Russian principalities

The Russian principalities (Russian: русские княжества), also known as the Rus' principalities (Ukrainian: Руські князівства), were polities that became independent following the disintegration of Kievan Rus' in the 12th century as a result of feudal fragmentation.^[1] During the 14th century the principalities of Southwestern and Southern Rus' were incorporated by the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania.^[2] By the late 15th and early 16th century, the remaining Rus' principalities had been united with the Grand Principality of Moscow, leading to the creation of a centralized state.^[3][4] The period between the 12th and 15th centuries is also known as Appanage Russia.^{[a][6][7][5][8]}

Following the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, Kievan Rus' experienced a period of civil strife between his sons Iziaslav, Sviatoslav and Vsevolod.^[5] The following century, this was followed by a period of political fragmentation and decentralization.^[5] The proliferation of many smaller principalities weakened political unity, and by the mid-12th century, the capital Kiev was in decline.^[5] The lack of political unity in part facilitated the Mongol conquest.^[9] The traditional view has been that Kiev was in economic decline from the mid-12th century; however, some recent historians have instead adopted the view that there was economic expansion in the late Kievan period as the creation of new appanages represented the division of labor and delegation of authority among the Rurikids.^[6] The decline of Kiev simulatneously led to the rise of three new centres of power on the Rus' periphery: Galicia-Volhynia in the southwest, Vladimir-Suzdal in the northeast and Novgorod in the far north.^[10]

Following the Christianization of Kievan Rus' in 988, spiritual leadership belonged to the Byzantine Empire.^[11] However, from the mid-13th century, the Russian principalities were dominated by the Golden Horde following their conquest by Batu Khan.^[12] Previously, princes and grand princes governed themselves and only had to acknowledge the spiritual ascendancy of the Byzantine emperor, but during Mongol rule, they had to be confirmed by the Mongol khan in order to have any power, and the Russians later began referring to the khan as tsar – a title that had previously been reserved for the universal Christian ruler.^[13] The only Russian district that was not governed by a prince was Novgorod, although it still depended on an extraneous prince and his army to defend its borders.^[14]

Güyük Khan appointed his own governors to oversee the Rus' principalities.^[15] As the Mongols were interested chiefly in the payment of tributes, and their conquest didn't lead to significant changes in social and political life.^[16] The tribute, known as the dan, had as its main purpose was not only to tax subjects but also to conscript young men into the Mongol armies.^[15] The Mongols were successful in coopting a number of powerful princes, such as Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod and Daniel of Galicia, to serve their interests.^[17] Although the princes did not unanimously support Mongol supervision at first, Mengu-Timur was able to strengthen his ties with the Rus' principalities by making the Russian Church cooperate with the Mongol administrators.^[18] In 1267, he made clergy exempt from taxation and military service, which was in line with the Mongol policy of religious tolerance.^[18][19] This led to a rise in the wealth and authority of the Orthodox Church under Mongol domination.^[17]

From the 1260s, local nobles collected taxes on the khan's behalf, and in an attempt to gain the support of the nobility, the Mongols allowed them to keep their land.^[20] In many lands of Southern (Ukraine) and Northern Rus', many peasants and members of townsfolk readily subjected themselves to the Mongol rule, which promised them more order and stability.^[17] The Mongol conquest also contributed to the restoration of Caspian-Black Sea trade, which had been disrupted since the times of Khazar domination.^[21] However, the official adoption of Islam by the Golden Horde in 1313 contributed to increasing tensions between Rus' principalities and their Mongol overlords.^[22]

Unlike other Rus' principalities, the southwestern realm of Galicia-Volhynia was less often subjected to nomadic raids from the east, and felt a strong influence from its Catholic neighbours in Poland and Hungary.^[23] Following his pledge of allegiance to Khan Batu in 1246, its ruler Daniel of Galicia was given the responsibility of gathering tribute for the Mongols, which put him at a higher rank than rulers of other principalities, where that work would be done by the khan's representatives (baskak). Nonetheless, Daniel was dissatisfied with his vassalage to the Mongols, and started negotiations with the Pope about organizing a crusade against the Golden Horde. Those negotiations culminated in Daniel's coronation as King of Rus' (Ruthenia) in 1253.^[24]

