The Ryazan princes, conquered in that war after which Glaib died in prison, had engaged to appear before Vsevolod whenever he summoned them. Kolomna had been joined to Vladimir. The same fate awaited Ryazan, in case of refusal to carry out promises. Its princes had increased greatly in number, and to them were added those of Pronsk and Murom. But no matter how those princes united and fought, they could not resist Vladimir. In case of resistance, they knew not how to deal with the problem. Behind them were small quarreling parties, in front a united strong people. The Ryazan princes were under guidance, and this meant what it means always, subjection. Vsevolod, through kindness, but also through wisdom, would not claim to be master. As to “Great Lord Novgorod,” it was surrounded by adherents of Vsevolod. Not at that moment, but soon afterward, the city preferred a bad peace to good warfare. The Dvina land dropped away from Great Novgorod, and from giving tribute to that city, and joined Vladimir. After that, smaller places about which there might be disputes crept away gradually and became connected inseparably with the capital. Novgorod could not go anywhere, to the harm of Vladimir. The Volga was closed to the city completely, nothing that touched the Volga was accessible to Novgorod without the consent of Vladimir. Vsevolod strengthened the town at that point where the Oká joins the Volga, and called it Lower Novgorod (Nizni-Novgorod). Soon he settled people there, and so roused that region that during the time of his children Lower Novgorod became a considerable city. In the days of his grandchildren, the settlement which extended from the city became a large district, and to one of those grandchildren it went as a portion. On the Volga, at its upper waters, Tver was now founded at the side of the Tvertsa River. To this well-fortified little town came settlers in such numbers that, even in Vsevolod’s day, it became the head of a principality. The Vladimir men not only defended this place from “Lord Novgorod,” but they made it a new advance post against that proud city. They seized also Nova-Torg, the portage. The Vladimir princes held now an exceptional position toward Novgorod. If they could retain the two places Torjok and Tver, they were superior to Novgorod, in every case equal. In Yuri Dolgoruki’s day, Novgorod men, keen to spy out advantage, were watching for eastern connections, and would have seized the Vladimir position and prevented the rise of a principality, had not Yuri anticipated them. Yuri’s work, done in the nick of time, settled the fate of “Lord Novgorod.”