The Birth of Kievan Rus The only logical explanation for the success of the coup carried out by Oleg can be considered the dissatisfaction of Rus' with Askold's religious reforms. Oleg was a pagan and led the pagan reaction. Above, in the chapter “The Riddles of Prophetic Oleg”, already

From Kievan Rus to Little Russia The Mongol invasion of 1237–1241 dealt a terrible blow to the entire ancient Russian civilization, as a result of which there was a total redrawing of the political map of Eastern Europe. Direct political consequences this event is very

According to the preamble to the chronicle, he reigned for 37 years (PSRL, vol. I, stb. 18). According to all chronicles, he entered Kyiv in 6488 (980) (PSRL, vol. I, stb. 77), according to the “Memory and Praise of the Russian Prince Vladimir” - June 11 6486 (978 ) year (Literature Library Ancient Rus'. T.1. P.326). The dating of 978 was especially actively defended by A. A. Shakhmatov, but there is still no consensus in science. Died on July 15, 6523 (1015) (PSRL, vol. I, stb. 130).

Kyiv princes

ASKOLD And DIR (9th century) - legendary Kyiv princes.

The Tale of Bygone Years reports that in 862 two Varangians - boyars of the Novgorod prince Rurik - Askold and Dir, together with their relatives and warriors, asked the prince to leave for Constantinople (either on a campaign or to serve as mercenaries). Sailing in boats along the Dnieper, they saw a small town on a mountain. It was Kyiv. The Varangians liked the town so much that they abandoned further travel, stayed in Kyiv, invited other Varangians to join them and began to own the land of the Polyan tribe. Many Novgorodians dissatisfied with Rurik’s rule also moved to Kyiv.

In later chronicles it is reported that Askold and Dir, after reigning in Kyiv, successfully fought with the Drevlyans, Ulichs, Krivichs, as well as the Khazars, to whom the glades paid tribute, the Bulgarians and the Pechenegs. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, in 866 Askold and Dir made a campaign against Constantinople. The Rus, who sailed on 200 ships, ravaged the environs of the capital of Byzantium. However, a storm arose and smashed the Russian ships against the coastal rocks. Only a few managed to escape and return home. Chronicles associate the storm with the intervention of higher powers, since the calm sea was agitated after the Byzantines immersed the robe of the Virgin Mary from the church in Blachernae into its waters; Shocked by this miracle, the Russians immediately accepted baptism. Modern researchers believe that this story was completely borrowed from Byzantine sources, and Russian chroniclers added the names of Askold and Dir to it later. Messages from chronicles of the 16th–17th centuries. also based on Byzantine sources. In 882, the Novgorod prince Oleg, appearing in Kyiv, killed Askold and Dir and captured the city.

Chronicle information about Askold and Dir has long been the subject of controversy between historians. They differ in determining the origin of the names of the princes. Some scientists consider the names Askold and Dir to be Scandinavian, others believe that these are the names of local princes associated with the dynasty of the legendary Kiy. According to some researchers, Askold and Dir were not even contemporaries.

OLEG VESCHY (? - 912 or 922) - Prince of Kiev from 882.

Most chronicles consider him a relative of Prince Rurik. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, in 879, Rurik, dying, handed Novgorod over to Oleg and asked him to take care of his young son Igor. In 882 Oleg captured Smolensk and Lyubech. Then he went further south, approached Kyiv, killed Askold and Dir, who reigned there, and became the prince of Kyiv. In 883 he conquered the Drevlyans, in 884 - the Northerners, in 885 - the Radimichi, and fought with the Streets and Tivertsy. The Tale of Bygone Years contains mention of the wars that Oleg waged with the Khazars and Bulgarians.

In 907, at the head of an army from all the tribes under his control, the prince made a campaign against Byzantium. A fleet of 2,000 ships approached Tsaryrad (Constantinople). Oleg's army landed on the shore and devastated the surroundings of the Byzantine capital. Then, according to the chronicle legend, Oleg ordered his soldiers to put the ships on wheels. Having waited for a fair wind and raised the sails, the ships of the Kyiv prince moved overland to Constantinople. Oleg took a huge tribute from Byzantium (12 hryvnia for each of his warriors, of whom, according to the chronicle, there were about 80,000 people) and concluded a peace treaty with it that was beneficial for Rus'. Leaving Constantinople, Oleg hung his shield on the city gates as a sign of victory. In 911 he concluded another treaty with Byzantium. According to the chronicler, Oleg died from a snake bite. Some chronicles report that he died in Kyiv, others claim that the Kiev prince ended his days in the north, in the city of Ladoga, or even overseas.

IGOR OLD (? – 945) – Prince of Kiev from 912

According to the Tale of Bygone Years, Igor was the son of the Novgorod prince Rurik. Many modern scientists believe that this is a later legend. The chronicle reports that in 879, when Rurik died, Igor was a child whose father asked his relative Oleg to take care of him. Together with Oleg, Igor moved to Kyiv and until Oleg’s death (around 912) he served as an assistant to his older relative. In 903, Oleg married Igor to Olga, and in 907, during the campaign against Constantinople (Constantinople), he left him in Kyiv. In 912, Igor became the prince of Kyiv. In 914 he suppressed the uprising of the Drevlyans. In 915 he made peace with the Pechenegs, and in 920 he fought with them. In 940, after long resistance, the streets submitted to Kyiv. In 941, Igor launched a campaign against Constantinople, which ended in the defeat of his fleet in a battle with the Byzantines. Despite the failure, most of the Rus, retreating to the coast of Asia Minor, continued to fight for another four months. Igor himself, leaving his army, returned to Kyiv. In 944, the Rus entered into an agreement with Byzantium. In 945, Igor tried, contrary to the agreement, to collect tribute from the Drevlyans twice. The Drevlyans took him prisoner and executed him, tying the prince to the tops of two trees bent to the ground, and then, releasing the trees, they tore his body in two. The prince was buried near the Drevlyan capital Iskorosten.

