[2] In its early days Pereyaslavl' was one of the important cities in Kievan Rus' behind the Principality of Chernigov and Kiev.

The city was located at a ford where Vladimir the Great fought a battle against the nomad Pechenegs.

[3] The principality can be traced as a semi-independent dominion from the inheritance of the sons of Yaroslav the Wise, with Sviatoslav receiving Chernigov, Vsevolod getting Pereyaslavl, Smolensk going to Viacheslav, and Vladimir-in-Volhynia going to Igor.

[4] The Primary Chronicle records that in 988 Vladimir assigned the northern lands (later associated with Pereyaslavl) to Yaroslav.

[7] Early on during the Great Troubles, around 1360, grand duke Algirdas (Olgerd) of Lithuania acquired the core principalities of former Kievan Rus': Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, and Kiev.