Yugra - Yugrian Principalities and Relations With The Tatars and The Russians

Yugrian Principalities and Relations With The Tatars and The Russians

There are three or four known proto-states of the Yugran inhabitants, both Khanty and Mansi. The Principality of Pelym (largely Khanty) was located in the basin of the Konda river and stretched from the mouth of the Sosva River near Tavda up to Tabory. The stronghold of the Pelym princes was also a significant religious centre; a sacred Siberian larch grew in its surroundings and even in the 18th century people used to hang the skins of sacrificed horses on its branches. Near the sacred tree was a worship storehouse with five idols of human figure, and smaller storehouses with high pillars and human-faced peaks around it for storing sacrificial instruments. The bones of sacrificial animals were stored in a separate building (Novitski: 81). The Principality of Konda (mainly Mansi) formed a large semi autonomous part of the Pelym principality, according to the tax registers from 1628/29 it was inhabited by 257 tax-paying Mansi. The treasures of Prince Agai of Konda who was imprisoned by the Russians in 1594 gives us a good picture of the wealth of the Yugran nobles of this period. Namely, the Russians confiscated two silver crowns, a silver spoon, a silver beaker, a silver spiral bracelet, "precious drapery" and numerous pelts and precious furs (Bahrushin 1955,2: 146). The third part of the Pelym principality was the region of Tabary, in which inhabited 102 adults in 1628/29. Preceding the coming of the Russians the Mansi of this region were farmers and according to the tradition Yermak collected tribute in the form of grain (Bahrushin 1955,2: 147).

It is believed that the Yugran people or Ob-Ugrians had made trade with many countries far and wide since the earliest times. This trade was described in journals attributed to Abu Hamid al-Gharnati the Arab traveller during the 12th century:

"And from Bolghar merchants travel to the land of heathens, called Wisu; marvellous beaver skins come from there, and they take there wedge-shaped unpolished swords made in Azerbaijan in their turn… But the inhabitants of Visu take these swords to the land that lies near the Darkness (Yugra) by the Black Sea (now known as the White Sea), and they trade the swords for sable skins. And these people take the swords and cast them into the Black Sea; but Allah the Almighty sends them a fish which size is like a mountain (a whale); and they sail out to the fish in their ships and carve its flesh for months on end." (ibid:58-59)

According to some sources, Novgorod launched military campaigns against the Yugrans "living with the Samoyeds in the Land of Midnight" already at the end of the first millennium (Bahrushin 1955,1:86). At that time, the Russians probably came into contact with the Mansi who were still living in Europe, along the upper course of the river Pechora, in the neighbourhood of the ancient Komi realm of Great Perm. The Novgorod Chronicle tells of a military campaign under the leadership of Yadrei of Novgorod in 1193, which ended in the destruction of the Novgorod forces. The defeat was blamed on some Novgorodans who had reportedly "been in contact with the Yugrans" (Bahrushin 1955,1:75). In the 13th to 15th centuries, Yugra was supposed to pay tribute to Novgorod. But taxes could be collected only by means of armed forces. The chronicles describe several campaigns, mentioning the strong resistance of Yugran princes who took shelter in their strongholds. After the annexation of Ustyug by Moscow in the 14th century, Muscovite campaigns began instead of the Novgorodan ones.

