi come from? The Tale of Bygone Years about the origin of the Vyatichi says: “... Radimich Bo and Vyatichi from the Poles. There are two brothers in lasses, Radim, and the other Vyatko, and Radim came to Sezha, and was called Radimichi, and Vyatko went with his family after the Father, from whom he was called Vyatichi.

The chronicle mention “from the Poles” caused an extensive literature, in which, on the one hand, the possibility of the Polish (“from the Poles”) origin of the Vyatichi (mostly Polish origins) was substantiated, and on the other hand, the opinion was expressed that we were talking about a general direction the advance of the Vyatichi, that is, from the west.

An analysis of Vyatichi antiquities during excavations shows that they are closest to the material archaeological evidence of the upper reaches of the Dniester, which means that the Vyatichi most likely came from there. They came without any peculiarities, and only an isolated life in the upper reaches of the Oka and miscegenation with the “marginal” Balts - shank - led to the tribal isolation of the Vyatichi.

From the upper reaches of the Dniester to the northeast, a large group of Slavs left with the Vyatichi: the future Radimichi (led by Radim), the northerners - southwest of the Vyatichi, and another Slavic group that reached the upper reaches of the Don. This group of Slavs was supplanted by the Polovtsy two centuries later. Its name has not been preserved. In one Khazar document, the Slavic tribe “Slyuin” is mentioned. Perhaps it was they who went north to Ryazan and merged with the Vyatichi.

The name "Vyatko" - the first head of the Vyatichi tribe - is a diminutive form of the name Vyacheslav.

“Vyache” is an old Russian word meaning “more”, “more”. This word is also known in Western and South Slavic languages. Thus, Vyacheslav, Boleslav - "more glorious."

This confirms the hypothesis about the western origin of the Vyatichi and others like them: the name Boleslav is most widespread among the Czechs, Slovaks and in Poland.

2. Life and customs

The Vyatichi-Slavs received an unflattering description of the Kyiv chronicler as a rude tribe, "like animals, eating everything unclean." Vyatichi, like all Slavic tribes, lived in a tribal system. They knew only the genus, which meant the totality of relatives and each of them; clans constituted a "tribe". The people's assembly of the tribe elected a leader for himself, who commanded the army during campaigns and wars. He was called by the old Slavic name "prince". Gradually, the power of the prince increased and became hereditary. Vyatichi, who lived among the boundless forests, built log huts similar to modern ones, small windows were cut through in them, which were tightly closed with valves during cold weather.

The land of the Vyatichi was vast and famous for its wealth, abundance of animals, birds and fish. They led a closed semi-hunting, semi-agricultural life. Small villages of 5-10 households, as the arable land was depleted, were transferred to other places where the forest was burned, and for 5-6 years the land gave a good harvest until it was depleted; then it was necessary to move again to new areas of the forest and start all over again. In addition to farming and hunting, the Vyatichi were engaged in beekeeping and fishing. Beaver ruts then existed on all rivers and rivers, and beaver fur was considered an important article of trade. Vyatichi bred cattle, pigs, horses. Food for them was harvested with scythes, the blades of which reached half a meter in length and 4-5 cm in width.

Archaeological excavations in the land of the Vyatichi have opened numerous craft workshops of metallurgists, blacksmiths, metalworkers, jewelers, potters, stone cutters. Metallurgy was based on local raw materials - swamp and meadow ores, as everywhere in Russia. Iron was processed in forges, where special forges with a diameter of about 60 cm were used. Jewelery reached a high level among the Vyatichi people. The collection of casting molds found in our area is second only to Kyiv: 19 foundry molds were found in one place called Serensk. Craftsmen made bracelets, rings, temporal rings, crosses, amulets, etc.

Vyatichi conducted a brisk trade. Trade relations were established with the Arab world, they went along the Oka and Volga, as well as along the Don and further along the Volga and the Caspian Sea. At the beginning of the 11th century, trade was established with Western Europe, from where handicrafts came. Denarii displace other coins and become the main means of monetary circulation. But the Vyatichi traded with Byzantium for the longest time - from the 11th to the 12th centuries, where they brought furs, honey, wax, products of gunsmiths and goldsmiths, and in return received silk fabrics, glass beads and vessels, bracelets.

