Upper Oka Principalities


In Russian historiography the term Upper Oka Principalities traditionally applies to about a dozen tiny and ephemeral polities situated along the upper course of the Oka River at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. They were reigned by the "upper princes", each of which descended from Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov. the areas of these former polities lie within the present-day territories of various federal subjects of Russia: the Tula Oblast, the Kaluga Oblast, the Oryol Oblast and the Bryansk Oblast.
Following the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' of 1223–1240, the formerly prominent Olgovichi clan of the Principality of Chernigov gradually declined to a point where the descendants of Mikhail of Chernigov ruled dozens of quasi-sovereign entities. After 1350, as the principalities became wedged-in as buffer states between the ever-expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the west and the nascent Principality of Moscow to the north, the various Upper Oka polities fluctuated between alignments with each of these two major regional powers.
By the end of the 14th century, they were obliged to pay annual tribute to Lithuania. The strengthening alliance of Lithuanian rulers with Roman Catholic Poland caused shifts in the balance of power in the region. Most Orthodox rulers of the Upper Oka Principalities, therefore, started to look to Moscow for protection against Lithuanian expansionism. Others sought Lithuanian protection against Muscovite aggression, such as Prince Ivan of Mozhaysk who in 1454 fled to Lithuania to escape from Vasily II of Moscow. Towards the end of the 15th century, most of these princelings had moved to the Muscovite court. In 1494 Lithuania finally renounced her claims to the region.

List of principalities (in order of seniority)