tribal confederation · Poland, Lithuania and Russia

Radimichs

600 CE – 984 CE (approx.)

An East Slavic tribe on the Sozh river, tributaries first of the Khazars and then of Kiev, best known from a chronicle taunt.

Origins

The Primary Chronicle says the Radimichs descended from Radim, who came with his brother Vyatko from the west and settled on the Sozh, a tributary of the Dnieper in modern Belarus and western Russia. Archaeology dates their settlement to the 8th century.

Rule and society

They lived from farming and forest crafts in small fortified settlements, and their women wore distinctive seven-rayed temple rings. Like their neighbours they paid tribute to the Khazars, reportedly a silver coin per plough. In 885 Prince Oleg ordered them to pay that tribute to him instead.

Decline and legacy

In 984 the general of Vladimir I, nicknamed Wolf's Tail, routed them on the river Pishchana, and the chronicle mocks them with the saying that Radimichs run from a wolf's tail. They disappear as a separate tribe in the 12th century, their lands divided between the principalities of Chernigov and Smolensk.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Radimichs. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/radimichs
MLA
“Radimichs.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/radimichs. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Radimichs.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/radimichs.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Radimichs’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/radimichs (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