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History -
The principality became independent around 1350 when the capital was moved from
Suzdal to Nizhnigorod. Previously the domain had been the Suzdal udel. Suzdal'
is one of the most ancient towns in Russia. Its occupation as a settlement
predates records. But according to the chronicles it existed already at the
beginning of the 9th century and soon became one of thee most important
political centers in North-East Rus. By the middle 12th century Suzdal' region
began to overtake Kyiv. At that time it was still within the Peryeyaslavl'
(south) lands and didn't have its own prince, but was governed by a namestnik
sent from there. After the death of Yaroslav I
Vladimirovich Mundri, Suzdal' with the other towns in the northeast went to his
son, VsyevolodI and then the lands went to his
son,Vladimir II Vsyevolodovich Monomakh, and then
to Yurii I Vladimirovich Dolgoruki. Yurii Dolgoruki was
the first independent prince of Suzdal'.. But he soon combined it into the
Rostov lands. At the death of Andrei Yur'yevich
Bogolubski the Rostov-Suzdal lands fell into a conflict between his brothers.
After the battle at Yur'yev field Vsyevolod III
Yur'yevich Bol'shoye Gnezdo won and Suzdal became a dependency of the grand
princedom of Vladimir. After the death of Vsyevolod, Suzdal' was transfered to
his son and successor on the grand princely throne of Vladimir,
Yurii II. After the Mongol invasion and burning of
North-east Rus Suzdal' was part of domain of Yurii's brother,
Yaroslav II. He passed it to his son,
Aleksandr Yaroslavich Nevski in 1246. At that time
the city had a Kypchak-Mongol baskak as governor. The overbearing Mongol
governors generated a popular uprising which brought more destruction in turn.
At the death of Andrei II Yaroslavich in 1264 his
'otchina' was divided between his sons into Suzdal', Gorodets, and Nizhni
Novgorod udels. About 1340 the Suzdal' prince Konstantin Vasil'yevich received from the khan the
yarlik for all the Suzdal'- Nizhninovgorod lands and reunited the udels
into the grand principality. He transfered the capital to Nizhni-Novgorod in
1350. He conquered the adjacent Mordovin lands. Konstantin significantly
enlarged the borders of the principality. By the mid 14th century it had a very
wide territory along the left bank of the Oka and basin of the Volga. Besides
Suzdal' and Nizhni-Novgorod it included Yur'yevets, Shuya, Gorodets and other
towns.
At the beginning of the 1350's after the death of Semyon Ivanovich Gordi in
Moscow, Konstantin Vasil'yevich attempted to gain the title of Vladimir grand
prince, but the khan gave the yarlik for Vladimir to Ivan II of Moscow. His son, Dmitrii Konstantinovich also
tried to the the yarlik but failed. Finally he was forced to recognize
the supremancy of Moscow. Instead he married his daughter, Evdovkii off to
Dmitrii Ivanovich Donskoi. While Boris
Konstantinovich was ruling Nizhnigorod,Vasilii I Dmitriyevich of Moscow
received the yarlik for Nizhni Novgorod from Khan Tokhtamish and took
the city sending his namestnik there to govern. At that the independence of the
Suzdal'- NizhniNovgorod principality ended. Part went to Moscow and part to the
Kypchak Horde. But during the civil war in Moscow in the mid-15th century two
of Dmitri Konstantinovich's relatives, the Shuiski princes,
Vasilii and Feodor Yur'yevich managed for a time
to hold Suzdal'. But after Dmitrii Shemyaka fled,
Vasilii II finally took all the Suzdal'-Nizhnigorod
lands into his domain.
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