Judging by the archaeological sources, the Vyatiche settlements and settlements of the 8th-10th centuries. and even more XI-XII. centuries were settlements not so much tribal communities as territorial, neighboring ones. The finds speak of a noticeable property stratification among the inhabitants of these settlements of that time, the wealth of some and the poverty of others dwellings and graves, the development of crafts and trade exchange.

It is interesting that among the local settlements of that time there are not only settlements of the “urban” type or obvious rural settlements, but also quite small in area, surrounded by powerful earthen fortifications of the settlement. Apparently, these are the remains of the fortified estates of local feudal lords of that time, their original "castles". In the Upa basin, similar fortified estates were found near the villages of Gorodna, Taptykovo, Ketri, Staraya Krapivenka, Novoye Selo. There are such in other places in the Tula region.

About significant changes in the life of the local population in the IX-XI centuries. tell us the ancient chronicles. According to the "Tale of Bygone Years" in the IX century. Vyatichi paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. They continued to be his subjects into the 10th century. The initial tribute was levied, apparently, in furs and house-to-house (“from smoke”), and in the 10th century. a monetary tribute was already required and "from the ral" - from the plowman. So the chronicle testifies to the development of arable farming and commodity-money relations among the Vyatichi at that time. Judging by the chronicle data, the land of the Vyatichi in the VIII-XI centuries. was an integral East Slavic territory. For a long time, the Vyatichi retained their independence and isolation.

The chronicler Nestor unflatteringly described the manners and customs of the Vyatichi: “Radimichi, Vyatichi, northerners had the same custom: they lived in the forests, like animals, ate everything unclean, they had disgrace before their fathers and daughters-in-law; they didn’t have marriages, but there were games between villages "Converged on games, dances and all demonic games, and then kidnapped their wives, with whom someone conspired; had two or three wives. When someone died, they first made a feast over him, arranged a great treasure (bonfire) and, putting they set fire to the dead man in the treasure; then, having collected the bones, they put them in a small vessel, which they put on a pole by the roads, which the Vyatichi do now. The following phrase explains such a hostilely critical tone of the chronicler-monk: "The Krivichi and other pagans kept the same customs, not knowing the law of God, but creating the law for themselves." This was written no later than 1110, when Orthodoxy was already firmly established in Kievan Rus and the clergy with righteous anger denounced their fellow pagans, who were mired in ignorance. Emotions never contribute to objective vision. Archaeological research says that Nestor, to put it mildly, was wrong. Only in the area of ​​present-day Moscow, more than 70 groups of mounds dating back to the 11th-13th centuries have been explored. They are mounds 1.5-2 meters high. In them, archaeologists found, along with the remains of men, women and children, traces of feasts: coals from a fire, animal bones, broken dishes: iron knives, metal buckles from belts, clay pots, horse bits, tools - sickles, flints, scrapers, etc. d. Women were buried in festive attire: bronze or silver seven-lobed temporal rings, necklaces made of crystal and carnelian beads, various bracelets and rings. In the burials, the remains of fabrics were found, both locally produced - linen and woolen, and silk, brought from the East.

