MYSTERIOUS ANCIENT TRIBE

In Belovezhskaya Pushcha, on the road to Gorodnya, there is a small hill called Mount Batory. They say that once King Bathory hunted the Yotvingians in these places. Shot these poor savages like bison or bears. So says folk tradition.

Long gone are the days, disappeared Yatvingian people and their language . But from the depths of centuries, the names of settlements scattered within the Grodno and Brest regions have come down to our time. It happened so. that information about the historical homeland of the Yotvingians. this ancient and rather mysterious tribe is scarce in the literature, and the available information is largely contradictory and confusing.

The reasons for this situation are not clear, although the Yotvingian tribe. as they say in encyclopedias, it occupied significant spaces from the Masurian Lakes (Poland). Prussia (now the Kaliningrad region) in the west and northwest to the Narev River (Neman basin) in the southeast

South of the Neman met only ethnic " yatvyazh islands ", that is, small areas occupied by the Yotvingians. By the end of the 10th century, these separate small territories were already surrounded by Slavic peoples

In the toponymy of our republic, the memory of this disappeared tribe has been preserved in names with the basis of Yapsh (Yatvyaz, Etvez. Yatvez, Yatvssk, etc.). These names are found in Volkovysk. Dyatlovsky, Baranovichi, Ivatsevichi, Grodno. Korslich and other areas and are the most ancient ethnotoponyms. In the eastern part of Belarus, such names are not registered. Information about the Yotvingian tribe is found from the 10th to the 17th centuries. The location of toponyms fully corresponds to the former territory of the settlement of the Yotvingians

The Polish chronicle of the 12th century says: "... The land of the Yotvingians. Where is the air balm, honey forests, rivers rich in fish, productive lands, hardworking plowmen, fearless warriors ... The land of the Yotvingians. With whom the Polish king always fights, trying to convert them into the true faith; but neither by the sword, nor by preaching, nor by bribery it was possible to remove them from the pagan faith, nor by the sword of death to destroy their snake race ... ".

Yotvingian name derived from the term i pit, which means detachment, flock. They lived in the forests and dressed in animal skins. Here he once gained notoriety for his brutal raids on neighboring possessions. Ancient Russia and Poland Yotvingian leader Komyat whose deeds are still reminiscent of the old songs and legends of the Grodno and Brest regions. Preserved temples and goddesses of the Yotvingians. where sacrifices were made to pagan gods.

Living next to other tribes, the Yotvingians. or rather, the Yatvingian union of the Baltic tribes, were active participants and witnesses of East Slavic history for three centuries. Relations between them were for the most part tense.

The Slavs do not have the energy of a young, promising ethnic group, as evidenced by numerous campaigns, which led to clashes between local tribes and Slavic squads. , resistance arose as a natural reaction of self-defense. The Slavs strengthened themselves, built, mainly along the rivers, their outpost fortresses. This is how Gorodnya (Grodno), Volkovysk and Slonnm, known from the 12th - 13th centuries, came into being. From here, campaigns against the Yotvingians were made. Information about this is stored in the Ipatiev Chronicle (Vsevolod Yuryevich Gorodnensky's campaign against Lithuania in 1136).

From about that time, Novogorodok (Novogrudok) (some historians consider it one of the ancient centers of Yatvyagna) became a Slavic city and fell under the rule of the Polotsk princes.

Chronicle sources of the end of the 13th century say that the Yotvingians were completely destroyed. They stopped talking about them, and for a whole century this land was a desert. Later Mazowieckis and Prussian settlers appear here. According to A.Yu. Vidugns and F. D. Klimchuk. it was during this period that the movement of the remaining Yotvingians to the territory of the Brstsko-Pinsk Polissya to the upper reaches of the Yaselda and Vygonovsky Lake was noted.

Thus, it is impossible to completely destroy an entire ethnic group. which is also confirmed by the Volyn chronicler of the 13th century;”: “... Yatvyaz as a country no longer existed, but there were separate settlements in local forests and swamps.