OLGA(in baptism - Elena)(? – 07/11/969) – Kiev princess, wife of Prince Igor, Orthodox saint.

Only vague legends have been preserved in the chronicles about Olga’s origins. Some chroniclers believed that she was from Pskov, others took her from Izborsk. Later sources report that her parents were commoners, and in her youth she herself worked as a carrier across the river, where Prince Igor, who was hunting in those places, met her. Other legends, on the contrary, claim that Olga came from a noble family, and her grandfather was the legendary Prince Gostomysl. There is also a message that before her marriage she bore the name Beautiful, and was named Olga in honor of the Kyiv prince Oleg, who raised her husband and arranged their marriage.

According to the Tale of Bygone Years, in 903 Olga was married to Prince Igor.

After the murder of Igor by the Drevlyans (945), Olga rejected the matchmaking of the Drevlyan prince Mal and brutally dealt with the rebellious tribe. According to the chronicle legend, the princess ordered the first Drevlyan ambassadors to her to be buried alive in the ground, and the participants of the second embassy to be burned in a bathhouse. Having invited the Drevlyans to a funeral feast for Igor, she ordered her warriors to kill the guests she hated. Having besieged the main city of the Drevlyans, Iskorosten, in 946, Olga demanded that the city residents give her three doves and three sparrows from each household, promising to leave if her demand was fulfilled. The delighted Drevlyans collected the birds and gave them to the Kyiv princess. Olga ordered her warriors to tie pieces of smoldering tinder to the birds’ legs and release them into the wild. Pigeons and sparrows flew to their nests in Iskorosten, after which a fire started in the city.

Having become the ruler of Kyiv, Olga pursued a course towards even greater subordination of the Slavic tribes to the power of Kyiv. In 947, she established fixed tribute amounts for the Drevlyans and Novgorodians, organizing tribute collection points - graveyards. In 955, Olga converted to Christianity and subsequently contributed to the spread of this religion in Rus'. Throughout Rus', Christian churches and chapels were erected and crosses were erected. In foreign policy Olga sought rapprochement with Byzantium. In 957, she visited Constantinople, where she met with the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. However, relations between Rus' and Byzantium under Olga did not always remain allied. In 959, Olga asked the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I (the enemy of Byzantium) to send missionaries to Rus' to preach Christianity. However, by 962, when Roman preachers led by Bishop Adalbert arrived in Rus', relations between Rus' and Byzantium normalized. Having met a cold, even hostile reception, Adalbert was forced to return with nothing. Despite Olga's persuasion, her son Svyatoslav never accepted Christianity.

In con. 10th century Olga's relics were transferred to the Tithe Church. Canonized as a saint. Memorial Day: July 11 (24).

SVYATOSLAV IGOREVICH (? – 972) – Prince of Kiev from 964

Son of Prince Igor the Old and Princess Olga. For the first time, the name of Svyatoslav is mentioned in the chronicle in 945. After the death of his father in the Drevlyan land, he, despite the fact that he was still very small, participated with Olga in a campaign against the Drevlyans.

Svyatoslav grew up as a true warrior. He spent his life on campaigns, spending the night not in a tent, but on a horse blanket with a saddle under his head.

In 964, Svyatoslav’s squad left Kyiv and, ascending the Desna River, entered the lands of the Vyatichi, who at that time were tributaries of the Khazars. The Kiev prince ordered the Vyatichi to pay tribute not to the Khazars, but to Kyiv, and moved his army further - against the Volga Bulgarians, Burtases, Khazars, and then the North Caucasian tribes of the Yases and Kasogs. This unprecedented campaign lasted for about four years. The prince captured and destroyed the capital of the Khazar Khaganate, the city of Itil, and took the well-fortified fortresses of Sarkel on the Don and Semender in the North Caucasus.

In 968, Svyatoslav, at the insistent requests of Byzantium, based on the Russian-Byzantine treaty of 944 and supported by a solid gold offering, set off on a new military expedition - against Danube Bulgaria. His 10,000-strong army defeated the 30,000-strong Bulgarian army and captured the city of Maly Preslav. Svyatoslav named this city Pereyaslavets and declared it the capital of his state. He did not want to return to Kyiv.

In the absence of the prince, the Pechenegs attacked Kyiv. But the arrival of a small army of governor Pretich, taken by the Pechenegs for vanguard Svyatoslav, forced them to lift the siege and move away from Kyiv.

Svyatoslav and part of his squad had to return to Kyiv. Having defeated the Pecheneg army, he announced to his mother: “I don’t like sitting in Kyiv. I want to live in Pereyaslavets-on-Danube. There is the middle of my land. All good things flow there: from the Greeks - gold, fabrics, wines, various vegetables; from the Czechs and Hungarians - silver and horses, from Rus' - furs, wax and honey.” Soon Princess Olga died. Svyatoslav divided the Russian land between his sons: he placed Yaropolk as prince in Kyiv, sent Oleg to the Drevlyansky land, and Vladimir to Novgorod. He himself hurried to his possessions on the Danube.

Here he defeated the army of the Bulgarian Tsar Boris, captured him and took possession of the entire country from the Danube to the Balkan Mountains. In the spring of 970, Svyatoslav crossed the Balkans, took Philippol (Plovdiv) by storm and reached Arkadiopol. Having defeated the Byzantine army, Svyatoslav, however, did not go further. He took “many gifts” from the Greeks and returned back to Pereyaslavets. In the spring of 971, a new Byzantine army, reinforced by a fleet, attacked Svyatoslav’s squads, besieged in the city of Dorostol on the Danube. The siege lasted more than two months. On July 22, 971, Russian troops suffered a heavy defeat under the city walls. Svyatoslav was forced to begin peace negotiations with Emperor John Tzimiskes.

