Ast I. History of the Vladimir region from ancient times to the end of the 18th century, chapter I

Vladimir region as part of the Muscovite state (14th - 15th centuries)

In 1263, after the death of Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, the Vladimir principality fell into complete decline, yielding the palm to more powerful neighbors. Alexander Nevsky bequeathed the Grand Duke's throne in Vladimir to his brother Yaroslav Yaroslavich. He was supposed to become regent under his 2-year-old son Daniil Alexandrovich, to whom Nevsky left only a small specific Moscow principality lost in the forests.

In 1276, Daniil Alexandrovich began to independently rule the Moscow principality, setting as his main goal the expansion of its borders. In 1300, he captured Kolomna, and in 1302, after the death of his childless nephew, he annexed the Principality of Pereyaslav, where there were salt mines, rich rivers for fishing and side forests. After the death of Daniel in 1303 and the short reign of his brother Andrei, Yuri Daniilovich became the prince of Moscow. Between Yuri and the Tver prince Mikhail Yaroslavich, a struggle unfolded for the great reign of Vladimir. In 1305, Prince Mikhail took Pereyaslavl from Yuri, and 3 years later he took the princely throne in Veliky Novgorod, seeking to unite the Russian lands under his rule.

In the fight against Tver, Prince Yuri actively used the Tatars. He married the daughter of Khan Uzbek and in 1317 brought the Horde army under the command of Kavgady to the Tver principality. However, Mikhail was able not only to defeat the Tatars, but also to capture the wife of Yuri Daniilovich, who soon died. Taking advantage of this, Yuri accused Mikhail Yaroslavich of poisoning the daughter of Uzbek and summoned him to court in the Horde. There, in 1318, the prince of Tver was stabbed to death by Yuri's servant on the orders of the khan.

As a result, Prince Yuri Daniilovich achieved a label for a great reign, but was able to hold power for only 4 years. Already in 1322, the Tver prince Dmitry Mikhailovich the Terrible Eyes accused Yuri of hiding part of the Horde tribute and he himself took the grand throne. When in 1326 the opponents met in the Horde, Dmitry decided to avenge the death of his father, killed Yuri, but he himself was executed on the personal orders of Uzbek. His brother Alexander Mikhailovich became the new Grand Duke, and Ivan I Daniilovich Kalita (Money Bag), the last surviving son of Daniil Alexandrovich, took the throne of Moscow.

Prince Ivan Kalita desperately intrigued against Alexander and in 1327 succeeded in having the Tatar commissioner Cholkhan sent to Tver, who occupied the palace of the Grand Duke and drove him out of the city. In response to the atrocities committed by the Tatars, the inhabitants of Tver raised an uprising and slaughtered almost all the Horde, including Cholkhan. Then Kalita went to the Horde, received a 50,000-strong army from Khan Uzbek, and completely ruined the Tver principality. In gratitude for his services to the Horde, the Khan gave Ivan Kalita a label for a great reign.

Alexander Mikhailovich fled first to Pskov, and then, fleeing the persecution of Kalita, he was forced to move to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After some time, he returned to Tver, but because of the intrigues of Ivan Kalita, he was summoned to the Horde and killed there. Having established himself on the grand prince's throne, Kalita brutally suppressed the local specific princes and always defended the interests of the Horde, so the Tatars' campaigns against Russia temporarily stopped. The Tver principality, which tried to throw off the yoke of Mongol-Tatar rule, lay in ruins.

In 1340, Ivan I died, having transferred the great reign to his eldest son, Semyon the Proud. Tver had not yet recovered from the defeat inflicted by the Tatars and Kalita, but the new prince had to deal with the growing strength of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality. In addition, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania grew stronger and stronger, which drove out the Mongol-Tatars, uniting under its rule the western and southern lands of the former Old Russian state. In 1353, Semyon and most of the grand duke's family died from a terrible plague epidemic - the "black death", which, together with the ships of the Hansa, first penetrated Novgorod, and then devastated Russian lands for several years and, finally, subsided in the endless steppes of the Wild Field.

After the 7-year reign of Ivan II Ivanovich the Red, the throne of Moscow passed to his young son Dmitry Ivanovich, the future Donskoy, and the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod prince Dmitry Konstantinovich sat on the great reign. Only a few years later, in 1362, the Moscow boyars were able to get a label for Dmitry Ivanovich.

Trying to prevent the restoration of the former power of Tver, Dmitry in every possible way supported the local specific princes in the fight against the Tver prince Mikhail Alexandrovich. However, Prince Michael was determined to fight to the end and resorted to the help of Olgerd, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, to whose daughter he was married. Three times, in 1368, 1370 and 1372, Belarusian-Lithuanian and Tver troops invaded Dmitry's possessions and besieged Moscow, but they failed to take the city. Prince Olgerd, who wanted to completely expel the Mongol-Tatars and unite all Russian lands under his rule, understood that Moscow was his main rival in this endeavor.

Back in 1370, Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich received a label in the Horde for a great reign, but Dmitry did not let him into Vladimir. But the traditional orientation of Moscow towards an alliance with the Tatars was still too strong, and the next year, Prince Dmitry went to bow to the temnik Mamai, taking with him a very large amount, for which he not only returned the label, but redeemed the heir to the Tver throne, Prince Ivan, son Prince Mikhail, he was taken to Moscow, where he was held captive. However, when in 1373 Mamai attacked the Ryazan principality, Dmitry stopped paying taxes to the Tatars. The following year, through the mediation of the Church, Princes Dmitry and Mikhail concluded a peace treaty directed against the Horde. Then Mamai, worried about this alliance, sent an embassy to Nizhny Novgorod to encourage the local princes to go to war against Moscow. But the inhabitants of Nizhny Novgorod killed the Tatar ambassadors. At the same time, at a congress in Pereyaslavl, Dmitry created an anti-Horde coalition, which included Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Ryazan principalities and Novgorod land. Olgerd did not agree to an alliance with the Russian principalities, but in the same 1374 he made another campaign against the Tatars.

However, after this, events began to take an unexpected turn: instead of the Horde, a coalition of princes attacked Tver. By this time, Mikhail Alexandrovich again received a label from Mamai for a great reign, and Dmitry decided to first ruin the Tver principality, and only then start a war with the Horde. As a result, the forces of the union of princes created with great difficulty were wasted on another internecine massacre, the result of which was the temporary reconciliation of Tver and Moscow. Only in 1377, the Russian army made a campaign against the Horde, attacking the lands of the Volga Bulgars.

In response to this, Mamai gathered a large army in the summer of the following year, ravaged Nizhny Novgorod and invaded the Ryazan principality. Here, on August 11, 1378, the Tatars were defeated by Prince Dmitry, the Belarusian-Lithuanian troops of Prince Andrei Olgerdovich of Polotsk and the army of Ryazan Prince Daniel Pronsky in the battle on the Vozha River. After the death of Olgerd in 1377, his eldest son Andrei of Polotsk was removed from power by Jagiello and fled to Dmitry. In Moscow, he incited the Grand Duke to go to war with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and at the end of 1379, together with the Moscow troops, he attacked Bryansk. This war ended inconclusively, but pushed Jagiello into an alliance with Mamai.

At the end of the summer of 1380, Mamai gathered a strong army and headed for Moscow, the allied Belarusian-Lithuanian army of Grand Duke Jagiello joined him. The second ally of the Tatars was Prince Oleg of Ryazan, who, however, refused to take part in the campaign. Having learned about the approach of the enemy, Prince Dmitry set out from Moscow and on September 6 went to the banks of the Don at the place where the Nepryadva flows into it. Andrei Polotsky and his brother Dmitry Olgerdovich Bryansky joined the army of Dmitry Ivanovich, but the princes of Tver, Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod and Novgorod refused to take part in the campaign.

On September 7, Dmitry crossed the Don and deployed his regiments on the Kulikovo field, where one of the biggest and bloodiest battles in the history of the Russian Middle Ages took place the next day. Jagiello was late to the battlefield for several daytime marches, so Mamai had to fight alone with approximately equal enemy forces.

The battle of Kulikovo, called in the annals of the Mamaev battle, began at noon on September 8 with a duel between the Russian hero Peresvet and the Tatar warrior Chelubey, in which both soldiers died. Then, for three hours, the Tatar troops unsuccessfully tried to break through the center and the right flank of the Russian army. Then Mamai attacked Dmitry's left flank, but was driven back by an ambush regiment, which was biding its time in a nearby forest. This decided the outcome of the battle, which ended in the complete victory of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich, who became Donskoy.

