Vyatichi, Slavic tribe, who lived in the east of the Slavic lands from the 8th to the 13th centuries AD. Their role in the formation of the Russian state is difficult to deny, since the number of this tribe was very large. By the standards of those times, when the number of people on the planet was small, the Vyatichi were considered a whole nation, which stood out clearly against the background of such tribes as Dregovichi, Drevlyans, Polans or Ilmen Slavs. Archaeologists attribute the Vyatichi to a very large group Romano-Borschagov culture, which also includes all the above-mentioned tribes and small groups.
In the annals they were noted as excellent farmers, blacksmiths, hunters and warriors. This tribe for a long time remained practically impregnable for many invaders, because they acted under the control of a single prince, and not as scattered groups torn apart by civil strife. Some historians are inclined to believe that Vyatichi possessed all the signs of the original state - there was a code of laws, their own regular army, symbolism and culture. were included in the pantheon of the gods of this tribe. Therefore, the Vyatichi can be considered one of the key peoples who formed.
Etymology of the word "Vyatichi"
The most plausible version of the origin of the name of this tribe is considered to be the one that refers to the name of the first prince, known as Vyatko. There are also other versions. So, according to the Indo-European version Slavs Vyatichi got their name from the same root word vent, which meant in those days "wet". This is attributed to the fact that they inhabited wetlands. Also, some historians believe that the Vandals or Vendels, in some way, are akin in name to this tribe. Since the data was collected from various documents written in ancient languages, they vary greatly.
Land of the Vyatichi
The Arabic name of the lands inhabited by this tribe is also very interesting. The Arabs called them a separate country, and even with separate name Vantite. In order to understand what lands were inhabited by these ancient peoples, it is easier to describe their possessions within the boundaries of modern regions. Partly they were in the Moscow region, a small part of the land also lay in the modern Smolensk region. To the west, the lands of the Vyatichi extended to Voronezh and Lipetsk. Almost completely, these Slavs settled in the Oryol, Tula, Ryazan and Kaluga regions. There are still disputes between historians about the presence of the Vyatichi in the territory of the modern Lipetsk region. In general, their lands are briefly described as being part of the Oka basin.
Vyatichi princes
At the moment when it was formed, and Rurik ascended the throne in Kyiv, Vyatichi were not part of this state. The fact that the first prince of the Vyatichi was Vyatko is known not so much from historical documents how many of the legends. Upon joining the Old Russian state they took power from Kyiv, but soon found themselves practically cut off from the rest of the Slavs by the Khazars, to whom they paid tribute. Therefore, there is very little information about the local princes of this tribe. They did not mint their own coins, and also did not have their own seals, officially confirmed by the supreme Kyiv prince. In fact, they needed it only for a military alliance, but in general they had all the signs of statehood.
Assimilation of the Slavic tribe Vyatichi
It is believed that Vyatichi, as Slavic tribe, finally began to lose their main features under the influence of the Khazars. In fact, they had nothing to lose, so they went to the northern lands, where the nomads did not want to go to war. The Khazars considered it prestigious to marry a Slavic woman, so over time the gene pool of this tribe was mixed. It is difficult to trace the situation among the Vyatichi during the Great Migration of Nations, but it is impossible to say that this did not affect them in any way. Vyatichi just disappeared for centuries. According to archaeological research, due to living in damp lands, a third of the Vyatichi population did not live up to 10 years, and visiting people from other tribes quickly occupied the vacated places. The way to the north dissolved the Vyatichi in the Balts and Finno-Ugric peoples.
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All attempts by Christian missionaries to penetrate here in order to "save the Slavic souls lost in the endless Vyatich forests" were in vain. The chronicle preserved the story of how the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, blessed Kuksha, with his disciple, who arrived here in the 12th century to bring the “word of God” to the banks of the Oka and Moscow, were “truncated through many torments” by adherents of old customs.
Proud, adamant Vyatichi, who did not want to submit even to the supreme princely authority, continued to bury their relatives under the mounds of majestic mounds until the 13th century, dressing the dead in rich wedding clothes with many decorations, speckled with pagan incantatory symbols. And they escorted the dead to another world not with sad, mournful cries, but with ritual, death-conquering laughter and noisy feasts, which were arranged on their graves.