Their meeting took place on the banks of the Danube and was described in detail by the Byzantine chronicler. Tzimiskes, surrounded by his entourage, was waiting for Svyatoslav. The prince arrived on a boat, sitting in which he rowed along with ordinary soldiers. The Greeks were able to distinguish him only by his shirt, which was cleaner than that of other warriors, and by an earring with two pearls and a ruby, stuck in his ear.

Having made peace with the Byzantines, Svyatoslav went to Kyiv. But on the way, at the Dnieper rapids, the Pechenegs, informed by the Greeks, were waiting for his thinned army. In an unequal battle, Svyatoslav’s squad and he himself died. From the skull of Svyatoslav, the Pecheneg prince Kurya, according to the old steppe custom, ordered a bowl to be made for feasts.

YAROPOLK SVYATOSLAVICH (? – 980) – Prince of Kiev from 970

Son of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. The name of Yaropolk was first mentioned in the chronicle in 968: together with his grandmother, Princess Olga and his brothers, he was in Kyiv besieged by the Pechenegs. In 970, before setting off on his last campaign against Bulgaria, Svyatoslav placed Yaropolk on the Kiev table as his governor. After the death of his father, Yaropolk became a full-fledged prince of Kyiv. In 977, he defeated his brother, Prince Oleg of the Drevlyans, in an internecine struggle. Pursued by Yaropolk, he fell into the ditch from the bridge leading to the city gates of Ovruch and died. Another brother, Prince of Novgorod Vladimir Svyatoslavich, fearing that the same fate awaited him, fled to the Varangians overseas. In 980, Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who returned from overseas with the Varangian squad, sat in Novgorod, expelling the mayors of Yaropolk from there. According to legend, he wooed the Polotsk princess Rogneda, but she refused Vladimir, saying that she wanted to marry Yaropolk. In response to this, Vladimir captured Polotsk and besieged Kyiv. He managed to expel his brother from the capital by deception. Yaropolk fled to the city of Rodnya. Trying to make peace with his brother, he went to negotiations, where, on the orders of Vladimir, he was killed.

VLADIMIR I SVYATOSLAVICH(in baptism - Vasily)(? – July 15, 1015) – Prince of Kiev since 980, Orthodox saint, Equal-to-the-Apostles.

The son of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich and the slave Malusha, housekeeper of Princess Olga. In 969, Svyatoslav, at the request of the Novgorodians, gave Vladimir Novgorod. After the death of Svyatoslav, strife began between his sons. Vladimir, fearing his older brother Yaropolk, who reigned in Kyiv, fled overseas to the Varangians. In 980 he returned to Novgorod with Varangian mercenaries and soon entered into the fight with Yaropolk. Vladimir's first success was the capture of Polotsk, which was ruled by Yaropolk's ally, Prince Rogvold. Rogvold was killed, and Vladimir took his daughter Rogneda as his wife. In the same 980, Vladimir dealt with Yaropolk and captured Kiev. The Varangians from Vladimir’s squad demanded tribute from the townspeople. Not wanting to give the money, the prince played for time with promises and, finally, sent some of the Varangians to the cities as governors, and sent others to Byzantium.

The first years of Vladimir's reign in Kyiv were marked by the persecution of Christians who supported Yaropolk. Vladimir created a pantheon of pagan gods in Kyiv, in which he placed the idols of Perun, Khors, Dazhdbog, Stribog, Simargl, Mocotti.

Vladimir was also very active in foreign policy. In 981, Vladimir conquered Przemysl, Cherven and other cities from Poland. In 981 and 982 went against the Vyatichi and imposed tribute on them; in 983, on the Lithuanian tribe of the Yatvingians. In 984 he fought with the Radimichi, in 985 - with the Volga Bulgarians and Khazars.

By 986, Vladimir Svyatoslavich began negotiations with Byzantium regarding his marriage to the sister of the Byzantine emperors Vasily II and Constantine VIII, Princess Anna. In exchange for Anna's hand, the Kiev prince offered the emperors military assistance, which they really needed; in the end, they accepted the Russian side's offer. To this same time, the Tale of Bygone Years refers to the arrival of missionary ambassadors to Vladimir from the Volga-Kama Bulgars (Muslims), Khazars (Jews), “Germans” (envoys of the Pope) and Greeks (Eastern Christians). Each of the envoys sought to attract the prince by preaching his faith. OK. 987/988 Vladimir was baptized. Meanwhile, the Byzantine emperors refused to marry Anna to Vladimir. In response to this, Vladimir in 988–989. captured the city of Chersonesus (Korsun), which belonged to Byzantium, thereby forcing the emperors to fulfill their promise.

Returning to Kyiv, Vladimir began to actively spread Christianity. Greek priests were invited to Rus'. After baptism, Vladimir tried to be an example of a Christian ruler. The prince cared about education and built churches, including the Tithe Church in Kyiv (991–996). For its maintenance, Vladimir introduced deductions from the princely income (a tenth - “tithe”).

After baptism, the foreign policy activity of the Kyiv prince increased. Close diplomatic ties were established with many European countries.

At the same time, Vladimir fought with the Khazars, and in 990–992, with the Polish prince Mieczyslaw. In 992 he made a campaign against the Croats. To repel the Pechenezh raids, Vladimir Svyatoslavich in the horse. 980s founded several border fortified lines with a system of fortresses on the river. Desna, Sturgeon, Trubezh, Sula, Stugna, and resettled the Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Chud and Vyatichi to the southern border.

In 992, Vladimir Svyatoslavich repelled a Pecheneg raid near the city of Pereyaslavl, and in 995 he was defeated by them near the city of Vasilyev, and he himself barely escaped. OK. 1007/1008 The Kyiv prince managed to make peace with the Pechenegs, but in 1013 their raids on Rus' resumed.