Unlike the former population - Mordovians and Komi - who were engaged in hunting and left in search of an animal across the Volga, the Vyatichi were at a higher level of development. They were farmers, artisans, merchants. Most of the Vyatichi settled not in the settlement, but in glades, the edges of forests, where there were lands suitable for arable farming. Here, near their arable land, the Slavs settled. First, a temporary dwelling was built - a hut made of intertwined branches, and after the first harvest - a hut with a cage where they kept the bird. These buildings almost did not differ from those that we still see in the villages of the Upper Volga region; except that the windows were very small, covered with a bull bladder, and the stoves without a chimney were heated in a black way, so that the walls and ceilings were constantly covered in soot. Then came a barn for cattle, a barn, a barn and a threshing floor. Next to the first peasant estate - "repair" - neighboring estates arose. Their owners were, as a rule, grown-up sons of the owner "pochinka" and other close relatives. This is how a village was formed (from the word "sit down"). When there were not enough free arable lands, forest plots began to be cut down. Villages arose in these places (from the word "tree") Those Vyatichi who were engaged in handicrafts and trade settled in cities that arose, as a rule, on the site of old settlements, only instead of the former long barracks, manor buildings were erected. However, the townspeople did not stop doing agriculture - they cultivated vegetable gardens and orchards, kept cattle. The Vyatichi, who lived in a large colony in the capital of the Khazar Khaganate - Itil, located on both banks of the Volga at the very mouth, also retained their love for country housekeeping. Here is what the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan, who visited the Volga in the first quarter of the 10th century, wrote: “There are no villages in the vicinity of Itil, but, despite this, the land is covered by 20 parasangs (a Persian measure of length, one parasang is about 4 kilometers. - D. E.) - cultivated fields. In the summer, the Itilian inhabitants go to the harvest of bread, which they transport to the city by land or water. Ibn Fadlan also left us an external description of the Slavs: "I have never seen such tall people: they are tall, like palm trees, and always ruddy." A large number of Slavs in the capital of the Khazar Khaganate gave grounds to another Arab writer to assert: "There are two Khazar tribes: one Kara Khazars, or black Khazars, are swarthy and black almost like Indians, others are white, have beautiful features." And further: "There are seven judges in Itil. Two of them are Mohammedans and decide things according to their own law, two are Khazars and judge according to the Jewish Law, two are Christians and judge according to the Gospel, and, finally, the seventh for the Slavs, Russians and other pagans, they judge by reason. "The Vyatichi Slavs who lived in In the lower reaches of the Volga and the Oka river basin, they were engaged not only in arable farming, their main occupation was river navigation, with the help of one-trees, managed by the Vyatichi, merchants from Kyiv reached the upper reaches of the Dnieper, from there they were dragged across to the Moscow River and floated along it to the mouth of the Yauza. where the Rossiya Hotel stands today, there was a pier. Novgorod guests made the same route to Moscow, reaching the upper reaches of the Dnieper from the north along Lake Ipmen and the Lovat River. dragged to the Klyazma and then sailed along it until the confluence of the Oka into the Volga.Slavic ships reached not only the Bulgar kingdom, but also to Itil, even further - up to the southern coast of the Caspian. The trade route went down along the Moskva River to the south, to the Oka, to the Ryazan lands, further to the Don and even lower - to the rich southern cities of the Black Sea region - Sudak and Surozh. Another trade route ran through Moscow, from Chernigov to Rostov. There was also a land road from the southeast to Novgorod. It forded across the Moscow River in the area of ​​the current Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge under the very Borovitsky Hill. At the crossroads of these trade routes, in the area of ​​the future Kremlin, a market arose - a similarity to the one located on the banks of the Volga, fifteen kilometers from Bulgar. So, as we see, Nestor's statement about the savagery of the Vyatichi is not true. All the more, his other evidence is very doubtful - that the Vyatichi are one of the tribes that broke away from the Poles and came to the Moscow River basin from the West.

3. Religion

In the 10th century, Christianity began to penetrate into the land of the Vyatichi. The Vyatichi resisted the adoption of Christianity longer than other Slavic tribes. True, there was no forced baptism, but one can observe a gradual change from the pagan ritual (burning of the dead) to the Christian ritual (burial), of course, with a number of intermediate steps. This process in the northern Vyatichi land ended only by the middle of the XIV century.

