The Uliches or Ugliches ( ro, Ulici or ; russian: Уличи or , or ; uk, Уличі , or ) were a
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
of
Early East Slavs
The early Slavs were a diverse group of tribal societies who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central and Eastern Europe and established the foundations for the Slav ...
who, between the eighth and the tenth centuries, inhabited (along with the
Tivertsi
The Tivertsi ( uk, Тиверці; ro, Tiverți or ), were a tribe of early East Slavs which lived in the lands near the Dniester, and probably the lower Danube, that is in modern-day western Ukraine and Republic of Moldova and possibly in easte ...
)
Bessarabia
Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...
, and the territories along the Lower
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
,
Bug River
uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг
, name_etymology =
, image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg
, image_size = 250
, image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland
, map = Vi ...
and the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
littoral.
Ethnonym
The tribal name comes from a location called Oglos or Onglos by the
Byzantine
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 ...
chroniclers
Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor ( el, Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής; c. 758/760 – 12 March 817/818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking u ...
and
Nikephoros I of Constantinople
Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I (c. 758 – 5 April 828) was a Byzantine writer and patriarch of Constantinople from 12 April 806 to 13 March 815.
Life
He was born in Constantinople as the son of Theodore and Eudokia, of a strictly Orthodox fa ...
, possibly to be identified with
Peuce Island
In ancient geography, Peuce ( grc, πεύκη, peúkē, pine, pine tree) is a former island in the Danube Delta, in Scythia Minor (Dobruja), Scythia Minor (present-day Tulcea County, Romania). It was about the size of the island of Rhodes. The in ...
. The word may derive from Slavic ''âgul'' 'corner', or, according to
Steven Runciman
Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman ( – ), known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume ''A History of the Crusades'' (1951–54).
He was a strong admirer of the Byzantine Empire. His history's negative ...
, from ''agul'' 'enclosure'.
History
They were mentioned as ''Unlizi'' by the
Bavarian Geographer The epithet "Bavarian Geographer" ( la, Geographus Bavarus) is the conventional name for the anonymous author of a short Latin medieval text containing a list of the tribes in Central-Eastern Europe, headed ().
The name "Bavarian Geographer" was ...
, described as "populus multus" and having 418
gords-settlements.
The Uliches long struggled against the
Kievan 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. Th ...
s
Oleg
Oleg (russian: Олег), Oleh ( uk, Олег), or Aleh ( be, Алег) is an East Slavic given name. The name is very common in Russia, Ukraine and Belаrus. It derives from the Old Norse ''Helgi'' ( Helge), meaning "holy", "sacred", or "blesse ...
,
Igor
Igor may refer to:
People
* Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name
* Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler
* Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling
* ...
and
Sviatoslav Igorevich for their
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
, until a Kievan commander
Sveneld
Sveneld (Old Norse: ''Sveinaldr'', Cyrillic: Свенельд) is a semi-legendary 10th-century Varangian warlord in the service of Svyatoslav I of Kiev and his family. Although he seems to have been the richest and the most influential Rus' leade ...
captured their capital,
Peresechen (near
Orhei
Orhei (; Yiddish ''Uriv'' – אוריװ), also formerly known as Orgeev (russian: Орге́ев), is a city, municipality and the administrative centre of Orhei District in the Moldova, Republic of Moldova, with a population of 21,065. Orhei ...
, in present-day
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...
), around 940. In the mid-10th century the Ulich lands paid tribute to
Sveneld
Sveneld (Old Norse: ''Sveinaldr'', Cyrillic: Свенельд) is a semi-legendary 10th-century Varangian warlord in the service of Svyatoslav I of Kiev and his family. Although he seems to have been the richest and the most influential Rus' leade ...
. The Uliches were last mentioned in the 970s.
See also
*
Hutsuls
The Hutsuls (sometimes the spelling variant: Gutsuls; uk, Гуцули, translit=Hutsuly; pl, Huculi, Hucułowie; ro, huțuli) are an ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). They ...
*
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
*
Moldova in the Early Middle Ages
Ulich
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