According to the handwritten Augmented Psalter of 1570 (a book of everyday Christian hymns), kept at the local historico-architectural museum-reserve, Ryazan (Pereyaslavl Ryazansky until 1778) was founded in 1095. On the hill, near the confluence of the Trubezh and Lybed rivers into the Oka, a fortress was built with high walls and patrol towers encircled with a deep ditch. However, this name initially belonged to another town, located 50 km away from the place where the modern city is situated (first mentioned in a written source in 1096)- the capital of grand principality, one of the largest arts and crafts, commerce and culture centers of ancient Rus. The territory of the modern Ryazan Region was settled by the Slavs in the 10th century-mainly by Vyatichi, who came from the west and gradually merged with indigenous people (Finno-Ugric tribes of Merya, Meshchera, Muroma, Mordva). As evidenced by the earliest preserved collection of chronicles The Tale of Bygone Years (early 12th century), in 964 there came the Grand Prince of Kiev Svyatoslav Igorevich (945-972) who, after he had learnt that the locals paid tribute to the Kha-zar Kaganate*, launched a military campaign against it and defeated it. Meanwhile, freedom-loving Vyatichi did not want to be governed by Kiev-only in 966 the prince made them his tributaries by force. His son Vladimir had to subjugate them several times before he finally consolidated his rule there. In 1097, at the Lyubech meeting** it was decided: "Each one shall govern his own patrimony." In particular, the Chernigov patrimony, including Novgorod Seversky, Ryazan,  Murom*** and other apanage principalities, * Khazar Kaganate (650-969)—a medieval state established by the Turkic nomadic tribe—Khazars. It controlled Ciscaucasia, Low and Middle Volga Region. Azov Region. Eastern Crimea, a part of Eastern Europe up to the Dnieper, etc.-Ed.** Lyubech meeting—a meeting of six princes (according to The Tale of Bygo ... Читать далее