On the river Sozh, in the borderland of today's Belarus and Russia, sat an East Slavic tribe whose origin legend bound it closely to the Vyatichi: the Radimichs.
The Radimichs (Old Russian Radimichi) were an East Slavic tribe on the river Sozh, a tributary of the Dnieper, in the border region of today's southeastern Belarus and western Russia. They belong to the smaller but well-attested tribes from which the Kievan Rus grew together – and their history is closely bound to that of their neighbours, the Vyatichi.
The Primary Chronicle tells a remarkable origin legend: the Radimichs and the Vyatichi went back to two brothers, Radim and Vyatko, who are said to have immigrated from the west, "from the land of the Lyakhs" (the Poles). Radim settled on the Sozh, Vyatko on the Oka. This brother-legend is typical of the origin tales of the chronicle – it explains the kinship and the names of two tribes through an ancestral pair. Whether behind it stands a real westward migration or a learned construction is disputed among scholars.
The land of the Radimichs lay in the forests and river valleys on the Sozh and its tributaries. They lived from farming, stock-raising, hunting, beekeeping and trade along the waterways that led to the Dnieper and thus to the great trade road "from the Varangians to the Greeks". Archaeologically they are graspable through their burial mounds and their characteristic costume jewellery – above all through a certain form of temple-rings that count as an identifying mark of the tribe.
Like their neighbours, the Vyatichi and the Severians, the Radimichs too first paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate, the steppe power in the south. The Primary Chronicle reports that they gave the Khazars "what they demanded". This dependence bound them to the steppe world and its long-distance trade but kept them away from the rising power of the Rus in the north – until Kiev, after the shattering of the Khazars, reached for their land too.
The decisive moment came in 984. Prince Vladimir the Great of Kiev sent a commander with the peculiar nickname "Wolf's Tail" (Volchi Khvost) against the Radimichs. On a river called Pishchane the Radimichs were defeated. The chronicle hands down a mocking saying with which the neighbours henceforth taunted the Radimichs: "The Radimichs flee from the Wolf's Tail." After this defeat the Radimichs were firmly integrated into the Kievan Rus and tributary to Kiev.
The mocking verse about the Radimichs fleeing from the "Wolf's Tail" is one of the liveliest details of early East Slavic tradition. It shows that the chronicle recorded not only dry events but also winged words and folk humour. For the Radimichs it was a not very flattering memento – but a memento nonetheless: only a few small tribes made it into the proverbs of their time.
After 984 the Radimichs lost their independence. Their land became part of the Kievan Rus and later belonged to the principalities of Smolensk and Chernigov. As with the other East Slavic tribes, the tribal name vanished with the rise of the principalities and the church; the Radimichs became inhabitants of their regions. Their heritage lives on in the population of today's southeastern Belarus – and in the archaeological finds that attest their own culture.
The Radimichs, together with the Vyatichi and Severians, complete the picture of the southern East Slavs: tribes between forest and steppe, between the Khazars and Kiev, integrated into the Rus only late and partly by force. Their brother-legend with the Vyatichi, their tribute to the Khazars and their defeat by the "Wolf's Tail" make them a vivid example of how the Kievan Rus grew together tribe by tribe. For our picture of the East Slavs they are an important building block.
The main source is the Primary Chronicle (Povest vremennykh let) with the brother-legend, the Khazar tribute and the battle of 984 – written later and to be read with caution. The counterweight is provided by archaeology: burial mounds and the characteristic Radimich temple-rings in the Sozh area, which attest their own culture independently of the texts. We keep evidence and interpretation apart: the tribe, the Khazar tribute and the subjugation in 984 are well attested; the brother-legend of Radim and Vyatko is a legendary origin tale.
Archaeologically the Radimichs are especially well graspable – through their jewellery. Characteristic are their seven-rayed temple-rings, which women wore on their headdress and which differ clearly from those of the neighbouring tribes (such as the seven-lobed rings of the Vyatichi). Such costume elements are for archaeology like a fingerprint: they allow the settlement area of a tribe to be determined even where the written sources are silent. The Radimich temple-rings thus trace the heartland on the Sozh and confirm, independently of the chronicle, their distinctiveness.
The Sozh leads to the Dnieper – and thus to the great trade road "from the Varangians to the Greeks". The Radimichs thus lay not entirely off the beaten track but on the edge of this stream, over which silver, furs, wax and goods flowed. This position brought prosperity but also made the land desirable to the Kievan princes, who sought control of the trade routes and their tributes. So the Radimichs shared the fate of many East Slavic tribes: their wealth drew the attention of the rising central power.
Although the Radimichs were a small tribe, they have a firm place in the tradition. The brother-legend with the Vyatichi explains their origin, the mocking verse of the "Wolf's Tail" records their defeat, and their temple-rings make them archaeologically visible. Thus they are better attested than many a larger tribe. Their heritage lives on in the population of today's southeastern Belarus and in the landscape on the Sozh – another thread in the fabric of the East Slavs, from which the Rus and today's East Slavic nations emerged.
"The Radimichs flee from the Wolf's Tail."after the Primary Chronicle (Povest vremennykh let), public domain, own translation
The Vyatichi · The Severians · The Rus (Kiev).
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