Welcome to a slap shot episode of the Russian rulers podcast. I'm your host Mark Schaus.

What is Apennage? Why did the early rulers of Russia use it?

And why did it eventually fail? And this

slapshot or quick podcast I hope to answer those questions.

Apinage was a system of inheritance that was implemented around the time of Rurik to help govern the vast lands of Russia with the intent of keeping the power in the hands of the family.

Because if you can't trust family, who can you trust?

Well, as I've mentioned in previous podcasts, harmonious relations between family

members, especially when power and money is involved, goes out the proverbial

window. This is never more true than with the Russian rulers of the time. This era of

Apennage Russia is generally considered to have been at its zenith from about 1240 to 1380.

The Opinage system was intended to give power to the Sons of the princes in smaller areas to help them learn

how to govern large ones when they became available due to another prince's death.

There was supposed to be order in succession, oldest to youngest.

Of course, when death doesn't quite follow the carefully laid plans, things get ugly, as

I've also mentioned in previous podcasts.

Yaroslav the Wise knew it was a mess and tried to fix it before he died in 1054,

warning his sons, if you live in hatred and dissension, quarreling with one another, then you will

ruin the country or ancestors one with so much effort, and you yourselves shall perish. Greed and the allure of power gripped the sons and war broke out costing numerous lives and wasting resources

that were to contribute to their inability to repulse the impending Mongol invasion.

As Philip Longworth wrote in his book, Russia, the once in future empire from prehistory

to Putin, As generations succeeded generation and the lines of

precedent amongst Yaroslav's numerous descendants became more and more

...