Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-669899f699-b58lm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-04T01:55:22.232Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

19 - The Rus′ Principalities

from Volume I Part 3 - Views from the Edges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

By
Lawrence N. Langer
Edited by
Michal Biran  and
Hodong Kim
Michal Biran
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hodong Kim
Affiliation:
Seoul National University
Get access

Summary

Mongol rule in Rus′ was profound, especially in the administration of taxes and tribute, which were adapted to the traditions of Rus′ian princely governance. The thirteenth century was a “dark age” when Rus′ was subjected to severe Mongol attacks and tribute was imposed under the supervision of basqaqs. The Rus′ian church, however, was exempted from paying tribute. Through the bestowal of a yarligh, the Mongols designated the rulers of Rus′ian principalities, including the grand prince of Vladimir, titular head of the Rus′. The fourteenth century saw the rise of Moscow, as its princes gradually monopolized the collection of the tribute. By the first quarter of the fifteenth century, Mongol rule had weakened as the effects of plague, civil wars within the Golden Horde, Tamerlane’s attacks, and the fracturing of the Golden Horde into separate khanates took their toll. By 1480 and the Battle of the Ugra River, Mongol rule was effectively over.

Keywords

Aleksandr NevskiibasqaqBlack DeathGolden HordeKievKulikovoMoscowNovgorodRus′tribute
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire , pp. 753 - 776
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Akty sotsial′no-ekonomicheskoi istorii severo-vostochnoi Rusi 1964. (Social–Economic Documents of the History of Northeast Rus′), 3 vols. Moscow.Google Scholar
Allsen, Thomas. 1983. “Prelude to the Western Campaigns: Mongol Military Operations in the Volga–Ural Region, 1217–1237.” AEMA 3: 5–24.Google Scholar
Allsen, Thomas 1986. “Guard and Government in the Reign of the Grand Qan Möngke, 1251–59.” HJAS 46.2: 495–521.Google Scholar
Allsen, Thomas 1987. Mongol Imperialism: The Policies of the Grand Qan Möngke in China, Russia, and the Islamic Lands, 1251–1259. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Allsen, Thomas 1989. “Mongolian Princes and Their Merchant Partners, 1200–1260.” Asia Major 2.2: 83–126.Google Scholar
Allsen, Thomas 1997. Commodity and Exchange in the Mongol Empire. Cambridge.Google Scholar
ASEI. See Akty sotsial′no-ekonomicheskoi istorii severo-vostochnoi Rusi.Google Scholar
Balard, Michel. 1978. La Romanie Génoise (XIIe–début du XVe siècle), 2 vols. Paris.Google Scholar
Biran, Michal. 1997. Qaidu and the Rise of the Independent Mongol State in Central Asia. Richmond.Google Scholar
Biran, Michal 2007. Chinggis Khan. Oxford.Google Scholar
Cherniavsky, Michael. 1970. “Khan or Basileus: An Aspect of Russian Mediaeval Political Theory.” In The Structure of Russian History, ed. Cherniavsky, Michael, 65–79. New York.Google Scholar
Chernov, S. Z. 2003. “Sel′skoe rasslenie v Moskovskom kniazhestve vtoroi poloviny xiiiv.: ‘traditsionnye’ i ‘novatsionnye’ modeli vykhoda iz krizisa (po materialam arkheologicheskikh issledovanii 1976–1993 gg. Volostei Voria i Pekhorka). (Distribution of Rural Settlement in the Moscow Principality in the Second Half of the 13th Century: Traditional and Innovative Models of Recovery from a Crisis (Based on Materials of Archaeological Studies in 1976–1993 in Voria Rural District and Pekhorka)). In Rus′ v XIII veke: Drevnosti tëmnogo vremeni (In Rus′ in the 13th Century: Archaeology of a Dark Age), ed. N. A. Makarov and A. V. Chernetsov, 168–227. Moscow.Google Scholar
CHI5. See Abbreviations.Google Scholar
Ciocîltan, Virgil. 2012. The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, tr. S. Willcocks. Leiden.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Christopher, ed. 1955. The Mongol Mission. London.Google Scholar
