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Starodub was located on the right
bank of the Klyazma River 60 versts from Vladimir. It was first mentioned in
the chronicles for 1217-18, when it was governed by Vladimir Vsyevolodovich.
But when Vladimir died ten years later it reverted to the grand prince. Then,
when Vsyevolod III Yur'yevich died in 1238
Yaroslav II Vsyevolodovich redistributred his
father's votchina lands and gave Starodub to his youngest brother, Ivan. So
Ivan is considered and we show him as the first independent prince of Starodub.
The principality included a fairly large region on both banks of the Klyazma
mostly on the right bank along its tributary, the Neretht between the Mstera
and Klyazma rivers. But it was politically relatively insignificant in the many
power struggles between members of the house of Yuri Vladimirovich. During the
middle 14th century the Muscovite princes became interested in the
potentialities of the Starodub region and began to interfer in its internal
affairs. When Ivan Fedorovich, then the principal
prince of Starodub joined in alliance with Dmitrii
Konstantinovich, prince of Nizhegorod, who was attempting to gain and keep
the throne (yarlik) for Vladimir, in 1363 Dmitrii Donskoi threw him out of Starodub and replaced
him with his brother, Andrei, who readily
subordinated himself to Moscow. At the end of the 14th century, the
principality gradually was divided into a series of udels, as was so typical of
the times. This hastened the weakening of the overall principality. We discuss
the udels with the biography of the first incumbent. The Starodub princes
eventually founded the princely famlies, Pozharski, Krivoborvski, Lialovski,
Kovrov, Nieoutchkine, Golibessovski, Romodanovski, Riapolovski, Goudorov,
Touloupov, Palitzki Pestri, Tatiev, Striguine, Niebogatii, Gagarine and
Khilkov.
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