To this day, near the city of Kobrin, a barrow has been preserved on the right bank of the Mukhavets. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, there were a lot of piled kopts around the barrow. surrounded by oddly shaped rocks. Popular legend says that the mound is the remains of the ancient Yatvingian temple of the goddess Mazhanna. still mentioned in the songs and legends of this region. This idea is confirmed by A.F. Rogalev. who in his book "Belaya Rus and Belorussians" writes: "Modern scientific research in the field of hydrotoponyms suggests that by the 12th - 13th centuries, the Yatvingian settlements reached the Mukhavets River."

The resettlement of the Yotvingians from the region of the original Yatvingia to the regions of the Brest and Grodno regions were associated with the unfavorable political situation that had developed north of the Neman by the 12th century. Until the 12th century, the Yotvingians, like the Prussian tribe, opposed the Russian, Polish and Lithuanian squads. They still had enough strength for this, but later the crusaders enter the historical arena

On the eve of the invasion of the Crusaders, the Yatvingians had to leave to the southeast, to the forests of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Just with these events, the name of the rather mysterious territory PoIIoxin (Poloxia) appears in historical documents.

A point of view is expressed, according to which Poland was inhabited by Polesyans, whose ethnic name is Polish form of the Yotvingian name. It is possible that this ethnonym gradually spread to the rest of the Yatvingian tribes, and this happened with the participation of the Polish, due to the establishment of close military and political relations between Poland and the Yotvingian. And later, Poland united with the Order of the Crusaders to fight the Yotvingians. The Polish princes repeatedly made military campaigns against the Yotvingians. in the Polish chronicles, when describing the next military raid of the Poles with their king Casimir the Just on the Balts in 1192, the battle with the "Gets" and "Podlyasyans" is described. or. otherwise, with the Prussians and Yotvingians.

The territory of the Yotvingians has always been within the sphere of political interests of the Polish kings. Because certain groups Podlyasyan (Yatvyag) starting from the second half of the 12th century and at the beginning of the 13th century, they were forced to move to the southern regions. This was the second reason why the Yotvingians ended up within the Brest Polissya.

At the beginning of the XIV century to designate the lands of Beresteisky. Kamenetsky and Kobrinsky districts (this included the territory of the present Drogichinsky district), the name Podlyashs (Podlessia) now Brest Polissya appears, the population of which began to be called Polesyans. and the modern form is poleshuki

The name Pollexia - Podlasie, which at different times denoted the territory north and south of the Narew River. indirectly reflected in the name Lithuanian Polissya, which was used by Ssmenov-Gyan-Shansky in his work "Picturesque Russia".

The name Lithuanian Polissya is associated with the territory of the former Grodno province(this included the western regions of the present Brest region), as well as the Vilna and Kovno (Kovno - the former name of Kaunas) provinces.

The fact that the ethnonym Polesyans continued to function even after the assimilation of the Yotvingians is evidenced by ethnographic materials of the 19th century, which say that Polesyans lived here with their characteristic dialects (shades of language). In turn, they were divided into Buzhans and Pinchuks

The Neman River was the eastern border of the continuous Yatvingian settlement. The upper course of the Neman has long been a natural historical boundary that separated the Slavs and the Balts from the 6th-7th centuries. Lithuanian ethnic groups dominated to the north. They treated the Yotvingians as foreign inclusions.

To designate the Yotvingians, the Lithuanians had the ethnonym Dainava (day nova). This term appeared in the documents of Prince Mndovg in the middle of the 13th century, but this word functioned among the people much earlier.

In "Picturesque Russia" Ssmsnov-Tyan-Shansky mentions Dainovskos Principality, which existed in the southeastern part of the Lida district until the XIV century. Evidence of this is the presence in the modern Lida region of two settlements with the name Daynova. one of which is near the city of Lida itself, and the second, according to the author of Picturesque Russia, was considered the capital of the former principality. In the same work, the inhabitants of the Dainovsky Principality are ranked among the Slavic population, which is no different from the Belarusians. This statement reflects the real historical fact Slavicization of the descendants of the ancient people of the Yotvingians. The Russian historian of the 19th century II P. Barsov placed the Dainovo region along the right tributaries of the Neman. These are the Lida, Oshmyansky and part of the Vilna counties, as evidenced by the presence of ten toponyms Dainava. Dainovka. Daynovtsy, etc. The listed names are located entirely within the historical Principality of Dainova.