The Vyatichi burial mound, which “blossomed” by the middle of the 12th century, is called by archaeologists the swan song of Slavic paganism. Scientists still cannot clearly explain why by this time, against the backdrop of a general regression of paganism, here suddenly with new force, albeit briefly, this bright archaic custom flares up.
However - a strange, it would seem, thing! - until recently, only single objects and finds of a pagan ritual nature were known, made along the banks of the Moscow River and its numerous tributaries among thousands of mounds and settlements and settlements synchronous to them. For forty years, from publication to publication, a poor idol from the village of Akulinino, near Moscow, roamed in splendid isolation - simply for lack of other material available to researchers. For a long time this was explained by the fact that there are “no more and should not be” such finds here; even the authenticity of the Akulinin find itself was called into question. Pundits of the "old school" stubbornly did not recognize the presence of their Vyatichi ancient tradition, while artificially simplifying the answer to the "seditious" question about the pre-Christian religion of all Eastern Slavs. So, at one time at the Department of Archeology of Moscow State University, doubtful students were clearly explained that, they say, paganism is not at all a culture of relationships with Nature, not unity with it and not the most complex system of ancient knowledge, customs, rituals, but simply a complex of primitive beliefs in the spirits of nature - goblin and water, to which the cult of ancestors was mixed - belief in navi and ghouls: “It is wrong to call such views religion.
It is, rather, "natural science", corresponding to the level of knowledge of that time. Taken together, superstitions were some kind of worldview, but they cannot be considered a real religious cult, just as it is impossible to identify a brownie with God the Creator. ..” Naturally, with such an approach to the problem, there could be no question of the existence of any traces, material remnants of paganism - this huge cultural layer. Most likely, this is why none of the archaeologists tried to purposefully look for them, and if a certain curiosity came across “accidentally” in the excavation, then, as a rule, it was mentioned only in passing in the scientific report ...
In fact, the Moscow region is a real treasure trove for researchers of the history and religious beliefs of the ancient Vyatichi people. As it becomes clear in Lately, in addition to mounds, there are first-class Slavic monuments, replete with objects of the pagan circle. We will tell you about similar finds in the west of the Moscow region - within the ancient Zvenigorod land. It was there that metropolitan archaeologists recently managed to make a number of truly sensational discoveries.
The surroundings of Zvenigorod have long attracted the attention of researchers. It is noteworthy that it was here in 1838 that the first archaeological excavations in the Moscow region were carried out. And it all started like this...
Local peasants, cultivating their fields along the banks of the Moscow River, continually plowed out of the ground and handed over all kinds of ancient objects to the county government. Weapons, outlandish jewelry, coins, shards of richly ornamented dishes - everything spoke in favor of the fact that these picturesque shores were already quite densely populated by the ancient Slavs by the 10th-12th centuries, who located settlements and small towns on every convenient cape. On the contrary, they tried to hide their main shrines - family cemeteries - away from the coast and prying eyes. So in the upper reaches of numerous ravines and forest channels, in quiet secluded glades, small burial grounds arose; some of them eventually grew to enormous sizes and numbered up to 200 - 300 mounds. Such, for example, are the largest pagan necropolis in the Moscow region near the village of Podushkino near Odintsovo, as well as vast ancient cemeteries in the forests near the villages of Goryshkino and Tagankovo ...
The main part of the famous Slavic settlements of the Moskvoretsky basin is small. These were predominantly two- or three-yard villages where ordinary communal peasants lived. However, in addition to ordinary villages, in the district of Zvenigorod for last years Several new, atypical settlements of the 10th-12th centuries were discovered, which had a significant area and a powerful cultural layer, full of interesting finds, which are very different from the widespread rural "consumer goods". So, in a settlement near the village of Savvinskaya Sloboda, a lot of Slavic jewelry, imported items, weight weights, and a battle ax were found. Archaeologists have studied residential buildings, as well as the remains of a religious building with stone lining. Of the other items found here, a slate whorl with a unique graffiti pattern should be highlighted. According to the author of the find, Dr. historical sciences A.K. Stanyukovich, seven signs drawn on the whorl, according to at least five of which are solar, can symbolize the Russian (Kupala) week.