However, from a political point of view, the Battle of Kulikovo did not lead to the expected result, since the dependence of the Russian lands on the Horde remained. Moreover, when the victorious, but exhausted in the battle, regiments returned home with rich booty, they were attacked by the troops of Prince Oleg of Ryazan and Jagiello and almost completely exterminated.

The defeated Mamai fled to the Crimea, where he was killed by the Genoese, and Khan Tokhtamysh became the head of the Golden Horde, who immediately began to prepare for revenge. Having entered into an alliance with the Ryazan and Nizhny Novgorod princes, in 1382 he attacked the Moscow principality. Dmitry Donskoy fled to Kostroma, leaving the defenseless capital to be torn apart by the Tatars. On August 26, 1382, after a 3-day siege, during which the Russians first used artillery, Tokhtamysh tricked the Muscovites into opening the gates and burned the city to the ground. At this time, Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich sent an ambassador to the Horde, where for the third time he received a label for a great reign. The dependence of the Russian lands on the Horde was restored.

In order to regain his great reign, Dmitry Donskoy left his son and heir Vasily hostage at Tokhtamysh and agreed to a strong increase in tribute from his possessions. In 1385, Vasily managed to escape from the Horde to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, from where he returned to Moscow and after the death of his father in 1389 became the Grand Duke.

The great reign of Vasily I Dmitrievich took place in extremely difficult conditions. The Moscow principality was squeezed in a vice by two large states - the Horde and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Belarusian-Lithuanian state, which especially strengthened under Prince Vitovt, gradually brought under its control not only Smolensk and Pskov, but also Novgorod, the traditional region of influence of the Grand Dukes of Vladimir, from where they drew money to pay tribute to the Horde. Moreover, Khan Tokhtamysh, who fled to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1397, who suffered a crushing defeat from Timur, issued Vitovt a label for the great reign of Vladimir. Vitovt wanted to completely liberate all Russian lands from Tatar rule, but the defeat in the battle on the Vorskla River in 1399 ruined his plans. Then he entered into an alliance with Timur's henchman, Khan Edigei, and began a war with Moscow. At the same time, Edigey also helped Vasily I, wanting to push the two princes to war and ensure the safety of the Horde. Vitovt made three trips to Moscow in 1406, 1407 and 1408, as a result of which the border between the Moscow principality and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania passed along the Ugra River, and Vitovt's henchman settled in Novgorod.

In the same 1408, the Tatar army of Khan Edigey attacked the Russian lands. Beginning in 1395, when Timur defeated the Horde, Vasily I stopped paying tribute to the Tatars, and now Edigey decided to subjugate Moscow again. When the Tatars approached, Grand Duke Vasily fled to Kostroma, but the Muscovites courageously defended the city, and, having stood under its walls for a month, Edigei lifted the siege. However, the Khan's troops plundered and burned Serpukhov, Dmitrov, Rostov, Pereyaslavl and Nizhny Novgorod.

In 1425, Vasily I died, and his young son Vasily II ascended to the great reign. However, the brother of Vasily I, the Galician prince Yuri Dmitrievich, declared his rights to the throne. Yuri Dmitrievich had several sons, three of whom, Vasily Kosoy, Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny, were to play a crucial role in the civil war that devastated Russian lands for 20 years.

The first performance of Prince Yuri Dmitrievich ended as quickly as it began. For several months he was officially at war with Vasily II, after which he signed a peace treaty, renouncing his claims. This went on for 5 years, until the winter of 1430, Yuri broke the peace with the Grand Duke. In the autumn of 1431, both princes were summoned to the Horde, where Khan Ulu-Mohammed was to resolve their dispute. A year later, Vasily II received from the Khan a label for a great reign, pledging to pay a large tribute regularly, and was put on the throne by the Tatar troops.

The shaky truce lasted only a few months and was broken at the wedding of Vasily II Vasilyevich in February 1433. Prince Vasily Kosoy appeared at the solemn ceremony in a golden belt that once belonged to Dmitry Donskoy. At the Moscow court, this was regarded as a claim to the grand prince's throne, a quarrel arose, and Kosa, together with Shemyaka, galloped away in anger to their father in Galich. In April, the army of Yuri Dmitrievich approached Moscow. Vasily led a hastily assembled army to meet him, but the Muscovites had not yet had time to finish the wedding celebrations, and on the night before the battle, the entire army of the Grand Duke got drunk. It was very difficult to fight in this state, so Vasily II lost the battle on the Klyazma, which took place on the 25th of the same month. Yuri Dmitrievich solemnly entered Moscow, reconciled with his nephew and gave him control over the specific principality of Kolomenskoye. However, all serving Moscow people and boyars immediately left the capital and moved to Kolomna. As a result, a few days later, Yuri was forced to return the great reign to Vasily, conclude another peace treaty with him and leave empty Moscow.

But the war didn't end there. Vasily II immediately attacked Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka, who defeated his troops in the Battle of the Kusi River on September 28, 1433. In the spring of the following year, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich gathered significant forces and again set off for Moscow. The battle at Mount St. Nicholas ended in the complete defeat of Vasily Vasilyevich, who abandoned the throne and fled first to Novgorod, and then to Tver. At the end of March, Prince Yuri, after a long siege, took Moscow and again sat on the great reign. His short reign was marked by a monetary reform, during which coins were introduced with the image of the patron saint of the new Grand Duke - St. George the Victorious.

In early June 1434, Yuri Dmitrievich died unexpectedly, and Vasily Kosoy, who was in Moscow at that time, proclaimed himself the new Grand Duke. At this time, Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny were on a campaign against Vasily II, but, having learned about the act of their brother, they united with their recent enemy and turned to Moscow. Then Vasily Kosoy fled from the capital to Tver, taking with him the state treasury. With the help of the Yurievich brothers, Vasily II established himself in Moscow, generously endowing Shemyaka and Krasnoy with lands, but Vasily Kosoy continued the struggle.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing civil war in the winter of 1436, Grand Duke Vasily imprisoned Dmitry Shchemyaka, after which all his supporters joined Kosoy's forces. However, on May 14, 1436, the troops of Vasily Kosoy were defeated in the battle on the Cherekha River, and he himself was captured, taken to Moscow and blinded. After that, the Grand Duke made peace with Shemyaka, giving him Uglich as an inheritance.

A new outbreak of war occurred in 1441, when Vasily II unexpectedly decided to gather an army and go to Uglich. By that time, Dmitry Krasny had died, and the blind man Kosoy had completely retired, so Dmitry Shemyaka was left alone with Vasily Vasilyevich. Shemyaka fled the city and was soon forced to sign another peace treaty on even more unfavorable terms.

In 1445, the Tatars attacked the Russian lands and in the battle at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery near Suzdal destroyed the army of the Grand Duke. Vasily II himself was taken prisoner and returned to Moscow only after promising a huge ransom. He brought with him half a thousand of the Horde, who, with his connivance, began to shamelessly rob the Russian principalities. The behavior of Vasily II aroused the indignation of the widest sections of Russian society, which Dmitry Shemyaka immediately took advantage of. When in February 1446 the Grand Duke went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity Monastery, Shemyaka captured him and blinded him, avenging his brother Vasily Kosoy. Having lost his sight, Vasily II was nicknamed the Dark One.

Most of the old Moscow boyar families remained faithful to the blinded Vasily, and after a few months he had a new army provided by the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich. In mid-February 1447, Vasily the Dark entered Moscow and was restored to the throne, but Galich and Uglich, the main strongholds of Shemyaka, were taken only three years later. Dmitry Shemyaka himself continued to resist until July 1453, when he was poisoned by a cook sent by the Grand Duke.

The family of the rebellious prince took refuge in Novgorod. However, in 1456, Vasily the Dark invaded the Novgorod land, and the inhabitants of the city were forced to expel the Shemyaki family and sign a very unfavorable treaty with Moscow. The reign of Vasily II, filled with wars, ended with terrible executions. When, in March 1462, the already ill Grand Duke learned that the conspirators had decided to release the Serpukhov prince Vasily Yaroslavich, imprisoned by him, he, despite Great Lent, staged a massacre of his opponents right in the center of Moscow. A few weeks later, Vasily the Dark died, transferring the great reign to his eldest son Ivan III.

