In the Russian northeast, East Slavs colonize the territory that will eventually become Muscovy by intermingling with the Finno-Ugric tribes already occupying the area.

The city of Rostov is the oldest center of the northeast, but it  is supplanted first by Suzdal' and then by the city of Vladimir.

By the twelfth century, the combined principality of Vladimir-Suzdal' has become a major power in Kievan Rus.

Vladimir, on the Klyazma River in Russia about one hundred and thirty miles (two hundred and ten kilometers) east of present Moscow, is founded in 1108, which is the date of the first mention of the city in the Primary Chronicle.

This view attributes the founding of the city, and its name, to Vladimir Monomakh, who had inherited the region as part of the Rostov-Suzdal principality in the eleventh century.

Its foundation is traditionally attributed to Vladimir's desire to distance himself from the ancient centers of boyar power, such as Rostov and Suzdal.

Serving its original purpose as a defensive outpost for the Rostov-Suzdal principality, Vladimir is to have little political or military influence throughout the reign of Vladimir Monomakh (1113–1125), or his son Yuri Dolgoruky ("long arms") (1154–1157).

It will later become the center of Vladimir-Suzdal principality, when Monomakh's son Yury Dolgoruky moves the seat of Great Princes of Russia from Kiev to Vladimir, thus actually transferring the capital of the country and beginning the city's Golden Age, which will last until the Mongol invasion of Russia.

At this time, Vladimir is one of Europe's largest and most beautiful cities, enjoying immense growth and prosperity.

Yuri's sons, Andrew the Pious and Vsevolod the Big Nest, will confirm and enforce Vladimir's status as the capital by moving the seat of the Russian metropolitan from Kiev to Vladimir.

Vsevolod leads an unsuccessful campaign in Vladimir in 1134, during which, according to the Novgorodians, he shows indecisiveness, one of the reasons for his dismissal a little over a year later.

The city of Vladimir, serving its original purpose as a defensive outpost for the Rostov-Suzdal principality, had had little political or military influence throughout the reign of Vladimir Monomakh (1113–1125), or his son Yuri Dolgorukiy ("long arms").

It is only under Dolgoruky's son, Andrey Bogolyubsky ("Andrey the God-Loving"), that it becomes the center of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality.

Andrey had left Vyshhorod in 1155 and moved to Vladimir.

Promoting development of feudal relations, he relies on a team and on Vladimir’s townspeople; he connects Vladimir to the trading and craft industries of Rostov and Suzdal.

After his father’s death in 1157, he has become Knyaz (prince) of Vladimir, Rostov and Suzdal.

Thus begins the city's Golden Age, which will last until the Mongol invasion of Russia in 1237.

During this time Vladimir will enjoy immense growth and prosperity, and Andry will oversee the building of the Golden Gates and the Cathedral of the Assumption.

In 1164, Andrey even attempts to establish a new metropolitanate in Vladimir, separate from that of Kiev, but is rebuffed by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

…makes Vladimir the capital of Kievan Rus'.

Andrey Bogolyubsky, becoming "ruler of all Suzdal land", has strengthened his capital, Vladimir, and constructed the magnificent Assumption Cathedral, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, and other churches and monasteries.

Under his leadership, Vladimir is much enlarged, and fortifications are built around the city.

At the same time the castle Bogolyubovo is built next to Vladimir, and is a favorite residence of his (receives his nickname "Bogolyubsky" in honor of this place).

It is he who has brought the Theotokos of Vladimir to the city whose name it now bears.

During Andrey Bogolyubsky’s reign, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality has attained significant power and is the strongest among the Rus' principalities.

Amplification of princely authority and conflict with important boyars is the cause of a plot against Andrei Bogolyubsky, as a result of which he is killed on the night of June 28, 1174 when twenty of his disgruntled retainers burst into his chambers and slay the prince in his bed.

Batu moves into central Russia in 1238 to subdue the Western Russian principalities.

Besieging Vladimir, he finally overruns it on February 8, 1238.

A great fire destroys thirty-two limestone buildings on the first day alone, while the family of Grand Prince Yuri II perishes in a church where they had sought refuge from the flames.

The grand prince himself manages to escape.

Yaroslav, following the battle death of his older brother, leaves Kiev for Vladimir, where he is crowned grand prince.

The metropolitan of the Orthodox Church moves in 1299 to the city of Vladimir in the wake of the Mongol invasion, and Vladimir-Suzdal' replaces Kievan Rus as the religious center.

Historians have debated the long-term influence of Mongol rule on Russian society.

The Mongols have been blamed for the destruction of Kievan Rus', the breakup of the "Russian" nationality into three components, and the introduction of the concept of "oriental despotism" into Russia, but most historians agree that Kievan Rus' was not a homogeneous political, cultural, or ethnic entity and that the Mongols merely accelerated a fragmentation that had begun before the invasion.

Historians also credit the Mongol regime with an important role in the development of Muscovy as a state.

Under Mongol occupation, for example, Muscovy develops its postal road network, census, fiscal system, and military organization.

Kievan Rus' also leaves a powerful legacy.

The leader of the Rurik Dynasty has united a large territory inhabited by East Slavs into an important, albeit unstable, state.

After Vladimir accepts Eastern Orthodoxy, Kievan Rus' comes together under a church structure and develops a Byzantine-Slavic synthesis in culture, statecraft, and the arts.

On the northeastern periphery of Kievan Rus', those traditions are adapted to form the Russian autocratic state.