In 2000, a fragment of a stone plate with a carved image of a winged anthropomorphic figure was found in a settlement near the village of Islavskoye. Despite the fact that only part of the drawing has been preserved, the overall composition is easily reconstructed. Similar stone images-masks are known in the collections of some museums. Until the 19th century, such objects were used in peasant life as pagan amulets-amulets against various diseases of poultry and were called "chicken gods".
However, the most outstanding archaeological discovery in recent years has been a huge Slavic settlement discovered on the westernmost outskirts of the Odintsovo region. The settlement has a really huge area - about 60,000 square meters - and occupies both banks of the Moskva River, thus dividing into the main (left-bank) upland part and the lower (river) trade and craft settlement. The mere collection of lifting material on fresh plowing with electronic metal detectors gave such results here that it is just right to revise the entire ancient history of the Moscow region!!!
In the cultural layer of the settlement, many Slavic, Finnish, Baltic ornaments of the 11th-12th centuries were found, including the rarest types for the Moskvoretsky basin. TO unique finds include the Scandinavian fibula and tortirovannaya hryvnia, as well as the silver Saxon denarius, minted under Duke Ordulf in the city of Ever. This suggests that local residents were actively involved in trade operations with Western Europe and distant Scandinavia. By the way, today the mentioned denarius is the first and only early medieval European coin found in the settlements of the vast Vyatichi region.
Judging by the found things and ceramics, this settlement reached its peak in the 11th century, at a time when Zvenigorod was not even in sight, and stumps were still being uprooted on the Borovitsky hill of the future Moscow Kremlin, clearing the place for the future village of Kuchkovo. The finds of seven-lobed temporal rings and other characteristic ornaments made it possible to determine the ethnicity of the ancient inhabitants of this proto-urban center of the Moskvoretskaya Valley: its main population was the Vyatichi. But there are also Radimich, as well as earlier Meryan jewelry. A large number of pendants-amulets and all kinds of items with pagan ornamentation, from bronze bells to pendants with a swastika, eloquently speaks of the religious preferences of the locals. However, among the finds there are also several imported early Christian crosses of the Scandinavian type. Findings of amulets in the form of miniature bronze axes, exactly repeating the shape of combat squad axes, are associated with the cult of Perun and specific military rites. It is noteworthy that amulets in the form of models military weapons find for the most part during excavations of ancient Russian cities and within the main trade routes, such as the "Way from the Varangians to the Greeks." They are practically never found in ordinary settlements and mounds. Here, these and a number of other finds indicate precisely the urban nature of the monument. It is also curious that most of the pagan objects found here were deliberately damaged in ancient times - things are bent, broken, in some cases have traces of fire, which may indicate either some pagan rite of purposeful "killing" of a certain thing, or the consequences of a punitive actions of zealots of the new faith, "by fire and sword" convincing the Slavs to abandon their "filthy" customs ...
Thus, taking into account the huge area occupied by the settlement (a significant part of the cultural layer of which is located under modern village buildings, and the coastal part was destroyed by medieval quarries), as well as analyzing the material obtained, we can say with a high degree of certainty that the open monument was the largest Vyatichi center of the 11th-12th centuries. In terms of its area, it was three times (!) Even the ancient Dedoslavl (the ancient settlement of Dedilovo in Tula region), where, according to the chronicle, the veche of the entire Vyatichi land gathered. What kind of center it was is still unknown. Perhaps this is still not discovered Kordno - the city where the table of Khodota, the Vyatichi prince, or the leader-elder, who dared to fight with Vladimir Monomakh himself in 1082-1083, was located. Some researchers, including B.A. Rybakov, place this mysterious city somewhere on the banks of the Oka, within the modern Tula region, which, however, is doubtful, since by the second half of the 11th century this entire territory belonged to the Chernigov principality, which means it was under the reliable control of the stern and decisive Monomakh , who reigned in Chernigov in 1078-1094.