Vasily II did not shine with any talents, therefore he never ruled on his own even when he was sighted: in his youth, his mother Sofya Vitovtovna ruled for him, then the Moscow boyars, and in the last years of his life they were replaced by Ivan. Therefore, in 1462, little has changed for Ivan III, only now he began to officially fulfill his duties, which he had been doing for more than a year. Unlike the weak-willed father, who had been under someone else's influence all his life, the new Grand Duke was a firm, tough and very intelligent person. Now that the times of unrest were over, the main goal of Ivan III was to seize neighboring lands, on which a new strong state was to emerge with a center in Moscow.

The main obstacle to the implementation of this plan was the Novgorod land, which, not wanting to fall under the rule of autocratic Moscow, was moving closer and closer to the democratic Belarusian-Lithuanian state. In the first half of the 15th century, Novgorod became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for some time, and now, in 1470, it again concluded a similar agreement with Casimir the Great. The head of the pro-Western party, which advocated the preservation of the independence of Novgorod the Great, was the wealthy widow of the posadnik Marfa Boretskaya. However, Prince Mikhail Olelkovich, who arrived from Kyiv to Novgorod, showed himself not on the best side and soon left the city. This was instantly taken advantage of by Ivan III, who made an alliance with Pskov and moved to Novgorod. In vain, the Novgorodians waited for help from Casimir - the Livonian knights detained their ambassadors and did not let them into Lithuania. Meanwhile, the Moscow troops set off on a campaign and on July 13, 1471 defeated the Novgorod army in the battle on the Shelon River. Among the prisoners was the son of Martha Posadnitsa, who, by order of the Grand Duke, was beheaded. Novgorod lost part of its lands and broke the treaty with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In order to turn from a prince dependent on the Horde into the ruler of a strong state, Ivan III needed to create a solid foreign policy basis for his claims. Therefore, at the prompt of the Italian Ivan Fryazin, who served at his court, the Grand Duke decided to marry the daughter of the last Byzantine emperor

Sofia Paleolog. The marriage took place in 1472, and together with an intelligent and educated wife of the royal family, Ivan III received the rights to the Byzantine throne in Constantinople captured by the Turks.

Ivan Vasilievich did not leave the thought of conquering Novgorod the Great, the richest of the Russian lands, but he did this gradually, luring to his side some Novgorodians who agreed to betray their homeland for money or other benefits, and severely punishing others who did not want to part with independence. However, by 1477 Ivan III had exhausted secret and overt diplomatic methods and again moved his army to Novgorod. The city was no longer able to resist the power of the Moscow sovereign, Ivan freely entered Novgorod, abolished the veche and appointed his governor. But not all Novgorodians sold themselves to Moscow or were afraid of the Grand Duke. The party of Martha Posadnitsa made a last attempt to save the Novgorod land and turned to Casimir the Great for help.

Upon learning of this, in the winter of 1480, Ivan III urgently gathered an army, announced that he was going to help Pskov, who was at war with the knights, and suddenly attacked Novgorod, perpetrating a bloody massacre in the city. 7 thousand prominent Novgorod merchants and wealthy citizens without property were evicted to possessions of the Moscow prince, and Muscovites got their houses and yards. Since it was winter, many of them died on the way. Most of the Novgorod nobles also moved to Moscow land, where they received new estates, and Moscow nobles came in their place. Creating an autocratic state, Ivan III tore out the last stronghold of democracy in the Russian lands, destroying not only Novgorod liberty itself, but also those who could remember it.

Having dealt with Novgorod the Great, Ivan Vasilyevich hurried back, since Khan Akhmat was coming from the south to Moscow. Ivan III had not paid tribute to the Horde for a long time, which had weakened so much that Russian walking people from the Vyatka land descended on plows along the Volga and plundered its capital, the city of Saray. As early as 1467, Ivan Vasilievich made a campaign against Kazan, which, although it ended not entirely successfully, made a great impression on the Tatars. In 1472, Khan Akhmat tried to invade Russian lands, but was stopped on the banks of the Oka.

Now the khan made an alliance with Casimir and attacked Ivan III. However, Moscow foresaw such a turn of events, and the Grand Duke, in turn, entered into an alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, Akhmat's sworn enemy. Therefore, when the Horde moved towards Moscow, the Crimean Tatars attacked the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, depriving Akhmet of an ally. Nevertheless, the Horde came to the banks of the Ugra, where they met with the troops of Ivan III. The two armies faced each other, not daring to fight. Finally, the frosts that struck forced the khan to return to the Horde. From now on, the Muscovite state became independent, and in 1502 Mengli Giray destroyed the Golden Horde.

The principality of Tver remained one of the last strongholds of independence. Fearing Ivan III, in 1483 Prince Mikhail Borisovich of Tver signed an alliance treaty with Casimir the Great. Immediately after this, Moscow troops invaded the possessions of Mikhail and devastated the Tver land. In 1485, the Tver land again entered into an alliance with the Belarusian-Lithuanian state, but Ivan III besieged the capital of Mikhail, and the prince, refusing to resist, fled to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

After the death of Casimir the Great in 1492, Ivan III decided to attack the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in alliance with Mengli Giray. Claiming the lands of the Old Russian state, which became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, he declared himself the "sovereign of All Russia" and in 1493 attacked Belarus. The young Grand Duke Alexander could not successfully fight on two fronts against Moscow and the Crimea, so he offered peace to Ivan III and agreed to marry his daughter Elena. In 1494, Elena went to Vilna and the fighting stopped. A new war between the Muscovite state and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania broke out in 1500 and ended already during the reign of Vasily III.

The reign of Ivan III was the beginning of the formation of a unified system of government. The supreme power in the Muscovite state belonged to the Grand Duke, who ruled jointly with the Boyar Duma. Under Ivan Vasilyevich, the duma included boyars - the largest feudal lords, as a rule, princes and roundabouts - slightly less noble, but also powerful feudal lords. Initially, the Grand Duke assigned the execution of individual orders to the boyars, but at the end of the 15th century, a system of orders began to take shape - permanent governing bodies of the country. So the Treasury Order was created, which disposed of the property of the Grand Duke, the state treasury and kept the archive. The palace order managed the economy of the grand duke's palace. The stable order was in charge of the herds of the Grand Duke.

The governors of the Grand Duke, the so-called feeders, who were fed at the expense of the local population, ruled in the localities, carried out the court and collected taxes to the treasury and customs duties.

The formation of a large Muscovite state required clear laws that were the same for all regions of the country. Therefore, in 1497, on the orders of Ivan III, on the basis of Russian Truth and later laws, the Sudebnik was compiled.

Thus, during his great reign, Ivan III Vasilyevich laid the foundations for a single centralized Russian state, which finally took shape in the 16th century.

History of Kirzhach.