In the 15th century, the most important Russian stronghold in Permland and the starting point for all expeditions going to the East was the diocese established on the Vym River by Stephan of Perm. In 1455 the Mansi of Pelym launched a campaign under the command of Prince Asyka. Moscow reciprocated by forming an alliance with Prince Vasily of Great Perm who together with the warriors of Vym who took part in the 1465 expedition to Yugra (Bahrushin 1955,1:76). It is recorded in the Russian Chronicles that in 1465 as a result of this raid that two minor "Yugrian" princes named Kalpik and Chepik were compelled to submit to the Russians and pay tribute. They were soon deposed. In a second campaign during 1467 Prince Asyka himself was captured and brought to Vyatka (Bahrushin 1955,2:113). In 1483 Moscow sent forth another expedition against the princes of Yugra and Konda where the "grand duke" Moldan was captured (Ibid). In 1499 Moscow dispatched a great force against "Yugra" (Pelym) (led by Prince Semyon Kurbski), Konda or Koda (led by Prince Pyotr Ushatyi and the "Gogulichi" (the free Voguls or Mansi), The 4000 strong army, using dog and reindeer teams, reached the Lyapin stronghold of the Khanty, located on the river of the same name (Bahrushin 1955,1:76-77). In the source it is told that 40 strongholds were taken and 58 Khanty and Mansi princes captured in the expedition. Even though already at the end of the 15th century the Grand Duke of Moscow assumed the honorary title of Prince of Yugra by the 16th century several Yugran princes were paying tribute to the Siberia Khanate and participated in their military ventures against Russian settlers protected by Cossacks and Komi auxiliaries who were chasing the Yugran natives from their homes.

In response the Khanty and Mansi of Pelym continually sent forth counter-campaigns to the lands of Great Perm. Thus, the year 1581 went into history as the year of the raiding of Kaigorod and Cherdyn. According to Russian estimates, the army of the Mansi and their allies, the Tartars, stood 700 strong (Bahrushin 1955,1:99; 2:144). Continuing resistance to border conflagration led to the launching of a campaign in 1582–1584 arranged and financed by the Stroganovs and led by the Cossack leader Yermak Timofeyevich, which began with the destruction of a Mansi war band that had invaded the Russian settlers territory and ended as a punitive expedition against the Pelym Mansi and their ally the Siberian Khan. In some sources, Alach, Prince of Koda figures as an important ally of the Siberian Khan Kuchum Khan and is said to have been awarded one of the Yermak mail-coats taken from the enemy (Bahrushin 1955, 1:114). In 1592, another Russian campaign against the Mansi of Pelym was launched. It ended in 1593 when the stronghold of Prince Ablegirim of Pelym was taken, the prince and his family captured and a Russian fortress erected in the heart of the stronghold. Although in the following year the Pelym principality suffered the loss of its lands lying on the Konda River, the Mansi did not give up resistance. In 1599, they once again brought "war, theft and treachery" to the banks of the Chusovaya River and Kurya River and plundered the Russian settlements there (Bahrushin,2:143-144).

The close connections between the Yugrans and the Turkic Tartars are also demonstrated by the fact that even in the 1660s, the idea of restoring the Kuchum Khanate was still popular with the Khanty of Beryozovo (Ibid). It was only in the middle of the 17th century that Moscow succeeded in subduing Yugria.

In the 18th century the successors of the Principality of Pelym and Principality of Konda - princes Vassili and Fyodor - lived in Pelym. They became Russianized and performed various duties for the Tsarist government. The Mansi, however, considered them still as their rulers. The fact that the ancient family of princes ruled on in Konda is also proved by a tsar letter from 1624:

"He, prince Vassili and prince Fyodor have close brothers in Big Konda - our tax-paying murzas, and our simple Voguls are ruled by them in Big Konda, the brothers of prince Vasily, the murzas." (Bahrushin 1955,2: 148)

Prince Kyntsha of Konda received a deed of gift from Tsar in 1680 which confirmed his noble position. Even in the 18th century the Konda princes were known for their relative independence. It is assumed that even in 1715 Prince Satyga of Konda and his 600 armed men made an attempt to impede the christianisation of the Konda Mansi (Novitski: 98). During 1732–1747 Konda was ruled by Satyga's son Prince Osip Grigoryev, followed by his own son Prince Vlas Ossipov. According to recent research by Aado Lintrop one of the great-grandchildren of Satyga, the teacher of the Turinsky community school, Aleksander Satygin claimed the title "Prince of Konda" as late as 1842.