As a reaction to Daniel's rapprochement with the West, the Mongols organized several campaigns against the prince, eventually forcing him to acknowledge the khan's suzerainty, dismantle his fortifications and join their campaign against Lithuania. After Daniel's death, he was succeeded by his son Leo (ruled 1264-1301), whose long reign marked the renewal of stability in Galicia-Volhynia, achieved through the prince's alliance with both the Mongol khan and Hungary.^[24] Following the move of Kiev metropolitans to Vladimir in 1299, a separate metropolis was established in Galicia by the Ecumanical Patriarch in 1303.^[25]

However, the anti-Mongol policies of Leo's successors led to renewed attacks by the khan's forces. After the cessation of the male line of Galician-Volhynian dynasty, in 1323 Roman Catholic prince Bolesław adopted Orthodoxy and took the Galician throne under the name Yuri. Under his rule, strong ties with the Teutonic Order were established, and the prince started introducing the German model of administration in cities. This led to dissatisfaction of landed boyars, who in 1340 poisined Yuri, making Polish king Casimir issue claims on Galician-Volhynian succession. As a result, in 1344 neighbouring Lithunia annexed Volhynia, and in 1349 Galicia was taken over by Poland. These events started the process of acquisition of southern Rus' lands in modern-day Ukraine by Lithuanian and Polish rulers, who challenged the Golden Horde's control in the area.^[26]

Until 1380, the khans of the Golden Horde exercised political control over the northern Rus' principalities, and from 1380 to 1480, they continued to demand tribute from the Russian princes, although they did not always receive this.^[27] The period until 1480 is known as the "Tatar yoke".^[19] Extrapolating from 1549 data, George Vernadsky estimated the annual tribute to be approximately 145,000 rubles, plus an additional 25,000 rubles from Novgorod under a special tax, equivalent to 15.6 tons of silver.^[28]

The leading Russian figure was the grand prince of Vladimir, which led to a struggle among the princes for the title.^[29] The grand prince had the right to collect the taxes from all the princes on behalf of the khan of the Golden Horde.^[29][19] By the early 14th century, two dynastic houses, those of Tver and Moscow, competed for the title.^[29] Due to conflict among the princes, political life in the Russian principalities was highly unstable, with at least 10 Russian princes being executed during the reign of Özbeg Khan.^[30] He later gave his support to Ivan I of Moscow, which allowed the house of Moscow to eventually dominate the other principalities, and later challenge the Golden Horde itself.^[31][32] The seat of the Russian metropolitan was also moved to Moscow in 1325, establishing it as the spiritual center of Russian Orthodoxy.^[33][34] Jani Beg (r. 1342–1357) continued to support the house of Moscow and relations between the Russian principalities became stable.^[35] He was also able to maintain the balance of power between Moscow, Tver and Nizhny Novgorod.^[36]

By 1371, Dmitry Donskoy was recognized as the grand prince of Moscow and Vladimir by both the Tatars and his cousins, and thus, the grand principality became his patrimony (otchina).^[37] In his 1389 will, he was able to bequeath his "patrimony, the grand principality" to his eldest son.^[38] Despite this, in the late 14th century, the grand prince of Moscow had little effective control over the other major political centers: Novgorod, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal and Ryazan.^[39] Although the other Russian principalities rarely challenged Moscow's hegemony directly, they grew increasingly independent in their relations with the Golden Horde and Lithuania, with some princes styling themselves as grand princes.^[39] However, this has been a point of contention among historians, with Anton Gorsky arguing that Nizhny Novgorod and Tver were only able to claim the status of grand principality in the 1360s.^[40]

Vasily I of Moscow was able to take advantage of the political strife within the Golden Horde.^[41] In 1392, he visited the court of Tokhtamysh, whose forces had recently been defeated by Timur, and was given permission to take the throne of Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal.^[41] However, the principality was not fully incorporated until the mid-15th century.^[28] After Tokhtamysh's forces were destroyed in 1395, Vasily stopped paying tribute.^[42] However, after Edigu launched a devastating invasion in 1408 and Tatar raids continued in the following years, Vasily was forced to resume paying tribute and visit the khan to renew his patent to the throne.^[42] Moscow's absorption of Ryazan, the last remaining independent Russian principality, was little more than a formality.^[43]

• Armies of the Rus' principalities

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