Vyatichi were pagans. If in Kievan Rus the main god was Perun - the god of a stormy sky, then among the Vyatichi - Stribog ("Old God"), who created the universe, the Earth, all the gods, people, flora and fauna. It was he who gave people blacksmith tongs, taught them how to smelt copper and iron, and also established the first laws. In addition, they worshiped Yarila, the god of the Sun, who travels across the sky in a wonderful chariot harnessed by four white, golden-maned horses with golden wings. Every year on June 23, the holiday of Kupala, the god of earthly fruits, was celebrated, when the sun gives the greatest strength to plants and medicinal herbs were collected. Vyatichi believed that on the night of Kupala, trees move from place to place and talk to each other with the noise of branches, and whoever has a fern with him can understand the language of each creation. Lel, the god of love, who appeared in the world every spring, was especially revered among young people in order to unlock the bowels of the earth with his keys-flowers for the violent growth of grasses, bushes and trees, for the triumph of the all-conquering power of Love. The goddess Lada, the patroness of marriage and family, was sung by the Vyatichi people.

In addition, the Vyatichi worshiped the forces of nature. So, they believed in the goblin - the owner of the forest, a wild creature that was taller than any tall tree. Goblin tried to knock a person off the road in the forest, lead him into an impenetrable swamp, slums and destroy him there. At the bottom of the river, lake, in the whirlpools lived a water man - a naked, shaggy old man, the owner of waters and swamps, all their riches. He was the lord of the mermaids. Mermaids are the souls of drowned girls, evil creatures. Coming out of the water where they live on a moonlit night, they try to lure a person into the water with singing and charms and tickle him to death. The brownie - the main owner of the house - enjoyed great respect. This is a little old man who looks like the owner of the house, all overgrown with hair, an eternal troublemaker, often grouchy, but deep down kind and caring. In the view of the Vyatichi, Santa Claus was an unsightly, harmful old man, who shook his gray beard and caused bitter frosts. Children were scared of Santa Claus. But in the 19th century, he turned into a kind creature who, together with the Snow Maiden, brings gifts for the New Year.

4. Vyatichi burial mounds

On the Tula land, as well as in the neighboring regions - Oryol, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan - groups of mounds are known, and in some cases investigated - the remains of pagan cemeteries of the ancient Vyatichi. The mounds near the village of Zapadnaya and s. Dobrogo Suvorovsky district, near the village of Triznovo, Shchekino district.

During the excavations, the remains of cremations were found, sometimes several of different times. In some cases they are placed in an earthenware urn, in others they are stacked on a cleared area with an annular ditch. In a number of mounds, burial chambers were found - wooden log cabins with a plank floor and a covering of split limbs. The entrance to such a domina - a collective tomb - was laid with stones or boards, and therefore could be opened for subsequent burials. In other burial mounds, including those nearby, there are no such structures.

Establishing the features of the funeral rite, ceramics and things found during excavations, their comparison with other materials helps to at least to some extent compensate for the extreme scarcity of written information that has come down to us about the local population of that distant time, about the ancient history of our region. Archaeological materials confirm the information of the chronicle about the connections of the local Vyatichi, Slavic tribe with other kindred tribes and tribal unions, about the long-term preservation of old tribal traditions and customs in the life and culture of the local population.

Burials in the Vyatichi burial mounds are very rich in material, both quantitatively and artistically. In this they differ significantly from the burials of all other Slavic tribes. Women's burials are characterized by a special variety of things. This testifies to the high development of cult ideas (and therefore ideological ones) of the Vyatichi, the degree of their originality, as well as a special attitude towards women.

The ethno-determining feature of the Vyatichi during excavations is the seven-lined temporal rings found in hundreds of female burials.

temporal ring

They were worn on a headband made of leather, fabric or bast, covered with a thin linen woven fabric. On the forehead, the fabric was decorated with small beads, for example, yellow glass mixed with perforated cherry pits. The rings were threaded one above the other into a double-folded ribbon, the lower ring was hung at the fold of the ribbon. Ribbons hung from the right and left temples.

5. Vyatichi in Xcentury

Arab sources speak of the formation in the 8th century on the territory occupied by Slavic tribes of three political centers: Cuiaba, Slavia and Artania. Kuyaba (Kuyava), apparently, was a political association of the southern group of Slavic tribes with a center in Kyiv (Kuyava), Slavia - an association of the northern group of Slavs, led by the Novgorod Slavs. Artania, most likely, was a union of southeastern Slavic tribes - Vyatichi, Radimichi, Severyans and an unknown by name Slavic tribe that lived in the upper reaches of the Don, but left these places at the end of the 10th century due to nomad raids.

