![Radzimičy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Radzimi%C4%8Dy._%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B7%D1%96%D0%BC%D1%96%D1%87%D1%8B_%28XV%29.jpg)
The Radimichs (also Radimichi) ( be, Радзiмiчы, russian: Радимичи, uk, Радимичі and pl, Radymicze) were an
East Slavic tribe of the last several centuries of the 1st millennium, which inhabited upper east parts of the
Dnipro down the
Sozh
The Sozh, or Sož ( be, Сож, ; russian: Сож, uk, Сож) is an international river flowing in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. It is a left bank tributary of the Dnieper. The Sozh passes through Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus.
T ...
and its tributaries. The name probably derives from the name of the forefather of the tribe - Radim. According to
Ruthenian chronicle tradition, "... but there were Radimichs from the
Lechites
Lechites (, german: Lechiten), also known as the Lechitic tribes (, german: Lechitische Stämme), is a name given to certain West Slavic tribes who inhabited modern-day Poland and eastern Germany, and were speakers of the Lechitic languages. Dist ...
family, who came and settled here and paid tribute to
Rus
Rus or RUS may refer to:
People and places
* Rus (surname), a Romanian-language surname
* East Slavic historical territories and peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia
** Rus' people, the people of Rus'
** Rus' territories
*** Kievan ...
, and the wagon was carried to the present day" (a ''wagon'' is a type of tax for the right to have one's own prince). However, in the scientific literature, there is no consensus on the ethnicity of the Radimichs. Archaeological evidence indicates that this tribal association had a mixed Slavic-Baltic origin.
The Radimichs lived in the interfluve of the upper Dnipro and Desna rivers along the Sozh and its tributaries (the south of
Vitebsk
Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest c ...
, the east of the
Mogilev
Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bor ...
and
Gomel
Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census).
Etymology
There are at least six narratives of the o ...
regions of modern
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
, the west of the
Bryansk
Bryansk ( rus, Брянск, p=brʲansk) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), River Desna, southwest of Moscow. Population:
Geography Urban la ...
and south-west of the
Smolensk
Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...
regions of modern
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. Written evidence on Radimichi falls on the period from 885 to 1169.
History
The lands of the Radimichs were conveniently connected with the central regions of the
Kievan Rus
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern Europe, Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Hist ...
by waterway. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Radimichs had a few known cities: Homiy (today's
Homel
Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census).
Etymology
There are at least six narratives of the or ...
) and
Chechersk
Chachersk ( be, Чачэрск, , russian: Чечерск, pl, Czeczersk) is a city in the Gomel Region of Belarus, an administrative center of the Chachersk District. It is located in an area which was highly contaminated due to the fallout of t ...
on the
Sozh
The Sozh, or Sož ( be, Сож, ; russian: Сож, uk, Сож) is an international river flowing in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. It is a left bank tributary of the Dnieper. The Sozh passes through Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus.
T ...
river,
Vshchizh
Vshchizh (russian: Вщиж) is a village in the Zhukovka rayon of the Bryansk Oblast of Russia. Now it is a part of the Shamordino rural settlement.
Vshchizh was an old Russian town on the Desna River between the 11th and 13th centuries. I ...
on the
Desna River
The Desna (russian: Десна́; uk, Десна) is a river in Russia and Ukraine, a major left-tributary of the Dnieper. Its name means "right hand" in the Old East Slavic language. It has a length of , and its drainage basin covers . , Vorob'yin,
Ropeisk and others. Seven-beam temporal
jewelry
Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...
made of
bronze or
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
represent a specific
ethnic
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
trait of the Radimichs of the 9th - 11th centuries.
There is little information on the Radimichs. According to
Nestor the Chronicler
Saint Nestor the Chronicler ( orv, Несторъ Лѣтописецъ; 1056 – c. 1114, in Principality of Kiev, Kievan Rus') was the reputed author of '' Primary Chronicle'' (the earliest East Slavic letopis), ''Life of the Venerable The ...
