The Rus’ principalities (1125–1246)
Pereiaslavl’ had been the patrimony of Vladimir Monomakh. As noted
above, his younger sons and grandsons (Mstislavichi) fought for possession
of the town to use it as a stepping-stone to the capital of Rus’. After Iurii
Dolgorukii occupied Kiev his descendants gained possession of Pereiaslavl’.
During the last quarter of the twelfth century, however, the town and its
outpostsbecame favourite targetsofPolovtsian raids.Consequently,itdeclined
in importance so that, by the turn of the thirteenth century, it was without a
prince for a number of years.Vsevolod expressedgreater interestin Pereiaslavl’
and sent his son Iaroslav, albeit a minor, to administer it.
77
Vsevolod the Red’s initial success in Kiev was short-lived. Riurik retaliated
by driving him out. After that, the town changed hands between them on
several occasions. Meanwhile, Vsevolod Big Nest, incensed at Vsevolod the
Red for evicting his son Iaroslav from Pereiaslavl’, marched against Chernigov.
En route, the princes of Riazan’ joined him. On learning that they had betrayed
him by forming a pact with Vsevolod the Red, Vsevolod attacked Riazan’. He
took the princes, their wives and their boyars captive to Vladimir, where many
remained until after his death. In 1208 Riurik died and Vsevolod the Red finally
occupied Kiev uncontested.
78
Two years later, he formed a pact followed by a
marriage bond with Vsevolod Big Nest.
79
Theiralliance wasthe most powerful
in the land.
Vsevolod the Red’s relatives in Galicia were less fortunate. In 1211 the boyars
rebelled against the Igorevichi and hanged three of them.
80
Vsevolod accused
theRostislavichiofcomplicityinthecrimeand expelledthem fromtheirKievan
domains. He therewith successfully appropriated the lands that his father
Sviatoslav had failed to take from Riurik. The evicted princelings, however,
turned to Mstislav Romanovich of Smolensk and Mstislav Mstislavich the
Bold of Novgorod for help. Meanwhile, on 13 April 1212, Vsevolod Big Nest
died depriving Vsevolod the Red of his powerful ally.
81
Taking advantage of
77 For Pereiaslavl’, see V. G. Liaskoronskii, Istoriia Pereiaslavskoi zemli s drevneishikh vremen
do poloviny XIII stoletiia (Kiev, 1897); M. P. Kuchera, ‘Pereiaslavskoe kniazhestvo’, in L. G.
Beskrovnyi (ed.), Drevnerusskie kniazhestva X–XIII vv. (Moscow: Nauka, 1975), pp. 118–43.
78 Concerning different views on the date of Riurik’s death, see Martin Dimnik, ‘The Place
of Ryurik Rostislavich’s Death: Kiev or Chernigov?’, Mediaeval Studies 44 (1982): 371–93;
John Fennell, ‘The Last Years of Riurik Rostislavich’, in D. C. Waugh (ed.), Essays in
HonorofA.A.Zimin(Columbus, Oh.: Slavica, 1985), pp. 159–66; O. P. Tolochko, ‘Shche
raz pro mistse smerti Riuryka Rostyslavycha’, in V. P. Kovalenko et al. (eds.), Sviatyi
kniaz’ Mykhailo chernihivs’kyi ta ioho doba (Chernihiv: Siverians’ka Dumka, 1996), pp.
75–6.
79 PSRL, vol. i, col. 435.
80 PSRL, vol. ii, cols. 723–7. Concerning the controversy over the identities of the three
princes, see Dimnik, The Dynasty of Chernigov 1146–1246,pp.272–5.
81 PSRL, vol. i, cols. 436–7.
119
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