It is hardly formidable Vladimir, who fought with the steppe inhabitants more than once in his life and took up to twenty Polovtsian khans prisoner in another campaign, would allow the impudent antics of Khodota and his son within his own land. But he could well walk (as he himself writes in his famous "Instruction") two winters to the banks of the Moscow River - to the northern, most remote and still independent part of the Vyatichi territory, where Hodota could have and own city, and even a squad to confront the future famous Kyiv prince. Judging by the already mentioned finds of seven-lobed temporal rings and burial mounds of the 11th-12th centuries, the largest number of which is concentrated not at all in Tula or Ryazan, but in the vicinity of Zvenigorod and Moscow, it should, apparently, be considered that the center of the Vyatichi land shifted precisely here, to the deaf and safe then forests.
Such a shift could occur, for example, as a result of the expansion of the Kiev princes, who in the 10th-11th centuries undertook repeated campaigns against the Oka in order to subjugate this freedom-loving and proud people, who in the end preferred to leave for the north of their territory, but not accept the fate prepared for them - that the same, which befell the neighboring Radimichi, conquered by the Kiev governor by name or nickname Wolf Tail. However, the memory of the abandoned cities of their fathers and grandfathers was alive among the Vyatichi even in the middle of the 12th century. It is no coincidence that at the veche of 1146, the Vyatichi men arrived in ancient Dedoslavl, which was then already in Chernihiv territory. The veche was convened at the request of the princes of Chernigov, Vladimir and Izyaslav Davydovich, who were seeking help from independent Vyatichi people against their enemy Svyatoslav Olgovich. But if the Vyatichi at that time lived somewhere in the vicinity of Dedoslavl, they would inevitably be subordinate to Chernigov. In this case, would the Davydovichs have to go to a humiliating bow? Wouldn't it be enough to give the Vyatich elders the usual order to the militia?
By the way, the year following the Vyatichi Congress, Dedoslavl turns out to be a gathering place for Svyatoslav's squads and Polovtsian detachments, who then marched against the Smolyans on the Ugra, and there is no mention of any Vyatichi in these places in the annals ...
In the middle - the second half of the XII century, the vast settlement on the Moscow River ceased to exist. The end of its existence coincides with the capture and final division of the original Vyatichi territory by the Chernigov, Smolensk and Vladimir-Suzdal princes and with the emergence in the Moscow region of the first princely outpost cities - Moscow, Zvenigorod, Mozhaisk, Kolomna, etc. Most likely, it was external aggression carried out with sides of these border fortresses, and was one of the main reasons for the desolation of the Vyatichi settlement, which turned out to be at the junction of three hostile states. Archaeologists have just begun to explore the ancient Slavic city, but he has already begun to present them with unexpected surprises. So, quite by accident, in the very first excavation, scientists stumbled upon the remains of a large necropolis, with burials, where they discovered luxurious ancient jewelry. Pagan cremation, the remains of ritual funeral feasts, the unique burial of a sacrificial horse, and much more were investigated. In one of the upcoming issues of Russian Tradition, we will certainly tell readers about the new discoveries of archaeologists studying this most interesting monument of our culture.
Alexey Borunov
Vyatichi is one of tribal unions Eastern Slavs, which existed according to official data between the 8th and 13th centuries AD in the upper and middle reaches of the Oka. Now these are the territories of modern Tula, Orel, Ryazan, Kaluga, Moscow, Lipetsk and Smolensk regions.
Most sources agree that the name of the union came from the name of the founder of the tribe - Vyatko.
In the VIII-IX centuries, tribes led by the elder Vyatko came to the interfluve of the Volga and Oka and to the upper Don. The chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" writes on this occasion: "And Vyatko is gray with his family according to Otse, from whom they are called Vyatichi." A map of the settlement of the Vyatichi in the 11th century can be viewed on the map.
Vyatichi life
The territory where the Vyatichi once lived was covered with impenetrable forests in the 12th century. There is even this story:
In 1175, during a princely feud, two troops marching against each other (one from Moscow, the other from Vladimir) got lost in the thickets and missed each other without a fight.
So, among these dense forests, the Vyatichi settled. They settled near rivers. And there are at least a few reasons for this:
- the river is a source of food;
- trade waterway- one of the most reliable, at that time.