, the tribe of Radimichs "sprang from the ''Lyakhs''" or after the conquest by
Vladimir the Great
Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych ( orv, Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь, ''Volodiměrъ Svętoslavičь'';, ''Uladzimir'', russian: Владимир, ''Vladimir'', uk, Володимир, ''Volodymyr''. Se ...
became part of the race of ''Lyakhs'' (
Lechites
Lechites (, german: Lechiten), also known as the Lechitic tribes (, german: Lechitische Stämme), is a name given to certain West Slavic tribes who inhabited modern-day Poland and eastern Germany, and were speakers of the Lechitic languages. Dist ...
, see
Lendians
The Lendians ( pl, Lędzianie) were a Lechitic tribe who lived in the area of East Lesser Poland and Cherven Cities between the 7th and 11th centuries. Since they were documented primarily by foreign authors whose knowledge of Central and East Eu ...
) and used to live in areas of Sozh river. According to tradition recorded by Nestor, their name derives from the name of the forefather of the tribe, Radim, who was one of the Lyakh brothers, other being Vyatko from whom emerged
Vyatichi
The Vyatichs or more properly Vyatichi or Viatichi (russian: вя́тичи) were a native tribe of Early East Slavs who inhabited regions around the Oka, Moskva and Don rivers.
The Vyatichi had for a long time no princes, but the social struc ...
.
Historians know that in the middle of the 9th century they were paying tribute to the
Khazars
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
. In 885, the Radimichs were conquered by
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
Oleg of Novgorod
Oleg ( orv, Ѡлегъ, Ольгъ; non, Helgi; died 912), also known as Oleg the Wise (russian: Олег Вещий, lit=Oleg the Prophet; uk, Олег Віщий), was a Varangian prince of the Rus' who was ruler of Novgorod. He later con ...
and became part of
Kievan Rus
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern Europe, Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Hist ...
. In 907, the Radimichs are mentioned as a part of Oleg's army in
his military campaign against
Byzantine empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. In 984, the Radimichs tried to break away from the Kievan Rus, but were defeated on the
Pischan River by Vladimir the Great's
commander Volchiy Khvost ("Wolf's Tail").
Since then, there had been no mentioning of the tribe in the
chronicles. They continued living on their land, gradually assimilating with neighboring tribes and peoples and forming the
Belarusian nationality. Subsequently, the lands of the Radimichs became a part of the
Chernihiv
Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within ...
and
Smolensk
Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...
principalities.
In the ''Primary Chronicle'', it is recorded that the Radimichs, Vyatichi, and
Severians "had the same customs", all lived violent lifestyles, "burned their dead and preserved the ashes in urns set upon posts beside the highways", and they did not enter
monogamous marriages but practiced
polygamy
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...
, specifically
polygyny
Polygyny (; from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); ) is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women.
Incidence
Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any ...
, instead.
The Radimichs were last mentioned in a chronicle in 1169.
Origin
The Tale of Bygone Years tells about the Lechites origin of the Radimichi: “…radimichi bo… from the Lechites” and “The former Radimichi from the
Lechites
Lechites (, german: Lechiten), also known as the Lechitic tribes (, german: Lechitische Stämme), is a name given to certain West Slavic tribes who inhabited modern-day Poland and eastern Germany, and were speakers of the Lechitic languages. Dist ...
family; before that, you are all-powerful, and pay tribute to Russia ”. These words of the chronicler had a great influence on many researchers.
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
Polish chroniclers -
Jan Długosz
Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...
,
Maciej Stryjkowski
Maciej Stryjkowski (also referred to as Strykowski and Strycovius;Nowa encyklopedia powszechna PWN. t. 6, 1997 – ) was a Polish historian, writer and a poet, known as the author of ''Chronicle of Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia and all of Rutheni ...
and others, as well as historians of the 18th and 19th centuries unconditionally recognized the
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
origin of the Radimichi.
