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Before he left his new little village for
Suzdal, Yurii ordered that wooden walls be built around it. This marked the
beginning of the Kremlin's existence on the Borovitski Hill. The hill was an
ideal natural spot for defense, located right at the juncture of the two
rivers. It is bounded on the north and west by the Neglinaya and on the south
by the Moskva. A deep moat dug on the east side and flooded by water diverted
from the Neglinaya closed the triangle and completed the protection of the hill
from all sides. A high and strong palisade of strong oak was the additional
protection that surrounded the village. For many photos of the Moscow Kremlin
today please go to the Moscow section.
The origins of the word "Kremlin" (kreml') remain unclear. One story
says that it comes from a Tatar word, pronounced similarly, which means
"stronghold," the other more patriotic version is that it derives
from the old Slavic word "kremen" which means primarily
"flint," but also "strong," or "strong as flint' and ,
consequently, could describe a 'stronghold." It is of interest to note
that the early chronicles used the words "grad' and "detinets"
instead of "kremlin." Both mean "village,"
"settlement" and also "fortified place." Almost all Russian
Kremlin followed the same pattern of construction, and in most cases they were
built close to a river, preferably a bifurcation of two, a brook or lake, for
better protection and insure water supply in case of a prolonged siege. Until
the 14th century oak tree trunks were used in most cases to build the walls
around the Kremlin, but there were also a few that were made of stone, such as
the one in Novgorod, which got its first stone "detinets" in the 11th
century. When the early Russian grand dukes and tsars started to build a series
of stone Kremlins in major outpost towns along the borders to better defend the
country from foreign invasions, the use of stone for any other purpose was
forbidden because of its scarcity and a capital punishment was imposed on those
who broke the tsar' ukaz.
Moscow became an appanage (udel) of Yurii's descendants and nobody before
Vladimir Vsevoldovich, son of
Vsyevolod
III Yuryevich, or "Big Nest," agreed to go there to live. Neither did
Vladimir stay there a long time; his brother Yurii chased him out. The Russia
of that time was divided into numerous small independent principalities,
usually inherited as appanages or taken from a brother or a cousin in a
continuous internecine struggles. It is not surprising that they became easy
prey for the Tatars, who just at that time started their invasions. In 1238
Moscow too shared the fate of other Russian cities and towns and was pillaged
and burned to the ground by the horsemen of Chingis Khan's grandson, Batu
(Batia) Khan. This marked the beginning of the Tatar yoke for the Russian
nation, but the princes continued their internal struggles under foreign
tutelage.
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