The Vyatichi, however, like other Slavic tribes, built small (usually 4 by 4 meters) semi-dugouts for housing (a dwelling dug in the ground, lined with wood from the inside and having a gable roof, which slightly rose above the ground and was covered with turf).
A little later, the Slavs began to build log houses (sometimes even two floors), which, in addition to their main function, also performed a protective function. Outbuildings (sheds, cellars, barns) and, of course, cattle pens were located in the yards of such houses. All the houses in the settlement were turned "facing the water".
Archaeological excavations in the land of the Vyatichi have opened numerous craft workshops of metallurgists, blacksmiths, metalworkers, jewelers, potters, stone cutters. Metallurgy was based on local raw materials - swamp and meadow ores, as everywhere in Rus'. Iron was processed in forges, where special forges with a diameter of about 60 cm were used. Jewelery reached a high level among the Vyatichi people. The collection of casting molds found in our area is second only to Kyiv: 19 foundry molds were found in one place called Serensk. Craftsmen made bracelets, rings, temporal rings, crosses, amulets, etc. 
Rings found in the Vorotyn settlement on the Ressa River
The family nest of the Vyatichi in Rus' was considered the city of Kozelsk.
Vyatichi conducted a brisk trade. Trade relations were established with the Arab world, they went along the Oka and Volga, as well as along the Don and further along the Volga and the Caspian Sea. At the beginning of the 11th century, trade was established with Western Europe, from where handicrafts came.
Freedom-loving tribe of Vyatichi
The Vyatichi settled in a fertile land, achieved some success in crafts and agriculture, actively traded with their neighbors, and all this naturally contributed to population growth.
Until the 12th century, there is no mention of their city in the annals. This, of course, is not such a mystery - the Vyatichi lived very, very apart. But back to the 12th century.
1146-1147 years - another round in the history of civil strife. This time the dispute between themselves was conducted by two princely dynasties: Monomakhovichi and Svyatoslavichi. Naturally, the war did not pass the territory where the Vyatichi lived. And where there are princes and wars, there are chroniclers. So the names of ancient Slavic cities began to flicker in the annals
The Tale of Bygone Years tells us about an alleged military clash in 964 by Prince Svyatoslav with Vyatichi: "Vyatichi defeat Svyatoslav and pay tribute to him ...".
In fact, there was no war, just Svyatoslav was preparing an attack on the Khazars, secretly gathering an army from loyal tribes all winter, from where his frightening expression sounded in the spring: “I’m going to you!”. It was the Ryazan land that became the stronghold of Svyatoslav's victories, where he enlisted the support of the Magi, receiving from them the ancient Aryan knowledge and the highest initiation.
After the insidious murder of Svyatoslav at the Dnieper rapids, the Vyatichi did not recognize the power of the traitor Sveneld. The same chronicle speaks of the new conquest of Aryan Rus by Kiev, in 981, by Prince Vladimir: “Vyatichi win and put tribute on me from the plow, like his father imache ...”.
The annals also mention that a year later, Prince Vladimir had to pacify the Vyatichi for the second time: “Zaratisha Vyatichi and going to Volodymyr and I won the second ...”.
And here it seems that it was not just the indignation of the Vyatichi alone, but also of their relatives - the Severyans and the Radimichs. The defeat of the Radimichs in 984 is also mentioned in the annals: “Ide Volodymyr to the Radimichs. If he had a governor Volchiy Khvost and ambassador Volodymyr in front of him Volchiy Khvost, I will eat on the Pischan River, and defeat Radimich Volchiy Khvost. That and Rus' are reproached by the Radimichs, saying: "The pishchantsy of the wolf's tail are running around." Bysha Radimich from the kind of Lyakhs, having come to this place and paying tribute to Rus' ... ".
These clashes described in the annals were not any war of the Kiev prince with the Vyatichi, Radimich and Severtsy, but there are only border conflicts that happened between neighbors, especially since the Kiev land was not "Rus" and even more so called. The concept of " Kievan Rus" was born in scientific circles much later, somewhere in the 18th century (thanks to "our German scientists" who made up the history of Russia).