The first traces of human presence in the territories along the Kirzhach and Sherna rivers, penetrating the region from north to south, are attributed by archaeologists to the so-called Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age). This is VIII-VI millennium BC. On the banks of the Maly Kirzhach River, sites of the Neolithic period (New Stone Age) have been preserved. In the era of the Iron Age, the Volga-Oka interfluve was occupied by tribes. They served as the basis for the formation of the Finno- the so-called Dyakovo culture (VIII millennium BC). Ugric ethnic group. From these tribes we have the names of many rivers, in particular, Klyazma, Sherna, Kirzhach ("Kirzhach" in translation means "left" - the Kirzhach River - the left tributary of the Klyazma).
In the era of the "great migration of peoples" the ways of the tribes were not distinguished by straightforwardness, they were not subordinated to any single principle or goal. There were several streams. One of the most powerful - from the Slavic Pomorye to Lake Ilmen and Volkhov, and from there to the interfluve of the Oka and Volga. The population density in the forests of this interfluve was scanty. The local tribes that found themselves in the zone of settlement of the Slavs merged with them, and, probably, not always in a peaceful way. Rivers and lakes in the interfluve of the Oka and Volga abounded with fish, bees were found in the forests. In the X-XI centuries, under the pressure of the southern tribes, the Slavic colonization of the region intensified. Apparently, the southern tribes of the Slavs, in search of safer places, gradually mastered the floodplains in the forest region, here they merged with the earlier settled tribes and formed ancient Russian settlements. On the territory of the Kirzhachsky district, Slavic and Old Russian settlements in the floodplain of the river Sherny near the villages of Ratkovo, Zarechye, Buyane farm. Here, very fruitful excavations in 1963-1973 were conducted by the expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, headed by E.I. Dikov. A whole group of burial mounds, attributed by scientists to the 11th-13th centuries, that is, to the period of the birth of the Russian nation, was discovered near the villages of Fineevo and Ilyinskoye, traces of ancient Russian settlements have survived to this day near the villages of Klimkovo, Nedyurevo, Borisoglebsky churchyard, Ileikino, and downstream the Kirzhach River in the territory of the Petushinsky District: the villages of Vetchi, Gorodishchi, Zadnee Pole.
From the 10th century to the middle of the 12th century, the territory of the region was part of the largest ancient Russian state - the Rostov-Suzdal principality, which was considered a specific part of Kievan Rus. The Principality was administratively divided into districts, later districts. Kirzhach and the surrounding villages belonged to the Pereslavl district. The first capital of the Principality Rostov the Great has been known since 862; Suzdal has been mentioned in written sources since 1024; in the 12th century it became the capital of the Rostov-Suzdal Principality. From the middle of the XII century, the city of Vladimir became the capital. In 1169 Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky made a successful campaign against Kyiv, captured it and moved the capital of the Grand Duchy to Vladimir. In the XIII-XIV centuries, the title of the Grand Prince of Vladimir was considered the main one in northeastern Russia. Vladimir became the center - administrative, political, ecclesiastical, around which the Russian state took shape. In the 15th century, the primacy passed to Moscow, although the Moscow prince Ivan Kalita, who went down in history as a collector of Russian lands, was married to the Grand Duchy in Vladimir. From the time of Ivan Kalita, as a rule, Moscow princes began to receive the right to the great Vladimir principality in the Golden Horde. Died in 1340. Each time, going to the Golden Horde, a trip where it was always fraught with a threat to life, the prince, just in case, gave the last orders. In one of his spiritual letters it is written: ... "I leave to my eldest son Semyon, the village of Makovets, Levichin, Sklnev, Kanev, Gzhelya ... the village of Astafyevskoye, the village of Orshanskoye ... "The first mention of the settlement on the Kirzhach River is also found in the spiritual charter of Ivan Kalita. The prince did not leave any dates on the charters themselves, they were established by historians, Based on the events mentioned in the charters, Professor M. M. Shcherbatov believed that the charter, which mentions the settlement "on Kirzhach", was written in 1328. Professor A. V. Ekzemplyarovsky, disagreeing with this dating, was inclined to that the charter was written in 1332. The authors of the collection "Spiritual and contractual charters of the great and appanage princes of the 11th-16th centuries, having analyzed the whole complex of events associated with the name of Ivan Kalita, recommend considering 1339 as the date of this charter. In this spiritual letter, Ivan Kalita bequeathed a village on the Kirzhach River to the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery ... And what seven I bought the village of Kirzhachi from Prokofy from the abbot, another Leontief, a third Sharapov, otherwise I give the blessed Oleksandr to myself in remembrance ... "
Since there are reasons to consider Kirzhach the oldest settlement on the territory of the region, we will begin our consideration of the main stages of its development with it. As already mentioned, the first mention of the settlement - the village "on Kirzhachi", was found in the spiritual letter of Ivan Kalita, dated 1339. No specific information about this settlement has been found. According to Professor Krainov
, a native of our region, clarification of the time of the founding of the city is possible only with careful archaeological research of the "umbilical cord of Kirzhach" - the cultural layer on Krucha, about which the professor dreamed all his life, but which he failed to organize. In his publications in the regional newspaper, he passionately urged the leaders of the local authorities not to allow earth-moving equipment to Krucha, not to carry out either the laying of water supply, or the laying of sewer networks, or any other earthworks there without the participation of archaeologists. Archaeological work here is still waiting for its enthusiasts.
According to the annalistic sources of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, it is known that in 1354-1358 Sergius of Radonezh founded the monastery: he first built a skete, a well on the slope of Krucha, then, together with the monks, a little church, cells for monks, a kitchen, a bakery and other outbuildings. His work was continued by the Monk Roman Kirzhachsky, who died in 1392, other builders, whose names are preserved in the annals of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and are given in the book of I.F. Tokmakova "Historical and statistical description of the city of Kirzhach".
The 15th-18th centuries saw the heyday of the Kirzhachsky monastery, the construction of magnificent temples in it, which are the pride of Russian architecture, a high stone fence, surrounding settlements, noisy fairs that attracted sellers and buyers not only from the surrounding villages, but also from Moscow, Yuryev- Polsky, Suzdal, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod. In the scribe books of 1627-31 in the Kirzhachsky monastery there are two stone churches - the Annunciation and St. Sergius the Wonderworker, in the "monastery there is a Kelar cell and a government tent, a dryer, a stone glacier, and 8 fraternal cells, a kitchen and a stone bread, a hut and a barn. Around the monastery there is a stone fence 100 sazhens long, and across 70 sazhens, on the holy gates, a tent, the top is stone. Near the monastery there was a sub-monastic settlement and nearby the village of Selivanova Gora, where the monastery servants and artisans lived. In 1656, the noble boyar Ivan Andreevich Miloslavsky built a third stone church in the monastery in honor of the All-Merciful Savior. At the bottom of this temple there is a family tomb of the Miloslavsky family.
According to the census books of 1678, the possessions of the Kirzhach monastery, in addition to the monastery settlement and the village of Selivanova Gora, only in the Pereyaslav district, which at that time included Kirzhach, consisted of 26 villages, in which there were 354 peasant and 42 bobyl yards. According to the revision of 1725, 2307 males are already listed in the capitation salary behind the Kirzhachsky Monastery. He owned 3256 quarters of arable land, 3840 haystacks and 296 acres of forest.
In 1735, hieromonks Leonty Yakovlev and Pitirim Fomintsev drew up the first plan of the monastery and adjacent settlements, arable land and meadows. In this plan, in addition to the churches of the Annunciation, the Savior and St. Sergius the Wonderworker, the location of the well on Krucha, the monastery settlement, the village of Selivanova Gora, the churchyard with the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker beyond the swamp, the monastery fields are indicated. In 1764, in connection with the establishment of staffing tables for monasteries, the Kirzhachsky Monastery was abolished, its property was transferred to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the monks moved there, partly to other monasteries. However, the settlement did not die from such a blow, but continued, albeit more slowly, to develop as one of the trading centers on the ancient Stromynsky tract.
In 1709, Vladimir and the surrounding lands, by decree of Peter I, were assigned to the Moscow province. In 1719 Vladimir province was established. In 1778, by decree of Catherine II, the Vladimir province was established (as part of the governorship). The province included 10 counties: Vladimirsky, Vyaznikovsky, Gorohovetsky, Kirzhachsky, Kovrovsky, Muromsky, Pereyaslavsky, Suzdalsky, Shuisky, Yuryevsky. At the same time, several new county centers were declared cities, including Alexandrov Sloboda as the city of Alexandrov, the monastic settlement of Kirzhach and the village of Selivanova Gora as the city of Kirzhach. The administrative reform of Catherine II was carried out according to the principle: "the city is the center of its environment", established "to deliver the residents of the nearest court and reprisal", that is, the functions of administrative management were considered a priority for the city. This was reflected in subsequent decrees and orders aimed at ensuring that each provincial and district city had a front center, the most comfortable streets in the central part of the city. The reformers strove for a relatively even distribution of cities throughout Russia. In addition to the 232 cities that existed at that time, another 165 newly formed cities were added, including Kirzhach. Each provincial and county town was ordered to have its own coat of arms. In connection with this reform, the villages of Kirzhach (sub-monastic settlement) and Selivanova Gora were united and named the city of Kirzhach. The coat of arms of Kirzhach was approved on August 16, 1781. It depicts the emblem of the provincial city in the upper part (the sovereign cheetah with a staff, and in the lower part the coat of arms of Kirzhach itself - an owl with outstretched wings on a green background. In heraldry, an owl symbolizes calmness, patience and intelligence. In 1788 for Kirzhach, as well as for of a number of ancient cities in the central part of Russia, the first plan for the long-term development of the city was developed and approved by Catherine II. perpendicular intersection of streets and the setting of houses along a single red line. With the introduction of regular plans by decree of Catherine II, Russian cities began to be built up according to the so-called "model projects". A large number of options and types of residential buildings have been developed, designed for different segments of the population. The first and second groups included noble and merchant mansions, which were two-three-story stone houses. They were intended for erection on the central streets and had to be at least 15 sazhens along the red line. The third category included predominantly two-story semi-stone (bottom made of bricks, top - wooden) houses. They recommended building up side streets adjacent to the central ones. Under the fourth and fifth numbers were wooden one-story houses of wealthy philistines. Houses of the sixth and seventh categories recommended build up the periphery. In the historical development zone of Kirzhach, despite the significant replacement of the original development in it, sometimes thoughtless, many houses of the highest categories have been preserved. Therefore, by government decrees, Kirzhach is included in 115 Russian cities that have urban planning ensembles and complexes subject to state protection, natural landscapes and an ancient cultural layer. Buildings on Sovetskaya Square can serve as examples of ancient buildings: a house on the corner of the square and st. Gagarin, occupied by shops, a house on the corner of the square and Sovetskaya street, occupied by primary classes of secondary school No. 2, corner houses along Leningradskaya street and Seregina street, formerly owned by the merchant brothers Solovyov; in our time, occupied by the military registration and enlistment office and administration organizations, along Morozovskaya Street - a pharmacy and the former office of the timber industry.
Then changes and clarifications were made. In 1796, the city of Kirzhach was turned into a provincial one, the entire district administration was transferred to the city of Pokrov. . "After that, - notes the first historian of Kirzhach, I.F. Tokmakov, - in Kirzhach, life flowed quietly, not much different from rural life." The flow, which was broken only once. During the Patriotic War of 1812, Vokhninsk, Zarechensk, Filippov peasants, gathered in partisan detachments led by Gerasim Kurin, Yegor Stulov, Prince Golitsin's militia did not allow French foragers to be reinforced at the expense of villages along the Stromynsky tract - they beat them day and night.

