Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/108

Rh 90 RUSSIA [HISTORY. Sviatoslaff, slain by the Petchenegs ; Vladimir, who caused the country to be Christianized ; and Yaroslaff his son, the legislator. During the second period, in which we find Russia weakened and divided into apanages, we have only two noteworthy princes among a score of unimportant persons, Vladimir Monomakh and Andrew. The death of Andrew, whose murderers were not brought to justice, was followed by many petty wars. The only event, however, of any importance for a con- siderable time is the battle of Lipetsk (near Pereiaslavl Zaliesski) in 1215, in which George, son of Vsevolod, brother of Andrew, was defeated by the combined troops of Novgorod, Pskoff, and Smolensk. In 1220 we hear of Nijni-Novgorod being founded. A prince of consider- able importance was Roman of Volhynia, to whom the inhabitants of Galicia offered the government of their principality, but he was superseded by another Vladimir, and did not get the crown till after a great deal of hard fighting. He is said by Kadlubek, the Polish historian, to have acted with ferocious cruelty. In 1205 he was killed in a battle with the Poles. In 1224 we have the first invasion of Russia by the Mongols. Daniel of Galicia was one of the last of the Russian princes to make his submission to Batu (1238). He died in 1264. In the 14th century the principality of Galicia was lost in the Polish republic, having been annexed to Lithuania. It joined the fortunes of that state in its union with Poland at the time of the marriage of Jagietfo with Jadwiga. The We now come to the third division of our subject Mongol Russia un der the yoke of the Mongols, viz., from 1238 to "aery 1^62. This is indeed a dreary period, in which the political and material development of the country was delayed by its complete enslavement. The first occasion on which the Russians came into contact with their Mongolian invaders was in 1224, when, in company with their allies, the Polovtzes, they suffered a complete defeat on the banks of the Kalka, near where it flows into the sea of Azoff, and adjoining the site of the present town of Mariupol. On this occasion, however, the Mongols only marched a little way up the river Dnieper, and retired after devastating the country. In 1238 they reappeared, and after destroying Bolgari, the capital of the Finnish Bulgarians on the Volga, advanced against Ryazan, which was plundered and burned, with adjoining cities. They then defeated the army of Suzdal, at Kolomna, on the Oka ; after which they burned Moscow, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, and other important towns. The grand- duke Yuri of Suzdal had encamped on the river Sit, almost on the frontiers of the territory of Novgorod. He was there defeated and was decapitated on the field of battle, while his nephew Vasilko had his throat cut for refusing to serve Batu. After taking Tver and advancing within fifty leagues of Novgorod, the Mongols turned south and occupied the two following years (1239-1240) in ravaging southern Russia. They then burned Pereiaslavl and Tchernigoff, and Mangu, the grandson of Jenghiz Khan, directed his march against Kieff. The noise of the great host proceeding to the capture of the fated city is graphic- ally described by the chronicler. The city was taken and given up to pillage, not even the graves being respected. Volhynia and Galicia followed the fate of the other prin- cipalities, and all Russia was now under the yoke of the Mongols, except the territory of Novgorod. The subsequent movements of these barbarians in Hungary and Moravia cannot be described here. It will suffice to say that soon afterwards Batu turned eastwards. He next founded on the Volga the city of Sarai (the Palace), which became the capital of the powerful Mon- golian empire, the Golden Horde. Here also congregated the remains of the Petchenegs, the Polovtzes, and other tribes, and to these barbarians Russia was for a long time tributary. In 1272 the Mongolian hordes embraced Islam. Yaroslaff, who entered into his territory of Suzdal after the death of his brother Yuri, found his hereditary domains completely devastated. He had commenced re- building the ruined town, when he was summoned by Batu to do him homage in his new capital of Sarai. This, however, was not considered sufficient, and the poor prince was obliged to betake himself to the court of the great khan, which was at the further end of Asia, on the banks of the river Amur. His title was confirmed, but on his return he died of the fatigues of the journey. He was succeeded in Suzdal by his son Andrew (1246-1252). His other son Alexander reigned at Novgorod the Great, and gained the surname of Nevski from his celebrated victory over the Swedes in 1240. He and Dmitri Donskoi are the only great figures of this period of national abase- ment. Alexander Nevski has become consecrated in the memories of the people, and is now one of the leading Russian saints. In spite, however, of his services to the people of Novgorod, he afterwards quarrelled with them and retired to Pereiaslavl Zaliesski. But the citizens were soon glad to betake themselves to his help. On being invaded by the German Sword-bearing Knights, who had established themselves in Livonia in the year 1201, and an army of Finns, Alexander was summoned, like another Camillus, and defeated the enemy on Lake Peipus in what was called the "Battle of the Ice" in 1242. He entered Novgorod in triumph with his prisoners. In spite of all this brilliant success, Alexander was unable to resist the power of the Golden Horde, and was obliged to go to Sarai to do homage to the khan. He was accompanied by his brother Andrew. The ceremony was always attended by many degrading acts of submission on the part of the tributary prince. In 1260 the Novgorodians, who had so long preserved the liberty of their republic uninjured, consented to submit to the khan and pay tribute ; Alexander died before reaching Vladimir on his return from one of these humiliating journeys. A great part of western Russia was now consolidated by the Lithuanian princes into a state, the capital of which was Vilua and the language White Russian. To this many of the western provinces of Russia gravitated, and by the marriage of the Polish heiress Jadwiga with Jagietto of Lithuania these provinces went to Poland and were not reannexed to Russia till a much later period. The eastern portion of Russia grouped itself round Moscow, which is first heard of in the chronicles in 1147. We find four con- siderable eastern states Ryazan, Suzdal, Tver, and Moscow. For a century after its foundation we hear nothing of this city, the name of which is certainly Finnish. We are told that it was burned by the Mongols in 1237, and that a brother of Alexander Nevski was killed there in 1248, in a battle against the Lithuanians. We have seen that the political centre of the country has constantly changed. From Novgorod it went to Kieff, from Kieff to Vladimir, the capital of Suzdal, and from Vladimir to Moscow; we shall soon find that owing to the vigorous policy of its rulers this principality became the nucleus of the great Russian empire, and gathered round it the adjacent states. Its true founder was Daniel, a son of Alexander Nevski, who added to it the cities of Pereiaslavl Zaliesski and Kolomna. At his death in 1303 he was the first to be buried in the church of St Michael the Archangel, where all the Russian sovereigns were laid till the days of Peter the Great. Since that time, with the exception of Peter IL, they have been interred in the church of the Petro- pavlovski fortress at St Petersburg. Daniel was followed on the throne by his sons Yuri and Ivan in succession. Yuri Danilovich (1303-1326) took possession of Mozhaisk. The