Territories of distribution of toponyms associated with ethnonyms yatvyaz (yatvez) and daynova. without intersecting, complement each other and cover almost the entire territory of the Grodno region. The border between these names is the Neman River, which once again confirms the opinion about the functioning of the ethnonym Daynova in the Lithuanian ethnic environment, and ethnonym Yatvez- in the Slavic ethnic environment. This opinion is confirmed by the fact that in the territory of the former Slonim district at the beginning of the 20th century there was a village with the double name Yatvyaz-Daiyova (now the village of Yatvez, Dyatlovsky district). Living in contact with other peoples, these remaining Yotvingian groups adopted the customs of neighboring Lithuanians and Belarusians. As early as the 17th century, there were islands of Yotvingian settlements in Ponsmagne. but already speaking Lithuanian and Belarusian.

The names of the villages Zbirogy (Brest region) from the Yatvingian personal name Zbirog can serve as confirmation of the traces of the Yatvingian presence on the territory of the Brest Polissya. and also Zditovo (Berezovsky and Zhabinkovsky) from the Yatvingian personal name Zdit or Dit. Based on the materials of V. A. Zhuchkevich, it is very typical for the trampling of northern Poland in the places of ancient settlement of the Yotvingians.

The young Belarusian poet Sergei Ivanov dedicated the poem "The Soul of ZyamlG" to the ancient mysterious tribe of the Yatvingians, excerpts from which were published in the journal "Spadchyna" (1990. No. 4). Some of them are used in this material.

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Meaning of the word yatving

Yotvingians in the crossword dictionary

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

Yotvingians

an ancient Lithuanian tribe between the Neman and Narew rivers. In the 13th century became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Yatvingians

The Sudovs, an ancient Prussian tribe, ethnically close to the Lithuanians. Lived in the so-called Sudovia, between the middle course of the river. Neman and the upper reaches of the river. Narew. The main occupations of Japan are agriculture, hunting, and fishing. Crafts developed. Old Russian princes made repeated trips to the land of Ya. In the 40-50s. 12th c. Ya. were subordinated to the Galicia-Volyn principality and Mazovia. In 1283 their lands were captured by the Teutonic Order. Part of the lands of Japan became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Wikipedia

Yatvingians

Yatvyag- Baltic tribal group, ethnically closest to the Prussians. The unwritten Yatvingian language belongs to the western branch of the Baltic group of the Indo-European language family. In the early Middle Ages, they experienced a strong influence of the Lithuanian tribe, and already at the initial stages of the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, they were partly assimilated in the southern part of Dzukia. Starting from the 12th century, the Yotvingians participated in the ethnogenesis of the Lithuanian, Belarusian and Polish peoples.

Yatvyagy (Zhydachovsky district)

Yatvingians, until 2015 - Pribelie - a village in the Zhydachovsky district of the Lviv region of Ukraine. Yatvyag Gunarev from the list of merchants in an agreement with the Greeks from 945 had his trading warehouses here with the Yotvingians from present-day Lithuania serving portages from the Greeks to the Varangians across the Dniester to the Vistula.

The population at the 2001 census was 147. It occupies an area of ​​0.64 km². Postal code - 81711. Telephone code - 3239.

Yatvyagy (Mostysky district)

Yatvingians- a village in the Mostissky district of the Lviv region of Ukraine.

The population at the 2001 census was 301. It occupies an area of ​​0.835 km². Postal code - 81366. Telephone code - 3234.

Yatvyags (disambiguation)

Yatvingians:

• The Yatvingians are a Baltic tribal group ethnically closest to the Prussians.
• Yatvyagy is a village in the Mostissky district of the Lviv region of Ukraine.

Examples of the use of the word yatving in literature.

To the east lay the lands of the Principality of Polotsk, from the west and south lived Lithuanians, Letts, Samogits, Yotvingians and other tribes and peoples.

The controversy immediately died out, because Yotvingians made room for noble spectators.

When they jumped out of the gate Yotvingians, Anna for some reason decided that the Russians had already won: she could not get rid of the unconscious conviction that she was watching a movie.