In the 19th century, Kirzhach turned into a trading hub and a center for handicraft and industrial production. Before the construction of the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod Highway (the famous Vladimirka) along the Stromynsky tract, which runs through Kirzhach, both day and night, carts with various goods were drawn to Moscow and from Moscow towards Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod. Fairs were held in Kirzhach, in autumn the most crowded and longest is Sergievskaya. In total, five fairs were held in Kirzhach: three-week-Epiphany, Troitskaya and Sergeevskaya; two one-week - Annunciation and Spasskaya. the cash turnover of these fairs was more than 250 thousand rubles. Maintaining inns for guests, building forges and workshops where you could shoe a horse, pull rims on wheels, repair harness, the Kirzhach people had their own income. Kirzhach had the fame of one of the most powerful in Russia centers of silk processing, weaving, velvet production. Large consignments of goods were sent to Moscow. The villages - Filippovskoye, Zarechye, Khrapki - were also famous for this production. The names of successful manufacturers are known: the Solovyovs, the Arsentievs, the Nizovtsevs, the Derevshchikovs. With funds
patrons built and grew the city. Already in the statistical review of the Vladimir province for 1817, it is said that in the Kirzhach villages, the peasants are actively “engaged in weaving raw silk ribbons and go to Moscow for this needlework ...” In 1893, a railway was built through Kirzhach .. The city grew: in 1903 5288 inhabitants lived in it, there were seven educational institutions.

In November 1917, in Kirzhach, the city Soviet of Workers' Deputies, headed by A.I. Romanov. At the beginning of 1918, the city Soviet of Workers' Deputies and the Soviets of five volosts neighboring the city created the Kirzhachsky district on their own initiative. It included the city of Kirzhach, Lukyantsevskaya, Fineevskaya, Filippovskaya, Korobovshchinskaya, Zherdeevskaya volosts. Its activists demanded the separation of the district from the Pokrovsky district, maintained managerial relations with the authorities of the Aleksandrovsky district.
On January 5, 1921, by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Pokrovsky district was liquidated, most of it, together with the city of Orekhovo-Zuyevo, went to the Moscow province. In the same year, the Kirzhach district was formed. 7 volost executive committees, 139 village councils were created on its territory. In 1926, a new administrative reform began, a zealous search was underway for better territorial management of the economy. Archival documents preserved plans for the creation of a "textile region" around the city of Orekhovo-Zuyevo or Zagorsk. However, a different decision was made: in 1929, the Ivanovo industrial region was created, which included Kirzhach and the surrounding villages as a district. June 22, 1941… Only in the first 4 days of mobilization, 152 applications were submitted with a request to be sent to the front. At large enterprises of the city, people's militias were created to repel a possible enemy landing. The factories "Red October" and "Silk Combine" received military orders. The city entered into a sacred struggle against the enemy. In 1942-43. in one of the buildings of the city (now Raskova Street) was the headquarters of the women's aviation regiment under the command wonderful pilot of the Hero of the Soviet Union M.I. Raskova. In the autumn of 1942, a noble pilot of the country visited Kirzhach, who inscribed his name in history with a feat in rescuing the Chelyuskinites, in the post-war period - the head of the first cosmonauts N.P. Kamanin.
In the days of the Battle of Stalingrad, a native of the village of Fineevo, Kirzhachsky District, V.V. Bobkov. In the fiery sky of Staligrad, he shot down 13 enemy aircraft and was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for this feat.
A.I., a native of the village of Eltsy, showed the highest courage during the assault on the Dnieper while performing a combat mission. Roshchin. He was also worthy of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The inhabitants of the Kirzhach land are proud of their countryman, a resident of the village of Kashino N.I. Ryzhenkov. The junior sergeant accomplished his feat in 1944 while crossing the Western Dvina River. His detachment ensured the crossing of the river for the entire guards regiment. However, the fighter did not learn about the assignment of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to him: he died a heroic death in the battles for Lithuania.
Commemorative steles and monuments remind of these days, these victims of the Soviet people. All residents of Kirzhach, both old and young, come here on the bright Victory Day on May 9 to bow to the heroes of the front and military rear.

On August 14, 1944, a new administrative reform was carried out, in particular, the Vladimir Region was formed. 23 districts and 7 cities of regional subordination from the Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow regions were transferred to its composition.
In the postwar years, the city revived. Overcoming difficulties, industrial enterprises increased output every month. Multi-colored fabrics with the mark of the Kirzhach Silk Mill began to be in high demand. Since the 50s. the Krasny Oktyabr plant is equipped with new, more advanced equipment.
The Kirzhach furniture factory is actively working. Workers and women workers received high government awards. In the 60s. the whole country lived under the impression of the historical achievements of our science and technology. All the people of the world and our country dreamed of seeing the first cosmonaut Yu.A. Gagarin. He got invitations. Such an invitation also came to him from Kirzhach. The meeting dear to the hearts of the Kirzhachians took place on March 29, 1963. It was a joyful page of history for the city. But there was also a tragic page ... During a training flight on March 27, 1968, test pilots Gagarin Yu.A. and Seryogin V.S. an accident has occurred. Near the village of Novoselovo, Kirzhachsky district, the plane crashed, the pilots died. On the revenge of the death of the hero, a memorial was created, to which relatives and friends often come.

Time passed. The city grew and developed. But at the end of the eighties of the twentieth century, the harsh wind of political change again blew. During the years of perestroika, Kirzhach, like the rest of Russia, fell into hibernation and depression. Businesses were stopped and closed, construction projects were frozen. Wages were not issued for months, and the savings of the population "ate" hyperinflation. Many of us remember those difficult times. It seemed like this situation would last forever. Some of the Kirzhachians who left for work in Moscow never returned to their native enterprises.
But before the new millennium, the city rose again. New enterprises gradually began to form on the territory of the silk factory. The leader of the city's textile industry is Children's Clothing LLC. Stable work "Slavic House". In 2005, the sewing enterprise "Bruchnik" LLC was opened there. The Krasny Oktyabr plant is now called Avtosvet Plant JSC. It remains one of the main suppliers of lighting equipment to domestic manufacturers. Passed through difficult times and JSC "KIZ".

