ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRINCE’S POWER IN THE LANDS OF THE UPPER OKA (LATE 10th - FIRST HALF OF THE 12th CENTURY)
Authors:   The Civil Defence Academy of EMERCOM of Russia, TSYBAKOV D.L. 
Published: December 2024

The purpose of the articleis to examine the features of the inclusion of the Upper Oka region into the Ancient Russian state. The scientific problem lies in the lack of unity of opinion of the scientific community regarding the duration of the temporary period of integration of the Vyatichi land into the system of feudal statehood. The contradictions of the existing scientific ideas regarding the preservation of the autonomy of the lands of the Upper Oka as part of the Ancient Russian state, and then under the suzerainty of the Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky principalities, require resolution.
Comparative analysis and a comparative historical method are used as research methods to compare the relationship between the princely government and the tribal elite of the Vyatichi. To solve the problems of the study, a causal analysis of events in the area of the «Verkhovsky lands» was used, as well as a method of typologizing the stages of the history of the Vyatichi Land during the Middle Ages.
The novelty of the research lies in the systematization of scientific ideas about the struggle of the Grand ducal power for the territory of the Upper Oka in the conditions of the formation of feudal statehood, determining the prerequisites for maintaining the special status of the Vyatich tribal union in relations with the supreme overlords. The assumption of belonging of the Upper Pochae to the domain of the Novgorod-Seversky Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich is put forward and argued.
The author clarifies the nature of the relationship between the supreme power and proto-state communities ("chiefdoms", "Slavinias") of the East Slavic, Finnish and Baltic tribes in the era of Ancient Russia and feudal fragmentation. The content of the article can be used for further research on the history of the development of the Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversk principalities in the XI-XII centuries. Consideration of the transformation of the administrative-territorial structure of the «Verkhovsky lands» allows to extrapolate the author's developments in further understanding the structure of power relations of the ancient Russian statehood.
As a result, the author concludes that the objective nature of the preservation of the special status of the Vyatich tribal union in the system of feudal relations. The increase in the importance of the Upper Oka region as a resource base for princely Boyar colonization in the last quarter of the XI century is argued. This is associated with the transformation of the Verkhneoksky volosts into the subject of long-term rivalry between the princely families of the Olgovich and Davidovich. It is proved that the transformation of the Vyatich lands from a peripheral region into one of the epicenters of internecine confrontation should be associated with the conditions of feudal fragmentation. In a situation of increasing dynastic competition, the rival factions of the Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky principalities constantly needed to ensure their political claims by using the economic, communication and demographic potential of the territories of the Upper Oka.