Svyatoslav Yaroslavich
the third son of Yaroslav the Wise

Triumvirate of the Yaroslavichs

Yaroslav the Wise, dying, entrusted the throne of Kyiv to Izyaslav, bequeathing to the rest of his sons to obey him as themselves, to Svyatoslav gave the city of Chernigov, to Vsevolod – the city of Pereyaslavl, to Igor – the city of Vladimir, and to Vyacheslav – the city of Smolensk.

Biography of Izyaslav

Biography of Vsevolod

“… the Torks were afraid and fled to this day and died running.”

Subsequently, fragments of Torks and Pechenegs settled on the southeastern borders of Old Rus.

Battle on the Nemiga River in 1065

The troops converged on the banks of the Nemiga River and stood facing each other in deep snow for 7 days. Finally, Vseslav Polotsky launched an attack on the full moon, but was defeated and fled. Yaroslavichi did not pursue him. 4 months after the battle, the Yaroslavichi called Vseslav for negotiations, kissed the cross and promised safety, but broke their promise – they grabbed him along with his two sons, took him to Kyiv and imprisoned him in an earthen prison.

The battle is described in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and is one of the largest and bloodiest internecine battles in Old Rus.

Battle of Alta in 1068

In 1068, the Polovtsy invaded Old Rus, led by Khan Sharukan, along the left bank of the Dnieper. The Yaroslavichs withdrew their troops towards them and were defeated.

Izyaslav and Vsevolod fled to Kyiv. Their unwillingness to organize a new campaign against the Polovtsy, who plundered the outskirts of Kyiv, caused an uprising and the people of Kiev released Prince Vseslav of Polotsk. Vseslav was put on the throne of Kyiv in the hope that he would be able to stop the Polovtsy.

Battle on the river Snov

After the defeat of the princely triumvirate in the battle on the Alta River, the Polovtsians began to plunder the territory of the Kyiv, Pereyaslav and Chernigov principalities. When they began to burn villages near Chernigov, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, having gathered a squad and the Chernigov militia, went to meet the enemy.

“Attack, we can no longer sit behind the walls!”

The Russian army attacked first. A powerful attack by heavy Russian cavalry scattered the Polovtsian horsemen, most of whom died or drowned in the Snova River during the retreat. Khan Sharukan was captured.

As a result of the victory of the troops of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, the Polovtsian threat that arose after the Altinsky defeat disappeared. The remnants of the Polovtsian detachments left the territory of Kievan Rus. In addition, the Battle of Snov is the first known victory of the Russian army over the Polovtsians.

Meanwhile, Izyaslav fled to Poland, and Vseslav to Polotsk. Svyatoslav came with his brother Vsevolod to Kyiv and in 1069 acted as an intermediary between the people of Kiev and Izyaslav, who was approaching with Polish troops.

The Truth of the Yaroslavichs

Truth of Yaroslav

The wealth of the patrimony was land, so the princely boundary was guarded by an extremely high fine. Dependent smerds and slaves (serfs, servants) worked on this land. The work was supervised by the ratai (novelye) elders, to whom the slaves obeyed, and the village elders who watched the smerds. There were also artisans in the patrimony.

“Pravda Yaroslavichi” abolished blood feuds and set a fee for the murder, depending on the category of the population to which the murdered belonged. The largest fine was paid for the murder of senior combatants, ognischanins, princely servants, whose life was estimated at 80 hryvnias. The life of the free population – people (husbands) – was estimated at 40 hryvnias; rural and military elders, as well as artisans – 12 hryvnias; smerds who lived in estates, and slaves – 5 hryvnias.

Grand reign of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich

Wives and children

Children:

Yaroslav – later also the Chernigov prince (in the miniature, little Yaroslav is depicted next to his mother); according to German sources, after the death of his father, he was brought up in Germany and then returned to Russia, where he found treasures buried by his mother. Yaroslav became the ancestor of the dynasty of Murom and Ryazan princes (later the Grand Dukes of Ryazan), which ended at the beginning of the 16th century.

There is a hypothesis (A.V. Nazarenko), according to which, from the second marriage with Oda Shtadenskaya, Svyatoslav had another daughter who was married to Byzantium. Her daughter, the granddaughter of Svyatoslav, was captured by the Seljuks in the first quarter of the 12th century and became the mother of Sultan Kylych-Arslan II. The Sultan, as is known from Western sources, considered himself, through his Russian mother, a relative of the German crusaders.

Death and burial

On December 27, 1076, Svyatoslav died at the age of 50, becoming the first known victim of an unsuccessful surgical operation in Russia: he died from “cutting the zhelve” (cutting the tumor). Despite the fact that Svyatoslav died in the reign of Kiev, he was buried in Chernigov. The throne of Kyiv was occupied by Vsevolod, who soon returned it to Izyaslav.

The Svyatoslavichs who were sitting in Novgorod, Tmutarakan, Vladimir-Volynsky and a number of Chernigov lands in 1077/1078 lost everything except the Tmutarakan principality. Only after a fierce struggle, by decision of the Lyubech Congress of Princes in 1097, were they able to get the Chernihiv land.

Section “Yaroslav the Wise”

1. wikipedia