Principality of Murom

The Principality of Murom was a medieval Rus' lordship based on the city of Murom, now in Vladimir Oblast, Russia. Murom lay in an area that was strongly Finno-Ugric for much of its medieval history, located in the homeland of the Muromians. It appears to have been an important Finnic settlement in the ninth-century, with an archaeologically noticeable Scandinavian presence from the tenth-century, as evidenced by Frankish swords, a tortoiseshell brooch and a sword chape.

The Primary Chronicle alleges that Murom came under Rus' control in the eighth-century. Gleb Vladimirovich, son of Vladimir the Great, ruled the principality in the early eleventh-century. Murom was part of the territory of the Principality of Chernigov in the late eleventh-century, controlled by the Sviatoslavichi clan, the descendants of Iaroslav the Wise; probably it was retained by Vsevolod Iaroslavich even after this Prince of Chernigov became Grand Prince in 1076.

Oleg Sviatoslavich, grandson of Iaroslav and Prince of Chernigov, ruled Murom through a posadnik in the early 1090s, and it was recognised as Oleg's sphere of influence at the Liubech Conference of 1097. Here Oleg's brother Davyd was made co-ruler of Chernigov, and Oleg's lands were parcelled out between Oleg, Davyd and their brother Iaroslav; the latter obtained Murom with Ryazan.

Murom appears to have been destroyed or at least devastated by the Mongol Invasion of Rus' in 1237-8. Khan Batu came to the frontier of Ryazan in the winter of 1237, and demanded tribute from the princes of Ryazan, Murom and Pronsk. This was rejected, and devastation of these lands followed. After 1239, the princes of Murom disappear for nearly a century.

In 1392 Vasily Dmitr'evich, Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of Vladimir, obtained a patent from Khan Tokhtamysh authorising the annexation of the Murom principality, along with the principalities of Nizhni Novgorod and Gorodets.