Here lived Lithuanians, Letts, Samogits, Estonians, Russians, Lithuanians, Livs, Yotvingians, semigals.

The wind picked it up, almost knocked Anna off her feet - the horsemen of the Apocalypse flew by in black shadows with fiery highlights on their faces - Yotvingians, surrounding Prince Vyachko, front with torches, from which sparks flew in sprays.

Due to the nature of their country, Lithuanians and Yotvingians Longer than all their neighbors, they retained the wildness of their original life, they ran into the surrounding countries, but they themselves were inaccessible in their impregnable natural fortifications.

Ancient writers disagree about the origin of the Yotvingians: some say that Yotvingians language, religion and customs were similar to Lithuania, the Prussians and the Samogits, while others that Yotvingians completely different language from the Slavs and Lithuania.

Wild Lithuanians and Yotvingians could only disturb the Russian borders with their raids.

This invincible warrior, in whose name the Polovtsian women frightened crying children in the night skyscrapers, out of fear of which the wild Yotvingians did not dare to get out of their swamps, felt tenderness for the birds singing in the oak forests.

Russian chronicles mention the Yotvingians, starting from the 10th century. Among the ambassadors of Kievan Rus to Byzantium under 944 is called "Yatvyag Gunarev". True, according to recent studies, Yatvyag is an ethnonym used as a proper name, and he was an ambassador from the Ruthenian prince Gunar. German sources speak of yatving-ships.

The ethnonym "ships" was first named by Ptolemy (2nd century AD). Together with the Galindians, they lived east of the Vistula. The most archaeologically studied part of the Yatvyazh territory is the basin of the river. Black Ganchi (Suwalkia, Poland). Materials on the history of the Yotvingians were found here, starting from the first centuries AD.

Researchers of the Western Baltic burial sites have repeatedly noted that for a long time the tribes of the Western Balts were characterized by the use of stone in burials. The rite of burial under stone mounds spread among all the Western Baltic tribes as early as the 1st millennium BC. e. Among the Prussians and Galindians in the 1st millennium AD. evolution has taken place. However, the use of stone in the form of masonry or pavement persisted for a long time, in particular, among the Prussians until the 13th-14th centuries.

Among the Yotvingians in the III - IV centuries. the rite of burial coexisted with the rite of cremation. Burials according to the rite of burial were found in the Middle Bug region in the village of Rastolty and the village of Kutovo near the river. Nareva. They date from the 3rd century. Stone mounds with burials of the unburned dead are also known on the right bank of the Neman in the territory of modern Lietuva near the village of Slabodele (in the time of the GDL - Slabodka) - IV century. The same group of monuments also includes part of the mounds explored in the villages of Migonis, Palgarnikas and Skvorbi, dating back to the 4th - 5th centuries. thousand this area.

Starting from the 5th c. cremations become dominant, and soon the only rite among the Yotvingians. The area of ​​stone burial mounds with cremations is extensive. It occupies the territory of Suvalkia (Poland), Polish Podlasie, Upper Ponemanye, Middle Bug, Letuvissky Zanemanye; extends in the northeast into the depths of the modern territory of Lietuva, capturing the right bank of the middle reaches of the Neman with the river basin. Merkys and part of the left bank of Viliya.

In the 8th century The range of stone mounds in Lietuva is shrinking. In the interfluve of the Viliya and the Merkis, stone mounds are replaced by earth mounds - funerary monuments of the so-called Eastern Lithuanian mounds.

Starting from the end of the X century. evolution begins in the funeral rite of the Yotvingians. The first stage - the end of the X - the beginning of the XI centuries. there is a transition from burials with cremations to burials with corpses. In the period from the end of the XI century. until the middle of the 14th century. stone mounds are replaced by stone graves. True, both the transition to burials with corpses and the transition to stone graves occur non-simultaneously throughout the territory of the settlement of the Yotvingians. So, in some places of the Neman-Vileika interfluve, the rite of cremation was held until the beginning of the 14th century, and in the Brest Bug region, the last burnings in stone mounds date back to the 11th century. In many cemeteries, stone mounds coexisted with stone graves.