A. A. Shakhmatov tried to support the annalistic report about the
Lechites
Lechites (, german: Lechiten), also known as the Lechitic tribes (, german: Lechitische Stämme), is a name given to certain West Slavic tribes who inhabited modern-day Poland and eastern Germany, and were speakers of the Lechitic languages. Dist ...
origin of the Radimichi with
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
data, referring to the fact that the Radimichi region now belongs to the territory of
Belarusian language
Belarusian ( be, беларуская мова, biełaruskaja mova, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language. It is the native language of many Belarusians and one of the two official state languages in Belarus. Additionally, it is spoken in some p ...
, in which there are many coincidences with the Polish.
['' Shakhmatov AA'' The most ancient destinies of the Russian tribe. - Pg., 1919. - S. 25, 37-39.]
However
E. F. Karsky spoke out against the theory of the Lechites origin of the Radimichi, showing the independent development of those features of the Belarusian language that bring it closer to the Polish. According to Karsky, the chronicle of the Lyash origin of the Radimichi does not indicate that they were a Lyash tribe, but that they moved to
Sozh
The Sozh, or Sož ( be, Сож, ; russian: Сож, uk, Сож) is an international river flowing in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. It is a left bank tributary of the Dnieper. The Sozh passes through Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus.
T ...
from more western regions, where they neighbored with the Lyash tribes. This opinion was also supported by
Lyubor Niederle, who considered the basins of
Bug and
Nareva.
Repeated attempts were made to determine the area from which the Radimichi came to Sozh by mapping
toponyms
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
ov with the base ''rad-''. However, such toponyms, apparently, come from
anthroponyma ''Radim'', distributed over a much larger territory than the defined regions.
On the basis of hydronymics data, it was possible to establish some similarity between the
hydronyms
A hydronym (from el, ὕδρω, , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a ...
of Posozhye and the hydronyms of a small section of the Upper
Podniestria. It is the region of the Upper Dniester that, according to some historians, is the area from which the Radimichi moved to the Sozh basin.
The connection between the Radimichi and the pre-Radimichi population of Posozhye, observed both in objects of material culture and in
rites
Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, abbreviated as RITES Ltd, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. It is an engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field ...
, suggests that the newcomer Slavs felt the influence of the Baltic population here. It is also possible to make an assumption about the small number of alien Slavs.
V. V. Ivanov and
V. N. Toporov compared the basis of the ethnonym ''Radimichi'' with the Iranian Scythian stem ''radam-'' from the Iranian ''fratama-'' < ''*pratama-'' "first", used in the Scythian royal names (' ''Radam-furt-'', ''Radam-sad-'', ''Radam-as-'', ''Radam-mizda-'', etc.).
G. V. Vernadsky derived the name ''radimichi'' from os, rad - "order", "line", os, radomun, radĕmun - "to subdue", "to conquer".
G. A. Khaburgaev believed that the term "radimichi" was formed from the historically earlier name of the Baltic ethnic community, which was Slavicized by the 9th-10th centuries.
The chronicle tells about the origin of the Radimichi from the legendary person
Radima: “... Radimichi Bo and Vyatichi from the Poles. For 2 brothers in laces, Radim, and the other Vyatko, and the gray-haired Radim came to Szhya, and was called Radimichi ... ”. Some modern authors believe that this legend reflects the
biblical worldview of the author rather than a real historical fact.
[''Pilipenko MF'' The Emergence of Belarus: A New Concept. - Mn., 1991. - S. 34.]
See also
*
List of Medieval Slavic tribes
This is a list of Slavic peoples and Slavic tribes reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500.
Ancestors
*Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers)
** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of Bal ...
References
{{GSEncyclopedia
Radimichs
The Radimichs (also Radimichi) ( be, Радзiмiчы, russian: Радимичи, uk, Радимичі and pl, Radymicze) were an East Slavic tribe of the last several centuries of the 1st millennium, which inhabited upper east parts of the ...
Lechites
10th century in Kievan Rus'