The cities of Vladimir-Zalessky, Vladimir-Volynsky, Belgorod and Vasilev were founded by Vladimir. Wanting to emphasize his power, Vladimir began pouring gold and silver coins. The prince's generosity and hospitality, the wealth of feasts and celebrations he organized were included in the epics, in which he is called Vladimir the Red Sun.

Vladimir Yaroslavich died in the midst of preparations for a campaign against Novgorod, who refused to pay tribute to Kyiv.

Already in the 11th century. Vladimir Svyatoslavich was revered as a saint, but he was officially canonized in Rus' in the 13th century. Memorial Day: July 15 (28).

SVYATOPOLK THE CURSED(in baptism - Peter)(ca. 980 - 1019) - Prince of Kiev from 1015

Son of the Kyiv prince Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, nephew of the Kyiv prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, in 980, having captured Kyiv and killed his brother Yaropolk, Vladimir Svyatoslavich took his brother’s pregnant wife, a Greek woman, whom Svyatoslav had brought back from a military campaign. Vladimir adopted the child born to her. In con. 10th century Svyatopolk received control of the city of Turov from his adoptive father and married the daughter of the Polish king Boleslav the Brave. In the beginning. In the 11th century, according to information preserved in the Chronicle of Merseburg Bishop Thietmar, Svyatopolk was accused of treason and imprisoned along with his wife and her confessor Bishop Reinburn, who came with her from Poland.

In 1015, after the death of Vladimir, Svyatopolk became the prince of Kyiv and enjoyed the support of the people of Kiev. Fearing his many half-brothers, he ordered the murder of three of them - Prince Boris of Rostov, Prince of Murom Gleb and Prince of Drevlyan Svyatoslav. Having decided to subordinate all the lands dependent on Kyiv to his power, Svyatopolk lost in the fight with his half-brother, the Novgorod prince Yaroslav the Wise, who occupied Kyiv in 1016. Having received help in Poland, Svyatopolk again captured Kiev in 1018. However, his father-in-law Boleslav the Brave decided to subjugate Rus' to his power. Supporters of Svyatopolk began killing Poles in the city, and Boleslav, having robbed Kyiv, was forced to leave it. The Cherven cities went to Poland. Yaroslav the Wise, at the head of an army of Varangians and Novgorodians, expelled Svyatopolk from Kyiv. Svyatopolk found help from the Pechenegs and in 1019, at the head of a huge army, appeared in Rus'. In the battle on the Alta River, Yaroslav the Wise inflicted a crushing defeat on the army. Svyatopolk fled to the “Pechenegs” and, far from his homeland, “ended his life miserably.”

YAROSLAV VLADIMIROVICH THE WISE(baptized George)(approx. 978 - 02/20/1054) - son of Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Rogneda; Prince of Kyiv from 1019

After baptism, Vladimir sent his sons to the largest ancient Russian cities. Yaroslav was sent to Rostov. After the death of the eldest Vladimirovich, Vysheslav, who was sitting in Novgorod, the reigns were redistributed. Now Yaroslav received Novgorod. However, in 1014 he refused to pay tribute to Kyiv, which angered his father. He began to prepare for war with his rebellious son, but the sudden death of the Kyiv prince prevented this clash. After the death of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, a fierce struggle unfolded between his sons. The Tale of Bygone Years tells that power in Kyiv was first seized by Svyatopolk the Accursed. He killed Boris and sent assassins to Yaroslav and Gleb. Sister Predslava informed Yaroslav about this. Without wasting time, he warned Gleb about the impending danger, and he himself began to prepare for war with Svyatopolk. Meanwhile, Svyatopolk’s killers dealt with Gleb, as well as Svyatoslav Vladimirovich, who was trying to find salvation in Hungary.

In the fall of 1015, Yaroslav set out on a campaign against Kyiv. The detachments of the Kyiv and Novgorod princes converged near Lyubech. The regiments of the Kyiv prince were defeated and scattered, and he himself fled to Poland to his father-in-law and ally King Boleslav the Brave. Boleslav's army, consisting of Poles, the Russian squad of Svyatopolk, as well as mercenary detachments of Germans, Hungarians and Pechenegs, in the battle on the river. Bug was defeated by Yaroslav's army. Kyiv was captured by Svyatopolk and Boleslav, and Yaroslav fled to Novgorod. There, having gathered a large army, he again moved to Kyiv. In the battle on the river. Alta (according to legend, on the very spot where Boris was killed) Svyatopolk suffered a crushing defeat.

Yaroslav finally occupied Kyiv in 1019. However, this reign was not calm. In 1021, he had to fight with his nephew, the Polotsk prince Bryachislav, who captured and plundered Novgorod. In 1024, the brother of the Kyiv prince Mstislav Vladimirovich the Brave (Tmutarakansky), having won the battle of Listven, forced Yaroslav to conclude an agreement with him on the division of the entire Russian land along the Dnieper. Mstislav took the eastern half and sat down to rule his inheritance in Chernigov, and Yaroslav took the western half, with Kiev. Only in 1036, after the death of the Chernigov prince who was left without heirs, Rus' was again united under the rule of Yaroslav.

Yaroslav made a lot of efforts to turn his capital into some kind of “new Constantinople”. The Golden Gate was erected here, the road from which led to a new temple - the Cathedral of St. Sofia. The monasteries of St. George and Irina.

Yaroslav managed to stop the Pecheneg raids on Rus'. Yaroslav's squads went on campaigns against the Finns, Yatvingians, and Mazovians. His son Vladimir in 1043 made the last campaign in the history of Ancient Rus' against Byzantium (which, however, ended in failure). In 1051, Yaroslav (apparently without the consent of the Patriarch of Constantinople) first installed a Russian metropolitan in Kyiv, Hilarion.