Foreign investors became interested in the Kirzhach region. Today on its territory there are three foreign enterprises. In the workshops of the former silk factory, a Swedish company producing paints and finishing materials is located. "Terraco-Industry". Near the village of Kiprevo, an Austrian company built a brick factory "Wienerberger Kirpich". Outside the village of Fedorovskoye, the Turkish factory for the manufacture of household appliances "Beko" has been operating for the second year. And this is not the limit. Many other investors are just eyeing our region.
The very face of the city has changed for the better. Many old buildings are restored. The malls have been restored. Flower beds appeared on the lawns and flower beds. The construction sites were noisy again. Today on the territory of the region there is another not quite ordinary enterprise - CJSC "Aeroscan". Kirzhachians have already ceased to be surprised when an airship appears in the sky above the city. It is used by RAO UES to monitor the condition of power lines. There are only three such bases in Russia.
The life of the Kirzhachians themselves has also improved. Today there are no problems with getting a job. On the contrary, our enterprises suffer from a shortage of workers. Kirzhach again rises "from the ashes" like the legendary Phoenix bird. And I want to believe that all the bad things in his fate will be left behind.
In 2008, Kirzhach residents celebrated the 230th anniversary of the city.

H part I.

The history of the Vladimir region since ancient times

until the end of the 18th century

CHAPTER I. OUR LAND IN ANCIENT ANCIENT

Our region is located in the Volga-Oka interfluve. Modern science cannot say exactly when the first people appeared here. They did not yet know how to write, so they did not leave behind any written evidence, but in the places where they lived, the remains of dwellings, primitive tools and weapons, as well as burials were preserved in the ground. These material monuments of the past of mankind are studied by a special science - archeology. Anthropologists help archaeologists, who, using the remains of skeletons and skulls of ancient people, can restore their appearance, trace how this person changed.

Back in the 19th century Scientists in the most ancient history of mankind identified a period called the Stone Age, which was conditionally divided into Paleolithic (ancient stone claim), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), Neolithic (New Stone Age). The Stone Age began about 2 million years ago.

At that time, the climate of the earth was very different from the present, which influenced the way of life of ancient mankind. In the period from about 75 to 10 thousand years ago, a powerful glacier was located to Europe, the ice thickness of which exceeded 1000 m.

there was a tundra zone with swampy plains and a large number of small lakes; then came the cold steppes and forest-steppes. The animal and plant world was completely different than at present.

Archaeologists have established that already in the era of the late glaciation on the territory of our region there were sites of primitive people - Karacharovo, Rusanikha, Sungir. They are dated to the late, or upper, Paleolithic - approximately 25–30 thousand years ago.

At the end of the 19th century, one of the first Russian archaeologists, Count A.S. Uvarov, explored the site on the banks of the river. Oki about with. Karacharovo (near the city of Murom). There were found bones of a mammoth, a reindeer, a woolly rhinoceros, as well as stone tools. In the XX century on the banks of the river. Rpen, on the northwestern outskirts of Vladimir, another site was discovered - Rusanikha. Mostly animal bones were also found here. Scientists have suggested that it was a small temporary camp of mammoth hunters.

A real sensation was the opening of the Sungir site on the outskirts of Vladimir. Quite by chance, when preparing a foundation pit for a brick factory, bones of large animals were found, lying in places in an even layer 15–20 cm thick. In 1956, the study of the site began, which lasted almost 40 years. For more than 20 years, the excavations were led by Otto Nikolaevich Bader, one of the largest experts in the Stone Age.

Judging by the finds, Sungir was a hunting camp. A large number of bones of mammoth, horse, arctic fox, and reindeer were found here. The Sungir people hunted with the help of spears and darts, and butchered the carcasses with the help of long (about 40 cm) knives made from mammoth tusk. Most often, during excavations, tools for processing animal skins were found - scrapers, piercers, knives, awls. The processed skins were then used to make clothes and shoes. Some of the most durable skins were used in the construction of dwellings. Most likely, these were temporary collapsible structures such as chum or yurts with a wooden frame. In total, traces of four dwellings with hearth pits were found on Sungir.

The most unique finds on Sungir are the burials: one - an adult man, the second - a pair, a boy and a girl.

The remains of a man, approximately 55–65 years old, were found first. This fact is already unique, since the average life expectancy of a person during the Paleolithic period is

Liala presumably 20-25 years. The skeleton is very well preserved. On it, in seven rows in full length, lay 3.5 thousand beads made of mammoth tusk. With the technique that the Sungirets had (a knife and a flint drill), it took at least 30 minutes to make each bead. Therefore, a person had to work for almost 73 days without a break in order to decorate his clothes in this way. In a period when the main task was to obtain food, a person simply could not afford to spend more than two months in such an unproductive way. Probably, the found burial contained the remains of a non-ordinary member of the tribe.

According to the location of the beads, the researchers restored the clothes of the deceased. It was a blank (without a cut) parka-type shirt, with fur or suede, long pants and leather shoes. On his head was a hat embroidered with fox fangs, on his hands were bone bracelets. The entire burial was densely covered with red ocher (a natural mineral dye) up to 3 cm thick.

The second burial is a pair. It contained the remains of a boy 12-13 years old and a girl 7-9 years old, lying with their heads to each other. Beads were also found here - 7.5 thousand, a layer of ocher, bone bracelets. The children's clothing is similar to the clothing from the first burial, but it was complemented by fur cloaks - capes, which were torn off on the chest with a special bone hairpin; the girl had a bandage embroidered with beads and a hood on her head, and the boy had no waist - a belt decorated with fox fangs.

Even more surprising than the burial rite was the grave goods found in the grave. First of all, these are two spears made of split mammoth tusks (242 and 166 cm). Even modern science cannot give a definitive answer on how these tusks could be straightened. In addition, the grave contained darts, daggers, animal figurines made of bone, and disks with slotted holes. One of them was worn on a dart - probably some kind of ceremonial sign, although their definite purpose has not been established.

The most famous was the so-called Sungir horse. This is a small flat figurine in bone, resembling a pregnant horse in silhouette. The contour of the figurine is drawn with even indentations, and a through hole is made on the hind leg. Perhaps the “horse” itself served as an amulet, it was sewn onto clothes or tied by threading a thin vein through the hole.

Another surprise was presented by the study of skulls from burials. A method of restoring the appearance of a person from the preserved bone remains has long been developed, including the restoration of the soft tissues of the face from the skull. This is done in special laboratories by paleoanthropologists (scientists who study the physical structure of ancient people). They are

came to the conclusion that the adult male belonged to the Caucasoid race with individual features of the Mongoloid (the so-called "Eastern Cro-Magnon"); the boy was also Caucasian, but had some Negroid traits, the Negroidity was even more pronounced in the girl. Anthropologists suggest that these are Neanderthaloid features, i.e. features Neanderthal- a man of the Middle Paleolithic era, who lived approximately from 300 to 35 thousand years ago. Consequently, during this period, in the era of the late Paleolithic in Europe, a person of the modern type (Cro-Magnon) coexisted with the Neanderthals.

After the ancient Stone Age, our region has never been deserted for a long time. From the period of the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) remained sites of the VIII-VI millennium BC: Elin Bor (on the banks of the Oka, 25 km from Murom), Mikulino, Petrushino (near the village of Tyurvishchi, Gus-Khrus-talny district) . From the New Stone Age (Neolithic the settlement was preserved near the village. Panfilovo (Muromsky district). The Bronze and Early Iron Ages are represented by settlements and burial grounds near the village. Shishovo (now within the city of Kovrov), with. Borisogleb (Muromsky district), Pirovy Gorodishchi (Vyaznikovsky district), etc.

For thousands of years, the ethnic composition of the ancient inhabitants of the region has changed. Archeology does not provide reliable information about this. One thing is certain, that in the era of the early Iron Age, our region was inhabited by the ancestors of the Finno-Ugric tribes known in Russian chronicles under the names of Mordvins, Murom, Merya and all.

^ CHAPTER II. ROSTOV-SUZDAL LAND

1. SLAVIC COLONIZATION OF THE TERRITORY

The first written evidence of our region contains ancient Russian chronicles.

From them, along with archeological data, we obtain information about the events of the 9th-12th centuries. By that time, the modern geographical landscape had already taken shape. According to natural conditions, the Vladimir region is divided into two distinct parts: Meshchera and Opole. The natural boundaries of the Vladimir Opole are the rivers Klyazma - from the south, Nerl - from the east and north, and a hill (plateau) - from the north and west. The rivers Rpen, Koloksha, Peksha, Seleksha, Skomyanka, and others flow through the territory of Opole. There are many small, semi-overgrown lakes (for example, the huge Berendeyevo swamp, located on the right bank of the Nerl River).

