About Some Debatable Questions of the Кyiv Land History in the Second Half of the Fourteenth Century

Abstract

The attempt to identify some geographical toponyms of the Кyiv land cities of the 14th century is made in the paper. The annalistic cities in the «A se imena vsim gradam ruskym dalnim i bliznim» («List of Cities, Far and Near») are analyzed by the author. Based on an analysis of written, cartographic, archaeological sources, the author concludes that the annalistic list of Кyiv cities «A se imena vsim gradam ruskym dalnim i bliznim» was compiled in the late 14th century. However, this document includes many different sources: the documents of the ecclesiastes provenance produced by chancelleries of Metropolitans and Bishops, yarlyks of khans of 13—14th century, the charters and treaties of the Lithuanian Princes of 14th century. The paper contains the analysis of a hypothesis about the city of Tmutorokan of the 14th century. The author has paid special attention to sources which provide the evidence about the nomadic (the Cuman) Turkic dynastic clan Tuhorkhan in the Кyiv principality. The finds of the silver coins of the Lithuanian Prince Volodymyr Olherdovych (1362—1394) are discussed. They marked the territory of Кyiv principality of the second part of the 14th century in the Dnieper river region. The northern border of distribution of coins of the Prince Volodymyr Olherdovych is limited by the basin of the river Oster and Sosnica district. The raid of Lithuanian Prince Olherd (1345—1377) against the Golden Horde in the 1362 at the Korshev (Karasy — Black Vody?), and to the territory of traditional summer and winter roaming also are examined. The paper discussed the issues of historical geography, many of which can be solved by systematically archaeological research in the sites from the annalistic list of the «A se imena vsim gradam ruskym dalnim i bliznim» and Golden Horde centers in the Dnieper, Ros, Oster, Vorskla, Buh, Sula, Psel, Desna and other river basins.