DDG. See Dukhovnye i dogovornye gramoty velikikh i udel′nykh kniazei xiv–xv v.Google Scholar
Dukhovnye i dogovornye gramoty velikikh i udel′nykh kniazei XIV–XV v (Testaments and Agreement Charters of the Grand and Udel′ Princes of the 14th and 15th Centuries). 1950. Moscow and Leningrad.Google Scholar
Fedorov-Davydov, G. A. 1960. “Klady dzhuchidskikh monet” (Jochi Money Hordes). Numizmatika i epigrafika 1: 94–192.Google Scholar
Fennell, John. 1980. “The Tatar Invasion of 1223: Source Problems.” Forschungen zur osteuropäischen Geschichte 27: 18–31.Google Scholar
Fennell, John 1983. The Crisis of Medieval Russia 1200–1304. London and New York.Google Scholar
Fisher, Alan. 1972. “Muscovy and the Black Sea Slave Trade.” Canadian–American Slavic Studies 6.4: 575–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franklin, Simon, and Shepard, Jonathan. 1996. The Emergence of Rus 750–1200. London and New York.Google Scholar
French, R. A. 1983. “The Early and Medieval Russian Town.” In Studies in Russian Historical Geography, ed. J. H. Baxter and R. A. French, vol. 1, 249–77. London.Google Scholar
Gramoty velikogo Novgoroda i Pskova (Charters of Great Novgorod and Pskov). 1949. Moscow and Leningrad.Google Scholar
Gumilev, L. V. 1989. Drevniaia Rus′ i velikaia step′ (Old Rus′ and the Great Steppe). Moscow.Google Scholar
GVNiP. See Gramoty velikogo Novgoroda i Pskova.Google Scholar
Halperin, Charles. 1982. “Tsarev Ulus: Russia in the Golden Horde.” Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique 23.2: 257–63.Google Scholar
Halperin, Charles 1983. “Russia in the Mongol Empire in Comparative Perspective.” HJAS 43.1: 239–61.Google Scholar
Halperin, Charles 1985. Russia and the Golden Horde. Bloomington, IN.Google Scholar
Halperin, Charles 1986. The Tatar Yoke. Columbus, OH.Google Scholar
Halperin, Charles 2000. “Muscovite Political Institutions in the 14th Century.” Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 1.2: 237–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halperin, Charles 2011. “Muscovy as a Successor State of the Jochid Ulus.” AEMA 18: 5–20.Google Scholar
Halperin, Charles 2013a. “The Battle of Kulikovo Field (1380) in History and Historical Memory.” Kritika. Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 14.4: 853–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halperin, Charles 2013b. “No One Knew Who They Were: Rus Interaction with the Mongols.” In The Steppe Lands and the World beyond Time. A Collection in Honor of Victor Spinel on His 70th Birthday, ed. Florin Curta and Bogdan-Petru Maleon, 377–87. Iasi.Google Scholar
Ianin, V. L. 1982. “K khronologii i topografii ordynskogo pokhoda na Novgorod v 1238 g.” (Toward the Chronology and Topography of the Horde’s Campaign against Novgorod in 1238). In Issledovaniia po istorii i istoriografii feodalizma: K 100-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia akademika B. D. Grekova, 146–58. Moscow.Google Scholar
Ianin, V. L. 1983. “‘Chernyi bor′ v Novgorode xiv–xv vv” (“Black Tax” in Novgorod in the 14th and 15th Centuries in the Battle of Kulikovo). In Kulikovskaia bitva, 98–106. Moscow.Google Scholar
JT/Boyle. See Abbreviations.Google Scholar
Kargalov, V. V. 1965. “Posledstviia mongolo-tatarskogo nashestviia xiii v. dlia sel′skikh mestnostei severo-vostochnoi Rusi” (The Aftermath of the Mongol–Tatar Invasion in the 13th Century for the Countryside in Northeast Rus′). Voprosy istorii 40.3: 53–8.Google Scholar
Kargalov, V. V. 1967. Vneshne-politicheskie factory razvitiia feodal′noi Rusi (Foreign–Political Factors in the Development of Feudal Rus′). Moscow.Google Scholar
Kashtanov, S. M. 1982. “Finansovoe ustroistvo Moskovskogo kniazhestva v seredine xiv v. po dannym dukhovnykh gramot” (Financial System of the Moscow Principality in the mid-14th Century According to Given Testament Charters). In Issledovaniia po istorii i istoriografii feodalizma, 173–89. Moscow.Google Scholar
