The Prince of Vladimir, from the 1186 Grand Prince of Vladimir (), also translated as Grand Duke of Vladimir, was the title of the monarch of Vladimir-Suzdal. The title was passed to the prince of Moscow in 1389.

Overview The monarch of Vladimir-Suzdal's title, veliky knyaz or velikii kniaz (, ) is variously translated into English as "grand duke" or "grand prince". Consequently, Vladimir-Suzdal has been interchangeably described as a "grand principality" or "grand duchy". Linguist Alan Timberlake (2000) found that the first time the phrase velikȳi knęz shows up in the Suzdalian Chronicle (in the Laurentian, Radziwiłł and LPS manuscripts) is under the year 1186, where it is applied to Vsevolod Yurievich. In his early reign from 1177 to 1186, he is simply referred to as "prince Vsevolod" (knęz (zhe) Vsevolod).

From 1157 to 1238, the principality's capital was Vladimir on the Klyazma, which had been founded in 1108. In 1151 Andrey Bogolyubsky secretly left Vyshgorod, the domain of his father in the Principality of Kiev, and migrated to Suzdal. In 1157, he inherited leadership of the principalities of Vladimir, Suzdal and Rostov. He sacked Kiev in 1169, installing his younger brother Gleb as the new Grand Prince of Kiev.

The city of Vladimir was sacked by a Mongol invasion in 1238. The second important city, Suzdal', was also destroyed by Mongols. The entire principality was then overrun in 1242 by the Mongols under Batu Khan, founder of the Golden Horde. The state of Vladimir-Suzdal (formally the grand principality of Vladimir) became dominant among the various petty northeastern Rus' principalities left after the dissolution of the Kievan Rus' state. The title of Grand Prince of Vladimir became one of the three titles (along with Kiev and Novgorod) possessed by the most important rulers among the Rus' nobility. In the forest region, Vladimir enjoyed hegemony for a time, but it too disintegrated into a series of petty states. By the 14th century, Vladimir-Suzdal had splintered into various appanage principalities including Nizhny Novgorod (Novgorod-Suzdal), Tver and Moscow (Muscovy) who all claimed the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir, and sought to gain the favour of the Tatar-Mongol khan of the Golden Horde to secure it. In the early 14th century, the khan awarded the title to Yury of Moscow to counterbalance the strength of Tver; and after the Tver Uprising of 1327, which the Muscovites helped put down, Özbeg Khan named Ivan "Kalita" of Moscow the new grand prince of Vladimir.

By the mid-14th century and especially during the Great Troubles (1359–1382), the khan's alliance with Moscow made the latter militarily and administratively powerful enough to economically and demographically devastate its rivals, notably Tver. The khans therefore started awarding the grand princely title to Moscow's rivals. In 1353, of Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal unsuccessfully tried to obtain the title of grand prince of Vladimir, and in 1371 it was awarded to Mikhail II of Tver. But by that time it was too late for the Golden Horde to curb the rise of Muscovy. Tokhtamysh allowed Vasily I of Moscow to succeed his father Dmitry Donskoy as grand prince of Vladimir in 1389.

List Monarch Regnal name Lifespan Relationship with predecessor(s) Reigned from Reigned until Andrey Bogolyubsky Andrey I 1110–1174Son of Yuri Dolgorukiy 15 May 1157 28 June 1174 Mikhail of Vladimir Mikhail I ?–1176Brother of Andrey Bogolyubsky 1174 September 1174 Yaropolk Rostislavich Yaropolk ?–after 1196Grandson of Vladimir II Monomakh1174 15 June 1175 Mikhail of Vladimir (again) Mikhail I ?–1176Brother of Andrei Bogolyubsky 15 June 1175 20 June 1176 Vsevolod the Big Nestfirst to be called "grand prince" from 1186 onwards Vsevolod III 19 October 1154– 15 April 1212Brother of Andrei BogolyubskyBrother of Mikhail of Vladimir June 1176 15 April 1212 Yuri II of Vladimir Yuri II 26 November 1188– 4 March 1238Son of Vsevolod the Big Nest 1212 27 April 1216 Konstantin of Rostov Konstantin 1186–1218Son of Vsevolod the Big Nest Spring 1216 2 February 1218 Yuri II of Vladimir (again) Yuri II 1189–1238Son of Vsevolod the Big Nest February 1218 4 March 1238 Yaroslav II of Vladimir Yaroslav II 1191–1238Son of Vsevolod the Big Nest 1238 30 September 1246 Sviatoslav III of Vladimir Sviatoslav III 1196–3 February 1252Son of Vsevolod the Big Nest 1246 1248 Mikhail Khorobrit Mikhail? 1229–15 January 1248Son of Yaroslav II of Vladimir 1248 15 January 1248 Sviatoslav III of Vladimir (again) Sviatoslav III 1196– 3 February 1252Son of Vsevolod the Big Nest 1248 1249 Andrey II of Vladimir Andrey II 1221–1264Son of Yaroslav II of Vladimir December 1249 24 July 1252 Alexander Nevsky Alexander I 1220–1263Son of Yaroslav II of Vladimir 1252 14 November 1263 Yaroslav of Tver Yaroslav III 1230–1272Son of Yaroslav II of Vladimir 1264 1271 Vasily of Kostroma Vasily 1241–1276Son of Yaroslav II of Vladimir 1272 January 1276 Dmitry of Pereslavl Dmitry? 1250–1294Son of Alexander Nevsky 1276 1281 Andrey of Gorodets Andrey III 1255–1304Son of Alexander Nevsky 1281 December 1283 Dmitry of Pereslavl (again) Dmitry? 1250–1294Son of Alexander Nevsky December 1283 1293 Andrey of Gorodets (again) Andrey III 1255–1304Son of Alexander Nevsky 1293 1304 Mikhail of Tver Mikhail? 1271–1318Son of Yaroslav of Tver Autumn 1304 22 November 1318 Yuri of Moscow Yuri III 1281–1325Grandson of Alexander Nevsky 1318 2 November 1322 Dmitry of Tver the Fearsome Eyes Dmitry I 1299–1326Son of Mikhail of Tver 1322 15 September 1326 Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver Alexander II 1281–1339Son of Mikhail of Tver 1326 1327 Alexander III 1300–1331Grandson of Andrey II of Vladimir 1328 1331 Ivan I of Moscow Kalita Ivan I 1288–1340Grandson of Alexander Nevsky 1332 31 March 1340 Simeon of Moscow Simeon 1317–1353Son of Ivan I of Moscow 1340 1353 Ivan II of Moscow Ivan II 1326–1359Son of Ivan I of Moscow 1353 1359 Dmitry of Suzdal Dmitry? 1323–1383 Great-grandson of Andrey of Gorodets 1359 1362 Dmitry Donskoy Dmitry? 1350–1389Son of Ivan II of Moscow 1362 1371 Mikhail II of Tver Mikhail? 1333–1399Son of Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver 1371 1375 Dmitry Donskoy (again) Dmitry? 1350–1389Son of Ivan II of Moscow 1375 1389

See also Grand Prince of Kiev Prince of Tver

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Bibliography (e-book).