Mediators in the Politics of Medieval Rus’
National Research University “Higher School of Economics”
For citation: Lavrenchenko, Maria L. Mediators in the Politics of Medieval Rus’ // Drevneishie gosudarstva Vostochnoi Evropy (The Earliest States of Eastern Europe). 2025: Ways and Means of Conflict Resolution / Editor of the volume Т.N. Jackson. Мoscow: GAUGN-Press, 2025. S. 1–1.
DOI: 10.32608/1560-1382-2025-46-1-1
Abstract: The article examines the status and functions of peace mediators in conflicts of the pre‑Mongol Rus’ based on materials of three chronicles: the Primary Chronicle, the Kievan Chronicle (according to the Hypatian and similar manuscripts) and the First Novgorodian Chronicle. Among mediators of this period, two main groups can be distinguished: (1) the closest younger relatives of one of the competitors; these juniors could be both the initiators of a truce agreement and intermediate persons whom a defeated enemy applied to; and (2) peacemakers, who, on the contrary, were maximally distanced from the conflict and who had no personal interest in it, but had a very high status of a ruler or similar. Often, such a mediator could be a foreign ruler, usually of a neighboring land. The political practices used to end conflicts in medieval Rus’ demonstrate a wide range of people involved, including young princes, widowed princesses, clergy: metropolitans, bishops and abbots of famous monasteries. The negotiation process itself could take place in several stages with more than one element in the peacekeeping chain.
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