Khazanov, A. M. 1990. “Ecological Limitations of Nomadism in the Eurasian Steppes and Their Social and Cultural Implication.” Asian and African Studies: Journal of the Israel Oriental Society 24: 1–15.Google Scholar
Khoroshkevich, A. L. 1963. Torgovlia velikogo Novgoroda s pribaltikoi i zapadnoi evropoi v XIV–XV vekakh (Trade of Great Novgorod with the Baltic and Western Europe in the 14th and 15th Centuries). Moscow.Google Scholar
Koshcheev, V. B. 1993. “Eshche raz o chislennosti mongol′skogo voiska v 1237 godu” (Once More on the Number of the Mongol Army in 1237). Voprosy istorii 10: 131–35.Google Scholar
Krenke, N. A. 2003. “Blizhaishaia sel′skaia okruga Moskvy v xii–xiii vekakh” (Near Rural District of Moscow in the 12th and 13th Centuries). In Rus′ v XIII veke: Drevnosti tëmnogo vremeni, ed. Makarov, N. A. and Chernetsov, A. V., 151–67. Moscow.Google Scholar
Krivosheev, Iu. V. 1999. Rus′ i Mongoly (Rus′ and the Mongols). St. Petersburg.Google Scholar
Kuchkin, B. A. 1990. “Goroda severo-vostochnoi Rusi v xiii–xv vekakh (chislo i politiko- geograficheskoe razmeshchenie)” (The Towns of Northeast Rus′ in the 13th–15th Centuries (Number and Political-Geographic Distribution)). Istoriia SSSR 6: 72–85.Google Scholar
Kuza, A. V. 1985. “Drevnerusskie poseleniia” (Old Russian Settlements). In Arkheologiia SSSR: Drevniaia Rus′. Gorod, zamok, selo, ed. Kolchin, B. A., 36–94, 96–104. Moscow.Google Scholar
Kwanten, Luc. 1979, Imperial Nomads: A History of Central Asia, 500–1500. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Langer, Lawrence N. 1975. “The Black Death in Russia: Its Effects upon Urban Labor.” Russian History 2.1: 53–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langer, Lawrence N. 1976. “Plague and the Russian Countryside: Monastic Estates in the Late Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.” Canadian–American Slavic Studies 10.3: 351–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Langer, Lawrence N. 2007. “Muscovite Taxation and the Problem of Mongol Rule in Rus′.” Russian History 34.1–4: 101–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langer, Lawrence N. 2010. “War and Peace: Rus′ and the Mongols in the 13th and 14th Centuries.” In Everyday Life in Russian History, Quotidian Studies in Honor of Daniel Kaiser, ed. G. Marker, J. Neuberger, M. Poe, and S. Rupp, 187–201. Bloomington, IN.Google Scholar
Langer, Lawrence N. 2012. “For Want of Coin: Some Remarks on the Mongol Tribute and the Problem of the Circulation of Silver.” In Dubitando: Studies in History and Culture in Honor of Donald Ostrowski, ed. Brian J. Boeck, Russell E. Martin, and Daniel Rowland, 85–101. Bloomington, IN.Google Scholar
Langer, Lawrence N. 2015a. “Economic Stagnation or Depression: War and the Economy in the Reign of Vasilii ii.” Russian History 42.1 (Festschrift for Janet Martin, ed. Ann Kleimola and Gail Lenhoff): 32–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langer, Lawrence N. 2015b. “Slavery in the Appanage Era: Rus′ and the Mongols.” In Eurasian Slavery. Ransom and Abolition in World History, 1200–1860, ed. Christoph Witzenrath, 145–69. Farnham.Google Scholar
Langer, Lawrence N. 2017. “Rus′ and the Mongol Decimal System.” Russian History 44.4 (Festschrift to the Honor of Ann Kleimola, part 1, ed. Brian Davies): 515–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langer, Lawrence N. 2021a. “The Economics of Mongol Rule in Rus’, 1237–1350.” In The Routledge Handbook of the Mongols and Central-Eastern Europe, ed. A. Maiorov and R. Hautala, 391–404. Abingdon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langer, Lawrence N. 2021b. “Between the Politics of Accommodation and Independence: Rus’, the Mongols, and the Church, 1237–1350.” In The Routledge Handbook of the Mongols and Central-Eastern Europe, ed. A. Maiorov and R. Hautala, 487–500. Abingdon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lenhoff, Gail. 2015. “Rus′ Tatar Princely Marriages in the Horde: The Literary Sources.” Russian History 42.1: 16–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leont′ev, A. E. 2003. “Ot stolitsy kniazhestva k uezdnomu gorodu. (Materialy k istoricheskoi topografii Rostova x–xiv vv.)” (From the Capital of Princedom to Provincial Town (Materials to the Historical Topography of Rostov 10th–14th Centuries)). In Rus′ v XIII veke: Drevnosti tëmnogo, ed. Makarov, N. A. and Chernetsov, A. V., 34–47. Moscow.Google Scholar
