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Please
place your cursor over a name to see if it is linked to a description.
All the individual descriptions then are linked to fathers and sons, so
one may move through the entire geneology from Rurik to Fedor Ivanovich and
then to the Romanovs as well. The family rule of Suzdal-Niznigorod originated
with Andrei II Yaroslavich. With Yuri Vasil'yevich
began the princely family, Shuiski, in which Vasilii Ivanovich, in the bottom
row, became Tsar during the Time of Troubles. The descendents of Andrei II
Yaroslavich mostly were princes at Suzdal' or Nizhnigorod or the
Suzdal-Nishegorod principality, for which the capital moved to Nizhni-Novgorod
in 1350.
Suzdal' is among the most ancient of Russian towns, being a settlement even
before the Slavic tribes began moving into the region between the Oka and
Volga. By the 9th century it was an important post and it continued to develop
as a significant trade and artisan town. In the middle 12th century it was
subordinate to Kyiv and then it became part of the Peryeaslavl (southern)
principality. The princes at Peryeaslavl would send a deputy (namesnik) to
govern. After the death of Yaroslav Vladimirovich,
Suzdal' with other towns went to his son, Vsyevolod, and then to Vladimir Vsyevolodovich Monomakh and
Yuri Dolgoruki. Yuri was the first independent prince
seated at Suzdal'. But soon he incorporated Suzdal' and Rostov into one
principality. After the death of Yuri's son, Andrei Bogolubski, the
Rostov-Suzdal lands were wracked with internal civil war. The winner,
Vsyevolod III Yur'yevich Bol'shoye Gnezdo, moved
his throne (capital) to Vladimir. It was after Vsyevolod's death that Suzdal'
became again separated as the otchina of his son, Yuri II
Vsyevolodovich. At this time the Rostov principality also became separate
from Suzdal'. But Yuri died in the Mongol Invasion, and his brother,
Yaroslav II came to the throne at Vladimir until
his death in 1246. All these rulers are shown on previous charts.
Suzdal' then went to Aleksandr Yaroslavich and then to Andrei II Yaroslavich,
shown at the top of this chart. After Andrei's death in 1264 the principality
was divided amongst his sons into udels for Suzdal', Gorodetz on the Volga, and
Nizhni-Novgorod. But about 1340 prince Konstantin Vasil'yevich (above) obtained
a yarlik from the Kypchak Khan for all the former Suzdal-Nizhnigorod
lands and reunited them into a new grand principality. He then also occupied
the Mordvin lands just to the south and north of Ryazan principality, greatly
expanding his domain. Thus he came into pretention to be THE grand prince of
Rus. Thusly in addition to Suzdal, Gorodetz and Nizhni-Novgorod he controlled
Yur'yev, Shuya, and other towns.
After the death of grand prince Semyon Ivanovich
Gordii in the plague at Moscow in 1353, Konstantin Vasil'yevich openly sought
the yarlik as grand prince of Vladimir. But the khan gave the yarlik to
Ivan II Ivanovich. When Ivan died Konstantin continued
the struggle with the very young Dmitri Ivanovich
(Donskoi) but in the complex internal struggle was forced to give it up. He
then married off his daughter, Yevdokia, (who became much renowned for her
religiosity) to Dmitri. Then, while Konstantin's son, Boris, was grand prince
at Nizhnigorod, Dmitri's son, Vasilii I Dmitriyevich
in 1392 obtained the yarlik from Khan Tokhtamish for Nizhnii Novgorod and
captured the city. This was after the infamous incident in which the Nizhni
princes had aided and abetted Tokhtamish to trick the defenders into opening
Moscow to him. Vasilii appointed a namestnik to govern in his name. The action
then shifted to the other line descended from Konstantin, that through Dmitrii
Konstantinovich. Semyon Dmitri'yevich was the last independent prince at
Suzdal. But during the civil war between Vasilii II
and his uncle, Vasilii and Fedor Yur'yevich (great-great grandsons of
Konstantin Vasil'yevich) attempted to regain Suzdal for themselves. But with
the defeat and exile of Dmitrii Shemyaka, Vasilii II regained complete control
of all the Moscow lands and then some. But the remaining members of the family
continued to nurse their pretentions to rule all Russia and Vasilii
Yur'yevich's great-great granson, Vasilii Ivanovoch Shuiski eventually managed
to accomplish the deed, although only temporarily.
Gorodets udel: Gorodets is still a fascinating town on the Volga. The earliest
date of occupation of the site is not know. But it is mentioned first in the
chronicles for 1172 founded as a frontier fortress. As an independent udel
Gorodets was divided out of the Suzdal' Nizhigorod principality only between
1263 and 1282 when it was given to Andrei
Aleksandrovich, who also was prince at Kostroma and then grand prince of
Vladimir as well.
Shuiskii udel: The town of Shuya was located near present day Ivanovo. As a
udel it also was divided out of the Suzdal' principality and given to Yurii the
second son of Vasilii Dmitriyevich Kirdyapa. Its independence didn't last long,
when the entire Suzdal' lands went to Moscow. The princes continued to use the
Shuiski name with a hyphen such as Shuiski-Glazati, Shuiski-Gorbati, or
Skopin-Shuiski. As is evident with the eventual rise of Vasilii Ivanovich, they
continued to play important roles in the Muscovite military and government
establishment. They were often the senior boyar in the tsar's council and
voyevoda on the most important campaigns.
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