During the reign of Yaroslav, intensive urban construction was carried out: Yaroslavl-on-Volga, Yuryev (now Tartu) in the Baltic States were built. Under him, new monasteries were opened. The majestic Cathedral of St. Sofia was erected in Novgorod. The prince also cared about the development of “book teaching” in Rus'. Gathering scribes at his court, he entrusted them with the translation of Greek books into Slavic language. Under Yaroslav, ancient Russian chronicles were born and the first set of laws was compiled - Russian Truth.

Yaroslav was married to the Swedish princess Irina-Ingigerda, daughter of King Olaf Skotkonung. One of Yaroslav's sisters, Maria Dobronega, was married to the Polish king Casimir I Piast, another (Premislava) to the Hungarian Duke Laszlo Sara, and the third to the Norman margrave Bernhard. Eldest daughter Elizabeth became the wife of the Norwegian king Harald III the Bold. Hungarian King Andrew I was married to Anastasia Yaroslavna. Youngest daughter Anna married the French king Henry I. Izyaslav Yaroslavich was married to the daughter of the Polish king Mieszko II, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich was married to the daughter of the German count Leopold von Stade, and Vsevolod was married to the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh.

Yaroslav was buried in Sofia of Kyiv.

IZYASLAV YAROSLAVICH(in baptism - Dmitry)(1024 - 10/03/1078) - Prince of Kiev from 1054.

The second son of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise and Irina (Ingigerd) - the daughter of the Swedish king Olaf. He reigned in Turov. In 1039 he married the sister of the Polish king Casimir I, Gertrude, who took the name Helen in Orthodoxy. After the death of his father in 1054, he became the prince of Kyiv. In the first years of his reign, he acted in close alliance with his younger brothers - Prince Svyatoslav of Chernigov and Prince Vsevolod of Pereyaslavl. In 1058 he made a campaign against the Golyad tribe. In 1060, together with his brothers and the Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich, he defeated the Torks. In 1064, he repelled the Polovtsian invasion near the city of Snovsk.

In the winter of 1067, taking revenge on Vseslav Bryachislavich for the robbery of Novgorod, in alliance with his brothers he ruined the city of Minsk. On March 3, 1067, in the battle on the Nemiga River, the Yaroslavichs defeated Vseslav himself, and in July of the same year, during peace negotiations near Smolensk, breaking the oath given to the Polotsk prince, captured him and imprisoned him in Kiev. In September 1068, the Yaroslavichs were defeated by the Polovtsians on the Alta River. Izyaslav Yaroslavich fled to Kyiv, where he refused the demands of the townspeople to distribute weapons to them and lead a new militia to fight the Polovtsians. On September 15, an uprising began in Kyiv, Izyaslav was expelled from Kyiv and fled to Poland. The Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich, released from prison, was put in his place. In May 1069, with the support of his relative, the Polish king Boleslav II, Izyaslav Yaroslavich returned to Kyiv. Before entering the city, he promised his brothers and the people of Kiev not to take revenge on the inhabitants of the Kyiv land for his exile; he sent his son Mstislav ahead of him, who executed 70 people and blinded many. The oppression by Izyaslav Yaroslavin continued after his return to the Kiev throne. Dissatisfied Kiev residents began to beat the Poles who came with Izyaslav. In the same year, Izyaslav expelled Vseslav from Polotsk and installed his son Mstislav as prince there. In 1072, he, together with the brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod, participated in the solemn transfer of the relics of Sts. Boris and Gleb to the new church in Vyshgorod. During the reign of Izyaslav, the “Truth of the Yaroslavichs” was also compiled.

In March 1073, Izyaslav Yaroslavich was again expelled from Kyiv, this time by the brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod, who accused him of conspiring with Vseslav of Polotsk, and again fled to Poland, where he unsuccessfully sought support from King Boleslav II, who preferred an alliance with the new Kyiv Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich. In the beginning. In 1075, Izyaslav Yaroslavich, expelled from Poland, turned to the German king Henry IV for help. The king limited himself to sending an embassy to Rus' to Svyatoslav Yaroslavich with a demand to return the Kiev table to Izyaslav. Having received expensive gifts from Svyatoslav, Henry IV refused further interference in Kyiv affairs. Without waiting for the return of the German embassy from Kyiv, Izyaslav Yaroslavich in the spring of 1075 sent his son Yaropolk Izyaslavich to Rome to Pope Gregory VII, offering him to accept Rus' under the protection of the papal throne, that is, to convert it to Catholicism. The Pope turned to the Polish king Boleslav II with an urgent request to help Izyaslav. Boleslav hesitated, and only in July 1077, after the death of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, with the support of Polish forces, Izyaslav Yaroslavich returned to the Kiev table. A year later, he died in battle on Nezhatina Niva, fighting on the side of his brother Vsevolod Yaroslavich against his nephews, princes Oleg Svyatoslavich and Boris Vyacheslavich, who captured Chernigov.

SVYATOSLAV YAROSLAVICH(in baptism - Nikolai)(1027 - 12/27/1076) - Prince of Kiev from 1073.

The son of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise and Princess Irina (Ingigerd), daughter of the Swedish king Olaf Skotkonung. During his father's life, Svyatoslav owned Vladimir-Volynsky. In 1054, he received the Chernigov, Murom and Tmutarakan lands and sent his son Gleb to reign in Tmutarakan. In 1060, Svyatoslav, together with his brothers and the Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich, went to the torks. In 1064, Svyatoslav’s nephew, the rogue prince Rostislav Vladimirovich, expelled Gleb from Tmutarakan. Only after his death in 1065 did Gleb Svyatoslavich occupy this outlying Russian land. In 1066, in retaliation for the destruction of Novgorod, Svyatoslav and his brothers Vsevolod and Izyaslav made a campaign into the possessions of the Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich and ravaged Minsk. Chroniclers note that Svyatoslav Yaroslavich committed atrocities in Minsk more than others. Then the brothers defeated the squad of the Prince of Polotsk, and he himself, having invited him to negotiations on the advice of Svyatoslav, was captured. In 1068, the brothers were defeated by the Cumans on the Alta River. Svyatoslav Yaroslavich fled to Chernigov, gathered a new militia and defeated the Polovtsy, who were four times superior to him. The victory of the Chernigov prince became known in all Russian lands.