From the 9th century, the strengthened Khazar Khaganate began wars in the north of its borders with the Slavic tribes. The Polyans manage to defend their independence, while the tribes of the Vyatichi, Radimichi and Severyans were forced to pay tribute to the Khazars. Shortly after these events, in 862, Prince Rurik seized power in Novgorod and became prince. His successor, Prince Oleg of Novgorod, conquered Kyiv in 882 and moved the center of the united Russian state here from Novgorod. Immediately after this, Oleg in 883-885. imposes tribute on the neighboring Slavic tribes - the Drevlyans, Northerners, Radimichis, at the same time freeing the Northerners and Radimichis from paying tribute to the Khazars. Vyatichi, for almost a hundred years, were forced to pay tribute to the Khazars. The freedom-loving and warlike tribe of the Vyatichi defended their independence for a long time and stubbornly. They were headed by the princes elected by the people's assembly, who lived in the capital of the Vyatich tribe, the city of Dedoslavl (now Dedilovo). The strongholds were the fortress cities of Mtsensk, Kozelsk, Rostislavl, Lobynsk, Lopasnya, Moskalsk, Serenok and others, which numbered from 1 to 3 thousand inhabitants. Wanting to maintain independence, part of the Vyatichi begins to leave down the Oka and, having reached the mouth of the Moskva River, is divided: part occupies the Oka territories of the Ryazan land, the other part begins to move up the Moscow River.

In 964, the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav planned to conquer the Bulgars and the Khazars invaded the borders of the easternmost Slavic people. Passing along the Oka, he, as the chronicle writes, "climbed the Vyatichi ...".

“Nalez” means in ancient Russian - “suddenly met”. It can be assumed that there was probably a small skirmish at first, and then an agreement was concluded between the Vyatichi and Svyatoslav, which consisted of the following: “Although we paid tribute to the Khazars before, but from now on we will pay tribute to you; however, guarantees are needed - your victory over the Khazars.” This was in 964. Following Svyatoslav defeated the Bulgar principality on the Volga, and immediately moving down the river, defeated the capital of the Khazars in the lower reaches of the Volga and their other main cities on the Don (after that, the Khazar Khaganate ceased to exist). This was in 965.

Naturally, the Vyatichi were not going to fulfill their obligations, otherwise why would Prince Svyatoslav again in 966 bring the Vyatichi into submission, i.e. make them pay tribute again.

Apparently, these payments were not strong, if after 20 years in 985 Prince Vladimir again had to go on a campaign against the Vyatichi, and this time finally (and the Vyatichi had no other choice) to bring the tribute to the Vyatichi. It is from this year that the Vyatichi are considered part of the Russian state. We consider all this to be inaccurate: the payment of tribute does not mean entry into the state to which tribute is paid. So, it was from 985 that the Vyatichi land remained relatively independent: tribute was paid, but the rulers remained their own.

Nevertheless, it was from the end of the 10th century that the Vyatichi began to massively take possession of the Moscow River. At the beginning of the 11th century, their movement suddenly stalled: conquering and assimilating the Fino-Ugric lands, the Vyatichi suddenly collide in the north with the Slavic tribe of the Krivichi. Perhaps the belonging of the Krivichi to the Slavs would not have stopped the Vyatichi in their further advancement (there are many examples of this in history), but the vassal affiliation of the Vyatichi played a role (of course, one cannot ignore the kinship of the language, although in those days such an argument was not decisive ), because the Krivichi have long been part of Russia.

6. Independent Vyatichi (XI century)

For the Vyatichi, the 11th century is a time of partial and even complete independence.

