Vyazma

Vyazma was a Rus’ appanage of Smolensk, centered on a fortified town between Smolensk and Mozhaysk. In the fourteenth century a junior branch of the Smolensk Rurikids held it and prospered from trade with Narva.

Lithuania absorbed Vyazma in 1403, though its princes retained their appanage for a time. In 1494 a Muscovite army under Daniil Shchenya took the town, and a peace treaty confirmed it as a Moscow possession. The Vyazemsky princes entered Muscovite service.