At the same time, there is an increase in the territory occupied by the population with such a burial rite. They settle along the rivers Viliya, Berezina (Dneprovskaya) and its tributaries, as well as along the left tributaries of the West. Dvina and in the area of ​​Lepel lakes. Monuments in this area, as a rule, mixed type: mounds and stone graves. These are Borisovsky, Dokshitsky, Gluboksky, Lepelsky, Ushachsky, Berezinsky and other districts. But this resettlement did not occur naturally, but by force:

“V.E. Danilevich, referring to V.I. Tatishchev, reported that in 1102 Boris Vseslavovich (Polotsk) made a campaign against his western neighbors, the Yotvingians. The trip was successful. Returning back, Boris Polotsky built a city and named it Borisov in his honor. It is possible that he built a city for the captive Yotvingians. In addition, there is information that Gleb Mensky often broke into the lands of the Lithuanian prince and captured his subjects. He partially settled those taken prisoner in the desert outskirts of the Berezina (beginning of the 12th century).

Another important point in determining the territory of settlement of a particular tribe or people is the data of hydronymy.

“One of the most convincing arguments for distinguishing between the Western Baltic and Eastern Baltic groups are the names containing the elements “ape” and “upe” (this was mentioned above).

Another group of hydronyms, revealing a Western Baltic origin, are names that are etymologized exclusively from the Prussian language. First of all, these include river names with the appellative “stab” - from the Prussian “stabis” - “stone” (Stabna, Stadlya, Stabnitsa, Stabenka). In the Eastern Baltic regions, this appellative is completely absent. But the Letuvis "aktio" - "stone" is used, the Latvian "akmes" - the same stone. V.N. Toporov, studying the voice of "akmes", noted that geographical names with this component geographically cover the entire territory of Lietuva, all of Latvia, the adjacent regions of Belarus (the territory of the so-called East Lithuanian mounds) and the southern part of the Pskov region.

The third group of hydronyms of Western Baltic origin includes interesting names with the presence of -з- instead of -Ж-. The absence of the “zh” sound in Prussian, while it is present in Letuvian and Latvian, makes the Western Baltic origin of these hydronyms very probable. These are Azarza (variants of Zarzha, Zharki), Zubir (Zhubr, Zuber, Zuber), Zavushscha (Zhavushscha) in the upper Sozh basin, Zalazenka (Zalazzha, Zhalizha, Zhalozh), Zagulinka (Zhagulinka) and Vizenka (Vizhenka) in the southern Smolensk region, rivers Vuzlyanka, Zuyka, Vyazynka - Viliya basin; the rivers Vyazovka, Vyazenskaya, Gavyaznenka, Zalvanka, Uzdzyanka, Lazovka - the Neman basin; R. Zakovanka - the Pripyat basin.

Among the indisputable Western Baltic hydronyms are the names with the suffix "-da", represented on the left bank of the Dnieper by single examples (Nemda, Ovda) and a large number in the Middle Bug and Upper Ponemanye (Gruda, Lebezhda, Segda, Nevda, Grivda, Yaselda, etc.). d.).

A group of names with the suffix "-va" should also be included among the hydronyms of the Western Baltic type. Hydronyms with the suffix "-va" have been described a little above.

Thus, the Yotvingians by the middle of the XIII century. occupied a vast territory. “But these are yatvings. And where are the Lithuanians? - you ask.

In the early Middle Ages they experienced a strong influence of the Lithuanian tribe and already at the initial stages of the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania they were partly assimilated in the southern part of Dzukija. Starting from the 12th century, the Yotvingians participated in the ethnogenesis of the Lithuanian, Belarusian and Polish peoples.

