The Golden Horde from Cambridge history of Russia, volume 1

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On the eve of the Mongol invasion two institutions had given definition to Kievan Rus'. One was the ruling Riurikid dynasty, whose senior prince ruled Kiev The other was the Orthodox Christian Church headed by the metropoli­tan, also based at Kiev Although the component principalities of Kievan Rus' had multiplied and had become the hereditary domains of separate branches of the dynasty, subjecting the state to centrifugal pressures, they all recog­nised Kiev as the symbolic political and ecclesiastic centre of a common realm and were bound together by dynastic, political, cultural and commercial ties.

The principality that comprised the north-eastern territories of Kievan Rus' was Vladimir, also known as Suzdalia, Rostov-Suzdal', and Vladimir-Suzdal'. Centred around the upper Volga and Oka River basins, its territories were bounded by Novgorod to the north and west, Smolensk to the south-west, and Chernigov and Riazan' to the south. The eastern frontier of Vladimir- Suzdal' stretched to Nizhnii Novgorod on the Volga; beyond lay lands and peoples subject to the Volga Bulgars.

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