The soils of Opole are fertile, as evidenced by the oak, elm, hazel, and linden growing here, which do not take root on poor soils. In the opal side, there are often gusty and strong winds, which intensify the heat and dryness in summer, and the cold in winter. During a period of prolonged dry weather, the upper layer of soil cracks with vertical crevices up to a meter deep, while a dense, hard bark is formed on the surface, impervious to either water or plants. After a long drought, this soil becomes very strong and almost unsuitable for cultivation, since it was necessary to break up hardened and dried-up blocks of earth with butts; work is hard and time-consuming.

Meshchera is a vast swampy plain between the rivers Oka, Klyazma, Moscow, Kolp, Sudogda. The entire area is oversaturated with groundwater. There are many

owls. Due to natural differences, the economic development of the region proceeded in different ways.

The vast space of the Volga-Oka interfluve was inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes - Merya, Muroma, Meshchera. The settlements of these tribes were located near the rivers. They lived in large gable-roofed houses with somewhat deepened earthen floors and a hearth made of boulders smeared with clay. The hearths in the houses were heated in black, that is, the smoke came out through the door. Somewhat later, small houses (10x12 m) replace the large ones.

Merya and Muroma were engaged in cattle breeding, fishing, hunting, and to a lesser extent, agriculture. This is confirmed by archeological data. In the places of their settlements, archaeologists find numerous bone remains of animals, most of which belonged to livestock. Excavations of settlements reveal rich fishing equipment - iron hooks, floats, clay weights for fishing nets and many bones and scales of pike, catfish, pike perch, bream and other fish. Hunting is evidenced by the finds of arrows for bows, including blunt arrows intended for hunting fur-bearing animals. Agriculture did not play a big role.

Finno-Ugric tribes knew spinning, weaving, wood and bone processing. They also knew pottery. But they did not yet know the potter's wheel, and therefore their vessels were thick-walled, made by hand. Numerous finds of iron axes, knives, arrows, spears and other items testify to the development of blacksmithing among these tribes.

Trade was also known to the ancient population of the region. Trade routes passed along the rivers Oka, Klyazma and their tributaries. Numerous finds of treasures of Arab and Western European coins testify to trade relations with East and West.

The religious beliefs of the Finnish tribes can be judged by the finds of animal sculptures and idols made in the form of human figures. There are images of horses, birds and snakes, which were "amulets" (amulets, talismans). The bear, according to the Meryans, was the guardian of the house and the hearth. Amulets from the teeth of honey

leading and even his paws are frequent objects in Meryan burials.

At the turn of the 8th-9th centuries, the Slavs began to penetrate into the territory between the rivers, and, above all, the Krivima, Vyatichi and Novgorod Slovenes. This process was peaceful. The Slavs settled first along the rivers, their attention was attracted by the lands of the fertile and treeless Opole. Subsequently, the Slavs begin to develop the rest of the lands of the Oka-Klyazma interfluve. There is a slow process of assimilation of the Finno-Ugric tribes. As a result, the memory of the Finno-Ugric tribes was preserved only in the names of rivers (Klyazma, Koloksha, Peksha, Vorsha), lakes and ancient cities: Murom, Suzdal, Moscow.

The flow of Slavic colonization did not weaken for centuries. The main reason for the mass migration to the northeast was the growing pressure on the lands of the Dnieper region of the steppe nomads.

In the X century. the region is part of the Old Russian state. The Kyiv prince Vladimir the Holy puts his son Boris in 988 in the city of Rostov, Gleb - in Murom. The encroachment of new lands did not bring significant changes to the life and way of life of their inhabitants. Princes from time to time made personal detours (“polyudye”) of cities and villages, collecting tribute. More often, they entrusted the collection of tribute to their servants: “access”, “ryadovichi”, “virniki”, “swordsmen”. Relatively large villages served as collection points - graveyards, where tribute collectors had special yards.

The villages of the peasants - villages, villages, graveyards were mostly small. There were villages of one or three households. The dwelling of a peasant is a hut made of logs placed directly on the ground. There was no wooden floor. A third of the hut was occupied by a large stove, standing on special log cabins. The smoke came out through a door or a hole in the roof. Next to the hut there were barns for drying sheaves and covered deep pits for living. Household utensils were just as unpretentious: hand millstones for grinding grain, on which the Women worked, wooden barrels, troughs, clay pots, troughs. The huts were lit with a torch or a clay kagan lamp with a greasy wick. Ordinary

the occupation of women, especially in winter, was weaving. Each hut had a weaving mill, a spinning wheel, spindles with stone whorls. Fabrics were woven from flax, hemp, wool. From these fabrics, clothes for all family members were sewn by the hands of the same women. The cultivation of the land, the care of livestock were the work of men.

The enthronement of the Rostov-Suzdal land was accompanied by the Christianization of its inhabitants. Baptism was difficult. Residents with difficulty departed from pagan rites and beliefs. The chronicle reports that the appearance of Prince Gleb in Murom caused a violent protest

population: "and did not accept him to reign and did not be baptized, but I resisted him." Paganism held out for a long time both among the natives and the newcomer Slavs. Vladimir Monomakh made his first journey from Pereyaslavl Kievsky to Rostov in 1066, that is, almost 80 years after the adoption of Christianity in Russia. He traveled “through Vyatichi”, through the Bryn forests and further to the north, where there was no “straight road”, where the fires of funeral pyres were still burning in the forests, and the pagans were killing Kyiv missionaries. The deep influence of pagan sorcerers (Magi) on the local population is evidenced by the fact that it was the Magi who led the massive hunger riots of smerds (peasants) in the “Suzhdal land” in 1024 and 1071.

Christianity slowly but steadily penetrated the masses. In large cities there were bishops who were in charge of church affairs in the districts - dioceses. With the separation of the principalities, each prince sought to acquire his own bishop. The first bishop in the Rostov-Suzdal land was Theodore, “a Greek by birth”. Under him, the first Christian church was built in Rostov - the Church of the Assumption. However, the intrigues of the pagan Magi forced him to leave Rostov and go to Suzdal. It was at the very end of the 10th century. Bishop Theodore lived in Suzdal for a long time and was buried in the Nativity

Cathedral in Suzdal. Theodore's work was continued by subsequent Rostov bishops.

As it is said, the Orthodox Church enjoyed the constant support and patronage of the Kievan and local princes. The princes gave the church a tithe - a tenth of their tributes and quitrents. The church had its own court and special legislation that regulated family relations and norms of people's behavior. Many churches were built in the cities, in which priests (priests) and their assistants, deacons, served. The service was conducted daily, three times: matins, mass and vespers. On holidays, especially solemn services were arranged, which were preceded by night prayers - all-night vigils. Church buildings rose above the huts and mansions, creating an architectural ensemble of cities.

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Neanderthal- a man of the Middle Paleolithic era, who lived approximately from 300 to 35 thousand years ago. Consequently, during this period, in the era of the late Paleolithic in Europe, a person of the modern type (Cro-Magnon) coexisted with the Neanderthals.

After the ancient Stone Age, our region has never been deserted for a long time. From the period of the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic), there were sites of the VIII-VI millennia BC: Elin Bor (on the banks of the Oka, 25 km from Murom), Mikulino, Petrushino (near the village of Tyurvishchi of the Gus-Khrus-talny district) . From the New Stone Age (Neolithic the settlement was preserved near the village. Panfilovo (Muromsky district). The Bronze and Early Iron Ages are represented by settlements and burial grounds near the village. Shishovo (now within the city of Kovrov), with. Borisogleb (Muromsky district), Pirovy Gorodishchi (Vyaznikovsky district), etc.

CHAPTERII. ROSTOV-SUZDALEARTH

1. SLAVICCOLONIZATIONTHE EDGES

The first written evidence of our region contains ancient Russian chronicles.

Meshchera is a vast swampy plain between the rivers Oka, Klyazma, Moscow, Kolp, Sudogda. The entire area is oversaturated with groundwater. There are many

Owls. Due to natural differences, the economic development of the region proceeded in different ways.

Merya and Muroma were engaged in cattle breeding, fishing, hunting, and to a lesser extent, agriculture. This is confirmed by archeological data. In the places of their settlements, archaeologists find numerous bone remains of animals, most of which belonged to livestock. Excavations of settlements reveal rich fishing equipment - iron hooks, floats, clay sinkers for fishing nets and many bones and scales of pike, catfish, pike perch, bream and other fish. Hunting is evidenced by the finds of arrows for bows, including blunt arrows intended for hunting fur-bearing animals. Agriculture did not play a big role.

