VLADIMIR PRINCIPALITY IN THE POST-MONGOL TIME
This article deals with the development of Vladimir Principality - the key principality of the North-East Rus - after it was invaded by the Mongols in 1238. According to the will of Vsevolod the Great Nest, his second son Yuri got this Principality. But Yuri and his family were killed by the Mongols in 1238. The principality passed to Yuri’s brother Yaroslav who joined it to his own Pereyaslavl Principality. As a result Yaroslav became the only one owner of 26 cities among his relatives, which made him the self-evident leader of the Vsevolodoviches’ posterity. This situation caused anxiety among the Mongols who established their power over Rus. Yaroslav was summoned by khan to Karakorum and poisoned there. Vladimir Principality was divided into parts among his two brothers and his five sons. His older son Alexander Nevsky got Vladimir in 1253 with the help of the Mongols but the territory of the principality narrowed up to 11 cities. By the time Nevsky passed away, there were only 5 cities in this principality. The rest of the cities were left by his will to his sons. After Nevsky’s death the transfer of the territory of Vladimir Principality to the ruling of prince’s heirs was banned. It passed into the hands of one or another Nevsky’s brothers. In the 14th century it became the object of a fight between Tver and Moscow. In 1360 Nizhni Novgorod joined them in this fight. But in 1362 Moscow Prince Dmitri started the fight with the Prince of Nizhni Novgorod to master Vladimir Principality. At the beginning of 1363 Dmitri drove the Nizhni Novgorod Prince away from Vladimir. Thus Vladimir Principality was annexed by Moscow.