In 1072, Svyatoslav participated in the transfer of the relics of Boris and Gleb to a new church in Vyshgorod. The compilation of “The Truth of the Yaroslavichs” is associated with his name. In 1073, Svyatoslav called his brother Vsevolod for help, relying on the support of the people of Kiev, expelled his elder brother Izyaslav from Kyiv and took the princely throne. Izyaslav Yaroslavich tried to win over the Polish king Boleslav II and the German king Henry IV, but Svyatoslav Yaroslavich managed to convert all of Izyaslav’s patrons into his allies. For his second marriage, Svyatoslav was married to Oda, the daughter of the Margrave of the Hungarian mark Lutpold, a distant relative of the German king Henry IV. The embassy sent by Henry IV to Svyatoslav, in order to convince him to return the Kiev throne to his elder brother, was headed by Oda's brother Burchard, rector of the Cathedral of St. Simeon in Trier. In 1075, Burchard returned to Germany, bringing gold, silver and precious fabrics to the king as a gift from the Kyiv prince, and dissuaded him from interfering in Russian affairs. Svyatoslav assisted the Polish king in the war with the Czechs, sending his son Oleg and nephew Vladimir Monomakh to the Czech Republic in 1076.

VSEVOLOD YAROSLAVICH(in baptism - Andrey)(1030 – 04/13/1093) – Prince of Kiev in 1078–1093.

The fourth son of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise. After the death of his father, he received the cities of Pereyaslav-Yuzhny, Rostov, Suzdal, Beloozero and lands in the Upper Volga region. In 1055, Vsevolod Yaroslavich fought with the Torks, repelled the attack of the Polovtsians, and negotiated peace with them. In 1060, together with the brothers Izyaslav of Kyiv, Svyatoslav of Chernigov and the Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich, he inflicted a significant defeat on the Torks, who no longer tried to threaten Rus'. But the very next year Vsevolod was defeated by the Polovtsians. In 1067, he took part in the campaign of the Yaroslavichs against the Prince of Polotsk Vseslav Bryachislavich, who captured Novgorod; The allies ravaged Minsk and defeated Vseslav in the battle of Nemiga, and then took him prisoner by deception. In September 1068, Vsevolod and his brothers were defeated by the Polovtsians in a battle on the river. Alta. Together with Izyaslav Yaroslavich, he fled to Kyiv, where he witnessed the uprising of the townspeople against Izyaslav and the approval of Vseslav Bryachislavich, freed from prison by the rebels, on the Kiev table. In 1069, Vsevolod and Svyatoslav acted as mediators in negotiations between the people of Kiev and Izyaslav.

Vsevolod was one of the compilers of the Yaroslavich Truth. In 1072 he participated in the transfer of the relics of the holy princes Boris and Gleb to the stone church built in Vyshgorod. The brothers' union was fragile. Already in March 1073, Vsevolod helped Svyatoslav expel Izyaslav from Kyiv. Together with Svyatoslav, Vsevolod helped the Polish king Boleslav in his fight against the Czechs. In January 1077, after the death of Svyatoslav, Vsevolod occupied Kyiv, but already in July of this year he ceded the capital city to Izyaslav Yaroslavin, who relied on the support of the Poles, and took Chernigov for himself. In 1078, he was expelled from Chernigov by Svyatoslav's son Oleg and nephew Boris Vyacheslavich. Vsevolod turned to Izyaslav for help. In the battle on Nezhatina Niva, Oleg and Boris were defeated, and Vsevolod not only returned Chernigov, but also acquired Kyiv, since Izyaslav fell in the same battle. Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vsevolod gave Chernigov to his son Vladimir Monomakh. His reign was not calm. The children and grandchildren of his deceased brothers Vladimir, Svyatoslav and Igor Yaroslavich were deprived of their possessions and constantly fought with him, demanding the return of hereditary inheritance. In 1079, Vsevolod Yaroslavich repelled the invasion of the Polovtsy, led by Oleg and Roman Svyatoslavich. The cunning Kiev prince bribed the nomads, and they betrayed their brothers, and Roman was killed. In the same year, Vsevolod managed to annex Tmutarakan, the refuge of the exiled princes, to his possessions, but already in 1081 the young princes Davyd Igorevich and Volodar Rostislavich again occupied this remote region. During these years, his eldest son Vladimir Monomakh became an assistant to the aging Vsevolod. Vsevolod Yaroslavich was a very educated man, he knew five languages. In his old age, he preferred to consult with young warriors, neglecting the advice of more experienced boyars. Vsevolod’s favorites, having received important positions, began to commit abuses, about which the sick prince knew nothing, but which caused discontent with him among the people of Kiev.

SVYATOPOLK IZYASLAVICH(in baptism – Michael)(08.11.1050 - 16.04.1113) - Prince of Kiev from 1093. Son of the Kyiv Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich and one of his concubines. In 1069–1071 Svyatopolk Izyaslavich was the Prince of Polotsk, in 1073–1077. was in exile with his father in 1078–1088. reigned in Novgorod, 1088–1093. - in Turov. In April 1093, after the death in Kyiv of his uncle, the Kyiv prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, he took the Kiev table. Having decided to start a war with the Polovtsians, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich ordered the capture of the Polovtsian ambassadors who came to him with the intention of making peace. In response, the Polovtsians made a devastating raid on Russian land. In 1095, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, in alliance with the Pereyaslavl prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh, attacked the Polovtsian lands, seizing “cattle and horses, camels and servants.”

