Der Mongolensturm von 1237 bis 1241 und seine Folgen für die Bevölkerung der Rus’: Zum Forschungsstand. The State of the Art

Abstract

As implied by the few existing written sources, the losses suffered by the population of Kievan Rus’ at the hands of the Mongol invaders seemed to be very high. The widely scattered excavations carried out by Russian and Ukrainian archaeologists in recent decades have made it possible to take a fresh look at this question. There is no doubt that the south, southwest and northeast of Kievan Rus’ were particularly affected by the devastation of the war. According to the regional clusters of excavations, the mid-thirteenth century saw rural settlements decline by 80-90% in the south and southwest, and by one third in northeastern Rus’. Based on this data, the population decline during this period can be estimated at 60%. However, only a small part of this can be attributed to war victims. The majority of the population that disappeared seems to have migrated to the safer regions of northern Rus’ and to the woodlands of the Carpathian Mountains. However, apart from the Dnieper Basin, the gap created by actual population losses was already closed at the beginning of the fourteenth century. We know from more recent research that the significance of the Mongol invasion for the development of the population of Rus’ should not be overestimated. The changes in the state’s settlement system as well as the shifting of the population was also influenced by a domestic economic crisis which lasted throughout the thirteenth century.