By the beginning of the 11th century, the settlement area of ​​the Vyatichi reached its maximum size and occupied the entire basin of the upper Oka, the basin of the middle Oka to Staraya Ryazan, the entire basin of the Moskva River, the upper reaches of the Klyazma.

Vyatichi land among all other lands of Ancient Russia was in a special position. Around, in Chernigov, Smolensk, Novgorod, Rostov, Suzdal, Murom, Ryazan, there was already state, princely power, feudal relations were developing. The Vyatichi retained tribal relations: at the head of the tribe was the leader, to whom the local leaders, the elders of the clan, obeyed.

In 1066, the proud and recalcitrant Vyatichi again rise against Kyiv. They are headed by Khodota and his son, well-known adherents of the pagan religion in their region. The Laurentian chronicle under 1096 reports: “... and in Vyatichi they go two winters for Khodota and for his son ...”. An interesting point can be drawn from this short note.

If the chronicle considered it worthy to mention the son of Khodota, then he occupied a special position among the Vyatichi. Perhaps the power of the Vyatichi was hereditary, and the son of Khodota was the heir to his father. Vladimir Monomakh goes to pacify them. His first two campaigns ended in nothing. The squad passed through the forests without meeting the enemy. Only during the third campaign Monomakh overtook and defeated the Khodota forest army, but his leader managed to escape.

For the second winter, the Grand Duke prepared differently. First of all, he sent his scouts to the Vyatka settlements, occupied the main ones and brought there all kinds of supplies. And when the frost hit, Khodota was forced to go to warm himself in the huts and dugouts. Monomakh overtook him in one of the winter quarters. The combatants knocked out everyone who fell under the arm in this battle.

But the Vyatichi still fought and rebelled for a long time, until the governors intercepted and bandaged all the instigators and executed them in front of the villagers with a fierce execution. Only then did the land of the Vyatichi finally become part of the Old Russian state.

During the reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054), the Vyatichi are not mentioned at all in the annals, as if there is no land between Chernigov and Suzdal, or this land has nothing to do with the bustling life of Kievan Rus. Moreover, the Vyatichi are also not mentioned in the annalistic list of the tribes of this time. This can mean only one thing: the Vyatichi land was not conceived as part of Russia. Most likely, tribute was paid to Kyiv, and this was the end of the relationship. It is difficult to assume that tribute was not paid during the time of Yaroslav the Wise: Kievan Rus was strong, united, and Yaroslav would have found means to reason with tributaries.

But after the death of Yaroslav in 1054, the situation changed dramatically. Civil strife begins between the princes, and Russia breaks up into many large and small specific principalities. It’s not up to the Vyatichi at all here, and they will probably stop paying tribute. And who should pay? Kyiv is far away and no longer borders on Vyatichi land, and other princes still have to prove their right to collect tribute with arms in their hands.

There is a lot of evidence of the complete independence of the Vyatichi in the second half of the 11th century. One of them is given above: complete silence in the annals.

The second evidence is the absence of a full route from Kyiv to Rostov and Suzdal. At this time, it was necessary to get from Kyiv to North-Eastern Russia in a roundabout way: first up the Dnieper, and then down the Volga, bypassing the Vyatichi land.

Vladimir Monomakh, in his “Instruction” to children “and whoever honors” as an unusual enterprise, speaks of a trip from the Dnieper region to Rostov “through Vyatich” in the late 60s of the 11th century.

We can draw the third evidence from the epics about Ilya Muromets.

It was the impassability of the path through the Vyatichi in the 11th century that served as the main motive for the epic about the fight between Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber. “The straight path is overgrown” - this is an indication of the path through the Vyatichi, the nest of the Nightingale the Robber twisted on an oak tree is a fairly accurate indication of the sacred tree of the Vyatichi, the seat of the priest. A fight with a priest? Of course yes; Let us recall that the priest also performs secular, in this case military, functions among the Vyatichi. Where should the sacred tree be? Of course, in the center of the Vyatichi tribe, i.e. somewhere on the upper Oka - in the places of the original habitat of the Vyatichi. In the epic there are also more precise indications - “Bryn forests”. And on the map we can find the Bryn River, which flows into the Zhizdra - a tributary of the Oka, and on the Bryn River the village of Bryn (for a rough reference to the general fact that the Vyatichi city of Kozelsk is the closest of the modern cities to the Bryn forests) ... You can find a whole series parallels between the epic and realities, but this will take us very far from the topic under discussion.

