The Principality of Pereyaslavl (; ) was a regional principality of

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

from the end of 9th century until 1323, based in the city of Pereyaslavl (now Pereiaslav) on the river Trubizh.

Siting

The Principality of Pereyaslavl was usually administered by younger sons of the Grand Prince of Kiev. It stretched over the extensive territory from the left banks of the middle

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 on the west to its eastern frontier that laid not far west from the Seversky Donets, where the legendary

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

city of Sharuk(h)an was presumably situated.

History

The '' Primary Chronicle'' dates the foundation of the city of Pereyaslavl' to 992; the archaeological evidence suggests it was founded not long after this date. In its early days Pereyaslavl' was one of the important cities in Kievan Rus' behind the Principality of Chernigov and

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. The city was located at a ford where

Vladimir the Great Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych (; Christian name: ''Basil''; 15 July 1015), given the epithet "the Great", was Prince of Novgorod from 970 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 until his death in 1015. The Eastern Orthodox ...

fought a battle against the nomad Pechenegs. The principality can be traced as a semi-independent dominion from the inheritance of the sons of Yaroslav the Wise, with Sviatoslav receiving Chernigov, Vsevolod getting Pereyaslavl, Smolensk going to Viacheslav, and Vladimir-in-Volhynia going to Igor. The ''Primary Chronicle'' records that in 988 Vladimir assigned the northern lands (later associated with Pereyaslavl) to Yaroslav.Martin, ''Medieval Russia'', p. 38. Pereyaslavl was conquered and devastated by the

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

in March 1239. It is unclear what happened after that, although it evidently became a tributary of the Golden Horde. Early on during the Great Troubles, around 1360, grand duke

Algirdas Algirdas (; , ; – May 1377) was List of Lithuanian monarchs, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377. With the help of his brother Kęstutis (who defended the western border of the Duchy) he created an empire stretching from the pre ...

(Olgerd) of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

acquired the core principalities of former Kievan Rus': Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, and Kiev.

Gallery

File:Kievan-rus-1015-1113-(en).png, alt=Principality of Pereyaslavl in c. 1100, File:Principalities of Kievan Rus' (1054-1132) en.svg, alt=Principality of Pereyaslavl (1132),

Notes

References

Bibliography