Upper Oka Principalities
Template:Short description Template:Use Oxford spelling Template:Use dmy dates Template:CS1 config Template:Use shortened footnotes
In Russian historiography the term Upper Oka Principalities (Template:Langx) traditionally applies to about a dozen tiny and ephemeral polities situated along the upper course of the Oka River at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". They were reigned by the "upper princes", each of which descended from Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov (Grand Prince of Kiev c. 1236–1243).Template:Sfn since 2025[update]Template:Dated maintenance category (articles)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". the areas of these former polities lie within the present-day territories of various federal subjects of Russia: the Tula Oblast, the Kaluga Oblast, the Oryol Oblast and the Bryansk Oblast.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Following the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' of 1223–1240, the formerly prominent Olgovichi clan of the Principality of Chernigov gradually declined to a point where the descendants of Mikhail of Chernigov (died 1246) ruled dozens of quasi-sovereign entities.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". After 1350, as the principalities became wedged-in as buffer states between the ever-expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania (established in 1236) to the west and the nascent Principality of Moscow (established in 1263) to the north,Template:Sfn the various Upper Oka polities fluctuated between alignments with each of these two major regional powers.
By the end of the 14th century, they were obliged to pay annual tribute to Lithuania.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The strengthening alliance of Lithuanian rulers with Roman Catholic Poland caused shifts in the balance of power in the region. Most Orthodox rulers of the Upper Oka Principalities, therefore, started to look to Moscow for protection against Lithuanian expansionism.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Others sought Lithuanian protection against Muscovite aggression, such as Prince Ivan of Mozhaysk who in 1454 fled to Lithuania to escape from Vasily II of Moscow.Template:Sfn Towards the end of the 15th century, most of these princelings had moved to the Muscovite court. In 1494 Lithuania finally renounced her claims to the region.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
List of principalities (in order of seniority)
- Odoyev (Principality of Odoyev) and NovosilTemplate:Sfn - the seats of the Odoyevsky princes,Template:Sfn retained by them as an appanage until the Oprichnina of 1565-1572
- Belyov (or Belev;Template:Sfn Principality of Belyov) - the seat of the Belyovsky princesTemplate:Sfn (1468-1588)
- Vorotynsk - the seat of the Vorotynsky princes,Template:Sfn retained by them as an appanage until the Oprichnina
- Mosalsk - the seat of the Mosalsky princesTemplate:Sfn
- Template:Ill - the seat of the Zvenigorodsky princesTemplate:Sfn and the Nozdrevaty princesScript error: No such module "Unsubst".
- Karachev - the seat of the Khotetovsky princes
- Kozelsk and Peremyshl - the seats of Princes Gorchakov
- Tarusa (Principality of Tarusa or Torusa)Template:Sfn and Meshchevsk (now Meshchovsk) - the seats of Princes Mezetsky with their cadet branches of Teterin, Shcherbatov
- Boryatino - the seat of Princes Boryatinsky
- Obolensk - the seat of the Obolensky princesTemplate:Sfn with their cadet branches of Repnin, Lykov, Dolgorukov, Shcherbatov, etc.
Script error: No such module "Gallery".
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Sources
<templatestyles src="Refbegin/styles.css" />
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Further reading
<templatestyles src="Refbegin/styles.css" />
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".