Religion
The Vyatichi were pagans and for a long time retained the ancient faith. Among the Vyatichi, the main god was Stribog (“Old God”), who created the universe, the Earth, all the gods, people, flora and fauna. It was he who gave people blacksmith tongs, taught them how to smelt copper and iron, and also established the first laws.
In addition, they worshiped Yarila, the god of the Sun, who travels across the sky in a wonderful chariot harnessed by four white, golden-maned horses with golden wings.
Every year on June 23, the holiday of Kupala, the god of earthly fruits, was celebrated, when the sun gives the greatest strength to plants and medicinal herbs were collected. Vyatichi believed that on the night of Kupala, trees move from place to place and talk to each other with the noise of branches, and whoever has a fern with him can understand the language of each creation.
Among young people, Lel, the god of love, who appeared in the world every spring, was especially revered in order to unlock them with his flower keys. earth's interior for the lush growth of herbs, bushes and trees, for the triumph of the all-conquering power of Love. The goddess Lada, the patroness of marriage and family, was sung by the Vyatichi people.
In addition, the Vyatichi worshiped the forces of nature. So, they believed in the goblin - the owner of the forest, a wild creature that was taller than any tall tree.
Archaeological evidence of the Vyatichi
On the Tula land, as well as in the neighboring regions - Oryol, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan - groups of mounds are known, and in some cases investigated - the remains of pagan cemeteries of the ancient Vyatichi. The mounds near the village of Zapadnaya and s. Dobrogo Suvorovsky district, near the village of Triznovo, Shchekino district. 
During the excavations, the remains of cremations were found, sometimes several of different times. In some cases they are placed in an earthenware urn, in others they are stacked on a cleared area with an annular ditch. In a number of mounds, burial chambers were found - wooden log cabins with a plank floor and a covering of split limbs. The entrance to such a domina - a collective tomb - was laid with stones or boards, and therefore could be opened for subsequent burials. In other burial mounds, including those nearby, there are no such structures.
Establishing the features of the funeral rite, ceramics and things found during excavations, their comparison with other materials helps to at least to some extent compensate for the extreme scarcity of written information that has come down to us about the local population of that distant time, about ancient history our region. Archaeological materials confirm the information of the chronicle about the connections of the local Vyatic, Slavic tribe with other related tribes and tribal unions, about long-term preservation in everyday life and culture local population old tribal traditions and customs.
Sanctuaries of the Vyatichi
Dedilovo village (formerly Dedilovskaya Sloboda) - the remains of the sacred city of the Vyatichi Dedoslavl on the Shivoron River (a tributary of the Upa), 30 km. southeast of Tula. [B.A. Rybakov, Kievan Rus and Russian principalities of the 12th-13th centuries, M., 1993]
Venevsky toponymic node - 10-15 km from Venev in the South-Eastern sector; settlements of Dedilovskie settlements, settlements of Terebush, settlements of Gorodenets.
How did the history of the Vyatichi tribe end?
The Vyatichi tribes resisted the invasion of the Kyiv princes for a long time, and most importantly - new religion that they were carrying. It is known about the uprising of Khodota with his son, which took place in 1066. Vladimir Monomakh goes to pacify them. His first two campaigns ended in nothing. The squad passed through the forests without meeting the enemy. Only during the third campaign Monomakh overtook and defeated the Khodota forest army, but his leader managed to escape.
Since the XII century, the territory of the Vyatichi became part of the Chernigov, Rostov-Suzdal and Ryazan principalities. Until the end of the 13th century, the Vyatichi retained many pagan rituals and traditions, in particular, they cremated the dead, erecting small mounds over the burial place. After Christianity took root among the Vyatichi, the rite of cremation gradually went out of use.
In the future, feeling the pressure of Kyiv, some freedom-loving families of the Vyatichi went further to the North, beyond the Urals, to Siberia. Nestor in his chronicle says the following: "Radimichi and Vyatichi, and Severo are the same customs of the imakh ...".
Vyatichi retained their tribal name longer than other Slavs. They lived without princes, the social structure was characterized by self-government and democracy. IN last time Vyatichi are mentioned in chronicles under such a tribal name in 1197.