If the path through the Vyatichi remained not only in the “Instruction” of Vladimir Monomakh, but also in the memory of the people, one can imagine what the land of the Vyatichi was in the imagination of the peoples surrounding it.

7. Vyatichi lose their independence (XII century)

By the end of the 11th century, the situation for the Vyatichi changed: as a result of strife, Kievan Rus was divided into a number of independent principalities. Those of them that surrounded the Vyatichi begin to seize the Vyatichi lands. The Chernigov principality began to seize the main lands of the Vyatichi - in the upper reaches of the Oka; The principality of Smolensk did the same somewhat to the north, the principality of Ryazan quite easily occupied the lands of the Vyatichi, because. the Vyatichi have not yet had time to gain a foothold there; The Rostov-Suzdal principality acted from the side of the Moscow River from the east; from the north, from the side of the Krivichi, it was relatively calm.

The idea of ​​a united Russia with Kyiv has not yet exhausted itself, therefore, at the end of the 11th century, to connect Kyiv with Suzdal and Rostov, a “field” path was established through Kursk to the Mur on the right (southern) bank of the Oka through the “no man’s” lands between the Vyatichi and Polovtsians, where a lot of Slavs (their name is “wanderers”).

Vladimir Monomakh (not yet being a Grand Duke) in 1096 made campaigns against the leader of the Vyatichi Khodota and his son. Apparently, this campaign did not bring tangible results, because the next year at the congress of Russian princes in Lyubich (which is on the banks of the Dnieper), when dividing the lands, the lands of the Vyatichi were not mentioned at all (as before).

In the XII century, there was again a complete absence of information about the Vyatichi, until the middle of the XII century.

The annalistic code has always been subject to the ideology of its time: they wrote with prejudice, when rewriting after many decades they made adjustments in accordance with the spirit of the times and the political line of the prince, or trying to influence the prince and his entourage.

Such alterations are also documented.

In 1377, three years before the Battle of Kulikovo, the scribe-monk Lavrenty, in a short time, two months, rewrote the old chronicle, subjecting it to alterations. Bishop of Suzdal, Nizhny Novgorod and Gordetsky Dionysius led such an edition of the chronicle.

Instead of a story about the inglorious defeat of the disunited Russian princes during the invasion of Batu (namely, other ancient chronicles interpret the events in this way), the Laurentian Chronicle offers the reader, i.e. princes and their entourage, an example of the friendly and heroic struggle of the Russians with the Tatars. Having resorted to literary means and, obviously, passing off their alteration as the original chronicle story, Bishop Dionysius and Lavrenty, “imaginary”, secretly, as if through the mouth of a chronicler of the 13th century, blessed contemporary Russian princes for the liberation anti-Tatar struggle (more on this is written in the book of Prokhorov G. .M. “The Tale of Mityai”, L., 1978, pp. 71-74).

In our case, the chroniclers obviously did not want to report the existence in the XI-XII centuries. pagan Slavs and an independent region in the center of the Russian land.

And suddenly (!) In the 40s of the XII century - a simultaneous explosion of annalistic reports about the Vyatichi: southwestern (which is in the upper reaches of the Oka) and northeastern (which is in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe city of Moscow and its environs).

In the upper reaches of the Oka, in the land of the Vyatichi, Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich rushes about with his retinue, either capturing the Vyatichi lands, or retreating; in the middle reaches of the Moscow River, also Vyatichi land, at that very time, Prince Yuri (George) Vladimirovich Dolgoruky executed the boyar Kuchka, and then invited Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich: “Come to me, brother, to Moscow.”

