Pislegin N. V., Chekmareva E. S., Churakov V. S. Reconstructing the Genealogy of Kedra Mitrei (D. I. Korepanov) in the Context of Udmurt Clan Organisation (In Russ.)

Posted on 25.09.2026 by editor

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Original article

https://doi.org/10.15507/2076-2577.26183.422-437
https://elibrary.ru/omjndm
УДК / UDC 929:821.511.131

Reconstructing the Genealogy of Kedra Mitrei (D. I. Korepanov) in the Context of Udmurt Clan Organisation

N. V. Pislegin,V. S. Churakov
Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ural Branch of the RAS, Izhevsk, Russian Federation, https://ror.org/0266a1t84

E. S. Chekmareva
Independent researcher, Vladikavkaz, Russian Federation

Abstract

Introduction. The study of the clan organisation of the Udmurts remains one of the key issues in the ethnography and social history of the Finno-Ugric peoples. Despite the substantial body of research devoted to this subject, many aspects of the origins and development of the clan system, as well as the historical trajectories of individual vyzhy clans, have yet to receive comprehensive treatment. Examining the genealogies of individual members of the Udmurt people makes it possible to address some of these gaps. The autobiographical work A Child of a Sick Age by one of the classics of Udmurt literature, Kedra Mitrei (D. I. Korepanov), contains valuable evidence concerning his ancestry and clan affiliation. The aim of this study is to reconstruct Kedra Mitrei’s genealogy within the context of the clan organisation of the Udmurt people.

Materials and Methods. The article is based on a corpus of published and unpublished population censuses dating from the 17th to the early 20th century, as well as a range of statistical materials from the second half of the 19th to the late 20th century. The above-mentioned documents were analysed using both general methods, including induction, deduction, analysis, and synthesis, and specialised historical methods, namely the historical-genetic, historical-comparative, and chronological approaches. This analysis made it possible to confirm that D. I. Korepanov belonged to the Egra clan, while his mother belonged to the Ulya clan. Using the genealogical method, the prose writer’s family tree was compiled and subsequently analysed.

Results and Discussion. The available source base made it possible to trace Kedra Mitrei’s ancestors through both the paternal line, the Korepanovs, and the maternal line, the Tugbaevs, back to the mid- and second half of the 16th century. The writer’s affiliation with the Egra clan-vyzhy has been confirmed: the earliest identified male ancestor was the founder of Igra, one of the clan’s first settlements. This settlement later became the point of origin for other Egra communities in Central Udmurtia and was connected with Egra villages in Southern Udmurtia, as well as with some of the Udmurts living beyond the Kama River. The analysis also substantiated the connection of Kedra Mitrei’s mother and her male-line ancestors with the Ulya clan-vyzhy. From the second half of the 16th century to the first quarter of the 17th century, they lived in the village of Ochina in the Luzhanovsky District of the Vyatka Land, now the village of Podgornoye in the Slobodskoy District of Kirov Region. By the 19th century, they had moved to the territory of Central Udmurtia.

Conclusion. For the first time, the authors have compiled a detailed genealogical tree of D. I. Korepanov (Kedro Mitrei), a classic figure of Udmurt literature, on the basis of historical sources. It is highly probable that the earliest identified ancestors of Kedro Mitrei were among the founders of the Udmurt clans-vyzh Egra and Ulya. The study confirmed D. I. Korepanov’s statements concerning the patrilineal character of these Udmurt kinship associations. This provides an additional argument against the vorshud-clan theory, whose proponents interpret Udmurt clans as having been originally “matriarchal”.

Keywords: Kedra Mitrei, The Child of the Sick Age, population censuses, metric books, the clan Egra, the clan Ul’a, the Udmurt clan system

Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

For citation: Pislegin N.V., Chekmareva E.S., Churakov V.S. Reconstructing the Genealogy of Kedra Mitrei (D. I. Korepanov) in the Context of Udmurt Clan Organisation. Finno–Ugric World. 2026;18(3):422–437. https://doi.org/10.15507/2076-2577.26183.422-437

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Information about the authors:

Nikolai V. Pislegin, Cand.Sci. (Hist.), Associate Professor, Senior Researcher, Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ural Branch of the RAS (4 Lomonosova St., Izhevsk 426004, Russian Federation), ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3031-031X, SPIN-code: 3715-7483, cpeg@rambler.ru

Ekaterina S. Chekmareva, Master of History, independent Researcher (Vladikavkaz, Russian Federation), ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5388-6018, SPIN-code: 2680-9410, rinacorreo@gmail.com

Vladimir S. Churakov, Cand.Sci. (Hist.), Senior Researcher, Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ural Branch of the RAS (4 Lomonosova St., Izhevsk 426004, Russian Federation), ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9998-3294, SPIN-code: 2698-8664, vermis3@gmail.com

Authors’ contribution:

N. V. Pislegin – ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims; preparation and creation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation); verification, whether as a part of the activity or separate, of the reproducibility of results and other research outputs and other research outputs.

E. S. Chekmareva – ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims; preparation and creation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation); verification, whether as a part of the activity or separate, of the reproducibility of results and other research outputs and other research outputs.

V. S. Churakov – ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims; preparation and creation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation); verification, whether as a part of the activity or separate, of the reproducibility of results and other research outputs and other research outputs.

All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Submitted 19.01.2026; revised 14.05.2026; accepted 20.05.2026.

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