Maiorov, Alexander, and Hautala, Roman, eds. 2021. The Routledge Handbook of the Mongols and Central–Eastern Europe. Abingdon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malygin, P. D. 2003. “Sud′by Torzhka i Tveri v xiii veke” (The Fate of Torzhok and Tver′ in the Thirteenth Century). In Rus′ v XIII veke: Drevnosti tëmnogo vremeni, ed. N. A. Makarov and A. V. Chernetsov, 92–96. Moscow.Google Scholar
Martin, Janet. 1985. “Muscovite Travelling Merchants: The Trade with the Muslim East (15th and 16th Centuries).” Central Asian Survey 4: 21–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, Janet 1986. Treasure of the Land of Darkness: The Fur Trade and Its Significance for Medieval Russia. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, Janet 1995. Medieval Russia 980–1584. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Martin, Janet 2006a. “The Emergence of Moscow (1359–1462).” In Cambridge History of Russia, vol. 1, ed. Perrie, M., 158–87. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Martin, Janet 2006b. “North-eastern Russia and the Golden Horde (1246–1359).” In Cambridge History of Russia, vol. 1, ed. Perrie, M., 127–57. Cambridge.Google Scholar
May, Timothy. 2007. The Mongol Art of War. Yardly, PA.Google Scholar
Mazurov, A. B. 2003. “Evoliutsiia Kolomny v xiii–xiv vekakh: ot malogo goroda Drevnei Rusi k domenu velikogo kniazia moskovskogo” (The Evolution of Kolomna in the 13th and 14th Centuries: From a Minor Town of Old Rus′ to the Domain of the Grand Prince of Moscow). In Rus′ v XIII veke: Drevnosti tëmnogo vremeni, ed. Makarov, N. A. and Chernetsov, A. V., 83–91. Moscow.Google Scholar
Mellinger, G. 1987–1991. “The Silver Coins of the Golden Horde: 1310–1358.” AEMA 7: 153–211.Google Scholar
Miller, David. 1989. “Monumental Building as an Indicator of Economic Trends in Northern Rus′ in the Late Kievan and Mongol Periods, 1138–1462.” American Historical Review 94: 360–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, David. 1979. “The Mongol Armies in Persia.” Der Islam 56.1: 81–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, David 1986. The Mongols. Oxford.Google Scholar
Nasonov, A. N. 1940. Mongoly i Rus′ (The Mongols and Russia). Moscow and Leningrad.Google Scholar
Noonan, Thomas. 1983. “Russia’s Eastern Trade, 1150–1350.” AEMA 3: 201–64.Google Scholar
Noonan, Thomas 1997. “Forging a National Identity: Monetary Politics during the Reign of Vasilii i (1389–1425).” In Culture and Identity in Muscovy, 1359–1584, ed. Kleimola, A. M. and Lenhoff, G. D., 495–529. Moscow.Google Scholar
Novgorodskaia pervaia letopis′ (Novgorod First Chronicle). 1950. Moscow and Leningrad.Google Scholar
NPL. See Novgorodskaia pervaia letopis′Google Scholar
Ostrowski, Donald. 1990a. “The Mongol Origins of Muscovite Political Institutions.” Slavic Review 49: 525–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrowski, Donald 1990b. “Second-Redaction Additions in Carpini’s Ystoria Mongalorum.” In Adelphotes: A Tribute to Omeljan Pritsak by His Students, ed. Frank E. Sysen. Harvard Ukrainian Studies 14.3–4: 522–50.Google Scholar
Ostrowski, Donald 1993. “Why Did the Metropolitan Move from Kiev to Vladimir in the Thirteenth Century?”. In Slavic Culture in the Middle Ages, vol. 1, ed. Boris Gasparov and Olga Raevsky-Hughes, 83–101. Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrowski, Donald 1998. Muscovy and the Mongols: Cross-cultural Influences on the Steppe Frontier 1304–1589. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ostrowski, Donald 2006. “The Growth of Muscovy (1462–1533).” In The Cambridge History of Russia, vol. 1, ed. Perrie, M., 213–39. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ostrowski, Donald 2009. “The Mongols and Rus′: Eight Paradigms.” In A Companion to Russian History, ed. Gleason, Abbott, 66–86. Chichester.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palliser, D. M. 1988. “Urban Decay Revisited.” In Towns and Townspeople in the Fifteenth Century, ed. John A. F. Thomson, 1–21. Gloucester.Google Scholar