In 1096, Svyatopolk and Vladimir Monomakh fought with the Chernigov prince Oleg Svyatoslavich. They besieged Oleg first in Chernigov, then in Starodub and forced him to make peace, imposing their terms. In May 1096, the Polovtsians again attacked Rus' and besieged Pereyaslavl. On July 19, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and Vladimir Monomakh defeated the enemy. Many Polovtsian princes fell in the battle, including Svyatopolk’s father-in-law Tugorkan and his son. In the same year, the Polovtsians devastated the outskirts of Kyiv.

In 1097, by decision of the Lyubech Congress of princes - descendants of Yaroslav the Wise - Svyatopolk Izyaslavich received Kyiv, Turov, Slutsk and Pinsk. Immediately after the congress, Svyatopolk and Prince of Vladimir-Volyn Davyd Igorevich captured Prince of Terebovl Vasilko Rostislavich and blinded him. Princes Vladimir Monomakh, Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich opposed Svyatopolk. The Kiev prince made peace with them and pledged to start a war against Davyd Igorevich. In 1098, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich besieged Davyd Igorevich in Vladimir-Volynsky. After seven weeks of siege, Davyd left the city and ceded it to Svyatopolk. After this, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich tried to take the Cherven cities from Volodar and Vasilko Rostislavich. In 1099, Svyatopolk invited the Hungarians, and the Rostislavichs entered into an alliance with their former enemy, Prince Davyd Igorevich, who received help from the Polovtsians. Svyatopolk and the Hungarians were defeated, and Davyd Igorevich again captured Vladimir-Volynsky.

In August 1100, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, Vladimir Monomakh, Davyd and Oleg Svyatoslavich gathered for a congress in Vetichi and entered into an alliance with each other. A few weeks later, Davyd Igorevich arrived in Vetichi. The princes forced him to hand over Vladimir-Volynsky to Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. Svyatopolk handed over Buzhsk, Dubno and Chartorysk to Davyd Igorevich, and placed his son Yaroslav in Vladimir-Volynsky. Later, Svyatopolk exchanged the cities of Davyd Igorevich for Dorogobuzh, where he died in 1112, after which Svyatopolk took Dorogobuzh from his son. At the congress in Vetichi, the princes made another decision - to take Terebovl from Prince Vasilko Rostislavich and hand it over to Svyatopolk, but Vasilko and Volodar Rostislavich did not recognize the decision of the congress, and the allied princes did not dare to start a war with them. In 1101, his nephew, Prince Yaroslav Yaropolkovich, who laid claim to Vladimir-Volynsky, began a war against Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. Having suppressed the speech, Svyatopolk put his nephew in prison, but soon released him; in 1102 he was again taken into custody and killed in captivity.

Svyatopolk Izyaslavich sought to maintain an alliance with the Pereyaslavl prince Vladimir Monomakh and even married his son Yaroslav to his granddaughter. He married his daughter Sbyslava to the Polish king Boleslav, and his other daughter Predslava to the Hungarian prince. Having reconciled, the princes joined forces in the fight against Polovtsian raids. Back in 1101, on the Zolotich River, the Russian princes made peace with the Polovtsians. In 1103, Svyatopolk and Vladimir Monomakh, at a meeting near Lake Dolobsky, agreed on a joint campaign to Polovtsian steppes. In the same year, the united Russian army defeated the Polovtsians, capturing huge booty. Hiking Russian princes against the Cumans were repeated in 1108, 1110 and 1111.

Was less successful domestic politics Svyatopolk. In the memory of the people of Kiev, he remained a money-loving and stingy prince, who embarked on all sorts of adventures for the purpose of profit. The prince turned a blind eye to many of the abuses of Kyiv moneylenders and did not disdain speculation with salt. During his reign, many Kiev residents were ruined and fell into debt bondage. After the death of Svyatopolk, an uprising broke out in Kyiv, during which the townspeople destroyed the moneylenders' yards.

VLADIMIR VSEVOLODOVICH MONOMAKH(in baptism - Vasily)(1053 – 05/19/1125) – Prince of Kiev from 1113.

Son of Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavin. Nicknamed Monomakh after his maternal grandfather, who was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh.

He reigned in Rostov, Smolensk, Vladimir-Volynsky. In 1076 he took part in the war of the Polish princes against the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. During the princely feud, in 1078, he took part in the battle on Nezhatina Niva, as a result of which his father received Kyiv, and Vladimir Vsevolodovich himself received Chernigov. He fought with the Polotsk princes, Polovtsy, Torques, and Poles. After the death of his father (1093), he was called by the people of Kiev to reign, but, observing the rule of seniority in the clan, he ceded the capital city of Rus' to his cousin Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. A year after the war with the Polovtsians and another cousin, the Tmutarakan prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, who relied on their support, was forced to cede Chernigov to him and settle in the Pereyaslavl principality. Since it was the Pereyaslavl land that was most often subjected to raids by the Polovtsians, Vladimir Vsevolodovich most actively advocated ending civil strife in Rus' and uniting in the fight against the Polovtsians. He took the initiative of the princely congresses of 1097 (in Lyubech), 1100 (in Vitichev), 1111 (on Dolobsky Lake). At the Lyubech congress, the princes tried to agree on assigning to each the possessions of their fathers; Vladimir Vsevolodovich, in addition to the Pereyaslav Principality, received the Rostov-Suzdal land, Smolensk and Beloozero. At the Vitichevsky Congress, Vladimir Monomakh insisted on organizing joint campaigns against the Polovtsians, and at the Dolobsky Congress, on an immediate campaign against the steppe people. In 1103 the united Russian army defeated the Polovtsians in the Suten tract, in 1107, on the river. Sula, in 1111, - on the river. Children and Salnitsa; After these defeats, the Polovtsy went beyond the Don and Volga and temporarily stopped raiding Rus'.