Archaeological sources

Story

In ancient times, the Yatvingian tribes inhabited the interfluve of the Nareva and the Neman (the so-called Sudavia). In - XI centuries the Yotvingians occupied the main part of the future Podlasie. In the X-XII centuries, the southern and eastern outskirts of the Yatvingian region were repeatedly attacked by the Kyiv grand dukes (for example, Yaroslav the Wise in the city). From the 12th century, the western part of the Yatvingian lands was subordinated to Mazovia, the southern part of Sudavia in the 12th-13th centuries was owned by the Galicia-Volyn principality from time to time, then Sudavia (with its center in the city of Raigorod) was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the last decades of the 13th century, the northern part of Sudavia came under the control of the Teutonic Order (after that, many Yotvingians moved to Lithuania), but after its defeat in the Battle of Grunwald (), under the terms of the Peace of Meln, the whole of Sudavia again became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Written sources

The German author William Pierson in his book "ELEKTRON oder Ueber die Vorfahren die Verwandtschaft und den Namen der alten Preussen" wrote the following about the Yotvingians: "Yatvingians, in ancient times called Yazygs, sat at the beginning of the 1st century between the Bug and the Dniester, partly in Italy and Hungary, where their borders are".

In a literary work of the thirteenth century (full original title "A word about the death of the Russian land and after the death of Grand Duke Yaroslav") says:

"From here to the Ugrians and to the Poles, to the Czechs, from the Czechs to the Yotvingians, from the Yotvingians to Lithuanians, to the Germans, from the Germans to the Karelians, from the Karelians to Ustyug, where the filthy Toymichi live, and beyond the Breathing Sea; from the sea to the Bulgarians, from the Bulgarians to the Burtases, from the Burtases to the Cheremis, from the Cheremis to the Mordovians - then with the help of God everything was conquered by the Christian people, these filthy countries obeyed the Grand Duke Vsevolod, his father Yuri, the Prince of Kyiv, his grandfather Vladimir Monomakh, with which the Polovtsy frightened their little children ... ".

see also

• The customs of the Yatvag tribe are known from the document “Letter from Johann Polyander to Kaspar Berner about amber and ships”.

Write a review on the article "Yatvyags"

Links

• - resource about Yatvingian culture

Notes

Literature

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

An excerpt characterizing the Yatvingians

- To hell! he said while his head was still covered with a shirt.
Tikhon knew the prince's habit of sometimes expressing his thoughts aloud, and therefore, with an unchanged face, he met the inquiringly angry look of the face that appeared from under his shirt.
- Lie down? the prince asked.
Tikhon, like all good lackeys, instinctively knew the direction of the master's thoughts. He guessed that they were asking about Prince Vasily and his son.
- We deigned to lie down and put out the fire, Your Excellency.
“There’s nothing, there’s nothing ...” the prince said quickly and, putting his feet into his shoes and hands into his dressing gown, went to the sofa on which he slept.
Despite the fact that nothing was said between Anatole and m lle Bourienne, they completely understood each other in relation to the first part of the novel, before the pauvre mere appeared, they realized that they had a lot to say to each other secretly, and therefore in the morning they were looking for an opportunity see you alone. While the princess went to her father at the usual hour, m lle Bourienne met with Anatole in the winter garden.
Princess Mary approached that day with special trepidation to the door of the office. It seemed to her that not only did everyone know that today the decision of her fate would be made, but that they knew what she thought about it. She read this expression in the face of Tikhon and in the face of the valet Prince Vasily, who met with hot water in the corridor and bowed low to her.
The old prince this morning was extremely affectionate and diligent in his treatment of his daughter. This expression of diligence was well known to Princess Mary. This was the expression that used to appear on his face at those moments when his dry hands clenched into a fist from vexation because Princess Mary did not understand an arithmetical problem, and he, getting up, moved away from her and in a low voice repeated several times the same and the same words.
He immediately got down to business and began the conversation by saying "you."
“They made me a proposition about you,” he said, smiling unnaturally. “I think you guessed,” he continued, “that Prince Vasily came here and brought his pupil with him (for some reason, Prince Nikolai Andreevich called Anatole a pupil) not for my beautiful eyes. I made a proposition about you yesterday. And since you know my rules, I treated you.
“How can I understand you, mon pere?” said the princess, turning pale and blushing.
- How to understand! the father shouted angrily. - Prince Vasily finds you to his liking for his daughter-in-law and makes you a proposition for his pupil. Here's how to understand. How to understand?! ... And I ask you.
“I don’t know about you, mon pere,” the princess said in a whisper.
- I? I? what am I? then leave me aside. I won't get married. What do you? Here is what you want to know.
The princess saw that her father looked at this matter with unkindness, but at that very moment the thought came to her that now or never the fate of her life would be decided. She lowered her eyes so as not to see the look, under the influence of which she felt that she could not think, but could only obey out of habit, and said:
“I desire only one thing - to fulfill your will,” she said, “but if my desire had to be expressed ...
She didn't have time to finish. The prince interrupted her.
“And wonderful,” he shouted. - He will take you with a dowry, and by the way, he will capture m lle Bourienne. She will be a wife, and you ...
The prince stopped. He noticed the effect these words had on his daughter. She lowered her head and was about to cry.
“Well, well, I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he said. - Remember one thing, princess: I adhere to those rules that the girl has every right to choose. And I give you freedom. Remember one thing: the happiness of your life depends on your decision. There is nothing to say about me.
- Yes, I don't know ... mon pere.
- Nothing to say! They tell him, he will marry not only you, whom you want to marry; and you are free to choose ... Come to yourself, think it over and in an hour come to me and say in front of him: yes or no. I know you will pray. Well, please pray. Just think better. Go. Yes or no, yes or no, yes or no! - he shouted even at that time, as the princess, as if in a fog, staggering, had already left the office.
Her fate was decided and decided happily. But what the father said about m lle Bourienne - this hint was terrible. Not true, let's say, but all the same it was terrible, she could not help but think about it. She was walking straight ahead through the conservatory, seeing and hearing nothing, when suddenly the familiar whisper of m lle Bourienne woke her up. She raised her eyes and saw Anatole two paces away, embracing the Frenchwoman and whispering something to her. Anatole, with a terrible expression on his beautiful face, looked back at Princess Mary and in the first second did not let go of the waist of m lle Bourienne, who did not see her.
"Who is here? What for? Wait!" as if Anatole's face was speaking. Princess Mary looked at them silently. She couldn't understand it. Finally, m lle Bourienne screamed and ran away, and Anatole bowed to Princess Mary with a cheerful smile, as if inviting her to laugh at this strange incident, and, shrugging his shoulders, went through the door leading to his quarters.

