Elena P. Martynova

Professor, Doctor of Science (History), Professor of the Department of History and Archeology

Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

(Tula, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2023-4-73-86

Abstract. The article raises the question about the possibility of correlating the socio-political organization of the Siberian Ugrians in the middle of the 2nd millennium A.D. with the chiefdom as a form of integration of society, preceding the state. It is noted that in Russian historiography there were discussions about the nature and essence of the Ob Ugrians (Ostyak and Vogul) polities that existed in the Lower Ob region, which in the 19th century was named as "princedoms". The author turns to the analysis of the Ob Ugrian heroic epic, which was collected and published in the late 19th century by S. K. Patkanov. Folklore materials are compared with archaeological data and information from medieval written sources. It is shown that in the period preceding the annexation to Russia, the Ugrian society was heterogeneous and stratified. Princes-chiefs were at the top of the social hierarchy, the bulk of the population was represented by ordinary people organized in territorial and tribal communities, at the bottom of the social ladder were slaves recruited from prisoners of war. The chief-princes were autocratic leaders connected with autochthonous clans, their power was hereditary. The princes performed military and religious-cult functions, thus uniting and rallying the aboriginal communities. Their power had sacral character. The centers of princedoms - towns were not only well fortified settlements, but also trade centers. The above features allow us to evaluate the Ob-Ugric principalities as chiefdoms. Their most significant characteristics were military character, hereditary power, predominance of kinship ties in the structure of the population, the presence of social inequality, the combination of military functions with judicial and religious-cult functions by the leaders-princes.
Keywords: Ob Ugrians (Khanty and Mansi), politogenesis, social structure, chiefdoms, principalities, princes.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Martynova, EP 2023, ‘Principalities and Princes of the Ob Ugrians Through the Prism of Politogenesis’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 4 (16), pp. 73–86, http://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2023-4-73-86 (in Russ.)

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