Vyatichi
Vyatichs were a tribe of Early East Slavs, which inhabited a part of the Oka basin.
The Primary Chronicle names a certain tribal leader Vyatko as the forefather of the tribe. The Vyatichs
were mainly engaged in farming and cattle-breeding. Between the 9th and 10th centuries, the Vyatichs
were paying tribute to the Khazars and later the Kievan princes. The tribe, however, was constantly
trying to defend its own political independence up until the early 12th century. By the 11th century, the
Vyatichs had already populated the Moskva basin and the area of today's Moscow
Formed from:
Viking/Baltic roots
Original Record of:
Mentioned in the Primary Chronicle
Lived in the forest & inhabited a part of the Oka basin
The view has even been put forward that the tradition whereby the Radimichi and the Vyatichi arrived
in Eastern Europe "from the land of the Lyakhs" (Poles) is evidence showing that some of the tribes of
the Venedi, which occupied the northern part of the East European Plain, were also involved in the
process of migration from west to east that occurred at the turn of the seventh and eighth centuries.
Migrations & Changes:
By the 11th century, the Vyatichs had already populated the Moskva basin and the area of today's
Moscow. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the tribe founded a number cities due to developing
handicrafts and increasing trade, including Moscow (or what would be Moscow proper), Koltesk,
Dedoslav, Nerinsk and others. In the second half of the 12th century the land of the Vyatichs was
distributed among the princes of Suzdal and Chernigov. The last direct reference to the Vyatichs was
made in a chronicle under the year of 1197. Indirect references, however, may be traced to the early
14th century.
Cities or towns:
Moscow, Koltesk ,Dedoslav ,Nerinsk Founded in 1147, Riazan, Oryol, Mitsensk, Novosil, Kromy,Bitsa,
Karachev , Domagosch
First reference to Moscow dates from 1147 when it was an obscure town in a small province inhabited
mostly by Merya, speakers of a now extinct Finnic language. In 1156, they were sacked by the Mongols.
Towns that were in Vyatichi territory between 1164 and 1201 per The Dyanasty of Chernigov by Martin
Dimnik
Klechesk ( founded by the Dregovichi) , ,Rognachev , Gomiy ( also known as Gomel), Listven ,
Orgoshch , Shovsk, Chernigov , Benitsy , Svrilsk, Lopsana, Tarusa, Lobynsk, Mosalsk, Bleve,
Vorotinesk, Bryn, Devygorsk, Bryansk, Novgorod Severskiy, Kromy,,Boldyzh, Olgov, Sevsk, Vyr,
Vyakhan, Bakhmach, Unenez, Blestovit, Khorobar, Glukov, Trubchevsk,Vshchizh , Vorobeyna, Stardub,
Monastery: , Ipatiev Monastery ( Hyapatian Monastery)1330, Rozhdestvensky monastery, Ascension
Convent 1389 , Solovetsky Monastery was founded in the late 1429
Neighbors
9th Century:
Dreveylane to the E; Tyvercy to the S; Krivichi to the N, Radmichi to the E, Chorvati to the far S with
lots of open territory between them.
Recorded names:
male: Vyatako,Yury Dolgorurky, Daniil Alexandrovich, Mikhail, Dmitry Donskoy.,Rostov Ivan,1318 -
1322 Yuri of Moscow , 1328 - 1341 Ivan I of Moscow (Ivan the Moneybag) , Ratsha and Tudor- listed
as Vsevolods former administrators, Vladimir Davidovich, Izyslav, Ivan Voitishich a voevoda in 1117
one of Vladimir Monomakhs commanders, Svyatosha a monk, Svyatoslavs retainers- Ivanko Yurevich,
Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Murom, Ivan Berladnik, Igumen (title similar to abbot) Ananiya, Azary Chudin
(tysyatskiy-commander of town militia), Igumen (title similar to abbot) Policarp, Adrian - a son of
Svyatoslav, Igumen (title similar to abbot) Efrem of the Eletskiy Monastery, (Igumen) Vasily, Ol'stin
-Yarpolks envoy, Nikita- a healer of St, Nicetas Monastery,
female: Maria - Vsevolds wife and sister of Izyaslav, Zvenislava - daughter of Vsevolod, Catherine- a
wife of Svyatoslav, Agafia- daughter of Rostislav, Boleslava- daughter of Svyatoslav-wife of Vladimir,
Yaroslavna - daughter of Yaroslav Osmomysland a wife of Vladimir, Nastska - Yaroslavs concubine,
Irene - a wife of Yaroslav, Anastasia, Yasynya, Marfa, Veseslava- daughter of Vsevolod married
Rostislav, Feodula, Xenia of Tarusa was a daughter of Youri Mikhailovich, Prince of Tarusa
Neighbors
9th Century:
Krivichi to the N, Radmichi to the E, Chorvati to the far S with lots of open territory between them
Sources for Research:
Primary Chronicle
Fragments from the History of Byelorussia (To 1700) Material for Historical Research and Study of the
Subject by Prof. R. Ostrowski
The Dynasty of Chernigov, 1146-1246 By Martin Dimnik - this book contains records of royal houses in
the area (names)
There are numerous archeological monuments in Moscow that tell historians about the Vyatichs. Their
fortified settlements of the 11th century were located in the historical center of today's Moscow,
namely, the Borovitsky Hill, Kolomenskoye (the spot of the former Diakovskoye village), Kuntsevo (a
district of Moscow) and others. One may also find traces of the Vyatich settlements in Brateyevo,
Zyuzino, Alyoshkino, Matveyevskoye and other localities of Moscow. Burial mounds with cremated
bodies have been found along the upper reaches of the Oka and Don.
Lyubetskiy sinodik
History of the USSR In Three Parts Part~II From the earliest times to the Great October Socialist
Revolution
http://leninist.biz/en/1981/1HU376/02.1-Ancient.Russian.State