Rededya

The duel between Mstislav and Rededia. Painting by Nicholas Roerich, 1943.

Rededi, Rededia, Rededya or Ridada (died 1022) was a legendary leader of the Kassogians, a Circassian tribe from the North Caucasus.

The Laurentian Codex provides the following information. In 1022, Prince Mstislav the Brave, who at the time was the prince of Tmutarakan, started a military operation against the Alans. During the operation, he encountered the Kassogian army commanded by Rededya. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed, Mstislav and Rededya, who possessed an extraordinary physical force, decided to have a personal fight, with the condition that the winner would be considered the winner of the battle. The fight lasted some hours and, eventually, Rededya was knocked to the ground and stubbed with a knife. The subjects of Rededya were forced to admit the defeat. Mstislav ascribed his win to the Virgin, whom he prayed to before the battle.

Subsequently, Mstitlav has taken the wife and the two sons of Rededya and had them baptized. The sons got the names of Yury and Roman. Roman later got married to Tatyana, the daughter of Mstislav.

Traditionally, Kassogians are considered as direct ancestors of the Circassians. Some modern Russian scientists suggested they may have come to the Caucasus from the Middle East and subsequently assimilated.