Both princes had a common ancestor - Yaroslav the Wise, who was their great-grandfather. Both grandfather and father were the Grand Dukes of Kyiv. True, Svyatoslav Olgovich came from an older branch than Yuri Dolgoruky: Svyatoslav's grandfather was the third son of Yaroslav the Wise, and grandfather Yuri (George) was the fourth son of Yaroslav the Wise. Accordingly, the great reign of Kiev was transferred in this order according to the unwritten law of that time: from the elder brother to the younger. Therefore, the grandfather of Svyatoslav Olgovich reigned in Kyiv before the grandfather of Yuri Dolgoruky.

And then went voluntary and involuntary violations of this rule, more often voluntary. As a result, by the 30s of the XII century, enmity arose between the descendants of Monomakh and the Olgovichi. This enmity will continue for 100 years, until the invasion of Batu.

In 1146, the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vsevolod Olgovich, the elder brother of Svyatoslav Olgovich, dies; he leaves the throne to his second brother, Igor Olgovich. But the people of Kiev do not want any of the Olgovichi, accusing them of abuse, and invite the prince from the Monomakh family, but not Yuri Dolgoruky, but his nephew, Izyaslav. So Yuri Dolgoruky, the Prince of Suzdal and Svyatoslav Olgovich, who had already changed three principalities by this time, become allies and at the same time pretenders to the throne of Kyiv.

But first, Svyatoslav wants to return the hereditary possession of his ancestors, the Chernigov Principality. After a short period of confusion, he begins his task from the Vyatichi land: Kozelsk takes his side, and Dedoslavl takes the side of his opponents - the Chernigov rulers. Svyatoslav Olgovich captures Dedoslavl with the help of the Belozersky squad sent by Yuri Dolgoruky. The Prince of Suzdal cannot send more; he conquers the supporters of Kyiv - first Ryazan, and then Novgorod.

Here is a messenger from Yuri Dolgoruky, he has a letter for Svyatoslav. In the letter, Prince Yuri conveys that before going to Kyiv, it is necessary to defeat the last enemy in the rear - the Smolensk prince. Svyatoslav begins to fulfill this plan, conquers the golyad tribe that lived in the upper reaches of the Protva River and became Russified.

The spring thaw prevented further military operations, and then a new messenger from the Prince of Suzdal with an invitation to Moscow. We quote an entry about the events of the winter of 1147 according to the Ipatiev Chronicle (this entry under 1147 also contains the first chronicle evidence of Moscow): fight. And Svyatoslav went and took Golyad’s people over Porotva, and Svyatoslav’s drouzina was so crowded, and sending Gyurgia a speech, come to me brother in Moscow.

Translation of this entry: “Yuri (Dolgoruky) opposed Novgorod, captured Torzhok and all the lands along the Msta River. and sent a messenger to Svyatoslav with instructions to oppose the Smolensk prince. Svyatoslav captured the lands of the golyad tribe in the upper reaches of the Protva, and his friendly team took many prisoners. Yuri sent him a letter: "I invite you, my brother, to Moscow."

Conclusion

Considering the events of 1146-1147, one can observe the agony of the Vyatichi as a separate Slavic tribe that finally lost the remnants of its independence. Svyatoslav, without a shadow of a doubt, considers the region of the upper Oka - the cradle and center of the Vyatichi land - the territory of the Chernigov principality. The Vyatichi have already been split: the Vyatichi of Kozelsk support Svyatoslav Olgovich, the Vyatichi of Dedoslavl support his opponents. Apparently, the decisive clashes took place in the 20-30s of the XII century, and then the Vyatichi were defeated. In the northeast, along the middle course of the Moskva River, the Suzdal princes reign supreme. At the end of the 11th century, the annals ceased to mention the Vyatichi as an existing tribe.

The land of the Vyatichi is divided between the Chernigov, Smolensk, Suzdal and Ryazan principalities. Vyatichi are part of the Old Russian state. In the XIV century, the Vyatichi finally leave the historical scene and are no longer mentioned in the annals.

Bibliography

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3. Tatishchev V.N. Russian history. M., 1964. T. 3.

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