Pamiatniki russkogo prava (Monuments of Russian Law). 1952–1963. 8 vols. Moscow.Google Scholar
Pavlova, Elena. 1994.“The Coinless Period in the History of Northeastern Rus′: Historiography Study.” Russian History. 21.4: 375–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrushevsky, I. P. 1968. “The Socio-economic Condition of Iran under the Il-Khans.” In CHI5, 483–537. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Pliguzov, A. I., and Khoroshkevich, A. L.. 1990. “Russkaia tserkov′ i antiordynskaia bor′ba v xiii–xv vv. (po materialam kratkogo sobraniia khanskikh iarlykov russkim mitropolitam)” (The Russian Church and the Anti-Horde Struggle in the 13th to 15th Centuries (According to the Material of the Brief Collection of Khan Iarlyks to the Russian Metropolitans)). In Tserkov′ obshchestvo i gosudarstvo v feodal′noi Rossii: sbornik statei, ed. Klibanov, A. I., 84–102. Moscow.Google Scholar
Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei (Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles). 1841–2002. 42 vols. to date. St. Petersburg and Moscow.Google Scholar
Postan, M. M. 1973. “The Fifteenth Century.” In his Essays on Medieval Agriculture and General Problems of the Medieval Economy, 41–48. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PRP. See Pamiatniki russkogo prava.Google Scholar
PSRL. See Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei.Google Scholar
Rikman, E. A. 1951. “Obsledovanie gorodov Tverskogo kniazhestva” (Investigations into the Towns of the Tver′ Principality). Kratkie soobshcheniia o dokladakh i polevykh issledovanniiakh Instituta istorii material′no i kul′tury 41: 71–84.Google Scholar
Roublev, Michel. 1970. “The Mongol Tribute According to the Wills and Agreements of the Russian Princes.” In The Structure of Russian History, ed. Cherniavsky, Michael, 29–64. New York.Google Scholar
Sakharov, A. M. 1959. Goroda severo-vostochnoi Rusi XIV–XV vekov (The Towns of Northeast Rus′ in the 14th and 15th Centuries). Moscow.Google Scholar
Iu. V, Seleznev. 2010. Russko-ordynskie konflikty XIII–XV vekov. Spravochnik (Rus′–Horde Conflicts 13th–15th Centuries. Reference). Moscow.Google Scholar
Iu. V, Seleznev. 2013. Russkie kniaz′ia v sostave praviashchei elity dzhucheva ulusa v XIII–XV vekakh (Russian Princes in the Composition of the Ruling Elite of the Ulus of Jochi in the 13th–15th Centuries). Voronezh.Google Scholar
Sinor, Denis. 1972. “Horse and Pasture in Inner Asian History.” Oriens Extremus 9: 171–84.Google Scholar
Spufford, Peter. 1988. Money and Its Use in Medieval Europe. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatishchev, V. N. 1962–1968. Istoriia rossiiskaia (Russian History), 7 vols. Moscow and Leningrad.Google Scholar
TL See Troitskaia letopis′.Google Scholar
Troitskaia letopis′ (Trinity Chronicle). 1950. Ed. Priselkov, M. D.. Moscow and Leningrad.Google Scholar
Vásáry, István 1976. “The Golden Horde Term Daruga and Its Survival in Russia.” AOH 32: 187–97.Google Scholar
Vásáry, István 2015. “The Tatar Factor in the Formation of Muscovy’s Political Culture.” In Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors, ed. Amitai, Reuvan and Biran, Michal, 252–70. Honolulu.Google Scholar
Vernadsky, George. 1953. A History of Russia: The Mongols and Russia. New Haven.Google Scholar
Zharnov, Iu. E. 2003. “Arkheologicheskie issledovaniia vo Vladimire i ‘problema 1238 goda’” (Archaeological Investigations in Vladimir and “the Problem of 1238”). In Rus′ v XIII veke: Drevnosti tëmnogo vremeni, ed. N. A. Makarov and A. V. Chernetsov, 48–58. Moscow.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×