During the uprising in Kiev that began in 1113 after the death of the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, Vladimir Vsevolodovich was invited to the Kiev table. In order to normalize the situation, Vladimir issued a Charter, which somewhat improved the situation of the lower strata of the population (the text of the Charter, which is an outstanding monument of ancient Russian law, is included in the lengthy edition of Russian Pravda).

The reign of Vladimir Vsevolodovich became a period of strengthening the economic and political positions of Rus'. Under the rule of the Kyiv prince, most of the lands of the Old Russian state were united; the majority of princes recognized him as the “oldest prince” in Rus'. Vladimir placed his sons to reign in the most important Russian lands: Mstislav in Novgorod, Svyatopolk, and after his death, Yaropolk in Pereyaslavl, Vyacheslav in Smolensk, Yuri in Suzdal, Andrey in Vladimir-Volynsky. By persuasion and force, he reconciled the warring princes. Family ties connected Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh with many ruling houses of Europe. The prince himself was married three times; one of his wives was Gytha, daughter of the last Anglo-Saxon king, Harald.

Vladimir Monomakh went down in history as a thinker. His “Instruction” for children and “others who read” is not only an example of ancient Russian literature, but also a monument to philosophical, political and pedagogical thought.

Of significant interest is the “Chronicle” he compiled, containing a description of the prince’s military and hunting exploits. In these works, as in all his activities, Vladimir Vsevolodovich advocated the political, religious and military unity of the Russian land while maintaining the right of each prince to independently govern his “fatherland.” During the reign of Vladimir Vsevolodovich, a new edition of “The Tale of Bygone Years” was compiled in the Kiev Vydubitsky Monastery, which included the legend of the baptism of Rus' by the Apostle Andrew and a revised version of the description of the events of the end. 11 – beginning 12th centuries, highlighting the activities of Vladimir himself; “The Tale of Saints Boris and Gleb” was created, their church veneration became widespread (in 1115 the relics of Boris and Gleb were solemnly transferred to a new stone church in Vyshgorod). Little information has been preserved about the prince’s town planning and other peaceful affairs. Chronicles only report the construction of a bridge across the Dnieper in Kyiv during his reign and the foundation in the Rostov-Suzdal land, on the river. Klyazma, the city of Vladimir, which later became the capital of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir.

The activities of Vladimir Vsevolodovich have already earned recognition from his contemporaries. The chronicles call him “the wonderful prince,” “ glorious victories for the Russian land”, “merciful beyond measure”, are awarded with other flattering epithets. A legend arose that Vladimir Vsevolodovich was crowned king by Metropolitan Neophyte, who placed on him the signs of royal power brought from Byzantium: a crown and barmas (later the crown, an indispensable attribute of the crowning of Moscow sovereigns, was called the “Monomakh’s hat”).

MSTISLAV VLADIMIROVICH VELIKY(in baptism - Gabriel)(1076–1132) – Grand Duke Kiev from 1125, the last ruler of the united Old Russian state.

Son of Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh and the Anglo-Saxon princess Gita. During his father’s life, he ruled the Novgorod land, the principalities of Rostov and Smolensk, and after his death he inherited the grand-ducal throne.

In 1129, when a large Polovtsian army came to Russian land, Mstislav Vladimirovich gathered all the Russian princes under his arm. The Polotsk princes were also called upon to participate in the all-Russian military campaign. But the senior Polotsk prince Davyd Vseslavich with his brothers and nephews refused to help Mstislav Vladimirovich. Having defeated the Polovtsian hordes, “driving them beyond the Don, beyond the Volga and beyond the Yaik,” the Kiev prince ordered the capture of his offenders. No one stood up for the apostates from the common cause. Davyd, Rostislav and Svyatoslav Vseslavich were captured and with their families deported outside of Rus' - to Constantinople (Constantinople).

After the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich, new strife began, in which his brothers, sons and nephews were drawn. The once united and powerful Kiev state was fragmented into dozens of independent principalities.

VSEVOLOD OLEGOVICH(in baptism – Kirill)(? – 01.08.1146) – Prince of Kiev in 1139–1146.

Son of Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich (d. 1115), grandson of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavin. In 1127, Vsevolod expelled his uncle, Prince Yaroslav Svyatoslavich, from Chernigov. The Kiev prince Mstislav Vladimirovich (the Great) (son of Prince Vladimir Monomakh) was going to stand up for Yaroslav Svyatoslavich, but limited himself to threats against Vsevolod. True, Vsevolod Olgovich admitted his dependence on Mstislav Vladimirovich and even married his daughter, after which Yaroslav Svyatoslavich lost hope of returning Chernigov and finally established himself in Murom. In 1127, Vsevolod Olgovich took part in the campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians. After the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich (1132), the energetic prince of Chernigov intervened in the struggle for appanages between the new Kyiv prince Yaropolk Vladimirovich (brother of Mstislav) and his nephews (sons of Mstislav). In 1139, when the third Monomakhovich, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich, a weak and weak-willed man, became the prince of Kyiv, Vsevolod gathered an army and drove Vyacheslav out of Kyiv. His own reign was not calm. He was in constant quarrels either with the Monomakhovichs, or with his relatives and cousins ​​- the Olgovichs and Davydovichs, who ruled in Chernigov. In 1143, Vsevolod intervened in the strife of the Polish princes, helping his son-in-law, Prince Vladislav, fight his younger brothers. During the reign of Vsevolod Olgovich, the situation of the people of Kiev sharply worsened. The princely tiuns ravaged Kyiv and other cities of the Kyiv land, and he himself constantly carried out unjust justice. The dissatisfaction of the people of Kiev with Vsevolod was one of the reasons for the failure of his attempt to transfer Kyiv to his brother Igor Olgovich and the unrest of the townspeople that broke out after his death. In 1144, Vsevolod Olgovich fought with the Galician prince Vladimir (Vladimir) Volodarevich, into whose lands he made two successful campaigns. Vsevolod returned sick from his last campaign and soon died.