In the early Middle Ages they experienced a strong influence of the Lithuanian tribe and already at the initial stages of the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania they were partly assimilated in the southern part of Dzukija. Starting from the 12th century, the Yotvingians participated in the ethnogenesis of the Lithuanian, Belarusian and Polish peoples.

Archaeological sources

Settlement area

“From here to the Ugrians and to the Poles, to the Czechs, from the Czechs to Yotvingians, from Yotvingians to the Lithuanians, to the Germans, from the Germans to the Karelians, from the Karelians to Ustyug, where the filthy Toymichi live, and beyond the Breathing Sea; from the sea to the Bulgarians, from the Bulgarians to the Burtases, from the Burtases to the Cheremis, from the Cheremis to the Mordovians - then with the help of God everything was conquered by the Christian people, these filthy countries obeyed the Grand Duke Vsevolod, his father Yuri, the Prince of Kyiv, his grandfather Vladimir Monomakh, with which the Polovtsy frightened their little children ... ".

Story

In the X-XII centuries, the southern and eastern outskirts of the Yatvingian region were repeatedly attacked by the Kyiv grand dukes.

From the annals of Pantsyrny and Averka:

In 1251, the Yotvingians and Danila's army assisted the Samogitian prince Vikint during an attack on the castle of Mindovga Voruta (Ruta).

According to the charter of Mindaugas of 1259, historical area Daynova in his time was called by some Yatsvezin.

The Sandomierz prince and king of Poland Boleslaw V the Shameful (1226-1279) made several campaigns against the Yotvingian tribes and founded in Lukow, on the eastern border of his principality, a diocese for the Christianization of the pagans. However, all his attempts were in vain.

In the same year, four Yatvingian princes signed a peace treaty with the princes of Galicia and Vladimir.

In the last decades of the 13th century, the northern part of Sudavia fell under the control of the Teutonic Order (after that, many Yotvingians moved to Lithuania). But after his defeat in the Battle of Grunwald (), under the terms of the Peace of Meln in 1422, all Sudavia again became part of