Suzdal in the context of "Suzdalsky District"

The Principality of Suzdal, from 1157 the Grand Principality of Vladimir, commonly known as Vladimir-Suzdal, or simply Suzdalia, was a medieval principality that was established during the disintegration of Kievan Rus'. In historiography, the territory of the grand principality and the principalities that emerged from it is commonly denoted as northeast Russia or northeast Rus'.

Yury Dolgoruky (r. 1125–1157) moved his capital from Rostov to Suzdal in 1125, following the death of his father. He ruled a principality that had become virtually independent. His son Andrey (r. 1157–1175) moved the capital to Vladimir and had Kiev sacked in 1169, leading to political power shifting to the north-east. Andrey's younger brother Vsevolod III (r. 1176–1212) secured control of the throne, and following his death, a dynastic conflict ensued. Yury II (r. 1212–1216, 1218–1238) was killed during the Mongol invasions of 1237–1238. His younger brother Yaroslav II (r. 1238–1246) and the other princes submitted to Mongol rule.

The history of the Russian Orthodox Church begins with the Christianization of Kievan Rus' in 988 during the reign of Vladimir the Great. In the following centuries, Kiev and later other cities, including Novgorod, Pskov, Rostov, Suzdal and Vladimir, became important regional centers of Christian spirituality and culture. Following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, the seat of the metropolitan was moved to Vladimir in 1299, and then to Moscow in 1325, which would become the spiritual center of Russian Orthodoxy.

The metropolitans of the Russian Church supported the rise of the Moscow principality and his presence increased the Muscovite prince's authority and ambition to unify the lands. In turn, the metropolitans were able to increase the stability of the Church and to inspire unity among the divided Russian principalities. By the mid-15th century, Moscow was both the political and religious center of the country. The Russian Church declared autocephaly in 1448, shortly before the fall of Constantinople, owing to its protest over the Council of Florence. At the behest of the grand prince of Moscow, a council of Russian bishops elected a local bishop without the approval of Constantinople.

An izba (Russian: изба́, IPA: [ɪzˈba] ) is a traditional Russian countryside dwelling. Often a log house, it forms the living quarters of a conventional Russian farmstead. It is generally built close to the road and inside a yard, which also encloses a kitchen garden, hay shed, and barn within a simple woven stick fence. Traditional, old-style izba construction involved the use of simple tools, such as ropes, axes, knives, and spades. Nails were not generally used, as metal was relatively expensive, and neither were saws a common construction tool. Both interior and exterior are of split pine tree trunks, the gap between is traditionally filled with river clay, not unlike the North American log cabin.

The dominant building material of Russian vernacular architecture, and material culture generally, for centuries was wood. Specifically houses were made from locally-cut rough-hewn logs, with little or no stone, metal, or glass. Even churches and urban buildings were primarily wooden until the eighteenth century.

Garðaríki (anglicized Gardariki or Gardarike) or Garðaveldi was the Old Norse term used in the Middle Ages for the lands of Rus'. According to Göngu-Hrólfs saga, the name Hólmgarðaríki (also used as a name for Novgorodian Rus') was synonymous with Garðaríki, and these names were used interchangeably in several other Old Norse stories.

As the Varangians dealt mainly with the northern lands of Rus', their sagas regard the city of Hólmgarðr/Hólmgarðaborg (usually identified with Novgorod) as the capital of Garðaríki. Other important places of Garðaríki mentioned in the sagas that have generally been identified with well known historical towns are Aldeigja/Aldeigjuborg (Ladoga), Kœnugarðr/Kænugarðr (Kiev), Pallteskja/Pallteskia (Polotsk), Smaleskja/Smaleskia (Smolensk), Súrdalar (Suzdal), Móramar (Murom), and Rostofa (Rostov).

Vladimir Oblast (Russian: Влади́мирская о́бласть, romanized: Vladimirskaya oblastʹ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Vladimir, which is located 190 kilometers (120 mi) east of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, the oblast's population was 1,443,693.

The UNESCO World Heritage List includes the 12th-century cathedrals of Vladimir, Suzdal, Bogolyubovo, and Kideksha.

A bardiche /bɑːrˈdiːʃ/, berdiche, bardische, bardeche, or berdish is a type of polearm used from the 14th to 17th centuries in Europe. Ultimately a descendant of the medieval sparth axe or Dane axe, the bardiche proper appears around 1400, but there are numerous medieval manuscripts that depict very similar weapons beginning c. 1250. The bardiche differs from the halberd in having neither a hook at the back nor a spear point at the top. The use of bardiches started in early 14th-century Austria.

In the 16th century the bardiche was associated with the streltsy, arquebusiers of Imperial Russia established by Ivan the Terrible.