The Berladnici were a supposed medieval people living along the northeastern

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

. While their ethnicity is unclear, it included runaways from

Rus' Rus or RUS may refer to: People * East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus * Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...

who left those lands due to feudal oppression.

Peasants A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising f ...

as well as

boyars A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including First Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russian nobility, Russia), Boyars of Moldavia and Wallach ...

dissatisfied with the rulers purportedly settled in the vicinity of the city of

Bârlad Bârlad () is a city in Vaslui County, Romania. It lies on the banks of the river Bârlad (river), Bârlad, which waters the high plains of Western Moldavia. At Bârlad the railway from Iași diverges, one branch skirting the river Siret (river ...

as well as the

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

of the same name in eastern

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, as well as on the lower

Don River The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its basin is betwee ...

History

The Berladnici are first mentioned in the ''

Kievan Chronicle The ''Kievan Chronicle'' or ''Kyivan Chronicle'' is a chronicle of Kievan Rus'. It was written around 1200 in Vydubychi Monastery as a continuation of the ''Primary Chronicle''. It is known from two manuscripts: a copy in the '' Hypatian Codex'' ...

'' (part of the

Hypatian Codex The ''Hypatian Codex'', also known as Hypatian Letopis or Ipatiev Letopis, is a compendium of three Rus' chronicle, Rus' chronicles: the ''Primary Chronicle'', ''Kievan Chronicle'' and ''Galician-Volhynian Chronicle''. It is the most important sou ...

). The text recounts the 1159 war between Prince Yaroslav of Galicia and his cousin Ivan Berladnic, during which the latter fled "to the steppe to the Polovtsi" (

Cumans The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cumania, Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Ru ...

): In 1161, the Berladnici captured the port of Oleshia at the mouth of the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

river, which caused severe damage to

merchants. They were occupied mainly with

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

, and crafting. They practiced robbery, often working alongside Cumans in raids against the cities of Rus'. Berladnici nobility consisted of landowners and

knyaz A , also , ''knjaz'' or (), is a historical Slavs, Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times. It is usually translated into English language, English as 'prince', 'king' or 'duke', depending on specific historical c ...

es refugees who tried to create a state along the

lower Danube The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important r ...

. According to Romanian history professor

Victor Spinei Victor Spinei (born 26 October 1943 in Lozova, Lăpușna County, Moldova) is Emeritus Professor of history and archaeology at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, member and vice president of the Moldavian Academy. He is a specialist on the hist ...

(1982), written sources exclude the existence in the 12th-century of a Romanian territory subordinate to the Principality of Galicia.V. Spinei, Moldova in secolele XI-XIV, AND ENCYCLOPEDIA Scientific Publishing, Bucharest, 1982, p. 144 On the other hand Spinei contends that the archaeological evidence from that era does not reveal any typological or quantitative differences between the Bârlad area and the lands in the center and south of Moldova. There is no mention of the Berladnici after the 13th century. The '' Galician–Volhynian Chronicle'' mentions a group of "Galician exiles" led by

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

Yuri Domazhyrych and boyar Volodymyr Derzhykray who come as allies of Kievan Rus' during the

Battle of the Kalka River The Battle of the Kalka River was fought between the Mongol Empire, whose armies were led by Jebe and Subutai, and a coalition of several Rus' principalities, including Kievan Rus', Kiev and Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia, Galicia-Volhynia, and t ...

which some interpret to mean the Berladnici. A small number of historians see in the Berladnici's libertine lifestyle a prototype of the

Ukrainian Cossacks The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossa ...

who developed in the 15th - 18th centuries.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Primary sources

* ''

'' ( 1200). ** Old East Slavic original: ** English translation: ** Ukrainian translation: * '' Galician–Volhynian Chronicle'' (GVC; 1292). ** Old East Slavic original: – critical edition. ** 1973 English translation: ** 1989 Ukrainian translation: — A modern annotated Ukrainian translation of the ''Galician–Volhynian Chronicle'', based on the

with comments from the

Khlebnikov Codex The ''Khlebnikov Codex'' (; ) is a codex of Rus' chronicles compiled in the 1560s. Provenance and physical description The ''Khlebnikov Codex'' was unexpectedly discovered in the summer of 1809. It is named after one of its previous owners, ...

Literature