Leading and even his paws are frequent objects in Meryan burials.

The flow of Slavic colonization did not weaken for centuries. The main reason for the mass migration to the northeast was the growing pressure on the lands of the Dnieper region of the steppe nomads.

The occupation of women, especially in winter, was weaving. Each hut had a weaving mill, a spinning wheel, spindles with stone whorls. Fabrics were woven from flax, hemp, wool. From these fabrics, clothes for all family members were sewn by the hands of the same women. The cultivation of the land, the care of livestock were the work of men.

Population: “and did not accept him to reign and did not be baptized, but I resisted him.” Paganism held out for a long time both among the natives and the newcomer Slavs. Vladimir Monomakh made his first journey from Pereyaslavl Kievsky to Rostov in 1066, that is, almost 80 years after the adoption of Christianity in Russia. He traveled “through Vyatichi”, through the Bryn forests and further to the north, where there was no “straight road”, where the fires of funeral pyres were still burning in the forests, and the pagans were killing Kyiv missionaries. The deep influence of pagan sorcerers (Magi) on the local population is evidenced by the fact that it was the Magi who led the massive hunger riots of smerds (peasants) in the “Suzhdal land” in 1024 and 1071.

Christianity slowly but steadily penetrated the masses. In large cities there were bishops who were in charge of church affairs in the districts - dioceses. With the separation of the principalities, each prince sought to acquire his own bishop. The first bishop in the Rostov-Suzdal land was Theodore, “a Greek by birth”. Under him, the first Christian church, the Church of the Assumption, was built in Rostov. However, the intrigues of the pagan Magi forced him to leave Rostov and go to Suzdal. It was at the very end of the 10th century. Bishop Theodore lived in Suzdal for a long time and was buried in the Nativity

Skom Cathedral in Suzdal. Theodore's work was continued by subsequent Rostov bishops.

The Vladimir region is one of the oldest historical and artistic centers of the Russian land. The territories included in it have long been the core of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, and since the end of the 18th century - the Vladimir province.

In the second half of the 12th - early 13th centuries, the Grand Vladimir Principality was the largest economic, political and cultural center of Russia. The transfer of the political center of Russia to Vladimir played a big role in the formation of the Great Russian people and the Russian nation. At the beginning of the XIII century, the Tatar-Mongol invasion dealt an irreparable blow to the economic and political power of the principality. In 1238, Vladimir, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Suzdal, Yuryev-Polsky were ruined.

The culture of the Grand Vladimir Principality left a deep mark on the history of the entire North-Eastern Russia. The Vladimir architectural school influenced the stone architecture of Moscow and other Russian cities. Among the outstanding monuments of the Vladimir-Suzdal architecture of the XII-XIII centuries are the white-stone Assumption and Demetrius Cathedrals that have survived to this day, the Golden Gate, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl.

In 1778, the Vladimir province was formed from 13 counties, in the same year it was transformed into a governorship, which included 14 counties: Aleksandrovsky, Vladimirsky, Gorohovetsky, Vyaznikovsky, Kirzhachsky, Kovrovsky, Melenkovsky, Muromsky, Pereslavsky, Pokrovsky, Sudogodsky, Suzdal, Shuisky, Yuriev-Polsky. After the accession of Paul I, the governorships were liquidated, and the Vladimir governorship was again transformed into a province.

Vyazniki, Murom, etc.). In the Melenkovsky district, the ironworks of the Botashevs operated. In the second half of the 18th century, the glass factories of the Maltsovs were founded in the Sudogodsky district (now Gus-Khrustalny

Handicrafts have become widespread in the province. Since the end of the 17th century, icon painting has been known (Shuya, Palekh, Mstera). All-Russian fame was given to Vladimir and Suzdal masons, Pokrovskaya and Gorokhovets carpenters.

During the Great Patriotic War, a great contribution to the victory was made by defense enterprises and, first of all, the Kovrov Plant, where the famous gunsmiths design bureau headed by V.A. Degtyarev operated.

The Grand Duchy of Vladimir (1157 - 1362) was formed in connection with the transfer of the capital of the Rostov-Suzdal principality to the city of Vladimir on the Klyazma by Grand Duke Andrei Bogolyubsky. There are several points of view on the date of foundation of the city. According to one version, it was founded by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 990, according to another - in 1108 by Prince Vladimir Monomakh. Under Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky and his successors, the city flourished.

Since the time of Ivan Kalita, the role of Vladimir as a capital city has ceased. However, the political and cultural traditions of the Grand Vladimir Principality were adopted by the Grand Duchy of Moscow during the formation of the Russian centralized state. The process of joining the Vladimir lands to Moscow actually ended in the 16th century. under Ivan the Terrible. Approximately at this time, it was on the territory of the Vladimir lands that the institution of wandering small merchants, the Ofen, arose, and the invented conditional Offen or Suzdal language was formed, in which they communicated. In addition to the fact that in the conditions of a poorly developed trade network and bad roads, ofen played a significant role in supplying the population with goods, they, moving over long distances, also performed a communicative function.

In 1778, the Vladimir province was formed from 13 counties, in the same year it was transformed into a governorship, which included 14 counties: Alexandrovsky, Vladimir, Gorohovets, Vyaznikovsky, Kirzhachsky, Kovrov, Melenkovsky, Murom, Pereslavsky, Pokrovsky, Sudogodsky, Suzdal, Shuisky, Yuryev-Polsky. After the accession of Paul I, the governorships were liquidated, and the Vladimir governorship was again transformed into a province.

The Vladimir province was one of the most industrially developed provinces in the European part of Russia. Since the 17th century, textile production has been developing in it (manufactories in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, Shuya, Vyazniki, Murom, etc.). In the Melenkovsky district, the ironworks of the Botashevs operated. In the second half of the 18th century, the glass factories of the Maltsovs were founded in the Sudogodsky district (now the Gus-Khrustalny district). A feature of the development of the economy of the Vladimir province was that most industrial establishments were located in villages and settlements.

At the end of the 19th century, the area of the province was 42.8 thousand square meters. miles, population - 1570000 people, there were over 1350 factories, about 150 thousand workers. The Vladimir province is one of the centers of textile production; 31 percent of the cotton fabrics produced in Russia are produced here.

After the revolutionary events of 1917 and the civil war, the province remained independent until the administrative reform of 1929, when the Ivanovo industrial region was formed, which included most of the Vladimir province. The remaining territories were included in the Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod regions.

With the beginning of industrialization, major changes occurred in the economy, enterprises of the textile, machine-building, instrument-making and glass industries were built.

On August 14, 1944, the Vladimir region was formed from 23 districts of the Gorky, Ivanovo and Moscow regions. Subsequently, after several administrative reforms, 16 current districts were formed.

In 1945, the first stage of the Vladimir Tractor Plant was put into operation. In the 1950s - 70s, a number of large industrial enterprises were built and reconstructed, the Vladimir region became one of the most industrially developed regions of Russia. The Vladimir region is one of the oldest historical and artistic centers of the Russian land. The territories included in it have long been the core of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, and since the end of the 18th century - the Vladimir province.

With the beginning of industrialization, major changes occurred in the economy, enterprises of the textile, machine-building, instrument-making and glass industries were built.

On August 14, 1944, the Vladimir region was formed from 23 districts of the Gorky, Ivanovo and Moscow regions. Subsequently, after several administrative reforms, 16 current districts were formed.

The culture of the Grand Vladimir Principality left a deep mark on the history of the entire North-Eastern Russia. The Vladimir architectural school influenced the stone architecture of Moscow and other Russian cities. Among the outstanding monuments of the Vladimir-Suzdal architecture of the 12th-13th centuries are the white-stone Assumption and Demetrius Cathedrals, the Golden Gates, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl that have survived to this day.

In 1778, the Vladimir province was formed from 13 counties, in the same year it was transformed into a governorship, which included 14 counties: Aleksandrovsky, Vladimirsky, Gorohovetsky, Vyaznikovsky, Kirzhachsky, Kovrovsky, Melenkovsky, Muromsky, Pereslavsky, Pokrovsky, Sudogodsky, Suzdal, Shuisky, Yuryev-Polsky. After the accession of Paul I, the governorships were liquidated, and the Vladimir governorship was again transformed into a province.